Soul’s Trial – Book 1

 

Jedi Dawn – Chapter 1

 

By Sienn

(2001)

 

Rating (for chapter):  PG-13

Protagonists: Luke/Mara

Category: Drama/Action/Angst

 

Spoilers:

"Vector Prime", "Dark Tide I: Onslaught", "Dark Tide II: Ruin", "The Courtship of Princess Leia"

 

Time Frame:

Approximately 25 years after the Battle of Yavin IV

 

Disclaimer:

STAR WARS and all characters created therein belong to George Lucas and I do not lay claim on them, nor do I make money with this story. If you want to see a list of original characters, weapons, names and procedures I created, please check out the appendix at the end of the book.

 

 

The Planet Ithor, New Republic Ship Ralroost, Bridge

It was calm - no sound could be heard. Every being on the bridge, human or non-human, stared at the man standing before the captain's chair, right arm brought up toward the battlefield in front of the ship, still and like a statue.

No one, not even Leia Organa Solo herself, could quite believe what had happened just minutes ago.

For decades, people all over the galaxy had been discussing Luke Skywalker's power, his might, had guessed what he really could accomplish and what lay even beyond his abilities.

Many had been realistic in their assumptions, many more yet had underestimated him and there had been those whose ideas had been nothing short of ridiculous.

Her brother had proven everyone wrong. What he had done - she would never have thought it possible.

Mere three minutes ago, the space before the Ralroost had been filled with blaster fire and superheated plasma. Warships had been locked in fierce combat while coral skippers and New Republic fighters had chased each other, trying to get as many kills as possible.

Three minutes ago - Leia shook her head slightly, as if trying to clear it.

In three standard time parts, the combatants on Ithor had seen for the first time in their life what the Force could do in the hands of a true Jedi Master - Luke Skywalker.

The fate of the galaxy had been decided over Ithor - the planet where the only known weapon against the Yuuzhan Vong had its origin, the planet that the Yuuzhan Vong had therefore decided to overthrow - or to destroy.

These incredible short three minutes ago, it had seemed as if the New Republic had nothing at its disposal to counter the Yuuzhan Vong attacks - the enemy had wreaked havoc on their forces.

The Jedi had battled fiercely and bravely on the planet itself, but they had been heavily outnumbered and had stood no real chance to lead the New Republic to a victory against this terrible, unfamiliar power.

Then everything had changed.

The past four hours passed before Leia's inner eye in light speed and she wondered frightfully what this victory might have cost Luke.

 

Flashback: Ithor, 4 Hours Ago

Leia Organa Solo was all too aware of what was lying ahead of her.

After all these years fighting the Empire and creating the New Republic , they had never faced such an enemy. An enemy that wasn't interested in a truce or peace contract. All they wanted was to annihilate those that didn't bow to their beliefs and dominate the survivors.

Leia guessed, out of the few things she actually knew about the Yuuzhan Vong, that they considered all species in this galaxy they wanted to make their own feeble beings without a trace of honour - especially the human race.

She would really have liked to learn from the Vong, as Elegos A'kla had done, in order to find somehow, at some point, a way to establish peace.

But this culture from outside the galaxy had made it all too clear that it didn't think anyone of the New Republic 's politicians worthy of negotiating with them.

President Borsk Fey'lya had taken care that Leia was totally excluded from any formal dealings going on between the Republic and the Vong, thus cutting her off from every possibility to make herself a clearer picture of the enemy's psyche and the things they wanted.

Leia sighed soundlessly. It hurt to see what had become of the New Republic . Borsk Fey'lya headed straight down the doomed path the Old Republic had taken so many decades ago.

He and the Senate saw themselves as invincible, as wise beyond wisdom and were loosing the link to their people and reality - a reality of deathly dangers.

Old biases resurfaced quickly; people who became uncomfortable were disposed of quietly.

