The First Contact War Chapter 34
Hunted (Rewritten)
"A Hunter must stalk his prey until the hunter becomes the hunted. Then the Prey becomes the Predator. Then the Predator and Hunter fight".
25031 Galactic Standard Calendar, Jedi Knight Rena Shan, Unknown Jungle world
They had been keeping the quick pace Lieutenant Sparrow had set when they had stopped running away from the things, roaches as the Lieutenant and Echo Five had taken to calling them, had ceased to pursue them. Since then, Sparrow and Echo Five had taken point to leading the survivors through the jungle, and unknowingly to them, towards the sense of the light side of the Force she had been sensing. She could still feel the dark presence from the thing that had led to roaches was still lurking around their old position. Since she had served as the General to the 317th she had never experienced anything as terrifying or confusing as the attack from earlier that night.
She had not expected the attack, nor had she been prepared for it. She had felt overwhelmed both mentality and also in combat which had seen most of the troops she had brought with her dead. The remainder were demoralised, tired and exhausted and she would by lying if she did not admit that she was also a little exhausted and demoralised. The only ones who seemed to be fine by comparison were Echo Five. The clones in the squad seemed to take the quick march, combat and the experience in stride though they had experience the roaches and the creature a day before the rest of them. And that was before she even got to Sparrow who Echo Five likely drew their motivation from. Sparrow appeared to be like gung-ho stalwart soldier from an action-holo. He stayed professional, always knew what to do and was an excellent shot.
Rena guessed from the growing strength of the Force presence that they were close to the source. If she could find it then she could Find the source of the light side presences on this world and save it from the darkness that wished to consume it. Once she had protected it or collected it, they could get off world and get back on track with the invasion.
Sparrow had just disappeared over a rise in the jungle and the shrub closed behind him when she heard him call back to her.
"General, I think you should see this!"
Rena pushed her tired legs to move a bit faster and pushed a few of the vines and bushes in her path out of her way. Pushing through the bush Sparrow had walked through. She came out onto a ledge that was just covered in grass. Before her stood a vast clearing that was mainly grass as was usually seen in such clearings, however, here there was a sky-blue river that meandered through the clearing with a few tall trees springing from its bank with reeds dotted the whole way along. Behind the river there was a large pyramid stone structure that towered above the surrounding trees. It was made of a dark grey polished stone that even from the distance they were at she could tell the stone was worn and cracked, parts of the structure had crumbled and lay at the base of the pyramid in piles. She knew that from the light side of the Force that the building exuded that this was the source of the light side presence she had felt. Whatever it was the Force was guiding her to was inside.
"What do you want to do sir?" Sparrow asked.
"Do you believe we could fortify this position and wait for extraction here?" She asked
"I can say that this is probably are best bet if we want to hold out for an extraction, and we'll definitely be able to get a signal out."
"Good, in that case we'll set up positions at the top, you, Echo Five and I will make sure that we're safe from any internal threats from the pyramid."
"Understood General."
2623 8th January Earth Standard Calendar, Lt Luke Sparrow, Uncharted Jungle World
"You think that thing is still out there?" Zuc asked nervously. Luke and Echo five had taken up position to the northwest of the temple under the shade of a lone tree.
"Think the man says. It's certainly out there, probably watching us right now." Draft answered him. Everyone was on edge expecting another attack and the paranoia was driving Luke insane. Rena, Korun and a squad of clones had disappeared into the temple an hour ago and the sun was beginning to set.
"How much ammo you boys have left?" asked Luke.
"Five clips and three thermal detonators." Answered Dutch.
"Four clips and one grenade." Mac said.
"Same as Mac." Answered Zuc.
"Six clips." Responded Dex and Draft.
"And I've got four mags, five pistol mags and three grenades, as well as some C-17 and a flashbang." Added Luke. Mac only whistled in response.
"You always carry so much with you?" Mac asked Luke
"Better to have and not need than need and not have." Was his reply. Good, he though, We have enough ammo between us for what I've planned.
"Why do you ask though." Draft inquired, the Sargent inquired.
"I want to die fighting, not waiting to be slaughtered. I'm going out into the jungle and I'm going to kill it." Stated Luke as though it was the simplest thing on the world.
"Are you nuts, have you seen what that thing did! The gunships! The Village! Us! How are only six of us going to defeat what we couldn't yesterday when we had more people than we do now?!" Zuc nearly yelled.
"We may not be able to do much, you're right. But, we could distract it long enough for the gunships can arrive, at the very least it will reduce the number of roaches that are out there."
"Assuming we go along with this, how do we get permission? The General and Captain went into the temple and below ground and left Lieutenant Briggs in charge." Asked Draft.
"Simple, I radio Briggs and say I'm taking you lot out on a perimeter patrol to make sure that the roaches aren't near us."
"If we do this, we will get caught. No question. Then we'll face court martial for being AWOL."
"Then we take steps to mitigate such an outcome. I'm technically outside your chain of command and can commandeer units for short periods of time. We could also stage an attack by the roaches that get us cut off from the temple and force us to retreat into the jungle. If all that fails then I'll take all responsibility for the insubordination and say I ordered you to go along and before you realised what was happening it was too late." Luke stated.
"I don't know. I mean so much could go wrong and we'd get in so much tro-" Dex started.
"I'm in." Spoke Dutch.
"Guess that makes two." Said Mac.
"Count me in." Zuc piped up.
"Ah Kriff, was never gonna live long enough to enjoy retirement anyway." Said Draft.
"Then I suppose I'm in too then." Dex said reluctantly.
Luke smiled, "I guess I need to make a call then," He said while raising his hand to his comm.
"Lieutenant Briggs, I'm requesting that I and Echo Five do a perimeter check, so we aren't caught be surprise." There was a momentary crackle of static as he waited for Briggs' reply.
"Understood Lieutenant Sparrow, permission granted. But at the first sign of trouble I want you to fall back to the temple and don't stray too far. We've already lost enough men." Came Brigg's brief reply.
"Roger that sir, we'll keep in contact." Luke lied, "Okay then Echo Five, let's move out."
Luke and Echo Five began to move towards the Jungle through the tall long grass.
"So what's the plan then? Wonder around until we find it or go somewhere specific?" asked Draft.
"We go back to the old landing zone. We look for tracks and clues there and work out where the attackers came from. We could probably stage a fake attack on the way." Luke answered as the jungle swallowed them up as they entered and the temple was obscured from view.
2623 8th January Earth Standard Calendar, Lt Luke Sparrow, Uncharted Jungle World
They had reached the clearing without incident which Luke hadn't been expecting after the show they had put on. They had started firing frantically at trees and shrubs and done a lot of yelling. Which he was sure that the clones back at the temple would have been able to hear and their radio would have certainly allowed Briggs to hear as they were 'overrun' and 'forced to fall back into the jungle', and they were now 'searching for a clearing to await evac'. They had yomped through the jungle for hours to get to the clearing.
The scene reminded him of the first gunships they had found. Floating about fifteen metres off the ground completely disassembled but they hadn't found any bodies this time. The clearing being surprisingly empty of the clones that had died there the night before. The weapons and blood stains were still present though. Echo Five was wondering around the clearing inspecting the battlefield for anything that might help them. Ammo clips, grenades, MREs, anything that could be used. Luke had headed in the direction of the jungle where the roaches had attacked from.
Kneeling down in the soft dirt he could easily see the tracks in the dirt but there were so many it was difficult to put together which direction the creatures had been heading. They appeared to head towards the temple but after fifty metres they stopped and doubled back toward the clearing.
Following the tracks he attempted to avoid any that went directly into the clearing and instead focused on those that went near or around it. One set of tracks eventually led him to the North West side of the clearing. It seemed as though a large amount of roaches had both come from and left in the direction of the tracks.
"Echo Five, I've found a trail for us to follow. Rally on my position." He said into the radio. Two minutes later the squad had turned up more well equipped and supplied curtesy of the dead.
"The trail leads to the Northwest. We're going to follow it and see where it goes." He explained receiving nods of understanding from the clones. Luke took point as Zuc brought up the rear as they followed the trail further into the Jungle and away from the remaining survivors at the temple.
They were all paranoid. Every little sound became a explosion of noise. Their eyes and weapons constantly scanning the vegetation unwaveringly. They constantly looked over their shoulder, expecting an ambush at any second. Luke really wished they had a flame thrower, it would be incredibly useful in the jungle and in their situation, fire had a knack for being very useful from cooking, keeping warm to killing things.
The tracks at times became nearly impossible to see to faded so much that he almost missed them. If they lost the trail, which they did a few times they had to search around until they found them or backtrack until they found them again.
They had made good progress by the time darkness settled on the jungle thanks to their quick but suspense filled trek through the beautiful jungle. There had been a few hiccups along the way but nothing too serious. Luke could hear evening bugs and birds chirping and cricketing in the cool air.
"LT, I'm picking something up of the emergency frequency. It's incredibly weak and sporadic but it sounds like a distress call." Informed Dex.
"How far away is it?" Asked Luke, rasing his hand for the group to stop.
"If the system is right then only two clicks at most to our west, but then again it might just be on the fritz like our comms." Informed Dex.
"There are only two reasons for a distress call on this planet. You've crashed landed or you've been attacked. Lead the way." Ordered Luke.
The next tense hour were spent moving over rough uneven ground which was starting to prove a challenge for the tiring clones and Luke himself was becoming a little winded. The jungle was a different place at night. The shadows all blended together and very little moonlight pierced the thick canopy, therefore plunging the jungle floor into near total darkness that would be incredibly difficult to see through without modern NVGs. Everyone felt a slight fear of attack by the roaches, especially since their natural colouring lended themselves to hunting in the dark.
"Kriff!" yelled Mac as he stumbled backwards and fell over. Every weapon was immediately pointed in the direction Mac had been facing. But nothing appeared and showed itself.
"What's the matter Mac? Scared of a few plants." Joked Zuc, as the others felt a little less tense seeing as nothing was there.
"Kriff off Zuc, I wasn't scared. Besides you were all looking in the wrong place." Mac said as he pointed up into the trees. Looking up themselves a dozen skeletons could be seen, vines wrapped around their legs, dangling from the tree branches. Luke used the term skeleton loosely. It was more the feet and some legs bones dangling rather than a whole skeleton but he had a pretty good guess where the remaining bones had fallen. And an even better guess what had caused the Skeletons to be there.
"How far are we from that signal?" Asked Luke.
"It's just through the bushes." Explained Dex. Luke lifted his rifle and moved quickly and silently as possible toward the bush and through it. The clones right on his heels, though much less quiet. They came out into a tiny but very long unnatural clearing. A starship, a smaller than average freighter Luke had ever seen before lay half buried in the ground. It was covered in vines, shrubs and rust. He couldn't see any identifying markings or a name on the hull. The windows on the bridge were smashed and the antenna was heavily damaged. Behind it, for about what Luke guess to be a mile and a half was where the ship had impacted and slid along the planets surface until it came to rest were in presently lay. Though most of its destructive trail had been covered in grass, shrubs and a few small trees.
"Poor buggers must have crashed here and been attacked by that thing. Some the roaches were probably the crew." Said Dutch in a quiet voice.
"We'll make sure the ship is safe and then camp out the night in it. We''ll head to the bridge first, see if we can find a manifest and name for her." Luke informed the others.
"Looks like there's a gap in the hull we can enter through." Informed Draft who pointed at a small but wide hole in the side hull just above the ground where at least two men could fit through at a time.
"Well spotted. Let's go." Approaching the hull and the wound in the side of it Luke activated the flashlight attachment on his rifles left rail. The bright beam shone upon the gap and into the hallway inside. A few plants had made their home inside, mostly vines and a small flower plant. His back was against the hull as his rifle pointed one way into the visible half of the hallway with the clones stacking up behind him. Dutch tapped his shoulder and Luke went in though the opening about two metres into the corridor. His rifle looking for targets as Durch came in behind him and did the same for the remaining corridor behind him. Both yelled clear as the four other members of Echo Five joined them.
"We need to go up about three floors and then make our way to the front of the ship. Dex, take point."
"Yes Sir."
As they walked through the dark empty hallways and stairs, with the only light source being from Luke's gun or the clone's helmets, checking every corner and room they came across they uneventfully made their way to the bridge. Dust swirled around in the light and rust and what might've been old bloodstains covered the walls. The only noises that could be heard from inside the ship were the breathing of the men, their gear and their footsteps on the cold steel floor. If there was one benefit to being on the ship, albeit a double edged one, it was that if anything moved you would at least hear it do so.
Approaching the bridge doors that looked like they had been ripped off their hinges, one was in place but halfway down but the other was laying inside the bridge, the opposite direction one would have expected from the angle of the crash. Something had broken into the bridge.
Draft walked over to the ships computer and pressed a few buttons while everyone else secured the bridge.
"Power's completely out, so we'll need to get the ship's generator back online." Draft informed.
"Dutch, Mac and I will go restore power. You lot stay here until then." Luke said as he headed out of the door as Dutch and Mac formed up on him. If this freighter was like any other then the generator would be at the aft of the ship through the cargo hold.
