Help me, Master. Help me have the patience and wisdom that you did. He turned back to the girl who called herself Nolaa, smiling slightly and somehow frowning at the same time. His Master had told him that he was the only one who could pull that off. He never thought he would be saying what he was about to say, especially to a none Jedi. “The Force is… strong with you. I felt it, in fact I still feel it. But your control is lacking in a lot of areas.” The wind blew gently through the trees, whipping the girl’s hair around her face. She pushed it back and smiled, a perplexed look in her eyes. “I know I have some… power,” she tried to explain, “I- I can see someone who has this… This dark cloud around them when they are filled with anger and hate, no, maybe its sense. Yes, I can sense them. It’s weird. But I don’t know how to explain it. It doesn’t make any sense to me, this ‘Force’ you’re talking about.” Jared shook his head, kneeling down beside Nolaa. How could she not know what the Force was? And what did she mean she didn’t understand anything about it? He pulled a fistful of purple and dark blue colored grass up from the ground. How was he supposed to do anything now? Was he to train her in the ways of the Jedi? Or just leave her to her own path? She had no idea what she was capable of, then again nor did he. The Empire was searching for Jedi and Force sensitives. If they caught her- he shook the thought from his head. The moment he landed on this planet he knew something was waiting to test him. He sighed. He had been disembarking from the transport, thanking the man next to him for giving him something to drink. When he saw Nolaa, more like felt her. Her presence in the Force burned brightly. He frowned for a second, thinking. He had thought she was a Jedi, and he started following her, in between the crowd of passengers and vendor stalls. She turned back and looked over her shoulder, locking eyes with him. He knew she could feel him in the Force, so why was she walking away? She suddenly changed direction when two giant men who stood off to the side of a cantina started following her. He frowned and tried to cut her off by walking in front of her. She didn’t stop, she crashed right into him and they both fell down in a tangle of limbs. She had smiled and hugged him tightly. “I finally found you, sweetheart!” Jared had just sat there, trying to understand what she had just said. Sweetheart? He didn’t have long. The two giants pushed their way to the two. “Please, they are trying to-” Jared held up a hand, cutting her off from saying more. The two giants stared at him; red eyes gleaming. The Jedi Knight regarded their weapons carefully. They each held a huge vibro- sword in their hands, and he guessed they knew how to use them. He got quickly to his feet and brushed himself off. “Is there a problem?” He asked calmly. Only a whisper from the Force saved him from being cut in half, with a slight move, he dodged aside the metal glowing blade and spun away. He held his hands away, also tossing the cloak he wore aside. “Gentlemen, please. I’m sure we can come to an agreement.” With a roar of anger, they charged him. By then, a whole crowd had gathered. Jared scowled; this was not good. If anyone who was an inquisitor and they noticed him using the Force… He shoved the thought away; it was too late now. He dodged aside their weapons. He was surprised at how fast they were. He barely had time to dodge the next flurry of attacks. When he saw an opening in their defenses, he struck. With a quick short leap, he dodged the first man’s attack and rolled aside the over handed attack of the second man’s blade. He came up ten inches from the giant’s stomach. He kicked out, feeling the hard snap of bones breaking, he whirled aside the frantic man’s hands and palm struck his face. Blood and spittle burst from the giant’s mouth. Jared finished him off with a quick punch to the throat. The next giant was far too easy. It was over in a matter of seconds. He turned back to the girl, who was staring at him in amazement. “Are you alright?” He cursed himself. He should’ve just left them alone. “Yeah, thanks.” He quickly picked up his cloak and shrugged it back on. “It’s fine. Now, if you’ll excuse me” He had started to leave – “So this Force thing, what is it exactly?” Nolaa broke his train of thought with her question. And now, they were here. He stared at the ground. “It is…” The Purge had left the Jedi all but destroyed. He was still hoping that some Jedi- any Jedi made out alive. But he wasn’t sure. He couldn’t feel anyone. “Hey, hey.” Nolaa placed her hands on his shoulders, her face inches from his. “I feel something not good coming from you… it’s like your drowning in despair or something. I mean… I sense you’ve lost your family.” He shrugged. “Everyone has lost something important to them. I am no different.” She narrowed her eyes. “Yeah, but something happened, something bad happened to you. I-I feel it. I can’t explain-” “Then don’t.” Jared stood abruptly, gently removing her hands from his face. He breathed in deeply, staring at the sky. “Nolaa, may the Force be with you.” He turned to leave, knowing he was going to regret it but also knowing he couldn’t teach anyone the ways