Chapter 12: Life in Space
Ryder and Jerry got on board the massive cruiser ship, the Slipknot, and made their way to the briefing room at once. Over Ryder's shoulder hung a satchel that contained the two other holocrons and a few books. He knew what was coming his way and boy did he dread it. The last thing that he wanted to do was tell how he had opened classified information and that it turned to dust once the message ended. All he wanted to do was sleep on the first bed that could find.
A voice came over the speakers and said, "Everyone, please stay still as we ascend into space. Once we clear Earth's orbit, we'll jump to mach speed and head for the outer rim of the solar system." Ryder looked around and saw a seat that could fold away from the wall.
"Over here," Ryder told Jerry as he pointed to the chair. The two of the walked over and strapped themselves in, ready for takeoff.
It took about an hour to ascend into space and jump into mach speed landing in the outer rim of the solar system. The closest original planet was Neptune, and that was about five-hundred thousand miles away.
The ship came to a stop and the speakers sounded again saying, "Everyone is safe to move about the ship, now."
Ryder and Jerry got up out of their seats. Jerry, still exhausted from all the teleporting, stumbled when he got up. Luckily, Ryder caught him because, if he didn't then his face would've had a nice meeting with the floor.
"I think you should just go rest in the med-bay if anything. We don't need you passing out just walking to the elevator," Ryder told Jerry. Jerry was so tired that his head barely moved when he nodded at Ryder.
The two made their way to the med-bay that was on the same floor as them, and Ryder helped Jerry get onto one of the beds.
Ryder looked Jerry in the eyes and said, "I'll tell them everything that happened, including the holocron. Just rest here and I'll tell you everything that they say. Unless, they call for you before I can come back." Jerry gave another nod giving Ryder the 'okay' to leave.
Even though the sight of outer-space is incredible, the view got boring once Ryder saw the same thing each time he looked out of a window. He liked seeing the sunrise and sunset over the desert surrounding at the academy. However, the white walls and lighted panels were a nice change compared to the girly design of the academy walls.
The air down this hallway smelt of hot oil and smoke produced from machines that sounded like they were either repairing ships or creating new ships and/or droids.
As he kept walking down the hallway, a droid screamed as it spun through an open door. Shortly after, a mechanic ran out the door and grabbed the droid. As he turned he saw Ryder staring in curiosity and confusion.
"A slight wiring problem, that's it," said the mechanic as he quickly returned to the room with the doors sliding shut after him.
The droid was a blue R2 series astromech droid that was missing a few front panels. Above the door where the two had re-entered was a sign that read, "Repairs." Ryder brushed off the encounter and continued making his way towards the briefing room. If he wasn't there soon, he knew Mrs. Janice's voice would come over the intercom and ask for him.
Ryder came to the elevator and pressed the up button and waited for the elevator to arrive. He couldn't get the planet of Korriban and the final words that out of his mind.
'How'd it go,' he thought?
He closed his eyes and thought back to the man from the holocron. He finally remembered.
"Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me."
Those sentences echoed in his mind until he heard the bell of the elevator sound off.
The doors opened and showed a girl that was about five feet and six inches tall. She had brown hair that extended a little way past her shoulders and had hazel eyes. Her had a bronze complexion from her tan. She had a thin head band around her head to keep her hair away from her face. She was wearing a white shirt that had 'ICE COLD' written in red letters on it. It was cut off right above her belly button. Black leggings covered her legs down to her calves and a belt with hide pouches hung around her waist. However, the weirdest thing of all were her high-top white converse that just seemed out of place on a military cruiser, especially since she looked like a mechanic.
Ryder walked into the elevator and pressed the very top button that had the number, seventy-four printed on it.
The girl, who was looking down at a device that resembled a phone, made a comment saying, "Wow, just who am I in an elevator with? There aren't many times that I'm on the elevator with someone that's going to the top floor too."
Ryder looked at the girl who was still looking at her phone and said, "I just have to report to a few things about what happened out there today."
He leaned his back against the wall, let out a deep breath, and looked up at the wall. "What're you doing on that phone thing?" asked Ryder.
A bystander would be able to tell that she had been asked this question multiple times before hand because of the sigh she let out. "I'm using a software to re-program a droid's hard drive. His basic motor functions were entered incorrectly by a newbie mechanic." When she said "newbie," she shot Ryder an annoyed look and then went right back to her phone.
