Star Wars - [Legacy of the Jedi 01] - Legacy of the Jedi (by Jude Watson)

VIP免费
2024-12-22 0 0 211.07KB 94 页 5.9玖币
侵权投诉
Legacy of the Jedi
JUDE WATSON
CHAPTER No. 1
The corridor was empty. The two thirteen-year-old boys paused outside the closed door. There
were locks at the Jedi Temple, but they were rarely used. There was no need. There was nothing to hide.
Nothing was forbidden. The Jedi's code of honor gave each individual the challenge and privilege of
walking the Jedi path. It was assumed that the discipline needed for this would also prevail in one's
private life.
So to enter another Jedi's room without an invitation would not violate a rule. Not one that needed to
be spoken or written, at least. Yet Dooku knew it was wrong. It wasn't terribly wrong. But it was wrong.
"Come on," Lorian said. "No one will find out."
Dooku glanced at his friend. Lorian's face was eager. A dusting of freckles scattered across his blunt
nose like a dense constellation of stars. His eyes were warm, lit with mischief, a dark piney green with
amber lights, like a forest shot with sunlight. Lorian had been suggesting schemes since they were seven,
and he'd talked Dooku into exploring the garbage tunnels. The experience had left Dooku with a reeking
tunic and a healthy respect for sanitation practices.
"Besides, he's your Master," Lorian said. "He wouldn't mind."
It was true that Thame Cerulian was Dooku's Master. The renowned Jedi Knight had chosen him last
week. Dooku had just turned thirteen, and he was relieved that he wouldn't have to wait any longer to
become a Padawan Learner. Yet he had not had time to get to know Thame at all. Thame was in the
Outer Rim completing one last mission before taking on a Padawan. Dooku was proud to have been
chosen by such a legend.
The question was, could he live up to that legend? Dooku had to. Getting a peek into Thame's
personal quarters might give him a head start.
He nodded at Lorian and accessed the door. It slid open silently. He stepped inside. If he expected a
clue to his new Master's inner character, he was disappointed. The sleep couch was narrow, pushed
against one wall. A gray coverlet was folded neatly at the bottom. A data-screen sat on a bare table. No
laserprints or holograms hung on the wall. No personal items were on the desk or the small table beside
the sleep couch. There was a glass carafe with a small glass stopper. The transparent vessel and the gray
blanket were the only signs that someone actually inhabited the room.
"Wait," Lorian said. "I found something."
He slid his hands along a seam in the wall that was almost invisible. He pressed a recessed button
and the wall slid back to reveal shelves over the desk. They were filled with holobooks.
Dooku bent to examine the titles. Thame, he knew, was a historian, an expert in Jedi history. He had
never seen most of these titles before. Galactic history, biographies, the natural sciences of different
atmospheres and planetary systems. It was an impressive library.
Lorian dismissed them with a glance. "You'd think he'd have had enough of studies after Temple
training. I can't wait to get out into the galaxy and do things."
Dooku reached for a holobook with no title or author. He flipped it open and scanned a page.
Meditation beforehand is necessary in order to ready the mind. Some suffer from nausea or dizziness
at first viewing. But primarily one must prepare for the effect of the dark side upon the mind, especially
the young or weak. Nightmares and dark visions can result, lasting years. . . .
"This is a manual about the Sith Holocron," Dooku said, his voice a whisper now. He handled the
holobook carefully.
"The Sith Holocron? But no one can view it," Lorian said.
"That's not so. Jedi Masters are allowed. Not many are interested. Most Jedi Knights think the Sith
are extinct and will never return. Except for my Master." Dooku gazed at the book. His stomach twisted,
as though he'd gazed upon the Sith Holocron itself. "He believes there will come a time when the Jedi will
have to fight the Sith again."
"Does this manual tell you how to access the Holocron?" Lorian asked, interested now.
Dooku flipped through it, his heart beating. "Yes. It gives warnings and instructions."
"This is so galactic," Lorian murmured. "With the help of this handbook, we could access the Sith
Holocron ourselves!" He looked at Dooku, his eyes shining. "We'd be the first Jedi Padawans to do it!"
"We can't!" Dooku said, shocked at the suggestion. "Why not?" Lorian asked.
"Because it's forbidden. Because it's dangerous. Because we don't know enough. Because of a
million reasons, all of them good ones."
"But no one would know," Lorian said. "You could do it, Dooku. You have a better Force
connection than any Padawan. Everyone knows that. And with the help of the holobook, you'd succeed."
Dooku shook his head. He put the holobook back on the shelf.
"It would be amazing," Lorian said. "You could find out Sith secrets. If you really knew the dark side,
you'd be a better Jedi Knight. Yoda says that we can't fight evil without understanding it."
"Yoda never said that."
"Well, it sounds like something he'd say," Lorian protested. "And it's true. Isn't that what Temple
training is all about? All we do is study so we can be prepared. How can we prepare to meet evil if we
