CHAPTER ONE – Millennia Day
...New Coruscant, 999 ABY...
Zak Sunrider watched the festivities from his dorm in the fifth Jedi Temple wing. He sighed knowing he could not take part in such a holiday. It meant nothing to the Jedi.
It was a day of cheer and celebration on New Coruscant. Zak watched as confetti filled the artificial air as well as hurrying transport craft and frightened hawk bats. Crowds of people stood outside from their opened balconies, waving brightly lit objects in frantic motion. Cries of laughter and joy flooded the ears of wanderers and spectators of all races. A time of joy fell over New Coruscant like a blanket of fog on the Western Sea, and spread out towards other planets throughout the Galaxy like a plague, bringing peace and heart filled feelings to others that are not as grateful for what the Galaxy has given to them. It was Millennia's Eve, the day before a new era of the Galaxy would set foot. Not only were the people of New Coruscant celebrating just for Millennia's Eve, but for the colony ships destined to arrive back home, from sectors all over.
The Jedi had forbidden their selves to participate. Materialistic holidays were not credible to the ways of the New Jedi Order. A Jedi did not want; a Jedi had to need. There was a need to clear his mind of thoughts and affections for his wants; a need to clean his soul of worth.
A Jedi needed to be aware of his surroundings, to feel the presence of the Force everywhere; to become one with the Force, and separated from everything else.
A Jedi needed nothing but the Force, simply put. The only need was the Force; all other things were wants. Nothing more, nothing less; that was what the Master Jedi of the High Council expected from Zak.
Zak Sunrider was a lonely young adult, reaching the pinnacle of his padawan training at the ripe age of twenty standard years. His mind was forced to be laid on the Force, steered away from material based properties and events. He shared a likeness for his future, a Jedi Knight, so he carried the burden of separation from the real world.
Not only would he be a Jedi, Zak would be the Jedi. He was brought before the High Council long ago, young beaten, bloodied and scared. At the time, he was a mere toddler, barely able to walk. His parents had been ordinary folk from New Coruscant, assigned to a military corps within the ever expanding Galactic Alliance Army. They had been sent on a mission on the Outer Rim, to squash an evil resistance on some desolate world Zak could care less about. He intended to forget completely by the time his training was complete; he had already washed away the name of that planet from his mind. Zak's parents had brought him to the war inflicted system, newly birthed and curious about the worlds underneath his crawl.
The Council told Zak the fate of his parents, at the earliest possible time when he could understand more complicated concepts than asking for nerf milk and nap times. A few days after arriving on the scene his parents had perished in a violent and ruthless ambush made by a small gruellia-tactics force. Zak had remained hidden, crying as his mother and father were brutally slaughtered. He had wished the Council did not tell him those fine details; he might have been better off not knowing the truth.
But somehow, Zak needed to know. His parent's fate was better told by his superiors. Had Zak found out what happened later than that, he surely would have been devastated, being lied to and being filled with happy memories. The truth was better than happiness, he always found.
A frown enveloped on the padawan's face as he shut the blinds, separating himself from his surroundings, and in the darkness he began to reach into the Force.
Vez Sheeno sat at the controls of the massive defense station, Delta Command, waiting. He watched the data screens keeping track of the arrivals of several colony ships, tirelessly. He was getting annoyed with their rate of arrival.
One by one, they arrived through hyperspace, docking with the gigantic space stations orbiting the Capital, which sent out smaller transports to deliver colonists and troops back to their homes after participating in a long experiment commissioned by the Senate; an experiment that had been long debated since the end of the Great Deadlock. In the history lessons back in the New Coruscant Education Center, Vez had learned that the experiment was needless, and the only reason the project went underway was because of a last minute election called by the Senate so many years ago. The construction of several colony ships was ordered years and years ago, and so, it had begun, coinciding with Millennia Day. The reigning government ultimately decided that it was only appropriate to have the original settlers to arrive on the much anticipated holiday.
In order to be suited for isolated colonization, the ships carried large, pre-constructed bases and tiny factories to construct speeders, consumables and other needs. They had everything but comlinks, which were prohibited in the experiment, which main purpose was to see if colonies without a federal reign could survive on its own and able to return without trouble. That and bring more planets and resources under the Alliance's control.
It was all nonsense to Vez; government propaganda.
