Chapter Text
Meditation was quickly becoming a familiar friend to Luke.
At first, it had simply been frustrating; all Luke had ever done was think: about his new position as a fledgling Jedi, about Cymoon 1, about Leia, about Han, the Empire… he generally had a lot to think about. The idea of just not thinking was utterly foreign, and so hard to contemplate, that he hadn't really truly meditated until after he'd found Ben's journals on Tatooine.
Initially, he'd been frustrated. The journals didn't contain the grand insight he'd hoped to find, no great wisdom from the Jedi of old, nor lesson plans, nor… anything, really. He didn't know how to build a lightsaber, didn't really know how to use the Force.
But he did know how to meditate. Strangely, in that time when he was almost more lost than ever, he'd managed to find the peace of mind necessary to immerse himself in the Force. He'd felt it as he never had, and since then, had often resorted to meditating instead of falling back onto training with droid remotes, or… well, he didn't even have anything to really train.
Meditation and the Force was a release from the harsh reality of the galaxy. He believed in the Rebel Alliance, in his friends, but sometimes, to him, it still felt hopeless. Despite the destruction of the Death Star, the Empire kept coming, and he didn't have the tools to face Darth Vader, let alone the Emperor. Cymoon 1 had proven that… Grakkus’ arena was insult to injury.
He sighed, and let his concerns fade. Here aboard the Falcon , in the middle of realspace, it wasn't necessarily the nicest place to meditate; Yavin 4 was much nicer, with so much life in abundance. Space was comparatively much emptier, and the Falcon had only himself, Han, and Chewie inside. But the Force was in everything, he reminded himself in a voice that sounded suspiciously like Ben.
"You know, if I'd'a known we were gonna spend so much time floating around in empty space, I'd've brought more whiskey to pass the time." came Han's voice from the hallway that led to the cockpit. Luke sighed, feeling his earlier focus slipping.
"We'd be spending less time floating if I could concentrate and meditate properly." He retorted, and managed not to sound snippy. He was still annoyed, though.
"Sorry to burst your bubble," said Han, not sounding sorry in the least, "but you've been in here for nearly an hour. You mean to tell me you haven't been meditating that entire time?"
An hour? Luke frowned, checking the chrono on his wrist. It had in fact been forty-seven minutes, which was a far higher number than Luke would've guessed.
"Look, kid," Han began with a sigh, "you know this Force mumbo-jumbo isn't my forte. But sometimes even the Force has gotta be wrong. It was just a dream you interpreted the wrong way." Han had the grace to sound apologetic, but Luke still winced.
Two days ago Luke had had a dream - or, rather, a vision. In it, he heard Ben's voice, speaking to him inaudibly. He couldn't remember all of it clearly, only that at the end, Ben had said to look to the Outer Rim, that the Force would show him the way. He hadn't said where, and Luke couldn't help but admit that some coordinates would have been really nice, but Luke knew it was important. He'd convinced Han to take him, which hadn't actually been all that hard, surprisingly. They had, up to then, been on the fleet for over a week with little to do. Han had been all too happy to leave.
He had insisted on charting their first jump because he had had the strangest intuition - which he now realised was the Force, naturally. He had no idea where he'd sent them beyond that it was in the right direction. Their course since then had consisted of Luke trying to meditate and reach out for the Force' s guidance for their next several jumps. Such was the first day. He had neglected to inform Han that he was only being guided by the Force for most of the jumps.
"We're close, Han, I know we are," Luke protested. "I can feel it. I promise I do," he added at the man's skeptical expression. "Just a little bit longer so I can meditate. If nothing comes to me, then we'll go back to base. Alright?" He tried to muster confidence in his words, knowing Han would see right through him if he didn't.
Han was clearly still skeptical. But at length, he sighed, shrugging. "Alright, kid. Just be glad the Alliance is paying for the fuel, or I'd have turned us around half a dozen jumps ago." Without waiting for a response, he turned back towards the cockpit. Luke smiled at his retreating back, then took a deep breath to settle himself.
"It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together," came Ben's words, brought to the forefront of his mind. It seemed like so long ago.
He focused on the wellspring of the Force deep inside him, the ever-present hum of the Light side of the Force. It always accompanied him, was always just outside of his active comprehension, but now it was right in front of him. He did not reach for it, but instead held out his hands in a silent request. He'd learned that the Force didn't respond well to blunt force efforts, and instead answered much more cleanly when he tried to work alongside and with it, instead of making it work for him. He guessed that the Dark side was the opposite.
Slowly, but surely, he extended his perceptions outward. Only a few meters away were Han and Chewie, dull specks in the Force made brighter by the backdrop of space beyond. Realspace wasn't empty, exactly, it just… wasn't dense. It was like a thin blanket pressed over all of existence; a planet like Yavin IV was much more like being surrounded by an ocean without all of the drowning. Usually.
