-------
“You should only wave those glowstick around if you’re prepared to use them.” Wrex’s gruff voice could be heard as the first greeting as they exited the ship after their graceful landing. “And keep in mind that it makes you into legitimate targets. You wouldn’t like the result.”
"Wrex, do try to not scare them too badly," Seraphiel stated a bit more diplomatically.
“He’s not expressing the sentiment in the most diplomatic way, but the sentiment itself is something I can get behind.” Shepard countered a bit. “I don’t appreciate someone baring weapons at me.” It seemed Shepard’s renegade side had come out to play.
"You're the ones who almost crashed into our temple in the middle of an invasion. You will be questioned, and suitable punishment will be determined." A dark-skinned bald male Human Jedi stated with a tone that was leaving no space for argument. He was being backed up by two dozen other Jedi, with more arriving steadily.
“Yeah, that’s not going to work for us. We don’t recognize your authority in this matter.” Shepard stated coldly. “I know you’re a little distracted, but you’re the ones holding a planetary shield up knowing that there are Champions arriving, who don’t have much choice but to come here because they’ve already agreed to participate in the event. Two such Champions just arrived. You don’t get to whine about our method of arrival. In fact, you should consider yourselves fortunate we aren’t taking hostile action after being shot at by your ships.” Yup. Shepard’s renegade side was definitely out to play.
“You may have missed it, but we’re in the middle of a war and under surprise attack. We don’t have the luxury of playing nice with foreign Champions.” The leading Jedi stated. “Now, you will be questioned whether you want to or not.”
“That’s not going to work for us, like the lady said," Seraphiel repeated. "Instead, you have two choices. You can try to force the issue, after which you'll have a lot less Jedi and nothing to show for it, or you can fuck off. We're not in the mood to answer your questions. I would imagine the loss of a hundred or so of your Jedi might not be the best thing ever to happen to your war effort. Or it might be. I've noticed Jedi can be a bit of a hit-and-miss when it comes to war. Most are just self-righteous hindrances, while a few here and there can accomplish something."
She did not have any appreciation for Jedi. She hadn't had any when she'd visited their universe and had been more of a morally righteous person, and she hadn't gained any more since then when her own morality had turned more gray. She also didn't have much appreciation for Force users in general. The power was listed under psionics, but she thought it to be a horribly ineffective way to use their powers.
“Master Windu, stand down, you will.” An old green Goblin-looking Jedi hobbled down the steps of the temple, leaning on a wooden cane. “Enemies these people, need not be.”
For a moment, it seemed like the man was ready to argue, but finally put away his lightsaber which prompted the other Jedi to stand down as well, although a large portion of them stayed around to keep watch just in case.
The green Goblin-wannabee hobbled closer to them. “On edge, my friends are. The attack, the worst in people brings.” He provided in the way of an explanation. “Though, to fair be, something about that, you should do.” The short creature pointed at their ship, which was still leaning over a broken statue.
“We'll get to it. When we get to it.” Shepard stated, still not feeling very cooperative. “And who might you be?”
“I believe you’re talking to the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order. The leader of this cult.” Seraphiel stated disdainfully.
The green being looked at her. "Like the Jedi, you do not. No. The Force itself, you disdain."
“Right on both accounts, though the two are connected. I think your order’s use of the power you wield is not only inefficient and short-sighted, but your teachings are immoral. I suppose I’ll give you two examples.”
Seraphiel, despite being tired from two reality alterations, floated into the air above their ship. With a single gesture, she lifted the entire ship into the air. Another gesture from her, and the ship almost seemed to explode, as it suddenly expanded when it efficiently dismantled itself in a matter of seconds. Every piece and part was separated from each other, and the whole thing was broken down into the smallest constituent parts. Then, all the damaged armor plating suddenly bent back into proper shape. Every burnt-out and overloaded power conduit suddenly seemed to regain its previous pristine state, and any part too far gone simply vanished as a new one was created out of thin air. Then, with a final gesture, the ship reassembled itself perfectly, before setting down on an open spot beside the temple.
