Chapter 13

The Smugglers Moon

She still looked pale, Naruto realised, and frail. He wasn't surprised, but a spark of life and sanity had returned to her once panicked dark eyes. She was sitting on the main sofa, dressed in a baggy gray short sleeved shirt and matching tracksuit pants. Her feet were bare and a cup of steaming caf was sitting on the worn table in front of her.

The crew was mostly here. There was nothing else to do considering they were awaiting clearance to land on the planet. Aayla was seated beside Celeste, a show of support for her, Dass was leaning against the bulkhead near the corridor to the cockpit, listening to the conversation but also ready to answer any hails. The rest of the crew were taking seats on the other two sofas. The Captain had taken the centre seat of the sofa across from the newcomer, Bomo sitting to his right and Crys to his left, little Resa was sitting in her father's lap, looking at Celeste with nothing but curiosity. Valkier and Mezgraf were sitting on the other sofa, with Ratty looking tiny between the Blood Carver and the Togorian.

Naruto didn't sit, considering there was nowhere left to sit. He walked over and sat on the armrest next to Crys, who flashed him a small smile before returning her attention to the Jedi Shadow, whatever that was.

"Is everyone here?" Schurk asked, looking around to do a silent headcount. Everyone nodded, and after a moment the Captain brought his attention back to the woman. "I know you must be tired, so we'll try and make this quick."

"Its fine," Morne replied as she sat up, still looking tired but determined. "I will answer whatever questions I can."

"Very good," Schurk nodded before turning to Dass by the door. "Considering our Jedi friends may know more than we do we'll let them take over the conversation."

Dass nodded before straightening and walking a few steps into the room. "We know that you've been in that sarcophagus for a while. Can you tell us of any major events which were taking place before your imprisonment, anything at all?"

"There was the Mandalorian Wars."

The Jedi Masters eyes widened slightly. "Are you sure?"

"Yes,"

"What is it?" Schurk asked.

"The Mandalorian Wars was a series of conflicts fought between the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders and the Galactic Republic." Aayla replied, slightly startled by the information. "Are you absolutely positive?"

The Jedi Shadow looked slightly worried by their surprise, "Yes, why?"

"Because those wars were fought nearly four thousand years ago," Dass answered for her, gaining a few surprised looks from those present. "It was a period which was well recorded in our archives, not just by the Republics slowness to react but also a schism between those who wanted to fight and those who advised caution in the order."

"Jennir," Crys hissed warningly, bringing the Jedi Masters attention back to the present. Celeste's face had gone paler than before, eyes were wide in horror and disbelief at what she had heard.

"Four thousand years," she said the words slowly and wistfully as she fell back against her seat, looking even more lost and confused than before. "I figured I was in there for a while but, four thousand years. I thought Murr was just messing with me."

Dass knew his folly. "I apologise, maybe I said too much."

"No, it's okay. I was going to learn this sooner or later anyway." Celeste waved him off with a wan smile, before she brought her eyes to the floor. "So everyone's really gone, huh? Zane was unable to keep his promise."

For a time there was silence, Aayla placing a comforting hand on the millennia old Jedi's shoulder while the others were slowly digesting the information.

Finally Crys spoke. "Who is this Zane?"

Celeste smiled sadly, picking up the cup with both hands, "A young apprentice who promised to save me, Zane Carrick, who was wrongly accused of a terrible crime. Did anyone ever hear about the Padawan Massacre of Taris."

"There were a few records," Dass frowned as he tried to remember. "Four apprentices were killed by their masters because they had visions that one of them would become the next Sith Lord. One apprentice survived. The masters tried to accuse him of the murders, but in the end the truth was made clear."

"Zane was the survivor," Celeste added with a smile, taking a sip of the hot drink before speaking again. "So he proved his innocence, good for him."

"How did you know him?"

"I was an agent of the Watchers Council at the time." She answered. "That was the name of those five masters. They were known as a council of seers, the best of the era apparently. I was loaned to them by the High Council to track Zane down. However one thing led to another and we gained evidence that he had been wrongly accused, and that one of the Masters was dabbling in dark side artefacts. That was how the Murr Talisman was placed on me. It was originally going for Zane, but I pried it off of him and it implanted itself onto me."

