Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars. I also don't have a job or any money, so don't sue me. You won't get much.
Chapter 1: A Jedi Reborn
She was cold. That was the first thing Arielynn noticed as she slowly regained consciousness.She was cold and she was covered in some kind of thick liquid. Forcing open her thick eyelids she moaned groggily as the room slowing came into focus. Bringing up a hand to rub the tiredness out of her eyes she realized too late her mistake. Her right eye screamed in protest as the liquid that she was covered in was rubbed into it. Cursing unintelligently she tried to ignore the stinging and use the other eye to scan the room.
As the room faded into existence she realized that she was lying face down on the floor. Turning her head to one side she could see several large tanks along a wall. Inside of them were some floating man-sized blurs. Kolto tanks, she realized. That explained the smell. She was probably in some kind of medical facility somewhere. She pushed herself up to a sitting position so that she could get a better look at her surroundings.
She was definitely in a medical facility; but she had no idea where and that bothered her. The last thing she remembered was being aboard a Republic ship, the Harbinger, but this didn't look like the medical facility on the ship. Looking around she noticed that all the tanks were full; only a military complex used kolto that regularly, and that was usually after a large battle. One of the tanks looked like it a frag grenade had been set off inside of it and judging by the other tanks, it had been the tank she had been in.
Rising shakily to her feet she slowly walked over to the broken tank, careful not to step on the broken shards of the transparasteel that littered the ground. The tank had completely shattered. Kolto tanks were not easy to break, they were made from reinforced transparasteel and they had been known to withstand thermal detonators at close range. 'The Force could do that,' she thought, almost unconsciously. That surprised her. She hadn't felt the Force in almost a decade. Not since Malachor V.
Sighing to herself, Arielynn turned towards the only door in the in the room. Thinking about the past bothered the ex-Jedi and she had made a habit of suppressing those memories. Walking around the shards of broken transparasteel, Arielynn left the tank behind.
Out in the hallway, she saw that she was definitely not on the Harbinger anymore. The hallways were far too wide and tall to be to belong to a ship of the Harbinger's class and there was a frightening lack of guards or security turrets. Exiting the medical bay she took noticed of the three doors that branched off. If the facility followed general standards the two closest were the medical offices and the morgue. The last thing Arielynn felt like doing was look at dead people so she bypassed the morgue and entered the door leading to the offices. Hopefully someone would be there and could tell her where she was.
Unfortunately, upon entering the room the she found it as empty as the hallway behind her. Frowning at the lack of organization in the medical staff Arielynn walked up to a terminal nearby, maybe she could find some answers that way.
As it turned out, there wasn't much to be learned from the medical logs. She did discover that she was on a mining facility in the Peragus system and that there had been a recent series of freak injuries and accidents. That was good, there's nothing quite like being on a giant bomb waiting to go off to get the blood pumping. Apparently she had drifted here aboard a freighter called the Ebon Hawk, although she had no idea how she could have gotten aboard that ship.
According to the dates of the logs she had arrived at Peragus just over 3 standard days ago as the only survivor aboard the Hawk. There had also been two droids but she couldn't recall ever seeing any droids on the Harbinger. Of course she had mostly just stayed in her room on the ship so it was very possible she just hadn't noticed them.
Somehow, the miners had drawn the conclusion that she was a Jedi, something to do with her recovery rate. Arielynn frowned at that, she did manage to keep herself in good physical condition, a habit she picked up during her training, but the Force had long abandoned her. She was just lucky.
The last thing of notice was that the entire facility had entered emergency lockdown one day ago; that explained the lack of personnel. The medical sector seemed to be functioning fine; it had power at least so the threat seemed to have passed. Why then had the miners not returned to their jobs? Unless they had somehow been cut off from this wing. According to the terminal the door leading to the rest of the complex was locked down tight with no way to manually open it from the inside. She would need to find some sort of cutting tool.
"Wish I still had my lightsaber," the ex-Jedi muttered. Surprised at herself Arielynn shook her head. That was twice now. Something was dragging those long buried memories back to the surface and she didn't like it.
Arielynn looked around the room to see if there was anything she could use to cut through the door. Unfortunately there wasn't. Turning back to the computer terminal she tried to find a list of recent patients. Medical facilities usually kept personal belongings nearby, and if a mechanic had been inducted he may have had a plasma torch or a fusioncutter.
Looking through the list she was shocked to see that all the recent miners emitted for treatment had died. The life sign monitoring equipment for the kolto tanks showed flat lines for every one. Arielynn wondered just what was going on; no accident that left the station intact could be this serious.
Looking through the medical data she noticed that all of the patients had received the same dosage of sedatives, including her. Her eyes widened in shock, the amount administered was enough to kill a Wookie. It was a miracle her heart hadn't exploded under the strain. The dosage had been manually entered as well. Either someone had royally messed up their orders, or they had been deliberately trying to kill the patients.
She checked through the list and saw that all the bodies in the tanks belonged to miners and they wouldn't have anything to help her. But further down the list she read: 'Deacon Bluns: Droid Maintenance'. Apparently Deacon had been emitted two days prior with sever burns. Reading through the medical files she learned that he had died before they could treat him and had been placed in the morgue until a transport could take his body back to his homeworld of Corellia. With no other visible options Arielynn keyed in the command to open the morgue and braced herself for the worst.
Surprisingly, the morgue was relatively vacant. Aside from the body of Deacon Bluns the only other occupant was an old woman. She was laid out on a table near the door and was covered by a sheet so that only her face was visible. She had clearly been very old at time of death, judging from the deep creases that marked her face and the pure white hair that lay limply near her head. Arielynn briefly wondered what such an old woman would be doing in a dangerous mining facility but then remembered that the medical logs had mentioned something about another body aboard the Ebon Hawk.
Moving past the woman Arielynn approached the other body lying at the far end of the room. Deacon Bluns had been covered up so that only his feet were shown, indication that his injuries were probably very unsettling. Stifling down the morbid curiosity to look at his face, she had seen enough horrors in the war; Arielynn began to look through the container that had been placed beneath his table.
It seemed that the burns had destroyed his clothes as she found none in the box. What she did find however was exactly what she had been looking for. Reaching past personal trinkets and belongings the ex-Jedi withdrew a small plasma torch designed for cutting through wall panels and droid casings. It wasn't a highly concentrated beam of energy but it would certainly get the job done.
