Part 1:

The Trandoshan hissed his plea for mercy, but Axle had a job to do. His captors weren't going to kill the lizard but they would most certainly kill Axle if he abandoned his assignment… Only if they could catch him that was. Axle was willing to take the risk of having the Pikes after him but only if the lizard could pay him more money. Exo had been a tough man to find and his freedom would be pricey.

Exo looked to be about thirty, a few years older than the twenty year old Axle, he had yellow green scales and a nice set of self sharpened gleaming white teeth.

"How much you got?" Axle asked.

"Oh credits!" Exo hissed. "Iss that what you'd like! Yes I have many credits. Name a price. Anything!" he pleaded

Axle considered his price. The Pikes had given would have given him thirty thousand to hunt down the lizard and he wanted at least twenty more.

"Say... sixty grand" Axle requested. The lizard's face fell but Axle knew he had the money. He just wasn't so keen on giving it up to him. "Come on Exo, sixty."

"If sixty thousand is your price. Than sixty thousand you shall receive," he complied. Axle smirked triumphantly.

"Let's get the money then shall we?"

Exo led him to an old abandoned house of some sort. And began tearing up planks. He soon turned around with a heaping pile of credits. "It was a pleasure." Exo hissed aggressively as Axle gladly took the money.

Axle was strolling down the streets of Corelia being proud of his gain for the day. He must have not been looking where he was going because he ran head first into a man wearing a leather jacket accidentally knocking him to the ground. He had shaggy black hair, blue-green eyes and a rather startled look at being thrown on the sidewalk.

"Sorry about that." Axle said helping the man up.

"No worries" he replied brushing himself off.

"I guess my mind was just elsewhere," The man stated.

"You're not alone in that one." Axle replied

"Hang on have I seen you before?" he asked.

"Probably," Axle stated truthfully. His name and picture were on a few wanted lists around the galaxy... Just a few.

"What's your name?"

"Axle. You?

"Flocken." he said.

"How was the sidewalk?" Axle remarked.

"Just lovely," Flocken replied sarcastically. "You should visit sometime."

"Oh believe me I've been loads of times." Axle jokes.

Flocken laughed at Axle's comment. "I've probably gotta get going. I've got to get home to my daughter." he said.

Axle continued on his way across town to the nearest hotel to stay in. He was now thinking about what Flocken had said about having to get home to his daughter. Axle chuckled at the thought of him ever having a kid. It wasn't so much the kid themselves, more of the lifestyle that came with it. He pushed his thoughts away and continued on his way to the hotel.

Axle crashed down on his bed his hands behind his head. The cushiony mattress and pillows were a pleasant change to the usual of him falling asleep in the pilot's seat of the Shadow. Not that he didn't enjoy doing that. He just always woke up with a crick in his neck afterward. Granted he did have a bed on the Shadow. He just never used it.

He kicked off his heavy rocket boots that hit the floor with a thud, stripped off his metal armor and rearranged his lekku into a more comfortable position.

Axle reviewed his success for the day in his head and thought out his plan to avoid the Pikes from then forward or at least until they forgot about him. He thought until his eyelids drooped and he started to snore.

Axle awoke early the next morning refreshed. The clock on the bedside table read six-forty two in red numbers. He got up stretched and went to take a hot shower for the first time in a couple weeks.

A few hours later he had settled down with a book he had found and a cup of tea. It was a nice moment of peace and quiet in his usual chaotic lifestyle. Axle loved being a bounty hunter and not truly belonging anywhere. He had lived that way for the past four years since he was sixteen. It was nice not needing anyone and not having anyone to need you. It was simpler that way, but Axle always appreciated his seldom breaks from being a bounty hunter and this was one of them.

At around four o'clock Axle was back on the streets of Corelia. His intentions weren't anything specific just to take a walk until something entertaining possibly caught his eye.

