Sound of heavy armoured boots echoed through the bridge of battlecruiser hovering in the upper atmosphere of gas giant. The crew worked tirelessly, ignored the figure walking behind their backs and focused on computer screens in front of them. Even though they were all very confused and almost panicking if someone were to watch them they wouldn't know it because all they displayed was aura of professionalism drilled hard into their bodies.
Captain heard footsteps behind her back as he was talking to her second-in-command. She waited until she was certain the footsteps were near her, then she dismissed her first mate and turned around. She saw the man who saved her life on board Darth Marr's destroyer over a year ago.
"Ah, commander. It seems that we have a bit of a situation here."
"I can see that Fora, why do I have the feeling that every time I fly with you, something goes wrong." said the recipient with slight chuckle.
Deciding to ignore the attempt to lighten the mood captain Fora continued
"We were pulled out of hyperspace by our fail-safes right into this gas giant." shaking her head she continued.
"We, … I can't figure it out. By all assumptions this system shouldn't be here." said staring at the gas giant.
Her commander raised an eyebrow and his hand, clad in armoured gauntlet, thoughtlessly began stroking his beard as he was thinking.
"What do you mean?" he inquired.
"According to our calculations we should be halfway between Odessen and Yavin 4, given the time we spent in hyperspace." her voice was beginning to show signs of anger.
"Instead, we are here, wherever that is. We can't even match any constellations to our star charts. They are just … wrong." she stopped and calmed herself a little.
"What more, it is not failure of our central computer. Our escorts are in the same situation. Luckily there were no casualties during our exit from hyperspace. Few bruises but nothing serious." at least something was going right.
Her commander was dumbfounded by her statement and asked
"What do you mean, the constellations are wrong?"
"While some patterns are the same, most of them is shifted. Like the stars moved while we were in hyperspace."
said Fora with her shoulders slouched
"Strange." was all her commander said, deep in thought. "Tell me about system, we found ourselves in"
Now that was something Fora could talk about with certainty, 'Thank the Force the sensors work flawlessly, mostly' she thought.
She brought up hologram of the system with every bit of data they gathered until now.
"We are currently orbiting fifth planet, a gas giant with plethora of moons. We have also intercepted several transmissions coming from the third planet. But they don't match any frequencies we know."
Commander interrupted her "What about their encryption, perhaps we could learn a thing or two from them."
She grimaced "That is the thing. Most of them are not encrypted at all and those that are have very weak encryption."
"And their content?" was question she received.
"Mostly of no use to us. Mainly civilian and commercial traffic. Whatever dating system they use, we have no idea what is it." Just as she was about to elaborate she was interrupted.
Sensor officer cried out from his workstation trying to get her attention.
"Captain, sensor contact. Large unidentified vessels dropped out of hyperspace and are forming blockade around the planet."
"What? On screen, now!" ordered Fora.
"All hands to battle stations, contact our escort. Have them prepare all fighters to launch, make sure ours are ready to do the same." she added without drawing a breath.
Communications, weapons, and flight officers responded in chorus "Yes, sir." while fulfilling their tasks.
Lights darkened and red warning lights began flashing along with alarms.
Armoured form of commander moved silently closer towards the strange vessels on screen, studying them. They were large, about two and a half times larger than the retrofitted Harrower-class dreadnought hovering in the gas giant, and three times larger than the four Thranta-class heavy cruisers and two Terminus-class destroyers serving as its escort.
They were circular with large sphere in centre and bank of massive engines on the outer part of hull directly behind pylon connecting the sphere and its ring. Even at distance he could see distinctive barrels of turbolaser batteries scattered along the ring. What he didn't recognize were their marking, along with their design.
"What is the delay of what I am seeing?" he asked the officer manning the sensor station.
"None commander, we have deployed several probes to have real-time data on the planet." answered the officer.
Commander simply nodded and officer returned to his work.
"Can you relay the communication between the planet and the vessels, if there is any?" commander asked.
"Yes commander, relaying now. Channel six." answered communication officer.
As the commander was studying the vessels and listening in to communication decrypted in real-time, thanks to the powerful computers of the warship, the captain was busy making sure that her ship and its escorts were ready for the worst. Fighting an enemy you knew nothing about was a foolish notion.
Unbeknownst to them, the blast doors leading from the bridge opened and three more figures entered. The honour guards straightened their backs and gave crisp salute as the figures were moving past them, once they moved on the guards returned to their more relaxed stance.
