"Blackhawk One this is Starscapes One. You are clear to enter the black hole," my commanding officer called over the comm system.
"Blackhawk One to Starscapes One; entering the black hole now," I say as I turn my ship into the gravity field. My ship started shaking badly but the compensators kick in and the shaking lessens. Fear and excitement build in my chest as the black hole gets closer. Then I black out. The force of gravity must've been too much for me. But then how am I still alive? I feel myself coming to what seems like an eternity later. I blink and find myself surrounded by clone troopers, all of which are pointing their rifles at me and waiting for me to wake up. I'm in the medical bay of a Republic Star Destroyer. Given their armor, I'd say I'm in the late stages of the Clone Wars.
"Where am I?" I ask.
"You're on the Resolute," a familiar voice says. It's Anakin Skywalker.
"How did I get here?" I ask him, looking around.
"We don't know. You just appeared," another voice says. It was Captain Rex.
"That's weird because I was just flying into a black hole," I say, trying to make sense of it all.
"Why would you do that?" Anakin Skywalker asks me.
"Our people live in a different galaxy, far away from here, and we're curious about the effects of sending a person through a black hole," I answer. Everyone in the room looks at each other, confused.
"Stand down troopers, he's telling the truth. I don't think he's a threat," Anakin Skywalker says. I look around and watch the troopers lower their rifles.
"General, I suggest you let him sit up and get his bearings. It'll be easier for him to cooperate," one of the medics says. Anakin uses the Force to release the straps that hold me down. I sit up and stretch, getting used to my surroundings.
"What else do you want from me?" I ask.
"We're not sure yet. There's no explanation for how you got here other than what you have told us," Anakin answers, and then quickly adds, "I almost forgot. What's your name?"
"I'm Lo'gaan D'Zeeuw," I answer, adding a little twist to my real name so it's easier to fit in. Anakin and the Captain look at each other and then back at me.
"You're free to go, we have no further questions for you," Skywalker says. I look over at him and an idea works its way to my mind.
"I'd like to enlist," I say. Rex and Skywalker look shocked at first. Rex is the first to speak.
"You'll have to go to Kamino and get trained there if you want to fight with the rest of us."
"Ok. I'll need someone to get me there; I'm not familiar with your ships," I say.
"Rex, have an ARC-170 take him in," Anakin says.
"Yes sir! Lo'gaan if you'll follow me," Captain Rex responds and gestures for me to follow him. I stand and follow the captain as he heads to the hangar. As we walk, I see him glance over at me every once in a while. Suddenly the battle alarms go off and the ship shudders. There are sounds of large impacts nearby; it sounds like a boarding party.
"Got a gun I can use?" I ask Rex.
"No, but the armory is this way," he says, gesturing. I follow him as he runs towards the armory. We get cut off by a group of droids. They were mostly B1's, but there were a few Supers in there too. I dodge my way through the hail of laser fire and rip the head off the nearest B1. I grab its blaster and start firing. By the time I'm able to fall back, Rex is finishing the last of the Super Battle Droids.
"Let's get to the bridge. The armory is on the way," Rex says.
"Sounds good," I respond as we head towards the armory. I grab a rifle when we get there, and get ready to blast my way through the next group of droids. Rex stops and motions for me to do the same. Right around the corner there's a group of Commando Droids.
"I'll cover you. Get to the bridge," Rex whispers to me.
'I'm taking as many of those clankers out as I can before I go up there. I don't want them to get to the bridge," I counter. I run around the corner and blast three of the six before they know what hit them. Rex hits the other three as I head for the bridge. When I get there, there's an IG series Assassin Droid hacking the door. With a few shots from my blaster I blow its head off. Rex comes up behind me and opens the door. The bridge crew is busy planning the battle, deploying the fighter squadrons and other bridge duties pertaining to a battle.
¨Rex, we need you leading our defenses. Lo'gaan I thought you left," Obi Wan says as he exits the bridge with Commander Cody in tow.
