Star Wars -- page 785

a year later Illyonni

One year later, Illiyonni

Mikal exited the training place for the last time, in the robes of a Jedi. He was a hundred times wiser than when he had came, though he still did not feel that he was a Jedi. Nevertheless, he had been knighted. Mikal fingered the well built lightsaber beneath his robes. It was cool to the touch, the handle slightly longer than the usual. When activated, it shone a blazing yellow. While its core was the same he had had when under Imperial command, hence the yellow glow because of using the same crystal, he had stripped it and rebuilt it shortly after arriving. He had added another crystal, so that the blade length could vary, and the red beam was toned to yellow by it.

Alone, he walked to the landing pad where his shuttle awaited. There his master, Dermontes, awaited with Rayna and her master Adastrea.

Rayna walked quickly to him and they touched palms. She was so small, only four foot four and ninety pounds. And he was already five five and weighed one twenty. Her hands were so little compared to his, and yet she was so strong despite her looks. �Greetings, Jedi padowan Danine.�

�Greetings, Jedi Knight de Sol.� Rayna retracted her palms and looked her friend in the eyes. He had grown up very much in the last year, and she would miss him. She gaurded her mind and face very tightly to keep Adastrea from picking up on the sentiment. Rayna pulled out a large, rune covered book from underneath her robes. �This is for you, from the people of Illiyonni and myself.�

Mikal took it calmly, opening it up and finding a dried alladine flower pressed between the pages. His face showed no sign that he had seen it as he flipped through the rest of the book. On every page was detailed data on little known star systems, information that would be very useful and profitable to him. �I thank you. My time here on Illiyonni has been most enlightening.� Mikal tucked the thick book into his belt.

Dermontes stepped forward, and after touching palms gave his former padowan a thin packet of documents. �This contains everything you need to start your new life. You will be a year on your own, and then Rayna shall join you. And remember, give no sign that you are Jedi. Rayna will know when the time is right, and she shall be the one to lead you. Right now, you leave as her superior and companion in training. When she joins you, she will be your superior, friend, and guide. The future of the force depends on this.�

�I understand, Master Jedi Dermontes of the Gallateans. I will do the will of the force.� Mikal climbed into the shuttle, looking at Illiyonni for the last time as the hatch slowly closed.

�May the force be with you!� He heard Rayna�s cry in her little girl voice just before the hatch sealed. He lifted off, piloting with the force as he scanned the information packet. So, he was Mikal� de Sol, born on an Imperial outpost on a distant planet fourteen years ago, but with an undercover rebel for a mom. They had escaped, but his mother had been kidnapped and killed when they had stopped to refuel. He had cunningly escaped, details in the packet, and continued in the old, stolen shuttle to New Republic air space. That was the basics of it, anyway. His father had been an officer in Admiral Thrawn�s millitia and had died with Imperial honor when he was five.

Mikal whistled. Nice. He was an Imperial kid, the republic would eat that up. He spent the rest of the trip to Coruscunt researching all that had happened in the last twenty years, and even hacked into some classified references about himself. To the republic, he was Darth Sol, prodigy of the Emperor and if discovered still alive to be killed or reported. Some bounty Hunters still combed the galaxy for him. Of course, they were expecting someone thirty three and openly Jedi. The Imperial cicilians seemed to think he was a hero, and had been killed by the Danine family. However, he found that the higher ups knew what he had done to the stormtroopers and that he was a traitor, and were only covering up to keep morale and possibly flush him out.

Two days and twenty explanations as to why he was in an Imperial shuttle later, Mikal was safely in a berth, an expensive one, at the New Republic Flight Academy on Coruscunt.