Phantoms of the Past
By Justine
Note: This story was not written by me (Fiera Sabre)! It was written by my friend Justine.
© 2006 Justine
I would just like to thanks to my VERY dear friends Rachel, Rebekka, and Megan for getting me so involved in Star Wars.
Chapter 1
Unlikely Alliance
A small ship, the Mishta, glided smoothly in the atmosphere of an uncharted planet in the Outer Rim. The ship was commanded by Triosh Nel'ke, a devoted captain, scholar and a passionate explorer who never put his needs above his crew's. He was a Ruvian from his planet, Skalla. He was about 3 meters tall, with light blue skin, deep gray eyes, hair the color of a deep, exotic ocean. His planet's satellites had picked up this planet on long-range sensors and he had been ordered by his government to explore it for possible colonization.
"Is there any life down there?" Triosh asked, taking a step closer to the view screen. The big, gold, copper and brown colored planet filled the screen with its image. But in space, it was no bigger than a Tellerite Flea.
"Not sure, sir," his science officer reported. "There is too much interference. We need to get a little closer to the surface."
"Alright," The captain said, turning away from his officer to face the view screen again. "Helmsmen, take us down 20 challens.
"Aye, sir."
The small ship dropped through the atmosphere and held its position.
"Anything yet?" the Ruvian captain asked.
"There are no life forms, sir." the science officer, Cruz San'at, replied. "But there are ancient ruins down there. Someone lived here. A long time ago." The captain rubbed the small blue beard on his face, deep in thought.
"Sir?" Cruz said, interrupting his thoughts. "There is something in the atmosphere. It looks like some wreckage from a ship."
"How much?"
"Unknown, sir. It is on the other side of the planet." Intrigued, the captain ordered his crew to take the ship around. As they were traveling, Cruz San'at received some readings. "The wreckage seems to be from a ship. Correction, sir. Four ships."
Captain Nel'ke hesitated uncertainly "All in one place? That's unusual isn't it?" He asked, taking a look at the readings on the science console.
"Some of it is old. Some are more recent. What is up with that?"
Then suddenly, the whole ship went dark.
"What happened?" The captain asked, very worried now.
"Seems to be some kind of power drain, sir." San'at stated tensely. "There was an odd reading from the planet's surface, but there was nothing down there that could cause a drain."
"Get the power back on, now!" The captain yelled. Then he made the dangerous journey back to his chair. He could hear his crew frantically at work in the dark, among the grunts and the groans of people bumping into each other and into walls and bulkheads.
"We can't, sir." Lieutenant Cruz said, his voice shaking. "The batteries are completely drained."
The ship then made a sudden jerk that the ship suddenly jerked beneath their feet, sending everyone in a heap of bruised skin and scales.
"Are we falling?" Triosh said, attempting to hide the panic creeping into his voice.
"I don't know, sir."
A Republic ship called the Messenger was in the sector coming home from a mission when a small, red blip appeared on the screen. The captain, Boldan Thrace, had ordered that his crew scan the area for anything unusual. On the comm, there was a extremely weak distress signal that was barely noticed.
"Do they need our help?" Captain Boldan Thrace asked his first officer.
"They have no power and they are in danger of a free fall. So helping them would be advisable." He replied, looking up from a small console embedded in the arm of his chair.
"Security would also be advisable, sir." Captain Thrace's Security officer offered in the conversation. Captain Thrace thought for a moment what to do to help.
"Are we close enough to grab them with the tractor beams?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then do so." The helmsman activated the tractor beam and aimed for the hull of the ship. The Messenger turned around and started to pull the Daredevil out of the mysterious planet's atmosphere. When the ship was out, Captain Thrace tried to contact the people on the Daredevil, but there was no response. "Is there anything wrong with their system?" Boldan asked.
"Their ship seems to be completely drained of power."
"How in the worlds did that happen? Attach one of our power transfer cords and give them some of our power so we can contact them before we board. We don't want to scare them." Captain Thrace said, then turned around and sat in his chair facing the screen.
"Sir, we are receiving power from another ship." Lieutenant San'at reported. "It looks like a Republic scout ship."
Ruvians and the Republic were not on the best of terms because of some incident that had happened many years ago, but the Captain was not going to let that get in the way of a chance of getting help they so desperately needed. "How much power do we have?" He asked quietly.
