.
..
…
..
.
Aboard the Hope – Ziost Orbit
.
..
.
The tremors from the ruins of Ziost had not ceased, and the echoes of the voices that had haunted the chamber still reverberated in my mind. We weren't meant to be here any longer. Something had stirred, something ancient, and I had no intention of staying to see what happened next.
"We need to move. Now." My voice was sharp, urgent. Kassy, still gripping her sabers tightly, nodded, her usually sharp gaze flickering with unease.
Tempra's voice crackled through the comms. "We've got multiple energy signatures shifting beneath the surface. I don't know what we set off down there, but I don't plan on waiting around to find out. Get back to the Hope immediately."
Ikarus was already moving. "We'll cover your exit. If you don't make it to the hangar in two minutes, you're walking back to Coruscant."
We sprinted through the collapsing ruins, the flickering blue of Kassy's sabers casting eerie shadows against the dark stone walls. The tremors grew stronger, as if something massive beneath the surface was waking up. The shadows themselves twisted unnaturally, like tendrils reaching out, trying to hold us back.
"We are not dying on Ziost! Move!" Kassy barked, slicing through a falling column before it could crush us.
With each step, the weight of the Force pressed harder against us. The unseen presence we had awakened did not want us to leave. The chamber entrance was just ahead. The Hope's boarding ramp was already lowering, dust and debris swirling in the roaring winds of the engines.
The moment our boots hit the deck, Asli shouted, "Punching it! Get strapped in!"
I barely had time to get seated before the ship lurched violently, thrusters pushing us out of orbit at maximum burn.
A massive pulse of energy erupted from the planet, cascading into the void like a silent scream. Whatever force we had encountered below had just unleashed something powerful.
.
..
.
The Hope cleared Ziost's gravity well, but not without consequence. Systems across the board were flashing red.
"We're not going to make it to Coruscant, are we?" Kassy asked, bracing herself as the ship trembled again.
Tempra grimaced. "Nav systems are fried. Whatever that pulse was, it must have scrambled our long-range coordinates. We have enough power for a single jump, but our course is—well—let's just say it'll be a surprise."
Ikarus, seated behind us, was already activating the ship's emergency distress beacon. "Faith is still operational. I'll transfer over and get the 190th reassembled. They'll take a straight jump to Coruscant, re-equip, and then rendezvous with us."
I turned to him. "Where are we heading?"
Tempra looked at the malfunctioning nav-screen. The coordinates were garbled beyond recognition. "If I had to guess? Somewhere in the Outer Rim. We just have to hope it's not into a star."
Ikarus clapped my shoulder before heading toward the docking hatch. "I'll see you again. If you survive."
The ship lurched into hyperspace, the blue tunnel surrounding us in its familiar distortion, but something was wrong. The transition wasn't smooth—it felt erratic, unbalanced.
Then, the stars reappeared.
And instead of Inner Ring's familiar planets, a green, endless landscape filled the viewport.
"Where the hell are we?" Kassy muttered.
Tempra checked the instruments. The damage was severe, but one thing was clear—
"Dantooine. We're on Dantooine."
.
..
.
The Hope was barely holding together, its escape far rougher than anything I wanted to experience twice. Tempra and her engineers were already running diagnostics, but it was clear—we were grounded.
For now.
Kassy, standing beside me on the open fields of Dantooine, looked up at the pale yellow sky. "Not exactly the homecoming I imagined."
I exhaled. "Could be worse. Could be Ziost."
We had no choice but to make the most of this. Our long-range comms were shot, and we had no idea how long it would take for the Faith to regroup and reach us.
So, for now, we explored.
The wind rustled through tall fields of golden grass, and as we moved deeper inland, the ruins of something ancient came into view. Massive stone foundations, covered in moss and vines, arranged in what had once been a grand structure.
Kassy stopped. "This isn't just an old settlement. This was a Jedi Temple."
I took a slow step forward, feeling the Force pulse faintly around us. "One of the oldest. This is where the Order trained during the Sith wars in the Old Republic Era."
The weight of history pressed down on us. This place had once been sacred. A stronghold of the Jedi long before the Clone Wars, before the rise of the High Republic.
Kassy turned to me, a flicker of determination in her eyes. "If we're stuck here, we may as well make use of it. We should set up a base. The Order left long ago, but the structures still stand. And we might find something useful."
I glanced at the ruins once more. It wasn't just a place of history.
It was a sanctuary.
And with a war brewing, we would need every advantage we could get.
"Then we start here. We rebuild it."
The future was uncertain. The Sith cults were growing, the war was coming, and the galaxy was more unstable than ever.
But here, on Dantooine, we would make our stand.
.
..
…
..
.