Trouble Comes Calling

by ronfrancis32

Down on his luck, Dash Render has his first profitable job in months. Unfortunately, the Job puts him in trouble with Taga the Hutt. Add two kids being chased by different thugs and Dash is really in trouble. While he's trying to save the kids, he meets up with Lando Calrissian and the beautiful CorSec officer, Seleen Toral who are also in Taga's sights and the adventure begins.

Trouble Comes Calling

By Ron Francis

Personnel

Dash Rendar: Human Male: Owner and Captain of his ship Outrider

Seleen Toral: Human Female: CorSec Officer

True Zyeen: Human Female: Orphaned teen

Val Zyeen: Human Male: Orphaned boy

Lando Calrissian: Human Male: Gambler, Smuggler, Man of Mystery

Taga the Hutt: Crime lord

Jox Cavann: Human Male: Crime boss

King Tosla: Human Male: King of Tanjinadd

Chapter one

Dash finally made it back to Corellia after his first profitable shipment in months. He finally had the money to pay the port and maintenance fees he owed to a half dozen different spaceports. His prize ship, Outrider, a YT-2400 Corellian freighter, was even currently nestled in a berth that was already paid for. He had her fully stocked and even had a little bit left for a much needed rest. He couldn't quite call it a vacation, but it was about as close as he was ever likely to get. Three days at a mid-range resort in Kor Vella. It had been a long time since he had been to any resort in Kor Vella, probably not since before... He shook his head sadly, he hated to think about what the Empire had done to his family. Instead, he resigned himself as he headed into Corellia's top tourist haven.

The job had gone pretty smoothly, almost too smoothly. Dash was known for a couple things, most notably, his bad luck. Jobs that go smoothly usually worry him. He almost didn't take the job at all because he hated going to Nal Hutta. Anything involving Hutts, or anywhere they were likely to be, he avoided almost religiously. He was even more skeptical when the contract prohibited him from knowing what he was delivering. The only information he was given was that it was not illegal. He would have turned it down flat if not for the fact that he was broke. Broke would have actually be a generous description, a step up from his financial circumstances, but all that had changed upon delivery. He wasn't exactly flush, but he was no longer in debt and he even had a few credits in his pocket. All of that, and no one had even tried to shoot or kill him, not even once. He had deftly avoided the Imperial Remnant on Bastion, made it all the way to Nal Hutta. He dropped his shipment and flew back to Correlia, and not one blaster had been pointed his way. For that, he could celebrate with a couple days of relaxation in Kor Vella. Even if he was in a resort his family would have never been caught dead in.

Maybe coming here was a bad idea. He hadn't thought it would bring back so many memories of his childhood. Growing up, he would always be in the best resorts. He and his brother, Stanton, would have so much fun and were always surrounded by luxury. It had all changed with one accident. He had been one of the best pilots in the imperial academy, until his brother, piloting a freighter for their family's company, Ren Trans, crashed into a building the Emperor had an interest in. Before he even knew what was happening, he was out of the academy and his family's company had been given to the Black Sun Vigo, Prince Xisor. He had gone from top of the world to no future instantly, and he barely had time to mourn his brother before he had to begin fighting for his own survival in an unforgiving galaxy.

That was years ago, the Emperor, Vader, Xixor, they were all dead. He had no enemies left, except himself. Every time it seemed as if his fortune was changing, he would screw it up. He would lose a delivery, tick off the wrong gangster, play the wrong hand, etc... He thought about his sometimes friend, sometimes rival, Han Solo. Even Han had changed his fortune. Han became a hero, married a princess and the galaxy loves him. They make holo-dramas about him. Where did I go wrong? As he mused over Solo's good luck and his lost chances, he realized he missed the days of having Guri watch his back. She was beautiful to look at, but what almost no one knew was that she was a deadly human replica droid. They had parted amicably, he knew he would probably be dead if that wasn't the case, but he was out on his own again. I always had a few credits in my pocket when I teamed up with her, he fondly recalled. And I was safer, he mused. Alright, enough about the past, I'm here for three days and I'm gonna at least try to have some fun.

An hour later, Dash was sitting at a beachside bar. He had a Corellian whiskey in his hand as he looked out at the rolling blue-green waves of the ocean. He was glad he had chosen the beach over one of Corellia's famous mountain hamlets. He decided to sit out in the sun and he sipped his drink as he nestled his feet into the white sand. He surveyed his surroundings. The bar was beach-themed with old fashioned life preservers hanging on the walls, driftwood tables and light airy chairs. Over the bar was mounted the steering column of an ancient sea faring vessel. The bar was looking out to the rhythmic rolling waves , and he could see all the way to where the ocean met the horizon. It was a pristine view and Dash was happy he had allowed himself this small luxury. He felt like he could really relax here. This may not have been the most fancy place, but it was far better than anywhere he had been in a long while.

After a full day of relaxation, he found himself back in the same bar. This time, there was a purpose more noble than drinking, he had followed a very attractive brunette wearing proper beach attire into the bar. He sat down next to her and said with a smile, "I'm Dash, what are you drinking?"

"Alone," she replied in frustration.

"I'm not familiar with that drink." Dash answered with a wry smile.

"It's the one where I sit here by myself and you don't bother me." She replied with a frown.

"Fair enough," he replied as he stood to leave.

Suddenly, her features softened, Dash wasn't sure, but she almost looked apologetic. "I'm sorry," she began. "I'm just having a really bad day. I shouldn't have taken it out on you. I'll have what you're drinking." She smiled a smile that did not quite reach her eyes as she tapped the seat next to her.

"Bartender," Dash called. "One more," he added as he sat down and pointed to the counter in front of his new friend.

"I'm Seleen," she offered as the bartender put her drink down in front of her.

"I'm sorry you're having a bad day, Seleen, resorts are supposed to be fun and relaxing." He smiled.

"Maybe this one will be," She replied with a flirtatious smile that made his smile bigger.

"So tell me all about yourself." She said as she put her hand on his arm.

Now Dash was a little off balance; she had done a one-eighty pretty quickly. Not that he was complaining, she was the kind of woman you wouldn't mind getting played by. Still, his instinct and belief in his own bad luck took over and he quickly glanced around the bar before he answered. "I'm a pilot, I have my own ship and I deliver goods for whoever needs them shipped." He replied as he noticed a man sitting in the corner that hadn't been there before. This man stood out by the simple fact that in a bar fully of casual, he was button up.

"That sounds interesting, does 'whoever' mean you will ship things that maybe shouldn't be shipped?" She asked in a hush, hush tone.

"You mean smuggling?" He laughed. "I used to try, but it's not as profitable as you might think. These days, I won't knowingly transport something illegal. It's not worth the risk." He concluded. "Shipping can be a pretty dangerous job for an independent, no need adding to the danger. How about you, Seleen? Tell me a little about you."

She began to tell him about herself, but he could tell that she was nervous. She kept shifting to make sure Button Up could not see her face and Dash began to think there was something off about her. Still, he said yes when she asked to go back to his room. She left the bar holding onto his arm and flirted with him all the way to the room. As soon as he opened the door to his room, she pulled a blaster out of her beach bag.

"What's this all about, Seleen?" Dash asked with one part frustration, one part concern. "If you're here to rob me, I gotta tell you, you picked the wrong guy."

"Why, because you're a dangerous criminal?" She mocked.

"No, because I'm broke. After paying for this room, I have a few hundred credits left to my name. I just needed a break from the ship for a couple days. Go ahead, search my room, you won't find much money."

"I am going to search this room, Dash Rendar, but I'm not going to rob you." She pulled a badge out of her bag and Dash knew she was CorSec.

"So what have I done to get on Corellian Security's radar?" Dash asked with a tired smile. "I've barely worked in months."

"What did you deliver to Nal Hutta? And it's Officer Toral by the way."

"Nal Hutta? That delivery didn't originate here or end here, you have no jurisdiction over that."

"That's where you're wrong, Dash." With that, Button Up entered the room and she continued. "We're working with Bastion on this one. Now, what did you deliver?"

"I honestly couldn't tell you, it was a sealed delivery. I wasn't privy to the information." He replied shaking his head. Looks like that job wasn't so smooth after all.

"I thought you didn't do smuggling?" Seleen asked in an accusatory manner.

"I don't," Dash replied in a loud frustrated voice. "If you'll allow me to get my data pad out, I'll show you. I've done nothing wrong. In fact, have Button Up over there get it, because my blaster is in the same drawer and I wouldn't want you to think I was reaching for it."

"Good Idea," she said as she motioned the officer from Bastion over to the drawer. When he produced the data pad, he handed it to Dash and waited for him to call up the information they were looking for. Seleen was very good at her job. She was one of the best undercover operatives in CorSec. Still, she sometimes felt bad when she was sent in on a sting and the suspect turned out to not only be not guilty, but also helpful.

