We're getting closer and closer to our big deviation from Star Wars canon (though we were definitely deviating before ;).
Really enjoyed writing this chapter, especially some of the calmer, character driven interactions. Hope you enjoy it. Please comment, favorite and follow if you do.
Here we go, Never Too Old When You Have the High Ground chapter 3.
Kayla had finished school and she was in a very good mood. She'd gotten a perfect score on her report card and her mother had promised a special surprise if she managed to pull it off.
With a skip in her step she made her way through the bustling streets of the capital. It was market day, the air was filled with the smell of baked goods and the sounds of various folkloric bands.
She entered Mrs. Gyu's bakery and the mouthwatering aromas of cakes and fresh bread hit her like a wave. She walked up to the counter where the old shopkeeper waited with a kind smile.
"Hello Mrs. Gyu!" Kayla said cheerfully.
"Kayla!" Mrs. Gyu greeted. "It's good to see you child. How was school?"
"Same old, same old," Kayla shrugged. "I got a perfect score on my report card and mom promised a reward for it."
"That's wonderful!" Mrs. Gyu said. "Well you also deserve a reward from me. Here: apple bun."
Mrs. Gyu handed the girl the tasty treat, fresh from the oven, which she accepted gratefully.
"Thanks Mrs. Gyu! I should get going, I don't want mom to think about going back on her promise." Kayla said with a mischievous smirk.
"Get going then child," Mrs. Gyu said, shooing her away. "Weather's looking a bit grim, I fear a storm."
Kayla nodded and jogged out of the store, down some streets and past the city gates. The powerful noise and smells of the urban sprawl were quickly replaced by the quiet, mellow sights and sounds of the countryside. She slowly devoured the apple bun, letting the warmth of the sun melt away her worries.
After fifteen minutes, Kayla's house finally came into view. It was an elegant home, built all out of wood, on two levels, with a giant garden, creating a natural link between the house and its environment.
Kayla ran full speed through the front door, tossed her bag on the couch and ran into the kitchen where her mother, Yuin, was mixing up a pie filling. She turned just in time to catch her daughter as she jumped into her arms and gave her a strong hug.
"Hey Mooncheek," Yuin greeted with a smile. "You seem excited, what's the good news?"
"Got a perfect score on my report card," the young girl replied cheekily. "You know what that means…"
Yuin smiled at her daughter's savviness.
"How could I forget," she answered knowingly. "But your father has to be here before I can give you the surprise. Go get him, he's in the backyard."
Kayla planted a quick kiss on her mother's cheek before squirming out of her grasp and running to the back of the house to find her father.
She pushed the patio door open and spotted him near the henhouse chopping up firewood. She removed her shoes and stepped out onto the grass, letting the blades tickle the soles of her feet.
She was about to step forward when she noticed the large patch of shade moving towards her. Mrs. Gyu was right. Looks like a storm, she thought.
She looked up and saw an imposing grey moon with a large circular carving looming over her. Its shadow now covered Kayla's house and everything else for miles and miles; the sun could no longer be seen. It had blocked out the sun.
She could a spot a faint green glow at the center of the grey moon, getting more and more intense.
When Kayla looked back down, she was her father running towards her, a terrified look in his eyes. Kayla reached out to him.
"KAYLA!"
"DADDY!"
Obi-Wan clutched his heart, feeling a harrowing pain course through his body. It was like he'd been hit by lightning, branded with an iron and hit with a metal bat, all at the same time.
With great difficulty, the Jedi master sat himself on a nearby chair. Luke, who was practicing his lightsaber skills against a remote, came kneeled at side with a concerned look.
"Are you alright," he asked. "What's wrong?"
"I felt a great disturbance in the Force," Obi-Wan said, trying to calm his breathing. "As if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened."
Obi-Wan tried to stretch out with the Force to understand what had happened but his senses were in too much turmoil to help him. He needed to meditate to calm this sudden rush of Force energy he'd felt.
"You'd better get on with your exercises." Obi-Wan said to Luke, as reassuringly as he could.
Luke did as he was told and reactivated the remote just as Han waltzed down the corridor and into the main room where they all were.
"Well you can forget your troubles with those Imperial slugs," Han announced. "I told you I'd outrun them."
He looked over to Obi-Wan who was gazing into the distance, deep in concentration, while Luke was diligently trying to block the remote's attacks with his practice saber.
