Echoes of History Kamparas Saga Part 1

by M. Andrew Sorensen

A young girl discovers the remains of an old starfighter in a junk yard. The discovery will connect her to conflicts of the past and set her on a path for the future.

Working in a scrap yard on the outskirts of Ryhn City on Kamparas wasn't the worst job Janella Renshir could imagine, but it was close. Growing up in a middle-class family on Coruscant, Janella wasn't used to real physical labor, but times had changed. Janella's parents had been mid-level systems technicians for the Coruscant planetary computer system under Emperor Palpatine and were kept on in that capacity when the New Republic finally took the planet. Having been born the year following the liberation of Coruscant, Jan had no idea what life was like under the Empire, except from stories her parents had told her.

During Grand Admiral Thrawn's campaign to rebuild the Empire, Janella was on Coruscant with her family. As far as they were concerned, the conflicts were far away, just stories in the news. Even when the Grand Admiral effectively blockaded the planet with asteroids, it was still something that seemed distant. There was nothing they could do about the situation, anyway. Eventually, Thrawn was defeated, and things went back to normal...for a time.

When the Imperial Civil War broke out, Janella was only three years old. An Imperial force retook Coruscant, only to have the members of that faction begin fighting among themselves, devastating the planet. One of the victims of this conflict was the Coruscant computer systems. Though none of the family was harmed when the dust cleared and the New Republic was back in control of the planet, there was no work available. Janella's father had finally managed to land a position working with the construction crews rebuilding the city-planet that was Coruscant, but times were still tough. At the age of sixteen, Janella's oldest sister left the family home and set out on her own, eventually finding work as a starship mechanic at Sluis Van. Life progressed but didn't seem to get better. Janella's next older sibling also left at sixteen to try to make things easier on her parents. Unfortunately, things only got worse.

While working on one of the monstrous construction droids, Janella's father was caught in the blast when a coolant tank ruptured. Janella's mother, racing to the medcenter, lost control of the family speeder and was killed. Janella's father survived the blast, but was crippled and was facing a long road of physical therapy to recover. By this time, Janella was fifteen years old. Having seen her sisters leave and make lives for themselves, Janella went to a cargo shipping concern and, lying about her age, signed on as a long-haul cargo handler.

Janella worked for about six months with the shipping company before the company went bankrupt. Janella unloaded her gear from the freighter on the next planet they landed on, and then took the first job she could find.

And so, here she was Janella Renshir, sixteen year old daughter of Coruscant, working on Kamparas moving heaps of junk from one side of the yard to the other or to the compactor.

What an exciting life I lead, she thought, moving the load-lifter across an empty lot in the scrap yard.

Janella's goal in life was to get back to Coruscant. She had been saving for half a year, trying to collect the money needed, not just for passage, but to get a small apartment. Growing up in a family that was often on the edge of poverty taught Janella the value of a credit, and she knew it was going to take some time to get her savings to the level she needed.

"Hey, Jan!" came a voice across the yard. Stopping the load lifter, she turned to see her friend, Neme Llows, coming toward her. Neme stepped carefully around the stagnant water puddles that were as much a part of Janella's life as the junk metal.

"Hey, Neme. What'cha doin' here? Sinking down to the level of a lowly garbage hauler?" Janella asked with a smile. Neme was from Ryhn City and still lived with her parents. Janella didn't even know if Neme had a job. It wasn't a point of contention, though Janella did feel a little twinge of envy every now and then. Neme was actually a few years older that Janella, but they had become best friends in the short time they had known each other.

"So what time are you getting done here, Jan? A bunch of us are going to Hyperdrive, and you're coming with us."

"Sorry, Neme, that place is a little too costly for me."

"Nope, no way, Jan. You're coming with us, on my tab, and I'm not taking no for an answer. So, how long are you going to make me stand around here waiting for you?"

Janella laughed as she pulled out a comlink to the head office. "All right, Neme, let me see what I can do." She pulled a comlink from her belt and thumbed it on. "Office, this is Renshir. I'm gonna drop this last load and call it a day, do you copy?"

A burst of static was followed by a gruff voice over the com. "All right, Renshir, I'll let ya slide this time, but make sure Her Highness there with you gets you home early, 'cause you're in here in the morning."

Neme laughed and grabbed the comlink. "Nathen Dailyk, you behave or I'm going to drag your old carcass out to the dance floor."

"Neme, your parents would be stunned to hear you call one of their friends an 'old carcass'. Get out of my scrap yard before I call them." And with a chuckle the comlink cut off.

Janella clipped the comlink back to her belt. "I don't know how you do it, Neme. I'd be too worried about losing my job if I talked to Mr. Dailyk like that."

"Nah, Nathen's harmless, and he wouldn't get rid of you. If he did, he'd have to do all this work by himself. Now come on, let's get out of here."

Janella dropped the load she was hauling in the designated area, and then parked the load lifter back at the pile she had been working on. As Janella walked away, the lifter drifted on its repulsor cushion and bumped into a wedge-shape that was sticking out from under the rest of the scrap...

Echoes of History

(Part 1 of The Kamparas Trilogy)

Janella woke up after hearing a voice call her name. Looking around, she saw no one and there were no incoming calls on her comm system. Realizing it must have been a dream, Janella glanced at her chrono and saw that it was just a few minutes before her alarm went off, so she deactivated it and went to her 'fresher. Pulling on her work jumpsuit, Janella headed for the scrap yard, her own name still echoing in her head in a voice that wasn't her own.

At work, Janella was told that the remainder of the junk heap she had been working on was going to the recycler. Taking the load lifter, Janella started moving scrap from one area to another, the same work she'd been doing for six months. For some reason, though, today felt different to Janella. Nothing unusual had happened, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen.

The comlink signaling on her belt made Janella realize she had been lost in her thoughts.

"Renshir here," she said, flipping on the comlink.

"Renshir, this is Dailyk. Listen, kid, you plannin' on movin' the whole yard to the 'cycler tonight?"

Janella looked at her wrist-chrono and saw that it was ten minutes past her quitting time. The last she remembered, it wasn't quite lunch time. Looking at the pile she had been working on, she saw that it was gone, except for a few meager scraps and what looked like the outline of some small ship.

"Uhh, no, sir. I...uh...the pile I'm working on is just about done, so I was just going to finish that."

"All right, kid. I'm heading out, so make sure you lock up on your way out, and don't stay too late, got me?"

"Yes sir, I'll take care of the yard. Have a good evening and I'll see you tomorrow." Janella clipped the comlink back onto her belt. Still baffled by the lapse of time, Janella went back to the scrap heap to finish up and go home. After loading the lifter with the last of the junk, Janella turned back to the ship that she had uncovered from the twisted metal and plastics.

Wedge-shaped, the small one-man ship made Janella think of a one-man Star Destroyer. The hull was pitted and worn, with large, gaping holes in the port-side wing and empty housings where the thrust nozzles should have been. Looking underneath the craft, Janella realized there were no engines in the ship at all. They appeared to have been cut out in haste, leaving rough edges and exposed hoses and lines dangling to the ground. On the port side, just behind the largest of the holes, Janella saw what looked like the remains of an astromech droid, but there wasn't enough thickness in the wing for an astromech. The nose of the ship was blackened and damaged, with a large piece obviously missing. Climbing up the side of the ship, Janella saw the stripped-out housings of laser cannons. At the back of the ship, Janella found the cockpit. The transparisteel of the canopy was mostly gone, with the remaining sections looking like they had been badly cut out of the ship with a welding torch. Looking in, Janella saw that the ejector seat was still in place, which was unusual for this scrap yard. Janella knew that Nathen would make a profit on any piece of equipment he thought was worth a credit.

Janella climbed over the edge of the cockpit and dropped into the seat. The controls were laid out on a console just at arms reach, though most of the monitors were gone. The control stick and throttle were comfortable in Janella's hands, and again she wondered why they hadn't been sold for scrap.

...this ship should belong to you...

Janella jumped out of the cockpit and looked around. The voice she had heard say her name this morning was back, but she didn't see anyone.

...this ship should belong to you...

This time Janella realized the words were thoughts in her head. She didn't know why the voice wasn't her own, but the thought made sense.

This ship should be mine, she thought. And tomorrow, Nathen is going to sell it to me.

Janella went back to her apartment and drifted off to sleep. As her eyes drifted shut, Janella saw the darkness fade. In its place, she saw a landscape that was familiar, but different from what she knew. The sky was clear...

...and the air smelled of sweet flowers. Mountains in the distance gave way to rolling grassy plains, oddly tinted a dark reddish hue. A bright blue river cut a swath from the mountains into the town here along the coast of a large lake. Standing here, along the battlements of a centuries-old castle, the breeze brought the sounds of laughter and bargaining from the market three stories below. The castle was made of a greenish-gray stone quarried from local bluffs. The sky, like the plains, had a hint of red, the effect of the red sun of this solar system. From below came the ringing of a bell. An alarm. A raid. The base was under attack. The alarm grew louder, louder...

and Janella sat straight up in her bed. Her chrono's alarm was sounding its steady tone, calling Janella awake. Slapping the switch, Janella looked around. She was sure she had been on that castle roof. She could remember the smell of the air, the sounds...but even as she was thinking about it, the dream was fading as dreams do. Shaking her head to clear the mist, Janella got climbed into the 'fresher to start her day again.

"Come in," came Nathen's voice from within the office, answering Janella's knock.

Walking in somewhat shyly, Janella had her sun-cap in her hands, wringing it nervously.

"What can I do ya for, Renshir? Hey, stop abusin' that cap. What'd it ever do to you?" Dailyk said with a smile.

"Sorry, sir," Janella said, though she didn't stop what she was doing.

"Ms. Renshir, please, call me Nathen. You've been working here long enough to earn that, I think."

"Thank you, sir...er...Nathen. Umm...sir, I've come to ask to...I mean...I was wondering if you'd be willing to..."

Dailyk sighed. "Ok, I'm gonna make this real easy, Janella. Ask anything you want, and I promise not to fire you on the spot the next time you call me sir, deal?"

Janella's nervousness gave way to a laugh. Dailyk smiled and gestured her to proceed.

"Mr. Dailyk, I found the remains of an old starfighter in the yard yesterday, and I wanted to know if I could buy it."

"A starfighter? Like, what, an old Z-95, or TIE or something?"

"No sir. It's like nothing I've ever seen. If you pull up the shot from holocam six, you should be able to see it."

Dailyk turned to the monitors on his left and punched in the needed command. Leaning in, he saw the wedge-shaped ship sitting on the pavement.

"I'll be...I actually remember bringing that in. Bought it from a farm owner a few miles up the road, 'bout ten years back. Said he dug it up out of one of his fields. I don't even know what it is, ya know?"

"I'm willing to find out and try to fix it up. If I can't fix it, I'd even sell it back to you if you want it."

Dailyk pulled up some old records on his desktop computer, and then looked back to Janella.

"I paid eight thousand for it back then. What kinda offer you wanna make me?"

"Well, sir, the way I see it, its been collecting rust for ten years, and has probably been stripped of half of what it did come in with, so it wouldn't be quite the same value." Janella said with a grin. She was feeling more confident than she had when she came into the office. "I have five thousand in my bank account that I can let go."

Nathen thought about the offer for a few moments. The wait found Janella shifting nervously from foot to foot. Finally he looked up again.

"Ok, here's what I'm gonna do for ya, kid. I'll give ya the ship for three thousand."

"Sir, that's gr..."

"Hang on, that's not all. Whatever information you dig up, I want a copy. If you don't find anything and you want to sell it back, I'm only going to give you half the cost back."

"I can live with that Mr. Dailyk...Nathen. Is that all?"

"I want you to come to me first for any parts ya might need. Oh, and I don't want this pet project to mess with your work around here, understand?"

