Hello and welcome to Star Wars: A Story from the Unknown Regions
I don't own Star Wars
You can read my first story if you want, but it wont be relating to this story in any way except for the same general theme of "Earth in Star Wars". That story is titled "Star Wars: The Story of Earth" -Spacedino
A Mars day lasts 25 hours, meaning that a day or two out of the month, if someone wanted to, and with the camera on, they could see the sun rise and set after and before their own sun did on Earth. It was just coincidence then that one of the scientists working one of those days had opened up a recently transmitted photo from the Mars Perseverance rover that had found a strangely shaped object sticking a few inches out of the ground. The team had planned a day of traveling around a hundred meters, but that idea was put to a stop when the photo began to circulate.
Using the tools onboard, the team attempted to figure out if it was in fact a rock with an end out of the ground or something more, well, more.
Using the Radar tool on the rover, the team learned that the strange rock was quite massive, an estimated 30 meters tall, and 50 meters wide, and was at an inclination.
After doing a number of scans, those in charge of the mission began to consider the possibility of it being something much different.
The X-ray tool was unable to directly penetrate the surface of the object, but moving the rover around got a better view of its side and its depth.
It was realized it had what looked like wings, what could have possibly been an engine, and the inability of the x-ray scans to get into it made the idea seem more plausible. It didn't take even a week for the public to get news of it.
The news went crazy on the story, with headlines like "What was likely our Past", and novels like "The Martian" and "War of the Worlds" gaining much traction.
As the months went by, mineral data and more X-Ray information concluded what was already guessed, somehow, there was some kind of plane or spaceship on Mars, likely crashed or was stranded.
Ideas were thrown around about how to best deal with this information, when an International treaty was signed by all the active Space related government agencies for collaboration on a manned mission to Mars within the next four years. The work would be filtered out, with the budgets of these organizations reaching levels never before seen.
Contracts to both major and minor space companies were given to create the items necessary for the survival of the astronauts and ability to dig out the strange object.
After Two years, the first launch window to Mars was reached, and essential supplies were sent out. After the next two years, the remainder of the supplies and ten astronauts were sent. Out of the ten astronauts sent, one had experience with mining and drilling, two were archeologists, two specialized in communications, another two were engineers to make sure the base was in order, one was a botanist and a doctor, a chemist who would learn the makeup of the ship, and finally the pilot, all led by Commander Josh Scott, who would lead the expedition.
In total, it took five years, many billions of dollars, the collaboration of 20 countries and hundreds of companies to make it work.
Up to this point, there were some minor bumps, but overall it had gone according to plan. The lander landed within a quarter mile of the main base, and after a week, the essentials were all put in place for digging to begin.
Initial scans dated the ship to be a thousand years old, much to the surprise of everyone. The scans also showed very little seemed to have corroded away despite the sandstorms as the ship was mostly underground.
It seemed that the ship was on its side, with the initial part found sticking out of the ground by the rover having been a tip of its wing.
It took a month of digging and a surprise sandstorm before what was assumed to be the entrance was found. After using a plasma torch, and not having found any other ways in, the miner was able to enter the ship.
What came next shocked the team, perfectly preserved remains of what was assumed to be the crew was found. There were a total of five aliens found: one of them looked like a brown bear covered with fur, one resembled humans very much except had blue skin. Finally the other three aliens looked partly like humans on the head and body but had what seemed like two tentacles sticking out of the back of its head. Those four were too dry to get the color of their skin.
The ship they found had two levels, one upper, and one lower. The Upper level was where two of the bodies were found, and seemed to be where the navigation was. It had many controls and ten seats. The window in the front was shaped like a trapezoid, and was slightly curved on the left and right sides. The Window was also slightly bent inwards, with sand covering it on the top. The base of the window was around 10 meters underground.
The basement was filled with what looked to be tools, which were later figured to be electrical, but had no charge. What looked to be a gun was also found, but it was later concluded, with some of the gas still inside, that it was a kind of welding device that could be used from a distance, due to the intense heat coming from it.
