Chapter 1 - Earth
Plot: Instead of finding Mortis, when Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and Rex answer the mysterious distress call, they find themselves being sucked through a portal to Earth. They land in the desert in New Mexico, only a week before Thor shows up.
Author's Note: Anakin, Ahsoka, Rex, and Obi-Wan are all going to have pairings with MCU characters but the only one relevant to the first part is build-up to Anakin/Jane. It's not going to be a prominent part of the story so it can be mostly ignored. :) Also, there's NOT going to be any love triangle between Anakin, Jane, and Thor, as a reassurance in case anyone's worried. 💖 We don't get into the love-triangle thing.
~ Tirana Sorki
Anakin wakes slowly, to find himself slumped over on the control panel of the Twilight, no less. Brilliant sunlight is shining through the cockpit window and he lifts his head, blinking a few times as he takes in the surroundings.
He doesn't remember falling asleep. He doesn't even remember landing the ship, and certainly not in the middle of a desert he doesn't even recognize. After all, he hates deserts . Sand stretches out as far as he can see out the viewport window.
Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and Rex are all waking up in their seats behind him which is even weirder.
"I must have blacked out," Anakin says slowly. They were just at a set of unknown coordinates to investigate a signal but when they got there, there was nothing. Something had started pulling the ship in and then – That's the last thing Anakin remembers.
"Then who landed the ship?" Obi-Wan inquires, equally confused.
"It wasn't me," Ahsoka shrugs.
"Who turned off the droids?" Rex inquires, leaning over to reactivate Artoo and Threepio
"It wasn't me," Anakin supplies. The situation is feeling stranger and stranger by the moment. The Force feels different too. It's not a planet he recognizes, not as though that means anything. He has been to hardly any planets in the galaxy, all things considered. There are far too many for one person to visit them all – Qui-Gon was right about that.
What confuses him is that it's... it doesn't flow the way he's accustomed too.
Ahsoka turns to check out the controls next to her. "We're on a planet and the atmosphere is breathable. But I'm not seeing what planet it is."
"Well, this is getting more unusual by the minute," Obi-Wan muses, "I can't even lock down where in the galaxy we are or if we are even in our own galaxy."
Anakin turns to look at the controls himself. "Well, the ship's systems seem fine," he says, "But... the ship can't place what coordinates we're at. And none of the star systems look familiar." At least not from what he can tell from here. He has no idea how they got here.
"Well, the atmosphere's still breathable, so let's go have a look outside," Ahsoka ventures, standing and exiting the cockpit.
Anakin shakes himself, standing and following her. His padawan has always been adventurous, and Anakin isn't surprised she's running out there while having no idea what they're walking into.
Outside, there's just... sand. A lot of sand. There is a shape up in the distance, some shapes. A town, maybe? But with sand, it's hard to say. The sun is up, beating down on their heads, hot and burning. With a jolt, it feels like he's on Tatooine again, but a look skywards and touch to the Force tells him that's not the case. There's only one sun in the sky, and the Force here is too light and full to be the empty desert planet of Tatooine.
Artoo rolls along behind them, beeping. Threepio follows in the back.
"There's life here. Someone should be able to tell us where we are," Obi-Wan observes.
"If they aren't Separatist," Ahsoka objects.
"The star charts aren't anywhere I've ever seen. It could be Wild Space," Anakin points out, "We aren't going to have enough fuel to try getting back. We'll have to send out a distress signal." He turns back to the droid back on the ship. "Artoo? Get a distress signal going. See if you can get anyone on comms. Tell them we need help. We'll look around."
Artoo beeps in acknowledgement.
"Oh this is just awful." Threepio then taps Artoo. "Come along, Artoo." Together they walk back in the ship
Sand is blowing off near the horizon and then he hears the distant sound of a motor. A vehicle's coming. When it comes closer, Anakin can make out what it looks like. It's vaguely speeder like but for some reason it's driving across the ground instead of hovering.
"Uhh, isn't that technology from millennia ago?" Ahsoka asks.
"More," Anakin says dryly, because all things considered, Tatooine was a pretty backwater planet. And even they didn't have technology this far behind time. "I guess we'll find out more about their planet."
"Assuming we speak the same language," Rex supplies dryly.
"Yes," Obi-Wan sighs, "We have no way to know what to expect."
The vehicle – is that what this beat up, boxy-looking thing is? – stops several meters away, and the doors open. They have doors? Anakin was sort of expecting them to have to climb out the top or something.
