Chapter 2 1/8

Star Wars Ranma2

FIRST OF ALL, AN APOLOGY:

When I wrote up my original teaser chapter I made a major, story-changing mistake. I had an event in SW canon that I was using as a target for where in the timeline I would be introducing Ranma into the SW universe. The mistake was that I went by my notes and what I thought the age of Obi-Wan in a comic book series was rather than making certain by double-checking before I started.

Turns out he wasn't 16 as I thought, but 24 and the event wasn't 10 years before the Phantom Menace, but a year, so there was no need to de-age Ranma as I did. Yeah, big mistake, and I'm sorry about that. In other news, did you know that going by the timeline on the wiki, Padme was 14 in Phantom Menace? Umm…A reigning queen that young? Makes her naiveté understandable.

I have gone back and corrected the previous chapter on the age thing, changed the combat between Ranma and Dooku to conform to that, as well as several other points. I urge that you all go back and read the prevalent points before reading this chapter.

Anyway I don't own Ranma, or Star Wars. Oddly enough, I apparently share this trait with George Lucas…weeeiiirrrrrd.

Here is chapter two of Horse for the Force. I realize that I said I wouldn't be putting out anymore chapters for this story, however I have been on a semi-large Sci-fi binge lately, and this was one story that profited from it. This chapter is, I would call it mostly a transitional, expositional chapter, where Ranma learns the local language, has some fun, and Dooku and Ranma start to learn from one another before Ranma is introduced to the wider universe.

Of the two SW crossovers, I have decided to follow this story for now. I want to thank Starboomer, Master Braedan, Drac-Frst, Lokarryn, Just Your Average Dropbear, Valdiusmacto, Druc1fer, DrkShadw and several others for giving me their well thought and articulated opinions about both stories. Reviewers like that, like Mordreek, Naj. P. Jackson, BigCC, Byakugan789 and others of that nature are nine course meals to us writers, regular reviews keep us going, those kinds of reviews make writing even more fulfilling.

This story won for a few reasons/points which were raised that I agreed with:

1. The switch between ki and Force power can be a pretty smooth one in comparison to the magic/Force connection.

2. HP/SW already have several fics going on, most of which are very damn good. Ranma doesn't have any, and never has had any good ones (well, there is one on Anime adventure, but it's just a thinly disguised excuse to have a lot of lemons).

3. Ranma right now is a teenager/young adult, which means I can go write into the good stuff. The canon stuff, the romance stuff, the chaos, and the violence, the glorious violence.

4. With Ranma, I'm not going to feel the need to correct everything about the Jedi order. Just start the ball rolling with a few discussions, then show it going on in the background, as some of the examples of the Chaos Factor at work.

I would like to thank Anothony444, Byakugan789, and Ultimaflare0 for their aid in editing this work.

And now on with the show!

Chapter 2: +12 Kick of Reality Readjustment to Your View of the Galaxy

For a few moments Ranma and Dooku waited in silence. The Jedi Master had several dozen bruises, including one cracked rib and possibly a broken shoulder, but Dooku was keeping the pain at bay with the ease of long practice, suppressing pain being a Jedi trick that every Jedi padawan learned before becoming a knight. Dooku was also smiling, staring at the female Ranma like a man not in lust as most would understand the term but in knowledge-lust, wondering what this youth represented.

In those few moments of peace, while the miners milled around them, the somewhat beyond middle-aged master went through the fight in his head. It was true that both of them hadn't gone all out. The boy had never given off any truly murderous thoughts, simply the most pure sense of enjoyment in battle Dooku had ever felt, so the Jedi master had never felt the need to go for the kill.

For his part, Dooku certainly wasn't out to kill the young woman especially after watching him do that Force shielding technique which in and of itself was something Dooku was eager to learn. The speed technique as well: when Dooku thought of using something like that while using a lightsaber, the possibilities were endless! And is she healing as I watch? That is faster than the best Jedi healer could match, without any conscious effort on his part. Yes indeed, this youth represents a treasure trove of Force knowledge.

He may also hopefully help me with my moral quandaries as well. I cannot believe the Force would guide me to find him, her… that is going to become irritating. Dooku shook his head, returning to his original thought with some difficulty despite his mental training. The odd feeling of the Force during that change, and the change itself, was enough to shake the confidence of any man. At any rate, I cannot believe the Force would guide me to him if I was supposed to learn only his physical skills.

