return to home, beyond the outer rim

by noruas bombadil

following order 66 Ahsoka Tano Padawan of the chosen one and Maccabeus Bethel student of Offensive Bias are forced to run beyond the galaxy running from the empire into the formerly lifeless outer expanses into the home galaxy of humanity. the milky way. but there is something wrong. no life exists here. what left here, what came here first. locked memories hold the key.

3. Chapter 3

"What are you talking about?" Ahsoka asked in confusion at no point in time did she imply that she had an owner.

"You said Master Skywalker. I am diametrically opposed to slavery on very personal level I need to kill him what does he look like?" Maccabeus replied, checking that his pistol was loaded before turning back to her.

Ahsoka needed a second to realize what Maccabeus had meant. "NO, NO, NO, not that kind of master." She said fighting her laughter. "He is a master of his craft and I was his student."

Maccabeus looked rather embarrassed as he put his pistol back in it's holster. "I see, I am sorry for the uhm.. Misunderstanding."

Thinking about Anakin brought a frown to Ahsoka's face. "He's probably dead by now." she said remember just how much death and darkness she felt. "If he was still alive then I would have felt it."

Setting one of his hands on her shoulder Maccabeus said. "I once had a teacher as well. He was more of a father than a teacher and he wasn't the only one. His name was Tohmas Laskey. His family had been in the UNSC navy for hundreds of years. He died shortly before the end of the war against the Vong."

His voice held the understanding that he had shown her earlier. "It never gets any easier but you learn to accept it, I promise."

Moving to sit next to her he grabbed a bottle that seemed to be filled with some manner of alcohol. Opening the bottle he offered it to Ahsoka. He had changed their course to head for a safehouse he set up. It was closer than Earth and the most importantly it actually had enough food to get them there. (If the MREs were still viable.)

She turned back the bottle saying "No thank you I don't drink."

Maccabeus chuckled setting the bottle down "yeah, me neither"

"Tell me more about your men, you were talking about a man named Kix he saved your life. Was he your medic?"

"Yeah he was," Ahsoka smiled leaning back. "He was always picking up after Pags and Mice."

When she saw the look on Maccabeus' face she elaborated. "Pags and Mice were a great team; they had a way with high explosives. Pags had a bad habit of hiding bombs on the Resolute and Mice was the only one that could find them in time. I don't know how many times Mice saved our lives."

Maccabeus was laughing from deep in his chest. "And you trusted this Pags with explosives."

With a nod of pride Ahsoka replied. "Yes we did, and he never let us down. Then there was Fives and Echo."

At this she seemed to become down trodden and Maccabeus gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I know that look, were they good men?" when she answered with a nod trying not to cry he asked. " I'm sorry that someone your age had to go through that. Losing a man who serves under you is never an easy thing to handle for someone who is still growing even moreso."

His tone gave her the impression that there was more to his story then he was sharing she had done enough talking for right now. " What about you? when did you start fighting?"

"How old do you think I am?" he countered.

"Twenty four?"

"Seven" he corrected.

Now it was his turn to explain. "I was grown and designed to mature at an extreme rate. I am in fact my type of being's only copy ever made.I saw my first battle when I was almost six but I had a body of a seventeen year old. They induced puberty in me at an early age and fed me a cocktail of designer hormones to keep him growing very fast. I'm also about six times stronger than the average man of my size and my reaction time is nearly immeasurable. In fact I react so fast that there are times that I need to deliberately slow down to avoid breaking things. "

Ahsoka was trying not to show her shock. She knew that if he was telling the truth then his actions on the venator was his holding back. It also explained why he was able to kill an entire squad so fast.

The more she thought about it the more she realized that he wasn't that different from the clones. They were all born to kill. The only difference was that the clone's had the jedi and the lucky ones had Jedi who cared about them.

"I had two teachers. One taught me to kill and one taught me to be human." he continued. Looking down he noticed that Ahsoka must have still been tired since she had fallen asleep since he started talking.

