~Jinx's P.O.V.~
I stood in the cell, where Maya was being held. She was in a containment field to prevent her from escaping by using the Force. An IT-O interrogation unit droid hovered beside me, prepared to harm Maya if necessary. As soon as Maya's eyes fluttered open, she let out a groan. Her face was already filled with bruises and scars.
"Ah, look who's finally awake." I commented.
"Jinx, please stop this." Maya begged. "This isn't you. I know the real you, sister."
"You don't know me anymore, Maya. I've changed." I retorted.
Maya shook her head. "No, you haven't. You're still the same Jinx I know."
I scoffed. "I'm Ucra now. Jinx was weak."
"No she wasn't. Jinx was strong, one of the strongest people I know." Maya informed me.
"That's a lie. Storm was one of strongest people you know." I retorted.
Maya furrowed her brows. "Was?"
A grin formed on my face. "I spoke to Lord Sidious and he agreed to send Inquisitors after Storm to have her brought back here to be tortured or exterminated, whatever was easier for them. You have a choice to join the Empire or die."
"I'll never join the dark side, Jinx. You know I'd rather die than to join what is meant to be destroyed." Maya shot back.
"Let's see if you will keep saying that after another round with this metalhead." I mentioned. I then turned towards the interrogation droid. "You know what to do. And don't stop until I give the order."
I could sense Maya's fear growing. As the droid made his way towards Maya, I walked out of the cell. Once I was outside Maya's cell, I heard her screams. I felt a pang of pain upon hearing her cries. I did my best to push these emotions away as I walked down the hallway. At that moment, the Grand Inquisitor approached me. "Lady Ucra."
"What is it?" I inquired.
"We located Storm Ca'ana on the planet Atzerri." He began. "She was there with her Jedi friends, Kina Ha, Tarom Ka, and Gida."
I raised an eyebrow. "And where are they now?"
The Grand Inquisitor lowered his head. "They escaped, my lady."
I clenched my fists upon hearing his words. I could feel the anger and hate flow through me as I whipped around to face him. "How could she escape! You were meant to either bring her back here or kill her, not let her escape! I guess I'll have to do this myself!"
With that, I stormed down the hallway and towards Sidious' throne room. As soon as I approached his throne room, I made my way towards his throne, where Sidious sat. Next to him stood Vader. The room was filled with Imperial flags, many royal guards, and with a window behind Sidious' throne.
"Master." I said as I bowed before Sidious. "The Grand Inquisitor informed me that Storm Ca'ana and her Jedi friends escaped their grasp."
"That is quite unfortunate. We cannot allow them escape again." Sidious mentioned.
"I agree, Master. Which is why I volunteer to personally search for Storm Ca'ana and her friends." I offered.
"Do not fail me, Lady Ucra." He warned.
"I shall not. I will find them and bring them in, or kill them if necessary." I assured him.
~Storm's P.O.V.~
There was laserfire everywhere. I stood alongside Areria and my troops, trying to hold back the endless Separatist droids. All of the sudden, my own clone troopers turned on me. Their raised their blasters towards me. From the corner of my eye, I saw Mocax and other troopers dragging Areria away from me. She cried out for help. But instead, I ran in the opposite direction. As I ran through the jungle, I ran into Echo, who wore a horrified look as he saw me.
"She's coming...You have to leave before it's too late."
I then heard a lightsaber ignite from behind me. I turned around to see a red lightsaber being swung in my direction.
I woke up with a gasp. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead. Days has passed since I first arrived on this planet, which I later discovered was called Atollon. I spent days, doing my best to cut off my connection with the Force. I still had dreams, but I did my best to push them away. And now I had nightmares from my past along with warnings, ones I didn't understand. Not to mention I heard a voice in my head, telling me that he could help me. I did my best to ignore the voice and dreams, but it wasn't easy. I glanced around to see small dokmas walking around by me. I felt different, disconnected from everything and everyone around me. I stood up from the rocky ground.
