The Lost Jedi : Jedi Dawn

　It isn't until the battered old passenger transport is finally rising up on its repulsorlifts, pushing up and away from the landing area and up through the atmosphere, that you start to relax.
　That was close. Very close. And you've been close before, so you know what you're talking about.
　Your name is Havet Storm. You come from a well-populated planet on the outer edge of Imperial space. You are sixteen standard years old. Your mother and father are dead - as far as you know you have no close living relatives anywhere in the universe.
　For the last year of your life you have been on the run, skipping away from dangers real and imagined. It seems hard to believe that you ever had an ordinary life, but there must have been a time before when you weren't a renegade, an outcast. When you were just a boy living with his mother on a well-populated planet on the outer edge of Imperial space. You know there must have been a time like that, because you can remember the day it all changed.
　It was the day your mother was taken into hospital, illness and exhaustion having finally caught up with her. She never recovered. Alone in the house on that first night, looking for some things to take into the hospital for her, you found a box. It was locked, but you found the key hidden in your mother's purse. There were a few letters, souvenirs from family holidays, that kind of thing. No stili-slides, no tapes of the family - no visual records at all, in fact - but, otherwise, the kind of junk you collect as a family.
　Except... there was also a toy dog, a K9-series droid, the kind of thing fond parents used to give their children as a companion. And, when you touched a small panel on its back, the droid came to life, and a voice spoke through its mouth, a deep, resonant and vaguely familiar voice.
　"Havet, you don't know me, but this is your grandfather speaking - Morvet Storm. I don't know how much your parents have told you, about me, but I am a Jedi Knight, one of the last of our breed. I am old and I am tired, and my enemies are closing in around me. I may never get the chance to speak to you again, but I am sending you this small toy, so that you will remember me, and what I stood for. Who knows, one day you may come to stand for the same things.
　"I have a gift for you, Havet. When your father was born. I hoped I would one day pass this gift to him, but he was unlucky, and so I never had the opportunity. So, instead, I pass it to you."
　As the voice faded, a small, hidden hatch in the droid's belly popped open, and a cylinder popped out. It had a small control at the base, and a continuous energy lens guarded by a flared disk. That aside, the cylinder was almost featureless - until you activated the control.
　At once, a blade of pure energy, glowing orange-white, sprang from the lens. It slashed through pieces of metal furniture as if they were cloth. The shock made you drop the cylinder, at which point the energy beam shut off. As if on cue, your grand-father's recorded voice continued.
　"This is a lightsabre, Havet, the weapon of a Jedi. It is powerful enough to cut through any material yet known in the universe. Properly traiced, a Jedi can wield his lightsabre to block blaster fire！ Sadly, unless I am very much mistaken, that training will be denied you.
　"Havet, the Jedi are not like ordinary beings. Each has a special power, an ability to tap the mysterious power-source known as the Force. Like a beacon, the Force exists to provide a light for our journey throngh life. However, some Jedi turn aside from the light-"
　At this point, with a harsh crackle, the recording broke up, as if the storage medium had been corrupted. You looked for control filters on Arf to counter the noise, but found none. Then you realised, what you had thought was static was in fact blaster fire！ The battle - of whatever it was that you were listening to - ended very quickly.
　There were snatches of your grand-father's voice then, challenging his attackers. Finally, you heard him cry "Vader！ Has it come to this？" and there was an abrupt silence. The recording was still running, and you waited, breathless, for the end. Your grand-father's voice came again, spluttering, agonised.
　"Havet... the dark side... the death of all Jedi. Never reveal... never..."
　That was the last of the recording, though you listened to the suilence for some while. Arf offered a few whimpering noises, picking up on your sorrow. The air around you felt as solid as glass.
　That night, you listened to the words of another on her death-bed. Your mother confirmed the story; amplified it. Your gnand-father had been hunted down, executed as a traitor to the Empire, as were all Jedi. You father, who might have followed in Morvet's footsteps, suffered a debilitating accident as a child, and never underwent Jedi training. Even so, the same agents who caused your gnand-father's death, arranged an accident for your father. His freighter's navigational computer sent him spinning into a star's raging heart.
　Your mother apologised for never having spoken of this before. "Havet - I always feared it would be you next." she moved you from planet to planet, hiding, running, always fleeing in front of the unseen shadow of grand-father's killers.
　You stayed with your mother all the next day. At dusk, she passed on, and you were alone.
　All through that night, as you sat alone in an uafamiliar house, you put the pieces together. Your grand-father, a Jedi Knight, killed because of what he was； your father, a humble man, crippled in his youth, but still carrying the Jedi inheritance inside him, also siain； your mother, who had constantly kept you on the move from planet to planet, never settling in any one place for more than a few month, sheltering you from the people who would have done the same to you.
　Come morning, you packed your few possessions, including your new found companion, Arf, and the powerful lightsabre. Within the hour you were leaving that world behind you, moving on. You have always known that you must keep moving, to stay ahead of the mysterious power which murdered your family. Inside, you felt the power of the Force, the curse your grand-father had warned you of. You learned how to use it, experimenting during the many lonely hours you spent in hiding. You learned that many people throughout the Empire feared the Jedi, feared the unseen power of the Force. On some worlds, where you slippod up, they found you out, and you had to escape yet again.
　On the last world you visited, Korphir, you were starving before you joined a circus side-show, acting as a mind-reader. No-one could fathom your secret. They grew jeaious, frightened. Then, one night some of the other performers came looking for the "boy-freak", murder in their hearts. So you ran. And you swore you would never use the Force again.
　So, here you are, on a low-speed passenger ferry, entering orbit around a new world, ready to start a new life. You've got it all worked out in your mind； get a job, keep a low-profile, and never never allow anyone a glimpse of what you truly are. That means keeping out of trouble. It also means you don't dare use your personal comlink, in case the Imperial authorities can trace you. That will make it harder to find work - you'll have to visit any opportunities in person.
　Your past and future seem pretty clearly mapped out, which leaves just one mystery. You couldn't fathom it out on the day you found Arf, and you haven't figured it out to this day. Your grandfather was dead before you were born - so how did he know that he could leave you the lightsabre, how did he know your name？

Korphir

Jedi Dawn
Introduction