Here, with this level of awareness, did the Force usually make itself known. He wasn't an expert in this by any means (and boy did that irritate him) so he didn't know if there were actual techniques of looking for its guidance. Sometimes he asked questions into the not-void but rarely did he receive real answers. If he was lucky, the occasional nudge - if he was really lucky, the nudge might even have a direction. Usually, though, he took the moment to relax, think with real clarity, and waited for the Force to call to him.
Sometimes he lost track of time. He'd tried to explain it when he'd been late for a meeting once (or thrice), but had had to essentially boil it down to a sheepish "Jedi stuff" because he didn't have the vocabulary for it. He thought sometimes that people really knew what he was talking about, but he really didn't know how he'd gotten this far. He didn't do much to convince them otherwise, because stars forbid they had less confidence in himself than he did; which was to say, very little.
A strange feeling overtook him. A kind of 'look over here, this way' that compelled him to turn his metaphysical eyes onward. Seeing wasn't the same either, it wasn't like looking at a different spot in the sky, but instead like looking through the sky, at a map that detailed space beyond the hyperlanes. Dimly, he could feel his perceptions narrow enough to the point where he could control his body. He stood, heading for the cockpit, still seeing far beyond the Falcon.
"...well it's my personal business, you wouldn't like it if I was going on and on about that run near Sriluur, would you?" Chewie roared indignantly. "Yeah, I thought so - hey, kid? Your Jedi stuff come through?" Han turned in his seat as Luke came into the cockpit.
"I need to plot a course," he said, only partially aware of his immediate surroundings.
Chewie bayed his begrudging assent and stood from the copilot's seat, moving aside to allow Luke to sit down. He did so. His hands flew over the controls, the Force allowing him to make calculations and input coordinates faster than anyone would have without a computer, droid, or memorizing routes. It still took over a minute, though, because a computer was still the goto for hyperspace calculations and they were far faster than his human mind.
"Ready to jump. This is the last one, I'm sure of it." Luke said, allowing the Force to fade and gradually come back to his natural senses.
"Guess we'll find out," Han said, flitting about the controls with practiced ease. He pushed the lever and the stars in front of them stretched, forming a tunnel of white-blue lines through which they began to travel. Luke let out a breath he didn't know he was holding before standing.
"Thanks for your seat, Chewie." Luke said, knowing they were picky about who got to sit in the Falcon's cockpit. The pilot's seat was unquestionably Han's just as the copilot's was unquestionably Chewie's, but the wookiee had allowed him to sit there without much fuss. Chewie rumbled what Luke could only assume was 'you're welcome'. His Shyriiwook was still in the early stages.
"What he said. You doin' alright?" Han swiveled in his chair as he abruptly changed tact. Apparently Chewie had not said 'you're welcome'.
"Yeah, fine. Why?" He looked between the two.
"Just the way you did that." Han responded. "The others were all longer, like you were trying to solve a puzzle while you were at it. This one, you seemed… out of it." Luke frowned, thinking back on it.
"Yeah… I guess. This one just came a lot easier. Like the Force was doing all the work. Almost like I was still meditating." He didn't know what to think about that.
"Yeah… well, just don't lose your mind or nothin'. The Princess'd probably find a way to blame me." Chewie rumbled something, and Han just waved a dismissive hand.
"I'll be fine, but thanks for the concern. Both of you." Luke said with a small smile, taking one of the spare seats.
"So, got any idea what we're searching for?" Han asked, not for the first time.
"No," he answered, just like all the other times, "only that it was important enough for Ben to reach out to me without prior warning." Han 'hnph'd.
"Sure we shouldn't have brought backup? Sounds dangerous when you put it like that. Threatening."
"No, it's… this isn't danger. No bad feelings this time. I just know it's important. Besides, I don't think I could've convinced anyone else to come based on a vision I had while asleep." Han snorted at that.
"No, probably not. They'd ask you where you got your spice on a secret rebel base, more likely." Luke had to agree. He wasn't the picture perfect Jedi, and most people, even rebels, still found something like the Force hard to believe.
Chewie rumbled a long statement a few beats later, and while Luke couldn’t quite catch all of it, he could discern the general note of concern, and something about the Rogues. He glanced to Han for clarification.
“Chewie’s askin’ - and I guess I am too, now - how you’re doing. With everything goin’ on, Cymoon 1 and all that, and all of the patrols you’ve been on with the Rogues, haven’t had a lot of time to catch up. Lotta pressure on your shoulders - and now this message from the Force. Just wonderin’ how you’re holdin’ up, kid.” They both turned to look at him and Luke gave it a moment of thought.
