Chapter 10: The Jedi

The Falcon hurtled through the mottled blue of hyperspace as Jax sat in the gunnery bay, watching the galaxy fly by. With a square meal and a change of clothes, his physical condition had improved. But with those basic needs met, his mind had begun to spin over the events of the past few days. Thoughts swirled through his mind: the battle, the chase, crawling through sewer tunnels, meeting Kenobi, finding Han and Kit, and now hurtling through hyperspace as a fugitive from the Order of Ren. The more he thought about what had happened, the harder it became to process what he had been through. And throughout his ruminations, his memory of executing a fugitive for desertion continued to rise through the chaos in his consciousness. I'm next was the dead end his ruminations returned to again and again. Soon, the Order of Ren would be hunting him down, and if they were determined to find and kill him, there was little anybody could do to stop them.

Just as Jax started to feel a strange claustrophobia from the mottled hyperspace, a voice from above spoke, "We should be at Yavin in a few minutes." Jax looked up to see Kit, standing at the top of the ladder leading back into the ship's galley. Jax had the feeling that she had been there for a while. He attempted a weak smile, but his anxiety turned it into a grimace. Unsmiling, she called down again, "Mind if I come down?"

Jax nodded his head tentatively and watched as she climbed down the ladder. The gunnery bay was small, but there was enough space for both. For a long moment, Kit stared out the gunnery bay window at the stars hurtling by. Suddenly, the blue mottling evaporated, and star lines receded into a vast field of stars. Directly ahead lay the planet Yavin, the massive red-orange gas giant dominating the view. The small, green sphere of Yavin-4, the planet's fourth moon, was a marble-sized speck against the vastness of the gas giant. Jax's eyes went wide at the sight; he had been to a fair number of planets serving under the Order of Ren, but war and catastrophe had depleted and devastated all of them. He had never seen a planet this beautiful before.

Kit watched his reaction to seeing Yavin for the first time, and with her curiosity mounting, she said, "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Jax nodded his head, lost for words. Kit continued, "To think the Death Star nearly blew it up."

The mention of the Death Star stirred Jax out of his wonderment. "The Death Star?" he asked, perplexed and slightly alarmed.

Kit turned away from the view and studied him, her forehead wrinkled into a frown. First not knowing he was a Chiss, then not knowing Skywalker - now the Death Star? "Don't tell me you haven't heard of the Death Star before?" she asked.

Jax, confused, asked, "Should I have?"

Kit's frown deepened and her suspicion stirred. "Are you lying to me?" she asked accusatorily, and Jax stiffened. "Because if you are. . ." Kit let the threat hang in the air, but Jax did not shift defensively. If anything, he looked more confused.

"No, I really have no idea what you're talking about," Jax said, perplexed. The lack of defensive posturing confused Kit, throwing her off guard. She stared at him for a while, trying to ascertain his motivations and true nature. Here he was, clearly a Chiss. Yet, he knew nothing about the Empire, the Chiss, Thrawn, or much of anything else they had mentioned. The Death Star had played a central part in her life, as it had destroyed her home world during the war. She knew that most people did not have the same feeling about it that she did, but she had only met a handful of people in her life who had never heard of the most fearsome weapon the galaxy had ever known. As she studied his face, she saw his confusion mixed with some apprehension that he had offended her.

Opting for the moment to roll with his confusion, she said. "Years ago, the Empire created a weapon that could destroy planets. A dark Jedi named Darth Vader used the Death Star to destroy my planet. The Rebellion destroyed it moments before it could destroy Yavin-4."

She watched him process this information, and it became clearer that none of what she had said registered with him. He looked back up at Kit, and she had the sense that he could read the pain in her eyes. Kit felt even more wrong-footed when he offered an apology. "I'm sorry. . . your planet," he said.

"Thanks," she replied, looking back out the window to guard the pain she felt recalling the incident. As Kit watched Yavin-4 grow larger in their view, she wondered at how a Chiss as well-trained as Jax could have gone without hearing of the Empire. A question rose to her mind, which she spoke aloud. "Where are you from?"

Jax felt another wave of embarrassment wash over him, followed by a reawakening of a nagging emotional wound that sometimes burned in the quiet hours of the night. He admitted, "I don't know."

Kit looked at him with growing concern, but the voice of Han Solo cut through their conversation before she could press for more information. "We're landing in a couple minutes. Better strap in."

