A Jedi’s dream (working title)

PLEASE NOTE THE IS A VERY LOW BETA VERSION.  IT IS NO WHERE NEAR FINISHED AND AS SUCH IS OPEN TO MASSIVE CHANGES

PLEASE READ - DISCLAIMER:  I am using dramatic liscense in this story, so if I ever write something you feel iffy about don't worry.  These arn't my real thoughts, feelings or views of other people.  This is just a story and I use whatever I can to make the story roll on.  So again these are NOT my real feelings about myself or about anyone else.  

Oh and the usual I don't own any of this, George Lucas does and blah blah blah.

Dramatis Personae

Jaina – Student
Jaiko – Student
Bambi – Student
Xanatos - Student
Renak - Student
Roan - Student
Mirael – ex-Jedi
Luke Skywalker – Jedi Master
Mike – Apprentice
Virtue - Council Member
Massadoobie - Council Member
Chosen - Council Member
Buzz - Council Member
DJ - Council Member
JediSith - ex-Jedi

Prologue

Yavin IV - 15 years ago

Six dark figures, dressed in hooded cloaks stood in a circle in the smoking remains of the recently destroyed Jedi temple.  Each figure wore a look of sorrow on their faces as they looked at the broken rubble of their destroyed home, and a look of restrained anger as they thought about the series of events that had led up to this tragic day.  However neither of those two things were why they were gathered now.  The Jedi who had survived the attack had already departed on ships heading to the Jedi's new home world of Endor.  The six figures that remained were Virtue, Massadoobie, DJ, Buzz, Chosen and Luke.

Pushing back his hood Buzz stepped forward.  "We can't afford to take her with us.  The risk is too great."

Lifting his head slightly, Virtue looked at Buzz questioningly, "Would you rather we sent her away?  Had her adopted?  She is already partially trained.  We can't take the risk she would come by knowledge on her own."

Buzz shot a hard glance at Virtue, then addressed the circle, "Of course we can't let just anyone take her.  I propose we have her watched, and her interactions carefully monitored.  She poses a great danger to the order and training her would be a grave mistake."

Virtue opened his mouth to reply, but Massadoobie cut in.  "Luke, you out of all of us probably know her best.  What do you think?"

Luke paused for a few seconds thinking before replying.  "We should train her.  Treat her like any other student, but never let her know the full details of what happened today.  Who knows what would happen if she found out?"  Luke paused again, deep in thought.  "We can not change what has happened here, but if we all keep watch over her and train her the right way, then hopefully, when the time comes she will be able to do what is right.  I also put forward that she shall never be considered for Knight until such a time we feel all risk has passed."  A slight smile crossed his face, "Besides.  I promised Angela I would look after Jaina, and I wouldn't want to cross that woman even in death."

Massadoobie nodded his head in agreement.  "That sounds acceptable."  He glanced around the circle.  "Does everyone agree?"  All except Buzz nodded their heads.

"This is too great a risk for us.  You all just see a child.  A child of a friend who is now dead.  You are all blind.  This child could mean the end of us, and I will not vote for us to actually train her." A look of anger passed over Buzz's face.  "I won't!"

Doobie nodded his head sadly. "We can all agree it is a risk, but it is one we have to take.  Will you not agree so we can have a unanimous vote?"

Buzz crossed his arms over his chest "No.  You are all making a mistake, and I will not be party to it."

Doobie nodded, "Then at a vote of four to one we agree to house and train her.  We shall never discuss this unless in our council chambers, away from prying ears."  He turned to Luke.  "As you are not a part of the Council we ask that you keep this a secret from the students as well as other knights and trainers.  We shall of course keep you informed of any developments."  Luke nodded in agreement.

As one the council and Luke turned towards the last remaining ship and headed up the docking ramp.  Being the last to board Buzz took one last look over the ruins of the former home.  The courtyard was in ruins, and the famous Academy Spire that once stood proudly in the middle was now smashed into so much rubble.  Buzz sighed. "This is a mistake." he muttered before finally entering the ship.

Chapter 1

<FLASH>

She ran through the darkness, ducking and dodging round the trees and plants of the forest.  Vines lashed at her face, and branches slashed at her torn clothes.  Glancing back over her shoulder she could see no one pursuing, but she knew that meant nothing.  She could feel them closing in.  Forcing an extra burst of speed from her already worn out body she sucked air into her lungs as fast as she could, almost causing herself to hyperventilate.  She ran on for what felt like hours, but was likely just minutes until eventually her legs, no longer able to support her, gave way and she crashed to the ground.  She lay there listening to the sounds of the jungle, looking for any sign that her pursuers were closing in.

