//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8: Trials of Sunset Shimmer 
// Story: Sunset Shimmer's Saga: Call of the Force 
// by Kenobiiii 
//------------------------------//

3 Months Later (3BBY) 
Cadimenu Sector 
Ajan Kloss 



Ajan Kloss was an uninhabited jungle covered moon orbiting the gas giant Ajara in the remote Cadimenu Sector in the Outer Rim. Mostly due to its remoteness and being far away from the prying eyes of the Empire, Kara had chosen this place as the perfect training ground to train Sunset Shimmer. Training her wasn’t as easy as she thought it would be. While Sunset was eager to learn, she was impulsive, very often acting without using her head. Perhaps the biggest flaw in her was her lack of patience in learning and her short temper. There were times, she had to teach her the virtues of patience and to cool down her temper. This was achieved by having her meditate through the Force, something that annoys Sunset even more but has borne fruit in bringing her to control her impulsiveness. But one thing Kara had come to admire about Sunset is her sheer determination and willingness to learn, sometimes taking effort to study the ways of the Force herself. In a way, she saw her younger self in Sunset. Her impulsive acting and her desire to learn brought back memories of her time as a Padawan, memories she just wished would just disappear. 

She and R5,after having waited with all their training gear outside for more than 20 minutes, headed to the Sunset’s quarters onboard the ship, only to find her still fast asleep, both drooling and snoring at the same time. Kara pulled away her sheets, hoping to wake her up but in vain. She sighed,  “ Come on, Sunset, wake up,” Sunset however, appeared irate that someone was trying to wake her up from her beauty sleep. “ Urgh, five more minutes Princess Celestia ?” She blabbered with her eyes closed shut as she turned her body away from Kara. “ Alright, you give me no choice, my young apprentice.”  Kara said before turning head down to R5, “ Do what you do best, buddy.” R5 replied with pleasure before utilizing its in-built electroshock prod to zab Sunset with enough electrical charge to wake her up. The sudden surge of electrical charge flowing  through her body sent Sunset jolting upwards, bumping her head on the upper bunk. She was now fully awake, and in pain thanks to the shock she received and her bump on the head, nothing permanent. She panted, “ I’m awake..I’m awake !” . “ Good, Now, let's get on with your training.” Kara replied to her. Sunset got up from her bed, with her hand massaging the bumped part of her head. “ What was that for ?” She asked, with her voice mildly filled with pain. “ Cause you won't wake up. So I had to ask R5 for special assistance.” Kara quipped to her. The astromech droid affirmed her account of it. Sunset took a big yawn before answering her master. “ Well, I didn’t get much sleep last night.”  “ Let me guess, Zeko and you were up watching the Holonet ?” She guessed.  Sunset affirmed her guess, “ Yea, you guessed right. Sounds like mindless propaganda to me. I wonder why Zeko likes to watch it.”  “Out here, you don’t really have much entertainment to go with.” Kara said to Sunset as she headed for the door, 
“ We should probably head outside now.” to which Sunset nodded. 

It has been about three months since Sunset Shimmer had left her home world, to learn under Kara’s wing to become a Jedi and to protect her friends. At first, she’ll admit things were hard for her to adjust to a new life as one with the stars. The type of food, sleep schedules, the technology used and just about everything else required time getting used too. Most of the time, she would reminiscent of  her friends back on Utthar, as what her home world is referred to by her new friends.  It would bring much sadness to her whenever she thinks about what her friends would be doing back home, probably spending every available time looking for her, something she hoped that wasn’t happening. It was indeed hard, their friendship left a hole in her heart, a void that cannot be filled. Her new friends however, helped get through the sadness and the void in her heart. They had lent her a helping hand in times of need, showing her the way around stuff with  Kara was always there to comfort her whenever she needed a shoulder to cry on. While Zeko and Karl can be cynical and sarcastic at times, they meant well. 

