Before I get this started, I'd just like to address the review that was left by the Guest, since I can't reply directly. Now, I'd just like to say that it definitely didn't leave a smile on my face when I read it (translation: It annoyed me). I'm not trying to sound like a dick, but why should I care what you're sick of? If you hate these pairings, then don't read the story. It's that simple. You could've just said nothing and left. I appreciate that you didn't flame me, I'll give you that at least, but come on. Besides, who said they were going to be a couple? I literally just started and hinted at it. That doesn't mean they're married already. Nonetheless, feedback is feedback, and at least you had the courtesy to leave a review, so thanks to that.
With that out of the way, I'd like to move on to the actual story. We now move on to the "Mortis" trilogy, where…well we'll find out. Just so all of you know, Xur is the main character, so not everything will be covered from the episode. Ahsoka, Anakin, and Obi-Wan are all major characters, while everyone else is a minor character. What that means is the minor characters' thoughts aren't explored, the major characters' are, and Xur's is explored the most, just to clear that up. Enough talk, I'll begin now.
Chapter 2: Overlords
The republic has intercepted a strange message deep in a distant system, which was turned over to the Jedi Counsel. They discovered that deep inside was an ancient Jedi distress code which hasn't been used in over 2,000 years. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and his padawan Ahsoka along with Xur Eon are sent to investigate. Fearing a separatist attack, they are to meet with a heavily armed republic cruiser…
Anakin worked the communicator, which was giving him trouble at the moment. He decided that giving it a quick punch would fix the problem, and to his luck, the image of Captain Rex flickered to life.
"Rex, come in, do you read me?" he called. Rex responded with a "Yes sir". Anakin continued. "We're at the rendezvous point, awaiting your arrival,"
Rex's confused face threw him off. "Uhh…sir, we're at the rendezvous point. You're not on any of our scanners."
Anakin shook his head. "Oh come on, that's impossible."
Xur chuckled. "You know, it may be very possible that you got us lost Skywalker," he sat behind Obi-Wan, twirling his lightsaber on one finger. Anakin shook his head.
"Something's wrong, we're at the exact same coordinates, and he's not even here!" he said, not in the slightest concern of his navigation skills.
Xur stopped twirling his lightsaber and returned it to his belt. He scoffed. "That means we're lost!" Obi-Wan raised his fist, and Xur shut up quickly. His respect for him was the only thing that held him back.
Kenobi sighed. "All I can say is that this is interesting," As soon as he finished, Rex's transmission was cut off, leaving them alone in the ship. Ahsoka fiddled with the controls to her left, but couldn't get the transmission back.
"We've been cut off, I don't know who did it," she informed them. Suddenly, everything on the ship shut off. Xur's patience was running thin.
"Not good," Obi-Wan said as he tried to get the ship back online. Xur rose to his feet quickly, sighing heavily.
"You don't say? I'm going to check for any hitchhikers in the back. Maybe someone slipped aboard when we had our backs turned," he said in an annoyed tone. As he left, Ahsoka rose to her feet.
"Everything's dead, even the life support!" she informed. They all looked at each other. Would they die here? With no life support, they didn't have much time before they suffocated. It was not a good situation to be in.
Suddenly, everything flared back to life, the same way it was before. Obi-Wan smiled. "See, nothing to worry about," They all nodded and proceeded back to their positions. Ahsoka looked out the front window and noticed something…something big.
"Uhh guys….what's that?" she pointed out to a large, diamond-shaped…thing outside. It looked dark, lined with strange markings, and it just sat in front of them.
Xur walked back in. "Well…I couldn't find anyone but…the ship's…back," he paused as he noticed what they saw. It wasn't a planet, and it didn't seem natural, almost man-made. It was too massive to be man-made though, was it? "Uh…what the hell is that?"
The ship rocked as he finished, causing him to reach for the back of his seat and then plant himself on it. The ship was now being sucked into the object, without stopping.
"Everyone strap yourselves in, looks like we're going for a ride," Obi-Wan instructed. As they got closer, the center of the object opened up, revealing a white light. They entered the center, where eventually it was too bright to see anymore.
Xur awoke lying back in his chair. His eyes were immediately flooded with light, and he shielded them quickly. When his eyes had finally adjusted, he looked around and saw…plantlife? They must've landed on a planet somehow, or none of this makes sense. Then again, who landed the ship? He noticed Anakin stirring.
"Hey…flyboy! What happened?" he yelled in a quiet tone, not to disturb the others. Anakin shook his head as he yawned.