"Here it is, client's name is; Jox Cavann. Here's the no peeking clause and the declaration that there was nothing illegal being shipped. As you can see," he continued. "The containers were sealed and password protected. This is a legal contract, which means, if I did deliver something illegal, he is liable for it, not me. I told you, I'm not a smuggler. Why would I make that up, I was trying to hit on you. Believe me, if I was doing something wrong, I would have bragged about it to the beautiful woman in a tiny bikini that I was hitting on." Button Up smiled at his last comment, and Seleen suddenly looked a little self conscious as she pulled a robe out of her beach bag and donned it while keeping her blaster trained on Dash.

"Alright, I believe you, I'm sorry for the intrusion on your holiday." Seleen offered with a sad smile as she lowered her blaster. "Oh, before I leave do you think you could transfer a copy of the agreement between you and Jox to my data pad?"

"Sure," Dash said as he resigned himself to the fact that he would never have the kind of luck where someone like Seleen would meet him and actually want to be with him. When the transfer was complete, Seleen and her buttoned up partner left the room and Dash began packing. He no longer felt like relaxing on Corellia and he could at least get a refund for the final day and have a few more credits in his pocket.

As he was on his way to the transport that would take him back to the spaceport, he ran into a fully clothed Seleen and her partner from Bastion. "Leaving so soon, Rendar?" She was now wearing form fitting black pants over tan, knee high leather boots with a white shirt and a tan leather jacket, and she still looked amazing.

"Yeah, my vacation wasn't as relaxing as I had hoped, so I figured I'd save the creds and head out a day early." He said with a tinge of sarcasm in his voice.

"Sorry to hear that," She offered. "Thanks for the lead. We're on our way back to Bastion, We'll be in touch."

"I bet you will. Have a nice day, Officer Toral," he smirked as she frowned. With that he entered the transport and sat as far from Officer Toral and Button Up as possible.

When the transport reached the spaceport, Dash disembarked without making any eye contact with the lovely CorSec officer, or her temporary partner. He wound his way through the spaceport and finally made it back to the berth Outrider was in. He rounded the corner to see what appeared to be a teenage girl trying to break into his ship. Just my luck, the beautiful cop is gone and I've got a teenage criminal on my hands. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." His voice startled the girl, but curiously, she continued trying to gain access to his ship. He started to become worried and called out again, "Seriously, I really wouldn't do that." By this point he was running, and he tackled the girl just in time as a blaster bolt hit right where she had been standing.

"What was that?" The girl cried out as she picked herself up off the ground.

"That was my ship's security system, which is why I said I wouldn't do that. Seriously, who still tries to break into a ship when they're already busted?"

"I need to get off the street and hide." She said as she suspiciously glanced around. "Can you help me? She looked up at him doe eyed and smiled in such a way that he couldn't tell if she were flirting with him or doing that thing he had heard that teen girls do to their father's when they want something. He hoped it was the latter.

"Listen kid, I don't know what your game is, but I don't want to play. Maybe someone else will let you on their ship."

"But I'm all alone, you wouldn't turn away a poor orphan, would you?"

Dash looked at her and said, "Yes I would, because they'd be better off. Trust me. I have no money, terrible luck and people shoot at me, a lot. Not the safest place for orphans, now beat it." He hated to be mean to the kid, but he wanted to make sure there was no way she would think she had a shot at getting on his ship. A teenage girl riding with me, that's all I need. As he was entering his ship, he noticed the girl stop by some crates and call out to someone. A moment later, a young boy, maybe seven scurried out of hiding and stopped by her side.

"Let's go, Val, we have to keep moving. She took the boy's hand and they began to walk away.

"I thought you were all alone?" Dash called after her incredulously. He couldn't believe it, that little con-artist had tried to scam him. He turned to enter his ship when the little boy screamed and he heard blasterfire. He dropped his bag and turned, blaster drawn to see four men chasing the kids. Part of him just wanted to turn around and mind his own business, but the better part of him couldn't let these kids get hurt. As the kids were running, he noticed the girl had a holdout blaster in her hand. "Over here," he called. He ducked as his voice alerted the men to his presence and they responded with some shots aimed at him. He returned fire taking down the first man, and the girl hit the second. She likely only had one or two shots left in her blaster if the failing power light were any indication. He ran behind the crates the boy was hiding behind and covered them as they ran for his ship.

Just then another four thugs showed up, but they were different. The first group was all human, and although they tried to look casual, they were trained, probably together. The second group consisted of a Gamorrean, two Wee Quay and a Rodian. The kind of crew that might come after you if you crossed a Hutt. Taga's men! They're here for me, he thought as he fired again. What was in that delivery? Why didn't I ask Officer Toral when she was questioning me. He was about to fire again, when he noticed the humans begin firing at Taga's men. They took down both Wee Quay before the Gamorrean got one of them. The Rodian got the last human and now, Taga's men were focused on him. He was holding them off while slowly backing up towards his ship, but he couldn't break cover. He saw that the two kids had already made it onto his ship, but he needed cover to get there. Just then, the girl appeared in the open hatch and fired two shots, injuring the Rodian. The Gamorrean turned her way and Dash dropped him and then quickly ran for the ship.

"This is nice, can I keep this?" The boy asked as he held up Dash's data pad.

"No," he answered as he entered the ship and closed the hatch. "And don't go through my stuff." he added as he took the data pad out of the boy's hands. "We need to get out of here now." He entered the cockpit and alerted Corellian control that he would be leaving. He flew out of his berth and waited for them to respond. They told him he was third in line and he hoped he could be gone before anyone started asking questions. Fortunately, his ship had recorded the whole encounter and the recording would prove he didn't do anything wrong. Maybe Officer Toral will come question me about this. He smiled as the pleasant thought entered his mind.

"Outrider, you are cleared for orbit," A tinny voice called through his transmitter.

"Thank you, Control," Dash replied. "You have a nice day."

"Mister, can you take us to Tanjinadd?" The girl asked in that same sugary sweet voice she had tried to use on him earlier.

"First of all, my name is Dash, Dash Rendar. None of this mister nonsense. Second, I've never even heard of that planet, so no, I won't be taking you there. I'm going to lay low for a while on Sullust and that's where I'm dropping you off, young lady."

"My name is True, and this is my brother, Val."

"True, really?" He laughed at the irony that everything this girl had told him earlier was a lie, and she was saying her name was, True. "You look like trouble to me, I think I'm just gonna call you, Trouble."

"Her name really is True, Dash." Val added with a frown.

"Maybe, but I'm still not going to whatever planet that was you said before."

"Tanjinadd, it's our homeworld." True informed him as she crossed her arms and glared at him.

"Fine, Tanjinadd, but I still don't know where that is and I'm still going to Sullust. Then, I'm going to get you guys to a home where you can be properly taken care of." He did want to see them taken care of, he wasn't a bad guy. He just knew it couldn't be with him. I can barely take care of myself, how am I going to cart these two around the galaxy?" His thought was broken up by Val.

"Can I play dejarik?" he asked as if he had already forgotten about the men trying to kill him.

"Yeah, sure. Do you know how to set it up?" Dash asked as he noticed 'Trouble' still glaring at him. She's awfully used to getting her way for an orphan.

"Yeah, I know how." Val proudly replied.

"Great, it will give me a chance to talk to Trouble here." He nodded at True and Val laughed at Dash's nickname for his big sister.

"My name is True," she responded while holding her glare.

"That's what I said," he mumbled. "Now, who were those men, and why were they trying to kill you?"

"I don't know," she replied a little too quickly. "I thought they were trying to kill you."

"No, they paid no attention to me until I called out to you, so what's going on?"

"I don't know," True persisted. "I've never even met any Gamorreans before." She added in her sweet, 'I want something' voice.

"Alright, I'm pretty sure that crew was after me, well played," he laughed. "But I know the human crew was after you, and I need to find out why if I'm gonna keep you safe."

True smiled at him and something about the mischievous nature of her smile reminded him of a passenger he had on Outrider a long time ago. The beautiful and mysterious performer, Javul Charn. Her memory brought a smile to his face, but like her, this young lady was hiding something, something important. He only hoped it didn't end up getting him killed.

"We'd be safe on Tanjinadd," she insisted.

"Maybe, but in case you haven't been paying attention, I'm broke. I may not even have enough credits to pay the spaceport fees on Sullust, how am I going to finance a tour of the galaxy for two kids to find their homeworld?" Dash stood and went to the galley. "Are you hungry?" He asked his young passengers. "At least I was able to resupply with what I made on my last job."

