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Arrow of Time 2001 short story by Louis
Turfrey Thirty-six
years after Episode IV – A New Hope The starship dropped
lightly into the atmosphere of Leogard, her path taking her along the
terminator as dawn approached. Running on low powered repulsors only, and
minimum life support, the powerful starship was using her stealth technology
to the fullest. Her pilot, sitting in the sealed environment of his battle
armour, let out a resigned sigh as he followed the track he had been given.
The co-ordinates of the landing place loomed nearer on his navigation
display. He slowed the ship to a crawl and dropped her lightly to the ground.
Thanks to gravity his descent had taken only six minutes, well within the
tracking cycle of the scanners on the starship orbiting the planet. Tarr Ranth emerged from
the cockpit and set about securing the ship. The Dark Star III sat in
the shadow of a giant wreck that had once been a strip-mining machine. The
large range of mountains behind the now inert strip miner, cast an even darker
shadow that fully submerged the small ship in darkness. The Dark Star III
was hidden within an overlapping shield that even the rising sun would not
penetrate, her thirty-meter long hull almost invisible to the naked eye.
Ranth knew that thanks to the anti-scan plating on her hull, she would now be
invisible to the starship currently orbiting the planet. Not for the first
time, Ranth wished for the higher level of firepower that his previous ship, Dark
Star II, would have offered him. Then again, that ship was designed for a
different person, from a different time. Emerging from
the craft he checked his location, and set off on foot to find the meeting
place. If all went well, then he should arrive there within half an hour.
That would make him nearly an hour early for the meeting and give him enough
time to scout the area. He raised his Jedi awareness and lightsabre combat
abilities and let his portable tracking unit do all the hard work. A thorough
check of the meeting area had produced no sign of traps or scanners, however
Ranth did not let his guard down for a minute, but chose instead to rest in
the dark recess of a large boulder. Soon he was relaxing into a Jedi
meditation, his mind and senses extending beyond their normal reach. He was
aware of the transport well before its scanners had picked him up. He scanned
the minds on the approaching speeder and noted that they were the people who
had been sent to bring him to his meeting. Rising from his hiding place he
carefully moved out into full view. His Jedi senses detected some alarm and
surprise at seeing him and he realized that he must have been shielded to
their scanners by the large boulder. He smiled to himself. It still gave him
some pleasure to elicit that reaction from people he didn’t know. The speeder
pulled over and two armed men jumped over the side. They pointed their
blasters at Ranth, and he noted their Galactic Alliance `T’ Squad uniforms.
The third person in the speeder, a young woman, jumped out after them and
approached Ranth. Ranth pulled back his cloak, revealing the armored helmet.
She nodded momentarily and smiled. Taking a holo picture out of a pocket in
her all-purpose jump suit she compared the image on it to Tarr Ranth. Ranth
noticed that her eyes were different colours, one green, and the other
violet. She looked directly at him. “If the rumours are correct, then that
armour is valuable and hard to imitate. My boss says it could withstand a
direct shot from a blaster at close range. Is that correct?” Ranth nodded. “It will, but such attempt would be
pointless anyway.” One of the
girls’ eyebrows rose slightly and a quizzical expression lit up her features. “Is that so.” She motioned to one of the
men, who immediately squeezed off a shot. Before the shot had a chance to hit
home, Ranth had moved out of its way. There was a gasp from the girl at this
maneuver. Ranth called for his lightsabre and activated it. “Care to try that again?” The girl
motioned to the other man and he also squeezed off a shot. The bolt was deflected
back at the girls’ feet. To her credit, she did not appear shocked or
intimidated by this. Ranth deactivated the lightsabre. “Are you convinced?” She nodded,
smiling as she did so. “My grandmother told me that you were a
man to be reckoned with. Now I know why. My names Trude De’Athe. These two
men are Stadler and Mendozar.” The two
troopers lowered their weapons, each offering a greeting in return. Mendozar squinted at Ranth. “And who are you?” “My name is Tarr Ranth. Jedi Knight
and ambassador to the Galactic Alliance.” Stadler seemed
uncomfortable with this knowledge. “Are you the same Tarr Ranth that used to
be a bounty hunter?” He was edgy and Tarr Ranth probed his mind to see what
the problem was. When he picked up on it he smiled. “Bill Stadler. Yes I am. I remember
you.” He paused a beat. ”Don’t worry,
the Hutt that placed the bounty on your head died many years ago. A bad case
of blaster poisoning.” The man relaxed
and seemed relieved. Ranth turned to the girl. “I
have detected a large slow moving transport five clicks to the south of here.
