The remaining time until my ship was checked from top to bottom, I spent as Light Flyingstar would usually spend it. Training. Of course, I also went to my master's funeral — he was cremated in a special, ceremonial room... How many more Jedi would be burned there, who died non-violently? And how many Jedi would remain unburied according to the Order's customs? Even with all my knowledge, I couldn't count that. Without a doubt, by studying what I had arrogantly considered not the most important part, I realized what an idiot I'd been. It wasn't enough to know the key figures, it wasn't enough to know what words to say to them... The plan itself was idiotic. But what was I supposed to do? Sitting on my bed in my quarters at night, I hugged my knees and thought, feverishly thought for two hours now. This wasn't meditation... No, this was psychoanalysis, at least that was the word that came to mind.
At this rate, the Republic was inevitably going to fall; the Sith weren't even needed for that. Though they would accelerate these events, they already were. And I still couldn't do anything. Plagueis and Sidious were definitely already acting... And what was I supposed to do? Save the agonizing colossus? And the Order that protected it? If during the day I spent a huge number of hours training, sparring with my master, then in the evening I studied all the data on the Republic that I could get my hands on. Yes, I knew a lot even as a fan of this universe. But it was one thing to read it on Wookieepedia, in comics, books, to study it in games, movies, shows. And another thing entirely to look at everything as a resident of a galaxy far, far away.
Let's face the facts: I was long gone from the man I used to be, from the resident of planet Earth... Now I was Light Flyingstar, and I should have realized that much sooner... Maybe I wouldn't have had to pay such a price, a price that still made my heart clench with pain. But... it is what it is... I was a worthless fool... I paid for it by losing my master and friend — almost a second father, or an older brother... And the woman I loved... I lost all of that at once. And did I become wiser after such losses? Something in me had definitely changed, the Kyber Crystal was witness to that... But not everything. I still felt I had room to grow.
On the other hand: what would come next on my path? What did I want, having defined myself as a Jedi, from this Galaxy? Such losses immediately shattered my entire attitude. After all, I had wanted to change everything with a "soft approach," to outplay it, using my knowledge advantage... And now what? When I realized that, in essence, even for that plan, I HAD DONE NOTHING. I relied on my knowledge? Fool. The future was constantly in motion, and the deeper I immersed myself in the Galaxy, the more I could change it. I trained for strength? Fool. My training wasn't worth it. Until now, I had essentially just hoarded, rarely applying my skills.
Just so I had them... Was that the right attitude toward the Force? Toward my talents and abilities? No... Everything I learned, everything I was taught, I had to apply one way or another... What was I supposed to do? What to do? Look for a crystal? And then? Become a Jedi Knight? Then what? What kind of Jedi would I become? So many options, so many forks... I didn't even know what I wanted from the title of Jedi Knight — I considered myself a Jedi... And everything was so simple when my master was alive, when Mila was alive... I hadn't even thought about choosing my future back then. I considered it unimportant... But now I saw: I didn't just have to choose. I had to define everything.
One event broke everything... And now I wasn't much different. After all, right now I was the same: without a goal, empty, having lost two dear sentients in one fell swoop, and blaming myself for my stupidity... And was it even right to blame myself? How would that help me? Sure, I could cry at night, hugging my knees. What would that change for me? I'd withdraw from the Galaxy. What would such behavior change for me? Wasn't that the behavior of a worthless being? How was I different from who I was? And would Master Lorm have wanted me to end up as the same person? No... He taught me to be better.
But if I don't want to become better myself, then I won't become better either. Yes… It's pointless to cry, pointless even for Kuro's training! The resolution of galactic issues can wait for now! I need to understand for myself what I want from myself, to become better and stronger not in terms of Force techniques, but in terms of my character! How many times in my past life did I tell myself: stop being a doormat that everyone wipes their feet on. And what did I do? And here? What have I changed? Did I ever answer insults? Did I become better? No… I was a doormat, and I remained one. Just added a couple of traits.
