Chapter 3:

Interesting Times

Coruscant. Located among the Core worlds. Once the seat of the Galactic Empire.

Three days after the escape from Infel.

It's been four years since Coruscant was taken by the Alliance, Kaven thought as he swept over the sprawling planetwide metropolis that was now the centre of the New Republic. They've been busy since then. The imperial pilot was aware of the dangers presented in taking the Hydian Way all the way back to the Core, and in going to Coruscant, but the rebels that had captured him were probably searching around the Outer Rim and the borders of imperial space, and he had some contacts in the capital that could be useful in tracking down his home fleet and getting back to them intact.

The trip back to the Core had been a refreshing one. After a shower, change, shave, meal, and a long sleep, he was feeling more like Erril Kaven again, and more than ready to get back into giving the Republic trouble.

Lieutenant Sutler's ship flew beautifully. Not what he was used to, but still aerodynamic and efficient, and not too big to pilot by himself. It gave him an excellent cover as well, being a Republic-made ship-he was able to obtain landing clearance and touch down without trouble.

He had done this before. Not steal a Republic officer's ship and ride it into the heart of enemy territory-even for him that was a new one-but to make a trip to Coruscant despite its affiliations these days. Kaven had been born and raised there, and his family lived there still. He didn't get enough chances to go see them these days, he decided, as he walked up the path to the house.

He felt a movement behind him and turned. His younger brother Jan was walking toward him, quickly as if to catch him up, and to Kaven's surprise he looked angry.

"Erril, what the hell are you doing here?" The young officer hissed, once he had closed with him. Jan was dark-haired, with green eyes, and resembled their mother more than their father, with smooth features and dark eyebrows that gave him a slight brooding look. Unlike the rest of his family, though, Jan had chosen to join the imperial army instead of the navy. There were four years between him and Erril.

Kaven blinked. "Jan, what are you talking about?"

"Do you realize how angry dad is about this? You can't just come waltzing in here like nothing's happened," his brother continued. "He's not going to want to see you."

"Jan!" Kaven crossed his arms, frowning. There was a knot of dread beginning to form in his stomach. "If I did something, I need to know what it was."

At that the lieutenant's expression eased. "You...really don't know?"

"I just spent the last few days escaping from Republic forces on the Outer Rim. Enlighten me."

His brother cast a glance around them. "You're wanted, Erril. For betraying the Empire."

Kaven couldn't believe his ears. "What?"

"You're wanted as a traitor," Jan repeated, "for leaking information to the Republic, and-stop it, it's not funny, Erril!" he exclaimed, at the pilot's laugh.

Kaven's laugh had been a horrified one. "No, no, it's not," he said. "My god. It's not funny at all. When did you hear about this?"

"Just a few days ago, before I went on leave. So, it's not true?"

"It's not true. I didn't tell anyone anything."

"But you were with the-uh, captured by the Republic?"

The pilot nodded. "We got attacked over Kuan and our ship was boarded-I don't know how the battle turned out. My ship got crunched by a Republic landing craft in the hangar and then I got sent planetside with the other pilots to get some replacement ships and get back into the battle. After we had landed I ran into this Chistori who beat me up pretty badly. A group of rebels found me and took me back to their base on Infel. I spent four days in interrogation, and apparently I was unconscious for two more before that." He sighed. "I stole a ship and got out of there three days ago. I spend six days as a prisoner and this apparently makes me some kind of traitor?"

Jan shook his head. "There were reports...a lot of information...is that really all that happened?"

"Want me to give you the long version?"

"Yes."

Kaven told him.

"I believe you," his younger brother said, once he had finished. "Or at least, I want to."

"Nothing's going to undo what happened at Yavin," the pilot told him.

In the long silence that followed, the army officer took a breath. "I'm going to help you," he said, finally. "I don't have access to naval information, but if I can give you help, I will. You'll need supplies and you'll have to stay away from both the Empire and the Republic until we get this mess cleared up."

"That doesn't leave me much in the way of safe zones," Kaven replied. "But I'll try to find out what's going on at the same time. Any idea of where to start, Jan?"

"Not really. It'll be safer for you on the Outer Rim and the neutral planets, though. Not safe, just safer-there are search parties out looking for you. I wouldn't be surprised if bounty hunters start getting involved."

Kaven let out a low whistle. "Whatever this information was, it sure must have been important, otherwise they wouldn't be bothering this much over a pilot. How am I wanted, Jan-dead or alive?"

"I don't know. Alive, probably, if they think you're playing double agent for the Republic, but I wouldn't make any assumptions until I knew more, if I were you." He rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully. "What do you know about the Force, Erril?"

