A/N: Hi, everyone! I've decided to finally publish this story. I've had it in the works for quite some time, but I'm glad to have finally rolled this off the presses. As the title suggests, the main focus of this story will be the mysterious Providence-class destroyer Steel Phoenix, which vanished during the Battle of Coruscant, and what happened to it.
The first arc is mainly focused on the Phoenix and her crew's service during the Silver Millennium, and their role in a number of battles.
The captain of the Steel Phoenix is one I've been planning on writing for a while in concept: he's not a villain; in fact, he's really a nice guy. He just happens to serve a side that's perceived to be evil.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this segment. Leave reviews, even anonymous ones, with your thoughts and opinions.
Heck, maybe I'll even open this one up for in-universe Silver Millennium characters. Droid soldiers are nice, sure, but there's just something about troopers with, you know... flesh and blood.
Captain Drake Beltone looked across the bridge of the Providence-class cruiser, the ironically-named Steel Phoenix. He let out a breath as the pilot droids tirelessly worked.
General Grievous' plot had been a bold move. Unusually so. His plan was to use the aerial assault on Coruscant as a diversion while he slipped onto the planet and captured the Supreme Chancellor.
His tactic worked: the Venator-class assault ships were too preoccupied with the CIS fleet to have noticed one small shuttle sneak past their defenses.
But, now, the Invisible Hand, the flagship that provided the droid General with a means of escape, was falling to the surface of the planet. Granted, Grievous had escaped onto a secondary battleship, but the droid crew were all lost, burned up with the ship. The Chancellor, too, had fallen back into Republic hands. Reports were flowing in that Count Dooku was also lost.
"The Jedi are so blind to the corruption..." he muttered, as he turned to the awaiting droids, all looking attentively at the captain.
"Prepare for hyperspace. We will meet with the rest of the fleet at the Upatau system." he ordered, typing in the coordinates he had been given.
As the cruiser began leaving the gravity well of both Coruscant and its sun, a battle droid, its markings designating it as a security droid, flagged the captain.
"Captain Beltone, there is a problem. We have detected that an ARC-170 is in our hangar. We have also detected a Jedi, and are preparing an attack against the Jedi and the clones inside."
The captain, his brown hair hanging over his grizzled face, shook his head.
"Belay that order, SD-231. Offer no resistance. If any of them choose to attack you, avoid damage."
"Sir?"
Beltone clenched his teeth in frustration.
"Just do it! I don't want to lose any droids unnecessarily. Besides, it's me they're after. No offense to you or your brethren, but I'm the brains of this operation. Just... maintain the course to hyperspace."
"Roger, roger!"
The captain turned towards the viewscreen of space, and sighed. He had always enjoyed being in space. The feeling of infinite always helped calm his frayed mind, even when completely stressed out.
The stars started to bend in pseudo-motion, as the ship accelerated to faster-than-light speed. He sighed a second time, lost in the beginning void of hyperspace.
An explosion that shook the ship broke the serenity as he turned to a second droid, the green markings identifying it as an engineering droid.
"Damage report!" he snapped.
"Our hyperdrive has taken severe damage. It's now offline. It will take several days of work to get it back online." The droid reported, a slight nervous tone enroaching its metallic voice.
Drake gritted his teeth.
"At that rate, we'll miss Upatau. There's no telling what we'll hit! Throw every resource we have at repairs!"
"Sir, that estimation was the shortest time with all our resources being used for repairs."
"Damn it! Any idea where we would wind up?"
The droid shook its head.
"Negative."
The captain let out a hiss, but an idea struck him.
"Tell the droids to holster their weapons. Peacefully offer to escort the Jedi and troopers to the dining suite. I'll talk with him there."
Drake stood in the dining suite, the simple art decorating the room a stark contrast to the gunmetal bland feel through the rest of the ship.
He looked over at the chilled bottle of Corellian wine, the simple foods that he had prepared himself, refusing to allow the culinary droid on board to touch this meal.
The captain checked himself over in the mirror again, wincing at the wild brown hair, his dark, equally-brown eyes, the crimson armor that protected his chest, concealed beneath a simple blue cloak with the CIS symbol adorning it.
He carefully checked the room again, making sure that everything was perfect.
After what seemed like an eternity, the door opened with a faint hiss, and the Jedi stepped inside.
The first thing the captain noticed was that the Jedi was a Togurta, a species renowned for being powerful predators. Not as bad as Trandoshans, but similarly feared.
