From: JackeeC <74363.2566@CompuServe.COM>
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: NEW:REPOST-XJEDI PROL. XF/SW XOVER
Date: 23 Jan 1996 03:32:32 GMT
Disclaimer: The characters mentioned in the story are not mine. They
belong to LucasArts and Tenthirteen and of Fox Broadcasting. A very
curious mixture thereof, I gaurantee. No copyright infringement intended.
No money gained. This story is (c) 1995 Jackee C. All rights reserved.(*)
XJEDI--Prologue
< GALAXY X >
by Jackee C.
Somewhere in a galaxy far, far away.
The ship fell out of hyperspace with a bang. The engines
wound down for the last time as some ancient part rebelled against
the assault that had been forced on it all these years.
The sides of the vessel reflected starlight, being
barely visible to the unaided eye. And completely invisible to
instrumentation. A light glimmered near the 'top', automatically
broadcasting an ancient beacon, while on board an ancient crew
slept on. It was necessary that they remain in this state in this
territory; lest the other's know of their existence...
Somewhere, deep in the bowels of the ship though,
some thing did awaken.
The restraining field, an integral part of the engine
systems had failed. The young woman sat up in her chamber, hair
falling in brown waves across her shoulders. Her hazel eyes
gleaming with intelligence, sensed the difference. The engines
subtle vibration had ceased.
She glanced quickly toward the open-ended section of the wall
that had been barricaded with the energy field. It no longer
shone. Stepping hesitantly toward the area, the girl looked around
to see if there were any other signs of what might have happened.
Maybe this was just another test.
Reaching a hand tentatively toward the space, her hand passed
right through. Gasping she drew her hand back and tried again. She
was free!
A smile spread across her features. She hadn't smiled in years.
Not since... she couldn't remember. She only remembered a
name...Fox. Fox had made her laugh.
She wondered briefly where the OTHER'S were. Moving quickly
from the chambered room she headed down a rocky looking corridor,
refuse strewn along the way, for the other chamber rooms. If she
was free maybe the other captives would be too. Experiment or
not, she had to find out.
* * *
Milky Way, Earth, USA
In a shadowy room a man sat looking out on the night
darkened city. Tendrils of smoke formed around his head. He
turned slowly in his chair as the whisper of robes reached his
ears.
What he saw there did not surprise him. The little elfin
'man' stood before him. His pointed ears were stiff and alert
showing his agitation.
"What brings you to this neck of the woods?" the smoker asked.
"You *are* aware of the penalty if you are caught." It was not
a question. A faint smile crossed the lips, denoting his
pleasure at the thought.
The elfin 'man' stood his ground. His gray skin darkened
showing his displeasure at the deal that had been made. But, the
risk was necessary. His message was far too important to be
passed on to anyone else.
"There has been an accident. The carrier Hinderer did not
arrive at the appointed time. We received a faint beacon on an
ancient code grid. A rescue team has been dispatched, but there
is the chance that someone else has received the message also."
The little 'man' awaited a reply.
"Why does this concern me? Can't *they* take care of it? I
have bigger fish to fry on this end." The man spoke blowing the
smoke so that it reached little 'man's' face, which, though he
was standing, reached only to the seated man's chest.
"Of course, you have not heard the news from home. It
appears that no good brother of mine, Yoda, did not die as he
should have when we fled. He trained another Jedi, a very
dangerous Jedi. But of course, you cannot feel the tremor in
the force so far away. I must also bear you bad news. Your father
is dead." The elfin man enjoyed the expression of shock that
passed over the smoker's face. The slight yellowing of the skin
showed this.
The smoker, taken aback, forgot the cigarette in his hands.
It dropped, and would have fallen on his leg and burned him, had the
elfin man not stopped it in mid-air with a point of his three
fingered hand.
"I see you are out of practice" the elfin man spoke softly.
Turning to leave, the elfin man spoke over his shoulder. "Rough
times are ahead, son of Palpatine, you have been warned."
***** this version is a repost. There have been minor editing
changes.
(*)This story is (c) 1995 by Jackee C. and is given freely for your
personal reading pleasure. For distribution in whole or in part on
any medium, please contact the author for permission.
===========================================================================
From: JackeeC <74363.2566@CompuServe.COM>
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: NEW:REPOST XJEDI VOL ONE 1/24
Date: 23 Jan 1996 03:35:17 GMT
Disclaimer: Many of the characters in this story belong to others for
ex: Fox and Ten Thirteen productions and Lucasfilm Ltd. This was done
in fun and no insult or copyright infringement is intended.
Authors Note: In the prologue, you may have noticed, that a certain
individual did not feel the tremor in the force from another galaxy. I
have been informed that the force is everywhere and that such and
such should have felt the tremor.
Well, in my version of reality the following analogy applies: The wind
is everywhere. I'm in the U.S., you're in Japan. If someone passes
gas in the U.S. do you smell it in Japan? Well, Japan is another
galaxy, see, and you don't. Relax, this is for fun. :)
Authors Second Note: (sorry, this is the last one) Since this story
has taken on a life of it's own in my, mostly coherent, thought
processes. There will be a volume one and volume two. [revision:
there will be four volumes]
Although I had way too much fun writing this, feedback would really
make my life, be it good, bad, indifferent or life threatening.
Sooo...flames, gripes, screams, expressions of confusion, utter
disbelief or whatever should be addressed to me:
74363.2566@compuserve.com
XJEDI--Vol. 1
by Jackee C. (was GALAXY X)
LEAVE TAKING
------------
Chapter one
The halls on the Imperial palace at Coruscant were deserted,
with the exception of a few human guards and security bots. It was
nightside at New Republic headquarters. The presiding members of the
council were all retired to their prospective living quarters.
In the depths of the palace, in a hidden corner of the War
room, a long forgotten panel came to life. The audio having been
disconnected from the unknown system in a time of need, no sound was
emitted.
A security bot patrolled the rooms, unaware of the silent
beacon.
Luke Skywalker slept peacefully in his bed. No visions
disturbed his slumber. He'd seen Mara Jade off on her new assignment.
She'd really seemed more at peace with herself since she'd killed
that clone, Luuke.
With the war with Thrawn over, there was now a general quiet over
the galaxy. Perhaps a quiet before the storm. But for tonight Luke
slept in peace.
********
Wednesday.
A young woman hurried through a dimmed office corridor of the
Acme Industrials Hanger. As she rounded a corner she slammed into a
tall form. All the air squished out of her lungs for a second. The man
grabbed a hold of her arms to steady her.
"Rae, are you all right?" he asked when he saw her expression.
She looked half scared out of her wits. He watched as she mentally
shook it off.
"I'm fine, it's just those men in the darks suits really
spooked me. Dan wanted me to get something out of the storage rooms
tonight for the environmental chamber test for first shift. I was
just headed that way."
The man nodded. "Okay Rae, but second shift's about to leave
so I'm outta here, unless you want me to wait around until you come
back up from storage."
Rae smiled at him, it was nice of him to offer. But since she
was the only woman in the department assigned to the male dominated
field, she declined--despite the spooky feelings the office was
giving her tonight.
"Thanks, Mike, I'll be okay," she said. Then as an after
thought, "just leave the muzak on would you."
"Finally getting away from the horrible stuff you kids listen
to?" Mike grinned.
Rae just smiled at him. He insisted she was a kid at 27, she
let him. He was *a lot* older than she was, anyway. As she hurried on
to the door that led to storage, her smile broadened as the muzak
crept up in volume a bit.
Searching through the purse she'd thrown over her shoulder,
she found her electronic 'key'. The credit card slipped into the slot
for verification and authorization. A green light illuminated and a
click indicated that the door was no longer locked. Her 'key'
reappeared.
She glanced at her watch momentarily. Seven past eleven.
Everyone would be gone by now. She quickened her pace. She
hated being here alone.
Wandering through the piles of boxes and crates, she sought
out a discontinued product that, her boss, Dan thought he'd
found an application for. Unfortunately the chamber test had to be
done first.
A particularly ancient and dusty pile loomed before her.
She was sure she'd seen it here before. Sitting her purse down
near the container, she found that some of the boxes had been
opened and that the one she wanted was three deep in the pile.
Standing on tip toe she pulled the top crate down. A plastic
bag sitting on top spilled over. Hundreds of small metal cylinders
spilled onto her head. Crying out in frustration, she dragged what
was left of the bag down and proceeded to pick up the cylinders
from the floor and replace them in the bag. Hoping she'd gotten
them all, and not caring what might have rolled under other crates,
she sealed the bag and cursed the supply room for incompetence.
Sneezing, she turned back to her original task. At last
finding what she needed, she placed the other boxes back on top in no
particular order. There was no way that there was a system to this
mess. With another sneeze, she made her escape from the dim eerieness
of the storage area.
Finally able to leave the building, she headed out the back
door of the complex. Her lonely green Shadow sat beneath the
trees bordering the woods, at the far side of the parking lot.
She had to stop parking so far away--that, or beg for a space in
front of the building. She decided she would park closer.
As she drove the winding road from the complex to the main
road, she was surprised to see a dark van sitting in front of
the complex through her rear view. She braked, and turned
in her seat to be sure of what she saw. When she did, she
noticed Mike's car was still there as well. Relieved, she drove
on.
* * * * * *
Washington D.C.
Thursday.
Special Agent Fox Mulder yawned as he shuffled towards
the kitchen for breakfast. As he passed the front door, headed
for the kitchen he noticed an envelope had been slipped
beneath his door. Pausing, he stooped over to get it and
then continued on to get his Captain Crunch.
Over his cereal he opened the envelope. It contained an
article from the Charlotte Observer. It concerned a
historical sight on the outskirts of Charlotte, that
had burned to the ground during the night. The
warehouse of Acme Industrial had held several historical
articles having to do with flight. The next sentence caused
him to freeze, with his spoon halfway to his mouth.
The Acme Industries warehouse had been a storage
and testing facility for military surveillance equipment.
There was no official cause for the fire listed. The
owner of the building a Steve Maycex had given a
statement concerning the fact that the roof had been
engulfed in flame first. The roof had then collapsed unto
the other levels and thus destroyed everything.
If arson had been involved and this was indeed a
government contract house, then an investigation
would ensue. Agent Mulder wondered, though. The article
had made no mention of arson. He decided to do some digging.
* * * * * *
A man spoke into a telephone. "Were you able to
recover the items?" he asked. While listening with
apparent disinterest, he drew on a cigarette.
"Complications?" he asked, after blowing out a
cloud of smoke.
"Continue on to phase II."
* * * * * *
Rae woke later than usual, at 12:30 p.m. She'd been on-line
a bit late the night before. It tended to relax her. She'd needed it
after the night she'd had last night. First those men in the
dark suits and glasses, at night mind you! and then the ticket.
