Ylenic It'kla would be the first to admit that he hadn't known what to expect from the species of this new planet.
It was one of those hit-and-miss sort of issues. In the days of the Republic, procedures were that they would observe a new planet, introduce themselves slowly and allow the people time to adjust, especially if the Republic was making the first contact. Just going to the planet straight away had not been done but unfortunately, was what was needed here.
So when Bail Organa had told him of the dilemma, how these people could have their home destroyed from beneath their feet, he had remembered his own home and now displaced species. The trip could have very easily been dangerous, but he felt the need to go.
Their ship had sat just inside of the orbit of the planet's single moon for three days as the droid, an extremely upgraded E-3PO, interfaced with the communications systems of the planet.
The droid determined that the planet was named Earth, the moon was Luna, the system star was Sol, and there were over 100 different dialects spoken on the planet with the people having general unrest due to borders and religions.
Shaken but determined that they continue their missions, Ylenic had waited the extra days for E-3PO to finish translating their messages before broadcasting them, selecting the White House as the location to meet simply because it offered meeting one of the most powerful leaders with enough space to land.
Landing had been more than a little eerie, the crowded streets below were new to the Jedi in that he wasn't used to so many eyes staring at a single craft. He sensed limited hostility though.
"They're human!" his pilot gasped as soon as they landed and he was able to actually examine the forms outside.
"How drawl, a planet of primitive humans," the E-3PO intoned and Ylenic and his pilot, Gin Kain, exchanged looks. Both felt that Bail should have sent a different droid within an hour of departure but hadn't turned back since time was of the essence.
"Display any of your attitude or insult them, and I'll take my chances with learning the lingo myself after blasting you into spare parts, droid," Gin declared. And they all knew he would do it with a smile on his face and the Alderaanian anthem in his heart.
"Let's try to at least appear diplomatic," Ylenic urged. "We're delivering some extremely bad news and very little hope. If they are to trust us, then we must let them know that we wish to help them."
Both the pilot and droid grumbled as they stood, both wishing a different droid were there.
"I'll stay with the ship. And remember droid, say anything other than what you are ordered to these people, and you'll be getting a one-way ticket into the star of this system since we got to go by it to avoid the probe while leaving."
Gin had stood at the top of the ramp as it lowered to allow Ylenic and the droid to exit the ship, all of them hearing the initial silence that surrounded the area. It was beyond eerie to the Jedi and the pilot, the latter of whom considered dragging the former back onboard (conveniently forgetting the droid), and getting out of there. Then the droid had made its announcement while Ylenic bowed and the cheers had started.
Glancing out, Gin felt a grin pull at his lips. It wasn't like any of the Alderaanian gardens, but the planet looked pleasant enough. Add to it that even their welcoming party, though they looked a serious and tough bunch much like the Royal Guards on Alderaan, had some smiles for the Jedi, and it seemed these people would be just fine.
As Ylenic and the droid entered the white building, Gin ambled down the ramp of his ship and it seemed there were even more cheers coming from beyond the gates.
Turning his head, the pilot noticed that a number of the denizens of this world were shouting in their native tongue, waving, and holding up banners. It definitely didn't look like a mob intent on murder and he offered a sheepish smile and a wave, earning screams as every person tried to wave back, pushing and shoving to be seen.
A clearing of a throat caught his attention and he saw a few of the black outfitted people had remained around his ship, one of them having approached him and was speaking, but he didn't understand anything that was said.
"Sorry," he admitted. "I don't know the language."
Thankfully the man seemed to understand and instead made a gesture towards the white building Ylenic had entered.
"No, I stay with the ship." He informed the man as he pointed towards the ship.
The man nodded before returning to his position, acting as a guard for the ship as Gin glanced around. Now he really hoped that something could be done for these people. That feeling increased several minutes later when another of the people approached from the house several minutes later with a number of water bottles in hand. He took one of the cold bottles when it was offered gratefully since it was rather hot.
Ylenic and the droid on the other hand, were guided through the White House quietly. Though well decorated in a sense, it seemed a lot more like a well-appointed office than the place where a leader would live. The Jedi didn't fail to notice that the various offices looked empty.
Several minutes later, they entered a large office where the President of the United States awaited them.
Ylenic It'kla didn't know what to think of this man, Barack Obama. Politician was the first thing to come to mind, and that wasn't always a good thing.
