The Edge of the Universe

XXXIII

Anakin's POV

We went down to the hanger at 3 am and the Jedi Council was already there, 10 fighters were lined up against the hanger wall and a cold breeze swept through the place making me shiver and wishing I had my cloak with me. 

"There are five hidden targets floating around in the air, you need to hit all of them to do the next trial tomorrow. You cannot double back and there are no do-overs, land on the landing strip A7 and Obi-Wan and Aayla Secura will be waiting for you to tell you if you passed or not," Windu explained, "The rest of the Council will be in the Jedi Council room to get a good view of the targets but we will be in contact with Obi-wan and Aayla Secura,"

The Jedi Knights nodded and Windu wished us good luck and the Council walked into a gunship that would take them to the Temple and Obi-wan and Aayla Secura to the landing strip. We all walking towards our fighter going from oldest to youngest so I was last, after a few minutes a horn rang out for the first person to go. The cover of there fighter closed and their landing gear went up as they left the hangar and flew out into the pitch-black night. Of course, Coruscants lights were on but it was still difficult to fly at night. After 10 minutes another siren went off and the second person closed their fighter lid and lifted off the ground before zooming out the ground. It was 5 am before I finally went, I closed the lid of my fighter and started it up. I lifted off the ground and flew out of the hanger and up into the air, I spotted the first target up ahead and I shot at it. The green bolts hit the target but my right-wing of my fighter sparked and smoke billowed out from it, I went into a spiral dive towards the ground and my anxiety spiked but I gripped onto the controls and yanked my fighter back up. It levelled out and then I flew upwards, smoke was still billowing from the right-wing but it was still kind of working. I had a tight grip on the joystick and my fighter was jerking in the air slightly but I managed to keep it steady. I focussed back on Coruscant's landscape and spotted the second target to my left, I spun the fighter around the air towards the left and shot at the target, I managed to hit it and that's when I spotted the third target close to the ground. I went into a controlled dive and pulled up when I was on the correct level of the target, I fired and the target exploded, I veered out of the way and flew through the fire of the explosion and pulled up. The fourth and fifth target were pretty easy to hit but now I was flying towards the landing strip the right-wing was sparking more and more. 

I was flying directly above the landing strip and the wing sparked again, I pressed the button to open the lid of my fighter and front flipped out of it landing on the tarmac as my fighter went skidding down the landing strip. It touched the ground and flipped a few times before coming to a stop and then exploding, the smoke billowed up into the air and lit up the area slightly with the flames. The stands erupted into cheers and Obi-wan and Aayla Secura rushed forward.

"Are you alright?" Obi-wan asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied.

Obi-wan reached through the force bond and my first instinct was to place my walls up but refrained from doing it because it would spike Obi-wan's curiosity even more.

 "So, does that count?" I asked looking at the wreckage of the fighter.

"Yes, it definitely counts Skywalker," Aayla Secura replied.

"I have no idea what even happened, I don't think I crashed into anything or did something to it,"

"We know, Eeth Koth was watching you the whole time and he said the wing just randomly sparked. We'll have to check the holo recordings later on," Obi-wan explained.

I nodded and followed the two Jedi Masters into the gunship, 6 other Jedi were already in the gunship which means 3 people didn't pass this trial. The ship settled down in front of the Jedi Temple and the Jedi Knights followed Obi-wan and Aayla Secura up to the Jedi Council room, when we entered the two Jedi Masters sat down in their seats and I noticed some of the Knights eyeing the empty spots.

"Well done to all of you, you are all exceptional fliers and even though we had that incident with your fighter Skywalker you still performed expertly," Plo Koon complimented.

I bowed my head back, thanking him and Master Windu addressed us all.

"The second trial will take place tomorrow. Kit Fisto was a Jedi Guardian and he was a starfighter, Ki Audi Mundi however was a peacekeeper, so for the next trial you will have to use hand to hand combat to fight someone, we won't tell you who they are but you need to be prepared. You'll all be given different times to come to the same place as yesterday, you'll have today to prepare and train," Windu explained.

"Will we be fighting each other again Master?" a Jedi Knight asked.

"No, you are free to train with each other if you want but try to not sustain any injuries until after the fight," 

We nodded and the Council dismissed us, we all went down into the training room and surprisingly Adi Gallia asked me to spar with her. I accepted and soon enough we took our places in the training room. We sparred for ages both evenly matched, the fights drew on for ages until one of us would floor the other. The other Jedi Knights were either sparring each other or punching boxing bags, eventually, Adi Gallia grew tired and she decided to leave after thanking me for training with her. 

I left soon after and managed to find Ahsoka as she was walking towards her next class, she asked about the trial and I gave her vague details before telling her she had to get to her next class before she was late.

"Master, I'm already late for class anyway," she complained, "Plus it's only Master Kenobi's class which is so boring!"

"Sorry Snips, Obi-wan will kill me if I let you miss any more of his classes. Plus you have a lot to catch up on," I replied.

Ahsoka pouted and grudgingly turned and walked down the hallway towards her classroom. I shook my head and sighed at her retreating back, she had barely changed a bit since 2 years ago.

A/N: BTW THE ONLY SHIPS IN THIS BOOK ARE ANIDALA