She'd forgotten to turn on her lights when she left work and so
a policeman had pulled her over, and unfortunately, that was
when he noticed that her inspection sticker was past due.
Showering and grabbing some 'breakfast' she got ready for
work. She really didn't need to be there till three, but she wanted
to stop by the bank to deposit first.
For the drive out she popped in Copland. She'd show Mike
yet that she could listen to Pearl Jam and Classical and still
remain sane.
When she approached the long drive leading back to Acme
something appeared strange. And there was an odd smell to the
air. She didn't realize what it was until she saw the rubble that
used to be Acme. A red fire marshal's car was parked near the
ruins.
She felt tears welling in her eyes. So much in that building
had represented hard work and determination for her. Steeling
herself she went over to talk to one of the men sifting through
the mess.
"Sir," she started, "what happened?"
The burly officer looked up at her. "This building was
destroyed in a fire in the early hours of this morning." he said.
Seeing the corner of the badge sticking out of her pocket, he
continued, "Did you work here?"
Rae nodded. "Have you figured out how it happened?"
she asked. Recognizing some of the incineration patterns
from some of the tests she'd done in the chamber. The fire
seemed to have burned from the basement up. She
remembered her trip to storage the night before and a
sliver of apprehension snaked through her.
The man paused for a moment, she reminded him of his
daughter. He had a job to do. He gave her an answer. "The
fire seems to have started from the roof and after the roof
itself collapsed the fire spread to the rest of the building."
Rae looked at him stunned for a second. "But...the
patterns...," her voice trailed off as she pointed to a piece
of wall still standing. His expression had changed. He'd
flushed with...embarrassment, anger, panic?
The man looked at her in amazement. He had orders
to follow and a job to do. "Miss I have work to do, you
really shouldn't be here." Turning, he dismissed her.
Rae stood for a moment, apprehension growing. She'd
call Mike, that's what she'd do. There was no way that
burned as the Marshall had suggested. Mike would know.
As she searched through her purse for the business
card Mike had given her months before, she found that
a couple of the cylinders from the night before must
have fallen into her purse. Absently she put them in her
ash tray as she dialed Mike's home number.
A woman's anxious voice picked up the phone. No
doubt his wife.
"Hello, is Mike there, " Rae asked.
The woman seemed to deflate, "No, he isn't here,
he didn't come home last night and I'm worried sick, can
you help me find him, the police say I have to wait 24 hours," she
confided.
Rae's heart froze. "I'm terribly sorry," she choked out.
"I must have a wrong number I'm looking for a Mike...
Jones," she managed. Then quickly broke the
connection.
Rae started her car and drove automatically. Not
paying much attention to her destination, until she
realized she had driven home. As she pulled past her
apartment complex she saw a black van like the one
from yesterday parked in her court. She kept on going.
She didn't know what else to do. She felt that some
terrible thing had happened to Mike. And that fire
Marshall... The light turned red up ahead. She frantically searched her
wallet for the number her father had given her three years earlier,
just before he'd died. It wasn't there.
The light turned green.
Steering the car one-handedly, she dumped the contents of her
purse, looking for the smaller wallet, where she kept her
identification. A small metallic object rolled under the seat, along
with an ink pen and a chapstick. Having retrieved the card, she
quickly dialed the number.
* * * * * *
Washington D.C.
Asst. Director Skinner sat in his office reviewing field
reports. His secretary was offering more papers for him to sign. He
was rather surprised when his private line rang.
end part 1
===========================================================================
From: JackeeC <74363.2566@CompuServe.COM>
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: NEW:REPOST XJEDI VOL ONE 2/24
Date: 23 Jan 1996 03:37:16 GMT
Disclaimer from previous chapter still in force.
XJEDI-- part 2
Thursday.
When Special Agent Dana Scully stepped into the X-files office,
it was to find that her partner was already there. No surprise. He
was busy typing at his computer, several files lay open on his desk.
"Hey Scully," he greeted her, barely glancing up.
She saw the gleam in his eyes, he was on to something. Great, it
was Thursday. She hoped it wasn't going to ruin her weekend plans.
Melissa had suggested she go out with this guy. She'd said he was
perfect for Dana. Reason enough, from Dana's point of view to avoid
him like the plague. Melissa only seemed to know 'out there' guys.
The night before, however, she'd become suspicious at the market,
when a gentleman had kept watching her. He'd been dressed nicely, in
business attire. He had been tall, muscularly built and darkly
handsome. When Dana had pulled her cart up to the checkout
counter, he'd pulled up behind her. He awkwardly carried
an arm load of items.
"Excuse me," he'd said from behind her, while she waited her
turn.
"Yes?" she'd answered emotionlessly. Not letting on that she was
worried about, what seemed to be, the undue attention he'd been
giving her.
"Are you Dana Scully by any chance?" he'd asked smiling.
Taken aback, Dana hadn't replied for a few seconds.
"Uhm...yes I am," she'd finally gotten out, betraying her confusion.
and curiosity. "Do I know you?"
He'd laughed then, "No, I don't think so. Allow me to introduce
myself," he'd started as he dumped his items on the counter. Offering
his hand, he continued, "I'm Benjamin Adams, you can call me Ben,
though. I'm a friend of Melissa's. She's told me a lot about you."
Dana blinked, and then her eyes widened. Surprised pleasure had
flowed through her. The name *had* clicked in her brain. He was the
guy Lissa had told her about. He was quite a 'specimen'.
After her items had been checked he'd passed her a slip of paper,
with a sly grin. "Dinner, Friday night?" he'd asked.
She'd looked up into his eyes and been unable to resist the charm
that poured from the man. Where had Lissa found this one? and why was
she trying to give him away? "All right," she'd said, stuffing the
slip of paper in her pocket.
"I'll call you," he said.
"But, you don't have my phone number," she'd replied.
"I will," he'd challenged.
Dana had raised an amused eyebrow and walked out of the grocery
store, promising that she'd revise her opinion on Lissa's taste in
men. Then, recalling Lissa's current steady, she'd amended that to
Lissa's taste in men for her.
Coming back to the present, she decided to find out just what
Mulder was about to get them in to.
"What's up?" she asked her partner, picking up one of the folders
on his desk.
Pulling his eyes away from the screen, he looked to see what file
she had. Taking it away from her, he placed the newspaper article,
that had ended up on his doorstep this morning, in her hand.
Reading over the article, Scully's 'you don't really believe this
means anything, Mulder' expression fell over her face. Out loud, she
said, "Let me guess, we're going to Charlotte? Maybe catch the
Hornets?"
Mulder grinned at her, "No, not yet, got a date first."
Scully's face dropped, "how'd you know?" she said and then
realized her mistake. He hadn't known.
Mulder looked at her in askance. She returned the look, mentally
kicking herself. Was she that bad off? Sure, she hadn't dated since
who knew when, and why shouldn't she? And why should she explain that
to Mulder?
When she didn't reply, Mulder continued, "*Our* date is this
morning in...thirty five minutes." Grabbing his coat, he headed for
the door. Rolling her eyes toward the ceiling, Scully followed.
* * * * * *
Office of the Lone Gunmen
The three misfits stood before a projector when Mulder walked in.
Mulder handed the article he had received to Frohike. Frohike glanced
at it then nodded gravely, passing it on to Byer's who looked at it
intently for a few seconds and nodded with some gravity at the
third gunmen, Langley, before handing it to him. Who then gave it a
cursory once over before passing it back to Mulder with a meaningful
look.
Through out their exchange, Scully had looked at them and Mulder
as if they were all lunatics. What was this ceremonial passing of the
article? She suspected they were doing it for her benefit, after all
Frohike had started it. Shrugging it off, she focused on what was
being said.
"...warehouse owned by a Steve Maycex. He inherited it from his
father Colonel Wayne Maycex. We put out our feelers," Frohike said,
wiggling his fingers in the air, "and we have received some data
since our previous e-mail communication."
On cue, the lights dimmed and the projector came on. "This is
Judith Reenes, she was reported missing under strange circumstances,
three days ago. After dropping her spouse off at work, she failed to
return home. Her car was found, keys and purse inside, but no Mrs.
Reenes. Yesterday morning she was found a hundred miles away,
disoriented, by Greensboro authorities. She has no memory of what
happened over the past 3 days. Mrs. Reenes' husband worked for Acme
Industrials Warehouse."
Mulder mulled over this new information. "Are all of your
'feelers'," he imitated the motion Frohike had made, "in?"
"We are expecting others soon. Meanwhile, I'd like to make small
talk, with your lovely partner." Frohike grinned in Scully's
direction.
Scully gave him her coolest expression. Then gave Mulder one as
well. He could have warned her. She would have stayed at the office.
* * * * * *
Coruscant, Imperial Palace
"R2D2, whatever are you blabbering on about?" C3PO said
disdainfully to his counterpart. "Palace security is most efficient
and are surely taking care of any alarms."
The little droid responded with a series of beeps and whistles
that didn't speak very highly of security or Threepio's intelligence.
The little droid rolled off away from his friend.
"R2D2!" Threepio exclaimed, as he watched his friend roll away.
With a sigh of resignation, he shuffled off after him.
Artoo rolled into the docking area, closely followed by Threepio,
where Luke Skywalker was helping his brother-in-law, Han Solo, with
the Millennium Falcon. Han had decided to retrofit some new system or
other to the already interesting collection.
As he looked up from the ships topside and saw the R2 unit
followed by the golden droid, his mouth turned down into a frown.
What could that bucket of bolts want now? And the day had been
going so well. But, to his surprise, the droids went right past his
position and around the side to where Luke was working. He sighed,
telling himself it was a good thing they hadn't been looking for him.
"R2D2, you should not be disturbing Master Luke with such
nonsense!" Threepio was saying as the droids approached Luke.
"What's going on, you two?" Luke said, looking down from his
position beneath a rear repulser generator panel. He listened intently
to Artoo's beeps and whistles. He'd come to understand quite a lot
of what the little droid said. He caught something about a beacon.
His Jedi sense stirred ever so slightly. Lowering the repulser
platform to floor level, he had to know more, "What's he saying,
Threepio?"
"Master Luke, he's simply blabbering nonsense..." Threepio
started. Honestly he didn't know what got into R2 some of the time.
"Threepio..." Luke said, warningly. This was important. He could
feel it.
In a resigned voice, Threepio answered the question. Perhaps
Master Luke was just humoring his little friend. "He says that
there is a beacon going off somewhere in the palace. He insists
that security doesn't know about it."
Luke considered for a moment. A beacon somewhere in the
palace. Could there be some sort of spy activity going on again.
That trouble with Thrawn had only just ended, perhaps someone
else was trying their hand.
"Artoo, do you think you can find it?" Luke asked. He smiled
at the little droids replied whistle of confidence.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Luke asked dropping the oily
rag he'd been holding into the tool chest. Walking around the ship,
he yelled up to Han that he'd be back soon. Han waved him on,
grumbling something under his breathe, that Luke pretended not to
notice.
