Chapter 12 – The Ways of the Jedi

Luke Skywalker hardly slept that night. He was too excited about the day ahead. He lay awake for hours anticipating the beginning of his Jedi training with Ahsoka Tano. He could imagine the pair fighting side-by-side against the stormtroopers, driving the Imperial Forces back and securing victory after victory for the Rebel Alliance. Eventually, the Empire would be destroyed and the Republic restored. Luke and Ahsoka would train more Jedi until the entire order was rebuilt. All of these thoughts chased each other around in Luke's head until he finally drifted off to sleep.

He awoke five hours later, still excited, and saw that morning duties did not begin for another three hours. So he lay back down in his bed and tried to go back to sleep, but he was unsuccessful. After about an hour-and-a-half, he decided to get up and get ready for the day ahead. He washed and dressed before heading to the hanger. It was still early, so there weren't many people walking through the hallways of Echo Base. Those who were up and about didn't show any signs of excitement about the events of the previous day. In fact, no one even mentioned them. Luke suddenly wondered if perhaps it had all been a dream, and that Ahsoka hadn't come back.

But it hadn't been a dream. When Luke entered the hanger, Ahsoka's ship was still in the same spot. Luke also noticed that the Millennium Falcon was still in the hanger, and that Han Solo and Chewbacca were busy repairing the ship yet again. Luke walked up to the ship and called, "Do you need help?"

Han looked up and answered, "Not from you. We don't want you causing any more problems."

"That wasn't my fault!" yelled Luke defensively.

"Oh, please!" exclaimed Han. "You're the one who brought that bounty hunter in to try and kill me."

"First of all, I tried to stop you from taking off so that you wouldn't crash, but you didn't pay attention to me."

"Oh, is that what this…" Han paused and waved his hands in the air like Luke had the previous day, and finished, "…was about?"

"What did you think I was doing?"

"I thought you didn't want me to leave because you were going to miss me."

"After the way I said good-bye to you?" asked Luke. "Secondly, Ahsoka is not here to kill you. She's here to help."

Han laughed, "Look, kid, I know you want to believe the whole Jedi thing she's doing, but Ashla Fett is a bounty hunter, nothing more, nothing less."

"So you still don't believe her?"

Chewbacca roared, and Han explained, "Well, Chewie seems to believe her. He says that during the Clone Wars, he met Ahsoka when they were captured by Trandoshan hunters. But I'm not convinced that this is the same person. I bet Ashla is only posing as Ahsoka to trick you. She's playing to your emotions so that she can trap you. Trust me kid; don't believe a thing she says."

Luke shook his head. "You're wrong. And I'm going to prove it to you. You'll see." He then turned around and walked toward Ahsoka's ship.

Once Luke was gone, Chewbacca howled a question to Han, who replied, "Okay, maybe I went a little too far, but I'm just being cautious. He's going to have to learn that eventually. Now get back to work. Boba Fett may be on his way, and I want the engines fixed before then." Han looked down and continued working.

Meanwhile, Luke went up to Ahsoka's ship and knocked on the hatch. A second later, it slid into the ceiling and Ahsoka appeared in the doorway. "Oh, Luke. I'm glad you came. Come in." She led Luke into the ship and closed the hatch. "So, if you're still intent on becoming a Jedi, then we've got a lot of work ahead of us. I was thinking we would start small with something you already know. On Gederon, you were good at deflecting shots from the stormtroopers. Let's work on that." Ahsoka drew a blaster pistol and aimed it at Luke. In response, Luke drew his lightsaber and held it back behind his head. "No, not behind your head. Hold your weapon in front of you so it will be easier to defend yourself."

Luke adjusted his arms according to Ahsoka's instruction. "Like this?"

"Yes. Defense is a Jedi's primary weapon. And your lightsaber should be used as such."

Luke was confused. "But if I can only defend myself, how do I kill enemies?"

