Memories
Dramatis Personae
• Anakin Solo - male Human
• Tahiri Veila - female Human
• Jaina Solo - female Human
• Tenel Ka - female Hapan
• Sannah - female Melodie
• Nelani Dinn- female Human
• Mara Jade Skywalker - female Human
• Ikrit - male Kushiban
• Raynar Thul -male human
• Kiori Dinn - female human
• Ganner Rhysode - male human
• Miko Regali - male human
• Eyrl Besa – female human
• Eelysa - female human
Chapter One-1
As seventeen year-old Anakin Solo took his first step off the landing-ramp, his foot squished and sank slightly in the muddy grass of the field in which the Millennium Falcon rested. He looked around, seeing the main vegetation of Yavin IV's rainforests; massive purple trunked trees which encroached on the edge of the open space that served as a landing place for the larger starships such as the Falcon. Then he turned and faced forward; looking towards the Jedi Temple. It was a huge stone ziggurat, where he had spent so much time while growing up, stood tall in the morning light. Its shadow stretched on the far side of the Temple, cast over the city that had grown up in support of the Jedi Academy. Closing his eyes, he inhaled deeply, a ghost of a grin appeared as he savored the warm, rich fragrances.
Opening his eyes again, he saw a simple stone bench set a few meters away.
With a grunt, he resettled his bag up onto his shoulder and took a few hesitant steps away from the Falcon. Then a few more until he had at last arrived at the bench. He dropped his bag onto the stone bench and glanced back at the cockpit, seeing his father there behind the clear, transparisteel viewport, he raised his arm in farewell. With a hiss and a blast of repuslor energy, the Falcon slowly rose up from the field. He allowed his head to crane, watching the old freighter as she lifted off. Within a few moments, she had risen far enough, and the saucer shape twisted around, her forward mandibles facing the cloudless sky. Then with a flash of blue efflux, she rocketed away.
Anakin sighed, and sat down on the bench beside his bag, the cold marble a slight surprise through his thin slacks.
Six years. It's been six years since I've been here. And I still can't really remember what happened back then. Looking down at his hands, he sighed again, and a lightning bolt of memory sliced through his brain. Him sitting on a bench just like this one, waiting for someone. Anger, fear, sadness, it was like all of his other memories: a snippet, a simple flash which he did not, could not, understand. They were emotions and images without context or meaning.
A shadow fell over him, and he looked up. For a moment, he wondered if he was still in the memory or if this was real life. Then his eyes focused as they strained against the sun; there before him stood a young woman, just a year or so older than he was. Her long, brown hair was pulled into a tight ponytail, and she was smiling at him. The simple jumpsuit she wore was soiled with odd colored stains, and she had a smudge of grease marring the porcelain of her right cheek. Brandy colored eyes flashed with happiness as their eyes locked and the smell of engine coolant tickled his nose.
He cocked an eyebrow at her, a hint of a grin appearing on his face. "You're late."
Jaina Solo chuckled. "You'll forgive me. Aunt Mara asked me to come collect you and get you set up in an apartment."
Anakin stood, and looked at his sister for a moment, wondering if his confusion showed on his face. "An apartment? I'm not living at the Temple?"
"Nope," Jaina said as she shook her head. "You're getting one of the new apartments. I'll be living there as well to help you get adjusted."
Anakin once more slung his pack over his shoulder, grunting as the weight tugged against it. In silence, the duo begun to walk down the path, heading towards the city.
He watched the trees of the forest just a few meters to his right, their scent strong and pungent in his nose, a mixture of decaying plants and the sharp, sweet tang of ychhla sap. He grinned at the sense of home, of childhood, which the smells brought to his mind. Yet as usual, it was a sense, a feeling, without any memories behind it.
They arrived at a large, multi-story building; one of the tallest on Yavin, even nearly overshadowing the Great Temple. Anakin craned his neck back to look up. It was a modernist building, all steel and glass and concrete - balconies stretching around to either side, broken from connecting with one another by the lift with its transparent canopy facing the outside world.
Anakin frowned, uneasy at this change to what he felt Yavin should be like. Finally he turned to his sister. "It looks like something that should be on Coruscant. Are there really that many Jedi training here?"
