I'm sure a few things in this chapter stretch the laws of Star Wars science and real science, so don't bother pointing it out lol. I'm not a science genius when it comes to these terms. :P
Republic Star Destroyer - Ahch-To
Jarik POV...
With our lightsabers in tow, Rylla and I made our way through the Star Destroyer, green and blue light giving us the only illumination. As such, the lighting wasn't too great for seeing properly, as blue light is admittedly darker and harder to see with. Luckily the green blade made up for it, but a glowing lightsaber can only illuminate a dark room so far. And the entire interior of the Star Destroyer is pitch black. Since we're more in the back end of the cruiser, we're more situated among all of the engines and machines and reactors that would power the ship, which is better for us.
"So what would be the best place to get the power back on?" Rylla asks me.
Right, she was only a Padawan for a very short while, so she never got around to knowing how these cruisers operated.
"The best place to go is the reactor room. It has the controls to power the cruiser, and also allows major functions to be done manually," I explain. "Luckily we're on the side of the ship that's closer."
"Yeah. that does sound nice," she replies.
Reaching a closed doorway I raise a hand and concentrate for a moment, using the Force to shove the door open. It screeches in protest, the hydraulics not having been used in years, but it takes a few seconds to open up fully, allowing us to enter the familiar sight of those empty, bland corridors that cover most of the ship. We start to move ahead, only to stop once we reach an unsettling sight.
Scattered throughout the hallway every so often are the bodies of former clone troopers. Most of them are wearing armor with helmets on, but others who don't have helmets still on at the time of their death reveal a skull, showcased thanks to years of sitting alone here for all of the flesh and tissue to decay. The most positive thing about the sight is that they're only skeletons now: no decaying flesh to make the place smell horrible.
"Oh my goodness..." Rylla whispers with wide eyes, shaken.
"Trapped under the ocean without any means of rescue or escape," I murmur grimly. "It was only a matter of time before the crew died."
We take a moment to give our respects to the clone troopers here, despite knowing the horrible things they likely did under Palpatine's watch. They probably died of thirst before starvation could really start to settle in.
"Let's keep moving," I suggest.
We quietly make our way through the cruiser in the direction of the reactor room. Thankfully for us, there weren't very many deceased clones the further we went on, likely having not bothered working at their posts as they realized there was no way to get out. Now that I think about it... if the crew couldn't get the cruiser into the air, how am I gonna get it up? I break away from those thoughts once we reach the correct door.
"Finally," I mutter.
"Is this the reactor room?" Rylla asks.
"Yeah. Let's cut through," I tell her.
Working together, the two of us plunge our lightsabers into the door and begin to cut through the metal, dragging them across. Sparks fly as the blades hiss from the contact, and soon enough we're kicking the door down. It falls to the ground with a loud, thundering echo, which rings out across the huge chamber to signify that this is the reactor room. I step out onto the bridge and slowly make my way across, glancing uneasily at the sides where there's just a giant pit of nothingness.
"Honestly, what is it with giant drops on these ships?" I ask.
Rylla shrugs in response.
Having crossed the walkway to the first station, I give the console a quick glance over, analyzing the different controls and muttering to myself.
"Is this the right console?" she asks.
"No, not this one. It's the next one over," I reply.
I walk by the first set of consoles and back onto the walkway, moving further into the empty chasm of the reactor room. Reaching the center of the chamber, I wave my lightsaber around and spot a few more control panels at the station, right next to the large core in the center that stretches from the darkness above to the darkness below. I turn around to Rylla and hold out my lightsaber to her.
"Hold this," I tell her.
She raises an eyebrow but takes it to hold both lightsabers now, and I focus back on the different consoles. Moving around one, I crouch down to take off a panel exposing the wiring. Rylla moves around to provide better lighting while I work. Narrowing my eyes I analyze the different sets of wires and electronic parts, searching out which ones I need to fiddle with in order to activate the console, so that I may then bring the ship's power systems online. After about a minute I determine the proper wires and work my magic, and a few sparks later sees the console their attached to light up, all of the buttons glowing red and white.
"It works!" Rylla exclaims, her voice echoing.
"Thank the Force," I reply, standing back up and looking at the panel. "Now let's just hope the reactor itself will work."
I start inputting a few codes into the computer, bypassing its locked network fairly easily to assure myself I haven't lost a single bit of my skill at slicing through technology. Working on the controls, I go through the process to manually restore power through a reactivation process, and then pull the lever to set it into motion. At first nothing seems to happen aside from a groaning sound that seems to echo all around the room in a freaky way, the ship shuddering in response. Still, no apparent power.
