Echoes of the Past
Estellio
Rating: Pg-13 (T)
Summary: Luke watches as an all too familiar pattern unfolds. Fear, love, anger, hate, death. Can he learn from his mistakes and stop what is happening or is the past doomed to be repeated and the republic plunged back into war?
A/N: Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far. I would have uploaded sooner but has been acting the wally and not allowing me to sign in.
IOIOIO
Senator Risha Y'darb of Kereys was a woman of many strengths and talents. Stealth, Ariot mused, was not one of them. She watched her charge slip out from the compound with some mild interest before deciding to follow her. The midnight blue cloak the senator had donned was difficult to track in the dark of the night but it didn't take a genius to figure out where she was heading and Ariot liked to think that she was no fool.
Coruscant was a big place and the Senatorial palace was a long way away from the warehouse where Ryan usually holed himself up in, so it was no surprise that Risha boarded a transport. Ariot groaned aloud when she did and broke into a run, taking a shortcut across town. She couldn't board the transport with her but she could try and head her off…It was going to be a long run.
IOIOIO
Kamir stood at the entrance to Docking Bay twenty-six and sighed. He had seen the Senator enter in the building nearly a quarter of an hour ago but she had yet to come out and according to the files, Bay Twenty-Six was being privately rented by an antiques collector named Ryan. What could she possibly want in there? To top it all off, he hadn't seen Captain Ariot enter either and his lifesign detector indicated that there was only two people inside. He was hoping to take a crack at the infamous guard also but he had to be content with what he had and there would be no better time to strike. A minor antique collector wouldn't have security in any serious way.
He leapt from the roof onto the street below and put away the LSD. The two lackeys he had brought with him joined him quickly as he quietly he stalked to the back entrance and pulled out a tiny pronged device. The key pad on the door beeped contentedly into the night as he inserted the device and with a small squawk of protest, the keypad light turned green allowing the Iridonian and the two Trandoshan's he had brought with him entrance.
"All too easy." He whispered to himself, returning the device to his back pocket. Drawing his blasters he made his way into the hangar. He saw a large, sleek silver ship parked next to an even larger shuttle but the hangar bore nothing else of interest except a few dozen crates and a work bench with a lightsaber on it. Drawing out his life sign detector he found the hangar empty. "Damn, she must have left." Kamir turned and headed for the ladder next to the shuttle, he'd do a quick scout of the area and leave, just to make sure.
No sooner had he put his foot on the first wrung of the ladder than he heard the noise of metal scraping over metal. At first he thought it was the sound of the hangar door opening but the door was still and the sound was getting closer.
"Freeze, identify yourself." A grating, droid voice commanded and turning, Kamir found two cylindrical droids, the like he had never seen before.
"Kamir, I'm here to see Ryan."
"You do not have an appointment. Leave the premises immediately." Two guns flipped out and pointed at him.
"Alright, alright. I'll go." He said, backing away. The droids rolled beside him and his group as they made their way to the exit but as he approached the door he saw Risha and Ryan exiting the sleek silver ship together, laughing at a joke he was too far away to hear. It was now or never.
He span on heel and fired at Risha, to his surprise and blue lightsaber shot out and deflected the shot and Ryan turned to face the intruder, his lightsaber humming loudly.
He was no antique collector! He was a Jedi!
The sound of metal scraping over metal filled the hanger as about seven or eight more droids filled into the room, all deploying with their guns pointed at Kamir…the firing started and he had no choice but to run.
IOIOIO
When Ariot finally arrived at Hangar Twenty Six where the note Risha had not so successfully hid, had said to meet. It was nearly ten past eight but considering she had just ran three miles, she was damn proud she had gotten here in under fifteen minutes.
She paused a moment to catch her breath. Bent over with hands on her knees and head between her legs, all she could hear was the gulping of her own breath and the thundering of her blood through her ears, however, when she straightened she could see the flashes inside the building that meant only one thing, blaster fire.
Ariot drew her own blaster and ran to the back door, it was no surprise it was already open and running inside she saw about ten destroyer droids firing on two men. A dead Trandoshan lay at her feet and she recognised his attire as belonging to that of a bounty hunter.
If Ryan survives this I'm going to kill him for putting Risha in danger…speaking of which, where is she?
She heard the hum of a lightsaber and saw a blue flash in the air. Looking up she saw Ryan hopping off the wall and slicing the remaining Trandoshan in half while blocking the Zabrak's fire.
The Destroyer droid near her suddenly turned.
"Freeze, Identify yourself." She noticed its shield generator wasn't operational and one shot to the control panel fried it.
"Stupid droid." She turned to face five more droids facing her, obviously not pleased with the destruction of their comrade and their shield generators were working perfectly. "Oh poodoo."
She dived behind several crates as they opened fire and began to crawl along on her belly.
"RYAN! RYAN! CALL OFF YOUR DROIDS!" She shouted, catching sight of him running along a platform overhead. He looked down to see her under siege and with a wave of his hand the droids shut off. "Bloody show off." She grumbled, getting back to her feet and running to find Risha.
She located the Ambassador being guarded by four droids who paid Ariot no attention as she approached.
"Captain Ariot, what are you doing here?"
"Protecting you! It's my job." She snapped angrily, grabbing the Senators arm and running for the exit. Ryan and the Zabrak were no where in sight.
"LOOK OUT!" Ariot turned at the sound of Ryan shouting and a thermal detonator flew in a graceful arc to hand in front of them.
"GET DOWN!" She shouted, throwing herself against Risha as it exploded and screaming as shrapnel coated her entire left leg. Her blaster was knocked clear and Ariot stared in horror as a large metal pillar began to collapse in their direction. The blast had done more than just burn her leg…it was going to kill her.
