A Tok'ra's Tale (Stargate/Star Wars Crossover)

[ajw]

A Tok'ra's Tale

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and universes that I am about to mangle around and mash together for my own demented author amusement - sadly all Stargate and Star Wars characters and concepts remain the property of MGM, Amazon, Disney and Lucasfilm Ltd respectively – I am merely borrowing them and make absolutely no profit from their use. As a result, please keep the legal attack dogs – also known as lawyers – firmly muzzled and on a leash as I have no money to give to anyone.

Authors Note: This idea came to me after recently rewatching the Stargate SG-1 fifth season episodes Summit and Last Stand and seeing the fate of Lieutenant Elliot/Lantash and how the dying pair sacrificed themselves to save SG-1 and Jacob Carter/Selmac from the Goa'uld Zipacna's attack on Ravanna. It got me wondering what if they were revived and from there that plot bunny this story sprung. A quick reminder that conversation in bold represents a Goa'uld or Tok'ra speaking aloud while conversation in italics or bold italics represents a host and symbiote talking to one another. Okay not that that little reminder is out of the way, let's get cracking shall we.

---///---

Chapter One

Lieutenant Kevin Elliot gasped as life returned to his body.

Slowly he opened his eyes to find himself lying on a hard surface and surrounded by nothing but white light. Yet there was something about it that said that this light was in no way heavenly but was technological in origin. The fact that the surface underneath him felt metallic also indicated that wherever he was, whatever he was lying in was technological in origin. Where am I, he wondered, and how am I alive?

"I would think that would be obvious," a distorted voice said inside his head making him jump slightly before he realized who and what it was.

"Lantash?" he tentatively mentally asked back.

"Who else would it be?" the Tok'ra symbiote asked sounding amused. "As for where we are we're in a Goa'uld sarcophagus device."

"Huh. How did we get here? Not that I mind I kind of like being alive."
"Think for a few moments and I am sure you'll remember."

Kevin nodded to himself and did as the symbiote wrapped around his spinal cord said, focusing on what had happened to put him – or should he say them? – in here. After a few moments he remembered what had happened when, with the weapon containing the symbiote poison concealed on his person after Doctor Jackson had given it to him, he had allowed himself to be captured by the army of Jaffa that had attacked the Tok'ra base on Ravanna. The Jaffa had naturally brought him back to their encampment but must have called ahead as Zipacna had been waiting next to a tent that the Jaffa had set up to house a command post.

They had been taken inside and Goa'uld underlord had, seeing that they were both on the verge of dying from the injuries he'd sustained when part of the lab had collapsed on top of him during the Al'kesh bombing runs, had had them placed them in his sarcophagus. Before the doors had closed, he and Lantash had struck, pressing the button to activate the concealed symbiote poison weapon before with their last of their mutual strength throwing it out of the chamber. Then the doors had closed as everything had gone dark.

He had to wonder just what had happened outside while they had both been dead/asleep and being healed here in this thing. Had SG-1 managed to escape the planet? He hoped that they had though it did leave the question about what the hell he/they were going to do next. While he knew the Stargate address for Earth, he didn't have a GDO with him, and his radio had gotten wrecked during the attack on the base, so he would have no way of letting them know it was him and he had no desire to become sub molecular paste against the iris.

"We'll think of something," Lantash told him reassuringly, "if any of the landed ships are still here and still intact then we can always take one of them. I know of several probable locations of backup Tok'ra bases. We could always travel to one and contact Stargate Command from there."

"Sounds like a plan as long as there isn't an army of Jaffa between us and them."
"Good point."

It was at that moment that the white light around them dimmed and a crack appeared overhead. A crack that rapidly grew wider as with the usual stone-on-stone grinding sound that Goa'uld doors and hatches tended to produce the lid of the sarcophagus parted. Within seconds it was fully open and, bracing himself for what he might find fully expecting to see Jaffa pointing zat'nik'atel or ma'tok staffs at him, Kevin sat up.

To find he was still in the tent that the Jaffa had set up but now everything was completely quiet, all he could hear was the fabric walls rustling in the wind and the occasional cawing of birds outside. Beyond that there was no sight of sound of life. Carefully he stood up and looked around.

What he beheld in the tent was a scene of carnage. Lying next to the sarcophagus was Zipacna, features twisted into a final mask of shock, horror and the terror that must have gripped him as he succumbed to the symbiote poison. Several Jaffa lay lifeless on the floor nearby, their own expressions mirroring the Goa'uld's as they died, though there was even more pain locked on their faces as it would have taken them a bit longer to die than the Goa'uld – basically however long it took for the neural toxin from the prim'tah, dying in their abdominal pouches from the poison, to enter their nervous systems in sufficient amounts to kill.

"Sheesh now I know why chemical weapons are banned back on Earth," he muttered shivering at the sight of painful deaths. "This is horrific."

"It is," Lantash agreed, "unfortunately such things happen in wars."

"True. And I know it was either them or us but still…"

"Indeed."

Carefully Kevin climbed out of the sarcophagus – causing it to close behind him – and looked around. He was about to walk over to one of the Jaffa, to pick up a zat, only for a silent prompt from Lantash to take him back to Zipacna's body. At another silent prompt he squatted down and carefully took the kara'kesh from the Goa'uld's lifeless right hand and put it on himself. Then he carefully searched the body, finding a portable healing device in a leather pouch on Zipacna's right hip.

Before he stood back up, he reached out and closed the eyes of Zipacna's host and muttered a prayer for the soul of the poor person who had to have endured centuries if not millennia of enslavement to the Goa'uld. He consoled himself with the knowledge that the hosts soul would be in a better place now, where Zipacna couldn't hurt him anymore while the Goa'uld burned in hell forevermore.

"You still have religion on Earth then."

"Of course, we do. Many people are raised in one faith or another, I for example was raised as a Roman Catholic."
"Interesting. Jacob never spoke about religion on Earth."

"Probably never occurred to him. Religion is not as driving a force as it used to be plus church, and state have been separated since the days of the Founding Fathers."

"Seems I have quite a bit to learn about you Tau'ri."

"Just like I do about you Lantash."
"Indeed."

Walking over to one of the downed Jaffa Kevin picked up a discarded zat gun, before walking up to the entrance to the tent. He took a few deep breaths, knowing that what he was about to see was probably going to be horrific, before pushing the flaps open and stepping out…

…to see a sea of Jaffa bodies lying on the damp, dusty ground all killed by the dense cloud of poison that had to have spread as a wave of death from the tent. Here and there he could see birds – that looked vaguely like ravens – dropping down from the clouds and feeding on the lifeless bodies of the Jaffa. As much as he wanted to chase the avians away he knew it would be a futile battle, they would just come back.

Deciding to see if there was any sign that SG-1 had left he began making his way through the killing field to where the Stargate was located. As soon as he got there, he saw fresh footprints, with the characteristic patterns of those made by US military combat boots, heading up to the gate. Clearly SG-1 had left this planet after the Jaffa all dropped dead and the wind blew the cloud of poison away.

"Okay now what," he muttered.

"Check the ships. At least one of the Al'kesh should be fully ready for flight," Lantash suggested, "once we've decided on one, we should gather as many supplies as we can from the remains of the base. We'll need them as even the nearest of the possible fallback positions is several days in hyperspace from here."

Kevin nodded and headed for the nearest Al'kesh.

---///---

The next few hours passed as a hurricane of activity. The first Al'kesh he'd come across had been fully functional – albeit its bomb bay was empty having dropped all its plasma charges during the attack – and after carefully extracting the dead crew both host and symbiote had decided it would do for there escape from this planet of ghosts.

