Destiny Eclipse/Chapter III

-- 4 ABY - 2 Months after Endor --

Tatooine – Mos Hurga
A month had passed since Xander had been told he would be allowed to leave Tatooine on completion of the craft Jysek’s father was making him, every day since having been one full of joy and happiness, nothing able to bring his mood down, or upset him. Even Jysek’s ignorant bragging did not upset him, only gave him cause to be happy for his friend’s good fortune, knowing that to him, he preferred the opportunity given to him, than to have a father who owned everything upon Tatooine.

The morning his father had told him the truth, had been the happiest day in his short life. The truth had stung, that his parents had lied to him hurt over everything else, but that they were giving the opportunity to leave Tatooine left that pain in a forgotten realm of his heart.

The following days had been a whirlwind of excitement, as Xander had told Jysek the excellent news, and inquiring how much longer his father would need to complete the repairs on the two craft. Jysek had said it would take nearly a month, and Xander had awaited the day that Jysek announced their completions anxiously.

“Xander? Xander? Xander Vos, can you hear me?” Jysek said, waving his slender hand in front of the ten-year-old’s face.

“Huh? What?” Xander said, waking from his daze of happiness.

“I said that my father has almost completed the craft. Do you want to go down as he finishes up? You can say your fare wells for your parents, then we can head down. Ok?” Jysek said, full of energy as he bounced around, anxious to see his very own spacecraft, and test it out.

“He’s ready? Why didn’t you say so?” Xander said, scrambling to his feet and racing to the door, glancing around, expecting the craft to be sitting right there, in the middle of Jysek’s father’s workshop.

“I have said it before, over and over, but you seemed spaced out, and wouldn’t stop smiling. You looked like a nerf herder,” Jysek said, with a teasing smile on his face, “Come on, I’ll race you there.” He said, racing off around the corner.

Xander complied, though they both knew it was an unfair challenge; Jysek knew where the craft were, and Xander didn’t, so Xander’s only chance to take over would be at the very end, giving Jysek more then enough time to win.

Extremely agile for his age, always having been one for agility, Xander quickly caught up to the unfit Jysek, who had already begun to pant and slow.

“Tired already?” Xander said, grinning as he too slowed. Jysek soon came to a halt, gazing up at something in front of him. Xander was still looking at him, “What? A thousand credit bill falling from the sky?” He taunted, glancing around to see what had caught Jysek’s attention.

The breath left his lungs as he stared up in amazement at the sleek, shiny T-65 Incom X-Wings standing on their landing struts in front of him, a thin layer of dust from the sandy floor having already begun to coat them, only adding to their mysticism.

George Talore, Jysek’s father, wiping an oily rag over one of the X-Wing’s wing’s, laughed as he saw the two wide eyed boys staring up at their very own craft.

“Thought you’d like it Xander, you can guess which is yours,” he added with a twinkle in his eyes, turning to gaze at his handy work, having turned two, rusty and incomplete X-Wings into these two works of art.

Xander nodded excitedly. One of the X-Wing’s painted instead of the customary orange and white, was almost purely green; strips of yellow running along the wings and cris-crossing over the cockpit. Xander had always preferred the colour green to any other, unable to explain it, though perhaps it had something to do with the fact that when he slept at night, some nights he saw glints of green, laser swords flashing from side-to-side. These laser swords, he had recently learnt were light sabers, the weapons of the Jedi, and the weapon of his Kiffu grand father, Quinlan Vos.

He looked questioningly at George, who nodded approvingly, and Xander quickly scrambled aboard the craft, running his hand softly over the controls, which were already blinking, flashing, and throbbing. He couldn't believe it was all his, and he owed nothing to George.

He leaned out of the open cockpit, and shouted above the noise of Jysek starting his craft, the noise crashing around the room. “Are you sure I don’t owe you anything George?” He asked.

