Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter. I decided, since this was finished, to just go ahead and post it today, so I can get to work on finishing my preparations for the sequel story, do some work on other stories, and also devote time to school, which has started up again. This will be the final chapter of the story, and lead into the sequel.
Let's get to it.
Chapter 19- The Path
(March 12, 2053)
Deep within the bowels of the TAS Hood, in his personal quarters, Admiral Pellaeon is resting on his bed as the ship's doctor finishes wrapping up his ankle.
"Alright, that should do it, Admiral. Just don't do anything that'll strain your foot too much, and it should be back to normal in a few days," the doctor says.
"Thank you, commander," Pellaeon says, addressing the doctor by his rank.
Thankfully, the injury to his ankle had not been serious. Which was lucky, all things considered. Having now entered his 90s, Pellaeon is far from his physical prime, and he has been struggling a bit physically in the last year or so. Even strategizing and tactics are a bit more difficult for him lately, signs of his mind beginning to slow with age. He had tripped and fallen earlier today, twisting his ankle. Thankfully, Ronen had been standing just a few feet away, and used the Force to stop Pellaeon from hitting the ground, preventing Pellaeon from sustaining any other injuries except for his twisted ankle.
The doctor then hands Pellaeon his cane. The admiral had taken to using a cane the last two years as his body had become more weak. Although he could make do without it for periods of time, it definitely made things easier on him.
"Stick with using this until your ankle has fully healed," the doctor orders the admiral.
"Yes, sir," Pellaeon says in a joking tone, which makes the doctor smile. Pellaeon had shown he thought highly of medics and doctors since first joining the Hood, and when it came to the health of himself or the crew, he treated the medical crew as superior officers to himself.
The doctor packs up his bag and stands up, helping Pellaeon to his feet. "Well, take care, admiral. If you need further help, you know where to find me," he says before he heads out of the room to head back to sick bay.
Pellaeon heads out of his quarters a minute after the doctor leaves, walking down the long corridor outside his quarters that leads down to the lifts that will take him up to the bridge. Going a bit slower because of his ankle, it takes him longer than usual before he reaches the lifts. Pellaeon boards one of them and heads up to the bridge.
After a minute, the lift stops and opens up just outside the command bridge. Pellaeon walks slowly out onto the bridge, where the bridge crew is waiting for the latest additions to the expedition map to be completed before continuing onwards.
As Pellaeon enters the command bridge, everyone stands to acknowledge his presence. Pellaeon waves his hand dismissively to signal them to be at ease. Although they still kept many military customs aboard the Hood, the crew also had grown far more relaxed with each other with how long they've been together.
Pellaeon makes his way over the holotable and sits down. A second later, Moorhouse walks over to sit down next to Pellaeon. Despite the fact he just turned 80 the month before, Moorhouse is still fairly fit and still takes his duties as captain of the Hood very seriously.
"Your ankle alright?" Moorhouse asks.
"For the most part. Just need to take it easy for a few days," Pellaeon responds.
Moorhouse nods a bit in response. Pellaeon then asks, "How did the charting go?"
Moorhouse nods before responding, "Pretty well. The last of the additions to the maps are being added right now."
Pellaeon nods. It's been 12 years since the Hood finally discovered Exegol. Ever since then, the Hood has been on a mission to chart alternate routes to Exegol. The problem with that came in the fact that there were many astronomical bodies in the vicinity of Exegol and various hyperspace anomalies, possibly by the strength of the dark side combined with the unusual nature of the Unknown Regions.
This had resulted in the fact that after 12 years of work, the Hood was still not home. The Hood could only use hyperdrive occasionally and briefly in mapping, which was the main reason it had taken so long. So far, they had managed to chart a large amount of two different routes to Exegol, but had not figured out how to get home. The crew was somewhat discouraged at the lack of progress, but the fact that they had their families helped a lot. Some of the crew who had married first now even had grandchildren, which definitely helped to lift spirits. The Hood had also made a number of trips back to New Callistan to restock their food supplies and give the crew a little break, as well as traveling to R727 to harvest material needed to make hypermatter fuel.
Pellaeon leans back in his chair. After a moment, he looks up at Moorhouse. "Actually, Captain. I meant to tell you. I recently finished my will. Although Ronen will take my position as Admiral in the case of my death, I want you to continue to work with him and help him get situated to the position in the event of my death."
"Admiral, you may be 91, but you're not going to die on us anytime soon. You're still extremely healthy, and I believe we are going to make it back home," Moorhouse says intently.