With that determination made they had begun the process of gathering supplies ready for their journey. First, they'd raided the other Al'kesh for any emergency supplies they carried, as well as spare parts such as control crystals for various systems, and then made a hike back to the mostly collapsed remains of the Tok'ra base. From which they'd extracted quite a bit of useful stuff, such as boxes of tunnelling crystals, a few portable power generators and supplies of food and drinking water.

By the time they had done that dusk had begun to fall and Kevin now found himself sitting in the pilot's seat of the Al'kesh not at all sure how to even fly the damned thing. Everything had been carefully stowed in the other compartments on the upper level of the ship now there was just the small problem of leaving.

"I can fly this ship," Lantash told him.

"Okay maybe you should have control then. Though will you teach me how to fly this thing?"
"Of course."

"Thanks."

He got the distinct impression of a friendly smile from Lantash then felt the curious sensation of the symbiote taking over control of his body. It wasn't jarring or anything, in fact it felt like his consciousness was gently picked up and moved to one side allowing Lantash to take his place in the driving seat so to speak. Okay this feels a bit weird, he thought wondering why he didn't remember the last few times Lantash had taken over but guessing it was probably due to the shock and trauma of the injuries he had sustained at the time.

With nothing else to do he watched carefully, and listened intently to Lantash thoughts, as the Tok'ra brought the ship fully online and powered up the engines.

---///---

Lantash carefully checked all the readings as the Al'kesh computer relayed information straight into his mind through the control globe. All systems on the bomber were working properly and sublight engines were fully online though it would be another two or three minutes before the hyperdrive finished powering up. Not that he would engage it inside the atmosphere unless he had to as doing that could be somewhat dangerous, especially with such a simple hyperdrive as what was on an Al'kesh.

Bringing the antigravity wave generator online he raised the Al'kesh until it was floating several dozen meters in the air over the site of the former encampment. Quickly he accessed the weapons system and aimed the turret at the nearest Al'kesh with any plasma charges still in its bay and fired three times, punching through the hull and starting a massive fire inside the craft. In another few minutes the plasma charges within would cook off and the entire vessel would explode, triggering a fire that would completely consume the encampment and the bodies lying where they had fallen under the poisons attack.

As the other Al'kesh began burning fiercely he engaged the main sublight drives and the ship shot towards the heavens. The surface receding behind them at hypersonic speeds as they quickly passed this planet escape velocity. Outside the viewport the sky rapidly darkened before giving way to the star-studded blackness of space…

…and the sight of four Goa'uld motherships in orbit.

Two of the motherships bore the markings of Zipacna but the other two had no markings whatsoever. Matter streams kept travelling between the unmarked ships and Zipacna's transporting replacement Jaffa crews onto the vessels. Deciding to err on the side of caution he reached for the crystal that would engage the Al'kesh cloaking device.

However, before he could press it the threat board came alive with warnings. Both new motherships had seen him and were powering up their weapons systems. A swarm of gliders and Al'kesh was also converging on his position. Knowing the cloak would do no good – not against these numbers as the Goa'uld and Jaffa could afford to fire blind and have a very good chance of hitting him even if cloaked – he instead diverted the power to the shields and hyperdrive.

Then he began to fly for both their lives.

And not a moment too soon as a bolt of golden plasma energy was fired his way by one of the motherships. He evaded it with relative ease and set the turret to automatic target and firing while taking evasive action as all four motherships began firing streams of plasmatic death at him, the Jaffa crews aboard determined to avenge Zipacna and the Jaffa who had died on the planet below. The gliders and Al'kesh joining in turning space around into a storm of crisscrossing energy blasts. A storm that it was impossible to fully evade as almost immediately a bolt hit the shields making the ship shake fiercely.

Another bolt followed, and another, no matter which way he turned and banked. No matter what move he attempted the enemy Jaffa boxed him in with their seemingly endless deluge of plasma fire. Within moments shield corrosion warnings began to appear on the HUD reporting that the shields were down to thirty percent capacity and would soon fail.

Thankfully the hyperdrive choose that moment to come online.

Without hesitation he stabilized his course for hyperspace entry and engaged the drive. A hyperspace rift opening immediately ahead of him, its glowing maw offering the promise of safety and sanctuary from the Goa'uld attack. He immediately directed the Al'kesh towards the subspace rift…

… only the attacking Jaffa were not content to let him/them get away from them so easily. All four motherships and the small craft unleashed another devastating barrage of plasma…

…that caught the Al'kesh just as it entered the influence of the hyperspace window.

Instead of immediately obliterating what was left of the vessels shields and turning the entire craft into a fireball the plasma bolts broke apart as they encountered the powerful subspace field begin generated by the hyperdrive. Instantly they transformed into a crackling blizzard of energy that massively overloaded both the hyperdrive on the Al'kesh and the vortex into hyperspace it was generating.

The effect on the Al'kesh was dramatic as it was suddenly accelerated to speeds that were beyond even those attainable by Asgard vessels. Speeds that in an instant catapulted it, and the unconscious Tok'ra aboard, clear of the galaxy that they had always known. Catapulted it even far beyond the borders of known space…

…deep into the unknown.

---///---

Goa'uld Mothership
Ravanna Orbit

"Lord Thoth the Tok'ra vessel has escaped."

Sitting on his pel'tac throne Thoth scowled at the report from his First Prime. He had not appreciated being called away from his work on the new warriors on Tartarus to come here to the site of a now-former Tok'ra Base to clean up Zipacna's mess. Unfortunately, he had had no choice but to do so as Lord Anubis was not someone that you could say no to, not if valued both your life and your very sanity.

"So, I see," he replied, incensed that someone – almost certainly a Tok'ra survivor – had managed to steal an Al'kesh and escape Ravanna. "Have you been able to track its course?"

"I am afraid not my lord. The Al'kesh was moving many thousands of times faster than it should have been capable of, my guess is our weapons fire somehow supercharged the hyperspace window. It was going far too fast for us to extrapolate any sort of course beyond heading out into intergalactic space."

"I see well that takes care of whichever Tok'ra stole the craft," Thoth commented before looking intrigued wondering if this event could yield some clues for how to increase the speed of their own hyperdrives. Lord Anubis would certainly reward him quite handsomely if it did. "Have all our sensor data of the event from the moment the plasma blasts impacted the hyperspace window to the Al'kesh leaving our sensor range to my personal laboratory."

"Yes, my lord," the Jaffa acknowledged a moment before the sensors chirped a warning. "My lord sensors just detected a large plasma detonation on the surface."

"Source?"

"One of the Al'kesh in the staging area near the Stargate my lord. From the size of the blast the computer estimates that at least three plasma charges exploded simultaneously. The whole area around the gate is now burning. Sensors are now detecting class three seismic disturbances near the remains of the Tok'ra base, it is likely that the shockwave from the blast has caused the already compromised crystal tunnels to begin collapsing in upon themselves."

"Likely," Thoth agreed, "how long until the other two Ha'tak are ready to depart?"

"They are ready now my lord."

"Very well. Recall all gliders and Al'kesh then have all ships set a course for Tartarus and engage their hyperdrives."

"Yes, my lord."

