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Prodigal
Son 2001 short
story by Louis Turfrey Fifteen years after Episode IV - A New Hope PREFACE
"Ouch, that hurt!" Nera Deniz rolled away from the
impact of the stun blast and brought her lightsabre up in a defensive parry
again. This time the remotes blast was deflected straight back at it, causing
it to deactivate and drop to the ground. There was a clapping sound and she
turned around to see her mentor, Blake De'Athe standing at the edge of the
practice area.
"That was good. You lost concentration momentarily, but you
seemed to solve that problem quite well. May I ask how you did it?" His
face turned solemn and he walked towards his pupil. She looked down at her
feet and muttered something under her breath.
"I called upon the light side." There was a moment's silence
and then she felt an incredible pressure as she was lifted off of her feet
and slammed against the bulkhead.
"No!" Blake strode towards her, as she slid down the steel
plate of the cargo hold. He reached down and lifted her bodily off her feet.
"The light side is for weaklings and fools. How many times have I
taught you this? Only the dark side of the force offers the path to true
power." His voice became a growl as he brought her down to his face. So
close she could see the thin filaments of tiny scars where the cybernetic
implant extruded from his face.
"You are a fool if you think that I haven't noticed your forays
into the light side. I won't have it, do you hear?" He dropped her to
the ground, momentarily shocked by his hysterical loss of control. "Get
out of my sight, you disgust me." She ran out of the cargo area of
the old bulk transport, leaving Blake to his thoughts. Something was nagging
at his brain, a feeling that he had seen this somewhere before. The pain was upon him again. Clasping the side of his head,
Blake fell to the ground, a white agonising fire filling the corners of his
mind. His body writhed as the fit took hold and he struggled to regain
consciousness. Then the memories came. The pain was incredible. He felt
the sticky warmth of his blood as it ran down the side of his face. There was
a voice near his ear, but his sight was blurred.
"Hold on Blake, we'll have you out of here in no time." It
was Centaur. He could feel himself being dragged back to the landing bay.
What landing bay, where? Somehow he felt this was important. His vision
momentarily cleared and he saw Tarr Ranth standing above him. The mans armour was hanging loose in places and he could
see blaster burns and scars, but he was still firing and providing cover.
There was another voice shouting from behind him.
"Hurry up guys, they've called in an
assault shuttle. We'd better get out of here." Jan Lomona, a voice he
knew well, sounded unworried - but there was urgency in his tone. Who were
these people, what did they do to him? Then there was another bolt of pain
and the darkness returned. He woke up on the floor of his
ship and felt the sweat running down his back. He remained still for a
moment, pondering what he had just seen. Why did he keep having these waking
nightmares? He knew it had happened some years ago, but he couldn't remember
anything else but the names. Then his own frustration at the gap in his
memory and his weakness turned to anger and he propelled himself back to his
feet. The time had come to end this farce. He strode towards the computer
core and tapped into the command console. He'd find out who these people were
once and for all, and if they were an obstrustion
to the greater glory of a new Empire, he would remove that obstruction. FIVE WEEKS LATER
"I have their co-ordinates my master." Gordal looked towards
Lord De'Athe and followed his masters' gaze out of the viewing windows on the
command deck. Blake De'Athe sensed his students gaze and turned back towards
him. His cold smile brought a tinge of fear to Gordal's
mind.
"Good Gordal. Ready my command shuttle and ask Nera to join
us." He turned away, heading out to his private antechamber to the right
of the main communications centre. The light from the nearby star of the
Yatchrare System reflected off of the cybernetic implant that was attached to
his face as he took one last look out of the windows. Then he was gone. The tension level on the bridge
dropped by a significant amount and several sighs were heard. Gordal gritted
his teeth and held in his temper. These fools were not worthy of following
the great Lord. He opened a communications channel to the training rooms.