"I hope so desperately, Captain. But you know as well as I do this may not end as we hope. It has been 34 years since we encountered the Eclipse and were stranded in the Unknowns. Yes, we've made real progress in our mission, but that progress has taken years. And as strong as I am, at my age, that can change quickly, and I don't expect to live to see the other side of a hundred. We will likely make it home, but I'm not certain it will happen in my lifetime, and I want to ensure that the Hood remains in capable hands," Pellaeon says.
Moorhouse is quiet, then sighs a bit and nods, slumping back in his chair. He knows at this point that if Pellaeon is starting to give up hope of living long enough to see the ship return home, then perhaps that will be the case after all.
Pellaeon and Moorhouse sit together for a minute in silence before Ronen enters the bridge and comes over to sit with them. Although Ronen is now almost 64, he's still in great shape and his power in the Force has only grown. He's now showing some signs of his age, as his hair is mostly gray now and he has a few wrinkles. But he hasn't slowed down at all with age, that's for sure.
Ronen takes a seat, his lightsaber bouncing a bit at his side. He looks at Pellaeon and says, "Admiral, some of the parents of the younger kids came to me about an hour ago. They say the teenagers want to hold a dance this next weekend, and were wondering if they could reserve the hangar bay?"
Pellaeon chuckles a bit. Among the changes aboard the Hood after she departed New Callistan for the first time was the establishment of several institutions aboard for the families that had come aboard. This included areas of the ship set aside for daycare for the younger children who needed it, as well as schooling for the children who were of the proper age for it. This had continued for the last 12 years. The hangar bay had become the de facto event venue aboard the ship. Events from large parties, dances, large lectures, and even weddings had all been held in the hangar bay. In fact, the hangar was used so often that they had to start implementing a schedule for the hangar, with people required to reserve the hangar for events to make sure they didn't clash with other events or scheduled exercises with the air wing.
"Yes, David. As far as I know, the hangar is free. Just so long as you don't DJ again," Pellaeon says with a laugh.
"Hey! It wasn't that bad! I wasn't familiar with the equipment!" Ronen says, and he and the other two officers laugh for a moment before going quiet again.
The three of them sit together for a minute in silence. Then, as Ronen is about to suggest they go and get some food down in one of the mess halls, an alarm suddenly begins to blare on the bridge.
All three men quickly get to their feet. They all know that alarm. An alarm they've only heard twice in the last 34 years. Moorhouse immediately turns towards the officers manning the radar and shouts, "What's going on? ID!"
The officers, a mix of original officers and children of the crew who were now old enough to serve and had gone through training, hurry to try and figure out the source of the alarm. Then, one of them raises his head and looks at Moorhouse and shouts, "Admiral, ship coming out of hyperspace! ID unknown!"
Moorhouse reacts quickly. "Turn the ship in the direction of the incoming vessel! Give me ID as soon as possible!"
The helmsman turns the Hood in the direction of the incoming ship. As he does, Pellaeon and Moorhouse, now at the viewport, raise binocks to identify the ship. A second later, the ship appears as it drops out of hyperspace.
Pellaeon and Moorhouse look carefully at the ship as it approaches. As they examine it, they realize that although it's not a ship design they recognize, it does bear similarities to a design they do know.
"Is it just me, or does that look a lot like the Steadfast class cruisers that the Chiss used back before we disappeared?" Moorhouse asks.
"Yes," Pellaeon says suspiciously.
The two ships slowly make their way towards each other. Then, a communications officer calls out, "Sir, it seems the ship is trying to contact us with line-of-sight holocummincations." Although the Hood's communication system was still mostly destroyed, some functions had been repaired. The main benefit was that the Hood could be contacted by ships if they were "line of sight", which basically meant if they were in the same star system.
"Put it through," Pellaeon says as he moves over to the holotable.
A second later, an image of a man pops up. He's wearing a uniform they all recognize, and even in the hologram, they can see the blue hue of his skin.
"Shit. It is the Chiss," Moorhouse mutters.
"This is Chiss Ascendancy warship Keystone, approaching you head on. Identify yourself," the Chiss male says.
Everyone looks around, hope and excitement surging within them. If they have encountered a Chiss…maybe the Chiss will be able to help them get back home.
Pellaeon manages to keep his own excitement down as he responds to the Chiss officer, "Chiss warship Keystone, I am Admiral Gilad Pellaeon, in command of the battlecruiser TAS Hood of the Terran Alliance."
The Chiss male looks confused. "A Terran battlecruiser? I hadn't know one would be out here. What are you doing out here?" he asks.
