Exiles: Strangers in Time – A Force to be Reckoned With

The new team of heroes found themselves outside of a grandiose structure with massive statues on each side of a long row of stairs that led into the complex. In the sky, flying cars zoomed past in organized lanes high above the temple itself. The entire planet was a city, one that was constantly alive with noise and action.

The Tallus that Sam carried actually began to speak to the group in a powerful voice that caught the poor, easily startled Fluttershy off-guard.

The Jedi Temple, Coruscant, 14 Years Before the Battle of Yavin

The Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn was to have died in his deadly fight with Darth Maul. Instead in this reality, his padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi met his end. As a result, the aged Jedi trained the young Anakin Skywalker in Obi-Wan's stead. Years after his training as a Jedi Knight, the Republic has gone to war...

Upon confronting the wicked General Grievous on his flagship The Invisible Hand, Qui-Gon and Anakin split up as they attempted to save the life of Supreme Chancellor Bail Organa. Anakin had been unlucky enough to square off against Tyrannus and the evil Sith Lord managed to turn the easily swayed padawan to the Dark Side of the Force. Qui-Gon had rescued the Chancellor, but feared the worst when Anakin had not returned.

Padmé Amidala had given birth to Anakin's children: Luke and Leia Amidala, and the twins have both been trained in the ways of the Jedi under Qui-Gon. She desperately wishes for the return of Anakin by any means...

It is your duty to bring Tyrannus to justice and return Anakin to Padmé alive by any means necessary...

"That's a mouthful." Fionna remarked as the Tallus ceased glowing, leaving the six heroes standing awkwardly outside of the Jedi Temple. "So how do we even start? How are we supposed to know who this 'Anakin' guy is?"

"I dunno," Sam said as he scratched his head. "but I get the feelin' that we showed up in the wrong spot."

The group looked as the hobbit pointed ahead of them, watching as a few robed figures patiently made their way towards them. Two of which were human in appearance and the other was a green, squat creature which hovered above the ground on some sort of platform.

"Greetings," One of the humans spoke up, hailing the odd group of six with his hand. "I am Qui-Gon Jinn and these are my fellow Jedi, Master Yoda and Master Mace Windu. We have sensed your arrival through the Force."

"EEP!" Fluttershy squeaked once again, hiding behind the thick leg of the Autobot of their group. She shyly peeked out as Sam worked up his courage to speak to them.

"Hello Mister Qui-Gon," Sam was unsure if he were royalty or not but he bowed anyway. "My name is Samwise Gamgee and these are my friends," He indicated the group with a slight turn of his head, unsure if they would mind being called such. While they were all just 'acquaintances', they still had a common goal ahead of them.

"That and more, we know. From this timeframe, you are not." Yoda interjected.

"No sir! We're um... um..." Sam pondered for a long moment before he remembered something Legion had mentioned before they had left. He had called them: Exiles. "We're Exiles, sir."

"You are all welcome here, Samwise. We can offer all of you a safe haven here at the Jedi Temple for as long as you need." Qui-Gon smiled and looked to the rather eclectic group: two droids, a winged and hoofed being, a child-sized humanoid, a teenage girl, and a nude creature that held its eyeballs within its hands. "Please, follow us."

"We are curious, however." Mace Windu said sternly as the group was about to follow the three Jedi Masters into the Temple. "We sensed your arrival, and we can also sense that there is no overwhelming evil within you, but we do not know why you have come."

"Temporal shifts throughout adjacent timestreams have indicated flaws which require significant repairs." Legion explained, though it warranted a rather confused look from the aged Master.

"I... see. And you are the 'repairmen'?"

"Affirmative."

"I... see." Mace looked to the others, hoping for more clarification despite Legions rather wordy and detailed explanation.

"It's a long story," Kup sighed as he watched where his feet fell if only to ensure he didn't step on anyone. "So lemme give you a short version..."

Kup's short version of their tale took longer than one could expect, and after several awkward introductions and explanations of why they had come to this specific timestream, the Jedi Masters conferred with each other to agree on how to assist the Exiles.

"We have contacted Padmé and informed her of your arrival as well. We thought it was best seeing as you mentioned her specifically by name. She is very eager to speak with you."

Qui-Gon had done his best with accommodating the group, fitting them with one of the larger empty dormitories not just because of the size of their group, but because of the size of one of their members... which still was impossible for them to fit him within the room. Instead, they housed Kup in the hangar bay and set him up with a holographic projector so that he could still speak to his friends.

"I do hope you accept our apologies, Kup. We rarely have visitors your size stay very long within the Temple."

"It's alright, lad. We had things much worse back in the war. We were pinned down by the enemy about twelve-hundred kilometers away from our ship-"

"My apologies once more, but there may be more pressing matters at hand."

"Right. Sorry..."

"Master Qui-Gon!" Two voices called out, one male and the other female. Two children rushed into the room, hugging the aging Jedi around the legs with bundles still in their arms. "Master Qui-Gon! Are these your friends?"

The Jedi smiled and nodded. "Indeed. This is Samwise Gamgee,"

"'Ello." Sam waved shyly to the children.

"Wow! Is he a padawan like us, Master?" Luke asked.