Beside the large desk, a series of monitors were set up and he saw a number of other people watching. He knew immediately these were other world leaders, all wanting to participate in this meeting. He offered them a polite bow and was pleased when several nodded their heads in turn. Being the only one present, Obama bowed to him in turn.
Beverages were offered and Ylenic politely waved them away before the President began to speak. Ylenic was not familiar with the language but the Force came to his guidance and he knew that this was a greeting. A very political and long-winded greeting.
"He welcomes you to the planet Earth and the United States," E-3PO informed him in a bored tone. "That they have looked forward to meeting other residents of the universe for many years, etcetera."
"He also wants to ensure that the probe was in fact ours and how long we have been watching."
"Tell him it was not our probe; we are with a group opposed to those that sent that."
E-3PO turned back to the human and began to translate the message and uncertainty began to seep from the man in waves before he spoke again.
"He'd like an explanation then of what is going on."
Ylenic had thought thoroughly on how to explain this and decided, especially with the language barrier, that pictures might be the best way. "Translate exactly what I tell you."
"Yes sir."
Reaching into his robes, the Caamasi Jedi pulled out a small holoprojector, noting the way that the human across from him stiffened as he did this. He carefully placed the holoprojector on the desk and activated the device, bringing up an image of the galaxy.
"This is our galaxy," he began and waited for the droid to translate. "The various points are systems that are known to currently or to once have hosted life."
Now indicating the outermost portion of one of the arms, he continued. "This is where you're located. Currently you don't show up on the map just yet, but that will soon change due to the probe finding your system."
Once again he waited as E-3PO translated and noted that the President and other listeners seemed to be listening studiously.
"Previously, our galaxy was governed as a Republic. The policy for encountering new planets that were inhabited by beings unused to offworlders was to send diplomats to introduce them to the Republic and help in the spread of Basic, the common language spoken by those of us in the Republic."
E-3PO translated this and President Obama asked a question, which Ylenic knew was a query as to whether this was what was happening.
"He wants to know if you are such a delegate," the droid stated.
"No. 15 years ago the Republic was usurped when the Chancellor declared himself Emperor and reformed the Republic as the Galactic Empire. Their way of dealing with new cultures is… Brutal."
Ylenic waited as E-3PO translated this before touching the holoprojector, bringing up the next image which showed a group of Stormtroopers terrorizing a village of innocent beings, firing on them without discretion. The next was of chained groups of people being forced onto a ship. The final image was of a planet that had been subjected to Base Delta Zero, the entire surface wasted and the water muddy and polluted.
All the human eyes were glued to the images before one burst out yelling over his monitor, demanding to know why he was showing them this.
"The diplomat wants to know what the point of these images was."
"Giving a demonstration of what the Empire does," Ylenic replied quietly as his eyes leveled on the pale President before him. "We will do what we can to slow them down, provide you with schematics for ships and other technologies, but the people of Earth will need to prove themselves capable of survival."
E-3PO translated this message and the room was quiet for a moment before questions began to be fired from almost every person present, even the Presidential guards. E-3PO was quickly overwhelmed and it was several minutes before the tirade was slowed by one of the guards turning down the volume on the monitors as order was called but the damage was done.
Ylenic could see panic in some faces, disbelief in others, and one was slapping himself.
Nudging E-3PO, he spoke once more. "There are those of us who resist the Empire and we will try to get you time to prepare as well as technology you don't have currently."
The noise settled some as he spoke then all eyes were on E-3PO as the droid spoke, several asking the same question after the droid had finished.
"They want to know how much time."
Ylenic shook his head, uncertain how much could possibly be bought. A year seemed optimistic.
zzzzzzzzzz
Ylenic's visit on Earth lasted another day before he, Gin, and the droid departed. The mood for both parties was grim.
The humans of Earth now knew they were under a terrible threat. Despite several of the politicians wanting to keep it undercover, they were overruled rather soundly. Ylenic was pleased by that. He had joined several of these leaders, standing by them as they made a public announcement of what was coming.
As soon as they were far enough, Gin initiated a microjump to get them clear of the range of the probe so they could make a call.
Ylenic was slightly nervous as he entered the code that Bail had given him, worried that it might be too late in the daily cycle and the recipient might be asleep, but Mon Mothma answered immediately.
"May the Force be with you," Ylenic stated immediately, their code for this mission.
"How did it go?" Mothma asked.
"About as well as we could have hoped all things considered. I believe they are already making plans to dig themselves in."