"We were ambushed sir," Rex answers, "and we could use Lo'gaan. He is a good soldier. In my opinion it's a waste of time and men to send him to Kamino." I point my blaster out the turbo lift and blast a droideka as it rolls towards us. Rex joins in and finishes it off.
"You're going to want some armor," he says as we work our way towards the bulk of the fighting.
"No thanks, at least not yet," I say, "it just slows me down." Rex nods and we start firing together. I work my way to the front and start cutting a path through the droids. Then I hear the familiar sound of General Grievous. The troopers and I finish off the droids when he comes around the corner. His lightsabers are still put away, so I open fire. The first few rounds hit him square in the chest. Obi Wan comes in from behind and uses the General's distraction to cut him down.
"How did you catch him off guard?" Obi Wan asks me, surprised.
"I didn't catch him, he made a stupid mistake and came around the corner without his lightsabers out so I shot him," I answer, "I'd like to go to Kamino anyway just to make sure I know what I need to for military tactics. If you teach me how to fly a fighter I'll take myself."
"Rex, why don't you have a pilot train him on V-19 number three," Anakin suggests.
"Yes sir," Rex says and I follow him to the hangar. When we get there, Rex calls one of the pilots over.
"He is to be taught how to fly," Rex orders.
"Yes sir!" the pilot says. He eyes me up and I can tell he's skeptical.
"Have you flown anything before?" the pilot asks.
"Yeah. But it isn't anything you'd be familiar with. I just need to know how to fly a V-19. I was told V-19 number three," I answer.
"Number three? That piece of junk? Good luck. I'll teach you what I can," the pilot responds, not helping my uneasiness at all. I follow him towards one of the V-19 Torrents that they keep in the hangar. It looks pretty rough, and I can see why he called it a piece of junk. He extended one of the ladders that they use to climb up to the top of the fighters so the two of us could get to the cockpit.
"Here are the thruster controls and weapons controls," he says and points to the controls. I nod and watch as he points out the rest of the controls. The only thing to do now is get some flight practice. I get up into the cockpit after they give me a flight suit and clone trooper helmet. I fire up the engines. One of the deck officers gives me the ok to take off. I lift off and fly out of the hangar. So far so good. The voice of Admiral Yularen comes in over the comm.
"Fly around the cruiser a few times, then you're cleared to dock with your hyperspace ring and head for Kamino."
"I copy. Will buzz the bridge a few times before I go," I say and cut the channel. I ease up the throttle and fly around the cruiser a few times. The V-19 handles well, so I line up with the hyperspace ring and slowly approach the ring. I hear the docking clamps click into place and sigh with relief. I punch the controls for Kamino and then sit by and let the fighter do the rest of the work. A few minutes later the fighter suddenly drops out of hyperspace, and I'm surrounded by vulture droids. I didn't learn anything about combat flying, so I book it to the planet, using evasive maneuvers.
When I break the cloud barrier I see a very unwelcome sight: the plains of Ryloth. The vulture droids open up on my fighter and it stars smoking and flaming like crazy. The hyperspace ring makes contact with the ground and everything goes black. I don't know how long I was unconscious, but when I came to it was still daytime. Looking down at me is a Twi'Lek woman. She's changing some bandages when she notices me blinking the sleep out of my eyes. She smiles tentatively.
"You were burned pretty badly," she says. My throat goes dry when she speaks. Not only is she beautiful, but her voice is like the prettiest ballad I've ever heard.
"I imagine so. Those vulture droids were relentless," I say back. She hands me a glass of a liquid that I don't recognize. I slowly take a drink. It's a sweet juice, sort of like orange juice on earth.
"It'll help with the pain," she says.
"Thank you," I tell her. I try to sit up, but she puts her hand on my chest and pushes me back onto the bed.
"You're staying here," she says so I just nod and close my eyes, "and you're keeping those eyes open so I know you're still with me." I open them again and look straight into her eyes, holding her gaze.
