Do I look like I won any of this? Okay, maybe my interpretation of the force, and the concept of the Gray. Otherwise, nope, not me. Someone else owns it, and I make nothing for it's use.
:}
Jade looked outside again, realizing why the scenery around her felt so familiar. The drive may have been round about, but it was a path she often took when she wanted to calm down, or just enjoy the evening. Now, at their goal, she understood why. It was Beck's parents home, with his trailer still in the driveway, right in front. "Beck's dad is control?" She marveled, mind trying to make sense of the revelation.
"No, he's not control, but mister Oliver is her mate." Malcolm explained. "To Control he falls in somewhere between my feelings for Mary and June, in that I married Mary out of some feelings of love, while June served a purpose, you. But Owen? He started out as Ashma's cover, and then became more." He gave a shrug. "She cares about him, and loves their son. Sloppy I admit, except, given her position, she can afford to be careless with her family." His voice hardened. "I can't. Anyways, I'm guessing they've already sent some kind of communique to the empire about Beck's disappearance."
"I see Gary's already here." David said. "I didn't see him pass us. I wonder, is there a faster rout?"
"Yes, because I deliberately took a round about way to get here." Malcolm said. "I needed to be sure we weren't being followed. Now, lets find out why Gary got here to quickly."
Jade stepped out of the car, staying close so as to guard the Vega's as they exited the vehicle. Her father, meanwhile, approached the police officer. Beck's mother was just walking out of the house, a worried look on her face.
"Officer Malone, how'd you get done so fast?" Mister West asked.
"They had someone on standby." Gary replied. "Came in and took control of the scene. They told me to go, and I didn't argue. I figured, since they didn't ask for an update, they wouldn't worry that David wasn't there. I'll send in an official report later."
"Do you think you were followed?" Malcolm asked.
"Not likely." David said. "Not unless they knew we survived. I'm thinking this was just someone that whomever was behind this had bribed into covering things up, showing up and doing what they could to clean up the scene after the killers left. Maybe get everyone back into their homes. We can find out who that was later."
"He wasn't followed." Jade confirmed, looking down the street.
"Ashma, we need to get the princess to a safe house." Jade's father told Misses Oliver.
"On it." She replied. "Now, can you save my son? He's my oldest, and I don't want to lose him." Her worry showed in her voice, her stance, and her eyes. Only her duty held her strong.
"Was he trained the way the Vega girls were?" Malcolm asked.
"Of course." Ashma replied, working not to be offended by the question. "As they spend time around technology, they'll find themselves understanding it more and more. But that won't save him from the insurrectionists."
"Then we should be able to save them, assuming we can catch up. I have the Beetle, and you know how fast that ship is." Malcolm informed her, an odd form of comfort.
"Then you'd better get going." Ashma said, dismissing the man.
"Wait." Gary cut in before they could even turn to leave. "I'm coming with."
"Why you?" Jade asked. "Are you one of us, or them, or where do I stand in all this?"
"I'm human." Gary said. "And I'm the one who can afford to go. Think about it. Ashma can do something, cover for me, so I won't lose anything..."
"Unless you get killed." Ashma cut in.
"But I'm their godfather." Gary continued. "David, he's my closest friend. Only he can't go save them, Grey wouldn't let him."
"I would let him go," Malcolm said "Except, right now, losing David too might be too much for Holly. But I get it, Gary can come with us. Just, remember, I'm not going out of my way to help you if things go bad."
"Then lets go." Gary said. "Ashma, get them to safety. And Jade, I'm taking shotgun."
"It's far too late to get on my good side." Malcolm said, smiling. "Lets go."
Jade slid into the back seat, and buckled in for the drive. She felt the car accelerate, and knew things were about to get moving. Her father pulled out a small control device, pushed in a code, and a new set of controls emerged from the car. Her fathers Nissan Lief then shifted like a SHIELD flying car, lifting into the air and starting to hover over traffic. The next thing Jade was aware of was accelerating, fast, achieving speeds in excess of the supposed hundred miles per hour plus the lief was listed as being able to reach. They were flying, maybe thirty feet over the street, achieving a speed of nearly two hundred miles per hour thanks to the computer controlled guidance system her father had activated. They flew along the streets, shifting across one street to the next, using bursts of speed to lift up and over overpasses, while making their way towards Palm Springs. Soon Jade just relaxed and watched her father pilot the car along the roads, passing over obstacles and traffic.
"You know, if I'd known a Lief could do this, I'd have sprung for one." Gary commented as they sailed along.
