Chapter 1: Discovery
Date:8783 AD
Location: Lurmen Village, Maridun
"What menace have you brought to our village now Jedi?" Tee Watt Kaa demanded as he entered into the hut.
"Father you can't blame them." His son Wag too defended.
Ahsoka stood up, "he's right. The Separatists don't even know we're here."
"And they can't know, we've got to hide." Aayla added.
"You're presence here endangers us. You must leave before you're enemies find you." Tee Watt Kaa said.
"Father, we might need their help. The Separatists might be after the artifact." Wag Too offered.
The diminutive leader shot his son a glare as the Jedi turned to face him. "What artifact?" Anakin asked.
"It doesn't matter, there is no way the Separatists would know of it." He answered dismissively.
"And what if they know what it is? What if the Separatists came here looking for it?" Wag Too asked.
"Why don't you show us this artifact." Anakin said as Rex helped him to his feet.
Tee Watt Kaa seemed to think for a few seconds before he nodded. "Alright, Wag Too will take you to the artifact while I meet with the Separatists. After that you will leaves us in peace." With that the chief left.
Date: 5143 AD
Location: The Blackbird, Hyperspace
Teras slowly became aware of her surroundings. She didn't know how long she had been unconscious but after a few seconds of looking around, she realised she was in her quarters aboard her ship. She got up slowly trying not to aggravate her headache and noticed a pair of silver bracelets with odd markings on both her wrists. The symbols were similar to those on the masked man's suit and after a few minutes of trying to get them off decided to deal with her head first. She took a few deep breathes as she reached out to the Force and slowly her headache subsided. Standing up, she searched for her lightsaber but couldn't find it anywhere. Her backup saber and her blasters were missing as well. Exiting her room, she stretched her senses out and felt a faint presence in the direction of the cockpit. Carefully making her way to the cockpit, she gathered the Force around her ready to defend herself in case of anything.
Entering the cockpit, she saw the glowing tunnel of hyperspace through the transparisteel windows and sitting on the cockpit chair facing away from her was the masked man. She jumped slightly as he spoke, "How are you feeling."
"I'm fine." She said after a few moments. "Who are you? What are you doing on my ship and where are we going?"
The man turned around, her face reflecting off the smooth surface of his mask. He reached up placing a gloved hand on the mask and with a slight whir of motors the back opened up and he removed it placing it on his lap. "You don't have to be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you."
Teras took in the man's features as she let the gathered Force energy slowly seep out of her. The first thing she noticed was his eyes, brilliant emerald orbs staring intently back at her. The second was that he was young, probably in his early twenties, with black hair that fell down to his shoulders. He was handsome she could admit but the intensity of his gaze unnerved her. "If you mean me no harm, then what are these?" She asked lifting her hands to show the bracelets on her wrists.
"That is just a precaution." He said giving her a small smile as his eyes softened. "I know you are confused right now but I needed your ship seeing as the Sith destroyed mine and since you were unconscious I didn't know how you would react. The cuffs will keep you from attacking me until we reach our destination. If you try anything, they will administer an electric charge that will render you unconscious for a few hours."
"Alright, you say you will let me go when we reach our destination, and where would that be exactly?" Teras asked getting angry at the man. Her headache which had subsided was slowly returning and his blasé attitude wasn't helping either.
"We are headed to a small insignificant system to make a crucial delivery after which I will return control of the ship over to you and you will be free to leave." He reached into his pocket and removed a small vial containing a light blue liquid. "Here, this will help with the headache." He handed it over and she took it looking it over. "I healed most of the damage but I'm not a healer so the tonic will help complete the process." Seeing that she wasn't going to take it he tried to reassure her. "If I wanted to kill you I would have done it while you were asleep or I would have just left you unconscious on a planet filled with criminals, killers and bounty hunters."
Teras nodded and swallowed the contents and surprisingly felt her headache start to subside. She tried to go over her options. She didn't have a lightsaber and she couldn't attack with the bracelets on. He seemed sincere about letting her go and if he meant her harm, he would have acted when she was unconscious. On top of that, she didn't feel any malicious thoughts coming from him. In fact the Force seemed to want her to trust him. Deciding to trust in the Force, she moved to sit in the copilot's chair, "you still haven't told me who you are."
