A long time ago in a galaxy far far away

PRIZED PUPIL, part two

Season 1, Episode 2

40 years passed since

Emperor Palpatine was defeated.

For years and years chaos remained as

the remnants of the Empire tried to maintain control

of the galaxy and the leaders of the Rebel Alliance tried to unite

the people in an organized democracy. Such attempts failed on both sides,

and the galaxy fell back to the political structure it had known before the creation of

the Old Republic. Small systems, bigger systems, coalition of planets, yet some planets are still

divided and self-regulated countries. Democracies, monarchies, empires, warlords, anarchies, even

the Hutts control a few systems, and still some parts of the universe have not been explored or heard of.

Jedi Master Brett Ho-Xin as encountered a young Force sensitive girl called Neeah. Unfortunately, so has his former colleague turned to the dark side, Mistress Drika.

##

Left, right, right, twist, double arch attempt, Drika blocked it all. When she left the rest of the Jedi, she was still a student, far below Brett in her knowledge of the Force and in lightsaber skills. Obviously, she had learned a lot since then.

– I am no longer the little girl, and I?

Note she wasn't. By how much he didn't know yet, but he was about to find out

– You still have much to learn about the Force…

As he said that he surprised her with a double move he had practised a million times, but had never attempted in battle. Real battle, that is, since nobody else ever used lightsabers, and no one else then Drika would ever dare duel with him. The move was successful in surprising and disorienting her for a second, but not as much as Brett had hoped for. She had matured, and quite frankly she was almost, he felt, is equal in battle skills now. The fighting continued, in the corridor with Neeah behind his opponent. He had gained a little with his little tactic, but not that much.

She started to bring out parts of the ceiling, lamps, everything she could throw at Brett, yet nothing he could not handle with the Force at his side.

##

Neeah was terrified. These people were dueling with laser swords. She had not heard anything about these weapons but she just knew there were deadly. Why were they fighting? Was the Jedi here trying to hunt Drika? Did they both had business with Webell? if so, how come she wasn't involved? Then it hit her: stop thinking get outta here. She opened the door behind her there was nothing she could do to protect Webell against them even if she had a desire to do so, and they could not possibly have anything to do with her , so she would go away and seek refuge.

##

Just like that, she left Brett felt that Drika was both surprised and upset.

– "You like the girl?" he asked.

– I know you didn't come here to exchange politely with me, isn't it? At least now you're interacting with women your own age!

The fight had gone on for too long. But there was no other alternative. If he backed out, Drika would run to Neeah before he could find another way around. And he still did not know if she intended to kill her or to train her. Both were unacceptable to him. So, he couldn't afford to let them both together for evening instant.

– You can't train her Drika, you can't even train yourself!

– Oh, can't I? Surely, an insightful Jedi like you would have disposed of an untrained opponent by now…

She was right, of course, but that was just a probe and he got the answer he wanted: the thought of training her had crossed Drika's mind at least. She seemed to guess what Brett had in mind.

– Or I could simply kill her. That would be quicker.

Whether she really meant that was unknown. She could just of realized the Brett wanted to know. She could also not be fully ready to make that decision. Perhaps when that moment came, Brett would you that split second of hesitation to his advantage.

The other door opened: Webell came out of it slightly behind Brett. What was he thinking!

– Oh, good Lord!

He grabbed his blaster and started shooting a Brett. This was a surprise, and Brett instinctively turned around and blocked the shots, without redirecting them in any specific direction. He turned around just in time to block another attack from Drika… This was going to be tricky, and he couldn't afford to have it go on forever.

Webell shut another series with his blaster towards Brett, who this time was able to let a few pass by towards Drika, who was forced to deflect them. Brett wondered if he should redirect blaster shots towards Webell, just to get rid of him. But he was the elected leader of Ambulia, and Brett wasn't a killer. There was another solution.

"There is no passion, there is serenity"

Another round of beams came from Webell, and Brett redirected them towards the door around Webell. One of them called the panel and the door closed in front of Webell, who had dropped his weapon from a hit from another one of the redirected bolts. At least he was dealt with.

But that split-second was with Drika and waited for, and she kicked him in the back of the head with extreme strength. Brett fell on his face, quickly trying to turn to block a fatal lightsaber blow that should have come from Drika. But she was gone, of the same door Neeah and used. He ran after her.

