"We're getting reports of irregular seismic activity throughout this hemisphere," Master Rhondo informed the other Jedi Masters grimly.
Another small tremor shook the room, the third in the past five minutes.
Master Windu's dark-skinned face glared wrathfully at the Council Chamber's central console. "Unidentified space station, this is Jedi Master Mace Windu," he repeated. "Your station is continuing to cause seismic disturbances. Withdraw from our orbit immediately."
They all waited, but still there was no response. Master Windu repeated his order, but again, his only answer from the communication system was silence.
"They're still ignoring us," Master Rhondo said indignantly. "How dare they?"
"Doctor, can you tell us what this craft is and who is piloting it?" Master Qui-Gon asked.
Aayla looked at the darkly-clothed man expectantly.
The stranger, the Doctor, folded his arms and stared at the holo display of the spherical station. His face still rested in an expression of resigned fury. "No. I've never traveled this far in space before. I don't know much about this part of the universe. But the weapon I was trying to disarm was designed to seek out a fixed point in time from the past or the future and shove it into the present. And this," he jabbed his forefinger at the holo-render, "whatever it is, is definitely a fixed point in time, ripped from its proper place in the time stream."
"You're talking about time travel," Qui-Gon summarized, sounding intrigued. "Such a thing is supposed to be impossible."
"It is," Master Rhondo said. "The Force gives life to all things. One cannot simply burrow through the Force to reach the future. It cannot be done."
Aayla nodded silently in agreement. No one noticed though. No one, that is, except the Doctor.
He watched her intently with folded arms and a faint twinkle of amusement in his eyes, though his face remained cast in resignation and anger.
"You lot don't strike me as the types to rule out something so easily," the Doctor commented, still looking at Aayla. "I've only been here for a short time, but I'm already getting the warrior-philosopher vibe from all of you."
Aayla smiled reservedly at the man's insight. All eyes in the room stared at him again, and no one spoke for several moments.
Another small quake rocked the room.
"Perhaps," Master Rhondo finally conceded. "But no occurrence of time travel exists in our records."
"Your records only include this galaxy," the Doctor said to him, "and there are lots more out there. Trust me, that planetoid space station is a fixed point in time from somewhere in this galaxy's future."
The Doctor stepped closer to the holo display of the station and leaned in so close his nose nearly touched it.
"At any other time I'd be fascinated to learn more about this thing," he said, pointing at the display again. "What a beauty! It's a marvel of engineering the likes of which I haven't seen in a long while." He stepped away, folded his arms once more, and fixed his furious gaze on Master Windu, who returned it with one of his own. "But right now that station is pulling this planet apart because of its close proximity, and that's only the start of what it will do to the fabric of this galaxy's reality."
"Can't we do something?" Aayla interjected, struggling to control her fear. "Surely there's still a way to stop it from doing more damage."
"Doctor," Qui-Gon began. "We made a terrible mistake in not trusting you immediately. We have no one to blame for this current predicament but ourselves, not you. But the damage has been done. Now we must work together to fix it. I don't fully understand everything that's happening right now, but it seems you do. Please help us Doctor."
The Doctor's eyes cycled through staring at each of the Masters in turn. After many heartbeats, Masters Rhondo and Windu nodded their agreement with Qui-Gon's words.
"Guess that's the closest I'll get to an apology from you three," the Doctor said. He nodded at Master Windu. "And your wise friend over there said the words you couldn't bring yourself to say. Must be lonely up there above us commoners."
"Doctor," Master Windu began acidly.
"Shut it," the Doctor said, cutting him off. Aayla barely stifled a gasp at his disrespect. "I'll help you. It's too late to undo the actions of the sentient weapon, but we might be able to lessen its effects."
"Our requests for Republic assistance aren't getting through," Master Rhondo said after lowering his communicator. "Whoever is in that station is jamming our transmissions!" He looked meaningfully at Windu. "The lieutenant is requesting permission to launch his fighters."
"Do it," said Master Windu.
"Whoever's up there may have no idea their actions are harming you," the Doctor said as Master Rhondo stepped aside and relayed Windu's orders through his communicator. "We don't know for sure that their intentions are hostile."
Another quake shook the room, this one violent enough to send their group stumbling in different directions. The Jedi Masters maintained their balance easily enough, but Aayla and the Doctor careened into each other.
