Jarik POV...
Black, cold mist swirled around me as I whirled around through the darkness, following a pale bright light of a shadowy texture.
There was a dark room, misty, cold... the activating of a blue lightsaber, held by a familiar looking person, Satele. She faces off against a figure forming from a portal of smoke... cackling. Then there's a familiar location, the underground cavern underneath Darth Vader's castle. The Sith Lord probed at the boulder in the middle, seeking to uncover what lay hidden inside of it. His cold, mechanical breathing echoed around the room...
Next I could see Third Brother bowing before a groveling creature, and a large figure seated in a throne, smirking.
"...death follow hims like a shadow..."
I then got a look at some sort of planet, unfamiliar to me, but looking so similar to Naboo. Then it was overcome by horrible darkness, massive cracks spreading around the planet like a gushing river, flowing with purple light before exploding. From inside the planet was a massive, god-like entity, flowing with evil. His eyes gleamed purple, the massive horns on his head gleaming in the darkness of his own shadows. His booming laughed seemed to spread across the whole universe...
"I... awaken!"
"...that's who he is..."
Finally, I saw a large red star with a rocky planet nearby. What got my attention was the fleet of Star Destroyers, which were in heavy combat, although I could not hear anything. I couldn't see the enemy they were fighting, but it seemed like the Imperial Fleet was loosing, and the shadow of a vast cruiser slowly engulfed them as they were ripped apart.
The worst part though were the horrific screams, as well as the shrieks of a creature that sounded... unnatural. The pale, smoky light I followed soared around the ships...
I shot up from bed with a gasp, breathing heavily as I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to calm myself down. I breathed in and out in an attempt to relax, and mulled over the images I had seen. Some of them weren't too bad, and I've seen some before as well, like the one with Vader, however Satele's vision confused me. Why would I be seeing something related to her if it happened thousands of years ago, thus making it irrelevant for me now?
But that massive, godlike being of pure evil that emerged from within the destroyed planet... that was scary, and terrifying. But I have seen it once before, back on Berk the day before the battle with the Red Death. Only this time it seemed to be much clearer.
The Third Brother confused me, and I have no idea who or why he would be bowing before someone, considering neither of those figures looked like Palpatine and Vader. The final one, with the Imperial fleet was troubling. Something was nagging at my mind, and I got the sickening feeling that it was happening right now, somewhere out in the galaxy. But who would have enough power to challenge and destroy and entire fleet of Imperial Star Destroyers...?
Oh...
I glanced over, expecting to see Ahsoka waking up because of me, probably to fuss over and ask me what was wrong, but she actually wasn't there. Frowning, I got out of the bed and headed towards the door, grabbing my cloak on the way out. I pulled it on and opened the door to my room, glancing around curiously. Through the bond I could feel Ahsoka's presence on top of the ship, and raised an eyebrow at that, though I moved up after her. Climbing up the ladder to the hatch up top, I opened it and pulled myself out.
A brief gust of wind blew by, blasting me head on with the chilly air. The sky was a deep, dark violet, the first rays of light starting to show at dawn out across the desert landscape of Garel. In the distance, the city glowed with urban lighting, never being asleep, even with the Empire's curfews in place. We weren't parked there right now to keep ourselves under the radar, our ship being more recognizable than the Ghost. So instead we had the Knight Hawk on one of the large rock mountains, overlooking the surrounding miles of terrain, and the city where the Ghost was.
It was actually quite beautiful of a view.
Looking over, I noticed Ahsoka sitting cross-legged at the edge of the ship's roof, sensing her to be meditating. She was also wearing her creamy white cloak to keep the morning chill at bay, since it was a little bit cold. I quietly walked over to her position and sat down beside her, legs crossed so as to not disturb her. She gave no visible reaction to my presence, but I could tell that she knew I was here. After a few more minutes of calm meditating, she opened her eyes, taking a breath of air.
"Having trouble sleeping?" she asks me.
"It's difficult from time to time.. I could say the same about you, considering you're meditating," I pointed out. It was something that neither of us did often, even though we've grown wiser like actual Jedi Masters.
"I felt a disturbance in the Force... darkness seems to be growing," she says grimly. "And not just from Sidious."