"Absolutely. Since my break is over now, I need to get back to work. I'll have the hull out of here this evening. Thank you."

"My pleasure."

Neme Llows leaned against the wall of the work pit Janella had rented. The only visible part of Janella was her legs as she was buried in the innards of the starfighter. Up on a lift, the fighter almost looked like it could take off at any moment.

"Jan, what exactly are you doing?" Neme asked. She heard something that sounded like Janella's voice, but had no idea what Janella had said. Blowing an exhausted breath, Neme walked over and squatted down by Janella's legs. "What was that?"

"I said," Janella pushed down from inside the ship, "I'm looking for a manufacturers ID number. Every ship has an ID plate somewhere with make, model, serial number, all the stuff you'd expect. The problem is I can't find it on this one."

"Well, I see a bunch of junk missing, isn't it possible that the plate was on a part that's gone?"

"It's possible, I guess," Janella said, wiping the sweat from her forehead, leaving behind a greasy streak. "Usually the plate in on a frame structure, but I guess this one could have been different."

Janella dropped down and sat cross-legged on the floor.

"I don't know, Nem. I don't even know why I spent half my savings buying this piece of scrap. What was I thinking?"

"Can't tell ya that, Jan, baby, but I do know that I'm getting filthy hanging around in here. Want to come down to Hyperspace with me?"

Janella sighed. "I'd love to, Neme, but I've got to keep working on this till I find something. I can't do it during work hours, so I have to do it when I can. Sorry."

"Ok. I'll stop and check up on ya tomorrow, ok?"

"Thanks, Nem."

After her friend left, Janella climbed up the maintenance ladder and dropped into the cockpit. She had checked out the cockpit a few times, but couldn't find a trace of identifying marks. Sighing again, she leaned her head back against the head rest and closed her eyes...

...and opened them to find that all systems were in the green. Seemingly of their own accord, Janella felt muscles that weren't hers stretch out and grab the controls, putting full throttle into the engines and lifting the fighter off the ground. Banking hard, the fighter gained altitude quickly, climbing up through the thin outer layers of the atmosphere and into the void of space. There, just in front of the fighter, was a warship that Janella couldn't identify, but she knew somehow that it was the enemy. Flying from the warship were dozens of smaller fighters, smaller than the one she was in. Looking down through eyes not her own, Janella saw that the fighters were droids starfighters. Before she could figure out what that meant, she felt the muscles of her right hand twitch and two bright beams of the laser cannons in her fighter reached out to the droid starfighters...

Janella sat upright, gasping for air. Looking around, she saw that she was still in the maintenance bay, still in the cockpit of the fighter. The displays were dark, or missing altogether and there was nothing out the front of the ship but the walls of the bay. Her hands were in her lap, rather than on the controls as she last remembered.

Having no idea what was happening, Janella pulled out her comlink to call security. That's when she noticed on her chrono that, unlike the dream several nights prior, this... incident... had only lasted a few seconds. Janella didn't know what was going on, but she decided it was time to leave for the night.

Climbing out of the cockpit, Janella's foot snagged on a panel on the outer hull of the cockpit. With a tug, she pulled her foot free, but also pulled the panel off the side of the fighter. There, before her eyes, was the ID plate she had spent hours looking for.

"Kuat Systems Engineering Delta-7 Aethersprite" Janella read out loud. "I have no idea what that means," She muttered to herself, "but Kuat...now I have a starting point."

"Tell me again why I'm here?" Neme asked as she logged into the library computer system.

"C'mon, Nem. I'm not a student here, and I need some help looking up some information." Janella smiled as she added, "Besides, you're the closest thing to a slicer I know."

"Jan, flattery will get you everywhere. I'm logged in, so tell me what you're looking for."

"Ok, we might as well start at the start. See what you can find for a Delta-7 Aethersprite starfighter."

Neme worked the keyboard for several minutes, pulling up pages of data, but not stopping at any of them.

"Nothing. I can't find a single record for a starfighter with that name. What should we try now?"

"Try Kuat Systems Engineering. Even without finding records of the fighter, this can't be the only ship an entire company makes."

With a few more keystrokes, Neme brought up the information.

"Okay, here we go. Kuat Systems was a spin-off of Kuat Drive Yards...wow, which was back before the Empire, even. The only ships I show here credited to them are the Firespray patrol ship and the Cloakshape fighter. Some time just before Palpatine declared himself Emperor, KSE was folded back into the main company."

"Is there any contact information for the old ships, or even for Kuat Drive Yards?"

Neme hit a few keys, then handed a newly-printed flimsy to Janella.

"There ya go, kiddo. It's gonna cost you a shiny credit to get a hold of them, though."

Janella looked at the flimsy in her hand. "I'll make do, Neme. I always do."

"I'm sorry, madam, I have no information on a product of that description from Kuat Drive Yards or any of our subsidiaries, past or present."

Janella pounded her fist against the table in the comm center kiosk. The droid receptionist at KDY had given her the same answer no matter how she phrased her inquiry.

"All right, thank you," she said as she cut off the connection.

Walking back to the maintenance hanger, Janella looked at the street around her. People passing by on everyday business, but none being of any help to her.

Climbing up, Janella sat on the wing of the fighter, tinkering with a piece of the old inertial compensator she had removed from the ship.

I need better records access, she thought. If only I could get to a real library system.

That's when Janella's comlink chirped for her attention. As she reached for the device, she felt a chill run through her body.

"Renshir here."

"Janella, this is Nathen. Can you swing by my office when you get a moment? I have a special job for you, if you want it."

"Umm...ok, no problem. I'll be there shortly, Mr. Dailyk. Renshir out."

Using a shop rag, Janella tried to wipe the dirt from her hands, but she mostly just made the smudges a little lighter. Running her fingers through her hair as she walked along the side street to the scrap yard, Janella made a half-hearted attempt to make herself a little more presentable.

The door to the office was open when Janella arrived, so she knocked on the door jamb as she walked through.

"Janella, good, you're here." Nathen looked her over and then let out an amused snort. "Still working on the old wreck, huh?"

"Yeah," Janella said, her nervousness of her boss forgotten in her weariness. "I'm not getting very far, though. As far as the rest of the galaxy goes, that ship might as well not even exist."

Dailyk chuckled. "Yeah, well, how about taking a break for a few days?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"Well, I just bought a new compactor-recycler from a scrap dealer on Coruscant and I need someone to go pick it up for me."

"Me? You want me to go to Coruscant with you?" Janella sat upright, her exhaustion drained in an instant.

"No, no. You've got it wrong."

Janella's face fell when he said this.

"See," Dailyk continued, "I don't have a cargo ship big enough to haul the whole thing, and Corder Llows, your friend Neme's dad, has offered to loan me one of his. The problem is, I need someone who knows Coruscant to go along, and I can't leave the shop closed that long."

Janella's face began to brighten as she realized where Dailyk was going with this.

"So I figured, 'Janella's from Coruscant, she can handle the business for me'. So, what do you think?"

Janella was speechless. It took her a moment to find her voice.

"Sir...err...Mr. Dailyk...Nathen...thank you! You don't know how much it would mean to me to go back to Coruscant."

"Just so long as you come back, Renshir. I know you want to get back there, but I'm not paying your moving expenses here, understand?"

"Absolutely. The thought never crossed my mind. Umm...one question, though."

"Go on."

"Will I have any spare time? I mean, I would like to visit my dad if possible."

"Tell ya what. It usually takes about three days for cargo this big to get through customs. So, get planet-side, take care of the paperwork, then you're on your own until they clear you for liftoff. Fair enough?"

"Just tell me when and where, boss."

"Tomorrow morning. Docking pad AS-27. You'll meet up with Llows' pilot and crew there. The ship is called the Llowly Scrapper. Have fun, and I'll see you when you get back."

Early the next morning, Janella grabbed her travel pack and headed for the docking bay. When she identified herself to the voice recognition system, the door slid open to a brightly lit, clean docking bay. Sitting in the center of the bay was a Corellian Action VI transport that looked like it had just come off the assembly line. Unusual for ships of Corellian decent, the hull plating on the Llowly Scrapper was mostly unpainted and polished, showing practically no signs of wear. A blue stripe ran the length of the ship, seemingly the company colours. The engine cowls looked newly-replaced, and even the extended boarding ramp was covered in spotless carpet.

Janella walked up the ramp and onto the bridge. Scattered around were three humans and a Bothan, the crew of the ship. The Bothan was working near the command center, so Janella approached him.

"Excuse me, are you the captain?"

The Bothan turned and looked at her with the brightest green eyes Janella had ever seen.

"Who's askin'?" he said gruffly.

"I'm Janella Renshir, and I guess I'm the charter here."

The Bothan looked her over again and nodded to himself.

"Sure, kid. No, I'm not the Cap. She's in her office, back there," he said as he gestured to a door on the back bulkhead, just to the right of the bridge door she had entered through, which is why Janella hadn't noticed it until now.

Janella nodded her thanks and walked the three steps to the door, knocking.

"Come," the voice from inside said.

Janella walked through the door and dropped her bag, her mouth hanging open. The door started to close, but a soft chime sounded, since Janella was still in the path.

"Close your mouth and let the door shut, Jan," Neme Llows said, standing up from behind the desk "The crew is going to think it's broken."

"Wha...wha...what are you doing here, Nem?" Janella finally managed to get out.

"What's the matter, Jan? You think us little rich kids don't have to work to earn our keep?" Neme chuckled. "Come on, you've met my dad. You don't think he just gives me an allowance, do you?"

"But...but what are you doing on my ship?" Janella still hadn't picked up her bag.

"Your ship? My name's on the hull, kiddo," Neme said, smiling.

"Neme, you know what I mean. I know Mr. Dailyk said he'd hired one of your dad's ships, but he didn't say anything about you being here, especially as the captain."

"Well, I wasn't scheduled for this run, but when Nathen called Dad and said he was sending you, I asked to take this one. I head up runs for daddy from time to time, and it's been a while since I went to Coruscant, so, it's a 'Girls Night Out' trip for us." Neme came around from the desk and threw her arm around Janella's shoulder. "C'mon, I'll show you to your bunk. Normally I have a room to myself, but I thought it would be like a sleepover if you crashed in my cabin." With that, Neme reached down and grabbed Janella's bag.

When they went back through the door onto the bridge, Neme stopped.

"Jan, let me introduce you to the crew. The nice-looking Bothan gentleman there is Rosha Kre'lya, my first officer. On the left is Devin Aishar, our engineer. The lovely lady is Sanda Neffit, pilot and navigator, and last is Kirian Sunrunner, our cargo master and do-it-all handyman."

Janella nodded to each one in turn, stopping when she saw Sunrunner.

"He doesn't look any older than me," Janella said to Neme, louder than she meant to.

"I'm seventeen," Kirian said, "and I'm the best guy you'll find with a hydrospanner this side of the Jundland Wastes."

"As you can tell from the name and the obscure reference, Kirian is from Tatooine. Devin is from Kuat, Rosha is straight off Coruscant, and Sanda is from here on Kamparas. So, that's the crew. Crew, this is Janella, and her boss is dropping the cred on this run, so treat her right."

"Gotcha, boss-lady," Rosha said. "Her cred, her rules."

Janella was surprised at the to rough tones in Neme's voice. She sounded like she had been hanging around with spacer her entire life. Then it hit her that this was probably the case.

Neme led Janella down the passage to the living quarters. When they went into the first door closest to the bridge, Janella was impressed with the appointments of the room. With two bunks on either wall, the quarters had obviously been taken over from a shared barracks-type room. There was a desk in the center with a computer link and comm channel to the bridge. The walls were covered with draperies that hid the plain bulkheads.

"What do you think, Jan?"

"It's very...you, Neme. Why didn't you ever tell me you did this kind of thing?"

