Star Wars: Lost Legacy
By: TallYapflip
Chapter 1: Lost and Alone
Alisa's vision was foggy, her head pounding as the bright emergency lights of her clawcraft flared around her. As her normal vision slowly returned, she looked over the barely-operable instruments of her fighter. The hyperdrive was all but fried, the powerplant was dangerously low on fuel, she only had enough provisions for a few days at most… but at least the life support system still worked. Try as she might, she couldn't quite recall what had left her marooned in a system she had no hope of recognizing. Last she could recall, she was preparing for an intercept mission not too terribly far from The Redoubt. It all came flooding back in an instant. She was well into adulthood, yet the Sight still had yet to fade. She had gotten sloppy, and was forced to use it to save her small picket ship from colliding with an asteroid that the navigator had missed. Shaking those thoughts from her head, she set about working to ensure she could at least find a place to land.
The system she found herself in was evidently something of a backwater. She couldn't make out any Ascendency defense platforms. All she could see was the swirling colors of a vast nebula and a sparsely-populated planet with a single moon. Seeing few other options, she put what little power she could spare into the engines of the clawcraft and began making way for the planet.
With little in the way of fine control over her craft, she had no choice but to simply let gravity do most of the work as she headed towards the planet. After a few harrowing minutes of descending through the atmosphere of the thankfully verdant planet, the friction heat ceased sparking on the hull, and she was able to safely land the clawcraft in a small clearing in the middle of a dense jungle. She let out a relieved sigh, letting her head fall back on the seat as she worked out a rough plan in her head. She had her combat jumpsuit, a charric carbine, about three days worth of rations, and absolutely no damned idea where she was. She eventually sighed, forcing open the hatch of her fighter and climbing out into the humid air of the planet. It felt… wrong to leave a clawcraft sitting out in the open, she lacked the knowledge or the means to repair it or render it completely useless. All she could do was hope that whoever lived on this planet didn't speak Cheunh. After gathering up what few provisions she had, she set off towards the vague direction of what seemed to be a settlement from orbit.
She wasn't quite sure how long she was wandering through the jungle, but a strange feeling eventually washed over her. It was almost indescribable, but something was… pulling her in a slightly different direction than the one she knew led to those lights she saw on her descent. It felt alien, yet familiar all at the same time. Against her better judgement, she slowly began making her way in the direction she was being pulled.
After nearly an hour of trudging through the blasted humidity and insects, she was greeted by an overgrown stone temple, nearly completely covered by the local flora. She could just barely make out faded symbols carved into the stone walls, but they had faded to almost nothing by the passage of time. It took some time, but she was eventually able to squeeze through the thick roots that had grown in front of the large bronze door to the structure. Half-expecting to need her whole body weight to even nudge the door, she practically fell face-first onto the stone floor when it opened with little resistance.
Taking a look around after recovering, she found herself in what appeared to be an ancient burial tomb. Surprisingly well-preserved carvings decorated the walls, depicting warriors wielding swords of some sort. Joining the images on the walls were carved runes of a language she couldn't hope to recognize. Just as she considered turning to leave, that strange presence began pulling her deeper into the tomb. Her curiosity thoroughly piqued, she flicked on the flashlight mounted to her carbine and began wandering the halls of the deceptively large crypt.
As she descended a flight of stairs, her light sweeping the room below her, she found a single stone sarcophagus resting on an elevated platform, surrounded by collapsed ancient braziers. The moment she reached the bottom of the stairs, she practically jumped out of her skin as the pulling presence was replaced by soft whispering. She couldn't quite make out any words, but it was strangely comforting. That same presence began almost… calling her to open the sarcophagus. She approached carefully, scanning every inch of the room with her weapon before even considering the sarcophagus before her. She wasn't quite sure what drove her to it, but she began shoving the stone lid away, revealing the mummified remains within. It looked nearly identical to a Chiss skeleton, wearing thin scraps of cloth with a pair of devices resting on its chest.
