Robert Meta
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Star Wars: Rise of the Battlemage - Chapter 175
🕑 Added 2024-10-25 15:23:21 +0000 UTCLuke was surprised by my offer, though at this point, he really shouldn't have been. If there was any tendency that I had shown so far, it was my propensity for sticking my foot in situations that didn't belong, especially when it came to the Jedi. Still, Luke had come primarily for advice, and he was clearly a bit overwhelmed, so I guided him to a nearby table to catch his proverbial breath. Once I had gotten us something to drink, I encouraged him to share, and the young hero explained what he had been going through for the past couple of days.
"I was on a mission, escorting cargo between Mon Cal and a few of our material suppliers," Luke explained. "We spent a lot of time in our X-Wings, bouncing around, picking up shipments, escorting cargo vessels. Lots of time doing nothing, lots of shorter jumps to keep Imperial forces guessing. That means a lot of downtime, and I try to meditate a few times, at least, just to practice connecting and feeling the Force."
As he explained, I poured him and Miru some water, which Luke happily accepted. After taking a sip, he launched right back into his story.
"We were on the second hyperspace jump of the trip, and I... well, I saw Obi-Wan in a dream," He explained, shaking his head. "He looked younger, but… I could feel that it was him. It didn't quite feel like the vision we had in the Crystal Caves, but it still didn't feel like a normal dream either. It kind of felt like he was talking at me, not to me. Like he was sending me a message rather than having a conversation."
He frowned at that, and I couldn't exactly blame him. I remembered the scene from Empire Strikes Back, and while Luke was under much more dire circumstances, it still felt like Obi-Wan had just expected him to do what he was told. Certainly not the best way to enamor a teenage adult to your cause.
He told me I needed more teaching and that it was time for me to go to the Dagobah system," Luke continued, taking another sip of water. "There, I would learn from Yoda, a Jedi Master who was wiser and more powerful than him. After that, every other day or so, I would get a vision in my sleep. Then, most recently, I saw him while I was awake, repeating the message. That's when I asked for time to pursue Jedi-related stuff and came here. I haven't seen anything from him since then."
"Hmm… well, I recognize the name, and the system is correct as well,: I said, leaning back. "Grand Master Jedi Yoda is, in fact, hiding on Dagobah."
"What?!" Luke asked loudly, leaning forward with wide eyes. "A Grand Master? Deacon, why haven't we gone to find him already?"
"It's… complicated," I said, scratching the back of my head. "He is on Dagobah for a reason, that being a dark side well that hides him from Palpy's gaze. Why he needs that and you or Ashoka or the Jedi on Nirn don't, I don't know. He is… sort of in exile, I guess you could say. Self inposed. And frankly, while he isn't necessarily a bad person… he was leading the Order when it fell, Luke. It was wobbling and tilting already, but he was still the one at the helm. You were learning from Ahsoka, and now we have even more resources for you to learn from. You have a Holocron, right?"
Luke nodded, sagging a bit as I talked. I didn't know whose Holocron he had, but Ahsoka had given him one she thought would suit him, so I hadn't enquired further. For a moment, he was silent before he eventually nodded.
"Okay, I can understand why it might have been better to leave him there at first," Luke admitted. "But now I'm being told to go seek him out… What should I do?"
"Well… What do you want to do?"
Luke looked down at his glass for a moment, trying to parse out what he wanted. If I had any connection to the Force, I'm sure I would be able to feel the whirlwind of thoughts spinning around in his head. After a long few moments, he spoke again.
"Ahsoka explained that Obi-wan wasn't just my first teacher, he spent a good chunk of his life watching over me," He said, turning the glass of water in his hand for a moment before looking up at me. "I owe him to at least hear out his request. But I'm not going to act like a scared kid desperate for instruction and information. I have other options now, and if I need to, I can use them."
"A healthy way of thinking," I agreed with a nod. "Now, I'm sure you could make your way out there with your X-wing, but we could take the Starcaller instead?"
"You were serious about coming with me?" He asked with a frown. "Why?"
"Because I want to have a conversation with Yoda," I shrugged. "He is an extremely old Jedi, who knows what secrets he might know."
I also secretly wanted to keep him off Luke's back. I had no idea how Yoda would react to our plans for the next Order, nor could I guarantee that he wouldn't try to pressure Luke. Also, as much as I might have liked Yoda as a character, Luke needed someone around to catch the little green goblin out on his lies.