The second thing he noticed was that this particular Jedi was rather young, right around padawan age, probably not much younger than he was.
"Good evening... or is it good day? It's hard to tell in space, isn't it?" he casually said, nodding cordially at the Jedi, who eyed him suspiciously.
"Tell me, Captain," she said in a slightly mocking tone. "Why did you order your droids to stand down? You giving up?" she smiled, excited at such an easy victory.
The captain shook his head.
"Oh, I have no intention of surrendering. I just thought that it would be in poor sport to send my droids, most of whom I have personally modified, into battle against you. Besides, I should at least offer you something to eat."
The Togurta eyed the food suspiciously.
"It's not poisoned," the captain said, "I'm not that kind of a coward, Miss..."
"Tano. Ahsoka Tano," the Jedi said, sitting down opposite the human, one hand on her lightsaber.
"Ah, Miss Tano. I am honored to meet you. I am Captain-"
"Drake Beltone, yeah, I know." she retorted, cautiously picking off a slab of roasted meat.
"Ah, so you have heard of me. Unlike some of my... comrades, I prefer keeping a low profile, so I'm actually a little surprised you know of me."
"I know you because you've been slaughtering innocent Wookiees and even my own people! Do you have any idea how big of a price you have on your head!" she shouted, tearing apart the meat on her place with such force, she nearly shattered the plate.
Drake looked at the Jedi, startled.
"Really? They're saying that about me?" he said, letting out a small whistle. "Slaughtering... Have I really done that?"
"Of course you've done that! Don't lie to me!" Ahsoka yelled, nearly throwing her food at the seemingly oblivious captain.
"I'm sorry, Miss Tano, but, if I recall, the incident involved an uprising where I was under attack by a small number of Wookiee warriors. Where did you even hear of a ridiculous story about how I'm a mindless murderer?"
The Jedi shrank back, recalling. "Uh... the Republic... holonet..."
The captain looked at her with a small smirk.
"Really? Has it ever occurred to you that, perhaps, the Republic Holonet is simply altering the facts to gain favor for their activities? It's a common military tactic: produce propaganda so outrageous that it spurs people to fight for your cause."
Tano sat back, slightly startled that such a bias could easily manipulate her.
"So, why did you invite me to these quarters, seriously." she said, glaring at the captain.
He sat down, casually pulling the cork of wine.
"Well, one of your Republic buddies took a potshot at our hyperdrive, disabling it. For the time being, we're stuck in hyperspace. At best, the crew will have the ship up by the end of the week. However, that will mean that-"
"You'll miss wherever you're going by a long shot?" she interjected, picking up on the captain's thoughts. "And you wanted to call a temporary truce, at least, until we get out of here."
Drake nodded, as Ahsoka turned to the doors.
"Can I invite my clone guard in for a drink, or a meal, by chance?" she asked, as the captain nodded obligingly.
The doors opened, as a clone commando, his armor painted with blue streaks, entered.
"Hmm. Strange to see a nicely-painted area on this ship full of clankers." he commented, instinctively reaching for his pistol upon seeing Drake.
"Rex, no. Captain Beltone and I are under a truce for now." she said, filling in the clone on the current status of things.
Cautiously, the clone sat down, eyeing the captain, before taking in the food in front of him.
"And it's not poisoned," the Drake said, seemingly a little angry. "Why does everyone assume that CIS officers poison guests' food? Some of us are more honorable than that."
"I still don't trust you, traitor." the commando said between bites.
"Besides," the captain said, looking Rex right in the eye, "I could have killed you at least five different ways as you were heading up here. I could have jettisoned you two into space, sent the droidekas after you, shot you outright with an overwhelming number of droids, blown you up with well-placed mines, shredded you with a ray shield, or flooded the ship with toxic gas. But I didn't."
The clone just grunted in response, as he continued his assault upon the base of food.
"Since we'll be stuck together on this ship for a while, why don't we get to know each other a little better? Besides the distorted propaganda being spread around?"
The trio casually walked down one of the hallways, as a group of engineering droids moved a large component towards the hyperdrive room.
"It's strange, seeing clankers without a blaster between us. They don't seem half bad."
Drake nodded, as he saluted a group of B2 battle droids, whom returned the action.
"Yeah, it's a pity that most people only know them for their attack power. They're quite easily modified to fit a number of roles. Heck, maybe I'll show you a B1 I altered to be closer to a protocol droid than a battle droid."
Ahsoka let out a small laugh.
"You know, hearing about you talking about the droids like that, you remind me of Ani."