"Initiate Nera, Lord De'Athe has requested your presence at the
command shuttle immediately." He closed the channel, knowing that Nera
would have heard him, even over the sound of her lightsabre. He grinned to
himself as he handed over his station and left the bridge. This would be an
interesting mission. The converted Imperial Shuttle
Revenge released its magnetic locks and dropped away from the modified
Nebulon B Frigate, the Emperors Slave. It's vector
taking it away from the searing heat of the nearby star and out towards the
planet of Zelon and the trade city of Chancai. Sitting at the controls, with
her master behind her, and her fellow initiate Gordal to the left, Nera felt
a tinge of apprehension. As they approached the planet and gave their false
ID code, her tension grew. The master seemed preoccupied with something, and
had not spoken since they had entered the shuttle. She piloted the craft
through the atmosphere of Zelon, following the automated beacon that would
provide them with a flight path to the Chancai Trade Centre. Within an hour
they had entered the kilometre wide tunnel that opened from the top of the
trade centre and descended into its maw. Nera folded back the large repulsor
vanes and coasted the shuttle to the landing platform that they had been
assigned. She let out a quiet sigh of relief when she felt the landing gear
settling beneath them. Blake placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Do not worry Nera. All will be well. Just do as I ask and we
won't be in any danger" Jan Lomona noticed the Lambda
Class Shuttle settle on to a landing platform fifty metres away, and paused
on his way to the bottom of the Berone Sunrises ramp. He was scheduled to
meet Ryath and Ranth within the hour, but there was something about the
shuttle that drew his attention. The ramp of the shuttle extended and
silently met the surface of the landing platform. There was a brief hiss of
air as the platform locked into place. Jan couldn't hear the gas, but he
could see it escape from vents at the side, briefly obscuring the ramp it's
self. When the steam cleared, he saw for the first time a group of three
robed figures standing at the base of the ramp. Some primeval instinct, Jan
called it his sixth sense, caused the hairs to stand up on the back of his
neck, and he felt his blood run cold. The tallest of the three figures turned
towards him, and he could have sworn it had recognised his interest. However,
hidden by the dark black hood of the robe, he could not turn away. He felt
something cold touch his mind, and there was a brief flicker of light
reflected back at him from inside the robe. Then the figure turned back to
his colleagues and they rapidly moved towards the exit to the platform. Blake De'Athe knew who he was
being watched by and deliberately turned to face the man. So this was the
smuggler Jan Lomona. Tall, A-desandian in origin. Those clothes were entirely
too bright. He stretched out with the force and touched the others mind,
letting him feel his presence. He felt some shock. Good. He turned to his
initiates and motioned for them to follow him off the platform. This man
could be manipulated. He would enjoy that.
"I'm telling you Ry, the man sent shivers down my spine. I
actually felt fear, not the kind that hits when you're in a tight spot. The
real thing. He knows me, and I'm sure I know him." Jan sat back, his
demeanour calming. Ryath smiled wryly.
"So who do you think it was?" He relaxed back into his seat,
his hands resting lightly on the blaster carbine that sat across his lap. So he thinks something is up as
well, thought Jan.
"I'm not sure, but whoever it is, he's no Jedi. I've met Jedi
before." He noticed something out of the corner of his eye and acknowledged Tarr Ranth.
"Ready for the match?" Ranth, fully armoured, sat down
at the table next to the pair of friends and nodded. The speaker at the front
of his helmet clicked into life. "Apologies for my tardiness.
I'm baby-sitting a visitor to the system and she
doesn't appreciate my company. As it is I now have two hours to kill."
He raised his hand and ordered a Vineau from the serving droid. Jan looked at
him quizzically, wondering how he would drink it. As if reading his mind,
Ranth moved both hands up to the sides of his helmet and pressed lightly.
There was a sound, like the beep of a comm unit,
followed by the hissing of escaping gas. With a slight twist the helmet came
free. Ranth placed it on the table in front of him.
"So what're the odds on the Flyers beating the Giants this
year?" Ryath and Jan looked at one another and burst out laughing. Ranth
looked at them both, puzzled by the response to his question.