Neme shrugged. "I don't know, never came up? It's one of those things I just don't think about. Usually my runs are just to nearby systems, or even just to other cities here. I'm usually just out and back, so it's never been a big deal."

"Well, looking at this place, it looks like you spend as much time here as at home."

"Yeah, I made these quarters mine. When I make runs for dad, I usually take the Scrapper. Next year, though, we're going to have a brand new ship. It's being built right now, and daddy said it's going to be the flag ship, so I'll have a new toy to play with."

Jan laughed just as the comm on the desk chirped. Neme walked over and punched the button.

"Go," she said simply.

"Cap, we just got cleared," Rosha's voice came from the comm. "We can head out any time."

"All right, Rosh. Go ahead and take us out, get us headed the right way. I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Right. You know where I'll be." With that, the comm cut off and Neme hit the button again.

"Might want to hold on to the handle there on the wall," Neme said, taking a hold of the handle on the opposite wall from the one she indicated.

Janella grabbed the handle just as the steady thrum of the engine gained in pitch to a dull roar. Janella felt the vibration through the deck. Just when the sound reached its peak, Janella felt the ship lift slightly, like being in a turbolift.

"Sorry about that. Sanda likes to keep the inertial compensator turned down. She said it helps her feel what the ship's doing."

"No problem," Janella managed to say before it felt like her stomach dropped to her feet.

"She likes to fly, too," Neme said with a smile. Janella just nodded.

With the Scrapper flying through hyperspace, Janella sat at the navigation console with Neme in the command chair. The rest of the crew was bunked down since it was late into the ship's night.

"So what are we going to do on Coruscant?" Neme asked Janella.

"I don't know. I want to go see my dad. Other than that, I don't have any plans."

"Well, we could hit a few nightclubs, but I might know something you'd be more interested in."

"What's that?" Janella asked.

"I know a guy that works at the New Republic's information center. We can see what we can dig up on that little ship of yours."

Janella smiled. "Neme, that's so nice of you to offer to do that for me, but I can't let you waste a trip to Coruscant in a musty old records hall."

"No need to," Neme said, "I'll talk to my friend and get a line jacked in here, to the living quarters. And if we get bored, those nightclubs will still be there, right?"

Janella shook her head slightly. "Neme, you will never cease to amaze me."

"To quote the famous words," Neme said with a smile, "'sometimes I amaze even myself.'"

After clearing system traffic security and waiting forty five minutes in line, the Llowly Scrapper finally settled onto a pad on the great city-world of Coruscant. After being gone a year, Janella was amazed at how vivid the memories of her home were. She was shocked to find that she felt like a stranger. The sights, sounds, even the smells were different from how she remembered them. It just didn't feel like home anymore.

Neme followed Janella down the ramp.

"Ok, Rosha's going to take care of the landing permits and such, so we can head right over to..." she checked the datapad in her hand, "...Coruscant Recycler Center Fifteen and get things started to get that compactor loaded up."

Neme led the way, following the map instructions she had on her pad. They knew they were on the right path when the smell of rotting garbage assaulted them from somewhere in the direction they were traveling. Once they got to the center itself, Janella assumed her nasal cavities had just been scorched clean, which explained why she didn't gag every time she took a breath.

The manager of Center Fifteen was an old Narthian, with two of its twelve tentacle-arms missing, probably from some on-site accident. The Narthian spoke basic well enough, so once Janella had confirmed her identity, the alien swung three of its arms in her direction, each holding a datapad form that needed her signature. Being careful to read them all, Janella signed each one in turn and shook the proffered tentacle. The manager assured them he would get word to them when the customs forms had cleared and the compactor had been loaded into their ship.

"What now?" Neme asked after they were clear of the stench from the recycling center.

"I need to find a public console. I know where my dad and younger brother were living, but it's been a year. It's hard to tell if they might have moved."

Neme nodded agreement and they were off, exploring the capital planet of the New Republic and treating it like it was a sight seeing tour rather than a business trip.

Janella spotted the public console first, but made way for Neme, since Neme was better with computers.

"Ok, what are we looking for?" she asked.

"Mykl Renshir or Han Renshir."

"Han? You have to be kidding," Neme said while entering the names in the system.

"Look, he was born right after the New Republic took Coruscant the second time, and my dad was a huge admirer of Han Solo. I didn't have a say in the name, so don't look at me that way."

"What? I didn't say anything" Neme answered with a grin.

"Besides, its better I didn't have any say in it," Janella said with a smile all her own.

"Why's that?" Neme asked.

"Because I was about four and a half and my favorite word at the time was 'Wookiee'."

"Wookiee Renshir," Neme said, trying it out. "Kinda rolls off the tongue."

Janella was spared coming up with a rejoinder by the chime of the public console.

"Ok, 357, Level 88, Sector D."

Janella smiled somewhat sadly. "Right where I left 'em."

Neme flagged down a taxi and gave the pilot the address they wanted. The driver took off, weaving through the lanes of traffic, moving both up and down, weaving in and out of various lanes before depositing the pair on a landing that was well within walking distance of Janella's father's home.

"So are you excited about seeing them again?" Neme asked.

"I don't know. Yeah, but I'm nervous, too. It's been so long."

"Jan, it's only been a year. I mean, it's not like a whole lifetime."

"Neme, if you think that, you've never lived on Coruscant."

The apartment complex the Renshir family lived in was exactly what it had always been. Comfortably above the depths of the city, it was still a long way to the upper levels where the "important people" made their homes. The turbolift was at the level Janella and Neme were waiting on, so there wasn't a long delay. As the car moved its way up, Janella took several deep breaths.

"Calm down, kid. If they try to overwhelm you with affection, I'll be there to fight them off."

Janella let out a nervous laugh as the doors opened onto a long hallway with several doors. Without even thinking about it, Janella strode down the hall and pressed the buzzer on the second door on the left.

"First time I ever had to ring the bell," she said to Neme over her shoulder.

The door slid open and Janella was face to face with a young man, about a year younger than her but a few inches taller.

"Han? Is that you?" Janella asked.

"Janey? What are you doin' here? Come on in," said the boy.

"Hiya," Neme said as she walked past him.

"Uhh...hi..." Han said, blushing.

Neme stifled a laugh as she walked into the living room of the apartment.

The apartment itself was actually pretty big. It looked to have about four bedrooms, plus the living room, a dining area, and a food preparation area. The living room had a view that Neme thought would be gorgeous at sunrise.

"Dad!" the young man shouted. "Dad, we've got a visitor."

Mykl Renshir came around the corner from the hallway and stopped dead in his tracks. He stared at Janella, his mouth open, and Neme could see that he was already starting to tear up.

"Janella?" he finally managed to get out.

Janella rushed over and pulled her father into a hug. He wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her tight.

"Janey, I thought you would never come back."

"Daddy, you know I wouldn't leave you forever."

He pushed her gently to arms length. "Let me take a look at you." He looked her over, eyes still teary. "You haven't changed a bit." That's when he noticed Neme. "I'm sorry, I'm being rude. I'm Mykl Renshir, and you are..?"

"Neme Llows, Mr. Renshir. I'm just the chauffeur on this trip," Neme said, taking his offered hand.

"Neme, stop that. Daddy, this is Neme, my best friend. It's her ship that I came in on."

"Well, then I guess I owe you for bringing my little girl home," he said, letting go of her hand.

"Dad, I have to tell you, I'm not back for good. Not yet, anyway."

Mykl looked back to her. "What do you mean?"

"I'm here on business. I'm working for a scrap dealer on Kamparas, and he sent me to pick up some stuff he needs."

"A scrap dealer? How did you end up doing that?" he asked.

"Long story, but I couldn't be here and not come and see you."

"Well, how long are you here for?"

"A few days. We have to wait for customs to clear us out. We have nothing but time on our hands until they get done."

"I wish it was for longer, but you girls are welcome to stay here as long as you want."

Janella looked at Neme, who nodded.

"Ok, dad. That sounds great."

"It's settled, then. Now, come in here and have a cup of caf with me, and tell me how you started working for a junk dealer."

After getting their belongings from the ship, Neme and Janella went to the local library center.

"Well," Neme said, "here we are again, me and you, hunting information on your ghost ship."

Janella started. "What did you say?"

"I said your ghost ship. You know, 'cause we can't find proof it exists."

"Oh, yeah. Where do we start this time?"

"I think I'm going to see if there's any type of special projects listed for Kuat Systems. That's the only thing I can think of as a reason why there's no record anywhere else."

Neme started working on the computer. Janella told her she was going to wander around. Walking through the stacks of datacards, flimsies, hard copy, and other media, Janella found herself overwhelmed by the amount of information stored here. Then she realized this was only a secondary data facility. The amount of data on this one planet was still astounding to her, even after having grown up here.

Janella found herself turned down a long aisle, full of row after row of datacards that looked like they hadn't been touched since they were put on the shelf. As she walked, she got a feeling like she was being led down this particular row. Without knowing why, Janella continued walking down the aisle.

...left...

The voice that Janella had been hearing since finding the fighter was back. Without hesitating, Janella turned left into an almost identical aisle of data.

...left...right...right...

Janella followed the instructions almost before the thought was formed in her mind. Then, all of a sudden, Janella stopped and pulled a datacard set off the shelf. As she did, a loose datacard fell on the floor. Janella picked it up, reading the label. There were only two lines of text on the label

KSE

D7

Janella nearly yelled out before she remembered where she was. She started to replace the boxed datacards on the shelf that she had taken down, until she read the title.

History of Kamparas.

Taking both items, Janella retraced her steps, finding her way back to the desk where Neme was working. Janella felt a sense of satisfaction from the place in her mind that the mysterious thoughts seemed to come from.

Neme looked up as Janella walked up.

"Jan, I can't find anything. I can't understand it, but there's not a single piece of..."

Neme trailed off when she read the label of the loose datacard Janella had slid across the desk to her. Looking up, Neme saw Janella's beaming face.

"Where...how did you find this?" she asked, stunned.

"I can't really explain it, Neme. I was walking through the stacks, and I just knew where to go. Come on, let's get out of here."

"You can't just walk out of a library with that stuff, Jan."

"Hey, Neme, this is my stomping ground, remember? The rule on Coruscant is that if a datacard hasn't been checked out in five years, then it's available to be sold."

"Ok," Neme said, "I can understand that, but how do you know they haven't been checked out?"

"I don't know, Neme. Like I said about finding them..."

"I heard you. You 'just know', right?"

Janella smiled and threw her arm around Neme's shoulder.

"Come on, Pilot Girl, let's go see what we can learn about my ghost."

Back at her dad's apartment, Janella sat at the data terminal, taking notes on the information she found on the datacard. The datacard was packed full of information, including all sorts of technical information; technical readouts, performance thresholds, part numbers, even a contact at Kuat for replacement equipment that Janella would need to rebuild her ship. The only thing that wasn't on the datacard was any explanation why the Aethersprite project had been started, or why there was no information available on the project. The datacard was basically the company information, designs, and the testing data from the project.

Janella went to bed that night with a feeling of satisfaction. She had finally found something that would lead to solid results. She didn't dwell on how she had found the datacards. It wasn't important. She had the information, and when she got back to Kamparas, she would start the serious work on the starfighter. She drifted off to sleep thinking of the steps needed to fix her ship. Her ship…

…rolled to the right as the droid starfighters came on, wave after wave. Janella didn't know how she knew, but she realized the fighters attacking her were being controlled by the large ship ahead. Feeling the muscles in her arm flex, Janella urged the starfighter forward, blasting through the picket ships and targeting the frigate. Glancing out the left side of the cockpit, Janella saw the world she was fighting to defend...