"So they're going to fight?"
"I'd be surprised if they didn't. The people of Earth are scared but determined, I could feel it in many of their leaders. Those that aren't intend to step down."
"Do we need to send designers for any special modifications to weaponry in case they can't use stock blasters?"
"No, they're human."
Mothma's surprise was apparent even over the comm. "I have never heard of human worlds being out that far."
"The galaxy is a big place," Ylenic reminded her.
"It seems to get bigger with each new world," Mothma admitted. "I've arranged for a several flash education machines to be delivered on the first ship, it'll make communication easier if these people can speak Basic. You'll need to meet with the ship and transfer your droid so its memory can be used to set an algorithm."
"Very well. It'll also help them since I left the documents on ship and fuel production with them. Their best translators were working on them I was told, but an engineer and understanding Basic would make it significantly easier for them."
"Agreed. I've contacted Resistance cells on Corellia and Mon Cala, they have voiced similar concerns. I also tried to contact Ahsoka Tano but… She apparently had a run-in with Vader and the two fought while Knight Kanan and Padawan Ezra escaped. She is believed dead."
Ylenic closed his eyes, wishing Ahsoka well for her unification with the Force, then returned to the task at hand. "Will the shuttle be small?"
"Very," Mothma admitted. "Only a pilot and one engineer. The space will otherwise be dedicated to equipment. And that's the reason I brought up Ahsoka."
The Jedi felt confused for a long moment before stating, "No."
"Hear me out, Jedi Ylenic," the Senator stated. "The Jedi are badly depleted, almost gone. The purges did not just wipe out Jedi and those in the various corps around the galaxy, they also reached planets. I've seen reports of Force sensitive infants either being killed or vanishing! Possible padawans are near non-existent.
This new planet, isolated and untouched, is the best opportunity to find recruits you might ever have. When the Empire gets there, that will most likely no longer exist, no matter what they decide.
My men are under orders to only test and bring those who are willing to Chandrila, or Alderaan if you prefer. Somewhere that they can be in contact with those who could train them."
"Mothma, please don't."
"If not you, then someone will! There could only be five or six maximum."
"The planet has a population of over 7 billion."
Mothma was extremely surprised this time. "That's more than Chandrila and Alderaan combined!"
"More than any planet with the exceptions of ones like Coruscant and Nar Shaddaa."
"That still only increases the number to twelve or fifteen at most. I was planning as many trips as possible-"
"And it would never be enough," the Caamasi Jedi informed her firmly. "I could sense it from space, these people… Force sensitivity is thick on the ground of that planet. You'd find one just by turning your head. Not powerful, most not at the levels required to be Jedi, but there. And somehow they don't notice.
They call it different names: empathy, psychic, chills, the list goes on and on. Their minds are either closed to the vastness of the Force or they aren't ready for it. They picked up on signals I sent through the Force though, ones that said I was no threat, friendly. Even ones who weren't supposed to smiled at me."
"The Jedi need recruits if they're to continue," Mothma pointed out quietly.
"Then we need to search more because they can't come from that planet."
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Earth panicked.
There was no other way to describe the situation. It wasn't the mayhem in the streets sort of panic though. In some ways, this panic was far worse.
Governments around the world began to mobilize armies. Homeless men and women were cleared from the streets in droves, many of them finding themselves receiving on the spot commissions to work on farms or build factories. Refusal was not an option.
Mines, some abandoned for many years, were opened and miners and equipment sent deep underground to expand the tunnels into habitats.
Construction on private or domestic buildings was ceased as the workers were sent to join the miners, building factories and habitats under the ground.
Every person who was not in school was put to work. And every person pursuing a degree in anything other than a STEM major or had a GPA of less than a 3.0 were promptly kicked out of university.
Only a week after the first representative ever received on Earth from another planet and half the world had gone mad. Surprisingly, this madness cured a LOT of the sickness around the planet.
Unable to continue a war on terrorism or willing to put up with the shenanigans of ISIS or North Korea, the United Nations delivered them an ultimatum: they were to either join the rest of the world in preparing to defend the planet or face immediate destruction.
Seeing that the private utopia created by his father and grandfather for their family was finished, Kim Jong Un surrendered, opening the borders and accepting assistance in preparing his nation for what was to come. Before the two-week mark of the alien visit arrived, North Korea's fields had been sown with fertilizer and seed while Chinese miners assisted the people in digging shelters. Most of the North Koreans opted to join their families in the South though and left fast.
