Ten
The boarding party took off from the Iron Fist in an ominous silence.
Hoday had added two squads to their number, picking two squads from different platoons that had more than their fair share of technical expertise. Not knowing what they were going to encounter, he'd also ordered the troopers, including Shane, to be outfitted with the bulkier vacuum-rated EVA suits of armour, whilst he and Marcla had procured themselves a pair of civilian armoured EVA suits, with bubble helmets and hastily-painted on insignias. The Mandalorian armour that Arkaan and Jay wore required little modification to make them vacuum rated, but had nowhere near the ability to stay outside an atmosphere that the others did. The clones had all been issued with carbines, the shorter length being a lot more useful in the confined spaces of a starship as opposed to the full-length rifle, and the rest had an assortment of weapons.
With the bulkier armour, it was a tight fit in the LAAT/i, and Jay found himself somehow crammed into the entrance to the cockpit. Above him, the pilot and co-pilot conversed silently via their private helmet-to-helmet comm, their heads moving slightly as they ran through pre-flight checks.
The deck beneath their feet shuddered and, automatically, every clone trooper on board raised an arm and gripped the canvas loops hanging from the ceiling for balance. This time, however, there was none of the banter and none of the chatter Jay was used to. The somber mood had permeated the entire ship, and it appeared they were taking it with them to the Indomitable.
Or maybe it's come from there in the first place, thought Jay.
At an order from Hoday, everyone made their armour ready to be sealed at a moment's notice. Despite their intentions to render assistant, the Jedi had made it clear to the troopers that they weren't taking any chances.
Jay looked up and watched the view outside the cockpit. The hangar swung around and the grey metal was replaced by the dark, speckled star-field. Above the gunship, the bulk of the Indomitable appeared and the pilot brought them around the hull and into a hover in front of the superstructure.
"Transmit IFF and recognition codes," said Hoday over the comm.
"Transmitting now, sir. We're being tracked by auto-defence turrets, but it looks like they're only running on automatic."
The gunship waited in silence as the co-pilot transmitted the data, and a few seconds later, the red stripe below them began to part, opening up to reveal a hangar running the length of the ship.
Hoday exchanged a look with Arkaan, then ordered the pilot to take them. As one, the troopers all sealed their suits, and the others followed suit soon after.
Lights flickered on around them as the pilot dropped the gunship into the long hangar bay. To either side of them, the hangar expanded out into a flight deck, with force-fields holding in the atmosphere. On Hoday's order, the gunship slid sideways through one of the force-fields and set down on the flight deck.
The doors on either side of the gunship slid back, and the clone troopers immediately jumped out, fanning out under the barked orders of the two sergeants. Shane and Arkaan were close behind, their rifles raised and ready.
Around them, the flight deck was eerily empty and quiet. Not even the background hum of the engines could be heard or felt through their boots, and there were no scorch marks of any kind on the walls or deck to indicate there'd been some sort of fight.
"Air's clean, sir," said the pilot over the comm. "Oxygen levels are normal, life-support is operation and force-field integrity is at one hundred percent. Looks like someone left the lights on, too."
Hoday nodded to himself and pulled off his helmet. Marcla followed suit, but the rest of the party kept theirs on.
"Alright, unseal your suits. Sergeant, take your platoon and secure this area. The rest of you, we're heading for the bridge. Pilot, update the Iron Fist, and tell them that if we're not heard from in two hours, they are to destroy this vessel, log the location and report back to Coruscant."
Arkaan exchanged a look with Shane. A time-frame of two hours wasn't very long at all, in terms of trying to get answers on board an apparently derelict starship, especially one as enormous as the Indomitable. If they were going to try and get it up and running, then it could possibly take a lot longer, depending on the status of the vital systems on-board. Neither of them said anything to Hoday, both understanding that to contradict him in front of the troops was to undermine his authority. Instead, they fell in as the group made for the nearest doorway.
Behind them, clone troopers spread out from the gunship in pairs, one pair heading for what looked like a control console. Jay watched them jack into the console using a datapad and long cables, turning his head as he went.
As they reached the door, the sergeant in charge of the squad accompanying them turned to Hoday hesitantly.
"Rules of engagement, sir?"
Hoday paused, scrunching his face up in concentration.
