Force of Clarke

Prologue

 

A tiny spark of bio-electric energy danced across the countless billion cells that made up the brain, struck a synapse which then fired. Isaac had no idea how long it took to withdraw from the battlefield of his mind, only that he was strangely aware of the whole thing and when he finally emerged into consciousness it was like a punch in the face. He shook his head a few times, dislodging a few cobwebs left behind by the Marker influence before he looked around.

 

“Warning –  reactor containment destabilized. Reactor breach imminent.” The digital voice of the station's artificial intelligence informed him in the usual, measured tones. “Evacuation of all personnel required, this is not a drill.”

 

Dust and pieces of the crumbling golden marker, its metaphysical heart destroyed, rained down all around him, but he found he couldn't care less. Agony both mental and physical had strained his body to its limits and it was a testament to his own self control that he managed to carefully lower himself down on one of the steps to rest.

 

“Rerouting auxiliary power systems.”

 

Isaac rubbed his face with his good hand, ignoring the stubble that rasped against the armored weave of his glove, too occupied by the sting of betrayal by someone he thought he knew. Letting his hand slide off his face with a sigh he allowed it to rest on his leg, looking around with bleary eyes as the station came apart around him.

 

“Warning – reactor containment failure. Reactor breach is now in progress.”

 

What good was this all for? He asked himself. He had fought so hard for so long that he'd lost track of everything else, like a machine he had at some point turned on without noticing and now didn't know how to turn off.

 

“Evacuate immediately all personnel and all civilians. This is not a drill.”

 

He was so ready to just give up, to die here with this crumbling obelisk forged by his own hand. This very literal monument of his sins. He closed his eyes as he felt the rumbles increase through the deck plating below him, maybe it was better this way.

 

“Warning – life support failure, seek protection immediately.”

 

Pieces of the crumbling marker crashed down all around him, miraculously never hitting him yet the crashes getting more muted by the second. In the back of his mind he knew it was because the air was being sucked out but he just didn't care anymore, he just wanted it to end.

 

“Isaac!”

 

His head snapped up as a holographic projection of Ellie Langford, the woman he thought safe and gone appeared in front of him by his RIG-link.

 

“You complete bastard!” She raged at him, and suddenly the world came back into focus. “Was this your great plan? To dump be off and die?” Isaac would have shrugged but his shoulder protested the movement, so he just flicked his hand instead. “I'm full of bad ideas, remember?”

 

“Yeah well here's another one, I'm crashing through the roof to get you.” Cold fear spread through Isaac's veins like ice. “Now move your ass!” He stumbled to his feet unsteadily, as if that would enforce his point. “No, wait Ellie. It's too late.” He protested. “Secure the station!”

 

“Yeah, well. You don't really have a say this time. Head's up!” And not a heartbeat later there was a great explosion above him. Snapping his head up he saw a portion of the shroud collapse inwards and the gunship appear, heading down towards him.

 

“Warning – hull breach. Decompression.” The AI steadily informed him.

 

Enormous winds immediately started pulling at him and it was all he could do to maintain his balance, luckily the station still had gravity.

 

“Warning – gravity failure.” And suddenly he was no longer a human on the ground but a leaf in the air. Triggering his helmet completely on reflex he mentally routed power to his suit thrusters and blasted off through the winds, trying everything he had to catch up to that gunship.

 

Hope bloomed once more in his heart that maybe, maybe he'd actually get out of this alive. However it was like if the dead marker sensed his intentions and sent out pieces of itself delay him, forcing him to avoid them midair as he grew closer and closer.

 

He saw a hatch open in the side and Ellie, dressed in an EVA suit appeared with her hand stretched out for him.  “Isaac!” Her voice came across his RIG-link, tinny but clear. “Take my hand!” She shouted, holding onto the inside of the gunship with one hand and reaching out for him with her other.

 

“I'm trying!” He shouted as he reached out for her hand with his own, “I'm trying!” and just as he felt his fingertips touch hers, the Golden Marker exploded. Whatever eldrich energy it contained, its crumbling structure was not enough to contain it and he heard Ellie scream his name just before the shockwave hit him and his vision turned completely white.

 

An eternity passed before the light receded, depositing Isaac into the upper atmosphere of a planet he didn't recognize. Unbeknownst to him this was the planet Ruusan in the Teraab sector of a nameless galaxy far, far away. But none of this mattered to Isaac as he hurled downwards through what appeared to be a great valley perfectly below him. His last hope had been dashed, he didn't need to look around to know that Ellie was nowhere nearby.

 

He simply closed his eyes and let go, accepting his fate to die here on an unknown planet far away from anything he knew. The impact of his battered body sent a plume of water into the air as he struck a river but amazingly his body held even as his mind blacked out.

 

For there were more forces at work in this universe than the one he left and the Living Force had not missed his appearance no matter how sudden it was. For tens of thousands of years it had worked to bring balance to itself and Anakin Skywalker had first appeared to be the perfect candidate. Enough that the Force had enabled his birth even though when no father had been present, however he had tipped the scales too much and now the universe was unbalanced once more.

 

Ever since that fateful day it had looked for a new champion and although its grandchild Luke was a good candiate, his future was not quite what it hand in mind and offered no other option it would have gone with him. All things in the universe was tied to the Force and thus it was omniscent to some degree, which is why this man fascinated it more than anyone or anything before him. He was an anomaly to this universe and the Force couldn't read his destiny, he was a blank slate unlike any other and it was for that purpose it saved his life.

 

Now lying within the Force-saturated waters of the Valley of the Jedi, the Living Force set to work repairing this damaged man. This would normally had been harder with his suit being as effective as it was, but it contained quite a few ruptures, mainly the right shoulder and hand, through which it flowed. And out cold as he was, Isaac never knew when the midi-chlorians entered his body. Guided by the Living Force they multiplied at a rate not seen in thousands of years and so it was that this broken man made the transition between what he was and what he would become, forever changing his destiny and all those of the entire galaxy

 

And the Force was very pleased.