Playlist:

❶ "The Imperial Suite"—Rogue One OST

❷ "Shuttle Tydirium Approaches Endor"—Return of the Jedi Extended ST

❸ "Departing Coruscant"—Attack of the Clones OST

❶ The Republic ground troops looked up as the sun's rays were blocked. A star destroyer plunged from space, headed for their position. They abandoned their targets and retreated from the destroyer's crash point. Naluma pulled her unit to safety on opposite lips of the expansive sand dune.

Naluma sucked water from her almost empty pack. When she reached out across the Force-bond to check on Master Luke, she smiled with the joy that surged across the bond.

He was ecstatic—he was flying a speeder. She gasped as her eyes saw through his. A wave of nausea overtook her as he banked left through the legs of a walker. As she gulped down the bile, he spun into a barrel roll. She pulled out of his thoughts, knowing she could not handle much more.

She took another slurp of water to clear her mouth and swallowed some salt tabs as the earth shook on impact of a destroyer. Sand scattered everywhere, forcing the troops around her to lie flat and cover their heads.

About ten minutes later, she heard Namir in her helmet headset. "Bug out! Radiation leak. Our job here's done. Drop ships on their way in. RZ point ten clicks away. Namir out." He transmitted the rendezvous coordinates to each helmet.

A bright flash caught Naluma's eye. She rose, slower and tired, up from the dune, and shouldered her rifle. She scanned across the edge of the crash site with her macrobinoculars. What's this? Oh, no.

Two youth crested the closest dune and collapsed—their skin red in a blistering rash—the radiation from the megaton crashes already spreading their deadly disease. 

Naluma worked some anti-rad meds from her pocket, swallowing them with a gulp of warm water before she slid down the dune toward the figures. She heard Namir in her earpiece. "Where are you going, Fau?"

"Gotta check something out, Captain."

"We've got orders to bug out. I can't stay back to help you."

"Understood, Cap." Naluma trudged through the sand toward the pair of children.

They halted about a hundred meters from the ship—within the immediate radiation zone. One of them dug something out of the sand and shoved it into a carry-all bag. The other moved forward a few paces and dug more pieces of the ship out. The ship spewed tall flames beyond them.

Naluma gritted her teeth and pulled in the Force to bring herself over to the duo. She yelled at them, "Stop! Don't touch anything."

When they both looked at her, she saw that they wore loose wrappings, goggles, and headscarves. She could not discern their genders. What she could see of the faces appeared identical.

She said with the full authority of the Force behind her voice, "Drop your bags and come with me."

They looked at each other, communicated in some unrevealed way, and continued with their scavenging.

Weary of it all, Naluma used the Force to levitate both youths to her, flung their bags toward the burning ship, and dragged them both across the dunes. The two struggled in her grip.

As a wave of sand hit her in the face, the one in her left arm broke free. Fed up with expending more energy to control them, she put them both in a Jedi trance. Then she hefted them over her shoulders and trekked up the dune to safety.

After subduing the four guards at the north entrance, Han said, "Chewie, take half the squad and set the detonators throughout the west side."

Chewie roared in agreement and padded down the corridor. The squad handled the light resistance with ease. Within an hour, the base was wired.

After the squad regrouped at the north entrance, Han yelled, "Out! Out! Out!" As they cleared the base, Han pressed the detonator switch, sending plascrete and metal shooting everywhere.

Luke sped into the raging battle with the walkers. Avoiding cannon fire with Force-sight, he wove in and out between the walkers, as well as between their legs. "Sab, harpoon ready?" he asked.

"Yes, sir."

Sab stabbed the release button, but nothing happened. "Must be jammed." The button popped off, showering sparks over the panel. "Uh-oh. The release is fried."

Luke used the Force, but found that laser fire had welded the end of the cable to the spool. He finished another pass around the AT-ATs feet, and sensed the cable neared its end.

"Hold on!" Luke yanked the controls and brought the speeder into a tight climbing loop. G-forces pinned his body into the seat, but all he needed were his hands.

The speeder finished the loop and came screaming down towards the desert floor. Luke focused his mind on the cable and fired.

The shot hit the cable and blew it apart,releasing the speeder from its tether just in time. Luke pulled back on the controls, and the wing grazed the crest of a dune, a cloud of sand riding behind them from flying so low.

As they set up for their next attack on a second walker, the first walker wobbled and crashed to the ground on its side. Luke flew the speeder in an indirect angle toward the second walker, firing at the cockpit of the command unit. The head burst into a fireball, which roasted the fuselage of the speeder as Luke took evasive action.

❷ Naluma swallowed a swig of water from her pack. Nearly empty, she saved some for the two kids she had rescued.

After she revived them out of the trance, they sprang to their feet and charged at her. When they raised clenched fists and came too close, she stunned them with the Force, temporarily paralyzing them in hopes they'd realize she wasn't a foe.

"Calm down. You don't want to run back down there," she said letting peace emanate toward them. "The radiation will kill you."

She took some anti-rad meds from her pocket. "Anti-rad pills. I will give you them if you both promise not to run back down there." Naluma was not serious about withholding the medicine, but they did not know that.

One of them said, "We can't promise that. If Unkar Plutt doesn't get his salvage, we don't eat." With the deep voice, Naluma thought this one must be a boy.

Something passed between the two. Naluma could not be sure, but she thought they were using mindspeech. The Jedi unzipped a pocket on her pack and pulled out two ration bars, offering them to the duo. "Here."

The other one asked as she bit into the bar, "Who are you?"

