Knight Away

by hatten-jc

Xander meets two powerful beings and goes on a long journey

3. Chapter 3

2-1

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Note: Here it is now all fixed up. Tx to Inachis for making this story more readable.

Later the same day

The meditation chamber was always filled with the sound of the surrounding forest. Located as far away as possible from the part where the Jedi were living, the birds and the singing ape like beings where all you could hear. Only a tiny artificial light was in the middle of the room, the sun and the gas giant Yavin gave them all the light they really needed when it was day.

Luke and his beautiful wife Mara Jade Skywalker were sitting next to each other as Xander walked into the room.

"Master Skywalker, Master Jade," he bowed his head in greeting. "I am in need of your wisdom today. I had two visions, one personal and the other was of the future" Xander said.

Calling them both masters felt strange, but those were their titles so he used them as he should. Sure he still called him Luke in private, but not when they interacted professionally. Only during dinner and when Luke or the redheaded Mara helped him with his flying lessons. He finally had taken the piloting lessons and they found a shipload of illegal drugs inside the ship. So the Republic had put up a wanted sign for the former owner and then gave the ship to him as a reward.

Mara said, "You seem nervous, Student Xander" she said. Unlike Luke, she preferred the shorter version of his name.

Xander nodded. "I am nervous, not afraid but nervous. I saw a galaxy in civil war. The New Republic had fallen and Jedi were fighting Jedi. Army and navy struggling to command the galaxy and it will be up to us to decide how long the war will last. Depending on which side we choose as the Republic is reborn."

Luke frowned. "I see why that would make you nervous Alexander." He really liked that name, perhaps it was the farm boy in him, as his wife said, but Protector of Humanity? It was a real hero´s name. "But are you sure it was a future you saw?" He always stressed the fact that the future was hard to see.

Xander grinned. "It was not this vision that made me nervous. I firmly believe that all anybody can really do is fight to keep your loved ones safe and happy. The rest will take care of itself in time."

Luke said. "As a Jedi you have to be watchful of the future. Let your vision guide you. But always remember to be careful, the future is hard to see, always in motion it is. So what is it that made you nervous?" he asked.

Xander held forward the three gems. "I was guided to them. And the moment I held them, I knew the time
has come for me to build a lightsaber."

Mara Jade frowned. "Two months, is the time we have taught you. That is really a short time. Most of our students wait a year before they build their lightsaber." She looked at him. "Are you sure it is now and here you are building it?"

Luke studied Xander´s face as he meditated on that.

Xander said. "I am in the Enterprise. There are others than you teaching me, but we are not alone."

Luke nodded. "A mission and you could become apprentices." He said, meditating. He felt the boy would need his lightsaber soon. And if he was honest with himself, Alexander was ready for a lightsaber when he came here. His skills were lacking and still were, but with another teacher that can give him private lessons, he could possibly be a Jedi by then, maybe in less than a year, or close enough that he could finish the rest himself.

Mara looked at Xander. "Are the ghosts still talking to you?" she asked.

Xander nodded. "Um yea, So far a Green Muppet and somebody that Ben claimed was his master." He snapped his fingers. "Yea, Ben said that to tell you the future is in motion and the simple answer might be the wrong answer."

The two masters looked at each other and Luke knew it was time to leave. He could hear somebody protesting behind them. Young baby Ben Skywalker had awoken and wanted his mom and dad right now.

*

Later

He was woken up, brutally and cruelly, by a brown haired girl, that was suddenly shaking him. "Wake up NOW" she screamed.

Xander mumbled. "Uh. Jaina what´s the what?"

She grinned. "Just hurry." As she walked out, stealing a peak at his body. If they made statues like that, she would start a collection.

Xander sighted. "Girls." Eager and stomping her foot, Jaina was waiting for him as he sneaked out from the kitchen with a cup of caw and some sweet fruit to eat.

"What?" he asked.

Jaina grinned. "My mom, dad and my brother Anakin are here together with Uncle Chewbacca". Anakin was four years younger than they were, but he had already started lessons with Uncle Luke during the summer. In the winter time Mom was helping him learn the Force. He would soon start as a full time Jedi student.

Xander nodded. "Wait." He said and started to sneak out. Tenel-ka was standing un-guarded near a kid, time
to kick her red haired butt. Jaina sighted. "Not again."

Silently he started to sneak, then went faster and faster. He moved and grabbed Tenel-Ka's shoulders from behind then he tried to kick her legs from behind to force her down. It did not work.

First Tenel-Ka was falling down, but before Xander could give her a flip on the nose, the kid attacked, sending a rain of rocks flying towards him. Xander backed down in shock, as he was working all that he could with the Force to parry the rain of deadly rocks the kid was attacking him with.

Before he had a chance to say anything or counterattack, a pair of big strong and hairy arms grabbed his shoulder and lifted him up.

Tenel-ka grinned as she walked up and with her finger flipped him on the nose. "I win again." She grinned.

Xander spluttered, hanging from the arms of Chewbacca. "Hey that's unfair. You. You had help."

The kid looked at them. "You two were playing?" he asked.

Jacen, who was standing and talking to somebody that looked like an older version of himself, laughed. "Yes Anakin. Xander and Tenel-Ka always pretend to attack each other, just to improve their ability to fight."

Behind them Jaina giggled. "That's Uncle Chewbacca" she said.

The mighty Wookiee Chewbacca laughed out as he put Xander down to hug Jaina.

"So that's THE Falcon" Xander said as he watched the legendary Millennium Falcon and walked up to the ship and held out his hand to Jaina´s father. "Hi, I'm Xander. From what Jaina said, that ship could destroy a fleet of star destroyers and out flies an A-wing" he said, grinning.

The older version of Jacen smiled. "Hi kid, I'm Han Solo. And yes, it's the greatest ship in the galaxy. I heard you were a special kind of pilot?" he said, grinning back.

Xander snorted "yea. My first flying lesson was during takeoff. I had to fly by instinct." He nodded to Jacen,
Jaina and even Lowbacka. "They have been teaching me how to fly and fix a ship since then." he said.

Jacen shrugged. "He was already really good at fixing and building and the flying? Now he isn´t a bad pilot anymore." He said smiling. "But I still do not trust his landings."

A short time later they where crawling around in the Falcon´s engine room, checking out the improvements while Han explained them and they were impressive.

Han and Chewbacca inspected his ship with great joy. Most of its improvements were already there as he had stolen it. He and Jaina explained what the ship could do and what Xander wanted to improve on the ship. It sure was a long list. Faster Ion-engines, stronger shields and two quad laser cannons instead of the tiny guns it already had.

It was possible, but it would cost a small fortune. The engines could be improved by boosting the existing engines, which were already changed to a faster version as the standard. The shields and the cannons, now that would could cost a bit. Han did explain to him, that if he got the guns slightly used from former free-traders (Smugglers), he could get them really cheap. Just watch your back and ship.

Chewbacca told him that, as a Jedi, he could get military hardware for a good price at a New Republic Yard. The New Republic wanted their Jedi alive and so was willing to let them buy X-wings and other military stuff, so more guns on a cargo ship were NO problem.

Han Solo sighed. "That's not good kid. What good are improved guns, if the law knew about them?"

Xander answered, "Plenty, if you get your missile system or an Ion-Cannon from criminals." Both Chewbacca and Han grinned and nodded. Both of them were looking at him with approval.

Sadly Leia was looking at the ground talking to herself about another scruffy looking scoundrel.

"HEY I am NOT scruffy looking." Xander protested. To his surprise both Han Solo and Chewbacca started to laugh.

*

Hours later

Inside the Skywalkers' room

Xander, Jaina, Jacen, Lowbacka and Tenel-Ka, the five friends were getting more nervous as more adult Jedi were marching into the room, Mara, Leia and a dark haired man that looked like a fighter with hands full of scars. In Xander's eyes, that man had the look of an alpha predator.

As a second, light brown haired, man entered and was looking at Xander, it felt to him like a police detective was studying him.

Finally Luke entered the room and sat down. "This Jedi Academy is a Praxeum and in a Praxeum we teach more by showing and allowing the student to learn by their own speed and ability."

"In the old times, young students were learning as we do, in a Praxeum form. Later they became Jedi Padawans, apprentices under one master. That apprenticeship could last years, before the young Jedi were adults and fully learned. Jedi had only one Padawan at a time and most Jedi never had more than two or three students during their whole life."

He looked around the five young Jedi students. "The Master was more than just a teacher, he was a mother and a father, he was a guide and teacher of right and wrong."

Xander frowned. "That's sounds slow and limited." he said.

Luke nodded. "Yes, in the Old times, the really old times before the Jedi Civil war 4000 years ago, a Jedi could have more than one apprentice. At that time, the apprentices often were older, adults or late teens just as you are. Those ways of learning are faster, but also put more responsibility on each of you to act as a Jedi."

Xander said. "And you are explaining this, because I'm the only one that doesn't already know that, right?"

Jaina chirped in. "Yup. You have been working too hard with learning piloting, repairing and using the force." she said grinning.

Xander shrugged. "Yes, but I also did a good work at learning." He smiled at her. Leia smiled as the young man and her daughter were flirting. He looked and felt like a scoundrel with a heart of gold, she liked that in a person.

Luke nodded. "Exactly, beside me I have Jedi master Corran Horn, Commander of Rogue Squadron." He said nodding to the police man.

"Jedi Master Kyle Katarn, former military." The man with eyes like a predator smiled back. It was a smile full of teeth.

Xander hesitated. "Um Excuse me? But Master Horn, is he really a pilot ace?" he asked, doubting Luke.

"Do you believe I lie?" Luke asked.

Xander blushed. "Um no. There's no way he is just a pilot or a commander. He ... he feels like a law officer." he said, confused.

Corran actually blinked. "Is there anything wrong with being a law officer?"

Xander shrugged. "If I hear commander in a military unit and get the feeling of a law officer, my first idea is secret service and where I grew up, only the corrupted officers of the law survived."

Jaina frowned. "Xander, don't be stupid." she huffed. "And say that you're sorry to Corran Horn, he is a hero."

Corran smiled. "I am not angry or insulted by Alexander´s description. Before I became a pilot, I was a law officer. Correlian Security force. Then the Empire moved in and I had to choose between doing the right thing and breaking the law or keeping on working."

Kyle gave them a thin smile "What do I feel like kid?"

Xander shrugged again. "A lazy alpha predator, the biggest deadly beast I´ve ever seen, I just hope that you never get hungry, if I'm on the menu."

Tenel-Ka nodded. "What are you Master Kyle?"

Kyle smirked. "I am a former Special forces man, infiltration and sabotage." he said at the kids, who could only swallow.

Kyle looked at Luke. "He is mine." He turned to Corran. "I know you wanted that girl, but I know she would learn well under me."