Smiling she stood up, "Thank you."
"Find what you are looking for amongst the dead?"
Arielynn jumped at the voice, involuntarily letting out a shriek. Wheeling around, she held up the plasma torch, hoping to use it as a weapon if required. She stopped dead when she saw who had spoken.
The woman who had been dead on the table had somehow come back to life and stood in front of her. She wore a simple white medical gown and her straggly hair hung down past her shoulders. Arielynn noticed with a start that the woman's eyes had a milky white consistency; she was blind. The old woman looked too frail to be standing but there was something in her stance that reminded Arielynn of something she had long forgotten. There was definitely more to this woman than met the eye.
"I thought you were dead," Arielynn managed to say. She relaxed a little bit but didn't lower her guard.
"Close to death, yes. Perhaps closer than I'd like," the old woman answered, her raspy voice speaking in such a way that suggested that she knew more than expected. The woman scrunched her nose, "You have the smell of the kolto about you. How do you feel?" she asked, suddenly sounding concerned.
"I'll be fine with time. Who are you?"
"I am Kreia," the woman answered. "And I am your rescuer, as you are mine."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Arielynn asked, growing confused at the woman's cryptic way of speaking.
"Do you remember what happened?" she responded.
Arielynn mentally noted the old woman's evasion but answered the question. "Last thing I remember, I was aboard a Republic ship, the Harbinger. How did I get here?"
"Your ship was attacked." Kreia responded. "You were the only survivor, a result of your Jedi training no doubt."
That set off alarms within Arielynn's mind. During her entire exile along the Outer Rim she hadn't told a single soul about her past. In fact she had taken great pains to deny and forget that part of her life. For eight years she had had lived out her new life hopping from planet to planet along the Rim. Then suddenly she receives a message from an admiral of the Republic telling her to return to Coruscant, boards a Republic Capital-class warship sent to find her, and then winds up inside a deserted mining colony talking to a corpse about her past. It seemed almost too strange to believe.
"I'm afraid you're mistaken. I'm no Jedi," she replied. It wasn't really a lie; she wasn't a Jedi – anymore.
"Your stance, how you hold yourself and perceive the world around you, the way you move tells me that you are a Jedi." Arielynn frowned. How could a blind woman recognize a stance? This woman, whoever she was, knew more than most about the Jedi. That kind of knowledge could be dangerous if held in the wrong hands.
"Your walk is heavy," Kreia continued. "You carry something that weighs you down."
She was awfully perceptive for a blind woman. The last thing Arielynn wanted to do was talk about her lovely history with the Jedi to an old hag in a morgue, so she tried to steer the conversation away from herself. "Let's deal with the now. What is this place?"
"I do not know." Kreia shrugged, as if indifferent to her current situation. "A survey of the surroundings may reveal the answers you seek. The ship we arrived in must still be in this place. We should recover it and leave."
The ex-Jedi arched an eyebrow. "In a hurry are we?"
"We were attacked once, and I fear the attackers will not give up the hunt so easily. Without transportation, weapons, and information, they will find us easy prey indeed," Kreia replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Arielynn was starting to get annoyed at the old woman's cryptic words but it was against her principals to abandon someone behind. She may not be a Jedi anymore but that didn't mean she was going to turn her back on those in need. Sighing slightly the she nodded, "Very well. There should be someone left alive somewhere on this station."
"You may wish to extend your search to some clothes." The old woman remarked, smirking slightly. "If only for proper first impressions."
It was only then did Arielynn realize just what a sorry state she was in. Looking down, she felt her face burn as she saw that she was dressed only in a tight one-piece undergarment that left very little to the imagination. Reaching up, she found that her hair had either fallen or been taken out of the braids she usually kept it in, strands of ash-blond hair clumped together and stuck to her head at random spots. She was still covered in slowly drying kolto and someone had taken her shoes. Altogether she imagined she looked like a mess.
Trying to hide her embarrassment she looked back to Kreia, "Are you well enough to travel?"
The old woman shook her head. "I am not foolish enough to offer my aid. I am not so young as to leap from death's door as quickly as you."
Arielynn snickered in spite of herself. "Very well. I'll return soon to make sure you're all right."
Kreia nodded, suddenly becoming very pensive. Arielynn got the unsettling feeling that the woman was judging her every word and that she didn't approve. "I will leave the exploration to you," the old woman stated. "I will remain here and attempt to center myself." She then turned and began to look through the box beneath the table she had laid on, no doubt hoping for some proper clothes. Arielynn sighed and left the old woman to her own devices.
Out in the hallway the blast door held up well but she was eventually able to cut through the magnetic locks keeping it firmly closed. The door slid open with relatively little difficulty after that. Pushing it open the ex-Jedi found herself in another hallway. The new hallway was just as empty as the previous one.
She had to cut her way through three more sets of blast doors before finally coming across a door marked 'Emergency Exit' printed in multiple languages; she recognized the Basic, Twi'lek, and Sullustian alphabets.
It was strange that the door was locked shut; during an emergency lockdown this door should have opened to provide the evacuees a faster route to safety. Arielynn made a mental note to look for an access terminal and come back.
The door is locked. Strange, in my visions it was open.
Fortunately for her pride, Arielynn managed to keep from jumping this time. Turning around to give the old hag hell for sneaking up on her again, she stopped when she saw that she was alone in the hallway.
"The hell? Kreia?" the ex-Jedi called out, but only silence answered. She could have sworn that she had heard Kreia's voice. Praying that she was still just disoriented from the kolto and not going crazy Arielynn continued past the emergency exit and pushed deeper into the complex.
It wasn't long until she found her way to a room filled with surveillance equipment and monitors. A large desk sat in the middle of the room and a line of equipment lockers was placed in the corner. Scanning the room her eyes fell on an unmoving droid sitting in the corner. Mining facilities like Peragus had dozens of such droids and this one seemed to be shut down so she moved past it towards the desk. Maybe she could access the command network and open the emergency door.
She stopped dead as her foot pressed down onto something squishy and decidedly non-metallic. Looking down she had to fight back the urge to vomit, her bare foot had stepped on someone's severed arm. Pulling back her foot like it had been burned the ex-Jedi looked around for the rest of the body.
