The Great Leap Forward/Chapter One

The Great Leap Forward

Prologue

The red-haired youth's brow was raised dubiously. "Lahara sector, Dad? You sure about that?"

Luke Skywalker looked at his son and smiled. He'd been taking the recent lack of activity with considerable grace for a young man his age, and had even accepted without argument the fact that he wasn't being told everything about what they were about to do. Ben was, however, raising an eyebrow at their next destination. "You've seen the records and you've accessed the holocron. If we're going to achieve our goal of tracking down this Reyolé woman and delivering Revan's message, wouldn't you agree that it's best to start with her homeworld?"

Ben's brow went, if it were possible, even higher. "Dad, please. I've seen a lot of unbelievable stuff in this galaxy, but it's been four thousand years. Surely she's become one with the Force by now. Besides, what could possibly be so important about this message that we have to make sure she gets it if, by some miracle, she's not dead?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, son," Luke replied with a sigh, patting Ben's shoulder. "It's just a feeling."

"Yeah, just a feeling," Ben echoed. "Well, it's not like we have anything better to do at the moment, and at least the Empire won't bother us if they see us in their territory."

Luke withdrew his hand and returned his gaze to the viewport as Ben verified their hyperspace vector. Indeed, the Empire under Jagged Fel's leadership couldn't care less what a pair of errant Jedi did within their borders, as long as they didn't try to "liberate" anybody, of course, or interfere with Imperial business, legitimate or otherwise.

As he continued to muse about what they had learned and where they were going, the Jedi Master watched the stars stretch into lines as the Jade Shadow made the jump to lightspeed. It seemed remarkable how similar Revan's life had been to that of his nephew Jacen's: both had been highly-gifted Jedi Knights, both had witnessed war and bloodshed, and both had campaigned for justice in the face of conflict. Even the whys and ways that each of them had fallen to the dark side were similar; Luke got the distinct impression, at least from the holocron, that Revan had taken up the mantle of Dark Lord in order to save the galaxy, not conquer it. But as had been the case with Jacen, the plan had gone awry, and though there had been no mortal redemption for his sister's elder son, there had been for the ancient Jedi who had shared his path. Revan's second chance had been spent most wisely, yet even after the defeat of his old apprentice and the end of the war he'd started, he had still returned to the unexplored vastness of the Unknown Regions, determined to find what he'd been willing to sacrifice himself to stop.

Records seemed to indicate that Revan had only been successful in delaying the threat of the “true” Sith Empire, but it had been a delay of approximately three centuries. The data suggested that this had been ample time for the Republic to marshal the strength to eventually reassert itself and resist that renewed drive of conquest, though the galaxy had suffered dearly during these years of tension and conflict. But Jacen's plan...that was the troubling part. The experiences he and Ben had shared in the...what was it they had called it? The visions from "beyond shadows" had put forth the possibility of ultimate success, the vindication of his nephew's own sacrifice. Who knew how long that could last, though. Was it even possible? Or had it all been a lie, conjured up by the monstrosity that had dwelt within the Maw? It had been three days since they had taken possession of the holocron at the drop point that had been arranged by Tionne Solusar, and during that time Luke had buried himself deep within all available records of that era, trying to corroborate what he had seen.

So many questions. Yoda had warned him about being too inquisitive. Yet still they lingered, even after having seen the other side of the equation behind the Mandalorian Wars and Jedi Civil War. Bearing witness to Revan's memories had raised more questions than it had answered, but Luke had long become accustomed to such things. Mara would have told him to snap out of it and get with the program, to stop thinking and start doing.

It was at that point that Luke decided to start doing. Relaxing into the embrace of the Force, he let it guide him toward the future, to suggest the place where he ought to be in order to find the next step on the path he had set for himself. The bridge of Jade Shadow vanished around him as he closed his eyes, swallowed up in a riptide of images and feelings. Suddenly, his mind blazing with clarity, the Jedi Master's eyes snapped open and, exerting his will, he brought the ship out of hyperspace.

"Dad, what the&mdash;!"

"It's okay, Ben," Luke reassured his son. "How long was I under?

"About five and a half hours. I'd just finished eating and was bringing you something when you nearly made me fall face-first to the deck. Here you go."

Ben tossed a foil-covered dish of food into Luke's lap. He caught it easily, ripping the cover away and stuffing down the nuggets with his fingers. Barely a minute later, he handed the empty plate back to his son. "Let's get an idea of where we are," he said, as though he was asking about the weather on Coruscant.