George smiled, and spread his hands placatingly, “I’m sure. Seeing the smile on your face, and knowing this will let you achieve your dreams is payment enough,” he said, as he turned, “Just remember, allow Jysek to teach you how to fly it before trying on your own, I don’t want your dreams to lay amongst the dust.”

“I will sir, I promise.” Xander said, powering up his own craft as Jysek quickly ran over the basics via the comm unit in his craft. His craft. Xander felt a shiver of excitement run down his spine. This wasn’t a fantasy he was about to wake up from, this wasn’t someone else’s craft, this was real. This was his.

He goosed the throttle, and nudged his yoke down, letting the craft slip up into the air, and out through the recently opened roof by George, and out into the blue, cloudy sky. The sky was so free. There were no boundaries in the sky, no mother to call you in when you went to far, no father to punish you for not telling him where you were going. The sky was his.

Tatooine – Vos Homestead
Korto had finished packing Xander’s bags, an ordeal he had thought would reduce him and Lysa to tears, but both of them remained dry eyed, as dry as Tatooine was hot.

His possessions rested at the door, to be sent ahead of him to wherever he wanted to go, as they were too many to fit with him in his snub fighter. Fighter. Korto hated the fact that Xander would be flying a craft suited for war. He hoped George had not repaired the proton tubes and lasers and refilled them, but had decommissioned them and added more to the cockpit.

Even though his father and his wife had been Jedi, fighting viciously in a war manipulated from the start, Korto couldn’t stand the thought of fighting. He knew in his heart that if he had become a Jedi, he would have been one of the Healers Lysa used to talk about when in a mood good enough to disclose a bare amount of information about the Jedi, and how they used to live.

Lysa moved over to stand by her husband, slipping her small hand in his large, callused one, her tender skin rubbing against his hard skin. “He’ll be alright, you know,” she murmured, “Last night, I had a vision, not one from a changeable future, but one I knew in my heart would take place. It was our son, a grown man and wielding a lightsaber, padawan by his side, fighting in a bitter conflict, that takes place decades from now, on a far off world.”

Korto nodded, uneasy that Lysa had confirmed her son’s survival, only to fight in a war he may not come away alive from, “Then we must hope the Force guides him to victory in battle, and allow him to die at peace with himself and the Force.”

“As it should always be,” Lysa said, ending their phrase. Ever since Xander had been little, he had been unable to understand the deaths of his small pets. Once, when Xander had caught a wild Ibian, rare to their parts, he had fallen in love with it, nurturing it as it grew. When it had died, he had been distraught, but Lysa, allowing one of her rare mentions of the Force told him the creature had been at peace with itself and the Force, as it always should be. Xander had understood, and had rejoiced that his pet had moved on into a greater place.

Lysa knew her son would become a powerful and wise man. He had had an understanding about life and the Force from such a young age, and would never fear the bitter selfishness that came often with attachment if he understood what happened to life after death.

A roar in the distance from powerful engines signalled the fast approaching vehicles of Jysek and Xander, and Korto squinted in the distance, watching as the small black specks slowly grew into round orbs, then split into the X that gave the craft its name.

Soon the craft touched down outside the small hovel, and Xander hopped from his craft, racing towards his parents, already almost as tall as his father, and still growing at a rapid rate.

“Dad! Mum! Did you see me? I raced Jysek all the way here from the Jundland Wastes! That’s almost four klicks away!” Xander said, his eyes wide with excitement as he reached up to hug his parents, kissing his mother on the cheek.

“Yes, we saw you,” Lysa said, trying to suppress the grin that was spreading, try as she might, around her face, tears of joy at seeing her son so happy finally entering her eyes, “You, my son, are quite a pilot, and only a beginner at that.”

“Aww, your just saying that mum,” Xander said, turning to his dad, as his grin began to falter, “Well, I guess this is good bye, dad,” he said, a tear glistening in his eye.

“I told you,” Korto said sternly, almost angrily, “Call me papa.”

Xander, who had begun to stiffen, relaxed, and grinned, grabbing his father in a bear hug, holding him for what seemed like hours, as if he would never hold him again. He turned again to his mother.