Jaina laughed. "Yeah, there are. Don't forget, even if one person out of every ten million is a Force sensitive, then there are still something like 10,000 Force sensitives on Coruscant alone. We're finding dozens daily-and Uncle Luke wants to bring as many families here as possible. This building is actually almost full of students and families."
"Then, shouldn't I have stayed in the Temple itself? So that I don't tie up one of these apartments?"
"Nope," Jaina replied as she shook her head. "Uncle Luke wants to reserve the rooms of the Temple for Jedi Knights who are stationed out in the galaxy as they come here for reports or meetings. Since you're here for training, you get one of the student's quarters. Besides they're building another one over on the far side of the river. Once that goes up, they'll start another one right beside it."
"Anything else change while I was away?"
Jaina shrugged. "Just the number of non-Jedi we have and the number of non-Jedi things there are to do now. Uncle Luke quickly found out that the more families he brought here, the more folks not associated with the Jedi showed up. We even have a branch of BioTech Industries here and the Corellian Engineering Company and Incom are in talks with Uncle Luke about putting up a corporate presence and shipyards here; which would mean that the Jedi would get first choice of starships from here on out."
"Ah," Anakin replied dumbly. He then looked back towards the apartment complex. "So, are you going to take me to the apartment now?"
Jaina blushed as she pushed her way through the doors, manual ones Anakin noted, and into the cool marble lobby of the apartment complex. With just a quick glance over her shoulder to ensure that Anakin was following, she walked over to the lifts, two polished steel doors, and pressed the call button. They waited in silence as the lift returned to the ground floor. Finally it arrived and a soft, non-musical tone sounded as the doors opened.
They stepped onto the platform, and Jaina pushed the button indicative of the top floor. It was yet another manual process.
Anakin frowned again. "What is with all the manual things? First there was the door and now the buttons on the elevator."
Jaina shrugged her shoulders. "You'd have to ask Uncle Luke. Part of the requirements of building on Yavin is that there is as little automation as possible while still being an effective building. Sometimes I think he would have rather had stairs put in then these lifts."
Anakin chuckled. "That sounds like Uncle Luke."
The tone sounded again and the doors slide apart, revealing a simple hallway which stretched the length of the building. Anakin could make out a small window at the end of the hallway, the bright Yavin sunlight streaming in through it. He then turned his attention to the walls, and noticed that there was only a single door on each side of the hallway.
"Only two apartments per floor?"
"Up this high in the building, yes. Those are Uncle Luke's and Aunt Mara's quarters there. But some of the lower floors have more, depending on how big the apartment is."
Jaina stepped forward, and pressed her hand against a piece of smooth black plastic next to the door. She turned and looked towards Anakin. "All the doors are encoded with biometric locks. You should be pre-programmed, but we'll make sure of that later, once we get you settled into the apartment."
A light flashed up and down around her palm and then the door to the apartment slid open. Jaina walked in, followed by Anakin.
"Wow," Anakin whispered. "It's even bigger than mom's place on Coruscant."
Jaina laughed. "Yeah, it's good to be related to the head of the Order and the son of the former Chief of State."
Anakin aimlessly strolled around the apartment, poking his head into the kitchen and common area, until he found the bedroom which his sister had claimed, the first of four. Anakin walked into the room right across the hall from hers, and tossed his bag onto the bed, looking into the closet.
He returned to the center of the bedroom, turning in a slow circle. Finally he dropped onto the bed beside his bag and stared at the wall. A short, sharp rap drew his attention and he focused on the door as it slowly opened and Jaina stuck her head in. She gave him a smile and walked into the bedroom.
Sitting beside him on the bed, she said, "You okay, little brother?"
"No krakana," Anakin replied as he nodded his head. It was an old, family phrase, one meaning that there were no problems. "It's just... I don't know. It seems so different, but at the same time, I don't remember what it was like before."
Jaina wrapped one of her arms around him and drew him against her. "I think I know what you mean. I have to assume that a lot happened back then. But it's good that you're back. I'm happy about that."
Anakin looked at her, and gave the half-grin which made their father famous. "Thanks, Jaya. It's good to be back. At least I think it will be."
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