She found the miner lying face up on the other side of the desk. Arielynn had seen a lot of horrible things during the Mandalorian Wars and she knew a corpse when she saw one. The poor man looked like he had been burned to death, but on kneeling down for a closer inspection she that the markings weren't right for a fire. The burn wounds were too small and concentrated for that. They weren't from blasters or grenades either, they weren't nearly bad enough. It almost looked like someone had killed him by slowly burning away his flesh using a low-powered plasma torch over a long time, it must have been so painful that eventually his heart just couldn't take it anymore and stopped working. His face was contorted into a mask of pain and fear, Arielynn could scarcely imagine how it felt to be slowly burned to death piece by piece.
There was a sound of metal scraping metal and Arielynn's brain flared danger. Throwing herself to the side, she barely avoided being crushed as a large metal arm slammed down where she had been kneeling seconds before. It seemed that the droid she had assumed broken was very much fully functional.
It was shaped something like a scorpion without the arcing tail; it walked on four jointed legs and had two large appendages that spread out in front of it like claws. Along its back were several small containment devices that it probably used to store the fuel it mined. The droid regarded her through red optical sensors, as if registering the new data it had been presented.
The droid brought one of its arms up and pointed it towards the former Jedi. A small spot on the 'claw' glowed red briefly then shot out a thin laser beam towards her. Arielynn didn't have time to dodge it, but fortunately the shot didn't even come close to hitting her, searing the wall three feet to her left. As aggressive as the droid was, it was equally as bad a shot.
It didn't take a genius to figure out how the miner had been killed, this droid would be more than capable of killing an unarmed, untrained miner at close range and Arielynn doubted it was the only one of its kind. Anger flared through her as she thought about the pain that this droid had caused and now it wanted to make her the next casualty. She be damned if she'd let that happen, clutching the plasma torch, the only weapon she had, she ran forward hoping that the droid hadn't been programmed with combat maneuvers.
The droid was unfazed and fired at her twice more but neither shot proved any more accurate than the first. As she activated the plasma torch and drove it deep into the mining droid's head the mechanical being tried vainly to back peddle away from her. But in the end it was only a mining droid and not suited for combat; there was nothing it could do. The droid sparked and sputtered a few times before falling to the ground dead, this time for good.
Arielynn made a note on the droid's poor combat skills, there were probably going to be more, and withdrew her makeshift weapon from the machine's smoking head. Double checking the room to ensure there were no more Arielynn activated the computer on the desk, hoping to learn just what the hell was going on.
The room turned out to be the main office for the security officer. Skipping through the records on policy, regulations, and personnel background checks, the security officer seemed to have had a big problem with a miner named Coorta; she managed to find the logs made within the last few days. Apparently the problems had begun shortly after her arrival. Some of the miners had wanted to sell the Jedi to the Exchange, an infamous intergalactic crime syndicate. It seemed like the Exchange had been paying big for Jedi, dead or alive. That explained the sedatives.
The security officer had suspected that someone who had disagreed with the decision not to hand her over had begun sabotaging the droids to clear a path off the facility.
Arielynn felt a sharp pang of guilt. Because of her at least seven people had already lost their lives so that some greedy miner could make a few credits. Seems even eight years after turning her back on it; the Jedi in her past was still able to cause the deaths of innocent people.
The only other thing of note in the security logs was a recording that spoke of how the holding cell had been rigged up so that it could only be opened if all the droids on the level were disabled. It was meant to prevent the droids from springing whoever had reprogrammed them out of his cell once they caught him. Upon checking the surveillance footage, Arielynn saw that someone had been placed inside one of the cells. It seemed that they had managed to catch the perpetrator before the entire facility went into lockdown.
Finding nothing else of worth in the records, Arielynn logged out of the terminal and walked over to the security lockers. If she was lucky they might contain some clothes or a weapon. Unfortunately she wasn't very lucky, at least in the major sense. She did manage to find a pair of boots at the bottom of one of the lockers, they were too big and had been made for a man but she quickly put them on regardless, she didn't want to step on any more unpleasant surprises. Finding nothing she could use as a weapon Arielynn resigned herself to beating back rogue droids with a plasma torch.
With nothing else to do, the ex-Jedi left the room. Maybe she could do something from the main command terminal. Entering into another hallway she made a habit of stopping at every door and listening for movement from the other side before cutting through the locks. She was not about to let herself be ambushed by droids again. She did encounter a few more of the rogue machines but fortunately they were usually alone and easily dispatched.
As she walked through the hallways she couldn't help but reflect on how good it felt to fight again, even if it was just against weak mining droids. While she had still been in the Jedi Order she had been trained a Guardian, those Jedi who sought to enhance their connection to the Force through combat and physical training. Arielynn had always enjoyed the thrill of the fight, the challenge to constantly push oneself to the limit, and then surpass it. Then the Mandalorian Wars happened and she had gotten more fight than she cared to think about.
Arielynn had always thought negatively on the Jedi Masters who had remained safely in their enclaves as the people they had sworn to serve and protect burned as the Mandalorian war machine plowed through the Outer Rim. All those years ago she had truly believed that she had made the correct choice in following Revan and Malak in their crusade against the threat, she still did. At the time she had viewed the Council as cowards but now as she looked back, slightly wiser she understood why they had pleaded for patience, time to evaluate the threat. And in a perfect Galaxy she would have gladly agreed with them, but not while entire worlds burned and the Mandalorians slaughtered her people by the billions. Arielynn had made her choice, and she would defend it to the grave.
Her thoughts were interrupted as she came to another door, this one labeled 'Communications Center'. Absently she pushed the panel to open the door, and cursed herself for her carelessness as almost a dozen droids in the room beyond turned to register the newcomer.
They apparently came to the conclusion that she was a threat they all raised their mining lasers as a cohesive unit and opened fire. Arielynn quickly threw herself to the side, behind the door frame. Even with their horrible aim she couldn't rely on luck when faced with that many. Streams of red lasers flashed past her. Raking her brain for options she heard the sounds of the droids scrambling towards the door to try and pursue their target.
As the first droid began to pass through the doorway, Arielynn slammed her hand onto the access panel. The droid let out a high pitched whine as the heavy doors slammed shut, cutting the mining droid in two. The other droids began banging on the other side of the door in an effort to breach it and get at their prey.