"What's so funny?" Jan took a moment between gulps
of air to explain. "It's just that I never
figured you for a Hardball fan." Ranth frowned and accepted the drink
that the serving droid offered. This was going to be a long
afternoon. The screams of the three men rose
above the already loud screams from the rest of the bar. Zythlies was full of
loud sports fans who were rightly outraged as the Flyers primary defender was
knocked into oblivion by the Giants full forwards. They were so engrossed
that they failed to notice the two people standing at the edge of the room,
watching the interplay. Not distracted by the noise around them, they were
silently communicating with each other whilst watching their three targets.
One drew a modified hold out blaster and took careful aim at the tallest of
the three. Deliberately setting the blaster to stun he opened fire. As he did
so he was already working out his path of escape. His colleague repeated the
manoeuvre from the other side of the room, intending to take out the one
called Centaur. Neither bolt hit home. With a blur of speed Tarr Ranth
knocked both his colleagues to the floor taking the full impact of both
blaster bolts. The assailants ran. Ranth climbed back to his feet a
slightly dazed expression on his face, and grabbed for his helmet. Wasting no
time, Lomona and Centaur took up defensive positions and moved towards the
perimeter of the room. The volume of the crown had drowned out any sound from
the blasters. Ranth grabbed his helmet, shaking off the residual effects of
the stun blast and ran after his friends, putting the helmet on as he did so.
He found them standing outside looking around with blasters still holstered.
Lomona stood high and scanned the masses as Centaur calmly surveyed the crowd.
"They couldn't have gotten far. Ranth, did you get a look?" Ranth nodded and played back the holo-image recorder from his helmet. It had still been
activated when he had placed it on the table. However, it had been the
targeting lasers that had drawn his attention to their assailants.
"I have an image on one of them, a female. One point six metres
high, jet-black hair tied back into a tail. Green eyes, lithe figure, dark
black robe, hood drawn back to the shoulders. Black pants and tunic, silver
three-bladed emblem on the right arm. She was also wearing a
lightsabre." He turned off the holographic projector within his helmet
and focused on the scene around him, tracking the crowd for likely subjects.
He worked towards the edge of the crowd, quickly flicking from one individual
to another. Then he saw her, ducking into one of the smaller side tunnels.
"I have her now. One hundred metres at point three-five, near
emergency access tunnel three. Engaging." There was a sound of rapidly
shifting air, and the roar of a rocket motor, as Ranth leapt up and over the
crowds in the central mall. At the same time, he was able to transmit a holo of the girl to the local law enforcement, using his
private ident code. The whole process took six
seconds and he touched down near the entrance to the tunnel. He looked over
his shoulder and saw Jan and Ryath taking advantage of the shocked crowd,
they were with him five seconds later. Ranth motioned for them to step
back out of view as he poked his head around the corner of the tunnel. His
low light imaging system caught a flash of the girl as she ducked into a
smaller service hatch sixty metres ahead. Ranth, Ryath and Jan entered the
tunnel together, Ranth slightly ahead. It was a practised manoeuvre, one that
had saved their lives several times in the past and which allowed them to
function as individual parts of a unit. They advanced slowly, relying on
Ranths low light imaging systems to warn them about any problems in the
darkened service tunnel. Ranth heard the whine of a power coupling as Ryath
activated his targeting monocular. They stopped near the entrance to the door
of the hatch, which was now closed but not locked.
"It' a trap. I suggest we proceed with caution." Ranth saw
Jan roll his eyes in frustration at his comment. Ranth felt no qualms at
stating the obvious. He stood square on to the door and motioned his friends
to either side. A quick scan showed no obvious or hidden booby traps. He
primed his blaster and opened the hatch. De'Athe stood on the walkway,
fifty metres away from the hatch and ten metres above it. The roof of the
disused droid maintenance bay was less than a metre above his head. The bay
stretched down to the level below. The hatch by which his initiate had
entered was a little over half way up the side of the wall. A guarded walkway
stretched across from the hatch to the main gantry way and made anybody who
walked it a sitting duck. Ten metres to either side his initiates waited
patiently, their lightsabres drawn. The hatch opened. Ranth stood in the hatchway,
relying on the movement sensors in his helmet to provide him with the exact
positions of any probable assailants. He focused on three bodies, one of
which was the girl who had fired upon them. Ranth assumed the second to be
her accomplice. The third had moved back from the rail and was concealing him
or herself from him by using the darkness and radiant energy contained within
the gantry way. Ranth switched to optical mode and zoomed in on the location
of the third figure, powerful computer algorithms enhanced the image until
Ranth could see the face of the concealed figure.