Her hands splayed across his chest momentarily and her eyes met his intense blue orbs. For a moment the wild calm he radiated through the Force engulfed her. She stood staring up at him, entranced by a face she couldn't deny was handsome and a presence in the Force like no one else she'd met.
He smiled at her, such a genuine, amused smile. "Careful. I wouldn't lean on me for support," he said to her. "I'm liable to break in half under too much pressure."
She pushed off him and righted herself, looking away sheepishly. Control your emotions Aayla, she thought. Think logically.
"Their station is slowly ripping this planet in half and they are blocking our communication signals," Master Windu said to the Doctor. "We are acting only in defense. The lives of all the younglings here are in danger, as well as the life of Padawan Secura."
"Padawan?" the Doctor questioned. "Fancy word for student, am I right?" He glanced over at Aayla. "You're Secura, I take it?"
She nodded. "Aayla Secura."
"Nice to meet you Aayla. Remind me to ask you more about this vision of yours later," said the Doctor.
He adjusted his leather jacket and stepped closer to Master Qui-Gon. "Whether the owners of that station mean you harm or not, any fighter craft you've got aren't likely to do much damage to it," the Doctor said to him. "But I may be able to rig up a device to move the station away from this world, give it a bit of push so to speak, send it on its way."
"What sort of device," asked Qui-Gon.
"Similar to the one I was building," the Doctor answered. "It'll be a bit more roomy now, what with your entire Absolute Center missing, which is great, I like room to work. I'll need help with the parts though. The ones I was using got burned out of existence."
"Do we have the parts you'll need?" asked Master Qui-Gon.
"Most likely." The Doctor held out his hand to Qui-Gon, waggling his fingers expectantly. "Have you got a data reader, tricorder, Samsung S6, anything like that?"
Qui-Gon retrieved his datapad from a robe pocket and handed it to the Doctor.
"Perfect," said the Doctor.
Whipping his pen-like wand out of his jacket, the Doctor aimed it at the datapad. The blue light on the end lit up again and it once more emitted its warbling noise.
"I'm uploading a list of the parts," said the Doctor. He finished and handed the datapad back to Qui-Gon. "Here."
Qui-Gon studied the list on the datapad's screen. "All of these components are available in this temple, but we'll have to remove some of them from our freighter, and without them the ship won't fly."
"Fighters engaging the station now," announced Master Rhondo.
Aayla and the others looked at the holo display. The squadron of Republic fighters were represented on the display as a small cloud of gnats buzzing toward the spherical space station. No sooner had the fighters appeared on the image, however, then turbolaser fire from the station sent the fighters scattering in evasive maneuvers. Moments later, a second cloud of fighters spewed out of the station, streaking toward the Republic fighters at incredible speed.
Master Windu operated the console and added a close-up image of one of the station's fighters to the lower right corner of the display. Aayla frowned at its ball-shaped cockpit and large wing panels.
"I don't recognize the design," said Master Windu, echoing Aayla's thoughts.
"The enemy's fighters are slowing down our assault on the space station," Master Rhondo stated.
"Looks like you've got another problem as well," said the Doctor.
He pointed to the lower portion of the display, where four transport craft, flanked by three of the station's fighters, sped downward, well ahead of the cloud of retreating Republic fighters. The four transports had slipped past the fighter screen during the engagement.
"Military transport craft of some kind," observed Windu. "The group's trajectory and speed puts it at the east landing field in less than ten minutes."
"You're going to have company," said the Doctor. "I wonder who they are…"
"Your parts list, Doctor, the device," reminded Aayla.
He glanced at her. "Right, right you are. I'll set to work on that." He looked over at Master Qui-Gon. "Send me those parts quick as you can."
And then he was running full speed for the chamber exit.
"Doctor! Our transport won't fly without those components!" Qui-Gon called.
"What's that? Bit of a draft. Can't hear you!" the Doctor shouted over his shoulder.
The door slid open for him and he vanished into the hallway.
Qui-Gon shook his head in frustration while staring at the closing door, but a hint of a smile twitched on his bearded face. He lifted his communicator to his mouth and walked away, slowly murmuring instructions to the temple staff and mechanics.
Master Rhondo moved beside Aayla and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Follow him, young Padawan," he said to her. "I still don't trust him. Make sure he causes no more trouble."
Aayla felt ashamed of the thrill of delight that blazed briefly inside when she heard his request. "Yes Master," she said simply.
Lekku twitching eargerly, Aayla jogged out of the Council Chamber in pursuit of this strange man called the Doctor.