Chapter 20

Tales of the Past

"Those I cannot crush with words I will crush with the tanks of the Imperial Guard!"

Lord Commander Solar Macharius

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Gabriel pushed a button on the control pad and watched as the blast door which led to the secure wing of the medical bay opened, he continued walking down a short corridor to yet another blast door and hit a four digit password into the second blast doors locking mechanism.

Gabriel sighed as a force presence that he knew very well tried to sneak in behind him "I thought I told you to get some sleep Alana"

"But master you always say that by the finding of knowledge one has to be curious" Alana said innocently as she walked up beside him.

"I never said such a thing" Gabriel said, his tone completely sarcastic "But since you've brought that up I'll let you in on another saying. Curiosity killed the cat"

"Master please, considering I freed this person I should at least know who she is" Alana protested lightly.

"Okay" Gabriel replied in defeat "but stay with me until I am sure this person isn't dangerous"

The door opened and the two Jedi stopped dead in their tracks, the bed that their sudden guest was issued was empty, without thinking Gabriel quickened his pace into the medical room, Alana following behind him and the two looked in disbelief at the view-port, she stood looking out at the stars and the enshrouded form of the Shades of Grey, wearing a pair of brown Jedi robes that was left beside her bed.

He couldn't believe it, she was in such a poor state when she appeared to them, she was dehydrated, pale and dreadfully thin, even by Twi'lek standards, yet here she was, barely two hours later and her violet skin was now healthier and she appeared to have regained a lot of her lost strength. Turning to them she smiled gently, the force signature that Gabriel had felt upon her arrival was still there, but had gained strength and seemed to encompass the entire ship with its warmth and radiant light.

"How are you feeling?" Gabriel asked, hiding his surprise at the woman's sudden recovery.

"There is no need to worry young Jedi" she replied, her voice was soft and silky "I was very well known in my time to recover quickly" she bowed deeply before them catching both Gabriel and Alana by surprise.

"Your welcome my lady" Gabriel replied, returning her bow "But who are you and where, or when do you come from?"

"Well I am from a time when the Jedi order was just starting to leave their hermit roots. I was an immortal, one of a handful born of the force and taught in its methods" she answered simply "In that time I was most well known as The Healer because I had mastered the aspects of the forces healing powers"

"Do you have a name?" Alana asked timidly, her history with the Dark Eldar still making her a little uneasy with any alien beings, she only really trusted Ishta who sparred with her every know and then and taught her on a few basic guarding and striking attacks.

"A name?" the Twi'lek replied thoughtfully "Well my mother named me Sasha"

"That'll do, my names Alana and this is my master Gabriel" she introduced, feeling that she could trust this woman, she didn't know why but there was something about her force signature that put her at ease.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Alana" Sasha said and shook the young girls and her masters hands "I sense that you were the one who freed me, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, but can we walk and talk, I am feeling very stiff"

"I guess it wouldn't be a problem" Gabriel said hesitantly before guiding Sasha through the door, as they entered the well lit, white corridors of the Star Destroyer the Twi'lek woman stretched her arms over her tailed head and sighed gratefully, the few aides and soldiers who were still up at this hour glanced curiously at this strange Jedi as they passed by.

Alana flinched slightly as the bruise on her cheek flared up again and the Healer noticed it before placing a slender hand out to stop her "Does it hurt?" she asked worriedly.

"Just a little" she replied, trying to put on a brave face, the healer shook her head and placed a slender hand on Alana's cheek, before the young padawan could ask what Sasha was doing she felt a tingling sensation on her face.

A few seconds later Sasha removed her hand and smiled warmly before reaching into her robes and producing a small mirror "I think that should do it"

Alana stuttered as she looked into the mirror, the black bruising on her face was gone; it had completely healed.

"How?" she asked in amazement.

"Do you think I won the title of The Healer in a raffle or something?" Sasha asked in mock annoyance before smiling mischievously and placing a slender arm around Alana's shoulder led the young woman onwards through the spacious corridors of the Star Destroyer, she needed someone to give her a tour of this futuristic spacecraft, Gabriel followed the two chattering females, a look of wonder on his face before smiling, one thing that came with being a Jedi was that there was never any lack of surprises.

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Joseph listened carefully to every detail of what was happening on Galenor as Mynn explained it to him, she explained in great detail the surprise attack made by the Dark Eldar, the destruction of their Imperium escorts, their last minute save by their contacts led by a man who would be around four thousand years old by now and finally the Jedi woman who seemed to appear out of thin air.

"This is incredible captain" Halos replied as she finished her report "It would appear that you have had a very busy time"

"Something to tell my children about sir" Mynn replied "However Revan asks that we remain behind with him"

"Why exactly?" the Admiral asked questionably.

"Just something about showing us the dangers and possible allies of this galaxy" the Togruta captain replied "Getting the full story or something similar, he didn't give much detail but I think it's mostly Jedi stuff"

"I am uncomfortably with splitting my forces captain" Joseph said before pausing "What does master Sabbath think?"

"He considers this would be a good way to learn more about this galaxy besides the Imperium's territories" Mynn answered, knowing too well that the Admiral trusted Gabriel's counsel more than almost anything else.

"Very well captain" Halos replied after a moment of thought "Well go on to Terra without you, just promise me you won't bite off more than you can chew"

"When have I ever done that?" Mynn asked with a mischievous smile.

"I've got a list of such incidents somewhere in my files" Joseph replied with a grin.

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Inquisitor Vallace stood beside Admiral Halos as his small force of Star Destroyers, overshadowed by the massive form of the Emperors Fire moved carefully through the outmost line of defences around Helios Prime, the huge lance batteries of the surrounding weapon platforms were silent and unmoving.

