Episode I - Our Shared Hope

This Teenage Jedi story is my contribution to:

2024 Literotica Geek Pride Story Event

A short Star Wars Glossary appears at the end.

-- -- --

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away....

EPISODE I -- OUR SHARED HOPE

Lim-Rel wiped the back of her hand across her face, glancing briefly at the scarlet trail left on it. She had been too slow to deflect the metal pipes her opponent had sent careening towards her head from a wall to the left. A beginner's mistake, and she cursed herself for her naiveté.

The huge, shadowy figure before her laughed, sounding half crazed. When it spoke, its gender was hard to determine. "So they are sending schoolgirls to face me now. Are the Jedi really so desperate?"

Lim tried to stay calm, tried to focus on how her father had trained her. "I'm no schoolgirl, Darth Andro, I am Lim-Rel of Y Liem. I am a Jedi. And I am here to end your reign of terror over this misbegotten planet." Lim rather wished that she had done a better job of eliminating the tremor from her voice.

The Sith's laugh became a cackle, and its eyes gleamed like twin coals. "A Jedi? How precious. A real Jedi?" Its tone shifted from mock incredulity, to genuine cruelty. "Let me tell you, little girl, I feast on the flesh of Jedi. Not, by the look of you, that you would make a hearty meal."

With a flick of its hand, more debris hurtled toward Lim. But she would not be caught off guard twice. As the metal tore forward, she deflected most of it with a wave of her hand, and back flipped rapidly out of the path of the remaining detritus.

As she landed, a trickle of blood ran from Lim's nose, shameful testimony to her earlier sluggish reactions. She began to feel anger rise in her. 'Remember your training. Remember father's instructions.'

The large figure took two steps in Lim's direction, its words were now low and menacing. "So you have mastered some of the basics. Let us see if you are as good with more advanced topics."

As it spoke, a fiery red sword flamed upwards, crackling and humming. "But, little girl, I should tell you about the prophecy. No Jedi or their spawn shall harm Andro, or so the wise women said."

Its laugh became a howl, and it launched at Lim with terrifying speed and with murder flaring in its burning eyes.

Lim stayed still. She still stayed still. And then, at the last moment, she stepped suddenly right, turning and igniting her own saber. She thought that maybe she saw shock in her opponent's baleful eyes as her weapon's color mirrored that of the Sith's.

Lim flicked her saber upwards rapidly and the black hulk fell, severed and motionless, onto the floor. It's body smoked, but did not move. Gingerly, Lim pushed at its bulk with her foot, but with no response.

Lim deactivated her sword, and said, with a smile she knew unbecoming of her order, "good thing Mom's a Sith then, and that I borrowed her weapon."

She regretted the words as soon as she uttered them. Sure enough, a voice, one suggesting sorely tried patience, sounded in her head. "Lim, is this the way I have taught you? Is anger, and taunting the fallen, the way of a Jedi?"

Lim replied disconsolately. "No, Dad. And is Mom pissed that I took her saber?"

Lim hoped that there was a touch of lightness in his words when her father responded. "What do you think, young lady?"

This wasn't how it was meant to be, she was meant to be bringing balance to the Universe, uniting the Jedi and the Sith, ending their millennia long battle for supremacy. Not being lectured by Dad.

'Shit,' thought Lim, 'I'm gonna be grounded again for sure. I'm nineteen, not thirteen. It's so unfair. No one else my age gets grounded.'

As she climbed back into her elderly Delta-7 star-fighter, it felt awfully like Lim's period was also starting. 'Worst... day... ever!'

-- -- --

Lim lay curled close to her mother, head on her lap. "Sometimes it sucks being a woman, Mom."

Loo-See smiled, but it was an indulgent smile. While she could see few traces of her own Zabrak lineage in Lim -- the girl mostly took after her human father -- the same could not be said for her temperament. "Indeed it does, my child. But the herbs I prepared for you will dull the ache soon enough."

Lim twisted to look up at her mother. Her blue eyes stared straight into Loo-See's red and yellow ones. Lim remembered how she had once asked her mother to paint her face red and black, so that she could 'look like Mommy.' Her mother had reluctantly complied, while repeatedly stating that Lim didn't need to look Iridonian to be her daughter. In any case, they had been unable to work out a way to replicate Loo-See's crown of horns, so the final effect had been less than convincing.

"Mom, it sucks to be a woman and me."

