Sorry for taking so long with the update...Enjoy and R&R!

Chapter 5: Converted

Everything after that happened rather fast. Someone had seen the fight and Dayne getting stabbed and immediately called the police. The ambulance also came and put Dayne in a black bag and took him away. They also took Rayceer and the police said he would be put under arrest. Brak, Skess and Alessa were taken to the police station for further questioning.

"We know you're upset, darling," the police officer who was interviewing her privately said, "But tell me what happened from the beginning."

And Alessa explained. Unfortunately, she had to mention the races, which probably meant anyone down there would be arrested and charged for illegal activity. She told how Brak won the race and how Rayceer, who always won, got very angry. They left, Rayceer followed and then got into a fight.

The whole time, the policeman listened and nodded. After she finished, the policeman spoke, "Your parents have been called and you will probably have to pay a fine for being involved in these races."

Alessa was going to be grounded for life.

When her parents came they looked tired, worried and upset. Alessa didn't blame them. The policeman talked to her parents privately and Alessa fell asleep on a chair beside Brak, whose brother was still yet to arrive.

Alessa looked around where she was. It appeared to be a medcenter. There was a man, or maybe it was a robot? He was covered in black…armour? Well, a suit of some sort. He was on a stretcher and she heard a familiar mechanical breathing started. The bed?...stretcher?...whatever he was laying on lifted up vertically.

"Lord Vader, can you hear me?" someone said. Alessa looked to her right, she hadn't noticed him before. It was a man. He wore a hood, so that she couldn't see his whole face, but the part she did see looked very wrinkly.

"Yes master. Where is Padme…is she alright? Is she safe?" the…man? Asked in a deep, terrifying voice. Alessa could feel through the Force that it might be Anakin. But it couldn't be! Could it?

"It seems that in your anger you killed her,"

"I…I couldn't have, she was alive! I felt it!"

Then, the man, Anakin…no it was his monster self, Darth Vader, Alessa could only describe that he was having a Force induced tantrum. Droids were being wrecked along with other things in the room without anyone touching them. He freed himself from the stretcher, stumbled forward and wailed, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO."

It was disturbing. Alessa could feel his heart breaking. However, the thing that disturbed Alessa the most was the evil smirk that the wrinkled man had on his face. Had he planned it all?

"Alessa!"

Alessa immediately sat up, once again panting hard. Calon was sitting at the end of her bed.

"Calon?" she asked.

"Are you okay?" he whispered, "You looked like you were having a nightmare."

She gave her brother a hug, "I'm okay," she whispered back. Why were they whispering?

"You sure? Was it about Dayne?"

Suddenly, she remembered everything that had happened.

"How did I get to my own bed? I was at the police station-,"

"Mum and dad brought you home. They're worried about you, but they're not very angry. They don't know why they never noticed you sneaking out."

"I…Dayne's dead," was all Alessa could say, her eyes stung from unshed tears.

"Yeah, it could have been you," Calon said, "and the last thing we did was argue."

"I'm sorry Calon, for not believing you about something weird going on," Alessa said.

"No, you're right," Calon said, "it was probably just a stupid dream."

"No, it wasn't, it was a vision," Alessa said, "I just had another one."

"Another one? About what?"

"There was…Anakin, he turned into Darth Vader," Alessa said, remembering what Luke had told her, "A Sith, the dark side, there was someone else there too."

"Darth Vader? Sith? Dark Side?" Calon asked, "I think you've been through too much. Are you sure, you like, didn't get hit too hard by the guy that killed Dayne or anything?"

"Dayne…" Alessa said quietly, she got out of bed. "Rayceer killed him, that…" she felt anger swelling through her, "I hate him!" she said, "I want to kill him! I want to slaughter people just like him!" She started to shout, "I WILL SLAUGHTER HIM MYSELF! I WILL STRANGLE HIM AND-,"

"Alessa! Calm down!" Calon said.

"No!" She felt the tears spring out of her eyes, "No!" she said again and started shaking her head. She ran out of her room and downstairs.

"Alessa!" Her brother called after her, but she already ran out of the house and started going down the street (bare feet, she noticed, but still in the clothes she had been wearing during the murder). Tears flowed down her cheeks and she was crying loudly. She could have saved him! Why couldn't she? Wasn't she Force sensitive? What's the point of becoming a Jedi if she couldn't save one of her best friends?

"Alessa," A familiar voice said sorrowfully.

Alessa turned around to face Luke, "I…I didn't save him! I…I could have!"

Luke looked at her with soft, sad eyes like he had been through something like this before, "It's reality, Alessa. You can't save everyone."