As regards to her Jedi Training, she had learnt a great deal about the Force and practices preached by the Jedi. If one thing she could say about her training is that it is harder than she thought it would be. For starters, one must give its complete and undivided focus to the energy within to tap into the Force, and this most of the time involves meditation,something she lacked patience for. According to her master, one must have patience and a calm composure to access the Light Side of the Force, virtues Sunset is not known to have. Initially, her impulsiveness and brash actions often conflicted with Kara’s teachings, and often made to meditate in the open forest to find peace within her. While her brash and impulsive actions have indeed reduced since her first day of training, it still manifests whenever she encounters an obstacle in her training. In other words, let's just say her patience and temper was still a working progress. Despite this, her strength in the Force has risen significantly, something that Kara herself has acknowledged and although she won’t admit it, impressed. She had taken her own effort in learning to master her abilities, utilizing R5 to study the ancient texts and lightsaber forms stored in his memory banks. It was a trait she had, even from her days as a student in Princess Celestia’s school. Still, the Force isn’t Equestrian Magic despite the latter being a part of it. Sunset still has much to learn if she is to become a Jedi. 

As she walked out of the Gauntlet, Sunset found a couple of crates sitting outside on the open plain where the ship had parked. inside these crates were Training objects Kara had supposedly salvaged from the ruins of the Jedi Temple. While a good part of her training involved physical fitness, the core of her training involved strengthening her connection to the Force. In doing so, one must utilize the aid of external objects for them to set their focus on and visualize.  One such object contained in the crate was an orb shaped Marksman H training droid  [1]with multiple energy ports covering it. It was probably Sunset’s most hated remote device ever. Its blaster shots, though not lethal,  give out a stinging pain when it makes contact with the body which can be even more vexing when stung by multiple shots.  Sunset then heard Kara calling out to her, she turned around to find her holding what appears to be a wooden crafted training saber, one she had used before to practice her lightsaber forms. She tossed it over to Sunset, who extended her hand and gave her absolute focus to conjuring up  the Force within her which answers her calls, pulling the stick towards her grasp. Kara was slightly impressed by this. “ Not bad, kid.” She intoned. “ I’ve been practicing lately,” Sunset said with a slightly over confident tone. Kara chuckled upon hearing this. “ Let’s test that effort shall we?” She said before pulling out a helmet with a blast shield lowered covering the wearer’s eyesight, from a crate beside her. 

Sunset’s face turned sour upon seeing the helmet. She knew well what her master was implying. Her bragging had paid off, just not in a way that she wanted. “ You gotta be kidding me.” She said in a slightly vexing tone.  “ Didn’t you say you have been practicing lately ?” Kara shot back at her in a sarcastic manner before tossing the helmet over to Sunset, who caught it without her hand. “ Yea but not for this,” She moaned, “ I’m tired of wearing this thing and deflecting shots with this stupid training saber. I wanna practice my lightsaber duel forms with a real lightsaber for once.” She added. Kara didn’t unsurprisingly seem convinced with her argument, “Patience, just by wielding some laser sword alone doesn’t make you a Jedi.” “ Then what about those guys in the holo recordings stored in R5’s memory banks ?” Sunset pointed out.  
“ Those guys started off doing what I’m asking you to do now. A Jedi draws its strength from the Force.” Kara said. For Sunset, it seemed there was only one thing that her master had in mind, “ So there’s no talking you out of this ?” “ I don’t see why you can’t do it.” Kara intoned back at her as she crossed her arms together. “ Fine.” Sunset sighed as she put on the blast shield helmet. 

With the blast shield obscuring her vision, Sunset could see nothing but darkness. It was intended to be that way, to deprive her of her optical senses, and have her rely on her instincts instead. She now stood in anticipation of the first shot from the training orb, her hands clenched hard on the training saber which was at ready position. With the orb on her hand, Kara gives out one last piece of advice to her young apprentice before activating the orb. “ Now I cannot emphasize this again but let go of your conscious self to the will of the Force. Let it guide your instincts.” “ Easy for you to say,” Sunset muttered to herself in frustration as Kara activated the orb. “ And the Orb is out.” She said as she released the orb. With her eyesight obscured, she could hear the noise of the orb circling her, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. All of her senses were heightened, as Sunset tried calling out to the Force to enhance them. “Aaah !”  A searing painful sting shot through her body that came from her back, breaking her spiritual focus. Frustrated, she swung her saber sideways, hoping to hit the stupid orb but its fast moving and unpredictable moving nature made it near impossible for her to hit it, coupled with her obscured eyesight. It simply continued circling her, finding another weak spot for it to hit. “ Let the Force guide your instincts.” Came Kara’s voice. 