"Yeah... there's more than just the Sith."
"Considering you're here as well you've seen something again," she deduces.
I nod my head. "It was a lot more vivid this time, more than it has been in a while. And I'm not so sure that's a good sign."
She lets out a tired sigh. "So what should we do? I feel like Phoenix Squad can handle themselves pretty well at the moment. Force sensitive kidnappings have almost all but stopped since we stopped their last attempts."
"That's true. Palpatine is being cautious, but we don't know when he'll try again. Although I do agree that the group is doing very well; taking out that Interdictor cruiser definitely helps."
"That's what they're called?" she replies with a raised eyebrow.
"Apparently. After they reported the mission I looked into the project. They're capable of making more unfortunately, but the good news is that the technology required to make one is very expensive, so that can't make very much, even with their smaller size compared to regular cruisers," I explain.
"Well that's good. A ship capable of pulling others out of hyperspace is a serious threat," she says in relief, becoming quiet for a moment. "How about the other thing you looked into... about Ezra?"
"His parents?" I deduce, and she nods her head. "It's... surprisingly difficult," I admit. "Since Kanan and Hera asked about it, I've found that they've been transfered away from Lothal."
"So they could be anywhere," she realizes grimly.
"Yeah. I've narrowed it down as best as I can but... it's still one of at least a thousand prisons, all on different planets," I tell her.
Ahsoka sighs, sorrow visible on her face. "At least we tried, but some things are just out of our reach."
I take in her words in wisdom, knowing how true they were, in so many ways.
"Should we take this time as a way to look into these warnings more closely perhaps? I'm sure Mara would be eager to spend some time with Zenna and the others again as well."
"You're probably right," I say in agreement. "Sometimes though I wish I thought to ask about where Master Yoda decided to go live. Then we could try and get some advice."
Ahsoka gives me a look. "Really?" she asks dryly.
"Well it's not like Obi-Wan's gonna be any help with wisdom, having two decades on us compared to his centuries," I retort playfully before grimacing. "Oh, right."
She sighs sadly. "It's fine Jarik. I just haven't seen him since..."
"I get it," I reply with a regretful expression.
We sit together in comfortable silence, looking out across the sky as the sun slowly starts to peek over the horizon, bathing the ground in it's first rays of orange light, the sky a violet, pink, and deep orange color. Subconsciously, we both scoot closer to each other, and Ahsoka leans her head on my shoulder, while I lean my head on hers.
After our discussion, we called up Commander Sato to let him know that we had to separate from the group for some time to take care of other matters. We could tell he wanted to ask what we had to work on, but he kept quiet, trusting us with whatever we had, much to our relief. We also left a message for Senator Organa to let him know we were leaving the Rebellion briefly to investigate more into Oryx.
Mara was excited to returning to Ahch-To, but also a little wary, understanding our reasonings for returning. So later in the day, we gathered any things and made sure the Ghost Crew were doing fine before setting off back to Ahch-To, swiftly leaving Garel before Imperials would notice.
ooo00ooo
Ahch-To's climate was still chilly and harsh, but spring was starting to come, which was a welcome relief for us. The greenery of Temple Island was becoming more vibrant, and small flowers blossomed around the area, adding a dash of color to the green, damp terrain, particularly in the Saddle area, where the most grass grew.
The caretakers welcomes us back happily, which we returned politely. One of the younger Lanai, Alcida-Auka was quite happy, and Mara went off to spend a few minutes with her to play or joke around. She was still a young child, but her mother was the matron of the Caretakers, a position which would one day be taken up by her daughter.
It's feels like a whole since we've visited the island, since our previous trip here was rather quick, only for a few days, where I first learned about Oryx. But it will always be wonderful to visit the island and it's serene landscape.
"You know Jarik, before we start getting into the gritty, bad things..." Ahsoka starts to say casually across our bond. "I'm a little interested in seeing this, Elita-One you talked about earlier."
I glanced at her in brief surprise before shrugging. "Alright, I suppose that's fine. Could use a break from thinking about all the horrible stuff anyways," I say in agreement.
ooo00ooo
Leading Ahsoka down into the Kyber Crystal Caves, I watched her as she looked around, gazing curiously at how the crystals lit up the otherwise dark tunnels. We don't come down here, at all really, unless it's for something really important, which was on two occasions from before. The dark side at the entrance, while not harmful, was usually better to stay away from. After the mirror cave however, the Force becomes more neutral, which was relieving.
