Chapter 12: Spirit of a Jedi
The Falcon soared through space as it made its way to Icylian. Sim mediated in the Lounging area where the others had already gotten up. It had been 3 days since the face off between him and Vader on the Executor, and 3 days since the memories had once more formed in his brain's surface of long ago. All he could do for these past days was mediate. He had purposely avoided the others, fearing that they may ask what happened long ago and the gang also avoided him, in noticing his behavior. But today, he had enough of this, his old master's words still haunted him, "It's not the way of the Jedi." Qui-Gon's words meant so little yet so much. Was it really smart to let Vader survive? He had been only moments away from freeing the galaxy from evil and yet he had passed it over on the words of a spirit long dead. This had dominated his thoughts for the past couple of days, and with no one to talk to, it seemed like it was only getting deeper.
As if in a cue of help from the Force, Leia suddenly entered his room causing him to leave his meditation stance for a second before returning to it. She crossed her legs as she went into her mediating stance, too. Once deep within it, she tried to once more open up her bond with her master, a bond that had been blocked for the past couple of days to her astonishment.
"Master, why are you blocking me from you?" said Leia in her thoughts.
"I'm sorry Leia, but I would rather not talk about it," replied Sim.
"But, I can help. What has been plaguing you for the past couple of days, Master?" said Leia. There was a momentary second of silence as Leia waited for him to answer. Finally he caved.
"Leia, the reason why I've blocked my thoughts is that after my duel with Vader, I'm not sure about my choices," said Sim.
"What do you mean?" replied Leia with obvious interest.
"You see, at the end of our battle, I was about to kill Vader but the spirit of my old Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, came back to me and told me not too. Reluctantly, I followed it. Now I question if that was the right decision," replied Sim. Leia didn't say a word for what seemed to be an eternity after he answered. This was truly a battle only her master could handle. But suddenly, something else came into her mind that had been poking and nibbling at her interiors for a long time.
"Master, I wish to know something. Would you be willing to answer?" said Leia with obvious strain in her voice from something.
"Yes, I will," replied Sim.
"I want to know, what happened long ago, why my father turned to the dark side?" blurted Leia. She had wanted to make it more... transitional but it just came out like an eruption from a volcano on Mustafar.
Sim's heart sank once more, as he knew she was going to ask it. He had dreaded this moment ever since she had arrived months before on Lamon to being her destiny and once more awake an exiled Sim Nam. But the genie was out and there was nothing he could do about it but to tell her what really happened long ago.
"Well, Leia, to understand what happened long ago you must realize that back then there was no Galactic Empire or Imperial rule. It was called the Galactic Republic, which was lead by the Galactic Senate. Back then, in the waning years of the Old Jedi Order, I was a padawan to Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, the same master that had instructed Obi-Wan Kenobi long ago. While Obi-Wan became Anakin's master, I was apprenticed to Qui-Gon. It was then that I and Anakin became very close friends and partners. We were arguably the best duo in the entire order and we tried to be put on the same mission every time. We often sparred together and our powers increased along with our combat capability. I was 3 years younger than Anakin at the time. When the Clone Wars came, the Jedi became the Generals in the Clone Army. I and Anakin were often paired up on joint missions where our skills complemented each other to the point that we could take entire planets with just our own forces behind us. While Anakin had exceptional knowledge in engineering, piloting, and technology, I was an expert tactician and strategist allowing us both to conquer worlds in swift strikes and with some of the most daring plans ever conceived. Those were the hay days of the Jedi Order, oddly enough. Around a year before the end of the Clone Wars, I became Jedi Knight at age 17 while it had taken Anakin till age 21 to gain that status. That was the first wedge between our friendships because of Anakin's frustration with the Council along with my promotion. Although I downplayed this during the time, it was really evident that he had a slight jealousy for my new status. Around that same time, Qui-Gon was killed by Count Dooku after sacrificing himself to protect the lives of two innocent civilians, causing Anakin to resent me further. He believed that I could have saved Qui-Gon but didn't do so. But really made Anakin and me enemies was when I was promoted to the status of Jedi Master after killing a Dark Jedi by the name of Yrek Choolin on Reshan," said the old master with sorrow in his eyes. He didn't want to further the story as he knew that Leia probably wanted to know, but he wished not to relive them for now.
Leia looked at Sim with utter shock. The past had certainly been horrifying for those who were close to Anakin. She could only feel the pain that Sim had, but at the same time she felt resentment toward the Jedi Council. It seemed that the Jedi Council was always hindering Anakin. She could see how he had become a mess in the waning days of the Old Republic.
Silently, Leia got up as she left the meditation room. Sim could feel that she was confused on how to react and he had not expected it any bit different. The burden of the past was on him only, no other Jedi was alive now, that he was aware of, that remembered the past. Only he knew what happened so long ago during the final days of the Jedi Order and Galactic Republic. With a sigh he allowed himself to further descend into his meditation and reach calmness.
Vader's eyes shot open as found his vision blurred. He tried to focus but his vision was blurring that. He shook his head as his vision began to clear up and become sharper until he could see clearer. He was in a grey room on one of the beds. Vader pulled off the sheets as he got up from his bed and walked to the window. He was obviously on one of the Imperial ship but it wasn't the Executor, this ship was far too small. He turned away from the room as he began to find his clothes, he didn't want to spend anymore time in this retched room. It brought back memories of his first moments as Vader and all those images that happened in the following seconds. As he dressed himself in his normal wardrobe, the door suddenly flashed open as Darth Inhalator stepped in. He immediately saw his father up and getting his clothes on:
"Master, I'm glad to see you are awake now," said Inhalator as he moved over to the bed and pressed a red button to get a maid to clean up the room.