* * * * * *
Somewhere in space.
A small group of people huddled in the small chamber.
It was nice to be near someone, even if they had no idea where
they were.
The young woman, that had gathered everyone together, was
awake. All concept of time was missing. She didn't know how long
it had been, since they'd escaped. She only knew she was hungry
and scared.
She looked over the small group. They were all young, children
really. She didn't know hold old she was. She didn't feel young.
She knew that many of them cried a lot, she heard them often
enough. Sometimes, 'they' would let her go to them. She never
cried anymore. She had to be strong for them, to take care of them.
They were sleeping now. She would try again to get to the
other side of that wall. Where 'they' were. She *had* to find
out why they hadn't come out when the barriers broke. Maybe
they were dead. Maybe they were afraid. Maybe this was
another test and if she went beyond the wall, they'd kill her.
She had to know. She had to get there.
That was where the food was.
Earth, Washington D.C. --X-files office.
"No way, Mulder. We have no authority to go in there. If
an investigation is called for, I guarantee, it won't be an X-file."
Scully was saying, as she reached into her pocket for the office
key. A folder piece of white paper fell from her pocket and
fluttered to the floor.
Mulder moved to pick it up as she unlocked the door. He
was prepared to give counter-argument to her previous
statement, when something in her expression gave her away.
She'd just realized what the slip of paper was.
A slow grin spread over Mulder's face. "Could it be...?" he
teased. Preparing to open the paper. Then, stopping, "Nah,
I'm sure this must be for your eyes only." He handed it to her.
When Scully reached for the paper, Mulder quickly pulled
it back. "But then, we *are* partners. What's yours is mine..."
He prepared to open it again.
What Benjamin had written on that paper was for her eyes only,
but it wasn't so bad that Mulder couldn't see it. Besides, he knew so
much about her already. What did it matter if he knew a little more.
It made sense. It was logical. So what if he knew what Ben thought of
her blue eyes? He *was* her partner. She had it all worked out in her
head. Which, did little to explain why she suddenly made a dive at
Mulder, in an attempt to retrieve Ben's phone number.
Mulder ducked back, keeping the number high over his head, but
loosing his balance a bit. He caught himself by sitting heavily on
the edge of his desk.
Scully pressed her advantage and made another grab for the piece
of paper. Unfortunately, his body was much longer than hers. Her feet
got tangled in his long legs, and she fell across his chest.
Mulder caught her with his free arm, dragging her to him to keep
her from rolling to the floor. His other was still outstretched over
his head.
That was when they heard Skinner clear his throat.
They both froze, looking dumbfounded into the furious expression
of their boss.
Scully scrambled from Mulder's chest and retreated in the general
direction of her own desk. Her countenance fell even further, when
Skinner took the slip of paper from Mulder's hand and read it. The
phone number was written in Ben's hand. Followed immediately by his
quite eloquent assessment of her eyes. Why oh why had she left that
note in her pocket?
Skinner looked up at her. His expression was completely
unreadable.
Scully couldn't hold his gaze, she looked quickly away.
Skinner slipped the paper into his pocket. "Both of you, come
with me. Now." He spoke the words softly, before turning on his heel.
The two Agents followed silently behind him. Softly spoken words from
Skinner, when he was wearing *that* expression meant BIG trouble.
A look of apprehension passed between the two of them, when he
didn't even look at them, during the elevator trip to the...first
floor?
Walter Skinner walked briskly ahead of his two agents. These were
his best and his favorite. And most troublesome. But, he trusted
them. That little scene in the office, he knew, was nothing. He would
have a good laugh about it later, when no one was watching of course.
In fact, he was having trouble keeping his face straight, even now.
Scully's expression when he'd read that note had been absolutely
priceless.
The elevator slid open them. For now, there were other
considerations.
They'd reached the first floor. Skinner directed them toward
doors leading to the outside. He wished he could read their
minds at this moment.
When he stopped and turned to look at them, both had
expressions quietly bordering on panic.
"Sir?" Mulder said after swallowing noticeably.
Skinner savored the moment for only a second longer, before
plunging in. "I have some important business that needs attending.
This assignment is completely confidential. No one else is to know
about it. When it's complete contact me at this number." He pulled a
card from his shirt pocket and handed it to Scully, along with her
slip of paper. He kept his expression carefully blank.
She quickly shoved both into her pocket.
Skinner continued, "Tickets are waiting for you at Washington
National, you'll be traveling to Charlotte, North Carolina. You'll be
meeting a Theraesa Manning. You are not to page her. She will page
you as Mr. and Mrs. John Smith. Once you've made contact, find a safe
place, and tomorrow, I'll expect you to drive her back here."
When Skinner had finished speaking, he waited for the inevitable
argument from Agent Mulder that this wasn't related to the X-files.
That this assignment should logically have gone to another
department. Questions concerning the need for secrecy. There was none
forth-coming.
"That's it, get going," he said. "Your plane leaves at 2:20. "
* * * * * *
"What Mulder, no arguments, no questions." Scully said. Mulder
hadn't lodged one protest against an obviously un Special Agent
assignment.
"Are you kidding?" Mulder said. "We are now headed for Panther
Country, who am I to argue with fate, Scully? I'm probably on a roll.
I don't want to ruin it."
Charlotte-Douglas International Airport
"Mr. and Mrs. John Smith, please report to the courtesy desk. Mr.
and Mrs. John Smith, your party is waiting for you at the courtesy
desk," a voice rang out over the intercom system.
"Come on, Pocahontas," Mulder said as they headed toward the
courtesy desk, in search of one Theraesa Manning.
A brown skinned young woman, dressed stylishly in pink,
approached uncertainly. "Mr. and Mrs. John Smith?" she asked.
"Last I checked," Mulder responded dryly. The young woman sighed
in relief, "I'm Rae Manning. I'm so glad you're here. I just didn't
know what else to do, except to call the number."
"The number?" Scully questioned. Whose number had she called?
"Yeah, it's the number my dad gave me a couple years back. Before
he died. He said I should call it if I ever got into really bad
trouble."
"And whose number was it?" Mulder asked, a thought occurring to
him.
"It belonged to a man, Mr. Skinner, I think he said," she shook
her head. "Do you guys work for a security company or something?"
"Yeah," Mulder said, unspecificly, though his interest had
suddenly heightened. How had she ended up with Skinner's number? He
turned to Scully giving her a look full of meaning. "We should get
out of here," he said.
"I'll get a rental car," Scully replied.
"We can use my car." Rae said. "It's just parked across the deck
there."
"We should get a rental car. We don't know what we're dealing
with, and this isn't a good place to talk." Mulder explained to her
as Scully went on toward the car rental desk. " I'm Fox Mulder and my
partner is Dana Scully. Will you be needing anything out of your car?
It could be a few days before we come back here." Mulder purposely
didn't tell her they were FBI. If Skinner hadn't told her, he
wouldn't unless it became necessary.
"Uh...yes," Rae said. "My purse, I didn't bring it with me, I
just brought my I.D."
"Okay," Mulder said. "We'll go get it then, as soon as my
partner comes back."
* * * * * *
Parking deck
"There it is," Rae said, when she saw her green Shadow sitting
where she'd parked it after talking to Mr. Skinner.
Mulder parked the car across from it. Then, they all got out and
headed toward Rae's car. Rae retrieved her purse from the trunk, while
Mulder looked around the deck for any sign that someone was watching.
A charm that hung on a chain around her neck, caught on her trunk.
She sighed in frustration, "My nerves are a wreck. You wouldn't
believe the past two days I've had!" The catch on the front of the
charm had broken.
The charm opened to reveal a picture. It showed a dark skinned
man, with intense eyes. Even though he was clean shaven, having
only a mustache. It was unmistakable who this man was.
Scully's sharply indrawn breathe drew Mulder's attention.
Mulder paled when he saw who was pictured there. His mysterious
informant's face, Mr. X, was pictured there. "Who is this man?" he
asked more forcefully than he should have.
Rae looked at him strangely, taking a step back. "It's my dad, he
died almost three years ago. Did you know him?"
Scully could see that Mulder was battling over this. Before he
could say anything more, she spoke up, "No we don't. For a moment
there, he looked familiar, but now I see, he can't be who I thought he
was." Mulder nodded, before looking away.
Rae seemed to accept that. Removing the chain, she placed the
broken locket into her purse. "Oh wait," she said. "There's one more
thing. I accidentally brought them home from Acme." She headed around
to the passenger side door.
"Acme?" Mulder said.
"Yes, Acme Industries, it burned down." By now she had the door
unlocked and opened. She leaned inside to retrieve the objects from
her ashtray.
Mulder looked in amazement at Scully. Could all of this possibly
be just falling into his lap?
"Here they are," Rae said, handing the two metal cylinders to the
Agents.
Both Scully and Mulder thought the earth must have come to a
screeching halt when they saw the two metal cylinders. They were
identical to the ones Scully had pulled from the sinus cavity of a
corpse, so long ago.
end part 2
===========================================================================
From: JackeeC <74363.2566@CompuServe.COM>
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: NEW:REPOST XJEDI VOL ONE 3/24
Date: 23 Jan 1996 03:38:23 GMT
DISCLAIMER: I still mean what I said in part one. Honestly. Who would
believe these guys belong to me anyway? 'Cept Rae of course, but who's
she...really?
XJEDI (GALAXY X)
part 3
"Theraesa, I think you should start from the beginning," Mulder
was saying. He'd decided that it would be best to get out of the city
before finding a place to stay for the night. He continually glanced
in the rear-view for evidence of a tail.
"Rae." Rae said correcting his use of her name, it was a mouth
full. "Do you guys know what those things are, you both seem pretty
spooked." She looked from one to the other. Neither agent was able to
answer her.
Scully felt shaky about having the tubes with them. If they were
after Rae, she might be killed if they thought she knew something.
"Mulder, I think we need to get rid of the cylinders."
Mulder caught her gaze in the mirror. He had evidence. Hard
evidence that the government was in on, at least, some sort of
conspiracy that involved abduction and mutation of it's citizens. He
didn't want it out of his sight. He was prepared to argue.
"Just in case," Scully added softly, seeing him gearing up. "We
could package it up and mail it someplace."
"Where could we mail it? They regularly go through my stuff. We
have to assume that your apartment is bugged or worse also." Mulder
decided to at least consider it, it did make a certain amount of
sense.
"I don't know," Scully shrugged. She didn't want to involve her
family in this, she didn't just happen to have a p.o. box just
sitting around either.
"What about Mr. Skinner," Rae offered softly from the front seat.
"He seems like a really nice man."
Scully caught Mulder's eyes in surprise, a small smile spread
across both their faces. Perfect.