Staring down at the dismembered droid the ex-Jedi was struck by inspiration. As a girl she had always enjoyed tinkering with the many droids at the academy of Dantooine, a fact that caused some of the senior mechanics a great deal of irritation. Her Jedi training had superseded the development of those skills at the time, but during the long years of her exile she had needed a means of earning money. She wouldn't rate her skills as highly as some but she was competent.
Kneeling down and quickly making some impromptu adjustments to the droid's circuitry Arielynn began to sweat as the sounds of the droids on the other side of the door grew silent and the distinct sound of a high-powered welding tool was heard. It wouldn't be long until they were through. Hastening her work, the ex-Jedi laughed triumphantly when she finished. Quickly rising to her feet she slammed the access panel to open the door and bolted back down the hallway away from the droids.
Their path cleared, the mining droids wasted no time in pursuing their quarry down the hallway. But the first droid had barely cleared the doorframe when the severed upper body of the fallen droid overloaded and sprayed electrical energy throughout the ranks of its comrades now swarming into the hallway. Three droids immediately overloaded and shut down as their emergency self-preservation systems kicked in. Another spasmed and triggered its mining lasers, burning through the legs of another. The odds had just been evened her favored by almost a half.
Surveying her handiwork, the former Jedi Knight gripped her plasma torch tightly and letting old combat training take over, threw herself back towards the metal mob. Reaching the mechanical beasts in seconds she quickly thrust forward, piercing the closest droid's optical sensors. The droid went berserk and began firing its lasers wildly, doing more damage to its own kind than anything. Finishing the droid with another thrust into the central motivator, Arielynn twisted to the side to avoid a blow from another droid. Jabbing downwards, she pierced through the top of said droid's outer casing. The droid tried valiantly to free itself but she held fast. As she activated the plasma torch the droid let out a screech as all of its internal circuitry burned apart and fell silent.
Moving with a speed and fluidity that surprised her Arielynn wrenched her weapon from the droid's smoking chassis and turned to impale another droid that had tried to attack her from behind. Suddenly her senses screamed at her and she could 'see' a droid charging its laser behind her. Tossing herself to the ground, Arielynn felt the heat as the laser passed above her singeing a few strands of blond hair. Gritting her teeth the former Jedi sprung to her feet and in one fluid motion activated the plasma torch, spun around, and threw it at the last droid. The torch struck home, impaling the droid's faceplate and blowing its head apart. The entire battle had taken less than ten seconds.
Breathing heavily, Arielynn leaned up against the wall, sliding down to sit on the floor. It had been a long time since she had exerted herself that much. As her breathing slowly returned to normal and the adrenaline left her body Arielynn found herself thinking back over the fight.
It had seemed like instinct at the time but the more she thought about it the more she was reminded of her days sparing with Master Kavar. Of the few times her Master had allowed her to go on missions with him. Those missions often ended in conflict and she had been forced to defend herself. She was reminded of the war, when she had fought alongside Malak against Mandalorian shock troops on the forest moon of Dxun.
But the Force had abandoned her seven years ago. It couldn't just come back now. Could it?
Can't it? came the sound of Kreia's voice. You hear it do you not? It is faint, distant, but it is there. Arielynn looked around but wasn't really surprised when she didn't see the old woman.
It seemed Kreia was a Jedi. Of course she was a Jedi, Arielynn should have realized earlier. Even so Arielynn was surprised at the clarity of the telepathy.
While it was commonly thought that Jedi were capable of reading minds and detecting thoughts this wasn't actually true, at least not in the literal sense. While it was true that many Jedi were able to sense emotions and intentions they were not actually capable of detecting specific words and thoughts. It was the same with sending messages through the Force, emotions, feelings and even images could be relatively easily passed between Jedi who were close to each other, but not even the most talented Consulars were capable of actually sending more than a few simple words, certainly not coherent sentences like Kreia. Whoever the old woman really was, she was frighteningly powerful.
You are surprised. Did you not sense the Force in me when we met?
No she had not. She had long ago lost the ability to sense those things, hadn't she?
Interesting. Perhaps you were only able to feel the Force again in the same way you had felt it strongest before. It hardly matters. You feel it now.
Arielynn didn't believe that she could suddenly begin to feel the Force again after so long. But she couldn't shake the feelings she felt. It did seem like the Force again, albeit on a much smaller scale.
I will guide you along the familiar paths, you will need it if we are to survive and escape this place. And with that Arielynn found herself alone in silence again.
The very idea of it seemed surreal; she couldn't just reconnect to the Force after eight years. The Force wasn't just something that manifested itself on a whim. But then, she never had really understood why she had lost her connection in the first place.
Whatever the case, Arielynn had to find a way off the facility. She could debate her spirituality after she was safely out of this fuel-rich minefield.
Pulling herself to her feet she began making her way past the broken droids, grateful for the boots as bits of shrapnel crunched underneath her feet. Fortunately there were no more droids to be seen in the room as she entered the communications chamber. Not about to take any chances however, she kept her senses alert as she walked towards the central communications computer blister.
It wasn't long until she realized that there was very little she could actually do. The console needed the proper codes to be accessed and only the communications officer and the facility administrator would have those. There was also no visible access panel where she could attempt to bypass the security. Not that it would have done much good; she was horrendous at that sort of thing.
With the entire facility in lockdown and no way to reach the miners if they were even still alive Arielynn was hard pressed for options. Then she remembered something from the security cameras. There had been a man in captivity. The holding cells had been blocked off so he should still be there.
Looking at the terminal she was happy to see that the command to override the droids and open the holding cell doors did not require authorization. Activating the command she heard the telltale sound of a force field deactivating in the distance.
Remembering that the man had probably been locked up for a reason, the most obvious being that he was responsible for the rampaging droids, she prepared herself for the worst and walked towards the holding cells.
As she approached the cell door the now familiar sound of Kreia's voice echoed in her head, Beyond this door someone yet lives. There was a slight pause before she continued, Be mindful. His thoughts are difficult to read. But you have nothing to fear from this one and he may yet prove useful.
Arielynn nodded and pushed the panel to open the door.
The room was typical of a holding cell you'd expect on a non-military facility. There wasn't much more than a couple holding fields and a security box or two for belongings. The only thing of any interest in the room was the man who occupied one of the cells. He was sitting on the floor of his cage, back against the metal pillar that connected the ceiling and floor of the device, with his knees bent up to his chin due to lack of space.
