Chapter 2 - Jax

Chapter 2 - Jax

The Separatist facility rose out of the storm like a jagged wound in the landscape. Lightning forked across the sky, illuminating durasteel towers packed with machinery. The whole structure seemed to pulse with a faint red glow, as if the Sith device buried inside it was already bleeding into the world around it.

Jax crouched on the edge of the shuttle ramp, cloak whipping in the wind. Rain hammered against the hull, stinging his face. He pulled his hood lower and scanned the perimeter.

Patrol droids.

Motion sensors.

A security grid that flickered every few seconds �" just long enough for someone fast enough to slip through.

Good. He could work with that.

He dropped from the shuttle, landing with a slight squelch in the mud. The storm swallowed the sound. Jax moved quickly, keeping low, slipping between shadows as if they welcomed him. He’d always been better at this than at standing in a room full of Jedi pretending he understood politics.

Jax froze as a patrol droid hovered by. The droid’s red eye swept the area.

He waited. Counted to 10. Moved.

He reached the outer wall and pressed a small slicing tool against a control panel next to a maintenance hatch. Sparks flickered. The hatch slid open.

Inside, the air was warm and metallic, humming with the vibration of machinery. Jax slipped into the narrow service corridor, pulling the hatch closed behind him. The noise of the storm vanished, replaced by the steady thrum of power conduits.

He exhaled slowly. 

This was his world. 

Tight spaces. 

Quiet steps.

No eyes watching him.

He moved deeper into the facility, following the schematics he’d memorized. The Sith device was located in the central chamber �" heavily guarded, heavily shielded, and surrounded by enough energy to fry an entire squadron of starfighters.

Jax reached a junction and paused. Voices echoed from the main hallway �" battle droids marching in formation, their metal feet clanking in perfect rhythm.

He waited until they passed, then slipped into the shadows behind them, using their noise to mask his own movements. The hallway opened into a wide observation deck overlooking the central chamber.

And there it was.

The machine.

Even from above, it radiated wrongness. A ring of pylons crackling with unstable energy, runes carved into the metal like scars. The core pulsed with red light, beating with a power that shouldn’t exist.

Jax’s stomach twisted.

He’d seen Sith artifacts before.

He’d never seen anything like this.

He crouched behind a console, pulling out his tools. He worked quickly, slicing wires and overloading circuits. Trying to disable the machine.

He was almost done when a metallic voice behind him said, “Intruder, halt!”

Jax’s blood ran cold.

He looked around to see a squad of droids behind him and a Sith acolyte slamming their hand on the main activation control panel. More droids came in and to flank Jax, weapons ready.

Jax’s heart hammered.

He wasn’t ready.

He needed more time.

But time was exactly what he didn’t have.

The machine roared to life.

Energy surged through the pylons, crackling like lightning. The air warped, bending inward. The Force screamed in Jax’s ears.

He dove for the corridor, where he might find better cover. The droids �" a dozen of them now �" fired in unison. A few shots grazed Jax, but he ignored them.

The machine convulsed, then exploded as the world tore open.

A massive shockwave of fractured time slammed into Jax. His momentum suddenly changed, launching him through a window, glass shattering around him as the timeline itself unraveled.

He saw the droids seem to vaporize.

He saw the clone trooper appear.

He saw the stormtrooper materialize.

He saw the crash.

He saw the chaos.

He saw the sky twisting into impossible shapes.

He knew someone had to put the galaxy back how it belonged. And he knew he had to be that someone.