"De'Athe. I should have known." Ryath had made the connection a
brief second before Ranth had. Jan nodded as if understanding for the first
time what he had seen upon the landing pad. Ranth walked into the giant room
and stopped about half way across the walkway. Blake turned his back on them
and walked away towards the exit on the other side of the room.
"I thought you were dead." Ranth kept his comment to
himself. He released a cylindrical device on his belt, revealing what looked
like the shaft of a lightsabre. However, when he pressed the button on the
pommel, two recessed blades of a highly reflective nature extended outwards
from each end. As each blade stopped extending, they started spinning. The
device, like a metallic quarterstaff, hummed with power. Two blue force
fields extended along the length of the blades and the whole effect was one
of a double bladed lightsabre. Ranth turned to his friends.
"You get De'Athe, I'll get his friends." Jan Lomona's face melted into a
why does this always happen to me expression, Ryath just nodded. Ranth leapt
forwards, using the remote control on his repulsor belt to give him the added
lift he needed and propelled himself onto the gantry way. Landing nearest the girl he
expected an immediate attack, but she hesitated, looking at him closely. Not
wishing to be caught unawares, Ranth went onto the attack, bringing his
unusual weapon around in a tight arc near his body. The girl's lightsabre
immediately parried the blow, but the effect of the two energy fields
colliding caused a bright momentary flash that temporarily blinded her. Ranth
took advantage of her discomfort and pressed into the attack. She seemed only
capable of defending and this puzzled Ranth. However, he was aware that her
colleague was sprinting across the gantry way and at the last instant, spun
the weapon around to intercept the blow aimed at his rear. There was another
bright spark as the energy of the second lightsabre hit the other blade. The
teenage male grunted with the effort and forced Ranths weapon up and behind
him. His accomplice, the girl, simultaneously pressed the attack from the
other side, seemingly coming into the attack. Yet Ranth could feel that this
was more for show than for advantage. Ranth parried her easily, noticing the
lack of strength behind her attack. Ranth had trained for a long time
and years of combat experience flowed through his frame, this girl was not
fighting, and he had to take the fight away from her. He leapt directly over
the gantry rail, using the repulsors to reduce his mass, and landed ten
metres lower, on the walkway beyond him. Retracting one of the blades in his
weapon, he switched hands. Quickly reaching behind himself, he pressed a
button on the back of his base of his small jet pack. A second cylinder
dropped into his hands, one that he had trained with, often painfully, for
hundreds of hours. His father's lightsabre. He held it concealed, knowing that
he didn't have the innate abilities of a Dark Jedi, hoping for the first time
in his life that his training would be enough. The young male leapt of the
rail, following Ranths lead, and landed with the grace of a cat. The young
girl shouted to him as he did so.
"Gordal, no, back away, he's not as he seems." Gordal just sneered, and Ranth
knew he had already won this battle. Rule one - never get emotionally
involved whilst in combat. The one called Gordal screamed in
an unknown tongue and charged at Ranth, his weapon held high. Ranth let him
cover the five metres between them and then activated the blade of his own
lightsabre. The youth looked shocked and momentarily lost his concentration.
Ranth brought his lightsabre round in a tight arc and took the youth's arm
off, just below the elbow. Both arm and lightsabre span off onto the decking
below. Ignoring the others screams, he brought his other weapon around and
caught the youth in the middle of his body. Blue energy discharged from the
blade, earthing to the walkway, the boy looked up
at Ranth imploringly. What he saw was the blank emotionless visage of his
Mandalorian-styled helmet.