Just then, she felt another stinging pain, this time coming to her left shoulder, as if by reflex, she swung the saber to her left side, but alas, she missed the roundish orb by mere inches.  With each shot hit as a result of her failing to deflect, she became more and more frustrated. She thought that maybe Kara just liked watching her fail and suffer, as if this was all some game for her. She could hear the sound of someone chuckling, as if amused by her constant failure,which was followed by a male voice,one she knew who it belonged to. “ I see someone is training with that stupid Orb again. This is gonna be fun to watch.”  “Shut it Karl.” Sunset called out to him in a vexed manner, “ Why not put on the helmet and try it then ?” “ I’ll just stick with a good old blaster and my eyes.” Karl shot back in a sarcastic manner. R5 seemed to agree with him, beeping as such that one could identify as laughing. There were times she just couldn’t stand his sarcasm.  “ Use your instincts Sunset.” Kara called out to her unfocused padawan. Sunset could hear the orb encircling her , waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Bringing herself back to focus, she calls upon the Force to be her senses. She could feel the energy flowing through her, passing every vein,artery and capillary in her body. She resigned herself to the Force within her, allowing it to control her every move. Just then, she could sense Orb, it was on her upper right, and it was positioning itself to deal a blow to its opponent.  The tension between her and the Orb was rising as Sunset tightened her grip on the training saber, waiting for the chance to deflect her opponent’s strike. The Orb then fires its stinging shot, which she senses. The Force, now in control of her hands, swings the saber in the direction of the incoming shot, deflecting it away. Then came another, and another, with Sunset successfully deflecting each and every one of the shots away from her, as if she could see the Orb moving about. Instead, it was the Force that was acting as her eyes and ears, visualizing and guiding her hands respectively towards the Orb’s movements. 

Impressed with her skills through the Force, Kara pulled back the Orb using a remote back to the crate. Sunset could hear the Orb heading back, which meant that the training was over. She took out the helmet, with her eyes confirming what she heard, Sunset sighed with relief. “Most Impressive,” Kara complimented. Sunset turned jovial upon hearing her master complimenting her, not that she rarely does so. “ Thanks. I could feel the Force flowing through me, guiding my hands.”  Said Sunset. “Like I said ,a Jedi's only true ally is the Force, and it is a powerful ally.” Kara said to her padawan. She wouldn’t admit it thanks to her ego but what her master said was true. The Force had helped her overcome the Orb, despite multiple tries of her own. “ Not to intrude on your master-apprentice relationship here,” Karl interrupted, “ But Zeko has made mynock soup, and I don’t know how much longer I can hold your cups.” He added, showing his hands filled with three cups of soup.  Famished, Sunset wouldn’t mind some soup to replenish her lost energy. 

As Sunset took a sip of the soup, her taste buds were thrilled by how good the soup was. She had to give it to Zeko. The Ardennian certainly knew how to cook well indeed. As they took a mouthful of soup, Kara had R5 show them holo recordings of lightsaber tactics taught by a fellow Jedi. This Jedi, a male who was perhaps the same age as Kara with brown slightly curled hair, seemed proficient in his skills with a lightsaber, using it to deflect incoming shots with ease. Not a single shot managed to get through his skills, as if he had trained for this moment his whole life. Sunset was amazed with this guy’s lightsaber skills, what she did pales in comparison to his skills. “ This guy is amazing.” She awed. “Of course he is,” Kara continued,  “Master Skywalker was perhaps one of the best of us all. He rarely lost a battle, and was a famed hero during the Clone Wars.” [2] Sunset has heard tales regarding the galaxy spanning War from the others, how the Jedi led an army of genetically modified soldiers into battle against a legion of battle droids. While she would have been a mere filly in Equestria when the war had taken place, Sunset was nevertheless fascinated by the tales of it. “ Did you take part in the war ??” She asked Kara. “ Almost every Jedi did at some point. I served as a Commander in the Republic Military.” Kara answered her question. “ You were about my age when you became Commander ? What was it like ?” She queried further, curious about the experience she had in warfare.  

