ECLIPSE (part IV)

A bit more from this story......seems to be growing larger than I thought....hope you enjoy reading it.
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I successfully put Dale off the scent for a while, but I knew I had to act soon or he’d start following me around looking for a way to help. Sometimes friends can be inconvenient. Don’t get me wrong, Dale is like a brother to me and I am not belittling his concern. I just didn’t want him involved in what I needed to do.

Here Tenric pauses for a long pull on his Correllian Ale. Ragun signals the server droid for another round and settles in for the long haul. He knows Tenric's been needing to get it out and intends to make sure he does. Finishing his ale Tenric sets the empty flagon down.


So…I had the shipyards scoped out and had decided how I was going to go after a ship. The guard and security droids kept to a rigid schedule that allowed me time to get in unobserved. Once inside I just had to disable the droids by slicing the security terminal and pick a ship. The only real variable was the DL engineer. The guy seemed to sleep at the shipyards. I really didn’t want to hurt anyone, but then again I wasn’t going to let anyone stop me either. The following night I made my move on the Dure-Lite shipyards.

I waited until mid-shift since the guard’s attention would be at its lowest. I gently touched the sleepy guard’s mind and used a Force-illusion to cover me as I flipped over the gate. I could have just put him to sleep, but I don’t have much experience with that and didn’t want to over do it. He was supposed to check in hourly and I couldn’t afford to slip up. I was dressed all in black to make it easier for the guard to believe I wasn’t there. He didn’t even blink as he watched me go by.

Once inside I made for the nearest ship, an old Correlian cargo hauler, and used it for cover. Sliding under the ship I waited for the droids to make their rounds. When I saw the pair of them round the far ship and head my way, I quickly crawled up into one of the landing gear wells and shot a small amount of refrigerant back down the strut to erase my recent heat signature. It took ten agonizing minutes for the droids to finish their rounds and head for the far side of the yards to begin again.

As soon as it was clear I dropped down and sprinted for the security console just inside the mech-bays. I only had a few minutes until the droids got to that area so I had to work fast. I was immediately confronted with a serious problem though. The console was not in security mode as it should have been. That meant the droids were running on their internal programming and I would not be able to bypass them. I became acutely aware of the weight of my light saber hanging at my side, as well as the near certainty that I would need to use it.

I was so intent on my foiled plans that I did not sense the engineer’s approach until he spoke...

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Came a voice from behind me.

In a sudden rush of surprise and confusion I whirled around, grabbing and igniting my saber in a badly aimed slash at the sound. Good thing too since I nearly cut the poor guy in two. He jumped back and stared wild-eyed at me, shocked into silence. The thrumming of my blade cut through my paralysis and I shut down the saber with an apologetic shrug, putting it away and trying to look innocent.

“Man I’m sorry! You really scared me there! I mean no harm, really. I just wanted a close up look at some of the ships.” I lied.

Lowering the data pad he’d been holding up like a shield, the engineer looked at me closely for a moment. “Hey, I know you.” He said uncertainly. Then he seemed to gain confidence from my demeanor. “What are you trying to do with this console?”

“I wanted to add my name to the security droids personnel list so I could look around without raising the alarm.” I answered truthfully.

“Dure-Lite does give tours you know…in the daytime.” He responded punching a code into the datapad. Before I could ask him what he’d done the two security droids came full speed into the bay, weapons tracking me. I kept my hands perfectly still and locked eyes with him.

“I’m really no threat to you or the company.” I said, pushing the thought at him with the Force.

“I can’t be sure you’re not a threat.” He replied not quite convinced.

“You said you knew me.” I pushed again hoping to find a way out of this. I could likely take out both droids and the engineer without getting hurt, but I wouldn’t get a ship that way. His eyes went wide for a moment then he smiled.

“You’re right I do know who you are. You’re that crazy space-jockey Tenric…um…from Darkwood settlement aren’t you?” He said as though he’d passed a pop quiz.

“That’s me.” I admitted, smiling and relaxing a bit. Now that I had him talking. Things might still work out.

“Where, may I ask, did you come to possess a light saber?” He asked while the droids kept their weapons trained on me.

“It belonged to my uncle. He left a few years ago and asked me to keep it safe for him.” I offered another push.

“Hmm. I guess that makes sense. But why are you here?” he countered.

Reaching out I saw the currents swirling around us both. They seemed to go from him to me and back again, then outward to the ships. I realized he had formed his own opinion and decided to play along. “I’ve got a thing for Z-95s and I’d heard you had a couple of Mods here in the yards. I knew the tours wouldn’t let me get a really close up look so I decided to guide my own tour.” Just a small push this time since he was already on this train of thought.

He smiled at the audacity of my remark. I could see he wanted to believe me so I just waited, as my Master had done so many times with me, for him to make the decision I wanted him to make. It took a few more moments then he punched another sequence into the data pad and the droids stood down. They didn’t leave, but they weren’t about to blast me anymore either. Then he shifted the pad to his left hand and stuck out his right.

“My name’s Orlan. I’m the team lead for DL’s Research and Development wing here on Soma III and I’ve been wanting to meet you.” He shook my hand with a firm, confident grip.

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All comments welcomed........

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.