He was somewhat shifty looking, like your typical good-for-nothing card shark; Force knows the galaxy was full of them. Arielynn supposed he could be considered decent looking; his face was narrow with a slightly pointed nose. He had messy dark hair and looked like he hadn't showered or shaved in days. His clothing was casual, a simple white shirt and black pants.
He had had his neck craned back, probably counting ceiling tiles, but lowered his chin when he heard the door open. As she walked in he cracked what he probably believed to be a lady killing smile.
"Nice outfit." He grinned stupidly as his eyes traced over her body, stopping for longer than necessary at a few select spots. "You miners change regulation uniforms while I've been in here?"
Arielynn rolled her eyes. "Keep those eyes above my neck. Who are you?" she demanded.
The man complied, somewhat sulkily and answered. "Atton. Atton Rand. Excuse me if I don't shake hands. The field only causes mild electrical burns." He tapped the field with his boot to emphasize the point. "Who are you? You weren't around when I got locked in here; I'd remember a woman like you." There was that grin again.
"Arielynn," she answered. Whoever this man was he was obviously a creep. "Care to explain why you're locked up?" she inquired. Her eyes narrowed dangerously, "it wouldn't happen to have anything to do with the malfunctioning droids would it?" she questioned, gauging Atton's face for any hint of a reaction.
"What droids?" His face showed genuine confusion, either he really didn't know anything or he was an excellent actor.
"Never mind. Why are you in here?"
"Security claims I violated some sort of regulation or another." He answered flippantly. "Take it up with them if you want, but they stopped listening to me shortly before they stopped feeding me. Speaking of which, you wouldn't happen to have any food would you?" His stomach growled loudly for emphasis.
Arielynn was about to ask where she would put it, but she thought better of it. Instead she just shook her head and continued questioning him. "This facility's completely deserted. What happened?"
"Do you mean before or after the Jedi showed up?" Atton pulled himself up from the ground, taking care not touch the field. He was actually quite tall, about half a foot taller than she was. He rubbed his neck to get the kinks out and continued his story.
"I got tossed in here about a week ago, everything was running smoothly then. Well as smoothly as it gets around here anyways. Then a few days ago, this Jedi shows up unconscious. I heard it from the guard who brought me my food." He elaborated when he saw Arielynn's skeptical look.
"Anyways, you know how the Jedi are. Where one goes trouble usually follows." Arielynn shifted nervously at that remark but it didn't seem like Atton noticed.
"A bunch of the miners got together and were talking about selling the Jedi to the exchange. You could buy a small planet with the bounty they're offering, hell you could probably buy a decent-sized planet." Arielynn was shocked at that, the Jedi had certainly fallen far in eight years.
"Well, what passes for the law around here didn't like that idea very much. Then there were some big explosions, I was sitting here for a long time, then you showed up in your underwear and things got a lot better." He flashed the grin again and Arielynn felt a very strong urge to leave him in the cage to rot. Pushing that happy thought aside she asked another question.
"Why did the Exchange place a bounty on Jedi?"
Atton shrugged his shoulders. "Beats me. Maybe they want one as a trophy. There's not very many left though, that's why the bounty's so high."
That shocked the former Jedi. "Not many left? What happened to them?" there had been thousands of Jedi when she had left, they couldn't all be gone.
Atton looked at her like she'd just asked him why water was wet. Arielynn suddenly wished that she had paid more attention the Republic events during her exile. "Most of them were killed during the Jedi Civil War and those that weren't have gone into hiding," he answered. "I even heard the Council was even disbanded but I haven't been that far coreward in a long time."
The Jedi Civil War? During her travels Arielynn had heard the rumors of another war raging in the Republic but she hadn't known that it had involved the Jedi so deeply. "I had heard about a war, but a war between Jedi?"
"Yeah, Revan, Malak, and all the Jedi that went to join them in the Mandalorian Wars. They all turned against the other Jedi and had a scrap that almost laid waste to the Galaxy. Where have you been?" Atton asked, staring at her like she had grown a third arm.
"I've been away since the Mandalorian Wars." She replied absently. Revan and Malak had turned against the Republic? She didn't believe it; her friends had fought to save the Republic.
"Well I wasn't there," Atton commented. "But like all Sith, Revan and Malak turned on each other. After they turned on the Jedi, of course. Malak killed her and continued to attack the Republic. They finally managed to stop him five standard years ago."
"So Revan and Malak are dead?" Arielynn asked, afraid to know the answer.
"Well," Atton began; he was clearly uncomfortable with the current topic. "I remember hearing a rumor that Revan had survived Malak's betrayal. Apparently she was saved by the Jedi and turned back to the 'light' side," Atton remarked, making air quotes with his fingers. "I even heard that she had been the one to lead the assault on Malak's stronghold and personally finish him, but those could just be rumors. Malak's as dead as they come though, yeah. Why? You knew them?"
She nodded sadly, "I served in the Mandalorian Wars with them but left after the war ended. I didn't know they became Sith. They were that bad, eh?"
"Yeah, Revan especially. Dark Jedi are bad enough, but when a woman falls to the dark side you better space yourself before she catches you." He laughed, but then he saw her glaring at him, "Uh, no offense or anything."
She pushed away her feelings, she could cry for her fallen friends after she was safe. "None taken. I've got some more questions for you."
Atton sighed impatiently, "Look, not like your half-naked interrogation isn't a personal fantasy of mine, but could you at least-" he stopped and seemed to finally realize something. "Hey, you're that Jedi the miners were all talking about. Where is everyone?"
Arielynn sighed. "I was hoping you could tell me that."
"From my beautiful view from this security cage? All I heard were some distant explosions, the lockdown alarm, and the sounds of a bunch of droids running around outside that door."
"Maybe they're all ready dead," he continued. "Either way let me out of this cage and I can help you. I've gotten myself out of trouble countless times." Arielynn could only imagine the kind of 'trouble' Atton could get himself into. But he did seem sincere, although she wasn't about to trust him that easily.
"Seems to me that you were locked up for a reason." She challenged, crossing her arms.
"That was just a little misunderstanding, trumped-up charges. I could clear it if I could just speak to someone in charge, but it doesn't seem like that's going to happen anytime soon. Unless you let me out." He smiled again, although this one wasn't quite as lecherous.
Arielynn sighed; even if she didn't trust him she didn't really have any other options. "How can you help?"