Even better from Dooku's perspective, he had not felt a single flicker of barely anything that anyone could point to and say that the young man had anything to do with the Dark Side. There had been a brief spurt of anger right before the young man confronted him, but that was all. Which given what he might have thought was going on, is possibly understandable. And it did not impact his Force abilities at all.

For this part, Ranma was feeling a little confused. He'd already picked up a few words of the local language, along with a lot of inflection, and he was beginning to understand that he might've screwed up, possibly big time. This old man represented some group or other that most of the miners seemed to respect implicitly, and Ranma had jumped the gun with whatever the old man had tried to do to that woman, who was now sitting in a corner being consoled by two other women. It was true that those women were shooting dark looks at the old man, but for the most part it seemed as if he was well-respected here whatever her beef with him.

And damn can he fight like a bastard! I know I hit him with at least five or six Katchu-speed punches. That should've laid him out, busted at least a few of his ribs but he's still standing! And while he seems a little too welded to that light-blade-thing that is a deadly ass weapon! Ate through my ki shield like nobody's business.

Ranma could already feel her ki healing going to work however, so that was not a major issue. However she did not want to see what would've happened to her body if she hadn't been able to create that technique on the fly. I don't think even the strengthening technique would've stopped it.

She smirked while adjusting her chest a little under her shirt in a way that made many of the men look away hurriedly. His reaction to my changing form was hilarious, but not the kind that I thought I'd get honestly. I mean I know I'm hot in this form, much as that's caused me issues in the past, but he didn't even look at me. Hell, he hasn't looked at my chest even once! No, it was the change which astonished him so much. I suppose that's normal, but getting no reaction at all to my body is kind of weird. Maybe he's gay, ugh… Let's just change the subject now brain…

A few seconds passed as these thoughts went through both of their heads, then there was a clanking noise from the ramp up to the smaller ship the old man had arrived in. Ranma looked up at first suspiciously, then with wonder. A robot, real honest to Amaterasu robot was coming down the ramp.

It was silver in color with a large bulbous head with big wide 'ears' that reminded Ranma of the smaller aliens who had been killed by the raiders rather than captured. Its fingers didn't look like they articulated well, and it had a grill instead of a mouth, set below wide glowing yellow eyes which were indented into the robot's face.

D-25SZX was a protocol droid, and had been a proud servant of the Republic Diplomatic corps for over two-thousand years, over which time he had served with dozens of Jedi Masters. He was a valued and honored member of his classification. He greatly enjoyed missions like these, where he was sent out from the familiar, staid confines of Coruscant into the wider galaxy to provide knowledge and experience to the mission.

Although at this moment 25 was wondering what exactly his current partner for this mission wanted him for. "You called for me master Dooku?" He asked his voice a crackling, elderly sort of tenor.

"Yes, 25. This young man does not speak Basic, instead he speaks a language I've never heard before. Do you think you can place it?" Dooku asked while another man came out of the ship after the android, moving his way.

He was the chief medical officer on the ship, not a doctor by any means, more of an EMT but normally more than enough to handle the scrapes and bruises that would come on a Consular class cruiser like the Kaiseki, Dooku's current ship. He began to run a medical scanner over Dooku, hissing a little at the readout while the droid moved in Ranma's direction.

Seeing the young man's eyebrows rise Dooku pointed to his mouth. "Talk please young man, this droid will try to help us communicate."

Ranma cocked his head, understanding two of the words there, the ones that the old man was using to address him. "Ranma, I'm Ranma, old man." he said pointing at himself at his name.

Dooku did the same, saying his own name, "Dooku, Jedi Master. A pleasure, though one I believe will become more so when we are actually able to communicate."

Nodding, Ranma turned back to the robot which by this point had made its way to him and it nodded his head. "Greetings, I am D-25SZX protocol droid. I am fluent in over 400,000 dialects, and have been programmed with samples of 1,000,000 more. Could you please speak a full sentence to me?"

Ranma only got a few words out of that, but discerned the gist of it. Evidently the old man, 'Dooku?', though if that was his first or last name Ranma didn't know, had called in this droid to see if it could help them talk to one another. "Yeah I doubt you're going to have much luck. No way you've ever met someone from Japan before."