"Calm down Xur…I don't know," Anakin responded, causing Xur to grumble with impatience.
"I'm going to check things out," he finished, grabbing his black and red helmet and placing it on his head. Anakin nodded, but then realized what he was doing when he came to his senses.
"Wait, but what if something comes in to attack us?" he semi-yelled. Xur smirked behind his helmet.
"Lock the door," he said before stepping out of the ship. "And make sure no one finds you!" Anakin shook his head from Xur's sarcasm. Obi-Wan came to when he turned.
"Who landed the ship?" he groaned, looking around.
"Not me," Ahsoka responded as she woke up as well. She turned to the computer at her left and looked at the readings of the planet. They were definitely interesting to say the least. The place was…alive. "It seems like we've landed on some kind of organic mass. It says that it's no bigger than an asteroid, but the atmosphere is breathable."
"Looks like Xur already figured that out," Obi-Wan noticed. He was standing with his arms crossed, looking around. He turned back to the cockpit and waved when he noticed them looking at him, and then turned back.
Anakin tried some of the controls on the ship, and got a response that was quickly erased. "I don't get it. The ship's systems seem fine, but nothing's working." Ahsoka grew restless and headed out onto the surface. It seemed so much like a regular planet, but it just couldn't have been. Obi-Wan pulled out some binoculars and gave the place a look around. Xur turned towards them.
"This place is freaking me out," he said through his helmet, sounding like it came through a speaker, which it did.
"You and me both," Ahsoka added. She looked across into the horizon. It was filled with mountains and clouds as far as the eye could see. Suddenly, something flashed in the distance. "Hey! A reflection, up on that hill!" she cried.
Obi-Wan gave it a look, but saw nothing. The place had floating pieces of bedrock around where they had landed, something that puzzled Xur greatly. There was no denying it, he felt some strong connection to the force here, and his light side seemed much more powerful at the moment. That definitely wasn't normal. Anakin suddenly looked like he saw a ghost.
"Did you guys hear that?" he asked. Obi-Wan shook his head, seeming like he was annoyed that he wasn't seeing or hearing anything.
"I think you're going crazy Skywalker," Xur joked. Anakin glared at him and shook his head, only getting Xur to raise his hands up defensively.
"Are you the one?" a female voice sounded that everyone could hear now. Behind Anakin stood a strange woman who glowed a bright light. Her hair was green and almost floated behind her.
"He-llo," Obi-Wan greeted quizzically, shocked by her sudden appearance. Xur crossed his arms. She must be the reason my light side is so powerful right now. He thought.
"Who are you?" Anakin asked, confused still. The woman didn't let up.
"I am the Daughter. Are you the one?" she persisted. Anakin was confused beyond belief. "I will take you to him, only he knows."
Ahsoka shook her head. "Him…who?"
"Follow me, we must find shelter before nightfall," she said before she began to walk down the path. Anakin shook his head.
"And we though the planet was strange. How about this one?" he whispered to them with a smile. Xur nodded. It was about time Anakin joined in on the joke parade.
"We'll be fine, as long as we stick together," Obi-Wan assured them.
"I've got a feeling that may be the hard part," Xur pondered.
They were led along the side of a rock cliff filled with plants and other greenery. They had no idea where they were going, but still noticed the many strange parts of the planet they were on.
"Have you noticed that the seasons change according to the time of day?" Obi-Wan asked. Anakin nodded. The area was becoming deader by the minute it looked. "Have you felt it?" he asked.
Anakin nodded. "Yes, ever since we got here. The force is…very strong,"
Xur nodded. "I don't know what it is, but I couldn't change to my Dark Side if I wanted to. The Light Side is immensely more powerful right now."
"Probably a good thing," Ahsoka added, getting a nod from Xur. Anakin began to grow tired of not knowing where they were off to."
"Excuse me?" he asked. The woman turned her head towards him. "Who are you taking us to?"
"The Father of course," she informed them.
"Of course," Ahsoka joked, getting a slight laugh from Xur. Obi-Wan moved forward.
"What exactly are you?"
"We are the ones who guard this place. We are the beginning, the middle, and the end." She finished.
"Glad she cleared that up for us," Anakin said sarcastically. The area around them suddenly began to die off. The plants turned an unhealthy color and withered away. Suddenly, a rock loosened from above and began to fall. Anakin yelled for the woman to move, but pushed her forward along with him, separating the two groups. Obi-Wan slipped over the edge and grabbed onto the side before he plummeted. Xur was able to stop extra debris from falling on top of them with his enhanced Light Side powers and forced them over the edge. Ahsoka ran to grab Obi-Wan's hand and help him up. He brushed himself off.