"You don't, unless at the utmost need. If you must hurt someone to save someone else, you may have no choice. A true Jedi can know the difference, and you will, too." Ahsoka returned her focus to the task at hand and readied her blaster. "This has been set to the lowest energy level. The shots won't hurt you, but don't let that lower your guard. Ready?"

Luke nodded his head. "Yeah."

Ahsoka fired one shot, and Luke quickly moved his lightsaber into the blaster bolt's path. The bolt bounced off of the blade and harmlessly hit the wall. "Good," commented Ahsoka. She then changed the angle of her aim and fired another shot, which Luke also deflected. Ahsoka began to fire shots at a more rapid pace, and Luke was beginning to struggle. His movements became stiff and uncoordinated. As the pace gradually quickened, Luke became more hard-pressed. Eventually, he gave up trying to deflect the bolts and began dodging them instead. At that point, Ahsoka stopped firing and said, "That was good for your first time, but you realize that you can't let blasterfire overpower you like that."

Luke deactivated his lightsaber and replied, "But you were going too fast! I couldn't keep up."

Ahsoka laughed. "You call that too fast? Imagine if you're on the front lines of a battle, or confronting a bounty hunter or criminal, how fast do you think they'll be shooting? Besides, when we started out, you were doing just fine, so I was trying to find your limits, which I succeeded at doing."

"But why are we skipping ahead so far?" asked Luke. "Shouldn't we be starting at, like, level one?"

"We're in the middle of a war. We don't have time to thoroughly learn 'level one.' Also, I'm not a certified teacher. I'm improvising a crash course. If we're going to succeed at this, it will require a lot of patience from both of us." Luke wanted to argue further, but he knew that it was no good. He would have to trust Ahsoka's teachings. She added, "I told you becoming a Jedi wasn't easy."

Luke sighed. "All right, let's try this again."

"No," said Ahsoka. "That's enough for right now. I'm sure we both have jobs to get done today. If you want, come back tonight and we can train some more."

For most of the afternoon, Luke led a squad on a perimeter sweep of Echo Base, looking for any sign of trouble. As usual, everything came up negative, so they returned to the base with nothing to report. Ahsoka, meanwhile, being a new recruit, was assigned to manual labor, moving supplies and equipment throughout the base. Han and Chewbacca continued working on the Millennium Falcon. That evening, Luke returned to Ahsoka's ship, ready to continue practicing deflection.

That's why he was surprised when Ahsoka told him that he wouldn't need his weapon. She said, "One of the fundamentals of being a Jedi is understanding the Force. I could spend hours lecturing you on all these different aspects of the Force, but, as I said earlier, we don't have time. So, we're going to practice using the Force. See that wrench on the table? Lift it as high as you can."

Luke was slightly annoyed that this wasn't the exercise he was expecting. Nevertheless, he knew he had to work on moving objects with the Force. He didn't want another incident like the one the week before when he accidently damaged the Falcon. So Luke closed his eyes and tried to empty his mind so that he could focus on moving the wrench. After a few seconds, he was able to feel the wrench leave the table and rise slowly into the air. He continuously made it go higher until he couldn't focus on it any longer. The wrench fell back to the table and Luke breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Not bad," commented Ahsoka. "You're at a good spot, considering how much practice you've had, but you're still a little slow. If you have to struggle with a simple tool, imagine how difficult it will be when you have to lift larger objects, like crates."

Luke tried to imagine, and he shook his head. "I can't imagine even being able to do it."

"That's not how a Jedi thinks. You just need to practice. Once you've become more familiar with the process, you'll be able to do it much quicker. Try again."

So Luke tried lifting the wrench again, but he didn't notice much improvement. After a while he gave up. "I'm sorry, but I just can't do any more tonight. I need to rest."

"Fine," said Ahsoka, "come back tomorrow morning and we'll continue."

Luke returned to Ahsoka's ship the next morning, well-rested and ready to move the wrench some more. But Ahsoka had a different exercise in mind, and it was something Luke wasn't ready for. She said, "I challenge you to a lightsaber duel."

