Chapter 1
Akilia quickly fired her torpedoes at the oncoming T.I.E fighters. She hit one of them dead on, and another one's engine. They both exploded. Unfortunately, there was still one more. Aki swung her X-wing around in a sharp u-turn, then clipped the fighter's underbelly with her blasters. The fighter pivoted out of control, hitting a larger freighter dead on. Yes! thought Aki. She quickly turned around heading towards the rendezvous point. Her comlink buzzed with an incoming transmission: "Blue Two, come in Blue Two."
"Blue Two here," responded Aki, "I'm approaching the rendezvous point."
"Copy that." responded Blue Leader. "Over and out." Aki directed her X-wing towards the ragtag gathering of Alliance ships. She was happy to see that their raid upon the Empire's factory was a success. "Congrats Blue Team." said Blue Leader, "The raid was a success." Aki's comlink buzzed with the hoots and yells of joy of the other pilots. "Let's go home." commanded Blue Leader.
Aki set the coordinates for Xylling, a remote planet where the very small base of Alliance operatives lived. The twelve ships of Blue Squadron were pretty well the entire defense of the Alliance, still in it's infancy. Aki was proud to belong to the Alliance, fighting the corruption of the Senate and the newly formed Empire. Aki finished entering the coordinates, then put her ship into hyperdrive. Aki had just entered lightspeed when her comlink buzzed again.
"Nice fighting." remarked the wry voice coming through the speaker.
"You too Nathan." replied Aki with a smile.
Nathan was her best friend, and fellow pilot. He had joined the Rebellion because of his hatred towards the Empire. Colonel Tarkin had murdered Nathan's parents in cold blood and had burnt Nathan's eyes out. Now Nathan's milky eyes saw nothing, but he relied on his untrained, but very strong connection with the Force, to guide him. This way, he relied on his feelings, not his sight, when fighting. But there was also another reason why Nathan hated the Empire. Tarkin had also taken Nathan's 2 year old sister Mara Jade, to become a dark Jedi. Meanwhile, Aki had a different reason for joining the rebellion. Like Nathan, her mother had been killed by the Empire for her mother and Nathan's parents had been Jedi or friends of the Jedi. But unlike Nathan, she had joined the Alliance for a sense of purpose. Her mother was gone, and Aki had never really had any close attachments to anyone else. She had nothing except for the Alliance and Nathan. Thank the Force for that.
"Aki?" asked Nathan, "Are you there?"
Aki forced herself out of his reverie. "Yeah, i'm here. You sound concerned for me, Nathan! That's a change!" Aki laughed, she loved to tease Nathan. Nathan replied by laughing, then turned of his comlink.
Chapter 2
Aki slept fitfully. She was having a very strange dream. She was on a tropical planet, and talking to the strangest creature she had ever seen. He was green, short and talked funny. She sat while he stood, as he told her some words of advice. "Find your father, you shall." said the green man, Yoda, that was his name.
Aki almost burst out with laughter. "My father? He left my mother and I before I was even born. He doesn't even know I exsist, and I want to keep it that way."
Yoda persisted, "Important, he is, to the Alliance. Loves you, he does."
"Loves me?!"replied Aki increduesly,"He doesn't even know me! How can he love me!"
Yoda looked disapointed for a moment, then sighed. "Reach out with your feelings, young Kenobi. You will find your answer."
"Wait!" Aki called, but it was too late. The dream faded away, and Aki was left with her own thoughts. That was weird, thought Aki, And who is Kenobi? My last name is Aran. Maybe it's a clue to tell me who my father is. Aki could feel sleep approaching again,and she had one last thought before she descended back into sleep. I'll check it out tomorrow...
Aki sat down with a cup of Talik as she looked on her data pad for her query of the name 'Kenobi.' One Match Found. Aki scrolled down to check it out. Kenobi, Obi-Wan : Jedi Knight, presumed dead at Coruscant. Aki scrolled down some more, but there was no more.
"That's it?!" muttered Aki, "That's all there is on my supposed father?!" Aki calmed herself down. Well at least I found something, she thought to herself. She was about to go get herself another cup of Talik when her door chimed. "Come in!" she called out. It was Nathan. "Hi Nathan!" chirped Aki.
"Hello Aki. Whatcha up to?" asked Nathan.
"I had the weirdest dream last night..." Aki proceeded to tell Nathan about her dream, and what her search had revealed about this supposed father of hers. When she was done, she looked at Nathan to see what his comment would be.
