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Requiem of the Force - A Re-Imagined Star Wars Adventure

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction- Before, Saga, and Beyond' started by Milteck, May 23, 2023.

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  1. Milteck

    Milteck Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 2006
    Have you ever known something to be true, only to learn later that it was really a half-truth with an ominous lie laying underneath?

    I hope such revelations are made to you in a way less traumatic than how I discovered that the man who I called father and the woman I called mother were not really my parents. I certainly hope it will not take place on a Holy Day when one is supposed to be enjoying a well-deserved rest from one’s labors and eat as much delicious food as one can unreasonable consume in a day. I lastly hope that such a revelation does not further reveal that you, and only you, are destined to save the world from tyranny and evil.

    It was in the middle of the day and after getting a dust storm advisory on the family water hydration farm on Tatooine, my father ordered me to check the ward stones around the farm while he secured the house itself, checking to make sure there were no gaps that would allow a Force spirit, good or bad, to pass beyond the thresholds. Thresholds were tricky. It did not just include doors and windows, but the spirit realm constituted any gap large enough for a termite or ant to get through could be utilized as a threshold into a home. As you can imagine, checking a home was far more time consuming and rigorous then asking me to simply go out and check the ward stone, which served as the first line of defense. Why my father was so terrified of Force energy was always a mystery to me, but he explained that it had killed his brother and if not careful would consume them as well. Fortunately, an old hermit had shown his father how to craft ward stones that kept the Force energy at bay.

    But on this day a properly warded and secure home against the storm was no match for the soldiers that came. I should have known something was wrong when I found a ward that was laying on its side, but not cracked or broken. The wards are painted, sometimes engraved, on stone tablets that are driven a foot into ground and the ward facing away from the home. The wards do have to be checked daily because the storms can dislodge them, an animal can knock them over or lack of maintenance can result in the stone deteriorating to the point that the ward is useless, creating a large gap in the defenses. In this case, the stone appeared to have fallen onto its surface and only after setting it back into position did I notice all the footprints.

    I ran back to the house only to discover the squad of eight soldiers, dressed in imperial black armor with wards of protection etched in silver on the top of the helmet and chest plate. My father had taught me the basic runes of protection, but I knew the wards in gold on the forearms were designed for attack. The soldiers had forced their way inside the only home I had ever known, hauled out both my parents and had them on their knees before the only man not dressed in armor, but instead the red robes of an Inquisitor.

    “Where is the boy?”

    Realizing the Inquisitor was asking about me, I immediately dropped to my stomach and concealed myself behind the sage bushes that covered much of the desert plain.

    “What boy?” my father responded dumbfounded.

    “What boy?” the inquisitor mocked and without warning slapped my father in the face. The inquisitor was a large man and his bulk was clearly from a life of soldiering and not from ministering. The slap snapped my father’s head backward and he fell over onto his side. Two of the soldiers picked him back up and held my father in place while the inquisitor continued to pummel my father’s head with punches. “The boy you have been raising as your own for all these years.”

    “There is no one here but us!” my mother cried out in protest. “Search the house. Search the property!”

    The only response was the inquisitor stopping long enough to remove his rod and point it at my mother. He did not ask her any questions, only barked a command. I watched incredulously as my mother’s head exploded and her now headless corpse collapsed.

    “No!” my father screamed.

    The Inquisitor turned back to my father and pointed the rod at his face.

    “The boy you have been raising as your own. Where is he?”

    “There is no boy here!” my father protested. “You have killed my wife and assaulted me without provocation. When Jabba hears of this he’ll…”

    The Inquisitor’s only response was to point the rod at my father’s knees and bark the same command twice. My father screamed and screamed. It took me a long moment to realize that the inquisitor had used his powers to sever my father’s legs below the knees. The soldiers pushed my father down onto his back and held him down while the Inquisitor stood over him, pointing his rod at my father’s chest. Gazing at the rod more closely, I could see the ruins on the tip of it glowing in red and line of power going down the metallic shaft and to the inquisitor’s hand. I did not need to see the inquisitors palm to know that he had to have a mark of power, similar to what the savior had on his palms and what allowed for him to be first to wield the powers of the Force in his hands. I looked at my own palms and the angry red marks, perfectly round and marked me as Child of the Force.

    “I will only ask you one more time,” the inquisitor brought up his free left hand and extended the palm toward my father. A flash erupted from his palm and a ball of fire appeared, suspended in the air and held from what I knew was the power the inquisitor controlled from his will. “Where is the child of Anakin?”

    My horror turned to curiosity as I knew that name. Anakin was my father’s brother and had only been mentioned once every year, when my father mourned his death. He had died in the war that had wiped out all the Knights, defenders of the Light.

    My father was still in agony, but at that moment the true agony was in my heart because I knew at that moment the man who raised me was not my father. He raised his hands, not in surrender but to beg for mercy from the man who was killing him. His palms were unmarked, but it was believed that if one reached out for the light then they were sure to receive it. All my father received for his efforts was the inquisitor barking another command from his staff and both my father’s hands were severed at the wrists.