"But, I should! I could! I'm Force sensitive! Maybe if I were a Jedi I could have!"

"Alessa, my father couldn't save his mother or my mother. I couldn't save my father, Obi-Wan, Yoda or many of others. I wish I could have, but even if I am powerful, I know I'm not powerful enough to defeat death. Dayne is one with the Force now," Luke explained.

"What do you mean 'one with the Force'?"

"When you die, you become part of the Force. You're still alive in a sense, but in a different realm," Luke said.

"So...Can Dayne come and visit me as a ghost?" Alessa asked hopefully.

"No, unfortunately. However, I can pass on messages he gives me to tell you," Luke said.

"He gave you a message?" Alessa asked, she had stopped crying.

Luke smiled, "He sure did. After I explained about how you can bring back the order, he said that you should go to Yavin IV. He also asked me to tell you not to turn to the dark side, and not to be angry and hateful."

"But, it's so hard not to be angry," Alessa said.

"I know, but if you forget about Rayceer and remember that Dayne's in a better place then you can do this. I've seen too many Skywalker's turn to the dark side. I don't want it to happen again."

Alessa nodded, "Okay, I think I know a way of getting to Yavin."

Luke smiled, "Good luck," he said as he faded.

Alessa realised she was still barefoot on the streets, and headed straight home. She noticed her father coming down the street towards her.

"Alessa! Thank goodness! Calon said you ran straight out of the house!" He gave her a hug.

"I'm fine dad, I just…wasn't thinking. I'm sorry too, for everything."

"It's okay, Lessie," her father said and hugged her tighter, "I'm just glad you're okay."

He stopped hugging her and they both set off back home.

"Your mother and I were discussing how much time you needed off school."

"I don't know…I-,"

"Do you need to see a counselor?" her father interrupted.

"No," Alessa said, "When is Dayne's funeral?"

"I got a message from his uncle. It's tomorrow."

"I want to go to that," Alessa said, "I…I just want to get out of here."

"Running away never helps anything," her father said.

"No, not run away…maybe…a holiday?" Alessa asked.

"In the middle of term?"

"I doubt I will be able to concentrate at school anyway," Alessa said.

"Well, we're sort of tight on money, but-,"

"I was thinking," Alessa interrupted, "I could go with Brak, his brother and Skess," Alessa said, "Brak has a ship, it wouldn't cost anything."

"I don't know," her father said, sounding wary.

"Dad, I can look after myself. I've managed for half a year in the slums of Coruscant…without you knowing," She added the last part sheepishly, then pleaded, "But I still can!"

"I'll talk to your mother," her father said.

"Thanks," Alessa said. After all, it was better than 'no'.

When they got home her mother gave her a hug and father talked to her mother about the 'holiday'.

"How old is this Brak?" her mother asked Alessa once her father explained what was happening.

"17. His brothers older, somewhere in his 20's, I think," Alessa replied.

"You wouldn't get in trouble with the Government?" Her mother asked.

"No," Alessa lied, knowing full well that they could be stopped by space police because they would be smuggling something.

"How long have you known Brak?"

"A while," Alessa lied again. She knew Brak wasn't a bad person, the Force said so.

"And they have a ship?" her mother asked.

"Yes, so it wouldn't cost money."

"and where would you go?"

"Yavin," Alessa replied.

"That gas planet?" her father asked.

"As in, Yavin IV," Alessa replied, "one of its moons."

"I hear it's a good place to go camping," Calon butted in.

"Well, if Brak and his brother say you can go, you can," her mother said, "but you better call us often."

"Thank you!" Alessa said. She thought her parents would have already grounded her and immediately said no, but perhaps they were being easy on her?

She went up to her room. She didn't have Brak's comlink number, but she hoped he would be at the funeral, after all Dayne had saved him.

She dialled in Skess' number and waited for her friend to answer.

"Hey," Skess said, looking pretty depressed.

"Hey Skess," Alessa said, "I know you're upset, so am I, but listen to this," And Alessa went on and explained everything to Skess, from her visions, to Luke, to her holiday plan. Everything.

"So you're saying, we should go to Yavin IV to find a something a rather holo thingo, cause some ghost told you to? I don't know, Alessa. You do sound like you need to go to an Asylum. Sounds kinda dodgy."

"Come on, Skess! Dayne said I should!"

"You told Dayne your plan?" she asked.

"No, Luke told him, and Luke sent a message to me telling me that Dayne had told him to tell me that he wanted me to go to Yavin IV and become a Jedi."