Atton frowned. "Stubborn little Jedi aren't you? Just in case you don't understand the trouble we're in, let me lay it out for you."
"This facility is a series of mining tunnels dropping kilometers into the asteroid's core. Every worker and droid here has been cleared, then triple-cleared for hazardous operations."
"This facility has an operational threat level so high they don't even let un-cleared starships in system out of fear that an accidental engine discharge will create a very brief, very hot new sun in this sector."
"You know why? Because every asteroid in this orbiting minefield has deposits of Peragian fuel within it. And that means that when one decides to pop, all its brothers and sisters are going to come along for the ride"
Arielynn held up a hand to stop his ranting, "Yes, I'm very much aware of the explosive tendencies of Peragian fuel, thank you. What you failed to mention was how you're supposed to help me avoid that. Something tells me the asteroids won't play nice just because you asked them to.
Atton grumbled angrily, "Look, this isn't a military installation which means we may still have a chance in getting off this rock. Let me out of this cell and I'll reroute the emergency systems so that we can get to the hangers. We grab a ship and then fly the hell out of here."
There was something about Atton that Arielynn didn't quite trust but it seemed like she had no choice. She hated to admit it but his was the best plan they had.
"Alright," she conceded. "I'll trust you. Stand back." He did so and she pressed the buttons on the panel to lower the security field.
Atton stretched his arms wide as he walked outside of the cell. "Ah! It feels good to have some space to breath again," he exclaimed, smiling. Walking past her he began to go through the lockers placed to the side of the room. "Now where'd they put that jacket?"
Arielynn just watched in confused amazement as he pulled out a dark brown jacket from one of the lockers. "Aha!" he exclaimed as he put it on. The jacket, although Arielynn thought it looked more like a vest really, had obviously undergone some kind of extensive armor upgrades. Although she couldn't figure out what purpose, if any, those bizarre ribbed shoulder pads served.
He turned to her and gave her another lopsided grin, "Now to business, we need to get to the command console. Ladies first." He said bowing slightly, holding out an arm as if she needed guidance to the door.
Arielynn would have laughed if she hadn't expected that he just wanted to 'enjoy the view'. "I don't think so. You go first, and don't make any sudden moves."
Atton laughed and threw his arms into the air, "Fine, fine. Just trying to be a gentleman." He turned and left the room and Arielynn followed closely behind.
As they made their way to the command console they passed the large pile of broken droids. Atton let out a low whistle, "Did you do that?"
Arielynn nodded, "The droids are actually very bad at combat. It wasn't as hard as it might seem."
Atton snorted in response. "Not for a Jedi," he muttered just loud enough to be heard.
Arielynn was tired of hearing that. "Listen, your miner friends were wrong. I'm not a Jedi. I don't carry around a lightsaber, I can't use the Force and I don't preach some hypocritical nerfshit about sacrifice while watching billions of innocent people die!" she yelled, louder than she had intended. Forcing herself to calm down, she kept her eyes straight ahead, "I'm just an old soldier who's tired of war." If the man had a snappy comeback for that he wisely kept it to himself.
When they reached the command console Atton sat down in front of it. "All right, here we are. Now this console is set on automatic hail, you may have heard it when you came in," he said to Arielynn.
"I was unconscious when I arrived." She replied, coming up to stand beside the chair.
"Well, the asteroid drift charts are constantly being updated, so it sends out transmissions to incoming vessels so they don't get crushed into space dust," he explained. "The hail warns them to stay their distance until orbital drift charts can be transmitted, and then provides docking instructions to incoming ships, usually freighters."
"The thing is, you can usually bounce that same transmission back to the comm here," he claimed as he began entering something into the terminal. "And suddenly you have access to the communications system from the inside."
Arielynn was impressed. For all his scoundrel-like qualities it seemed Atton actually knew what he was doing. Of course it could also be said that manipulating a system to avoid security was a decidedly scoundrel-like quality.
"Pure pazaak, the console's ours," he laughed. "Now, all we need to do is re-activate the turbo-lifts, cancel the emergency lockdown, and- Hey," he exclaimed.
Arielynn didn't like the sound of that. "It sounds like you're about to tell me something I don't want to hear," she said leaning in to look at the console screen.
Atton turned to look up at her, "The system's been severed from the main hub, after it was locked down from remote. You can't even reroute the system, it's been cut clean."
"That's not standard procedure during an emergency lockdown," she stated.
"No it's not." Atton rubbed his chin, as if surprised to find it covered in course stubble, "Someone's tried to lock down this whole level tight and leave us, or you probably, trapped."
"Is there anything we can do from this console?" she asked, somewhat surprised that anyone wanted to get a hold of her that badly.
Atton shook his head, "I doubt it. All we have is communications back, for all the good trying to shout in a vacuum will do us."
Arielynn tried to think of their options, "Can we reach the miners?"
"We could try; they're probably holed up in the dormitories. But if the miners were trying to trap you up here and probably kill you, why not call them up and chat? I doubt a friendly call is going to wake them up." Atton remarked sarcastically.
She shrugged, "We don't really have much choice, do we? Maybe they'll come to their senses when they realize their lives are at risk too."
Atton slid out of the chair to let her sit down, "Be my guest. Not much else to do anyways. The comm's all yours. I'm going to see if I can find some food." He left her alone with the console.
Watching through the administration logs Arielynn didn't learn a whole lot. There was the same talk of the Jedi and how the accidents had just recently begun to occur. She did learn that it had apparently been a protocol droid that had identified her as a Jedi and its master. Arielynn was confused at that, she didn't remember ever owning a droid.
Switching the terminal to the communication systems she tried reaching the dormitories but there were no answers. After several repeated tries she began hailing different locations. But all of them were just as unresponsive as the last. Finally she reached Hanger Bay 25. She didn't expect it to be any more responsive than the previous 24 but she spoke into the comm regardless.
"This is the command deck. Is anyone there? I repeat. This is the command deck. Is anyone there?"
Arielynn almost fell out of her seat when a series of low-pitched whistles and beeps answered her. A utility droid. Praying to the Force that it wasn't as defective as the rest of the droids she leaned in and spoke through the comm again.
"Can you read me?"
An affirmative chirp responded. Arielynn breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed the droid was normal.
"Are you operational?"
Another affirmative series of chirps replied. They might just get out of this yet.
"We're trapped on the administration level. Can you unlock the turbolifts?"
