Chapter 1: Ghosts of the Past
"I can sense the Dark Side's aura, his aura. Perhaps I made a mistake coming here after all." Luke Skywalker thought to himself with a cautious expression as he guided his X-Wing across the surface of Mustafar. At twenty-five years old, Luke was the last remaining Jedi Knight in the galaxy, and trusting in the training Master Yoda gave him, he allowed the Force to guide him here.
Luke heard a series of frightened chirps from his astromech droid and soon understood why.
"I know Artoo, I see it."
Directly ahead of them lay Luke's ultimate destination. Resting atop a rocky ridge stood a black fortress that rose up like a small castle. It's design appeared simple but terrifying. Every inch closer Luke came, he sensed the Dark Side's power grow, almost as if the fortress itself were the planet's entire source.
"Keep our S-foils in attack position, Artoo. I don't doubt my father put air defenses here." R2-D2 did as Luke commanded and kept the X-Wing ready. The Jedi Knight zoomed in on the scopes and barely spotted four very well concealed turrets across the structure.
At first, they appeared inactive, but the Force gave Luke forewarning.
"Sheilds up, Artoo!" Luke banked hard left just in time to avoid a series of red laser blasts. Yet, even so, he had no breathing room and maneuvered once more. The Jedi Knight couldn't help but feel impressed by his father's air defenses. Unlike many arrogant Imperial commanders, Vader was a master pilot and didn't defend his stronghold with oversized turbolasers only useful against bigger ships, but fast-blaster cannons explicitly designed to destroy fighters.
It was only by his own exceptional abilities and some personal modifications to his X-Wing that Luke still lived. More than once, his X-Wing took a hit, but luckily the extra shields he'd added held firm, though barely.
"Wait for my signal, now divert power to weapons!" Luke came in fast, opening up with green cannon fire. The enhanced X-Wing struck two of the defensive turrets, tearing them clean off. With the air clearer, Luke came back and destroyed the remaining guns.
Despite this, he didn't relax just yet and carefully flew around the castle if it had any more surprises. After a few minutes, Artoo chirped with more optimism.
"Alright, I'll set us down." Luke said cautiously. He hoped that the turrets were automatic because if they weren't, it meant someone was home. Luke saw a landing pad at the castle's base and landed. No other ship rested there, but Luke wasn't ready to accept that he was alone either.
The Jedi Knight opened his cockpit and instantly felt Mustafar's unforgiving environment hit him like a kryat dragon. Despite this, he climbed out of the ship just as R2 came out, trembling beside his master.
Staring at Vader's castle sent a rush of emotions through Luke, though as a Jedi, he knew how to keep them in check.
"Our path has led us here Artoo. Every ruined temple and enclave has only given us small clues. My father knew of Tython's location. I know he did." Despite his fear, R2 followed Luke towards the castle entrance. Over the last year, Luke had officially withdrawn himself from the ever-decreasing war with the Imperial Remnant and began his search for Tython, the birthplace of the Jedi Order, where the Force itself was discovered.
So far, Luke and R2 visited the ruins of seven ancient Jedi enclaves from the age of the Great Galactic war. Each gave him hints of Tython's location, but nothing definitive. However, the last one did give Luke an unexpected gift, a perfectly preserved set of black Guardian's Maelstrom armor his size. This type of armor was what Jedi Knights of old used to battle Sith Warriors and their soldiers. It was blaster proof yet without hindering a Jedi's movement and still concealing them with an outer cloak and hood.
So far, Luke took a liking to the armor and hoped his future students might wear something similar one day. R2 began slicing the terminal upon reaching the door, and with that, the doors slowly opened.
Taking a deep breath, Luke entered the castle with R2 close at his side. At first, only the Atromech droid's flashlight revealed the path ahead, but soon red lights began to illuminate around them.
"I suppose my father wasn't one for fancy decorations." Luke said, looking at the plain castle interior. In many ways, it looked similar to an average imperial base, only much harsher. Luke sensed Darth Vader's unforgettable aura emanating all around the fortress, even after his death.
An eerie silence fell over them, not peaceful, but unsettling. Occasionally they'd hear a creaking noise, and Luke would diligently check their surroundings but thus far saw nothing. He couldn't shake the feeling like someone or something watched them. It couldn't be Vader's ghost.
"No." Luke assured himself. His father died Anakin Skywalker, sacrificing himself to save Luke in a final act of redemption and love. Luke hastened his pace, passing a series of sparring chambers and a hanger. The Jedi Knight stopped for a moment to admire his father's TIE advance as it rested in two clamps. Even though this craft nearly killed him at Yavin IV, Luke, its capabilities still intrigued him. For a brief moment, Luke considered taking the ship with him but knew it wouldn't be practical.
