A trio of Land Rovers sped past him down the docks as marines took over guard duty from the police, going out to the outer fringes of the dockyard to keep members of the public out. Like everyone else in the 42 Commando he was looking forward to settling in for the night until they were all called out for an 'Emergency Situation'.
"I tell you mate, I was half expecting a terrorist attack not all this top secret crap" Jake heard Tom grumble behind him.
"Why would terrorists target Plymouth?. To blow up ancient forts and pasty bakeries" The sarcastic voice of his friend Adam replied back, meaning an argument was going to erupt any second if he couldn't calm them down.
"Alright you two shut up, now isn't the time for one of your tiffs" He ordered the arguing pair before they ended up in another bitching match, even if they were funny on the right occasion. His hands gripped loosely on his SA80 patrolling down the path down by a couple of run down warehouses he thought had seen better days. Further down was a large warehouse used for building merchant ships, except it was shut and had a large crowd of Royal Marines and the local bobbies surrounding the building.
"Do you know what's going on Corp?"
"Nope. Doubt anyone other than the higher ups know, Tom" He said, watching as the Land Rovers stopped at the entrance. Six figures in total climbed out from the 4x4s, some he recognised but the notable one he did see was Major General Nigel Wallace.
"Must be big if the Boss is here" Adam said mentioning the Corps of the Royal Marine's Commandant General's widely used nickname amongst the marines. From what he gathered it was a name Wallace got during the Falklands War. Jake saw Captain Phillips saluted the new arrival, reporting whatever findings being kept from most of the other marines and police officers.
"Do you know what they're saying?"
"How should I know, you're the one with the elephant ears"
"That better not be you two bickering again" A harsh, Scottish accented voice boomed over to them.
"Just a joke Sarge" Adam said nervously, holding his L128A1 shotgun in one hand and rubbing the back of his neck with the other.
"Aye, it's always 'just a joke' with ya' Palmer. If I hear any of ya' slagging each other off again, I'll sling both you up on those hooks down there, understood?" Jake saw them both nod, like two kids caught messing about in class by the teacher.
"Do you know what going on around here Sarge?"
"Nothing Matthews, just carrying on with your patrol" Resisting the urge to roll his eyes in irritation, especially in front of Campbell, he was about to do as he was told "But, a wee birdy may have told me something strange was pulled up from the harbour and brought here" He continued in a lower voice, gaining Jake's and the others interest.
"Sergeant, over here and bring those men with you!" Wallace called over to them. Doing as he was ordered he followed Campbell with Adam and Tom behind him, curious as to what the Boss wanted.
"Sir!" They all saluted to the Major General as they stood before him.
"Ah Corporal Matthews, good to see you again" He returned the salute, a smile forming under his greyish/brown moustache.
"You too sir"
"Ok lads, I'm going to need you three to guard the 'item' inside this warehouse" He pointed his thumb to the large building behind him "I have had police officers contact me that some people have been trying to break into the dockyards. Bloody media mongrels most likely" A police helicopter then flew over their heads, it's searchlight beaming out to an area around the docks.
"Sure thing sir" Jake nodded then saw the old man's face turn deadly serious for a moment.
"Now Matthews, and goes for you too lads. You must understand this is strictly confidential, you're all under a vow of silence"
"Understood sir" He said with conviction, feeling nervous now over what could possibly endanger their lives inside the warehouse.
"Good. Don't worry, it should be picked up in an hour and no longer our problem" Wallace face softened again, then escorted them over to the heavily guarded door. Jake then heard the old man say in a lower voice "I didn't want to ask you Corporal but all the other men I trust are on other duties. As I said the government will be taking off our hands shortly, I don't want any of my men dawdling around protecting this thing"
Jake gave him a knowing nod then entered in, seeing the same expression of nervousness on the faces on Tom and Adam as they walked down to the mostly empty warehouse. No lights were on and even the moonlight hadn't come through the windows, until he spotted they were all blocked up.
They all pulled out torches and lit up the front direction they were going.
"I've got a bad feeling about this" Tom muttered next to him placing the torch at the end of his rifle. The marine Corporal was the first to spot the door into the main room, seeing a faint light coming out from the bottom of the door.
"Torches off" He ordered, pushing down on the door handle. With their source of light now off they entered the white lit room, his eyes drawn to the huge object sitting in the middle of the main room.
"What the fuck?" Adam cursed beside him as they all stared at the orb shaped 'item' Wallace was talking about.
