Lending a Hand [Quest]

[Link]

Taeli sighed as she slipped into the pilot's seat of her Light Corvette. The inky black of space, dappled with tiny specks of light off in the distance, loomed eerily just the other side of the window before the Jedi. She rubbed her forehead, blood pumping deafeningly in her ears. She looked down at herself, her robes tattered and torn, coated in a mix of claret and mud. Her mission was a success, a hard fought success. Another Sith ploy put to rest.

She turned to the controls of the ship and engaged the autopilot. The course back to Tython, to the Jedi Temple, was already set.

“Are the Hyperdrives ready?” She asked, flatly, her attention turned to the near silent Twi’lek sat across from her.

“As ever.” He responded, gingerly moving his lekku over his shoulder. Zenith turned to face a series of flashing buttons and dials.

“Good.” She breathed, “Let’s get back to the Temple, then. No doubt the council will be expecting my report.” Zenith nodded and reached for the controls. He turned a single dial and pulled another lever towards himself, engaging the Hyperdrives.

Gradually, the stars drew closer and whipped past at an unfathomable speed. They began to twist and swirl, elongating into a blue vortex around the ship as it took off into Hyperspace. As the ship began to pick up speed, the entire cockpit lit up and began to flash red intermittently, a screeching alarm piercing the cacophony as the Hyperdrives engaged fully.

“Guidance is off.. instruments are failing..” Zenith scrambled across the controls, attempting to shut the Hyperdrives down.

“What do you mean the instruments are failing?” Taeli asked as she too set about trying to disengage the drives and bring the ship to a halt.

“Dunno. Must’ve been hit in the crossfire.. the drives aren’t responding.” Panic began to set in, obvious through the revolutionary’s tone.

“So, what, we’ve no choice but to sit this out and see where we end up?”

“Seems that way. The system has a destination set, but it’s not providing any information or timeframe.. everything’s unknown.” Everything began to die down once again, the alarm silenced and the flashing red light ceased.

“Brilliant.” Taeli sighed as she sank into her seat a little further. She crossed her arms across her stomach and rested her head back against the seat, “Right, well, let’s hope we don’t run out of fuel before we get to this unknown system then, huh?” The Jedi huffed as she pushed herself to her feet and left the cockpit, leaving her companion to mess with the controls of the ship in an attempt to wrestle control back. She raised a hand toward the doors control panel and, with a flick of her wrist, operated the controls through the Force and shut the door behind her.

At the opposite end of the ship, Taeli approached the holoterminal that allowed long distance communication with the Jedi Council. She sighed and began quickly cleaning herself down, removing most of the blood and mud to at least appear vaguely presentable. She finished straightening her robe and opened a direct line to the Council’s chambers and waited a moment before an image of the chamber flickered into view and hovered a few inches from the terminal itself, casting a dull blue glow about the room.

“Master Una,” a male’s voice rang through, who she recognised to be Syo Bakarn, “What news from Balmorra?”

“Masters,” Una dipped into a quick bow, “The mission was a success. Our intel was a little off; no sign of Malgus, but that allowed us to sweep in and clean up the Imperial outpost. A few minor injuries, but no fatalities on our end.”

“Excellent news,” Bakarn spoke, “And what of the forces that remained? Sith? Or foot soldiers?”

“A handful of Sith and a small unit of foot soldiers. Our troopers took care of the foot soldiers. I saw to the Sith myself.” Taeli confirmed as she produced a trio of lightsaber hilts from the depths of her robe, “I will destroy these before returning to Tython.”

“Hmm. Your service is commendable, Master Una, though I believe we would be best served if you were to change course for Coruscant. There are rumblings of a larger force of Sith gathering. We require your skills in other areas.”

“I apologise, Master, but it would appear my ship's instruments have been damaged in the crossfire. I’m on route to an unknown system. We are attempting a fix, but with what little supplies we have currently on board, we may have little choice but to trust in the Force.”

Bakarn’s hologram flickered in and out of focus, the rest of the council room all but disappearing into cyan static. Taeli stood, arms clasped in front of her, waiting patiently for the signal to reset itself as Bakarn’s holo stuttered and flickered until it just.. ceased. Signal lost. She sighed heavily.