Corran nodded. "Perhaps, but you are right, she would be distracted with the X-wings around. Jacen, Lowbacka if you accept, I will be your teacher in the force."

The two nodded eagerly.

Leia smiled. "Tenel-Ka, please if you will have me, I will be your teacher."

Tenel-Ka nodded, on the inside she was blushing, Leia was an idol to her. A real warrior princess, something she was struggling to become. And she could never forget that her Dad almost had married Leia. She would be learning from a living legend. Somebody that was like a million times greater than Luke. "That would be an acceptable alternative" she stated in her calm and logical voice.

She got the greatest of the teacher; the party kept going inside her mind.

Leia frowned, the kid sounded disappointed. Well, she just has to prove herself then.
Jacen grinned, Tenel-Ka sounded so cute when she was happy. And even better, each time that he visited mom and dad, he would see Tenel-ka.

Jaina frowned she missed out on Corran Horn. No way, but she loved X-wings or starships.

The hard man that is Kyle Katarn started to walk out of the door. "Xander, Jaina follow me." He said.
Behind them Luke's voice was heard. "May the force be with you."

*
Space was surrounding them, as the Enterprise exited the gravity pull of Yavin 4 and then entered hyperspace.
Kyle looked, with appreciation, over the two teens driving the ship. He himself was an acceptable pilot, but nothing more.

Most Jedi were good or great as pilots, but not him. Give him an Imperial base, full of storm troopers and murderous robots, and he would destroy it with or without the force.

Destruction and battle seemed to be his talent, he always knew where the enemies where hiding. And he always could find secret ammunition stashes.

But these two kids seem to know their way around a starship. Good.

Kyle stirred. "Xander? Luke said you felt it was time to build your lightsaber? Take a look at this data pad. It has designs off different versions. Read it, watch it and meditate over it. Then we will start building yours, two days from now." he said, looking at Xander.

"Yes sir," Xander said, grabbing the data pad. Leaving the piloting to the autopilot and the tiny R3-F4 he had managed to pay for. R3 units were designed to be used for space transports and capital ships, while the R2 model was designed to be used for star fighters and speeders. The R3 was more of a specialist then the R2 units.

Jaina turned to their Master. "What am I to do Master?" looking hopefully at the Jedi master.
Kyle grinned. "You and I are going to do gymnastics." His grin widened at her surprised look.

*

Days later

Meditating while Kyle and Jaina were running around like crazy nuts was hard, although perhaps not as hard as Jaina felt getting into shape. But Xander had the feeling that Kyle Katarn could outrun Buffy. He found out that Katarn was actually a big and dangerous man eating cat like animal that sometimes were tamed and used as guard animals and existed on many worlds.

Kyle might be a human, but he sure moved like a jungle cat and could have an At-At as lunch.

He was done and he knew what he would build.

The data pad was full with information about lightsaber designs. Even HUGE gigantic lightsabers, a so called lightclub or great-lightsabers with a blade up to 3 meters. The species that were 2-4 meters long used them and tiny lightsabers, lightdaggers. Species like Yoda and others had used them. Dual-Phased Lightsabers that could double their length with a simple activation switch. Underwater adaptations, Double-bladed lightsabers, Lightsaber Canes Or Lightsaber spears.

The hilt designs were as varied. Some were simple, like Corran´s hilt that looked like a hand grip on a speeder bike.

There were a lot of designs and potentials. He had three crystals that he finally identified. The green pair were an adegan crystal and a potite. An Adegan crystal had a deep imprint in the force and most of the OLD lightsabers were made of adegan crystals, often mephite. Pontite were the rarest and most powerful type of crystal that could be used to create powerful lightsabers, which seemed to be a part of the Jedi that used them.

The last crystal was just as rare, an opila gem. According to the data pad, an opila used in a lightsaber created an extra intense blade capable of cutting through most materials quicker than a normal lightsaber. They also created shorter blade than a normal lightsaber.

It was almost spooky that he found the three of them. The force was truly guiding him. Or luck. His plans were for two lightsabers. One 1,5 meter long blade, a bit longer than the standard 1,3 meter, then a shoto blade, a short light-dagger in his off hand.

He frowned and considered, it would be best if he made the longer a Dual-Phased blade, giving him the ability to change the blade from 1 meter up to a 2 meter length. Xander nodded that would be best. The Light-dagger would be around 20-60 cm long. He was not sure just how long.

Kyle entered the room a question on his face. Xander answered. "I am ready, Master."

Then they started to work. Kyle and Jaina helping him create parts of the hilts. He made sure it would be underwater blades. At the hilt bottoms he made a locking mechanism that gave him the ability to connect both hilts in to one double-bladed saber. Not that he was going to use it like that, but one never knew.
A sword and a dagger combination were superior, but if he needed the surprise of starting the fight with a dual-bladed weapon and then shifting in to the sword-dagger combo, he would have the possibility of doing so.

Finally all was done. Around him were all the parts gathered around. They had parked the Enterprise on the planet Gelgelar at the Free port, a place owned by Sullustans, a smuggler hideout.
Jaina and Kyle had left him alone.

Xander drank a nourishment drink as he started to meditate. To build a lightsaber he would have to attune each and every part with the force and become in harmony with each part of the weapons.

It was a ritual that could take a day or a week, depending on the skill and power of the Jedi. Different versions existed, short versions that took only a day, but created a blade that took a much longer time for the Jedi to become in harmony with.

He was using the longer ritual. From this moment on, until his first blade was build, he would only sleep an hour each day and nourishment drinks would be the only food he would have.

Entering meditation Xander grabbed the hollow hilt of his sword. His eyes unseeing, but his mind was watching its nature, its aura, the way it interacted with reality.

Slowly, part after part was inspected, as he started to build the weapons. A short moment of distraction came to him as he felt being watched. Shrugging he continued, according to the watch he had looked at, he needed almost five hours for the hilt. It was worth watching, he had to understand its secrets.

*

At the first nightfall Jaina watched the ship at the landing platform. Far away from the hotel room she was sleeping in. She was wondering how long it would take. Xander was strong in the force and had a strange instinctive gift with technology. Like the one both she and her younger brother Anakin had.

*

Days later

Loro Ecls, a Sullustan, looked over the warrior at the other side of the bar. "So I know I'm not supposed to put my nose in it. But I have seen you hanging around with that young girl. Is she your daughter?" he asked hoping nothing bad was going on with them.

Kyle laughed. "No, she is my student." Showing the Sullustan his ID card and lightsaber, "But thanks for caring. She is a great kid" he looked at the bartender "In a place like this, it is unusual to find anybody asking questions like that" he said, smiling.

Loro eyes twinkled. "A Jedi, are you here for catching smugglers? I am afraid you would be arrested. Only slavery is against the law here." he said.

Kyle shrugged. "I don't care. Have to get away from distraction. One of my students is building his lightsaber.

He locked himself in the ship with nothing to distract him there and left all the great food to eat for me and Jaina. And this is also a great place for me to train her in how to survive in a difficult terrain. She really hates this swamp world now" he grinned.

Loro grinned back. "So that's what the two of you have been doing out there. We had been wondering if you are treasure seekers or crazy wild game hunters. Seeing how bruised the girl is, some even believed you were hurting her."

Kyle laughed. "No, I'm teaching her to fight. There is a difference. She is getting stronger day by day. Gave the kid a choice I could teach her slow and painless or fast and painful. She got guts and the right instincts." he said, thinking about the young Solo girl.

Considering her mother and father, that was no surprise at all. Both the Skywalker and Solo families had proven themselves to be warriors.

*

3 weeks later

Finally, the entry hatches of the Ghtroc 720 opened. And a slimmer Xander Harris walked out. Hanging from his belt was a pair of lightsabers. The mist moved around him, hiding him as he walked forward, leaving no trace of his passing.

The door of the restaurant suddenly opened and a young man, whose face was hidden by a cloak, walked inside towards the table where Kyle and Jaina were eating dinner.

Bowing down, Xander held up his lightsabers. "I am done master." he said. Kyle nodded. The kid had a taste for drama. He could see the whole pub was torn between watching and running to the hills. And yes, the punk laughed silently, his face hidden by the cloak.

Kyle took the pair, watching them before he activated both blades.

Around him terror and fear filled the bar.

Were they Jedi out to arrest them, or Sith out to kill them?

The lightsaber blade activated with a brilliant green blade. He could see the control stud, with a twitch of the force the blade grew from a meter to two meters, before he let it once again shrink back to only a meter. He turned it off and studied the hilt. It was a good design; the belt ring was on the side and not at the end of the hilt. And he could see the locking mechanism that would transform the sword hilt and the dagger hilt into a double bladed saber. The Blade length adjuster was at the top and the Power adjuster was further back on the hilt.

The Light-dagger was a short blade, only 30 cm long. It´s yellow light was shining. The hilt was also short and just the basic needed. The locking mechanism was working and the belt ring was on the side, just as in the longer hilt on the sword. The daggerblade was focused and strong, this was a focused cutting blade. Kyle nodded; the punk had done good work. "I approve apprentice. Sit down and eat."

Xander nodded. Around them smugglers were sneaking out.

The bartender walked over, seeing Kyle waving his hand. "So young man, what can I get you?" he said in Sullustan. Xander blinked his eyes at the being that sounded like?bebpene be be," or something.

Jaina "He said, young man what can I get you?" she said giggling and pointing at the menu.

"Aha. Food, plenty of food a Wookiee special." Xander said, knowing he and Lowbacka had similar taste.

Kyle nodded, now the torture would really start. "Right kids. Now we will start training. I almost got your strength up and working Jaina. This is how we are going to do it" he said, putting a written plan down between them.

The two kids paled.

Morning: gymnastic, strength training and running strength training.
4 hours.

Breakfast and 30 minutes rest.

Lightsaber training.
4 hours.

Lunch. 30 minutes rest.

Theory, Force skills, language training, history, other knowledge and technical skills.
4 hours

Dinner 1 hour

Weapon drills and knowledge. Lightsaber control practice.
5 hours.

Cool down exercise and meditation exercise
1 hour.

Sleep.
6 hours.

Xander paled. "That's not possible."

Kyle grinned. "Sure it is. First Gelgar has a 13 hour day and a 13 hour night. That is giving us 26 hours to play with. Second, IF you do your Jedi meditation the right way, your need to sleep should be around 4 hours. Learn fast and welcome to the torture pits."

*

Two days later, out in the swamp lands of Gelgelar.

Kyle held his lightsaber low and in a guard position as Xander circled around him, his dagger held in a reverse grip and the other blade in a close shoulder position for quick strikes, constantly trying to find an opening.

"Open yourself to the Force, Xander. Feel my motions before I make them, let the Force guide you as you strike," Kyle said as the blades clashed against each other in brilliant flashes of light.

