Five hours after I left Bespin.

*BEEP… BEEP… BEEP…* I woke up to a pinging noise, looked over, and saw a message on the diagnostic screen. It read, “Master, when we get to Yag’Dhul I have a few adjustments to make to our hyper drive,” I nodded to myself and read on, “My modifications will allow us a faster travel rate than what we have calculated.” I smiled.

“That’s fine; we can also pick up some extra supplies and rations while we’re there. I wanted to grab some pieces for another lightsaber anyway… Master Skywalker always wants us to be prepared… and having an extra one of these would be a good start.” I held up my lightsaber, it was similar to my master’s old one; the same one he got from his master, the only difference was the blade and the color. My lightsabers blade is a dark purple, if I remember correctly it is supposed to cut better and be stronger than normal blades. Moreover, as I said, my hilt is a different color… it is black and red instead of silver and gold…I have very different tastes than most other Jedi mind you.

“Well, we’ll be here for a while…” and with that I tried, and succeeded, to find out more about my new astromech droid.

Journal Entry: 2-59-E-4
“During our three day ‘vacation’ R4 revealed quite a lot about himself, and yes I am treating him as a person so sue me. I found out that R4 has been around since the days of the rebellion, and actually fought in some of the same battles as my master, like the fight over the first deathstar, he was a part of gold squadron. The fact that he has never had a memory wipe since then shows me how much his owners have put their faith in him, so it actually give me quite a lot to base his actions on… besides the fact that he is older than I am… by about twenty years…”

“I have come to call him ‘Vet’ just for the fact that he is a veteran of so many wars… and the fact that he out lasted the Yuuzhan Vong is a damned miracle! Those bastards would have wiped out all of us if not for my master and his friends…”
“Well, this is Jedi Knight Ryan Reiks, signing off.”

Our jump to Yag’Dhul went without much fanfare… though the view was underwhelming it was cherished. Granted not much can overwhelm a person after traveling with Master Skywalker for a decade or so… not with the adventures, he goes on anyway. There are still wonders left untouched in the galaxy… but this place has seen too much war to be one of them…

“OK ‘Vet’ prepare for reversion.” We then came out of hyperspace and were beholden to about seven Tartan Patrol Cruisers, roll out the welcome wagon don’t they? Those ships are ancient…

“This is Captain Galix of the Givin; we have been issued orders to escort you through the system as a gift to Grand Master Skywalker.” I was slightly thrown with such a show, it wasn’t exactly abnormal for Jedi, but it wasn’t normal either.

“Very well Captain, but first I need to set down on one of your platforms and do some maintenance to my ship, and also pick up a few supplies… I should be done in a few hours.” I said as I charged up my engines and deflector shields, just in case… I didn’t want a repeat of last time.

“If you so wish Master Jedi, we will escort you to platform 2-A5, it has just been restocked.” The Tartan patrol ships started to turn around slowly, once they had made a complete about face we started our flight to the far side of Yag’Dhul.

The flight went about without incident and we arrived at the station in record time; for Tartan cruisers that is, and I was able to get in without much headache.

The hanger I had landed us in was rectangular and was sparkly decorated, save for the mechanics work stations scattered about. As I set the ship down I popped the hatch and jumped out, I looked back at ‘Vet’ and motioned him over. He popped out of his socket and rolled over to me.

“’Vet’ I’m going to leave the ship in your hands, I’m just going to go pick up several kits for some lightsabers and some other supplies. I’ll be back in two hours, please have the ship ready by then ok?” He gave me several beeps in confirmation and I smiled down at him before taking off towards the hanger exit.

After a few twists and turns in the bland grey corridors I found myself in the main area of the maintenance platform, it was a large open area with a few large view ports that let in the ambient sun light form the planets sun.

“Well, this must be it…” I went from kiosk to kiosk looking for what I needed, I found nine decent lightsaber kits, all missing the crystals of course… rip offs… and I was able to rent a hover sled so I could take the rest of my supplies with me without having to float the damn things along beside me.

As I was walking along I began to mumble to myself, “Let’s see, I got the bath tissue, the extra ration cubes… the saber kits, the bed rolls, a few extra packs of spare parts for my fighter and some of the systems for the academy. Force knows that they don’t get their shipments on time… so this’ll be a god send…” I continued to mumble about the inconsistencies with our supplies and about just everyday life after the defeat of Abeloth and the return of the Sith… granted they weren’t a threat at the moment… but still, the Sith were back and in force…

I made my way back through the twisting corridors and all the back to my ship, overall just taking about an hour and thirty-seven minutes to complete.

