“Reach out with the force.” Spike intoned, keeping his eyes closed as a group of younglings did the same, all sitting cross legged and listening intently to his voice. “Feel the world around you, the echoes in the force. We are all one with each other and the universe, the force binding us together.”
Spike opened his eyes, looking over his class and beginning to walk around the room, checking that each student was meditating properly.
“See the world, not through your eyes, but through the force. Look…around…” Spike trailed off, hyperventilating heavily as he steadied himself against the wall, squeezing his eyes tightly shut. Memories fought their way to the surface, and threatened to overwhelm him in a pit of despair and pain.
“Master?” A voice finally sounded, snapping Spike out of his trance like state.
Instantly, his eyes snapped open, fixing on the small Rodian in front of him. The girl’s eyes were wide, and fixed on him, concern flooding into them.
“I’m…I’m fine.” Spike said, bringing his breathing down to manageable levels.
“Calm down.” She said softly, the other students standing next to her to offer him support.
They all knew that something was wrong with him, but none of them knew exactly what. That hadn’t stopped them from helping him whenever they could however, and had been an essential crutch for Spike. Since he had woken up, he had been getting steadily better, having less and less outbursts and panic attacks, but that didn’t mean they were all gone. The problem had only grown in size when Tarhal, Zule and Corinna had been called away, sent to the front line with their Masters. Solaris hadn’t stayed for long either, the council unable to keep a Jedi with her skills held down at the temple. If he had to stop to think, Spike sometimes wondered if he could take it at all, and often struggled just to go on, but he managed to, thanks in no small part to the younglings.
Spike smiled down at the younglings as he managed to recover his train of thoughts, blocking out the memories and pushing himself off the wall.
“I’m sorry. Five minute break. Meet back here when you’re done.”
“Thank you Master.” The Rodian said.
“I’m a Knight.” Spike corrected as they walked out of the room.
Slowly moving back over to the seat at the front of the room, Spike flopped down and sighed, removing his Lightsabers and looking over them. It was something he had been doing more and more since the others had had to leave the temple, focusing on something simple helping to keep his mind away from the darker thoughts. One thing he had realised in his many inspections was the size of the weapons, their casings barely extending from his hands when he gripped them, and the blades being more like daggers to a creature of his size. Of course the blades were still normal sized, and in the hands of a human they would be perfect, but to him, now he was pushing nearly eight foot, they were fast becoming impractical. With a heavy heart he realised that at some point he would have to make new ones. These ones had served him well, but everything had to end.
***
Spike growled as he jumped forward, slamming his shoulder into a massive droid and denting its chest, driving it backwards as it tried to separate itself from Spike. The droid was massive, SD-1 Hulk-infantry model, designed to dominate and control areas. This was an early prototype, but it was good.
The droid swung one of its cannons, almost slamming into Spikes head, but the dragon managed to duck again, slamming his own fist into the crater he had created in its chest, grabbing hold of a bundle of electronics and pulling back, yanking them out in a cloud of sparks.
Instantly, the droid failed, its eyes fading as it topple backwards, its arms locking up as it deactivated. Panting slightly, Spike released the cables and stepped over the droid as a pair of maintenance drones emerged and began to clear up the mess. It had been a close run thing, not to him loosing, that fact was never in dispute, but to him losing control. There had been a moment there, just for a few blissful seconds, where Spike had wanted to give into his nature, doing more than just deactivating the droid, moving on to full on destroying it. It was an urge he hadn’t been able to shake for a while now, always coming back whenever his blood was up and he was fighting. Whatever he had done on Maryx Minor, it had awoken something inside him. Something deep, and something that should have remained buried.
As he walked across the room, he grabbed his Lightsabers with the force, attaching the old models to his belt as he walked. They were much lighter now, owing to the fact that they were nothing more than casings, but somehow their presence on his hips comforted him. Maybe he would have to keep them after all, back up weapons and everything.
He had removed the insides earlier that day, preparing them for his new weapons, but he had encountered a setback in the construction of his new Lightsabers, and while he was waiting had decided to test his hand to hand abilities. Now that was done, he reasoned that enough time had passed for the process to have completed, and began to make his way down to the artificer rooms.
Compared to the rest of the temple, this room was dimly lit and had no windows to the outside. The walls were bare, wrought metal several meters thick at some point, and the codes to get in were changed daily, as well as needing a bio-scan of the person trying to get it. In short, these were the most secure rooms in the temple.