don't understand it?"
That was the trouble with Lorian, Dooku thought. He had a way of putting things that made sense,
even when he was asking you to break the rules.
He looked over at the holobook again. It was tempting. And Lorian had put his finger on Dooku's
secret wish — to be the best Padawan ever. He wanted to impress his new Master. Could the Sith
Holocron be the key to his wish?
"We'll only take a quick look," Lorian said. "Just think, Dooku. The Jedi are the most powerful group
in the galaxy. We could be the best of the best."
"A true Jedi does not think in terms of power," Dooku said disapprovingly. "We are peacekeepers."
"Peacekeepers need power, just like everybody else," Lorian pointed out. "If they don't have it, who
will listen?"
Lorian was right, even though he wasn't expressing himself in what would be considered a true Jedi
way. The Jedi did have power. Jedi did not use that word, but it fit. Lorian knew that, and he wasn't
afraid to say it. Jedi were renowned throughout the galaxy. They weren't feared, but they were
respected. They were asked by governments, by Senators, for their help. If that wasn't power, what
was?
The best of the best. Wasn't that what he wanted?
"Thame is a great Knight," Lorian continued. "I'd think you'd want to be worthy of him. If I had a
Master, I'd prepare as much as I could before we left the Temple. I wouldn't want to disappoint him."
"I won't disappoint him if I do my best," Dooku said. "That is all I can do."
Lorian threw himself back on Thame's sleep couch with a groan. "Now you sound like Yoda."
"Don't sit there!" Dooku hissed, but Lorian ignored him.
Lorian stared at the ceiling. `No one has chosen me."
Dooku held his breath. Here it was, the big thing between them. He had been chosen by a Jedi
Knight, and Lorian had not. Dooku had been one of the first to be chosen. Every day afterward, the two
boys had waited for a Jedi Knight to choose Lorian. They knew that many had watched him, and some
had considered him seriously. Yet each time, the Knight had chosen someone else. Neither Dooku nor
Lorian knew why. Dooku had always been ahead of Lorian in battle skills and Force connection, but
Lorian was just as brilliant in his studies and commitment. It was unthinkable that Lorian would not be
chosen eventually.
"It will happen," Dooku said. "Patience exists to be tested."
Lorian flipped over on his side and gave Dooku a flat stare. "Right."
Dooku wished he could take back his words. They were so . . . correct. They were something a Jedi
Master might say, not a best friend. But the truth was that he didn't know what to say. The period of
waiting was hard, but everything would turn out all right.
Lorian coiled his body into a ball and then shot off the bed. "Okay, make a decision. Do we access
the Sith Holocron or not?"
Dooku reached over to straighten the wrinkles Lorian had made on his new Master's bed. Thame
was everything he'd hoped to get as a Master. He couldn't jeopardize that. Not even for his best friend.
"Not," he said. "We'd get in serious trouble if we got caught."
"You never worried about getting caught before," Lorian said.
That's because I never had so much to lose. But Dooku couldn't say that. If he did, it would only
point out that Lorian didn't have a Master.
Dooku felt Lorian's eyes on his back as he bent to smooth the coverlet at the end of Thame's sleep
couch.
"If you could do it without the risk of getting caught, you would do it," Lorian said. "So the fact that
it's wrong isn't really the reason you won't. Maybe you're not the true Jedi you think you are."
He sauntered out the door. "Just wanted you to know that I noticed."
CHAPTER No. 2
Now that Dooku was through with his official Temple training, he was allowed to structure his days
himself. Although he was expected to continue to study and devote himself to battle training and physical
discipline, it was also expected that he would allot the time for activities he enjoyed. In the brief period
between a Padawan's last official classes and becoming an apprentice, the Jedi Masters indulged their
students and gave them freedom to roam.
Dooku woke early. His conversation with Lorian the day before still troubled him. He decided to
head to the Room of the Thousand Fountains to stroll among the greenery and let the music of the water
calm his mind. It felt luxurious to be able to decide how to spend his time. He knew such days would be
over soon, and he intended to enjoy every second of them. He wouldn't allow a small disagreement with
his friend to ruin them, either.
He stepped out into the hallway and immediately noticed a change. Dooku sometimes wasn't sure
whether the Force or his intuition was working — he wasn't that experienced yet. But he knew that the
atmosphere in the Temple had changed. There was a humming current underneath the calm, an agitation
he could pick up easily.
Ahead of him, a few students stood in a cluster. Dooku approached them. He recognized Hran
Beling, a fellow student his age. Hran was a Vicon, a small species only one meter tall.
He didn't have to ask the students what they were discussing. Hran looked up at him, his long nose
twitching. "Have you heard the news? The Sith Holocron has been stolen!"
Dooku was naturally pale, but he felt his blood drain from his face, and he was sure he looked as