The swirling vortex of stars began to slow to a crawl and retook their place in the depths of space as the instruments of the ship began to beep and whir back to life. A planet drew closer, quickly domineering the view from the window, dwarfing the space station that drifted lazily just out of its orbit. A voice began to crackle over the ship's comm-link.

“Unkno- … vesse-.. this is restricted space, identify yourselves or we will be forced to open fire.”

“This is Jedi Master Taeli Una. We are on route to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, our guidance system has developed an error and we could use some assistance getting back on course.”

“There’s no Coruscant in this system. You’re way off course. What’s your cargo?”

“None. Just myself and my companion.”

“Are you able to dock?”

“I am able. I’ll bring the ship in manually, if you’ll allow us access to your station.”

“Access granted, for the moment. Docking bay thirteen is yours. Expect some company once you’ve docked. Just a precaution.”

Quest: Lending a Hand
Word count: 1000/5000

 

[John Connor]

20XX, 0200 Hrs

I stood, slightly frustrated. Things weren’t quite going according to plan in one way or another. I sighed as the T-800 eyed Marcus slightly before stepping away as Marcus gave an unwavering frown at the full terminator.

Blair had decided to return to the Pilot’s Union and help out that fight.

I sighed and looked over at my hand as I stepped on the teleporter back to Erde Nova, back to the Hinterlands. I wasn’t too interested in going back to see Sark just yet. But there was more on my mind. I had typed on my personal computer “Factions that fight the good fight against the Unmade” and saw a lot of what I was looking for, but a lot of the same as well.

I saw Mustang’s efforts and another new faction that had popped up before, something called the ARK.

I raised an eyebrow before eying Marcus and the T-800 and asked “Any of you have any idea what this ARC faction can do for us long term? Marcus shrugged while crossing his arms while the T-800 blinked “Why don’t you find out for yourself. There’s actually something outside of these planets called the Beyond. Not sure what lies in it. All I know is you need some kind of ride to find this ARC in the beyond.

Marcus questioned the other terminator “You mean space, right?

The T-800 spoke in monotone “Yeah.”

John was silent as he picked up his encrypted Comms system and bent down “Someone hand me the paper with a message only certain people can read, please.”

Marcus muttered “In English, Connor.”

I sighed “Yeah, I meant we are going to contact possible aliens.”

The T-800 blinked “Aliens? Those are a improbability”

Marcus looked up at me as I sighed “I’ve never been to space before so that’s more true than not.”

Marcus sighed ``That's because we never had time to go to space in the first place because of the war we actively had to fight for years and years at a time.”

T-800 walked up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder “No, put the comms away. We can just hitch a space ride from Erde to the ARC.

I took a breath and nodded “Right, right.”

I muttered as I had one half terminator following me and one full terminator following me. Lovely trip this will be.

As I spent a good while having the T-800 and Marcus search the latest electronic portals for any information on rides to Space and the ARC.

I bit my tongue. I was actually nervous.

I’ve never left Earth, or Erde before besides Dante’s Comet.

I waved my giant hand out as a space taxi stopped

“I need a ride for me and my two terminators please.”

“Wait, you are that guy! The John C- SHHHHHHHH”

“I know! Just call me Baum, or Bear please.”

The T-800 literally almost broke off the door with his strength as the guy muttered “Uh, he your terminator ?”

I slapped my head “Yes… Yes he is.”

Marcus knew better and just opened the door and got inside the space taxi.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Year 20XX Time: 0500 hrs

The space taxi man tried to bother me for an autograph and my terminators to sign too, less so Marcus.

“As long as you don’t charge me for the ride.”

I muttered and then signed the picture with my fake name.

Marcus sat, looking out the windows. Stars and various other strange items “Aliens in space… never would have guessed. Being in space of all things is just a fairy tail back home. If we ever get home, who will believe our stories?”

John was silent “I’m.. not sure, Marcus. Space until now wasn’t real back home but now… I’m not sure what to believe.

Several hours passed as the ship docks into the ARC’s intake station as soldiers stepped in front of the entrance.

“State your intentions here at the ARC.”

