Chapter 13: Meridian
May 8.
"The prisoner has refused to say anything, Master Bridger. Except that she would only talk with 'those who are worth my time'." the overseer of the cells at Yavin Base reported to Ezra, Luke and Jaden as they strolled toward the cell holding their latest guest.
"We expected that much, Lieutenant. Just leave her to us, and remember that no guard must say in her sight."
"She is behind a ray shield, sir. What could she ever do?"
"She has a connection to the Force, but we don't know how strong it is. Until we understand that, we must assume that she can manipulate the guards who haven't received the necessary training."
"If you say so. Good thing we reserved the best spot for her." the officer ended as they reached a heavy durasteel door with two guards standing at the side, who saluted them. The Lieutenant then keyed the code on the lock and the door slid up.
Behind that heavy door there were six cells with ray shields. Those were the most secure the New Republic had at that base, which was mostly a temporary measure until the prisoners could be transferred to safer facilities deeper into republican territory.
The officer temporarily shut down the ray shield holding Mara inside her cell, which had a light on the roof, a toilet, a bed and a table with two chairs for when she received visits. He was about to put the handcuffs on her again, but Ezra gently stopped him with a gesture.
"Thanks, Lieutenant, but I doubt she intends to run."
"As you wish, sir." the officer simply replied before heading out and close the ray shield behind the three Jedi.
Mara stood on her chair, immobile, only giving them a quick glimpse before lowering her eyes. Ezra thus calmly sat on the chair in front and greeted her cordially.
"I hope the soldiers treated you correctly."
"They didn't hurt me in any way." she coldly replied. "Though I guess it's because you asked them to be gentle?"
"Or maybe they are trying to be better than the Empire." Luke replied.
"We'll see how long that noble ideal holds up." was the dry answer of the imperial agent.
Ezra decided to cut directly to the chase and ask her. "The Lieutenant said you would only speak with us. So, I assume you changed your mind about telling us nothing?"
She relaxed her shoulders, keeping her hands laid on the table intertwined with each other, the finally spoke up. "At first I didn't realize, but here I have the opportunity to have a talk with you two. It has been a while since our little chat on Bothawui."
"Oh, right. When we flew away right in front of your nose." Luke threw in both casually and in provocation.
The red-haired woman calmly turned her gaze toward him. "Luke Skywalker, the pilot who destroyed the Death Star." she said unfazed, instead her own tone was composed and seemingly in control of the situation. "You know, Lord Vader has developed...a keen interest in you."
Ezra's heart skipped a beat and he felt the muscles of his eyes twitch spontaneously for the surprise, but before he could show too much, knowing that the security cameras were recording this conversation, he managed to keep his mind in check and avoided any major display of emotion.
Mara gave him a witty glimpse before adding "Well, he is, of course, interested in finding and killing you, Ezra Bridger. The only Jedi who escaped him so many times and nearly defeated him, even."
"What are you trying to get to?" Jaden asked with a bit of strength in her tone.
Among the Jedi, only the Bridgers and the oldest members of the Order knew about Luke and Leia's kinship with Darth Vader, and they were sure that only the two Sith Lords would have noticed anything strange in Luke's own surname.
Still, it was a secret jealously kept away from the New Republic, as it was feared that this news might be leaked and compromise the twins' reputations among the members of the UACT. In that room, even Jaden didn't know, and good thing she didn't find any hidden meaning behind Mara's words. The Jedi Knight still had to hide his emotions to not let his second Padawan gain any suspicion.
"Well, we're here now. What did you want to talk about?" he asked calmly.
"You asked me what I was doing on an insignificant world like that. Well, I suspect that the Governor of Agamar, Moff Borret, has found an old Sith artifact. I was there to investigate."
"In an active war zone?" Jaden asked skeptically. "This Borret was actually there?"
"He still is, for all I know. Though I guess after the news that three Jedi were spotted on Vinsoth, he may have gotten cold feet."
"What kind of artifact are we talking about?" Luke asked.
"That I am not ready to reveal." she replied without flinching. "But I will let you know that it might be possibly imbued with the spirit of an ancient Sith Lord, who probably already subjugated Borret's mind and is using him to carve his own little kingdom."
