I be back. Wahahah. Sense the last chapter I moved to Idaho from California. I'm now going to Boise State. Hope you like the new chapter. Sorry for no updates. PS. I don't have a beta. All mistakes are my own.
The road is smooth, the desert is quiet and the stars shine brighter here then anywhere in the city.
It's all fine.
A star in the sky twinkles brighter then the rest. Angela, half asleep, lazily wonders why. She chocks it up to sciences she would never understand and rests her eyes. Sweets looks outside his window in the opposite direction and sees stars that are almost all the same. A breathless sigh escapes and an almost none existent wish to see something cool, like a shooting star, crosses the back of his mind, however, he knows he is far to old for such childish thinks. He closes his eyes. Booth focuses on the rood ahead calmly but with vigilant intent, there's no time for stars right now he must drive his team safely home. However, a few quick glances up at the night might slip through the cracks.
Bones knows the stars. She knows a lot of thinks like history, anthropology, and of course bones but she also knows the stars. She knows which stars belongs to which constellation and which stars fill in the rest of the sky. She knows which stars are planets and how they glow. She looks at the night sky and sees all the stars in their places like a perfect painting. It's beautiful and simple and perfect,
until it's not.
Bones peers at a bright shining star and panics because it is wrong. The sky is wrong. It takes an excessive amount of self confidence and pride to doubts the universe before one doubts themselves but she knows she is right. She is right and the sky is wrong and nothing is ok.
"Hey Bones what's up?"
She must have made some alarming movements in her growing panic or maybe she didn't and he just knows. Booth has a way of doing that. She's leaning heavily into the door looking up into the night. She must look haunted because when she turns her head to Booth he starts to slow the car down. Now he looks alarmed.
"Brennan tell me what's wrong" His voice breaks the volume limits used throughout the trip. Behind them, Sweets and Angela, woken by the commotion, straighten themselves up.
"Stop the car." Bones orders quickly. Booth complies and stops the car in the middle of the road. Of course he does, without question, without a fuss. Bones knows he would. She opens the door before the car fully stops. The three follow her out onto the road. All four are only vaguely aware of the second car stopping behind them. Bones marches a few feet away from the car and stops to inspect the sky.
"Hun, what is it? If you're going to throw up I can hold your hair? Angela offered. Sweets made a face.
"Oh no no I sorry Dr. Brennan but I'm not a vomit guy." He puts his hand up in defense.
"I'm sorry but who is a vomit guy?" Angela retorted. She glances at Bones' back but doesn't get any closer, figuring anyone trying to break off a car sickness stomach ache doesn't want to be bothered. She's been there, she knows. Angela shivers.
Booth glares back over his shoulder and waives to the other two to be quiet. Angela and Sweets pull a face but do back off a bit. They glance away.
Booth looks back at Bones.
"Bones how's the stomach?"
"My stomach is fine." She replied immediately but doesn't turn to regard him.
Booth let out a heavy but steady breath.
"Alright, then what's wrong."
"Look at the sky!" Booth side eyed to his right to see Zack rushing towards them from the second car.
Booth's irritation has now been brushed. He glances at the sky only briefly before focusing back at Zack.
"What! The sky? I stopped in the middle of the road to star gaze?" he accused to no one in particular. Zack ignored him in favor of going to Bones' side. Booth vaguely notices Hodgeon's stopping next to him.
"I thought Zack was crazy, but look! really look!" Hodgeon's points to the sky. Booth follows his figure to a spot in the stars. He leans forwards and squints.
Well… he does see something, he thinks. There, among the stars is a….star?...Shooting star? Meteor? Plane? It's probably a plane.
"It's probably a plane."
"It's not a plane"
"Then what is it?"
"I….I think it's getting bigger." Sweets pipes up.
Oh, so he sees it too. Good.
"Are we sure its not a plane?" Angela asks.
"It's probably a plane."
"It's not a plane!" Zack cuts in.
Sweets grumbles, he's still pretty sure it's a plane "Well, it's coming this way…fast"
Hodgins, while holding of a pair off binoculars he brought from the car, steps past Booth and brings binoculars to his face. Booth shakes his head and shuffles on his feet, clearly annoyed.
….
