Star Wars: 30 Years Later The Real Story - Chapter 41

In a remote planet of a system in the middle of what before was considered Unknown Regions now a planet stood tall and had become one of the most important checkpoints of the area. In the central continent which was also the focal point of bussiness, a metropolis welcome anyone who had enough connections and credits to enjoy the lavish and sumptuous lifestyle that the different establishments offered.

– “Welcome back, Sir”- said the receptionist of one of the best hotels in the megacity- “you have received some packages and they have already been transfered to your quarters.”

– “Thank you”- said the customer with a deep and strong voice- “Please do not allow any visitors for the next four hours unless it is of extreme urgency.”

– “As you wish, Sir”- said the receptionist as she passed a platinum card on the metallic wrist band of the client which signalled with a beep that the customer was allowed to entered the areas corresponding to his status.

The receptionist could not hide her surprise when she saw the violet clearance appear in the wristband which indicated the highest of VIP clients and as she was about to offer some exclusive services for such a worthy client, the receptionist just noticed that the gentleman had already abandoned the desk and was heading to the transporter. She could only bite her lip in dissapointment and blame herself for not having noticed such important person and try to befriend him before.

– “What area, Sir?”- asked the transporter operator seeing the customer coming to him and he could notice that the gentleman was limping a little.

– “VI400”- replied the gentleman and the operator could only opened his eyes wide before clearing his throat and straighten his posture.

– “We’ll arrive there in five minutes, Sir”- indicated the transporter introducing the information on the system- “please have a seat and enjoy the ride.”

The customer passed his wristband over the panel next to his seat and just looked outside the window with a melancholic sad expression. The so called hotel was actually a gigantic villa with offered the best of services to all its clients and it was so huge that hovering transporters like the one he was in were absolutely necessary to move from one place to another. The requirements for having the level of VIP rank this customer had, was something that was not possible to obtain with just credits but connections and political or militar power. It was definitely someone that no person inside the hotel could afford to offend.

– “We have arrived, Sir”- said the operator with the deepest tone of respect- “do you wish to have a cart to take your to your room.”

– “That won’t be necessary, thank you”- said the customer as he gave the operator a tip for the services and he immediately got off the transporter and walked some minutes until he found his room which opened as soon as he stood in front of it.

– “Sigh…”- the customer who none other that Phenex Skywalker sat on meditation position and started to control his breathing as he tried to reach to the Force and calm down his spirit which was in chaos at the moment- “Emotion, yet peace… Ignorance, yet knowledge… Passion, yet serenity… Chaos, yet harmony… Death, yet the Force.”

He started reciting the Jedi code to control his nerves and as more time passed, he noticed he was more calm and could finally think without feeling angry. Nevertheless, a pang of guilt still cut deep through his heart.

– “If only I had made a better research…”- he thought feeling great regret- “if I had been more careful… we wouldn’t have suffered so many casualties…”

A terrible pain attacked is left arm as a reminder of his failure and he realized it was time to take his medication. As he swallow the pills and drank the water, he thought that it was a miracle he still had his arm and his legs and he cold only feel awe at the advance of medical treatment of the present era. He sat down on the sofa and remembered the time when he had believed that the Force was a magical power that could do anything.

– “Why didn’t they heal him with the Force, master?”- ha had asked his master as a padawan when he had seen an injured jedi fighting for his life.

– “Force healing is not so easy to use, Phenex”- had relied his master looking directly as his eyes- “Even the best Force healing would just serve as first aid to stabilize the victim and gain time to get medical attention.”

– “But I heard, Master Luke could use Force Healing at a high level”- Phenex had said trying to prove his master wrong- “if he can, why can’t any jedi?”

– “Master Luke is special”- said Phenex’s master with a chuckle- “and no… not any jedi can use Force Healing as not any person is qualified to be a doctor. Even those who can… require a vast quantity of training and countless hours of practice. Remember, my padawan… the Force is not a magical power that grants you everything you want… it has rules and limitations too and there are no shortcuts. As master Luke said: Above all else, know that control of the Force comes only from concentration and training.”