"The same as you, I think. That it's part of some ancient religion having to do with the Jedi, and the rebels having adopted 'May the Force be with you' as their motto," Kaven replied. "The Chistori, Hrakis, was some sort of Jedi, but he was pretty nasty compared to the Togruta on Bal'demnic. He mentioned the Force. He didn't bother saying anything about it, though, he just decided that I was going to join him. I really hope I don't bump into him again," he added, mostly to himself.

"Did anyone see you coming to Coruscant?"

"The usual thousands, but Sutler's ship is pretty normal for its make-I don't think any of those thousands were in a position to care. It's just another Republic ship in the New Republic capital."

"Hm. You might still have a chance to access the Republic archives. You won't get far without the proper codes, but you might still be able to get something on the Jedi themselves, or on this Force," Jan told him.

"That might be a good place to start. I'll do it while I've still got the chance." A thought hit Kaven and he asked, "Jan. Remember that mind trick I was teaching you?"

"Yes. What about it?"

"It's not just some useless little thing to play around with. I found out just how useful it can be. If you get in trouble, or cornered anywhere, you may have to use it."

Jan's expression was doubtful. "If I get desperate, I'll try it," he said. "But you know it doesn't work on everybody. You can't rely on it."

Kaven shook his head. "I know. I was lucky on Infel, but that's not likely to last."

"No." His brother reached into his jacket and brought out a holoprojector. He handed it to Kaven. "Here. I'm not the one with a price on his head, so I'll try to get what information I can and get back to you. In the meantime, you'd better make for the Outer Rim or something. Ord Mantell, Ithor, Tatooine-someplace safe. I'll be in touch."

Kaven slipped it into the pocket of his tunic. "Thanks. I'll try to stay inconspicuous, but when I find out what this is all about, whoever framed me will be sorry."

After a change into civilian clothing Kaven went back into the cockpit of Sutler's ship. He lifted off and started for the archives, still in shock over how much things had changed. Two hours ago he had been an imperial officer, and now he was a fugitive.

At least he had one person on his side, though he hoped for his brother's sake that Jan wouldn't get in over his head with this. It was a comforting thought, at least, that he wasn't the hotshot that his older brother was, and probably wouldn't attract too much attention. He had always been the quiet one.

Kaven touched down on the landing pad outside of the archives and disembarked. The place was quiet when he went in. Feeling a little self-conscious-Coruscant was no place for him to be-he asked the archivist where he could find anything out about the Jedi and their religion, and was directed to the appropriate place.

Hours later he was still looking through the databanks, searching for something more useful than what he had found. There were some historical records available to him, mainly giving the names of Jedi who had served in this battle or that, and the outcome of the battle or negotiations. Anything more specific than that, thus far, had been coded. Kaven was no slicer, but he was starting to wish that he was.

On the Force he had found something more interesting, but still generalized. The Force, in the religion of the Jedi, was a sort of energy that surrounded and penetrated all things, binding the galaxy together. The Jedi could use it to accomplish amazing feats, but how this was done was esoteric knowledge, inaccessible to public record.

You can feel the Force, the Chistori had said to him on Kuan. From what he had read, Kaven supposed the Force was just ambient biological power. Anyone could feel it-right?-but only the Jedi could use it. Nothing Hrakis had said was of any bearing, the pilot concluded. The Force had nothing to do with him. He was just an imperial officer, and one without any religious inclinations at all.

The important thing, he thought as he got up, was that he had been framed for a crime he didn't commit, and that he had a lot of things to find out before he could clear his name. Things that he wasn't going to find out by looking through a bunch of coded databanks.

Disappointed, he left the archives.

It was time to get off of Coruscant. He had already spent too much time there. But where to go? Ithor was out; it was a nice planet, but it was aligned with the New Republic. Ord Mantell was probably not the safest place to be. Kaven had been there before; it was covered in dusty spaceports and junkyards, and while it was a prime spot for exiles, travellers, and those who would rather stay anonymous, it also showed a certain tendency to crawl with bounty hunters. He didn't know whether any were after him or not, but it was better to avoid them altogether.

Jan had mentioned Tatooine, a fine place for anyone that didn't want to be found to go, and a place never aligned with anyone but the Hutts. The Empire had occupied it during the Civil War, but Tatooine governed itself, in its own lawless way.

Tatooine. Safe enough at the moment, but also under mob rule, a desert wasteland baked by two suns and inhabited by Tuskan Raiders and Krayt dragons. Kaven would have to think about it.

Where else? Felucia was neither Empire nor New Republic, but it was also ruled by the Zann Consortium. He didn't want to touch it. The plant life would kill him if the criminal syndicate didn't get to it first. Entralla? Out of the Republic's reach and back into Imperial Space. Too risky.