He wasn't sure exactly when he first started to hear it but in the midst of the noise of the city he could make out a singular voice. It sounded as if it belonged to a young child and it was yelling. Axle slowed as the voice became the loudest it had right after he passed a door of a small house. There was a messily parked speeder out in front and the door was cracked open.

Axle felt curiosity tug at him, but why should he care? It wasn't any of his business. And yet as he thought he was drifting ever so closer to the door until his hand was on the knob. He peeked in through the doorway and didn't see anyone. What he could see was the kitchen. There was a sippy cup on the table and the fridge was plastered with young child's drawings. From the kitchen there was a stairwell and a doorway leading into another room.

Axle, despite his better judgement, walked in through the front door. He kept alert for signs of movement and stepped through the doorway.

Axle's eyes went wide at the sight that greeted him. There was a small girl with fine wispy dirty blonde hair and blue-grey-green eyes bawling on the ground and most shockingly of all, a man with shaggy black hair wearing a leather jacket passed out on the couch (probably drunk) drenched in a puddle of his own sweat. In fact it was the same man that Axle had run into the day before!

Axle tried to lift the screaming child but she let her limbs go limp like jello and continued to bawl. "Shh.. Shhh,, It's okay!" he said frantically. What mess did Axle just get himself tangled up in?! Out of all the crime lords assassins and warriors he's encountered, this tiny screaming child had to have been the most terrifying yet.

Most of Axle wanted to get the hell out of there but part of him wanted to stay and make sure everything was okay before he left. So of course, being the generous person he was Axle stayed until the little girl stopped crying.

"Who are you?" she asked after she had pulled herself together.

"No one important."

"Hi." the girl said.

"Can you help me wake up Daddy?" she asked poking her sleeping father.

"Sure kid." Axle replied

Axle took a prod at Flocken with no response. His skin was cold and clammy and drenched with sweat. He tried again. Nothing. And again. Nothing. Finally Axle placed two fingers in Flocken's wrist…

Nothing. He was dead.

There were no visible marks on his body, nothing to indicate that he had been murdered. Axle had seen a lot of dead bodies and he knew how to identify causes of death but this one stumped him. Could have been poison...

Suddenly it struck Axle that he had to tell the kid about her dad. "Look… he's- he's dead, kid…" he said quietly putting a hand on her shoulder. The girl simply looked puzzled.

"What does dead mean?" she asked.

Axle's stomach plummeted. How was he supposed to explain death to a what, three or four year old? Especially when he had to explain it in front of the body of her father.

"It means-" Axle stopped himself. "Come on you want to go on a walk?"

"Okay!" the little girl squealed, immediately forgetting her question.

The little girl grasped Axle's hand and dragged him towards the front door. She was surprisingly strong for the tiny little thing she was. She turned the doorknob just able to reach it and pulled it open.

As the two of them walked into the busy streets of Corelia Axle earned himself a few looks from passer byers. It must have been strange to see a very clearly bounty hunter type figure walking down the street with a kid. Axle knew if he had ever seen it he would be bewildered and yet here he was.

Axle was relieved when they finally reached the hotel. The kid quickly started to explore every inch of his room as soon as they entered and he let her.

Now his mission was to find this kid's mom because Axle wasn't sure how long he could keep her. For one he had zero experience with any child and was minorly intimidated by the idea of having to take care of a three/ four year old for more than a few minutes, or at all for that matter, and for two he technically had kidnapped her. Then again he didn't think it counted considering he was helping her. Okay he had kidnapped her.

"Hey," Axle said to the kid who was playing with the knobs on the bathroom sink.

"Yeah?" she asked looking up with big eyes.

"Do you know where your mom is?" he asked crouching down to her at eye level.

"What's a mom?" she asked curiously

"Okay…" Axle said. "Where's your mommy."

"I don't know what that is." she stated.

"You know like your dad's wife. The other person that lives with you." Axle explained. Did the kid not have a mom? Maybe she used to live alone with her dad.

The kid just looked up at him confused.

"Nevermind." Axle said.

