Join Me

"It's not as easy as he makes it seem," Natalie said to a quiet Sol, now in his armor. 

"What isn't?" He woke up from his thoughts as he heard her speaking with her. 

Natalie shook her head and brushed her hair behind her ear. Sol saw her do this several times, he always liked it when she did that. It was like she was hitting 'enter' in her brain to start a new paragraph of thought. Natalie said, "He sold an AI program worth half a billion dollars to Tony. The only Tony I know who could or would spend that much money is Tony Stark. How he managed to communicate with that guy, I have no idea. It would take me a lot of time to get a message to him.

Then he found a secret government organization with a long name, I can think of only one organization fitting that description. They are scary, not even Dreykov will mess with them. Gar was able to contact them and make a deal. Not only that, but he's able to create a land-based spaceship with that little robot. Forget about becoming a Jedi, he's already impressive enough to be recruited by any major force in the world."

"We don't want to remain in this world, the stars will be our home," Sol said.

"The stars?" Natalie looked at him.

"For now, we need to train, but one day Gar and I will adventure into space to do what we can to make the galaxy a better place. It's the kind of thing we've dreamed about since we were kids."

"Is this man of few words part of your dream?" Natalie asked amused.

"Yeah, well, Mandalorians are all pretty quiet. It adds to the mystery, but it's hard to be quiet around Gar," he laughed. 

"It's pretty easy to see it's an act. You won't have to pretend in the future. If you become a bounty hunter, I've met some bounty hunters. Most of them are quiet, they've seen too many things that suck the fun out of life. It's just like me, I don't think I've ever been a kid."

"It's not the years, it's the mileage," Sol added.

"Exactly, is that something Master M'tz says?" Natalie asked.

"No, it's one of Gar's favorite sayings he picked up from a movie. He likes saying it, but I doubt he understands it the way you do," Sol said.

"I hope neither of you ever learns what that means. I like the two of you the way you are. I've lived with miserable quiet people my whole life. For the first time in my life, I've had fun being around the two of you," Natalie smiled. 

"Are we having a moment, do you need me to smooch you," Sol smiled.

"We can have that moment if you like," Natalie blinked her eyes with a shy smile. "But the next moment I'll slap you," she laughed genuinely for the first time since Sol met her. He laughed too. 

"He's always been like that," Sol began speaking.

"Who, like what?" Natalie asked back.

"Gar, he's always been talented. He has the heart of a Jedi. When we were kids, he'd done his best to be like a Jedi as much as possible. When he learned Jedi was good with machines, robots, fighting, infiltrating, and whatever else; he did his best to learn those skills. 

The only surprising thing is how advanced he is, maybe awaking his Jedi powers amplified his abilities and skills. Since I began training I've found it comes naturally to me. You know, shooting, fighting, and I suspect other talents will reveal themselves."

"I could tell when we were fighting, Zaran, it seemed like you were learning to shoot. At least you improved a lot from when the fight started," Natalie said.

"You want to become a Jedi?" Sol asked the young lady.

"Perhaps, I don't know. Talking with Master M'tz is calming, I feel safe. He's so wise, and I like being with you and Gar, hearing you talking about going to space. I'll admit that sounds wonderful. Do you want to know if I want to be a Jedi, or if I like the idea of being a Jedi? I don't know. That's probably why Master M'tz isn't accepting me right now. That and the darkness in my heart, the fear could corrupt me. I don't want that."

Sol was quiet for a while, "Your situation reminds me of a powerful Jedi Master from the past, Mara Jade."

"Yeah, Master M'tz told me about her. I can't help but admire her. I guess Dreykov's my Emperor. Although, I'm not sure if I've found my Luke Skywalker yet," she laughed.

"Maybe you don't have a Luke Skywalker. Maybe you have a Han Solo," Sol turned to look at her.

"Are you Han Solo, who's that?"

"Han Solo was the greatest smuggler and pilot in the galaxy. He married Princess Leia, Luke's sister," Sol answered.

"He's the father of Jacen Solo who killed Mara Jade Skywalker?" Natalie asked.

Sol looked down at the road for a while, "Yeah, but that story never made sense to me. Jacen was the best of the Jedi in his generation. If I were to who was the most likely to become a Sith, I would have chosen his sister Jana. 

During the Yuuzhan Vong War, Jacen retired his lightsaber and refused to partake in the war. Every other Jedi was rushing to the front lines we had so many Jedi who nearly fell to the dark side."

"Why did Jacen retire his lightsaber?" Natalie was interested in this man who would one day kill his aunt.

"He was worried about falling to the dark side. He felt the Jedi were being impetuous rushing into the battle as they did. Even if fighting in the war was the right thing to do, Jacen didn't feel like any among the Jedi could explain why it was right. 

The Jedi, you see, are not supposed to be the ones to attack, but they went to war the moment the Yuuzhan Vong entered the galaxy. They became aggressive, pitiless, and angry. They let go of their emotions, the things they shouldn't do. A Jedi must rule their emotions. Otherwise, they cannot hear the will of the Force. The Sith are even careful regarding their emotions. Some think the Sith are undisciplined murderers. 

The Sith use their emotions to draw upon the power of the dark side of the Force. Even Sith knows that losing themselves to their emotions can lead to their destruction.

Jacen saw this and took a stand. Many other Jedi, including his sister, especially his sister, rejected his warnings. They thought he was a coward. Can you imagine standing up to the entire order, your sister, friends, parents, and especially Luke Skywalker? I think he was a very brave and principled person. His wisdom was far beyond even those in the older generation of the Jedi. 

He shouldn't have fallen to the dark side, but he did." 

"People aren't computer programs there's both order and chaos within us. You can never predict what people will do. Maybe he wasn't tempted by emotions because he had so much control over them. Perhaps, it was the ability to see the bigger picture that led him astray. I've seen many good people being corrupted because they were too smart," Natalie said to Sol. 

Sol considered her words, "Perhaps, but he fell and even killed his aunt. There's falling and then there's murdering family. Who cares about the big picture when it comes to your family?" Sol asked.

"Indeed." Natalie nodded thoughtfully.