FILO POV:
The endless choking vacuum of space was my only home growing up. A young Kel Dor from the planet Bandomeer in the Hydian Way with nothing to my name. The Galactic Republic continued expanding its greedy influence on what they deemed the 'frontier'. Out here, the laws and protection of the Core rarely apply apparently...if you asked me, they were the same looters and mega corps they claimed to fight.
My clan wandered nomadically on our aging freighter, salvaging what we could among the luminaries. I passed the days gazing out viewports as stars streaked by, wondering what adventure each new system might bring. Yet excitement remains a rare blessing amidst the hardscrabble boredom and peril we constantly face--no fuel and rare aid were our only solace.
We avoided conflict when possible, but run-ins with Weequay pirates and Hutt mercenaries happened all too often for my geriatric and sickly parents. They saw us as effortless marks to mock and terrorize. I tired long ago of watching my dad beg at their feet simply so we might scrape by with another day of life for us. The boundary is an unforgiving teacher at times yet the republic only cared for its resources...not people like us.
During brief surface raids for resources, my blade and survival skills saved us from starvation on numerous stretches. An incident where I had pulled--using 'the Force'--my father from a canyon ledge on some backwater planet near Dantooine, had continued developing my parents' drive to seek out anyone who said they were a Jedi. We had nearly been killed by a gang of Mandalorians trying to trap young force sensitives only a few days ago and they still chattered on, asking me to move out empty blasters back and forth in the rickety starship.
My parents franticly squabbled about whether to sell my potential to the Jedi order or keep me working just for our family to be fed for another cycle. Neither choice appealed much --I preferred charting my own destiny but lacked any agency in my short 16 years of life. Our aging ship was often on the verge of system failures, making close calls the norm.
So when the light flickered ominously on our cramped bridge recently before the hyperdrive went dead, I took it as just another bout of distress calls praying we could fight off who came to our aid all the way out here.
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My clan's dingy Kel Dorian vessel floated dead in space after its hyperdrive failure, life support flitting, I sat anxiously waiting adrift in the Outer Rim. I watched my parents argue over scrambling communications for what felt like eons when suddenly a small republic spacecraft arrived from hyperspace. Detecting our distress call most likely, my leathery hands tensed as my senses began to scream at me.
The mixture of my parent's constant arguing and the itchy antiox mask on my face fried my nerves more than anything, I began to run my fingers through my small black tusks for a moment. I touched a ragged scar over my right eye thinking again back to the time when I felt the cold metal sting of the local pirate captain's blade in a similar situation.
I held my breath as a pointy luxury starship listed toward ours, a slow yet purposed manner made it slightly forboding though it was marked as a Republican craft. My father franticly signaled for the shining ship to dock with ours through a flickering Holocron. The figure displayed was hooded with her black chin markings barely visible from underneath. A Jedi? out here?
My mother unbuckled noisily before attempting to push me out of my seat. "DO NOT mess this up Filo...this is your one opportunity to be something." The remark beat my ears deadpan as I only turned my chair to meet the strangers boarding our roving home among the stars.
A singular robed Iktotchi Jedi Master stepped out from the connected pod doors, the hissing made me jump but I remained sitting, determined to not be owned by anyone. My parents eagerly allowed her aboard, reassured by her wisdom and grace but my eyes danced on her yellow pupils...the aura I faintly sensed was enough to send my posture straight despite my façade.
I tried to ignore their conversation but she bent down to me, waddling over with her cane. Her strange horns and brown robe made her even more eccentric yet she spoke such soft words. "Greetings, I am Jedi master Cognus...I perceived you from a vast distance." Her tapered horns dipped down her shoulders as she slumped her piercing yellow gaze.
It penetrated my adolescent mask of bravado instantly. My throat tightened in her presence as words croaked from my mouth. "You did?" I was nothing more than some outer rim gutter trash...My parents merely had sold everything in hopes my parlor tricks of moving stones were something worth anything at the Jedi temple.
I glanced at my parents showing no apprehension though, enraptured by this old rancor's chatter of my untapped potential and the seemingly fated chance at meeting this Jedi master before even making it to the crowded temple on Coruscant. Cognus never broke eye contact with me even when I began to stand, willing my legs to not buckle.
"Aye! YES! I knew he was special! we've been debating trading him off for food but I knew!" My father looked at the waning gas tank and broom closet where we kept sparse amounts of grain before scrutinizing me, his regard raked over me before he nodded at his own cruel assessment of my value.