There was something unnerving, less so than being potential hunted by an unseen and mysterious seemingly unkillable foe and its minions, about walking through an abandoned complex or ship. You didn't know what was lurking within and that fear was only increased by the lack of visibility and lack of light. Approaching the end of the corridor they came to stairs that had brought them up. On the left wall, there was the layout of the ship displayed.
"Looks like we go down a floor and continue from there to the hold. Then its located at the end. Doesn't seem so difficult." Said Dutch reading the map.
"Let's be quick about this." Luke said walking down the steps. Dutch and Mac hurried after him, not wanting to be left behind. With the onset of night, the temperature dropped and a breeze could be felt wafting through the downed starship. It was a welcome change from the sweltering heat of the jungle.
"I hate the quietness in here. It puts me even more on edge." Mac spoke up in a whisper.
"I know what you mean." Responded Dutch. That's odd, we should be able to hear the wildlife outside from where we are, even a little. The only other times things have been this quiet are when…
"Let's pick up the pace. We don't have all night." Luke said as he began to walk faster. Coming around a turn they arrived at the corridor that led to the cargo hold. The corridor was larger than the others, in that was twice as wide and high. It the corner it had a type of forklift parked, in a similar condition to everything else on the ship. Rusted and or broken. There was a draft coming from the cargo hold which suggested that the hull had been more torn up than the initial look over had suggested. The door the cargo hold itself had been torn off its hinges and lay on either side of the corridor, likely from the crash landing.
Proceeding through the entrance the room was just as pitch dark as the rest of the decrepit ship. The flashlights being the only source of light cut through the darkness, illuminating some shipping containers that had been thrown to the front of the hold, blocking any easy path through. Luke spied a gap under one container that was propped up against another, creating a small triangular passage way for them. The passage way became tighter and narrower the further through Luke travelled. Coming out the other side, the containers gave way to a wide spacious hold that Luke had expected to have more cargo. Instead the hold was empty bar science equipment scattered all over the floor and what looked like a cage of sorts deadbolted to the floor.
The cage appeared to have been broken out of, it's door on the opposite side of the room. Luke noticed that both on the floor walls and some equipment a brown-rust like splatter which was either rust which covered nearly every other part of the ship he'd seen or more likely from the layout of the patches dried blood. Though if it were blood there wasn't any bodies nor any bones, suggesting they had been moved or it was just rust.
"What do you think happened here?" Mac asked, also gazing at the make shift lab they were in.
"An experiment of some sort. Some large animal judging by the size of that cage. Must have gotten free when the ship crashed." Dutch speculated.
"Then what happened to the crew?" Mac asked. Luke crouched down next to where one of the rust and or blood stains were. The problem with distinguishing between rust and dried blood was that they both shared the same colour.
"If we get the power back on and find a terminal we may be able to find out." Luke said standing back up.
Time Skip
"There, power should be up and running." Dutch said as the lights flickered back on and continue to flicker. The ships reactor hummed as it came to life after an unknown amount of time. Luke noticed that most the lights weren't working, either they were broken or flickering sporadically. Luke turned off his HUDs night vision and the overly lit world of green returned to its natural colours of orangey-red rust on steel grey surfaces.
"Sargent, the powers back online. See if there's a captains log or manifest up there, we're making our way back now."
"Copy sir, we'll start searching right away." Darft responded over the comm.
"Come 'on , we'll stop at the make shift lab on the way back, see if there isn't anything we can dig up."
Time Skip
The hangar now being somewhat well light now made it now no less strange. There was still the indistinguishable orangey-red coatings on the walls and floor that was either dried blood or rust, the smashed up equipment and broken containment cell. What confused Luke the most was that the various medical, research and testing equipment shouldn't have been that broken up just from a crash landing. While Dutch and Mac looked for a terminal or Data slate, Luke walked over to the cage to inspect it.
The cage seemed bog standard with some additional security. Ray shields as all cells had in the Republic had. But unlike many of those cells this one also had metal bars that would be found back in the OAG in prisons, albeit heavily reinforced. He saw that the floor and bars had scratch marks and one bar looked indented from a punch or something similar. Beyond those markings and the nature of the cage it was difficult to distinguish what species had been inside. Hopefully some information could be brought to light on what was happening on this ship. He really didn't want to have to worry about a second creature roaming out there.
"Sir I've got a working terminal over here." Luke quickly hurried over to where Mac was calling from. Mac had set up the terminal he found on a righted table. Luke couldn't see anything wrong externally with the terminal, so the problem had to be something else.
"There's a password and firewall protecting the files. I can't access them without the specified clearance." Mac informed him.
Luke took off his assault pack and reached inside for his PDA. He scanned the terminal Mac had found for a USB port of some kind. Looking at the back of the terminal he found a small port that might fit the PDA's extendable USB cable. Luckily, and surprisingly, the Orionian style USB fit. He selected the computer override function that started the PDA's automatic hacking software that would break through any computer firewall. The PDA's screen flashed green with a light beep signalling its success in less than twenty seconds.
"That should do it." Luke said stowing the extendable USB port and PDA.
"Got a few corrupted files here so I'll see what I'm able to pull up." Mac said eyeing the various on screen files.
"There that one." Spoke Dutch pointing at the file entry in question.
Chief Researcher Mcetha
CIS Special Investigations Team once spoke of a creature called the Song Than. Supposedly this creature had incredible abilities. Everyone thought it was nothing more than a rumour or legend that SIT was telling us, but later research would prove us wrong. The first person to recognize the validity of that story was my teacher, Dr Gendo. He hypothesized that the creature, somehow, might exist that could alter reality.
That man was so perspicacious!
His hypothesis turned out to be correct! The creature was discoved on the world designated C-66 in the Southern unknown regions. It took the might of our assigned CIS Infantry Division and a Sith artefact granted to us by Lord Dooku himself to subdue it at the cost of 55,000 droids. After such time, our efforts were finally rewarded. During its capture the creature displayed previously unthinkable abilities. It can materialise a flesh-based armour out of thin air. Disassemble machines down to the last nut and bolt. It can leave objects in a state of levitation indefinably. Dr Gendo believes we are only scratching the surface of its capabilities. Even Dr. Marcus, who until yesterday looked exhausted, was in good spirits. He wants to return home as soon as possible to delve deeper into his research.
Most peculiarly though, the creature displayed one other ability that only one man reported. A Pvt. Sulvan, part of the SIT that was assigned to us, reported that upon making eye contact with the creature, he felt an odd sensation before finding himself back on Raxus Prime at Raxus Spaceport. He found himself able to move around as though he was at the actual spaceport rather than in the dense forests of C-66. He stated that it was on the day of his first deployment, just as he remembered it, but this time Raxus was under a surprise invasion by the Orionians at that he was badly burnt by Napalm. It would have been dismissed as a hallucination induced by the creature if not for the fact that Pvt Sulvan according to his squad became suddenly dosed in fire. If what Pvt Sulvan says is true then the creature has the power to bend reality or at least people's perception of it.
Either way the Song Than is being brought aboard the ship now. The whole team is keen to start as soon as it is safe to do so.
End log…
Chief Researcher Mcetha
We've hit the metaphorical brick wall. We brought the Song Than back from C-66 and attempted to study it here. The initial culture samples of the Song Than have not shown DNA-altering characteristics as to how it accomplishes its many feats.
We cultivated the samples to mass-produce the Song Than.
At first, everything proceeded smoothly. The embryos were strong, and grew quickly. In a short amount of time [six weeks] they were 'born'.
But here is when a major problem surfaced! The creatures did not display any of the Song Than's abilities!
Perhaps the environment in which they're grown triggers the development of the virus. This matter must be investigated further.
End Log…
Chief Researcher Mcetha
We've made no progress. We've tried cultivating the embryos under different conditions, but with no luck in triggering development of the powers themselves. Thus far we have tried changing the soil, water, temperature, and light exposure in their artificial environment with no success.
I got into a heated debate with Dr. Gendo about the direction this research was taking.
During that debate, CIS command interjected some foolhardy notion of starting a weaponization program.
Without the Song Than's abilities there's no point in starting a program. Do they not see that? It's all pointless!
End Log…
Chief Researcher Mcetha
It's been over two months since we've had any breakthroughs. That's why Dr. Gendo and I have decided to return to C-66. CIS R&D is threatening to withdraw funding if we don't make any progress soon. We can no longer continue our research without the funding granted by the CIS. I know these routine attacks by the Yutzee, black insect like bipedal creatures, are really going to wrack my nerves, but for the sake of our research, I will persevere.
In the face of my foreseen dismay it was Commander Parson who provided the answer.
"If you're worried about the Yutzee, then we'll just have to remove them from the equation"
I can only imagine the lack of shock on our faces. The idea never occurred to us. It was quite an atypical solution to our problems, but it seemed to be the only option available.
Dr. Gendo and I decided to try Mr. Spencer's plan.
End Log…
Chief Researcher Mcetha
Finally, some good news! We learned they were able to chase the Yutzee off their land. The land we acquired only amounts to half of those underground ruins, but if it includes the area where the Song Than was found, then there should be no issue.
CIS R&D sent a specialist to oversee our research, a Mr. Coltha, said he plans to construct research facilities at the site, which will expedite our research into the Song Than. He also ordered Dr. Gendo to remain aboard the ship. We were initially taken aback by the request, but we soon realized it was the logical course of action. Dr. Gendo needs a calm environment to properly conduct his research. If planetside, there would be no proper facility for him to use at this time. I just hope the research facilities get built soon.
So now I will go to C-66 and send back samples of the Song Than that remain to Dr. Gendo.
Both Dr. Gendo and Mr. Coltha agree this is the best course of action.
I have to start making preparations to go, I have a feeling I'll be pretty busy starting tomorrow.
End Log…
Chief Researcher Mcetha
I've been planet side for two weeks now. It's a good thing Dr. Gendo isn't here. This place is far from being a paradise of research and scientific study. The so-called research facilities are nothing more than a bunch of tents, and we have to employ armed droids to keep the Yutzee at bay.
But the thing that gets on my nerves the most is the sound of the construction for the real research facilities.
How am I suppose to concentrate and research when everything is threatening to drive me insane? I'm trying to just concentrate on extracting the Song Than samples from the material brought to me so I can send them to Dr. Gendo. Hopefully, if I focus on my work, I can remain sane in this Force forsaken place.
End Log…
Chief Researcher Mcetha
The research facilities are finally completed! This is the real deal, not just some pile of tents. But I've come to a realization in the past nine months. The facilities are too small for our needs. We need to make them larger, more suitable for we can fill them with more talented researchers.
This place needs to be our frontline in our research. Our results will do a great service to Dr. Gendo and his research.
In a rare turn of events, that old skinflint Cotha actually agreed with me on this!
End Log…
"Well kriff." Stated Dutch.
"Sounds like they were studying the creature that's hunting us, trying to weaponize it too. Must've escaped when the ship came down." Suggested Mac.
"Or it brought the ship down itself," Luke said pessimistically, "See if there is anything more recent."
Chief Researcher Mcetha
A fire broke out during the test on the Song Than's telekinetic abilities. This required a temporary Level 4 (BL-4) quarantine for the immediate area. Three crew have perished, their bodies not found.
End Log…
Chief Researcher Mcetha
It's been five days since the area was put under quarantine. Animals we have been granted have been subjected to the Song Than's DNA and are undergoing a strange and rapid mutation. Eye-witness accounts indicate the creature possesses a very hard epidermis. No viral cysts related to Song Than have been reported, however.
I speculate that we are seeing how the Song Than asserts it's authority over other creatures. It's DNA merging with that of host creatures and evolving them to suit its needs. Specimens will have to be studies, then cremated to prevent any chance of aiding the Song Than's potential escape.
On a side note, an engineer from F Deck went missing today. A security team was dispatche to investigate.
End Log…
Chief Researcher Mcetha
The lightly armed team sent to investigate the missing engineer also went missing. Unfortunately, another team had to be deployed to retrieve the corpses of the first team, which had been dismembered by something extremely sharp. There were also multiple stab wounds that appeared to be made by claws.
Trace amounts of a peculiar chemical substance were detected on the eyes of some of the corpses. What kind of organism we are dealing with is still unknown at this time. According to the initial investigation, we could be dealing with a new type of Yutzee.
Of course, more data on this creature is still required before a thorough analysis can be submitted.
The ship is undergoing Tier 1 quarantine until the Yutzee is found.
End Log…
Chief Researcher Mcetha
Bad news. There appear to be more than just one Yutzee, their spreading. The lower decks of the ship have been overrun and we've been cut off from the rest of the crew. The only thing between us and the Yutzee is the reinforced walls, floor, ceiling and doors designed to keep the Song Than in. That includes us now. We recently lost contact with the bridge. The lights are flickering every now and then. Not that concerning until one realises that if the lights go then the ships engines become offline, including life support, air filters, artificial gravity and the most reliable generator for keeping the ever more restless Song Than in its cage.
The back up generator in the room is designed to keep the Song Than in its prison, though I have my doubts as to how long.
We can only hope rescue comes soon…
End Log…
"That's the last one I can open that isn't corrupted" Mac informed them.
"At least we now know what's trying to kill us and what it can roughly do." Dutch spoke, his underlying fear undercutting the positiveness of his voice.
