Percy took a deep breath and centered himself. His talk with Mother had given him a direction more meaningful than just the word "forward." But was he ready to tackle this war? Not really. Was he ready to go back to where he belonged? Yes.
So, he put one foot in front of the other and found himself outside the Command Center once more—one of the clone guards was already opening the door for him as he approached. Shaak Ti told him to take a moment to himself, but was she ready to face the outcome of that?
He entered the command room, and everyone inside discreetly glanced at him but the female Jedi. Instead, she was looking at a galaxy he was unfamiliar with. He approached her, swiping his wet black hair out of his face. Gods, he was soaked and leaving a watery trail everywhere. Oh well.
"I am sorry about that."
"Worry not," she turned to him. "I would be concerned if you did not react to such ill news. Do you feel centered once more?"
"Yeah… something like that anyways."
"Good. I wanted to be transparent about your situation just a little more. To leave no doubt on why I cannot send you home and why you being here is cause for concern.
"You see, our galaxy," she motioned to the table," is relatively isolated from everything else." She motioned with her hands, zooming out the graph until other galaxies appeared. "Our strongest telescopes can see far beyond what we can dream. Case in point seeing your home. However, even with such profound technology, we have not found a path out of our galaxy. It is unstable around us, to say the least." Shaak Ti then pointed at the absence of anything that immediately surrounded her galaxy. "Uncharted and unknown. Attempts have been made, but none have ever worked out, and the travelers were never seen again.
"You see, the way we travel grand distances in our galaxy is because we have found passages that are clear to travel. Rigorously tested and safe-to-use passages we call hyperspace lanes. An effort that wasn't simple to accomplish. Yet, to your planet, to Earth, no such lane exists and will unlikely exist for as long as you and I live."
In other words: He was stranded across the universe… His only hope was with Mother.
"And your concerns?
"How are you here? You see, you came from beyond our isolated cell. Somehow, you traveled the distance. You navigated here somehow. Or someone navigated you."
"Who would do that?"
"Well, that's the very question, isn't it? Anyone apt at using the Force, dark or light, can sense your presence. You are a beacon. Whoever brought you likely knew this, and that is what frightens me. No Jedi has traveled beyond our galaxy and reported it, which leaves only the Sith, who have been unaccounted for a thousand years to the point we thought them extinct.
"Yet, if they brought you here, they know a path we do not. You encountered a foe with a blade of red, the trademark of the Sith. Perhaps, you lost, and they kidnapped you? It doesn't explain how you ended up in the water, but nothing really does beyond a sensor not registering you or the craft you crashed in. It is a mystery."
"So let's work with something we can try to solve. What does it mean if they have a path in and out?" He asked her.
"They could virtually hide forever. Expand forever, uncontested by Jedi. Only the will of the Force and its effects on the rest of the universe could rise to counter it, but here, we would never know until we found the way out there ourselves. Our enemies could lie in wait, blade in hand, ready to bring armadas of uncontested proportions. And that is just scratching the surface of what it could mean if the Sith were loose."
"Then we better get a handle on the Sith we do know of and have in our grasps."
"Yes. I suppose we must."
"You want me to lead this crusade, right?"
"Yes."
"You are banking a lot on me being the hero of the story."
"To manipulate the Force enough to make you appear as who you are would take unfathomable power unseen before. You are a beacon delivered before me. I know you will have a destiny far greater than I could ever think of. I would be a fool to let you walk away into the hands of someone or something else."
"And what if you are wrong? That I am no different from anyone else, that you are misinterpreting things?" He asked.
"Then I will train you to be better than anyone else."
"You are either really crazy or very sure," he laughed.
"Perhaps I am crazy to be sure that you are the One."
"The One?" He choked on his laughter.
"An old prophecy, another is believed to be the Chosen One by the Jedi Council, but they haven't met you yet."
"There is a whole council of Jedi?"
"A whole temple full. There used to be so many more, but even though this war is young, it has not been easy."
"That's why you are so quick to weaponize me? You are afraid to lose the war already. I am a hail marry play."
"While I am unfamiliar with what a hail marry play is, I will iterate once more. You are a factor with potential. You could end this war perhaps in a night for all I know, but I will never know if I don't try."