The general bit his tongue and the two terminators stepped out. “My name is General John Connor, previous leader of the Worldwide Resistance against Skynet and I am intending to help out your leader General Leia in taking the fight to the Unmade.

The soldiers looked at each other and frowned “You must be that guy we saw on television. You are pretty much known all over the galaxy now. You’re pretty much a celebrity as much as the T-800 is. Not sure who this guy next to you is, though.”

Marcus muttered “I’m Marcus Wright.”

 

[Link]

“Ma’am, we’re going to need to search the entirety of your ship. Again, just a precaution.” One of the troopers spoke to Taeli as she disembarked the Celerity.

“I understand.. you must understand my predicament. Is there someone I can speak to in the meantime, so that we may come to some kind of agreement.. and someone can explain what in the world the Crossroads is and where we’ve ended up.”

“Of course. I’ve sent word to my superiors and we will organise what we can to make this as easy a transition as humanly possible.”

“You have my thanks.” Taeli dropped into a shallow bow as she came to a halt at the foot of the ship's entry ramp, “And what of my Twi’lek companion?”

“He has been taken directly for questioning. His.. conduct was less than stellar. I’m sure you understand. No harm will come to him, I can assure you. They’ll just want to make sure he’s not a risk to the station or our people.”

“Naturally,” Una spoke with a practiced patience and grace, years of diplomatic missions proving to be all the experience she needed to navigate a situation as potentially threatening as this, “I can only apologise and, I assure you, he means no harm. Our home system is under threat from the Sith, you must appreciate that he is responding to a perceived threat in the manner he sees fit.. He will cooperate, I guarantee.”

“I understand.” The senior trooper nodded curtly, “My superiors should be with you shortly to give you a run down of the situation and to go through intake and questioning, if it is deemed necessary.”

Taeli nodded in response and moved away from her ship to wait patiently for her questioning. She watched on as the troopers made their sweep of the Celerity, stripping the interior bare and inspected every nook and cranny. They found nothing, of course. The Jedi had nothing to hide, the Council always kept a close eye on the Shadows' doings, given their proximity to artifacts of the Dark Side and the Sith. Still, a small mote of anxious energy manifested itself as a fleeting knot in her stomach.

She wasn’t waiting long before the troopers’ superior showed up. A human male, no taller than Taeli herself but a little more advanced in his years, she figured given his salt and pepper hair that had thinned a bit on top. She gave him a cursory glance before bowing deeply.

“Jedi Master Una, I presume?” The man asked, perhaps rhetorically as he interjected as she opened her mouth to speak anyway, “My name is Kepler. I’m sure you’ve many a question to ask and I would be more than willing to provide what answers I can. Let me show you to the intake area. We've had a few new arrivals in the last few hours, so things are slightly busier than usual.”

“As you will.” Taeli nodded briefly as she followed Kepler into the next room. It was little more than a bare, metallic room with a couple of tables and chairs and a few windows that faced other similar rooms. They made their way through, passing by a trio of men who appeared to be bickering between themselves. Una gave them a studious stare as they walked before turning back to the officer and following him into what appeared to be an interview room.

Kepler took a seat at the table and gestured for Taeli to sit opposite him. She nodded her thanks and took a seat. She crossed her arms on the metallic surface and paused a moment before speaking.

“So, this system is called The Crossroads?”

“That is correct, yes. There are a number of planets in this system, though, you should know.. leaving has proven to be impossible. Once you end up here, you may as well settle on calling this place home.”

Taeli paled a little but didn’t respond just yet.

“It’s a lot to take in, but try not to worry. Let me explain what this station is and who we are.” Kepler gesticulated widely, “This is the ARC. We are the Alliance to Restore the Crossroads, headed up by General Leia Skywalker. Our primary focus is establishing a mutual defence alliance between the worlds of the Crossroads, to protect against Darkseid and his forces. Currently, we have a number of ships out in the Beyond tasked with dealing with the Parademon presence.”

Taeli gave the officer an incredulous look; she was struggling to keep up a little. “Right, defence alliance against.. Darkseid?”

Kepler nodded and began to explain the situation with the Fallen Arbiter, the loss of Governmorne, Nausicaa and the current situation with the Unmaking.

