Chapter 20: Force Jinchuuriki
It took the crew of the Rogue Shadow three days to get back to the Slipknot that was in the outer rim near the planet, Gonus. Ryder had been communicating with the President on the main ship on their travels back. The President knew they had the holocron and told Ryder that he had permission to open it.
"Captain, we're an hour away from the Slipknot," said Nero, who was navigating the ship.
Ryder had been staring out into space for a while now. "Okay." He stood up and said, "I'm going to my room. Don't disturb me." Ryder left the cockpit and headed straight to his room.
For the past few days, Ryder had been hearing voices telling him to go ahead and open the holocron. To forget about the generals and learn about its secrets.
"Well, I did retrieve it myself," murmured Ryder to himself. Walked down the corridor where his room was. Ryder pressed the red button to the left of the door, and the it slid open. Ryder walked into his room feeling conflicted.
His room wasn't very big. Just enough space for a bed and a dresser. However, there was a secret passage way in Ryder's room. He had found it while meditating. Within the wall towards the front of the ship, Ryder felt a counter weight with the Force, so he lifted it. Consequently, a door slid open revealing a small hallway that led to another small room. This was where Ryder hid the new holocron.
He walked into the secret room and looked at a desk that was up against the wall. Opening the bottom drawer, Ryder reached in and grabbed the holocron. He sat down in the middle of this room and held it out in front of him.
"Open meeeeeee," it said.
Ryder studied the holocron. He didn't feel a dark intent coming from it either. "Screw it," Ryder said. He held onto the base of the holocron then proceeded to open it with the Force.
Purple light danced around the room like it was a disco party, but Ryder was being blinded by a bright light. There was a loud ring that could make anyone's ears bleed. Suddenly, the light faded, and a man wearing a suit appeared. He had on a black jacket, pants, and shoes with a white shirt and no tie.
He stood there and said, "I am Strike Len, seat Osiris in the Council of Anubis." He paused and studied Ryder. "I recognize your Force signature. You must be Revan, the Raven of the night. The Council requests an audience with you. We have a request for you." The hologram of the man stopped moving. "This is part of my Force speaking to you so yes, I am waiting for your answer," he continued.
Ryder didn't really know what to think of this council, but he said, "Yeah. Give me the coordinates and I'll think about it."
Striker ended the message with, "Open this back up when you leave for us, then go to the ancient Sith temple on Xena 4 in the Germain sector. I hope you'll be ready for the power that we'll can teach you." The message faded away.
'Damn, that was strange. I need to tell the crew about it before we land,' thought Ryder. He put the holocron back in the drawer and left his room. Walking to the main hold, he got ahold of the speaker system and told everyone to meet him at the table in the main hold.
Within minutes, everyone was sitting around the table. Ryder looked at everyone and began his speech. "I know that some of you probably think bad of me for tricking y'all, and that is completely justifiable. Now, when we get back to the Slipknot, we will have a one day break. That is when people can decide if they want to continue with this crew. With that being said, I opened the holocron. It was a real-time message from a guy named, Strike Len. He said that he was a part of a certain council. They had a requested an audience with me. He said that they had a favor to ask. The day after tomorrow, this ship will leave for their location. I don't know how long it will take or what will come after that, but we will not lose sight of the true goal: to defeat ISIS. All of you are welcome to come back and go on this mission with me and whoever else wants to join. Or, you can drop this crew and go find another one. One that won't be in many fights, get stronger together, and be in the face of danger a lot." Ryder paused and looked at everyone in the eyes.
"I will give you a day to rest and think about this. I don't want to know your answer until your bags are packed and you're ready to help get the ship to launch. Now, everyone. Go pack your luggage and get ready to land in about ten minutes." Ryder stopped talking and went to his room. He didn't pack a single bag because he knew that he would be right back on here soon enough. Ryder left his room and went to the main hold. By the time he got in there, the ship had already landed and the walkway was being extended down.
Ryder was the first one down while the rest of the crew followed behind with their luggage.
It was Tuesday at 7:43 pm as they got off the ship.
"We leave Thursday morning at 8:00 am. If you're coming don't be late." Ryder said goodbye to some of the crew then went back to his room on the ship. He didn't want to switch beds for two nights when he was already use to this one. It was peace and quiet until Katie walked in right as Ryder was falling asleep.
"You know, we're going have to do some work on this before we take off again. So, I don't know if this is the best place to sleep." She grinned. Noticing that Ryder was trying his hardest to fake being asleep, she said, "Alright. I guess we can do it all tomorrow." She turned around and walked out.
