Obi-Wan Kenobi's blue blade moved to match the remote's random movements across the abandoned room that served as the training room for Obi-Wan's students. The wielder's brown eyes moved to match the movements of the remote as it prepared to unleash another low-powered volley. With a final revolution, the remote fired off two quick blasts towards its target. The lightsaber's wielder, guided by the Force, swiftly moved his lightsaber to block the first shot. The red bolt impacted with the lightsaber, the blue blade quickly absorbing the weak shot. The second shot, however, was far too fast for the inexperienced Jedi trainee to deflect it. The shot expertly hit the man's right wrist, causing the chamber to echo with a short cry of pain.
"You did well, Kyle," Obi-Wan Kenobi said to his newest student. "Even I wasn't able to block all of my shots when I first started. In fact, if I remember correctly, I think the remote hit me far more often than I was able to block its shots," Obi-Wan mused, conveniently forgetting that he was about five years old at the time.
"It certainly doesn't feel like I did well," Katarn replied after extinguishing his borrowed lightsaber, rubbing his right wrist as the pain from the shot began to fade.
"Your skills will improve in time," Obi-Wan responded, still worried about the anger that lurked beneath the surface of his new student. "But you must work on controlling your anger. When you draw upon it, you risk falling to the Dark Side."
"What's this 'Dark Side' you keep talking about?" Kyle asked, slightly confused by Obi-Wan's Jedi terminology.
"Well as the name suggests, it is a twisted and evil version of the Force. It tempts you when you are most susceptible to its lures, namely when someone close to you has been killed," Obi-Wan explained. "It promises a quick and easy way to power; power to avenge their death, or power to save your own life."
"Ben, have you ever been tempted by the Dark Side?" Luke asked as he worked to repair one of the new training remotes that the Alliance had graciously donated."
"Twice," Obi-Wan responded to his question. "Once was when I was a young man; about the age of 25. It was during the Battle of Naboo, and my Master Qui-Gon Jinn and I were battling a Sith Lord, the first one seen in almost a thousand years. During the duel, we were separated. The Sith took advantage of the situation, and soon Qui-Gon was killed in front of me, and there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. He was like a father to me, and when I finally had the chance to fight the Sith I used my anger to fight him. Using my anger, I became reckless, and I was almost defeated."
"How did you beat him?" Luke asked.
"I was able to calm down, and use my own head and I used his own arrogance against him. He didn't see a young Padawan that was hanging from a precipice to be a threat, and he wasn't aware of his surroundings. I was able to use my Master's own lightsaber to cut him down after leaping up from my position."
"And the second time?" Keyan asked.
"The second time that I nearly fell to the Dark Side was when the woman I loved was killed during the Clone Wars," Obi-Wan responded, remembering the events that had happened twenty years previously. "I came extremely close to falling to the Dark Side when that happened."
"How did Darth Vader fall to the Dark Side?" Luke asked, sending a small wave of panic through Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan wondered what exactly he was going to say to Luke; was it going to be the truth from a certain point of view? "Darth Vader fell to try and prevent someone he cared about from dying," Obi-Wan replied, sticking as close to the real truth as he could. "In doing so, he allowed the Emperor to twist his mind and make him into the very thing he had vowed to destroy. Palpatine is a master manipulator," Obi-Wan told his students. "And he is very powerful in the ways of the Dark Side. He should be underestimated."
"What about Jerec?" Kyle asked, noting the surprised look that flashed across Obi-Wan's face. "From what I've seen of him, he also appears to be extremely powerful."
"Jerec?" Obi-Wan asked. "When did you see him?"
"It was about a year ago, at my graduation from the Imperial Academy on Carida," Kyle replied. "He seemed to radiate evil."
Obi-Wan sighed. Another Jedi had fallen to the Dark Side, more than likely to save his own life. What role would this play in the things to come? "Luke," he said as he tried to turn his lessons for the day back towards the finer points of deflecting blaster shots, a skill that was bound to become extremely important in the conflicts to come. "I do believe that it's your turn."
