EPISODE IV

A New Universe

Leia had tried to remove all expectations from her mind when it came to her Jedi training with Obi-Wan. Really, she had. After all, Obi-Wan had been a Jedi Master and had fought in the Clone Wars. From how highly her father spoke of him, she figured that if anyone in the galaxy knew what it meant to be a Jedi, it was him.

And yet…

And yet…

This was not at all what she had expected. For the first two weeks of her training, she and Obi-Wan would go out into the woods to meditate on the nature of the Force or do some ancient Jedi slow-moving martial art that really just seemed to be another way to meditate. They wouldn't even take a speeder to the forest to save time, no, they wound up walking. If Leia were a less charitable person, she would have guessed that this was all a scam so that Obi-Wan could take advantage of not living in a desert for the first time in twenty years. She also went over the Jedi texts every night, doing her best to absorb the teachings, but still! Though she brought it with her every day for training, Leia hadn't turned her lightsaber on other than the day Obi-Wan handed it to her. She was more than certain that Kanan and Ezra hadn't trained like this.

A voice inside Leia reminded her that Obi-Wan had been fully trained Jedi for years before the Order fell. So maybe he was worth listening to.

And yet…

"I sense much frustration in you," Obi-Wan remarked. He'd been in the middle of yet another lecture about the nature of the Force and how it connected all living things when he stopped to say that. Looking at how just two weeks on Alderaan had changed Obi-Wan, perhaps Leia's more cynical side had some merit. He looked less haggard and miserable. Cleaner, for one thing. His beard was neatly trimmed and, in general, he seemed to have more life in him. He did not look young for his age but he did look closer to sixty than seventy now, at least. He had also traded in his sand-beaten robes for a set of dark green overtunic, a light blue undertunic, and matching dark green pants with brown boots. If you already knew he was a Jedi he would still look like a Jedi, but if you had not known he was a Jedi, at least now it was not as obvious.

"No, Obi– I mean, Master," Leia lied, her eyes still closed as she sat cross-legged in the grass. For her own part, Leia's athletic attire consisted of a form-fitting light gray short-sleeved shirt and long white pants with a gray stripe running down each side of her leg, though the material was highly resistant to getting stained by the grass. "It's not that, I just…" she let out a long sigh and opened her eyes. "You put such importance on time not being on our side and how I needed to be quickly trained in the ways of the Jedi so that I could fight the Sith but we haven't done anything yet! You haven't even mentioned the basics of lightsaber combat."

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow. "Is that what you think it is to be a Jedi?" he asked her. "Swinging around a laser sword and hacking apart our enemies?" he shook his head. "A Jedi will only resort to violence as the last resort. If you are to wield a weapon as deadly as a lightsaber then you must understand the connection that all living things have through the Force. You must understand the value of the lives you might have to end."

At this Leia could not help but scoff. "I'm sorry, Master, but I'm training so that I can fight the Empire. To fight Vader and Emperor Palpatine himself. How much value do their lives really have?" she asked with an annoyed smirk.

Obi-Wan's expression darkened. "It is that precise thinking that caused the fall of the Jedi," he warned her. "We allowed ourselves to be ordered like soldiers, to use the Force itself as a weapon. Though the main force of the Separatist army was droids, we still fought many organic beings. Life-and-death conflicts are the nature of war, this is true. But we forgot that the Jedi were not meant to be purely warriors. We lost our way. We let ourselves be manipulated and corrupted until we were blinded by the Dark Side. I need you to understand the lessons that the rest of the Jedi forgot so that, if the Order is to survive and be reborn, we can avoid falling into the same trap once again." Leia bowed her head in understanding, thoroughly mollified.

"I am sorry, Master," she said softly. "I meant no disrespect." Obi-Wan nodded sagely as his expression softened.

"It's quite alright," he assured her. "It is a hard first lesson for any Padawan to learn. Especially for how late your training has begun. Your father was only eleven when I began his training." Leia nodded.

