Hi, I'm back! And with a hopefully much better chapter than the last one. That should be a relief because the last one was abysmal. This one does seem better but I still can't find that rhythm which sucks and lowers the story quality a bit. Now onto a few notes before we begin:

1) Yes, as you saw in the last chapter I made the Jedi Council jerks in a way. Um, yeah not too intentional but my opinion on all of them is negative in a way. I tried to keep them in character though.

2)Yes, I'm aware that this story had countless typos and mistakes that lower its quality a lot and when I finish this fanfic I'll probably go back and edit those chapters - I try to limit those mistakes to a minimum but with my life as hectic as it is and with no one to help in that department I do the best I can.

3)Thanks a lot to everyone who read and dropped me a note. Every single one of those puts a smile on my face and makes me really happy.

4)In this chapter you'll see a certain canon character that I tried to keep in character but since I have no way of knowing what he was like when he was young I improvised.

5) Oh and I totally messed up in the first part of this chapter with Emira - forgot that they can't talk in hyperspace like this - apparently. Not sure.

I believe that's about it! So without further ado - Enjoy!

P.S Anyone who know who Vitiate is gets a virtual cookie.

Chapter 23 - New Planet=New Problems

Alana shivered uncontrollably in her sleep that night. A memory, a dream or something of the like occupied her mind. Once again she was found herself watching that same girl, though she was different - older, sadder, she looked far too mature for her physical appearance and much less innocent. And yet she couldn't have been older than a decade.

Alana saw her standing in a vast and dark toned throne room, a man occupied that throne. He didn't seem to notice her yet. The room itself was made of stone and it was cold, blue ghostly fires burned on tall pyramid like burners, just behind the throne hung a banner red with a black insignia. Alana scrunched up her forehead - it looked a bit like the symbol of the galactic republic but it wasn't at the same time. She shivered, apart from the cold the dark side's influence here was palpable.

The man on the throne wore black robes and his skin (what was visible of it) was deathly pale and wrinkled. Normally Alana would have attributed this to old age but she knew better - this was not the case with this man. With him it was the steady progress of Dark Side corruption slowly marring his already slightly disfigured visage. His arms rested on the armrests of the throne, one hand drumming it's sickly pale fingers against the cold surface. His voice rang out across the room:

-I can sense your presence.

The girl turned to him, a small grim smile on her lips. So he couldn't see her? Why not? She visibly let a bit of the tension drain out from her body and instantly Alana felt as though the man on the throne had latched onto the little girl's form. Subconsciously Alana held her breath. The man calmly spoke one word:

-You.

The girl nodded:

-Yes, me. You haven't changed a bit, Vitiate.

The man leaned back:

-Your efforts are futile, you will not change what is to come.

The girl sighed and glared at the man, pure fury evident in her eyes. Vitiate? Why did that name ring a bell? Of course! Alana facepalmed - during the Cold War over 4000 years ago a man called Vitiate was the emperor of the Sith Empire. He was assumed to have been killed by the Hero of Tython but Alana had a feeling that more had gone on with this man than the archives told. Something in the back of her mind,beyond the clouds of amnesia,whispered that Vitiate had been a great man,terrible but great.

And just as always, as soon as her mind wandered from the here and now the vision started to fade. Alana reached out to grab onto it but it evaporated like a wisp of smoke. But just before she jolted out of sleep she heard the Sith Emperor's voice once more: "The greatest of men are truly madmen. That is how it has always been and always will be..."

Alana woke up with a start and instantly sat up in panic. She looked around in alarm before realising she was in her quarters aboard the Crimson Storm. She put a hand on her heart and forced herself to take deep steady breaths, silencing the blaring alarms in her head. As soon as she had somewhat calmed her erratically pounding heart, Alana swung her feet off the bunk and, after taking a deep breath, stood up and walked over to the blue bag, stumbling slightly in the darkness. She sighed when she realised she couldn't see anything and used the Force to slightly enhance her vision in the dark. She rummaged through the grey-blue bag of clothes Seila had given Jayden and smiled slightly when she saw a same pair of clothes as the ones she had worn before fighting Grievous. Well, that saved her a lot of trouble.

