Dyad, A Star Wars Story: Chapter 1 - Seeker

Disclaimer: Text in between "[" and "]" indicate that the story is switching to a different characters POV.

[31BBY, Space, Jedi Master Mace Windu, Search for young force wielders.]

The vast, cold, emptiness of space can be formidable for an average pilot; Mace Windu is not an average pilot. Strapped firmly in the cockpit of his purple and silver ETA-2 Actis class interceptor, the Jedi Master reaches out with the force. As he tunes into the very source of life in the universe, the force, Windu's astromech, R4-M6, trills impatiently.

"What is it, R4?" The Jedi Master says, rather impatiently. After another series of beeps, chirps, and other typical astromech noises, the droid's gibberish is translated on the starfighters main console. After briefly skimming the translation, Windu replies, slightly humored by his droids attitude. "Yes, we did come out here for a reason." Mace looks out at R4 after saying this, and instead of an audible response from the astromech, it just rotates it's head 180 degrees and narrows its optic to a half slit. "We just need to be patient, the force will guide us," Windu reassures the droid. R4, uninspired, turns back around and keeps quiet, letting the Jedi Master meditate. Windu once again closes his eyes, and focusing specifically on detecting force sensitive life, reaches out through the livelihood of the galaxy. It takes a few moments of intense concentration, but after what seems like an eternity of exertion, Mace senses a spark; One strong enough to be taken in by the Jedi. After a few more seconds of meditation, Mace confirms what he's sensing, and letting the force guide him, the Jedi Master punches in new coordinates to the nav computer and jumps to hyperspace.

[31BBY, Tatooine, Outskirts of Mos Espa, Kai Lisan, Young force sensitive.]

Even at the young age of five, Kai Lisan knew something was wrong. His mother, Jane, has that look on her face that Kai has seen only once before. The look when the bad men came and took papa away. "Momma, what's going on?" The young boy asked. Jane looked over at Kai apologetically, having forgotten that he was there. "Nothing sweetie, I'm just stressed, that's all." Kai doesn't believe this for a second, so he does something his mother hates; He reads her feelings. He doesn't know exactly how or why he can do this, but it does come in handy. So Kai reaches out an imaginary hand to his mother's mind, and he gently caresses it. What comes next is a flurry of emotions and memories. Kai feels his mother's stress, caused by her worry of not being good enough to provide for Kai, he can feel her lingering sorrow for her husband, now long gone. He can also see vividly the memory of her husband, his father, being taken away by the mean men with guns. He sees himself screaming at the men, only being three years old at the time, and he sees his mother standing behind him with tears running freely down both sides of her face and a hand covering her mouth. And lastly, Kai sees his father, a look mixed with disgust, anger, and most of all, the look of a man who knows he's about to die. The memories hurt too much to keep watching, so Kai withdraws his gentle caress, and gingerly hugs his mother. "You did it again, didn't you?" She asks knowingly. Kai simply nods, a single tear running down his face. Then, as Kai is still embracing his mother, the door to their modest home blows inward and fog fills the room.

[Master Mace Windu]

When the blotted tunnel of blue fades away, Mace finds himself before the outer rim planet Tatooine. "Hm, a jedi on Tatooine. What do you think R4?" The Jedi Master asks. In response, R4 let's out a dull, prolonged whirr, not making an effort to hide his apprehension. "Don't worry, you won't have to leave the ship." This elicits a slightly more cheerful sound from the purple astromech, producing a small chuckle from Windu. As the Master Jedi begins his descent towards the sandy planet, he feels a disturbance in the force, an echo of sorts. He hears the faint sound of a woman screaming the name 'Kai' repeatedly. Mace feels the urgency in her voice, and he gets the strange feeling that this 'Kai' person is the child he's looking for. "R4, hone in on these coordinates," Windu says, and he quickly enters a set of coordinates to the nav computer. "Start the landing process now, we're close enough to the surface." After hearing this, R4 quickly starts lowering the ship to Tatooine's sandy surface. As the ship rapidly descends, Mace makes out a distant little hut, probably a mile or so out from Mos Espa. "There, that small hut. That's the place," he says, and R4 takes the ship over. And right before landing, Mace witnesses the modest home go up in flames, with a small speeder piloted by two men making their escape towards Mos Espa. "R4," Windu begins, wondering whether he should chase the men or check the home for survivors, yields to his Jedi instincts; "Bring us down, let's check for survivors."

[Jane Lisan]

Upon waking up, I see nothing but fire. I don't remember how exactly I got into this situation, or what even happened. I do remember one thing: Kai is gone, taken by the same men who took Paul two years ago. Paul is probably dead, and Kai will be soon too. I am truly all alone.

