Oracle
Member
Posts: 49
Affiliation: Jedi Praxeum of Yavin IV
Traffic Light: Red
|
Post by Oracle on Apr 29, 2013 20:51:17 GMT -8
"Hrm? Oh..."
It had taken a moment for Professor Milnik to catch on to what the Jedi woman had said. His mind flashed back to Kamino, several hours prior, where he had found himself thinking on the same topic. Why not just leave her and the droid there? Why not simply abandon them on that wretched storehouse platform and force them to wait seven years to return home? At the time, it was due to bitterness; seven years by themselves to wreak havoc on the timeline - and worse yet, profit from such debauchery - was unfathomable and unacceptable. Professor Milnik had a responsibility to ensure that the pair did not reap their harvest. But she had emerged a different woman. Not in the sense that she had chosen not gone through with her plan, but the very aura surrounding her seemed different. Was that not simply all the more reason to leave her behind? Seven years to reflect on her mistakes in an abstract, inescapable prison? It seemed to make sense at the time too. And yet Professor Milnik had lowered the boarding ramp to allow them passage. It defied logic. It defied reason.
Perhaps this Force the Jedi kept talking about had a will of its own after all.
Professor Milnik simply offered a quiet chuckle and held the seams of his heavy coat, smiling at the young Jedi.
"You're a Jedi, young woman. I've seen what Jedi can be, my dear, and I believe you're up to the task of living up to the name. That's all I ask in return; just go forward in all your beliefs, and prove to me I'm not mistaken in mine."
From there, the Mon Calamari simply nodded at the Jedi and turned back towards his ship, which was now being pumped with fuel for both the sublight engines and the standard hyperdrive. Within an hour, Professor Jecib Milnik would be history.
|
|
Oracle
Member
Posts: 49
Affiliation: Jedi Praxeum of Yavin IV
Traffic Light: Red
|
Post by Oracle on Apr 28, 2013 19:21:20 GMT -8
"I've no doubt it would be. It's not our place to alter history for our benefit, my dear, however great we think the payoff would be."
Professor Milnik offered the Jedi woman a small nod. Whatever had happened on Kamino certainly seemed to shake the Jedi out of her bloodlust, and everything about their current exchange pointed to incredible amounts of guilt. But the guilt was important, as was the lesson it was sure to impart upon her; even though she would never get the chance to change the course of time again, she would always remember that she had once had that power, and that she had once almost used it for evil. It was important to treat such sobering realizations very delicately; bashing the guilty party over the head with their crime would not turn them towards a better path. That took encouragement. That - as difficult as it may seem - took forgiveness.
And while he was still very upset about her hijacking of his chronoporter, Professor Milnik was quite willing to offer it.
"Jedi are good people. Even if the people here don't see to your immediate needs, I have a friend in Coronet that would help you get better. Anya Sel, she's a good woman, an administrator at the academy there. Tell her 'Professor Milnik got his contraption working', that should suffice as an introduction."
|
|
Oracle
Member
Posts: 49
Affiliation: Jedi Praxeum of Yavin IV
Traffic Light: Red
|
Post by Oracle on Apr 28, 2013 12:37:44 GMT -8
"I should say you do."
Professor Milnik would have loved to go off on a tangent. He would have loved to give the girl a good twenty minute lecture as to how the ship he built was not a weapon, and how the forces she tried to manipulate were not to be played with willy-nilly. But his passenger's crestfallen face had told him everything, much as it had back on Kamino; she already knew. During the hours-long journey, everything Milnik would have told her had already been drilled into her and then some. Possibly by her droid companion. Possibly by her own mind. Who knew? There was no sense reminding her of her folly to the point of absurdity. When had that ever worked?
"Consider yourself forgiven. Although..."
The Mon Calamari paused for a moment, his eyes darting side to side before looking back towards Na'an.
"...if I can ask, why didn't you go through with it?"
|
|
Oracle
Member
Posts: 49
Affiliation: Jedi Praxeum of Yavin IV
Traffic Light: Red
|
Post by Oracle on Apr 28, 2013 11:59:59 GMT -8
Less than thirty minutes after its appearance in Felucian space, Professor Milnik's heavily-modified Barloz freighter extended its landing gear and came to a stop on one of the Jedi base's landing pads. As the ship quieted down as power shut off, the landing ramp extended downwards and all of the vessel's internal doors unlocked and opened.
It did not take long for the ship's owner and pilot to make his way down the ramp. Dressed in simple clothes (although clearly designed more for the windy plains of Corellia rather the hot and humid jungle of Felucia), Professor Milnik wasted no time in walking towards the hangar's open door. Just outside was the densest expanse of alien foliage he had ever seen; plants in all forms of colors and shapes, reaching as high as some of the buildings he had seen on Corellia. His big red eyes remained wide at the very thought of it. This whole world was one massive expanse of bizarre flora and fauna, every meter of it just begging to be explored and be marveled at. And had he the time, the Mon Calamari engineer would have gladly done so. As it stood, however, there was business to attend to.