First figure was wearing completely unremarkable clothes that wouldn't draw attention almost anywhere. But what most people didn't know was that beneath them was very sturdy state-of-the-art armour designed for covert operations. In holster on his hip was dangerously looking blaster pistol and slung over the shoulder and on the back, was powerful sniper rifle. From the work boots, the baggy trousers hiding armoured plates beneath, gloves and white jacked with greenish cloak over its shoulders nothing was remarkable about the figure apart from its build and face. The body was tall and muscular, carrying itself with strength and purpose but at the same time dexterity and stealth. The face was only exposed part of the blue skin, the features were firm and locked in frown as the glowing red eyes scanned the situation, head was adorned by short jet-black hair.
Second figure was wearing robes with colour combination of grey and black. The robes hid any signs of their wearer beneath their heavy cloth and leather. On the shoulders lay large pauldrons stretching to the sides, resembling miniature silhouettes of the Harrower dreadnought. On the belt was single lightsabre swinging slightly along with the movement of the body carrying it. The head, exposed thanks to the removed hood. The skin was red with complex black tattoos covering the feminine face and single row of horns protruding through the black neck-length hair along with single horn on each temple. What was most unsettling about the face were the blue bloodshot eyes with many ruptured veins in the whites of the eyes. The figure carried itself with sense of authority and with dark aura around it.
Last was, clearly tall feminine figure with muscular body build and light fair hair flowing freely over the shoulders. Clad in form-fitting white robes with golden ornamentation and carrying double-bladed lightsabre.
Commander sensed their arrival and turned around to face them with screen behind his back. For moment he switched off his earpiece knowing that the chatter was still monitored by communications officer and several intelligence analysts.
"Cipher, Lord Imperious… Kira." he greeted the arrivals. "So glad you could have joined us."
Kira Carsen smiled and was the first one to answer, "Always my pleasure, darling." Putting her hands on her hips and shaking one strand of her fair hair away from her face.
"Commander." said the Chiss agent, moving past him and taking a close look at the readouts on screen.
"Battlemaster." greeted him the Zabrak Sith lord with mischievous grin.
For a while, the commander studied the Sith that was almost grinning at him before he turned and pointed to the screen
"We have somehow found ourselves here. All the constellations are wrong and now it appears we have stumbled into something bigger." he said.
"Hmm…" mused the Sith lord. All mischievousness gone in an instant and scowling in deep thought.
"What do we know about them?" asked the rogue agent. Kira was listening intently.
"Not much, I am afraid. Only what we have seen and what we have heard." answered the Jedi commander.
"The planet is called 'Naboo' and the ships belong to 'Trade Federation'. If it helps then the planetary representatives are mostly humans along with most of populace from what was gathered. The ships are commanded by Nemoidians." summarized commander.
"Any thoughts?" he asked hopefully.
"I haven't heard about neither of them. Thou that doesn't mean much." said the Chiss.
"Neither have I." added Kira
"I have heard about the planet, but it is supposed to be nothing bigger than small outpost. Nothing about the 'Federation'." said the Sith.
"You already know more than us then." said the Jedi with chuckle.
"I am afraid not. I have simply heard about several ancient artefacts uncovered on remote Republic outpost." said the Sith.
Any further discussion was interrupted by one of the intelligence analysts who practically ran up to the group
"Commander, all communication from the planet was cut off. But before that happened we have intercepted single long-range transmission."
"What did it say?" asked the Agent
"It was a plea to the senate of the Galactic Republic." answered.
This brought joy to hearts of many crew members, even though many of them originated from the Sith Empire before joining the Alliance, knowledge that some part of what they knew was still brought them peace.
Jedi commander thanked the analyst and dismissed him once confirming that he has no more information.
After a discussion it was agreed that Cipher Agent would slip past the blockade along with pair of slightly homicidal droids, HK-51 and HK-55, to gather as much information as possible. The other would in mean time try to resolve the situation with their star charts.
After nearly a day they succeeded thanks to the input of archaeologist Talos Drellik and discrete visit of HK-51 to one of the navigational computers in Naboo capital city Theed. This allowed the crews of stranded warships to cross reference known worlds in both databases and calculate accurate stellar movement in star charts. That being said and done no one truly believed that they travelled through time while in hyperspace. This disbelief was supported by the fact that engineering teams examined all hyperdrive engines almost piece by piece.
Only positive fact about their situation was that thanks to the upper atmosphere of gas giant and strategic placement of their probes they were undetected by the 'Trade Federation' and likely would be for eternity, not that they were planning to stay there that long.
