It Lies in Wait 2000 short story by Louis Turfrey Seventeen years after Episode IV – A New Hope "No Gordal! Concentrate!" The lightsabre span out of Gordal Anunes hand and went flying off towards the far end of the hanger bay. Blake concentrated for a moment, reaching out with the force and returning the now inactive blade to its owner. At the same time, he caught his returning Krill with his own left hand, mounting it on his belt. He looked at Gordal with patience, but couldn't help feeling a little disappointment. Gordal seemed annoyed. "Why do you keep me practising when you know I'm good enough to go on to the next stage? I want to learn how to do other things with the force, not just use a lightsabre." Gordal stormed off towards his ship, the Avenger, leaving Blake feeling confused and disheartened. He heard a voice behind him. "It’s not your fault Blake, he has to learn patience." Blake’s master stood at the edge of the clearing opposite the hanger entrance. "Master, I know he has the ability, yet he refuses to learn even the most basic concepts." His master moved forward, entering the mouth of the hanger. "I think you see yourself in Gordal, and as such you display more impatience with him than your other students. At the same time you know he can't be allowed to progress further without more training, otherwise he may again fall to the dark side. It is a situation that may require some intense meditation before you find the resolution." Blake nodded. "You may be right Master, but I sense the dark side in him already, and it chills me. If you don't mind, I shall dwell on the problem whilst practising. It helps calm me." His master nodded and moved aside as Blake reached under his robe and activated his lightsabre, the crimson blade throwing its light on the darkening ground, and started his own practise. His master moved up beside him and activated his own blade. They both started to move in union, practising the ancient art of the Lightsabre Kata. Each of them becoming one with the force. Time slowed and Blake’s thoughts drifted as he concentrated on the problem of training Gordal. He found himself distracted though, his thoughts drifting to his friends in the Setnin Sector, who had not seen for many months. Suddenly he felt a twitch in the Force, and a gateway opened up inside his mind. Pain, intense pain, death, and a heavy sense of loss. Blake dropped his lightsabre, and fell to his knees, the agony of what he perceived overwhelming him. He fought to maintain equilibrium, but couldn't help screaming through his clenched teeth. "No!" The master Jedi deactivated his own blade and moved to help Blake. "What is it? What have you seen?" Blake allowed his master to help him to a standing position. He was about to tell him when he heard the engines of the Avenger start up. He looked back at the master Jedi. "We have to stop him. He'll kill them ” The master nodded, trusting Blake’s instinct, and they both sprinted towards the Avenger. Blake called his lightsabre to him and swapped it for his Krill. They heard shouting and were just in time to see Gordal cut down Neeth, one of the other apprentices. The injured man raised his lightsabre in his good hand as Gordal prepared to finish what he had started. "Gordal! No, don't do it!" The master Jedi’s voice echoed across the landing platform, causing Gordal to turn. He saw the two approaching men and grinned wickedly and then he dashed back into his ship. The two men sprinted to their fallen comrade, in time to here the Avengers engines roar. The Avenger started to climb into the skies of Yavin IV. The master Jedi, concentrating hard, propelled his lightsabre at the rapidly ascending ship, slicing through the secondary shield emitter. At the same time Blake launched the Krill, its super dense molecular structure flying through the air, aided by the force and its own singular repulsor. The molecule thick blades, spinning impossibly fast, impacted on one of the external emitters for the repulsor systems and causing sparks to fly. It became jammed, and as it flew out of Blake’s range, he knew he had fulfilled his own prophecy. Blake turned around and looked at his master. "How long until the next transport arrives?" The Jedi looked at him, dismay upon his face. "Two weeks." Gordal Anunes was angry. Who were they to tell him what he could and could not do? He had been a dark side adept, a servant of the Emperor Palpatine. He fumed silently. Bringing his ship to level flight he noticed a slight drop off in power on the repulsors and compensated. The secondary shield emitter had been destroyed and would need to be replaced, but the primary was still working. Gordal reconfigured the shields to compensate. Fifteen minutes later he was in hyperspace and heading for the world of Mon Calamari. He needed to think, and the water calmed him. Being a member of the Atrudi race, he was a humanoid amphibian, distinguishable from ordinary humans only by the gill slits underneath his ears. His own world had been destroyed by the Empire in the last days before the destruction of the second Death Star. Anunes had been on the way home, to say his final farewell to his family and friends before he advanced on to his second level of training. It had shaken his faith in the Emperor. His family had still been upon planet. He had never returned to the Empire. The Avenger exited hyperspace, several hours later. Gordal threw the ship into a tight descent, as he awaited landing instructions from the Mon Calamari port