Kit climbed out of the bay with Jax lingering behind. He came up a few minutes later but kept his distance from her. Moments later, they both felt a gentle bump as the ship set down on the moon's surface. The ship's engines began to power down, and Han and Chewie stalked out of the cockpit toward the boarding ramp. Kit followed them out of the galley with Jax trailing behind. As he neared the ramp, a wave of warm, humid air ripe with the smells of rain, vegetation, and decay washed over him.

He stepped down the ramp and looked across a grassy clearing surrounded by a dense wall of trees, vines, and massive ferns. The sun was low in the sky, but the brilliant glow of Yavin high above cast a red-orange glow across the clearing. Bird song and insect noise reverberated through the clearing. Jax had never seen so much life in one place before.

Han and Chewbacca walked across the clearing toward a solitary, cloaked figure who stood motionless. Kit had hung back. She looked back toward Jax as he walked down the boarding ramp, explaining, "He wanted to talk to Han first."

Jax looked at the man who was now deep in conversation with Han. Apprehension rose as he studied the man. He had seen another cloaked and robed like this before, and that man had struck terror in the hearts of all with his mysterious powers and capricious cruelty. Jax could feel a tingling up his spine, and an insight occurred to him: here was another who could use the Force. But would he be like Ben Kenobi? Or his commander?

Kit seemed to sense his apprehension. She explained to him, "Luke Skywalker." When she noticed that Jax did not appear moved by the name, she offered more explanation. "He destroyed the Death Star, killed Darth Vader, and brought down the Empire."

Jax looked anew at the man attempting to piece him into the sparse narrative he was still struggling to understand. He stirred reverence in Kit, and Han Solo seemed to know him well. He watched Han Solo beckoning them over, and he felt reluctance settle into his legs like lead boots. Kit started forward, then realized he was not following. She turned back to him and encouraged him forward, saying, "Come on. He's about the safest person you can talk to in this galaxy."

With an effort, Jax followed Kit across the clearing, and soon he reached Han, Chewie, and Luke. As Jax approached the trio, Luke Skywalker lowered his hood. The Jedi Master's shoulder length hair was brown but shot through with gray. A thick beard covered his face, and his blue eyes seemed to pierce Jax, as if probing through his skull and into his mind. Skywalker spoke softly to Jax, "Welcome, Jax. I'm Luke Skywalker. Ben Kenobi told me to expect you."

Jax, surprised that Luke knew Ben, spoke out despite his determination to watch and observe. "You know Ben?"

Luke smiled, saying, "Indeed. He's one of the Jedi who trained me." Luke allowed Jax a moment to process this revelation before adding, "He told me that you showed great courage on Xarthax. Thank you for helping my friends."

The mention of Xarthax muted Jax's wonder, and he nodded curtly in response. As he considered Skywalker, he could feel a similar sense of light and power radiating from him that he felt from Ben Kenobi. He had trusted Ben instinctively, but he remained uncertain about Skywalker. To his left, Han Solo nodded to Luke, then said, "C'mon, Chewie. We better get the Falcon ready for the trip to Coruscant."

Han, Chewie, and Kit turned away, and as the trio walked away, Jax could hear Kit peppering Han with questions about what they would do when they got to Coruscant. Jax turned back to Luke, who spoke reassuringly, "I'm sure you have many questions. If you would come with me, perhaps together we can begin to answer them."

Jax's apprehension still lingered, but he had put his trust in Ben's guidance on Xarthax. His guidance had led him to Han Solo, which had brought him to safety – however temporary. And now he was here with somebody whom Kit seemed to revere. Skywalker raised his hood again and walked across the remainder of the clearing to a gap in the trees. Jax, making his decision, followed.

Neither spoke as they followed a crude path through the jungle. As they walked, the sights, sounds, and smells of the jungle flooded Jax's senses. Birds trilled and insects hummed. Water dripped from leaves the size of a man. Lizards sat motionless in tree branches with cryptic smiles on their faces. Luke guided him to a stone hut nestled beneath dense tree cover. Luke opened the door to the hut, inviting Jax inside. Once inside, he directed Jax to a stone seat across from a smoldering fire pit. A tea kettle sat steaming on a grate above the pit. As Jax sat, Luke poured two cups of tea and handed a cup to Jax before settling into his seat. Jax scanned the room and saw a modest bed, a shelf with some ancient books placed upon it, and little else. An R2 droid sat motionless, powered down in the corner as if resetting itself following a prolonged period of activity.

