Star Wars: Light & Dark Rising

16. Plagued

The team of Jedi, Mandalorian, and droid had been on the move from Dantooine for a few months, avoiding Imperial systems whenever possible. But they have had to make a couple small stops simply for supplies, which they must do yet again. Hopefully this stop, like the other two so far, will be brief.

The Guardian is in hyperspace on autopilot, heading for their next destination. Its inhabitants are in all together in the main room of the ship, they were originally trying to entertain themselves during the wait by playing Sabaac while Jim tries placing the pieces of his soon to be blade together, preparing for the actual construction.

But once it had started -the lightsaber pieces, the matrix, the hilt, the crystal- all of it, the pieces started floated together as Jim sat in the center of the room in a meditative stance. The pieces hovered about half a meter above the ground, circling around each other and almost hesitatingly as if it were testing themselves before going together.

Due to Jim facing the others, this caught his companions' attention. Maverick watched from his spot in the corner, where he messed with the holomitter, paying half attention to both. Jake was making some adjustments to EO but watched the potential blade almost with a small smirk. Even Daini, who was sitting on a sofa to the side and cleaning her blaster, noticed and looked up in fascination.

The extra pieces circle around and try to fit next to each other, bumping awkwardly as they searched for their proper places. And the light crystal glowed radiantly as it flew above, and finally floated down to the center. Finally, in one last spin, the parts went around each other in their places, before conjoining together into a sleek, silver, and curved hilt. Jim finally stood and reached to the hilt, it fitting right in his grasp. With the flick of his hand, the lightsaber suddenly turned on, a fully white blade appearing.

Jim had never seen anything like it. A pure white blade, as classy and beautiful as it is powerful. The others watched and each of their faces held differing levels of awe. Jim then carefully brandished the lightsaber, testing it. It moved swiftly and gracefully. He held it one hand and tried a makashi stance, and then grabbed the lightsaber on his belt. He tossed the lightsaber from his belt to Jake, who promptly caught it.

"It seems now we'll be able to spar, brother." Jake says, a smile of pride and awe on his face. Jim's own face had remained serious, but now he finally let it break and he smiled himself as he twirled the graceful weapon.

A beep broke the moment, the warning system that they had arrived to their destination. Daini was the first to head to the cockpit, with EO close in tow. Jake gave a last look of admiration to the lightsaber before also turning and heading to the sleeping quarters to collect his own things before they left for the surface. Maverick, however, gazed at the blade in a bittersweet awe. And when Jim let the blade disappear as he flicked the button on the hilt, Maverick oppressed the upset face he had.

Jim carefully placed the lightsaber on his belt, before walking down the hall and into the cockpit. to get a better view of their new destination.

~

The planet of Taris had long past seen its glory days. Despite the city the group walk in now, the planet never truly recovered from its destruction thousands of years ago. Cities have been rebuilt slowly, but now they are sprawled, particurally high over the ground. The ground is closer to a tomb, where all the destroyed ships and buildings have remained. Despite the efforts and achievements in an attempt to rebuild Taris, it is still nowhere near the grandeur it had once been all those years ago.

The group had come here for supplies. It has been a few months since they left Dantooine and their rations as well as equipment were running out. They had left R4-EO on the ship to ensure its safety and maintenance. That droid knew all the traps of the ship that his previous master had set up. Meanwhile, the Jedi and Mandalorian strolled through the market in the upperr city of Taris.