...and she sat up, with visions of Kamparas in her head. The battle from Janella's dreams had been fought over the planet that Janella currently called home. Janella didn't know what any of that had to do with her, or why she was having these dreams or visions or whatever they were. One thing she did know was that she was going to study the Kamparas histories she had found very carefully. With those thoughts, Janella drifted back into a dreamless sleep.

After breakfast with her dad and brother, Janella and Neme got the call that they were cleared through Coruscant customs. Neme ordered Rosha to prep the ship to lift, and that they would be there within an hour.

"Why so long? It shouldn't take but about twenty minutes to have the ship ready," Janella said as she cleared the table of the breakfast dishes.

"I promised my dad I would find him a really good souvenir," Neme answered then leaned over and quietly told Janella, "I'm going to go out and get us a cab. You talk to your dad, ok, kid?"

Janella nodded and walked Neme to the door, sending their bags on a hover-lift in front of her. Janella went into the bedroom where her dad was getting ready for work.

"Dad, we're ready to go."

"Yeah," he said, "I figured that's what the call was about."

He sniffed a bit, and Janella could tell he was fighting his emotions.

"I'll be back, Daddy. I promise it won't be as long this time."

"Here," he said, handing her a cred card. "This should help you find your way home."

Janella looked at the card in her hand.

"Dad, you don't have the money to give to me..."

"Yes, I do, Janey. Don't you get the HoloNet out there in the Rim? The New Republic paid damages to those of us that had trouble with the Imperials. It was a plan that Chief of State Organa-Solo put into place several years ago that's just now paying off. I got a little bit more, because of what happened to your mother..." he trailed off, too choked by emotion to go on. Pulling Janella to him, Mykl Renshir hugged her like she was leaving forever.

"Go on, now," he finally said. "Your friend is waiting, and the faster you get back to Kamparas, the faster you can get turned around and come back here."

Janella hugged him one more time and then went to the front door.

"Tell Han I said good-bye when he gets home from classes. And I will be back soon."

With a kiss on his cheek, Janella was out the door and in the turbolift down to the landing level.Neme had a cab waiting when Janella got there. She told the driver to head to the Old Republic Antiques Mall.

"So what are you going to get for your dad?" Janella asked before Neme could ask about her leaving her father.

"I don't know," Neme said, "something that can't be found just anywhere, I hope. Maybe an old blaster or something. My dad loves collecting old, pre-Empire weapons."

"Gee, Neme, sounds like we're going to have to wait another three days to clear customs."

The girls were still giggling when the cab stopped outside the antiques store.

"Can you wait here?" Neme asked the cab driver, a Quarren.

"I can wait as long as you want, as long as you can pay my tab."

Neme handed him a one hundred credit chit. "Is that enough to make you wait?" she asked with a grin.

"Hey, with that, just take your time, madam."

Neme and Janella strode into the store arm in arm, looking at the furniture, fantasizing about what they would buy with unlimited credits. The other shoppers were fairly mixed until they entered the weapons area. Here, the crowd thinned, and was now mostly made up of males of various species. Neme approached the glass counter and waved the attendant over.

"Hi there," she said. "I'm looking for something special."

"Anything particular you had in mind?" asked the man. He was an elderly human, balding and stooped, though he seemed friendly enough.

"Something old," she said, "no offense. My dad collects pre-Empire weapons, and he doesn't get to come to Coruscant often, so I want something that he can't get anywhere but here."

The old man scratched his chin before pulling a box out from beneath the counter.

"Before I show you what I have," he said, "you have to know. What's in here meets your requirements, but is going to be quite costly. Are you sure you want to see it? I wouldn't want you to see something you wanted badly but couldn't have."

Neme leaned on the counter, propping her chin on her fists. "Sir, I assure you, if it's something I want, I can get it."

"All right, then."

The old man lifted the lid on the box. Inside was a metal cylinder about twenty-five centimeters long. One end was a flattened cone, looking like a smaller shower headThe other end was capped with a sphere that was studded with stubby fins and what looked like an old style belt clip.

"Is that..." Neme never took her eyes off the box.

"Yes," the man said. "It is a real pre-Empire lightsabre, and from everything we can tell, it is fully functional."

"What do you mean, from what you can tell?" Neme asked, finally looking up at the man.

"Well, as you can see, there is no activation mechanism. Some of the old Jedi had their lightsabres designed oddly, like with an internal switch that needed the use of the Force to activate. Whether that's the case here or not, I don't know. We haven't been able to find any way to turn it on, but the power cells are charged, and all of the components seem to be intact."

"I'll take it," Neme said, sliding over her credcard.

"But you don't know how much it costs, or..." the man said.

"Just charge it. You know the old saying; if you have to ask, you can't afford it. I'm not asking." With that, Neme put the lid on the box and carefully placed it into her carry-pack. After the shop keeper had returned her card with an even larger smile than before, Neme and Janella made their way back out to the cab, and from there back to the landing pad where the Llowly Scrapper was ready to head home.

What Janella didn't tell Neme was the she felt a pull from the lightsabre. Something was drawing her to that box, but Janella had enough will power to fight this new, sudden urge.

Janella hit the floor hard, not her first choice in wake-up calls. As she came more awake, she felt the ship jarred by another blow. By the time she was dressed and making her way to the bridge, the noise from the drive system was starting to stutter, then the sound stopped all together.

"What's going on, Neme?"

"Pirates," Neme responded tersely. "Probably the Hydian Raiders. They've hit a few of our Core-bound ships before, but usually our smaller freighters. Never had them hit something this big of ours. I guess we're just lucky today," she said sarcastically.

"Cap, engines are down and they're locked on with a tractor. We're gonna have visitors," Rosha never took his eyes off the sensors while making his report.

"Ok, gang, arm up, but don't draw or take a shot unless it's in self-defense," Neme matched action to word, taking her small blaster from it's space on the side of her command chair and placing it in the holster strapped to her left leg.

"Cap," Rosha looked up this time, "the raider captain is 'requesting' that we open the forward port airlock. I'm showing a stable connection-tube, so it shouldn't be a problem."

"Go ahead, Rosha. No use fighting them. If we do, we'll just have to patch the hole they blast into the hull, anyway."

Janella didn't know what to do. She had never had an experience like this, and she didn't even have a weapon to protect herself. While these thoughts ran through her mind, the pull from the lightsabre Neme had bought came back, stronger than ever. Janella knew, somehow, without even asking that the box was in the same compartment Neme had drawn her blaster from. Before she even realized she had moved, Janella was standing beside the command chair.

"Intruders on board," called the computer voice.

Neme gestured to Rosha, who cut off the audio alarm. That's when the bridge door slid open, and four humanoids came through, weapons raised and covering three different angles.

In the center, obviously the leader judging by his stance, was a human, above average in height and weight. The scars along his exposed left arm and the right side of his face showed that this man had seen his share of action.

On the human's left stood a gangly-looking Rodian, his antenna moving swiftly, checking the situation. If the Rodian himself looked less than physically imposing, the homemade-looking double barreled blaster rifle filled that requirement.

To the right and just behind stood a being as tall and hairy as a Wookiee but that was the end of the similarities. The Togorian was more feline, and looked much more dangerous than a Wookiee. The blaster in his hand was noticed as an afterthought.

Behind them, covering the rear to make sure no one attacked from that direction, was a woman on the young side of middle age. Her dark red hair was pulled back to keep it from interfering with her line of sight, and the blaster rifle in her hand didn't waver.

"Good day, Captain. I am here to relieve you of whatever cargo you have that seems of interest to me."

"Well," Neme said casually, "I would say take whatever you want, but we're only hauling one item, a scrap recycler/compactor unit."

The human gave her a small shrug. "Do you really expect me to believe that? This is a full-blown cargo hauler, and you only have the one piece? Dek, pull the manifest."

The Rodian, Dek, moved over to Kirian's station. Kirian, at a small gesture from Neme, pulled up the cargo manifest of the Llowly Scrapper.

"She tellin' truth, Boss," the Rodian said after studying the screen a moment. "There's nothin' else onboard." Then Rek walked back over to stand beside his boss.

"Well," the leader said with exaggerated disappointment, "I guess that means we'll just have to kill you all and take the ship."

As he was saying this, the Togorian and the Rodian were raising their weapons to firing position.

Without a conscious thought, Janella had reached into the compartment on the command chair and had pulled the lightsabre loose of its box. Feeling her muscles move on their own, like they did her dreams, her fingers slid into the right position on the smooth metal of the weapon. Without feeling any switches of any kind, Janella felt the fingers of her right hand contract in a particular pattern, and the bridge was bathed in the light of the green blade of the sabre.

All of this had happened in a heart beat. Three of the pirates were firing their weapons, but, acting without thought, Janella felt herself spinning across the bridge, deflecting shots away from her friend and the crew. The fourth, the woman, turned her weapon in the direction of the fight but didn't fire. One of the deflected shots hit the Rodian in the stomach and before she knew what had happened, the Togorian was lying dead at her feet, a cauterized wound open in him from left shoulder to right hip, and the pirate leader was holding his arm where a shallower cut had cleaved his bicep, making his arm go limp and the blaster fall from his hand.

Janella was standing near the bridge door, holding the lightsabre in a stance that left the tip pointed at the female pirate's throat. A twinge had stopped Jan's hand, and now she realized the woman had never fired. The pirate captain had dropped to his backside on the floor to avoid the blaster fire, and he was still there, stunned at what had happened. The look on Neme's face was a mirror to that of the pirate.

Again, without a thought, Janella felt her fingers contract and the lightsabre extinguished.

"What the Sith was that?" Neme finally said before she caught herself. "Uhh...Rosha, Sunrunner, throw this filth off my ship."

When the two crew members had carried the bodies and escorted the other two off the bridge, Neme grabbed Janella's arm and started to her cabin. Stopping abruptly, she turned back to the bridge.

"Sanda, as soon as the boys are back, cut that ship loose and get us home. You know where I'll be."

As soon as the cabin door shut, Neme started laughing. Janella was shaking, the lightsabre still in her hand.

"Jan, you never told me you could do that! That was so...so...I can't even think of a word to describe it."

Janella dropped into the chair behind Neme's desk, her knees too weak to hold her up any longer.

"Neme, I didn't...I mean, I don't know what..." and with that Janella leaned over and proceeded to empty her stomach into Neme's waste can.

"Janella, what's wrong with you? You save everyone on this ship and then get sick over it?" Neme came over and helped Janella to sit back up.

"Neme, I didn't do anything. I...I don't know how to explain it. It's like something took over my body and just directed it where to go. I didn't do anything."

"Well," Neme asked, confused, "has anything like this happened before?"

"No, I've never had...well…yeah, I guess you could say it has. I suppose it's something like this that led me to the datacards in the library. And I've been having these weird dreams."

"Weird like how?"

As Janella explained the dreams she had had of the starship fight, they felt the ship accelerate and jump back to lightspeed.

"When did all this start happening, Jan? I mean, why didn't you tell me about all this before?"

"Neme, they're just dreams. There's nothing special about them. But I don't know how I did what I did out there on the bridge. Here," she said, holding the lightsabre out to her friend, "take it."

"I think you need to hold on to that for now, Jan. I don't know what's going on, but I think that sabre is connected somehow."

Janella looked down at the weapon rolling in her open palm. She still didn't see any activation device, but she knew that she could ignite the blade any time she wanted. The problem was she didn't have the first idea how she knew.

Neme seemed lost in thought for a moment, then helped Janella up from the chair and over to the bed.

"Let's see if we can find something in those datacards you brought with you." she said, sitting down at her desk. Neme pulled out the History of Kamparas datacards and loaded the first one.

"Kamparas, located near the trade route known as the Hydian Way, in the Meridian Sector..."

"Audio off, manual search," Neme told the computer. "Search record for reference to Jedi."

After the computer ran for a moment, the search results appeared on the screen.

