24 Hat Trick 5 (1/2)

Republic Assault Ship Leveler

Hyperspace

I reined in my fury and smothered it until it resembled smoldering embers left after a wildfire. Giving in to my anger now would serve no purpose. I was not one of the common rabble that called themselves Sith yet were so easily lost to the poisonous lure of the Dark side. It was the tool, the servant and not the master! I pushed the quiet whispers of the Dark side to the back of my mind where it had always muttered sweet lies.

I stared at Shaak Ti's dark eyes and frowned. She was beautiful when angry. I shook my head in exasperation.

”What exactly did they tell you, Master Ti?” my voice was quiet showing barely a trace of the anger chained within my heart. ”That a bunch of Jedi were strolling in Shili's wilderness and I decided to have some fun during a vacation by torturing them to death?” I sneered.

She answered me with a defiant glare.

”I can see it in your eyes. No matter what I tell you, Jedi, you won't believe me. You've made up your mind, haven't you?” I muttered.

”We were fools to believe you for even a moment!” she snapped.

”Let me show you what happened. See the truth with your own eyes.”

I darted forward and grabbed her right wrist, stopping her from attacking me with her lightsaber. I placed my right hand on her forehead and submerged both of us in the currents of the Force.

”The Jedi Order and its Council members are not the angels you believe them to be.” I said before we were thrown into an echo of the past.

=RK=

Four thousand years ago

Planet Shili

Ehosiq sector

Expansion Region

A Republic trooper fell to the ground drowning in his own blood. Another was hit by invisible force with the power of speeding train and hurled away from the farmstead. A Wookie Jedi was thrown into a nearby building by a wave of raw Force energy. I used my lightsaber as a spear and threw it at a nearby commando who was shouldering a rocket launcher. My weapon flew true and stabbed him in the heart. The still ignited lightsaber floated back to my outstretched hand. I fried another trooper with a purple bolt of lightning shot from the palm of my left hand. And suddenly the enemies in my immediate vicinity were down.

I keeled next to the cooling body of my wife. Her chest was a burned, smoking ruin. I recognized the tell-tale signs of lightsaber dealt wound. Her once vivid black eyes were misty, sightless orbs staring into the dark sky.

I discarded my helmet and let it fall to the ground. I gently picked up her limp right arm and placed a tender kiss on the back of her still warm hand. The evidence was in front of me, staring me in the face yet my brain refused to believe it. She couldn't be gone! Simply could not! I was torn between denial, grief and anger which was burning hotter by the second.

She was innocent! Ashara wanted nothing to do with the damn war!

I froze. In my anguish I failed to notice it. It was a faint spark of life force coming from my wife. I stared at her body with my mouth hanging open. My left hand traced its origin over Ashara's body. My palm stopped over her tummy. There it was. Tiny. Innocent. Barely formed. And fading fast.

Without thinking I clutched the spark of life with all my might. I drew heavily on the light side of the Force. As much as my body could channel. I trembled with the strain to continue forcing the energies of the Force to pass through me and keep the tiny life going.

The cold, pragmatic part of my mind that was the successful General was screaming that it was futile. That I was killing myself for nothing. I disregarded it. For me it was not futile. This so small moth of light that I was holding in my metaphysical fingers was the last part that I had left from my Ashara. Our child.

Its, no her life, was slipping from my grasp. I could not let her go. I pulled even more power through me.

A storm of light and shadows raged around us. More power than a mortal was meant to wield coursed through my veins. For one vast, endless moment her life blazed like a star. Our Force signatures synchronized and I was engulfed by a blinding light.

I was somewhere else gazing at a tiny, smiling face. It was light red and from it two small copies of Ashara's eyes stared back. I grinned back. I was high on the pride and joy I felt as I looked at my newborn daughter.

I was laughing as my toddler was making her first unsure steps and tried to walk towards me.

Many toys were floating around a bouncing and giggling little girl. I could see Ashara siting next to our child and speaking to her words I could not hear.

A five years old Selene proudly presented me the hilt of a lightsaber she had constructed…

A teenage version of my life who had fairer skin was walking towards me.

”Shh... Daddy. It's not your fault...” I heard a light voice which melted my heart. I could feel warm hands engulfing me into a tight hug before the illusion shattered into countless pieces of sparkling light.

”It's not your fault...” the female voice echoed in my ears.

The spark of light that would have been my lovely daughter winked out. I felt it dissipating into the Force followed by the body of Ashara. I could feel a part of me dying with her. I screamed my indescribable loss at the heavens.

=RK=