"I am," Val happily replied. If he noticed any of the tension, he wasn't acting like it. That was also strange, while Trouble seemed like she could take care of herself to an extent, Val did not have the vibe of being raised on the streets. He had more of a pampered feel. Like me when I was his age. This is just an adventure to him. He is counting on someone with some pull to get him out of it.

After a quick meal, Val fell asleep pretty quickly, so he figured he would try and find out what was going on from Trouble. "Hey, Trouble, really, what's going on here?"

"My name is, True, and I already told you, I have no idea."

"Alright, can you think of anything? Maybe it's not something you know, maybe it's something you heard or saw. People like that don't come after kids for no reason, they want something from you."

"I'm not a kid, I'm sixteen." She replied just a little too defensively.

"Right, sorry. Still, they want you and your brother for something and if we can figure it out, it may help us avoid them. Any detail, no matter how small."

"I don't know," she replied, a little more softly this time. "But what I do know is we can avoid them on Tanjinadd."

"Why is getting to Tanjinadd so important to you?"

"It's our home."

"I get that, but you said you're an orphan, are there people there that would take a couple orphans in? Especially one as old as you. Sixteen, not a lot of reputable people would want to take a chance on you."

"You did," she pointed out with a smirk.

"Yeah, but I didn't really have a choice, did I? It was that or let you get shot. Plus, I'm not exactly reputable," He grinned and went back to the cockpit to make the calculations for the jump to hyper-space.

Seven hours later, they were landing on Sullust. He woke up his passengers and let them freshen up, then they were on their way. "Stick close to me, spaceports can be a dangerous place for... tourists." He smiled at Trouble and Val. He had almost said kids, but thankfully he caught himself. He wouldn't want to incur more of Trouble's glaring. As he approached the transport system just outside the spaceport, he heard blasterfire. He instinctively put his left hand on Val's shoulder while his right hovered near his blaster. He wondered what was going on when he thought he saw Officer Toral running through the crowd. He wanted to follow her, but couldn't leave the kids. If they wanted to run off, fine, but he wouldn't leave them.

"What's going on?" Val innocently asked.

"I'm not sure," Dash replied as more blasterfire erupted on the streets outside the spaceport. The blasterfire was growing more steady, and it was getting closer. He didn't like the sinking feeling he had in his gut when suddenly, he saw Officer Toral again, and this time she was running in the other direction. She hadn't seen him and ran right past him and the kids. Part of him was thankful while another part of him wished she had stopped.

"Who was that woman?" True asked as she watched his eyes follow the officer until she was out of sight.

"What woman?" Dash asked.

"The woman you just watched the whole time she ran."

"Maybe I just thought she was attractive and wanted a longer look." Dash replied, hoping to get her off his back.

"No, it looks like you knew her." True added.

"Okay, fine. She's an officer for CorSec," he admitted. A confused look crossed her face so he added, "Corellian Security. We met right before I bumped into you, Trouble." He smiled hoping his nickname would quiet her down. He didn't hear her reply as something caught his attention. An impeccably dressed, dark skinned, well groomed man was running for his life with his blaster drawn. Dash knew that he knew this man and as he drew closer, it clicked.

"LANDO, what are you doing here?"

Chapter two

"Lando, what's going on?" Dash asked as Lando rapidly approached.

"Later, Dash, we need to go, NOW." Dash looked the way Lando had just come and chasing his acquaintance were a motley group of mixed species.

"Taga's man, here?" He yelled as he grabbed Val's hand and scooped him up to run. "Come on, Trouble, it's not safe here." He called and he noticed she was running right beside him. He hoped Taga's men had not seen him. How did they know I was coming here? No one knew I was coming here. I really wish I knew what was happening? All of those thoughts were whizzing through his head at near light speed. He was jolted out of his thoughts when a burst of green light whizzed right past his head and scorched a nearby wall. They definitely knew he was here, and now he would have to take off in a hurry, again.

"Why are Taga's men after you, Lando?" He yelled as he continued to run. He noticed that Val actually looked worried as another blaster bolt, this time red, scorched the wall of the spaceport entrance as they ran back inside.

"I think it has something to do with a package I delivered to Nal Hutta, but I'm not sure what. I should have turned the job down flat based on the fact that there might be Hutts involved. Why are they after you?"

"Same as you I think. I delivered a package to Nal Hutta, too." Dash replied as they rounded the next corner in time to see a half dozen Wee Quay thugs standing in front of Lando's ship. The thugs hadn't noticed Lando and Dash, so they just continued running past.

"Great, what am I gonna do now? They're sitting on my ship. Can you get me off Sullust in the Outrider? I mean at least until we figure out what's going on."

"Fine," Dash grunted as they continued to run. "It's gonna start getting crowded on my ship soon."

"Yeah, I noticed," Lando grinned. "Who are the kids?"

"I'm not a kid," True replied with a glare.

"I have no idea, people were trying to kill them and when I tried to help them, Taga's men showed up and we were able to get away in the confusion. Trouble here says they're orphans."

"Your name is, Trouble?" Lando asked as he continued to run. A flurry of blaster bolts let them know that Taga's men were gaining on them. They knew they couldn't out run them, so they turned around and began to return fire.

"No, my name is, True," she answered as she shot a Devonian in the chest, dropping him to the ground.

Lando queried a look at Dash and the Pilot just shrugged. "It's a long story," He yelled as he fired off three shots quickly. The Sullustan authorities were curiously missing from this situation so Dash decided it was up to them to get themselves out of this jam. Lando had already taken down two Rodians and Dash had shot a Gamorrean and a Jawa. The remaining two Wee Quay stopped, apparently confused as to what to do now that whoever was leading their team was dead. Dash took the opportunity to continue running, while Lando, True and Val all followed suit.

They were nearly to the berth holding Outrider when Dash noticed his CorSec friend being surrounded by more of Taga's men. He stopped and the others stopped and looked at him.

"What are you doing, Dash?" Lando impatiently asked. "We can't be too far ahead of them, come on, we have to go."

"We have to help her." He pointed to the woman.

"Why?" Lando asked, not understanding what was going on.

"Because she's the one person that might be able to tell us what's going on." He didn't wait for an answer, he just started towards Seleen. He called back over his shoulder, "Hey, Trouble, get your brother back to the ship." He smiled as he heard her mumble something, but she did as he asked. He picked up his pace hoping to surprise Taga's men and noticed Lando right behind him. Just as a large Gamorrean was throwing Seleen over his shoulder, they both opened fire. They quickly took out the two confused Wee Quay as well as a human and a Twi'lek. The Gamorrean put Seleen down and raised his blaster in time to be shot by Lando. Dash dove as a shot just missed his head and came up in a roll to take out a Rodian. The last Rodian, realizing he was now outgunned, ran off. He went to help up the officer but she refused his help.

"What's going on here, Rendar?" She called angrily as she stood on her own and wiped off her black pants.

"We're saving your life, that's what's going on."

"Why are you with him?" She asked in an accusatory voice.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Lando began in his best pick up voice.

Dash looked at Lando putting on his best smile and introduced him, "Lando, this is Officer Seleen Toral, Officer Toral, this is Lando. Hey, Officer, no bikini this time?" He smiled, knowing his question irked her. She frowned and he continued. "And I'm not with him. I came here to lay low after Taga's thugs attacked me on Corellia, and I just so happened to run into him just now outside the spaceport."

"I'm just here to gamble." Lando added, continuing to smile at the beautiful officer.

"Well you're who I was here looking for, Lando. I have some questions for you concerning a recent delivery you made."

"And you are with?"

"I'm with CorSec." She replied while glaring at Dash.

"Let's talk about this somewhere people are not trying to kill us." Dash interjected as he began back towards his ship.

"They've got my ship covered, and probably yours. Apparently, they weren't expecting Dash, so we will have to get off Sullust with him." Lando explained as they quickly ran towards the Outrider.

"Actually, I booked passage here, but I need answers so I'm not letting either of you out of my sight." Seleen added as she followed them onto the ship.

"Tell me again what you're both doing here?" Seleen repeated for the fourth time since they lifted off. She was using a widely known law enforcement tactic of continuing to ask suspects the same question hoping for them to screw up and poke holes in each other's stories. The only problem with her approach was there were no holes because they had accidentally run into each other and neither knew the other had been involved with the deliveries on Nal Hutta. As they were patiently answering again, True and Val poked their heads into the cockpit. Seleen took one look at them and threw her hands up in frustration. "Who are these kids and what do they have to do with this?"

"That's Trouble and Val, and they have nothing to do with this, but they've got their own set of problems." He waited for the glare, but apparently True had given up on getting him to call her by her real name.