He didn't need as much sleep as most people, in fact his body only ever allowed him to sleep for a maximum of two hours if he was lucky. Part of his training. Leaning back he closed his eyes and relaxed. If he was lucky then he would get some sleep before he arrived at the safehouse. On what used to be the recolonized planet of Reach.

…

Maccabeus woke up twenty minutes later when the Navi computer announced that they had arrived. He attempted to stand up but was stopped by the fact that Ahsoka had at some point in the five minutes he was actually asleep pulled the arm around her shoulders down and had his left hand in her own.

Or maybe he had done that. He couldn't remember. Smoothly freeing his hand he stood up and made sure to catch Ahsoka who had also started to lean on him. Setting her straight he went to the main console and managed to land them without waking up Ahsoka.

He thought about waking her up but chose to clear the area first grabbing his pistol he departed the ramp and did a quick lap of the surrounding five miles. Nothing but animals was found telling him that the ark hadn't reseeded any human's on this planet. That was good since the Ark wasn't supposed to reseed any human's anywhere. Not after what he had done. It also told him that he had been in status for an extremely long time since the planet was overgrown with life.

Returning to the shuttle he found that Ahsoka was still asleep. Choosing to let her sleep he delicately picked her up just now realizing how small she was. To be fair to her his growth had resulted in him standing at almost six foot eight so most things that were elites or brutes seemed small to him.

He brought her into the bunker he had left here and when he found that it was still being cared for he shifted Ahsoka until she was being held with his left hand and drew a pistol in his right. He swept down the stairs until he found an old android in the process of assembling a device on the table.

"Offensive." Maccabeus whispered knowing that the drone had heard him come in and not wanting to wake Ahsoka.

"The odds of you having survived since our last meeting are beyond astronomical. How are you still alive?" it inquired

"Carbon freezing," was his answer at which the drone stood up and turned around.

When it saw Ahsoks it froze in thought. " have you been procrating with this entity?"

To say that this question baffled Maccabeus would be an understatement. Sure Ahsoka was pretty but even if they had time for him to consider such things she was only now getting to the point where she didn't seem to hate him. And the odds were that she was going to stay at that point for the rest of their time together.

It wasn't until he noticed that he had been staring at her sleeping face that he realized he had never thought about where he was going with his actions. He also noticed that Offensive was giving him a dissatisfied look.

The ancient contender class AI had long since learned to cope with biological beings' lack of speed and efficiency but he was also the person who taught Maccabeus how to kill so he was annoyed that his only pupil was taking so long to answer. "No, no I have not been procreating with her."

The look on Offensive's face while static somehow managed to convey disbelief. "I have told you about lying to me Maccabeus, have you been procreating with this entity."

This question sounded more like a command than anything else and it also woke up Ahsoka who at first turned into Maccabeus and tried to go back to sleep. That is until she realized that she was being carried.

Then she looked up at him and went to say something when Maccabeus calmly set her down. Explaining. I wanted to set you down somewhere more comfortable but that does not seem to have panned out."

Ahsoka was about to try and explain the blood rushing to her face when Offensive cut in asking her. "Have you been procreating with Maccabeus?"

Now there was no way to explain away the blood rushing to her face and she opted to not answer instead walking away in a huff. "Are you even aware you are with child?"

Ahsoka froze in her tracks turning around to look at the drone. "what did you just say?" she shakily asked.

"you are with child, pregnant, carrying and growing a smaller life form within you." Offensive said either hoping that if he answered enough times she would understand or he was showing some of his rare sass.

Ahsoka looked dumbstruck. she was still figuring out what to do with herself without the Jedi but now she was a mother. that wasn't something that she had ever expected in her life. She was a Jedi and they weren't supposed to form attachments but she was also expelled and in the end she left the Order.

"do you know who the father is?" Maccabeus asked. He was reluctant to go back but if they could find her apparent lover then it may be worth it.

"there's only one person it could be." she said. "but he's dead now." her right hand had drifted down over her womb and Maccabeus understood.

"the captain," he stated. she didn't speak instead nodding through her tears. Maccabeus hadn't realized he was moving until he had wrapped his arms around her and let her bury her head into his chest as she cried.

