L,F&E #7) ...to face the future

[kalenath]

((OOC here we go again ))

 

 

Problems… Nia thought with a wince. Boss sure has a gift for understatement.

 

It was almost humorous watching the man who detested Jedi trying to act in a diplomatic fashion to them. Almost. She sat still in her chair, the punishment Nilokas had promised her if she moved from it or disturbed the drug patches again was…intimidating. On the plus side, she had her real face back, on the minus side; she had to wear these lousy bandages for two more days. She sighed. Will reached down from behind her and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. Then she returned her attention to Boss. He had been as amazed as Nia had to find Master Vandar at the enclave. Most of the Republic knew of the Jedi Master. He was one of the oldest and wisest of the Jedi, but he had vanished for a long time and many thought him dead. But here he was, quizzing Boss.

 

“You say you were not seen?”

 

“As near as we could tell. We did our scans and left.” Boss sighed. “If I hadn’t seen it I wouldn’t have believed it. But we wouldn’t have had a chance against that thing, whatever it was. Besides, it was busy. It was…dissolving that Sith battleship.” Master Vandar looked thoughtful. Nia pursed her lips. She looked at Vandar and he sighed. Then he nodded to her. She had examined the scans, just the memory made her sick to her stomach. The…entity was the size of a large asteroid, clearly evolved to be able to live in space, and hungry!

 

“It wasn’t dissolving it, Boss. It was eating it.” Boss looked at her.

 

“What?” Nia sighed.

 

“We don’t know where it comes from, what it is, if it is sentient or not, or even if it is truly alive, what we do know is that it eats the Force. Traces of the Force are found in all living things, but in the case of a strong Force user…to that thing it would be like a main course dinner.” He looked at her, and she swore that under the helmet that he never took off, his eyes were as wide as saucers.

 

“Eats…the…Force…” Boss repeated slowly. Then he slumped. “Then the Jedi can’t help against it, can they?”

 

“Perhaps, perhaps not. We do not have all of the information. We need to get more.” Will nodded at Vandar’s words and Nia froze. She looked from one to the other and part of her quailed, but she remained silent. Only one place might have the information that they needed.

 

Home.

[kalenath]

Will sat at the controls of the Dragon. He watched Kuria grow in the forward window of the ship and sighed. Then he heard a surprised howl and sighed again. Another voice joined Olanagychew’s and he slumped. He pointedly did not turn as footsteps sounded in the corridor leading to the bridge.

 

“…me go Olana! I wasn’t stowing away. I was traveling incognito.” Olana’s curses were tinged, to Will’s ears, with rueful admiration. Of course with this new person present, what had been planned as a quick in and out Intel run might turn into something else entirely. Will didn’t move until he was sure Olana had their ‘guest’ strapped in and Olana had resumed his seat. Then he switched the controls of the ship to Olana’s station and turned to face their stowaway. He took in the torn shipsuit, the oily knees and elbows, the dirty bandages and grinned a bit, sourly.

 

“Don’t you know hiding in the engine room is dangerous, Nia?” he put just the right tone of disinterest into his voice and she flushed.

 

“I wasn’t in the engine room.” Her voice was low, but still defiant. He sat back and closely looked at her. On her sleeve was coolant, only one place on the ship had that kind of coolant. He froze.

 

“You stupid kid. You were in the laser capacitor compartment, weren’t you? Do you have any idea what would have happened to you if I had fired the main guns?” Nia swallowed. He could see she did.

 

“I had to come.” He grinned again, evilly this time.

 

“You could have spent the run in relative comfort, on a bunk." Will gave an evil smirk at Nia's expression. "Vandar called just before we jumped, said you had disappeared. I told him if you were aboard we could use you.”

“You…knew I was here?”

 

“How many other ships left Tython that day Nia? Either you were here or on the Stormhawk. And we were absolutely sure when you snitched that food pack. Well done by the way, but the inventory manifest is doubled, you missed a step there.” His humorous tone cut her to the quick, but she smiled as she saw the humor in the situation. “Now, you are going to sit there while I check you out. I received strict instructions from Nolikas.” Nia winced. He stood up, went to the medkit on the cockpit wall and pulled out a small scanner. He swept it over her and nodded. “Starboard dormitory, bunk three. Get cleaned up and get back here. You have…” he looked at his chrono. “…thirty minutes.”

 

“Yes sir.” Nia replied with none of her usual insolence. She unstrapped herself, and carefully walked out of the cockpit. Will looked at Olana, who shrugged.

