End of the Road (Competition)

[Qui Wan Jin]

<font size=3>End of the Road: The Legacy of Qui Wan Jin</font>

Ark-Ro Scein sat there for a moment… his mouth grimacing in a manner which indicated that he had just undergone some mild tragedy. Perhaps if he weren’t a Jedi Knight his emotions would have gotten the best of him but he remained relatively calm. His right hand held a cylindrical writing instrument which he slowly brought to meet the surface of a personal datapad which rested on his lap. He lifted the instrument for a moment and then put it down as if he were going to begin writing but then stopped immediately and closed his eyes tightly and cocked his head back so that he’d be staring up towards the ceiling if his eyes weren’t wide shut. He took a deeper than normal breath and let out a soft sigh as he returned his eyes to meet the datapad which sat in his lap… still blank.

“How can I say this…” He whispered to himself still staring at the blank surface in front of him as if through osmosis it would shed some divine influence upon him.

He sat back for a moment draped over the chair not unlike the way his brown robe was draped over his own body. He closed his eyes and began to think back… he remembered the first time he’d met the man, Qui Wan Jin was his name, he’d been a Jedi Master for over seven centuries. That figure baffled Ark-Ro.

”He’s been a Jedi Master for over seven centuries… I’ve been a Jedi Knight for less than 6 years…” He informed himself still almost not believing that a man who had been in this Galaxy for so long now… suddenly… wasn’t any longer.

He remembered how the man had a way about him… a… charisma that wasn’t so uncommon but in this man… it was different. You couldn’t explain it… he had a way of making people follow him though not through trickery or deceit. He was a natural leader, people followed him out of willingness to server a greater good which Qui Wan believed he was a part of. He was more in touch with the light side of the Force than anyone Ark-Ro had ever known. Losing Qui Wan was like losing a part of himself. That part of you that is your better judgement. Losing Qui Wan Jin meant so many things to Ark-Ro that there was no way he could process it all right now so fresh off the loss of his ex-teacher.

He began to scribble on the datapad with the writing device “Qui Wan Jin was not only my mentor, he was my friend” Ark-Ro looked at the words that he had written for several seconds contemplating every word in the sentence before he tapped a button on the datapad erasing everything he had written.

He remembered countless times which the two men had drawn their lightsabers in the face of great danger. So odd that the man he looked up to for so many years was… no longer. He stopped for a moment and couldn’t help but let a tear escape the pool which was forming in his left eye.He brought his left hand up and wiped away the solitary droplet which had rolled down the side of his cheek. He closed his eyes letting the light side of the Force flow through his body like a gentle stream. He took in a deep breath and exhaled in one fluid motion… exhaling all of the bad energy out knowing that Qui Wan Jin was now truly one with the Force.

[Qui Wan Jin]

He was now writing feverishly and finally had something worthwhile to say about the man who’s death… even though over 7 centuries after his birth… had come too soon. He let out a small sigh and dropped the writing instrument on the datapad as he leaned back in his chair thinking of the days when the Jedi Master would help him discover the Force in new ways and help him keep a steady bond with the light side. The Jedi Master was as selfless as he was wise. It was when Master and student reunited to face a great evil that Qui Wan’s true colors shone through like a bright rainbow in a dimly lit sky. It was a dark day…storming…. The crackle of thunder could be heard as the gentle aftershocks rumbled through the heavens and accentuated the gentle patter of rain that splashed the roof of the structure…

“Ark-Ro… are you ready to go?” Qui Wan asked the man whom he once called his Padawan learner.

“Yes I’ll be there in just a second Qui.” Ark-Ro replied as he looked through a couple of compartments which slid out of the wall in his room. He tapped the button on one compartment and it slid out…no… that wasn’t it. He tapped the one above it… the compartment slid out revealing a box carved out of wood from an Ithorian tree. The words “To my Son of whom I’m eternally proud” were carved across the lid of the beautiful box. A small sense of pride swelled in Ark-Ro as a smile crept across his lips.

