Star Wars: Jedi's Will of Justice

Chapter 13: Conflicting Vectors Made by the Force - Part 2

I do not own any of the Star Wars and DC characters and ideas represented in this work.

​

To be a Jedi is not only to have a distaste for violence and stop it, but to understand why and how it started in the first place. Being a Jedi is not only about stopping violence but also about resolving it. To be a Jedi was not only to encourage peace among sentient beings but also to represent it and be the embodiment of it. To be a Jed is not just to be enlightened by the teachings of the Force; it is to be with it. To be a Jedi, one must be understanding and compassionate and have inner peace with the world around them and within themselves. To be a Jedi was to be the pure embodiment of the will of the Force itself.

There is chaos, yet there is harmony.

A Jedi must find the best compromise between two parties if said parties are having a conflict. Luke Skwalker, who was still a Jedi Knight at the time, was stuck in a situation of two, perhaps three, from a certain point of view, parties that had conflicting biases, intentions, and goals that collided with one another.

The first party was a combined group consisting of sailors of both the Sangtee Imperial Navy and the Gordanian Navy in the establishment that was once known as "Faz's Bar" and was in the establishment as customers. Recently, at that time, the Gordanians kidnapped multiple female captives and performed horrible actions on them.

The second party was a Thanagarian woman named Shayera Hol. Shayera Hol was once the superhero known as Hawkgirl and held the rank of Lieutenant in the Thanagarian Empire. In that, Shayera Hol discovered that, due to her actions, the Gordanians won their war with the Thanagarians, and her former lover and fiance, Commander Hro Talak, was killed during the final battle. Hol, in an angered state, spots the group of Sangtee and Gordanians in the cantina and proceeds to assault one of the Sangtee Imperial officers.

That leads Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker between the two parties. Both parties were enraged and provoked into an attack by the other, both having separate reasons why. For Shayera Hol, it was to take out her violent frustrations and self-hatred on the Gordanians and the Sangtee to a degree. As for the Gordanians and the Sangtee, they wanted to kill Shayera for maiming Sangtee officer Lieutenant H'arva Bruct.

In another piece of information, Jedi Knight Skywalker discovered moments before the fight that the Gordanians and the Sangtee held female captives aboard their ship, the Sharpclaw, and their nefarious plans for them. In an ideal situation for a Jedi to dissolve a conflict from happening without the pursuit of violence, Skywalker would have approached the Sangtee and the Gordanians about their atrocities, reasoned about the error of their ways, and convinced them to let go of the captives. It would also be ideal for them to agree and understand Skywalker's request and free the captives of their own free will.

If that attempt fails and the captors don't see reason, the next course of action for a Jedi in this situation would be to use force suggestions and/or a mind trick to encourage the minds of the captors and then the crew of the ship to release the captors. However, due to Shayera Hol's involvement in the situation, the Sangtee and Gordanians' ability to reason was diminished at that point.

This leads to the unfortunate conclusion that Skywalker has to resolve the conflict physically. By past standards, Jedi Knight Skywalker has dealt with more unforgiving odds than in this situation, as he has proven to deal with crowds of combatants with minimal effort and time. However, what Skywalker did not consider in time was the third party mentioned. Before Faz's Bar shut down, customers and patrons alike, on occasion, would have violent brawls and fights in the cantina. And on rare occasions, some fights would turn into dangerous firefights.

As Jedi Knight Skywalker disarmed a Sangtee sailor who attempted to shoot Shayera Hol, that brought the attention of all of the patrons within the bar. That then followed the shared mentality that a fight has started, which would lead to an invitation for every patron to partake in.

In Luke Skywalker's case, things were about to get a little messy.

***
​

Luke held his lightsaber in a two-hand grip. He stood alone while Shayera lay behind him, still on the floor from the Sangtee knocking her down. In front of them were at least twenty Sangtee and Gordanians gawking at Luke's lightsaber and his ability to use the Force. All around them were many patrons of Faz's Bar, which consisted of many races that halted their dances and leisures to stare at the Jedi. Everything went silent like the void of intergalactic space. The silence only lasted for three seconds. In those three seconds, he was already preparing himself.

One...

He drew his breath in, letting the Force flow through him like new fresh air, to guide him, to give him the strength in order to escape this fight unscathed. Eyes continued to gawk at him as the Sangtee and Gordanians were about to get their military bearings back.

Two...