Jake estimated it must of been 20 metres big and was held down by four straps on all sides, resting on top of a metal platform. It was jet black and looked like a giant glass ball, giving off a faint humming noise. Four small search lights surrounded the orb but all their glass faces were smashed and a laptop with some other computer devices were next to it, their screens too smashed to pieces.
"That thing isn't going to start summoning a God is it?"
"Seriously?" Jake frowned at the Sheffield born marine "You've been watching too many films"
"What is it?"
"Don't know, don't care. Leave it alone and wait until whoever comes to pick it up"
"Probably some top secret government project" His friend speculated pointing his shotgun at the orb.
"Maybe. Tom you go watch the right, Adam the left. Stay, away, from, it" He put emphasis on the last sentence, giving a cautious glare at the orb object.
"Don't need to tell me twice, that thing's giving me the creeps already….
The present took him out of his slumber, his eyes starting to fix to the morning sun glare shining through the blinds of his guest room. Rubbing his eyes wiping away any sleep that might of formed during the night, Jake sat up glancing around the room to see he was still in the same place he had been for nearly a week and half now. He woke every time hoping this bizarre week was all just a dream and he was in barracks or in bed with Kate sleeping peacefully in his arms, but no such luck.
It was the first time since he had been here he had a dream or maybe it was a flashback of that night, the night his world changed forever. He climbed out of the bed heading to the bathroom to clear himself up, changing into his fatigues and webbing once he had finished. Jake was certain he was safe within the confines of this giant temple of his hosts but caution has taught him on many occasions to pay heed to threats that may be around.
He pulled out his ipod and looked at the time and date, reading 13:09pm and 17/7/15 meaning he was gone for precisely a week and a half since that God forsaken orb transported him across the galaxy. The battery bar showed 78 percent life was left, leaving him to wonder if any of these people had anything similar to a charger. He'll have to ask next time he sees them.
It had been two days since returning from the alien planet of Nubia and yet he was still confined to the Temple. He would of thought helping in repelling enemy troops off one of their warships might give him some credit and let him explore the planet. Unfortunately that wasn't going to be the case for the Holier than thou Council of theirs.
Fully dressed he went about doing press ups on the hard floor, since it was the only exercise he could do around the place without interruption. He had yet to seen anything that resembled a gym in the Temple and besides the brief skirmish days ago, he hadn't had much chance to keep fit. Before doing so he pick a song and placed the music player in his chest pocket, placing the headphones in his ears and started as soon as the song began.
'I can see
When you stay low nothing happens
Does it feel right?
Late at night
Things I thought I put behind me
Haunt my mind
I just know there's no escape,
Now once it sets its eyes on you
But I won't run,
Have to stare it in the eye
/
Stand my ground, I won't give in
No more denying, I've got to face it
Won't close my eyes and hide the truth inside
If I don't make it, someone else will
Stand my ground
/
It's all around
Getting stronger, coming closer
Into my world
I can feel
That it's time for me to face it
Can I take it?
Though this might just be the ending
Of the life I held so dear
But I won't run,
There's no turning back from here
Jake lost count on the amount of press ups he was doing, he was too busy enjoying the song. Once the music ended he turned the ipod off to keep the battery alive as long as possible, mostly because he wanted to keep track on how long he was away from Earth.
"Come in" He called out, the sound of the metal door shooting up from it's frame as he got up from the floor.
"Am I interrupting?" Ahsoka asked him unsure what he was doing.
"Nope, just finished my morning exercise. So what's the plans today kid, more brain killing sit and stare at the same walls all day?"
"Well I could show you around the Archives. Master Kenobi suggested showing you the Republic's history to get a better understanding of us, maybe find some similarities between our cultures"
"Ok but wouldn't they all be in your language?. I mean we speak the same but our languages are very different. And to be honest I've never been the library type, my mind doesn't have the attention span for books" Her eyes rolled at his admission, folding her arms and sighed at him.
"I'm afraid with the Council prohibiting where you can go-"
"Sorry Ahsoka" Jake butted in "Why exactly am I prohibited from going outside the Temple?. Surely if you or one of your other Jedi mates were with me I could hardly get lost or cause problems"
"Honestly Jake, I don't know. The High Council wouldn't tell a Padawan the reasons anyway" The marine soften his eyes at the kid, knowing full well what that was like to always be the last to know the news on important issues from a high command perspective. He felt guilty getting arsey with the alien teenager who had been patient and friendly with him through his incarnation here, considering he knew she didn't want to be posted as his babysitter.
"Sorry kid. Just sitting around in one place when there's a great outdoors to explore can make anyone go loopy"
"Loopy?" She gave him a quizzical look.