---///---

Elsewhere
A Few Hours Later

Space at the outer edge of a binary system – just outside the systems Oort Cloud which marked the end of any star's system and the beginning of interstellar space – shivered as the barrier between normal space-time and the infinite realms of subspace came under sudden, massive attack from within. The quantum folds of space-time parted and a vortex of energy unlike anything ever seen in this galaxy opened with a silent scream of unfathomable power. The rift pulsed once and a small object, travelling at a considerable percentage of the speed of light, shot forth like a shell fired from some gigantic celestial cannon.

Behind the vessel the hyperspace window folded closed, leaving no sign that it had never been present at all leaving the Al'kesh streaking deeper into the system at dangerously high speed. But not for long as the crafts navigational computer automatically engaged the sublight engines and began fighting the massively amplified hyperspace inertial forces. For several minutes the Al'kesh continued flying into the system at a dangerously high rate of speed before finally beginning to slow and coming to a stop.

Now stationary the vessel hung silent, seemingly dead in space.

---///---

Kevin Elliot groaned as consciousness returned and he found himself lying flat on the deck. Ugh what the hell happened, he thought as he opened his eyes to find the cockpit filled with a faint haze of smoke. Smoke that stunk of overheated and burned-out control crystals. Awkwardly he stood up, swaying drunkenly before staggering back to the pilot's seat and sitting down.

"Lantash are you there," he asked.

"Yes, I am. What in Egeria's name just happened?"

"No idea. Last thing I remember was something hitting us as we entered the hyperspace window, we were knocked flying and then nothing 'till we woke up here."

"Goa'uld weapons fire must have caught us just as we transitioned into hyperspace. Access the flight data records it should tell us."

"How do I do that?" Kevin asked a moment before the information suddenly came into his awareness being pushed his way so to speak by Lantash. Trusting the symbiote he reached out and touched a couple of different coloured crystalline controls in a very specific pattern. The holographic HUD appeared, flickering fitfully for a few moments before stabilizing bringing up the requested flight records. When he saw the speed with which they had been travelling he blinked in astonishment. Simultaneously he felt an odd sensation at the back of his neck and realized that Lantash had just shivered, his own astonishment coming through to him seconds later. The reason was obvious they had been travelling over a billion times faster than the hyperdrive was capable of.

"How the hell weren't we torn apart by the inertial forces," he wondered.

"I don't know," Lantash admitted, "press the red crystal next to the two blue crystals. That will bring up a damage assessment."

Kevin did as he was instructed pressing the indicated crystal. Immediately the HUD changed bringing in a report on the state of the ship. It was bad but it could have been worse. The shields were down, the matrix completely depleted though it was repairable, sublight was working but the hyperdrive was completely offline – diagnostics indicating that both the primary and secondary control circuits were fused. The hull was thankfully intact though life support was barely functioning due to the primary control circuits being fused.

"Could be worse," Lantash replied, "we've got enough spare control crystals to repair all the damaged systems. Though the question also becomes where are we? Let me have control a minute please."

"Sure."

Again, Kevin felt the odd sensation of his consciousness being lifted out of the way and replaced by Lantash. He watched with interest as Lantash accessed the sensors and began running a scan of the system and the region of space immediately around them. Within seconds the navigational computer gave a devastating report, none of the star patterns around them were familiar wherever they were it was so far of the beaten interstellar track that it wasn't even funny.

Thankfully there was a habitable planet deeper within the system. Its environmental conditions were hot, very similar to Abydos was back home, but it at least had an oxy-nitrogen atmosphere. There was a small number of ships of unfamiliar design and construction in orbit though the power signatures were, at least at this range, lower than those of naquada powered ships. Certainly, there were no sign of any warships. While a not particularly habitable world it would be a good place to land and make repairs.

"If we go there, we should cloak before we head in system," he advised the symbiote, "we have no idea where we are, or going on how fast we were travelling if we're even in our own galaxy anymore."

"Good idea," Lantash agreed before giving the command to the computer to engage the cloaking device. After a moment a light lit up on the console indicated that the cloaking device was active and functioning normally pushing the ship slightly out of sync with normal space-time. Satisfied that everything was working properly he engaged the sublight engines and began heading in system towards the unknown desert world, where they would hopefully be able to land, do their needed repairs and then figure out just what the hell they were going to do next.

---///---

Authors Note: Well, this first chapter bites the dust I hope you all enjoyed it. I think its pretty obvious which planet that Elliot and Lantash are approaching is Tatooine, though when are they in the Star Wars timeline you will have to wait and see. Updates for this particular story are going to be few and far between but this idea wouldn't leave me alone, so I had to write it out. Until next time.

 

[ajw]

Chapter Two

The moment that Lantash brought their commandeered Al'kesh out of hyperspace near the planet that was to be their temporary home – while they repaired the ship – Elliot found himself gripped by a profound sense of déjà vu. The planet below was eerily familiar, like he had definitely seen it somewhere before especially given it had two moons and orbited twin suns. Yet he couldn't place where exactly he had seen this place before.

"You may have seen it in some of the SGC's mission reports," Lantash commented sensing his hosts confusion and immediately realizing the reason for it. "There are quite a few planets like this in our own galaxy after all. For some reason they tend to be where the largest deposits of high grade naquada ore can be found."

"Perhaps," Elliot agreed, "during the training and familiarisation lectures for Stargate Command we were shown a lot of the mission reports. Still, I wish I knew where exactly I've seen this place before, it's like its there in my mind but I cannot quite place it."

"It can be quite vexing when its like that," Lantash agreed knowing from experience what that was like, it especially happened when something bubbled up from his genetic memories inherited from Queen Egeria and the others in her genetic lineage and not something he had experienced himself.

"To quote a certain Jaffa we both know indeed."

Lantash chuckled slightly especially as Elliot perfectly mimicked the deadpan voice that Teal'c used whenever he said that word. Then he turned his attention to the sensors and ran a scan of the dustbowl of a planet below searching for somewhere, anywhere, suitable for them to land where they wouldn't attract attention from anyone. After all they had quite a bit of work to do to repair the Al'kesh after they'd gotten hurled into this galaxy, once that was done, they would have to start figuring out just what they were going to do now as the Al'kesh certainly wouldn't be capable of getting either of them back to their own galaxy in any reasonable timeframe.

The first scan results came back almost immediately confirming that the planet below was indeed a fully desert world with no surface water anywhere to be found beyond small amounts of vapour in the atmosphere. Though strangely sensors were confirming sizeable bodies of fresh water beneath the surface – and not just in aquafers but actual lakes and oceans of both fresh and saline water. With the shallowest being only about a hundred and fifty meters beneath the surface of the planet not far from a large settlement that seemed to be primarily a spaceport. Yet there was no sign of anyone drilling down to the water to extract it.

"That's weird," Elliot commented, "even on Earth in the desert regions we drill down to the aquafers at the very least in order to get at the water. Yeah, it's often hot and contaminated with elements leached from the surrounding rock but both those problems are relatively easily fixed."

"It is strange."

A sudden proximity warning from the sensors caught his attention. He glanced at them to see a small object; a spacecraft of some type was coming out of deep space trailing streams of particle exhaust similar to those produced by Serrakin ion engines. It was also on a course that would see it collide with them in less than two minutes unless he adjusted course. Which he quickly did taking the ship straight up by ten thousand metres giving the incoming vessel plenty of clearance to pass beneath their still cloaked vessel.

A few moments later the vessel passed beneath them. It was a very sleek and elegant looking ship, plated with something similar to chrome that made it gleam like a mirror. It was being propelled by two cylindrical engines that glowed with soft blue light that were located on the edges of its sleek wing shape. From the wave of shock and incredulity that suddenly came from his host it was clear that it was also a ship that Elliot somehow recognised.