Also in the basement was a trapezoid shaped box near the rear of the ship. It was around a meter tall, but there was no obvious use for it.
Photos and data of the ship and tools were taken and sent back to Mission Control in Houston, with the top scientists and engineers working to recreate and figure out what each part and tool were for.
Linguists focused on figuring out the meaning of the alien characters, but with little information regarding the usage of the tools, the linguists couldn't translate the words on the tools.
A week later, clearance was given to attempt to use the computer on the ship, which was assumed to be near the console. A spare battery was brought if it was needed.
In the cockpit, Commander Scott with a live feed broadcasting to mission control, began pressing the recommended buttons. Surprisingly, what looked like a hologram appeared on what was assumed to be a cup holder, and lights began to flicker around it. The hologram showed one of the Crew members with the tentacle things on the back of its head.
A voice in an accented English began to speak.
"Captains Log, Day 30: We have just entered the 41'st Solar System on the expedition through the Unknown Regions. Jacen and Zarreb have been wanting to go down to land to get an analysis of the soil, but I bet it is more so to stretch their legs. I've been needing a stretch too, so we will do that later tomorrow if the next system gives the opportunity" The figure in the recording turns around "One moment Jacen". The figure turns back to the recording "Captain Mindi Signing out".
The recording goes dark.
Seven minutes later, those at mission control finally began to receive the feed. Confusion filled the room as linguists assigned to the team tried to figure out how perfect English was being spoken. They and the scientists concluded there must have been some kind of translator, as the possibility of two languages being the same was unthinkable.
The information from that one message was extremely informative. The ship was exploring an area called the Unknown Regions. There were three names given too, Jacen, Zagreb, and Captain Mindi.
The Captain of the Mars Expedition, a minute later, said he would press the next button, as he and the others felt they found it, and the next recording played.
"Captains Log, Day 31: There was no place to land in system 42, and Jacen was beginning to get Space-Sick. We continued on to System 43, and there was a water world on the fifth planet. We were able to track a Radio signal from the second largest continent, and landed there. We got more than a stretch break for sure, as we were able to find what we assume were the Chiss. We don't yet have a way to understand them, but I know it must be the Chiss, since they fit the rumors of the blue-skinned humans in the Unknown Regions. I have sent a signal to the Republic at Coruscant about finding the third intelligent life in this expedition, but wow, this is probably the most important find of anything. Captain Mindi out"
After another minute, the next recording was played
"Captains Log, Day 34: Coruscant has yet to get back to us about the Chiss. Bureaucracy, so much fun" The Captain sighs. "The Jedi seem to be taking it well though. Master Hader was able to get some information from the Chiss, and even convince one to join us as a guide. Padawan Benni has been keeping us company and honing her skills with holo chess. In other news, I finally updated the holomap of our travels with the route and made a note on that planet." Captain Mindi stops speaking as she thinks of something. "Either way, now that we have an extra person onboard, we will have to make some stops a bit more frequently for rations. I hope the Chiss, Sin'Tall'Dreg will be able to help us as much as the Jedi say he can. Captain Mindi out".
The Captain from the feed then talked. "It seems that there are two recordings left, I am playing them now".
"Captains Log, Day 48: They did it, The Republic actually did it. The Holonet went crazy about it, the Sith were defeated. Apparently around the planet of Ruusan the final Sith were wiped out, or so we think. The Jedi on board seemed to have nearly fainted though yesterday, something about a major tremor in the force. Aside from that, everything is going smoothly. Captain Mindi out"
"Captains Log, Day 54: We were entering the 70th solar system yesterday to explore the fourth and third planet from this star when we left hyperspace to find there was fuel leaking into space. On a side note, we were hoping that Tall would have pointed us to where the Chiss were, but I feel he may be trying to keep us away from them. We were planning on refueling at one of their planets, as we are going to be running low very soon if we can't figure out where the leak is coming from, but now that we are stuck with subspace engines only, I decided that we would land on the fourth planet as our fuel reserves have reached critical, and hopefully we will be able to find something to refuel with. Scans showed there was water on the poles, so with any luck, we will be able to get what we need. Rations give us around a month remaining. Dak and Sindril were assigned to try and find the water the scans showed, I hope they do, for all our sakes. Captain Mindi out."