ISIS on the other hand, refused to even consider surrendering. Their manic beliefs caused the fighting to escalate as they attempted to call the bluff, certain that Allah would bring them victory. Their fight ended at the two-week mark when the UN, after evacuating civilians and pulling back their troops overnight, reduced the entire area of the Caliphate to glass. Aside from some children who were found in basements, no survivors were ever reported.
The reason this orderly panic was worse than chaos was simple: people were familiar with chaos. They knew how to deal with rioting in the streets, with fights and tears. But the order, the quiet: it was stifling. It was the calm before the storm.
The first relief came the day the first ship arrived. Translators around the world who had assembled to decode the plans they were presented in Basic had made decent headway, but the new arrivals meant things would go much faster.
Two engineers were the first to learn Basic in the flash learning devices. They were followed by two military officers who began to grill the pilot on what he knew but soon knew they were getting nowhere.
Chaos truly came the next day when Barack Obama, upon realizing how real this threat was, made one last Address the Nation.
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What was it that made Biology a killer and Organic chemistry easy? That was the question on Tara Burns's mind as she glared at her Cellular Biology textbook before glancing around the library.
Just as it had been for several days now, ever since non-STEM classes had been canceled, the library was almost empty. Considering that until a few days ago, USF had had a student body of about 50,000, this was more than a little disconcerting. Entire buildings had been locked up with the power shut off.
The labs were now open 24/7, she was willing to bet the government had something to do with that.
What truly surprised Tara was that she was still a student and had not been given an assignment. At 30, she was hardly a first-time student, but she was highly intelligent. Just not focused before now.
"Great, decide at 28 that I'm going to be a doctor, and the world goes to crap right as I make the application to Med school," she grumbled as she stood from the table she had been working at.
The few students left glanced up as she headed towards the Starbucks that was located in the lobby of the library, but no one said anything. Some of them were older than her and hadn't been dragged away either.
Tara hated coffee. The smell was sometimes alright, but the taste was acrid, horribly sour, almost burnt. She had gotten the staff at this Starbucks to laugh once at the sound effects she made when they had accidently switched her Caramel Apple Spice with a coffee latte, but that had never happened again. They knew her face now.
"Hey, chai or apple?" the cashier asked whose name tag read 'Sharla'.
"Chai," Tara replied as she dug in her pocket and yanked out a five-dollar bill. "Tall chai."
The cashier took the bill and Tara noticed that she was the only one here. A few people were at the tables with their books in front of them, but Sharla was the only employee.
"Everyone else already gone?" she asked quietly and Sharla nodded.
"Yeah, library closes indefinitely tonight and with the lack of traffic in here, management saw no reason to keep everyone else. I'll be moving to the Starbucks in the Engineering building tomorrow."
"Along with almost all the classes," Tara informed her. "They're closing Natural sciences as well."
Sharla was about to say something when the tv, which had been placed in the lobby two weeks ago when the aliens had visited, buzzed and sent an alert.
Tara was handed her chai as she and Sharla joined the small crowd gathering in front of the set. Everyone glanced around, uncertain of what was to come and terrified that the hostile aliens they had been warned of had arrived.
A shiver went up Tara's spine and goosebumps raised on her flesh as she watched the Presidential logo flash on the screen with everyone else before the picture changed to show Obama behind his desk.
He looked worn and tired, worried, but decisive.
"Follow Americans, I intend to make this brief," he began and Tara felt her eye twitch. This definitely wasn't an announcement of more aliens. "These past eight years have been, at times, joyous and trying. Doing what I felt needed to be done to end hostilities did not always make me a good President in many of your eyes."
"What happened to short?" someone murmured.
"I have improved our foreign ties, reduced tensions; two things we dearly need right now. But I am a peace-time President. Doing all that has been done for the past two weeks has gone against just about everything I have stood for and I find that I cannot continue, especially knowing that I would be leaving the office with this mess which will escalate. Because of that, with the approval of the Senate, I have requested that elections occur several months early. But I will not be a lame duck President. So as of today, effective immediately, I resign from the Presidency of the United States."
Shock emanated through the group as the screen went dark then the students peeled away to return to their books.
Tara glared at the screen for a long moment before heading back to her own books.
"And to think I voted for that coward," she stated out loud as she sipped her chai, causing several people to snicker.