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Darkness was starting to fade away and a bright white light replaced Corporal Jake Matthews vision. For a moment the Royal Marine Commando thought perhaps he was dead but his vision improved enough to see he was in what looked to be a medical room, though it was different to anything he had seen before back home or abroad. He sat up and felt a rebreather mask attached to his mouth and pulled it off, no longer needing its assistance for supplying him oxygen.
Wiping his eyes to clear away the rest of his foggy vision, Jake scanned around the room to see both familiar and unfamiliar equipment across the place.
"What the hell happened?" He asked himself, trying to remember how he ended up in a hospital bed in the first place. All he could remember from his blurry memory was guarding some sort of strange large orb that was found floating in Plymouth harbour with two other marines one minute, then a weird tingling sensation engulfed him followed by a bright white light the next.
Checking around his body to see if he had any injuries and satisfied he didn't find any, the marine got up from the bed and saw he was minus half his body gear and all weapons. Jake's attention was quickly drawn to the door as a skinny silver robot walked in.
"What are you supposed to be?" He asked with a raised brow, suspicious of the ugly machine's entrance.
"I'm a 2-1B medical droid assigned to check on your condition and to examine if you have recovered from any injuries that may have occurred on your unexpected arrival" It explained in a monotone voice.
"Wait, what do you mean unexpected arrival?" Jake interrupted the machine, worried and confused by it's answer.
"The details of your appearance are unclear to me. All I know is the General assigned me to check on your health and to see if there is any harmful alien bacteria you may be carrying" It answered him again which only confused the marine further over it's explanation.
"If you would like to sit down, I need to give you a blood test and monitor your condition" With that the robot lifted one it's boney metal arms up and Jake's instincts kicked in, as he saw a needle sticking out the end of it.
"I suggest you point that thing somewhere else, unless you wish to be nothing but a scrap pile" He warned and took a defensive stance to the approaching robot.
"I will not harm you, it is a simple injection to see if there is anything in your bloodstream now if you coul-" Jake shoved the robot to the floor as it grabbed onto his arm, the sound of it crashing brought two white armoured figures into the room pointing odd shaped guns at him. His combat training suddenly took over and grabbed onto the closest armoured being's gun and struck him in the gut with the hardest kick he could muster, sending him flying back and quickly followed up by striking the other one in the head with the butt of the gun causing the him to fall to the floor.
He peaked outside the door to see the coast was clear and went left of the bland metallic footpath. Taking several turnings unsure where he was going, he still searched for a way out of this place. The Royal Marine reached the end of a passageways only to bump into more white armoured beings.
"Hey you stop!" One of them shouted in what sound like an Australian accent, but Jake was already turning to run in the opposite direction before any of them could prevent him from leaving. Heavy footsteps were following him closely behind, while he tried shaking off them off by taking pop shots at the chasing guards and was shocked when he saw the gun he had obtained was shooting blue laser bolts.
This got them to stop and give him a chance to extend his lead and lose them at the next turning, where from what Jake could work out was a lift. Practically bolting to the lift he knocked aside the two people coming out of it and pressed frantically at the buttons to get him away from the place.
"Christ what is this place!" Jake thought, regaining his breath before the lift stopped on another floor and to his hope, a way out. The lift stopped at what appeared to be a hangar, wide open spaces filled with assortment of bizarre and oddly shaped craft and to his dismay, more guards and personnel.
"THERE HE IS, GET HIM!" One of them shouted followed by a barrage of blue laser fire from all the white armoured guards, making him dive for cover behind some crates. The Corporal returned fire by sending a few bursts in their direction, popping his head to find a safer route but struggled to see any. The shots whizzed past him were a mix between the same bolts his weapon fired and circular rounds, skidding off or completely over the crates he hid behind.
"Trooper set your weapon to stun!" One of the guards shouted to another.
"Stun?, what do they want with me?" Jake mused whilst changing his cover by running as fast as his legs could and slid behind one of the more bulky looking planes, feeling more than once the heat of laser shots zoom past him. The wonder if his weapon was going to run out of ammunition anytime soon and his bid for freedom were all what was occupying Jake's mind as he shot at an onrushing guard's leg, sending him screaming to the ground until he felt his gun rip from his hands from an unforeseen force. Suddenly he felt himself being picked up into the air and slammed back against the wall.
Pain shot up the back of his skull and spine but didn't dwell too much on it when he saw the guards surround him.
"Stun him" Came a voice behind the guards. The last thing Jake remembered was a blue flash and darkness once again taking over.
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"Alright take him back to the medical wing, then when he's been fully checked take him to the cells" Ordered the Jedi General.
"Yes sir" The troopers responded to his command and gathered around the outcold being.
"Was that really necessary Anakin?. You could have done some serious damage to our guest" A red bearded man approached from behind the crowd of clone troops.
"Well Master, if he hadn't started attacking our troops then perhaps I would of been a lot nicer" Anakin replied to his old master and mentor Obi Wan.
"Still, I'd prefer we be able to question someone with their brain still intact" Obi Wan quipped getting an eye roll off his former Padawan. They watched as two clone troopers put the unconscious unknown being on to a stretcher and cuffed his wrists and ankles to it, whilst the trooper who was shot was getting his leg looked at.
"You alright over there Jesse?" Obi Wan asked the injured trooper.
"I'm good sir, nothing that a bacta patch can't handle" The clone waved off. The Jedi pair made their way over to the turbolift to head to the bridge, their thoughts on what just happened and on the stranger aboard their ship.
"Do you think he could be a Separatist?" Anakin pondered to the older Jedi.
"I'm not so sure. He definitely is a soldier of some sort and when we looked through his belongings, we didn't find anything that implicated he is Separatist. Plus we can't translate the writing that is on some of the equipment" Obi Wan analysed all the information they had on this person.
"Yeah did you see that weapons he had?, they're slugthrowers of all things!" The Jedi knight snorted at the mention of the primitive weaponry.
"True but would you face up against one of those firing at you?, they are a lot more difficult to deal with than blasters" Kenobi asked his former Padawan but didn't get an answer as they had reached the bridge. The two walked to the centre of the room towards the tactical display where Admiral Yularen, Captain Rex and Anakin's Padawan Ahsoka Tano were in a discussion before they noticed the other Jedi return.
"Generals, I hope the situation was contained and nobody was hurt down there" Yularen asked with a hint of concern in his voice.
"Don't worry Admiral everything's under control. Jesse took a round in his leg but he'll be fine" Obi Wan assured the Admiral's worries.
"What has happened to the prisoner sir?" Rex said adding his own question in, not too happy that somebody was shooting up his brothers in their own ship.
"He's not really a prisoner Rex, we don't who he is or how he got here. He was taken back to the medical bay then he'll be put in the cells below, where we'll interrogate him later" Anakin assured the Captain of the 501st and his second in command.
"Just when you think things were getting any weirder in this war, this turns up" Ahsoka spoke up for the first time in the middle of the gathered group.
"Come on Snips, the universe would be a pretty boring place if we didn't have a mystery here and there" Her master chuckled, the memories of Mortis coming to mind to the trio.
"Should we continue to set a course for Coruscant Master Kenobi?"
"Yes Admiral, we have to meet with the High Council and I'm sure the Chancellor is going to take an interest in this too" He nodded, as the Admiral walked away to give orders to the rest of the crew.
"Oh yes, this will be one interesting mystery to solve" Was Obi Wan's last thought before the Resolute entered the swirl of hyperspace.