Chapter 2: Homecoming
Date:8783 AD
Location: The Odyssey, Hyperspace
"Well this is new." Obi-wan said. They were in a large white circular room with a single door that he assumed led to the rest of the ship. The door opened to a large hallway that branched off in three directions.
Aayla carefully removed Bly's helmet and looked over his injuries. "He'll live, but we need to get him treated as soon as possible."
"Let's see if we can find the medbay. There may be something there that may help." Obi-wan said. "Anakin, do you think you can fly this ship if you got control of it?"
"Really Obi-wan, I thought you had more faith in me." Anakin answered.
"Alright, you along with Ahsoka and Rex will get to the bridge, assuming you can find it, and try to get control of the ship. Aayla, Cody and…"
"Attie, sir." The clone supplied.
"Attie and I will try to find the infirmary." No sooner were the words out his mouth than two glowing lines appeared on the smooth white surface of the walls. A blue line headed straight ahead with a small flashing circular symbol bearing the outline of the ship. The other red line turned to the left and had a small flashing circular symbol of a red cross on a white background.
"That solves that problem." Anakin said. "If we assume the blue line leads to the bridge then the red heads to the infirmary."
"Alright, keep in contact. We don't know what this ship may be hiding." And with that each group went their separate ways.
"I don't like this Obi-wan." Aayla said as they followed the red line. "The sudden appearance of more Sith spells trouble for the Republic."
"I would be inclined to agree with you, however I don't think that the people that attacked us were Sith." Obi-wan answered a frown on his face.
Aayla readjusted her hold on Bly, "what makes you say that?"
"When I fought Maul, his anger and hatred towards me was palpable. Asajj is mostly the same, but these Force Wielders I didn't sense that. I sensed great anger in some, but it wasn't directed at us. In fact, I suspect they only attacked us because they saw us as a threat."
Aayla thought back to the fight and realised that Obi-wan was right. She had been worried about Bly and fighting for her life at the moment but looking back the anger and hatred associated with the Sith was absent. "But if they aren't Sith, then who are they? And who were the Force Users that saved us?"
"I do not know. Hopefully the Council will know something about them." By this time, they reached a door which opened to a large room with multiple beds and what appeared to be advanced medical equipment.
They placed Bly and Cameron, the other injured clone, on the beds and started looking for anything they could use. They got a scare as a blue viscous liquid started to seep from the edge of the beds and covered the two clones before it hardened into a crystal like substance. They were slightly worried but they were still able to sense them through the Force.
"Obi-wan, we found the bridge." Anakin's voice came through the comlink.
"We also found the infirmary." Obi-wan answered. "Bly and Cameron are under some type of stasis and are safe for the moment. Have you been able to get access to the ship's controls?"
"Yeah, about that, we might have a problem."
"What do you mean?" Aayla asked.
"There doesn't seem to be anything that resembles normal ship controls and even if there was, this ship is so different from anything I have ever seen, I wouldn't even know how to pilot it."
"I thought you could fly anything." Obi-wan said amusement in his voice.
"Yeah, laugh it up." Anakin grumbled. "But that means that for the duration of this journey, we are trapped on an unknown ship, with an unknown destination, no food, no water and no idea how long it will take to get there."
Obi-wan sighed, "I always said you were going to be the death of me Anakin."
It had been eight days since they had been trapped on the ship. It seemed to be able to discern their needs and had led them to the mess hall where they found some rations and bottles of water. It had also led them to the crew quarters which they used for resting and for freshening up. Bly and Cameron were still trapped in stasis but their Force Signatures were still strong.
Ahsoka stepped out of the shower, a towel tied around her waist. Unlike most other ships, this one didn't use sonic showers but instead used water. It was a welcome relief when the ship led them to the crew quarters as she couldn't imagine spending eight days without taking a shower. Using the arrows and symbols, it had shown them where to place their dirty clothes and after a few minutes they came out relatively clean. Quickly dressing, she exited her room and headed for the bridge.
Ahsoka walked into the bridge and marveled at the view before her. The bridge of the unknown ship was a large semicircular room. A long walkway led to a large circular dais at the center of the room which contained a single chair, that she assumed belonged to the captain, and on either side of it were two more chairs that were set lower than the Captain's chair. Unlike other ships, there didn't seem to be any controls or displays that they could access to get control of the ship. But the most incredible thing about the bridge was that apart from the walkway and the chairs, the entire room was made of some type of transparisteel. Everything from the walls to the floor was completely transparent giving the illusion that the room was open to space. The only part that wasn't transparent in the room was the back wall, the walkway and the dais. "Any luck?" She asked Anakin who was lounging in the Captain's chair.
He had been trying to gain access to the ship's controls ever since they had been trapped on the ship but nothing seemed to work.