"Know I remember," Dass said suddenly. "Your name did come up on the records, an agent sent by the council who took his side. You were put down as deceased. They came to the conclusion that the hibernation chamber they placed you into was destroyed by the collapse of the mountain."

"A mountain fell on me?" She asked before breaking out into a dry laugh. "That explains why he didn't come back. If I were in his position I'd think I'd be dead too."

"Wait wait," Bomo piped up for the first time. "How did she survive that?"

"Say what you want about the Sith, but they built stuff to last." Dass answered. "I know of Sith artefacts which dated back to their first empire which still worked. Now what is a Jedi Shadow?"

Celeste gave him a look. "You don't have Jedi Shadows in this time?"

"No, we don't." Dass answered as he folded his arms. "Not for nearly a thousand years."

"Jedi Shadows were Knights of the Sentinel class, specially trained in stealth and close range fighting," Celeste explained. "We were originally set up to hunt down Sith artefacts and destroy any which could pose a threat, mainly holocrons and equipment created by their alchemy or imbued with the dark side of the force. When I was a shadow there was talk about turning us into spies and intelligence agents."

"So you were basically the Jedi Orders version of intelligence operatives, a homeland security agency." Schurk asked, Crys and Bomo were frowning at the thought.

"More or less," Celeste shrugged. "Although during my time the changes were just rumour."

"Well they became reality near the end of the war," Dass said. "You're explanation of what a Shadow is coincides with what our archives say."

"So is it my turn to ask questions?" Celeste asked wryly.

"Go ahead."

"What happened," she asked with a frown. "How did the Jedi and the Republic fall to the Sith?"

"It's a long story." Dass said after a moment of silence.

"We have time," she replied firmly.

"Okay, there was a war... a civil war." Jennir began as he once again leaned against the bulkhead. "Most of what I am about to tell you is mainly speculation, but from what happened we may not be far from the truth."

Celeste was not the only one who was listening, Naruto, listening passively the whole time, was now listening with rapt attention. It was time he learned more about what happened, and how Aayla and Dass were now fugitives. Aayla had told him of a war, and a takeover, but even she admitted that this was mostly speculation. Whatever the High Council was planning was not shared with the majority of the Order.

"After the last war we had thought that the Sith had been annihilated. We hadn't heard from them in nearly millennia so we assumed we were right." Dass began, aware that the eyes of everyone were on him. "When the Separatists began building strength we still had no idea that the Sith were behind it until the blockade of Naboo by an organisation called the Trade Federation."

"There was a civil war," Celeste frowned. "Why would there be a need for one, membership with the Republic is purely democratic, a member can leave at any time. That's what it was like in my day anyway."

"That was once the truth," Dass said. "But over time the Republic became increasingly more ineffective and corrupt, bureaucracy began to dominate all levels of government, and a series of weak willed Chancellors led to a split in the senate between those who wished for reformation and those who wished to keep the bureaucracy in control."

"Why didn't the Jedi become involved," Celeste asked with a frown.

Crys frowned. "What do you mean?"

"It was one of the original terms of the Galactic Constitution that if the government became ineffective the Jedi would be able to dissolve the senate and declare new elections." Celeste answered. "That was one of the main roles of the Jedi Order. We were brought into the Republic as peacekeepers, mediators and with emergency powers to dissolve an ineffective government."

"She tells the truth Crys," Aayla piped up as the pilots frown deepened. "It was that way until the Ruusan Reformation. Our rights to dissolve a government were revoked, as were a number of our emergency powers."

"Force preserve me," Celeste had her face in her hands. "So our main role in the Republic was revoked, what in the name in all that is holy happened?"

"The New Sith Wars happened," Dass rebuked mildly. "A new Sith Order emerged, this time created through another schism in the Jedi Order. In a matter of months they had almost eliminated the higher echelons of the Republic, and the Jedi were forced to take on the roles of government. There were a string of Jedi Chancellors until the war's end, and when the Sith were finally destroyed the newly elected Senate passed a number of post-war laws, including the removal of the majority of our special powers, bringing us down to simple peacekeepers and diplomats."

"What about the army then, the navy?"

