Star Farmers - Chapter 5
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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


Yoda is one of the most ancient creatures in the galaxy. His life experience trumps mine almost forty times over. He has seen things that I couldn’t even dream of. Experienced indescribable loss that I could never truly comprehend.


But most importantly?


He was a picky little shit.


It’s like a child that doesn’t want to eat their veggies. Or the opposite in this case. The potatoes were all gone, but the perfectly cooked steak was sitting there getting cold.


Annoyingly, it wasn’t nearly as good as I'd hoped. It was okay. A bit too gamey. But it didn’t taste nearly as good as the potatoes.


“At least give it a try,” I grumbled. “That right there is the best source of protein on the planet.”


“Untrue that is. Yarum and Galla seeds, better they are,” he answered, and I gave him a lidded stare.


“Fuck it,” I sighed, stabbing my fork into his steak and putting it onto my plate. The old codger seemed relieved to see it go.


I grimaced as I ate into the meat once more, wincing slightly as I looked at the almost meter-long tail of the Bogwing. Mama made sure I never wasted my food growing up. If it's on the plate, you eat it all.


I wouldn’t be able to eat all the entire tail. Not without the thing rotting on me first.


My nudj, ripped off a bit of the tail, quickly swallowing down a piece of the meat before going in for another bite.


“Your name is Hal,” I decided, pointing at the lizard. It didn’t respond to my words, continuing to enjoy its meal.


“Made a new friend, have you?” Yoda stated, making me shrug.


“Yeah, Qui-Gon introduced me,” I answered, wondering where he disappeared off to. Probably just in the Force or whatever.


It’s a shame Qui-Gon is a ghost. The poor guy probably hasn’t eaten something good in years.


“Anyway, Hal’s pretty cool. He hasn’t tried to kill me, so that’s a plus. Also seems to have a knack for knowing when danger is nearby.”


"A comfort in dark times, friends are." Yoda smiled as I looked at him curiously.


“Did you ever have any pets while stuck on this planet?” I asked, making him shake his head.


“A lot to handle already, you are,” and I blinked at him.


Slowly, a grin came onto my face, a laugh soon following.


What a cheeky little bugger.


-Line Break-


How long had he been here? Weeks? Months? Decades?


‘Thirty days,’ I groaned, crossing another tally from the list. Longer than I expected to last, but I was starting to feel it.


The insanity that came with the place.


I used to have a routine. Every morning, I would take a shower, brush my teeth, and shave my face. Now I don’t have a razor, a shower, or a toothbrush, and I was reluctantly starting to grow a beard.


More than once, I’ve considered using the lightsaber on a low setting to get it off. Beards don’t suit me, makes me look twenty years older.


Despite being on a new planet, I haven’t gotten sick, a headache, or even a stomach bug. And here was me thinking disease would have been the first thing that killed me. Whether that was because of the Force or something else, I don’t know, but I won’t be complaining about it. The fewer things available to kill me, the better.


The real danger here is the animals. I’ve had to remember to use Force Sense every few minutes if I didn’t want to be snuck up on. And to avoid their traps.


I’ve hollowed out the hill Yoda brought me to. Not completely, but there’s enough space now that I can comfortably live there.


I can expand down the road, but I never needed a lot in the first place. Just the bare necessities.


A bathroom, a kitchen, and a bedroom. The last two could be merged, but the bathroom will need its own separate space.


Still haven’t spent a night in the hole. It’s dark, muddy, and there’s no light. Yoda’s hut is made up of mostly clay. I planned on using the same for the walls and floors. It isn’t perfect, but with a bit of effort, I could make it work.


“Adapted well you have,” Yoda said, coming beside me. “Expected worse, I did. Home, one day this will be.”


“Digging is the easy part. Making it a home is the hard part. Need to reinforce the walls, add some pillars, have a proper roof, bed, stove–”


I continued to rattle off a list of everything I needed while Yoda remained silent, letting me speak my piece.