Before she could get out of the door to the room she heard a soft, "Thanks, Katie." She smiled and walked out of the ship and to a different ship
Thirty minutes had passed and Ben had already put his clothes back in his dorm room. He really wanted to continue learning the ways of the Force, but wasn't sure if it would be a good thing training under a mercenary. That would mean that all his teachings would be directed towards killing. He wanted to get stronger, but not as a ruthless killer. Ben finally decided that he had to go talk to Ryder. He needed to know what was going to be different in their training or relationship. Ben stood up and left the room and headed to the elevator. He got in and pressed "1" and the elevator began to go down.
On the elevator were two other guys around fourteen. They turned to Ben and said, "Hey, aren't you the Jedi that was chosen to go on that mission to get a lightsaber?"
Ben looked up at him and said, "Yeah, it was with seven other people. It was pretty cool."
The other teenager responded saying, "That's damn awesome. You should come train with us sometime. We're usually on floor four in the back." He reached out his hand to shake Ben's.
Ben grabbed it and said, "Thanks, man. I'm Ben, by the way."
The doors for floor "4" opened and the kids ran out. Ben remembered when he was that young; he missed it. The elevator stopped on the first floor, and Ryder walk out.
Ben could tell that the mechanic staff was undersized and needed more workers. There were running from one place to another to either help out someone or to fix something before it would blow up or break.
He walked to the Rogue Shadow and saw Katie with R2 near a bench. He walked up to Katie and asked, "Do you know where Ryder is?"
Katie looked at the ship and pointed to it. "He's in his room," she said.
Ben walked up the ramp and into the Rogue Shadow. It was pretty dark since the power was off. He went to the back to where Ryder's room was. He opened the door and saw Ryder laying on his bed.
Awake, Ryder rolled over to face the door and said, "Well, hello there," when he saw Ben. He sat up and said, "What's on your mind, Ben?" Ryder could tell that Ben had some thoughts racing through his mind since he was technically Ben's master.
Ben made eye contact with Ryder and said, "What going to change with my training. How will this affect me in the future."
Ryder chuckled.
"Ben, now that I have all my memories back, I will be able to train you and teach you things that you thought would never be possible to accomplish. You will be able to over-come any problem that you face. Just because I was a mercenary, it doesn't mean that I am going to train you to become a cold killer. I will teach you: abilities, strategies and tactics, and anything that will make sure you never get defeated."
Discharging a dense pressure, Ryder stood up.
"Ben, pledge your allegiance to me as my apprentice. Help me rid this galaxy of the scum, like ISIS, that do wrong. I promise to give you the power you search for. I will guide you, and I will protect you until you become strong enough to defeat even me. I will help form you into the greatest warrior that this world has seen." Ryder straightened up his back when he finished.
The thought of being the strongest allured Ben. He didn't want to become a cold killer, and becoming the strongest in the world did not conflict with being a cold killer. Ben released a deep breath and fell to a knee. "My Master," he said. "Teach me your ways."
Ryder calmed down and said, "Good. Now stand up and go finish packing. Be here at five in the morning for some training."
Ben immediately left and went to finish packing for the next trip. A ding rang from Ryder's phone alerting him of a message. He stood up and grabbed his phone to see a message from General Rodan.
Ryder opened it and it said, "Come to the briefing room as soon as you can. URGENT." Ryder stood up and threw his backpack over his shoulder. He left his room and the ship.
Leaving, Katie yelled out, "Hey! Where do you think you're going?!"
"Rodan needs me up there! I'll be right back," Ryder said waving bye. He was speed walking down the hall dressed in his dark Jedi robes and black cloak. He reached the elevator and R2 rolled up to his side.
"Hey, R2." The doors opened and no one was in there. "Thank goodness." Ryder pressed "74" and the doors shut sending the elevator to the very top. Within ten seconds, Ryder and R2 were at the top floor walking to the briefing table.
President Reed, General Hall, Rodan, Fox, and Stevens stood around a projecting table.
"Good," said President Rodan as he motioned Ryder to come join the discussion. Everyone nodded to say hello, and the President pointed to a dot on a projected space chart. "This is us," said the President. "We just intercepted an ISIS message saying that they are going to attack our position at noon tomorrow. You and Taylor are the only teams here that can be attack squads. Everyone else are just students or us teachers and generals. We are thinking of a strategy to get the books from a vault somewhere safe along with the other students. Maybe create a base on a planet."
The president looked around to room to other tired generals nodding their head in approval. "We are going to put two thirds of the books on our own ship to take to the land. Then with the last third, we are going to split that in half and give them to you and Taylor. Y'all are going to meet us at the location, and we will gather our strength together."
