[fic] Haven

[Writer]

Haven

 

 

“As I understand it, you didn’t just randomly choose ‘Ace’ for your nickname,” Arai Elan said calmly. “Someone gave it to you for your, and I quote, “ace piloting skills”, so I’m really counting on you right now.”

 

That was one of the things Ace loved best about her. No matter how dire the situation they were in, she always managed to maintain her calm. Of course, the other things he loved about her were more physical – the long, gently curled brunette hair, the clear, deep blue eyes... but this wasn’t the time for such distractions.

 

“That’s right,” Ace replied stiffly, his fingers flying across the panels in front of him, dodging cannon fire from a Star Destroyer. Their little vehicle was caught in the unfortunate gray area, somewhere between the designations of ‘small ship’ and ‘large shuttle’. But ever since the Emperor had risen to power, it was home to former Jedi Arai Elan and pilot Ace Cole. And they never stopped moving, not ever. After all, the Empire had people looking for any of the Jedi who’d escaped Order 66 and Arai had no intention of being caught. Still, even with Ace’s unmatched piloting skills, they’d had no shortage of close calls, even on the Outer Rim.

 

But at present, they were nowhere near the Outer Rim. They were leaving Corellia with a cargo hold so full that it was overflowing with supplies they intended to use to settle somewhere remote.

 

“So you can outrun them, can you not?” Arai asked.

 

Ace gritted his teeth. “This feels somewhat backwards,” he said. “Normally, you’re the one telling me to shut up. Don’t you have something in your Force trickery that will distract them?”

 

“I’ve been trying,” Arai replied. “I don’t have the strength to reach them... wait...”

 

Their ship lurched violently as it was caught in a tractor beam. Ace frantically worked at the controls.

 

“We’re stuck,” he said quietly. “I can’t break us free.”

 

Arai closed her eyes slowly and drew in a deep breath and the ship began to rattle even more. “I’m trying to break the beam,” she murmured. “Be ready to engage the hyperdrive.”

 

“Tatooine?” Ace asked. At that moment, Arai’s eyes snapped wide open.

 

“Jump!” she shouted. Startled, Ace pounded in coordinates to Tatooine and pushed the hyperdrive lever forward to maximum. The ship turned slightly, then accelerated into hyperspace. Breathing a sigh of relief, Arai looked down at the navicomputer and frowned.

 

“Those aren’t the coordinates to the Tatoo system,” she observed. Ace stared at the coordinates in disbelief.

 

“I was so sure,” he muttered. “We’d talked about Tatooine so often I’ve memorized the coords. I was certain I put them in right...”

 

“We have to pull out,” Arai said. “Correct them.”

 

Ace shook his head. “If we pull out now, it could tear the ship apart. We’ll have to wait until we get... wherever this is. And pray we don’t run into anything.”

 

He pulled up a star chart and entered the coordinates. The spot was completely void of any star system and well off any known hyperspace route.

 

He swiveled to face her, a sheepish grin on his face, and said simply, “Oops.”

 

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

 

 

Four hours later, Arai reentered the little bridge and took her seat next to Ace. He was busy working over the controls, a concerned frown on his face. Gently, Arai put a hand on his shoulder and was surprised when he did not respond.

 

“Ace, where are we?” she asked. And it was only with her words that he turned to face her.

 

“Just about to test our luck,” he said. “Ready?”

 

As Arai braced herself, Ace pulled the ship out of hyperspace. Nothing.

 

“Well, it appears we made it alright,” Arai said, taking a deep breath. “No accidental run-ins with stars, planets, or gravity wells. We just have to...”

 

The ship rocked violently, throwing both Arai and Ace to the floor. Ace scrambled back into his chair and realized the problem.

 

“We came out of hyperspace just barely outside a planetary gravity well!” he exclaimed. “We’re going down.”

 

Arai climbed back into the doorway onto the bridge and braced herself there. Closing her eyes, she reached out in the Force and pushed her strength to the limits in an attempt to keep the ship from breaking up as it entered the planet’s atmosphere. With this form of aid, Ace was able to level out their descent a little, but he could do nothing for their speed. And so, when they hit the ground, Arai was thrown backward into the little hallway behind the bridge, sliding clear back to the door of the cargo hold. In the process, she lost her grip on the ship and it rapidly fell apart.

 

Slowly, it came to a halt, the bridge separated from the hallway, the hallway split from the rooms on either side of it, and from the cargo hold. Ace pushed himself off the pilot’s controls, groaning, and looked aft. His mouth dropped open as he realized just how badly the ship had come apart and what it meant for him and Arai.

 

Thinking of the young Jedi woman jolted Ace from his own pain and he scrambled off the bridge, dropping two feet to the planet’s surface. He ran past the remains of the hallway and found Arai lying face down on the ground, between the hallway and the door of what was once the cargo hold.

 

“Arai,” he whispered, rolling her over. She moaned faintly and squeezed her eyes tighter in pain.

