Chapter 2 - 47 ABY - Listen to the desires of your children. Encourage them and then give them the autonomy to make their own decision. - Denis Waitley
(Jayden-Age 10)
“Moms?” Jayden asked as she tugged on both of her mother’s Jedi robes. Jade, wore a green robe with an exquisite golden trim. When Jayden would sit next to her mom she would often trace the intricate designs that were along the edges of the robe. Jade had the same style robes as all who sat on the Jedi Council. Her mother, Kyra, was not on the council, so her robe was plain, but was a beautiful purple color which contrasted her blue skin quite nicely.
“Yes, Jayden?” Jade and Kyra said simultaneously as they looked at each other and smiled the knowing smile of parents that have children that love to ask so many questions. Jayden looked up into first Jade, and then Kyra’s eyes. She loved her moms so much, and she knew they wouldn’t have a problem with what she was about to ask, but she still wanted to talk to them about it.
“Would you be upset if I didn’t want to become a doctor?”
Jade looked down at her daughter and smiled. “Of course not, my dear. I never expected you to. You must make your own path and it is not for me, or Kyra, or anyone else to decide, but you,” Jade replied.
“We will love you no matter what path you choose,” Kyra continued.
“I want to become a Guardian!” Jayden knew her moms wouldn’t have a problem. They knew she was fascinated by the Jedi Guardians, the Keepers of the Peace. Like Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, they were the ones that made sure the dark side didn’t win. In the Jedi Order there were many things that a Jedi could become. If they excelled in lightsaber skills and the knowledge of the Force, they were allowed to join the Guardians, and this was what Jayden had always aspired to be, from the first moment she picked up a lightsaber.
There were other tiers of learning that Jedi could go into. Being a Jedi wasn’t just about swinging a lightsaber around, like in the days of the old Republic. After Luke created the Jedi Order he found that some Younglings and Padawans had a proficiency for other uses that could benefit everyone in the galaxy, not just the Jedi. Some were Seers. They studied the history of the Force. They learned from the history of the Jedi and the mistakes they made in the past, so that they would hopefully not repeat those same mistakes that led to the destruction of the original Jedi temples and allowed the Sith to gain control. They were also in charge of the Jedi archives and taught history to the Younglings and Padawans. There were also Jedi Engineers. They were the architects, the designers, and the builders. They studied science and math of several civilizations and used that alongside the Force. One of the many things they could do was build homes and buildings. It could take droids up to a week to build a home, but with a group of Jedi Engineers, they could build it in minutes. They also went to several planets where water was scarce, and helped to set up moisture farms and plumbing. They used the Force like a divining rod to find water, then helped to build the plumbing to acquire it. If no water was available underground, then they would help set up the moisture farms to draw the moisture from the air. Then there was the Medical Corps, which Jade and Kyra were a part of. Jade started the Medical Corps after Luke saw that she had a proficiency in healing. Few Jedi had the gift of healing. They could use the Force to heal a person’s injuries. It took a great amount of Force energy and would leave one incredibly weakened, but if used in conjunction with doctors at the Medical Facilities, Jedi Healers could assist in surgeries and cut down on loss of life a thousand fold. Kyra started the Psychotherapy part of the Medical Corps after Luke noticed that some Younglings were having a hard time adjusting. He knew that the temptation to the dark side was great, so he helped develop a team of therapists that could help the Younglings work through those temptations. He thought that it would help keep so many from turning to the dark side. He knew Kyra’s temperament was perfect for the job. The Force just emanated a calmness from her that set everyone at ease when they were near her.
Jade also started teaching basic medical care to the Younglings. If they could at least perform basic field aid until they could get the injured to a doctor, then that could possibly help save lives. Any that excelled in her class would become her Padawans to help out at the hospital. Jayden had learned a lot from her mother’s medical courses. She was even allowed to watch and participate in a surgery with her at the hospital a few weeks ago. She found it mildly interesting, but it was the Guardians that Jayden was completely fascinated by. She and a few of the other Younglings would wait for the Knights as they came back from their missions. They would be exhausted from the mission, but would tell their tales of amazing battles to all of the Younglings that gathered around them. And Jayden just soaked it up.
