KANE |Luke Skywalker|

Cloud city?

"That boy is our last hope."

When I wake I find another jacket on top of me and it's Luke's. I smile but place it back on his side of the tent. I walk out and in the clearing behind Yoda's house, Luke again stands upside-down, but his face shows less strain and more concentration than before. Yoda sits on the ground below the young warrior. On the other side of the clearing, two equipment cases slowly rise into the air. Nearby R2 watches, humming to himself, when suddenly he, too, rises into the air. His little legs kick desperately and his head turns frantically, looking for help. As I walk over I am lifted as well. I laugh and smile proudly at what he has accomplished after only a few months. "Concentrate... feel the Force flow. Yes. Good. Calm, yes. Through the Force, things you
will see. Other places. The future... the past. Old friends long gone." Yoda says and I move myself into a cross legged position as Luke continues having us float. I do as Master Yoda tells Luke and allow the force to flow through me. I feel Luke suddenly becomes distressed and it causes me to lose my own focus. "Han! Leia!" Luke calls out and the two packing boxes and R2 falls to the ground with a crash, then Luke himself tumbles over. I fall as well hitting the ground with a thud on my back. "Hmm. Control, control. You must learn control." Yoda says and shakes his head in disappointment. "I saw... I saw a city in the clouds." Luke tells us and I nod urging him to continue. "They were in pain." Luke says and I become concerned. Yoda rubs his chin thoughtfully. "Mmm. Friends you have there? It's the future you see." He tells us. "Future? Will they die?" Luke and I ask worried. Yoda closes his eyes and lowers his head "Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future." "We've got to go to them." Luke says and I nod. "Decide you must how to serve them best. If you leave now, help them you could. But you would destroy all for which they have fought and suffered." Master Yoda tells us and this puzzles me. Luke is stopped cold by Yoda's words. Gloom shrouds over us as he nods his head sadly but we both made up our minds. We were going to go to our friends. In the bright lights of the fighter, Luke loads a heavy case into the belly of his ship as I am doing the same to mine. R2 sits on top of the X-wing, settling down into his cubbyhole and Yoda stands nearby on a log. "Luke! You must complete your training." Yoda says, still trying to convince us to stay. "I can't keep the vision out of my head. They're our friends. We've got to help them." Luke says and I nod in agreement. "You must not go!" Yoda says and stomps his foot. It was a surprisingly childlike action for the master jedi. "But Han and Leia will die if we don't." Luke says again still fixated on loading crates into the belly of his x-wing. "You don't know that." A voice rings out. It's Ben. Luke looks toward the voice in amazement. Ben has materialized as a real, slightly shimmering image near Yoda. The power of his presence stops Luke in the middle of loading. "Even Yoda cannot see their fate." Ben says wisely and I look down at my feet. "But I can help them! I feel the Force!" Luke tells the ghost. "Luke, I want to help them just as much as you do but maybe we are being irrational." I decided to speak up to try and calm him. Ben smiles at me but continues "But you cannot control it fully. This is a dangerous time for you, when you will be tempted by the dark side of the Force." He tells him wisely. "Yes, yes. To Obi-Wan you listen. To Elizabeth you listen. The cave. Remember your failure at the cave!" Yoda interrupts. We still hadn't talked about what we had seen and done in the cave. "But I've learned so much since then. Master Yoda, I promise to return and finish what I've begun. You have my word." Luke says but I shake my head sadly "It is both of yours and your abilities the Emperor wants. That is why your friends are made to suffer." Ben says and Luke exasperated says "And that is why I have to go." I cough and he corrects himself "we have to go". "Luke, I don't want to lose you to the Emperor the way I lost Vader" Ben says longingly. "You won't. I won't let him fall." I say determinedly. "Stopped they must be. On this all depends. Only a fully trained Jedi Knight with the Force as his ally will conquer Vader and his Emperor. If you end your training now, if you choose the quick and easy path, as Vader did, you will become an agent of evil." Master Yoda informs us. "But master, am I not a knight yet? I have been training for years in private and on and off with Obi-wan." I ask and he stops for a moment to think. "Patience, it is not your time." Ben says before yoda can answer. I don't understand completely but I bow my head in respect to the masters and step back to finish loading my x-wing. The force works in mysterious ways and if the master believes me not ready then I have to respect them. I hear Luke finish his conversation with the masters. He tells R2 to fire up the converters and lucky him he has a droid with him to do that. He walks over to me as I climb the ladder into my x-wing. "Ready?" He asks and smiles. I give him a thumbs up from my seat. I start up the controls and prep for take off. Luke climbs into his x-wing. "Strong is Vader. Mind what you have learned. Save you it can." Yoda calls out to us as we close the cockpits. Ben and Yoda stand watching as the roar of the engines and the wind engulf them. "Told you, I did. Reckless is he. Now matters are worse." I barely hear yoda say over the engine's. I sigh and finish flipping switches as we take off into the sky heading for hyperspace.