Qui Wan walked behind the robed Jedi and placed his right hand on Ark-Ro’s right shoulder. “Your father was a true Jedi Knight Ark-Ro… of him you should be proud.”

“Yes… he was…..and yes I am” He said as he turned his head to face Qui. Ark-Ro turned back to the compartment slowly opening the wooden box to reveal the glimmering silver hilt of a lightsaber. It looked somewhat older in fashion yet it was in remarkable condition, the tool had belonged to his father, Meel-Ra Scein who had served alongside Qui during the Clone Wars. He removed the ‘saber from the box and handled it with kid’s gloves as if it were a time bomb ticking down to precious few seconds. He took the hilt and clipped it to the left side of the belt at his waist and turned to Qui Wan who was standing by waiting for Ark-Ro to gather any materials he would need.

Ark-Ro rummaged through a bag on his bed removing a few items and placing them inside containers on his belt. “Alright Qui… shall we?” Ark-Ro said as he motioned his right arm towards the door.

The Jedi Master nodded and led the two men outside as the door slid open with an audible woosh as they crossed the threshold. The rain suddenly became amplified two fold as they walked towards the shuttle that sat outside on the duracrete landing pad, the two men didn’t seem to be in a rush even though they were more than soaked by the time they reached the gangplank of the Lambda Class Shuttle The Protector which was Qui Wan’s personal ship.

The metallic chirp of the men’s boots echoed in unison as they marched up the durasteel ramp with Qui leading the two of them into the cockpit of the ship. Ark-Ro began unloading his equipment into a storage unit onboard the ship while Qui keyed in several commands into the console of the shuttle. The gangplank retracted into the shuttle as the engines came online. The gentle rumble of the engines purred like a red crested cougar cub as Qui began to scan the navicomputer to double check the route they’d be taking to their final destination.

Qui manned the controls as the shuttle slowly lifted off the ground as the ascent began. “Well Ark-Ro…. This is it…. We’re on our way.”

“What’s our ETA Qui?” Ark-Ro said from the back of the shuttle.

Qui looked down to the navicomputer and punched in some commands and returned “About 7 hours if we don’t experience any problems”

“Coruscant here we come….” The younger man whispered as he continued to pack equipment into the cargo hold.

[Qui Wan Jin]

They arrived in Coruscant’s atmosphere as scheduled about 7 hours later. The planet was truly something to behold. Ark-Ro couldn’t help but marvel at the buzz of traffic that weaved in and out of the massive city-wide planet which loomed in and out of several layers. The sun was just setting and the clouds painted a pastel masterpiece in the heavens that made the planet somehow seem serene.

“Protector this is Coruscant Traffic Control what is your destination?” An officer of the CTC inquired.

“Docking Bay 36K28A in quadrant 4 of sector C1” Qui swiftly replied as he kept both eyes on the traffic manning the controls of the shuttle.

“Proceed with authorization code Protector” The officer said as Qui keyed in a couple of commands into the console of the ship.

<font face=arial size=1 color=#ff3333>submitting_authorization…
alpha…echo…beta…gamma…omega…zeta…
authorizing…
authorization level 1 complete…
submitting_republic_vessel_identification…
protector…2-1-9-5-alpha-kappa-gamma-epsilon-theta-2-9…
authorization level 2 complete…
</font>

“Protector proceed to Docking Bay 36K28A” The man said after Qui Wan submitted the authorization code.

Qui Wan put the Protector on auto pilot following the pre determined path to the docking bay where they would be landing. He turned to Ark-Ro who was sitting in the Co-Pilot’s chair and seemed a bit apprehensive.

“How do you feel Ark-Ro?” Qui asked as he looked into the eyes of his friend who wasn’t returning the eye contact and was instead looking towards the floor board of the ship.