"Almost nonexistent," Dass replied, seeing the woman's face go paler and paler. "There hasn't been a major war in almost eight hundred years, so the army and navy were reduced before being completely dissolved around three centuries ago."

"So our main roles were revoked, including our basic mandates, and our armed forces were made nonexistent." Celeste laughed without mirth. "No wonder the Republic became as you say. There was no one to keep order. You mean to tell me that the Republic had no wider military beyond planetary defence forces?"

"No, there wasn't."

"No wonder we lost."

"We didn't lose." Aayla replied firmly. "Technically the Republic won the war. The Confederacy had been losing ground, and with the loss of both their Supreme Commander and highest ranking General it looked like victory was within our grasp."

"Then what happened?"

"It's our opinion that the war was engineered, a farce created by the Sith to gain power." Dass explained as he began pacing back and forth, ignoring the worried or even disbelieving looks he was getting. "Our Chancellor turned out to be the Sith Lord who had united the Separatist factions and created the Confederacy. At the same time he had been gathering followers and allies in the Senate, and the lynchpin in his plan was making the Jedi the commanders of the army and surrounding them with Clone Troopers who were completely loyal to the Republic, so when the order came that the Jedi were to be eliminated they would execute it, without mercy or question."

Naruto pictured that Jedi girl, Barriss, enveloped in fire, of the three apprentices lying dead in the outpost base, and by the flinch Aayla gave he knew she remembered as well. From what his friend said Barriss was a healer. She deplored the idea of killing, and only did so when there was no other option. She didn't deserve to die. Neither did those kids in that outpost base, all of them were only teenagers.

"It's a topic which causes both of you pain," Celeste said softly, seeing Aayla just nod her head.

"A lot of friends died," Dass replied stiffly before a sudden beeping sound emanated from the intercom in the cockpit. He sighed before walking out of the room to answer it.

Celeste leaned forward, clasping her hands together and leaning her forehead against them for a few heartbeats before turning back to Aayla. "Do you know of any survivors besides you two?"

Aayla shook her head. "No, so far it's just the two of us."

"The two of you," Celeste asked before looking at Naruto. "What about him?"

"I'm not a Jedi," Naruto replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "My kind are known as Shinobi, and believe me us and the Jedi have not been in contact with each other until recently. In fact we had no space travel at all. We still used carts and wagons. We didn't even know how to fly without the use of Jutsu."

"Jutsu," she asked quizzically. "What is Jutsu?"

"I'll explain later, for now it seems that we're finally getting moving." Naruto said as he too stood up.

"Quite right," Schurk agreed. "Alright everyone let's get ready to go, everyone to your stations and make ready."

The Captains word effectively ended the conversation, and all rose and moved to their stations. Crys disappeared into the cockpit to join Dass. Ratty, Mezgraf and Valkier moved to the engine room to perform some last minute checks. Aayla and Bomo moved to their own standby positions near the gun turrets. Naruto sighed as he cracked his neck muscles and moved to his room. He was still a novice in anything mechanical and would just be in the way of the rest of them.

A hand tapped his shoulder, and he turned to see the Jedi Shadow standing there. She was a head shorter than him, he realised, to the point where she had to raise her head to meet his eyes. The two starred at each other for a moment before she lowered her head and closed her eyes. "Thank you, for saving me. If you weren't able to remove Murr from me I'd have probably gone mad. I just... well, thank you."

Naruto smiled at her in response, putting a hand on her shoulder, forcing her to look back up at him. "Don't worry about it. No one deserves to have their freedom stolen from them."

Celeste managed a small smile.

"So how are you feeling?" Naruto asked, making her look up at him again. "Are you going to be alright?"

That was the question. Was she going to be alright? "I don't know."

"Well if you ever need to talk," Naruto said, smiling a smile which told her everything. That he knew exactly where she was going through, and he could help. "We're all here, and we all know exactly what you're going through."

She smiled wryly, "You're all time travellers from the distant past?"

"You know what I mean," he said seriously.

"I know," she sighed after a moment, and smiled a smile which didn't feel nearly as forced as a moment before. "And thank you."

Naruto looked into her eyes for a moment before smiling. "You're welcome, so it's going to be a boring wait. You wanna talk?"