He’d never really been one to talk about himself. Had never liked it, never thought he would, and considering that he was aware of the weight on everyone ’s shoulders, he didn’t want to try and deliberately turn attention onto him. But Han and Chewie… well, they were quickly turning into some of his closest friends. It was easy to find camaraderie among Rogue Squadron, but Han and Chewie had been with him longer.
“It’s… hard.” He confessed, leaning forward in his seat and looking at his hands. “I never know what I’m supposed to be doing - except maybe when I’m flying, I guess. Thank goodness Wedge is commander of the Rogues, because I’d have no idea what to do. But all this Jedi stuff, it’s - there’s just… everything’s new to me. I miss Ben a lot.” He glanced up, past the other two into the blue of hyperspace. “I can only hope that there’s something here to make this worthwhile. Sorry for dragging you both out here with me.”
Han waved a dismissive hand just as Chewie growled his own objection. “Don’t sweat it, kid. It’s no big deal. And listen. I know you think you’re just stumblin’ along through all this, but honestly? You’re a natural leader. No one else coulda made it this far, with all the stuff you’ve had dumped on ya. We’ll get through all o’ this just fine, just you wait and see.” Han spared him a reassuring grin, and Luke felt his own lips curve up at the words.
He was about to say his thank-you’s when he felt it. His reaction preceded the beeping of the cockpit’s controls, indicating they were about to exit hyperspace. A frown expressed itself on his features as he tried to divine the nature of this feeling, and he half-stood even as the two pilots swung around in their chairs to prepare for the exit.
He grabbed onto the wall beside him as the ship lurched and the infinite sapphire lines of the stars collapsed onto themselves as they entered realspace. And replacing the view of hyperspace was…
“A planet,” Luke breathed.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Han said. For all his pep-talks, he’d still harbored some skepticism about them finding anything.
//Not a wasted trip!// Chewie roared his approval, and Luke was surprised at being able to actually form the sounds into a coherent sentence in his head. That was only the second best discovery of the past thirty seconds, though.
A planet, verdant and thriving with bodies of water scattered across its surface, sat below them. Like he was gazing into a black hole, he felt like something in him was drawn towards it, inexplicably affected by its gravity, as though there was something on the planet’s surface waiting for him.
“I know where we need to go.” Luke said.
===========================================
In the Imperial Palace on Coruscant, the being known by the majority of the galaxy as Emperor sat on his throne, turned towards the view of the city skyline. Here the Dark Lord watched, gazing into planes of existence no mortal men could see nor comprehend.
The throne room was quiet, as it so often was. Sidious needed no accompaniment to his ruminations; the Dark Side served as his music, its song sickly-sweet. It sang to him now of disturbance-wrongness-change, which intrigued him. Rare was the occasion when the Darkness spoke of something wrong , the natural perception being that it was in itself unnatural and twisted.
The perception of fools, of course; moreover, the perception of Jedi, which in the end, was the same thing. The way of the Dark was the way of the strong, and in the galaxy, in his Empire, Sidious was the very strongest of them all.
He looked again, unseeing of the Coruscant skyline. Instead, he looked upon the weave-warp of the universe, sensing the labyrinthine structure of the threads which connected everyone and everything. Here he could glean precisely what to pluck, what notes he should conduct the galaxy to, what points around which his plans would pivot.
Something spoke to him from the furthest edges of the galaxy, and he reached for it, the source of the ripples in the Force. He frowned when he found that he could not grasp it, slippery and elusive as it was. He withdraws into the physical world, malcontent radiating in the Force.
“Hand,” he spoke, and from the shadows emerged a red-haired young woman clad in black, a practical nonentity in the Force to all but him. She had previously been doing her utmost to remain unseen, unsensed, unknown, but as long as she was near, his Hand could not hide from him.
“My Emperor,” his Hand said softly, head bowed and hands clasped in front of her, ever the obedient servant.
“There has been a disturbance in the Force. You will investigate it.” He commands simply.
“Yes, my Lord.” She says. “Where is my mission?”
“I will guide you.” He says, and in the Force he sends the impression of dismissal. Silent as a ghost, she leaves by one of the secret exits in the wall to his right, an ever-present blip in his senses. The room was then empty except for two of the red-clad Royal Guard by the entrance.
“Intriguing,” he says quietly to himself. He favors the city skyline with a smile, a real smile, neither warm nor cold. “Most intriguing.”
===========================================
His senses had guided them to a small clearing on a particular part of the planet’s surface. He had no idea what was significant about this part of the planet, but it was where the Force had taken him, so it was here he would explore.
The planet was heavily forested, but not in the same wild way of Yavin IV’s jungles. He didn’t have a lot of experience with trees, of course, but these trees seemed more natural and ordinary. There was less overlapping foliage, though there was plenty enough to obscure a view from above. It mostly meant that he didn’t have to bat his way through drooping stalks of some strange plant to get anywhere.
