Episode I Barash Vow part I
The sound of ocean waves calm crashing against the rocky outline of the otherwise golden sandy beach as Jedi Grand-master Luke Skywalker calmly sat down cross legged on large but smooth rock in a spot that overlooked the rising twin suns of the remote borderlines of the mysterious unknown regions in a star system that would be hard pressed to find on any star map.
The planet had many names…but the most common ones were either Solara-which was coincidentally the name of the planet’s second moon that orbit the planet in harmony with it’s twin being named, Umbra also known Ashla and Bogan, which literally translated to the Light and the Dark individually…but the local inhabitants of this world also referred to it as Lu’Cass.
The sound of calm and tranquil waves gently crash against the rocky outline of the gray sandy beach; Jedi master Luke Skywalker serenely meditated in a rather shaded area of the beach with his closed and his body almost beginning to float in midair as the legendary Jedi wrlcomely opened himself up to both the cosmic and living aspects of the force with the now older man feeling a spiritual connection to all living beings throughout the galaxy. The master Force wielder sat in deep meditation for what felt like an eternity yet what also felt like a few moments with his mind freely open to the vast interweb of the cosmos as he linked with all forms of life throughout the galaxy.
"Dad?" A familiar voice calls to the meditating grandmaster.
Luke did not open his eyes to see who was calling, the master Jedi had a grand total of Thirteen children, the three eldest being three children that the Grandmaster had fathered sometime after the Fall of the empire with his eventual wife and fellow Jedi Master, Mara Jade, prior to officially getting married in 19 ABY-three named, Nathan, Griffin and Chelsea Skywalker, the oldest Nathan being the product of a brief but passionate fling that had occurred following his fateful encounter with his father, Anakin Skywalker I also known as the Sith Lord, Darth Vader at the sky bound metropolis known as cloud city with a pair of twins, there second son, Griffin Skywalker and eldest daughter, Chelsea Smywalker being born a couple of years later in 15 ABY following a short trist between their-and the later additional Ten decuplets children that were born following the establishment of the New Galactic Empire four years later-with Mara Jade as acting Empress and Luke as Emperor consort-in order their names were, Obi Wan, Avar, Owen, Anakin, Mariek, Padme, Reyes, Jaina, Bastila and George Skywalker.
Without so much as opening his eyes,Luke replied back,”….Did you’re mother send you, Ben?” The Grandmaster without breaking his meditative state.
‘Ben’ was Luke’s little nickname for his third eldest son, Obi Wan-named for his first Jedi master, Obi Wan Kenobi…in fact four out of the Grand Master’s eight Octuplet children were named for an opportunity people in Luke’s life or in one’s case his sister, Leia’s; Aside from Obi Wan there was Luke and Mara’s Second & Third born sons, Owen and Anakin-who were named for Luke’s uncle/Adoptive father, Owen Lars and ofcourse his biological father, Anakin Skywalker, and then there was the two Jedi masters third born daughter, Padme Skywalker- named for Luke’s late mother, Padme Admidala…which was a name agreed upon between Mara and Leia, Though Luke had no real objections to the name. The remaining octuplets were given random names that both Parents liked.
“Well no…actually it was master Tano did!” The young jedi shyly admits somewhat bashfully.
Luke sigh and quickly got up from his meditation spot a rock in the middle of the beach."...anyway, have you changed?" Luke asked his son with a mostly casual tone.
Ben quickly shook his head and replied with a simple, "No," with a visible frown on his face."...listen, Dad, I know taking a Barash Vow might sound a little brash since you know I had just become a knight-" Luke couldn't help but let out a rather light-sounding laugh."Yeah...I guess that's one way of putting it." Obi-Wan immediately gave a somewhat hurt expression.
The young Jedi had told Luke about his nightmares-his visions of the not-so-distant future. In these dreams, had seen a galaxy by conflict-one not unlike the great galactic civil war that his father, as well as his Aunt Leia Organa-Solo and her husband and his Uncle by marriage, Han Solo had fought in roughly thirty-four years ago-in Ben's knew that not all force visions can be...'vague' to varying degrees...but his visions were so clear and almost unmuddled that it was almost unsettling.
