Star Wars - Series Fan Fiction ❯ A LITTLE NEW HOPE ❯ In each saga, there is a beginning ( Chapter 1 )

A LITTLE NEW HOPE

 

 

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing in this story.

 

Note: It is curiously difficult to begin this story. Very strange since I know what direction I wish for it to take. I have also rather a few adventures with this RPG character. Oh well, we'll see…

 

 

Chap 1: In each saga, there is a beginning.

 

 

The planet was an almost standard class M in the Outer Rim. Almost, because of its axial tilt and the presence near of a giant ringed gaseous planet. The surface was constantly ravaged by very powerful storms. Its faun and flora had adapted by developing very strong resistance fibres in their composition. The flora used it to anchor themselves and the faun used it to augment the strength of their bodies.

 

The only sites which escaped the fury of the elements were a series of vast natural underground complexes of rivers, lakes and seas. The Underblue was the name given to it by the locals. There was no intelligent life that developed on the planet designed as Merkusan III. The planet has been colonized a long time ago by pioneers from Corellia. They develop into a hardy and ecological society since their survival depends on the continued health of the Underblue.

 

Well, it's not exactly true that the Corellians were the first. In some deep complexes of the Underblue, remains of an ancient and unknown civilisation stood proudly, defying time and its ravages. In those complexes, some persons more in tune with the universe gathered and listened to the whispers of the Force.

 

With each generation habits became customs, customs became laws and laws became way of life. The Harmony of Fire and Water is one of those orders that used the Force in others ways than the Jedi or the Sith. They are an order of warrior-monks that used the mastery of the body to promote the mastery of the Force.

 

Although outside the gaze of the Jedi, they knew of the existence of the Lightside and the danger of the Darkside. The order strives to the mastery of the Force but in front of the inherent dichotomy of this power, they search for a middle path. The legend is that the founder of the order was a martial artist of great renown. He found his middle path by acknowledging his emotions but mastering them like any true martial artist mastered his passions in their art.

 

They use a revised motto of the Jedi code by acknowledging the two sides of the Force and fully understanding the danger to follow a path at the exclusion of the other. The Jedi search for balance by privileging the Lightside, the Sith want everything by using only the Darkside.

 

There is emotion; there is peace.

There is ignorance; there is knowledge.

There is passion; there is serenity.

There is death; there is the Force.

 

Light and Dark, Form and Substance, Chaos and Order, Male and Female, Fire and Water in harmony. Such is the order of Force-sensitive warrior-monks of Merkusan III. And in their midst she has been formed.

 

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The young girl was running alongside the smooth tunnel illuminated by the glow-moss, water splashing by her feet. Behind her the massive form of a water-worm was snapping at her elusive silhouette. This was not a problem to her. Only the fact that she was guiding the predator away from the little boy precariously hidden and roped to a wall was what she wanted. Her survival was secondary to that.

 

She had found the remains of the speeder-sub two miles ago. There was only a few scrapes of flesh to indicate the fate of two of the passengers. The ripple of the Force has guided her to it and pushed her further along. Survival classes were a must on Merkusan III and even young children could survive alone in the Underblue…Could…

 

The water-worm was hungry and she was a bigger prey. Her Force powers were not capable yet to erase such a basic need from the creature and just killing was abhorrent to her. She had to be inventive.

 

She pivoted to face the beast near a nook in the rock tunnel. She was a small girl of maybe fourteen standard years, pale white skin, light blue short and uncombed hair and red blood eyes. She was garbed in the standard gear for a Merkusian in the wild Underblue: a dark blue reinforced wetsuit with traction soles, protective goggles with integrated aquata breather, a survival belt, a hand-spear gun and a waterproof backpack.

 

She grabbed and primed a stroboscopic grenade as she waited for the formidable carnivore. She reached her centre and begun to focus on her breath. Calm descended on her like oil spread at the surface of a pond.

 

The time was now. She threw the grenade, blinding the beast and reached for his simple mind with the Force. A juicy moss-cow appeared in the tunnel. It shrilled an alarm scream and run from the worm on its twelve appendices. Roaring a hunt-scream, the water-worm purchased its prey ignoring the frail creature in a crevice who was maintaining her mental grip on its spirit.

 

She waited for the worm to be outside her range of perception then swiftly came back where she had hided the five years boy. She wrapped him in her thermal blanket and lifted him in her arms. They were still in a dangerous pass and medical treatments could wait. Psychological attention was however something she could do on the run and soon words and warmth soothed a traumatized soul. Drawing on the Force to bolster her strength and endurance, she began to run with the precious package in her arms.