Kaven left the atmosphere and went back out into the comfortable darkness of space. It seemed very large now, the galaxy, now that he had no idea where to go. The thought that there was nowhere safe for him was deplorable to the pilot, who would much rather deal with the immediate dangers of dogfighting than this.

An idea came to him. There was a planet beyond Kamino, relatively close by but not within its system. It was called Caerul, and it was neutral, and it was inhabitable. Right now it seemed like the best choice.

He would be better off near Wild Space. Kaven prepared for the first of several hyperspace jumps.

Some time after he had emerged over Tatooine, the officer became aware of two ships trailing along behind him. He gunned the engines, and the strange ships accelerated as well, keeping pace with the one Kaven had stolen from Sutler.

On impulse Kaven took evasive action, and was glad for it a second later as the first ship fired on him. Out of defiance and irritation he returned fire, only grazing the top of it. "Bounty hunter," he muttered, swooping in for another attack, but bearing the second ship in mind. It hadn't fired yet, but it probably would at the first opening.

The first ship twirled to avoid the pilot's initial shots, but Kaven had expected that and accelerated, diving underneath it for a clear shot. Sutler's ship was no TIE Defender, though, and as such it was not quite fast enough to get a debilitating shot in before the bounty hunter's ship got out of the way.

The ship suddenly shook as something impacted it from the side. Kaven was shocked. Either that one's good, or I'm having a slow day, he thought, rolling to avoid another shot from the first ship. The second ship, who had shot him, had gone back to circling the fight.

Kaven, adjusting now to how the Republic ship moved, began another strafing run. This time he hit the more aggressive ship directly, and it exploded. Another impact came, this time from the back. "Now, you..." The pilot turned to face the second ship, but found that it was streaking away. Kaven tried to accelerate, but there was no response. "Well, damn." He checked for damages, and found that both the accelerators and the hyperdrive were non operational. If the second ship came streaking in at him now, he was going to have a hard time getting out in one piece.

He could go planetside, repair them, and get any replacement parts he needed. And quickly, before that ship came back into firing range.

Kaven turned the ship around and headed directly for Tatooine.

He landed in the Mos Eisley spaceport, in Bay Ninety-Four, and the moment he stepped out into the blazing heat of Tatooine the sheer arid dryness seemed to suck the moisture from his throat.

Ugh, he thought. This is just one of many reasons to avoid this rock.

He went into the Mos Eisley cantina, stepping past a couple of Jawas sitting in the shade by the entranceway, looked at the wretched hive of scum and villainy within, and then went to the counter.

The bartender didn't even look up. "Whaddya want?"

"Elba water."

He took it and went to an empty table near the wall, in no mood to talk to anyone even if it had been a good idea in this place. He took a sip and thought about how his brother must be doing, and whether he was even on Coruscant anymore. Jan was young, but he was pretty capable. Kaven doubted he had reason to worry.

He finished the drink, poring over his course of action. Caerul was a lush planet covered in oceans, greenery, and volcanic tropical islands. They had been attacked several times by the CIS during the Clone Wars, but had fought them off each time without the Republic's aid. They had never been a part of the Empire, and they had no ties to the New Republic, either. They governed themselves.

As he was contemplating, he felt a shadow fall over him.

"Can I buy you a drink, handsome?" a woman asked. Kaven looked up to see a pleasant-looking, blue-complected Twi'lek standing over him. She held a glass in each hand.

A brief warning flashed in the pilot's mind. "You know, I'm usually the one that buys the drinks," he remarked. "I'm not used to accepting them."

"But it won't hurt just this time, will it?" She sat down across from him, pushing a glass his way. She was as tall as he was, and looked wiry and athletic. There were a few scars on her lekku, both left and right, and on her left arm as well. Now that he had a better look at her, he saw that she was more than pleasant-looking. To Kaven, who liked active and capable women, the bounty hunter was quite attractive.

He smiled at her disarmingly, aware that it was credits and not romance that she had in mind. "I guess not." He lifted the glass to his lips, but did not take a sip. Another warning had sounded in his mind-there was probably something in it. He put it back on the table. "It's a nice turn-about. It doesn't happen often enough."

"I guess I don't need to introduce myself," he said at length, after a thoughtful silence.

"No, Erril Kaven, you don't. But I'll introduce myself-Madeen, the bounty hunter," she replied. "The Remnant's got a substantial reward on you, you know."

"I know."

"Or if you'd like, I could take you back to the Republic," the Twi'lek continued, "I understand they've got a pretty good bounty on you as well."