Skess just looked at her for a while, not convinced, but then said, "Alright, as long as Brak and whoever his brother is say that we can use their ship. Okay. I think I will have to check with dad. He's pretty depressed after he found out I had been sneaking out without him realising. He thinks he's a bad father."

"Tell him otherwise," Alessa said, "good luck."

"Bye," Skess said and cut the connection.

Alessa sat at her desk feeling rather lonely, when she felt Luke appear again.

"What's up?" Alessa asked.

"I just wanted to give you some Jedi training before your mission, so you can understand the Force and Jedi better," Luke explained.

"Like what?" Alessa asked.

"Such as, Jedi only fight as a last resort," Luke said, "If you are forced to draw your lightsaber, you have already forfeited much of your advantage. A Jedi trusts the Force and at first seeks other ways to resolve problems: patience, logic, tolerance, attentive listening, negotiation, persuasion, calming techniques. But there are times when a Jedi must fight."

"Fighting is a last resort, got it. What's a lightsaber?"

"A Jedi's weapon. More civilised than a blaster," Luke explained.

"Is it like a sword?" Alessa asked.

Luke gave a curt nod.

"I saw the vision where Anakin and Obi-Wan took out some blue swords."

"Yes, those were lightsabers. They can cut through many different materials, except for a few. They also come in many different colours. Sith tend to use red, and Jedi use green and blue, although there are different shades."

"Awesome," Alessa said, "So where do you get a lightsaber from?"

"You make your own once you're ready," Luke said.

"Make your own?" Alessa asked, slightly scared and rather confused.

"Yes, you need to meditate to find out how to make it, but let's talk more about it later. There are three pillars of Jedi Strength: Self-Discipline, knowledge and the Force."

Alessa nodded, understanding why they were the pillars, "Self-Discipline, so you don't turn to the dark side. Knowledge, which I don't have much of and the Force is pretty obvious why," Alessa said.

"You will gain more knowledge later, don't worry about that," Luke told Alessa, "Remember Jedi are selfless and think of others before themselves."

"Can you teach me to do something with the Force?" Alessa asked

"You should learn to control it first," Luke suggested, "sit down in a comfortable position and clear your mind. Feel the Force flowing through you, and around you."

With that, Luke was gone. This annoyed Alessa slightly, but remembered self-discipline and squashed that feeling down. She went over to sit on her bed, crossed her legs and closed her eyes. She cleared her mind and wondered how and what she was meant to be feeling. She felt a little stupid sitting there, but continued anyway.

She felt like she had sat there for at least an hour, but when she looked at her chronometer it had only been a few minutes. Then, she got an idea.

Alessa got up from her bed and went out into the backyard. She searched for a while, deciding to try and not take too long as the sun would start to set soon. She then found what she was looking for. A long stick. Perfect for pretending it was a sword, or in this case, a lightsaber.

"Alessa, what are you doing?" Her brother came outside.

"Can you throw some small rocks at me?" Alessa asked her brother.

"Why?" He asked.

"Please please please. I want to try something," she said to him.

"If you really want to. Let me just find some first," he said.

"I'll help," she said.

They looked for a few minutes and got a rather large pile of them.

"Perfect," Alessa said and went to stand a couple of meters away.

Calon picked up a few, "tell me when you're ready."

Alessa cleared her mind, and when she thought she was ready, she nodded.

Calon threw one of the rocks at her, and she used the stick to bash it away.

"Throw it harder and faster," she told her brother.

"I don't know…I might hurt you."

"Please Calon, let's not get into an argument."

"Okay," he said.

He threw the next one really hard and it went really fast. She managed to hit it away with the stick. He threw another one, but she missed and it hit her on the leg.

"Ouch!"

"Sorry!" Calon said, "Are you okay?"

Alessa crouched and looked at her leg, "I'm fine," she said, "Just a small bruise. Keep going."

'Close your eyes,' Alessa heard Luke say. Alessa frowned, but then closed them.

"What are you doing?" Calon asked.

'clear your mind,' Luke said.

"Keep going," she told Calon.

He threw another stone at her, which she blocked.

"Throw them a lot faster, like one after the other at different spots," Alessa said.

Calon did as she said, and managed to block them all…with her eyes closed.

"Wow," Calon said, "that was awesome! How did you do that?"

Alessa smiled at her brother, "Magic," she said cheekily.

She then heard a 'congratulations, you've just taken your first step into a larger world.'

"Whatever you say, Luke," she whispered quietly so Calon wouldn't hear, "whatever you say."

She smiled to herself. It did feel pretty good.

