This is an aborted star wars SI.
For almost anybody else it would have been a relatively minor accident, a taxi breaks too late and slams into the back of a bus that had switched lanes a moment earlier. Sitting on the passenger's side my body jerks forward against the seatbelt, my neck strains against the sudden movement giving me a minor case of whiplash, my chest gets what will turn into a very long bruise from where the seatbelt presses against my body, and my knees slam into the dashboard leaving multiple fractures. That would have been it for anyone else, but I have Muscular Dystrophy so my muscles including my heart are significantly weaker than the average person so when my body suffered multiple traumas without any warning I suffer a heart attack despite being just twenty-five years old.
What this means for me is that my projected life span drops for fifty to sixty years to thirty if I'm incredibly lucky because despite the medical professionals' best efforts my heart isn't going to recover fully and my prolonged stay in hospital is going to cause my leg muscles to atrophy.
So when a higher being offers me a new completely functional body I almost jump at the chance before my brain kicks in and I ask what the catch is. Janus as he is calling himself explains that I would no longer be completely me, that the essence of three others will be in part added to my own along with their skills and memories, that my DNA would be modified with theirs and that of a couple of other beings. He then also mentions that I could never go home again and that I wouldn't see my family before the afterlife because I would be in a different reality.
I ask him why he is doing this and he explains that he needs a galaxy to be saved and he knows I wouldn't be able to walk away so long as I know what's coming, that my conscience wouldn't allow it. I ask how I would know what's coming and he just starts humming a very familiar theme. I gape at him as I put the pieces together and realise he means to make me a Jedi.
'Janus' goes on explain that would be getting the collective memories of Sarkh a Trandoshan Jedi who joined the order shortly after the Ruusan reformation, Darth Talon a Twilek Sith Lady 130+ years after the emperors fall in Return of the Jedi, and Peter Jason Quill AKA Starlord a Human/Spartoi Han Solo type character in the Marvel universe just to spice things up a little. In addition to the Trandoshan, Twilek and Spartoi DNA I would receive Krogan and Sebacean DNA in the form of a second heart, improved healing factor and increased resistance to radiation and poisons as well as some translator microbes thrown in as a bonus.
(A/N: For those unfamiliar with them krogans are from the Mass Effect series Sebaceans are from Farscape. The Spartoi is the race of Starlords father in the Marvel comics. I chose Darth Talon because she looks incredibly cool and thus far to my knowledge hasn't been used at all in fan fiction. Sarkh is my own creation because I wanted to use a Trandoshan and I needed a Jedi to balance out the collective experiences of my character.)
Other than a slight shortening in height I would retain my base body shape and facial features however my skin would become a mix of Dark Red and Grey, my hair a raven black and my eyes a pale white. My strength, speed and agility would all be a little above that of a human and my natural lifespan could easily extend into four figures. Oh and my new body would be that of a fifteen-year old.
With an offer like that on table I can't help but accept and once I tell 'Janus' as much he begins the transformation. I immediately feel the power flowing through me as the damage done to my body heals, and the body fat I carry burns away and my muscles grow. Then the blinding pain begins. I writhe in agony for what feels like hours as my DNA gets rearranged and my internal organs shift and change as my second heart grows. As soon as the change ends I sit up, adrenaline pumping through my veins and a cold sweat covering my body as I realise that despite the physical trauma I've just been through I have never felt better. I have a physical strength that I've never known before and my senses have never been sharper and that's before I feel the force flowing through me. I feel the energy all around me flowing through me and I have never felt more alive.
My exploration of the force is interrupted by eighty odd years of memories as Sarkh's, Talon's and Quill's combined knowledge becomes my own. As I mentally skim over each of their memories I'm struck by the odd contrast of Sarkh's peaceful life and Talon's life of pain and conflict, whilst Quills life was just plain chaotic from the moment he left Earth as a child.
Janus regains my attention and directs me to stand before he changes my hospital gown into an outfit that heavily resembles a black variation of Quills Ravager garb with a leather duster in instead of the jacket
I exit the dimensional portal moving so fast that I barely have time to put my arms up before I slam head first into a bald red skinned figure from the side. My momentum is enough to carry me over the top of the figure as he hits the ground, I roll over and look up to see Liam Neeson looking down at me in surprise.
"Um, hello?" I mutter weakly as my brain catches up with me and I realise that I'm looking Qui-Gon Jinn, which means I know exactly who the Red and black skinned guy was and I'm mentally kicking myself as I roll out of the way of a strike from a double-sided red lightsabre.
In one swift manoeuvre I move to my feet behind Qui-Gon as he moves to intercept Darth Mauls secondary attempt on my life. Now on my feet I shrug off my duster and throw it off to the side and pull my lightsabre. The orange blade snapped to life with a hiss as I moved into a flanking position surprising both force users.
