My intentions to remain at the temple did not last long, at least, I was persuaded that my skills were needed as numerous ships were being completely and utterly destroyed by a new weapon under the command of the Separatist fleet which left no survivors. As much as I did not wish to go, I could not deny that I felt a strong sense from the Force that this was where I needed to be, though I did not understand how I could help. "But masters, my skills are average at best. Surely there are other Jedi more capable than myself to assist Master Plo Koon." I responded to the invitation I had been extended, rather confused by it all as I faced Master Windu, Master Yoda, Plo Koon and Chancellor Palpatine himself. "Why ask me when you know my views on this war?"
"Because there is no one better at sensing danger than yourself, young Theca." Master Plo said to me as he placed his hand upon my shoulder. "Your mind and senses have been sharply attuned to pre-empted attacks before they come from your time on that Outer Rim world. Your reactions could result in the difference of hundreds of lives and deaths. Besides, there is no one I would want more by my side in our search for this weapon."
"As kind of you to say as that is, I still have no intention of partaking in this war. I made an exception for Master Yoda before, and it still arose to conflict." I pointed out simply and Master Yoda nodded his head in acknowledgement.
"It will remain your choice whether or not to draw your weapon, young Jedi, however you cannot deny that if there is a way that you could possibly help us solve this mystery, it would be better to at least try." Master Windu said to me in his stern tone, looking at me rather gravely. "Other Jedi continually lay down their lives in this war in a bid to broker peace. Surely you feel that you should play your part too?"
"That is, we understand your views." Master Plo Koon hastily added as I bristled slightly, sensing that Master Windu did not approve of my desire to remain neutral in this war. "But Theca, the Force is telling me that you will do well to join me in this mission. It is purely a mission to gather information and locate this weapon, not to engage unless absolutely necessary. I will not force you to go, but I would rather have you there beside me." Hearing words such as that, how could I refuse? Besides, I too felt the Force compelling me to go, and so I agreed on the promise that I could continue to act by my own senses and was not given a military title or command over anyone. I would go purely as an advisor, and the risk to my own life would be something I would shoulder myself. With these promises, I joined Master Plo Koon aboard his command ship, with two flagships in tow where we began at the last known attack from this secret weapon, where the remains and debris still floated in open space from the destroyed vessels. I will admit, it was a horror to behold.
"This weapon truly is devastating. So much death. I can still feel it around me." I murmured, standing upon the bridge with my hands clasped behind my back, staring straight ahead as we began our tracking of the weapon. It brought us to the Abregado system, where we came across a giant red planet which caused a reactive panic within me and I grasped onto Master Plo Koon's arm until I took several calming breaths, pushing down the memories of the red planet I knew. My master's presence was like an anchor, fixing me in the moment so that I could focus on the mission at hand, tracking the ship and analysing it closely as Commander Wolfe approached us from behind.
"The enemy ship has reduced its speed, general."
"They must have realised we are tracking them." Looking over to the control panels, I requested that a visual scan be taken to analyse the ship's appearance in order to compare it to other separatist battleships whilst Master Plo Koon gave the order for all ships to hold their positions also as to stay out of range of the enemy, the order swiftly being carried out with his commander reporting once it was accomplished. "I think it wise to report our position before we attack." Turning about to approach the holo-caster, I also followed as the commander reported the closest unit to our present location.
"Skywalker's fleet is nearby, in the Bith system."
"Good. Perhaps he can reinforce us." Lifting my head, I immediately thought of Ahsoka upon hearing Skywalker's name, joining Master Plo Koon at the panel as the commander commented on the rather famous reputation that Skywalker had made for himself.
"From what I hear, Skywalker's always ready for a fight."
"So I've heard." It did not take long to open a channel between our fleet and theirs, and when Skywalker and Ahsoka appeared, I instantly felt myself soften nostalgically towards her as she spoke first.
"Koh-to-ya, Master Plo, Master Theca." She greeted and we both replied in turn, calling her by her pet name.
"How's the hunt for the mystery weapon going?" Young Skywalker questioned, folding his arms with a smile.
"We've tracked it to the Abregado system, we need reinforcements." Skywalker responded that he would have to ask the Council for permission to join us, as he had already been ordered to protect the area his fleet were currently positioned at. The transmission began to grow weak and falter, static overcoming our communication as the commander quickly moved to try and boost the signal but it was lost due to interference.
