I'm giving you fair warning, this is probably the most emotionally heavy chapter so far, and almost certainly the most emotionally heavy chapter there will be. I cried a little bit while writing it.
Just warning ya'll.
"Whatdaya got for me, Pony?"
Janna folded her arms and waited while the astromech ran a diagnostic. She, Tom, and Rosado had finally repaired enough of the damage to the cloaking device wiring that PY-HD could talk to the computer which controlled it, a computer separate from the main computer which operated the basic functions of Queen Moon's Revenge. The droid twittered out the news.
"Still no communication with the motivator, huh?"
"There was an awful lot of exposed wiring back there," Tom said, "and there was that one spot where it looked like it had touched and gotten hot."
Rosado pursed his lips. "Yeah, that definitely could have shorted out the motivator."
"Not gonna be easy to find a replacement for that," Tom groaned.
"Let's not jump to conclusions," Janna said. "There might just be more damaged wiring we can't see, hidden behind some other component. This thing was a prototype, it wasn't built with easy repair and maintenance in mind. The motivator is kinda buried, but if we can get to it, we can disconnect it from the ship's computer and plug it directly into Pony Head."
The droid blorped.
"She can talk to it directly and tell us if anything is wrong with it."
"Davey says that's a great idea!"
Everyone turned to look at the teenage Jedi holding up her rock to be a part of the conversation. There was a long, awkward silence. Star seemed unphased. She just smiled brightly.
Janna gave a good-natured smile. "Well, if Davey agrees, then it must be a good plan. Let's go pull the motivator."
"Davey can help!" Star said excitedly, pushing the rock into Janna's hands. "He's really small! He can fit behind things where you can't see or reach!"
"Um…okay. I'm sure he'll be a big help."
"He will be!" Star yawned and stretched. "I'm gonna go take a nap." And without another word, she hopped up to the cockpit.
"Well, okay then…" Janna set "Davey" down propped up against the bulkhead to face where they would be working and grabbed the tool kit. The trio began removing the panels which obstructed their access to the motivator while PY-HD continued running various system checks.
"Is it a good idea to humor Star's delusion?" Rosado whispered to Janna after about twenty minutes.
Janna had her arm stuffed into the bulkhead up to the shoulder, trying to reach an otherwise inaccessible bolt. She glanced over at the rock, the crudely drawn face upon its surface blankly staring at them as they worked. "I have no idea what the right thing is with her."
"I'm honestly afraid that saying the wrong thing might make her worse," said Tom. "Like a shock to her brain or something."
Janna scrunched up her face as her fingers stretched to their limit, backing out the bolt by hand. She pulled it out triumphantly. "Ah! Got it." She added it to the pile accumulating on the floor. "I've been worried about that, too, actually. Like, what if her memory snaps back so suddenly that she goes crazy?" She glanced at Davey leaning against the bulkhead. "…er, crazier."
The motivator, as it turned out, was not fried. Unfortunately, it still took another three days of troubleshooting before the crew could get the cloaking device motivator was back on the network and talking to the ship's computer again. During that time, Star showed absolutely no signs of improvement, continuing to carry around her rock and talking to it as if it were sentient.
But now the time had come to test out the cloaking abilities of the Queen Moon's Revenge. With no instruction manual to assist them, it had taken Janna, Tom, Rosado, and PY-HD most of yet another day to work out the operational procedures of the cloaking device.
A preliminary test while the ship was still parked in Beggar's Canyon had been successful. The Revenge was completely invisible to the naked eye. But what they really needed to know was whether or not the ship was traceable by scanners. For that, they would require the use of a second ship.
Janna flew the Revenge with PY-HD and Rosado aboard to assist. Tom flew the Raventalon with Star, who was under strict instructions not to touch anything, in the copilot's seat. Their job was to attempt to detect the stealth ship with the scanners once it was cloaked.
Janna parked Queen Moon's Revenge in orbit over Tatooine, far from any typical planetary route. Tom did the same with the Raventalon, angling the forward viewscreen toward the stealth ship.
"Got me in your sights, Lucy?" Janna asked via the comm channel.
"Sure do. We can see the ship on the scanner, too."
"Davey and I are keeping a close eye on the readout!"
Janna grimaced at the mere mention of the rock. She felt as though she were a parent indulging in their child's fantasy, and she was running out of parenting patience. "Good to know. We're gonna go comm-silent here. You guys remember the plan?"
"You'll stay put, we'll circle your last known location from all sides and try to detect you on the scanner. After ten minutes, you'll decloak."
"Good. See you in a bit." Janna ended the transmission and turned to Rosado. "Ready?"
"I hope so." The former Imperial Officer scanned the controls. The boards were even larger and more intimidating than those aboard the Raventalon. "I'm still not entirely sure what all of these buttons and toggles do…"
"Well, hopefully it won't matter. Pony Head has the weapons systems disabled, so you shouldn't be able to accidentally fire anything."