of the Force, he himself was failing at being a Jedi. “You can’t leave me like this.” She said angrily. “You can’t just tell me I have some power and not even explain to me how I use it. I finally found someone who has the same power as myself and he is leaving. You can’t do that to me, it’s not right.” “I can’t teach you anything, it’s far too late to even begin. And look at you, you are around my age. The Jedi start on the young, not anyone who is a young adult. I barely can keep myself under the Empire’s radar as is. Adding someone else is going to increase my chance of getting caught.” He stopped, frowning. Why was he saying this? Had he forgotten what being a Jedi meant? “Fier’fek,” he cursed under his breath. The Jedi fought against injustice and kept peace throughout the galaxy, they helped out those who needed help. If he couldn’t even help someone even if he might fail then being a Jedi was nothing. “Don’t you dare-” Nolaa started. “Fine. I will teach you.” She stopped, confused. “Huh?” He motioned her to follow him. “I said I will teach you, now let’s go.” He turned back to face her and froze. Screaming straight toward them were two republic gunships, guns already blazing. The Empire had found him. His heart sank. He reacted without thought. Shoving Nolaa to the side while drawing his lightsaber that was hidden in his cloak. Instead of meeting flesh, the green laser bolts hit a meter of pure blue energy and reflected back to their source: the twin Taim and Bak dual turrets. The explosion rocked the first gunship, sending it careening nose first into a building, plowing up brick and stone in its wake. The second one came on, guns pumping molten blasts at the Jedi. He rolled clear and away from Nolaa, who was scrambling to her feet. “Go, go!” he shouted. With a quick Force enhanced jump, he leapt up and managed to grab the nose of the ship. The ship lurched and twisted. He guessed the pilot knew his intentions, he flipped up and landed on top of the ship, guided by the Force. scrambling forward, trying to keep his balance and raising his lightsaber. The Jedi Knight barely caught a glimpse of the clone pilot before he slewed the craft sideways, causing the Jedi to fall off of the smooth gun metal hull. The ground rushed up to meet him, with a touch of the Force he landed lightly on his feet, he whirled and rolled to the side as a missile screamed past him. So close that he could actually taste and smell the ion exhaust and vapor. How was he going to get out of this one? He wondered. The whole street was in an uproar, people running around, falling, tripping to get out of the crammed street. Jared kept his lightsaber whirling and batting the laser blasts that he could away, the blue energy shaft was spinning so fast the humming noise drowned out the screaming and laser shots. He leapt up on top of a brick building, nearly falling as a laser blast hit directly under him. Ducking behind a chimney allowed for a split second of rest, and to come up with a plan. He didn’t have any. He didn’t see Nolaa, maybe she had run off. He hoped she was ok. A missile screamed through the air and exploded on the rooftop, sending brick and stone shards flying into the air and leaving a gaping hole in the building’s ceiling. Jared barely dodged the next air projectile as it slammed into the chimney he was using as cover and imploded with a giant bang, sending up a sheet of flame burst. He landed heavily on his feet, panting and wiping the sweat from his eyes. The gunship came back for another pass, its rocket launchers open and ready. Jared stood facing it, lightsaber raised in a two-handed grip. If he was going to die, he would take out as many as he could- wait. A dark slim figure dropped out of crew bay of the gunship, angling right toward him. A loud roaring sound pierced the air as the gunship released its rockets. Damn! He jerked his head back up and saw them homing in on him. With a backflip, he put some distance between him and their flight path. They exploded with a huge wave of flame. The roof buckled under such bombardment, groaning and crumbling. Jared leapt to the next one as the whole building he had stood on seconds earlier caved in on itself. He barely caught sight of the dark figure as it launched itself at him. He realized it was a Twi’lek woman, she wore a dark colored jumper and boots that were blood red. He rolled aside as she landed where he had just been. Who was she? He reached out with the Force but before he could touch her mind, she was on him again, he raised his lightsaber and slashed at her stomach as she flew past. He heard the familiar snap-hiss sound of a lightsaber as she blocked with the blade. He frowned when he noticed the color. It was a misty yellow color. Was she a Jedi? “Wait,” he tried to talk but she came again, whirling and twirling. He used the Force and blasted her back. “Who are you?” he asked angrily. She advanced more slowly and cautiously. “I will kill you and feed you to the jungle dogs!” she spat. Jared angled his blade in front of him, preparing for her attack. “Is that so? Well, I guess everyone has a dark side to them, because I was going to the same thing. Only a little nicer.” she stepped forward and lightly struck out with her