Luke Skywalker, the Last Jedi, faces his toughest challenge yet. After taking his Jedi vows, he assumes the misbelief that love has no place in his life. As a result, he denies the love he craves in order to establish the New Jedi Order and maintain...
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❶ Naluma flicked her hands over the control panel, charging the engines and opening the thrusters. She pressed a button on the center console and spoke into her headset. A quick sideways glance to Luke in the copilot's seat encouraged her. Here goes nothing.
"D'Qar Tower, this is Jedi Starbird Elenium requesting permission to launch."
A female voice crackled over the intercom. "Elenium, what is your flight plan?"
"Atmospheric flight training."
"Copy that, Elenium. Steer clear of Sectors 4 and 7. Munitions testing in those regions."
"Copy that, Tower."
"Launch granted. And may the Force be with you."
Those words sent a chill up her spine. I don't think I'll ever get over hearing that.
"Elenium out." She disengaged the connection.
Luke leaned toward her. "Now just rev the throttle and pull back on the yoke smoothly."
"DrruurRRP tanaNDuh?"Artoo chirped from the rear of the cockpit.
"Not the time, Artoo." He narrowed his eyes at the droid before returning his attention to his trainee. "Ignore him. Just concentrate."
"Weeyoh BURRUP vrrrBRaum."
She craned her head and swiped her hand across the display, inadvertently jerking the craft out of alignment.
"Artoo, cut it out. There are no mynocks on our power cables." Luke pointed to a control on her left side. "Now lower the stabilizers."
When she pressed a button, the gears whined as the wings lowered into position. That doesn't sound good. Doesn't Artoo maintain this thing? "When's the last time you had her up?"
He stared at the ceiling as he calculated the date. "Not since before my master trials. Maybe four rotations ago."
"Not good for any bird to sit idle that long. I'll check her out tomorrow."
"Don't worry. Once she's warmed, she'll be okay." Luke stared out the window. "Level off at one kilometer."
Within a few seconds, she eased off on the yoke and brought the shuttle parallel with the planet. The small vessel shook in the wind.
"Just a bit of turbulence. Ride it out."
She smiled. "It's pretty fun."
"But dangerous." He grew silent for a moment before continuing. "Use the Force."
