A/N: I'll be brief, this chapter will continue to set the stage for Jarik and introduce more Star Wars characters and elements which will affect the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Avengers will change a greater challenge than presented in the first movie. I appreciate your support so far with the story, I'd like to hear your thoughts about where you think it should be heading.
It took a few hours until Jarik had reached the crash site, SHIELD units had set up camp around the 0-8-4 and right now, Jarik was approaching the command post in his Beskar'gam and his traditional yet adapted Jedi robe which gave him a more chivalrous appeal. Agent Coulson met him halfway. "Thank you for coming on a short notice. We discovered it during a search for potential sites to construct a new SHIELD facility." He explained as they approached the Ship.
His eyes were wide as he examined the worn-out ruptured features of the four thousand year old ship. "You said it has been missing for thousands of years. I take it that the ship is of significance?"
"Yes, it was once the ship of my ancestor. Revan." He said with a tone which Coulson recognized as sentimentality. We believed it lost after its crash on Malacor Five. Looks like someone found it."
They resumed to approach the ship in silence, it was half buried in sand. Jarik was glad to be present now that they were going to breach, he extended his hands as he grasped around the ship. His master once said that size doesn't matter to a Jedi. He took that teaching to heart, the Force was his ally and a powerful one at that as he lifted the ship from the sand dune. The SHIELD agents watching in awe as sand ran out of the ship ruptures and like rain until it stood upright with its landing pads on the ground.
"I advise caution to every single agent, this ship has been missing for four thousand years." He said as he reached out with the force, easily manipulating the mechanics at the boarding ramp of the Ebon Hawk, lowering it to the ground. "May the Force be with us." He murmured before he took long strides to enter the ship with Coulson and a full tactical team covering his back.
Immediately after heading up the ramp, he turned right and walked right into the main chambers with the main terminal at the center, circular as he always pictured it from examining the old schematics. The ship's condition was bad, everything looked out of sync and doesn't seem to be capable of flight anytime soon. However what he felt was a strong presence in the Force, a lingering one of many happy and bad memories. He heard shouts of how the Tactical teams searched the starboard side of the ship with ease.
"Understand, Coulson that this is living history to me. Compare it to finding King Arthur's sword Excalibur or even Atlantis. Something out of a legend." Jarik murmured with recognized awe while approaching the main terminal, for some reason he looked to his right at a closed door, the only closed door on the ship. "Ofcouse, where else would he be."
"He?" Coulson questioned as Jarik moved towards the door, using the force to pry it open while Coulson was on watch and the pistol at the ready. Jarik wasn't really ready for what he saw next. HK-47, sealed and preserved in a carbonite block. Any living being would've been dead by now but a machine frozen could've survived the temperature and remained perfectly preserved for thousands of years. "What is that?"
"That, Coulson. Is an assassination droid, the ultimate Jedi killer; HK-47. He must've preserved himself in carbonite when he couldn't maintain himself anymore." Jarik approached the carbonite block and accessed the panel on its side, it was still functional.
Coulson was wary of how easy Jarik had approached the assassination droid, he had just said it was the ultimate Jedi killer yet he approached it with such passivity. He listened as the other members of the tactical team reported clear on all sectors of the ship through the coms. "The Ebon Hawk is secure, we'll have the eggheads examine the ship and see if we salvage or learn something from it." Coulson said with a solemn smile as he watched how Jarik just kept his attention on the carbonite block in front of him. "If the Avenger Initiative wasn't scrapped then he could've been of use to us."
"You just said he was the ultimate Jedi killer." Coulson said with a measure of disbelief on what he just heard. Jarik turned around with a stare. "He's not capable of harming his master and that is whomever is activating him."
Coulson contemplated what he heard, if activated, HK-47 would probably be loyal to Jarik. Yet he knew that the Jedi whom stood before him, had only good intentions. SHIELD was no fool, they knew that one day he would be compelled to depart one day to fight the Empire. Maybe he would be more successful with this droid at his side besides, who else wouldn't exploit the capabilities of this assassin droid? "Then do it, activate him. You'll one day be leaving this planet anyway by whatever spacecraft you came here with." Coulson said plainly but with a smile. Jarik stared right back at him, like if he now understood that SHIELD knew all along that he hidden a starship somewhere. He nodded curtly before returning his attention to the panel by the carbonite block, deactivating it. The carbonite around HK-47 started to glow from dark grey to searing red as the carbonite melted away. Revealing the perfectly preserved droid behind. The orange photoreceptors immediately scanned the room. "Statement: 1 321 456 Standard Days since Master's Last Directive." He monotonely spoke yet it sounded menacing.
