The Force Wills - Chapter 69 (Patreon)

I sat back and folded my arms awkwardly, given I had my full Aegis armor on, and regarded the vista of space that the cockpit of the Emissary currently afforded.

It wasn’t much considering that the majority of the galaxy was currently ‘behind’ the ship, with our current orientation in the Chrelythiumn system. Only a relative sliver was in view now, but the system itself was of more importance.

Given that we were in Wild Space even beyond what was technically considered the Outer Rim, but still barely within the galactic rim and that it actually had a name, meant that at some point it had at least served a purpose to someone. Enough that it had lost its catalog number and entered the common star charts. The reason for that change was currently listed as ‘pending investigation’ in the Jedi Archives. That was shorthand for ‘unknown’, but such a word was anathema to the archivists. It was at least on the list for the Jedi explorers to eventually investigate.

On the other hand, there wasn’t much to investigate. Astrophysics generally dictated that a star system this far from the galactic core, would have a very hard time to form planets naturally. The local star had gobbled up the precious few heavy elements that would be out here, leaving even less for planets to form. The best this particular system had managed was three dwarf planets that were dancing around in what would’ve been the ‘habitable zone’. The problem was, given the very low gravity, they could never hold onto any atmospheres they generated, even if they were lucky enough to have the elemental chemistry mix to generate one.

The only thing that could possibly interest anyone about the system, was its use for extragalactic astronomy without the galaxy itself getting in the way. The Old Republic had at some point probably built a research outpost on one of those tiny planets. That outpost itself would be of interest to Jedi explorers.

The computer chimed that it had finished transferring the sensor data to the chit. I reached over and pulled it out, slotted it into the vambrace port of my armor. I made another copy of the data on a second chit, took that and got out of the pilot’s chair, then headed to my own small bunk bed to deposit it there.

On my way back, I made a circuit of the ship to return to the cockpit and passed Anakin and Obi-Wan, who were both suiting themselves up. Anakin was getting into his own Aegis, whilst Obi-Wan was checking the seals on his vac helmet and undersuit, which he always wore beneath his customary Jedi ‘half-armor’.

As much as you could rely on the Force for many life saving abilities, sudden exposure to hard vacuum without conventional protections was a major danger for any Jedi, no matter how powerful they were. Theoretically, you could use the Force to keep a large bubble of air around you as you were blown out into space, if you kept your wits about you.

All you achieved though, was to switch out a relatively quick death, for slow poisoning by CO2.

“Any change?” Anakin asked.

“None, we’re still on course, should arrive in ten minutes. We’re still completely alone out here.”

As a precaution, I had prevailed on them that we should drop out of hyper on the edges of the system, cloak, then cruise in under stealth to get a good lay of the land before popping up exactly where the distress call coordinates led.

“Unless they have cloaks as well.”

“Then it’s just a matter of who blinks first,” Obi-Wan commented.

Now ready, all of us headed into the cockpit. Anakin took the pilot seat automatically. I gave him a pointed look as I sat down in the co-pilot seat. Obi-Wan took the engineering officer seat on the back right and his mouth twitched, eyes twinkling with amusement.

“What?” Anakin asked, nonplussed.

“Do I really have to answer that, Skyguy?”

He raised an eyebrow at me inquisitively before rolling his eyes in realization, “No, I won’t let us get shot down.”

“Good, I’ll hold you to that.”

“Beginning deceleration,” he announced primly.

It didn’t take long.

One moment there was nothing in front of us but empty space for millions of kilometers. The next, as if it had simply blinked into existence, as if it had always been there, was a large ‘space station’.

It was two square pyramids mounted on each other’s base, made of what could either be an exotic metal or stone, somehow blending the appearance of both. It was five kilometers from its highest tip to the lowest.

The ‘hull’ of the station had clear segmentation but even that didn’t really give a clue to explain how perfectly integrated the pieces were. It gave the impression that segments were there for show, to hide the fact that it was actually just one solid shape of matter. It also had a coloration of dark red light that seemed to radiate outward from it, but had no clear point of origin.

Anakin slammed the engines into the redline, pushing our deceleration so we wouldn’t slam into the thing.

“Scans are showing visible light emission, but other than that it might as well not exist in the rest of the EM spectrum,” I reported.

The Emissary came to a relative stop, holding just a kilometer from the station.

“No airlock or docking port either, unless it’s on the opposite side,” Obi-Wan scratched his beard in thought. “Try a communication link, Ahsoka.”

I tried radio, hyperspatial and laser based comm signals. “Nothing, no receiver registering.”

“Shall I flash the ship nav lights at it?” Anakin asked with a lopsided, sarcastic grin.

Then absolutely everything was drowned out by white light.