"Sure," she replied as they both walked back to the sofa and sat down. "So Naruto, where are you from?"

"You first," he countered.

"Are you sure you felt her?"

"I'm positive."

The cantina was not the finest of establishments, although considering its location in the underground of the infamous Smuggler's Moon that wasn't surprising. It was a large place, made up of several bars, a lot of tables and chairs, a dance floor; several huge vid-screens on the walls showing sports and news, and dozens of private booths where people could conduct their business in relative peace. This particular cantina, known as the Rogues, was infamous for being a haven to smugglers, drug dealers and small time crime lords.

It was also the perfect place to have a private conversation. In one of the private booths sat a small group of people, two men and a woman. One was Quinlan Vos, former Jedi Master. The others were his former teacher and Jedi Master Sirius Tholme and fellow Jedi Master T'ra Saa.

Tholme was an old man, with greying hair and features which had known the worst of war and the best of peace. He had lost his left eye, and had a cybernetic replacement implanted as well as losing his left leg and also replacing it with a prosthetic. He was once the Jedi Watchman of Kiffu, Vos' homeworld and was the one who not only found him but convinced him to join the Jedi Order. He was a fine tactician, a traditional Jedi who knew the orders greatest achievement as well as their worst mistakes, and a brilliant lightsaber duellist.

Quinlan didn't know T'ra Saa's age, and to be honest he wasn't sure if he wanted to know. Her people, the Neti, were known to live for thousands of years although this was mostly speculation considering the species few numbers. She was an accomplished Jedi Master, known within the Order for training many apprentices including the now deceased second chair of the Jedi High Council, Mace Windu. She was calm and thoughtful and had this annoying habit of speaking in riddles when the mood suited her.

"You don't believe me?"

"I'm not sure whether I believe you or not," Tholme replied honestly. "I wasn't able to feel this tremor in the force, but... "

He was silent, and after a moment T'ra Saa spoke up in his place. The two of them were always like that. As far back as he could remember. They had formed a special bond during their times as Jedi in the Order, and sometimes Quinlan thought that they acted more than simple friends, but it was not his place to pry. "Are you absolutely sure that you felt her presence?"

"Undoubtedly," Vos answered without a hint of doubt. "I was her teacher for quite a few years. I know her presence well."

"As do I, if you recall." Tholme countered wryly. "I did teach her during the final years of her apprenticeship, though I will admit that we never shared the same bond the two of you shared."

"Are you sure you felt her death, Tholme?" T'ra Saa asked.

"I am almost sure of it, but so many died that day."

"If she is here then we need to find her." Vos said as he went to stand, only to be stopped when Tholme grabbed his arm.

"Don't be hasty Vos. You're a wanted fugitive, all of us are. You can't just go out there and look."

"Then what do you want me to do?" Vos asked snappily. "Just sit here and do nothing."

"No, not sit there and do nothing." Tholme replied patiently. "We need to think this through Quinlan. I would be eternally happy if she were here safe and sound but even if she was alive and here on Nar Shaddaa we wouldn't have the slightest idea where to look. There are at least a thousand spaceports on this side of the planet alone."

"She was my apprentice master," Vos managed. "I felt her presence here. I need to find her."

"Think of Khaleen and your son, Vos." Tholme countered calmly. "You cannot just rush out there and put them in danger."

There was a moment of silence before Vos sighed and nodded his head. "You are right Master, I apologise."

"There is nothing to apologise for." Tholme countered in mild annoyance. The first hint of emotion he displayed since the meeting began. It made both Quinlan and T'ra Saa take pause. "I wish to find her as well. T'ra, could you snoop around for us, use our contacts to see if a young Lethan Twi'lek female was spotted in any of the spaceports, matching the description of Aayla?"

T'ra Saa nodded her head with a calming smile. "I will do that."

She stood, put some credits down for her half full drink, and made to exit the bar.

"I hope it's not my imagination." Quinlan said after a moment.

"As do I, my friend."