"...That's it?" Rylla says in disappointment.
"Should've worked," I say with an irritated frown, looking back at the console.
"I guess we shouldn't have expected more huh," Rylla murmurs sadly.
"Hold on, I'm not done yet," I retort with a sharp look.
Pushing the lever into the off position, I retype the codes for reactivation and complete the process by pulling the lever. Again, the same thing seems to happen, which only makes me more angry.
"Come on you kriffing piece of junk!" I growl, kicking the panel.
A few of the wires spark violently in response, but in a stroke of luck that action seems to do it. Moments later a hum starts to sounds from the reactor, and a dim glow starts coming from its core. Sparks of blue electricity flicker along its prongs, getting my hopes up, and then shoot towards the center to create a ball of power that rushes through the conduits. Lights flicker into existence around the chamber, and a smile breaks across my face for the first time since our failed mission as it starts powering up everything in the room.
"You got it!" Rylla says happily.
"Isn't that a relief," I murmur to myself.
"Elita to Jarik, I'm detecting a large surge of energy. I'm assuming you got the core online?" Elita asks.
"Sure did," I tell her in response. "We're about to head over towards the hangar. Make your way towards that inwards grove on the starboard side; that's where the door is."
"Won't water flood into the ship if you open it there?" she questions.
"If the magnetic shields hold, it should be able to keep the water out long enough for you to get in."
"Alright. I'll be waiting there," she says, ending the transmission.
"Can those shields really keep out water?" Rylla asks doubtfully.
"It wasn't designed for liquids," I admit in response. "But I think if I tweak it enough, it should theoretically keep out the water. It's the same principle as the air really."
"If you say so," she replies.
From the console console in the reactor room I restored power throughout the ship, although kept it on the lowest level for just the essential requirements: life support, doors and computer consoles, and of course, lights. Since we're now able to see, Rylla turned off my lightabers and handed them back to me, and we went on our way towards the hangar. It took us a few long minutes of walking through the corridors, keeping our gaze off of the occasional clone trooper that we would pass, but soon enough we're entering the hangar.
Not the main one that carries the star fighters and troop transports, but the one on the side used for shuttles and non-military craft.
I open the door to the hangar, only to find it still completely dark on the inside. Rolling my eyes and muttering to myself about faulty power breakers, I move inside and take a quick right, locating the astromech socket along the wall. Rylla follows and watches as I pull out the correct plug and stick it in, twisting and turning it in a certain pattern. The lights swiftly turn on moments after with a loud clang, showing off my success.
"This junk sure is old," I mutter.
"Well it has been sitting underwater for almost two decades," Rylla replies with a shrug.
"Fair enough," I say with a sigh.
"So, how do you plan on getting the shield up?" she asks me.
"Well, I need to access the control room, and see if the shield works," I start to explain. "Then I'll boost up its power to the highest setting I can think of."
"Wouldn't that be dangerous?" she points out cautiously.
"I honestly don't even care anymore," I retort with a sigh. "It's either that or we don't bring Elita inside."
"Jarik, aren't you considered about the danger-" she starts.
"You have any better ideas on how to get Elita inside without flooding the kriffin' thing?" I demand, raising an eyebrow at her. "No? Then just stop! I get it, I get it!"
She backs off in surprise and a little bit of hurt, but I ignore it and start making my way towards the hangar's control center. A small part of me feels a little bit guilty about my anger towards her, but I shrug it off. Looking up, I make my way over to a set of stairs and climb up them. When I reach the locked door, I casually wave my arm to force it open with the Force, and then walk inside.
A few deceased officers are sitting in the corner of the room, but I ignore their forms and sit down in one of the chairs, bringing the console online. Rylla stands behind me and watches as I bring up the shield generator controls. Opening up the program, I first do a test run and look over to see if the shields came online. Sure enough, a blue hue flashes just in front of the large doors, working flawlessly.
"Now for the hard part," I mutter, turning on my comlink. "Elita, you there?"
"Ready and waiting. I'm holding onto the ship just outside of the door you told me about," she replies.
"Ok, good. I'm going to try and strengthen the power of the shields so they hold back water," I inform her. "I don't know if that added increase will also cause damage, so be cautious."
"Understood," she states.
Glancing up at Rylla, she gives me an unsure look, and I refocus my attention on the control console. Working the computer, I add an increase of power to the shields, altering their state to be more like the shields that are used to block laser fire. They weren't built for that function, but shields are still shields, so all it takes is some reconfiguring in how they're projected. I mean, the Jungians use t for their underwater cities right?