Beside them Jaina watched as they jumped back and forth. It was her turn to watch before she and Xander would fight again. Kyle was brutal and yet he forgot nothing.

He even had a protocol droid with them to give Xander lessons in languages and history and how to cook food.
But their clothes, every pant, jacket and robe they had were cut asunder by lightsabers, were burned or had water damage.

Kyle somehow managed to always have an extra jumpsuit, while Xander and her were dressed like a pair of streets rats.

*
Hours later

Xander was emptying his mind and tried to focus, he had a blast helmet on, blinding him completely. Around him Kyle had put 19 wax cylinders, of different heights, in different places. On top of each cylinder lay a tiny steel ball. The purpose of this exercise was to use his lightsaber or lightsabers to destroy the balls, without hurting the wax cylinders and it was supposed to be done in ONE long sweeping cut. He would have to dance around, never stop moving until the last steel ball was burned away. Using two lightsabers made it actually more difficult. It was training in mental discipline.

If he hit the ball the wrong way, it would hurt the wax cylinder and he had failed.

This was the first cadence, it only used 19 cylinders. Sometimes wax candles were used. Strike the unlit candle the right way and it started to burn. Strike it the wrong way and it was destroyed.

Second cadence was 72 cylinders. The forth cadence was 360 cylinders. Each cadence had more cylinders and they were placed in different patterns, making the training more and more difficult.

The fifth cadence used no cylinders, it was just a deadly dance of control and focus only a Jedi Master could do or rather fail in. Most Jedi masters never even managed the third cadence.

This was a control exercise that a Darksider was unable to even learn, Kyle had told them. The Focus, control and a clear mind this exercise needed made it impossible for them. It was also a training method designed to become harder and harder until even the most skilled Jedi would fail.

So far the first Cadence was far too difficult for him or Jaina. She once managed 14 cylinders before she failed. His maximum with one lightsaber was 11 and with two blades only 7.

He moved the blades constantly around him, striking fast and never stopping as he spun around, jumping and moving between the cylinders at break neck speed. Then Puff. He failed.

Looking up he was stunned. 13 cylinders with both blades.

He did it. He almost did it.

He had figured out how to use both blades in harmony. Sweet, if only Buffy could have seen this.

For the first time in a long time Xander took the luxury to wonder what his old friends back on Earth were doing. Something strange and weird always happened there. Perhaps the school had turned into ice and was melting.

*

At the same time on Earth in a dimension far far away and long ago or something.

Buffy grabbed the Vampire. "Quickly," growled out to the new slayer Faith. The two tied up the vampire as Oz van pulled up. They loaded the sucker into the van.

Faith smirked. "Thanks sister" she said to Oz who just sighed. It just had to be a full moon tonight. Hadn´t it?
She nodded, "You´re welcome."

Faith frowned. "By the way, is Oz your brother? You kind of look like him." she grinned, the redhair had a boyfriend that was cool in a strange way. In the driver seat Oz sighed again.

Buffy giggled. "Um, that IS Oz" she said, knocking the Vampire down. She just hoped this sucker would have the information they needed about the mayor.

Faith gaped. "No way, you are shorter than him" she said.

Oz nodded. "Yes, I am. But I am Oz" she said.

Seeing Faith´s confusion, Buffy explained. "Oz was once a werewolf, but he made a joke wish and a demon changed him from a Werewolf to a were-girl." The two slayers started to laugh and giggle like crazy at his misfortune.

Oz looked irritated at the girls behind her. "At least as a were-bitch I do not get the urge to hunt and eat humans. Only chocolate" he smiled a bit. Life as a were-girl was much better then as a were-wolf.

*

Back to Xander in a galaxy and dimension far far away and a long time ago.

Too tired, dirty and hurting, the teens struggled into the restaurant/bar at the freeport. Kyle walked in, only seconds after them, looking as fresh as ever. "Hi Loro" he said to the bartender "I hope your food is good today. I have two hungry kids with me."

Loro watched the poor kids that walked beside the evilly grinning Jedi. They looked like a Stardestroyer had landed on them and then used them for fire practice. "Are you sure the young ones are well?" he asked.
After the young boy had showed off his two lightsabers, they had vanished, together with a translator droid, in to the wild. Kyle had the starship docked in a secure landing platform. And nobody had seen them in almost four months.

Kyle nodded "I'm sure. We have a first aid droid on the ship. It says they are perfectly fine." He was silent.

"Also they are a bit undernourished" he said smiling.

Like a pair of sharks, the two Jedi apprentice devoured the food. Real food, not emergency bars and strange fishy looking things the droid claimed humans could eat.

Kyle grinned. "A glass of lum for me and a fish burger, thanks." Every meat on this planet was fish or bird, sometimes snake or snails, but mostly fish.

The Sullustan nodded. "Are you sure, that you do not train them too hard?"

Kyle frowned. "Na. They are just too soft. During my time in Rebel Special Forces I was trained much harder.

My training when I was their age was much harder. Before I became a rebel I was trained as an Imperial commando." He sighed almost longingly. "That was the time crawling true tiny pipes, running across a field with angry stormtrooper trainers shooting with pain blasters on any one of us who was to slow." He sighed sadly.

Loro nodded his Sullustan head. "I see." Behind him the boy was holding up a sign that read: Our Teacher is crazy. The kid flipped the sign. On the other side was written: And we are willingly following him. What are we?
Loro laughed out loud, that was good joke.

Kyle blinked and noticed that most of the guests in the bar were laughing, including Jaina, while Xander was trying to look innocent and hiding something behind his back. With a wave of telekinesis, Kyle held the sign and was reading the two messenges. "Hey. That was fun and it seems like I have to train you harder than before." He grinned at the fearful look on the faces of Xander and Jaina.

The rewards of being a teacher, the pain, the suffering and the fear in the heart of your student, it is good, to be a lightsider caring for your student as much as he does.

*

A week later, sitting in the cockpit of the Enterprise, Xander was thinking back to what Kyle said, as an old smaller transport with the name "The Moldy crow" had landed to pick him up.

He said, that both of them had much to learn. But most of it, experience would teach them.

Now they were Jedi knights. He also ordered them to visit Luke and ask him for more lessons in Force skills. While he had taught them everything he could, they still had plenty of skills yet to master. The ghost had also given all three of them knowledge force skills. They had to write all of it down on computers until they had the time to study and master them.

Luke knew more about Jedi skills then he did. But for now, the two of them should go to Coruscant, where Luke and Leia were waiting. He would join them there.

The subspace radio was on and tuned to a music channel, where a Duros song was playing, in Earth terms he would probably consider it a country western song. Except most Duros songs would make an Earth country western song feel like they were made by whiny five year olds. The Duros somehow managed to include the emptiness of space, the terror and joy, the riches and difficulties of a space journey in their songs.

He sighed, as he started to meditate. A future was coming a hard time was arriving in the galaxy he now lived in.

And what was worst, soon they would land and what would Han Solo, Leia Organa Solo and not forgetting Luke Skywalker and Chewbacca do to him when they found out Jaina was now his girlfriend?
Sure he was 18 and she 17 years old, but he was still a dead man piloting a ship.

*

4. 3-0

Note: Tx to Inachis for making this story more readable

Knight away. 3-0

The voice from the space-control station sounded inside the cockpit of the Enterprise, as Xander piloted her closer to Coruscant. "Starship Enterprise, please enter course 777-93-22 keep the speed at 20 Mglt. Do not deviate from your course. A private landing place has been granted to you, by Jedi Master Skywalker."

"I repeat," and the voice started over again. Every now and then other information came bursting through. "Long Cargo, do not race in the space lane. Enterprise change course to 777-93-21. I repeat 777-93-21. Speed at 20 Mglt."

Jaina sighed, 20 Mglt was the speed of a snail. A normal ghtroc had a cruising speed of 30 Mglt. A standard Yt-1300 had 40 Mglt and the maximum speed of 120 Mglt.

To compare it to the old version of an X-wing, which had a cruising speed of 80 Mglt and a max speed of 320 Mglt. Dad's ship the "Millennium Falcon" had a cruising speed of 90 Mglt and a max of 360 Mglt. Many of the big bulk ships had a cruising speed of 10 or 20 Mglt, with the max speed limited to 40-80 Mglt.

The new republic version of the X-wing, the XJ-series, had a cruising speed of 110 Mglt max 440 Mglt. The old A-wing had in cruising speed 120 Mglt and a max speed 480 Mglt.

The Enterprise had a cruising speed of 50 Mglt and a max speed of 200
Mglt. Whoever had owned the ghtroc before Xander had improved the ship's engine with a class five space engine. It was still slow, but starship control was forcing them to crawl.

Xander sighed, as he turned around. "R3, keep an eye on this." he said to the droid behind them. "It is cold in space today." he said, looking with a grin at Jaina. "Feel like warming yourself?"

Jaina giggled as she crawled over from the co-pilot seat and sat down on his lap. The two snuggled tighter and were kissing each other as the ship slowly moved into the atmosphere.

*

Later and down on the planet

On the balcony, above the landing platform, the Skywalker and the Solo families and also some friends were waiting. Some were sitting and some standing.

It was Jacen that pointed to the turtle shaped Enterprise first as it came closer to the platform. "There it is." he said. Leia stood up, eager to see her baby girl.

Each of them lifted their macro binoculars, in hope of seeing Jaina, Xander or perhaps both of them, in the cockpit of the ship.

Leia lowered her binoculars. "I knew it, he is a scoundrel." she said, blushing.

Han frowned. "He's dead." he growled out after seeing Jaina sitting on Xander, with Xander´s hands touching her in private areas.

Mara Jade Skywalker grinned. "I know how Xander does it, but I have no clue how Jaina is doing it," she said joking, trying not to laugh.

They all looked at her while under them the Enterprise landed.

Luke looked at his wife. "Do what, Mara?" he asked.

Mara grinned. "Xander has gills so breathing is no problem. But how does Jaina do it?" she said grinning. She really liked that kid.

Jacen gaped. "Xander sure moves fast."

Tenel-Ka nodded. "That is a fact" she said. Then turned and watched him.
If only HE would move that fast.

Leia sighed. "Darling? Calm down now." she said to Han. "She might like the young man." Han Solo nodded. "Don't worry, they'll never find his body."

The thumping sound of the landing gear broke up the heavy petting Xander and Jaina were engaged in and Jaina gasped for breath. "Great Force: That is flying" she said, grinning. She quickly fixed her flight suit and jacket.

Beside her Xander did the same thing. "Do I look fine?" she asked.

Xander smiled. "Perfect, as always." the two grinned. Perfect and nobody would know that the both of them have been half nude only seconds ago.

As the exit hatch opened the two walked out, side by side, to their family and friends.