Not that he knew where he was heading anyway. He’d managed to convince Han to let him go with the promise that if he wasn’t back within an hour standard, Chewie would start chopping down trees to clear a path to him.
He’d been given a flare gun and a distress beacon for this purpose - not to mention he had his lightsaber. Han had wanted to give him a blaster (he always wanted Luke to have a blaster) but Luke declined.
He tried to make it sound like the Force was showing him where he was going, but he didn’t know if Han believed him. Regardless, here he was, trouncing through a forest. The only real landmarker in the area was a lake he’d seen to the far west of their landing spot, and a mountain directly north. He headed for the mountains - mountains were important, right?
He walked in a straight line for much of the way, because those were usually safe. He could hear wildlife around him, birds or something similar in the trees. Occasionally he would see movement in the distance or up above, but mostly he didn’t actually see any of the animals he heard, which he thought was a little strange.
The forest seemed to thin without much warning, leading to a clearing, and the sudden lack of canopy above him allowed him to see that he was much closer to the mountain than he’d thought - right at the base of it, in fact. And in front of him were… stairs.
Stairs, clearly hewn from the same stone of the mountain itself, which began heading upwards at a shallow curve. They disappeared over the top of one of the smaller mountains before long - a valley, maybe? Regardless, it was the only path that seemed clear to him, so up the stairs he walked.
He could not help but wonder what he’d find. Jedi artifacts? A lost Temple? Some lost technology that could help the Rebellion? Ben said in his journals that knowledge was the greatest gift of all, which he was inclined to agree with, but it was also nice to hold something useful in your hands.
The Rebellion’s victory over the Death Star had brought with it a string of successes, but he couldn’t help but feel as though they’d hit a high point. Eventually, their luck was going to run out unless they could do some real damage to the Empire as it was. All these hit-and-runs… the Empire was just too big.
He fell into the routine of exercise, trying to treat this excursion as just another training run in the morning. It made things go quicker, and was easier to resort to than meditation.
The mountains were beautiful, too. This was a lush world, and though he’d still not seen wildlife, he’d heard it. The atmosphere was breathable and there had been no signs of civilization from the flight in. It was in the Outer Rim, away from Imperial jurisdiction, uninhabited… it would make a good spot for a Rebel base. Not a big one, it was too far from where they needed to be, but a good spot nonetheless. A safehouse, maybe.
The path dipped again, narrowing as walls of sheer stone surrounded him. A quick check of his watch said he’d been walking for close to thirty minutes, which surprised him. It certainly hadn’t felt that long. He resisted the urge to sigh and crested the next hill, the cliff face on either side widening back out into the valley he’d thought was here in the first place.
And there, built at the base of this new valley probably thousands of years ago was some kind of structure - a ruin, really, but still standing nonetheless. It was no house, and it bore no decorations or iconography; no statues along the path, no secondary structures separate from the main building… it was spartan in construction, but it was pretty, too. Next to it was a small tarn, waters clear and blue.
He paused as he took in the sight, before a grin threatened to split his face.
“Finally… Han’s gonna get a kick out of this. Oh, what am I saying, he’d just say it’s a buncha rocks.” He’d be mostly right, but it was a discovery nonetheless.
The Force was calling him, too, just in front of him, almost thick enough to grab and hold in his hands. How couldn’t he see this the whole time? It was like being slapped in the face. It almost seemed familiar, too.
The moment of stupefaction passed, and he started forward down the steps, eager to explore this new discovery. His mind ran wild with speculation, but he daren’t go too far in fear of disappointment.
He slowed as he reached the entrance. The stone was ancient and weathered, and some rubble was scattered about, clearly separated from the line of pillars which stood atop the steps, which even now led into the ruin. Still there was nothing except spartan design; no engravings nor delicate stonework like the temples on Yavin.
After a moment’s consideration, he took his lightsaber off his belt and stepped inside. The ruin was not massive, but it was still large, and opened into a large hall, with more pillars planted into the room. It was, perhaps, twenty metres long.
The sunlight of the planet's afternoon did not reach inside, but he found surprisingly that there were sconces on the pillars with room for torches - torches that were lit and providing ample light to see. There were doorways on the sides of the hall, with the long-since decrepit shambles of old doors - real wooden doors! - occupying part of their frame and obscuring sight into their contents.
There was barely any furniture, except for some benches carved out of the same stone as the rest of the ruin sitting against the walls. At the end of the hall was a set of staircases leading upward to a tall dais. Some sort of platform to speak on, maybe.