"If you're okay with coming with, I can pilot the Starcaller," He agreed. "If nothing else, it's better than sleeping for two days in an X-Wing."
"And that is why I make sure we have carriers for all our starfighters," I said, shaking my head. "Can't imagine being in an X-wing cockpit for multiple days."
"Your people are lucky," he said honestly before nodding. "Alright, I can't say I wasn't dreading the trip in my X-wing, and having someone with me does sound better than going alone."
"Great," I said with a smile, standing from the chair. "I was going to go crazy anyway. I've been doing nothing but being enchanting for almost two weeks now. Though I suppose we should be glad, if you had come a week ago, I wouldn't have been very talkative after working on an enchantment. They take a lot out of me, but each time I get a bit better."
Luke nodded as if he understood, mainly to be polite, looking around the room again, landing on the rather interesting-looking enchanting table.
"If there was ever any doubt you were using magic…"
"You'd be surprised," I said, shaking my head. "Plenty of Sith crap used altars and other equally fantastical looking bits of equipment."
"I'll take your word for it."
It took about an hour for me to walk around, informing the people who needed to know that I would be gone for the next few days. I also sent a message to Tatnia and Captain Irsee, informing both of them what was going on. Tatnia questioned if it was a good idea for us to go off on our own without backup, but we quickly came up with a solution. Boxi and four of his commandos had completed the process of being beskar plated, so I agreed to take them along as support.
Unfortunately, that was not the only Skyforged member who wanted to go.
When Luke and Artoo met me at the hangar in which Starcaller had landed, he looked nervous and apologetic, and I was confused as to why until Miru stepped out around the corner, along with one of our armored slicer astromechs and Leddy, our original lead repair droid. Leddy was still painted forest green, but her tool pack, the modification that Miru made to her so she would always have her tools, had been refined and improved. Her pack looked a lot smoother and better crafted. Miru also had a labor droid pushing a hovercraft full of stuff, including a crate that I knew contained her armor.
"Miru, what are you doing here?" I asked, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
"I want to go with you," She responded, not stopping as she approached me and the ship. "It's been ages since I last left the station, and this is the perfect opportunity for me to stretch my legs!"
Letting out a long breath, I pinched the bridge of my nose.
"Did you tell everyone you were leaving?" I asked. "Did you make sure everyone working under you was set for a few days?"
"Of course I did. I'm not some sort of amateur," she pointed out, crossing her arms. "You made me head engineer, after all."
"You're correct, I did," I said before gesturing to the Starcallers boarding ramp. "Alright, you can come. But keep your uniform or armor on at all times."
She nodded and climbed up the boarding ramp, passing Luke and me in the process. Artoo whistled and beeped, causing Luke to chuckle, but he quickly cut himself off. I glared at him for a moment before shaking my head.
"Alright, get in," I said, turning to climb up the ramp. "Probably good that she is coming. I'm a terrible copilot, considering I have no idea how to fly this thing."
It didn't take long for Luke to do the preflight checks and for Artoo, the ship's computer, and our slicer droid to make the jump calculations. Once everything was set, we lifted off from the hangar, sent out a message of our departure, and flew out of the hangar. Once we were past the Huntress and the currently empty Anvil, we made the jump to lightspeed, leaving Omega Station behind.
Once we safely jumped, I sat down in the Starcallers lounge, trying to figure out what spell I would learn during the trip, flipping through the pages of my grimoire. I was paging through Destruction options when Luke and Miru came back from the bridge. Luke sat down across from me at the table while Miru sat down at the head of the table, putting some sort of electronic device down and beginning to fiddle with it.
"Do you think you could tell me a bit about Yoda?" Luke asked. "I feel like I should know more about someone so powerful and important."
"Well… Sure," I said, leaning back and closing my grimoire. "Yoda is… I would consider him to be one of the wisest people at the old Order, he-"
"Wait, wise?" Luke asked, looking confused. "But you said he was in charge during the collapse."
