244CORE Part 1
The space was just a black void that C473 floated through. He saw no stars or planets, it was just….. empty. "What is it with the Force and these weird visions?" He grumbled yet nothing happened around him. "Are you seriously going to leave me in this void!" He now yelled at no one in particular. He crossed his arms as he aimlessly floated in the dark space for Maker's knew how long.
"ARG!" He growled and then he suddenly felt gravity taking over. "WHAT THE HELL!" C473 shouted as he suddenly plummeted. Everything went white around him and when he opened his eyes he was standing on a mountaintop, on an unfamiliar planet, looking over a fast jungle. He had a feeling that the Force or some other cosmic entity must be having quite a laugh at his expense and cluelessness. He looked around with curiosity knowing that while cryptic, the Force wouldn't just send anyone a vision. He just wished that it wouldn't play charades with him. There was a large opening in the mountain. A sort of ravine or gouge. He instinctively felt the need to approach it. Getting closer however was a challenge as a sudden dread started creeping up on him.
His mind was screaming for him to get the heck out of there as he put one foot in front of the other, cautiously approaching the dark ravine. 'It was an irrational fear' he thought. Why was he even afraid? He pondered. This was a Force vision. His emotions should play no part in this. C473 did momentarily stop when something occurred to him. What if these weren't his emotions, what if they were from the Force itself. He looked back at the ravine and wondered what in the galaxy could even terrify a cosmic power. Suddenly the dread grew and he shrank back as blackness shot out from the ravine. It moved like smoke around the area. The jungle below started to disappear back into a void of blackness and C473 screamed when the black mist touched his feet. It started traveling up his body and his eyes widened when he felt his body and the Force he possessed disappear. It was traveling up his arms when he woke up with a start.
"TRIS!" Was shouted by someone as he suddenly sat up and let out a scream, before falling off of whatever he had been lying on with an audible thud.
"Ugh" He moaned as he rubbed his nose. There was a lick on his cheek and he cracked open an eye to see the black Lothcat next to him. Its furry tail swished worriedly to and fro. "Thank Maker you're awake." Was said as he saw Navida hovering above him.
"What happened?" He asked as he took in his surroundings. He was in what appeared to be a luxurious room and had been lying on a small sofa.
"YOU IDIOT!" Navida exclaimed instead of answering. "YOU HAD ALL OF US WORRIED!"
"What happened?" He asked once more as he sat up and absentmindedly petted the Lothcat. He looked around with a frown "And where are we?"
"We're on Minta's transport The Aurora." Navida told him while frowning. "And you seriously don't remember what happened?"
"All I remember is stopping those blaster bolts." He admitted a bit sheepishly. "I really have no clue what happened afterwards."
Navida had her hands on her hips as she looked at her partner. "So you don't remember returning those bolts to their owners?" She asks and he shook his head in affirmation. "Killing Minta? Picking me up and running through the palace?" Again, an affirmation that he did not remember. "Destroying several walls to stop the guards until we reached the transport?" Unceremoniously dumping me on the bridge after jumping from down a few storeys to the landing pad and then telling me to get clear of the atmosphere before falling unconscious?"
"Uh…." C473 mumbled as he furrowed his brows.
"Do you know how worried we were!" Navida exclaimed again.
"Sorry" He mumbled, completely at a loss for what to do. He'd never had people worried about him. "I must have expanded too much Force energy. I'm sorry if I worried you." C1 beeped and then bumped into his leg as if initiating a hug. "I'm sorry I worried you all." He mumbled. "I really didn't know I could do all that or how draining it would be."
"Well we are all just glad you are alright. C1 didn't want to leave your side when you fainted." Navida mumbled. "You need rest and I need to get back to plotting our course."
"I don't need more….." He was cut off by Navida glaring at him before threatening "I will have C1 tie you to a chair if I thought that would help. You've obviously haven't recovered since you woke up screaming. NOW SIT!"
He subconsciously sat down, not wanting to get Navida mad at him again, but he didn't want to sleep more, especially not after that vision where he felt like he was being eaten. Instead he set about looking over the lightsabers he had gotten from Minta's vault and idly wondered what could make the Force so afraid. Navida went back to piloting the ship and when she returned he had already disassembled both sabers with the Force, the parts floating in front of him.
"What are you doing Tris?" Navida asked but did not break his concentration.
"I'm trying to repair at least one." He mumbled. "And why do you keep calling me Tris? That was just a cover name."
"I happen to like that name for you." Navida mumbled as she sat down on the couch opposite to him. "And you can't go around calling yourself C473 all the time. Tris suits you."
"I guess." he said uncertainty and then frowned slightly.
"What's the matter?"
"It's just these two Kyber crystals." he stated while holding out two red crystals for Navida to see. One had a much darker red coloring than the other.
"What is wrong with them?" She asked.
"One of them is dying." He told her and then gestured towards the darker crystal. "It's been holding out for years, maybe even several decades, but it's dying now."
"Why now all of the sudden?" She asked, frowning and looking at the crystal that was slowly losing its light.
"The call to the sabers was faint." Tris told her. "It felt like it wanted me to take them."
"And now that you have this one can finally rest?" She asked curiously. "You make it sound like these crystals are sentient."
"In a way they are." He told er and continued explaining. "According to Drago and Dagur, some of the people I used to work with, these crystals were sentient beings from the past." He took out the unaltered Kyber crystal from his pocket, it still felt cold against his palm. "Dark Force users can't use them without turning them blood red first."
