Chapter 2: Old and New Meetings
Luke Skywalker sat in one of the training rooms of the reconstructed Jedi Temple while watching his sister, Princess Leia Organa, continue her exercises in mastering the Force. It had been only five years since both had participated in the Battle of Endor and seen the defeat of the Empire, and more had changed than merely this.
Luke was officially the Grand Master of the Jedi Order at age twenty-nine, making him the youngest Jedi to claim this title. While he still had the same youthful impulse as always, he was no longer the wide-eyed farm boy he had been growing up on Tatooine. Luke had mastered patience, discipline, and courage in this time while continuing to train himself in the Jedi arts. Now Luke was close to being a man and had grown stronger and wiser than ever before, and he had done the New Republic a great favor by recruiting Jedi who had survived the destruction of the Order and training new Force-sensitive individuals to become Jedi as well, and he had provided new ideals to the Jedi code that would hopefully succeed where the old order had stumbled.
"Concentrate, Leia," Luke instructed his sister. "Feel the Force around you, between yourself and me, between this chamber and the rest within this temple. Let go of your physical consciousness and stretch out with your mind."
Leia did as she was instructed, even though she did not fully understand. Even after beginning her training as a Jedi some years earlier, she still had a limited grasp of this "Force" that Luke knew so well. When he had begun training her along with other Jedi, she had been distressed with her initial difficulties and doubted that she could be like her brother, but Luke had taught her that acknowledging those difficulties and striving to fulfill commitment in spite of them was the first step.
However, she was still in her training session, so now was not the time to dwell on questions. She extended her left hand toward a set of metallic boxes and concentrated on them. Before the siblings' eyes, the first box began to rise off the chamber floor and moved with Leia's hand.
"Very good," Luke encouraged. "But projecting the Force requires more than physical motion. Stretch out with your feelings. Think of each box rising into the air."
Leia did so, but she could feel the strain growing on her mind. She fought hard to resist the struggle, and slowly, the second box began to rise in the air to join the first. The third box began to rise, and then Leia set the three boxes down to the floor stacked upon each other. As she sat upon the stool beside her brother, Luke said to her, "Your strength is improving, Leia. You can feel the Force. Soon, you will learn to control it as I have."
Leia was rather surprised, for when Luke had begun training her, she had only known the Force as a mystical energy field that was in control of all things. She said to him, "I thought that the Force was in control of the entire galaxy, not us in control of it. How can a Jedi control the Force if it's what keeps the galaxy together?"
Luke gave a chuckle that spoke volumes of understanding. "Every being who is sensitive to the Force as we Jedi are can feel it flowing through us, Leia. It governs our destinies, but it also allows us to channel power from it. And the more in tune a Jedi is with the Force, the more power a Jedi channels from it. You'll understand a bit more when you've reached this stage of your training."
Although she could hardly understand it, Leia nodded. She had no idea that being a Jedi was such a puzzling way of life if one was not used to knowing about it. After all, she had not been given detailed information about the old Jedi Order on her late home planet of Alderaan.
"I often wondered how the Emperor was able to fool our father," said Leia. "I heard how he orchestrated that business with Order 66, but the stories about him killing four Jedi in his office? Sounds a bit absurd. And how did our father fit into all this?"
"I have learned a bit more," explained Luke. "The Emperor was a Sith Lord just as Darth Vader was. He deceived our father Anakin through fear and deceptions. For fear of losing our mother, he accepted the Emperor's offer without question and helped him carry out Order 66 against the Jedi. It was only through coming close to losing me that he realized the truth."
Leia stayed silent for a moment, taking in what Luke had told her. She still held great animosity for Darth Vader; after all, he was the one who had captured her, witnessed the destruction of Alderaan by the Death Star, had cut off Luke's right hand in their duel on Bespin, and been seeking the destruction of the freedom-loving Rebel Alliance. However, in the back of her mind, Leia felt that she should not hold a grudge against her father, for he had saved Luke's life on the second Death Star and had been brought back to the light side of the Force despite everything he had done before.