"So, are me and Taylor distractions for the main ship to leave," asked Ryder?
"Yes," said General Rodan. "However, I'm glad that it's you two. Because y'all can outmaneuver anything."
Ryder looked at all the generals and back to President Reed. "When do I start loading up the books," asked Ryder?
"That's was I like to hear," said General Hall. "You can go ahead and go to the vault. Jerry is up there right now. Just take good care of those books and if you go off and sell them, it won't end pretty for you," finished the General.
"I'll keep that in mind. We won't let y'all down," said Ryder as he walked to the elevator with R2. Before they reached the door, General Rodan said, "Congratulations on the lightsabers y'all acquired. I heard one's pretty special."
"They all are to be honest," said Ryder. "I also wanted to discuss the holocron with you, Mr. President."
"Ah yes. I had forgotten about that. What did it say," asked the President? The other generals leaned closer to Ryder as if it would help their hearing.
"A man in a suit appeared and told me that a council was seeking an audience with me. This wasn't like a normal holocron. When I didn't answer, the man replied saying that he needed an answer. It acted like a communication link between them and me. I told him that I would think about it. He said to open the holocron again in order to let them know when to expect me," finished Ryder.
"I see. I see. Do you think that it's a trap," asked the President?
"I do not. I think it is a genuine message," replied Ryder.
After a few minutes of thinking and whispering to the other generals, the President said to Ryder, "Since you have a lightsaber now, we give you permission to check out this request. However, you must keep in contact with us."
Ryder nodded and said, "Thank you, sirs." He stepped on the elevator and rode it up to the vault floor.
Ryder looked at his watch and it read, "11:52 pm." He sighed and went to his old room on floor twenty-eight. The hallways were barren. In each room, Ryder knew that all the students that were now soldier were sleeping.
Ryder looked over his shoulder. 'Something doesn't feel right,' he thought. He held his stomach from a nauseous feeling. However, he kept walking to his room.
Walking past the door, Ryder stared at what he left behind. It wasn't much. Just some extra clothes. Ryder looked down at his Jedi outfit. He wasn't really a big fan of it.
Looking in his old dresser, he found some other clothes. He took them out and laid them on his bed: a black, short-sleeve shirt that had a high collar with a zipper. A pair of black ninja pants that were close to the same length as Capri jeans. Last, ninja sandals that were paired with white bandages.
Ryder began removing his clothes. First the jedi robes and the leather fabric that went over his chest. Once the shirt came off, his bandaged wound from Ilum was made visible. The white wrap had a red line about a centimeter thick going across it. The wound was slowly healing, but Ryder's back had recovered quickly.
He put the black shirt on and unzipped the collar down to his chest. Ryder proceeded to put on his ninja pants and open toed sandals. When those two were on, he wrapped the top of his sandals up past the bottom of his pants. Ryder stood up and clipped his Jedi belt around his waist. He had his lightsaber on the right side and Darth Bane's on the left.
"It's time," Ryder said to himself.
He left his bedroom with his backpack and went to the elevator. No one was out in the hallways. It was '12:26 am'.
Ryder pressed the up bottom and the doors immediately opened. He pressed the 73 button and the elevator began to rise to the floor. The elevator stopped, and the doors slid open.
Ryder walked up to the archive doors, and they opened when his eye and hand was scanned. Taking one step into the archives room, Ryder noticed that the room had two colors fighting for dominance over the other. There was a shade of red and blue in the room.
Walking right, Ryder came in front of the two holocrons. He picked up the red holocron then said to it, "Am I ready now?"
He took the holocron and went into the meditation room.
Ryder unzipped his backpack and stuck his hand inside it, but he paused. Shaking his head, he pulled it back out and set the backpack against a wall. Ryder sat down and held the holocron out in front of him.
The Force was humming to him. It was a smooth melody that calmed him. Suddenly, the crescendo hit, and the pace, power, and depth of the hum increased tremendously.
Eyes closed. Only seeing and hearing through the Force, Ryder levitated the holocron and began to twist the corners of the pyramid to open it.
A bright red light flashed from the opening crevices of the holocron. A red hue casted its shade around the whole room.
"So, you've come back?" asked a blue figure being formed.
"Yes. I've gotten stronger like you suggested. Now, I want to learn from you," said Ryder.
The blue figure had taken form. It was wearing a robe and had wavy hair past his collar. The figure turned to Ryder and revealed a young face of Anakin Skywalker.