“Hey ‘Vet’ ya ready with those modifications?” The droid was sitting off to the side, not doing anything; he didn’t even recognize that I was there. So I walked up to him and tapped on his dome. His head spun around and he gave me several beeps in indignation and sped off to the fighter. That’s when it donned on me that I had forgotten to give him a way back up into the fighter for when he was done.

“Sorry man… it just slipped my mind…” Therefore, I lifted him up and set him on the top of the fighter, he then rolled forward and set himself in the plug.

“Well, give me a moment and we will get our happy selves on our way.” Therefore, I went about packing up all of my extra supplies, thankfully, I had room, but I did have to move the books that Master Luke gave me, so I put those in the cockpit.

“Alright ‘Vet’ let’s get going.” I move the books out of my seat and jump in, strapping on my crash webbing I see that ‘Vet’ has left me a message.

“We will be able to take a direct route o Mobus; it was our destination, right?” The fact that he knows where we are going and how to have a deeper conversation is still astounding.

“Yes, how long should it take us?” I ask as I turn on the repulsors and turn the ship around, aiming it towards the shield door.

“We should get there in about three days.” This info struck me as amazing, it usually takes weeks to get to the unknown regions… but he did fix up the hyperdrive, so I should not be surprised.

“Well then, good thing I have some reading material in here to keep me busy.” I took out my copies of the books and just about fainted, They were a set of ancient tomes, not books. The first was light blue and black and was titled, ‘Path of the Force, Jedi Teachings’ and the second was, ‘Lessons of Passion, Dark Tides’ these were the books that detailed the known histories of both the Sith and the Jedi… and Grand Master Luke had given me a set of both… I had better start studying…

Journal Entry: 2-70-E-4
“OK, this… is one of the best days ever, it’s like my fuckin birthday or some shit! I have only gotten through the first two chapters of the ‘Jedi Teachings’ and I have learned more in the time I’ve read it than in the whole of my learning days in the academy… I feel a little underhanded by my master, but this more than makes up for it. If you could, and you pry will, see these texts… there is no doubt in my mind that you would cream yourself… these are better than any lesson I have received, unless they were given on these teachings… As an example, could you fathom using the force… to rip open a hole in space… and use it… to travel across the galaxy in the blink of an eye? I mean… that is amazing in and of itself, but the fact that it has been recorded in its use means that it is possible. I may have to try this sometime… though it will have to be far from any planets… it is also said to be able to destroy them…”
Jedi Knight Ryan Reiks signing off.”

The space around Mobus was that of a glorious watercolor, there were many different shades of greens, blues, reds, purples, and yellows in the nebulas surrounding Mobus. There was a ripple in the space at the center of the bubble heralding a new arrival. A small fighter shot into existence, it was elegant and sleek, and even though it was meant for war, it held grace to its structure.

“Well we got here ahead of the original schedule man; we couldn’t have done it without you ‘vet’ thanks.” I smiled as a chortle of beeps and chirps came over the speakers, signaling that he was pleased with my praises.

“Set a course for M-3, the temple station should be located there.” I had heard from Master Luke that we were building space fairing temples for the Jedi order. There are going to be used to help defend us against being found should the government or some of our enemies come looking for us.

“Yes sir, course set.” Said the text as it rolled across my display. I grinned as I punched the engines and set off towards our destination.

The flight took about thirty minutes, we came into view of the inhabited moon, it wasn’t exactly a peaceful place to set down on since Master Luke had found out the inhabitants were hostile. We began orbiting the planet, waiting for the station to come into view, and when it did… it was spectacular. The whole thing was pyramidal in design, it had four pillars coming up off the corners and it had, what looked like, an old Star-Destroyer as its base, it was a massive ship, almost the size of the Super-Star-Destroyer.

“This is Space station ‘Adad’ claim thyself or you will be fired upon.” A feminine voice broke the quiet.

“This is the ‘Herald Black’ and I am requesting permission to land, I have some important items aboard my ship that I think the ‘princess’ will be able to find of interest.” I chuckled as I heard an indignant huff from across the Comm.

“Well, Ryan, it’s good to see you too… Ben will be down in hanger bay three waiting for you, now get your sorry ass in here before I find it apt to shoot you.” Leia Solo retorted hotly before cutting off our conversation, if it could be called that.