"I am a kid with one memory and a scarred body, yet that's enough for you. I don't know whether to be proud or worried."
"Scars are stories of what one has survived. I need no story from you to know you have survived much in your life on Earth. Additionally, no 'kid' can bend metal as you have."
"What?"
She pointed to the table they stood at, and he saw it. A series of dents from where he gripped it before walking away earlier. He did that?
"You have a story of why you have the scars. Of why you have the broken blade in your pocket. Of why you ended up here. Stories we may never know, but you also have a story to tell here and now."
"Wait, you knew about my blade?"
"As I have stated before, I have been watching you. Even when you sleep. Your blade is in your pocket now, and it is also broken."
"Yeah… yeah, it is."
"Worry not. In time, you will have a new one. A better one that doesn't get sliced in half as easily. You will have something like mine," she reached into her robes before bringing out a silver tube. Not a tube, a handle that housed a beam of blue light. "This lightsaber can do many things, and I will teach you everything you need to know about it and how to use it."
"I am going to be a Jedi too?"
"No. The Council would never approve of what I am doing. You are too old and already have your own thoughts. No, the best I can do is teach you my ways. Teach you what it is we know and how. Whether the lessons stick is up to your willingness. Perhaps, if you really do see things in a way that the Council approves, you can be accepted by them, but some are rather stuck in their ways."
"So what will you be teaching me, exactly?"
"Walk with me, and we will have our first lesson."
"Lead the way."
The two exited the command center. Silence dawned upon them, and Percy wasn't sure if he was supposed to start bothering her, but he waited nonetheless as they passed branching corridors and more. Eventually, they made it to a grand window that oversaw the sea and storms outside.
"I figured you would want to see the sea."
"And it is raining, so you don't want to step outside."
"Seems we are learning about one another as the days progress."
"So, what's the first lesson? Is it how to stand with a blade? How to manage a squad?"
"So impatient. Here I thought the sea would settle you before the lectures began."
"I can multitask."
"That isn't how that works."
"Works for me," he shrugged.
"This is going to be an interesting experience, but let's be on with it. Your first lesson is not of warfare but of what is. You see, the Force is an intangible existence within everything that lives. It connects all beings into one web spanning all that we know. Known by many through various names, from The Way to the Power of the Cosmos. It comes through many various names throughout time and people. We, Jedi, use it for selflessness, enlightenment, mercy, and compassion. Whereas the Sith see to using it to manipulate, spread fear and hatred, to seek despair."
"So simple. So black and white. The mindset of youthful righteousness. You will learn what the Force is on your own time, with better teachers, better examples, and harsher realities."
"For many years, the Sith have been thought to be expunged and extinct, but in recent years, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi has already slain one and combatted another along with Jedi Knight Skywalker. All the while, a Sith Lord lurks somewhere in the shadows pulling puppet strings from within the veil of darkness they have blinded us with and further built upon with this war.
"This war is a result of their transgressions and acts. The Council, in return, has acted in the Republic's steed in prospects of peacekeeping to combat the Sith and its puppet army of droids. However, it is easier to forge metal than raise warriors. It is a bleeding conflict, a statement no one wants to admit so early in the war, for hope must always prevail. Yet, we should not be so stubborn to recognize when we need help."
"Okay, we agreed I would help already, so where do we advance from history to teaching me to fight?"
"Patience. One must understand where he stands to understand what is around him."
"I understand there is a war, and my way forward is through the war."
She only sighed before stepping away from the grand window, "This is going to be a long journey, isn't it? Perhaps, we start off with something physical to wear you down."
"Do I get a lightsaber?" He asked, hustling into step to follow her as she led him away.
"You'll cut off your own arm if I did, I'm afraid."
"Can I jump in the sea, then?"
"There are sea monsters that would eat you."
"Can I do anything fun or interesting?"
"There is a group of clones that should be training. You could learn something, and perhaps if you bond with them well enough, you can deploy with them."
"Cool, that sounds way better than history lessons. Lead the way."
:P LINEBREAK d:
"This is incredibly boring."
"That doesn't sound like learning, Percy."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll make sure to be able to list every member of the Senate as I get shot at by death beams."