Beyond the door was a small room with three other doors and no trace of Drika.

##

Neeah I'd run for a few minutes when she reached the security officer, an Ambulian known as Pilof, and told him what she had seen. She knew he was no match to fight the Jedi, but she felt pretty secure because there was no reason for either of them to have any interest in her. She was afraid for Webell's security however.

– Take a little rest young girl, I will alert security.

She sat down and let out a huge breath of air. She was afraid, yet at the same time she felt a certain peace around that fear. Perhaps, she smiled to herself, you can't really get one without the other. But all that piece was shattered by even worse fear when the door open and the Jedi woman appeared. What did she want with her? Neeah was puzzled and scared.

– You! Over there!

Drika pointed to a short corridor that led to outside the Ambulian delegations' quarter's. Neeah did not bother to resist.

– I'm coming. I don't know these premises I will not be able to help.

– I will be the judge of whether you are of any use or not, you'll understand that later on.

They ran down the corridor then took a left in a small hangar bay.

– What do you want from me?

– Shut up and run!

That was a pretty good idea, yet she was out of breath. Drika seemed in perfect control.

– I said "run"!

Neeah ran as fast as she could. Obviously, that wasn't enough for Drika. She opened the door at the end of the hangar bay.

– Get in there!

Neeah entered first and Drika followed. As soon as the door was closed, they could hear footsteps running, following them. Must be the Jedi, Neeah figured.

– Don't move. Don't talk. Don't think. Don't feel if you can.

Orders from that Drika woman were never pleasing to hear. How can I not think? She realized that Drika was standing really really close to her. She felt a very dark cloud surrounding her.

##

There was little point in probing for them since Drika had proven if she wanted to be cloaked she could. And he knew that Drika had taken Neeah with her. He entered the hangar bay and there they were. Where, he didn't know. But they were here. He had his lightsaber in one hand ready to be activated. He thought this might be a good time to slow down his pace and contact Luke. But he didn't want Drika to get a hold of his message so we just sent a coded signal, the one that meant "need reinforcements". With the help of the Force the next step would come to him.

##

The room they were in was a small room with no ongoing door. However the ceiling was probably 15 or 20 stories high and seemed to communicate with other escape routes over the hangar bay. Drika pointed towards the ladder on the wall.

– "Go!" She whispered. Even her whispers were intimidating. Neeah started upwards. Why did Drika bother with her anyway? Why take hostages when you've got all that power? She was about three stories up when she finally reached a corridor. Drika was still downstairs, looking towards the door they had come in thru.

##

Brett glanced around the bay. There were many little storage rooms in the back, and they could be in any one of them. He probed with the Force and found Neeah alone about 20 feet in the air. At that precise moment, before he celebrated, he felt Drika's dark anger, and the small doors open at the same time and the content of all of them was magically hurled towards him. He had little time to adjust, rolled under a few and protected himself behind it a smaller wall of Carbonite boxes before the other projectiles could reach him.

As soon as she had pulled her trick on Brett, Drika picked up the ladder and leapt upwards to join Neeah in a spectacular jump. The little girl was already up to the level where she could pick a corridor and, even though escape seemed useless, Drika wanted to control her directions. Drika arrived and Neeah was sitting, out of breath. The corridor was as long as the hangar bay. She was not surprised to see her stopped there. She was however surprised to see Jedi Brett Ho-Xin at the other end.

Neeah was sitting, confused. She was trying to run away from to Jedi knights, fighting each other for purpose she didn't understand. Could they be fighting for her? For Webell? Or was she just being used as a hostage by Drika while the other Jedi hunted her down perhaps to kill her. Then, she started to hear echoes in her mind.

– Come back to me Neeah, and I will protect you from him. Don't be scared.

– Run behind me, I will step in and protect you from her evil shadow.

How could they talk to her like that? How could access her mind? These people were powerful indeed. But the one thing was for sure, she, for whatever reason, was a target of both of them. And it seemed like both wanted her alive, which didn't even comfort her as it should have.

She stood up. To go where? Actually, she had never been close enough to Brett for him to try to kill her. So, she didn't know for a fact that he wanted her alive. But she had been to Drika. As if reading her thoughts Drika entered her mind again.

– I protected you from him before, I will again.

She could be right. She did however feel the dark shadow in your presence and when she heard her thoughts.

