The Force Helped Me Find Myself.

Epilogue

  "Are you three ready," said Allia. We were on a military transport on our way to rescue some children from slavers.

"Always ready," I said.

"What about that business on Geonosis," asked Eron.

"That wasn't my fault. You gave me the wrong intel and then set off that sonic bomb."

"I apologised for that. I'm pretty sure I have everything right this time."

"Can you two knock it off," said the commander. "You sound like an old married couple."

"We are a married couple," I said. "You were at the ceremony."

We all chuckled.

"Ok, let's focus," said Emmi. "Yes Allia, we're ready."

"Ok. Anything new we need to know," Allia asked.

"Latest scans show a small army of battle droids," said Eron.

"How small," asked one of the troops.

"Not enough we can't handle. You guys stay behind us, and we'll mop them up."

"Remember," I said, "be careful. Minimum body count and we want to get all the kids out alive.

"I know, I've got it. Emmi, you ready for a distraction?"

"Yep, I've got enough sand to make a good storm," she said. "I doubt it will stop the droids from firing though."

We all nodded. The troops looked nervous; they always did before any operation. We had done so many of these over the last 5 years that you'd think they'd be more relaxed. I guess it kept them sharp. I relaxed into the force, trying to get a feel for the surrounding environment.

Eron and I got married after university and got our place close to the academy. I was working there as a teacher in maths and lightsaber combat. Eron worked at the central government offices, with police and the military on intelligence and investigations. Emmi was almost finished with her medical doctorate, she was a fixture at the academy, and they wanted to keep her on, so they would have two doctors. We didn't start going on these kinds of missions until I was in my third year of uni and Eron had graduated, we had done a lot of training before our first mission.

I could feel the other 3 Jedi reach out with the force. Allia looked at me funny, and I just nodded. She could feel two force signatures coming from me. One quite small but strong. They were only about 4 months into gestation, but they had a growing force presence. Everyone else in the transport knew, and they weren't worried about it. They had seen me in action many times and knew I would be safe. I had a few friends already offering to help babysit, especially Chantel, who was finishing off her studies in mental health and was planning on staying near the academy to work with the people there and to work with others who are survivors of trauma. She was being considered for a secondary position with the team, including offering support for the members of the team and the people we save.

We approached the drop zone. The ship was slowly landing, but we had the door open and were out well before the ship touched down.

"Sir did the Jedi already go," asked a young trooper, it was their second mission.

"Yes kid, they have. They always do that. All right people, gear up, and be ready to go on my mark."

Emmi got a great sandstorm going, effectively blinding the droids. We had no problems seeing and quickly started to dispatch the droids. They were starting to get accurate with their fire, which suited me as it gave me more to return. After a couple of minutes, all the droids were down and damaged, and the only thing left was the few slavers who were still shooting at us.

They started to retreat down a tunnel, blasting at us as they ran. I followed quickly, with Eron and Emmi in close pursuit. The tunnel opened to a large area filled with crates and a large, caged area in one corner. I was slightly angry at that, but I did my best to stay calm. My passenger didn't need to feel my anger.

"I sense the slavers are in there," I said.

"I sense a trap," said Emmi.

"So, what do we do," I asked.

"Spring the trap," said Eron with a cheeky smile under his emerging goaty.

We slowly entered the room, fanning out to cover the entrance to the hallway. The troopers slowly entered, just then the slavers began firing at us. It wasn't much of a surprise, but it did make a couple of the troops get nervous.

"Stay calm soldiers," I said. "We can handle the fire; you take out the shooters."

A few minutes later the slavers were all stunned or just tied up. Allia went up to the kids and released them, telling them they were safe with us in their home language. Emmi was healing a couple of the troops who had some minor burns, and some of the kids for minor injuries suffered before we arrived.

"Well done everyone," said the commander. "We did that well. That's one more slave ring shut down."

"That's good," I said. "Still more to go though."

"Yes," said Eron. "But we have rescued these kids. That's something we need to remember."

I nodded and walked over to kiss him. "Let's get back to base, I'm getting hungry, and the little one needs a chance to rest from all my adrenaline."

We slowly gathered everyone and led the slavers and the rescued kids out to the local authorities. Then we took the transport back to base, chatting and smiling on the way.