Within the Force (Star Wars fan fic) Book One

Chapter Ten

Aboard the Queen's transport, coming out of hyperspace and approaching the Naboo star system, Qui-Gon Jinn paused on his way to a meeting with the Queen to study Anakin Skywalker and Jeremy Cordell. The boys stood at the pilot's console next to Ric Olie. The Naboo pilot was bent forward over the controls, pointing each one out in turn and explaining its function. Both boys were absorbing the information with astonishing quickness, brow furrowed, eyes intense, concentration total.

"And that one?" Anakin pointed.

"The forward stabilizer." Ric Olie glanced up at him expectantly, waiting.

"And those control the pitch?" Jeremy indicated a bank of levers by the pilot's right hand.

Ric Olie's weathered face broke into a grin. "You two catch on pretty quick."

As quick as anyone he had ever encountered, Qui-Gon Jinn thought.

That was the reason both boys were so special. It gave evidence of their high midi-chlorian count. It suggested anew that Anakin was the chosen one of one of the great prophecies, and Jeremy and Ashlyn were thus of the other. The Jedi Master sighed. Why could the Council not accept that this was so? Why were they so afraid of taking a chance on them, when the signs were so clear?

Qui-Gon found himself frustrated all over again. He understood their thinking. It was bad that the trio was so old, but not fatal to their chances. What troubled the Council was not their age, but the conflict sensed within them, especially within Ashlyn who had admitted to being conflicted. Jeremy was as much damaged as his cousin, if not, probably less, but he was conflicted all the same, and though he didn't say it out loud as Ashlyn was not afraid to do so, it was clear in the way he moved, talked and reacted albeit his lighthearted and joking personality. Anakin was wrestling with his parentage, with his separation from his mother, his friends, and his home. Especially his mother.

The three of them were old enough to appreciate what might happen, and the result was uncertainty that worked within them like caged animals seeking to break free. The Jedi Council knew that it could not tame that uncertainty from without, that it could be mastered only from within.

They believed Anakin Skywalker, Jeremy and Ashlyn Cordell too old for this, their thinking and their beliefs too settled to be safely reshaped. They were all three vulnerable to their inner conflict, and the dark side would be quick to take advantage of this. It was clear they had more faith in the girl albeit her admission of her own instability; she was aware of what was and what could happen, and she had made it clear she didn't want to take a risk in joining any side. Though Jeremy was almost as matured as her, almost as old as her, he was still a child at heart and mind. To say he was unaware of what was and what could happen would be a lie, but he was much more naive than Ashlyn had been when she was younger before she had lost her mother. Sure, she still had faith in redemption, but she knew when someone was in too deep.

She felt she was in too deep— she was in too deep, and though a part of her wished to join the obvious choice for side, she knew she wasn't ready. Perhaps there would be a time where she would be ready to take her new weapons and use them for something more than just surviving, but she knew that now was not it. She had to find herself— help her best friend find and be herself anew— before she made any other decisions that might involve her having to protect other people's lives without worrying of her own.

Qui-Gon shook his head, staring over at the boys from the back of the cockpit. Yes, there were risks in accepting them as apprentices. But few things of worth were accomplished in life without risk. The Jedi order was founded on strict adherence to established procedures in the raising and educating of young Jedi, but there were exceptions to all things, even this. That the Jedi Council was refusing even to consider that this was an instance in which an exception should be made was intolerable. Still, he must keep faith, he knew. He must believe. The decision not to train them would be reconsidered on their return and reversed. If the Council did not embrace their training as Jedi voluntarily, then it would be up to Qui-Gon to find a way to make it do so.