– Be careful of Drika, she strong with the dark side of the Force. Dangerous, chaotic, evil and manipulating. Come behind me I will protect you from her.

Instinctively she answered out loud in her own words:

– how do I know you're telling the truth?

Both of them replied at the same time:

– trust your feelings, Neeah. You'll know where the truth lies.

Perhaps he was powerful enough to hide his real intent. But they were right, she had to trust her instincts, they had never failed her. So, she went with the light and towards Brett. She was in shock, having just made the most important decision of her life.

Drika started running after her, but Brett did step up, lit his lightsaber as soon as Neeah had passed him. His weapon met Drika's as Neeah crossed the door behind him. Brett took advantage of the fact that he was standing still while Drika was charging, and swung her and her momentum right in the wall. As she lost her balance, he kicked her backwards and ran to the doorway where Neeah had gone. To his surprise she was standing by the controls and closed the door immediately after he came out, trapping Drika behind.

– This will not delay her for long

– what do you want from me? What will you do with me?

– I will bring you to safety off this planet. Away from her. The rest is irrelevant at least until she is light years away from you.

The rest? Before she could ask some more, she sought Drika's lightsaber working its way through the door.

– Hurry!

Brett started running towards a stairway going down in spiral. She followed him, trusting her feelings once again. There was something about this man that made her believe that "the rest" was not going to be so bad after all.

As they were going downstairs, they heard Drika finally open the door. They had a running start of perhaps one minute. The stairway was long and brought them a good three or four stories down. About halfway, Brett took his lightsaber and cut a hole in the structure making it extremely unstable.

– Be careful not to shift your weight to the side too much.

They arrived at the bottom and Drika was already in the stairway. Brett finished his job of breaking the bottom of the staircase. The structure broke down.

– She is going to go through that anyway, but it will slow her down. Do you have access to a ship?

– No. Webell has put that in the military's responsibility.

– Then we will head towards the Alderaanians and ask them for transport. We need to reach the spaceport where my ship is.

– I can't run at that pace much longer you know.

They ran again, Brett opening his mind to the Force and feeling Drika's shadow far above them, probably still at that stop over the staircase. They could breathe a little.

– Alright. Sit still for a minute. I will contact them.

He took out his Comlink and opened the frequency he had set up with the Alderaanian chief of security.

– Mr. Ho-Xin, is everything alright?

– Me, and a young girl I have under my protection, are running away from Drika. We need to reach the spaceport as fast as possible. Can you assist us?

– Of course. Send me your position through your Comlink.

Brett did quickly.

– Alright you're just a few minutes out of here. Near your current position as a staircase, go up…

– That will be a problem there is no staircase anymore…

– I see… Then at the end of the corridor there is an elevator that will take you up one level. The landing area will be to your left. I'll pick you up myself in a minute or two.

– A minute or two may be all we have so please hurry. Also, can you tell me I'll hide that elevator goes?

– Yeah (he was surprised by the question) it leads four levels up, same as the staircase.

– We better hurry then. Leave your Comlink open, we may have to alter our plans.

Neeah broke in:

– I hope she's not waiting for us in that elevator.

– She's not, not right now anyway. I can feel her still trying to use the stairs.

They ran through the corridor and opened the door to the elevator. To Neeah's delight, it was empty and they entered. Up one story, left to the landing area. They will wait for the ship here, he should be here any minute. As the elevator doors closed and started moving upwards, though, they both had a scary thought.

– We should've disabled it.

– It's her. Security? How long till you're here?

– I can see you I'm right there.

– "Go!" Brett ordered Neeah. He, however, went towards the elevator and tried to cut through the mechanism with his lightsaber. This would take too much time. The shuttle arrived, and Neeah boarded. Brett followed. The elevator door opened and Drika ran out of it. But she couldn't reach them in time. She closed her lightsaber in disgust.

– We made it!

Neeah exhaled.

– Patience, my own friend. We are not out of it yet. She can probably hijack another transport or alter the course of one that is passing by.

– How can she do that?

– The Force, Neeah. Drika is powerful with the dark side of the Force.

– But what is the Force?

– It's the Force that binds all living things together. It flows from life, yet it is life. Its strength is unparalleled, but it can become dangerous if, like Drika, you are tempted by the dark side.

– The dark side?

