Exile/Chapter 7
From UNICOMP, the Universal Compendium
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✦Exile✦ |
Chapter 7 – Jungle Mire
Location Unknown
Second Month, Twentieth Day, 22 BBY (Galactic Standard Calendar)
2:25 PM Shipboard Time
Darkness. The cold of space. The Jedi feels it all around him. He knows not where he is, or whence he came, but he knows that he is safe. He cannot move his body, yet he knows that it is whole. He tries his eyes and finds that he can open them. He looks down. There is a ship there. He realizes he must get to this ship or he will be trapped. He does not know why he knows this, or why he will be trapped if he does not reach the ship, but it feels right to him. It is the same type of knowledge as that of those who have lost limbs; they know that the limb should be there. He tries to move and does, but not in any way he knows. It is almost as if he is moving in a dimension beyond the third with which he is so intimately familiar. It is almost like he is moving time itself. The ship slowly rotates below him. He can see a damaged droid on the left wing of the craft. Sparks ignite and quickly die as stray oxygen molecules drift past bared wires. He begins to wonder how he can see this ship through the darkness of space. He turns around, again in that fourth-dimensional way, and sees a star. The star is an intensely bright electric blue. He can see a few planets in its light. He turns around again. The ship is coming closer to him...or is he falling toward it? He feels the suck of its gravity, pulling him toward it; he'll surely be crushed by it—
Matt Lisiak awoke in his cockpit. He had been knocked out for approximately half an hour, according to the readouts on his monitor. He tried to remember how he had got here, and it started to come back to him. The battle. The devastation. His entire fleet, wiped out except for him. Crollia was surely destroyed.
At least one good thing had happened, though. Ba'an Lagard was dead, and so was his apocalyptic device.
But where in Corscan was he now? The bright blue star in front of him offered no answers.
"A3, try to raise the Temple. Maybe they can locate me."
There was a slight pause, and then:
>UNKNOWN COMMAND
>SYSTEM ERROR 88 RESPONSE NOT FOUND
>BEGIN SYSCHK
>SYSCHK FAILURE
>BEGIN DUMP
>978:2:20:12:00:00 SYSCHK SUCCESSFUL
>978:2:20:12:30:00 SYSCHK SUCCESSFUL
>978:2:20:13:00:00 SYSCHK SUCCESSFUL
>978:2:20:13:30:00 SYSCHK SUCCESSFUL
>978:2:20:13:55:32 UNKNOWN EVENT
>ATTEMPTING RESTORE...
>RESTORE UNSUCCESSFUL
>BEGIN CHECK OF UNIT R2-A3 A000174-S
>BEGIN SWCHK
>*/ROOT/AI..........20%
>*/ROOT/WPNAIM.......0%
>*/ROOT/NAV..........0%
>*/ROOT/SENSOR......10%
>*/ROOT/LIFESYS.....75%
>
>BEGIN PHSCHK...DONE
>SECTOR 07 – OFFLINE
>SECTOR 12 – CRITICAL
>SECTOR 36 – OFFLINE
>HULL BREECH DETECTED
>
>SWITCHING TO MANUAL FLIGHT
>GOOD LUCK
This was bad. No navigator meant manual flight, a slow and tedious process when moving from system to system, or indeed, inter-systemically from planet to planet. Without the navigational computer to aid him, it meant he was forced to fly at sub-luminous speed to avoid the perils of space. Even with the advanced speeds that the Jedi Starfighter could achieve, it would still take a long time to get anywhere in the system. Matt wondered if the last line printed was from A3 himself or just a sarcastic note from one of the programmers. He supposed it really didn't matter. The life support functions of A3 were working; that was the most important thing of all.
"A3, can you find any planets in this system?"
WORKING...
>7 PLANETS DETECTED
>DISTANCE FROM SHIP:
>1 – 3.1415 AU
>2 – 2.345 AU
>3 – 1.238 AU
>4 – 10.129 AU
>5 – 127.001 AU
>6 – 334.965 AU
>7 – 667.042 AU
>FURTHER DETAILS:
>%A#^DW!
>SYSTEM ERROR 32 PROGRAM CORRUPT
Matt sighed as he looked at the readout. The third planet seemed the most promising, so he turned the ship and proceeded toward it.
• • •
Location Unknown
Fourth Month, Thirty-Fifth Day, 22 BBY (Galactic Standard Calendar)
10:42 AM Shipboard Time
It had taken over 2 months, but Matt had finally reached the third planet from the blue sun. Unfortunately, it appeared that the planet did not have an orbital spaceport, and Matt would have to try his luck on the planet's surface. Worse, with A3 out of commission, it meant that Matt would have to try and find a suitable landing site on the surface manually. The chances of successfully finding a landing pad manually was essentially nil, and indeed, less than nil given the planet's seemingly all-covering jungle. Still, he had a greater chance of surviving if he attempted to land than if he stayed where he was. His food rations had run out and the life support systems were starting to fail. He took a deep breath and began his perilous descent.
The clouds cleared and the trees below loomed closer and closer. Matt wrestled with the controls, trying to slow the hurtling descent of the Incendio. Warning lights and alarms blared in the cockpit. Matt tried to ignore them and aimed the ship at a small area of marshland in front of the ship.
The ship hit the soggy ground nearly parallel. It proceeded to skip on the surface a few times, before coming to a rest near the tree line and promptly sank into the muck about three feet.
An indicator on the now barely-functioning control panel showed that the atmosphere outside the ship contained large amounts of ammonia and was therefore unsuitable for breathing. Matt put on a rebreather and, after considering for a moment, a pair of goggles to protect his eyes from the noxious fumes.