Alana threw them on, fastened her belt around her waist and stepped out of her quarters. She heard the door behind her slide back into place quietly but apart from the familiar low hum of the hyperdrive and of the sub-systems the ship was quiet. Alana reached out with the Force and found two gently flickering Force-presences on the ship, one was slightly fuzzy and brighter than the other - she assumed that was TK, while the other was solid and slightly cool and it was a bit dimmer - it belonged to Jayden, he was still asleep. Suddenly she saw a negative red flicker in Jayden's Force presence that signified an negative emotion but it quickly faded. Probably a bad dream, Alana reasoned with herself. Shrugging, Alana gave up on sleeping any more tonight and made her way into the cockpit quietly.

There, as per her expectations, she found a certain astromech-assassin droid. TK was plugged into the ship's system and was apparently "conversing" with the ship, no doubt coaxing as much information out of it's data banks as he could. That droid seemed very interested in gathering as much data on the galaxy as was possible, that intrigued the young Jedi - who exactly had programmed that trait in him or had he developed it on his own? Which again brought Alana back to the question- just who was TK-26? He knew medicine, assassination protocols, slicing, piloting, tracking, languages and he even had knowledge of the Jedi and the Sith and that was just the abilities she knew him to posses. She had never met a droid like him before.

It took TK a moment to notice that there was someone besides him in the cockpit. When he trained his photoreceptors on the Jedi she gave him a small smile before slipping into the co-pilots chair and thoughtfully watching the blue glow of the hyperspace tunnel. She was evidently lost in thought. TK continued gathering data from this very intriguing vessel but he kept his photoreceptors on Alana. When she was lost in thought like this and up in the middle of the night, she reminded him of his Master somehow. His Master too had had a tendency to get up in the middle of the night and just go out to sit on the front porch and sit there, thinking-he had often joined her. He missed her, a lot, and having a girl so similar around just brought out those memories. But why were they so similar? Even back during Alana's fight with the droid army general he had noticed similarities of the fighting style - evasion and force powers before quick and precise attacks, his Masters fighting style had been the same. Probably because they were both Jedi and the teaching hadn't changed too much - he had managed to beam out the data after all. TK reeled back from the memory his processor brought up - so much blood and death stained the landscape, and panic inescapable panic and fear. He focused back on gathering the data-anything to not remember that night.

The silence in the cockpit was interrupted by a low beeping sound. TK turned to the source, curious, to see Alana putting a small datachip into her datapad with a frown. Her frown deepened as whatever had been on the chip was displayed. TK, overcome with curiosity, disengaged himself from the ship and rolled over to her. He saw that she was watching a video feed - it was incredibly short: at first there was nothing -just a forest planet, after which he saw a steel building, slowly whoever had been filming this approached it before there a flash of orange before static. Before the flash of orange both Alana and TK had registered a slightly familiar hum - one very reminiscent to that of a lightsaber. Aurebesh symbols blinked on the screen, it read - "Data feed ended". Alana sighed before turning to TK, unexpectedly:

-What do you make of this?

TK paused before stating that if a data feed had ended that meant that either the receiver was broken (which it wasn't) or the transmitter had been detroyed, the latter seemed far more likely. Alana nodded, she had come to the same conclusion and also, unlike TK, she had noticed a small flash of purple on the feed - someone or rather something had been there. She explained:

-This was a feed from one of my spy droids that I left behind on Ralak to watch over an old Jedi Archive by the looks of it.

TK froze as soon as her lips had formed the name of the planet. Ralak?! She had been there and had nearly entered that precise building- that was surprising and slightly unnerving. She was only slightly mistaken by the nature of that place on Ralak - it was indeed an old archive but it was also where something much more powerful and very very destructive stood. Cautiously and just to be sure, he asked whether she had entered the "archives" or not. Alana shook her head:

-No, I didn't manage to, but my best friend did and she and her Master had ended up on Yavin IV with no memory of how that had happened. Weird...

TK would have rolled his eyes if he had any. It wasn't weird to him - he knew exactly what that archive housed and this made perfect sense to him. Alana's voice jerked him out of his thoughts once more:

-Speaking of Emira, I should contact her - you want to meet her?