Silence filled both the humans on Mars and at Mission Control. Despite the time delay, everyone was thinking the same thing.
But that only raised more questions. Five bodies were found, but eight were listed in the recordings. Over the next few days, more discoveries occurred. After another week, the linguists on earth were able to decipher the unknown language. As the Chiss mentioned in the recording was unintelligible to the alien captain, one linguist considered the possibility that the captain genuinely spoke english, and even used a phonetic alphabet. After an hour of looking over the data, a translation was successfully made, to the shock of everyone. They realized that the aliens used a language so similar to Modern English that even the symbols represented the same letters and numbers, just were shaped differently. After that discovery, everything was much easier to understand.
The ship still had power, around 10% remaining.
A screen in the cockpit had a map of the Galaxy, along with the route that the ship took, it showed their current location along with the different sectors of the galaxy. It showed the numerous governments of the Republic, the Sith Empire, the Hutts, Mandalorians, and more.
On the floor was a dimly lit blue cube with strange markings. It was unable to be opened.
The screen also showed the layout of the ship. The strange trapezoidal box in the rear of the ship was the hyperdrive, along with a description of how it worked, which could send the ship into an extra dimension that can move hundreds of light years in seconds.
Schematics of the hyperdrive along with the holocommunicator, which could create instantaneous communication in 3D, were sent over to Earth.
After looking through the engine schematics, engineers concluded that it was extremely efficient and could revolutionize entering orbit, and would be much more cost efficient compared to alternatives once the designs were built.
The Mars expedition team had been on Mars for two months, with the alien ship having the power on for a total time of 16 days. While initially the power onboard was at 10%, it had now lowered to 6%.
Three days later, an automated message began to play on repeat on the map screen. It showed a robot: "Battery levels critical. Automated distress call sent. Battery levels critical. Automated distress call sent…". In an effort to conserve the remaining power, the alert was turned off by the expedition crew, who began to focus their efforts on finding a way to charge the ship.
Mission Control on Earth was approaching panic because the distress call had been sent and they didn't know who would receive it. The logs from the ship had given events from long ago, and it was not known if either the warlike Republic or Sith would find them, so in collaboration with the world governments, and with the limited knowledge from the alien craft, information was shared to make some kind of defense if the worst happened…
Coruscant, five years before the Battle of Naboo, Naval History Museum
A human female tour guide shows a group of Quarren and Mon Calamari around the museum.
"So here you can see a relic of the Battle of Ruusan, a lightsaber of an unknown Jedi donated to us by the Jedi Temple nearly 900 years ago. This is a relic of the final battle of the last major war the Republic was a part of. It was nearly a thousand years ago that the Jedi Knights fought the Sith. In that battle, an explosion happened on the world that destroyed everyone. Jedi and Sith alike were killed all across the planet, but the Sith were defeated once and for all."
The guide moved to the next section.
"And here we have a computer from the bridge of a hospital ship. It was able to connect with the whole of the republic fleet and…"
A noise begins to play from the ancient computer. A pulse of three pings begins to play before a screen lights up. Words show on the screen as a voice begins to speak: "Special Project Endeavor has launched its Distress Beacon. Special Project Endeavor has launched its Distress Beacon. Jedi High Command not found, rerouting call to General Dodannas flagship" It pauses for a moment "General Dodonna Flagship not found. Rerouting call to nearest Jedi Cruiser… Jedi Cruiser not found. Rerouting call to Supreme Commander of Republic Forces… Supreme Commander not…"
The Tour guide freezes for a moment, not knowing what to do. The tour guide ushers the tourists away and calls the head office.
A minute later the Director of the Museum along with two guards come down to take a look, and the guide fills him in with what's happened.
"The signal is authentic". The Museum Director says, confused. He takes out his communicator and orders his office to forward him to the Office of the Chancellor.
After a minute of being on hold, a person picks up the phone. "This is the office of the Chancellor".