If the kid didn't have a mom, or at least one she knew then what was Axle supposed to do with the kid? That was when Axle realized. Flocken probably had worked, meaning the kid probably had a babysitter. That was his ticket out of this mess he had gotten himself into!

"Do you have a baby sitter? What's her name?" Axle asked

"Yes. Her name's Ms. Jil!" she exclaimed.

"Okay do you know her full name?" The kid shook her head. Axle sighed. "When does she come to babysit?" Axle asked.

"Oh! She's coming on Wednesday." the kid answered.

Axle's face fell into his hands. He was stuck with the kid for three more days until he could get ahold of this lady?! You have to be kidding me… He thought.

"Alright kid I'm done interrogating you." he said.

"What does that mean?"

"It-Nevermind!" Axle groaned.

Throughout the rest of the day the kid had continued to bombard Axle with questions and destroy any relaxation he might have had at all that day. It was about eight o'clock before the kid finally started showing signs of fatigue. After trashing his room and knocking things over she had crashed on the armchair next the the desk.

Axle sighed with relief at the torment being temporarily older. He didn't even know why he was enduring this. He guessed that maybe she reminded him of a certain time in his life. Sure he had been bounty hunting for about three years now but there had been a time when Axle belonged somewhere, where he wasn't an outcast in the universe, where he had a place, a family, a purpose. Maybe the kid just reminded him of that time. He hated to admit it to himself but he sometimes missed that life. Other times he was glad to be rid of it.

He looked back on that time now. He remembered his mother, his father and his sister. He had been the youngest in his family, his sister being about five and a half years older than him. He wondered where she might be right now. Tailey had always been a loner. It was possible that she could be as much of an outcast as he was.

At fourteen Axle had started to get involved with the Republic. He wanted to fight for them, serve them and help build the regiment that would rule over the galaxy. He wanted to be soldier and he was for a little while before he found his own flaws in the Republic and the lifestyle that came with working for them. He still supported it but at sixteen he had decided that being a soldier wasn't the path he wanted to follow.

He had left everything behind and he wasn't mad at himself for it. He enjoyed the "carefree do whatever you want" lifestyle. No guidelines you had to abide by other than your own, no need to worry about being dragged down with anyone and he could go anywhere he wanted. But at the same time he missed having something to keep going for.

Axle looked over at the peacefully sleeping kid and smiled nostalgically to himself. Then the smile faded from his face. He really did feel horrible for her. How in the universe was he supposed to tell her about her dad? It would have been so much easier to just say "He's dead." and be done with it but he had to explain what death was to a child and how her father was never going to wake up. Either way he didn't have to worry about that now. He might as well get some sleep.

Axle settled down on his bed and adjusted himself to a comfortable position. He closed his eyes and attempted sleep. It was a while before he drifted off but eventually he did.

Axle felt a poke in his side. He stirred and put his head under his pillow. He felt another poke and more followed. He groaned his peaceful sleep having been ruined and opened his eyes to look up. It was none other than his most recent problem.

"Kid why are you up so early? Your welcome to sleep in," he told her.

"I'm hungry," she replied.

Axle sighed. "Alright kid." He climbed out of the bed and staggered to his feet. A yawn forced his mouth open with tiredness. He grabbed the room's comn and called for room service.

"Some sort of breakfast is on it's way up kid." Axle said drowsily.

"Okay." she answered. "Hey?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"Why do you call me 'kid'?" she asked.

"You're a kid aren't you?" Axle responded.

"Yes."

"Well there you go."

"I have a name though." she stated giggling.

"For now "kid"ll do." Axle said.

"Okay." the girl said.

A little while later room service had made its way up to them with a nice looking breakfast buffet. Axle licked his lips in anticipation. He and the kid enjoyed a pretty good breakfast. There were some sort of egg, some blue milk and pancakes. Afterwards Axle was comfortably full and his money bag significantly lighter.

"Hey kid?" Axle said to her.