"Now, that was something a proper Psyker can do. Next, I will provide a demonstration as to why even a half-decent magic user is better than your cult." She gestured towards the broken and devastated statues. Dozens of them lay in a million pieces around them. She uttered a single word. "Reparo.”
All the statues rebuilt themselves perfectly. Not even a single crack could be seen in the statues. All of them were restored to their former glory.
"And none of the Jedi in the temple can replicate either of the things I just did with little to no effort." She stated with finality, although the no-effort part wasn't entirely true. Repairing the ship and creating the parts out of thin air had taken a bit of effort.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Hmm, and yet, things that you cannot do, we also have.” The diminutive Jedi stated.
“Well, when you can think of a single example, let me know.” She walked straight back towards the ship, with Shepard and Wrex in tow.
"That was kind of awesome." Shepard grinned when they were back inside and out of earshot. "Though to be fair, I couldn't have done either of those things with my Biotics either."
“Perhaps. But at least Biotics are useful in other ways. The Force Cults? They’re just very inefficient ways of doing minor things with a power that could be so much more.”
-----
“How’s the battle in orbit faring?” Seraphiel asked Chachamaru. While everyone had exited the ship, Chachamaru had remained focused on the battle raging above.
"It's interesting. There actually seem to be three sides to the battle, as I initially assumed. One side represents the Republic, as we already know, which is defending Coruscant. However, there seem to be two separate parties attacking the planet. Two parties that are not actively engaging each other, but who also don't seem to be allied. I've analyzed their movements and positions, and if my guess is correct, the two attackers originally didn't plan to attack at the same time, but now that they are here, they don't mind focusing on the Republic forces first." The android explained while having her eyes glued to her wrist computer. She had hacked several satellite feeds to get a better grasp on the situation.
“What happens when the Republic loses? Are they losing?” Wrex asked.
"It's not entirely clear yet. The size of the Republic forces is larger than either of the attacking forces, but together the attackers have an upper hand. At the moment, the attackers have an advantage, but it's not a large advantage. I would assume the result rests mostly on how well the two attackers can work together and can they avoid coming to blows. They have the Republic forces pincered, which is why their tactics so far have been working. You don't need a lot of tactics when shooting at a pincered enemy, but that won't last forever." Chachamaru analyzed.
“Do we have any identification on the two attacking forces?" Shepard asked. "The locals must have some idea of who's attacking them. Are they at least groups from this universe, and not some outside force.”
“I heard one group is a separatist group. A force trying to break away from the Republic.” Kaede reported. “The other group is known as the Eternal Empire. The Jedi claim both are led by the Sith, but so far, I haven’t found any evidence to corroborate that. I’ve only managed to gather some initial information, but as far as I can tell, the Separatists, those people in the grey wedge-shaped ships, have Grey Jedi among them, though I don’t know if they’re leading them per se.”
“We didn’t get a great look at the Eternal Empire ships, as those were on the other side of the battle. We only got shot at by the Republic, and some Separatist fighters.” Chachamaru added. "The weapons being used by both the Separatists and the Republic seem to be from this universe, but the Eternal Empire seems to have gained some weapons tech from elsewhere. The effectiveness is still being judged, as we can see."
“Speaking of, we really need to update our own weapons. Seeing as you were pulling the ship apart earlier anyway, could you…” Wrex looked hopefully at Seraphiel.
“I could.” She nodded. “And I think I might, if we get stuck here for a while. But I’m too exhausted to do it now.”
“We’ve been putting off the upgrades, and now it’s biting us.” Yoruichi pointed out. “We do have the funds after all the work we did on Teclis’ world.”
“Speaking of, did I just see you using magic?” Shepard asked curiously.
"You did," Seraphiel replied simply.
“And when did all this happen?” Shepard pushed.
“When I unlocked the Shikai of my Zanpakutō.” Seraphiel shrugged. “I’m still not the primary mage of the group, as I don’t have supporting Classes, but I can handle normal spell work just fine even without a Class.”
“That’s all very interesting, but if we’re not installing big new guns on the ship right away, what are we going to do?” Wrex asked.