"You dragged a couple kids into all of this?" She yelled at him as if he were a child.

"I didn't have a choice, people were trying to kill them. they appeared to be soldiers trying real hard not to look like soldiers, and I tried to help them when suddenly Taga's men showed up, too. I couldn't just leave them alone with professional soldiers after them, so I brought them here to Sullust. I was planning on trying to get them into a good home or something, but we never really got out of the spaceport."

"Wait," Lando said as if an important thought had just hit him. "Why did Dash ask you about a bikini?"

"Because he's an idiot." She replied to laughter from Val and True.

"Because, she was flirting with me, real nice like, at the resort bar on the beach and she was wearing a bikini. She even asked to come back to my room which is where her and her partner pulled blasters and badges. Speaking of which, where is Button Up?"

"He's back on Bastion, in the hospital after a run in with Jox Cavann and his men."

"So you were wearing a bikini?" Lando asked, not letting the subject drop. "Cuff me now and take me away."

"That can be arranged, Calrissian, and please, dial it back in front of the kids." Seleen replied with a glare.

"Okay, now that the history of how we met is complete, can you answer something for us, Officer Toral?"

"Maybe," she replied with a wink at Val. He seemed to be sidling ever closer to her and it made her smile.

"What did we do to Taga? You obviously knew he was upset with us, it's probably what put you on our trail to begin with. Thanks for the heads up by the way. All we did was make a delivery to Nal Hutta, and while Lando is an acquaintance, he's not someone I usually partner up with. There's no other reason Taga would be after both of us at the same time, so what's going on?"

"Having spoke to both of you and a couple of Jox' men, and with what little the Imperials on Bastion let slip, it goes something like this." She paused and took a deep breath. Taga the Hutt illegally purchased some classified items on Bastion through a proxy company that was meant to be mistaken for a little used arm of the Imperial Remnant's military. They fell for it, which is pretty embarrassing and also the reason they have reached out to CorSec. Now, here is where it gets interesting. Jox runs a rival organization of Taga's, and he's doing everything he can to take the Hutt down a notch, including setting up part of his business on Nal Hutta. He intercepted Taga's illegal merchandise and used the two of you to get it off Bastion. Having you deliver it directly to Nal Hutta was a slap in Taga's face, and Taga is now holding everyone involved directly responsible. That's why he is coming after each of us, even though Jox is the one he wants. He must think we're part of Jox' organization because we're human and he mostly recruits humans."

"It all makes sense now," Lando replied. "We should talk about this more over drinks," he added with one of his famous smiles.

"I don't think she likes you like that," Val innocently commented to a round of laughter at Lando's expense.

"Now, Val," Seleen began as she patted him on the back. "We shouldn't bruise Lando's ego like that." They all laughed again, and even Lando cracked a smile at Val's laughter. "So where are we headed now?" She asked when she had regained her composure and she noticed that Val was now holding her hand.

"Tatooine, Mos Eisley is the one place we might be able to get this sorted. We can get a message to Taga from there letting him know we were not involved and offer some sort of minor reparations to show our sincerity." He shrugged as he looked at their faces. "Look, I know it's not ideal, but it's all I got. I have to look out for Val and Trouble until I can get them settled, and being shot at on every planet isn't good for them. Sooner or later, one of Taga's goons is gonna get lucky and one of them is gonna get hurt." He saw that Seleen and Lando still didn't look convinced so he threw up his hands and added, "Anyone have a better idea?"

Seleen realized she may have been too quick to judge Dash. Beneath his tough exterior, and the idiotic nicknames he came up with, he was actually a descent person. He didn't have to look after these kids, and he certainly didn't have the means to provide much for them, but he was concerned for them and she thought that was honorable.

"I have an idea." True spoke into the silence. "We could go to Tanjinadd." She hoped even as she asked.

"Tanjinadd?" Lando asked, I've never heard of it. What's on Tanjinadd?"

"It's their homeworld," Dash answered with a sign. "She's been asking about it since we left Corellia, but I don't have any idea where it is, and I don't have the resources to go looking for it." He looked over at True and noticed her eyes were starting to tear up so he added. "I really wish I knew where it was, Trouble, because I know it's really important to you."

"Aren't you a freighter pilot?" Seleen asked. "How is it you can't find her planet?"

"There are tens of thousands of habitable worlds in this galaxy, Seleen, no one knows all of them. If I at least had an idea of where it was, maybe there's someone on their planet that knows them and can take care of them, but they can't give me any hints and it's a big galaxy."

"Maybe we can hack the database in Mos Eisley's spaceport and get the astro-navigational data." Lando offered. "I mean if it's alright with CorSec here." He pointed to Seleen.

"What's with you guys and your nicknames." True asked.

"It's a sure sign of immaturity, True." Seleen replied and Val laughed again.

"Well, it's seventeen hours to Tatooine," Dash began as he stood up to leave the cockpit. "You up for a game of dejarik, Val?"

"Yeah," he answered in not quite a yell as he ran past Dash to the board.

"Sleeping quarters are down the corridor, galley's on the left and the fresher is at the end of the corridor." Dash called out to Lando, Seleen and True. "Help yourself, I restocked on Corellia, so I might actually have some food you like." He smiled and sat down across the dejarik board from an excited Val.

Orphans don't play dejarik that well, Trouble is definitely hiding something. They were finally getting ready to land at Mos Eisley. He had actually managed six and a half hours sleep. When he wasn't sleeping, he was playing dejarik with Val. They had played five times and Val had won three. Dash had let him win the first time, but after seeing how good the boy was, decided to play him a bit tougher. Val legitimately won once, and Dash had accidentally won once. The other two games, were well played and split between them. He figured as long as Val won more than he did, he would be okay. There were so many rules to kids that he didn't know about, but this was one he did. You didn't want to always win because then it might dampen the child's desire to continue playing.

Now that they had landed, they came up with a plan, Dash would make contact with someone he knew could get a message to Taga while Lando and Seleen tried to hack the spaceport database and find Tanjinadd. It actually might be the perfect place to hide if things went south with Taga. Plus he really wanted to get these kids to someone who could take care of them. He was beginning to grow attached, but he was fooling himself if he thought they could stay with him long-term. Trouble and Val were supposed to stay on the ship, just in case anyone in Mos Eisley was looking for them. Hopefully, once Taga was contacted, they could lay low until they knew which way it was going to go.

Dash looked around the cantina for anyone he thought might be able to get a message to Taga. He would have to pay the contact, but he wasn't worried about getting ripped off. You don't want to be the man that doesn't give a message to someone like Taga the Hutt. Dash's eyes made their way to the bar and they stopped on a Devonian named Vonav. He sauntered over to the bar, ordered a drink and turned to Vonav. "Hey, Vonav, I need you to take a message to Taga the Hutt for me."

Before Dash could continue, Vonav interrupted him. "The time for words is over, Dash, Taga wants payback and he has a pretty big price on your head." He reached for his blaster and Dash grabbed his hand.

"You're not thinking of trying to collect the bounty yourself, are you Von?" He had his blaster pressed against the Devonian's side and he continued. "Tell Taga that I don't work for Jox Cavann, and I didn't steal his stuff. I only delivered it, and I never knew what it was I was delivering." He handed him a data card and continued. "Here's a copy of the contract that proves what I'm saying. It's bad form to go after the delivery guys and he knows that. He needs to call off his men. I don't want to have to keep looking over my shoulder, and I'm sure he doesn't want to keep losing men; especially if he's going to go to war with Jox over this. I'll even make one free delivery for him, nothing illegal, just to show my respect and apologize for the misunderstanding. Now, go tell him." He gave Vonav a shove towards the door and kept his blaster trained on him until he was near the door. He was fairly certain that had gone well until the old Rendar luck kicked in and Vonav met two Gamorreans on his way out. He motioned over to Dash and then left. The Gamorreans were on their way over to him and he had to think fast. There was no way he was taking two of the big pig like humanoids in a bar fight. He was sitting next to a Wookie at the bar and he nudged him as a thought hit him.

"Waaahhaaug," The Wookie roared as he turned to face Dash.

"I hate to disturb you while you're drinking, but I thought you'd like to know that the two Gamorreans on their way over here said you look like an overgrown Ewok and they're gonna teach you a lesson." Dash hoped the Wookie believed him or he'd be in even more trouble.

"Wahuaaggah," he roared with furry fists raised.