"And what happened to the crew. The Song Than turned them into the Roaches, or 'Yutzee' as Mcetha here called them. Come on, we need to go get the others." Luke ordered as the headed off back to the bridge.
The journey back to the bridge was thankfully as uneventful as their journey from the bridge. Just empty and now lit corridors and passageways. The cool night draft flowing through the old ship had picked up and become more of a light breeze. Luke noted how the hull creaked and groaned every now and then. Nothing to suspicious just slightly uncomfortable to hear in their certain situation. They rounded the corner to the bridge and saw that the door was closed.
Luke could see the old scratch and claw marks on it despite however long the ship had been downed on the planet. Upon approaching the door, it didn't open automatically like seemingly all doors in Republic ships did. Moving over the door controls to his left Luke pressed the large red button. Dutch and Mac had their carbines at the ready. The door opened with a squeak and groan, sounding like it needed some oil. Draft and Zuc also had their carbines raised from the sound of the door opening, upon seeing the three friendlies both groups lowered their weapons.
"Glad to see your still in one piece." Draft said welcoming them back.
"Nights still young." Luke quipped.
"Don't jinx us sir." Dutch half joked, and half cautioned.
"Where's Dex?" Luke asked looking at Draft. The clone wasn't with them in the broken and worn bridge. He and the others hadn't seen the man outside or on the way back to the bridge.
"When the power came back online the door went down. He volunteered the stand guard just outside it while Zuc kept an eye on the view ports as I went through the ships Data logs. Why?"
"I didn't see him out there just now," Luke responded, "Either of you see him."
"Negative sir." Answered Dutch while Mac shook his head.
"I'll try raising him on comm. Dex, this is sergeant Draft where are you. Repeat, this is sergeant Draft, what is your position, over." If Draft got a response he didn't show it.
"Dex come in, where are you." Draft spoke with mounting concern.
"Not answering?" Zuc asked.
"No."
"Did either of you hear anything while he was outside. Clangs, creaks, sounds of struggling? Anything?"
"No, it was dead quiet the whole time." Draft informed them.
Skitter, Skitter…
"A person can't just vanish." Dutch added.
Skitter, Skitter…
"I'll try raising him again." Draft said.
Skitter, Skitter…
Luke's attention was diverted from the conversation by a skittering noise he could only just make out. It was buried beneath their conversation and the noises of the jungle at night. He would've passed it off as ship being old and damaged if it were not so frequent.
Skitter, Skitter…
The others appeared to have not have noticed it. From what he could defer it was coming from above them, outside on the hull surface, how far away from them he couldn't tell.
"Sir? Sir? Sir?!" Zuc called out to him, though Luke wasn't really paying attention.
Skitter, Skitter…
It was getting ever so slightly louder meaning whatever was making the noise was getting closer. If he listened hard enough it sounded like there was more than one creature above them.
Skitter, Skitter, Skitter…
"Sir!" Zuc's yelling finally reaching his conscious mind bring him back to the four clones in front of him.
Luke raised his index finger to his lips signalling for them to be quiet as he used his other hand to point in the direction above them. The clones quickly caught on and hushed up, holding their weapons in ready positions.
Skitter, Skitter, Skitter…
"They're above us." Luke whispered as quietly as possible.
Skitter, Skitter, Skitter…
"What do we do?" asked Draft. Luke weighed their options. The known potential enemy was directly above them on the ships hull and would enter through he shattered bridge view ports. That left the corridor as their only viable escape. However the things, likely roaches/Yutzee, could have set an ambush wanting them to run into the corridors. They were probably responsible for Dex's disappearance meaning that at least a few were in the ship with them. He had a few blocks of C-17 handy and the ships hull was probably in bad enough condition that a third way out could be… manufactured.
Skitter, Skitter, Skitter…
"Okay, I have a plan…"
25031 Galactic Standard Calendar, Jedi Knight Rena Shan, Unknown Jungle world
Rena tightly clutched pouch containing the two ancient holocrons, one Sith, the other Jedi. She was currently running down an underground damp narrow moss covered stone passageway closely followed by Captain Korun and another clone, Ratha she believed he was called. The other members of Ratha's squad that had accompanied her were now dead. Killed by the creature and its Roaches in order for them to escape with the Holocrons. Their only light source was the clone's helmet mounted torches and her ligthsabre
Upon descending into the temple, they had lost contact with their forces of the surface, the signall being blocked by the layers of rock and dirt. They had stumbled upon an underground catacomb of passageways, halls and rooms. Some were booby-trapped, some were dead ends. From poisonous darts, pitfall traps, spike walls to many other defensive systems designed to maim and/or kill. The to top it off when she entered the Holocron vault as the clones stood guard outside the Force had felt it necessary to test her one final time before she could obtain the Holocrons for the Jedi order. She had to fight the Force's projection of her fallen darker self which had nearly killed her if not for its overconfidence.
She could hear the creature and its Roaches behind them, screeching and squawking in their pursuit. She had now idea ho long she had been down below nor how long she had been running. There weren't any natural indicators like a sun or moon and being a Jedi gave her additional stamina and speed. The clones might have a better idea but even they did not have a clock or watch on them.
Ducking under a slightly collapsed ceiling she and her escort rounded a bend in the tunnel. The floor ahead disappeared forcing her to come to a halt before she went over the edge. Korun's and Ratha's boots gave them better traction than her Jedi ones and were able to come to a stop easier.
"Over you go." She said as she raised both hands and used the Force to lift the two clones over the chasm that more likely than not contained poison tipped spikes or worse in the gaping darkness below. The two clones waved their arms and legs about a bit from the sensation of floating. Setting them down on the other side, both clones landed on their hands and knees.
Rena took a few steps back before taking a slight run up and jumping, using the Force to supplement her leap. She sailed through the air landing next to the two clones.
"Thanks." Korun simply said. Turning to look back she saw a few Roaches appear from the tunnel behind them. Two were either unable to stop or didn't see the drop and tumbled down into the pit, letting out a shriek, then a louder shriek when they hit the bottom. Their compatriots still on the other side merely stood there poised. Squawking and snapping at them but not moving from their position. She saw the creature, covered in its flesh and muscle armour. It advanced in its usual slow, menacing manner. The Roaches parted in its wake allowing it an unobstructed path to the edge of the pit.
It stopped and fist looked at her, then down at the pit. It let out a low reverberating growl. She watched as it then with its roaches seem to melt into the darkness as they retreated back into the tunnel. They were safe for now.
"What do we do now General?" Asked Korun, now standing beside her still catching his breath.
"We follow the tunnel and try to find a way out. Once we do we can try and contact the rest of the men and get back to the fleet." Rena stated their plan of action. She led the two clones down the tunnel as they explored for a way out. Korun followed behind her, pistols drawn and ready while Ratha covered their rear. The blue blade of her lightsabre illuminated the damp walls and water droplets hanging from the dark green moss with an ethereal glow. Every now and then a droplet would fall from the ceiling and land on her lightsabre, sizzling as it was immediately evaporated.
They approached a crossroad. Five paths diverging from their own. Maybe she had been a bit overconfident in her assumption it would be easy to get out. They were stuck in an underground catacomb death trap, lost, no clear way out and abominations hunting them at every step. Realising she was starting to panic she started a few breathing exercises that her master taught her to centre herself on the calming nature of the Force. After a few seconds she felt it working. A cool refreshing draft helped and felt wonderful. Draft? Why was there a draft? That required an opening to the outside for one to let the air enter.
She looked around to attempt to work out which tunnel the draft was coming from. If they followed it there would likely be a way outside. She felt the breeze wash over her again coming from her left. There were two tunnels coming from that direction. Turning to face them she closed of all her sense bar that to the Force and simply listened. At first, she didn't sense anything but eventually she was able to make out a slight tugging sensation coming from the second tunnel. It was very faint but it was there. As a Jedi she had been taught to trust the Force and now was no exception.
"This way." She ordered and headed down into the tunnel. Korun and Ratha joining her brisk pace. They spent what felt like an eternity ducking and weaving through partially collapsed tunnels, backtracking every now and then, following the twists and turns of the underground labyrinth. They had begun to hear an odd shriek and squawk ever couple of minutes implying that the Roaches weren't that far behind. After yet another fork in the tunnel she noted how it began to become ever so slightly brighter. She could also hear something, like the sound of tumbling water. She broke into a light jog and followed the source of the noise, the need for artificial light decreasing the louder the noise got. After one final bend she saw their way out. The tunnel seemed to carry on ahead but half way down there was a T-junction which was illuminated by a white light and the sound of what she only assumed was a waterfall. The floor and walls were very damp and a cool vapour seemed to drift through the air.
"I've found our way out." She called back to Korun and Ratha who had just rounded the bend. Their shoulders appeared to momentarily droop from relief at knowing there was a way out.
Walking over to the T-Junction she saw how it opened up to show the water pouring over the entrance, granting it a natural camouflage. The manner by which the moonlight shone through was very breath-taking to see. She also deduced from that it had been a long time since they had been above ground as the sun was only just setting when they entered the temple. Approaching the cascading torrent of water she noticed that the rock surface appeared more chipped and worn from erosion and how much more slippery it now was. This brought her to their next issue.
The tunnel ended where the water began. There was no path cut into the stone that allowed them a way around the waterfall. The only way out was through. This presented a leap of faith they would have to overcome. The downforce of the water would pull them over with it and the slippery floor would do them no favours. They had no way of seeing what was below or how high up they were. She could try and use the Force to move the water out of the way so they could see but using the Force on fast moving water required a lot of concentration and skill which she wasn't confident she had.
"Captain, I'm going to clear the water for as long as I can. I want you to inform me what you see below us and how high up we are." Korun nodded in understanding a took up position next to the mouth of the tunnel, ready to peer over the side.
Closing her eyes and cantering herself, she let out a breath and raised her hand. Bending the Force she directed it to push the water out of the way. She kept her eyes closed to limit the amount of stimuli she had to deal with and boost her concentration.
"Sir, I've got what we need." Korun announced. Dropping her hand she ceased using the Force, allowing the water to continue its natural course.
"Report Captain."
"We're nine metres up so we'll defiantly have a chance to survive the fall. I couldn't see anything sticking up out of the water at the bottom but that's nothing to say there isn't anything in the water that could harm us." Korun spoke in his usual professional voice. They heard another screech from the tunnels behind them, louder than the previous ones. The Roaches were closing in.
"Possible death from jumping or certain death from the Roaches. I say we jump sir." Ratha added his opinion. Rena couldn't say she disagreed and neither did Korun.
"I have no alternative and this could be our best chance out of this catacomb." Rena said making up her mind.
"Right behind you sir." Korun supported her.
Rena looked back at the waterfall in front of them. Taking a breath, she jogged towards it before leaping off just before she hit the water. She arched up as she assumed a high diving position. She felt the freezing cold water rush over her body and push her downwards. She fell for bout three seconds before she hit the water. It too was cold and felt herself being tossed around by the currents. If there was anything in the water that could damage her she didn't hit it. She felt her body's natural buoyancy pull her in the direction of the surface and righted herself despite the current and swam upwards. Breaking the surface, she quickly gasped for air. She could make out the sound of either Korun or Rqtha hitting the water behind her. Treading water, she looked around her. She could see the bright clear full moon above her as well as the full beauty of the night sky. It was nearly impossible to see through the trees as everything beyond the tree line was invisible from both the darkness, shadows and thickness of vegetation. She able to make out an embankment and began to swim towards it.
Pulling herself up it she noticed how a muddy clay seemed to wipe off on her as she cmade her way up, mostly on her hands and legs. Korun and Ratha who appeared uninjured soon followed. The mud clinging to their armour. Reaching down to her side she felt the pouch containing the Holocrons. Opening it she could see the distinctive blue and red glow emitted by them. Satisfied she still had them she closed the pouch once more.
Activating her wrist comm she called back to Lt. Briggs back at the temple.
"Lieutenant Briggs, this is General Shan. I have acquired two Holocrons but sustained losses. The creature and it's Roaches are in the catacombs. What is your status, have the gunships arrived?" All she got in response was static.
"Lieutenant Briggs this is General Shan please respond." More static. Either they were being jammed, out of range or their comms had been damaged. Worst case scenario Briggs and the others had been killed by the creature.
"To any listeners, this is General Rena Shan of the Republic's 317th Legion, if you are hearing this please respond." Korun and Ratha stood silently behind her keeping watch. The sound of the waterfall and the of jungle was all that could be heard. She tried her comm one more time.
"To any listeners, this is General Rena Shan of the Republic's 317th Legion, if you are hearing this please respond."
"Nothing?" asked Korun.
"No. I can't raise anyone."
"Then we need to find somewhere we can hold out until extraction or somewhere we can be picked up." Korun recommended.
"I concur, we'll follow the river for now." Rena said making up her mind. Just before they were about to head off they heard two splashes behind them. Her hand flew to her lightsabre and she ignited its blade. Korun and Ratha had their weapons raised in the direction the splashes had come from. Their helmet lights illuminating the water's surface in search for the cause.
A figure burst from the water taking in a loud gasp of air before diving under again. It had been to fast for any of them to make out what it was. The beams of light from the clones helmets scanned over the water trying to spot the mysterious figure again.