"Well, whatever so yeah I'm Ranma, I came to this dimension, universe or whatever as some kind of magical accident, basically because I…" Ranma paused for a moment and then shrugged. "I was too emotionally hyped up and insane at the time to think about what could go wrong. Gah, admitting that leaves a bad taste in my mouth."

He grinned then, looking around at the aliens in the ship waving at a few of them who looked back. They waved back, with more than one of them smirking at him. The green-skinned girl though stared back in such a way that Ranma had to look away hurriedly, a not-unpleasant shiver going down his spine and a flush coming to his cheeks. "Er, um, n-not that I'm exactly unhappy with this. A whole new universe to explore! Just thinkin' about what kind of martial arts are out there for me to find and incorporate into my own style makes me want ta jump for joy. This is going to be awesome!"

Throughout Ranma's speech the droid had stood there silently. When he finished, it nodded. "Please wait, scanning. "After a moment it began again. "This dialect is not among my known mastered languages, nor among any of the other dialects which I have samples off. Fascinating, a challenge."

Seeing the consternation on Dooku's face (but were his eyes lighting up with even more interest than before?) Ranma shrugged at that, and switched to Chinese. "I wish I could remember what nation sent that monkey off into deep space with a recording of their language, but I can't. Think it was Russia, but I'm not very good at Russian. Hell, can't even remember if the recording was actually sent, or a hindsight thing mentioned in the news."

"Fascinating, the human female can apparently speak two unknown languages!" 25 held up its digits counting off one two and then waggling the third with its head cocked in an interrogative manner. Evidently 'body language, normal human, base' carried over, and the youth spoke again.

Ranma said the same words he had spoken again in Korean then clicked two of his fingers. "Wasn't there some kind of plaque on the moon or something that was sending out some messages? Or was that just in that one movie? Well whatever, the line sounded damn good. Ahem, 'I come in peace for all mankind?'" Ranma grinned and held up her fingers in the peace sign hopefully as he spoke in English again.

There was more than a little bit of laughter at how ridiculous she looked just then from the miners. Ranma laughed too, turning to smirk at the miners before moving back over to the shattered remains of the water container while the droid turned to Dooku.

"Master Dooku, the youth speaks no language that I am familiar with. However, body language, or at least the most basic, ahem, primitive sort carried over. There are also some nuances of tone and inflection that carry over, and I am loaded with a teaching protocol. It will be a challenge, but I believe that I will be able to teach him Basic given time."

"Young Ranma seems to be picking words up quickly, or at least inflection and tone." Dooku murmured. As a Jedi Masters he was of course a master at reading other people's body language, and the youth was something of an open book in that area. At least her face was. His/her body language was silent. There was no hint of anything in her body, save a sort of coiled readiness that Dooku had seen in other incredibly advanced hand-to-hand combatants. "Can you give me an estimate on how long that might take? I wish to speak to Ranma as soon as possible."

"That will depend upon the youth's ability to concentrate and to learn. Add to that…" The droid turned to look at Ranma just as he was heating up the water before splashing it on himself. "I… error, error, error, what just, what just happened... Does not compute! I am a protocol droid, I am programmed to deal with peculiar and unusual of occurrences, yet I cannot, this does not…processors, overloading!"

"25!" Dooku barked, coming up with a solution on the fly. "Put the last 20 seconds into long storage memory, then label it as 'unexplainable mystery of the Force'. You can do that can't you?"

The droid, which had been twitching and shaking his head spinning on its shoulders, slowly stilled. "Memory has been placed into long talk term storage under the heading 'unexplainable mystery of the Force', thank you Master Dooku."

Dooku sighed in relief. Although how a full body sex change, at least I think it's a full body I'm not about to ask, can be done through simple application of cold or heated water is beyond my knowledge as well. Though there is that odd flash of, of laughing amusement when it occurred from the Force. Yet one more question to ask when we're actually able to communicate.

For its part Ranma had simply smirked as the android went into its funk, understanding only one or two of the words spoke. "Sorry 25, but some humans had the same reaction back where I came from."

