CHAPTER FOUR
The X-31 landspeeder traveled across the green plains of Dantooine’s grasslands, carrying with it Toah Jarsan and Luke Skywalker, with R2-D2 occupying its modified astromech socket. The landspeeder reminded Luke a lot of his old X-34 that he owned back on Tatooine years ago, although Toah’s speeder was a lot slower and a lot more worn than Luke’s had ever been. The X-34 itself had already been outdated by the time Luke sold it; he didn’t even want to think what the modern consensus of an antique like the X-31 was.
Luke shook his head, smiling to himself. Things like being concerned about the age of a certain landspeeder model was something that the old Luke—farmboy Luke—would have been concerned about. After fighting in a rebellion and becoming a Jedi Knight, he now realized that there were far more important things in the galaxy to be worried about. Still, being in a vehicle that was so remarkably similar to his landspeeder brought back nostalgic memories, which he found strange considering how much he had wanted to leave Tatooine, and even now he wasn’t keen on returning any time soon.
Sitting next to Toah, Luke was now certain that the shift in the Force he had felt earlier had not been a coincidence. There was something about the younger man that was drawing his attention, as if the Force was trying to tell him that Toah was worthy of his notice. Toah’s connection to the Force did not appear to be quite as strong as either Luke or even Leia’s was, but that was something that could change with the right training. It was also possible that Toah himself wasn’t necessarily Force-sensitive but someone who had an important role to play nonetheless.
It had been quite some time since Luke had come across a prospective Jedi student other than Leia. The most recent in his memory had been Kiro, a young warrior from Iskalon. However, Kiro had insisted on abandoning his Jedi training in favor of protecting his homeworld from the Nagai, a decision that Luke had respected. There had been others since then, including the young Ken, but Luke’s duties as a commander in the New Republic had prevented him from fully committing to training any new Jedi. Even Leia he had only managed to give some pointers before she had to be called away for diplomatic duties, just as he was called away to engage Imperial forces in combat.
That had been one of the reasons why Luke had turned in his resignation, so he could focus on rebuilding the Jedi Order. He had promised Yoda that he would pass on what he had learned, and he intended to do exactly that. Maybe Toah would be the first of his new students. Maybe Leia, Kiro, and Ken would join him shortly after.
But first, he needed to pick up the pieces of the old Jedi Order and undo the damage the Empire had already done.
In time, the ruins of the supposed Jedi enclave came into view. At first, Luke didn’t notice it; the ancient structure was consumed by overgrowth and buried beneath a blanket of vines and branches. A part of the temple had collapsed under the weight of a tree that had grown out from within its courtyard and expanded, nearly overshadowing the rest of the building.
The condition of the temple told Luke that it had been abandoned well before the rise of the Empire. If any Jedi had occupied or at least maintained the facility, it would have been nowhere near this state of ruin and dereliction. Luke understood that Dantooine was remote to the rest of the galaxy… but would that have really mattered to the Jedi?
Toah brought his speeder to a stop and Luke climbed out, with R2-D2 exiting his socket. Luke started to walk towards the enclave, taking in its appearance, only to stop and look back over his shoulder. Toah was still sitting in his landspeeder, looking around awkwardly as he tapped his fingers on the side of the speeder.
“Aren’t you coming along?” Luke asked.
Toah looked at him in surprise. “You… want me to come with you?”
“Don’t worry, you’ll be safe with me. I doubt there’s anything of interest for scavengers and pirates, but there could still be some lurking in there.”
“There might also be some kath hounds,” Toah pointed out. “They’ve been known to live in this area.”
“I’m sure I can handle them.” Luke smiled. “So are you coming with me or what?”
Toah seemed to hesitate for another moment before finally getting out his landspeeder, bringing with him a glowrod to help enlighten the dark interior of the enclave. R2-D2 also switched on a light from his dome while Luke kept a hand on his lightsaber hilt as the three of them ventured into the ruins of the enclave.
If the enclave already looked bad on the outside, then the inside was even worse. The overgrowth had gotten so bad that it had created a miniature jungle inside of the temple, forcing Luke and Toah to push their way through branches and vines. The stone floors were either cracked or had all but crumbled away, leaving only dirt and dead grass.
What struck Luke about it all was how… lifeless everything was. Most of the area outside of the temple was still green and full of life, but here, even with the overgrowth, there was no life to any of the trees or the grass. It was as if life refused to grow and nurture here, something that he would have expected from a structure that had been built by Jedi, even if it had been abandoned so long ago.
