Never once did Jake thought he was of the spiritual kind, to that of Buddhists and other 'Connection to the Universe' rubbish but he couldn't deny the odd feeling of serenity around the indoor gardens of the Temple. A passing Jedi welcomed him to the place he called the 'Room of a Thousand Fountains', which was pretty much a larger version of The Living Rainforest he had visited on a school trip years ago. So far the only fault he found about the place was it didn't live to it's name, unless there were fountains hidden elsewhere he had yet to discover.
He was sure Ahsoka wouldn't be too pleased with him for leaving his quarters without permission but he needed fresh air to help clear the sicky feeling he'd been experiencing for the last couple of days. First it started with the horrible nauseous feeling for the past couple of days then last night the marine ended up emptying his stomach contents in the toilet more than once. At first he thought it was something he had eaten but now he kept getting cramps in his muscles, in both his arms and legs.
Trust me to get some alien bug, He thought to himself as he examined the green scenery before him. All over the place was trees with different coloured leaves, plants that looked unfamiliar and similar to that back on Earth like giant sunflowers and daisies. There was tweeting of birds as well but he hadn't yet seen the aviation creatures behind the source of the noises, other than they came from tree tops. He saw a few alien Jedi wonder around the place going about their business and even one meditating under a tree surrounded by long arch branches flowing just above her head, sitting in the same crossed legged position as a Buddhist monk.
Jake felt a little out of place to be in such peaceful surroundings. Usually when he was around tropical scenery it was training in the Malaysian/Brunei jungles with insects and other unfriendly wildlife roaming around him, or getting rid of unpleasant people making innocent people's lives a living hell. The sicky sensation was starting to lessen to his relief and so he sat down at a nearby white coloured stone bench facing a decorative square fountain, thinking over his dream, or rather a flashback from last night. It was the second time in a short space of time his mind recalled the day of his appearance in a world far, far away from home.
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The Corporal stared at the wide metal doors of the warehouse, hearing the sound of a helicopter's rotor blades hovering above them as well as the black orb's persistent humming behind him. It wasn't loud but it was enough to grate at anybodies nerves at having to listen to it for over half an hour, still waiting for whatever government organisation was to pick it up.
"Mate, this a lot of fuss over a glass ball" He heard Adam snort coming up beside him.
"If it was just a glass ball we wouldn't be here, Adam" Jake sighed rubbing one of his eyes from an itch. For a brief couple of seconds there was silence until Adam changed the subject.
"So, you gonna to pop the question?"
"What?" He turned to his friend, giving him a quizzical look.
"You know, with Kate?" Adam smiled back. For a second Jake frowned at the question then it hit him on what the Sheffield born marine was on about.
"Oh, well uh"
"Come on mate, you two are good together. Even a blind man could she loves you to bits Jake, don't you love her?"
"Of course I do" He bit back, though not in anger "I just haven't got permission off her old man yet"
"You really going to fly all the way to Australia for his daughter's hand in marriage?" Adam raised a brow at him, relaxing his grip on his shotgun.
"Me and Kate are going over to Adelaide next week when we're on leave anyway, so I'll ask him then"
"Woah!" Hearing Tom's surprised voice, they both looked back to see him rustling through paperwork placed on the same desk of the wrecked computers.
"Tom what the fuck are you doing!" He angrily called over to the nosey marine.
"I'm only seeing what the science guys might know what this thing is" He said still reading through the notes. Practically storming over to him, Jake walked with Adam over to him and pulled the papers from his grasp "Hey!"
"The more you know, the more trouble you'll be in. Just follow Wallace's orders"
"So what did you find?" Adam ask the visible annoyed fellow marine, causing Jake to shake his head in disbelief.
"A lot of it is just science techno babble but from what I could make out it's emitting some energy they can't identify" He explained gazing up at the orb.
"All the more reason to keep your distance from it" The Corporal warned them both "I don't want to end having to drag your arses out from some Norse Gods' homeworld"
"So who's been watching too many films now?" He saw Adam fold his arms at him, a smirk tugging on his face. Giving out a sigh Jake turned around and walked a few steps away, checking the windows for any sneaky attempts to peek inside. He heard the other two chinwag as he returned to patrolling around the mysterious object, trying to keep his mind on the job at hand rather than other matters.
He heard the ringtone of a mobile phone receiving a message but then a sudden painful shout from behind made him snap around to see Tom dropping his rifle to the floor.
"Fuck!" He held on to his left hand, bending over in obvious discomfort repeating a string of curses.
"What the bloody hell happened?" He jogged over to the pair.
"A fucking electrical bolt hit his hand!" Adam said placing a hand on the injured marine's back. Glancing down at the floor he saw the remains of Tom's phone smashed into pieces, smoke rising from the destroyed device.
"Where did it come from?"
"That piece of shit!" Tom swore loudly still in agony, pointing his uninjured hand at the orb behind them. Giving it a weary look the NCO of the trio watched as a slight shimmer of a white glow engulf the glass ball, the light hum it was giving out increasing in tempo.