The man extended his hand and gave her a smile, "My name is Hadrian but you can call me Harry."
"Teras." She said as she shook his hand and started to go over the ships diagnostics. "So, what happened after I got knocked out?"
Harry turned the chair to face her, "Well, after getting rid of the bodies, I made the necessary repairs and carried you into your quarters. Not much else happened after that."
"Okay, then if I'm going to be stuck here with you, you're going to have to tell me where we're going."
"You're going to find out soon enough but in the meantime, you should get some rest." And with that he turned to face his console. Taking that as a dismissal, she leaned back and closed her eyes as she immersed herself into the Force. Wherever this journey was taking her, with the Force as her ally she could deal with anything that came her way.
Wag Too led the Jedi along with Bly and Rex towards one of the huts at the periphery of the small village. Inside was a long cylindrical device about two meters in length and half a meter at its widest. It was streamlined, starting off narrow before widening at the middle. It was a dull gray in colour and seemed to be made from a single piece of smooth metal with no visible seams or joints. Strange black symbols ran along its surface forming different geometric shapes. But most astonishing of all was the faint Force signature that it exuded.
"What is it?" Ahsoka asked.
"We don't know." Wag Too answered. "We found it while we were clearing the area for our settlement. We moved it here for safekeeping especially after one of the villagers triggered some sort of defense mechanism and it incapacitated him."
Anakin knelt next to the artifact and carefully placed his left hand on its surface and slowly reached out with the Force. The artifact started to hum slowly as the symbols started to glow with a soft blue light.
"Be careful Anakin." Aayla cautioned.
"It's alright Aayla, I don't think it's going to harm us." In fact, the feeling he was getting from the Force was comforting. Closing his eyes, he pushed more of the Force into the artifact, extending his senses. The symbols glowed brighter and the humming intensified. Anakin's eyes snapped open in surprise. "It's not the Force."
"What do you mean?"
"The energy coming from it. I thought it was the Force but it's slightly different."
Aayla extended her senses and felt the difference but before she could speak, the humming grew to a crescendo and the glow intensified blinding them before a massive surge of energy erupted from the artifact.
Anakin who had closed his eyes to protect from the glow slowly opened them and noticed that the artifact was gone.
"What happened?" Ahsoka asked blinking rapidly to clear her vision.
"I don't know, but it's gone now so the Separatists won't be able to get it. If that is in fact what they were here for."
"Sir, the clankers are almost here, we need to leave." Rex said.
Anakin slowly got up and they prepared to leave but at the same time he couldn't take his eyes off the place where the artifact had been. Whatever that artifact had been, he had a nagging feeling that finding it was no accident and that the fate of the very galaxy itself had changed.
The ship exited hyperspace and Harry quickly entered in new coordinates and in a few minutes, they were once again moving through hyperspace. "How many more times are you going to do this?" Teras asked irritably. They had been making random drops for the past six hours and while it was normal to make course corrections during travel, they were too random and numerous for normal travel.
"I just have to make sure that we won't be followed." Her 'captor' answered.
Teras looked at him for a few moments, "why are the Sith so interested in you?"
Harry was quiet for a long time but he finally answered. "They hate, fear and seek to exploit my people. We are called Terrans. A collection of different species that evolved on a single planet that is now lost to us. A little over a thousand years ago, one of the Terran ships, the Odyssey, ran into an armada of ships led by the Sith Lord Naga Sadow just before he declared war on the Republic."
"The Great Hyperspace War?" Teras asked.
"Yes, a few weeks before the Sith attacked the Republic. The Odyssey fought back but was vastly outnumbered and had to retreat. However, it had suffered too much damage. The crew was left stranded on an uninhabited planet where they started a new civilization. Most of our people's knowledge was lost including space travel and so they stayed in isolation. It wasn't until a few years later that a smuggler crash landed onto the planet that they were able to fix his ship and venture into the galaxy. But we both know that the galaxy is a dangerous place and so the leaders of the new colony decided to stay hidden with only a few individuals venturing out at any time." He reached into his coat pocket removing a flask which he drank from before handing it over to her. Teras took a small sip and after swallowing the cool water took a much larger gulp.
