Prologue

Star Wars Episode II: Split Horizons

Prologue

Drip.

Drip.

A single sound was all he could hear.

It was the sound of water splashing to the floor some feet away. The darkness that engulfed him made it impossible to see where the water was, but he could feel where it was.

Ethan Organa struggled to look in the direction of the water. He vainly reached out for the only sign of life he could cling to. He struggled as a sense of claustrophobia set in.

Drip.

A lone spotlight shot to life, momentarily blinding him. He tried to raise both his hands to shield his adjusting eyes to the light, but found he was restrained. His arms were pinned tight against his sides. As he looked down, he saw no shackles on his wrists. No magnetic grapplers were holding him down, yet he could only move his head.

His eyes darted toward where the drip was. The single leak was adding to a small puddle on the floor. The Jedi Council Chamber was supposed to be immaculate in every detail. It seemed oddly reassuring to see this small flaw in an otherwise perfect room.

Drip.

Given this momentous occasion, he expected to see the Jedi Council Chamber decked out in all of its glory. Instead, only the water greeted his eyes. Even in the dark, he knew exactly where each of his ten accusers was.

“So, this is how it is? You’re so scared of me that you can’t even let me scratch my nose?” he shouted into the darkness.

“His aura is incredible. Even with us holding him like this, he is able to reach out with the Force and find us. This is such a waste of talent,” a voice said from the darkness.

“Lights,” a deep voice commanded.

Additional spotlights began to shine. They started dimly, unlike his own spotlight, and their brightness increased until ten Jedi Masters stood in a circle around him. They wore simple robes on their bodies and scowls on their faces. They were all in great concentration to ensure that their prey remained restrained.

Drip.

Ethan was shaken for a moment by the sound. It seemed so out of place. He had to get a grip on what was real and ignore the oddities.

“Grand Master Windu. I never expected to be back here again,” he said, every word edged with sarcasm.

“Ethan Organa, you have been charged and convicted of some of the highest crimes in the Jedi Order. Your conduct before, during, and after the assignment on Ord Mantell not only shamed yourself, but the Order as a whole,” Master Windu said in his deep voice.

“I’m supposed to shed tears about making you look bad?” Ethan mocked.

Mace Windu continued without addressing the remark. “The damage you caused, the lives you ruined, everything that you’ve become has convinced the Jedi High Council that you have been twisted by the Dark Side of the Force.”

“You are blind, all of you!” Ethan shouted. “Just because something is different you condemn it before you fully understand it. What I did on Ord Mantell was…”

Drip.

Ethan felt a strange connection to that drip. It was so simple, so basic, a building block of life. If anything, this slow leak of water, this puddle on the floor, was more real to him than any of the Jedi Masters who were condemning him.

Master Windu continued. “As a result, the Jedi High Council has determined that you cannot continue as you are now.”

The color drained from Ethan Organa’s face. For the first time in his young life, his face showed fear.

“You can’t kill me,” he said in a broken voice barely above a whisper.

Master Windu spoke directly to him. “Have you learned nothing about the Jedi? Or has the Dark Side corrupted you to the point that you believe us to be as savage as you.”

Drip.

“If death will not greet me, then what does the righteous Council propose?” Ethan asked.

“The Council will do what no Council has ever had to do in the history of the Jedi Order,” Master Windu nodded toward his fellow Jedi Masters.

They all looked down at the floor. One by one, the members of the Jedi High Council raised their heads and looked directly at Ethan Organa. A quiet, almost mechanical, humming filled the room.

“Don’t you know who I am? I am Ethan Organa, Crown Prince and Heir to the Throne of Alderaan! You cannot do this to me, I will not allow it!” he shouted.

The humming remained.

“I am the Daetan, the Chosen One,” he pleaded.

The humming remained.

“Master Ki-Adi-Mundi, I saved your life once. Don’t let them do this to me,” he begged.

The humming remained.

He tried to thrash wildly around, seeking any escape. Only his head was able to whip back and forth.

The humming remained.

Ethan reached out with the Force. Summoning the same power he had used to level city blocks with, he found he could do little more than cause a wind to blow through the chamber. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead from the effort. He simply couldn’t break through the ten Master’s blockade of his power.

The humming increased. He tried to find the drip again. He tried to anchor his mind to that one tiny, precious bit of realism. All of his training, all of his experience, everything that the heir to the throne of Alderaan could muster tried to focus on that tiny drip of water.

Something pierced Ethan’s mind. The Daetan vainly tried to work against the minds of the Jedi Council. He could feel his mind being altered, being erased. A piece of himself was being ripped out like a malignant growth.

Ethan screamed.

The humming filled the room.

Suddenly, all sound was stolen from the sacred chamber. Ethan dropped to his knees before finally succumbing to the madness altogether. He collapsed onto the floor.

He knew he was breathing heavily, but his ragged gasps made no sound. It was as if the Council Chamber was now a vacuum that absorbed all noise. He looked over and saw the drip, saw it hit the puddle, but heard nothing.

He felt as though he were smothered with a giant blanket. Ethan felt as though he were blind as well as deaf. A horrible realization came to him.

He couldn’t sense anything anymore.

The Jedi Masters, the receptionist outside, the service droids cleaning the hallways several floors below, the people in the City of Spires, the puddle, nothing was open to him anymore.

Tears filled Ethan’s eyes as he crawled on his hands and knees toward Master Yoda. Ethan clutched the hem of Yoda’s robe and turned his tear-stained face to the small Jedi. The look of despair on Ethan’s face spoke his mind for him.

A noise broke through the vacuum. The sound of laughter pierced the room. Someone was laughing at the Crown Prince of Alderaan as he was wallowing in misery. Ethan slowly turned to face the source of the mocking laughter.

A tall, young man with sandy colored hair was walking across the room toward Ethan. He walked with the same swagger than Ethan remembered he used to walk with. The confidence, the arrogance, and the ego showed with every step. The other Masters walked to this man and began laughing with him. They all laughed at Ethan.

“Who are you??” Ethan screamed at the sandy colored man surrounded by the Jedi he used to belong with.

The laughing continued. Mace Windu placed his hands on his knees and guffawed. Kit Fisto had blue tears streaming down his face. The sandy haired young man used the Force to lift Ethan into the air. He kicked at nothing in the air and the Jedi Masters roared with laughter. The sandy haired man ignited a lightsaber.

The golden blade hummed inches from Ethan’s face as he struggled in mid-air. The laughter abruptly stopped. The sandy haired man caught a drop of water from the leak in mid-air with his hand. He studied it, curiously, for only a moment. He used the Force to completely dissolve not only that drop, but the puddle, the leak, every drop from the room.

“I free you, Ethan Organa,” he said.

Every face turned deadly serious as the young man swung the blade directly at Ethan’s neck.

Ethan awoke with a start.  He flung the sweat-soaked sheets from his body and stared out of his window. He saw the people outside, but still could not sense them. The Force was still denied to him. Ethan’s head swam with the vision and only one question pounded into his head.

Who was that man?