Luke replied, "What? I didn't think we'd be doing that until I had gotten the hang of deflecting blaster bolts."

"You already have some skill in that area," Ahsoka pointed out. "Besides, part of the reason for these exercises is so that I can identify your strengths and weaknesses. Don't worry; I'll go easy on you." She unclipped one of her lightsabers from her belt and ignited it, holding it upright with both hands.

Luke, in turn, ignited his own lightsaber and held it in the ready stance Ahsoka had taught him the previous day. They both stood facing each other waiting for someone to make the first move. Ahsoka quickly pulled her arms back and swung at Luke, who stopped her blade with his. She then swung from the other side, and Luke blocked that, too. And then she raised her arms and swung downward, forcing Luke to orient his blade horizontally. He still managed to block the attack, and her lightsaber locked with his. Ahsoka was pushing the two blades toward Luke, who was struggling to push them away.

Ahsoka said, "I hope you're not planning on blocking forever. You have to attack sometime if you want to defeat your opponents." After a brief thought, Luke stepped backward, drew back his lightsaber, and thrust it forward, stopping it before he stabbed Ahsoka. But Ahsoka was ready to counter his move. She used her lightsaber to push his out of the way, and followed through to spin around, aiming her lightsaber at the air beside Luke's neck. Reacting quickly, Luke ducked and attempted another thrust at Ahsoka. As he had expected, she swung her weapon like a windmill, knocking Luke's own out of the way and stopping her lightsaber before it sliced through his neck. With Luke defeated, she lowered her weapon and commented, "You were smart enough and quick enough to duck, I'll give you that. You have some skill for your first try."

Luke said, "I could almost see that you were going to spin. Was that the Force guiding me?"

"Probably," answered Ahsoka, "but only you can know for sure. Once you have truly learned to quiet your mind, that question will be easier for you to answer. Do you want to try again?"

Luke nodded. "But this time, I want to attack first."

The next several days were mostly repeats of the exercises Luke and Ahsoka had already started. Sometimes, Ahsoka would teach Luke some of the first lightsaber form, first demonstrating the form herself, doing it again with Luke copying her movements, and finally watching as Luke attempted to do it himself. He caught on, but his body movements were too sloppy.

At other times, they would just sit while Ahsoka talked about the Jedi Order and the Republic, passing some of her knowledge down to Luke. He listened attentively, but he wished she would tell him stories about his father. When he asked her about the subject, she replied, "He isn't important to what we're focusing on now. I'll tell you about him, but not until you understand the basic history and values of the Jedi."

On the second time that Luke practiced deflection, he was able to last longer, but he was still tense. Using the Force, he was soon able to move small, light objects more quickly, but he couldn't move them far. Ahsoka began teaching him Form I step by step, not moving on until he had completed the previous step more gracefully.

The third time for each exercise was better. Luke found that he was beginning to relax while he deflected blaster bolts, but he couldn't stop as many shots as he used to. He attributed this to his relaxation, but Ahsoka said that if he was relaxed enough, he would do better. When he moved objects with the Force, he barely had to wait one second for them to start moving. He still couldn't move them farther than two meters, however. He was getting the hang of Form I, but he needed to practice more before Ahsoka would let him move on the Form II.

After that, they spent another afternoon sparring. Their duels lasted longer, meaning that Luke was improving in his defense. But then Ahsoka began to step up her attacks, and Luke had to fight harder to match her new level. Despite his struggling, Ahsoka told Luke that he was on his way to being a formidable opponent.

By the end of the second week, Luke had made tremendous improvement. He had successfully evaded an entire energy pack of blaster bolts, so Ahsoka decided to reduce the number of times they practiced so as not to waste ammo. Luke was using the Force to move medium-sized objects from one side of Ahsoka's ship to the other with ease. He had already memorized Form II, and had mastered Form I.

At their last dueling session, Luke had finally become adept at defending himself, but he didn't need to show it half of the time. He was attacking more often and with more skill. His duels with Ahsoka were becoming more prolonged, and often they would tire each other out and call it a draw. One time, Luke caught Ahsoka off-guard and knocked her lightsaber out of her hand.