Luke smiled, then said, "Ben told me that you were not aware of the Force before the events on Xarthax."

Jax nodded, unsure of which of the thousands of questions circling his mind he should ask first. Luke sensed his confusion and continued, "If you will permit, there is a technique we have that will allow me to explain more directly, without words."

Jax, uncertain, asked, "What is this?"

"I build a connection between our minds through the Force. You will learn from me, and, if you permit, I will learn from you," Luke described, although Jax found this more puzzling than simply having a conversation. Luke smiled in recognition of Jax's confusion, then he offered, "Here, let me show you."

Jax nodded, and Luke closed his eyes. For a moment, nothing happened, but suddenly, Jax became aware of another consciousness touching his own. It was not unlike his sense of Ben's consciousness as he fled through the tunnels below Vulta City, but in this instance the experience was more akin to an invitation to walk through a door. Tentatively, he accepted the invitation, closing his eyes and allowing his own mind to answer Skywalker's unspoken request.

As Jax did so, he had the impression of being inside the memory of another person but viewing it from afar. He also had the sense of Skywalker being there with him, with Skywalker also observing his own memories. Jax saw a younger man, sandy-haired and clad in white, gazing toward two suns setting into the desert. He saw Skywalker meeting Ben Kenobi, who looked precisely as he did as a ghost despite the impression of the memory having occurred decades ago. He witnessed Skywalker touching the Force for the first time aboard the Falcon in front of a skeptical Han Solo. Jax had an echo of the sense of a familiar energy flowing through the younger Luke. He witnessed the young Skywalker swinging across a chasm with a beautiful woman, then witnessed Luke hearing Ben's voice in his ear, imploring him to "Let go." He felt a surge in the Force as he witnessed Luke using the mysterious power to guide his aim before firing torpedoes into the Death Star's exhaust port. He saw Luke hugging Han Solo and the woman, elated in triumph.

The shifting memories faded, and Jax became aware of the hut once again. A steady rain had begun outside, and he could feel the warmth of the smoldering fire. The myriad scents of the jungle flooded his nose, and he noticed a new sensation – an awareness that the deeper he looked, the more he would find. Beneath everything there was a connection.

As if reading directly from his thoughts, Luke interjected into the silence. "Yes, you feel it, don't you? The connection between everything. The hut. The rain. The fire. Me. You."

Jax nodded, feeling more awareness spread throughout his consciousness. He wanted to look deeper and deeper, but Skywalker interrupted, "You just saw me taking my first steps as a Jedi many years ago. Ben told me you took your first steps on Xarthax."

Another flood of questions occurred to Jax, but Luke held up a hand before Jax could articulate any of them. "I apologize. I know there's a lot you want to know, but there are questions I need to ask. You faced a powerful creature that nearly killed you and my friends. I need to know everything I can about the creature. And, I would also like to know more about you."

"I can tell you what you want to know," Jax responded, apprehension blossoming within. There were many painful memories he harbored, and he blanched at the prospect of sharing them in the same way Luke had.

"Yes," agreed Luke, "But there is little time. If there is more to what happened on Xarthax, we must prepare."

Luke read Jax's reluctance as the other hesitated to respond. Luke acknowledged Jax's reluctance, saying, "It is not a comfortable prospect to open oneself up this way. If you don't wish to, we can talk instead."

Jax remembered the fear from the Acronemsis pursuing him. In his mind, he saw his friend killed in the attack on Xarthax. He saw the armies, the ships, and the power wielded by the Order of Ren. He thought about what Kit had said about the Death Star, and he remembered that the Order was prepared to do great harm to billions of people, and those people had no warning of what was coming. In fact, they did not even know that the danger was already there.

Resolving to trust the Jedi Master, Jax nodded. Luke nodded in return, and then he closed his eyes, reaching his hand outward. Jax closed his eyes too. He heard Luke's voice from within, saying, "Try to relax. You may feel things, see things, remember old memories long buried. Remind yourself that you are here, with me, in the jungle. The danger has passed."

Jax whispered aloud to himself, "The danger has passed." And he could hear Luke's affirmation in his mind: "Good."