It’s moving in our direction. We should go.” Trude nodded,
not asking how he had detected the vehicle. Within seconds they were heading
away at a rapid rate of clicks. Traveling
swiftly over the rough terrain, the speeder soon outdistanced the slow moving
transport. Trude was excellent at negotiating the area, anticipating turns
and braking at high speed to avoid unforeseen obstacles. Ranth sat beside her
in the front seat. He gently probed her and was relieved to find that she had
some force ability and that it wasn’t just reckless driving. “How long until we meet your
grandmother?” Without looking
away from the terrain, Trude answered. “Not long, about five more minutes of
traveling. Hold on tight.” The speeder
shot over the lip of a hill, dropping straight down into a steep canyon.
Ranth knew the limitations of this type of speeder, they shouldn’t survive
the drop, but somehow he trusted the young woman that was now piloting the
craft. True to his instincts, she pressed two buttons on the console and the
cockpit sealed above their heads. The second button caused two extra repulsor
vanes to extract themselves from the side of the craft. There was a feeling
of intense gravity and the speeder leveled off at fifty feet above the canyon
bottom. Trude banked
the speeder sharply, heading for a large cave concealed from above by a rocky
overhang. She slowed the vehicle down and entered the cave with headlights
on. “When we approach the main doors, make
sure that your hood is up. My grandmother wants few people to know who you
are. Less chance of a leak in the information chain.” Ranth nodded,
accepting her reasons. Another two
minutes of driving in a straight line and they came to a large blast door.
Two sentries dressed in the same armour as their two troopers in the speeder,
flagged the speeder down. Ranth pulled his hood up around his helmet. The two
sentries flicked their glow lights over the occupants of the craft, resting
on Ranth. “Pull your hood back.” That one sounded
gruff and tired. Trude answered for him. “Don’t be an idiot Maarkus, he’s with
me. Let us through.” Maarkus became
defiant. “I have my orders.” Trude looked
towards Ranth, who shrugged, lifting his hand slightly. “You don’t need me to pull my hood back.”
He waved his hand slightly and the man smiled. “You don’t need to pull your hood back.”
Ranth spoke again, moving his hand with his speech. “We can go through.” Maarkus smiled and
gestured to his colleague. “Let them through.” The doors
opened and the speeder slipped through. What Ranth saw
astounded him. Built into and out of the surrounding walls of a giant cavern,
was a large town. Only a few people filled the streets, each one moving
purposefully from one location to another, each one carrying a blaster. Ranth
wondered how, where and why they were there. He wouldn’t have to wonder long. The speeder
pulled up to a large building surrounded by an energy fence. Trude pressed a
button on a remote and the fence dropped power long enough
for the speeder to pass through. They parked the speeder next to a
rock wall and Ranth followed Trude through a three-meter high armoured door, into the
main building. Ranth was immediately engulfed in a cacophony of sound. So
much so, that he had to reduce the audio gain on his helmet. An elderly
woman, on the far side of the room, noticed their entrance and moved over
towards them. She moved slowly, affected by age, but her eyes sparkled with a
fire stronger than youth. Ranth pulled back his hood and released his helmet.
The hiss or pressurization was brief as he removed it and held it under one
arm. “Ah, good, you made it. Welcome to the
Leogard Resistance Tarrion. My name is Tasmin De’Athe,” she paused as she
eyed Ranth closely. “Though you can
call me mother if you wish.” Trude looked
shocked at this news and turned to Ranth. “You knew of this?” Ranth nodded “I did. However, that is of no
consequence.” He turned to his mother. “I no longer go by the name you gave
me. Call me Ranth.” His demeanor was stiff and formal. His mother noticed
this and stiffened a little herself. “As you wish, but you will always be
Tarrion to me. Come, you need you to know why I called you here.” She turned,
and without waiting further, headed towards a small office in the corner of
the room. Ranth and Trude followed her. Ranth turned to his niece. “Rather severe isn’t she?” His niece
smiled back at him. “No more than you. Besides, you’d be
severe if you had four hundred lives in your hands.” The office was
small and functional. A holographic map displayed a translucent image of the
surrounding terrain. Within this map, red lines criss-crossed in all
directions. Ranth looked towards his mother and noticed that she was studying
him. “This is a map of the tunnels isn’t it?” She nodded. “There are over three hundred kilometers
of tunnels and shafts. We’ve rigged most of them to collapse at certain
points. Mining droids keep a silent vigil down those tunnels we couldn’t rig.