"For now? We should probably make our way towards the event area. Slowly and carefully, so they don't shoot at us. At least we need to find out if the whole thing is canceled on account of…well." Shepard gestured towards the orbit.
“Depends on who wins, I suppose.” Seraphiel pointed out.
“Either way, we need to officially register our arrival. Even if the whole thing is canned, we need to at least know.” Shepard shrugged.
The ship made a lot more graceful liftoff than the landing had been and slowly flew towards the large arena complex where the event was scheduled to take place. There was an adjoining spaceport, which they used for landing and docking their ship. After disembarking, they made their way towards the event officials, who predictably informed them that the whole thing was on hold until the attack was resolved. Instead, the official guided them towards quarters that had been set aside for participants, while suggesting a hotel for the non-Champion members of the crew. It seemed only a small portion of the expected Champions had arrived thus far.
The situation being what it was, they all elected to sleep on the ship instead, as it had relatively comfortable sleeping quarters, and it allowed them to stay safe and watch out for each other. That of course didn’t mean they stayed on the ship the whole time, although most of their time was spent observing the battle in the orbit.
The two attacking forces had rightly noted that defeating the Republic defenders was the main priority and stayed focused on that. Even with a few of the Jedi flying out in starfighters, the Republic had to admit when they were losing, and the remaining ships finally retreated a few hours later, jumping into hyperspace.
There was a brief stand-off between the two attacking forces, before the Eternal Empire’s ships, who’d taken more casualties, retreated as well, while the Separatist ships took position in orbit. They could assume some sort of negotiations took place, the end result of which was that the ships in orbit started firing on the planetary shield. The shield was holding on for now, and likely would for several days. It was the shield around the most important world of the galaxy, and a Core World to boot, so of course the shield would be powerful.
"Well, that went about as we expected," Wrex stated glumly, still hoping for some sort of planetary invasion that he could fight against just for entertainment.
“Personally, I was betting on the Eternal Empire to come out ahead.” Shepard joked. “Either way, the event is still on hold.”
"You mentioned that there would be a potential third member for our team. Have they arrived? We could use this time to train together a bit." Seraphiel suggested.
“They haven’t unfortunately. We arrived a bit early, as I was expecting trouble, and most of the other Champions seem to be late. Either they got word of the situation and don’t have your means of arrival, or we weren’t the only ones to get attacked on the way.” Shepard shook her head while leaning on the situation room’s table, which was showing the holographic image of the ships bombarding the planet from orbit.
"Interestingly, I noted the Senate officially requested the assistance of the Champions present in the case of a planetary invasion," Chachamaru interjected.
“Noted? I didn’t see anything like that.” Shepard frowned.
"I may have been monitoring incoming messages to the arena," Chachamaru admitted. She was apparently quite proficient in hacking, or slicing as it was called in this galaxy.
“I assume the officials told the Senate to go fuck themselves?” Seraphiel asked.
“Not in those terms, but the gist was there, yes.” Chachamaru nodded.
“Figures.” Seraphiel pursed her lips. “They don’t want to pick sides. If the Separatists win, then it would be bad if the Champions had been fighting on the losing side. We have no idea of the politics involved either, so we wouldn’t want to get involved either, unless we’re attacked of course.”
“So, we have nothing to do but wait?” Yoruichi asked, slumping in her chair lazily.
“Basically.” Both Chachamaru and Shepard nodded.
Yoruichi groaned. “Can’t really go out to have fun either with the mood around the planet being what it is. The prospect of it soon raining hot plasma doesn’t make people feel very festive.”
“On the bright side, our neutrality means we’re at the most secure location on the planet at the moment.” Shepard pointed out.
"You're forgetting something. Someone did attack us before we arrived here and even managed to sabotage a gateway. That someone is still out there, and there must be a reason for it." Seraphiel pointed out.
“There is that, yes.” Shepard nodded in agreement. “So, let’s try investigating a bit. Move in pairs and try not to get into any trouble. That means you too Wrex.”
“Shepard, I knew how to avoid trouble when your species were still swinging swords at each other.” He grinned. “And not the fun glowy-kind of swords either.”