Chapter II: The Mists of Dagobah
"There's nothing wrong, Artoo," Luke told his astromech droid, fingers flying over the navigation computer. "I'm just setting a new course. We're not going to regroup with the others." He paused, reading Artoo's exclamation on the control panel. "We're going to the Dagobah system."
"And I'm coming with you," a female voice broke in over the fighter-to-fighter comm. It took him a moment, but he realised it was the pilot who'd joined the Rogues at the last moment. Rogue Twelve.
"You need to rendezvous with the others," Luke told her. "I'll see you at Haven."
The girl was silent for a moment, and Luke thought she must be taking his words to heart. However, she piped up again. "It's too long a story to tell. I need to come with you to Dagobah. To see Yoda."
Yoda? How does she know about Yoda?
However she knew, that didn't matter now. If she knew about Yoda, then she was important somehow to the Rebel Alliance. "Well, all right then. What's your name? I'm Luke Skywalker."
"I know." He detected amusement in her voice. "Favourite target of Darth Vader. My name's Jaina." She did not offer up a surname, but Luke decided not to press the matter. Somehow her dry humour reminded him of Han, whose current whereabouts he did not know — nor Leia's. He'd seen the Millennium Falcon take off with TIE fighters in hot pursuit, and Han would not risk going to the rendezvous if the Imperials were on his tail.
After checking with Jaina that the coordinates for the Dagobah system were in her navigation computer, the two fighters veered away from the Hoth system on their way to meet the Jedi Master.
Their landing had been eventful, Luke reflected. The atmosphere was thickly shrouded with heavy mist, so much so that even scanning equipment could not pick up hazards and objects in their way. It was a mercy he and Jaina had come down onto a soft lake-bed rather than solid ground. Not even Jedi could survive a crash on solid ground from atmospheric entry.
They sat on crates beside a small lantern, which Artoo was hooked up to. After his fall into the mud, the droid was once again in high spirits, rocking back and forth on his legs and swivelling the dome of his body with much enthusiasm. Jaina's R2 was back with the fighters, keeping watch. They'd agreed it would be too confusing to have two R2-D2s.
Although… when they'd waded to shore, Luke swore he'd heard Jaina call the droid Arfour. There was no way he'd heard her correctly. R3s weren't even off the manufacturing line, let alone R4s. R4s didn't even exist.
"So… why are you here to see Yoda?" She bit into a ration bar, grimacing at the taste. "A bit out of the way, isn't it? Especially for the leader of the Rogues."
He shrugged. How could he explain it? "I was sent here, by my old Jedi Master." A twinge of pain slashed through him, and he winced. "He died three years ago, but my training wasn't finished. There was another Master in hiding. Here."
The female pilot's chocolate-brown eyes scanned their surroundings. "Pretty weird, thinking that a Jedi Master would retire here. This place isn't much to speak of."
"It's probably the reason he came here, to be honest. Do you—" he hesitated. The girl before him wasn't someone he was familiar with, but if she had come to see Yoda she must know the history of the Jedi at least. "Order 66 forced him into exile."
Her face was grim. "The Jedi Purges."
"Unexpected, they were." Both Luke and Jaina swung around to see a little green elf in tan-coloured robes, leaning on a miniature walking-stick, standing on one of their crates, blinking owlishly at them. His ears were pointy and his eyes large and round.
Luke lunged forward. "Get off there. That's our rations."
The elf sidestepped mildly. "Lived here without your rations for years, I have. Calm, young Skywalker."
"You're Yoda!" Jaina breathed, awed. Luke simply stared at the elf. If the pilot was right, they were in the presence of one of the galaxy's most famed and most powerful Jedi. The Jedi Grand Master.
"I — I am sorry, Master," he stammered out. "I was not aware."
"Forgive you, I do. No room for grudges, is there." The Jedi Master hopped off the crate, waddling in the direction opposite to the starfighters. "Come with me, you must. Fire. Warmth." His voice floated back to the two Rebels still standing in the clearing. Resigned, Luke and Jaina exchanged a glance, before Jaina shrugged and moved to unplug Artoo.