The worst of it came when they finally managed to make their way out into a courtyard. Right away, Luke felt as if something was off. The area itself appeared to be no worse than the rest of the temple, the grass overgrown and yellow beneath his feet. But there was something else about it; the air around them felt thick and heavy, and Luke suddenly felt a sense of dread wash over him. He closed his eyes and reached out with the Force, to see if there was any danger nearby… only to find nothing.
Not because there wasn’t anything these. Because he couldn’t feel anything. It was as if something had numbed his senses.
Luke realized where he had felt this sensation before. It hadn’t even been that long ago. In fact, it was the catalyst for why he was here in the first place.
Something terrible had happened here. Just like at Mindor. No doubt it had been what Obi-Wan had felt when Alderaan had been destroyed.
The Force was hurting here, in this spot. As if it had been wounded.
A wound in the Force.
What could have happened here to cause such a thing?
A whine from R2-D2 snapped Luke out of his thoughts. Opening his eyes, he looked over to the astromech and saw that the droid was wobbling slightly, his dome swiveled in the direction of something off to the side.
“What is it, Artoo?” he asked.
“Something just moved over there,” Toah said quietly, pointing in the direction R2-D2 was looking. “It might be a kath hound. Be on your guard.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Luke noticed a large shape move. He looked over and saw nothing… but he could still hear the rustling of grass, accompanied by the sound of footsteps.
Large footsteps.
Luke unhooked his lightsaber hilt from his belt and ignited its green blade. “I don’t think they’re kath hounds,” he murmured.
Out of the shadows, a small spherical object flew out and landed at Luke’s feet. A blue light blinked out and too late Luke realized what it was.
“Smoke bomb!” he cried. “Get out!”
Before the words had left his mouth, a cloud of smoke erupted from the device, enveloping him and clouding his vision. Luke stayed where he was, gripping his lightsaber with both hands. Focusing himself, he carefully reached out with the Force, ignoring the wound as best he could in order to locate his opponents.
“What are you waiting for?” a voice called out. “Snatch him!”
From all directions, blaster shots rang out. Luke relied on his instincts to deflect the plasma bolts with his lightsaber blade, being careful not to accidentally redirect them towards Toah and R2.
As he angled his blade to block a blaster bolt aimed for his chest, he called out to his companions, “Artoo! Toah! Get out of here! I’ll hold them off!”
He heard R2 whir in response but he could not make out what the droid was trying to say to him, distracted as he was by all of the blaster bolts. He gave it a moment, hoping the two of them had heard him and complied, before gathering his strength and releasing a burst of Force energy, just strong enough to dispel the cloud of smoke surrounding him. It also appeared to hit one of his assailants, as he heard a wail and turned to see a Weequay fall off his feet.
“Blast it, Jahlan!” the same voice from before growled. “Get back up!”
Luke wasn’t keen on waiting for the Weequay to recover himself. However, as he turned to leave in the direction he thought Toah and R2 had gone, he saw that two more of his attackers—one a man in a worn TIE pilot’s uniform sans helmet, the other clad in Mandalorian armor—moved in to block his path. Luke then turned back around to see several more bounty hunters come out from the shadows, surrounding him with their blasters raised. Counting them, he realized there had to be about a dozen of them.
Although he knew he was outnumbered, Luke maintained his defensive stance, waiting for one of them to make the next move. From the crowd of twelve, one bounty hunter—a tall, lanky Duros with a trenchcoat and a wide-brimmed hat—stepped out, the spurs of his boots clicking together. He held up a pair of blaster pistols as he regarded Luke coolly with his red eyes from beneath the rim of his hat.
“If I were you, I’d shut off that lightsaber of yours, Skywalker,” the Duros said, his gravelly voice amplified by the breathing tubes attached near his jaw. “Your surrender is the only scenario in which this doesn’t get messy.”
Luke regarded the Duros evenly but did not comply with the command. “I don’t believe we’ve met, have we?”
“Your reputation precedes you, Jedi. There’s a reason every Imperial official wants your head.”
“And they sent only twelve bounty hunters? I guess they don’t want me that badly.”
The Duros scowled. “Banter won’t get you out of this, boy. Shut off your lightsaber now….”
He gestured over to a large man with a bandaged head, and the brute stepped aside to reveal Toah sitting on his knees, his arms raised to the back of his head. Beside him, R2-D2 stood there motionless, having been disabled with a restraining bolt.
The Duros’ mouth twitched into a sinister grin. “Or your young companion here will be sent back home in a bodybag.”
Luke frowned, and after only a moment’s hesitation, shut off his lightsaber. A Cerean mercenary quickly stepped over and took the weapon from him, attaching it to his belt which Luke noticed had another lightsaber hilt hanging from it. The Mandalorian hunter then stepped forward and slapped a pair of stun-cuffs over his wrists.