As the hot sun began to rise in the horizon, I began walking around in search of water and a place to make a shelter that would become my new home. It wasn't long until I noticed three convorees flying around me. For the past few days, all three convorees and been following me around. Two of the convorees had gold and brown feathers with gold eyes. Meanwhile, the third convor had green feathers and green eyes, she was unlike any other convor. Ahsoka and I had seen this particular convor before. We first saw her outside the Jedi Temple when we returned from Mortis. She reminded us a lot of the daughter from Mortis, and we ended up calling her, Morai. Morai always followed Ahsoka and me around. But I had never seen these two convorees before. However, since they were following me around, I decided to name them Nova and Ani...after my fallen cousin, Nova, and my deceased brother, Anakin.
As the days turned into weeks, I found a freshwater source, which was deep underground. So I decided to create a moisture farm. However, I grew terrified as I saw constantly saw giant white spiders around the planet that I was constantly fighting every day. One day, something different happened. I was walking through a valley, when all of the sudden, I saw several giant white spiders around the valley. I immediately placed a hand around the hilt of my lightsaber, which lied in my belt. The ground then shook before a giant creature emerged out from the ground. He had long brown beard, tanned skin, glowing white eyes, and rocks all over him. I looked up in awe as the creature looked down at me. I watched as Ani and Nova landed on the creature's shoulders.
"Hello." He greeted.
"W-who are you?" I asked.
"I am Bendu. And you are the one who has been ignoring my calls. Your imbalance has woken me from my slumber."
I furrowed my brows. "Imbalance?"
"From the Force. Your presence here has not gone unnoticed on this quiet planet." He informed me.
"You're a Force-wielder?" I inquired.
"Force-wielder? No, the Jedi wield the Ashla, the light, and the Sith wield the Bogan, the dark. I am neither, I am in the middle of the light and dark side of the Force." He corrected. "Who do you call yourself?"
"I am Storm Ca'ana, Jedi Knight...or was." I mentioned.
"Hmm, there is much conflict with you. I sensed that you are dealing with a storm within yourself." Bendu informed me. "I can also feel you fear."
"It's because of the giant white spiders that I kept seeing on this planet." I commented.
"The Krykna might be be part of that fear, but is that all?" Bendu asked, seeing right through me.
I hesitated. "No, I'm afraid that if I make a deeper connection with the Force that I may find something...that I do not wish to find."
"Ah, so you're afraid of knowing. It's normal to be afraid, especially of the unknown. But you must acknowledge what has occurred, what is happening, and what's to come." Bendu stated.
"Fear is not normal for a Jedi." I protested.
"Then you intend to face your fears?" Bendu questioned.
"Yes." I confirmed.
Bendu nodded. "Good. Then I shall help you to achieve a deeper connection with the Force. But first, you must allow yourself to connect with the Force."
I knew he was right. I took a deep breath before I allowed myself to connect with the Force, feeling everything around me. I smiled as I felt the warmth of this planet, the fear within the Krykna towards me, I could sense the Krykna's vibrations, the convorees, and the Bendu, who was quite strong.
"Good, you're connecting." He praised. "Now make a connection with the Krykna."
Reluctantly, I looked over at the Krykna before reaching out to them through the Force. After a few moments, I lowered my guard, and managed to make a connection with the Krykna. At once, the Krykna stood by me, but they no longer attacked me. I let out a chuckle.
"They aren't attacking me." I stated.
"Because it's not in their nature. But now, the more challenging part is yet to come. You must accept your past." He mentioned.
I furrowed my brows. "My past?"
"You've done well hiding this from others, but you cannot hide this from me. You have not entirely moved on from your past." He pointed out.
He wasn't wrong. But I was annoyed that he was able to see right through me. I didn't want to talk about my past, it wasn't exactly filled with happy moments.
"I have moved from my past." I lied.
"Oh have you?" He questioned. "Then you've accepted that Koltav Catroe is gone and never will return? Or that your relationship with Echo is over? And how about your grandmother, Sincra, who sacrificed her life for you-"
I could feel my anger rising at his words. "Do not mention my grandmother."
I didn't like speaking about Grandma Sincra, especially how she died...since it was my fault. She died sacrificing her life, so I could snap out of whatever Dooku did to brainwash me. Bendu's white eyes lit up. "Aha, so that's what you have failed to accept. Her death."
"She shouldn't have died. Had I not been brainwashed, then she would still be alive." I explained.