"It feels so much like Ilum..." she mutters to me.
"Yeah... without the cold," I reply jokingly.
She rolls her eyes fondly with a small smile. "Yes, without the cold. It does get you thinking though about where kyber truly originated from."
I nod thoughtfully in agreement. "Yeah. Satele and the Prime Jedi both described kyber as originally coming from energon, a fuel used by Cybertronians. Beyond that, I don't think they really know."
Traveling deeper through the tunnel, we eventually come across the part where the kyber begins to change. The crystals increase slowly in size, developing the different hum that gives them their bluer glow. Ahsoka looks at them with intrigue, reaching out to touch one of the crystals.
"The Force feels... so much different with these," she observes.
"You haven't even seen the biggest ones yet," I tell her.
Soon enough, I spot the entryway into the chamber containing Elita-One, and step through it. The massive form of Elita-One lays still in the far wall in all her glory, by all accounts still lifeless. The crystals glow blue, letting off their continueous, high pitched hum. Behind me, Ahsoka gives a quiet gasp of awe and shock.
We both approach the wall where she is trapped, and Ahsoka roams her eyes over the Cybertronian.
"She's still... alive in there?" she asks me.
"That's what Revan told me. Just that she won't 'wake yet,'" I recall, crossing my arms.
"I knew they were big but... this is a lot larger than I was expecting," she admits, face contorting into a slight frown. I feel her focus on the Force around Elita, proving her body inquisitively.
"Yeah... I can sense the life in her," she says quietly.
"You can?" I ask in surprise.
She nods. "It's very faint, no more than a flicker but I can sense it there. It's strange feeling the living Force emanating from what appears to be a large machine. Could you not sense her?" she asks.
"No I could, you just felt it a lot quicker and clearer than I did," I admit sheepishly.
She smiles at me smugly, and I roll my eyes, knowing the taunt coming my way. "Remember who is more gifted in the Force between us. You may have gifts with premonition, but I have more powers in the living Force."
I wave a hand dismissively at her. "Yeah yeah."
"If Elita's been trapped down here for six thousand years..." she muses, talking regularly now. "How would she be able to reactivate herself?"
I frown thoughtfully and look up at Elita, noting her dim, lifeless optics and faint, almost unnoticeable flicker of life in the living Force.
"I don't know," I reply. "They're supposed to run on energon, which is what kyber original came from, but I don't know how that would work, considering they're crystals."
"Huh," she replies. "You think Revan possibly knows? Since he told you about her."
"When I figure out how to contact a Force Ghost, I'll let you know," I say with a shrug. "I would assume they have someone of... converting it into something usable for them."
"It might be something good to look into." Ahsoka muses. "She's an Autobot, and a friend of the first Jedi considering she risked her life to deliver these crystals."
"Not to mention the commander of the Femme Bots, whatever that group consists of," I add.
"My guess, a female group of warriors in the Autobot ranks," she theorizes, smiling lightly. "Sounds like my kind of girl."
I shake my head lightly with an amused smile before frowning. "Well... if we did manage to somehow wake her up, how in the universe would we communicate with her?"
"They communicated before, remember? How else would they have known to write down the things in the books," she reminds me. "Not to mention Satele met with the one called Bumblebee."
"Oh yeah, true," I reply sheepishly.
I take another look at Elita with curiosity, before a flash from my vision comes to mind again, making me frown. Studying her robotic face, I couldn't help but notice how... similar it seemed in comparison to that godlike being with purple eyes. I had a bad feeling that the two were connected in some way, although how I'm not sure.
Great, another evil monstrosity to worry about.
Isle of Berk; Ahch-To
2 hours later - Hiccup POV...
"Come on Toothless, we can do this!" I yelled eagerly.
Toothless roared back in excitement and flapped his wings harder, and we approached a patch of tall trees. I clicked the tail pedal, allowing us to do a barrel roll through a small opening between the branches. We then shot out of the forest canopy and into the air, speeding across the water towards the sea stack far in the distance, which was our finishing point.