Not without good reason of course, within these dark halls rested the most terrible of the Jedi weapons, stretching beyond Lightsabers to more ‘conventional’ weapons of war. It was a little known fact that in times of war, if anything ever happened to the Republic itself, or even worse, if the Republic turned on the Jedi, then the Jedi would not be defenceless. This area of the temple however was not widely known about, even within the order. To learn about it, one needed to have risen to the rank of Knight, and have a good reason to need to enter into it, like Spike had when he had decided to build new weapons, something more suited to his size.
Moving as quickly as his limp would allow him to, Spike crossed towards a forge, looking down at the two hilts that rested within, their pure black surfaces shining as they heated up. Flicking a switch, Spike stopped the plasma vents, reaching in and grasping hold of the hilts. They were still hot, but if he could survive in lava, he could pick these things up.
The hilts were massive, easily double the length of his old weapon hilts, but they fitted into his hands much better, the handle that made them stand out actually fitting his hand properly, as opposed to requiring him to only use a few fingers on each hand to grip them. Their physical size is not what mattered however, it was what went into them. On their own, the Lightsaber hilts would have produced an identical length blade as the two at his hips, but combined with some extra focusing lens, the blade length had been increased massively, and if his calculations were correct, giving him a pair of weapons more suited to his stature.
Sliding the innards into the hilts, Spike grasped his Lightsabers, thumbing the activation stud with a grin. Instantly, the blades ignited, bursting into life and projecting a white and purple glow around the room. Even with the hilts being completely different, and currently lacking the gems set into them, the blades were the same, their extra length comforting him just as much as his first Lightsabers had. Eventually, after admiring the blades for over five minutes, he deactivated the blades, setting them down and removing his belt. He would have to strengthen this if he was going to put the heavier weapons on it but that wasn’t a big deal, he could live with doing that, plus it gave him something to do until this damn war was over.
***
“The first form is simple, easy to grasp, and quick for advancement.” Spike said, walking between the ranks of younglings, each wearing a blast helmet which obscured their vision as they held their training Lightsabers in a straight guard position. “Do not under estimate its usefulness though, there is a reason every Jedi knows it. Learn this, and you will be a random force in battle, striking from unexpected angles, and catching your opponents unaware. The upside of the form is also the downside however. You will be random, but because of that, you will not be able to formulate a plan of your own. Always remember though, if you don’t know what you’re doing, your enemy doesn’t either.”
Smiling slightly, Spike watched as they all moved in unison, blocking an imaginary laser bolt, before returning to the guard position. It was surprising to think that they had only been using Lightsabers for a couple of weeks, and yet they all had the basics pretty much nailed, then again, the basics were one thing, actually being good in combat was something completely different.
Spike slowly reached down to his own Lightsabers, the pitch black surfaces now broken up slightly by the addition of the cutie marks of the ponies they honoured, both the whiteand the purple contrasting nicely. He had really put into his mind the material he was using when he had created them, but now that he was wearing them every day, Spike was realising how heavy his new weapons were. If he had been anyone else, he wouldn’t have been able to lift the weapons, let alone fight with them, but that just gave him an advantage over being disarmed, as even if an opponent stole his weapons, they wouldn’t be able to use them against him.
He still didn’t know what to do with his old weapons though. On one hand, they were just empty hilts now, unable to do anything, and simply being purely decorative. If Jedi had a single, permanent room, as opposed to communal dorms that they came and went from, he would have liked to hang them on a wall somewhere, a memento of his first Lightsabers, but since that wasn’t an option, and the fact that Jedi were supposed to have little to no personal items, he would have to think of something else.
***
Spike awoke in the middle of the night, his body drenched in sweat and the sheets wrapped tightly around his wrists. His mouth was open in a silent scream, but he had learnt to curb the actual sound that came out. This was his routine now, he would sleep for a few hours, before springing awake again, only to collapse back to the bed to repeat the cycle again until it was the morning.
This time however, something drew Spike from the room, and he instinctively grabbed his belt, the two heavily Lightsabers clinking softly against the two empty hilts as he secured it around his waist, before slipping silently out of the room.
He was surprised by the amount of other Jedi doing similar things, and turned to look at a pair of Knights as they walked out of the dorm just next to his, conversing softly.
“Can’t sleep either?” Spike asked.
“Something woke me up.” One of them said simply. “A disturbance in the force.”
“Same here.” The second one chimed in.
“I wonder…” Spike began, but was cut off as a sudden beeping sound echoed throughout the temple as the communicators each Jedi carried lit up, squealing loudly as they informed their owner that they had a message.
Curiously, Spike pushed his hand to his ear, touching the button on the small communicator there and activating the message.