"Eventually, the expedition teams found people across the galaxy that had nowhere to go and brought them to the planet. Slaves, refugees and even a few Jedi now and then. Over the years we have had many close calls with the Sith but we have been able to remain hidden. That is until Republic ships escaping the Sith Empire accidentally brought them to our planet. We hid from them as we planned our escape." Harry leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes with a sad sigh. "In the end we got away but so many people died and once again we are forced to flee and go into hiding."
"I still don't understand, why do the Sith hate your people so much?" Teras asked.
Harry opened his eyes and looked directly at her. "They fear us because they see us as a threat and they hate us because we wield a power that they crave but can't have." And with that, he lifted his hand palm upwards and a ball of flame appeared. "They hate us, because we have magic."
"Obi-wan, it's so good to see you?" Anakin said in greeting as his former master walked down the ramp of the ship. They had defeated the Separatist forces on Maridun with the help of the Lurmen and Republic forces had just arrived in orbit.
"As it is to see you Anakin." The Jedi master replied. He turned to his former padawan's companions. "Aayla, Ahsoka it's good to see you in one piece. However, we don't have much time."
"What do you mean Master?" Ahsoka asked. It had only been days since they crashed on the planet and a few minutes since the Republic ships had entered the atmosphere. The first gunship had landed on the surface just seconds ago.
"There was a massive disturbance in the Force a few days ago. The council believes that Dooku will send his assassins to investigate and sent me to find the source before the Separatists get here." Seeing their expressions he asked, "You wouldn't happen to know what caused it"
"Well, we might have accidentally destroyed an artifact that the Lerman discovered." Anakin awkwardly replied.
"Why am I not surprised." Obi-wan said amused.
Tee Watt Kaa hobbled up to them followed by his son, "you need to leave."
Ahsoka rolled her eyes while Obi-wan smiled politely. Anakin stepped forward to make the introductions. "Obi-wan, this is Tee Watt Kaa and his son Wag Too. They helped us fight off the separatists and treated my injuries."
"You have my utmost gratitude." The Jedi master bowed his head to the diminutive chief in respect. "We will leave your village in peace, however I fear that the Separatists are on their way to this world. Your people may not be safe here."
"Our people were safe before you came to this village." Tee Watt Kaa answered.
"Father, the Separatists would have killed us if not for the Jedi." Wag Too reasoned.
"Be that as it may, we want nothing to do with your war and the sooner you leave the better."
"Very well, we shall leave immediately. Thank you once again for your hospitality." With that Obi-wan turned around and headed back to the gunship closely followed by Ahsoka, Aayla and Anakin.
"We can't just leave here knowing that the Separatists are coming." Ahsoka said looking at her master.
"I know how you feel Ahsoka, but we have to respect their wishes. That doesn't mean we can't protect them from any Separatist ships that may appear." Anakin reassured her.
Commanders Rex, Cody and Bly had already gotten on board the ship which took off towards the cruisers in orbit when the communicator went off.
"General Kenobi, we are detecting a ship entering the atmosphere."Admiral Yularen informed them. "It appears to be a small freighter but the energy signature is unlike anything I have ever seen before and it doesn't match anything in the database."
"Admiral, is the ship headed for the village?" Anakin asked.
"Ah, General Skywalker it's so good to hear from you. No, the ship is headed to an area a few hundred kilometers to the south east of the village."
"Alright, relay the sensor data to our gunship. We'll investigate and see what we can find out about the new visitors." Obi-wan frowned as he looked to his fellow Jedi. "This is extremely troubling, if that ship belongs to the Separatists then they may be after the cause of the disturbance."
"But it was destroyed, there is nothing for them to find." Aayla said.
"Or maybe there is something else on this planet connected to the artifact and they are searching for it or it might not be the Separatists at all. Regardless, we need to find that ship."
Teras stared at the flames for a full minute before she tentatively reached out and brought her palm towards it. She could feel the heat radiating from it. Reaching out with her senses she tried to figure out how he was doing this. At first she thought it was a Force illusion but she dismissed that idea. After five minutes of studying the flame she looked up at the man. "How are you doing that?"
Harry grinned at her, "I told you, Magic."