“Right. I see. That’s.. quite the predicament.” The Jedi huffed and pinched the bridge of her nose as she mulled the new information over.

“Quite so. I hate to ask, but given your inability to leave, we are always recruiting capable people to aid in our cause. I presume you’re able to pilot that ship you arrived in?”

“I can.” Taeli nodded and answered after a brief pause to swallow the lump in her throat.

“If you’re looking to make yourself useful for the time being, we’ve got a little.. issue that needs looking into. Our own pilots are preoccupied, you see? We need someone to investigate a cruiser that has not long appeared on our radars. It doesn’t appear to be manned; all attempts at communication have gone unanswered and it’s just.. floating in space. We’d just need you to board the ship and get what information you can from the ship's terminal.”

“What about my companion? Can I take him with me?”

“I can’t authorise that currently. He is… resisting questioning. We can’t ascertain his current intentions and we would prefer to have that done and dusted before we allow him to leave Intake.”

“I’ll need others then. I can’t pilot and access the ship's terminals.”

Kepler nodded quickly, “Fortuitous, then, that we have another group of people looking to help.” He gestured out into the Intake Center at the trio of bickering men.

Quest: Lend a Hand
Participants: Taeli Una, John Connor
Word count: 2784/5000

 

[John Connor]

While the T-800 looked straight ahead, waiting for John to talk to the officers ahead, Marcus found himself moving toward a window, staring out, “So this is the Beyond, huh? After watching television for years, I never thought I’d be here, staring it down.”

John crossed his arms while he stood aside as others came out of the intake, a woman in a brownish robe, some sort of half sword-like object attached to her belt.

The General walked forward as he met face-to-face with two ARC officers and the woman named Thali.

The two soldiers looked up at the taller buzz cut man. “I assume you are General Connor, am I right?”

The man looked ahead as the two officers stepped aside and let the robed warrior through.

“Greetings, John. I am Theli, a Jedi shadow.”

The man was not sure what a “Jedi shadow” was, but he’d have to ask the T-800 later if he got the chance.

“Theli, It’s a pleasure. I assume you have the mission parameters lined up and ready? The Jedi looked over at the older looking man as Theli turned to the two officers “Can you please fill in the man on what needs to be handled here before we take off?”

John frowned and waited, the officers stepping into a room as John followed. The T-800 and Marcus seemed to take notice of John’s disappearance into the room as they stepped toward the blank looking room itself in guard.

“Alright, so you are asking me to escort this Jedi toward her ship while one of us keeps it going?”

John looked a little unsure “I.. haven’t driven a spaceship before? I think I can keep the ship running another way.”

The soldiers raised an eyebrow and said “What skills do you possess then?”

John said “I can keep a computer running by hacking it and various other ways. In terms, I’m good around a computer if it’s not too complicated.”

Meanwhile the two terminators muttered outside the blank door while still looking over at Thali.

“Let T-800 do it, I’m sure he’s all about piloting ships and all.”

T-800 eyed Marcus and frowned “Quiet.”

The door opened as the two guardian terminators looked over at John and the two officers coming out.

John nodded “Tehli, I believe I am ready to help you with your ship.”

The T-800’s advanced scanning systems picked up a layout of the ARC, scanning what he could to help the others.

760+413=1173
Quest: Lend a Hand
Participants:, John Connor, Taeli Una

 

[Link]

Taeli quirked a brow as she watched the exchange between the three men. She adjusted her robe and straightened herself up with a sigh.

“I will pilot my ship, thank you.” She stated rather bluntly, “If you three can handle boarding the ship and accessing the terminal, I will keep my ship nearby and ready for boarding.”

“Are you sure?” John questioned the Jedi, a little twinge of concern betrayed his otherwise calm demeanour, “What if something kicks off?”

“Don’t worry yourself,” Taeli began, “I won’t be far, it would just be a simple case of opening the air docks. All you’d need to do is get back to my ship and we’d be away.”