– “Yes, Master”- he had said in that moment even though he had not understood completely what she had wanted to say and it took him years to finally grasp the deep meaning of her words and he had also passed them to his own padawan.

– “Anger, fear and aggression lead to the dark side…”- he reminded himself and controlled his emotions- “he’s already out of danger… may this serve as a painful lesson for you…”

He sat down and opened the files that contained the information of his enemies. The cult of Jidh… it had started as a small sect that believed that emotions and dėsɨrės should be allowed to be persued in order to be happy. At the beginning only a few believers which were more the immoral and hedonist kind had embraced the tenets of such religion. As most of citizens would see them with comptent, the believers opted for maintain secrecy and kept a low profile.

– “Massacre of Kleithan”- read Phenex as he scrolled down the information- “they changed here…”

As they presented no threat, the government just ignored their activities and the public just considered them a nasty kind, but not violent or dangerous. However, they slowly started to become more violent. At the beginning, they had They started to asking for peace and demilitarization but soon they started to be more violent and vocal and even started to arm themselves. The turning point came some years later when a group of armed believers of Jidh entered to an institute in Kleithan and murdered all the people present for apparently no reason. What was more strange was the fact that they had publicly acknowledged the attack saying that the dėsɨrė to kill was natural in all beings and as such should be also permitted.

– “All dėsɨrės must be allowed to be realized”- had said the spokesperson in the public announcement- “only then we would be completely free!”

This was only the beginning of a series of terrorist attacks and even suicide bombings in different systems all throughout the galaxy and as expected the Republic started to mobilised all their forces to erradicate the threat that this group represented. The Jedi were asked to help and the Jedi council agreed to help only after making sure that it was absolutely necessary. After the Fall of the First Order, the new Jedi had decided to remain neutral in politics and only act to protect the citizens and always looking for the will of the Force as much as they could. This decision was taken after analyzing the reasons for their fall in the times of the Empire when the Jedi had involved themselves too much with the Republic and had forgotten their main loyalty to the Force.

– “Remember to always follow the Force, Phenex”- his master had told him- “It will tell you what to do and if you let it guide you, no enemy will prevail against you.”

– “What if the will of the Force is for me to fail?”- Phenex had asked his master and he still remembered the face of confusion and surprise she had.

– “Well… in that case there wil be nothing you can do…”- she said after a while with a smile- “but even so… a failure will no mean your death so as long as you survive, you’ll be able to try again next time.”

– “It souds as if the Force will grant me success if I don’t give up”- said Phenex confused by her response.

– “We can only follow the will of the Force until it decides to reveal itself to us, Phenex”- she said- “we can only trust in it and hope for the best. Prepare as much as you can and remember that failure is sometimes the best teacher.”

Phenex sighed and thought that failure was a tough and ruthless teacher but he knew that it was inevitable to suffer defeat sometimes no matter how much preparation one had previously made. He missed his master a lot and he wished she was with him now and guide him during these turbulent times.

– “She’s is one with the Force now”- Phenex said to himself knowing very well that she could not depend on her anymore- “also, now it is my turn to have others depend on me.”

He kept reading the information on the Cult of Jidh. After years of research the Republic had finally discover many hideouts and had launched attacks in many places but it had never put an end to the wicked religion. Also, the Jedi council had found evidence of Sith presence inside the cult. This would explain the sudden turn of this once peaceful grop into a dangeorus and violent sect so the Jedi increased its support to the Republic. If the Sith were involved, then there must be a deeper meaning behind these attacks. Phenex and Eleath had succesfully raided many lairs until now, and after years of patient research, they had found their main lair and organized an attack. However, they had deceived us and what waited was a deadly trap that had cost the lives of dozens of troopers and almost their own lives.

– “This is not helping”- said Phenex and turned off the device and almost immediately his eyes laid on the holocron that contained the story of the events of 50 years prior and decided that maybe it wold be a good moment to continue the story. He had been extremely busy and he hadn’t advance the recording for months. Maybe it would help to clear his head- “I could as well do something productive instead of feeling sorry for himself.”