"25, take Ranma over to a corner and begin to talk to him. Radio the captain to bring out whatever you need as a teaching aid, while I deal with the ship and these gentlemen." Dooku said crisply, reluctantly putting the mystery of young Ranma to one side so that he could deal with the issue on the ship.

He nodded at the ship's doctor, who had ignored everything else to create a makeshift sling for his arm, while also wrapping some bandages around Dooku's middle. Understanding the nod the medic shrugged. "You're good to walk around master, you're not the first Jedi I've seen too, so I know what damage you all can take. Though I wouldn't use that shoulder for a bit, say a week or so?"

"Understood. Talk to the miners, make sure that none of them have any medical needs or require medical attention quickly." With that Dooku nodded once again to Ranma who was being led off gently by 25 back toward where he had been sitting.

Ranma nodded back and Dooku turned to the slavers. "Now, we were talking about where your mining stake was. I realize this might be painful to you, and I apologize, but could you tell me exactly what happened when the Gram and their allies fell upon you? Then, we'll need to go over where…"

OOOOOOO

Several miles below what was termed the normal street level of Coruscant, hidden among the miles and miles of abandoned cityscape, there was a room. This was not a normal room by any means. Scientific equipment lined several walls, along with several specimen containers which held bits and pieces of hundreds of alien races.

The back wall was dominated by a massive Hypercom setup, one that was not on the grid for such. In the corners of the room were large black urns, the stone of them so black they seemed to drink in the light. Here and there scattered throughout the large room were other devices and items, someone's idea of memorabilia perhaps.

And in the direct center of the room facing the open area around the door, there was a throne. It was straight-backed and made of steel of all things, with no cushions on it to soften its surface. The man who had created it believed that such things were unnecessary believing the mind should always be in charge of the body.

The man currently sitting in the chair did not share that opinion, and had placed a small cushion on the seat for now as he read the message from his teacher. It could only be decrypted here in this room, or else he would be up in his own suite, sitting on his own throne, which was much more to his tastes. However, secrecy was bred into his bones by this point, so he didn't object overmuch. His name, though it was not the one he had been born with, was Darth Sidious. He was a Sith, an Order of force users that used the Dark Side, as the Jedi did the Light Side.

To one side of Sidious stood another figure. He was a Zabrak male, whose red skin was festooned with black tattoos all along his body, most particularly his face. This gave his already fearsome visage an even more terrible appearance. His name was Darth Maul.

Yet for all his fearsome appearance, it was the man on the throne who held the power here, not him, and Maul knew it, staying silent as the man on the throne finished reading the message from his teacher and considering its contents.

Excellent, plans are proceeding apace. The Huk war in particular is a master stroke by my teacher. The Jedi will once again be seen as tools of the rich and the Senate, pushing public perception of them further from the justice they are supposed to serve in that area of space. Public opinion, propaganda, and the voice of the powerful, when all of those turn against the Jedi, their doom is assured!

The Senate was almost entirely their tool now, not so much because it moved to their wishes, but because the response of every person within it was calculable. They all had buttons that could be pushed, and Sidious knew each and every one. I can play them like puppets on a string, and we are the masters of those puppets, or rather I am the master.

He smirked a sinister smirk there in the dark of his hood. Even now Plagueis is out in the Outer Rim fomenting further dissent against the Senate, making it seem as if the Republic is not concerned about those planets at all. The seeds of war are growing, and soon these little flare ups will grow in turn. And when they do, Jedi will start to fall. The feel of those points of light going out, it will be… glorious…

Plagueis still serves purpose, especially out in the Outer Rim, yet soon it will be time to take the lead of the Grand Plan solely into my own hands. But not yet. Once the Veil of the Dark Side has grown to completely block out any visions of the future any of the Jedi attempt to see, then, it will be time to remove him. And at the moment, my apprentice leaves much to be desired. Maul is a blunt object, I need to find someone else, and my candidate for such is a fruit not quite ripe enough to fall into my hands just yet.

As if his thoughts on that subject opened Sidious up further to the force the man felt a shiver through his senses. The force was rippling, changing, and the future, which had been so certain, changing with it.

To his side Darth Maul frowned, sensing a shift in his master's emotions. "Master?"