Calon kept asking her how she had done it, but Alessa just kept shaking her head and refused to. Calon didn't get too annoyed and just punched her playfully in the arm saying she was mean.

When Calon went into the garage, her father came out.

"What are you going to wear to the funeral?" her father asked.

Alessa, even though she was still sad about Dayne's death, couldn't help but feel happier after Luke came and told her he still lived through the Force. She told Skess that and hopefully her friend felt the same.

"I'm just going to be casual. That's what Dayne would have wanted," she said.

Her father nodded, "Go get some sleep, you still look tired."

"I need a shower too," she said, "I'm still wearing these dirty clothes."

"Maybe you can help me clean the speeder and I can hose you down?" her father joked.

Alessa laughed, "I think I'll decline."

Her father shrugged, "tell me if you change your mind."

Alessa didn't reply. She decided to have a shower, and then changed into her pyjamas and went to bed. However, she couldn't fall asleep. It was too early to go to sleep, but considering what happened last night she knew that maybe she couldn't. She was also worried about any more visions she would have.

"Aaarrghhh!" It was Luke! A young Luke and there was Vader. It looked as if Vader had just cut of Luke's hand with a lightsaber.

"There is no escape. Don't make me destroy you," Vader said. Luke crawled as far away from him as possible. Weren't they father and son? What was happening?

"Luke, you do not realise your importance. You have only just begun to discover your power. Join me and I can complete your training. With our combined strength we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy!"

Alessa personally thought that sounded pretty good.

"I'll never join you!" Luke replied. Did he just throw the galaxy away?

"If you only knew the power of the dark side. Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father." That explained why they appeared as though they were fighting.

"He told me enough. He told me you killed him!"

"No! I am your father!"

Luke looked like the world was coming to an end. "No…no, that's not true! That's impossible!"

"Search your feelings; you know it to be true."

"No! No!" Luke cried, anguished.

Everything went dark again and Alessa heard a woman crying.

She opened her eyes. This time her breathing was steady, she was getting used to waking up from visions. She got out of bed and got dressed into black clothes. A long black shirt, black jeans, and she put on her usual metallic looking boots. She brushed her tangled, brown hair. She went downstairs for breakfast.

"Morning Alessa," Calon said, he held out a box of Fun Colour Rabbit Nibble cereal. Alessa took it gratefully.

"Mum was called in early this morning to work, and dad said he had to finish fixing some guys car by this afternoon and would've done it yesterday, but, you know, what happened."

"Yeah," Alessa replied, "Pass the milk?"

Calon gave her the milk which she poured into the cereal. The blue milk changed the colour of some of the yellow cereal into green. Some ended up being half green and half yellow. She put the milk back into the fridge.

She joined her brother at the table.

"Do you want me to come to the funeral with you?" Calon asked.

Alessa frowned, "you weren't invited…"

"We were all invited," Calon pointed out, "Mum and dad never met him. I talked to him a few times, remember?"

Alessa remembered all too clearly. Dayne sometimes came to see them after school and Calon would be there. They sometimes went on about some comics.

"Well if you want to come, then come," Alessa said, "If you want to pay your respects. You don't have to ask me."

Calon nodded, "then I'm coming."

"It might get boring," Alessa warned him.

Calon just shrugged in reply, "I want to pay my respects."

Alessa started the speeder as soon as Calon jumped in. He was also dressed casually, but still neatly.

They were silent the whole way and they arrived at the Coruscant Funeral Grounds. They both got out of the speeder, looking at the lush green landscape of the cemetery.

"Alessa, Calon, glad you came!" It was Zek, Alessa had only met him a handful of times. He looked like he'd been crying.

Alessa smiled at him, "wouldn't miss it, Zek." She shook one of his hands and Calon shook one of his other hands (Zek was a Besalisk, so he had four).

"Skess is already here," Zek said, he pointed to a church, "that's where the funeral is being held."

Alessa frowned at the sight of the church. She always disliked the religious gatherings. There were many different religions, but the main one in the Core Worlds (and starting to spread throughout the galaxy) was Gukas. The followers of Gukas worshipped one deity who created the whole galaxy. It was a lot of bantha-spit in Alessa's opinion.

Alessa and Calon headed over to the church, Alessa a step behind Calon. Zek stayed where he was, waiting for others to arrive. Alessa and Calon went up the front steps and entered the church.

"Alessa!" Skess said. She hadn't looked like she'd been crying, but Alessa could feel her grief.

Skess gave Alessa a hug and wouldn't let her go for a few seconds. "Hey Calon," Skess said, "Didn't think you'd come."