Turning back around towards his ship, Professor Milnik wondered how to put in a fuel request and who to pay for it...
|
|
Oracle
Member
Posts: 49
Affiliation: Jedi Praxeum of Yavin IV
Traffic Light: Red
|
Post by Oracle on Apr 27, 2013 21:05:08 GMT -8
Oh...well, thank you.
The response was certainly friendlier than Professor Milnik had expected. None of the usual 'fly here, land there' dance. It sounded more like genuine interest in his vessel and his needs, and provided a sense of welcome to the world below. But more importantly, from the sound of things the traffic controller had not picked up on the absolutely massive radiation spike that came with re-entry from the omnitemporal vortex. Right now, as friendly as the controller was, all Professor Milnik wanted to do was land his ship, dump the two beings in his bedroom, refuel the sublight engines and finally - after four long years in this far-flung universe - return home. He could almost see his wife and children again, almost smell the fresh Alderaan air as he strolled about the university.
But in order to do that, all he had to do was get past this last hurdle. A blue milk run, as his friends in the Kor Vella garage would have called it.
Young man, I'm looking to land and refuel, as well as drop off a Jedi...associate, shall we say, of mine. Could you perhaps point me in the right direction?
|
|
Oracle
Member
Posts: 49
Affiliation: Jedi Praxeum of Yavin IV
Traffic Light: Red
|
Post by Oracle on Apr 25, 2013 21:31:29 GMT -8
In a sector of space not usually used for reentry into real space from the hyperlanes, a small bolt of lightning flashed. It was there for only a brief moment, and could have easily been described as a trick of the visual organs; after all lightning in space was impossible. And had anybody decided to take the event as a trick of the visual organs and moved on, they almost certainly would have missed the second bolt of lightning arc for kilometers across the vacuum, as well as the third and fourth. The bolts seemed to strike out with increasing frequency, although they gradually seemed to be striking closer to each other, their arcs growing shorter and short until they ultimately seemed to come together and form a bright white orb in the middle of space. And with a roar that made even the loudest thunderclap seem like a newborn mother's lullaby, the luminescent sphere suddenly rocketed towards the lush planet. For what must have been a terrifying few seconds, the orb showed no sign of slowing down, as though the Force had created a dwarf star and sent it hurtling towards the world below solely to test the perception of those there to witness it.
But the sphere began to slow. Exponentially so, in fact. And when it became no faster than an ordinary starship, the blindingly bright sphere peeled away and disintegrated like the petals of a flower simultaneously in bloom and in blazes to reveal a heavily-modified Barloz-class freighter. With three long rails on the dorsal, port, and starboard sides of the ship, coils lining the hull that still seemed to glow with the same bright energy, and a copper-colored vent taking up a good portion of its underside, whoever had modified the ship had somehow managed to make a Barloz-class freighter even uglier than its stock appearance.
In the ugly ship's bridge, a Mon Calamari pilot sat at the controls and lowered the throttle, running a quick diagnostics check. Engines checked out. Atmosphere and temperature regulators had held. Internal power was consistent. The miniature hypermatter reactor hadn't fried any secondary systems. The insanely powerful navicomputer network hadn't burned out. Autopilot was still online. And if the ship's chrono hadn't shorted out and reset, the ship had arrived in Tatooine space roughly two minutes after their initial departure from Yavin IV.
Not that anybody who had witnessed their arrival needed to know that fact, let alone the truth behind it.
Professor Jecib Milnik, having checked to make sure the ship had not in fact blown up, now turned his large red eyes to the ship's scanners. There were several settlements on the planet where he could drop off his "passengers" - a term he used as loosely as possible - and refuel his vessel before once more taking to the stars. In the main cabin, so far as he knew, a young woman and her droid companion sat. He did not like them. He really did not like them. In fact, he had half a mind to simply drop them off in the hands of Jedi authorities. But as they had not actually done anything, technically, Professor Milnik doubted anything would really come of it. This was also something the layman did not need to know.
Milnik reached for the shipboard comm unit, accessing the PA system to address his two passengers.
We'll be landing somewhere shortly. If my records are accurate, there's an established Jedi presence on this world, and from there I suspect it would be reasonably easy for you two to get to wherever it is you're going. Young lady, I want you and your machine off my ship the minute we touch down. The minute.
Without another word, Professor Milnik shut the system down, preventing the pair from using the cabin's own comm unit to reply. Nothing they had to say would mean much to the older Mon Calamari in any case.
|
|
Oracle
Member
Posts: 49
Affiliation: Jedi Praxeum of Yavin IV
Traffic Light: Red
|
Post by Oracle on Apr 24, 2013 20:36:07 GMT -8
Jecib had seen the woman and her machine compatriot approach and had already been ready to lower the landing ramp. Even through the torrential rain and howling winds, the expression on the Dark Jedi's face said it all; she hadn't done it. Forty-seven minutes since arriving at these particular space-time coordinates, twenty-three minutes since departing the vessel, twenty-two minutes inside the dark metal building before them, and the duo had not gone through with their murderous act. Further, something about the air seemed to change. Professor Milnik could not quite place it, but it was as though the very environment felt defeated. If nothing else, it confirmed for his spirit what the Force-user's expression had confirmed for his logic.
