In orbit around the planet Ossus were several space stations. These stations were responsible for the ‘restoration’ of the ravaged planet. It wasn’t being brought back to its original state, but instead, foreign fauna were being introduced as the stations made Ossus more inhabitable. The planet was divided into hundreds of restoration zones.

This way of restoring planets wasn’t a new technology; records told of a war-devoured planet being resurrected in this manner over four thousand years previously.

The Jedi Temple was located in restoration zone C-31, which emulated a jungle- similar to Yavin IV, where the old Temple had been- and at the edge of this jungle was the Temple. The construction was a mix of Alderaanian and Nubian styles, and the result was truly an architectural beauty.

Three large spires stood clustered in the middle -- the middle spire being the tallest - each spire tapered towards a larger, slender base. The spires were arranged like the points of a compass, the tallest at north and the shorter two at east and west. Each of them held numerous hangar bays for ships of the Jedi. The centre was surrounded by a structure that started as a bulbous building, wrapping itself around the spires to form a wall, with more bulbous structures outside the architectural wall. The buildings were white, with round curves, the windows shining with a blue light. In surrounded by the three spires was a smaller, dome-shaped building, the home of the Jedi Council.

With the Jedi Council at its base, the three spires were a symbol for the constant quest for enlightment. The middle spire signified an enlightened Jedi, flanked by the shorter two, symbolic the others that wish to follow. The surrounding structure was large enough to accommodate dormitories for thousands of humans and aliens alike.

Dormitories weren’t the only facilities the Temple possessed; there were also many training facilities and cafetaria. They were located in several different buildings, connected by roads made for speeder travel. Flight simulators were present for the Jedi who were pilots, to keep their skills sharp. Their fighters were docked on one of the many landing pads, along with others' personal vessels- the Raven’s Claw, Gratua Cuun (Mandalorian for Our Vengeance), the Millenium Falcon, and the Jade Shadow. The latter two were not docked at the time together with the missing Raven's Claw.

The docking bays were usually quiet around that time, but this day. It was attended by a Jedi who was tuning his ship, Gratua Cuun.

“This wire goes here - that goes there,” the blond-haired man murmured to himself as ran his hand across the stubble on his chin. He was lying down on a raised platform with the Gratua Cuun suspended above him, inspecting the underside of his ship. “Threepio. The hydrospanner,” he ordered. The golden protocol droid did as he was asked without hesitation.

“The hydrospanner, Master D’khar.” C3PO announced proudly, obviously delighted that he had been asked to help. He thrust his mechanical arm towards D’khar.

The blond Jedi took the hydrospanner and continued working on his ship, tweaking certain parts, with the deepest concentration.

“Thank you, Threepio,” he finally managed.

“You are absolutely welcome sir!” the droid replied.

When done, D’khar lowered the platform and hopped off. He stepped away from the ship, giving it a long gaze, observing the vessel’s beauty.

The Gratua Cuun was a little wider then the Millenium Falcon, and longer. It had two elliptical decks. The top deck was where the cockpit was located, together with the other main controls for the ship. On the lower deck, there were bunks and the 'fresher for the long hyperspace travels or if a travel companion decided to get some rest.

Its two wings began under the second deck, both wings curving down. A pair of heavy cannons were installed on the wings, one on each. Gratua Cuun was propelled by two ion engines fixed to the broad end of its tail. The much wider stern sloped down to a sleek nose, similar to an X-Wing's but much larger and more angular, which had two medium cannons located on each side, with concealed torpedo launchers, possessing armoury ranging from proton torpedoes to cluster missiles. Underneath the part where the ship started to taper was a seismic launcher; ready to drop seismic charges towards enemy vehicles. The carbon was scored, leaving almost nothing of its original paintjob.

“Ain’t she a beauty?” he said, stating a fact more then asking while he wiped his grease-stained hands with a piece of cloth.

Threepio's head moved first towards the ship, then to D’khar, pointing his photoreceptors directly towards the Jedi’s eyes.

“That entirely depends on what definition of beauty you cling to, Master D’khar.”

Bewildered by the protocol droid’s remark, D'khar walked off, muttering a Mandalorian curse under his breath.

“Is it something I said?” Threepio wondered aloud, stumbling behind D’khar as he left the hangar.

