Waking Up
Soothing was the light that met her eyes as she opened them for what felt like the first time in a millennia. It was golden and radiant against the wild foliage that encompassed her. Her body felt immensely heavy, so much so that she couldn't move anything except her eyelids which were barely able to stay open.
Everything was so heavy to her. Her body was getting heavier too and it threatened to leave her trapped where she was, unconscious and vulnerable.
Being the stubborn Corellian she was, Kalifa wanted to wake up. NOW.
She coaxed energy into her muscles to jump start them. What began as a small groan grew into a full-on scream and Kalifa focused on that vocal power to bring the rest of her body online. It was difficult but eventually she was able to sit forward from her slouching state and move her hands. Her feet weren't responding but she'll get those later.
For a mere second she didn't why or how she was in the middle of an alien jungle. But that illusion faded away and the memories of the past years of being hunted like an animal slammed right back into her mind.
That was right. She had been surviving for years with her two fellow Jedi younglings O-Mer and Jinx.
And then she also remembered the orange skinned padawan who convinced her and her friend to fight back against the ruthless Trandoshans that hunted them. What was her name…? It was odd like O-Mer's name but simple like Jinx's. It was… It was…
"Ahsoka," She finally breathed through a parched throat. The very last thing she remembered was looking deeply into that padawan's eyes and begging her to take care of the boys after she… died.
She looked down to her chest to find a coin sized hole in her tunic just above the breast. The skin that it exposed was pink with the signs of scaring.
"Oh no," She murmured. She buried her face in hands as she realized what she had done.
When she first arrived at the Jedi Temple as an infant the masters immediately recognized she had a unique power in the Force. They called it Morichro, a highly complicated and dangerous Force ability. A Jedi with the power of Morichro could place themselves in a deep sleep and effectively stopping all bodily functions. Whoever successfully used it could survive without food, water and even air for periods stretching up to years in length. Not only that but the body of the user will heal slowly if injured and detoxify it of most poisons and diseases. That was the pro of the ability. The con was that if used improperly the user could slip into a coma and never awaken. It also has a darker use as it could be used on other beings, putting them in comas or even killing them by stopping organs from functioning.
Kalifa never understood why or how she inherited such a power and the masters didn't exactly know either. She was instructed by Master Yoda himself to not attempt to use the power or tell anyone of it. The ancient green alien promised her she would be trained in its use when she became a Knight of the Order.
So as instructed she never told anyone of it. Not even her two best friends Jinx and O-Mer.
Kalifa remembered the searing red pain the blaster bolt had brought her. It had grazed her heart and threw her body into shock which forced out the Morichro power from within to save her life. She fully expected to die as she had no idea how the secret power could be used or if it would save her.
Turns out it did and now she didn't know what to do. Days, months or even years could've passed while she was using Morichro. The power also stops all aging so she could be a hundred years old and not know it. But age and time was not as important as finding out what happened to the three Jedi she left behind.
With a jerk of her waist she tried to get her still asleep legs up and moving. No luck so she had resorted to slapping them on the thighs a few times. They moved eventually and Kalifa stood up on the branch she's been sleeping on for who knows how long.
Her body was still as stiff as a statue but she retained enough flexibility to jump from branch to branch in the jungle. It was practically one step at a time for her. One leap, then pause and then leap again. It only took an hour for the honed muscles she developed from years of tree hoping to fully awaken and bring to bear their full potential.
Like a starship with new engines she zoomed through the forest at top speed to the one logical place to start looking for her friends… if they were still around…
She raced along the skinny branch the bridged the forest floor with the large bulbous tree that Kalifa and her two cohorts had found the first day they were thrown into the wild. Its spacious interior was the perfect place for a hideout.
Kalifa jump into the entrance and skidded to a stop inside the hideout. For a second she imagined she'd find the boys wrestling with each other or arguing over the last piece of tree fruit. But that illusion too vanished. The hideout was empty. The bunks carved into the side of the den were empty, the fire pit was filled with icy cold ashes, the pots and baskets were full of rotting food and the transmitter was offline. Wait… transmitter?
