BEYOND THE RIM

BOOK 1

CHAPTER 4: THE WILDERNESS

The Ghost began to make its slow and steady approach into the atmosphere, its crew monitoring all instruments and equipment to get a reading on the planet's biosphere. Hera toggled her sights between the coordinates and the sky, making sure they would not overshoot a possible landing zone, or crash into any elevated terrain or foliage. "The clouds are too thick; I can barely make out what's in front of us!" Hera exclaimed.

Zeb approached the front of the cockpit and started to squint his eyes. He then chuckled; "Don't be so concerned, Hera. I don't think there are any mountains at this height."

Turbulence kicked in and started to shake the Ghost. Hera tried to grip the controls harder to stabilize the Ghost. "I think we've entered the lower atmosphere; the clouds should give way shortly."

Kannan all of a sudden stood tense, as he stared out into the sky, his eyes opened wide as he felt something big the distance in front of them. "HERA! WATCH OUT!"

Without hesitation, Hera hit the reverse engines, in the time it took for the Ghost to fully stop, the shadow of a large tree revealed itself through the clouds.

The entire crew stood in awe as the Ghost made its descent into the canopy, watching the forest around them swallow the Ghost till it reached the ground.

Hera began to check the screens all around her. She slapped the sides of one of the monitors and glanced at the words and images that came across the screen.

Once she was satisfied with the results, she turned to the rest of the crew.

"It looks like we've landed in the south eastern hemisphere. This is a multi-biosphere planet, forests, jungle, plains, deserts, oceans, and snowcaps. The oxygen is fresher than most planets we've been to. It looks like we've landed at the just a click out from the coordinates provided. Ezra, you and Kanan go and see if you can find master Khan, the rest of us will stay here and try to send a message to Ahsoka."

Without a moment for Kanan to even nod, Ezra stood up from his seat; "You got it Hera, come on Kanan lets go!" Ezra said enthusiastically, he squeezed his way past the others and down the ladder. Hera stared at Kanan who simply shrugged and made his way over and down the ladder to the cargo hold.

The cargo bay ramp lowered, Ezra and Kanan felt a cold fresh breeze of air rush towards them, they took a moment to take in a full breath to see if the air was as good as Hera claimed it to be.

They began to take their first steps out onto the soil, and look around, they hear the chirping of winged creatures, and the humming wings of small insects. Kanan reached for his Holocron and began to focus.

Ezra watched as the Holocron turned into a pointer, Kanan moved the Holocron with his hand to see where one of the pieces we're pointing. Kanan began walking in the direction it was pointing, and nodded to Ezra, "let's go." Ezra began walking towards Kanan till they we're side by side.

As they walked through the forest, Ezra looked up at the trees, he saw some of the winged creatures sitting on the branches, and blue sky above the canopy, he was glad to see blue skies unpolluted by factory smoke, he was glad to breath in fresh air, to hear the sounds of nature, to see a beautiful world untouched by the Empire.

Kanan was more focused on the Holocron as it started to spin in all directions. "Somethings not right, it says we're right on top of it."

Ezra's eyes began to look around but saw nothing but fauna and the trunks of trees, then he looked up. "Uh, Kanan, I think he's on top of us."

Kanan shot his eyes straight up, to see a Jedi Starfighter jammed between two trees. Without hesitation, He took a mighty leap onto the fighter, Ezra followed suit.

When he landed on the fighter, he was surprised the fighter had gotten so well stuck, that it did not move with the weight of two Jedi. Kanan scanned the cockpit but found it empty, Kanan just stood and stared at the empty cockpit, Ezra saw tears in Kanan's eyes as he just stared. Ezra began to pat his master on the back in reassurance.

Kanan's eyes then turned to where the Astromech was stored and was relieved to see Master Khan's droid was still there. He quickly tried to clear his tears and tried to try to lift it out "Ezra, give me a hand with him, this droid is the only chance we have of finding him."

Ezra reached to assist his master, as the two struggled to pull the droid out from the socket. Between huffs of air, Ezra complained. "Why are these droids plugged in so tight?"

Kanan took a breath. "It's an anti-theft measure Master Skywalker suggested after the Separatist tried to steal his."

Before another grunt or breath of air could be drawn, the droid popped out of the socket as the two jedi tried to stabilize after the sudden release. "Nothing to it." Kanan jested.

They lowered the droid down onto the Ghost floor as Sabine began to look it over. "Well, it's definitely an old model, it's seen a lot of water, hence the rust. But all the interior memory banks should still be intact, He'll just need an oil rub and charging, I'll get started now."

Chopper began to complain and point and jab at Sabine "Yow! We don't have any other charging stations Chopper; I'll make sure to wash it once he's fully charged."

Chopper just released a large droid groan as he went back towards Hera.