"I take it this is settled?" Rae said. At Mulder's nod, "there's
a post office a few blocks to the right at the next light."
* * * * * *
Coruscant, Imperial Palace, War Room
"What do we have here?" Luke said, as he stepped around Artoo.
The corner was dim, but a pale flicker of light blinked steadily,
on and off. Luke reached out a finger and touched the area, to his
surprise, the panel extended outwards. Inside, a small terminal
appeared. A coded message scrolled rapidly across the screen.
"Threepio, what do you make of that?" Luke asked, looking up over
his shoulder at the golden protocol droid.
"Master Luke, I am fluent in over six million forms of
communication, but, I must say, this is most foreign to me."
Artoo made a sharp whistling. Rocking side to side, he twirled
his 'head' in Threepio's direction beeping and warbling excitedly.
"Yes, Artoo, yes, I see," Threepio seemed caught up in Artoo's
excitement as well.
"What is it?" Luke asked placing a hand on Artoo, but looking at
Threepio. He wanted to hear it in plain Basic.
"Master Luke, there appear to be coordinates within the message.
Artoo think it's a distress call of some kind," Threepio started.
"The coordinates point to a particularly distant sector of the outer
rim."
"Is there a time stamp on the message?" Luke asked. He hoped it
wasn't too late. If the message had travel so far, it could have been
days or weeks since the message was sent out.
"I'm afraid, we can not determine that, Master Luke. But Artoo
does not believe this message reached Coruscant by ordinary measures.
It seems that there is no receiver actually connected to this panel
at all." Threepio seemed to consider what he'd said for a moment
before turning to his counterpart.
"Artoo, what sort of nonsense is this? How can we receive a
message, with no receiver?" Threepio continued his berating of his
little friend.
Luke considered what he'd just heard. Was there a way to send a
message without a receiver? An organic transmitter...? Luke went back
to the box for a closer inspection. Whatever powered that thing, he
should be able to feel it with the force...
Closing his eyes, Luke drew on the force. He felt the presence of
the two droids who were in the room with him and all the minute signs
of life nearby. He focused in on the little panel, it's flashing
lights, it's display, and beyond that to the inner workings.
Suddenly, he felt himself drug. His consciousness was yanked into
the vast expanse of space itself. The beacon vibrated through the
very fabric of the universe. A broad panorama of color and space-song
danced before his sense, for the briefest moment and then, in the
next instant, he saw it.
A ship, a mere wisp against the star light. He was sure it would
have been barely visible to the unaided eye. But, not to the force.
He felt something on the ship. Something dark, malevolent,
but...sleeping? Then, he felt something more. Children. Fear. Hunger.
Confusion. Voices...whispering, "Luke, wake up now, Luke, please
Luke..."
"Leia...?" Luke looked up into the worried gaze of his sister. He
heard running footsteps and then saw Chewbacca round the corner
followed by Han. He was lying flat on the floor of the War room. What
had happened?
"What happened?" he asked, sitting up. He was fine, if only
slightly light headed. Leia held onto his arm.
"We were getting ready to have lunch, when I felt
you...fall...away from me. I thought you were dying, Luke." Leia said
on a whisper. "It was so fast, what happened?"
Luke looked towards the panel. "I don't know."
Earth, North Carolina
"Rae, we need you to tell us everything you can about what
happened in the past couple of days. Sort of give us an idea of what
we may be up against." The trio had found a motel on the outskirts of
Concord, North Carolina. They'd gotten two adjoining rooms. Scully
and Rae shared a double. They had all gathered in Scully and Rae's
room after checking in.
"I just hope it isn't those guys in the dark van," Rae spoke
from a corner chair. She was exhausted, though for her, the day had
just begun.
"There were guys in a dark van?" Scully asked. She wondered if
Rae knew just how much trouble she might be in. She doubted it. She
remembered her and Mulder's experience with a dark van. It had lead
to the sudden demise of Mulder's informant, the one he'd referred to
as Deep Throat.
"Yeah, I saw it twice."
"Did you get a look at who was inside?" Mulder asked. If she
could I.D. them, her danger tripled.
"Nah, it was always from a distance. But, if you want my opinion,
I think it was those guys with the dark suits and shades, who showed
up at Acme last night. I mean, dark suits, dark glasses, dark van,
right?"
Scully blinked at the odd logic, and wondered why it made sense.
'Okay assume we're in BIG trouble' Scully thought to herself.
"Dark suits and dark glasses...?" Mulder prompted her for more
info. His mind returned an image from his own past, of men dressed in
dark suits and glasses, in the middle of the night, chasing him away
from a warehouse containing humans infused with alien DNA.
"It was strange, because the offices are closed at night. I
generally work in the lab, but I had to go up front to make copies,
one second I was alone and then the next they were...just there.
Three of them. Scared me so bad, I spilled all my papers.
"One of them helped me pick them up. I could almost swear he
looked at every paper. And when he was done he gave me this
smile...really slow, you know, and it just gave me the creeps and
then they just walked off. Never said a single word. I think I must
have been on edge the rest of the night. That's probably how I ended
up spilling that bag with those metal tubes in it."
"Did you say there was a *bag* of those cylinders?" Mulder asked,
his eyes rising to meet Scully's. Was she getting all this?
"There were...hundreds, they spilled and fell on my head," she
nodded, " I'm pretty sure that that's how they got in my purse."
Scully had wrapped her arms about herself. She remembered what
had happened to her shortly after she'd run a metal object, much like
those cylinders over an ordinary grocery scanner. If there were
'hundreds'...
"Had you ever seen them before last night?" Mulder asked. "Are
they similar to anything else Acme designed?"
"Not any design I'm familiar with. At first I thought they were
maybe some sort of machined part, but, there are no threads, so that
leaves me with no ideas, without studying it some more. "
"Listen," Rae added changing the subject slightly. "There's
something else. Mike. He's missing. Or he was before I called Mr.
Skinner. That's mostly why I called, see. I think something really bad
happened to him."
Scully's eyes widened. "Let's take it from the top," she said.
"So we can have the correct order of events."
Rae took a deep breath and started from the beginning.
* * * * * *
Coruscant
"Hey Luke," Han Solo spoke from the bottom of the Falcon's ramp.
"ten minutes."
The group of friends were headed out to the coordinates stated in
the message to see what was going on. Leia had after much discussion
been unable to convince Han that she should be along. Her job was to
make ready for whatever they might find out there.
Besides some one would have to explain this all to the council
anyway. Han couldn't think of a better candidate. He himself, didn't
have a clue, he was just the pilot. Let Luke, and that force of his,
figure that part.
So Luke, Han, Chewie, and the two droids, done packing the ship
with extra food supplies and medical equipment headed out for the
rim.
"Course set Chewie?" Han asked from the pilots seat, after they
had reached sufficient altitude.
Chewie growled an affirmative reply.
Luke sat just behind Han, "How long before we reach the set
coordinates?"
"Looks like about fourteen hours, kid." Han said. "Nothing to
do now but wait till we get there."
Luke disagreed. "I think, I'll do some meditating," he said as he
got up and left.
Han watched him go. Chewie growled a question towards him.
"I don't know, pal. Guess we'll just find out when he tells us."
* * * * * *
Luke sat in one of the more private areas of the Millennium
Falcon, a rather large storage closet off a sleeping area.
Closing his eyes, he reached out through the force. He focused
on the panel. He remembered it in even minute detail. It, in fact, was
now stowed in an auxiliary panel of the Falcon's aft terminals.
He focused cautiously on the workings. The materials used were
common enough. The plasteel enclosure encased the display, which
had standard display workings. The flashing light; however, was
another story. On closer inspection he saw that it was a cylindrical
object that appeared to glow on one end. It sat within the plasteel
enclosure, but there was no electrical connection.
He focused on other areas of the enclosure. It was a hollow
space. There was nothing else there. Nothing. The area was a vacuum.
That in itself was not so unusual, many pieces of equipment were in
vacuum to protect inner workings from corrosive influence. But, here
there was nothing really to protect. Display's were the simplest of
devices, no vacuum would be needed for that.
Turning his mind, he refocused on the signal itself. Very
carefully, he reached out. Again he felt his sense yanked out into
the expanse of space. His mind was drowned in thousands of
sensations. Struggling against the fierce tide, he focused on the
origins of the signals and in the next instant found that the ship
was again there. The same as it was before. Again he felt the
sleeping dark presence's from before, but also the others. Their minds
all seemed to wear the quietness of sleep. Except one.
Somewhere in space
The young woman felt that she'd sat here long enough. Just
debating what to do would get them nowhere. The younger ones would
need food. Carefully, she extracted herself from one, especially
young, little girl. Getting up a little stiffly, she wondered if the
temperature had dropped.
Passing back into the dirty corridor, she felt along the rock
formations, that made up the corridor 'walls'. Though they appeared
rough and cool to look at, there was a definite pulsing warmth to the
surface. Some of the warmth had faded since her previous exploration.
That bothered her. If the walls were cooler, that meant it actually
was getting cooler, as she'd feared. She wondered how long it might
be before it got really cold.
Continuing along the dim corridors, she came, again, to the wall.
This one wasn't constructed of the warm rock, like the rest of the
walls. It was a gleaming metal wall, that seemed to have slid into
place. The wall was cool to touch. She strained to push it up. Nothing
happened. She tried again, pushing with all her might. In the midst
of her pushing, she felt something.
Immediately, she let go of the wall. She stood completely still.
An eerie sensation crept up her spine. She felt as if someone was
standing behind her. Heart pounding, she forced herself to turn
around and face whoever would be there.
A transparent image of a man dressed in black clothing stood
before her. His hair was sandy blonde and his eyes were closed. She
gasped in her shock.
The eyes opened to reveal their pale blue color. The young woman
froze in terror. Where had he come from? The image of the man reached
a hand in her direction, while taking a step closer.
She backed herself as close to the wall as she could, squeezing
herself into a corner. But, the image, relentlessly, continued
forward. His hand reached for her shoulder.
When he touched her, a change came over her. Her chest convulsed
briefly and then she crumpled to the floor beside the doors.
* * * * * *
Luke Skywalker sat deep in meditation. In his minds eye, he saw
the interior of the ship. He felt himself glide through the halls of
the vessel. He was looking for the one he'd felt. The one with the
power of the force, so strong, that even though she was unaware of
it, he could feel it. He saw her then, standing against a plasteel
barrier. He opened his eyes, not seeing the many backup parts and
such stored around him on the Falcon, but the young woman who stood
before him.
He reached a hand out towards her. She was frightened, he wanted
to reassure her. He tried to send good will and friendship towards
her mind. But, she didn't feel it, it didn't reach her. She backed
away from him until she was pressed against the wall. Perhaps, if he
touched her, she would understand that he meant no harm. He stepped
closer to her.