"Observation: Hold your processors, is that a Jedi? Why yes it is." He suddenly blurted in what could be recognized as astonishment. He stepped out of the melted portion of the carbonite block and stood face to face with Jarik. "Statement: HK-47 is ready to serve, Master."
"At ease, HK-47. What was Revan's last directive?" Jarik spoke in a militant manner which he usually had when he was leading troops during the Clone Wars. "Answer: To await the day his descendent would find the ship and myself. I'm very pleased that day has finally come."
"Advisement: I detect multiple primitive meatbags armed with slugthrowers in close proximity. May I terminate them with extreme prejudice, Master?" He asked a bit more hopefully. "You may not kill anyone without my express permission. With that said, make an inventory before we depart" Jarik said sternly to the droid. "Statement: Yes, master. Ofcouse, master." While Revan was by far HK-47's favorite master but his final directive was the worst.
Why he had to travel and wait on this backwater planet was beyond him and was quite frankly a dull arrangement. He had repaired and maintained himself while waiting faithfully as his master instructed until he ran out of parts to maintain himself with, so he preserved himself in a carbonite block.
He walked down the ramp after determining that not only his carbonite projector and flamethrower but his heavily modified disruptor rifle was still functional and magnetically locked to the back of his chassis. It had improved optics, reduced recoils and extended range along with several open ports for even more modular upgrades. Backing him up were vibro-knives concealed in his forearms and blaster pistols, magnetically locked to each of his thighs. Besides that he was fully stocked with variable amounts of explosives and utilities which could only describe in by a meatbag term, armed to the teeth.
HK-47 was rather indifferent towards the slugthrowers aimed at him as his optical sensors indicate several weak spots for him to exploit, he calculated that he could take down the twenty targets in matter of 13.7 seconds. However as his master has instructed, he may not kill anyone without his express permission which was in HK-47's humble opinion outrageous. "Commentary: You've chosen some peculiar allies, master." The droid spoke which didn't put the SHIELD agents at ease but Coulson told them to stand down while Jarik and HK-47 boarded the Quinnjet.
…
"Have you heard, they found a 0-8-4 out in the Sahara desert." Muttured Jack Rollins to Brock Rumlow, STRIKE Team Leader who traversed to one of various Quinnjets launch fields in the Triskelion. SHIELD's Primary Headquarters positioned on Theodore Roosevelt Island alongside the Potomoc River. "Yeah, the Jedi is bringing something from the site for evaluation." The Jedi, a variable which frankly they didn't like. They've read the classified SHIELD file on Jarik Shan.
A veteran of a galactic war and a so-called guardian of peace and justice with mystical powers and a laser sword. A threat which had to be eliminated in the future. Hydra has been festering inside SHIELD for years, sowing conflict so that one day. The world would willingly surrender its freedom but also unknowingly to Hydra.
"ETA 2 minutes." Said the STRIKE Team Leader to his fellow sleeper agent, their assignment here was easy; Escort the Jedi and whatever he found for immediate evaluation by none other than Deputy Director Maria Hill. Their entire STRIKE unit was waiting as the Quinnjet from Sahara desert arrived, the ramp lowered as the Jedi walked calmly down followed by what at first glance they thought was Ironman but the quickly realized that wasn't Ironman. The chassis was rusty red yet didn't seem to be deteriorating like they were familiar with. It reminded them of the Hammer drones but far more advanced and outright more menacing to behold.
"Observation: An armed unit of meatbag with slugthrowers. Probably here to escort us or to kill us. The later may be wishful thinking on my part, master." voiced the machine which they now recognized as a robot, a self-sentient robot. "HK-47, I suggest you keep yourself scarce as to not give SHIELD the wrong idea."
He walked down the ramp with the robot identified as HK-47 at his heels as he let out a rather convincing sound which resembled a sigh, could robots even do that? "Statement: Very well, Master."
"STRIKE, move out." Brock ordered, the entire unit taking position around Jarik and HK-47 as they were escorted through the Triskelion. They had passed several agents of SHIELD whom gave them wary glances in spite of the heavy escort through the Triskelion. That is until they reach to an office occupied by Maria Hill, SHIELD's Deputy Director. STRIKE took position inside and outside the office as Maria Hill sat in her chair. She was dressed in a jumpsuit uniform with a holstered Glock 19 at her side. "Please, have a seat." She said with the outmost expectancy of their compliance.
Jarik took a seat in the meeting room while HK.47 stood at his side a few inches from the table. "Query: Why does most female meatbags have tight clothes?"
"Well, I guess that answers the question if it's self-aware." She said with a bemused tone to her voice and her eyes staring right at Jarik. "Care to explain your reasoning about activating this thing in the field."