The female Jedi gave him an unimpressed look, "there is no such thing. Magic is just a word used by the less informed for the Force. You have to be using the Force in some way."
Harry's smile disappeared and he closed his fist extinguishing the flame. "All you Force wielders are the same, so assured of your knowledge that you think yourselves to be the ultimate authority on the forces that govern our universe. I know all about the Force, but this is different. Reach out with your senses, tell me if what you feel is the Force."
Teras reached out and felt his Force presence increase. However, there was something different. The energy coming from him was similar to the Force but it was also different from it. "What are you?" She asked in amazement.
"I, am a Wizard."
The gunship landed two hundred meters from the unknown freighter which was parked near what appeared to be a cave at the foot of a mountain. Carefully making their way to the freighter, they found it to be abandoned. The ship itself seemed to be a combination of two different technologies and its design was unlike anything either of them had ever come across. They headed for the cave but as they came closer, they discovered that the mouth of the cave was a hole that had been cut into the side of the mountain.
"What do you think?" Anakin asked.
"We don't really have much of a choice, do we?" Obi-wan answered. "Keep a sharp lookout, we don't want to be taken by surprise." With that, he ignited his lightsaber and entered the opening. The rest followed, two Jedi, one padawan along with twelve clones and their three Commanders. They followed the passage for about five minutes before it opened up into a massive carven. The cavern was formed into a nearly perfect dome with a radius of about a hundred and fifty meters. In the middle of the cavern was a small ship about sixty meters long, forty meters wide and twenty meters tall. It was made of the same grey metal as the artifact with the same design and markings. "I think we found what we were looking for."
"I think you are right, the design and markings are similar to the artifact found by the Lurmen." Aayla observed.
She was about to take a step forward when the Force screamed in warning at the same time Bly knocked into her with a shout, "General." There was a flash of light and a crackle of electricity and the Clone Commander fell to the ground.
"Bly!" Aayla called in concern as she activated her lightsaber and blocked another stream of Force lightning with her blade. A few seconds later, the lightning stopped and they were able to see their attackers. Standing at an outcrop twelve meters above the ground, a crimson lightsaber activated illuminating eight hooded figures who also activated red hued sabers. Aayla frowned and reached out with the Force, breathing out a sigh of relief. Bly was injured and unconscious but he was still alive.
"You do not belong here Jedi." The figure in front spoke as he stepped forward into the light. Though the figure wore a hooded robe obscuring his face, his voice gave away his gender. "Leave now or die."
"Yeah, that's not gonna happen."Anakin said his lightsaber held before him.
"Very well." No sooner were the words spoken than four of the hooded figures jumped into the air and brought down they blades on the four Jedi. The clone troopers split into three groups. Two troopers carried Bly and they all took cover behind massive boulders where they started firing on the remaining hostiles.
The "leader" of the group deflected a few bolts back at the troopers two of which hit home. Seeing their comrades fall, Rex took a grenade and lobbed it at the hooded figures but the leader waved his hand and the grenade soared into the air where it exploded harmlessly. He then turned away from the fighting and headed towards the ship leaving the three remaining figures to deal with the troopers.
"Any idea who these guys are?" Anakin asked as he deflected a blow from his opponent and jumped backwards placing himself back to back with his former master.
"I don't know." Obi-wan stated in his usual calm manner as he traded blows with another assailant.
Aayla disarmed her opponent but before she could finish him he jumped out of the way and another took his place. "Whoever they are, they are obviously well trained."
"Maybe they are Sith like Ventress." Ahsoka suggested as she flipped backwards away from a strike that would have severed her arm.
The clone troopers were fighting with everything they had but it was obvious that they were outmatched. Three of their number had fallen and four more were sevrely injured. The rest surrounded their comrades and were firing at the attackers from behind a column of rocks ducking every time a blaster bolt was deflected back at them but still from time to time a bolt would strike one of them.