Sidious spoke aloud, using the words to direct his own thoughts more than speaking to his apprentice. "Something has shifted, changed, centered on one of my pawns." He did not use the pawn's name, though it reverberated in his skull slightly, forcing him to realize that some portions of the plan might have to change.

Dooku, something has happened to make him no longer wish to find the Sith. Interesting, and very irritating in the long term. No one else could serve as well as a figurehead on many levels. Hmmm… "I must meditate on this. Give Vilmarh Grahrk his next set of instructions, then leave me."

Even before Darth Maul had left, his master had slipped into a meditation trance. He sent his senses out through the Force, passing beyond Corsucant's system and through dozens more, until his senses finally hovered around Dooku, trying to get a feel on what had changed.

Yet he could not. The ripples in the Force and the future were too powerful near Dooku, they had not settled yet at all. Indeed, they seemed to be growing, changing all the time in a typhoon of chaos the likes of which Sidious had never even dreamed of before.

Some of those eddies Sidious could read still indicated he would indeed come to the dark side though later then the man had expected, but those were few and getting fewer. Some of them indicated he would become the banner-bearer of the Jedi. At the same time others said he would break the Jedi but not join the Sith becoming an enemy in some ways, and an ally for some of his power grabs… very odd.

Hours later the man's senses retreated to his body and he snarled, frustrated. I do not like not knowing what is going on, not knowing what has caused Dooku to change to become a source of, of what I can only call chaos! Chaos can serve our purposes, but it is not easily directed, especially when we were not the one to set it into motion in the first place! I need to think on this further, it is obvious that these ripples are not only affecting Dooku, but others as well and the change in the future will grow immensely. I need to put surveillance in place to observe anything to do with Dooku. Luckily, I already have people in place on Malastare, we will see what they report.

OOOOOOO

As the Jedi master moved off deeper into the ship, Ranma and the droid were being observed.

Twila'Cren was a Twi'lek, a native of Ryloth who, much like many of her race, had left Ryloth a slave when she was six or seven. She had been trained to dance and to pleasure her master in any way he wished, yet thanks to her master gambling her away against an undercover lawman, she had eventually been freed. But though free, Twila had no real skills except dancing and other… similar talents to pay her way.

Thankfully since she had been freed Twila had been able to choose who she danced for, and she was good enough, and pretty enough to have her choice of jobs. Twila'Cren had actually enjoyed her time in the mining camp. Most of the miners were decent enough people, and the master of the bar she had worked at was a tough old coot who liked to look but not touch with a silver tongue and a steady aim with a stunner. Until the Gran slavers had killed him.

Once the slavers had landed, Twila had resigned herself once again to be a slave, while inside her soul died a little. But the redheaded girl had given them all hope when she broke out of their cell, and then she delivered!

Now she cocked her head thoughtfully, staring at the youth who was now talking to the protocol droid. So, the young male that was so instrumental in the battles after we were freed was also the young girl who freed us in the first place. Though very odd, that makes this easier.

And I think that he or she deserves a reward, Twila thought, straightening her spine resolutely as she made her way up through the hangar Bay towards the remarkable human male. I don't have money, but I noticed her glances in my direction, and his too, so there is one method of repayment available to me. Besides, in either form he/she's rather good looking, it could be fun…

With a faint smile on her face she moved towards the droid and the human male, who saw her coming. She smiled wider as Ranma blushed, looking away quickly. Evidently he was much more innocent than most humans she'd met, and certainly less-confident when it came to the opposite sex than most humans his age tried to appear. That could actually make this more fun, still he does have a pulse. She thought, giggling as he glanced down at her chest before looking away hurriedly.

25 noticed the human's change in body language and turned, staring at the Twi'lek who had walked up. "Yes, can I help you miss?"

"This human, I heard him give his name as Ranma, he does not understand basic?" She asked, cocking her head to one side while her lekku, which she had hung down her front now rather than back, twitched.

"That is indeed correct, it is something I am endeavoring to start to address. Are you volunteering to help? I have to inform you that unless you have an ear for languages yourself, it will be very difficult."

"Nothing like that no. But body language, or body signals, are they the same?"

"So far they seem to be, at least to a certain degree. Of course even within a given species each planet will develop subtle differences in body language, even certain distinct body signals, such as the charm signs of Coruscant, or the finger signs of Atuapu. And from there clothing and coloration also differ from one society to another in conveying signals. Of course in this case that is immaterial, but it is something to bear in mind once we are able to communicate verbally to a higher degree."