Despite himself Booth didn't bother Hodgins. He believes he should be allowed to but everyone else is clearly enamored by the sight in the sky and despite the time being 2-3ish in the morning Booth won't be a total spoil sport. Still, he's not happy about it.
Hodges' shoulders tense in alarm which in turn makes everyone anxious.
"No way...no…this can't be happening," he rambles. Booth's frustration is peeking.
"What the hell is it!"
"It's a ship."
Booth claps his hand together with exasperation and turns around to make a face at Sweet and Angelica.
"See, it is a plane, let's go."
"It's not a plane." Before Booth has the chance to spit out an argument Hodgins continues, "It's a ship" Hodgins shoves the binoculars into Booth's chest and walks to Zack and Bones. Booth grumbles in disbelieve but gives in and looks through the binoculars. The stars blur as he moves the binoculars around to find the craft. He sees the blurs of lights, then he sees a blur of something else. He back tracks and refocuses the binoculars.
"….." Booth lowers the binoculars to see with his own eyes then raises the binoculars to his eyes again. He repeats this a few times.
Angela puts her hands in front of her mouth in shock. "Oh god, it's going to crash." The craft is close enough to see without the binoculars but the darkness leaves it hard to make out. It's not a plane or a drone. It has a triangle shape with a dome in the middle and what appears to be jet thrusters on the back but nothing else can bee seen.
Oh wait it's trailing flames and smoke. No one in the group says anything as they follow the sight of the flaming craft down from the sky. They follow it all the way down till they lose sight of it over the hill top.
Nobody moves.
Nobody breaths.
I loud crash comes from the other side of the hill.
"Holy shit"
Two vehicles tear ass through the night desert. Booth's black SUV leads the convoy down an underused dirt road, most likely owned by a cow farmer who owns these valleys and hills. The SUVs headlights are only able to show a small portion of the oncoming path. In the sports car following them Hodgins and Zach can see even less because of all the dust that has been kicked up by Booth. The sports car's headlights illuminate the dust kicked up ahead of them blocking most of the view of both the SUV and dirt road. Despite this Hodges drives his car as if it was made for off-road terrain. It was not.
The dirt road gradually leads up the valley hill. The both is not straight up, it curves back and forth a few times in order to lesson the severity of the climb. In both the vehicles not one speaks the drivers drive and the passengers wait with anticipation.
Booth reaches the top of the hill and comes to an almost immediate stop. The SUV stopped so quickly and without warning that the sports car almost rammed into the back. Hodgins throws open his door and tells Zack to stay put as he shut the door.
"What the hell!" He complains but before continuing he notices a locked gate in front of Booth's SUV. The gate is a standard cattle gate with barbed fence on both sides that probably stretch for miles. Under the metal swing gate is a cattle grid. Hodgins walks up to the gate where Booth is already standing with his binoculars, looking down and out on the valley bellow.
Hodgins can see a glow in the valley bellow but the distance and the time off night make it impossible to make out. Instead he walks over to the side of the gate to open it for the cars. He pushes but the gate is stop by a chain. The chain is locks locks the gate and fence together.
"Booth is there a chain cutter in the car?" He asks.
Booth doesn't answer, he's to focused on what he sees with the binoculars.
"Booth" He huffs louder in order to get the other mans attention.
Booth doesn't respond for another moment. Hodgins takes a step towards him ready to huff again but Booth cut him off.
"Get in your car. We need to get down there." He instructs. As he turns around and passes to the SUV.
"Booth the gate's locked. Hodgins shouts while gesturing to the chain."
"Then I'll ram it open, that crash is about to start a valley fire" Hodgins' eye brows rose in surprise. He turned around to look down into the valley again. This time he sees that the faint glow has spread.
"Shit…..Shit, shit" He spits out as he pushes himself off of the fence and jogs to his car. The last thing anyone needs to the dead of summer is a valley fire.
As soon as Hodgins clears the path of the SUV Booth starts the engine.
"What are you doing?" Sweets asks from the back seat. "The gate is locked."
"There's no time, it looks like the crash my cause a valley fire. I think we can put it out if we hurry" Booth's response has enough logic to justify ramming the gate open with the SUV, nobody complained as Booth backed up a few paces then shifted into drive then slammed his foot down on the gas. Three of the four let out different levels of alarm. Brennan tenses and lets out a small gasp. Sweet did much of the same accept he white knuckles the overhead handle. Angela, however, did scream.