Something so bright should’ve hurt to look at, but all my other physical senses told me I was still sitting in the co-pilot’s chair.

What my senses in the Force was telling me was incredible, but before I could feel more than a second of it, that vanished as the overwhelming light faded and everything returned to normal.

“Is everyone else seeing this?” Anakin asked with incredulousness.

“No, Anakin, you can relax, we’re all seeing the seemingly impossible,” Obi-Wan said wryly.

Beyond the cockpit transparisteel, the void of space had been replaced by a very exotic planetary environment and we had already landed on it.

“Skyguy, you didn’t deploy the landing struts, did you?”

“No,” he looked over at his control panels. The MSD firmly indicated the struts were now down and locked, contacting hard earth.

It was daylight outside and just from the color alone I knew we weren’t in Kansas anymore. The Chrelythiumn star had been a main sequence A-type, which gave it a blue hue. This was the typical K type of yellow orange.

The ship had landed in a lush jungle like environment, with weirdly shaped green trees and soft grass. Further in the distance, high mountain walls surrounded us, creating a small valley of sorts.

“Unknown organic signatures,” I reported before reaching out with the Force, only to flinch and close it off. It was like someone was shining a figurative torch into my eyes. The Force was absolutely prevalent around us in a concentration that made me feel like I was practically swimming in it. “Ouch, okay, careful using the Force, masters.”

Both men winced instantly the moment I said it.

“Yes, that is quite problematic,” Obi-Wan shook his head to clear it. “It’ll take some getting used to.”

“Atmosphere at least reads as standard, no hazardous bioforms in the immediate vicinity at least, so we’re not getting sick.”

“We’ve lost navigational lock,” Anakin reported next. “Got no nav buoy or any recognizable stars up there.”

“So we don’t even know where we are in the galaxy or even if we’re still in our own galaxy anymore,” Obi-Wan said incredulously.

“Given the mass of what’s outside and the distance our sensors can reach, we’re not inside that weird station, unless it’s dimensionally transcendental,” I said absently. “Though more likely we were simply teleported.”

“My dear Ahsoka, let’s not jump to hasty conclusions,” Obi-Wan said.

I shrugged and let it go, seeing and experiencing would be believing in this place.

“Emissary is also behaving strangely, all ship systems are functional yet the engines won’t even begin the startup sequence. We’re not going anywhere,” Anakin demonstrated and we watched as the engine diagnostics showed green across the board, until it just inexplicably stopped and died.

“Then we must seek answers outside,” I stood and left the cockpit, heading for the ship’s exit ramp.

I did a final check of armor and my weapons as the pressure equalized and the ramp descended.

Anakin and Obi-Wan were quick to follow in my wake as we emerged from the Emissary and onto the surface of what had to be Mortis.

I had been to many worlds at this point, but I could say with confidence that the day cycle of Mortis held an ethereal beauty that really took my breath away. The idea that an artist could capture this was ridiculous, even using cameras would not capture the feeling you got through the Force and sheer vitality of the place that streamed into you with each breath.

Not only had we landed in a valley, but in the far distance the mountains that stretched across the horizon were shaped in natural splendor, yet there were also teardrop shaped mountains that simply hovered in the air as if that was a normal thing here.

The blue sky above was streaked with slowly moving, pillowy white clouds and somehow the stars beyond managed to reach my eyes as well.

“We agree it is currently day, right?” I asked.

“Of course, Snips, why-”

“Then where is the local star?”

Both men frowned and looked around up into the sky, searching but could find no clear source for the sunlight that was illuminating everything around us.

“Yes, that is… quite strange.” Obi-Wan said, the master of understatement. He pulled out a compact binoc and began scanning the horizon.

“What? One what?” Anakin flinched with surprise. “Did you hear that?”

“I didn’t hear anything,” Obi-wan shrugged, squinting into the binocs.

“It’s more than likely the local standing behind us, talking to you with telepathy, Skyguy,” I sighed.

Her teleport was flawless and whilst she could hide herself in the background of all the Force energy around us, she still had to manifest herself as matter at the end of the day. That meant my own echosense had instantly picked up on her arrival. She could’ve easily fooled that sense as well, especially because I knew how to as well. That she chose not to, meant that it was either as simple as her method of getting our attention or there was something deeper going on.

We whirled around and regarded a tall, ethereal woman.

Her skin shone with an inner radiance of white, a harshly beautiful face; high cheekbones, soft elegant chin and a long neck. Her eyes were the color of glowing jade as she regarded us with a kind, yet detached look. Her hair trailed behind her as a huge curly curtain of green that nearly reached her ankles.

The dress she wore was an elegant beige number that had puffy shoulders, a plunging neckline that stopped just short of where the belly button would be on a human and glowed with a similar radiance.