white as a medic's gown. "What? How?"
"No one knows how," Hran said. "There could be an intruder at the Temple."
One of the younger students lowered his voice to a whisper. "What if it's a Sith?"
Hran's eyes twinkled. "Yes, what if it is?" he asked solemnly. "He could be walking the halls. He
could be anywhere. What if he's behind you right now?" Hran gasped and pointed behind the young
student, who jumped in alarm, his Padawan braid flying.
The others burst into nervous laughter. Dooku didn't join them. His heart thumping, he turned away.
There had been no intruder. He was sure of it.
Dooku hurried to Lorian's quarters. The privacy light was on over Lorian's door, but he accessed it
anyway. The door was locked.
Dooku pressed his mouth against the seam of the door. "Let me in, Lorian."
There was no answer.
"Let me in or I'll go straight to the Jedi Council room," Dooku threatened.
He heard the smooth click as the lock disengaged, and the door slid open. The room was dark, the
shade drawn against the rising sun. He stepped inside and the door hissed shut behind him. All was dark
except for the hologram of Caravan, a model star cruiser Lorian had designed. It traveled the room in an
endless loop.
Lorian sat in a corner, as if he were trying to press himself against the wall hard enough to melt inside
it. His hands dangled between his knees, and Dooku saw that they were shaking.
"You took it."
"I didn't mean to," Lorian said. "I just wanted to look at it."
"Where is it?"
Lorian pointed to the far corner with his chin. "Do you feel it?" he whispered. "I feel so sick. .. ."
"Why did you take it?" Dooku asked sharply, his gaunt features making him look older than his years.
Sweat broke out on his forehead. He could feel the dark power of the Holocron. He didn't want to look
at it. Just knowing it was behind him in a dark corner was enough to make him feel shaky.
"I was in the archives. I had it in my hands. Someone was coming. I put it underneath my cloak. Then
I ran." Lorian shuddered. "I was going to take it back, but I can't .. . I can't touch it again, Dooku. I
didn't expect it to be like this."
"How did you expect it to be?" Dooku asked angrily. "A pleasant walk in the woods?"
"I have to bring it back," Lorian said. "I need your help." Dooku looked at him in disbelief. "I told you
I didn't want anything to do with this."
"But you have to help me!" Lorian cried. "You're my best friend!"
"You got yourself into this," Dooku said. "Just stick it under your cloak again and bring it back."
"I can't do it alone, Dooku," Lorian said.
Dooku's gaze rested on Lorian's shaking hands. He didn't doubt that Lorian wouldn't be able to do it.
"Please, Dooku," Lorian begged.
Dooku didn't get a chance to answer. The door suddenly hissed open. Oppo Rancisis, Jedi Master
and revered member of the Jedi Council, stood in the doorway.
"Are you ill, Lorian?" he asked kindly. "Some of the Masters noticed that you . .." His voice trailed
off. Dooku felt the atmosphere in the room change, as though gravity had increased. He felt it pressing
against him.
Oppo Rancisis stared at them. "I sense a tremor in the Force," he said.
They could not speak.
His keen gaze swept the room. Suddenly he turned and strode to the corner and picked up the
Holocron. He placed it carefully in the deep pocket of his robe. Then he turned and regarded the two
boys.
Lorian pressed himself back against the wall and pushed himself to a standing position.
"It was Dooku's idea," he said.
CHAPTER No. 3
Dooku was too shocked to say a word.
"The Council will want to see you both," Oppo Rancisis said sternly.
"But I didn't —" Dooku began.
Oppo Rancisis held up a hand. "Whatever you have to say will be said before the Council. The truth
will be spoken there." He turned and walked out.
"Dooku, listen —" Lorian started.
Rage filled Dooku. He couldn't even meet his friend's gaze.
He ran blindly down the hall. He didn't know where he was going. He had so many sanctuaries in the
Temple — a favorite bench, a spot by a window, a rock by the lake —but he could not imagine any of
those places offering him sanctuary now. His heart was so full of black anger and bitterness that he felt he
was choking.
His best friend had betrayed him. Throughout the years at the Temple, he could always depend on
Lorian. They had shared jokes and secrets. They had competed and helped each other. They had
quarreled and made up.
The fact that this person could betray him shocked him so deeply he felt sick.
He didn't know how he passed the day. Somehow the news got out that the two had been caught.
Students sent him sidelong looks and hurried by him. Jedi Knights who did not know him studied him as
they passed in the hall. Dooku longed to go to Yoda and explain everything, but he knew that Yoda
would only repeat what Oppo Rancisis had said. He had to suffer through the days until the Jedi Council
found the time to speak to them.
Dooku did not have the appetite or the nerve to face the others in the dining hall for the evening meal.
He stayed in his room. When at last the hallways glowed with the cool blue light that meant the Temple
was settling down to sleep, he felt relief. At least for the next hours he wouldn't be under scrutiny.
He couldn't wait to be called before the Council. He couldn't wait to tell the truth. He knew the