Nar Shaddaa was a smugglers paradise, as well as a potential safe haven for the more underground elements of the galaxy; smugglers, mercenaries, criminals, gangsters, traitors, failed revolutionaries, bounty hunters, pirates all had a presence on the planet nicknamed the Smugglers Moon. Because of its clientele this made the moon a potentially dangerous place for those who couldn't defend themselves.

It was also a potential safe haven for those running from the authorities.

In basic terms it was the perfect place to hide. The simple fact that the influential and lucrative Hutt cartels owned the moon, as well as a significant portion of the surrounding sectors meant that the Republic rarely dared to enter unless it was a matter of serious importance. The Empire probably wouldn't try to force the Hutts to kneel either, not until they dealt with the remnants of the Separatists at least.

The Uhumele had been given clearance, and had landed on a platform of a local spaceport. Naruto had never been to such a place before and he was mesmerised by what he saw. Nar Shaddaa was one huge city. Skyscrapers rose up as if attempting to pierce the sky, huge spires of cold, dark durasteel unlike anything he had ever seen before. Underneath him was a monumental drop that could have been a kilometre or two in depth before he would reach the surface. The glass floors of the pedestrian paths didn't really help much, and he was glad when the glass gave way to solid durasteel floors.

As the chosen team left the landing station and entered the surrounding city all he could see was streets and streets of booths and stalls selling everything from souvenirs to food to clothes and a mass of other things, all lit up by bright signs of dozens of different colours, some in galactic basic, others in languages he couldn't hope to understand.

"Amazing," he breathed as he kept up with the group, which was hard because of two variables. One he was continuously looking around him and two the throng of people walking along the main streets. It was a small mercy that the others noticed him and pulled him along.

"That's a usual reaction for someone who's never seen Nar Shaddaa before," Bomo snickered as they walked along.

"You should see Coruscant," Dass added with a wry smile. "It's ten times better than here, and a lot safer."

Schurk was in the lead, dressed in one of his usual fine robes, followed by Dass, Bomo and Naruto. The rest of the crew remained behind to guard the ship. Valkier and Muzgraf were more than capable of handling any potential threats, unless they turned out to be a platoon of Clone Troopers, then they would have to deal with Aayla and Celeste. Crys remained behind as well in case they needed to make a quick getaway and Ratty had locked himself in the engine room to make some adjustments to the freighters repulsor coils and hyperdrive engines.

"I have one question," Bomo stated as they rounded a corner into a quieter street. "Why are we going along with one of the Captains contacts again?"

"Excuse me?" Schurk sounded annoyed, if not outright insulted by Greenbarks remark.

"The second time was outside of his control," Dass replied, eyes alert as they darted from side to side in search of any possible ambush.

"Besides we're more prepared now than we were then," Naruto added, mirroring what his Jedi friend was doing.

"How so?"

In answer Naruto opened his coat, showing lines of kunai, shuriken, paper seals, blaster cartridges, grenades and a few other scrolls secreted in the inner material. Bomo frowned, before noticing that Jennir had a similar sized trenchcoat on him, most likely carrying a duo of hold-out blaster pistols and his lightsaber.

"Why didn't I think of that?"

"You did. The armour under your tunic and the extra blaster pistol are dead giveaways." Dass countered wryly.

"That still doesn't answer why we're allowing ourselves to go by one of the Captains contacts." Bomo countered with a frown.

"I resent that," the Captain countered mildly. "And we're not using one of my contacts this time. This just happens to be a contact Mrs Secura picked up during undercover assignments quite a few years ago."

"I don't doubt Aayla's judge of character but is this guy reliable?"

"Her teacher used him a few times and she used him once, no problems." Dass replied as the group moved into another side street, this time far away from the busy main street they had begun their journey through. "Plus from what she told me, his family goes back with the Jedi Order."

"Did they have a Jedi or two in the family?"

"Close but no," the Jedi Master replied. "He, his father and his grandfather were Antarian Rangers."

"Anterian what?"

"Antarian Rangers," Dass clarified. "They were a paramilitary force set up to assist the Jedi Order quite a few centuries ago. Mainly they were support, espionage and defence troops. The Jedi wanted to use them as frontline, but heavy losses during the beginning of the war set them back to support and I'm guessing when Order 66 came about they were hit as bad as us. The survivors have since gone underground."

"So this guy is a member of these Rangers?"

