On a barren, remote world of ice and snow, four Jedi, two masters and two apprentices, walked across the landscape to a cave. Even though the planet's distant sun was rising, strong winds crossed the planet and it was bitterly cold. Upon reaching the cave, Cal Kestis and Ahsoka Tano removed their hoods.
"The weather is better than normal." Ahsoka commented.
"No doubt the Empire has altered the planet's climate." Cal replied. "Luke, this is Ilum. The world has been sacred to the Jedi for over twenty thousand years."
"What are we doing here master?" Luke asked.
"You need a new lightsaber, which means you need a new kyber crystal. This is the cave where you'll find one."
"Okay but why am I here?" Kata spoke up. "I already have a lightsaber."
"Really?" Ahsoka said "Let me see it." Kata handed her lightsaber to Ahsoka who began to examine it. "This is very nice. Durasteel hilt with decorative electrum inlays." She ignited the blade. "Yellow. Reminiscent of the guards at the Jedi temple." She retracted the blade. "Very nice work." Ahsoka then threw the lightsaber in the air which was then disintegrated by a well placed blaster bolt from Cal. The pieces fell to the floor of the cavern.
"What the hell?!" Kata cried out.
"Hmm. How unfortunate." Ahsoka said. "Looks like you don't have a lightsaber anymore. What a shame. Lucky for you, we're here so you can make a new one."
"You'll pay for that, bitch!"
"That's no way to speak to a Jedi master, young one." Cal reprimanded. "The attitude you've had towards Luke and Ahsoka is exactly why you're here. You need some time to cool off and self reflect."
"Fine." Kata stormed into the cave grumbling to herself.
"This cave feels strong in the force." Luke said "I guess I'm going to be tested in here."
"This is a journey you will have to make alone padawan." Cal told him "Ahsoka and I have our own mission."
"You go on ahead Cal." Ahsoka said "I'll catch up with you." Cal shrugged and began marching out of the cave to his destination. Ahsoka turned back to Luke, her beautiful blue eyes staring into his own. "You seem tense, padawan. Is something wrong?"
"Don't worry about me." Luke casually replied "It's just that, the last time I went into a cave like this, things got weird."
"Well experiences like that are certainly something to be expected. You got this Skyguy." Ahsoka reassured him. Then she began to pull him close while looking down at his chest. Her fingers traced down his pecs, across his stomach, and over his rapidly stiffening crotch. "After you're done here, we can find time for some fun stuff. How does that sound?"
"I'd like that." Luke admitted. The two shared a passionate kiss and Luke walked into the cave.
The positive feeling's Luke felt towards Ahsoka helped keep him warm in the dark, cold, cavern of Ilum. There were many twists, turns, and pitfalls within the vast subterranean network. Luke didn't exactly know what he was looking for, but he had to trust the path before him. Suddenly, he saw a bright light in the distance. Figuring this is what he was looking for, he walked towards the light, and everything around him began to change.
All of the sudden, Luke was no longer in an icy cave, now he was in a warm sunny field. Obviously this was the force giving him a message. Luke picked a direction and began to run, knowing he would eventually find something within this hallucination. Eventually he came across a large, ornate castle overlooking a lake, with a river and a waterfall running next to it. The scene was more beautiful than anything he had ever seen before. He began to walk towards the building before hearing a voice call out to him.
"LUKE!" Luke turned and saw a man he didn't recognize. He looked to be in his early to mid forties, his hair was long and graying, with a graying beard to match. He wore simple, black robes similar to those worn by Obi-Wan.
"Who are you?" The man was a bit shocked by Luke's question.
"Who am I?" He replied in disbelief "Well I guess I go by many names. Anakin, Ani, Skyguy, General Skywalker, Master Skywalker, the chosen one, your dad. You knucklehead." He playfully ruffled Luke's hair.
"Oh." Luke replied. For a brief moment Luke had forgotten about the revelation of his true heritage. The man in front of him was his father, Anakin Skywalker. Nothing more and nothing less. The two of them began to walk to the castle. "So, this is where you live?"
"It's actually your mother's home. I retired from the Jedi order and moved in after saving the galaxy."
"You saved the galaxy?" Luke asked, obviously confused having lived in a galaxy that clearly wasn't saved.
"Yeah. I saved the galaxy." Anakin replied, annoyed. "Here, catch." Anakin telekinetically threw a large boulder towards Luke. Luke reflexively tried to block it and the stone smashed into pieces and began to float in midair. Anakin whistled at the display. "Impressive." He said. "Most impressive. Your abilities are advancing. But you still have a long way to go." He elegantly moved the stones in a pattern similar to flowing water and then threw the stones into a nearby tree which caused it to fall. "You'd better stick to your training. And pay attention to Snips."