 

“The one place we didn’t look, figures she would hide in there. I thought maybe she had gone with Boss. I should have known. And she is good, no question, if we hadn't double checked the food inventory we might still be wondering.” He mumbled under his breath “Laser compartment… idiot girl” Olana looked at him.

 

<Where would you have hidden?” Olana asked with a huge Wookiee grin.

 

“I can’t fit in the laser compartment, furrball and you know it.” The Wookiee laughed and after a moment, Will joined in.

Edited December 29, 2011 by kalenath

[kalenath]

Nia finished her shower, noting again how utilitarian the design was and at the same time how efficient. The ship's interior defined spartan, but everything worked. She put her, rather nasty, old shipsuit into the bin of laundry and looked for the bunk Will had specified. She found it and opened the drawer underneath it. She froze. Inside was a shipsuit and… She slid into the shipsuit and then pulled out the armor. It was light and seemed to move under her hands. She stared at it; she had never seen anything so…so beautiful. Her father’s voice from behind her made her jump.

 

“The Sith may be a bunch of misguided homicidal fools, but they do some things right.”

 

She spun, barely catching her balance; she still wasn’t completely up to speed no matter her brave front. Will didn’t move from where he stood. She looked at him, then at the armor.

 

“This is Sith armor?” It didn't seem like something a Sith would wear. He nodded.

 

“I had that set dated; it’s about a thousand standard years old, dates back to before the Great Hyperspace War .” He shrugged. "Good armor for a Jedi or whatever you wind up being."

 

“I feel no taint of the dark side on this…” She looked at it closely.

 

“That’s why the Sith that had it, kept it in a locker. It didn’t augment his abilities at all. Of course the armor he had didn’t help him much either. That armor will not hinder force powers. I asked Jina, she tried it, and she wants it back.” Will smiled and Nia did too. She looked at her chrono and blinked. She still had ten minutes. Her dad nodded.

“I want to see how your injuries have healed.” She looked at him. “I need to know if you can keep up with us.” She bristled at the thought that she couldn’t. “Nia.” His calm tone brought her back. “Nothing against you, but if you slow us down, you might get any or all of us killed…so…” He waved her to the bunk and she nodded. He was true to his word, quickly and efficiently he checked all of her injuries. She hissed a few times as he poked a sensitive spot, but most of her injuries had healed enough to be tough. He waved to her and she put her shipsuit back on.

 

“Here is the drill. I am scout, you are intel, commo and scanners, Olana is heavy guns. In that order. I move, you move, Olana moves. You walk where I walk. If we tell you to do something, you do it immediately, without question, clear?”

 

“Clear.” She replied.

 

“And if you pick up anything out of the ordinary through the Force or on your scanners, report it immediately, clear?” This was a completely different man from the kind and gentle being she called 'Father'. This man was in his element, and his aspect in the Force was a hard and dangerous thing.

 

“Clear.” She replied again.

 

“If you feel bad, or start to feel bad, tell us. We will get you back here. I would rather take extra time to do this than have you hurt yourself again, clear?”

 

“Clear, sir.” Nia replied and Will nodded.

 

“Don’t call me sir, my parents were married.” Will grinned at Nia’s expression, and then patted her on the shoulder. “You will be fine, just remember your training and listen to us. And if you see something odd, sing out. See you in five.”

 

Four minutes and thirty seconds later, Nia walked into the cockpit. She felt…odd. The armor she was wearing was different from anything she had worn before. But, it felt…good. The pack she wore, while small, was heavy with sensors and other tech. The blaster at her hip seemed too large to her eyes, but she trusted her dad. She sat in a jumpseat and strapped herself in. Will looked at her and nodded. She stared out of the viewport at Kuria and tried to relax. She was going home. That was all. She just had to tell herself that and it would be true. I wish…

 

“You will need this.” Will handed her a lightsaber and she smiled. It was the same one Boss had given her on the Stormhawk. “Ýou left it on Tattooine. Don’t loose it again or Boss will probably flay the both of us.” She smiled and clipped it to her belt. Then they were on final approach.

 

“Do you want to visit the village first?” Will’s words were kind, but Nia’s eyes teared up. She shook her head, unable to speak. “Then we will check it when we are done here.” She nodded and watched as Will brought them down for a landing near where her path had begun.