“Hello,” Obi-Wan said with a friendly smile.

“Who are you?” Anakin asked with an appraising eye, relaxing his arms but I could tell he was readying himself to respond to any threat, despite the pleasing, fair look of our interlocutor.

“I am Daughter,” she replied simply, folding her hands flat together over her chest in a curious gesture of greeting. Her gaze drilled into Anakin, “Are you the One?”

He impressively kept any form of reaction from his features. Even as I was sure he was inwardly feeling very alarmed that anyone could so randomly bring up a prophecy that had haunted him for his entire life and in a sense defined the very direction his life had thus far taken. “You’ll need to be more specific.”

Daughter raised an imperious eyebrow at him, “You play coy, when you know the answer. You hesitate in speaking the truth.” She scoffed and her gaze landed on me. She froze, her eyes widening in the slightest moment of surprise before her face regained her kind, imperious mask. “Come, all of you, Father will judge and decide.”

“Wait, wait,” Obi-wan shook his head. “Did you bring us here?”

“Only he can help you,” Daughter continued, ignoring Obi-Wan flatly. “I will take you to him. There isn’t much time. We must have shelter by nightfall.”

She elegantly turned around and began slowly walking away towards the edge of the valley we had been deposited in.

That we were even walking at all was just another affectation and test. It was well within her power to just swoop us away with a teleport or change her form into something that could carry us.

“And I thought the planet was strange,” Anakin muttered.

“In the absence of other options, I think we’ll follow her. She clearly knows the place. Let’s stay together shall we,” Obi-Wan grinned.

We hurried forward with a jog to catch up and was soon reduced to a mild walk as Daughter set a rather unhurried pace, despite her warnings.

The path led us around a nearby rockface, which quickly took us out of the small valley.

This became a footpath cut directly out of the side of a tall mountain that was overgrown with all manner of fantastic plants from the base all the way to this distant summit above us.

For all the visual beauty my eyes were showing me and what I was sensing through the Force, there was one thing that the place lacked that was becoming glaringly more obvious, especially to me.

To togruta, beauty was far more than just what you saw, it was also about what you heard.

And I heard none of the typical sounds that should’ve come from animals in such a seemingly vibrant environment. There wasn’t even a whisper of wind at the moment.

Then as we walked in Daughter’s wake, we saw the plants around us change, from the vital bloom of a green summer, to the oranges, reds and yellows heralding autumn.

“Excuse me, just how long will it take to reach this Father?” Anakin asked, as he watched the environment change.

“Not long, all will be well if we don’t delay.” Daughter’s voice resonated in the Force itself, but I sensed it wasn’t trying to dominate or even persuade. It was like she was rather subtly making sure that we actually ‘listened’ to her or could even comprehend her.

“And what exactly are you?” Obi-Wan asked bluntly.

Daughter didn’t even hesitate in her stride or her answer. “We are the ones who guard the Power. We are the middle, the beginning and the end.”

I supposed that attitude was par for the course when you were technically a direct descendant of the Celestials. It was very difficult to discern much but I was steadily working through the flash blinding of my senses in this place. Daughter’s proximity didn’t help but I could already say that the mere words, ‘physical embodiment of the Light’ didn’t even come close to describing her. This is what resulted from a Celestial bathing in the Pool of Knowledge, a Force Nexus that was somewhere in the Maw Cluster on the far eastern reaches of the galaxy.

“That explains everything,” Anakin muttered to us sarcastically.

The path turned a corner, rounding another mountain.

This was nuts. This path had absolutely no logical reason to be here. It was solely willed into existence by the Daughter and by extension, her Father.

As I thought that, I felt the rapid disturbance of something huge screaming through the air straight towards me from behind.

The next thing I knew, I felt the breath explode from my lungs as a huge talon knocked me into the ground and pinned me down in its grasp.

I put everything I had on hand into the Force, just to keep my bones from breaking under the shock and weight.

“Ahsoka!”

I blearily opened my eyes, not even remembering when I had closed them.

A great gust of air, a flap of mighty wings and I was airborne.

Anakin, Obi-Wan and the Daughter rapidly shrunk as I was carried away into the sky in the talons of the bloody Son, in his 4 meter tall gargoyle-like form.

They didn’t have much time to worry about me though, as a massive piece of the neighboring mountain was literally flung at them under the telekinetic power of the Son.

Oh for fuck’s sake! I thought, glaring at the Celestial above me. Now what?

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Anakin gritted his teeth with the strain as he held his hands up to the sky.

Every lesson from Obi-Wan, Yoda and Ahsoka flowed through his head as he warred with himself as much as he fought against the titanic weight that threatened to crush them all.

It was but moments.

