The Rebel Faction

What a 5 days it had been…

In 5 short days he had managed to save his own ass from the garbage heap or a lab table. He had been surprised at that alone.

Hell, especially since he had killed 2 men, and seriously injured 2 more, he still couldn’t quite get that fact through his head, that they had been so willing to trust him. No it just didn’t add up quite perfectly, for now he’d have to be careful.

Besides the astonishing trust they had given him, they had even accepted the deal he had proposed, of course with a few changes but still this again surprised him.

It had more than a few days to get the details hammered out and to give them something to seriously show them he was sincere, but he had.

He idly tossed the small silver sphere in his hand, it had only taken him a day to make, and he was already adding to it but what it had been was enough to show them he meant business.

Setting it on the table he idly placed a small wooden cube on it simultaneously sending a signal to the small silver ball. He watched intently as the sphere seemed to flow engulfing the wooden cube and sending a few fluid like tentacles out onto the desk around it. In a moment the ball once again stiffened and the cube appeared from the side dropping onto the desk.

He picked up the cube, not completely changed. Gone was the mahogany red color and the wood itself instead now a solid block of metal lay in his hand. Rolling it over in his hand inspecting it, he found a few craters and unfinished spots but it was decent for only a few days worth of work.

Crushing the cube in his hand he found what he was looking for. Frowning to himself he set the cube down. Most of the inside was in a varying state of wood to steel while only the outside and the first few layers were steel, not perfect not yet.

“Damn.” He tossed the cube into the basket along with 10 others that were in various states.

He couldn’t understand why this was so hard. He slammed a hand down in frustration and looked back at the computer. He knew how it should work and he knew how to make and program it, it just didn’t seem to work or come out like it should have damn it.

The only thing that could be causing this was an inhibitor; one of those frakking things the Rakata had placed in all of his kind, just another way of keeping them down. This one accomplished it by limited his ability to apply and access certain knowledge.

He tossed the small silver ball against the wall, the sphere plopping there for a moment before falling back to the desk. He reminded himself to kill the scientists that had attempted to help him remove the infernal things a few days before. What help they apparently had been.

He heard the hiss of the door behind him opening, light from the hallway flooding into his dimly lit room.

He closed the program on the computer and picked up the small silver nano assembler that he had thrown a moment ago.

Swiveling in his chair he found himself facing two bleach white Kashan shock troopers, both without helmets their faces stayed somewhat neutral even while staring at Xiantus.

Xiantus had been surprised by this and couldn’t figure our why they, unlike every human he had met to this point, seemed to not even flinch or act anxious around him.

Xiantus couldn’t help but wonder what they had seen in their career that had so desensitized them or instilled this sort of discipline, or was it simply training that he saw in them.

When they didn’t speak for a few moments he stood up his good 6.4 height dwarfing the two troopers if only slightly. “Yes?”

“Sir your wanted on the bridge, it seems the captain wants to see you.” The man made a short movement with his left hand, gesturing towards the door.

“Hmmm, they good captain would like to see me?” The same captain that hadn’t spoken or even communicated with him since a somewhat awkward meeting on the hangar deck, “Well then, let us not keep the captain waiting.”

Rising he and the two confederate servicemen exited the room the door sealing behind them.

All three took a quick left and headed towards the turbolift that would take them towards the bridge. He had walked through this ship only a few times and all of them had been a very unpleasant experience for him.

He looked all around him and saw the strange looks that the human crew gave him, the mixture of curiosity, fear, and something he might classify as disdain in their gazes. God he couldn’t wait to simply get to the bridge and get out of the halls. He had no idea why it irritated him so much, but it did and it made him angry to know that it did get to him.

Finally the walk ended and they reached the turbolift. There were a few others there but all of them kept their distance, a large circle of space between him and the other crewmen.

Somewhat suddenly and very unexpectedly a man stepped in front of him a hand outstretched in front of him, “Shane,” was all he said.

Xiantus hoped that he took the gesture right and stretched his hand out to grab the humans, “Xiantus.”

