Just having finished a meeting with a Sephi liaison officer, Edgar stumbled out of his office. He was dead on his feet, working so many long hours with little sleep was taking it’s toll on his mental state and his body. His intent was to get a strong cup of coffee and get back to directing the men on getting Hoth’s new base secured and operational as quickly as possible. He was quickly overcome with a stream of more visitors bringing more complaints, questions and problems for him to deal with.
Something inside him snapped as he roared, “WOULD YOU ALL JUST GET OUT OF MY FACE AND LEAVE ME ALONE!” Edgar felt the anger surge within him, and without realizing it he had his unlit saber in his hand and was standing in such a threatening manner that it didn’t take long for the hallway to clear. After a few moments, Edgar shook himself to reality and realized that he was beginning to lose his composure and his balance.
He had been on the move ever since the first bombs dropped on New Tython, then it was Florrum and then the long tiring search for a new home. Then, of course, being left to run the house by himself and the arrival of a new liaison from the Clan’s military had put him on such tight strings that he felt like he was about to lose control.
“I just can’t do this anymore.” Edgar realized to himself that he could not remain in this cold desolate place a second longer.
He went back into the office and made a call to the Renegade Squadron commander and requested a X-Wing be prepared to leave within the hour. As soon as he turned off the comm system, yet other private ran in with more problems in which Edgar just glared at him.
“I don’t care what you got there go find Arcia and ask her, let her get off her ship and come down here to deal with the lot of you!” he shouted at the suddenly terrified private.
As the private was left speechless trying to formulate words in his brain, Edgar pushed past him and went directly to his quarters and pointedly ignored everyone that tried to get his attention.
As he entered his room, he noticed many crates still unpacked haphazardly placed around the living area. As he went through a few boxes and packed enough gear for his journey, he came across a small box that felt like it was calling to him. The feeling only grew in intensity as he picked up the box and placed it on his bunk to open it.
Going through the contents, he realized it was some of the smaller more personal possessions he had in his quarters back in Fort Pernicar on New Tython. Someone must have packed these items in the chaotic evacuation while he was busy filling the transport with men and materials. A wave of emotion flooded over the young grey Jedi especially when he found a small piece of rock he had forgotten he ever had.
The stone had come from the Blue Mountains on New Tython, which is where he had spent his self-imposed exile from the Clan before rejoining House Hoth. It was his home and the place where he finally found the true balance of the Force. The emotion and pain of losing so much was emanating from this small piece of a destroyed planet, but also the peace, hope and joy he found there as well.
It was in this moment that he knew what and where he needed to go. He placed the rock in with his gear and headed to the underground transport system to enter the hangers at the transfer station. As he moved with an energy he hadn’t felt in a long time, Edgar continued to ignore questions and requests from anyone that tried to approach him.
With his comlink constantly blinking at him, the Jedi just ignored it and eventually just turned it off as the train pulled into the Trepus Station. Where he was met by the Renegade Squadron commander, “Sir, we have been trying to reach you we have three X-Wings prepped and ready to go at your request. Also, I’m send my personal R2 unit, R2-X8, in your ship he has served me well and will keep the ship running smoothly.”
“Three?” The young Aedile asked almost baffled.
“Yes, you said you needed to borrow a fighter for a mission and I couldn’t in good conscience send you without my wingmen, so they will escort you.” the commander proudly said.
“Thank you, Commander, but this is a mission I must do alone. Please tell your pilots to stand down and take me to the hanger.”
“Sir, I must protest. We are in a unknown system and on an unknown planet and we are under order from Colonel Cortel to never let any ship leave here unescorted until the base is fully operational.”
Drachen felt the anger rise within him at the slightest mention of the Colonel’s name and with that snapped at the veteran commander. “I honestly don’t care what that schutta of a woman told you to do! I’m ordering you to bring me to the ship I requested and to tell your men to stand down! I’m going on this mission ALONE, and if you try to stop me I’ll have you relieved of command before you knew what hit you!”
And with that, Drachen and the now very silent commander reached the hanger and after the Aedile suited up and completed his preflight checks a young Lieutenant ran over and yelled to the Grey Jedi “Sir! Before you leave, Colonel Cortel is trying to reach you and she is requesting you contact her immediately.”
“Listen Lieutenant, to save yourself a lot of trouble tell the Colonel I was already gone and you couldn’t deliver the message. I’ll deal with her when I get back.”
Edgar closed the cockpit canopy in the startled and confused face of the young Lieutenant just as the fighter’s engines roared to life. The ship began to taxi out of the hanger until it was cleared, and then lifted off into the morning sun.