"Your Force has abandoned you Gordal." The youth heard the
voice but was too busy falling into unconsciousness to worry about its
implication. He folded to the floor. Ranth grunted in approval, administering
a fast acting sedative to the youth, and called in the emergency services. It
would take time, but Gordal would recover. He stood up and stepped over the
youth, walking calmly to the steps at the end of the walkway, mounting them.
He expected the girl to be hiding, or maybe ready to attack, but the she was
standing near the edge of the gantry way, just looking shocked.
"Why did you help him, he would have killed you?" She looked
around as Tarr Ranth approached. He spoke calmly and softly, not wanting to
antagonise her.
"Why did you help me? I heard your thoughts in my mind before you
attacked us." She shook her head.
"I don't know, maybe I see things from a differing viewpoint but
it seems that the light side of the Force is easier to access for me. The
dark side has always held it's self away from me." Ranth nodded. "The Force has two sides,
and the man you serve was once a champion of the light side. He will want you
to join him again when he recovers, but until that time you must be held in
custody. You have good in you. You'll make an excellent Jedi apprentice. I
am sorry about your friend, he needed a lesson in
humility. His rage was too deep, too extended. It will take time for him to
come around to a new way of thinking. He may never achieve that, but he must
be given the chance." He took out a pair of binders, but the girl shook
her head.
"You won't need those, I'll come willingly." She handed him
her lightsabre and they both walked towards the exit. As they headed out the bay, the
medical and security forces entered. Ranth explained to the local law
enforcement the type of security needed, and they were then on their way. Ryath and Jan took advantage of
the gap created by the combat and ran after Blake. Both were painfully aware
that their ex-colleague and friend had turned to the Dark Side of the Force.
However, whilst Ryath just accepted the situation and tried to work out a
tactical response, Jan's mind was trying to find a reason for the turn. The
last time that they had seen Blake De'Athe alive, he had been badly wounded.
His face had been covered in a cybernetic implant to reduce the effects of
shock and control his pain. Jan and Ryath had left him with Doctor Marcher
Tedd, eminent neuro-geneticist and acclaimed healer. That had been at the
Duroon Mobile Hospital Frigate. Shortly afterwards the Hospital had been
destroyed after emerging out of hyperspace into a pirate attack. Their search
for Blake had been terminated when they found no trace of the frigate. The
worst had been assumed. Now Jan was starting to feel a combination of guilt
at not trying harder to find the man, and anger at his attack on him and
Ryath. Something was nagging at his mind though.
"Ryath, I'm playing on a hunch here but set your blaster to
stun." Ryath looked at him in stern
amazement.
"Are you serious? You know what he's capable of." Jan nodded but he wasn't going to
be put off that easily.
"Ry, I'm always serious. I don't know why, but something tells me
this isn't as straightforward as it seems." He flicked his own blaster
to stun, waited whilst Ryath switched his, and they both followed the trail. Blake winced and fought the
headache that was starting to break down his sanity. He could sense his
pursuers gaining on him, yet it was taking all his self-control to keep
himself moving and upright. The pain came again, this time more intensely.
His knees buckled and he had to hold onto the wall. Just a few more paces and
he would be back in the main shopping mall. That would give him the chance to
regroup and rest a while. Only a few more paces and...
"De'Athe you traitor, face me like a man!" Jan Lomona was
taunting him from down the corridor. Blake turned, the rage rising in his
mind. There was a taste of bile in his mouth as the anger rose to engulf him.
His gateway to the dark side of the Force reopened and his mind let out a
primeval scream as the dark force energy amplified the pain.