"Why did you pull me out of the wreck? If the Separatists find me here they'll probably kill both of us," I ask.
"I pulled you out because it was the right thing to do. If you want I can kick you out of the house," she threatens.
"I was just curious. I'm still getting used to the new galaxy," I say.
"New galaxy? Now I'm starting to think you hit your head. Intergalactic travel is impossible," she says.
"No it's not. If you fly through a black hole you can travel through time and across space. I'm from the Planet earth. It's millions or even billions of parsecs from here," I say. She just shakes her head and leaves the room to toss out the old bandages. She comes back and sits on the edge of the bed and looks down at me.
"You're fighter was all but destroyed. You're lucky you were even there for me to rescue. Anyway, I've had enough of this seriousness. I'd like to have a lighthearted conversation after this ambush of yours," she says, shifting her position so she was almost on top of me.
"I've got massive burns, remember? It's not smart to play with me like this," I tell her, laughing as I do. She laughs and eases back a little, but the look in her eye is still playful.
"Give them a few days and they'll just look bad. The pain will be gone and we can have fun," she says, winking at me. I laugh, but a warning flag goes off in my mind. There was a woman I was thinking of marrying back on Earth. Her name was Theresa. For all I know she could be dead by now. There is no way to tell, so the action I must take is obvious. I need to sleep on a mat on the floor somewhere else in the house that's separated from my host, whose name is still alien to me.
"What is your name?" I ask her.
"Seely," she answers.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Lo'gaan," I say.
"Nice to meet you too," she says, still trying and still failing to seduce me. We eventually fall asleep. When I wake up, Seely is gone. I get up, wincing because my legs still hurt from when they got jammed into the fighter's consol. As I walk around, the pain goes away and I'm able to walk just fine.
Suddenly something hits the floor in the room next to me. I instinctively draw my blaster and head to the next room ready to fight off an intruder. I hear a woman scream. Seely. I ran around the corner and out the front door. There she was, being dragged away by two commando droids. Flanking them were two droidekas. This was about to get interesting. I manage to hit one of the commando droids, but the droidekas force me to duck back into the doorway. I hear engines start and a ship taking off.
Now I'm stuck here with no way to pursue the person that saved my life. I go back to Seely's house and try to figure out a way to rescue her. I eventually give up for the day and work on cleaning the place up a bit to take my mind off things. When the house is in pristine condition, I start cleaning my blaster and checking the other tools that Seely kept around.
I do this again and again over the course of the next few months, only leaving the house to hunt in the local forest, resigning myself to the job of keeping as low a profile as I could. Then one day as I'm sitting outside cleaning my blaster, a clone gunship and several ARC-170s fly by overhead and turn back towards the house. They land in the front lawn. I stand up and balance my rifle on its stock. The doors of the gunships slide open, and Captain Rex steps out along with the troopers that came with him.
""Good to see you again Lo'gaan," Rex says and salutes. The rest of the troopers salute as well.
"At ease gentlemen," I say, "what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"
"Your friend Seely sent us an encrypted message, saying that a ship known as the Malevolence II has risen from a CIS shipyard. She is a prisoner on board, and is requesting you to be part of the rescue mission," Rex answers. Surprised, I sit and think for a bit before I answer.
"If I'm to be part of this mission, I have to look like another cone, to help get passed the droids and not arouse suspicion. Looking like a clone won't help against Ventress or Dooku, but it's better than nothing," I say. Rex nods.
"Trooper, get the armor out of the storage container," Rex orders one of the troopers behind him.
"Yes sir!" the trooper responds as he retrieves the armor. The sight of the helmet is even more surprising. It's clone commando armor.
"Rex, are you sure he's got the right armor? That's clone commando gear," I say.
