Disclaimer: I do not own Swtor or PJO and they belong to Bioware and Rick accordingly.
We had just defeated Revan on Yavin 4 and I was on my way back to my stronghold on Dromund Kaas. The battle with Revan was one of the hardest of my life; Revan was more powerful than we had thought.
The battle was hard fought but we prevailed in the end. But the Emperor has returned and plans to destroy the galaxy once again.
But I will let Wrath deal with that situation. I needed some time off and so here I am aboard my Fury Ascension with only my faithful companion HK-51. I thought searching for lost Sith artefacts would be enough to take the edge away. But it seems that it's not enough this time.
I was returning from a backwater planet in the unknown regions were I had found a sith holocron that I had yet to activate. But I would have time to learn it's secrets later as the search had left me drained and I was in my quarters trying to get some rest. Keyword, trying.
We had just made an emergency hyperspace jump as we had been locked in combat with an unknown alien force and the ship had taken heavy damage. It was a miracle the ship was still flying.
My quarters were a mess. The desk had come lose from the floor and was overturned in the far corner and all the artefacts that adorned my walls had joined it on the floor. The bed was fine if you don't mind sleeping without a mattress as it had flown across the room and was pinned under the desk. I just walked out went back to the cockpit to as we were going to enter real space soon.
I was on my way to the cockpit when Ascension lost all power. I waited a moment for the backup generator to kick in. And I was not disappointed. The Emergency lights flickered on and I continued my way to the cockpit.
The cockpit was not glamorous in any way it had a pilot and co-pilot stations at the foremost of the cockpit with a galaxy map between them with the captain chair facing it. To the left there was another station used as a sort of support station. HK was in the pilot's chair.
I may or may not have given HK some undocumented upgrades allowing him to fill the position of the crew should the need arise.
"Master we seem to have taken more damage than we previously expected. The main generator is offline and we have dropped out of hyperspace and are headed for a planet. It appears to be capable of supporting Meatbag life." He said.
Ok I may have programmed HK to refer to us organics as "meatbags". Ever since that encounter with HK-47 on Malgus' station, I just loved the way it sounded, don't judge me.
As if the force was looking out for me we were in fact heading straight for a planet. The planet was mostly covered in Ocean but there appeared to be 3 distinct land masses.
"HK can you get the engines running with the emergency power?" I asked.
"Unfortunately the engines are fried master they will be of no use."
So much for entering orbit. "Are the thrusters operational?"
HK checked his console. "Indeed they are master but it will not be enough to stop us from entering the planet's atmosphere."
"I never said anything about stopping."
"You plan to land the ship! Master I must warn you that even with the thrusters we will not be able to land." HK paused. "Gracefully." He finished.
"We don't need graceful HK we just need to get this boat down."
If HK replied to that, I didn't hear it as I had immersed myself in the force as I reached out to the world before us probing with my senses. The world was rich in the force in a way I had never felt before, as I could not fell any presence of the darkside nor the light. If anything it seemed more like a grey. I was concentrated in the northern part of one of the continents. It was a nexus of force energy that was resonating in one area along the coast of one of the land masses. The amount of power I felt was on a scale I had only felt once before when the emperor had returned after we had defeated Revan. But it lacked the malevolent sensation the Emperor released.
Suddenly the nexus began diminishing as it began to separate into 14 presences. The presences seemed to teleport to other locations. I could feel that each presence held vast amounts of power, some more than others, but a large amount none the less.
They were force sensitive but I could sense that their power was supressed as if waiting for something to unleash it. It was something I could investigate latter as now I needed to concentrate on getting the ship down.
I pulled my senses back and caught the last part of HK's sentence. "…ould land in a secluded area. Preferably with a water source nearby." He said as he stared at a holomap of the planet.
"If possible HK, could you put us down somewhere on near this location." I pointed to the location I sensed the 14 presences from.
HK looked at the map before saying. "We could try and set downin one of the forest's surrounding the area." He gestured to a land mass that was protruding into the ocean from the main land.
"The closer the better." I replied.
"One more thing master. Due to the engines premature destruction we are still moving at high speeds. I can use the thrusters to slow us down but even they are not enough stop the high speed impact with the ground. I fear we may not survive the impact."
This changes things. If we can't slow the ship to ensure we can survive the crash… Who would have thought this would be the end of Darth Nox, to die in a crash on an unknown world. Then it hit me, the force. It was so simple I felt like slapping myself, I could use the force to help slow the fall. And if all else fails we still have the escape pod.
"We'll make it HK, I shall use the force to help slow our descent."
"Are you certain you will be capable of slowing the ship master?"
"HK nothing is impossible with the force. And haven't I told you a hundred times that size doesn't matter."
"Yes master you seem to always remind me whenever the chance arises. And it was only 76 times master."
"You and your perfect memory."
"As much as I like to have our chats master, we are approaching the planet quickly."
The planet was now looming in the viewport and I could feel the adrenaline entering my system as the fear of an uncontrolled atmospheric entry took its hold.
Fire began to dance across the hull of Ascension. Without the shields operational the ship would burn up in entry. I kneeled down and began to meditate as I gathered my power and formed a bubbe of force energy, not unlike my static barrier, around the ship protecting it from the heat of our entry.
"HK use the thrusters to alter our course so we can gracefully crash in an isolated area."
I did not hear his reply as I was once again gathering the force. I imagine the inhabitants of the world are seeing a fireball streaking across the sky right now.
I reached out with my senses towards our supposed landing site. I felt one of the 14 presenses from the nexus a few Kilometers away from the site. If we could angle the ship to land closer. Yes, if we can land closer to the presence I could gather some much needed information.
"HK angle the ship 12 degrees to the right."
"At once master."
A quick burst of the thrusters and the ship shifted 12 degrees right. Now it's only a matter of waiting for the right moment to begin slowing the descent. 2 minutes latter HK fired all the forward and ventral thrusters and I felt the ship slowing and as HK predicted it was wasn't going to be enough.
I reached out and griped the ship with the force using to slow our descent further. I don't know how long we were falling but I heard HK yell out. "2 minutes until impact master. We are still coming in to fast."
I could feel the ship slowing, but as HK said we were not slowing fast enough. So this was my end. To die in a fiery crash on an uncharted world, the though made my blood boil and my anger rise. I reached for the spark that had formed in my mind and I feed it all my hate, all my anger and felt it grow into an inferno as I extended my will over the ship willing it to slow.
Those 2 minutes felt like hours until I felt the impact and lost my concentration as I was flung forwards and the last thing I saw was the co-pilot's console before I fell into darkness.