"Mom, Dad" Jaina screamed as she jumped and hugged her mom and dad. Han
Solo glared at Xander.

Jacen winced. "You're dead." he sighed. "It's a sad fact, but from that balcony, we had full insight into your unusual landing methods." He said, trying not to laugh.

Luke interrupted. "At least your skills in landing have improved, even if the method you use during in-flight is a bit unusual." Not laughing actually hurt.

Tenel-Ka grinned. "That is true." she said. It was a fact after all. Inside, she was having a giggling party, on the outside she looked like a Vulcan.

Xander swallowed. "You saw us?" They all nodded. Jaina whispered. "All of you?" Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker nodded. Leia and Han Solo nodded, as did Anakin and Jacen Solo.

Kyle Katarn nodded as he lighted a cigar. Tenel-Ka said: "Indeed we did."

Corran Horn grinned, "Jupp that sure was a manoeuvre none of my X-wing pilots ever managed to do."

Lowbacka growled out a yes. Beside him his uncle Chewbacca did the same thing.

Even C3-P0 and R2-D2 agreed they had seen it all.

Jaina blushed to an extreme red "I. we, were. I am 17 years old." she blurted out. Considering the multitude of species, aliens, near-humans and sub-cultures on the planet, it did't really meant that much.

Age of consent on Coruscant was seventeen. With the parents' consent, it was fourteen. With some long lived near-humans, the age of consent was twenty-six years. Another type of near-human with a shorter lifespan and childhood had it at twelve. Species of short lived furry aliens had the age of consent at nine years old. But then, their childhood was only eight years and they died of old age before the age of thirty. Alderaan, a place of love and freedom, had a much lower age of consent at only 15. Right now she really hoped her mom remembered that.

Han´s hand was awfully close to where he had his blaster, but looking into the green yellow eyes of the youth in front of him he spoke up to Luke "What kind of asshole is he?"

Luke smiled. "You can trust him. He is something of scoundrel. A good one, like someone else I know."

Han walked up to Xander and looked him in the eyes. "Hurt her and they never ever will find your body."

Xander nodded. "Yes sir."

Jaina started to argue about her dad's overprotective ways. "I am not a child anymore dad. So stop fussing".

Jacen quickly dragged Xander out of harm's way. "So, how was the training with Kyle?"

Xander groaned. "Hard, but interesting. He forced us to learn about everything twenty hours non-stop. With only six hours of sleep. How was it with "Rogue Squadron" and Corran Horn?"

"Twenty hours?" floated in Jacen´s mind. Looking closer at both Xander and his sister, he noticed that their arms and legs were more muscled than before. They also moved with more balance.

"Um, well twelve hours training, then another 4 hours for free studying with help of the other pilots." he said lamely. And he'd believed he had been in hell.

Lowbacka just nodded.

Tenel-Ka came over. "You build a lightsaber then?"

Xander nodded. "Indeed, I have done that. I'm going to ask Master Luke for a test of my skills." he said grinning.

Luke smirked. "Think you can defeat me?"

Xander frowned. "If the force is with me I could. But I do not wish to defeat you. Only to challenge you, so that I can see where I still have to improve my skills." he said. Luke was big on the do or do not principle.

Luke nodded. "The right answer."

Later inside the old Jedi temple, a building that was mostly left alone and now was most often used as a sleeping quarters for visiting Jedi.

The training hall was empty as Luke and Xander walked in and stood watching each other. Xander pulled up his lightsabers. They were locked together, creating a double-bladed weapon.

Grabbing the handle in the middle, he activated both sides. A 1.3 meter green blade at his right side and a shorter 0.30 meter long blade at his left side sprang to life.

Luke blinked; a double-bladed lightsaber was unusual. Normally it was a Sith weapon. His own green blade was activated and he held it in a high guard position.

Above them the Solo's, Mara Skywalker and friends watched.

Then they started to move. Xander danced around, attacking with the long side and then parrying with the shorter side of his blade. Just as Luke managed to force his longer blade down, using his own blade, Xander pushed the release button and the Light-Dagger was free. A quick stab forced Luke to jump back.

Now Luke started to smile. "A lightdagger? Did you know I once had to fight a dark-side witch that used an energy whip? To do that, I had to build a special weapon. R2?" he screamed.

Suddenly there was a burst of air and something was flying through the air and landed in Luke's free hand.

Xander swallowed, it was a short hilt. Luke had a light dagger of his own in his hand. "Here. Now lets dance," Luke said as he activated the blue blade of his light-dagger.

Green, green, yellow and blue clashed with each other at a mad speed as master and student fought, filled not with anger, but with the pure joy of a good challenge. Xander suddenly activated the dual-phase on his lightsaber, making it 2 meters long. He drove Luke back for a short moment, but the master was back again in a moment.

Luke grinned. "That is tricky of you. Remember, skill and experience beats dirty tricks every day." He raised his eyebrows. "Is that all you got?"

Xander shook his head. "No its not", he said as things started to fly around against Luke. A bombardment of broken stones rained down on the Jedi master. Luke just ignored it and danced right through the missiles, deflecting them without any problems.

With a wave of his hand, Luke sent a force push in Xander's direction, which sent the student flying back in the air. Xander landed gracefully on his feet and he dived back into the fight. Just as he almost reached his opponent, there was a tiny stone. Pushed by Luke with telekinesis, it suddenly rolled under Xander's feet as he put down his foot. Without solid ground under his foot, Xander tripped and fell face first to the ground. "Ouch"

Luke nodded. "Good fight, Xander. But remember, not all fights are won by using big and flashy attacks. Sometimes, a tiny rock is all that is needed."

Tired of eating the floor, Xander sat up. "Thanks for the fight Master."
Above them Kyle nodded. His student had challenged Luke to a fight, which had ended in humiliation. Luke had kicked his butt, with power, skill and sneaky attacks.

Luke nodded. "You have improved much. I agree with Kyle, you are worthy of the title Jedi."

They were desperately in need of every knight they could find. Xander hadn't been the only one to have the vision. Most simply knew hard times were coming.

Only a handful could see that the New Republic itself was falling apart. Corruption was growing fast. What if they would be unable to stop the tide of corruption?

Then the New Republic would fall and they would have to choose a side, which was the feeling he was getting.

A proud Jaina walked down to get a chance at her uncle, while Xander walked away so he could watch them from the side.

Jacen leaned over to Lowbacka. "We need to train, really hard." The wookiee nodded.

*

Later in Han and Leia's home

Xander watched out over the balcony, which was a thousand floors up from ground level. He could see clouds moving below from where he was sitting.
A steel-glass dome around the balcony kept the atmosphere breathable.
Somewhere below him, he could almost spot the repulsion ring that kept the building stable.

It was a building for the rich. Leia's work as a senator and as head of state made them rich. Han Solo's own stint as a smuggler and as a general hadn't hurt either.

But empty spaces were a luxury on this planet and this apartment showed that the Solo's were well off by having huge unnecessaryly big rooms with high ceilings.

"I'm never going to get used to this." Xander said as he felt Han Solo walk out right beside him.

The older man frowned. "What do you mean kid?"

Xander turned and watched him from the corner of his eyes. "That here. Buildings this high and a whole city over a complete world? That is impossible where I came from."

He turned. "Earth was a small world. It's only been a few decades since our scientist build the first chemical based rocket, which managed to land on our moon. No repulsors, just a chemical engine that blasted a tiny crew out into space. A parachute, a type of soft gliding wing, made it possible for the rocket's escape pod to land."

He turned and looked out. He could sense that Leia and Jaina were listing to him. "Flying airplanes, aerodynamic jets powered by propeller driven engines, are only about 100 years old. Travel from one end of the world to the other takes hours today. Hundreds of different languages exist on Earth. Less than a hundred years ago, crossing the world took almost a year."

Chewbacca joined the family together with Anakin.

Xander ignored it. "And behind that was the subculture, vampires and demons. Vampires are a parasitic type of life form. They re-animated a dead human and to survive they needed blood, human blood. Most humans refuse to believe vampires exist. They are great at hiding that they do. Only a small number of champions actually fight them. Four to five times faster and stronger than a normal human and most of them like to torture, rape and make a human suffer before they drain them of blood."

"Why only a small number? Why do most not know that they exist?" Leia asked.

Xander frowned. "Because vampires and demons like to hide and strike from behind, they have a skill in hiding, they have used it generation after generation until most of humanity had forgotten that they exist. Only in certain places, like Sunnydale, a constant hidden war is being fought. In the rest of the world, a hunter actually has to track down the beasts."

He sighed. "I belonged to a group who fought against them. We risked our life with no pay and cost free. Then it happened, humans, gold and a part of a whole city vanished. Then suddenly a creature of pure light, an angel, followed by a beast of pure darkness and evil, a demon, entered our base. They told us that someone in an alternate reality had found an artefact to open a gate between our and their dimension. Unless it was stopped, Earth would be destroyed. They could not stop the end of earth themselves, as different laws of nature would hinder them. But a mortal like me, could be adapted."

Han nodded, Luke had said something about the kid being from an alternate dimension, and neither had Leia. "I bet there was some hook if you left."

Xander nodded. "Anyone going would go on a one way trip. No way to return home." He turned around watching the cloud. "It's times like this, that I really miss my home. Willow turns 18 today. "

"Who is Willow?" Jaina asked curiously.

Xander answered her. "A friend of mine, we had been friends since we were five years old. She is a shy over intelligent young woman. We promised to always be there for each other and now here I am." Swallowing hard he said. "Now, someone said something about dinner?"

Leia nodded and smiled. "C3-p0 has set the table. And perfect, just in time. Luke and Mara are at the door. Anakin, could you open it for them?"

Later that night

Han, Anakin, Xander and Chewbacca were sitting at the table, talking about starships. It had started with Xander telling them about the make believe movie Star Trek. Leia and Jacen had moved away as they had started to talk about improving ships with different engines and sensor systems VS weapon improvement.

Luke was sitting nearby. Listening, but baby Ben Skywalker was still sleeping and he would get angry if daddy started to talk. So Luke was silent as he listened and watched his sleeping child.

Han reminded Xander he could get republic engineering to upgrade his ship. As a Jedi he would get a pay check. Also the reward from the spice hidden in the ship could possibly pay for some of it. Not much but still.

As the night was moving on and on, one by one they said goodnight. Tomorrow they would be knighted and register as "New Republic Jedi Knights".

*

The next day

It was a big and pompous ritual, where important senators and famous stars watched the 25 nervous young Jedi Knights marching up to Jedi Master
Luke Skywalker.

Jacen, being six hours younger then Jaina, was the youngest. Lowbacka was actually nineteen and the oldest of the teenagers. But being from a species that could live over 300 years meant that Lowbacka was no more than 15 himself in Wookiee years.