John hummed, musing the options through. The Jedi was well within her rights to refuse someone else piloting her ship.. it’s her ship afterall, they just needed to work around that. If she wouldn’t allow T-800 to pilot for them, they could just come along as muscle. He sincerely doubted that an abandoned ship would prove an issue, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

“As they’ve said,” Taeli spoke up again, gesticulating with a rolling wrist and wide gestures, “It should just be a case of accessing the ships main terminal and downloading the files on its movement. They say it’s abandoned so you shouldn’t find any resistance.”

John nodded along as the others joined them again. He hated to admit it, but this was likely the best course of action for the little group. Something about walking between a pair of ships suspended in space set him on edge. The Jedi could feel his thoughts and feelings turn and shrugged it off.

“You may be new to space travel, but I assure you;” She straightened herself up and clasped a hand on John’s shoulder, “I have plenty of experience with piloting ships. Docking to a stationary ship should be the easy part, trust in the Force, trust in me.” She nodded affirmatively and pulled her hand away.

“I have no idea what the Force is, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.” John curled a brow and turned back to his companions, “That’s that settled then. Taeli will pilot, we’re the boarding party. We access the terminal and download the routes, hop back to her ship and fly back here. Simple, really.”

“That it is.” Taeli nodded once more as she gave the General a studious stare, “Between the three of you, you should be more than capable of downloading some routes and getting back to me. If you get stuck, radio the ship and I can head in.. in an emergency. I’d rather not leave the Celerity docked to a stranded ship while I go wandering through.”

The Terminators gave Taeli an incredulous glance. She wafted her hands around a little and smiled reassuringly, “The ship we’re docking to likely has its own rotation and heading, if we leave the Celerity unmanned and docked to it, we’re going in that direction and we don’t have much of a say in the matter. If I can stay aboard my ship, I can at least attempt to correct its course and keep things steady.”

“Wait, that other ship is rotating?” Marcus piped up, his brow furrowed quizzically.

“It is. It likely collided with something or its guidance systems have blown, but yes, it is rotating. Be thankful it’s only rotating horizontally.” The older officer scoffed and folded his arms on the metal table in the centre of the room.

“Don’t worry yourselves about that. My job is to dock the ship, yours is to.. plunder its terminals. You won’t even feel it spin once you’re on board.” Taeli clasped her hands behind her back again and looked to the seated officer, “I do believe that to be all?”

“Mhmm. If you’re ready to go, I’ll have the guards escort you back to your ship and we’ll have you in your way.”

Taeli nodded firmly as the trio of men also nodded, albeit somewhat hesitantly. Perhaps the thought of returning to space so quickly after arriving was playing on their minds. She could clearly feel Connor’s feelings through the Force but the other two were far more mysterious. She couldn’t garner so much as an inkling as to their thoughts and feelings on this mission. The Consular resolved herself to tugging at that particular thread later on, perhaps once they’d returned from their mission. The officer gave a quick gesture to the a small contingent of guards standing just the other side of the two-way mirror at the side of the room.

The door swung open and they filtered in, two remaining outside, ready to flank whoever exited first. The Jedi ducked out first, dipping her chin a little as she went. The trio of men followed after, John first then the two guardians side by side. They were immediately surrounded by the guards and escorted directly to the loading ramp of the Celerity. Taeli gestured toward the control panel, reaching out with the Force, and the ramp lowered allowing them entry to the ship.

“Make yourselves at home.” Una gestured widely to the rest of the ship, “I’ll be in the cockpit. If you wish to join me, you may. There are enough seats for everyone. Or you can remain in the conference room. I won’t be offended if you prefer your own company.” The Jedi dipped her chin once again and headed towards the cockpit to engage the ship's engines.

“Kinda wanna see this up front..” Marcus was the first to follow the Jedi, the others followed soon after in relative silence. They took their seats as the Celerity’s engines roared to life. The ship hovered for a moment as Taeli oriented it for their exit. The docks shield, that separated them from the vacuum of space, lowered and they took off into the inky black.

It didn’t take long for them to reach their intended destination; the cruiser loomed eerily unmoving in the distance, larger than the Celerity but battered and worn.

“Docking shouldn’t take long.” Taeli spoke to no one in particular as she began to line the ship up with the cruiser’s docking station. She matched its speed and trajectory and, with a thunk and a series of clicks as the locks engaged, the Celerity docked to the cruiser. The airlocks hissed open, ready and waiting for the trio to disembark.