"So, the Emperor feels threatened." Ezra understood. "And why are you telling us? If it damages the Sith as a whole, you don't expect us to get rid of him for you, right?"
"Actually, that's what I'm going for."
The Padawans looked at each other in confusion. Ezra maintained his composure: after all, he was expecting that much, he only needed to find out what she was trying to obtain.
"Mind to share why we should do that?"
"Well, your sister was so passionate in proclaiming that you Jedi were going to fight every Sith you found."
"Yeah…"
"So, why don't jump at the opportunity?"
Ezra could clearly tell that she was fooling around, but only to a certain degree. Clearly, the Emperor didn't want any competition around, as that of his apprentice was enough. And it was also true that the Jedi couldn't ignore the spirit of another powerful Sith just roaming the galaxy and causing even more chaos and suffering.
Silence followed, with Ezra visibly pondering over the proposal and staring severely into Mara's eyes to catch any hint about her intentions. But the imperial agent was incredibly good at hiding her emotions. Even by using the Force, Ezra noticed that she was able to prevent anyone from looking through her mental barriers. He could easily try to force them, but that would have been nothing less than torture, which sat bad with his conscience and would also make a terrible impression on the New Republic.
"I suppose we wouldn't be able to find this artifact without your help." he finally said rhetorically.
"I have complete respect for your abilities, Bridger." Mara replied in an acquiescing tone. "Of course, though, you would have a much easier time getting through the imperial lines with my help."
Ezra hummed, then grabbed the edge of the table to push the chair away and stand up. "Nice talk."
"At your disposal, Jedi." she quipped. "Not that I'm going anywhere."
Ezra turned around, followed by his Padawans as they headed out of the cell and toward the outside.
"Are you really considering this obvious trap?" Jaden asked incredulous.
"I am still not sure. First, we need to convene with the other Knights and the Masters." he calmly replied. "If we can confirm that this Moff actually is under the influence of an artifact, then I do believe that we should quickly destroy that."
"Especially because it's not just a threat per se. If the Emperor and Vader manage to get its power, we might be waiting for terrible news." said Luke.
"Precisely. We'll ask for Ahsoka and Cal to come over here and investigate what Jade told us, then we'll decide if her cooperation will be worthy or not."
"What if it's all a trap and she's only here to lure us in?" Jaden asked.
"It's a risk, sure, but our duty dictates that we take it. But if you don't want to do this you can go back to Lothal and take on another assignment, Jaden."
"Don't get me wrong." she replied with a firm tone. "I have no intention to back off. I'm just trying to be the voice of reason."
"Which is exactly why I took you as my Padawan." Ezra said with a lopsided grin. "Someone had to balance mine and Luke's lack of common sense."
"I'm glad you are at least aware of that." the Twi'lek replied in tone.
Luke laughed and, after that, they reached the Silver Bullet to update Sabine and ask her to call the Academy on Lothal.
"Commander. Here we are." Gozo said suddenly while she was still steering the Normandy with her psionics.
"Mazak?" Jane asked.
"Getting out of hyperspace in 3...2...1."
The blue tunnel dissipated, letting the stars and the universe regain its apparent form. They found themselves in a pretty dark system, barely illuminated by a white dwarf sever light-years in the distance. The scanners were picking up three different celestial bodies big enough to be considered planets and some major satellites.
"You sure we're in the right place?" Jane asked, seeing that there wasn't anything unusual.
Gozo observed attentively at the simplified map drawn by EDI according to what the Normandy was picking up, then she pointed firmly at one of the moon.
"Look. This moon it's too far from the planet it should be orbiting around."
The others quickly glanced at that, but EDI realized it much quicker. "She's right, Shepard. This moon is outside the gravitational pull of the planet. It's definitely an anomaly."
"Fine, let's go take a look." Jane finally decreed.
"Setting course." Mazak eagerly replied as he dealt with the holographic commands in front of him.
In response, the Normandy aimed her bow toward the direction given by the scanners and prepared to make an in-system jump, which meant a simple speed-of-light that took a few minutes, and differently from the blue tunnel formed while into hyperspace, one could still see the stars far outside and even two of the planets when they passed past them. Eventually, however, in the distance Jane saw the moon they were searching.