Instead, two people climb out. A woman, maybe mid-twenties, with an almost striking resemblance to Padme. It makes his heart ache, even if he's tried his best not to think about her at all for the longest of time.
"Whoa, what is that?" the other asks – she's definitely the younger of the two, snapping Anakin's attention away from the Padme-look-alike. "Are you guys aliens? Because I'm pretty sure aliens didn't exist yesterday."
"Aliens?" Ahsoka echoes, blinking. She throws a look at Anakin, as though he may know what to say.
"We're Jedi," Obi-Wan tells them. "From the Republic."
"Uhh, what's a Jedi?" the younger asks, looking at the slightly older woman as though she might have an answer to that. But the other looks no less confused.
They don't know what Jedi are? How cut off from the rest of the galaxy is this planet? Great. It's one of those planets.
"What's... that?" the one who looks like Padme asks, staring past to them to their ship. She looks somewhere between intrigued and alarmed.
"That's our ship," Anakin replies.
"You mean spaceship?" the younger one asks, all perked up. "Wow. I thought spaceships were doughnuts, that had these beam things, and couldn't land."
"The only ships that look like that are pirate ships," Ahsoka informed her flatly, "Which we are not. Do you see pirates here often?"
"Uh, no," the older woman answers, shaking her head, "We don't get visitors from off Earth. Are you from off Earth?"
"Earth is the name of your planet?" Obi-Wan inquires.
"The one and only," the younger replies cheerfully, "So if you're aliens, where are you from? The moon? You look awfully human. I mean, except her." She gestures at Ahsoka.
"Perhaps we should get introduced," Obi-Wan suggests. "I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi. You are?"
"Jane Foster," the first replies, "And this is my intern – "
"Darcy Lewis," the younger injects cheerily.
"Anakin Skywalker," Anakin says, "And this is Captain Rex."
"Captain?" Darcy echoes, "You mean like an army kind of captain? Is that why he's dressed so weird?"
How cut off from the rest of the galaxy are they?
"Yes, ma'am. Captain Rex of the 501st legion of the Galactic Republic," Rex proudly and instinctively proclaims.
"I'm Ahsoka Tano," Ahsoka adds.
"You're an Ahsokatano or that's your name?" Darcy asks, eyeing her again. She's hardly torn her eyes off her the entire time, actually.
"That's my name," Ahsoka says, almost amused, "My species is a Togruta. You've never seen any?"
"We only have humans here," Jane responds. She's also eyeing Ahsoka like she's the strangest specimen she's ever seen. "Maybe we can go somewhere more appropriate to talk about this than in the middle of the desert? I could take you to the town, but... you won't all fit in the van."
"Yeah, and there's not really room for flying spaceships into town," Darcy adds.
"We have speeders of our own," Anakin assures, heading for the ship over Darcy's 'what's a speeder?" in the background.
He brings one back out, pausing to tell Artoo and Threepio that they'll be gone for a bit. When he gets back out, it's to hear Ahsoka mid-explaining that this isn't anything like the technology they have on Earth.
"Is that floating?" Jane asks, staring.
"All our ground transports are suspended off the ground," Anakin explains. It would be very inconvenient if they weren't. He can't imagine the number of tire problems vehicles on Earth must have. He'd actually really like to get a look at the inside of Jane's vehicle, now that he's thinking about it. How is it different from speeders?
"Wow, it really is different from a motorcycle. Can I ride it?" Darcy asks.
"Sure!" Ahsoka agrees cheerfully, looking hopefully to Anakin.
"Darcy – " Jane starts to protest.
"It's safe. It's how we always drive," Ahsoka promises.
Anakin nods to her and Ahsoka swings onto the speeder. Darcy climbs on behind her "You gonna put a helmet on or – ?"
"Helmet?" Anakin echoes, "Normally we only wear those while flying fighters. Or pod-racing."
Jane blinks, gaping. "What are those?"
Anakin just smirks
**w**
They were supposed to be investigating a distress signal. Obi-Wan should have guessed that was going to end in a mess but now they're the ones who need help and he's just annoyed now. They don't have time for this. There's so many Council matters he needs to be attending to and so many things all of them need to be dealing with and instead they're stuck here.
Attempting to explain to these people about a galaxy they know nothing about.
And they don't even know where here is. All he knows is that he has a very bad feeling about this.