On this platform, the Force coalesced and narrowed into a physical form, and Luke set his eyes upon…
“‘Sup.” said the woman. Everything was set up for some sort of dramatic entrance or introduction - she was even standing on a dais at the end of some once-grand hall. It was, frankly… underwhelming.
“Uh…” Luke hesitated. “Who are you?” he asked - probably not the best first impression. But he was a little caught off-guard.
“Oh, right. You were probably expecting someone a little bit more… mystical.” That was one way to put it. He hadn’t been expecting someone with an Outer Rim accent, for one. She sounded like she could’ve been born on Nar Shaddaa.
She was dressed - well, the easiest way to put it was that she looked like she could be someone Luke would meet in a Cantina in Mos Eisley. A mixture of a spacer’s practical style of clothing combined with a half-cloak over one shoulder, as though to shield one’s skin from the sun. Strange, considering this was a pretty temperate planet.
“...I’m not really sure what I was expecting,” he said earnestly.
“You’re trying to be polite. That’s cute. Come closer, lemme look at you.” He didn’t particularly know what was going on, but it was definitely her that the Force had been leading to; furthermore, it didn’t speak to him of danger at all. It was more… curiosity. So, he stepped closer.
Up close he could better discern her features from the relatively low light of the fire-lit room. She was a human, shorter than him but taller than Leia (not that that was a difficult feat). She had attractive features, and may have been striking once, but now the majority of the left side of her face was marred with scars - burns of some sort, maybe?
It wouldn’t be entirely inaccurate to call her resting expression unkind, but there wasn’t any malice in it. Emerald eyes as hard as the stone they were named for gave him an intense look-over, and he felt the distinct impression of being watched in the Force. He decided to return the favor, stretching out his rudimentary senses as best he knew how towards her.
It was a strange sensation. It was like looking at a streetlight on Nar Shaddaa: weathered, dim, battered even, but unmistakably a source of Light. It was the closest he’d been to another Force-user while he could sense them - Vader didn’t count.
“Are you a Jedi?” He couldn’t help but ask. That’s what she had to be, right? The Force had led him to her, and now he could sense the Light within her.
“Only on Tuesdays.” There was a moment of silence where Luke just blinked. “That was a joke. Yeah, I’m a Jedi. Not…” she sighed, “the best Jedi for this job, but I’m here anyway. Come on, we should go somewhere with a better few. It’s dreary in here.” She spoke in a similar fashion as Han sometimes did; not slow but certainly deliberate, as though she had all the time necessary to enunciate as much as she liked, and there was no hurry in the world.
She turned heel and started heading through a passage behind her without another word, and Luke hurried to catch up.
“Wait - I have questions! What ‘job’? Why did the Force lead me to you?” Fortunately, she was only walking while he’d jogged to catch her. “And what’s your name?” He caught her sigh.
The passageway led outside. This wasn’t a very secure temple, or so he’d found; only the inside rooms had doors, and there was basically a straight path straight through the building. The woman kept walking towards the tarn he’d glimpsed on his earlier descent into the valley. Its waters were cool and clear, with only a light wind to disturb its surface.
“Sit on a bench and we’ll talk.” She directed. There were two, positioned adjacent to one another, at the lakeside. She sat on one and he took the other. It wasn’t very comfortable.
“I’ll start with my name. I’m Eden Wildre, nice to meet you Luke, I’ve heard a lot about you, all that jazz.” She didn’t sound very enthusiastic.
“You - wait, you know my name? This is all very confusing.” This was, in fact, the most confusing conversation he’d ever had in his life. He’d already climbed a lot of stairs to get here; he was a little tired.
“Yeah, well, buckle up, because it’s going to get worse. Then it’ll get better. Probably. I don’t know.”
“You’re not very reassuring.”
“Nope,” she agreed. “But anyway. I’m just going to say it straight. I’ve been on this planet for about a month. Before that, I was - oh man, I can’t believe I’m about to say this - I was three thousand years in the past.”
Luke stared. This Eden person just held his gaze, with a longsuffering expression that seemed to convey an unspoken ‘yeah, I know’. He looked away, taking a few seconds to digest those words.
“Ah. Um. Okay. So let’s assume I believe that. Why are you here ?” He eventually managed to ask, swiveling back to look at her. She sighed.
“That’s a fantastic question, kid. Personally, I would’ve preferred a nice beach and some sun to go with my isolation, but.” She sighs. “How much do you know of the Force?”
Luke hesitates, but answers anyway. “It’s a cosmic energy that surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together.” He said, quoting Ben.