Hera heard Chopper's plea to keep the other droid from his charging platform, but Hera decided to put it as a last priority. She turned to Kanan and smiled, "The good news is we manage to send a message out to Fulcrum."

Kanan raised an eyebrow when Hera said good news "Good news? Is there also bad news?"

Hera folded her arms "I thought it had to be super far range, but there seems to be a Supertanker fueling depot at a midway point I managed to send the message halfway through. Those platforms are highly regulated in the Empire, and they only move into those positions if there are no stops for their Star Destroyers, which means the Empire is already setting up to reach here."

Kanan checked to see if Ezra was near to hear the conversation, he looked outside to see Ezra out of earshot, looking at colorful winged insects on the flowers. He then turned back to Hera. "I don't want word of this getting to Ezra, if he learns the empire is on its way, it will remind him too much of his own planet, how it's been plundered by the Empire, I can feel it in the force."

Hera put her hands on Kanan's shoulders. "Don't worry, Ezra knows the best way to help worlds like these are to stop the Empire and starts by finding Master Khan and recruiting him for our cause. Have faith in that, love."

Kanan smiled at Hera, his eyes turned to Zeb who was moving the speeder bikes out of the back storage and into the main cargo bay. Zeb looked at Kanan and raised his eyebrows "I take it you didn't find Khan?"

Kanan just nodded, lowering his head, Zeb realized Kanan's worry, but motioned towards the speeders "Well, he couldn't have gone far, we'll find him on the bikes once you give the word."

Kanan smiled "Thanks Zeb."

Sabine was in Hera's cabin, working on the astromech when it chipped to life. At first, she heard the worry and concern of the droid. "Easy little guy, I'm not a scavenger, we're here to help you and your friend, Master Khan. Do you know where he is?"

The droid began to look into its memory banks and gave Sabine the answer she was looking for.

She brought the droid down to the cargo bay, after carefully setting the droid down she turned to the others. "He knows where Khan is. Show them R6."

The droid began to project an image of Khan onto the Ghost's floor. They all had their eyes transfixed on the Jedi Master's hologram as he began to speak. "…If someone does find me, I'll make sure to come back for you. Now, if you've found my droid and manage to access its memory bank, then you must be a Jedi or rescue party. It's day twelve since I've been marooned on this world. Supplies are almost all depleted, power cells are all drained, and the weather is turning more hostile. I'm making a trek on foot to the west to follow wild game and attempt to reach warmer weather. I know not if I will survive this winter, or If I'll be able to make it back here, but I trust in the force that you will find me. May the force be with you."

The hologram disappeared; everyone was silent. Zeb was the first to break the silence, "So, which way is west?"

Hera scratched her chin "I guess I can measure the magnetic rotation from the rotation axis from this planet, and that should help us get going in the right direction. Then we'll head wherever it leads west."

Ezra was confused. "So, we're leaving the Ghost?"

Hera nodded again "She can't fly, and we don't know how far west he went. Going on foot will be our only chance. Everyone, gather what you need, we may not have the chance to return, so travel heavy."

Everyone was in their bunks gathering what they saw as essential. Ezra took a long glance at a toy loth-cat he owned. Zeb looked up from his pack to see Ezra inspecting it. "You're sixteen, you don't need some child's toy."

Ezra pushed Zeb in his side. "Spot is not just some child's toy… It's one of the few things I have left of my family."

Zeb quickly realized his error "Kid, I'm sorry, I didn't know. If you can't take him in your pack, I'll take him in mine if you want."

Ezra smiled at the plush loth-cat, but then turned to Zeb. "Hey, have to survive in the wilderness before?"

Zeb didn't look up from his pack. "After Lassan fell I had to survive in the wild, forging for food, medicine, and everything else. Why do you ask?"

Ezra started to stroke the fabric of the loth-cat. "I've survived in the city, there I could be guaranteed to find a meal, there was always someone new I could speak to, and there was generally no fear of, I don't know, getting eaten?" Zeb chuckled, "I don't think there is anything on this planet big enough to eat you, or foolish enough to take on me."

Ezra grinned. "Because of your face, or your smell?"

Zeb's smile quickly went away as he returned to packing up.

The crew began to load their packs, tents, and other supplies on the speeders. Sabine was about to put a large pack on when Hera attempted to assist her, she was surprised when she felt the weight of the pack. "Sabine Wren, what are you packing in here?"

Sabine watched as Hera was opening her pack, getting ready to catch what could fall out. "Just everything I need; extra clothes, a jacket, pajamas, data-pad, sample analysis kit, chemical mixing kit, explosives, paint…"

Hera reached in to pull out a small box, she attempted to open it, but before she lifted the lid, Sabine swiped it for her hands. "That's… that's private…" She said nervously.

