Chapter 29: Dangerous Answers

Obi Wan's Delta-7 starfighter rumbled as it exited out of hyperspace, automatically detaching from the external hyperdrive docking ring that had allowed it to travel through hyperspace in the first place. As automatic scans went out over the system and Obi Wan gently guided the ship further forward, awe was the only word he had to describe the sight before him.

A planet, covered completely by one massive storm cloud which roiled over its surface violently. He had seen something similar on Kamino, which experienced massive storms occasionally, but never to a scale like a whole planet. The planet was the size of Coruscant for crying out loud, and that planet had been continuously built upwards and upwards until there was more metal than planet left.Shaking his head to snap himself out of his stupor he flicked his planetary scanning equipment on, "R4, I want a scan of what the planet is like through that storm and if we can make it through."While he waited for the results he accelerated towards the planet, letting out a sigh of both relief and frustration that there were no ships in system. Being caught by himself so far away from Coruscant was not something he would ever strive for. But then again, no ships meant that the Sith and Kandria were also nowhere to be found. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised. Kavir was not listed on any Republic Star Map, and apparently only a few modified bootleg star maps used by smugglers even had its location listed. Heck, Obi Wan only reached this place because Dex had given him exact galactic coordinates to jump to.A series of frustrated and worried beeps from R4 brought a frown to Obi Wan's face, "What do you mean you can't get readings? This is some of the best scanning equipment the Republic has to offer."R4 sent some apologetic beeps.Obi Wan sighed in frustration, "Well, nothing can be done about it then. From the looks of that storm I'm not even sure if this ship would survive long enough for us to see what's-"He cut himself off as a visible bulge was beginning to form on the surface of the storm, looking completely out of place despite the chaotic movements of everything. The bulge grew larger and large until it had started to form a sort of spike reaching out from the planet. Before Obi Wan could comment or even process what he was seeing the spike burst, spitting out a large… ship?"What the…" The ship flew outwards, pieces of the storm clinging onto it as it went farther out, creating the visual spectacle of long grey trails tracing all the way back to the planet. That shouldn't have been possible though, because the storm would have dissipated once it reached the larger vacuum of space. Instead though it appeared to be… pulling back."R4, get me a scan on that ship." Obi Wan said, as he tried to process what he was seeing.The ship in question was large, probably about half the length of a Venator, however this reduced length was likely more so due to the strange design of the ship. The main body of the ship was covered in several large plates of armour, with gaps in between the plates periodically, shielding what he assumed to be the main part of the ship but still allowing for some extra manoeuvrability and speed. Another strange aspect was that the engine block was situated on the bottom of the ship, just as armoured and with what looked like some very beefy engines.An attention-grabbing beep from R4 brought Obi Wan's gaze to the display in front of him.SCAN RESULTS:VALOR CLASS CRUISERDESIGNATION: SHIELD OF AALOTHLAST RECORDED: ~ERROR~LAST KNOWN AFFILIATION: GALACTIC REPUBLICLAST KNOWN CAPTAIN: JEDI MASTER COVALObi Wan's eyes moved from beginning to end of the scan results, taking in every last piece of it."This… just got a whole lot more complicated."*****When Obi Wan managed to get closer to the ship, his confusion only grew. The Ship had no visible marks or signs of battle, instead just looking very old. And it looked old for good reason. He knew about the Valor Class ship; it had been told in one of his history classes at the Jedi Temple. The Valor Class was a cruiser designed and used by the Galactic Republic during the Great Galactic War and the subsequent Galactic War. Primarily used as a capital ship it was the Republic's only equal to the Sith Harrower Class.And while he didn't know about the 'Shield of Aaloth' in particular, he definitely recognised the name of its captain. Jedi Master Coval. In the moments leading up to Kandria's appearance before the Jedi Council, each of the Council Members had been briefed on her situation and the history they could scrounge up from the archives about her. That included the name of her last master, Coval. Not much was looked into on him due to the main focus being on Kandria, but it was known that he, like many other Jedi Masters during the Great Galactic War was listed as 'MIA, presumed dead'.But now… Obi Wan shivered slightly at how this was far too much to be a coincidence. Kandria and the Sith had disappeared, likely with inside help, and here was the ship of Kandria's master, spat out by a storm from a planet Dexter Jettster had described as 'the place where gods live'.Looking past all the deeper connections, the damage on the ship itself also made no sense. It was like it had been preserved perfectly, except for a single hole which he could see past the plating near the bridge. Delicately weaving his ship through the plating, only more questions filled his head as he looked at the hole closely. There was no direct view into the inside of the ship, rather, a few meters into the hole, a grey wall of fog blocked all view, leaving Obi Wan to stare at it in bewilderment."Is that… the storm?" He said, more so to himself than his droid companion.The hole was of a medium size - probably large enough for his starfighter to squeeze into - and it appeared to have been caused by something ripping into it from the outside. He wasn't aware of what exactly had caused the attack, but it certainly wasn't turbo laser fire or any other sort of ship-to-ship weapon considering the lack of scorch marks around the entry point. He also wasn't aware of where exactly in the ship this was. The curved armoured plating hovered menacingly above and behind him, limiting his visibility, which was not helped in any way by the fact that he was unfamiliar with the layout of the foreign ship."R4, get a scan of the ship. Scan for anything and everything inside of it." He ordered, feeling somewhat hopeful at the affirming beeps from R4.Usually scanning a ship of this size was a difficult process, mainly due to the distance it took and how easy a scan like that would be to detect. But now, with his Delta 7 basically kissing the edges of the ship, and with there being no functioning crew on the Valor class (hopefully), he could get a good look at what exactly was inside of this behemoth.A wisp of movement in the corner of his eye. Was that… a woman? He whipped his gaze to the right, blinking slowly and carefully. A cloud of what looked like fog or a thick mist was outside of his ship, taking the feminine form of a woman with long flowing hair, albeit entirely featureless all around. The Obi Wan worked his jaw as he tried to rationalise what he was looking at. He tried to shake his head to dispel the illusion. That didn't work. He tried to pinch and slap himself. That didn't work either. Finally, he tried to reach out with the Force to touch it, or even sense if it was there.That got him something, albeit not at all what he wanted. A sense of indignation spread its way back from his probing manoeuvre and into Obi Wan, as though the Force had recoiled in shock and taken something back with it. The air was knocked out of him from the sudden change, making him more shocked and bewildered. Before he could do anything else though, the figure raised an arm towards the Valor class ship. It wasn't long before the ship answered, fog pouring out of every hidden orifice and swarming Obi Wan's Delta 7, blocking his view.R4 let out a terrified screech which only elevated in volume as the ship jerked forward, every system going haywire as it tried to figure out what was going on. And just as soon as the movement began, it stopped, the fog retreating away from the viewport to reveal cold steel hallways all around them. He blinked. He blinked again."What the fu-"