Meditations and Memories

[Xuku]

Xuku sat on the ground, inside the ruins of the Jedi Enclave. His legs were crossed beneath him and his eyes were closed. His father's lightsaber lay beside him. He was concentrating, remembering days long gone when the Jedi Enclave was alive with activity; he remembered how numerous the Jedi had been. There were hundreds here at the Enclave alone; many times that on Coruscant. He remembered when the galaxy was ruled by a republic, not an empire; when the Jedi were the keepers of peace; when the galaxy was at peace. But things had changed now. The Jedi were simply a slowly fading memory of the citizens of the galaxy. Xuku knew that somewhere in the galaxy there must be Jedi left; they could not have all died out. Their order had survived for millennia, in times of light and in times of darkness. He knew there were Jedi somewhere; and he intended to find them. To find a teacher, a master, to train him in the ways of the Jedi.

Xuku opened his eyes and stood up, placing his father's lightsaber on his belt as he did so. He glanced around at his surroundings, the ruins of what once was a majestic place of learning; its teachers were now forever silenced. His father was one such teacher. This place would always be special to him. But this place was not entirely dead in the force. If you concentrated, focusing on nothing else, you could feel it; the activity which once filled these halls; the laughing of young padawans sparring; the conversations of many wise Jedi Masters; the echoes of the force. It was faint, weak; it had been man years since the force was strong in this place, but it had not left completely. But there was something else; something beyond the calming, peaceful aura of that side of the force the Jedi know; in the background, beyond the surface there were cold chills of anger and fear. This place had been the training ground of many who would fall captive to the dark side of the force. This place would forever be tainted by those who rejected the ways of the Jedi and sought power instead.

After considering all these things Xuku made his way towards the ground level of the Jedi Enclave. It was a relic of an era passed; nothing could restore it to its original glory. Such was the situation with the Jedi Temple on Coruscant as well; it had now become a place of instruction not of the Jedi, but the Sith. Xuku realized that these things were in the past, about which nothing could be done; but there was something to be done about the future. Xuku would never stop searching for the remnants of the Jedi. He hoped that one day, a day which he knew was still very far away, the Jedi would be revived again, and the Jedi would be the galaxy's keepers of peace once more. But for now, all Xuku could do was continue his search for the Jedi.

[Xuku]

Xuku entered the once functioning turbolift shaft. It had now lost that status and was merely a shaft; Xuku began the climb to the ground level. When he had finished the ascent he he pried the turbolift safety hatch open and exited the shaft. He paused to catch his breath, crouching in the crumbling courtyard, filled with overgrown gardens and long-dried fountains. After a few minutes of rest he got up and passed through the courtyard and outside the Enclave. Because of the small craters and debris which was caused by Malak's destruction of the Enclave, he had to land his ship several hundred meters away from the Enclave's traditional landing zone. The wind blew lightly as he tread through the knee-high grass towards his ship, and the sun shone brightly. Xuku had always loved Dantooine weather. He especially loved the lack of cities and industry; Dantooine was a place where one could come to get away from the busy, noisy city life and relax, spending time alone with nature and the force.

He reached his YT-1300 Light Freighter, and climbed up the ladder to the main hallway. After walking up the incline to the cockpit and sitting in the pilot's chair, he started initiating the launch sequence. But when he thought about where he was going, he paused. He didn't know where he was going. His only goal right now was to find the Jedi; he had no place to go but to them. He left the cockpit and went into his personal quarters. He sat on the floor in a meditative position, motionless. He calmed his mind, focusing on just one thing: Jedi. He summoned thoughts of Jedi he had known, of the Enclave, the Temple, and other places where the Jedi gathered. Finally, he summoned his thoughts and memories of what it felt like to be in the presence of Jedi; what it felt like to be in the Enclave.

He concentrated on that feeling, a feeling of warmth and light. He felt it in his mind, in memories of the past; but he also felt it in the present. A whisper, an echo, he could feel it; he could feel the Jedi. A faint sound in the distance, they were there. He tried to isolate where the echoes, the presence of the Jedi, were coming from. It was very faint, and finding the source would be difficult. One thing he was sure of, however, was that there were several Jedi; he would not be able to feel it unless enough were concentrated together. He spent hours meditating; finally, after searching his thoughts, feelings, and the force for hours, he could feel something; it was cold and frosty; multicolored and jagged. He could sense that many Jedi had been there; and he could sense that there were some there now. It felt cold; there were colorful, jagged rock walls... no, these walls were not rock... they were... crystal? Yes... they were crystals. Suddenly it came to him: he had heard of this place before. His father had told him that when he had been trained, he would take him there to build a lightsaber... it was Ilum. The Jedi were at Ilum!

Xuku leapt up and out into the main hall of his ship, and then bounded into the cockpit. He quickly punched in the launch sequence, and the ship's engine began to rumble as the ship exited the atmosphere. He put the hyperdrive coordinates to Ilum, and entered hyperspace, excited that he would finally be able to find the Jedi, whom he had been searching for for several years.