Star Wars: The Ancient Force

C H A P T E R . 2 1 -- The Light's Invasion

WORDS ENTER THEIR MINDS nearly instantly as concerns and fatigue are soothed by Terra's essence. The base is clear, Terra says, but their base isn't, with the visual flavor of a ship.

"A ship? Where?" Luke says, but Terra was already showing them mental images.

A mile away from the base, hidden among hills, rests a ship that could hold a thousand stormtroopers.

Terra telepaths, But you don't feel him? It's only half the distance I was to you earlier.

"What...?" Luke says, but they already felt the flavor of a Sith Lord in Terra's words.

"I can't," Terigo informs.

Luke tries harder... "Maybe... I don't think I'm as Light as I was when I found you."

Well, now's our chance to kill him, Terra says.

Luke says, "Our?—Are you crazy? We can't take on that many men. I know now the Light casts an illusion, so how do we know—"

Good questions, Terra says, but I'm the only one that can't answer that. Judging oneself is arrogant. A Dark quality.

"Luke," Terigo says a little unsure of herself, "if he says we can, we can. We can trust him."

"(Can we,)" Luke mumbles to Terigo only. He starts to doubt her, and becomes a bit angry she would blindly trust Terra.

Terigo looks to Terra, embarrassed, knowing he read far more than what he didn't hear. She looks to Luke, doubtful of him too. She finds herself worried that she'll end up facing a choice on whether to appease Terra or Luke. A choice between being wrong or alone...

I would never make you choose such a thing, child.

Terigo, hopeful yet fairly sure, says to Luke, "...He's survived this long... What are the chances of sudden insanity?"

Luke sighs, trying to be annoyed by Terra's essence preventing him from being annoyed. At least he couldn't see his smile very well in the night's ambient glow. He looks to Terra and speaks with no real edge, "You're 700. You must be 700 times more capable than us, so why would our efforts even matter."

Well, for one, 700 divided by your age is 28 times more powerful, not 700. And two, if you had thought before you spoke, those words feeling pleasantly supportive, you could have easily seen it as: I would take several hundred of his men and you take what you can. But that's actually not what I mean: I've tried to kill him before. But my skills don't cut it, almost literally, with a chuckle and the flavor of a lightsaber.

"Then how—"

I have no use for lightsaber skills. The mind is far more powerful than the saber. But he evades my efforts when he senses me near, or overwhelms me. It's challenging to even get close enough to shoot him. But he won't run from you. He's after you, in a way, with a flavor of something Luke couldn't determine. Red...

Great, Luke thinks. "What does that mean?"

I'm sure he'll tell you, and it's of no consequence to explain now. We should move. I have a lot to tell you about your father.

Luke and Terigo blink.

Luke says, "I thought—"

It's in exchange for trusting me. Trust for trust. No you're long from ready for the information, but I do sense a change in you, in you both, so I don't think it will kill you anymore. And killing a Sith Lord now serves the greater good in the long run, even if your growth is hindered by my words for some time, even if I'm hindered.