What was unnerving thou, was the fact that they could not raise any of their allies or other Alliance vessels and bases throughout the galaxy.
By the time single red corvette dropped out of hyperspace two days later and transmitted IFF codes resembling those used by the Republic Navy, everything was running smoothly. Star charts were updated accordingly and Cipher Agent along with HK droids on the ground received support in form of squad of Alliance Intelligence operatives.
When the Jedi Commander and the Sith lord observed the small red corvette enter the blockading flagship both had strong urge to facepalm.
"I will bet that we will never see that ship again." said the Sith with disappointed look.
"As much as I hate it I must agree." replied the Jedi with his face in his hands.
Similar belief was shared by all captains, analysts and sensor officers who saw it.
When the ship was destroyed no one was much surprised, but when the ship-to-ship chatter revealed that the ambassadors were two jedi and that they escaped situation changed. Afterwards it changed even more when the blockading ships launched planetary invasion.
Thankfully the ground team was informed in advance and managed to avoid detection. This allowed them to continue in their information gathering work.
HK-55 was putting its stealth field generator to good use when it was shadowing the queen of Naboo and her entourage. Shortly after it received orders to observe and unless directly threatened remain impassive, it witnessed poorly organized rescue conducted by the pair of jedi. Along the way to the hangar it was joined by similarly cloaked HK-51. Both droids were surprised when they weren't detected even by the jedi. Moving softer than a shadow they both boarded Royal yacht.
Jedi Commander was watching sensor readouts closely when he was informed about yacht's launch. He didn't have high hopes about its ability to pass through the blockade. Because of that he ordered captain Fora to move their dreadnought, Voidstar, while their escorts remained hidden in the gas giant. Using two short jumps to conceal their point of origin they jumped right into path of the escaping yacht with it behind them.
Cockpit of the Naboo Royal Spaceship
"Shield generator has been hit." Called out pilot and activated repair astromechs.
Suddenly large wedge-shaped vessel dropped out of hyperspace directly between them and the blockade. Pilots cursed and jerked their ship downwards so that they wouldn't crash into the engines of the unknown ship.
"What? Where did it came from?" wondered Obi-Wan out loud.
"Who are they is more pressing question right now, my Padawan." put in Qui-Gon.
Before they could wonder more about the origins of the strange vessel, they saw its hull. Heavy armour plates were covering its surface and large number of turbolaser batteries were lined up in lines along the edges. As they flew by they briefly glanced at the ventral hangar with its blast doors firmly shut before they swung over the edge of the ship and were stunned.
While they were avoiding collision with it and flying beneath it, dorsal batteries let loose a destructive barrage on the Trade Federation ships. At the same time, it effortlessly shrugged off the incoming fire with its heavy armouring and impossibly strong shields. As the royal yacht was flying by, the crew noticed that at least two blockading ships were damaged heavily by the unknown vessel. When the yacht cleared the blockade, the crew saw as their saviour winked out of existence and with pseudo motion jumped into hyperspace far too close to the gravity of the planet.
After they jumped into hyperspace the pilots and the jedi were faced with the fact that they would have to land on Tatooine. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon settled in cockpit and reviewed the sensor recordings from their little blockade run. On the main screen was the image of the ship moments before it jumped away. It was taken from almost directly above the ship and it was displayed in all its glory. Next to them was holographic display of what sensors collected. To the surprise of two jedi it was nothing more than outer shell of the ship and even that was distorted as if by some anti-sensor jamming.
At the first glance the ship itself was built purely for combat from the beginning and was not converted afterwards. This raised a lot of questions. Who built it and who was commanding it. Their brief attempts to make sense of it with the force were met with disappointment. More they tried to make sense of it more it confused them. Ship this size would be impossible for any smuggler or pirate to obtain and no planetary force had possession of such warship. What intrigued the pair of jedi most were the two symbols painted in golden colour on the grey hull of the ship. Each on one side. They looked strangely familiar to the jedi yet utterly foreign at the same time.
Without the knowledge of parties involved, such simple act as helping the yacht to escape, sent massive ripples through the force to be felt by all who could see the force except those at the epicentre. Both the Jedi on Coruscant and the Sith felt it and both found themselves feeling afraid but each for different reason. On Coruscant, deep in the Jedi Archives, buried in the holocron vault, one holocron awoke and was calling though the force, luring its caretakers to it.