There had been no room for doubt or thought.

All he knew now was every contour of the giant piece of mountain that was in his telekinetic grasp.

He gathered not only strength from himself but from everywhere around him and moved the mass.

Redirecting its momentum so that it crashed against the mountain behind them, instead of turning them all into Naboo cake.

The sheer crunch and volume of stone against stone was enough to set his ears ringing and perversely made him glad Ahsoka wasn’t there to endure the loud noise. The rock slide continued for another few minutes as the local gravity took hold and further turned the huge chunk of mountain into smaller and smaller pieces as it fell.

He took a few moments to call on the Force, to regain equilibrium and strength, before he stepped up to Daughter’s form and had the novel experience of looking up at someone for once. “What was that?! Where would it have taken Ahsoka?!” he demanded.

Daughter’s eyes briefly flashed with surprise before she shook her head, “That was my brother. You are all in grave danger.”

“How can that be your brother?” he asked incredulously, pointedly waving his hand at her body.

“We can take different forms. My appearance that you see now is just a way for me to properly interact with you.”

“Where is my apprentice?”

“My brother will have taken her to his domain. The only way to get her back now is to enlist the aid of Father.”

Anakin shook his head, “That will take too long, take us to your brother’s domain.”

“You don’t understand,” Daughter shook her head sadly. “What you call ‘distance’ in Mortis is not easily defined. It’s in flux and always in motion, much like time is. You could spend months on the journey and still not make any appreciable gains in actually getting there, even if I told you exactly where it was.”

“That makes no sense,” Anakin objected.

“I am Daughter, I cannot lie. It’s not in my nature.”

“Mortis, is that the name of this place?” Obi-Wan asked curiously.

“Yes, you are within a Force Nexus and no longer in the material plane of existence.”

“So why is your father the only one who can help? Why can’t you?” Anakin asked suspiciously.

“Father maintains the balance between me and my brother. I can never raise a hand against my brother.”

“He damn near killed us and you still won’t even try to stop him?”

“It is not my place. Come, we are wasting time.”

She turned around and began walking.

Anakin and Obi-Wan glanced at each other and seeing no other choice, followed.

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I blinked into consciousness and was immediately assaulted with the pain of strained muscles in my shoulders and chest. In front of my eyes was a hard stone floor and I felt my limbs sprawled rather awkwardly on it.

It was pointless to feign unconsciousness in these circumstances given who I was dealing with, so I pulled my legs and arms together into a more natural position, rolling over onto my right side. Thankfully the armor was keeping me nice and comfy against the cool stone floor.

My echosense revealed only empty space within fifteen meters all around me and my eyes focused to show a rather incredible sight.

I was within a massive structure that was so large that it’s sole inhabitant didn’t even bother lighting all of it. What lighting there was around me was a cool blue and integrated into the floor and walls, radiating from it in rather beautiful patterns that could’ve been a language.

I was on a massive platform and twenty meters in front of me two colossal statues gazed forward. On the left, a winged beaked creature with glowing, bright blue eyes, on the right, a representation of the thing that had essentially kidnapped me, bat-like, with baleful red eyes that glared with malice.

Between the statues, a tall elegant T-shaped structure, from its arms hung two spheres with large stylized symbols on them that had to represent Ashla on the left sphere and Bogan on the right - Light and Dark, in balance.

On a raised dais in front of this, seated in a meditation pose was a very tall old ‘man’; long white beard, gray skin, wearing a long dark gray robe. Such was his height, that even seated he would tower over me if I was standing. His face’s structure gave the impression of age, with sharp lines, slightly sagging pointed noise and angled brows. What totally ruined his impression of humanity though, was the eyes; utterly black with glowing blue irises.

Those eyes stared at me with blatant, naked curiosity, with no mask or veil and that by itself was frightening. I did not want the attention of this being, yet I had it.

Get it over with, Ahsoka, I grumbled to myself.

I got to my feet and stretched out my arms and back muscles with a wince, redirecting the Force to heal the bruising in the process.

“I apologize for my son’s rough treatment,” said Father, his multifaceted deep voice echoing throughout the massive chamber, the Force, and in my montrals. “Gentleness is not exactly in his nature.”

“He should be the one apologizing, not you,” I retorted as I walked forward, coming to a stop within arm’s length of him and looking into his eyes.

“That’ll be a remarkable thing to witness, I confess,” he allowed a wan smile to adorn his face.

“He is capable of it, he would not be a ‘being’ in this universe otherwise,” I was saying it more for his benefit, demonstrating what I knew. “Ask your questions, Bendu. Let us not waste time.”

He looked amused, “Interesting name you give me.”

“It’s your role, your being, I can think of no more fitting name. Even the Other who claims the name would not mind, I believe.”