They were supposed to be boarding to recon the situation and render assistance if necessary. Given the state of the ship and the fact that they didn't recognise the name or even the style of the ship, the way they moved through the ship could affect the way any survivors reacted to them. The safety of his troops was paramount in Hoday's mind, and he decided to trust in their professionalism.
"Aggressive entry where necessary, but be sure to clearly identify yourself to anyone you find before deciding if they're a threat."
The sergeant nodded and, with a few quick hand movements, four troopers stacked up on the door, two one side, one on the other, with the last at the controls. A nod from the sergeant, and the trooper at the controls activated them before swiftly stepping aside.
The door whooshed open and before it had even come to rest in the alcove above, the troopers were moving through at a crouch, carbines raised and ready in front of them. Two peeled away to the left, whilst the other went right, and the trooper that had opened the door followed to the right.
"Clear."
"Clear."
Hoday and Arkaan stepped through the door, closely followed by the sergeant.
It opened up into a large room, with rows of benches and tables. Along one wall, a heavy shutter closed off a bar area, and several doors were set into the opposite wall from the bar. Two of them were open, one revealing a closet full of cleaning supplies, the other leading to a long corridor. A few trays were scattered on the tables, but there were no cups, cutlery or plates on the trays, nor anything else in evidence. In one corner, there was a small pile of trays, creating a knee-high mound.
The rest of the squad followed Hoday and Arkaan in and quickly moved to the other doors, opening them and checking what was beyond. Jay kept himself pressed up against a wall, and Shane stood beside him. The ARC could see how inexperienced Jay was, and was torn between wanting to explore further and make sure Jay was alright. Despite their looks, Jay was almost double the ARC's age, but Shane knew that Jay just didn't have the experience nor the skills the rest of the boarding party had, and he was determined to make sure he didn't become a liability.
More corridors led off from what was obviously the pilot's mess room, and the group paused as uncertainty began to show on Hoday's face.
"Sergeant?" he called over the comm.
"Sir?" two voices replied in his ear, and he winced.
Pointing to the sergeant near him, he gestured for him to come closer.
"Do you have a name, Sergeant?"
"The men call me Sarge, sir."
"So is every other sergeant in the galaxy," muttered someone over the comm.
"Hoday to hangar party. Sergeant, what's your serial number?"
"CT-6983/9925, sir."
"Arkaan, what's five in Mando'a?"
"Rayshe'a."
"Right, sergeant, from now on, you are Sergeant Raysh. Acknowledge."
"Uh, yes sir. Thank you, sir."
"Sarge," said Hoday, referring to the sergeant next to him. "Your number?"
"Sir," replied the sergeant hesitantly. "With your permission, I'd like…to be called Jaig, sir."
"Any particular reason why, sergeant?"
The sergeant merely pointed to his helmet and the jaig eyes painted on them. Hoday nodded slowly.
"Very well, Sergeant Jaig. Raysh, have your men managed to access the computer yet?"
"Yes, sir, but it's taking some time getting into the main files. We're having some unexpected problems, but we have managed to get a map of the ship. I took the liberty of marking the most direct route to the bridge. I'm transmitting it to your datapad now, sir."
Behind Hoday, Jay raised his left arm. He'd decided to wear the gauntlets, but with Arkaan's help, he'd cut a hole out of the inside of the left gauntlet so the screen built into his arm showed through. The Jedi turned around, switching off his comm as he did so, and looked at Jay.
"You getting this?"
Jay nodded without looking up, tapping a few keys and intercepting the transmission. A schematic appeared on the screen and Jay rotated it, following the blue line on the screen with his eyes. From the looks of things, they'd have to go down one level, under the flight deck, then along several corridors before getting a turbo-lift directly to the bridge.
He looked up at Hoday and nodded again.
"Looks good," he said.
"Right, pass it around. I want this on your HUD, people, I don't want anyone getting lost."
"I'll take point," said Arkaan, one hand pressed to the side of his helmet, the other hefting a double-barreled rifle. Jay recognised it as the rifle he'd used back on Coruscant and felt a brief pang of homesickness. He quickly buried it and concentrated on sending the map out.
Hoday nodded, and Jaig made another few gestures. The squad formed behind Arkaan and the Mandalorian, his rifle held at a low-ready position, moved out into the corridor, following the route described on the map. Marcla calmly pushed her way through the clone troopers until she was at Arkaan's shoulder. Even in the bulky EVA suit, she still managed to move gracefully, making the un-lit lightsabre in her hand seem a part of her arm.