While the two siblings sat together chatting, there came a beeping from the holoprojector in Luke's pocket. He activated it and received a hologram message of Ezra Bridger, one of the new members of the reconstructed Jedi Order.
"What is it, Ezra?" inquired Luke.
"Chancellor Mothma requests an audience with the Jedi Council, Master Skywalker," replied Ezra. "It's a matter of tremendous urgency."
Luke gave a nod as he deactivated the holoprojector, and then he said to Leia, "I should be back in a while, Leia. I trust you can keep up with your exercises?"
"You know you can trust me, Luke," Leia answered with a warm smile.
The brother and sister embraced warmly and then Luke exited the room to bring the best members of his Jedi Council to meet with Chancellor Mothma.
…
Luke seemed shockingly out of place walking beside the Chancellor of the New Republic toward her office; while Mon Mothma wore a robe of brilliant white with the tips of her white shoes visible, he was clad in a black tunic over a white undertunic, black pants, a belt with a silver clasp, and boots. However, the security guards either bowed or saluted as he passed, for Luke had already been famous as the Rebel hero who destroyed the Death Star and was now the Jedi hero whose courage and strength had brought the cruelty of the Empire to an end.
Soon, Luke sat before Chancellor Mothma with three other Jedi: Ahsoka Tano, the former apprentice of his father Anakin; Ferren Barr, who had survived in the years of the Empire; and Cal Kestis, whom Luke had to thank for training Force-sensitive individuals under the Empire's nose long enough for the Jedi Order to eventually be rebuilt, having been among several Padawans himself.
"It is good to know that you are able to keep this potential incursion under scrutiny, my friends," said Chancellor Mothma. "There is already some disapproval of forming a standing army from the planets in the New Republic, but should the Jedi be needed to offer aid to this defense force, it will be enough."
Luke said to her, "You have our word, Chancellor, we will do all we can to ensure that the Republic is kept safe. What we can't do is fight a war for the Republic."
Chancellor Mothma nodded and then continued, "Nevertheless, I am not willing to risk war with an outside incursion without reason. I intend to initiate negotiations if we are shown no hostility."
Luke and his fellow Jedi exchanged a knowing glance. It was always better to begin with reason, and in the business of the Republic's leaders, the best way to do that was through negotiations. Their discussion ended when a handful of Senators in the newly established Cabinet entered the chamber. The Jedi greeted them with dignified bows, and then discussions began concerning the newcomers behind the incursions in the Outer Rim.
"Senators, has there been any information gathered on these newcomers and their outposts in the Outer Rim?" inquired Chancellor Mothma.
"Very little, Your Honor," replied Senator Honorius. "However, there has been talk among representatives of the Outer Rim planets that suggest Imperial loyalists are behind it. This is possible as most of those who held the deepest loyalty to Emperor Palpatine fled beyond Republic jurisdiction after the Empire's defeat at Endor."
Ahsoka spoke next and said, "I can't be sure that's the only reason. The dark side of the force may be playing a hand in it."
The whole room turned tense at this suggestion as though Ahsoka had suggested that the Empire was not truly defeated. Fortunately, Luke broke the tension. "I sense the dark side is not growing as strong as when the Emperor was alive. But something is out of place here." Then he said to the Cabinet members, "Have there been any threats to the Republic's sanctity from Imperial loyalists?"
"There have been some attempts of minor groups to target supporters of the New Republic, but nothing has been carried out aside from threats, and security agents have been able to handle the situations with minimal force," said Representative Ilana Redsun from Mykapo.
Luke thought the matter over and then said, "If it pleases you, Chancellor, I and my fellow Jedi here can serve as a guard for you tonight should any threat to you be poised. My senses tell me that with the defense force agreed upon in the Senate, any Imperial loyalists against it may target you as you have authorized it at the Senate's approval."
Chancellor Mothma nodded and said, "Thank you, Master Skywalker. But with all due respect, I will require more than Jedi for protection to assure the public that I am not making the same actions as Emperor Palpatine did before he orchestrated the deaths of the old Jedi Order."