"Is it the blue R2 astromech droid that spun out into the hallway just a few moments ago?" said Ryder with a slight laugh at the end.
"You can bet your ass that it is. That droid has only been a pain in my ass since it has gotten on this ship. I just feel bad for whoever has to pilot a ship with that thing controlling the ship's system." She finished her programming and put the device in her pocket.
She looked over at Ryder, who's eyes were closed and head pointed to the ceiling, and saw his in-tact clothes. "Aren't your clothes supposed to be torn up after a battle?" she said.
Ryder turned towards her, opening his eyes and said, "My job wasn't on the battlefield. I had to teleport everything out of the archives." Ryder showed her the satchel that had a few different books in it.
The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened quicker than he had expected. He turned away from the girl and looked straight ahead. Around a circular table sat President Reed, General Hall, General Fox, Doctor Rogers, Doctor Rich, Secretary Janice, Speaker of the House: Emma Austin, Sensei Rodan, and a few other teachers.
Ryder walked towards the table and the girl followed closely behind him. The President was the first to stand as he said, "Well done, Ryder. You and Jerry did an exceptional job retrieving every artifact in the archive library. You have earned every bit of appreciation from everyone around this table."
He paused as everyone began clapping. Confused and shocked, the girl began clapping a little later than everyone else. 'Who is this guy,' she thought?
The President sat back down in his chair. He continued, "However, there is a holocron missing. A Sith holocron. Do you mind explaining what happened?" All eyes were on Ryder. He knew that the higher officers thought that one of the students was a mole for ISIS.
'They can't possibly think that I'm the mole because I opened a holocron,' thought Ryder.
Right after that thought, he noticed Doctor Rogers put his elbows on the table as he rested his mouth and chin on his folded hands.
Ryder looked at the President and began to recall what happened in the archives.
"We were down in the archives packing all the books and scrolls into bins for a mass teleportation. We were close to finishing the books and scrolls when I heard a loud humming. I assumed it was the Force because Jerry hadn't noticed it. I followed the noise and came upon the holocrons behind the book shelves," Ryder paused. With a single gulp, he said, "It spoke to me…"
Ryder redirected his stare to Sensei Rodan who was sitting there with a straight face. "It was a telling me to learn from it. To gain its knowledge… It was a calm, warm voice, yet terrifying at the same time. So, I opened the holocron and a man with a large mask and black and purple robes appeared. He told me that he left his lightsaber on the planet, Korriban. And that there is a holocron there that is different from all the others. It's a purple one. The man could never find it; he could only hear it call to him through the Force. Once the recording was over, he vanished and the corners of the holocron began to turn into dust. It had a limit of opening only one time. Jerry realized that when I opened the holocron, it would release a surge of power. Something strong enough to alert the invaders where we were."
General Hall leaned over to the President and whispered something into his ear.
"So," continued Ryder ignoring General Hall. "We quickly packed the rest of the texts and holocrons. Right when we finished, one of the attackers showed up and dashed towards us, but he wasn't faster than Jerry's teleportation. We barely escaped with our lives. That's when we ended up at the coordinates that you gave us. I swear. I didn't know that it was a one-time holocron, and all he mentioned was his lightsaber and the holocron that are on Korriban. You can ask Jerry to confirm it."
Ryder was out of breath from telling the story. It had been a long time since he had seen action that made his heart race that fast. He looked back at the President waiting for him to say something.
President Reed looked over at Doctor Rogers, who gave him a subtle nod. Returning his look upon Ryder, he said, "Don't worry, I. No, we believe you. We have also realized that you have come to the same conclusion as us about a student being a mole for ISIS. If it was you, we most likely would have been ambushed at the coordinates that I gave you."
President Reed stood up and walked around the table and put his hand on Ryder's shoulder. "Now, after that mission, I'm sure the only thing you want right now is to rest." The President felt Ryder's shoulder relax when he heard the word "rest."
Taking his hand off his shoulder, he stretched out his hand. "Now, the satchel, please," said Mr. President.