"Become better, Light!" Yes… I slapped myself on the cheeks… How many times have I told myself that? Even back on Earth, using my old name. And what did I change? Here I decided to live anew, but all I changed was my body, and I remained the same idiot. I need to change not my body — no, I need to change my very essence. I perked up and walked to the window… Coruscant at night was no less impressive than by day. Lights burned in the distance, speeders still flew. Life on the planet rarely stops, even at night. In the window glass, I saw my reflection, dressed in a beige robe. A proper face, purple eyes.
"I couldn't think that just because I was born different from what I was, that would be enough," I said calmly. "They all tried to prove that to me. It's not enough to be born different — that's what I should have understood. Change… Even now, having realized this, I haven't yet completed my path. I'm only at the beginning? Where I was from birth! So much time wasted, and again I have no time. I need to develop what I already have now, by leaps and bounds. I should have done all this yesterday."
What to do? Watch, observe, analyze, learn… I must understand what kind of person, what kind of sentient I want to be, redefine my principles from scratch. That is the Light that must emerge. Not the pathetic wretch I was.
"And we will start right now," I nodded confidently to my own affirmation. "Yes, right now. I will study the surrounding world and become who I want to be. That's my true mission, which will begin as soon as we leave for Tatooine."
Back in bed, I crawled under the blanket and fell asleep. I sense radical changes; the Galaxy will be harsh with me… But this time, everything will be different!
* * *
"We checked the entire ship, even found that back door we couldn't find on Tustr," the technician reported to me. "The problem was in the ship's own system — it was issued from the yards after your starship was built. I assume the customer left the back door in it."
Exactly. The Sith were clever. They gave their lackey a ship but ensured that if something happened, they could get admin access to it. A cunning back door. And the essence was that the virus wasn't some separate program; the program itself, the ship's system, was the virus. That's how the Sith were able to crack it back on Gizelum, which led to those consequences. Could I have changed that? Even guessed it…
"I suppose you feel guilty?" came a voice from my right — my mentor. The hangar was bustling even now, as evening fell on Coruscant. Ships were taking off and landing.
"Maybe, though everyone is at fault simultaneously," I said thoughtfully. "And to hold everyone accountable? That's foolish."
"Correct," the technician nodded. "Though on Tustr they could have guessed given where you got this ship. Either way, we completely rewrote the system, getting rid of… unnecessary things, kept everything needed. We even cleaned the search history in the HoloNet and…" he hesitated, "some holographic videos from your quarters," he looked at me with slight disapproval.
"I didn't record any holographic videos."
"You didn't, but the ship's system, as it turned out, did. However, it was very cunningly arranged — the data was transmitted upon contact with a specific carrier, and since you captured the ship and no longer contacted that man's employers, the data simply accumulated because the carrier wasn't connected."
"By the Hutt," I swore, realizing what holographic videos might have been recorded from my cabin.
"My thoughts exactly," the hangar technician nodded.
"Judging by everything, that's something interesting," Kuro grinned unpleasantly. "But never mind, the past will stay in the past. What matters to us is the future. Is the ship ready to depart?"
"Yes," he turned to her, then nodded at my Star Trek. "Washed, fueled, as I said, the system was reinstalled, your droid was synchronized with it," I glanced at the ramp; BB-7 stood beside it. "We wiped his memory, checked if he had the same trap as your ship. Nothing found. And gave him oil baths. All according to protocol."
"Well, what are we waiting for, student?" Kuro asked, heading toward the ship.
"Beep! Who are you?" came my droid's warble.
"This is my new mentor, BB," I said with a heavy sigh.
"You're too headstrong for a droid," Kuro noted, leaning over BB-7.
"By the way," the technician whispered to me. "In your mentor's quarters, we found a hidden compartment with his… last will. There was a sheet of paper — all his savings go to you. Also," the technician fumbled in his clothes and pulled out a holocron for me. The kind Yoda once gave me with Ataru recordings. But this time… my heart clenched.
"This is my mentor's holocron?" I asked in surprise.
"The will said he gifts it to you. According to the rules, the Masters, even Master Yoda himself, inspected it. But the problem is, they couldn't open it."