R2 shimmered in fear before another fighter resting in the hanger. A TIE Defender. Luke remembered this kind of fighter all too well. He'd lost more friends than he cared to remember to the Empire's most lethal craft, including most of Rogue Squadron in one battle. It didn't surprise him that his father had one, though he'd never seen him use it.
Luke turned to leave when he noticed something else, a third ship. Its design looked distinct from anything Imperial, yet somehow still familiar. But most striking of all was the open ramp.
Taking a deep breath, Luke drew his lightsaber and carefully continued further into the castle until, at last, he saw his destination. Inside the chamber rested a black meditation pod and a bacta tank.
Luke felt almost drowned in Darth Vader's aura but summoned his strength and approached the meditation sphere. Inside he saw a computer.
"Let's hope this is it, Artoo." R2 plugged into the computer and began searching through Vader's databanks. As he did so, Luke tried to center himself. The Dark Side's presence wasn't pleasant, nor was Vader's aura.
Closing his eyes, Luke pushed the harmful emotions away, allowing himself to find peace even in such a place. However, at that moment, something else struck him, an old memory. Luke pictured himself back on Bespin and Vader slicing his hand off.
A horrific pain overcame where his hand once lay, and Luke grasped at his cybernetic hand tightly. Opening his eyes again, he felt something calling out to him, something he hadn't sensed in years. Luke rose and followed this sensation until he saw the bacta tank.
Vader's presence still seethed around it, and for a moment, Luke imagined his father's countless hours spent trapped inside. This class container being his only respite from endless pain.
"Father." Luke nearly teared up as he reached out, yet in doing so, Luke saw a pedestal resting before it, something Vader would have stared at while in the tank. Losing his breath, Luke reached onto the pedestal and came up holding a familiar lightsaber. After what felt like an eternity, he activated it and saw a blue blade light up the chamber.
Even with all his Jedi training, Luke couldn't hold back tears any longer and clenched both eyes shut.
R2's gleeful chirps snapped Luke out of his trance, and the Jedi Knight slowly walked back to his astromech.
"Did you find it Artoo?" R2's hologram projector lit up and flashed an image Luke hoped he'd never see again.
"Your training is now complete." The dark and metallic voice of Darth Vader sent a shiver down Luke's spine as he saw the Sith Lord's imposing figure displayed before them.
Twelve figured knelt before Vader, each in black armor and with a lightsaber on their belts.
"Your lives belong to the Emperor. You exist to destroy his enemies and hunt down the last of the Jedi Order. Failure means death. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Lord Vader." All twelve responded together in cold and ruthless voices. These must've been the Empire's Inquisitors, former Jedi Padawans trained as agents of the Dark Side tasked with hunting the last of the Order down. Luke had never met an Inquisitor. They'd all died before he'd met Obi-Wan. However, he had fought two of Palpatine's infamous Shadow Guards, Imperial Guardsmen trained as Dark Jedi similar to the Inquisitors.
Luke slew both Shadow Guards sent after him, though looking back, he wished to have captured them alive. If his father, a Sith Lord, could find redemption, certainly they couldn've.
However, Luke's eyes narrowed when he saw how many Dark Jedi knelt around Vader.
"Artoo, what was this archive labeled?" The Astromech responded.
"The christening of the Shadow Hand? When was it saved?"
Artoo's response made Luke go still for a moment. However, the droid kept searching until he claimed to have another interesting recording. This time, Luke saw a strange blue-skinned humanoid wearing an Imperial Grand Admiral's unmistakable white uniform. At first, Luke thought the alien was a Pantoran, but a pair of glowing red eyes made him realize it was something else.
"Greetings, Lord Vader. I hope my gift arrived at your fortress. The modifications you suggested have been added and are working quite well. Our adversaries in the unknown regions have certainly suffered for it. I understand my convienent dissapearance has allowed the Rebels to thrive, but rest assured, our mutual agreement is worth the sacrifice. The Empire of the Hand is nearing completion, and with it, the galaxy will be safe from the true enemy."
"Artoo, who is this?"
The astomech answered.
"Grand Admiral Thrawn? When did he send it?" Artoo's response continued to give Luke an unsettling sensation, for it was after Thrawn was supposed to have gone missing. Most in the Rebellion thought him dead, but clearly he was still alive at least in the months leading up to Endor, and Vader knew it.
"Save this data and anything else you can find, we'll give it the New Republic." R2 chirped as he did so, and Luke returned to his vigilent demanor. Finally, after another agonizing few minutes, the astromech lit up in excitement once more.
His hologram projector now displayed a partial map of
the galactic core. At first Luke felt excited, but it soon faded when he realized it wasn't complete. The Jedi took a deep breath, but slowly smiled once more, for the map still had significant information he needed. It brought closer than anything he'd seen before.