“Let the boy go,” Luke said, “and I will go with you peacefully.”
The Duros arched a hairless brow. “Bit late now to be offering words like that. But don’t worry; we’re only here for you, not him or the droid.”
“Are you sure, Bane?” asked the hunter in the TIE pilot’s uniform. “That droid’s been known to have been ‘round him since the beginning. Might be worth bringing it in.”
“The bounty’s on the Jedi, Kerran, not the droid,” the Duros named Bane snapped. He holstered his blaster pistols and brought out a small toothpick, wedging it between his roughened teeth. He stepped over to Luke and adjusted his hat as he stared at the young Jedi, looking him up and down.
“I guess they don’t make Jedi like they used to,” Bane murmured, more to himself than to Luke.
“You have experience?” Luke asked.
“You could put it that way.” Bane gave a small nod to Kerran and his Mandalorian armored companion. “Take him to the Justifier.” He then motioned to the big man with the bandaged head. “Dengar, take the kid and the droid far away from here. By the time they get help, we’ll already be out of the system.”
While Dengar complied with the command, Kerran and his partner started to grab Luke by his shackled arms. As they led him away, Luke managed to spare one last glance to the Duros. “I don’t suppose I could at least get the courtesy of knowing the name of my captor?”
“The name’s Cad Bane,” the Duros replied, chewing on his toothpick. “And you’ll be happy to know that you’re not the first Skywalker I’ve had the pleasure of dealing with.”
* * *
“He is close.”
“I am aware.”
The man in the shadows shifted anxiously. “He is right here. Why don’t we take him from the bounty hunters?”
“The bounty hunters are performing the job they were hired to do,” his companion replied. “Our job is to maintain things here and hope that our operations are not uncovered. The bounty hunters are doing theirs by providing us with insurance.”
The man clenched his fists, seething with anger. “I tire of all this waiting. Where are they even taking him?”
“To a place where we will be able to recover him with ease. They are doing us a favor by relocating them.”
Still the man did not understand, nor did his companion expect or need him to. Already they had moved on to the next subject of their interest.
“The boy might be worth keeping an eye on.”
“You want me to capture the boy?” the man growled.
“I did not say that. Monitor him, perhaps. Track his movements. I don’t doubt that he will try to rescue Skywalker, as futile as it may be.”
“Why don’t I stop him then instead of just watching him?”
The man’s companion moved in the shadows, and their piercing red eyes bore into his own.
“Because direct interference will lead to different results than mere observation. Results that I do not want. You would do well to provide me with the results I desire.” An armored crimson hand gestured widely to the room they were in. “Do not forget that, at the end of it all, you are expendable. I can replace you with ease. And I will not hesitate to do so.”
The man scowled but offered no further objections. He bowed his head before raising to his feet and moving to carry out his objective.
* * *
“This is for your own good, kid.”
Dengar shoved Toah out of the speeder that the bounty hunter had carried him in, taking him far away from the Jedi enclave and out into the open fields. He then hauled up the powered down form of R2-D2 and unceremoniously dropped the astromech droid onto the ground next to him. Toah scrambled to his feet but Dengar had already started up the speeder again and was already driving off, heading back in the direction of the enclave. Toah ran a few feet before giving up, knowing that he would not be able to catch up to the speeder without his own, which he was now separated from.
As he reassessed his situation, he rushed back over to R2 and reached into his pocket for a small hydrospanner. He carefully adjusted it around the restraining bolt fused to the astromech’s chassis before putting all of his strength into twisting it off. With a loud pop, the restraining bolt flew off and R2’s systems powered back online. The droid let out a high whine as Toah helped it back up, and while he was not as good at deciphering droidspeak as others were, he caught the gist of what R2 was saying.
“We won’t be able to get back to the ruins in time,” Toah said. “They’ll probably have already taken off by then.”
R2-D2 wobbled from one side to the other, making his frustration known.
“We might be better off going back to the spaceport. I have a friend who has a ship that might be capable of following them.” Toah left out the part that Seph’s ship was presently incapable of even taking off. But maybe if he told Gregor about the situation, the old man would help them in getting a ship.
“Let’s back to my speeder,” Toah then said. “We won’t have much time before they leave the system, but it might be just enough to track them.”
R2-D2 expressed his doubt in a low tone and Toah knew that everything he was saying was wishful thinking. But he also knew that there was no time to waste.
With a few words of encouragement, Toah managed to get the astromech droid to follow him as he headed back in the direction of the enclave. He could only hope that the bounty hunters wouldn’t notice him and shoot him on sight.
When he had started his day, he never once thought he would be spending his morning trying to rescue a Jedi Knight. If he ever had children of his own, it would certainly be quite the story to tell.
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