“Well… I’m not sure what we’re doing… I know that some of BlasTech’s cargo’s been stolen and that we’re here to investigate… but I don’t quite understand why…” He stopped and took a deep breath as he let out a sigh. He continued as if he thought Qui wasn’t getting the gist. “I mean… BlasTech’s a huge corporation… why have they insisted that we handle the situation? I’m sure they’ve got a security force that could more than handle petty thieves or pirates…” He said as he finally looked up to meet the inquisitive gaze of his former Jedi Master.

“These are interesting points that you bring up Ark-Ro. Your questions hide your apprehension about the impending mission. Your apprehension is for good reason I might add. Your analysis of the situation is wrong however. You are correct in that BlasTech is a multi-zillion credit corporation that has a more than stellar security force, however, where you are wrong is in assuming that the perpetrators are common thieves. They've managed to get information that only the highest execs in BlasTech are privy to. The reports that I've gotten from the previous hijackings indicates that these men are extremely dangerous and that they've had no small amount of planning. It even indicates that... well... I'm afraid we might be dealing with Dark Jedi… and… perhaps even…” Qui trailed off as if he couldn’t finish his statement.

“What Qui?” Ark-Ro said with obvious concern showing on his face.

“Well let’s not get ahead of ourselves Ark-Ro, needless to say these are dangerous men and we must not let ourselves become lazy.” Ark-Ro nodded in agreement as Qui Wan continued. “The cargo which has been hijacked from BlasTech wasn’t your run of the mill military weaponry. There were actually three components to a larger whole which was sent to three locations across the Galaxy.” Qui paused as he pressed a button on the arm of his chair which brought up a holo map of the Galaxy. “All of the shipments came from Coruscant but they were all headed to three different locations in hopes that if sent separately they’d be safer. When the components were delivered to the three locations they would rendezvous at their final location. They wouldn’t even tell me where the final destination was. To say that this information is classified would be as big an understatement as saying Tatooine is warm. The three components that have been sent were actually of smaller importance than their kidnappers would have hoped. Without the fourth and final component the doomsday weapon which they’ve stolen is useless.” Qui let out a deep breath and looked Ark-Ro squarely in the eyes as the grimace on his face showed his obvious concern.

“But so much of this doesn’t make sense… First off… if these shipments were so important… why would they send them with such little protection. And if this cargo is so important then why are they entrusting it to the likes of two Jedi? And… dare I ask… what doomsday weapon?” Ark-Ro asked in rapid succession.

Qui looked down for a moment then rising sharply to return the eye contact of his friend. “First off the reason they were sent with such minimal security was so that the shipment wouldn’t draw too much attention. If it were to be accompanied by the kind of security force it deserved then it would have everyone from here to the Koornacht Cluster dying to know what it was. They didn’t want that… they wanted this cargo to somehow slip out of the largest space port in the Galaxy without anyone paying it any mind. Even at the risk that it would be stolen… and… it was… Now… they’ve enlisted us to help them so that they may receive the fourth and final component complete and intact. We are to disguise ourselves as BlasTech cargo runners… we’re going to deliver the cargo ourselves…”

Ark-Ro looked on with obvious dismay. He slowly brought his left hand up to meet his forehead as he let out a sigh and looked back up to Qui Wan still with obvious disbelief. “Qui… this is crazy… I mean…they’re obviously going to be looking for this cargo…who are we dealing with here? What are we getting ourselves into? And WHAT DOOMSDAY WEAPON?” Ark-Ro inquired this time with a slight hint of urgency in his inquiries.

The ship landed at the designated docking bay just as Ark-Ro’s last phrase was uttered. “Well… this is where we get off. We’ll need to unpack quickly, we’ve got a meeting with the BlasTech operatives as soon as we’re settled…they’ll be able to answer any questions which I wasn’t able to.” Qui Wan said as he leaned forward bringing his right arm up to rest on Ark-Ro’s shoulder. “Don’t worry… everything’s going to be OK” Qui said, in such a soothing manner that he almost convinced himself.