"Hello? Is anyone here? I saw the flames and thought there might be trouble." I hear a voice over the crackling of the fire; a deep, echoing voice that radiates authority. I should probably try to respond. "I'm hear, please... Help." I wait a few moments, but no response comes. I don't think the mystery man heard me. "Hello? Im here to help!" There it is again, he hasn't left me just yet. Maybe I'm not alone. Not yet. I try to stand, but there's stone debris trapping me down with the smoke of the fire. I'll die if I don't get out of here soon. I try to call out again. "I'm here! Please, help!" Again I wait, and again there's no response. I must be too quiet. I start struggling under the debris, scratching and clawing at the course sand beneath me, thinking that maybe I can pull myself out. I don't make any progress, and I start to panic. Fueled by the fear that I'll die here, alone, I start screaming at the top of my lungs, praying that the stranger hears me. After a minute of screaming, I hear his bold voice pierce through the sound of crackling fire again. "I hear you! Try to stay calm, I'll get you out of here!" His voice is the only thing I hear as my breaths grow shallow. I try to find comfort in it's authority, knowing that someone strong is trying to help, someone determined, but I'm rapidly losing feeling all over my body. Then, when I think the numb tingling can't get any more potent, I feel the pressure of the debris lifted off me. Maybe I'm dead, and I'm now a ghost separate from my body. But no, I'm still very much alive, with two crushed legs and a halfway functional mind, staring up at a man. And the debris that were on my legs are now floating all around us, completely defying gravity. "Wha-" I begin, but the man speaks louder. "Stay exactly where you are, and you will live through this!" Too scared to question what he means by that, I obey. Then, the mans body, which is very tense, relaxes. At the same time, every chunk of stone, large and small, fall to the ground. I stare at him in wonder, knowing instantly what he is: a Jedi. Before I can say anything though, I feel myself getting gently lifted from the ground by an invisible force, and slowly, the man maneuvers his way through the wreckage of my home, guiding my prone body in tow. After a few seconds, I'm immersed in the broad sunlight that I've grown accustomed to on Tatooine. The Jedi gently sets me down, releasing me from his invisible grasp. I finally gain my voice: "Who are you?" He looks at me, clearly not interested in answering that question at the moment. He makes this clear with what he says next. "Ma'am, you need immediate medical attention. Where's the closest infirmary?" Before I can respond though, everything fades to black, with my last thought being of Kai.

[Mace Windu]

As Mace looks down at the woman, he knows she's gone. Silently cursing himself for not being fast enough, he tries to think of ways to give her a proper burial. Deep in thought, Windu doesn't hear the first series of impatient sounds emitted from R4, and it takes a not so gentle nudge from the droid to bring the Jedi Master back into focus. "Right, the boy." Realizing that he doesn't have a better idea, Mace carefully guides a small stream of fire from the still flaming wreckage that was once a home, and with the force, he ignites the woman's body, cremating her. "I know, it's not the burial she probably deserves, but we don't have time to gather any family of hers," Mace says as R4 whirs sadly. Knowing there's nothing more he can do, Mace returns to his ship and fires up the engines. "Let's head over to Mos Espa, maybe I'll be able to locate the boy through the force." R4 acknowledges the Jedi, and begins to pilot the ship slowly towards the nearby settlement. When they reach Mos Espa, and R4 lands the ship at a ship port, Mace once again probes the force with his mind, searching for the boy. In a deep, meditative state, Mace doesn't notice the first few pounds on his cockpit window. After three more aggressive knocks and a hostile shout, Mace opens his eyes calmly, eyeing the stranger outside his ship. When the man notices that Mace's eyes are open, he gestures for him to exit the ship. Complying, the Jedi Master begins to unfasten the straps that keep him firmly in place while flying, but then he feels a slight wave of deception through the force. Subtly, Mace looks at R4, who now has a restraining bolt placed tightly on him. Now realizing that there may be trouble, Mace searches for other lifeforms through the force, and he discovers that there are at least twenty men surrounding his ship, hidden from his limited point of view. All of them are carrying blasters and have hostile intentions. Again the man outside bangs on Windu's cockpit window, and Mace calmly smirks at him, as if saying: "I've already carefully planned out how I'll kill your small army, you follow my lead now." Of course, Mace doesn't actually say this, obviously wanting to keep his knowledge of the waiting ambush a secret. The man, Mace senses, noticing the Jedi Master's smug confidence, starts to get paranoid. Mace slowly finishes unstrapping himself and opens the cockpit, athletically jumping out, and performing a graceful flip as he does so. The man, now fully realizing what he's facing after seeing Windu's brown robes, yells a few words Mace can't understand, and a storm of blaster fire erupts from the shadows around him. Expecting this, Mace quickly pulls out and ignites his amethyst lightsaber, and letting the force guide his movements, moves it in lazy but controlled arcs to deflect the blaster fire back at his attackers. In a matter of seconds, the barrage of energy has been cut in half, and Mace can sense his attackers' apprehension. Deciding that he wants answers, Mace draws upon the force, and focusing on each individual blaster, he yanks every weapon out into the open and points them back at his attackers. "I suggest that you all show yourselves, and very slowly. No funny business." Realizing that they have no other option, the ambushers step out from the shadows with their hands up. Mace, with each blaster still pointed at the men and ready to fire, speaks in a booming voice: "Where's your leader? I'd like to have a word with him." After a few moments of silence, a short, wrinkly man steps forward a couple steps. Mace nods approvingly, and crushes all of the blasters still in his telekinetic grasp. "Come, sit." Windu says, gesturing to a small table with a chair on each side. The man steps forward, and Mace senses him steeling his mind, as if preparing for an interrogation. When Mace sits down, the man seems reluctant to do the same. Growing irritable, Mace speaks again in a harsh voice. "Take. A. Seat." Gulping, the man does as told, but avoids making eye contact with Mace. "Now, I'm going to ask this one time. I think it's in your best intrest to answer truthfully," Mace begins, earning a nervous gulp from his counterpart, "Why did you shoot at me." For a moment, Mace thinks the man is going to be silent, but after a few long seconds, he answers. "We recognized your ship. We saw it land right after completing a job for our employer." Mace immediately thinks back to the destroyed home he had witnessed a kidnapping at, and he knows the truth. "What kind of job?" The Jedi asks icily. The man, knowing where this was going, decides to lie. "A simple delivery, nothing serious." Mace stares into the mans eyes for a full minute, letting his fear of the Jedi overwhelm him, before responding. "Where's the kid?" Alarmed, the man quickly responds: "Not here, I swear." This is all Mace needed to know the exact truth. Standing up, Mace reaches out through the force for a force sensitive presence, and almost immediately, he finds it. The same exact feeling he got when sensing the kid. Mace heads over to a half assembled speeder bike and quickly tosses it across the landing strip with the force, and underneath it he finds a secret hatch. Quickly, Mace opens the hatch and finds a small cradle like contraption, and inside of it, the boy he sensed. "Smugglers, just the worst," he growled right as yet another barrage of blaster fire descended upon him.