"That's because Lorm himself studied many Force techniques; he didn't just dig into Jedi antiquities. He surely figured out how to make the holocron activate only in your hands. He was always cunning and clever when he needed to be."
I took the shimmering blue cube. Now is not the time to open it; I'll look at it when I'm alone.
"Thank you," I nodded to the technician.
"Well then, Light, it's time to fly. Tatooine, you said? We'll start there, and then I'll acquaint you with the specifics of a Shadow's work. We have an assignment."
"Goodbye," I nodded to the man, heading for the ship.
BB-7, seeing me approaching the ramp, emitted a joyful warble. Finally, we were moving. New adventures awaited us… Though the droid was more pleased simply that we were going somewhere. Entering the cockpit, I initiated a system check. The ship's interior seemed unchanged. The check passed; all systems were normal. Sighing, I pressed the launch button. A slight jolt, the ship's engine started, and the ramp retracted into the vessel's belly.
"To Tatooine, BB-7," I addressed the droid, connected to the ship's computer. "The shortest route."
"To reach Tatooine," my mentor noted, "we need to get onto the Corellian Run. On Corellia it splits into two main routes: the Corellian Run itself and the Corellian Trade Route. The first will take us to Tatooine, the second leads somewhere else entirely. We should jump to Corellia, then to Tinnel, Loronar, and Byblos."
"Yes," I nodded, studying the presented route. "First, then, Corellia."
The ship flew into the open hangar bay. Exiting the Temple, I directed it upward and left Coruscant. We had to jump to Corellia, and then exit hyperspace to adjust course to hit Tatooine exactly. Stars appeared before me, surrounded by a huge number of ships flying to and from Coruscant.
"Course set," BB-7 beeped. "Ship ready for hyperspace jump."
"Good," I pulled the lever, and the stars smeared; then the surrounding space seemed to turn into an endless blue path of hyperspace.
"And while we fly to Corellia, perhaps you'd like to go to your quarters and speak with your mentor?" Kuro noted.
"And you?"
"Lorm was always a cunning paranoid. Maybe in the presence of other sentients, this holocron won't even activate. Try it alone first. You can ask the recording whether it will work in the presence of another sentient. But knowing Lorm — unlikely. If he left something for you, it's yours until the end of your days."
"Hmm," I drawled.
"And don't think too long," Kuro advised, turning in her seat toward the cockpit window and clearly entering a meditative state. "Remember — long thinking is for planning. When executing a plan, always think quickly. Now go."
I turned and headed to my Captain's quarters. It hadn't changed. Though work had clearly been done on it. We have just under a day's flight to Corellia. In that time, I could figure out this holocron. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, I laid out the holocron and my lightsaber before me. Using telekinesis, I lifted the saber, disassembled it, and removed the Kyber crystal. Then, opening the holocron, I inserted the crystal into it. A familiar procedure. I'd done it a hundred times with Yoda's holocron. But… the holocron didn't activate. Why?
Restoring everything to its original state, I looked at the cube curiously. The Masters, the Magisters, couldn't activate it. They gave it to me. Why couldn't I activate it? Mentor, what did you concoct? Hmm… A clue in the will? I opened the text on my datapad… No. Quite general words. That everything goes either to me or to the Order. Or is it a logic puzzle?
"If I die, I ask that all my savings be transferred to Light Flyingstar, as my heir, even if by blood he is not my son. I understand this goes against Order rules, but you yourselves know where I've seen those rules!" my mentor, such a mentor. Always wanting to annoy Magister Piell. "I also have an Archive where I recorded all my research that I haven't yet passed to the Order. You can take that. But give the holocron to the one I named my heir, even if by blood he is not my son."
Setting aside the strange words, it's a perfectly ordinary will. Part to me, part to the Order. And that's that… But what does "even if by blood he is not my son" mean? If it were an ordinary phrase, but he repeated it twice in the text. At least, it made me think… By blood… Not my son… But still an heir. Blood? I examined the surface of Lorm Decer's holocron again. A perfectly smooth surface, without any flaws. But wait, what if… I repeated the holocron activation procedure. A Jedi holocron, when activated, doesn't assemble into a cube but into a fairly unique polyhedron. In its activated state, I found one of the corners and pressed it against my finger. It hurt a little and was unpleasant — I pricked my finger until it bled…
And then what I suspected happened. The holocron began to glow, and before me appeared my mentor's figure.
