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The Wanderers 2002 short story by Louis Turfrey Thirty-seven
years before Episode IV-A New Hope There was a twinkling of light and the large disk like shape extended out of hyperspace and towards the edge of the Wennicas System. Its matt blue hull absorbed starlight like a black hole. The only true way to judge its massive bulk was to examine just how much space it blacked out as it approached. Anyone close by would have been awe struck by its ten-kilometre diameter. Eighteen fighter scale craft exited from the ship and sped away in three groups of six. Shortly thereafter they were followed by a larger cruiser size craft. Wennicas System, eight days later “Rinsome, you are clear for parking orbit. Welcome to the Setnin Sector.” The controllers voice came over the communications console as Decon Drak piloted the massive, ten-kilometre wide, spacecraft into its assigned planetary orbit. Massive solar panels began to unfold as ablative armour slid back to release worker droids. “Confirmed Wennicas Control. We require only fifty-two hours in which to run maintenance checks. Please advise of exit path and departure corridor.” There was a brief pause and the reply came back. “Affirmative. Co-ordinates are being sent now. Enjoy your stay.” “Thanks control. Rinsome out.” Decon turned around and fed the details into the maintenance computer, starting the service droids. The systems showed that droids had been dispatched. Decon turned round to his commander, General Tolin. “Sir, orbit insertion completed, mass drivers off line, M-class droids are in situ. Weapons at sixty-five percent efficiency and climbing. Shield strength nominal.” The General moved off his observation platform and examined the vista before him. “It’s been a long time Drak. Too long. Any word from the Jedi yet?” The pilot shook his head. “No Sir, but they’ve only been searching for a week, I’m sure they’ll get back to us as soon as they have found something.” The six Sunwing S-76 long-range fighters exited hyperspace and came to a dead stop. All six fighters closed until they were in visual range of each other’s cockpits. The six occupants of the different craft each closed their eyes. “Carmen, Seca, Orrori concentrate on the forward part of this system. Egrath, Durant and I will concentrate on the rearward part.” The thoughts went out from Jedi Coru Dern as she dropped deeper into the Force and combined her capabilities with her colleagues. They had been searching for the lost Setnin Jedi for a week, and as yet had found no trace either in or out of the Force. “Coru, I have many different Force readings, but they seem to moving.” It was Orrori, the Wookie. Her words flowed in easily understandable basic, her mind linked to Coru’s, and they combined their abilities with the rest of the team. “Confirmed. They are approaching this vector at unmatchable speed. I am unable to get any positive readings. Suggest we raise shields.” The group raised shields as one. There was a spark of energy where each shield overlapped. “Targets are getting nearer and should be visible about,” there was a flash of light outside the cockpits, “now.” Six X-Wing craft exited hyperspace simultaneously, taking up flanking positions on each side of the Sunwings. The Jedi broke contact, preparing weapons systems. A local broadband message lit up the communications consoles. Coru flipped the activate switch. “Unidentified Jedi. Please state your purpose for entering this system.” The impression of the Force was strong in the craft surrounding them. Coru hit the channel opening switch. “Unidentified X-Wings, we are Renegade Flight Alpha. If my reading of the Force is correct then you may be the people we are looking for. There are twelve others like us searching for you throughout the Setnin Sector.” Coru felt a touch through the Force and allowed the unidentified contact access to her thoughts. The com board came to life again, this time directed at her craft only. “Greetings Coru Dern. I am Blake De’Athe; please lock your craft to these jump co-ordinates and jump as close together, in single file, as you can. The corridor is extremely narrow.” Coru confirmed and fed the co-ordinates to the navacomputers within the rest of her group. The six X-Wing craft lined up and jumped into hyperspace. The Sunwings did the same, but just before they jumped the group joined minds again. “Did you see those ships, blacker than a dwarf star - and so sleek.” Coru smiled at Orrori’s thoughts. Trust a Wookie to see the beauty in technology. “I’m more worried about the power of the mind that touched Coru. There was darkness there as well as light.” This from Carmen, the Janite. Coru nodded to herself as they made the jump. Yes there had been darkness there; maybe they had made the wrong decision after all. Then the swirl of hyperspace engulfed them and all they could do was wait. The X-wing carrying Trude De’Athe and Nias Derrill exited hyperspace and swung around towards the large solitary asteroid that orbited near the edge of the system. She felt a touch at the surface of her mind. Trude activated the com unit from the navigator’s position and got an immediate response from the hidden base, within the asteroid. “Trude, this is Nera - we thought you were dead. Take the delta corridor and park up as soon as you can. I’ll be down to meet you. We need to talk.” The