"I will escort him to Coruscant, the Jedi counsel would not want to burden you with more than raising such a...promising young aspirant." Despite her warmth, each gentle word from her seems laced with hooking persuasion and secrets. I silently struggled inwardly, both drawn to and resisting the promising future she painted for me. The focus of my budding anger came from how nonchalantly they talked about me like a mere object.
My arms folded as I scoffed loudly but no one seemed to even hear as my mother began to speak over my objection. "He definitely has talents, you should see him with a cutter!" The older Jedi woman's face scrunched, her many black markings making her seem furious yet she smiled nonetheless. "I trust the force and my visions, you do not need to tell me what I already know."
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
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I watched helplessly behind the viewport at my family's tiny ship, systems now mysteriously repaired, disappearing into hyperspace on a pre-programmed course for Coruscant. Master Cognus reassured me that my 'caring' parents would provide comfortable accommodations at the Temple for when we finished my special training. I didn't question her as the shitty craft I grew up in became nothing but a spec on the dark horizon.
My emotions swirled between deep embitterment at them leaving and a distinct fear of what my life was to become. I adjusted my antiox mask for a moment as the stars dazzled in the distance. Feet reluctantly turned me to face the woman who now controlled my life. Cognus was almost enigmatic...she seemed old but pulsated with unspeakable energy...I hadn't met any other force-sensitive person in my life but something felt different between our two energies warring thick in the ambiance.
"Feel free to make yourself comfortable..." She began to stare at me, her posture demanding the answer the silence didn't ask. "Filo..." I managed, trying to gulp down the last speck of my broken heart. Was this even my name anymore? My mother and father rarely used it...In truth as much as I was afraid of Cognus, I was more terrified of not knowing what lay ahead for me--was there really any fact about my destiny among the Jedi order?
My new master's shakey voice rang out. "What a ridiculous name." She vacated to the cockpit leaving me in the small circular hallway conducting like arteries to the rest of the tangled insides. I wandered the crimson-hued corridors alone, brooding with concern as strange glyphs stained each of the red-marked rooms of the ship. Only stories passed through random data logs and scavenged iconography of the Jedi filled my wisdom but something about these felt much darker than what I had imagined.
Strange artifacts and grim tapestry lined the musty chambers, the forms depicted seemed stone morphed...changed by something beyond what I knew. I began to run my hand on a collection of discarded lightsabers...My heart thumped at the idea of using one yet I didn't allow myself to handle one for fear of turning myself into plasma charred pieces.
The stories of what these weapons could do were the nightmares of the frontier, any non-republican faction would cease at the very mention of their use. "Do you like my instruments?" Cognus reappeared in dark black menacing robes, her hobbling body seemed to almost bounce as glee took over her cracked face.
"I've never seen one in person before." I tried to seem uncaring with her yellow eyesight awkwardly tracing me, my hand found a ripped pocket of my pants to rest its hidden trembling. "How did you get so many?" My voice cracked slightly for a moment, she smiled again shifting her weight to her cane, taking a few steps closer to me. "Many are not truly strong enough to call themselves Jedi..."
Why did she make me so afraid? The Jedi Order were meant to be heroes yet my jaw wouldn't seem to cease clamoring since she arrived and took me away from my kin. Possibly only due to the stories of the republic using them as a crushing steel fist as they emotionlessly killed people who were simply political rivals in the grand scheme of things.
My new master had noticed my pandering among her blades as a sign to teach me in the lavish red enclosure teeming with energy. "The most common of course - a simple singular blade." Her tranquil voice lulled me to a calm hush as we drifted through the black blanket of space. Cognus activated the azure lightsaber with a snap-hiss, goose bumps pricked my orange skin as the crackling never ceased from its handle.
"An extension of one's very being. Elegant, precise, easy to master the fundamentals of lightsaber combat...a basic choice but made deadly with different forms." She spun it in a brief flourish before retracting the plasma beam. I stayed unblinked behind my antiox mask trying to keep up with the swift movements of her hand. "Basic choice?" I diverted slightly to my left foot as she used the force to place the blade to my right side.
"Some elect doubled blades or even shotos to diversify their combat forms." Cognus extended a smaller lightsaber emitter and larger main blade from opposite ends of a single hilt. The twin beams hummed viridian green dangerously causing my mouth to water at its power. "Unorthodox...but useful for attacking from spontaneous angles, a much more satisfactory choice." I listened quietly not wanting to move a muscle, intent on understanding these revered extensions of one's soul as she put it. The blade snapped off before floating comfortably to my left with a small thud.