"You have a sense of humor." Malcolm replied. "Good, you'll need that. Now Jade, listen carefully. When we get into space, I'm going to give you more practical, and by that I mean physical, training in your skills. I need you sharp, because we won't be dealing with bottom feeders once we catch up. And we will catch up. They have a few hours on us, not much time. Given the limits of hyper space, we should be able to overtake them. Of course boarding In hyper is impossible, but that doesn't mean we can't catch up, arrive near them when they pop out, and move to make the rescue at our first opportunity."
"So, how the holy chiz did I do any of that?" Jade asked.
"Can I?" Gary asked. Mister West just rolled his eyes. "I've spoken to the spirit, and it explained that there is this energy, that binds and connects all things, and with a lack of imagination, they call it the force."
"Stop polluting your explanation with your opinions." Malcolm West snipped.
"You just concentrate on driving, or flying. Man, this is neat." Gary said, smiling. Then he turned back to look at Jade. "Certain people have the ability to control this force, use it to change things, make things happen. Only, we're talking like psychic powers, seeing things that others can't see, moving objects without touching them, generate energy, move their bodies, all kinds of stuff. You have that kind of potential, as well as having been trained to use it. The weapon you have," he pointed at her energy sword, "is supposed to be able to deflect attacks, and in the case of ranged energy weapons, redirect them."
"But stunners are often difficult to block." Malcolm tossed in.
"Anyways, with that power, you can help us save the girls, and their friends." Gary continued. "And, from what I understand, most if not all of your powers will be similar to what a psychic superhero would be able to do."
"Oh, okay." Jade said. "That does kinda help. So, next, we overtake the ship and save my friends?"
"Exactly." Gary said.
"And how long is that gonna take?" Jade questioned.
"We'll overtake within a few hours." Her father answered. "A day at most. However, because it's dangerous, almost impossible to interact in hyper, we'll have to pop out wherever they are going, and go from there. If their in the ship I think they're in, maybe a week."
"We are going to the far side of the galaxy." Gary added.
"And you know this chiz because?" Jade asked.
"I've known David since before he met Holly." The police officer said. "I moved out here first, and helped him get his job in the police force. I helped arrange the cover job Holly has, the one that pays for that big house in the hills, and the nice clothes, and all the other chiz they have. I mean, lets face it, they were ready and able to spend the money needed to send both children to a fancy school, except Hollywood Arts is funded by grants, and donations, and all kinds of other funds, so the tuition is not that much"
"Getting distracted there." Jade said. "Where does that money come from?'
"My boss." Malcolm said. "I worked with a man to set up the patents for some technologies the empire, and the Vorlons, would allow us to introduce, and the man you know as my boss agreed to act as my front man, retro-engineering it so everything looked right. I own a percentage of the company, and Holly owns a larger share."
"Why was there a time when you were unemployed?" Jade asked.
"Because I wasn't initially working for my partner." Malcolm said. "I wanted a job that would let me keep an eye on Holly. But taking the time to watch out for her got me fired, from every position I took, until I took the position I have with Mister Burns. Now, I'm an executive, and he understands that I will have odd hours. But my job title is research and development. My team is working on all kinds of ideas, but I also have a few other pieces of antique technology that this world is almost ready to handle. If I need to, I'll just introduce one piece of that, have my team backwards engineer it, and then we'll once again revolutionize the industry."
"They use that tech to make computer memory, and making phones smaller again." Gary said. "Only, thanks to touch screens, they're getting bigger and bigger."
Jade just shrugged, not caring about the whole size of the phone issue. "Okay, so you used alien technology to help make a guy rich, cause you wanted to provide for misses Vega, cause she's your princess. Am I missing anything?"
"Just the point of the loyalty." Malcolm said. "Jade, I don't give my loyalty lightly. Holly has been there for me, gave me things I could never repay. If I were to take you to space, reclaim what she'd given me, the title, the money, then you'd never care about fame. You'd be taken care of for life." He smiled, then took a moment to catch Jade's eye in the back seat. "But the point is, other then the fact that my title and lands are for Carl, if things go a certain way, is that the money wasn't the big thing she gave me. Holly saved my soul, brought me back to the light when my own choices, my own lust for power, had damned me."
"So you owe her everything." Jade clarified.