There was silence for a moment as Kara tried to figure out the words to tell her padawan. It was a topic she rather not talk about, bringing back so many painful memories she rather forget. Sunset could tell that her master seemed disturbed by her question. She felt like changing the topic, but before she could speak, Kara did. “ Battle leaves scars, sometimes not ones you can see.” She said in a sour tone. Sunset couldn’t argue with that. “ Well where I come from, people say that it was the Jedi that caused the war.” [3] said Karl as he finished up his soup. Kara finished up her soup before answering back, “ I suppose that debate is academic now, considering that neither side won in the end.” “ Well you’re still here,” Sunset said to Kara, as she too finished her soup, satisfied with it. She sympathized with her master, having been through a great deal of pain when she was younger. It must have scarred her a great deal. It didn’t feel right to use her geode powers to look into her mind if she didn't want to share it , and not to mention she could easily mentally block it. Kara then got up and picked up her training saber. “Come on,” She said in a less sour  tone, “ let's test your lightsaber techniques.” Karl then stretched his legs up and rested on a bunch of crates, comforting himself. “ Oh this is where the fun begins.” He said in an anticipating tone which was shared by R5. Sunset got up and grabbed her saber before proceeding to face her master.

“Remember the forms you’ve learnt and apply it, take ready position.”  Kara said to Sunset, who did as told, holding the saber firmly at ready position, her eyes set on Kara, waiting for her to make the first move. “ We’ll start slow,” she said to which Sunset nodded. Kara made the first move, charging towards Sunset with her saber going  for an upper strike. “Block high,” Sunset lifted her saber to block her master’s saber resulting in the two sabers intersecting with one another. “Good, let’s work on a series.” Kara said, slightly impressed with her block. The two of them continue training, parrying with one another with Kara telling Sunset repetitively to block high, middle and low, as she swings her saber to that position. Sunset continues blocking every strike by her master, each time she blocks a charge, her strength and skills with the saber increases, her connection to the Force getting deeper.  Impressed with her durability with the stick, Kara increases her strikes, becoming more often and unpredictable to further test her durability. Sunset struggled to keep up with the tempo of their parrying but she managed to block every charge, even going on the offensive for a brief moment, pushing her master to block her strikes instead. But she loses her momentum and is pushed back by Kara who is back on the offensive. The intensity of their parrying increased further, with Sunset going on the defensive, countering every strike from her somehow revignurated master, who has increased the tempo of their parrying, striking even more than before and sometimes without warning. Fatigue sets in, and with her momentum lost, Kara manages to knock Sunset onto the ground. Having bested her, Kara brings her wooden saber to Sunset’s neck stopping just before making contact with it, “And that’s your head. Come on, you can do better than that.” She intoned. Sunset never liked being told that she could do better in something she had given all of her strength to accomplish. It made her feel that as if the effort she put in will simply not be enough. She was also tired of being bested by her master all the time in parrying. “I’m...trying” She grunted, while trying to catch her breath. Kara did not seem too impressed with her perceived non committal answer. “ Do or do not, there is no try.”[4]  Kara said as she extended her hand over to Sunset to bring herself up, in which she takes up her master’s offer. 

Sunset found it hard to comprehend what her master meant by there is no such thing as try. How could one perform a certain task if one does not at least try to do it. It was a conundrum. She wasn’t the only one who felt that way. “What does that supposed to mean ?” Karl asked. He was echoed by R5’s confused beeping noises. Sunset found it ironic that a sophisticated artificially intelligent droid like R5 couldn't understand a philosophical quote. “ A wise Jedi Master used to say that all the time.” Kara answered him. Still it didn’t technically answer the question. Before Karl could voice that out he was interrupted by Zeko, “Not to interrupt your Jedi session, but we’re getting an incoming transmission from Fulcrum.”[5]  He called out from the Gauntlet’s boarding ramp, partially out of the ship. “ It must be pretty important.” Karl speculated. “ We’ll be in there shortly, Zeko.” Kara said to him before turning her head over to Sunset, “ Our Training will have to be put on hold for now.” After placing the training sabers back in the crate, the three of them head back into the Gauntlet. While walking, Sunset wondered if today might be the chance to see the true identity of Fulcrum.  In the time she became the crew’s newest member, Fulcrum had called twice excluding today, and in those transmissions, her identity was never revealed, instead a white marking was used as some sort of avatar to hide his or her true identity. 