The man smiled ever so slightly and ended the shake, “So you’re whats got everyone so worked up around here, I have to admit I didn’t quite believe them when they talked about you, but seeing you standing here changes my mind.”

Xinatus laughed, “And what do your crewman say about me human.” The shock troopers didn’t quite know how to respond, but a quick look between them and the simply returned to a rigid stance to await their ride to end.

“They say you are a machine, that you act human and like a sentient creature might, that they’ve seen you show anger, and emotions as you’ve walked the halls, that you act, and don’t look like any machine that anyone around here has ever seen before. They even spouted some crap about you killing two scientists, ha”

Xiantus smiled, “Well shane its true… All of it.” The turbolift opened and Xiantus walked forward placing a hand on Shane’s shoulder, “Nice to have met you shane.”

Shane looked a little bit stunned, but still responded, “You too, see you round Xiantus.”

Xiantus nodded and raised a hand over his shoulder as he continued walking. Well that was interesting. he thought, At least one human isn’t afraid of me.

He reached the bridge doors, one of the soldiers walking forward and sliding a small rank cylinder into a socket, the door opening with a hiss.

And in they went, Xinatus spied the captain midway on the bridge and walked over, ignoring some of the stares that he received from the bridge crew, “You asked for me captain?”

The blurred lines of hyperspace disappeared as the Providence exited hyperspace above their destination. Xiantus turned his attention outside of the ship his gaze settling on the planet that they had come all this way for.

“So what exactly are we looking at?”

Xiantus looked briefly at the commodore, “That is the planet New Solace my good commodore. The planet that we traveled half of the confederation for, and the planet that will now be home to a new breed of my people.”

It had taken Xiantus days of searching through planet databases to find a planet that Xiantus found satisfactory. Most didn’t have the right materials or resources, or not enough for his people to grow and prosper.

A couple others had been found satisfactory but upon some closer inspection and investigation were found ineligible for one reason or another.

Finally after many planets were rejected and passed over, they finally came to the Planet named New Solace. On roughly the edge of confederation space, near the Perlemian Trade Route.

It was a bit larger than most worlds, a lot of space for growth and a good amount of natural resources that he and his hopefully soon to be people would be able to harvest and us. All in all it was an almost perfect planet for his needs and his plans. But there was another reason why this planet had been picked.

The planet below the ship he now stood on was home to a good number ruins dating back to the age of the Rakata and shortly after. It was a far fetched hope to believe that maybe something was there but it was a hope.

Xiantus stopped his mental drifting and returned to the present, the commodore still standing beside him, the planet bellow him.

As he gazed at the commander the slightest of echoes, the tiniest little whisper appeared in the back of his mind. For moment he heard the voice of another foreign and strange.

Yet familiar and noticeable it appeared, and then it was gone. Xiantus stood oblivious to all around him for a moment as he searched for the echo that whisper. Nothing it was gone.

Could he have imagined, no it was real; he raised his head up and looked at the planet. Something was down there, and his hopes moments before seeming so far-fetched found more hold and just that much more likely.

Focusing again he returned his attention to the commodore his ears open and listening for the echo.

"I apologize Commodore my mind drifted for a moment."

…..Mister Xiantus, I assume you will be joining Raviere’s teams when they go to the surface?

Xiantus was still listening in the back of his mind his hopes fading as silence was all he heard, but still turned to the commodore listening to him as well.

Xiantus nodded to the commodore, “Yes is would like to, I might as well see my new home to be up close, seeing as the files I read were somewhat thin a specific details.”

The commodore motioned to the two guards that had originally escorted Xiantus onto the bridge, “Then please, they will see you to the hangar deck.

“Thank you commodore.” Xiantus pivoted on his back foot motioning towards the turbolift to the two soldiers behind him.

“Lead the way.”

The Kashan trooper simply nodded and proceeded onward toward the turbolift.

The turbolift doors sealed shut and down they sped toward their transportation.

After transitioning through the turbolift and then walking lengths of hallways they reached their destination.