They’re armed with heavy duty mining lasers and can pack a severe punch in
most armour.” She moved over to the desk, switching the display to an area of
tunnel towards the edge of the mountain range. “This is why I asked you here. My grandson, Aaron, discovered
this chamber, buried over three kilometers under the surface of the planet.
He’s an archaeologist first and a miner second. He’s strong in the Force but
I’ve always discouraged him from pursuing that side of his character. It may
have been his undoing.” She flicked another button and the image changed to
display a high-resolution picture of a plinth, upon which was placed a cube.
The cube looked like it measured about twenty centimeters down each side.
Ancient hieroglyphic images were embedded in its black and gold surface. A
previously closed area of Ranths mind opened and concealed memories came
flooding back in. Ranth swallowed despite himself. “The Sith Holocron. I’d forgotten about
that.” He sat down heavily on the seat opposite his mother, rubbing his hands
on his temples. She looked startled and angry at his statement. Ranth fought
to collect his wits. “You mean to say that you knew it was
here?” Trudes voice, coming from behind, betrayed her anger. Ranth nodded and
pressed his hands to his face. “Yes. Myself and some colleagues placed
it there over thirty years ago. We thought it would be buried forever. We
didn’t anticipate deep core mining.” He stood and looked closer at the image. “This was taken recently. The image shows a high level of detail.” His mother
slammed her hand flat on the desk and disrupted the image. “Image quality, image quality! Is that
all you can think of? My grandson is trapped in there with that…thing.
You’re responsible, you and your kind. The worst kind of evil, not destroyed
or lost in space forever, but buried on a populated world in the middle
of the Setnin Sector and you had to be responsible for leaving it here!
You’re no better than your father, that idealistic fool!” She grabbed at her
chest, a look of intense pain crossing her face and staggered back towards
her chair. “Mother?” Trude screamed
as Ranth leapt around the desk. He caught her as she fell towards the chair,
easing her backwards to the floor. Reaching in to himself he placed his hand
over hers and pushed his force sense into her body, seeking out and finding
the darkness that was her damaged heart. He struggled to calm its over
stressed muscles and felt his mother relax beneath him. He went one step further
into the cells around the muscle, persuading them to reform, regroup and
release the poisons that had built up over time. Some of the heart was
repaired, but the repair would degrade, there was only so much that the Force
could do. In a last ditch effort he called upon the Force to flood her body,
giving her the strength he knew that she would need over the next few days. Ranth sat back
on his haunches, breathing rapidly and heavily with the effort the healing
had caused him. He looked on gladly as the visage that had been so pale
before the heart attack, now took on the colour of a healthy person. Ranth
reminded himself that it was only a matter of time before the problem
reoccurred. “You should have told me you were ill, I
could have brought you some medicines or a 2-1-D unit.” His mother turned on
her side and looked at him scornfully. “Why should I be healed when there are
younger people around me that need the help more.” She pulled herself
carefully to her feet, looking surprised at her own nimbleness. Looking at
Ranth with a new respect. “I feel fifty again. What did you do?” Ranth smiled
despite himself. “Accessed the Force. There is no limit to
what can be achieved with the Force.” He stood up, helping his mother to her
feet. She seemed calmer now. “I can understand how my nephew might
have discovered the artifact, but why do I need to rescue him?” His mothers
face clouded over again. “Because he is falling to the dark side
and is at this moment threatening to give away our location to the Ki-Ki
fleet. That’s why I had to make sure that as few people as possible know of
your arrival. If he finds out, I’m sure he’ll try to probe you with the
force. If that happens, he’ll know you are a Jedi and all will be lost. I
need you to get him off planet by any means possible.” Ranth wasn’t
entirely convinced that she was telling the whole truth. “Dark Jedi are above such pettiness. What
will he gain by this?” She looked
solemn for a moment and then spoke again. “Like most who become involved with the
dark side of the Force, he started out with the best of intentions. He wants
to lead the resistance. He wants to train ten of my men, all Force
sensitives, to be Force users. Holocron explains how to do this quickly.
However, he then wants to use these men to take out the starship orbiting the
planet and set a trap for the incoming fleet. It could possibly result in the
destruction of Leogard, sacrificing everybody on the planet. Firstly, I’m
responsible for the people in this group and I don’t want them to die.