“Once I have all those? Well, that and a good bed, then I can start calling it a home. I can’t expect Amazon to do deliveries out here.”


The closest thing I have to that is the Force giving me whatever random item it decides to.


“Miss your family, you do,” Yoda says, surprising me. “Heavy with worry, your heart is.”


“Doubt the farm is running well without me,” I murmured, scratching the back of my head. “Folks are probably worried sick about me. But I ain’t worried about them. It’s not like I’m dead; it’s just I don’t think I’ll see them again. Not unless I get into a tug-of-war match with the Force.”


And I wouldn’t even know where to start that match in the first place. Barely remember how I got here in the first place.


“Not your enemy, the Force is,” Yoda said, and I rolled my eyes at him.


“Yes, only the Dark Side of the Force. You don’t have to tell me twice.”


A low, wheezing chuckle escaped Yoda as he tapped me lightly with his stick.


“Enemies, no! Fight yourself, you do. Tug-of-war, you play, but no opponent to defeat is the Force!”


He leaned heavily on his cane, looking up with sympathy. “Divided, the Light and Dark are not by simple rules. Misunderstand its nature, and even intent that is pure can lead down a dark path. The Force is not to be controlled. A Partner, the Force is.”


Yoda paused for a moment, a sad frown coming onto his face.


“Fear of loss... a heavy burden it is. But see the Force as a wall between you and your family; you must not. Connected through it, all living things remain.”


“I’m not a Jedi either, but that seems to be exactly how you are teaching me about the Force,” I counter, and his ears drooped.


He looked older than I had ever seen him in that moment, the tenseness leaving his body.


“Way of the Jedi, only way of teaching I know.”


I let out a slow breath of air, not knowing how to respond to that, two of us falling into an uncomfortable silence.


I reached into my bag, hoping to find a pumpkin seed I could chew on, pausing once I felt something familiar in my hand.


It was in one of the hidden pockets. A baker boy’s hat. You weren’t a farmer unless you had at least two of them; my dad owned a collection of them.


It wouldn’t be all that useful here, not for me anyway.


“Catch,” I decided, throwing the hat at Yoda. He didn’t move to grab it; instead, it landed perfectly on his head, making me do a double take.


It oddly suited him. I just needed to imagine him with a pitchfork in hand, and he wouldn’t look too out of place at my old farm.


“Warm,” Yoda observed, his ears twitching under the heavy cloth. “Keeps the rain off. A strange artifact, this is.”


“You should keep that. We can make a farmer out of you yet,” I grinned, and Yoda started to chuckle.


“If the Force wished me to have this, it would not have given it to you,” he said, floating the hat back onto my head. “Appreciated, the gesture is.”


“Fine, fine,” I grumbled, adjusting the hat slightly. “But if I get another one, you’re getting it.”


“Prolonged enough we have,” Yoda said, taking me out of my musing. “Back to training we must.”


Another three hours of meditation. Joy.


-Line Break-


Force Sense.


It is one of the most basic Force abilities. Younglings learn it before they even become Padawans. It’s much more useful than I originally thought. It can be used to feel another person’s feelings, and even a slight bit into the future.


There is a Jedi known as Kanan Jarrus. He was blinded while fighting Darth Maul. In time, he learned to see the world not through his eyes, but through the Force.


Something which I was planning on doing as well.


“I’m ready,” I said, tying a blindfold around my face.


“Then we begin,” Yoda said, tapping his cane against the ground.


As soon as he spoke, I activated the ability, instantly feeling everything around me all at once. Yoda shone like a beacon to my senses now. How I never noticed him before- I had no idea. I must have been blind.


Just because I couldn’t see didn’t mean I couldn’t use my other senses. I could hear, I could feel, I could smell. With the Force, those senses were dialed up to eleven, but most importantly?


My sense of awareness was stronger than it had ever been.


I saw the stone in the air, coming behind me. I dodged to the right, hearing the stone land on the ground a moment later.