ECLIPSE (part II)

picking up where we left off.....
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“I guess that’s part of why I misunderstood the visions that did come. I saw Jedi in battle with clones and an old, ruined, temple in the background. I thought it was the clue I had been looking for; that I had finally found the place my Master had fallen. It was Dantooine, a place I knew of but had never been to. There had once been a Jedi training temple, or some such, there. My Master had told me stories from a time he had visited the planet. Of course getting there posed a bit of a problem. Dantooine is about as far from here as one can go and still be on the galactic map. I would need not just a ship, but one that also had a class I hyperdrive in order to make the trip. That meant I would need to 'borrow' one since my recent winnings were largely spent."

The only two places on Soma III to find such a ship were in the shipyards of either Nal-Lium or Dure-Lite. They were the mining consortiums that controlled the system. Nal-Lium was Hutt-run and definitely second choice. Dure-Lite had the best ships and, being mostly staffed by humans, would be easier to infiltrate.

"My Master would not approve of what I was planning to do. That thought only made me angrier. It was something I had to do! Something I needed to do! After all he was the one who decided to leave and take up his place in the Clone Wars…."

Ragun's only reaction to this indictment of Tenric's Master was to raise his eyebrows and wave to the service droid for another round.

"…Sorry, I know he was just being true to who he was. He had been long in self-imposed exile training me. I had seen the joy and pride in his eyes the one time he had taken me off world to meet Master Hett. He was eager for both the news and companionship of a fellow Jedi. It is Palpitane and his pet clones I am really angry at….Vader too, of course, but that’s a bit different. I never thought I would actually ever meet the Betrayer…but I am getting ahead of myself.
So I needed a ship with a class I hyperdrive and the Dure-Lite fleet was my best chance of obtaining one. I didn’t really know many DL workers, but I often lurked around their shipyards as a boy."

A snuffle fron Ragun had a trace of sarcasm in it. Tenric's antics as a boy were still the talk of many in the settlement.

"Security was tight, but that wouldn’t pose too big a problem for someone with my skill set. I had been playing with Force illusions even before my Master had found me that morning so long ago. The trick would be choosing the right ship. After all I wasn’t going to get a chance to fuel up and lay in supplies.

It ate at me, knowing where I had to go and not being able to just hop in a ship and go. I did have my Incom Z-95, it was a fast ship at sub-light, and had the best shield augments the DL guys had come up with so far, but it was tasked as a racer and didn’t have a hyperdrive. I decided that whatever ship I ended up with would need to remain on permanent loan. I wasn’t too sure how I’d arrange that, but I didn’t really care that much either. I just hoped I wouldn’t need to kill anyone to get it.

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ECLIPSE (working title)

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Time Frame: Approx. Order 66 +.75y-1.25y = -18 BBY (This story would be before Tenric's Gambit and was alluded to by Dale)
Setting: Soma III > The Shaft.: Tenric sits musing over the recent past….and downing Corellian Ales with a mission. He is sitting with Ragun, owner of The Shaft after its closing for the night. Tenric is filling his friend in on what he’s been up to lately. Tenric is still in his flight gear, having just arrived from the adventure he is recounting. In the booth next to him is a singed brown robe that looks like it might be in better shape than he is. Ragun is one of, at this point, two people who have known Tenric is a Jedi and not just a bounty hunter. The other being Tenric's grandmother (who died soon after his Master left). Ragun is large, grizzled, and old enough to be Tenric’s grandfather (which may actually be the case: but that is another story...maybe).

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"The Force had been in turmoil ever since the Clones had turned on the Jedi and my meditations had been difficult. The currents were wild and I had to stay close to my anchor or risk being swept away. My Master had taught me....but he was gone now...GONE!

I knew my anger over the betrayal and at having been left behind was not part of the Jedi Way. I knew it would poison me if I let it remain unchecked, but it was the only feeling I could stand to have so I let it burn. My dreams were dark and filled with the mixed images of Jedi being slaughtered and clones falling before my blade in vengeance, but they brought me no comfort. Daylight only made me miss the darkness. Others around me went on about their lives, Palpitane's announcement and the outlawing of the Order meant little to them.

I tried not to hate those around me. After all they hadn't betrayed the Jedi, or me; they weren't to blame. The anger boiled out of me though and some were beginning to ask questions. I told them I was upset over my 'uncle' having left, but they felt the disparity. That is why I took up racing. It gave me something to do and a way to pour out my anger."

The Somantus Racing Circuit is a loosely organized group of races spread from Tatooine through the lower quadrant and into Hutt controlled space. Racers are always needed due to the dangerous nature of the courses run.

"At first I flew the races with little conscious Force use. I just threw myself at the courses and used my anger to batter my way to the finish. I am quite a good pilot and was able to manage a few third, and one second, place finishes. Soon, though, I realized that in order to keep racing I would need to win. Sponsors were picky about details like that.

So I began to use the Force to augment my piloting abilities and push the racers to their structural limits. Maybe I really wanted one of them to disintegrate and relieve me of the grief and anger; maybe not. I am still not sure. Incom, though, really knows how to build a ship."'

 The Z-95s I used in the races could take more punishment than you’d believe and still be flyable. The result of my recklessness was a winning record and a reputation as being the quadrant’s most gifted lunatic pilot.

"I was still spending time meditating and seeking visions of where my Master had died. I wanted to find his body and bring it back for burial. I guess I thought it would bring me some sense of closure. I wanted to find his saber too. Other than my meditations and racing I had closed myself off from the Force. It was a stupid thing to do, but at the time I wasn’t thinking too clearly anyway."

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First person narrative

Has always intrigued me. Since reading "I, Jedi" it has been on my mind to attempt something of that nature. I haven't had much time to write lately, not much inclination either, but I have begun the story "Eclipse". Hopefully I will get some of it up soon.