in his seat and cleared his throat. “Listen, Marr, given this … Jedi thing, I think we need to discuss your role aboard Junker.”
The large expanse of Marr’s forehead creased in a question. “My role?”
Khedryn’s eyes, good and bad, looked off at oblique angles from Marr. “Right. Your role. See, Jaden and I were discussing your training and—”
Marr looked from Khedryn to Jaden, irritation in his eyes. “You two were discussing me?”
Khedryn nodded. “And we think it would be difficult for you to remain first mate while you’re training.”
“You do?” Marr said, eyeing each of them, annoyance creeping into his tone. “The two of you think that?”
“Yes,” Khedryn said uncertainly, and looked to Jaden. “Right?”
Jaden crossed his arms over his chest. “The training is difficult, Marr. And—”
“Do you think I don’t know that?”
“No, I presumed you knew that,” Jaden stuttered.
Marr spun in his seat toward Khedryn. “Is there someone else around that you intend to employ as first mate?”
Khedryn recoiled, looked everywhere but at Marr’s face, and ran a hand over his head. “No, not aboard. But I know some people—”
“Who?”
Khedryn’s tone sharpened. “What do you mean ‘who’? People.”
“The hell you do. Listen, I’m first mate and engineer aboard this ship.” He looked at Jaden and Khedryn in turn, challenging them to gainsay him. Neither did. “And if the training requires me to make a change, then I’ll make it then. But it is my decision. Understood?”
Khedryn busied himself on the instrument console, and Jaden thought he looked relieved. “Yeah, sure, fine.”
Jaden smiled. Marr had mettle, indeed. “Are you ready to continue the training?”
Marr looked to Khedryn, who waved him off. “I can handle the rest of the repairs and diagnostics. Go … move an object around with your mind or something. Maybe levitate a cup of caf into the cockpit for me.”
As Jaden and Marr exited, Jaden heard Khedryn mutter, “What the hell’s gotten into him?”
Mindful of Master Skywalker’s point that training could occur anywhere, Jaden led Marr toward Junker’s cargo bay.
“Listen, Marr,” he said as they walked. “You are very old to begin training as a Jedi. Typically, it means that it will be harder for you to overcome old thinking patterns, and that your capabilities will be capped at some point far below that of a Jedi who began training very young. That said, you have some unique talents that we may be able to harness.” He thought of the Grand Master. “And there have been exceptions, but I want you to understand my thinking.”
Marr stared straight ahead. “I understand.”
“Good. Much of your training in the Force will come from your own focus. I’ll guide you, give you tools, and answer questions, but you need to expand on what you already know and use that to learn more, question more, and then to grow more.”
Marr seemed to consider that. “Does it ever stop? The learning?”
Jaden smiled. Marr’s first question was a good one. “No. Your relationship to the Force is dynamic. It changes over time, just as you change over time. I learn new things every day. I learned … a lot on the moon. That is part of what makes this path so rewarding. And so challenging.”
Marr nodded.
“Relin taught you about the mental space you reserve? The central place you hold in your mind?”
“He called it the Keep.”
“Right. Master Katarn—my Master—called it the Sanctum. The name doesn’t matter. The point is to recognize it as the wellspring of your relationship to the Force. Your understanding and perception will expand outward from it. You’ve already begun to do that. But think of the Keep as a place to which you can return to try a lesson anew.”
Jaden tapped the control panel, and the gears of the cargo bay door hummed as the door slid open. A few shipping containers were all that remained in the bay. The rest had been lost in a dogfight with Sith ships.
Jaden had arranged a small shipping container into a makeshift table in the center of the bay. On it sat the hilt of the purple-bladed lightsaber he had built in his youth, the blade he had used to destroy the clone, Alpha. A small metal toolbox sat beside it.
Marr stood in the doorway, not stepping in. Jaden did not push him to enter. Marr had to take the step alone.
“That is your lightsaber,” Marr observed.
“It is,” Jaden said.
Marr stared at it for a moment, then stepped into the bay.
Jaden fell in beside him. “A Jedi typically crafts his own lightsaber. It’s