"No." Anakin said as he leant back and gazed at the swirling vortex that surrounded them. He had tried everything he knew about ships but no matter what he tried, nothing seemed to work. The few words he had seen all over were in a language he had never encountered and the lack of any recognizable displays or controls made it impossible to even access the most basic of systems. "Nothing seems to work on this thing. It seems we'll just have to wait for the ship to reach its preset destination."
Ahsoka looked at her master with sympathy. They had decided to wait for things to play themselves out but Anakin had kept trying to gain control of the ship. She knew that it frustrated him that with all his piloting skills, he wasn't able to get control of the ship. "It's okay master, like Master Kenobi said, the Force will guide us when the time is right. Why don't we join the others for breakfast?" She asked trying to lighten his mood.
Anakin nodded and was about to stand up when the ship shuddered and the view changed to show the vast blackness of space. Light from the yellow sun shined into the room allowing Anakin and Ahsoka to see a brown lifeless planet orbited by a single moon that was surrounded by a massive debris field. The planet was about the size of Coruscant but unlike the ecumenopolis that buzzed with trillions of sentients, this planet was dry and barren. The debris field stretched for millions of kilometers and had even formed a ring that went around the planet. Consisting of the broken husks of ships that ranged in size from massive pieces larger than a star destroyer to small pieces the size of grains of sand it was truly an impressive sight.
"What just happened?" Obi-wan entered the bridge followed by Aayla, Cody and Attie.
"It seems we've reached our destination." Anakin answered as he stared at the planet. He reached out with the Force and felt a great sadness overwhelm him. Whatever had happened here, it had led to a massive loss of life. The ship ducked and weaved through the debris field but every now and then clanking could be heard as small pieces bounced off the hull. A minute later, they were gliding through the atmosphere. The whole planet was covered in sand but every now and then, columns of metal rose into the air, the skeletons of a dead civilization. Eventually, the ship came to a stop and landed softly on the soft sand a few hundred meters from the ruins of a large castle that seemed to be the only thing left standing.
"Do any of you feel that?" Aayla asked softly. The whole area was surrounded with the same type of energy as the artifact on Maridun.
"Yes." Anakin said, "It seems the artifact and this ship came from this planet."
"That castle seems to be the only standing structure." Obi-wan said as he crossed one hand while the other went to his chin. "Cody, Artie, you will stay here with the ship and keep a lookout. The rest of us will head to the castle and see what we can find. There doesn't seem to be any sign of life on this planet, but hopefully we'll find something that can help us. We'll maintain communications as best we can." With that, the Jedi exited the ship and headed towards the castle.
Date: 5143 AD
Location: Olympus, Unknown System
Teras' mind was swimming with all she had just learnt and seen. After his declaration, Harry had proceeded to perform other acts of magic, from turning a blaster into a vase to creating a bunch of flowers out of thin air. These were not things she had ever seen or even heard of being done using the Force. If she had any doubts that the man in front of her was telling the truth, they were quickly assuaged by his demonstration. "Can all of your people do this?"
Harry nodded, "Yes, in fact you are about to meet them." With that, the ship dropped out of hyperspace and headed towards the second largest moon of a massive gas giant.
"Your people live here?" Teras asked. With a low atmospheric pressure, minimal oxygen levels and low temperatures not to mention the high amounts of radiation the gas giant was sitting out, it was hard to imagine the conditions being conducive to human life..
Harry hummed in agreement. "For the moment, we evacuated here after the Sith found us." He pressed a few buttons activating the comms. "Olympus Central Command, this is Commander Hadrian Orion Potter. Do you read?"
"We read you Commander Potter, you were scheduled to return days ago. We were starting to get worried." A male voice came from the speakers.
"I ran into some trouble, nothing I couldn't handle. I'll give my full report during the debrief."
"Of course Sir, you've been cleared for landing at dock Fifteen C."
"Thank you Central Command." Harry said and he took control of the ship bringing it into the atmosphere and headed towards a large mountain more than six hundred kilometers long and ten kilometers tall.
The ship flew towards the side of the mountain where there was a shimmer and an opening appeared leading into the mountain. The ship vanished into the tunnel which Teras thought could fit a ship twenty times the size of her freighter. The tunnel was illuminated enough that she could make out what appeared to be weapon turrets set into the metal surface of the tunnel. In the distance, she could make out a bright light that steadily grew brighter until they came out the other side and she blinked in surprise. "Are we inside the mountain?"
"Yep." Harry said popping the "p". "It took us two years to excavate the mountain, reinforce it and to finish the first phase of construction. We were halfway through construction of the second phase when the Empire found us."