"Hello, this is the Naval Museum, we have a medical computer from nearly a thousand years ago that is giving off a distress call. Could you please inform Chancellor Valorum that something related to a Project Endeavor is being received?"
The aide on the other end did not respond for a few seconds.
"Sir, I am going to have to put you on hold for one moment please".
Two minutes later, the call resumes, but this time it is the Chancellor who responds.
"This is Chancellor Volorum, to whom am I speaking to?"
After hesitating for several seconds, the Museum Director replies "This is the Director of the Naval Museum on Coruscant, and we seem to have picked up a distress call on one of computers from the time of the Ruusan Reformation, from the battle specifically. The computer is going on about some Project Endeavor, and is trying to contact anyone of rank but it can't reach anyone, none of the positions it is trying to contact exist."
"Does it say where the signal is originating from?"
The Museum Head looks at the screen. "That can't be right" he pauses "It is saying from the Unknown Regions"
"Alright, thank you, I will take it from here" The Chancellor said.
Chancellor's Office
In a normal scenario, The Chancellor wouldn't have cared about a thousand year old device going off in some museum, but the day before, the Jedi reported that a disturbance in the force was felt, strong enough that nearly all the Masters and some of the Knights were able to figure something was up. The fact it was from the time of the Battle of Ruusan, the final Jedi versus Sith war, meant that it could in some way be related.
Chancellor Volorum looks at the datapad in front of him. It had all Special projects older than 500 years. Project Endeavor was listed, but was classified. It seemed not even he had the authority to view it, and he was the chancellor.
So, he did the best possible action, contact the Jedi. Within half an hour, Jocasta Nu along with two padawans were assigned to learn about Project Endeavor, while Jedi Master Pall Heraq and his padawan Mira Bonta-Mi visited the Museum.
Special Project Endeavor:
Primary Objective: Find and recruit governments in the Unknown Regions to send aid in the effort against the Sith. This includes the rumored Chiss people.
Secondary Objective: Map out paths in the Unknown Regions to make trade possible, and to record major obstacles.
This is a joint Jedi and Republic Project, with the Jedi taking charge.
The Crew of the vessel Republic Endeavor is as follows:
Twi'lek Captain Leean Mindi
Human Jedi Master Jon Hader
Human Padawan Sa-Lila Benni
Human Scientist Jacen Hart
Wookie Scientist Zarreb
Twi'lek Navigator Dak Minto
Twi'lek Surveyor Sindril Sondul
Special Project Result: Complete Mission Failure, two-way contact lost after 40 days into the project, all crew considered gc if q
Document Concluded.
The Document was forwarded to Master Sanova for his investigation.
Pall Sanova was a human Male in his mid 40's. A Jedi Master, he had become a Knight by the age of 20, and has since had two padawans. The first one has since become a Knight himself, and is currently training his second padawan, Mira Bonta-Mi.
Mira Bonta-Mi is a human female who is 17 years of age. Mira became the Padawan of Pall Sanova at the age of 15 after Pall felt some potential soon before she would have been let go.
Both had been on numerous diplomatic missions together, brought peace to two planetary civil wars, and had foiled three assination plots against local rulers.
The duo entered the museum to find two security droids asking for them to follow. A minute later, they saw the computer, seemingly having restarted the list of contacts, as it was now attempting to reach the Office of the Supreme Chancellor, a position that had not existed for some time.
The datapad of Master Sanova went off, as the document of Project Endeavor was sent from Jocasta Nu. After reading through it, he shared it with Mira, who gave it back after reading it.
"So when did this begin going off?" Pall asked the museum director.
"I would say its been going off for half an hour now, this is the third time it has gone through this list. Very few of the offices it is trying to reach exist anymore, and those that do are not responding. This device is nearly a thousand years old, and as far as I can tell, the signal is genuine".
The Director points at a specific part of the screen. "You see these numbers, they are the old format for coordinates, encrypted, meant to keep information away in the event the Sith were able to get ahold of the computer".
The director then holds up a paperback book: "I had to get a manual for the machine to figure out what it meant, and the distress call seems to be coming from a system in the unknown regions".