"I can tell. I know who's mask you have. I'm glad you didn't pull it out. I don't like masks," said Anakin's Force ghost. "The thing is this. I like you, Ryder. You tell everyone that you stand in the middle of the Force. In the gray. However, you teeter on the side of the Dark Side so often that the ones closest to you don't trust that you fight for good at all. I can also feel that your power isn't limited to the Force. It is you affinity, but there is more deep within you. You have accessed, you just didn't know it at the time. Yet."
Ryder looked into Anakin's eyes. "Teach me how to access that power, then."
Anakin's blue form slowly turned his back to Ryder. "Have you ever heard of Essence Transfer," he said.
"I have," replied Ryder quickly. "I only know about the very basics, though."
"So, in order to make a holocron, one must infuse enough Force into it. However, there have been people like Exar Kun and now me, that have transferred enough of their Force into them. Therefore, achieving this essence transfer." Anakin slowly turned to face Ryder.
Ryder listened intently. He knew if there were two people who were strong enough in the Force to do this, it was Exar Kun and the Chosen One, Anakin Skywalker.
"What I offer to you," said Anakin taking a pause. "Is my essence."
Ryder blinked at astonishment. 'I thought he was gonna tell me how to transfer my essence,' he thought.
"This does not mean that I will take over your body like a reincarnation. I will be stored within you. Supplying you with my own Force. You'd be able to use my abilities. My strength. My POWER," he said with emphasis. The presence in the room got heavy.
Dark.
Ominous.
"New powers that you never thought could exist will be accessible. Any enemy you wish to be defeated? Done."
Ryder thought on the proposal. The power and Force of THE Chosen One. 'This would be like being a Jinchuuriki, but with the Force and not chakra. I don't see a down side to be honest,' thought Ryder.
"What's in this deal for you. How do you profit?" asked Ryder.
"When I was in my prime, I was cut down and turned into a machine. A machine that was made with cheap material and that caused pain at every moment. The Emperor knew this. He designed it to be that way. As a form of punishment for my failure. This way," Anakin said with his eyes burning yellow and orange. "I can finally live the way I was supposed to. All my limbs intact. My connection with the Force fully intact. By being with you, I can experience what I could have and should have been."
Ryder began to feel bad for this Sith Lord. He had everything stripped from him. Yes, it was his fault, but nonetheless. 'This deal only benefits me, and since I'd be doing him a favor, he'd be more apt to lend me his strength,' he thought.
Ryder lifted his head and peered into Anakin's eyes. Full of pain. Full of sorrow. Full of power.
"I'll accept your proposition. I'll even let you take control over my own body so that you can experience life again, but only when I give consent. Since I am giving you this opportunity, you must teach me all you know," said Ryder confidently.
Anakin didn't say a word. He just smiled.
The red light began to fade away as the blue figure of Anakin began to fade as well. When all was gone, a blue orb the size of a dodgeball danced in front of Ryder. It looked like it was on fire with white and sky-blue flames flickering from the top. Looking deep inside the orb, Ryder could see orange and red swirling within.
Ryder took a deep breath then nodded at the orb. He opened his eyes, and the orbed flew into Ryder's chest leaving a small blue, with a red tint, cloud.
It felt as if a dam had been completely demolished because of an overwhelming pressure coming from a large quantity of water. Ryder could feel the blood in his veins rushing faster and faster. He could feel his joints becoming for flexible. His body shape didn't change, but Ryder could feel an incredible strength coming from his not so athletic build.
"This is just a fraction of what I can offer you," said Anakin from within.
Ryder closed his eyes and looked deep within himself. He found himself standing in a large barren room. In the middle stood a young man with a very athletic build. His confidence could be felt from everywhere in the room. Anakin looked up at Ryder. His ocean blue eyes reverberating in the dark.
"Let me know when you need me," he said closing his eyes and sitting Indian style.
Ryder opened his eyes. Since the contents of the holocron where gone, it turned into a pile of dust. 'Great,' thought Ryder. 'Now I have to tell the President what happened.'
"Incoming," said the voice from deep within.
Red lights began to flash in the meditation room. Ryder picked up his backpack and ran out of the room. Red lights flashed in the Archive as well.
The intercom came on with a screech. "Warning. Incoming attack. T-minus 15 hours. Warning. Incoming attack. T-minus 15 hours." It continued and continued for about ten minutes. When the ten minutes of that message on loop ended, the President's voice came on the intercom. "Everyone. This is not a drill. We are expecting an attack in T-minus 15 hours. Everyone prepare your supplies and get ready for battle. We will try our best to avoid conflict, but there aren't any promises." The message ended, and everyone began running around frantically.