His hand touched her shoulder. and passed right through. He felt
her heart lurch in her chest. She'd had a brief glimpse of his sense
before a barrier of cold white light, shot up in her mind. He felt a
memory come screaming towards him, as if from a long distance. A
strange word. It hit his sense as if he'd been branded, searing
across his consciousness, before he lost all thought...
Millennium Falcon
"Luke! Luke! Come on, kid..." Han yelled at his friend who lay
prone half out of a storage locker. Luke had turned several shades of
blue, before color flooded his face and he sat up with a yell.
A word echoed through his brain, "Fox...!" Then the memory was
gone. He tried to reach out and get it back. But it wouldn't come, a
blinding white wall of light erected itself it it's place. He grabbed
at the massive hammer banging away in his head.
"Kid!" Han grabbed his arm. "You all right?"
Luke looked at the anxious faces of Han and Chewie. The droids
stood in the background. Threepio, howling worriedly like a mother
hen and Artoo beeping and twittering anxiously.
"I'm fine," he said, "just a galaxy-sized headache." He massaged
at his temples. That was one memory he wouldn't touch again.
"What happened back here?" Han demanded seeing that his friend
was now, apparently, all right.
"I was just meditating." Luke said, lamely. "You know, trying to
get a sense of what we're headed for."
"Listen, I don't know much about the force, but what I do know is
that it just ain't normal for you to wake up screaming from 'just
meditating'. You were turning all blue on us. How do you expect me to
go home and explain that to your sister?"
"Han," Luke said, sitting up, trying to calm his brother-in-law
down, "I was just taken by surprise that's all. Listen, I think I've
found all I can for now anyway. So no more meditating on the box."
Han seemed mildly appeased. "Well, all right," he grumbled. Luke
hadn't ever lied to him, that he could remember. But, he was still
tempted to have Chewbacca stand guard over him. He wasn't even
surprised when Chewie suggested just that with a growl.
Earth, Charlotte North Carolina, USA
"So what are we going to do, now?" Rae asked looking
from one agent to the other. She'd just finished telling them her
story. Scully had taken notes, while Mulder had interjected a
question here and there.
Scully glanced at the little clock that sat on the table near the
bedside. Five-thirty two. She heard the television come on.
"News," said Rae. "I want to see if they have anything to say
about Acme."
"Well, are you guys hungry?" Mulder asked. "I could pick up
dinner." He knew he was starved. With women, who knew?
Scully looked at Rae, who was starring transfixed, at the screen.
Her own face was plastered across the screen along with a phone
number for Crimestoppers. She was wanted for arson and questioning
concerning the disappearance of a co-worker. A Mike Ashton.
end part three
===========================================================================
From: JackeeC <74363.2566@CompuServe.COM>
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: NEW:REPOST XJEDI VOL ONE 4/24
Date: 23 Jan 1996 03:39:27 GMT
part 4: disclaimer still in force from Chapter one.
XJEDI part 4
Earth, Interstate 85, North Carolina
The white Corsica shot along I-85 just above the speed limit.
"You guys I'm so sorry I got you involved in this mess," Rae
apologized for the third time since they'd left the motel.
"This little mess?" Mulder questioned distractedly looking at the
sky, "it's nothing." It was a full moon.
The car crested a slight hill, near exit 46, then went back down
a slight decline.
"Mulder take this exit," Scully spoke up suddenly.
Mulder cut the wheel sharply across another lane in order to make
the exit. An irritated driver laid into his horn in disgust at
Mulder's technique. At the end of the exit ramp, Mulder halted the
car. "What's going on?"
"I think I saw a road block when we crested that last hill,"
Scully supplied, looking around to see if they were followed off of
the exit. "I think we should keep moving."
"Yeah," Mulder said, making a right turn onto the darkened road.
"Rae, you wouldn't happen to have any idea where we are would you?"
Rae leaned over from the back seat. She took in the dark country
road with a few houses set back off a bit. After a few minutes, she
seemed to get her bearings. "I think I've been back here before. I
don't think anyone really goes this way anymore."
"'Cept us chickens. Then, there's probably a good chance that
there isn't a road block back this way. Let's see if we can get
around it."
Scully's cellular began to chirp in her pocket. All eyes went
to her overcoat. She took it from across the seat and answered the
phone.
"Sir...uhh yes. Okay. Understood." She clicked off the phone and
replaced it in her coat. "That was Skinner," she said unnecessarily.
"We are to hold position here until further notice. The big I is not
involved in this case."
Mulder raised an eyebrow in false amusement. "Well, the absolute
last place they'd expect us to be is at Acme. I for one would like to
get a look at that building. We might be able to find some sort of
clue to where Mike Ashton is. Rae, you think you're up to it?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," she said.
* * * * * *
"This is where the basement entrance was," Rae was saying as they
trudged across the rubbish, that was once Acme. The door that had led
to the storage area was no longer existent, only a gaping hole was
left.
Mulder shone his flashlight down into the hole. The charred and
dirty floor was about ten feet down. The sickly smelled of burned
electronics and plastics still clung to the remains of the building.
Flashing the beam around the area, Mulder was able to find a
metal cart that still had one of four wheels. The cart was shelved
and stood easily six feet. "If we could get that cart down in the
hole, we could climb down and see what treasures await."
It was charred and soot covered. In no time Mulder's hands and
face were covered with black smudges. He did; however, manage to get
the cart above the hole. The tough part would be getting it down into
the hole.
Scully stood back and held the flashlight, Rae offered
suggestions, Mulder managed to cover himself head to toe in soot by
the time the cart crashed upright to the basement floor.
Mulder carefully lowered himself the distance to the top shelf of
the cart. Scully handed him the flashlight. Rae followed him into the
hole. Scully would stand guard.
"The tubes were over this way," Rae was saying heading about in
the scattered remains. She knew they were near the rear wall, but
just where was hard to judge in the darkness and destruction. They'd
covered the back wall several times before she saw the remains of a
giant DC generator. "Oh, I remember this. The boxes were a couple of
piles away. Walking over, she found the spot.
Mulder shone the light to the floor where the boxes had been.
Of course, there was nothing there now but rubbish.
Rae looked up a Mulder. She didn't want to disappoint him, she'd
hoped they'd be able to find something at least here, since they'd
found nothing near where she'd last seen Mike's car or in the other
parts of the ruin. A memory returned to her, "let me borrow the
flashlight for a sec."
Mulder handed her the light. She shone it around the floor.
Stooping near the ground she shone it some more. As her beam swept
across the big generator, a flash of something shiny reached them.
Going over, she peaked underneath the device. There, underneath was
another of the cylinders, hidden behind one of the generators', still
bolted down, legs.
"Eureka!" she exclaimed, handing it triumphantly to Mulder.
Before Mulder could respond, Scully's whistle reached their ears.
"Mulder!" she whispered urgently. "Get up here, now!"
Somewhere in space. Millennium Falcon.
Han Solo was almost upon the ship before Luke alerted him to it's
presence. The Falcon's sensors hadn't picked up a single thing. When
he focused on the area to which Luke pointed, he could barely make
out the image of a ship, ten times the size of the Falcon.
"Okay, we're here now," Han said, "any ideas how to get inside of
something we can barely see?"
"Might I make a suggestion," Threepio spoke up from the entrance
way.
"Why not?" Han allowed.
"Artoo's circuits are impervious to vacuum as are my own. I am
visually aware of the location of the ship, although only as an
anomaly. I could guide Artoo to the ship and perhaps he could
interface with it's computer."
Luke looked towards Han, who shrugged. Chewie growled a
questioned in Han's direction.
"Do you sense any sort of danger from over there?" Han asked
Luke.
Luke thought for a second. "No, it's just as it was before. The
danger appears to be sleeping."
"Well, we're gonna have to be sure you don't wake it up." Han
pointed in Threepio's direction. "I want your vocals off, until we
say different."
"I say, sir, I'll have to keep in touch with you in some
manner. How else will I alert you to any dangers that may be lurking
there?" Threepio answered, chastened. He found this particular human
most irritating, not at all like Master Luke.
"Vocoder," Han supplied. "Artoo will send us the coded
information over the vocoder and the Falcon can translate it to the
terminal." He hoped. That system did work, last time he'd checked it.
Months ago.
Chewie growled Han's thoughts aloud. Luke didn't seem to pick up
on what the Wookiee had said, so Han simply answered, "Right. Let's
get started."
* * * * * *
The droids drifted up to the shadowy form of the mysterious
vessel, the life-link harnessed to them like some sort of metallic
umbilical. From the Falcon's viewer, the hulking form appeared near.
But, against the literal backdrop of space, it took 15 minutes for
the droids to drift across.
All eyes within the Falcon were focused on one of the forward
terminals. A constant stream of Threepio's opinions flowed across the
screen. To Han, reading it was almost as irritating as hearing it.
Almost.
Now, a different message scrolled across the terminal:
HAVE NOW REACHED INTERLOCK. ACCESS TERMINAL LOCATED. ARTOO IS NOW
ATTEMPTING LINK UP. LINK UP SUCCESSFUL, SIRS!!! HEADING BACK.
Step one complete, thought Luke. Now for the hard part. "Han,"
Luke started. "when the droids get back, I think I should go over
alone first."
"Oh yeah?" Han said conversationally, "and why's that?" Luke
Skywalker was always running off and getting himself into trouble.
Must have been the Skywalker flaw, Leia had a knack for it too.
"I sensed a woman over there. She's terrified. But, I think she's
seen me before, when I was meditating. I don't think she realizes
where she is, Han. I'll go over and try to ease her into it. One
person, unarmed, might not frighten her as much. Might make it a
little easier for her to take."
"What about that sleeping trouble over there, Luke? What if it
wakes up? You need some back up. Chewie can stay here and man the
ship. *I'm* going with you, like it or not." Han wouldn't be moved.
Luke took in his stubborn glare. Nope he wouldn't be moved. "I'm
going to have to ask you to leave your weapons, then." Luke said
confidently. He hoped. He'd promised Han a long time ago, not to use
the force on him.
"What weapons?" Han asked innocently.
Luke sighed. Well, he couldn't see the weapons, he was sure Han
had on him. Maybe no one else would either. "All right," he
surrendered.
Chewie maneuvered the Falcon's hatch alongside the Hinderer's, as
the droids had informed them it was called, airlock. A pocket of
atmosphere was initiated between the two ships.
Luke and Han, drifted across the expanse to the adjoining
airlock. Han keyed in the command Artoo had given them. The airlock
of the Hinderer cycled open. A multitude of smells poured over them.
"Life support is failing," Han commented. The smell of stagnant
air was unmistakable. The fact that they could see their breath in
front of them, made it even more abundantly clear that they had
better hurry and do whatever it was that they were going to do.
"Time is running out, here. Why don't I go on and see if I can
figue out what's wrong with this bucket, while you find the kids?"
Han suggested.