"And you would've either still been brainwashed or tortured. Your grandmother chose to save you. No one forced her to do this, it was her decision. I can sense your pain, Storm. You are like an open holocron." He mentioned. "You must accept your grandmother's death and let go of that pain that has been festering inside of you."
I let out a sigh, knowing he was right. "...You're right. I can't fix the past. But I can change the way I see the past."
"Ah, now you're learning. Good." He praised. "You are too hard on yourself, Storm. You must learn to let go of the past. You cannot blame yourself for other's actions, especially when you were threatened of speaking up about the knowledge you knew."
I grimaced. "You know about that too?"
"Your thoughts are quite loud." He informed me.
"I was being selfish, if only I had told the Jedi Council of what I knew about Palpatine-" I began.
However, Bendu quickly cut me off. "Then Palpatine would've turned everyone against you, you'd be thrown out of the Jedi Order and into a cell, and all those you cared about would have been killed. There was nothing you could have done, Storm. Palpatine had been carefully planning this for many years. Had you tried telling the Jedi Order, you'd be dead."
I nodded. "...You're right. There was nothing I could've done."
And so I spent several days doing my best to let go of my best. Once Bendu believed I was ready, I returned to his valley with Morai on my shoulder and with Ani and Nova flying above me. There were several Kryknas around the area, but I walked past them with no problem. As soon as I approached the middle of the valley, Bendu emerged from the ground.
"Storm, good to see you've returned. I sense less conflict in you. Excellent, you're making progress, but you still have much to learn." He informed me.
"And I'm ready, Bendu, I'm ready to learn." I said.
•••
And so I spent the next few months, learning from Bendu. And Master Jinn's appeared to me again to finish my training that he mentioned before Master Yoda and I went to the Wellspring of Life, embarking on a journey that we told no one else about. As I went through Bendu's trials, I slowly developed a stronger and deeper connection to the Force. Of course it wasn't easy, especially when Bendu mentioned that I'd have to move on from my present such as Padmé's death, the massacre of my fellow Jedi, the death of Sirius, losing T3 and R3, Anakin turning to the dark side and all those who went missing. Some days, Morai would be around, and other days she'd be somewhere else. I thought I'd spent the rest of my days here on Atollon, but that all changed...One morning, I made my way towards Bendu's valley with Morai flying beside me, and Ani and Nova both perched on my shoulders. Once we reached Bendu, he wore a grim look on his face.
"Bendu, what is it?" I inquired.
"You are not safe here. You will be searched and tracked down by your enemies. And they will not stop until you are found." Bendu warned. "You must leave this planet before they bring war on my peaceful planet."
I had a feeling that this day might come, but part of me believed that somehow the Empire wouldn't find me. But I was foolish to think of those thoughts, especially with the Inquisitors that were now on the hunt.
"I understand. The last thing I want is to drag you into my problems. Besides I owe you one for helping reach a deeper connection with the Force." I mentioned.
A smile appeared on Bendu's face. "You are special, Storm Ca'ana. You are unlike any other Jedi I have come across. You know this planet is rather difficult to find. It's not a charted region found on any map. And yet you found it as if it has been any other planet."
"This planet called to me." I explained.
"This planet is unlike many others you have come across, Storm. This planet resides in the Force as do I. Do not underestimate yourself. You are in the Force." Bendu informed me. "You will do great things, Storm Ca'ana."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Bendu." I responded.
"Farewell, Jedi Knight Storm Ca'ana. Until we meet again." Bendu said.
And with that, I left the planet along with the three convorees. I made my way to the nearby planet, Lothal. I landed in the grassy plains not far from Capital City. Once I climbed out of the fighter, I along with the convorees made my way into the city. As I made my way into the Capital City, I looked around finding a throng of humans, Ithorians, Ugnaughts, Rodians, Gotals, and many other species. The city was filled with simple buildings along with several marketplaces throughout the place with the capitol building in the heart of the city. I was relieved when I didn't see any clone troopers around.
But little did I know that the city had several of them...I just wasn't aware of them at the time. Unfortunately, there were no open homes, so I decided to sleep on the ground by a medium sized house. I could always return to the fields in the morning, but right now I was too exhausted. My eyes slowly closed until I could no longer keep them open.