He stared at the fallen weapon with astonishment, almost not believing that it had happened. But it did. Luke had defeated Ahsoka! He felt like jumping with joy and yelling, but he restrained himself. Ahsoka, on the other hand couldn't hold in her thoughts on Luke. With a wide smile she said, "Luke! That was great! You've come so far, and not just in this area. You just keep improving and making it harder for me. Seriously, very few Jedi have learned as fast as you have. Now I know that you will be a great Jedi. I'm so proud of you."

Luke returned the smile and bowed his head in embarrassment. "Well, I couldn't have done it without a great teacher. I'm truly grateful for your help."

It was Ahsoka's turn to be embarrassed. "Let's remember that I'm not a real teacher. I was just letting the Force guide me. Nevertheless, I've enjoyed working with you these past couple of weeks."

"Me, too," agreed Luke. Then he bowed and added, "Master,"

That last word seemed to resonate in Ahsoka's ears. She had heard that word used many times, mostly by her. She was called it a couple of times as a courtesy by non-Jedi. But never before had it been used to describe her in its actual sense. And now, being called "Master" by Luke, Ahsoka was reminded of her own master and his unfortunate end. But she put aside the bad memories and focused on the good ones. She also remembered the vision she had on Yavin 4, and how she would be the Grand Master of the new Jedi Order, in which case everyone would bow to her and call her "Master." On the whole, Ahsoka was glad to hear Luke use that title.

Their conversation was interrupted when they heard a voice announce over the intercom, "All personnel, report to the command center immediately."

Luke and Ahsoka ran there, wondering what was happening.

When they arrived at the Echo Base command center, Luke and Ahsoka saw that most of the rebel leaders and officers were present. General Rieekan announced, "We've discovered a new threat to the Alliance. The Empire has become desperate enough to use methods that have previously been illegal." In response to this statement, many of the rebels whispered amongst themselves.

When the whispering died down, Rieekan continued, "They have erected a base on Christophsis, in the capitol, Crystal City. It is a series of towers equipped with the latest technology designed for one purpose: to spy on the Empire's enemies." He activated a holoprojector on his computer console and a hologram of the Imperial base sprang up. He pointed to several antennae and radar dishes on the roof of the central tower. "This equipment includes, but is not limited to, state-of-the-art scanning and tracking systems, communication interceptors, and high-power transmitters. We've also learned that several tributary stations are being built throughout the galaxy, effectively allowing the Empire to monitor everything that happens in Imperial space.

"You all can understand that this threatens the Rebellion. With these new tracking stations, the Empire can pick up and listen in on our communications, and remotely track our ships." The rebels all began to voice their outrage. Many argued that this was a violation of privacy for the entire galaxy. How could the Empire do this without expecting resistance from the people? Rieekan yelled over the clamor, "Yes, we all agree that something has to be done about this. That is why I propose that a strike team go to Christophsis and destroy the Imperial base. Without their tracking equipment, the other stations will be useless.

"This will not be an easy mission. In fact, it could prove to be quite dangerous. Whoever volunteers to go must understand the risks involved. But, in order to succeed, the team will need a leader who can help them get in and out quickly and without incident. Does anyone volunteer to lead the mission?"

At first, no one answered. They were afraid that they wouldn't survive, let alone succeed, in the Imperial base. Even Luke was doubtful. Then, Ahsoka spoke. "I will lead the mission. I've been to Christophsis before, and I know the general layout of these types of buildings. Also, my ship has a cloaking device which will allow the team to land on Christophsis without being detected by the Empire."

Everyone murmured their excitement at Ahsoka's willingness to volunteer. Luke stepped forward. "I'm going, too."

"And I," said Princess Leia, standing next to the two Jedi.

"Very well," said Rieekan. "We will assemble a strike team for the mission to Christophsis, led by Ahsoka Tano, Jedi Knight."

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