THE FALLEN BLADE: A Star Wars Fan Story

Part 2: Revelation and Reunion

Anzu sat quietly in his chair as the space ship drifted through hyperspace, staring curiously at the bubble now surrounding the Jedi. Before they had taken off, KazNor had landed his hover pad on the floor where the pilot's seat should have been. After Anzu buckled into his seat, the Jedi pushed a button that lowered a cone-shaped bubble around the entire suit except for two tubes around the arms. The bubble attached to the hover pad and suit, suddenly hissing as the ship's system sucked out the air inside. The vacuum was soon filled by a thick, clear gel-substance that surrounded the enclosed suit, providing an effective padding to the Jedi while allowing it to operate the ship. The situation puzzled the boy throughout the entire flight.

Anzu looked at the suit's body, where the Jedi's voice had clearly emanated from. Many questions passed through the boy's mind. What kind of alien was his new master? Why did he have the modified suit-hover pad and bubble? Was he fully organic?  And, most importantly, would he actually help him with his hunger, or would he simply exploit it like his past masters?

His train of thought was derailed when KazNor said, "I intend to help you control your condition. After that, your path shall be yours to choose."

Anzu furrowed his eyebrows. "Did you read my thoughts?"

The Jedi replied, "No, although I assumed that you were concerned about my intentions. I also assumed that, based on the situation the scrappers found you in, that you were not well treated by the miners."

Anzu hung his head, embarrassed that someone he had barely met seemed to already know everything about him. He was surprised when KazNor asked, "Would you like to tell me about yourself? It might help with treating your condition."

The boy smiled a little, but frowned again as he recalled his life's story.

"I was born on Corellia, my parents being starship mechanics. Our family was traveling to visit some relatives when we were snatched by some...masked figures. They wore black, but their masks were white with two red lines over the eyes." He didn't notice the Jedi's fingers clench at the description.

"They...experimented on my family with some kind of magic. My mother and I survived, but my father and siblings...." Anzu tried fighting back the tears but they flowed over his eyelids, creasing down his face as he hugged his helmet closer to his chest.

The boy felt a finger resting on his hand. He looked up and saw KazNor's arm bent unnaturally over the bubble to reach him, the shoulder looking like it was dislocated. Anzu was startled but made no noise. The Jedi then retracted his arm and asked, "Is that when you developed your condition?"

Anzu nodded, "Both my mother and I got the ability to....feed ourselves with others'...lives. The guards starved us, forcing us to use...grow our condition to kill animals. When they were bringing in more animals, my mother drained one of them, stealing his passkey and helping me and some other prisoners escape. We tried staying together, but the hunger....it consumed most of them soon after we escaped. My mother managed to get me hired as a cabin boy before she..." Tears came again, a moment of solemn silence passing in the spacecraft.

When he had finished crying, he continued, "The captain was a mean man. He beat the younger crew members regularly, including me. I...used my power to stop him, but then he tried to kill me so I ran away. I found the mining company soon after. It was a fairly good life, I tried not feeding my hunger...but I failed and started draining one of the mean workers. The company owner noticed and started using me as a...punisher. He put me in the box and had me drain workers who were giving him trouble. I was doing that when the explosion happened."