Lim sounded so plaintive that Loo-See's smile broadened. "Oh my angel, is it so bad that you are special?"

"Yeah, it is actually. It really is. I just want to be a normal girl. You know, hang out with my friends. Catch a holo-movie. And..." she hesitated to bring the subject up, "... you know, maybe go on a date every once in a while." Lim opened her big, blue eyes as far as they would go. "I'd like to go on a date, maybe just one..."

"Lim, first your Jedi mind tricks won't work on me, and second, your father thinks..."

"Oh, please, Mom. Dad's a pain. I often think if I looked like you he'd..."

Loo-See rather sharply cut across her daughter, "... he'd love you just as much as he does now -- maybe more, he has a thing for my kind..."

Loo-See tailed off as her daughter made a face. "Sorry, too much information?"

Lim nodded. Loo-See mouthed a second, 'sorry' silently, then continued. "And he'd still want to train you. He is right that a girl..." Loo-See saw her daughter's look and course corrected, "...woman, that is, who embodies the powers of both the Sith and the Jedi, well, as I say, you are special."

Lim grunted, "I wish I wasn't."

Loo-See stroked her daughter's hair. "Your father only wants what's best for you... and the Universe as a whole, of course."

"Ugh! That's the problem right there," growled Lim.

Loo-See sighed and tried to remember being nineteen. It had been a hundred and five years ago, of course. How time flies.

With a sigh, Loo-See conceded. "Maybe you could go on a date. Just one, as a trial, OK? I'll speak to your father."

Lim hugged her mother. "Thanks, Mom, you're the best."

Her monthly pain suddenly less debilitating, Lim skipped off to her room. Leaving Loo-See to hope that news of her soft-spot for Lim never leaked. It would be a scandal in Zabrak society. And she had only just begun to live down the furore that selecting a human partner had generated.

Speaking of human partners, she now needed to talk to her husband, to Oo-Ree-Ell.

-- -- --

Lim lay on her bed, she was on her stomach, her lower legs pointing at the ceiling. The pose reminded her of being a younger girl. She was flicking through what was essentially a history of her mother's people on her holo-pad. It segued into an overview of Y Liem, Lim's planet, one that many refugee Zabrak had made their home. There was a section Lim was interested in, but the search function had been playing up for months, a lot of the tech in the Outer Rim was old and unreliable. Instead she scrolled.

The contents were well known to her. Disagreements between different Jedi sects back in the time of the Old Republic. The deepening of these and the schism of the Sith. So much was viewed as settled lore by all authorities. But then the alternative perspectives. The Sith themselves splintering. The stronger, more numerous faction bent on proselytizing their own religion, on using The Force to take political control. But, still a significant minority, seeing their powers as ones to be used for communal good.

Inevitably, the weaker group began to be dismissed as Sith in name only, or branded as Unbelievers. They were ostracized, removed from positions of influence, some unlucky ones perished, others fled to the Outer Rim seeking sanctuary from persecution by their coreligionists. And, in the annals of the rest of the Galaxy, the name Sith became synonymous with the victorious sect and its destructive and domineering world view.

The Unbelievers were forgotten, but they remained many. More so after the rumors of civil war and genocide reached them. Genocide perpetrated on their Sith cousins by one of their own. But even that atrocity had, most likely, been exaggerated, like Sand People, Sith were always keen to hide their true numbers.

Memories of actual events dimmed so far, that Jedi Knights were despatched to neutralize a non-existent threat from the already marginalized Unbeliever remnants, thinking them to be Sith cells. Which is how a young Jedi Master had found himself in combat with an Outer Rim Sith Princess.

The battle was long, but the Sith had eventually prevailed. The Jedi lay at her feet and prepared himself to become one with the Universe. But she stayed her hand. She saw something in her fallen adversary. Something so striking, that -- a handful of years later -- they had welcomed their child into the World, a baby daughter. And they named her Lim-Rel, which means 'our shared hope.'

They feared further Jedi missions, but soon enough The Council had much more to worry about than Sith stragglers far from the seat of power. And so the Unbelievers got what they most prized, to be left alone. At least for many years.

For their love Oo-Ree-Ell had abjured the Jedi code, and Loo-See had defied Sith convention. On Coruscant, they would have become outcasts, if not worse, but the Outer Rim was more tolerant. Or maybe there were just too many other existential dangers to let a mere mixed marriage become a cause for excommunication.

