Chapter 13

(Armory)

After leaving the mess hall, Bo made her way down to the ship's armory. While there she decided to check out the various weapons, most of which were Imperial based such as the E-11 Blaster Rifles, DLT-20A Medium Blaster Rifles, SE-14R Light Blaster Pistol, and various parts to build to a E-WEB Heavy Blaster Cannon.

While she was impressed by the weapons they chose to fight the Yuuzhan Vong, Bo preferred her own weapons as she pulled out her pair of Westar-35 Blaster Pistols. Unlike those used by the Empire, her weapons had a sleek, angular look inspired by Mandalorian Culture.

After checking them, Bo went down the hall, where she found a shooting range. She guessed this was used by the Stormtroopers to practice their aim. Thinking of that made her laugh, as it was known that most Imperial troopers were terrible shots. However, she herself was a excellent shooter with any kind of weapon.

Activating one of the booths, Bo started up the machine which created a number of white circular targets inside a group of holoscreens. Once they appeared, Bo drew her left blaster first. As she fired it, the laser bolts hit the target in back row first.

As soon as the bolt made contact, the target vanished as the screen moved to another spot with a new target set up. Upon seeing this, Bo's second blaster came up as she fired it and the first as numerous bolts hit the holoscreens.

'Screens are one thing, but real life enemies are another thing,' Bo thought as she focused. It was important to practice her skills as a warrior in order to keep up with the others. While she didn't have the Force like Ahsoka, Starkiller or Kota, Bo did have her heritage as a member of clan Kryze.

Thinking about that made her wonder if any members of her family had survived into this era. After the death of her sister Satine, the only members left of her family were herself, her other sister and nephew Korkie. 'If he is alive, he's probably an adult by know. Maybe with a family of his own,' Bo wondered as she stopped firing.

While she had never been close with her nephew, Bo had hoped that she might reconnect with him one day. But given that she had been gone for decades now, part of her thought that might not happen.

As Bo was thinking of this, she didn't notice someone else had entered the room. They activated the targets and began firing at the holoscreens. She was startled when several bolts were fired from the stall down the way.

Walking over there, Bo found Juno using her own blaster, which required two hands instead of one. She saw that Juno was a pretty good shooter as she hit most of the targets. When Juno stopped for a bit, she turned to see Bo standing behind her. "I hope you don't mind, I saw you practicing as well. And given what we were told about the Yuuzhan Vong, I thought maybe it would good for me to get used to fighting with this."

"I thought the same thing earlier, because at some point we will find ourselves in a ground battle against the aliens," Bo added as she went into the stall next to Juno's.

"Want to make it a little challenging? First one to hit the most targets wins?" she asked with a smirk.

"You're on!" Juno replied as she reset the range and waited to see who was the better shot.

(Medical Bay)

Like they did yesterday, Chewbacca and Ahsoka told the other Jedi about their mission. And as was the case with the Solos, the strike team members found it hard to believe at first. Luckily Lowbacca came to his uncle's defense, saying it would explain how he was alive.

The others soon started to realize this might be true, given how Chewie and his team saved them from the Vong. The only one who didn't accept this was Ganner Rhysode, who acted skeptical. "I have to say, this sounds like a big load of Bantha Poodoo," the older Jedi stated harshly.

"Jedi Ganner that's no way to speak to our rescuers. Ahsoka is a Jedi survivor of the old order, which makes her our senior," Tesar hissed in response to him.

"Listen, I felt the same way when the Observers told me and the others about time travel. But we soon accepted it and hopefully those we meet in this time will as well," Ahsoka said to the older Jedi who just scuffed in reply.

"Speaking of which, have you contacted Master Skywalker about how our mission went?" Tahiri asked, but saw both shake their heads which meant no.

"I'm sure Master Skywalker will be surprised when he learns about this," Tenel Ka said as she adjusted herself to sit up.

"Indeed, so you were saying that there were two other Jedi among your group?" Zekk inquired.

"Yes the first is Master Rahm Kota, who served during the Clone Wars like myself and was a leader of the Rebellion in it's early years. The second is a friend of his called Starkiller whom you all met," Ashoka responded.