"That's impossible!!" Elliot exclaimed, "how can that be real!"

"You recognise it?" Lantash asked as confused as his host seemed to be by the fact that Elliot actually seemed to recognise the vessel. Especially given that to the best of his knowledge the Tau'ri had never been outside their own galaxy especially since they were limited to using the Stargates for interstellar travel.

"Yeah, it's the royal starship of the elected queen of a planet called Naboo," Elliot explained, "it's fictional from The Phantom Menace. The first of a new trilogy of Star Wars films that George Lucas is making now."

"How can Star Wars be real?" Lantash questioned as he was quite familiar with the concept of Star Wars given all the times that Martouf and he had interacted with the Tau'ri in the past. Plus, Jacob, after being blended with Selmac, had been kind enough to fill them in on the idea behind science fiction shows and movies like Star Trek, Star Wars and so on. It had given the High Council quite a few intriguing insights into the culture and mindset of the Tau'ri nation state that had control over their planets Stargate.

"I don't know… unless."

"What?"

"Unless George Lucas is Force sensitive and saw all this in a vision of some type," Elliot speculated though he sounded uncertain, "well its either that or we were hurled into another universe as well as being catapulted clear into another galaxy by the Goa'uld weapons fire hitting our hyperspace window."

"Well, we can check that," Lantash commented instructing the sensors to scan the local space-time strata and determine what its quantum resonance frequency was. Somehow neither of them was surprised when it came back as being exactly the same as their own resonance frequency. They were not in another universe; this was still their own reality.

Which meant that for the two of them the world had just been turned completely upside down. As if Star Wars was real, if the events depicted in the movies were destined to take place in this galaxy at some point in the future, then that meant that things like the Force was real as well. Something that was beyond shocking to both host and symbiote as it meant that reality was stranger than anyone had ever believed to be possible.

Though it also presented them both with something of a dilemma. Thanks to the works of Mr Lucas, which had certainly been influenced by the Force assuming it existed in their native galaxy which they could not rule out, they knew what was going to happen to this galaxy in a few decades at the most. How an Empire, ruled by a being, as one could not really call Palpatine a man, so cruel and evil that he would give the likes of Anubis and Sokar a run for their money in the general evil and vindictive cruelty departments, would rise to dominate the galaxy. How said Empire would commit crimes so heinous that even the vilest and most ruthless of Goa'uld System Lords would be horrified. How entire worlds would be destroyed, and countless billions killed or displaced before the Empire would be defeated at the Battle of Endor and the Sith Lord behind it all killed.

"What do we do?" Elliot asked, "do we just sit on the sidelines so to speak and let Darth Sidious destroy the Galactic Republic and build his Empire? Or do we take some action to try and stop him."

"I have no idea," Lantash answered, "this is a quite unprecedented situation, certainly nothing I've heard about or experienced over the last three thousand years has been anything like this. It is obvious that Darth Sidious or Sheev Palpatine are evil in a way that few Goa'uld ever are and have to be stopped. But how we go about doing that. I don't know."

"Telling the Jedi straight out is out. They'd never believe us especially since at the moment they believe that the Sith were destroyed a thousand years ago when the Brotherhood of Darkness was defeated after a thousand-year long war," Elliot agreed, instantly sensing a burst of shock from Lantash at the length of time the galaxy had been in active warfare so long ago. "However, before we do anything we should land and fix the ship."

"Good point."

With the discussion firmly settled, for now at least as they had more immediate concerns like fixing their damaged ship, Lantash turned his attention to finding a suitable landing site on the planet below. A planet that information pushed his way by Elliot he now knew to be called Tatooine. He noted that the Naboo vessel had landed on a vast salt pan that long ago would have been a lakebed some distance from the outskirts of one of the main settlements.

Not that far away, inside a vast cliff he spotted a perfect location for them. A large cave in a granite outcrop that was sheltered from the prevailing direction of the wind. The entrance was just big enough for the Al'kesh to enter and high enough off the floor of the desert that they were most unlikely to get any unexpected, unwelcome visitors.

"What do you think?" he asked knowing that from the movies – as hard as it was to realize that Star Wars was actually real – that his host would have a much better idea of where was safe on this planet and where wasn't than he himself had.

"Looks good. Quite secluded and hard to get to should let us do our repairs without any unexpected visitors, like the Tusken Raiders or one of the minions of Jabba the Hutt – a giant slug-like crime lord who runs this dustbowl of a planet - dropping in. While I don't doubt that we could deal with them they are a complication that we could well do without."

Mentally projecting his agreement Lantash turned his attention to taking the Al'kesh down into the atmosphere, choosing the correct angle to enter the atmosphere without unduly stressing the cloaking device and potentially leading to someone detecting them from the atmospheric disturbance if nothing else. The bomber began shaking slightly with turbulence as it headed down but a few taps of different crystals, diverting some spare power to the inertial dampeners and flight stabilization systems quickly eliminated that particular problem giving them a smooth ride down.

They were soon gliding over the sand dunes, stone mesas and salt pans that covered the whole surface of Tatooine. After a few minutes of flying, they passed over the landed Naboo vessel, its hull gleaming brilliantly under the dual rain of photons from the systems suns, and both noted three individuals leaving the ship and beginning to walk across the desert surface towards a settlement about half a kilometre to the west of them. The flash of recognition that came from Elliot didn't surprise Lantash.

"Who are they?" he asked curious.

"Well, if this is anything like the movie that trio will be Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, an extremely annoying alien called Jar-Jar Binks who has to be one of the clumsiest people in creation and Queen Amidala pretending to be one of her own handmaidens and using her given name of Padme. They'll be on their way to a settlement called Mos Espa to acquire replacement parts for their version of a hyperdrive that was damaged by weapons fire from Trade Federation battleships during their escape from Naboo. In the process will meet both the future saviour and scourge of the galaxy in a nine-year-old boy called Anakin Skywalker. Who is currently a slave owned by an alien called Watto."

"It would be interesting to see how much matches up to the movie."

"It would but first we should fix the ship. Qui-Gon and co won't be going anywhere for a while as Watto won't accept Republic credits and Jedi telepathic tricks don't work on his species, the Toydarians. So, Qui-Gon won't be able to just use the Force to ensure his compliance with what he wants."

Lantash sensed some disapproval from his host as he said about Qui-Gons use of telepathic tricks to get his way, and some delight that he wouldn't be able to do that here. He had to wonder why that was but decided that that was a conversation for another time. "They're going to be in for some difficulties then?"

"Yes. Qui-Gon seems to have the same knack for finding and getting into trouble that SG-1 does. Thus, we have plenty of time to do our repairs before we have to decide what to do next."

"Martouf and I both noticed that they have what do you call it a trouble magnet attached to them. But you are right we'll do our repairs before we decide what to do about Qui-Gon and co if we do anything."

A crystalline chirp from the console brought an end to their discussion. Lantash looked to see what had caused the alert and noted that it was from the navigational computer. They were coming up on their chosen destination. As a result, he reduced his airspeed down to virtually zero and began carefully searching for the mouth of the cave chosen to be their temporary sanctuary.

After a couple of moments, he found it and carefully began guiding the Al'kesh inside. There was a fairly short tunnel leading to the cave, a tunnel that from the looks of it had been carved out of a softer seam of rock by a long since vanished river, leaving just the impermeable and extremely hard wearing – in the way it was – granite walls and floor. Eventually the tunnel gave way to a vast stone cavern that was in complete darkness, not that that was hardship for either of them. The Al'kesh had external lifts if they needed them, not to mention it would be very easy to deploy some self-powering light crystals should the need arise.