"How's it going Hiccup?!" I then heard Astrid yell nearby.
I glanced over to see her and Stormfly quickly gaining ground, zooming up fly alongside us us. She had a smirk on her face and was waving at me, with the full intention on passing by me. I grinned back at her.
"Faster than you!" I shot back, before leaning down towards Toothless. "How about we put on some speed eh there bud?" I suggest.
He growls in agreement, and giving another glance to Astrid, I smile before the two of us shoot off, a faint whistle echoing through the air from Toothless's speed. The water parted underneath us from the intense velocity, and Stormfly was falling behind. We then shot past the sea stack, which Zenna was perched on, squawking excitedly at us, and I allowed myself a laugh.
"Yes! Another win Toothless!" I exclaim triumphantly, and he lets out a victorious roar.
We circle back around to the sea stack where Zenna was waiting, and watch as Stormfly and Astrid came to a swift landing beside her, before following suit ourselves. I climbed off of Toothless with a smile while Astrid hopped off, crossing her arms with a scowl.
"I almost had you that time!" she exclaims in frustration.
"You can feed Stormfly as much chicken as you want Astrid, but you can't top a Night Fury's speed," I reply smugly.
"Oh you just wait until I do," she retorts challengingly. "Although you seem a lot more competitive this time around," she notices.
I let off a shrug. "Well, the Thawfest Games are coming around pretty soon, but this year, I might actually have a chance of beating Snotlout," I admit.
"Because dragons are involved now," she realizes.
"Exactly! And dragons are my specialty! I could actually win this time!" I say eagerly, growing slightly giddy at the thought.
"Yeah, I suppose it would be nice to see Snotlout knocked down a peg or two," she says casually, smirking at me again. "That is, when I win."
I move to make a retort before Zenna's excited squawking rings loudly in our ears, and Toothless soon starts following as well, just as excited.
"Ah, what? What is it?" I say with an exasperated groan.
They dash towards the edge of the sea stack, and Zenna quickly leaps off to take flight, while Toothless looks back at me excitedly. Stormfly also lets out some excited chirps, although some of her growls sound kind of annoyed due to Zenna's eagerness. We then take notice of what they were interested in, and find ourselves pleasantly surprised. Speeding across the ocean towards Berk was one of those fancy boats, or 'landspeeders' as they liked to call them.
"Now I get it, Mara's back!" Astrid realizes excitedly.
"And Zenna is the first to dash after her, typical," I remark fondly. "Well, it wouldn't hurt to say hello would it?"
With that being said, we both mount Toothless and Stormfly and take off into the air, flying towards the moving landspeeder. As we get closer we can see Zenna on the speeder, happily greeting Mara and the others, and Mara returned it enthusiastically. Zenna however was starting to look a little bit bigger, enough so that it made the speeder seemingly crowded, which I noticed gave Jarik some measure of annoyance, if his expression was anything to go by.
"Hey guys!" I called out, flying a few feet above and alongside the speeder.
"Hey Hiccup! Hey Astrid!" Mara called back.
"You seem pretty prepared to greet us." Ahsoka comments loud enough for us to hear.
"We were racing each other before Zenna bolted after you!" Astrid explains.
"Yeah well, talk after we get to land?" Jarik calls out to us, the docks fast approaching.
Jarik POV...
I pulled the speeder up alongside the wooden docks below Berk's village, and quickly hopped out, throwing out the heavy docking rope towards Ahsoka, who caught it and attached it to the side of the speeder with a simple magnetic device. Mara then climbed out with Zenna eagerly waddling after her, and I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms.
"I swear she almost made the speeder flip over when she landed," I remarked.
"She's just excited that's all." Mara says in defense, stroking Zenna's neck. The young dragon has grown pretty quickly since first hatching a month or two ago, now being just below Mara's shoulders in height. So she was no longer really a baby dragon, or hatchling as a better term.
"Sometimes too excited." Ahsoka says with a raised eyebrow, heavily implying the several incidents she's caused regarding... space travel.
Mara grimaced lightly. "Well you can't learn without making mistakes right?" she offers, and Zenna chirps happily at her.