"It's not that simple," I said, shaking my head. "Yes, the Jedi Order failed, and yes, some of them could have changed that. But Grandpa Palpy had been working on this for a long time, the Jedi had no idea just how much resources were being spun against them. They got stuck with losing hands all around. They could have lost more gracefully, maybe not bet the stability of the whole galaxy on a bad hand, but… they were all still good people. Even the uptight bastards were just trying to do good. It's not an excuse, but… It's not simple, Luke. He was a victim, but victims can be wrong, too."
"I…Fair enough," He said, pausing for a moment to organize his thoughts. "So he was wise?"
"For the most part," I added, getting an understanding nod from Luke. "He was powerful in the Force. Not many Jedi could come even close to what he was capable of. His connection was deep. Maybe not as deep as yours, but still impressive. He genuinely cared about the people he led, and I'm pretty sure Dagobah is at least partly a self-banishment because of the responsibility he feels for what happened during the fall."
"What was he like personally?"
"He was… kind. Serious, as his station as Grand Master required, but with an underlying mischievousness," I responded with a smile. "I will warn you, he has been out here for a while, that mischievousness might have…grown a bit. Or he might try putting it on as a shield to hide his true self. Either to trick us or to distance himself from who he was, I'm not sure which."
"What species is he?"
"Good fucking question," I said with a laugh, shaking my head. "No one knows. There was another Jedi Master of the same species, Jedi Master Yaddle, but no one knows what their origin was or what their connection was."
Technically, Grogu might also be around, hiding from the Empire. Unfortunately, while I might remember what he looked like enough to scan for him with Clairvoyance, it was nearly useless because I had absolutely no idea where he could possibly be. Clairvoyance was useful with general areas, not scanning the entire galaxy. He was alive, and since he was supposed to surface once the Empire was defeated, I could only hope that would happen again. I had a feeling that it would, at least if the Force had anything to say about it.
"What does he look like?"
"Like a two-foot-tall gremlin," I said, chuckling at Luke's confused look. "He is two foot tall, green with two large ears. And old, very, very, very old. Eight hundred and ninety-six, I believe. Though that might be a year or two low."
"Sithspit… species that can get that old are rare," He said with a surprised look. "Did Master Yaddle…?"
"No, she did not survive," I responded with a frown. "She was betrayed and killed by Count Dooku before the Clone Wars even started."
"Count Dooku?"
"Palpy's apprentice before he was killed, by your father actually, at the tail end of the Clone Wars," I explained. "Killing Master Yaddle was Count Dooku's final step into the dark side."
The lounge grew quiet for a moment, Luke no doubt thinking about his father, who was undoubtedly guilty of greater crimes than killing one Jedi. While he was silent, I considered just how Palpatine had twisted Dooku and Anakin for his own nefarious purposes. After a long moment, Miru let out a sigh.
"How about we have some lunch?" She suggested, putting aside her current project. "Then maybe you could tell a story that isn't depressing and horrible with people dying and falling to the dark side? Call me crazy, but depressing stories kinda aren't fun."
"That… sounds like a good idea," I said with a light smile and a nod. "You guys hang tight here, and I'll go see what supplies we have in the kitchen. With any luck, we will have something better than shelf-stable meals."
I stood and patted Miru's shoulder, silently thanking her for the change of subject, nodding towards Luke, who was looking down at his hands. The young genius looked up and gave me a smile and a nod right back, clearly understanding my intent. I left both of them alone as I headed back into the small kitchen space of the ship, Miru asking Luke about Artoo before I couldn't hear them anymore.
The kitchen was pretty advanced for its size, and with any luck, I would be able to whip up something halfway decent. I started looking through cabinets and storage, hunting for the ingredients for lunch, humming a tune as I did.
Comments
Herbert McGuin
Thank you for the chapter!
Monkeywrench
Hope the Yoda meeting isn't too far off
Noob
Tftc
Hyperion
Thanks for the chapter! Can’t wait for more.
Cmols897
This reminds me why I like to pile up chapters and binge read. I love the world building and interactions between characters, i love the growing chemistry that Deacon shows with the catalyst of the new Era, but I'm just sitting here dying for him to meet Yoda and now I have to wait at least 2 more days and even then their conversation would probably get it's own chapter!!! 😡 love the chapter! Ready to have the same debate if I should let chapters stockpile or read them right away 🤔
Duke of Coffee
Ah telling Luke to be wary of Yoda, trust but verify.
Trevor Perry
Omg the suspense is killing me! I wanna see Yodas reaction!