++++++++++++

Deep within one of the training facilities, a bio-engineered forest inside a dome-roofed building, Ben Skywalker stood entrenched to his knees in the long lorak grass from the planet Iiora. His yellow synth-leather jacket was soaked from the moisture dropping from the epeona tree’s leaves. He turned his back to the two-meter-wide trunk and swung his hair, a hybrid of his mother's red and his father's blond, back to its usual mid-long style

He thumbed his lightsaber on, and the blade sprung to life with a snap-hiss. The 'saber's crystal blue light banished the forest's shadows. Lasers flashed from somewhere in the vegetation and were easily deflected by his quick parries.

“Come on, Feh’ra. Increase the difficulty, already!” young Skywalker demanded as he began to be bored with the remote's basic actions. For seventeen-year old Ben, this was nothing more than a game, a game that he could use to show everyone that he was the best Jedi, that he could outgrow his father, that he too deserved the title of Jedi Knight - even Jedi Master. He considered his knowledge of the Force and skills with a lightsaber considerably higher than most others'.

Feh’ra Durak, a Bothan Jedi, was the temple’s training instructor when Kyle Katarn wasn’t present.

With a strike, Ben destroyed a small remote droid. The smell of scorched plasteel reaching his nose, he rolled away to avoid a blast from a second remote. He flung his saber at it, and the swirling light-bearing blade carved through the small droid as it bloomed into a short-lived orb of fire.

“All too easy,” he said to himself, as he reached out with the Force to retrieve his weapon. The sound of a loud clunk! interrupted his brief moment of satisfactiom and he turned to see movement in a nearby bush. A pair of yellow-white sabers ignited from out of the flora, incinerating leaves around them. The wielders of the Jedi weapons emerged from the forest. They were the combat training-droids from the temple, their lightsabers pointed towards Ben, threatening him.

Through the Force, Ben sent a thank-you to Feh’ra for hearing his plea. He brought his right arm - his saber-arm - into a ninety degree angle, pointing back at his mechanical opponents, supporting the hilt with his left hand.

One of the droids began combat. Yellow met blue as Ben fought with the droid, using the unifying Force as an extension of himself, letting it guide his movements and anticipate the opponent’s strikes. The second droid became involved and Ben now had an extra opponent to worry about. Fighting off double lightsaber strikes, he finally saw the opening he needed. He leapt from the ground towards a heavy branch high in the air. His body corkscrewed in mid-air, bringing his feet up to point at the sky. A slash disconnected the branch from the large tree, and it fell on one of the droids. Using the Force to balance himself, he landed back on his feet. He charged at the lone droid, trying to hit critical places, only to be held off by the droid’s saber skills. Both combatants were in a power-duel as the two sabers ground against each other, crackling and sending sparks into the air.

Overpowered, Ben withdrew his lightsaber from the struggle and stepped back. Much to his dismay, the droid that he thought had been crushed had already removed the trunk and was coming back for more. Enclosed by the two combat-droids, he drew heavily on the Force, asking it for aid. He found his stamina returning to him. He stretched out his palm towards the closest droid and pushed it away.

The fight went on for several long minutes and Ben’s legs started to feel like ferrocrete. His entire body perspired as he fought to swing his crystal lightsaber. His concentration slipped from him as he tired, even as he did his best to stay clear and focused. The droids stopped their assault, and Ben knew the reason.

He had failed.

Collapsing on the ground, he gasped for air. He called on the Force to retrieve his energy, but he had demanded too much of his body already. With the support of his arm, he finally managed to stand up and he decided to follow the droids.

The path placed him in front of a door with a touchpad next to it. After he hit one of the buttons the door slid open, revealing the Bothan Jedi who awaited Ben, clapping his hands.

“Marvellous, young Skywalker. Simply marvellous,” Durak applauded.

“What are you talking about?” Ben replied. “I lost. I’ve failed again.”

The Bothans golden fur bristled as he lifted his brows in surprise. “Failure? That was hardly a failure, Skywalker. It has been an absolute privilege to have seen your skills improving steadily over the months you have practiced. Don’t consider this a failure, Ben. Only a few Masters have exceeded the level of training you are in now. Quite an achievement.”

“Yeah…Whatever,” Ben said while he wiped the sweat off his eyebrow with a cloth. Having nothing more to say, he walked out of the training area.

Tracing the wall with his hands to prevent him from stumbling- he was still suffering from fatigue- he searched for one of the turbolifts. He was located in the eastern spire. The walls were curved and decorated by a broad blue line painted across the middle.

Ben finally managed to gather himself in front of one of the four turbolifts and keyed the buttons. A minute passed while he waited for the elevator to arrive; it seemed to take a while before reaching the mid-level from the bottom. A tone signalled. Ben turned to face the turbolift doors as they slid open with a hiss.

In the opening stood a dashing girl, a girl he knew quite well.

