BALANCE | A Star Wars story

LIII

      "Where's the girl?" The Grandmaster demands as I enter the council chambers. I walk to the centre of the council without saying a word, they are all here. All except Master Nilim, whose seat is now occupied by someone I don't know.

       "Answer me guard! If this is all a ruse then I swear—"

       "It's not a ruse," I say loudly cutting off the Grandmaster. The council is shocked into silence, I can tell they recognise my voice. I slowly remove the guard helmet and drop it to the floor, all that can be heard is the gentle thump of the helmet when it lands.

       "Erin?" Master Thulie ask hesitantly and I refrain from snarling, she was the one Master other than Master Nilim who I truly liked. Turns out she was in on it all as well.

"Yep, it's me Erin Anders." I spit out the last name as though it physically burdens me. "Guess what? I found out that the 'accident' I had four years ago, wasn't an accident. But you can probably get that form the red skin can't you?" I put as much venom as I can muster into my voice, making it known that I'm not here to make friends.

"What happened? We were so worried when you and Chee just disappeared on such a simple mission!" Master Thulie says and I can't tell if she's genuine or not.

"Pirates blew up our ship, Master Nilim didn't survive but I did and whilst trying to get back here I discovered who I truly am."

"So you've fallen back to the dark side," Moza says indifferently as though he had always expected it.

"Not quite, you see I don't believe there is a light or dark side. There is just the force. From the force I can use my darker emotions to fuel my actions whilst I can also use my lighter ones."

"Why have you come back Erin? To destroy the Jedi?" Moza mocks as though I'm incapable of such an act.

"Yeah, pretty much," I shrug as though it isn't a big deal.

"You'll never succeed," Moza warns threateningly. "There are too many of us, we will defeat you."

"Once the people in this temple hear what I have to say, I doubt they will rally behind you. Besides this is between me and you, don't cower behind others. You're suppose to be the leader of the Jedi!" I say just to provoke him, it's quite fun. "I'm going to build a better order, one that isn't run by corruption."

"Impossible," he scoffs in disbelief. "Corruption surrounds us, you cannot escape it. Your new order will soon become as corrupt as the Jedi or Sith."

"You're right, corruption is intricated so deeply within everyone that it is impossible to escape but by welcoming the force as it is, by excepting that nothing is perfect and that we all have flaws, we can carefully iron out the corruption in society until it no longer controls us. We have to be in charge of the corruption and I will try my hardest to ensure this. The Sith fell prey to the corruption of the dark side and the Jedi fell prey to the corruption of the light side." I take a deep breath, I can feel some of the Masters seriously considering my words but Moza just looks at me murderously. How Jedi like of him. He is the most corrupt of us all.

"Perhaps we should consider what she is saying Grandmaster..." Master Alavai speaks up somewhat timidly.

        "Young Erin here has fallen, she has rejoined her parents and is here to annihilate the Jedi and everything we stand for." Moza cuts Alavai off, "I hereby declare the death sentence upon Erin Anders for treason against the Jedi and the Republic."

         "But—" Master Thulie protests.

         "If you wish to remain on this council you will listen to my orders! I am the Grandmaster therefore you listen to me!" Moza roars and I'm not going to lie, angery Ithodorians are kinda scary.

That's all it takes for half of the council to jump out of their seats and lunge at me. I ignite the duel lightsaber to ward off the rain of blades that fire upon me. I hold them off for a brief moment but there are ten of them and only one of me, I haven't got a chance. I fall to the floor and that seems to spark something in the rest of the council who are still sat in shock. They jump up and surround me, turning their lightsabers on their colleges.

Master Thulie extends a hand down to me and helps me up. I smile gratefully at her, maybe I was too quick to judge her.

"We're with you Erin, at least we want to hear what you have to say."

"Thank you," out of the corner of my eye I see Moza running out of the doors.

"Go, we'll deal with things in here."

"Thank you," I repeat at a loss for words but I send waves of gratitude across the force which Thulie acknowledges with a small nod. I call the lightsaber to me, it feels heavy in my hand and I make a mental note to visit Illum when all this is done.

I ignite one side of the lightsaber and chase after Moza who runs cowardly through the hallway towards the elevator. Before he can get there I reach out in the force and command it to pull him backwards. It doesn't work very well, him pushing back against my command, but it slows him down so that I can catch up to him.

"Come one, stop proving me right. It does nothing for the image of the Jedi." I huff as he turns to face me, igniting his own purple lightsaber. "I see I'm not the only one who dabbles with the dark side," I laugh, such a hypocrite.

          "You are a Sith, you are the dark side." He seethes menacingly.

          "I am part of the Sith species! Not the Sith force users," it's really annoying when people confuse the two. The Sith species have developed a bad name because of the Sith force users and I hate it. Awolia, Maz, Jidâs, Icarnae, Rayaim and many more are proof that not all Sith are evil.

         "They're both the same to me," he snarls and lunges at me, I bring my lightsaber up to block but it really just doesn't feel right. A lightsaber should feel like an extension of my arm, I should be able to move it easily but this just feels heavy in my hand.

          I don't bother to reply to him, I just grit my teeth and strike back. Our blades clash in a wicked dance of death, the bright colours create a stark contrast to the villainous atmosphere and the force that moments beige sung with joy now sings with death.

          My muscles still ache from the battle against my parents a week ago so I'm drained way too quickly and the heavy lightsaber does nothing to help me. All I can do it block his harsh strikes that bare down on me heavily. I draw strength from the force and push myself up. Always get back up, no matter what. Never show weakness, always stand up again. My mothers voice rings in my ears as a memory of my training flashes through my mind.

           I scream through my teeth as I push against Moza's lightsaber, sweat collects on my brow and I fight the urge to wipe it away. Moza looks at me surprised as I get up from off my knees where I previously was, I use his distraction to send a massive push through the force that sends him flying backwards into a nearby pillar.

          There really is something poetic about this, our first battle was fought in this hallway where I was the one on the floor about to loose my identity. Now as I walk over to where Moza lies on the floor, I stand over him dauntingly.

"I was lying there when I told you I would burn this place to the ground," I inform him.

"You still haven't."

"And I won't, I want the Jedi temple to stand for another thousand years so everyone who visits Coruscant can see what a failure the Jedi was. I want it to serve as a reminder that those who claim to have to best intentions end up having the worse."

"Don't you? Don't you claim to have the best intentions for the galaxy?" He snarls, I see him reach for his lightsaber so abruptly call it to my free hand.

"No, I don't know what is best for the galaxy. No one does, I expect we will figure that out as we continue into the future. However I do know that what's happening right now isn't right for the galaxy, hence why I'm stopping it." I say igniting his lightsaber as well as the guards one, I cross the yellow and purple lightsaber over Moza's neck. Suddenly he is no longer Moza but my mother, kneeling before me on the mossy floor of Zakuul. I hesitate and that ultimately is what costs me.