[Kai Lisan]

When the hatch above him opened, Kai finds himself face to face with an intimidating man. His skin is the color of dark chocolate, with eyes similarly shaded, and he had a rigid postu

re that only important men used. "Who are you?" Kai asked, but the man didn't get the chance to answer. Kai sees the man quickly back up and ignite a purple sword, deflecting blaster bolts effortlessly. In awe, Kai stands up and peeks through the opening in the ground, and what he sees is magnificent. His rescuer is moving at blinding speeds through a group of ten men, with a purple blur trailing him. And as Kai watches, the number of bad men steadily decreases. 10... 9... 8... 7... 3... 2... 1... 0. The only one still standing is the one with the purple sword. Gesturing to him, the man spoke to Kai for the first time: "Come, little one. We need to leave." Not thinking twice, Kai follows the strange man, but then something dawns on him. "Sir! Sir, where's mommy?" Kai shouts as he rushes to catch up with him. The man stops briefly, giving Kai a sideways glance before speaking: "Your mother is gone, killed by those men. I'm sorry." Kai stops, blinking rapidly to halt the tears quickly approaching. "Mommy," he whispers to himself, lips quivering. The man notices this, and he walks back towards Kai, placing a comforting hand on his small shoulder. "Do you want to visit your home before we leave Tatooine?" He asks gently. Kai draws himself up, and squaring his shoulders, he speaks again: "We're leaving Tatooine?" The man looks apologetically down at Kai and responds. "Yes, I'm afraid so. You have the potential to be a Jedi, like me." Kai tries to comprehend this, wondering how his life has changed so drastically over the last few hours, then he answers. "Okay, I'll go with you." The man smiles down at Kai, and patting him on the shoulder, begins leading the way to a sleek, purple and grey ship. "Woah! Is that yours?" Kai asks, excitedly. The man once again just smiles down at Kai, and walks over to a small, cylindrical object on the right wing of his ship. After studying the object for a few moments, the man plucks a small object off of the cylinder, and to Kai's suprise, that seemingly lifeless cylinder starts tweeting and chirping rapidly. The man then looks at Kai and speaks again: "I don't believe I've caught your name?" Feeling stupid for not telling his rescuer his name, Kai responds: "I'm Kai, what's your name?" The man talks to the noisy cylinder for a few seconds before responding. "Mace Windu, Master of the Jedi order." Kai looks in awe at Mace, this being the first time he's ever seen a real Jedi. The Master Jedi speaks again after Kai has stood there dumbfounded for a solid minute. "Well, are you coming or not." Kai smiles, and taking a running start, he jumps. Realizing what the kid wants, Mace gently lifts him with the force into the ship, Kai laughing the whole time. Mace himself hops in right as Kai asks another question. "So, where are we going?" Mace smiles and looks back at the young boy. "Coruscant, to the Jedi temple." Kai gets excited over this, and he asks Mace yet another question. "Will I meet more people like you?" Again, Mace smiles before answering. "Yes, you'll meet many more people like me." Then, Mace acknowledges his droid: "R4, set course for Coruscant. I think we have a new Jedi on our hands."

To be continued...