"That does actually make me feel better. So we had settled that it was-" He pointed at the buttons as he spoke. "-This one, and then this, and then…uh…"
"That one there."
"Right, and that should power up the cloaking device. Then this one here should engage it."
"Hopefully."
"Hopefully. Providing our repairs hold up. Alright, let's give it a shot." Janna called down the ramp to PY-HD, who did not fit in the cockpit and had to plug into the ship's computer all the way in the back of the hold. "All systems 'green', Pony?"
The droid loudly whistled back that everything was operating as intended.
"Alright, Hovis, have at it."
"Copy that. Cloaking in five…four…three…" He flicked the toggles in sequence as he counted down. "…two…one…" He pressed the final button. "Cloaking engaged."
As Tom and Star watched, every outer surface of Queen Moon's Revenge was enveloped with crackles of blue electricity, and then the entire ship faded away until it was completely invisible.
"Even though I've already seen it do that once," Tom said, "that is just so weird to watch."
Star was holding up Davey toward the viewscreen. "Tooooootally. Davey says the same thing."
Tom closed his eyes and took a long, slow, deep breath. While he was definitely still worried about Star's mental state, he was beginning to run out of patience in regards to that rock. He eased the throttle forward and gradually advanced the Raventalon toward where he had last seen Queen Moon's Revenge. "Nothing on the scanner, right, Star?"
"Nope! No contacts!"
Tom continued to slowly advance, his eyes flickering back and forth between the scanner and the viewscreen. Nothing materialized.
When ten minutes had passed since the stealth ship had vanished, Tom brought the Raventalon to a full stop. A few seconds later, the blue crackles of electricity appeared less than five meters in front of the viewscreen, the pointed prow of Queen Moon's Revenge pointed directly at the Raventalon's cockpit. Tom and Star jumped in surprise as Janna waved to them from behind her own controls.
"Whoa! Did we almost crash?" exclaimed Star.
As if on cue, the comm lit up with an incoming transmission. Tom put the signal through.
"You guys should see the looks on your faces!" Janna chuckled.
"Did we really come that close to hitting you?" Tom asked.
"No! You were going so slow, I thought it would be fun to fly circles around you. This thing is deceptively quick flying sublight. And then I stopped right here before decloaking. Guess that means you couldn't detect us."
"Yeah, we didn't get a single contact on the scanner!" Star replied.
Janna didn't even bother responding. She just reversed engines and backed away from the Raventalon, feeling very pleased with herself.
With the stealth ship safely hidden in Beggar's Canyon once again, the group reconvened in Mos Espa for a celebratory dinner in the galley of the Raventalon. Janna purchased food from the only actual restaurant in town, and they all ate until they were stuffed fit to burst.
They returned to Beggar's Canyon the following day, leaving PY-HD behind to guard the Raventalon. Since the ship had been sitting untouched for so many years, Janna wanted to do a bit of maintenance on the ship itself: flush and change the lubricant and coolant, clean the manifolds, and so on. Star frolicked about outside, carrying Davey under her arm and talking to the rock as she ran and jumped about, playing pretend.
"Come on, Davey! The King of Toydaria needs our help! Whoooosh!"
Tom and Rosado watched her from the top of the boarding ramp, leaning inconspicuously against the bulkhead on either side of the doorway. They needn't have hid. Star was too wrapped up in her game to notice them.
"What are we gonna do about her?" Tom said quietly. "She still hasn't gained her memory back, I'm afraid to even give her back her lightsaber…" Tom had hidden Star's lightsabers behind the false bulkhead in the Raventalon's cargo hold.
"Think maybe bringing her back to her home on Mewni might help jog something?"
"I don't know. And what do we do if it doesn't?"
Janna came up from the engine room, wiping her hands on a rag. She looked past the pair at Star down below them. "Guess Star didn't miraculously get her memory back while I was working, huh?"
The boys shook their heads.
"I don't know what we're gonna do," said Janna. "We can't retake Mewni without Star, but we can't take Star into battle like this."
"So, what are we supposed to do?" Tom asked. "Just wait around here and hope she eventually gets better? What if it takes a month? Or a year?"
"Do you think taking Star to her home on Mewni might help jog her memory?" Rosado asked, wondering if Janna might have a different opinion on the subject than Tom.
Janna grimaced. "Honestly, I worry it'll make things worse. Seeing her homeworld ravaged by the Empire and her people enslaved might break her in this weirdly innocent state her mind seems to be in."
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Tom asked, frustrated.
Janna slowly shook her head. "I don't know…"
"What about 'Ben'?"
The teenage smugglers raised an eyebrow at Rosado. "What about Ben?" said Janna.
Rosado shrugged. "He's a Jedi. Maybe he can help. Somehow. He did say her subconscious told him how to find us, he must be able to see into her mind with the Force or something."