"Percy…"
"Sorry, Ti."
"I understand that you are incapable of sitting still. I understand your wanting of adventure, but beyond this dreary atmosphere, there is a society of people who will expect things from you. You will be a General, and some will see you as a Jedi. While we both know the truth, the image you need to uphold for them must appease them."
"Yeah, but I am not going to be parading around Coruscant talking to everyone. Who cares if I run into the Senate? It isn't going to happen. I am going to be on some Separatist planet, stabbing robots."
"You underestimate what it means to lead. To be a figure of war for the people to rally on."
"Let them rally on my stories. Let them rally on my legacy. Let them carve an image of me that they can worship and inspire themselves to join the war effort. Let me be a symbol more than a man. If they see my flaws, like the fact that I cannot even read the basic language, they won't back me. If they learn I have severe amnesia, they will think I'm a forgetful general, a step away from losing an army because I cannot remember where I sent them. If they realize I am not even a Jedi, will they even trust me?"
"Are you worried or insecure?"
"What?"
"You addressed your own flaws unprovoked."
"We both know what I said was true."
"You are now attempting to dodge the question."
"Okay, look. Yeah, I am worried about doing all this," he gestured to the air around him, "but I know I have to. I will get over it, but will people accept me to lead? I am on my third month of crash-course-military. I am a literal outsider to the galaxy. Yeah, I am unsure of myself. Who wouldn't be?"
"You are learning," she smiled, and he couldn't help but be confused.
"What?"
"You are learning to accept."
"Always a teaching moment, isn't it?" He sighed. "Such whiplash. You know what? I am going to drown myself in the showers."
"Percy!"
"It's a joke! We both know the showers aren't effective enough to drown someone in."
"You would find a way." Mother intruded for a moment.
"We do not express thoughts like that. Such negativity is harmful," Shaak Ti reprimanded.
"Sorry, Ti," Silence overtook them after his apology as she studied him.
"Tell me, what is ailing you?"
"I don't know. A lot."
"Lets us mediate on it then. Come, sit down," she gestured to the floor.
"Just exactly what I want to do," he groaned, meeting her glare before relenting. "Okay, fine."
"Close your eyes and tell me all your worries. Voice them and set them free."
"I think I am going stir crazy. I mean, we have been practicing for some time now. The obstacle courses and training dummies offer nothing of a challenge. Our practice duels are becoming less challenging the more we fight."
"You are bored dueling?" She asked, almost offended.
"Don't take that the wrong way Ti," he verbally backstepped. "It is just that I've won the last fourteen fights with growing ease. We both know that. What used to be a six-minute fight is now sixty seconds at most."
She sighed, turning her head to the side, "I never was the best with the blade."
"What was this about no negativity again?" He snarked.
"You are right. Perhaps you are ready to advance."
"Advance?"
"That is what this is about, yes? To begin leading? To start your journey beyond these walls."
"These tasteless walls, you mean?"
"Yes, that is exactly what I wanted you to get out of that."
"Sorry."
"I shall put in a request to the Council. We will see to getting you your own blade."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Finally!" He jumped to his feet. "Oh man, I cannot wait. I hope it's blue."
"I have only one request."
"Sure. Name it."
"You must make a more honest effort to reach within yourself," he couldn't help but grimace, "to meditate, to feel the Force and embrace it. Perhaps it will help you remember."
"Right…" He tried, the agreeance tasting sour on his lips. They both knew that after so long, he and mediating or even the Force just didn't get along. "I mean, I will try. It is just that we both know that despite whatever you see in me, it just doesn't work for me."
"Not with that mentality," she sing-songed. Then her smile faltered for a moment. "May I ask you something personal, Percy?"
"Sure."
"We have come to know one another quite well these few months that have passed. I have become accustomed to your presence in the Force, and I can sense the fear you have. I know not of what, but I speculate all the same. I want you to know you can tell me what really troubles you beyond being 'stir crazy?' I am here for you. I won't abandon you no matter what."
He hesitated. The thoughts of dying in some hole somewhere, never knowing who he was before, scared him. The thought of never getting to meet Annabeth again made his heart clench and his eyes burn. To never know what could have been. It will haunt him forever until he knows.
