Destiny Eclipse/Chapter IV

-- 4 ABY - 2 Months after Endor --

Hyperspace – Near Naboo
The klaxons awoke Xander in a jolt from his doze. They signalled that he was nearing the gravity mass of Naboo, and that he needed to exit Hyperspace soon. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he blinked, quickly becoming alert. Pulling back the lever slowly, the engines began to slow; reducing their speed by hundreds of kilometres a second, next to nothing compared to how fast they were going.

Soon they reached the cut-off point, and as they slowed further, the blue spiral of Hyperspace sucked into the distance, as if it had encountered vacuum, turning the stars back into the familiar pinpoints of light, and surrounding Xander with darkness, as well as a lush, quiet world in front of him.

He ran his hands lovingly over the controls of his ship that had brought him to this world, the world he had heard of in tales from his parents. The world where his father had married his mother. The world where his grand mother had been hunted down by the Empire and killed. Naboo.

Swiftly cutting his thrust, he spun gracefully in toward the planet, Jysek’s quick and brief lessons coming in handy as he quickly began to learn more and more about his craft.

As his craft entered the upper atmosphere, his comm unit crackled like a Worrt suffocating from its own tongue, and Xander jumped, “Yes? Who is it?” He demanded, his voice high-pitch with fright, thinking of who it could be: Space Pirates, Smugglers, Thieves, Rogues, or worse.

“This is Theed-Space Docking Bay immigration control,” a drawling voice said, “Please state your name, and be sure to disembark at one of our several Docking Bays, and check into our Immigration Centre for your City pass, thank you.”

Xander chuckled embarrassingly, unable to believe he had over reacted, “My name is Xander Vos. I’ll only be staying in Theed for a short time. I’m on a sort of trip down memory lane. I need to learn more about my past.”

There was a pause over the comm, then something that sounded like a chocked gasp, “Xander Vos? As in The Vos? Quinlan Vos’ descendant? You aren’t welcome here,” the voice said, loosing its drawl and becoming tough.

“I only want to set down for a while,” Xander said, confused as to why Vos was such a bad surname to have, and what his parents and grand parents could have possibly done.

After what seemed an eternity to the mind of the ten-year-old, the Controller came back on, “Fine, you may land, Vos, but only for forty-eight hours, no more. We will search all baggage you carry with you, and any that may arrive addressed for you. Count yourself lucky we’re even allowing you to land at all.”

“Oh, I am,” Xander said graciously, switching off the comm, and turning into a descent softly, towards the capital city, Theed, which was only a few hundred klicks from Keren, the important city his parents had lived in.

His craft cruised to a stop in Docking Bay 2781, where he switched the engines off, listening in wonder as they crackled, the heat leaving the metal casing readily into the atmosphere. He still couldn’t get over the fact that this craft was his own.

Walking briskly over to the customs control office located near the Docking Bays, Xander surrendered the pass-code to the X-Wing, with the information the code would change in three hours, so they should hurry their search.

Changing the pass code on craft was common after a customs inspection and check of a person’s luggage, otherwise a pilot ran the risk of allowing a corrupt officer to make off with their craft and never return.

Xander gazed off impatiently, as he awaited the confirmation his craft was clean, and the all clear from the customs for him to fly around Naboo, in the form of an ID tag he would attach to the end of his craft’s unique tag.

As he gazed through the sky, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, because, as he watched, a familiar X-Wing set down in a Docking Bay near his.

Bakura – Jedi Academy
The Council flowed into the room like a smooth river gliding into the ocean, as they spread out, taking their seats and nodding at each other in respect, as was customary at the start of every Council Meeting.

“First order,” The Grand Master of the Order, Abba said, speaking forth, “The recent invasion of Bakura by the Ssi-Ruuk is over, but the damage is still being fixed. We need to send a Jedi team to help them, usual procedure applies of course.”

As the Jedi Academy on Bakura was secret, any contact the Order had with the rest of Bakura was as a group of devout monks, of a religion so dull that so far no one from the main cities or towns had investigated their “monastery”. If Jedi were sent to mediate an argument, or defend them, they always appeared in brown robes, using the Force to convince locals they were with the local armed forces.