"Well, I did," Calon said.

They didn't say anything for a couple of minutes and Zek finally entered the church and people started to take their seats.

"Come on," Skess said and took Alessa and Calon to some seats.

Alessa looked around and noticed there weren't too many people there. She did recognise some of them. Some from the races, and others were regular customers at the comic book store. She then spotted Brak at the back with some big buff guy who was probably his brother.

The funeral dragged slowly and Alessa noticed that Skess had started crying again. Once all the speeches finished people stood up and went to talk to Zek. Alessa got up and went to the back to talk to Brak.

She noticed him turn around about to leave, "Brak!" she called out. He stopped and faced towards her, so did his brother.

"What's up, Alessa?" he asked.

"I need you to do me a huge favour!" Alessa said, "Something Dayne wants me to do."

"What is it?" Brak asked.

"Can you take me to Yavin IV?" Alessa asked

"With my ship? I don't think so!" Brak's brother cut in before Brak could say anything.

Brak rolled his eyes, "this is my brother, Baven," he said to Alessa and then turned to his brother, "it's our ship and if Alessa needs to be taken to Yavin IV, then we'll take her," he turned back to Alessa, "Anyone else coming?"

"Just Skess," she replied. Just as she said that Skess came up.

"Asking about Yavin?" Skess asked Alessa.

Alessa nodded in reply.

"Still don't like it," Baven replied gruffly.

At first sight, Alessa wouldn't believe that Brak and Baven were related. They didn't look much alike. Whilst Brak was average height and slightly muscular, his brother was pretty tall and very buff. Baven also had light brown hair, but styled similarly to Brak. Baven also had very hard features, unlike Brak who had somewhat softer features. The only similarity was their eyes. They both had the same astonishing grey eyes. They also smelled the same, but Alessa wasn't sure if that was a genetic thing.

"Come on, Baven, they're not that bad," Brak said to his brother.

"They're stupid city brats," his brother said.

"I'll show you stupid city brat!" Alessa said angrily.

"Hey!" Skess said, "Not here, it's Dayne's funeral. Come on, let's go outside."

They all walked outside. Alessa gave Baven a dirty look

"Why do you have to go to Yavin IV?" Brak asked.

"I need to find a Jedi Holocron," Alessa replied.

Brak stared at her blankly.

"You don't need to know what it is," Alessa said, realising she wasn't quite sure what it was herself.

"I don't care what it is," Baven said, "but if you want to go to Yavin, it's gonna cost."

"Baven!" Brak exclaimed, he then turned to the girls, "ignore him. You won't have to pay."

Baven rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Do you have a problem or something?" Skess asked, her anger coming out. Alessa didn't see Skess angry that much.

"My problem is you, Princess," Baven said pointing at Skess, "you're gonna come along and destroy my ship!"

"They're not going to destroy the ship," Brak says, "they're sensible enough."

"And they can't touch my Corellian Whisky either," Baven said and pointed a finger at his brother.

"We don't drink," Alessa said.

"Do you know what part of the planet this holocron is?" Brak asked.

"Uhh…" Alessa had no idea. Why couldn't Luke have given a little more information?

"Wow? Seriously? You don't even know where to go?" Baven said.

"Oh just shut up!" Skess said.

Baven glared at Skess. She glared back.

'It's at the ruins of an ancient Jedi Praxeum.'

"It's at the ruins of an Ancient Jedi Praxeum," Alessa echoed.

"and…where is that?" Brak asked.

Alessa could only shrug.

'The Massassi Temple.'

"The Massassi Temple," Alessa repeated again.

"I know where that is," Baven said, "read about it once in the holonet."

"Why didn't you say Massassi Temple in the first place?" Alessa whispered to Luke.

"What did you say?" Brak asked Alessa.

"Nothing," Alessa replied.

"Okay, we can take you there," Baven said, "Now? Or…"

"Sometime today would be good. Where's your ship?" Alessa asked.

"You know where Zek's comic store is?" Brak asked.

Alessa and Skess nodded.

"It's in the docking bay near there, you know where it is?"

"Yep," Alessa said, Skess nodded.

"Good, docking bay 94," Brak said, "meet you there, 1500?"

"Docking Bay 94 at 1500. That's fine," Alessa said.

"Fine with you, Princess?" Baven asked Skess.

"Just fine," Skess replied icily, once again glaring at him.

"Okay," Brak said, "I'll see you guys then?"

"Absolutely," Alessa replied, "come on Skess."

The two girls went back inside of the church.