Chapter 4

An Old Friend's New Friend's Ship

Years ago in her youth, Ahsoka meet Chewbacca, under very unfortunate circumstances on the Trandoshan moon of Wasskah. They had banded together to defeat their hunters and developed an lasting camaraderie between them. Ahsoka had cherished the memory of their interaction together and as they say, a Wookiee never forgets. Chewbacca recognized her immediately, probably by scent, as she was now an adult Togruta women with larger hollow horn montrals.

Chewbacca dropped her to the floor and growled a greeting which informed her that Fang had mentioned a Togruta female in need of a ride. What a surprise it was for him that it was her. Wherever she wanted to go, he would help her get there.

She was overjoyed to see her old Wookiee friend again. She quickly explained that the Empire was after her, that they were currently questioning Slyde and/or Fang, and they would probably be heading this way soon.

"I suggest we leave immediately."

She had almost forgot about Kurtle. She turned and made to present him to her friend.

"This is Kurtle…"

Kurtle lifted up his mask and smiled a big pointed tooth grin at the Wookiee. Before he could say a word and before Ahsoka could finish her introduction, Chewbacca let out a terrific roar at the little red fellow and made as if to attack him. Kurtle jumped back flipping his mask down again and assuming a defensive position.

"Whoa! Whoa, hey Chewbacca, Kurtle is a friend, he helped save my life not an hour ago."

The Wookiee seemed to be considering this. Wookiees took life debts rather seriously. He growled that he too had a new friend of somewhat dubious character and ill repute, who had also recently saved his life; his new partner and the pilot of the smuggler ship. He let out another moan, suggesting they all get aboard.

Ahsoka turned to Kurtle. "It's ok now, he won't hurt you, this is Chewbacca, a very old and very good friend."

Kurtle took of his mask off again and stuffed it into his pack. He bowed low to the Wookie.

"Kurtle Pall at your service."

This show of respect warranted a groan of acceptance form Chewbacca. The three wildly different sized beings walked in order of height up the ramp and boarded the Millennium Falcon.

The inside of freighter looked even older than the outside, a real utilitarian vehicle. The ramp closed behind them and they walked into a central room. The man with the blaster was securing the last of the three crates of weapons against the wall.

"What's this all about Chewie? Who're these two?"

He leaned against the stack of trunks dumping his body weight into his elbow and checking out Ahsoka from head to toe. Chewbacca explained that she was an old friend and that he would like to help her and that they should probably take off right now. To Pall all this growling made no sense at all, yet somehow Ahsoka and this human were able to comprehend everything the Wookiee said. He focused his attention and tried to understand.

"Ahsoka the Jedi eh?" The pilot walked up to her taking her hand and kissed it. "I'm Han Solo and this is my ship. Any friend of Chewie's is a friend of mine."

Ahsoka liked his charmer personality, but had little use for his advances.

"I suppose I was a Jedi. I do still hold true to their belief system. The Empire certainly considers me one."

Han seemed to be only half paying attention. "Well, we are running hot anyway. If the authorities find out about the cargo we bought off of Slyde we'd all be dead. Chewie, let's blast off."

Solo and Chewbacca led Ahsoka and Kurtle to the cockpit of the ship. It was a small windowed room with four seats. Ahsoka and Kurtle took the back two. Han and Chewbacca sat in the pilot and co-pilot positions. The ship made a series of strange noises, a few clanks and even something that may have been an explosion. Then it took off with great speed and left the protective dome of the Mandalore capital city. The old ship was really fast, that much was for sure. They rocketed out of orbit in seconds and went to light speed.

Han swiveled around in his chair. "So who is your little red friend here?"

Ahsoka opened her mouth to speak, but didn't get a word in.

"You're from Korriban aren't you? I've seen your species before. The elite of the Empire seem to think of that place as some kind of spiritual mecca. It's more like some archeological graveyard if you ask me. You know I'm surprised Chewie even let you on the ship. He had a bad run in with one of your species before."

Han looked at Ahsoka for a second and continued to speak.

"You must be some friend. What did you say your name was again?"

He glanced past Kurtle and checked the controls. Kurtle stood up.

"My name is Kurtle Pall and I am from Ziost. My people did evolved from a blended species that share a genetic line with a species that once lived on Korriban."

He started to dig in his bag. Ahsoka looked perplexed. Korriban, she had heard that name before, she couldn't be sure where, but seemed to think it was from an old bed time story that Master Plo had told her when she was a child. There were scary monsters on Korriban. She had questions, but didn't want to ask them in front of the boy. Kurtle pulled out a pile of blasters from his bag.

