Excerpt Day 2: Fan Fiction-Star Wars

I think we all enjoy writing a little fan fiction.  For me, there was a lot of different, well known universes that I played in as I was learning to write.  Sometimes, it’s easier to write in well established worlds because you know them so well.  Hopefully, you do them justice.

In the 90’s, a comic book series started running over at Dark Horse called ‘Tales of the Jedi’.  I imagined this story based on that format; in the Star Wars Universe, but not within the ‘established’ movie continuity (we didn’t have ‘Episode I’ or the Timothy Zahn books yet).  I also thought, ‘How weird/cool would it be if someone from Yoda’s race was a Sith?’

I hope you like it.

© belongs to the rights holders. Anything else is © 2010 Patrick Hester, all rights reserved.

Tales of the Jedi: Masurai Odet

Masurai paused mid-step.  She’d sensed something nearby, something that didn’t quite feel right.  Before she could delve further with her senses, harsh purple light sliced through the darkness towards her.  She reacted instinctively, her own lightsaber appearing in her hand, the blue/white blade rising with a hiss just in time to block the other from slicing her in two.

The next few seconds were a blur as Jedi and Sith battled furiously, lightsabers clashing as they dipped, swayed and arced in a strange and beautiful, albeit deadly, dance.  Masurai was beginning to wonder if it would not be her death that punctuated this dance.

“Fear, young one.  All Jedi must conquer this most elusive of enemies if they are to survive.”

That was her old Master, echoing through her mind.  He did that now.  It was more than a little disturbing.

When her lightsaber met the other again, she lifted her hand and pushed with the force, causing the Sith to fall back for just a moment, more than enough time for Masurai to flip backwards and away, spinning as she flew through the air.  Landing softly, she took two steps and then jumped again, pushing herself higher with the force, landing in a run on the low ledge of the wall.  She knew that this would not be enough though, so she leapt from the ledge, again using the force to push her higher, tapping the wall three times with her feet to go even higher before using her fourth step to launch her to a balcony on the opposite wall.

Through the doorway, her lightsaber dark, she slid up against the inner wall and waited.  She could not sense him, the Sith, but she knew he was still out there.  That, too, was disturbing – she should be able to sense him.  Did the Sith have some way of shielding themselves from detection?  And why hadn’t he followed her?  He certainly could have managed it.  He should be here.  That he wasn’t, bothered her greatly.  Still, she could not wait here and let him ambush her again.

She sprinted down the darkened corridor, using her senses to show her the way.  These ruins, they were in fair condition, all things considered.  A few holes in the walls and floors here and there, easily avoided.  The dust was a problem.  He could track her by her foot prints, so she used the force to push the dust away before her, and return it to the floor behind her.

Suddenly, she paused again.  Something was wrong.  She reached out with the force.  There was… no life.  None.  Not even the smallest insect anywhere that she could sense within the ruins.  She couldn’t help but gasp.

That was a mistake.

The floor cracked loudly, breaking into a dozen chunks that fell away beneath her, causing her to lose balance and begin to fall as well.  She reached out, touching one of the larger chunks with an extended toe and, jumping up, pushed with the force.  She nearly reached the unbroken floor when it cracked as well.  Everything was coming down around her.  She leapt from fragment to fragment, then the walls cracked and broke, chunks hurtling towards her.  Lightsaber in hand again, she blocked the first fury while still managing not to fall.

Just when she thought she was going to make it out, a large piece of wall slipped through her defenses and struck her just above her ear, sending her spiraling, dazed, then; darkness.

* * *

“The Sith use fear as a weapon; the Jedi must learn to overcome their fears, to push them away and give them no sway over our actions.”

“But Master, how does a Jedi overcome their fears?”

“That, my young Padawan, is what I must teach you.”

* * *

Masurai groaned.  Her head felt like a Wookie was stomping up and down on it.  She tried to move, but found that she couldn’t.  Opening her eyes to darkness, she tried again.  Her hands, arms, legs and feet were bound somehow.  She struggled for a moment, then tried to sense what was binding her.  Shocked, she felt nothing at all.  No, that wasn’t right – it wasn’t ‘nothing’, it was more like an absence of anything…

She shook her head and saw stars.

“Little Jedi, alone you are, Master’s gone, how you are scarred.”

The voice was oddly melodic.  There was no other sense of anything around her, not the Sith, not any life.  She shuddered.  Never before had she felt such an absence of everything that is natural.  What was this place?

Light, intense and sudden, filled her vision, then pain seared through her body and she screamed.  How long she screamed, she couldn’t know, but it felt like forever.

“Tell me now what I wish to know, and promise do I to let you go…” he giggled.  More light, more pain.  Sith magic.  Searing through her.  She screamed again.  When it stopped, she gasped for breath.

“How…can…I…tell…you…anything…if…you…keep…doing…that?”

He giggled again, and a ball of light appeared.  She squinted and saw him for the first time.  He was tiny, even smaller than most of the younglings at the Temple.  His face was round and long with droopy and pointy ears on either side.  His skin was green, his hair dark and thin and he wore a tight fitting, black tunic and pants.  Staring at him, she realized she’d never seen his species before in her life.  Which was not good.

His three fingered left hand held aloft the ball of light, his right hand twirled her lightsaber around in circles.  She instinctively reached out with the force to snake it back to her but she met that same invisible wall that seemed to permeate the air around her.  He looked at her, his eyes squinting, and giggled.

“Try as you might, you will fail.  Stronger am I, than ever be you will.”

A chill ran through her.  Then the pain began again and all she could do was scream.