Offensive Bias was very aware of his lack of empathy for such things so he decided simply stay quiet and not speak until he was certain that it wouldn't do any more damage instead he decided to go back to the device he was working on. It was the power converter for one of the rooms. one of the ways that he kept himself busy since Maccabeus left was he would repair parts as they broke but he would delete the blueprints of the parts making him go through and remap every piece.

it would have been a trivial task with his full processing power but the drone he was controlling could only handle so much. When he was done he saw that they had left and a brief search showed them to be sitting in the living room on the couch. They sat in a silence that Offensive could tell was an awkward one. he didn't know what had transpired while he was working since he turned his audio receptors down in an attempt to give them privacy.

"we need to get to Earth and fast." Maccabeus stated. "they will have the proper medical facilities. there, but we are going to need to gather supplies for the journey."

"No need," Offensive cut in. "I have made a practice of keeping stockpiles of food on hand at all times. Not that we need it. The TPM is still online and functional."

Maccabeus quickly stood up. "how, I thought it would have decayed by now."

"you thought wrong. also I have kept the Hammer in working order as well." Offensive explained.

"This is amazing where is it!" Maccabeus shouted, sounding like a kid that just got his birthday presents early.

"Hanger six,"

with that Maccabeus was off followed by Ahsoka who was still trying to understand what the TPM was and why Maccabeus cared about it.

when she found hanger six she saw a white ship inside of is. the doors of the hanger looked long since out of commission but the ship was fine. it had three engines one the back set up in a nearly triangular fashion. the body was wide at the back and narrow at the front. the cargo and living space was the size of the shuttle they had come here in. the boarding ramp was down and she could hear Maccabeus running around inside of the ship. just as she was about to go up the ramp Maccabeus came charging back down and enveloped the drone in a massive hug.

"thank you Offensive. I had given up on ever even seeing her again." Maccabeus yelled as he spun the drone in the air.

the drone looked both proud and annoyed which was again impressive given that it was incapable of properly emoting. when Maccabeus finally set him down the drone continued. "I have kept her fueled up and armed. She is ready for take off at any time now."

Maccabeus was back to his calm and collected self now. "good, good. we should leave tomorrow if we want to get to Earth as soon as possible. do you know how the planet has fared since I last saw it?"

the drone needed no time to answer since it had predicted that Maccabeus was going to ask this. " the reconstruction efforts have been successful. the northern hemisphere is still by and large intact and the southern hemisphere while it is un-inhabited is habitable so it is simply a matter of time."

"what happened to your planet?" Ahsoka asked, wondering how an entire hemisphere could be so damaged.

"the Vong dropped a moon on it. if it wasn't for the firepower of the ODPs and the Infinity the mass would have destroyed the whole planet." Maccabeus growled "if it wasn't for my mother then we wouldn't have stood a chance. she managed to destroy one of the GFG and that bought us enough time to ready the MACs."

It occurred to him after he spoke that all of the acronyms he had just used made no sense to Ahsoka was almost as confused as she was when she asked her question.

"The Vong used a device to pull our moon into the planet, she destroyed one of the devices and that slowed the moon down enough for us to get our big guns in position. We opened fire on the moon and destroyed most of it before it reached the upper atmosphere. we still lost a lot of people that day. including her."

Ahsoka knew that she had just dragged up a bad memory so she reached out and gently set her hand on his arm.

"Mary, Joseph I need to make preparations for our voyage and you are in my way." Offensive chided.

Macabeus smirked a little as he moved aside for the drone to pass. It seemed that since he was gone Offensive developed something resembling a personality. to be fair he had one before but he chose not to show it much. he claimed that when you have done what he had done you would find that such things are unimportant.

Ahsoka walked back to the room that they had been sitting in. She still needed to think about what she was going to do with herself and her new baby. what was she going to name it, was it going to look like her or like Rex would it even survive. she was so wrapped up in this that she almost missed the fact that Offensive walked up to her and used some manner of device to take a not insubstantial skin scraping leaving her with a quarter inch scrap mark and dull pain that the drone quickly covered with a bandage and left alone to go study the sample it had just taken.