The most stand-out one was a small cube, looking to be made of brass and a semi-transparent blue crystal. As she looked at it, the whispering seemed to grow in volume, and it practically begged to be held. The second device was a strange cylinder, looking almost like a larger code cylinder, but with a rather obvious switch on the side. She tentatively reached out with her free hand, the whispers growing to a near-deafening roar as she drew closer and closer to the cube. The moment she laid a finger on it, the whispering ceased and a feeling of immense calm washed over her. Still unsure of the device, she decided to tuck it away in her pack before grabbing the second device.
Despite being made entirely of rusty metal, the cylinder was surprisingly light. Trying to discern its purpose, she pressed the switch on the side of the device, and jumped in surprise as a beam of bright magenta light speared forth from the device with a soft hiss. She stared at the device in confusion, slowly moving it around before her and listening to the thrumming energy of the beam. When the beam met a hanging vine, it seared through it like it wasn't there, slicing the plant matter clean in half and leaving a trail of smoke from the piece that had fallen to the floor. She hummed, flicking the switch again and rolling the now-deactivated device around in her hand. She couldn't quite place it, but holding it felt… right.
With a shrug, she packed both devices away in her survival pack and headed back for the wilderness, hoping to reach the settlement she saw on the way down sooner rather than later.
~One Year Later~
Alisa sighed, patting her captain on the shoulder as he slammed back another drink. "We're getting my damn ship back." He swore for the hundredth time. Her captain, Kallest, had hired her as a deckhand when she was looking for passage off the backwater jungle planet she made an emergency landing on. Being about the only damn pilot on the planet who was willing to leave the system and spoke a language that she could understand made him an obvious choice. He was even kind enough to help her learn Basic, though she was still far from fluent.
"I'm sure we'll have our opportunity soon, Captain." Alisa nodded, responding in Sy Bisti in an attempt to keep their conversation as inconspicuous as possible. Kallest was already about eight drinks in, looking like he was ready to start shooting at any moment. Alisa was nearly as angry, but was simply better at hiding it. If anything, she counted herself lucky. She kept her entire life on her person, Kallest had lost the ship he had practically built and rebuilt with his own two hands. She lowered her voice, just in case. "And if we're lucky, those compartments will go untouched. Anyone idiotic enough to stay in the same system that they stole a ship in likely isn't very perceptive."
"Hell, I hope you're right." Kallest nodded, finishing the last of his drink. "That's thirty thousand credits in merchandise." She was hesitant about working with a smuggler at first, but was pleasantly surprised to find he had quite the interesting code. Under no circumstance, regardless of the reward offered, would he transport slaves or… excessively destructive weapons. Spice, blasters, and military gear were fair game though. "At least replacing any shit they broke won't be hard. YT parts are common as the Empire is stupid."
Alisa chuckled, nodding in agreement. Just before landing on Nar Shaddaa and subsequently having their ship stolen out from under them, they had been 'randomly stopped' by an Imperial patrol vessel to be searched. They didn't even catch a whiff of the dozens of hilariously illegal weapons safely stowed away in the concealed compartments. They did ask about the strange blue woman that was working as a second aboard a trade vessel, and Kallest didn't even have to lie about that one. As far as the Empire needed to know, she was just a strange alien who needed work on a backwater settlement in wild space. He had even managed to convince another Imperial officer that she was a Pantoran. "Any luck with this… friend of yours?"
"Nothing yet, he's usually much faster than-" Right on cue, Kallest's holocomm began beeping in his pocket. Glancing down to the holographic display, sure enough. "Speak of the devil, and so shall he appear..." With a simple flick, the image of a sharply-dressed human man fizzled into view in Kallest's palm. Based on his clothes and accent, Alisa could scarcely believe Kallest of all people had this man as a contact.
"Ah, Kallest! My dear, dear friend!" The man's smile was ear-to-ear, yet… predatory. Like he knew something everyone else didn't. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Good to see you again, Matthias. I uhh… I need a favor." Kallest began, his voice softening near the end, like he was bracing for something.
Matthias gave a hearty chuckle, running a hand through his hair. "My, my… and here I was thinking we were equal. So I suppose this puts the ball back in my court?" Seeing Kallest's nod, he continued. "What do you need, my friend?"
"Some… unsavory folks stole my ship." Kallest deadpanned, murderous intent in his eyes at the mere mention. "It's still on Nar Shaddaa, no way they got it past the Hutts. They're probably gonna try to scrap it."