"Well, you know what I think?" said Nathan.
"No, but I want to." said Aki.
"I think that you should try to find him. We've got leave from the squadron for a month, we should try to find him." replied Anakin.
"I dunno,, what if it turns out he's not my father?" asked Aki.
"It doesn't hurt to try." said Nathan.
Chapter 3
"Well that was a dead end." said Aki sarcastically. "That guy didn't know anything about Kenobi, all he wanted was to sell us some droids." Aki was in a bad mood. She felt as if she was going to boil to death. Sith, I hate Tatooine! she thought to herself. Nathan looked like he was about to say something just as a man in a cloak walked up to them. A hood was over his face, but Aki could see that the man had a short beard.
"I heard that you were looking for Obi-Wan Kenobi." The man removed his hood to reveal sandy colored hair and beard, and bright blue eyes. He looked about late-thirties or early-forties years of age. "My name is Ben." said the man with welcoming smile.
"My name is Akilia Aran, and my companion is Nathan Jade. Pleased to meet you, Mr. Ben."
The man chuckled, "Just Ben." His expression changed to one of seriousness. "What do you want with Obi-Wan, if you don't mind my asking."
"It's of a personal matter." replied Aki. "Do you know where he lives?"
The man was silent for a moment, then replied, "Obi-Wan lives beyond the Dune Sea, past Anchorhead. I can take you there if you like."
"What will it cost us?" asked Aki suspiciously.
"30 credits." replied the man. After Aki had passed him the credits, he beckoned them to follow.
Aki sat in the front of Ben's speeder, Nathan in the back. "So, what are you doing out on the backwater world of Tatooine?" asked Ben over the roar of the engine and the wind.
"I told you, it's of a personal matter with Obi-Wan Kenobi." replied Aki, clearly annoyed. This guy is really starting to annoy me! thought Aki.
"I see." said Ben. "How ya doing back there Nathan?" asked Ben.
Nathan smiled and replied, "This is so fun!" Ben smiled at Nathan's enthusiasm. Aki sighed and looked ahead. They had long passed the moisture farms. In the distance, she could see what appeared to be a hut of sorts.
"Here we are." said Ben, slowing down. Aki hopped out of the speeder, then turned to help Nathan. To her chagrin, Ben was already helping Nathan out of the speeder. Nathan thanked Ben, then walked over to Aki. Aki walked up to the door of the hut, and waited for an answer. None came.
"Where is he, Ben?" Ben stared straight at her, then said, "He's right in front of you. I am Obi-Wan 'Ben' Kenobi, Jedi Master."
Aki was shocked. "You're Obi-Wan?" she whispered.
"Yes. Who are you?" he asked.
"I'm your daughter." mumbled Aki.
"My daughter?" replied Obi-Wan increduesly.
Obi-Wan looked at Aki with a sadness upon his face. "I'm so sorry Aki. I'm sorry that I wasnt there for you, and that Siri's dead."
Aki gave her father a smile, "It's okay Dad, you're here for me now." Aki moved foward and gave her dad a big hug. Obi-Wan tensed up at first; he hadn't been hugged in years, then hugged his daughter with all his strength. After they let go, Obi-Wan spoke.
"Aki, I sense something that you want to ask me. Go ahead, I don't mind."
"Well, I was wondering two things. First, did you leave Siri because of me?"
Obi-Wan looked taken aback for a moment, then replied. "Of course not! If I had known about you, I would have never left. And I didn't leave Siri by choice. She told me to go, to follow my destiny. I asked her to come with me, but she said no, that my path was a lonely one. The she kissed me, and told me to leave."
The three of them were silent for a moment then Aki responded, "I'm glad that I wasn't the reason, and I'm sorry for asking you that. Now my other question, well actually Nathan and I wanted to ask you this, would you join the Alliance?"
Aki and Nathan looked at Obi-Wan and waited for his response. Obi-Wan started to chuckle. "What's so funny?" asked Aki.
"Aki, I started the Alliance, two years ago. I planted the seeds of distrust among the people, and started an Alliance to oppose the corrupt Republic."
Now it was Aki and Nathan's turns to look taken aback. "So, you will help us?"
Obi-Wan looked his newfound daughter in the eyes and responded, "Yes."
Chapter 4
2 months later..