[Qui Wan Jin]

The two Jedi sat at a long table occupied by Coruscant officials and BlasTech executives. At the head of the table which sat nearly twenty people was an older man whose once dark brown hair was now turning white around the edges. As everyone came to their seats and got settled in they all turned to him waiting for him to begin the discussion. He raised a single hand and the small whispers that were being exchanged throughout the room came to a screeching halt.

“As most of you know… I am Seton Hale, director of the BlasTech security force. Recently some very important cargo has been stolen by ambitious space pirates. Unfortunately for us, these pirates are very good at what they do. They seem to have been receiving information which should be limited to high ranking BlasTech officials. They’ve used this information to abduct said cargo. Under normal circumstances cargo theft would be a minor infraction which would never even come to my attention. If required we’d send a small security force to investigate and if possible we’d recover the cargo. Once again I say…unfortunately these are far from normal circumstances, the thieves that we’re dealing with are highly skilled individuals whom we are quite confident in deeming ‘Dark Jedi’, and the cargo they’ve stolen is far from our average run of DH-17’s to T-21’s. They’ve stolen three components of our newest prototype… the Atomizer. The fourth and final component which still rests within our control is undoubtedly the most important… the previous three components which have already been stolen are all physical components which mainly have to do with the physical makeup of the Atomizer. With everything they have there’s really nothing they can do.” He stood up and walked towards the center of the table continuing to talk while he walked near the holo projector which was smack dab in the center of the table. He pressed a button as a large image illuminated the center of the room, the image appeared to be of some type of engine or mechanical device. “This is the heart and soul of the Atomizer, this is what we layman like to call the ‘proton scrambler’. When properly configured with the rest of the equipment that the pirates possess the Atomizer can disintegrate objects up to 1000 cubic meters. Yes gentlemen you heard me right 1000 cubic meters. The Atomizer is in early Beta testing but we’ve completed several successful tests, if this weapon gets into the hands of the wrong people it could mean certain disaster for the rest of the Galaxy. Before I continue are there any questions?”

The shock was clearly evident on every man’s face as they all kept their eyes glued on Seton Hale. One man raised his hand as Seton motioned for him to speak freely.

“Seton… what was BlasTech doing constructing a weapon of this magnitude? If a weapon like this got into the hands of Imperial sympathizers… the Rebpublic would be at their mercy. Why wasn’t this cargo more heavily guarded?” The man said with a hint of disdain in his demeanor.

“Very good questions Malkai, let me elaborate.” He said as he walked around the table slowly while he continued to talk about the Atomizer. “As you all know the struggle with the Yuuzhan Vong is great and arduous. We are in a difficult time and now more than ever we are fighting for our freedom. Under advisement of the NR we were commissioned to build a super weapon which would aid them in the struggle. If the Atomizer were in use right now our chances of winning the war would be raised ten fold. Why wasn’t the cargo more heavily guarded you ask? Simple. If this cargo was escorted by a mini fleet then it would get the attention of every sentient being this side of Kuat. We didn’t want that. Believe me when I say that this information was not widely known, I can count the number of people who knew about the shipments on both hands, which leads us to an entirely different subject which I won’t get into. Right now we must find a way to get our cargo to Pzob.” On his final lap around the table he walked back to the head of the table where he originally sat and had a seat. “I’ve enlisted the help of Qui Wan Jin and his companion Ark-Ro Scein. They are Jedi Knights from the Academy on Endor. Our plan is to disguise these men as standard BlasTech delivery men, Qui will pilot the freighter and Ark-Ro will be his co-pilot. If these people are as dangerous as we believe they are and they do indeed know of the final shipment which will be leaving Coruscant these Jedi will be our best bet in defending against the dark Jedi.”

One of the men raised his hand interrupting Seton as he discussed the plan of action. “And if these Jedi are unsuccessful?” Seton nodded as he looked to the man.