"Yeah?"

"Come on I've got to go on the Shadow and grab some more money and I can't leave you here."

"Okay!" she replied. "What's the Shadow?"

"The Shadow's my flying piece of wonderful garbage." Axle explained. The kid just looked confused. "It's complicated."

"What does complicated mean?"

"Nevermind. The Shadow's my ship."

"Oh."

Axle and the kid walked out of the hotel and to the shipyard where the Shadow was parked. By the time they got there it was early afternoon. They went inside of the Shadow where Axle withdrew about a thousand credits from the storage compartment hidden in the wall and placed them inside his money bag.

"Alright kid let's go," Axle said. "Kid?" The kid who had previously been behind him was now gone. "Oh great," he muttered. "Kid come on I'm not kidding around let's go." Axle walked into the cockpit where the kid was sitting in his seat, pushing buttons at random. "No, no, no, no!" he yelled. The kid spun the seat around to look back at him with big blue-green eyes. "Look kid you- you can't just urguhh." he growled. "Just come on."

"But I wanted to fly the ship." she said disappointedly.

"Your too young to fly a ship."

"Can I watch you fly it?" she asked.

Axle considered it. He would enjoy just taking a spin in the Shadow just to waste his boredom. "Aright kid but you've got to promise not to touch anything."

"Okay!"

Axle picked the kid up out of the pilot's chair and placed her into the co-pilot's chair and started the Shadow. He pulled up on the controls and his beautiful ship soared into the sky without the slightest hint of resistance.

"Woah!" the kid squealed with excitement.

Axle swelled with pride of the Shadows performance. It was the most beautiful ship in the galaxy.

As the Shadow exited the atmosphere Corellia's blue-green and orange-grey surface loomed below. Axle sighed with content and leaned back in his chair just taking in the beauty of the stars and planets that shined bright thousands of lightyears away. He sat there for only a few minutes before the kid interrupted his thoughts.

"Can we go to the place with the flashy lights?" she asked.

"What?" Axle asked confused.

"The place where you press some buttons and then pull a switchy thingy and then there are flashy lights. Can we go there?"

"Oh! You mean hyperspace. Yeah we can go into hyperspace for a little bit."

"Yay!"

Axle set coordinates for some random planet and let the computer calculate it's route. He would pull the Shadow out of hyperspace at some point after he wanted to head back. After the computer was done calculating he pulled the hyperspace lever and the stars stretched out as the Shadow was engulfed in light.

"Woah!" the kid squealed again.

Axle smirked in response. She was staring captivated at the blue lights that had surrounded the Shadow. Axle walked out from the cockpit and into the main room of the Shadow. He grabbed a couple rations from a cabinet and walked back into the cockpit.

"Here kid, think fast." he said tossing one of the rations in her direction. It hit the back of her head with the crinkle of the wrapper.

"Oww!" She yelled.

"Oops." he snickered.

The kid picked the ration up off the floor and examined it. "What is it?" she asked.

"It's food." Axle replied.

"Oh," she replied. She opened up the ration packet and popped the stick into her mouth. "Eww…" She complained.

"What?" Axle said munching on his own ration.

"It's all mushy and and yucky!" she stated making a face.

"Oh come on it's not that bad!" Axle replied. The kid responded by spitting out the half chewed ration back into the package. "That's lovely," he grimaced.

After a little while Axle had found himself playing hide and seek with the kid and somehow losing. It wasn't exactly fair. Axle was a relatively big guy and couldn't fit into a lot of small places. The kid on the other hand was tiny and could fit into what seemed like anywhere.

Axle was currently assigned the role of seeking again and was looking for the kid in the cargo hold. It was a relatively good place to hide considering the room was stuffed full of various items. Eventually he spotted a small foot sticking out from under a box. Axle creeped towards the kid and then popped up in front of her.

"Guess who could have found a better hiding spot," Axle teased.

"Me," the kid grumbled.