"I wish I could have known him," she admitted. After a moment of quiet, Obi-Wan spoke again.

"There is another reason you must gain an understanding of the Force before you even consider using your lightsaber," he told her as a wry smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "Otherwise, you're just going to take your head off."

Leia's mouth fell open before she gave Obi-Wan an irritated look. "I most certainly would not!" she insisted. "I'm not some hopeless nerf herder, thank you very much!"

"It's not a matter of being clumsy or not," Obi-Wan assured her. "The trouble is that a lightsaber is weightless. When you activated the blade, did the weapon become any heavier?" Leia shook her head. "Without a Jedi's keen senses or reflexes, a lightsaber is just as dangerous to the person wielding it as it is to the person it is being wielded against."

"But you already said it yourself, Master, I am strong in the Force!" Leia insisted. "I'm not a youngling and we don't have the luxury of treating me like I am one! I don't plan on rushing off to fight Darth Vader tomorrow, but I should at least start somewhere to have some idea of what I'm doing!"

Obi-Wan let out a breath and closed his eyes as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "You really are your father's daughter," he muttered under his breath. He took a moment to weigh his options and collect himself before he spoke again. "Very well," he decided. Leia blinked in surprise.

"Really?"

"Before I change my mind," Obi-Wan warned her jokingly. "You're right, I cannot train you as if we were in the Order and this was peacetime." He would not abandon the Jedi ways but he could admit that they needed to change the curriculum. "We will still be meditating," Obi-Wan told Leia as she sprang eagerly to her feet with an enormous grin on her face. "But I will teach you all I know of lightsaber combat." Leia quickly unhooked the lightsaber from her hip but he held out a hand before she could activate it. "Hold on just a moment, give that here," Obi-Wan told her. Leia shrugged and handed the weapon to him. Obi-Wan's fingers traced over it with a slightly wistful look as he found the dial for the blade's strength and turned it down before handing it back to the Princess. "It's not likely to happen but if you are able to hit me, it won't do you any good to take my head off," he remarked. Leia nodded thoughtfully at that then blinked as she caught the implied slight. Obi-Wan gave an amused chuckle as Leia gave him a serious look and squared her stance, holding the lightsaber out in front of her and activating it. Leia had at least seen people use swords before in tournaments and things like that. With surprising deftness, Obi-Wan removed his lightsaber from his hip and twirled it in his hand before turning down the strength of his own weapon and activating it. The shade of blue was a mirror for the blade in Leia's hands. He moved gracefully into the opening stance of Shii-Cho, the first form of Lightsaber combat. Obi-Wan took a deep breath and opened himself to the Force. It had been a little less than a year since his final duel with Maul on Tatooine.

"Begin."

Leia exploded like a coiled spring, sprinting across the grass and lunging at Obi-Wan with a swing of her blade. The old master simply pivoted to one side and felt the warm air coming off the blade as it sang past his face. He responded with a whiplike swipe of his own saber that caught Leia in the small of the back and caused her to yelp in pain. It was only a small burn. It would likely fade before tomorrow. The determination on Leia's face only grew more intense when she turned to face Obi-Wan again, with irritation furrowing her brow as well. She closed the distance quickly and this time came to a stop in front of Obi-Wan, trying not to be controlled like her momentum as she had been before.

"Learning already," Obi-Wan remarked as Leia swung again. He deflected her attack without the slightest change of expression, as well as a second and a third, before striking her again, this time on the shoulder as she was in the swing of a fourth attack. "You must be mindful of how your body moves," he warned her. "Your lightsaber is both a weapon and shield. It is not something to be swung blindly." Leia grit her teeth and leaped into the air this time, lightsaber raised high for a vicious overhead swing. The height she had achieved on the jump was certainly impressive but even so, Obi-Wan raised his lightsaber parallel over his head to block the strike, widening his stance and bending his knees to absorb the momentum. Leia pushed with all her strength and Obi-Wan countered by simply letting her. He slid his blade along hers until the lightsabers were nearly touching at the hilt, letting the force of her attack guide him along. With the flick of a wrist, Leia's lightsaber was out of her hand, up into the air, and in Obi-Wan's outstretched palm. He calmly deactivated her weapon and then his own before giving it back.

