Star Wars fic: A Galaxy Not Their Own (1/33)
Star Wars: A Galaxy Not Their Own
Rating: T for teen, involves canon level of violence
SPOILERS: Spoilers for the movies and some minor EU references.
SUMMARY: Stranded in the future, Obi-Wan, Anakin and Qui-Gon struggle with each other as much as the mission given to them by the New Republic.
DISCLAIMER: Most of the Star Wars universe belongs to George Lucas and Twentieth Century Fox - except for the Ekash. If George Lucas wants to borrow the Ekash, he may. Anybody else has to ask first. This author uses these works without permission and for non-profit purposes.
a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...
Chapter 1 | 2 | Praxar felt a presence in the Force. It was some time before the thought coalesced into her consciousness. The presence was moving towards her, vibrant and alive. The lingering spirits of the Sith tried to kill any sentient being that came near and had particularly spent a good deal of their time keeping any living creature away from the dark tunnel which Praxar’s spirit inhabited. Once, a small lizard had managed to slip past the Sith’s malevolent guard and Praxar had felt nearly overwhelmed at the sheer life in the precious little creature. If she’d still had a physical body, Praxar would surely have started keening from the rawness of it.
Praxar waited, her mind awakening as a sentient being approached for the first time in centuries. An old instinct surfaced and Praxar tried to flutter her wings in anticipation before once again remembering that her body had long since been absorbed into the Force. It had been a lonely transition into the Force, stranded behind enemy lines in a war she’d long ago forgotten the reason for. The mines of this planet had reminded her of the tunnels of her home world and it had been oddly comfortable to take her last breaths here. She often felt the powerful urge to release her hold on existence and let herself be absorbed into the Force. She promised herself that she would do so when the Sith spirits that restlessly haunted the mine also let go. As long as they lingered, she felt duty-bound to keep their ill intent to a minimum.
The sentient being stumbled into Praxar’s tunnel, a human woman in ripped clothing and an old miner’s helmet. If the lizard had nearly overwhelmed Praxar, then the woman’s mere presence was a supernova to the eyes she no longer had. This was not only a living creature, but one who was powerful in the Force. Such a woman would have made a powerful Jedi, if the Jedi Order had continued to exist in Praxar’s absence.
It was clear that the woman sensed Praxar’s presence, her gaze wide-eyed in the feeble light of the miners’ helmet. The woman stumbled forward, arms outstretched and searching along the wall. The woman’s bare fingertips brushed against the crystalline gems that marked the place where Praxar’s body had disappeared. Praxar felt surprise as the woman’s mind touched hers through the gems. The touch between them was confusing, Praxar struggling to make sense of a human mind. The woman was Praxar, Praxar was Leia. Praxar reordered her thoughts to make sense of it. Praxar was Praxar and the woman was Leia. Leia was untrained but powerful and brave, and clearly a creature of importance to her hive. She had fled into the mine to escape a dispute between hives, only to encounter the Sith.
Praxar channelled energy into Leia, feeling the woman’s exhaustion ease. They remained like that until Leia removed her hand from the gems, abruptly cutting off most of the sensation. Leia looked more at ease, though she still glanced at the tunnel around her in puzzlement. Her gaze was eventually drawn back to the gems. The gems glittered blue, then purple and then flushed green.
Leia’s helmet light flickered and began to die. The woman slipped the helmet off her head and began to examine the wiring by the light of the gems. Praxar was so absorbed in watching and feeling Leia’s presence, that she did not immediately take note of the Sith’s approach. The Sith had approached Praxar many times over the years but had long ago lost the ability to hurt her. Leia, however, still had a body that could be damaged. Praxar tried to communicate the warning to Leia but the woman did not react. Praxar channelled her alarm into the gems and Leia finally looked up as the tunnel was bathed in red pulsing light. Disturbed, Leia put the helmet back on her head.