"So, you're telling me that you're Jedi who fight for the Republic, and you're fighting an army of Sith droids who work for the – What did you call it? Center of Independent Systems who want to take over the galaxy?" Jane repeats.
No, no. That is absolutely not what he said but he's a bit too worn to try clarifying all those little details.
"That's – " Anakin starts, where he's sitting in the passenger seat of the vehicle, next to Jane who's driving.
"Basically the idea, yes," Obi-Wan sighs, from the back seats where he and Rex are sitting.
"That sounds like quite a mess," Jane says.
"It is," Anakin agrees.
"We've had world wars here, but never something as wide-scale as a whole galaxy. I can't even imagine that," Jane goes on.
"And we need to find a way to get back as soon as possible," Obi-Wan says grumpily.
"So, you're hoping that the Republic will send help?" she queries, "I'm an astrophysicist and I know a lot about the stars, but hyperspace isn't something we have here. I don't know of any way you could fly at that speed without hitting a star."
So Obi-Wan expected.
"I'm sure the Republic will pick up our signal," Anakin offers optimistically.
They can hope, but he's not nearly as hopeful. "But we don't know how long it's going to be."
"But you... said you don't even know if you're in the right galaxy anymore," Jane points out. "You have signals that can reach that long distance?"
That's what has Obi-Wan worried the most. "We don't know. This could be Wild Space," he replies.
"What's that?" she asks.
"Uncharted areas of the galaxy," Anakin explains.
"I can't believe you've mapped out hundreds of planets throughout an entire galaxy. We don't even have a way to get a manned craft past the moon at this point," she says, shaking her head.
"No offense to your technology, but it is... a bit behind time," Anakin supplies.
"You know I have a lot of questions about this technology," Jane says in a rush, "You said it can map out how to travel between stars?"
"Yes. That's how we have hyperspace lanes."
"Could I... take a look at it sometime?" Jane queries.
"Sure," Anakin agrees.
Obi-Wan settles for leaning back in the seat and watching the scenery, letting the two of them talk, as he tries to think of some other way to get them off the planet. Which is when something else occurs to him.
"What kind of technology do you have for leaving the planet?" Obi-Wan inquires. Is there something that can help them? Maybe?
"We just have rockets that can go to the moon. We've sent probes out as far as Pluto –" What's that? "- but nothing more. And a space station that orbits the Earth but nothing else."
Not helpful.
"Any signal amplifiers?" Anakin asks hopefully.
"Satellites for the internet."
What's internet? These terms are starting to lose him entirely but knowing the details probably isn't too important. They shouldn't be here long. They've been stuck on planets before. This can't be for that long. So Obi-Wan doesn't know why he can't shake the bad feeling he has about this time. The way something about it feels a bit different. He's probably just paranoid.
"We certainly don't have interplanetary communication," Jane goes on, "We don't even have confirmed evidence of any alien life out there. At least not life that's still around. Some evidence of possibly extinct life but... I've studied a lot of stars and I found it hard to believe there's no other planet able to sustain life, but so far, we don't have any such evidence. Until you."
"So, humans are the only intelligent species on Earth?" Obi-Wan asks. That's... a bit insane, not that there's not plenty of fully human planets in the rest of the galaxy, but still.
"Most known planets have at least one different, known sentient species," Anakin explains.
"So there's... hundreds?" Jane asks, incredulous and intrigued.
"At least that many."
"Wow," she says, sounding entirely mind-blown.
As they keep driving, Anakin leans closer to study the controls on the vehicle. He looks like it's about all he can do not to start poking things. "What kind of engine does this have?"
Jane glances briefly at him. "I don't know. Why?"
Anakin starts rambling about something that goes totally over Obi-Wan's head, but he has to admit that he's a bit unimpressed with the technology here, too. Some planets are like that, though.
Jane drives them up to a small house in the middle of a town. Darcy and Ahsoka are already here, climbing off the speeder when they get out of the van.
"You know we could be arrested for that many traffic violations," Darcy is saying.
"I don't see how any of that was a traffic violation," Ahsoka protests.
"To start with, legally I don't even think you're old enough to drive."
"Why not?"
Obi-Wan is about to get an instant headache. He never did stop to consider until right now that if this place doesn't know about the Jedi, they aren't going to respect the status being a Jedi normally gives them. Which could potentially cause more issues.
"Because you're too tiny to be over eighteen?"