They made their way through the ship in this fashion, with Arkaan and Marcla taking the lead, with the squad split into two, one group just behind Arkaan and the other bring up the rear. Jay, Hoday and Shane were sandwiched between the two groups, with Jay making constant corrections to their position on the map.
Every door they came across was checked by Arkaan and three troopers immediately behind him. The vast majority were locked, but the few that did open revealed the same story through-out the ship; deserted rooms with no signs of life or habitation.
"It's almost like it's at battle readiness, sir, but with no-one manning their stations," commented Sergeant Jaig at one point.
"Maybe they had to evacuate the ship," suggested Jay quietly.
"But why? We didn't detect any hazardous leaks when it was scanned, and the air sweep came back clean for biohazards," Hoday thought aloud.
"Some viruses don't live long in the air. Long enough to infect a vessel, but die out after a day or two."
Jay's analysis didn't do much to improve the mood of the men, and he quickly shut up after a glare from Hoday.
Before long, they reached the turbo-lifts, and Jay raised his arm again, pulling a pair of cables out from a recessed housing in the metal and plugging it into the console beside the doors.
"There's still power in the lifts, so we should be able to use them. It's a straight run from here up to the bridge," he said, tapping away at the screen.
"Very well, open these doors. Arkaan, Shane, take some of the men and get down to engineering, see what state the engines are in."
"Sir, my mission must take priority," said Shane, somewhat awkwardly.
"Shane, I understand you're outside my chain of command, and that you have this super-secret mission you have to complete, but if this ship is minutes away from detonating from a faulty power core, then your mission goes down the drain, doesn't it? You're required to do whatever you can to facilitate a successful execution of your mission, and right now, that means securing the vital parts of this ship, and that means getting your butt down to engineering with Arkaan."
Shane's face was unreadable beneath his helmet, but every man there knew that Shane wouldn't forget being almost humiliated in front of them by the Jedi General, and there was a very good chance that the ARC would either ignore the Jedi and continue on his own, or just knock the Jedi out.
"Understood, sir," replied Shane quietly after a while. He gave a stiff salute and marched off down the corridor.
Arkaan shook his head and followed the ARC, gesturing at four of the closest clone troopers to follow. Jay watched them go and swallowed. He'd prefer to be with the Mandalorian, and whilst the presence of a senior Jedi General and five experienced clone troopers would have normally reassured him, somehow he was still more worried than normal.
"He doesn't even know where he's going," muttered Hoday.
"ARC's have a photographic memory, Jaro. I assure you, he knows where he's going," Marcla grinned at Jaro.
"Oh, right. Where are you going?"
"Where he goes, I go."
Marcla nodded after Arkaan and swiftly made after the group. Shane had already disappeared around a corner, and Arkaan and the other clones were scurrying to catch up. Hoday shook his head and turned back to the turbo-lifts.
"Why aren't these damned doors open?" he demanded.
Jay shook himself and tapped a few keys, opening the doors in front of them. A lift-car waited for them and they all piled in, Jay last as he unplugged himself from the console and tucked the cables away again.
The short journey in the lift was broken only by a short transmission from the hangar crackling in their ears.
"Hangar to General Hoday. I've got a report of movement, will update when I know more. Raysh out."
The transmission was faint and almost drowned out by static and Hoday frowned as he pressed a hand to his ear.
"Acknowledged, Raysh. Keep me informed."
The doors opened in front of them and the troopers immediately spread out, their carbines in front of them, ready to shoot anything that moved. None of the lights above them were on, creating an inky blackness, punctuated only by a few winking lights of idling consoles, as though the star-field outside had followed them on board. At an order from Jaig, five shafts of light appeared from built-in lamps on the trooper's helmets, sweeping across the darkness and revealing more grey deck plates and empty stations.
"Republic troopers!" called out Hoday, identifying the group to anyone listening. "Is there anyone there?"
Silence.
They moved forwards from the turbo-lift bank and onto the bridge proper, passing empty niches full of shut down and idling equipment. Only a few consoles showed any sign of life, a few small lights piercing the darkness. The troopers split up, each taking a different route, checking each corner of the bridge for signs of life.
"All clear, sir" said Jaig eventually.