“See you mum, I’ll try to visit if I ever become a Jedi,” Xander said, hugging her to his body again, kissing her on the cheek as he tasted the salt from her tears as they ran freely down her cheeks now.

“Good bye son,” she said, proudly, ruffling his hair as she stepped back, glancing at Korto again as Xander picked up his things, depositing them in a nearby transport, and giving it his hyper-comm code.

“Xander,” Korto said, drawing him back to his father. “My mother gave this to me, and she told me the tale of how she used it to help save my father’s life,” Korto said, producing a sleek DH-17 Blaster Pistol.

Xander’s eyes bulged. The fact that his father was giving him a weapon, much less one so valuable to him was unprecedented, but he looked back up as he realised his father hadn’t finished.

Korto turned, and picked up a pair of scaly boots from the side of the homestead, “These I made from the hulk of a Krayt Dragon’s hide. They are powerful, and will last through pretty much anything, even a direct blaster shot. I made them specially for you,” Korto said, looking at his only son, emotion welling in his eyes, “They are adaptable as well, and should fit you for almost your entire life.”

“Thank you papa,” Xander said, his voice barely a whisper as emotion welled in his throat, turning his voice husky, as he hugged his father fiercely again, unwilling to let go of the man he saw as the only role model in his life.

Jysek stood patiently by his craft, shuffling uncomfortably, clearly awkward in such a scene of emotion, unsure whether he should turn away, or if that would just make it more awkward.

Xander walked over to him, grinning, and taking one last look at his home. Shocked at the scene before him, one of flames, pain, and death. Blinking rapidly, the vision fell away, his parents and his intact home replacing it. Feeling dazed, he waved his parents off, climbing into his craft, as Jysek climbed into his.

Checking all pre-flight systems were all right, he set off, watching as Jysek, much less clumsy then Xander, also set off, doing a few spins and dives to show off as usual.

As Xander reached the outer atmosphere, he turned to watch Jysek’s craft. “Well, this is it Jysek,” he said, for some reason more emotional to say good bye to Jysek than to his parents.

“See you Xander, have a good life. Might see you again some day,” Jysek said, wiggling his wings in respect for his friend.

“Well, don’t want to start crying now,” Xander joked, “See you.” He pulled back the lever that he had pre-set with co-ordinates, and watched for the first time as the stars elongated and turned into blue swirls, as he made the jump into Hyperspace that he had always wanted.

Tatooine – Outer Atmosphere
Jysek watched Xander go, knowing where he was going, having calculated the jump for Xander before transmitting it to his nav-computer. His hand rested on the Hyperspace lever, battling with inner demons.

If he left to follow his friend, he left his family behind. If he stayed with his family, he let his long time friend, and almost brother, in a sense, go out and explore the galaxy on his own.

Jysek sighed, his brown eyes searching amongst the stars, as if looking for an answer amongst them. Finally, making up his mind, he pulled back the lever, making the jump to Hyperspace.

Bakura – Jedi Academy
Vikro sat in quiet contemplation. Weeks ago, the Ssi-Ruuk had been beaten back by the combined Rebel Alliance and Imperial remnants. Now their world had returned to peace. He breathed in deeply, as if soaking in the harmonious feelings.

He heard footsteps behind him, and glanced up to watch Grand Master Abba sit down besides him, her eyes closed in meditation.

“What news of the boy?” She asked simply, not opening her eyes, or falling out of meditation.

“He has left, his destiny brings him here,” Vikro said, his forehead knotting in confusion, “And, somehow, I feel a connection with him, as if his destiny and mine are intertwined, like twine on a ball.”

“You must be careful with that one,” Abba said, turning to her friend and opening her eyes, “I sense much darkness in his heart, whether that be now, or from events in the near future. If he is to come to the Temple, he will need a wise and just Master, to help him turn that darkness into light.”

“I know, Abba,” Vikro said, “And that’s what I’m afraid of.”