"Don't everybody thank me at once." he said sarcastically. "Anyway we should be at Alderaan in 0200 hours.
In the corner of the room Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C3-PO were in the middle of a tense game of Dejarik. R2 made his move and looked to Chewbacca for him to make his. The Wookie input a command and his Kintan Strider moved to the center of the board.
"Now be careful R2." C3-PO warned.
With a cocky bleep, the little droid moved his Mantellian Savrip. It picked up Chewbacca's Kintan Strider and threw him to the ground, claiming victory.
Chewbacca let out a guttural roar of frustration at the droid's surprise attack.
"He made a fair move," C3-PO said in his comrade's defense. "Screaming about it can't help you."
Chewbacca let out a low growl cocking his head slightly as he examined the pieces on the board.
"Let him have it, it's not wise to upset a Wookie." Han told 3PO from his chair.
"But sir, nobody worries about upsetting a droid." C3-PO retorted.
"That's cause a droid don't pull people's arms out of their sockets when they lose," Han replied with a grin. "Wookies are known to do that."
3PO and R2 turned worried gazes towards Chewbacca who leaned back in his seat and put his paws behind his head. They couldn't determine his exact facial expression but he seemed quite proud with Han's description of his temperament.
"I see your point sir," C3-PO responded with expert diplomacy. "I suggest a new strategy R2: let the Wookie win."
Chewbacca seconded the idea with a growl.
As the Wookie and the droids continued their game, Luke carefully followed the path of the remote and reflexively blocked as soon as he saw it fire.
His natural reflexes are already far above average for someone who's never even touched a lightsaber, Obi-Wan thought, watching Luke closely.
He saw that as the remote shifted orientation slightly, Luke quickly compensated by angling his saber accordingly. It required months of training for younglings to be able to block blasts from a remote, but Luke was already doing it after barely ten minutes of practice. Though he's not yet relying on the Force to guide him, Obi-Wan noticed.
"Remember, a Jedi can feel the Force flowing through him." Obi-Wan directed to the young man.
"You mean it controls your actions?" Luke asked, his eyes still fixed on the remote.
"Partially, but it also obeys your command." the old Jedi replied
Just then, the remote fired a shot that passed under Luke's guard and stung him right on the leg which was greeted by a laugh from Han.
"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side kid." Han stated with a confident smirk.
With the remote on standby, Luke extinguished his practice saber and regarded Han with an impassive gaze.
"You don't believe in the Force do you?" he asked the smuggler.
"Kid I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other," Han said, rolling his eyes. "I've seen a lot of strange stuff but I've never seen anything to make me believe there's one all powerful force controlling everything. There's no mystical energy field that controls MY destiny."
Obi-Wan smiled at his last statement. It was something he'd often heard from sceptics about the concept of the Force and the influence it possessed over the future. Some thought it imposed a fatalistic approach to life which was absolutely untrue in Obi-Wan's experience. The Force influenced and sometime directed but it never obligated anyone to do anything. The final decision always lied with the user.
"It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense." Han summarized.
Obi-Wan got to his feet and reached for the pilot helmet behind him.
"I suggest you try it again Luke," Ben proposed. "But this time let go of your conscious self; and act on instinct."
With this, he pushed the helmet over Luke's head, completely obstructing the boy's vision.
"With the blast-shield down I can't even see," Luke chuckled in disbelief. "How am I supposed to fight?"
"Your eyes can deceive you; don't trust them," Obi-Wan stated as Han turned to look at Luke curiously.
The young man ignited his saber and raised it up. He was at a complete loss. He could hear the remote moving in front of him and tried to angle his lightsaber according to that but he had no way of predicting when and where it would fire. As he expected, when it fired he was unable to stop the bolt and it struck him clean in the shoulder with the strength of a hard punch. Luke let out a low grunt of frustration.
"Stretch out with your feelings." Obi-Wan encouraged.
Luke let out a breath to calm himself and raised his saber again. This time he closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind. He visualized the remote in front of him, tried to feel it like he felt the lightsaber in his hands or the ship under his feet. He started to see a glimpse of something and just then he sensed that the remote was about to fire.
Obi-Wan watched as Luke perfectly deflected three successive shots from the remote. He'd also sensed the first connection Luke had had with the Force and he was impressed how effectively the young man had called upon its power. This boy is gifted, like his father, Obi-Wan reflected.
