Before - Legends The Host ***Update 10/13***

Title: The Host
Author: jacen200015
Timeline: AU 40 BSW4
Characters: Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, Xanatos, Bruck, Cerasi
Summary: Obi-Wan is on a simple, year long, surveying mission with Qui-Gon, Xanatos, and Bruck but unknown to Obi-Wan something awaits them on the planet. A thousand year old mystery is about to be uncovered. A centuries old enemy revealed. R&R
Disclaimer: Star Wars belongs to George Lucas and so do all his characters. Any characters created by Jude Watson and Dave Wolverton belong to them + any characters I created belong to me.
I am making no money off this and I hope you enjoy this exciting adventure.
Notes:


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Chapter 1

Obi-Wan walked down the ramp of the ship into the bright sunlight and squinted as his eyes adjusted to the light. Snow covered the landscape and in the distance was a massive mountain. He closed his eyes and opened them again, but the view was the same. "Xanatos, did Qui-Gon say anything about weird climates on this planet?"

"No, why?" Xanatos asked, coming up behind him.

Obi-Wan pointed toward the mountain. "Look, there is not a speck of snow on the mountain but everything else around here is coated with snow." He pulled his cloak tighter around him.

Unhooking a pair of binoculars that hung on his belt, Xanatos surveyed the mountain. "You're right. No, Qui-Gon certainly did not say anything about this." He hooked his binoculars back onto his belt and shifted the pack on his back. "That does give us a place to start though. We'll set up base camp five miles from the ship and then get an early start in the morning."

Obi-Wan nodded and started walking toward the mountain. The cold air bit at his exposed skin and his breath froze into a white mist in front of him. They had landed in the middle of a clearing, the nearest tree looked to be several miles away. Obi-Wan stopped at a small mound of snow and used the Force to blow the snow away revealing a miniature green tree, its trunk only as thick as his thumb with its highest point reaching his knee. "What do we know about the climate?"

"Qui-Gon thinks the snow season has just begun here. His first survey showed a very lush, warm, climate on this continent. Did you read his reports?" Xanatos asked.

"No, I didn't. I figured that if I'm to be bored, I might as well have as little information as possible before coming so I won't get bored as fast."

"And what would you rather be doing?" Xanatos asked.

Obi-Wan shrugged, "Anything but this."

"Well you better get used to it Obi-Wan. We have another eleven months and twenty five days of survey work to do before we return to the Temple. Just be glad this is a rotational assignment. We won't be assigned another survey project for ten years after this one." Xanatos responded.

"How long will the survey of the moons and the space around the planet take?"

"Oh, maybe two months, if the moons are uninhabitable and there are no out of the ordinary areas of space. After your Master and Bruck are done surveying up there they will come down and join us." Xanatos smirked and patted Obi-Wan on the shoulder. "At least you won't be cooped up on a ship for two months."

Obi-Wan's lips twitched into a grin. "Yes, it is a good thing I was sick the day we were supposed to leave. How did you convince Qui-Gon to take Bruck with him anyway?"

Xanatos fixed the hood of his cloak as a sudden gust of cold wind pushed against the hood. "Because he likes doing the space survey and last time we were on a surveying mission we did the space survey first before joining the second team on planet. Unfortunately the space survey took six months to complete because of an unusual section of space and some anomalies with the planet's sun. So I told him afterwards that if I I'm training a Padawan by the time we go surveying together again, he'll take my Padawan on the survey mission." Xanatos shrugged, "So you being sick wouldn't have changed anything."

Obi-Wan scanned the horizon. The sky was a deep shade of blue with no clouds in sight. The snow was recent. He scanned the snow in front of him as he walked, checking to see if there were any animal tracks. A few minutes later he stopped in his tracks and knelt down to examine some paw markings. "I found our first animal track."

Xanatos knelt down beside him and took out his datapad. He used it to take pictures of the sample and then recorded a couple of notes on his datapad. "Good eye, Obi-Wan." Xanatos praised as he stood up.

Obi-Wan was silent, standing tall and erect as he listened with his ears and with the Force. "It's quiet here, but there is an undercurrent of tension." He closed his eyes and stretched out with the Force to discover the source of the tension. After a few moments he opened his eyes. "It's gone."

"Any idea what direction?"

Obi-Wan pointed toward the mountain. "It came from there."

Xanatos rubbed his chin in thought. "An animal hunting perhaps?" He shivered and he began to walk. "Come on, we still have a ways to go."

By nightfall they had established camp and after eat a warm meal and sending their initial report to Qui-Gon, they went to bed. Obi-Wan laid bundled under his blanket, the privacy sheet dividing the small room and trapping the heat in the shelter. He pulled the blanket over his head and rested his head on his arms. Sleep tugged at his eyelids and within minutes he was asleep.

Help me! The cry rang through Obi-Wan's dreamless sleep, jerking him awake. He gasped, eyelids flying open, his heart beating fast. He stretched out with the Force for Xanatos' presence and found him deeply asleep. He checked the bond with his master and sensed that he too was peacefully sleeping. Brushing it off as an overactive imagination, he fell back to sleep.

Outside the shelter a pair of pale green eyes stared intently at the structure, and then, was gone.

 

This is a well-written and intriguing start! Great job.

 

Commander-DWH Thank you. Here is the next chapter



Chapter 2

“Wake up, Obi-Wan. We have a long day ahead of us.” Xanatos called as he poured tea into two cups.