"Phew!" he announced. "This thing worked! You really are Light. Or someone who obtained his blood. And I really did croak, since my holocron was found and activated."
"Mentor," I said with sorrow in my voice, looking at the teacher's blue figure.
"Student. Unfortunately, this recording isn't set up for sentimental displays, so, boy, better ask your questions…"
"How did you manage to create such an activation condition for the holocron?" I asked him.
"How, how… In silence," Lorm grunted. "I thought: since I consider Light Flyingstar my heir and am ready to give him all my knowledge, what if some scumbag pockets my holocron? Not a scumbag like me, but an even scummier one. One who wouldn't even give the holocron to you. So, digging into the knowledge of certain gifted individuals, I figured out how to add my own activation conditions when creating the holocron. Though I didn't know if it would work," the recording scratched its chin. "It was my first attempt in that field. And I didn't have time to test my guesses. But apparently it worked. The knowledge of how to create such a holocron is also recorded here. Along with my other techniques. I'll help improve the ones you've already studied and teach you new ones, including the Jedi Force Lightning."
I closed my eyes, processing the information. My mentor hadn't abandoned me just like that… And I too must live up to his hopes. He gave me his holocron with all his knowledge. He taught me so much while he was alive. And I only became more determined that I must keep moving forward.
"I agree," I replied. "Where do I sign in blood?"
"I don't quite understand the joke about signing in blood," the recording said.
"Well, in one ancient religion, blood was usually used to sign contracts with tempters from the side of evil, who gave the signers everything — wealth, power, health, love — and demanded their souls in return. Here, you're offering me to study Force techniques that you yourself studied and reconstructed over many years, traveling across the Galaxy."
"In that case — you've already signed in blood, my young student. Now all that's required of you is all your perseverance, all your skills, and all the motivation you're capable of. I can no longer influence your character. So I hope that you will not only learn these techniques but also use them correctly. You were supposed to become better. Have you?"
"I'm on the path," I answered.
"That's gratifying to hear," my mentor noted. "Gratifying that you're trying to become better. Because right now, I can't judge your readiness for any technique just by talking to you. This recording will teach you everything it knows, without any additional conditions. I can only hope that your reason will overcome your stupidity, Light Flyingstar."
* * *
And so we arrived. The journey took almost five days. During all that time, I trained with my mentor. Kuro accepted calmly that Lorm was still teaching me. After all, she never considered me her student. Tatooine… the planet where it all began for Star Wars. And I had to visit it… Isn't that symbolic? For Luke Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker — it all started here. So let it begin here for me too, Light Flyingstar. The Tatooine spaceport greeted me with uniformity. The architectural style, the environment… Tatooine never impressed with such things. The planet of sands, nevertheless, was located near an important trade route — the Corellian Trade Route, and several other trade routes intersected here.
We landed at the Mos Eisley spaceport.
"What now?" I asked my mentor after we cleared registration.
"What now? I'm not your babysitter, and you're a future Jedi Knight. Learn to act on your own. Ask yourself: what is your goal?"
"Find a krayt dragon. My meditation led me to this planet."
"Next question: what do you know about krayt dragons?"
"Quite powerful reptiles. One subspecies inhabits the deserts of Tatooine. Hmm… The Force didn't show me a specific krayt dragon. So any one will do?"
"Are you sure about that? Though, maybe that's how it is," we ended up opposite a cantina from which music blared. "Now I want to see what you can do. Recently, the Tatooine news carried reports of an extremely aggressive krayt dragon. That could be useful. In such cases, a party is always assembled to destroy it. What will you do?" Kuro asked. "Join the party? Or go hunting the monster yourself? Whatever you decide, know that I won't interfere. As I already told you, I'm not your babysitter. Act as you see fit, Padawan."