"The separatist fleet knows we are here, they are jamming our communications." I realised, listening to my senses. "Master, I believe that we should retreat for now until we can be sure of reinforcements. We cannot afford to go up against this unknown weapon without knowing it's full capabilities. I sense we're approaching great danger." I announced before one of the clones reported that the enemy ship was closing in on us.
"Prepare for battle!" Master Plo ordered, putting everyone on alert. "Theca, with me. We cannot afford to lose sight of the weapon now, if we run we could lose it once more. We must trust that help will arrive in time." I did not feel so certain as Master Plo did about reinforcements coming in time, but I remained silent, having too much respect to argue with my old master, especially in front of his troops.
"We're picking up a large energy reading from the target, sir." Master Plo gave the order to open fire, however we were too far out of range for any of our weapons to be able to reach them. My instincts were going wild, rushes of impressions bombarding my mind as I started to call out orders before I even knew what I was saying.
"Move out of range! Break formation! Shut down all power quickly!" Rushing to the control panel I managed to get a signal through to the other ships as we were closer in range to one another, though the message was choppy and weak at best, but I hoped it would work at the very least. At first the clones were confused at my orders but Master Plo relayed them as his own to emphasise the need for immediate action and so the clones rushed to obey. Thankfully the flagships had received the command to break formation and started to peel off from us as the enemy's weapon began to activate, releasing a powerful energy ray which came sweeping towards us. "Shut down power, shut it down now!"
"Do as she says!" Master Plo commanded and the clones hurried to carry out the instructions, but it was too late to fully power down and before any of us could get out of range from being hit by the enemy weapon, the huge impulse came rushing towards us with a course meant for collision. "Brace for impact!" Master Plo grabbed hold of me in order to help keep me steady as we faced the electrified array head on even as the ship continued to move. It caught us just on the rim, but it was enough to cut out our thrusters and completely deregulate the entire ship which juddered sharply, almost knocking us off our feet before we became dead in space.
"That energy field has left us defenceless!" Pulses of energy flashed through our systems as I recovered from the impact, shaking my head before I pushed myself back upright at the control panel and rather than floundering helplessly, I forced myself to be useful and began to run an analysis as the emergency power kicked in which meant we had life support, but very little else.
"Try and flush the systems, reboot everything you can! Get those shields back online!" I directed and no one hesitated to follow my instructions this time, hurrying to get to work. Although we'd managed to shut down some of the ship's power, everything was completely fried and almost completely useless. The enemy ship open fired and I froze for a moment, staring as the first flagship went up in flames within seconds, completely at the mercy with no shields to protect them and I felt hundreds of lives snuff out at once with cries of pain and agony, and it were as if I could feel the heat of those flames even from here.
"Quickly, into the pods!" Having no choice but to abandon ship, I snapped myself awake, still trying to reboot the system myself using the backup generators which I had managed to salvage, as I had instinctively saved them first the moment I had been guided in what to do. "Theca, we must go. Now!"
"You go, I'll be right behind you." I promised, still working on the console as Master Plo Koon reached out for me, but I felt that I needed to remain here. "Go!" Imploring him to leave, I focused on my task as the clones began to evacuate and, after a moment's hesitation, my master nodded his head and bade me to hurry as soon as possible, though I sensed he knew I had no intention of leaving this ship. Master Windu had been right after all, I could not stand by whilst so many others risked their lives in this war, at the very least, I could try and protect as many as I could myself. Upon seeing that I was remaining, several of the clones returned to their stations, coming back to help me though I told them they should evacuate too. "Do not risk your lives, get to the escape pods now!"
"We're not leaving whilst you remain behind, Master Jedi. We're soldiers, we're not afraid of death." Unable to help it, I laughed a little.
"I have no intention of dying today. Alright, if you insist on staying, work on rebooting those systems. You there! Reroute power to the bridge, take up every backup generator you can find. If we can reactivate the shields, we'll stand a chance at saving this cruiser." We worked quickly as the escape pods from the second flagship also launched mere moments before the cruiser blew up, a bright ball of fire filling the view from the deck as I registered that our own were now firing. A jitter of nerves rippled through me as we rebooted every system one by one after purging them, and just as the first rain of fire began to descend upon them, we got a little life back in our systems. Before I knew it I was commanding, having all available power divert to the forward shields to give us more time as we fought and scraped for every moment.
