Chapter 4
Jacen stopped at the threshold of Master Skywalker's office with mixed feelings. Five years passed since he had seen his former instructor and uncle, as had countless lessons in the Force. Sometimes he found himself wondering if he knew more than his uncle, who generally limited himself to Jedi techniques, and what Luke would say to his new Master status. Jacen had essentially gone over his uncle by learning from the spirits of the Jedi Masters that had come to him during his five-year journey, and had been given his rank by Master Yoda himself. While Master Skywalker's self proclamation of Mastery had not sat well with some, it was a necessary stepping stone for rebuilding the Order. One might say, by earning his rank from Yoda – or any non-corporeal Jedi Master of the Old Jedi Order – Jacen now outranked Luke. However, Jacen was neither here to take over the Jedi Order or to get in an argument about rank. He did not care if Luke decided to rank him as a Jedi Youngling, so long as he was listened to. The Jedi Order needed to mobilize to find Soora Bulq, and where Luke went, the Order followed. That, at least, was never likely to change.
"Come in, Jacen," Luke's voice came through the simple wooden door. Jacen pushed the door open, and found his uncle staring out the window behind his desk at the Ossusian landscape before him.
"Master Skywalker," Jacen greeted Luke in the traditional manner with a bow. Then he broke out into a smile, and said "Hi, Uncle Luke."
Luke smiled, and turned around. He walked around the desk and gave Jacen a welcoming hug. "Welcome back, Jacen!"
"It's good to be back," Jacen replied.
"Please, have a seat," Luke gestured to a wooden chair in front of the desk, and took his own chair behind it. "What brings you back to the Jedi Order, my wayward Knight?"
"Soora Bulq," Jacen said simply, dropping his grin and adopting a serious look that could have been etched from stone. They could catch up later. "A clone of a Jedi Master and a Sith Lord-wannabe who knows far too much about lightsaber combat to be running loose."
Luke looked suspicious and put off by the quick change of topic. "Jacen, when Kyle and Lowbacca returned with a battle plan from you on how to stop a new Sith cult from rising, we acted on those plans. The Sith were destroyed, yet again. They didn't put up much of a fight, to be honest. Mara never even considered them to be real Sith."
"And that's what worries me," Jacen interjected. "Sora was trained by Mace Windu, one of the Old Jedi Order's best lightsaber duellists. Master Windu invented an extreme form of lightsaber combat, Vaapad, and used Sora as his punching bag. When Sora turned Dark, this clone was made by Palpatine and was flashed with Sora's memories."
"Okay," Luke said slowly, "But that doesn't explain how he's still out there. And could you explain what exactly 'Vaapad' is? I thought a Vaapad was a creature from an outer rim planet."
"It was named after the creature because of the resemblance to the speed of its limbs." Jacen paused to collect his thoughts. "Soora started my training in Vaapad, so I know how good he is. Quite frankly, you would have lost many Jedi if you fought him five years ago. He really is that good. The lack of resistance is what worries me because Vaapad is more than just an insanely advanced fighting style. It is a…a state of mind that enhances the user's the ability to fight by drawing on the Force to enhance one's physical attributes. Speed, perception, reaction. Everything. Even then, this description barely scratches the surface. Not only is it about enhancing the ability to fight, but it derives itself from the joy of the fight. Not so much battle frenzy as wanting to fight and enjoying it. It is inherently what a Jedi might call a dark side form, if one does not properly guide their ambitions while using it, just like with the Force itself. It can be just as dangerous to the wielder as it is to the opponent because of the utter complexity of it.
"I think he escaped that planet before you arrived, and has been rebuilding an army of Sith warriors and training them in Vaapad. Not exactly an easy thing to do, but after five years…I mean, I learned the form in two years of hard study."
Luke leaned back in his chair, thoughts running rampant in his head. The implications of Jacen's theory were enormous, and it was not without base.
"I will have to discuss this with the Jedi Council," Luke finally said. "I'd like you to come to the next Council meeting, tomorrow morning at 0800 hours.
"With more Jedi Masters in the Order since the end of the war, we have adopted a more traditional Jedi Council where only Masters sit on the Council. Knights are not normally allowed into the meetings, except to make presentations or face inquiry. I would also like to see this Vaapad in action. How much training have you had in it?"
"Eriana and I are both masters of the form," Jacen said, flashing the lop-sided Solo grin. "But she's better than me."
Before Luke could ask who Eriana was, a frantic knock at the door ended their meeting. Luke quickly invited Jacen to his place for dinner in half an hour – with the promise that Mara would not be cooking – and ushered him out the door. Two younger students that did not notice Jacen came in and started complaining loudly to Luke about some injustice one did to the other. Winking to Luke, Jacen closed the door, caught his bearings, and started for his ship.
-! #$%^&*()
The lines of hyperspace pulled away from the Millennium Falcon to reveal a flotilla of cargo transport ships orbiting the greenish-blue sphere of Velmor.
