13 BBY
"Marmil, don't you think this sport is rather cruel on the poor marine life on Vonath?"
"They're mindless monsters and the sonic cannon will help us hunt them easier by bringing them out," Marmil explained to his brother. But his brother's wife, the Queen, cut in.
"The sonic waves are making the creatures aggressive..."
"With all due respect, they've always been aggressive. Now we can just use that in our favor."
Lorna was six when she overheard that conversation on the deck of the royal cruise ship. She didn't understand nor care to comprehend what her parents were talking about with her uncle. She was much more interested in her little wooden carved toy.
The ship was sailing smoothly and it was a particularly warm day, so it was the perfect moment to be allowed to sit down on the edge of the deck, her tiny arms holding onto the metal railing.
"Turn on the sonic cannon and let's show the king our discovery," Marmil ordered his crew to switch on the big device they brought on board with them. They pointed it first towards the horizon, a batch of water far away from their ship and once the sonic waves struck the surface, millions of small fish ran away from that spot.
"See? We'll catch fish faster than ever and the big ones will..."
A huge impact stroke the bottom of their ship while the sonic cannon was still on and the small scream of a child was what made everyone realize Lorna fell over the railing due to that impact.
"It's a Krytt," a crewmember shouted. "Switch that cannon off before it draggs the princess to the bottom."
But Marmil hesitated, "We can kill the Krytt and..."
"Switch the cannon off!" the king ordered over him and took two more men with him to jump in the water.
PRESENT DAY
"We have reports of our settlements being raided."
"By who?"
"By who do you think?" the young general barked back. She snarled, immediately after, sighing herself deeper in her posture. "Yanua messed with the Jedi Order of the New Republic and they are taking out our locations."
"But there were no called casualties-"
"Only the irreversible loss of data and fire power. None of those are relevant to Yanua's plan, but in the inevitable case of a war starting up again, we'll be overpowered by the scum of the Republic."
"That's ridiculous," the second in command on that ship laughed. "The Jedi Order is currently made out of only two and there are thousand of us on this Star Destroyer alone. All the settlments they took out were almost abandoned."
"But they held databases of coordinates," the general said. "Therefore we should expect a Republic attack and start up our backup shields."
"Ma'am!" A shout burst through the control room. "Two X-Wings approaching in hot!"
The man huffed, bemused, "Two X-Wings... Pathetic. Blast them out."
"Lorna," Luke spoke through his comms. Indeed, after Lorna properly recovered, all the information she overheard as a prisoner helped gain some momentum against the Empire, despite not yet finding how this was all linked to the ghost city on Zor.
"Yes?" She answered back hesitantly. It felt good to be back in the game and though her and Luke still sparred from time to time, missions were now more often than training days. That gave her very little time to feel the guilt inside her of never, for one second, considering Luke capable of caring about her enough to save her.
"You should probably switch on the targeting systems," he laughed, having switched on his the moment they made the jump from hyperspace.
"Don't panic, but...," Lorna cluelessly looked around. "I don't really remember which buttons did that."
"They're going to start shooting at us and you don't remember the controls?"
"Well, when you say it like that, it sounds bad," she frowned along. The tug Luke pulled on the Force was like a tickle next to her. He switched the controls for her.
"You better not crash land this time, Jedi Junior."
"I almost die once and you already get used to thinking I don't have things under control," she faked an angry pout, then, dove under the Star Destroyer's fire. Luke went above it.
With the laser cannons, Lorna started taking out system junctions, blowing up and making as much noise as possible. Once TIE fighters were dispatched though, blocking her way, Luke came from above.
The element of surprise was all they needed to fire from both sides on the enemy and then, with the silence setting in, before the backup would follow, slide in the empty hangar.
"Where are the damn X-Wings?" the general shouted, slamming her fists on the table.
"They lost track of them."
"How can you lose track of-?" she took a deep breath.
With a small voice, another man behind a computer gulped first, then announced, "We have an intruder alert. They're... in."
The general closed her eyes. "Do we have time to send a distress call?"
"I don't understand, can't we just take them out?" The second in command looked around confused.
"No, ma'am, they took out our communication systems."
"The escape pods?" She asked.
"Out of function, non-responsive."
"Start deleting everything then," the general opened her eyes, almost on the verge of tears. She knew when a fight was lost.