"I suppose I deserved all that," Leia murmured, rubbing her shoulder with a wince as she put her lightsaber back on her hip.

"This was not a punishment," Obi-Wan told her. "You clearly have a natural talent. I needed to see it for myself. You've already begun to call upon the Force," he pointed out, "Or have you always been able to leap seven feet into the air?" A look of recognition dawned on Leia from that, followed by a proud smile. "But you are still struggling with the most core concept of being a Jedi," Obi-Wan told her. "I could sense it. Your trouble," he explained, "Is not in a lack of sensing the Force or ability to wield it. The issue is one of control. Namely, thinking that control is yours to have. You must be willing to work in concert with the Force. To yield to it if need be and let it guide you. The Force is not something that can be bent to your will. That is the thinking of the Dark Side. The Force is our ally, not our weapon." Leia listened to the master's advice and nodded. "We will begin with Shii-Cho," he told Leia, which caught the Princess's attention and made her eyes light up. "It is the most basic form of Lightsaber combat. A foundation on which all of your abilities shall be built. From there we will see what your talents are most strengthened by, but it certainly couldn't hurt to learn Djem So." He beckoned for Leia to activate her lightsaber again. She did so and then he came toward her, walking around Leia in a slow circle, adjusting her stance in just such a way here and there before guiding her through some of the basic motions.

With no small measure of amusement, Obi-Wan noted to himself that all he needed was a gimmer stick and he'd have felt not unlike Master Yoda.

The lesson continued late into the afternoon and the sun began to sink down toward the horizon.

"That will be enough for today," Obi-Wan informed Leia. "We should turn back. It's quite a walk to the castle," he reminded her.

Leia huffed out a breath and deactivated her lightsaber, wiping a fresh sheen of sweat from her face. "If I'm going to be doing this every day," she panted, "Can we please start using a transport?" That only earned her another chuckle from Obi-Wan and she gave a strangled noise of frustration before stomping after him.

"Consider it an incentive to rededicate yourself to all forms of your training," he offered. "If you become skilled enough to disarm me in a sparring duel then we will begin to use a speeder." There was a spark in Leia's eyes that made Obi-Wan smile knowingly.

Later in the evening, when Obi-Wan had retired to his room after dinner, a knock came at his door. He stood up from his own meditation and opened it with the keypad, watching it slide open and smiling at Bail Organa. "Ah, good evening, Bail." He read the former Senator's worried expression and frowned slightly. "Is something the matter?"

"It's about Leia," Bail said with a sigh as he stepped into the room. "I have full confidence in her abilities as a Jedi and in yours as an instructor, but…" he shook his head. "I can't put down the fear that I have. I know she believes she can take on the Empire and two Dark Lords of the Sith by herself. I'm not saying she couldn't be capable of it. But she shouldn't have to do it alone."

Obi-Wan nodded knowingly. "I understand your reservations, my friend. But there is little we can do in that matter. There are few that we can rely upon in the way of resources." A small, knowing smile crept up on Bail's lips and Obi-Wan eyed him curiously.