According to Kara, the term Fulcrum itself was a mere codename used by perhaps multiple secret agents gathering and distributing intelligence regarding Imperial Activities to insurgent groups. Fulcrum agents also acted as a bridge in an attempt to unite the supposedly various anti Imperial groups scattered across the galaxy into a single entity and recruit more to their cause. It was perhaps how they came to know Fulcrum in the first place. While Sunset didn’t know much, what she did know was that her new friends weren’t exactly supportive of Imperial Rule. When they were not preoccupied with her Jedi Training, they would generally attack Imperial Cargo ships, taking what needed to be taken and jumping off into hyperspace right before the Empire knew what hit them. Fulcrum would usually provide targets for such operations by them to be carried out. Such tactics would be more suited for a small motley crew like them,so Kara says. The last mission Fulcrum had provided them with was freeing a political prisoner of war that was being transferred to a secure prison facility. Karl had always justified their actions as somewhat noble in fighting a tyrannical government. While Sunset Shimmer wasn’t very familiar with the Galactic Empire thanks to her naivety in galactic affairs, she had heard stories of how they operate from the others. A military totalitarian Organization, the Empire as it is commonly called ruled the galaxy with an iron fist, occupying thousands of star systems and imposing its will on countless beings through sheer force and fear. Those who dared speak up were charged with treason and are sentenced to life long imprisonment, or worse. 

Despite hearing about the countless number of cruel things regarding the Empire, including how they rose up to power, Sunset personally didn’t agree with their actions in attacking Imperial Shuttles for two reasons. Firstly, Kara had taught her that one of the core principles of the Jedi is that they were the keepers of the peace, not soldiers. It would be hypocritical for them to act in a way that soldiers would do, attacking and sabotaging enemy activities while professing peace. Besides that, their actions were tantamount to terrorism, like it or not. Sunset felt that there surely must be another way of fighting the Imperial Regime without the use of violence. Perhaps through peaceful demonstrations or maybe even petitioning to the Imperial Senate itself might help bring about change. Zeko had claimed that the Senate is nothing more than a powerless Assembly, a shadow of its former self, but surely even the autocratic Empire won’t be able to hide or ignore the high amount of grievances voiced out by thousands of lawmakers. However, she had never voiced her opinion to the rest as she felt it was not her place to do so. After all, she was still considered new to all of this and as such, was not in a place to offer an opinion. With Kara always encouraging her to speak her mind, maybe today might be the day She will voice what she truly feels about these missions. 

Back in the Gauntlet, Sunset and the others regroup with Zeko, who was waiting for them over at the holotable, the circular shaped furniture projects holograms above its surface. With everyone of the crew present, he played the incoming transmission. With the press of a few buttons a hologram of a cloaked figure appears. This is perhaps the first time and the closest image Sunset would get on Fulcrum’s true identity, however she still could not make up the being’s face, which was fully concealed by her cloak leaving only pitch blackness in the place of where face was visible to the naked eye. The rest didn’t seem too bothered with this. “This is Fulcrum with a mission for the Gauntlet cell.” The figure spoke with a scrambled voice, similar to previous transmissions. This is done in order to prevent any voice identification. “ What do you have for this time Fulcrum ?” Kara asked the figure. “ As you no doubt know, the Empire is brutally occupying the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk, subjugating the Wookiees to slavery. We have reports of one particular Slave Camp called Camp 13 run by the Mining Guild on Imperial behalf in the system.” Fulcrum stated as a holographic of the said planet appeared. “ The Empire runs dozens of Slave Camps across the galaxy, What makes this one stand out ?” Zeko pointed out. “ That’s because this one has another purpose.” Said another voice that came from the transmission. Unlike Fulcrum, this voice wasn’t scrambled, allowing Sunset to recognise it as one that belongs to an older male. 