"Ariot." Risha ran to her side, grabbing her arm.
"No Senator! Get out of the way." She shouted, trying to push her away but the pillar had broken free of its bonds now and was falling rapidly towards them.
To her surprise it stopped inches from her face and she saw Ryan standing on the gangway, his hands outstretched and fierce concentration on his face as he straightened it back up and leaned it again the pillar next to it, making sure it didn't fall when he let it go. The Zabrak took this opportunity to take a shot at Ryan and caught him in the side, felling the errant Jedi.
"RYAN!" Risha shouted, running to aid him but Ariot just grabbed her, pulling her towards the exit as she half shuffled, half ran towards the exit.
"He'll be fine, we must get you to safety." The pain that wracked Ariot's body caused spots to dance in front of her eyes and with each step she grunted, leaning heavier and heavier on the Senator.
"Going somewhere?" The Zabrak blocked their exit, blasters raised. "I was hoping I'd meet you two here. Two birds with one blaster, so to speak. Goodbye." Risha looked to Ryan who was writhing on the grating, trying desperately to get up, Ariot was disarmed and Risha was a pacifist who carried no weapons. They were doomed.
The next thing Risha knew she was being thrown aside and when she got up the Zabrak was clutching his stomach, the blasters dropped and Ariot standing in front of him, weaponless but unscathed. The Zabrak fell to the floor dead, a large blaster burn in his stomach. Risha looked up to Ryan but he was only half up. There was no way he could have done anything…it had to have been Ariot.
"Is everyone all right?" Ryan asked, leaping down off the grating. Ariot was staring at the dead body as if in a trance, a disgusted look on her face.
"Ariot." Risha breathed. "How did you…"
"It was a Destroyer Droid." She said quickly and stumbled forward. Ryan caught her and helped her onto a nearby bench, grimacing at the extra weight put on his side.
"I'll get the medical droid." Risha said but Ryan shook his head.
"It's alright, I can do it." He reached a hand out and placed it on the burn on her knee, once Ariot realised his intentions she freaked, screaming and lashing out.
"GET AWAY FROM ME! GET AWAY! AWAY!"
"I was only going to help." He snapped, angered at her response.
"I DON'T WANT YOUR HELP! GET THOSE DIRTY FORCE USING HANDS AWAY FROM ME!"
"FINE!" He shouted, getting up, turning on heel and marching to his shuttle.
"Ariot! What is wrong with you! He was only trying to help."
"If I wanted his help I'd have asked for it. Go get the medical droid." Her Captain grumbled irritably. Risha bristled at her tone but marched after Ryan, into the shuttle to retrieve the droid.
She found Ryan in the medical bay, the droid seeing to the wound at his side. He was leaning heavily on the bench, his shoulders slumped and head hanging down.
"She doesn't mean it, you know. She's just snappy because she's in pain." Risha said diplomatically, placing a hand on Ryan's bare shoulder. He shook his head.
"Crabby bantha. She's always been that way. She hates my guts." Risha laughed softly.
"Nah, she actually quite likes you but you always find a way to rile her up." He winced as the droid applied disinfectant but said nothing. Risha reached up and ran a hand along the nape of his neck, through his significantly longer hair.
"Last time I saw you, your hair was barely long enough to run a hand through, now it's nearly to your shoulders."
"I decided to grow it." He said looking up at her, his blue eyes searching her lighter grey ones. "Your hair has probably gotten longer too but I can't tell because you always have it in such crazy style. You must use enough engine oil to fill a tank to get it to stay like that." He said, touching the ornate curls she had it pinned up in reverently. "You should leave it down sometime, I'd love to see what it looks like." Risha smiled and turned to the Medical Droid.
"When you are finished here, come out to the main hanger." She said before ducking out and leaving Ryan to his work. Ryan watched her go with a small quirk to his lips before he turned to the droid.
"I'll be fine, get out there." The droid beeped and floated out after Risha.
Ariot had said it was a Destroyer Droid who killed him but the Destroyer Droids had all been knocked out by the blast. What the hell had happened and who is trying to kill Risha? Ryan wondered, examining his side where he had been shot, it was still a little tender but he'd live.
Reaching across he took a new shirt from a peg on the wall and slipped it on before following her out. As he was walking down the gangway his foot skidded on something and looking down he saw one of his lightsabers on the floor.
"That's odd. Wasn't that on the workbench?" He looked over to the workbench several meters away. There was no way it could have gotten from there to here unless someone had moved it. He cast a glance over to Ariot who was pointedly not looking at him.
There was something going on and he was determined to find out what it was.
Little did he know his every move had been seen and recorded and the little black bot flew away, it's job completed.
IOIOIO
Name: Ryan.
Age: 26
Home planet: Korriban
Occupation: Antique Collector.
Hair: Sandy brown
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5 11"
Marital Status: Single.
Basic history: Ryan was taken from his home planet at a young age to become a Jedi. Early on in his Padawancy he had a fight with his Master and was expelled from the order. He hates his old Master but for the last ten years he has been seeking out old Jedi antiques and selling on what he finds, keeping the most precious or useful for himself and refusing to give them to the Temple.
Personality: Ryan can have Jedi patience and understanding in some cases but in others he is quick to fly off the handle. A proficient warrior skilled in the use of the blade and several forms of martial combat, he enjoys battle but does not take unnecessary risk. He is a great tactician and studied all the old war scenarios. The old order and republic fascinate him but he is not much interested in diplomacy, instead preferring to fight but when he does turn his hand at it, he can be quite persuasive, Jedi mind tricks aside.