Masters would believe him and not Lorian. A Jedi Master was adept at discerning truth. Lorian would
not get away with his lie, and Dooku would have justice.
He turned out the light and lay on his sleep couch, his heart burning. He imagined how clearly he
would speak. He would tell the truth — all of it. He would tell them how Lorian tried to tempt him. He
would tell them how he refused him, and how Lorian had pressed him. It was with great satisfaction that
Dooku imagined Lorian's punishment. A reprimand would surely not go far enough. Lorian could even
get expelled from the Jedi Order.
His door hissed open. He hadn't locked it. Dooku never locked his door. He'd never needed to, until
now.
Lorian slipped into the dark room. Dooku said nothing, hoping his contempt would fill the space
better than words.
Lorian sat on the floor, a few meters away from the sleep couch.
"I had a reason for saying what I did," he said. "I'm not interested in your reasons."
"You don't understand anything," Lorian burst out. "Everything comes so easily to you. You never
think about other people, about how they suffer. You just kept telling me I shouldn't worry about getting
chosen. Why shouldn't I worry? Time is running out! It's so easy for you to say. You were picked right
away."
"So you're blaming me for that?" Dooku hissed. "Is that why you lied to Oppo Rancisis?"
"No," Lorian said. "And I don't blame you for anything except not trying to understand how I feel.
We're supposed to be best friends, and you never, ever really tried. All you think about is your own
pleasure in your success."
"Get out of my room," Dooku said.
Instead, Lorian stretched out on the floor. His voice lowered. "Can't you understand, Dooku? I'm in
trouble. I need your help. I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have taken the Holocron. But I was
desperate. I thought if only I had an edge, if only I could know something that no one else knows. . . .
Can't you understand why I would want that?"
"No," Dooku said. But he did.
"Now if the Council finds out I did it, I could be kicked out of the Jedi."
"You're exaggerating, as usual," Dooku said scathingly. But hadn't he been thinking the same thing?
"Everything is at stake for me," Lorian said. "But you've already been chosen by the great Thame
Cerulian. Not only that, Master Yoda has taken a persona interest in you. The Council has watched you,
too. They know you have an extraordinary Force connection. They'll forgive you. Especially since your
Master is interested in the Sith. You could say you just wanted to do some research."
Lorian's voice floated up in the darkness, ragged with desperation. "I panicked when Oppo Rancisis
came in. I saw my future, and it scared me. I could get kicked out, and where would I go, what would I
do?"
"You should have thought of that before you stole the Sith Holocron."
"I know I shouldn't ask such a big thing, but who else can I ask but my best friend? Because no
matter what, you're still my best friend." Lorian paused. For a moment, all Dooku could hear was their
breathing. "Will you cover for me?"
Dooku wanted to burst out with a savage "No!" But he couldn't. He didn't know if Lorian could get
kicked out of the order — he didn't think so. But it served Lorian right to have to worry about it.
Punishment would be severe for him, especially since he'd tried to lie and cover up. But Lorian was
right —Dooku was a favorite of the Jedi Masters. He knew how he could tell the story so that he would
just get a lecture, most likely. He would let them think it was a hunger for knowledge, a desire to impress
his new Master. They would believe that.
Dooku didn't know what to say. He wasn't prepared to lie, but he couldn't say no to his friend. So he
said nothing, and, after a long while, the two friends fell asleep.
CHAPTER No. 4
Dooku woke before dawn. Lying in the dark, he listened to the silence and knew that Lorian had left
sometime during the night. He lay on his back, feeling the weight of the air on his body as though his
friend was sitting on his chest.
Reluctant to rise, he stared at the walls, watching the darkness slowly silver into gray, until he could
see the outlines of his furniture. The light on his bedside table began to glow softly and increase in
intensity, his signal to wake up. Then a holographic calendar appeared and glowed in the air overhead.
Usually the day calendar had been filled with appointments and classes. Lately he had liked looking at its
blankness. Soon he would fill it up with missions.
He stared at it, thinking of his future. It was secure. Was Lorian right? Had he been smug about that
and failed to appreciate his friend's distress?
He stared at the calendar for long minutes, thinking of this, before it registered on his brain that the
entire day had been blocked out. Dooku sat up. The urban search exercise! It was today! Not only that,
he saw that he and Lorian had been summoned before the Jedi Council following the search.
The exercise was designed more for competitive fun than for serious training. The older students, the
ones who had either been chosen as apprentices or who had finished their formal Temple training, were
invited to sign up. They were divided into two teams, and had to track one another through a segment of