Flipping the final switch in the chain, he felt the hydraulics beneath him shudder as the ventral boarding ramp lowered to allow the two access. Upon reaching the main deck, they would find only two open doors; the main bunk and the lavatory. Every other room was sealed off. And unless they encountered a serious problem mid-flight, they would stay that way. They weren't missing much anyway; just about every other room on the ship served to house some component of the chronoportation equipment. But they had still used his masterpiece as little more than a weapon. They had still used a wondrous device for a sinister, banal purpose. As far as Professor Milnik was concerned, that revoked their bridge privileges. As far as he was concerned, in fact, they should count themselves lucky they got to go back home at all.
Home, however, would be relative. As Professor Milnik fired up the amplification chambers and keyed in a destination, he remembered just how active the Yavin System was. Military ships going to and fro, obviously preparing for something...more conflict? It seemed to follow the Jedi wherever they were; when he last went to a Jedi stronghold, they too had come under attack.
It did not take long, however, to find a destination that suited his purpose.
Professor Milnik confirmed the coordinates and the navicomputer began the calculations as Amplifier Three started to kick in. By the time they reached low orbit, the course would already be laid in, and getting the pair back to their own time would be as easy as following the green rectangles.
Their own time...how different would it be now? Clearly, the pair's intended victim had a great deal of influence in at least their social sphere, which in turn would cause a chain reaction within other social spheres, eventually going across worlds. Would things be only marginally different with their interference? Would their world be unrecognizable? By virtue of their very presence, after all, the time stream had been changed. That much was certain. It was only a matter of discovering how far-reaching that change would be. But such a thing would not matter to the Mon Calamari strapping himself into the pilot's seat. After all, he would find himself four thousand years prior to any of this, and the changes he intended to bring about would almost certainly render anything that had just transpired null and void. But if Professor Milnik's hypothesis held, the Jedi, her droid companion, and anybody else they met would not notice; their reality would not be altered by his actions or his influence. It would simply be locked away in its own tangential universe, free from any further temporal interference.
Free from these two mucking things up any further than they already had, anyway.
With a pull of the control yoke, Professor Milnik lifted the chronoporter up from the landing pad and turned towards the dark clouds, blasting away from the dark building and leaving it - and the acts carried out within it - to history.
|
|
Oracle
Member
Posts: 49
Affiliation: Jedi Praxeum of Yavin IV
Traffic Light: Red
|
Post by Oracle on Apr 21, 2013 13:56:33 GMT -8
Something was wrong. Professor Milnik could sense it even despite his complete lack of ability with the so-called Force and seething, silent fury at his masterpiece being used as a weapon.
When the angry Jedi woman and her mechanical accomplice forced their way onto his chronoporter, and all throughout the journey through to their destination some seven years in the past in some forgotten corner of the galaxy, they had meant business. Apart from terse commands from the small Human, the pair had remained as silent as the death they promised to deliver. Looking to the time display on one of his vessel's many after-market monitors adorning the bridge, he saw that they had been in there for quite some time. And at this time of night? Killing a man should have been simple. And when the murderers were a powerful psychic and droid with a gun the size of a small engine, the simplicity in such a killing should have been akin to swatting an insect. Even if their opponent was a Jedi, like her, the droid would tip the odds well in her favor.
So what, then, was taking so bloody long?
The chronoporter was still lively. While the seven amplification chambers were silent (which, to be frank, allowed for thoughts to be heard within one's own head), the engines still hummed and the computers still chirped and beeped every now and again. If he so wanted, Professor Milnik could get the ship in orbit and return to his own time and place before the pair could do anything about it. They would be free to wreak havoc on their new reality, of course. Seven years' worth of a clean slate would be theirs to do with as they saw fit. After all, wasn't that was he himself was going to do? Instead of lecturing hyperspace theory at the University of Alderaan, Milnik's new plan was to usher in a technological golden age thousands of years ahead of time. It would undoubtedly change the course of history far more than one man's death and change countless lives in the process (or wipe them from the pages of history entirely), but it would be for the better. Professor Milnik was going to use his chronoporter to help the galaxy move forward. And the rational scientist sorely doubted that the intentions of two time-travelling murderers would hold the best interests of galactic society close to their hearts. Seven years to do whatever they wanted to whomever they wanted, and their first act in this new reality would be murder. Regardless of who they were or what their intentions held, Milnik simply couldn't allow for them to benefit from that.
Which once again raised the question of what was taking them so bloody long.
Angry as the woman must have been to rewrite history itself as she saw fit, nothing about her seemed particularly malicious. At least, not in the sense that she'd torture the poor soul inside the isolated building before killing him. She seemed more the type to go in for the quick kill, as did her droid; nothing with a gun that big on a frame that small could possibly be built for long, drawn-out death.
Professor Milnik mulled it all over. He mulled it all over again, this time moving into the main deck and resting his back on the foremost amplification chamber to remove the irritating sound of rain constantly slamming on the bridge viewport. And then he mulled it over once more, just to be sure he had all possible information straight and clear. And it all came out to the same conclusion.
Something was wrong.
|
|