"I don't know if we should contact him…" Tom said slowly. "He did say we should forget we ever saw him."
Janna shoved her partner hard enough to smack the bulkhead. "I'm not hearing any better ideas, so let's track down a Jedi Master!"
Rosado peered out the viewscreen at the endless expanse of sand stretching out before the Raventalon as Janna piloted it low across the desert. The twin suns had begun their slow decent toward the horizon. "How exactly is it that you know where we're going?"
"Since the signal wasn't encrypted, Pony Head back-traced the frequency of the incoming transmission from Kenobi to my commlink. Not difficult to do, if you know how. The hard part is finding the origin of that frequency, but since we know it came from this planet, I used the short-range transmitter to reverse-ping that frequency and found the exact location of origin."
"How'd you learn how to do that?"
Janna shrugged. "You meet a lot of characters in the smuggling business, you pick things up."
Rosado looked back at Tom, who had relinquished his spot in the copilot's seat to the former Imperial Officer. The Demonicite sat in one of the second row seats, keeping an eye on Star. She was sitting cross-legged on the deck, happily playing with "Davey."
"I sure hope Obi-Wan can help her…" Rosado whispered to Janna.
"Me, too. Especially since, if he can't, and Star is stuck like this…" She sighed. "Everything we've been through will have been for nothing."
Obi-Wan Kenobi had grown relatively accustomed to his life in exile on Tatooine. He had a false name, a job, and a home in a secluded cave in the Jundland Waste, not far from a moisture farm of particular interest. It was not exactly comfortable, but he didn't suppose exile was meant to be.
He returned to his home late one evening, having paid a visit to the Lars Homestead after work, watching the inhabitants of the moisture farm from afar through a scope. The twin suns had already set, the desert lit only by stars. He was tired, looking forward to a meal and some rest. But as he passed his vaporator and entered the cave mouth, he suddenly became aware of the fact that he was not alone.
Obi-Wan carried no blaster, and his lightsaber lay buried in the sand along with Anakin's. He did, however, have the butchering knife he used for work, which he drew and held at the ready as he edged carefully inside.
A small lantern illuminated his home, which was occupied by four rather familiar beings. The blonde teenager sitting on the sandy floor looked up at him as he entered. "Oh, hey there, nice man!"
"What do you think you are doing here?" Kenobi asked of the group, incredulous. He sheathed his knife. "I thought my instructions were quite clear."
Rosado spoke first, taking a cautious step toward the Jedi Master. He spoke with reverence. "I apologize, Master, but we were desperate and didn't know what else to do."
"Take your problems far, far away from here?"
"Please, Sir," Janna begged, the desperation in her voice clear. She pushed past Rosado and stood close enough to whisper. "Something's wrong with Star. She hasn't been the same since you brought her back to us. She's missing big chunks of her memory." She glanced at Star. The girl was moving Davey through the sand, rocking the chunk of sediment back and forth as if it were walking. "And she's been talking to that rock like it's alive."
Kenobi's expression softened. "Oh, dear… Yes, I suppose that is a problem."
"Hey, what are you guys talking about over there?" Star called. "Davey wants to know why you're whispering!"
Tom quickly intercepted, kneeling down in the sand beside her. He spoke to her as a parent would to a child, softly, gently, playing pretend with her rock friend. Star forgot about the others' conversation.
Rosado moved closer to Janna and Kenobi. "Please, General…I would not dream of asking you to do anything that would risk compromising you. But Star isn't out of the fight yet…" He glanced at the girl playing with Tom. "…and as long as she's still in the fight, so are we."
Obi-Wan nodded with understanding. "How bad is her memory?"
"She remembers a lot," said Janna. "But she's missing specific information. "She doesn't remember getting her arm cut off and replaced with a cybernetic one-"
"I admit, I was wondering about that when I found her. How did that happen?"
"She had a duel with an inquisitor," Rosado explained just a bit too quickly.
Kenobi, however, pried no further, slowly nodding. He needed no further explanation. "Seems like something that would be difficult to forget."
"She doesn't remember anything about the last planet we were on before we came here," Janna continued. "Her best friend was killed there, and-"
"Diaz? Marco Diaz?"
"You remember him?"
"One does not know Star Butterfly without knowing Marco Diaz," said Kenobi. "She must have been beyond distraught."
"She was. I think that's why she ran off into the desert - which she also doesn't remember doing - and now she doesn't even remember that Marco existed."
"Like, at all," Rosado emphasized.
Kenobi thoughtfully rubbed his chin. "I think perhaps Star has not lost her memory, but is repressing things that have caused her great emotional pain. She has repressed so much that she has regressed to this very child-like state."
"Do you think you can help her?"
"…I will try."
He crossed the cave to where Star and Tom were playing on the floor. She looked up at him, smiling broadly.
"Hello, Star."
"Hi!"
He crouched beside her. "Do you know who I am?"