"Objection: I'm most certainly not a thing, I'm a law-abiding droid, yes indeed. Law-abiding!" The Droid blurted out for everyone to hear. Hill just tilted her head to side, as if to say really? While staring at the amount of armaments which the droid carried with him.
"I'll be blunt, HK-47 was created four thousand years ago by my ancestor, Revan. He's a Hunter-Killer assassin droid which is programmed to be able to act independently to take down an assigned target, a function which he is very proud of." Jarik explained, rolling his eyes as he mentioned the droid's pride while Brock listened very attentively. "As to why I activated him, I don't trust anyone to have him at their disposal. Not even SHIELD."
"Why is that, SHIELD's goal is to protect people." She said softly but with a warning tone. "He's the ultimate Jedi killer, an assassin without rival. Also, he got a track record of accidently killing the majority of his masters." Brock perked a brow at this, this was interesting. Maybe the droid could do their job for them?
"Query: Shall I sum up the list of my previous masters?" The droid inquired the deputy director, catching on what Jarik was doing. "Maybe it would be best if he was in your care then, I'm not sure any sane being would be able to control it." She mused lightly disappointed. "In short, no there's no need for you to sum up the list HK-47."
"Statement: Very well, I shall resume with surfing the web as your meatbags calls it." Jarik, Brock and Maria Hill staring at the droid like if their brains short-circuited. "He's connected to the Internet?" She spoke in a warning tone as her gaze shifted towards the Jedi. "Answer: Yes, it is most delightful to troll the forums. It also expands my vocabulary with more antagonizing words to throw off future targets." Jarik facepalmed, this was going to be a long day.
…
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
How true those words are and have been for the last thousands of years. He has watched how the Sith had fallen and how the Republic has risen to its height only fall again by the hands of the Sith. The Sith had outmaneuvered and executed his great plan to eradicate the Jedi yet there was one flaw. They didn't see beyond their own galaxy.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Once, he had been second only to the Emperor himself during the Great Galactic War between the Old Republic and the Sith Empire but now he had rediscovered the teachings of Darth Sion, achieving immortality and have in exile been plotting and discover a universe bigger than they had previously imagined. He had met Thanos and they sealed an alliance when the mad titan realized that no matter how many times he was killed, he simply returned as powerful.
Through strength, I gain power.
He had reached out to Darth Maul after he escaped the grasp of his former master. Now the Dathomir Zabrak was serving him as his new apprentice. He would use Thanos to restore the Sith Empire where the ways of the Sith was the way of the Empire. However he had taken an interest on a world where the Tesseract was being kept, Earth. It was't only the most powerful source of energy in the universe but also in the Force.
Through power, I gain victory.
He had sensed the Jedi on Earth, seen through the means of his servants there that he was co-operating with SHIELD. Yet what caught his attention was his heraldry, Revan. The very name made his blood to boil, he had despised the Revanites even when he was in the Dark Council.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
It didn't matter, the Jedi was on the verge on extinction. Sooner or later, all of them would fall before the true empire of the Sith rises. Plant hate and terror into every heart and start the democratization of fear.
The Force shall free me.
Everything that is not of the Dark Side will be purged or it will be tainted. For he was Darth Jadus. He is eternal and the Infinity Stones shall be his and with them so shall the Universe. He was dressed regally, like a true lord of the Sith and not like an old man in dark robes. His features concealed by a mask-like helmet and his appearance daunting, his authority absolute as all the emotions and passions are contained, controlled within himself. Every being who came close could feel the dark side radiating, how their blood starts to boil and how their heart beats slower.
"The Tesseract has awakened. It's on a neutral world. A human world. They would wield its power. But our ally knows its workings as they never will. He's ready to lead. Our force, our chitauri will follow. The world be his. The universe yours and the humans, what can they do but burn?" The Other told Thanos who observed as the Scepter was given to Loki Laufeyson who was found drifting through space.
"He will fail, Thanos." Darth Jadus announced as Loki departed. "Your servant, the Other is a fool to believe that they will be easily subjugated." Thanos cast a glare to his side. "Don't test me, Sith. You may be immortal but you can still feel pain."
"Yes and pain fuels my powers further. However, even if he fails. He can advance our plans." Jadus retorted mockingly to Thanos who cast a glare to his side but nodded in acknowledgement as to let him continue explaining. "I'll have my apprentice oversee the matter. Even if Loki fail, we'll be further our own endevours."
Thanos cracked up a grin, a marginal victory in spite of defeat however improbable would be in his favour. The Sith Lord may powerful and cunning but once the Infinity stones was his, then he would die like all the rest.