Ryder slung the satchel off his shoulder and handed it to the President. He looked inside the bag to make sure the books were the real deal. President Reed proceeded to take the books out of the bag saying, "Well, what are these? Form Two: Makashi." He gave the book to Ryder. Ryder grabbed the book, surprised that he wasn't keeping them. Most books in the archives were off limit. Only a master or a training droid (proxy droid) could teach the skills and techniques found in those books. He pulled out the last two books and continued, "Form Four: Ataru. And the last book, Form Five: Shien / Djem So." President Reed gave the last two books to Ryder. He now had the three books he placed into the satchel in his arms. He was relieved to know that they would let him study these without the supervision of a master or proxy.
"Keep these. Study them," the President said.
Ryder saluted the President and said, "Thank you, sir."
"At ease," said President Reed. "I expect you to be fluent with these forms in no time Ryder. Don't let me down."
Ryder smirked at the President and said, "I'll have them mastered before you know it." He was excited to learn new lightsaber forms because the more forms he knew, the better the warrior he would be. He kept the books in his hands as he held them by his side. Ryder looked at the President and awaited any further orders.
President Reed went back to his seat and sat down. He lifted his hand, signaling General Hall to take over the meeting. He glanced away from the President and stared at the girl that was standing next to Ryder.
"Katie," he said. "What's the status of all the single-pilot ships and their droids?"
She quickly straightened up and responded saying, "We have twenty-six X-Wings, fifteen Y-Wings, twelve A-Wings, and two Delta-7s. All ready for takeoff with their own astromech or utility droid available."
General Hall put his head in his palm. "That damn surprise attack ruined a lot of things and our star fleet was one of them," he thought out loud.
He followed up with another question, "Do we have any light freighters available?"
Katie took her phone-like device out and opened an app that kept inventory of all the ships. After a few seconds of scrolling through her files, she looked up and said, "No, sir. The Scimitar, the ghtroc 720 (aka the Phantom), and the Outrider have busted thrusters, hyper-drives, and other problems with their engine systems. All the others have malfunctioning engines. However, I should have them all in working condition within five months at the most." Everyone around the table wrote down the available and broken ships with their estimated time until availability.
General looked up at Katie and asked, "Do you need any more help down in the shop?"
This was the question that she had been waiting a long time for. She looked up at the ceiling and then back at General Hall and President Reed saying, "Well, now that you mention it. A few more extra hands wouldn't hurt, and it would speed up the process by a few weeks, hopefully."
General Hall began writing on his notepad as well. When he finished writing, he stood up and saluted Ryder and Katie, who mimicked the General's salute until he put his hand down. "That is all for now. We will contact you if we need anything. Also, Katie, keep us updated with the progress of the light freighters." The two nodded in synchronization then turned and walked toward the opened elevator then got in.
Katie pressed the button that had "6" on it, and Ryder pressed the 'Close Doors' button repeatedly until the doors finally shut. Ryder let out a deep breath of relief and looked towards Katie and said, "I hate those meetings."
She looked back at him with an expression that said, you got that right. "Every time I go in that room, they always ask me about the ships that happen to be broken. I'm literally one of seven mechanics that work on all these ships."
Ryder could tell that her workload was stressing her out. Her face was just like his on the way up to the briefing room. Her face was looking at the ceiling even though her eyes were shut.
Ryder lifted up the books and noticed a small envelope poking out of the pages. All it read was, 'Your room: 2835.' He leaned forward and selected floor twenty-eight and waited until they reached that floor.
As the doors opened, he turned to Katie and said, "Well, it was good to meet you, Katie. Even if it was under chaotic circumstances. And if you need any more help down there, I'm not that bad of a mechanic either." He smiled and began walking out of the elevator and to his room.
When he was a few steps out of the elevator, he heard her say back, "Will do, mister holocron thief." Ryder chuckled and kept walking down the hallway towards his room.
His room was about halfway down the hall on the left. Now that more than half of their army had betrayed them and joined ISIS. Everyone got their own room.
Ryder reached his door and opened it. Inside were two twin beds. One against the left wall while the other was on the right wall, and each had its own nightstand to accompany it. In the middle of the wall that was in between the two beds, was a descent sized window that allowed the view of Sadala and other planets that were now close by. On the opposite wall of the window was a big dresser. Big enough for two fully grown men to fit all their close and more into it.