The oldest was a 31 years old Duros with pale blue skin and a mouth that looked like it was stuck in a permanent sour mood. But Xander remembered him from Yavin 4. He was a happy guy. The Duros showed their happiness with eye and hand movements. Head leaning towards you and eyes half closed were signs of happiness.

Dressed in Jedi robes they marched up, one after another, showing Luke their lightsabers and swearing the Jedi code, before they took a place behind him.

Xander gave Jaina a thin smile, as it was the Solo twins turn. For political reasons they went first. He was lucky that he was not the first. In a standard Jedi robe, black with dark green pants under it, he looked dashing. At least, according to the tailor droid's and Jaina's opinion.

Then it was his turn, only poor Lowbacka and four others were still standing behind him.

The rest of the ceremony was foggy in his mind. With holo-cameras and reporters he could barely hold breakfast down.

*

5. 3-1

Knight away. 3-1

Note: Tx to Inachis for making this story more readable.

*

Later

Xander was not amused when they somehow had a picture of the landing he and Jaina did at the freaking press conference. A blue skinned human reporter grinned, as he asked if that was the normal landing method the Jedi used.

Xander walked down from the podium, his eyes gleaming green and yellow, slowly glittering from the light of the camera. "A real reporter would do his best to find real news. Not going around like a pimp trying to sell others like a whore." There was silence. "Now if you have a real question, ask it. If not, leave this place and let the real reporters work."

The reporter stuttered. "I have the right to ask questions."

Xander just watched him and the guy suddenly became aware just how strong the young man looked and just how cold his eyes were at that moment.

Somewhere inside of him, a real reporter was hidden and he asked: "As a new Jedi, what do you think about the rumours that more and more system are complaining about the lack of action the Republic is showing against slavers."

Xander smiled. "Excellent question, sadly I do not know much about that situation. But unfortunately I have firsthand experience that in some areas of space the smuggling of spice seems to be done quite openly. I am sure they are doing all they can to correct the situation. And 25 new Jedis is only a beginning, it will take more than just us. The Republic is not a one man show, it's a team effort. It will take help from all members of the Republic. Do not ask what the Republic can do for us. Ask what WE can do for the Republic."

He walked back, hoping the ghost of John F Kennedy would not be too pissed at him.

The reporters were silent for a long moment and then they started to bombard him with questions.

Xander ignored the stupid ones, but with Jaina's help, he gave the best answers he could.

*

One hour later

"The Do not ask what the New Republic can do for you, Ask what you can do for the New Republic," speech was on everyone's lips. So was the phrase, "The Republic is not a one man show, it's a team effort."

By the time they had a late dinner and moved over to the Republic Engineering building, most of the core worlds knew what he said.

Not knowing anything about that, Xander walked in to the hangars to find an official in the engineering circle.

Jaina dropped him like he was yesterday's news as she saw an X-wing J model. With a cruising speed of 110 Mglt and a max off 440 Mglt, only a handful of ships, like the A-wing, could fly faster. But almost no ship was that fast, that deadly and that strong and yet so small.

Xander blinked as he walked over to her. "So, you want one of those?"

Looking at the price tag he swallowed. Wow that was expensive. But as a Jedi, she could get one on extended loan. Free of charge. After all, what good was a Jedi, unless he could find his way to the place where the trouble was.

Finally the engineer officer in charge arrived. "So you need a ship?
I have the papers and a new X-wing could be yours. Of course, legally it's on an extended loan. But if you are still flying the same ship nine years from now, it's yours, permanently. And anytime you like, you could buy it, as a used star fighter."

High powered ships like X-wings aged faster than the slower cargo ships. But that was to be expected.

Jaina nodded. "Please give me the papers. I love X-wings." The engineer, a Major, as Xander could, see turned to him. "Well, I will not ask what you can do for me, I will ask, what I can do for you" he said, grinning.

Xander rolled his eyes. "Great, I have an old Ghtroc 720 with a class 5 engine, standard shields and weapons, which I would like to upgrade a bit. I also would like to include an unusual upgrade if possible."

The engineer nodded. "Normally this would take time and cost a lot of money, but a lot of my crew just saw you on the holo-news and they bragged about how they would like to help you and the republic, if they could. I'm sure they'd love to put in some extra work, free of charge." he grinned.

Talking with the crew, Xander soon got them interested. The pay from the bounty was not much, but it was still worth some. Jacen, with the help of Mirrax Horn, Corran Horn's wife, had sold the old massasi weapons to a collector.

Between Jaina, Jacen, Lowbacka and Tenel-Ka it was not much, but Tenel-Ka had refused her part of the money for a good personal reason.

Jacen had explained to Xander that Tenel-Ka was the crown princess off the Harpes-system, which was one of the richest empires in the galaxy and that had shocked him for sure. He had always believed she was like him, from a primitive world. Apparently Tenel-ka's mother was a princess from a primitive world that her father fell in love with. She just liked her mother's culture more.

A class 6 engine was not what he wanted, but it was what the most realistic choice and they would take the old class five. The price difference for a used class five engine would be reduced from the class 6 engine price.

Two pairs of quad-laser cannons would also be installed.

Then he gave the engineers a building request. He wanted a pocket hangar ship. So he asked if they could adapt his 35 meter long Ghtroc cargo space to hold two X-wings.

The Ghtroc had a capacity of 135 metric tons for cargo, dived in two cargo holds of 67 metric tons each. They started a computer simulation in the engineering room, which took some time, until late into the night. Both Jaina and Anakin joined in happily, trying to find a solution.

Somehow the talk had spread and Corran Horn and an engineer from the
Rogue Squadron had entered the room to help also. Apparently a pocket hangar carrier was a new idea. Refuelling-ships existed and external docking was not unusual. But a micro hangar ship was not that common.

*

A week later

The Enterprise was in the starship yard for a complete rebuild. A new class 7 engine that somehow had become available as a gift from Rogue Squadron was to be installed. They liked the idea. Kyle had found him a pair of Class 3 shield units. So now he also had military grade shields.

He got a pair of slightly used quad-laser cannons for a great price. They were just like the Falcon cannons. He had rigged them so that he could fire them from the cockpit, only limited to the front arc of the ship.

The hangar space was tiny. Hardly any to room to move was left, if a pair of X-wings was docked, but it worked. The hangar doors were the hardest part to install. They had to increase the height of his ship around the door. And extend the length of the ship about five meters. That caused the cargo area to expand, without an X-wing docked, to now carry 200 metric tons. So even with all the new heavy and bigger equipment installed, there was more room inside now.

From the junk yard he and Anakin found a pair of landing claws to install on the landing gears. Other than that, he installed sun-lamps in the galley and a small bubble pool to increase the comfort. But the amount of available passenger space shrunk from 10 to only 5 + 1. He had also installed a jail cell, in case he needed to transport a criminal. All on his ship except one (the cell) would now have a bit more luxury.

Thanks to RogueSquadron, who bought the idea of the design, he managed to pay the things he wanted to have for his ship. He was told that they had started to rebuild a pair of transports into micro-hangar ships.

It was not a luxury ship, but still had a lot of comfort. All in all, he was happy and flat-out broke.

He believed that it was most likely thanks to Jaina's friends and family that he got such good prices on the things he bought. But even so he was a poor man again.

Once he made some money, he would buy an improved sensor system for the ship. Right now the X-wing sensor system was still better than what he had.

Then a call from Luke reached him. The republic had the need for a pair of Jedi, to meditate a dispute and then move on as Jedi watchmen near a rough area of space.

Watchmen, it was a dangerous, but also an independent mission. Mostly older or a pair of Jedi were asked to do that. Sadly, there were not enough Jedi around to fill that need.

Waiting at the temple was a Jedi Xander did not recognise, but Jaina knew him. "It's Streen," she whispered while she smiled at the old man.

Xander nodded, he had heard her tell about him. Part of his Jedi powers were: active and out of control when Luke found him. He had telepathic skills, but was unable to turn them off. When Luke found him, he lived as a hermit only with birds as his friends. As Luke asked him to join him and become a Jedi, he agreed on the condition that Luke would teach him how to turn off his telepathic ability.

Still, the old man's gift with the mind arts was impressive. Most Jedi had to work hard to read a mind. Streen could read hundreds of peoples surface thoughts without even trying and with some effort he could look deep inside a person's mind. Streen's problem was stopping himself from reading the minds of others.

He was a bit aloof, always avoiding skin contact, and looked shy. But he loved to be around others, as long as he did not try to read their minds.

The old man smiled at Jaina. "Hi, you sure have grown up." The first time he saw that girl, she was only two and now for the first time in a year, he relaxed his mind defence and took a peek inside Xander's mind to make sure the young man would not hurt Jaina.

"Um, right you had information for us?" Xander asked.

Streen smiled, that was a good kid, a stranger from a strange land. "Yes. I have it written down in a data pad. But the short story: You have to go to the Minos Cluster. It's a small sector in the outer rim that contains about 70 worlds where humans could live. Only a fraction of them are containing any sentient life.

The Cluster has two native alien races. The Kari came from the world of Karideph. They are group intelligence. One Kari has the IQ of an animal. But a group of about 100 have an advanced intelligence equal to genius human level. On that planet there are groups of millions.

Quockra-4 was a dessert world. It is the home of the second officially known alien species. They are disgusted by the appearance and the smell most other beings have, especially humans. All their affairs are handled with droids as go-betweens. They are fascinated by the return of the Jedi's. Expect having some talks with them. We believe they are snail like beings.

The cluster also has about 10 lost worlds, left over from lost human colonies. Some are low tech, others are Stone Age. Among the more powerful worlds is firstly the Adarlon system, which is a big producer of holo-movies. Then the Mestra system, which holds one of the biggest asteroid fields in the galaxy, making it also one of the richest. The Yelsain system is a group of low tech barbarians with a democratic anarchism government. The Pergitor system is a theocracy, an especially vicious one. The religion is the law. They consider any supernatural ability to be against the gods. Gesaril is a system we know nothing about. The Empire had no information about it except that it is at Stone Age level and that they were ordered from above to leave it alone. Further out in the system, they had a watch post and an asteroid prison. Travnin was the former Imperial headquarters. It is suffering from economical depression right now. The Eliad system is a former world of exile. There were many rich nobles that the Emperor could and would not kill, because he needed favours of them. Many of them were moved to Eliad. Some have moved back, but now second and third generation Eliadians consider Eliad to be their home world. They are rich and have culture from many worlds. They also consider themselves to be elite. It's not unusual for them to have powerful connections with people in the core worlds.

The Shesharile system with the twin worlds of Shesharile 5 and 6 is according to the report we have a pair of worlds that is in the hands of criminal gangs. It is also the place where you are going to meditate peace."

Jaina nodded. "Who are we meditating between?"