With that kind of shielding in place, I start adding more power to the shield emitters. Outside in the hangar, sparks flare from the walls right beside the emitter, and the blue glow becomes much less transparent. A low, dangerous hum sounds inside the hangar, so I move into action.
"We don't have much time with this," I tell the others. "Opening the doors now!"
"Copy that," Elita replies.
I pull the switch to open the doors, and the two of us watch anxiously as they start to open with a loud screeching sound, the outer hull grinding against the exterior metal (which is altered from being underwater). The shield flares angrily as it comes into contact with the water, but so far it does seem to be keeping it back. However it doesn't take a few seconds before water starts to trickle in at the bottom in a steady stream.
"Elita…" I say in warning.
The door continues trying to open, and then Elita appears around the edge of one side. She starts to stick her hand through before pulling back with a flinch, grimacing. Her expression then hardens, and she pushes off the side of the hull and goes straight through the shield, grunting in pain as she rolls across the metal floor. Water is now pushing in at larger levels, and I waste no time in shutting the doors again. Just as the shield threatens to burst, the door closes back up to seal off the water.
Rylla and I breathe out a sigh of relief, and quickly make our way back out into the hangar. Water covers the floor in a puddle around Elita, and she herself has some dripping off of her armor.
"Can't believe that worked," Rylla says.
"Of course it did," I scoff in response, and she throws me a look.
"Honestly, there are so many ways you andromedans could improve that shield," Elita remarks, getting to her feet.
Me and Rylla both look up at her in confusion.
"Andromedans?" I ask slowly.
"People of the Andromeda Galaxy, whatever," she shrugs in reply. "This galaxy is named the Andromeda galaxy in our charts."
Rylla and I share a look.
"Huh," I remark.
"We just call it… 'the Galaxy,'" Rylla replies.
"Ok, not important. Let's check out the ship," I state, getting us back on track.
Since the bridge of these cruisers is too small for Elita to fit into, she opted to instead check out the main hangar and other large facility rooms while me and Rylla traveled up there.
Opening the door to the bridge, I walk inside and turn on the lighting to reveal the same sight as pretty much everywhere else on the cruiser: dead clones. I share a glance with Rylla and then move forwards to the holotable, where most of the information on this should be stored. The holotable glows blue as I bring it online, and me and Rylla stand at the side of it to look at the information it has stored.
"This looks promising," she comments.
"Sure does," I reply with a nod.
Pulling up the information on the cruisers current condition, I take a moment to read through it and frown in confusion.
"Huh... everything seems to be functioning normally," I remark.
"You sure?" she asks, and I nod.
"There's not even that much damage to the outer hull, which is the weird part," I add.
"If there's no real damage or issues, then why would the cruiser be stuck down here?"
"I don't know," I murmur, before getting an idea. "Hey, could you go and check the fuel levels?"
"Which console?" she asks.
I gesture to the correct console, and while she does that I continue to analyze the ship's issues, which still don't appear to have much. The outer hull only has superficial damage, so nothing has breached the inside. The reactor is obviously ok, and everything appears relatively secure. Life support still works with enough oxygen, otherwise me and Rylla wouldn't be able to breathe in here.
"Hey Jarik, the tanks are nearly empty," Rylla calls out.
I nod my head, and then notice another problem. "And the electrical power is dangerously low."
"So they just couldn't get the cruiser moving again," she deduces.
"That's what it seems like," I reply in agreement. "Without enough fuel, they wouldn't went to the power generators for energy. But those levels are deadly low: working that shield probably used up the last of it. All that's left is enough for lighting, heat, and life support."
Rylla nods in understanding, looking a little grim as she walks back over to me, before noticing something on the hologram.
"Hey, Jarik, check this out," she says, pointing at the hologram. "Look at the name."
I look to where she's pointing, and widen my eyes incredulously.
"The Resolute?!" I read out in surprise.
"Wasn't the Resolute Master Skywalker's ship?" she asks me.
"Yeah, I've been on it several times!" I tell her in disbelief. "I thought this thing was destroyed ages ago!"
"How'd it get out here then?" she asks me.
I quickly look back through my memory, trying to remember anything I might've seen in regards to this cruiser. The first Resolute was destroyed by Ventress just before she went rogue, so Anakin had commissioned a new vessel: this one. The last time I ever saw this cruiser was during the Battle of Coruscant, when Obi-Wan, Anakin and I went to rescue the Chancellor. Beyond that though... there may have been some mentions of it in Imperial data I looked through, but I probably brushed it off.