Hoday nodded and stepped onto the walkway stretching from the back of the bridge to the viewports. Lights flickered on across the bridge, startling them before they caught themselves. Jaig chuckled softly to himself, lowering his carbine and shrugging sheepishly at Hoday.
"Jaig, any of your men good with these kinds of systems?"
"Wiz," said Jaig, turning to address the trooper in question. "Plug in, see what you can find out."
"You too, Jay," added Hoday.
The trooper and Jay both took seats at their nearest console, Wiz pulling out a datapad and cables from a pouch, Jay doing the same with his arm. After a few seconds, Wiz looked up at Jaig, then Hoday, with a confused expression on his face.
"Sir, this doesn't make sense," he said.
"What doesn't?" asked Hoday, stepping around behind the trooper to see what he was doing.
"It's…it's asking me if I want to update, sir. I keep it synced with the Iron Fist as often as I can, so it shouldn't need it."
"What's so bad about that?"
"Well, it's the update itself, sir. It's far more advanced than it should be."
"I'm getting the same," called out Jay. "My 'pad is the latest tech to be found anywhere, but it's still going to take some time to get it up-to-date with these computers and sync them so we can start looking."
"As quick as you can, please. I don't plan on spending too long on board this ship. Something about it…"
Hoday trailed off, his eyes looking up and around the bridge. It had just struck him how similar the bridge was to that of the Iron Fist. Nothing about this vessel was adding up.
As if to confirm his suspicions, Jaig stood next to him and removed his helmet, leaning in so he could speak quietly.
"Sir, this bridge is an almost exact replica of the one on Iron Fist. Comm station over there is in the same place, security stations over there and there have moved slightly, but are in the same general area. Conference area has moved to back by the turbo-lifts, and the viewports are slightly different, but that's it. The rest is all in the same place. This is weird, sir."
"I know, sergeant. I'm still trying to figure out what the hell is going on here. Any thoughts?"
"An experimental ship, perhaps? A prototype on a shake-down cruise that somehow went wrong and they ended up drifting out here."
"Perhaps. We'll just have to see. Interesting hair, by the way."
Jaig looked down embarrassed and nodded his thanks before quickly putting his helmet back on, hiding his dyed red hair.
"Okay, I'm in," called out Jay again, followed closely by Wiz.
Hoday moved to stand behind Jay, watching as the screens scrolled quickly by on the console Jay was sitting at. His fingers almost flew over the keyboard, dipping in and out of the system, calling up screens before dismissing them.
"There," he said triumphantly. "Ships logs. I need your authorization, General."
"I thought you already had it," murmured Hoday as he leaned over Jay to tap in his codes.
Jay blushed and concentrated fiercely on the screen.
"Alright, what do we have here…the Indomitable, a Venator-class Star Destroyer. Captain Arian Grey commanding...wait a second, this can't be right." Jay frowned at the screen.
"What?"
"Look at the date on this entry. This ship…it won't be built for another two years."
Shock registered on Hoday's face, and the other troopers crowded around Jay's console, trying to get a look at the date.
"He's right," breathed Jaig. "That date isn't for another two years. When's the latest entry?"
"Let me check…okay, here it is. Nearly three years from now."
"That can't be right."
"It is, look. The captain himself checked and authenticated each log entry, there's his signature and personal code at the bottom."
"What does the last entry say?" asked Hoday.
"It says…they were on a retrieval mission of some sort. The orders came from the office of the Chancellor himself. Says they picked up the item and were about to jump into hyperspace when they were recalled to Coruscant immediately by the Admiralty. Something about an attack by the Separatists."
"Does it say where they picked up this item from? Or what it is?"
"Nope, looks like the name of the planet and what it was has been deleted from the records. Again, authorized and signed by the captain, right there."
"What else does it say?"
"They were having some trouble with one of the hyperspace engines as they jumped, and to expect a further log entry. After that, nothing."
"This is impossible." Hoday shook his head.
"According to this, it is, sir. None of this has happened yet, this ship shouldn't be here. Think about it! It's a ship of a design we've never seen before, bearing Republic markings and using Republic recognition signals. It's got to be from the future!" exclaimed Jay, almost waving his hands around in excitement. With the cables still attached to his arm, he very nearly ended up decapitating two of the troopers beside him, but didn't notice in his enthusiasm.
"Time travel?" said Hoday skeptically. "This isn't some science fiction fantasy, for crying out loud. Listen to what you're saying!"