"Shesharile 5 and 6 are trying to make affairs with Mestra, but they have difficulties coming to an agreement and the two twin worlds have started to argue. Also, the gang activity is going out of control. Especially the swoop gangs on 5 are deadly; a real gang war has broken out. A big gang war, as far as I've heard." answered Streen.

Xander sighed. "And that is the short story? It looks like we have to earn our pay." Jaina nodded. It sounded interesting.

Streen nodded. "Remember what Luke said. Nothing stops you from getting any extra work. Not only would it get you some extra money, but you would also learn more of your new home."

He looked at Jaina. "Be warned, Adarlon is a colony created by Alderaan colonists, about 50 years before the planets destruction. From the holo movies made on that planet, they consider you and your mother to be a true princess and a hero. Do not let the fame and glitter blind you. It's always Shesharile first. You will also have a Republic specialist with you. A team of diplomats awaits you."

They said goodbye to the old man, keeping their distance for his sake. Xander smiled as he walked out, something about the old man made him relax.

Behind them the old man sat down, looking through the window, enjoying the emptiness in his mind. Only his own thoughts were inside of his mind now, as long as he kept the walls up.

*

A bit later at the Solo's home

Chaos was the nature of the place. Jacen and Lowbacka had a mission of their own and like Xander and Jaina, were packing. Currently the two twins were arguing over whose mission sucked the most.

Lowbacka and Xander relaxed, Xander had everything he needed already onboard the Enterprise.

Leia looked like she wanted to cry, her baby's were adults.

Anakin looked like he wanted to join them. Being only 13 sucked. "Anakin, what would you say about helping me double check the Enterprise?" Xander offered the young man.

He grinned. "Sure." He knew that ship like the back of his hand. After all, he was one of the gang that helped to improve it.

Han and Chewbacca that had been hiding from sight, so that Jaina and Jacen would not ask THEM to help packing. "Right, let's go" they said.

Leia rolled her eyes as they left.

Behind them Jaina stuck out her head. "Finally, they left. Mom do you think I should take with me this see-through teddy or just buy some sexy lingerie when I'm there?"

Leia walked up. "Let me see. This is expensive." She studied the fabric. "I know me and Han had lots of fun in the Falcon." She grinned.

A voice came from the other room: "Mom! Now I'm never going to be able to enter the Falcon again!"

Jaina giggled. "Mom what do you think of this? Its panties you can eat." she said, holding up a pack.

Again from the other room: "NO Jaina. Arch. I don't want to know." Her brother screamed as he rushed out.

*

Later in the ship

Xander crawled out of the gun turret. "It's in perfect order." he said, trying to remember if he had forgotten anything else. "Ion engines? Perfect." He said looking at the check list.

No nothing, his own weapons right. Double checked. Flight plan checked. Time of arrival checked. The diplomats would use an older military shuttle with only a hyperspace engine class 2. His ship had a new military hyper drive class 1. Not as good as the Falcons, that had a class 0.5 hyper drive.

The journey would take the Enterprise four days. While the diplomats would spend eight days in hyperspace, they would make a two day stop and stretch their legs. So in 10 days they would have to be in the Minos cluster.

The orders were clear; the diplomats would arrive first and make way for them. A day after, at the earliest, Jaina and he would arrive. They suggested arriving two days after the arrival of the diplomats.
So 12 days. Sometimes having a fast ship sucked, or did it? "Hmm," Xander said to himself.

Both he and Jaina had rushed and packed their stuff already. Even asked for lift off time from the space control station at the nearest convenient time after the military specialist joined them.

"Read this Jaina." Xander said and was silent as she groaned. "12 days."

Xander nodded. "If you read the small print, it's actually 13-14 days."

She sighed and looked at him. "What are we going to do? I refuse to pack up my stuff again," she finished.

Xander grinned. "Vacation, I'm sure that there is a nice planet between the Minos cluster and here where we can make a short stop."

Jaina grinned, "And the expert that they send with us?"

Xander shrugged. "He will be here soon. Let's look over the nav-computer and find a good place for a stay over."

Captain Junas Turner looked at the ship. It was an extended Ghtroc with hangar doors. Interesting for sure, a tiny ship like that as a hangar carrier? Well, the X-wings have only one week of consumables on them. A pilot could spend days in the tiny cockpit and that was hard on most pilots. So having a micro hangar ship could be useful for any squadron, giving the pilots a chance to stretch their legs for a while. Unlike a big hangar ship this would be easy to build and cheap compared to real hangar ships. He had no clue why nobody had thought about this before.

Knocking on the hatch, a young man opened it. "Yes, what can I help you with?"

The man said: "I am Captain Junas Turner, I think you have been expecting me?" holding up his data-card order.

Xander took the data-card and read it in his data-pad reader. "I see, welcome on board then, Captain Turner. I am Alexander Harris. You can call me Xander or Alexander."

The captain nodded. "Please call me Junas" he said as he entered the ship.

Xander nodded. "Right Junas, so you are Republic navy exploration? What is it you do?"

Junas shrugged. "Explore potentially hostile worlds. In fact, I was the first scout that found Endor and the Second Death Star. But sadly I got captured by the Empire before I had a chance to report. Nobody knew where I had vanished to and two years after the Second Death Star was destroyed I managed to escape a top security prison."

Xander laughed. "That was bad luck," he said.

Junas agreed. "I know pure chance and a faulty nav-com. I found the biggest danger I ever saw and then I got captured." He grinned. They had sent him here to keep an eye out on the kids and also to spy on them. There were fractions of the Republic that disliked the Jedi. He did not belong to either side yet.

The tour of the ship had him easily impressed. They even had extended the fuel capacity, with extra fuel carried in the emptied hangar. One would have an X-wing parked and extra fuel would be stored in the other.

He watched the teens talk about where to go, a short discussion later they reported their flight path.

6. 3-2

Note: Tx to Inachis for making this story more readable

3-2

Later in hyperspace

Junas studied the Minas cluster. It was a new area of space. A long time ago, using generation ships and hyper-warp engines, the first version of hyper drive was used, with crew and passengers in deep sleep.

Part of it had been colonized around 20 000 years ago, just before the hyper drive was invented. (The Hyper-warp is limited to the speed of light.) Then the Minos cluster had been forgotten.

Because of the badly explored hyper path, ships had to move around many objects that slowed them down. So while going a quarter across the galaxy using the Correlian trade route would take only about 4 days, jumping inside the Minos cluster from one end to the other would take almost 9 days. It was actually faster in some areas of Minos Cluster to jump outside and use the Trade route. Fast and stable jump paths where worth a fortune if you could find them.

Hours after the ship entered hyperspace Xander and Jaina joined him in the gallery. Junas looked over them as they snuggled tighter in the sofa. "So, where are we going?"

Xander smiled. "We are going to make maximum use of the time we have. Our ship can take the journey in only 4 days. They wanted us there in 13-14 days."

Junas nodded. "So where are we going?" At first he believed the two young Jedi had rushed out forgetting to even look at when they were going to be there. Apparently they had a plan.

Jaina grinned. "First we're going to Ord-Mantel. The New Republic has a navy base there, where they train starship pilots. Rogue Squadron is currently training there." She waved her hand around. "These ships, as well as the X-wing, are new to us. Both Xander and me need desperately to learn how to fully use our ships." she said, lying through her teeth. Both of them had come up with this idea at the spur of the moment.

Xander nodded. "We are also going to research the background situation on the Shesharile and Mestra systems. That's where YOU are coming in. Your contacts with New Republic army and Navy, as a scout, are much greater than our own. And we might need any information you could help us find."

He grinned. "We also might need your help to separate between useful and useless information."

Junas Turner nodded. "I see. That's a good plan. I myself found it strange that the diplomatic core wanted you to arrive after they had arrived. But reading up on the Shesharile and the Mestra system, I found the reason. Since the old times they have had a deep respect for the Jedi. But on Shesharile they have a tradition of House Patriarchs and Matriarchs.

Shesharile tradition has mostly collapsed with the economical catastrophe they suffered, but it still exist among the leaders." He looked at them. "The oldest of a family is considered by age to be the source of wisdom.

And age is to be respected, but a young person can be a leader if he shows that he is willing to listen and respect his elders. In Mestra they have it bit different. Between 15 and up to 30 is consider the play time. Young men and women are supposed to have romantic affairs, fun and gain new friends that can later become important connections. Responsibilities come later in life."

Jaina nodded. "So they are going in advanced to make sure they at least allow us young kids to help them." she said.

Junas nodded. "Most of the elders of Shesharile expect you to talk with respect and be silent if an older person is talking, but they accept young beings if they are respectful to the elders. The adults of Mestra are a bit different, they do not expect respect from young person's like you. Instead they do believe you are too young to be responsible." He grinned "And that will make it hard for them to listen to you."

Xander groaned as in pain. "Perfect. It's just getting better and better."

Junas laughed. "And don't forget the gang wars on Shesharile."

Xander nodded. "I have been thinking of getting a swoop myself," he said, grinning. They were like a motorcycle, but with speeds up to 800 mph and flight altitudes between ground zero up to 40 meters, depending on the model. Some rare models of swoops could fly up to 300 meter.

A swoop was a combined repulsor and ion engine and almost nothing more than that. Even the Scout-troopers repulsor bikes like the ones Luke and Leia used on Endor, were bigger.

Riding a swoop is like riding a proton torpedo and perhaps just about as safe. He had the chance to test one on Yavin 4. It was like riding a flying Harley-Davidson.

Jaina grinned. "You do know that they are illegal on many worlds?"

Xander shrugged. "Still there are some where they are legal." He leaned forward. "Besides, finding a good place to buy a swoop or two would give me a chance to investigate and find information ON the swoop gangs." He frowned. "Crap. I had forgotten I'm broke."

Jaina giggled. "Remember, the Republic is paying us for this mission and for giving Junas over there a ride. You still don't have the cash, but luckily you have a wonderful girlfriend who agrees with you. That would give us inside information from the street. So I'm giving you the money." she said smiling.

Junas nodded. It was a good plan. "They do have swoop racing, which is extremely popular, almost a national sport. That could be a place to get information."

*

23 hour later, the Enterprise had entered orbit over the planet Ord-Mantel.

Jaina was talking to the officer in command. It took almost 35 minutes before the idiot called a captain to the radio. Apparently he thought that only navy personal could land on the base. Civilians had to land on the civilian space port.

Minutes later

The Enterprise entered the small gates to the huge underground hangar, which the republic used as a star fighter training base. Not just any kind of training base, experienced units were send here, if they needed to re-train a new pilot to their units. This was not a base for rookies; this base was for skilled and elite pilots.