He tightens his grip on his lightsaber. Durasteel ligaments and electro-drivers that made up his right hand tensed and untensed in preparation for a fight that would come soon. His muscles relaxed as the Force flowed through his body like a calm stream, flowing uninterrupted. The Force retold him every Jedi defense technique, every move, every offensive and defensive lightsaber sequence his former mentors taught him, and everything he taught himself. The Force retaught him everything, a check on learning, while the looks stopped at him and started at the other. Every patron that stared at him was now trading glances at one another, then nodded in silent agreement. The Sangtee and Gordanians resumed their arm movements of unholstering their blasters and their weapons. He focused on the here and now, what will happen and what will not when that second passed.

Three...

He exhaled, ready. Glances that turned into nods, then turned into body movements, preparing for a fight. Muscles tensed, legs opening into wide stances, hands balling into fists, tentacles unraveling, teeth showing themselves, claws and pinchers snapping for anticipation, and artificial appendages activated into defensive modes. Most of the Sangtee and the Gordanians now had their weapons raised, fingers at the triggers, shooting vectors pointing towards his chest.

Everyone was ready to fight in the Cantina, but Luke was ahead of them. In that final second of calm, with the help of the Force, he relearned everything he knew in the Jedi arts. He relearned Makashi's tight cuts and disarming techniques. He relearned the fast blurring speed attacks and jumps of Ataru. He relearned the impenetrable defense of Soresu and the serenity that came with it. He knew who would attack first, throw the first punch, aim the first kick, first to duck for cover, and the first to pull the trigger before they even knew. For everyone else in the Cantina, it must've been the fastest three seconds of their natural-spanning lives. For Luke, those same three seconds were like three long years.

Centered in the Force, he expended his breath out of his lungs. Ishtak was the first to shoot, the bolt of killing energy went straight to Luke's head. The Force beckoned him to angle his lightsaber horizonelty at his forehead and so he did. The blade redirected the bolt back to it's source. The bolt went straight back into the muzzle of the pistol, overloaded the blaster, and blew up in a blossom of super-heated gas that turned Ishtak's right hand into a mangled mess.

The moment when Ishtak's cry of pain left his mouth was when the brawl started. Patrons pivoted to each other and started their own fights. Patrons, kicked, thrashed, clawed, punched, and even threw against one another. Some fought one-on-one, others fought in large groups. They threw and hurled alien food, mugs, glasses, chairs, and tables. Some blasters were drawn too, trying to shoot one another, though not accurately. A rain of alcohol, glass, broken tables, and some patrons sprayed across the Cantina like a whirlwind. In the middle of it was Luke Skywalker and a platoon-sized element of angry Sangtee and Gordaninans.

The slavers opened fire on Luke, releasing a hail of red hot bolts of energy. Not a single bolt passed him. He moved his lightsaber at a blinding pace, deflecting the bolts back as if another platoon of soldiers were shooting back at them. To those who were watching Luke, it looked like multiple ghostly images of his arm and his lightsaber magically appeared in front of him and were fading in and out of existence, deflecting bolts back. Half of the soldiers managed to duck and drop to the ground from the returning fire, but the rest of the half were struck back into the chest, arms, or head

Luke then commanded the long table that soldiers used to be seated in, to turn in a fast rotation. The table twirled into a circle, knocking the soldiers that were beside it. Soldiers were even thrown in the air, skittering across the cantina, or falling underneath the table and being mangled by the table's legs. The soldiers that escaped the twirling table got to cover behind flipped-over tables. Luke got the sense of danger behind him, the feeling of a Gordanian running towards him with an axe over his head.

At the right moment, Luke backflipped away from the charging. To the chagrin of the Gordanian, when Luke was at his original spot a half second ago, a Sangtee soldier aimed and fired at where Luke's chest would have been. Instead of the bolt hitting the Jedi, the bolt hits and opens the chest cavity of the Gordanian, who thought he could bury his axe into Luke's head. Landing back to the ground, he immediately ducks underneath a swing from a Sangtee soldier, the melee weapon only hits empty air. Luke then pivots under the Sangtee's swing and arcs his lightsaber to cut off the Sangtee's arm. The soldier screeches in pain and falls to the ground.

In a moment, Luke saw that Shayera was fighting two Gordanians at the same time. One tried to thrust his melee weapon but she pulled him in and delivered a head-butt. The Gordanian in a daze fell back and released his weapon, Shayera took it off his hands and then faced another Gordanian. In a loud war-cry-like grunt, she meets the other Gordanian and bashes the weapon over his head. His helmet cracked and splintered, he collapsed limpless on the floor.