X-Wing touched down lightly on its thrusters as Nera entered the landing bay with Master Jedi Zeboden. Zeb’s face darkened as first Nias Derril and then Trude De’Athe exited the modified X-Wing. Nera was not so polite to Derril. “What are you doing here traitor?” Derril raised an eyebrow but seemed unaffected by her comments. Instead, he looked towards Zeboden and bowed. “Master Zeboden. I need to contact the Raven Corporation and inform them of my escape.” Zeboden frowned but nodded to Nera. Nera also frowned but motioned Nias to follow her. Zeboden waited until Nera and Nias had left before turning to Trude. “Miss De’Athe, I feel that all has not gone well with you over the last few days. The dark side is with you.” Trude nodded, pulling back the hood that had been covering her head and letting her cloak fall open so that he could see the grafted replacement for her hand. “You can say that again.” Nias followed Nera in silence. You didn’t need to be a Jedi to know that she was upset. However, she controlled her anger and made light talk with him until they arrived at the communications room. She explained the situation to the droid in charge and then left the room. The door clicked shut behind her. Nias sighed. He fed the communications channel into the complicated array of equipment. There was the buzz of a scrambling device and then the channel cleared. Two amber eyes nearly filled the screen in front of him. “Nias, good to see you back. Was the mission a success?” Nias shook his head. “Only partially, I was unable to get access to the intended targets. However, there was some mention of a large force being sent to one of the planets at the heart of the sector. I have downloaded and collated the information from the SP1 Droids and will transmit it in a few moments. However, I did pick up some useful information that will be confirmed by Trude De’Athe. Aaron De’Athe is alive and has joined forces with Commander Brotus. It appears Brotus’s hate of the Jedi does not include the Dark Side.” Reaching down he pulled a data actuator and remote link up from the console. Lifting a flap of skin, just above his waistline, he revealed a small connector terminal and plugged in the remote link. “Downloading now.” Nera De’Athe stood with Zeboden as the 21-C unit scanned Trude’s eyes and hand. The droids photoreceptors flashed as it moved over the replacement appendage. “The hand has not been full integrated with your bio-neural network and would have to be replaced with a full bionic if you wished it to be removed. The eyes are a different matter and have fully integrated several hundred thousand new nerve systems with your brain. They cannot be removed without severe brain damage occurring.” Trude nodded. “What about the pain in the hand, will that go away when it is removed?” The droid scanned deeper. “The pain is caused by an electronic implant that seems to be using your nervous system to produce some sort of carrier wave.” Trude nodded and sighed. “We will have to remove the hand then,” she turned to Nera and the Jedi Master, “however, we need to find out where this signal is going first.” Brotus smiled as he saw the series of readouts from the hyperwave transmitter embedded in Trude De’Athe’s new ‘hand’. His new ally, Aaron De’Athe stood next to him, a look of impatience on his face. “Have we tracked the location yet?” The young Dark Jedi to his left concentrated for a moment before answering. “Yes Master. Our fighters have already launched and will be arriving at their location shortly.” Aaron smiled to himself. “I expect nothing less than a massacre.” The communications officer handed the flimsy slip to Zeboden and turned towards Nera. His manner was one of deference. “Ma'am, Ghost Squadron are inbound with six extra contacts. Master De’Athe expects to arrive within seven minutes. We have also tracked a second set of contacts, at least twenty ships, inbound on the same vector that Miss De’Athe used earlier.” Nera nodded and turned to Zeboden, who had examined the slip. “It appears they are using a series of fake transponders. The chances of tracking the signal are very low.” He looked at Trude. “I’m afraid we will need you in tactical young Jedi.” Trude returned his gaze, wincing as the medical droid tested the sensors on her new hand, suddenly realising the import of his words. “It will be an honour sir.” Trude arrived in tactical just as Blake and six strangers walked in through the other door. Blake nodded and smiled at her, touching her through the Force. The strangers all looked in her direction and one of them frowned slightly, staring at her hand. She felt a wave of Force energy extend towards her and allowed the minds to touch hers. “You have suffered and you have survived. The Dark Side has tempted you and yet you have still come through into the light. You are a true Jedi.” The thought might have come from one or all of the Jedi, but Trude knew then that Blake had found some new allies. Blake's voice silenced the chatter in the room. “Very soon now, twenty craft - most of them of Ki-Ki design, will attack the asteroid that the Raven Corporation has so kindly loaned us. As you know, our transport is currently undergoing modifications and we will be unable to use it to escape. I suggest that we focus all of our abilities on maintaining a standard defence until we have no other choice but to retaliate. We are not murderers, and