Luke agreed. The sensory information he'd picked up hadn't given
him any idea that things had deteriorated this far.
Han headed off down the dimly lit rock corridors in the
direction, he hoped, was aft. That was generally the typical location
of the engine room. Fortunately, the ship's design seemed pretty
straight forward. The corridor he was on, led directly to a room,
made differently than the rest of the ship. The walls were durasteel
painted to match the corridor's dark hue. This room seemed to take up
an extremely large portion of the ship. A completely unfamiliar bank
of readouts stood against a wall. Rows of consoles led deeper into the
compartment. No red lights seemed to be flashing on the mysterious
banks, so Han left them alone.
The familiar sight of the hyperspace drive and a rather ancient
set of engines sat in the far back of the room. Not bothering to look
around anymore, Han set to work. Here was likely to be the problem.
Red lights flashed all over the place. He didn't even need to know
the language on the readouts to figure that one.
Off to another side, stood a doorway. Glancing inside, he paused
at what he saw. It appeared to be some sort of medical bay. It
appeared very sterile and efficient, medical tools hang over the
bed-like platforms. The white walls gleamed even in the dim
gloominess. It gave Han the creeps.
Taking out a portable analyzer, he scanned one of the rather
large circular shells built near a back corner.
A sound behind him, made him spin fast on his heel, blaster at
the ready. Before him stood, a 'man' about a meter and a half tall,
with long willowy arms and an elongated head with huge black eyes and
a small silted mouth. The dim light reflected off the metallic sheen
of it's skin, and off of the tiny cylindrical blaster it held in a
long fingered hand.
It clattered away in some strange sounding language. The mouth
movements didn't seem to quite fit the sounds it emitted.
Han got off a shot before rolling out of the way of the laser
fire that charred the floor where he'd stood. "No weapons, he says,"
he grumbled under his breath, tweaking up the setting on his
miniblaster. Low stun had been woefully ineffective; he was sure
he'd hit the thing squarely in the chest and it hadn't even been
fazed.
His dive landed him behind a power console. He heard the clink of
it's footsteps as it headed around the table. He also heard the
unmistakable sound of more reinforcements. Where were they coming
from? And why hadn't they showed up when they'd entered the airlock?
Dashing out from around the console, he headed for one of the big
engine casings that he'd been scanning. Albeit, a circuitous route,
by way of another console and a dividing wall. He fired at maximum
power in the general area of the things back. His mouth gaped when he
saw the sparks fly. A droid?! It had moved in a very much organic
manner, if a bit slow.
The rest were getting closer. The sound came from the direction
of that medical bay. Han grasped the fallen droid's weapon from where
it had fallen, he had a feeling it was more powerful than his own.
When three more droids rounded the corner he was ready.
Firing both weapons he took down two of them. The third managed to
get off a shot that whistled past his ear. Ducking behind the another
of the casings, he waited the droid out. It knew nothing of stealth.
Han waited until it's steps were almost around the casing, and fired
both weapons on it from behind.
It went down in a shower of sparks.
He heard no more steps approaching. He went back to his job of
diagnosing the ships troubles. To Luke, droids like those would be
candy.
Luke, meanwhile, had a different kind of trouble. He'd found the
children, against the plasteel barrier he'd seen in his meditation.
They were crying over the unconscious form of the young woman. He
wanted to calm them, but was afraid to touch their minds in any way,
because of what had happened when he'd touched hers.
He approached them cautiously. They looked tearfully up at him.
None approached. He smiled reassuringly at them, hoping that would
suffice. He spoke soft crooning words, telling them it would be okay.
No one tried to stop him when he bent over the young woman.
When she didn't respond to his gentle tapping of her cheeks or
the rubbing of her arms he began to worry. Her body was too cool. Too
still. He'd have to use the force. He'd be careful. Perhaps since she
was unconscious the barrier would not throw itself up at him.
Delicately, he probed for damage. He could feel the barrier on
the horizon of her subconscious. It was deeply ingrained. He saw the
damage that had been caused. He set to work repairing it, slowly,
carefully. It took all of his concentration to block the waves
emanating from the cold white brilliance of the barrier.
He felt when she was about to regain consciousness, the barrier
began to bear down upon him with lightning speed. He pulled his sense
away, but not before the fringes of it caught him. The headache was
back. A small price to pay, considering he felt responsible for her
condition in the first place.
When he opened his eyes, it was to look into the confusion of her
hazel ones. He was breathing heavily. The cool breath showed white in
front of him. He reached a hand to his brow, he was sweating.
"Are you all right?" he asked her. She looked surprised that he'd
spoken. But, she said nothing. All of the children, he noticed had
stopped crying. They all appeared to be looking at him with smiles on
their faces.
She spoke to one of the children, who smiled and pointed to him
before answering her. She looked back to him with new eyes. She drew
herself up to stand. She was surprised to find someone she stood eye
to eye with. The OTHER'S were much shorter, and all of the children
were.
The group as a whole seemed startled as a sound came over Luke's
comlink. "Yeah, Han," Luke spoke into it. He'd forgotten about the
life support. The air was actually starting to smell better already.
"Engine's all fixed up as good as new, or as new as these ancient
engines are gonna get." Han's voice sounded over the link. "How are
things on your end?"
"Just fine, I've found the children. I don't recognize the
language they spoke though. I think we better get Threepio over here
to translate." Luke had caught the tone in Han's voice. There was
more. "I ran into a few *friends* in the engine room," Han continued.
"Droids. Probably to protect something down here. I haven't seen
anything else moving down here. You sure you don't feel anything else
around here?"
"Nothing else." Luke said. "Whoever's sleeping is still asleep.
I'll meet you at the airlock with the kids."
Luke reached a hand out towards the young woman. She took it. He
smiled reassuringly. He led them down the corridors towards the
airlock, which had been closed until he and Han should request that
Chewie open it. Just in case.
Han was waiting there for them. "Okay Chewie," he was saying.
"Open airlock." The bright light shone from the Falcon's inner
lighting. Shining brightly through the airlock.
To Han and Luke's amazement, the children one and all shrank back
from the light, in terror. Luke turned towards Han in amazement.
"Shut the airlock, now!," he exclaimed into the comlink at Chewie.
Chewie immediately closed the airlock. Han and Luke stared at
each other for a full second. Luke, unsure if it was the light or the
airlock itself that frightened the children, was unwilling to risk
experimenting with it.
"Han, I need to check on whatever's sleeping on this ship. I was
close to them a minute ago. They're in an induced coma or something.
I don't think they'll wake easily. But, I do need to make sure
they're where I think they are."
"All right," Han said, "sounds good to me. But, what about these
kids? It ain't likely they're going willingly through the airlock."
"Is the ship functional now?" Luke asked.
"All systems are on-line. Hyperdrive is charging now."
"Well, then, I think I'll just fly it back to Coruscant. These
children are going to need help. If you can get some food, while I
get them away from this airlock, then I'll check on our sleeping
friends and we can be on our way."
Earth, USA
A shadowy figure drew on a cigarette in the dark. It's tip glowed
red for several seconds. He slowly blew out the cloud of smoke, which
joined with the rest in the hazy atmosphere of the room.
The phone rang. He picked it up in the middle of the first ring.
"Yes?" he spoke softly.
"Area Zero, Rendezvous 9." The line went dead.
The man hung up the phone. He drew once again on his cigarette
before crushing it in a glass ashtray." Getting up, he stepped out of
his office, and walked calmly down the office corridor towards an
elevator.
"Afternoon, Senator," he spoke to a gray haired gentleman. "Good
evening, General," the man answered back, with a friendly smile.
When the elevator opened to the helipad, the Senator had
already gotten off. The man walked to the waiting helicopter. "Let's
go," he said. "Area Zero."
The dark helicopter lifted into the air, heading off in a
southerly direction.
end part 4
===========================================================================
From: JackeeC <74363.2566@CompuServe.COM>
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: NEW:REPOST XJEDI VOL ONE 5/24
Date: 23 Jan 1996 03:40:19 GMT
XJEDI
Part 5: disclaimer still in force.
Somewhere in space
"Master Luke? Master Luke where are you? Oh, what a perfectly hideous
vessel," Threepio was saying as he shuffled through the corridors of the
Hinderer.
"I'm forward, Threepio," Luke spoke back over the comlink.
Threepio rounded a bend in the corridor and met up with Luke and the
small group. "I say, sir, these children are desperately in need of care. Here
are the food supplies you requested." Threepio handed the satchel he'd been
carrying to Luke.
All of the children and the young woman, Luke had to keep telling himself
she was a woman, she had a solemn manner about her, but something deeper
struck him as childlike as well, stood in awe of Threepio. They didn't seem
afraid in the least. But then, Luke couldn't imagine any child being afraid of
Threepio. He probably seemed like some big gold toy.
"Threepio, I know they need baths, but I need you to see if you can
communicate with them," Luke said pulling a blanket from the satchel and
spreading it on a comparatively clean section on the floor in one of the
forward chambers.
He began to motion for the children to sit down on the blanket. They
seemed to understand and did so. He stooped too and sat on the blanket.
"My name is Luke Skywalker," he said, pointing a finger to himself.
"What's your name?" He asked the young woman, who sat to his right.
She looked confused for a moment. She knew what he wanted to know. She
simply didn't remember. So, she said the only name she knew. "Fox." she said
aloud and then smiled hesitantly.
Luke returned her smile and gave Threepio a doubtful look. So he needed
to get them talking. "What is this place?" he asked gesturing all around him.
A look of fear passed over her face. Luke waited. Then she began to
speak. When she was silent, Luke looked more hopefully at Threepio. He hoped
it would be enough.
Threepio cocked his head to one side. Luke knew he was accessing his
data files. "This appears to be a very obscure language, that was built into
my programming. I have no record of any known species speaking this language.
This is indeed strange, sir."
"Well, tell me what you *think* she said," Luke said.
"Sir, it appears she made reference to, 'the boogey man's house'"
Threepio answered.
Luke was taken aback. But oddly, he could see how that could be. The
place was certainly spooky. "Ask her where they come from," Luke suggested.
Threepio complied. The woman's face brightened, she understood. "From
Massachusetts," she said.
"Threepio, are there any records of planets or systems by that name?"
Luke asked. He'd certainly never heard of it.
"No Master Luke, I have no record of a system or a planet by that name. I
will have Artoo do a more extensive search, perhaps it is a city or an
asteroid or a station of some kind. These children are in such a state of
disrepair, one tends to wonder precisely what sort of misfortune befell their
parents."
"Yeah," Luke agreed, looking over the group. Obviously, the children
could not have all belonged to the young woman. There was an extreme variety
of races, but the ages seemed to range from perhaps 5 standard years to 10 at
the most. She seemed protective of them, but Luke doubted she was the true
mother of any of them. What were they doing here in the...'boogey man's house'
as she'd called it. Her own description had been childish. Sighing, he began
to pass out the food to the hungry group. The mystery would have to wait until
later.