"So?" Ahsoka demands, "We learn to fly when we're younglings."
"What's a youngling?"
"Is there a problem?" Anakin asks, amused, as he approaches them.
"Not really," Ahsoka says cheerily.
"No, but why does Ahsoka not know how to read?" Darcy demands, a bit scandalized.
"Maybe because you have a different alphabet?" Anakin suggests.
Obi-Wan had seen signs on the way here and he couldn't read any of them either.
"But you speak English! Shouldn't you be able to read it, too?" Darcy protests.
"We can if it's Galactic Basic," Anakin explains.
"Uhh, that's a weird name for a language," she supplies.
Is it?
Obi-Wan decides not to comment.
"Why don't we go inside and talk about this a little more?" Jane suggests. That's... probably for the best. He just hopes that the Republic is going to show up soon.
**w**
The house is small, Anakin notes as they go inside. Nothing in it is overly fancy. It's a good thing they have supplies on their ship to live on their own for up to a month because he doesn't want to have to be a drain on these people, just because they were kind enough to offer help.
"You know, I'm starving," Darcy announces, looking around, "Anyone else want some food?"
"We have rations," Obi-Wan assures.
"Rations?" Jane inquires.
Darcy makes a face. "What's that?"
"These," Ahsoka replies cheerily, going to pluck some out of the supplies that Rex is carrying with him. She holds it out in front of them.
They're relatively small bars, that are nutrient packed and filling enough that they're good enough for a meal but it's nothing like real food, even if Anakin's gotten used to it. He ate far worse things on Tatooine sometimes.
Like beetles or wamp rats
He ate beetles at the Temple once just to see the look on Obi-Wan's face.
He never told his master he started doing it because there were times he was so hungry, he could care less what it was, as long as it was something to eat.
"Whoa, those look weird," Darcy observes.
The one thing Anakin can respect about her, aside from how admittedly amusing she is, is her bluntness. He's never been overly good with words himself so he really gets that.
"Are those like... soldier rations?" Jane guesses, "You said you were fighting a war."
"Yeah," Ahsoka replies, "It's the only thing we've had to eat in a while."
"Then why don't you try out something else while you can?" Darcy advises. "I'm sure Earth's food is pretty different from yours. Hey, can I try that?"
"Sure," Ahsoka offers, passing over one bar to Darcy who just starts eating right there.
"We could take you to a restaurant," Jane offers, who looks like she's trying hard to ignore her companion. Anakin's uncertain as to the nature of their relationship but it seems like something vaguely master-padawan like. Maybe. "But – not in those clothes. And... it might not actually be a good idea for Ahsoka to be out on the streets where she can be seen."
"Why not?" the Togruta asks.
Considering how backwards the planet is, he thinks he can already guess. "Because everyone will find your fangs intimidating," Anakin says, grinning.
She gives him this close-to-baring-her-fangs look.
"That's why."
"No one really knows anything about aliens and we don't need to cause a scene," Jane explains, "But we should have food here for you."
Just once shouldn't hurt, though Anakin doesn't want to ask for more than the two are able to actually give them. Especially when they don't strictly need it even if he'd really like to have something other than rations at least once too.
"Thank you," Obi-Wan tells her politely. He seems a bit too grumpy to offer any other input in anyone else's antics.
"Cool," Darcy remarks, as she finishes eating down the ration bar, "But it's kinda plain."
"You get used to it," Ahsoka replies, face scrunching, "Eventually."
Jane goes to get some food that's in packages. Anakin can't read the writing on the side but it doesn't look like any kind of food he's ever had before. They're Pop-Tarts, whatever this is, according to Darcy.
It's nice to finally get to eat something different, he has to say.
And he's glad Ahsoka and Rex are getting the chance. Rex has been quiet like he usually is when anyone other than his brothers, Anakin, or Ahsoka are around, but he still takes off his helmet and comes to join them for the meal.
Ahsoka and Darcy start chatting about kinds of foods that Anakin's only half paying attention to when Jane comes over to sit next to him.
It's so weird how much she looks like Padme. Her hair's such a similar shade of brown and about as long, even if she dresses nothing like the fancy clothes Padme usually wore. Their voices are nearly identical too. The real difference that stands out to him is that, except for when Padme was pretending to be a handmaid, she always has an air of authority around her. Jane doesn't.
"Hey," she says, a little awkwardly.
"Yes?" he asks, looking up from his food.