Still trying to come to grips with what had just happened, Ben complied in silence, transferring the data to the console before Luke. "This is interesting," the Jedi Master said, smiling to himself.

"What, that you just happened to yank us out of hyperspace within spitting distance of a habitable world?" Ben asked incredulously. "Do that again and I might have to revoke your pilot's license."

"What, and let you fly the ship all by yourself?"

"Dad, I'm serious. We don't need to be drawing attention to ourselves this deep in Imperial space."

"I suppose that was a bit abrupt," Luke replied apologetically. "Next time I'll try to get off a warning."

"Apology accepted."

Luke returned his attention to the console. They had reverted to realspace approximately three million kilometers from a verdant world that seemed to be teeming with life. The star system they were in had only been given a letter-number designation, and the information listed was scant. L16-22GS was a yellow G-type main sequence star that possessed eight worlds, three gas giants and five terrestrials, and an asteroid belt. Situated on the Coreward side of Lahara sector, it was several dozen parsecs short of the Mirgoshir system. For a star with a habitable world such as this, it was a mystery as to why no one had made the effort to colonize here, let alone give it a name. What was even more odd was that the system data didn't list any such hospitality in the third planet or any data at all on its two moons. "Ben, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"If you're wondering why nobody struck a claim to this seemingly-uninhabited garden world, then yes, you're thinking what I'm thinking," Ben replied tartly. "And the answer is yes."

"You know your father too well, son," Luke said with a smirk. "Alright, let's take her in, but we'll do it the quiet way."

"As ordered, Captain Skywalker..."

While the Jade Shadow came closer to L16-22GS-3, as their destination was listed on the navigational charts, a strange sensation crept into the minds of both Jedi. "Something's interfering with our sensors," Ben said as they brought the ship into high orbit in order to get a more detailed scan of the surface before landing. "There are several cities down there, but scanners aren't picking up any technology. Whatever's going on, the Force is very strong down there."

Luke's skin puckered as he remembered his first visit to Dagobah. He had come to understand later that this had been a trick of Yoda's, which the old hermit had used to bring him to where they would most likely stumble onto one another. "Yes...it's almost as though..."

"...as though someone doesn't want this planet explored," Ben finished. The two exchanged a quick glance, then turned back to their respective consoles. "Now I'm definitely curious."

"So am I," Luke said. "If this effect could work on droid probes as well, then that would explain the lack of interest in this system. It feels like something similar to a trick that the Jensaari had used to hide themselves from the outside galaxy, but more sophisticated by several orders of magnitude. Even if anyone had bothered to send a crewed scout vessel, they wouldn't have found anything."

"Whoever is down there obviously doesn't want to be noticed," Ben agreed. "What do you think might be causing it?"

"I think the more appropriate question is who," Luke said pensively, his brow crinkled in a frown. "Still, we should be cautious. Engage the stealth system, I'm bringing the ship in."

&mdash; &mdash; &mdash;

Fifteen minutes later, the converted yacht touched down in a small clearing in a forest on one of the northern continents. Using an optical scope, Ben had picked out a multitude of well-developed cities all over the planet, however they couldn't get much detail without risking detection by the inhabitants, whoever they might be. Father and son had decided to take an oblique approach, scouting out the hinterlands to get some kind of baseline reading of the native ecology before attempting to determine the cause of the sensor-dampening effect.

The outer hatch and egress ramp lowered with a gentle hiss and Luke, dressed in black robes with a dark brown cloak, took the lead. Ben, clad in more traditional Jedi attire, followed, his right hand riding the pommel of his lightsaber as his left gently waved a portable scanner back and forth. "Air is breathable, if a bit rich in oxygen," the younger Skywalker remarked as they circled the ship.

"That would help to explain the size and height of the trees," Luke agreed. "Gravity feels a bit light, too."

"I'm getting nothing from this scanner," Ben said. "Not even the most basic readings. It's as though this entire planet hates technology."

"Keep it with us for now," Luke replied. "It might come in handy if we run into any of the native sentient species; they might have figured a way around the problem."

Ben tucked the device back into a pouch on his belt. "Right, yeah."

Luke turned to face the treeline, feeling for a path through the forest. "Let's go this way," he said, pointing toward a spot forward and to starboard of the Jade Shadow's bow. "Get the speeder bikes and&mdash:"

A wooden arrow flashed past the Jedi Master's face, missing by a scant few centimeters and shattering against one of the vessel's landing skids. Ben reached for his weapon, but Luke held out a cautionary hand. "Wait a moment," he said. "I don't sense any intent to kill; this might have been just a warning shot."