Or at least what looked like a moon, but when they arrived in front of it, they noticed that indeed it had the shape of a sphere, but the surface was entirely shielded by a series of pristine blocks that looked like solid water, not letting anyone seeing through it.
"What is that?" Mazak asked incredulous.
"It looks like a perfect model of a Dyson sphere." EDI said in her robotic tone as she analyzed the situation. "However, because of that, we'll need to find the appropriate door to pass through the protective layer."
"Any suggestion?" Jane asked.
"I'll need to make a scan of the planet. Mazak, would you be so kind as to get the joust on?"
"Uh…?" the Zabrak mumbled confused.
EDI slightly turned her head. "Could you please follow the Equator of the sphere?"
"Oh...sure. Uhm, where did that come from?" he asked as he veered the ship.
The AI seemed to hesitate for a second, and Jane already knew the answer, which still pitied her when it came out from the vocalizer of the mechanical body. "It was one of Jeff's jokes."
"I see." Mazak replied in comprehension. By now, he knew full well how much EDI felt the absence of the first pilot of the Normandy and the stories about their relationship still amazed him. But it was definitely a unique story in both the Milky Way and Andromeda. Not even among the Geth and the Quarian, who shared a planet, there were cases of such a deep connection between an organic and a machine.
Nevertheless, the Normandy started a planetary scan which was going to take a while even with EDI managing the instruments. So Jane walked outside of the cabin and headed for the comm room, quickly establishing a contact with the other commanders of this expedition: the Tanis brothers.
Once the communication reached their capital ships, it took a few minutes for both of them to link up so that Jane could give them the news.
"So Meridian is more of a space station?" Iulius asked, clearly thinking about the Death Star.
"It's definitely made by sentient beings." Jane said. "Though it's really big as a moo. But as I said, we need to find a way to get under the protective layer."
Darvos brought his fingers around his chin and stroke it gently, his eyes focusing on a possible solution to the dilemma. "There must be a way to open it that doesn't involve force. Just let me go back to Aya's vault."
"Why there?" Iulius asked curious.
"It's just a feeling, really. But me and the Moshae are inclined to believe that it is the richest in terms of data on the entire Remnant network. Otherwise, why would it have so much more defenses against intrusions?"
Indeed, the vault on Aya had needed the intervention of three AIs to crack the door open: Steve, Cortana and Jinx. And before the Normandy had left for Meridian, the rest of the allied forces had just started taking control of the many levels underground from the clutches of the defense robots. What knowledge was hidden there was still a mystery.
"You think you can find a way to open Meridian?" Jane asked.
"Yes. If there is a wall, usually there is a door that you can use, and we need to find its key. However, I have no idea how long it will take. Captain, if you find no way to bypass the shield, I suggest you save the star coordinates and return here, because we better use all the AIs to help us in deciphering the underground archives."
"I understand, Colonel. At least we'll try to find where the door is. If we can't open it without damaging the structure, we'll return back immediately."
"Then we better get to work." he replied before turning toward his brother. "Do we have news on Grand Admiral Thrawn's reinforcements?"
"They have tracked a way through hyperspace, but these ships are a bit...rudimentary. They should still arrive by the end of next week."
"Not like we're going anywhere until we find our own way into Meridian." Jane reassured, though in reality the situation was getting even more delicate.
After pondering a few days, she had decided that Wilhelm and his half of the crew were making a valid point by bringing up the idea that Meridian and all its marvels may fall into the hands of the Empire. As such, Jane had hoped that being the first to arrive on the scene would give the Normandy the time to scout the structure and assess if there was any possibility of it being a weapon that the Empire might decide to seize later down the line and then use it against the Coalition. The fact that they now needed to go back to Aya made this impossible, because next time Iulius would certainly insist on sending some of his underlings as well, if not his entire force.
Deciding that it wasn't the time to torment herself with this problem, Shepard kept her focus on the two men inside the holo-projector. "Anyway, making a full scan of the shell might take a while. I'll contact you if I find anything, otherwise I'll just send the report and fly back."
"Very well, Captain. I hope I can find something helpful before that happens." Darvos concluded before the conversation reached its end.
May 18.
The relentless burst of explosive shots had Jordan pinned down behind a collapsed column of the vault.
"Help would be appreciated, lads." he said in the comlink with a certain urgency.