"That might not be as true as you think," Bail told him cryptically. Obi-Wan raised one eyebrow expectantly. "There are others that survived Order 66 besides yourself and Master Yoda," Bail explained. "Quinlan Vos, as you know, as well as Ahsoka Tano, and we've been working with Kanan Jarruss and Ezra Bridger." Obi-Wan gave a single nod of acknowledgment. Though he had yet to meet Kanan, if he trained Ezra he was no doubt a capable Jedi in his own right. Ahsoka had been fighting alongside the Rebellion practically since its inception and, though she had not been seen since her battle with Darth Vader, he would not bet any amount of credits against her survival. While he had not heard directly from Quinlan Vos since the fall of the Republic, he was certain that his old friend was still out there somewhere. Barriss Offee might even still be alive. Though she had left the Order in disgrace, she had turned out to be more correct than any of them had realized. It might be worth reaching out to mend old wounds. There was even Reva, though Obi-Wan had no idea where she was, if she would want to be involved with the Rebellion, or if she even lived. "The Alliance has also heard names like Cal Kestis, Master Rahm Kota, Master Qu Rahn, and Jedi Knight Rune, to name a few." This was certainly a surprise. A collection of both knights and Masters could be foundational to rebuilding the Order. Even if he'd never heard of the first and last people Bail mentioned. "And those are just a handful of the ones that we currently know still live. No doubt there are plenty more Knights and even former Padawans who had to go to ground or sought to distance themselves from their Jedi lives as you did, still doing what they can to fight against the Empire." Obi-Wan couldn't help but look impressed and Bail gave him a grin. "Well, we couldn't all just stand around and wait for you or Yoda to decide it was time to help."

Obi-Wan stroked his chin thoughtfully. "It does pose an intriguing opportunity," he conceded. "If enough Jedi survived after the Emperor disbanded the Inquisitors, that might be able to shift the balance in our favor. To say nothing of aiding in Leia's training," he conceded. "But the trouble will be trying to contact them all and doing so discreetly."

"That's my concern," Bail admitted. "There are precious few in the Rebel Alliance that we can entrust with this information and even fewer that we could spare to track them down. Mon Motha will probably chew me out just for telling you of all people," he added with a small, tired laugh. "We would need someone who can handle a delicate operation like this without any serious risk of this information getting back to the Imperials. If the Emperor knew about any surviving Jedi, he'd certainly send Vader to hunt them all down. But I can't have you disappearing for months to track them down. For one thing, it would jeopardize Leia's training, but I also couldn't have her accompany you to continue that training because my daughter disappearing for months would draw too much attention and cause questions. We're at a bit of a loss," Bail confessed. "I was hoping you might be able to come up with a solution." Obi-Wan nodded and stroked his beard for a moment with a puzzled expression.

A loud "Faroo-weep!" nearly made the pair jump out of their skins. Bail wheeled around and what Obi-Wan saw made him do a double-take. It couldn't be. It couldn't possibly be. But there he was. Standing next to C-3PO was an R2 Unit. A white-and-blue R2 Unit. His R2 unit.

"Artoo?" Obi-Wan asked in disbelief. R2-D2 beeped and whistled excitedly and even shuffled on his three wheels, which even Obi-Wan could tell was the little Astromech Droid's way of saying that he recognized Obi-Wan and was happy to see him.

"Threepio," Bail sighed, "Were you two eavesdropping?"

"Certainly not, sir!" C–3PO insisted with his hands raised up toward his head in the picture of surrender. "We were merely on our way to Princess Leia's room to see if she required any refreshment. She works herself so terribly hard."

"Do I look like the Princess?" Obi-Wan asked sardonically, his arms crossed over his chest. He also couldn't help but notice that R2-D2 did not have any refreshments balanced upon his head.

"Of course not, Master Kenobi," C-3PO assured him. "It is simply that… well… Artoo believed he heard a familiar voice and I had to follow him! You know how he gets into trouble, Master Organa." R2-D2 beeped and whistled his objections. "Be quiet, you!"

"What precisely did you hear?" Bail asked with his palm pressed against his forehead.

"Nothing of any importance," C-3PO promised. "Perhaps something about Princess Leia becoming Jedi and fighting the Empire, Dark Lords, missing Jedi masters, that sort of thing."

"Threepio…" Bail ran his hand down his face and shook his head. "This information cannot get out. I'm going to have to have your memory wiped again." R2-D2 squealed in protest and brandished his tiny fusioncutter as if it were a lightsaber.