She moved on to a tall pike-like hilt. A lengthy yellow strand thundered out, crackling angrily like a chained beast unable to break free. "Adaptable for range, useful against multiple foes. But cumbersome in confined spaces, you will need to pick your battles wisely."
The thought of taking another's life as a Jedi didn't scare me, yet I gulped at the idea of such destructive power in my untrained hands. "How will I know which is best?" I asked calmly. Cognus chuckled, holding the lightsaber pike toward me, her small mouth cracked into a smile.
"You will build your own one day, you are nowhere near ready..." The pike clicked out with a noisy hum. "You mistake my mention of your potential as anything more than that...." Her tone caused me to sneer loudly. "You could not even activate this sacred device...." She pressed on.
"It's not just a simple button press or is it Jedi magic?" I said mockingly before Master Cognus placed her gnarled hands on my shoulders, her piercing golden eyesight boring into mine. "The Force is an energy field that connects all living things. It surrounds and penetrates us, binding the galaxy together."
Her words took on a rhythmic, hypnotic quality as she continued. "Those sensitive to the Force can harness its power for wondrous feats, even seeing events before they happen, influencing minds, and unlocking extraordinary combat abilities." The red room bathed me in a stirring feeling, the intricate curtain and black paint forced the eye to almost swirl down the center of the space.
"But the Force extends beyond the narrow dogma of the Jedi Council. There exists another dimension as well, one of untold power for those unfettered by weakness." The silken words coiled around my mind leaving no room for thought.
A metal slab at the room's center suddenly slid away, ancient mechanisms grinding. Crimson light flooded up from the opening, partially illuminating Cognus's strained face. She raised a hand, levitating something from the glow--an angular mask of red and black metals, tubes trailing. My mind tried to focus itself yet the energy was almost screaming from this antique-looking rebreather.
"This is the mask of Darth Malgus, a mighty Sith who nearly brought the Republic to ruin." Cognus's voice swelled with admiration. "The Dark Lords of the Sith were thought destroyed centuries ago after the Battle of Ruusan. But whispers in the void tell a different tale...including their sacred artifacts." I stared at her, not grasping why she would have such a dark spoil of war...no, maybe something even more revered than that, the way she floated it so daintily in my direction.
My mind was agape, feeling frigid anxiety and intensely curious. The ghostly cover before me pulsed with gloaming darkness--both intriguing and unnerving. Cognus floated it gently into my hands. The cold metal seemed to drone as I traced a clawed fingertip over its engraved markings. What secrets might lay buried in this relic of a forgotten era that she expects me to gleam as a Jedi?
The horrifying answer came swiftly, "I will teach you the ways of the dark side, my apprentice." Cognus's voice echoed ominously in the crafts chamber. "The Jedi restrict themselves, unable to unleash the Force's true potential. But we shall have no such limits." My breath caught in my throat.
What fate had my parents doomed me to in their careless bargain? I backed away, shaking my head in disbelief as Cognus revealed her Sith identity. "I...I want to go home, leave me alone...I never asked for this!" My voice quivered despite my bold words. Cognus cackled. "Home? You have no home, boy. Your fool parents sold your future for a few measly credits." Her sharp-toothed expression hardened, yellow eyes blazing.
"However, I am not unreasonable. If you defeat me in combat, you may take an escape pod back to your pathetic life...as floating space junk." Her lips curled in a mocking grin. The room's choking blood hue made it impossible to focus on a true exit...even so, I was trapped in the vacuum of space with this monster!
I stared in dismay as she drew and ignited her own crimson lightsaber in a casual flourish, her cane had been a secret location for its deeply curved handle. The furious whirr loaded the enclosure like the crackle of an engine. How could I, untrained and unarmed, defeat this creature who had centuries to hone her power? Yet what choice did I have? I would not become her plaything!
Cognus must have sensed my dread and despair through the Force. "The strong dominate the weak, child. My master, Darth Zannah, decreed that only through struggle can the Force be purified. Now, ignite your destiny!" She pushed a Shoto Blade toward me smacking my open shaking hand dead center...My body was nearly melting at its foundation but the rage I felt drove me to fight her here and now--This was my chance at a real life, at FREEDOM!