Master Sanova then spoke: "That seems to match with Project Endeavor from the archives. It's a secret project from a millenia ago, so there's no point in hiding it. It seems to have been meant as an expedition into the Unknown Regions to gather allies against the Sith, but contact was lost after 40 days. Do you know what would have caused the distress call to go off? The Crew would be long gone by now?"
"Only by Captain's Orders could the distress signal go off" he paused "or if the captain was incapacitated and the ship was under threat, and no one was there to replace him."
"Is it possible to contact the ship?" Mira asked
"Contact the ship?" the Director responds "I suppose it could be done, we would have to have authorization from the Jedi Command Ship to decode the signal, and last I checked, they don't exist."
"Give me one moment, maybe the Jedi Council would have that power" Pall said.
Yoda was meditating on the sensation in the force the day before when his communicator went off. He picked it up.
"This is Master Pall. My padawan and I have learned some new information on the Distress Signal shared by the Chancellor. We want to be able to communicate to the sender of the distress call, but we do not have authorization to have that information. The Director said that the device is so old that it requires a Jedi Flagship to say yes to it".
Yoda thinks for around 20 seconds, and responds. "The Code to use is Gamma-Shan-Tython-Bravo. Told me this, the previous Grandmaster did. Share it with no change the password, complicated it is."
"Understood. The code worked, thank you Master" Pall replied before hanging up.
Back at the Museum
Pall connected his communicator to the computer, before typing in the information shown on the screen…
Mars:
The expedition got in contact with Earth the moment the distress signal was sent, give or take 7 minutes. Mission control began sending the crew information if the Aliens responded or if they physically came. It mentioned things to say and not to say.
Half an hour later, the screen on the ship lit up, to show a face of a middle-aged human dressed in a robe, along with two other humans, a female, likely a teenager, similarly dressed in a robe, and an older man, looking in his 60's, with something similar to a suit but not quite.
The first man spoke. "This is Jedi Master Pall Sanova of the Republic, we are responding to your distress call, what is your issue?"
The Commander of the mission entered the frame, slightly confused that there was a human on the other end, but ignoring that, he responded: "This is the Earth Expedition to Mars. 5 revolutions ago, a rover stumbled upon what we assume is an ancient starship. It belonged to some kind of Republic. A few months ago we landed to learn about it and explore it. The Captain's logs said that a few weeks before the craft landed on Mars, there was some major battle that happened, something about Ruusan and this Sith Government. A few minutes ago, the ship told us a distress signal was going off, as the ship had reached six percent energy".
"What you have found…" Master Sanova said "Was a special mission from millenia ago, largely forgotten. Based on what you have said, I am under the assumption your people are new to space travel. You live in an area of the galaxy called the Unknown Regions by us. Travel there is extremely difficult, and hyperspace travel specifically is near impossible without modification. The ship you found was an exploration ship, one that was sent to map out portions of your corner of the galaxy".
Commander Scott replied "Thank you for that information, that is much help for explaining what we found. We would like to add that we unfortunately found five bodies on the ship when we found it, and we know of three others that are missing and have not been found in the nearby area"
"You mention there was a crew of eight?"
"Yes, according to the captain's log, an individual was picked up along the way to help guide the crew"
Master Pol changed the conversation after this: "So I understand the information from the ship is a thousand years old, Coruscant time at least, but we would like for you to transfer the data so we can send diplomats to visit your world".
Mission Control knew that if the aliens really wanted to, they could find a way over anyhow, so an offer was recommended. "We would be willing to share the flight path in exchange for information".
"I understand. We will share schematics on devices that would be on a ship from the era you found. Also, in order to keep the ship powered in case future communication is necessary, we will also send information on how to keep the ship powered from all known energy sources. Also, as a bit of history, the Sith were completely wiped out in the battle mentioned in the log. They have not been around since."
"Thank you very much. How should we send the information, and when will we receive yours?"
"Expect my information in a few hours, when you receive it, please send the data. The Force willing, you will meet a delegation within two weeks"
With that, the screen returned to its normal color. The battery was still at Six Percent.