Secondly we are trying to protect the planet, and our investment, from the
invaders so destroying it would not be our first option. Thirdly, do you want
eleven dark Jedi wandering about the sector with a fountain of Sith knowledge
itching to be used?” Ranth shook his
head but his features were solemn. “It may mean me killing him. Are you prepared for the death of your
grandson? Is your granddaughter prepared for the death of her brother? If you
are, then I will = track him down. I presume he is hiding in the tunnels?” Trude took over
the conversation from her grandmother. “Uncle. If necessary we are prepared for
my brothers’ death, but he is not hiding. He is simply waiting in the
Holocron chamber for our response. We have one day to reply. Otherwise he
will walk away from his family and use the tight beam transmitter
in our communications center to inform the Ki-Ki forces of our location.
I have no idea what he would hope to achieve by doing this but I am confident
that he would go through with it.” Ranth looked at
his niece and sensed her confidence in that regard. “How can you be so sure?” She looked at
him squarely. “Because I am one of the ten people he
wants to train. I am able to sense
his state of mind.” The tunnel was
easily thirty meters across and at least fifty meters high at the apex of its
roof. It reminded Ranth of a large underground cathedral, such was the effect
of the lighting on the surrounding rocks. Having memorized the map that would
lead him to the Holocron chamber, he had set off alone. However, although he
had specifically warned her against it, he sensed that his niece was
following him at a discreet distance. He waited until he was around a blind
bend and activated his repulsor belt. He quickly rose above the lighting into
the dark recesses of the tunnel roof. A few minutes
later, Trude rounded the corner, blaster in hand. She was moving with extreme
stealth and Ranth wondered just how good she was in a fight. As she passed
beneath him he dropped silently to the floor behind her and coughed lightly.
As she span around, he quickly called her blaster to him. She gasped as it
slid out of her hand and landed in Ranths open palm. “Go back. If I can disarm you so can he.
You’ll be a liability.” He handed her back her blaster and strode past her,
not looking back. The last he saw of her, she was standing motionless in the
center of the tunnel. Two hour’s
later Ranth calculated he was within two hundred meters of the chamber where
the Holocron had been hidden. He felt a breeze on his face and the smell of
fresh air. When he rounded the final bend he found that half of the mountain
had been gouged away in a massive rock fall. Revealed at the base of the rock
fall, and supported by mining props, was the entrance to the Holocron chamber
that they had tried do hard to hide, so many years ago. He remembered Jan
Lomona’s prophetic words and wondered why they hadn’t destroyed it at the
time. Plausible deniability. Glann Cipple had wanted it delivered; they had
to find a way to lose it. A movement caught his eye and he noticed a figure,
standing by the entrance to the chamber. Ranth zoomed in with his helmet
systems and saw the haggard features of his nephew. He had a smile on his
face. “Ah, so my grandmother has sent a
messenger. Who are you? I warn you I shall destroy you if you make any
attempt to stop me.” He rested his hand on his hip, pulling back his tunic.
Ranth saw a lightsabre hanging from his belt. It looked like it had been
created from cannibalized parts. Ranth pulled his own robe away from his
helmet, revealing the dark Mandalorian armour. “My name is Tarr Ranth. I am here to talk
some reason into you.” As he talked he moved closer, obfuscating his Force
ability, concentrating every part of his will in to hiding what he really
was. “Stop where you are. I know of you. Drop
your blasters and I’ll let you closer.” Ranth paused, pulled back his robe
and released his blasters from their holsters. Ejecting the power packs he
threw them to the ground. His nephew stretched out his hand, appearing to
concentrate hard, and pulled the blasters into his hand. He examined them
closely then dropped them to the ground beside him. Ranth started to move
forward again, noticing the quizzical look on his nephews face. “I didn’t say you could walk again did
I?” He stretched out his hand again and Ranth felt a cold grip on his throat.
He paused, unflinching, and pushed back at the grip slightly with the Force.
He welcomed the look of surprise on his nephews face. “You should be on your knees. Why aren’t
you on your knees I wonder?” Ranth took the
opportunity to help his own case along a little with a blatant lie. “Didn’t you know that Mandalorian armour
deflects Force energy?” He strode forward more purposefully now, making no
attempt to hide his intentions. His
nephew scrambled back, nearer to the entrance of the Holocron chamber. The
confusion in his mind radiating outwards. Ranth decided to push the matter
further and released the obfuscation of his Force energy. He forced out a
growl and leapt the last ten meters, grabbed Aaron, and slammed him against
the wall. “Little man. How do you expect to use the full capabilities of my
Holocron if you are not prepared to use the dark side of the
force?" He lifted him physically off the floor and with help from
the force threw him five meters to the ground. He called one of his
lightsabres to him, igniting the modified feds blade and walked rapidly to
where his nephew was scrambling to his feet. Aaron grabbed for his own
lightsabre, managing to activate the blade, and brought it around in a high
arc. Ranth countered and by sheer force of will knocked the blade out of
his hands. He called the fallen blade to him and pretended to examine
it, all the time keeping his own blade at the throat of his frightened nephew. “Quite an achievement, but don’t think
that creating one is the same as using one. You have a lot to learn.”
