Power stone Goal: 74/300
Here's another chapter, hope you all enjoy and please feel free to leave a comment! I love responding to people's questions and just generally seeing your reactions to things.
Hope you enjoy and have a good night/day!
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The hanger bay was filled with a rhythmic thrumming noise as the tractor beams slowly lowered the relatively large escape pods. Dulled green metal hulls shimmered softly amidst the hanger-bay lighting, softly landing in the midst of several hundred clone troopers who each had a DC-15A blaster rifle pointed at the pods.
Maintenance droids quickly left the hanger, followed by the small crew of officers that were assigned to clearance checks earlier in the day. In contrast, Obi Wan stepped out of a nearby turbo-lift, his battle armour fully on display beneath his dirtied brown cloak. His lightsaber was already in his hand, not activated, but at the ready should the situation require some 'aggressive negotiations'.
A vibration softly shifted throughout the expansive space as the Venator finally began withdrawing towards the Republic fleet proper. The motion made several of the clone troopers shift awkwardly and nervously, several of them checking their brothers next to them to ensure that everything was copasetic.
The pods hissed suddenly, the compression of the tractor beams narrowing down and disappearing, allowing the inside atmosphere to splash against their hulls. Fingers tightened on triggers as Obi Wan finally reach the commander of the clones, the man sporting an aqua-like command colour that signified his position as a 'Marine' so to speak.
"Report." The Jedi commanded gently whilst stroking his beard.
"Nothing yet General... There has been no movement as of yet and the tractor beam wasn't disrupted or challenged." Obi Wan nodded, his left hand pausing in his beard as he finished considering his next course of action.
"Scan the pods, ensure the life signs are accurate." The clone commander nodded and snapped his head towards two of the more veteran clones next to him. Both of them stowed their weapons and pulled out a small tablet device that immediately began beeping loudly, a horizontal beam of light flashing out and moving up and down the pods.
Only a moment later the devices trilled four times, each denoting a life-sign detected. The two clone troopers pulled back and drew their weapons again. Obi Wan narrowed his eyes and reached out with the force. Today his connection with the force had been odd, to say the least, but he still couldn't help but ask it for answers...
Which he received zero of. His gut was screaming at him to open the escape pods already whilst his mind was pushing for caution. His heart was asking him to at the very least call Anakin back to the fleet so they could engage whoever these people were together... And yet, the force was serenely silent. The only emotion, or feeling, coming from the universal power known as the force was anticipation. He bit down on his tongue silently, without changing his facial expression, before he gave a command he very well could come to regret later.
"Open the pods. Shut down all the Hanger bay exits and entrances." The clone commander pointed at a clone trooper and quickly snapped his hand backwards towards the security console in the middle of the bay. Next, the commander whirled his right hand in a circular motion with his index finger pointing upwards.
As if that was a command in and of itself the clones closest to the pods rushed up to the exterior consoles and cautiously worked through the opening procedures. "I hope this works out the way you intend it to General..." The commander whispered out with a hint of dread.
"Nothing is ever truly certain commander, except the force that is, and I trust the force far more than myself in this current moment." The clone grunted and pulled two blaster pistols from their holsters, pointing them at the pods' entrances.
"Ready when you are sirs!" One of the clones shouted from near the pods.
Obi Wan merely nodded, his light saber twitching upwards towards a standard Soresu defensive stance.
"One..." The clones nearest the panels struck a button, a hiss of decompressing air flowing outwards. "Two..." The clones backed off and retreated several paces, many of them deciding to draw their side-arms instead of their rifles due to the lack of time. "Three."
One by one the pod doors opened, the hissing of two different atmospheres colliding making it hard to hear breathing or footsteps from inside the pods. Obi Wan sucked in a calming breath through his nose and held it inside his lungs as he awaited the outcome of his decision...
~~~
'Thank fuck they had decided to open the fucking pods!' I shouted for joy inside my head as I tried to forget how horrible the Separatist life-support systems smelled.
Apparently I wasn't the only one suffering as I heard a booming cheer echo from, presumably, one of the other pods...
"MERLIN BE DAMNED IF I EVER GET IN ONE OF THESE THINGS AGAIN!" The Mutt's voice slapped into the surroundings like a mailed gauntlet and made me want to facepalm.
Here we were, on a Jedi ship, surrounded by potential enemies and soldiers, and this twit decides thanking Merlin was more important at this moment. I sighed, loudly, whilst exiting the escape pod, finding myself at the end of hundreds of blaster rifles.
'Those guns look interesting... Yoink!' I stole the molecular composition, storing them in my mind before spreading my senses out to encompass some of the starfighters and bombers around me... They too were yoinked.
"Seriously Sirius? That's the entrance you decide to make...? No wonder you were given a name like Canis." Harry's voice was laced with as much exhaustion as I felt, It made me feel like we were going to be best friends after all of these shenanigans.
Looking to my sides I found Ventress, Harry and Sirius all standing in roughly the same position I was, standing at the door to our pods and being aimed at by a bunch of trigger-happy soldiers designed by Sidious to execute the Jedi at some point. Doesn't it sound like fun...?