    “I know the boy is here and I know you’ve been hiding him. Make this easy for yourself and tell me where he is.”

    I was no coward and I prepared to get up to show myself, hoping that by doing so it would end my adoptive father’s suffering.

    Instead, there was a boom of thunder.

    The inquisitor kept his rod pointed down at his victim but the soldier’s around him grew tense and brought their rifles up to attack position. They never had a chance to fire.

    Lighting came down like a hammer. The inquisitor tried to bring his rod up to catch the lightning, but he had not reacted fast enough and was incinerated along with all of his soldiers. Their screams were short and when the blast of lightning was over, all that was left of the Inquisitor and his men were charred corpses.

    I got up and ran to the man who I had loved as a father. He had called down the lightning, but without his hands he had no way of controlling it and had served as a conduit for it instead. He was still alive, but just barely and I knelt down beside him, praying there was something I could do to help him. His body was covered in third-degree burns and his eyes were milky white. It took me a moment to realize that the lightning flash had bore holes in his retinas, blinding him.

    “There was nothing you could do Luke.”

    It took me a moment to realize the voice I was hearing was not coming from my adoptive father. His body shook with seizures, but I felt something slap into the right palm of my hand. His body spasmed and with a painful groan, collapsed dead. I placed my left hand on his chest and knew his great heart had seized, resulting in cardiac arrest. The man who I loved as a father was now dead.

    I was in a mixture of shock and rage, but I managed to instead focus my attention on what was now in my palm of my hand. It was a key and still warm from the lightning.

    “Your uncle used the key I gave him long ago to bring down the lightning.”

    I got up and searched for the source of the voice, but could not find it. Other ward stones must also have been damaged by the soldiers to allow spirits to wander uncontested onto the farm. I searched for a weapon, but all I could find was the Inquisitor’s rod. I had no idea how to use it, but if something were to attack me I would at least have something to protect myself with.

    “You are safe for now. No spirit or demon will attack one of the chosen.”

    “Where are you!” I called out and began to slowly search the area around me. “Show yourself!”

    “The Force will lead you to me.” The rod shot out of the palm of my hand and in mid-air began to glow brightly. I looked down at my right palm and it too began to glow, followed by an irresistible urge to reach out for it and hold it in my hand again.

    “What… Who are you?”

    “There is no time for that!” the voice hissed in frustration. “You are still in danger. The Inquisitors knew to come hear to look for you and Lord Vader will send others. You must leave now!”

    Resigned to my fate, I started walking in the direction the Force was leading me. Leading me on a journey that would consume the rest of my life.

    *****

    “Uncle, that is not how it happened!”

    I smiled, not sure how much of the truth my nephew and niece were ready to hear. It had been a long time ago and in time much of the story has either changed or I remember it differently. I had just become a man when the inquisitor and the soldiers had come to find me and I had been the only one that survived the lightning strike that had killed everyone but me. I later in life learned it had been a Force lightning strike that had manifested by the old hermit to save me, but that is a story for a different time.

    “Then how did it really happen?” I challenge my niece. Recently turned eight, she seemed to always have all the answers and was never shy on telling me her thoughts.

    “Dad tells the story differently. He claims that after finding your lost wards you returned home to find that the Inquisitor and his men had already killed your Aunt and Uncle. They were gone by the time you already got there and all you and the old man you were traveling with could do was burn the bodies. It was also not a key, but a Falcon that led you to dad, who allowed you and the old man you were traveling with to board his ship. Aboard the ship, you began your training and made a vow find Lord Vader and…”

    “Save the galaxy, build a new world order and restore the knights of legend?”

    “Yeah,” Jaina said excitedly. “That is exactly what you did uncle!”

    “Perhaps, your right.” I tuck both twins into bed and turn off the light. “Go to sleep.”

    “I want to hear about the Star of Death and how you fought Lord Vader the first time,” Jacen begged.

    "Death Star," I correct. "I am not sure you are both old enough to hear that story."

    “I want to hear about the bears that took down an empire!” Jaina pleaded.

    “Go to sleep and maybe tomorrow night I will tell you more.”

    I give them no further opportunity to beg for more and shut the door behind me. I enter the living room to find Han and Leia standing in the living room trying not to laugh at my expense.

    “You are rotting your kid’s brain, Han,” I complain, joining them. “You’ve taken all the magic out of the story.”

    “You did not tell them about the floating key, did you?” Han asked incredulously. “Or that instead of laser swords you claim the mystics just used those boring rods to manifest your powers invisibly.”

    I sigh as we enter the living room and all take seats. The lightsaber, as it was called by non-force users, was how those that didn’t have the gift saw the Force as it was used by those who could actually wield it against each other in combat. The rod did in fact channel the force through it to form a blade of energy and the color reflected the aura of the user, but what a trained user could actually do with it was hard to define in words since the Force could manifest itself as a blade of energy, ball of energy or as Jacen had alluded to a beam of energy capable of destroying an entire planet. I can tell that beyond just their playful banter, that they are as curious about the story as I remembered it as their kids are. Floating keys and rods aside.