After several minutes she finally managed to gather the strength to push herself to her feet, but that was when she heard the crunch of foliage behind her.  Spinning around she activated her saber and brought the blade up into a defensive position.  It was only then that she noticed just how numerous her enemies were.  There were more than 20, and each had a saber of there own, activated and ready to use.

"You'll never take me alive!" she yelled.

From behind a tree off to her right a figure stepped out.  For some reason she could not make out his face, as hard as she tried.  "You can't run forever."  the figure said.  As he spoke more figures appeared out of the jungle behind him.  All had lightsabers activated.

She knew she could never beat them all.  At best she could take down two, maybe three before the others cut her down.  She was trapped.

<FLASH>

My eyes snapped open.  Blinking rapidly I tried to focus, and glancing around I realised I was in my room at the academy.  Wearily I laid back on my bed.  For some reason meditation always drained me, and this particular session had been more intense than usual.  'What the hell had that been about?',  I wondered, 'Was is a vision or just a dream?'.  Obviously being a Jedi I'd heard of people having force visions, but I'd never actually had one myself, so I didn't know what they felt like.  In fact it was a bit of a joke between some of the students in my year as I was the only one never to have had a vision.  Some regarded it as a failure.  meh.

Glancing around I shook my head.  My room was a mess.  Computer cables snaked from one side of the room to the other, some plugged into other consoles and still others were connected to droid memory cores and power packs.  Food packets left half eaten were strewn about my floor, and clothes from days ago were tossed carelessly over furniture.  It wasn't that I liked living in a mess; it was just that I always had more important things to do rather than cleaning.  My teachers at the academy were always berating me about it.  If I heard the maxim, 'A clear room is a clear mind' one more time I think I'd scream.

Still feeling the effects of my meditation I lazily pushed some clothes I had worn yesterday off my table, so I could get a clear look at my chrono.  Blinking the sleep from my eyes it took me several moments to realise the time.  8:30.  All the remaining cobwebs in my mind disappeared in a flash of adrenaline fuelled panic.  I was going to be late for my first class of the day.

In a blind panic I darted around my room washing as quickly as I could, I scrubbed my teeth and yanked on some old combat fatigues I had pulled out of my cupboard. I couldn't believe I'd come to so late.  I'd been sure I'd set my internal clock to snap me out of my trance at 8:00.  The only thing I could think to explain it would be the vision (possible vision anyway) that I’d had.  While lacing my boots I thought back over my dream/vision.  A girl had been running away from someone, that much was obvious.  But who?  They all had lightsabers, so did that mean they were Jedi of some kind?  I knew there were other groups of force users in the galaxy, but as far as I'd heard they were all allies of the Jedi.

Shaking my head I finished lacing my boots, then stood up and looked at myself in the mirror.  Long blood red hair ran to just below shoulder length, with some braided in the traditional Padawan style.  I was short for a 19 year old, standing at just under 163cm (5 foot 4 inches in old Imperial), I had a slim body and slightly muscular arms.  Slate grey eyes stared back at me from underneath red bangs, and a slight smile crept over my face.  Damn I looked good.  Running a comb through my hair once more, I dashed for the door and yanked it open.

Stepping out of my room into the corridor beyond I had to squint my eyes.  The sunlight hurt after the gloom of my own room, but after several seconds of looking at the back of my eyelids I gingerly opened my eyes and started jogging towards my first class of the day.  Saber Combat.  It was my favourite class in my entire program, because I knew I wasn't great at using force combinations or logical planning, and the less said about my skill with a blaster the better.  Yet give me a saber and I was in my element.  There was just something about having to think on my feet, knowing that just one mistake could mean defeat that really got my adrenaline pumping

The corridor was filled with students either walking to class, or huddled in groups talking.  Some glanced in my direction and looked away, and others just ignored me entirely, but I was used to it.  I wasn't particularly popular at the academy, but i didn't care me as I didn't like them either.  They thought I got special treatment and was a spoiled brat, while I thought they were idiots, and the opinion of idiots never really bothered me.

It was then that my danger sense kicked it.  Automatically I spun away so that my back faced the wall, while at the same time activating my purple lightsaber my eyes searching for danger.  A second later a small leather ball slammed into the wall where I had been stood only a second before.

“Oops, didn’t see you there JD.”

Inwardly groaning I turned to look at the ball’s owner.  I looked Bambi up and down looking for anymore 'weapons'.  She had none that I could see so I relaxed a little.  Bambi had long blonde haired with blue eyes that sparkled, and had a mischievous grin on her face.  Bambi wore an orange worn jumpsuit and had her hair tied back in a loose ponytail.

“What do you think you are doing?” I asked testily

Bambi grinned.