"Jerry has to be coming here right now," thought Ryder.
Suddenly, the Archive door opened and Jerry ran in. "At least someone with experience in this is here to help," he said with a nervous laugh.
"The President wants you to take at least two- hundred books," Jerry said to Ryder.
Ryder turned to Jerry in a nanosecond. "Did you just say two-hundred," Ryder asked?
"Yeah, you have the fasted..." Jerry stopped speaking to think. "Really the best ship we've got. Hurry up and pick them too. We're trying to make this go by as fast as possible," Jerry said.
Ryder began grabbing books and putting them in his own pile. He grabbed books that ranged from science to the ground. Atomic physics to fire. There were a good bit of science, other powers, and combat books in Ryder's pile. He turned to Jerry and said, "Okay, I'm done. You all can have the rest."
Jerry walked over and placed his hand on the books. Closing his eyes and focusing to the point where veins were popping out of his neck, Jerry teleported all the books Ryder picked out.
"Oh man, that gets better every time I see it happen," Ryder told Jerry. Ryder got up with his backpack around his shoulders and began to leave the vault. "I'll see you soon Jerry."
Jerry nodded then said, "Be careful. The President with send you the rendezvous point in the morning."
Ryder left the room and got back on the elevator. Ryder wondered if he would see Jerry again and remembered when he saved him when Khilor attacked.
"Don't worry about the elevator stopping. I'll take care of that," said Anakin.
'That's more like it,' Ryder thought.
Ryder arrived on the Hanger floor and was happy to see all the books piled on a table next to the Rogue Shadow. "Why the hell did one-hundred books randomly appear here," asked Katie in a sassy tone. "They almost knocked me off my ladder while welding!"
"Sorry, Katie." Ryder apologized as he walked by her and to the books. "The President is making us take two-hundred books to the rendezvous spot on a nearby planet. He said he would transmit the coordinates in the morning."
"So, we're really going to get attacked tomorrow," asked Katie.
Ryder looked at her in the eyes and said, "Yes. But, they won't get us. I promise."
"Good. Well, I need to finish some welding. Have fun putting up books," said Katie as she climbed back on top of the ship.
Ryder waved bye as he picked up a few books. Devil Slaying Magic and Fuinjutsu were their titles. One after another, Ryder picked one up, looked at its contents, then placed the book on a shelf in the training room of the Rogue Shadow. By the time he finished, it was fifteen minutes after three in the morning. Ryder left the training room and went to his room. On the way there he saw Katie passed out on one of the couches with her welding tank nearby. Ryder smiled and kept going to his bed. His bed felt extra comfortable tonight. Maybe it was because he knew that tomorrow would only bring him a big headache.
Ryder woke up at seven in the morning. He walked out into the main hold to see R2 making some coffee. Ryder reached down and grabbed the coffee that R2 made and walked out into the hanger. Katie was on top of the ship doing repairs when she heard Ryder stumble out.
"How long have you been up there?" Ryder asked.
She smiled as another head appeared from behind her. Ryder slapped his forehead and said, "My bad, Ben. I completely forgot about this morning."
Ben stood up and said back, "No worries, Katie has been teaching me a lot about welding."
"Good." Ryder took a sip of his coffee. "So, everyone that's wanting to go should be here within an hour." He walked to the schematics of the ship and called General Rodan. "I'm waiting on my crew, then we will be ready, sir."
"Good. Let me know once everyone has arrived," responded General Rodan.
Ten minutes later the hanger doors opened and out came Nero and Murdoch.
"There was a zero percent chance that we'd miss this." Murdoch gave Ryder a high five when he passed the table he was at.
Next was Luca and Liz. They had their bags thrown over their shoulders and ready to climb aboard. "You'd be dead if it weren't for me," said Liz as she climbed aboard the ship.
Ryder turned to everyone and said, "Has anyone heard from Weston?"
No one said anything.
He won't come. I can feel it.
Ryder shook his head at his new conscience. "Okay, we'll wait a little bit longer for him. However, I want everyone ready to go. We need to leave well before the attack." Ryder got out of the ship and got on his phone.
He called General Rodan and said, "We have everyone but one. I don't know if he is going to come. I gave him the option to stay here."
Rodan didn't say anything. "That's fine," he said. "There was an error in our calculations. Enemy ships are closer than expected. They're about fifteen minutes out. I need you to fend off any ship so that we can jump to mach speed."