Ten standard minutes later they were ducking to get inside a small igloo fashioned from bark, Artoo in tow. Yoda was already within, stirring a pot which looked remarkably big for so small a being to handle. Nervously, Luke and Jaina took their seats by a small table barely clearing their knees. After finishing his ministrations, Yoda joined them, sitting opposite and watching them with his appraising stare.
There was a rustling sound outside the small igloo, and Jaina's violet saber was out and lit before she knew it, her breath coming in short, sharp bursts, her body primed for defence. Yoda chuckled.
"The Force is strong with this one. Not so quick, young Jedi. Nothing to see on Dagobah, is there."
Luke stared at the girl. "You're a Jedi?" He hadn't seen her saber before; in truth, he hadn't thought to look at her belt. It was pretty clear that he was the last of the Jedi… but perhaps not.
Sheepishly, Jaina hooked her saber back onto her belt, retaking her seat, her gaze flicking between Luke and Yoda. "I suppose I'd better tell you my story, then."
The old Jedi Master rose to rekindle the fire, saying over his shoulder, "Please, young Jedi. Enlighten us."
"Settle in. This'll be a long story." Jaina took a deep breath. "My name is Jedi Knight Jaina Solo. I was born in 9 ABY on Coruscant to Han Solo and his wife." When Luke started, she added, "I know, I know. My mother is Force-sensitive, and so is my uncle. They're both Jedi. My brothers and myself are Jedi Knights of the New Republic." A shadow crossed her face. "Were. My youngest brother is one with the Force."
"Sorry to hear that, I am," said Yoda gently. "From the future, are you? Hmm. Always in motion, the future is." His large eyes came to rest on Luke. "A New Republic, there is. A New Jedi Order, there is. Have hope."
Jaina ventured, "I know Luke Skywalker — the you of the future, that is. He always calls himself 'the last of the old, and the first of the new.' He founded the Order."
The subsequent pride that washed through the Force from Yoda brought a smile to both Luke and Jaina's faces. Then she said quietly, "I don't know why I was sent back. At home, they call me the Sword of the Jedi. It's what I was named upon my Knighting at eighteen, and the name has stuck."
Yoda's face became troubled. "What you were told, tell me."
Her chocolate-brown eyes fixing on the fire behind the Jedi Master, Jaina recited impassively, "'I name you Sword of the Jedi. You are like tempered steel, purposeful and razor-keen. Always you shall be in the front rank, a burning brand to your enemies, a brilliant fire to your friends. Yours is a restless life, and never shall you know peace, though you shall be blessed for the peace that you bring to others. Take comfort in the fact that, though you stand tall and alone, others take shelter in the shadow that you cast."
Reciting Luke's words of several years earlier still reminded Jaina of the disastrous fallout from the Myrkr mission. Only Anakin, out of the three Solo children, had not attained Knighthood. The Force had claimed him for its own before that could happen. The three rising notes of the trumpet, calling the newly-branded Jedi Knights to their destiny, reminded her of an ode to the fallen.
She raised her head and looked at both of her companions. Her uncle looked stunned, whilst Yoda's green face was indecipherable. Finally, the old Jedi Master said, "A burden, that is. However, manage it you will. I sense it in the Force. Stand with you, the Order does."
"Thank you, Master." Jaina offered him another weak smile. "It has been hard."
Yoda turned to Luke. "Come here for training, you did. Train you, I will. But be patient, you must."
This was meant to happen. Uncle Luke had told Jaina the story of his instruction on Dagobah, and Yoda's reluctance to take him under his wing. Jaina knew, although neither of her companions did not, that Uncle Luke would leave here with his training unfinished and would face his father unprepared. Here, Uncle Luke was the only one not aware of his true ancestry.
He finds out in… a month? It's going to be rough.
Somewhere, somehow, Yoda had sourced for Jaina a remote to train with. Since jumping backwards in time, her skills needed work. Flying was the only thing she'd done recently, and her lightsaber needed to become comfortable in her hand again.