[kalenath]

She barely recognized the landscape. The cave was gone. In its place was a large crater. And a number of skeletons, some still wearing the tattered remnants of Sith envirosuits. They surveyed the crater and Nia sighed. Will had stopped on the lip of the crater and surveyed the entire area through the scope of his sniper rifle. While nothing seemed to move, or even to be alive in the vicinity, none of them relaxed. Olana swept the rear of their line of march with his heavy repeating blaster, one that she was sure was Mandalorian make. She on the other hand, kept her weapons holstered. Her goggles and hand held scanner sent information in terabytes back to the ship and she needed both hands free to work the scanner. Every so often though, she would brush her hand up against her blaster and lightsaber, just to be sure they were there. This place was eerie. It was nothing like… She froze as her scanner beeped. She held up a hand and the others stopped as well. She swept the area and sighed. A baradium bomb had caused the crater. Will waited. Nia spoke softly; she knew her short range comlink would let them both hear her.

 

“This was caused by a baradium bomb, about fifty weight. She said she would take a bunch of them with her.” Will nodded at Nia's quiet words. Then he moved out and after a moment she followed, sensing rather than seeing Olanagychew following them. For such a huge creature, the Wookiee could just vanish sometimes. Then her scanner chirped again and she looked at it. She held up a hand, Olana and Will also froze. She scrutinized the readings and then pointed. Will nodded and they started out again towards where she had pointed.

 

A few minutes later they found…something. Will scouted the area while Nia looked at the structure and scanned it. Olana waited patiently behind her, his heavy blaster ready and waiting. The structure had been shielded by a lip of rock from the blast and had escaped almost unscathed. It was small, cylindrical and had a single obvious entrance. She approached it slowly, her scanner ready and was shocked when the entrance opened. She froze and Olana did too, Will appeared from the side and moved up in front of her. He looked in and shrugged. She nodded. Will went in first, the door closed after him and she couldn’t restrain a pang as she worried. Then her comlink chirped, Once, twice. She moved forward and the door opened again. She stepped in and it closed. A rush of air around her and… she perused her scanners. It was an airlock and decontamination chamber. Moments later, the air read as human compatible on her scanner and she removed her filter mask. The air tasted clean and fresh and… the inner door opened and Will was standing against one of the walls of the corridor looking away from her.. He had slung his sniper rifle and was holding a carbine. A disruptor carbine, she noticed. An evil weapon, but very effective in close quarters. He looked at her and snarled quietly.

 

“Put your mask back on!” She shuddered and complied. She nodded at his rebuke, she had goofed. She took her position and they waited for the Wookiee to join them. Once Olana had cycled through, they started off. Nia looked around when she wasn’t scanning. The walls were the same as she had seen in the second part of the cave of Fate. Grey and featureless, she… She froze. something was wrong. Will froze as she did and she felt Olana freeze behind her. She shook her head. It wasn’t anything she could feel… but… Something snatched at her brain and she was sure she screamed before she passed out.

[kalenath]

Will woke up snarling. Nia had frozen, screamed, and then she had collapsed. He had moved towards her and then, he had been here. Where ever here was. He could see nothing but white around him. His weapons and armor were gone and he was alone. At least he was still wearing his ship suit. He looked around and sighed. He sat to wait. The surface under him felt like sand, but if so, it was gray sand.

 

Olana was sure he was dreaming. There was no other explanation for how he had managed to go from an unknown structure on Kuria to Kashykk in the blink of an eye. But it was a silent Kashykk. No sound at all. Even in the dead of night in the deepest part of the Shadowlands, there was some noise. Not here. He crouched, ready for anything and waited.

 

Nia woke. Her head hurt. She breathed slowly, trying to determine the source of her pain and remedy it. It didn’t seem to come from within her though and she sighed. She opened her eyes and blinked in astonishment. The room she was in looked medical. Nothing was familiar, but a medical ward was a medical ward. They all shared a certain similarity. She wiggled her fingers and toes and they all moved. She smiled. Then she noticed something. She didn’t hurt. Anywhere. Even Nolika’s and Will’s expert ministrations hadn’t left her pain free. They had both promised that the pain would eventually go away, but that had left her with pain for the present. But now, it was all gone and she smiled. She froze as a door she hadn’t seen opened. It didn’t swing. It didn’t retract, it hissed and was gone. A young human, carrying a platter of some kind entered the room and the door hissed back. The human froze on seeing Nia awake. It was a male, garbed strangely. The medical symbol on his shirt however, proclaimed him a Healer of some kind. He spoke and she shook her head, his words made no sense to her. She watched as he set the tray down and came to the side of the bed. He pointed to her then to himself. He pointed to himself again and said something, something that sounded almost like ‘Mihal’. She pointed at herself and spoke her name.