He nodded his head, “We haven’t spoken for many revolutions of this galaxy, ever since we emerged and coalesced into the forms you see now. Not that there is anything that needs to be said. We know, we watch, we guard. Yet in you, young one, I see a course that has shifted. A new yet old spirit. A mortal being awoken, who almost gazes at the universe as we do.”

“Yet you saw fit to throw a shroud over my eyes,” I pointed out.

“Yes, I believed it would interfere with my purpose for drawing your master here. Also when I perceived you, it was clear that my plan would need amending and to explore the possibilities your presence represents.”

“Let’s cut to the heart of this matter,” I said. My will called out the Force and it responded eagerly in a tsunami of power. As a mere affectation, I gestured with my hand behind me and the distant, massive doors of this structure slammed closed. “Now that we have some actual privacy from your son, I’ll speak more freely.”

Father quirked an eyebrow at my display, “It’s best to let his curiosity be sated. He hates not knowing things.”

“You indulge him too much,” I snapped with annoyance. “Love is not an excuse to forgive him for everything.”

His amused countenance faded. “You would lecture me?”

“Yes, you are evolved Celestials, who wield the Force with great power and ability, you’ve seen eons pass, but in all that time… how much have you truly lived? You’ve observed countless events and lives, you hold vast knowledge, but it’s no more impactful to you than watching endless holovids. You’re stuck here in this nexus of the Force, acting as balance against your children with their competing natures and keeping them imprisoned.”

Father closed his eyes and folded his huge hands behind his back. “You would not want them released into the galaxy.”

“Of course not, that would be a disaster.”

“That is why your master is here. I must determine if he is the One.”

I nodded, “The Chosen One, who will bring balance.”

He stared at me for a long moment, “You know much, young one. Though given what you are, I suppose that is to be expected.”

I felt a weariness that settled on my shoulders as I came to a realization looking at the Father. “You’re going to test him and no matter my words you will do it anyway. Never once thinking of the toll your test will take on him. The price you will pay.”

“This is a matter of survival, young one. Celestials are not immortal, despite what legends may claim. Even though we can live for eons as you count time, eventually we will succumb to the rigors of entropy and return our life to the Force. That time is soon upon me. With me gone, there is nothing to keep my children here. They will emerge from the Nexus into a galaxy totally unprepared to deal with their power and whims.

“My daughter will drown the people in utter peace, they will stagnate and in so doing die utterly in spirit, even as their bodies shamble onward. My son will revel in fostering more and more conflict, as he himself will take life at his every selfish whim.”

I gestured with open hand to him, “You’re forgetting a vital element in your plan. An element that will dash your hopes and it will eventually cost you your entire family.”

His face began slightly frowning. “Then speak of it. What can you think of, young one, that I haven’t already factored in?”

I couldn’t help it and just laughed. For all that they were so powerful and had moved the very structure of the galaxy with their power in the past, they were not omnipotent or all knowing. Father saw in broad strokes and didn’t see the true element on which his plan hinged.

“Oh, I’m so tempted to keep it to myself. Just to see the shoe on the other foot for once, but I can’t do it. It would be petty and selfish, considering I have to think of the other problem your family poses to the galaxy. I’m speaking about Mother.”

Mother, a name that was supposed to evoke love, warmth, good food and home. Yet here it spoke of a being, a former mortal woman who had cared for the Son and Daughter, kept peace between them, until her fear of age and death caused her to drink from the Font of Power and bathe in the Pool of Knowledge. It spoke of a terrible being whose true name I did not even want to think about, especially in this place.

Father just stared at me and began to idly comb his long beard with his fingers. “She is contained and will remain so until she also succumbs to time as I will.”

“Nope,” I shook my head. “The Clone Wars is just the opening of an era of prolonged conflict in the galaxy. It may simmer down at times, but the conflict began by the Banite Sith will keep burning. It will cause ripples in the Force that will just build and build on each other until eventually a tipping point is reached. The Current of the Force will be altered entirely and in that moment, the Mother will have the strength to break free from her prison.”

“For what you say to occur, will require so much conflict and death…” he trailed off staring into the distance.

“Yes and that is why I really don’t want any of you to die, but your little test of my master is the first step in a probability line that will cause it. You might have blinded my Prescience here, but I don’t need it to use my mind and l understand causality in a way few do.”

Father sighed, closed his eyes and his lips thinned in pain. “Speak, young one. I don’t care for my own life, but I do care for my children.”

“My master is not just the Chosen One, Bendu. He is at his most basic, a human. What goes with being human? Friendship, comradery, family, community and love. You think that him being the Chosen One, means he’d just abandon those things to come here to Mortis and play eternal mediator between Daughter and Son?” I couldn’t help but scoff. “Don’t be ridiculous. The entire Jedi Order, the Republic, is at war for survival. His own sense of honor, duty and loyalty means he could never give that up, which is what you’re asking of him.

