Chapter 8

Drake moved slowly round in circle as the extremely small remote droid floated around him. He blocked a small blaster shot at his thigh, and the training laser vaporised once it connected with his blue sabre.

Carth, Mission and Zaalbar were watching him in the cargo hold; while Bastila meditated away from him, her eyes closed, not opening them to any sound.

"How long til we reach Kashyyyk Carth?" Mission asked.

"Not long, just be patient…" Carth replied Drake blocked another three shots as they spoke. Carth was surprised at Drake's movements, at how cautious they were, there also seemed to be less confidence in them then usual. Bastila finished her meditations and opened her eyes to watch Drake practice his Shien form. Falcan had appeared in the doorway by this point. He'd put his trench coat on his bunk, along with his gloves. He was wearing just his dark scaled t-shirt and his dark red trousers along with his boots.

"Need a hand Drake?" Mission called.

"No its…" as Drake spoke, the droid fired at hit him in the back of the thigh. Drake flinched but laughed as did Carth, Bastila and Mission.

"You need to have more concentration Drake…" Bastila chided gently as Drake rubbed his thigh.

"Sorry but its difficult with people watching…" Drake answered, deactivating his sabre.

"What? A little self-conscious are we?" Carth said amused.

"Yeah I am actually…" Drake replied Carth raised his eyebrows as Mission suppressed a giggle.

"Try it again…" they all turned to Falcan in the doorway who approached Drake. He pulled out a length of black cloth from his pocket as he spoke, "but this time let go of your conscious self…" he covered Drake's eyes with it, despite Drake's protests and tied it at the back, "and act on your instincts…"

"But with a blindfold on, he can't even see, how the hell's he supposed to fight?" Carth asked incredulously. Bastila watched intently, this wasn't a Jedi lesson that much she could tell but it was something that may come in useful later on.

"Drake…be-wary of what your vision shows you…" Falcan instructed as he stepped away from Drake, "it can deceive you, so don't trust your eyes…feel …don't think: use your instincts" Drake inclined his head to the sound of Falcan's voice and nodded.

Drake re-activated his sabre, and this time remained still, as the training remote hovered around him. It fired again and it hit his arm. Drake growled slightly but relaxed quickly.

"Stretch out with your feelings…" Falcan said again. Drake took a deep breath and raised his sabre once more. The only two sounds heard was the remotes occasionally movements, and the hum of Drake's lightsabre. Drake suddenly moved his blade over his chest, almost a split second after he did so the remote fired again hitting the blade, Drake quickly blocked two other shots, one aimed of his left leg and the other for his right side.

"There…you can do it…" Falcan said as Drake removed the blindfold and switched off his lightsabre.

"I call it luck…" Carth muttered.

"Carth in my experience there's no such thing as luck" Falcan replied shortly.

"Look good against remotes is one thing, but good against the living is something else" Carth pointed out.

"And Drake has fought both…he fought defeated the Dark Jedi on Tatooine and killed a skilled Mandolorian Jedi killer on Dantooine, as well as subduing Juhani straight after that with no rest in between what does that tell you?" Falcan asserted, he had heard about the trials and battle's before Tatooine and he had a point. Carth couldn't respond and conceded defeat.

"Good point…I'm gonna check the cockpit" Carth replied as he stood and exited the cargo hold, Mission jumped up and went after him. Zaalbar his usual calm self, followed as well. Bastila stood also and looked at Falcan.

"An interesting lesson there Falcan…I'll keep it mind," she said with respect. Falcan gave a small bow, and Bastila exited as well.

"You know there was something…" Falcan looked at Drake "It's like I could see the remote" Falcan nodded.

"That's the beauty of being a Jedi, the force will act as your eyes on occasion, but at the same time you can't ignore your natural instinct, not what the force commands but what your brain tells you to do" Falcan explained. Drake laughed shortly.

"I can't be believe I'm getting Jedi training from a bounty hunter…" Drake stated.

"But like you said…" Falcan replied calmly "I'm no ordinary bounty hunter" As Falcan spoke, Drake became aware of his empty right hand, but it was the hand he was holding his lightsabre with. He looked down to see his lightsabre hilt hovering in front of him. He watched in complete amazement, as the inactive weapon slowly floated slowly into Falcan's waiting hand.

"You…you can…use the force?" Drake stammered, Falcan smiled softly as the sabre landed in his palm, and then floated back to Drake.

"Yes, a bit anyway, I can levitate things, and mask my presence as well as few other tricks"

"Like what?"

"Like this" it took Drake a moment to realise Falcan had spoken inside his head, Drake quickly raised his mental barriers.

"Don't worry I didn't read your thoughts, though I could have done if I wanted to…" Falcan reassured him. Drake nodded satisfied and re-clipped his sabre to his belt

"Drake…" Drake looked up to see Falcan's questioning gaze "your tattoo…" Drake looked down at it and sighed realising someone had finally figured it out. "It's…. the mark of a slave isn't it…?" Falcan spoke sympathetically. Drake swallowed and nodded.

"Yes…it is…"

"I thought so…you and I have something in common it seems" Drake looked up as for the first time he noticed Falcan possessed the very same tattoo Drake had on his right arm, on the same arm and it was identical.

"You're a Deralian?" Drake asked Falcan nodded.

"Yeah…and like you I was a slave…" Falcan said looking down at his tattoo "And I can't remove the mark that shows it…"

"How long?" Drake pressed.

"Until I was sixteen which was seven years ago…you?"

"Til I was six, then a republic commando found me, and took me back to Coruscant, and raised me, training me too then I was enrolled into the elite commando squads…" Drake replied.