 

“Nia.” He rocked back on his heels. “I take it you didn’t know my name then?” She asked with a slight smile and was amazed when the man replied. His words were…odd, but she had no difficulty understanding him.

 

“No, we did not.” She looked at him and he smiled gently. “How do you feel?”

 

“Not bad, considering… Where am I?”

 

“You are in med center Four.” She raised an eyebrow.

 

“I mean, what planet am I on? I obviously…” She broke off as he spoke.

 

“You are on Kuria, where else would you be?” She looked at the man, Mihal, and then around the room, dumbfounded.

 

“This isn’t Kuria.”

 

“I assure you it is.” The man’s tone spoke of gentle humor and Nia shook her head.

 

“This can’t be Kuria. How did I get here?” Mihal pursed his lips, and then spoke.

 

“According to reports, you… appeared, out of nowhere, in the middle of a busy street. You were lucky not to be killed.” She froze. Something nibbled at the back of her mind.

 

“What is the date?” Mihal nodded.

 

“You have been unconscious for a week. It’s four days before Arro.”

 

“This is going to sound strange…” Mihal waved for her to continue. “…What’s the year?”

 

“Fifteen after restoration.” She thought hard, but nothing came to her mind.

 

“Restoration? From what?” He looked as if he thought she was joking, but sobered as he realized she was serious.

 

“Restoration of the Republic. It’s been fifteen years since the Rebellion beat the Empire at the Battle of Endor. Where have you been?” Nia looked at him, and just shook her head, what he said made no sense to her at all.

 

“Traveling…”She said absently. Something was very, very wrong here.

[kalenath]

Nia sat in her chair and tried not to stew. She had been waiting in this room for three hours. She had not said a word after the last “specialist” had tried to drug her and she had restrained him. He had left in a huff, spouting things like ‘For your own good’. She had explained to an increasing stream of ‘specialists’, where she had come from and what she remembered. Of course none of them believed her, she didn’t believe it herself. The future… It wasn’t possible. Three thousand six hundred and eleven years into her future. It didn’t make sense. No wonder they thought she was crazy. She wondered herself.

Then she felt something, something strong. She froze as the door opened. A being in Jedi robes covered by a black cloak stood there, but… there was no taint of the dark side around… her? Nia focused her senses and she felt the other’s amusement. And she felt the other’s scan of her. Nia crossed her arms and waited. The woman lowered her hood and smiled.

 

“Nia, is it?” Nia arced an eyebrow. She had been asked her name so many times she was sick of it. The woman grimaced. “Sorry. Uh… here.” She threw something to Nia and Nia caught it without thinking. She froze. It was her lightsaber! “Shall we leave?”

 

“Who are you?” Nia asked suspiciously as she examined her lightsaber from top to bottom, she thumbed it on. It hummed to life. She examined the blade, and then deactivated it.

 

“My name is Tyria. We have a lot to talk about.” Nia looked at her then scoffed.

 

“I think I’m under arrest of some kind.” Tyria laughed.

 

“Not anymore. Come on.” She waited as Nia rose and walked towards the door. Tyria led her out of the building and Nia froze for a moment as she saw… civilization around her. Speeders flew around, buildings climbed into the sky and beings of many races walked about. Then she followed Tyria. Tyria led her to an airspeeder and after seeing Nia seated, got in herself and quickly took off. She looked sideways at Nia. Nia ignored her and looked around. The city wasn’t as large as she had originally thought; maybe twenty or thirty thousand people tops. The landscape... She swallowed. It was Kuria. The city was right where her village had been. She could make out some landmarks that she knew, but… they were changed. Kuria was changed, a lot. It took a moment for her to realize Tyria was talking.

 

”…been recovering for a while. Halan City is the only major metropolis on the planet at the moment although there are plans to expand.” Nia looked at her.

 

“Recovering?” Tyria sighed.

 

“This colony has been founded at least three times. Each time, it failed. Once it was attacked by the Sith, a very long time ago.” Nia shuddered as she realized that Tyria was talking about her colony. But she stayed silent. “But a few hundred years after that, it was founded again, grew to a respectable size and then just… disappeared.”

 

“Colonies don’t just disappear.” Nia said skeptically.

 

“I know, which is why we are here.” The Jedi replied with equal dryness. "To find out what happened."

 

“We?”

 

“The Jedi Order.” Nia looked at her guide, keeper, whatever Tyria was and shook her head.

 

“You are a Jedi?”