Luke even notices that Artoo is fighting as well. A Sangtee trained his repeating blaster onto Shayera before Artoo's tow-cable exited out from one of his compartments and tangled itself on the Sangtee's legs. The Sangtee fell onto his back as his legs got stuck into the cable. Artoo then used his rocket boosters to quickly jerk, pull, and tug the Sangtee like a wrangler trying to get a Dewback under control. For some reason, the Sangtee refused to let go of his blaster and his finger on the trigger, and so, in a frantic state, the Sangtee let out continuous bolts of blaster fire.

The bolts went everywhere as they bounced up and down, side to side, across the Cantina. Many of the bolts didn't penetrate and dissipate into the Cantina's walls as if they were refusing to stop bouncing and zig-zagging until they killed or caused some form of mayhem. Some of the patrons saw the bouncing bolts and hit the deck. Some ducked and stopped fighting for a moment when one went by over their heads, only to continue when it passed.

One bolt hits a large holo-image on the ceiling that is playing repeated videos of near-human females dancing, which turns into a fire of sparks after it gets hit. A patron ran into another and fell to the floor as he saw a bolt headed straight towards him as if he had its own sentience and wanted to kill him. A bolt hits the mug of a patron who was only watching the brawl surround him, watching in joy until the beer mug explodes quite literally in his face. A bolt even manages to hit the leg of a Gordanian who was taking aim at Luke right before the bolt renders his leg into a cloud of burned gore and armor.

A rogue bolt seemed like it was about to go right into a window before ricocheting on the wall and making a beeline toward two non-humans with tentacles that were fleeing the Cantina fight. With no time to spare, Luke used the Force to redirect the bolt from hitting the couple to hitting a rushing Sangtee, who had his eyes on stabbing Shyaera with a combat knife before having his arm blown off.

Thinking that he may have caused too much carnage, Artoo then pulled his shock arm out of his dome and hit the cable. The electricity goes through the cable and electrocutes the Sangtee, knocking him out and ending the stream of fire. In that distraction, a Gordanian was about to attack Luke from the back before getting an uppercut to the face, elbowed in the stomach, and then thrown to a table by a stranger. Luke turned around to see the one who saved him from the attacking Gordanian; it was the force-sensitve.

The force-sensitve had his hands clasped to his back. In a calm, collected voice, he greeted himself, "Greetings, I am Saint Walker, and you are?" he said with a great, genuine smile.

Luke himself actually smiled back; he finally got a chance to talk with him, even though the situation wasn't really the best for a chit-chat. Luke was about to introduce himself to Saint Walker before he felt that one of the rampaging bolts from earlier was making its way toward them.

"Duck!" Luke grabbed Saint Walker's shoulder to push them both down, just in time when the bolt went past them.

Then out of some form of instinct or friendly comradery, both of them put their backs together. Both covering their rears, Luke having his lightsaber angled up and feet staggered while Saint Walker was in some form of martial art posture.

"Funny," Luke jokingly said in thought.

"Let me start again, my name is Luke Skywalker," Luke with his free hand, pulled it behind him to have Saint Walker greet it while still staying in his defense stance, eyes and senses searching for danger.

Saint Walker took in the hand, "Pleasure to meet you, Skywalker." Saint Walker went back to his martial arts stance and then said in surprise amusement, "Hmm, Saint Walker and Skywalker, funny coincidence, don't you think?"

Luke smirked as well, he was going to comment on it before another rogue bolt was coming towards them, "Right!" He warned.

Luke didn't have to wait as Saintwalker immediately pivoted to his right, which gave Luke to turn and redirect the bolt with his lightsaber to hit and dissipate it safely into a wall.

"Very nice energy sword," Saint walker complimented.

"Thanks, built it myself, and funny thing about coincidences, I don't believe in any," Luke said while focusing on the now dwindling bar fights.

The taller non-human nodded in agreement, "Nor do I, Brother Skywalker."

Luke thought about what Saint Walker said, "Brother", to Luke it seems that it could be religious. He went back to observing the Cantina while the two 'Walkers' were back to back. There were at least two or three more fights still happening. Everyone else was either down knocked out or fled the Cantina itself. It was a mess, broken tables littered the ground, and glass and other Silverware was sprinkled all around. It seemed more like a bomb went off here than an actual Cantina brawl. Shayera was still in a fight if Luke can call it a fight. She was punching one Gordanian over and over again, she had him on his knees and had one hand by his collar while the other was pummeling his face to a bloody pulp.

For the Sangtee and the Gordanians, all were in pain on the floor or knocked out. All but four, one Sangtee and three Gordanians, went to surround Luke and Saint, two on their fronts. Luke turned his head slightly to talk with Saint, "You take the two on your side, and I take the two on my side."

Saint nodded and had a slight smile, "You've read my mind."