Dash put his hands up in mock surrender. "Hey, don't kill the messenger, talk to them." He pointed over his shoulder to the two Gamorreans that were closing in on him. The Wookie was quickly on his feet and he motioned to a friend who came over and joined him. After a moment of growling, snarling and snorting, one of the Gamorreans was being thrown through a sturdy table. The Wookie had bought it and the diversion had begun. Suddenly he saw Trouble, she was standing in the doorway as the fight broke out and she looked nervous. What is she doing here? Why is she not with her brother? Dash ducked, jumped, slid and otherwise evaded the many fights that had broken out as he quickly made his way to the door. He took Trouble by the hand and quickly pulled her away from the cantina in time to see a Twi'lek come flying through the window and land in a pile of broken transparisteel and blood.

"What happened," True asked as Dash continued to lead her away.

"Taga's men found me so I had to create a diversion to get away from them. Why aren't you with your brother on the ship?"

"I wanted to make sure everything was alright." She replied as if her presence were a requirement for people to do what they said they would.

Before Dash could answer, he heard a voice yell, "There she is, we need her alive. Kill the man with her." Then blasterfire rang out all around them. Dash pulled Trouble behind a wall and began to fire back. Hard orange light was taking small chunks out of the wall while charring the ozone and leaving a burning smell in the air. Dash fired back again hitting one of the Humans. "Really, Trouble, you have to tell me what these guys are after this. They want you alive and I can't imagine it's for noble purposes."

"I... I," she started, unsure she should tell Dash the truth. "I do know what they want, but I can't tell you. I swear I haven't done anything wrong." She leaned out and popped off two shots from her fully recharged blaster.

Seven men were advancing in military formation on their position, and they had nowhere to run. The attack had forced them to take cover on the nearest street which was a dead end. These guys really knew what they were doing. "I can't see a way out, look for any open doors or windows we could use to get in one of these buildings." He said while he was taking down another attacker. These men probably didn't know, that he was also ex-military, and the Empire may not have treated his family right, but they did train him well before they kicked him out. He peered around the corner to fire again taking a blaster bolt to the chest near his shoulder that launched him back almost three meters. The remaining six attackers sped up their advance only to be slowed down by a blaster bolt from Trouble and another from Dash as he lay on the ground writhing in pain.

"Dash," True yelled. "Are you alright?" She chanced a look at him on the ground as she continued firing.

"I don't think so," he grunted. Just then, True went down to a stun weapon and three men stood above him, blasters drawn. He tried to raise his blaster, but couldn't. He closed his eyes and resigned himself to his fate. They wouldn't hear him beg for mercy.

Chapter three

Dash knew he was experiencing his last moments of life and he was in agony from the blaster bolt that had hit him. He flinched when he heard several shots and slowly realized he wasn't dead. He opened his eyes to see Lando and Seleen back to back making sure there were no other assailants in the area. Lando carefully picked up True, thankful she was still alive while Seleen gently helped him up. He almost thought she looked concerned. It took some doing, but they made it back to the ship.

Lando gently laid True down on a bunk while Seleen was treating Dash's wound on the couch in the common area. Val looked really scared as he watched. He was shaken up seeing how much pain Dash was in until Dash winked at him and grunted. "Don't feel too bad for me, Val, in a few hours we're playing some more dejarik and I'm not gonna take it easy on you." He winked again, then cried out as Seleen took his shirt off. He noticed his comment did seem to calm Val down and he almost thought he saw a fleeting smile on Seleen's lips. She definitely had a soft spot for the kid. As she continued to gently take his shirt off, careful to cut the pieces that were burned into his flesh, Dash painfully smiled and said, "This would have been so much better if we were still back in Kor Vella." He tried to wink but instead cried out in pain as Seleen's fingers 'accidentally' brushed the wound, most likely in retaliation for his comment.

"He's in a lot of pain, we should put him out until the pain meds and bacta patch can take effect." She said to Lando as he handed her the first aid kit.

"I don't want anyone flying my ship," Dash grunted.

"Too bad! We need to go now, and you can't do it." He tried to get up, but she easily pressed him back down into the couch. "This is serious, Dash, it missed your heart by only a couple centimeters but it still did a lot of damage. You can't fly."

"Fine," he bit out as if it had just cost him a limb. "Outrider flight code is, zero, bravo, eight, eight, tango, seven, alpha, got that, Calrissian?"

"I got it, Dash."

"Don't crash my ship."

"Come on now, Dash, has no one ever told you about my little maneuver at the battle of Tanab? Or about the time I blew up the second Death Star over Endor? I'll keep Outrider safe."

"Ok, Seleen, please put me out now, if I have to hear about Tanab or the Death Star one more time I'll probably wish I was dead."

"Are you sure you boys don't work together more than you let on," she laughed as she injected him and watched as he quickly lost consciousness. She then went about patching him up as best she could while Lando took off without clearance from Mos Eisley. He plotted a course to Dantooine where he and Seleen would try and go through the data they borrowed from Mos Eisley so they could find the elusive Tanjinadd. He then hit the button and watched the stars elongate to white streaks of light around the cockpit as they entered hyper-space.

After a few hours in hyper-space, the alert beeped to let them know they would be reverting back to real space. Lando and Seleen were frustrated because they still could not figure out where this planet Tanjinadd was or if it even existed. Dash was still asleep and True had just woken up. She slowly walked into the common room while Lando went up to the cockpit. She grimaced as she saw Dash still sleeping with his wound heavily bandaged. "Is he going to be alright?" She asked apprehensively, not quite meeting Seleen's eyes.

"We really need to get him to a med center, but he should pull through. What happened?"

"It's my fault," she admitted, looking straight at the floor. "I left the ship after he asked me not to, and they spotted me. Dash wouldn't have gotten shot if I had listened. He was protecting me, and I got him hurt. I wish I had listened."

"I bet he does, too." Seleen replied. "But I'm sure he's not going to hold it against you either."

"He might, he doesn't even like me." True added.

"Now that's not true. You don't take a blaster bolt for someone you don't even like. Dash may be a bit gruff and insensitive, maybe even a bit of a jerk sometimes, but deep down he's a good guy. He's probably keeping his distance because he doesn't want to get too attached to you and your brother." Seleen replied with a kind smile as she checked his wound. His skin felt hot to the touch and she felt his head. He was really hot, she hoped he wasn't developing an infection. She could field dress a wound, but she was no doctor.

"I can watch him for a little while if you're hungry or something." True offered.

"That's alright, I've got it covered for now. You'll probably have to watch him if Lando and I need to leave the ship. We didn't find anything on Tatooine that would indicate where your planet is. Are you sure your planet is called Tanjinadd?"

"Of course I'm sure," True folded her arms, unhappy that Seleen didn't seem to believe her.

" I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply you weren't being truthful. I meant, is your planet known by any other names? Maybe traders and shippers call it something different than the natives do."

"I don't know. I've never heard it called anything different than Tanjinadd."

"That's alright, True, we'll keep trying, but Dash is right about one thing. We may run out of money before we find it."

"We might," Lando returned to the room with a smile, "but not for a little while." He flashed another one of his trademark smiles, perfect white teeth lighting up in contrast with his dark skin. Seleen could see how women might find him attractive, but he wasn't her type. For one, she doubted he would ever be able to spend more time thinking about her than he did thinking about himself. "While Dash was being responsible and paying off his bills with his money, I was gambling and the sabacc tables on Sullust were lucky for me." He looked at the fifty or so credits sitting next to Dash's data pad and blaster and smiled. He pulled out a thousand credit chip and exited the ship to pay the docking and maintenance fees.

Seleen smiled again. As full of himself as he pretended to be, she knew that deep down, Lando was also a good guy. Being trapped on the run with two suspects could have gone a lot worse for her. She didn't even have her blaster, she had been given one of Dash's. Yes, this could have gone much worse, she thought as she called behind Lando. "Bring us back some flavored ice." Lando gave her a thumbs up to indicate that he had heard her and Val gave her the cutest hopeful look she had ever seen.

"Did he say yes?" Val excitedly asked. "Is he bringing us back some?"

"Yes he is Val," Seleen replied as Val threw his arms around her. She hugged him back and then released him. He looked at True and smiled and his smile was infectious. Seleen saw True really smile for the first time as she looked at her little brother.

Six hours later, Dash finally woke up. He didn't feel good at all. His chest and shoulder were in so much pain, he wanted to cry, and for some reason he felt really hot. He noticed he was sweating as he heard Lando and Seleen speaking.

"Nothing in the databases on Tatooine or Dantooine can point us towards their system. I don't see how we're gonna get these kids home." Lando said in frustration.

"We need to get to a core world with a bigger database." Seleen replied.

"Not in this ship, Taga's gonna have people in every world of the Core looking for us."

"Maybe we can sneak on, how did you sneak onto Bastion?" Seleen looked up at him as she asked.

"I didn't, I arrived under an alias because the Imperials don't really like me much on account of that whole blowing up the Death Star thing. I loaded up and left under the same alias. I arrived and left at their busiest times to make it less likely they stop me and take a closer look."