"Ummmmmmmmmmmmm… I know you're nice!"
"I am a doctor," Kenobi said, correctly assuming that to be a simpler explanation.
"Oh! Okay!"
"I'd like to have a look at this arm of yours," he said, tapping her cybernetic arm with one fingertip. "Make sure everything is in good working order."
"Good idea. I don't even know who put this thing on me. Who knows if they did it right?"
"Why don't you come have a lie down over there?" Kenobi pointed to his neatly made bedroll at the back of the cave.
"Okay!"
She happily bounced over to the bedroll and sat down. "Here, Tom, take care of Davey for me?"
"Sure, Star." He took the rock, hoping that, whatever the Jedi Master was about to do, when he was done, Star wouldn't ever ask to have the rock returned.
Star laid straight out on her back. Kenobi sat cross-legged at her head while the others stood back a respectful distance.
Obi-Wan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had not used the Force since arriving on Tatooine. He concentrated hard, feeling the flow of the Force Wash over him for the first time in ages. Then he waved his hand over Star's face, and she instantly passed out.
"Whoa!" Tom yelped. "What did you do?!"
"Not to worry. I have placed Star into a deep meditative state that will allow her subconscious to become more active."
Kenobi placed his palms on either side of Star's head and closed his eyes once more, focusing the Force on her mind. Janna, Tom, and Rosado watched closely.
"You have been through a great deal of pain…and sorrow," Obi-Wan said softly. "You have suffered the loss of many with whom you were close. You blame yourself…for the suffering and tragedy of others."
Star's face twitched.
"These things do not define you…you must learn and grow from the experiences of your path…and let go of the emotions which burden you."
Star's eyes clenched shut. Her teeth gnashed together, hands balled into fists as her sides. Pained groans began to emanate from her throat.
"Let the Force be your guide…let it help you to remember the events which have brought you here, for they have made you who you are."
Tears streamed from the corners of Star's eyes, soaking her cheeks as her entire body began to writhe and convulse.
And then she screamed.
The door slid open, and Star stepped through onto the balcony overlooking the main atrium of the Jedi Temple. The lights were dim. It was nighttime. All was silent.
"Hello?"
A blaster bolt ripped past her face and she jumped backwards. The world seemed to explode around her. Lightsabers flashed amongst continuous blaster fire streaming from every direction. Clone troopers marched through the atrium, firing upon Jedi Knights who fell one-by-one
Star panicked. She backed through the doorway and tripped, falling onto her back. The sounds of battle instantly ceased; She was no longer in the Jedi Temple. Her hands touched plush, carpeted floor as she pushed herself upright.
"Star…"
The voice was hoarse, pained, but close. She looked up. Sitting against the wall beside the doorway she had fallen through was a Nautolan male, with a deep gash burned across his midsection. Her eyes met his, big, black orbs glossy against his green skin.
A wave of images flashed before her, memories of the injured man: A bright and friendly smile. Playful, good-natured teasing. Wise words of wisdom.
"Master Fisto!"
She rushed to his side, but before she could say anything, he held out his lightsaber, pressing it into her right hand. "The spark of the Jedi must live on!"
"But I-"
"Go, Star! You must leave!"
"I can't just leave you here!"
"You must!"
"Yes, young one," came a dark and gravely voice. Star looked up and found herself staring at the hooded figure of Darth Sidious. "Leave your Master here to die. Run away. Flee like the coward you are…"
The emerald blade ignited in her hand. "I am not a coward! And you are a murderous traitor!"
Star leapt forward, weapon poised to strike straight through Palpatine's evil grin. He laughed as she swung the lightsaber-
-and landed on a stone floor in a sunlight-filled room.
"Huh?"
She whipped around. Kit and Sidious had vanished. She was no longer in the Chancellor's office, but a lavishly decorated room with stone walls. It was familiar, but she could not place it.
"Now where am I?"
Switching off the lightsaber, Star hurried to the window. The sky was clear and tinged pink. Birds sang in the trees. A village sprawled behind the manicured grounds of the building in which she stood.
Memories flooded back. She knew where she was.
"I'm…home…"
"Star?"
She turned. Three beings had strolled in through the door, two females, both rather tall, one wearing a wide-brimmed hat, and one male, no taller than Star herself, with a long beard.
More memories returned. Her heart soared as they smiled at her. "Mom! Dad! Aunt Eclipsa!"
"Hello, Pumpkin!" River boomed. "Come give your old man a hug!"
She sprinted toward them, her arms flung wide to hug her father.
She passed through him. He was gone. So were her mother and Eclipsa. The room had turned dark. Blaster fire and explosions echoed in the distance.
Star felt cold. Her heart pounded. She felt like crying. She hurried back to the window in time to see a pair of TIE fighters soar past, firing into the village and razing several buildings.
"No…no…this is all my fault…I never should have come back…"
She could watch no longer. She turned away from the window.