The figure burst out from the water a second time. Upon the light from the helmet torches being shone upon it it's identity was revealed. Rena could it was the Orionian Lieutenant, she couldn't make out much of him as his back was turned to them, one arm used to propel him through the water the other pulling an unconscious clone. Rena was stunned for a moment. Why was Sparrow here. What had happened to the men back at the temple, had they been attacked, had he been separated, had they been overrun, had the gunships come and left them behind? A million and one other questions ran through her mind as Sparrow pulled himself and the clone up the embankment.
Korun and Ratha helped pull him and his compatriot up the side. She saw him stand up now covered in mud bar his face. She could make out some of his fatigues through the mud, they seemed singed in places and torn in others. He had what seemed to be blood coating parts of his attire and in some places where his combat shirt and trousers had been torn.
"Sir," he let out through chattering teeth, the cold air mixing with the cold mud and air not helping to keep him warm. She turned to look at the clone he had pulled out with him. With great concern she saw that the clone had lost his lower left leg and part of his right hand. His left thigh armour piece had been removed and a tunicate had been applied to prevent the clone from bleeding out, though only pro-longing the ordeal. She could see that the clone had lost his left leg below the knee and bone, muscle and tissue poked out in places. The man had probably passed out from shock and bloodloss.
"What happened?" She half asked half ordered. Fearing the answer she might get.
"About an hour after you entered the temple. Echo Five and I took a perimeter patrol to see if any Roaches had followed us. Lieutenant Briggs gave us authorisation. We walked about five minutes into the jungle before we began circling the perimeter. When we approached the area we had initially walked through to reach the temple we were ambushed. We sustained no losses but were forced to fall back in the direction of the clearing we were attacked at. We managed to lose them in the process momentarily. We scavenged what we could before deciding to lead the ones that attacked us away from everyone back at the temple. At about three maybe four hours in we stumbled upon a crashed freighter. Upon investigation it turns out it was part of a CIS research group that was studying the creature that attacked us."
"What did they find out?" She asked hoping there was some weakness they could exploit.
"Nothing we couldn't already discern about its abilities, they called it the Song Than and hypothesised that it could be some sort of reality bender. Its DNA is apparently what terms animals and people into Roaches or 'Yutzee' as they called them. Found it in the unknown regions. It took over two divisions worth of droids down and required a Sith artefact of some kind to subdue."
"What did they plan to do with it?" Korun inquired.
"They wanted to weaponize it and make more, but from what we saw they failed. I am certain it was also responsible for the ships crash." That was somewhat a relief seeing as there wouldn't be any separatist armies of this Song Than any time soon.
"What happened after that? You we with Echo Five yet only you and Zuc are here." Ratha asked.
"Well, Dutch, Mac and I went to go activate the power leaving Sergeant Draft with Zuc and Dex. In that time we came across the Song Than's holding cell and the log entries of a Chief Researcher Mcetha. That's how we found information on the Song Than. Upon returning to the bridge it turned out Dex had vanished, likely killed by the Yutzee while standing guard outside the bridge door, Draft and Zuc never heard anything happen. While we were discussing our findings, we heard a skittering noise coming from the hull above us. In order to escape yet another ambush and to avoid one retreating into the ship we blew out a side of the bridge and made a run for it. We were fine until the Song Than appeared, it skewered Draft and took Zuc's leg and hand before it turned and left. I don't know why it did though," Rena could guess though, like the Force was able to give people warnings, limited clairvoyance and visions if it was able to bend reality as the CIS scientist believed possible then it may have felt or seen her obtain the Holocrons, it had left the soldiers alone as thye posed little threat to it and gone after her instead.
"Zuc and I were separated during its attack so I don't know wat happened to Dutch and Mac. While I was patching Zuc up after carrying him away from where they Song Than had attacked us, Lieutenant Briggs was on the comm, the Song Than attacked the temple. I couldn't raise anybody after that. We were situated atop a slight cliff over looking the river. Some Yutzee showed up, I took Zuc and jumped into the river. Rest is history as they say."
The situation had gone from worse to… something even more worse. As far as they knew they were the only survivors. Zuc was badly wounded and was dead weight and would seriously slow them down. Not to mention the Song Than would be hot on their trial. Their odds of survival looked dismal, not that they were that great to begin with.
"We were going to start moving down river in hopes of finding shelter or a way off world. Do you think you and Ratha can carry Zuc?"
"I could carry him by myself, I'm sure I can managed that with Ratha's assistance sir," Sparrow responded. Sparrow and Ratha both took one of Zuc's arms each over their shoulder. Giving her brief nods she began to lead them away from the waterfall. They had only gone ten paces when a ground shaking roar cold be heard coming from the tunnel in the waterfall. The Song Than had caught up to them. Rena knew that Sparrow, Ratha and Zuc would be unable to flee and that their weapons bar her lightsabre and Sparrow's plasma based firearms would be unable to harm it.
"Captain, you and Ratha take Zuc and get away. I will say with the Lieutenant and attempt to hold the creature off for as long as I can." Holding her lightsabre in the form she had been taught to many years ago. Sparrow handed Zuc's arm to Korun for the captain to hold.
"Are you sure General?" Korun asked.
"I am, go. Now!" She ordered the clone once more. Without another word the two clones carrying their wounded brother moved as fast as they could away from the approaching fight. Sparrow took up position next to her taking a quick ammo count.
"How long do you think we'll last," He asked, not sounding like he really cared.
"Hopefully long enough."
"At least I'll go down swinging then." She wondered how he stayed so calm even now, she was using the Force and years of rigorous mental Jedi training to stay calm and either he was perfectly calm or expertly faking it, either was impressive. She watched out he corner of her eye as he took out his rifle's bayonet and fixed it on the barrel with a slight twist.
"Is there any particular plan here or are we winging it?" He asked curiously.
"I haven't thought of one yet." She replied honestly.
"Winging it it is then."
"Were not winging it, I just haven't thought up a plan yet." She snapped back. She heard a large splash signalling the Song Than had jumped and a succession of smaller splashes as its Yutzee followed.
"I shoot you take down any that get close?" He offered.
"I suppose it will have to do." Some Yutzee began to appear at the base of the embankment. The Orionian didn't waste time and immediately opened up on the attackers. The blue plasma would seemingly always hit the Yutzees heads in an impressive display of accuracy. Whenever one popped out of the water it was met with a hail of plasma to its bony insect like head. Though if it went down was a matter of chance, not certainty. Some Yutzee would die with a single shot others would take dozens.
Despite the Lieutenants master of firearms, the Yutzee still approached and crawled up the side of the river towards them. One got close enough to leap up at them and attempted to claw her, but a quick slash of her lightsabre cut it in half. By now the water by the bottom of the embankment was a mix of splashing and thrashing Yutzee and floating corpses with a dozen or so trying to scramble up the slippery slope.
"Get back." Sparrow told her as he unclipped one of his last grenades. She immediately saw his intention an began to move back towards the treeline out of the grenades area of effect. Pulling its pin, Sparrow dropped the grenade and allowed it to roll down to where the Yutzee were exiting the water. With a low boom and a spray of water, mud and remains the grenade detonated. But this only temporarily set the Yutzee back. Unaffected the rifid defence they continued to pour up the embankment in greater numbers. Rena was amble to make out some clone armour beneath some of the Yutzee's exoskeletons and some appeared to be entrapped by the armour with odds and ends of the carapace sticking out as protrusions from the white armour.
She found herself forced to cut, hack and slash more and more as the Yutzee kept coming. The Lieutenant had to bayonet one in the neck when it got to close and then immediately pivot to his right to fire on another. She noticed they had been steadily pushed back into the jungle by a good twenty metres. A Yutzee had crept up on them from behind and she turned to deliver a horizontal strike cutting its legs off before curving her strike to cut the head of the Yutzee off with a diagonal blow. She turned and used a Force push to send three Yutzee flying into the jungle. She had just enough time to see one of them be impaled on a branch before another was upon her. She was just grateful that the Song Than hadn't shown up yet. She felt Sparrow grab her arm and roughly pull her behind a thick tree truck. She found herself pressed up against him, mostly his plate carrier and harness, as he threw his second last grenade at the encroaching hoard of Yutzee.
She could smell the sweat, BO and plasma residue on him and she was certain she didn't smell much better herself. Due to his untimely bath in the cold river and the mud covering his body he was cold to the touch. For a second time that night a loud explosion could be heard as the grenade went off and shrieks of pain could be heard echoing through the trees.
Realising he was still holding her arm he let go, allowing her to not be pressed against him as thye no longer required cover from the grenade's shrapnel. She could see that the last grenade seemed to have gotten a good few Yutzee, Sparrow quickly finished three wounded ones off that still dragged themselves towards their position. A quick glance around her surroundings told her that there weren't any Yutzee in sight despite their heavy assault only moments ago, and she doubted the Lieutenants grenade was that effective.
"It's over?" Questioned said Lieutenant, not believing it for a second to be over.
"I don't know? There were dozens out there a second ago, but they've vanished." Sparrow looked around attempting to sue his NVGs to spot the Yutzee.
"I got nothing. Can you, I don't know, sense them or something?" He asked.
"No, like you they don't give off a presence in the Force. Unlike you however, they don't still effect he Force, their essentially blanks. Even if I could sense them the amount of life in the jungle would prevent me from sensing them accurately."
"That's just delightful." He said sarcastically.
"So where do you think they… went…" She spoke as the answer became clear. The Yutzee's natural colour mixed with the night and shadows made them blend into their surroundings which they had utilized to completely encircle the two. Rena found her back pressed against Sparrow's as they tried to leave no blind spots to be ambushed, though she suspected some may be lurking in the tree tops.
"I'll take the fifty on my side, you take the fifty on yours." Sparrow said not sounding in the least bit tired, the man seemed to have superhuman stamina. Two days of constant walking and combat with no rest was beginning to take its toll on her. She could feel her arms and legs burning and drowsiness creeping into her mind as her body began to run out of adrenaline to keep her going.
"Screw you I'll take fifty and one." She said trying to convey the same confidence he had.
"That's the spirit." The Yutzee showed no sign of attacking, instead opting to stay where they were, ready to pounce in a moment's notice.
Just then a series of creaks and groans could be heard coming from their left. Turning their heads to see what was making the noise. Rena wasn't shore If it was the exhaustion she was feeling inducing optical illusion, but she could swear that the jungle was literally parting, being forced to clear a pathway that the Song Than now stalked towards them on. Its massive frame towering over both them and the Yutzee. The meat armour it had covering its body around its head parted briefly as it gazed at them, her specifically, it seemed to ignore the Lieutenant altogether. She saw it had a humanoid skull that was bare of any flesh, muscle or tissue bare blood vessels and nerves, though the view was once again obstructed when its meat armour slide unnaturally back into place.
It stopped just shy of the outer Yutzee that had encircled them, cutting of their escape. She watched it and made eye contact with the rectangular eye slits in its armour. She felt a sudden and strange sensation of weightlessness and disorientation before she felt like she was falling in a world of blackness.
Date Unknown, Jedi Knight Rena Shan, Location Unknown
When Rena came to she felt the cold of the stone floor, the smell of burning and the sound od gunfire. Which was strange as the last thing she remembered was being on a jungle world. Still in a state of disorientation she was able to make out the form of the Lieutenant, groaning as he got up. Looking up she nearly didn't recognise where she was.
The walls and pillars were covered in sabre strikes and blaster fire burns, some of the tapestries were on fire and smoke and ash drifted in the air. But she could make out enough to realise she was in the Jedi temple. A Jedi Temple that was currently under attack. That in of itself confused her as A) She hadn't been on or near Coruscant if recent memory proved correct and B) the CIS was is no position to assault Coruscant when they could barley defend themselves from the Orionian onslaught. Regardless the temple was under attack and needed to be defended. Now kneeling she spotted her lightsabre on the floor to her right. Picking it up she checked on the Lieutenant. He appeared to be as confused as her.
"Where are we?" he asked, reclaiming his weapon.
"Coruscant, more specifically the Jedi temple which is under some kind of attack." She said finally noticing two dead clones and four dead Jedi Younglings. She saw him give her a confused glance, likely also not understanding quite how such as thing was possible.
"We should link up with friendly forces, the closest blaster fire seems to be coming from the hallway over there." He said pointing in the direction as he got up.
"We mustn't delay, follow me." She said impatiently, someone was attacking her home, her family in all but blood, and they were going to suffer for it. Before she was able to round the corner, Sparrow grabbed her shoulder.
"Look, outside." She did as he instructed, annoyed that he was holding her up from protecting her home but saw why he had drawn her attention. Outside the cracked window was Coruscant, partly damaged and in ruins but still there. However, life outside the temple seemed to going on as per usual, there were still all the speeders using the sky lanes and the lights in the undamaged parts of buildings were still on. Which begged the question, why was the Temple the exception, why was only the Temple under attack when the rest of Coruscant wasn't.
"There, we missed one!" A shout from behind them alerted them that they were not alone. She activated her lightsabre and turned to face whom she assumed to be the ones desecrating the Temple as Sparrow similarly turned and took a knee, rifle raised and at the ready. What she saw only further confused her. Clones in the blue trim of Skywalker's 501st Legion, why in the name of the Force would they be attacking the Temple.