we will not stoop down to the level of these Dark Jedi. Trude will man the tactical scanners and feed as much information as possible via a Force link. Obey her as you would obey me; trust her as you would trust me. Today she became a full Jedi.” There was a murmur of approval throughout the room and several of the younger Padawans looked at her and Blake in turn. Trude felt their thoughts and silenced their doubts about her ability by sending them some images of what she had endured. Several of them paled. “Shadow leader to Shadow group, prepare to engage weapons systems.” Twenty cannons started charging simultaneously as all of the Dark Jedi activated their weapons and targeting systems. “Prepare Shadow bombs.” Twenty proton torpedo launchers targeted on the asteroid. “Fire.” Twenty proton torpedoes launched together as the craft peeled away, each torpedo staying exactly where it had been launched. Onboard the asteroid Trude frowned as she saw the craft peel away. She reached out with the Force, trying to get a feel on what was happening with their attackers. She recoiled as she felt the wall of dark energy rushing her way. “Master, something is coming.” Trude fell deeper into the Force. Pushing out senses that she had long relied on to guide her through her everyday life, she threw her mind forward. “Multiple targets, I am unable to get a lock.” She felt the weight of the Dark Side pressing at the back of her mind, tempting her to use it. She was considering the possibility when there was a voice inside her mind, one she had not heard for a long time. “No. That is not the way Trude. Wait, relax, remember what Blake taught you.” Trude felt the Force envelope her as she linked to each one of the Jedi who waited in the room. Even the six strangers joined in the battle meld, finally accompanied by Zeboden and Blake. She nearly gasped as Blake opened up his mind to her, and to those around her. “Twenty torpedo shaped bombs, they have been accelerated by the Force, but I am unable to get a lock on them. It is like they don’t exist.” She activated the auto tracking on the guns, which fired ineffectually at the approaching cylinders. The rest of the joined minds pulled closer and then focused on the nearest one of the cylinders. Trude guided them as close as the force would let her, but there was a dark shadow over the device that stopped her going any closer. “They are protecting the devices with Dark Force energy, I don’t know how to penetrate it.” Blake's mind joined hers more closely and she felt him looking at the object with her. “The energy is confusing the targeting scanners on the guns. They aren’t able to track accurately. Thirty seconds and they will impact. All of you join with me.” The Jedi joined closer, becoming one with the Force. The communications officer looked around him as the bodies nearby started to glow slightly. Then there was a perceptible feel of motion. “What's happening?” The officer was looking at Blake, but it was Zeboden who answered. “We are moving out of the way.” The Dark Jedi known as Shadow Leader felt the powerful probes from the station and smiled to himself as he projected the field of Dark Force energy around the missile he was controlling. Then there was a perceptible change in the Force, tremors ran towards him of Force energy and the very space started to churn about the asteroid. There was an intense pressure on his head and then his nose started to bleed. “Shadow Leader to Shadow Group, hold your ground. You know the price of failure.” There was a general murmur over the communications link. Everybody knew the price of failure, they had seen the severed heads often enough. “Something is happening, the station is not moving as far as it should? Why?” Blake turned to the communications officer, who gulped and looked at the Master Jedi who was now glowing a bright colour of purple. “Sir, I have no idea, maybe it’s to do with the mass generators.” Blake broke the link with the rest of the group. “What mass generators?” The officer looked nervous but pulled up a schematic on a nearby monitor. “We use salvaged Imperial mass generators to alter the hyperspace routes around this station. It means there are only two narrow hyperspace corridors to the station. Without the right directions, ships will wreck their hyperdrive units if they try to approach.” Blake looked momentarily annoyed. “We have bought ourselves another two minutes of grace as the torpedoes realign their courses. How do we turn off these generators?” The young officer gulped air. “We can’t sir. They are controlled by a master code that only the Raven knows, for security.” Blake let out a deep sigh. “So there is no way to turn them off and we have twenty unknown warheads moving in this direction.” Trude chose that time to interrupt. “Make that eighty.” Nias was walking towards the communications and tactical centre when he felt the floor start to shift beneath him. He ran the rest of the way and found the Jedi all in deep concentration, most of them rooted to the floor. The air was tense with the atmosphere of power. He tapped one of the communications officers on the shoulder. The man nearly jumped through the ceiling. “What’s happening?” Explosions rocked the shields of the asteroid as the automated weapons systems took out most of the sixty standard proton torpedoes. One of the missiles penetrated the Force energy surrounding