Earthlings 2: The Dark Age

25

18 BBY, Jabiim

"Meditating again?" 

Eli opened one eye to look at Ivan, who had been playing a card game against a kid named Sully before approaching him for whatever reason. "Mmhm. Just trying to keep calm in all the chaos."

"Chaos-?" Ivan raised a brow. "Like what happened on Takath last month?"

Eli sighed, not wanting to be reminded of the orbital bombardment that had devastated the northern hemisphere of Takath, where his station was. Both the safehouse in town and in the Jagged Valleys had been destroyed in the attack, leaving Eli without a station and many force sensitives of the planet without a place to go. The reason? A rebel cell had been operating in Takath, funded by Senator Rivska- who had previously been detained for his speeches against the Empire, yet continued to support the growing rebellion.

"Yeah, the Empire's ugly side is showing more and more," He muttered, drawing in a breath. 

"No kidding," Ivan agreed. "I've been hearing lots of news lately. Dad's gotten in a scuffle with an Imperial captain on Kaller over whether he's on spice or not."

"Your dad doesn't seem to be a spice addict," Eli remarked. 

"Exactly!" Ivan huffed. "I've never even seen Dad smoke a death stick, and we smuggled some at one point back in the day. His resistance to spice is impressive. Even stopped me  from trying some."

Eli shot him a look. "You wanted to try a death stick-?"

"When I was 11. Wondered what it would taste like."

"It tastes like an e-cigarette, I'll bet."

"What's an e-cigarette?"

"Something you do not want to try." 

"Fair enough." Ivan shrugged before sitting down next to Eli. "Have you heard the news on Mon Cala?" 

"Mon Cala-?" Eli raised a brow.

"Mmhm." Ivan nodded, tossing a chance cube in the air repeatedly. "The Imperial ambassador there was blown up. No one knows why... yet. But the Imperials declared war on Mon Cala for the incident. What's more- the Inquisitors showed up to the planet's surface upon suspicion that a Jedi is involved."

Eli drew in a breath. "A Jedi-? How-?"

"I don't know," Was Ivan's response. "All I know that the Jedi's supposedly gotten in touch with the king."

Eli's eyes widened at this, suddenly having a sinking suspicion that he knew who Ivan was talking about.

His crazy Iktochi friend. 

--

"Ferren-?" Eliezer repeated, blinking at Eli's words. "How can you be sure?"

"I'm 99% sure, especially after meditating on the situation," Was Eli's solemn response. "He's on Mon Cala right now, and-"

"Whoa whoa whoa-" Eliezer held up a hand. "Slow down. So... Ferren's on Mon Cala?"

Eli nodded.

"Perhaps he's gathering more supporters," Roken surmised. "That's what he told us he'd do shortly before leaving- gather enough people to start up a fight against the Empire. If he's starting his own rebel cell, he's gonna need a lot of luck. Especially with what he's up against."

"Oh, no... if I know Ferren, he can handle himself," Eli quipped with a chuckle. "I went on a few missions with him during the war. On this one planet, we were arrested by the Separatist forces there, and he used mind tricks to get the battle droids to get the two of us some food. Then he used his public speaking skills to instigate a prison break."