Star Farmers - Chapter 3
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Disclaimer: I do not own any franchises mentioned in this story. This is fan-based work of fiction.
Beta: Gerald of Revea
-Line Break-
The lightsaber.
It is the single most iconic thing in all of Star Wars. Able to cut through wood, rocks, and any material as if it were paper. They come in different shapes and sizes. Colors, such as blue, green, yellow, red, and purple.
Tailored by its creator, each lightsaber is uniquely crafted to fit its master. That’s why Master Yoda’s lightsaber is so small, just about fitting in my hand.
‘Looks like it came straight from the gift shop’, I couldn’t help but think, my finger instinctively hovering over the ignition. Yoda had taken care of it. He took better care of it than he had himself.  
If I wanted to make my own lightsaber, not only am I going to need the materials to make one, but I’m going to need Yoda’s help putting all the pieces together.
“I should get back to work,” I muttered, letting out a small groan as I stretched.
The day was young, but Yoda woke me early for training. After four hours of no progress, he recommended that I take a break.
I clipped the lightsaber back to my belt before walking to Yoda, who was looking out over the pond right beside his hut.
“Back to work, you say?” Yoda’s voice drifted over the quiet water, his ears twitching before he slowly turned to face me. “Work, you call it? A chore, the Force is?”
“The chore is in me trying to use it,” I corrected. “I haven’t had eight hundred years to master it.”
“Master the Force, one cannot. Guide you, it does. If listen you do, clear, your path shall be.”
“Yes, Grand master, that should have been clear to me from the start,” I said, my sarcasm evident, though it was Yoda who looked unimpressed.
"Clear, was it?" He tapped the stick against my leg. "Then speak no more of chores. Sit."
I nodded silently, dropping beside him, taking a deep breath before I closed my eyes.
I tried to feel everything that I could. The water, the grass, my clothes, the air, and I felt…something. But I couldn’t put it into words. I didn’t even feel the smallest of pings from Yoda, despite him sitting right next to me.
‘I think I’ve become Arachnophobic,’ I thought, considering why I wanted to learn Force Sense in the first place. I don’t want to die, but spiders on this planet want to kill me. If I knew where they were before they came to me, I could be prepared to fight them off.
Or more likely, flee.
“Quiet on the outside, you are. But on the inside…” Yoda said leadingly. “Distracted by fear, your mind is.”
“You’re right,” I agreed, though as long as I’m with Master Yoda, there’s nothing on this planet that could hurt me.
Except myself anyway.
Tentatively, I reached out with the Force, feeling…something from the rock in front of me as it gently started to float in the air.
It was small. Flat. Unlike the large ones he used to train Luke with. My goal here wasn’t to stack them all up and create a tower.
It was to make the stone skip across the water.
I tried adding momentum to the stone. I wanted it to spin in a circle, but instead, the rock started to flip over on itself, taking me back to square one.
In annoyance, I pushed the rock with the Force, watching it hit the water before it started to sink to the bottom. 
“Science, the Force is not,” Yoda chided softly. “Math and formulas…different the Force is,” he said, grabbing another flat rock with the Force, making it hover in the air.
Next, it shot towards the pond, bouncing across the water a few times before landing near the bank on the other side.
This ‘forget everything you know’ aspect of the Force is really hard to get used to. It’s like living in a dream. Everything feels right, but nothing looks right.
“Yoda, be plain with me. What do I need to do to make the rock fly?”
Yoda frowned at my choice of words, but he remained silent, shifting to be directly beside me.
“Control, you seek. To measure, to master. But an illusion, control is. Let the Force flow through you, you must. From you, it does not come.”
“What does that even mean?” I pressed, my exasperation reaching a boiling point. “How can the Force flow through me, but not come from me?” I sighed, rubbing my forehead together. “I understand you are trying to help, but I’m going to need instructions that make sense here.” 
I didn’t doubt for one second that Yoda was wiser than me. Hell, he was definitely a better teacher than I was a student, but I’m not good with subtlety or mysticism. 
Yoda frowned, looking away in disappointment.