Coruscant
To say that the Nemoidians were terrified by the arrival of strange ship that crippled two of their own vessels and damaged at least one other, was an understatement. When Darth Sidious contacted them, they were all but ready to abandon the blockade and flee. Only because of Sidious' force manipulation they remained as pieces in plan created by his master.
Sidious turned off the holocomunicator and contemplated about the consequences of the event. Before he terminated the connection, he had Nemoidians sent him all their sensor readings. Unlike others he soon recognized the Harrower-class ship and its markings, but that meant he was even more confused about its existence. And to all his knowledge, ship of that class was supposed to have much smaller power output. Especially with the fact that any ship of that class had to be at least three and a half millennia old.
Combined with the disturbance in the Force he felt earlier, he found himself at loss. For the first time in a long time he didn't know how to react. The disturbance in the Force was strong and he was sure that event the pathetic weaklings like the jedi could sense it. It moved like ripples on the pond and it felt terrifyingly powerful. That was confusing him most, because he smelled the stench of the light side of the Force from it. To his knowledge it was impossible for any lightsider to gather that much power. Only the dark side provided the true power. He withdrew to himself, bathing in the dark side and trying to find a way to adjust his plans accordingly.
Bridge of Voidstar, currently orbiting furthermost planet of Naboo system
"Status report." ordered captain Fora.
Station officers consulted their computers and responded with surprising positivity given the fact that Voidstar just went against blockade singlehandedly.
"Reactor status." further inquired the disbelieving Captain.
"The reactor output currently at 40%, power levels stable." replied one of the officers.
Fora was still not trusting the piece of ancient rakatan technology recovered from the depths of Belsavis, where it powered Eternity vault for millennia. That being said, she could not argue with the energy output of the reactor. With proper energy management the Voidstar was practically fleet-killer.
Question interrupted her thoughts.
"Either our reactor is even better than our esteemed doctor predicted or those ships were critically underpowered. What do you think captain?" asked the commander.
Watching sensor recordings and focusing her attention of shield fluctuations with incoming fire she had to agree. "Opposing firepower was inflicting much smaller damage to our shields than I anticipated, they haven't dropped below 95,8%. Even with redirection of energy from engines it seems impossible."
"Well at least we are not under-powered this time. Eh, who am I kidding we are still outnumbered and one step behind the enemy." said Kira.
"One step at the time Kira." replied Jedi Commander.
"If you are done bickering. Do we know where did that ugly little ship go?" asked the Sith.
"We have calculated their outbound vector to Tatooine." replied captain after checking her datapad.
"Why would they go there?" wondered the Jedi.
"It doesn't make sense. One would think they would rush to Coruscant or Republic Fleet." Sith thought out loud.
"I believe I can answer that." said captain.
Jedi commander just raised his eyebrows and the Sith turned head to captain who said,
"The yacht has been hit moments before our intervention, it is possible their hyperdrive could be damaged."
Both Jedi and Sith nodded. This explanation seemed possible.
"Did you update stellar charts in my ship as well?" asked the Jedi, referring to Defender-class light corvette currently parked in Hangar bay 2.
Captain turned to her second-in-command who checked his datapad and nodded, "Yes commander."
Satisfied, the Jedi turned to Kira who read his mind and agreed with him giving him court nod. Behind him he could sense the intentions of Sith. Commander turned to captain and said
"I will take my ship and travel to Tatooine, we can learn much more directly." Then he added "I am leaving the fleet in your care."
Captain's pupils briefly dilatated by surprise before she snapped to attention and saluted the best she could.
"I will not disappoint you, commander." she stated.
Sensing her worries Jedi put one hand on her shoulder and smiled. Then gave his last orders,
"Stay hidden and gather information, if anything goes wrong just charge in guns blazing, get our people out and bail. Otherwise Cipher knows what to do."
Over the communicator came agreement from said Cipher Agent.
"Yes, commander." said captain. Relieved a bit that she knew what she was supposed to do. Before he left, Jedi briefly turned and added with wink "If you hit a bigger problem just let Scourge loose."
Captain just gulped and over the communicator came sigh. Captain was terrified at prospect of let alone having to talk to former emperor's executioner.
Before they left, Jedi his wife Kira and Sith, they changed from their traditional garments to nondescript clothes. After a while lone Defender rose from the hangar bay and jumped into hyperspace heading for Tatooine.
AN: I have recently made a mistake, played SWTOR and watched Episode I at the same day. Thus i have decided to write it down and put it here. I believe that this mood will hold onto me for quite a while now. So i will continue this bit.