"I can't remember, I'd have to look it up again," I tell her. "Still... if this isn't poetic then I don't know what is."
Rylla manages a small laugh.
"Yeah, I guess so. Next thing you know you'll be finding your own flagship," she suggests jokingly.
"The Junior Negotiator," I recall with a roll of my eyes. "Technically that was Obi-Wan's flagship, but whatever. But no, I won't be getting that one back. The Empire melted it down for material to use for their ISD's."
"That stinks," she comments.
"Eh, it is what it is," I say with a shrug, before lowering my gaze. "As crazy as this is though, it's probably gonna remain trapped down underwater."
"Maybe," Rylla says, a suggestion in her eyes. "Still, we could arrange to get the resources needed to bring it out of the water."
"No," I state firmly, looking up with a frown. "I'm not bringing anymore people to Ahch-To. You're a special case."
"I'm not asking you to," she quickly replies. "We could just, bring it ourselves in cargo ships, then wipe the computers clean when we're done."
"That'd take too long, and Mara doesn't have that kind of time!" I say with an irritated growl, finding myself at a loss and shutting my eyes. "We just... need to find another way to get to her..."
Rylla remains silent, unsure of what to say in response to that, before my comlink beeps.
"Yeah?" I say, answering it.
"Hey, so I've checked out a lot of the hangar, and everything seems to be in good condition, surprisingly. Also, these tanks and starships seem pretty well made, I'll admit I'm a little impressed," Elita tells us. "Anyways, I think it's very possible to get this ship into the air with a little bit of work."
"Can't happen," I reply grimly. "There's barely any fuel, and the power generators that could provide backup energy are practically empty."
"There's no power? Scrap," she says glumly in reply. After a few moments however, she responds again. "What kind of power do those generators run on?"
"...electrical, why?" I ask with a frown.
"I'm thinking there's something here we could use to give the cruiser enough power to get into orbit."
"Seriously?" I ask, and Rylla looks up in interest as well.
"What do you mean?" she asks.
"Energon!" she answers, and I blink in surprise, having not considered that. "We have a whole island full of it!"
"Energon? That's what powers you, right?" Rylla asks.
"Yes. If we get enough, we could use it for the cruiser," she suggests.
"Would that work?" I ask her, daring to hope. "I don't know how to convert it into an energy source that way."
"Don't worry about that. I'm no scientist, but I can make something to transfer the energy properly," Elita reassures us, before faltering. "I might have to borrow some parts from the vehicles down here, if that's alright."
"Are you kidding me? Of course that's alright!" I exclaim eagerly. "There's loads of that, take whatever! If it gets the cruiser in the air I could care less!"
"Great! I can get started on making the machine while you guys go get the energon," she tells us.
"We're on it," I say determinedly, ending the transmission.
After formulating the plan to try and get the Resolute working again, Rylla and I exited the cruiser the way we came in and swam our way up to the surface. I called in R5 just before that to come pick us up on a speeder, and sure enough he was waiting just above the water, beeping at us excitedly as we resurfaced. I pull out my breather and climb into the speeder, helping Rylla up after me.
"Yeah, we did find the Resolute," I tell R5 as he pesters me with questions. "No, I'm not taking you down there yet, you aren't water proof!"
"You think you have enough energon under your island to power a cruiser?" Rylla asks me.
"I have no idea," I admit. "But Elita hasn't needed to refill on that stuff yet since we revived her, and that was just on four small canisters' worth."
"Wow. That is pretty good," she replies with a nod.
As we make our way back to the island, Rylla and I start discussing more of the specifics on how much energon to bring, and if we need to bring anything else. The topic of the large kyber crystal used to bring Elita back online came up, but unfortunately most of its power was expelled in that process, so it isn't very usable anymore. R5 chimed in from time to time, although mostly it was just questions about the Resolute.
Once we got back to the island R5 went into the ship while Rylla and I made our way up the steps to the Jedi Village, where Zenna came running around the corner with loud squawks and whimpers. I pet her head gently for a few moments before continuing onwards, only to stop in surprise at the sight of the others being back, along with extra people.
Along with the gang and their dragons, Stoick and Gobber were also here, while Calder stood off to the side cleaning his sword. Haven't seen that kid in a while.
"Hey, you're back!" Astrid calls out.
"You've got to be kidding me..." I groan, rubbing my hand across my face in annoyance.