Just as he finished, the intercom sounded. "Can I have everyone's attention. Two transport cruisers are fifteen minutes out. They are confirmed to be enemy transport ships. Everyone report to their battle station. Prepare the jump to mach speed." The intercom went out.
Past the barrier that divided the hanger from space, a small starship flew right past their view. The ship looped around and aimed straight for the shield barrier for the hanger.
It fired off a laser one at a time with no success and ended up crashing into the shield itself in hope of damaging it.
Ryder called Weston. "Weston, do you read me? Are you coming to the ship?" There was only dead silence. "I repeat, are you coming to the ship?" Ryder waited a few more moments.
"This is Weston," the phone said. "I've been blocked off to your hanger. There are too many people. I'm going with Taylor's group. Good luck and I hope to see y'all soon. I gotta go!" Just like that, Weston was gone.
Ryder walked into the ship and met Nero in the cockpit and the crew in the main hold. "We have to help the Slipknot jump into mach speed. Yes, that means we have to fuck up as many ISIS ships as possible."
Everyone looked around at first, but then agreed and hustled to their stations. Ben took Weston's spot as a gunman, so it was Murdoch and Ben there. Katie was in the engine room, and Luca was in the communication and cloaking room. That left Liz in the med bay sorting through the supplies.
"Let's go," yelled Ryder sitting in his pilot chair!
The Rogues Shadow lifted up and turned to space.
At that moment, the enemy transport ships appeared and released swarms of their own starships. With speed Ryder flew out of the hanger and zipped by missiles and lasers that were being shot near or at them. The elite starship destroyed enemy ships one after the other while barely dodging incoming shots.
The ISIS transport ship had locked it turrets on them, and they were trying to gun it down with all their might. In the process of being chased down and trying to get a good shot at the cruiser, the Rogue Shadow managed to find itself heading straight for the weapons system for one of the cruisers.
Ryder flew right past it, and yelled down the hall. "Murdoch! Ben! Get ready to shoot down this giant ball that we are about to pass!" Just then, Ryder pulled wheel and made the ship do a 180-degree turn. The Rogue Shadow was flying right above the cruiser towards the end was a large rectangular plate that covered the wires and everything for the weapons system.
"That's your target," yelled Ryder! They flew right on top of it, and as they were passing it, Ben and Murdoch were unloading all their ammunition into that spot. A few seconds after shooting at it, the weapons system controller blew up disabling their ship's guns. Seizing this opportunity, smaller ships jumped to the rendezvous spot where they were to meet the main ship.
No shields? Looks like they're just making it easy for you.
Over the Rogue Shadow's intercom, someone said out, "I just sent out the coordinates for our rendezvous. Meet us there as soon as you can. When I jump to mach speed, this transmission will cut, so I'll see y'all later." The President pushed the throttle all the way down but nothing happened.
"Mr. President," yelled out Katie! "I think the mach-speed engine is broken! I see smoke coming from that area!" She looked over at Ryder.
"Damnit," yelled out the President. "It will take too long to get a team of engineers down there."
"Leave it to me," said Ryder into the microphone. "We're close to it, and I can fix it with Katie's instructions."
There was silence from the President's end.
"Mr. President," said Ryder.
"Fine, fine, fine," said President Reed. "But, I'm only doing this because you volunteered."
Ryder laughed a little and said, "Of course, sir."
He ran to his room and put his two lightsabers on his utility belt. Nero grabbed his arm on the way out. "You're forgetting something." Nero grabbed the mask off the captain's chair and gave it to Ryder. "Now, go get that mach-speed engine working." The Rogue Shadow flew into the hanger.
Ryder nodded and walked out on the ramp. Nero was hovering a few yards above the ground to make a fast get away.
Ryder, wearing his black short sleeve shirt and black ninja pants, stood at the end of the ramp. Slowly, he put on his old master's mask, and it seemed as if the sight bar glowed red for a split second. He jumped down on the barren hanger ground.
The rest of the crew turned towards Nero as if to ask if he was going to be alright. "Y'all are in for a treat," he told everyone as he flew out the hanger. Five minutes had passed until they got a message telling them to meet Ryder on the other side of the ship. Nero piloted the ship over to the other side and waited.
"Okay, Katie. I've made it to the mach-speed engine," Ryder said.
"Okay, check the connection on the side. A tick will be pointing to power if its connected," she responded.
Ryder searched the side of the broken mach-speed engine. He found the tick and saw that it was pointed to a circle with a line through it. "I'm guessing that the circle with a line through it is bad," asked Ryder from the inside?
