Sword of The Lanterns

Prologue

Space was a cold place. A dark place. Filled with a vacuum that could crush you in under a minute.

But it was also beautiful. When you weren't being chased by lasers across a star system. It was quiet, when a battle wasn't raging around you.

And thankfully, it was quiet and beautiful at that moment.

A trio of ships floated in empty space, close enough that you could look out the viewports and windows and see the occupants of the other cruisers if you were in the ship in the middle.

The pilot of the said middle ship was a middle-aged girl. She was very pretty, with chocolate eyes, matching hair, and a button nose just like her mother's. Though most people said she'd inherited her father's attitude. She gripped the ship's controls tightly, as if afraid that they'd slip from her grasp. She still couldn't believe that her father had given her her own spaceship for her birthday barely days ago. She'd been asking for one for years, and now she could barely wrap her head around the fact that this ship was hers. Hers.

"Off in daydream-land again, Jaina?"

Jaina Solo was harshly jolted back to reality at the voice of her brother. She looked to her right, where Jacen sat in the sleek, elegant, cruiser with the words Rock Dragon embellished on the outer hull. She reached out and could feel his presence, along with that of his girlfriend's, Tenel Ka.

"Not anymore," Jaina replied at last, a hint of snark in her tone.

"How's it handle?" Another voice asked from the third and final ship, concerning her fighter.

She adjusted herself and smiled in the direction of Zekk, her childhood friend. "Like a dream," she told him over the comm, "This whole thing feels like a dream, I still can't believe Dad had this made just for me!" She gushed. Spaceships and other machinery was one of the few things she ever gushed about. She wasn't really the type to "gush" in the first place.

A familiar growl rumbled over the speakers from the third ship, named The Lightning Rod.

"Yes, indeed. Master Lowbacca wishes to inquire what you will named your fine new vehicle now that you have tried it," the tinny voice of the old translator droid, Em-Teedee translated in his usual, flowery way.

Jaina's brow furrowed, frustrated, "I don't know. Nothing feels right."

"How about..." Jacen thought for a moment, and Jaina tried to hide her cringing inside, without much success. Jacen was famous for his menagerie of little pets he found on his explorations, and loved coming up with names for them, but Jaina wasn't so sure she wanted her ship with an animal-like name.

"I've got it!" But before Jacen could suggest a name, Jaina's computers began to wail and flash red.

"You guys getting this?" She asked over the comm.

"Yeah. Unidentified object flying straight towards us at sub-light-speed," Zekk acknowledged, no longer fun-and-games.

"What is it? A meteor?" Jacen asked.

"No," Jaina breathed, "It's way too small."

"This is a fact," Tenel Ka stated seriously.

"We've got to maneuver out of its course! Prepare to jump into hyperspace!" Jaina said, flipping various switches and allowing the force to guide her actions.

Suddenly, Jaina felt the impact as if a thousand banthas had stampeded on top of her head. Her brain throbbed and her vision swam.

"JAINA!" Zekk's voice was the last thing she heard before the comm suddenly switched off.

Jaina was barely aware of a small green speck zooming around her cockpit before the stars stretched towards infinity and she lost conciousness.

I do not own any of the characters mentioned in this chapter ^·^ or in any future chapters. Jacen, Jaina, Zekk, Lowie, Em-Teedee, and Tenel Ka all belong to George Lucas, Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta, and all the other various authors that have published books about them. Though they are most prominently known for their adventures in the book series "Young Jedi Knights," by Kevin J. Anderson and his wife, Rebecca Moesta.