"Oh, no, Master Organa, please!" C-3PO pleaded. "I swear that neither of us will tell a soul about any of this! I swear it on The Maker!"

That gave Obi-Wan pause. He knew that the droid was only speaking of "The Maker" as any droid would, of the deific being that seemed to embody the universal droid understanding of the concept of being built. The fact that droids could form a shared understanding of a religious idea was reason enough to debate the idea of droid sentience on its own, whether the treatment and conditions that droids lived under were right or just. But that was not the part that truly concerned Obi-Wan. "The Maker"... C-3PO's Maker was Anakin Skywalker. Who he had built out of junk as a slave boy on Tatooine because he had no friends of his own. To try and make his and his mother's lives a little more tolerable. Other than Leia, Luke, and Ahsoka; this droid was perhaps the last living legacy– if Obi-Wan could allow himself to believe that droids were alive– of the good of Anakin Skywalker in the galaxy.

"Bail… wait–" Obi-Wan said as he held up a hand. "I… I don't think that will be necessary. I trust him." Bail stared at Obi-Wan in disbelief for a moment before giving a reluctant nod of acceptance. R2-D2 let out a relieved whistle and C-3PO's posture relaxed as much as a Protocol Droid was capable of.

"Oh, thank you, Master Kenobi! Thank you so much!"

"You are not to discuss these matters in front of anyone," Obi-Wan warned him, "Other than myself and the Royal Family. Is that perfectly clear?"

"As clear as crystal!" C-3PO promised him. "I shall install it into my subroutines." R2-D2 beeped and chirped excitedly and all three of them looked at the droid curiously. "Really, now, Artoo, there's no need for that kind of nonsense."

"Well, what did he say?" Obi-Wan asked curiously.

"Well…" C-3PO paused. "Artoo believes that he might have a solution to your current predicament. With the… ah… the intended gathering." Bail and Obi-Wan waited expectantly. "He insists that he has some kind of… contact." Bail and Obi-Wan exchanged a look.

"And… who might that be?" Bail asked.

OoOoOoO

"No," Han Solo protested with an aggravated shake of his head. "No, no, no! I don't care how you try to sell me on it, Elthree, we're not takin' this job!"

"Trust me on this one, Han!" L3-37 implored. Her voice projected through the Millennium Falcon's internal comms system, seeing as how she was the Millennium Falcon. "This is a good-money job, working with the good guys for once!"

"You know what else is a 'good-money job'?" Han scoffed. "This supply shipment Jabba wants me to run. It's also got the added benefit of not sounding like some Imperial snare trap! How do I know there won't be a Star Destroyer waiting at the first rendezvous point to blast us to scrap?"

Chewbacca gave a growl of agreement.

"Because I trust my contact," L3-37 told him firmly.

"That's another thing, since when do you have contacts other than Lando?" Han asked incredulously.

"I have my own affairs, thank you very much," L3-37 replied haughtily. "This job is easy, I swear. We just need to find some people and get them to planet Tython!"

"We are not a ferry service!" Han shot back. "Give me one good reason I should bother with some ridiculous hokey pilgrimage!"

"You'd be helping bring down the Empire," L3-37 pointed out in as coy of a tone as she was capable. "I know you both hate the Empire."

Chewbacca growled at the mention, the memory of the cruelty that his people had been forced to suffer under the Empire's yoke was still a raw wound. He nodded and gave a grunt of concession.

"Hey, hey, hey, we haven't decided anything yet," Han insisted. He pursed his lips in irritation and sucked them in for a moment before pushing them back out with a sigh. "Call your contact, Elthree," he muttered in defeat. "I want a confirmation of exactly how much 'good money' we'll be getting paid and when we're getting it!" L3-37 cheered and Chewbacca roared in celebration as Han dropped his face into his hands. He hoped this was going to be as big of a score as Jabba was promising, otherwise, Talon Karrde or whoever was picking up the job would never let him hear the end of it.