Katie responded immediately and said, "Yes, and it also means that we only have to connect a few wires. Inside the top compartment are wires that should be shredded. You'll have to go up top and splice the wires yourself. Yellow with yellow. Blue with blue, and so on."
After a few seconds to process his job, Ryder got to work. Inside the top compartment, there were multiple wires that needed to be spliced. Ryder reached down and began twisting ends of wires together trying to avoid shocks of electricity.
A few moments went by, until they got a message saying to pick up Ryder in the hanger. Nero flew the ship into the hanger and lowered the ramp. It wasn't hard to find Ryder in the crowd down there. Ben pointed out Ryder from inside the cockpit. He pointed at a man in black clothes with a purple lightsaber deflecting lasers in all directions killing ISIS soldiers that had made it into the hanger.
When they got close, Ryder turned in their direction to where they got a full frontal of Ryder in his mask. It had an eerie feel and sent chills down many of their spines. Ryder jumped up onto the landing platform and entered the ship.
"Good job, boss," said Murdoch as he walked up and gave Ryder a high five. Everyone else was gathered around the table sitting there silent.
Ben broke the short silence by saying, "Well, I guess we're just gonna have to get use to the mask."
Ryder walked over behind Ben and put his hand on his shoulder. "This mask isn't something that you need to worry about. It's a symbol that shows ISIS, we are not afraid of them. We will fight them in the day or night. We can go to them or they can come to us. However, we will never run from our fight. Because our fight isn't for us. Our fight is for the ones who cannot fight themselves." No one said anything once Ryder finished speaking.
"Cheers to that," said Murdoch holding up a bottle of beer. He drank some of the beer then said, "I like the mask. Who knows. I might just make one for me too."
Ryder slapped Murdoch on the shoulder and said, "Now, that's the spirit!"
Immediately the hologram transmitter was going off. It was the President. Ryder walked over to the transmitter table and pressed the answer button. The President appeared as a hologram standing on air.
"I saw your performance in the hanger," said the President. "To think that the famous mercenary, X, was in my academy this whole time. I should've known that you were him. I assume that you are going to go sell the books I wanted you to transport."
"No, sir. I am going to bring them back after I have learned from every one of them," responded Ryder.
"So, you are going to learn those secrets and then help ISIS destroy us for the money. Like what a true mercenary would do?" The President sat down in his chair; slouching his shoulders.
"Quite the opposite, Sir. I still consider my team as valuable assets and partners to the US military. After all, we are all from there. However, there are things that I need to investigate and learn. If you want, you can call us your rogue squadron. We will share any new information we find. We are going to work from the shadows to take down ISIS and even bigger organizations. With that being said, I hope we stay in touch with each other," he finished.
"Wait. What do you mean by 'even bigger organizations,'" asked the President?
"It has to do with the purple holocron. Like I said, there is another group out there right now. I don't know if they'll help us, but I wouldn't count on it," explained Ryder.
"We are going to have to discuss this with the other Generals, so try to stay in touch especially since you are officially our first covert team," finished President Reed.
"I understand," said Ryder. "We might not talk for a while, but you'll receive updates." Ryder cut the line and left the conversation at that. He looked around the room and yelled out, "Alright! Now, time to go to the Germain sector."
"It turns out that the Mercenary, X, was among us this whole time," said a hologram that had two silhouettes standing next to it.
"Who is it," asked the first figure?!
"It was the Jedi, Ryder Jace," said the hologram.
"He was really good from the beginning," responded the second figure. "That explains how he progressed so quickly."
A door slid open and the lights turned on. "What are you guys doing in here with the lights off," asked Jake Anderson. He looked the same as he always did. Jake always wore black Adidas joggers, his white Nike Shox, and a white t-shirt that had a picture of the Ace of Spades.
"Jake is that you," asked the hologram?
"Oh, it's you Mr. President. Am I interrupting something?" Jake asked. By this time Zakee and Clayton had already taken off their cloaks.
"No. No," said the President. "Zakee will relay everything we talked about. I have to go now." President Reed pressed "End" and left Zakee and Clayton to the explaining.
Zakee put the hologram in his pocket and walked past Jake and into the main hold. "I need everyone in here." Zakee pointed at Jackson and said, "Put the ship on autopilot and come in here."
Jackson went into the cockpit and flipped the switch for autopilot then walked into the main hold. He had been working out non-stop in a simulated training room and it showed. He was more tone and had put on more muscle. It could even modify the gravity, amount of oxygen, and opponents inside the room.