"Crazy" He verified for her, another piece of slang lost on her.
"Your people have an interesting vocabulary Corporal"
"Slang just slips in even if isn't intentional. If you want the plain speaking Oxford grad lot, then talk to the upper and middle class bunch"
"Well do you want to go to the Archives or not?" The Jedi suggested again, obviously wanting to go somewhere else other than standing in a guest room doorway.
"Lead the way" Taking after her he walked with the alien girl to the Temple Archives, talking on a few topics regarding the aftermath of the battle two days ago. They passed several other Jedi some familiar, others not including aliens he had never seen before. What he got from Ahsoka was Nubia was safe and it appeared as if these Separatists weren't going to attempt another invasion of the planet any time soon.
The word around was still on the apprehending of the assassin he and the few remaining clones aboard the space cruiser caught. Apparently some people didn't believe a word of it.
"So tell me again, why does the Jedi and these Sith lot hate one another so bad?"
"We don't hate the Sith even if they hate us, it's just difference in ideology in the use of the Force. We use it for good to help others in trouble whereas they use it for greed and selfishness. We've been battling against them for thousands of years. Unfortunately too many have paid the ultimate price in our conflict over the ages" She said with a heavy heart, clearly finding it upsetting of what must of been an untold number of people perished in a fight over religious teachings.
"Sounds familiar" He mumbled thinking over past events in human history.
"How so?"
"We've had those moments. Religions warring against each other to prove whose God was more powerful and righteous. Thankfully that happened a long time ago and people are more grown up about it" Except for a few, he thought to himself. "Have you ever tried finding a middle ground with them?" He got a snort in response for his question.
"Sith and Jedi sitting in the same room as each other to settle peace?. Not in my lifetime" Jake left it at that and carried on the journey to the Archives switching the topic to a more less debatable conversation.
After a trip down a flight of stairs to another architectural marvel of a corridor and brief travel down a lift the enormous Temple complex finally lead him to a huge library style room.
"Wow, this is a bookworm's heaven" He commented glancing around the vast spacious archive. Two entire floors and rows of very tall shelves containing what must of been thousands of books and other types of reading material stacked in them, the interior of the library itself resembled that of a cathedral. Busts of individuals with importance to her Order lined against the shelves all in different shapes and sizes depending on the species.
"The Jedi Archives are a vast collection of knowledge that stretches over thousands of years. Everything that's ever been recorded in both the Republic and Jedi's history resides in here" The Padawan gave him the quick tour as they walked into the centre circle of the room, book shelves and long tables going in all directions "I was even told once there's holobooks in here that forbidden to anyone outside the Council to study"
"Really?" He quizzed her, finding it odd that a supposed tight knit organisation would hide information from their members.
"My Master thinks they're keeping away ancient Sith secrets to prevent any possible wrongdoing" Made sense to him but then again you could always share it out and point out any flaws about a tainted ideology. An elderly woman approached them dressed in a dress similar to what Japanese women wore in the old days.
"Good morning Padawan, how may I help you today?" She greeted Ahsoka first, casting an eye over to him.
"I'm here to finish off some studies Madame Jocasta, and to show Corporal Matthews around the Archives"
"I see" She said in a weary voice, turning to the marine next "You are the one I've heard many Jedi talk about over the past few days?"
"Yes Miss" He nodded to her, towering over the old woman.
"In all my years as Chief Librarian I've never came across a record of a species having no connection to the Force"
"I've heard that a few times"
"Grab whatever you need to help with your studies, my dear. As for you Corporal, you are welcome to wander and explore but do not touch anything unless you have permission from me or one of my librarians is that understood?" The old lady warned him, her voice stern as her old but experienced eyes locked onto his.
"Of course Miss" Jake bowed respectfully to her. With a smile and small bow she left him and Ahsoka walking over to a waiting child standing a few feet away.
"As I said I've got to catch up on some studies I've been neglecting. I hope you don't mind taking a tour by yourself for a bit"
"No problem, I'll have a ganders around. I'll call you if I get into any trouble" He smirked about to wander down
"You better not, you don't want to get on Jocasta's bad side" He picked up on her partying piece of advice, strolling down a section glancing down one of the bookshelves of two kids reading from one of the books. It amazed him how a galaxy spanning civilisation managed to cram all their findings and history into one entire room.
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Anakin sat on the long, curved couch watching his beloved chatting to the holographic form of Senator Bail Organa by a desk on the other end of her office. From what he could make out there was trouble brewing between the Quarren and Mon Calamari over who was to replace the murdered king of their homeworld.