Kaven had been starting to lean back in his chair, but at that he straightened. "What? Why would that rabble offer anything for my capture?" The rebels should have already known that he wouldn't give them any information.

The bounty hunter shrugged. "That's not my concern. But it seems the Republic is offering more than the Remnant right now, so to the Republic you'll go. Come on-I've got a ship waiting."

He didn't move.

She leaned forward. One hand was under the table. "I don't think I need to tell you where I have this blaster pointed."

"That would certainly hurt to be shot there," he agreed. "I'll come along with you, as I value my kneecaps." He waved a hand and said casually, "But you really want to let me go."

The Twi'lek shook her head. "No, I don't. I want the money." She studied him. "So, you really can use the Force. But you're no Jedi, and your mind tricks don't work on me. Come on."

They stood up, and he allowed her to direct him out of the cantina. I've been using the Force? he thought. How could that be? I'm not a Jedi!

"I can't seduce my way out, can I."

"No."

"I didn't think so."

He made no attempt to run once they had gotten out onto the streets of Mos Eisley. There was the gentle, insistent feel of the blaster against his lower back as they walked to warn against that, and so Kaven cooperated. For now.

She must have tracked him from Coruscant, somehow. He looked out at the street, where a group of Jawas were riding a Ronto, and a flash of white on a side street caught his eye. With some horror he saw that it was a group of Stormtroopers, who thankfully had not noticed the pair yet. There was an officer with them, a cold-looking man in a black uniform, but he was occupied with one of the troopers and had not chanced to look over.

"I really can't convince you to let me go my merry way?" he asked Madeen, who shook her head.

"You're worth a lot to me, flyboy," she replied. "Two hundred thousand creds."

Kaven's eyes searched the street for anything that he could use. There was a line of speeder bikes parked up the street, about a hundred and thirty metres away, the Ronto with the Jawas, and a landspeeder whose owner was just climbing in. "Let me go," he said, "and I'll double that bounty. Maybe even triple it, with the trouble I'll give the Republic. Then you can catch me and bring me in."

"Tempting, but no."

He and Madeen were walking into a dangerous situation. She was going to take him to the Republic, but if that officer and those Stormtroopers spotted them, things could get tense. It was Mos Eisley; things could escalate.

Kaven held his breath as they passed by the side street with the Stormtroopers, and let it out again when they passed unnoticed. They were catching up to the Ronto by now, and the pilot had an idea.

Mentally apologizing to the Jawas, Kaven kicked a stone at the Ronto as they drew abreast of it, just hard enough to hurt. Angrily the beast reared, and the surprised Jawas grabbed at its reins. It shook its head and the small aliens swung around, nearly crashing into each other.

"Utinni!"

The beings around them scattered to get out of the Ronto's way, and Madeen turned her head at the commotion. Seizing the opportunity, the officer took hold of the Twi'lek's wrist and twisted it, pointing the barrel of the blaster elsewhere. The two grappled, and Kaven found the wiry bounty hunter to be surprisingly strong. Several wild shots from the blaster struck a nearby building and the ground in front of them, throwing up small spurts of sand. The shots further incited the Ronto, who was starting to run for it, carrying the two cursing Jawas with it.

The commotion attracted the attention of the officer and the Stormtroopers, who took in the sight of the panicking Ronto and Jawas with some exasperation. The air of exasperation faded when they saw the officer grappling with the bounty hunter.

Kaven heard clearly: "That man. That's the one we're looking for."

The group started toward them, blaster rifles held across their bodies in the customary position. The officer, too, was reaching for the blaster pistol at his hip.

Madeen was aware of the troopers approaching. "No!" she exclaimed. "That's-my-bounty!"

The Twi'lek grunted as Kaven suddenly threw her unceremoniously into a pile of crates. Turning on his heel, the pilot ran for it. Behind him, the Stormtroopers broke into a run as well. "Halt!" one of them shouted.

When the pilot only ran faster the officer said, "Set your blasters to stun. The Empire wants this one alive."

Blaster shots threw up little geysers of sand at his feet as Kaven leapt gratefully onto one of the speeder bikes and roared away. A Jawa yelped and jumped out of the way as the officer sped by, only to retreat further as the Stormtroopers flew by on their own appropriated vehicles.

The small Jawa shook its fist at the retreating group, shouting after them.

Half an hour later they were racing over the desert sands, Kaven dodging and weaving in front of them. Four of the five troopers remained, as well as the officer; one unfortunate Stormtrooper had been sniped by the pilot and was probably still lying in an unconscious heap at the base of a sand dune. Kaven had set his blaster pistol to stun-they were imperial troops, and he was still loyal to the Empire.