They had just met and wiped out a group of Remnant sentinels guarding an archive that, Darvos and Sjefa were sure, was hiding valuable intel about Meridian. Except that now the last and most stubborn defender had shown up: a machine that the allies had nicknamed 'Destroyer' because of the two heavy cannons that the quadruped droid mounted on its head and that was now trying to blow the Legionnaire up to bits.
Luckily for him, the machine was fired upon from its left flank by Thabo, who managed to divert its attention and now he was the one protecting himself with a psionic barrier.
Still, Jordan could use that moment to ignite his omni-tool to use Drain, weakening the shields of the droid while recharging his own. At the same time, Michalina also appeared on the left side, meaning that they had it surrounded. She started throwing a few flame grenades that weakened the machine but until her circuits collapsed that wouldn't be enough.
Jordan was trying to figure out what they could do to finally take it down, but then, seemingly out of nowhere, one of the barrels full of volatile matter that could be found around the vault slammed and exploded against the Destroyer and finally brought it down.
Bridger was already sure of who threw that, so much that he sighed and commented before even turning around. "That's the most Yankee thing I ever saw."
He turned to see Chief innocently standing with his M-76 Revenant in one hand, the other clearly had just thrown the container. "It worked." the giant in green armor simply replied.
"Right." huffed Jordan before setting his comlink to communicate with Darvos.
"This is Spirit. Area secured. You may send the research team."
"Understood, Spirit, nice job. We're coming down." his son-in-law replied formally.
He closed the communication and turned again toward Chief. "Let's put Cortana and Jinx to work on the door, meanwhile. I want to make sure there is nothing behind that."
"Understood." Chief replied with a nod, and the two walked with their guns lowered toward the door, while Thabo and Michalina kept scoping around for possible drones still lurking around. As they reached the terminal that emerged from the floor when it detected them, Jordan reunited the Jinx's processors he had with him and allowed the AI to interface itself with the terminal. Chief did the same with Cortana, though she was able to interface by her own will.
"Let's hope this place has a few more answers than the last ones we saw." Cortana commented as they worked to crack open the seal.
"I agree. I don't want our intelligence be used for trivia." Jinx joked.
After a couple minutes, which still weren't enough for the researchers to come down, the AIs manage to resolve the issue of the lock and the heavy door finally opened with a swift shift upward. The Legionnaires pointed their guns just in case there was any other of the sentinels, but after a quick search it was clear that there were no more defenses, probably because the creators didn't want to risk damaging the archive.
"Damn, this room is huge." Thabo commented in awe.
"The Colonel and the doctors will surely have a lot of things to spend their time with." Michalina added.
"Just don't touch anything until they arrive." Jordan simply concluded. "Jinx, Cortana, do you see any terminal that you two can use?" he added. Since the AIs right now perceive the external world only through the Legionnaires' visors, both him and Chief started looking around to allow them a scan of the room.
Finally, Jinx marked an underground wire like the ones they had already found in other vaults, the kind that usually brought to the command console still waiting in the floor, ready to form up as soon as somebody approached.
Jordan walked toward it, with Chief following suit, the terminal rose and Jordan let his AI access it like he had done multiple times already.
"The quantity of data in this place is...very big." the AI commented.
"Hey, let me take a look, too." Cortana asked in an enthusiastic tone, after which Chief let her go inside the network as well.
The AIs went silent and they still were when, five minutes later, Darvos arrived with the Moshae, Doctor T'Soni, Javik, Iulius and many armed guards of the three factions.
"Goddess." Liara exclaimed as she saw the dimensions of the room and of the walls full of data streams flowing visibly.
"For decades we've tried to gain access to this place." said Sjefa. "And you just made it look so easy."
"We should get to work immediately." said Iulius instead without losing any time. "Have your AIs managed to get an index on this humongous library?"
"They're still working on it." Jordan simply replied.
"We're doing as fast as we can." intervened Cortana. "But we may get this done faster if we can access to the computers of the capital ships. That way Steve can also come in and lend us his calculations."
"Javik, care to make a try?" Liara was heard say.
The Prothean seemed skeptic, but still knelt down and touched the ground with a finger. Quickly after he shook his head and stood back up. "It appears the machines have wiped out any genetic trace from this place. Not that I expected to find many if no one has entered here for tens of thousands of years."