The comm was silent for a moment then before the droid came back on, beeping in an apologetic tone.
Still Arielynn wasn't deterred. "There must be emergency hatches, see if you can find one."
The droid beeped frantically.
"I'd rather risk it than be trapped up here," she tried to calm the energetic droid down. "Just see what you can do, please."
The droid let out a nervous hum but seemed to comply. As the beeping sounds of the droid faded away from the comm Arielynn leaned back into the chair and let out a sigh of relief. It wasn't much, but at least there was now a chance that they'd survive this.
"Any luck?" Atton asked as he wandered back towards the command console. He must have found a food generator because he was chewing on some kind of bar-like substance. He offered her one as he came up beside her, which she took gratefully.
"I found a utility droid that appears to be functional. I sent it to open the door for us," she replied as she bit into the bar. It turned out to be some kind of meat product. It was too salty for her tastes but she was hungry enough that she didn't care.
He leaned up against the computer terminal, ripping open another bar. "So our lives are now in the hands of a rolling trash compactor. Wonderful."
"You have a better idea?" she asked.
"A couple," he replied giving her that stupid grin of his.
"You're disgusting."
He laughed, than took another bite from his foodbar, "Your loss."
Arielynn doubted that. They sat it silence for a few minutes; she finished her bar and tossed the wrapper aside. She was still hungry but it would have to do for now.
"So," Atton began. Arielynn swiveled the chair to face him. "Uh, how long have you been a Jedi? Must be tough." He rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to engage conversation, "You know no family, no husband…"
Arielynn rolled her eyes, he was so immature. "No tougher than enduring your false sympathy while you're staring at my chest," she replied glaringly.
Atton immediately raised his eyelevel and threw up his hands as if to ward off an attack. "Hey, I wasn't trying-" his sentence was cut off by a sound from the terminal. The sound of a blast door opening could be heard in the distance.
"Hey, what do you know? That that little cargo cylinder came through after all." He remarked, looking at the console screen.
Arielynn nodded, "It's strange that he didn't contact us on the comm though." She tried to reach the droid from the terminal but couldn't find the little utility droid anywhere.
"Who cares? If he got the turbolifts working, than we should have a clear run to the hanger," Atton exclaimed happily.
"I'm afraid not," the ex-Jedi replied, getting up out of the chair. "The turbolifts are locked down manually, so I had him open the emergency hatch."
Atton stared at her in shock. "Wait, are you telling me you're going down into the mining tunnels?"
Arielynn nodded, "Something wrong with that?"
"That explosion I heard come from below. There's probably nothing down there but superheated rock and collapsed blast tunnels," he exclaimed vehemently. "You'd have to be an idiot to go down there."
The ex-Jedi shrugged her shoulders. "Probably, but it's the only way out and I'd rather risk my life than yours."
Atton stared at her with a strange mix of awe and disgust. "You're either really brave or really, really crazy. Or both." But he didn't try to stop her.
"Suit yourself. I'll try to monitor things from up here." He said as he sat down at the console and began entering commands. "Be careful, the only thing moving down there is likely to be mining droids and you know how friendly those are. So don't try playing the suicidal hero too hard."
He seemed to realize what he said and spun the chair around to face her. "Uh, not that I care what happens to you or anything." He stammered, trying to regain some sense of masculine pride. "I just don't want to have to try and get off this rock myself."
Arielynn shook her head in disgust; men were such idiots. "Your concern is noted, Atton. I'll be going now."
"Wait." Reaching into a storage compartment, he pulled out a small object and tossed it to her. "Here. I'll keep the comlink open. I may be able to guide you through the tunnels from up here. Don't know if the signal will hold if you get to deep though."
Nodding her thanks, Arielynn turned and walked back towards where the emergency hatch was. As she walked away she heard Atton mumble something under his breath. She didn't even want to know what the card shark was thinking.
It wasn't long until she was stepping out of the emergency shaft into the mining tunnels. Judging by the ride down she estimated that she was somewhere between one to two kilometers below the asteroids surface. It was certainly much hotter in the tunnels than the facility, probably due to the steam that shot out from the walls and floor every so often. The air was thicker too, there would be enough to breathe but Arielynn didn't want to stay down here longer than necessary.
A burst of static came through the comlink. She could just barely make out Atton's voice. "Can you read me?"
"Barely," she responded, bringing the device up to her mouth. "There's a lot of static."
"There's a lot of interference down there, probably caused by the explosion." Atton explained. "Still, it looks like there's a route down to the Peragus fuel depot. If the passages haven't collapsed that is. That explosion knocked out most of the sensors."
The comlink was silent for a moment before Atton spoke again. "There should be an emergency crate in the next room. Watch yourself, there's a lot droid broadcasts in that area, but I can't pin them down."
Hopefully those droids weren't any more dangerous than the ones she'd already encountered. "I'll be careful, then," she replied. "If you detect anything, signal me."
"Will do. Atton out." The comlink went silent.
Moving on into the next room, Arielynn easily found the emergency supplies Atton had spoken of. Opening up the container, she was relieved to find a mining uniform inside. Hastily putting on the one piece suit the comlink flared on again just as she did up the zipper.
"Find those supplies?" came Atton's voice through the device.
"Yup. And I managed to find some clothes," she replied happily.
She laughed as he cursed loudly. "Uh, I mean… good. Good to hear it. No sense in you running around half-naked. It's distracting. Uh, I mean, for the droids," he stammered lamely.
"Of course it is, Atton. Anything else?"
"Uh, just one more thing." He replied, regaining his composure. "I've narrowed down some of those ID signals, and if those numbers are right, you're sharing those tunnels with a battalion of mining droids."
"Perfect," she sighed.
"On the plus side," he continued. "Thos droids rely primarily on thermal sensors, to detect fuel deposits. The thing is, that explosion may have kicked up so much heat and steam it could have blinded them a bit. Not much though."
"And if they do spot me?" she asked. Her plasma torch had melted to slag during the previous encounter and she didn't relish the thought of trying to fight off an army of droids with her bare fists.
"Well, those droids are construction models; they shoot like a moisture farmer militia. You may be able to find a portable mining laser you could use as a blaster," he offered.
Looking back into the container she was happy to see that he was right. She pulled out a small hand held mining laser and looked it over, it was certainly not as powerful as a blaster but it'd get the job done.