"What the…?" Han exclaimed. He flicked on the internal comm system. "Hey Leia, who ordered all these cargo ships?"
Silent static filled the comm.
"Goldenrod, contact Velmor and get some landing instructions. Talk to the government and see about meeting with someone important. I'm gonna talk to the boss," Han said while relinquishing command to his new Noghri co-pilot. "And don't hit anything with my ship this time, Meewahl."
In the last year, the Noghri bodyguards had developed a desire to learn how to fly the Falcon should Han and Leia become incapacitated. Han still did not trust the deadly bodyguards with his ship, but they had proved capable of not crashing into other ships on short flights.
He left the outrigger cockpit and proceeded to the passenger area where he found half his antique trophy collection being levitated in orbit around his wife. Leia stood on the ball of one foot, balancing a water bottle on the toes of her other foot and two trophies balanced on the tops of her wrists with her arms spread out straight. Deep in concentration, she barely seemed aware of anything while Tresina calmly gave orders. Tresina spotted Han, and smiled.
"Sense the entity that has entered the room," Tresina said. "Reach out with your mind, and levitate it."
"What?" Han exclaimed, as he left the floor and joined his trophies in their orbit. "Not funny, Leia! Put me down! Tresina!"
"Through the Force you will see things," Tresina continued, walking opposite to the flow of her trophies in their orbit around Leia. "The past, the present. Even the future…"
"I see me getting an Ysalamiri once we dock…" Han growled under his breath, angrily crossing his arms.
"I see Jacen," Leia spoke dreamily.
"I see a lightsaber burn in the floor plate," Han said, scratching it with his finger as his nose drifted a hand span from the deck plating in his revolving orbit.
"And Luke is there. Talking…Now they're fighting. Oh my!"
All the objects fell to the floor with an audible thump, including Han.
"Han!" Leia exclaimed.
"Noticed me, have you?" Han said sarcastically while rubbing the shoulder he landed on.
"Focus, Leia! Focus!" Tresina said angrily. "You can't allow yourself to be distracted every time you see something unpleasant. A Jedi must control her emotions!"
"Yes, Master," Leia bowed her head in defeat.
"Yeah, that's great…" Han started, but Tresina waved him off.
"What did you see?"
Leia looked up at Tresina, her face white as a ghost. "Luke and Jacen were fighting, and Jacen, he…I think he killed Luke."
"What?" Han exclaimed. "Jacen's just a kid compared to Luke."
"He looked older," Leia protested. "Fierce…powerful. He wasn't the Jacen we've always known. It was like nothing could stop him. Luke didn't stand a chance. He was on his knees and Jacen…" Her voice trailed off.
"I sense this event will soon come to pass, but there is nothing we can do about it," Tresina said after a moment, and then turned to Han. "Captain Solo, how many times do I have to tell you not to interrupt our training? I realize this is your ship, but that does not give you the right to barge in on Leia's training."
Han stood a moment slack-jawed.
"What do you mean I don't have the right? I'm her husband! And don't you dare tell me what to do on my ship!"
Han stepped close enough to Tresina to tap her on the center of her chest with an angrily shaking forefinger. "The next time you want to go on your little Jedi missions and play your Jedi games, you can find your own ship." Han growled. "My wife and brother-in-law may be part of your crazy cult, but I've had it up to here!" He made a slashing gesture across his forehead
"Han!" Leia exclaimed.
Han turned and looked at his wife angrily. "When you're done playing Jedi, there's a fleet of cargo ships in orbit around Velmor. If that's close enough to the present for you to care about!" He turned and stormed out of the room back to the cockpit.
"Something tells me he wouldn't respond well if I offered to teach him a meditation exercise," Tresina commented when Han was out of earshot.
"I heard that!" Han shouted through the wall comm unit.
Leia walked over to the unit and turned it off as the ship gave a sudden lurch, forcing her to grab onto the bulkhead to steady herself. She was still unsteady from the vision, but was determined to hide it from her master.
"Han just doesn't like being out of control," Leia grimaced as the Falcon's inertial compensators readjusted to the sudden decent. "He finds the whole Jedi mysticism to be too much at times, particularly when it hurts his pride. Or his bad shoulder."
Tresina nodded, accepting her lesson. Both women had learned a lot from each other, despite Tresina being the official Jedi Master.
"Why was he so worried about the fleet?" She asked Leia, deferring to her vast knowledge of politics. While Tresina's job was to train Leia in the ways of the Jedi, Leia's job was to teach Tresina about diplomacy.
"Because the Alliance hasn't promised any resources to Velmor," Leia's already pale face expressed more worry, giving her a hallow haunted look not too dissimilar to the face of a Givin. "In fact, they're very low on the list of planets to receive material; much lower than I can admit to them."
"Well, this is good, then," Tresina said happily. "It means the Alliance found stuff to send here, or they won't need any more from the Alliance."
"No," Leia said, surprised Han understood what her wise master did not. "It is worse. It means someone is trying to bribe the Velmorians. This will only make our job much harder."