Jayden knew that being a Jedi was more than just battles and lightsaber duels, but she couldn’t help but be fascinated by it. So she learned every lightsaber technique that she could find in the archives, and would beg many of the Jedi Knights to spar with her. She learned how to fight, not just with a single lightsaber, but also was learning the fighting technique of the dual and double-bladed saber styles. Jayden especially liked the fighting technique of a Jedi she had come across in the archives. A Togruta named Ahsoka Tano. She had a fighting style, called Jar’Kai, where she held the sabers backwards in her hands, where they faced outwards. She had also recently started researching the techniques of the double-bladed lightsaber fighting styles of Darth Maul and Exar Kun. Double-bladed lightsabers were very common amongst Sith Lords, and that made Jayden even more intrigued. She knew that one day she would likely be face to face with a Dark Jedi, so she figured that she better learn how best to defeat them, and that was by learning their fighting styles.
Jayden also studied more of the Force than any other Youngling. She may only be ten years old, but she spent all of her extra time in the archives learning more and more about the Force and the history of the Jedi. She learned the stories of each of the Jedi that were listed in the archives. She studied the history and downfall of the old Republic and Jedi. It also didn’t hurt that her mother was the most powerful Jedi Master and was second to only Master Skywalker on the Council. It gave her access to details and other amenities that other Younglings weren’t privy too.
Jade and Kyra looked at each other and smiled, then they both said in unison, “We know.” Their daughter was an adventurous little ten year old. Jayden had excelled in lightsaber skills and her use of the Force far exceeded her peers. She was well advanced for her age, which is why they had already begun talking to Master Skywalker about starting her Padawan apprenticeship a few years earlier than normal. Luke agreed, and thought that Master Quento Shan would be the perfect Jedi to master her stubbornness and maybe tame some of her emotions. Even though she was strong with the Force, she was still young and had a lot of things to learn about keeping her emotions in check. Jade knew that she would need that training should her Jedi Extraction powers manifest, which Jade hoped would never happen.
Jade kneeled down in front of her daughter and brushed her bangs from her eyes. She had Jade’s silky black hair. “You know… I used to be a Guardian.”
“You were?” Jayden looked in awe at her mother as Jade nodded to her daughter.
“I did that along with my medical training. I would help out in the battlefields. But after we decided to have you, I wanted to stay home and raise you. So I started up the Medical Corps and worked at the hospital mostly. Then I started teaching classes.”
“I loved taking your classes, mom. I learned a lot. But…”
“It’s not your thing. I get it,” Jade smiled as she ruffled her daughter’s hair and kissed her on the cheek before Jayden could pull away. “We’ve already spoken to Master Skywalker. He has spoken to Master Shan who has agreed to take you on as his Padawan.”
“Really?” Jayden exclaimed excitedly. Master Shan was one of the several Jedi who always came back with amazing stories. She had developed a rapport with him, and he seemed not to mind her incessant questions on lightsaber techniques. He was also good friends with her moms and their families were really close, where Jayden got to hear even more stories that he wouldn’t tell the other Younglings. She could not wait to start her training with him.
“Thank you, moms!” Jayden grabbed Jade’s hand as they walked to her bedroom. It was past her bedtime and she started to yawn. “Hey mom…”
“Yes Jayden?”
“Can you tell me the story again of how you found out that you were a Kyrie?” Jayden asked as she hopped up into bed. Kyra came in and gave Jayden a kiss goodnight and laughed at Jade.
“You’ve heard that story a thousand times.” Jade told her as she tucked Jayden in and shook her head at Kyra. She pulled a chair close to the bed and sighed. “Alright. You ready?” Jayden nodded and smiled excitedly as Kyra dimmed the lights and stepped out of the room.