"Yeah,"

"Can he be trusted?" Naruto asked.

"Definitely;"

"Then what are we waiting for?" Naruto put a hand on Bomo's shoulder, and when the Nosaurian looked up to him be noticed the blond shift his eyes skyward. The former soldier followed his eyes and after a moment he noticed it, a few shadows on the rooftops on either side of them, creeping along and trying not to be noticed.

"Keep your voice down and keep looking forward," Naruto whispered, and Bomo obeyed.

"Bounty hunters?" he asked quietly.

"Looks like it," Naruto replied.

"Why aren't they attacking?"

"Probably thought they'd get a bigger haul by following us," Dass answered.

"Then we either need to lose them or take them out," Bomo muttered harshly, hand itching ever closer to one of his blasters.

"Already on it," Naruto said, removing his hand from his friends shoulder. "They may be shadowing us, but there's a platoon of shadow clones shadowing them. They should pounce on them any moment now."

There was silence, followed by cursing and a few blaster bolts, then more silence. Naruto closed his eyes, allowing his clone's memories to flood through his subconscious before nodding his head to his friends. "They got them all."

"You really are a one man army," Bomo muttered under his breath.

"We may need to warn the others." Schurk piped in.

Dass nodded his head before raising his wrist and tapping a few numbers into the personal comlink. "Crys, this is Dass. We were followed by bounty hunters, been taken care off but watch out for some on your end. You get that."

"Loud and clear, we'll keep our eyes open."

He looked down at the posters, knowing their faces from reports and newsreels over the last few years. Both were Jedi, one was a Master while the other was a Knight, both had achieved the rank of General in the Grand Army of the Republic. Both had stepped onto the frontline and survived countless battles alongside his father's clones. One he was sure had been dead.

Boba Fett looked through his visor at the operative at the other end of the table. The Rodian looked exactly the same as any other Rodian to him, but he was an agent of the bounty office and he had just called together some of the deadliest bounty hunters on Nar Shaddaa at the behest of the new government on Coruscant. There were at least twenty men and women here, some he knew from working alongside his father and from his own solo career after that, others he didn't. He looked down at the two wanted posters again, taking in names, basic information and rewards.

Dass Jennir, Jedi Master and General, wanted for inciting rebellion and terrorist activities on New Plympto. Reward for his capture, dead or alive, is set at five hundred thousand credits, payable only if either him or his body is produced to Imperial authorities.

Aayla Secura, Jedi Knight and General, wanted for attempting to poison the water supply of the colony world of Felucia. Reward for her capture, dead or alive, is set at one hundred thousand credits, payable only if either her or her body is produced to Imperial authorities.

"You're sure that they are on planet?" Jon Fenrar, a lanky Mirialan, asked as he smoked a pipe of tobacco.

"The ship that brought them here has been confirmed as the Uhumele, and its crew also have an additional bounty of three hundred thousand for smuggling activities and escaping Imperial patrols." the Rodian answered.

"Sssso, we can bring them in dead or alive?" Zelch Koslo, a Trandoshan known for taking the heads of his victims, asked.

"Yes, dead or alive."

More talking took place as some hunters continued to ask questions while others were leaving, probably to try and get a head start, others still were talking amongst themselves, most likely to form a temporary alliance for the job. Fett just stood and left. There was no need to make alliances with bounty hunters. They would stab you in the back at the slightest opportunity. He would go it alone, wait for his moment and strike and collect the bounty on their heads. He was a Mandalorian, and he would get the job done.

They were Jedi, and he would give them no quarter.

Author Alert 1: Star Wars and Naruto are the properties of Musashi Kishimoto & Lucas Arts, not particularly in that order.

Author's Alert 2: Sorry for the lateness, but now my exams over and I'm just waiting for the results. It's the waiting I hate the most, an entire month to gain my results. Well can't help it now. This chapter was shorter than I hoped for, but it did the job as I wanted it to do in moving the plot along. Not much Naruto this chapter, but some information to chew on for those readers who aren't regular Star Wars readers.

Author's Alert 3: Also just to warn you I will be on holiday from the 2nd of September till the 9th, right that's done so (Puts on hat). Off to Spain we go!