She stood at the edge of the swamp, saber in one hand, flight helmet tucked under the other arm and resting on her hip, the remote hovering before her. Several hundred metres away, Uncle Luke was attempting to use his mind to lift R2-D2, who was beeping nervously. It was odd, seeing her uncle so bereft of the skill she knew he possessed. For the first time, she was more experienced and higher ranked than he, and it was a disconcerting thought.
Shaking her head, Jaina shook her brown hair out and slid on her flight helmet, flipping down the opaque visor which was built-in to protect her eyes from foreign objects. Her thumb toggled the button on her lightsaber handle, and it came to life with a snap-hiss. For a second she closed her eyes, then shook her head impatiently and opened them again. What was the point with an opaque visor?
Once again, as she had done back on Hoth, she allowed the Force to surround her and overwhelm her. Yoda's calm, steadying voice faded as she focused, trying to find the bright spot that was the remote. Her lightsaber was held out before her, both hands gripping the handle. She was home.
The bright spot moved, and she followed it; it darted again, and she sensed the zap before it came, her lightsaber leaping to deflect it. The very first time she'd played this game had been on Yavin IV at the Jedi Praxeum set up by her uncle. She and her twin had been ten, in their second week at the Academy, and she still remembered Jacen's howl the first time the remote struck him.
She hissed now as a zap touched her wrist. Distraction was never a good thing. It led to fallacies, and fallacies were the path to the Dark Side.
Grandmother was Vader's fallacy. His distraction. His love for her blinded him to Palpatine's true nature. Saving her was his one goal, and he was easy bait for Darth Sidious.
Jaina slashed again, blocking another zap. It was getting easier with each passing second to fall back into her old training methods. Another parry, and she reached out with one hand, using the Force to manipulate the switch on the remote and turn it off.
As she pushed her visor up, blinking to accommodate for the change in light sensitivity, she saw Uncle Luke now attempting to levitate a stern Yoda atop R2-D2, and she stifled a laugh. Yoda may be the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy, but he's a pretty comical character sitting on Artoo.
"I have to go." Uncle Luke's voice, although stern, wavered ever so slightly. "They're my friends."
"Unprepared are you," Yoda said gently. "Unfinished, is your training."
"I'll come back," her uncle swore. "I'll come back and finish my training, Master. I promise. But I must go now."
The Jedi Grand Master sighed. "Very well." He gestured for Jaina to approach him, leaving Uncle Luke to prepare his fighter for takeoff. "Lose sight of your goal, do not, Sword of the Jedi," he told Jaina. "Remember the Skywalker in you, you must." Jaina reeled, stunned. The Jedi Master knew about her and who she was. "Do not look so surprised. 900 years have I had to study the ways of the Force."
"I won't forget," Jaina promised him. "Thank you for training me. I needed it."
Giving Yoda a quick nod, she made tracks for her own fighter, resting beside Luke's. Her own R2 droid was already established, running the scanning codes to check that the fighter was in working order. She swung herself into the cockpit, lowering it with one hand while her other rammed her helmet on.
"Ready to go?" Uncle Luke's voice crackled through the comm.
"Ready as I'll ever be," she replied, starting up the engine. "To Cloud City?"
"You're coming with me?" There was an element of surprise in his tone, and Jaina realised that her uncle had been wondering what her course of action would be.
Jaina looked sideways, staring through the transparisteel of their cockpits, and found him looking directly back at her. Her uncle. "Of course. You'll need all the help you can get."
"Right. Let's go."
And with that, the two fighters lifted off, turning as they shot up into the misty sky of Dagobah. Far below, Jedi Master Yoda watched, his expression unreadable.
"Think they will succeed, do you?"
Obi-Wan Kenobi stood by a large tree, the shimmer evident about his Force-ghost. "Luke is not yet fully trained, and the shock will be great. Jaina, however… she shows signs of having survived a brush with the Dark Side. She will hold her own."
The Sword of the Jedi quote is taken directly from Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Destiny's Way by Walter Jon Williams (Del Rey Books, 2002).