Fey'lya's special concerns were with the Jedi. He missed no opportunity to stir sentiments against them and he had no problems to get partners in his vengeful quest - underlining false decisions of Jedi like Kyp Durron was enough to get the arrogant, self-centred senators to help the Chief-of-State.

The Bothan especially relished in portraying Luke as an unable and dumb man who was losing control of his people - or he charged him with treason, accusing him of encouraging his Jedi Knights to act as they did.

True, the common humans and non-humans of the galaxy still believed in the Jedi, that they were there to do good only - but that was no reason to relax, Leia knew. As did Luke.

Should Fey'lya continue, the people would sooner or later fall into his demagogic trap and give the Bothan the possibility to get rid of the Jedi that threatened his every decision.

Leia could barely cover her anger and disgust when she remembered the way Fey'lya had refused to acknowledge the threat the Yuuzhan Vong embodied, an arrogant smile on his furred face when he had assumed formal control over the defence fleet dispatched to Ithor.

This Bothan and his handpicked Senate would succeed in bringing down what she and all her friends had fought so hard to build. They would throw it right into the Vongs' hands - out of dumbness, arrogance and hunger for power.

It had cost Leia and her brother not so much as a minute to recognise that Fey'lya saw in Ithor just a possibility to further denunciate Luke, to shatter the public trust in the Jedi. Perhaps he would get away with it.

The escapees of Dubrillion and Dantooine still saw the hero in Luke, the defenders and protectors in the Jedi - what they were in reality. But the myriad of beings not even aware of the Yuuzhan Vong threat, carefully shielded by the government, would be very prone to believe the Bothan's presumptuous lies.

Leia sighed, aloud this time, and placed her hand on the sensory field in order to get the lift leading to the hangar of the floating city Tafanda Bay.

There was no use in brooding about this now. She had to concentrate on the impending attack of the Yuuzhan Vong.

And this attack would come. Although Corran and his team had done their best to blur their traces on Garqi, the enemy would sooner or later figure out what had happened - that the New Republic had accidentally stumbled over a possibility to cause the sudden, violent death of the Vongs' living armour.

And if they learnt about this, they would destroy Ithor.

Leia would soon board the Ralroost, along with Fey'lya and some other Senate members, in order to watch the battle from there - and perhaps in order to die there.

She didn't permit herself much hope. True, Fey'lya and his "friends" didn't feel threatened, least of all afraid.

But Leia had seen what had happened on Dubrillion and on Dantooine. She knew that it was possible that no one would survive the coming encounter.

And she had become used to being close to death while fighting for the Alliance . She accepted the possibility to die and thus could be fully active until the moment finally came.

Crouching somewhere in fear, hiding from the inevitable, was no option for her, denying her the dignity she deserved as a human being.

She would not waste the slightest second until she would have to become one with the Force.

When she entered the acclimatized, sun-filled hangar bay, she saw her brother Luke Skywalker standing before an empty ship place, staring up into Ithor's sky.

Curious, she followed his stare, recognising the Jade Sabre blazing away at high speed - as if fleeing from something.

"Luke?"

When he heard her voice, he turned around and stared at her. The barely suppressed desperation in his eyes and the feeling of incredible pain radiating from him let Leia go faster.

"Luke, what happened? Was that Mara?"

Even while stepping at his side and laying her hand on his shoulder, she felt Luke calling on the Force and calming himself with mental violence. She was almost sure, thought, that he was all but calm deep in himself.

He nodded, smiling tiredly: "She said she wanted to be alone. She couldn't stand me worrying so much about her."

Despite his smile and his best efforts to maintain his composure, he could not hide the truth from Leia. Perhaps from everyone else, but not from Leia.

"I'm so sorry, Luke. I'm so sorry," she whispered, embracing him tightly. He hugged her back ever so shortly, then withdrew again.

"That's unimportant, Leia. The Vong are coming. I can feel the danger. We have to concentrate on defending Ithor now."

Leia didn't think it would do Luke any good to ignore Mara's actions, but she knew that he was right. They DIDN'T have time left to think about feelings.