His ships had been refitted once again before they began their departure from the Forge world, their main turbolaser and lance weapons had all been replaced by the newly developed and approved Turbolance batteries which Halos had to admit that he was very proud of, he had seen the tests on these weapons and concluded that they packed an incredible punch, the Emperors Fire had also been upgraded with half of her lance emplacements replaced by these new weapons.

"Are you sure about letting the Firestorm going wondering around on its own?" Robyn asked "There are many dangers in this galaxy"

"We need more Intel Inquisitor, Mynn's people are a race of wanderers and explorers and the Jedi have always been similar, besides the more we learn about this Revan and his allegiances the better"

"I know that I have heard of that name somewhere before" Robyn muttered to herself but shook it loose from her mind, there was other, more important things to do at the moment like prepare the Admiral for his arrival upon Holy Terra, her allies had contacted her and informed that the High Lords would allow the Alliances ships into the holy worlds airspace and listen to their proposals.

She was still pondering on these questions as the small taskforce slipped through the last line of outer defences and vanished into hyperspace.

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Ishta couldn't help but stare at the place on her shoulder where the stab wound had been and shook her head in amusement, the healer had certainly lived up to her name, mending the wound to the point where it didn't even leave a scar, all she did was place her hand on the wound for a few seconds.

Her purple eyes scanned the expanse of the briefing room that the Jedi were using once again, they had left the death world called Galenor and were know travelling through hyperspace towards an area of deep space, the Mon-Keigh Jedi Revan had assured them that allies of his were stationed there.

But at the moment all eyes were on The Healer, the strange alien woman stood up from her chair and cleared her throat "As I told Master Sabbath I am from a time when the Jedi were leaving their hermit roots, this was way before the Order was split into two halves and well before they became guardians of a fledgling Republic, in fact under the leadership of myself and a handful of my fellows the Jedi, and the Sith as you call them were united under a single banner, there were three sub-groups of this ancient order. The Jedi who were the guardians, the Grey Jedi who were the watchers and finally the Sith who were the warriors" she paused, scanning the room for the reactions of her fellows "But sadly before we could complete the training of our students we were attacked, a great wormhole opened up in the middle of our star system and through it came a large fleet of warships"

"Great armies of warriors fell from the sky and attacked us without warning, they reeked of a darkness that was not of the force, that's very being was like a disease, a plague, a darkness upon the galaxy, we gathered our pupils and fought them...the war was devastating, encompassing all of Typhus and lasting for the better part of a century" she shuddered at the memory of that terrible time, but ignored the worried looks on the faces of those around her and continued "Thousands of innocents were slain, used for monstrous, inhumane sacrifices to their dark gods, many others began to change, the darkness that emanated from the wormhole driving them to madness. Finally we were gaining ground, only one fortress remained and we gathered our armies to force them off our world, but they had one last trump card. They had opened a rip to another dimension and through it came yet more daemons and warped soldiers, led by human-like monsters, encased in black, blood covered armour with large black feathered wings, grey skin and blood red eyes that could tear away the defences of a mortals mind and drive him insane. We fought them and slowly made our way towards the rift to close it, but one by one my fellow immortals fell and were imprisoned within their own Typhon crystals, eventually we made it to the breach and with the combined effort of us and our most powerful pupils we closed the portal, but the last few daemons continued to fight and the battle raged on, these dark creatures defeated the last of us with their superior numbers, imprisoning the last of us and throwing us across the galaxy, they underestimated our students however who obliterated them, scattering the last few away from Typhus"

"But the damage was already done, the seeds of mistrust between our pupils was already sown, we were imprisoned before we could complete our students training and eventually they went to war against each other, I believe that your history knew that time as the Force Wars" she dropped into her seat and sighed tiredly, the pain clearly evident in her crimson eyes "Even today they fight each other with such hatred, such malice, the Grey Jedi, who have always been the link between the Jedi and the Sith were butchered and destroyed by the end of that terrible conflict with the forces of Chaos"

Everyone in the room was quiet, deep in contemplation at what had been revealed to them, it was Revan who spoke "So the battle that myself and my followers had fought against Chaos so long ago wasn't the first time"

"Yes" Sasha answered "And it won't be the last, as long as the Chaos Gods exist they will always wish to bring more death and destruction, not just on this galaxy but on others as well, it was that that made me start to teach you and your friends the deeper secrets of the force"

"What do you mean?" Revan and Sonya asked in unison.

"I drove you on to discover the true powers of the force" Sasha repeated, her lips tugging up into the sad smile "Slowly implanting suggestions into your minds, subconsciously telling you how to unlock these abilities, because for the Jedi, and for that matter the Sith to survive the dark times ahead they will need old and wise immortal force-users to bring them together and teach them all of the things they have lost, it is for that reason that we must find my brothers and sisters to resurrect this order, for I sense if the forces of Chaos gain a foothold in our galaxy not even the netherworld of the force can provide a safe haven"

Meanwhile far away from Galenor, just outside of the eye of terror a massive fleet made up of thousands of warships left the dark mist towards the Imperium world of Cadia, the fleet passed by a star on the verge of going supernova, the star exploded suddenly and without warning, sending shockwaves of raw energy through the few thousand Chaos ships that were passing by and throwing them through a great wormhole, dumping them unceremoniously into an unknown region of deep space.

Onboard the lead battleship Daemon Prince Anubis picked himself up from the deck and starred out mercilessly at the space around him before spinning towards the nearest sorcerer, his warped eyes burning with rage "Where are we!!!???"

Phew now that was an idea I have been working on for a while, what do you think? In the next chapter you will find out where the Chaos fleet have ended up and you will hear from a Star Wars race that, unless you have read the books, you will never have heard of before…We soar on wings of fire!!!