Lantash set the bomber down in the centre of the vast cavern and powered down all but essential systems, including deactivating the cloaking device to reduce the requirement on the naquada reactor to minimal levels. Though he left the sensors powered up just in case someone or something nasty decided to try sneaking up on them. Then he stood up and headed back and down a level to where the engineering bay, and with it all the ships vital control crystal circuits, were located.

It was time to get to work.

---///---

Naboo Royal Starship
A Few Minutes Earlier

Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn was puzzled as, accompanied by Jar-Jar Binks who was insisting he had to come with him to properly honour his life-debt and Padme, he slowly made his way across the desert floor towards the closest settlement. They had just left the ship when he had sensed something unusual pass nearby, in fact pass directly over their heads, yet they had not seen or heard anything. But he knew something had happened, that something had been there he could feel it in the Force.

It was the second time he had felt the odd presence, a presence that felt like two beings and yet one at the same time, nearby. The first had been just after they'd come out of hyperspace and began cruising at maximum sublight towards this desert world. As they'd been cruising, he had sensed the presence near them, as had Obi-Wan in point of fact. Both himself and his padawan exchanging a few seconds of confused telepathic chatter especially as nobody else on the ship had seen anything. Nor had the ships sensors, which could mean a number of different things. Though to his mind the most likely scenario was that someone out there was using a cloaking device of some type, a very advanced one if it could work properly inside the atmosphere as most cloaks couldn't even when using the best cloaking crystals, but the question was who and why were they interested in them as the overflight clearly indicated that they were.

Something that was deeply concerning.

"Are you alright Master Jedi," Padme asked seeing a concerned look momentarily pass across Qui-Gons face.

"I am fine," Qui-Gon replied even as he looked slightly shrewdly at the 'handmaiden'. He knew that she was no handmaid but was in fact Queen Amidala herself just having devested herself of the elaborate robes and makeup of her office – revealing the very beautiful young woman underneath. Though he had not said that he knew, he would spring that surprise on her sometime in the future when it was advantageous to let the young, elected Nubian queen know that it took far more than a simple change of appearance to fool a Jedi's Force senses. For some reason non-Force sensitives always forgot that Jedi, and indeed any Force user as despite what the High Council liked to preach the Jedi weren't the only Force users in the galaxy far from it in point of fact, could see with far more than just their eyes.

"You don't look fine," Padme pointed out.

Qui-Gon mentally sighed, guessing quite correctly that Padme would not stop asking questions until he told her what was bothering him. "It's just a disturbance in the Force," he answered before explaining exactly what he meant and what he and Obi-Wan had both sensed when they'd first been making their approach to this dust ball of a planet and what he had just sensed as the same odd dual presence appeared again overflying them a few moments ago without any sign that there was anything there.

When he was done Padme was frowning, so was their Gungan companion. "Could it be a cloaking device of some type," she asked.

"Possibly though it would have to be an extremely advanced, and thus very expensive, one to not produce any visible disturbance in the air when inside a planetary atmosphere," he pointed out, "I could probably count on one hand how many such cloaking devices there are in the galaxy as the crystals you need to power a cloak that advanced are extremely hard to find in sufficient quantities in modern times. Certainly, none of them would be anywhere near a planet like this."

"Are we in danger," Padme asked instantly wondering if the cloaked ship, if that's what it was, and its pilot were some kind of scout for the Trade Federation as she knew that the Neimoidians would have their minions out looking for them as a matter of urgency. Looking to find them, find her, and bring her back to Naboo before she could testify before the Senate on the invasion and force her to sign a treaty legitimising their military occupation of her planet. "Should we leave and find another planet?"

"I do not believe so," Qui-Gon admitted as he had sensed no malice in the presence, for the brief time he had been aware of it. Surprise and confusion yes but no malice. "Even if whoever or whatever it is meant us harm, we would not be able to leave this planet until we get the new parts since the hyperdrive core is completely non-functional."

Padme grimaced slightly but nodded in understanding. While she had been getting changed Captain Panaka had told her of the extent of the damage that their hyperdrive had sustained during the quite harrowing escape from Naboo. Thus, she knew that the hyperdrive core was not just non-functional but was in fact completely fried as the result of a coolant leak that had not been able to be fully locked down resulting in the core getting dangerously hot. Eventually critical components had gotten too hot and melted rendering the core inoperable and thus they were very much trapped here until they could acquire a new core. As unlike most other starships travelling the galaxies space lanes her royal starship lacked a backup hyperdrive. An oversight that she would have to get corrected at some point.

"We will have to be on our guard," she said at last.

"And we will be," Qui-Gon replied with a smile of reassurance. He fully intended to be completely on his guard here on Tatooine as like many worlds that were either in, or were like this planet, on the border of Hutt space could be wretched hives of scum and villainy. Which also made it a perfect hiding place for them while they got the parts and repaired their ship as the Trade Federation would never expect them to bring someone like Queen Amidala here. Though even if they did the Neimoidians would hesitate to do anything about it as the very last thing they would want would be trouble with the Hutts.

"Tell me about this planet Master Jedi," Padme said changing the subject as they continued walking, "Captain Panaka told the Queen that it is controlled by the Hutts."

"It is," Qui-Gon confirmed, "technically Tatooine is in Republic space, but the Hutt Cartel has controlled this planet for millennia with the current ruling Jabba the Hutt having reigned here for centuries."

"I cannot believe that the Senate would allow the Hutts to control a planet in Republic space."

"They allow it because it is not worth getting into a fight with the Hutts over," Qui-Gon explained, "while they are mostly gangsters in this day and age the Hutt Empire is very old and remains potentially extremely powerful. Contesting control of Tatooine with them is thus potentially far more trouble than it is worth, I don't agree with it and neither does most the Jedi High Council but unfortunately there is very little we can do about it. The most we can do is keep an eye on things and ensure that the criminal activity doesn't get too out of hand.

"Though do not assume that everyone on this planet is involved in one or other of the Hutts criminal enterprises," he continued as they continued across the desert. The settlement of Mos Espa was visible in the distance, shimmering and rippling in the heat haze. "Most of the people here are not."

"I understand," Padme acknowledged, it was good advice never to make assumptions about the population of an entire planet. "What do most of the people here do might I ask?"

"Moisture farmers mostly," Qui-Gon answered pointing off to the right where they could see a line of white mechanical devices. Devices that they all recognised as moisture vaporators as they were used in some of the more arid regions of Naboo as while it was a temperate planet it did have some desert and scrubland regions, most planets did. "And a few isolated settlements and spaceports like the one we are heading for. Most of the people here either don't want to be bothered, or don't want to be found by anyone."

"Like we don't want to be found?"

"Indeed."

Padme lapsed into silence as they continued walking across the scorching desert. Eventually the endless sea of sand and rock gave way to small, squat white buildings as they reached the outskirts of Mos Espa. There wasn't much activity out here but as they moved deeper into the city, they began to see more activity, with sentient beings of all manner as well as droids and lizard-like beasts of burden all going about their daily business. For such a harsh planet it was a deceptively normal scene, one that you could see repeated all over the galaxy.

Following the direction of the Force Qui-Gon led them towards a slightly more industrial sector of the settlement next to the spaceport. Here there were numerous shops all advertising for everything that starship crews could need from food supplies to spare parts.