Aki hurried down the hall. She was late for her briefing on her next mission. She sprinted towards the turbolift, and caught it before it's doors closed. "Yes!" she muttered to herself. In the few moments that it took for her to reach the main floor of the base, she made sure that she ahd her new weapon with her: a lightsaber. Siri had taught her the basics of being a Jedi when Aki had been about 8 or 9 years old. Obi-Wan had decided that Aki was ready for a lightsaber, so he had given her his old blade, as a gift. The doors to the turbolift opened abruptly and woke Aki from her trip down memory lane. She hurried to the meeting room, seeing Nathan waiting for her outside. He automatically knew it was her, and commented on her arrival. "You're late."
"So are you." remarked Aki. Nathan smiled, and the two of them walked into the room and took their seats at the long table. Colonel Marcus Nimishi started off the briefing.
"We have a new plan to take some of the power away from the Empire. I'll let General Kenobi explain." Aki couldn't help smiling when her dad stood up and politely thanked the colonel. She then leaned back in her chair and listened.
"Thank you, Colonel Nimishi. We have decided to target an Empire base on the remote planet of Telos. Telos, as some of you may know, used to be a grand and rich planet. There was some leadership problems caused by the greedy government, and the planet had been in ruin ever since. But the Empire has now established a base of operations there, researching new weapons and defense. This base has just installed new planetary defense systems, but they have a defect in them. The Empire is not yet aware of that yet, but our operatives on Telos have noticed this. The defect is a power coupling on the lowest level of the base that has a malfunctioning converter. If we can get to that power coupling and turn it to full power, when they try to fire their weapons, it will overload and destroy itself and the enitre base."
At this point, Colonel Nimishi broke in, "We will send Blue Squadron along with a transport and 12 highly trained operatives. The tricky part to this plan is that the power coupling we're aiming for is inside the most guarded part of the base. One more thing, Lieutenant Aran?"
Aki was suprised at her name being called, but she responded quickly. "Yes sir?"
"You will be Blue Leader for this mission. Captain Jade?" said Colonel Nimishi.
"Yes sir?" replied Nathan. "You will be piloting the transport. Are you up to it?"
"Yes sir!" replied Nathan enthousiastically.
"Dismissed!" called out Colonel Nimishi. Nathan and Aki waited for everyone to leave, then went to go see Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan looked drawn and slightly emaciated, but he visibly brightened when he saw Nathan and Aki approach. "I'm so proud of you two!" said Obi-Wan.
"Thanks Dad." said Aki, whose comment was followed by Nathan's thanks as well. "You look awful Dad." said Aki. "Come on, Nathan and I are taking you to the mess hall. You can't go out on this mission on an empty stomach!" Obi-Wan and Nathan laughed, then the two men followed Aki out of the meeting room and towards the mess hall.
Chapter 5
"This is Blue Leader. All 'wings check in." Aki's com buzzed with the voices of her fellow pilots.
"Blue Two here."
"Blue Three checking in." The voices went on untill she heard all of her pilots check in.
"Ok guys, let's kick some ass!" Her cokpit was filled the hoots and yells of response to Aki's comment as she led her squadron towards the base.
"Watch your tail, Blue Nine. Blue Eight, cover Eleven. He's got three T.I.Es on him." Aki called out advice as she flew around her squadron. She had already shot down five T.I.Es herself, and so far she had only lost one member of her squadron. She watched as one of her X-wings shot down the last T.I.E fighter, then she signaled the start of the second phase of the attack. "Blue Seven through twelve, stay above the atmosphere, shoot down any enemy ships. Everyone, you all know what to do." Aki shut off her comlink, and directed her X-wing toward the surface of the planet. She now had to assist in getting everyone out of the complex safe, and escort the transport back out of the atmosphere. She landed her ship about a half click from the base, then swiftly but covertly moved to the base. She entered the base from a back exit then waited until the nearby patrol of stormtroopers passed. She then moved to the nearest storage container then waited behind it for Nathan, Obi-Wan and the operatives. She hadn't been waiting for long when she heard a noise behind her. She turned around expecting to find her father, but instead she found a figure cloaked in black armor from head to toe. She realised that this was Darth Vader. She had enough time to ignite her lightsaber right before he ignited his.
Chapter 6
Obi-Wan and his team had just finished their mission and were moving out when he felt a disturbance in the force. If that wasn't weird enough, he reconised it. He hadn't felt that since.... Obi-Wan's blood ran cold. Anakin! He thought alarmingly. Then he felt one of the worst feelings in the galaxy: he realized that Aki was with Anakin. Without a word, Obi-Wan lept into the air and climbed up a ventilation shaft. Then, as hindsight, he yelled out to Nathan. "Take the team to the rendezvous. I'll meet you there."
