ECLIPSE (part III)

"As my anger grew, however, the visions became sharper. Now they showed me a ruined temple and clone bodies lying before me. The visions fed my anger and resolve to make the trip. I decided to steal a modified Z-95 Headhunter. I was intimately familiar with them from my racing and Dure-Lite had to have several of them with hyperdrives rated C1."

Dure-lite was always flashing its status around by modding their fleet to have hyperdrives constructed from the ore they mined in system. The purity of the ore allowed for the construction of super efficient drives and Dure-Lite used its fleet to advertise the fact.


After making the decision to steal a ship from Dure-Lite I felt a bit better. I was finally ready to do something besides stew over the betrayal of the Jedi. Sure it was just a trip to find my master’s body and saber, but leaving the system would put me at risk of being discovered. That meant possibly being forced to fight it out with those responsible for my master’s death. I wasn’t going to look for trouble mind you, but if it found me on its own I’d be ready. It was now nearly impossible for me to meditate as before. The emotions boiling inside me prevented me from getting deep enough to actually find peace and calm. I was getting really edgy and began avoiding people I knew. I was afraid I might lose it in front of one of them. I was afraid I might hurt someone unintentionally. Dale noticed of course and confronted me one day.

He found me here in the Shaft at one of the rear booths. I was brooding and planning my theft. I had done enough homework to know that there was one engineer who worked late every night in the yards. He seemed to be tending to recent mods made to several of the ships; scanning and noting things on a datapad. Other than the guard at the main gateway and the security droids he was the only one I had to worry about. I felt I was ready to make my move.

I really didn’t need Dale to play the conscientious friend tonight, but what could I do? We’d grown up together and, since my Master had left and my grandmother had died, he was the closest thing to family I had left. I can still see the look in his eyes as he calmly asked me what was up…

“What do you mean, what’s up?” I asked over the rim of my Corellian Ale.


“You’ve been boiling over for months now and snapping at people when normally you’d smile or joke with them. You even stopped racing. Now you’re avoiding everyone, even me.” He stated as though reading a list of charges against me.

“Look I really don’t want to do this right now.” I replied, backing it with a Force suggestion.

Dale shook his head as though to clear it but only grew more determined. He must really have been worried about me to shake it off so easily.

“Tenric. I’m worried about you buddy. This isn’t like you. I know losing your grandma was hard, and your Uncle’s leaving obviously upset you too, but….”

“Dale my uncle is dead!” I blurted, cutting him off. “He died on a planet on the other side of the galaxy!” I set my flask down so hard the noise made the other patrons glance our way.

It was a testament to our friendship that Dale didn’t even flinch at my outburst. Once again I felt a pang of guilt at having never told him that my “uncle” was really my master and that I had been training as a Jedi since we were just kids. The way things were now of course his not knowing was safest for both of us.

“Sorry man.” Dale offered in a hushed tone. “I guess I’d be angry at the galaxy too if I was in your shoes right now.” Having nothing else to offer he just stared at the table.

“Look Dale,” I confided in a softer tone. “I just need to work through it on my own. It’s…complicated for me.”

“Well I’m here for you if you need anything buddy. Just ask.”

“I know Dale, I know.” Then I made a decision. “Look. I’m going to be off planet for a while. I need to clear my head and take care of some family business.” Dale had never been out-system and his ambitions didn’t lean that way. “Would you look after my place for me while I’m gone?”

“How long you going to be away?” Dale asked sounding concerned.

“Only as long as I need to take care of things. It is a long trip though.”

“Well if you need any credits to buy passage I’ll do what I can to help out.” Dale offered.

“Thanks, but I think I have it all worked out.” I replied, once more thinking of the shipyards.