“Your test will destroy any possible alliance with him. He will refuse and rightly tell you to frak off. Your respect of free will means that you allow him to make that decision and you don’t even think of using force to keep us here. However, your son will take the opportunity to try and leave. He will use me and Anakin to achieve it. You naturally see the attempt and he won’t even entertain the notion of you stopping him. He attacks you with his growing strength in the dark side, leaving you near-death and Daughter is left to try to heal you. This leaves us three to try to stop your son. Can you imagine how that would go?”

Father stood at this point, towering up to a height of nearly two and half meters. “Daughter would heal me, but our combined strength wouldn’t be enough to stop my son. I would tell you to find the one thing capable of truly killing us.”

“Your final contingency plan works, but when the dust settles on this battle, all three of you are dead. You sacrifice yourself essentially to make sure that Anakin makes it out of Mortis, so that he can fulfill his destiny.”

He stared at me with intense eyes, “You speak truth as you know it. I know myself and see that in your words. How strange it is. To actually experience this feeling of novelty at something unexpected happening. You bring dread to this old being, young one. If we all die, then at least the universe will be spared, we will return to the Force, but what you say of the Mother…”

He gestured to the side for me to join him and began walking slowly in deference to my own relatively short steps. We were headed off the main central platform of this space and onto a walkway leading off to the side towards a large door.

“It is now night outside, I need time to think and meditate on your words. Through this door and on the first left you will find a space where you can spend the night, attend to the needs of your form. I shall have Daughter bring your master and his companion here when it is safe for them to travel. Hopefully, by then I will have some alternative.”

He gestured at the door and it grinded open to reveal a long hallway with the odd door settled into both sides.

“You realize the Son will probably try something. I reserve the right to kick his ass, if such a thing is possible.”

Father chuckled, “That is unlikely. At best you will make enough of a disturbance to alert me. No, he will be subtle. Be wise when he tests you, young one.”

“I will.”

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Anakin stared into the meager flames of the fire they had managed to light. With fuel scrounged together from the dead wood of the plants, outside the cave they were now taking shelter in.

The cave itself was filled with distinct clumps of crystal growths that almost looked like kyber, but it was quickly apparent that while these were strong conduits for the Force, everything around them was strong with the Force. He could take a handful of the sand he was sitting on and it would be just as powerful as the best kyber you could harvest from Ilum.

Obi-Wan was on the other side of the fire, seated with the serene pose of meditation.

“I should’ve seen it coming,” he grumbled to himself, tightening his fists as anger rose. He knew he was being unfair to himself. Even Ahsoka had been surprised by that creature. “I should’ve grabbed that thing.” An inner voice that sounded suspiciously like Ahsoka quickly pointed out that then they would’ve all been dead under thousands of tons of rock.

“You’ve always been so hard on yourself, even as a boy.”

He launched himself with the Force and was on his feet, facing the achingly familiar voice. He only just stopped his lightsaber from activating and running her through.

Shmi Skywalker stood there, her skin looking smooth, tanned and vital. She was wearing her typical understated beige dress, perfect for the desert environment of Tatooine. Her brown hair pulled back and tied up exactly as he remembered from his youth. He could even suddenly smell the desert sand and the spices of their old home kitchen.

His heart ached and he fought to let go of his anger. “What is this? My mother is dead.”

“Nothing really ever dies, my son,” she said softly, looking at him lovingly. “Does the Jedi not say that there is no death, there is the Force?”

He narrowed his eyes with suspicion, “Yes, they do say that. How do you know?”

“Do you think I remained ignorant of the Jedi after Cliegg Lars freed me and I married him?” she retorted with a mild rebuke. “You’re my only son. I wanted to know everything about the people and the organization which pulled you away from me.”

“Makes sense, I suppose,” Anakin stepped backward and lowered the hilt of his lightsaber.

“I have come only now because this place is what the Jedi would call a Force Nexus, in some respects you are completely in the Force. It is much easier for me to reach you now and I have retained my identity for this moment to tell you something.”

“Then tell me,” he allowed.

“Everything you have done, everything you have learned, has led you here.”

“For what?”

She smiled gently, “Your destiny, your purpose, the reason you were born from me, when there was no father.”

Anakin shook his head, “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Shmi shrugged, “Well, yes, you’re right, but only from a conventional point of view. Your father is actually the Force itself. So in a sense, you’ve actually come home.”

“Really? This place does not feel like home at all,” he retorted with skepticism.