Obi-Wan rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stretched. Straightening his clothes, he emerged from the shelter to see Xanatos stoking the campfire. “Good morning. Any word from my Master?”

Xanatos handed Obi-Wan a bowl of shretmeal and a spoon. “Yes. Qui-Gon is as baffled as we are. The ship scanners have found no shield or any type of barrier that would keep snow from accumulating on that mountain. He did find that the heat level in that area is above freezing.”

“Volcanic activity perhaps?” Obi-Wan queried as he sat down on a mat and scooped his spoon into his food.

“Maybe, we’ll find out soon enough.” Xanatos finished drinking his tea and started to eat his shretmeal.

Obi-Wan watched the sun’s slow ascent in the horizon as he ate his breakfast. The sun’s rays rushed through thin wispy white clouds, turning the clouds into shimmers of orange and purple against the dark blue sky.

Xanatos and Obi-Wan finished their breakfast and in an hour had packed what they would need and continued their trek to the mountain.

A couple of hours into the hike they stopped for a rest and to munch on some ration bars.

“There are a lot more animal tracks here. I recognize some of them from earlier.” Obi-Wan said and took a big bite out of his ration bar.

Xanatos finished chewing and swallowed his food before speaking. “They’re attracted to the warmth the mountain is providing. We still haven’t heard any animals though.”

Obi-Wan took a sip from his water canteen and looked at Xanatos. “My water is almost frozen again.”

“It’ll warm once we get to the mountain. I want to conserve our heating pellets.” Xanatos told him.

Obi-Wan ate the last of his ration bar and put the trash in his pack before lifting the pack onto his back. He stilled where we was as he sensed again tension coming in the direction of the mountain. “Do you sense that?”

“What?” Xanatos said as he lifted his pack onto his shoulders and joined Obi-Wan.

“Tension, coming from the mountain.” Obi-Wan said, almost in a whisper.

Xanatos shook his head. “I’m not sensing anything.”

Obi-Wan frowned in puzzlement. “It was there, I felt it. It is almost as if something is waiting for us.”

“We’ll meditate on it once we get to the edge of that mountain. We still have about a hour trek ahead of us.”

Obi-Wan nodded, casting his anxiety into the Force. Maybe it was the simplicity of this year long mission that was making him jumpy. Or even the absence of animal sounds and running machinery. Meditation would not be a bad idea.

They reached the edge of the mountain an hour later and felt instant relief as the cold melted away from them and was replaced by welcomed warmth. They sat down on the soft, lush grass, grateful for the reprieve.

Xanatos and Obi-Wan took that time to meditate, to release any anxiety into the Force and to center themselves.

After an hour and a half of meditation, Obi-Wan looked up at the mountain that was covered with trees and flowers. He could hear birds screeching in the distance, chattering of small mammals and the occasional roar of a beast hunting its prey. There was also the sound of water trickling from a brook somewhere. He looked back at Xanatos who had a serious expression on his face.

“Something is not right about this.” Xanatos muttered, even as he began taking samples of the dirt and grass.

“I’m going to check out where the source of the water is.” Obi-Wan laid his pack on the ground and went to investigate. He pushed back his hood and continued to round the circumference of the mountain until he came to a small rippling brook. He removed a water tester from his belt and took a sample of the water. A small drop of water splashed onto his hand and he jumped back in surprise and stared at his hand in astonishment. The water was hot.

“A hot spring? That may explain why this area is so warm and humid if there is more than one hot spring here.” Obi-Wan thought out loud and then looked on the screen of the water tester to see the results. “This is promising. Above average mineral content, 102 degrees Fahrenheit, non volcanic source.” Obi-Wan pulled out his datapad from the pocket of his cloak and began typing some notes and then took a few pictures of the spring from various angles.

“What are you doing here?”

Obi-Wan spun around towards the voice and looked up at a rock that jutted out the side of the mountain and saw a girl about his age sitting atop the rock. The girl’s copper hair fell straight down, disappearing behind her shoulders and her eyes were the palest green he had ever see. She wore a dark gray cloak and her skin was a sun kissed tan.

“I’m helping to do a survey of the planet.” He stepped forward. “Who are you? I thought there was no one else on this planet except my friend and I?”

The girl grinned and leapt down off the rock, her slender form landing a few feet from Obi-Wan. “This is the home of my ancestors. At some point they all left to go to our present planet and I want to discover what made them leave and if it’s possible for us to start a colony here.” She held out her hand, “My name is Cerasi Mara Etida. My friends call me Cerasi.”

Obi-Wan shook her hand, a smile coming to his lips. “My name is Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi. My friends call me Obi-Wan.”

“Obi-Wan.” Cerasi let the name roll around on her tongue. “That’s a strong name.”

“And you have a very pretty name, it sounds like a flower.”

Cerasi cheeks colored. “Yes, it does doesn’t it?” She turned around and looked up at the mountain. “Is your survey purely educational or is it to determine whether or not to start a colony here?”

“Mainly educational.” Obi-Wan responded.

“Good.” Cerasi turned back to look at him. “Perhaps we can work together, compare notes. There is a lot of area to cover.”

“That is a good idea. We have a team in space surveying around the planet, they should be joining us down here in a couple of months so any extra help is appreciated.” Obi-Wan answered. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to Xanatos.”

Cerasi followed after Obi-Wan, her steps as quiet as Obi-Wan’s on the rich, dark, ground.