Thank you," he thanked. Ahsoka smiled and nodded. Xur cleared his throat to get his attention. He stood staring at him with his arms crossed. "Oh yes, I thank you as well, oh powerful Xur," Obi-Wan said with a bow.
"OK, a simple thank you would've been enough, but that works," Xur nodded. When they noticed that Anakin was no longer with them, Obi-Wan contacted him.
"Anakin, are you alright?" he asked. The response was a bit hazy, but it came through.
"Yeah, but it seems our friend here has run off!" he shouted at the end. "Go back to the ship and try to send another distress call. I'll follow her and try to find out what she wants."
"And what if it's a trap?"
"Then I'm not going to wait around here to find out!" Anakin insisted.
Obi-Wan shook his head. "Anakin stop, wait for us to find a way around and-," the signal cut out. Obi-Wan sighed. "So reckless and impatient."
Xur nodded. "You got that right. But maybe it just cut out, you know, because this place is really strange, remember?" Obi-Wan nodded, but he wasn't convinced.
"He'll find her, I know it," Ahsoka assured.
"Yes, and what else?" Obi-Wan added.
It wasn't long before they reached the area with the ship, but when they arrived, there was no ship left. The area around them was becoming more and more brown, losing the color in the plants.
"Great, our ship's gone!" Ahsoka shouted. Suddenly, everything around them was dying quickly, in fact, it was dissipating.
"Hey guys," Xur said, almost fearfully. "My Light Side is no longer as powerful as before…in fact…," he paused to look around, and drew his lightsaber, glowing a crimson red. "It's quite the opposite." Obi-Wan and Ahsoka took a few steps away from Xur, just in case he lost control. Xur pointed his hand forward. "It's OK guys, I can control it."
"Did you lose something?" a male voice sounded from behind them. Ahsoka whirled around and drew one of her lightsabers, expecting the worst. Xur slowly turned to see who had arrived. He was dark…very dark. His eyes were a menacing red, while everything else was black. He was almost the definition of evil.
"You didn't do as you were asked," he added. Obi-Wan was confused, and kept his cool. Ahsoka stood ready, while Xur observed him, his red dual-bladed lightsaber drawn. He felt immense anger towards this man…or thing, whatever he was.
"And what was that?" Obi-Wan asked.
The man growled. "My sister told you to wait!"
Obi-Wan still stayed friendly. "Did she now? We unfortunately got separated. We'd like our ship back if you don't mind."
"NOT…yet," he replied. "Is it true that he is the Chosen One?"
This time Obi-Wan drew his lightsaber, while Xur and Ahsoka didn't wait to draw a second one. Xur's blades spun above his hands, faster and faster. "What do you know of such things?" Obi-Wan threatened.
"What will occur will happen…weather you like it or not!" he yelled before he threw his hand down. Obi-Wan and Ahsoka's lightsabers plummeted into the off position, but Xur's remained strong. Ahsoka turned to see his blades were surrounded by a dark power, and it seemed to be resisting the man's influence. She saw he was shuddering, trying to contain his anger the best he could, but the power that was emanating from the man wasn't letting up.
The man smiled. "You must be the one who rules both sides inside of him, are you not?" he asked. Xur didn't even break his stare. He couldn't even move. The power inside of him was immense, and it must be coming from him. If Xur did release his anger, there could be 3 dead people around him. He just couldn't.
Obi-Wan turned to the man. "You are Sith!"
The man simply laughed, angering Xur even further. "Sith? Yes…and no," He then turned towards the way he had come, or at least what they assumed. "The storms here are leathal…I suggest you find shelter,"
Xur was at the breaking point. He couldn't explain the anger, the rage that was brewing inside of him…and it just got worse. Eventually, it was too much. "This storm is about to be the least of your worries!" Xur yelled menacingly and charged the man with a blood-curtailing scream. The man pushed his hand forward and sent Xur flying back until he slammed into the rock face behind them and landed hard on the ground, unconscious. The man laughed menacingly and took off in the form of a monster, flying away into the distance. Ahsoka had the look of horrifying worry and rushed towards Xur's body, lying down and broken. Obi-Wan followed quickly and helped her pick him up.
"That cave! Hurry!" he yelled and they took off towards shelter, away from the lightning bolts that hit ground.