“Whatever you say Solo.” I mutter to myself as I turn up the engines and shoot off towards the aft hanger bay, designated ‘hanger bay three’ by the princess. Once I got under the aft hanger bay I slowly raised my ship up into the large hold and maneuvered it over to one of the landing pads, I saw that Ben Skywalker was running over from one of the many corridors to meet me. I smiled and set the ship on autopilot, a.k.a, let Vet drive, and jumped out of the ship, landing about ten feet from Ben.

“It’s good to see you again Ryan, how’s dad been treating you?” He gave me a lopsided grin and placed his hands on his hips, looking very much like his father at a younger age.

“Well, after he gilded me for almost blowing up the temple for the tenth time he sent me to go get some info from one of our contacts… that didn’t end well. And after that I was out doing the odd job until Lando got ahold of me and we had a few escapades, well I did since he’s an old fart like the rest of them.” We both chuckled and I continued on with my recounting, “Oh, then Lando gave me a lead on one of the missing Black-suns leaders and I went to go trade for the info with one of his clients, ‘cause he couldn’t do it himself. On that little trip I got double crossed, got my R9 blown to bits and I sent them to the deepest black hole the force could find for shooting at me.” Ben went a little quiet after hearing my brief glance with death, it reminded him of his mother and I had the sense to not ask about it, and he was saddened by my loss of a droid, though he didn’t know how much I had hated that damned thing… It nearly got me killed on several instances when it failed to correctly calculate a jump trajectory for hyperspace…

“Sounds like you’ve gone through the gauntlet the past few years, aye Ryan?” He smirked at me and I playfully punched him in the shoulder as we both walked over to my ship.

“Yep, all I need is to grab a few items from my ship and we can head off to find Leia.” Ben stifled a chuckle and slapped me on the back.

“You do realize that she is going to gut you for that right?”

“Yep, but it was worth it!” I bellow as we both break out in laughter, it was good to be with Ben again, we had grown close over the last six years, the fact that we had gone on a few adventures ourselves surly did cement our relationship as blood-brothers.

“Well let’s grab your gear and head out, I don’t want to miss lunch. I know the rest of the students will want to meet their new teacher.” His comment with the teacher thing had caught me slightly off guard, but I caught myself before he caught on. I opened up my fighter’s storage bays, and pulled out two of the light saber kits to tinker with and a bedroll.

As I stood there rummaging through my cockpit I notice that Ben had gotten a new set of robes. He had a brown cloak that draped over his lithe form as if it was a waterfall over a cliff; under it, he wore a white tabard and a golden tunic underneath it. He still wore the standard issue khaki fatigues and tan combat boots. It was a contrast to my Black tabard and dark crimson Tunic, I looked a lot like how they say his Grandfather looked like when he was still a Jedi. I broke from my observations and quickly found the books.

“Well I got everything we need, let’s go!” I said as I jumped down from my perch on the cockpit seal. “Vet, I need you to watch over the ship till I get back, it shouldn't be too long. Once I get back you can leave it there and come with.” The droid twirtled in agreement. Ben and I nodded to each other and we made our way towards the command center.

(Music here)

The two of us made our way through the different hallways and corridors of the Star-Destroyer-esk section of the ship; it was really as if the temple had been attached to the Destroyer… It was slightly perturbing that we would use something like this in part of a temple… but it was my Master’s choice and I will just have to roll with it.

“Ben, how many students are there on this installation?” I asked as we made our way to one of the many elevators in the ship.

“Well, there was about three thousand last time I checked… and from what I have been told the three of us are going to act as the head masters for the lot of them.” Ben was slightly embarrassed by having been entrusted with such responsibility after the fiasco with his ‘Sith’ girlfriend, oh so many years ago during the last war. He was also happy that he could be trusted with this task, but felt that it was somewhat beyond him, even if the rest of us thought otherwise. After a few seconds we stepped into the elevator and started our assent.

“Wow, seems like we got our work cut out for us doesn’t it… How many Chiss take residence here?” I was very curious since this installation was built to be a halfway point between the Chiss Ascendancy and us. If there weren’t that many, then I would be filling a report with Grand Master Luke about the Chiss’ unwillingness to send their people here to learn.

“Well, there are about three hundred of them here right now, you would be surprised to know that not many of their people have the ability to use the force…But you should see those that can, They are unlike anything I have ever seen, outside our group of friends that is. They take to the force like fish to water… it is heartwarming to see such flourishing students in a new species, granted they are as old as we are but in the realm of using the force… eh you get the point.” Ben sounded like a father whom was proud of his children after hearing of their accomplishments.