"Now what," Padme asked looking at all the shops and wondering just where the hell they were going to start.

"We will try one of the smaller dealers. Less chance of someone untoward causing us problems there." Padme nodded in agreement, and they began walking towards a somewhat shabby looking shop…

… a shop called Watto's space supplies.

---///---

Authors Notes: Well, another chapter bites the metaphorical dust, I hope you all enjoyed it. Well both sets of protagonists are now on Tatooine and what happens next should be quite interesting, especially as when Maul shows up and sets off after the Jedi Elliot and Lantash will have a very interesting opportunity to gain something that could let them seriously derail the plans of the Sith – if they could get it into the right hands. Until next time.

 

[ajw]

Chapter Three

Al'kesh
Sometime Later

Lantash smiled in relief as the last of the damaged control crystal circuits lit up as power began running through them and their associated systems hummed back to life. The repairs had been quite hard work and had taken far, far longer than he had anticipated as the damage to the control crystals had been much worse than the diagnostic had indicated they were. Half of the damaged crystals hadn't just overloaded and burned out as the energy surge had been so great that they had actually melted. Something that had honestly made the repairs that bit more difficult to do as it involved far more work than simply taking out the blown crystals and slotting in replacements.

Instead, he had had to thoroughly check the housings for damage and had even had to replaced several lengths of conduit, which he had had just enough stores to do though it had been tricky and time consuming as the maintenance ducts on an Al'kesh where the naquada-based cables were located were not the most comfortable of places and Kevin Elliot wasn't exactly small as humans went. Which was something that like many Tok'ra he had noticed with Tau'ri before, they tended to be bigger than people from most human worlds almost certainly due to the fact that they had much better nutrition than the norm especially as back in their native galaxy most worlds were barely at subsistence level – the Goa'uld never allowed them to develop further than that as it made keeping control of them easy. All they had to do was show some 'divine power' now and again and the people would be too scared to do anything against their parasitic overlords.

Another thing that had increased the time it had taken to repair the ship was the need to explain everything to Kevin. His young Tau'ri host had intensely curious about the systems in question, what they did and how they actually did it. While it had made the job more time-consuming, he hadn't minded at all. It had let the two of them bond as host and symbiote should, plus unlike some of his fellow Tok'ra he liked hosts who had enquiring minds. One trait he shared with Anise was they both thought that having an intelligent host with and enquiring and analytical mind helped them evolve and grow. Now though the repairs were complete, and all the systems were coming back online.

"So, what do we do now," Elliot asked him as he closed the crystal tray.

"Well, I would suggest we shower and get changed into something a bit more suitable for a desert climate than your uniform. Then maybe head into town, get to know this planet and this galaxy a bit more. It will be interesting to see how much is like the movies you remember and how much is different."

"Not a bad idea we should also take something we can use as currency. That way we'll be able to buy drinks and food, even if it is odd. We did put quite a few hundred kilos of gold and trinium ingots in the cargo bay."

"Good point. Let's do that then shall we? Though to get down instead of free climbing we should just use a crystal to make a staircase down to the desert floor level caves."

"Sounds like a plan," Elliot agreed as he headed towards the crew quarters where they had stored some clothing, suitable for many different types of habitats that they had taken from the remains of the base on Ravanna. "I wonder how much will be different."

"We'll find out soon enough."

"True."

---///---

Twenty Minutes Later

Elliot winced slightly as he stepped out of the cool shadows of a cave into the sunblasted floor of the narrow desert gorge. It felt like stepping out into a room with a blast furnace as the heat hit him like a physical force. He immediately felt himself beginning to sweat even as he fished in a pocket of the Tok'ra clothing he was wearing – it blended in with the desert far more than US Air Force BDU's would after all as those would have stuck out like a sore thumb – for a pair of aviator sunglasses and put them on reducing the glare of the twin suns to something a bit more manageable. Not that the light was a huge threat to his eyes thanks to Lantash.

"Ugh I hate deserts," he muttered to himself as he got his bearings and started walking.

"They are not the most pleasant of places I agree," Lantash replied inside his head as they reached the surface of the desert and began walking in the direction of Mos Espa. "Shouldn't take us too long to get there though."

"No, it shouldn't," Elliot agreed as he picked up his pace a little bit, senses constantly on alert for anything that could indicate the presence of danger as the heat was not the only threat out here. He knew that Lantash was doing the same, listening through his ears and watching through his eyes, still he wouldn't relax until they reached the outskirts of the settlement. Even then it wouldn't be a good idea to completely let his guard down as this planet was very much like a world straight out of the wild west. Just with plasma weapons instead of revolvers and Tusken Raiders instead of Native Americans. It was the reason why, along with the kara'kesh wrapped around his right hand, he had concealed a few other weapons on his person. Specifically, a zat'nik'atel and his standard issue combat knife.

"What's the wild west?" Lantash asked curious as they cleared the lip of the canyon and began heading across the desert towards Mos Espa.

"A period of American history back on Earth, during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when my ancestors expanded westward across the great planes of North America towards the Pacific Coast from our original thirteen colonies. It was a very rough time where far too often might made right."

"Not an uncommon state of affairs in our galaxy. Especially when you venture outside the boundaries of the Goa'uld Empire. For all their crimes the Goa'uld do manage to keep some form of law and order across the galaxy and will deal harshly with any troublemakers."

Kevin nodded for all that they were evil the Goa'uld weren't stupid and had long ago agreed upon a series of laws that they enforced across their empire. "It's fairly common in this galaxy as well as the further you go from the Republic's core territories the less safe you are. In the mid and outer rim areas you're more likely to solve problems and disputes with a neighbour with a blaster than with words. Well unless you're a Jedi then you just use a mind trick on them, which is really a telepathic suggestion that most can't refuse unless they're really strong willed or from a species naturally immune to telepathy."

"We should be immune from that then," Lantash told him, recalling the handful of times when the Goa'uld had encountered naturally telepathic species and tried to take one or two of them as hosts as they felt the powers would improve their divine image. It had never seemed to work the hosts mind always rejected and ultimately killed the intruding symbiote. More than one species had been destroyed because they showed telepathic potential. He forwarded the information to his host.

Elliot grimaced as the information unspooled in his mind. "Ugh the Goa'uld really are bastards aren't they," he commented as he climbed up and over a relatively low rocky ridge. While it was hot he barely noticed the physical exertion, certainly he didn't notice in the way he would have before, but then being a host did come with a few perks enhanced physical abilities being one of them. Ahead of them he could just see the outskirts of Mos Espa and the dozens of spaceships parked on the baking ground around the small port.

"To quote a certain Jaffa we both know indeed."

Elliot chuckled slightly at that as, much as he had earlier, Lantash had perfectly mimicked the deadpan tone of Teal'c when he said that.

It took only a few minutes to reach and cross the landing field. Elliot was slightly relieved to not draw any undue attention from the handful of crews – from dozens of different species – wandering around. He supposed that to them he would look like just another human dressed in clothing that was somewhat appropriate for this sun blasted hellhole. They would have no way to know after all that he had another sentient being inside him, wrapped around his spinal cord.

Passing the landing field, they entered the town itself. To say it was somewhat ramshackle – at least out here – would have been something of an understatement. All the buildings were low, and squat made from a mixture of synthetic and real sandstone and there were piles of equipment discarded in corners everywhere. Here and there they could see slim white metallic devices.

"What are those," Lantash wondered.