Axle picked her up and held her in front of his face. "What's up?" he asked.

"I dunno," she replied.

"Sure you do." Axle replied. "Come on take a guess."

"Is it me?"

"Yep."

"Oh I get it!" the kid exclaimed with a giggle. "Because I'm up!"

"Alright kid don't wear it out." Axle said.

"Okay."

"Why do you have things on your head?" the kid asked.

"What you mean my headtails?" Axle asked. "I don't know why do you have this stuff on your head?" Axle said gesturing to the kid's fine dirty blonde hair.

"Because." she said. "Yours are weird."

"What mine's weird? Are you kidding? Your the one who has a giant path of fur growing of the top of your head! At least mine makes sense!" Axle exclaimed.

"But yours are weird!" the kid exclaimed again.

"If mine are so are yours!" Axle said screwing with the kids hair. The kid let out a squeal as he did so.

"Come on it's my turn to hide," Axle stated putting her down.

Awhile later Axle had realized he had become completely sidetracked with the kid and forgotten to drop out of hyperspace sooner, meaning the ride back to Corellia was going to take a shit ton longer.

Axle pushed the hyperspace lever back to its original position and watched as the blue and white lights faded and the depths of space became still once more. He began to set coordinates back for Corellia and let the computer do it's thing. When it was done he pulled back the hyperspace lever once more resulting white light to spark up from the control panel.

Sparks engulfed the front of the cockpit and Axle sprang back. A moment passed and they were gone replaced by smoke.

"God dammit, mother fucking shit!" Axle swore kicking the control panel resulting in more sparks. "Fuck," he said a few seconds later.

"Was that supposed to happen?" the kid asked.

"No," Axle growled.

"Oh. Well why did it do that?" she asked

"Because my ship is a piece of garbage that's why," Axle spat. The kid was quiet. "Look kid I'm sorry. I'm just angry at my ship that's all." he said crouching down to eye level with her.

"Okay," she replied.

Axle walked back over to the computer and tried to turn it on. It blinked for a few seconds then went dark again. He tried it a few more times before it finally turned on. He ran I diagnostic on the Shadow and found that a few different parts of the hyperdrive had apparently blown up. Great, Axle thought sarcastically. Even worse almost all the systems of the Shadow had crashed including life support. To top it all off several different parts of the ship were scheduled to malfunction at random.

"Fantastic," he muttered to himself sarcastically. "Alright kid I've got to start trying to get the ship running again so stay put and don't touch anything."

"Okay," she replied.

This was the fourth time this month that Axle had needed to fix the damn hyperdrive. The systems had stayed working for about two weeks thus far and Axle had hoped that they would last just a bit longer but no that was just too much optimism wasn't it? He really should consider investing in a new ship.

He supposed he should start by rebooting life support that way they wouldn't die of suffocation or cold. Axle turned back towards the th computer and began to reboot life support. That alone would take about an hour for the computer to pull off so he got up to go check in on the kid.

He stood up and began walking towards the main room when all of a sudden the floor dropped out from beneath him. He heard a shriek come from the main room of the Shadow. It took Axle a moment to register what exactly was going on but he soon realized gravity had stopped working.

"This is gonna make things interesting," Axle said aloud to himself.

He pushed himself off the wall trying to get to the kid but instead ended up just crashing into the opposite wall.

"Ow." he muttered.

He eventually made his way into the main room to find the kid huddled up in a ball of terror towards the ceiling. In an awkward fashion Axle flailed him limbs in a way that propelled himself up. He grabbed the kid just in time as they both plummeted back down to the floor with a yell from both of them as gravity kicked back in.

The kid stared up at Axle eyes glazed over with horror. She was crouched on the floor completely in shock. He felt bad for the poor kid. He really did but he couldn't help just being a tad bit amused.

"Awe come here kid."he said.

The kid scrambled into Axle's lap and curled up like a scared animal during a thunderstorm. He placed and arm around her shoulders and she calmed down a bit.