"So these lightsabers originally belonged to a Sith?" She asked curiously.
"They belonged to a Jedi who turned from the path of Light to the Dark." He told her as he sorted out the damaged parts of the saber. "I can get one of these fully functioning again, for the other I need some parts."
"Wait…. Just wait a minute. How do you even know that this Dark Force user was a Jedi?" See now asked with wide eyes.
"It was just a simple deduction." he stated but Navida still looked skeptical. "Alright, I'll explain." He said before pointing to the saber hilts. "As I said the red crystals indicate a Dark Force user, yet the saber hilts indicate a Jedi."
"How so?" Navida cocked her head slightly as she looked down at the glimmering hilts.
"These are Electrum lightsabers." He stated. "The sabers have an Electrum finish, making them more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The Electrum itself was used to give lightsabers a regal-like appearance during the old Jedi order, but this was usually reserved for senior members of the Jedi High Council."
"So this Jedi would have been a master that turned to the Dark side." Navida stated as Tris nodded.
"Yes, and since Force users are reluctant to part with their weapons even when changing sides it stands to reason from the damage to the hilts that whomever this was, was beaten in combat."
"But wouldn't people have known how to activate the lightsabers?" She asked. "I still don't understand how Minta could not have known. Especially if one was working."
"This Jedi master was quite clever you see." He stated before showing Navida the lightsaber components. "He placed the activation butting inside the hilt so only those with the Force could activate them."
"That seems more paranoid than skillful." She muttered.
"Either way it stopped most from activating these sabers."
"Right" She said. "So can you fix the other one?"
"I need a few components but it isn't damaged too much. Most of the damage was absorbed by the crystal." he said while pointing to the now dark crystal. It lay silently in his hand, dark red and without a glow, cracking along its edges.
"It's gone isn't it." Navida asked hesitantly. She didn't know why but she felt sorry for it as Tris nodded. "At least it found a good owner."
"Hmm?" He mumbled.
"Don't you think…." She started and then pointed to the sabers "If that crystal was sentient, then it had been waiting for decades for someone worthy, and now it could rest easy knowing these hilts were in good hands."
"I'm not that good." Tris murmured as feeling a bit self-conscious.
"I-" She was cut off as C1 came barging into the room from the cockpit waving its mechanical arms wildly. "What's the matter?" She asked as the droid let out a series of worrying beeps.
"You've picked up an SOS?" She quickly stood up as both hurried to the cockpit. Navida took her place behind the controls. "Where did it originate from?" C1 indicated to the nav computer that was displaying a nearby planetoid.
"This distress signal is old." Navida frowned. "Empire old." She said turning to her companion slightly.
"It wasn't there before." C473 stated. "What would an old Empire SOS even be doing out here in the Unknown Regions?"
"I don't know, but we are going to find out." She said as she angled the ship towards the planetoid. The planetoid had no atmosphere but as they got closer they could see some activity from where the signal originated.
"The ship's shields will keep the atmosphere in." C473 stated as he saw what appeared to be an ongoing chase on the surface. Several armed vehicles were chasing a single hovercraft that had seen better days. "The signal is originating from the one being pursued?" he asked and Navida nodded. "I'll lower the back ramp if you can get in front of them."
"Do you doubt my piloting skills?"
"I haven't seen your skills." he stated. "I was unconscious."
"Right" Navida stated before making a sharp turn causing Tris to grip the doorway to steady himself. C1 beeped something along the lines of 'Another maniac!' when the droid nearly slid from its console.
"Get to the ramp." Navida ordered. "We're picking up someone interesting!"
"You're just curious about who could be using an old Imperial signal!" He shouted back.
"Of course I am!" Navida shouted back as the ramp slowly lowered. C473 had to hold onto a handlebar as the ship lurched slightly and lowered. From the ramp he could see the cracked helmet of the person steering the hovercraft. The helmet jerked up slightly at the appearance of their ship and the clone waved for the person to speed up to get on the ramp. He had to duck however when one of the crafts pursuing started firing blaster bolts at their ship. One nearly came too close to his head. The person being pursuit didn't meet more prompting, the hovercraft gained speed as the engine started emitting smoke.
It must have been a snap decision as the pilot abandoned his control of the now smoking hovercraft that was slowly losing speed, and decided to jump towards the open ramp. The clone acted quickly as the figure hit the ramp and started to slide down it. A hand grabbed a gloved arm and quickly pulled him up the ramp with the discrete use of the Force. Once both were in the hold he closed the hatch and called to Navida to leave the planetoid.
The clone observed the hunched over figure as shaking hands unlatched the helmet from the suit he was wearing. He was surprised to see long, slightly disheveled, hair framing a blue face. "Thank you for saving me." The figure said as he turned his red eyes towards C473. "I owe you a debt."
C473 nodded slightly as he still looked at the man he had rescued. "Just….. Who are you?" He asked cautiously.
"Oh, where are my manners." The figure said as both stood up. C473 observed that the man stood at attention without meaning to. 'Military training?' His mind mused as he focused on what the man said next.
"My name is Mitth'raw'nuruodo." He introduced. C473 tried to pronounce it but he didn't get very far. A slight chuckle escaped the blue man. He then said "Most simply call me Thrawn."