The SUV hit the fence dead center. Under the pressure the chain links broke and went flying. One piece hurdles towards Sweets side of the car and cracks the window. The gate flies open to the right and hit the back side of the fence.
Booth ignores the damage and keeps driving. The path down is very similar to the path up except this face of the hill is littered with boulders and uneven terrain. As Booth rips down the dirt road the SUV bounces up and down violently. Both Angela and Sweet feel the uneven road the most as the back end of the car takes most of the tension. Zack and Hodgins don't fair any better.
After a particularly ruff patch of the road the mountain evens out into the valley plain. Without the twist and turns of the mountain trail Booth has the opportunity to speed across the flatter ground. The glow of the budding field fire grows larger as they get closer. Sweets takes the opportunity to reach into the back of the SUV to pull up a small fire extinguisher that all government vehicles are required to carry.
Just beyond the radius of the fire Brennan can see the ship. The field directly around the craft is no longer on fire. The small field shrubs have already burned but as the radius of the the fire extends more vegetation is ignited. Luckily, thanks in part to both the fact that the field has more small shrubs then grass and that fact that there is very little wind, the fire doesn't spread fast. The fire doesn't even make a full circle instead it spread into a crescent shape, perfectly blocking the crew from the ship.
Booth stops the SUV a safe distance away from the flames. Hodgins pulls up next to him. Both drivers and passengers blow open their doors and rush to the edge of the flames. Sweets pulls the safety pin from the extinguisher and aims for the base of the flames. Both Booth and Hodgins take off their jackets and use them to pat out the shrubs.
Bones, Zack and Angela hang back as they realize there isn't much they can do in the situation. Instead they focus on the craft further down the field. The doom of the very rectangular ship is lit up by a soft glow. Some smoke seeps out of different areas but nothing on the craft looks to be on fire or in any danger of exploding. Faintly Angela can see the shape of a person in the dome. The figure is leaning against the window but isn't moving.
"There's someone in there... guys there's someone in there." She panics and points to the craft. Booth momentarily looks up from the flames in front of him. He's breathing hard and sweating from the close proximity to the fire. He tries to focus on the ship but his eyes burn from the blames.
"Shit" Booth curses, he shakes his head in frustration and focuses on the flames again. Swatting and kicking at the plants until they are out.
The men put up a sold front against the shrinking flames but despite their best efforts progress is slow. To slow for some. Zack jogs over to Sweets.
"Give me the extinguisher." He commands. "I'm going to use it to clear a direct path to the ship. Sweet glances at him then looks across the flames at the ship. He quickly shoves the canister into Zack's chest and shuffles his jacket off to continue patting out the flames.
Zack heads back to the ladies. He gestures towards the canister then heads to the front of the flames that lye directly in front of the ship. He begins to carve a path with the foam. Brennan and Angela follow behind, stomping out anything in their direct path that Zack missed with their boots. As they reach the end of the flame wall Zack feels the foam start to dry out, only sprits of the grey matter shoot out. Soon the foam no longer appears. Zack throws the can into the last of the flames and starts stomping along with the girls.
Brennan looks into the 'cockpit?' of the ship and sees an outline of a figure she cannot explain. She barely knows where to begin. The flames dividing her group from the ship is only a few feet wide. The flames are low and the jump is doable. Zack and Angela are on either side of her faced down towards the flames. They pay her no attention. Booth and Hodgins are further out in the field trying to stop the flames from spreading deeper into the valley.
Brennan takes in multiple deep breathes, they burn from the fire but she doesn't choke. She shuffles back a few steps and plans her feet in a sturdy position on the ground. With tight shoulders and a lowered head, she pushes herself of the ground and towards the last of the flames. Zack and Angela turn their heads as she runs past them. Angela tries to grab Brennan's wrist but to no success. Bones reaches the edge of the fire and pushes herself completely off the ground. As she crosses over the flames she can hear Angela screaming at her and she can feel the flames lick her legs.