Then, the two broke the back-to-back stance and dashed forward to the soldiers. One of the Sangtee tried to shoot at Luke, but he deflected it back to the Gordanian next to him. Luke then ducked under a fist that the Sangtee tried to make, but the Jedi kicked the soldier across the Cantina. Luke looked over to Saint to see if he needed help, but he didn't. A Gordanian attempted to connect his fist to Saint's fist, but Saint sidestepped and grabbed the Gordanians arm. Then he maneuvered himself and the Gordanian where Saint was behind the soldier and landed a pressure point on the soldier's neck. The Gordanian collapsed instantly. The last soldier was able to throw a beer mug at Saint, but Saint caught the mug, twirled to get momentum, and threw it back, making the mug crash into the soldier's face.

Just like that, the entire Cantina brawl was over. After some moments of silence, Luke continued to study the aftermath. It really did seem like a thermal detonator went off in the cantina. All the blaster bolts were gone; burned marks spotted the large room's walls and floors, trailing smoke and emitting ozone through the air. Splatters of blood and alcohol from different shades of color caked the floor. He even spots a small fire brewing in a far corner. A literal whirlwind turned this place upside down.

In the corner of Luke's eye, he noticed a person trying to avoid attention and making their way towards the backdoor. It was Ishtak, cradling what was once his right arm, and Luke knew where he was going. Taking no time, he turned off his lightsaber, clipped it to his belt, and called Artoo.

"Artoo!" He waves the little Astromech over, "Come on!"

Artoo beeps that he is coming and moves around the knocked over tables, debris, and unconscious patrons that scattered the ground to head over to Luke.

Luke looked over to find Shayera still punching the same Gordanian over and over again. Her fist was coated in blood, from either her, the soldier, or both; Luke couldn't tell. The Gordanians face was badly squashed in, blistered, bloody, and almost unrecognizable. Luke could sense that his life was hanging on a thread and that he would probably be in a coma for a very long time. In a matter of time, that was something Luke couldn't afford to waste, as Ishtak had now left the cantina.

"Shayera, come on!" Luke didn't bother to explain the rush since he could explain it when they caught Ishtak.

Thankfully, for the Gordanian's sake, she stopped her punches mid-throw, then swiveled her head toward Luke. To say she was angry was an understatement; she was a bomb that went off and was continuing to explode. Her face was snarling with aggression. Her eyes showed the hot, bloodied fury within her. Her fist hung in the air, as if time had stopped it, and it was shaking, almost waiting for permission to deliver the final punch through the Gordanian's face. He's really starting to regret letting her come here.

"Shayera, he's done! The last Gordanian is running away; we gotta catch him! Come on!" He pleaded with his female Thanagarian friend, who looked like she was in a murderous trance.

Shayera stopped her face of rage with a scowling look and looked back at the now-bloodied Gordanian. Reluctantly, she drops her fist, but after that, she picks him up with both hands and tosses the Gordanian towards the only table that wasn't broken and knocked over in the carnage; it breaks after the Gordanian lands on it.

"Good enough," Luke sighed out.

The Jedi then quickly made his way out to the backdoor, where Ishtak escaped, with Artoo wheeling behind and Shayera walking in a stomping state. Surprisingly, Saint Walker runs with Luke outside to the street. Now out of the blasted-out cantina and into the cityscape, Luke was surprised that pedestrians were still walking, crawling, and slithering onto their business, acting as if the sounds of an entire war didn't engulf the cantina they walked by. They also didn't seem to mind the thin layer of smoke that was pooling out of the back door and probably the front entrance as well. From the smell of it, it seems to be the result of the blaster fire that went on in the cantina, and the small fire that Luke saw earlier was starting to get a little bigger.

"Whatever," he casually said and rolled his eyes. His problem was to find Ishtak and get the whereabouts of the captives to save them, not worry about these people's lack of situational awareness skills.

With him looking out to the walking crowds of the street, Saint Walker went in line with Luke on his side. "If you don't mind me asking," the taller alien said, "Is there a particular reason why you, your automatic friend, and your female Thanagarian partner want to get that Gordanian officer?"

Luke responded, "That Gordanian knows-" He stopped himself and opened his eyes a little bit when he finally heard Saint Walker's words and their implications. He turned his head to Saint, trying his best not to sound offended, but it was worthless. "She's not my partner or anything like that," he said with slight embarrassment but continued with rebuilt confidence, then looked back to scan the crowd and said, "She's a good friend."

"Oh, I see. My apologies then; I just assumed because of the way you two acted together."