"I don't think I want to give voice to the thoughts," he whispered, his head hanging low. "Then they might come true."
"They might come true regardless."
Not if he can help it.
He met her gaze, his own hardening as he found his resolve, "If it gets bad, I'll come to you."
"No matter where I am, Percy, no matter what has happened, I will always listen."
"Thank you," he reached out, closing the distance, and hugged her. "It means a lot."
He could feel her arms move uncertainly, uninformed on what to do before they ghosted his back in a loose hug. Knowing she wasn't familiar with such feelings, he distanced himself gently as he saw her smile softly.
"Good," she told him, regaining control of herself. "Now, sit and close your eyes. We need to meditate properly."
"What?" Percy groaned. "I thought we just did that?"
"That was talking. Now we will look within ourselves, by ourselves."
"Fine, but when I start fiddling, you can't complain about it, then."
"Then it seems I have less than two minutes to focus myself then."
The two began to attempt to meditate.
They sat in silence for a small period of time, no greater than seventy seconds. Percy really did try to look in on himself, to think about what he was setting himself up for, but when you put it in regard to looking in on oneself, he couldn't stop imagining his bones and organs. Technically, that was what was inside of him. Not his fault for not grasping the spiritual side of things.
That spiritual stuff just didn't really click for him. It felt wrong. Sure, there were some nuggets of wisdom in there for sure, but to close off your emotions? To forgo attachments? What do you fight for, then? The bleak white walls of Kamino or the teacher who believed in him? He sure wasn't going to miss the whiteness of everything.
It just… It almost felt like he was censoring himself. Like he was constraining himself to a box of standards. He didn't like that.
"You are fidgeting already," Shaak Ti interrupted his thoughts.
"Sorry."
"Nothing to apologize for," she stood, prompting him to join. "It is you. I have accepted that, and I know what you will want to do now."
He was nothing, if not predictable.
"So, can I go, then?" He asked her, already back stepping closer to the door.
"Of course. Tell them I said hello."
"Sweet! Will do. Thanks again, Ti. Today has been something," he told her as he exited the room before quickly peaking his head back in. "Oh, and make sure to talk to the Council. I really want that lightsaber already."
"I will call them now," she chuckled.
"You the best."
"Run along, Percy."
Percy did just that with a parting wave. He pulled his head from the doorway. He and his group had plans to do. Would Shaak Ti approve? Probably not. However, Mother was very pressing on him to do this.
He was going to take a swim.
He just needed to meet up with some of the clones and set up a rope system. Then he was good to go.
He quickly paced the halls. They were set to meet near his room in twelve minutes. The four clones and he had bonded quite well since Shaak Ti first sent him off to train with them. It had been mutually beneficial for both parties. He had learned how to use a blaster, and they learned how to improvise on the fly. It was the only thing Percy had to teach them since he really just was improvising on what to do for the mission sims they were doing.
Shaak Ti and a couple of bounty hunters overlooking the practice had approved and congratulated the group for their improvements even when he wasn't with them. The four, five with him, had become a group. Whenever he wasn't learning from Ti about his or that, he was with the boys.
"Aye, boys, looks like the Wander is finally showing up," a voice called from up ahead.
"About time. I was beginning to think he was afraid of his own idea."
"He would never be afraid of his own ideas. After all, they all work out so well," the first one responded.
"You know, Ego, I think you are just jealous that I come up with all the plans," Percy stated, feigning a hand to his cheat.
"Never, sir," Ego responded. "We both know I only let you come up with the plans because mine would be too effective. The instructors would worry we were cheating."
"If that's how you see it, bud," Percy turned to the other three. "Sloth, Greed, Glut, how badly did Ego mess up training this morning?"
"Unfortunately, he didn't mess up once. We've been hearing him talk about how he hit every shot all day," Glut ribbed.
"Typically training then, huh?" Percy asked.
"Aye, sir," Sloth spoke up.
"Say, shall we get to it before the rain comes in?"
"Lead the way."
"What had you guys at my room so early anyways?" Percy asked. "Thought at least Glut would still be in the chow hall."
"Sloth actually thought it would be better to get this done first, and then once we pulled you back up, we could call it a day," Ego explained.