After exiting the cockpit, he proceeded to attempt to release the damaged R2-A3 from its input socket on the ship's frame. After struggling for a few minutes, he managed to get the astromech droid out of the ship. This was not without consequence, however, as the ship sank further and further into the swamp. By the time Matt had freed A3 the ship was almost entirely submerged, and shortly after it was completely covered.
Calming himself, Matt used the Force to try and lift the ship out of the marsh. He succeeded, but the immense pressure of the amorphous muck's resistance to movement had buckled the framework of the already damaged ship and left it flattened. It would never fly again. He tossed the ship into the trees in disgust.
"I didn't think that anything could be recovered from Manrek's Marsh."
Instinctively Matt drew his lightsaber and turned toward the unknown speaker. There he saw an Arconan standing at the edge of the trees. I should have felt him coming, he thought. I was too focused on the ship to notice. Stupid!
"Is something wrong?" the Arconan asked.
Matt realized he was still wielding his lightsaber and put it away.
"You startled me."
"I'm sorry. I've just never met anyone like you before. Are you with one of the mining companies?"
"Not quite. I am with the Jedi Order."
"Je-di? What is that?"
"It is a person who studies, serves and trains in the ways of the Force."
"The Force?"
"The Force is the energy that is all around us, and also within us. It is an energy field created by all living beings, and it binds the galaxy together."
"I would like to know more about this Force."
"Perhaps someday you will. But for now, perhaps you could direct me to a place where I could have my droid repaired."
A3 beeped somewhat spastically behind them.
"My father owns a repair shop. We usually only service the mining droids, but we might be able to help you."
"Excellent. Please lead the way then."
"By the way, my name is Waratek Waz. You can call me Tek."
"Pleased to meet you. I am Matt Lisiak, Jedi Knight."
"Welcome to Cona, Mr. Jedi Knight."
• • •
Near Mensix Mining Company outpost MC7-A, Planet Cona, Teke Ro System, Inner Rim Territories, Corscan Galaxy
Fourth Month, Thirty-Fifth Day, 22 BBY (Galactic Standard Calendar)
7:27 PM Local Time
The bright blue sun Teke Ro had fallen below the horizon by the time they reached the small village that had sprung up near the mining facility, and the stars began to appear in the sky between the cloud cover. Tek led the way to his father's shop, a small hut in the middle of the village. A3 followed behind them, beeping and whistling.
"If anyone can fix your droid, it's my father," Tek said, opening the door.
"Waratek, is that you?" a stern voice from inside asked.
"Yes, father," the youth replied.
"Where have you been? I thought I told you to be home before sunset."
Tek's father stared at the doorway as Matt walked through it.
"Who is this?"
"This is Matt Lisiak. I saw his ship crash into Manrek's Marsh."
"Manrek's Marsh? How many times have I told you not to go that far?"
"If I might interrupt, sir," Matt said, "if he hadn't been near that marsh I would have never been able to find my way to this village in such a short time. Your son quite likely saved my life."
Tek's father seemed to soften a little.
"Well, I'm just glad you're okay. I'm Tazal Waz, by the way. What can I do for you?" he said, turning to Matt.
"He's a Jedi, father."
Matt thought he saw Tazal's face darken for second; he couldn't be sure, as he wasn't an expert in Arconan facial expressions.
"I've been told that you might be able to fix my droid." Matt motioned slightly toward Tek.
"Is that so?" Tazal asked, glancing at the boy. "Well, let's take a look."
He moved over to the droid, bent down and proceeded to examine the small droid.
"Blaster scarring... armor's pierced... and some things I've never seen before. What happened to this droid?"
"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me."
"I can believe that. Would you hand me that hydrospanner?" he asked absentmindedly.
Matt moved over to the bench to pick up the tool, but before he could reach it, it lifted up in the air and floated over to the hand of Tek, who handed it to Tazal. Matt stared at the boy as he helped his father.
There's more to this boy than I thought...
"Sir, would you mind if I borrowed Tek for a minute?"
Tazal grunted noncommittally. He was focused fully on the droid which now sat in the corner of the room. He waved his hand to show that it was okay. Matt turned to Tek and motioned him into a small room off of the main room, which appeared to be a bedroom.
"Would you mind if I took some of your blood?" Matt asked, trying to use the Force to influence the boy. He would not easily be swayed, however.
"What do you need it for?"
"I need to test your midichlorian count."
"What's that?"
Matt proceeded to explain about midichlorians and their connection to the Force. The boy sat in awe as he talked, fascinated by Matt's description of the world beyond his own.
Matt took a small sample of his blood and placed it in a small machine which he took out of his pocket.
"Ow!" he said, but it was more of a reflex than an actual cry of pain. While the machine went through its motions, Matt answered the boy's questions about the Corscan Galaxy. Suddenly, the machine beeped and spit out a small strip of paper. Matt looked at the strip thoughtfully while scratching his beard.
"Just as I suspected..." he muttered quietly, "Almost as high as Master Windu's...how did they not find him before..."
"What are you saying?"
Matt looked up at the boy, and then asked, "How would you like to learn to use the Force and be a Jedi like me?"
The boy looked at him for a moment, and then asked in a small voice, "Would I have to leave home?"
"Yes."
The boy seemed to stare into space for a while. Finally, he looked up at Matt and said, "All right. Arca says I'm supposed to go with you."
"Who is Arca?"
The boy shook his head and simply said, "He talks to me sometimes."
Matt stared at the boy for a little while with a puzzled look on his face before saying, "Let's get some sleep. We'll tell your father in the morning."
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✦Exile✦ |