Sitting in the corner was a crudely built satellite dish sitting atop of a plasteel box with circuitry spilling out of the side. She didn't need to know a lot about technology to know that it was a transmitter designed to carry a signal past the planet's atmosphere. She also didn't need to know a lot to tell that the power cells were depleted and dead. But still she was happy.
Kalifa sat down next to the machine and laughed with joy. "You boys," She proclaimed to the heavens. "You've finally made it!" It brought a tear of sadness though to also know that they were no longer on the island or the planet. She was truly alone but that was better than her friends to be trapped with her.
No doubt they used the transmitter to call for a rescue and she defiantly knew the boys didn't have the patience or knowhow for that. "Thank you so much Ahsoka, thank you for taking care of those two idiots." She smiled to herself and folded legs against her chest.
This little hole in the tree was for years her home. It was miserable to live on the island but there were a few highlights. The boys for one were the most entertaining bunch she has ever met. Before them she hadn't gotten to know too many people as she was constantly training her Force abilities so that one day, she had hoped, she would learn to use her hidden power. The boys were as opposite as they came, Jinx was strict and serious with O-Mer being the calmer and peaceful type. This oppositeness led to arguments over what to hunt, how to build and who to send out for scouting missions. She also fondly remembered the time they had argued in secret about who would be her "boyfriend".
Kalifa was like the bridge that gapped the two of them and made the family whole and strong. That was it. Family. The one thing that made them indestructible for years.
It wouldn't be a complete lie to say she wasn't happy living day to day on the run. The bond she developed with the boys was something beyond friendship.
She stood and stepped over to her old bunk. It made her muscles groan with pleasure to lay on something so soft. The bed may have been made of leafs and animal hide but it was much better than the tree branch she had nearly died on. For now she slept and tomorrow she would find her own way off the island. She wanted to be with family and nothing would keep her from them…
The next day Kalifa found what appeared to be the very same freighter that had taken her to the island many years ago. The ship was in pieces and scattered all over the beach it rested on. Forward break thrusters were reduced to bricks of metal, cargo modules were busted open and a few Trandoshan skeletal corpses lied in the sand.
"Good riddance," She thought aloud as she walked past the skeleton to closely inspect the crash ship for anything useful.
Dry goods and water were the only two things worth taking. The rest of the electronics had been smashed into nothing but circuits and computer boards. She had hoped to find a power cell to charge the transmitter with but she had no idea where to look for it or if there were any to take. The ship was a dead end, as dead as the Trandoshans who piloted it.
Seeing the crashed ship reinforced the idea that the boys and Ahsoka got off world. If their freighter was destroyed then maybe the Trandoshan's fortress was gone too. But if it wasn't there then she may have a better chance of finding something there…
Getting to the floating fortress was no easy task. Kalifa had to literally catapult herself up to the thing using crude rope and a really long tree. She had nearly missed her shot too but, with the Force at her back, she was able to clamp onto the railing on the edge just as she passed by it.
She pulled herself lazily over the side and let out a sigh of relief. On the open platform of the fortress there were signs of battle everywhere. Trandoshans lied dead with their bodies half decomposed with maggot flies slowly eating the meat from the bones. Wrecked hover pods rested on their sides with busted engines. Blaster marks riddled the decking and walls with no sign of anyone there.
Kalifa remained on guard as she explored the inner rooms of the fortress.
Eventually she came across the control room of the fortress. The instrument panels all flashed red with words like LOW FUEL or ENGINE POWER DEPLETING playing across the screen.
Just her luck, the fortress was about two steps away from falling out of the sky. The fact that it was running out of fuel positively meant that no Trandoshan was alive to tend the ship's needs.
What could she possibly do with a dying fortress? Fly it to space and see if it has a hyperdrive? Set it down on the ground and see if she could use its communication equipment to call for help?