"Moisture vaporators. They're devices that extract the tiny amounts of water vapour that there still is in Tatooine's atmosphere and collect it for use either to drink – which is highly taxed by the Hutts by the way – or use in hydroponics. Really if only the people knew that only a few hundred meters beneath their feet there are entire oceans of fresh water they wouldn't need to use those things."

He could feel Lantash's silent agreement with the sentiment as they moved deeper into the settlement searching for any sign of a cantina where they could grab a drink and a bite to eat. While the signs he could see were all written in the loops and symbols of galactic basic he was surprised to realize that he understood them. Especially as he wasn't the best at languages, hell he could barely speak Spanish and could only do that because his parent's housekeeper, who had often also acted as his nanny when he was little, came from Mexico and thus her first language was Spanish.

"It's a legacy of the Stargates. When they made them, the Ancients wanted anyone who used them to understand everyone else, so they download a program into your mind when you first use them. It helps you quickly understand other languages. Though for some reason it doesn't always work with Goa'uld."

"Huh interesting."

"You didn't know?"

"Nope. But then we still don't know a lot about the Stargates we haven't been studying it that long after all."

"Indeed, but I would have thought you would have learned about it by now."

Kevin shrugged at that even though he did acknowledge that Lantash had a point. He wondered if the top brass and Major Carter did know about the translation program and simply hadn't thought everyone else needed to know about it. He put those thoughts out of his mind for now as they arrived at a small cantina. He took off his sunglasses, put them away in his robes, and then headed inside.

The air inside the establishment was noticeably cooler and far more comfortable than the heat outside. The place was also packed with people of various different species, most of which he didn't recognise though he did recognise the blue skinned waitress with the head tails as a Twi'lek and trio of bald, blue-skinned aliens playing strange instruments as Duros. For a few moments he looked around, both himself and his symbiote cataloguing potential threats, before moving deeper into the establishment heading for the bar.

~~~///~~~

A Few Moments Earlier

Clad in the robes of a desert dweller, so he could blend in and listen in to some of the criminals and general scum who frequented the cantina talk, Jedi Knight Quinlan Vos stiffened slightly as he felt a strange presence come into the cantina. What in the world, he wondered as he glanced around to see if he could find the source of the strange presence he could sense.

He quickly spotted the young human who had come in. He was dressed in desert robes – odd ones but nothing too strange, certainly not enough to garner attention given that like most space port town Mos Espa was very cosmopolitan and saw many different clothing styles – which didn't hide that he was fit, very fit. There was also something in his bearing that screamed that he was a warrior, it was obvious in the way his eyes were scanning the room searching for any threats that that's what he was. Beyond that he didn't seem that out of the ordinary.

Until that was, he reached out with the Force and gently probed him.

What he saw was shocking and confusing. The newcomer was far, far more than he appeared to be. There was another being there, another being that was inside of him. A being that felt both extremely old, certainly far older than anyone in the Jedi Order even Masters Yoda and Yaddle, and extremely intelligent. It was certainly older than the human was. From what he could tell the alien, which felt so different to anything he had ever felt in all his travels across the galaxy both when he'd been a padawan and now as a Jedi Knight, was bonded to the human in some way. It seemed to be secreting something into the human's body that enhanced him in some way, while taking nutrients and oxygen from his blood in exchange, and its mind while distinct from the humans seemed to be on an equal footing with his. The relationship between them was clearly symbiotic but he had never heard of such a relationship before at least with a human as symbiotic species while rare, were not entirely unknown and unheard of.

He quickly made a hand gesture which would look to anyone else in the room like he was merely calling the Twi'lek acting as a waitress. The blue-skinned young woman, barely out of her teens, immediately approached and leaned in close.

"Yes master," Jedi Padawan Ayala Secura asked her master.

"Have you spotted him Ayala?" Quinlan asked.

"I have master. What is he or should I say what are they? He feels strange in the Force I haven't felt anything like them in the Force before."

"I don't know," Quinlan answered watching the stranger as he was reading the pad that showed the menu at the bar. After a moment he put the pad down and attracted the barkeeper's attention placing an order and handing over something a sliver of some type of metal. The bartender scanned it with a small device, smiled and said something before taking the metal and going to get him whatever he had ordered. "See if you serve him Ayala. Keep an eye on him."

"Yes master."

~~~///~~~

Holding a glass filled with cold water Kevin made his way over to a quiet alcove and sat down at the table to wait for the small plate of food he had ordered to be delivered. The single trinium ingot he had offered the bartender had been more than enough to pay for what he had wanted, the barkeeper giving him plenty of change as well in the form of some strips of gold-coloured metal.

"The barkeeper seemed very surprised and intrigued by the trinium ingot," Lantash commented as they sat down. "Is it rare in this galaxy?"

"I have no idea," Kevin answered taking a sip of the water. It was cool and refreshing even if it did have something of a metallic tang to it from poorly maintained pipes. "Good for us if it is rare and valuable as the few hundred kilos, we have on the ship will give us plenty of capital for whatever we want to do in this galaxy. Though everything we do should be aimed at stopping Darth Sidious."

"True and that is not going to be easy. Especially as we have nothing to help us beyond a single Al'kesh and the few bits of tech we brought with us."

"True."

Kevin took another sip of the water and looked around the room. He saw two very unsavoury looking characters, a Rodian and a human, looking greedily at him. They were both well-armed and he didn't doubt that they would cause him some trouble soon. Lantash had clearly also spotted it as he could sense the symbiotes agreement and he mentally sighed even though he knew that between the two of them he could probably take them.

He just hoped they waited to cause trouble.

His attention was soon drawn by screens over the bar switching on and a white skinned Twi'lek male, who he recognised as Jabba the Hutt's major domo, appeared on the screens. He immediately began reminding everyone in the bar that the Bonta Eve Classic podrace was due to take place tomorrow afternoon and that all bets had to be fully registered with the race officials, and through them Jabba the Hutt, no later than ten minutes before the start of the race.

As he listened a memory stirred in Kevin's mind about the race and the events that had taken place during and immediately after it. And he immediately realized that they had an opportunity here – after Anakin Skywalker left to be eventually inducted into the Jedi Order – to intervene and maybe change something. Or at least give an enslaved woman a chance at a better future than continuing to labour away for her master and current owner.

"What are you thinking?" Lantash asked, he knew he could find out just looking at Kevin's thoughts but that was generally considered rude among the Tok'ra as hosts were entitled to privacy with their own thoughts and feelings.

"I'm thinking after Anakin leaves with Qui-Gon and Queen Amidala we buy Shmi Skywalker from Watto and free her," Kevin answered. "I haven't seen Attack of the Clones, it's due out next week back home, but I know that something bad happens to her. Something that could be what starts Anakin on the path to the dark side and becoming Darth Vader."

"At very least she might be able to give us some information on this galaxy. Though I agree freeing her would be a good first step regardless. Though we should also get our hands on some star charts so we can plot a course to this Naboo planet. If we can do both we could reunite mother and son."

Kevin nodded in agreement but didn't answer for at that moment the Twi'lek waitress arrived with his order. It was a simple salad and a Bantha steak.

"Here you go sir," she said putting it down on the table in front of him along with some cutlery. "Please enjoy."

"Thank you," Kevin replied with a smile. The Twi'lek smiled back and turned away, as she did so her clothing shifted slightly, and he caught a glimpse of a hidden compartment in her clothing. A compartment in which he could see part of the hilt of a lightsabre. So, Ayala Secura is here undercover, he thought knowing from the expanded universe that there was only one blue skinned Twi'lek in the Jedi Order. Though given she seemed to still be either in her very late teens or early twenties he was willing to bet that she was still a padawan which meant her master whoever he or she was, was here as well.