“Katie,” he said. “Are you going down?”

Her hair was loose for a change, her long black locks draped over her shoulders. The front-locks were adorned with multicoloured beads. Her skin was slightly tanned, as always, and her blue-green eyes were deeper than the oceans of Mon Calamari. He couldn’t help but notice that even if she was a year younger than him, she seemed to be more mature- at least body-wise.

“Actually…” she began as she noticed his eyes wander off, “I’m going up. And even if I prefer not to be in the same turbolift as you, I think you are going up too.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You promised Mikan you would train with him in the space-simulators. Didn’t you?”

His blue eyes met the stare of her once-blue eyes, which had now turned pale with coldness. And then he knew just as she knew: he had forgotten.

“Ah. Just as I thought. You forgot, didn’t you?”

Ben joined her in the turbolift with great reluctance, well aware of the lecture she might give him. He stood in embarrassed silence for seconds that seemed like long minutes until she finally uttered her speech.

“You know, it would be nice if you actually spent some time with your friends.”

Ben shrugged his shoulders in an I-don’t-care kind of way. “I've been busy with training,” he said dryly.

Katie seemed to be just as uncomfortable at being in the same lift with Ben as he was with her. Perhaps because she did not like the fact his eyes were distracted by her, he reflected. She was right, he thought. He should be spending time with his friends a little more, but what if he didn’t want to? What if he simply had to become better? How could she understand? The pride that gets shattered when one’s enemy keeps you down without even breaking a sweat, without change of pace, without a change of breath. Even the mutilation his enemy brought upon him. The pain of a scarlet lightsaber carving clean through your chest, ripping your skin and welding it shut at the exact same moment. Yes, he had to train for he wanted revenge; revenge fuelled his strength just as anger fuelled his pride. He could never tell her or Mikan. They would instantly tell the story to his father and soon after that, hour-long sessions would follow. He had seen it happen with ‘lost’ Jedi before and he had no interest in being labelled mad.

At times though, he could not help but wonder if it would be best to let the furnace of anger that raged inside him be put out by one of his friends or family.

No, young one. Free your anger. Your anger is what gives you strength. With strength your chains will be broken, a familiar voice spoke in his mind. A voice that had come back many times after the battle on Lithoori, a voice that had guided him through several conflicts, a voice that had become his mistress. Her words possessed wisdom. Wisdom, his father once taught him, was something he should heed. As always, the voice’s dark sensation made his bones rattle.

“You are always training,” Katie continued, “Are you even listening to me?”

“Of course I am. . . It’s not like I have a choice.”

Katie let out a deep sigh. “We're worried about you, Ben. Why can’t you see that? You train constantly. The bags beneath your eyes clearly say that you hardly sleep. Why won’t you talk to us?”

Ben couldn’t believe his ears. “Talk!?” he spat. “Did you talk about wanting to break up with me? Is that how worried you are about me? You dumped me!”

“You scared me, Ben! What was I supposed to do?”

“Same thing as you used to do. You should have trusted me.”

A stinging pain rose in his heart, a pain he wished he could subdue, but was seemingly unable to. Finally, the door of the turbolift slid open and he was looking at a row of simulators, shaped like X-wings, each jinking and juking according to the yoke movements. Some students were accompanied by instructors.

“So where is Mikan?”

++++++++++++++++


The simulator rocked on its foundations while Mikan violently yanked the control stick in all directions to keep the fighter straight. He brought his fighter alongside the ventral port of a massive Imperator Star Destroyer. Lights in the simulator imitated the flash of turbolasers, filling the cockpit. The fighter wing-rolled to the right. Heavy G-forces began to hold Mikan firm in his seat; of course, the simulator didn’t really make these sharp turns, but gravity generators could easily fake the sudden boost in gravity.

The mission should have been straightforward. Protect a battlestation from an opposing force. At first, two Imperators appeared. The students were meant to provide fighter cover for the larger defensive ships of the station. It would have been an easy task if there hadn't been an entire invasion fleet that dropped out of hyperspace on the other vector of the battlestation. He wondered if perhaps this was all a setup by the instructors; it was definitely something for them to put up an impossible mission for their students. He connected the wing-roll with a steep dive, emergency klaxons blaring, his front viewport filled with the image of a burning MonCal cruiser taking a beating from the massive turbolaser batteries of Star Destroyer as he was descending towards it.

“Red Five. What are you doing? You are breaking away from the battlestation!” a voice blasted in Mikan’s ear through the commlink.

“Copy, Red leader. This battle is lost. I’m going to bring down their command ship.”