The visions, Obi-wan Skywalker knew, were no mere tricks of the subconscious mind. Instead, they were ominous warnings from the Force itself-a haunting tapestry of destruction, pain, and death. Men and women, clad in all-white armor that was very reminiscent of the stormtrooper grunts from the military of the former galactic Empire, wreaked havoc on countless worlds. This mysterious army was led by figures clad in all-black attire-which was a mix of Sith-like robes and armor wielding blood red-hued Lightsabers. Ben did not full know if these mysterious dark side figures were some sort of reborn Sith order-or something else entirely...but he knew that he needed to find out the true meaning of these visions and do that the young Skywalker ultimately figured that a Barash vow, which requires him to isolate himself from the order and his family to a degree.
The thought of leaving behind the order and essentially everyone and everything that hr has known his whole life didn’t really seem right to the young Jedi…but ultimately he knew deep down that the right thing to do.
“…You seem to be somewhat troubled my old Padawan?” Luke says with a faint yet knowing smile on his face.”Having second thoughts your Barash vow?”
Obi-wan gave the Jedi Grandmaster a rather wry smile and jokingly answered back,"Well, maybe just a tad!" He admitted sheepishly, a grin quickly spreading across the outline of his lips. Ben didn't really want to leave behind his family or the order, but he knew that the way of the Jedi was of both unwavering commitment and self-sacrifice. Luke Skywalker rested his still-flesh-and-blood left hand gently rested on his son's shoulder, a warm and somewhat reassuring smile lightly showing on face."Whatever you decide," Luke said,"Just know that I'm proud of you, Obi-wan."
*****
Obi-Wan wry smile lingered as he calmly gazed out at the twin suns of Lu'Cass. The subtle warmth of Luke's one remaining hand on his shoulder with the feeling of his hand on his shoulder somewhat grounded me and gave me a small sense of solace, even as uncertainty slowly churned within. The Jedi code demanded sacrifice, but family-the pull of love and connection-was equally powerful.
He remembered the tales of ancient Jedi, who'd faced similar choices.
“Well, whatever you decide to,” Luke began with a still faint,”…just know both as your former master and as your father.”
“Thanks Dad.” Obi Wan says giving a rather sheepish smile.
The young knight soon watches as the Jedi grandmaster leaves to attend to his duties, Ben lingers on the gray sandy beach for a little while longer with his gaze directed towards the far-off horizon. The calm ocean waves of Lu’Cass gently crash against the shore's rocky outline in a slow rhythm as the planet’s twin suns sluggishly rising in the distance.
Obi Wan closed his eyes and so, soon reached out to the four aspects of the Force, living, physical, cosmic and unifyimg-the young Jedi briefly checking to see if that same lingering darkness he had felt so many times before was still present within it’s cosmic ebb-and if so…then where? Obi wan Skywalker feel darkness steadily growing stronger somewhere out in the galaxy-he just didn't know where exactly?
As Ben soon drew the Temple’s eastern quarters area he silently recited the first iteration of his order’s code:
There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.
There is no fear, there is power.
I am the revealing fire of light.
I am the mystery of darkness.
In balance with chaos and harmony,
Immortal in the Force.
Obi wan could almost hear the somewhat hushed conversations fellow knights and masters as calmly walked down the open corridors of the planet’s main Temple-the young man passing Jedi-well technically “Jedi” was not the correct term the young Skywalker knew but that is what the people of the galaxy referred to them most of the time…and while not inaccurate the official name of his family’s sect was the Jedi Bendu.
After the fall of the Galactic empire a number of Bokken Jedi and former padawans soon came out of hiding after years persecution.