"This could be useful."

"Agreed."

Ayala Secura frowned slightly as she moved away from the stranger. While she didn't know what they had been discussing she could sense the two minds inside the man sitting in the alcove interacting with one another in a way that indicated they were talking. The strange man – and the being inside of him – were certainly a very interesting puzzle and one she was looking forward to solving alongside her master. Out the corner of her eyes she could see the two man crew of a smuggler/pirate vessel – one of many that she and Master Vos were here to gather information on – eying the stranger.

She didn't doubt that they were planning to rob him as soon as he left the cantina. Which would present her and Master Vos with a chance to get to the stranger themselves and find out more about him/them? How did one actually describe someone who had another fully sentient being living in symbiosis inside of them? To the best of her knowledge the Jedi Order had never quite encountered a situation quite like this before or hadn't for a very long time.

Immediately she went to speak with her master.

~~~///~~~

Thirty Minutes Later

After finishing the basic meal, which was quite tasty and the bantha steak had tasted unlike anything either Kevin or Lantash had ever eaten before, Kevin stood up and began making his way out of the cantina. He was immediately aware that he was being watched as he made his way out of the establishment.

"We're being followed," Lantash commented as they both began to hear footsteps following them as they left.

"I know. It's those two who are looking at us," Kevin agreed as his hand moved towards the kara'kesh waiting to touch the crystal that would activate the personal shield function. "Should we let them follow us for a while?"

"No doubt they will want to accost us in an alley or something similar as criminals are like that. Be ready."

"I will be."

Determined to deal with their pursuers soon, so they could both begin preparing to save Shim Skywalker and make their way to Naboo, Kevin headed towards a nearby alleyway that ran between two of the warehouses that surrounded the spaceport. He didn't have to travel far down it before their pursuers struck as a bolt of red plasma – that looked somewhat like the discharge from tacluchnatagamuntoron but larger than the bolts produced by those tennis ball sized weapons – shot past him and hit the wall of one of the warehouses producing an impressive spray of sparks and a flash of smoke and flame.

"Stop right there," a human voice said from behind him. Predictable, Kevin thought a finger over the crystal that would turn on the personal shield. "Turn around slowly."

Deciding to play along he turned around to see the rough looking human and Rodian pointing blaster pistols at him, clearly ready to kill him where he stood. "Is there a problem here," he asked deciding to play along with them for a little bit.

"You know what we want," the Rodian replied, "your money pouch, the one filled with gold and beskar drop it."

Huh so trinium and beskar are one and the same in this galaxy interesting, Kevin thought. "And why should I do that," he asked sounding amused.

"Because if you don't you die," the human said.

"I don't think so," Kevin answered tapping the crystal causing a slightly glowing cylinder of energy to appear around him.

"Blast him," the Rodian said firing. His companion did the same, bolts of red plasma shooting down the alley to slam into and break apart on impact with the personal shield. The two criminals blinked in surprise before continuing to fire, their blasts slamming into the shield again and again only to do no damage. The blasts had nothing against the bolts of ma'tok staffs that the shield was designed to defeat.

"Not learning are they," Lantash commented as they continued to pelt the shield with fire. "Kevin, I suggest we finish this."

"Indeed," Kevin agreed before, following information forwarded his way by Lantash, raising the kara'kesh and pointing his palm and the crystal there at his attackers. He concentrated slightly and the crystal lit up a moment before it unleashed a repulsor blast. The rippling ball of distorted gravity slammed into the two criminals and knocked them sprawling with yelps of pain and surprise.

As they struggled to pick themselves back up, he pulled the zat'nik'atel out of its place in his robes. He deployed it as the two crooks finished picking themselves up and started to raise their pistols again. It was obvious that both of them were hurting – getting hit by a repulsor blast was never fun – but they started to raise their blasters again.

"Don't try it," he warned them. They ignored him and opened fire again their bolts impacting the shield again. "Fine have it your way."

Without hesitation he pointed the zat'nik'atel at the Rodian and fired. A crackling blue stream of energy emerged from the tip of the serpent shaped weapon, shot down the length of the alley faster than anyone could react and slammed into the Rodian. Who immediately screamed in agony and collapsed as the discharge crackled over his body like St Elmo's fire crackling over an aircraft's wing. Kevin fired a second shot at the Rodian who immediately went still as the second discharge, amplified the effect of the first shot frying his nervous system causing instant death.

"Bastard," the other human screamed preparing to fire again…

…only for a glowing blue-white blade of energy to slice through the barrel of his blaster dropping the two halves to the floor. A second later a yellow lightsabre blade pierced his heart killing him instantly. Kevin blinked and closed the zat and dropped the personal shield to see Ayala Secura and a rugged looking human with his hair in dreadlocks and two yellow lines on his face standing there. Both of them holding glowing lightsabres indicating the true nature as Jedi.

For a few timeless moments Kevin and the Jedi stared at each other than the two Jedi deactivated the lightsabres. Then the human stepped forward.

"Greetings I am Quinlan Vos, Knight of the Jedi Order," the man said, "this is my padawan learner Ayala Secura. May I ask who you are?"

"Lieutenant Kevin Elliot, United States Air Force," Kevin answered.

"Is that your name or the name of the other inside you Lieutenant Elliot," Quinlan asked.

"It's my name and you can detect my symbiote?"

"It's clear as day in the Force."

Sensing what Lantash wanted Elliot looked down and felt the sensation of the symbiote taking over control of his body with the usual gentleness. Both Jedi blinked in surprise as they could sense the other mind suddenly become dominant over the mind of the human. Then the man before them looked up and his eyes suddenly glowed with a white-gold light.

"Greetings Jedi. I am Lantash of the Tok'ra," Lantash said in greeting, "Kevin and I didn't expect you to detect me in that fashion."

"Mr Lantash are you controlling him," Ayala demanded.

"Only as long as he allows me too Padawan Secura. My kind believe very strongly in living in symbiosis with our hosts, this body belongs to Kevin and as such he has first dibs so to speak on being in charge. It is also why he is the primary personality."

"You're indeed a symbiote of some type?" Quinlan asked before blinking as he felt the mind controlling the body shift again.

"He is," Kevin answered, "Lantash entered my body to save my life when I was injured in a battle. You see his kind needs a host body in order to survive. In exchange for sharing my body with him I get perfect health and a longer than normal life as well as access to all his knowledge and the knowledge of every host he has had before me. And when I die and Lantash moves to a new host part of me will continue in him and become part of that host."

"Fascinating. Where are you from?" Quinlan demanded.

"A long way from here, a very long way. Our ship was fired on by multiple Goa'uld motherships as we entered hyperspace, it supercharged our hyperspace window and sent us a few million light years off course. But where we come from is not important right now. What is important is what we can offer you."

"Which is?"

"A chance to save this galaxy from a terrible fate."

~~~///~~~

Authors Note: Well, another chapter bites the metaphorical dust, I hope you all enjoyed it. For a time, I did consider having Elliot/Lantash link up with Qui-Gon, Padme, Obi-Wan and so on but ultimately decided against it, though he will eventually meet them, especially when I remembered that Quinlan Vos and his then padawan Ayala Secura were also on Tatooine during the events of The Phantom Menace hence why I ultimately decided to use them instead. I just hope I have captured their characters right as their interactions with our intergalactically displaced Tok'ra are going to be crucial going forward. Until next time.