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Now, on to the chapter!

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“Why are there so many Killiks on board…” Dan glanced around the vessel's halls, every inch of which were packed with countless varieties of Killiks as well as a healthy number of Taurill. Some had actually disembarked to make room for all the new Kryptonians. 

 

“Gladius was lonely, since I spend most of my time on Garnib,” May laughed as Dan brushed a scarab from his hair. “I thought the unity of the hive minds would be nice for her.”

 

“Fair enough,” Dan sighed as he levitated free of the floor. He valued the Killiks and their current and future contributions to the empire, but he didn’t want them crawling over his skin. “Let’s make this a quick trip, I want the newborn’s education to begin as soon as possible.”

 

“Sure-sure,” May rolled her eyes and picked up the fallen scarab. She patted the inquisitive insect and set it on her shoulder. “But you’ll have to get more comfortable with the insect races eventually, or they’ll end up as second class citizens… both of our behaviours will be mirrored by the others.”

 

Dan followed May’s gaze. The female Kryptonians had followed May's example and interacted peaceably with the insectoids, while the males had mimicked Dan. They respected the Killik's space, but actively sought to avoid contact.

 

“Alright!” Dan sighed and waved to halt May’s truth. He settled to the ground and ignored the insects. “But it’s hard to shake the old human phobias…” 

 

Dan stopped, eyes pulled to a point above his head and beyond the hull of the ship. The material shifted, until it became transparent, but he had no time to celebrate the birth of another power. Highlighted in space like a hungry dragon, a familiar storm charged towards them.

 

“No time to get clear…” Dan dropped to one knee and pressed his hands to the floor. Venom poured from under his skin and their fused ki merged into his aura. Midnight-blue enveloped the Gladius’ hull, a barrier against the turbulence to come.

 

“What…” May managed to get the word out before Gladius itself sounded the alarm into their minds. It raised shields to add to the defence and spun up the phantom drive. “The storm is back!”

 

“The drive won't be ready in time,” Dan ground out as he tapped his reserves to add more power to his biofield. “Divert everything to the shields and have everyone brace…”

 

May nodded and closed her eyes. The hall lights dimmed to nothing as Gladius gave everything to defence. Just in time as the storm enveloped the ship. Dan staggered, hands pressed tight to the organic floor. A ship was a different beast to protect than his own body.

 

“Hold on!” May’s hands spiralled through the air, a creation of runes that expanded into a barrier. A flick of her fingers and it enveloped the Gladius, another layer of protection that relieved the tension in Dan’s shoulders.

 

“Thanks…” Dan nodded to May, eyes on the rainbow of light outside the hull. “Keep it up, the last time was rough, but quick…”

 

A final crash of force stole his breath, followed by a release of pressure. Dan sighed as a system notice confirmed their transport. Gladius’ mental alarm faded and he forced himself to his feet. Drained or not, they had to find out what universe this was…

 

“Gladius say’s that we’re still in the same galaxy…” May moved to Dan’s side, eyes half closed as she communed with the ship. “But the stars are slightly out of sync… enough that we need to correct the star charts if we want to jump.”

 

“The same galaxy with different star positions…” Dan frowned. Some kind of alternate Star Wars universe perhaps? ‘System?’

 

[The user has transitioned into another parallel universe. This universe is closer to our origin point, a temproly stunted reality many thousands of years behind our own.]

 

“A universe set in the past…” Dan turned to peer through the hull of the ship, a twinge of pleasure as he used his x-ray vision. A dense patch of galactic space greeted him, filled with nebulae and stars. “We must be close to the core, let’s scan this system while the galaxy map is realigned.”

 

“Alright,” May nodded, still in communion with Gladius. “It looks like a barren system… wait!” Her eyes flickered as Gladius increased the data stream. “One planet has a vast amount of life, hidden below the surface.”

 

She waved a hand and Gladius projected a luminous, golden-toned world. Featureless, save for the ravines that ran like cracks, barren mud that had long been baked harder than stone. Dan blinked as a fuzzy memory from his human life surfaced. He turned and found the planet with his own eyes, dazzled by the ocean of ki within.

 

“This is the Wellspring…” a thrum ran under his skin as a complicated twist of emotions played out in his heart. He now had an idea about who was responsible for these cross universal journeys. “This place is the homeworld of the Medi-clorians, the intelligent microscopic lifeforms that connect other living things to the force.” Dan squinted, but the distance was too far for his newborn x-ray vision to manage. “It’s also the home of the Force Priestesses, the five faces of the Cosmic Force…”

 

Dan let Venom slip back under his skin. It was better to meet these beings without aggression. The majority of the five represented darker aspects of the force, with only one each, to side with light and neutrality. He knew very little about their origins, only that Qui-Gon, and eventually Yoda, would train under their care.

 

“Let’s leave the ship in a safe orbit around the star and go down to say hello,” Dan rolled his shoulders as May shifted the Gladius through space. The Priestesses he’d read about were not violent, and he wanted some answers that only they could give. “Just us…” Dan glanced at the Killiks all around them. “I don’t want them to take hold of the more susceptible of our crew.”

 

Killiks had an affinity for the force, and force users themselves. If they connected one to their hive, the whole collective would take on an obedience to the joined force-sensitive. The Taurill were probably safe to bring, but he had yet to design them a space suit, or grant them symbiotes.

 

“All ready,” May opened her eyes and reached out to Dan “Gladius will be safe here, and she’ll jump as soon as she can to a different system.”

 

Dan smiled and clasped May's hand, headed toward the shuttle bay. If he was right about his speculations, he might have a solution… if the Priestesses in his home universe were willing to sit down and talk…