"Speaking of which, the way he used the Force was different from how we Jedi were taught. Somehow this Starkiller was able to channel and use Force lighting with such ease. Did he learn this from Master Kota?" Alema wondered as she thought back to what she saw.

Ashoka had been thinking about this as well after seeing it on the Worldship. It seemed unlikely that Master Kota would teach someone that, as it was an aggressive form.

She recalled that Anakin and Obi-Wan had talked about his style of fighting, and that it was more in line with those taught outside the order. A part of her wondered if someone else taught Starkiller how to use that technique.

"I wish I could answer your question, but for the time being it must wait," Ahsoka said and was about to speak again, when the door opened and Anakin entered. He greeted the other Jedi first, then told them of the talk he and his siblings had with Luke and Mara earlier.

"So Anakin, what do we do now?" Tahiri asked next.

"Til we hear from uncle Luke and my parents, we should use this time to rest," Anakin replied.

"Sounds good to me," Ganner added as he went back to his bed.

"So where are Jacen and Jaina?" Tenal asked.

"They went to speak with Master Kota about what Uncle Luke said to us," Anakin answered.

(Kota's Quarter's)

Kneeling in his quarters, Kota sat before the two as he learned about Courscant falling into the hands of the enemy, the death of the New Republic's leader Borsk Fey'lya, and how the Skywalkers and Solo's escaped from the planet and were now on Tatooine at this moment.

Once they were done, no one said a word as the Jedi Master processed this information. A part of him hoped that they could rendezvous with the New Republic at their capitol, but learning that the government had fallen made Kota wonder what to do next.

"So until we here from your family, it seems that we're to sit and wait," Kota said as he broke the silence. The twins said yes to him.

"Is there anything else you wanted to ask us Master Kota," Jacen asked.

"Not yet, but I appreciate the offer. I will need to let the others know of this later. And I would like you both to be there."

The two nodded yes to him, then excused themselves as they left his room.

Outside the room, Padme was waiting for them as they entered the hallway. Then the three made there way towards Padme's quarters. As they walked, Padme learned more about her grandchildren as the two spoke of their upbringing on Courscant when Leia was Chief of State of the New Republic.

(Padme's Quarters)

Once inside her room, the Twins sat down on the bed, while Padme sat at the desk, Jacen asked her something once they were comfortable/

"Um Grandma, do you want us to call you that or refer you by your first name?" he wondered.

"Hmm, while I don't look to be a grandmother, I would like you to call me that. But in private, when it's just us. When we're around others, you can call me Padme."

"Sounds good to us. So I was wondering if you could tell us about what Naboo is like, and about your family? Jaina asked next.

"Of course my dear. Naboo is a beautiful planet that has large plains of grass, hills and mountains. There are also many swamps and seas home to various types of creatures," Padme answered as she spoke of her home.

"As for my family, my parents were Ruwee and Jobal Naberrie. I also have an older sister named Sola. Her husband is Darred Janren, and they have twin daughters, Ryoo and Pooja." A smile formed as Padme spoke of her family.

The Solo's took in this information, as they realized that they had more family now. But a part of them guessed that their great grandparents could have passed on by now. However, they hoped that Sola might be alive along with her daughters.

Hopefully when the war was over, they would make a trip to Naboo with their family to look for them. But for now they listened to Padme speak of her life on Naboo. Once she was done, she asked the two a question.

"So now that you know about my family, I was wondering if you could tell me about your father?" Both had a feeling that their grandmother would want to know about their father before meeting him.

"Well our father was born on Corellia ten years before the Empire came to power. He doesn't remember much about his parents as they abandoned him at the age of seven," Jacen said first in a grim way.

This was something that Padme didn't expect to hear about her son in law. "Why would his parents leave him?" She wondered.

"He doesn't know, it's possible that they got into trouble with the law, a criminal gang or something else." Jaina answered then continued.

"Once he was on his own, Dad learned to survive by learning the trades of the streets. He did tell us about some of the people who raised him. One of them was a Wookiee named Dewlannamapia whom he saw as a mother."