***
35 ABY
Jade was the most powerful Jedi in the Jedi Order. Even more powerful than Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. In 35 ABY, at the age of twenty-three, her Force Extraction powers manifested. She had no clue what they were when it first happened. She was in a duel with a Dark Jedi when she felt something strange in the Force. She reached out with the Force, and without even realizing it, she had taken his powers away. Several weeks later it happened again, but this time the power overwhelmed her and she passed out.
The doctors called it a coma, but it was far from that. She was completely oblivious of what was going on in the real world. But inside her head was a dark and dangerous place. She thought she had been transformed to an alternate dimension. Everything was dark with a green hue, and she was enveloped in a haze that hindered her vision. She could only see a few meters in front of her. She would try to walk around but she couldn’t see anything and felt like she was walking in circles. She tried calling out for help and then she heard noises in the distance. Strange forms stepped out of the blackness and advanced towards her. They were faceless creatures that almost looked like ghosts. Jade reached for her lightsaber but it wasn’t at her side. Instead she called upon the Force to try and keep these creatures from reaching her. Jade didn’t understand what was happening, she just knew that she had to keep fighting. One after another, they came at her and she repelled them away with the Force. She was starting to weaken but she kept repelling them. Some managed to get through and wound her, but she stood her ground as best she could.
While she was fighting to survive on the inside, her body was feeling the brutal affects of the war that was raging inside her head. Her body would convulse and she would start seizing. At one point her heart stopped, but the doctors were able to get it started again. The doctors were confounded, and Luke didn’t understand what was going on either, although he could sense that she was in terrible danger. The doctors told Luke that they weren’t even sure if she would make it, so he knew he had to do something. Luke used the Force to meld their minds together and stepped into the war that was going on inside her head.
“Master! You are a sight for sore eyes.” She walked towards him and reached out her right hand and they grasped each other’s forearms in greeting. “I am fighting these… demons, for lack of a better term. Do you know where we are? All of a sudden it was like I was just pulled here.”
“You don’t know what’s going on?” Luke asked and Jade shook her head. “You weren’t pulled anywhere. This is… I don’t know what this is. But you are in the hospital. You collapsed on the battlefield after defeating Dar Kreygil. We can’t understand it, but his ability to use the Force is gone. He was captured seconds after you collapsed. It’s just like what happened to the first Dark Jedi you faced, Keegan Martell.”
“That’s… that’s right…” Jade reached her left hand up to rub her forehead. “I remember now. What is going on, Master?”
“I don’t know,” Luke replied as Jade heard everything around her suddenly go quiet. Then with the sound of a strong wind, several forms appeared. Jade counted twelve of them standing in a circle around her and Luke. She couldn’t see their faces as their black robes covered their bowed heads. The robes covered their entire bodies, and it looked as if they were floating. They began to speak in hushed tones. Jade and Luke listened as they explained the history of the Jedi and the untold stories that weren’t written in the archives. The archives told the story of the beginning of the Jedi. There were two brothers that had the Jedi powers, but after an argument, one split off to become the first Sith. That story all Jedi learned. But what no one knew was that afterwards there was a major imbalance in the Force as more and more Jedi turned to the dark side.
The twelve Old Ones each took their turns telling part of the story. Their voices were like a whisper that Luke and Jade could barely hear, but also was so deep that it shook them to their inner core. They explained that there were twelve families who developed special powers. Only one family member per generation was able to have this gift. They were given the gift, just like Jade, and once they used it for the first time they were to submit to the Trials. Normally the Gift appeared when the Padawans were ready to take the Jedi Trials, although sometimes it could happen when they were younger or older. It all depended on who was available at the time that the Gift was needed. It was always the elders of the twelve families that tested them. They would put the Padawan into a trance, similar to the one Jade was in, and commence with the testing. Once each family was assured that the Padawan passed the test, then they were allowed to keep the Gift of Force Extraction. But if they failed the test, then the Gift consumed them and they died.