Luke huffed, seeing no reason to be frustrated about it. "No, you're fine." He continued scanning the crowd, "Okay, short story; I found out those Sangtee and Gordanians kidnapped women on their ship, and that officer would know where, getting to him is where I can get to their ship and to those women."

Saint Walker nodded and looked onward at the mass of roving pedestrians. "That is a noble cause to do that, Skywalker. Do you mind if I tag along?"

Luke thought about it while his eyes were busy somewhere else. This might be a chance to get to know Saint Walker better and find out the extent of his Force potential. "Help couldn't hurt," Luke said dryly.

After some seconds passed, Luke saw the Lieutenant admist in the crowd, trying to run as fast as his pained body would let him. Luke nudged Saint Walker, "He's there! Come on!" he points to the fleeing Gordanian and moves across the street in pursuit, with Saint following close behind.

The chase to stop Ishtak began. Luke and Saint went through a gaggle of beings that barely acknowledged the existence of the two. Both of the force-sensitives ran through the crowd, trying not to push and shove passing pedestrians. In the cases where they do actually stumble and collide with walkers, they politely apologize. In turn, they received annoyed and angry looks and/or yelling of incoherently accented basic or garbled noises of alien languages they didn't understand.

Luke almost even stepped on someone's "pet," which was a large arachnid animal crawling on the sidewalk with a leash harness on its carapace. The animal hissed in frustration, showing fangs that could rip flesh apart, and pointed its front legs in the air to show it would strike. The owner growled at Luke from his vocoder mask and twitched his antennae in anger. Luke said his apologies while going around the two, trying not to get bitten by the pet.

Artoo was behind him, moving his motor treads as fast as they could go in order to keep up with them. He was also sounding off in binary beeps and screeches about how Luke needs to slow down.

Shayera, still in a fuming state, stomps through the crowd while the whole sidewalk of pedestrians parted ways for her to walk freely so they wouldn't run the risk of tasting the wrath of a furious Thanagarian. Some bold male beings tried to sweet talk Shayera, thinking that she was some call girl, while another attempted to cop a feel on her backside. The first one got a clear answer from Shayera with a shockwave of a punch to the face. The other, Shayera, kindly responded by hurling him into a store's front window.

Finally, after running through at least two blocks worth of street, they managed to track Ishtak to a dirty alleyway. Artoo and Shayera were still catching up, which would leave Luke and Saint to deal with the fleeing Gordanian.

At the edge of the alleyway, Luke and Saint stood at the corner. Taking a peek, Luke saw that the alleyway was just a dead end. At the end of it, Ishtak was fumbling for what could be a comlink out of his armor's pockets with his one good hand.

He reeled his head back to Saint Walker and said, "Follow my lead; this won't take long."

Saint Walker gave a silent gesture of acknowledgement: "Then I am a humble observer, Skywalker."

Luke went into the alley with Saint Walker, both walking; there was no need to rush in or anything. Ishtak somehow managed to get his comlink out and was about to call the Sharpclaw.

Luke stopped him in his tracks when he spoke, saying this out loud with a hint of amusement and mockery: "Going somewhere, Ishtak?"

Ishtak was startled by Luke's voice and accidentally dropped the comlink. He tried to catch it with one hand but kept dropping it. It finally fell into a sewer grate that was under him. It clanked and clanged in the sewer until ultimately making a final sound that seemed like it was now lost in sewer water. He fell to his knees, as if that were his last hope, and tried to open the grate, but it wouldn't move.

With a slight trembling in his legs, he went up and pointed at Luke accusingly and with anger. "Who ar-,"

Luke interrupted him, "Who am I? I'm Luke Skywalker. But I think the main question you should be asking is, What are you going to do with those women you captured?"

Ishtak's eyes flared up. "What?! How do you?" Luke cuts him off again.

"Know? That doesn't really matter, does it?" Luke steps closer to the Gordanian. "How about you do the right thing and take us to your ship?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ishtak stuttered out.

Luke narrowed his eyes. "I know when you're lying, you're parked somewhere in the city at one of the spaceports; it'll be unwise to lie to me."

That was when Saint Walker entered the interrogation and said, "This would be the best time to redeem yourself, Gordanian." He said it firmly. Luke could sense he was hiding his anger at the Gordanian. Faintly, he detected signs of grief and pain erupting in him, and it had something to do with the Gordanians.

Ishtak, still being noncompliant, shook his head and said, "I don't have to tell you mammals anything!" He hissed at them.

Luke felt from the Force that Saint Walker's patience broke, and it had its origins in his deep feelings and past. Saint Walker was about to step forward and possibly "convince" Ishtak to talk before Luke stopped him with his arm raised.