"I see," Percy nodded before looking over the group of clones. "You have the cable?"
"Snatched it on the way over and hid it behind my back," Greed said, pulling out a grapple line. "Ninety-nine was quick to help once I said it was for you."
Percy smiled. "That's why he is my favorite."
The band of five approached a sliding door and exited the compound onto the external walkway. The waves were calmer than normal, and on the horizon sat clouds as black as night.
"Big storm coming," Percy told them. "We need to do this quickly."
"Just wrap this part around you here and clip it onto the line, just like that," Sloth advised. "When you are ready to come back up, beep my comm device-"
"The one Greed stole?" Percy confirmed.
"Yes, that one. Just beep it, and we will haul you up."
"All right, cool. Anything else?" He asked the clones, glancing at each one as they glanced at another. He really wished they would do something with their hair to make them look different from one another. He only could differentiate based on personality and voice.
"Why exactly are you doing this again?" One of them spoke up.
"Couldn't tell you, Glut. Just something that I have to do. Like a feeling or a voice in my head urging me to jump."
"I don't think that's healthy," Ego supplied.
"Yeah, well, neither is living since that ends in death," Percy said as he mounted the railing. "I trust you four, don't let me drown."
"The General would have our heads, and I quite like having mine," Greed laughed as the other three agreed.
"Attaboys, you understand the risks. See you on the other side."
He took a deep breath and gave in to gravity, letting himself fall off the side.
The wind tore through his hair as he angled himself to intercept the water feet first. The cold water was a shock of adrenaline as he felt himself be absorbed in the embrace of the sea. It felt right. He felt awakened.
"Breathe in the water. Let it fill you. Let it consume you." Mother directed.
What?! He would drown… Was she trying to kill him?
"We are in this together, trust me. Breathe."
Maybe he was really stupid or rash, but Mother wasn't wrong. They were in this together. So, he swam a little closer to the surface of the water, ready to breach up and spit out water if need be.
He exhaled, and the bubbles containing the very air he was clinging to floated a few feet to the surface.
"Breathe the water."
He inhaled, and the water rushed in. For a moment, he almost choked as it surged into him, it flooded his lungs, and then he breathed.
He was breathing water.
He didn't understand it at all, but he was. He could feel the water seep into his very bones from the water he inhaled, and he felt re-energized. He felt ready.
"Close your eyes. You must now follow only your instincts. Free your mind and sink."
He closed his eyes, just as he did with Shaak Ti.
Free your mind.
Sink… Sink….
Sink.
The water became colder. He could feel it shift around him. He didn't care.
He was sinking, and that was all that mattered.
No thoughts: just sink.
He didn't remember untethering himself from the cable, but he knew he was freed from it.
Freed from being bound.
Freed from thinking.
He was sinking.
He stood before a man in a button-up shirt. He had a trident in one hand, and the other was placed on Percy's shoulder. The two of them were standing on a hill overlooking the sea as the sun was setting off in the distance.
"The sea is ever flowing, ever moving. It is life. A cycle of highs and lows, a nursing of life, and a reaping of death. It is always moving, always going somewhere, even if it's blindly trickling through. It will not stop, it will not be restrained, and it will not bow to anyone but us.
"You are my son, a royal heir. The sea will always accept you where ever you may be. Should you ever feel lost, bask in the waters and sink. Let life flow through you. Let it guide you.
"Then rise, refreshed and ready. Show the world what it means to be a son of Poseidon. Do not relent in your fury, be the harshest of surges. Be the gentlest of waves if you need be, and then sweep them away in a riptide. Do whatever you must to win, Percy. This war could destroy everything we both know.
"As much as you hate it, you are destined to be greater than anyone else. You are a born leader, a born warrior. When you draw your blade for Olympus, do not hesitate to be the last one standing if you must.
"Nothing can stop you, for the sea is ever flowing, ever moving."
What was that…?
"A memory. Form your father," Mother answered, her voice a whisper of sorrowed thoughts. "He has much love for you. He believed in you that you could do anything."
Percy didn't know what to think.
His father?
Instead, he looked up toward the surface. A distant gleam of light so far away. How far did he sink? How long was his wrist comm going off for?
He answered it all the same, surprised it was even working in the water.