"You see. You can do it." Obi-Wan acknowledged Luke with a smile.
Behind him, Han watched the whole scene with careful pessimism.
"I call it luck." he said sardonically as Luke removed the helmet.
"In my experience there's no such thing as luck." Obi-Wan replied calmly.
"Look good against remotes is one thing." Han challenged with a smirk. "Good against the living, that's something else."
Just then a light started flashing on the console next to him.
"Looks like we're coming up on Alderaan." Han announced as he went back to the cockpit.
As Chewbacca followed him, Luke walked up to Obi-Wan, his eyes filled with excitement.
"You know I did feel something," the boy said. "I could almost see the remote."
"That's good," Obi-Wan congratulated, laying a firm hand on Luke's shoulder. "You've taken your first step into a larger world."
They both entered the cockpit but instead of seeing Alderaan, there was only a bunch of asteroids and debris.
"What's going on?" Luke asked.
"Our position's correct expect… no Alderaan." Han said, confused.
"What do you mean? Where is it?"
"That's what I'm trying to tell ya kid, it ain't there. Totally blown away."
"What?! How?"
"Destroyed; by the Empire." Obi-Wan explained with a worried tone.
"The entire Starfleet couldn't destroy the whole planet," Han cut in with a disbelieving tone. "It would take a thousand ships with more firepower than I've— "
He was interrupted by a flashing diode indicating an approaching ship.
"There's another ship coming in." he told everyone.
"Maybe they know what happened?" Luke suggested.
"It's an Imperial fighter." Obi-Wan corrected him.
Just as he said that, a TIE fighter passed over them with its distinctive screech.
"It followed us?!" Luke asked in disbelief.
"No. It's a short range fighter." Obi-Wan said.
"There aren't any bases around here. Where did it come from?" Hans asked rhetorically, not liking all this mystery.
They sped up to keep pace with the fighter that starting to accelerate.
"It sure is leaving in a big hurry," Luke bemoaned. "If they identify us we're in big trouble."
"Not if I can help it. Chewie jam its transmissions."
"It would be as well to let it go," Obi-Wan proposed. "It's too far out of range."
"Not for long!" Hand challenged, pushing the Millennium Faulcon even faster.
"A fighter that size couldn't get that deep into space on its own." Obi-Wan wondered out loud.
"Yeah he must have gotten lost." Luke proposed. "Part of a convoy or something."
"Well he ain't gonna be around long enough to tell anybody about us." Han said decisively.
As they continued to chase after the lone TIE fighter, they started to make out a small mass in the distance that was getting larger and larger.
"Look at him he's heading for that small moon." Luke pointed out.
"Think I can get him before he gets there," Han said, deep in concentration. "He's almost in range."
As Obi-Wan's eyes started making out the object in the distance, he felt through the Force a familiar presence he had long forgotten. He was beginning to understand.
"That's no moon," he said ominously. "It's a space station."
"It's too big to be a space station." Han protested, his eyes worried as the "moon" started coming into view.
"I've a very bad feeling about this." Luke whispered as the Death Star was now fully in view.
"Turn the ship around." Obi-Wan said to Han urgently.
"Yeah… I think you're right," Han replied evenly, keeping the nervousness out of his voice. "Full reverse. Chewie lock in the auxiliary power!"
As the Faulcon attempted to turn back, the whole ship started shaking and rumbling violently as they continued moving forward.
"Chewie lock in the auxiliary power!" Han repeated, louder.
"Why are we still moving towards it?!" Luke shouted anxiously.
"We're caught in a tractor beam. It's pulling us in!" Han replied in frustration.
"There's got to be something you can do?!"
"Nothing I can do kid, I'm full power. I'm gonna have to shut down. They're not gonna get me without a fight!"
As the shaking subsided, the imposing mass of the station hit them all as they came closer and closer.
"You can't win," Obi-Wan told Han. "But there are alternatives to fighting."
The smuggler simply looked forward, his eyes locked on the massive space station that dwarfed his own ship and any other ship in the galaxy. How could such a thing even get made? Han wondered. And how could a thing like that even be defeated?
These questions weighed heavily on everyone's mind as they were swallowed up by the Death Star.
DONE! The plot thickens… ;)
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Hope you enjoyed.