Always in Motion is the Future V: A Star Wars AU Story

Chapter III

The Jedi of the Rebellion had set up camp quickly, as Yoda had listened to the older members of the group and Luke's account of events since Starkiller had visited four years ago.

"Hmm," the elderly Master rumbled. "Upon these revelations, meditate I will have to. In the meantime, rest you should. Many challenges will lay ahead of us in the days to come."

The leaders among the Jedi began to file out, with Luke trailing behind. Suddenly, Yoda gestured towards him. "Young Skywalker. Stay for a moment."

Luke stopped and turned around, and resumed his seat from before.

"Why wish you to become a Jedi?" Yoda asked him.

Luke paused for a beat; he thought back, back to when he had been a young boy on Tatooine and all he had heard of his father was that he was a freighter pilot, then one day ran into some bad folk and died. Learning he had been a Jedi Knight from Obi-Wan had changed everything.

"Mostly because of my father, I guess," Luke answered.

Yoda nodded solemnly. "Ah, your father. A powerful Knight he was, indeed."

"You knew him?" Luke asked, astonished.

"Fought alongside him in many battles, I did. And with his Master."

"Obi-Wan..." Luke realized.

"Opportune it was that more Jedi you found, or longer it would have taken for you to come to me."

"Would you still have trained me?" Luke asked.

"Hmm. Perhaps. Uncertain. Full of possibilities, the universe is. But for speculation, now is not the time. Time it is for rest. Join the others. Tomorrow, begin your training we will."

Luke nodded and left to the clearing where the Jedi had set up their encampment, then sought out an empty tent where he could rest. Once he did, he laid himself down on his cot, and tried to fall asleep, but couldn't bring himself to; the suddenness with which he had been introduced to the secret Jedi Order and learned that he himself could become such a great warrior was thrilling to him, yet also daunting. As his eyes slowly shut, visions of Jedi from ages past, leading legions of soldiers arrayed in white, lightsabers aglow, danced in his dreams.

*

Around a small campfire, Yoda, Ahsoka, Starkiller, along with some more senior survivors of the old Order, were discussing what they should do from where they were.

"We won't be able to stay here overlong," T'ra Saa noted. "The Empire may eventually find track the fleet to this system."

"Skywalker should be trained as much as he can as soon as possible," K'Kruhk agreed. "The Emperor and his servants have undoubtedly sensed our movement."

"We must be wary," Rahm Kota agreed, "but if Skywalker's training is interfered with, it could more time to make him a Jedi, and time is not a luxury we can afford right now."

"Agreed," Ahsoka intoned. She turned to Yoda. "Master, would you be averse to joining our Rebellion, even if it is only to help Luke along his path?"

Yoda stroked his chin, pondering deeply. "Uncertain am I for now. Many years have I spent on this world, listening to the flow of the Force. Not supposed to happen this way, was Luke's arrival. Alone, he should have come."

He sighed. "But beyond my control is the will of the Force. Set in stone, nothing is. For a time, we shall stay here, while safe from the Empire's grasp we are. Then join you in this Rebellion, I will."

*

It was morning when Luke was awoken from his sleep by a fellow Jedi; at least, it seemed like it was morning. The perpetually overcast sky threw off his sense of time, and the only relative source of illumination he had was from what little sunlight came through the clouds.

"Come, young Skywalker. Your training begins."

Luke threw on some light training gear and joined the rest of the Jedi who had already gathered in a nearby grove. They were all dressed similar to him, save some of them had parts of their Jedi robes on. They were all looking upwards to a large tree branch where Yoda was standing.

"With a simple exercise, start our day, we will," the diminutive Master announced. "Run we shall. Know this planet as your new home, however temporary it is, you will. Direct you I will from the front." He raised up his head. "Young Skywalker, come forward please."

Luke strode forward, adjusting his pack. As he drew near, Yoda stood and leapt from his branch, landing deftly on Luke's pack. "Onward lead us, young Skywalker," the elder Jedi instructed. "As one, we shall train."

Some of the Jedi laughed as Luke adjusted his pack uncertainly, but no less walked forward into the swamps before him, then breaking into a jog, with the rest of his Jedi brothers and sisters following silently behind. As he went, Luke used his sight to find solid ground so he and Yoda wouldn't fall into the muck underfoot.

"Duck!" Yoda called suddenly, and Luke dropped immediately, narrowly avoiding a low-hanging branch.

Luke gasped sharply as Yoda "tsked" his tongue. "Your first lesson. Rely not on your sight, for your mortal eyes can only see so much. In the Force you must trust. Let it guide you."

As the other Jedi passed them by, Luke noted they had their eyes shut, and seemed to be traversing the unfamiliar swampland with ease, silent spectres against a gloomy treeline. Yoda followed his gaze.

"In the Force they trust. Mighty in the Force have they become. And you shall too, as we train. Now come, stand up. Move forward. Only through these shall we overcome our daily trials. Of your mortal strife, let go, and trust in the Force, and the Force of others."

Luke stood, and looked onward into the distance, where he could see the rest of the Jedi ahead of him.

"How will I ever catch up...keep up with them?"

"A competition, this is not, young Skywalker," Yoda chastised him, rapping his gimer stick on the back of Luke's head. "If judge ourselves by others we do, only failure we will ever find. A personal journey of progress, life is. Our own standards we shall keep, not those of others. Now go."

Luke dashed away, straight towards where the rest of the Jedi were headed; everywhere and nowhere. He didn't care; he left it out of his mind. The Force was his guide.

The Force couldn't send him wrong. Could it?