- Joined
- Nov 27, 2005
- Messages
- 67,946
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- #1
"And when man faces destiny, destiny
ends and man comes into his own."
—Andre Malraux
ends and man comes into his own."
—Andre Malraux
The engines of Andraste’s shuttle came to a grinding halt, flinging the craft out of hyperspace and into the vast blackness of the cosmos. Power in the ship was fading, and emergency power would only be able to sustain him and the baby girl for a few days. Were it not for the need to disappear from the Emperor and make him believe they were dead, he never would’ve ejected the ion reactor from the ship, as he knew it would leave them stranded.
Were it necessary, he would lock himself in one of the rear chambers and vent the atmosphere from within it, saving the rest of the oxygen in the shuttle for the girl. It was a sacrifice he was willing to make for her survival. Her destiny was too important for her to die in a dark galactic wasteland.
Jhon wondered if she'd felt what he felt. It was only minutes after jumping into hyperspace that he felt a great cry, a piercing voice that, for a moment, shattered the Force and killed his very soul. His hands still shook, his heart still wept, as he knew what it was. His ruse had worked, and Andraste believed he and the girl were dead. He had to lie, he had to deceive, and he had to cheat.
He had become Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Yet that wasn't the worst of it. The wailing not only had grown louder before it disappeared, it grew darker. The Force itself, for however brief a moment, became darker than he'd ever felt it. Something had gone terribly wrong, something about Andraste herself, and he feared the monster she thought lived inside her might have finally won. And it would be entirely his fault.
He looked behind him, behind the pilot’s chair, to make sure the girl was still laying in the rear chair, snug in the blanket he had found for her shortly after leaving Lehon. He kept looking back, even though he didn’t know why. She couldn’t get up and walk away, and if she fell he would all but certainly hear her, but for some reason he kept checking to make sure he was there. It was an oddly paternal instinct that he’d never prepared himself to feel. It didn’t seem right, and yet, at the same time, it did.
The Grand Master turned back, smiling at this emotional reaction in spite of everything else he was feeling, and scanned the area, hoping to get an idea as to where he was before the onboard computer started to die. He was, surprisingly, in the Expansion Region, at least in its southern corners, farther away from the Deep Core than he had intended. He was just shy of the jungle planet Noe'ha'on and the hyperspace route it sat on, so close to being more easily detectable by a passing starship. He would have to rely on the will of the Force...and just a little bit of luck.
Punching a few codes into the computer, he reached the firewall of a nearby Jedi communication relay, one that would direct a distress signal directly where needed it.
“State your purpose and authorization,” the monotonous voice of the beacon’s computer stated.
“Scramble code five to the gravy train,” Jhon said, shaking his head at the ridiculous codename, “care of the flightless bird.”
The beacon made no further comment, nor did it need to. It was waiting for a message, whether it be text or audio, and Jhon had a coded one ready to send to whoever was commanding the Light of the Force, and it read:
THIS IS THE GRAND MASTER. STRANDED WITH PRECIOUS CARGO ONE LIGHT YEAR FROM NOE’HA’ON. REQUEST ASSISTANCE. PREPARE FOR MY ARRIVAL DISCREETLY. CLEAR ALL PERSONNEL IN THE SHUTTLE BAY AND BETWEEN THE BAY AND A PRIVATE AREA. ARRIVAL MUST BE NEED TO KNOW ONLY. FURTHER INFORMATION WILL BE GIVEN UPON MY ARRIVAL. MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU.
Now, all he could do was wait and hope that the vessel was in range.