“Your mind is still fettered and chained to a mortal existence, until you let go of it, this place will remain alien and hostile. When you truly embrace your destiny, you can remake it as you please. Nothing will be out of your reach.”

“That sounds interesting,” Anakin folded his arms and looked intrigued. “So will I then be able to bring you back to life?”

“You still blame yourself for my death,” she shook her head sadly. “Answer me this truly. Would you return me to life only to make me endure more hardship? To live in a galaxy at war? I am at peace in the Force.”

Anakin closed his eyes and felt the question cut straight to the heart. “No.”

“Your Jedi training has served you well so far, Ani. But you must sense that you are more than that. Look at how easily you stopped half a mountain from falling on you and your companions. That will be a minor feat in comparison to what you could achieve.”

He folded his hands together and smiled, “That was pretty amazing.”

“Yes, and if you release your pain the path will open to more. Tell me, so I can release you from it.”

He grimaced and turned away, only for Shmi to step closer and lightly caress his face, “I was too late to save you. I was so busy with the galaxy, training, the Jedi and if I just… for one moment, just grabbed a ship and flew out to Tatooine even a month earlier or a year… you would still be alive. I’d face the consequences to the Jedi, but it would’ve been worth it. Even if they expelled me!”

“Your guilt does not define you, my son.”

He shook his head, “Then to make it even worse. After you died, I slaughtered so many to avenge your death. I absolutely failed as a Jedi even before I was a knight.”

“You are holding onto this, when you don’t need to.”

“I’m afraid of losing my wife,” Anakin said, closing his eyes, taking a step back from Shmi. “Losing her to any number of dangers and people who would happily see her dead. I’m afraid of losing my apprentice, not just to this war, but to Sidious and the effort it would take to defeat him. That she would lose herself in the process.”

He opened his eyes, only to glare directly into the eyes of Shmi. “My deepest fear though, is succumbing to you, giving up the fight and letting you take over.”

Anakin shoved his hand forward and the Force exploded forward gripping Shmi from all sides before sending her slamming into the cave wall with such strength that it shattered under the blow.

“You think I would not recognize you for what you truly are?”

Shmi merely smirked even as she was subjected to forces that would’ve pulverized and crushed normal matter. Her eyes turned red briefly and she laughed in a hollow echoing tone.

Anakin blinked once and the shape of his mother was replaced with a much smaller version of the creature that had abducted Ahsoka, then in the next moment it snarled at him before simply vanishing.

“Anakin?”

Obi-Wan’s voice was a welcome relief and he turned around to see that his former master had literally meditated through the entire confrontation with the creature and was looking around in astonishment at the damage.

“You didn’t sense or feel a thing?”

Obi-Wan just shook his head, “No, I… had a conversation with-” The Jedi Master clearly looked reluctant to continue.

“Let me guess, someone who died?”

“Yes, it was Master Qui-Gon.”

“Join the club, I had a chat with my mother, who wasn’t my mother but instead that Dark Side creature that took Ahsoka.”

Obi-Wan shook his head, “This was definitely Master Qui-Gon. Not something pretending to be him. This place, the entire ‘planet’, if it even can be called that. Is a place where those Jedi who have passed into the Force can return, if they so choose. Especially to those with whom they shared a strong bond in life.”

“That’s crazy and amazing, if true,” Anakin looked around, before concentrating and pushing along the bond with Ahsoka. “Damn.”

“Still can’t reach her?”

“Yes, bond’s still there. She’s alive but nothing will get through,” he said with frustration and sat down in front of the fire. He stared out of the cave mouth and saw beyond only the darkness that was occasionally lit by the flash of the electrical storm outside.

“As long as that remains, then there is hope. If she fell to the Dark Side you would know.”

“I don’t know, Obi-Wan. The normal rules don’t seem to apply here as much as they should. I bet even you could throw a mountain if you had to.”

“Let us hope it doesn’t come to that.”

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Sleeping in the middle of a thunderstorm was something I normally didn’t have a problem with.

Yet for some reason trying to fall asleep in the Force Nexus of Mortis was an issue for me. I kept hovering in that damnable zone just before REM sleep, not truly asleep, yet not awake, only half-conscious and partially aware of my surroundings.

I had kept my armor on and had M8 try to take readings from our surroundings. The poor droid intelligence was absolutely baffled, as while there was visible light around us, nothing else was there. It was patently impossible and extremely uncomfortable. Even when I tried to explain, it was clear that she had no context even if she could comprehend it intellectually. Eventually I put her on a standby mode, just to make things easier until we could leave Mortis.

I grumbled in annoyance and rolled over onto my right side, pulling the very thin blanket along with me in a way that nearly tangled me up. There was only a single thin pillow in the small quarters that Bendu had given to me and my neck was not thanking me for it.