She was not alone in the room. A tall, thin being with grey reptilian skin dressed in a sharp suit stood where her family had been moments before. He flashed her a self-assured smile of sharp teeth.
Star had never met this being, but she had seen holos of him. She knew who he was. Her hands balled into fists, anger welling up inside her. "Toffee."
"Hello. Princess."
"You're the one who killed my family, aren't you?"
"I believe you already know the answer…don't you?"
"You won't get away with what you're doing to Mewni! I won't let you!"
The lizard man chuckled. "You're too late. I already have. And do you know what the best part is?" He leaned forward as he spoke, softly and slowly. "I could never have done it without you."
"That's not true!"
"Oh, but it is. Your presence on Mewni gave me the rational to stage a military invasion and occupation. If you had not so foolishly returned home, I'm not sure I would have ever had the opening necessary to reclaim Mewni."
Star felt faint. She knew Toffee was right. She clenched her eyes shut. "…You're right…I made a mistake." She opened her eyes, staring Toffee down. "But I'll never quit fighting to make up for it. I'll fight until I've driven every last Imperial from Mewni, or until I have no breath left with which to fight!"
Toffee chuckled again. "I believe I know which of those scenarios will happen first."
"When I want your opinion, I'll fill out a requisition request, ya big, dumb lizard!" She kicked her legs over the windowsill and slid out, dropping to the ground far below.
But when she landed, she was surrounded by thick forest in a pouring rain.
Star didn't know where she was, but she knew she was in danger, that much was obvious. She ignited the lightsaber, holding it at the ready as she moved slowly and cautiously through the soaked underbrush.
Something dropped down from the trees in Star's peripheral vision, and she quickly turned to face it. The figure's stark white skin, fiery red hair, and pale yellow horns offset against her black, full-body armor. Another barrage of memories tore through Star's mind. She knew this woman.
"Hey, there. Time to die."
Twin crimson blades ignited in Hekapoo's hands, lashing out towards Star. Star parried with her own weapon, throwing the inquisitor off-balance. Their weapons clashed back and forth, Star gritting her teeth with determination as she gained control of the battle and pushed Hekapoo backwards. She spun to gain momentum for a strike-
Searing pain enveloped her right shoulder. Star screamed as her severed arm dropped to the ground, lightsaber extinguishing as it landed. Star landed in a heap beside it, clutching the burning stump where her right arm had once been.
Hekapoo chuckled. "You are a failure. A disgrace to the Order. The unruly Padawan who could not master even the simplest of lightsaber forms."
Teeth still grit against the pain, Star pushed herself upright. "No…you are the failure, Heckapoo. You gave into the dark side so easily when you had the chance instead of fighting for what was right."
"The Order lost its way," Heckapoo scoffed. "It was time for a change. A new ruling power. One not reliant on warrior monks to do their bidding. Bidding that the government decided was right or wrong, and we blindly accepted as fact."
Star forced herself to stand. "So instead of trying to change things, you became a mindless killing machine for the Emperor, hunting down your fellow Jedi like animals?! And you're gonna call me a failure?!"
The lightsaber flew from the ground into Star's left hand. Before Heckapoo could even react, the emerald blade had ignited and plunged through her midsection. The inquisitor crumpled to the ground.
Star felt weak. Exhausted. She could no longer stand. She slumped over backwards.
And found herself lying on an inclined table, her wrists and ankles bound. Her severed right arm had been replaced by a cybernetic prosthetic.
The door to the tiny room opened. A being clad in black armor complete with a full-face helmet strode through, it's breathing loud and electronic.
Star remembered this. "Vader…"
The Sith Lord said nothing. He just stared at her, noisily breathing.
"Well? Aren't you going to torment me like everyone else? Tell me I'm weak? A failure? Responsible for my friends' suffering?"
Breathe in. Breathe out.
"I'm not afraid of you."
"You should be."
"Why, because you're scary and menacing? I mean, those are both very valid reasons."
"Because I will destroy you."
"Mmmmm…no you won't. Lots of people have tried. I'm still here."
"You remain alive because your friends sacrifice for you. What will you do when your run out of friends to shield you?"
Normally, Star would have shot back a response, but she paused, thinking through her words before she spoke. When she did, she spoke slowly, and calmly. "Yes, my friends have saved my life many times. But they didn't save me by being living shields. They saved me by being smart and clever." She smirked. "Just like I've saved their lives in return. Face it, Vader, we're smarter than any minion you could throw at us."
"You will not be able to save each other forever, girl. I command more power than you could possibly comprehend."
"Power is a matter of perspective," Star asserted. "And from my perspective-" She raised the fingers of her shackled hand and focused the Force on Vader's lightsaber, which hung at his waist. The crimson blade ignited, burning a gash through Vader's cybernetic leg.
"AAAHHHH!" Vader cried, more from surprise than pain. As the prosthetic failed, he dropped to his knee.