Ryder put the books on top of the night stand, took off his boots and shirt, then fell on the bed just wanting to sleep. He laid there for about five minutes until he could feel himself drifting off into a deep sleep that was well needed.
Inside the other cruiser, the Vindicator, Zakee ran down to the hanger where General Hall, Sensei Rodan, Doctor Rich, and other officials were landing their shuttle from their other ship that sat right next to them.
The landing strip came down from the shuttle and the passengers began walking off. He waited until General Hall exited the shuttle and asked "Well, what happened?"
Without looking at Zakee, he said, "Ryder opened the holocron that you obtained. A Sith Lord appeared and told Ryder and Jerry of the location of his old lightsaber and another holocron."
Zakee stopped walking. His face lit up like a lightbulb. "That must be why ISIS attacked so soon. They really wanted that holocron back in their hands. That Sith's lightsaber and the holocron might be something we need to get soon," he said catching up to the general.
General Hall looked down at Zakee and said, "We are already thinking of a team and a way to get to Korriban."
Zakee kept walking with General Hall and asked, "Do we have any ships ready?"
There was a long pause. Zakee could tell the general was counting in his head. He looked at Ziggy, began walking again and said, "Our light freighters will be down until repairs are finished, and that can take up to five months at most. Other than that, we have a total of fifty-five X-Wings, A-Wings, Y-Wings, and Delta 7s. That shuttle is the only ship we have that can carry more than two people."
Ziggy kept walking with the General until they reached the elevator. When the general got on the elevator, Ziggy asked if there was anything that he could do. General shook his head and said, "The only thing we all can do right now, is train to get stronger. Train to bring back the friends you lost to Khilor today." The elevator doors shut, and Ziggy just stood there in thought.
He was still angry about all his comrades that deserted him and everyone else.
Ziggy walked back to his room going over the best jutsus he knew. "Water Dragon and Wind Dragon are the two strongest jutsu I know. I need to expand the variety of jutsus I can perform," he said to himself.
Ziggy took his phone out and called Sensei Rodan. The phone rang until Ziggy could hear his Sensei pick up the phone.
"Yes, Zakee?" asked Rodan.
"I need to expand the variety of jutsus that I can create," he explained.
Sensei Rodan responded in a calm voice saying, "I know that you want to save everyone that just turned their back on you, but over working your body when it hasn't gotten proper rest in a month will accomplish nothing. Get some rest first and then come talk to me. You can find me in the library right after lunch."
A moment of silence passed by until Zakee said, "Okay, Sensei." When Ziggy hung up the phone, he realized that he was back at his room.
Ziggy opened the door and walked over to the bed on the right side of the room. He stripped down to his boxers and slid under the covers. He closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep.
Up in the briefing room of the Slipknot, President Reed and Doctor Rogers were discussing strategic plans for getting back Earth and even just finding a remote planet to settle on.
"So, Korriban is in-between the two suns," reiterated President Reed. "I wonder what that holocron holds. I've never heard of a purple holocron before," he continued.
He looked over at Doctor Roger whose hand was rubbing his forehead. Dr. Rogers removed his hand from his head. Looking at the President, he said, "I have a theory about this holocron."
Reed's eyebrows raised as he leaned over the table, ready to listen.
"So," continued Doctor Rogers. "A Sith holocron is red because the Dark Side, which was used to make them, is fueled by anger, power, aggression, and other evil emotions. The same goes for Jedi holocrons. The Light Side of the Force make them, and what fuels the light side? Peace, love, calmness, and emotions that promote unity. The things that these two have in common are that: they are made by an exclusive organization and the color of the holocron reflects the emotions used to make them."
President Reed leaned back in his chair, waiting for the final reveal of this theory.
Doctor Rogers spun around to a computer and typed in while he said, "What does purple represent?"
The first article that popped up was exactly what he was looking for. It was titled, 'The Symbolism of the Color: Purple.' Rogers clicked on the link taking him to the article.
"So, this says the meaning of the color purple could represent: royalty, nobility, power, ambition, creativity, wisdom, dignity, devotion, peace, pride, and/or mystery." He paused and waited for his train of thought to catch up.
"This organization could be an ancient group who believe that they embody every word I just read off. There wasn't a clear division between if they're principles are inherently good or evil, but we can assume that they are not afraid to wreck chaos and terror throughout the galaxy if need be. This is all that I can come up with at this moment." When Doctor Rogers finished, President Reed stood up and walked to the window and stared out into space.