The appearance of the Son was almost a welcome relief at this point, just so I could pull my own consciousness properly into a full waking state, but kept my eyes closed.

“Why are you even trying? You have nothing to say to me that I would want to hear.”

“Oh you’ll hear and listen to me, Ahsoka,” I heard my own voice, but it had a strange note to it, as if it was coming through a speaker or voice modulator.

I cracked open an eye and glanced up at the Son.

My heart couldn’t help but cringe at seeing the form he had adopted.

I was a full adult, with lekku that hung down my chest and back. Montrals that were high up and pointed. A full bosom that I both would love to have and despaired of getting because of the headache it would be managing them. A strong body, a full six pack even.

That was as far as my approval went.

Void black armored thigh highs and boots, armored vambraces and gauntlets. Then a black bikini/thong hybrid, with a front panel that just barely covered me properly down there. Supporting my breasts was a tight black brassiere that nevertheless left a generous cleavage exposed. Covering my face was something that almost reminded me of Darth Malgus’ mask, but which also had a covering for the eyes.

As much as this form titillated, I could also feel the sheer emptiness of it, a caricature and void of life. I could barely make out the eyes behind that mask, but I knew it would be apathetic, yet filled with a cunning malign intelligence.

“Urgh,” I grimaced. “If worse comes to worse, I can already see future Imperial officers not knowing whether to cream in their pants or shit in them.”

Dark Ahsoka laughed hollowly, “Always using humor as a shield in the face of the ugly truth, the inevitable.”

I sighed and sat up partially, supporting my head on my hand and elbow, wedged onto the mattress and regarded the Son with a bored look. “Nothing is inevitable.”

The Son tutted, “Aw, if only you truly believed that in your heart. You can put up as many masks as you want, I know the truth, Ahsoka. I know your fears.”

“And now here comes the part where you’ll offer to make it all go away, offer me the power to make Palpatine dead so thoroughly, even his essence will be destroyed, unable to possess another cloned body.”

“Would that be so bad, Ahsoka?”

“What would be the price though? Fall into the Dark Side and specifically your clutches so thoroughly, that it will give you a free ticket out of this Nexus.”

He stepped forward, walking towards the nearby window. Good grief, he even walked alluringly, each step causing that seemingly perfect body to move and jiggle in all the right ways. Here he was using my own appreciation for beauty against me. Made worse because he was using a future-me as a canvas.

He stretched and breathed in deeply. “Ah, all that delicious, wonderful conflict. It won’t be long now, until I’m strong enough to kill Father. When that happens one of the last places you’ll want to be is opposing me. At my side though, the universe will be ours for the taking. Just think of it. Every enemy of the Republic,” he snapped his fingers, “poof, gone. The hutts and all their criminal elements, a thing of the past. The Sith, bah, calling these Banites anything related to the Sith or the Dark Side is an insult-”

“Let me stop you right there, Bogan. There’s the not small matter of the Jedi, who’ll try to stop your massacre through the galaxy.”

“The Jedi, the Light,” he sneered with disgust. “They’ll be an ant that we can crush. If they stand in the way of this bright utopia that I see you hold so dear in your heart, why would you ever want to defend them or be a part of them?”

“That utopia you see is not something to be achieved with the blood of trillions. That you’re calling it that tells me that even you are failing to comprehend it. Not surprising, given how steeped you are in the Dark Side. It’s the only lens you see the universe through now and the only context you have. How’s this for a probability line? You and me, charging through the galaxy, eliminating the ‘bad guys’, only succeeding in uniting the galaxy to fight against us in the name of survival. Even if they fail and we defeat them again and again. All that happens is we end up exterminating the galaxy of life. Oh and remind me, what is the Force again?”

He turned around and sneered at me, anger rising from his form like smoke.

“No answer to that little fundamental problem, is there? Every time you kill, in small lots or large, you’re diminishing your power. A beast overhunting his prey.”

“And what of the lives you’ve taken, young one?”

“I’ve killed,” I shrugged. “I will kill in the future. I’ll even arrange for others to do the deed, knowing it will lead to death. I’ve made peace with that fact, given the enemy I’m facing. It’s not the only tool I have, unlike you.”

“You think you have all the answers, how arrogant,” he laughed with my adult voice in a very creepy manner. “I look forward to the day when all your cleverness fails you and then I will be there, waiting.”

“I too look forward to that day, only to prove to myself that I will continue the good fight and not let my heart be dominated by darkness.” I laid back down on the bed and closed my eyes. “Leave, we’ll no doubt be seeing each other later.”

I heard a brief animalistic screech, a flap of wings and he disappeared from my senses.

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A/N: First Mortis chapter done, hope you enjoyed.  Have a great weekend and stay awesome folks.