"As he got older, Dad joined the Imperial Academy hoping to make a decent life for himself. But that all changed when he saved Chewbacca's life from another officer who treated him harshly," Jacen said next as he took over.

"This act of bravery lead to Chewie owing our Dad a life debt as he would stay by his side for many years. And once he married Mom, that debt passed on to her and our family."

"Because Dad assaulted the officer, he was discharged from the Empire. And with Chewie by his side, they went into the smuggling business doing jobs for various factions."

"So your father was a smuggler who broke the law?" Padme asked with a eyebrow raised.

"...Um well yes, but this was when the Empire ruled the galaxy," Jaina responded trying to defend what Jacen had said.

"But it was because of this time, that he made many connections that would later aid the Rebel Alliance and the New Republic," she added.

'Well that changes things' Padme thought as she continued to listen about Han's past.

(Mos Eisley)

Pulling up to the entrance of Riku's shop, Leia and R2 exited the speeder and went back inside. The two found Han talking with Riku, who was laughing for some reason.

"Man, I missed hearing your tales," Riku said, as he calmed down when he noticed Leia had returned.

"I take it you found what we were looking for?" Han asked.

"Yes, I got some fresh food for the ship, along with what our friends asked for," she replied with a smile.

"Same here. I just need to load this in, and we can go," Han replied as he grabbed the first box of supplies. Riku helped out and grabbed the next three boxes.

It took a few minutes for them to load the parts into the back of the speeder, and as they did Riku noticed something as he went back inside. "Han, I think we're being watched."

This got both Han's and Leia's attention, and they followed Riku to the backroom where they found several screens had been setup.

"I put up some hidden cameras outside the shop years ago in the event that someone comes looking for me," Riku said as he pointed to the screen on the right.

"You see those two hanging around there?" Riku asked.

"Yeah, a Trandoshan and a Patrolian, that's quite a unusual pair," Han noted as he looked at them.

"I've seen those two around the port for awhile, rumor has it that some bounty hunters have been skulking around," Riku said.

"Do you know who it is they're looking for?" Leia asked.

Riku shook his head. "No idea, but from the look of things, it seems that they may have found a new target to go after."

Hearing this made Han and Leia realize that the bounty hunters were after them.

"I made sure to hide my face, they couldn't have seen me," Leia said quickly.

"Then how did they...wait, what about Artoo? Could they have taken notice of him?" Han said as he guessed out how they might have found them.

"Could be, he is well known for being Luke's droid. Which means that those two think we will lead them to Luke!" Leia realized with a sense of dread.

"Over my four arms they will!" Riku said as he got up, went over to a locker and pulled out a large blaster.

Han recognized it as a light repeating blaster used by Imperial forces, but this one was modified due to Riku's large hands.

"Wait! the last thing we need is to draw more attention to ourselves," Leia said and she gestured for Riku to lower his blaster.

"She's right at the moment. We have the advantage that they don't know we are aware of them," Han added with a grin.

"You've got a point there. Alright, you two can go out the back and look for my speeder. It's an open-air model that's dark green. Take it out of here and I'll meet up with you later on."

"Thanks Riku," Han said.

Going out the back door, they found Riku's speeder parked beside some crates. Jumping in, the two got seated as Han started it up and took off.

Back out in the front, Strafe and Kleen were getting impatient as they waited for Han and Leia to come out.

"What's keeping them, they should have left by now!" Strafe asked looking annoyed.

"Don't know, maybe they have more supplies to get," his companion repiled as Kleen looked around the area, then noticed a dark green speeder drive away in a flash.

It what seemed impossible to most others, Kleen was able to see that Han and Leia were inside it as he starting jabbering like crazy.

"What's wrong with you?" Strafe stated as he grabbed a hold of his partner.

"They got away in another speeder, going that way!" Kleen responded pointing the way they went. Snarling at this, Strafe let go of him as they both ran towards their swoop bikes and chased after them.

Once the two left, Riku came out and told Artoo what was going on, then started to look around the speeder until he found something. "Ah there it is!" he said as he pulled off the tracking device then dropped it on the ground where he stomped on it.