“That’s a good question, and if that’s the case we’re going to have an escort fleet in tow. We’ll be keeping careful tabs of the freighter and if anything is to go wrong then our escort will move in quickly and attempt to eliminate the threat.” Seton replied in a manner which seemed to appease the man’s inquisition.

The men sat in the meeting hall exhausting every possible option for what seemed like days but only lasted hours. By the time the meeting was over the plan was covered in great detail, every intricacy that could possibly be explained was. The BlasTech executives wanted to make sure that this mission would be successful, they were taking every possible precaution.

As the meeting adjourned Seton approached Qui Wan and Ark-Ro who were preparing to return to their quarters where they could rest before the mission. “Gentlemen I’m sorry I couldn’t greet you personally, I’ve been swamped the past couple of days, we’ve been planning this mission ever since the first shipment of cargo was stolen. “

“That’s quite alright Seton, we understand your position.” Qui Wan said as Ark-Ro nodded in agreement.

“I’m confident that we found the best men for the job. But nonetheless, this isn’t going to be easy.” Seton said as he put one arm on each of the men’s shoulders. “We’ve taken every possible precaution…” Seton said as the look on his face showed how seriously he was taking this mission. The two men flashed a head nod and began to retreat to their quarters when Seton stopped them. “Qui, Ark-Ro… May the Force be with you…”

[Qui Wan Jin]

They left Coruscant as scheduled the next morning, disguised in red BlasTech delivery man uniforms Qui Wan Jin sat opposite Ark-Ro Scein in a slightly modified Incom Y-4 Transport dubbed #846279B by the BlasTech corporation. Qui Wan sat with his eyes shut tightly as he continuously meditated on the serenity of the lightside of the Force which he had been doing since shortly after the transport had left Coruscant.

They were now nearly 12 hours into a 50 hour trip to Pzob. They were traveling through hyperspace along the Corellian Run which runs all the way from Corellia into Wild Space when they exited hyperspace. The entrance into real space was normal, during the trip they’d have to make several hops between point A and point B and this was simply one of those hops. They’d have to fly in real space while the navcomputer set up the next jump to hyperspace. There was a myriad of data that the navcomputer would have to process before the jump could be made. If any of this data was miscalculated it could spell disaster. The transport remained on auto pilot as they drifted through space.

Qui Wan arose from his meditation and turned to Ark-Ro to find him sleeping. He got up from his seat and walked to the back of the nearly 30 meter ship to the cargo hold. A large durasteel canister held their prize, the “proton scrambler” as Seton referred to it. Qui Wan looked at the relatively small container from bottom to top several times. The BlasTech branding ran along the canister and could be seen from every point of view.

Ark-Ro rose from his slumber and walked back to greet his friend. He too walked up to the large canister and gave it the once over.

“Remarkable Qui…” Ark-Ro said as he continued to walk around the canister getting a look at it from other angles.

“What’s that Ark-Ro?” Qui said as he removed his attention from the canister and placed it on Ark-Ro.

“…That something so small can have such a large impact… on the one hand a negative impact, on the other hand a possibly positive impact.” Ark-Ro said never removing his attention from the canister.

Qui Wan nodded as he folded his arms across his chest and returned his attention to the canister. As Ark-Ro completed a lap around the canister he stood beside Qui and the two men fixed their gaze on the canister. Qui looked to Ark-Ro just as Ark-Ro looked to him. The two men both had a worried look on their face.

Without a word the two men rushed to the front of the ship, Qui manning the controls while Ark-Ro immediately ran some technical readouts. The two men thought almost synchronously as they knew something was amiss.

“We’ve got Incom I-7s…. 4 of them coming from the starboard side…. Approximately 1200 meters and closing fast.” Ark-Ro said as he continued to scan the area for any additional info.

“Howlrunners?” Qui Wan said to himself as Ark-Ro mimicked his surprise.