"He's got the right gear," Rex confirms. I take the armor from the trooper and go in the house to suit up. Rex and his troopers take up positions around the house to guard against any further intrusion. When I step out into the light, the HUD adapts to the increased light. Rex recalls the troopers and we lift off.
"So about this Malevolence II thing. What have the Seps improved on from the old design?" I ask.
"For one thing it's got two ion cannons instead of one. The shielding is much better as well as the targeting systems. From what Intelligence says, overloading the cannons will not severely damage the ship like the last one. This ship is unstoppable," Rex replies. That's what they said about the Death Star. I think for a bit, and then get an idea.
"Do we have a plan or time schedule yet? I'd like to stop by Kuat for a bit," I ask.
"Why go there?" Rex asks, intrigued.
"Because I have an idea for a ship that can take down the Malevolence II," I say. Rex doesn't hesitate.
"Rex to General Skywalker. Have the pilots set a course for Kuat," Rex says.
"Skywalker here. Why? The only thing there is the shipyards," Anakin says.
"Trust me," Rex says, urgently this time.
"Ok Rex. This better be good," Anakin says. Rex cuts the transmission right as we land in the hangar of the Resolute. When we got to the bridge several minutes later, the Resolute was on its way to Kuat. Anakin Skywalker met us in the hangar right after we landed. I don't need to be a Jedi to tell that Anakin still doesn't trust me.
"So you plan to put proton torpedo launchers and engines off of two gunships onto a Z-95 Headhunter frame along with two repeating blasters under the cockpit? That sounds overpowered," Anakin says.
"That's the point," I say, "the Malevolence II is also overpowered. We need to match that power. Something else I plan to mount under each wing is a seismic charge dispenser. They should be strong enough to penetrate the shielding surrounding a ship that large, as well as take out large numbers of fighters that are in pursuit." Anakin and Rex look at me like I'm crazy.
"You sound like the late Jango Fett," Anakin says. Rex doesn't comment.
"How many of your fleets has this new weapon of the separatists' taken out?"
"That's not your concern," Anakin says, his temper rising.
"How many?!" I shout feeling my temper match Anakin's.
"The Resolute is the last cruiser in operation. Kuat is heavily guarded by the Separatists," Anakin says.
"All the more reason to trust me on this. The Resolute could hide several parsecs from Kuat, send me in in one of those shuttles I saw as we passed the hangar, and I can sneak in undetected," I say. Anakin's face gives away his conflicting emotions.
"If you even give me suspicion that you're on their side, I'll have Rex shoot you down," Anakin warns.
"I understand," I say and head towards the hangar. The shuttle isn't all that different to fly, so I start going through the preflight operations as soon as I get in. When I'm ready, I take off. As I approach the Separatist line, one of the droid commanders sends me a message to enter my clearance code. I enter the shuttle's ID, and hope it works. The droid lets me past, and I fly to the surface. I don't like what I see. All the shipyards have been converted to build Separatist cruisers. I find a place to land that is out of the main traffic and get out. I make my way to the hangar and into the main part of the complex. There are droid patrols everywhere, forcing me to duck behind cover every couple seconds. This is going to take forever. I finally get into the command center for the planet, and slowly make my way to the top floor where the command center is. I sneak into one of the computer areas and sit down at the console. An idea hit me. I know enough about computer programming that I could write a small virus that would shut out the Separatists from their droids all over the planet, and if I wrote it right, I could have the entire Separatist Fleet under my control. I start writing, always looking around for any droids. Surprisingly, none show up while I'm working. I launch the virus, and soon a droid walks up to me.
"What are your orders General?" it asks.
"come with me. We need a ride off this rock," I say.
"Roger roger," the droid says and he escorts me to the hangar. we pass a few other droids, and they join us as well. I activate the comlink on the shuttle I came here in.
"Resolute, this is Lo'gaan. I have secured the planet," I say. It takes a second for the hologram to appear. It's Admiral Yularen.
"Lo'gaan, repeat last," he says, surprised.