They were entering the Jundland Wastes. He felt something-the Force warning him, he supposed now-and swerved left. A shot hit the sand. Kaven turned in his seat and shot another of the troopers. The man slumped sideways off of the speeder bike, which crashed headfirst into a rock wall as the group turned right.

Suddenly another shot came from above, narrowly missing the pilot. He looked up hurriedly. Not Tuskan Raiders, he thought, groaning. He switched the setting on his blaster.

A trio of howling Sand People standing on the canyon lip raised their gaffi sticks above their heads and shook them threateningly, while a fourth prepared to take another shot. Kaven accelerated, hoping to leave them behind and let the troopers deal with them.

There was a cry from behind him-one of the Tuskans-and a woman's voice shouting, amid more blaster shots. It sounded like a real battle royal behind him, now that Madeen had apparently caught up and joined in the fray, but Kaven didn't bother to look back. Four Tuskans, six imperials (initially), and a bounty hunter, all out to get him at the same time-could his luck get any better?

Now if you start thinking like that, it's only going to get worse, he chided himself, navigating the obstacle course of rocks and fallen boulders without slowing.

Gradually the sounds of battle slipped further and further away, and once he had left them behind, Kaven turned again and started for Mos Eisley. He reached the spaceport without particular incident and hopped off the speeder bike once he had arrived at Bay hadn't liked Tatooine before, he thought as he went to check the parts that he needed to fix the accelerators, but now it was officially on his list of the top ten planets in the galaxy he'd rather not visit on a pleasure trip.

He checked the damages to the ship, checking over his shoulder all the while, and found that he had what was needed for the hyperdrive, but unless he wanted to stick around long enough to get the right parts from the Jawas or a junk shop, he would have to jury-rig the accelerators until he had gotten to a safer place to repair them entirely.

He looked over his shoulder again. Madeen and the others were likely still in the desert, either fighting Tuskans, womp rats, krayt dragons, or each other, but these days Kaven wasn't about to rely on his luck. He got to work.

It was hours after the fight with the Tuskans in the Jundland Wastes that Madeen returned to Mos Eisley, grubby and sore. One lekku still stung where a blaster bolt had grazed it, and her shoulder ached from the spill into the sand she had taken when a Sand Person had risen up in front of her bike suddenly, swinging his gaderfii. That one was womp rat food now, but he had kept her from catching up with her quarry. Frustrating.

All in all, the bounty hunter was ready to stun Erril Kaven on sight and drag him back to her ship. Two hundred thousand was good money, and she would not be turned away, no matter how slippery the pilot was. He wouldn't get a chance to pull something like he had with the Ronto a second time.

The imp officer and his men were probably still out in the Wastes, fighting off the band of Sand People that had attacked them. There had been six there by the time Madeen had righted her overturned speeder bike and roared off.

She drew the blaster at her hip and went into Bay Ninety-Four. The pilot was there, kneeling by the engines of the Republic ship he had stolen, and he looked up the very second she entered, probably sensing her in the Force. Immediately the human was up and moving, making a run for the gangplank and leaping out of the way of her shot. The Twi'lek ran forward, firing on him, but the gangplank went up before she had a clear shot at him, and then the ship was rising into the air and blasting off.

"Frang!"

Madeen glanced down at the dirt at her feet, saw the tracking device she had attached to his ship lying there, and repeated her sentiment.

That was too close, Kaven thought, sighing as he entered the darkness of space. Tatooine was much more pleasant from there. He began to enter the hyperspace coordinates. There was a brief twinkle as Madeen's ship came hurtling out of the atmosphere, and then the blue swirls of hyperspace surrounded him. He sighed and sat back in his chair. Unless she had read his mind and knew where he was going, he had lost the bounty hunter for the time being.

Now that things had calmed down somewhat, Kaven thought back to their exchange in the cantina. I can use the Force, he thought, raking a hand through his hair. But...that means that I'm...

I'm not a Jedi. But I can do the things they do, or at least I could if I were taught.

He was capable of a Jedi mind-trick, and he could apparently feel things-in the Force-sometimes, especially if they were dangerous. Hrakis' reaction to him started to make a little more sense. Kaven realized that the Chistori's offer to 'teach him the ways of the dark side' would not have just involved indoctrinating him into his weird little religion, it would have meant him actually learning how to perform the stunts that Jedi did. Still, whatever the 'dark side' was, it sounded ominous; Kaven didn't have much to work from, but compared to Midea Locke the Chistori had not seemed very Jedi-like at all. He had felt much different.

Other Force-sensitives could feel him, but he didn't know how to hide himself from them. With the New Republic-always affiliated with Jedi-after him, that might make things difficult. He hoped that he and Jan could get things sorted out, and soon.

