Hello everyone! This fiction is actually a sequel to my first fiction, Whispers of the Force.
.net/story/story_?storyid=5437909&chapter=1
Reading it is not a must for this fic, but if you do it will greatly improve your enjoyment of this fiction. I've made it easy to get if you decide not to though. I hope you all enjoy this epic adventure set during the Mandalorian Wars as Aaryn Karsa and his gang search for the true reason behind the Mandalorian invasion! Please tell me what you think! Also some of you may notice the beginning is similar to a very great game = )
OPENING CRAWL: /games/playnow/crawl_?cs=b835raybe4
STAR WARS 3693-
ECHOES OF THE FORCE
PROLOGUE
The Force had to have a sense of humor; at least Jedi Knight Aaryn Karsa seemed to think so. One would think after saving the Republic from a Mandalorian superweapon would earn some much deserved rest, but for a Jedi Knight there is no rest. At least that's what his former master would have said. The Divinity rocked heavily and Aaryn steadied himself on the back of the pilot's seat. Its pilot, the beautiful and deadly Jove Sunflare tightened her grip on the control yoke.
"I think we made a wrong turn somewhere," Aaryn said.
"Yeah, no kidding, it's like we've stirred up a Tatooine hornets' nest." She said through gritted teeth.
"Tatoonie?" Belo, the Ortolan, wiggled his blue trunk.
"Focus," Aaryn said sternly. "What's the status of the shields?"
"Not good," Jove said as he turned and twisted knobs on the control console. "But there is nothing we can do about it; I've got to have the rest of the power in the sublight engines.
"Belo, when can we jump?"
"I'm still trying to calculate a jump, it is taking forever." Belo's worry could be heard in his voice.
"Maverick, how are we doing?" Jove asked through the ship's comlink and he replied almost instantly.
"I've never seen fighters like this before," The former con man's voice was gruff, almost seemed desperate. And Aaryn did not like that. "There is too many of them, we have to jump now!"
"I second that motion!" Ta'sa, the green Ho'Din called from the other turret.
"Working on it," Jove replied.
TheDivinity rocked again and Aaryn cursed under his breath. He shut his eyes, focusing on the Force. Ever since entering this area of space, he had felt darkness. Others may have said it was the dark side, but to him it felt much stronger than that, as if this entire place had been saturated with darkness, and no light could escape. Aaryn gulped.
It had been only three months after the events over the volcanic planet of Sleheryon, but for Aaryn it felt like it happened years ago. He had changed so much since his first mission alone looking for Mesco, an information broker that had been giving the Mandalorians a little too much information. Finding and eventually protecting, and failing to do so, led him on a series of events to uncover a secret Mandalorian plot.
The Mandalorians had created a Basilisk War Droid battleship named the Greyon, and with the help of Zayne Carrick, and Carth Onasi he had found its location, attacking with Malak and his Jedi Revanchists to destroy it. During the battle with the Mandalorian in charge of the Greyon project, Aaryn had come to learn that this plot went far deeper than anyone had ever thought. The Mandalorian suggested that the Sith were behind it all, the invasion, everything. It was all a ploy to weaken the Republic for their eventual return to the galaxy.
After the events of Sleheryon, Aaryn had began to search for clues that the Sith were indeed behind this and his investigations in the last three months had led him here, to the outer reaches of known space. Upon entering this system, several unknown fighters attacked them instantly.
Jump.
Over time, Aaryn had learned that he had a unique gift. That the Force actually spoke to him through word. It whispered to him its will. He had also learned to listen to it when it commanded him.
Aaryn's eyes snapped open. "Belo, we have to jump now."
"Something is wrong, I can't plot a course."
"If we don't jump now, we all die." Aaryn strained. Jove must have heard something in his tone of voice, she turned slightly.
"Aaryn, did you see something?"
"Belo, now!" Aaryn ignored her, because he did indeed see something. He saw in the microsecond of shutting his eyes the complete destruction of the Divinity by these unknown fighters.
"We can't jump blind!" Belo replied. Aaryn moved forward, pulling the lever anyways to make a jump. It would be quick, but it was better than nothing. He just hoped they didn't end up in the center of a planet or star.
"Aaryn!" Jove yelled as the stars before them stretched out into the lines of hyperspace. Then not even five seconds later Aaryn disengaged the hyperspace. Thankfully they did not end up in a planet or star, but they still weren't completely safe.
"Start plotting a real course now!" Aaryn pointed at the console. Belo started but then hesitantly stopped. Slowly, the Ortolan looked back. Fear began to seep into the cockpit it seemed.
"What?" Jove broke the silence.