He mounted the lightsabre on his own belt. Motioning with his free hand, he lifted
Aaron off the ground. “Now boy, tell me where you have
put my Holocron.” They traveled
for twenty minutes, this time over the open landscape that had once been the
surface of Leogard. Where the side of the mountain had collapsed, a giant
gateway had been opened to the outside world. Ranth looked on it in awe,
wondering why the chamber had not been buried altogether. He watched Aaron
carefully as they traversed the terrain. He had taken a gamble that his
nephew would fall for his ruse, and so far it seemed to be working, but it
never paid to become complacent. The area around him suddenly took on a
supernatural coldness that chilled Ranth to his soul. “It’s here somewhere, I’m sure it is.” Ranth
immediately knew something was wrong. He sensed no fear from Aaron, only
anticipation. He raised his combat abilities and placed his hand back on his
lightsabre. “Don’t lie to me… I can hear your thoughts.” The young dark
Jedi turned around, a manic grin on his face. “Oh, but it was you who lied to me
wasn’t it Uncle?” Ranth was taken
aback for a moment until he realized what the boy meant. “How did you know?” He gripped his
lightsabre more strongly now. “My sister Trude told me. Of course she
didn’t want to tell me at first, but I persuaded her. She really should have
gone back like you asked her to.” He took off the pouch that had been hanging
around his neck and threw it towards Ranth. Ranth caught it mid flight and
brought it to him with the Force. He opened the pouch slowly suspecting a
trick. What he saw inside horrified him. Two eyes stared up at him from
inside the pouch, one green, the other violet. He looked towards his nephew
with horror, glad that his helmet hid the full expression on his face. “Why? She was no danger to you?” Aaron looked
smug. Ranth felt a surge in the Dark Side energies surrounding him. “She would have killed me given the
chance. As would you.” Without
warning, Aaron's lightsabre ripped itself away from Ranths belt and sped
towards it’s owners hands. Without thought, Ranth threw his own lightsabre
after it. The blade ignited mid flight and chopped Aaron's lightsabre in two,
causing a small explosion between the two men. They both dived for cover, but
Ranth was knocked over by the blast. It was only when he heard the hum of a
lightsabre blade that he realized what had happened. Instead of
being destroyed in the explosion, Ranths lightsabre had been deflected
towards Aaron. Now he stood triumphantly, blade raised high, the red glow
reflecting in his eyes. Ranth slowly got back to his feet and waited for the
attack he knew must come. “Oh dear. Poor Uncle. I suppose
you feel stupid now don’t you?” He started to walk towards Ranth, who stood
his ground. Very soon there was less than three meters between them. Aaron
stopped. Ranth spoke first. “I’m a Jedi, Aaron. This armour disguises
the fact, but I am a Jedi. If you cut me down I will become more powerful.
All you would gain will be my lightsabre.” He moved his hands up
to his helmet, trusting in the Force that he would be able to react to any
attack by his nephew, and released the catches. Air hissed as the
hermetic seal opened. He removed the helmet and dropped it to the ground
beside him. Aaron looked amused. “An old man. They sent an old man to retrieve
the Holocron? Oh boy, they must be desperate.” He started to circle Ranth.