3 records found:

Jedi History

Jedi Training Center - Kamparas

Jedi of Note in Kamparas History

Please Select Topic

"Janella, take a look at this! There was a Jedi training center on Kamparas! I don't believe it."

Janella looked at the screen over Neme's shoulder.

"Take a look at the Jedi History, Nem. Let's see if we can find out what happened."

Neme highlighted the selection and the file opened in front of them.

Dates unknown:

Secondary Jedi training center established on Kamparas by Master Yoda. Site served as protected location from primary training facility. Kamparas center staffed by several Jedi Masters, serving as both instructors and defenders. Kamparas Jedi Center attacked in the early stages of the Clone Wars. Two Jedi were killed in the battle (SEE Jedi of Note). Kamparas center heavily damaged in attack. Center closed in consolidation of Jedi Forces to Coruscant.

End of File:

Next Selection

"Wow. I've never seen anything on the history of the Jedi like this. Ok, Jan, this is your game. What next?"

Janella touched the monitor at the reference point on the screen. "We might as well go where it sends us."

Dates unknown:

Jedi Knights of note to Kamparas -

Jedi Master Yoda - Established Kamparas center and trained Jedi

Jedi Master Cas Istyn - Trained Jedi; deceased (KIA)

Jedi Kni...

"What happened?" Janella asked as the screen turned to static. "Neme, why did it stop?"

Neme hit a few keys on the keypad, but just shook her head.

"It looks like that file was damaged. The best I can get to is back to the last screen, with the two names. You want to look at one of them?"

"Yeah, go to the Istyn file."

"Any reason why?" Neme asked as she pulled up the file.

"Yes, but I don't know what the reason is yet."

"Ok, Jan, that kind of answer is getting old," Neme said with a smile.

"Don't I know it," Jan mumbled to herself

Jedi Master Cas Istyn

Human Male, Alderaan

Last Assigned to Kamparas Training Center

Cas Istyn was the last Jedi Master in charge of the training center on Kamparas. Responsible for both the curriculum of the center and the defense of Kamparas center, Master Istyn was one of two Jedi to perish in the assault on the Jedi center, dying when his Jedi starfighter (SEE Attachment 3189) was damaged. With damage to the cockpit canopy, Master Istyn died while trying to maneuver his fighter through the atmosphere away from the population center of Ryhn City. Master Istyn died due to oxygen deprivation, though his fighter did crash-land several miles to the north of Ryhn City. Neither the fighter nor the remains of Master Istyn were ever recovered.

End of File:

Next Selection

Without a prompt from Janella, Neme activated the link to the referenced attachment.

Jedi St...ght...

Kua...ginee...ems...

...a-7 A...

End of...le...

Next Selec...

"Neme, do you see that? That has to be the same ship as mine. I mean, it all adds up. Mr. Dailyk said he bought the wreckage from a farmer a few miles from the city. The dreams I've been having, they sound like the fight described. That ship is Master Istyn's!"

"So, what, Jan, you think the ghost of some dead Jedi is talking to you? C'mon, that's a stretch, don't you think?"

"Can you think of anything else, Nem? If you can, tell me, 'cause I really don't want to think about being possessed by a spirit, but everything points to that."

The comm system chimed on Neme's desk.

"Cap, Sanda says we're about five minutes out from home. Everything ok?"

"Yeah, Rosh, we're good. I'll be right out."

Neme cut off the comm and turned to Janella.

"I'm gonna wait here, Nem. I don't want them staring at me right now. I'm just going to see if there's anything else I can find in this file."

"All right, Jan. I'll give you a yell when we've off-loaded and we're ready to go for the day."

Janella was tightening the last bolt on the port engine of her ship when she sensed someone coming into the bay. In the weeks since the incident on the Llowly Scrapper, Janella had been having flashes of insight and finding herself reacting to things that hadn't happened yet. She didn't know what was going on, but she was starting to get used to it.

"Hey, Jan," Neme called. "How's it going under there?"

Janella finished the bolt before she crawled out from under the fighter.

"Not bad, Nem. That data card told me what they used when they made these things. I put in a little newer engine system, plus an old X-Wing hyperdrive system. The Delta-7's never had a hyperdrive, so they had to use some add-on part. All in all, I'm a lot further along than I thought I'd be, and it's your doing."

"Me?" Neme asked. "What did I do?"

"Well, telling your dad that I saved his ship sure helped. That reward money he gave me bought the parts I'm putting in right now."

"Oh, that. That wasn't me. I didn't think you would want to talk about what happened, so I didn't include it in my logs. Dad went to Rosh and the crew. They're the ones that told him what went on. Sorry, I don't get to be your new hero." Neme smiled, patting the side of the ship. "She's coming along, Jan. What about this astromech? That's not a normal socket, is it?"

Janella walked over, looking into the socket that had taken her two days to clean and make sure all of the old droid components were gone.

"No, it's a special design. I got through to Industrial Automaton and they sold me the droid I need, a modified R4 of some kind. They said they were sending the manual for installation."

"Installation? It's just an astromech, right, plugs into the socket?"

"Hardwired," Janella answered, shaking her head. "I've never heard of it before, but I guess the droid is actually part of the ship. It's pretty strange."

"Oh, I just remembered what I was looking for you for," Neme said, pulling a flimsy from her jacket pocket.

"What, you have a motive other than just coming to see my technical genius at work?" Janella said with a chuckle.

Neme laughed, too, as she handed over the flimsy. "No, not this time, sorry. I got the contact number you wanted. Why are you trying to get a hold of Leia Organa-Solo? And what makes you think a former Chief of State will answer you?"

"Well, it's actually about her brother," Janella said, pocketing the flimsy. "He set up his Jedi Academy, but I don't know where. I'm going to send a message to Organa-Solo's office, see if someone there can put me in contact with some that can reach him since I have information on the older Jedi."

"Good plan. Think it will work?"

"I hope so, Neme. It's the best shot I've got at finding out what's going on with me."

"What, knowing how to use a lightsabre has you worried?"

"That's not it, Neme. In the last two weeks, other stuff has been happening, too. Like this," Janella motioned with her hand toward the workbench along the bay wall. Without warning, a hydrospanner lifted off the bench and flew into her hand.

"Whoa! That's real Jedi stuff. Where did you pick that up?"

"Same as the lightsabre, Neme. I just can, but at the same time, I don't think it's me. I can't really explain it, so I'm hoping Luke Skywalker can."

A week later, Janella Renshir had her answer. Walking into the offices of Llows Shipping, she asked the receptionist to point her in the direction of Neme Llows. Taking the turbolift up to the fifth and top floor, Janella knocked on the door to the office of her friend.

"Jan, what are you doing here? You've never come to the office before."

"Neme, do you have a small ship I can rent? I have to make a short jump."

"Where are you going?"

Janella gave Neme a sly smile as she handed a flimsy to Neme. "Yavin. Luke Skywalker's Jedi center is at the old rebel base at Yavin."

Neme looked at the flimsy, containing a note signed not by an aide, but by Leia Organa-Solo herself.

"Wow, you're going to meet Luke Skywalker. I think I can do better than renting you a ship, especially since you don't really know how to fly."

"Actually," Janella said, seeming somewhat embarrassed, "I do, now."

"Don't tell me, I don't want to hear it," Neme said with a grin as she punched a button on her desk's comm system.

"Llows," came a deep, gruff voice from the comm.

"Dad, it's Neme."

"What's up, baby?" the voice came back, much warmer than before.

"I want to take the Welldiver out on a short run. My friend Janella needs to make a dash off-world."

"Janella, is that our Jedi Protector?"

Janella blushed and looked down at the floor.

"Yeah, that's her," Neme said, and Janella could hear the smile in her voice. "She needs a ride to Yavin."

"Well, I don't know why anyone would want to go to Yavin, but sure, the 'diver is fueled up and not scheduled for anything for this week. If you're going to be out any longer than that, let me know with enough time to rearrange the schedule."

Neme looked up at Janella, who shook her head.

"No problem, it shouldn't take that long. Thanks, Daddy."

"My pleasure."

"Ok, when do you want to go?" Neme asked Janella after keying off the comm.

"As soon as possible. Mr. Dailyk has given me a long weekend, but I don't want to take to long."

"Let's go, then. The Welldiver is almost always ready."

"After you, Lady Llows," Janella said, bowing into a sweeping gesture toward the door.

In the private bay belonging to Llows Shipping, Neme led Janella through the door. Sitting in the middle of the bay was an old Lambda-class shuttle, absent the weaponry. Painted in a soft blue color, the ship was marked with the Llows Shipping logo, with the words Welldiver and Courier beneath the logo.

"Nem, you will never cease to amaze me. What's the story this time?" Janella asked, admiring the ship.

"Well, Dad figured he might need to make runs without cargo, so he bought this old shuttle and stripped the weapons. This is basically what we use for business meetings and such." Neme led Janella aboard the shuttle. "You have to handle copiloting, but there shouldn't be much for you to do. Just sit back and enjoy the ride."

"Shuttle Welldiver, this is Yavin Center. Please follow the markers in to the landing center. Master Skywalker has been informed of your arrival and will meet you at the landing field."

"Confirmed, Yavin Center. Following your beacon. 'Diver, out." She paused then added, "This should be fun."

"I don't know. Doesn't the thought of talking to Luke Skywalker himself make you nervous?" Janella asked. Giving weight to her words, Neme noticed Janella was pale.

"Nah. He's too cute to make me nervous about talking to him."

"Neme! He's twice your age and he's married… to another Jedi, at that."

"A girl can dream, though, can't she?" Neme laughed as she brought the shuttle down through the atmosphere of the moon orbiting Yavin IV. The beacon sent her to a clearing just in front of the Massassi Temple that was home to the Jedi Academy.

As the ship settled to the ground, Janella saw a cloaked figure standing just off the landing field. As the repulsor shut down, the figure advanced toward the boarding ramp. Neme led the way out of the ship.

"Welcome to Yavin," Luke Skywalker said, smiling and offering his hand to Neme.

"Thank you, Master Skywalker," Neme answered, taking the proffered hand. "I'm Neme Llows, and this is Janella Renshir. She's the one you want to talk to. I'm just the driver here."

"Ms. Llows, I think you underestimate the value of your being here for your friend." With that, Luke turned to Janella, taking her hand in his as he had Neme's. "Ms. Renshir, a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine, sir."

Luke looked at her quizzically as he released her hand. "I sense the Force strongly in you, Ms. Renshir, but it's odd. I can't put my finger on it."

"Well, Master Skywalker, I hope you can help me, because I can't explain it, either."

"Come, both of you. Come inside and let's talk."

Skywalker led them into the temple and into a cafeteria. He showed Janella and Neme to seats in an empty corner, then went and got three cups of caf for them.

"Ok," he said, sitting across from the women, "start at the beginning and let's see what we can figure out."

Janella told the story of finding the fighter and of the dreams she had been having. Then she told of the data on Coruscant she had found, and the incident with the lightsabre. After she finished, she slid the Kamparas datacards across the table to the Jedi.

Luke sat back, holding the cards in his hand, lost in thought for several long moments.

"Curious," he said, mostly to himself, "I searched every record I could find on Coruscant for information about the Jedi of the Old Republic, but I missed this. And you say you were guided to the area these were stored?" he asked Janella.

"Yes, sir. It was just like when I found the ship, but stronger. I just...knew...where I needed to go. I found the datacard with the information for the ship, and these were mostly secondary."

Skywalker nodded slightly. "Ms. Llows, would you mind waiting here a short while so I can examine Ms. Renshir?"

Neme looked at Janella, who looked a little worried.

"Don't worry," Skywalker said with a chuckle, "I'm talking about an exam through the Force, not a physical."

Janella laughed slightly as she laid a hand on Neme's shoulder, assuring her she was ok.