“Cool. You don’t really know what that means, yet, but you get the principle.” Luke was about to be offended - he’d been doing his best, and it wasn’t like there was a manual for this sort of thing - but Eden continued before he could. “The Force guides the entire galaxy, and mostly it leaves us to ourselves, with some Force-sensitives sprinked in for flavor. But sometimes, when the galaxy gets really bad, the Force takes matters into its own metaphysical hands. I’ve been here a month, and even if I hadn’t been told a bit about what had happened, even trying to meditate would’ve told me: the galaxy’s kriffed up.”
Luke was silent for several moments, adjusting everything that had just been said. Han was never going to believe this.
“O-okay… you said you were alone, but you also said you’d been told what happened. By who?”
“By whom ,” amended Eden, and Luke was again thrown for a loop - this was the last person he’d expect to correct his grammar. “Some old guy. Says he knew you - went by the name of Ben Kenobi.” Luke stood up immediately.
“You know Ben ? He’s here?” He began looking around as though Ben would suddenly appear in his line of vision upon being mentioned.
“Oh boy,” Eden sighed. “Sit down, kid. Do you know the Jedi Code?”
“What does that have to do with where Ben -”
“ Sit .” she said, some of her laid-back tone disappearing. Luke sat. “Do you know the Code?”
“...yeah. It was in - uh, Master Ben’s journal.”
“Nice. What’s the last line?” Luke frowned, taking a moment to remember. Frankly, the Code had just been confusing the first several times he’d read it, so it wasn’t at the top of his list of important things to keep in mind.
“There is no death, there is the Force.” He recites.
“Yup,” she said, popping the ‘p’ at the end. “Some people take it a bit more literally than others.”
“You mean he’s a part of the Force now?”
“More or less. ‘One with the Force’, we call it. Usually people pass on, their essence returning to the, ah, great infinitude that is the cosmic and living Force. Sometimes a part of their spirit stays, though. He told me he’s talked to you.”
“Uh… well, yeah. Sometimes I hear his voice. He gives me guidance. It’s usually pretty vague, though.” he admits, a little sheepish.
“Heh. Yeah, he struck me as that kind of Jedi. Anyway, so the Force sent me here probably for a similar reason it let old Ben stay behind: to help you.” He blinked.
“You mean you’re going to train me? As a Jedi?” He couldn’t keep the excitement out of his tone. For some reason, Eden winced.
“...yeah. It’s looking like I am.” Luke halted his rising eagerness.
“You don’t seem very excited about it.” he couldn’t help but note.
“I’ve never had a student, kid. Let alone an actual Padawan - and I was pretty terrible when I was one anyway.” Luke frowned.
“Wait, do you mean you never made it further than a Pad -”
“Oh, no, I’m a Knight. I don’t know what my Master saw in me, but I made it. Just…” another sigh. “I believe in the Force. It sent me here for a reason. But if you’re expecting somebody who’s got all their stuff together, well, don’t.” She then shrugged.
Luke tried not to be disappointed, but it was difficult when he’d built up this image of who the Jedi should be. Eden was… well, she seemed nice enough, but she wasn’t it.
“Uh, well, if it makes you feel any better, I don’t have any of my stuff together either.” Luke responds after a few moments. “Sometimes it feels as though I’m running on an empty power cell.”
Eden huffed, ostensibly in amusement. “Cool, we’re already onto the mushy bonding part. On second thought, maybe we just skip that.” she stood, leaving Luke to do the same a moment later. “Alright. Time to show me what kind of galaxy I’m working with. How’d you get here?”
“My friend Han took me here. Speaking of, he’s probably getting a bit worried by now…” Luke reached onto the back of his belt and took out the flare gun, and without much fanfare, shot it up into the sky.
“D’you think a bright red flare gun normally used in emergencies is going to ease his worry?” Eden drawled.
“U-uh, well, no, but it’d be easier for him to fly the Falcon here than it would be for us to walk an hour back.” He explains.
“Fair.” She said, and crossed her arms.
And… they waited. Luke would’ve felt awkward, but fortunately it wasn’t a very long wait before the familiar shape of the Millennium Falcon came into the skies above the valley, moving quickly at first but slowing down once it got above the flare. It was close enough to spot the turret moving - presumably Han had anticipated danger and came ready to shoot.
“Huh. Nice ship.” Eden spoke, looking upward. Luke swiveled to her in surprise.
“You don’t have to lie, you know. It’s not my ship. Most everyone except its pilot agrees that it’s a hunk of junk.” After that it was Eden’s turn to look at him, lofting a single brow.
“‘Hunk of junk’? It’s got character. You can tell a lot about someone by the ship they fly. Anyway, he’s not gonna try and shoot me when he lands, right? I was lucky enough that you didn’t try and shoot me when you came here. You’re very trusting.”
“I - what? No, Han won’t shoot you if you’re with me. And… the Force told me you weren’t dangerous. There was no need to - I wouldn’t have shot you anyway.”