Rex had just brought up his blaster taking aim at one of the figures when a shadow slammed into him knocking him to the ground. They rolled and Rex kicked the figure away from him. The figure landed on its feet, its arms held up and Rex froze when he got a good look at it. The woman wore a long dark coat with black armor underneath. She had long red hair tied in a loose braid that reached down to her shoulder blades. The sides of her head were shaved off with a few symbols visible through the short hair. Sharp blue eyes full of mischief gazed at him as her full lips quirked in a smirk. Her fair skin seemed to glow in the dark and for one moment he felt entranced by her beauty. Her eyes flicked behind him causing him to look behind and see a scorch mark on the wall behind him, exactly where his head would have been had she not pushed him out of the way. He turned back to the woman who winked at him and jumped into the air igniting a blue saber and slicing down towards one of the attackers who barely had time to bring his saber up.
"You alright?" Cody asked holding his hand out to the stunned clone. Rex allowed himself to be helped up and turned to watch as the woman drove back her opponent. It was only then that he noticed three more new arrivals two of who were fighting against the black robed figures while the third was headed towards the ship. "Think they're on our side?"
Rex shrugged and lifted his blaster aiming at the black robed figures. Whoever these new arrivals were, one of them just saved his life. He'd give them the benefit of the doubt until they gave him a reason not to.
Anakin was starting to get frustrated. His opponent was highly skilled and the fight was taking longer than he would have liked. He had just parried a blow when a warning from the Force caused him to duck and a crimson lightsaber passed over his head and decapitated his opponent. He stood up and followed the lightsaber as it flew back to its owner who caught it in her hand.
Tall, beautiful and black haired with brilliant green eyes, she cut an impressive figure. The woman stared at him for a few seconds before she jumped into the air, somersaulted over him before landing in a crouch and headed straight for the ship. Anakin shoved aside his confusion as he watched as another woman saved Rex's life before attacking one of the "Sith". She was joined by two men, one with a yellow saber who shared the same black hair and green eyes as his savior and the other with a green saber and blonde hair who started fighting against the robed figures. He ran towards his padawan and helped her dispatch her opponent before they both helped Obi-wan and Aayla defeat their own opponents.
"Are you guys alright?" Anakin asked as he surveyed the area. Only three clones remained standing one of them holding his arm close to his side. Two more were unconscious but thankfully were still alive.
"We're fine but does anybody have any idea what is going on?" Ahsoka asked as she watched the two unknown factions fight.
"I don't know, but whatever it is that ship seems to be in the middle of it." They watched as one by one the "Sith" fell until only the leader who was engaged in battle with the female human who had helped him earlier remained. The woman finally got the better of her opponent and sent him flying with a Force push. However, before she could land the final blow, a massive explosion from the entrance sent debris and dust everywhere. The entrance had been blown apart widening the opening as the surrounding rock was blasted inwards. From the cloud of dust more crimson lightsabers appeared followed by two dozen black robed figures.
One of the men who had helped them stepped forward, "We can't fight them all. Get to the ship." Anakin helped Cody lift one of the injured clones towards the ship while Obi-wan helped Rex with Bly and they all hurried to the ship.
Their leader, the dark-haired female, placed her hand on the side of the ship and after a few seconds, glowing symbols appeared in a circle around her hand and a door opened in the ship's side. A ramp lowered and the Jedi and clones entered the ship. Just as they crossed the threshold, streams of Force lightning raced towards their allies. They raised their sabers to block them but one of them hit the ship causing the door to close trapping them on the other side. Anakin tried to find a console to open the door but couldn't find anything as the ship started to vibrate slowly and a slight hum filled the air.
On the outside, the ships engines fired up filling the air with dust. The ship rose into the air and four beams of yellow light lanced out from the bottom of the ship racing towards the wall where they blew off huge chunks of rock. Massive boulders fell on the ship causing a transparent shield to flare up as they hit. The humming grew louder before the ship rocketed out of the cavern sending rocks and dust flying everywhere as half the mountain came down. The ship cleared the atmosphere in seconds. The Republic ships in orbit watched as space itself seemed to tear apart. The small ship accelerated into the tear which closed behind it.
Admiral Yularen watched the ship escape as dread gripped his heart. He had lost contact with the Jedi after they had entered the cave and now that the mountain was destroyed, he hoped that they were on the ship that had just escaped. Taking a deep breath, he began issuing orders. If there was anyone who could survive the destruction, it would be the Jedi. Initiating a holocall to Coruscant he sighed wearily. This was one report he was not looking forward to.