Master Sarkh never truly mastered any form of lightsabre combat, focusing more on the force itself, Darth Talon however was a master of Ataru so using those skills are my plan here. I don't actually expect to beat Maul myself but I may be able to give Qui-Gon a chance, and Obi-Wan is still waiting for the shield he's trapped behind to fall so it should be a three to one battle shortly.
In practice however my plan works a little too well, Jinn's tight Makashi and my acrobatic Ataru are forcing Maul backwards as he struggles to break our attack. With his annoyance at my appearance and frustration over our relative success building his anger soars empowering the junior Sith lord. He lashes out at us with the force pushing us both back by several meters before he presses forward closing the distance between himself and Master Jinn whilst we were still recovering and launching into a flurry of attacking strikes that Qui-Gon was struggling to hold out against.
Just as I re-join the fray Maul breaks through his defences with a much more focussed use of the force flinging the Jedi Master off his feet and into the wall knocking him out. The Siths focus on Qui-Gon caused him to slip up over extending himself, a mistake which I intend to take full advantage of as I press the attack with a strike that he barely manages to block. Still off balance he counters with the other end of blade, sweeping low in an effort to force me back. I leap over his attack moving back slightly to defend myself whilst bringing my blade straight through the handle of his double-sided sabre, cutting off the lower blade before my feet even touch the ground.
His loss of a blade causes him to back off a little as I'm momentarily distracted by the shield lowering allowing Obi-Wan into the fight. Once Kenobi gets into position on my left we press the attack, pushing the tiring Maul onto the defensive whilst his frustration feeds his ever growing anger.
Whether it's due to desperation, or because he just doesn't think that much of the Padawans skill, he retries the same move that almost lost him the fight earlier, force pushing me into the wall before turning to Obi-Wan who manages to surprise him by switching from Makashi to Ataru with more fluidity than he had shown previously in this fight. With speed and skill that I didn't think Obi-Wan was capable of at this point in his life he rolls under Mauls horizontal slash before striking up at the retreating Sith lord grazing his right hand and sending the red sabre sailing over his head. Before the Padawan can finish his assault he is hit with yet another force push from Maul before the Sith can be cut down.
It's at this point I re-join the battle drawing my blaster and firing four shots off in quick succession as Maul leaps backwards through the air towards his sabre. The Sith apprentice manages to avoid the first two of my shots by twisting in mid-air, but the third shot grazes his left leg and the fourth hits the dead centre of his chest just as he grabs and ignites his sabre once more. Given the fact that in canon this guy survives getting cut in half, to come back and haunt Kenobi during the Clone wars I am not all that surprised to see him relatively unharmed by my hits. Not wanting him to reflect any further shots I put my blaster back in my holster and move forward under the intense waves of hate that Maul is attempting to weaken me with, but this is where Sarkh's skills as a Force user come into play as my mental shields hold strong minimising the negative influence of the Siths rage. I glance over at Kenobi and smile a little as he seems to be affected more by surprise at my use of a blaster than anything else.
Maul's rage comes bearing down on us in the form of an angry Sith lord as he moves swiftly to knock Kenobi aside and deliver dozens of furious blows that I am struggling to dodge and deflect culminating in an upward swing that slices my left arm off at the shoulder, which as you would expect stuns me with intense pain. Mauls following attempt at decapitation is blocked to both our surprises by the blade of the newly awakened Master Jinn which allows me to stab my blade upwards through the chest as a recovered Obi-Wan slices him in half from behind. The two Jedi and I step back from out opponent and deactivate our sabres as he drops his weapon and crumples to the floor in a heap.
Looking down at the somehow still alive Maul "How are you still alive, I mean you get stabbed through the chest and cut in half and you're still breathing somehow!"
The usually silent and quickly fading Sith rasps out "You may have beaten me but the Jedi will soon fall! They will FALL! I know this because I have seen it."
"Maybe so but I bet you didn't foresee me" I reply but I never get any response because he stops breathing.
I turn to Qui-Gon and extend my hand "Well that was exhilarating, thanks for the save by the way. I'm Talyn Rhodes."
He raises an eyebrow almost imperceptibly as he shakes my hand and responds "I am Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and this is my Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi and You are most welcome, but it should be us that thank you, I do not want to think about how badly things could have turned out were it not for your assistance. I think we should get you some medical assistance as soon as possible."
"No thanks I'm fine." I casually reply as I shake Obi-Wans hand.
Obi-Wan gives me an Incredulous look "You do realise you're missing an arm don't you?"
I look down at the severed appendage and with a grin on my face I turn back to him "Tis but a flesh wound."
Even Qui-Gon gives me a look that seems to ask if I've lost my sanity at some recent point in time after that one. I turn a little more serious "No really It should heal and regrow over the next week. Although jumping in a Bacta tank for a few hours would speed up the healing a bit."
My first published chapter in a long time im hoping to get back into it now unfortunately I forgot to copy what i down for Shadows and Ash, Needed Elsewhere and All Webbed Up when I formated but im hoping to continue them again. In the meantime let me know what you think of this chapter the Darth Maul fight in particular.