"Oh Force..." I mutter quietly with a groan, throwing my head back in exasperation.
Toothless and Stormfly then come to a landing beside us, allowing Hiccup and Astrid to dismount and greet us. "Hey, nice to see the three of you again." Hiccup says.
"And you as well Hiccup." Ahsoka replies with a nod and a small smile.
Mara and Astrid steps forwards, sharing a quick friendly hug before she gives Hiccup a light punch on the shoulder. He winces, rubbing the spot where she punched him.
"Ow! Why do you always do that?" he complains.
"It's just a friendly punch Hiccup, you saying you can't handle it?" Mara asks with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh he can definitely handle it." Astrid says smugly, placing her hands on her hips. Hiccup groans while the two girls laugh in amusement. We start walking up the docks to the village, the dragons following us and chirping at each other playfully, while I move over to Hiccup.
"Hey Hiccup, listen," I start to say, slinging an arm around his shoulder. "Word of advice around the girls: it's never easy, and they'll take every opportunity they can to make jabs at you. you just gotta find the right time to return the favor," I advise with a grin, patting him on the shoulder.
"You've got plenty of experience in that department Jarik." Ahsoka calls out, listening in on it, and the two younger girls laugh along with her.
"Exactly my point," I say, gesturing to the three giggling females.
"Huh. Well, if you say so," he replies with a sheepish smile.
"So, how's the fight against the Empire going?" Astrid asks curiously.
"It's going fine, and we've kicked some bucketheads recently," Mara replies. "Even managed to take out one their important cruisers, although I wasn't there to see it," she adds a little glumly.
"Cruiser?" Hiccup asks.
"Large battleship used in space warfare," Ahsoka explained quickly, and they nodded their heads in understanding.
"Oh, well that sounds neat." Astrid remarks.
"What about those uhh... Inquisitors? Yeah, what about them? You been able to beat them?" Hiccup asks curiously.
The three of us all manage a small grimace, but for Ahsoka and Mara it was a little bit more sensitive for them, so I spoke up. "We've fought again, but it's still a sensitive topic for several reasons," I tell them.
"Oh, sorry I asked," he apologizes.
"No no, you're fine Hiccup." Ahsoka reassures him. "We just have a history with a couple, Mara especially with a one of them," she explains. "But in the end we fought them off, and rescued the children they had been sent to retrieve."
"They kidnapped children?!" Astrid exclaims in shock.
"Why would they do that?!" Hiccup adds, just as appalled.
"Beyond being Jedi hunters, Inquisitors are also sent to find and retrieve Force sensitive children in the galaxy. The Emperor doesn't want them to grow up and become a possible threat in the future," I explain with a frown.
"That's horrible, I can't believe anyone would ever do such a thing." Hiccup says sorrowfully.
"It think that's just absolutely sickening that they would do that." Astrid adds angrily in disgust.
"Yeah, tell me about it." Mara mutters.
Sensing Mara's bitterness and sadness, Zenna walks alongside her and chirps sadly, rubbing her head against her side comfortingly. Mara manages a smile and scratches her neck in response.
"Well enough about us, how about you guys? Anything interesting happened since we were last here?" Mara asks curiously.
"A few things actually." Hiccup starts to say. "The first, and probably strangest thing is that my dad, now has a dragon."
We blink at him incredulously. "Wait, Stoick the Vast, rides a dragon now?" I question in surprise.
"Yeah, surprising I know," he admits sheepishly. "He's like the last person anyone would expect to ride a dragon."
"Huh." Ahsoka comments. "Well, what dragon does he ride?"
"A Thunderdrum." Astrid replies. "Quite a crazy story too apparently."
"Oh I can imagine." Mara says dryly in amusement.
"But, there's also something I think you all would be really excited to hear!" Astrid says eagerly, getting our attention. "Your mind resisting lessons that you taught, they worked for me!"
"Really?" Ahsoka asks in pleasant surprise.
"Yeah, I managed to keep myself hidden from Calder by blocking my mind!" Astrid replies, obviously excited and proud in herself.
"She went undercover as a girl named Heather onto Outcast Island in order to get the Book of Dragons back." Hiccup explained. "Calder never even realized it until it was too late."