"Easy enough, I'll have its location for you in an hour, tops." Matthias smirked, gesturing to someone outside the holocomm's view. "Now, to make it all even again… I need you to run a shipment for me. The usual."
With a sigh, Kallest nodded. "Alright. Where to?"
"Lothal." Matthias explained. "Right along the major hyperspace lane from Mon Calamari, so it should be a milk run for someone of your talents. Once you and your companion retrieve the ship, you can pick up the shipment from my establishment at your convenience."
"Mind if I make a quick stop at Oba Diah? Gotta make a dropoff." Kallest half-whispered.
"I doubt my clients would mind a slight delay." Matthias smiled broadly. "After all, they're already paying for the best, and I offered quite the discount for a bulk order. I can always revoke it if they raise any fuss. You'll have your ship's location within the hour."
Letting out a sigh of relief, Kallest looked back over to Alisa, who was still piecing together the conversation. "Hope you didn't forget power packs for that fancy blaster of yours."
"What do you take me for, Captain? An amateur?" She smirked
XXXXX
"Looks like you were right, Captain." Alisa nodded to the warehouse that Matthias had directed them towards. "Looks like a scrapyard."
"I swear..." Kallest muttered, checking the power pack for his blaster pistol as Alisa flicked her charric carbine on. "Places like this almost make you wish the Empire was out here."
"Almost..." Alisa nodded, glancing over to the warehouse to make sure their path was clear. "Ready?"
With a silent nod, Kallest and Alisa silently made their way across the street, taking up positions on opposite ends of the door. Kallest threw the door open, rounding the corner and putting down two of the thugs with his heavy blaster pistol. They split up to clear the warehouse that much faster, and to make sure none escaped. Kallest was always a bit showy, confident in his abilities with a blaster. Alisa was more methodical. All Kallest really knew was that she was once in a military, and she certainly moved and fought like it. Despite how many times he had seen it, Kallest couldn't help but be surprised by the sheer speed that Alisa moved with. It was almost like she could tell what her opponent was doing before it happened.
As they cleared the warehouse, Kallest remotely opened the boarding platform of the YT-2000 freighter and ran aboard, looking to warm up the ship for an immediate departure. With the gunfire and yelling coming to an abrupt halt, Alisa finally had a moment to examine the warehouse and its inhabitants more closely.
Just as she suspected, they were scrappers. Parts from an innumerable number of starship models littered the warehouse, along with the cargo of said starships. What really caught her eye was the weaponry the scrappers had at their disposal. Sure, there were the standard blaster pistols, but many carried military-grade arms like DC-15 pattern blaster rifles. They weren't exactly rare, but she knew damn well a bunch of scrappers couldn't get hardware like that on their own. She finally noticed one of the scrappers crawling towards a pile of crates, the blaster wound in his leg still seeping smoke. Shooting a glance over her shoulder to ensure Kallest was still warming up the ship, she decided to get some answers.
As she approached, letting her carbine fall on its sling, the scrapper's look of pain turned to sheer terror as he watched the blue-skinned woman who had so easily blasted his leg begin walking towards him without a care in the galaxy, her burning red eyes seething anger. She reached out her hand, calling upon the Sight for the first time in what felt like a lifetime. She watched as the scrapper desperately clawed at his throat in a vain attempt to release the invisible grip on his airway. With her other hand, she yanked a blaster pistol into her grip and leveled it at the man. "Who employs you?"
"No one!" The scrapper managed, still clawing at his windpipe in desperation.
"The blasters and grenades say otherwise." Alisa deadpanned. "Care to try again?"
As she tightened her grip to accent her point, the man's eyes widened. "G-Grakkus! The Hutt!"
"Was that so difficult?" Alisa asked, dropping the man back to the floor. Before turning around, she put a blaster bolt through the scrapper's head and tossed the pistol aside. With a quick detour to the door controls, she opened the large bay door to the warehouse and made her way towards the ship's ramp.
As she stepped into the cockpit, taking her normal seat behind the navicomputer terminal, Kallest offered her a small smirk. "We miss one?"
"Not quite." Alisa shrugged. "One was wounded, figured he'd know something about who backs them. I was right."
"Who is it?" Kallest asked, his eyes turning back to the complicated series of buttons and switches he had to flip to activate the ship.