“Echolocation, the Force is not,” Yoda spoke, making me turn in his direction. “Pulse it, you do. Let it in, then let it go. Learn where everything is, for a moment in time, but just as quickly, pass, the moment does! A button to press, a switch to flip on and off, no! Active, keep it all at once, you must.”


“Yes, master,” I answered, quickly trying to follow suit. Yoda hummed at me again.


“Sense danger; not the goal of this lesson. Your surroundings, to feel them, you must learn.”


Keeping the Force active around me all at once was much more difficult than quickly activating it once. It was all overwhelming, like seeing from a third eye.


I shifted my focus; instead of trying to see as much as possible, I focused on the area surrounding me, though in much more detail than before.


I could feel everything. The trees, the swamp, even myself, but it's like seeing the world without color. I know where things are; I know their general shape, but not their intricate details.


Yoda kept throwing stones at me, and I slowly fell into a rhythm of dodging them while blinded. Minutes passed like that, focusing not only on the stones but on the ground, so I wouldn’t trip over myself.


‘It’s like I’m fucking Daredevil.’ I grinned, and as soon as I finished that thought, I let out a yelp as a rock hit me in the back of the head


“Easy to lose focus you are,” Yoda stated, and I scowled, rubbing the spot. I flinched again as another rock hit my chest. “The lesson, not over, it is.”


Biting back a response, I went back to the lesson. It got easier as I started to treat it like a game: how long could I go without getting hit? It helped me avoid getting distracted.


As the final rock came to my face, instead of dodging it, I caught it in mid-air, lifting my blindfold to grin at Yoda.


“Good,” he nodded, a small smile on his face. “A rest has been well earned.”


“Sounds good to me,” I breathed, collapsing into a heap on the ground. That stuff was more tiring than it had any right to be. Constantly using the Force like that hurt muscles I didn’t even know I had.


With a stretch, I got back to my feet, my eyes drifting back to Yoda, who was looking out over the water.


It was weird; despite seeing the guy on the big screen, despite living with him for over a month, I barely knew anything about him. I know a few of his stories, but a man is more than just his stories.


“What do you do to entertain yourself?” I asked, genuine curiosity in my tone.


“Entertain myself?” Yoda chuckled softly. “Boring, you find my swamp, hmm? Throwing rocks at impatient pupils, entertainment enough it is!”


“Prick,” I muttered under my breath.


He didn't miss it; his cane jabbed sharply into my ribs.


“Ow! Alright, alright. What did you do before I came along?”


He paused, looking back toward the murky water. He let out a low hum, reaching into his robes to pull out a tiny wooden instrument, old and well-worn, but polished and well cared for.


“Music,” Yoda murmured, running a clawed finger over it. “Peace, it brings. Reminds me of simpler times, it does.”


“It’s a Kalimba,” I breathed, feeling a sudden sense of nostalgia. Yoda looked at me with amusement.


“Called a Taratti, it is. Made by a friend. A present for me. For a long time, learning to master it I have.”


“We have something similar on Earth,” I said, reaching for it before stopping myself. “Mind if I play a song on it?”


Yoda surprised me when he hesitated slightly, cradling the instrument close to him.


“Learn to play it, you have?” he asked, and I grimaced.


“I know a song or two. Not much more than that.”


“Careful with it, you must be,” he said, looking up at me with an unusual seriousness. “Much to me, my Taratti is.”


I gently took it into my hands. It was smaller than the one I had back home, but that was fine; you only needed thumbs to play it.


I took a seat beside him, and I hit a few notes, just to make sure they sounded like I expected them to, a smile quickly came onto my face as I did.


I haven’t heard music in weeks. And it’s been years since I actually played the Kalimba. Nonetheless, the string of notes came to me as clear as day.


Aria Math, I knew the song better than the back of my hand. The first song I ever learnt to play.


I don’t know what it is about the piece of music, but it stuck with me. It made me relax.


