Gray Jedi - S01 E06

Story 1 year ago

Gray Jedi - S01 E06

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 6

*****

Some time later, Malik was awoken by an alert from the ship, indicating that their arrival at Ord Mantell was eminent. As his brain powered up, he became aware of a warm sensation against his body. Opening his eyes, he saw that Serra had fallen asleep in his arms, her gorgeous raven hair mere inches from his face. Soon, she began to stir as well.

“Morning Malik,” she mumbled. “How’d you sleep?”

“Not as restless as I thought I would.”

“I’ll take it,” she replied with a sweet giggle.

After untangling themselves from each other, the pair made their way back to the cockpit to make preparations for arrival. Serra ensured the shields were running strong, while Malik checked that the weapon systems were armed and ready. If they should run into any Republic warships, they wanted to be prepared. But as they dropped out of light speed, both were pleased to find that they were the only ship in the vicinity.

“Huh… guess the clones were called away.”

“Not that surprising. Here, check out this transmission that came through while we slept,” Serra said.

The pair listened to a special session of the Senate, during which Chancellor Palpatine elaborated on a failed plot by the Jedi to overthrow him. With his warped face, he now had the look of a true Sith Lord. Alongside tremendous support from the politicians, he then announced the reorganization of the Republic into the Galactic Empire. This was supposed to ensure a “safe and secure society,” but both Jedi could tell that this was the Chancellor’s, now the Emperor’s, plan all along: a final bid for nearly unlimited power. As thunderous applause echoed throughout the Senate, Serra cut the transmission off, disgusted by what she saw.

“So this is it… the Sith won…”

“Not in my book,” Malik replied with confidence. “They may have beaten us, driven the Jedi into hiding, but as long as the ways of the Light Side of the Force exist, so will the benefits they bring. We just have to do as much good as we can for this galaxy. And avoid getting caught, of course.”

Serra brightened a bit. “I actually had a thought on that last goal. Looking at the ship’s configuration, it would be easy to modify it. It is a Corellian design, after all. For example, if we can find the right parts on Ord Mantell, I bet I could install a cloaking device. There’s already a hidden stash of stygium crystals onboard; they’re the primary component to cloaking devices.”

“You could do that?” Malik asked in wonder.

“Of course! Don’t forget, I’ve always been on par with Skywalker as far as my mechanical skills and piloting capabilities.”

“True, I had forgotten that. All right then, let’s head for the surface. Where do we start?”

“How ‘bout here?” she asked, pointing at their navigation panel. “This section of the planet contains the largest junkyard in the hemisphere. I’d be shocked if it doesn’t have what we’re looking for.”

“Sounds good.”

Serra piloted their ship down to the surface of the planet, landing amongst a heap of abandoned parts and scrap. Exiting the ship, she now saw that the junkyard seemed to stretch into infinity. Doubts began to creep into her mind. What was she thinking in coming to this place?

“You’re attacking the problem all wrong, Serra,” Malik grinned, seeing her worry.

“Huh? How so?”

“You’re only inspecting this junkyard visually, hoping to see with your eyes the parts we need. That’s worse than a needle in a haystack. But we are Jedi… the Force can guide us. You know what parts we need. Picture them in your mind, and allow the Force to take over.”

While a pure connection to the Force had never been Serra’s strength, she did manage to quiet her mind as Malik instructed. As in-tune with the Force as he was, she trusted that what he was describing was indeed possible, even for a brash young Jedi like her. Reaching out with the images of the machinery in her mind, she began to feel the invisible tug of the Force. Compelled to follow it, she and Malik traversed the junkyard for an hour or so, trusting only in their instincts to guide them. At last, they arrived at the top of a pile of junk, looking down into a valley of sorts.

“Down there,” Serra said.

Jogging down the hill, they began to search the area for whatever it was the Force was leading them to. Finding parts for the primary body of a cloaking device took no time at all, as these were quite commonplace. The computer core, housed in the balloon-like top of the device, would be trickier. But thanks to the Force, Serra soon came upon part of an old, beat-up cloaking device. Only the top half remained, but that was exactly what she needed; the rest of the parts would suffice to get it working again.

“How do we get this back to the ship?” Malik wondered.

“Here, got an idea,” Serra replied. Pulling a large, flat piece of rectangular-shaped metal from the rubble, she continued, “Let’s load everything onto this, and we’ll levitate it with us back to the ship, like a flatbed.”

“Perfect!”

The pair got to work on their spoils, being careful to load the parts in such a way that they would not be damaged during transport. Once everything was secure, they began to make their way back to the ship. It was slow going, as their concentration was focused on keeping their cargo stable. While this was quite easy for Malik, Serra began to grow fatigued about halfway through. But after a few minutes’ rest, she had recovered enough to make it back to the ship. All the while, she couldn’t help but smile at how patient Malik was with her. He never looked down on her or thought less of her just because he was stronger with the Force than she. Serra liked that. Hell, she liked everything about this man.

“We’re here,” Malik said, interrupting her daydreams.

While Malik spread the parts out underneath the ship, Serra went onboard and found the stash of stygium crystals to power the cloaking device. As she was the better mechanic, Malik allowed Serra to take the lead on the project, following her instructions as they came. She began by hotwiring the power cells in the bottom half of the machine, which was quite easy for her. There was no true standard for this part of the device, just as long as everything ran with efficiency and did not overheat. Serra then turned her attention to the beat-up computer core they had found. After making several adjustments to the circuitry within, she installed the stygium crystals in the center of the device and began to wire the halves together. Using a small computer, she performed several diagnostics, and found that the device was indeed operational.

“We did it!” Serra exclaimed in joy.

“You did it,” Malik emphasized.

Serra jumped up, grabbing Malik in a celebratory hug for a moment. While he was hesitant at first, he found he rather enjoyed feeling her warmth against him; he had noticed the same thing earlier when they woke up together. Even though both of them were filthy from their trip through the junkyard, he still found the scent of her hair intoxicating. Before he could react further, Serra separated from him.

“Come on, help me get this installed.”

Serra opened up the access hatch underneath the ship and climbed in, preparing the space for the cloaking device. Once she was ready, Malik levitated the eight-foot-tall machine up through the hole, keeping it steady for her. Serra made quick work of the installation, and soon their new acquisition was ready for its first official test. The pair climbed aboard and powered the ship up.

“Here’s hoping this works…”

“I know it will,” Malik said with a smile.

Once all systems were running, Serra connected to the cloaking systems and activated the device. At first, nothing happened. But after a moment or two, the device in back hummed to life, and the ships sensors confirmed what the two Jedi had hoped would happen: their ship was now undetectable. Once this was confirmed, she powered off the ship to conserve power, as it was growing late in the day.

“Impressive,” Malik marveled.

“This’ll make it easier for us to find a safe port,” Serra agreed.