The Living Force

Luke found himself in a strange place. He saw huge green fields, dense swamps and a very beautiful city.
"Where am I," Luke asked.

"Far, far away from where you are now. Come here and you will find answers to many of your problems," a distant, deep voice replied.

"What is this place called? Where is it? How can I come here if I don't know this?!"

"Find the name of a world where long-eared amphibious creatures and an army of mechanical soldiers fought."

Before Luke could ask any more questions, he felt himself being pulled away...

* * * * *

Suddenly Luke sat up in bed.

"What's wrong Luke," came the voice of his wife, Mara.

"I just had a strange dream, ... or maybe it was a vision."

"What was it about?"

Luke took a deep breath to stead himself before saying, "A deep voice told me to go to a place where there was a battle between droids and long-eared creatures. It said we would find solutions to many of our problems there."

Luke swung his legs out of bed and started walking towards the refresher.

"Mara, I'm going down to the Coruscant Library today to see if I can find out where this place is. Will you be okay, love?"

"Yes I'll be fine, Skywalker. I'm going to be spending the day with Jaina."

Ten minutes later, Luke emerged from the refresher wearing a cream-colored shirt, dark green pants and black boots. After kissing his wife goodbye, he left for the Coruscant Library.

Once he arrived at the Coruscant Library, Luke found a private workstation and begun his search.
After two hours of fruitless searching, Luke finally found the planet described in his vision.
It was called Naboo. Forty-six years ago, a battle had been fought between the droid armies of the Trade Federation and the Gungan army there.

After Luke copied the information to a data card, he rushed home to share his findings with his wife.

* * * * *

As Luke exited the turbolift on his floor, he decided to surprise his wife. He stopped at a flower store and bought a small bouquet of flowers for Mara. He masked his presence as he walked down the corridor towards the apartment he shared with Mara.

Luke hesitated upon arriving at the door, hearing Mara explaining the technique used to put oneself into a healing trance to Jaina. He opened the door silently and snuck in.

He snuck up behind them as Mara was telling Jaina about the efficiency of the healing trance and about how Luke put her into the trance on Niruan.

"It's easiest to have another person put you into a healing trance because it is very difficult to concentrate when you are injured," Luke added.

"Why in the name of the Sith did you do that for Skywalker?!!!" Mara exclaimed angrily.

"I didn't want you to know I had these flowers for you and I felt like surprising you," Luke responded in a soft, scared voice. They stared at eachother for a long time, Mara radiating anger, Luke cowering before her wrath. It was all Jaina could do keep herself from laughing.

"I'm sorry Aunt Mara and Uncle Luke. You two look so funny now," said Jaina as she laughed.
"Since the flowers are so pretty, I'll forgive you," said Mara. "But you're sleeping on the couch tonight."
At this point, Jaina was feeling a bit uncomfortable, so she poilitely excused herself.

By now it was dinner time, so Luke and Mara decided to order some Alderanian food from a new place that just opened up. After it arrived they sat down to eat and dicusse Luke's findings. After he was done, Luke told Mara he wanted to go to Naboo tommorow, and Mara agreed.

The next morning, after they'd said goobye to the Solos, they set off on their journey to Naboo. Four hours later they came out of hyperspace in the Naboo system. Through the view port they saw a sphere predominated by blue, white and green.

"Doesn't look all that heavily industrialized at all," Mara noticed.

"What I read said they have an economy based on agriculture. It's mostly plains and swamps."

Soon they had obtained permission from Theed Spaceport to land. Fifteen miutes later, after they had finished shutting down and locking up the ship they began their search.

After three fruitless days spent searching Theed, they decided to extend their search to the swamps. They rented a hoverhome and were soon on their way to the swamps.

On their second day of searching the swamps, they saw a tall, robed figure.

"Are you Luke and Mara Skywalker," it intoned in a deep voice.

"Yes we are," responded Luke. "Why do you want to know?"

"You are here on a quest. Follow me and you may find that which you are searching for," the figure said before it began to move away.

"Luke, are you sure that thing isn't leading us into a trap," Mara asked.

"I don't feel it means us any harm. Come on Mara, this is the most hope we've had in days."

"Alright Luke but if it's leading us into a trap I'm gonna get you after we get out of it."

Cautiously Luke and Mara followed. After about two hours of trudging through the swamp, they came to a clearing with a large mud house in it. Seven cloaked figures of varing heights were standing near the house.

"Who are you people," Mara asked, but they responded with silence.

Slowly, one by one, each one removed their hoods. The first was a dark-skinned, muscular woman. The next was a young man with a small ponytail and a long braid. With the removal of the third hood, a beatiful woman with grey-streaked brown hair was revealed. Then a man with long brown and grey hair uncovered his face. The fifth, and shortest person removed his hood to reveal a wizened, green face with long, taipered ears and a sprinkling of white hair. The final, and tallest, person had piercing, light blue eyes, grey hair and a face with many scars.

"By the spice mines of Kessel..." a nonplussed Luke exclaimed. "Aren't you supposed to be dead?"
"Luke, you know these people?"

"I know who some of them are," Luke said as he shook his head. "But I thought I saw them die."

"Who are they?"

"I only know who three of them are, I have no clue about the others. That one is Obi-wan Kenobi. That one is Master Yoda and the other is Anakin Skywalker."

"Uh... Luke, I thought you said they were dead."

"I thought they were too. I guess I was wrong."

After several moments of uneasy silence, the unknown woman with grey and brown hair offered that they should go into the house and Mara and Luke accepted.

When they entered the house they went to the living area and sat. After a period of silence, the dark-skinned man began to speak.

"You are probably wondering who we are. I am Mace Windu, she is Adi Gallia and he is Qui-gon Ginn. We are Jedi Masters. She is Amidala Padme Naberrie Skywalker, former queen and senator from Naboo. We came here to hide from the Empire when it was begining to form. We created clones of Anakin, Obi-wan and Yoda. The real versions were here. This deception was necessary to trick Palpatine. We have kept ourselves isolated here until now. We found out about the end of the Empire a short time ago. We called you here because we felt it was time for you to learn more about the Jedi and we may be able to help. I was the one who sent that dream to you."

Both Luke and Mara sat in bewildered silence as they absorbed what they had been told.
Amidala interrupted their thoughts. "I think we should go to bed now. We will talk more tommorrow."

* * * * *

Mara awoke first the next morning. After she got out of bed and got dressed, she decided to get somthing to eat. Just as she was sitting down she heard a slight movement behind her. She spun around, blaster in hand, and faced a very surprised Qui-Gon. He had his hands up in a gesture of surrender.
"I come in peace," he said as he reached for a piece of fruit and sat down opposite her. "I know you have been ill for awhile and I believe I may be able to help you. I would like you to tell me what you've been doing to combat it."

After she gave a detailed description of what she'd been doing, he asked her if she would let him help her. After she hesitantly agreed, they went to wake up the others.

A few minutes later everyone stood outside the house in varrying stages of wakefullness. Qui-Gon told them they were going to create a Force link with Mara, and they would use the Force to destroy her disease. Then he asked them to join hands.

Gradually, each Jedi sent some of their Force energy into Mara to begin the coomb spores throughout her body. The spores multiplied, but the combined strength of the Jedi swept them out of her body.
Everyone collapsed, drained by the effort. As they lay on the ground, Amidala brought them some food and water to help them recover their strength. Once they felt stronger, Luke carried Mara into the house and put her on a bed.

The next day, Mara woke up feeling a lot better. She felt a little weak, but it was a good weakness. She slowly got out of bed and went to the kitchen.