The longer we held, the more time Master Plo Koon and the rest of the men had to be rescued by reinforcements. "Sir! Shield integrity is rapidly decreasing!"
"Do what you can to boost power, we need those shields. Someone get down to the hanger and start looking at what we can do about our fighters, if we can pilot the star-fighters, we might be able to coordinate an attack upon the enemy ship." As much as I had wanted to abstain from partaking in this war, it seemed that the Force had had other ideas for me all along.
"We have navigation back!"
"Bring this ship about, port side!" The ship began to turn, allowing our broadside to receive the onslaught of the enemy fire. We rebooted more systems after flushing them, getting more control back over our ship however as I received a strong sense of warning, I realised that the enemy ship was firing up their weapon once more.
"Sir, what do we do? Sir? Sir!" I knew what needed to be done, but I didn't like it at all. I paused, only for a moment, before I entered coordinates into the navigational computer and focused on getting power back to the hyperdrive. We needed to get out of here. A single jump would do, just so that we were out of reach of that weapon, because if we lost power now, we truly would be done for. "Sir! You can't mean to retreat, everyone in the escape pods, they'd be caught, they'd lose power!"
"Trust me." I ordered strongly and as I held out my hand, I endeavoured to time everything perfectly. As the electrified field bore down upon us, I used all of my strength to move the wreckage of the other flagship into its path though it took everything I had, allowing myself to be filled with pure determination to move that wreckage and when the field struck, it exploded once more as the last of its circuits were fried and at the same moment it exploded, I activated the hyperdrive which had enough power back for a single jump. We disappeared from sight just before the energy field hit us, meaning that as we limped our way out of danger, we retained the little preserved power we'd returned, and for the moment, were safe.
My hope was that we had fooled the enemy ship into believing that our ship had also gone down and exploded, though that would only be the case if there were only droids on board. They would not be able to expect the possibility of survival or escape as it was logically impossible. "Reboot all systems, double time. I want this ship back to prime condition for our return." Helping to completely shut down and restart the entire ship, I checked in on the clone trooper who had gone down to see how our fighter-ships had been affected by the electric field.
The systems were fried, but he felt certain he could get some of them up and working again, so I redeployed several troopers to help him, ordering them to focus on a few fighters and transports so that we could recover our people from the escape pods. I was eager to get back, concerned for Master Plo Koon's well being as the continued sense of foreboding hung over my head. The Separatist fleet were yet to leave any survivors, and I felt that this time would be no different. With a ship so large, however, it would take a great deal longer to get it back to functional condition once again, so when the trooper signalled in to inform me that the fighter ships and transports were online once more, I decided to send them back for as many survivors as possible whilst focusing on getting our communications back online so that we could call for help. I was no talented pilot, but I still felt that I should be one of those to go back, so I left one of the higher ranking technicians in charge, though he seemed shocked as I informed him he was in charge of the bridge. "But sir…"
"I am a mere advisor, not a general. Technically, you have the highest rank among us all. The ship is yours. You know what to do. Make repairs as fast as you can, get communications back online, and once you're in a fit state to make the jump, return to the Abergado system to collect us." Racing down to the hanger, I boarded a star-fighter and manoeuvred it into one of the hyper-rings, flying up into the open before putting in the coordinates. "Can everyone read me? Repeat, is the channel clear?"
"Clear as crystal, Master Jedi. We have our fighters in the air." One of the troopers responded so I had them all put in the same coordinates and move in formation before returning to the wreckage of our flagships in order to begin searching for survivors.
"Keep contact to a minimum, if things go well, we'll be able to move without being detected by the enemy ship." I said calmly as I began to scan for life signs. I found plenty, but I also noted that there seemed to be a scavenger moving among the debris, a hunter which was moving among the pods and cracking them open in order to kill everyone inside. It placed me in a difficult position, for I knew if I destroyed it, I would save lives, but also alert the enemy to our presence here. "Get to work everyone, I have a feeling we'll have to announce ourselves. Get as many people loaded as possible, now!" Moving my ship out of the hyper ring, I flew into the debris and focused on the droids that were searching for the pods, seeing it moving towards one and sensing the life forms inside.