"Then it appears we need to start searching the old way." Iulius added before trying to reach the Admonitor to do what Cortana had suggested.
So the researchers and the AIs got to work. Mostly it was the machines who managed to find useful clues after an hour or so, because they also had to translate the files. So far, by inspecting the previous vaults and towers, the allies had put together an extensive dictionary of the Remnant language, which was probably the language of the Jardaan at this point. Nevertheless, Jordan had to wait around and keep his eyes peeled while the brains tried to solve the enigma.
And finally, they did. All of a sudden, he heard the Moshae speak loudly, a hint of excitement in her usually sterile Angara voice. "Here. According to this file, there are a few mobile surfaces on the external shell that can be open with the right matrix."
"Any hint on where we can find such matrix?" Iulius asked.
"In a way, Lord Tanis." Steve intervened. "After analyzing the previous data, we noticed that the glyphs that had been scanned on Eos and Voeld might contain the solution to find or recreate the matrix we need to access Meridian."
"How long do you need to ascertain that?"
The AIs answered three seconds later. "Done." said Jinx. "Unfortunately, it seems we are missing some words."
From the terminal in the room appeared what looked like a page with a long text made up of those glyphs. The AIs had translated it but they lacked a few words to fill in some gaps and, in some cases, entire sentences.
"But there is something interesting." Cortana added. "We also managed to trace where the vaults on Eos and Voeld are receiving their signal from."
The projection of the text disappeared to give way to a holomap of the sector. Two points, signaling the planets cited by Cortana, were the origin of two different lines that converged on a strange structure with the form of a triangle, and the two lines were perfectly aligned with two of those arms.
"What is that?" Darvos asked.
"It could be the control center for the vaults. Maybe a relay for the orders transmitted from Meridian." Liara said.
"Do we have the exact coordinates, or do we need to find the third piece?" Jordan asked, somehow guessing with just a look.
"I'm afraid the second you said, Captain Bridger." replied Cortana. "We can pinpoint the star cluster where this structure is supposed to be, but just going in there and scan the whole cluster will take the lifespan of two Asari, at least."
"You made your point." Liara, who felt called into question, replied. "Tell us you know at least where the third vault is."
"Luckily, the archives contain an accurate mapping of the vault network." Steve said, and a moment later another green point on the map was highlighted. "According to the blueprints, this is the site where we shall find the third and final vault."
The officers looked at the system pointed on the map. Jordan quickly compared with those of the Angara and noticed that it was a remote system that had been mapped but never colonized, probably because of the start of the war with the Kett.
"All right, then." concluded Iulius. "Let's save the coordinates and call it a day."
The others agreed. After securing the data, they marched back to the surface and called a reunion that would include Evfra for the next day before returning each to their ships or houses. The members of the Coalition all headed back to the Liberator, to which the Normandy and the Constantinople were docked. After taking their leave from their friends and companions, Darvos and Jordan instead headed to the former's office, where they could talk privately.
"The Jardaan just loved puzzles, didn't they?" Darvos sighed as he slumped on the chair exhausted.
"I honestly prefer you solving cross-words than dodging blaster bolts in a fight." Jordan replied.
The Colonel rubbed his eyes with his right hand. "Sure, but it doesn't change the fact that this entire deal is getting much longer than anticipated. I wonder how the rest of the galaxy is doing." and opened his terminal.
"As long as we keep Iulius and Thrawn here, I can't imagine the Empire doing many progress." the Legionnaire commented, then turned his head back at Darvos, seeing that he seemed confused and slightly surprised.
"Hey, there is a message from Lothal." the young Tanis said.
"From Lothal?" Jordan asked, walking next to Darvos' seat so he could lean in and take a look. "What is it about?"
"I don't know. There is only an attached file." he said.
Since they were deep into the Unknown Regions, the only messages that could arrive to the Liberator were those sent through the quantum communicators, but ever since the Empire learned how to block their signal, only very short messages could reach the carrier, so it wasn't surprising that this only had a low memory-consuming file attached to it.
What was surprising, however, was the fact that the file was a picture. One that cut both their breaths short.
There stood Jaral. On a hospital bed. Smiling as she kept a newborn in her arms.