Meeting on the planet Ossus, discovering that they each had their own beliefs and ideas on how the Jedi order should be restored and restructured it was ultimately decided that the Jedi would schism into two individual sects with Luke Skywalker and his followers settling first in the outer Rim…first on the former rebel hero’s homeworld of Tattooine then on here on Lu’Cass and naming themselves the Jedi Bendu, a second-more traditional sect of Jedi returned to the Jedi Temple on the old Republic capital world of Coruscant and resumed they’re role as knights of the newly restored Republic.
As the young knight headed directly towards the Dormitory area on the northeastern part of the main Temple with a paradoxical feeling of hidden doubt and stoic conviction; The busy chatter of padawans, knights, and masters passed as Skywalker silently recited the code of his order:
Flowing through all, there is balance.
There is no peace without a passion to create.
Knowledge fades without the strength to act.
Power blinds without the serenity to see.
There can be no Darkness without Light nor Light without Darkness, but the Darkness must not be allowed to flourish.
There is freedom in life, there is purpose in death.
The Force is all things and I am the Force.
These words had always been somewhat of a cold comfort for the young Skywalker during times of hardship and strife during his tenure as his father's padawan...and now they would have to serve himself twice as much now that he was a full-fledged Jedi knight.
"Ben! Obi-Wan!" Obi-Wan immediately froze abruptly in his tracks with the soles of his boots lightly scraping the smooth stone floor of the ancient Temple pathway, the young knight quickly whipped around to face, whoever had called him-only to be met with the familiar grinning face of grinning young human woman dressed in Jet-black Jedi robes with a rather cylinder shaped Lightsaber hilt calmly resting at her left hip ready to be ignited anywhere and at any moment.” morning Padme,” Ben says friendly greeting his younger sister.
Padme Skywalker immediately gave her 'elder' brother a very skeptical look but did not say anything outright to him."...are you really serious about taking a Barash vow?" she asked with a visible concern apparent in her voice. Obi-Wan's facial expression immediately grew dark with a very stern and stoic sense of sense seriousness."Yes," he says with a rather icy undertone."...my answer hasn't changed."
Padme immediately gave a light shrug of her shoulders and replied,"Yeah, I figured as much-" The young woman paused with the outline of her mouth quickly curved up into a shy smile."...I was surprised when Satine requested the council's permission to go with you." the young knight says to her brother with a subtly teasing tone in her voice. The two siblings soon began to walk together.
"Yeah, well-" Ben paused briefly with his face halfway turning a visible reddish-pink color."...I guess that makes two of us."
Padme sarcastically rolled her emerald green eyes both she and Obi wan in the middle of the empty hallway with her arms soon crossing over her chest." you know that the order allows romantic relationships right?" the young woman pointed out to her brother, who gave a simple nod of the head.” I'm pretty sure that has nothing to do with Satine deciding to join me in search for-" Ben paused thinking."...for whatever it is that's out there!" he says referring to the unknown darkness lurking somewhere out there in the great galaxy.
"Ha right...well please just take of yourself brother!" She laughs light-heartedly before abruptly wrapping her arms around her brother in a genuine display of familial affection.
"Heh, you know me, Mae...I'm always careful." Obi-wan says softly immediately returning the hug lightly squeezing his sister's waist.
Meanwhile...
Luke Skywalker calmly enters the High Council chamber, where the Eleven members were just beginning to discuss important matters." ah Grandmaster SSkywalker...how nice of you to finally join us!" a male Trandoshan dressed in deep brown robes with golden outlining half-hisses in greeting to the Grandmaster. Luke immediately gives the reptilian Jedi master a friendly quipped back,"...well it's not everyday that one says goodbye to both a son and padawan on the same, Master Vossk." Luke says subtly eyeing a woman dressed in all black Jedi robes with long firey red hair that had by the looks of it had recently began to gray.
Grandmaster Skywalker's blue eyes quickly swept over the group from left to right, himself-there were two additional Grandmasters of the Jedi Bendu order-the first being a male Kel Dor named, Zhu Koon, whose mother, Sha Koon was herself a jedi knight of the old pre empire era Jedi order and was actually the niece of the High council member, Plo Koon...making him apart of a blood Jedi lineage similar to himself-the second co-grandmaster was a male member of the Muun species named, Hego Venn.