The captain let out a small laugh in response.
"You mean Master Skywalker? Great man, I must admit."
"Yeah, arrogant, though..." the Jedi added, letting out a giggle. "Oh, he'd kill me for saying that to a traitor like you!"
"Hmm... yeah, probably. Not as bad as having a droid general as psychotic as Grievous!"
The two burst into fits of laughter.
Rex looked at the others in confusion.
"We're enemies, in the middle of a war! How can you two just sit there and laugh about it all?" he criticized.
"Oh, I'm sorry, commander Rex." Drake apologized, stifling his laughter. "But, right now, all we can do is forget the war. There's nothing we can do, so it just feels like it's nowhere near us. Didn't those Kaminoans teach you that there's a lot more to life than simple war?"
Rex was silent for a few minutes, as he let out a frustrated sigh.
"No... To a clone, all we know is this war. Though, some of us do enjoy spectating on the sports. We rarely get a break to do much else than fight and run drills."
"Sounds like someone could use some recreational time away from everything. Being all about work turns a person into a rakghoul. Believe me, I know." Drake finished, sighing.
The clone let out a grunt, as the captain continued.
"Tell out what, why don't you and Miss Tano join us for our Sabacc night? Some of those droids have gotten that game down to an art." he said, letting out a chuckle at the irony of such a statement.
"Droids can play Sabacc?" Ahsoka inquired, startled at the concept.
"Yeah, yeah. You may not realize it, but even droids experience boredom."
Sailor Pluto opened her eyes. Something was approaching... something large. But, there was no telling whether it was friend of foe.
The Gates of Time showed it originated from a far away galaxy, and could bring about a great ally... or great destruction. Not even time itself could reveal what was surrounding that object.
She turned from her post, vanishing to alert Queen Serenity.
Rex let out a growl, as the droideka across from him let out a small mechanized laugh.
"Another several thousand credits. Lost to a clanker!" the clone growled.
"Don't feel bad, Rex," Ahsoka said, smiling. "You've got to admit, it's got a good Sabaac face."
"Yeah, but what does a droid do with that kind of money?" the clone asked, as the droid let out another laugh.
"Oh, don't worry, Rex. All credits on here are provided by me. So, you're not really losing anything, since I'll go ahead and replenish whatever you do lose." The captain explained.
The clone frowned, puzzled.
"Then what's the point of playing?"
Drake let out a smirk. "Well, the droids simply use the sabacc tables as a way to hone their thinking algorithms and processes. Unlike you, these droids can't pop down to the local market and purchase, say, that paint kit they want. There's something about having a set of blasters fused on your body that sets people on edge."
Rex let out a small laugh.
"So, the clankers use it as a way to improve themselves? That's a new one."
"So, you have no idea what this meteor will bring?" an older woman, hair silver in an odango style, asked Sailor Pluto.
"This object may help us with a new ally... or it could destroy the Silver Millennium." The Senshi of Time replied, her face even more grim than normal.
The queen nodded, as she looked across her halls.
"Alert the Senshi. Do not have them attack. Just observe their actions."
Captain Drake looked out at the expanse of hyperspace, as the blur receded back into realspace.
"Well, now the fun part. Just where the Hell are we?" he inquired of his droids.
"Difficult to say, captain. But, according to the data, our temporal dampener's malfunction has sent us thousands of years ahead of our original time."
The captain frowned. That would mean that the Clone Wars would have ended long ago. Everyone and everything they knew... long gone.
"There's a second problem, captain."
"What is it?"
The droid nervously tapped its manipulator arms. "Well, it appears that, somehow, we have managed to pierce the Hyperspace Void. Even when we get our hyperdrive ready to return, there's no telling just how we could get back. The data on our approach here alone was seriously corrupted."
Drake nodded, as he turned to Ahsoka and Rex.
"Well... I'm sorry to tell you two this..."
The Jedi nodded.
"Yeah, I get it. We accidentally wound up out of our own time and in an uninhabited space outside our own galaxy. I knew I should have just let you go."
"Captain... We have detected a chain of inhabited planets. Our sensors pick up that the tech here is unique. No indication of Hyperdrive technology, yet there is a power here... far stronger than anything I've ever detected."
Rex looked over the droid's shoulder.
"Hmm... powerful energy signature, yet no defined power generator. Strange."
Drake nodded, as he took up the command chair.
"Well... there's no other way around it. Open all frequencies, send out a distress call. Friendly or not, we have no choice but to meet them head-on."