She leaned her head inquiringly at TK, a warm smile on her lips and once again TK saw the similarities. He whistled an affirmative and she nodded happily as she pulled up her friend's supposed contact. TK couldn't help but wonder what that friend might be like - if she was anything like the idiot captain he would deactivate himself. Alana pressed the call button on her holocom and it was static for a minute before a miniature hand-sized hologram of a teenage girl in Jedi robes popped up. Both Jedi looked happy to see each other:

-Alana! Damn it - you had me so worried! Why didn't you call me sooner?

Alana laughed softly at the sight of her friend:

-Hello, to you too Emira! Are you doing alright?

The hologram of Emira put her hands on her hips and glared at Alana in a very "Emira" way:

-Young lady, where have you been?! I should be asking you if you're alive! First I hear that you were on a ship that blew up then I hear that you're alive and now you're contacting me in the middle of the night by GST?!

Alana had the decency to look slightly guilty:

-Ok, yeah, I'm sorry about that, but my life's been crazy ever since I left Coruscant. You have no idea what happened.

Emira sighed and sat down on a previously unnoticed by Alana armchair and waved an arm while still glaring at her:

-Enlighten me.

Smiling wryly at her friend gestures, Alana brought her friend up to speed on everything that had transpired since she had left. At the end of her story Emira was shaking her head in exasperation, wondering how in the universe her best friend always managed to end up like this. When Alana finished talking, which was quite a bit of time later, she dryly commented:

-You have the strangest luck in the universe.

Alana smiled brightly, not doing anything to deny that statement- it was true after all. She glanced at TK beside her who was watching Emira carefully. She made a small motion for him to come closet and when he did she introduced the two:

-Emira meet TK-26- an multi-functional astromech droid , TK meet Emira Leeta - my best friend and an airhead.

-Hey!

Emira protested and TK chirped that he could see that. Alana smiled: this was fun! She exhaled, turning serious again:

-So how are thing going on your end?

Emira sighed and ran a hand down her face:

-Not good, I'm not even back on Coruscant yet.

Alana sat up straighter:

-What do you mean?

Emira looked her in square in the face:

-Alana, it looks like you jinxed it when you said neither of us would run into certain people again before I left - I met my father again.

-You serious?

-Yes, and unfortunately that's not all. Alana...Ayume has been kidnapped.

Alana felt her heart drop for a minute, she didn't know the girl but the love Emira held for her little sister - even though she had never known her well was evident. The look in her eyes as she said the last sentence was distraught first and foremost but behind it lurked a promise of pain to whoever had been dumb enough to kidnap her sister. Cautiously, Alana asked:

-Are you doing alright?

-Yes, tired and upset as well as absolutely furious but other than that fabulous!

She suddenly looked away, evidently someone had called her name and she nodded to that person. She turned back to Alana and TK a moment later:

-Sorry, guys, gotta run. Keep me posted! Bye!

And that was how the transmission ended. Alana looked at TK with a mix of emotions:

-Looks like we all are mixed up in something bigger than expected...

==SW:LB==

Jayden strapped on his full Mandolorian armour - this was Corellia and he wasn't going to be careless enough to have people recognising him, also Jayden was very wary of his contact, he knew the man but he had plenty of enemies and there was no way he was taking any chances. He checked that his blasters were in prime condition before grabbing his helmet and stepping out of his quarters. He went into the galley where he found TK talking with Alana. Talking wasn't the right word though since the conversation consisted of beeps and whistles from the droids end and Basic from Alana's.

Jayden entered the room and greeted the two . Both turned around to face him, Alana smiling cheerfully and TK whirring a standard greeting coupled with an insult. Alana looked slightly surprised by what he was wearing:

-You're going full armour, huh?

Jayden shrugged and sat down at the table as Alana placed a plate of food in front of him:

-I prefer not to take chances. Looks like you're doing the opposite of that though.

He commented looking at the food in front of him. Alana rolled her eyes:

-Oh relax, I got all this stuff from the holonet and TK made sure it was safe for consumption.