Aside from the three Grandmasters, the council was a diverse collection of the order's wisest senior masters, there were ofcourse traditional roles of the council aside from that of Grandmaster naturally-there was the Master of the order, Jedi weapon Master and Battle Master-the remaining council members being granted the honorary title of elder master. The current Master of the order was a human man from the outerrim world of Lothal, named, Ezra Bridger. The title of weapon Master was currently occupied by the Trandoshan Jedi, Korrak Vossk, and lastly the current holder of the title of Battle Master was none other than Luke's own wife and Venn's old student, Mara Jade Skywalker.
Luke immediately took his place in between his two co-Grandmasters, and like that, the meeting began right away.
"So, what is on the agenda for this fine morning?" The human Grandmaster asks only somewhat sarcastically to his peers.
An older Togruta woman was the first to speak up drawn Mentioning that Crimson Dawn has been aggressively muscling in on Hutt."...are you suggesting that we may have a gang war on our hands Master Tano?" A female Bithe-who's name was Zara K'Vith inquired her fellow council member.
Ahsoka Tano gave a rather light shrug of the shoulders and answered back in a calm and undecisive tone."...not necessary...but I would strongly suggest sending out a detachment knights and at least one master to swiftly deal with the situation before grows too out of hand." she says with a somewhat sober tone of voice.
Luke nodded in quiet agreement with his father’s old padawan and three or four of the other masters voiced their own opproval of the notion.
A few more topics were brought during the meeting and Luke instantly knew that today was going to be long day.
“Bweep Beep Bvvert” Obi Wan heard his own personal Astromech droid-a somewhat old R10 series Astromech droid with the numeric designation, R10 X10 let out a complex series of beeps and boops that were actually a sophisticated form of binary language-it’s one cyclops like immediately fixating on him.
“I know R10…I’m going to miss this place too.” Ben says lightly patting the long-cylinder shaped droid's domed head affectionately.
The young Jedi took a brief look around sparsely decorated room, all seven of his octuplet siblings had personalized each of their rooms with reverberant displays of personal hobbies and pastimes, his sister Thalia was gifted artist-her room an almost miniature art gallery with various pictures and paintings, his brothers Owen and Anakin were both expert mechanics and engineers-the two often spending long nights in the Temple hanger repairing or upgrading old vehicles and ships or in their rooms working on 'pet projects'...in fact that was how Obi-Wan got R10-a present from Anakin, after the ladder had found the poor left to rust in an abandoned imperial scrape yard-Eloise was the most musical inclined of them and would often the Force as 'the great symphony of life'. His sister Padme-or Mae as he and his other siblings like to call was the bookish type spending long hours studying in the Temple Archives from early morning to late afternoon and was actually best friends with Satine, his brother Mariek was a devoted student of the blade mastering all seven forms of Lightsaber combat and took every opportunity to practice. And Lastly was his youngest brother Korran, who much like their father was a major podracing fan with posters of old pro racer decorating the walls of his room.
An almost visible tear soon came to the young Skywalker's eye as a whole host of memories came abruptly rushing to the forefront.
“Bwoop Bweep Beep?” R10 immediately asked the young Jedi if he was alright? His words coming out as a intricate yet short series of Beeps boops.
Ben briefly wiped away the flickering begins of tears in his eyes and quickly slung a duffel bag full of clothes and other supplies he may need on his left shoulder.” Yeah, I’m alright R10…come on Satine’s probably wondering what’s taking us so long.” Obi-Wan says to his loyal Astromech, who gives him a rather sarcastical sounding beep.” Har har very funny…you do know that I can reprogram anytime I choose?” He warns/threatens the droid, who gave the Astromech equivalent of a shudder as the two of them heading off to the Eastern hangar bay of the Temple, where Satine was waiting for them-along with Obi Wan’s brother, Anakin-who ‘generously’offered to drop the two off on their Aunt Leia’s homeworld of Aquilae along the way to carry out a mission in the same star system.