“This is a message for all Jedi, everywhere in the galaxy, wherever you may be. Ulic Qel-Droma has been returned to us, his powers stripped, but his memory intact. He has revealed to us the location of Exar Kun’s base, and we must converge upon it to cleanse the Darkness from the galaxy, and to return the Light. All Jedi are ordered to converge upon Yavin IV, and await further instruction.” Came the semi-familiar voice of Nomi Sunrider, punctuated by what sounded like soft sobs, before the communicator went silent once more.
For a moment, Spike was too stunned to move, as was everybody else by the looks of things. They knew where Exar Kun’s base was, meaning that they could finally end this, but the news about Ulic confused Spike. The message had said ‘returned’, not eliminated, or captured. Could someone who had done what he had done really be expected to return to the Light?
Then, Spike realised that it didn’t matter, turning and sprinting towards the hangers, the other Jedi around him doing similar things. This was going to require all of them, all the ships they possessed, and was going to turn out to be the largest gathering of Jedi Spike had ever seen.
***
Spike watched from the observation deck of the ship he had hitched a ride on as the massive form of Yarvin IV swam into sight. Around the planet, hundreds of ships were already milling about, and Spike could sense the presence of thousands of Jedi, most of whom felt as apprehensive as he was, although he was apprehensive for another reason.
As soon as he had set foot on the ship, memories of the Valiant had flooded his mind, hitting him almost like a physical blow , and making him nearly collapse to the floor of the ship. The journey through hyperspace had been little better, and he had found himself lying awake at night, his eyes clenched tightly shut as he wished for sleep to come to banish the visions of his failures from his mind, although when sleep did come, he instantly wished it hadn’t, as his dreams turned to nightmares almost instantly.
One thing that was bothering him was the absence of Moonstone, his force avatar keeping quiet even though he now knew she could manifest at will, even when he wasn’t meditating, something he had been refraining from doing. The fact that she had not emerged since Maryx Minor made him concerned, and even though she was just a product of his own mind, he still worried about her as if she was real. To him, she might as well of been.
“Members of the Jedi order.” A voice sounded through the ships speakers, drawing Spikes attention instantly, as well as that of the other Jedi standing with him. “We stand here, united against the Darkness that has invaded our galaxy, ready to drive it back with the brilliance of the Light. Open you minds to each other, reach out, and create a wall of your power, something we may use to create a capsule to enclose Exar Kun in, and finally end his reign of terror.”
Nodding slowly, Spike closed his eyes, opening his mind to the force, careful to keep his own memories out of this, if this was to be a wall of Light, he didn’t want those murky thoughts to get in.
Spike could feel the presence of the other Jedi sky-rocket in intensity, each one doing the same, and lowering the mental barriers that they held to protect themselves from others. It was ironic really, that with so many Jedi present, they were all in theory at their most vulnerable.
Pushing harder, Spike could feel something emerging through the force, not manifesting as a consciousness or a living creature, but simply existing, a pure example of the Light side of the force.
Opening his eyes, Spike felt himself linked to every Jedi present, instantly knowing what Solaris was thinking, and where Tarhal was in the fleet. It was like being everywhere at once, but at the same time, he was nowhere. At this moment, ‘Spike’ was nothing, just a vessel that the force used, as it moulded together, until none of the individuals truly remained. Now, there was simply the force, and the avatar of its will, the Jedi order.
With a shockwave that spread through the fleet, the mass of Light side energy that had formed shot downwards, forming a pillar towards the planet, impacting far below on the largest of the many stepped temples that dotted the surface of the planet. Instantly, the structure was surrounded by the light, glowing as the Light side surrounded it, before releasing a single spark. Seeing such a thing from orbit should have been impossible, and if Spike had still been just Spike, he never would have seen it, but he was the force, and the force was him.
The spark impacted upon a tree, still glowing with the power of the Light side, and engulfed wooden trunk in flames, the conflagration licking at it from root to tip, before spreading to the next tree and the next, quickly raging out of control, and filling the planet with fire and death.
Returning to his body with a jolt, Spike looked down in horror as the very planet itself burnt beneath the ships of the Jedi. It was not a slow fire, the edges of the blaze expanding around the planet, even as the centre burnt out, revealing a barren, black landscape, punctuated by scorched stone temples.
It was over as quickly as it had begun, the fires burning out and leaving nothing to explain how or why it had started. Was it some ploy of Exar Kun’s? A final act of defiance to the Jedi that in their moment of triumph, they would reduce a planet to ash? Or was it something else, something the Jedi themselves directly caused?
Neither Spike, nor any of the other Jedi had the answers. No one ever would have an answer to the question. This would simply go down in history as the final act of the Jedi in the war, and only time would tell if the act was correct or not.
Without a word being spoken, the ships turned, moving away from the barren planet, returning to the core, to the temple, to announce the news of the wars end, and begin to rebuild the shattered Republic.