Chapter 5
The Redemption was a hive of activity. As the rebellion lost ship after ship, surviving crews and new recruits were forced into ever tightening quarters aboard a dwindling fleet of warships. Thrawn had made it his first order of business to annihilate the Mon Calamari shipyards to impair the rebellions ability to build and repair ships. Though they had built other yards, they had long since lost them to the Vong and ultimately the Cylons. Betrayed by their would be allies, the rebellion had eventually been relegated to the back burner during much of the war, and with patriotic recruits flooding the imperial academy the rebellion had lost much of its support.
With the Goa'uld and the Wraith long dead and the Cylons blasted into oblivion, the recent defeat of the Vong had provided a final burst of support for Thrawn's reborn Empire. With the passage of time however, sentient beings would again begin to chafe under the yoke of facism, and yearn once more for equal rights and representation. It was for this time that the rebellion endured, for the hope that once more the tides of public opinion would provide them the support and recruits they would need to restore the republic.
Ackbar pondered this as he strode confidently through the corriders of the Redemption. As he approached the airlock connected to the millennium falcon he savored the possibility that perhaps an opportunity was being presented to hasten that change.
***
"Careful with him boys, he's stronger than he looks." Starbuck warned
"Don't worry about it Chewie's keeping an eye on him." Han interjected. He clipped the last off the charred wires trailing a bulky piece of machinery and removed the melted mess from the wall with the help of a technician. They guided the machinery gently to the floor to rest beside a battered but more usable replacement. Han surveyed the ruins within the wall.
A med tech was caring for lando, while two soldiers stood guard all of whom were overseen by Chewbacca's sharp eye. The Wookiee held his bowcaster at the ready and had made it clear that should the Goa'uld possessing Lando attempt a third assault, it would be its final one.
Starbuck for his part performed basic repair tasks, lacking experience with the Falcon's technology, he had found his best conttributionw as to sort and pile obvious wreckage for removal. He had completed as much of this as he could and was beginning to feel useless when Wedge strode in escorting what Starbuck could only assume was the commander of the Redemption.
"Starbuck this is Admiral Ackbar, he wishes to personally inspect the Stargate." Wedge introduced him, "This is the man with knowledge of the Architects technology and the location of Core Ascendant, more important than all of that he may be the last of the Jedi."
All activity in the room ceased and the guards, med tech Han and Chewie joined Ackbar in staring at Starbuck. After a moment Ackbar cleared his throat.
"Sergeant, secure the prisoner aboard the redemption as soon as he is stable enough to move. None of you are to reveal what you have just heard to anyone else period, you are not even to discuss it amongst yourselves. Commander Antilles, Starbuck if you would show me to the hold?"
"Hey don't mind us, its just our ship." Said Han sarcastically, he handed the rag to the technician beside him. "Do your best son, I'll check back later, and remember, this is on his tab," he jerked a thumb at Ackbar, "So don't be stingy with the repairs. Chewie keep an eye on that thing until its off my ship." He ordered with a nod at lando. He elbowed past Wedge and Ackbar and led them to the hold.
"Now of course I'll be expecting my payment for transportation plus damages before this baby leaves my ship." Han reminded Ackbar. Ackbar rolled his eyes which was an impressive sight for a Mon Calamari.
"I believe you were compensated quite generously last time." Ackbar replied, "Have no fear, the rebellion honors its word."
Han clamped his mouth shut and looked abashed as Ackbar surveyed the stargate. Still strapped to the hold's floor, with crates piled about it, the power leads had been disconnected and stored. The drones were being repackaged for transport through the airlock, the crates being too large to fit through the hatch.
"As you can see its not going anywhere until we either get the falcon spaceworthy enough to land or unless you brought a bigger ship with a docking bay." Starbuck began,
"Another vessel is being brought." Ackbar cut in, "Tell me of this devices tactical capabilities."
"This device is capable of instantaneous transport across interstellar and even intergalactic distances." Replied Starbuck, "You can deploy troops, move supplies…"
"Didn't work last time." Muttered Han.
"There has to be an accompanying device, and we need accurate coordinates." Starbuck clarified, "We thought there would be one on Dagobah, we were wrong, there may be one on Imperial city, assuming nobody figured out what it is, and there could be any number of them scattered around the galaxy. If we can rig up a proper power supply and computer interface it can send a signal to the other gates and get their coordinates."
"How are you so familiar with this technology?" Demanded Ackbar.
"My people used it." Starbuck answered truthfully enough, or so he thought.
"You appear human." Commented Ackbar, "Yet Commander Antilles reported you have healing powers and superb fighting reflexes, are your people than, the jedi?"
"The jedi was not a species sir, they were a religious order." Wedge clarified.
"Bunch of hokey mumbo jumbo." Grumbled Han, "Got 'em all killed."