Around them they could see X-wing after X-wing. But also A-Wings, B-
Wings and Y-wing mark 2's. It was a much faster craft than the old one they had used against the Death Star. Y-Wing Mark 2 had a Class 9 engine, which gave them a cruising speed of 90 Mglt and max speed of 320 Mglt.

The Enterprise with a Class 7 engine had a cruising speed of 70 with a Max. of 280 Mglt. The same as the Mark 1 Y-wing had. Compared to the X-wing with its cruising speed of 110 mglt and a max speed of 440 or the cruising speed of the A-wing which was 120, the Y-wing was still a slow ship that earned its name as a pig. But even then the Y-wing was still one of the best attack ships that existed.

Xander, who had been reading up on fighters the last week, thanks to Jaina, knew this and was watching as the hangar personal waved him to a landing pad near a cargo ship. An Yt-1300 like the Falcon, but so modified that he was not quite sure.

After landing and powering down they exited the ship. Outside waiting were a Captain, a Major and a Colonel. Wing Commander Corran Horn was not there.

Jaina and Xander walked to them and gave them a slight bow. "May the Force be with you."

They bowed in return as they presented themselves.

Colonel Ashira Weldon. "Base commander" he said proudly.

The Captain: "Alina Brighter. Rogue Squadron"

Major Gavin Darklighter. "Acting Commander of Rogue squadron, until Commander Horn returns," he said with pride.

Gavin grinned at seeing the Jedi. He grew up on Tatooine, when he was a whiny kid Luke was the big old teenager that he wanted to hang around with.

Jaina frowned. "Uncle Luke said he had a friend named Darklighter."

Gavin nodded. "My older cousin, he and Luke flew against the first Death Star together, he died there. He was my older cousin, 10 years older than I was. But I remember running after him and Luke on Tatooine. Luke was 18 then and I was around 10 years old." he grinned.

Captain Junas presented himself.

*

Later in the galley

Gavin and the base commander agreed that they would be honoured to give the two Jedi a crash course in piloting. But in Xander case, they were fighter pilots. Not a slow Barge driver. But they were sure a Y-wing pilot could help him.

And help they got.

With only 8 days worth of training time before they would have to jump, Xander and Jaina took full use of the fact that they could lessen their own need of sleep. Even as the Rogue pilots bragged about the speed of their ships and the sad slow depressing and worthless speed of a bulk-ship like Xander's light transport, they still helped him a lot.

Jaina, who had lessons in piloting from her dad Han Solo, knew much of what they were teaching, but even she learned a trick or two about space transports. But she focused on her X-wing and used the time wisely to fly in simulations and mock fighting against the other pilots.

Captain Junas was also getting new information, the number of pirates operating from the Minos cluster was growing. Also slave traders were attacking poorly defended planets in the cluster.

*

7 Days later

Jaina was holding up her lightsaber and behind her was Xander with his pair of lightsabers. Surrounding them were 12 training remote droids which firing their stingers at them. (Stingers were tiny blasters. The training remote Ben let Luke use in A New Hope.)

This was group training. It would be great to be able to fight as a team. With blast helmets on they blind and always had to make sure where the other one was made it all even more difficult.

"By the Force!" Julipe, a young tech, said as he watched the two Jedi dance around and parry blaster bolts from the stinger guns the remotes had.

Gavin nodded. "Julipe, go and get the other Rogues and personal, this is a show of a lifetime." he said. The girl rushed away.

Outside the fight started for real.

The 12 remotes swirled around as they started to fire. Xander danced around and parried a bolt with his dagger as he reached out with his sword, reflecting a second bolt back at the firing remote, turning it off-line for nine seconds.

Behind him Jaina's lightsaber swept through the air and she sent two bolts into the ground while dodging a third one.

Jumping, parrying, reflecting and dodging, when the remotes programmed training time of one hour was done, both of them where drenched in sweat, tired and also hurting from the stinger bolts that had hit them.

Jaina grinned. "We have to do that more often. Team training is really fun." She was silent as they saw that the whole base had been watching them.

Xander started. "And that's all off the show for today." he said, bowing with a grin.

Gavin grinned back. "That was one hell of a show." he said.

Waving them to walk with him he spoke up. "Listen. I heard rumours that the
Jedi are being asked to go on suicide missions. Darkness is growing in the Republic and someone in the Senate is purposely sending you guys out without proper backup."

He sighed. "From the look of it they are trying to limit the number of Jedi. The Minos cluster is full of hidden bases where slavers and pirates operate from and they will not be happy having two Jedi interfering with what they do."

Seeing that he had captured their attention, he held forward a tiny hyperspace radio. "Use this if you find yourself in over your head. The moment you do, Rogue Squadron or Wraith Squadron will come flying in as fast as they can."

No way was he going to let General Solo's daughter die, especially as she was also Luke's niece.

They nodded as they took the radio. "Thanks" Jaina said.

Inside the restaurant Junas was telling a squadron of A-wing pilots how he, thanks to a navigational error, almost became famous for discovering that the Second Death Star was at Endor way before the Bothans finally did find it, and he had evidence that his story was true.

The great story of almost becoming famous and a hero to the republic was always popular, and Junas had learned how to tell it well and humorously. Another good thing about it was that it was also a real hero story and the escape from the computer and droid controlled prison was the stuff of legends.

Thanks to his courage and the help of a young Ewok who could copy droid speech perfectly with the help of a flute, they had escaped just in time to see the victory party. And his heroic story was mostly forgotten.

Just like he wanted it mostly, but not totally, forgotten, he got a bit of fame, but was not worshiped. He also made great friends on Endor and his story often got him a beer or two for free.

Six Days later the Enterprise entered the Shesharile system and landed on Shesharile 5. A group of diplomats and local politicians had welcomed them to the planet.

*

Later in a fine room at the Republic embassy

Jaina let the light from the roof mirror in her drink as she talked to the Republic chief ambassador. "So how would you like to start? At the meetings we can listen and detect some lies, not all mind you, but we can help you discover when somebody is holding back or trying to misguide you. We can also try to mediate successful negations, give you hints at what kind of compromises would be acceptable." she said.

Standing behind her with one arm on her shoulder stood Xander looking at the room with a lazy look in his eyes. The locals of Shesharile were underestimating them and considered them nothing, but a showpiece.

Xander nodded. "From what input I got from the Mestra representative, there is something more that they want from Shesharile 5+6." The Republic diplomat turned his eyes towards him. "Could you find out what?"

Xander shrugged. "No idea."

Jaina frowned. "It's something big. I feel greed and he holds a secret that he does not wish us to know."

Acaruc the Diplomat, a Mon-Calamari, nodded his big fish like head. "I see." He looked out. "Shesharile is desperate. They need the contracts with the Mestra system. Just as the Mestra system needs them. They could earn twice as much with their metal if they could sell it from a planet." The Mestra was a gigantic asteroid field which filled a whole solar system, even retching far outside the normal orbits.

And it took a steady hand and a good pilot to navigate the Mestra system. It was also rich in valued metals and minerals. But buyers chose less dangerous systems to trade with. If they had a planetary partner like Shesharile 5+6, they could easily double their profit.

Shesharile 5+6 on the other hand desperately needed the money and work. It had suffered a complete economical collapse around the time of Endor.
Unemployment had been over 90 %.

The twin planets had started to recover only recently. But instead of cooperating, Mestra was arguing, playing both planets against each other, trying to get as much out of the situation as possible.

*

Outside they could see the sun vanish behind the Gas giant Shesharile 1.

Shesharile 5 had entered the long night. 26 hours of darkness, something that would happen every now and then. First, there would be two normal days with 22 hours a day, then a long night followed, where both Shesharile 5 and 6 entered the shadow of the giant. Not that it was complete dark, the giant itself seemed to glow with its own light, and gigantic storms gave it a spook like appearance.

Acaruc nodded. "So what are your suggestions?"

Xander said: "Jaina and I will follow you. She does the talking. I just look polite, but dangerous."

Jaina nodded. "If I'm correct, there is a ball tonight and the talk is going to start tomorrow, right?" she asked, knowing she was right.

*

Later

The ball was less boring than Xander had expected, with many of older dignitaries that brought their families with them. You could see a direct difference between the Mesta and the Shesharile.

The natives from Shesharile 5+6 were dressed in humble, yet fine quality. They treated the older persons with deep respect. But the older people also listened carefully to the younger generation's ideas.

Their culture was clear. Being older meant you deserved respect for living longer than others. But a young person could be a leader and have others respect him, even though he still had to treat older people polite.

Then the Mestra, the youngest of the dignitaries was around 35 years old. The oldest was 79. Around them they had plenty of youths that had joined their mothers and fathers for a fun experience of travelling. The Mestra between ages of 15 up to 30 were in what they called the play age. They were essentially out of school, having fun doing extra studies and expected to not to break the law too much. They had no responsibility forced on them or nothing was expected of them.

Some of them called themselves Saber-Rakers and used a Light-foil around an energy coil that produced an energy field around it. A light-foil could be used as a less powerful Lightsaber. The Saber-Rakers were professional duellist and pretended to be noble, squealing about honour and fame.

A light-Foil and a sporting blaster had become the weapon of choice for the rich and stupid, at least in the Mestra system.

Then there was the way how they were dressed. Stunning and dashing in the latest fashion from the core worlds, with lots of jewellery and gems. It gave a cheap image of spoiled rich boys.

There were other groups there, some famous holo-stars from Adarlon, who were hanging around Jaina, calling her princess.

The last group impressed Xander though, the nobles from Eliad.

When Palpatine rose to power, there were nobles from many core worlds who were considered problematic. He could not kill them, because that could have created martyrs. So he exiled them to Eliad.

Some of them were corporate nobles others came from royal houses across the galaxy. The one thing the families of Eliad had in common was that they were all rich. The noble of Mestra looked poor compared to the old money of Eliad. Most of the nobles in this party were born on Eliad and had never seen the worlds their families came from.

But still they were dressed in an expensive, yet simple style. Tasteful and beautiful, their jewellery improved how they looked. They had style and were masters of word games. Often talking slow and in a diffusing manner, taking their time and making you listen to each word, until the listener sometimes forgot what they were actually talking about. Word duels were a planetary sport for them.

Irony was considered a sharp blade. Give an Eliad noble the chance and they would make your pride bleed to death. And just like Jaina and himself, they despised the newly rich Mestra nobles.

But even among them, there were youths using the light-foils. Standing near Jaina, Xander gave the impression that he was a dangerous body guard. Only a handful had the guts to talk to him. Which was probably for the best, he thought.

Jaina, who had grown up with a mother who was, for a short while, the Chief of State, the president, of the "New Republic", knew those political games and was a master in them.

As the music started to play and a youth from Mestra dressed like a dashing pirate asked Jaina for a dance, Xander was left alone.