"I wanna go home," she said sniffling. Tears began to well in her eyes.

"I know kid. I know." Axle soothed.

"I miss Daddy!" she sobbed.

Axle's stomach plummeted again. "Kid…" Axle took a deep breath. He needed to tell her.

"Your dad- Your dad is gone."

"What do you mean?"she asked.

"I mean you can't see him anymore."

"Yes I can! You can't tell me what to do!" she said pushing Axle away.

"Kid…"

"I want to go home!" she sobbed defiantly.

"Kid your father is dead!" Axle yelled. "He's never going to wake up!" Axle grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her straight in the eye. "He's gone!" Tears had begun to cloud Axle's gaze and it took him by complete and utter surprise. He didn't think he had cried since he was just a little kid and he was crying now for this three year old girl.

"You're a liar!" she sobbed. Before Axle could say anything else she had ripped herself away from him and run off into Axle's quarters slamming and locking the door behind her.

Axle sood up and walked over to his quarters. He knocked on the door gently.

"Go away!" the girl yelled at him from inside.

"Kid…" Axle said.

"Stop calling me that! My name is Nutmeg!" she sobbed.

"Okay Nutmeg. Can I come in?" Axle asked.

"No."

"Please?" Axle asked.

"No."

"Pretty please?" Axle asked, it paining him to use the expression.

"No!"

You know what?! Axle thought. I'm doing this my way. Axle reached into one of the many satchels that hung from his waist and pulled out a lock pick. With years of experience he picked the lock open within seconds.

Axle walked into his quarters and looked at his bed to see a small lump under the covers. He walked over and placed his hand on the lump.

"I'm so sorry." he said. "But there's nothing I can do."

Nutmeg responded with a small sob.

"I have an idea." Axle said. "How would you like to live with me?"

The words had escaped Axle's lips before he could truly think about what he was saying. How could he possibly take care of a child while still maintaining his bounty hunter career? No one would take him seriously, it was a full time job to be a bounty hunter and he didn't have the slightest clue how to raise a kid!

The thought crossed his mind. Maybe he didn't need to be a bounty hunter. He sometimes did resent the life and he knew it….but at the same time he loved being a bounty hunter. He knew why he didn't always admire the life he had chosen and that was because he was an outcast with no one to call family, no place to call home and nobody depended on him. Maybe he could have the best of both worlds. He really did love the kid. Though he doubted he would ever be much of a fatherly figure to her an older brother one would be good enough, that was if she even wanted that.

"You can bring all your stuff with you from home. You can live with me here on the Shadow and do all sorts of fun things, right?"

Nutmeg lifted her head from beneath the blankets and stared at him.

"Maybe we won't live on the Shadow." Axle suggested. "Granted we'll spend a lot of time here but maybe we could go somewhere else and have an actual house. That doesn't sound so bad does it?" he asked.

"Okay." Nutmeg said.

Axle smiled at her. This may work after all…

"But first." Nutmeg started.

"Yeah?"

"What's your name?" she giggled.

Axle laughed only now realizing she still didn't know his name. "Name's Axle kid" he said screwing up her hair again.

It was about six hours later before the Shadow was repaired. Nutmeg had crashed and it was almost midnight before they were back on Corellia. Axle had to carry Nutmeg all the way back the hotel and afterwards Axle had crashed himself.

The next day Axle had gone back to Nutmeg's old house. Nutmeg was waiting on the porch while Axle buried her father in the backyard. After he did that she came inside the house with his to pick out all the necessities that she would need to bring with her.

Axle had gone up to her father's room to see if he could find anything that the kid could remember him by. He looked around for a little while before he came across a small ornate box. He examined it and his eyes fell on the lid. On it there was a cylindrical object with a beam protruding from the end. Is that a… His thought trailed off. This was lightsaber. Axle removed the lid from the box and peered inside. Inside there was a neatly folded piece of paper, a necklace and a blue grey crystal…