Teras was truly impressed. Even though they were underground, and contrary to the conditions outside, sunlight streamed down from a blue sky with not a cloud in sight. A large city sat in the middle surrounded by green fields that stretched for miles. She started pushing buttons going over the sensor data. While the atmosphere outside the mountain was mostly made up of carbon dioxide with only minimal amounts of oxygen, inside was a Type one atmosphere with an abundance of oxygen and nitrogen. The temperature was warm unlike the frigid temperature of the moon and the radiation levels were very low. To accomplish all this in just two years was truly impressive. She turned to Harry who had a large smile on his face. She turned back to the view in front of her as the ship headed towards a landing pad and slowly touched down.
They went through the shut down procedure and then headed for the rear of the ship. Harry hit the button and the ramp lowered before he faced her. "We are going to be escorted to see the High Council after which should you still desire to leave you will be allowed to do so."
Teras nodded and they stepped down the ramp towards three young people, two men and a woman, who were flanked by four figures dressed in the same type of armor that Harry wore. She noticed that three of those figures had scabbards tied to their waists but the fourth had a lightsaber hilt tied to theirs. Harry walked up to the exceptionally beautiful blonde woman who was dressed in powder blue robes that complimented her eyes and bowed. She returned the bow and smiled warmly at him. "Hello cousin, how was the trip?"
"Same as usual." Harry shrugged before he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. "It is good to see you Amara." He stepped back and indicated to the Jedi standing next to him. "This is Teras, she helped me get out of a rather tight spot. Teras, this is my cousin and one of the members on the Council of Representatives." The blonde nodded and Teras repeated the action. "The man on her right is Odric Lyr Head of the Auror Corps and the one on her left is Brodrick Weston her aide."
"Well now that's over with, the council awaits." Amara turned around and started walking. The two men fell in step beside her followed by Harry and Teras while the guards followed behind.
"You nervous?" Harry asked softly.
Teras nodded, "a bit. I would feel much better if I had my lightsabers with me."
He chuckled lightly before giving her a comforting smile, "don't worry. Everything is going to be alright. Trust me."
She returned the smile and the rest of the journey passed in silence as she took in the sights around her.
"What do you think is inside Master?" Ahsoka asked as they walked towards the large castle. Even in its run down state, it was fairly imposing. Made up of grey rock, it had a certain power to it and she imagined it was quite a sight to see in its prime. However, now large chunks were missing and it seemed as if it would come crashing down at any moment.
"I don't know Snips, but we have to be very careful. Who knows what kind of traps are in a place like this." Anakin answered.
Aayla meanwhile was a few steps ahead when she suddenly stopped. There was a buzzing in her head and something was telling her that she should go back to the ship. She shook her head trying to get rid of it and continued forward but it only grew stronger and after a few more steps, she stopped, turned around and started walking towards the ship. She had only taken a few steps when Obi-wan grabbed her arm. "Are you alright Aayla?" He asked frowning in concern.
Aayla shook her head, "wha..? What happened?"
"We don't know, one minute you were walking towards the castle and the next you just stopped and turned around." Ahsoka answered.
"I just had the sudden urge to go back to the ship"
Obi-wan closed his eyes and lifted his hand reaching out his senses. "The energy field is more concentrated here." He turned and looked at Aayla, "I think it affected your mind, like a sort of defense mechanism. It's quite ingenious really, anyone who tries to enter the castle is sent away and they probably won't even realize what happened."
"So what do we do?" Anakin asked with concern. Something that could affect the mind of a Jedi had to be very powerful. What else could it do to them if they tried to force their way in.
It was Aayla who answered, "I think it affected me because I wasn't prepared for it. I'm sure we could get through it if we really tried."
Obi-wan thought for a moment before he nodded, "Alright, but the moment one of us feels we are in danger, we leave and come up with another plan of action."
They agreed and each of them calmed themselves and let the Force flow through them. They walked forwards and just like Aayla, they hit the energy field and felt a buzzing in their minds, only this time it was dull and they walked through it without difficulty. The buzzing grew stronger the more they walked but it didn't affect them like it did Aayla before. Eventually, they reached the large wooden doors and pushed them open. They activated their lightsabers and walked carefully into the castle.
They came across a large hall large enough to hold over a hundred people. Metallic suits of some type of armor lined the walls. As they watched, the sky suddenly darkened and lightning started to flash overhead and the doors slammed shut. "Well, that isn't ominous." Anakin said as they came together and stood back to back. Seconds later, twelve suits of armor creaked to life, glowing red lines appearing all over their bodies and slowly walked towards them drawing their swords. The first sentry brought its weapon down and Anakin intercepted it with his lightsaber the energy weapon passing easily through the metal and bisecting the sentry in half before he swung the blade cutting down two more sentries. The others dealt with their own sentries just as easily and in a few seconds, all the sentries lay in pieces. "That wasn't too bad."