 

“We get down okay?” she mumbled. Ace picked her up gently.

 

“Ship’s gone to pieces,” he told her. “But I’m alright. How are you?”

 

Arai sighed and opened her eyes. “I’m pretty sure I’ve got a concussion.” A worried frown. “I’m sensing... Ace, I’m not the only Force sensitive here.”

 

“Indeed you are not.”

 

Getting to his feet with Arai still in his arms, Ace turned to face the unfamiliar voice. The man who had answered Arai stood off to one side, hands folded behind his back. He was tall, towering over even Ace’s six-foot height. Sandy blonde hair was cut just above his ears, and light brown eyes stared at Ace and Arai with cautious curiosity.

 

“Who are you?” Ace asked, suspicious.

 

Smiling, the man moved forward. “My name is-”

 

“Toven Fitch,” Arai cut in, amazed.

 

“So you recognize me,” Toven said, smiling. “That’ll make this easier. Arai, I sense your pain. Allow me to take you back to the settlement. We have healers.”

 

“Wait just a minute,” Ace snapped. “We’re not going anywhere.”

 

“Ace,” Arai said gently. “Toven was a Jedi also. We were in the same youngling classes. I trust him. Completely.”

 

“Thank you, Arai,” Toven said. “Let us move. I’ll have a team out here to deal with your wreckage.”

 

They entered a small patch of trees and Toven let out a shrill whistle. Slowly, a patch of the ground pushed upward, revealing a small turbolift. Toven gestured for Ace and Arai to enter ahead of him, and then moved in behind them. He pressed a button and the lift began to descend. After several long seconds, the lift slowed and opened.

 

Toven led them out into a wide open space. The ceiling was roughly as tall as a hundred-story building. Smaller buildings filled the area and the streets at their base were full of people. Ace’s jaw dropped in astonishment.

 

“Minerals in the rocks around the city trap in all essence of Force sensitivity, of life itself,” Toven was saying. “This place is literally undetectable. And on top of that, you may have noticed it’s not on galactic star charts.” He glanced at Arai. “The Force must have guided you to us.”

 

“Ace,” Arai said. “He punched in the coordinates.” Smiling, she rested her head on Ace’s shoulder. “Quite the ‘navigational error’, yes?”

 

Toven stared at the pilot and nodded. “Interesting. We will investigate you later. For now, we must get help for Arai.”

 

“What is this place?” Ace asked.

 

Smiling, Toven replied. “This is Haven. You are safe now.”

[machievelli]

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[knight 12167]

I like this fic.

[Bee Hoon]

Nicely done! Arai sounds like a character I'd love to hear more about while Ace sounds like, well, Han Solo and Atton (but less angsty ).

 

But at present, they were nowhere near the Outer Rim. They were leaving Corellia with a cargo hold so full that it was overflowing with supplies they intended to use to settle somewhere remote.

A bit more punctuation or breaking up the sentence would be good.

 

Otherwise, no errors that I can see. The bit about the ship breaking up was somewhat over the top, and I'd expect them to be more seriously injured than that, but otherwise, good work ^_^

[Writer]

I think one thing that might help you understand why the ship broke up so badly is a couple of little pieces of information I forgot to add. First, this story takes place roughly eight years after RotS. They acquired the ship eight years earlier and it was already old at that time. Since then, they have had to remain fairly constantly on the run, and while Ace is a good pilot, he knows very little about ship maintenance. The only reason it didn't break up in the atmosphere is that Arai was straining her Force power to hold it together. It was the jolt of hitting the ground that forced her to lose her grip, and that's why the ship was able to fall apart like it did.

 

As far as your objections with Ace... well, I can't argue against that, now can I? I'm glad you pointed it out. He really is rather like Atton without the angst. I say Atton, because TSL let you train him, and I've done a similar thing with Ace. As I recall, Han was not Force sensitive...

[Bee Hoon]

Heh, they'll probably retcon it so that he was Yeah, given that, I guess it makes more sense It's amazing that ship survived for that long if Ace can't maintain it

[Master_Archon]

Holy cow!!! Almost had a heart-attack when I first saw the title for this!

 

I was thinking, "Holy giblets of heaven!! Writer's gone and written a Starfields fanfic!!!!"

 

Then I saw mention of Force use in the post above Bee Hoon's and thought, "Holy giblets of heaven! Writer's making a Star Wars fanfic, that's.....cool, might as well leave a funny comment."

 

So I did...Or I tried. *shrugs*

 

See ya around LF my ol' RP'ing pal!

[Writer]

Believe it or not, Archon, I really did laugh when I read your comments. If this story interested you even remotely, you might consider reading the 'prequel', "Music of the Force". It's about the same Jedi, though it takes place a good twelve or thirteen years earlier. Happy reading

[Master_Archon]

I believe I might just take you up on your offer. Although, it may not be immediately *shrugs again*.

 

And good writing to you too, Writer!