"That is very likely the case Captain Solo." Replied Ackbar stonily, addressing him for the first time, "Following the events at yavin and Corellia we have determined that the centerpoint station generated some kind of energy wave that killed all force sensitive individuals in the galaxy save mr. Starbuck here."
"Captain Starbuck if you don't mind." Said Starbuck defensively, "I was a soldier among my own people for quite some time, I led several fighter wings."
"You speak often of your people." Replied Ackbar, "Yet you fail to name them, to describe their place of origin, and you have evaded my earlier question Captain."
Starbuck sighed in resignation.
"My people are from another galaxy, We call it Cygnus." He said finally, "I am not a Jedi, I don't use the Force as you know it, I use a more direct method to achieve similar results. I want to get this stargate up and running because I need to locate the man responsible for wiping out my people and apparently attempting to do the same thing to all of yours."
"A bold accusation." Observed Ackbar, "What is this man's name?"
"He has many names, Mephestopholes, Hades, last I knew he was going by Iblis." Said Starbuck gazing at Ackbar.
"How can one man have accomplished all that you say." Demanded Wedge, "There was a general Iblis who helped found the rebellion, and he certainly mislead us regarding the Cylons, but he had nothing to do with the Goa'uld or the wraith or the Vong."
"Oh you'd be surprised." Replied Starbuck sardonically. "Iblis has something to do with everything, the difficulty is that he is never directly responsible, you see his species feeds on regret, fear and guilt, he devours suffering, for that he can't do it himself, he needs servants, followers, people to do his dirty work."
"You deny being a jedi but you sound like one." Grumbled Han, "The old man was always babbling about despair and darkness, all that mumbo jumbo didn't save him in the end."
"it is often the case in war however that a straightforward motivation is merely a façade disguising a more subtle purpose." Ackbar conceded, "A well constructed plan consists of many layers and it may be that Starbuck is aware of a deeper layer to all of our troubles. It may also be he is simply caught up in troubles of his own. We are grateful to you for bringing this technology to us, and we would appreciate any additional help you would lend our effort, but this is not the time for personal vendettas."
"hey listen you don't understand," protested Starbuck, "You don't have all the facts! I'm not looking for iblis to fight him, I need to know what he's up to! None of this is supposed to happen, I can undo it, I just need to know how he did it."
"All of what? Undo what?" Demanded Han, "What are you talking about?" he shot Starbuck a look, an attempt to keep him ffrom revealing too much, but Starbuck had decided some revelations were in order. He blew out a breath and tried to explain.
"Listen right now we are in a submerged pocket of space time, I gather none of you have had experience with that." He said looking around at baffled faces, "First think of time as a string of events. It proceeds infinitely in either direction, so you can only imagine a part off it, different events happen along different points, that's your sequential timeline, now imagine that thread is actually a rope, with many other threads woven around it next to each other."
"you are describing the parallel universe theory." Ackbar observed, "Grade school science, what is your point."
"My point is that under certain circumstances, two timelines can become entangled for a finite period of time become entangled." Starbuck replied, "That's what I think is going on here. My timeline has merged with yours, and it may diverge once more, once fate has run its course."
Han waved a hand at Starbuck and stomped off shoving past Chewbacca, "I have better things to do than this." He grumbled.
"Nothing in our experience can corroborate what you are saying." Ackbar replied, "And there are many questions you are not answering with this explanation."
"I'm trying to!" Starbuck replied, "I told you it was complicated, look at least let me finish okay?"
"if nothing else it is interesting fiction." Wedge suggested. "For some." He added as something crashed in the corridor and han began shouting for Chewie.
"These devices shunt matter through a micro singularity." Starbuck continued desperately pointing at the Stargate, "They basically tunnel through the core of existence to create shortcuts through its thread. Under the right gravitational influence, the singularities connect with different points along the thread; instead of passing straight through it, they travel up or down it, an enemy of mine used such a device to travel back in time to change the future, changing the course of events, I went back to his point of origin to see what he planned to do."
"Why wouldn't you try to stop him?" Demanded Wedge, "If he changed the past he must have had a reason to, you give him the advantage if you just let him."
"Unless Starbuck knew others would do this." Ackbar interjected, becoming engaged at last, "And took it upon himself to scout the enemy's method, to understand his strategy."
"Exactly." Replied Starbuck, "Iblis moves through others, tempts them, coerces them, seduces them, his motivations are filtered through the agendas of his pawns. We got a good idea of what he's after by looking at what he's done, I wanted the rest of the story by looking at what he would do."
"So ultimately you must return to your time using this device of yours if you are to deliver this intelligence, " surmised Ackbar gesturing at the Stargate.
"Oh no." Starbuck corrected hastily, "That isn't it. The device I used is in just one point in time and space once you travel through it you can't go back. Sure you could use the gate coordinates, but the device won't exist for another twenty years."