Luke Skywalker sat the half-repaired remote in the pile with the others still needing repair, and picked up his father's lightsaber. "Level Five," he told the remote, which began flashing down a countdown until the exercise began. He pulled the blast shield down over his eyes and let the Force flow through him. Obi-Wan slightly chuckled at the reactions the other students had when they had first witnessed the training exercise take place. The sight of the other two students quickly racing towards a wall to avoid the potential of accidentally being skewered upon the blue energy blade was one to see, but now both Keyan and Kyle were now calmly standing a safe distance away.
All three of his students had their own strengths and weaknesses; being a Force-sensitive pilot, Keyan naturally had the current edge on being able to use the Force to enhance his own piloting skills. A feat that more than likely made him the best military pilot of the bunch at this moment. From what little he had been around a lightsaber, Kyle Katarn seemed to be quickly becoming a master in its usage. And while Luke Skywalker seemingly didn't have an advantage on any particular Force skill, Obi-Wan knew that Luke's strength was the speed in which he learned. And with Luke being a Skywalker, the son of the man that was born of the Force itself, that really didn't surprise Obi-Wan at all. His father had progressed from a young child with no formal Force training at all, and little to no experience of being able to consciously use his gifts, to a fully trained Jedi Knight in a little over twelve years, a feat that took most humans twenty-five to thirty.
His normal vision was obscured by the blast shield, causing him to see only darkness. Yet another type of vision remained, a vision that relied on his hearing and the sight that the Force granted him. Luke followed the movement of the remote with his blade, pivoting around when needed to make sure that a single shot didn't make its way through. He had never attempted the Level Five training drill with the blast helmet on, only without it. Yet it didn't seem to hinder him as the remote released it's first barrage, a series of three blasts aimed at his midsection. Luke quickly moved his lightsaber to block the blasts, catching two of them at once and absorbing the final shot with a quick movement of his wrist.
The remote floated around the room before unleashing another torrent of laser-fire at the Jedi trainee; two shots followed a few seconds later with an additional two. All four of the shots soon met their end on the blue lightsaber blade. As the training exercise continued, the remote quickly reacted to the target's actions and slightly increased the difficulty level. A series of five shots, aimed at various portions of Luke's body, were fired. Luke managed to deflect the first two; a pair of shots that were aimed at his legs, and followed up to meet another shot. However, he wasn't quick enough to deflect the two aimed at his chest. The low intensity shots impacted on his chest, nearly causing Luke to lose his balance. Satisfied that a "lethal" shot had been achieved, the remote droid floated down to the ground and powered down.
Luke removed his helmet and wiped the sweat that had begun to form on his forehead. "Those things sting!" Luke exclaimed as he rubbed at his wounds, causing a slight chuckle to come from the rest of the students.
The skies of Coruscant were a dark shade of orange as the sun slowly rose over the pyramid-shaped Imperial Palace, causing the building to cast an ominous shadow over the land around it. Five ordinary TIE Fighters flanked the TIE Advanced of Darth Vader as it made its final approach towards the monstrous structure, forming a black V that stood out against the sky.
Darth Vader was nervous as he struggled to pilot his now aerodynamically challenged fighter towards the main hangar of the palace. He knew the possible repercussions of his failure to protect the Death Star at Yavin, and he knew that through both the Force and the testimony of the survivors of the super weapon that the Emperor already knew. He had used the Emperor's renowned distaste for failures to motivate others; menacingly reminding them that the Emperor was not as forgiving as he himself was. While he would more than likely let an outstanding officer live for a simple mistake, the Emperor was much more bloodthirsty.
He finally docked his TIE Advanced above the Emperor's personal shuttle, and his wingmates soon followed. After crawling out of his fighter, Darth Vader walked past his wingmen as they congregated around each other and headed towards the Emperor's private throne room. As he left the company of the other humans, Vader placed his right arm over his abdomen and winced in pain underneath his mask. The results of the Battle of Yavin on his previous wound suffered at the hands of Obi-Wan were bad. The several days he had journeyed to Imperial Center from the system were agonizing, and Vader knew that it would take several more days in bacta treatment in order for it to fully heal. That is if he survived his meeting with the Emperor…