Flying south over the Akux Sea, Edgar could now see the terrain changing from the ice and snow he had had to deal with since arriving at this planet. He knew from the orbital scans that there were many warmer locations to the south and even highly reccomended a plot of land on the Storkera continent, but the damn Colonel convinced the summit to set up in the abandoned mines of the north polar region.
Although he hated to admit it, the stubborn Aedile realizes that it would have been far more work building a base from scratch rather than repurposing an already existing well defensible location. Even though he still flew over the sight he recommended and thought to himself, “This still would make for a great training location. So much empty terrain and the ability to set up different war games.” He sighed softly to himself. “One day, Edgar. One day.” The onboard translator started flashing as R2-X8 started questioning where we were going and should he prepare the hyperdrive.
“No, X8. We are staying on the planet. We are going to stretch our legs and get out of there for a while. I must take care of a personal matter that I can’t do while under constant distraction.”
Refocusing on his flight path, he set a course for the Pokora island chain and found a suitable landing site on one of the smaller unexplored islands and after a few flybys set the X-Wing down in a open field about five kilometers from the beach.
Once Edgar set up a makeshift camp he instructed X8 to watch over the camp and to contact him only if the ship or the droid was in danger. When informed of the stream of messages, he had from and very angry Colonel the Grey Jedi sighed and just responded “She will have to wait this must be done first.”
Hiking to the Beach clutching one of the last remnants of a dead world, Edgar allowed the Force to fill him and let the emotions of that day fill his memory. The pain, the horror and the anger he had experienced on that day, till now, has consumed him to the point he was losing his connection with the pure Force. It was time for him to acknowledge those feeling and refocus himself and find his path through the Force. The Grey Jedi has learned that both the Light and Dark side bend and distort the Force to suit their needs which perverts it to an unnatural state. It’s only the when the Force is allowed to guide you with no distortions or false doctrine can you truly find the path of the Force.
Arriving at the beach from with the waves crashing against the old obsidian rock the young Savant found a place overlooking the sea and started to mediate. Visions of New Tython the people he knew, and his favorite bar flashed in his mind filling him with anger and rage at the loss, but then he allowed visions of his friends, clanmates and those they were able to save from the destruction. The tender moments he held dear friends in his arms comforting them and thanking the Force that they survived which brought about feelings of hope, love, friendship and peace to the grey Jedi’s soul.
Since he first earned his lightsaber so long, ago and then was trained to use two, he always carried red bladed lightsabers not giving too much though about the reasons why, other that he was a Grey Jedi and carrying lightsabers normally associated with the Sith would show his dichotomy, but now there was a reason to change that.
Before him he laid out all of the new lightsaber part he had crafted by the skilled craftsmen of the Clan, a new crystal from the Clan’s armory and with the now polished stone from New Tython, it was time to finally create his very own lightsaber.
Edgar sat in a lotus position in front of the parts and closed his eyes as he reached out with the force is all directions, it was then it sensed the other living beings that made Solyiat their home. He felt the trees, the animals and then the people of this new world. He felt the the anger, fear and raw emotions from some of them but then was overwashed by the feelings of joy, love and community.
An image of some drunk miners beating someone was followed by a mother comforting her scared child after a nightmare. Edgar felt one with them and one with this world and it was a feeling he never had before. He then felt the force guide his motions as each piece levitated in front of him and slowly start forming the lightsaber. Visions of Grandmaster Pravus and the Inquisitors snapped into his consciousness these visions brought anger to the Jedi’s mind but he was able to refocus and remember the selfless acts of Quinn, the one who stood behind on Florrum to save everyone and pay the highest price. There were still too many that didn’t make it out. Then there were friends that had left the Order to find their own path, like his dear friend Lu’ashia, who went off to find a meaning to life again.
With the connection to the new world flowing through him and thoughts of his friends, Edgar was finally at peace and it was only then he heard the final pieces click into place and the new saber enter his extended hand. Opening his eyes to see the new blade almost complete in his hand, he took the Tythonian rock and placed in in the hilt of the blade say “Through a great act of evil, many souls were lost but let the good this blade does honor the memories of all of the fallen. I hereby christen this blade by the name Bahamut, the great Dragon of Good.”
Standing firmly Edgar ignited Bahamut for the first time and the citrine glow of the blade shone brightly in his face. A strong realization came over him and as he looked over the hill at the ocean and the horizon beyond he uttered a phrase he has not said, let alone truly meant, since he was small boy.
“I am finally home.”