Getting Drop Kicked by the Force

Time travellers from the future were just about the last thing that Obi-Wan expected to find when he decided to investigate the ancient temple.

They had been taking a break from their journey to a remote Mid-Rim planet, where the senators would be meeting with a delegation from the neutral systems to attempt to negotiate possible alliances and trade routes. Personally, he thought that having an escort of two companies, two padawans and four Jedi was a bit of overkill, but he recognised that this would probably be a prime target for the Separatists if information about it got out, and it almost certainly would.

Plus, he was fairly sure Yoda was trying to either punish them all by forcing them to endure what was sure to be a long and tedious round of diplomatic talks, or force them all to take a break with what was, on paper, a fairly easy mission, as their only job was to make sure that all the senators were safe, rather than to actually oversee any of the negotiations. Really, it was the closest thing to a rest they could get since the Senate was getting exceedingly reluctant to allow the Jedi and their troops have leave; but this assignment had the added bonus of allowing all their battalions leave, with Alderaan having generously offered space on their planet for the battalions to rest whilst their generals were otherwise occupied.

They'd touched down on what was logged as an uninhabited planet so that the senators could stretched their legs and they could use the oceans to restock their water supplies, as the fancy model of ship used as the senator transport did not have a large enough reserve space to last the whole trip. 

The ExplorCorps had noted in the planet's profile that there was an ancient temple, with some old carvings throughout it and, of course, Obi-Wan had wanted to take a look. Senator Amidala had readily agreed as well as Bail, though the other senators in the delegation had seemed disinterested in the prospect of examining old Jedi architecture at best, or scared at worst.

So, Mace and Luminara stayed with the great majority of senators and Obi-Wan and Anakin took themselves and a small delegation of clones to the ruins.

They'd eventually gotten to a room filled with carvings, that had a large stone in the middle of it. Having studied the particular ancient dialect printed in runes on the walls during his youth, Obi-Wan was immediately distracted. So distracted, that he only came back to himself when Anakin let out a sharp reprimand that had Fives pausing, his fingertips bare inches from the stone in the middle of the room.

A second later, there was a flash of light and now, Obi-Wan was staring at a group of time travellers from the future, at least two of which had access to the Force; future Jedi if their lightsabers were an accurate indicator, though both of them had shields much more fragile than Obi-Wan would expect from Jedi of their ages, even if they were still padawans - though he noticed that neither of them bore a braid of any kind.

Before any of them could comment, Obi-Wan's comm buzzed.

"Master Kenobi," Mace's voice floated through it, as level as ever to anyone who didn't know him well - but Obi-Wan did, would even consider Mace one of his closest friends at this point in the war, and he could hear the slight edge in his voice, "Can you think of any reason why a light freighter just appeared out of thin air?"

The Wookie garbled out a happy, "She's here!"

Just as he spoke, the human male who had appeared closest to the stone breathed a relieve sigh. "The Falcon came with us."

The woman's - girl, really, she was clearly younger than even Anakin was - eyes widened.

"That's the Millenium Falcon," she informed them, her accent a weird mixture of Core with hints of Outer Rim at the edges. "Tell them not to attempt to enter it. It's biolocked and booby-trapped. Anyone who attempts to get in will be repelled with extreme force."

Obi-Wan blinked.

"Did you hear that?" he asked into his wrist.

"Yes… Who was that?"

Obi-Wan winced internally. This was going to be a headache.

"We will explain when we meet up with you. There is a lot to we need to discuss. Don't worry, though, they are not hostile," he looked between the group as he said the last part, meeting each of their eyes and seeing them nod slightly in agreement.

There was a pause, and Obi-Wan could hear the restrained sigh behind Mace's almost monotone, "Copy that, Master Kenobi. Master Unduli and I will be awaiting your explanation."

Obi-Wan held back a sigh as he looked up at the room around him. Bail, who had wisely ducked behind the wall when the lightsabers had been drawn, (in direct contrast to Senator Amidala, who had pulled out a blaster that had been concealed in her dress and levelled in time with the troopers who were meant to be protecting her) stepped into the doorway. Everyone else had lowered their weapons, though no one had sheathed them.

This was meant to be an easy mission.

"I suggest we all take our leave of this place," he suggested. "The temple will surely send some archivists and rune experts to investigate soon, but we do not want accidentally activate anything else in the meantime."

He nodded at the now cracked stone. "As you said, that artifact can no longer be activated now that it's runes have been destroyed. I'm afraid you may be stuck here for some time… perhaps indefinitely."

A maelstrom of fear terror worry sadness filled the Force around them before Obi-Wan physically felt shields slam into place around not only the two Jedi, but the entire group.

"Apologies," the male Jedi grimaced. "Shielding is… a new concept for us. Rey is better than me."