As I started to play, I felt my worries start to fade. The annoyance, grievances, fears- they all started to drift away as I played the tune. The song provided me with a sense of comfort I haven’t felt in a long while.


It made me start to reminisce. I learnt the damn thing to try to pick up girls. It never worked, but the memories of playing it, where I played it, who I played it to, they all started to come back at once.


As I played the final few notes, I felt the urge to continue it, play it on repeat for Yoda, myself, the world to hear. But I couldn’t, not when the song could lose its luster.


I saw a drop of water hit the instrument, another joining it soon after.


“Thanks,” I muttered, handing the Kalimba back to Yoda, refusing to meet his eyes, instead focusing dead ahead.


I felt a claw rest on my back, and I let out another shaky breath.


The two of us remained like that until night fell.


-Line Break-


I closed my eyes, feeling the surrounding area once more, the Force showing me things my eyes could never have seen.


The Force didn’t just show me everything that I could see; it showed me things I shouldn’t be able to see. The bogwings hiding high in the trees, the dragonsnake slithering through the swamp. Even the insects crawling through the very ground itself.


It wasn’t like seeing. It felt like a different sense entirely. I just could tell where they were.


I expanded my senses further, focusing my attention more on the animals above ground, my eyes quickly darting to the right.


The Knobby White Spider that was creeping up on me stopped in place. This one was a bit bigger than the last one I encountered, a good bit taller than me.


Nonetheless, as I met its eyes, it stopped in place, its muscles tense.


The two of us stayed like that for a moment, waiting for the other to take their first move.


However, the fight that was promised never came. The spider started to back away, disappearing back into the treeline, and I let out a small breath.


The spiders can’t sneak up on me anymore. And I couldn’t be happier for it.


I closed my eyes again, using the Force to watch the Spider sink further into the forest, only for something else to ping off my internal radar.


“What the hell is that?” I muttered, hit with a sudden wave of confusion. The sensation was unlike anything I’ve felt. It was intriguing. Alluring, and I couldn’t stop the sense of curiosity from flowing through my body.


Cautiously, I moved through the swamp, keeping my Force Sense active to avoid any traps from Butcherbugs. I trudged through the swamp, so glad that I came here with my heavy-duty boots, as I trekked through the mud.


It was a longer trip than expected, about a few hundred meters away from Yoda’s hut, and even further away from my hobbit hole, but eventually I came across it.


And I immediately understood what I was looking at.


The Dark Side of the Force. I didn’t know what it felt like; sure, I had descriptions, but I never had experience with it.


Until now.


The thing that stuck out the most to me was how welcoming it felt. The closer I got to it, the colder I felt, but it was a gentle cold, telling me that I would be fine.


I knew if I went in that blasted place I would not be fine.


The Dark Side Cave.


Probably the single most dangerous place on the planet. Much more so than any Dragonsnake or Knobby White Spider lair. My senses were telling me otherwise.


Which is precisely why it made it so scary in the first place.


I knew what could happen in there. I’ve seen what has happened in there. Luke Skywalker and the battle with himself as Darth Vader. Galen Marek and the clones. Despite this, one thought whispered into my brain.


‘There’s nothing wrong with going for a peek.’


I cut off my Force sense and took in a shaky breath, looking at the opening warily.


Because despite how dangerous the cave can be, it can give answers.


I looked down when I felt a weight in my hand, almost dropping Yoda’s lightsaber when I realized it was there.


I didn’t even remember grabbing it— the last few moments feeling like a blur to me.


Taking in another calming breath, I clipped the lightsaber back onto my belt, giving the cave one last look before turning away.


Nothing is there. I know that, but also…something is there. It’s contradictory. It shouldn’t make sense. But if I do enter, I can’t go in expecting a fight. Not unless I wanted to be met with one.


‘I’m not ready for it either,’ I noted, shaking my head, my thoughts becoming clearer to me as I headed further and further away from the cave.


Not now.


Not until I’m no longer afraid.