"Ok, you know where I'll be," Neme said. She watched her friend and the Jedi walk from the room.

"Good luck, kid," Neme whispered to herself.

Luke Skywalker led Janella to what appeared to be a meditation chamber. The room was a soothing blue color, with candles burning and a mat on the floor in the center of the room.

"Janella," he said after the door to the chamber closed, "I'm going to examine you through the Force. Just so you know what to expect, I'll be searching for a spot in your mind that is a major Force center. The normal reaction is something of a jolt, like someone pushing us apart. That's all I want to do, ok?"

Janella nodded and closed her eyes as Skywalker reached out and placed his fingers against her temple. His touch was warm but soothing as she felt him probing her mind, gently feeling his way along as if it was something he had done a thousand times. Though she tried forcing herself to stay relaxed, Janella was anticipating the jolt Skywalker had told her about. After a moment of nothing happening, Janella felt the probe become slightly more aggressive, then the pressure on her mind eased completely and she opened her eyes.

"Nothing. Ms. Renshir, I'm still not sure what's going on, but I do know that you have no more Force sensitivity than most humans in the galaxy."

"I trust your judgment, Master Skywalker, but how do you explain this?" Janella motioned with her hand, and one of the candles on the floor drifted over to her and hovered about her hand. When she looked back at Skywalker, he seemed to be looking at something behind her.

"If you'll indulge me," he said, opening the door back to the hall. Skywalker led Janella down a long corridor and into the spacious Grand Hall where a handful of adults were instructing a group of young children. Skywalker walked to one of the groups and introduced Janella to Jedi Master Streen, who was heading this class.

"Janella," he said, turning to her, "this class is designed to assist in using the Force as a tool on objects, lifting and such. I know you can do it, but I want you to follow Streen's instructions. I'm going to sit over there and see if I can piece some of this puzzle together."

Janella agreed and then joined the class. Streen was having the students lift stones off the temple floor. Janella lifted the stone assigned to her without effort, as if she had been doing this sort of thing her whole life. Streen had the students then pick up a second, and then a third stone and try and move them in a circle. With hardly a thought, Janella had her stones spinning, then looping each other, and finally she added two more stones and had them diving and dodging in the air before her. The Jedi students had enough concentration to keep their stones in the air, but none of those were moving as all of the children were watching Janella's display.

That was when Skywalker tapped Janella on the shoulder, startling her and making her lose control, the stones falling to the floor. The other students lowered theirs to the floor, applauding as Skywalker led her away.

"Ms. Renshir, let's go find your friend. I'll tell you what I found, but I think she's waited on us long enough."

Janella again followed Skywalker back to the cafeteria where Neme was in a conversation with one of the Jedi. Seeing them approach, Neme smiled and shook the woman's hand as the she rose and excused herself.

"How'd it go?" Neme asked as Janella and Skywalker sat down. Janella just shrugged, turning to Skywalker.

"You have no Force ability, as I said," he started without preamble. "What happened in the meditation chamber when you lifted the candle was that I saw a...well, for lack of a better term, a 'Force shadow' behind you, using your body to channel the energy. I had you work with the students just so that I could reach to the shadow through the Force.

"Ms. Renshir, when I was just beginning to learn the ways of the Jedi, my first master and friend, Obi-Wan Kenobi, was killed by Darth Vader. For some years after, I could hear his voice, and occasionally saw his image through the Force. In essence, I was seeing his ghost. What has happened to you is that a Jedi Master, Cas Istyn, was killed in combat while piloting the fighter you discovered. His spirit, like my master's, stayed connected to this world through that ship. For some reason, he chose you to communicate with.

"Now, let me say, I've never heard of anything like this, and I don't know how the Jedi of the Republic handled situations like this. The spirit of Master Istyn has become anchored to you, Janella. It started when you were in contact with the fighter, but the connection has grown stronger, and now he doesn't need the channeling medium of the ship."

"But, why would he want to connect with me? What purpose would that serve?" Janella asked, stunned, but somehow not surprised.

"The spirit wasn't strong enough for me to communicate with directly, but the feeling I got from him is that the Force has guided him to this course, and that you have a purpose to play in the future. While you aren't a Jedi, you will have all the abilities of Master Istyn, and at times, as with your dreams, you will even find yourself connected to his past. That means you may well have all the knowledge he gained in his years alive."

Janella looked like someone had knocked the wind out of her.

"Are you telling me that I'm basically possessed by a dead Jedi?" she finally asked.

Skywalker looked somewhat sheepish.

"Well, I wouldn't have thought to phrase it that way, but I suppose that yes, that is accurate."

"What if I don't want it?" she asked, though she knew that even given the option, she wouldn't shrug this burden from her shoulders.

"I honestly don't know," Skywalker said, "but I can tell you that you are welcome to stay here. We could help you find a way to release Master Istyn, and in the meantime we could learn from his knowledge."

Janella looked down at the table in thought. She was shaking her head gently when she looked back up.

"I hope you don't think I'm ungrateful, Master, but I don't believe I'm going to stay."

Skywalker smiled and nodded knowingly. "I know, but I had to make the offer."

"I'll make you this offer in return: I'll record anything that comes to me as memories of Master Istyn, and I'll get that information to you."

"That would be greatly appreciated," Skywalker said, standing again. "And I can tell now that you're anxious to get back to your starfighter. If you would, bring it by when you're done. I would love to see it."

Janella shook Skywalker's hand, agreeing to return with the Jedi starfighter, then she and Neme walked from the temple back outside to the 'diver. Once inside the ship, Janella stopped Neme.

"Neme, do me a favor. Let's keep this just between you, me, and, well, all those Jedi, ok?"

"You know me, Jan. Who am I going to tell? Besides, now I'm friends with a pseudo-Jedi. What could be better than that?"

The Welldiver lifted off for Kamparas.

With all the systems checking out, Janella drifted her starfighter in a loose orbit around Kamparas. Just rising from the surface was a convoy of three freighters belonging to Llows shipping. Janella keyed her comm and called out to the lead of the three ships.

"Llowly Scrapper, this is Shadow, do you read me?"

"I hear you, Jan. All systems look ok?"

"Yeah, Nem. I'm fully green. I'm going to feed you the coordinates I have so you can double-check my settings. Stand by."

The silver and green R4-P unit housed in the port wing of Janella's fighter tootled at her, and Janella laughed as she read the indignant translation that came across her screen.

"Yes, Able, I do think you know what you're doing, but this is our first jump together, and I just want us both to be safe."

Janella had named the droid Able simply because he made it possible for her to use the hyperdrive system she had installed.

"Shadow, this is Scrapper. Your numbers look good. We're ready to go at this end."

"Copy, Scrapper. I'll lead out. Give me about five seconds so you can keep a lock on me and stop if something bad happens."

"Gotcha," Neme's voice came over the comm. "Happy flying."

Janella took her fighter out of the gravity well of Kamparas and opened her throttle up to full. As the three freighters began to follow her, Janella pulled the lever back to engage the hyperdrive. The stars elongated into infinitely long lines before blurring away into a swirl. Checking her systems, Janella noted that everything was still in the green. Just to be safe, she secured the gloves to her green flight suit and made sure the helmet was sealed as well. If something happened, all she had to do was activate the magcon field.

About twenty minutes into the flight, all of her systems were still showing ok when a sudden alarm sounded and the stars snapped back into focus.

"Able! Shields up, weapons on-line. Then tell me what happened."

Just as she made the request, the three freighters of Llows reverted to realspace.

Janella read the screen as Able's analysis came up.

"Scrapper, Shadow here. It looks like the Hydian Raiders again. They have a gravitic mine set up, that's what grabbed us. I'm moving to take care of the problem."

Janella didn't even hear the response. Throttling up, she rocketed toward the worn-out looking Carrack cruiser. Her response was so fast that her first several shots hit the ship before it could raise shields. Without knowing it, she had struck one of the shield generators. Her sensors showed that when the shields finally came up, they were at less than fifty percent. Two smaller blips separated from the cruiser.

"Able, lock onto those fighters, make 'em target one and two, the cruiser is three. Bring up target one."

Looking at her screen, Janella saw that Neme's freighters had pulled in together, overlapping their shields. Janella knew those freighters were unarmed, so it was up to her to get rid of the mine that was holding them here.

On her targeting screen, Janella saw that the fighters the pirates were using were Uglies; both of them were a strange fusion of X-Wing bodies joined to the wishbone-shaped pylons and engines that gave the Y-Wing fighter its name.

Locking onto the first of the two, Janella felt a now familiar sensation and she gave into it willingly. Feeling as though someone else was telling her muscles what to do, Janella whipped her fighter around in a tight arc that landed her on the tail of the lead fighter. Firing her four laser cannons, Janella used the etheric rudder to pivot her fighter to the left, walking the beams of deadly energy right into the rear of the Ugly. The weak shields dropped almost immediately and the fighter exploded in an expanding ball of energy, the fire extinguishing quickly in the vacuum of space.

The second fighter was at a long distance, moving to attack the freighters.

"Scrapper, can you handle that fighter for a minute? I want to make sure our host doesn't go anywhere."

"Copy, Shadow, our shields are strong, and his fire isn't that bad."

Janella took off after the cruiser, evading the fire coming in at her. Seeing the shots coming at her, Janella felt the other consciousness, that of Cas Istyn, guiding her hands, making sure she didn't suffer the same fate he had. Janella targeted the engines, pounding until the shields dropped and several of the ion drive engines were slagged, then working her way forward and hammering the cruiser amidships, where the power generator was located. After the laser fire stopped coming her way, Janella keyed her comm to an open frequency.

"Pirate cruiser, this is fighter Shadow. You have been disabled and are not capable of resisting. Recall your other fighter so that I'm not forced to destroy him too."

Janella watched on her scanner and saw that almost immediately the other Ugly peeled off the freighters and came back her way.

"Able, make sure that fighter doesn't try anything." Keying the comm again, Janella circled the bridge area of the pirate cruiser. "Cruiser, is your life support stable?"

"Affirmative," was the only response.

"Fine, I'll make sure the New Republic sends a clean-up crew out to pick you up." Flipping off the comm, Janella watched as the remaining Ugly docked with the cruiser.

"Neme, this is Janella, as soon as I take out that mine, you guys head out. I'll stick around and make sure these guys don't have any other surprises once our back is turned."

"Copy than, Jan. Catch up with us on Coruscant. You have the comm codes for us if you run into any problems."

Janella laughed over the comm.

"After all that, you're worried that something else could go wrong?"

The only answer was more laughter from the comm.

Janella settled Shadow onto the landing platform next to the Llowly Scrapper. The ship was scorched in a few places, but nothing seemed badly damaged. The ship showed the blast marks more on the tan surfaces than on the reddish-brown areas, making the damage look worse in those areas.

"Able, run a full systems check and get hull integrity readings, make sure everything held with all of those shots we took."

The droid tootled an acknowledgement as Jan pulled off her restraints and popped the cockpit seal. Climbing down onto wing, she noticed the carbon scoring rubbed off where her boot slid on the hull.

"Jan!" Neme called. She was walking across the landing pad from the dockmaster's office. "Glad to see you made it in once piece. How'd Shadow handle out there?"

"Looks good, Nem," Jan said, walking with her friend back toward the office building. "A few marks on the hull, but nothing a good pressure-wash shouldn't be able to clear up."

"I'm glad to hear that, kid, 'cause the underside had a lot of charred areas."

"Yeah," Jan said, glancing back at her ship. "I think the paint shows those marks too much. People are going to think I can't fly."

Neme just laughed.

"You just saved my dad's ship again, Jan. I'd be willing to bet he'll spring for any kind of paint job you want. Besides, that green droid doesn't really match the ship."

The pair strolled into the office and was heading for the exit when a shout stopped them.