"What about Dash, how did he do it?"

"I'm not really sure, although he did go to the Imperial Academy on Bastion. He probably learned a few tricks there."

"More than a few," Dash called into their conversation.

"So, finally decided to join us. I thought you were gonna sleep all day." Lando chided his injured acquaintance. He wasn't ready to think of him as a friend yet, but he could see it happening. If I could stay friends with Han all of these years, Dash would practically be an improvement. He smiled at the thought.

"Still, I'm sure that between the two of you we could sneak back onto Corellia. Once we're there, my people can protect you guys and the kids until we figure out where they need to go." Seleen thought it was the best plan, but ultimately it would be up to Dash and Lando.

"We won't be safe from Taga's people on Corellia, even in your custody." Lando began to say when suddenly True burst in.

"Val wandered off the ship and I saw the men that have been chasing us scoop him up. We have to get him back, please." The tears in her eyes were real and they were flowing freely.

"Stay here with Dash, Come on, Lando." Seleen replied as she ran out of the ship, followed closely by Lando. She quickly determined which way the abductors went and borrowed a speeder by quickly flashing her badge. She and Lando hopped in and took off in search of Val, thankful the citizen didn't look to closely and realize she had no authority here.

"Don't worry, Trouble, they'll find him. Seleen is a good cop, and she has a soft spot for your little brother. They'll get him back." He looked at her trying to keep her composure and remembered how lonely he felt when his brother was killed. As the past was painfully dredged up, he heard a noise at the boarding ramp. He grabbed his blaster and held it under the blanket covering him. "Did Seleen and Lando close the hatch on the way out?" He asked as he heard another noise.

"No they didn't," a lean, bald human replied as he and a partner leveled their blasters at Dash and True. "They'll be kicking themselves for that mistake when they come back and find princess here gone and you dead."

"Hold on, can't we talk about this? What do you even want her for?"

"You don't know?" An amused look crossed the soldier's face. "He doesn't know." he laughed as his partner kept his blaster trained on True. He could see Dash's wound and he could see the sweat pouring off his body and knew he wouldn't be any trouble.

"She's the princess and her brother is the prince of Tanjinadd. Our planet would like to invade them and we figured it would be easier if we could use the royal brats as leverage." He looked at True with a sneer as he spoke. "A rival of King Tosla had originally kidnapped them and took them to Corellia. We saw our chance and caught up to them there. While we were persuading them to see our point of view, the kids escaped in the confusion."

"Knowing this will do you no good, Rendar. You're about to die anyway," The other intruder added.

"One more question then," Dash began like a man that didn't think he was about to die. "What world are you from?"

"We are from Stowall, it's a large world with large cities. We've used almost all of our resources, which is why we need her world." The bald soldier replied.

"I've never heard of Stowall." Dash admitted.

"Not many have, it gives us an advantage. We're four systems past the Klatooine system and they don't really talk to anyone, so our location remains fairly private. Her world is two systems past ours, so even less people have heard of it." He looked at his partner and added, "As much as I'm enjoying this conversation, we need to get going. Kill Rendar and grab the girl."

As the bald soldier's partner began to raise his blaster, Dash fired twice from beneath his blanket killing both intruders. "Thanks, you've been very helpful," he added with a smug grin as they fell. It took all of his strength to stand and help True drag the bodies off the ship. He nearly passed out twice from the pain during the process. He then sealed the hatch and waited for Lando and Seleen to get back with Val. He was surprised he was so worried about the kid. He looked ruefully over to the dejarik board where the kid just seemed to feel so at home.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you who I was," True began as she cautiously broke the silence.

"I understand, Princess Trouble." Dash winked and then grimaced as he shifted his position on the couch and a sharp pain stabbed through his chest.

"It's just that I wasn't sure what would happen if you knew. I'm sorry, please don't think I'm a liar." True continued, pleading with her eyes. I just wanted to get Val home, he's going to be Tanjinadd's next king, but he's still young and naive. I want him to stay this way forever, although I suspect that after this, he may grow up a little. I just have to protect him, Dash." She was practically crying again.

Dash winced again as he took a deep breath to reply. "Listen, Trouble, you did the right thing. If I were in your position, I would have done the same."

"Really," she asked, hoping he really wasn't mad.

"Really. I just hope you can trust us enough now to let us know anything else that might be important to getting you home. I have an idea of where your world is now, thanks to the chatty assassin out there, and I think we even have enough fuel left to get there, or at least near there. As soon as Seleen and Lando get back with Val, we'll head out." He smiled and added, "Could you get me a towel with cold water on it for my head, Your Highness?"

She feigned annoyance at his casual use of her title, but did as he asked. He looked really sick, and the exertion of dragging the abductors off the ship just about wiped him out. By the time she got back with the towel, he had already fallen back asleep. She gently put the towel on his head and sat by his side, praying her little brother would come running up the boarding ramp any minute now.

"There they are," Lando yelled as he pulled out his blaster.

"Put that thing away. We can't shoot their speeder; we might hit Val." Seleen replied as she hit the accelerator to gain ground on the fleeing speeder. Thankfully, she had borrowed a nice speeder and she was confident she would catch up to the abductors soon.

"I just want to be ready when we catch them, Officer," Lando replied with a smile.

"And you can stop all of that smiling, it's not getting you anywhere with me." She added as she took the next turn. She saw her chance, they were on a straightaway before the road curved left. The street was lined with what looked like abandoned two and three story warehouses. It didn't look like anyone had been in this part of town for a long time. It was actually the perfect place to lay low or launch an abduction from. She decided she would race ahead and cut them off. She hit the accelerator again and gained steadily until she was in front of the soldiers going into the turn. She hit the brakes and turned the speeder sideways and the soldiers tried to take a wide turn around them, but the road was too narrow. The abductors couldn't handle the adjustment at their high rate of speed, and they crashed into one of the abandon buildings that littered the road. Lando and Seleen were out of their speeder instantly, blasters drawn. They made their way over to the crashed speeder and shot two of the soldiers that tried to draw on them. There was one more in the back with Val, and the driver was unconscious. Lando took one side and Seleen took the other. They both set their blasters to stun.

"Don't come any closer or I'll kill him." The last soldier yelled as he held his blaster to Val's head. Seleen's heart was breaking as she saw the look of abject terror on Val's young face. "Drop your blasters, both of you. I mean it, I'll kill him."

"Alright," Lando started calmly. "Let's talk about this."

"There's nothing to talk about. I'm walking out of here with the kid or he's dead," Seleen could see the sweat forming from the soldier's forehead.

"You know that if you kill him you die, right?" Lando replied.

"The man didn't answer, he just tightened his grip on Val. Seleen had seen enough, the longer she allowed this to play out, the greater the possibility of Val getting hurt. She quickly aimed her blaster and fired, stunning both Val and the soldier. As they slumped in the speeder, Seleen was quickly retrieving Val as Lando brought the speeder they had borrowed around to meet her. She hopped in, holding Val on her lap as Lando quickly made his way back to the ship.

"I had to do it," Seleen said as Lando drove. "I couldn't take a chance he would go through with it, and he might have just been trying to distract us until his backup arrived."

"I understand, I'm just surprised you didn't do it sooner." Lando replied with his eyes on the road.

"I just really didn't want to stun Val; he's just a kid."

Lando smiled, a real smile, not his flirtatious smile like usual. "You did the right thing. Val will wake up in a little while and he'll be fine, and we did need to get out of there." They rode in silence all the way back to the ship. Lando drew his blaster when he saw the two dead soldiers outside Outrider. Seleen crouched behind the speeder holding Val with one arm and her blaster in her free hand.

"Can you see anyone else?" She called to Lando in a loud whisper.

"No, it looks all clear." He turned and aimed as Outriders hatch slid up.

"Did you find Val?" True asked with hopeful eyes.

"Yeah we did, he's stunned, but he'll be fine. What happened here?" Lando asked.

"You left the hatch opened when you left and two soldiers snuck onboard. Dash heard them though and hid his blaster under his blanket. He tricked them into telling him who they were, and where they were from, then he shot them." She looked over to Seleen carrying a sleeping Val and ran to her. She kissed her brother's head and anxiously asked, "Is he alright?"

"He'll be fine, True. Let's get back in the ship and get out of here before they send more men then we can handle." Seleen answered as she began up the boarding ramp. "How's Dash?"

"He passed out after we dragged the bad guys off the ship. He looks pretty sick and I know he's in a lot of pain, but he won't say it because I think he doesn't want me to feel bad."

"Alright, Lando, prep the ship. We'll have to find somewhere else to land until we can figure out where your planet is. But until then, we're gonna have a talk about who you really are and why these guys want you so badly." Seleen added in her best cop voice.