“Aw.” Eden intoned, entirely deadpan. “How sweet.” She was a very… inexpressive woman, this Eden. She placed her hands in her pockets as they waited for their ride.
The Falcon came down into the open space next to the lake, which was just big enough to allow a ship its size to land. It was moments later that the landing ramp came out.
Eden moved without warning but somehow just as casual as she’d been this whole time, stepping aside with her hands still in her pockets to allow the blaster bolt that had been aiming for her chest to harmlessly go sailing past her. He’d never seen someone physically dodge a blaster bolt before, nor look so casual doing it. Maybe she really was a Jedi.
His lightsaber was in his hand before he even gave it much thought and he stepped forward, though he left it unignited.
“Woah, Han, stop! She’s with me!” He called towards the ship. From the ramp, however, it was Chewie that stepped down, bowcaster in hand, roaring his displeasure. “Er, Chewie, sorry! Still, don’t shoot her.” He looked over to Eden to find she was giving him the driest look he’d ever seen a humanoid manage; he wilted under her gaze.
“Sorry - I mean, technically I was right, Han didn’t try to shoot you.” He said, more than a little sheepish.
“Right, just the overprotective wookiee. I can dig it.”
“Chewie, this is Eden. She’s a Jedi Knight. Eden, this is Chewbacca, co-pilot of the Millennium Falcon .” Luke attached the saber back to his belt and stepped forward.
“Hraaurgh!” Chewie growled, and by this point Luke wasn’t even going to try and translate it.
“He said something about the flare gun being faster than walking all the way back.” Eden answered the wookiee with a shrug.
“You speak Shyriiwook?” He said. Before she could answer, Han came quickly down the ramp, blaster also in hand, stopping beside Chewie.
“Kid, you scared the livin’ daylights out of me. Who’s this?” He said, looking to Eden and not-to-subtly angling his blaster to easily be aimed at her. He didn’t actually raise it towards her yet, though.
Luke sighed. “This is Eden, a Jedi Knight. She’s why the Force was leading me here.”
“She said she was a Jedi Knight? And you believed her? Any schmuck can claim they’re a Jedi and spout some nonsense.” Han protested immediately, looking incredulous. Chewie roared his agreement.
“I can show you my laser sword if you want. Or make something float. I’m also right here and can speak for myself - a novel concept, I know.” Eden drawled from behind Luke, a few feet away.
“Well, she definitely doesn’t sound like a Jedi.” Han muttered. “Y’know what, sure, show us the laser sword.” He challenged. Luke turned to look at her - admittedly, he hadn’t actually seen a lightsaber on her yet, and was intrigued despite himself.
“Seriously?” She looked between them, then sighed.
She reached for the back of her belt, and Luke felt more than saw both Chewbacca and Han tense with their weapons in their hands. Eden didn’t flinch. She fiddled one-handed with something and then brought her hand back around, a silver cylinder in her hand. She laid her hand out, opened it up, and allowed the object to float upwards into the air. Luke could feel the tremble of the Force being used.
It was a lightsaber hilt, he was sure of that. It was mostly unadorned, with a silver metal emitter and pommel, and a black leather wrapping around the rest of the hilt. This close up, he could see what looked like some engravings etched around the emitter.
A moment later and the lightsaber burst to life, a burnished bronze blade bursting from its tip, facing away from all those present. It was silent except for the sound of the Falcon above them all and the hum of the lightsaber.
Admittedly, too, he suspected that if Eden’s single raised brow could make a noise, it would be deafening. The blade deactivated and floated back down to her hand, and she returned it to the back of her belt.
“...alright, it checks out.” Han said a moment later. “I got my eyes on you, though.”
“ Han ,” Luke groaned.
“I’m flattered.” Eden intoned.
“Can you guys please not get on each other’s nerves the whole ride back? It’s bad enough when you and Leia are around.” Luke muttered.
“Her highnessness and I - forget about it. Is she coming with us?”
“Yes, she is. And for the record, she complimented your ship.”
“Did she?” Han blinked, surprised, looking over at Eden. He recovered a moment later, though. “Well - of course she did. The Falcon ’s the best ship this side of the Corellian Run.”
“Right, no one’s said otherwise,” Luke tries to placate him. “So can we come onboard now? We’ve been away from the fleet for a while and we should be heading back.”
“Yeah, alright.” Han holstered his blaster. “But you get to explain to Alliance Command or whatever about Miss Jedi Knight here.” Then he turned heel and walked back up the ramp. Chewie looked between them, harrumphed, then turned to follow.
“Charming.” said Eden once he’d gone. “But about what I expected. Come on, we can chat inside, if you want.” And then she walked past him into the ship. Luke followed, because he did in fact have a lot more questions, and for the first time, he had found someone who might have some answers.