"He was suspicious, but he never put it together, and probably still doesn't even understand how!" Astrid adds proudly.
"Well, nice job! Glad to hear our lessons are paying off," I congratulate them with a smile.
Ahsoka scoffs at me. "What's this 'we' you're talking about? You weren't there for the lesson," she points out.
I shrug in reply. "Yeah, well I helped come up with the teaching method," I argued.
"You're impossible," she replies in exasperation.
"Who's Heather?" Mara asks.
"She's a girl we met recently. She was working for the Outcasts to learn more about the dragons, but only because they forced her too by keeping her parents hostage. We helped to rescue them." Astrid explains.
"Huh, well I hope she's doing alright," she replies.
"Same here." Hiccup adds.
A loud roar gets out attention, and we look up to see a large, wide blue dragon coming to a landing nearby. To our surprise, it was Stoick who dismounted from the dragon's back, although I have to admit, it does kind of suit him.
"Jarik, Ahsoka! You're back!" Stoick exclaims happily.
"Good to see you again Stoick," I greet in reply.
Zenna chirps at the Thunderdrum, who just rumbles back at her. The young Nadder goes back to playing with Toothless and Stormfly afterwards.
"Gotta say, this is an unexpected visit," he remarks.
"Considering we don't really have instant communication, I'd say it usually would be," I shrug in reply.
"Aye, that's true," he replies in agreement.
"Well now that It think about it, there is some bit of reasoning behind our arrival here." Ahsoka says.
"I'd be happy to help anyway I can," he offers confidently.
"We're looking into something important, and I think a meeting with Gothi might offer some help," she explains.
He raises an eyebrow. "A visit with Gothi?"
"To see if there's something her books might have that relate to our issue. It involves Jedi history," I tell him.
"What kind of history?" Hiccup questions curiously.
Me and Ahsoka glance at him briefly for a split second, and Mara gets the hint. "Well it's kind of... complicated," she says slowly.
"Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt then." Stoick decides.
"Thank you Stoick," I say, and we give brief nods of gratitude.
"Mara, you can sit this one out if you'd like, catch up with the gang and Zenna, alright?" Ahsoka tells her.
"Sure thing mom," she replies, having no problem with the decision, and slings an arm around both Hiccup and Astrid's shoulders, leading them away. The dragons all quickly follow after them. "If you want, I can get into all the interesting details about fighting against the Empire," she offers.
"Oh, I'd love to hear about this..." Astrid replies eagerly, her voice trailing off.
Despite being just about the oldest person in the village, maybe aside from Mildew, Gothi certainly had the most stairs by a long shot. The constant exercise is probably what kept her still living this long, getting a healthy workout from it.
"Don't let her hear you say that," Ahsoka advises.
"Oh tell me about it," I reply with a grumble. "Add that to the fact she has a surprisingly strong swing with her staff."
Stoick knocks on the door to Gothi's hut, and a few moments later it opens to reveal Gothi standing behind it. She widens her eyes in brief surprise at the sight of us before developing a respectful gaze, giving a small incline of her head.
"Sorry for arriving unannounced Gothi, but Jarik and Ahsoka are hoping to seek your counsel on an important matter." Stoick explains.
She looks at us inquisitively before nodding her head, stepping back and gesturing into the room.
"Thank you Gothi." Ahsoka says gratefully.
"We'll see you later then Stoick," I tell the Viking Chief, and he nods, heading back down the stairs to the rest of the village.
We enter Gothi's hut, glancing around at the simple room, noting the different scrolls and desks and bookshelves, as well as a patch of sand for her to write in. There were a couple of small benches, and a chair next to the fireplace for Gothi to sit in. She closes the door behind us and hobbles over towards the patch of sand, writing down a message in the Aurebesh language. Although for the Vikings, they called it Norse.
~What do you need help with?~
"Recently, something has come to our attention that could be a potential problem for the galaxy as a whole in the future..." Ahsoka starts to say, and Gothi widens her eyes briefly in concern. "...and we were wondering if any of your books contain possible references to it."
~What sort of reference would you be looking for?~
"Does Oryx, or the Yuuzhan Vong strike a sense of familiarity for you, somewhere in one of your books maybe?" I ask. She shakes her head in response, and I nod in understanding. "It's alright if you don't, I don't expect that to be very well known in the first place. Not many know about it."