Aki's blue blade shone like a beacon in her eyes. It was her one defense between her and Darth Vader. Without realising it, she pushing her blade out and aimed for the Dark Jedi's face. He blocked her parry, then swiped his blade down. Together, they exchanged blows as if dancing an ancient dance. His blade moved down as her blade caught it from underneath, the blue striking the red in a shower of sparks. They moved across the floor, as Aki slowly was pushed back. Her back bumped into the wall, and she was cornered. She tried to bring her blade up, but his struck her in the shoulder, casuing Aki to scream with pain. She collapsed to the floor, as Vader prepared for the death blow.
"NOOOOOO!!!!!" screamed Obi-Wan, as he saw Anakin, Darth Vader, about to strike Aki. Darth Vader turned around, and when he spotted Obi-Wan, a tidal wave of hate cascaded from Vader.
"You." growled the mechanical voice. Obi-Wan moved faster then he ever had before, and moved to hit Vader. Vader brought his blade up, and thus commenced the battle between the old master and Padawan. Their blades moved in a flurry, each one bouncing off the other. Finally, Vader got his lightsaber underneath Obi-Wan's defenses, and pushed him back. Now it was Obi-Wan's turn to pay.
Aki dragged herself up when she saw her father pushed down to the ground. "Dad!!!!" she called out. She saw Vader turn around in suprise, then Vader addressed her father.
"This is your daughter? Then I shall take her away from you like you took my son away from me!" Faster then Aki could see, Vader moved towards her. Then Aki felt something beyond pain. She looked down to see Vader's blade inside her stomach, then everything went black.
"Aki!" yelled out Nathan as he approached. He could sense her pain through the Force. "Now!" he yelled out to his men. They all pulled out blasters and fired them at Vader. Vader retreated into the shadows.
"We've got to go! He's going to get backup!" yelled out one of Nathan's men.
"Go! Get to the transport! We'll be there shortly!" yelled out Nathan. He quickly sensed his way over to Aki's dying life force. He could sense Obi-Wan's pain as well.
"Aki?" asked Obi-Wan, as tears streamed down his face. Aki's eyelids opened to reaveal her fire-red eyes. He could see her fading away before him. "Don't leave me Aki." whispered Obi-Wan. "I love you so much, don't leave me. Please, don't leave me."
Aki brought a small smile to her lips as she looked up at her dad.
"I've always loved you." said Obi-Wan.
"I know." said Aki. "I love you too." She reached up and touched his face, as Obi-Wan bent down and kissed his daughter on her forehead. Obi-Wan moved aside for Nathan.
"I love you Aki." said Nathan quietly.
"I love you too, Nathan. Take good care of my dad for me, ok? I love you both so much. I have to go now Nathan. But i'll always be with you both." Aki smiled one last time, then she was gone. Nathan closed his sightless eyes, to stop the tears from coming. But he felt the strangest feeling. He opened his eyes, and saw that he could see! "Aki..." he whispered, knowing that with her parting energy, she had given him back the greatest gift he had ever had : his sight.
Epilogue:
Somehow, Obi-Wan had gotten himself and Nathan out of the base without being captured. He had also taken Aki's body. Now Nathan was standing above her grave on Xylling. Oh Aki, why did you have to leave? thought Nathan. He bent down and put the flowers that he had brought with him and placed them on her grave. Goodbye, Aki. thought Nathan. But the inscription on the tombstone gave him hope. He was the one that had come up with him, but he thought that maybe it was Aki who had thought of it. It ws just like Aki, teasing him. The inscription on her tombstone read as such: Akilia Siri Aran: May you find your wings, and fly away.
The Old Ways by Lorenna McKennit
We left the music behind and the dance carried on
As we stole away to the seashore
We smelt the brine, felt the wind in our hair
With sadness you paused.
Suddenly I knew that you'd have to go
Your world was not mine, your eyes told me so
Yet it was there I felt the crossroads of time
And I wondered why.
As we cast our gaze on the tumbling sea
A vision came o'er me
Of thundering hooves and beating wings
In clouds above.
As you turned to go I heard you call my name.
You were like a bird in a cage, spreading its
Wings to fly
"The old ways are lost" you sang as you flew
And I wondered why.
DISCLAIMER: All persons, ideas and themes in this story belong to George Lucas. The lyrics from 'The Old Ways' belong to Lorenna McKennit.