Naluma assumed this was a girl. "Jedi Knight Naluma Fau. And who are you?"

The girl said between bites, "I'm Kallay Flo'et, and this is my brother Kalder. We work for Edger. He sent us out to the crash site to scavenge for parts."

Kalder said, "Yeah, thanks for nothing."

"I just saved your lives—radiation poisoning is not a pleasant death, either."

Kalder said, "It might be nicer than going back to Edger empty handed."

"I doubt it," Naluma said, thinking. Then she caught them speaking to each other again via mindspeech. She put into their brains, How long have you two been speaking like this?

Kallay dropped her mouth.

Kalder took it in stride. "Since we came to Jakku."

"How did you get here?" Naluma asked aloud.

Kallay said, "The ship we were traveling on crashed here a few years ago. We were the only survivors."

"How about your family?"

"They probably think we're dead," Kalder said with derision.

"Have you noticed any other things strange since you got here, besides talking to each other in your heads?"

Kalder said, "Sometimes, I know what people are going to do right before they do it. I see it in my mind."

"Well, if you want to learn how to use these abilities, come with me. Otherwise, I'll take you back to this Edger."

The children—no, Naluma could tell they were older, maybe in their late teens—conferred again with mindspeech. They both nodded and joined Naluma as they hiked to the drop ship landing site a few clicks away.

❸ Luke landed the speeder at the staging area for the Pulsars. The cockpit opened and he jumped out of his seat and practically flew down the ladder. "Yee-haw!" He fist-pumped the air. "Just like threading the walkers back on Hoth."

As he hopped out of the speeder, he said, "That was great shooting, Sab."

Sab said with a bashful grin, "It was nothing, sir."

A small group of pilots and gunners surrounded Sab and dragged him off, leaving Luke to make his way to the drop ship for a ride up to the fleet. Air speeders flew over his head, landing in formation around the drop ships.

Luke hurried past the speeders until the Force stopped him. Luke cocked his head, and found his feet already moving him closer to investigate.

As he approached the speeder, the pilot opened the canopy and jumped down from the unit. A lanky youth, no older than fifteen, jumped down from the unit.

Luke did not know if he was more shocked by the pilot's age or the strength of the Force with him. When he removed his flight helmet, the pilot revealed a thatch of dark hair, darker skin, and big brown eyes.

His gunner jumped down behind him from the backseat. As she removed her helmet, she shook out her long blonde curly hair and shouted, "Yee-haw! That sure was some flying, Tandolleau." The gunner was a compact female with a wide smile, maybe a year or two older than Tandolleau, but also strong with the Force. "Were you counting how many we bagged today?"

Tandolleau grinned. "Twelve if we got any. I bet you no other team got as many. Duras will owe me a drink tonight."

When they both looked up, Master Skywalker stood in front of them. He winked at them. "I got fourteen."

Tandolleau and Jannah glanced at each other with furrowed brows. "Can we help you, sir?" the pilot asked while cradling his helmet.

"Yes ... I believe you can. Have you two ever heard of the Jedi Order?"

Naluma led the twins for ten clicks across the broiling desert. The water ran out after three clicks. They staggered into the staging area, heading straight for the relief stations.

The specialist on duty darted in front of the cooler and said, "Sorry. This water is for troops only."

Naluma glared at him. "This is Jedi business, Specialist. Step aside."

"Sorry, ma'am, I can't."

Naluma, too tired to pursue the regular channels, prepared herself to use mind control, "I think you are mistaken, specialist."

Before the situation got out of hand, a lieutenant intervened. "Is there a problem here, Jedi Fau?"

"I think the specialist requires etiquette education, Captain. We just need some water."

"Specialist, perhaps you missed the announcement. The Jedi assisted us on this mission. Step aside," the captain said. "My apologies, Jedi Fau."

"What about those civilians?" the specialist asked.

Naluma said, "Jedi business. Water them, too."

Agitated by the decision, the specialist refilled the twins' canteens and gave Naluma a kilo of water in her pack with much grunting.

She then led the twins to the mobile medic station set up in the staging area. This time, the duty officers recognized her as the Jedi Knight assigned to their prong. Naluma informed, "Radiation exposure from the star destroyer that went down. I administered anti-rad meds."

The medic took out their devices and scanned them for radiation effects. When the device clicked a little, he administered another hypospray to each of them. "You're lucky. Mild cases. Expect nausea and fatigue in the next few hours, but other than that, no permanent damage. Check in with the med center when you return to the fleet."

Naluma led the twins through the staging area. Troops speckled the sand banks in crooked aisles, using plas-sheets or anything they could find to create some shade from the scorching heat.

She reached out with the Force, and touched upon her Master's presence, but it came back to her as weak or preoccupied, she couldn't be sure which. Naluma gnawed her lower lip.You'd better be okay. Or you'll wish you weren't.

Did you know ...

● It's been almost a year since the New Jedi Order was established. I figured it was time for some new Padawan.

● Kalder and Kallay Flo'et are 16-year-old twins.

● Jannah Witerspah is 16, and Tandolleau Duwamba is 15. 

● In Battlefront: Twilight Company, a chapter or two discuss the recruiting methods during the Rebellion. No one checked identification cards. People usually changed their names and lied about their ages. The youngest were usually the ones that died first. Only the Force preserved these youngsters.

Tell me what you think ...

● Compare the reception of being recruited for the Jedi Order between the two pairs. What do you think was a primary cause of this difference?

● What do you think of the camaraderie between Jannah and Tandolleau? What does it tell about their relationship?