"Why are they wet?" Tuffnut asks.
"What are they doing here?" I ask Hiccup.
Stoick steps forwards. "We heard what happened with Mara, and we want to help."
"Yeah- no. I'm already half considering leaving these six behind already, I'm not about to take more," I reply, before glancing over at Calder. "And what's your motivation?"
Calder glances up at me in a moment of hesitation, shrugging. "I technically owe Mara a debt after the whole 'Dagur' issue."
"You can use the Force?" Rylla questions, and he looks up in surprise, nervous and wary.
"How did you know?" he demands.
"Jarik, I wouldn't have called them in if I didn't think they could help," Hiccup insists, laying a hand on Toothless' head, who growls in agreement. "Please let us help you guys."
I look down at the ground with crossed arms, shaking my head in exasperation.
"I still get the feeling you don't fully understand what you're up against if you come along," I finally say, looking up irritably. "Well here you go: crash course on the Empire!"
Pulling out a handheld holoprojector, I activate it and then toss it on the ground to display a blue hologram. Everyone backs up and looks up in a mixture of surprise, awe, and wonder. The dragons all warble and growl in a mixture of curiosity and wariness; all except for Zenna, who's more used to it than the others, and stays close to me.
"Woah!" Snotlout says, stumbling back.
"Fascinating," Fishlegs murmurs.
"Dude, that is sick! How can I get one of those?" Tuffnut exclaims, reaching out to tough it before Astrid slaps his hand.
"Uh uh," she says in disapproval.
"Basic Imperial infantry: stormtroopers," I say, and press a few buttons on my comlink to showcase what I'm talking about. "I'll admit they have bad aim, and any one of you guys could take them out pretty easily in hand-to-hand combat..."
I give the Twins a doubtful look before shrugging. I've seen worse people take out stormtroopers.
"Yeah, any one of you should have no problem in hand-to-hand combat. But they make up for it in overwhelming force, and their weaponry. Aim isn't great, true, but if you get hit by just one shot from them you're done for. No armor from Berk will help you, not even Gronckle Iron."
"Why not?" Hiccup asks.
"Blasters," I say, showcasing a crowd of stormtroopers firing. "Plasma based fire that's similar to a lightsaber. It'll burn right through you wherever it hits. And the place Mara is being held at will have hundreds, if not thousands of these troopers"
"I'm sure we could handle that though. We fight dragons for Thor's sake!" Gobber exclaims. toothless growls at him, and he blanches sheepishly. "Well, we DID fight dragons."
"Besides, we have dragons on our side. It can't be that different from evading a crossbow for example," Hiccup reasons.
Calder glances off to the side with a mutter at that remark, and Snotlout makes a face at him.
"Alright, fine. How about this then?" I ask doubtfully, giving them all a look before shifting the image. "How about tanks and walkers then? The smallest scout walker is bigger than any of your dragons here, while the largest can reach the size of the Red Death itself."
The Vikings all gape at the sight of the walkers as I display them, showcasing their firepower and explosive bolts as they explode against the ground. Then I pull up an image of an Imperial Star Destroyer, showcasing it from different angles, and then zooming out to show the fleet surrounding Coruscant.
"That's not even mentioning an Imperial Star Destroyer, which carries enough firepower to destroy the entire island of Berk in mere moments. An entire fleet of them blockades the planet constantly," I tell them in a hard tone, making sure they understand exactly what I mean. "Do you really think you can fight against all of that?"
For a long time the Vikings are silent, uncertainty clear on many of their faces, including Stoick and Hiccup. Even fear on several of the others, and Calder was staring at the ground, completely clueless as to what to say.
"Oh yeah? Well how do you plan on getting through that?" Ruffnut demands.
I whip my head up to glare at her in furious exasperation, and she widens her eyes. The others all glance at Ruffnut, shocked that she said something like that and worried for her wellbeing. I so want to say something in response but... at the same time she's not... wrong... Rylla then comes up behind me and lays a hand on my shoulder.
"The point isn't to fight a prolonged battle Jarik. It's about rescuing Mara, just getting in and out," she says slowly. "Besides, the rebels face these same odds every day."
"It's not the same," I retort.
"How? How is it any different?" Rylla argues, and then starts talking before I could reply. "A small group of fighters that go around with whatever they have available, fighting against a limitless force, and winning much more than losing! Sure they don't have blasters, ships, or familiarity with any of it, but that doesn't mean they aren't capable. You've told me that yourself."