“I’m having fun, wanna play?”

That was Bambi all over, never taking things seriously and always grinning.  She was one of my few friends at the academy, but she also seemed to take great pleasure in trying to hurt me while I did everything possible to avoid getting seriously injured.  One time she had rigged my lightsaber to back feed, and give me a pretty powerful electric shock, which believe me isn’t as fun as it sounds.

Looking at her standing before me with a look on her face that was part innocence and part evil genius was extremely disturbing.  She was planning something.

“Bambi I don’t have time for this, I'm running late for class.”

Bambi let out a deep sigh, "Just blow it off.  I'm supposed to be in advanced gunning techniques this morning, but I really can't be bothered going.  I'm gonna go play some R2 soccer instead, wanna come?"

A small laugh escaped my mouth.  Bambi was a bad influence on me, always messing about during class she never paid attention when she was there, which was only occasionally.  The rest of the time she just skived, and dealt with the detention when it came.  The last time I had skipped class with her we had gone exploring the old imperial base, looking around for anything interesting.  The only thing we got for our troubles was four weeks detention, and having our computer privileges revoked for a month.  Because Bambi never did homework anyway it didn't affect her really, but for me it made it almost impossible to do research, forcing me to go rooting through old written 'books'.  I learnt my lesson.  Bambi didn't.

"Sorry Bambz, but I really can't afford to get caught again."  I grinned, "Besides you know I'll win again."

"Pfft, whatever JD, I'll catch ya later."

With that she turned and headed down the corridor away from the classes.  I thought back to when we first met.  It was nine years ago, during my second year of the academy.  We'd been put in the same Basic Force training class, and as usual I was on my own.  Bambi was almost the complete opposite to me, being hugely popular she was the center of a large crowd of students and seemed to be always having fun.  As usual the other students were either ignoring me, or glancing at me then muttering together in small circles.  I'd felt a small twinge of my danger sense, and moved my head slightly to one side to dodge the balled up paper that had been thrown at my head.

It was then that I heard a voice from the back of the room yell at the top of her voice, "Ok!! Who threw that??"  The room was silent, until someone near the front of the class yelled, "Who cares? It's only Jaina," which was followed by general laughter.  That was when Bambi gathered up her stuff, walked over to the empty desk next to me and sat down.  "If anyone throws or does anything to Jaina, they will have me to deal with.  And if you think I won't..." She paused and turned to face the rest of class, "Think again."  The direct bullying stopped after that day, and we'd been friends ever since.

I hadn't realised how far I'd walked, but when I looked up I was outside my class.  Taking a deep breath I pushed open the door and stepped inside.

Entering the training grounds I heard the soft thrum of numerous Lightsabers engaged in combat.  I peered around the room, trying to see Master Luke; I had to apologise for being late.  Eventually I saw him off to one side, talking to a student I'd never seen before.  The new guy was about 180cm tall, with reasonably short wavy black hair.  He had a wicked scar down one side of his face, but other than that he seemed to look like any other average student.

Walking towards the pair I began to hear the conversation between the two.

“Xanatos, I know you have been moved into my class because of your improvement in skill, but I expect nothing less than the best from the students in my class.  If you decide you can't hack it, there is no shame in going down a set.  If..."  Luke paused and turned around to face me.  "I thought I sensed your presence, nice of you to join us today Jaina."

I felt my face going bright red.  I was never late for class...well this one anyway...because 1.  I really enjoyed duelling and 2.  I respected Luke too much.  I had known him for as long as I could remember, and he was the only friend of my mothers who ever paid any attention to me.  He was the one who had let me move in with him while I was still too young to attend the academy.  He was also an amazing duellist, one of the only ones who could still really kick my ass.

"I'm really sorry Master Skywalker, I was meditating and I guess I didn't set my internal alarm cause when I came to it was 8:30, and by the time I had gotten ready I was already late, then in the corridor..."  I stopped talking realising that telling him about Bambi would get her in trouble.  Better just me than her as well.  Besides I was blabbering.  Luke however didn’t let my slip go that easily.

"In the corridor... what?"

"I...err...fell over."

Luke looked me in the eyes, and from the look on his face I could tell he didn’t believe me.  "Very well.  I want you to complete a 5 page essay on why you shouldn't be late for class.  I expect it in my hands by the end of tomorrow."  

Luke was staring at me so hard, I had to break eye contact and look at the floor.  "Yes Master." I mumbled

From behind I heard one of the students whisper, "Hah, even the teachers pet gets in trouble."  This was followed by a chorus of sniggers, which I ignored.

Luke had either not heard or chose to also ignore the sniggers as he continued talking.  "For today however I'd like you to meet the classes newest student." He said while gesturing to the young man next to him.  "Xanatos meet Jaina D'Kana.  She will be your sparring partner today."