Kalifa didn't know how to do any of those things. Judging by the alarms and wails from the control board, she had about a few minutes before the whole thing dropped dead into the forest below. That would definitely kill her and the Morichro definitely wouldn't be able to save her this time.
Maybe there was a ship or an extra freighter docked in the fortress's hangar bay. Assuming it had one. Kalifa pressed a few buttons on the screen and selected the schematics for the ship. There was a hanger bay but it was small and didn't look like it could hold a space worthy vessel.
"Come on, is that all there is?" Kalifa grew unsteady as the fortress began to lean slightly to one side. The control board read STARBORT ENGINE FAILURE which was pretty self-explanatory. Kalifa took a mental picture of the schematics and immediately raced off to find whatever rested in the belly of the beast…
After taking a left at the sickbay and dodging tumbling crates of supplies, Kalifa finally made it to the hangar bay door. She punched the release button and the door slid open in an instant. In that very same instant her hopes shot up into the stars. In the small bay was a starfighter sized craft.
It had two bulky engines on each side of the cockpit and a pair of wings that rested at the end of an elongated nose. By first sight she could tell it has been extensively modified. With any luck there was a hyperdrive under the pealing orange-on-black paint job.
She jumped into the open cockpit and relied on her simulation training to get the fighter up and running.
INCOM Z – 95 HEADHUNTER MODEL 2A PREPARING FOR LAUNCH
The words played across the control screen and Kalifa glared at it. "Don't prepare, launch now!" She slammed the throttle forward. The little ship shot off its landing skies and jumped right out the open hangar bay hatch. The starfighter didn't fly at first but with a quick thruster reverse it began to float again. Behind her Kalifa heard the fortress slam into the island and crush a quarter of it under its heavy tonnage. If it wasn't for her stubbornness she would've been joining the derelict fortress. Turns out Corellians really do have 'rocket fuel for blood' as is the general stereotype for the stubborn and full hardy race of humans.
"If the Force isn't at work then I don't know what is…" It amazed her how coincidental it was to awaken just in time to grab a flyable craft from the dying fortress. Had she been a day late her chances of getting off the planet would have been slimmer then slim.
Giving full power to the sub-light drives, Kalifa willed the craft to exit the atmosphere and glide into the stars. What she saw made her eyes water. The starry sky was just absolutely beautiful. For the first time in ages she gazed at them and their timeless beauty. Overhead hung the world of Trandosha, planet that the one she just escaped from orbited. Even it looked beautiful.
After basking for several minutes Kalifa worked with the control screen.
HYPERDRIVE FUNCTIONALITY: SUFFIECENT. OXYGEN LEVELS: NOMINAL.
So those big engines weren't just for show. For a fighter this size to have a hyperdrive was unheard of but she wasn't complaining. She could jump to Coruscant from here but there was one problem though. Her oxygen supply would last less than a day and it took longer than that for a jump to the core of the galaxy.
Folding her arms across her chest, she slumped back into her seat to think. She hadn't come this close to home to be stopped by a few gasp of air. Maybe she could feed the oxygen into the cockpit slowly enough to last for the trip. Or perhaps she could stop by a closer planet for resupply. Or maybe…
She tapped herself on the forehead. "Oh right, the Force." She had used Morichro to survive once and she'll definably use it again.
Setting the coordinates in, her fighter streamed into hyperspace with ease. As a blue tunnel of light surrounded her she got as comfortable as possible in her chair and closed her eyes. Tapping into the hidden, not to mention forbidden, power of hers she was able to slip into a deep sleep. But not deep enough. She pushed her mind deep within itself and shut down her entire body. A day of oxygen could last her years in the Morichro state which is more than enough to reach home.
No place like it…
Kalifa really is a cool character and I wish she hadn't died. So if enough people so I should, I'll make this into a full length story with multiple chapters. Thanks for reading.
xander867