"You will not take me." The whisper was silent and deadly. Blake's arm lashed out and Jan
Lomona, twenty metres down the corridor, was lifted from his feet and slammed
into the wall. His other hand released the Krill, his personal weapon, and
dispatched it towards Ryath Centaur. It sliced a gash in his upper arm as he
dodged to avoid it, embedding it's self in the wall behind him. Ignoring the
blood running onto his gun hand, Ryath immediately brought his weapon to bear
and opened fire. The blast hit Blake dead centre on the chest. Blake was
unaffected. The Dark Force energy that coursed through his body fed on the
blast and a half second later it was travelling back towards Ryath. Ryath
dodged it easily, rolling across the corridor. He came up on one knee and
fired off more stun bolts. The energy barrage was combined with the blast of
Jan Lomona's weapon as he recovered his wind. Surrounded by more energy than he
could handle, Blake went down on his knees. His face contorted in anger, the
cybernetic implant in the side of his face sparking wildly. Blake's body
seemed to refuse to respond and Jan suspected that something else was at work
on him. He darted over, blaster raised in one hand
like a club, and smashed it into the cybernetic implant on the side of
Blake's head. Blake's eyes glazed over and he sank down onto the floor. Ryath
walked up behind Jan.
"Think he's dead?" Jan looked at him and shook his
head.
"Nah, but we'd better call a med team, just in case. This time
I'm not leaving him alone for a minute." There was a noise in the corridor
behind them and both men turned around, weapons raised. Tarr Ranth noted the reaction of
the two friends as he came around the corner of the corridor. He smiled and
wondered what would have happened if anybody else had appeared. He motioned
for his captive to step after him.
"Gentlemen, this is Nera. She has some information that we might
use to our financial benefit. Apparently, she knows where we can pick up a
Nebulon B Frigate." EPILOGUE - Three Months Later Blake De'Athe stood on the
surface of Yavin IV, watching the sunset over the jungle. His thoughts were
jumbled and he was still trying to fully comprehend the import of what had
happened to him. After waking up in hospital, his friends had cautiously
greeted him. His response had been quiet but enthusiastic. Apparently, the
damaged implant had blocked out several years of memories. Memories that had
started to resurface almost immediately. Blake had truly thought that he was
still a servant of the Dark Side. Blake shuddered at what he might
have done, and then reminded himself that he was only human. He looked around
him at the temple, the dense jungle and the gas giant that now filled the
expanse of space above him. He vowed never to use the Dark Side again, yet at
the same time, he knew he would find it incredibly hard to keep his promise.
He heard someone approaching from behind and an arm wrapped itself in his. He
looked down to see Nera.
"You told them you didn't remember much, but you remember
everything don't you?" He nodded, holding her to him as
she shuddered in the cold night air.
"I'm glad I do. It will remind me how far I can fall. Such things
make a man stronger. Besides, if I hadn't committed those crimes, then I
might not have met you." She smiled, embarrassed by his comments, but
happy nonetheless.
"So what do we do now? Where do we go?" Blake was about to answer when
another voice interjected.
"You both go back inside and get some supper. Then you get some
sleep. Tomorrow we do more lightsabre training." Both of them groaned and turned
around to see their Master smiling at them. Blake approached him.
"Master, how do you come to terms with what you did in the name
of the Dark Side?" Their Master momentarily hung his
head and then answered.
"In some respects I haven't. However, I believe that the Force
needs to be balanced, that is why the Dark Side exists. This could be in the
individual or throughout the Galaxy. You can't have light without darkness.
So I believe that in order to defeat the darkness inside of us, it helps if
we can recognise it. It makes us better Jedi. That's how I come to terms with
what I have done." He turned around and headed back to the temple and
Blake couldn't help but notice that there was something stately and powerful
about the way he walked. He sighed and turned to Nera.
"What do you think? Hungry?" She looked at him in disbelief.
"After today's training session, you've gotta be kidding?" They both laughed and headed back
to the temple. Prodigal
Son 2001 short
story by Louis Turfrey Fifteen years after Episode IV - A New Hope Histories - The tale that explains the way back to the
light trodden by eventual Jedi Knight Blake De’Athe and the part in that path that Tarr
Ranth, Ryath Centaur and Jan
Lomona played. Years later, De'Athe's student Gordal
Anunes would return to his dark
ways and wreak revenge on the men who helped his former dark master return to
the light, an act that would lead to De'Athe tracking him down. Cast of Characters Blake De'Athe Tarr Ranth Ryath Centaur Jan Lomona Nera Deniz Gordal Anunes Doctor Marcher Tedd |