"Where are we going this time? Nightwing asked Ahsoka.
"I'm taking us out into the Wild Space, the uncivilized fringes of the galaxy, but not to any star system. There's no Imperial presence out there, but we do have to watch out for pirates. We'll just hang out in interstellar space until we know our next move."
Rahn sat in the copilot's chair, scratching his chin, lost in thought as he stared into the hyperspace tunnel they were in. He then turned to the pregnant sorceress, who was also looking out into hyperspace.
"Raven, can you still contact Master Yoda?" He asked.
Raven was seated in one of the extra chairs in the ship's bridge. She was stroking her now ample midsection absentmindedly. The baby, now well into its seventh month was moving frequently and she was beginning to worry about the circumstances of her child's upcoming birth. Even more worrisome was that she had received no pre-natal care since they left Earth months ago. While distracted she had heard Rahn's question.
"It shouldn't be a problem. Do you want to do it now? I can open a visual portal that would allow you to speak directly with him."
Rahn nodded and asked Nightwing to join him and the other Jedi in the mess hall for the conference. Ahsoka turned the ship's controls over to Victor as she followed the others out of the bridge.
As they entered the mess hall Raven asked Gar to rearrange the chairs so they would form a semi circle. She sat in the middle of the semi-circle and the others took their places, Garfield sat to her right and Rahn to her left.
"Please be still and quiet while I conjure this spell. It's a little tricky and requires a great deal of concentration. If I succeed we should be able to see and hear Master Yoda in the middle of the circle and he should be able to see and hear us as well."
Raven crossed her hands in front of her face, with the palms facing outward to her left and right, in a manner identical to when she merged with her emoticlones in Nevermore. Her eyes glowed white and a ring of white energy began to spin around them. She began to utter words in Azarathian and the room suddenly darkedned. Gar heard a stray 'Yoda' interspersed with the spell. The white ring leaped above them and began to shrink into the center of the semi circle, where it began to morph and change colors, until they could all see a translucent image of the diminutive Jedi Master standing before them. Yoda, who was in his hut on Dagobah, looked somewhat surprised, but quickly recovered.
"Greetings friends. Safe and sound you are I see."
"Greetings Master Yoda." Rahn replied. "I am sorry to report that the trail to the Valley of the Jedi has run cold and we were nearly captured by Darth Vader. We are hiding in the Wild Space for the time being. What are your instructions?"
The diminutive master frowned upon hearing the report. "Most unfortunate your news is. Worse it could be. Where could you hide and found not be, hmmm?"
Yoda looked lost in thought for a few minutes and then broke into his elfin laugh.
"Found a place for you to hide I have! Stay you will with Senator Binks on Coruscant!"
"What?" Ahsoka shouted. "Master, are you sure about this? On Corsuscant?"
"Certain I am, young Ahsoka. Expect you there they do not. And a friend I will send to stay with you. Comfortable and undiscovered you will be there. Safely give birth there Raven can."
"If you say so master Yoda." Rahn replied reluctantly. "But how do we get there?"
"Your ship ,registered it will be to collect refugees from Coruscant. This passage to Coruscant it will provide."
Rahn nodded. "Raven can teleport us off the ship once we land at the spaceport. We will need someone to collect us there and transport us to the safe house."
"Your contact Captain Panaka will be, contact you he will before you land. Once arrived you have, contact you I will about a mission."
"Thank you Master Yoda. May the Force be with you." The four Jedi replied together as his image faded away.
-(-)-
The converted freight transport dropped out of hyperspace into high orbit around Coruscant, waiting for a landing slot to open for it. The Tamaranians both gasped at the sight of the planet sized city, though they had both explored much of the Milky Way, that had never seen anything like Coruscant before. It was home to over 1 trillion sentient beings and possessed an entirely artificial ecosystem that included massive atmosphere scrubbers that converted the enormous amounts of carbon dioxide generated by its inhabitants back into oxygen.