"Wow, that's a great motivational speech. Those guys sound like great fighters," Tuffnut comments.
"You wish you could be like them," Ruffnut sneers.
"She's talking about us dimwits!" Astrid exclaims in exasperation.
"Wait, seriously?" Tuffnut asks incredulously.
I ignore the commotion between the twins and glance up at Rylla, still glaring.
"Listen, I know why you don't want them coming," she says quietly, so the others don't hear. "You don't want them to be in danger from the Empire."
Hearing her words, I falter in my glare and look down uncertainly, before looking back at her.
"They'll lose," I murmur helplessly.
"We'll be there to make sure they don't," Rylla reassures me. "Besides, did you really expect to just have us and Elita? Why not get the aid of the rebels to?"
"Bail won't sanction that," I say, shaking my head. "It's better that he doesn't anyways."
"The Ghost Crew then," she decides. "They'll help, no matter how crazy this mission seems."
I stay silent for a long time, glancing from her to the Vikings, then to the dragons. I look at Zenna, who croons sadly, looking lost and despressed, and then finally revert my gaze on Rylla.
"Ok... I'll let them come," I finally concede.
She smiles at me, not needing to say anything else. With that I turn back to face the Vikings, seeing Hiccup, Astrid and Fishlegs in conversation with Stoick, probably trying to think of ways to combat Imperial forces while Gobber keeps an eye on the misfits; Calder is moping around as usual, which is all that I've typically see him do. Strange to think how Ahsoka and Mara once taught the gang how to protect themselves against Force users, precisely because Calder was a threat.
"Alright, you all can come along on this," I announce.
"Really?" Astrid asks in surprise.
"Yes, really. Don't make me say it again," I reply, crossing my arms. "But the deal is that once you step onto my ship, you'll be in completely unfamiliar territory, and nothing will work the way you're familiar with. So you listen to everything that I, Rylla, or anyone else from space tells you to do down to the letter, without objection."
"But-" Tuffnut starts, raising his hand.
"Without objection!" I exclaim, giving them a harsh glare. Stoick turns around to give them a warning look as well.
"Okay, fine!" he and Ruffnut both say in what sounds like exasperation, however it seems like they are taking it seriously for once.
"We'll do everything in our power to help you rescue Mara," Stoick declares firmly.
"And maybe knock some heads on the way!" Gobber adds.
"Thank you," I say with a small nod.
"Uh Jarik, considering everything you've told us about the Empire... how are we gonna get past the blockade exactly? I doubt we can fly dragons through space," Hiccup asks.
"You'll find out soon enough," I tell him. "For now though, you should probably head back to Berk. We won't be leaving for another few days."
Hiccup and Astrid glance at each other before he nods in understanding.
"Wait, so we just flew back here for nothing?" Tuffnut asks dumbly.
"Tuffnut!" Astrid exclaims.
I tune them out once again while Rylla shakes her head in exasperation. "Those two really are foolish."
"We need to get those crystals," I state.
"Yeah, that's true," she replies in agreement.
"Crystals? You're getting crystals?" Snotlout asks. "Can I have some?"
"No," I state simply, before getting an idea. "Actually, I could use some help from you guys for the moment."
"What do you need us to do?" Stoick asks.
With the help of the Vikings and the dragons, we managed to get a good amount of energon crystals taken off of the wall from the caves below the island. There was plenty of curiosity and amazement at the sight of all of the crystals, and several questions were asked. The section of wall where Elita was originally traped also got their attention, and I confirmed that's where Elita was frozen all this time. At some while collecting the energon crystals however, Meatlug almost managed to eat one of them. Luckily I noticed just in time before she could chow down on it, and got it away from the Gronckle.
Needless to say Fishlegs was a lot more anxious and uneasy around the energon now.
After collecting a suitable amount of crystals, we brought them back up to the surface and loaded them in a large net that the Vikings provided for us, and lifted it into the air with the help of Toothless and Stormfly. The gang then flew with us over the ocean, Stoick, Gobber and Calder remaining behind, me and Rylla mounted on Zenna. Snotlout of course was making a few complaints every so often which me and Rylla ignored to the best of our ability, letting the others deal with that. Glancing at my gauntlet, the small hologram projected beeps in confirmation as we reach the coordinates that R5 saved from the drop zone.
"Alright, stop here," I call out.
Everyone pulls to a stop, and the two of us get out our goggles and breathers while the others look around.
"Where's 'here?' Am I going blind again?" Tuffnut asks.