"Dash already figured out where it is, or at least generally where it is." True replied, un-intimidated by Seleen's 'officer of the law' routine.

"What, how?" Seleen was half confused and half impressed. as the hatch closed and Seleen put Val gently into one of Outrider's bunks, she waited for True to begin her story. Lando had gone to the bridge to prepare for takeoff and Seleen and True joined him in the cockpit. True told them everything, but neither one of them could figure out her planet's location. Lando decided to take off and head in the direction of Klatooine.

As soon as Outrider left the ground, Dash deliriously called from the common room, "Don't break my ship," and then immediately fell back asleep.

True began to laugh at the scowl that crossed Lando's face and she said, "He really loves this old ship, doesn't he?"

"It's all he owns." Lando informed her. "It's his home, his business, his only significant possession and his retirement plan. This ship is his everything. When he brought you and Val aboard, he wasn't just giving you a ride, he was sharing everything he had with you. Seleen and I, too. It's no easy thing for a man like Dash to trust everything to someone he doesn't know that well, and a couple people he just met."

"I hadn't thought about that," True replied as Seleen shook her head. The young Princess was getting a crash course in the reality most of the galaxy faces every day. What Lando said had touched her, and she now had even more respect for Dash.

As the stars elongated around the cockpit and Outrider jumped into hyper-space. Lando got up to go get something to eat. Seleen went to check on Val and True sat dutifully by Dash's side as he slept. "We'll jump in two systems shy of Klatooine and set a new course from there once Dash wakes up." He called out as he put a premade meal in the oven.

"Sounds good," Seleen replied as she came out of the room Val was in and took two more meals out of the cabinet. True hadn't said she was hungry, but Seleen knew she hadn't eaten in a while. "I'm putting on a nerf steak for you, True. You need to eat and keep your strength up.." True nodded her assent and Seleen prepared her food.

They were almost to Klatooine when Dash woke up. Lando asked him where he thought Tanjinadd was and Dash explained his deductions. It seemed to make sense to Lando so he prepared to set in the new course as soon as they came out of hyper-space. By Dash's estimation, they would only need to check out three systems tops, the one they were heading to and the one on either side of it. The only problem was, with the soldiers after the True and Val, they might be making themselves a target if they went to the wrong one first. Their journey was far from over and the kids were far from safe. That didn't even take into account their own predicament with Taga the Hutt. Lando knew he wouldn't stop chasing them.

Chapter four

"Tanjinadd Control, this is Officer Seleen Toral of Corellian Security, come in please." Seleen began as they exited hyper-space into what she hoped was the Tanjinadd system. This was the second system they had tried according to Dash's guess and it looked like they might have picked up a tail. There was no answer from the planet, but as they flew deeper into the system, they saw a fleet of warships. There had to be at least forty ships and there were three different types. The large ships were nearly as big as Star Destroyers and looked just as deadly. Instead of the dreaded wedge shaped ships, these ships were more of an rectangular tube, slightly larger in the back than the front. They counted at least thirty weapons batteries on one side. There was no doubt that these ships would be fierce, and were not to be reckoned with. There were two smaller types of ships that Lando guessed were this planet's versions of frigates and gunships, but they remained in place around the planet.

"Try hailing the ships, Seleen." Lando suggested.

After another transmission, she looked at him and replied, "No luck, if this is the place, they're not very friendly." After another attempt, an explosion rocked Outrider.

"We've got company," Lando yelled as he began evasive maneuvers. "True, make sure you, your brother and Dash are strapped in." He yelled.

"But the harness will hurt his wound," she yelled back.

"Not as much as being flung around the ship, trust me." He replied and continued trying to evade whoever was following them. "Seleen, I need you to start shooting back while I fly." He tucked the ship into a tight loop, hoping to see who was behind him and he glimpsed not one, but two ships. The first ship looked like an armored shuttle of some sort and the second ship was a Head Hunter. The snub nosed fighter was probably launched from the larger ship. The fighter was a lot faster than they were, but Head Hunters weren't known to have powerful weaponry. The fighter pilot would likely be trying to harass them and corral them into the larger ships sights. Lando hit the thrusters and flew into a wide, sweeping arc to his left to give him another look. The fighter stayed on his six, but the shuttle was now right in front of them. "Now," Lando called out, but nothing happened.

"Now, what?" Seleen asked.

"Open fire, it's too late though, we missed our chance."

"Sorry, I didn't know what you were doing, and I'm not really much of a space battle type. I do all of my fighting on the ground where the laws of gravity still apply."

"Fine, but we need to get these guys off our tail." Lando looked over and noticed Seleen didn't even have the targeting systems up yet. He leaned over her lap and pressed the buttons. The targeting screen flared to life and he pointed to another button. "As soon as the enemy ship gets close to the middle of that box, start shooting." He pointed to the red box in the center of the display, then showed her the weapons button again. "Got it?"

"Got it, but don't expect too much; I've never done this before." She replied as Outrider took another hit. Lando could hear Dash cry out in pain and wondered if it was the wound or the fact that his ship had taken damage. Seleen began to fire at the fighter, but missed by a lot. Lando queried her a look and said, "Really?"

"I told you I've never done this before." Another hit rocked Outrider and Lando spun the ship into a tight roll between the two attacking ships. He leveled off and scowled as True had come into the cockpit.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed, strap in." He shouted as he swerved out of the way of some laser fire, sending True flying into the cockpit wall.

"I will, but I need Officer Toral's seat. I'm really good at this, trust me." True held onto the back of Seleen's seat while she waited for her to move. Seleen quickly shuffled to the rear seat and True replaced her. Before she had even strapped in, the target locked and she dispatched the fighter. She strapped herself in and then looked out the viewport. "Hey, that my planet," She commented. "Why won't our ships help us?" She asked as Lando continued trying to shake the armored shuttle.

"They won't even answer us," Seleen complained.

"That's because they're on high alert for some reason. I'll broadcast the code and let them know I'm aboard." She fired twice more, scoring a grazing shot to the shuttle and then she sent out the code and began her transmission. "This is Princess True, these people have rescued Prince Val and I from Anarran forces that abducted us and had taken us to Corellia. Our ship is damaged and we have wounded aboard. Please respond."

A moment later a deep voice responded with a hopeful inflection in his voice. " True? Is that really you?"

"Yes, Father, and Val is with us but we cannot shake this armored shuttle, can you send one of the ships in the fleet."

"Voice authentification matches, your Majesty, it is your daughter." She heard someone relay to her dad.

"Worry not, True, you shall be back on Tanjinadd very soon." She heard determination in his voice and moments later, over a hundred fighters launched towards the shuttle that was harrying them. The shuttle broke off at the last moment, but not before hitting Outrider one more time.

"That last shot damaged our landing gear, it's gonna be a bumpy landing. Then, Dash is gonna kill me."

"My father will make sure his ship is fixed good as new." True commented. "Don't worry Lando, you're about to be a hero."

"Again," he added to some confused looks. "Death Star? Blowing that up sort of made me a hero already," he laughed as Seleen was shaking her head.

Twenty minutes later, Lando was bringing the damaged ship in for an almost gentle landing. After the screech of metal on pavement had ended and the fires had been put out, Dash and Seleen led True and Val off of the ship to quite a sight. The King was standing out in front of the cleanest spaceport Lando had ever seen. The spaceport was gleaming white and spires rose to back of the building. Each section of the spaceport was marked by a different color painted in a perfect rectangle on the gleaming white walls. The king was flanked by a couple dozen men with many more behind him and the media had shown up en masse. In the distance, Lando could make out the shape of a large gleaming white palace. True and Val marched regally towards their father, not breaking protocol at all. They truly looked royal in spite of the grubby garb they were wearing. Val was in a pair of stained tan pants, one of the legs had a hole in it, and one of his shoes was half ruined as well. He was also wearing a old green jacket that Dash had picked up for him somewhere along the way. True Was wearing black boots with black pants, both of which were sporting rips and stains. She also wore a white shirt that would probably never be worn again. Dash had picked that up somewhere, too. It actually looked like it had been fairly nice, but no longer.

When His children reached him, he smiled and picked up True in a big bear hug. He spun her around and Seleen and Lando watched as she broke out into the biggest smile they had ever seen on her.

"I thought I'd lost you, True." He leaned in and kissed her cheek and squeezed her again. "Please, don't ever scare me like that again." He kissed her cheek again.

"I'm sorry, father, I will work harder at being vigil."

"This was not your fault, True." He squeezed her hand and picked up his excited son in the same bear hug. "My young king, did you take care of your sister while you were gone?"