“Start again tomorrow; we shall. While frustrated you remain, progress you cannot make.”
“I think I can make progress if you can be just a bit clearer,” I argued. “Just a list of instructions, step-by-step on what I should do instead of just saying, 'Let the Force flow through you.”
Yoda smiled sadly at me.
“Given you the steps, I have. To walk them, up to you it is.”
With that, he hobbled back to his hut, making me scowl as he went.
There aren’t many interesting things to do on Dagobah. It’s like Australia but worse.
“I’m pretty sure I already made that joke,” I muttered, flipping another stone in my hand.
There are a total of three things I can do on Dagobah. Learn the Force, build a house, and grow vegetables. I’m good at exactly one of those things.
I caught myself thinking back to something Yoda said when we first met, my brow furrowing at the memory.
“A stone dropped into a still pond, you are,” Yoda said softly. “Say to the water, Disturb you, I will not. Shut, my mouth shall be. But already in the pond, the stone is! Changed, Displaced. Pass, the future you knew shall not. Gone, that story is. A new one, begun it has.”
It’s a nice sentiment, but I don’t understand it. Whatever time it takes for Luke to come here, I don’t see how any of it matters. No matter whether I live or die, the Death Star will blow up, and I’m stuck here.
“At least three years,” I murmured, slowly closing my eyes. Yoda would have told me if the Death Star had blown up or if he’d seen Obi-Wan’s Force Ghost.
‘Can’t forget about Alderaan either,’ I noted. ‘That planet is going to be blown to shit.’
And what could either of us do about it? A total of nothing. Fuck all.
‘Because here I am, stuck on this shithole of a planet with a crackpot for a teacher,’ I thought, anger taking the wheel as I whipped the rock straight at the hut, regretting it the moment it left my fingers.
However, as the stone bounced off the hut, I couldn’t help but blink, feeling confused for a few moments as the rock fell to the ground.
Slowly, I walked to where the rock hit the hut, wiping away a bit of the dirt to see a shine underneath.
“That’s metal,” I breathed, my mind racing a mile a minute.
How did Yoda find metal on this planet? Did he make it himself? Can he make more? Can parts be forged? How did he–
“Jesus Christ!” I jumped, only now noticing Yoda squinting at me through the window.
“To my home, welcome you I do, yet attack the shelter that keeps you dry, you choose?”
“You’re right, it was stupid,” I sighed. “I’m not used to all–” I waved my hand around in the air. “All this. Don’t know if I’ll ever be. Doesn’t excuse it, but I’m sorry.”
“Learn, then, you will! Like my home, I do! Prefer it unharmed, I would,” he harrumphed, turning away before I stopped him.
“Wait-” I called after him. “This is metal. How did you get this?” I asked, making him hum.
“Lifepod, my home once was!” he said, shocking me. “For a time, lived inside, I did. But withstand Dagobah for long, could it? No! Withered away, it did! Useful, it was… but a home,” his ears drooped. “It was not.”
“Holy shit,” I muttered, getting excited. “What did you do with the spare parts?”
“Think worthy of them, you are?” he asked, and I got a bit flustered. “Think you deserve them, you do?”
I nearly went to argue before I paused, stopping myself.

It wasn’t an argument I was going to win, nor was it one worth having. Yoda could have left me for dead, and I wouldn’t have lived past the first 24 hours on this planet.
‘Must have moved onto the second stage of grief today; why else have I been acting like a piece of shit?’
I took a slow breath.
“No,” I admitted, my voice quiet as I met his gaze. “I don't,” and I haven't felt this much like a child in years.
Yoda stared at me for a long moment. A soft, raspy hum escaped his chest.
“Deserve, no one does,” he said softly, leaning his small hands on his walking stick. “Earn, perhaps, you might. But first, drop the stone in your heart, you must. Build with anger, you cannot.”
I sighed, looking up into the sky before meeting Yoda’s eyes.
“Let me make dinner again.”
Yoda offered me a small smile.
-Line Break-
I love farming.
Farming is something that rewards you for your efforts. What does the Force do? Does its best to make everything as cryptic as possible.