"Here, let me check for you," Ruffnut replies, smacking him on the back of the head.
"Ow!" he yelps, rubbing his head and squinting. "Oh great... two Ruffnut's...!"
"Uh... you guys do realize we're still in the middle ocean right?" Snotlout asks dryly.
"You would be correct," I reply.
"Oh, ok. I'm just questioning your sanity for the moment," he comments.
"Snotlout," Hiccup sighs.
"What? Do you see anything out here?!" he demands.
"It's probably under the water," Astrid suggests.
"Also correct!" Rylla states.
"What's under the water?" Fishlegs asks.
"Well, if this works, then it may be the very thing we need to get onto Coruscant," I state.
"Ok, so whatever you and the giant lady-bot found is underwater," Snotlout remarks with a frown. "How are we gonna get there?"
"You aren't. Rylla and I are going down," I reply, pulling off my Jedi cloak.
"Without any help from us?" Hiccup asks in concern.
"Might be some water dragons down there," Astrid points out.
"Water dragons?" Rylla murmurs to me questioningly.
"Oh, are you guys water people?" Ruffnut asks.
"How in the name of Thor are you gonna get down there? Swim?" Snotlout asks.
"Yup," Rylla replies.
"Maybe we should come too. I bet we could do some really awesome things with this Jedi stuff," Tuffnut suggests.
"Well, unless you can survive the crushing pressure hundreds of feet below sea level without any power in the Force, please be my guest," I state, gesturing at the water with a raised eyebrow.
"On second thought, I'll just have Ruffnut go," he replies.
"Hey!" she snaps.
"Well, good luck down there guys," Hiccup says.
"Thanks," I reply.
I lean down to give Zenna a pat on the forehead, and she chirps at me longingly, rubbing her head up against my hand. She really misses Mara right now, it's plain obvious. Taking off my chest armor piece, I place it in one of the saddle bags while lying my cloak over the saddle. Me and Rylla then place our goggles over our heads, and then the breathers in our mouths. Giving each other a nod, I gesture for Hiccup and Astrid to drop the net, and Toothless gives a short roar before they let go.
Me and Rylla leap off of Zenna as soon as the net falls, plunging into the water at the same time as the net filled with energon crystals. We both grab onto either side of it and let the weight pull us down deeper into the water. My ears pop as we go deeper, and I wrap the Force around myself once we reach the depths that begin to increase the pressure on us. The energon crystals still give us enough light to see around us a small distance, but eventually it becomes the only source of light once the sun's rays disappear.
Several minutes pass during our journey deeper into the depths, and we glance at each other every so often to make sure we're both ok, which luckily seems to be the case. Swimming up to the top of the ocean was quite honestly the most exhausting thing I've ever done in my life, and that's saying a lot. The deeper we go, the harder it becomes to properly maintain the barriers keeping us from being crushed, but we still manage just fine. Thankfully, we finally see the form of a large silhouette off to our right as we pass by the wing of the cruiser.
Having discussed what we were going to do, me and Rylla both begin to pull up on the energon bag, using the Force to help increase our much needed strength. We manage to slow our descent, and now pass by the underside of the wing. Working together, we let go with ur hands and then use the Force to hold the bag completely, getting yanked down from the momentum at first. We then slowly make our way over in the direction of the hole I cut, sensing its location with the Force. Rylla climbs up it first while I remain to keep hold of the energon, being stronger in the Force than her.
Lifting my arms slowly, I work as hard as I can to lift the crystals above me and in the direction of the hole. Rylla then takes over with the closer crystals, using the Force herself to lift them through the water and up the hole. This process takes a couple of minutes, but by the time its done I'm crawling into the ship and laying down on the ground beside the hole, taking off my breather to get some fresh air and much needed resting time. Rylla sits beside me, doing much the same thing.
"It's official..." I groan quietly. "Fighting Sith Lords is so much easier than doing this kriffing junk under the ocean."
Rylla responds in a mixture of a laugh and a cough.
"Truer words have never been spoken," she sighs.
Now up in the bridge, I observed the readings of the ship while listening to Rylla and Elita working on the machine through the comlink. Rylla deemed herself more useful helping out with the machine and its finer parts while I worked on the computers up here, which both of us had no problem with. Elita created some sort of device while we were gone that took the energon and transferred its energy from a 'biology' standpoint to a 'technological' standpoint. Cybertronians use energon in their machines as well, not just as their lifeblood, so it makes sense.
