Well, true to form I changed the title for this story, formerly "Young Jedi 01: Novice", the new title is "Young Jedi 01: Beginner's Luck"
Chapter 2: Of Earthlings and Big Explosions
I don't know what I expected to feel when I entered the orb. Maybe pain, like from Sith Lightning, I'm not sure as I never had such an encounter previously. What I felt was … I don't quite know how to describe it. I didn't know which way was up or down. Or where was left or right. I was neither hot nor cold. It was as if I lost all my senses. For a moment a panicked thought crossed my mind, what if this is some kind of Force Stasis? However that line of thought was quickly quashed as I felt myself hit something hard and begin to roll over and over.
Hope flared up in my mind, maybe I just read too much stories and was imagining things? If I opened my eyes now would I see the bottom of the hill atop which Aeren and I were rehearsing? I opened my eyes to prove this theory and received the greatest shock of my life to date.
I was not in my back yard. The sky above me had a green tint, something you don't see on Earth, and in the distance I could see mountains stretching for kilometres left and right. I looked down at myself and my mouth fell open.
During our practice duel, Aeren and I were wearing replica Jedi clothes, quite good quality ones too. But what I was wearing now looked more like the real thing if you get my meaning. I felt around on my belt and found a metal cylinder attached to it. I didn't need to ask myself what it was. I stood up and hit the activation switch. Immediately a bright blue beam immerged from one of the ends. Though I was expecting something of the sort, I still dropped it in surprise. After all, I still wasn't quite sure what happened to me. Now I knew. As cliché as it might sound, I was in a Galaxy far, far away from the Milky Way.
"Hey, could you look where you drop your saberstaff next time?" called a familiar grouchy voice. I looked to the side, and there, five meters away sat Aeren, wearing the same robes as me, but where mine were in tans and browns, his were in various shades of green.
Not Surprising… I remarked to myself, after all, Halcyons are Corellian here.
"Keep your mind on the present moment. Hopefully then you won't lose your head!" I retorted and we both laughed at one of my oldest jokes.
"So where do you suppose we are?" Halcyon asked me,
"Dunno I could name a number of planets with a green sky. What I see here doesn't help up much. I suggest we find a settlement, or preferably a spaceport."
Aeren stood up and handed me my lightsaber. After closer look I found that it was indeed a saberstaff, or more precisely a pair of joined sabers.
I was about to thank my friend nut he held up a hand for me to be quite.
"Yeah I know, no worries man." he whispered. "Now be quiet, I thought I heard something."
We both listened for a minute and then I broke the silence, "Blaster fire. Sounds like hand guns. And there is something else."
"No kidding," my friend huffed pointing a finger into the distance, "Two Jedi, it looks like they're in trouble." I looked to where he was pointing but I couldn't see anything from this far away.
I said as much, and then added, "I think that I want a closer look. Maybe we can get off world with those two."
Aeren stared at me in an 'are you crazy?' manner. I don't quite know how I knew that, maybe I sensed it or something. "Are you serious? Getting in the middle of a blaster fight! And on an unknown planet to boot! Besides we are no Jedi no matter how much we practice for fan films!"
I had to admit, my friend had a valid point. Just as I was about to say so, and propose a different course of action, I heard a strangely familiar voice in my head.
"Fear not young Jedi, the Force will guide you. Go, help my former apprentice. You'll know how when the time comes." Even though it sounded different in the movies, I recognised it instantly as Qui-Gon's voice. I looked over, and somehow sensed that Halcyon had heard the same thing I did.
Clipping my saber to my belt I rushed down the rest of the slope and towards the conflict five hundred meters away.
"So brains, what's today's brilliant plan?" Had anyone but Aeren uttered that sentence I would've driven my brand-new lightsaber through their skull, as it was, I didn't mind with him. We were crouching behind a stack of ammunition – yea I know that's a bad idea in a gun fight – crates on the edge of a landing platform, twenty meters away from us, Obi-wan, and a really young Anakin were slowly backing towards a ship. The problem was that they were surrounded by a group of twenty Collicoids with half-a dozen droidekas, all firing non-stop. Normally the situation wouldn't have been any trouble for two Jedi, but they also escorting five civilians.
I looked down at the crate in front of me and grinned in satisfaction. One boring wet day I memorised the Aurebesh alphabet as I had nothing better to do. That skill now proved useful as the label on the box read: "THERMAL DETONATORS. Handle with care."
