Fall of the Jedi

Chapter 1

"A lesson taught is not always a lesson learned."

Dry. Dusty. Hot. So, very hot.

Sweat trickled down her nose and stung in her eye. The beating of her own heart pounded in her ears so loudly it was impossible to focus on little else. Fear corrupted her mind and embedded so deeply in her core that panic set in, burning like a wildfire, catching through every fiber in her being. She had never felt such a fear in her entire life.

Below her lay a coliseum larger than she'd ever seen. Chaos erupted throughout the stadium. She felt a draw to a single human figure below. A Jedi Master. His presence was so familiar and yet foreign. He radiated strength and the wisdom of more than fifty years.

Fear. Anger. Hate. Suffering.

Another man stood opposite the Jedi Master; she couldn't see anything but his silhouette, but she felt him as if she'd known him her entire life. He was a dangerous man; he was a man who had spent his whole life killing. He was a man who rarely felt fear but that was all she could sense from him.

The overwhelming sense of grief filled her heart, it weighed so heavily and stabbed so deeply in her chest. Then, all at once, everything dissipated and froze. There was nothing. Silence where there was once chaos. The world darkened around her and the hopelessness set in, capturing her in its unforgiving claws.

"You are troubled." His voice was warm and calm, it broke through her consciousness and brought her back to reality. Her ice blue eyes shot open, the silhouette of the desert coliseum faded away, the fear, hopelessness, and pain all sank away with every breath. She found herself staring into deep brown eyes. Eyes so dark it was almost impossible to see the separation from iris to pupil. She sat crisscross, hands on her knees, to her left, he sat with his hand on the controls to their Paladin-class corvette cruiser. His expression was stern but concerned. He was tall, even when sitting. Dark skin and eyes, clean shaven head. He was one of the most powerful Jedi she knew, he was her mast er.

"I... don't know." She brought a hand to her temple trying to clear her clouded mind, trying to regain her sense of reality. "I can't tell what that was."

He watched her calmly, waiting for her to collect herself. She shook her head and let out a loud breath. "What did you see?"

"There was this giant coliseum, somewhere in the desert. There was panic and chaos and fear and pain... and all I could focus on was a Jedi and another man." She rambled, closing her eyes tightly. "I think it was a vision?" She said it as more of a question than a statement.

"Be mindful of these emotions, Padawan," He said calmly, "These emotions can blind you from what the Force was trying to manifest."

"Yes, Master Windu," She nodded politely before biting the inside of her cheek. "Master, I have never felt anything so... intense. Why would the Force show something like that?"

Master Mace Windu pondered for a moment. "The Force is rarely obvious," He said. "We will meditate on this further later. We will learn what it means, but we must focus on our mission. We will be hitting Tooma airspace in twenty minutes."

The young padawan nodded. "I just... I don't know how to explain it, Master. It was like my heart was ripped out of my chest at the sight of this man. Not the Jedi. The other one."

"Did you recognize him?"

"No," She answered. "It was only the silhouette of him, but he felt familiar."

"We will learn this vision's meaning." He said reassuringly, trying to hide the concern he was feeling for his young pupil.

"It makes me uneasy." She mumbled as Master Windu flicked over the comm switch waiting for the moment Tooma spaceport would ask for their chain codes and grant them permission to land.