“Shields are fully charged, laser cannons are online set on auto-target.” Ark-Ro said as he made sure that all systems were functioning.

“We’ll have to try to make the jump before they wear down our defenses. We don’t have enough firepower to take down four Howlrunners.” Qui said as he kept a close eye on the incoming I-7 Howlrunners.

“Qui I’m not sure how long it’s going to be before we can make the jump to hyperspace. It might be too late.” Ark-Ro said as he attempted to calculate the time before they’d be able to jump to hyperspace.

“Ark-Ro what planets are nearby?” Qui said as he noticed that the I-7s were quickly approaching.

Ark-Ro shook his head. “Looks like Duro had a moon not too far from here… forest terrain with with an oxygen-based atmosphere. There’s a few other moons and asteroids but nothing that we’d be able to land on.” Ark-Ro said as he turned to Qui Wan.

“Looks like you’re a step ahead of me Ark-Ro, how close is the moon of Duro?” Qui said as he knew that the Howlrunners would be within firing distance at any moment.

The younger man let out an audible breath. “pfhhh… If we kicked it into high gear… and avert energy from the shields to sublight engines we could be there in no time. If we want our shields to be intact when we get there it’s going to take about 10-15 minutes.”

“Change of course Ark-Ro… we’re heading for that moon. The longer we can evade them the better our chances of receiving some backup.” Qui said as he looked to Ark-Ro, Ark-Ro nodded with his approval.

“I’ve set the alert beacon on the encoded frequency which BlasTech set up for their mini fleet. They said they’d continue to stay about 15 minutes behind us.” Ark-Ro explained.

“Uh-oh…” Ark-Ro said as the impact of several lasers impacting the shields could be felt.

“Buckle up Ark-Ro it’s gonna be a bumpy ride….”

[Qui Wan Jin]

Qui Wan jerked the throttle to the starboard side and the ship went spiraling towards the quartet of starfighters which were attempting to disable the cargo ship. The automated defenses of the cargo ship lit up the unsuspecting Howlrunners with numerous laser cannon shots that rattled the shields of the starfighters.

Qui quickly jerked the throttle down reversing the momentum of the ship sending it sailing towards the atmosphere of the moon which they were planning to land on.

“Find me a clearing where we can land this tin can.” Qui Wan said as he angled the ship towards the moon.

“Qui… this is odd….” Ark-Ro said as he scanned the surface of the planet as well as some documents which outlined the moon’s demographics.

Qui didn’t respond as he remained focused on piloting the transport to the moon in one peice successfully.

“This moon seems to have a small population… it’s called Duros VII… there’s a space port where we can land, something’s not right though..” He said as he turned to Qui who turned to meet his glance. “There’s a small space port…” Ark-Ro said as he closed his eyes rubbing his forehead trying to comprehend the logic behind the situation.

“What’s the population?” Qui said trying to make sense of the situation.

“Less than a hundred…” Ark-Ro said as he looked up to Qui seeing if the older man could make sense of it.

“Less than one hundred occupants of the colony and they have a space port?” Qui rhetorically asked.

“Yes and it gets more odd… the whole colony is made up of a space station and that’s it. The rest of the moon is unsettled territory.” Ark-Ro said as he returned to closing his eyes and rubbing his brow.

“Try and find that clearing I was asking for…” Qui said as he returned his concentration to evading the Howlrunners and landing on the surface of the moon.

“Qui we’ve got trouble..” Ark-Ro said as the ship’s sensors showed ten small fighters approaching from the surface of the planet. “We’ve got ten fighters swarming from the surface of the moon. TIE Uglies to be exact…” He turned to his companion with a grim look on his face.

“We’ve got to get to that planet it’s our only hope… we can fend them off there until our escort arrives…” Qui said as he looked through the transparisteel viewport which showed the TIEs coming straight towards them in perfect formation.

“May the Force be with you Qui… we’re going to need it.”