 

Hours later, a patrol-sub found them and took them back to Central Point.

 

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Central Point is an old joke of the locals. It is the biggest concentration of no-impact habitations of the planet with all the support structure it require. Its name came from the fact that it is localized at the first `central point' of the first wave of exploration of the Underblue by the pioneers and it's stuck.

 

It was not the first time that a child lost his parents to the planet ecosystem and it will not be the last. The young boy was still clutching to the older blue-haired girl as they waited on a bench in the main hospital of the city. A member of the Orphan Branch sighed and reached to take away the child. He froze. Blood red eyes pinned him to his place. Behind an almost expressionless face were burning deep emotions. The message was clear: `Not now! Back off!' The employee remarked the blue and red symbol of the Order of the Harmony of Fire and Water and then prudently chose to wait.

 

Some time later, the direct remaining family of the little boy arrived and the student of Fire and Water proceed to transfer the soothing of her presence to his kin. It was not easy but she reached him through his eyes and promised him to come back.

 

“What is your name?” It was in a small voice but it was a victory for the healer-girl. Her patient has initiated the dialogue.

 

“I am Rei Ayanami.”

 

“Than…thank you.”

 

It was only after the child was taken outside the waiting-hall by his profusely thankful aunt that Rei release her hold on the Force, sagging visibly on the bench. She had used her power to stave off the weariness and to enable her to reach safety with the best speed. Now, she was paying the price of going beyond the limit of her body.

 

Her thoughts were on what has happened and what will happen. Death has been delivered but the live of one has been preserved. The whisper of the Force was telling her that everything will be all right in the end for the young boy. There was something else but she wasn't advanced enough to understand it.

 

Eyes closed, she was attempting to recover her strength before returning to the Deep Temple. She was an initiate of the Order of the Harmony of Fire and Water. She was on the journey of self-discovery in the wild Underblue for her approaching trial when she had felt the ripple of the Force that has draw her to the young child. The rules had required complete isolation for a standard week but she had had to break them. She just couldn't have let it passed.

 

“Ayanami.”

 

The voice was soft and warm. As warm as the hands resting on her shoulders. She opened her eyes but the Force had already told her who it was. Weary red eyes meet inquisitive blue eyes. A salt and pepper beard adorned the noble face of the man that was rousting her.

 

“Master Tal Yush?”

 

The monk responsible of all the initiates in the Deep Temple smiled proudly at the exhausted girl. “I heard you had quite the adventure today.”

 

Rei used her special smile: The one that is almost not there but never the less true. “It was master. It was. I apologize for having not respected the rules of isolation.”

 

“Apology given. Apology accepted. Our full pardon granted.”

 

Rei said nothing and acknowledged the monk with a nod. Tal Yush was not surprised. Since her arrival to the temple, the young girl has always been short and concise with her words. She didn't really socialize with the others initiates of her age. She was an introvert girl who was more fond of meditating than doing pranks among the monks. Oh, she has emotions all right but she was always downplaying them on her face. Only her eyes sometimes betrayed her or were used with great efficiency.

 

“Come. The Trial is waiting for you.”

 

It seemed cruel to drag the weary to the bones young initiate directly in what will be her greatest challenge but the Order had much experience in it. `A sword is forged in the fires of hardship.' The saying has always been used in sometimes literally by the warrior-monks. They do not fight among themselves but the dangerous ecosystem of their natal planet was very efficient for separating the weed from the grain.

 

Rei was not surprised. Her own research in the darkness of the numerous libraries of the temple and the whispers of the Force had revealed that the key to the trial was to exhaust physically and mentally the candidate in order to reveal the core and give it its first forging. Well, she was in a perfect condition for her trial.

 

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The Deep Temple was the most deep structure of the unknown civilisation that was striving here thousands of years ago. It was located in the centre of a lake thriving with life. Only the island where the temple was built was free of the numerous fauns. According to the recording of the Order, it was the Force itself that was preventing the ground to be overwhelmed.

 

The temple was a pyramidal building with degrees where gardens were built. The central chamber of the Council of the Elders was located at its summit. The first levels were dedicated to the education of their initiates. Then come the residential levels and finally before entering under the temple the levels where everything necessary to the life of the order was fabricated. Under the temple were various rooms for the specials or secrets trainings, the armoury, the Trophy Hall of Accomplishment, the Crypt of The Remembering and finally the Trial Room.