He turned back around, looking his top doctor in the eyes, he said, "I don't like this. We just lost more than half of our army, our home planet, ISIS has multiple SS ranked powers that they are not afraid to use, we are currently adrift in space like sitting ducks on a pond, and now, news of mysterious organization appears out of nowhere."
While the President paused, Doctor Rogers quickly replied saying, "Mr. President, we just need to take this one step at a time, and don't need to do anything that might pose a large risk right now. We will have to make risky decisions later, but we must not make rash decisions that put the whole fleet in danger."
President Reed covered his face with his hands and let out a deep breath.
"May I suggest something?" asked Doctor Rogers.
President Reed lifted his head and told Dr. Rogers, "Go ahead."
"I think we need to allow any B ranked soldier and above to read anything inside the archive. Shoot, if you're a ninja, read books on demon weapons if you want. This way each student will understand the strengths and weaknesses of any future opponent. This also means forbidden texts for ninjas, Shinigami, and any other power that might have locked secrets. Holocrons are included in this as well. There are only a few Jedi in our company, but I believe that Ryder Jace is ready to learn the secrets within them. This way, our soldiers will know secrets that the enemy won't know about. We can use that to our advantage. Most importantly, I think that when the ships are out of repairs, we send Ryder, along with a team of qualified students," said the doctor before he got cut off by the President.
"First off," he said. "They are no longer students. They are now soldiers for the United States of America. The mole did this to them. Second, how do we actually know if Ryder is or is not the mole. He's quite skillful and I feel like he would have an easy time hiding this."
"You're most certainly right," said Doctor Rogers. "My power allows me to dive into the mind of another. All I need to do is, go inside Ryder's mind and check out his memories."
President Reed leaned back in his chair and said, "I feel dirty for not trusting one of our own, but we need to find out if he even is one of our own. I like your idea, Rogers. We'll talk more about that later. So, what was it you were saying about sending him to Korriban?"
Doctor Rogers nodded then continued, "We can assemble a strike team that will assist Ryder on his quest to obtain that purple holocron and lightsaber." Doctor Rogers leaned forward in his chair and waited for the President's answer.
"I like your plans, Rogers," said President Reed as he reached down and pulled out a pen and pad. "First things first, we need to create a list that ranks every soldier we have."
Doctor Rogers walked over to a file cabinet and began pulling files out that contained battle information on a large portion of their current soldiers.
President Reed walked over to the phone and dialed, "six-four-two-one."
Inside the briefing room of the Vindicator, Sensei Rodan was asleep with his face on the table. Right next to him sat General Hall, General Fox, and Doctor Rich all asleep with their faces smeared on the table as well.
Suddenly, a loud, continuous ring began to echo off all the walls. Rodan jumped to his feet quickly as he dazed out of his dream.
"Somebody get that damn thing," yelled General Hall!
General Fox looked up at Rodan and pointed him towards the terminal that had the phone.
Rodan trudged over and saw that the time was five in the morning and whispered to himself, "Who the fuck calls at five in the morning?"
He picked up the phone and said, "Hello?" as he exhaled a yawn with that word.
"Rodan, this is Reed. I need everyone awake and alert. Drink some coffee or do whatever, but I need everyone focus and ready to go within twenty minutes. Give me a call when y'all are ready." Before Rodan could respond, President Reed hung up the phone. Rodan placed the phone back on the terminal as he yawned once more.
He then turned towards the other officials that were partially asleep on the table and said, "Well, that was the President. He sounded excited, or anxious, and in a rush, but he wants us ready and focused in twenty minutes for some sort of meeting, I guess."
No one moved at all.
"I really don't want to have to do this, but here we go… Fire Style: Five." Flames engulfed Rodan's hand as he moved it towards the ass of every official in the room to wake them up.
Within twenty minutes, everyone had a cup of coffee and were now on their next one. Rodan looked at the phone and said, "Any minute now." A few minutes passed and then they heard the phone ring.
General Hall picked up the phone and held it up to his ear and said, "Mr. President, we're ready."
"Good," responded President Reed. "Let's get started then."
Thanks for reading and as always… I hope you enjoyed!
~Aldon