Gathering the Force to bolster her strength, Star flexed every muscle in her entire body. The shackles restraining her wrists and ankles shattered. She bolted upright to a sitting position and called Vader's lightsaber into her hand.
"-You are powerless."
She flung the lightsaber toward Vader's helmet-
She was sitting on rocky terrain beneath a twilight sky. Darth Vader had vanished. She did not recognize this place, but she assumed she probably would soon enough.
"Alright, who's next?" Star yelled as she rose to her feet. She understood the pattern. "Come on! Who's turn is it? I'm ready!"
A wide chasm bisected the ground a few meters away. Something landed just on the edge of it, catching her eye.
The crouched figure had brown hair, wore a hooded, red cloak, and clutched a now very familiar lightsaber hilt in its left hand. The figure rose to full height, and his brown eyes met Star's.
Once again, a rapid series of memories passed before Star's eyes:
Playful jesting as he dueled against Kit Fisto in the courtyard of the Jedi Temple.
Laughing and joking with her as he sat opposite her at a table at Britta's Tacos.
A slow, gentle kiss, shared in the cabin aboard the Raventalon as he lay injured on the bunk.
Running through the forest on Takodana; more laughter.
Fighting side-by-side with him aboard the Moonshadow.
And then, a much older memory.
She held a training lightsaber, her vision obscured by a solid helmet. A training remote zipped to-and-fro before her, firing low-energy blaster bolts which dissipated as she countered them with the lightsaber. Other children stood around her, each doing the same. Occasionally, she would hear one of them yelp as they failed to catch the energy bolt and it struck their body. Star had no such trouble. Using the Force came naturally to her. She could sense the exact location of the remote before her, and predict every shot before it fired.
"Feel the Force flowing through you. Let it guide your blade. Know your opponent's every move, you will."
The voice belonged to Master Yoda, who oversaw the training of all Jedi Younglings. He spoke again when the door to the training room slid open.
"A moment, younglings," said Yoda. "Helmets up."
Star switched off her training saber and pushed back her helmet. Tera Sinube stood in the doorway, the old Cosian Jedi's hand resting on the shoulder of a diminutive human male youngling with brown hair and brown eyes, looking nervous and fidgety.
"Greetings, Master Sinube," Yoda greeted warmly.
"Good morning, Master Yoda! I have a new student for you!" The child buried his face in Master Sinube's robes. Sinube smiled. "He's a bit shy."
Yoda chuckled. "Come, come, youngling, no need for apprehension. All Jedi are we."
The boy looked up at Master Sinube. "Go on," the old Jedi said kindly. With a wink, he added. "Perhaps you'll make a new friend today."
With great reluctance, the boy entered the room as Sinube left. Yoda beckoned him closer. "Welcome, youngling. Pleased we are to have you join us."
The boy said nothing.
"Tell us your name," said Yoda.
He shifted uncomfortably. "…M…Marco. Marco Diaz."
Yoda smiled. "Pleased we are to meet you, Marco." He raised a hand and a training saber zipped through the air into his hand. He held it out, offering it to Marco. "Ready to learn, are you?" Marco very hesitantly took the training saber, but said nothing. Then Yoda handed him a helmet before pointing to the end of the semicircle row of youngling students, where Star happened to be standing. "A spot for you there is, over there."
Star watched as Marco made his way to her end of the room and nervously took his spot beside her.
"Alright, younglings…let us continue. Helmets on!"
The leaners complied and ignited their training sabers, resuming their earlier practice. Star heard some frustrated and panicked muttering to her left and peeked from under her helmet.
"Come on…how does this even…?"
Marco was turning the training saber over and over in his hands.
"Everything okay?" Star whispered.
Marco, unaware that anyone was watching his struggles, jumped. He looked embarrassed. "Uh…I can't…figure out…how to turn this on…"
Star giggled. She reached over and spun the saber hilt in Marco's hand so that the activation plate faced up.
"Oh…thank you."
"No problem! I'm Star, by the way."
For the first time since arriving, Marco smiled. "Nice to meet you, Star. I'm Marco."
The memory ended. Star once more found herself on the rocky landscape, staring at a teenaged Marco standing on the edge of the cliff.
"Marco…" She felt lighter; her heart soared. She could not help but smile. This was her best friend, but her affection went beyond mere friendship. She loved him, with every fiber of her being, she loved him.
"Woo!" he cheered. "For a second there, I didn't think I was gonna-"
A blaster bolt pierced his chest, burning a hole through the front of his hoodie. Star felt her blood turn to ice.
"Marco?"
His eyes glazed over, and he began to tip backwards. She sprinted toward him.
"Marco!"
"Star…"
She grabbed for him, but he fell out of her reach, and tumbled over the edge of the chasm, quickly falling out of her sight into the darkness.
"MARCOOOOOO!"