Before him, the image of a blue holographic Shaak Ti appeared.
"Percy? Are you okay?" Her voice warbled, distorted by the water.
He nodded, unsure what to say. Mentally, he was still in his memory, absorbing every detail of his father. His black hair that was just like his, the salt and pepper beard. The floral shirt with clownfish on it. The golden trident that glowed like his broken blade. The proud smile he wore. The very same eyes he saw in the mirror. He absorbed it all, like water to a sponge.
He saw his father.
"Percy!?"
He turned to Shaak Ti and nodded.
"Are you okay?" He nodded again.
"Are you still underwater?" He nodded once more.
"How?" He smiled before opening his mouth and exhaling the water, of course, nothing came from it, but the message still translated to her. "You can breathe underwater?" He nodded.
"Percy, I need you to surface. Since the command center first started pinging you underwater, every sea creature seemingly has begun to migrate to these waters. You need to get out. It isn't safe."
Percy nodded and began to kick once to start to surface, but he stopped dead in his tracks.
It was too late. The sea creatures were already arriving.
"Percy, you need to move quickly," her warbling urged. "Surface, and I will get you out as quick as I can."
He nodded slowly. His eyes focused on the sickly yellow ones before him. Yellow eyes that were bigger than his body. Rows of teeth that could likely shred metal. An elongated body of scales and fins bigger than a LAAT.
He lowered his arm, the call disconnecting.
"Now, you must sink."
AN: We return with a bit of a time jump middle of the way through. Percy gets +1 memory out of context, but just in enough context for him to internalize an applicable meaning. This chapter was originally going to be his adventure into the sea, but I was inspired by the latest Mando episode that came out (at the time of writing this) to a cliffhanger with a big sea monster. Surprisingly, Star Wars doesn't have a lot of them in lore unless I cannot find them.
Would really love it if you dropped a follow, favorite, or review. Makes my day, and I love reading the feedback from everyone. Some of you have unknowingly refined how I am approaching things with your comments and suggestions. Greatly appreciated.
That said, next chapter, we explore the sea, and we begin to set Percy on his path of war. The framing and setup of things are coming to a soft end, and we will march our way into the Clone Wars.
For the person who asked, I am using Canon material as the primary focal point for the world setting. However, I am selectively picking from Legends things that can world-build and enrich the narrative I am pushing for. No, this doesn't make every facet of lore from Legends that I use canon. However, I will try to keep everything as faithful as possible.
Advancing, I hope that whoever reads this paragraph will remember this when we reach a way later point in the story, but the notion of "sinking" is being set up here to be paid off later. Percy is of the sea and water, so how he interacts with some water and seas across his journey will be important as each will contain a trace of symbolism.
Kamino, for example to me, is the waters of a clean slate. Where life is made by the scientist above water, and everything is sterile white in their facility. New life is made. Everything is blank. They are integral to the War effort. That is the scope of the planet, and how Percy is affected by surrendering himself to the sea is him surrendering to this blank slate officially and becoming a product of war, just as the clones are.
Sorry, wanted to share a writer's insight.
Spoiler-ish for Mother. Don't read anymore if you want to hold on to mystery.
For those who have already speculated about our dear old Mother, let's not spoil it for the class. I am taking an approach that might not make everyone happy with her, but I also didn't want to rehash Legends Luke, so I looked at her character origins and why she went from Servant to Mother to her. I came to the idea that is a homage to Vader's arc, whereas Percy is a homage to Anakin's. Yes, I am distinguishing between the two, even though they are the same physical person. Ultimately, Star Wars is a tale of Hope. Everyone deserves Hope.
As always, my PMs are open if you want to talk and chat. Yet, an even better way to reach out to me is on Discord. Come join the Emerald Library, me at Manke, and let's chat. If you are interested in writing something yourself, we have a plethora of writers on board who would be willing to help out in any way they can. I am pretty active there, always looking to help out someone with DC, Star Wars, or PJO content.
Additionally, I am looking for someone to help me with those very topics as well. I would love a second opinion to bounce ideas off of to help me edit and structure my writing. If you want to make a "longer-term" effort to help, please contact me on Discord.
That's about it.
-Manke