"Don't, Saint Walker," he said, looking over to Saint Walker, who's hairless brow lowered. "Let me deal with him."

"But Skywalker, he will not talk to us," Saint Walker tried to explain.

Luke let a portion of a smile escape his face. "Don't worry," he says, letting his arm down and facing Ishtak. "I'm very skilled in convincing people otherwise."

Saint Walker huffed out air, relaxing and letting go of his anger. "Very well."

Luke went over to Ishtak until he was a meter away. Ishtak tried to step back but only found the wall. "So you're not going to tell us where your ship is?"

"Like I said, you can eat my shedded scales!"

Luke pointed at him and said, "I think you are going to tell us where you parked your ship." Luke could tell Saint Walker sensed him using the Force suggestion on Ishtak.

"He's strong in the Force; I'll give him that," Luke commented to himself. "Something is telling me that the Force itself brought us here together, but for what?"

Ishtak blinked once and said, "I'll tell you where we parked our ship."

Saint Walker looked over to Luke, dumbfounded, both from sensing Luke's mind trick and from it working before his very eyes. Luke thought at some point they're going to have a talk about one another, seeing how Saint needs to know that he has the gift of using Force.

The Last Jedi asked the now-compliant Gordanian, "Where's your ship?"

Ishtak asked without a second thought or hesitation, "It's at the Xylon Docking area, section 8; it's a Class-2 shuttle."

"And your mothership?"

"In orbit, as far as I am aware, they'll be expecting us to board soon so we could jump to Hyperspace and back to Gordanian Territory. We were running late." That was all Luke needed.

"Thank you," Luke said, then with a soothing gesture, "Sleep," the Gordanian fell to the ground.

Saint Walker's befuddlement was still shown on his face. Luke turned to him while Saint's black eyes were wide. "I have many questions to ask you, brother Skywalker." He said it politely.

Luke slowly nodded. "As do I."

Before any of them could speak, they both heard the recognizable sound of a Thanagarian war cry and saw that Shayera was above them, planning to strike towards the knocked-out Ishtak. Shayera was about to land the stab before Luke quickly summoned an invisible barrier between her and the vulnerable Gordanian. She bounced off the force wall and was thrown back against the alleyway.

She stood up, ignored what happened, and was still determined to end the lieutenant's life. She took a few strides away from the wall when Luke grabbed her arm, which had the knife in her right hand. It looked like it was the combat knife one of the Sangtee tried to attack Shayera with.

Shayera noticed Luke had stopped her and tried to get out of his grip by using her natural Thanagarian strength. Luke's durasteel hand, electro-drivers, and force augmentation didn't let Shayera budge an inch, and she was slightly shocked but got angry anyway.

"Let go," she said in a growl.

"No," Luke stated bluntly.

Shayera didn't let up, still trying to escape his grip. Some seconds passed of her using her unified strength to get out, but she stopped when she realized he wasn't going to let go.

She repeated her words, but said something a little desperate. "Let go!"

Luke didn't compromise. No, Shayera."

Anger left her, and out of desperation, she said, "Luke, let go."

"Why? Because he deserves it?"

"Yes!" She cried out, "They're just scum, Luke!"

"Maybe," Luke admitted, looking at the Gordanian who lay next to them. "Maybe he deserves death for all the things he's done." He averted his gaze back to Shayera. "But not like this, and not when it's not needed."

Shayera was now more sad and desperate. "Luke, let go." It looked like water was starting to flow out of her eyes.

"Not until you do, Shayera."

Shayera looked into Luke, and a tear went rolling down her cheek. Her muscles relax, and she lets go of the knife; it was the only thing in that dirty alleyway that made any noise as it clanged to the ground.

Luke looked over to Saint Walker and asked, "Can you give us a minute?"

Saint turned his head to Shayera, who had her head down in shame, then to Luke and nodded in silence. He leaves Luke and Shayera at the dead end, going to the entrance, while Artoo just now pulls up.

Shayera went to the wall next to Luke, arm-bracing herself as another held her mouth. Sobs and tears erupted from her. To Luke, it seems like Shayera just needs to be with herself till she's done. She cried for maybe a couple of minutes; to her, it might've seemed like hours. They didn't face each other. To Luke, all of the city's sights and sounds were muted. No music, no sounds of air traffic, or walking pedestrians. It was just them.

"Why..." Shayera weakly said while sobbing, "Why, every time I do something, things just get worse?" She finished while shaking her head.

Luke only said what came to mind: "You're not the only person who makes mistakes, Shayera."

She sniffed and turned to him, his face still red from crying but now scornful. "Oh yeah?" She responded with venom, "Has anybody screwed up to the point where the people you wanted to protect hate your guts?" She sniffs again and continues, "Has anybody slipped up to the point where your own people are enslaved because of you?"