Appearing beside Fulcrum’s hologram was a much older man, with tan skin color and black hair. He was very formally dressed, wearing the kind of clothes usually worn by dignitaries. While this man is a complete stranger to her, the others seem to recognise him almost instantly. “Senator Organa, ” [6] Kara identified him.  “Yes, it is me, I believe this mission is of utmost importance for me to explain it to you personally.” The famed Senator from Alderaan, known for his strong commitment to justice and democracy and a harsh critic of the Empire said to them in a humble voice. “ What do you mean that  Camp 13 has another purpose, Senator ?” Karl humbly asked, having a great amount of respect for the esteemed Senator.  Bail stroked his chin for a moment before answering. “ That’s because the Wookiees in this camp are prisoners of war. They belonged to the Wookiee Resistance Movement.” As the Senator spoke, a holographic image of the camp, followed by its coordinates and air defenses appeared. “ Our sources report that this particular camp primarily acts as a deportation port. They say that the Wookiees are being transported off-world.” The Senator further added. “ Off world ? Where ?” Kara wondered. “The exact location that they were being sent to is highly classified by the Imperials but what we do know is that they’re going to be used as forced labor.” Organa replied. “It’s probably that they’re being used to construct something for the Empire.” Karl theorized. “ That’s the working theory.” Fulcrum chipped in. “ If you can help free those wookiees, Rebel Intelligence may be able to gather more information from this secret project the Empire’s working on. We can also help show the Wookiees that they are not alone in this fight.” the Senator said in a hopeful voice. “ The Wookiees have stood by us since the days of the Republic, it's time we do the same for them.” Kara said in agreeing to the mission. “ So I suppose you accept this mission ?” Fulcrum asked. “ You can take that as a yes.” Zeko concurred. The Senator appeared jovial upon hearing this, “ I knew you would say that.” He thanked them.  “ The coordinates for the Camp and its layout is enclosed in this transmission. Make good use of it, and best of luck for your mission.” Fulcrum said before the transmission ended. 

“I’ll set a course for the Mytaranor Sector at once.” Zeko commented following the end of the transmission to which R5 replied in the affirmative. Sunset however, didn’t seem too happy about this. “ So we’re not going to talk this through ?” Sunset queried. “ Uhh, what's there to talk about exactly ?” Karl pointed out. A part of her wanted to brush it off, but Sunset felt that the time had come for her to voice out her opinion after staying silent for far too long. “ I mean about this mission. I know the Empire is bad and all, but isn’t what we’ve been doing all this while a crime ?? Not to mention that it is against the Jedi way.” a sense of silence filled the room as everyone exchanged glances with each other, completely taken off guard by what she said. After being a member of the crew for slightly over two months, they had thought that Sunset would have been accustomed to their practices and supported it. While she had taken part in their missions willingly, it didn’t occur to them she had a differing opinion on it. “ Never knew you looked at it that way.” Karl said incredulously. Kara turned to her padawan and addressed her directly. “ Walk with me for a moment.” Sunset nodded at her request, and as she accompanied her to leave the ship, Kara turned over to Zeko and Karl. “ Get the ship ready for take off for our return.”    

As the duo walked out of the Gauntlet to the forest, Sunset felt her stomach churning throughout the walk. Maybe she should have just her opinion to herself and played along like always. She had never seen Kara’s angry side before, the most was when she was annoyed but never angry, and she doesn’t intend to see it. Finally she pulled herself to ask her the million dollar question. “ Are you mad at me or something ?” Judging from her facial expression, she didn’t look annoyed even at the slightest. Instead she was amused by her question. “ No, I'm not mad at you for voicing your opinion. I’ve always been encouraging you to speak your mind and it would be hypocritical of me to be mad at you for doing that.” Sunset’s heart sank in relief. But it still doesn’t answer why they are out here. “ So why are we out here then ?” She asked. Kara took out a circular shaped object which she identified to be a holopad. “ To give you a proper explanation on what we do and who we are. And to do that, we’ll need to be free from distractions for you to listen to this.” Kara said. “ Listen to what ?” Sunset asked her master. “To this message.” Kara answered her as she turned on the holopad, which in turn projected a holographic voice recording. Although the owner of the voice was not pictured in this recording, Sunset could easily identify it to belong to a male around her age, maybe even slightly younger. His voice while it was filled with sadness and despair, it yet sounded hopeful. As he went on, the hopefulness turned into a sense of determination. This boy said,