Clayton was on Zakee's right and on his left was Jake. Clayton had put on a little bit of muscle, but his real muscle was his brain. He wore cut-off jeans, tennis shoes, and a Hawaiian short-sleeve button down. On Zakee's right stood Jake who was doing his usual, chewing Hubba Bubba Max Sour Double Berry gum. Sarah was the only one left, and she was sitting down at the table. She was wearing hiking boots, khaki shorts that went a little less than to her mid-thigh. Up top she wore a blue shirt cut off two inches above the belly button, gloves with cut off finger tips, a classic backpack for her Pokeballs, and her hair pulled up in a ponytail. She was the only thing that made living in this moving can enjoyable. Jackson walked over to an empty seat next to Sarah at the table.
"Leave your comments for the end," Ziggy said to everyone. "First off, the Slipknot and the Vindicator were attacked this morning. The Vindicator made it out fairly easily, but the Slipknot had some trouble. It took a while to get as many people into the ships built there. The archive books were split up into three groups. The Slipknot took two thirds of the books. Taylor's group took a sixth, and Ryder's group took a sixth."
Everyone was listening closely, waiting for the dreaded 'but'. "However, the mach-speed engine was down so, Ryder volunteered to fix it. He did a great job in fixing it especially under fire and pressure. But, it turns out that Ryder was wearing a familiar mask. The mask of a mercenary that fought with us a while back. It seems to be that Ryder is Mercenary X."
Eyes widen and wheels inside everyone's mind were turning at this point. Clayton stepped forward. "So, what's he going to do with all the books. Is he an enemy or an ally?"
"We aren't one-hundred percent sure," said Zakee. "He said that he wants to be an ally, but that he won't take direct commands from any US officer. 'We'll do the missions that y'all can't put in the newspaper.' Is what he said."
Jackson leaned forward onto the table. "At least we know he isn't 100% our enemy. Plus, if he's an ally, we'd still be able to share information we find."
Sarah butted in. "But, we don't know if he'll just sell off that information like he sold himself as a mercenary."
"I don't think Ryder will sell any of our information," Jake said. "I think that he has some things to straighten out before he can just set his eyes on ISIS."
"I hope you're right. Cause it would be awful to have to lose him as an asset," Ziggy said as he walked to the table and sat down. He pressed a few buttons on the rim of the table then a hologram of the Washington sector appeared.
Spinning the view so that he could find Nar Shadaar, Ziggy said, "Our next mission takes place on Nar Shadaar." He pointed to and zoomed in on the hologram of the mining planet. "It's a trade planet. Its prime benefactor is the ISIS Empire. Intel states that there is a large shipment of high-grade military weapons leaving on two loading shuttles." He clicked a button that brought up a hologram of two standard ST-321 shuttles.
"Two of us will pilot these pieces of junk out of there and to a secure location only known by us." Zakee stood up and turned off the hologram projector. "That's enough for now. I'll debrief the rest of the mission when we get there."
Ziggy walked out of the main hold of the Ebon Hawk and into his sleeping chamber. On top of his bed sat a book that he'd read ten times through already. "Combining Energies with Magic," said Ziggy to himself.
Ever since Ziggy had met people with Magic abilities, they fascinated him. Was there a reflect magic? Imagination magic? Elemental magic? The questions could be endless. Since, he could only use chakra, Ziggy was trying to find a way to use both. It would come in handy in countless situations, and with Jake around, they could practice all throughout the day.
Zakee held out his palm and a ball of water formed above it. He had gather water from the vapor and air in the room. He wanted to be able to manipulate the water without wasting his chakra. He turned it into a snake and then made it slither in the air.
Jackson walked in and saw what he was doing and asked, "Why am I walking in on you doing weird stuff today?"
Ziggy dispersed the water back into the air and said, "I was just thinking."
"Well, this mission won't take long for us, so do you have any ideas for after it," asked Jackson.
Ziggy continued to sit and said, "Nope. Really we just wait on instructions from the President and then complete the mission."
Jackson chuckled, "Don't tell me that you're getting jealous about Ryder."
"Not at all," replied Ziggy. "He's gonna get his crew killed within a few days. Guarenteed."
"We'll see about that," said Jackson as he turned to walk away. "He's got a good group, so we might just see them later." He left the room and went to see the others.
Ziggy was left alone in his room once again. He was thinking over what Jackson had said about Ryder's crew.
'He's got a good group, so we might just see them later.'
After saying that phrase, a thought hit him as hard as a brick wall. 'I just have to get a lot stronger so that my crew doesn't have to,' he thought. 'That's right. I just have to put handicaps on me to make me that much stronger. I guess I'll start at Nar Shadaar.'