"Blast her!" The five clones opened fire solely at her forcing her to deflect to oncoming blaster bolts. Deflecting shots from droids was one thing, but from well trained thinking clones it was much harder. They wouldn't just aim centre mass, they would also aim for her head and limbs, making it much harder to deflect all of the oncoming blaster fire. Not to mention clones were more accurate. The Orionian seemed to be left alone, the clones seemed to not care about him. Was it because he wasn't a Jedi?
While Rena was deflecting the Blaster fire the Lieutenant seemed equally stunned but shook it off quickly. He opened fire at the clones in a non-lethal manner aiming to wound rather than kill. She deflected a blaster blot back at one of the clones, knocking his blaster from his hand and then Force pushed him and the two other clones not hit by Sparrow into the nearest wall, knocking them out.
"Why are the clones attacking us." she wondered aloud.
"I think you mean why are they attacking you," Sparrow snarked "They never shot at me."
"But why would the clones be attacking the temple." She continued.
"You Jedi must have done something; the clones wouldn't attack you for no reason. They are after all some the best and most loyal soldiers to grace the fighting galaxy."
"And what would the Jedi do to warrant such a thing." She said, her voice laced with more venom than she intended and sounding quite defensive.
"Hey, I didn't mean anything by it, just that for men who have fought and bled alongside you for three years now would need a damned good reason to do… this," Sparrow said gesturing his arms around at the surrounding ruined Temple. She begrudgingly admitted he had a point there, but she refused to believe the Jedi were at fault, "we should find a way out of here and find out what's happening."
She waited for him to head off, so she could follow him.
"Well, don't you know where the nearest way out is. It is the Jedi Temple after all. I've only been in it the one time."
"Oh, right. Um, this way." She stuttered out, her face flushing in embarrassment. She realised he had been waiting for her to lead them out. If she remembered things correctly then from the view they were located on the east side of the Temple, as it turned out they were two floors from the air ventilation systems main air duct, there was a maintenance entrance they could enter. Then all they had to do was follow the external walkway down to ground level, enter the sewers and walk the kilometre to safety. They made it to the last corridor before the maintenance port without instance. Only dead Jedi and few dead clones. She only realised something was wrong when the Lieutenant was sent hurtling into a wall by an unseen force.
Acting on instinct she Force pulled a lightsabre from a downed Jedi, activating the second lightsabre's green blade she turned and parried a strike from her opponent's blue lightsabre blade.
Her two blades lashed forward, and less than a second later they impacted against the sapphire blade of one of the most known Jedi across the galaxy.
Anakin Skywalker…
No, Rena reasoned as she jerked her two lightsabre blades down to her sides and stepped back, her breath coming to her in pants. This was not Skywalker, this was something else… This was a Sith…
No sooner had the thought entered her mind when, what had once been Anakin Skywalker, lunged at her again, his azure blade spinning through the air in a crazed frenzy.
She dodged skilfully to the left of his blade, the two braids of her hair twirling through the air as she did so, and then turned back around and rose her lightsabre's blades up just in time to deflect another strike that Anakin hammered down upon her.
She let out a grunt as the sapphire blade impacted into hers' with the intensity of an artillery round, and she felt Anakin's anger permeate the force around her as she struggled to hold him back.
The standstill continued for another two long seconds, with neither combatant willing to give any leeway to the other, and then Rena snapped her twin lightsabres down and jumped backwards into the air. Her body was acting more worn out and tired than it felt. They had been staring down the Song Than, it had looked at them, then they appeared at the Temple. Had the Song than sent them forward in time, to another dimension or were they just hallucinating the whole thing.
She landed a few meters away from the enraged Anakin, her breath coming in even deeper gasps now. Her arms were beginning to tremble from the stress of the duel and her bodies own fatigue, and her face was drenched in sweat, with the strands of her hair imprinted to her forehead.
Rena took in another deep breath, and then quickly glanced around to her left and right in order to get her bearings. Anakin was standing in the middle of doorway of the massive corridor, barring their only escape, and his sapphire blade was held down low to his side, burning a small trail of black through the marble surface of the tile flooring. Behind him, a constant drone of blaster fire was submerging everything within its sound, and blue ribbons of blaster bolts lit the Jedi Temple up in a sapphire embrace. Beyond the constant blaster fire, flames licked at the sides of some of the massive stone statues that had once stood guard at the Temples great entrances, and clone troopers were even now overwhelming the last remaining Jedi within the temple, murdering their former comrades where they stood.
Rena's gaze locked back to the Sith, and she let out a deep sigh of animosity. She had never met Skywalker, only heard the Stories about him, Skywalker the Ace pilot, The General without fear, hero of a hundred battles. The Chosen One destined to bring balance to the Force. This… person before her was none of those things, not anymore.
"You might as well give up now," Anakin said, his voice a low growl and barely audible against the drone of blaster fire behind him. His eyes were glowering at her with a hatred that only a Sith could bear, and his mouth was curved up into a feral grin. "You know I am more powerful than you, than anyone in the entire Jedi Temple… No matter what you try to do to stop me, you will lose…"
"Oh, well that's a wonderful excuse to just give up and die!" Rena spat back at him, her voice laden with sarcasm.
Her tone then turned deathly serious as she shouted, "But I will not just stand down and die while you slaughter the rest of the Jedi here without a second thought! You are not the Jedi I once knew of… You are not Anakin Skywalker anymore... You're a Sith! And I will not lose to you…" Thoughts of escape fled her mind, replaced by righteous fury at the apparent destruction of the Jedi.
She silently twirled her twin blades through the air above her head and stretched her legs apart, readying herself into a classic dual-lightsabre combat stance. "I was trained by Wong Shi Ton himself, a padwan to Master Gootha and one of the most legendary lightsabre duellists the Jedi Order has yet known," she yelled, her voice rising in volume. "I will not lose to you, Sith!"
Anakin's feral grin curved up even more, carving a maniacal sneer across his face that was focused to the side. "The name isn't Skywalker, anymore," he said as he began walking slowly towards her, his lightsabre still held down low to his side. "The name's Vader… Darth Vader…"
And then he struck.
The former Jedi Knight lunged forward, abandoning all pretences of defence and just lashed out at her like a rancor in a brawling arena. His dark blue lightsabre blade sizzled through the air towards her, just above her head, and Rena twisted the lightsabre in her left hand around to block the blow, barely making it there in time.
But even as Vader's blade was impacting against the emerald beam, he was suddenly twisting around, pivoting on his feet, and was slashing out at her again, this time toward her ribs.
Rena swung her lightsabre downward, batting back the lunge as she was forced to take another step back, and then Vader was on her again, hammering blow after blow against her green blades.
Rena frantically dodged to her left and right while, using her twin blades as both a weapon and shield, harnessed everything that her Master had ever taught her about lightsabre duelling to keep from being overwhelmed. But Vader's barrages of blows were too quick and unexpected, too offensive, and nothing that her Master had shown her had prepared her for this.
After a few seconds of this continued exchange of blow, she realized that he was too powerful for her to handle, and that even with her emotion-laden attacks he was still beating her back. She knew right then that she had to escape, to rally with the surviving Jedi and somehow save what was left of the Order.
Rena swung both of her lightsabres outward, deflecting another one of Vader's blows in a very unorthodox style of defence, and then jumped back into the air. She landed a second later, her back almost against the wall, and she quickly cast herself out into the force while scanning the corridor room for a way to escape.
The walls were too thick for her to cut a hole through in time, and the many pillars that surrounded the room were…
Rena's eyes widened as a plan began to form in her head, and then she locked her gaze back on Vader.
The Sith was marching towards her furiously, his eyes narrowed into slits and his face a snarl. His dark blonde hair was matted to his forehead from the sweat, and a red scar across his right eye marred his face.
A cry was heard, and Vader found himself being tackled by a two-hundred and eighty seven pound Orionian knocking the wind from him and dropping his lightsabre from the shock. She watched as Sparrow slammed him against the wall, ramming his shoulder into Vader's stomach.
"Let's go come on!" He yelled as he grabbed her arm and pulled her in the direction they had been going. They rounded the corner, him still leading her by her arm. She felt herself roughly pushed behind a downed pillar as he dived behind a torn up statue to avoid an oncoming hail of blaster fire.
She watched from her position of cover as he would lean out and let loose a burst of fire before ducking back behind cover again. He grabbed another grenade and threw it at the clones position. She heard them yell and five away. She didn't hear an explosion though. Instead Sparrow advanced and shot at the downed clones. She got up and walked over to him, hearing the wounded clones moaning and groaning.
"Where's the hatch?" he asked.
"Over there" She pointed to a grey hatch hidden behind a slightly burnt banner draped from the ceiling.
"Open it. I'll cover you." Luke said eyeing the way they came. She moved over to the panel and began to enter the universal Jedi override code for the Temple's system. Before she could finish the saw from the corner of her eye the Lieutenant raise his weapon as if to fire and opening his mouth to yell a warning before he vanished. Spinning on her heels to see where he went she turned in time to see him fly onto the blade of Vader, who had forced pulled him onto the blue blade now emerging from the Orionian's chest. She watched in horror as Luke was thrown from the blade to the floor, his body limp and unresponsive.
Vader turned from the fallen Orionian and began to advance on her. And right as he did this, Rena called the force to her and grabbed hold of one of the massive pillars that surrounded the room, hurling it down towards the former Jedi Knight in a crumbling mass of stone and marble.
Vader halted mid-charge as his face snapped up to face the pillar, and then he jumped quickly backward as the giant cylindrical stone mass crashed into the marble floor in front of him, shattering into various-sized chunks of rock.
Vader had dodged the pillar, unharmed, but he had cost himself three precious seconds as he did so, and now Rena was vaulting over the side of the pillar and sprinting towards the sole doorway, her feet flying beneath her and her twin lightsabre blades held low to her sides and pointed backwards.
She felt Vader closing in behind her, despite her frantic pace, and then she rounded the doorway, skidding across the marble floor as she did so.
Clones were still in the main hallway, issuing orders, and as they saw her they raised their blaster rifles and opened fire. She flicked her twin blades up behind her, still running, and deflected the four shots back at the clones that had fired them, rendering them silent. Another group of clones, coming out of the library, trained their blasters on her and were just about to open fire when Vader came screeching out of the corridor behind her.
"Wait, hold your fire," Vader yelled back at them as he turned and began racing after her. "She's mine!"
As Vader began to close on her again, Rena desperately cast herself out in the force, searching for a place to hide, or escape. She sensed a balcony above her, overlooking the rest of the Great Jedi Hall, and she called upon the force to aid her as she jumped.
The force propelled her upward, sending her gliding toward the balcony, and as she landed she spun around, expecting to see Vader right behind her. Sure enough, he came less than a second later, his sapphire blade carving ribbons through the air as he landed.
They were both stationed just a meter apart on the balcony, lightsabres raised to their chests, and both of them wore looks of hatred across their faces. The balcony around them was just a ledge that overlooked the Great Jedi Hall, and three massive stone pillars stood arranged in a triangle around them.
"So much for being the chosen one, Vader…" Rena said icily, her lightsabres twirling unconsciously back and forth in her hands.
Vader's yellow eyes narrow, his face red with rage, and an instant later he was throwing his left hand upward, palm-up.
Rena didn't have time to react as the force push that expelled from his hand collided into her, and then her back was slamming against the wall on the other side of the ledge.
A groan escaped her lips as her eyes flickered open, and she then barely had the time it took to raise both of her lightsabres up into a cross above her before Vader's azure beam collided with her two blades.
A loud staticky crackle of sparks filled the air around her as she pushed up with her twin blades, barely keeping Vader at bay. Her muscles were beginning to tremble even more, now, and even with the force her strength was beginning to wane.
Rena pushed her left foot backwards, anchoring it against the wall and providing her with support, and then pushed up against Vader's sapphire blade with all of her might.
But all her remaining might was not enough, and Vader's lightsabre continued to push down against her own two blades.
"NO!" Rena shouted ravenously, her cry echoing out from beneath the crackle of the clashing lightsabre blades. And then, with a surge of emotion-laden and force enhanced strength, she pushed forward against Vader's sapphire blade and sent him reeling back.
Vader's face went from rage to shock and back again as Rena charged forward and began hammering his lightsabre with erratic blows from her left and right, taking the offensive for the first time in the duel.
Vader, still caught off guard from her sudden strength, frantically spun his own lightsabre around in his hands, intercepting each blow, and took three steps backward as Rena continued her assault.
She lashed forward again with a barbaric blow aimed at Vader's chest. Vader caught the blow horizontally on his sapphire blade, and he took another step back as Rena pushed forward. His face was beginning to show fear, and his yellow eyes were now more of survival than they were of slaughter.
Rena pushed back again, knowing that she couldn't keep this strength up much longer, and forced Vader to take yet another step back and pin himself to the edge of one of the massive pillars.
With the constant crackle of the three lightsabre blades being clashed together resounding through her ears, Rena knew that she had to finish this now, or never.
