CHAPTER 19: KELIA LOS'EAN

RSD Kestrel, Randon Intersection, Mid-Rim

19 BBY (16:05:17 GrS)

Five days before Order 66…

Kelia's snout opened in a yawn as she stood on the Kestrel's fighter bridge, overlooking the rest of her taskforce. At this point in galactic history, she was a commodore in the Republic Navy and its only Bothan flag officer. One of the Republic's only Bothan senior officers Jural Dan'lya, served as the Kestrel's Captain.

"Commodore?" Nyke Tormale inquired from behind her. "Is something the matter?"

"No, just tired, Lieutenant," the Bothan admitted, rolling her shoulders. "Been up late looking over reports from across the fleet. Even with the main computer helping streamline the process..."

The human woman nodded and turned back to watching the fighter direction crew as they worked at their stations. Since the second year of the Clone Wars, the command rews had been a mixture of Clones and non-Clones. An adjustment that many were still growing accustomed to.

It had been two weeks since their deployment to the region, a standby duty watching over the trade lanes between Bothan Space and Kashyyyk.

The tasking was admittedly boring as kriff as she often thought to herself. After a prior deployment to the ongoing siege at Felucia to evacuate hundreds of wounded, reports of diseases from the jungle world briefly caused the entire taskforce to be quarantined, preventing them from taking their usual period of leave on Manda. Instead, they were rotated out immediately afterward due to Separatist raiding convoys encroaching on the Mytaranor Sector.

The brief disease scare turned out to be nothing despite initial fears that Shu Mai's forces were experimenting with exotic biowarfare.

As annoying as it was, she couldn't blame the Republic being on heightened alert. After the brainrot pandemic unleashed by General Grievous in the Weemell Sector at the height of Durge's Lance, and of course the usual Clone-virus plots that seemed to pop up every other month.

Yet, the tenseness that had been present ever since had caused Kelia to be on edge for one of Jural's morale raising pranks as a result. I really shouldn't be encouraging this behavior from my subordinates, let alone the Captain of my flagship, but keeping morale up is paramount, especially after losing our leave time, she thought as she stretched one of her legs.

Still, she was somewhat glad Jural had gotten out of the depressive funk she spent the first part of the war in, taking command of the Kestrel after her own promotion to Commodore had actually done wonders for her former aide's self-esteem. And her occasional mischief, often abetted by the ship's computer, was admittedly sometimes amusing to Kelia.

Sometimes…

Jural's voice came through the ship's intercom. "Commodore Los'ean, we have a situation on the Command Bridge—I… I really need your input with this one."

You need my input… We are in empty space and—"This had better not be a prank, Captain."

"Two beings just emerged through a portal in the rear bulkhead. They have two animals with them and… And the animals, I can hear them in my mind."

"For kriff's sake, Captain!" Kelia snarled, leaping to her feet. "If you don't stop this immaturity—"

"Sir, I wouldn't lie about this. This is—"

The loud hoot of a bird interrupted Captain Jural Dan'lya.

Kelia twirled in her chair, facing the viewports. Across the twenty meter gap of hard vacuum between the Venator's fighter bridge and command bridge, she could see Jural and two Bothans—or perhaps near-Bothans.

One of them was shaggy, ashy-furred, and dressed in a reflective construction uniform that looked like the ones issued by Bothawui's Public Works Corps. The other had shorter blue fur, and was dressed in all black, wearing a vest that had what looked like knives, thermal detonators, and a small blaster pistol tucked onto the front. The blue one looked like she had just been a part of a bank robbery or something.

More baffling still, a purple weasel-looking animal was running around under desks and chairs, while the bridge crew chased after it. Overhead, a green owl was circling, just high enough to avoid being grabbed.

"You two, with me!" Kelia barked at the pair of Clones guarding the doors to starfighter control as she stormed out.

o.o.o.o.o

Jural was right about the animals speaking into her mind. The moment Kelia crossed onto the command bridge with a pair of security troopers in tow, she began to question her own sanity. She could hear two different voices—one male, and one female, echoing in her mind.

{"This won't do! This won't do!"} the male voice said. Kelia felt that this voice must belong to the weasel. {"The end is but a few days away, and you can think of nothing but chase! Sey'les, I am losing my patience with these heathens."}

"Don't hurt them, Veryk!" the ashy-furred Bothan, Sey'les apparently, cried out in Basic. "They're just scared. If we want to stop Order 66, we'll need a fleet-sized element."

{"Oh good,"} the female voice spoke, and again Kelia was certain it belonged to the owl. {"Commodore Kelia Los'ean, we are in need of your assistance. Neither of us can communicate with humans—"}

Commander Perth, the ranking clone officer, took a swipe at her, causing the Convor to fly higher.