At that another realization hit.

Jan, he thought, you can use the Force, too.

The ship emerged from hyperspace hours later to find the blue and green jewel of Caerul floating directly before it. The pilot entered the atmosphere, and deep blue seas and lush green islands raced by beneath him as he streaked toward the larger of Caerul's two continents.

The Caerulians were a peaceable lot, and very careful to preserve the natural beauty of their planet. There were no industrialized areas that Kaven could see, and even the spaceport he flew towards looked like a series of forest parks and boardwalks, with great brown lots marked for landing. Their villages were in a similar style; the one near the landing bay the pilot touched down on was built on the shores of a very large cove, and consisted of thatched huts, boardwalks, and docks that stretched far out into the water.

He disembarked from the ship and a cool, salty-smelling breeze touched his face. He sighed. Caerul was a welcome change from Tatooine and Coruscant. He liked beaches and ocean, but right now, the pilot decided, the best thing about Caerul was that it was relatively unknown by the galaxy at large. Everything else was just a bonus.

He stretched, and then started down the boardwalk to try to arrange for some accommodations.

It was a week later that Jan contacted him. Kaven, sitting with his elbows resting on the sill of a narrow horizontal window overlooking the beach, turned and switched the holoprojector on. A pale holograph of his brother appeared. Jan's leave was apparently over, or something close to it-he was back in uniform.

"It's good to see you've made it out of the Core all right," the lieutenant said.

"I'm good at that kind of thing. Did you find anything out?"

"Not a lot. They've been keeping a close eye on me-probably to see if treachery runs in the family."

"Very funny, Jan."

"In any case, I haven't had the chance to start a proper investigation. What I do know, though, is whatever was included in those secrets you supposedly divulged was enough to let an entire planet slip out of the Empire's grasp." The pilot groaned. "You see the importance of this. We really are the Imperial Remnant...and we just got smaller. Erril, you'd mentioned overseeing some mining operation on Bal'demnic. Cortosis. Where was it being sent?"

"I don't know," Kaven admitted. "That information was classified, even to me. But I do know what faction it was being taken to...the Reborn."

"The Reborn? What do you know about them?"

"They're using cortosis."

"Really, Erril."

"That's all I know."

Jan crossed his arms thoughtfully. "They're infantry," he said after a moment's consideration. "Or so it sounds-there's hardly anything on them...or rather, what I have access to is limited. They might be Force-users."

Kaven brightened. "Imperial Jedi?"

His younger brother shook his head. "Dark Jedi, I think, is the term."

The pilot's hopes faded. Dark Jedi were beings like Hrakis. He wanted to be taught how to use his powers, but not from people like that. He regarded his brother quietly, wondering if he ought to tell Jan about his Force sensitivity or not. After some thought, he decided not to. They were in a delicate situation, and if any Dark Jedi got near Jan, or found out about him, they'd be able to tell that he was capable of using the Force, and then convert him...or kill him.

Kaven was not about to lose another brother.

The pilot pinched the bridge of his nose. "Jan, I want you to promise me something," he said.

"What?"

"Don't try to find out anything else about the Reborn." We don't want to attract their attention. "Just concentrate on the Kuan incident, all right? The Reborn aren't...they're not important, whoever they are."

Jan stared at him. "You know something that you haven't mentioned, don't you?"

Kaven crossed his arms. "I just had the bad luck of meeting a Dark Jedi face-to-face. They're bad news. And if the Reborn are Dark Jedi, then they're bad news, so just leave them alone."

"You need to worry about yourself, not me."

"Promise me?"

"Erril-"

"Promise me, Jan?"

"I promise," his brother said. "And don't bother giving me some speech about not doing anything questionable or attracting attention to myself; I'm well aware of the situation, believe me. Well aware." The apparition looked over. "I'll have to end this now. Goodbye, Erril."

The image winked out. Kaven sat down again with a sigh.

The imperial pilot was sitting on the beachfront staring out at the ocean when he felt someone approaching him. He looked over and saw a pair of bare orange feet. There was a colourful shell anklet around the left ankle. His gaze drifted upward, to shapely orange legs and curvy, unquestionably female torso clad in a scanty swimsuit, and the day suddenly got a lot brighter. Smiling in pleasant surprise, he looked up into the lovely Togruta's face.

A green and grey Chistori face looked back down at him, batting long eyelashes grotesquely, and all of Kaven's blossoming attraction shattered along with his hopes and dreams.

He jerked awake at that point, and found himself lying on a cot in the little hut he had been staying in for the past two weeks.

