Chapter 3 - No clear goal, nothing that bounds me

A cantina in the hub, crowded with aliens and humans. Cheers and songs mixed together as the holo-novels played on some of the tables and waiters and waitresses rushed around with plates in their hands.

It was Life Day, a commemorative date that many civilizations across the known galaxy commemorated, be it for its meaning or for the amount of profit it could generate.

Shadow had little knowledge about it, only half a year has passed since he woke up here, the only thing he knew for certain was which species to trust and which to be wary of at first glance. Some might call him prejudiced but when 80% of the Trodoshians that appeared in the hub were pirates or criminals and most if not all Mandalorians that he saw were bounty hunters, he concluded that certain species had a taste for certain professions and would act on a very predictable way.

Take the Gungans for example, all of the few he met were dangerous. Why do you ask? They were walking calamities with the ability to cause trouble simply by being clumsy.

He still remembers how awed he was when a Gungan accidentally blew up the base of a Raider Group he was after killing everyone inside. He still got goosebumps when he remembered the accidental sequence of events that made the hyper-drive engine of a spaceship inside their base explode.

Humans also had their trend, in space hub, most were shady business dealers, smugglers, or bounty hunters. Five out of ten he met would have a foot drenched in shit as if messing up with authorities had become somewhat of a tradition between them.

But Jedi? He wasn't sure of what Jedi are. All he knew was that they had special abilities that were under the realm of the supernatural, nothing else could explain the ability to fall from such high altitude without damage to oneself.

And there was more.

Shadow and the Jedi watched each other, assessing the ability of the other and also many things that were better left unanswered.

"My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi, I'm a Jedi Knight, and this one here is my Padawan-"

"Anakin Skywalker." The padawan introduced himself before Obi-Wan could.

"We have come here to look for you."

"What do you want?"

Obi-Wan scratched his beard as he looked at the kid. Through his experience, abilities, and knowledge, he could make an educated guess but decided that he should ask before anything else.

"Forgive us for causing you so much annoyance, but we would like to know your age if possible."

Anakin was curious too, when he looked at the kid, he even thought of memories of the past and wondered if the situation would be similar.

"I do not know." Shadow wasn't sure himself of his true age. As much as he looks like a seven-year-old, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to say that he was born a few months ago in this world.

He lacked memories associated with the body and didn't know anyone, even if he had relatives he would never know what their identities are.

Obi-Wan nodded, assuming that he was an orphan born and raised on the streets, although that made him question his abilities.

"Would you allow us to take a sample of your blood? I promise we won't harm you, we just..." Obi-Wan thought before speaking further. He didn't want to raise expectations for no reason even if the kid wasn't aware of this worked so he told a half-truth. "Want to know somethings and we can infer your age from your blood."

Shadow nodded. "How will you collect my blood?"

"With this." Obi-Wan took out a small device from his pouch. Telling Shadow to touch the circle in the middle, it didn't take long for a single drop of blood to be drained from the finger and there wasn't even a need to poke his finger.

He closed the device and put it on top of his datapad. Being connected with the ship, he just had to transfer the data and wait for the analyzes to conclude. Not long after a beep sounded and a row of strings rolled down on the screen.

Looking at it he nodded to himself. Shadow's DNA was 50% similar to the Hapan race and the rest was unknown, other than that, it seemed that...

"17.000?" Obi-Wan was surprised. "This is... almost like Yoda."

"What?" Anakin asked in curiosity. "Is he talented too?!"

"Uh... Anakin, go and wait for us at the hotel, I'll call if we need anything."

Although frowning, Anakin did as told.

Seeing as he had left Obi-Wan sighed at the similarity of it all. Young, but not too young, talented at that and also very unlikely to be accepted. Is this some sort of joke from the Force? Why is he seeing this situation for the second time?

"What's your name?" Obi-Wan asked.

"They call me Shadow, there was no one to name me."

In Earth, as strange as it may sound, names carry as much importance as your origins, but here? What origin did he have? Even if he wanted, naming himself would prove far harder than just going by the nickname that others decided to give him.

It wasn't much different from his life on Earth anyway. Jack was only used between him and his squadmates, for everyone else it was The Reaper.

"Well, Shadow. We Jedi look for special individuals in the galaxy, people that, like us, have a strong connection with the Force." Obi-Wan showed the Datapad and the information in it.

Shadow watched with interest the information, the part that most attracted his attention was his 50% Hapan DNA and the lack of information on the rest of his genetic makeup, maybe it was related to the modifications he carried over from Earth in the form of genetic augmentations.

Some other things were completely unknown to him though like the midi-chlorians.

"I can say through your midi-chlorians count that you're quite talented in the force, even more than I am. With this talent, you could grow to become a powerful Jedi in the order, but I can not make this decision for you. Being a Jedi is a commitment for life, many things will be different, and you'll have to abide by the creed of the order. What I'm trying to say is, I would like to invite you to come to coruscant with me, I'll take you to the council and there is a chance that you'll be accepted as a youngling of the order."

Shadow closed his eyes and digested the information slowly. After a moment he said. "There's hesitation in your voice, Jedi. There's something that you didn't tell me."

Obi-Wan lowered his head and looked downside avoiding eye contact. True it was that he was omitting details, but what else could he do? Tell him that there was a chance that he wouldn't be accepted due to his age? Yes... he sighed, he does have to tell him that.

"You're a little bit older than the usual age for recruitment, this can prove to be a hurdle during your recruitment. I'm not qualified to judge like the council is, but if they deem that you have been too affected by the worldview outside of the order, it means that training you will be close to impossible, for doing so could cause you to fall to the dark side of the force and that would thus cause you more harm than good."

Shadow didn't know what he meant by the Dark Side, but it was clear to him that he wasn't lying, there was indeed something bad in regards to it. But as for the rest? Wasn't this basically a brainwashing cult?

He was amused with the thought but shook his head, it was too early to call it that, but it was true that the idea behind taking young children was to make the teachings of the tenets of their order easier to be accepted and ingrained in their ways and mind.

Obi-Wan misunderstood his gesture and spoke a little conflicted. "So, that's a no?"

"You misunderstand me, Jedi. I have nowhere to go, no clear goal, nothing that bounds me. Your order or that of another, anything and everything are acceptable. I will go with you."

Obi-Wan nodded relieved. At least this had been solved.

"But first... I accepted the mission to clear the two largest criminal factions of this Space Hub, and that's exactly what I'm going to do." Shadow stood up and threw a small piece of paper with his contact information on the table. "If you Jedi decide not to help me, then wait till I'm free to go."

"Why are you fighting those people at your age? This is too dangerous." Obi-Wan asked in worry.

"I'm not fighting them, I'm completing tasks, nothing more, nothing less."

With that emotionless answer, Shadow left with a notification ringing in his ear. New bounties had been published in the HoloNet, but this time, he would show why the Genesen of the Vermilion Truth was feared, it was time to conduct a cleansing operation.

And like steps on the surface of a calm lake, ripples spread across the Force, echoing in the minds of Anakin and Obi-Wan, foretelling the fate of those that stand in front of Shadow. Again, a disturbance in the Force, but one without connections with the dark side, what could it mean?