"You can't land a fighter ship here, and especially if it wasn't cleared through Control."

A kid came out of the dockmaster's private office. He looked younger than Jan, but he was wearing a spaceport authority uniform, so Neme decided to take him as seriously as she could.

"Look at my registration. I have listed one freighter plus escort."

"I see that, but it doesn't say anything about an armed escort. I mean, c'mon, that…"

"Shadow isn't armed," Neme sounded as though the very idea was preposterous.

"Yeah, but, the marks…"

"Decorations. C'mon, that ships an antique. If you don't believe me, check the ships ownership registration. It's a private yacht, and it's decorated to look like an old fighter. Now, can we leave, or am I going to have to speak with your supervisor."

The kid sputtered for another second and then just waved to the door. Neme managed not to laugh until they were half a block away.

"Nem, you just lied to him. Shadow is armed about as well an X-Wing."

"So what? He won't check, and it saves us from having to move it, or fill out…"

"Him…"

"What?"

"Shadow just feels like a 'him' to me. I know ships are supposed to be 'hers', but not this one."

"Oookay. You know, you're just a little weird sometimes."

"Let's just go see dad, Nem. You'll just have to practice manipulating the government some other time."

Catching an aircab, the pair watched as the towering buildings flit by as the sun set. The sky over the city-planet was a golden red, with lines of lights moving in nearly every direction.

"Boy, I never realized how much Kamparas had grown on me," Jan said, mostly to herself.

"What, you don't feel like you've come home again this time?"

"Neme, I didn't feel like I was home last time, even when we were at my old home." Jan stopped as a thought occurred to her. "I actually felt at home when we got back to Kamparas. As a matter of fact, I felt more at home in the middle of the mess on the bride of the Scrapper on the way home…err…to Kamparas. You know what I mean."

Neme was quite for several minutes.

"So when are you going to tell him, Jan?" she finally asked softly.

"What?" Janella asked. She didn't know her friend meant.

"When are you going to tell your dad that this isn't your home any more?"

Jan didn't know how to answer. Until Neme said it, the thought that Coruscant wasn't her home hadn't even formed in her head. For the first time in weeks, Janella knew she had a decision to make that wasn't already decided. The part of her that was Istyn was quite, offering no insight.

"I don't know, Nem. I don't know what to do."

"Jan, you know you'll always be welcome here, but you can't decide to stay here just because you're thinking of us."

Mykl Renshir was sitting at the kitchen table with his daughter. Neme was in the living room with Han, showing him all the stats on his sister's fighter. Jan had checked in on them once, and almost laughed at the way her little brother was hanging on every word her friend said. Having this discussion wasn't leaving much else for her to smile about.

"Dad, you know I've always planned to come back here. I even left that in the note the day I left. I just wanted to make things easier around here, but I always intended to…"

"Yeah, Janey, I know. You thought you could make things easier by leaving without saying good-bye. Even the letter you left, and the messages you've sent in the meantime didn't make my little girl running away any easier."

Jan started to tear up, and sobbed softly when her dad laid a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm not trying to accuse you of something here, Janey. I just want to tell you that you are always going to have a home here. But you knew when you left you were going out on your own. You found your way, and you found a place for yourself. Here, now, Coruscant isn't your place, it isn't your home any more." He wiped a tear from his own eye. "You've grown more than just in height in the last year or so. You're a young woman who's got friends and family, and your home isn't here now."

Janella sniffed as her tears finally subsided. She looked up and saw the emotions warring on her father's face.

"I just don't want to admit that this isn't home any more, daddy. I just want to make sure you, and Han, and even Elte and Meline are still ok."

"Your sisters are fine, Jan. I see them every few weeks. Didn't you know?" He laughed out loud, a short bark of humor. "They both left home, but they stayed here on Coruscant. Meline is working for customs, and Elte is a manager of an import business. Of course, they're both jealous of you."

"Jealous? Did you tell them I work in a scrapyard?" Janella was shock by this revelation.

"Yeah, but all they cared to hear was that you've gotten off-world, you hop systems with you pal, and now you've got a ship all your own. What was it Elte said? Oh, yeah. 'Leave it to Janey to take everything we do and go one step further.'" He laughed again.

Jan stood up and gave her father a hug. Just then, Neme peeked her head into the kitchen.

"Hey, kid, no rush, ok, but I wanted to let you know that we just got the call that the Scrapper's been off-loaded, so we're ready when you are."

"So where are you two pirates off to next?" Mykl asked.

Jan and Neme both laughed out loud.

"What did I miss?"

"Dad doesn't know about the games we've played with the Raiders," Jan said. "Don't worry, dad, I'll tell you later. And I really don't know where we're off to. Back to Kamp…back home, I guess," she said.

"Actually, I have another stop to make. We have to go get my new ship from the manufacturer on Charis VI."

"Ok, Neme. Sounds like a fun trip. Hey, here's an idea. Isn't it a holiday for Han, Dad?"

"Yeah," Mykl said. "He's out of school for the next two weeks."

"I know you two have been getting to know each other, Neme. How about if we bring him along, teach him something about how the rest of the galaxy works?"

The look Neme gave her made Jan realize there was going to be payback for this. Neme apparently didn't think letting her crew see a teenager with a crush on her hanging around was such a great plan.

"Sure, why not?" she said through somewhat clenched teeth.

"What about Shadow, Neme. Is there any way to stow him in the hold of the Scrapper? I mean, if my little brother's coming along for the ride, I don't want him left alone with you and your rag-tag ruffian crew."

Neme ignored the slight on her crew, probably still plotting revenge against Jan.

"Yeah, he should fit in the main hold. We don't have anything we're carrying back, so I don't think that would be a problem."

"Dad?"

Mykl thought about it for a moment.

"Well, I don't know what the joke was about pirates, but I think I can trust you to keep him safe. Both of you."

Then an argument started when Jan told Neme to go invite Han along for the trip.

The planet Charis VI rotated slowly ahead of them when the Llowly Scrapper came out of hyperspace. The two-day trip hadn't been nearly as bad as Neme had feared. Han had found a new love in the Scrapper, and after only a few hours exploring the ship, he declared in no uncertain terms that he was going to have one just like her.

Neme was almost as excited now. She was getting ready to take delivery of a brand-new, custom made ship. She would be the first captain, and, if Jan knew her friend, her first pilot, and she was like a kid in a confection shop.

Jan was in the quarters she had shared with Neme on their previous trip, watching as Neme gleefully filled out the forms that had to be finished to take ownership of the newly finished craft.

"What's about Neme's Haven?" she suggested. "I mean, she is going to be mine, after all."

"Yup, she will be yours. Too bad your dad's already used the name Kamparas Tramp."

"Hey! I thought you were supposed to be my friend!"

"Hey, Nem, these guys do everything here, start to finish, on ships?"

"Yeah, Proc-Cuir makes custom order ships, so they're pretty much a one-stop deal."

"You think they can help me get the Shadow a paint job while we're here?"

"I think we could arrange that. Let's see…" Neme keyed the comm on her desk.

"Thank you for contacting Proc-Cuir consumer division. Please enter the code for the being you wish to speak with."

Neme entered a code into her system and waited until an older gentleman appeared on the other end of the connection.

"Haler Quince here. Oh, Ms. Llows! How're you doing this evening? Ready to pick up your new ship?"

"Yes, sir, Mr. Quince. The forms should be at your terminal by the time we land. I was actually calling to see if you can help me arrange a custom job."

"Sure. For the Llows clan, you know we can work out just about anything."

Neme covered the pick up on the comm for a moment.

"It helps when you give them a lot of credits."

Jan stifled a laugh as Neme when back to the comm channel.

"I have a small, one-man fighter that I need to have a custom paint job done on. What kind of time frame do you think we would be looking at on that?"

Quince looked at a monitor off to one side. Entering some information, he came back to the attention of Neme.

"I think we can probably get that done within about two days. Depending on the size of the ship, maybe a little more, little less, you know.

"I do. Can we set that up for as early as possible? It's for ship that's docked in my cargo hold right now, and we can let it fly before we even make orbit."

Quince tapped into his computer console again.

"All right, Ms. Llows, we have an appointment scheduled for three hours from now with one of our designer. He'll help you with the colour scheme, then we'll get the ship prepped and painted."

"It'll be a friend of my, Haler. It's her ship, but added it to my tab, ok?"

"Again, whatever you need, Neme. Would you like me to arrange for some rooms for you and your crew while you're waiting?"

"Sure. We need seven rooms. And of course…"

"Add it to the tab. We'll make sure you're all comfortable. And welcome back to Charis."

Neme thanked the administrator and signed off.

"Better go get Shadow prepped, Jan. I'll have Rosha send you the landing information as soon as we get it."

"Ok. Thanks, Neme. What do I have to do to clear planetary traffic control?"
"Nothing. Quince'll set it all up. Proc-Cuir owns this planet and the moon and stuff. So there's no other traffic control."

"You mean, they own everything?"

"Yeah, but I'll give ya the full scoop later. Go on, now, or you'll miss your appointment. Hey, make a fly-by of the bridge. I think your brother's been wanting to see Shadow in action."

Neme walked out the door with Jan, but turned right to head to the bridge. She found Han Renshir sitting beside Rosha at the nav console.

Within a few minutes, Jan commed that she was ready to launch.

"Hey, Han, check it out," Neme pointed him toward the main viewport. Jan in Shadow rolled out in front of the Scrapper. She took the ship through a series of barrel rolls, then leveled out and fired her thrusters, heading for the atmosphere of Charis VI.

"Take a good look, kid. She won't ever be the same."

"You mean my sister or the ship?" Han asked. The look on his face told Neme he knew what Jan and their father had talked about.

"Take your pick, kid. Take your pick."

Janella walked into the suite she had been directed to by the Proc-Cuir administration. She had been checking on the work being done to her fighter. The designers had promised her two days for delivery, but Janella thought they were much further along than that time table suggested

Neme and Han were waiting in the common area of the suite when she came in.

"So, is it coming out like you wanted?" Han asked. "Are you going to tell us what it's going to look like yet?"

"Nope, can't tell ya, kid. It's going to be a surprise. But yeah, everything is going right on plan. How 'bout you, Nem, did you get your new ship?"

Before Neme could answer, Han broke in to a lengthy description of the new ship. He told his sister how he had gotten to sit in the captain's seat and run through a start-up check.

"I didn't let him fly," Neme interrupted. "In fact, I was waiting for you to get back before we went for the first run."

"What about the rest of the crew?"

"They're with the new ship. Rosha and Sunrunner have been crawling into every nook and cranny on her to make sure it meets their standards. Oh, and I've got a name for her now."

"So what did you decide on?"

"You'll see when we get there. If you make me wait on your ship, you'll have to wait on this little tidbit. Come on, let's go check out the new ride."

Neme led the other two down the hall to the turbolift. Rather than stopping at the ground floor, she took them to a sub-surface parking area and over to a soft blue coloured landspeeder.

"Transportation comes with the suite," she explained to Jan. They piled into the speeder and Neme took them out of the parking area. The streets of Cuirian City were spotless and lined with trees and grass. The commercial areas they traveled through seemed nice enough, but the few glimpses of the residential areas Jan managed to catch showed a scene like something out of a story book.

"I didn't think there really was any place in the galaxy this nice," she said.

Neme decided to take a round-about way south to the spaceport to show the whole city to her friends.

"It helps that almost everyone here is an employee or the family of an employee of Proc-Cuir. The company gives the land parcels to the long-term employees, so they want to keep everything looking clean, since they own at least a little piece of everything around here."

"Great way to cut down on vandalism," Jan mused. Han just sat in the back of the speeder silently. His sister figured he was simply anxious to get to the ship. His loss, she thought, watching the houses slide by.