"A warning shot from a bow and arrow that nearly plugged a Jedi Master right in the face, and you're telling me there's no intent?" Ben said, incredulous.

"Yes," Luke replied simply. "If there had been intent, I'd be dead. I'm still not picking up on who fired it."

The two Jedi looked about the clearing, each extending their awareness as far and wide as they could. Nothing registered, however, apart from the background signatures of animal and plant life, and certainly nothing to indicate that someone lurked within the effective range of such a primitive weapon. After twenty minutes of fruitless searching, they gave up for the moment and retrieved the pair of speeder bikes, laden with supplies, from the cargo hold. They were just about to mount the vehicles and ride off when Luke spotted her.

A middle-aged human woman, clad in a faded black body glove of an unusual cut that had been liberally adorned with vegetation, carrying a bow with an arrow-filled quiver slung across her back, emerged from the forest and strode confidently toward them. Her auburn hair had been roughly cut and tied back with vine, and her intelligent blue eyes darted back and forth, taking in the vista before her, lingering fitfully yet missing nothing. Her body language spoke of many years of field experience and of living life outdoors and on minimal or even improvised tools, materials and food. Luke was sure that he could spot the faint echoes of military training in her stride as she paced the clearing. She came to within three meters of where the two men stood next to their bikes, glanced from one to the other as though sizing them up, then beckoned back toward the treeline.

"They're friends," she called in Basic, though her accent was odd. Luke suddenly found himself in the unenviable position of wishing that Threepio was with them.

The thought had barely had time to coalesce when a Bothan male, clad in the same ensemble as the woman who had called out to him, crossed into the clearing. Sandy-furred with tawny hair, his violet eyes were predatory in their focus, and like his companion, he drank in the tableau before him. His movements were slightly less experienced but just as confident as the woman who had called him forward, and he carried himself more like an officer. He too wielded a bow and bore a quiver, but while the woman held hers casually, he had an arrow notched and ready to fly at the slightest hint of danger. "Not just friends," he said, looking from Luke and Ben to his companion and back again. His accent, too, was out of place, even for a Bothan. "They're Jedi. Just like you said."

And he slackened his grip on the bowstring.

"Sorry about earlier," the woman said, offering Luke a cryptic sort of smirk. "But I had to test you out."

"I take it we passed," Ben retorted.

"With flying colors," the woman answered dryly. "Put those newfangled bikes of yours away and we can talk more back at my place."

"How about we just hash things out right here?" Ben shot back.

"Because the locals will be all over this clearing in a matter of hours, and I'd rather not be here when they arrive," the woman said quite calmly. "If you're lucky, your ship will still be flyable after they rummage through it for useful technology."

"What locals are you talking about?" Ben asked, his tone sharpening even more.

"Not here," the woman answered. "Besides, I don't have the proper equipment with me to show you."

"It's okay, Ben," Luke said, raising a calming hand. "We'll come with you. Our ship will be safe enough here."

"Confident, eh? I like that," the woman replied, her smile broadening. "You must have put a Force-trigger on your exterior hatchway, very clever. Some of us played with the idea a year or two back, but we couldn't make it work."

"It was my wife's idea," Luke replied, returning her smile. "This ship was originally hers."

"Good for her," the woman said. "They'll probably think it's bomb-rigged and leave it alone for the time being, hoping that whoever landed it will come back. But we can settle that later."

Luke and Ben returned their bikes to the cargo hold, taking the supplies they had loaded onto the speeders and slinging them onto their backs instead. Five minutes later, they were making swift progress through the trackless forest floor, the human woman taking lead and the Bothan bringing up the rear, each with their weapons ready and covering a one-eighty degree arc fore and aft.

They were still jogging down a seemingly random path when the sun began to glow orange and sink toward the horizon; night was falling by the time they reached a particularly large tree, at which their guide stopped and began to climb. The two Jedi looked on as she raced up the trunk, which had to be at least a dozen meters thick, and they could sense that she was using the Force to temporarily "glue" her hands and feet to the surface. When she reached the top, she lowered a vine ladder, which the Bothan ascended as Luke and Ben used the same technique she had demonstrated.