"Yes, my apprentice, how long have I been in here? And what ship are we on?" said Vader as he pulled on his sith robe and looked in the mirror.
"Well, master, you've been unconscious for the past 48 hours while were on the Terin-Class Hospital Ship," said Inhalator as he turned around to face his master.
"I've been out that long!" shouted Vader with anger in his voice. He couldn't believe that the Dark Lord of the Sith had been knocked unconscious for the past 2 days. How humiliating.
"Yes, master, it seems also that we have lost track of where Sim and Leia have disappeared too," said Darth Inhalator as he sat down on to one of the guest chairs in the room.
Vader scowled at the thought. "Damn them, then. Sim is a coward. He proved it by not being able to defeat me in an open engagement," shouted Vader as he made his way to the door but suddenly stopped and turned toward Darth Inhalator and asked, "Where's the executor?"
"Well, it seems that during your duel with Sim Nam, you destroyed the ship from the inside. It has been sent to the repair shop in Corillean Shipyards. It will be back within the month," said Inhalator as he got up and proceeded to leave the room with his father.
As they left the room, Vader pressed a button and signaled for a shuttle to get ready to leave. They were going to a new place till the Executor was repaired, the Death Star. As they entered the shuttle, the Hanger bay doors opened and the shuttle flew out and the Death Star came up on the windshield. Only a couple of months before, had the Death Star been completed around Endor. This was the same place that the Imperial Fleet had destroyed the Rebel Alliance and ended the Galactic Civil War once and for all. The future was set in stone with the Empire ruling. Not even Sim could do anything about it.
The Falcon sped to the clouded world as Han got ready to enter the atmosphere. They had finally arrived at Icylian after traveling for over a week and Han desperately wanted to step on hard planet. As the Falcon entered the atmosphere he noticed the same effect happened as on Lamon, the windshield didn't freeze up even if the place was covered and snow and it looked cold. He imagined that the place was the same as Lamon on the ground too.
The Falcon sped across the landscape as Sim directed them to a location behind a mountain revealing a large building. It was a stone building that had four pillars with one center dome. It was made out of marble and what seemed like ice. It had what seemed like a landing pad too where the Falcon gently landed on as the ramp opened up to let the passengers out.
As Leia walked out into the grounds, she gasped at the size of the building. It was huge, bigger than anything she had seen in her life. As Sim and the rest of the crew came out, Leia turned to Sim
"This place is huge! I never imagined any building being this big," said Leia as she looked at every part of it.
"This was a Jedi Temple back in the day. It is strong with the light side of the force and Jedi used to come here if they ever needed the help of the force or wanted to be surrounded by it, something that came useful when Dark Jedi were being purged of the darkness within their heart," said a solemn master as he walked out of the ship and onto the hard stone. Memories flooded his head of his childhood but he quickly pushed them aside.
As Han, Lando, and Chewie walked out of the ship, they looked at the ground instead of the ship.
"Hey, Sim, can you honestly tell me why this snow doesn't... well...doesn't feel like snow," said an interested Lando as he continued to touch the snow but felt no coldness but a nice tingle of warmth.
"Well, Lando, the light side of the force on the planet has a warming effect on the snow, making the planet seem cold but in essence actually quite nice. One of the great mysteries of the Force, you could say," said Sim as he began to leave the ship and walk into the large temple. The others followed suite.
For the next couple of weeks, the gang stayed in the temple as they formulated what would be their next move. But as they did so, Leia began to get frustrated at her powers. During her fight with Luke, she realized that she was still not a master in the force like Sim. She didn't understand how he was able to slam Legions of Storm troopers into the wall with a slight flick of his wrist while force picking up large objects with just a glance. He had so many mysterious powers too. He could trap blaster shots and even shoot them back with just the use of the force. He was capable of creating fire, manipulating air and water, and even controls the ground. She had seen him once even freeze an entire lake on Lamon with just using his hands. Han would remark, "it's like the man is the complete controller of nature." She desperately wanted to know how he knew these powers and more.
Sim walked through the corridors of the Archive area as he made his way to the door. He had been catching up on some information he was learning that could be useful when suddenly Leia popped up at the door. He could sense that she wanted something. As he walked over to Leia he greeted her with a nod of his head.
"Hello, Leia, what can I do for you," said Sim as he walked by her as she followed.
"Master, I wish to ask you something," said Leia without making eye contact. He could sense what was coming.
"Yes, and what would that be?" said Sim as they made their way to the dining area for lunch.
"Master, I wish to learn more of the force. I wish to become a master of the force like you, someone that can wield power to protect others. Compared to you, I'm like a youngling still," said Leia as she dumped all her feelings before him as if she was in a game of Sabaac.
Sim stopped as there was a moment of silence. He had foreseen that she would ask this one day, as it was the way of the Skywalkers to yearn for more power. That was why Anakin became Darth Vader and why Luke became Darth Inhalator, but he could sense something different in Leia. She was not brash or impulsive. She was a sharp thinker and only light filled her heart. And unlike her father or brother, her feelings seemed to be straightforward and not a hurricane. He knew that if they were to win, she would have to learn about everything about the Force, even the stuff that he wished not to teach for her own safety.
"Very well, my apprentice. I will instruct you in the Advanced Forms of the Force. For now, though, we will go and eat and then meditate. After that, we will be your tutoring," said Sim with a sigh realizing that he might have just opened up a can of worms that he wished not to open.
"Thank You, master. I will not disappoint you," said Leia with a huge grin on her face as joy filled her. She would finally learn the true ways of the Force but little did she realize that this was the most dangerous part of the Force.
Author Note: Please, please, please review! Thanks again to all the people that have reviewed so far, but if more people reviewed, I could see if I was doing a good job or not. If you do review, I greatly apprieciate it.