TK confirmed her words with a self-satisfied whistle. Jayden raised an eyebrow, Alana jerked one shoulder noncommittally:

-What? "I prefer not to take chances"- as you phrased it.

Jayden rolled his eyes and decided not to dignify her retort with an answer, he didn't want to give Alana the satisfaction of knowing that the way she turned his own words against him irked him slightly. He simply picked up his eating utensils and started putting food in his mouth, not noticing the smirk on Alana's face. She had sensed his emotions through their weird Force bond she was trying to stop herself from laughing.

As they ate Alana asked:

-So what are the plans for today?

-Well, I've got work to take care of while you and TK can do whatever you want. Let's meet up here at 10 o'clock in the evening. Oh, and keep your comlinks on you - that applies to you too, tin can.

-Bzzt-bleep!

-Yeah, well, deal with it - I'm not about to go running about Corellia searching for you!

-Beep-Frotz-Gzzt!

-Don't care.

Alana watched the whole exchange with amusement. With a smile in her voice she said:

-I bet you two will actually become the best of friends one day.

Both Jayden and TK turned to her and exclaimed in their respective languages:

-That'll never happen!

==SW:LB==

Heat, scorching heat. The Suns around this planet were too bright, but he had faced worse. A small grim smile tugged at the corner of his now desert chapped lips. A trickle of sweat ran down from his forehead. His head was starting to hurt. For a moment he contemplated throwing on his black cloak again, but in the end the heat won out and he left it draped over his shoulder. The front strands of his natural dark grey hair stuck to his forehead while his yellow-near amber eyes squinted against the light. This barren terrain was silent, save for the soft footfalls against the rocks he created. No matter - if anyone crossed him they would fall by his blade.

His throat felt parched and ached for water but he trudged on. He was nearly there. Besides Tenebris had endured far worse back when he had been just an acolyte, growing up on Ceperion. He shoved away those memories - they were useless to him now, the person in those memories was dead as far as he was concerned.

Darth Tenebris squinted against the bright sunlight and finally saw the rocky formation he had been heading for over the past two days. He approached it with caution - places like these were prone to unwelcome surprises. He only relaxed slightly when nothing happened. He needed to finish his business here quickly as in two days time he would convene with the two current Sith on Malachor.

As soon as he entered the dark cave, blue ghostly flames lit up. The climate in the cave was in stark contrast to the one outside - it was cool and slightly damp. Tenebris set down his cloak and walked to a corner of the cave where he knew a small indent in the wall full of pure water was located. He drank and finally quenched his thirst. Now that all the material necessities were out of the way he could focus.

Tenebris sat down in the middle of the cave, between four flickering blue ghostly flames, and closed his eyes. He reached into the Force and it responded quickly to his call. He felt a presence, oddly distant, appear behind him. Without opening his eyes he spoke, a pleased note in his voice:

-Vaylin...

==SW:LB==

-Be careful, we may not be on separatist territory anymore but that doesn't mean we should let our guard down. Keep your comlinks on and-

-Jayden, relax, we know.

Alana cut across Jayden's warnings. He frowned and nodded, before sliding his helmet on. They were standing in the shadow that the Crimson Storm cast and in such a spot that many people's glances simple slipped over them. Jayden had insisted that they did this, stating that he didn't want a repeat of what had happened on Alderaan's moon. Alana agreed. As he checked something on the wristband Alana felt a wave of concern and discomfort come from him:

-What's wrong?

Jayden's voice was changed by his helmet as he answered:

-My contact is acting weird. I don't like this, it usually means something's up.

-Hm, there's something in the Force, too but it could just be a jumble of all the emotions of beings I'm getting here. Its probably nothing.

TK beside her warbled a question: "Then why do I get the notion that we're going to end up in a ton of trouble?". Alana shrugged and a small smile curled upon her lips:

-That's probably because we will.

Jayden pointed a finger at her and chided:

-Don't jinx it, Jedi.

Taking that as her cue, Alana rolled her eyes and began walking away with TK:

-May the Force be with you, Shadow.