If anything more serious arose, their were recorded instances in the Order’s history where the Jedi had taken an active role in the planet’s defence, even going so far as to use their lightsabers in public. Afterwards, they were forced to wipe the short-term memory of any witnesses, in order to preserve the Order.

This had become a much more serious reality in the recent years with the Jedi Purge initiated by Emperor Palpatine, and carried out by Darth Vader, a Sith, and legions of Clones. Several prominent Jedi in the Order had been killed whilst out on field missions, and more had been tracked to Bakura, where they had had to make sure all Inquisitors were dead, and could not relay the reports to Darth Vader or the Emperor himself.

“I agree,” Vikro said, his mind still focussed on the peculiar boy from his visions, “Perhaps Padawan Urwen Udeseesie and his Master Jorkath Hant should be sent. I know Urwen is nearing Knighthood, with only a few years to go, and it would serve to remind him how cruel and unforgiving the world outside these walls can be like.”

Rive Caedo, sitting next to Vikro, was a Senior Council Member, and the one rumoured to have been next in line to be Grand Master before Abba was brought onto the Council. When Abba had been put on the Council, the unanimous vote for the next Grand Master was in her favour. He nodded his head, “Interesting idea, Vikro,” he said, with his customary grin on his face, “Urwen has been a tad arrogant, and it will do him good.”

After the customary vote and predictable unanimous decision, they moved onto the next and only other issue, a much more serious one.

“Kinyen, home to the peaceful Grans, a planet in Bakura’s vicinity, has been witnessing untold acts of horror in the past few months,” Abba said. “We need to send one of the Council to mediate the situation and bring the ring-leaders of this terrorist group calling themselves Black Haven into custody.”

“I will go,” Vikro said, speaking up again, “I am without a Padawan, and so would be perfect for this mission without disrupting the flow of life around the Temple. When would I leave?”

“In a month or two,” Abba replied, “I am still fixing the agreement with the Kinyenian Government, and they seem hesitant to get us involved.”

Although they remained secret on Bakura, the Order was known throughout the Galaxy as the “Peace Bringers” a group of fanatic individuals trying to bring peace to the Galaxy, and to heal wounds left by the Empire. All communication to the Galaxy was through triangular signals, so as to never be able to trace them back to their Temple on Bakura.

In generations past, when the Coruscanti, Corellian, and Dantooine Orders had been strong, they had been another Jedi Order, known as the “Phantom Order” their location a secret. In the lead up to the Clone Wars, the Order had retreated, and the Purge had further confirmed that the “Phantoms” had disappeared.

“Very well,” Vikro said, “I will be ready to leave as soon as possible.”

Naboo – Theed Docking Bays
Xander rushed to the craft, his heart in his mouth as he watched the canopy slowly hiss open, steam expelling as it rejoined its natural environment. The pilot glanced around before swinging over and onto a ladder that had moved over to magnetically attach to the side of the craft.

As he reached the bottom rung, he reached up and took his helmet off, allowing his long locks of golden hair to swing free, revealing the face Xander had dreaded to see: Jysek’s.

“What are you doing here?” He demanded, rushing forward to shake Jysek roughly by the forearm.

“Woah, steady on, I thought you’d be glad to see me,” Jysek said, frowning slightly, unsure as he faced his friend’s steely face, “My Dad doesn’t need me as much as you do. You’re so young, and haven’t ever been off world alone before. You need someone to help you. If,” he started, as he saw Xander open his mouth to protest and say he didn’t need help, “you don’t need help, then at least you have a friend by your side when things get tough,” he said, his eyes twinkling merrily.

Xander’s tough face studied Jysek for a few seconds, before a reluctant grin breaking across it, “Alright, you can come,” he said, turning to leave the Docking Bay. What was left unsaid was Xander’s immediate assumption of leader, despite Jysek being his senior by three years in age.