===========================================
Mara Jade keyed in the hyperspace calculations for what she expected would be her final jump in something of a daze. It was the only time she could afford to be unfocused, alone in the cockpit of the Premeditation , a custom-built Kuat Shipyards interceptor craft made specifically for her, in her duties as the Emperor’s Hand.
In fitting with the metaphor of her station, it was the Emperor who now guided her hands for the next jump. His was always a presence in her mind, always the man behind the curtain, granting her power and guiding her towards her purpose of serving the Empire; more than that, serving the Emperor.
Ordinarily on her missions he turned his attentions elsewhere, confident in her ability, but now he exercised his will across the galaxy to direct his most capable servant to a disturbance in the Force.
She might have wondered what this disturbance was, but it was not her job to wonder. She’d been sent on missions with less information than even a location and come out on top; with her Master guiding her himself, she had little doubt as to the outcome of this mission. If she was meant to know more, then His Majesty would tell her so.
There had been a collection of hyperspace jumps in the past several hours, short ones to accommodate the lack of hyperspace lane. Wherever they were going, it was not a place on any map. She felt the Emperor’s presence secede somewhat, but not disappear. The Emperor was always watching, always appraising her of her progress, always ready to punish her in case she failed.
Mara Jade never failed.
The hyperspace jump went on in silence, Mara falling into a semi-meditation, mustering as much of the Force as she could in preparation for whatever lay ahead of her. Her mind was empty, leaving only the Emperor and the Dark side. It remained this way for over an hour.
She opened her eyes an instant before the ship exited from the blue blur of hyperspace, and before her was a planet.
What do you see, Hand? came the Emperor’s voice, a sibilant whisper in her mind, spoken as though from a great distance.
Behind incomparable shields was the thought that even the Emperor could not go so far as to see through her eyes at this distance, but she banished the thought immediately; she daren’t think that the Emperor had weaknesses. He was greater than mortal; to think otherwise was treason.
“A solar system, my Lord. A star and a single planet. The planet looks… dead.” It was the color of desert with gray intermingled. Cold and lifeless, with hardly any clouds, and two massive craters on its surface the size of continents. “I do not sense anything.”
The disturbance originated here, said the Emperor. Investigate the planet. This mystery shall be resolved on its surface.
“Yes, my Lord.” she obediently responded, and began the descent towards the planet.
The closer she got, the more it felt wrong . The Force was more difficult to grasp in space, without life nearby, but even so it was undeniably present. The closer her ship got to the planet, though, it seemed as though the Force was trying to leave her behind, as though something on the planet was repelling it from her.
The Emperor became somehow harder to hold on to, which she thought was impossible - her Master was a part of her, inextricably linked to her through the Force. She tried desperately to cling to the Force, for the familiarity of her Master’s bond even as her ship headed downward, moments away from atmospheric entry. And once it did --
White noise. It was as if auditory simulators were suddenly cut in the middle of a firefight; no longer was there any medium for sound or sense. The Force was gone, had disappeared from her as though it had never been there in the first place - and with the Force went the Emperor. No longer was her Master a constant presence in the back of her mind, his strength and power a constant beacon and reminder that failure was not an option.
It felt like her mind was fracturing, and there was nothing she could do about it. There was no power she could draw on to halt its progress, as she could no longer feel the Force. There was too much chaos in the ordinarily structured labyrinth of her mind for her techniques to be of any use. If it wasn’t for her pain tolerance, she would’ve already passed out.
Distantly she could register alarms blaring in the cockpit, but her body ceased to answer any commands she could get out, fists gripped around the joysticks but unable to move them. Her vision faded in and out, and she caught brief glimpses of a barren landscape, but could discern no details. She thought perhaps she was about to be able to push through it and maybe save the ship and make a landing, but --
She crashed.
===========================================
Everything hurt. She had been strapped into her pilot’s seat upon impact, which was perhaps the only thing that saved her. Even so, she felt the familiar aches and pains of bones having been broken, and above it all, a throbbing in her mind and soul that heralded the absence of the Force, which had always been the only constant besides the Emperor.
She was unable to properly see even when she managed to open her eyes, as only blurry shapes and flashing lights greeted her. Her ship was dark at the best of times, but now only the dim red light of emergency systems was visible.
Past them, a shape in the form of a person filled her vision. She tried to focus on it, because despite all else she was the Emperor’s Hand and everything about this situation screamed danger, but she couldn’t. Pain she could deal with, but too much was simply missing from her at that moment.
She managed only enough to hear the sparks of errant wiring separated from the walls and the distant beeps of diagnostic sensors reporting damages. Then, she heard the form speak; a woman’s voice.
“Hello, little Sith. Welcome to Nathema.” she said.
Mara passes out once again.