Many things had changed since that fateful day when the Sith took over, Jedi were on the run and many more were killed and those that stayed were under cover and swore away from using the force so as to avoid being targeted; Some became mercenaries and others became bounty hunters, others like me became smugglers which was the best way to make bits in my opinion; Being a mare smuggler was rarer still but I made it work, heck I liked to think I was the best in the business (still do, come to think of it) but there was still danger involved such as where I was at this very minute.

"Duke! What are you doing?! We need you on the turrets, blast those pirates or we're dead!"

We were smuggling out some valuable Jedi artifacts that could be sold for a lot of bits when we were attacked by pirates who had been hoarding the stuff, that now became a problem that we needed to take care of right away.

"On it boss, had to patch up some things or we were going to be stuck here without a warp-drive."

With that my partner in crime Duke Shine whirled the turret around and blew two of the pirates away that were causing most of the trouble, I turned on the com.

"Nice shot Duke! I'm going to get us out of here."

I then turned on the warp drive and got us out of that place and put it on autopilot until we got to Alderaan, I unbuckled myself from the seat specifically made for pegasi and headed for the back where I had set up a small section for relaxing. This ship was top of the line and I had added my own special add-ons, not being a unicorn had its problems but I was glad I was able to fly as that had made loads of things easier; I had sworn away from using the Force as there were Sith out there still hunting Jedi or searching for those to join them and I loved my job. I had dark blue fur with light blue and green mane and tail, my cutie mark was a cloud with a half moon in the middle of it.

I grabbed a bottle of Twistler with my mouth and poured it into one of the cups I kept handy and put the bottle back up and grabbed the cup with my hooves, lucky me I had figured out how to use my hooves to drink although I still hadn't quite figured out how to pour things with em. As I took a sip, my partner Duke Shine entered the room and sat down across from me; He was a black unicorn with a white mane and tail and we had been together for almost a long time, we worked well together and got along most of the time although we did have our occasional fights but what kind of friends didn't?

"That was fun Night, we may have to stop for repairs once we reach Aldaraan; Our warp drive is gonna need some overhaul after that fight, your lucky you have me to repair things and back you up."

I chuckled at that and motioned to the alcohol on the shelves with my wing, ""Grab a drink and join me, we have a little bit before we arrive there so might as well relax." Duke nodded and used his magic to pour himself a drink and sat down across from me and I turned on the holo-news to see what was new in the galaxy even though I really did not want to know.

Emperor Palpatine has declared that anyone harboring Jedi and/or protecting them will be arrested for ignoring the laws of the Empire, also there is a new bounty on a young pegasus smuggler going by the name of Night Surfer. Anyone with any news about this smuggler must report to Commander Loa, failure to do so will result in consequences.

I turned off the news on that and looked over at Duke who had his cup near his mouth and he set it down and looked at me, "Night, why do you have a bounty and why? I gave him a slight smile and sat down my cup too. ""We may have stolen from the pirate group who works with the empire, mind you I didn't think we would get a bounty so quickly but I am guessing that the Jedi artifacts we stole were possibly very important to the Empire.

His mouth dropped open and he glared at me,""You do know that we are going to have bounty hunters after our asses now? What were you thinking?!

I stood up and paced the room, my wings unfurled as they had a tendency to do when under stress, "We'll just have to be careful from now on, maybe lie low for awhile until this blows over." Duke glares at me again, "This ain't going to blow over Night, we are in big big trouble."

I sighed and stopped pacing and looked at Duke, "We best head down to the cargo hold and make sure we don't have any trackers in it, I really don't want to bring hell down on Aldaaron." He nodded and followed me down and we started going through the cargo of Jedi Artifacts, as I was going through one crate I found an old holocron which I hid inside one of pockets to look at later, Duke did not know I was formerly a Jedi and I had no idea how to tell him but for now I should keep it to myself, after an hour of searching we went back up to the bar and sat wearily down on the seats and drank some water; Duke looked at me. "Boss, don't ever keep things like that from me again. I need to know and my advice you sorely need obviously."

I nodded and held out my right hoof, "Partners to the end?" He nodded and we bump hooves together.; After that we head back to the cockpit to wait the rest of the journey, needless to say I suppose but the journey was quite boring but we were glad we had each other to talk to.

"I really hope we are able to get away from the war for awhile, I really want to take time and relax."