Xur awoke on the rock floor, awake at last. His helmet was off, and he felt as if he had been hit by a train. He looked around at his surroundings and noticed that he was inside of a cave, filled with strange, lighted plants. He couldn't help but wonder where he was, or what had happened in the last few hours. He looked down and noticed that his lightsabers were still in his possession, to his luck. It was strangely quiet, and there was no sign of Ahsoka or Obi-Wan anywhere to his surprise.
Suddenly he saw a man running towards him. He looked about his age, 19 or 20, he wore a white robe with a steel plate for his left shoulder. He held a blue lightsaber in each hand.
"We must defeat him! This is our chance!" he yelled for him. Who was he, and how did he know his name? Xur drew one of his double-bladed lightsabers nonetheless, only this time they were red, but he felt no Dark Side presence inside of him. Rather, it was coming from the figure approaching him. It was all black, with a strange helmet and a respirator on his chest. It looked…horrifying…and it had a red lightsaber.
"You have come to meet your demise I see…now let me give it to you!" the being yelled with a mechanical voice, filled with evil. He charged towards the other man with him and gave the lightsaber a powerful swing and knocked him onto his rear. "Starkiller could not kill me…what hope do you have?" the mechanical beast spoke again.
"I've defeated you before…I will do it again!" the man yelled back. Xur wasted no time and attacked the mechanical horror in front of him. He was parried quickly and then force pushed back into the wall.
"Xur!" he heard, but the voice was familiar this time…sounding like…
"Xur!" Obi-Wan yelled. Xur violently rose to his feet and drew one of his lightsabers. He breathed heavily and took in his surroundings. It was the same cave, minus the murderous beast and the strange man, this time with Ahsoka and Obi-Wan, much more pleasant company. He calmed himself and returned his lightsaber.
"What was happening? Were you having a vision?" Ahsoka asked. Xur shook his head and sat back down, placing his hands on his face. He had no idea what he saw.
"I don't know. I was fighting this…thing. It looked like a human but used a respirator to breath and wore a black mask. It mentioned a name…Starkiller. It was fighting another man, I couldn't recognize him," Xur explained, still very much petrified.
Obi-Wan waved his hand. "We must go. We have a feeling Anakin is in trouble. We'll talk about this later," They all nodded and rushed out of the cave, on their way to somewhere. They had to find Anakin, and fast. Xur looked up to see two flying objects suddenly descend on them and grab ahold, and they didn't let go.
He couldn't remember much, just landing hard, and rolling down the side of something while his eyes remained closed. The monster must have dropped him. Now it came to him. He remembered the red glow of his lightsaber cutting the beast and he was dropped, but Ahsoka was not. He looked up to where he had fallen and saw it. A large tower was in front of him, and he could see something was brewing at the top of a platform, no too high up the tower. He decided it was best that he checked it out, maybe his friends were there.
The fastest way was a risky one, but with the increased force energy, he felt he could do it. He readied himself by kneeling on the hard surface. He summoned as much power as he could, and felt the air around him collect near his legs. He then jumped, and he flew. He eventually reached the platform with the single jump, and saw something…amazing. Anakin stood at the center, and he had both of the beasts that captured Xur reeling, being held by the force. How could he do such a thing? Such…power.
"On your knees!" Anakin commanded with a strange, almost demonic voice. Both beasts were transformed back into their original forms, the Daughter, and the other dark one. Obi-Wan and Ahsoka seemed to be OK, so he decided to reveal himself now. He clapped slowly as he walked towards Anakin, who looked drained. Xur was not met with a pleasant look from him.
"Where were you?" he asked with a menace. Xur paused and shuffled his eyes.
"Well…I mean…he dropped me," Xur responded, pointing towards the dark one. Anakin simply rolled his eyes at him. "What?! When someone grabs you from behind, it's natural to want to kill them!"
An old man appeared, and spoke to Anakin, speaking some gibberish that Xur didn't understand. He too seemed like the other two, powerful to say the least. He was suddenly asking them to leave, which he didn't bother arguing with him. His appearance scared him off. Ahsoka was soon nudging him.
"Why didn't you cut me out too?" she pestered him. Xur raised up his hands defensively.
"Come on, he dropped me too fast!" he couldn't keep a straight face and got a punch in the shoulder from her.
Wow, this was long. Don't expect to have these come out so close together. I started writing this at 3 I think, and it's 9 now, so that took me a while as you can see. I hope this was less of an introductory chapter and much more action for you guys. If you enjoyed, please leave a review, follow/fav. I would much appreciate that.