Hundreds of the aging colony ships dropped out of hyperspace near the Covey asteroid field every hour, bringing home hundreds of thousands of Alliance diplomats and generals to their families. Some cried with tears of joy as they saw their relatives steadily step onto the landing platform from their transports, carrying a large bag of luggage. Others laughed, reminded of the memories that they have had with their loved ones. Others cried, because of death. Many did not survive the twenty-five year long expedition into the unknowns, simply because of being so far away from home, isolated from their families, friends, the places that they knew and the food and drink they had been accustomed to back home. The stress had become too great, and the results were often disastrous.
As each colony ship arrived, they were accounted for, with about a dozen or so left to arrive from their journeys. Fireworks were not scheduled to begin until after the last ship had arrived. The organizers did not want to disappoint the immense crowds waiting for the new Millennium to come; they wanted to set a record for the most spectacular show in the Galaxy. The mission had an ambitious goal and was difficult nonetheless.
Another hour later of tedious waiting, the second to last colony ship arrived. The usual reunion on the landing pads happened, during the black of night instead. The crowd eagerly anticipated the last colony ship.
The new Millennium would not start without it.
"New Coruscant Delta Command, have you got a trace on Courier yet?" the static littered the comm as the Mon Calamarian Commander, Frykal, spoke.
The voice of the seasoned, yet young, man replied with a heavy sigh. Vez couldn't have been more than twenty standard-years old. "Negative, Commander. Let's hope that their signal has just been scrambled by the asteroid belt."
"You better hope, Lieutenant Vez. There are a trillion spectators down there waiting for the last ship so that Millennia Day can begin. Find that ship!" Frykal's voice sounded furious about the lack of work Vez was putting into his job.
Vez shook his head topped with brown hair and lit with bright, green eyes. His nostrils flared at the sound of Frykal's angered, yet watery and gurgled, voice.
The link between Central Command and Delta Command was cut off.
Great, thought Vez, What a way to spend Millennia Day...
He had hoped he would spend time with his friends and family, joining the crowds waiting for the supposedly spectacular fireworks display. Instead, Vez would have to watch them from the sky, aboard the space station, Delta Command. All alone, with the exception of several worker droids, sitting in a leather lined chair. A frown crept across his face as he thought of his previous meeting with Frykal the day before. The fish like alien had told him that he would have to look over Delta Command and look after the incoming traffic of the colony ships. A big pay was at stake, and as soon as Vez saw the seven figure number he immediately jumped for the assignment.
But he would give everything in the world right now to be down there; it was a once in a life time chance, at least for a human of course. There hadn't been a celebration this big since the downfall of the fabled Empire. A massive, galactic celebration held across thousands of worlds took place, including several backwater planets that would other wise have no other reason to hold a feast, or a fireworks display, or parades.
Vez closed his eyes and dreamt about how it must've felt on that day, almost several hundred years ago. The soothing sound of his own breathing tried to lure him to sleep, but the annoying and continuous noise of a roller droid kept him from crossing the line separating reality and dreams. Along with dreams however, came nightmares.
His period of day dreaming on the job came to an end when a monotonous beeping came from the control panel in front of him. Opening one eye, he saw that the receiver had picked up a signal; possibly Courier had arrived just in time for the celebration. He smiled and opened the comm way to Central Command, linking to Frykal's comlink, "Commander, I have a signal coming in. Could be Courier coming through the Covey asteroid field."
Frykal's voice crackled over the comm, some interference was evident, possibly the crowd firing off some illegal displays early, "Excellent, comm them in lieutenant. You can leave Delta Command as soon as she docks. Have a happy Millennia Day, Vez."
"You too Frykal," Vez cut the Mon Calamarian off, and he regretted saying that to the commander, the one who put him up here star gazing on the biggest day in his lifetime.
He yet again operated the comlink in order to communicate with the incoming signal, and as he did he whistled a tune from the hit Holo Network movie, Days of Sovereignty, an epic drama recreating the Trade Wars five hundred years earlier; the hit film was a favourite of many critics across the Core.
"Incoming craft please designate your name and destination." Vez said, sounding his best. He waited.
There was no answer sent back, just the scrambling of static and the occasional whine of the machinery within the room. Vez thought this was strangely peculiar.
"I repeat, please designate your name and destination." Vez asked once more.