She then distorted her face to take a glaring look at Luke. "How 'bout if anybody has gotten to the point where your own friends don't want to be with you and the men you loved are out of your life?" She steps closer. "Has anybody ever been a bigger disappointment and failure than me, Luke? Huh?!" That last bit of anger wasn't directed at him but rather at herself.

Luke didn't give an answer at that moment; he only looked into her raw eyes and looked down, deep in thought. He had an answer, but one he didn't want to say. One that she might not like either. Not getting an answer, she scowled at him and used her arm to wipe her face while sniffing. She then went back to the wall. They stood moments apart in silence, not facing each other.

The answer was stuck in Luke's throat, not wanting to come out. The answer itself was a secret that no one really knew in his galaxy. Few actually know it; his sister, Ashoka Tano, and even Artoo know it. In retrospect, he's not really in his galaxy, is he? He told her about how his father became Vader, but he did not tell her what Vader actually was or what he represented.

He finally got the courage to face Shayera and to think about the words he was going to say. He inhaled and said, "I haven't told you what my father did when he became Vader, have I?"

Shayera shrugged. "Does it matter?" She replied almost emotionlessly.

Luke didn't answer back to that question and continued, "When my father became Vader, he marched into the Jedi temple with armies of Imperial troops, and he..." He paused, his heart telling him to stop, but he dared to press on. "He went into the temple and killed every single Jedi there."

Shayera's head went up in surprise. He continues, "He killed every master that mentored him since he was a child; he killed knights that he was friends with; he killed Padawans that were young and looked up to him; and..." He couldn't bring himself to say or remember the ideas out of his head; it was almost like he was there, seeing his father do that. Shayera saw Luke stop and how he was struggling to say it. He gulped and said, "He killed younglings, Shayera, and children; he didn't even spare the children. He killed them with his own lightsaber."

Shayera's eyes opened, horrified, shocked, and sad for Luke. "And when he became the Emperor's right hand," Luke said, "he helped enforce his rule, incite genocides on worlds, torture rebels, and do other things I probably don't know about." He looks down at the ground and says, "He killed my first mentor, Obi-Wan, right in front of me; he tortured my friends so he could just get to me."

His fake hand suddenly got tense. Remembering that duel on Cloud City, "I haven't told you why I wear this," he held up his gloved hand. Shayera just shakes her head. Luke takes off his glove, rolls his right sleeve, and faces his forearm toward her. She gets confused at first, then gets utterly horrified when he opens his prosthetic arm's inner compartment, revealing electro-drivers, machinery, and circuits.

She stared at the prosthetic and then at Luke's eyes with disbelief and terror. "He... did that to you?"

Luke nods, closes the compartment, and puts the glove back on. She studies him and then pulls her head down. They stand there facing each other for several moments before Luke says, "Despite all the things he's done, all the things he's done to my Galaxy, to my family, and to me." He draws his eyes to her and says, "In all of that, he's done, Shayera; I still loved him and forgave him for it."

He paused for a moment, then said, "When he became Vader, he thought there was nothing for him left, that he'd be stuck being the Emperor's servant for all of his days. He thought nothing would change. He got stuck in the past and never looked at what could be. But when he saw his son, when I showed him that there's a future, he realized that."

He says, "What happens in the past is done and done, Shayera. We can't dwell on it; otherwise, we'll lose the moments that make us now. We'll be blind to what's going on here and now if we get stuck in the past. Everyone makes mistakes, Shayera; it's who we are; no one's perfect." He puts his head to the side and says, "I'm definitely not perfect."

He lifts his head to her; she looks at him as well, disheartened. "Shayera, here and now is when we can make amends for those mistakes. Here and now is where we live. We live in the moment. And here and now, Shayera, there's a group of women abused by the Gordanians, and they're in that ship of theirs." Shayera's mouth went slack, and her eyes winded.

"I'm going to help them, Shayera," Luke went on, determined now. "I'll put my own life down just to save one."

He steps closer to her and says, "I know what happened; you don't want to involve yourself in helping people anymore. But deep down in you, I know that there's nothing more important to you than fighting for those who can't fight for themselves; that's who you really are, Shayera. That's the person you've been trying to hide, your true self."

Luke then shook his head and said, "But I'm not ignorant, Shayera. I know that you've been thinking about leaving Earth." Shayera gave a look of surprise and tried to say something in objection, but Luke didn't let her say it: "I'm not finished; if you want to leave all the things in your past, that's up to you. But to leave all the things you love?"