"I've been thinking about what you said about how you got here," she explains, "I study space phenomena like that. And there were atmospheric disturbances right before we found you. That's why I'm out here in New Mexico, studying this kind of thing. Could you tell me again what happened?"
New Mexico?
"We went to coordinates where we were receiving a distress signal but there was nothing there when we arrived. Then we saw something... glowing. It's hard to describe, but something started pulling us towards it and then all of us blacked out."
"So it could have been an Einstein-Rosen bridge," Jane muses more to herself than anything, looking intrigued.
"...A what?"
"It's a theoretical connection between two different points of space-time. Like a wormhole."
That would actually explain a few things. Maybe. He just doesn't understand how something like that could have happened. "I couldn't say what it was," Anakin admits, "But in our galaxy, there is information about... unusual space pneumonia. Black holes and other abnormalities. Places that ships are always warned to stay away from, since most that venture close never come back. I had to know a little about it to be a pilot."
"Interspace pilot?" Jane asks and he can't tell if she's more amused or still a bit disbelieving about the whole situation.
He nods, smiling faintly. And then another thought occurs to him. "You said you studied the stars, right? So... if you saw a map of our galaxy, would you be able to tell if this is the same one or not?" Now that he's thinking about it, if he saw a map of this one, maybe he'd be able to figure out the same thing. He's memorized countless star patterns, after all, for how much time he's spent both flying and staring at the sky.
"It's possible," she replies, "We've hardly mapped out anything but we do have pictures of what the Milky Way – this galaxy – looks like. And distant images of a few others. We may able to figure something out."
Maybe this isn't as hopeless as he first thought. "Our ship has the star maps we use for hyperspace travel," Anakin says, perking up, "I could take you there and show them to you."
Jane lights up instantly. "Can you?"
It's not like they have anything else to do and none of the others really mind when Anakin tells them. Ahsoka and Darcy are now mid-comparing the English alphabet with Basic letters, so he and Jane drive back to the ship sight alone.
**w**
Threepio comes to greet the moment they come on board. "Hello Master Ani. Oh – "
Jane jerks to a stop, eyes widening. "Is that a robot?"
"He's a protocol droid," Anakin replies, grinning, "I made him myself." Just how behind is this place if they don't even have droids?
"I am See-Threepio Human Cyborg relations," Threepio rambles, as always. "Pleased to meet you."
"It's... nice meeting you," Jane offers.
Artoo rolls up next, beeping, and she pauses to stare down at him, too.
"We really have nothing like this here," she says.
"Maybe I can help with that while I'm here," he suggests, though he doesn't know that he'll really be here long enough to think about it.
He takes her past the droids into the cockpit. Jane is studying everything with fascination, asking a long string of questions about the ship that he's more than happy to answer everything about.
"It's so small," she comments, "I mean, compared to rockets. How does it give you any protection from radiation while you're in space?"
"Shields," Anakin explains, settling into the pilot's seat and pulling up the bit of data the ship has about the energy it uses in shields and how it works.
Something else Jane knew nothing about. She sits in the copilot's seat opposite him to get a closer look.
He moves on from there, to pull up the general map of his own galaxy for her to look at. She studies it for a while, comparing it when some maps on her laptop – which she pauses to show to him.
And the more he studies the patterns, the more he can conclude the one thing he was really hoping not to.
"They really aren't the same, from what we know," Jane murmurs.
Anakin leans closer to look at the maps she has on her laptop, which are admittedly way less advanced than what he has. "Unless it's in uncharted regions, no. And we were in Wild Space when we answered this signal, but I didn't see anything like... this."
But does that mean...
No, there's no reason to give up hope on that yet. They don't know anything for certain.
"What are you going to do?" Jane inquires.
"We'll leave our distress signal on for now. The Republic should pick it up eventually." Right?
"I wish we were able to pick up readings with that kind of strength. It would really help in some of my research."
Anakin thinks for a moment "I must say I have not designed that kind of equipment in the past, but I may be able to aid you if we're here long enough."
"Thank you," she tells him, smiling.
He nods. "And since I've been all over space, I'm sure there's at least some information I can give you."
"You know, I have so many questions I don't know where to begin," she replies, almost amused. "Has your galaxy found out anything more on dark matter or nebulas or – "
"I was, in fact, inside a nebula once," Anakin interjects.
"You were – what?"
...It sounds like that's where he should start.
Final Notes: Reviews are always appreciated! ^-^
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