The Unchronicled Adventures Of Ahsoka Tano, Book Ten

Chapter Sixteen: What Has Not Yet Come To Pass

KAYA TI AREEKO

Kaya Ti spun and wove between golden energy blasts as they sailed through the air. Although she moved with the grace of a dancer, she didn't allow herself even a single moment to congratulate herself for the progress she'd made.

After all, this was only the first setting.

Let's see how many levels I can make before I have to start using my lightsaber, she thought, taking a moment to rest as the pair of Jedi training modules orbiting around her began their brief recharge cycle.

As if picking up on her thoughts, when the two modules came back online, their shots increased in frequency, and, more importantly, accuracy. Kaya leapt back to her feet, twisting around the laser after laser as it flew towards her.

Finally, the training module stopped to set itself to a higher level of difficulty, and she had still managed to get through unscathed. Regardless of the sweat that clung to her brow and the slight strain she was beginning to feel on her breathing, Kaya smiled. "Okay, time to try this again."

The small floating spheres began attacking again, this time with almost overwhelming intensity, but Kaya wasn't taken by surprise. In response, she simply raised her left hand, summoned the Force–

And was suddenly forced to drop her hand back down to her side as three shots hit it. The small red patches where the blasts had hit her skin stung painfully for a moment, then her entire arm went numb.

"Blast it," she hissed, summoning one of her lightsabers to her uninjured hand, using the blade to do what her connection to the Force apparently could not.

She had been working on perfecting the skill of deflecting baster fire using the Force, but her efforts had so far been met with mixed results. Oftentimes, two or three shots were sent ricocheting away, but at least twice as many still got through. She had yet to develop the concentration necessary to focus on several incoming laser bolts at once.

When the lightsaber was doing all the work, she didn't need to think: she could act on instinct. But in a galaxy where Jedi were hunted down, she knew she wouldn't always be in situations where she could have the weapon at her disposal.

"End simulation," one of the probes chimed, floating down to the ground alongside its fellow. Kaya pulled herself back into a normal standing position, taking a moment to inspect the mild burns on her arm.

Suddenly, she sensed something strange in the Force. It brushed up against her memory like a long-forgotten ghost of the past, carrying with it memories she had never seen fit to look back on until now.

But, strangely enough, instead of providing her with the certainty that it had happened before and had to do with the past, the disturbance – whatever it was – still carried the same weight as the present. It concerned things that were happening at that very moment, or that had yet to happen.

Kaya closed her eyes for a moment to bring herself back to reality, dousing her lightsaber and clipping it back to her belt. She was probably just tired; worn down by the demanding training exercises.

But even once she was certain she was quite recovered, Kaya couldn't shake the feeling that she knew exactly what was coming.

DARTH VADER

Darth Vader strode onto the bridge of the Relentless, the Star Destroyer commanded by Admiral Konstantine. His heavy boots and breathing echoing throughout the space and alerting all in the vicinity to his presence, and it was with some note of satisfaction that he sensed a sudden increase in fear.