Ranth remained calm in the Force and did not turn to follow him. He readied
himself and directed a small portion of the Force to a small hidden
compartment, on the base of his armors jet pack. A hinged door dropped down,
hidden by his Jedi robes. “I may be old, but I have fought more
battles with more people than you’ll ever meet. Your dark Force abilities may
have enhanced your skills, but I doubt they have enhanced your ability to
fight with them. Do you really want to put them to the test?” Aaron moved back around to face Ranth. “I don’t have to. You are unarmed, and I
have no problem with killing you in cold blood. To tell you the truth, I
would have had no problem with killing you at all. Do you realize how long I
have been searching for this Holocron? Five years. That’s a quarter of my
life. I knew from the beginning what I was getting myself into. I’ve made
deals with some of the most corrupt individuals in the sector to find the
information I needed. Do you think the mountain collapsed itself?” He brought
the blade up higher, preparing to strike. “Don’t you think that there is some
justice in destroying you with your own blade? What a place for the great
Tarr Ranth to die. A grubby backwater world where nobody will miss you.” He
brought the blade down and around, but Ranth leapt up and over his nephew. In
mid air he somersaulted, reaching for the Force. As he hit the ground behind
his nephew, he called for his father’s lightsabre, which leapt to his hand
from the hidden compartment in his suit. Just in time, he managed to bring
the green blade up to block the secondary attack from Aaron. The young dark
Jedi looked confused. They held each other in a stand off, both blades locked
together. “Don’t be confused Aaron. I used to be a
bounty hunter, remember? I always come prepared.” He broke the lock bringing
his blade around and down in a swift attack on Aaron. Surprised by the sudden
change in fortune, Aaron was forced backwards. Ranth kept up the offensive
display, hoping that his nephew would just give up. Today was not going to be
that easy. Aaron leapt
backwards, finding higher ground and started to run towards a small hole in
the rock wall. He jammed himself through the narrow gap and was instantly out
of site. Retracting his lightsabre blade Ranth made to follow him, but found
that the opening was too narrow for him to follow in his armour. He knew it
would take too long to remove his armour, so he reached into a small pouch on
his belt and took out a mini thermal detonator. Priming it for three seconds,
he leapt backwards and threw it into the cleft. There was a brief flash of
light and then a two-meter wide ball of intense energy expanded outwards into
the rock. When the explosion receded, there was a perfect two-meter wide
hole. Ranth collected his helmet, put it back on, and went through
cautiously. The chamber was
less than three meters high, but stretched nearly thirty meters back into the
rock. Ranth felt the hairs stick up on his neck. Dark Force energy permeated
the small chamber. Remarkably his low light imaging system didn’t pick up
either the Holocron or Aaron. Ranth idly wondered if he had vaporized them
with the thermal detonator. There was a noise slightly ahead of him and he
ducked to the side. Just in time. A blaster bolt seemed to leap out the
depths of the cave towards him and impacted on the rock behind where he had
just been standing. It momentarily lit up the area around the blaster and
Ranth was able to see that the floor curved downwards to the rear of the
natural chamber. He ran rapidly in that direction, lightsabre at the ready,
and nearly fell over the edge of a deep hole in the cave floor. Clever. Ranth
looked downward and saw a figure clutching to the wall of the shaft five
meters below him. There was still a good ten meters for Aaron to climb down
before he would reach the bottom of the shaft. “You’ll never make it Aaron. I can reach
the floor before you do, you know that. Give up now. I can help you.” All he got in
reply was a series of grunts, and then the figure let go of the shaft and
plummeted to the floor below. Ranth jumped off the side, calling on the Force
to slow his descent, and landed lightly next to the prone figure. He approached
slowly, but something didn’t ring true. There was no feeling of darkness
here, he stretched his sense out wider and caught a touch of dark side
energy. He turned rapidly to see his nephew standing silently at
the top of the shaft. Ranth drew quickly, and fired a small dart from his
wrist-mounted launcher. There was a stifled curse, then his nephew was gone.
Ranth was about to follow, when the figure at his feet groaned quietly. He
stooped down quickly, pulling the robe aside that covered the figure. It was
Trude. He was about to examine her when there was a rush of super compressed
air, followed by the deafening sound of an explosion. Dust and rock rained
down onto him from the roof of the shaft. Acting quickly, he grabbed Trude
and pulled her swiftly to the side of the shaft. He propped her upright as
the debris rained down harder. Then there was only dust and silence. Trude
groaned again. Looking at the
girl closely, he saw the area of her face where her eyes had been plucked
from her sockets. He felt pity for her, but he had no time for that now.