No reply came back yet again.
Vez opened another comlink to Starfighter Command, ones who were patrolling the endless skies of New Coruscant to keep everything under control. His fear in losing his job and his pay was becoming constant. "Starfighter Command, do you copy?"
The voice of a delicate, yet somewhat hardened female answered back "I copy Delta Command. This is Rancor Leader."
Vez recognized the voice, almost jumping for joy. "Great, sis, you're up here too? Why are you wasting your time, Viol?" Vez had a grin on his face, one that his older sister could not see over the comlink.
"I'm helping the Galaxy for a greater good, little brother." Viol said, "At least I'm not sleeping on the job like you usually do." Viol stopped with a laugh over the comm.
"Yeah, but who has the bigger paycheck?" he laughed with his sister while leaning back on the control chair, spinning carelessly. "Anyways, back to business." He said sternly.
"What do you need done then?" Viol asked.
"I want you to go to these coordinates. Check the place out for any star ships. It could be Courier, but they're not responding to any of my messages." Vez informed, transmitting the information to his older sister.
"It's probably just a malfunction or interference from the asteroid field. I'll get my squad to check the place out." She said in reply, her voice now turned from relaxing to sternly. Vez was still getting used to the military side of her sister, having just joined the Galactic Army himself.
The comlink between them turned off leaving Vez alone once again. He let a sigh loose from his anxious body, anticipating Millennia Day with an intensified fear of not seeing his family, let alone his sister Viol, today.
From the Covey asteroid field came a hideous, jagged piece of twisted and deformed space junk. Viol wondered if this was the thing sending out the signal as her Gunblade starfighter zoomed closer towards it. She looked at several data screens that were embedded into the control panel of the aged fighter, curious about the object her astromech droid had just finish scanning for lifeforms and operational systems. There were a few life signals, although none matched any of the crew's unique signatures. Only two power sources were evident; the hyperdrive and the ion sublight engines.
Viol watched as her comrades sped past her, taking a closer look at the crumpled star ship. Her astromech had just confirmed that it was indeed Courier after analyzing several modules that had matched Courier's undamaged self. Viol was confused, however. Maybe the ship was beaten up in the asteroid field while coming in and resulted in the unfortunate death of thousands aboard. But she had been told that ships entering through the field were equipped with repulsor shields. Viol wondered how else could Courier been beaten up like this. Maybe its internal systems failed and rendered the repulsor shields useless? She understood that all colony ships were sent to planets assumed to be uninhabited or to explore regions of the unknowns beyond the Core, perhaps maybe...
Her astromech had just interrupted her thoughts with a flutter of beeps and whistles, telling her upfront that radiation was leaking into space from the wreckage.
"Be careful Rancors. Don't want to get close to that thing. There's a radiation leakage." Viol warned her fellow squad mates.
"Copy Rancor Leader," Several pilots said in unison, now aware of the dangers before them.
"Emperor's black bones, what happened to Courier?" one pilot remarked over the comlink, cussing.
"Cut the chatter, Rancor Seven. We don't know yet. We're going to have to get a scanning crew up here." Viol replied, fighting through the furious beeping of her droid.
Cutting off her comlink to the rest of her flight, she answered the droid. "What do want, Beep?" She asked.
The droid answered with a few worried whistles and coos, fluttering through data and screaming in distress.
"What do you mean... other ships?" Viol raised a brow, worried.
The little astromech droid sent a set of coordinates to Viol's screen. Apparently, starships of an unknown origin were dropping out of hyperspace directly behind Courier's wreckage on the other side of the Covey asteroid field. Beep was in a whirl of excitement, almost traumatized.
"Hang on to your circuits there, Beep." Viol reassured the droid. "Let's check out the ships and see if they have the proper clearance. I don't think any other ships were supposed to arrive." Viol said, rerouting all power in her Gunblade to the sublight engines.
Beep replied with a few toots and a long whine, signaling his reluctance to go and investigate. "We a slight change of objectives, Rancors. Follow my lead." Viol transmitted the new objectives to each of their view screens. With a flick of a button, her Gunblade boosted towards the fleet of star ships overlooking the asteroid field.