She lands just short of the edge of the flame. She quickly makes a second leap out of the flames completely. Though she stood in the flames for only a second the legs of her pants caught on fire. With quick thinking she drops to the ground and grabs loose dirt/sand from the ground and throws it over her pants. The flame goes out quickly. She stands and looks back at the others. Zack looks her over but is drown back to the flames. She meets Angela eyes. Her friend is shooken by her actions. Bones takes in a large breath in order to shout out that she is fine but she is distracted by a high pitched squealing coming from behind her. She turns towards the ship. Nothing stands between her and the craft.
The ship indeed has a more triangular shape to it, aside from the slender dome and other bits and bobs. The high pitched noises continue to come out from some part of the ship.
Brennan cautiously approaches the side of the craft. Behind her the fire crackles.
Inside the glass dome she see a feminine figure. Passed out and not completely human. Bones bangs her fist against the glass. The girl inside does not move. The glass doesn't budge. The whistling sound from the ship picks up again. She looks around the vessel to find a latch to open the pit but the machinery is foreign and damaged. Instead Bones locates the origin of the high pitch sound. The secondary smaller dome is not glass like the cockpit, instead it is metal painted pink. Around the top are different lenses and buttons. The machine stops screeching and turn to face her with one of it's lenses. It focuses in and out on her then turns to look into the cockpit. It whines again. Brandon hears the distinct sound of pressure being released from the glass dome.
She walks back to the opening. It's only crashed open a little but enough to wiggle her figures under and pull open. Inside the girl is still. Breathing but passed out. She goes to touch her but is pulled away.
"Bones are you crazy?" Booth says. Only then did she realize that the fire is just about out. Behind them Hodgins is still furiously stomping and flapping out a few bushes. Angela, Sweet and Zack are finishing up their section. With the fire almost out the valley goes dark. The only light that isn't fire comes from the cockpit of the ship.
Booth takes the lead towards ship. A hand is resting on his holstered gun. He does not draw it but is prepared to if thinks get dicey.
He looks at the girl in the pit and is taken aback. There are many things to point out and many new questions to ask but for Booth it is all pushed aside when he notices smoke start to seep into the pit. He reaches in and grasps the girl. Bones helps him lift her out and onto the ground.
"Hey," Booth taps her face gently. "Wake up."
Bones moves to touch on of the stripes appendages coming off her head.
"It feels like soft leather." She says.
"A hat?" Booth questions.
"No it's part of her." Bones moves to inspect her arms and legs. She doesn't see anything broken by human standards. Behind the valley want completely dark as the last of the flames get stomped out. The only light comes from the ship. The remaining four make their way over to the ship. Hodgins arrives first. Then Sweets and Angela. They make a semi circle around the girl. Zack hangs back.
"Is she?" Angela asks.
"She's alive." Booth assured.
"This is incredible; I mean…. I mean. What is this?" Hodgins rambles. He touches the stripes. "Absolutely incredible."
The girl begins to wiggle. Her face scrunches.
"It's waking up." Angela panics. The rest tense.
Ahsoka Tano wakes up slow. Her head hurts, everything hurt, really. She opens her eyes to a group of worried looking humans. She starts to move and some of the step back surprised. Whatever, her head hurts. She sits up and out of a man's arms. He two takes a step back. After rubbing her face with her hands she looks up at the group. They are civilians, mostly. The large man has a hand on a holstered blaster but she can tell it is simply out of caution. There's a war going on after all.
"Hello" She greets formally. "My names Ahsoka Tano. I the Jedi Commanding officer for the 501st legion of the Galactic Republic. Thank you for helping me."
She waits for a response but none is given. For a second she worries that she landed right in the middle of some sort of Separatist territory and had just given her identification away but the beeps from QTE told her they where friendlies.
"You can talk?" One of the woman spoke up.
"Ya, didn't hit my head that hard." Ahsoka replies.
"So you are human." A man stated.
"Do I look human?" She dead pans. Ahsoka only now looks at the valley around her. This can't be Ryloth?
"Is this Ryloth?" She asks.
"This is Earth." The big man replied.
"No, not the ground, the planet. This is Ryloth right?"
"This planet is called Earth." Another replied.
"What system is this?"
"We're in the MilkyWay Galaxy." The second woman added.
"What?"