"Maybe we could sell these weapons to the person buying the weapons in your trunks and we could use the money to pay you to take us to Ziost. It is in the Esstran sector."

Solo looked over the pile of blasters. It was a variety of pistols and the Stormtrooper rifle. First he pointed out the Imperial weapon.

"That is a weapon manufactured for Imperial troops. I can definitely get a buyer for that one. The rest of this stuff looks like junk, but this one..."

He picked up the largest of the blaster pistols and tried its weight in his hand. Then he threw his own blaster into Kurtle's gun pile. He put the new blaster in his holster and pulled it out quick draw style a few times. Then he held it out in front of his face.

"This one, Kurtle my friend, will get you through the Gordian Reach." He put the blaster back in his holster and sat down in his chair again. "We are heading to Jovan Station, not far from the Yavin system. You two should be able to get a ride from there into the Esstran sector for sure. How much trouble are you in anyway?"

Ahsoka explained her situation to Solo, much to his dismay. There was an Imperial presence on Jovan Station, as it was the main space hub in the Reach. It was a good jumping off point to the deeper sections of the Outer Rim including the remote and somewhat isolated Esstran sector. It was a good distance to the station and Solo suggested everyone relax for a while. He would handle the piloting. It was really his attempt at clearing the bridge of his ship. He pulled out the blaster again and looked at it.

"This is a real nice blaster kid. I'll tell you what, I know a guy who knows a guy that makes runs out to those dead worlds in Esstran. We'll sell your blasters and see if one of his ships can take you to Ziost. How does that sound?"

He slid the blaster back in his holster. He was keeping it, that was for sure. Kurtle was very pleased with this transaction.

"Why thank you very much Captain Solo, I'm glad you like the weapon. I have no use for it other than trade."

Chewbacca and Ahsoka walked to the center room of the ship and left Han to talk arms dealing with Kurtle.

"How much do you think we can get for these weapons?"

Solo rubbed his chin. "Well, I don't know about these three, but this one, plus my old one, plus the Imperial rifle…"

Ahsoka and Chewbacca sat down for a long chat. They caught each other up with their lives and experiences. Ahsoka found him an amazing listener and the stories of his exploits and life challenges were just as exotic as her own. His tale even intertwined with hers when he told her of sending Yoda off safely into hiding. It was a small galaxy. After the weapons deal they were heading to Kashyyyk, the Wookiee home world. It had been having many troubles since the end of the Clone War and Chewbacca had family business to attend to. He invited both Ahsoka and her friend to join them. He felt they would be both safe in hiding with them and a true help in the event of confrontation.

"I would like nothing more than to visit your planet and help your people, but I'm very perplexed by my little travel companion. In truth, I know little about him. He was trained by some Jedi, that is apparent, but he won't tell me who. He's determined to make his way to Ziost and going with him may be the only way I find out who this Jedi is. I sense danger with him. If I judge him by his actions since we met, he is loyal, dedicated, humble, polite. Yet he is also a deadly warrior and a thief."

A Wookiee laugh is a rare and contagious thing. Ahsoka laughed with her big furry friend. Who was she to judge, how many lives had she taken and there she was on a smuggler's freighter. Chewbacca warned her of calling out thief aboard a pirate ship. They both laughed again.

Ahsoka pulled up as much information as she could on the navicomputer about the Esstran sector. Chewbacca told her much of the ship's records had been wiped multiple times to hide information from various authorities. He was able to show her that the Esstran sector was actually made up of two sectors and the part that contained Korriban and Ziost was in an older sector once known as Sith space. Korriban had been a dead world for thousands of years, but Chewbacca, who was himself well over a hundred years old, was able to tell her a story that Korriban was thought by some to be the Sith home world. They had little information on Ziost. Only that it was a cold world and was located on the outer edge of the second section of the Esstran sector: Sith space.

Could Kurtle be the genetic descendant of ancient Sith. Ahsoka had grown to like him very much these last two days, but she was deeply concerned now. She wanted to find out who this Jedi master was. She felt her destiny was pulling her to Ziost.

The Falcon dropped out of light speed. Chewbacca and Ahsoka returned to the cockpit. Solo was flipping switches and adjusting knobs.

"We are coming up on Jovan."

They all looked out the ship's window at the huge rotating space station. There were three gigantic interstellar freighters docked with the station and two Imperial Star Destroyers.

"Maybe I should've said there's a large Imperial presence here."