 

“Yeah, so are you.”

 

“No I am not.” Tyria looked at her and smiled.

 

“Well, you are not a Sith, no matter what you were wearing." The Jedi shook her head. "You have no taint of the Dark Side on you.” Nia froze.

 

“You have my armor?”

 

“We have all of your equipment. We were called in when the medical people couldn’t identify you. I would have been there when you woke except there was an incident involving one of the less than properly controlled Padawans under my direction and some street toughs and I had to settle that.” Nia smiled at Tyria’s dry tone.

 

“Some things haven’t changed.” Nia commented and Tyria looked at her strangely.

 

“No, some things never do.” Tyria acknowledged, and then brought the airspeeder down towards a small camp next to… Nia winced. The camp was situated next to the crater she had been exploring, matter of fact it was right on top of… She nodded as she saw an excavation that showed the top of the cylindrical building. Nia froze again. The speeder landed and Tyria got out. Nia followed her, conscious of looks from various people working and standing around the area. Tyria glanced around and all of the lookers got busy with something. Nia hid a smile under a cough and Tyria grinned as he led the younger woman into a tent. Inside the tent, Nia froze in shock. Her gear was laid out. Her armor, her weapons, her scanner, everything as it had been. She looked it over quickly and then looked at Tyria.

 

“The local authorities are convinced you stole those items somehow from the excavation, despite our constant watch and sensors.” Nia bristled and Tyria grinned. “I dissuaded them of that notion. Not only is the armor fitted to you, but some of the gear is keyed to your biosignature, that’s not something you can do in ten minutes. These things are yours.” It wasn’t a question, but Nia nodded anyway. “Can you explain?”

 

“I don’t know what happened. I was there and then I was here.”

 

“What happened?”

 

“My team was exploring the building you have uncovered. We were looking for information. Next thing I knew, my head hurt and I woke up the medical ward bed.”

 

“That’s odd…” Tyria commented and Nia laughed.

 

“Tell me about it.”

[kalenath]

Nia liked Tyria, the Jedi was a good person. Tyria had her dark moments but all in all, Nia liked the woman. The situation though, was just too strange. Finally, Tyria stopped asking questions. Nia had been hard pressed to answer many of them; the woman seemed to have an endless supply of them.

 

“Well, what say we look at the building where you remember last?” Nia nodded. Tyria waved towards her gear. Nia looked at her.

 

“They are yours, and no museum or collector would believe they are as old as they are.” Nia grinned at Tyria’s tone. She shrugged into her armor and strapped her gear to her person. She checked her blaster charge, it was almost full. She looked at Tyria.

 

“One of our security people was convinced it wouldn’t work. We tried it out, twice.” Nia nodded. “We couldn’t get the scanner or comlink to work though. Power cells are incompatible and your spares are depleted by now I think.” Nia checked and sure enough, all of her equipment except for the blaster and lightsaber were drained.

 

“Why the weapons?” Nia asked thoughtfully.

 

“Different sources of power?’

 

“No… the blaster uses the same type as the scanner and the lightsaber…” She field stripped it quickly. It seemed to be completely functional. She activated it and it hummed to life. She opened up the scanner and checked it, but the power cell was dead as well as…

 

 

“This is odd…” Tyria came over and Nia showed her where a section of the scanner was burned out, the memory core. A quick check of all the other gear showed the memory cores burned out. Strange… Nai looked at her filter mask and froze… Something clicked in her mind and she smiled.

 

“This was very well done.” Tyria looked at her. “But couldn’t you have just asked?”

 

“What do you mean, Nia?” Tyria asked, but her posture said she was nervous. Nia felt calm, very calm.

 

“I took my filter mask off when I entered the building.” Nia focused, deep into herself and smiled. When she opened her eyes, the tent, Tyria, everything was gone. All around her was grey nothingness. She spoke in even tones. “If I have given offense I give apology.” Nothing. Then something impacted her mind. She winced. She felt…something waft over her and the pain vanished as if it had never been. She opened her mind fully. And then she smiled. It was a sad smile.

 

I understand, I will help you...

[kalenath]

Will froze. He was back where he had been. The corridor stretched out in front of him and he heard a low growl of surprise from behind him. But his eyes were on the crumpled form in front of him. He rushed to her side and examined her quickly. Nia groaned and shook her head.

 

“Don’t move Nia.”

 

“We don’t have time, Dad. We have to go.” He looked at her in astonishment as she pulled her filter mask off again. He reached to put it back and she stopped him with a gesture.