"Commando and Jedi heh…" Falcan mused, "Now I have heard of everything…"

"What about you? What's your story?" Drake replied.

"Well…it's a long one if you've got the time"

"I've got time…" Falcan nodded and sat on the cargo hold shelf.

"Well to put it lightly, my childhood was not what you would call a happy one, my family struggled day-to-day just to put food on the table, they earned very little and the jobs they performed were very extreme often pushing them to their physical limits, when I turned seven I was branded with this mark…" Falcan inclined his head to his tattoo, "I worked ever since that day, cleaning floors, fixing speeders, washing plates you name it…but I didn't have to endure the physical labour my parents did…" Falcan sighed sadly and Drake felt the pain and grief emanating from the young bounty hunter.

"And eventually the labour became too much for my mother to handle, that and the beatings she received…. a couple of months before I turned sixteen she…. she was raped by one of my owners colleagues, in front of my father and a room full of people…. all of them just laughed and jeered even as she screamed and pleaded for help…" Falcan closed his eyes tightly then continued, "she continued to work for a month after that but eventually the physical and mental abuse took their toll, she collapsed while at work and died"

"I'm sorry…" Drake whispered.

"My father stayed by her side as she faded, he refused to work after she passed and it would be his undoing, my owner's son pulled a knife on him and stabbed him to death, stabbing at least fifteen times before…" Falcan trailed off here again "…I walked in just as he cut my fathers throat, I remember what he said to me 'I own you, that's the way it will always be, because you're nothing but trash like you're wretched parents'…" Drake felt himself hear those words as if they were being said to him.

"At the time I didn't even know how it happened…" Falcan muttered.

"How what happened?" Drake asked.

"I just rasied my hand, and the son just floated into the air, he began screaming in fear and then I clenched my fist. It was like he imploded, his entire body just broke, what happened? I used the dark side to kill him and his father…" Falcan stated bitterly

"His father?" Drake repeated Falcan nodded.

"That was a little more complicated, he walked in just as his son fell to the floor, I approached him and he began screaming at me, then he stopped and fell to the floor, crawling away from me…" Falcan frowned slightly as if in thought "I know I used the force to do, but I'm not entirely sure what I did…I just began thinking, praying he would die…slowly painfully like my parents had done. I just imagined this great black hand squeezing his heart, as I did he began gasping for breath and clutched his heart desperately and then he just fell limp and died…" Falcan mumbled the end slightly" Drake frowned too and sat down next to him.

"Subconsciously using the force to kill him…" Drake whispered, "That's well frightening…"

"And that's why I didn't seek out the Jedi, I was too afraid of doing something like that again. Eventually however… a Jedi found me and after awhile taught me to use the force to an extent, she said I had a natural connection to it, and it would be a shame if I didn't embrace it, she taught me the basics of how to manipulate the force and then left me to train myself…I never knew her name… after that I became a bounty hunter…" Falcan finished his story and Drake nodded and then smiled softly.

"For what it's worth Falcan…I don't judge you on your past, but who you are now…so I accept you for who you are…" Falcan smiled and nodded.

"Does anyone else know about you being a…?" Falcan asked Drake shook his head

"No…" Drake answered.

"I see, well sooner or later you'll have to tell someone…" Falcan pointed out.

"I know…if anyone it'll probably be Bastila…" Drake said.

"Why?" Falcan asked.

"Well…I don't really…its like she understands me better than anyone else, she may be a bit uptight sometimes but she's kind and gentle as well, there's just something about her…" Drake explained Falcan smirked slightly.

"Sounds to me you're rather attracted to her…" Falcan replied, "Dangerous ground to tread of you're a Jedi…"

"Maybe I am…but I haven't been a Jedi long…" Drake corrected "But I just need some time before I tell her…" Falcan nodded as Canderous appeared in the door.

"We're coming up Kashyyyk," he stated simply before disappearing again. As Canderous left a clatter sounded behind the two in the cargo hold. Drake and Falcan turned to see a small girl, no more than nine years old lying on the ground next to a fallen plasteel cylinder. Drake frowned as young girl looked up at him and curled up into a ball trembling. She whimpered slightly in fear as Drake slowly approached careful not to overwhelm her.

"Its ok…I'm not gonna hurt you…come on" he held his hand out to her, and she looked at it confused "come on…its all right…" she reached out timidly and took his hand, he gently helped to her feet. "What's you're name?" she looked at him again confused and spoke. Drake blinked, as he didn't understand what she had just said.

"Those words were mandolorian…"Falcan murmured as he too approached.

"I know but they're backwards or mixed up…" Drake replied he pointed to himself "My name's Drake…you are?" the girl looked at him before saying her name was Sasha.

The two young men spent over half-an hour trying to learn Sasha's unquie dialect. However after much patience Drake learned it enough to communicate with her. He was able to learn she came from Dantooine and was kidnapped by mandolorian's and raised by them. After escaping them she hid on the Ebon Hawk and now considered it her home. Drake told Sasha she could stay for the mean time, to which she seemed to be ecstatic about and hugged him before hurrying into her little den.

"Well that was…different" Falcan mused as they left Sasha to her own devices.

"Sure was…nice little distraction though" Drake replied

"Yeah it was…Falcan agreed.

"Duty calls…ready?" Drake asked.

"Just say the word…" Falcan replied as he went to his bunk to retrieve his equipment.

Drake made his way into the cockpit just as the Ebon Hawk exited hyperspace over the lush forest world of Kashyyyk, home of the Wookies.

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