"Grakkus the Hutt." Alisa deadpanned, earning a look of dread from Kallest.
"Alright, so we see Matthias and get the hell off Nar Shaddaa." He nodded. "Good to know we won't be coming back here for a while."
"You never did tell me who this friend of yours is, Captain." Alisa glanced over as the ship's engines began thrumming to life.
"Used to run with him years ago. Lucky bastard struck it rich, now he runs a casino on the upper levels. That's just a front, though… his main gig is selling information and weapons." Kallest explained, carefully moving the ship out into the "open" air of the Nar Shaddaa cityscape. "Don't suppose you brought some formal clothes?"
XXXXX
"Leaving before saying 'hello'?" Kallest sighed as the same man Alisa saw on his holocomm approached the landing pad. "No time for an old friend?"
"It's good to see you again, Matthias." Kallest nodded, keeping an eye on the four men loading a pair of heavy crates into the vessel's cargo hold. "Mind telling me what exactly we're running?"
"Why, my specialty of course," Matthias smirked, patting the ornate blaster pistol at his hip. "I owed an old friend a favor, so I'm seeing it through. The crates are perfectly legal trade goods, this..." He nodded back to a selection of six smaller crates, easily small enough to fit in the compartments. "Is the real merchandise. To be delivered to one Hera Syndulla on Lothal."
"Ah, so Cham called in the favor finally? Only took the old man fifteen years." Kallest smirked. "Good to see screwing the Empire runs in the family."
"Indeed. I'm sure she'll offer to pay you, and you may keep the credits." Matthias waved his hand dismissively. "Consider it payment for the job. As for the crates, you can keep the proceeds should you manage to sell them off. Just remember who makes the best blasters in the Outer Rim." His ear-to-ear smile returned as he patted Kallest on the shoulder. "Your pistol looks a bit… dated."
"By the way… did you know that those scrappers worked for Grakkus?" Kallest asked, crossing his arms and leaning against the hydraulics of the ramp.
"Of course I knew." Matthias chuckled. "Just a bit of payback to distract him for a bit. Had my eye on a few of his… establishments. He should be willing to sell, now that he's lost money on his scrapping operations."
Kallest smirked. "I swear, one of these days, you're gonna be the one running Nar Shaddaa."
"That's the plan." There was that smirk again. "Stay safe, and stay off the Empire's radar. Might need your services again in the future."
Kallest looked over to Alisa, who was watching the exchange with mild interest. "Ready to shove off? Got a long jump ahead of us."
"Always, Captain." She nodded.
XXXXX
Alisa felt tense, seeing a Star Destroyer sitting in Lothal's orbit. She had seen the monstrous vessels only a few times before, but they never ceased to terrify her. She had considered the Phalanx-class destroyers used by her own people to be intimidating vessels, but there was just something about an ISD. "Think I found 'em." Kallest nodded, keying the communications terminal.
Alisa didn't pay much attention to his conversation, she was far more interested in watching the Imperial Navy. In just about every way, they were the complete opposite of Chiss designs. Nearly every Imperial weapon, starship, and vehicle was designed for terror first and war second.
"Huh..." Kallest hummed, closing down the comms and shaking Alisa out of her own mind.
"Something happen?"
"Don't think she was expecting us… Seemed surprised." Kallest shrugged. "Be ready, just in case."
Alisa watched as a veritable junker of a ship came into view, sat in the middle of an empty field on Lothal. As they came in for landing, she felt… something. It was a familiar presence, not too dissimilar to the strange cube she had found in the jungle temple over a year prior. She had learned quite a bit from that strange thing. Just maybe, she could learn a bit more.
As they set down, Alisa was just behind Kallest as they descended the ramp. That feeling grew even stronger when she glanced over to the bearded human. Beside him was a green Twi'lek and a young woman with armor she didn't recognize. "Hera, right?" Kallest asked, nodding in their direction. "Name's Kallest, this is Alisa. We've got a delivery for you from a friend of your father's."
"Wait, really?" Hera asked, surprised.
"Yep, pretty nice gear, too." Kallest nodded back to the crates that were suspended in the air behind him. "Blasters, detonators, detonite charges, the works."