"Our hyperdrive is out, that blind jump just killed the engine." Belo quivered. The fear gripped his heart. He clearly felt the Force tell him to jump; he had heard its whisper. Had he just doomed them to die here? As if to answer his stream of thoughts, the unknown fighters came out of hyperspace just behind them.
"No," Aaryn whispered to himself.
"Aaryn, I need you. What do we do?" Jove asked.
Suddenly two extremely large unknowns came into real space. Jove looked down at her console and her jaw almost dropped. They were massive. They were trapped here and there was nothing they could do about it.
"Get to the escape pods," Aaryn said.
"Why? So we can get shot in them?"
"You can get to them and hopefully be able to hit that planet just below," Aaryn pointed through the transparisteel. "Belo, tell Ta'sa and Maverick." Belo nodded, getting to work.
"You just said you, not we." Jove said.
"Right, I'm going to try and lead them away. Maybe I can distract them."
"No, you'll die Aaryn." She pleaded. He took her shoulders, standing her up. She began to shake her head. Thankfully all of them already had their enviro suits on in case something like this was to happen. He handed her helmet to her suit. Belo connected his helmet to his own suit. The ship rocked heavily. Maverick and Ta'sa entered the cockpit.
"Maverick, get her out of here." Aaryn looked at the ruggedly handsome man.
"You got it, Jed." Maverick nodded.
"No, you're coming with us." Jove struggled. All Aaryn did is nod back and Maverick exited with Jove as she struggled.
"We'll see you on the surface?" Ta'sa asked.
He hesitated. "Yeah, I'll see you there." He tried to smile. Ta'sa tried to smile back. "Make sure they get out of here,"
"Thank you, Aaryn." Ta'sa said as Belo stood up from his own seat to join Ta'sa. Aaryn looked at his friend for a moment and managed to give a genuine smile and turned quickly, sitting down in the pilot's seat. The small Ortolan quickly followed Ta'sa out of the cockpit, heading straight for the escape pods. Ta'sa saw Maverick buckling up a very upset Jove and entered the cockpit, he turned to see where Belo was. Just in time he saw Belo trip since the suit that he wore was too big. Ta'sa turned to go after him.
Then suddenly, the shields went out.
"Krif," He muttered and almost instantly the Divinity ripped in half from the middle from a large explosion. Belo's eyes shot open as the entire ship seemingly opened right in front of him, and on the other side were the rest of his friends in the escape pod. From the other side, Ta'sa reached out in horror. The unknown fighters pounded away at the two halves of the ship.
Aaryn looked back to see Belo was still on this side. No point in flying half the ship, he thought. He quickly stood up, going as fast he could to Belo. Just as he was about to make it to him, the transparisteel of the cockpit busted open, sucking what vacuum was left out of the ship. Aaryn gripped on to Belo with his left arm to keep him from sucking out and with his other hand he held tightly to the bulkhead.
"You have to hold on to me, alright? We are going for a little ride." Aaryn said. Belo simply nodded in his helmet. Aaryn took a deep breath, letting the Force flood into every fiber of his being. With the Force, he hoped to propel himself right into the escape pod that was still open. Then as he imagined it in his mind, he forced himself back and then shot himself forward towards the escape pod.
Ta'sa extended his hand out to catch them. Out of nowhere another explosion ripped at the two halves of the ship, rocking Aaryn and Belo off course. With the Force he pushed Belo out from himself to Ta'sa. Ta'sa instantly snatched on to Belo, pulling him in. There was no way Aaryn was going to make it into the escape pod, and he knew they would try to wait on him. They couldn't wait on him, there was no time. Reaching out with the Force, he closed the escape pod and it instantly ejected from what was left of the ship. He watched as it rocketed towards the planet below.
Another explosion rocked him out into open space. From here he witnessed the rest of the ship exploded into several pieces, leaving nothing recognizable. Curiously the unknown fighters seemed to be pulling back into their warships. Why just destroy the ship and then leave? Why not finish the job?
Unfortunately Aaryn wouldn't get to speculate about it much longer. The back of his helmet hissed, it was pumping out air. Slowly the gravity of the planet began to pull him in as the rest of his air was depleted. He began to struggle, hoping to fix whatever was wrong with his helmet but he couldn't reach it. Aaryn could hear himself breathing heavily.
What had happened? He had listened to the whispers of the Force, and he done what it had said and in return he was betrayed. Thankfully he managed to save all of his friends just in time, but he wasn't so lucky about himself. Slowly his body turned and he looked out into the extreme vastness of space.
It was hard to believe how incredibly large and vast outer space really was; even if one were to spend a life time out in its great expanse they still couldn't fully comprehend its overall greatness. He knew this was the last time he would witness it, and now it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. The system's sun eclipsed the planet and its orange, bright light warmed him. A small smile crept to his lips as he breathed the last of his air and closed his eyes. He let death embrace him.