    “What really did happen to you after your Aunt and Uncle died?” Han leaned forward in his chair. “I mean, when I first met you the only thing I remember was…
    *****
    “Hey, watch it kid!”

    Han cursed as he swerved the swoop around the young man he nearly hit. Deadlines aside, he didn’t want to add running over a young man while trying to pay off Jabba the blood money he owed. It was bad enough that the man he killed in Mos Eisley had been trying to kill him first after he accused him of cheating at Sabaac, but it turned out the idiot had been an enforcer for Jabba. Had returned to his ship to find the crime lord demanding a wergild for his man’s death or not only what Han lose his ship, but his life as well.

    It turned into a quandary for Han who had to take all of his savings and the winnings from Sabaac to give to the slimy gangster rather than fix his ship the Millenium Falcon, which was in serious need of major repairs. But better to stay alive and move on to the next system than be fed alive to the Sarlaac and devoured slowly over the course of a thousand years. Besides, he could always fix the ship later.

    Han looked back to see the young man get up and begin running after him. “Great,” Han murmured to himself. “Watch this nerfherder be the son of Jabba and now I owe the slime even more money.” Han was tempted to simply turn around, get back to Mos Eisley and blast off this world before he got into anymore trouble. Only the bounty that Jabba threatened to place on him kept him from running and it was smarter to pay off the toad then have to spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder for bounty hunters.

    First; he needed to make sure the kid he nearly hit was alright. He turned the swoop bike around and pulled in front of the young man.

    “You alright, kid?” Han asked.

    Luke collapsed onto his knees and tried to compose himself as the stranger stared at him like he was a madman. The key had led him directly to swoop rider and though had disappeared, he could see the aura was now inside him. It glowed brightly and the voice returned, “Ask him for help.”

    “I need help,” Luke repeated. The rod had dropped to the sand and he quickly clipped it to his belt the way he’d seen his adoptive father wear it on the farm.

    “I’d say kid.” Han parked the swoop and got off the bike. “I nearly hit you back there.”

    “Sorry,” Was all Luke could manage to say.

    Han for the first time took a look around the desolate desert and found it odd that a young man would be out here all by himself, no transportation and no supplies to keep him alive in this blazing heat. Han instinctively put his right hand on his blaster in case this was a trick or this kid was part of one of Jabba’s gang of Tuskan Raiders determined to rob him before he paid off Jabba proper or revenge for the man he killed.

    “What you doing out here?” Han asked the kid, but from his clueless expression if the kid was part of some gang or an outlaw he was definitely in the wrong line of work.

    Luke finally found the strength to stand back up. “Imperials came to my parent’s home and killed them.”

    Han gasped. For the first time, he noticed the plume of smoke in the distance and that the kid had clearly come from that direction. He instinctively drew his blaster and looked for any imperials that might still be out there.

    “I managed to get away, but I think they are still after me.”

    “You think!” Han shouted at the kid and ran back to his swoop intending to get back on, pay Jabba and get off this dust ball of a planet as quickly as possible.

    “You got to help me!” Luke begged. “The Force has led me to you.”

    “Kid? Han was dumbfounded and now really wary of the young man. He got back on the bike and prepared to ride away. “You are trouble I really don’t need right now. So I suggest you hang low for a while and figure out a way to get off this rock before the Imperials find you again.”

    Han started up the swoop and revved up the engine. It was at that moment he heard the dreadful sound of a horn blaring behind him. He turned to see a gang of Tuskan Raiders riding swoops directly toward him.

    “Time to go, kid!” Han extended his arm and pulled the kid on the swoop behind him. For whatever reason, he couldn’t leave the orphan behind and if Imperials were after him, there is no telling what the Raiders would do to the young man.

    “Thank the Force!” Luke exclaimed in thanks.

    “Shut that hokey-religion non-sense up and hang on!” Han sped away and looked back to see the Raiders had somehow managed to surround him after he stopped, but had sped away just in the nick of time. Bullets whizzed by him, but none came close to actually hitting him or the swoop since he had managed to escape their trap.

    “Stay with him,” the voice told Luke.

    “I am heading back to my ship and when I get there I expect some answers on who you are and what you are really doing out here.”

    “I am Luke Starkiller and I told you Imperials…”

    “Save it!” Han shouted back. “Imperials just don’t go after random farmers for no reason.”

    “Tell him all will explained when you get back to ship.”

    Luke listened to the voice and repeated, “I will you everything when we get back to your ship.”

    “You’d better, kid. Or you will find out real quick why my name is Han Solo.”

    The swoop raced back to Mos Eisley and Luke held on to what was now his uncertain future.
     
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  2. Milteck

    Milteck Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Jul 8, 2006
    I will be updating this by 6/15/23.