~Who, or what is that word you said?~
"It's the name of a dark individual that we're worried about. Would it be alright if we took a look at some of your books to see if we could spot any references or hints about it? It's not guaranteed, but any information is helpful." Ahsoka tells her.
Gothi gives us a nod, gesturing towards her books in invitation.
Sometime later, me and Ahsoka had glanced through Gothi's books for any possible references to the Hive, though with no real success. We weren't truly expecting to find much in the first place, since most of these relate to the Prime Jedi, and that was ages before Revan came into contact with them. Not to mention the Hive are from outside of the galaxy in the first place.
We didn't read through all of the books, as that would take a long time, but we skimmed through some that Gothi suggested to us. Afterwards, we thanked her, and left her hut, walking back down the stairs. The suns were beginning to set in the sky, bashing everything in an orange glow.
"Nothing to see as expected, but some of her things are admittedly interesting." Ahsoka says.
"Jedi certainly had a pretty heavy influence on Viking culture," I reply in agreement.
Coming off the stairs, we were approaching the village when my comlink suddenly beeped, signaling an urgent message. Frowning, I shared a confused look with Ahsoka, who shrugged, before opening the message. Out of the corner of my eyes I noticed Mara nearby, with Hiccup next to her.
"R5? What's up buddy?" I ask him curiously.
He beeps at me with a heavy sense of urgency, surprising me a little bit.
"A distress call?" I ask, and he beeps in confirmation. "Well, who's it from?"
He beeps again, and we widen our eyes in bewilderment.
"Admiral Thrawn?!" Ahsoka exclaims.
"Wait, what happened?" Mara questions, coming up to us after hearing the conversation.
"Why in the universe would Admiral Thrawn he sending us a distress signal?" I ask R5 incredulously, ignoring her question.
"What? That's ridiculous!" Mara says in disbelief.
"Who's Admiral Thrawn?" Hiccup asks her.
"An Imperial Commander, and a really smart one apparently," she replies, and he blinks in surprise.
"Well that's weird," he remarks, at a loss of what to say. R5 then beeps back to us over the comlink, explaining the reason.
"Ok, that makes more sense. He's broadcasting it to everyone... but what could possibly cause Thrawn to send out a distress signal?" Ahsoka questions uneasily.
A flash from my earlier vision hits me, of the Imperial fleet in a heavy, loosing battle. It makes me uneasy, and I'm really worried my hunch is probably true. R5 sends another string of beeps at us, and I let out a sigh.
"Alright, play the message," I tell him.
Moments later, a small, flickering hologram of an Imperial officer pops up, striking some form of familiarity in me. It isn't Thrawn obviously, but I think he was with him when I first encountered the Admiral. But what me and Ahsoka noticed instantly was the expression of terror on his face.
"Is that Thrawn?" Hiccup asks.
Mara shakes her head. "No, Thrawn is blue."
"Blue-" he starts to ask incredulously before thinking better of it. "Never mind.
"This is Commander Vanto of... Seventh Fleet!" he exclaims, the audio filled with some bits of static, the hologram flickering. "...are under att... Repeat, we... are under attack by the Yuuzhan Vong!"
Ahsoka and I share a surprised, but grim look, and Mara whips her head up at us in shock.
"...came out of nowhere... our ships are being... requesting help urgently, we're being overwhelmed!" Vanto exclaims in a panic. He stumbles slightly as the cruiser probably shook from an explosion, and glances back. "...seen anything like it before, please se... h.. elp!"
The message then flickers out in heavy static, the transmission being blocked, jammed, or interrupted from something. I close my eyes, coming to resigned dread that the Yuuzhan Vong have started an attack against the Imperial fleet. Sure, they're probably still way out in the Unknown Regions, but this attack proves that Oryx is getting ready.
"What... was that?" Hiccup asks nervously with an unsettled expression, breaking the silence.
"That, is what we were afraid of," I answer with a sigh.
"Does this mean that... they're getting ready to invade?" Mara asks worriedly, showing a small amount of fear.
I share a look with Ahsoka. "I... I don't know."