“Negative, Delwynna. The objective was to protect the battlestation, and I order you to do so.”

Why do they always have to argue, Mikan Delwynna reflected. The objective was a failure, he knew this; he was absolutely sure of it. What they had to do was to break through the main defenses and attack the Imperial Interdictors so that they could retreat into hyperspace. However, neglecting orders was not the right thing to do, either. Nonetheless, he kept his course as he flew over the burning command tower of the cruiser, paving the way to what he thought would be the command ship of this battle by blasting TIE interceptors that conveniently flew into his target area.

“Red Leader, please listen to me. Make sure the ships form up to act as a battering ram through the Imp defensive lines. We must get rid of the Interdictors to make the jump to hyperspace.”

He checked the readings for any signs of the shields and yes, the bridge’s shields were down, leaving a clear shot for the bridge. All he had to worry about were the PDLs - the Point Defense Lasers. The commlink remained eerily quiet.

“Red Leader?”

“That is a negative, Red Five. We just lost Lead. But your directions are acknowledged, the rest of us will proceed with your plan.”

The person that answered the call was Kel’Dor, who was assigned as Red Seven. He also had the most basic hours of flight within a starfighter without the simulator runs. Suddenly, the emergency klaxons began to sound even more alarming as Mikan realised that he had lost his port stabilizers. His planned run on the commandship seemed to have been too much as the Point Defense Lasers peeled away the fighter’s shields. And, just like that, the screens suddenly went dark, together with all the lights, blacking out the inside of the simulator.

The canopy hissed open. Before he tried to strap out of the crash webbing, he felt the firm grip of a hand on his shoulder.

“Ben! Katie!” he shouted with joy when he turned to see them. He immediately got rid of the crash webbing and vaulted out of the cockpit.

“Hey, Mikan,” Ben said as he ruffled Mikan’s hair. “That was some nifty flying.”

“What do you mean? Technically, I died.”

“Who said I wasn’t being sarcastic?” Ben joked.

Katie made a loud enough cough to be noticed and made the most theatrical pleading look with her eyes as she looked at Mikan.

“Sorry Katie,” Mikan apologized and he gave her the hug she wanted. Ben was not entirely comfortable with it, Mikan noticed and he made it a very short hug. Although, he always had interest in Katie, he didn’t want to hurt his best friend.

“How are you -” Before Mikan could finish his sentence, they were interrupted by the sound of heavy boots and something more metallic. Then, the voices became apparent.

“Master?” Mikan asked. He saw his Master, Jedi Knight D’khar, walking into the large space of the simulator-facility together with the golden C-3PO, who was desperately trying to get his attention.

“Ah, there you are, Delwynna. I need you to do something for me. Consider it training.”

“Training? I thought I was free for today,” Mikan sighed.

“Hey, if you can fly in those simulators, you can train, too,” D’khar grinned for a moment, but then, annoyed by the constant tapping of C-3PO, he pressed his lips into a hard, thin line.

“Master D’khar, Master D’khar,” the protocol droid urgently called.

“Threepio! Wait, wait. I am receiving an urgent message from Mistress Skywalker.” D’khar seemed to go into deep thought in an artistic way, pretending that he was receiving a message through the Force. Everyone realised that he was trying to fool the poor droid and they began to chuckle.

“Yes, yes. She wants you at the Council!” Who said this?

Threepio cocked his head to the side, as if he was confused. “Strange Master D’khar! The reason I have been tapping your shoulder is because I have been trying to tell you that I have received a message from Mistress Skywalker- she wants you at the Council. She made it clear that it was very urgent.”

D’khar’s face sobered. “Are you serious?” The droid only nodded and tried to speak again, but D’khar had already cut him off. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“I did tell you earlier, Master!” Threepio cried out. Ben, Mikan, and Katie couldn’t resist laughing anymore. “Great…” D’khar murmured. “Mikan, you still have your day off. I’m going to the Council.”

“I’m going with you,” Ben quickly added as he followed D’khar to the exit. He couldn’t wait to hear what his mother had to say. Information of the terrorists? Of the Sith? He had to be there.

“I guess that just leaves us then, Mikan,” Katie said. “Are you hungry?”

Mikan gulped. Did Katie just ask him out? No, of course not, she just wants to get something to eat with you, that's what friends do. Stop putting your head in the gutter, Mikan told himself.

“I guess I am.” He tried to subdue the blush on his face as he tried to smile, but his lips seemed to have frozen tight with restraint and his throat was dry. Man… Ben isn’t going to like this.