"No, I'm afraid not. He's come a very long way for an important mission."

"Look Luke! Isn't she pretty?" Leia said as she quickly made her way towards Fluttershy. "What's your name?"

"Oh! I'm Fluttershy..." Her voice trailed off a little, shying away from the child a little but feeling more comfortable with a younger human than many strange ones.

Luke found himself intrigued with Legion who entertained the padawan for a few moments with long strings of technical speak which warranted various responses. Mostly "uh-huh", "wow", or "that's weird!"

"Oh we almost forgot!" Luke and Leia held out their arms, showing off the bundles. "Clothes for you!"

"Clothes?" Krumm had never worn clothes before, but he did stand out far more because of it. It was explained to him earlier that "decency" was to be exhibited while in the Temple.

"Yup! Master Qui-Gon said to bring you some clothes if you didn't have none." Leia smiled, showing that she had been missing a few teeth. "Like her pretty dress that got all tored up."

Leia had indicated Fionna's ripped dress (one that very much resembled that of Princess Serenity's from Sailor Moon) and offered her one of the bundles. The teen graciously accepted the clothes and held them up to her body.

"Gee, thanks!" Fionna blushed, having forgotten that her dress had been ripped in a confrontation with the Ice Queen before being brought from her own time.

"You're kinda stinky, Mister." Luke said as he held his nose, passing off the clothes to the monstrous Krumm.

"Thanks!" He said proudly, putting his eyeballs into his mouth to keep his hands free to take the clothes. "Umm... how do you wear these?"

"Rudimentary assessment shows that our individual 'clothes' have been modified per our body types. Equine for Fluttershy. Utilitarian for Krumm." Legion said as he too had never worn clothes but did so if only to conform.

"These are very... nice?" Fluttershy wasn't too sure either, but with some slight assistance from Leia and Luke, she managed just fine getting into her new outfit.

After everyone had changed and gotten used to their clothes and arrangements, they met very briefly with Padmé in regards to Anakin.

"I apologize for being so late," Padmé bowed her head. "I just need to know: you will bring Anakin back, yes?"

"We're gonna try, Miss Padmé." Sam encouraged.

"Right. We promise not to harm him either." Fionna added, but she was cut off by Legion once more.

"Statistical odds of bringing back someone such as Skywalker entirely unscathed are 3,876,343 to 1. Current injuries not-withstanding."

"Oooookay. Then we're gonna get Anakin back to you alive." Fionna shot a look to Legion who merely stared at her with his flashlight of an eyeball and spoke up as if expected to answer.

"Seven to one."

"Seven to one sounds pretty good to me." Krumm said as he reached up onto the tray of food placed before him, devouring it and all of the contents on it. "Mmm! Tableware..."

"I wasn't never any good with odds and numbers, but you have our word Miss Padmé that Anakin will be comin' back with us." Sam once again reassured her.

"You gonna eat that?" Krumm pointed to the empty plates before his friends who all could only stare at him incredulously.

"So what's the plan?" Fionna asked as they stood within the hangar bay of a large Republic flagship bound for the Outer Rim Territories. Each of the Exiles had been fitted with their own Jedi Robes, each comfortable enough for them to move about in. Some of them had foregone the shoes while others did without the cloaks. Kup had suggested it was best for him not to wear anything as it would only hinder his ability to transform.

Qui-Gon presented the group with a holomap of a large planetoid that slowly spun about on its axis. "This is the result of secret plans made by the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the Trade Federation, the Banking Clans and the Techno Union; they've dubbed it the 'Death Star'," Qui-Gon began.

"The story of its construction is of no consequence for your mission, but what you need to know is that Anakin is definitely onboard."

"This 'Death Star', it's a space station?"

"Correct. One capable of destroying entire planets."

"Kinda reminds me of when we faced off against Unicron. Looks like one of his smaller cousins..."

"How do we get in?" Fionna continued from where her first question left off.

"Three teams will split off once we arrive: Legion and myself will board the Death Star using a stolen Separatist craft and ID signatures. Kup and Fluttershy will remain within the cargo bay of the craft until we give the signal. Fionna, Krumm, and Samwise will enter through the ventilation shafts towards the security bridge. Once there, you will deactivate the security on the main hangar level. From there, Kup's team will rendezvous with Legion and I."

"I know a thing or two about navigating sewer pipes," Krumm added. "how different could they be?"

"Good. Krumm will lead Samwise and Fionna through the shafts. After you shut down the security, wait on that level until we arrive." Qui-Gon heaved a heavy sigh as he looked to each of the Exiles.

"I understand you all come from different worlds with different ways of handling situations, but I cannot emphasize this enough: proceed with extreme caution. Darth Tyrannus is ever vigilant and will likely already be aware of our arrival. I can mask our presence for only so long. I can only hope that our plan succeeds."

Everyone looked rather solemn as they had absolutely no idea what they would be up against.

This wasn't like fighting Megatron and the Decepticons...

This wasn't like using the Elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon...

This wasn't some routine scare to present to the Gromble...

This wasn't like walking into Mordor...

This was nothing like going up against the Collectors...

And this certainly wasn't anything like what the Ice Queen could throw...

"May the Force be with us all..."