"MARCO!" Star cried as she bolted upright from the bedroll, her breathing rapid and heavy. She felt eyes on her. Janna, Tom, and Rosado were staring at her wide-eyed, surprised by her sudden outburst.
"Star?" Janna ventured slowly. "Are you okay?"
"I…I don't know…"
Tom hesitantly edged closer, not wanting to crowd Star. "Do you…remember anything?"
"…Yeah…yeah…I remember…" A tear slid down Star's cheek. "I remember everything…they're all gone…Master Fisto…my parents…Aunt Eclipsa…" She clenched her eyes shut. "…and Marco…"
"I am very sorry to hear about Marco," said a soft male voice behind her. "I know you two were very close."
Star turned. "Master Kenobi?"
He nodded.
"That was you that found me in the desert."
He gave a small smile. "You thought I was Master Fisto."
"Oh. Sorry about that..."
Obi-wan chuckled. "I take it as a compliment." Then he turned serious. "What were you doing all alone out there?"
"We'd like to know that, too," said Tom. "Why did you run away?"
Star sighed. "Marco…Marco died just before we arrived here," she explained to Obi-wan. "We've been trying to get back to Mewni, my homeworld. I'm…" She blinked. "I guess technically I'm now the Queen of Mewni. Jedi or not, my people need help. My friends have been helping me…they've put their lives on the line to help me more times than I feel like is fair to ask them to. And when Marco died…I felt guilty." Tears trickled down her face. Her next words were aimed at Janna, Tom, and Rosado. "And I decided that no one else that I care about was going to die for me. I'd find my way back to Mewni myself…"
Janna sat beside Star on the bedroll. "Star…" she said slowly. She rested her hand atop Star's. "That is so…selfish of you."
"What?"
"Tom, Marco, and I vowed we were in this together with you. You don't get to just walk out on us-"
"Worried sick about you!" cut in Tom.
Rosado added, "Leaving us not knowing if you were even alive!"
"-and take on the whole Empire by yourself. We knew what we were getting into. We knew what the risks were. And Marco knew the danger better than anyone. He was like one-third droid when he died!"
Kenobi really wanted to ask how Marco had come to be so, but he decided this was not the time.
"We're in this together, Star, for better or for worse. You need us, and we need you."
"So don't even think about trying to get rid of us again!" finished Tom.
Star nodded, grinning though the tears. "I'm so sorry, you guys. You're the best."
Janna and Tom wrapped their Jedi friend in a tight hug, and for a moment, all was silent. When they broke apart, Star spotted "Davey" sitting in the sand behind Tom, and she realized something.
"We need to have a funeral for Marco."
Having relieved PY-HD from guard duty aboard the Raventalon, the group stood in a semi-circle in a random spot among the rocks a short walk from Kenobi's cave. The Jedi Master had provided a spade, which Star used to dig a small hole. She laid the rock previously known as "Davey" inside, having washed off the face and redrawn it, the new facial features resembling Marco's.
Janna carved Marco's name into a small piece of metal stock from the Raventalon's supply and stuck it into the ground at the head of the tiny grave as Star filled in the hole. No one spoke a word. The suns had long since set, and the Tatooine night was cool and still.
When Star had finished, she joined the circle with her friends. No one wanted to be the first to speak.
"Would anyone like to say a few words?" Kenobi asked gently.
Immediately, Star hid her face. She had held it together while digging the hole, but now realization struck, and she could maintain her composure no longer. In seconds, her face glistened in the starlight, wet with tears.
Rosado, standing beside Kenobi, softly said, "Perhaps you should start, Master."
"Is that alright?" His new friends, including Star, nodded, and PY-HD bleeped an affirmation. "Very well." So Obi-wan took a deep breath, and began. "Padawan Diaz…I regret that I did not know you well, but your good friend Master Fisto always spoke very highly of you. He said that you were the most determined young Force user that he had ever had the pleasure of knowing, and I know he always looked forward to sparring with you when he was away from the battlefield. He enjoyed your company very much.
"We are born of the Force, and we return to the Force. The sky has gained a bright and shining new star to guide your friends."
Obi-wan's sentiment was punctuated by loud sobbing, which he initially assumed to be Star, but was actually Tom, bawling his eyes out.
Janna nodded to Rosado. "Hovis?"
"Marco, I'm sorry I spent so much time hunting you instead of helping you," the former Imperial blurted out without thinking.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" Kenobi asked.
"Excuse me, Master, it's Hovis's turn," Janna said.
Hovis continued, choosing his next words more carefully. "You were one of the most fearless beings I've ever met, and a damn good man." He swallowed the lump in his throat. "Rest in peace, Marco."
Tom was next in line, but he was sobbing too hard to even open his eyes, so Janna went next. Her voice was strong and unwavering, but far softer than any of the others had ever heard her speak.