The girl - Rey, Obi-Wan guessed - rolled her eyes as she finally relaxed her stance, placing the butt of her staff on the ground and leaning against it. "I lost control just like you did, Finn. If anything, my slip was more of a disappointment since I've had more time to practice."

The man standing behind them shook his head and crossed his arms whilst the Wookie looked up at the city with a wordless groan. Both gestures went ignored by the Jedi.

"A whole six months more," Finn sniped back. "And weren't you just saying that I've gotten more direct teaching than you?"

Rey narrowed her eyes. "Two months is not nearly enough training to expect perfection."

Finn opened his mouth, but the other man stepped forward before he could reply, putting a hand on each of their shoulder's. "You both kriffed up. Deal with it. You're being rude… and aren't you meant to be the diplomatic ones? The general's lessons aren't going to waste are they?"

That immediately shut both of them up. Finn glanced down at the ground, whilst the indignation on Rey's face cleared to a blank mask.

She visibly checked herself as she returned her attention back to their group, nodding deeply.

"We're very sorry. We are not at our best… it has been a trying few weeks for us."

Obi-Wan's tongue stuck in his throat, still trying to make sense of that assault. The Force signatures, which had previously been dull - so subdued that they had barely been bright enough for Obi-Wan to label them as Force Sensitive. However, with the wave of emotion, there had also been another change in the Force around them, like a veil pulling away from their very beings.

Finn's signature had glowed bright; a beautiful shining light that had warmed the Force around it. Rey's, on the other hand, hit him like an ion canon, the pulsing supernova filling the room, so overwhelming that it rivalled Anakin's when he lost control.

"Wait," Anakin said. "Did you just say that you've been training for eight months?"

Obi-Wan's stomach twisted. If that was true, the two in front of them were very impressive; very impressive but very troubling.

Rey grimaced. "Yes… I know it is taking me a long time to gain control. I'm working on it… Meditation is beginning to help."

Finn grinned whilst the other man snorted. Rey pursed her lips but didn't comment. 

The man between the Jedi stepped forward, smiling openly. "My name is Poe Dameron. The Wookie over there is called Chewbacca, the astromech is BB-8, and Rey and Finn just introduced themselves."

"And you're from the future," Ahsoka finished for him, and, when Obi-Wan glanced back at her, he saw that her eyes were wide.

Poe nodded. "Just over fifty years if I'm remembering my galactic history correctly."

Finn and Rey nodded in agreement.

"Right," Obi-Wan said, his mind whirling with the thoughts. "Why don't we return to our transport? We will need to contact the Jedi Council about this and we can decide what to do with you there… And I think we need to have a talk."

The three humans glanced at each other, before they nodded.

"That sounds good," Finn replied.

Everyone stayed tense as they started walking, with Obi-Wan hanging back, nearest to the group of time-travellers, who all stuck closely together.

He felt the Force shift around the group, tunnels opening up between them; mental channels that were clumsy but strong.

The mental conversation that took place was remarkably well shielded, but Obi-Wan still caught a few stray thoughts that were broadcasted with especial passion.

'We could stop it! Stop it all!' the thought floated from Poe.

'I agree - but we need to do this carefully,' Finn replied.

It was quiet for a few more minutes and then one of Rey's thoughts slipped out, 'We need to do this right. We obviously can't tell Skywalker anything. From what General Leia told me of her father, he wouldn't be able to handle it. He's too erratic.'

The few other stray thoughts that slipped out were patchy, and it was difficult to tell just who they came from.

'Organa! Definitely. The general's dad was brilliant! Is brilliant I guess because we're not letting Alderaan…'

'Amidala?'

'Kenobi should be good too.'

By the time they got back to the ships, Obi-Wan's thoughts were swirling with the implications of their conversation.

Something very bad had happened in the future. Something awful enough that there was no one to train two fully realised Force Users. One of which was so powerful that Obi-Wan was having trouble figuring out how she'd survived so long by herself.

Mace was waiting for them when they got there, his eyes widening as he saw the new group with them.

"We need to talk," he said, his voice flat.

"We do," Obi-Wan agreed looking back at the group. "There must be things you want to tell us."

Rey swallowed. "Yes. We have proof of everything on our ship. History books and records and stuff like that."

Obi-Wan glanced around, noting the way that the group had tensed. He needed to find out what was going on. Now.

"Anakin, why don't you and Ahsoka help Master Unduli and Padawan Offee oversee the senators. Mace and I can interview our… visitors and contact the Council. Hopefully, we can get his all sorted out in a timely manner."

After a second, he also inclined his head towards Bail. "Senator Organa… I think it would also be prudent that you join us… in the interest of keeping communications between the Order and the Senate open."

Immediately, Finn, Poe and Chewbacca relaxed, though Rey narrowed her eyes.

Bail and Mace both nodded at Obi-Wan's plan, even as Anakin huffed at being left out.

"Right," he said, beginning to walk over to the freighter sitting on the beach. "Let's get this over with."