"Alright, let's move away from this thing and see about treating your hand" Letting the two move first, Jake pointed his rifle at the orb keeping cautious for any more unexpected activity from the now lively 'item'.
"Corp it looks pretty bad. Tom need's it checked out by a medic" Adam said as they moved over to the exit.
"Ok I'll contact Wallace, you guys get ready for the door to open…"
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"There you are, I've been looking all over for you" He heard a familiar young voice break him away from his thoughts. Sitting up with his back pressing against the bench, Jake looked up to see Ahsoka walking over to him pushing away a stray branch sticking out from a bush filled with red tube flowers springing out of the top.
"What's up kid?"
"What's up is you left your quarters without telling anyone where you were going. I was about to contact my Master for a Temple wide search until I overheard you were spotted here" She stood in front beside him folding her arms, not happy over him going AWOL. The Jedi youngster looked to add something else then stopped as he looked up at her, her face turning into that of concern "Are feeling alright Jake?"
"I'm ok, probably caught some bug or food poisoning"
"You've gone pale and your eyes are red"
"Ahsoka I'm fine, really" He said trying to convince her but her expression didn't seemed to show she was anything but. The sun shining through the room glinted an object off the alien teen's side drew his eyes down to her hip, seeing his ipod resting next to her longer lightsaber "So what have you've been listening to?" Jake changed the subject, pointing the music player.
"What?" Ahsoka looked down at her hip "Oh uh, I found this in your quarters when I went to get you. I haven't touched it" She unclipped it from her belt, handing it over to him.
"Is that so. Then why is the screen on?" The marine took it, smiling at her as he saw her shift in an obvious showing of guilt.
"Ok maybe I listen to one song, as difficult that was with a device designed for human ears" She complained, earning a chuckle from the Corporal as he read the choice of music.
"I see"
"I got they were singing about a some kind of battle or war but the rest didn't make any sense to me"
"The song is by a Swedish heavy metal band about Italy's invasion of Greece. The Italian leader at the time demanded the Greek people capitulate under their rule but the Greeks told them where to shove it" He explained from what he had read up about the conflict, getting a raised brow from the Commander over the last part of his sentence "So to no surprise they invaded but ended up humiliated and driven out of Greece"
"Is this a common occurrence on your world?"
"Used to be. So why were you looking for me in the first place, Ahsoka?" He asked her, avoiding to go into too much detail over past events like the Greco-Italian War. Her brow twitched over the sudden change of topic, then the girl took a seat next him on the bench. The sound of children's laughter filled the air as two kids 10 metres in front of them, both aliens one of which he could best described as a humanoid dinosaur and the other was scaly green skinned with two antenna coming out of the top of his/hers' head.
Jake smiled watching them hiding behind a large bush by the fountain, playing hide and seek and doing their best to shield any part of them that could give themselves away.
"Master Skywalker told me we'll be heading out to Dac later today. Tensions are high between the Mon Calamari and Quarren over who is to be the new king, with the Quarren threatening to break away and join the Separatists"
"Mon Calamari, they're the fish people right?" He said smiling at the alien race's name.
"Yes they're the 'fish people'" Ahsoka shook her head rolling her eyes "I don't know why you find that so funny"
"It's because kid my people eat Calamari, though it's fried squid. Honestly, a species named after a delicacy isn't going to be greeted with too much seriousness" The marine continued smiling, not caring if it appeared to be a little childish to poke fun.
"Anyway, some of the 501st are joining with Master Fisto and units of SCUBA troopers to their homeworld. Anakin and Padme are going ahead to try and diffuse the hostility in hope it won't come to civil war" She further explained the upcoming situation.
"Ok so shouldn't you be getting ready to head out?" He told her, catching in the corner of his eye a human child searching around the area. She was looking behind a tree then up into the branches, calling out the names of the two must of been the ones hiding in the bush from a minute ago. Jake turned his head seeing the girl who couldn't be more than eight years old searching for her friends, wearing what he worked out to be the standard attire of the Jedi of brown and cream robes.
Pretending to stretch his right arm out he cleared his throat drawing the girl's attention over to the sitting pair. He then pointed his index finger over to the bush the alien children were hiding, still pretending not to notice the game happening around them. The girl looked over to where he was pointing and walked over to the bush in question, quickly pulling open the leaves to the duo presently residing inside.
"That's cheating Matthews" He heard Ahsoka mockingly scold him.
"I don't know what you're on about, I was only stretching out muscles in my arm" He replied feigning ignorance, seeing the caught alien children grumble about how the girl could of seen them in good camouflage.
"Thing is Jake, I've been told to ask if you wanted to come along again as an observer"
"Seriously, after what happened the first time?" He turned back to her, seeing the uneasiness in her about asking the question.