He felt Luke's consciousness touch his own, and Jax relinquished control over what Luke could see. Images of the chase through Vulta City yielded to exhaustion, pain, fatigue, hunger, and fear in a dark tunnel. He saw Ben Kenobi's kind smile, and he felt a shattering wave of pain from the moment during the attack on the Republic facility. He saw himself on the ship, looking toward the Acronemsis, and he felt ice settling in his stomach. He saw himself in formation along with thousands upon thousands of soldiers in armor. He saw other Acronemses patrolling the formation, exuding menace. He saw himself alone, in pain, in his bunk, trying to remember. He saw Veryx torturing another soldier using purple lightning that blasted from his hands. He saw himself facing a soldier, who stood blindfolded and chained to a wall. He raised his blaster. He fired.

Luke's searching then shifted, and Jax saw himself in training. A terrifying, bestial hominid was screaming in his face, ordering a probe droid forward. Suddenly, a searing pain spread from the base of his neck, along his spine, and through every nerve in his body. White, electric agony replaced the memories, and Skywalker felt the anguish as deeply as Jax did. Jax began to convulse as the pain triggered a seizure, and he collapsed to the floor. Skywalker knelt beside him, easing the other's seizure through the Force. Jax became still, his breathing labored, and his body still twitching feebly.

Luke grabbed a commlink and spoke into it urgently, "Han, come to my hut right away. Bring Chewie."

***

Luke stood at the edge of the jungle watching as Chewie carried Jax over his shoulder to the Falcon. His condition had stabilized, but Luke knew it would be crucial to get him to Coruscant as fast as possible. Han stood next to him, concerned. He turned to Luke and asked, "What do you think happened?"

Luke paused, considering, then responded, "I'm not sure. I was with his memories; there was an earlier memory of pain in his spine. We reached a particularly frightening memory, then that pain returned. I don't have the equipment here, but I suspect there may be something internally that's interfering with his nervous system."

Han frowned. He thought that this was an unusual conclusion to reach with the evidence available, but he had long ago learned to accept Jedi intuition.

Luke withdrew a data card from his robe and handed it to his friend, asking, "Will you give this to the Chancellor?"

Han noted the use of "the Chancellor," and he got a sense of Luke's estrangement from Leia. It differed from his own, which had been tumultuous, passionate, then icy and distant before withering altogether. Han recalled the decision that the two siblings had made and how that decision meant that Luke and Leia would not always be allies from that point forward. Luke had chosen to go his way; Leia had chosen to go hers. It was for the best for the galaxy, but all three had suffered for it. Han shifted uncomfortably, and Luke attempted to reassure him. "I know you don't want to see her again."

Han shook his head, responding, "No, and not now. You know how she gets when she's stressed." Then Han looked up, exhaustion and resignation in his eyes, and spoke. "But. . . Ben almost died on Xarthax. We all nearly died."

Luke looked to the sky, and Han studied his friend. His strange, preternatural calm and surprising, inscrutable insight seemed a long way away from the naïve farm boy he picked up on Tatooine all those years ago. Luke's warmth was still there, but Han had the sense that they occupied entirely different galaxies thanks to Luke's years of training. As he regarded his friend, Han said, "Is it that bad?"

"I saw a dark Jedi – one using powers I have not seen since the Emperor. I saw vast armies and unknown creatures. It's possible that another war will soon be upon us," Luke said, his eyes trained skyward.

"Great," Han said brusquely.

Luke turned his gaze back to Han and placed his hand on Han's shoulder. He apologized, saying, "I'm sorry, Han. We promised we were in this together, and you were left out in the rain." Han looked away, a flicker of his anger returning. "I can't really explain it, but I think I've found something." Han looked back, curious, but still touched by resentment. "Something that could help us win once and for all."

Han asked a question that reflected his vain hope that none of it was true. "How do you know there's anything left to fight?"

Han had always harbored skepticism about the Jedi, but he had seen enough to accept their mysterious powers and insights. Luke recognized that Han had lost his best friend, his wife, and his son to the Force. He could not blame his friend for harboring misgivings. Luke said, "I can feel the dark side spreading. It's subtle. It's elusive. But it's there. If we can't see the obvious signs, it's because the Dark Side doesn't want us to."

"So, I'm supposed to trust a feeling you have about the Force?" Han asked, annoyed.

"It wouldn't be the first time, would it?" Luke reminded him, smiling.

Han, his irritated, irascible demeanor returning, threw up his hands, stating, "Alright, alright."