“So, ah, where are we going?” Jysek said, jogging to catch up. He glanced around nervously at the shadowy figures lurking in slimy walkways and shadowing corners of the spaceport.

“To Keren, a city a few hundred klicks north of Theed,” Xander said, “But first I need to get my ID tag for my craft. They’re searching it, so I guess we just wait in the main office,” Xander said, heading back to where he had been upon seeing Jysek’s X-Wing touch down. “You’ll need one as well,” Xander remarked, “My X-Wing won’t hold you as well.”

“Yeah, ok,” Jysek said, obviously not fussed about having his new craft searched roughly by customs, “So what do you want to do in Keren?”

“That’s where my grand parents lived, and my parents for a while,” Xander said softly, having not spoken of this subject yet with Jysek.

“Oh yeah?” Jysek said, “Do you know what your Grand Parents names were?”

“My Grand Father was Quinlan Vos, a Jedi Master of the Old Republic, my Grand Mother was Khaleen Hentz. My mother was also a Jedi, back in the day,” Xander said, not slowing to catch the slight bulge of surprise in Jysek’s eyes.

“Your relatives were Jedi? That means you-”

“Yes,” Xander said, cutting him off, “I can use the Force. I was planning on trying to find some sort of Academy where I could hone my abilities. You’d be welcome there, I doubt anyone who uses the Force for good would turn a good pilot away,” he said with a wink.

“But isn’t,” Jysek said glancing around, before lowering his voice, “Isn’t the Empire still in control, sort of? I mean, look what happened to the Jedi at the end of the Clone Wars. Their arrogance got ahead of them, and the Empire vowed to slaughter them all.”

Xander didn’t bother correcting him with the details he had learnt from his mother, because he knew Jysek didn’t believe what he had just said anymore then Xander did. Jysek had always romanticised of being a Jedi Knight and travelling the Galaxy, doing good deeds, though he knew he never could, with the oppressive presence of the Empire.

Jysek’s father had been a pilot working on Coruscant, occasionally running supply lines for the Jedi, and had always been soft for them, sharing plenty of stories with a young Jysek, against Jysek’s mother’s recommendations.

Naboo – Theed Custom’s Control Office
A few hours later, Jysek’s craft also cleared for lift-off, Xander and Jysek were ready to leave Theed, Jysek not anxious to hang around after several lumbering drunks had sworn at him, telling him he was the “son of a liver-bellied nerf-herder,” and that he had no purpose in life.

Splitting up again, Xander watched as Jysek’s craft glided into the air, and he rose as well, following Jysek. Although Jysek personally didn’t know where Keren was, he probably knew how to operate the nav-computer a lot better then Xander, and so was going to lead the two of them to the city.

Xander dutifully followed Jysek, soon tiring of what he had once thought would never tire him, flying his very won craft, and he set it on auto-pilot. Instead, he took the time to soak in the luscious views of Naboo’s landscape, with the cliffs and waterfalls found commonly around Naboo. Although they were a common occurrence, no one ever took them for granted, always amazed by their dazzling beauty.

Drifting off to sleep for the first time in over twenty-four hours, Xander awoke to Jysek’s voice over the comm.

“Xander? Xander?”

“Huh? What?” Xander said sleepily, pushing in the button to activate the comm.

“What were you doing?” Jysek said, almost exploding in anxiety, sounding a lot like Xander’s mother.

“I was sleeping. Relax Jysek,” Xander said.

“Relax? How am I supposed to relax? You could have been dead, for all I know! I’ve been trying to talk to you for over ten minutes! Do you know how worried I was?”

A quick comment about how he sounded like Lysa and Jysek shut up with an embarrassed grunt, and a change of topic.

“Anyway, we’re almost there, so get ready,” he said, “You’ll need to press the blinking orange button to turn off your auto-pilot, then pull back on the green-striped lever to revert to human control.”

“Alright,” Xander said, complying instantly with Jysek, eager to get down to Keren, and find the rumoured cave in which his Grand-Mother was buried, Korto having buried her minutes before escaping the world with Lysa.