Then, with her left hand still holding her lightsabre down upon the Sith's blade, she lifted her other blade and swung it around her head, sideways, aiming to decapitate the former Jedi Knight.
All of her senses went slow-motion as her green blade sliced through the air towards Vader's head. She saw him, eyeing the blow that would surely decapitate him, and noticed him swivel his lightsabre hilt almost unnoticeably in his hands, giving him just a slight angle against how he was holding off her other blade.
Then, just as the emerald beam of light would have taken off his head, he ducked under the blade, bringing his own lightsabre up as he did so, and angled her other lightsabre out of the way of his head with a surge of strength.
He spun back up a few feet away from her, stabilizing his footing as her own lightsabre blade – the one that had been meant to decapitate him – sliced straight through the entirety of the pillar that had been in front of just moments before. The pillar shuddered from the sudden awkwardness of not having a connected base, but it held true, grinding down upon the portion of its base that had just been disintegrated.
Rena's teeth gritted together at the close miss, and then she continued her spin that the missed strike had started and pivoted around on her feet, raising her twin blades to her chest in order to parry any obvious follow-up attacks.
But even as she was pivoting, she knew that she had been mistaken in guessing Vader's next attack. For, instead of lunging at her with his blade, Vader was holding his lightsabre down at his side, harmlessly, and his left hand was held up in front of him as if grasping an invisible lever.
Rena's eyes followed his, and only too late did she realize what he was concentrating on.
The pillar…
With a crumble of stone being thrown through the air, the massive pillar that Rena had cut through plummeted down upon her. She didn't even have the half-second it took to look in its direction before it smashed into her, and as it did it sent her body tumbling off the side of the balcony and toward the Great Hall below, the pillar following close behind her.
Rena's body was rained with loose gravel as she fell, and as her eyes flickered open, she saw she shadow of the pillar that was falling right behind her, most probably being assisted by the force in its decent.
Rena knew that there was no way she could survive a few metric tons of stone smashing into her at point-blank range, and that even if she somehow could, the extra force that Vader was using to hurl the pillar down at her would be enough to shatter the entire marble flooring of the Great Hall.
Her body then hit the ground, hard, and she felt her right arm and shoulder crack under the force of the fall. Her eyes flickered, dancing in and out of consciousness, and she saw the nearing shadow of the pillar above her.
A second later, darkness overtook her.
Date Unknown, Jedi Knight Rena Shan, Location Unknown
Wha? Where am I, last thing that happened was that pillar fell on me? Rena thought.
Sounds worse than a lightsabre to the chest. She 'heard' Luke say.
Where are we? She asked. She felt like she was moving but at the same time, she wasn't.
Darkness; I always hated it. No matter where I turned, no matter where I looked, it was always there. Enveloping me. Suffocating me.
What was that? Rena asked.
We're not alone, wherever we are. Was her only repose, though I have a hunch.
Rena felt her mind race, no, not her mind, someone else's begin to panic, their mind racing and trying to justify a sudden lack of vision. The brain was burning with pain, and it quickly realized that it had been unconscious at some point.
Muffled shouts and voices around them could be heard as they felt shoved forward, fragile feet struggling to keep up. Breath was coming out as quick gasps as 'they' tried to keep up with the pace and remain conscious at the same time. Rena could tell she or whatever was experiencing the sensations of feeling and confusion was barefoot and the cold, stone floor sent chills up the body. The body felt cold and tired, a good sign that it was probably well into the night. A sense of fear permeated the third unidentified consciousness that was with them.
"That's far enough! Take off the bag and get him ready!" yelled a rasping voice close to the ear. The head exploded with fiery pain as a hand grasped me and ripped off the bag obscuring their vision. A flash of blinding light rushed into the retinas, and a cry of shock from the pain. After a few seconds of mind numbing pain, the eyes opened. Though it wasn't her eyes Rena was looking out of. She tried to look to the left and right but the eyes would not obey her command, they seemed to obey another's.
Lieutenant, do you know what is happening, you said you had a hunch. Rena asked hoping the Lieutenant knew something she didn't.
Take a moment and look at what 'you' can see.
They were standing in the centre of a circular pit, with concrete walls trapping them inside. The floor was made of rough sand that scratched the feet and made them itch. Hanging lights brightened the arena, and droplets of water fell from cracks in the ceiling. At least a hundred men in grey armour sat in rows above the arena, shouting and cursing with eyes burning with murderous animosity.
Looking ahead of she saw another boy age possibly five to seven, standing on the other side of the arena. Innocent green eyes and a mane of brown, tattered hair. He wore nothing except for a pair of Skivvies and strips of rough cloth wrapped around his knuckles. He looked scared out of his wits and was glancing at the soldiers shouting insults at him from above.
A fighting arena? She questioned.
Affirmative, but not just any. An arena set up to select the strongest candidates for the Insurrectionists Third Generation Praetorians. Taken or donated by special squads and taken to the special facility here on Danaan IV. It's where my training began. You are currently witnessing my memories of it. After my father sold me to the rebels. If what you saw was your worst fear or nightmare, then your witnessing the beginning of mine. You currently experiencing my seven year old self induction into the Praetorian program.
A soldier grabbed young Luke's hands and wrapped a scratchy, thick cloth around them, just like the other boy. When he was finished, he chuckled and gave him a hard pat on the back.
"Good luck, bastard." He spoke as he grinned and left the arena through a barred door far behind him, slamming it shut. Only the green-eyed boy and the Lieutenant's child self were left in the pit.
Suddenly the green-eyed boy roared and charged at him, tears in his eyes and fists at his side. He was upon him in seconds, connecting his left fist with Luke's cheek. He was sent crashing to the floor as he cried out in pain and shock. Without hesitation the other boy was on him again, fists rising and falling on his frail body like hammers. Luke blocked as much as he could, keeping his face away from the attacks. As the boy began to tire, Luke spotted his opportunity and smashed his right elbow into the boy's nose, hearing a satisfying crack as the cartilage was broken. The boy screamed and crawled away, blood dripping from his crooked nose. Luke stumbled to his feet and caught his breath, tasting blood with each gasp.
The soldiers watching were losing their minds, shouting and cheering on the fight as if they were nothing but mindless animals. Strangely, their cheers began to strengthen Him, surfacing a part of him he didn't know existed until now; Ferocity.
With a roar Luke dashed towards the boy without hesitation. He punched him with all his strength in the gut, causing him to spit blood violently. Luke threw a second fist into his gut as he convulsed and released the content of his stomach on the floor below. He doubled over, groaning, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He wasn't going to be getting up anytime soon.
Luke was engulfed by rage; he couldn't stop myself. I grabbed his skull and smashed my kneecap into his face. His head and body was flung himself as he fell to the ground, a huge, bleeding cut above his nose. The fight was over as quickly as it started.
Rena watched with morbid fascination at what was unfolding through Luke's young eyes as though a sick Holo-net show. Luke stood there, fists clenched and covered in blood. I stared at the unconscious boy at my feet, realizing what I had done. I had reacted without thinking; my mind had been completely overpowered by instinct. Seven years struggling to fight and survive in the cold streets of Danaan IV had made him impulsive, fuelled by his senses, unable to put thoughts before actions. He was an animal; mindless.
The cheering snapped him out of his daze. My mind began to function again, and he stumbled around the arena, looking for a way out of this hellhole.
The barred door opened with a loud hiss, and two men in black tuxedos came walking towards him. Three soldiers armed with Assault Rifles accompanied them. Rena like Luke watched the men cautiously and Luke began to back away.
The man on the left was tall and well groomed, with sleek black hair, piercing blue eyes, and a chiselled face. A symbol of a skull with two crossing rifles behind it was displayed on his shoulder.
The man on the right was someone Luke had seen several times before throughout his seven years of life. His brown eyes gazed upon him and his face remained emotionless. Fear rushed through Luke's body as my mind attached a name to him; Father.
Father? Rena thought with a shock, if Luke had heard her he didn't respond, older Luke, it was becoming confusing distinguishing between the older Luke the Song Than had sent with her and the young one she was now observing.
"You were right, my friend. The boy is a fierce fighter. We could certainly use a child with his skills in our program." Spoke the man on the left as he reached me, eyes examining the bruises on my face and chest.
"I told you wouldn't be disappointed, Grayson." Replied Luke's father, a sinister grin growing on his face.
"But are you willing to sell him to us? He is, of course, your son." Grayson asked.
"He has been nothing but a burden all his life. He'd be a far better Insurrectionist than he was a son." said Luke's Father, completely without emotion. He spoke the words so calmly, as if his own son meant absolutely nothing to him. He'd rather die than admit that Luke was his son.
"So be it. Come with me back to Ragnarok and we'll discuss the price. Send the boy away with the others and let the arena matches continue." Concluded Grayson as he and Luke's father began to walk away.
Suddenly, a flash of blinding light clouded his vision as a blast of excruciating pain surged through his brain. His eyes rolled into the back of his sockets as he was again enveloped in darkness. The strike from the butt of the rifle had knocked him to the ground, unconscious.
Oh my Force, how could he just do that, your own father? Rena thought in horror.
Now you see why I believe the lie we were told that we were clones, hurts less than knowing your own father sold you, though admittedly the training that followed hurt far more. Luke admitted, sounding as apathetic as the memory of his father from a moment ago.
You were just a child and they turned you into a soldier.
If I remember correctly aren't Jedi also taken as young as infants to be trained to be soldiers of the Jedi.
That's not the same. Rena protested.
You're right, Jedi are trained to be warriors of peace, I was trained to be an unrivalled weapon.
Ice cold water smacked into Luke's face and brought him back to consciousness. He coughed violently and spat out water, his body shivering from the cold. His lungs began pulsing with pain as he struggled to breathe. After a few frightening moments, he was able to catch his breath and calm himself. His mind activated and instinct put his body on full alert as he scanned his surroundings.
He was in a small room, barely big enough to hold ten people. A single light bulb hung from the ceiling, casting the room in ominous dim light. The walls were completely bare and made of grey metal and the floor was made of the same material. A man in the same grey armour as the soldiers he had seen in the Arena sat across from me, in front of a thick metal door. A Helmet adorned his head and covered his face and eyes from view. A metal bucket lay at his feet.
Luke immediately noticed that he was completely naked, and his hands were cuffed and chained above his head to the wall behind him. He panicked, and began to struggle to free his hands to no avail.
"Stop that." Spoke the man suddenly. Luke obeyed. After a few moments of silence, he spoke again, "What is your name?"
Luke stared at the man, not knowing what to expect. Instinct, the little demon that it was, forced him to answer him.
"I…um…its-" He never got to even speak his name. In an instant, the man's armoured fist smashed into his chest, cracking one of the ribs. The most pain he'd ever felt his my life overtook him and he began to convulse. The man sat there, motionless, as Luke shouted in pain for what seemed like an eternity.
Luke began to drift in and out of consciousness, the pain numbing his mind.
"You have no name. You have no home. You have no family." Spoke the soldier, his voice calm. The fucking bastard! "Your life didn't start when you crawled out of your whore of a mother. It starts in this room, in this very moment."
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Luke shouted at him through spasms of pain.
He stood and struck him across the cheek, whipping his head in the opposite direction as spit was launched from his mouth. Luke didn't feel it; his entire body was already numb.
"When I come back, I want you to have an answer for this question; what areyou?" said the soldier as he opened the door behind him.
"…fuck you…" Luke managed to say before he left the room and closed the door.
He was alone again.
He don't know how long he sat in that room for. Every now and then he would snap in and out of consciousness. The room reminded him of his life; empty, isolated, dark, depressing.
How long did you spend in there? Rena probed, unsure if asking was acceptable.
Four days as I later found out, it kind of all blended together.
What was he? What the hell kind of question was that? He was an outcast, a boy born into this world to struggle to survive. Unloved and unwanted by his father, left alone and homeless, wandering the streets of Danaan; fighting and stealing to live from day to day. He was being fucked with, by a god that only wanted to see him suffer.
Luke didn't know how much time he had wasted chained to the wall in that room. Hours? Days? Maybe even months? He had no clue, and it didn't matter. He began to lose hope of ever leaving this godforsaken place.
When his stomach began to cave in from hunger, a small hiss came to his ears as the metal door slid open. The soldier walked into the room and stuffed a loaf of bread into his mouth, watching silently as he swallowed it whole. After he was finished, he spoke again.
"What are you?" he asked. Luke had spent a large amount of time formulating my answer.
"I'm a victim. I didn't ask for any of this to happen, I didn't even ask to be born. My life has been nothing but a living hell and I want nothing more than to die in here." Luke grew quiet, content with his answer. The soldier stood above me, unmoving and silent.
"Wrong answer."
I screamed in horror as 50,000 volts of electricity surged through his body. Luke's muscles pulsed in fiery pain and became numb, and his organs began to stress under the voltage. He could smell smoke leave his mouth as the soldier removed the Taser from his chest. Luke began to gurgle and sputter as once again he drifted into darkness…
Rena could only let out a few sounds of shock and horror at what a seven year old was being subjected
I can tell what your thinking, relax. As I said the training they put us through was far worse. This was a walk in the park by comparison to what came next. Though Varad may be a close first. Rena was sure what concerned her more. Luke's blatantly flippant attitude to what he had experienced as a child, this torture being 'mild' by comparison as to what had yet to come or him potentially joking about the whole thing.