They boarded the closest transport which happened to be filled with more Kashan Soldiers and a couple of somewhat gaunt looking scientists, or so he guessed.

He sat across from his two “companions next to the two scientists who were eyeing him with mixed looks on their face, their discomfort obvious. Xiantus who was already getting used to the reactions he seemed to elicit from the humans, simply turned and stared right back giving them a little growl just for fun.

The scientists flinched and turned around as they suddenly found the notes they had been clutching very interesting.

He turned his head back to his guards, both who were lightly shaking their heads at him, although he guessed that under those helmets and black faceguards they were sporting amused expressions even if only slightly.

One of them got up and walked into the cockpit. A moment later Xiantus felt a lurch as the engines fired taking them out into space. He turned towards a window and looked out at the green and blue sphere that now grew larger every second.

As they got closer his inhuman eyes were able to discern small features of the planet below, mountains, desert versus forest. Little things pretty much only large things.

Then he heard it.

Stiffening his body ramrod straight in his seat as he again found the whisper but this time he got much more. Thoughts, voices it came quickly and went quickly enough so that he could neither discern or make sense of it at all. But again it was there and that was enough for him confirmation….

His posture relaxed again, and his synthetic muscles unclenched the whisper again lost to him. He turned to the white armored soldiers across from him who were staring at him heads cocked to one side. “You do have weapons right.”

The troopers looked at each other o doubt exchanging a few confused words through their comm units before looking back. They didn’t speak simply reached up above them into a compartment Xiantus hadn’t seen and withdrew two rifles. Replacing them one spoke, “Is there any reason we might need them down there, anything we should know.”

The soldier’s voice came out of his speakers a mechanical quality to it but Xiantus could hear the skepticism in it and a little bit of something else.

Should he try to explain to them, or not. He thought about it for a moment then replied, “No but these scientists that went before us went missing correct.”

The soldier nodded somewhat reluctantly.

“Then it seems better to be safer and have those,” he motioned toward the compartment with the rifles, “than need them later and not have them, so I was making sure. For all our safety…”

The two soldiers exchanged an unseen look then apparently either didn’t care or decided it wasn’t worth it and dropped it.

Xiantus now slightly reassured that he wasn’t going to be down their defenseless relaxed a bit and looked out the window once more.

Maybe he should have told the soldiers what he had “heard” so to say, maybe they should know, but Xiantus figured that it was better to simply keep it to himself for the moment unless something else came up which proved that danger did indeed await them on the surface.

He closed his eyes, at least as close as he could get and laid back his head as he tried to maybe discern or unscramble some of what he had managed to intercept from that whisper he doubted that he would get anything useful but he was determined to at least try.


The transport jerked as it skidded over the treetops of a rainforest on one the planets 2 southern continents.

Xiantus was jarred back to consciousness as the pilots finally found the spot they were apparently looking for and brought to shuttle to a nice landing.

The two shock troopers across from him unsnapped their harnesses and began to exit the transport, motioning to him to follow. He likewise unsnapped himself and got up, to see the scientists again scrutinizing him, he turned and gave them another growl and exited behind his two guards. What he met with was a totally alien world.

Lush green vegetation grew all around him, trees in every direction and nothing to suggest that they ever stopped. He looked around the rather large clearing they and the other 3 transports had landed in he saw a small somewhat ragged camp on the other side.

That’s where those archeologists must have been staying, hmm that might be worth checking out. He began to head that way, but an armor clad arm stopped him.

He turned to the soldier, the man simply nodded towards another transport, “We wait for orders first and you don’t go anywhere without us, remember?”

Xiantus gave what could have been interpreted as a sigh and walked behind the two soldiers to the spot where the other soldiers and staff were gathering.

He idly thought to himself, this could be an annoying day.

Xiantus looked from the forest where the natives had just fled from, to Reviere the prisoner in his arms only lightly struggling against the iron grip that held him.

The Confederation office asked, “Any clue whose these people are?”

Xinatus just momentarily let his gaze meet Reviere’s head on, but quickly looked at the captive that he held instead.