"Hello there." My head snapped over to the actual Obi Wan Kenobi, saying the same line that an entire genre of memes was created over. Inside my my mind I was fanboying... Externally I smirked.
"Ahhh, General Kenobi..." The man stiffened and blinked in mild confusion, not surprising since he's never seen me and I just knew his name.
'I am so sharing this with Tony once I get back home...!' I stifled a chuckle that was threatening to bubble forth.
"So you know of me... This makes my life easier. I'm afraid I don't have your name, or those of your companions, thus you have me at a disadvantage..." He stayed exactly where he was as he spoke, erring on the side of caution with us, a smart move all things considered.
I gave a small glance towards my wizarding companions, finding them looking at me rather intently. Their urging for me to continue speaking was stabbing into me from their eyes, I could practically feel their level of discomfort.
"I am Drecarios, or if your prefer my title, Darth Nexis." Obi Wan tensed and pushed his right thumb closer to his lightsabre's ignition button. "The one directly to my right is Harry, or Darth Revenant, the loud and obnoxious one-"
"Hey!" Sirius cut in before I carried on
"Is Sirius, also titled as Darth Canis... Literally a mutt." Sirius was glowering at me now, his right eye twitching.
"I'll give you mutt, when I find a way to prank you..." He grumbled under his breath, though I still caught it; Super Soldier Serum worked wonders on your physical capabilities and senses apparently.
"And, you already know the Sith acolyte on my left." Ventress snarled in my direction before I cocked my head and flashed my red-silver eyes for a moment, the irises returning to their usual blue seconds after. She was much more tame after my little display.
Obi Wan looked utterly perplexed, confused and bamboozled by the sheer casualness in my speech. Obviously Sith and Jedi had a lot of baggage with one another, sourced from the early Slavery of the Sith and those who followed their philosophies, all the way to the draining of life from several worlds because one insane Sith wanted to live forever, and thus decided stripping life from entire worlds was the best way to go about achieveing that. Fake Sith were so, dramatically evil... What was next? Monologuing and twirling your moustache?
"S-Sith acolyte...?" Harry chuckled at Ventress as she recoiled from the title being spoken by Obi Wan, her entire focus narrowing onto me with all the venom she could produce.
"Yes, she's quite untrained and amateurish. Her force skills are nearly non-existent and her martial capabilities would make most acolytes cry of laughter. At least, from my experience of being taught through several Sith Holocrons." Obi Wan looked eighty years older than when I first saw him, his expression comically dropping into resignation and exhaustion. Three Darths show up on his doorstep, casually joke and degrade one another and show zero fear in the presence of a Jedi Master and nearly two hundred clones... I could see why he looked older to be honest...
"Why are three Sith willingly coming onto a ship that is controlled by Jedi, if I may be so bold as to ask a simple question?" The man's tone was also done. He was so over today and probably wanted it to be tomorrow already.
"Hah, good question!" Sirius shouted out whilst looking at Harry.
"We convinced Nexis over here to bring us to Coruscant to meet the Jedi and maybe get some help getting back to our, home, so to speak. That's why we're here. To get an escort, if it isn't too much hassle?" Obi Wan had the kind of look that Vietnam veterans had after the war. He was going to have PTSD about this encounter and the 'seriousness', heh, he approached this encounter with.
"Are- no, wrong question... Did you give away your sanity for power? Because that plan sounds like madness." His words were exasperated and quite tired.
Harry and Sirius laughed however and looked at one another, sharing a personal joke between themselves before turning back to him and answering at the same time, "All Wizards are a little insane."
"Ummm, General, what are we doing here?" The clone to the right of Obi Wan asked aloud, just as silence filled the hanger once more.
"I- I really don't know at this point Commander... It doesn't seem like they're a threat. They haven't activated any lightsabers or attacked us..." The clone commander shifted in his armour uncomfortably at his commanding officer's statement.
"Well, should we bring them to the brig?" I narrowed my eyes at the commander. He was acting like we couldn't even hear him!
Obi Wan must have tracked my response as he softly shook his head whilst maintaining eye contact with me. "No, I think it would be best if they are given guest quarters and escorted at all times by several clone troopers." Feeling more satisfied I smiled and nodded towards him before gesturing to Ventress.
"Acolyte, you will not harm anyone on this ship unless they attack you first. If I find out you have disobeyed me I will train you until you break bones and risk injury, do you understand?" Ventress grimaced but nodded, her eyes dropping to my feet in deference.
"Good. Now, let's speak some more Obi Wan! I'd like to know what the Jedi have been up to since the Old Republic era." The Jedi Master paled slightly before dropping his head and sighing, his lightsaber still clutched in his hand.
"Let me call my former Padawan and we can discuss things properly... Give me some time to contact the council about your exchange request..." I rolled my eyes but acquiesced anyway. We had time to waste, plus, I could finish scanning the ship in that amount of time, allowing me to create my own once I get back to Earth. Oh, and complete a scan of the clones and their micro-chips. Clone workers would be very useful for a future work force in outer space.
"Oi, Elsa, we need to have words about this 'mutt' stuff!" I huffed out in annoyance as the old dog started trotting over.
'I guess this is my life for now...' The thought rolled over me as the man started whining at me about his nickname.
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