When he finally awoke he was alone again. Feeling had begun to come back into his muscles and the pain was beginning to become bearable. Tears began to fall from his face as he broke down, sobbing. He had been broken.
Three more times the soldier walked into the room and asked his question, and three more times Luke gave him the wrong answer. He tasted the stinging jolts of static course through his body after each wrong answer, then the inevitable dive into unconsciousness.
After what seemed like an eternity, the soldier walked into the room again, Taser firm in his hands. Luke glared at him fiercely, pure hatred for the man showing in my eyes.
"What are you?" he asked, his voice still emotionless.
Luke began to chuckle, madness in his eyes. He understood everything now. He understood why my life was filled with undesired pain. Never again would he be broken; his destiny was clear to him. He had no emotions, no feelings. He didn't need them. Life's too cruel to live it by suffering; only the strong survived in this world.
"I am a demon." Luke answered, my voice covered in rage.
"Why?" the soldier asked, intrigued. Rena to wanted to know the answer.
"Because demons exist to exact justice on those that deserve it. I'm no longer human; I've rid myself of their useless emotions. I am a beast, driven by instinct alone and fuelled by rage and hatred. My life has been my ultimate suffering, and only by knowing true pain, can I inflict it on others." Luke answered.
"So you exist to kill those that deserve death? That is your definition of justice? I watched your fight in the arena; you're ruthless and brutal. A beast creeps within your soul. You have suffered so much for a reason. Fate has chosen you to balance the scales of humanity and eliminate those that threaten justice. We can help you become a demon, boy. We can shape you into a perfect soldier, and help you achieve the justice that you were not granted."
The soldier dug out a folded piece of paper from one of his pockets and unfolded it. He showed it to him, and only one word was written on it, "Vanguard."
"This is your new identity." Spoke the guard. "This name will signify your new life. Nothing else in your past matters now. I'm giving you a chance to start your life anew, Vanguard. Don't waste it."
The soldier took out a key and unlocked the shackles on his hands, freeing me from the wall. "Come, you're ready to begin your training." He said as he began to walk out of the door.
He was right; this is where his life would begin. He had a reason to keep living, to keep fighting.
But for now, to hell with that. He had to keep a promise he made to himself a while ago. He was going to kill this motherfucker.
He mustered his strength and leapt at the soldier, intending to grip him in a chokehold and strangle him to death. The soldier quickly turned around and caught Luke in mid-air, grabbing his shoulder and slamming him on to the floor. He pressed his knee into his back and wrapped his arm around Luke's neck, constricting his windpipe and leaving him struggling for air.
"You're gonna have to be a lot quicker than that if you plan to kill me." chuckled the soldier.
I was a tad edgy and angsty as a child, also a bit of a sociopath as you can see. Luke let out a dark chuckle.
Your joking about this! Rena exclaimed in horror.
Sometimes you just have to do what keeps you sane, and not a murderous sociopath.
You just bottle all this up?
Its unhealthy but it works. Besides, if I didn't pass the routine mental checks I'd be forced out the military. Once that happens, what do I do. A weapon with no war or target. I'd never fully adjust to civilian life.
We left the room and entered a hallway with lockers covering the walls. He could see rows and rows of doors leading to rooms like the one he had been imprisoned in all throughout the hallway.
The soldier opened a locker labelled 'Vanguard' and took out a black uniform. He tossed it to him, "Put it on."
Luke put on the uniform, and surprisingly it fit perfectly. His new name was printed on the back of the uniform in big yellow letters. Luke Greyman was no more.
Luke, now Vanguard, continued down the hallway, which led to even more and more hallways cluttered with Insurrectionist soldiers scurrying here and there. They rounded a corner and came up to a huge set of metal doors labelled 'Briefing Room A-12' with two armed soldiers on both sides of it.
"Prometheus." Spoke the soldier to one of the guards. With a nod, the guard opened the double doors and ushered them inside the room.
The room was huge and packed with soldiers, all standing guard against the walls. A hundred chairs were placed in ten rows in the centre of the room, all but one accompanied by children around his age group and wearing the same uniform as him. A metal stage was at the front of the room, with the Liberation Front flag hanging on the back wall. Several men in tuxedos stood atop the stage, and Vanguard recognized Grayson standing in front of a microphone. The room was quiet save for the rare chatter between the guards.
A soldier escorted him to the only empty chair in the back row, beside a boy with the name 'Ezekiel' etched onto the back of his uniform.
Ezekiel was small, about Vanguards size, and had shaggy black hair that covered his forehead and eyebrows. He glanced at Vanguard with ice blue eyes, as if calculating what the best method to murder him was. A large, fresh cut reached from his forehead down to his cheek, and his fingers twitched every now and then, a sure sign that he had been tasered recently. Vanguard wasn't the only one hear who had been tortured, it seemed.
"Greetings." began Grayson, whose voice echoed throughout the room. All chatter ceased immediately. "I am General John Grayson, leader of the Liberation Front. For those who don't know what the Liberation Front is, it is an organization of numerous insurgent factions that have allied together to rebel against the United Earth Government since 2501. We are one of the strongest insurrectionist groups to declare war against the UEG, and our army spans from the Leon system, the Hathawe system, and even as far as the Zeta system. For years we've fought valiantly against the tyranny of the UEG, but we are losing this war. Even while the UEG are fighting with all their resources against the Ssi-ruu army, we are still unable to turn the tide of our war; until now. I'm sure most of you have heard of the legendary Praetorians that have led the EUG from victory to victory throughout their war with the Ssi-ruu."
At the mention of the super soldiers, chatter between the guards and the kids began to rise.
"ONI's Praetorian-II Project has been above classified for years, without a hint of information on the project escaping their offices. Leaked information has been received by us that suggest that the UEG has successfully produced another generation of Praetorians, Codenamed the Praetorian-III Program. We believe that they now possess an army of Praetorians at their disposal. If we don't act immediately, then this war is lost." Grayson paused, letting the reality of the situation seep in. an army of Spartan super soldier? Damn.
"The UNSC has made a fatal mistake, my friends." He continued. "Last month, one of our spies within ONI's Beta-5 Division was able to copy and transfer documents and files regarding the Spartan-II Program to us. Using the information, we plan to halt funding on all operations and focus all our time, resources, and funds to creating our own breed of super soldiers. With Praetorians at the Liberation Front's disposal, we could greatly affect the war and finally gain an upper hand against the UEG. You, my children, will be the first generation of Insurrectionist Praetorians. You will be the candidates for the Program."
Everyone in the room was wide with shock. They were going to become a new Generation of Praetorians? Is this what the soldier meant when he said they could help him achieve my goal?
Grayson raised his hand to stop the whispering that had cascaded throughout the room. "The road will be long and gruesome, and some of you may not make it to the end; but do not be afraid. We will mould you into killers. We will change you into cold, heartless beings capable of executing any order without delay or hesitation. You will be killing machines, invincible, and you will help the Liberation shatter the EUG Empire." That sounded pretty damn good to Vanguard. He looked over at Ezekiel, who had a wide grin. He must've liked that idea too. He wondered what his story was.
"You will be escorted to the Barracks to get some rest, and then tomorrow, your training will begin. You are dismissed." concluded Grayson as he stepped down from the microphone and left the room.
They stood, all one hundred candidates, and were escorted back down the halls by the soldiers. They walked in silence, letting what they'd just heard sink into their minds. Praetorians…
The Barracks was a massive room, at least half a kilometre long, with metal cots lined down in rows of ten, just like the chairs in the Debriefing room. A small locker was laid in front of each cot, with the owner's name written on it.
"Try to get some sleep, you'll need a shitload of energy for your first day of training tomorrow." chuckled the soldiers as they left the room and locked the door behind them.
Vanguard began searching for his cot as the other kids socialized about what had just occurred. He noticed that not one of them spoke of their pasts before coming here, a sure sign that they had been broken in the same way that he had been.
He found his cot in the corner of the room, coincidentally right next to Ezekiel's. The cot above him belonged to Perseus, whoever the hell that was.
"This is fucking crazy!" shouted a blonde boy a few feet away from him. He had spiky blonde hair and a small body frame, his arms resembling sticks attached to a torso. "They can't really expect us to become super soldiers, we're just kids!"
"Oh come off it, Bambi. You've been complaining ever since we got here." Spoke a female voice from the cot in front of Vanguard. The girl lay on her back, arms under her head as if she didn't have a care in the world. Her eyes were a dark green and long black hair reached down to her shoulders. She was a few years older than him, maybe 13 or 14. Her features were striking, causing him to blush when he saw her. The name 'Boss' was written on her locker.
She glanced at him and he quickly turned his gaze to Bambi, who walked down the rows of cots and continued his rant. He could feel her gaze on him still.
"What's your name?" she asked, pretending she couldn't read the word written on his locker.
"Vanguard." He replied quickly, blushing even more. She stared at me for a few more seconds before lying back in her cot.
"So, do you know how long we were…in those cells for?" He asked nervously. He had meant to ask one of the soldiers that question but had missed his chance.
"Three days for us, four for you. You were the last one out of the cells, ya know. You must be one tough motherfucker." She replied, staring at him again.
Shock overcame me as he sounded the words. Four days. Four whole days locked in that cell, being mentally and physically tortured. He sat back in his cot, letting that sink in. four fucking days.
Ezekiel found his cot and slumped in it, and Vanguard began to hear his soft snoring a few seconds later. He realized that the entire room had gotten quieter as exhaustion began to affect the others too, who fell into their cots and drifted to sleep. Fatigue gripped him too and his eyes began to droop, and he didn't fight it. In a matter of seconds, he was asleep too.
Praetorians? Super soldiers?
Right, as if Jedi and Force powers are totally non absurd believable concepts.
Rena wished to argue but then again, little was known about the Orionians or their full capabilities, the Orionians could very well have super soldiers. If they did they had them for a long time.
Have these Praetorians been used the Clone War? She asked.
That would be classified information. Meaning they hadn't, at least to the Lieutenants knowledge.
How long were you trained there?
Thirteen years... His voice seemed to sound distant, as if he weren't all there anymore.
Rena once again felt a tugging sensation and a sense of being nauseous and was once again pulled into darkness.
She came to with a startled breath. She quickly realised she was back in her own body, back on that infernal jungle world. To her left the Lieutenant also came to with a start. Quickly recovering their senses they found themselves in the same spot they had last been in. Surrounded on all sides by roaches and the Song Than looming over them.
"What the kriff just happened." Rena asked.
"The CIS scientist documented how one of their own had been in a OAG invasion of Raxus whilst they were trying to capture the Song Than on the other side of the galaxy. Clearly we have also experienced similar. For you we saw the Jedi Temple being attacked, for me the beginning of the hellish training I went through."
"But for what purpose?"
"To throw us off our game," He said, rifle scanning the Roaches, "No doubt seeing the Temple and your order destroyed has left you imbalanced to some degree."
"And you aren't."
"I was trained to put it aside. Focus solely on the mission."
"You make it sound like you're a machine."
"Wouldn't be an inaccurate description at times."
"So what's the plan." Rena asked, twirling her lightsabre in her hand.
"I'd hoped you had one." Rena noticed that he glanced to the sky to the North East, like he had heard something. She saw his face pull in to a slight smug grin. She sent him a confused glance. Had he come up with something.
"There's a clearing to our left. When I start shooting. You bolt that way, cut down anything that gets in your path, I'll be right behind you." He whispered. She noted how his hand supporting his rifle moved the underslung grenade launchers trigger.
"What then? Is that it?!" Rena hissed.
"Of course not, the rest is a surprise." Rena let out a low growl of frustration at him. The Song Than turned its head sideways, like a dog would if it were curious about something. Luke seemed to wait for something, after five seconds he seemed ready.
"On my mark, you go." Rena felt adrenaline rush through her system at his words, her body entering fight or flight mode. Time seemed to slow and her breathing seemed louder. She heard a noise, the distant rumble of gunship engines. She briefly puzzled over how the Lieutenant had been able to detect them so soon. He seemed to wait another three seconds.
"Mark!" A 40mm grenade was sent flying towards the Song Than. Like all other weaponry it had no real effect on the Song Than, but it did make it stagger backwards from the unexpected blow. It let out a roar of surprise and anger. By that time Rena had already gracefully bounded to the Roach perimeter that Luke had specified. The Roaches seemed slow to react and Rena was able to cut one down before it moved. She heard a low-pitched whoosh noise getting closer. As she cut down another Roach about to strike her two missiles flew in overhead and detonated in front of the Song Than. This time a roar of pain could be heard as it disappeared in a ball of fire, smoke and debris.
As she dashed for the clearing the Lieutenant had specified she pushed branches and leaves out of her path. She could hear the sound of plasma fire and a strafing gunship behind her. She felt her legs burn with protest each step over the uneven ground. She couldn't hear or see any Roaches after her meaning that either they were waiting to ambush her or they were targeting the Lieutenant. She kept running through the jungle, the path ahead difficult to see bar the glow of her lightsabre. She went to take another step, the clearing just in sight through the dense darkened foliage, but her right foot caught on an exposed root. She tripped and fell hard onto the ground. She let out a grunt of pain but didn't feel as though anything was sprained or broken. She tried to get up but her right leg refused to cooperate.
