Chapter Text
The Jedi Council was assembled - sometime between the first and current meeting, some of the council members had to take their leave, so some seats were filled with a blue hologram rather than an actual person. Some wondered what Skywalker had done this time, some pondered whether it was about the disturbance, and some hoped that there was no grave news.
"Called this meeting, Master Kenobi and I did," Yoda said, signaling the start of the meeting. "Information, he has found."
All eyes turned to Obi-Wan.
"Earlier I left the temple to get a cup of caf at a diner," Obi-Wan began. "There I felt powerful Force signature as bright as a sun, similar to that of Anakin Skywalker's. It was a fifteen-year-old boy. Then a nurse at CSTY called the Order about a student with a high midichlorian count, so I went to check it out. The student was a boy... with forty-thousand midichlorians per cell."
The council's eyes went wide. Everyone knew Anakin had the highest count anyone had ever seen, so to hear of a boy having the same count as the Jedi Knight was certainly surprising.
"What is the boy's name?" Windu asked.
"Luke Starkiller. He lives in Ms. Applegate's Orphanage, though I'm not sure for how long."
Some of the council visibly relaxed knowing they didn't have another Skywalker on their hands.
"The test had to have been wrong," Mundi claimed with certainty. "Forty-thousand is too high for us to have missed."
"We missed Skywalker and his count is the same," Fisto pointed out.
"Skywalker was on Tatooine," Agen Koler said. "This is a boy right here on Coruscant."
"His accent didn't sound Coruscanti," Obi-Wan said. "If I had to guess, I would say it's from the Outer Rim."
"So he was orphaned in the Outer Rim and somehow made his way here," Stass Allie guessed.
"Forty-thousand is too high of a number to get wrong," Plo said. "Normally, our tests will say negative or positive one-hundred. Certainly not Forty-thousand."
"Perhaps we should test them ourselves if Master Mundi and anyone else is having doubts," Shaak Ti suggested.
"Nurse Willow suggested we talk with Ms. Applegate for his files," Obi-Wan said. "She also informed me of his two friends Mara and Ezra. I believe I saw Ezra with him at the diner."
"Could they be Force-sensitive as well?" Stass Allie asked.
"I am not sure. If Ezra had a signature, it must've been drowned out by Luke's, and Nurse Willow said she had not tested them so we could do it ourselves."
"Speak with with Ms. Applegate, and take Skywalker with you, you shall. Important, this is. If correct, is the test, untrained, he must not remain. Dangerous, it could be."
And with that grave note, the meeting was adjourned and Obi-Wan went to find Anakin.
Anakin monitored Ahsoka's training from the side as he studied her movements to critique any mistakes in her form. He had broken her out of the habit of protecting her legs more than her head and torso - which was important considering that's where battle droids aimed - but now she had a habit of leaving her left side open too much, so he was trying to correct that.
"Anakin!" A familiar voice called.
The Jedi Knight turned with a smile as his former Master approached him. He motioned for Ahsoka to continue with her training as he talked with Obi-Wan.
"I thought you were resting today, Master," Anakin said with smirk.
Obi-Wan sighed. "Unfortunately, the Force had other plans. Did you feel the shift earlier today?"
Anakin nodded. Of course he had, it was impossible to miss. And all day he had been wondering what it was and was hoping to get an answer from the council soon.
"We found a boy that may have cause or be a part of it. He goes to CSTY and the nurse there did a midichlorian test. He has forty-thousand per cell."
Anakin's smile dropped and his eyes widened. That was the exact same as his.
"The Council wants us to talk with Ms. Applegate at her orphanage. That's where he lives."
"Right now?"
"Tomorrow. We'll talk with her while he's at school."
Luke woke up early. Really early. Like no one else in the orphanage was awake. Growing up on a moisture farm, he had to wake up at the crack of dawn to get started on work. Then, in the Rebellion, he kept the habit up due to being a commander and all. Then there was Jedi training and... yeah, he was an early riser. He practically rose with the sun.
After getting ready for the day and re-bandaging his hand, he headed downstairs to the kitchen to make himself breakfast. The orphanage was much quieter when everyone was asleep.
He quickly made his breakfast and ate in his room to avoid anyone else. He sat at his desk and watched the sunrise in the background of buildings and speeders as he enjoyed the silence.
The silence was soon broken by children awakening to start their next day paired with Ms. Hardwood yelling at everyone - they had yet to meet Ms. Applegate, but he hoped she was a lot nicer than Ms. Hardwood.
Not looking to get yelled at, Luke got his shoes on and grabbed his bag and jacket before leaving his room. His friends were ready for the day as well and looked equally as thrilled as he did - none of them were thrilled to have woken up to discover that their current situation wasn't just a bad dream they had.
"So the plan for today is to just go about our routine as normal," Mara said as they walked downstairs. "Until you three get accepted into the programs, there's not much we can do except be normal teens."
"How do we do that exactly?" Ezra asked.
"Uh... survive?" Luke guessed.