– Patience, Neeah. I will tell you all about the Force later on. Now, find your breath, we may have to run again.

This was the second time he had put her off in her questions, postponing the moment of his answer. Although she didn't like that, she had to admit that she felt good about her choice. Ho-Xin was a good man, she could feel it, and her gut had never failed her before.

The approach to spaceport. Brett felt now was not the time to tell her about the Force, her powers, the Jedi and the dark side. This is why he put an end to all these questions. If she doesn't know much about the Jedi, she must have a lot of questions indeed. And she'll have even more when he brings her to Dagobah.

They landed, and the security chief insisted on escorting them to Brett's ship. Brett could feel that Drika was approaching too. They walked towards the part of the spaceport were Brett and left a ship. Brett felt both Drika's nearing presence and an awkward feeling he did not like.

– Something is not right

– Is she here?

– Yes, she's on our tail. But that's not it.

They reached a ship, and he saw it right away:

– my ship has been sabotaged. We're going to need another ship to get out of here.

Security chief grimaced

– our ships are at the other spaceport, it would take a while.

– Get down!

Brett had yelled just at the instant before a battery of laser beams were shot towards them. Brett could only block a few with his quickly opened was a few hundred yards away in the laser Turret, shooting at them, more precisely shooting at Neeah. Brett figured it out: if she couldn't keep Neeah, she was trying to kill her.

– Quick, follow me, we need to get you undercover.

The security chief moved away, trying to get a better shooting angle at Tantrum. It was getting trickier. Besides the ship were barrels of fuel that exploded with every bolt that hit them. Tantrum was shooting too fast for Brett to deflect one bolt directly at him, and too many bolts for Brett to protect the barrels as well as themselves. One of the explosions pushed them apart, and Neeah was now a good 20 feet away from Brett, helpless in the middle of the yard so that Tantrum could shoot her before Brett could reach her and protect her with his lightsaber. Then the door at the other side opened and Drika came in. Brett hurried towards her. Tantrum shot at the cockpit of Brett's ship and the explosion prevented Brett from reaching her.

– She's mine!

Drika yelled as she ran for Neeah. The security chief managed a precise shot that hit Tantrum in the shoulder, knocking him away from his battery. Another shot at the controls rendered the weapon useless. Neeah was running away from Drika, but she would catch her any moment. On the other side, there was little Brett could do. Then he felt a warm feeling in the Force as Neeah was running towards one particular exit. As she reached for the door, Drika extended her arm and made her fall but when Drika approached the door it opened, and a purple lightsaber blade was standing in her way. She barely blocked the blow with her own crimson blade and fell on her back. The reinforcements Brett had called for had arrived in the form of Amirah Lozof, and he had just struck a serious blow to his nemesis, Drika. Brett rushed towards Neeah as Amirah approached the ship debris searching for Drika. Brett made sure Neeah was okay and safe. They heard a speeder busting through the area, knocking down the security chief and Drika emerged from the burning ship, her own face swelling with burned skin, jumping on the speeder piloted by Tantrum. Just like that she had escaped. Brett thought of following her, but he realized his priority should be to stay with Neeah.

– She's gone, and she won't come back. She… Took me by surprise Brett, she's gotten stronger, hasn't she?

Amirah looked worried.

– Yes, she has, but that's alright. At least Neeah here is safe, thanks to you.

– Then you must be Neeah? I'm Amirah.

– Yes, I am, and now Mr. Ho-Xin, can you answer my questions?

It had taken all the will she could muster to command the Jedi like that.

– It is quite simple my young friend. I've told you about the Force. Very few people have the possibility to feel and to use the Force. You are one of these lucky people, I know now. And I would like to convince you to become a Jedi Knight like us, to learn to use the Force, to serve a greater purpose.

– But… I…

– That's a complex decision I can appreciate that. At least, would you agree to come with us to Dagobah, to meet with the rest of the knights: Master Luke Skywalker and my former apprentice, Obu. Along the way I will tell you more about the life that would await you, and the choices that will be yours to make.

She now felt she was destined for a greater purpose. Was that it? It happened so fast. Actually, to find a greater purpose than serving Webell was not hard to do. As usual, it had served her so much before and had saved her life today, she would trust her instincts. It was all clear to her now.

– Yes, Master Ho-Xin, I would very much like to do that.