 

“It isn’t safe for us to be here, but I need to…” She broke off and concentrated. Then she smiled. Will’s hackles rose as a form coalesced out of thin air in front of them. He heard Olana’s heavy blaster cycle up and he readied his disruptor. Nia stepped between them and the form and Will shook his head.

 

“Nia?” His blaster did not waver. "Move."

 

“It’s okay dad, she just wanted to apologize. She…” Nia broke off as the being spoke.

 

“We…sorry. We…no…understood...path of...Third.” Will looked at the form, in appearance a young human not much older than Nia, and then at Nia. “I…need… Please?” She looked at Nia, and there was no mistaking the imploring look.

 

“She can’t communicate well the way we do." Nia shook her head. "You can put the weapons away, they won't work on her. She needs our help.”

 

<To do what?> Olana asked, she knew without seeing that his finger rested lightly on the trigger of his heavy gun.

 

“To help her find one of her kind.” Nia replied and Will and Olana shared a glance. “No I am not out of my mind, well, maybe a little.” She corrected with a grin. “We don’t have time for this.”

 

“Nia…” Will began, but his daughter cut him off.

 

“We need to go now, this place is about to be somewhere we do not want to be.” Will didn’t know what to think, and then the being spoke to Nia again.

 

“You… go. Bring.” Nia nodded.

 

“We will.” She led the way out of the building and then raced off back towards the ship, there was no trace of her earlier hesitant, pianed sometimes, steps, now she was poetry in motion. She didn’t speak again until they had reached the ship. Then she sat in her jumpseat as Will and Olana started preflight. Will finally turned to her. Nia nodded.

 

“She’s from, where ever the door goes. Another of her kind found the door and came through. She has been trying to find it and take it back. She can only keep the door open for a little while longer though.”

 

“This other of her’s wouldn’t be a ship eating blob the size of an asteroid would it?” Will asked. She sighed. “Nia…”

 

“I can do this Dad. I can talk to it.”

 

“Nia! That thing ate a Sith battleship. We wouldn’t even be an appetizer.”

 

“That’s where I come in.”

 

“Nia…?” She sighed again. He stiffened.

 

“I can talk to it. You are not going to like this so I will just say it. I need to be in very close proximity to speak to it.”

 

“How…close of proximity?”

 

“Meters.” Will’s eyes widened and Olana howled a protest from the other side of the cockpit. Then all noise ceased as their eyes were drawn to a camera that showed a rear view. The building that they had been in vanished in a grey fog that quickly spread all over the surrounding area.

 

“What is that?” Will asked softly.

 

“I have no idea, but she was sure that if we stayed there it would have killed us.” Nia shook her head."I don;t think it was intentional. She was so scared and sad."

 

"She?" Will looked at his daughter's face and tabled that line of questioning for the moment. “Nia, we can’t let you do that. If you get that close it will eat you.”

 

“Probably not, she was sure that the trace that she put on me will keep the other from ingesting me, and even if it does, that won’t kill me. Quickly anyway.” Nia flinched back as both her father and Olana shouted at her. This will be a long flight...

 

The Dragon emerged from hyperspace in the Taris system and immediately was queried by Republic ships. The queries quickly turned to demands. Finally Will had enough.

 

“Republic ships, get out of my way.” He armed the Dragon’s weapons. Another transmission merged in.

 

“I would do what he says.” Stormhawk Boss spoke and the Stormhawk shimmered into being close beside the Dragon. Will grinned and then froze. A small green form had appeared beside Boss. Will goggled at the sight of Master Vandar on the Stormhawk. Now that was an improbability

 

“Indeed, let the Dragon pass, we have other problems. Problems we have to handle.” Will watched as the Stormhawk’s telemetry lit up his screen and winced. Two entire Sith fleets were arrayed against the Republic forces in the system. And the… entity was moving erratically around as well. Then he scrutinized the readouts and laughed. Vandar wasn’t the only Jedi on the Stormhawk. Two fighters moved into flanking positions and Will nodded. He opened his comlink.

 

“You are hanging with strange company Eight.” He could hear the grin in the response.

 

“I could say the same of you, Two, but you always have.”

 

“Nia needs a bird. And she doesn’t have time to go to the Stormhawk.”

 

“Roger that, docking now.” Came a voice they remembered and one of the fighters moved to match umbilicals. Will looked at where his daughter was sitting, ready to go and sighed. They had all argued themselves out. Nothing else could be said…except.

 

“Be careful, Nia.”