* * * * * *
"Luke, take a look at this..." Han was saying. He stood bent over one of
the consoles of the Hinderer's engine room. The two had discovered a slight
problem in trying to pilot the craft. The console was locked out. It could
not be manually piloted, it ran completely by a preset program.
When Han had repaired the engine's malfunction, the navigational computer
had reset. Artoo, was plugged into the terminal link on the other end of the
engine room, attempting to learn anything.
Han had been attempting to reroute the system. Difficult, when one wasn't
precisely sure how this particular system worked. But, he'd discovered
something in his efforts.
Luke stepped over to where his friend stood and looked at the monitor to
which Han pointed. His eyes widened. "You've got to be kidding...that's almost
too easy," he said.
A menu screen had appeared requesting program coordinates. In Basic.
"Candy." Han had agreed, punching the coordinates for Coruscant.
ARE YOU SURE? the monitor prompted.
"'Course I'm sure," Han said, keying in an affirmative reply.
SYSTEM INITIALIZING.
PREVIOUS PROGRAM CORRUPTION ERROR. LOCATION INCONSISTENT WITH
PREVIOUS PROGRAM FINAL DESTINATION. DO YOU WISH TO REVIEW
LOCATION ANALYSIS?
"What?!" Han said irritation crept into his voice.
"Say yes," Luke suggested on a hunch. "It might tell us where this thing
was headed. I've certainly never seen a ship like this. I'd definitely want to
find out if there was more."
Han keyed in the affirmative response. The screen blanked and a set of
coordinates appeared:
-POINT OF ORIGIN ALPHA
CODE GRID: 30-12-17-3-2-22
Looks of confusion spread across both Han's and Luke's face. "Artoo,"
Luke called the domed droid from across the room. Threepio was with the
children.
"Can you make anything of this code grid?"
A series of whistles and beeps followed, which amounted to an answer
Luke could almost make out. The part he did get though was enough. Artoo
couldn't tell hem where the location was.
"Do you think you could convince it to go to Coruscant?" Han asked.
Artoo plugged into the side of the console and accessed the navigational
program. For good measure, he downloaded copies of related files. After a
minute he chirped his success.
INITIALIZING PROGRAM...
5 MINUTES TO HYPERSPACE JUMP.
Sounds of the engines coming up to speed could be heard behind them.
"See ya back at home, Kid" Han said, heading for the airlock to join Chewie.
Artoo followed behind. He wanted to get back to the more familiar Falcon
computers to analyze the data he'd downloaded.
Chewie watched through the view screen as the barely there ship leapt
into hyperspace. He growled a soft sound of trepidation. Something was causing
the flesh on the back of his neck to prickle.
"What's wrong, Buddy?" Han asked settling into the pilot's seat.
Before Chewbacca could answer Artoo began warbling and rocking excitedly.
Turning his extended link-up arm a quarter turn, he swiveled his 'eye' in the
direction of the terminal that had the vocoder link. A translation of what
he'd said appeared on the screen.
The message pinpointed the spot to which the Hinderer had been heading.
"Well, I'll be..." said Han. "Chewie, get a message probe off to Leia,
give her these coordinates. She probably won't get it for at least a day,
depending on how close the nearest track zone is. We're heading for these
coordinates."
Han locked the new destination into the navicompter. Within moments the
Millennium Falcon leapt also into hyperspace. The didn't notice the lone
barely visible ship that leapt out of hyperspace a half a million kilometers
away.
Earth, Southeastern United States.
"General, the window is now open," The dark haired pilot yelled to his
very important passenger. "Shall I alert echoes 2 and 3?"
"Negative," the passenger replied, "tell them to follow us in." The
passenger looked to his pilot. He'd hand picked all of the pilots in this
team. All of them served with the utmost dedication.
"How is our...other project going?" he asked him.
"The pilot grinned, "it's going well, sir. The plan is on schedule."
"Good," the man said. "I have another mission for you..."
Somewhere in hyperspace
The navicomputer's alarm sounded. The Millennium Falcon was about to
come out of hyperspace. The two pilots and one droid watched as the numbers
ticked down. 5...4...3...2...
Just before the ship was due to come out of hyper a loud whining erupted
in the cabin. Hyperspace burst into a brilliant explosion of swirling color.
Han watched stunned as the nose of the Falcon seemed to stretch as if
some giant rubber band being pulled by an unseen hand. A mammoth black void
appeared at the edge of the swirling lights. Han thought they must have gone
into a black hole.
He was about to yell something to Chewie when suddenly, he realized he
was once again in real space. The 'storm' or whatever had only lasted a
second.
The vortex had dumped them out a quarter of million kilometers from a
brilliantly beautiful blue planet. It reminded him a lot of his home planet,
Corelia.
He sat stunned starring at the planet that was not supposed to be there.
"Any idea where we are?" he asked no one in particular. Chewie and Artoo were
silent.
Artoo suddenly erupted into excited beeps and whistles about the same
time Chewie growled a warning. The Falcon's proximity detectors went haywire.
Another of the barely visible ships shot past the Falcon within 20
meters. Then slipped into hyperspace out from the moon.
"What the-" Han took manual control of the Falcon. "You get any reading
of any type of large armed facility down there?"
Chewie replied that he didn't.
"I say let's see what's down there. He was in an awful hurry to get away
from something." The Falcon dove down towards the blue planet along the same
trajectory of the now far away ship.
Earth, Charlotte North Carolina
"Mulder!" Scully whispered again as loudly as she dared. She stooped
impatiently over the hole. She saw the beam of their flashlight approaching.
"Cut the light!" she said.
The light went out almost immediately. She heard the soft sounds of Rae
and Mulder straining to climb over the cart and up out of the hole.
Rae came up first. Scully grabbed her arm and helped her out. Both of
them helped Mulder.
"What's going on?" he asked when he was out of the hole. He looked around
the perimeter of the building. He didn't see anything unusual.
"Three dark helicopters just went down in those woods." Scully said
pointing off into the distance.
"How far?" Mulder asked heading in that direction.
"Maybe a mile, it's hard to tell at night." Scully replied following him.
The woods were thick and overgrown. It took nearly thirty minutes for them to
go half a mile.
"Are you sure this is the right direction?" Mulder whispered to his
partner. The hadn't seen a single thing out of the ordinary.
"You guys," Rae spoke up "look."
Rae had been pointing up into the sky. A dark silvery object was
descending from the sky.
"Get down!" Mulder said, pulling the women to a crouched position on the
ground. They all sat frozen until the object disappeared from sight.
Mulder led as they crept onward towards where the object had seemed to be
headed. Everyone came to an abrupt halt when a brilliant flash of light
appeared in a clearing up ahead. They hid on their bellies behind the heavy
undergrowth, trying not to think about what manner of critter might reside
there.
The clearing was perfectly circular, perhaps a hundred yards. The object
hovered over the area. The helicopters sat silently by. A tall man was
standing in the brilliant column of light emanating from the object.
Scully's entire body jerked. Mulder stared wide-eyed at the scene before
him. Rae just looked dumbfounded. The light brightened. The three secret
onlookers were forced to cover their eyes. Mulder held out as long as he
could.
When the light dimmed and faded, the man was gone. In the next instant
the object shot up into the sky at tremendous speed. Mulder turned and
looked at Scully. Emotion brimmed in his eyes. Scully was still starring ahead
transfixed.
"Scully did you see that?" he asked.
When she didn't reply, he grabbed her arm, "Scully, are you all right?" He
wondered if she were beginning to remember some of the things that had
happened to her when she was abducted.
"Scully," he whispered again. Rae touched her other hand, worried as well.
"M-Mulder," she stammered turning wide frightened eyes in his direction.
"That man...the one in the light...I know him."
"From where?" Mulder asked, his heart began to pound a little harder.
Scully raised a stunned eyebrow, "He was my date for Friday night. Ben...
Benjamin Adams."
end part 5
===========================================================================
From: JackeeC <74363.2566@CompuServe.COM>
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: NEW:REPOST XJEDI VOL ONE 6/24
Date: 23 Jan 1996 03:41:21 GMT
XJEDI
part 6
disclaimer: still in force from chapter one.
"Your date..?" Mulder blinked.
Scully nodded wide-eyed.
"You sure know how to pick 'em," Rae whispered in the background despite
the strangeness of whatever was going on here. The three ducked their heads as
the helicopters started up their engines and took to the air.
The sound of their choppy retreat was fading when the three got to their
feet and headed cautiously out into the clearing. Mulder eyed Scully, she was
still a bit pale, but the professional mask had taken the place of the shock
he'd seen there before.
Suddenly a strange sort of whine began to be heard over the trees.
Looking up they saw an oddly shaped object with flashing lights heading
directly toward the clearing. It hovered above the small group, as they all
stared up with a feeling of impending doom.
* * * * * *
"I don't like this one bit, Chewie," Han was saying as the Falcon
hovered over the clearing. There were three people standing directly below
his ship. They really didn't look dangerous and he didn't read any weapons on
them. In fact they looked more like they were afraid of him. If they would
just move he could set down and introduce himself proper like. Probably be a
good idea not to use his real name until he figured out where their
sympathies laid. It could get awful uncomfortable married to New Republic
Hierarchy if these were sympathetic to the empire.
Chewie growled a question concerning their intelligence in
standing beneath a ship which so obviously was wanting to land.
"Yeah pal, I need some answers about that ship one way or another.
Since they are the only people around, what say we land, huh?" Han grinned
wickedly at his co-pilot.
Chewie rewarded him with a deep Wookiee chuckle.
Han lowered the Falcon ever so slightly, but enough for the three
standing beneath him to realize they were running out of space. They still
remained transfixed where they were.
"Go figure that..." he spoke under his breath and lowered the ship some
more. He was almost right on top of them.
They suddenly scurried out from beneath his ship. Setting the craft down
he drew himself up from the pilots seat.
"You stay here, Chewie, until I figure out what's going on," Han
told his friend. "You too Artoo," he added. Turning, he felt his small blaster
and the one he'd taken from that droid on the Hinderer. They were still well
hidden. He lowered the ramp.
* * * * * *
Scully and Mulder and Rae stood beneath the craft, frozen. Knowing in
the next instant the bright lights would shine on the three of them. When the
hull began closing in on them they stayed. When it dipped again, it was Rae
who grabbed the two agents by the elbows sparking them into moving themselves
from beneath it.
"I think it wants to land." She said by way of explanation.
They all watched as the ship sat down on the ground, and a gangway opened
downward. A man stood at the top. The ships lighting was at his back, thus
obscuring his features. He was tall and solidly built. He seemed to be
dressed casually with something thrown across his shoulders. He began to walk
slowly down the ramp.