{"And Captain Jural Dan'lya has proven herself to be frozen with uncertainty,"} the Convor continued. {"And my friends Lir Sey'les, the gray one, and Nebhir Traf'lab, the blue one, seem to lack the authority to make the humans stop. We can only communicate with Bothans and near-Bothans at present. I assure you, both Veryk and I are quite a lot more than we seem, and there is much to discuss. Veryk is not a mere Savrit Cat, and I am not a mere Convor. My name is Morai, and I am a Celestial who has walked, flown, and swum this Galaxy for over a hundred thousand years. Even in my weakened state, I am more than capable of defending myself. I would not want to harm any of your foolish crew. We come with an urgent message from the future, and I implore you to listen."}

From the future… Kelia found herself frozen in raw confusion. How can this be happening? Have I gone insane?

The three clones chasing the purple weasel, or Savrit Cat apparently, suddenly tumbled backward as if they had hit a forcefield. Veryk stood on his hind legs, squeaking loudly with his mouth, while also screaming loudly into the minds of anyone who could hear. {"STOP THIS AT ONCE AND SET COURSE FOR PONEMAH TERMINAL!"}

Ponemah terminal… Kelia slowly approached the irate purple viverrid, snout agape in shock. "I will not cede control of this vessel to you."

{"Then you will be swept away!"} Veryk said dramatically, raising both hands.

The two clone security officers at Kelia's side raised their blasters, but Kelia gestured to lower them.

Before Veryk could do anything else though, the Convor landed in front of him, pecking the viverrid on the end of his snout. {"No! We need to talk to them."}

{"There is no time for talk!"} Veryk protested. {"Order 66 is coming in just five days! Ahsoka Tano could set it off any second! Fine, I shan't sweep them away—but I don't have time to talk. Time? Time is irrelevant in the Beyond. I shall take them there and show them the future, the way I showed Lir Sey'les and Nebhir Traf'lab."}

In the bridge's rearmost bulkhead something suddenly formed which was beyond Kelia's ability to understand. It was, as Jural had described it, a portal. Only to where, Kelia had no idea.

{"Neither Jural Dan'lya nor Kelia Los'ean are sensitive to the Force,"} Morai retorted. {"Taking them into the Vergence Scatter will confuse them, and it could very well drive them mad."}

It wasn't until Kelia found herself floating in mid-air towards the portal, along with Jural, that she snapped out of her confused state and back into military mode. "Security teams to the command bridge!" she barked into her wrist-comm, "We have been boarded by an unknown intelligence who are trying to take the ship. Stop them!"

Every being on the bridge who happened to have a blaster suddenly aimed it at Veryk. Flashes of blue illuminated the air as rapid fire from DC-17s and DC-15s rained down on the Viverrid.

But nothing affected him. Every shot sizzled into an invisible barrier, filling the room with the smell of ozone and burning plastic.

A dozen clones from the Kestrel's emergency response team jogged onto the bridge, joining in on attempting to blast the Viverrid.

"Stop!" Sey'les yelped, waving her hands in front of one of the clones. "You're going to all get—arrgh!" she snarled, barking furiously as two clones tackled her.

Just as Kelia and Jural were about to reach the event horizon and cross into whatever dark and mysterious world lay beyond, a huge wolf's face blocked their path.

This wasn't a wolf-like humanoid. This wasn't a small pet. It was at least four times the size of a Strill.

It was at least two meters tall, even when standing on all fours, and perhaps twice that length. The wolf's yellow eyes contrasted heavily with its silver fur, and from its smell, Kelia both knew he was male, and he wasn't a mere illusion.

And most surprisingly, he spoke Basic.

"No," the Wolf said in a firm deep voice.

Kelia and Jural dropped to the bridge floor, with groans of pain.

The Wolf leapt out of the other realm and right down beside them.

"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" Kelia shrieked. Things were getting bad enough when they were shooting at this tiny little weasel, and this wolf clearly disagreed with Veryk's plan to hijack her ship.

The clones looked at each other warily, keeping their weapons at ready.

"Veryk," the silver wolf snarled, "The changes to the time-line from bringing Kelia and Jural into the Vergence scatter caused Darth Sidious to execute Order 66 five days early… In one hour to be precise. I have come to stop you"

{"That's impossible!"} Veryk squeaked.

Kelia still had no idea what was going on, but from the expressions on her human crewmember's faces, she could tell that they could understand this wolf's perfectly-comprehensible Galactic Basic. The fact the wolf was speaking, as opposed to whatever the hell it was Veryk and Morai were doing, was somehow very reassuring to her. It felt like her sanity had been suddenly affirmed by a talking wolf.