 

“You too, Dad.” She got up and moved carefully to his chair. She kissed him lightly on the cheek and he hugged her one handed. She went to Olana and fondly ruffled his fur as he hugged her as well. Then she was gone. He slumped.

 

Nia strode through the ship, pulling her flightsuit on over her armor and securing what gear she would carry to her belt. Which wasn’t much. Her lightsaber and survival kit were the main things, she hoped to need neither. She opened the hatch to the umbilical and smiled as Bjorn climbed in. he smiled back at her and handed her his helmet. Since they were very similar sizes, only minor adjustments were needed. She nodded to him and climbed down the access ladder to the fighter. She sealed the hatch to the Dragon, squirmed her way into the fighter, closed the fighter’s hatch and made her way, carefully, to the pilot’s seat. She settled herself into the seat and connected her various leads and umbilicals to the fighter. A few moments later she was ready.

 

“Dragon, this is Nia. All systems green.” Her dad replied.

 

“Your designation is Hawk Seven. Eight will be your wing until you get close then she will return. We will cover as best we can, but Nia…be careful.”

 

“Roger that, Dragon. You be careful.” With that she cut the power to the magnetic clamps holding the fighter to the freighter and dropped into infinity.

 

Will watched as Nia’s fighter moved up beside the fighter piloted by Eight then nodded to Bjorn who took a seat behind him.

 

“Can you handle quad sixes?” Will asked quietly and Bjorn nodded. Will jerked a thumb back to the rear and Bjorn headed back to take local control of the dorsal waist guns. Olana moved to take the ventral ones. Will heard Bjorn check his comlink and then Olana do the same. Then he threw the ship towards the action. The Sith Fleets were obviously not coordinating well with each other and Will wondered for a moment if any of the Jedi or Sith were using Battle meditation. Then he shrugged and merged with the ship. They tore into a Sith formation, leaving chaos and death in their wake.

 

Nia breathed deeply. She was nervous, no matter her brave face. The communication with the other entity had been… difficult and fraught with misunderstandings. She was sure she had the gist however and it was imperative. She just had to hope…

“Heads up, Seven, four from above!” Came the call from her wing and she acknowledged. They spun in space, denying the enemy a broadside shot and blew through the Sith formation. Looking back, she saw two of the Sith fighters explode and another coasting, disabled. Then her comlink cut in.

 

“Keep going Seven.” She stared in disbelief as Eight’s fighter left formation and engaged the last Sith. She started to turn to rejoin her wing. “Keep going. I’ll hold these off.” Nia blanched as she saw more fighters approaching. Lots more. She bit her lip and turned back towards the entity. She cut her thrusters in at full power, and tried not to cry.

 

Stormhawk Eight was having the time of her life. She knew it couldn’t last. She knew there were too many Sith facing her, but…she was having fun! It had been so long since she had been part of a full on, all out battle royal and she was, by the Force, going to enjoy every moment of it until they blew her away. Her guns roared and another Sith interceptor blew up. A shot got through her shields and systems crackled but nothing went dark so she continued to fight. Again, again, again and again her guns found their mark almost by themselves. She was free. Free of to again take the fight to the scum who had dared to enslave her! She tore into another group that was trying to chase down Nia’s fighter… Something hit her ship hard from behind and she was spinning. Then she was free…

 

Nia saw Eight’s ship explode far behind her and cried quietly. Then she stopped. Her friend wouldn’t want her to cry. She would want Nia to finish her mission.

[kalenath]

Will dove the Dragon through the Sith formations. She was faster than any of their capital ships and her weapons made minced meat of any Sith fighters dumb enough to engage her. He kept up the speed, trying with all his might to avoid the fire that was pouring towards them now from the closest Sith frigate. They knew who he was; they had seen the Dragon before. His music blared across the comlink bands as he reached apogee and then dove towards the bridge of the Sith warship. He heard Olana warn Bjorn. He fired his torpedoes, then the main guns. The ship actually staggered in space, then resumed her flight. He spun away from the Sith warship and grinned. The dual turbo laser cannon had blown the shields down and the torpedoes had blown a hole clean through the bridge tower. As he watched the Sith warship took impacts from three Republic cruisers and literally disintegrated. One down. Seven to go… He thought humorlessly as he turned towards his next victim.