"It's the only possible explanation!"
"Then how did it do it? How did it end up here in the arse-end of nowhere?"
Jay frowned and some of his enthusiasm fizzled out, making him slump in his seat.
"I don't know," he admitted. "But nothing else could explain it."
"Unless this is just a giant hoax," suggested Jaig.
"No," Hoday shook his head. "The resources needed to construct this ship and then tow it out here, and create fake logs and the like, all on the off-chance that someone might notice it whilst making a scheduled course change…no. If it was a hoax, they'd have jumped it into a populated system, but an out of the way one, like Naboo, or Tatooine."
"Which is more believable, General? Ship from the future or a giant hoax?"
"Point taken. Jay, check the rest of the logs and have a look through anything else you find, see if anything supports your theory. The rest of you, search this bridge. I want answers."
Hoday stepped back and glanced around the ship. Despite how unbelievable it sounded, Jay's explanation did make more sense than it being a hoax. It was far too elaborate and expensive to just be someone playing a trick. But it couldn't be true.
Could it?
Raising a hand to his ear, Hoday activated his comm.
"Bridge to Hangar, come in."
Static met his transmission, and he frowned.
"Hoday to Raysh, are you receiving?"
"We a-…..-ack…Ge…ral! …can't…-m, th-…many…-m! …clone arm-…nev-…sir!"
"Raysh! Come in, Sergeant, report!"
More garbled static came over the comm.
"Wiz! Clean that up, get them back on the comm!" ordered Jaig.
The trooper bent over his station, typing furiously as he tried to establish a connection to the hangar party. Hoday kept on yelling into the comm, trying desperately to get a hold of Raysh, but to no avail.
"Jay," he called out, turning back to the console. "Get up the security feeds for the hangar, now!"
Jay's fingers flew again and the logs disappeared from the screen, to be replaced by a view of a tree diagram, various ships system visible on the labels. Jay scrolled down through them, tapping his way through until he found the holo-feed from the hangar bay.
Before he could activate the feed, the screen flickered and went blank. An error message appeared for a second before the whole console shut down.
"What the…" began Jay, frowning at the console and pushing away.
Realisation suddenly hit him and he rapidly unplugged his arm, jerking it back and smacking himself in the face with the hand. He fell backwards off his seat and clamped his organic hand to his nose. Hoday looked down at him like he was mad and shook his head in amazement as Jay got up, still nursing his face.
"Still getting used to it," he muttered.
Suddenly, the lights clicked off above them, including the small status lights on those consoles still activated. The sudden darkness disorientated Jay and Hoday for a few seconds, until five spotlights appeared, two of them centred on the Jedi.
"You alright, sir?" asked Jaig.
"Yes, I'm fine. Helmets on, seal your suits, just in case."
The slight hiss of air from different places around Hoday told him they had complied, and he put actions to words, replacing his own helmet and sealing it. He breathed out and startled himself with how loud the sound was in the confines of his helmet. Seizing the opportunity, he concentrated on listening to his breathing and ran a quick meditative exercise, calming himself with the Force.
Opening his eyes, the lights inside his helmet blinded him for a second until his eyes adjusted. The map of the bridge still hovered to the right of his face, and he quickly shut it down and turned on an external lamp. A few seconds later, Jay activated his own light, and the seven of them stood in silence, looking around the now-dark bridge.
"I don't think someone wants us poking around," said Jay quietly.
"Thank you for that, Jay. Perhaps you'd like to put those detective skills to work and figure out how we can find them?" hissed Hoday.
Obviously, the mental exercise hadn't worked, and Hoday mentally kicked himself. He desperately wanted to take a swig from the flask on his belt, but the helmet prevented him from doing so.
"I'd say from the CIC. There are a few other places someone could have the kinds of access needed to do that, but CIC is the best place for it. It's built to run the ship from that one location if necessary, so I'd start by heading there."
"Then lead on, if you would. Wiz, keep trying to contact Raysh. Jaig, take point. I'm going to see if I can raise Arkaan."
The group moved towards the rear of the bridge, their nerves more on edge than before. Whatever misgivings they may have had in coming here had been magnified by the mysterious shut-down. Someone, or something, didn't want them poking around, as Jay said, and the troopers were unanimous in thinking that perhaps finding this person wasn't exactly the best course of action.