"I just want to make certain that there is going to be no misunderstanding of what I'm offering." Twila said smiling faintly as she gently pushed the droid aside to stand in front of Ranma, who was still trying to look anywhere but at Twila, blushing hotly with one leg crossed over another.

Twila leaned over his makeshift chair, one green-colored hand lifted, touching his jaw and gently turning his head back to look at her. She stared into his blue eyes, searching for something even Twila didn't know the name for then smiled. "You saved me from a life of servitude and worse, and I would repay you in the only coin I may."

Ranma stared at her, shrugging incomprehension, even as his blush deepened.

"As I said," the droid from behind her said, sounding test. "He cannot understand Basic, I think he understands the words for 'you' and 'I', but that is it, your sentence and your intent… oh my." The 'oh my' was a response to Twila suddenly leaning forward, pressing her lips against Ranma.

Though Ranma had no idea what the alien girl had been saying, there was no misconception possible in the kiss she was giving him. The alien girl's lips tasted of cinnamon and spicy hot pepper, a very strange combination that was somehow distinctly alien, not that Ranma had anything to compare it to. This is my first real bleeding kiss, Sanzenin can go freeze, I'm definitely not counting that shit's kiss!

Ranma kissed back, clumsily at first but learning quickly, trying to emulate what the girl's lips, which were so soft, was doing only in reverse as it were. When the girl's mouth opened slightly against his and her tongue, which was longer and thinner than a human's, tapped against his lips, his lips opened of their own accord, and his tongue slid out, caressing and questing into the girl's mouth as his arms rose, moving around her. His leg fell from his waist, and he pulled her down onto his lap.

Twila was now enjoying this immensely! The boy had started off rather clumsily, but he was almost as good as Twila now her down. She began to grind her waist against his, feeling his rising reaction to her against her own panty-clad center. Good stars, he's certainly well above human norm in that area, and if he learns everything else as fast as he learned how to kiss mmmmm…

For Ranma, the floodgates had opened. His repressed libido roared out, breaking his self-control as he gripped the girl's waste hard, holding Twila against his chest and waist as the kiss deepened. She was lithe and desirable and she was grinding against Ranma in such a way as to stop all of his higher brain functions. All he felt now was this raging torrent that had to be released.

It was only 25 speaking up that caused that torrent to recede in both of the participants, his voice even dryer than normal. "I am not a master of human or Twi'lek mating rituals, save where it may impact diplomatic discussions of course, but isn't it normal to begin the mating dance in private rather than in public?"

Twila'Cren slowly pulled back, breathing deeply her eyes half-lidded at the sheer passion of the kiss they had just shared, a small yet incredibly and joyous smile on her face. Oh yes, this was going to be fun! She looked around however at the crowd of miners, most of whom looked like they wanted to whistle, while the women were either giving her a thumbs up, or simply staring in astonishment.

"The droid's right." She said, reaching down to take Ranma's hand and pull him to his feet. "Let's go find one of the rooms around here, I think that will be a better environment for our… discussion… than out here in the open."

Ranma finally broke out of the daze the kiss had put him in, tearing his eyes away from the green-skinned girl's beautiful face and body with more difficulty ever run into when trying to control himself before. As soon as Ranma did so, his senses flowed back to him, and he blushed scarlet, realizing the two of them had been making out in front of an audience, which acted like a cold shower on his senses.

What am I doing!? I barely, hell I don't know her at all, hells, I don't even know her name for certain! Damn I really am a pervert like Akane said! No, wait she's the one that started it, I just, I just lost control.

That thought finished the process of bringing Ranma completely back to himself. If there was one thing that Ranma did not like, it was being out of control of his own body. Even when he gave himself to his instincts completely in a fight, it was his mind and his combat instincts rather than his body. But right then, when that girl had kissed him, all the hard-fought control over his libido he'd worked on since arriving in this universe had disappeared.

Was I really just about to hop into bed with a complete stranger? Do, do I really want the first time I, I make love to someone to be with someone I just met literally a few hours ago? With an effort of will Ranma regained control of himself, pushing his desire to the girl down, making his physical reaction to her recede as well.