“That’s good to hear, And I just know that these gifts from your dad will help greatly with our teachings…” I smiled mischievously at him and he raised an eye brow at my supposed antics.

“As long as it doesn’t cause a rather large hole in the side of the academy, I would be happy to hear about these books.” I flinched ever so slightly at the mention of creating a hole in the side of the ship, one that he didn’t notice thankfully.

The doors then opened and the bridge was visible in all its glory, it over looked the pyramidal structure of the temple on the bow of the ship and it was, surprisingly, taller than the pyramid itself.

“Well, at least you can see where you are going.” I whispered to Ben, earning a chuckle from him.

“Yeah, but it don’t mean a damn when your ship only moves as fast as a tug boat bogged down with Mynocks that are eating your ship faster than you can fix it.” That mental image was slightly disturbing.

“Well, it took you two long enough,” Princess Leia was standing at the head of the bridge looking over the bow of the ship. “What has Master Skywalker sent us this time?” She turned around and smiled warmly at the two of us, not even hinting at her earlier anger. She then walked over to us and embraced both of us individually.

“Its good to see you too Aunt Leia, But I was only gone a few minutes.” Ben said as he embraced his Aunt tightly. The let go and she held him at arm’s length.

“Yes, but I still enjoy ruffling your feathers whenever I can.” She smirked and they both laughed softly.

“And you,” she then came over and embraced me gently, not in the same familial way as with Ben, but as friends. “It has been far too long Ryan, how has my brother been treating you?”

“Good, real good, but after the last incident I prefer to be far from the core right now. Not enough people can keep me in line it seems, so they gave me this job with you two.” I smiled slightly as she released me. She gave me an incredulous look and tilted her head to the side.

“OH, so my brother got rid of you for a few years then,” at that she laughed and I chuckled, ‘cause that’s exactly what had happened.

“Yes, Jedi Solo…” I cringed as I reminded her of the matters at hand.

“Yes, Jedi Reiks, but did no one tell you?” She gave me a serious and confused look.

“Um no…”

“Grand Master Skywalker promoted me and Ben here to temporary Mastery for the duration of our stay here, That way we carried the true wait of a master while teaching here on ‘Adad’.” Her serious demeanor and stoic expression, along with the certainty in her force aura, gave me the complete confidence that she was telling the truth.

“If that’s the case Master Solo, then I Apologize for my way of acting,” I said as I bowed to both Leia and Ben, not wanting to offend them for not showing them respect. “I will address…” I was then cut off by a bear hug from Ben.

“Ha! There is no need to apologize Ryan, don’t you think you wouldn’t get the same respect since you are now teaching here too?” He gave me a bright smile that lit up the room. His aura in the force shown with the intensity of a sun, it was hard not to just get lost in its intensity.

“Wha-what? Are you telling me that I was promoted to Master without being told?!” I gave them a mock look of anger as they both broke out into laughter.

“We had asked dad if we could tell you ourselves, it was worth it too! The look on your face was priceless!” Ben keeled over in laughter while Master Solo tried to calm herself.

“Well, anyway, we need to get back to business.” She then looked at me seriously, ending the joyous atmosphere with her stare. “What do you bring us Master Reiks?”

“I have a few tomes for the academy,” I smirked as I took out the two sets of books and placed them on the holographic table next to us. “One set is for the academy, while the other set is for my personal use… we can copy them as needed…” I unwrapped them and lifted up the Jedi tome. “This is the entire recorded teachings of the Jedi, something that will prove invaluable to us as we train the students here.” The looks on their faces mirrored mine when I first saw the books. Completely mystified and awestruck, it was humbling that even those that have seen more than I ever will can still be seen to behold something in such regard as awe.

“Well, this is something that we will have to read over some other time… we need to get you set up in your new quarters, it will only take a few minutes. Captain, have a few men go fetch Master Reiks’ things from his fighter.” Leia then began to turn back to her reading, she had picked up the book while we were talking and had only looked at the first three pages.

“If it’s alright with you and the captain, Master Solo, I would like to gather my things on my own… there are a few things I need to take care of as it is.” Leia and the captain nodded, I bowed and left the bridge, Ben trailing behind me.

Author's Notes:

Ryan's outfit

Ben's outfit