Coruscant near the Temple. They had to use stealth, cunning, and surveillance techniques. Dooku and
Lorian had signed up the week before.
Dooku swung his legs over the bed. Would he and Lorian still be allowed to participate?
He dressed hurriedly and grabbed his training light-saber. He walked out into the hallway and saw
Yoda ahead. Yoda nodded a greeting.
"Heading to the tracking exercise, are you?" Yoda asked. "I—I don't know if I am permitted . ."
Dooku stammered.
Yoda cocked his head at him. "A commitment you made. A Padawan you are. And thus the answer
you find is .. ."
"I'm going," Dooku said. He hurried off. He had just enough time to grab some fruit for the morning
meal before the students assembled outside on the landing platform. He wondered if Lorian would have
the nerve to show up.
Lorian stood at the edge of the small crowd on the exterior platform. He was clearly uncomfortable
and avoided standing too near or too far away. He wore his hood low so that it shaded his eyes. Dooku
stood at the edge of the group, opposite from Lorian. No one paid attention to them. Whatever the
gossip had been, it had died down, and the students now only thought of the contest ahead.
The cool morning air flushed their cheeks and the wind whipped their robes around them as they
chattered in excited voices. Dooku felt the combined Force from the group, energetic, unfocused, but
strong.
For a moment he stood outside himself. It was something that happened to him from time to time.
Suddenly he would feel removed, as though he floated above his classmates.
How young we all are, he thought, amused. Someday I will look back on this and wish for such
simple things as a learning exercise on a cool morning.
It made him feel better for a moment. Someday his problem with Lorian wouldn't matter. It would be
a blip, a moment of static, something lost in a sea of missions in a remarkable career.
Then Yoda and Oppo Rancisis emerged from the interior of the Temple. His gaze rested on Dooku
only briefly, but it brought Dooku back to reality with a bump. His mood suddenly soured as he thought
of the Jedi Council he would have to face.
The students quieted as Yoda approached. He stood in the middle of the group, nodding greetings at
the familiar faces. He'd known them all since they were babies and had trained them all when they were
younglings.
"In an exercise know you do that every year the oldest students participate," he said. "Urban
tracking, this year's will be. That this is a test remember you must. Yet graded you will not be. Take it
seriously but lightly you must. Attempt to win you will; if you lose, enjoy it you may."
The students smiled at Yoda's contradictions and fiddled with their training lightsabers. Everyone was
anxious to begin.
"And now, the rules," Oppo said. "You will be divided into two teams of ten. In a moment, your team
color will flash on your datapad. Each team will have a different starting point. The goal of each team is to
successfully bring a muja fruit from one of the fruitsellers in the All Planets Market back to the Temple by
sunset. Team members can be eliminated only by one light touch with a lightsaber."
The students smiled. They knew that no matter how easy it sounded, the actual exercise would turn
out to be much harder.
"You must keep to the segment mapped out on your datapads. To cross the line is to be disqualified.
Do you understand this?"
The students nodded, trying to conceal their anticipation. They all knew the rules.
Yoda nodded, letting them know that their attempts to hide their impatience hadn't fooled him a bit.
"Perhaps wait you should until the sun is higher...." he began, his eyes twinkling.
"No, please, Master Yoda!" the students chorused the words together.
"Ah, then teams you will become. Look on your data-pads, you must."
The students reached for the palm-sized datapads on their utility belts. Dooku's screen glowed blue.
"Blue and gold, the team colors are," Yoda said. "And the captains are these: Dooku for blue, Lorian
for gold. Waiting, the Jedi Masters are, to take you to your starting points."
Startled, Dooku looked first at Yoda, then at Lorian, whose blank face showed how deeply
surprised he was. Why had they been chosen as captains? Maybe yesterday morning they would have
been chosen. Yesterday morning, when they were not suspected of stealing a Sith Holocron. Yesterday
morning, when they were still Padawans in good standing.
Dooku gripped his datapad, still reeling by Yoda's words. He had not yet completely figured out Jedi
logic, that was certain.
"Hey, Dooku, wake up!" Hran Beling grinned at him as he tugged on the sleeve of his tunic. "Is it a
little early for you?"
"Jedi Master Reesa Doliq is waiting," Galinda Norsh said briskly. "Let's get started."
Dooku noticed that the Gold Team members were all scrambling to board a transport. He hurried
behind the other Blue Team members to get aboard their own transport. Reesa Doliq smiled at the
students as they crammed in.
"Room for everyone," she said. "Don't worry, I'll have you at the starting point in no time. In the
meantime, you can start on your strategy."
The two transports lifted off. Dooku found that every Blue Team member was staring at him, waiting
for him to begin. He was the leader, after all.
摘要：