"Did Kyp accept your orders?" she asked instead, accompanying him to the ferry that would bring them up to the Ralroost. Luke frowned and Leia knew at once that this, too, hadn't gone as her brother had hoped.

"Kyp has left the Order. He has taken his followers with him. Said something about a new, better Jedi Order as soon as the Vong are taken care of - he doesn't believe them to be dangerous, you know."

The pain in his voice was carefully hidden behind the soft, mocking tone, but Leia could hear it nonetheless. She was his sister, she always knew what he felt or thought. Always.

The Jedi Order had been his dream – he had wanted to create it new, for Ben, for Yoda, for his father. And now, this dream was gone. The government for which he had sacrificed so much had let him down, didn't believe in his powers, or in his intentions. Often enough, Fey'lya had come up with accusations against Luke that had hurt his peaceful and tender nature deeply. And Leia was the only one who really knew how deep her brother was affected by all this.

Now his dream was shattered and he couldn't do anything against it. He couldn't force Kyp to stand by him and to obey his orders. The respect and the obedience of the other Knights weren't the result of Luke somehow having the right to give them orders.

They followed him because they believed and trusted in him and his ways. That went at least for the ones still on his side.

But this wasn't the time to talk to Luke and to soothe him. Not now. The first Yuuzhan Vong ships had been seen in the system.

Above The Planet Ithor, Bridge Of The Ralroost

President Borsk Fey'lya had stopped smiling a long time ago. In face of the burning planet and the bursting, exploding ships in front of the viewports, he couldn't possibly deny the deadly peril the Yuuzhan Vong embodied – no matter how much he'd like to do so.

The Ralroost was the last intact warship left to the defenders - the rest had been badly damaged or totally destroyed. Everyone kept fighting, kept resisting, but the numbers dwindled quickly.

The Ralroost itself wouldn't have the means to hold out for long against the Yuuzhan Vong warship that was approaching mercilessly.

The infantry down on Ithor had had no chance against the trained alien warriors. The Jedi fought better, but still were without any real chances - there were just too few of them.

The Bothan glanced nervously around.

Luke Skywalker sat at one of the communication consoles, giving orders with his unnervingly calm voice, co-ordinating the small group of still intact fighters - among them Rogue Squadron, the only squadron still more or less complete.

Additionally, he received reports from his Jedi teams that tried everything to hold onto the planet.

They had suffered heavy losses and at every new casualty report, Skywalker shuddered, as did Organa Solo, who sat beside him and led the rescue missions of the still manoeuvrable medicinal frigates.

"Kyp's Jedi..." Luke's voice was rough, his eyes dull. Expressionless.

"They are all dead - Kyp is the only survivor. I dispatched Daeshara'cor and Ganner Rhysode to get him out if possible."

Leia nodded, her lips thin lines. She was worried deeply by the lifelessness of Luke's voice and his face.

Even she, as untrained as she was, could feel the tremors in the Force caused by all the victims of the battle and the myriad of living beings that were dying in the burning forests of Ithor.

"Forty-six." Luke said calmly.

Leia was jerked back to reality: "What?"

"Forty-six of us alive. Forty-six Jedi Knights. And the battle is not yet over."

Before Leia could even think of something to answer, the Ralroost shuddered violently. For a moment, all energy was cut off.

Some seconds later, the emergency lights popped on.

"A piece of debris just hit us starboard. It came from the Pride of Yavin. The Pride is destroyed. We're now the only rational choice for the Vong to attack. Their ship hasn't so much as a scratch. Should anyone have the slightest idea how to get out of this situation alive, I'd appreciate it if he or she spoke freely now."

Leia admired the admiral's composure in face of almost certain death and noticed with dim surprise that she wasn't as afraid as she'd have thought.

Luke was with her, she mused. As long as Luke was with her, nothing could be so bad.

"He!" a voice shouted over the bridge, followed by a furred arm pointing straight at the Jedi Master.