Then Cal Kestis made his suggestion. "Perhaps Han Solo can be of some help. He's returning to Coruscant with a crew of Republic security troops after successfully establishing a Republic trade agreement on Ghorman."
This made Chancellor Mothma's smile grow broader. Han Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca had been instrumental in the defeat of the Galactic Empire and had been given multiple awards for their bravery in ending the Galactic Civil War. Their friendship with Luke had also been a great support for the young Jedi in his days fighting in the Rebel Alliance, and so Chancellor Mothma agreed to have Luke and his Jedi allies ensure her safety for that night at least along with General Solo and his crew. The company parted that evening with light hearts, little knowing how large the situation would turn out to be under the surface.
The night sky seemed to glow an ethereal blue as the skyscrapers of Coruscant lit up like towering masses of jewels. Though the only winds on the urbanized planet came from the sky-level filters pumping sanitizing agents into the atmosphere, there seemed to be a great calm settling on the citizens as the planet's four moons shone down like pearls in the heavens. But out of the sight of the millions of human and non-human inhabitants going about their business, an uneasy partnership of deadly vagabonds was about to form.
Standing at the edge of a platform beside the holo-ad signs was a man clad in scratched, battered armor plating over a tattered flight uniform. Under his turban-like head wraps, his pale face was marked with several old scars, some of them cut so deep into his skin that even the best cosmetic surgery would not fill them completely. But Dengar of Corellia was not famous only for his grisly appearance. He was one of the more famous bounty hunters in the Core Worlds, having once been hired by the Empire for the capture of Han Solo on the orders of Darth Vader. He knew why the Empire had fallen, but he didn't know much of the details or care about them. He had found a new bounty to catch, but not alone as he preferred.
He turned toward the shadows at the sound of heavy boots and saw two individuals step into the dim light: one, an insectoid alien with a respirator mask over its circular mouth and shields on its bulbous eyes; the other, a dark-armored droid designed to resemble its partner. The alien, Zuckuss, approached Dengar and greeted him with a curt nod while the droid, 4-LOM, did the same.
The next bounty hunter to appear on the roof was another droid: IG-88, whose programming had compelled it to destroy its creators before it began to function as an assassin droid. The next to appear was a lifeform perhaps more fearsome to look at than Zuckuss. It was a humanoid creature with a reptilian body, its face a dreadful cross between a crocodile and a gecko. This being was Bossk, a Trandoshan bounty hunter notorious for skinning his prey, which made him quite reviled even among fellow Trandoshans.
"I hope you're all aware of what we're getting into here," growled Dengar. "We've been given one chance to get this job done, and we're gonna do it right."
Bossk only hissed, and Zuckuss and 4-LOM exchanged looks that would seem unfeeling to anyone who saw them. However, the group had no time to begin bickering, for a sixth figure appeared at the side of the platform in a speeder that could seat eight individuals. A woman with shining purple skin, wearing a plum-colored, form-fitting garment sat in the pilot seat, a blaster at her hip and her luminous red hair tied back in a braided ponytail.
"Now, now, boys. Is this any way to go about business?" the stranger said in a sultry voice. "Don't forget I'm working for this bounty as well, paid by the same men. So if you'll just hop on board, I'll keep you in order like good children and we'll get the job done."
With that, the five other bounty hunters boarded the woman's speeder. Dengar would have gotten into the seat beside her, but the woman held him back, giving him the chance to notice that her right arm was a cybernetic prosthetic clearly equipped with interchangeable weaponry. The woman grinned at Dengar and said, "In the backseat, handsome. There'll be time for a chat when we have our pay."
Once the bounty hunters took their seats, the Theelin* woman steered their speeder into the bustle of Coruscant's traffic for their deadly rendezvous.
A/N: Hope you all enjoyed the appearance of Luke and Leia. Keep an eye out for Chapter 3, 'cause here's where we see the Jedi at work!
*The female bounty hunter is of the same alien species as entertainer Rystall Sant, who appears in Return of the Jedi at Jabba the Hutt's palace. Don't you worry. Her name will be revealed next chapter.