 

Stormhawk Boss stood on the bridge of his ship and watched as the Sith fleets tried to fight the Republic forces. But, while they had numbers, the Republic Forces had better coordination, better teamwork and they had the Jedi. He grinned sourly at the small green form beside him. Master Vandar grinned back. They were winning. Then the system plot changed and alarms started sounding across the bridge as ships started appearing from hyperspace. Boss grimaced. From that trajectory they could only be…

 

“More Sith.” Vandar agreed quietly. Boss immediately began ordering the fleet to withdraw and regroup. And they obeyed him; after all, the Stormhawk and the Jedi might be their only chance to get out of this situation alive.

 

Nia saw the telemetry change but she had little time for it. She was dodging for her life. The Sith fighters had caught up with her, and though they were unshielded, there were five of them. She spun away from another arc of fire streaming from a Sith fighter and, trusting the Force, fired. A Sith fighter erupted in flames and she dove through the debris field trying to close with the entity. But the Sith had other ideas. They threw fire all around her and she had to spin away again. She blew up another Sith fighter but saw more, many, many more approaching from the distance. She sighed. She opened herself to the Force and spun back towards the entity.

 

Will screamed as he approached the fight. He saw Nia’s fighter take hit after hit. Then he was there. He clobbered the Sith fighters from behind before they could turn, killing them all in one salvo and was flying beside Nia’s shattered fighter. Amazingly when he looked into the canopy he saw her face. She shook her head. And cocked a thumb behind. He sighed, and then flipped the Dragon. He charged into the approaching mass of Sith fighters, dispersing them. He didn’t watch as Nia’s ship impacted the entity.

 

Nia…floated. She opened her eyes and saw… nothing. She felt…nothing. Am I dead? She asked herself. She remembered seeing her father’s anguished face and then…nothing. She sighed. She opened her mind as far as she could and shouted. Please, hear me!

 

Will spun the Dragon desperately trying to avoid the incoming fire. He wasn’t entirely successful. A horrible scream of pain, mercifully brief, was heard from behind him, followed by an anguished howl.

 

“Get him to medical! I’ll get us out of here.” Will shouted as he spun the ship again. But everywhere he turned, more Sith ships appeared. He evaded again, trying to find a hole to slip through, but none presented themselves. Then his comlink chimed. He looked at it, and then grimaced. At the very least it might buy them some time. He hit ‘receive’ and the image of a Sith Lord appeared in the cockpit.

 

“Will Kalenath. At long last.” Will hawked and spat. The Sith lord laughed. “Defiant to the last I see.”

 

“What do you want Sithscum?”

 

“Oh, I want you. You have a caused a great deal of pain and suffering to the Sith over the years.” Will scoffed.

 

“Give me a break. Like you really care.”

 

“You misunderstand me, Will Kalenath. I do not want you death. I want your service. Join me. Join us, together we can do wonders.” For just a moment, Will looked at him and just sat in shock. Then he grinned.

 

“I have wanted to say this for so long to one of you. Take your Dark Side of the Force and insert it where the sun doesn’t shine, preferably without lubricant.” Will hit the disconnect before the Sith Lord could respond and studied his options. A muffled laugh came from the cockpit entrance and Olana came in. Will looked at him and Olana shook his head sadly. Will’s shoulders slumped, he had liked Bjorn. Then they both focused on survival as the Sith fighters closed in.

 

Darth Corros stood on the bridge of his flagship and sighed. It had been an intriguing possibility, the thought of a thrall like Will Kalenath was an impressive one. But in the end he knew it wouldn’t have worked. He focused on the battle once again. The Republic, fools though they were, fought well, especially the ever accursed Stormhawk. He grinned as another Republic ship exploded. Not long now He assumed that Will Kalenath would live the longest, but it would not be by much. Then…

 

“Master!” One of the slaves running the sensor screamed at him and he turned to chastise the fool, but froze. The entity that had drawn them all here, it was moving and accelerating. And it was heading… He screamed and the bridge crew joined him.

 

Boss tasted blood as he drew himself upright again. The last salvo had breached their shields and hit the hull directly. He knew without seeing that the next one would destroy them. But it never came. He looked out of the viewport and stared. The Sith fleet was running. Master Vandar came up beside him and stared as well. The entity that Nia had been trying to contact was chasing the Sith away. Two Sith battle cruisers, including the flagship if Boss was not mistaken, hung from tentacles that the entity had extended. As they watched in awe the Sith ships disintegrated. The few remaining Sith ships activated their hyperdrives and the battle was over. The entity spun in space, then paused for a moment before vanishing as well. Boss looked for Dragon and his heart sank when he couldn't find it.

[kalenath]

((No this isn't the end. Comments and or suggestions welcomes. Flames will be met with a dragon))