Saga Misconceptions...Jedi are evil, So I've been told...

Misconceptions


Thorak Tal
Journal entry 155A22-E---

I remember the first time I saw one; it was also the last?

The war had ended well over a standard year ago. Still there were pockets of resistance that were active, fighting as if the war had never ended. I was a small boy, not much older than ten or eleven standard years old when those troopers came. We were simple people minding our own affairs when they took us. I never knew why they did, or where we were being taken to. All I remember?is the constant chill I felt that night as we marched like a herd of cattle to a fate unknown.

I do not recall what drew my attention to him. I only remember the uncontrollable urge to glance in his general direction. I did not see him at first. He was well covered in the shadows. But the more I concentrated, the clearer he became. I first noticed his eyes, reflected from the dim moonlight. They shone a silvery blue color and were mere slits from his furrowed brow. He moved slow and steady, like a luuvar cat stalking its prey.

I did not know then what his prey was. All I can recall was that his presence heightened my own nervousness. Was he an angel sent to rescue us, or was he an harbinger of our doom? I kept a steady eye on him as we moved down the dirt trail. Within moments, we had rounded the trail and entered a cavernous pass. It was there that the questions I had in regards to the stranger above us were about to be answered.

I watched as he leapt from the cavern ledge to land within the center of a small ring of dust that billowed from the bottom of his dark cloak. If memory serves, that ledge was at least twenty meters above the trail, yet this stranger landed with a grace I had never before seen. He had two chrome cylinders in his hands when he landed. I didn?t know what they were. Not until I saw the glowing beams spring from their ends, one green, the other blue. That was when fear gripped me. It was if my heart tried to escape my body through my throat then reluctantly decided to go back about midway.

I had been told stories of their evil deeds. How they controlled the minds of the innocent, corrupted the youth, and slaughtered without mercy anyone that opposed them. I braced myself for his hate filled onslaught as my eyes closed.

I heard the humming of his blades as the troopers fired at their new threat. I heard the screams of panic around me as I was knocked off my feet from the human stampede. I opened my eyes only to see dust and the legs of those scurrying past me. Fear kept me in place, too afraid to move for fear of drawing the Jedis wrath. More gunfire was heard as the rear guard troops ran past me, ignoring me completely as they made their way towards the Jedi attacker.

?Please protect me. Kill him!?

I remember that thought running through my head. But to my shock and dismay, the Jedi made quick work of the remaining troops. Fifteen in all. Fifteen Republic troops and this one, ONE Jedi killed them all. Easily. And for the first time since I was knocked to the ground, someone noticed me. Unfortunately, so I thought, it was the Jedi. I instinctively curled my self into a ball, covering my head and ears. Still, I could here the humming of those blades. Closer and closer they came until I could feel the Jedi standing right on top of me. I prepared for my end, thinking that the awful noise from those blades would be the last sound I would hear. The dust that filtered into my mouth and nostrils would be the last thing I would taste. I braced for an end that did not come.

?You can get up now.?

With a sudden rush, I realized that I could hear nothing. Not the sounds of chirping birds or the horrible sound of those swords. I uncurled my self and slowly opened my eyes to see the Jedi above me, but not menacingly. He lowered his hood before offering a hand out for me to latch onto. I took it without thinking as he hauled me back up onto my feet. Though I was standing on solid ground, I felt as if I was on the deck of the weakest vessel in the roughest of seas. For the first

 

For the second time that night, I thought I was going to die only to be, gratefully, incorrect. I felt an invisible wall push me aside and I watched as the scarlet bolt flew past my face, towards the Jedi. I don?t remember seeing the Jedi draw his weapon but the blue blade had been activated and the shot deflected off into a harmless trajectory. Then I witnessed something truly amazing. The blaster flew from Garrins? hand and into the Jedi?s, as if he used a lasso and yanked it from him. I still remember the look of complete shock on Garrins? face.

As the other four villagers with weapons took aim at the Jedi, someone yelled ?Stop!? from the back of the crowd. Even with the hood of her light robe up, I knew who it was. She bumped and jostled her way through the crowd. She lowered her hood, I guessed, to get a better look at the Jedi. She smiled lightly as tears welled up in her eyes. I remember her quiet strength and grace as she ran towards the Jedi.

She threw her arms around his shoulders, wrapping him up tightly as she wept heavily into his chest. I could hear the faint muffled sobs as I watched her shoulders slump, as if some weight had been lifted. She embraced the Jedi in ways I had previously thought improbable given their reputation. She pulled her face from his chest after a few moments, a fresh wetness on the Jedis robes gave witness to how heavily she cried. She finally released the Jedi from her grip and faced the crowd.

?I owe you all a debt of gratitude that I may never be able to repay. For that I say thank you. I have placed you all in harms way. I had hoped that I would be safe here, but as we have just witnessed, that is just not true.?

She paused to dab her red eyes, wiping away still flowing tears.

?My protector is here and I will leave you now. I pray that peace finds you all.?

She took the Jedis hand and they left without another word said. I watched her as she left, hand in hand with that Jedi. I had learned a valuable lesson that day. Despite all the warnings and tales of terror I had been told as a child about the Jedi, if they cared, or were capable of love in such a capacity?To give it and receive it. Then maybe I shouldn?t believe everything that is told to me second hand.

I look around at the galaxy today, this Empire. I see oppression and strife on almost every planet I set foot on. And it sickens me. You know what this galaxy needs?this Empire?

More Jedi.

It?s a big galaxy out there and I hope that some time in my travels that I come across another. Just so I can say ?Thank you? for teaching me a valuable lesson.

Follow your heart. Use reason and logic instead of violence as a means to your ends. And most importantly, make up your own mind. Do not be swayed by the words of others, but by their actions.

I often wonder what became of that Jedi and the pretty, yet sad lady. I hope that peace has found them too?

Journal entry 155A22-E concluded.

 

Heavy. How much of this happened in the boy's mind? How did the Jedi mind-trick him - with the Force or with charisma (which is also a form of power that some find even more dangerous)?

Wonderful story either way. (Been a long time since I've seen your work. Great to know you're still writing. )

Edit - Oops. I just read the first post and I thought it was a vignette. so the kid didn't die? I wonder who this mysterious Jedi and the lady are? A/P perhaps? I liked the ending.

Do not be swayed by the words of others, but by their actions.

You can't get a more universal lesson than that!

 

Thanks for reading...I thought it would be interesting to show an 'outsiders' POV.

 

Wow!
I really liked this perspective.
Great angle.

Loved this:
You know what this galaxy needs?this Empire?

More Jedi.

 

Thanks for the kind words