The text got a bit hyperbolic at this point, at least to Lim's way of thinking. She was in no way the Chosen One. She couldn't bring order to her underwear drawer, let alone the Galaxy. They had the wrong girl, for sure. Whatever her father might say. She was just Lim. Sure the number of notches on her light saber -- well her Mother's really, but, after the last time, Loo-See had said to keep it -- had now reached double figures. But that wasn't totally abnormal out here.

Lim kept scrolling. More recent history, Zabrak laws, governance structures,... aha! what she was looking for, customs. Specifically dating customs. She read the text with interest. With great interest, as Lim was now a girl who had been allowed to date.

As she finished the guide, Lim reflected that all she needed to do now was to figure out with whom.

-- -- --

There were options, maybe too many, Lim reflected. And attitudes to intimacy were relaxed in the Outer Rim, those of age were encouraged to explore. A date normally meant more than a chaste peck on the cheek, much more. And it was not as if she had lacked inquiries. It was frankly much harder to avoid having sex than it was to arrange to have it.

Most of her friends had hooked up with someone at least once already. Indeed, given the widely prevalent view that sex was both healthy and natural, there was a complicated web of cross couplings within Lim's cohort. But not her, even at nineteen, not her. Why? Because she was special, at least according to her father. Because training was more important. Because honing her skills was more of an imperative than satisfying her burgeoning, hormone-fueled desires. Fuck being the Chosen One.

She consoled herself that at least her Mom had eventually seen sense, and then convinced her Dad that letting Lim have some broader experiences would only help her development. Thankfully the Sith Unbelievers had a less puritanical attitude towards sex than the, sometimes prudish, Jedi. So, it had been agreed that Lim was going to have her first date, leading -- she hoped -- to other first things. But where to start in identifying a suitable partner? Consistent with her Dad's character, Lim decided to be methodical.

First of all, gender. That was easy. Lim didn't really care. Next, species. Perhaps it might be interesting to explore at some point, but lizards, fish-folk, and insectoids might be a little much for an ingenue dater. Lim decided to stick to near-humans, and hoped that didn't make her a terrible speciesist.

Her own heritage was one option. On Mom's side, she found many male Zabraks not to her taste. The word 'assholes' was maybe unfair, but they could be both cold and aggressive. The girls? Thoughts of Loo-See herself flitted through Lim's head; no, not the girls. Humans? Well they were OK, she guessed, but maybe a little vanilla. Lim didn't think of herself as a vanilla kind of girl.

The obvious option was Twi'leks. They were almost as common as humans, and both genders had that sinuous grace; born to dance and to... well Lim didn't like to use the word. But weren't they also a little... well, ordinary? This date would be the first time for Lim, and she was determined for it to be extraordinary.

And then a thought occurred to her. A pleasing thought. So far, her approach had been to consider species, not specific people. But there was one, very specific, girl who ticked all the boxes. And she was a friend, maybe not a close one, but a friend nevertheless. Her name was Obuna, Obuna Rewar. She was that rarest of things, a Togruta, and, thought Lim, 'she was pretty.'

Unlike many of her friends, Obuna had never made a direct approach to Lim. But, there had been -- what was the word? -- some sort of empathy between them. The pair had maybe not talked that much, but, when they did, they got each other. Lim was decided, Obuna was the one.

-- -- --

Lim could have messaged Obuna, but her holo-pad had said that a face to face request was viewed as more respectful. It also felt better to her, though the thought of possible rejection in person was scary. Lim knew that this would not be Obuna's first time. Togruta were popular partners, and experience had been another factor in Lim's decision-making process.

The two girls had arranged to meet in an open square in the center of Mac-Mot, the chief city of Y Liem, and its administrative center. Lim lived on its outskirts. The reddish sun was warming as Lim lay on the grass waiting, eyes closed, and her nostrils filled with the aroma of the vibrant flowerbeds that punctuated the lush, turquoise lawns.

Through her closed lids, Lim sensed the brightness diminish. She opened her eyes and looked up to see Obuna, her graceful form backlit. It seemed to Lim that her friend's headtails quivered slightly. The standing girl spoke first. "Hi, Lim, you wanted to meet?"

Again, maybe Lim was imagining things, but was there a slight tremor in Obuna's voice? Telling herself not to assume too much, Lim replied. "Yes, I did. Thank you for coming."