 

The four sides of the pyramid were called by an element: Earth, Water, Air and Fire. Rei was by the Water side, purifying herself in the cold cascade that runs its length. The freezing water was renewing her strengths. It was temporary but it will have to do. She went to the Air side to allow herself to be dry. At the Earth side, she cast away the brown tunic of the initiate and dressed in the virginal white robe of the Trial. Finally, she ascended the pyramid to the central chamber by the Fire side signifying her acknowledgement to be forged.

 

At the massive door, she was challenged by Tal Yush.

 

“WHAT ARE YOU?”

 

“I am Desire and Envy.”

 

“WHO ARE YOU?”

 

“I do not know.”

 

“WHAT WILL YOU DO?”

 

“I will come forth.”

 

“WHERE ARE YOU GOING?”

 

“To oblivion.”

 

It was the traditional challenge, learned by heart by all the initiates, but behind the words Tal Yush was reading the soul of his student. Since she had taken foot on the island to begin her ordeal, the Force was swirling around the red-eyed girl. Drawing from his understanding of the Force, Tal Yush took his decision and opened the door.

 

Behind it two others masters were waiting, each were carrying two quarterstaffs. They presented them to the young girl. Reaching with the Force, Rei selectionned one of them. It was the most basic model: a length of honey-coloured hard wood from the surface and only polished. No decorations, no varnishes and no special colours. There was no judgement in this choice, it simply reflect the initiate.

 

After that Rei was confronted to the Gauntlet. The Gauntlet was the only part of the Trial known by the initiates because they participated in it. Around the blue-haired girl was the dozen of students of the Order, each armed with his or her preferred weapon. Once again, she reached in the Force and took an open stance, waiting for them to do the first move.

 

It was very hard. She had only the advantage to have a double weapon that she knew how to use and she didn't hesitate to use her fists and legs when necessary but the end of the Gauntlet found her in a worst shape than her adversaries. Welts and bruises marred her skin under the white robe. She suspected that at least one of her ribs was broken and the small amount of energy that she had recovered during her purification was utterly spent.

 

She progressively took conscience that she was kneeling in the centre of the chamber only supported by her quarterstaff and her willpower. Her body was present only by the pain it was dealing to her. She gazed up to the Council of the Elders. Six wizened warrior-monks, each having given or accomplished something very important for what the Order stand for. Her fate was in their hands and in the Force.

 

Finally after an eternity, they withdrew, revealing a circular stone at the very centre of the chamber. It was the only way to enter the Trial Room. Even if it was situated under the temple, the gravity well hidden by the stone lid was the only means to access the heart of the structure. Too numerous rumours circulated around the initiates to know anything sure about the Trial Room except for one thing, it will be the greatest challenge of her life.

 

She abandoned her quarterstaff on a whisper of the Force and trembling with exhaustion she stepped into the black pit.

 

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Until her feet touched the cold stone of the floor, she didn't even felt that she was slowly falling into the very heart of the temple. There was only darkness around her. She felt almost the solidity of this void. A void that was swirling with corruption, filled with abrupt decay and burned with entropy. And yet she was alone with herself.

 

The Force was no longer whispering to her, she was screaming in agony in the secret of her soul. She attempted to calm herself in a meditative trance and it was suddenly like a super-nova.

 

The Darkside. The Darkside of the Force was everywhere demanding, requesting, ordering, controlling, pleading, pushing and thousands of others things drowning her spirit in the darkest sea.

 

She fell to her knees, screaming in anguish and help. But she was alone with herself.

 

She attempted to anchor herself to the song of the life in the universe. But she was alone with herself.

 

She took a foetal position, using the sensation of the cold floor and her own body to have a reference in the void. But she was alone with herself.

 

Desperately, she reached in the deepest of her soul for the spark of dancing light and freezing darkness that was the core of her Force-sensitivity. And finally she was only alone with herself.

 

For a fraction of an eon, she listened to her heartbeat and her breathing, gathering her being that had been practically dispersed in the infinity. She was still in foetal posture on the floor of the room and slowly stood up from her position.

 

Suddenly the darkness was ripped by light and fear seized her heart as she was transported in a Force-induced series of visions.

 

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She is in a colossal room with rows and rows of transparent tubes where were maturing in various states bodies. She is encircled by dozens of herself, each clad in a white skinsuit with black trim. Each is armed with a red-bladed lightsaber ignited. “Your command is ready, Master Jedi.”

 

She is in a darkened throne-room where a black hooded silhouette gaze laughing on a hologram showing a fleet of starships slaughtered. The silhouette turns in her direction and a white face marked by the Darkside smile viciously at her. “Wipe them out. All of them.”