Hera looked surprised, but just brushed it off as another one of Sabines tech tools. She turned to Kanan, she saw him looking at something in his hand, she looked to see it was an image of him, his old master and master Khan together. "I didn't know you were close friends." She said,

Kanan slowly touched the image on his data-pad "They we're basically the family I never had, I've failed my master, but I won't fail Master Khan."

Hera gave Kanan a soft kiss on the cheek, Master Khan's R6 unit then rolled towards Hera. chirping concerningly. Hera petted the droid on the dome. "I know you don't want to go out there again, so we're giving you a special assignment, we want you to stay here and try to patch communications to us if a person named Fulcrum calls, do you think you can do it?"

The droid chipped happily, but Chopper was still upset and honked and groan. Hera scowled at Chopper. "This will only be for a short while Chop, and If you behave, I promise you all the oil baths and perhaps a new matching leg when we return to Phoenix Squadron." Chopper just flipped his manipulators all around and sucked in his pride.

Hera pressed her hand on the Ghost's walls. "We'll be back soon, I promise."

The crew slowly walked out of the cargo bay, walking the speeder bikes with their heavy cargo, and began to walk west.

Hours had past since they left the Ghost, the sun was near the horizon, Kanan was taking the lead with Hera behind him, Sabine was behind her, she put her helmet on to listen the music and zone out from the others, Ezra was behind her, taking in the views of the scenery they were passing, leaving Zeb and Chopper at the rear.

Kanan looked at the sun and then their surroundings, he then motioned for the others to stop, the others saw his hand jester and halted. "It's going to get dark here, this looks like a good place to set up camp for the night, unpack only what you'll need tonight."

The crew began to unpack their sleeping bags, tents, and nightwear. Kanan and Hera started to set up a power cell and glow lamp to charge Chopper and offer heat to combat the cold and to cook the remaining fresh food they had.

Ezra and Zeb set up their two-man tent, Sabine had a smaller one-person tent, same as Hera, while Kanan was competent with sleeping in a hammock close to the glow lamp.

The crew sat around the glow lamp, the sun had already set, and the temperature was brisk. They were just glad to have a hot meal tonight.

Zeb looked up from his plate. "So, how can we be sure where out west he is?"

Kanan shrugged. "I guess I could sense his presence in the force the closer we get."

There was a long silence while everyone continued eating their food. Then Hera leaned in on the Glow lamp. "Anyone got any good ghost stories?"

Everyone knew Zeb could not handle ghost stories, they turned to see him sink his head down, and wishing no one would have a good story.

Sabine leaned in. "I got a good one, you ever hear the tragedy of the Outbound Flight?"

Everyone was curious, everyone except Kanan who slowly sat up. Sabine looked at everyone to see she caught their interest. "I thought not, it's a tale only the Jedi would tell. Outbound Flight was a ship designated to explore the unknown regions. It had an entire crew of civilian engineers, explorers, and scientists, complemented by over twenty Jedi. This ship was prepared to deal with any threat that could come its way, it had enough firepower to give a star destroyer a run for its credits."

Zeb was shaking in his seat. "What… What happened to the Outbound Flight?" with his teeth chattering.

Sabine fixed her eyes on Zeb. "Outbound flight left to find worlds beyond the reach of the Republic and Separatist alliance, all contact was lost with the ship, some assume it was attacked by pirates, or the civilians mutinied, others suggested it was the wrath of the Architects who did not want the worlds they had isolated to be discovered by 'lesser' beings, so they trapped them in a world between worlds, where time and death have no existence, just endless torture. Some say if you fly along the original route they took, you'll hear their screams, their calls for help, and sometimes, you can feel their hands reaching out, to try to pull you in!"

At the same time, Zeb felt a cold touch on his shoulder. He bolted up screaming, the sudden burst scared everyone two, when they looked behind Zeb, they found a specter alright, specter three, as he chucked in droid binary, along with Sabine who laughed along.

Hera looked at Chopper furiously, "CP-10P! This is not the kind of place for practical jokes like these!"

Chopper was still laughing, but Sabine brought her laughing down. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to get some sleep, good night."

She walked over to one of the packs and pulled out the box Hera tried to open earlier, walked into her tent, and zipped the door shut. The others began to stand up and walk over to their tents, before Ezra could enter his tent, he looked at Kanan who was sitting up in his hammock, he was still looking at that picture. Ezra walked over to him, "He was like a father to you, I know, You're like a father to me Kanan."

Kanan looked to Ezra and smiled. "Master Khan will be excited to see me again, and he'll teach us what we could not teach ourselves, Ezra."

Ezra nodded good night as he walked to his tent, he then closed the zipper and huddled into his sleeping bag, imagining what it would be like to have a full Jedi Master as part of the family.