Luke smiled, but then his countenance grew more somber. Luke reached into the folds of his robe and withdrew a shiny cylinder that Han recognized at once: Leia's lightsaber. Leia had relinquished the weapon when she cut herself off from the Force upon entering permanent government service. Leia had risen to the rank of Jedi Master quickly, which had strained her marriage with Han significantly. She then renounced the Jedi and her own powers as she became Mon Mothma's Secretary of State under the provision that executive officers must never wield the Force – a law she helped pass through the Senate herself to prevent the rise of another Palpatine. But of course, becoming Mon Mothma's chief diplomat/problem-solver/Senatorial enforcer had also left Han out in the rain once again.

Luke offered Han the weapon, and Han, tentatively, accepted it. He looked up with confusion and uncertainty in his eyes. Luke warned, "Just in case."

Han responded, "I've got a bad feeling about this," to which Luke responded, "Same as always" before reaching out his hand to Han. Han brushed it aside and embraced the Jedi, and when they pulled away, Luke's smile reminded him of the farm boy once again. Han's half-smile, half-grimace faded into a look of concern. He turned to walk toward the ship and stepped onto the ship's ramp. He then paused, looking back at Luke, and he spoke the old, familiar words with uncharacteristic sincerity and somberness, "May the Force be with you."

Luke nodded to his friend, saluting with an imaginary lightsaber.

***

Luke Skywalker returned to the edge of the clearing to watch the Falcon lift off and begin its journey to Coruscant. As the ship lifted into the air and streaked off into the sky, Luke lifted his hood back over his head. Moments later, the diminutive, robed form of Master Yoda appeared beside him, translucent and tinged with a blue aura.

Yoda closed his eyes, taking a read of his pupil's senses. "Troubled you are, young Skywalker?"

Luke nodded.

"Strange these occurrings are." Yoda commented, then he added, "And disturbing the timing is. Pursue momentous change, your sister does. Much to lose, many have."

Luke remained silent for a moment, then he shared information with his Master that had proven as troubling to Luke as Jax's revelation. "He spoke to me, again."

"The one calling himself the Prime Jedi?" Yoda asked.

"Yes," Luke responded.

"Trust him, do you?" Yoda asked.

"I don't know," Luke admitted. The presence had been incredibly powerful and clear, amplified, and distinct in a way that Yoda and Ben had never been. The request had been urgent. The implication had been that the consequences of not acting could be catastrophic. Yet, he had seemed to evade most of Luke's questions. "He wants me to join him."

"Abandon the order, you would," said Yoda, "And your friends."

Luke nodded in agreement, then turned to his master to voice his fears, "Master Yoda, what did it feel like when the shroud of the dark side fell before?"

Yoda closed his eyes, straining through his memory to recall the sensation. "Different. More subtle it is now. Only a hint I feel. Distinct, nothing is."

"The Jedi are unprepared," Luke continued, explaining the part of his fears he felt comfortable speaking aloud.

"Worried over something else, you are as well." It was a statement, not a question. "Told you, I did – the danger."

Luke hung his head. The dread had gnawed at him since he heard of the attack on Xarthax. He knew what they had locked away there, left to rot in obscurity. He recalled Yoda's warnings and those of Obi-wan, Anakin, Ahsoka, and Qui-Gon. They had understood his rationale, even tacitly endorsed the necessity of it. But none of them had approved. "Great danger in obscuring the truth, there is," Yoda had stated when Luke and Leia had made their decision. "Fully heal, the galaxy may not." Yet, Luke and Leia went ahead with it anyway. They had accepted the risks, and they would accept the consequences. As Luke considered the Prime Jedi's plea, he also remembered everything he had sacrificed and worked toward to bring them to this point.

Luke asked, "What do you counsel, Master?"

Yoda responded, "Always what I have counseled before. Look not to the horizon but to the need in front of your nose."

Luke smiled, remembering the many lectures and scoldings he had received and how his Master had always tried to pull his focus back to the present. He considered what had happened to Han, Kit, Chewie, and now this mysterious new stranger. The encounter with the Prime Jedi seemed to carry the weight of destiny with it, but had not his destiny always intersected with his faith in his friends?

"I will see this through. I will warn my sister, the Jedi, and I will face the threat," Luke spoke aloud to his Master. "And when that is done, I will go to the Prime Jedi and learn what I can."

Yoda nodded gravely, not revealing whatever misgivings he held. The Departed Masters understood their role as offering guidance and insight when needed, but they did not attempt to persuade. Yoda would allow Luke to make his choice. Yoda replied, a somber note in his voice, "And there to counsel, we will be."