The reason that Jade wasn’t fully aware of what was happening when she first fell into her trance, was because there were no other families left alive to test her. The Old Ones, who lived in the Force, had thought that every one in their lines had passed away. Jade never knew her real parents. She was only a baby when she was dropped off at an orphanage on her home planet of Mirial. She knew she had special powers, but it wasn’t until Master Luke found her at the orphanage when she was thirteen, that she knew what they were. She then became his Padawan. Luke could always sense that she was different from the other Jedi he had taught over the last two decades, but it wasn’t until he was standing in front of the Old Ones that he realized just how special she was. When her powers manifested it had taken some time for the Old Ones to track her down in the Force. That’s why she wasn’t put into a trance after the first time she used her newfound powers. One of the Old Ones stepped forward and reached up to lower their hood. Jade was taken aback. The older woman looked almost exactly like her, only much older and with weathered pale purple skin that looked so old that it was almost see through. She had piercing green eyes that stared deeply at Jade.
“You are a descendent of the Kyrie Clan. Until your powers manifested, we thought our clan were all dead. We don’t know how you are here, but it is clear…” she reached for Jade’s hand and flipped it over so that the palm was facing up, “You are a Kyrie. Our blood is in your veins.” As the elder woman said that, she touched the center of Jade’s palm, and when she did Jade fell to her knees and her eyes rolled to the back of her head.
Luke tried to rush to her side to help her up, but the other eleven Old Ones held up their hands and stopped him in his tracks with the Force.
The old woman turned to look at Luke. “She will be ok. Who are you to her? You are very brave to enter her Trials. It is very dangerous and you could have been killed. You must care for her very much.”
“She is my Padawan. I am Luke-”
Luke was cut off by a cacophony of whispering voices. He couldn’t make out the words, and started to speak up when the old woman spoke again.
“You are the Skywalker. You brought balance to the Force. But yet again, balance is in disarray. It is good that you are her Master. She has passed her Trials but she is going to need a teacher. Give me your hand.”
Luke lifted his hand, palm up, and she touched the center of his hand and he fell to his knees and blacked out. Jade opened her eyes and looked around to find Luke, but he was no longer there with her. She looked back up at the old woman who was putting her hood back on and stepping back into the circle. In unison they started speaking.
“This special power makes you the strongest and purest of all Jedi. But it also makes you the most dangerous. There will be those that will come after you. You are no longer safe. Be careful, Jade Kyrie.”
***
When Jade awoke she was surrounded by several doctors, nurses and then she noticed Master Skywalker sitting at the foot of her bed with an intense look. “Master, did you-“ He held up a finger to his lips and she immediately stopped talking.
“Clear the room, please.” Luke demanded in a firm voice that Jade had never heard him use before. The doctors tried to protest but he gave them a look that had them scurrying out of the hospital room. After they left he secured the door and sat down again at the foot of Jade’s bed.
“Master… were you really there? Did you see all of it?” Jade could hardly believe it herself. “When she touched my hand it was like…”
“Like you saw the entire history of the Old Ones in a matter of seconds?” Luke finished, still not believing it himself.
“Yes. She did it to you as well? How is this possible? And why wouldn’t you let me say anything in front of the doctors?”
“I don’t know. But we are in very perilous times right now. There are more and more Jedi turning to the dark side, and now that you have these powers, which I still can’t explain, you are in danger. I know you like going on missions and being a Guardian, but I think it’s best if you stay closer to home. You were just married a few months ago, and I know you wanted to start work on the Medical Corps and I really think you could help teach younglings your medical knowledge. This would be the best cover for you. Because once this gets out, your life will be in jeopardy.”
“But Master, I have these new powers and I can help. Please don’t make me sit on the sidelines and not be of use,” Jade pleaded.
“I know you want to help, but search your feelings. I truly believe your talents would best be used if you focused on the Medical Corps. You still have much to learn. And once I tell the Council and this gets out, you will have to be protected. Your powers will still be of use when we do go up against a Dark Jedi, but for now I think we should just keep this between us and the Council.”
Jade reluctantly agreed. Even though a part of her had always wanted to be a Guardian, she had always wanted to work more in the medical field. She felt that was her true calling in the Force. But she was worried. Was her life really in danger now? She and Kyra were even talking of having a child in the next year or two. How would this new ability affect her family?
***
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