the Dark Jedi torpedoes and there was a brilliant flash of light that tore at the space around it. The fifteen that made it through rocked the shields and several sections failed. Nias stood at the command console, a thin cable running from his beltline to the computer systems. His eyes were closed and perspiration ran down is face. “They‘re Fusion bombs. No way will the shields take that pounding.” Nias checked the systems. “Generators will be down in ten seconds.” That left them twenty seconds to move the asteroid further away. Nias knew it wouldn’t be enough. He started searching around the systems, desperately rerouting as much power to the shields as he could. He went deeper and deeper, tripping old command codes as he did so. The station started to move, something registered in the corner of Nias’s mind. It was old but it still had power. This just might work. “Everybody grab hold of something.” Shadow Leader watched as the missiles impacted on the shields, felt space start to collapse around the asteroid and then gunned his engines. There was a flash of light as the surrounding matter within the region was sucked back in towards the explosion. Half of the group of attackers did not escape the blast, but Shadow Leader reflected that it was the price you pay for success. As the blast dissipated he slowed his ship and turned it to face where the asteroid had once been. All that was left was a bright star, barely the size of a fighter craft. “Contact base, let them know that the mission was a success.” Wennicas System, sixteen hours later Five billion tons of asteroid appeared out of hyperspace on the edge of the system, and started to tumble in towards the fifth planet. As it came within range of the massive gravity field of the gas giant, it’s spin started to slow until it settled in to a standard orbital pattern. “Is he alive?” Trude De’Athe looked inquiringly at the medical droid, which continued to minister to Nias Derril. “Yes. Though his vital signs are stable, his brain is showing a massive increase in electrophysical and bioneural function. Because of the amount of synthetic replacement parts that have been grafted onto his body, I am unable to tell if there is permanent damage until he awakens.” The droid appeared to check the readings on the nearby scanners. “Which should be any moment now.” Nias stirred on the examination platform and his eyes flickered open momentarily. “Ooh, my head hurts.” Trude smiled. Worldship Rinsome, two days later General Tolin shook hands with Blake De’Athe and welcomed him onboard the giant craft. Blake examined the generals’ uniform and smiled. “Not often you see an Old Republic uniform nowadays.” The general smiled and motioned for the Jedi Master to follow him. “It was my fathers. The rank is honorary I’m afraid. It’s was passed down to me on his death. My father that built this ship.” Blake nodded. “It’s kind of you to offer us sanctuary. We could do with some time to rest and regroup.” The General looked concerned and stopped in his tracks. “Master Jedi. I think you misunderstand us. We are not offering you sanctuary; we are offering you a home. Since your father was one of the original Jedi who helped rescue my people and my family, I owe him and his son a life debt.” Blake was taken aback for a moment but was relieved nonetheless. “In that case you can consider that life debt repaid. I’m sure my father would also have agreed that a life debt is repaid when the person that it is owed to dies.” The General nodded. “He tried to convince me that it had ended with my fathers death.” Blake looked startled for a moment. “Your father died before my father? That can’t be right, he was killed in the Jedi purge. Darth Vader himself told me. One of his friends betrayed him, a man called Talaihin.” The General shook his head. “Not so. Let me tell you what really happened.” The old man watched as the two leaders, one of Jedi and the other of his people, walked through into the giant arboretum. His vantage point, one hundred feet above them, gave him an unparalleled view of the interior of the ship. He remembered how he had gotten there, the loss of his wife and the kidnapping of his son. The pursuit by the Imperials and the eventual escape from Setnin space into Wild Space. It had been a long time since he had seen the familiar stars in this sector of the galaxy. He stretched out his mind and touched his pupils through the Force. They answered him, each one of them eager to tell him what had happened, what they had discovered. He felt the mind of the man below him and knew that soon he would have to meet and explain to him what had occurred. He had waited too long. The Force demanded reunification. “My son, you have no idea how difficult this is going to be for me.” The Wanderers 2002 short story by Louis Turfrey Thirty-seven
years before Episode IV-A New Hope Histories – The
story that tells of the return to the Setnin Sector of the huge
worldship the Rinsome, and the effect it will possibly have on
the fate and future of the sector.
Filled with Setnin Jedi, and away from Setnin for many
decades, the ship holds many secrets – and truths… Cast
of Characters Second
Officer Decon Drak General
Arco Tolin Nias Derril Jedi Trude
De’Athe Jedi Nera
De’Athe Master Jedi
Zeboden Master Jedi
Blake De’Athe Jedi Coru
Dern Jedi Orrori Jedi Carmen Jedi Seca Jedi Durant Jedi Egrath Master Jedi
Notami De’Athe |