"What was that for?" she snapped without getting a response.

"he wants to look at your genetic code so that he can tell what we can expect from this pregnancy ordeal." Maccabeus said not bothering to look up from the book he was reading.

"Oh is that all." she sarcastically quipped unhappy about having a DNA sample taken with her permission of knowledge.

"Honestly I have no idea sometimes he does weird shit, that was just my best guess." Maccabeus replied, still not looking up from his book.

She couldn't read the words on the cover but it looked to be old and the pages were extremely thin. "what are you reading?" she asked him.

at this he finally looked up. "this is a Bible. something that Offensive said got my memory jogging."

finding what he seemed to be looking for he read aloud. "Luke chapter two verses one through seven: And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (and this taxing was the first made Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed. Everyone one into his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. and she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn."

Closing the book he looked back up to her. "My very being seems tied to this book. My name comes from a great warrior from the book of Maccabees. Judas Maccabeus, and from Bethlehem the birthplace of my saviour."

At this Ahsoka rolled her eyes. "You still believe in whatever God your people think created the universe."

Maccabeus fixed her with an unnerving serious gaze. "Yes, I've met him."

Ahsoka's amusement stopped at this. Maccabeus wasn't the sort to be easily deceived. If he thought he had met with some manner of God then he either met with God or he met with something so advanced that it was indistinguishable.

"It was after my final battle with the Vong, that day I wiped two entire species from existence and also wiped out all life in three galaxies. He told me that I had a choice. I could either repent for my sins and have my people back at the price of being forced to coexist with the Vong, or I could destroy the Vong once and forever but never have my people back."

He was clearly ashamed of his actions and his body was showing it. His head was low and his shoulders were trembling. It was the first time that Ahsoka had seen weakness in him and she didn't like it.

"I told him to go to Hell, I asked him how a God like him could allow such mindless slaughter and still claim to be loving. He replied but I refused to listen. I was too blood drunk, too full of hate to think. I know not what awaits me after death but I know it will either be better than I could ever earn, or not nearly bad enough for what I have done."

His words bit into Ahsoka like a sharp knife. She had always thought the Force was good but it had allowed something terrible to happen. Yet Maccabeus had given up on his God and he seemed to regret it. Should she give up on the force.

Was the force even something that she could give up on. Maybe the Jedi were wrong and there was no will of the force. After all if the force had a will of its own then it may as well be…God. Or maybe something similar to a God. did she really believe in that. If she did then maybe she and Maccabeus followed the same thing just separated by a great length of time.

"Does your Bible ever mention other life in the universe?" she asked.

"It never mentions another planet but it also never mentions several things that aren't relevant to the matter at hand for us. Things have changed in the last several well, however long it has been.

" and you think that this means that aliens are real?" she asked not sure what to think given her previous revelation.

"well you seem pretty real to me so I am gonna say yes." Maccabeus replied, looking her over a little too long for her taste.

she didn't have a funny one liner ready like she did when Lux did the same thing but instead she changed the subject. "where are we going then?"

Maccabeus went over to sink and after pouring and downing a large glass of water he answered. " we need to get to Earth and if it is still intact then we should go to Israel. that is where some of the best medical sites on the planet. We could also go to North America but I think it is more thematically appropriate to go to Israel."

Ahsoka was going to ask him to explain more about the story of Mary, Joseph and the baby but when she did a large yawn came out. she had gotten some sleep on the way to Reach but not enough.

"south hallway, fourth room on your right." Maccabeus said sitting back down and opening his bible again.

She followed his directions and found a modest bed. it was large enough for Maccabeus which meant that it was bigger than she needed and that was fine by her.

...

when she awoke several hours later she saw on the bedside clock that it was three A.M. her gut or maybe the force was telling her to get out of bed so she did. Once she was in the hallway she heard someone talking and it wasn't long before she knew it was Maccabeus.