"Yes, father, but she took care of me more, and Dash took care of both of us." Val replied as he hugged his dad.

"Well thank you, Dash," the king extended his hand to Lando.

"I am Lando Calrissian, Your Majesty. Dash is still on the ship." Lando replied as he shook the King's hand.

"Calrissian? Are you the Calrissian that blew up the Death Star?" He asked in awe.

"The same, Your Majesty," Lando replied with a smile that said he was thankful someone else had finally acknowledged his greatest moment. And this is Officer Seleen Toral of CorSec."

"How did one as beautiful as you become involved in saving my daughter?" The king asked as he took her hand.

"Well, Dash was not just running from the Anarrans, your majesty. A criminal had tricked both him and Lando into delivering something to Nal Hutta that was stolen by Taga the Hutt on Bastion . Taga thought they were part of the plot and has had men chasing them all over the galaxy while we tried to find your world. I was on Sullust looking for Mr. Calrissian to see if he had any more information to help my investigation when both Lando and I were attacked separately by Taga's men. Dash had gone to Sullust to lay low and find a good home for your children because they told us they were orphans when he ran into Lando. Taga's men had Lando's ship guarded so he wouldn't escape so Dash brought him to Outrider. As they were almost back to their ship, they spotted me in some trouble with Taga's man and helped me. That is how we all came to be on the same ship." Seleen sighed as she finished her summary.

"Dash helped my children even when he thought they were orphans?" The king asked in awe of the generosity.

"Not at first, father, I'm afraid he caught me trying to break into his ship and then I lied to him and he sent me on my way. Then he realized I wasn't alone when I had Val come out of hiding and that's when the Anarrans started shooting at us. He sprung into action and saved us while evading the Hutt's men. Then he welcomed us on his ship and looked out for us until we could be taken care of. I told him we were orphans just like you taught us to do if we ever found ourselves in trouble on another world. Eventually he learned the truth, and he still purposed to help us. Helping us almost cost him his life and his ship. Father, that ship is all he owns, can we fix it?"

"It will be like new, True, I promise. Where is this man now?"

"He's asleep, Your Majesty. His blaster wound has become infected and he needs a doctor, but we couldn't stop because it was too dangerous for your children."

King Tosla called one of his men and had him send for the best doctor on Tanjinadd. "He will receive the best care available and after that, he will lounge in the best accommodations for as long as he likes." He smiled and hugged his daughter again. "Come my friends. You are also welcome to stay as long as you like."

Seleen looked at Lando as he followed the King and said, "I'm going to see about Dash, I'll catch up with you later." He nodded and continued to follow the king. As Seleen made her way to the med-center, she thought about Dash and was surprised to realized she might be starting to like him. She almost laughed at the thought given how they had met. When did I start caring about him? She wondered as she walked. I thought he was such a jerk at first. He definitely grew on me though. Maybe it was how he was looking out for those kids.

The king nodded to Seleen as she left and then turned to Lando and said, "This will be excellent, you can tell me all about the Death Star. Would you like to hear about the Death Star, Val?" He asked as his son held his hand while he walked. Media crews were recording everything and Lando reckoned there hadn't been news this big on this isolated world in a long time. The Prince and Princess had been returned and it looked as though there was going to be a huge celebration.

Dash woke up a full two days later, but his blaster wound was nearly healed. He must have been in a bacta tank the whole time. He looked to his left and Seleen was sitting there.

"Hey," he called.

"Hey, yourself. How are you feeling?" She replied as she put down the data pad she had been reading.

"Pretty good, how long was I out?" He asked as he wiped the sleep from his eyes and stretched a little. There was still a little pain in the shoulder when he stretched so he would have to take it easy for a while.

"A little over two days. Everyone's been in to sit with you, and it was my turn." She smiled a smile that reached her eyes. "Val has been in twice to play you at dejarik," she laughed.

"How did he manage that?" Dash asked with a smile.

"He played both sides. He won every game, you're not very good," she teased.

"Apparently not," Dash smiled. "He's a good kid, I think I might actually miss him and his sister a little." He added as he had a wishful look in his eye.

"Me, too. Val reminded me so much of my younger brother, Rannoy. He was killed in a spice deal gone bad when he was thirteen. It's actually the reason I joined CorSec. He always had that same hopeful look, like something really fun was just around the corner. That naivety and trust for anyone his big sister thought was okay. He's a sweet kid, just like Rannoy was.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Seleen, he sounds like he was great." Dash patted her hand. "When are the doctors saying I can get out of here? I have to begin repairs because I know Lando broke my ship."

"Not, too bad," Lando laughed as he walked in, and it was Officer Dead Shot over here that got us hit so much. I had them lined up perfectly several times, but she couldn't hit space if she got sucked out an airlock." Dash laughed as Lando mimicked her trying to fire the weapons.

"Keep talking Calrissian, we'll see who winds up out the airlock." She shot back.

"I better stop, CorSec has no sense of humor. I just came by to say goodbye, King Tosla is sending me back to Sullust aboard a luxury gambling liner. Five days at the tables and a pocket full of creds. It just doesn't get any better. I might even break Han's streak of consecutive hours at the table. And don't worry about your ship, the kings mechanics already have her purring like new and looking even better.

"But how are you going to avoid Taga's men?" Dash asked in confusion.

"The king took care of it. He contacted Taga and paid him what he thought the three of us owed him. Then he gave the Hutt Jox Cavann's last known location. Don't ask me how he knew that. Plus, Taga received the message you sent with the Devonian and now knows we weren't involved. We're safe. You don't even need to do a delivery for him. So I get to move on with my life. Goodbye, Dash, goodbye, Seleen. Let's not do this again real soon. Lando chuckled at his own comment.

"Good luck, Lando," Dash reached out and shook his hand. "I'd join you, but I don't gamble." Lando raised an eyebrow. "I gave it up because someone with luck as tragically bad as mine is better off giving his credits away than gambling." Lando laughed, flashed Seleen one last smile and was out the door. "So when do you have to be back at CorSec?" Dash asked.

"I took some time off. I'm going to stay here until you're better and then head back to Corellia with you." Seleen replied.

"Who says I'm going back to Corellia," he joked

"I owe you a couple days in Kor Vella." Seleen added as she straightened his blankets.

"What makes you think I want to go back there?"

"I'll wear the bikini again," She teased.

"I'm in," he laughed. "You're a great negotiator." She playfully hit his arm and he wondered if his luck might indeed be changing.

Three days later, Dash was feeling much stronger. There had been a celebration in his honor, which made him uncomfortable and a few more games of Dejarik with Prince Val. The young prince took two out of three and politely offered him some tips on how to play better to the amusement of everyone in the room. He had inspected the work on his ship and it was top notch. Outrider was fully supplied, topped off on fuel and even had a couple new gadgets aboard. King Tosla offered to pay Dash a reward for saving his daughter but Dash politely declined. He told the king it was his honor, and that he had already done more than enough to repay him. Despite his best efforts, when he sat in his cockpit, there was a small sack with enough creds to keep him going for the next six months. It finally came time for him and Seleen to leave and he was going to have to endure the sad goodbyes. Goodbyes were one of the reasons he didn't mind working alone.

"Dash, you, Seleen and Lando will always be welcome on Tanjinadd. Goodbye, my friends." King Tosla shook his hand and embraced Seleen.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, that is both a kind and tempting offer." Dash replied. Next in line was young Prince Val.

"Goodbye, Dash, I'm going to miss playing dejarik with you. You're the only one that doesn't always let me win." He hugged Dash and tried to keep his emotions in check.

"Maybe you always win because you're really that good," Dash replied as he returned Val's embrace. He moved on to Trouble as he saw Seleen embracing Val. "Well, Princess Trouble, looks like this is the end of the road. Do me a favor and take good care of your brother."

"I will Dash, and thank you for everything." She paused and he could tell she had more she wanted to say. "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you and stay on the ship."

"It's already forgotten, except when I move my arm like this," he stretched his arm back over his head and laughed. "At least I have something to remember you by, True." He used her real name for the first time and she smiled.

She embraced him and replied. "Thank you again, Dash. Please come back for a visit sometime."

"I will, Your Highness." He answered as she moved on to embrace Seleen.

After the goodbyes, Dash and Seleen walked up Outrider's boarding ramp and gave one more wave before closing the hatch. A few minutes later, they took off. Once they broke orbit, Dash plotted a course to Corellia into the navicomputer and moments later the stars began to turn into long white streaks of light as they entered hyper-space.

"I've got six more days before I have to be back at work, this had better be a fun vacation, Rendar." She laughed at the look that came over his face as the result of her obvious flirting.

"I'll do my best, Officer," He joked in return. Yeah, maybe his luck was changing.