Reaching into her with the Force, he found that she had been drugged. Lucky
for her. Although she was bruised and cut, there were no broken bones. Ranth
concentrated on healing her eye sockets and then bringing her back to
consciousness. As he did so, he detected a strong Force presence growing
inside her. He wondered why he had not detected this before. She groaned
again. “Ranth. Oh no, don’t tell me he got you
too?” Ranth helped
her remain standing. “Your concern is appreciated, but you are
the one with the severe injuries.” She smiled. “I may have received a new gift to
replace my eyes. Would you have a strip of cloth that I can tie around my
head?” Ranth tore some
off of the inside of his robe and handed it to her. She tied it around her head. “That’s better, now I can see where I’m
going.” She pulled herself away from Ranth and started to climb the shaft as
if it was broad daylight inside the cave. “How?” She looked over
her shoulder at Ranth and he could feel the Force strongly in her. He nodded in comprehension. She could see through the Force. “Oh, I see. Hold tight, I have a faster
way.” He took hold of
her and activated his repulsor pack. They were over the edge of the shaft in
seconds. What greeted them ahead was disaster. The entrance to
the cave had been collapsed by the explosion. Rubble extended ten meters into
the cave, effectively blocking any chance of escape. Trude groaned loudly. “Now what?” She turned to Ranth. Ranth
flipped open his belt pouch and removed one small, and one large thermal
detonator. All he had left. “I’m going to make us an exit. Stand as
far back in the cave as you can. There will be no explosion, but the heat
will be intense.” He configured
both devices for slow energy release. It really would mean that there would
be no explosion, just an expanding ball of intense energy. He placed the
smallest at the front of the rubble and stood back. There was a series of
bleeps and then the detonator disappeared in a small ball of bright light
that expanded upwards and outwards into the rock. The result was much the
same as the one he had used to create an entrance to the chamber. Ranth
waited for the rock to cool. When the conditions were right he moved two
meters into the hole and placed the larger detonator. This time he ran out of
the hole at full speed, reaching Trude as the detonator expanded. He grabbed
her and pulled her back over the edge of the shaft, using the Force to help
his repulsor pack. Heat followed them and they hit the ground just in time.
Pushing Trude to a cleft in the side of the shaft he covered her with his
body. Hoping that his limited ability to divert energy, and his armour, would
be enough to protect them. He was in luck. The heat dissipated well before it
had a chance to fully engulf them, but it had made the air inside the cave
incredibly hot. Ranth noticed that Trude was finding it very difficult to
breath. He reached down to his belt and detached a small cylinder from one of
the pouches. He pressed it to Trudes lips and pushed a small stud on its
side. Immediately her breathing eased. The front of
the cave had been unblocked to an area of twenty meters, but it hadn’t
entirely cleared away the rubble from the explosion. What rubble remained had
been fused into a hard glassy substance by the thermal detonators slow build
up of energy. Ranth estimated that there was about a meter of rock separating
them from the open air. He knew that he had to move quickly now, ignoring the
searing heat that still glowed at the heart of the last thermal detonation.
What air had been left within the cave had almost entirely been engulfed by
the heat from the detonation and although his own air supply would last
hours, the portable unit he had given to Trude only had about ten minutes
supply. Ranth removed his lightsabre, altering the frequency and length of
the blade, and plunged it into the rock closest to the outside world. There
was the hiss of melting rock, and the blade kept moving inwards. Then he was
through to open air. The blade
slowly cut an exit hole, large enough for them to crawl out. Although Trude
had not had the protection of Ranths armour, she only needed to quickly pass
through the red-hot rock. Her jump suit and what remained of Ranth’s Jedi
Robe was enough to protect her. Ranth followed her, but it was soon evident
that kneeling in a pool of red hot rock, surrounded by glowing white rocks,
had taken it’s toll on his armour. He staggered upright in some obvious pain,
struggling to release his helmet. When he had finally managed to unlock the
heat damaged clasps, he gasped and drew in the air quickly. Then the helmet
was back on again, but unsealed, as Ranth searched for the subcutaneous
tracking unit that he had fired at Aaron. He read the read-out and almost
swore. “He’s six
kilometers above us and climbing rapidly. Too rapidly. He has a ship?” Trude nodded. “An old modified YT-1500. Fast but
lightly armed. Are you going after him?” In answer there
was the roar of boosted engines and a matt black spacecraft dropped down and
started to hover in front of them. Ranth grabbed Trude, pulling her close to
his helmet speaker. “We have one chance to stop him, but it
means leaving the planet. You won’t be able to let your grandmother know
what’s happening. Are you in or out?” She hesitated
only a moment. “In.” Ranth grabbed
her around the waist, boosted his rocket pack and shot over the top of the Dark
Star III, landing on top of the ship near a rapidly opening hatch. He
guided her on to the ladder, but she seemed to need very little help finding
her way. Within seconds they were in the cockpit area and the airlock hatch
had been closed. “Lock yourself in.” She nodded, as
Ranth removed his helmet and replaced it with a portable monocular system. He
attached a wire from the monocular to a small socked near the neck of his
suit. Suddenly he was all business. “Hold tight. This is going to be rough.” Ranth heard the
small tone that told him that he had a minute until the scanners on the Ki-Ki
warship were again in range. He boosted the engines, keeping as low as
possible, and took them away from the entrance to the mine. At the last
second, he pulled up the ship, straight into the scanner range of the
warship. A klaxon sounded as the warship focused its scans. Ranth ran his own
scan, searching for the tell tale signature of the YT1500. He found it just
on the edge of the dust cloud. Ranth pushed the engines to the limit.