Jayden shook his head and slipped into his Shadow persona, switching into work mode. Time to find out what Kalleg was up to.

==SW:LB==

Alana and TK walked along the streets of Coronet city and took in it's atmosphere. If Alana had to describe it in one word she'd say it was - lively, if TK had his say he'd call it bright and slightly chaotic. Beings of all species walked around here: Ithorians,Duros, Rodians, Humans and Alana even spotted two wookies looking incredibly out of place.

Corellia was a planet most famous for their ship building which was done out in orbit above the planet while agricultural products were grown here and there on the land. Coronet,the capital city of Corellia and the site of a big spaceport was where most offworlders arrived. The heads of many corporations including CorSec (Corellian Security) as well many other small businesses and trade guilds were here. Also this city held the record of the best technological parts being sold both for ships and droids.

TK didn't quite know where to look with all the technology and new knowledge around him and Alana could barely suppress a smile at the sight of that. As they continued walking at a leisurely pace and passing by the different beings Alana suddenly remembered something. She turned to the droid at her side:

-Hey,TK, can you speak different languages besides binary?

-Beep.

-You can?! Basic too?

-Bzzt-beep-Dee-reet-dwoo.

-Then how come you don't?

Alana frowned as she registered the answer. His vocabulator was badly damaged to the extent that he was only able to use it once a day and at risk of some of his processors frying. A vocabulator in an astromech? That was something new or old, whichever - regardless, it wasn't something that you saw normally. Alana bit her lip slightly out of habit as she pondered over this new piece of information. Her deep blue eyes roamed over the street aimlessly until they accidentally stopped on an ugnaught selling droid parts. That sight sparked an idea in her mind. Her face lit up with a smile she turned to TK and inquired:

-Do you know the model? And requirements?

Despite being slightly bewildered TK let out an affirmative whistle.

-Great! Then let's go find a vendor who sells it.

-Bee-dwooo?

TK whistled tentatively, not daring to hope. She didn't owe him anything so why would she... Alana nodded:

-Of course. It'll help both you and everyone else out with communication! Plus, you need this and I'd be happy to help a friend out.

The word "friend" struck a cord within the little droid. When was the last time he had been called anyone's friend? It had been more than a century of that he was sure.

-Come on.

Alana called at TK speeding up her pace as she had noticed a certain individual who could possibly have what they needed.

==SW:LB==

Jayden walked into the crowded cantina and scanned around for anybody familiar:No one, good. That meant the Rodians hadn't caught up with them just yet. He didn't have time to deal with them right now so the further behind they were the better. Ignoring the eyes trained on him Jayden made his way over to a certain elevator. However, before he could step in he felt someone press a blaster to his back. Inwardly Jayden sighed - of course something like this had to happen. A deep male voice sounded behind him:

-So, the infamous Shadow himself finally shows. You've gotten sloppy for one of the two best in House Salaktori. Hope you don't mind but we need to have a chat.

What happened next was unexplainable to the Shadow's assailant, however it was exactly what people who knew Shadow would expect. At first the zabrak assailant was holding a blaster to the Mandolorian bounty hunters back and the next his was on the floor, his weapon knocked out of reach and Shadow had one foot on him with his twin blasters trained on the man. The Zabrak looked up into the place where any human's eyes normally were only to once again remember he couldn't see them due to Shadow's armour. Softly Shadow spoke, his voice quiet and dangerous enhanced by the mask:

-Listen here, idiot, you're lucky I don't have the time to deal with you today or you'd be a mess of bloodied limbs and innards splattered across that very wall. Do you understand?

The zabrak nodded quickly. He should have never taken this job! Bragging rights and credits weren't worth his life! Shadow regarded him coldly before releasing him and finally making his way into the elevator. His eyes swept over the room one more time before the elevator door slid closed. Once they did Shadow punched in the codes his contact had sent him so they could meet in private and the elevator began it's ascent, only then did Shadow allow himself to relax and slip back into being Jayden Callen. Idiots.