"Tell General Skywalker that the Separatists on Kuat are under my control," I say for him. Anakin steps into the picture.
"How did you manage that?"
"I launched a spider monkey virus into all the droids at once. No one on Kuat will figure it out because of my little trick," I answer.
"Get the blockade to reposition itself," Anakin says, still not convinced. I press a few buttons on my controls, and the blockade starts to loosen up and move into a less aggressive position.
"Well then looks like someone's got himself some new toys," Anakin says.
"Looks like I do," I say and cut the transmission when I enter the hangar. There are a few troopers waiting for me there. When they see the droids, they all draw their blasters. They must not have heard the news.
"They're friends," I say and the troopers hesitantly lower their weapons. One of the droids waves. "All those droids down there now serve the Republic." I tell the clones.
"But how?" one of them asks.
"I infected them with a virus while I was away. They all respond to my commands now. Looks like you boys got some reinforcements now," I tell them as I walk towards the bridge, followed by droids and clones. When I get to the bridge, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi both look up at me like I'm some sort of genius.
"I still don't understand how you got past all their security," Obi-Wan says.
"I got past because they got complacent. It was hard to get past it, but once I was inside, there weren't any problems. I transferred control over to the bridge, so now if you don't mind I would like to get some of our new friends in formation," I say. Obi-Wan points me to a spare computer console and I sit down. I type in the passcode I wrote in to allow me to access the droids. I call up three Trade Federation Frigates and several Dreadnaughts. They fall into formation around the Resolute, each of the droid commanders reporting ready. We make the jump to hyperspace and head for Coruscant. When we arrive, I deploy the droid fleet as well as my virus. So now as the battle progresses I can take more of the CIS fleet from them without destroying it. Then out of nowhere, the Malevolence II shows up.
"Alright guys here we go. if we're going to do this, it has to be now," I say.
"Right," a clone says behind me. I turn around and see that it's Sev, one of the commandos in Delta Squad.
"Commando Sev. What brings you hear?" I ask.
"Also on board is my cyar'ika Mira Shallon. I'm coming with you," he answers.
"Cyar'ika?"
"Mandalorian for lover," he explains.
"Got it. Welcome to the team. Is the rest of Delta Squad coming along for the ride or no?" I ask.
"Yes. They're waiting for us in the hangar," Sev answers.
"Good. Let's get going before it's too late."
"Agreed. It's time to rain some haran down on the droids," Sev says.
"Lemme guess. Haran means hell or something of that sort?" I ask.
"That's an understatement my friend," Sev says, chuckling a little. We take off and head for the Malevolence II. Once we get there, we land in the hangar. Sev and the rest of Delta Squad get off the ship first, clearing some of the droids that were scattered in the hangar.
"Okay Lo'gaan. The hangar is secure. They're keeping Mira and Seely in the top of the aft spire. We'll keep the ship secure while you go get them," Sev says.
"Ok. If I'm not back in two hours, get out of here," I say.
"We'll come get you if you're not back in two hours. We leave no one behind," Scorch adds.
"Scorch is right," Sev says.
"Ok. I've got a job to do. See you boys soon," I say before i start heading for the spire. i run into several droids, but I destroy them all before they can raise the alarm. I press a few buttons on my communicator as I run, signaling the droids I control to send boarding parties over here along with the virus. They droids give me their usual reply, and i continue towards the spire. I eventually get there, and as I'm on my way up the turbo lift, it suddenly stops, and I hear a lightsaber ignite on the ceiling. i ignite mine, and wait for whoever it is to cut through the ceiling. A red blade cuts through, and none other than Count Dooku drops in. Since I'm waiting for him, I'm able to get my blade around his and cut him in half. Too easy. I climb out of the lift and start climbing the shaft freestyle. Sev's voice comes in over the radio.
"We've got reinforcements of the droid variety in here. Thanks for the help. How close are you to the objective?"