He looked the figure before him up and down.

All he saw was a raggedy native a bit stunned and nervous. The man stopped his struggles and looked up at the towering black figure that stood over him and cringed a bit but still held Xiantus’s gaze.

Odd he thought.

Xiantus reached down and lifted the human to his feet.

He looked at Reviere again, and said, “No never in my travels was I ever to this planet, it is as mysterious to me as it is too you.” As he said the last part he passed a look towards the captive.

“However... If you don’t mind since I will soon have to live here I would like to… Speak to him. With your permission of course commander.” He just noticed his two guards swap a glance through their visors, maybe talking.

Reviere however looked at the prisoner and then Xiantus. He nodded with what Xiantus could only call a little reluctance.

He let the man go and pushed him towards Xiantus. He probably realized it was a mistake as the man gained balance stopped himself and started to dash away from all of them.

Xiantus reacted faster than the human soldiers did, or could probably. He grabbed the fleeing man’s shirt and yanked down hard. He abruptly stopped and shot backwards as Xiantus pulled. He ended on the ground right back where he had been.

A dozen blasters trained on him he didn’t dare try to get up.

Xiantus squatted beside the man sprawled on the ground. Shaking his head he said, “I wouldn’t advise you try that or they will shoot you.” Xiantus motioned to the men and their guns around him, and then at the man. Even if the native couldn’t understand him he understood the guns aimed at him.

Traitor

Xiantus twitched visibly as the thought eased into his head.

His synthetic arm flashed out before the man knew it, wrapping its long fingers around his throat snapping his head back towards the ground, pinning it so.

He stood simply staring at the man eyes locked, unmoving. The confederation soldiers around the two uncertain what to do. With Reviere’s signal they backed up and gave the two plenty of room.

For a few long minutes neither Xiantus nor the native did anything until finally Xiantus almost snarled, relaxing his grip on the man’s neck and getting up. The man too stood although slightly hunched now his head hung.

Reviere stepped forward, motioning for his men to lower their guns, “Is everything alright.” He eyes both the man and Xiantus.

Xiantus flexing his hand nodded and said, “Yes.” He looked at his personal “guard” and motioned toward the man. “Please take him to wherever it is I will be staying for the near future.”

For a moment neither man moved, reluctant, until Reviere gave them a wave. With a quick salute they grabbed the defeated man and dragged him off.

Reviere turned to the men behind him, “Get back to it.” He turned specifically to one officer and said, “Call up to the fleet have them start shuttling down prefab equipment and the rest of the team. And make sure we have some patrols sent out, no more surprises.”

The soldier nodded and walked off in opposite directions. Reviere turned back to face Xiantus, he looked the Sojourn directly in the eye, “What was that.”

Xiantus had been idly watching the prisoner dragged away but now turned back to look at Reviere, “Nothing that need be worried about.”

“Nothing? I could swear I damn sure saw something, now if it’s anything I need to know, I’m still in charge until I leave.”

Reviere stood his ground as Xiantus’s eyes narrowed slightly his face tightening, his voice lowered by a fraction, “What I said I meant, it was nothing you need concern yourself with.”

Reviere thought about continuing it, but thought better of it, and simply nodded.

“Are you going to at least inform me of what you intend to do with our new prisoner.”

The smallest of grins crept onto the Sojourn’s face, “I’m going to ask a few questions and what happens next is completely up to him.”

Reviere was somewhat confused; he got the feeling that there was something he wasn’t missing about this situation and the man they had captured for that matter.

“Fine enough, I expect to be given a report on all that happens during your interrogation.” Reviere looked Xiantus in the eye and fully expected the mechanical thing before him to refuse.

After a second Xiantus nodded, “Of course my good commader.”

Without a second look Xiantus turned and walked away toward his tent.

Reviere stood absolutely still for a moment, he didn’t understand the Sojourn at all and wasn’t sure he wanted to. He too turned shaking his head he had duties to do if this world was to be Xiantus’s.