One of the Sith spirits materialised at the end of Praxar’s tunnel. Praxar knew that this Sith must have once had a name but its identity had eroded long ago, becoming little more than a nebulous grey mist with malevolent intent. Emitting a bleached grey light of its own, it coasted almost absently down the tunnel towards Leia. Praxar extended her thoughts down the tunnel to meet it and the Sith stopped, its limited mind confused by the blockage. At the other end of the tunnel a second Sith appeared, this one more coherent and aiming for Leia without hesitation. Praxar stretched her thoughts down to meet it. The second Sith pushed against her for a moment before also coming to a complete stop. The gems in the tunnel flashed gold with Praxar’s triumph.
Leia stood in the tunnel, her breath frosting in the coldness of the Sith. Wide-eyed, Leia looked from one Sith to the other. It was not clear how much of her situation the woman understood but she understood enough to feel the beginnings of fear. Praxar caught the edge of a thought “...Jedi...” but had no energy to pursue the rest of the woman’s mind while still holding the Sith at bay. A third and fourth Sith appeared at the end of the tunnel and Praxar felt her triumph sink to despair. They pushed at the edge of Praxar’s thoughts, edging closer and closer to Leia. Leia backed away, crouching against the gems to take shelter in what little warmth they offered. The temperature in the tunnel began to drop and Leia’s fear spiked.
Praxar forced her scattered thoughts to focus. She was needed.
“Luke?” Leia whimpered, shuddering and wretched.
“Luke,” she repeated, her voice growing stronger. “Luke, please.”
Praxar could feel the woman calling through the Force and she followed the call with a tendril of her mind. By the time the call had left the solar system, a fifth Sith had appeared and Praxar gave up, bringing the tendril back to the tunnel. Any help that was that far away would take too long to arrive.
Praxar still held the Sith away from making contact but they had already begun to affect the human woman. Leia’s thoughts became more confused as the Sith tried to influence her with their thoughts.
“Obi-Wan Kenobi.”
It was difficult to be sure if the name was spoken out-loud or had merely crossed Leia’s mind. Praxar reached into the Force, searching for anything that responded to the name. She found it, far back in time, and fed the embers she found. It was a long way but Praxar reached for it, feeling the weight and length of the identity she sought. She picked a place in its history and struggled to give it form.
A twenty-five year old Jedi Padawan struggled out of his robe with clumsy fingers. The robe slipped from his fingers and his knees buckled, his head swimming. He was caught before he hit the ground in a pair of large, familiar arms. He knew it must have been Qui-Gon that caught him but he found he was too tired to open his eyes and look.
She gave part of herself to the name and it coalesced to become more than a name. It became a life and edged ever closer to a corporeal entity, the echo of a human male. Satisfied but tired, she slowly drew it to the tunnel until it snagged, dragging a greater weight with it than expected. Another identity had attached itself to the first and was functioning as an anchor. Praxar released both of them and they hovered in the tunnel on the edge of existence.
Pushing against Praxar’s weakened thoughts, the Sith advanced further. One was reaching out ghostly tendrils towards Leia’s skin. Leia pulled away, the desperate thought arcing across her thoughts. Father. The Sith touched her and she stiffened as if plunged into ice-cold water. Praxar latched onto the thought and dove once more into the Force. She withdrew herself from the gems, feeling the crystalline structure collapsing as she demanded the energy necessary to complete her task. The thought led her back into the past. This thread twisted and turned, see-sawing backwards and forwards like a lightning strike. Praxar picked a point and poured her energy into it.
Another young Padawan felt the scowl on his face fade as dizziness overtook him. His steps faltered and he stretched out with one hand. He knew Master Obi-Wan had been standing less than a foot away from him and he succeeded in catching a handful of tunic. He could hear Obi-Wan calling his name in concern but the sound was getting further and further away.
The identity filled and solidified, spinning erratically towards an existence in the tunnel. Again, it snagged as another identity clutched at it and was dragged in its wake.
Frustrated, Praxar seized both of the joined entities she had created. She forced the last of her energy into them, her last act to demand that they arrive where she intended. She no longer had the energy to compel them but they responded of their own volition, close enough to feel Leia’s desperation themselves. As the last wisps of Praxar’s consciousness began to fade into the sameness of the Force, her last thought was one of surprise. She had only intended to create two.
To Be Continued... Chapter 1 | 2 |