After almost an hour the transport, which was masquerading as a Corelian transport with a counterfeit transponder, was given the go ahead to land at a space port that was on the opposite end of the planet from their safe house. Panaka had contacted them and was already waiting for them. He procured an old flying moving van to collect them. Prior to receiving the authorization to land, Nightwing and Blackfire became anxious over the long wait. Victor told them to relax, as they we flying "casually" and were not drawing any attention to themselves.
Once they landed Raven teleported their belongings into the van followed by the passengers. Richard and Garfield, who had morphed into a Rodian, pretended to be the crew and signed over the ship for the next crew to transport a load of refugees off of Coruscant. Once they moved out of sight Raven phased out of the floor and retrieved them as well. Soon they were on their way to the safe house, a journey that took over 12 hours on the planetary subsonic air traffic lanes, which they used to blend in and not draw attention to themselves. During this passage they rested and caught up on their sleep while Panaka briefed Rahn on the situation in the safe house. Senator Binks was away on personal business in Naboo and they would have his penthouse, which once housed Padme Amidala, to themselves. When asked who the surprise friend was he replied that he did not know as he had not been at the Senator's house in days.
It was late at night when they arrived at their destination, not that it made any difference. Coruscant was a city that never slept and even though it was past midnight there was as much air traffic as there would be during the daytime. The van pulled up to the penthouse's loading dock and the hatches were immediately opened by a couple of loading droids, which began to remove the luggage and other containers from the ship. A lone figure, shrouded in the shadows approached the ship and boarded it. Raven saw him first. He was of moderate stature and had a short beard. While dressed in civilian clothes she noticed that he had a lightsaber clipped to his belt.
Ahsoka saw him next and shrieked with joy as she ran up to embrace him.
"Master Kenobi, it's so good to see you!"
The two friends exchanged a warm hug.
So this is the famous Obi-Wan Kenobi. Raven thought to herself. He certainly doesn't look half as awe inspiring as Jarvik Katarra, but I suppose size isn't everything. I should know, I'm married to my green bean.
Garfield and Nuvuti ran to the hatch when they heard the name. Nuvuti had meet Obi-Wan at the Jedi Temple while Gar naturally only knew him by reputation.
"Master, it's an honor to meet you, sir" Garfield bowed nervously in the presence of the mighty Jedi Master.
"The honor is mine, Garfield Logan." He turned towards Raven.
"Raven Logan. It is my pleasure to meet you." He said as she extended her hand.
"Master Kenobi." She replied.
Obi-Wan had been instructed in Earth customs by Yoda and took Ravens' hand in a firm handshake.
"Master Yoda speaks very highly of you Mrs. Logan. How are you feeling?"
"Ready to give birth." She replied with a smile. "And please, just call me Raven."
"Yes, of course, and please call me Obi-Wan."
Garfield had already walked into the penthouse and was examining the layout. He noticed the large balcony and decided to check it out as well. The panoramic view was spectacular but as he looked down his heart nearly froze as the vista was completely familiar to him. It was the panorama he saw in the vision, complete with the bridges and walkways below. His vantage point was the same as in the vision that Darth Bane's echo had shown him.
"Hey, you OK? You look like you just saw a ghost." Raven said as she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"No, it's nothing. Probably just déjà vu or something."
-(-)-
Darth Vader paced angrily around the bridge of his ship. The Jedi had miraculously escaped capture and Ahsoka was also with them and the aliens. Jerec was also on the bride and he could sense sightless Dark Jedi's satisfaction with the failure of the mission. The backstabber would do anything to replace him as Palpatine's right hand man. He knew that he had to be careful. While his prosthetics helped make him functional again he felt like a cripple. He could not longer conjure Force lightning now that both his hands were artificial. He remembered well how Palpatine did not come to Dooku's aid when he overpowered him. He even instructed Anakin to kill the old man after disabling him. Palpatine was loyal to no one but himself, and the sooner he was out of the picture the better. The only reason Palpatine had not yet replaced Vader was because he had not found a substitute for him. Jerec was ambitious but was not strong enough in the Force. What Vader needed right now was an ally, someone he could trust. If only he could turn Ahsoka to the Dark Side.