Pellaeon muses that the story of the Hood's disappearance must not be well known among the Chiss. "That is a long story, friend. Rest assured, we mean you no harm. However, we are extremely lost. Do you think we could send a delegation to your ship and explain our situation and what help we need right now?"
The Chiss officer turns around, as if looking at someone not visible on the transmission. A moment later, he turns back and says, "Very well. You may send a delegation to our ship. Hold your current position otherwise."
"Very well," Pellaeon says before the transmission ends. Pellaeon looks around the bridge, and sees the hope and joy on the faces of everyone. If they are in space known to the Chiss, this could be their saving grace.
(an hour later)
On the bridge of the Keystone, Pellaeon, Ronen, and Colonel Shevchenko are all sitting down with the captain of the ship and a few officers.
"So, you've been lost in the Unknown Regions for years?" the captain asks.
"Yes. We suffered an accident that caused us to lose all our records of hyperspace routes and maps of the Unknowns. SInce then, we've been wandering the Unknowns, trying to find our way back home," Pellaeon confirms.
"Wow. That must be quite the adventure," the captain says.
"A little suspicious though. How do we know you're not First Order?" one of the officers says,
"Oh, come off it. You know the differences between the Resurgent class and the Repulse class. And plus, they're wearing Terran uniforms," another officer says.
The three Terrans are extremely confused, wondering what these two officers are talking about. However, the captain speaks up before anyone else can say anything and asks, "So, what is it you want from us?"
"We don't intend to disrupt whatever mission you are on. We only ask that you help us by downloading data to our databanks to help complete our map and give us a route back home," Pellaeon says.
The captain nods. "Well, that's easy enough. We are currently just outside the borders of the Chiss Ascendancy, and we have this area well mapped. I will send a technician with you back to your ship with the data you require. With luck, the process should take less than an hour," he says.
"Good. We appreciate your help," Pellaeon says, drawing a nod from Pellaeon and the other two officers. Although their faces are calm, they are feeling extremely giddy inside. At last, they have what they need to get home.
(March 16, 2053)
On the bridge of the Hood, Pellaeon and Moorhouse are looking carefully at the holotable as it is displaying the Hood's position and its progress.
The chance encounter with the Chiss cruiser, which was a follow on design to the Steadfast class cruiser as Pellaeon thought, had proven the turning point. The Chiss technician had arrived aboard the ship and managed to download the data they requested. It added a number of detailed maps to the Hood's databanks, as well as the data for several hyperroutes discovered by the Chiss that lead back to Known Space. However, for reasons that he hadn't shared, the Chiss technician advised them to only follow one of two hyperroutes. One of these routes connected to major hyperlanes leading to Dantooine, and the other led to Endor. Although confused as to why he suggested this, Pellaeon decided to take the technician's advice. After mulling over it, he decided to head for Endor.
Now, the Hood was only a few minutes from the end of her hyperspace run. This route had been extremely smooth, and, with luck, connected back to the two routes to Exegol that the Hood had charted.
The mood aboard the battlecruiser is the most buoyant it's ever been since the fight with the Eclipse all those years ago. At last, they're on their way home.
And, I'll end there. I know, cliffhanger, but this is the perfect place to leave off. Eventually, there will come a chapter in the sequel trilogy story that will pick up right where this one left off.
I hope you guys liked this chapter and how I decided to have the Hood and its crew finally get home. I mean, I haven't used the Chiss much in my series besides Thrawn himself, so I decided it was high time they show up again.
So, the Hood is finally on her way home, and has charted two routes to Exegol. This will of course play a very vital role in the sequel trilogy story and its conclusion.
Now, at last, we've come to the end of this story, and we can finally prepare for the sequel trilogy story. Now, the first chapter of said story will not be up for maybe a week or so, maybe more. The reason for this is twofold. One, I've been neglecting some other stories to focus on this series, and I want to get some chapters posted to them. On top of that, I'm still writing out a lot of background information I need to set in stone before beginning the project, and finalizing some plot details. The sequel trilogy story may well be the biggest, most in depth fanfiction project I've ever attempted, and I don't intend to start it until I'm fully prepared for it. However, rest assured, I am going to post notices to all my Terran Alliance stories announcing that the sequel trilogy story is up, so keep watch for that.
Alright. With that, we have come to the end of this story. I decided not to do a mid credits scene simply because I couldn't really think of something to do that would be pertinent to the series without completely spoiling my plans for the sequel trilogy. So, this is the true end of this story. Please leave your final review of this story, keep an eye out for the next story, and stay tuned! Raptor2216 out.