Quest: Lend a Hand
Participants: Taeli Una, John Connor
Word count: 4273/5000

 

[John Connor]

As Marcus sat in front of the ship to experience hyperwarp for the first time in his life, John took a more active approach in waiting for the Jedi’s ship to get into position as he watched out the window as the ship connected to the hopefully abandoned ship.

After getting over his jitters of being in space for the first, he eyed the T-800 as both of them got ready to head toward the abandoned ship.

The force user pushed down the door as The Resistance leader called and waited for Marcus before heading out toward the abandoned ship.
Marcus eyes were wide “Shit, Hyperwarp is completely new tech to me. Like ages past us.”

John frowned, “We can talk technology later, focus, we have a mission to complete. T-800, go first and Marcus go after him. I’ll follow you guys.”

Marcus frowned “Right, I’ll just follow the other terminator to the ship.” He still wasn’t sure about how the other terminator was going to react so far. But right now, he wasn’t sure.”

The T-800 carefully made its way toward the upside down ship and walked inside it without any trouble. Marcus furrowed his brow “Huh, that was too easy.”. Marcus grabbed his gun and followed suit next to the T-800.

“Marcus, follow John and help hack the systems. Let’s make this a quick trip.”

The cyborg just turned his head and frowned at the T-800, and muttered lightly “Since when was he giving orders?” as the not ordinary terminator made his way inside looking around at the scenery, impressed with every little button and little piece this ship had. This was eons past what John’s and his earth could achieve at this rate and if Skynet got its hands on this tech or hell any other piece of evil AI got its hands on it, what would happen.

John was quiet, making sure to check every piece of equipment and noticed a giant screen with a terminal on it, halfway expecting Skynet to pop up and scare the living crap out of him. He began typing a few commands on the strange computer terminal, as Marcus finally joined the General in figuring out this new fangled tech.

Commands flashed across the screen as John stuck a small device inside the computer. He didn’t speak to the strange computer but instead he typed several commands that told the computer to download files on what was on the ship and what exactly happened to the ship in question and why it was damaged.

Marcus looked up as Connor eyed the information “So wait, this ship had a few people on it before but it got off due to space pirates? I don’t exactly know or want to know what the heck “space pirates” are doing around here, but I’m not sticking around to find out.

The T-800 turned to the Resistance leader and nodded “You have the data we need?”

Connor typed a few more commands as he loaded the information he needed to the small drive and pocketed it. “This thing is huge… and somewhat annoying to type with.”

Marcus nodded as John picked up what he needed, closed down the computer and waited until it was the perfect time to land as all three followed each other toward Tehli’s ship.

John frowned “Tehli, there’s news. Apparently this abandoned ship used to have folks on it, but they were somehow found missing due to space pirates attacking the ship. But there is at least good news. I was able to download data schematics from the ship computer. It tells the precise events that lead to this ship's demise and who was on it before.

The T-800 followed suit as Marcus and John made it back into the Jedi shadow’s ship.

Tehli nodded and turned “Are you guys ready to return to the Arc? Perhaps someone around can help you set up a meeting with the big cheese herself, General Leia. “

John raised an eyebrow “I’m not sure how the ARC chain of command works, but I’ll keep an eye out. Besides … I need help with a little something I’m planning eventually.

Marcus turned “You planning something big, Connor?”

Connor nodded “Eventually. Things don’t just become big just by chance you know. You have to work at it, start small and keep working at it until you are able to make things work.

Quest: Lend a Hand
Participants: Taeli Una, John Connor
Word count: 5008/5000

 

[Link]

The Jedi huffed as she sat back down into the captain's seat of the Celerity. She gave the three men a cursory glance, just to ensure they’d not been injured before she set off once again. Satisfied that the mission had gone off without a hitch, Taeli rounded the ship and set course for the ARC. The engines thrummed to life and there was a brief moment where the group were forced into the backs of their seats as the ship lurched forwards, picking up speed as the space station drew closer.

“You got everything we needed, then?” She enquired, barely offering a glance away from the ship’s controls.