President Borsk Fey'lya stumbled over to the human, a nasty-looking scratch on his forehead.

"He shall use his ominous Force. He's a Jedi Master!"

Teeth shown in anger and fear, the Bothan presented the contrary of his composed relative.

"A Jedi Master whose use of the Force you have often enough condemned, Your Excellency. Whom you have accused of being a liar."

Luke's characteristic calm, his natural dignity earned in all the trials he had been through in his life, let the Bothan seem to be nothing more than a crying child - and Fey'lya knew it.

He knew that Luke was aware that he was right and that he had known from the beginning that Fey'lya didn't believe with all his heart in the principles of the New Republic .

"I've always known you're a traitor, Skywalker. Just as your damned Jedi." The President snarled in fury.

Luke just smiled, somehow sadly, while he rose and went over to Admiral Traest Kre'fey, to a point from which he could overlook the entire battlefield.

"You understand nothing, Your Excellency. You understand nothing of the way of the Jedi, the way of the Force. But I suppose that's not necessary."

Leia watched when her brother lifted his arm and closed his eyes. She knew he didn't do this in order to take a point over Fey'lya or anyone else.

Just minutes ago, she had caught his decision to end this battle. She also had been aware of his inner torment going on for hours - it went against Luke's very nature to use the Force in attack. Leia didn't doubt that he was a very capable warrior.

But she was still not prepared for what happened next. Never had she imagined her brother to be this powerful.

The moment he lifted his arm, she could feel the Force around her, everywhere, could feel how all these fine strings of life were drawn into one direction - in Luke's direction.

She could feel how he took them together, more and more of them, and how he threw them against the Yuuzhan Vong ships. She felt how he reached into his very core to hold on to so much power, to control it and not let himself be controlled and destroyed by it.

If one could forget the dead inflicted by it, the spectacle was just fascinating. Leia watched in awe while her brother skilfully took control over the enemy's black holes, using them against their very owners, dropping coral skipper after coral skipper, ground vehicle after ground vehicle, into their own defence gravity anomalies.

No less skilful, he manipulated the weapons of the big ships, causing them to implode spectacularly by sending the superheated plasma right back into its holds.

Leia felt herself vibrate with the Force flowing around her, thick and mighty, unleashing all its power under Luke's guidance.

She shifted uncomfortably when she remembered the consequences a similar use of the Force had had for Luke at Dantooine.

It took barely fifteen minutes and the Yuuzhan Vong fleet had been nearly extinguished.

No one spoke a word on the Ralroost's bridge. Everyone's eyes were fixed on Luke, disbelief and shock clearly written on their features. Even while Leia hurried to his side, the Jedi Master turned and looked straight at Fey'lya.

The Bothan stepped back, violet eyes wide with fear. Luke's voice trembled, but his words were clear and understandable all over the bridge - and all surviving fighters could hear them over intercom.

"The Force is created by life and protects it. The Jedi are the protectors of the Force and of the weak. A Jedi never feels content upon killing or hurting. You and the Senate, and only you, are responsible for the death of so many beings."

When Leia took his arm and led him off the bridge, she suddenly felt the wave of panic sweeping over her brother - a wave he could barely control.

Luke trembled all over his body when they arrived in the captain's chambers and his sister had some problems getting him to the bodyform couch in the corner of the narrow cabin.

The terror and fear radiating from him almost knocked her off her feet. This storm of emotions, enhanced by their bond in the Force, almost led her to flee and her heart broke when she imagined what passed through Luke's head, his soul, right now.

He had killed thousands of beings deliberately - for the first time in his life, he had let free this incredible power that had slumbered within him.

It had depleted his every reserve. And though Leia was sure that his body would recover exceptionally soon, she didn't know whether his soul would be able to.

As things were, she could worry about this later.

She had barely helped him lay down on the couch, as Luke had already slipped into blissful, deep unconsciousness.

To Be Continued

 

Back to authors Page

Back to Fan Fiction