Threats had been made by a number of Quarren representatives to break away from the Republic and to join the Separatist cause. Padme had been in the meetings with the Chancellor and a few other senators over how to best deal with the situation before it got out of hand.
There is nothing he enjoyed more than spend his little free time with his wife but it seemed fate favoured interfering with their lives, always propping up new problems that kept them away from each other.
"I need to finish writing up these requests for aid from the poorer regions hit hardest, I'll speak with you later Bail"
"You too Padme" With that the conversation ended, a sigh escaping from her mouth as she rubbed her tired eyes.
"So what's going on?"
"The Chancellor believes we should send a representative to the Calamari System to lend support in any uprisings the Quarren have planned. Hopefully it won't come to that and we could deal with this with diplomacy" She explained getting up from her chair, walking over to the window gazing at the fast moving traffic around the senate building.
"It would make a change from all the aggressive negotiations that have been happen more frequently" Anakin quipped getting up from the couch and going over to her, getting a humoured smile for second from her before she let out another sigh.
"This war doesn't seem to have an end. There's constant fighting from both the Separatists and ourselves and no one is coming up with a solution to end the fighting on both fronts" He moved up behind her encircling his hands around her waist, pulling Padme in for reassuring hug.
"If I ever came up with that solution, you'll be the first to know" He kissed her cheek, feeling her relax in his arms.
"So long as it doesn't involve a lightsaber" They both laughed at her joke.
"Why don't you take the rest of the day off, I'm on leave and you could do with some time off from all this political mayhem" He suggested with hope.
"I loved to Ani but as I said to Bail I have to get this requests in. There are worlds under the Republic's protection who aren't getting the supplies we promised them" She moved away from their embrace, sensing her reluctance in doing so.
"How about taking tonight off then, spend the rest of the evening to relax" He saw her eyes debating over his proposal.
Forever the Senator, He joked to himself smirking at the beautiful Naboo native.
"I could do with a break from politics and a quiet evening sounds tempting, or a small social gathering. Catching up on how everyone's doing doesn't seem like a bad idea"
"Sure, so what time you shall I come over?" He smiled down at her, leaning against the desk.
"I'll contact you later when I'm finished. Everytime I set time schedules something always overlaps them" She rolled her eyes and shrugged.
"Very well, you else are inviting over for the evening?" He asked, keeping his disappointment at not having the evening alone with her instead.
"Bail and Mon, a few others senators. Why don't you bring Obi Wan and Ahsoka with you?" Padme recommended to her husband.
"Obi Wan is still on Ansion but I'm pretty certain Ahsoka would come, you too get along great with each other" A smile formed on her face at the mention of her friendship to his Padawan.
"What about that Earth soldier?" Anakin's eyes widened in surprise, not expecting her to come up with inviting the outsider over.
"Matthews?, why would you ask him?"
"He seemed like a nice person when I last met him and Ahsoka in the Senate"
"I don't think that can happen. The Council have prohibited him from leaving the Temple" He explained the Council's decision.
"Why?" Padme raised a brow at him, folding her arms and began tapping a finger on her elbow over his statement.
"Safety and security reasons"
"What's he going to do Anakin, run amoke around an environment he's unfamiliar with. From what Palpatine told me of your battle on Nubia he helped save your troops and ship from an evil menace?" She pointed out.
"Hey, you haven't seen this guy in action Padme" He defended the decision, even though he too was a little sceptic on the Council's reasons.
"For pity sake Anakin, that's paranoia. I'll talk with Master Yoda and see about letting him out for some fresh air for tonight" Anakin watched as she sat back down at her desk, loading up her holo screen to continue on with her work.
"Fine" He admitted defeat, moving off the desk and leaning down to give her parting kiss "Love you"
"Love you too Ani. Try not to arrive too scruffy"
"Hey, I'm always smartly dressed" He told her in mocked offence as he walked to the door backwards, seeing her smile and giving him a doubted look. As he left he passed Captain Typho, nodding to him as he walked by taking the direction leading to the way out of the Senate complex.
He didn't feel too thrilled in inviting the Forceless soldier to a gathering, he would of much preferred to have spent the whole evening alone with his love. Yet another circumstance kept them apart from their forbidden relationship. The Hero with No Fear longed to open up to the world he was married to the most precious person of his life.
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Disclaimer- (I do not own Star Wars that's Disney's business and neither the song that belongs to the amazing band, Within Temptation)
Should of put one at the beginning but completely forgot.