"Save that as well. We're just missing one more piece of the pussle, R2. I know it." Luke readied himself to depart, when he went still again. He sensed another prescence approaching, it wasn't the darkside, nor was it exclusively the light either.
However, something else quickly pre-occupied the Jedi's attention. Taking a deep breath, Luke ignited his lightsaber, the green blade now protecting him and R2.
"I know you're there. You did an excellent job of hiding, but I can sense your prescence. There's no need for violence."
Five snarls filled the chamber, and within moments, just as many small figures appeared around Luke. Each wore maroon robes with an elextrostaff on their backs, and blaster pistols on their sides.
"Noghri." Luke thought to himself. The small creaters grey skin and protruding snouts would terrify many alongside jagged fangs and claws.
"Intruder! You desecrate Darth Vader's private chamber!" The first Noghri hissed.
After saving their dying world, the lethal Noghri assassins pledged their undying loyalty to his father. Luke knew many in the alliance who lost their lives to a the Noghri, so much that the New Republic refused to help them after driving out the Empire. Now what remained of their people pledged to undermine the Republic wherever possible.
"Listen to me. I'm Luke Skywalker, I'm Darth Vader's son. I only came for this." Luke said showing the lightsaber as he lied.
"I have what I came for, I'll leave now, and-"
"Leave? You're a Jedi! Lord Vader's sworn enemy! You think we'll let you leave! You must die!" The Noghri reactivated their stealth-field generators and vanished. R2 backed up into the pot while Luke shut it telekinetically.
He closed his eyes and reached out with the Force, sensing where each Noghri moved. The assassins made no sound and their stealth technology was greater than any Luke encountered. Luckily, they couldn't hide from a Jedi.
Luke parried each incoming electrostaff blow like he knew where they'd come for years. The Jedi Knight held his offhand out, deflecting a series of blaster bolts from multiple directions.
His eyes still closed, Luke thrust out with both hands, sending a repulse wave of telekinetic Force power which knocked all five Noghri off their feet.
"Darth Vader is gone! You're serving no one! Leave this place, don't die needlessly!" Luke pleaded with the Noghri, but to no avail. Luke moved in his armor like flowing water, the Force guiding him against each attack.
"Please, stop this now, don't make me kill you!" The Noghri didn't let up their attack, and soon Luke found himself facing thermal detonators, poison darts, and other such weapons. His Force sense allerted him to each threat before it happened, and the Jedi held them back with telekinetics.
Finally, when left with no choice, Luke slashed back after a parry, his lightsaber slicing through flesh. The Noghri hissed for a brief moment, and then his body reappeared, falling into two pieces.
Luke sensed a growing rage in the remaining assassins, but it didn't hinder them. The two nearest Noghri attacked him from both sides while the others continued with ranged attacks.
For a minute or so it kept Luke on the defensive, still hoping he could convince the remaining assassins to leave with their lives. Using Force repulse again, the Jedi Knight blew his nearest attackers back before reaching out two the ranged assassins.
Both froze in place, a blue aura of Forc stasis. Luke began to pull their weapons away, but their companions instantrly came back at him, forcing the Jedi to let them go. Unable to convince them, Luke reluctantly went back on the offensive, now unrestrained. Utilizing Djem So, Luke countered the electrostaffs of the nearest Noghri and then counterstruct, decapitating the assassins.
The remaining companions snarled, but remained invisible. Both attemtped to continue their attack, when Luke sensed the prescence from earlier return. The Jedi Knight turned to the doorway and when they opened, both Noghri, shocked unleashed a barrage of blaster bolts that way.
Two silver lightsabers masterfully deflected the incoming attacks before the weilder reached out, hurling both Noghri back before she leaped through the air, the Force aiding her. Upon landing both Noghri reappeared, toppling over in pieces.
The figure exhaled and stood up face to face with Luke, revealing herself a Togruta. Luke and the Togruta stared at each other for a long time, both reaching out with the Force to get a measure of the other. The alien woman felt similar to Obi Wan and Yoda, however, there was something different. The Togruta didn't feel exactly like a Jedi, she certainly wasn't a dark force user, but perhaps something closer to grey.
Howver, when he reached out to her again, Luke sensed something odd. He felt remorse, pain, guilt.
"Luke Skywalker, that's you, isn't it." Luke never met this woman before, but it didn't surprise him that a strange might know who he was. Since Endor the New Republic had used him as their poster boy, declaring that the last true Jedi and hero of the galaxy was with them. Luke didn't appreciate such things, but it was good for morale among the troops.
