sparky // a padawan story

chapter 23. mortis overlords.

"Rex. Rex, do you read me?" Anakin asks over the com. Him, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and I sit in a ship nearing the Chrelythiumn system, off to examine the source of a Jedi distress code that hasn't been used in 2,000 years. We're supposed to meet up with a heavily armored star destroyer in case it is a trap by the Separatists. But we don't see the destroyer. Anywhere. "We're at the rendezvous point awaiting your arrival. Where are you?"

"Sir, we are at the rendezvous point, and there's no sign of you on our scanners," Rex answers. 

"Oh, come on. That's impossible." Anakin turns to Obi-Wan, who sits in the copilot's seat in front of me. "Something's wrong. We're at the exact coordinates where the distress signal originated, but there's nothing here. Rex is at the exact same coordinates, and he's not here."

Obi-Wan strokes his beard. "This is getting interesting."

The hologram of Rex begins to flicker and his voice is distorted. "Unable to find you. Where are you, sir?"

"Something's blocking the signal," Ahsoka, who sits next to me, says. Our ship suddenly shuts off. 

"Well this is just great," I say sarcastically. 

Obi-Wan starts fiddling with the controls to try to turn it on again, but to no avail. "Not good." I stand up and peek over the side of his chair. 

Ahsoka checks the power in the back of the cockpit. "Everything's dead, even the life support," Ahsoka tells our masters as she walks over to stand next to me behind our masters' chairs. 

"Hm. This is really strange," Anakin says. The ship then powers back up. 

Obi-Wan sighs in relief. "There. See? Nothing to be concerned about after all." 

I look out the window and see some sort of giant, metal rhombohedron in front of us. My eyes widen. "Then what's that?" I point to the object as we draw closer. 

"It's pulling us towards it!" Ahsoka says. The rhombohedron opens to a blinding white light.

"Everyone strap yourselves in," Obi-Wan tells us. Ahsoka and I rush back to our seats and buckle up. "Looks as though we're going for a ride." The ship continues to be sucked into the white uncontrollably. It hurts my eyes. My vision of my surroundings begin to diminish in the light as I suddenly slip away from my thoughts.

—

"I must've blacked out," Anakin's voice rings through the ship. I feel my eyes flutter open. Obi-Wan sits upright as he wakes up. 

"Then who landed the shuttle?" Obi-Wan questions. 

Ahsoka stirs next to me. "Not me."

"Not me either," I say groggily. 

"Hm. Where are we?" Anakin asks. We look out the front window to see and exotic green terrain. 

The ship begins to beep as Ahsoka examines it. "Some kind of organic mass. All of our readings indicate that it's bigger than an asteroid. But at least the atmosphere is breathable," she tells them. 

"Well, this is getting more unusual by the minute," Obi-Wan states. "I can't even lock down where in the galaxy we are... or if we're even in our own galaxy."

"At this point, I wouldn't even be surprised if we're not even in our universe," I tell him. Obi-Wan nods in agreement.
Anakin examines the controls as they beep. "What...? Well, the ship's systems seem fine, but, for whatever reason, nothing's working." Ahsoka walks out of the cockpit. I follow close behind her, and our masters behind me. We step out onto the surface. Obi-Wan walks over next to me and puts a pair of binoculars to his eyes.