Lim sat up and patted the grass next to her. Obuna half pirouetted and sat cross-legged in one fluid movement. It was not only Twi'lek who had mastery over bodily motion. With a half smile on her orange-accented face, the Togruta asked, "well?"

It wasn't a demand, more an intrigued inquiry. Lim took this as a good sign. But her nerves were also getting the better of her. She deflected. "Let's... let's just sit a while, enjoy the sun, OK?"

Obuna said, "sure," and the two young women sat silently, side by side.

Out of the corner of her right eye, Lim surreptitiously surveyed her friend. Of course her looks were familiar. Her apricot skin traced with pale blue lines. Her sinuous lekku and modest, female montrals in darker blue, crossed by the same pale blue stripes. She was a delicate and striking creature. But, to Lim, something seemed different today.

Of course, Obuna customarily wore loose clothing, verging on the baggy. Not today, her shapely legs were encased in skin-tight black fabric. A sleeveless gray top clung equally close to her chest. Lim had never noticed her friend's breasts before, but the cleavage was hard to ignore, and the same went for her protuberant nipples. Lim began to be aware of unfamiliar feelings rushing through her body.

'Surely Obuna's atypical choice of clothing meant something,' Lim thought to herself. But it was only clothes after all. Still, Lim wished that she had picked something to wear other than her Jedi robes. Then it felt like they were a part of her by now.

These thoughts racing through her head, Lim became aware of piercing cobalt eyes regarding her quizzically. "Was there something you wanted to ask me, Lim?"

Lim's throat felt dry, and her chest heaved. Her training, which had given her exquisite mastery over muscle and sinew, seemed to be deserting her totally now. She told herself to be brave, she'd bested some of the most vile and dangerous creatures in the system. Why was another girl reducing her to jello?

"Lim, are you OK?" Obuna put her arm on her friend's shoulder.

Lim closed her eyes briefly, took a deep breath, and then looked at Obuna, trying to recall the formal words. "I'm fine. I... I just wanted to say... would you... would you do me the honor... of..."

Lim found her vocal chords were no longer properly connected to her brain, and had unilaterally decided to stop working. Her pale freckled face was burning red. This had been such a mistake.

Obuna's hand was still on Lim's shoulder and she felt the Togruta squeeze her gently. "Are you trying to ask me on a date, Lim?"

Lim nodded silently, grateful that Obuna had spoken for her, but fearful of her response. Eyes downcast, Lim was sure that her ineptitude had ruined everything. Then she felt soft lips on her cheek and the words, "of course," whispered in her ear.

Spontaneously, Lim hugged Obuna, and the hug led to their lips meeting. Lim's abilities and training meant that she could leap large distances, and execute complex acrobatics. She found these things exhilarating, the freedom, the power coursing through her body. But, compared to kissing Obuna, those feelings were nothing. This was starbursts, and orchestras swelling in harmony, and breathless warmth, such warmth.

Obuna pulled back and held Lim at arms' length. "Wow! That was something." She was smiling. "Protocol is that we wait for a week after the offer is accepted, but, Lim, I'm not sure I can wait that long. How about you?"

Lim had still only vestigial control over her voice, but instead smiled and nodded vigorously.

Given Lim's vocal incapacity, Obuna took the lead. Standing, she also pulled her friend to her feet. "I have a place, a private place. It's not far."

Hand in hand the two girls left the square.

-- -- --

Lim recalled that Obuna was not from Y Liem. She had come there to study, and her parents had arranged for accommodation. Lim reflected that they must be wealthy, as her friend's living quarters were sumptuous. Despite being in the center of town, she had a single floor house, set in an extensive and high-walled garden. Obuna had been right about the privacy it afforded. They could cavort naked and unseen in the grounds. Lim blushed at the thought.

Sitting on a low, damask-upholstered chaise longue, and awaiting her friend's return, Lim was overwhelmed by the richness of colors, her senses overloaded by fragrant perfumes, and the flickering light of candles. But growing anxiety exceeded even Lim's wonder at the opulent surroundings. Would Obuna like her? She was the total opposite of the soft and full curves that the Togruta had displayed in the square. More awkward, scrawny, and bony. Lim didn't think of herself as pretty, and her hair was a mess. She vainly tried to use her fingers to comb her tangled, dirty blonde locks, and then gave up.