With some help from Rylla, who received input from me on the crystals, she also manage to scrap together a crude device that could process energon into its liquid form. Once that was done, she loaded the liquid energy into the machine, and is now working on attaching it to the main electrical generators in the reactor room.
"Alright, everything is all set!" Elita reports.
"Ready and waiting for you Jarik," Rylla adds.
"Ok, great. Testing the power now so you better get clear of it," I reply.
Bring up the right programs on the holotable, I input the codes to reset the generators and then activate them. A few moments of silence pass by, followed by a dull humming sound whirring throughout the cruiser. I quickly move to check the energy levels, and a grin starts to pull at my face at the sight: energy levels were rising in the ship to high levels. The energon is working!
"It's working!" I tell them happily.
"Really? That's great!"
"Thank the Allspark."
"How's it looking down there?" I ask them.
"Doesn't seem to be in any danger of exploding or falling off, so it's good enough," Elita replies.
"That does sound good," I reply in agreement. "I'm gonna run a systems check just to be sure everything's working properly."
"Sounds good," Rylla says.
Closing down the comlink, I start working at the computer for a little longer and begin running the systems check, going over the most important functions of the cruiser first. Electrical power, engines, controls, etc. As I'm waiting for it to run through the program however, something on the hologram catches my eye. I press a button to pull up the file, which is apparently the last documented log the Resolute ever took.
Curious, I open the file and listen in on it, a camera view from the bridge showing. It cycles through several weeks of records fairly quickly, giving a very short version of events. A quick check shows the video and audio files are corrupted, which is probably why.
"...search mission... caught us by surprise..."
"Came out of nowhere... can't believe what I'm seeing!"
"...the whole fleet is gone... abort..."
Quick snippets of footage showcase the Resolute was with its own fleet, apparently doing some sort of search for whatever reason. Then they got into a massive firefight with an opposing force... which actually won! The footage is too brief and cut up to show who it was, but all I could figure out based on the footage, and the clone officer's voice, is that the fleet was destroyed.
"...hyperdrive is failing... we're hit!"
"We've lost power, lost power! Mission criti..."
"...unknown planet... brace for impact!"
Glimpses of a planet show up on the view, which I recognize instantly as Ahch-To. Then it cuts to footage of the Resolute crashing into the ocean with an enormous splash, probably sending out small tsunamis because of its sheer size. Then the bridge camera goes dark.
"...stranded for weeks... no resources..."
"Power is gone. We've no way of getting out."
"...whatever the enemy craft hit us with... it left us for de..."
"Communications are down... food and water running low."
"...lost water...ays ago..."
In that last recording, the clone officer speaking sounded so incredibly weak, which makes sense based on what he said. He probably died the day after giving that message. Having seen all of that I take a moment to think about it, a deep frown on my face. Narrowing my eyes, I then back up the recording to the apparent attack on the Resolute and its fleet. All I can make out is blue and orange laser fire, but then something streaks past the camera, and I do a quick freeze of it.
Unless I'm mistaken... that's one of those small Hive ships.
"Kriff it all..." I murmur quietly, slamming my hand against the control panel. How long has Oryx been observing our galaxy, and how long had Palpatine known about all of this?! It's ridiculous!
"SYSTEMS CHECK COMPLETE."
I pull my thoughts away from the Hive and close down the video file, refocusing on what's important right now. Analyzing the data for a moment, I nod my head in approval and then call up the others. Whatever damage it has sustained over the years is mainly superficial, nothing too bad. Considering it had a showdown with the Hive that's quite the feat too.
"Everything checks out. We're good to go," I tell them.
"That's a huge relief," Rylla sighs.
"So, the cruiser is ready for your master plan?" Elita asks.
"Yeah. That's take a day or two to prepare for it and plan everything out. Then we'll lift the cruiser out of the water and get it to Atollon for some actual fuel that will get us to Coruscant."
"One way trip?" Rylla asks.
"As sad as it would be to see this ship go... it'll be a one way trip," I confirm with a nod.
Fun stuff in this chapter for sure, and I'm certain a few of you guys are screeching at the reveal of what Republic cruiser this really is! Also about the Hive attacking it haha.
I've toyed with the idea of bringing a Republic cruiser (found by Jarik) into the mix for ages, and now I'm finally at that stage. Soon you'll get to see the Resolute back in action in a few more chapters! Kinda funny how poetic Jarik's life is... almost as if the writer wants to bring in these nostalgic references for him... (suspicious face).
Thanks for your continued support guys, it's absolutely amazing how many of you love this story! And the Shaniverse in general! :D