"She was the one who urged me to move on, after June and I were done." Mister West added. "She said that I deserved some happiness, and that I needed to know the joys of having a child, as opposed to just raising a weapon. She helped me find Mary, gave me a new kind of joy I never expected to have. Of course I'll do anything for her. I will follow her into hell. And her children, she won't ever be happy again if there isn't a serious attempt to save them. So I'm going, and taking you with me. Baron is a disappointment, as much as I'm coming to value his ability to see trends in the future, because he'll be useless in this fight. We will, however, consult with him, from time to time, as we need information. But you, you may be my key to winning back everything Holly gave up when she accepted exile. Now, Jade, do you understand why I'd give anything for her?"
"He's a loyal soldier." Gary said. "Me, I'm just an earthling coming along for the ride. Most of the time I'm gonna be way out of my element. But hay, the weapons work pretty much the same, and I have some idea what I'm dealing with, thanks to being David's buddy. Mostly, I'm coming for two very personal reasons. Those girls are my godchildren, and as a cop, I hate that they thought they could just come down here to the backwoods, and do whatever the hell they felt like. No, the law is coming after those fucks, and it's time they paid for their crimes."
"Bet you never thought you'd be working with the law, did you?" Jade's father taunted her. "But that's what the Jedi are, the keepers of the law. Now that they're neutered, bound by an oath to stay out of this civil war, hunted down in the night, we may be the only hope for empire. So, Jade, it's time to introduce you to society. Are you ready?"
"I feel like the worlds most janked up debutante." She joked.
"Jade, for shame." Gary said. "More like the galaxies most janked up debutante." Both men chuckled. For Jade, it was more then the reflection of her own gallows humor but the fact that her father laughed, quietly, at Gary's modification the joke that slightly unnerved her.
They sat in silence for the next half hour, watching the world flash by, before the car slid to a stop, hovering above an old farm on the far side of Palm Springs. It was the far side of the valley, just past Mecca, where the farms stood on one side of the street, and desert was on the other. The lonely farm her father guided them towards had a single long barn as the only structure that looked even half habitable.
Jade found herself getting ready to drop out of the car, from the rear door, before they touched down. "Jade, there might be neighbors who have been paid, coerced, or otherwise enticed to try and stop us. Deal with them while I get the ship ready." Her father instructed her.
"Just, if you can avoid it, try not to kill any of them." Gary added.
"Also, some of them might have shotguns." Malcolm warned "That's almost impossible to deflect, so you'll have to be extra careful. I need you alive for this mission. That's your number two goal."
"And number one?" She asked.
"Keep them occupied while I get he ship ready." Her father said as if that should have been obvious. "It should only take a half an hour or so. Just, keep them busy, and we'll pick you up once we're ready to go. Also, open the door for us." He smiled, and she knew he wasn't gonna land, just wait for her to get out.
It was a twenty foot fall, but Jade knew she'd be fine, taking the landing without so much as a quiver in her legs. She pulled out her weapon, but kept it off as she pulled the old barn door open. She took a moment to look around, noticing things she hadn't before. It was an old dairy barn, both extra long and extra wide, matching it's extra height. There was an unusual pulley system to open the roof, which was possible because it appeared to have some kind of overlapping design that kept the water out, while still being like a door. She could also tell that this place, like many dairy barns, it had high ceilings for both floors. But with the exception of a fake hay loft front and presumably back, everything had been ripped out to make way for the ship that now rested inside. Everything except the odd chains that connected to the roof, rigged in some kind of system to presumably open the roof. Jade wasn't sure about anything, especially not the openable roof, even thought that made sense, given the ship was huge, and would have trouble fitting out the front doors.
Jade didn't let herself be distracted long, finishing opening the door, then stepped aside and waiting, watching the chain link fence, and the conveniently chained shut gate that marked the entrance of the property. She also looked around, getting the lay of the yard. The whole thing looked ancient, almost unused, with an old tractor decaying to the side of the front barn door, as well as other debris scattered around the yard. There was an old house, looking in need of a lot of repair, but still hopefully serviceable, just a short walk from the barn. The pale girl wondered if her father ever used it, or maintained it, or if it just weathered nicely without anyone around. All of it gave the impression someone lived here, but wasn't too worried about raising cattle, like the barn would indicate, or doing much else with the acre plus of land hidden behind the structures.
As she was taking this in, Her father had flew his car into the barn, landing near the ship before he got out to get the ship ready. From there, time started to pass as the young goth stood guard.
:}
Chapter 2, cause it was ready. I've got loads to do, and while I hope to post twice per week, I'm gonna quickly overcome where I've edited to and have to work out just what I've done, make it make sense o be now. Still, enjoy.
And oh yea, review.