blade, testing his strength. He blocked easily and launched an attack of his own, he angled his blade to slide along hers at the last second and swept up, lightsaber swinging up to her midriff. All too easy- she twisted her body aside only getting a molten scar along her flank instead of getting stab right through. She aimed a kick at his kneecaps. Too which he answered with a small shift of his body, the Jedi twisted around so that her booted foot only grazed his knee. He finished his spin and delivered a snap kick to her head. The blow stunned her, but her recovery was fast and swift, she came again, her blade slashing and spinning. Jared dodged an attack meant to cut his arm off and blocked three high and low strikes. The woman rolled aside as he retaliated with a reverse stroke and blocked his Force shove with a quick gesture. Jared backpedaled, nearly losing his footing on the tiled rooftop. The Twi’lek struck hard and fast, so fast that he almost didn’t even have time to get his lightsaber up between them. The two weapons clashed and locked, spiting angry white-hot sparks in the air. “You have the skills of a Hutt!” the Twi’lek woman hissed. Jared chuckled, trying to make some room to complete his maneuver. A dangerous one. One that he didn’t really want to try. “Well. At least I have skills.” the Twi’lek woman’s face turned a brighter color than it already was. She pushed harder, her lightsaber fizzling and sparking. Her anger was what he was counting on, with a clouded mind it was harder to sense his thoughts. He pushed harder, leaning with all of his weight against the blade. He saw out of the corner of his eye the gunship circling around the, guns trained on them. At the last moment when she pushed back with all her own might, he flipped the switch of his lightsaber off and swept his deactivated weapon around. Thumbing on the weapon again, he snapped it around and slashed her light blade’s hilt in half. The weapon exploded in her hands and the yellow beam- that would have drilled right through Jared’s chest, fizzled out with a hiss. She cried out, dropping her weapon as it burned her hands. Jared charged her before she could recover, lightsaber swinging in for the kill. She raised her hands, shielding her face as the blade plunged down- and stopped centimeters from her palms. Jared let out a gasp of shock. She was this strong with the Force? Who is this person? He thought. She Force- shoved his blade down and reached for him, her hands grabbing at his throat. Jared had to power down his lightsaber, he didn’t want to kill himself with his own weapon. She lashed out with a flurry of punches and kicks, aiming for his legs and face. Twice her fist connected to his face, the Jedi stumbled back from this onslaught of power. He blocked all that he could, managing to stop her kick that was aimed at his leg and dodging a swift upper cut that came so close to his chin he could feel the heat from her skin. With a Force leap back, he put distance between them. She jumped back at him, trying to kick his face in. Jared wasn’t sure if he would win this fight. He was already tired and his whole body shook with exhaustion and fatigue. He simply didn’t have time to stop her first kick from landing. He heard something snap and felt a sharp pain lance the side of his body as her booted foot smashed into his ribcage with a sickening crunch. Blood spurted from his lips as he let out a gasp. Her next attack was a smashing head butt that would have left him reeling, had he not moved his head to the side. They crashed to the roof in a tangle of limbs, kicking and punching at each other. Jared slammed a fist into her face and kneed her twice in the stomach, knocking her off of him. She landed on her side, shouting in rage and pain. Jared saw red blood painting her side. He wasn’t sure if it was his own or hers. He ignited his lightsaber and staggered over to finish her off. But before he could even raise his weapon the Jedi was swept off of his feet with a savage Force shove. The fall was what saved him, he fell down and landed hard on his side on the ground below. The whole rooftop that he had been standing on, exploded in a giant fiery boom as the gunship released another barrage of missiles into it. The Twi’lek woman disappeared in the blast. Jared reached out with the Force, trying to see if she was still alive, there was so much darkness clouding his senses he really couldn’t tell. The gunship fired another burst of missiles at the building, bringing it all the way down, flames and stone shards rained down. There wasn’t any way she could have survived that. He climbed to his feet, keeping close to the next building beside him. If the gunship spotted him, he was good as dead. The hot scorched air burnt his lungs, it was so hard to breathe. Black clouded his eyesight, tinging the edges of his peripheral vision. Was this the end? He was sure that he broke several ribs and had mild- if not a severe concussion. He needed to get out of her as fast as possible. His thought went back to the Twi’lek woman, who was she? And why was she attacking him? He didn’t have a clue.
END OF FIRST CHAPTER…
Thx for reading this ya’ll.
Science Fiction
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