While he waited for the elevator to reach the appropriate floor Jayden glanced around, doing a mental exercise. He checked for cameras, hidden weapons, bugs anything of that sort then he analysed any possible routes of escape in case of emergency after which he calculated which would be the best way to eliminate an opponent that came in from the ceiling, the floor and through the doors. This was something Jayden had slowly worked into a habit since he was a young child, since the day when his world had come crashing down. Jayden caught his reflection in the mirror and smiled bitterly when his eyes caught his families crest on the center of his armour. An orange unfinished semi-circle with three sharp points, the middle one stood the tallest - it was a fairly simple symbol but one that held deep meaning to those who knew it and Jayden was fairly sure that he could count the number of those people on one hand.

Grey and green had been the colour scheme Jayden had chosen for his armour so the orange stood out, his grandmother had offered to help him change it to another colour but Jayden had refused. He kept it that colour as a painful reminder to himself that he must live on. The elevator doors slid open and just like that Jayden Callen was gone, replaced with Shadow once more.

Shadow stepped out of the elevator and into a dark room, the doors sliding closed behind him and what little light there had been disappearing. Uncomfortable with the darkness Shadow folded his pinky finger and the one beside it twice on his left hand. The night vision within his helmet switched on. It was quiet, far too quiet for Shadow's liking. After contemplating it for a moment Shadow reached out with the Force,looking for presences as Alana had taught him: the room was empty and there was no one inside. Shadow frowned behind his mask - Kalleg had never been late before, he was missing something...

Shadow tentatively walked over to the other side of the room and flipped on the lights. What he saw made the look in Shadow's eyes harden: the sofa's were smeared with blood - fairly new by the looks of it. Some of the furniture in the room was overturned and Shadow saw Kalleg's usual self-defence vibroblade snapped in half. Shadow cursed softly under his breath:

-Kriff...What happened here?

Shadow scanned the room one more time, searching for clues. It was obvious that there had been a fight and that Kalleg had been overpowered but by who and why? Shadow's eyes suddenly stopped on a grey metal mass lying in a heap in the corner of the room, oddly scorched. It took a moment for Shadow to realise that this was K1-P0 , the Ithorian's trusty protocol droid.

Shadow made his way over to the poor droid and knelt beside him. The droid was deactivated and one of his optics had been violently ripped out, aside from that he'd been scorched by some manner of an explosion- very likely an ion grenade. Frowning, Shadow pulled the droid up into a sitting position and flipped it's circuit breaker, the droid's remaining optical lens switched on. He instantly became alarmed:

-Aah! Please, don't deactivate me again! I can't even see! Oh no, Master Kalleg!

-Relax, Kay-one, it's me.

The droid seemed to recognise Shadows calm and cool tone as he calmed down and let the bounty hunter fix his missing lens back onto him and stand up. Kay-one also stood up. He clasped his grey metallic hands together:

-Ah, Master Shadow! You're really here.

-What happened here Kay-one? Where's Kalleg?

The grey protocol droid looked down,silent. Crossing his arms Shadow repeated his questions. The droid sadly stated:

-Master Kalleg and I were attacked. By three people - I don't remember them because they deactivated me too quickly. They took Master Kalleg!

-How long ago was that?

-5 hours, 32 minutes and 26 seconds approximately.

-Damn...

Shadow looked down, the gears in his mind spinning. K1 unexpectedly begged him:

-Oh, Master Shadow please save him!

Shadow shrugged:

-I don't have much choice. Did the attackers leave any indication...?

The droid nodded and held out a note Shadow hadn't previously noticed. It was splattered with blood but the black letters were still legible, it read:

Bounty Hunter, forget about the Ithorian and leave immediately. If you do not we will be forced to take to the Republic!

Shadow furrowed his eyebrows in confusion: this didn't give him much... Except what kind of kidnappers wrote "Glory to the Republic!" as a last sentence? Only fanatics would do that or madmen. Somehow Shadow was leaning towards the former. He looked up at K1:

-How many days have you been on Corellia?

-Approximately a week, Master Shadow.

-Have you heard any mention of Republic fanatics lately?

The droid nodded importantly:

-Why yes - I heard a few patrons of the cantina below gossiping about a mad republic fanatic scientist living in the lower levels the other day.