"Marco…I know I teased you a lot and gave you a hard time, but…you will always be one of my best friends. We shared a lot of amazing adventures together…some of those adventures were just the two of us…and I will treasure those memories forever." A single tear slipped from her eye. She turned to Star. "It's your turn, Star."
But Star was too emotional to speak, let alone find the words to express her feelings to her dearly departed best friend.
"Could you guys give me a minute? I…need to be alone…"
Janna nudged her shoulder. "Sure, Star. We'll be on the ship when you're ready." She gave Kenobi a respectful bow. "Thank you for your help, Ben."
"You are quite welcome. May the Force be with all of you."
"Thank you, Master." And with that, Janna lead the still sobbing Tom away, and Rosado, also giving Kenobi a bow, followed close behind.
Kenobi watched them walk away for a moment, and then turned back to Star. She had her hand on PY-HD's dome, the astromech snuggled into her side.
"Wonderful companions astromechs can be," Obi-Wan said.
Star nodded. "Yes." PY-HD gave a somber whistle.
The Jedi Master stepped closer, standing on the droid's other side. "Marco isn't really gone," he said. "He'll always be with you." He tapped his chest with his fist. "In here."
"It's not the same," Star sighed. She sat down on the ground, resting her head against PY-HD's metal body as she stared at the grave marker.
"I know it isn't. I lost many friends that day," he said, referring to the occurrence of Order 66. "I miss them every day."
"Did your heart ache like mine does right now?"
"Almost certainly."
"How did you continue on?"
"It wasn't always easy. But I knew they would not want me to give up just because they were gone. And because I had a very important mission."
"Mission? What mission?"
"That is something I cannot tell you. But the fate of the galaxy may very well depend upon it."
"Really?"
"Really. It sounds to me like you've got a rather important mission of your own."
"I do."
"I don't think Marco would want you to leave that mission unfinished, do you?"
"No…he would want me to finish what we started together. And I intend to."
"The fighting spirit to never give up when the innocent are in danger is what makes a truly great Jedi."
Obi-wan stood to leave Star be, but his words were now echoing in her head. Truly great Jedi…truly great Jedi…
"Master, wait!"
He stopped and turned back. "Yes, Star?"
"If the Order is gone…does that mean that…I'll never be a Jedi?"
Obi-wan was taken aback. "Why do you ask?"
Star lowered her eyes. "…I never really wanted to be a Jedi. I didn't like all the rules, and…I used to think using a laser sword in combat against living beings was…barbaric. Violent." She slid Marco's lightsaber from her bag, which she had retrieved from the Raventalon before coming to the gravesite. She slowly turned it over and over in her hands. "Marco wanted to be a Jedi more than anything. I never understood it." She looked up, meeting Obi-wan's eyes. "But I think I do now."
"And why is that?"
"Being a Jedi isn't about being a warrior and using our abilities to kill bad guys. Being a Jedi is about helping those in need, and fighting to protect those who can't defend themselves. That's why I'm going back to Mewni." She looked at the lightsaber again. "Marco wanted to be a Jedi…but he'll never get to be one. I want to be a Jedi in honor of him." She looked up. "But without the Order, I guess I can't be."
"Well…yes, the Order is gone. But I suppose that means…so are the rules." Obi-wan smiled. "May I borrow that?" he asked, gesturing for the lightsaber. Star handed it to him. "Kneel, please." She did so, bowing her head.
Obi-wan triggered the activation plate and the emerald bladed weapon constructed by Jedi Master Kit Fisto hissed to life, bathing the pair in a vibrant green glow. Kenobi lowered the blade above Star's right shoulder. "By the right of the Council…" He passed it above her left shoulder. "By the will of the Force…" One last motion, directly above her head. "Star Butterfly…" The blade vanished. "Rise, Jedi Knight."
Wiping the tears from her eyes, Star stood, her eyes locked on Kenobi's. "Thank you, Master."
He examined the lightsaber hilt closely. "This is Master Fisto's weapon."
"It is."
"How is it that you have it?"
So Star recounted the story of her and Marco's escape from the Jedi Temple and subsequent trip to the senate building. Kenobi listened with rapt attention. He was clearly rather impressed.
"…So now that Marco is gone…I guess that means it's mine."
"Indeed." Obi-wan held the weapon out in front of her eyes. "Jedi Knight Star Butterfly, this weapon was carried in combat by two extraordinary members of the Jedi Order, both passed long before their time. Wield it in honor of their memory and use it to defend those who cannot defend themselves."
"I will, Master Kenobi."
He placed the lightsaber in her hands. "May the Force be with you."
And with that, Obi-Wan returned home, thinking to himself that perhaps he should rig up some sort of security system to let him know if his cave had been invaded before he entered.
Star stayed by the grave a while longer, staring at Marco's name on the marker. She had so many things she wanted to say, but could not find the words to say it. Eventually, she stood up.
"I love you, Marco. And I'm going to make you proud."
And she returned to her friends.
