Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
When Celeste awoke from her unconscious state, once again, she woke up in a room with vast windows that peered out onto the vast, dark and empty space around the room. It seemed that the room she was in was on some sort of space station--she assumed owned by Moff Gideon. She got up from the small cot she was resting on and began to explore the fairly large room. There was a table in the corner of the room with various small mechanical parts laid out on the table. She picked up the smaller pieces in her hands and felt them as they rolled around in her palms. "What the--" Celeste was interrupted when she heard the door to the room open.
She shot her head around and saw Moff Gideon in the doorway. He swiftly entered the room and closed the door behind him. "I see you've found the supplies to the project you will begin soon." He pointed to the parts on the table.
Celeste cocked her head at him, utterly confused as to what the project was and why he wanted her to build something for him if she had no background in mechanics. "I don't know much about how the Sith or the Jedi train, but I figured we'd start with a lightsaber," Gideon admitted to her.
"I read something about lightsabers, in my book I had." She wearily told him, unsure whether to trust him or not. He hadn't physically harmed her, yet, so, she decided to not act violently against him and make her situation worse on that space station. She knew she needed to escape that place as soon as possible to get back to Mando, but she had to work intelligently to flee without a scratch.
"Good, good. I found this journal of a fallen Jedi, in it, she details how she constructed her saber." Gideon handed her the dusty old journal. Celeste grabbed it and read the name of the original owner of the journal on its leather cover: Ahsoka Tano. The name had no significance to Celeste, but it was nice to know who she would be learning from.
"One day, you may wield this," Gideon pulled out a weapon that was holstered on his back. I was a long, dark blade surrounded in an ominous white, glowing light. "The Darksaber. Crafted by the first Mandalorian that joined the Jedi Order. I find it appropriate for you to wield, within due time, since...well, you know...your affiliation with a Mandalorian. Until you earn the Darksaber, you shall train with a lightsaber." Gideon was pleased with Celeste's astonished reaction to the blade. It was breathtaking. So unlike anything she had seen before. It held so much power and hissed much like a lightsaber, yet was shaped and held like a sword.
* * *
Weeks and weeks passed, and Mando never showed up to save Celeste. She was beginning to lose hope that he'd ever come back for her. She couldn't sense him due to his distance and she worried he wasn't coming back for her...or worse...he was dead. During the first few nights, she cried as she mourned the loss of her family. But, she soon got over it as she began to focus on training her abilities.
Celeste in those weeks had constructed her lightsaber and had grown quite trusting of Moff Gideon, despite his infamous history that was unbeknownst to her. She learned quite a lot from him and about her own abilities. Most of the things she had learned about the Force had come from the journal, written by Ahsoka Tano. Celeste learned she was the Padawan of Anakin Skywalker before he became Darth Vader, she learned the notorious story of Anakin Skywalker and his children--Luke and Leia. Ahsoka's writings were very detailed about how she trained and how she controlled the Force. She even described all the rules that the Jedi had to follow and her own struggles with following the Jedi Order loyally. Celeste was nearly revolted when she read that the Jedi weren't permitted to have any attachments, or in other words, love.
All the while, Gideon whispered words that promised her power and greatness which only radicalized her more into training her powers to its maximum capacity. He promised her that she could reach a level of power within the Force that could permit her to resurrect the dead and bring back her loved one--Mando--if he were dead. She felt the need to grow immensely powerful to protect the child and to protect Mando, or bring him back from the dead if he were in fact dead.
She became swift on her feet with her lightsaber, and any opponent that Gideon set up against her would almost always meet a fatal end by the end of the fight. She and her yellow lightsaber had become one unit, acting together to defeat any enemy set up against her. She had grown to have much control over the force and could now manipulate it even when she was in an emotionless state.
"I want to leave. I've proven myself to you, Gideon." Celeste told her superior as she used the Force to move the furniture around in her room.
"You are not ready." Gideon sternly told her.
Celeste gritted her teeth and reach out her hand to choke Gideon with the Force. "I don't think I need to take orders from you, anymore." She narrowed her eyes at him as he struggled to breathe against her hold.
"You...must...control...your anger..." Gideon began to sputter out, Celeste let go of her hold on him to avoid killing him. "We have much more work to do. If you stop now, the world will never be a safe place for your child. Others will come for him and seek to harness his power. We must work together to create a new order in the universe, an order where everyone will obey you. Wouldn't you want that? For the child?" Gideon had a way of manipulating her with his words.
Her heart tightened as she thought of the child being kidnapped. She wasn't even sure if Mando had retrieved the child and had him safe in his care, and it worried her. "It will all be worth it in the end," Gideon assured her as he collected himself after being attacked by her.
Celeste took a seat on her bed and buried her face in her hands to hide her frustration. She wasn't used to having people to worry about. She didn't know about anything going on outside of that room and the room she'd train in on that space station. She didn't know whether Mando was dead or if he was even looking for her. If the child was safe or if it was killed or even if Gideon had him in his clutches and was lying the Celeste the entire time. It was all very overwhelming and it took every ounce of energy in her to keep herself from breaking down.
author's note: one more chapter until season 2... y'all ain't ready for the next chapter.