"When it was just the Infinity left I ordered the crew to abandon ship. I tried to cover them but it was too much. they were all wiped out. In that moment I lost my control and I used the array."

She peaked around a corner and saw him and Offensive sitting in a set of chairs looking out over the night sky of Reach.

"after that was done I deployed the gravitic drivers and began throwing their ships around like paperweights in a span of twenty seconds I turned utter victory into inconsolable defeat. The last craft was a civilian ship, they begged for mercy as I lined the drivers to tear them apart. the only word of the Vong tongue that I have ever learned was no, and I learned it so that the last thing they would hear was me in their tongue denying them mercy."

"I am sorry that you had to go through with that. I know that using the array can do to you especially if you aren't in the kill radius." Offensive said resting a hand on Maccabeus' shoulder. "but now do you understand why I was so opposed to the use of that weapon?"

"yes," Maccabeus answered. "such death at my command was ... intoxicating. my only complaint at the time was that firing the rings twice would yield nothing on the order of the first."

"have you grown from the encounter?" Offensive asked him. "did you follow my instructions?"

"Yes," Maccabeus answered. "I destroyed the rings, and the gravitic drivers. they will never reek such devastation again."

"Good," Offensive stated. "with the flood gone we had no need for the array and I am glad that such an immense crime against nature is no longer in service."

"what about Ahsoka and her child?" Maccabeus asked.

"the odds are good that her DNA overwhelmed much of the father's in that case the child will most likely resemble an average male of her species albeit a femenine one. or an average female. both are possible. luckily her species seems to have a very fast gestation cycle. only a month at most. but that my be due to her DNA mixing with his and this child being a hybrid."

"Survival rate?" Maccabeus added.

"nearly certain survival for both of them." Offensive stated dryly.

"you hear all of that?" Maccabeus called out, making Ahsoka jump slightly.

"we knew you were there two minutes and thirty three seconds ago." Offensive affirmed.

"that's good to hear." she said, walking closer to the two of them. she was about to ask what the array that Maccabeus had mentioned was when a different thought came to mind. "is there any food around here?" she asked, it had been a long time since she had eaten anything so she was rather hungry.

"we have a large supply of vegetation in the garden however I suspect that you are craving meat and lots of it." Offensive explained. Turning to his left he continued. "Maccabeus, east ridge should have suitable game on it go get Mary something to eat."

Ahsoka was about to claim that she was going to be able to hunt for herself but before she could Maccabeus was already halfway to the door. opting to let him go kill something figuring that he was itching to do so anyway she took his seat and asked Offensive. "you keep calling me Mary, why?"

"Mary gave birth the being that saved her people, you and Maccabeus are running from something. I know that it is nothing of importance to Maccabeus, so that means that you are running from something and he is running with you.'' At this the drone looked at her. " if my calculations are correct then your child will be in a good position to revive your people."

Ahsoka was unsure of how she felt about this drone planning her unborn child's possible life but then she thought about something else. " What if I don't want my people to be saved, we were weak and foolish, maybe I want something else."

Offensive shrugged at that. "biologicals can still surprise me it seems. "

"how should it take Maccabeus to kill something and drag it back here?" she asked to be answered by Maccabeus carrying a deer over his shoulders. it was dead and gutted all that he had to do was skin it but the way that Ahsoka was looking at it told him that he needed to get out of her way.

and that he did, dropping the carcass just as she tore through the space he used to be in and started ripping apart the flesh. When she was done with one of the shoulders she stepped back and looked a little embarrassed at her actions.

her predatory instincts were ones that she tried very hard to suppress but now that she thought about it maybe she shouldn't. maybe she should give in to them and let her inner beast run a little wild.

"you want me to cook that or would you rather keep doing whatever it was that you were just doing?" Maccabeus asked.

She went to answer but stopped when she noticed that her hands were covered in blood. Her face answered for her and Maccabeus picked up the partially eaten deer and went to the room that was used as the kitchen.

Ahsoka was still hungry but right now she had eaten enough to control herself. And if her current appetite was any indicator she was in for an interesting month.