"We are almost at half power, sir" Cruz San'at said. He was running from console to console, trying to get all the readings. He had been doing that for the past ten standard minutes and it was a wonder to Captain Nel'ke that he didn't collapsefrom weariness.
"Sir, we are receiving a hail."
Captain Nel'ke stood up and smoothed out his uniform before ordering the transmission through. On the screen appeared a human man with graying hair and a surprisingly trusting face. He also stood up and walked up to the screen to address the captain.
"Captain, we were in this sector and detected your ship in distress and thought you might need a hand. Do you require assistance?"
Of course, Triosh Nel'ke could not answer in any other way. "Yes. Thank you so much. I am Captain Triosh Nel'ke of the Ruvian exploration ship, the Daredevil."
"Hello, Captain Nel'ke." Boldan responded. He wasn't entirely sure, but he thought he could detect a hint of hesitation in Nel'ke's voice. He shoved the thought away. "I am Captain Boldan Thrace of the Republic scout ship, Messenger." Both men stood there saying nothing, staring, trying to size each other up. "Your ship seems to have lost all power and we do not have enough power to bring your energyto full. We would be more than happy to drop you off on your home planet, if you wish." Boldan offered.
Captain Nel'ke consideredthe man's offer. "We cannot leave our ship." He said finally.
Captain Thrace could tell that the Ruvian was not comfortable with the suggestion. "You could dock your ship in our hangar bay. It is big enough. And we could arrange special quarters for you and your crew, or you may stay on your ship."
Triosh was still uncomfortable with the first suggestion, but felt a little better with Captain Thrace's compromise. "Alright, Captain Thrace. We will accept your offer."
"Splendid. Please surrender control of your vessel to our computer." Thrace ordered. Captain Nel'ke did as he was requested. Tractor beams seized the Daredevil and started to bring it into their hangar bay. The tractor beams gently set the ship on the deck with intricate care. Captain Nel'ke talked over the ship's interior comm system reporting on the situation, then ordered his helmsman to open the hatch so he could go out and meet their host.
As he exited his ship, he saw that Captain Thrace was already there waiting for him. He walked over to the humancaptain and gave a slight bow. Captain Thrace did the same. "Welcome aboard the Messenger." Captain Thrace stuck his hand out for Captain Nel'ke to shake. Triosh looked at the hand with a confused look on his face. Apparently, he had never heard of shaking hands before. Captain Thrace then took the other captain's opposite hand and shook it. Captain Nel'ke's face lightened and he smiled as he understood what the man was doing. Boldan could feel Triosh shaking his hand with much enthusiasm at this point.
Captain Thrace took Captain Nel'ke and the rest of his senior staff on a tour of his ship. Triosh was very interested in the Republic ship. When they arrived on the bridge, Nel'ke was enthralled with the layout. "This design is more efficient than ours." He said marveling at the design of the consoles.
"Oh, we would be happy to give you some ideas on how to redesign you ships." Captain Thrace offered.
"No that is alright, thank you." They continued the tour by going to the ship's engineering section, sick bay, and science room. Lieutenant Cruz San'at was so interested in the science room that he requested permission to stay and look around in more detail.
"Of course." Captain Thrace conceded. "When you are done, alert one of my crewmen and they will take you back to your ship."
Triosh Nel'ke gave the coordinates to his home world that was in fact not that far away. It would take them only two standard hours to get there. For the remainder of the time, Captain Nel'ke stayed on his ship, while Lieutenant San'at chose to remain in the science room, as happy as a kid in a candy store. Captain Thrace stayed on his ship in his quarters and went over the reports from their last mission.
As they approached the planet Skalla, Captain Thrace hailed the Daredevil to alert Captain Nel'ke. He went down to say goodbye to Triosh before they departed. Both men shook hands and smiled. "There may be hope for our two peoples after all," Triosh said before entering his ship. Boldan Thrace nodded, happy with himself that everything had gone so well.
When the Daredevil left the hanger bay, Captain Thrace ordered the return to Coruscant. "We should report the unusual findings about that planet to the Senate." He said to his first officer.
The Messenger left Skalla with a brilliant flash of light among the stars.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters/concepts represented here, and I do not intend to make any money off this story, etc…