"I'm about a hundred meters away. The turbo lift quit so I have to climb the last 100 meters on my own," I answer. There's silence for a few seconds and then the radio crackles on again.
"So you're telling me that you're free-climbing an active turbo lift?" Scorch says.
"Wait...it's active again?" I ask.
"Yeah. Fixer just reactivated it," Sev says. I look down and see it sparking all over the place.
"Yeah no. it's just sitting there throwing sparks all over. I'm almost there," I say. Fixer swears and then the radio goes to static. I finish climbing up the shaft and rest for a few minutes before I pry the doors open. The droids turn and look at me but none of them opens fire. Good. The virus is working. I walk around, looking for Mira and Seely. I find them slumped in a corner, unconscious.
"Sev? You still there?" I ask.
"Yes we're still here," He replies a few minutes later.
"I found the women. They're both unconscious, and it looks like they've been tortured," I say.
"We'll be right there. The droids stopped fighting like they were supposed to," Sev says.
"Good. I'll see you guys when you get up here," I say. They sign off and a few minutes later I hear them opening the doors. Sev runs in and sees the two women on the floor. He runs to Mira and starts running scans to make sure she's alive.
"They're both alive, but we need to get them out of here," Sev says.
"I'll get a gunship over here," Scorch says, and calls in the air support. I pick Seely up and gently carry her to the hangar, where the gunship is waiting. I put her on one of the stretchers that the medics have, and Sev sets Mira down, insisting that he ride with her. I take one of the ARC-170s that came along to fly escort to the medical station a few parsecs away. When we get there, both women are awake. I hold Seely's hand as the medics start giving her medications for the pain; Sev does the same for Mira. Seely smiles up at me, but I can tell that she's still in a lot of pain. When we get to the cruiser, the two women are rushed to the medical bay and set up with a 2-1B medical droid. Sev and I sit next to Mira and Seely respectively. I look down at Seely as she's resting, and gently brush her cheek with the back of my hand. She looks so peaceful in sleep. Seely stirs a little and opens her eyes.
"Lo'gaan." she says.
"I'm right here," I say, causing her to look over at me. She smiles and takes my hand in hers.
"When the doctors say it's ok, I'm going to get out of here and I'm going to show you a fun time," she says, giggling a little. i blush and have to look away for a second. Sev chuckles too.
"You're welcome for the rescue," I say and kiss her forehead. She smiles and closes her eyes again. Mira stays quiet for a few hours and then wakes up. Sev looks over at Seely and I.
"She's waking up," he says. I look over at Mira and watch as she stretches. Mira looks at Sev and smiles, as does Sev.
"Mij how is Seely doing?" Sev asks.
"She's doing well. She should be ready to leave in a few hours," he answers, pausing. "I would not suggest any activities for a few days." Seely frowns a little, and I caress her cheek.
"It's ok cyar'ika," I say. Cyar'ika; lover or wife in Mando'a. She smiles and pulls me down for a kiss, and I kiss her back tenderly. Sev and Mij chuckle.
"I love you Lo'gaan dear," she says.
"Love you more," I tell her, smiling. She reaches up and brushes my cheek with her hand lovingly.
"I'm still so happy that I met you," she tells me.
"I am too. I'm happy you pulled me out. Loving you has been and will be amazing," I tell her. She smiles and sits up.
"I just ran some more scans, and I found something quite interesting. Seely, you've got a high midichlorean level. About as many as Mira here.
"That would explain some things," she says. Everyone looks at her surprised.
"She'll get better a lot faster with all of them in her bloodstream," Mij says.
"That's good news Mij. What things would that explain?" I ask, curious. She closes her eyes and I feel a friendly presence in my mind. I feel how much she loves me and the joy that she gets from being around me. It's overwhelming. She slowly pulls away and looks up at me. I look back at her, not sure what to say.
"I love you," she says.
"I love you too," I tell her. She blushes and I kiss her. As we kiss, I feel her wrap her arms around me and pull me close.