Seeing as how the normal yellow potatoes were able to grow, I’ve moved onto another crop to see how well it grows.
Red potatoes.
They are actually much better for making a potato salad than the yellow ones. At the very least, it can introduce a difference in flavor.
‘I’m going to be a potato connoisseur when I finally leave here,’ I muse, grabbing the nearby shovel and digging up a small patch of dirt. I want to expand. Take whatever vegetables that I could find on this planet and grow them all together.
‘I wonder if Dagobah is all just rainforest and swamp,’ I thought idly, planting the potato. ‘Surely, it can’t be.’
Though it probably didn’t matter. Especially when neither me nor Yoda could travel far. It’s not like we had a speeder or a car. Or better yet, a tractor.
After I was done planting my new potato, I dropped my shovel, going back to the same thing I’ve been doing for the past two hours.

Collecting dead wood.
It's abundant on this planet. Mind you, that’s not surprising considering the amount of trees that surround this place, but nearly all of it was unusable for making a house.
Instead, I’ve been gathering it to make hedges. Fences. Something that would hide me from those spiders. The leftover wood could be used for fire. Keep the hut warm and hopefully scare off the spiders.
I’ve already built the first bit of the first wall. By tying vines around the sticks, I was able to make a small bundle, my first piece for the first wall. After I build enough of them, there’ll be nothing that can stop me.
“Building a fort, are we?” Yoda’s raspy voice came from behind me, making me jump. “Think wooden sticks will stop the swamp, do you?”
I feel like the imp takes pleasure in sneaking up on me every time.
“What other option do I have? Do you expect me to make a treehouse or something?”
I don’t think that’s even possible. The trees were ginormous, on par with some skyscrapers.
The Gnarltrees look like they could collapse on top of you. And their wood was way too strong. I haven’t come across a tree yet that I could just hollow out and live in. Not unless I figure out how to do it without the whole tree caving in on me, anyway.
“Clear, the path of the Force is. Clouded, your eyes remain.” his eyes softened. “An axe, unsuited for you. A shovel, adept with you have become. Considered how, have you?”
“Because the Force works in mysterious ways?” I asked hesitantly, which made him shake his head.
“To build, you must. Not destroy. In your nature it is.”
“I think we have different definitions of what destroying is,” I answered, and he raised an eyebrow at me. “I’m a farmboy, Yoda. Weeding, pruning, harvesting, tilling, plowing–actually, just look what I’m doing now. I’m land clearing.”
“On all accounts, correct you are,” he hummed, surprising me. He looked down at the bundle of bound sticks, then back up at me.
“Destroy the old to make room for the new, the farmer does. Slices the root, turns the earth, kills the weed,” Yoda said softly, poking the tip of his cane into the tilled dirt. “A cycle, it is. But see the difference, do you not?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but he held up his hand to quiet me.
“The farmer destroys to nourish,” Yoda chided gently, pointing his stick straight at my crude hedge. “Harm the soil, out of fear, he does not. Clear the weed, he does so life may grow. But you?” He shook his head, letting out a small sorrowful sigh. “To hide, you build. To separate yourself from the swamp, you chop and bind. Driven by fear, your hands are.”
He tapped my shovel with his stick, the dull metallic ring echoing through the swamp.
“An axe severs the connection. A shovel uncovers it. Shift your mind, you must. Live, not to conquer the swamp, but to belong to it.”
“Then why did you give me this?” I pressed, holding his lightsaber in my hand. “Everything you could say about an axe could be said about a lightsaber. So why did you give it to me?”
“Give it to you, I did not,” he hummed, looking up to meet my eyes. “Borrowed, it is. Peace of mind, it brought you…Yet unused, it remains,” he said, asking a silent question.
“You said to use it for defense and defense only,” I answered. “Nothing would make me happier if I could cut one of these trees down and make a cabin from the wood, but if I did that…”
Then Yoda would be disappointed. I needed him while I was here. If I broke his trust, where would that get me?
“Answered your own question, you have,” he said, smiling. “Reason to worry, I have not. Understood, the lesson is,” he said before turning away.