Sure, he may have had a two parent household, which was more than Han, Ezra, and Mara could say, but in his time in the Rebellion he discovered that he really had no idea what a normal childhood looked like. On Tatooine, survival was the most important thing. He was learning to survive before he could even walk, and by the time he was ten, he could survive on his own if anything had ever happened to Owen and Beru. His teen years was spent shooting womp rats, freeing slaves, and fighting for his life while kids in the Mid and Inner Rims were going to malls, arcades, and basically not worrying about the chance of death every single day.
"I heard about this mall called the Final Frontier where teenagers like to go hangout," Leia said.
"Then we'll meet at the Final Frontier after school," Mara replied.
They were all in agreement with the plan as they exited the orphanage.
Anakin and Obi-Wan set off for the orphanage about an hour after schooling started so they would have plenty of time to speak with Ms. Applegate about this Luke Starkiller kid before testing him themselves.
The orphanage was alive with activity as the younger orphans were in class with the orphanage's private tutors. They were greeted by a stern woman whose name was Ms. Hardwood and they asked about Luke.
"What has that little troublemaker done now that the Jedi would get involved?" She asked with clear annoyance in both her tone and expression.
"Nothing except have a high midichlorian count," Anakin replied.
"Hm. The test had to be wrong - Luke Starkiller is certainly no Jedi. But if you insist, Ms. Applegate is this way."
Ms. Hardwood led them further into the orphanage and stopped at a door labeled "Ms. Applegate." She knocked, and a sweet voice from the other side invited them in. Ms. Hardwood opened the door.
"Ms. Applegate, there are two Jedi here wishing to talk about Luke Starkiller."
"Oh, yes, I was told they were coming," Ms. Applegate replied. "Let them in."
Ms. Hardwood stepped to the side to allow the Jedi to enter in. It was cozy, probably aiming to comfort any children that came in. There were various flimsis on walls that held drawings from kids. Anakin's mind wandered to daydream about his and Padmé's walls would look like that someday, but he shook it away when Ms. Applegate greeted them.
"What can I do for you, Master Jedi?" She asked.
She was a complete contrast of Ms. Hardwood: short, blonde hair and blue eyes, a little on the chubby side, and a warm smile that made you feel fuzzy on the inside.
"We would like to talk about one of the orphans you have here," Obi-Wan replied as he and Anakin sat down in the chairs in front of the desk. "Luke Starkiller."
Ms. Applegate slightly frowned as she sat in her chair behind the desk. "Luke? Did he do something wrong? I can assure you he means no harm. He's got a heart of gold, but always finds himself in trouble when helping others."
"He's not in trouble, Ms. Applegate," Obi-Wan reassured.
"The Order received a call from the nurse at CSTY," Anakin said. "She informed us of his exceptionally high midichlorian count and we were hoping if you could provide his information for us."
Ms. Applegate nodded as she stood and went to a set of drawers. "We do midichlorian tests ourselves, so I don't know why our nurse here didn't call you if Luke has a high count," she explained as she searched through a drawer of files. "Then again, our last nurse wasn't very reliable."
She pulled out a datafile and returned to her desk, handing it to Anakin. Anakin took the datafile and looked at it. There was a picture of a boy with sun-bleached blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and sun-tanned skin.
DETAILS OF ORPHAN
First Name: Luke
Middle Name: ?
Surname: Starkiller
Sex: Male
Age: 15
Date of Birth: ?
Place of Birth: ?
Siblings: ?
Homeworld: Tatooine
Origin: Brought to us by a mysterious hooded figure
Behavioral Notes:
Runs away
Gets in fights
Talks back to authority
Has been in trouble with the law
Troublemaker
Headmistress Notes:
Luke is a special case. Usually I am able to read my children well, but he's always been a mysterious boy. He'll be dragged back to the orphanage by an officer because he was caught stealing, but then in the same day I'll see him going the extra mile to help out one of the other children. I don't know what to make of him, but I know he's not a troublemaker - he's got a heart of gold. He's told me he wants to be a pilot, and his hero is Anakin Skywalker.
DETAILS OF PARENTS/GUARDIAN
Father's Name: ?
Date of Death: ?
Cause of Death: ?
Mother's Name: ?
Date of Death: ?
Cause of Death: ?
MEDICAL INFORMATION
Height: 5'5 ft.
Weight: 150 lbs.
Ethnicity: 50% Tatooinian
50% Nubian
Diseases: None
Bloodtype: O-
Midichlorian Count: 40,000
"Doesn't look like there's much about him," Anakin said as he handed the file to Obi-Wan.
"Unfortunately not," Ms. Applegate replied. "He's always been a bit of a mystery."
"Have you ever done a blood test to determine his parental heritage?" Obi-Wan asked.
Ms. Applegate nodded. "It's mandatory, along with the midichlorian test. But I was informed that nothing came up."
"May we have permission to do a blood test after testing his count?"
"Of course."
"Thank you for your time, Ms. Applegate," Obi-Wan said as he handed the datafile back to her. He turned to Anakin. "Let's head back to the temple to retrieve the testing kit, then we'll go to CSTY to test Luke."