"Snips? You mean Ahsoka?"
"Yeah, Snips. I heard she's training you now. I also heard that she's been taking good care of you. In more ways than one." He smirked.
"Uhhhh." Luke was momentarily embarrassed but his father continued on.
"Come on." He gestured. "I have something to show you."
The two of them made their way to the castle where a small hangar was located. It was filled with a variety of small ships, from starfighters to light cruisers. One ship he took note of was a chrome plated Nubian yacht. Luke could hardly even imagine owning something like that. Anakin began to speak again.
"You like flying right? Your uncle told me all about how you're always in your Sky hopper."
"Yeah, I love flying."
"Of course you do. You're just like me. Well take a look at this." Anakin presented a starfighter to Luke. It was triangular in shape, with a cockpit at the rear and auxiliary engines near the front. It was purple in color, with white stripes radiating from the cockpit. The head of an R2 unit was located just in front of the cockpit. Luke was impressed and began to gently caress the hull. "Do you want to fly it?" Anakin asked him. "It's all yours, if you want it."
"Really?" Luke replied excitedly.
"Of course. Hop in." Luke jumped into the cockpit of the starfighter and flew off into the sky.
Cal Kestis squatted on a cliffside and observed the imperial mining facility through his binoculars trying to figure out the best approach. The operation had expanded a lot during the fifteen years since he'd last been here, but much of the layout still felt familiar. BD-1 had been trying to make a rough map of the facility based on the observations. Ahsoka walked up behind Cal and began conversing.
"There you are. I suppose this is our target." Ahsoka stood next to Cal and took a deep breath. "Two Jedi, up against an entire Imperial garrison. It doesn't seem fair."
"I know, I almost feel sorry for them." Cal chuckled. "So what's our objective boss lady?"
"The superlaser on the first death star was powered by kyber crystals using technology similar to our lightsabers. Rumor has it, the Empire is building another one."
"Really? They're trying that again?" Cal asked in disbelief. "The Empire crashed the economy when the last one exploded."
"Money is no object for them." Ahsoka continued. "If we can download the bases' shipping logs it can help the Alliance pinpoint the construction site."
"Alright. Let's see the map BD." BD-1 pulled up a holographic display of the facility. "The operation has obviously expanded since I was here last but the security really hasn't. Everything is being protected by a fairly modest amount of force."
"Ilum is pretty remote," Ahsoka commented. "But kyber crystals are incredibly valuable, there's no doubt they have reinforcements on standby. We'll go to the communication tower first, cut them off, then go to the main office for the shipping logs."
"Just like that huh?"
"We don't need an elaborate plan Kestis, just a good one."
The two Jedi scaled down the cliff to the base of the tower, taking care to avoid attention from the nearby probe droids and snow troopers, they finally reached the base of the tower, deep within one of the planet's icy caves.
"Alright let's do this." Cal pulled out his lightsaber and prepared to strike, but Ahsoka stopped him.
"Wait. They're going to know somethings wrong if we just blow the thing up."
"I'm not blowing up anything," Cal remarked. "I'm going to cut the power cable."
"If you cut the power cable they'll know there's a problem because the signal dropped. We need to jam their transmissions."
"We don't have equipment for that, BD-1 is all we got and we need him to hack the central computer."
"BEEP boop bip breep."
"Yeah there should be a terminal somewhere. Why?" Cal asked.
"Bee de boop beep." BD replied. Cal put his head in his hand.
"Of course why didn't I think of that." Cal began looking for a terminal before finally finding one behind a panel on one of the walls. "BD-1 is going to tell the computer to broadcast an all clear signal. He's overridden all the communications from the rest of the base."
"Can he access the central computer from here?" Ahsoka asked.
"Braant."
"Private server huh? Figures."
"BEEP boop bredii bop."
"Twelve hours you say?" Ahsoka replied, smiling at the droid. "Well we'll be long gone by then. We should take a look around while we're here. See if there's anything worth grabbing."
"There probably are some cool secrets lying around." Cal admitted. "Let's not waste any time." The two of them grabbed their droid and entered the turbolift nearby and began to ascend to the higher levels of the base. "I hope our padawans are having as much luck as we are." Cal commented.
"Yours has probably thrown a temper tantrum by now." Ahsoka said.
"Hey, I'll have you know Kata is normally very well behaved and responsible." Cal replied, defending his student. "She's just going through a rough time right now. She's been through a lot."