She felt an arm grab under her leg and the next thing she knew her world was upside down for a second and her vision spun. When the spinning had stopped she realised she was on the Lieutenant's shoulders and he was now fireman's lifting her as he ran to the clearing where a gunship had just touched down.
"Come on! Go! Get to the gunship!" Was that Echo Five's Dutch Rena wondered? As the Lieutenant seemed to run faster despite carrying her she felt his armour push into her sides each time she bounced up and down from his movements in a rather uncomfortable manner. Looking behind them she could not see any roaches or the Song Than pursuing them into the clearing where the gunship now hovered a foot off the ground. The whirr of its engines was growing louder as they approached, drowning out all other noises.
She felt the Lieutenant roughly place her on the gunships cold floor before he himself got on.
"They're on board, pilot get us out of here." She heard a clone yell. She felt her stomach lurch as the gunship lifted off faster and quicker than it would usually. Clearly the pilot didn't want to be planet side longer than he had to be. She felt herself relax and the tension left her as they pulled away from the jungle canopy and raced into the sky. She had her eyes closed, feeling her heart's unsteady quick beats and the shallow panting as her body finally realised just how fatigued and tired it was.
She allowed herself to drift off, if she was needed the clones would awake her. She could afford some rest before they returned to the ship and she had to debrief and busy herself with the running of her forces before reaching the staging point.
25031 Galactic Standard Calendar, Jedi Knight Rena Shan, aboard the Tranquillity
Rena walked through the Tranquillity's quite hanger. A few technicians and mechanics were out servicing their fleet of vehicles but most the crew was currently asleep or relaxing. They were currently in hyperspace heading towards the rendezvous point with the four Orionian fleets were located. She wasn't sure what warranted so many fleets or six hundred thousand men to attack but it must be something important.
After debriefing with Admiral Darthur with Korun, Sparrow and the one uninjured survivor of Echo Five, she had contacted the temple about the two holocrons. Master Yoda instructed she hold on to them until such a time they could be brought to the temple. Sparrow had vanished since then but Rena guessed he had left to write and submit a report to his superiors. She had asked around as to pertain his location, she begrudgingly felt the need to thank him for saving her from the Song Than. She didn't like admitting when she needed help, it made her feel weak and useless.
She spied the YT-1300 light freighter parked in the back of the hanger with its side entrance down. What intrigued her most about its design was the fact that unlike the usual freighters she had seen from time to time, the Shadow had been heavily modified. Rather than the usual look it had been refitted with sleek light grey angled plates as seen on older stealth ships to break up radar. To assist that the large radar dish mounted on top had been removed and what looked like a sensor pod had been mounted on the front. The usual weapons had also been replaced with the Orionian equivalents.
Walking up the ramp into the stealth freighter she noticed how there were crates stacked nearly everywhere. Some had their lids off and contained various munitions or supplies. The ship was stacked with what look like enough supplies for a small army. Some of the walls had been turned into gunracks with shotguns, assault rifles, pistols, grenade launchers, rocket launchers and machine guns all over them. She realised that this ship was likely designed for a small team to infiltrate an enemy world and keep the special forces operatives supplied for their entire mission.
She noticed a light emanating from a nearby room to her left. Walking over to it she found what appeared to be a crew quarters. There was a leather sofa built into the side of the wall where a small cylindrical table was placed. On it she found five empty bottles and Lieutenant Sparrow sprawled on the sofa, a sixth bottle in hand. He turned his head to look at her. His eyes widened slightly and he quickly jumped to his feet and snapped of a salute, though a lot less balanced.
"Sir."
"Lieutenant. Drinking on the job?" she asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"Sorry sir, it's just after the last mission, I needed something to take the edge off, you know." Luke said a little slurred.
"I suppose everyone needs to come to terms with what happened planetside don't they." She acknowledged. She hadn't yet given herself the time to process what they hand endured on the planet. The combat itself while more brutal wasn't that difficult coming to terms with, it was the constant paranoia that they had endured that was difficult getting over, especially for Sparrow and Dutch who had encountered the creature the most, discovering it a day before everyone else.
"There room for one more?" She asked.
"Yes Sir, drinks are in the fridge over there." Luke lazily gestured at a fridge that was behind her as he sat back down on the sofa, leaving some room for her to join him. Walking over to the fridge she opened it to find a mixture of cheap beer and some very pricy rare alcohol.
"Where did you manage to get a hold of this?" She asked pulling out a sizeable bottle of expensive Nabooian wine which had been allowed to age for a century.
"Hex found a small store of Coruscant that had a good supply of wines, bought a whole score of them. You can help yourself." Gladly taking the expensive Nabooian wine Rena grabbed herself a glass from the counter and made her way over to the sofa to join Luke. Pouring a glass and giving it a brief swirl and took a sip. The Nabooian wine was made from a purple berry found near the many swamps on Naboo. It was very sweet and savoury, and it translated that same flavour to the wine with a high alcohol content.
She realised a contented sigh after the sip and took another.
"Good right?" Luke asked smirking.
"Indeed. Must have cost a hefty sum?"
"About five hundred credits each, managed to get it on a twenty percent discount being a serviceman and all. Do Jedi get discount benefits?"
"No, well, not that I'm aware of."
"You don't get any added benefits from being a Jedi?"
"Well, the Jedi temple takes care of any medical, housing or any other needs of a Jedi. We also get lower transportation fees to allow us to travel anywhere in the galaxy we need to."
"So no dental, medical, childcare, shopping or leisure benefits? Must suck to be a Jedi."
"Well you do get a lightsabre and trained to use the Force, so I guess that's the trade off." She watched as Luke finished off the remainder of his drink.
"How many does that make now?" She asked.
"Two Ciders, one Vodka and three beers." Luke answered, getting up and stumbling over to the fridge to retrieve another drink.
"How long ago did you start drinking?"
"'Bout half an hour ago."
"And your already like this." She said as he wobbled back to his seat next to her.
"I'm not that drunk," He said a little slurred, taking a swig from the bottle he just got, "yet. Just have a fast metab, metabo, metabolism is all." She wasn't sure if the flushed face he supported was from tripping over his words or the alcohol.
"Just make sure you're not hungover when we arrive at the rendezvous point."
"Yes ma'am."
A silence descended upon them as they continued to sip their beverages. Rena felt herself melt into the comfortable sofa. She felt numerous dull aches pulsate through her body and her feet throb. She had found a few blisters forming as well. This was the first chance to rest since coming aboard and she wasn't about to waste it. They sat in silence for another half an hour, neither knowing what to say after everything they had experienced planetside.
"What did you tell your superiors?" She finally asked.
"Stopped over an unknown planet. You ordered a brief recon. Ended up stranded after hostile wildlife attacked the gunships. Ended up being a Death World. Took heavy casualties, managed to be extracted. That's the cliff notes version."
"No mention of the Song Than? Roaches? Or any of it?"
"While the higher ups and some politicians may understand the necessity to not mess with those creatures. But I have total faith that ONI or at least a Sects ion of ONI would try to capture and study the creature for the same reasons the Sepi's were."
"You don't trust them not to?"
"Would you trust the Republic with the same thing." Rena couldn't say she would, so she said nothing at all.
"I suppose your silence is a good enough answer."
"You don't seem to trust people, or at least those in authority."
"After what authority figures have done in my life, I'd be shocked if I didn't have no faith in higher ups and government organisations."
"Does that include your military higher ups?"
"I trust they know what they're doing, at least ninety-five percent of the time. Though I also trust that if necessary they can and will pick the objective or mission over me. It's the military. I'd expect you would do the shame if necessary."
"I'm a Jedi, I would never do such a thing!" She said more hotly than she intended, she blamed the alcohol.
"And thatch's why you Jedi a bad –hic- generals. You value life and what's right too highly."
"So we should switch off what makes us civilised decent people? Throw away the lives of our men!"
"If that's what victory requires. It's war. War requires sacrifice."
"Was this the bleak outlook beaten into you by your trainers as a kid."
"Give the girl a gold star." He said with false drunken enthusiasm.
"Did it also make you a total jerk."
"Probably, among other things." He said sounding a tad depressed, taking another swig.
"And you've just bottled all that up."
"I'm not exactly at liberty to discuss it, not that I really want to."
"You ever wondered what life would have been if you weren't... you know..."
"No, I love what I do, despite everything I've been through I wouldn't trade it for any other life. Besides, you can't miss what you never had." Rena could somewhat understand that sentiment. As a Jedi, she never grew up knowing outside comforts or her family, she couldn't say she really missed either, everything she needed was provided for her. While Luke's situation was different it wasn't that dissimilar he had certainly had it worse.
"How... How do you cope with it all?"
"Compartme-, compartmental-, Compartmentalisation." He drunkenly stuttered out, struggling to annunciate the word, "You switch off the part of the brain that screams how fucked up everything is, and suddenly everything seems much less shit. The training, the war, the killing, the dead friends and men. It all becomes easier to deal with. Eventually you just become numb to it."
"Do you really though?"
"Not as much as I need to. You know how many Orionans have died since we entered the war."
"I can't say I do."
"One point three million wounded, over seven hundred thousand dead," That was more casualties than the Republic had troops Rena mentally compared, "I knew some of them. They were my men. They were my friends." Despite his tone he showed no outward signs of distress. His face looked blank and devoid of expression. It was if he wanted to be sad but had no clue as to how to express it.
"What do you think you'll do after the war is over?" Rena asked, trying to take his mind of his depressive thoughts and memories.
"Fight the next one." Was his simple answer. Rena frowned.
"What do you mean the next one?"
"As long as people exists and nations endure, there will always be war. So I'll keep fighting the good fight. Until either I'm killed or can't fight no longer."
"You don't want to give civilian life a shot?"
"There's nothing in civilian life I want that I don't already have. In the military, I have family, I have purpose, I have structure, I'm taken care of and I travel the galaxy witnessing stuff people only dream about or see in movies. There are downsides sure, but at this point... I'm not sure if I could ever properly adjust or even begin to."
"So no other options bar the military?"
"I suppose there's always mercenary, contractor or bounty hunter work, but it wouldn't be the same. What about you, any plans for after the war."
"I'm a Jedi until the day I die, that's the way it goes. I'll go back to life at the temple or will remain in charge of my legion. Hopefully there won't be another war to fight."
"You place too much faith and optimism in human nature."
"And you place too little."
"How about we agree to disagree." A silence once again settled on them. Rena realised she had more work to do and needed to get back to it in the morning. She was going to need a good night's sleep but decided to ask one final question before she left.
"How did you escape the Song Than? I ran and all I heard were gunshots and missile impacts."
"The missile detonations caused a small fire to start, as it turns out the Song Than doesn't like fire. Seems to be its weakness. Shot the closest roaches then retreated myself. I found you on the ground and executed a ranger roll and carried you to the gunship."
"Thank you for that, even if the last leg was uncomfortable. Your armoured shoulder isn't very soft."
"You weren't exactly light." Rena glared at him.
"Are you calling me fat." She questioned with a too pleasant tone.
"Of course not, just that you weighed more than I expected you to. Still lighter than a hundred-eighty-pound guy decked out in full combat gear."
"Good to know. That'll be all Lieutenant." She spoke standing up heading for the exit.
"Sir." She heard him say from behind as she left.
2623 9th January Earth Standard Calendar, Classified, Classified
"Sir, I've forwarded this report which i think you'll find most interesting." The deep silky voice of Malcom, the smart A.I assigned to his facility spoke as a notification sprang up on his computer. He quickly began to skim over it as Malcom continued speaking.
"Its from a Jedi Knight by the name of Rena Shan. It details an encounter with a creature called the Song Than. A most interesting creature, known only as the Song Than. As you'll see it documents how this creature uses smaller creatures called Yutzee, nicknamed roaches. that are armoured with black chitin under their outer flesh with an oily like blood, which is resistant to blaster fire. The creature itself displayed telekinetic abilities that bordered reality defying or bending. It was able to block lightsabre attacks or divert blaster and plasma fire around it. It is also suggested that the creature turned some of the clones killed into the Yutzee. It killed over a hundred and forty clones and during the last encounter between it, her and Vanguard it sent them into either hallucinogenic visions or parallel dimensions."
"And what of Vanguard's report."
"He submitted a false one I believe. I intercepted the Jedi's one which was sent only to the Grand Jedi Master, Yoda. Vanguard blamed to incident on being on a death world."
"Vanguard is an excellent soldier. No doubt he omitted this creature fearing we would learn of it, not that it matters now."
"Should I dispatch a team to investigate further Director?"
"Yes, do so immediately. This animal can greatly help advanced our goals and is a major discovery. Give it tier seven level clearance. Codename River God."
"Is there anything else director?"
"What is the status of the delivery of Vanguard's armour."
"It is waiting for him at the staging point for the invasion of Raxus."
"Excellent. That will be all Marcus."
"Of Course Director. Logging off."
A/N: This took far longer to rewrite than I intended, hopefully it's better than the original. Chapter 35 is going well so far so hopefully it'll be done on time.