Shadow sighed as he mused out loud:

-A mad republic-loving scientist... This doesn't sound like something a scientist would do. Worth checking out I suppose. Thanks,Kay-one and I'll try to find Kalleg - I promise.

-Oh, thank you, Master Shadow!

-Don't thank me yet. Stay here.

Shadow ordered the protocol droid and stepped back into the elevator. As the doors closed in front of him and the elevator began its descent Shadow slipped back into Jayden. As he felt it's descent, he couldn't help thinking just how right TK was.

==SW:LB==

Alana smiled at the droid rolling alongside her. They had managed to get exactly what he needed and with their, ahem, haggling abilities for a reasonable price. After they had gotten it TK had safely stored it away within one of his hidden compartments (which Alana had no clue he had and decided not to question) and now the little droid seemed much happier overall.

-Are you going to need help installing that? I've noticed you do most your repairs yourself.

Again and ability Alana had decided not to question. TK chirped a cheerful affirmative and that was so different from the often cynical astromech-assassin droid that Alana almost thought that someone had taken her TK and had replaced him with another. No, she thought, this droid was one in a million.

As they walked Alana basked in the temporary peace, one that probably wouldn't hold. She smiled as she felt the warm light of the sun on her face and the barest brush of the wind against her neck as it played a bit with her loose hair - moment like these were rare and even more so as she wasn't at the Jedi Temple now. Right now, as she walked in civilian clothes and with a perhaps slightly odd but cheerful droid at her side and with her Jedi weapons concealed, she could almost pretend she was normal. Well, as normal as one could be with the Force thrumming within them and with two lightsabers at their sides. She realised that she was enjoying this briefly induced fantasy of being normal. It was a beautiful fantasy but a fantasy nonetheless.

Alana was jerked out of her thoughts when she heard a scuffling sound come from the nearby alleyway and a low groan of pain. She paused mid-step and nearly lost her balance, a faint ripple of pain and anger permeated through the Force nearby. Alana turned in that direction to see two large looming figures and she barely made out a much smaller one. Motioning TK to follow her quietly, Alana pressed herself against the wall and listened in. Two rough and deep voices were speaking:

-You just crossed the wrong people, brat.

-Yeah, what he said.

A child's, a boy's, voice responded indignantly:

-I have no idea what you morons are going on about.

-Really? Then will this refresh your memory?

There was a sickening sound of a punch during which Alana barely restrained herself from jumping out of her hiding spot. However she didn't, something told her that the kid wouldn't appreciate her intervention and that she'd only make matters worse. There was a scuffling sound before the kid spoke again:

-You two really are morons if a 5 year old can dupe you.

After that there were two blaster shots and two thumps of heavy bodies hitting the ground. Alana turned to look at what had happened and shook her head silently at the sight: a little boy, human with brown eyes and brown hair, was standing over two weequay men with a stun blaster in his hands. He was grinning at his own triumph:

-Like I always say there's nothing like a good blaster at your side.

He didn't seem to have noticed her yet. Taking in the scene again Alana asked:

-Nice shot, but what are you going to do when they wake up?

The boy jumped in surprise and his eyes finally found her. He hesitated before rubbing the back of his head uncomfortably and saying:

-I haven't really thought that far.

When Alana moved forward he frowned and crossed his arms:

-I have this under control, I don't need help.

-And I'm not offering it.

Alana replied calmly and crouched down beside the two unconscious weequay. She gently touched their heads and sent a pulse of the Force into them. Closing her eyes she saw a few flashes of what had transpired and of who they were. She used the Force to gently make their unconscious and therefore a lot more vulnerable minds to make them forget about the kid and what he'd done - it was a lot like Force persuasion. Alana stood up when she was done:

-There. This way they won't remember any of this. And you, kid,-she addressed the boy who frowned at being called a "kid"-, you certainly enjoy a reckless life, don't you? Stealing?

He glared and crossed his arms defensively:

-It's none of your business and I'm not a kid!

Alana looked at him evenly:

-It's not. But why? For the fun? The thrill? You're only 5 years old! Where are your parents?