"Cover for me," Lorna smiled at Luke, tapping his shoulder while she went right behind him, to the wall control server. "Oh, they're trying to delete the information. Told you we should have told General Organa to take a breather with the attacks, we have to be more strategic and less loud about this."
"Didn't you tell me we should make a name for ourselves again? And I'd like to see you try and tell Leia to calm down. Last time Han tried that...," Luke shook his head, bemused. Leia has been putting Lorna's new intel to good use, as well as their acquired break, by giving this elaborate plan of taking down certain settlements.
Much less interested in the strategy for now, as long as he was able to stay close to Lorna, Luke was barely just realizing the Empire was beginning to catch a fear of the Jedi again. Indeed, he has secretly kept his promise of not allowing them to get separated anymore and even now, in the hall of the Star Destroyer, Luke made sure to ignite his saber and keep her safe while she worked on getting the necessary information.
"This situation is giving me flashbacks," Lorna admitted, smiling.
"How about you gain some flashbacks from our lessons and next time don't deteriorate the wings of your ship. We have to take it to maintenance after each mission."
Finally, the troopers on the ship were sent their way and Luke wasn't just standing there anymore. He grinned, while his starting position was only broken to Force push the first line of enemies back into the others.
"Hey, did you happen to tell me I am allowed to take the rest of the day off?" Lorna tested the waters again with her request.
"Is this really the best moment...," he paused, to take a step forward and block the blasts. "...to discuss this? I am a bit busy."
"You can manage," she shrugged, not even turning around. After the unexpected rescue mission he pulled off for her, Lorna started to realize maybe it wasn't so far stretched to trust her life to him. "Can I take the day off?"
"We can go somewhere if you want..."
"Not to ruin the mood," she frowned, taking out some wires from the control panel. "But I was actually thinking of going out with Han."
"Then I can come with...," Luke suggested, mildly wounded that he managed to get enough courage to ask her out more or less, just to be dismissed. The fight went on and most likely, their conversation was weird for the troopers to witness. Regardless, the last trooper standing was kneeled not by Luke's Force, but Lorna's. She walked back by his side and smiled.
"I love you, but Han was very clear on the alone time we need. And you wouldn't like the place we are going to either way," she shrugged, passing him the memory disc she loaded.
A bit dumbfounded, Luke pouted. He didn't give a second thought to her statement and Lorna realized it too late to take it back. But what he cared more about was that just then, he was still scared of not being with her at all times.
Which she understood. But it was Empire Day already. And in two days time, the entire Coruscant will be celebrating the birthday of their favorite twins. This felt strangely important for her, most likely because it was the perfect day to find a way to thank Luke for everything and Han... well, he happened to be a very good mischief partner.
"I can't believe Luke was jealous you wanted to go out with me and not him," Han laughed out loud. Their meeting was in a women clothes store. Frankly, the ex-smuggler was enjoying his side of sightseeing in there as much as he was feeling out of place.
"He wasn't jealous!" Lorna called from the fitting room.
Chewie roared from beside Han and he nodded along, "Like Chewie... Hey! What do you mean I am no competition to Luke? I mean, definitely not for Lorna, but come on, buddy, I still got game."
"Do you really?" Lorna laughed, Chewie agreeing with her.
"You two are the worst," Han frowned. "Are you done in there already? This is the third dress you tried on and trust me when I say this, Luke won't mind what you are wearing, he's very easy to impress. I doubt women dressed so colorful on his planet either way."
"I'm not dressing up for Luke," Lorna whispered to herself. "It wouldn't hurt for him to like how I look for once though, but..." It was just a big event. She didn't want to make a fool out of herself and show up underdressed for it, making Luke disappointed in the process.
There has been a lot of chaos lately, so much action, which was good, because they lost enough time while she was unconscious. However, there were these few moments, when she could breathe away from the orders from the Republic and look in the mirror to realize maybe this fast pacing was becoming too much.
It felt incredibly wrong and Lorna couldn't understand why yet. All she knew was that she couldn't let Luke down just because she was tired. He did save me. Was it because of that Energy Bridge between us that he told me about? Maybe... But even if it's just that, it does mean something still.
"Are we getting this dress or should I look for another?" Han sighed deeply once the silence lingered for a bit too long.
At last, Lorna focused her eyes with a blink and took a good look at herself in that mirror. She hasn't worn a dress in ages, nor has she felt particularly beautiful. That royal blood in her veins meant nothing to her anymore. The two dresses she tried before were either too complex or too revealing, none which described who she was. This one though, it was simple and easy to move in.