"I am, who are you?" Luke lowered his lightsaber in a friendly gesture and the Togruta soon did the same. Moments later, R2 emerged from hiding.
"It's alright Artoo, we're safe now, I-" Before Luke could finish, the astromech droid saw the Togruta and jumped about as if he had come to life.
"Artoo!?" The Togruta cried with similar enthusiasm and she ran over embracing the droid in her arms.
"R2-D2 it is you!" The Togruta nearly teared up as she held R2 in hr arms.
"I can't believe you're still functioning. I never thought I'd see you again." R2 chirped in glee, giving the Togruta's name to his master.
"Ahsoka Tano. Wait a minute, you're Ahsoka Tano!" Luke cried in disbelief. She remained still upon hearing him.
"I heard of you, you were the Jedi who helped found the Rebellion and went missing before I joined! You're alive! I certainly couldn've used you're help before, but that doesn't matter now. The Force has brought us together Ahsoka. Us, the last of the Jedi. I've been-" Luke started until he saw immense pain ravage Ahsoka's face.
"I'm not a Jedi." She muttered.
"And I'm not here to help you. I'm here seeking info on the last Imperial Grand Admiral."
"Thrawn?" Luke said thinking back to the recording.
"Yes, he's the only one who can reuinite the Remnant factions now. I must find him and-"
"Ahsoka." Luke came closer, but she pulled away.
"Listen to me. I'm not what you think I am, Luke. You're the only Jedi left in the galaxy. I'm not a Jedi, maybe I couldn've been, but I'm not."
R2 chirped again in a sympathetic tone as Ahsoka continued to hug him.
"I only ever heard stories about you, Ahsoka. Some say you were a Jedi from the alst order, but if you weren't."
"I was only a Padawan, something happened, I abandoned the Order just before Order 66."
Ahsoka wasn't an old woman, given that Togruta lived much longer than humans her story was feasible.
"Ahsoka, whatever happened I-"
"I can't join you, Lyke Skywalker!" The sense of pain and lament returned to Ahsoka, particularly as she said his surname. Ahsoka looked back at the meditation sphere and bacta tank, the Togruta now close to tears.
"Do you think there was any good left in him? Any humanity left behind that armor? Or was he completely forgone to the Dark Side?"
Luke slowly put the pieces together and almost stagged.
"He was your Jedi Master, wasn't he. My father." Ahsoka shook with her eyes clenched shut.
"I can't help you, Luke. I'm not a Jedi. A Jedi couldn't saved their master, the order, the Republic. You slew Darth Vader, the Emperor... I can only keep things from getting worse."
Luke put his hand on Ahsoka's shoulder and guided her up until their eyes met.
"Ahsoka, let me show you how my father died." Placing his hand on the Togruta's forehead, Luke connected them with the Force and shared his memories of what happened on the second Death Star over Endor.
Ahsoka emotions broke free, unable to contain herself anymore, tears flowed from her eyes like a waterfall.
"Anakin." She sobbed. Luke wiped away a few tears himself and smiled.
"My father made many mistakes, but he died a Jedi, a father."
Ahsoka embraced Luke so sightly he felt his back crack. At last, Ahsoka smile and held a joy in her face Luke didn't imagine possible.
"Luke, you're really trying to bring the Jedi Order back?"
He nodded.
"Yes, I want the Order go go back to its roots. I want to rebuild on Tython, where the Force was discovered and our Order born. But I only have clues to its location." R2 chirped as he revealed everything they'd collected.
Ahsoka looked over the map diligently before nodded.
"I know where the rest is." She said, making Luke's face illuminate.
"You do!"
"Yes, Dantooine, the rest of the map is in the enclave's archives."
"That's it then! Ahsoka, please, come with me. I need your help, the galaxy needs the Jedi Order."
Ahsoka still looked reluctant.
"I'm, I'm not a Jedi." With a determined expression Luke revealed Anakin's lightsaber and the Togruta trembled.
"Then kneel." Ahsoka did as Luke commanded and he ignited the blue saber.
"I, Luke Skywalker, son of Anakin Skywalker, student of Obi Wan Kenobi and Yoda, Jedi Knight, hereby grand Padawan Ahsoka Tano the rank of Jedi Knight." Luke moved the lightsaber centimeters above Ahsoka's shoulders before holding it up.
"Rise, Ahsoka Tano, Jedi Knight." Ahsoka remained still for a moment, then rose, tears returning to her eyes, only this time, she smiled in joy while R2 cried out.
"I'm not alone anymore. Now there are two Jedi left in the galaxy, and you don't have any excuse to shirk your duties as a Jedi Knight." Ahsoka wiped her tears away and nodded before making her way to the door.
"Come on then, Skyguy, we need to get to Dantooine. We have an Order to rebuild."