“ We have been called criminals, but we are not. We are rebels, fighting for the people, fighting for you. I'm not that old, but I remember a time when things were better on Lothal. Maybe not great, but never like this. See what the Empire has done to your lives, your families, and your freedom? It's only gonna get worse…unless we stand up and fight back. It won't be easy. There will be loss and sacrifice. But we can't back down just because we're afraid. That's when we need to stand the tallest. That's what my parents taught me. That's what my new family helped me remember. Stand up together. Because that's when we're strongest—as one”  [7]

The transmission seems to have ended abruptly, it wasn’t Kara’s doing but instead the recording itself had an abrupt ending. “ Call us Terrorists, Criminals, Warmongers or Rebels, but we’re simple people trying to make this galaxy a better place for all beings to live in.” Kara said as she tugged the holopad back from the same place she pulled it out from. Sunset’s head was filled with dozens of questions after listening to that holo recording. She wanted to launch a barrage of them at her, but  settled for the most obvious and simple question, “ Who was that boy in that recording ?” “ That recording came from a boy around your age. This message brought about hope across the galaxy and it's what inspired many of us to rebel against the Empire.” Kara answered her question, but Sunset wasn’t done yet. “Rebel ? What do you mean ?” She asked. “ A Rebellion against the Empire. We are just one of many groups scattered across the galaxy that is fighting the Empire. Agents like Fulcrum act as middlemen in hopes to unite the various cells as one single entity with a common purpose.” Kara continued,  “This Rebellion is growing everyday Sunset, it is a symbol to the less fortunate that there is still light in this galaxy filled with darkness.” [8] Kara had a point, Sunset thought to herself. Still, this meant taking part in an armed conflict against the Empire, which was still contradicting the ways of the Jedi. “ But being a part of this Rebellion goes against the Jedi way. I thought the Jedi were meant to be keepers of the peace, not starting a revolution.” Sunset said to Kara.

While she did not say it, Kara was impressed with Sunset’s intellectual thinking. Perhaps there was more to her than she realized. “ You’re right.” She admitted, “ But, I also taught you that more importantly, that the Jedi were the guardians of justice and freedom, did I not ?” “ Yea, you did.” Sunset concurred, unsure of where this conversation was headed. “ The Empire is nothing more than a totalitarian dictatorship built on fear and oppression. Doesn’t this contradict what the Jedi stands for ?” Kara pointed out. Sunset couldn’t deny it. What the Empire does completely goes against what the Jedi stand for but at the same time, if they were to act,  it would result in them breaking a sacred value. In short, they can't fulfill one rule without breaking the other. “ I guess we’re stuck in a conundrum then.” Sunset replied to her. “ Indeed we are,” Kara said to her as they started walking back to the Gauntlet. “Kid, as Jedi, we must learn to be a bit more flexible if we are to bring about change in times like this.” Sunset was confused as to what her master meant by flexible. “ What do you mean ?” She queried further. “ During the War, the Jedi Council had chosen to prioritize and uphold its servitude to the Republic. As such, the Jedi became military leaders, taking part in battles. In doing so, injustice and chaos spread as a result of war and we neglected the very innocents we had sworn to protect. It brought about resentment and dissatisfaction towards the Jedi Order, making it easier for the Emperor to exterminate the Jedi from a galaxy who didn’t view them as favorably as before.” Kara narrated. Sunset could only listen as to what her master was trying to say. “ What I’m trying to say is that in our case, we are the protectors of peace and  justice on top of everything else. It is what defines us as Jedi, not ancient beliefs that are redundant in these trying times. We’ll have to adapt to these changes if we are to survive.” Not a word came out of Sunset during their short walk back to the ship.  As they approached the doorsteps of the Gauntlet’s boarding ramp, Sunset had finally come to a decision. “ Let’s go free those Wookiee slaves.” She said, accepting Kara’s reasoning.