"Anything else I should know?" she asked into the comlink.
"There should be some central controller down there. See if you can find a terminal by the main access shaft: that'd be governing intelligence."
"Alright, I'll do that. Keep me updated," she responded, pocketing the comlink. Checking to ensure that the laser's power cell would last long enough to get out of the tunnels, Arielynn pushed deeper into the asteroid.
Unlike the largely undisturbed corridors far above her these tunnels showed extensive evidence of the accident. Large portions of the walls had collapsed and several corridors had been completely caved in. Praying that she wasn't walking into a dead end Arielynn passed through the tunnels quietly, staying alert for any droids.
She passed through multiple tunnels before coming to a large open area. There was a small generator to one side powering a mechanical lift, used for transporting the mined fuel back to the surface. Several mining tools Arielynn couldn't recognize had been strewn to one side of the room, abandoned by the miner who had once used them. Aside from that this chamber was empty as well. Where were all the droids?
Her thoughts were interrupted as the comlink came to life again. "Hey, watch out," came the sound of Atton's voice. She noticed that the signal was even messier than before, she must be moving further away from the communications sector. "That chamber is giving of weird electromagnetic signals. The frequencies match those of the sonic mines the mining droids use."
"Sonic mines?" Arielynn asked, scanning the floor of the chamber. Sure enough she noticed the small metal devices littered about the room.
"Yeah, the droids use them to clear out the rock."
"But why are they here?" she asked.
"It's possible that when the droids went rogue they started placing charges to kill the miners," he responded. Well that explained why the mines were so poorly hidden, mining droids wouldn't know anything about planting effective minefields.
"I doubt you can disable them remotely," Arielynn stated.
"I'm afraid not." Of course not, that would be far too easy. "You'll have to avoid them or disable them manually," Atton remarked.
"Copy that," she sighed.
Arielynn carefully made her way towards the minefield. Fortunately for her, the droids had placed them randomly so she wouldn't have to disable them all.
After Dxun, Arielynn had vowed to learn more about demolitions. She was never going to be responsible for that many deaths again because of her own ignorance. Using a trick she had learned in the war Arielynn was able to use her comlink to send out a short signal burst that countered the signal sent out by the mine, so she could safely disable it. She pocketed the mine; one never knew when it might come in useful. Working her way through the minefield, it wasn't long until she reached the other side.
Pushing deeper into the tunnels she eventually came upon a large area, the fuel containment room. In the center of the room was large hole where liquefied Peragian fuel was placed until it could be transported to the surface. Along the walls were 4 large containment fields. Arielynn didn't know enough about the facility to know what those were for. Suspended above the pool was a bridge with a computer located halfway. Seeing no droids in this room either Arielynn made her way to the computer.
In the computers archives she found a holorecording of three miners discussing their plans to sell her, seemed this Coorta was about as friendly as a Hutt. Looking through the computer's map for a way out of the containment room she saw that the explosion had blocked of the tunnel. The only other way was through the containment fields. Seeing no other choice, Arielynn entered the command to lower the fields.
It wasn't long until her comlink crackled on again, "What's going on down there?" Atton's voice demanded. "Something's happened to the containment fields."
"I had to shut them down," she replied. "They were cutting off the only way out of here."
"Oh, hell… Listen you need to get out of there now! It's about to get real hot down there, real fast," Atton yelled at her.
Arielynn had the feeling that she had just done something stupid, "I could just turn the fields back on."
"It's too late for that. I think I can hold it back long enough for you to get to the turbolifts, but you'd better move fast."
Arielynn wasn't paying attention though, as the sounds of over a hundred approaching mining droids echoed throughout the tunnels around her. It seems they had noticed the absence of the field too.
"Uh, Atton, I think I'm gonna need a few minutes." She pocketed the comlink and began to run as fast as she could towards the exit.
Unfortunately for her, the droids were coming from that direction too. The entire hallway was clogged as dozens of droids tried to pull themselves over each other to get at her. As she ran she fired her laser into the mob, it was almost impossible to miss with so many targets and three droids stumbled to the ground as their sensors were burned away by the laser blasts, but the other droids hardly slowed down as they just crawled over the corpses of their fallen brethren.
Droids began pouring out of the other tunnels all around the fuel containments like some perverse wave of mechanical death. With so many droids pursuing her Arielynn was extremely grateful for the rapidly increasing temperature in the tunnels; she only received a few mild burns as laser shot past her, the droids aim hampered greatly by the hot air.
As she rapidly approached the tsunami of droids she hoped that Kreia hadn't been lying to her; she'd need the Force for what she was about to do. She fired a few shots backwards at the droids chasing her and ran even faster at the droids closing in ahead of her. As every rational part of her brain screamed at her to stop she placed her faith in her instincts and jumped.
Clearing the first rows of droids Arielynn landed heavily on the back of a mining droid 20 feet from the front of the line. Wasting no time, Arielynn leapt from the back of that droid and proceeded to hop from droid to droid.
As droids all around her tried to react to her erratic movements she stopped only to slam the sonic mine her carried onto the top of a droid. She quickly activated the mine and leapt away. As she touched down on the other side of the droid mob the tunnel behind her shook as the sonic mine detonated, turning the closest droids to dust.
Breathing heavily, Arielynn continued her mad dash through the tunnels. Behind her the droids quickly realized their quarry had escaped them and rapidly moved to pursue. Chunks of the walls fell away as dozens of lasers barely missed her. Crying out as one struck her leg, the ex-Jedi almost fell over. But she pushed herself to move on and as she rounded another corner in the seemingly endless maze of tunnels she saw it. The exit. Forcing another burst of speed out of her tired legs she sprinted madly for the turbolift as the tunnels around her began to shake.
Somewhere behind her a fuel pump detonated as she punched the panel to open the turbolifts. Ducking inside quickly she slammed her fist into the 'up' button. As the doors closed painfully slowly she could see the droids as they approached the lift. Arielynn had to duck as one fired a lucky shot that almost hit her head.
Finally the doors closed and the lift began ascending quickly. Arielynn finally allowed herself a tired sigh of relief.
Thanks to all you Star Wars fans who have read this far. And remember that the aspiring author thrives on reviews and you wouldn't want me to starve to death before I finish the story, right? Right? Anyways, chapter 2 should be up sometime next week. And who knows, maybe they actually get off Peragus.