And the reference to a Darth caused her fur to bristle in alarm at her recognition of the Sith title from old Mandalorian tales.

"The Council—"

{"You convened without me?!"}

"The Council has decided to recall you and put Morai in charge of this adventure. Bendu wishes to speak with you."

{"Bendu—Oh I am going to give Bendu a piece of my mind!"} The Viverrid chittered furiously, running across the floor on all fours with his back arched in sheer agitation. He jumped onto the giant wolf's back, using it as a step to then leap higher into the air, finally disappearing into the dark portal.

{"We have a serious problem, Halfdan,"} Morai said, hovering in place in front of the wolf's snout the moment the portal disappeared. {"None of them will listen to us long enough to hear us out. I sense fear."}

"I sense this room is more perceptive to a Lothwolf's wisdom," purred Halfdan—apparently not just a wolf but a Lothwolf.

"Are… Are you communicating with that Convor?" Perth croaked, his hand trembling as he held a blaster pistol.

"Yes, now put that away before you shoot someone's eye out," he snarled to Perth, then frowned at the security clones who still had Sey'les pressed to the floor. "And unhand Lir Sey'les!"

"Do it," Kelia said. "Now, tell me—"

The doors hissed open. Standing in the doorway, lightsabers ablaze, was the Bothan Jedi Knight, General Kev Rel'skar, and his purple Rodian Padawan, Ekos. Apparently, Kev had managed to fix his saber in the last few hours.

"Stand down," Kelia ordered, waving her hand to the two Jedi. "The situation is under control." She wasn't entirely sure the situation was under control, but at least it didn't seem like her ship was about to be hijacked by Force-sensitive animals anymore.

"What is going on?" Kev snarled, refusing to lower his lightsaber, glaring at the giant Lothwolf. "Lir Sey'les… You—You…" he stuttered, unable to finish.

"Great, another Bothan," Halfdan snorted, flashing his teeth derisively. "And an impetuous Jedi one at that!"

"Do you have a problem with Bothans and Jedi?" Kev asked, flashing his teeth back at the Lothwolf. "Commodore, I say—AHHH!"

Kev's ignited lightsaber soared out of his hands, floating in mid-air into the Lothwolf's huge outstretched paw. Amazingly, without the use of a thumb, the Lothwolf pressed the lightsaber's power button, then held it out in Kev's direction.

The Rodian deactivated his own saber, frowning in suspicion. "Master, I sense he means us no harm. Though, I also sense great darkness within him."

"I sense that too," Kev snarled, "But this is… This is—Disrespect! This—"

"Such foolishness," Halfdan muttered, chastising the Jedi Knight right on the bridge of a Republic Star Destroyer. "The order was truly at a low during the Clone Wars…"

Kelia frowned, once again hearing the suggestion of time-travel. Given everything that had just unfolded—time-travel didn't seem so far-fetched now, but the thought of it was concerning.

"Kelia Los'ean, you are the most crucial being in our plan," Halfdan said, turning to her. "Is there someplace comfortable where we, and anyone else you would like to accompany us, can discuss the near future?"

"Unhand my lightsaber!" Kev snarled.

Halfdan's eyes flashed—literally flashed blindingly bright white with warning. "Patience young Jedi. Patience." He dropped the saber on the ground, then picked it up in his snout, mumbling as he drooled all over it like a stick. "I 'as going to gi' it to 'ack, 'ut now… I'll hold it a 'ile longer."

Kev's fur stood up in rage. "If you don't—"

"You are a general in the Grand Army of the Republic," Kelia snarled. "If you can't act more mature than—" She was going to say than a wild Lothwolf but thought better of it. "Halfdan, drop his lightsaber please."

"As you 'ish," Halfdan mumbled, dropping the saber down in a pool of drool.

"Oh yuck!" Kev whimpered, picking it up with two fingers. "You—You slobbered on it!"

"I will convene a meeting in the CIC in twenty minutes," Kelia growled, referring to the Combat Information Center located immediately behind the ship's bridge.

"Excellent choice," Halfdan purred. "Holoprojectors would be helpful… And a searchable databank. I not only need to convince you to move this ship to Ponemah Terminal, but also of a vast conspiracy spanning the entire Galaxy… And Caf. I require caf."

"Caf?" Kelia asked incredulously.

"Yes, when you bring caf out, I would like one too. In a huge mug, of course."

"We can do that," Kelia muttered, gesturing to Perth who entered the additional caf onto his datapad.

"Wait," Sey'les gasped, looking around the bridge. Her fur was now flat in fear. "Where's Nebhir?!"

Kelia looked around the bridge. There had been a blue-colored near-Bothan when she first arrived, but now…

"Commodore Los'ean to ship's security. We have an intruder loose."