I've got to get off this planet, he thought, sitting up. The image of the dinosaur-faced Togruta was still with him, and he shivered despite the tropical heat.

He went outside and walked across the docks, going back to the beach. It was very hot outside that day, and even the Caerulians were opting to walk instead of buzzing about with their little blue wings. He settled down on a huge piece of driftwood that was shaded by the trees leaning out over it, and sat with his chin cupped in the palms of his hands.

In the time he'd spent on Caerul, Kaven had tried to discover the Force for himself, but he was no closer to being Jedilike than he had ever been. The planet was teeming with life, anyone could tell that much-or did it take a Force-user?-and he had gotten a little better at guessing whether a life form was nearby, and how many there were. He dared to hope that he was learning how to sense things, but it could have been luck and coincidence as much as anything.

I need a teacher, Kaven thought. But the only ones who can do this kind of thing are the Jedi, and they're part of the blasted Republic.

Or were there those like himself, without Jedi affiliations, that had managed to learn how to use the Force properly?

If that were true, were they good, or at least decent-or were they like Dark Jedi?

If he wanted to learn from a Jedi, he thought glumly, he would have to defect to the Republic. Not a chance. He had, did, and would continue to serve the Empire.

He looked down at a small flat stone lying on the sand under his dangling feet, and stretched a hand out toward it. Apparently he was capable of telekinesis-time to try it. He concentrated on it, and when nothing happened he focused harder, and harder, until his head started to pound.

The stone began to wriggle. Infused with hope now, Kaven redoubled his concentration. Come on, lift up. Lift up. Lift up, he thought, trying to mentally command it to rise.

It began to rise a little. Excited now, the pilot moved his hand up a little, as if he were showing the movements he wanted it to make.

The rock flipped over, and a large bug scuttled out from its hole beneath it. It disappeared into the foliage.

Kaven sagged, his hopes dashed.

Over the next few days Kaven tried time and time again to move things using the Force, but his efforts only yielded frustration. He simply did not know enough about it, and had no foundation from which to work. He could sense things better now; not great, not good, but better. He needed a teacher.

Currently the pilot was walking away from the sweltering beachfront, out of the sun and into the trees. There was another village there-or was it part of the dock-village? It was hard to tell here-built among and underneath the trees. The shade was not much help against the heat wave.

Kaven stopped on a stone bridge spanning a wide, deep river some five metres below, looking down into the cool waters. He was barefoot, his shirt open to the sternum, and yet he still sweltered. He leaned on the stones that formed a low wall on either side of the bridge. A light sheen of sweat shone on his skin, and his shirt clung to his body. Even Bal'demnic had not been as hot. Even the Caerulians were complaining about the heat wave. There were two nearby, sitting on a bench in the shade of a thick tree, chatting.

The water looked so inviting. Without thinking, the pilot climbed up onto the low wall and stood looking down at the river. There was a little breeze coming off of the water, almost too slight to be felt from where he stood. He moaned. "Ohh...I'm so...hot..."

He toppled off of the bridge, landing in the water with a great splash. From where they sat the two Caerulians jumped, flapping their wings once or twice in surprise. They exchanged a look.

"Those gambling debts are destroying the youth of today," one said, sadly.

Through the cool, clear waters of the river Kaven swam, letting himself be swept along on the gentle current and occasionally flailing at a fish that tried to nibble his toes. He stayed underwater as much as he could, only surfacing to get another lungful of air before diving under again. The water felt delightful on his overheated skin. He wasn't sure how far he had swum before something caught at the back of his shirt, bringing him to a swinging halt. He tugged, and whatever it was tugged back hard, and the pilot found himself being yanked backwards toward the riverbank. He thrashed, but whatever had caught him was insistent, and a moment later he surfaced, looking straight up into the large grey eyes of a Caerulian.

"Oh, hey," said the alien. "Is too bad-here I thought I caught one of de bigger fishes. But it's a human instead." He took Kaven's arm and hauled him up into the grass, then freed the hook from the back of his shirt. "But no matter." He suddenly plunged one thin blue arm into the river and brought it out again-with a wriggling fish in his hand. The pilot blinked.

The small leathery wings on his back flapping idly, the Caerulian got up and went to a trestle table a little further from the bank, and put the fish down, taking up a cleaver. There was a great chop. "You like fishes?" the alien asked.

"Uh, well enough," the human replied. He rose, wringing water from his shirt. "Look, I..."

"Den you can stay for lunch," the Caerulian replied cheerfully. "Mebbe you need de lunch, eh? You don't weigh much." He began to throw fish pieces into a cauldron that was suspended over a fire at the side, then glanced thoughtfully over his shoulder at the river. "You like eels?"