"Detonite?! Seriously?" The young woman exclaimed. "Awesome!"
"How much…?" Hera asked, eyeing the smuggler suspiciously.
"Truth be told, y'all seem like fine folk." Kallest shrugged "Can't believe I'm doin' this, but your old man's done right by me in the past. Call it on the house."
"Wait… seriously? A smuggler doing something for free?" Hera asked, incredulously.
"Seriously..." Kallest nodded, earning a surprised look from Alisa. "Now, if y'all need food, please be my guest and buy that. Matthias has my damn ship laden down with half a ton of it, and a crew of two's never gonna get through all that."
"Wait, you're Kallest Eshen? My dad always talked about the crazy stuff you and Matthias did during the Clone Wars." Hera smiled. "Sorry for the cold shoulder, wasn't expecting a pile of guns to drop into our laps."
"Eh, it's all good. Lemme go offload the goods. Alisa, mind checking on the main engine mount? Got a little wobbly on the way down."
"Of course, Captain." She nodded.
Just as she pulled the panel off, the Human spoke up. "Never seen someone like you."
"Not surprising..." Alisa responded, her heavy accent and slower speech telling Kanan that she was not proficient in Basic by any stretch. "The Captain was the first Human I saw."
"Where are you from?"
"A world deep in the unknown regions." Alisa responded, noting the loose couplings. Nothing catastrophic, just made any atmospheric reentry a bit… harrowing.
"Wait, you're from the unknown regions?" Kanan almost considered her a liar at first, then he saw the distinctly alien blaster slung on her back. It didn't look anything like a weapon he'd seen before. It was sleeker, a bit more refined. "I didn't think it was possible to get there, much less leave."
"I spent much of my youth as a ozyly-esehembo..." Alisa began, correcting herself a moment later when she saw the confused look on the man's face. "Apologies, a navigator. It was my job to traverse the dangerous, short-lived hyperlanes."
"Had some help, I take it." The man wore a visible smirk on his face. "Navicomputers and all?"
"No, sadly." Alisa answered. "They would be useless there. Hard to account for a wandering black hole." She wasn't a fool. She knew exactly what he meant. "It seems you have the same… help I do."
"So you were trained in the Force?" The man asked, his voice lowering considerably.
"My people referred to it as The Sight, but yes." Alisa nodded. "My training was simply for navigation, the rest I had to learn through trial and error." She closed the panel, sealing it shut again. "Is there a reason you're so interested?"
"The holocron you have." He responded without missing a beat. "Where'd you find it."
Alisa was a bit taken aback by that. After all the dancing around the point, such a direct statement was a refreshing change of pace. "On a jungle planet in wild space, where I crashed. It called to me, so I answered." She shrugged. "It took some time, but it proved insightful."
"Wild space? Really?" Kanan asked, surprised.
"It seemed a tomb of sorts." Alisa nodded. "I wasn't able to read any of the script on the walls, but it felt… serene, peaceful."
"Get that fixed, Alisa?" Kallest called out, catching her attention.
"Indeed. Nothing major." She nodded, seeing her captain's head poking around the landing gear.
"Hey, Kallest, right?" Kanan asked, nodding to the older smuggler. "Interested in a little job?"
"Whatcha got in mind?" Kallest asked, leaning against the landing gear.
"We could use a little hand with an operation. One of us is embedded in the Imperial Academy here on Lothal as a cadet." Kanan explained. "We could use some extra guns to help get him and a few others out."
"You paying?"
"Don't have too many credits, but we've got no shortage of good information." Kanan shrugged. "Imperial patrol routes, cargo manifests, garrison numbers."
Kallest thought to himself for a moment. Not quite instant money, but info like that was worth a hefty premium. He eventually shrugged. "I'm in, how 'bout you, Alisa?"
"Why not?" She shrugged. "When are we moving?"
"Tomorrow at noon." Kanan explained. "Shouldn't take more than an hour. Quick smash and grab. You'll have Zeb and Sabine with you two. Hera and I will be off-world intercepting a supply convoy."
"Might need to hitch a ride on your fancy YT if things go south." Zeb, the Lasat, offered a wide smile.
"If anything, it'll be nice to be on solid ground for a while." Kallest shrugged.