"I know but Master Yoda didn't think you should of been stuck in a ship and wishes to avoid another incident like on Nubia. And to be honest you not in great shape at the moment, Perhaps-"
"Ahsoka I'm fine. Don't tell me you haven't been ill once in awhile" He butted in, feeling irritable now over her questioning of his health.
"Sure I have but not right before a battle" The alien teen argued back as he shot up from the bench "Besides, I thought you didn't want to get involved in our war?"
"I don't" Jake spun round to her "Being an observer is beneficial on my end as well as yours. You people want convince me that you aren't a threat and say who you really are, a force of good and stability in the galaxy. Well how can you do that by locking me up and not allowing me to see first hand how you operate?" He could see Jedi was sitting there contemplating his words, conflicted whether or not to concede to his point.
Truth be told he wasn't quite sure was his fighting the case to go to another potential war zone. Maybe the isolation from the outside world was getting to him and he didn't care where he was to travel to, so long as it was away from this place. Other than the lack of these midichlorian things he didn't see any other uniqueness about himself or his people, he looked no different to the other humans of this place.
"Fine, but don't be surprised if Anakin isn't too pleased about bringing a sick man on the mission" She caved in, not looking overly convinced she made the right choice.
"Whatever Tano" Jake rolled his eyes at her.
"Get what you need and this time, wait until I get you" Ahsoka instructed narrowing her eyes at him. Doing as advised the marine returned to his guest quarters taking his ipod out of his front pocket leaving on the bed, then took his Glock pistol out from under the mattress placing it into his holster.
Having clipped on his helmet and tucked his hands into his combat gloves he waited patiently for the Jedi youngster to get him, his mind thinking over dream/flashback again. His focus wasn't so much on the orb but on Adam's inquiry over the next step in his relationship with Kate. He'd be lying to himself if he said he wasn't a little nervous about asking her tough ex serviceman Aussie dad's permission for his daughter's hand in marriage.
He got on pretty well with him 'like a house on fire' she told him, even with the amount of harmless jokes about his only daughter's relationship with a 'Pommy'. However just like many things it was on hold, if not the possibility may never arise depending on how long he was away from his Earth. According to the date on the ipod he was officially MIA for over two weeks, though what story the MoD were going to cook upon his disappearance was going to be of interest if he ever got back.
The door opened up and snapped him from his daydreaming to a waiting alien teenager.
"Come on they're waiting for us at the spaceport"
"After you Commander" Following her up to the Temple's hangar bay one of their transport ships were waiting for them with a few fully armoured clones and a green skinned alien with bunched up tentacle like growths coming out of it's head. Jake recognised him as one of the Council members but never got the name.
"Master Fisto, is everything set?" He heard Ahsoka ask, bowing to the alien who returned the favour.
"Set and ready Ahsoka. Hopefully your Master and Senator Amidala can settles things without the need of our assistance" He replied with a wide smile, talking in what Jake could best describe as a mix Jamaican/English accent. The alien with a name the Corporal was sure would get giggles and would of been ripped the crap out of by less mature marines back home turned to him next, his smile lessening somewhat. "Joining us too Corporal Matthews?"
"That I am, sir"
"Very well, let's hope this will be less of an exciting experience you had back on Nubia"
"Commander Tano has assured me nothing of the like will happen this time round" Jake gave a side glance to the Togruta girl next to him. With a grin and nod Fisto indicated them to both come aboard, the clones making room for the pair to jump aboard.
Upon setting foot on the transport the painful feeling of cramp shot up his leg, causing him to wince and take a sharp intake of breath he hoped wasn't heard by anybody on board.
"What's the matter Jake?" No such luck.
"I'm good kid, nothing to worry about" Jake said gripping onto one of the overhead handle bars swinging above them. It bugged him now it must of been the fifth time today he felt his muscle ache and hurt for no good reason. It wasn't like he was overexerting himself with his exercises and this didn't feel like cramp he had experienced before from staying in an awkward position or getting an accidental knock.
Plus he didn't know of any illnesses that would make you physically sick and clamp your muscles up at roughly the same time. He thought maybe it was his body's way of dealing with an alien bug but then again he wasn't a doctor. The flight there was relatively peaceful aside from Ahsoka and Fisto explaining the situation at hand and the latest from the fish people's homeworld, Dac. Jake was glad of the conversation since it kept the Jedi Padawan from worrying about him, rather than their mission.
The transport dropped them off to the awaiting space cruisers at the port, everyone jumping off with the exclusion of himself who slowly disembarked off to avoid the horrible sensation of his leg muscles clamping up again. He followed after them trying to hide the slight limp he had, only for Ahsoka to turn around and spot him lagging behind and seeing his state.
"Matthews you can go back, no one will think less if you didn't come" She tried assuring him.
"Nothing is wrong with me Commander, let's just get aboard before they leave" He walked past, feeling more determined to prove her wrong about his health. Jake heard her sigh then fall in line with him as they walked down the docking tube, to another new world to visit with the unfortunate war looming over it once again.