"He's human," Scully spoke from Mulder's left, not removing her eyes from
the approaching figure.
When the man reached the bottom of the ramp his face became visible.
He began speaking. Neither of them understood what he'd said. They stared
blankly back at him. He began waving his arms as if gesturing to the woods.
"You know, first contact is not at all like this on popular scifi tv.
What I wouldn't do for a universal translator," Mulder muttered under his
breath.
Rae giggled. The situation was really getting to her. A second later,
amazingly, Scully started also. It was contagious, Mulder grinned and the
strange man's eyes widened and he grinned too. Just then the sound of the
helicopters reached the ears of all four humans.
All eyes turned skyward. A flood light began scanning the
area. The lights gleamed across the surface of the ship pausing on the
man at the bottom of the ramp. He raised his hands to block the
light. A shot rang out and the man went down.
"Behind the ramp!" Mulder shouted to the women, as he tried to drag the
man with him.
He'd taken a hit in the right shoulder and was already trying to
pull himself to his knees. He shook his head to clear it. What sort of
blaster was that?! He felt his blood pouring out. The man from the
group was trying to drag him behind the Falcon's entry ramp. He tried
to tell them to get inside, but it was no use. They didn't understand
a word he'd said. His world began to dim.
Rae screamed as a large form barreled down the ramp with a growl, bodily
taking the injured man into his arms. He'd just stepped back on the ramp when
another volley from the helicopter got him in the back. It was a dart. His
steps slowed as he neared the top. The three watched in amazement as the
bullets just deflected off the hull of the ship.
"Inside!" Mulder yelled, half dragging a stunned and
uncooperative Rae. Scully knew the men in the helicopter wouldn't
stop until they were dead. She ran inside. They scuttled around the
now, still, hairy creature that appeared to stand over seven feet
tall.
Mulder pushed Rae into the interior of the vessel. Then, turned back to
the creature. He look up into the intelligent eyes and reached out for the now
unconscious man.
The creature's gaze was growing more distant by the second, but he held
on ferociously to his cargo. Mulder continued to wait.
Finally the creature's arms seemed to sag. Mulder stepped in to take him.
Carrying a woman like a baby was one thing. Carrying a fully grown man of
Mulder's own height was quite another. He staggered under the weight. Quickly
and as carefully as he could, he lowered him to the floor.
The ramp began to lift. He rushed around the man to help the creature.
The ramp had nearly reached the top when he heard voices yelling orders.
A pair of arms grabbed the creature from the ramp just before it slammed shut.
Mulder could hear the gunfire bouncing off the outer hull growing more and
more distant. Suddenly it dawned on him what was happening.
"We're moving," he whispered in disbelief.
Coruscant, Imperial Palace
Leia Organa Solo paced her chambers. It was late in the evening. She'd
dined that evening with the Chief-of-State, Mon Mothma. She'd discussed the
strange beacon Luke had found in greater detail with her the day before.
Tonight, she'd been too worried to be much of an asset in the last minute
details of preparation for whatever her husband and brother found.
She looked down at her empty hands. Her children had only recently gone
into seclusion for their own safety. They would be great Jedi someday, like
Luke. But, for now, she was alone. Her arms were empty. She wrapped them
around herself. Something felt terribly wrong.
Forcing herself to sit, she did a Jedi calming exercise that Luke had
taught her. Her hands gradually unclenched and her anxiety faded. She felt
the force flowing all around her, calming. She touched the presence of her
brother. Luke. Luke was near. She felt him acknowledge her with a returned
feeling of warmth and love. She smiled and hurried to the space dock to meet
her brother. Not at all worried that she hadn't felt Han. If Luke wasn't
worried, then, she shouldn't be either.
Luke sat in a corner of the chamber they'd eaten in. All of the children
spoke softly to the woman in a corner of the room. It appeared that she was
teaching them lessons of some kind. He wasn't sure exactly what it was.
The Hinderer would be coming out of hyperspace soon, and he
hadn't a clue as to how to dock the thing. Artoo had left with Han so,
the Coruscant Traffic Control would have to tractor them in. He was
about to send a mental message to his sister when he felt her presence
reach out to him. He smiled. She seemed tense and worried, he sent her
a feeling of the warmth and love he felt for her.
She would be ready for them. He sent her an image of the ship and it's
limitations as far as being seen by instrumentation.
The Hinderer had taken on a slate gray tone as soon as it touched
atmosphere. It was no longer the nearly unseeable cloak. New Republic
Scientist who had been a part of a preparatory team were chomping at the
bit to see exactly what made that possible. It would be to their tactical
advantage if their ships were unseeable by instrumentation and the human
eye.
A deck droid interfaced with the airlock uplink to open a boarding ramp.
Luke Skywalker stepped out walking beside a dark-haired young woman
surrounded by a group of a dozen or so young children. Threepio followed
behind. Luke carried the smallest of them and one dark eyed little boy clung
to his hand. The young woman's eyes followed his movements closely.
The small group of engineers and the medical team stood waiting for Leia.
Leia stepped up to her brother waiting to be introduced to the grimy band
accompanying him.
Earth...?
Scully hurried to examine the wounded man as soon as Mulder sat
him down. His shoulder was bleeding profusely. Pulling back his shirt she
examined the wound. This was no ordinary bullet, it was intended to shatter
on impact. Her jaw set in fury at the inhumanity involved. Her eyes searched
the immediate area, she saw no evidence of anything she could use to stop the
bleeding.
Rae seeing her search, removed the thin sleeveless jacket she wore. She
handed it over Scully's shoulder. Scully conveyed her thanks with a look.
At Mulder's words, "We're moving," she looked sharply up at him.
Focusing her mind on the external sounds and subtle motion, she realized he
was right. She raised her eyes back to his to find he had taken out his
cellular.
"Mulder, what are you doing?" She asked her confusion clearly evident.
"Making a phone call," Mulder said as he watched the roam light
illuminate as the phone tracked. "I'll bet the roaming charges are going to
be astronomical," he commented dryly when the phone was ready.
Scully decided to tend her patient and ignore the fact.
The phone was picked up on the first ring. "Skinner," a voice spoke.
"Uh...Sir," Mulder started. What did one tell one's boss in a situation
like this? Sir, I'm making a cellular call from an alien spacecraft that's
heading for who knew where.
"Yes, Agent, spit it out," Skinner said after Mulder stalled.
Mulder took a deep breath and blew it out. He remembered Skinner's almost
calm acceptance when he'd explained that an alien bounty hunter was after his
recently returned 'sister.' This shouldn't be so bad.
"Sir...We're not in Kansas anymore."
"What are you babbling about, Agent Mulder?" Skinner snapped. "Where are
you?"
Mulder closed his eyes, "Sir, we're on an alien spacecraft headed for the
final frontier."
There was a second of silence. "Put Agent Scully on the phone."
"But, sir--" Mulder got out before the connection broke. A second later
the ship made a violent jerk of acceleration, followed almost immediately by
a high pitched whine that seemed to come from everywhere at once.
Coruscant, Imperial Palace
"What's on that ship, Luke?" Leia asked her brother. Luke had requested
that the ship be sealed and that no one be allowed inside it.
"There are sleeping Jedi aboard. Dark Jedi." Luke answered his sister
seriously. He knew what her reaction would be. The insane Jedi Master Joruus
C'baoth had nearly killed them both.
"What?!" she exclaimed. "Luke you're kidding me. I can't believe Han let
you do this. Speaking of Han, where is he anyway?"
"He should be here by now. Maybe he had trouble with the Falcon. We both
got ready to leave at the same time."
Leia seemed to accept that. She'd worry later, for now there was the
potential problem of dark Jedi. Sleeping or not.
"Leia, these Jedithey can't be awakened by any ordinary means. They
are also behind a plasteel barrier. I can't touch their minds really while
they are under. They are for all intents and purposes...dead. But on an
extremely low level they are alive. I can only slightly even feel them through
the force."
"So how did you know they were there?"
"It was the beacon. Somehow it operates within the force on a different
level. It enhances it. Exponentially."
"Exponentially?"
Luke nodded, going back in his mind. "When I focus on the cylinder in
the beacon, I was able to sense every individual on that ship 14 hours away
in hyperspace. I was able to project myself on board that ship, Leia. It felt
as if I were really there." Then, he remembered something else.
"When I touched the young woman's mind, there was a...barrier. Very
strong, painful. I've never experienced anything like it. What ever it is,
it's blocking her memory of who she is, I suspect the same has been done to
all of the children. Their minds need to be repaired."
Leia nodded in agreement with her brother's assessment of the children.
But the Jedi, she couldn't find her way to agreeing.
"So what are we going to do with these dark Jedi of yours?"
Luke smiled knowingly at her. Even though she was opposed to them even
being there, she knew that there were things he was driven to do. She trusted
him to not bring them into danger.
"Nothing. I think that leaving them where they are would be the safest
thing we could do. The ship should be impounded and unapproachable by anyone
except for you or I."
"Alright," Leia sighed. "I'll let you take care of that, I'll talk to
Mon Mothma. I do have an idea for the kids though, We could send them to the
planet CEstallia. The CEstallians are a peace loving telepathic race of
humanoids. They are said to be great healers of the mind and couldn't resist a
challenge like this."
"Okay, sounds good, I'll see if I can get them ready. Threepio is working
on a translator program for our comlinks. Hopefully he's done."
Leia watched her brother leave the room. Ever the optimist. Always ready
to help. Anybody. She remembered him wanting to save evil Darth Vader. He'd
done it too. Then, the insane clone Joruus C'baoth, he'd wanted to save him
too. She was proud to have him as her brother and not because he was a Jedi
knight. Even if he couldn't touch the force, Luke would still be the same
gentle easy going guy that he was. Though all he'd been through he still
retained an innocence of sorts. She hoped he never lost it.
End Vol. 1
End notes: I couldn't resist. Hopefully, by the time you reach this point. Vol.
2 is out there. I went ahead and divided into volumes because I suspected that
it would be LOOONG and I couldn't stand it anymore. I didn't want to devote
all this time if you guys felt I was making a mistake. So give a yell would
ya? -----------------//----------------------------
You know, I've recently begun to take notice of the news. Parts of this story
are from actual news stories on the radio here in Charlotte. The warehouse
that burned to the ground one night actually happened, and it was a storehouse
for military surveillance equipment. The owner did a sound bite where he said
the building burned from the roof down. I found it strange that the fire
marshal wasn't the spokesperson. On the same day a woman who had been missing
for three days reappeared, disoriented nearly a hundred miles away. Nothing
else was ever mentioned about these two stories. Are these possible xfiles?
Just today, I heard on the news that a meteor fell on a mobile home in the
Northern US burning it to the ground. Hmmm... Keep an eye out, you may see
this coming in a story on a net near you.
Jackee C. 08/25/95 74363.2566@compuserve.com
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