His thoughts wandered to the changeling from Earth. He was stronger in the Force than others gave him credit. Back on Dantooine he felt the young Jedi's tremor in the Force and it was promising. And like he himself once did, the changeling had a mate and would soon be a father himself. If Snips could not be turned to the Dark Side, perhaps he could. The question was where were they? He had searched out into the Force to locate them. He could feel them but there was so much noise around them that he could not pinpoint them, they could be anywhere in the galaxy.
He would have to be patient. But time was not a luxury he had at the moment.
-(-)-
"Are you sure you're OK, Gar? I'm getting some weird vibes from you. You're scared, aren't you?"
Gar gestured at the void from the balcony.
"It's probably nothing, but I had a vision about this place."
"And?"
"And you and baby died in that vision." Obi-Wan was approaching, overheard the conversation and joined in.
"Forgive me for eavesdropping. When and under what circumstances did you have this vision Garfield?"
Gar frowned. Great, now Kenobi was going to know he was screwing around with the holocron.
"It was back on Dantooine. I was watching the Sith holocron we found and I passed out. I heard a voice that said it was Darth Bane's echo and it offered to train me."
Obi-Wan's opened wide with concern. "Where is this holocron now?"
"Ask Rahn. He packed it away."
Obi Wan grabbed Gar by the shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes.
"Garfield, you will disregard that vision. It clearly came from the holocron and is a lie. The Dark Side uses fear to seduce us. That is how we lost Anakin. He was given false visions of Padme's death to draw him to the Dark Side. Sadly, it was Anakin himself who destroyed Padme. Do not fall into this trap Garfield, do you understand?"
Gar nodded.
"Good, now go and meditate for a while. Communing with the Force will help put your mind at ease."
Raven took her husband's hand. "Come with me Gar. Our room has been set up for us. Thanks Obi-Wan." She said as she led Garfield away.
Obi-Wan sighed as the couple walked away. There was a reason Jedi were to be celibate, he reminded himself. His romance with fellow Jedi Master Siri Tachi had almost drawn him into the Dark Side when she was killed. Her loss still pained him to this very day. And then there was Duchess Satine Kryze, he also loved her and was forced to watch her murder at Maul's hands. Obi Wan was no stranger to having romantic feelings, and the power they could have over a Jedi … and of course, there was Anakin …
Kenobi noticed that Garfield's Earth friends were approaching him along with Ahsoka. He also observed that two of the females could levitate at will and did not use the Force to accomplish this feat.
"Master Kenobi, I'd like to introduce you to some of Garfield's colleagues from Earth."
Ahsoka proceeded to introduce the four Titans to Obi-Wan.
"Excuse me" he interrupted "But you two are not human, and neither is the child, am I correct?" he asked the Tamaranian sisters.
"You are correct." Starfire confirmed. "My sister and I are Tamaranians. We both have human husbands and my daughter is half human and half Tamaranian."
"Tamaranians have unusual powers." Nightwing added. "They have super human strength and are capable of flight. My wife Starfire is able to conjure energy orbs which she calls star bolts and which she can throw and both she and her sister can shoot energy beams from their eyes."
Obi-Wan looked very impressed. "I sense through the Force that your hands are artificial, Blackfire. Is this why you cannot also conjure these 'star bolts'?"
"Nothing gets past you Jedi." Blackfire replied. "I lost both of them to a lightsaber."
"One of Ventress's Dark Jedi apprentices?" he asked.
"No." she hung her head. "It was Garfield." Obi-Wan looked surprised at her confession.
"Garfield? But how?" he asked.
"Let's just say that I was under the influence of the Dark Side of the Force at the time. I'd rather not talk about it anymore."
The Jedi Master nodded his head in understanding. "We have all been tempted by the Dark Side."