Before it could lock on, I activated my canons and blasted it, throwing it off course and it crashed into a wing strut of one of the flagships, exploding upon impact as I then flew past the life pod, expanding my scanners to pick up any emergency signals as I tried to lock onto Master Plo Koon's pod. As I feared, the enemy ship pulled itself about and began to return from its orbit around the planet, which gave us even less time to get out of here. "Master Jedi, communications are back online, shall we jump to your location?"
"Yes, hurry!" I responded swiftly and a few moments later, the lead cruiser returned, smoking and burning still, but functioning. "Board all pods and transports immediately, we need to be out of here before that ship figures out we're back." I instructed, still searching for Master Plo's pod until finally, I locked onto a faint signal from a pod further in the debris field. "Emergency channel, this is Theca Rouyn, can you respond?" The reply was full of static, but I could not mistake Master Plo's voice so I quickly locked on. The enemy ship was drawing closer and beginning to move into the debris field just as another ship jumped into view and upon making contact, I discovered Skywalker and Ahsoka. "Little 'Soka, you should not be here! It's dangerous, get out of range of that ship now! It's an ion cannon, you'll lose all systems if you get caught!"
"Master Theca, have you found Master Plo?" Ahsoka questioned as the ship sharply banked, heading towards us as the rest of the fleet recovered the remainder of our men and began to board them as I honed in on the pod and upon drawing level with the viewport, I saw three clones as well as my old master, making me sigh with relief.
"Yes little 'Soka, I found him. Skywalker, send me the coordinates of your fleet, we'll have to jump to you there. These men will require medical attention and I don't know how much longer our cruiser can hold together, but then you must leave."
"Copy that Master Rouyn, sending coordinates." The information came up on my screen so I relayed it to the command ship as I turned my star-fighter around and launched a cable, carefully locking onto the pod in order to pull it carefully along behind me in order to bring it back to the cruiser, however the enemy ship was now turning into attack position and one of the troopers signalled through, warning me that we were running out of time. "I'm almost there, prepare to jump to hyperspace." I accelerated, pulling the pod behind me and hoping Master Plo Koon would forgive me for the rough ride, diving for the hanger bay and having no choice but to crash land within, but the moment the doors were sealed, I had us jump as another ion field was fired at us.
Completely on edge, I did not relax until the report came through that we were away and in hyperspace, allowing me to go lax against the seat of my star-fighter which I had rather gracelessly crashed. Taking a moment to calm myself, I disengaged the cable and opened up the top so I could climb out where the pod was being opened in order to help everyone inside climb out. I rushed to Master Plo, catching him as he stumbled and quickly pulled his arm across my shoulders so that he could lean upon me. "Master?" He needed a few moments to recover, though once he'd caught his breath and found his strength once more, he chuckled at me and turned his face towards me.
"I think your rescue is what nearly did us all in, young Theca." Unable to help but be amused at his humour, I leaned into him for a moment, relieved that he was alright before allowing him to resume command. We had saved almost the entirety of the crew from both the command and one of the flagships, though we'd lost two of the ships themselves and this one was quickly deteriorating. We barely managed to reach Anakin's fleet in one piece and swiftly had to evacuate all essential personnel to other vessels and ensure that those who needed medical attention received it.
The Council required a report of what had happened, so I joined Master Plo, Skywalker and Ahsoka in what had happened, and since I had had a part in it all, I had to give my version as well. I explained how I had managed to reboot the systems of the command ship as we'd shut down a great deal of the power before the ion cannon had hit us, saving a lot of our circuits from being overloaded which allowed us to redirect power and flush out those that had been affected. It was a tough job and the command ship was now completely dead, but it had survived long enough to get everyone out of there, returning for the rest of the crew before joining the fleet here. Master Obi-Wan seemed especially impressed, with Master Windu observing me with that same stern expression he always seemed to wear.
"So despite your reluctance, you were able to save the lives of many this time around, young Jedi." He noted to me, so I bowed my head acceptingly.
"Indeed, Master Windu, however I feel that my purpose in this mission has now been served and should like to return home. I will be of no more use here." Owing to my assistance, I was allowed to return back to Coruscant and the temple, where I could feel peaceful once more and try to block out the memories of being in conflict. If only the war would end soon, then I could live my days as I should, as a keeper of the peace, where my only concern would be for the younglings I taught and there would be no more warring. It was a fantasy, but a pleasant one, and I enjoyed thinking upon it as I made my way back to the Jedi Temple.