The disappointed look in Ackbar's eyes confirmed Starbuck's suspicion. Ackbar had been hoping to use Ba'al's device as a strategic weapon. An appealing idea at first, but the resulting chaos of alternate universes as Ackbar meddled with history made him shudder, conceptualizing much of what he had learned as an ancient was difficult but he made the attempt anyway.
"It would be catastrophic to continually use such a device." Starbuck explained, "Each alteration causes a vibration in the thread, eventually it would snap. Its for the best Ackbar, sometimes you have to play the hand your dealt."
"How then do you propose to accomplish your mission?" demanded Ackbar, "If your timeline has been altered…"
"Well there are at least two ways to do that, one involves waiting, twenty years, the other involves gaining access to imperial city."
"For the moment it seems our goals are one and the same." Replied Ackbar, "For it is doubtful that you will gain access to the City while it is under Thrawn's control."
"My thoughts exactly." Replied Starbuck.
***
"That's a patch job if I ever saw one." Grumbled Han, "Still I suppose we can use the extra help." He surveyed the newly installed droid socket to the rear of the cockpit. With the navicomp fried it was the best the rebels could offer. Han had loudly protested and constantly reminded the rebels that the repairs would be free, but secretly he was considering the potential of getting a free Astromech. The little guys were usually decent mechanics.
"Most of the droids we have in service are designed for snub fighters." The tech advised him, "But we had a few kicking around that were designed for repairing small craft, going EVA that sort of thing. This little guys the best we have for this sort off thing but he's dated."
Chirping and whistling R2 D2 rolled up to the cockpit and paused when he saw Han. Han recognized him at once.
"hey Chewie, that's the old man's droid." Said han thumping its dome, "Hey buddy you still got the plans for the death star in there?" The tech looked suddenly alarmed but Ackbar assuaged his concerns immediately.
"Those plans were removed at yavin and are being kept in a secure location, should that model ever be built by the empire." Replied the Admiral. "The droid is yours, he contains updated star charts and has been quite handy in the past." R2 whistled in gratitude. "Don't thank me, little one." Ackbar advised, "You have your work cut out for you on this ship."
Artoo gave a mournful whistle.
"Hey, its not my fault!" protested Han. Chewie was surprised at han's sudden upbeat manner, he seemed genuinely pleased to acquire the droid. "That other one isn't coming along is he?"
"As a matter of fact I am." Replied a rather pleased sounding voice. The shiny golden droid seemed always to tip toe. He stepped gingerly up to Starbuck, "I am C-3PO, human cyborg relations, I am fluent in over six million forms of communication."
"Impressive." Grinned Starbuck, "can you define 'Felgarcarb'?"
"I must say I am not familiar with that particular word." Answered threepio perplexed.
"Its my word for the wonderful gifts the Admiral has given us." Said Starbuck cheerfully, before he could be interrogated further the admirals earpiece buzzed.
"it appears our guest has been successfully removed from Mr. Calrissian." Ackbar reported, "Excuse me gentleman, I am needed on the Redemption." He turned to go and Wedge followed him with threepio pattering behind them. Han made a move to go but Starbuck held up a hand."
"Han old buddy, it occurs to me that bringing a translation droid on our little trip puts our business plans in a bit of jeopardy, and the Admiral may not be entirely on the up and up if you know what I mean."
Han eyed him shrewdly, "You read my mind kid, as soon as you start translating, Threepio's going to unlock the whole city and that's one less bargaining chip. We can't trust this guy. The admiral's got his own agenda, and I ain't signing up for no war. If you really want to join with those guys you better look sharp."
"Something tells me I'm better off sticking with you, you've been more straight with me than anyone Han."
"you haven't been exactly straight with me." Han asserted, "That was a nice little song and dance you did for the admiral about time travel and parallel worlds, but you never did tell him how you healed Wedge, or why you are so good a shot."
Starbuck put up his hands, "I've never been a particularly good dancer Han, but if I told you the whole truth all at once you'd think I was just crazy."
"Try me." Han deadpanned.
Starbuck had the expression of a trapped animal, and Han let him open his mouth to attempt an explanation.
"Nah I'm just messing with you, Don't tell me any of that superstitious mumbo jumbo, I don't even want to know. When the old man the kid and the princess came on board I saw some wild stuff and I know better than to ask too many questions. Welcome aboard kid, lets try to get out of this in one piece." Said Han clapping his shoulder and sliding past. Chewie roared approval.
"Well I didn't say I forgot that little stunt messing with the drone." Starbuck said following him, "And don't call me kid, I'm older than I look…"
As the three headed down the corridor, Artoo slowly swiveled his optics to follow them. Extending a probe to the flight console, he inserted it into a slot. There were some brief sparks, and suddenly the small monitor that had been previously used to display navicomp data lit up. Disparate data fragments began to come together until at last a planet was displayed with coordinates below. The planet was Coruscant.