Obi-wan turned to his former padawan and in an exasperated tone said, "You just had to say that didn't you." Sure enough, the sentries started shaking and rose the pieces growing until where previously there were twelve now there stood twenty four. "Oh! This is not good." They sprung into action and sooner rather than later, the sentries lay in pieces and just like before the sentries rose back up twice as many as there were.
"Come on, why won't these things just die?" Ahsoka asked as she tried to evade the sentries without destroying them. She knew that for every sentry that fell, two more rose in their place and because of their lightsabers, any small move ended up cutting through them with ease.
Anakin tried a Force push but it still had the same effect as cutting them and he started to realize just how much trouble they were in. The sentries weren't durable and that worked to their disadvantage because it was very easy to destroy them. They also seemed to adapt changing their fighting skills to become more challenging. That plus their increasing numbers made it clear that eventually the Jedi would be overwhelmed. The battle continued, twenty four becoming forty eight and so on until eventually Anakin saw Ahsoka being overwhelmed and with a loud cry he jumped into the air landing in front of his padawan and into the path of a sentry's sword. Anakin closed his eyes expecting to feel pain as the sword pierced his body but nothing came. He opened his eyes and saw the sword millimeters away from his chest. He looked around and saw that all the sentries were frozen in place.
The sentries remained frozen for a few more seconds before they turned to dust and fell to the floor. "What was that?" Aayla asked breathlessly. Before anyone could respond, there was a grinding sound and a section of the floor near the raised podium slid away revealing a set of stairs going downwards.
"I think it was a test." Obi-wan said, "And I think we passed." He walked towards the stairs and peered down into the darkness. "We've come this far." He shrugged and walked into the darkness. The others looked at each other before they followed after him. They walked for twenty minutes their lightsabers drawn but the deeper they went, the more the darkness intensified and not even the glow from their lightsabers could cut through it. The very air seemed to be filled with energy and their lightsabers began to flicker at odd moments.
"What's happening to our lightsabers?" Ahsoka asked looking at her flickering blade.
"It's the energy in this place." Aayla answered. "It's causing some type of interference that's affecting them."
The darkness intensified until the only things they could see were their lightsabers. They however were able to use the Force, Ahsoka also utilizing her montrails, to navigate through the tunnels. They were able to sense multiple pathways branching of from the main path but were able to stay on course. Eventually the darkness disappeared and they were suddenly assaulted by a bright light. After their eyes had adjusted, they found themselves in a large carven. Large pillars entwined with carved serpents rose to support the high ceiling that was lost in darkness. Floating blue flames provided light to the cavern and a large statue stood against the back wall.
However what drew their eyes was a large clear, cylindrical bluish crystal identical to the ones encasing Bly and Cameron. This crystal also had a figure that was trapped within it. Ahsoka walked forward until she stood in front of the cylinder and observed the being within. He was a human, a fairly attractive one from what she saw. His hair fell to his shoulders and his slightly muscular but lithe frame hinted that he was built more for speed than for strength. He wore a black sleeveless form fitting shirt, black pants and boots. His forearms had leather vambraces each with a green diamond-shaped jewel that seemed to glow with an inner light. "Who do you think he is?" Ahsoka asked.
Aayla who had been examining a wooden chest that lay a few feet away stood up and walked towards her, "I don't know but he's giving of the same type of energy as the energy field outside." She pointed back to the chest, "I couldn't move or open the chest and I don't see any type of locking mechanism. I tried using the Force but nothing happened." She looked back at the trapped figure, "I can't even begin to imagine how long he's been here."
Ahsoka however wasn't listening, she felt something call out to her and shakily, she raised her hand and laid her palm on the crystal. She felt a jolt and a shudder ran up the crystal as a loud crack echoed throughout the chamber. The two women stepped backwards and were joined by Anakin and Obi-wan. They watched as more cracks appeared and then stopped as the crystal started to liquefy but still maintained its shape. Once it was fully liquefied, the liquid flowed to the floor of the cavern carrying the figure and lowering him gently to the floor. Ahsoka knelt on the floor and felt for a pulse breathing a sigh of relief when she felt a strong pulse against her fingers. Her relief was however short-lived as the figure's eyes snapped open and vibrant green met startled blue and for a second Ahsoka felt her heart stop beating. And then the second passed and she found herself flying back as all the air left her lungs. The figure had kicked her, hard, in the chest causing her to be thrown thirty feet away onto her back. With a groan, she sat up and watched as the man fought with her master. It seemed that once again they would have to fight for their life.
Author's Notes
There will be a few more chapters with flashbacks to show what happened to Earth between the last book and the present and how the survivors of Earth came to live in Olympus.
This is my first story so please review, would like to hear your comments, thoughts, opinions, questions etcetra.