The boy looked away and muttered something inaudible before repeating it louder:

-Don't need them. And I don't do it for fun. Hmph.

Was all he said before falling silent. Alana sighed and crouched down in front of the boy:

-Fine, I'm not going to pressure you into telling me but do you have a name?

The kid finally looked at her again and slowly nodded:

-Yeah, I do. Han...Han Solo.

Alana's lips formed a small smile:

-Well,Han Solo, do you want some ice cream?

==SW:LB==

TK watched slightly detached as Alana and the kid called Han sat in a small booth in an ice cream parlour, eating ice cream. It was one of the most bizarre scenes he'd seen in a while. TK just couldn't reconcile the Alana on Duro and the Alana in the here and now. The difference was monumental.

She'd gotten the kid to open up slightly and it quickly became apparent that he had quite an attitude on him even at this age,he was cocky and mildly sarcastic often too. Alana didn't try to pry into his business and just talked to him about blasters (a topic he seemed to be chatty about), starships (he was an enthusiastic to talk about this) and now they'd moved onto Corellia. Alana was listening to the young boy telling her about a few odd spacers that'd shown up recently and an odd gang, when after swallowing a bit of ice cream he said:

-Oh, and there's been rumours of a mad republic-fanatic scientist living somewhere around here.

Alana raised an eyebrow:

-Really?

Han nodded:

-Yeah, they say a few people have been kidnapped. Not that I'm worried though. He'd catch me when black holes shine.

Alana rolled her eyes at his confident attitude but the news of a republic-crazy scientist worried her a bit. This didn't sit well with her. Her mind strayed off in that direction of thoughts and she didn't even notice Han calling her name. She snapped back into reality:

-Oh, sorry. What did you say?

-I asked how are you sure that those guys won't come after me?

-Ah, that. I used the Force to mess with their heads a bit - I don't really enjoy doing it.

Han groaned:

-Great, so what, are you one of those laser-sword wielding yahoos that believe in a hokey religion?

Alana smiled, amused:

-If by that you mean whether I'm a Jedi or not, they yes - I am.

He shook his head at her:

-You've got a few screws loose.

Alana shrugged:

-Haven't we all? And you don't act like a 5 year old, kid.

-I'm not a kid!

Han protested hotly. Alana was about to counter his passionate statement when she froze . A dark presence, no, two had just entered the shop. Alana turned her head slightly to see the droid assistant bound up to two beings: one was a male Trandoshan while the other was a short red Rodian. Both of them were armed and there was something really off about them. Alana tuned back into what Han was saying but kept her attention on the two newcomers. Curiously enough, the kid was also talking about them:

-Hey, I've seen them before. They are those weird spacers I told you about. I followed them once and saw them going down into the lower levels, carrying something weird. I bet that's where that crazy scientist is hiding!

As soon he finished those words Han slumped down on the table, unconscious. Alana suddenly heard TK emanate a shrill whistle before there was a beep and he was shut down, two shadows loomed across the table. Alana turned her head slightly and saw the Trandoshan and the Rodian before her vision went black and she too was stunned. Despite her Jedi training, she hadn't reacted fast enough.

The Rodian put away his blaster and looked at the three figures before them:

-So, what we do with them, Jorgo?

The Trandoshan, Jorgo,answered in his native tongue:

-They know too much. I'll the girl and the kid to the doctor while you dispose this walking trash can into a meltdown factory, Ledor. They'll all be put to good use.

The Rodian nodded and after sweeping his eyes across the room which was mostly empty and smiling slightly at the deactivated assistant droid, declared:

-Glory to the Republic!

The Trandoshan nodded his assent and murmured in Trandoshan:

-Glory to the Republic! And may the Scorekeeper grant them many victorious hunts.

==SW:LB==

Jayden stood atop one of the buildings and surveyed the seemingly endless. There were apparently quite a few entries to the lower levels but which one was the correct one? Maybe he did need Alana and TK's help with this. He clicked on his comlink and tried to contact them twice but to his surprise found nothing but static. What was going on? As Jayden used his jet pack to take off he, in the direction he'd last sensed Alana's presence he muttered to himself:

-I have a bad feeling about this.