Ignoring the approaching Ki-Ki ship, he sped away from the planet towards the
YT1500. Within half a minute he had closed a quarter of the distance between
them. Ranth opened a communications channel. “Aaron, stop this madness. The Holocron
is corrupting you. You must return to the Jedi Council with me. Only they can
decide whether the Holocron must be kept or destroyed.” There was a
momentary sound of static, they the slightly manic sound of Aaron's voice
filled the cockpit speakers. “You are a fool Ranth. I have already
transmitted the co-ordinates of the base to the Ki-Ki. You’re too late to
stop me entering the cloud and I don’t think that your Jedi sensibilities
will allow you to destroy me and the Holocron both. It’s too valuable to the
Jedi Council. Farewell uncle.” There was a
brief flash of light, and he was gone into the dust cloud. Trude stirred
behind Ranth. “He’s mined the area. Be careful.” Ranth nodded,
not asking how she knew. He gunned the engines up to one hundred and twenty
percent of normal power. Extending his mind outwards through the Force, he
found Trude. By silent consent, they both joined minds. It was like linking
two amplifiers in series. Their combined range doubled their individual
abilities. They saw the mines like beacons standing out upon the starry
skies. The Dark
Star III weaved through the small minefield, having to slow to do so. The
Ki-Ki warship was able to get within targeting range and it’s batteries
opened fire. However, despite it’s best efforts, the ship was unable to lock
on to the small ship. The Dark Star III dodged quickly in to the dust
cloud, leaving the Ki-Ki warship having to slow rapidly to avoid the mines.
Ranth breathed a sigh of relief. He stretched out into the Force again,
and with Trude’s help he was able to locate the other ship, deep in the cloud.
He broke contact with Trude. He could feel the hurt in her mind. “Why?” Ranth, answered
her as best he could. “He refuses to listen to reason. We
tried. He is a danger to the sector and the Jedi with the Holocron in his
possession. I must make a decision, one that may haunt me for a long time. I
don’t want you to be a part of that decision.” There was a
bleep on the scanners and the cloud in front of them cleared momentarily.
Ranth saw the YT-1500, engines blazing at full burn, less than three hundred
meters ahead of them. He turned the transmitter to tight beam, high power,
and targeted the transport. “This is the Dark Star III. I have
you within my weapons targeting scanners. Surrender the Holocron and heave
too. Failure to do so will result in your immediate destruction. This is your
last warning, do you understand?” In answer to
his hail, there was a brief flash of light towards the rear of the transport.
Defense screens flared as a proton torpedo impacted. Ranth cursed as he
fought to regain control, lateral thrusters failed and he found himself
having to use the engines own directional thrust units to negate any spin. He
made his decision. “May the Force forgive me.” He activated
the turbo laser. Unable to use the scanners accurately in the dust cloud he
used the Force, and brought the guns around to bear on the YT-1500. He
paused. Was this the right thing to do? He looked to the Force but it had no
answers. Then Trude’s voice ended all doubt. “Do, it. Do it now.” Twin streaks of
energy bolts sped out towards the YT-1500, catching her across the already
weakening shields. There was the briefest flash of energy meeting energy and
then the shields collapsed completely. Bolts of high-energy laser fire broke
through the surface of the craft’s skin and within seconds it was an
expanding ball of light. Ranth slowed down to avoid the explosion, skewing
the Dark Star III slightly deeper in to the dust cloud. He hung his
head, feeling his age for the first time in the last two days. Trude leaned forward,
and rested her hand on his shoulder. “Take me away from here, I never want to
see this damned system again.” Tarr Ranth
nodded and set the Dark Star III a new course. Arrow of Time 2001 short
story by Louis Turfrey Thirty-six
years after Episode IV – A New Hope Histories – Set after the Ki-Ki Invasion of Leogard, this Louis
Turfrey tale shows Tarr Ranth’s encounter with his
mother, their first meeting for decades.
Set on Leogard, this shows the state of play in the war – how Setnin forces have
had to corral themselves into resistance cells to fight back at the
oppression of the Ki-Ki Sectors invading armies. Cast of
Characters Tarr Ranth Tasmin De’Athe Trude De’Athe Aaron De’Athe Stadler Mendozar Maarkus |