Luke went even closer now, gazing into exhausted emerald eyes of hers that were swallowed by the redness from flooding tears. He cupped his real hand on her cheek, and his face saddened. "Shayera, I care for you," he says softly. "And caring for you means I have to let you decide your own path."

He drops his hand while, all this time, Shayera hasn't blinked since his hand made contact with her. "I can't tell you what to do because I already know that you'll always do the right thing," he gently said.

He takes a step back and turns his back, moving out of the alley. He stops, though, thinking that he'll need to say something that could be his final words to her if she decides to leave. He turns around and says, "Remember, Shayera, when you're torn between your sense of duty and your feelings, always follow your feelings."

She didn't give an answer. The only thing she did was stare at him and look back at the ground. Luke went on and exited the alley. Was this him abandoning her? Was this conversation due to weeks of talking to her and getting frustrated by her own self-hatred? Or maybe this was him getting so agitated that he had to talk to her like this when there are women in pain right now, needing to be saved? Truthfully, he doesn't know. All he knows at the moment is that Shayera was given a choice of whether to free herself from the past or continue her own mindset.

He leaves the alleyway, and unfortunately, the sights and sounds of the casino city surround him again. There on the sidewalk were Saint Walker and Artoo, patiently waiting. He made his way over to them, and as he did, another question creeped into his head.

He cared for Shayera, her well-being and all; that was a fact. But does he have strong feelings for her? Is he starting to get attached to Shayera?... He couldn't really say, or rather, have a clear answer, at any rate. In all this time he knew her, it seemed like she was a different person, like if she wasn't Shayera Hol. She was just a ghost of her original form. And then, when he talked to her back at the cantina before the fiasco. That was the real Shayera; in that moment, he did have strong feelings for her. But seemingly, it's possible that he might never see the real Shayera again.

In his Jedi training, self-taught or otherwise, he found it hard to use the art of letting go of one's attachments. A Jedi must be willing to let go of their emotional attachments in order to do the right thing and be closer to the Force. He lost a lot of things before he became a Jedi, lost some more during his training, and now he lost his entire friends and family because he was in a different reality. But now he has completely accepted that he won't see them ever again. Grief pained him in those moments, but he overcame it.

Grief is just something that will happen; it will hurt and sting, but at the end, it will pass. Just like any emotion when Luke thought about it honestly. It was a distraction. Well, that's what the Old Jedi Code will say about it.

At this point, he was good at letting go of attachments. Not that he's happy about it or that he's willing to let go of his loved ones at the drop of a hat, but it was something he learned the hard way.

If he did have any attachment to Shayera, small or otherwise, then, at the moment, he might have to let that one go too.

He reached Artoo, and Saint Walker saw him but didn't see Shayera with him. Artoo let out a worried whine. Saint Walker cocked his head to the side and asked, "Is your Thanagarian alright?"

Luke let out an exhaustive sigh. "Yeah, she's just...finding her path in life, that's all."

Saint Walker gave an expression that showed he understood that level of thinking: "I understand that feeling of loss and uncertainty in one's life." He gave a moment of silence before continuing with, "Are you still fine with me helping you and your mechanical friend stop the Gordanians?"

Luke arched his brow. "Can I ask why you're wanting to help?"

Saint Walker looked like he was trying not to remember a horrible memory of grief and loss, something that he seemed to wish would just go away. He breathed in and out to calm his anxieties as Luke felt it was going down. "I am originally from Astonia; it was a peaceful world until the Gordanians arrived."

Saint shook his head with a trace of despair. "They attacked my world, butchered, and enslaved my people." He closed his eyes. "My family didn't survive." He put his eyes on Luke, a face of determination and uncertainty mixed together. "I came here for answers, a solution."

Genuine feelings of sorrow entered Luke as he put his hand on Saint Walker's shoulder in a comforting grip. "Words can't express the pain I feel with you, Saint Walker. I hope you find that answer, my new friend."

Saint gave a slight hopeful smile, though his thoughts were muddled. What he said next to Luke was directed to the Jedi, though he didn't say it outright. Possibly uncertain himself, he said, "I may have found that answer."

"Are you sure you want to be involved in this?" Luke warned, "I don't think it will be safe for either of us."

Saint Walker hardened his face. "If it means risking my life and saving a few from sharing the same fate that occurred to my people, Gladly."

That was the answer Luke needed: "Then I won't stop you from coming with."

Saint Walker faintly smiles. Luke was about to tell Saint and Artoo that they'd need to be going before the Gordanian ship left when he heard Shayera's voice back in the alley: "Wait, Luke!"

She made her decision.

***