“Seems like it,” John piped up, “The ship looked like it’d been tossed before we got aboard. Probably had been plundered by pirates at some point recently.”

“Fortuitous, then, that we missed them. Half of my ship's systems aren’t functioning, we’d have been sitting ducks, unable to fight back if they engaged.” The Consular gave a casual shrug, “The Force provides, as per usual.”

“Yeah, sure it does.” Marcus scoffed, clearly unsure of the Jedi's obsession with this Force business.

“What is this Force you keep mentioning?” T-800 broke the dam on the line of questioning.

Taeli spun her seat around to face the rest of the group and clasped her hands across her waist. “It’s an energy field created by all living creatures. It’s what gives a Jedi her powers. It surrounds all of us; binding everything together.” She wafted a hand, raising her lightsaber from her belt and leaving it hanging in the air in front of the group, “We are symbionts with the Force, seeing to it that peace, balance and justice are maintained. Guardians of light, we are. But there are those that would seek to bend the Force to their will; the Sith. Where we Jedi live with the Force in the present, the Sith seek to subjugate all, using the Force to ensure that their will comes to fruition. The Dark Side is a pathway to unnatural powers, but it is corrupting. A Sith lost to the depths of the Dark Side is a dangerous foe, one that I hope —for your sakes— you will not come face to face with. And if you do, pray that you have a Jedi at your side.” Taeli returned her lightsaber to its holding at her belt.

“That’s.. a whole lot of words you used.. so everyone living creature has access to this Force?” John queried.

“Technically, yes.” Taeli nodded, “But it requires years of training and some sensitivity to the ebb and flow of the Force to truly access its powers.”

“Gotcha. So you’ve trained for quite a while then?”

“All my life. I was taken to the Jedi Temple at a very young age.”

“Taken?” Marcus sat forward in his seat, his confusion apparent.

“Willingly. My parents were aware of my sensitivity from the moment I was able to form coherent sentences. The Jedi sought my family out and arranged my departure. I wouldn’t change a thing.”

A brief hush fell over the room before Taeli cleared her throat and turned back to the controls of the ship. “We’re not some kidnappers, the younglings all have a choice in the matter, as do their families. We’re nearing the ARC. I’ll begin docking procedures.” The Jedi began conversing with the ARC’s dock, providing ship codes and contacts. The Celerity crawled into the ARC’s airlocked doc and set down in a space reserved for them specifically, as instructed by the staff on the other end of the communications array.

The group disembarked the ship, greeted by the previous officer and his small contingent of guards. Taeli approached, data disc in hand and passed it over.

“Crew manifest, routes and emergency broadcasts. Looked to have been ransacked a long while before we boarded, according to Connor and his crew.” She nodded towards the trio of men.

“Job well done, then.” The officer spoke, taking the disc and giving it a quick once over, “You’ve been cleared to use the facilities on board, make yourselves at home. Welcome to the ARC.” He gestured widely with a half cocked smile. “Master Una, a moment of your time.. privately.”

Taeli nodded before turning to the trio of men and bowed shallowly, “You have my thanks for your assistance in this matter, I should look forward to working with you again in the future.”

John and the terminators gave their thanks and quick goodbyes before disappearing into the ARC, escorted by a few guards, no doubt receiving a guided tour of the station. Taeli and the officer made for another questioning room. The officer was quick to enter and take a seat, gesturing for Taeli to sit opposite him.

“I’ll be frank; we’re unable to clear your companion for entry to the ARC currently. His resistance to our line of questioning is proving a worrisome matter for the powers that be. Perhaps if you could talk to him, assure him that we are in fact onside, maybe he’ll listen to reason from a known compatriot.”

Taeli rubbed the bridge of her nose with a sigh, “I will do that, of course. I apologise for any inconvenience he has caused, he is.. jaded, rightfully so given the state of his home world.”

“I appreciate that, Master Una. Would you like us to escort you to him now?”

Taeli gave a quick nod. The officer stood and gestured for her to leave the room, to be escorted to Zenith’s cell, flanked by a pair of heavily armed guards and tailed by the officer himself.

Quest: Lend a Hand
Participants: Taeli Una, John Connor
Word count: 5947/5000

QUEST COMPLETE!