 LegacyoftheJediJUDEWATSON CHAPTERNo.1     Thecorridorwasempty.Thetwothirteen-year-oldboyspausedoutsidethecloseddoor.TherewerelocksattheJediTemple,buttheywererarelyused.Therewasnoneed.Therewasnothingtohide.Nothingwasforbidden.TheJedi'scodeofhonorgaveeachindividualthechallengeandprivilegeofwalkingthe...

展开>> 收起<<
Star Wars - [Legacy of the Jedi 01] - Legacy of the Jedi (by Jude Watson).pdf

共94页,预览19页

还剩页未读， 继续阅读

声明：本站为文档C2C交易模式，即用户上传的文档直接被用户下载，本站只是中间服务平台，本站所有文档下载所得的收益归上传人(含作者)所有。玖贝云文库仅提供信息存储空间，仅对用户上传内容的表现方式做保护处理，对上载内容本身不做任何修改或编辑。若文档所含内容侵犯了您的版权或隐私，请立即通知玖贝云文库，我们立即给予删除！

相关推荐

更多
立即下载
分类：外语学习 价格：5.9玖币 属性：94 页 大小：211.07KB 格式：PDF 时间：2024-12-22

开通VIP享超值会员特权

  • 多端同步记录
  • 高速下载文档
  • 免费文档工具
  • 分享文档赚钱
  • 每日登录抽奖
  • 优质衍生服务

作者详情

相关内容

更多

热门标签

人际关系 配电装置 动力学连接体 力的合成 高考理综 全宋诗作者索引 公务员考试
/ 94
评分 收藏
分享
立即下载 VIP免费下载
客服
关注