"Invade?" Hiccup asks. "If the Empire is as strong as you've said, who could possibly be invading them? Would we... also be in danger?" he asks hesitantly.
"No, I don't think Ahch-To is in their sights for invasion, considering nobody knows it exists." Ahsoka says. "But... I'm worried there's a possibility of it happening."
"So what are we gonna do now?" Mara asks uneasily. "From the sound of things, Thrawn's fleet is gone."
I frown in deep concentration, before bringing up my comlink again. "R5, see if you can trace the signal of that message."
Ahsoka sends me a knowing look, although not approving of it. "You want to go to the battle right now?"
"What?" Mara asks in bewilderment.
"We need to know more about what we're up against, and this is probably the best chance of getting an up close look," I tell them. "And if he's still alive, Thrawn could give us some answers."
"So, also a rescue mission as well?" she asks in disapproval.
"No, just to get more insight about it. We barely know anything about the Hive," I try to reason.
Ahsoka narrows her eyes, but eventually lets out a defeated sigh. "I hate it when you're right," she grumbles.
"I honestly haven't got the slightest clue of what's being talked about, but it doesn't sound good, at all," Hiccup says uneasily.
R5 then beeps back at me across the comlink, signaling that he had managed to find a general, but accurate enough location of the distress signal.
"Swing the ship over here then R5, we're leaving as soon as possible," I reply, ending the transmission before he could protest.
"So, what's our game plan?" Mara asks.
"You, are staying right here on Berk," I say instantly.
"Oh come on, don't you dare start that again!" she complains.
"This is a really dangerous mission Mara, far beyond even Inquisitor's!" I say in frustration.
"I faced Darth Vader and survived!" she argues.
"You what?" Hiccup asks in disbelief.
"Barely," I retort in disapproval.
"Alright enough!" Ahsoka exclaims, interrupting us. "Look, Mara if you want to join in on this mission, then you're welcome to," she says, continuing before I could protest. "But you do everything we say, no matter what happens, got it? You already risked enough by facing off against Vader," she says in disapproval, before turning to me. "And Jarik, we cant keep arguing about these things all the time, so we have to take responsibility and make sure she learns, so she can better protect herself as well."
I cross my arms in heavy disagreement, but seeing as how there was no convincing hem otherwise, I nod my head reluctantly.
"You sure about this Mara?" Hiccup asks in concern.
"Not really," she admits, grimacing under my brief glare at the comment. "But I've got to help however I can."
Ornfra System; Galaxy's Edge
1 hour later...
Once R5 had brought the ship around, we quickly left the planet and soared into space, imputting the coordinates R5 managed to pull from the distress signal. I was very tempted to prevent Mara from joining us, but at this point it wasn't worth it. We were now close to exiting hyperspace at our destination, mentally preparing ourselves for anything.
"So, any idea of what we'll be seeing?" Mara questions.
"I don't know, but it won't be good." Ahsoka says grimly.
"Considering it's able to take on an entire Imperial fleet, led by Thrawn no less, I'm almost afraid of knowing," I admit uneasily.
R5 beeps, sharing the sentiment, before the consoles start blinking, signaling we were close. We all shared one last look with each other, mentally preparing ourselves for what was to come. I activated the ship's signal scrambler and the rest of our devices to stay as hidden as possible from scanners of any sort, and Ahsoka rests a hand on the hyperspace lever.
"Here goes nothing," she mutters.
She pulls the lever, and we watch as the smoky blue clouds of hyperspace slow down into starry streams, quickly returning to regular space. In the distance was a large red star, and we were coming around some sort of rocky planet. Once we flew around the planet, we came across a sight that had us gasping in shock and horror.
There was no enemy in sight, but the Seventh Fleet... was now in ruins, a graveyard of destroyed debris.
We were too late.
Wow, that was an intense and suspenseful ending, but the next chapter will be even more insane! Can't wait to post the next chapter, I've had it planned out for a long while now.
Also the whole Elita-One thing was interesting to write, and I'm planning on deactivating her at some point in this story, Jarik and Ahsoka just have to figure out how.
And his strange visions...
Hope you guys enjoyed, the next chapter should be out soon! The support you all have and reading your reviews is always so awesome! :D