 

She is in a small and simple bedroom where a young boy with blond hair, the Lightside and the Darkside swirling around him, is mournfully gazing to the sky and murmuring `mother'.

 

She is in a piece with industrial-like machinery. A powerful dark shape in black armour and cloak is looming on her, its breathing hissing like with a breather. “The Force is with you, young Skywalker. But you're not yet a Jedi.”

 

She is in the vacuum of space facing a gigantic moon of grey metal. Four green giant lasers are fired from it and the beams explode the blue planet behind her with its millions of inhabitants. “Fear is my ally.”

 

She is seeing a beautiful royal-looking brunet heavy with the pregnancy of two children, a lightsaber ignited and preparing herself to defend those precious lives with the Force on a roof. “Your friend is quite the mercenary. I wonder if he really cares about anything…or anybody.”

 

She is on an ice planet inside the lair of a giant white-furred creature. A young man with light brown hair and blue eyes ignite a blue-bladed lightsaber and cut off the arm of the creature. “I want to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi like my father.”

 

She is in a hangar with an old battered YT-1300 transport. A man with a heavy blaster and brown hair turn to her. “This is the Millenium Falcon, the fastest ship of the galaxy.”

 

She is in a forest where a war raged. Soldiers clad in white armour clashed with men and women wielding only protective vests. A bipedal vehicle of war approaches her. Suddenly a wookiee sling on it with two little furred humanoids. He violently extracts and thrown away the pilots then take control of the machine.

 

She is in a circular room at the summit of a tall building. Facing her in a large chair is a small and old humanoid clad in grey robes with large ears and green skin. His wise eyes penetrate her very soul. “I sense much fear in you. Fear is the path of the Darkside. Fear leads to anger! Anger leads to hate! Hate leads to suffering!”

 

She is on a desert planet in a large amphitheatre. Dozens of Jedi are fighting for their life against battle droids. One is a powerful bald Blackman with a violet lightsaber clashing with a very competent soldier in mandalorian-style armour. He finally gains the upper hand and cut off the head of his adversary. “You refer to the prophecy of the One who will bring balance to the Force. You believe it's this boy?”

 

In a sophisticated hospital a brown haired and very beautiful woman is giving birth to two children. She names them as the medical droid deliver them to her. “Luke.” “Leia.” Then she dies of grief.

 

She is in a very modest house. A young woman with a slave collar is facing her at the table. She gazes at her sadly. “There was no father.” “He can help you.”

 

She is hanging on rock cliff with a lava river under her. Looking at her is a bearded man of brown hair with a blue-white lightsaber clad in light brown tunic and pants. “YOU WERE THE BEST!”

 

She is fighting in an energy-well with a green-bladed lightsaber. Her adversary is a black-clad spiked alien with red skin, yellow eyes and black tattoos. He drives one blade of his red-bladed double-lightsaber in her breast. “At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last we will have our revenge.”

 

A tall man with grey hair and beard clad in black with a black cloak is facing her in a cavern and ignite a strange looking red-bladed lightsaber.

 

A man in light brown robes with long brown hair and a beard is addressing a woman in a very sophisticated heavy dress. Her face is painted. “I can only protect you. I can't fight a war for you.”

 

She is at the bottom of the stairs of the Deep Temple. A woman clad in a beautiful silver dress appears in a flash of silver fire. She is tall with long light blue hair and a small crown of gold laurel. She is holding a circular basket. From within the small cries of a baby are heard. “Good bye my beautiful daughter.” She turns around and Rei dive in the deep blood red of her eyes. The face is matured by wisdom but it is her face. “Balance is called in the galaxy. Witness and follow your heart, daughter.”

 

She is in a gigantic hall. Facing her is herself garbed in robe and hooded cloak of white-cream. The gaze of her double is powerful and controlled. “You are…annoying me.” Her double ignite a light blue-bladed double-lightsaber.

 

She is wielding the same double-lightsaber at the surface of a rocky environment. In front of her is an alien with ritual scarification. He is holding a serpentine creature like a quarterstaff. “Unworthy heathen!”

 

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Rei found herself back in the darkness of the Trial Room. She is still kneeling on the floor. Her heartbeat is beginning to decelerate and her breathing is descending in rhythm.

 

`The Past and the Future. No visions of the Present.' Her eyes widened under the sudden comprehension. “My Trial is the Present, the Here and Now!”

 

She didn't have the time to ponder on the revelation. Upside her, the gravity well is attracting her back to the central chamber. Her Trial was finished…For now.