She thought it looked pretty. And it made her look much less "tested by life" than she was. It covered most her healing bruises and the green was as alive as the trees.
"Are you dead?" Han called, exasperated of waiting. And just to mess with him, despite deciding on that dress, Lorna took a lot more than usual to put her robes back on again.
Though they did stop by the Millennium Falcon for a drink and a quick talk about what gifts they prepared for Leia and Luke both, by the end of the night, Lorna ended up walking back to the Jedi Temple all alone. The silence was refreshing, despite the loud night life of the city.
But the temple was the vast embodiment of lingering quietness. The thick walls were a shield againd the looseness of the chaotic lives outside, despite sometimes being so cold, Lorna could have sworn she heard dark secrets in some corners, around tall columns enveloped in shadows.
This time, she had no time to hear those whispers on her way to her room, because her heartbeat quickened. She stopped, her hand over her chest and realized that panic and fear did not belong to herself. Without much consideration or even control over herself, she rushed towards Luke's room, not her own.
It was late, so she wasn't surprised that he had already went to sleep, but that mean feeling his night terror caught her awake and very much able to help. Unlike Luke and his holding back, Lorna kept he own impulses out of the way and focused on the innocence of a wish to make the fear cease.
So she sat beside him and gently placed her hand over his bare shoulder. His room was one of the warmest in the whole Temple, probably because he despised the chills of the night, therefore, Luke most often slept in the comfiest sleeveless shirts.
His breathing pattern was all over the place, and the nightmare he was experiencing vibrated in flashes in front of Lorna's eyes, though she didn't make much sense of it. She needn't focus on that either way, just the skin contact and taking her of sense of security, projecting it onto him.
Upon a flinch, feeling her Force signature, Luke woke up. Lorna would have apologized for the intrusion and she would have explained everything, but instead of being given time, Luke immediately hugged her as he sat up.
"You're safe... you're safe. Good."
His mumbles faded away and so did his fear, but not because she managed to do as she intended. It was the fact that he opened his sleepy eyes and she was there that calmed him immediately, allowing him to fall right back into his sleep. Lorna felt him lean heavier against her, snoring softly on her shoulder and she didn't dare move away.
Not until she was sure Luke was soundly asleep again. His skin was so warm and soft to her touch as she helped him to lay down on his pillow again. She sat his head down and brushed that blonde hair from his face.
"Jedi can't have attachments," she whispered, almost feeling sorry she couldn't stay there with him. She continued playing with his hair for a while though. "Would you really be mad if I told you how attached I am to you? The more things happen to us, the more I can't picture a future without you in it. It doesn't really make it easier for me that you are suddenly so protective. It feels like you're doing it on purpose to test if I am following the Code or not."
Lorna remained in silence for a moment. She took in how Luke's face looked like, in this dimmed darkness, in this vulnerable moment. She sighed quietly. "That Code is stupid, but I know you care about it. So if that's the right way, I will follow you. Good night," she leant over and pressed the lightest of kisses on his forehead.
Then she left the room, leaving behind a ghost of a feeling that Luke would carry with him.
The ghosts Yanua carried though were hardly as soft and caring as Lorna's good night kisses. She received the reports of the attacks and treated them as careless as it got. She threw those aside and turned around to her droid, her only constant companion through all the shit others would call life.
"How's the real plan going?"
"Splendid," the droid answered. "We are ready for the first planetary test. Any idea where we should hit?"
"There's this planet that has a ban on males," Yanua mused along a merciless laugh. "Females have always been harder to sway to violence irrationally so we should test the capacities of our weapon there first."
author's note: okie dokie, this was shorter lol.. BUT in my defense, firsr chapters are always hard to write idk.. EITHER WAYYYY, i changed the name of this act from "the king" to "the lightsaber" 👀
i am also going to introduce a bit more insight into other plotlines in this act because they are about to come together, beyond just luke and lorna doing missions for the republic.
next chapter is obviously going to be the birthday haha i am a bit hyped to describe the higher society of coruscant whoops.. and no spoilers but a very iconic character will be visiting us.
i would also like to take a moment to thank y'all for bringing this book to 1k 🥺💕💕 it feels so good to receive so much feedback and love and i can only hope i don't disappoint with the updates. for the first time in a long while, writing is a form of relaxation to me. thank youu
now, before this gets too long, excuse how vague this chapter was ✌😂