They arrived at a hollowed-out crook that had been nestled between bole and branch about twenty-five meters up from the forest floor. The space appeared to have been carved out through the use of primitive hand tools, but it was big enough to berth two in remarkable comfort considering the small space. The interior bulged out from the narrow entry hole, and was covered in what appeared to be dried sap. Two hammocks, woven from vines and tied with wood fibers, were hung from one side, and several jars of improvised candles were grafted to the walls. On the other side of the small room, more arrows and a spare bow were tucked into an alcove. Shelves that looked like they'd been carved out during the creation of the room itself were also present; the lower one was stacked with plasteel plates that looked like armor components, while the upper two were laden with a mix of improvised technology and a few devices that looked to be of an extremely old design. From the ceiling were suspended bags of foodstuffs and two truly ancient-looking battle helmets. This dwelling strongly reminded Luke of the Ewok villages of Endor, because whoever had built it had taken pains to keep the tree alive. Such a task was far from easy.

"Welcome to Little Agamar," the woman said as she and her Bothan companion sloughed their quivers, placing them and their bows in the niche by the entrance. "I know it's a bit tight in here with the four of us, but hopefully that won't be a problem. So, what brings you here to T'lessia?"

"T'lessia?" Luke asked, puzzled. The name the woman had given to her abode had piqued his interest, and he could sense that his son felt the same way.

"That's what the locals call this world," the woman replied, lighting the candles with the tip of her finger before squatting on the floor, where she was joined by the Bothan. "It's actually quite beautiful, it's just too bad they're so incredibly xenophobic. Well, that's not entirely fair. Most of them are xenophobic, while others are very xenophobic."

"It's the city-dwellers," the Bothan added.

"I'm sorry, but who are you people?" Ben interjected. Luke was curious, too.

The woman and the Bothan exchanged glances, then looked back up at the two Jedi, who were still standing. "Before I answer that, I have a confession to make," she began. "When we approached, I had held out some small hope that my senses were playing tricks on me and you weren't actually Jedi. The idea was that my arrow would scare you away long enough for us to steal your ship and get back to the Republic to report in. I swear, though, that we would have come back for you."

"Did you say 'the Republic'?" Luke asked gently as he sat opposite their hosts, heading off the indignant reply that he knew Ben was aching to hurl at them.

"Of course. You two are Jedi Knights, correct?"

"We are," Luke replied.

"Then who else would have sent you, if not the Republic?"

Ben sat next to his father, and the two exchanged a glance of their own. "The Force brought us here," he said simply.

"Ah, yeah, I know how that can be," the woman replied sardonically, shaking her head in a world-weary fashion. "Sometimes I wonder why I even went for this Jedi racket in the first place. Still, you're here and you've got a working ship, and that means we can finally leave this unenlightened rock."

"You still haven't told us who you are," Luke pointed out.

"And neither have you." the Bothan countered.

"Fair enough," Luke replied. "My name is Luke Skywalker. This is my son, Ben."

"Two Jedi, father and son...and a wife someplace," the woman remarked in an undertone, her brow raised in astonishment. "Something like that, you'd think it would have been known throughout the Order. I've heard of Jedi getting exiled for less than that."

"We don't exile Jedi for marrying or having children," Luke replied. "In fact, we don't practice exile at all. And my wife was killed by a Sith Lord some five years ago."

"Look, buddy, I'm sorry about your wife, but don't play cute with me," the woman replied, her voice suddenly becoming heated as she jabbed a finger at Luke. "I may only have been a Jedi for a few years, but I'm not stupid. The Marine Corps doesn't mint stupid troopers."

Luke's eyes flashed as a memory clicked into place. He looked from the woman to the Bothan, then to his son, before returning his gaze to the woman. "You're Laera Reyolé, aren't you?"

Silence descended on the small refuge as the two hosts again exchanged looks, the woman's retort dying even as it had formed. When she did speak her voice was low with anxious surprise. "You...how did you manage...to read me?"

"I didn't try," Luke replied gently, extending a hand. "You may not believe it, but it's been four millennia since anyone has heard from you. My son and I had set out to find you, in fact, in order to deliver a message from someone you knew, someone whose orders affected your life deeply."

&mdash; &mdash; &mdash;

"And where is this message now?" I asked, at last ending the very pregnant pause that had descended upon our home.

"Back on our ship," the Jedi Knight calling himself Luke replied in his funny accent. I knew I'd heard it before, but the place&mdash;and the person who'd served with me who was from there&mdash;I couldn't recall at the moment. "I didn't expect that we would run into you this soon."

"Wonderful," I muttered. "Just great. So, now that you've found me, can you at least say who this message was from?"

"It was from Revan."