Xanatos stepped towards me smiling while he held out his hand.  "Hi, nice to meet you."

I smiled back hesitantly.  The anti-Jaina brigade obviously hadn't gotten to him yet, but when they did he would hate me like everyone else.  Even if all he did was ignore me.  Gripping his hand I shook.  "Just so you know, the other students will soon tell you lies and half truths about me, and if you don't stay away from me they’ll give you a hard time."  Xanatos looked about to say something but I continued on.  "It will be easier for you if you just ignore me from now on."

Xanatos then smiled, "Call me Xan, all my friends do.  And as for them," he stuck his thumb over his right shoulder, "I couldn't care less what they say or do.  I make up my own mind who I talk to."

This was a surprise.  Normally when I told people that they got nervous around me, and the next time I saw them they were part of the Anti-Jaina brigade.

"Hah fine, whatever you say." I said as I grabbed two wooden training sabers from the pile by the door.  I tossed him one, which he caught neatly out of the air, "But I guess we will see the next time we meet."

With the wooden blade in my hand I drifted automatically into a loose fighting stance, that allowed me to dodge any move easier than the normal one, although my ability to deflect swings with my own blade was lessened.  This was apparently the style my mother used, and wasn't actually used by many other students, preferring instead to use the rigid defensive style Master Virtue taught, that restricted movement but greatly increased their ability to block or parry attacks.  They also preferred just moving forwards into range for a second before darting backwards to safety, while i preferred drifting left and right, forcing my opponent to turn to keep me in sight.  Keeping them off balance, while I tested and probed trying to create an opening in my opponents defence.

As I watched, Xan slipped into stance I had never seen before.  It was like the normal 'Virtue' stance, but with subtle differences.  Instead of holding his saber low to aid in defence, he held it reasonably high, and instead of having his feet one in front one behind to aid balance against attacks from dead on, he had them spread shoulder width apart, like me.  This put me on my guard.  Unfamiliarity with a style always made me worried, and because I had never met the guy before today it made me extra concerned.

"Are you ready?" I asked

Xanatos grinned, "Of course.  I was waiting for you."

As I started to go into the ritual of circling my opponent, Xan did the last thing I expected.  He attacked.  The only warning I had was my danger sense screaming at me.  Instinctively I managed to just dodge in time, and roll away to safety.

Coming to my feet several meters away, I heaved a sigh or relief.  I knew I'd been lucky, and if it hadn't been for my heightened danger sense he would have had me.  Xanatos saluted me with his saber, and a grin spread across his face, "Nice dodge.  I almost had you there."

A smile of annoyance crossed my face.  "Almost isn't good enough."  I replied, whilst mentally berating myself.  I knew his style wasn't like anything I'd seen before and yet I'd drifted off, letting my guard down.  Assuming he would do the expected.  I wouldn't make that mistake again.  Focusing on my opponent I watched him move around the duelling area.  Paying special attention to his movement and swings for patterns as I dodged each attack he made, making note of openings he left in his swings for later capitalization.  After several minutes of watching I finally felt I had a good enough understanding of his style to attack in safety.

Pretending to stumble, I lured in one of the swings I had noticed with a big defensive weakness.  On cue Xan swung at my stumbling figure, but instead of being smacked in the side I managed to pirouette away from the swing, and brought my own blade down with a solid thunk on his unprotected back.  As the force of the blow drove him onto the ground I hopped back into a defensive position, and waited for the torrent of abuse to start.  Xan, however, surprised me again.

Xan spun around on the floor to face me, but instead of wearing a scowl like most did, he had a huge smile on his face.  "Wow Jaina! That was awesome!!  You are sooo good!! Can we do that again?"

Normally I’m silent because I don't want people to know what I'm thinking, but this time i was actually stunned into silence.  Jaiko had said I was good, when we trained outside of class, but he was a friend and friends say things like that.  To have a complete stranger who I'd only met minutes before say it, when all I'd been expecting was abuse was...well...it sunned me.

Realising I needed to say something I forced my mouth to work.  "Err...well...you know."  I paused, "Thanks?" I uttered lamely.

Xan pushed himself to his feet, letting out a groan of pain, "Jeez Jaina, did you have to hit me so hard?"

I laughed, "Oh don't be such a wuss, I barely hit you."

Xanatos muttered something under his breath, but I was unable to catch whatever he said.  Gradually he forced himself into a defensive stance, obviously in pain but a look of determination on his face.

"You want to go again?" Xan asked.

I smiled, a twinkle in my eyes.  "Of course." I said, "I was waiting for you."