"No!" Kaven exclaimed, before he could stop himself.

"Den I won't catch any. This don't need any eel-seasoning anyway," the alien said, looking into the cauldron carefully as he stirred it. "This one's in harmony."

"There are eels in the river?"

"Yup, dey live around de river mouth, 'specially."

"Ugh!" The pilot wouldn't be swimming around the river mouth or the ocean shallows if he could help it, then.

"Ahah, you don't live de life aquatic, I see. Mebbe you prefer de air...in a ship, mebbe...as a pilot?" The fisherman grinned. "Mebbe from de Empire?"

"How do you know that?"

"Is lots of things. How you stand, how you talk, how you dress when you're not imitating de fishes..."

"What?" Kaven looked down at himself. He didn't look too imperial at the moment, in his opinion. "You've seen me before?"

"Yup. I come down de beach sometimes." The Caerulian tasted the gumbo. "Ahh. This one's gotten special, with one normal-looking little fish."

The pilot ran a hand through his wet hair as the alien took a pair of bowls from a stack of six and began to ladle out the mixture, uncertain of what to say. This fisherman was the most peacefully eccentric being he had ever encountered in his life. He seemed to honestly expect nothing of Kaven. The officer wasn't used to that-someone always wanted something of him.

"Uh, th-thanks," he said, when the fisherman pushed a bowl into his hand.

The alien fisherman took a spoonful of fish stew and nodded. "Yes, this one's special. Mebbe it was de one little fish that tipped the scales. Go figure."

Kaven sat down across from him with the bowl in his lap, regarding him warily. "That wasn't a convoluted riddle of some sort, was it?" he asked at last.

The Caerulian grinned again. "You think the fish is like you, mebbe?"

"Chopped to bits and in a cauldron? I should hope not." He took a spoonful of the stew. "You just seem very...Zen about your soup. It's, ah, good, by the way."

"But dere's an aftertaste you don't like, yes?"

"Well, there's something in it that seems off-something that I'm not used to," Kaven said, not wanting to be rude. "Maybe it's a species difference. It is good, though, really."

The Caerulian held up a blue finger. "Something missing or something dere that shouldn't be dere?"

"Something missing," the pilot told him.

"Ah, de fish should have been prepared a bit more, mebbe with more seasonings, mebbe sent back out to grow a bit more, eh?"

"It seemed fully grown to me." At that the fisherman winked at him, and then began to eat his gumbo peacefully. Kaven had the odd feeling that something was off about him, aside from his insightful view of seafood soup, and said, "Who are you?"

"Me? Just a fisherman, and hermit sometimes. You think I'm a weirdo, mebbe? I think too much, give de soup more meaning than it deserve?"

The officer shook his head. "Do you know anything...about...the Force?"

"De Force is like de universal sea, keeping de galaxy together. I know Jedi, yes. But if you think I am one-nah." The fisherman shook his head. "I am what I am." At Kaven's expression of dismay he said, "But you don't know what you are, eh? You could be like that little fish."

Kaven's expression didn't change. "Is there such a thing as imperial Jedi?"

"There are Dark Jedi, but dey aren't imperial Jedi. There are no imperial Jedi." The pilot sagged. "But apolitical Jedi, yes. Dey exist."

The young officer smiled, hopeful now. "Do you know any?"

The fisherman shrugged. "I hear tell of dem sometimes. You'll have to go fishing for one."

Kaven's smile faded again. "Where could I find one?"

"There's de question." Thoughtfully, the Caerulian finished off the gumbo at a gulp and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "I hear there's someone on Nar Shaddaa who might know somebody who know somebody, and eventually you might find your neutral Jedi." He snapped his fingers. "Mira de Hutt, maybe."

"Not the Hutts?" Kaven liked the vile gangsters about as much as the next person.

"Last I hear, she live on Nar Shaddaa. She can tell you a lot of things."

The pilot frowned. Nar Shaddaa crawled with scum and villainy, not to mention bounty hunters. Still, if it gave him any hope of finding a Jedi unaffiliated with the Republic, he would talk to this Hutt. "There's a sea bristling with sharks," he said.

The alien merely smiled and ladled out another bowl of seafood gumbo, waiting for the pilot to come to his own conclusion.

"I'll do it," Kaven said with finality, standing up. "Thank you. Yes. I'll go see this Hutt."

After the human had left, the fisherman watched his essence in the Force drift further away.

"Not a bad kid," he said to himself, lifting a hand. The cutting board on which he had cleaned and gutted the fish rose from the table and floated into his hand. "Needs to meditate more. Not up on fish. But not a bad kid."

Whistling cheerfully, he went to clean off the board.