“Come, follow. No place to build a home, this is.”
Raising an eyebrow, I shrugged, deciding to follow after him.
If he knew a better place to build a home, then I’ll take it.
-Line Break-
What can I say about Dagobah?
Mostly flat, swampy, with a lot of trees. The weather doesn’t know if it wants to be cold all the time or warm all the time. Despite being ‘habitable’ for humans, no one would want to live here because it’s more work than it’s worth to make a colony.
Consider Kamino. The planet has no natural land whatsoever. However, someone decided that it made more sense to build an artificial city on water than to even attempt to make something on Dagobah.
“You know, I think this would be quicker if you let me carry you,” I offered, making Yoda chuckle.
“At the end of the journey, given the offer is,” he answered, making me look around.
The place wasn’t too far from Yoda’s hut. Maybe about eighty yards at most, but still a bit further away than what I would have liked.
“What do you see?” he asked, and I considered his words.
“Let’s see. There’s you, me, plenty of trees,” I commented idly, though that’s par for the course for Dagobah. I looked more closely at the surroundings, particularly the pile of vines.
Wait a minute…”Did you put these vines here?”
“Right, your thinking is. Wrong; the question remains,” Yoda answered, making me cautiously approach the pile.
It wasn’t a small pile by any means. It towered over me. Thousands of years of tangled growth and decay accumulating in a single spot.
More than anywhere else I’ve seen on Dagobah, though I can’t say I’ve seen a lot.
I put my hand through the vines, pausing for a moment as I felt a flat resistance. Parting away more of the vines, I finally understood what was underneath.
“Under the green, buried, the true ground stays,” Yoda hummed, using his cane to part the foliage. “Carve a home, the shovel can. Ask the hill for shelter, and welcome you, the earth will.”
A Hobbit hole. Yoda doesn’t want me to make a cabin; he wants me to dig a hole in the ground.
‘That’s actually something I can do,’ I started to hope before logic got the best of me.
“It won’t last,” I let out a breath. “The mud will sink. Without reinforcement, whatever hole I make will collapse; rainwater would flood it and–”
I wanted to keep going, but Yoda only looked at me with quiet amusement, making the words die in my throat.
“Unlearn what you have learned, you must,” he answered. “Problems, your mind sees. Opportunity, it forgets.”
I stared at the hill for a long moment, let out one last resigned sigh, gripping my shovel.
“The moment the ceiling collapses, I'm building a treehouse."
Yoda hummed with satisfaction. “Trust the Force, you will. Lead your path; it shall.”
-Line Break-
After a few hours of digging, night started to fall over Dagobah, and we returned to Yoda’s hut intent on getting a good night's sleep for tomorrow. 
Yoda fell asleep quickly, but even though I was totally beat, my brain wouldn't shut off. 
I just lay there on the floor, staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep. Something was gnawing at the back of my mind.
Something I couldn’t get out of my head.
I got up from my makeshift bed and slipped out of the hut, walking around the pond until I found a flat stone.
‘That’ll do,’ I thought, picking up the best one I could see.
As I gazed out over the pond, Yoda’s words started to echo in my mind.
‘Let the Force flow through you, you must. From you, it does not come.’
‘I don’t create the Force; I just tap into it,’ I thought, closing my eyes. I felt the rock leave my hand, and though I couldn’t feel it, I could sense it.
It was there, just like everything around me. The lake, Yoda’s hut, the ground, the trees.
In that moment, I felt it all at once.
And then, I let go.
I opened my eyes, my lips stretching into a smile as I saw the stone skip across the water, landing just beside the stone Yoda used earlier that day
“Very good.”
“What the f–” I blurted, feeling startled, only for my words to die out as I saw him.
He stood out in the dead of night on Dagobah. He was glowing, his presence alone lighting up the nearby area. Tall as well, a good few inches taller than I was. But probably the most interesting thing about him was that he was blue.
And transparent.
And dead.
“Qui-Gon?” I asked, the words barely escaping my lips.
“Indeed,” he said softly, bowing his head in greeting.
“It is good to meet you, young Padawan.”