control. He enjoyed the views of the seemingly endless oceans ahead of him. Port control gave him landing co-ordinates and he skewed the ship around to follow them. He could have just orbited the planet once more, but he was impatient to take a swim. At the apex of his turn he cut the thrust and switched to repulsors, lining up for the docking run. Four hundred metres short of landing, travelling at near two hundred clicks, the repulsors shut down unexpectedly. The Avenger, faced with no means of steerage and support, flipped over onto its tail and hit the ocean, engines first. The shields, not prepared for the impact, gave out and the back of the ship broke under its own weight. Gordal, caught by surprise, was catapulted out of his seat and into the navigation computer. As sparks of power flew around him, he just had a second to register the impact and then he passed out. Waking was painful and confusing. He saw a green haze around him and realised he was in a Bacta Tank. There was a tug on his shoulders and he was raised out of the foul smelling liquid. Gordal passed out again. "How do you feel?" The 2-1-B droid was checking his vital signs. He didn't answer at first, but just sat up slowly. He looked around the hospital room. "Rough. What happened?" The 2-1-B droid turned its optical receptors towards him. "I believe your repulsor units shut down. The accident damaged you badly. We have had to close both of your gill slits, and channel your breathing into your lungs permanently. The investigations team are waiting outside. Do you require them to enter?" Gordal nodded, too shocked at the news to say anything, and the 2-1-B unit exited. Seconds later a Mon Calamarian and a human entered. The Mon Calamarian spoke first. "I am Ahrkna Zo, this is my colleague Drax Credill." The human nodded in his direction. "We have concluded the majority of our investigation and find a couple of disturbing problems. Firstly, your repulsors gave out because they were arcing back on themselves. Thus negating the field effect." He nodded to the man called Drax who reached into the bag he was carrying and brought out a twisted piece of metal. "Do you recognise this? It was embedded in the repulsor emitter. Please be careful it is extremely sharp." He handed the scorched lump of metal to him. Gordal looked at it properly for the first time and had to stiffle back a reaction. It was the Krill that Blake had been using to practise with, but with its blades extended. Gordal fought back his anger, trying to remain calm. "No, I've never seen its like before. Have you any ideas?" The Mon Calamari looked at him strangely before answering. "No. We assumed it was a piece of space junk that punched through your shields. Which brings me to the second point." He looked gravely at Gordal. "You were running with an insufficient level of shielding for atmospheric landing. This was due to a damaged emitter. Did you know about this?" Gordal nodded, thinking quickly. "It was destroyed during an attack on my ship, I barely escaped into hyperspace with my life. I had no idea it was that badly damaged." He looked back at the Mon Calamarian. "Do you think this will affect my insurance claim?" The Mon Calamari laughed. "What insurance? You should know that running with insufficient shielding for a normal landing negates the majority of the policy. You'll be lucky to get your medical bills paid." With that the Mon Calamarian took back the Krill, and both investigators left. Gordal fumed silently. First my ship, then my gills, now my money. He'll pay for this. A familiar darkness crept into Gordal Anunes soul and he fancied he could feel the Emperors hand on his shoulder. He decided to get as far away from this sector as possible. The medical droid re-entered the room, as Gordal finished dressing, a small package in its manipulator. It handed it to Gordal. Gordal opened it as the droid spoke. "This was recovered from your ship." Gordal opened the cloth wrapping. His lightsabre lay there, its darkened metal reflecting the feeling in his soul. The droid spoke again. "Are you a Jedi Knight?" Gordal looked across to the droid and smiled to himself. "No, I am no longer a Jedi." He fingered the pommel, activating the red blade. A dark energy filled his body and he moved the blade sharply through the air. It felt easier using the dark side energy. The droid watched in apparent curiosity. Within a half a second it lay in pieces upon the floor. "Blake always said I needed more practice." He laughed, the sound feeling hollow in his ears, and exited the room. If the droid had been active, it might have felt some concern over the stability of its former patient. However, the droid wasn't, so the sound of the manic laughter echoed within the mixed screams of patients around the wards. After it had stopped, all that could be heard was the receding sound of a lightsabre hum But there was no longer anybody around to hear it.
It Lies in Wait 2000 short story by Louis Turfrey Seventeen years after Episode IV – A New Hope Histories – Set just
after Blake De’Athe’s return from the dark side, this is the brief
story of how one of Master Luke Skywalker’s disciples Gordal
Anunes left the teachings of the Jedi and journeyed to the dark side. A precursor to the events leading up to Test
Drive and the return of Jan Lomona from across the other side of the
galaxy, this shows De’Athe beginning to maintain genuine order in his life. Cast of Characters Blake De’Athe Luke Skywalker Gordal Anunes Ahrkna Zo Drax Credill |