There were nearly as many colours as there were houses. Most were one-story, but there were a few two-story homes. All had principally flat roofs, which Neme explained was a result of no real winter, so they didn't need to worry about snow building up, and the rains were generally moderate, so the gentle slopes the roofs did have were adequate.

Jan saw play fields and parks, and even manage to see the grounds of one of the schools.

"These guys really did think of everything, didn't they?"

Neme just nodded as they left the city limits.

They saw a road that curved off to the right that led to the public spaceport where the Llowly Scrapper was being housed. Neme took a road that went to the left toward some gently rolling hills. The road led up to and through a saddle in the ridgeline, and Jan was stunned at what she saw when they cleared the hills.

There were at least four large structures, big enough to house a Victory-class Star Destroyer. The massive buildings had huge lots around them filled with ships of every style and size, from one-man airships to heavy bulk cruisers. Off to the east was a lot with various parked landspeeders, and Jan guessed this was the employee parking area. Neme drove right up to the gate and flashed her ID.

"I'm here to take my ship out for its shake down."

"Yes, ma'am, Ms. Llows. You know where she's parked?"

"Yeah, thanks. Have a good day."

The guard waved them through and Neme took them to a large lot at the center of the buildings. There, centered on the pad, was one of the sleekest ships Janella had ever seen.

Roughly the size of a Corellian Action VI transport, this craft was resting on two ovoid engine pods. The engines stretched about a third of the length of the ship, and were crafted at an angle that drew the eye up to the rear of the ship. The backbone of the ship was ridged with bubble-like protrusions, each trimmed in a royal blue, the colour of the Llows' shipping line. Following the lines forward, Jan saw the bridge of the ship. It looked like a hybrid of a Lambda shuttle and a TIE fighter cockpit, but was much slicker than either of those.

"I don't believe it, Neme. This is a fantastic ship. How is it that you've not taken it out yet?"

"I knew you'd never forgive me, Jan. Let's get in there before Rosha loses his patience and leaves without us."

After parking the speeder in a safe area, the trio boarded the ship. Jan noticed as they walked up the ramp that the blue trimming ran the length of the ship, and there was even the name of the ship trimmed in blue: Llows Endeavor.

"Great name, Neme. I think it fits her just right."

Neme took Jan on a tour of the ship as Han went straight to the bridge.

"She had two ventral cargo holds, which will make it easy to use load-lifters and lift stuff straight up into the hold, and one dorsal, so she can be loaded from above. There's a fourth hold that has doors on both top and bottom, so it can be configured and used as needed. Space for thirty passengers and crew, with a shared mess area that can serve as a conference room if needed. But you really need to see the bridge."

As soon as Jan entered the bridge, she knew why Han had rushed right here. There were five seats on the bridge. Forward were the seats for pilot and navigator, with a wide array of consoles and monitors wrapped around each position. The consoles with a touch-sensitive panel that eliminated the actual stick-and-throttle arrangement. Directly behind these seats were positions for a weapons and shielding officer and a sensor suite. The work areas were to either side of he bridge, so if they weren't being used, the seats could act as jump-seats with a great view of what was happening with the ship.

Centered behind the two jump-seats was a large, comfortable looking chair that Han currently occupied. Obviously the captains seat, this station had a wide array of consoles coming up out of the deck and surrounding the occupant.

"Normally those consoles will be stored in the deck," Neme explained, "but in case of emergency, the captain can pull those up and run the ship single handedly. Hopefully we won't have to do that, because it would be a very clumsy way of running things, but it's there if it's needed."

Jan walked over and ran her hand along the pilot's station.

"This is great, Neme. I can tell you're in love with her already."

"Yeah, the Endeavor lives up to everything I had hoped for and more. Strap in, let's see what she can do. Rosha and Sanda are in the engine spaces with Sunrunner to keep an eye on things, so, if you don't mind…"

Jan was stunned when her friend motioned her to the pilot's seat, but that didn't stop her from dropping into the chair and locking the restraints around her.

"Sorry, kiddo, but that's my seat," Neme said behind her. "Why don't you take navigation? We're not going anywhere but around this system, but it'll give you a little bit of seat time in a real ship."

"All right!" Jan's brother said as he dropped in to the seat on her right and began strapping himself in.

Neme stowed all but one of the consoles around her command seat back in the deck. She entered something into the last panel, and Jan realized it was a comm station.

"Rosha, Sanda, we're about to head out. Everything check out ok back there?"

"Roger, boss," Rosha's voice came back crisp and clear. "Engines are green, ready to fly. We ran a full pressure check while you were gone, no leaks found, so we're clear to vacuum."

"Good work, gang. Let me know if anything acts up. Charis control, this is Llows Endeavor, requesting clearance to lift for shakedown cruise."

"Copy that, Endeavor. We're feeding coordinates now for our test route. There are probes and droids scattered all around the area to make sure we'll be there if there's a problem. Which there won't be," the controller added with a touch of pride. "You are clear through the traffic pattern at your leisure."

"Thanks, Control, we'll be back shortly." Neme killed the comm and turned to Han. "Navigator, did you get that route?" she asked in her command voice. Even though he was a friend and just along for the ride, Neme wanted to show him how a real ship ran.

"Uhh," he glanced down at his console, "yeah, I mean, yes, Captain. Course received and…" he hit a few places on the console. "…ready to fly at the Captain's order."

"Very good. Janella, lift us out of here. Let's see what this girl can do."

Janella lifted the new ship up and out of the atmosphere of the planet. The route they'd been given wound around two close-orbit asteroids that Neme explained had been towed into position for Proc-Cuir to be able to test weapons systems.

After a few tight maneuvers in and around the asteroids, Jan set a course for the outer reaches of the system.

"All right, Captain, we're plotted for a quick leap out and back. We'll clear the gravity well in thirty seconds. On your command…"

"Jump as soon as we're clear."

Janella gave a countdown as they reached the edge of Charis's gravity well, then hit the key sequence to throw the ship past the light speed threshold. She kept an eye on all of the monitors, knowing that a ship on its first jump could develop all kinds of problems. Not a single gauge twitched out of the nominal range, but Jan started getting a niggling feeling from the Force. It felt like the spirit of Cas Istyn was whispering directly into her mind. Without hesitation, she hit the emergency stop code and dropped the ship out of hyperspace.

"What's going on?" Neme asked, the alarm clear in her voice. Even though it had only been a few weeks, she had gotten used to trusting Jan's instincts.

"There's a problem with the cooling system for the hyperdrive, Neme. I don't know specifically what, but it's something that could cause some real trouble."

Han was scanning his scopes, looking for the alarm that must have alerted his sister. He didn't know about her connection to the Force, and now wasn't the time for him to learn, Jan decided.

Neme keyed the comm to the engine room.

"Rosh, it looks like there's a problem…"

"Yeah, we're on it, boss. Looks like one of the pressure fittings wasn't sealed all the way. Sunrunner's on it, said we should be good to fly in about ten minutes. Hey, how'd you know about it, anyway? It wasn't bad enough to have set off an alarm yet."

"Leave it to our guardian, Rosh. She's still looking out for us."

"Well, when we get home, tell her drinks are on me. I've seen a hyperdrive melt down before, and it could have gotten very messy. I'm gonna go check on the kid, make sure he gets that coupling right."

Rosha cut off his end of the comm as Neme turned to Jan.

"Jan, you keep saving his ships like this and my dad is likely to turn the company over to you instead of me when he's ready to retire."

Jan blushed a bit, and was going to protest that she had done anything, but she still didn't feel like explaining things to her kid brother, so she didn't say anything. Before the silence could become awkward, the comm board at Neme's side chirped.

"Ok, Rosha says we can start moving again, with light speed available in a few more minutes. And a message here from Charis says that Shadow is ready to fly. C'mon, let's get back so you can get your new ship."

The whole crew watched as the Shadow was floated out of the paint shop on a repulsor lift. By Jan's instructions, the ship was covered with a large tarp. When the ship was moved all the way out onto the landing pad, Jan stepped forward and turned to her friends.

"Ok, folks. I know this is a little dramatic, but I've not seen the finished product, so I thought this would be a great way to share with my whole extended family. I know my dad's not here, but I'm certain Han will spread the word fast enough."

Everyone chuckled at that.

"All right, let's see it."

Jan yanked the top off and was greeted with a series of chirps and whistles from Able, the astromech droid in the port wing of the craft. The entire ship as detailed in two shades of green, with a soft, mint colour along the center and a dark green that matched Able perfectly. Down the center and flaring back over the wings were bold stripes of black. Black lines picked out the differences between the two shades of green, also. Able was newly polished and the canopy had been shined so that the sunlight glinted brilliantly.

"Wow," Jan whispered. "This is better than I expected it to be."

"Green?" Neme teased. "How are you supposed to fly escort for Llows when you're ship is green instead of blue?"

"I guess we'll just have to work it out, 'cause this isn't changing."

Han was already climbing up and over the hull. Able was bleating violently at him, but he just ignored the little droid.

"Able, he's fine," Jan said. "I know it's a new paint job, but I'm certain they sealed it well. Neme," she said, turning to her friend, "Whatever these guys get paid for this, they deserve every decicred. I'm going to get my flight suit and check this baby out."

By the time Janella was ready to fly, Rosha and Sanda had left in the Llowly Scrapper. Neme explained to Jan that she, Han, and Sunrunner were going to take the Endeavor to Coruscant, then back to Kamparas after Han was home. Jan said she would escort the Endeavor to make sure Han got home safely. After Neme settled up the tab with Proc-Cuir, the two ships lifted out for Coruscant.

After another good-bye with her father, Jan in the Shadow hooked up with Neme in the Endeavor.

"Hey, Jan, The cargo holds are still empty, if you want to hitchhike back to Kamparas."

"Nah, that's ok, Nem. In fact, go ahead and head back. I'm going to swing by Yavin, keep my promise to Master Skywalker."

"Okay, kid. If you run into any trouble, give a call. We'll see ya when we get home."

Jan watched as her friend's new ship cleared local traffic and jumped to lightspeed.

"All right, Able, lay in a course for Yavin IV. We're going visiting."

"I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful, Master Skywalker. Other than the flashes from his last battle, I've not gotten anything of Master Istyn's memories."

They were walking through the hallways on the ground floor of the Great Temple on Yavin IV. Luke had taken them this way because he knew there were be few, if any, Jedi students wandering this area. He had been wanting to talk to Janella since her previous visit, and he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable with other's hanging around them.

"I appreciate you stopping by anyway, Janella. And I really appreciate you letting me fly Shadow. He's great little ship, and it's been a while since I grabbed the stick of a fighter," he said with a sheepish grin.

"I understand. I've only been flying a few weeks, but I can't imagine giving it up any time."

"So are you going back to Coruscant, then?" he asked. Jan felt like he knew the answer she was going to give, but she stopped to think about her answer first.

"I'm going back to Kamparas. I don't think Coruscant is the right place for me right now. I just have a…feeling…there are things that I'll need to do, and that I need to be on Kamparas to get them done right."

Luke nodded thoughtfully.

"That's the Force, Jan. It will guide you, and it will urge you. You're not bound by those urges, I've found, but it's best to pay attention to them. If things get too big, or you just need another friend, I'll be here, or around somewhere. Otherwise, I think you have a great group of people in your life that are willing to help you."

"I do, Master Skywalker. I have great friends, and I have a great home."

Luke took her hand as they walked out through the front of the temple to where the Shadow sat resting, looking like he could take off at any moment.

"Master Skywalker, I appreciate all the help you given and offered. I'll stay in touch, as I promised, and give you any information I get from Cas's memories. Right now, I think I better get home."

"The Force be with you, Janella Renshir."

She nodded and climbed aboard her fighter, feeling a calm, welcoming sensation wash over her as she strapped in. This was the right thing for her.

To Be Continued…