I felt around the side of my boot with my right hand were I knew Jedi usually had a utility knife or vibroblade. When my fingers brushed metal I drew it out and began to cut away that the crate's seals.
I took of the lid and grabbed a det. Tossing it in the air casually I told Aeren my plan.
"Have you lost your mind?" he berated me, "If those guys find that we are throwing dets at them we'll be ancient history!"
"That's why we won't be throwing them from behind the crates," I repeated patiently, "We grab six dets each and activate the remaining charges. We'll move to a position behind the destroyer droids and throw them. Once we're clear, I hit the plunger. When this box goes boom, the blast will set of the adjacent explosives creating a big distraction. Hopefully this will distract the Collicoids, this and the loss of their droidekas. Better now?"
Halcyon nodded, "That sounds much better when you put it like that." I smiled. Of the two of us I always was the more daring and reckless while Aeren preferred stealth and sneakiness. That's what made us such a good team, whether back home or here, or at least I hoped so.
"Are we doing it?" I queried. He nodded in the affirmative and picked up his charges. I followed suit, shoving half-a-dozen military-grade thermal dets into my robe sleave. Picking up the plunger I closed up the crate and slide off the platform.
"Ready for some big-bad-boom?" I grinned evilly, fingering the detonation switch. So far the plan worked without a hitch. No-one noticed us creeping around and all of Obi-wan's party were still in one piece.
"Hold on a few seconds. I want to make sure that they are clear of the blast radius." I waited for Aeren to give me the signal, "…aaaand now!" My thumb jammed down on the red trigger, there was a momentary pause and then everything exploded.
"That *cough* was awesome!" exclaimed Halcyon after the dust settled. The charges that we planted near the droidekas went off first, weakening their shields in time for the blast wave from the former stack of ammunition crates to tear them apart. Half of the Collicoids were caught in the explosion, and the rest were picking themselves up off the permacrete platform as Aeren and I activated our sabers and charged at them.
In short, it was no contest. Dispirited by the loss of half their squad and the arrival of two more Jedi the Collicoids dropped their weapons and retreated as fast as they could. We didn't pursue. There was no need. And even if there was, I would've gone. It was a wonder to me that I didn't cut any of my body parts off while running with an activated, double-ended lightsaber.
When the Jedi were assured that everyone was alright and that there were no enemies nearby we were approached my Obi-wan Kenobi.
"What are your names Padawans, and what is your mission here?" Obi-wan's voice was calm as it always appeared in the movies, but I heard a note of curiosity in it – a note that by all standards of Jedi Masters wasn't supposed to be there. Maybe Obi-wan wasn't as non-expressive as Star Wars multimedia made him out to be.
"Padawan Nik Sunrider," I blatantly lied, well not really, I just used a surname of an ancient Jedi Master that's all, no big deal. "And this is a friend of mine," I waved a hand at Aeren, "Padawan Aeren Halcyon, of the Corellian Enclave. We don't have a mission here really," Obi-wan raised an eyebrow at me.
"We had to make an emergency hyperjump in an effort to evade a group of pirates, we hit the gravity well and that disabled our ship." Put it Aeren, I sometimes admire his ability to come up with plausible scenarios under practically any circumstances," We ejected in the escape pod, but we were shot down from orbit and had to free fall after we passed the cloud layer."
"I see," Obi-wan nodded his head, "would you like a lift Padawans?"
"Thank you Master Kenobi." I accepted his offer formally with a bow. I didn't notice that I made a crucial mistake until he asked me,
"Nik, I don't remember you from Coruscant, how do you know me?"
Oh great!" I scolded myself, you just had to blow your cover! The look that Aeren shot me said as much.
"It's a long story Master Kenobi, I will tell you but in private." He looked at me for a minute and then nodded curtly,
"Fine, I'll come and get you when we enter hyperspace," his voice dropped to a mutter, "…and I get rid of Anakin," I worked really hard to supress my smile, but my efforts were for naught as Obi-wan scowled at me in exasperation, "not funny!" he turned around and let us on board the ship.
Loyal readers, and whoever else reads this :D, please let me know, how am I doing with this story. There are stories out there that are for a lack of a better word quite pethatic. I would like to know, if this story is among those pethatic ones or if I am managing to write an enjoyable Earth/SW fic, thanks - CC-645