The incoming fleet came closer and closer as Rancor squadron moved in through the Covey asteroid field. Gigantic spherical shaped balls of shining metal were grouped together in six clusters of five ships each. Each of these spheres must have been at least as long in diameter as an ancient Imperial Star Destroyer. Dotted on the surface of the ships were what seemed to be weapon emplacements or maybe sensor arrays, blistered in protective plating, but Viol was unsure if these ships were hostile.
"Hold your fire Rancors. We want to try our best not to piss these guys off. They could have weapons concealed in their hulls by the looks of it." She ordered.
She quickly established a communications link between the unknown fleet and her starfighter.
"Incoming ships please designate your name and destination."
Garbling and moaning filled the comm, with the occasional hiss or high pitched whine.
"Are you alright, unknown fleet? Come in at once."
The reply was nothing more but more screeches and moaning. But seconds later, Viol heard the formation of words unlike anything she had ever heard before.
"I apologize for the inconvenience, but I cannot understand a word you're saying. Do you have a protocol droid on board?"
Again, the same thing came through the comm; the mix of monotonous moaning and static, along with murmurs in a strange, unknown language. Annoyed, Viol put her comlink down, snapping it into its proper place on the control panel. She sighed to vent out her intensified irritation. Once more she reached for comlink, but didn't try to establish communication between her and the mysterious fleet again, instead, she tried to reach for one of her squad mates.
There was nothing but static.
"Beep, find out what's wrong. I can't reach anyone on my comlink."
The green painted astromech just whistled and twirled his domed head.
"What? We're being jammed? This means trouble," she reached for her laser trigger. Viol withdrew her hands after realizing what she had wanted to do; blast the entire fleet. It was both unacceptable and impossible to fire her fighter's laser cannons in hope of getting the attention of the unknown fleet. Firing her weapons could spark a bolt of hostility.
She immediately changed her mind after watching one of the nearing sphere ships light up at several different locations across its surface, and saw brightly lit objects streaking past her starfighter. Beep screamed after witnessing the fighter being grazed by what seemed to be a fast moving missile.
"Oh, Sith spawn! Beep, try and relay a message to Delta Command. Tell them we have unknown hostile forces just outside the Covey asteroid field," she desperately reached for her comlink while somehow simultaneously avoiding incoming fire, "Rancors, if you can hear me, fall back to Muscave and lead them there, away from New Coruscant."
Static once again filled the comlink.
"Damn it all!" Viol furiously slammed the comlink back down and grabbed the weapons' control module and clenched hard on the firing button, letting a burst of laser fire fly towards the gigantic sphere shaped ships. She had gotten close to them now, a mere klick away from what seemed to be the equilateral line that separated the upper and lower hemispheres of the capital ship. Her laser bursts dissipated against a shimmering yellow force field, sparking against the invisible wall and ultimately vanishing. Viol's face twisted with disgust as she pulled away in time to avoid incoming missiles. She was glad to know that the rest of her squad received her message, after seeing them attack the ships in the same manner as she had done so.
Their attacks were futile against the force fields that protected the mysterious fleet of ships. The enemy space crafts' yellow glow absorbed the energy as the Rancors continued to try to hammer the fleet with puny laser bursts.
"It's no use," Viol muttered under her breath. Beep screamed in terror once more, transmitting data to Viol's screens. More signals, but they were much smaller, about the size of their fighters, and they were much faster. Red, flashing blips appeared on her radar, approximately a hundred or so of them. Viol glanced at one of the fast moving objects as they past her fighter; a starfighter with uneven structure and outcroppings of metal sprouting from flattened wings. Another whizzed by, but it was much different in appearance, but kept the similar design of the others in mind. Lasers rocked her starfighter as the enemies released barrage upon barrage of intensified laser fire. Viol could already see carbon scouring on her snub fighter's nose cone. Her shields were down, and all she could rely on now is her hardened ability for flying and Beep, of course.
Seconds later, however, resulted in the destruction of Rancors six, seven and nine. All three exploded in brilliant flashes of light, like one of the illegal fireworks set on display on New Coruscant.
Moments after, Viol's canopy sparked and was engulfed in fiery flames. The burning sensation ran through her body, causing everywhere on her skin to bristle with sharp pain as the inferno burned through her flight suit. She heard her brother over the comlink transmitter. Viol wanted to answer, but her hands were gone. Her short life ended after a few fractions of a second more. She was lost in the black abyss of space.