He could see Jaina suddenly smile and blush to the youth, almost stuttering as she took his hand and was led to the dance floor. But one look from Jaina, as she used the Force to send over an idea, put Xander's mind to rest. "Xander, try to be more social. I'm sure one of those fools knows what Mestra wants."

Xander's smile was hidden, as he walked or rather glided over to the drink table. He took a glass of something bubbly that tasted almost like strawberries and then he walked over to the Mestra youths.

"Yes yes. She is the daughter of Organa, so of course she is beautiful. Even if she has the blood of a mongrel like Han Solo mixed in." A black haired man said before giggling into his hand. "But just watch at the brute who is with her, could you say Gamorean anyone? I am surprised he can walk upright and they let something like that call itself a Jedi." The youths laughed.

"Wonderful party." he said as he stood right behind the young man who had mocked him. The man was perhaps 25, older then he was, but behaved like a spoiled child. He enjoyed the surprise and shock they felt over him being there.

The man spun around. "I…" he stuttered.

Xander smiled. "Do you have a problem talking?"

"What?" he said in surprise.

Xander nodded: "And understanding when others talk, as well?"

The youths around them started to laughed as the dark haired man was made to look like a fool.

Xander grinned at a beautiful pale red-haired girl, 19-22 years old. "As listening to his inability to talk is boring, why don't the two of us try this dance?" he said, bowing to the girl who smiled at him from behind her hand.

As he and the red-haired walked out to the dance floor, he could see that the youths from Eliad were smiling. They had enjoyed that.

*

Hours later

Xander was talking and joking with a bunch of youths from Mestra and Eliad, although he was mostly listening, and pretended to be interested in their duel-tradition. So far the youths or perhaps young adults from Eliad had managed to insult the youths from Mestra over nine times without them even discovering the hidden insults they had been subjected to, and he was almost sure they had given him at least one insult or compliment.

Down in the flower garden, Jaina had a more successful talk. The man, a youth of 26 years, who was drunk as a skunk, had bragged about the gas mining rights they would trick away from Shesharile 5+6.

Finally, with a tiny abuse of the Force Jaina said: "You feel sleepy." She walked away as the youth sat down to rest.

Nodding to Xander, she walked over. "My my, have you replaced me already?" she said, seeing a bimbo hanging on Xander's arm.

Xander frowned. "Jaina, you know I would never do that. But I had to save her from the wonder boy she was with first." He said waving his hand in the direction of the dark-haired man.

Jaina raised an eyebrow. "Really, that's awful" she said.

Xander nodded. "O yes. His eyes are lacking the ability to see the difference between a general and a common mongrel or a human and a Gamorean. It must have been awful for her. Who knows? If I left her alone him, he might have kissed her brother instead of her." he said, smiling.

The insults were clear as crystal and the youth was fingering his light-foil.

Xander lifted his eye brow, his eyes glittering in green and yellow as he smiled the smile of a hungry predator that had found its prey. "Would you like to play? I would love to see if a Light-Foil could stand against a Lightsaber." he said in a mocking tone.

Jaina looked at them. The general was clearly her dad, but human as a
Gamorean… "But Xander, in bad light you do look like a Gamorean" she said, giggling.

Xander mock winced. "Ouch, stabbed from behind. How will I survive?" he said, holding his hands over his heart as he was staggering backwards, making Jaina catch him and kiss his nose. "I feel weak, perhaps mouth to mouth is needed." he said.

Jaina looked at him. "I don't know, a Gamorean like you? That is a hard choice, giving first aid to a pig? Should I?" seeing Xander's puppy dog eyes. "Well, perhaps this time, after all you are a cute pig." she said, as she gave him a long and deep kiss while helping him standing up again.

As they were enjoying themselves they were interrupted by an alarm breaking out. Guards were quickly trying to get the guests indoors, but it was too late. Swoops came down from above, followed by air speeders trying to capture the tiny and fast bikes.

Fifteen swoops were swooping in from above, holding homemade fire bombs which they dropped over the guests. A second gang of forty more swoops were seen in the distance.

Jaina and Xander wasted no time as they pulled out their lightsabers and started to capture the fire bombs with their telekinesis and letting them crash down in the garden lake. As the swoops came in for a second turn Jaina was standing guard over the huge doors. Xander was moving to attack.

Like a gigantic bat, Xander jumped up in a tree, his Jedi cloak fluttering around him like a gigantic pair of wings. Up in the air he jumped, using the Force to catapult him towards one of the swoop bikers.

Jaina held her ground as the swoop gang started to fire down blaster bolts at her. Mounted under the swoops, were light blaster cannons, which were sending a rapid fire rate of death against her. Her lightsaber parried bolt after bolt back on the swoops or down into the ground, keeping the crowd safe.

Up in the air, Xander landed on the back of a swoop, knocking the driver out of the seat and in one motion pushing the safety belt release. He let the driver fall down as he sat down on the driving seat. He quickly pulled the swoop out from its dive with one hand as he put the safety belt on with his other.

Pulling to maximum climb, he rushed up in the air, made a loop and returned with breakneck speed, his Lightsaber on maximum length. He looked like a knight in a tournament. He broke their formation as he slashed of the front of a swoop, sending the pilot crashing.

He fired the blaster cannon at full speed against the swoops that quickly dived away. A sharp turn and he entered a chicken race, as he drove in, face to face with a group of Swoop gang members.

Blaster bolt after blaster bolt were shot at him, but his long Lightsaber earned the pain it cost to build it. In the last second, just before he and the other swoop drivers would crash, he pulled up, flying upside down and cutting the other guys swoop in half.

That driver lost control of the swoop because of the simple reason of suddenly being dead. Xander focused on the other swoop drivers. They were still going after the party. A smell of smoke told him that his blaster cannon was destroyed. He was lucky, it could have exploded. He let the control go for a second and grabbed his light-dagger. With one swing he threw it flying into the air.

With Xander controlling its wild flight with the Force, it crashed in to the third swoop, cutting part of its ion engine up. The driver turned tail and fled. Picking his light-dagger up with the Force, Xander caught it and put it and the lightsaber away.

Pulling up his Magnum, he aimed the gun and pulled the trigger as the swoop gang were shooting their blasters at him.

Boom
Boom
Boom
Boom

Each bullet fired was guided by the Force like a target seeking missile. Four pilots suddenly had deep bleeding wounds from a .50 calibre bullet.

Just as suddenly as they had arrived, they turned tail and flew away.

Xander pulled the break on the swoop. Aiming at the balcony he made a soft landing beside Jaina. "It is truly a wonderful day for flying.
Don't you agree?" he said, giving her a real scoundrel's smile.

Jaina nodded as she put her lightsaber away. "Yes. It is a nice swoop." she said, hugging him.

Xander nodded. "Perhaps I should get myself one of these. They are quite fun to pilot."

Around him the nobles were slowly returning, awed and shocked over the battle skills they had just seen.

One of the guards could not help himself. "Your weapon sir, what was that?"

Xander pull his gun up as he put in a new magazine. "A projectile weapon, a simple chemical explosion sends a missile made of metal flying from the barrel at high speed."

The guard looked surprised by the primitive design. Using that kind of weapon meant the number of bullets would be limited. A standard Blaster pistol had energy for more than 50 bolts. Any type of shield would give almost 100 % of protection against a small metal missile.

A noble man frowned. "Why not use a blaster they are more effective than something like that?"

Xander grinned. "Traditional weapon from my home world and a Desert Eagle has a great voice of doom." he said. Sure, it wasn't actually a Desert Eagle, but it was a gun build with more effective materials that looked just like one.

Putting the gun away, Xander and Jaina walked over to the elders hosting this party.

Bowing respectfully Xander spoke, "Sir, could you explain what is going on here? Because we wish to help you and to do so, we need to know who it was that attacked this party."

The man nodded. "During the bad years, smuggling, drug manufacturing and even slavery became more rampant. Our world fell in the hand of criminals. Now when we are finally getting back on our feet, those criminal feel fear that their source of power will vanish."

Xander nodded. He could feel the other man believed in his explanation. He also felt that it was a simplification of the truth. In the corner of his eye, he could see the Mon-Calamari diplomat wave to him with small circular gestures, trying to catch his attention.

"I see." he said as he bowed to the elder. "I wish you good night sir. There will be much talk in the meeting tomorrow and we would not wish to be late."

At their private room they met up with Captain Junas and Diplomat Acaruc.

Jaina stared at Xander. "We would not wish to be late?" she repeated, looking at him in surprise. "I did not know that you have become a Jedi Master." she said, looking a bit irritated with him.

Xander shrugged. "I saw Acaruc gesture to me and guessed he wanted out of there. It looked like the combat signal Kyle taught us, the time to pull out signal. I do hope I read you symbol correctly?"

The diplomat nodded. "Indeed, I used the -Time to Regroup- signal with the intention of getting Xander away from the elder before he said too much, and I wanted to talk to him. But leaving the party was just as good." he said smiling.

Jaina frowned. "Let me see." she said.

The Mon-Calamari Diplomat nodded as he waved his hand and did a circular motion pointing away.

Jaina said to that, "No, that's the pull out and retreat signal." she said.

Acaruc looked puzzled. "What is the regroup signal then? I took time to learn this during my time in the rebellion. I worked as a medic in the Special Forces at the aqua teams. Two months before I got a position as a full time medical officer." he said with pride.

Of course, that was before he was moved to a regular medical unit because he was too weak to be useful during combat action. And perhaps he did deserve to be proud, as he really had tried his best all the time.

Xander and Jaina nodded and looked impressed at the weak looking Mon-Calamari. "Two months with those guys." Xander said. Troops that Kyle Katarn considered to be impressive were real asskickers.

Junas interrupted them. "Well did you two find out anything?"

Xander shrugged. "They are hiding something. There is a feeling of greed and they firmly believe the Shesharile are idiots. And the youth are incredibly foolish." he said, irritated.

The Mon-Calamari laughed. "Socially learned response, they are expected as young adults to be unable to act responsibly and so many of them act irresponsibly because of that." He looked at them. "You grew up in a different society. You are expected to be responsible already. But once they are 30, they have to act responsible and as an example to the society."

Jaina nodded. "Well, I picked up some info. The gas giant apparently has tibana gas in it."

The room was silent. "A gas mine" Junas said.

Jaina nodded. "They are going to trick it out of the natives. Claiming lesser gasses could be worth mining. So they take the right to mine in extension to the metal trading post."

Acaruc looked almost fearful. That would explain why they were driving the twin planets against each other. Now he had to call one of his local government contacts. They would be able to confirm it by diving into the gas giant. Sure, that would be dangerous, but worth it. Then all they had to do was tell the Mestra that they could set up gas mining by themselves. The Republic could lend them the capital they needed, or they could make a contract with one of the mining guilds outside the cluster.

Or Mestra and Shesharile 5-6 could help each other in exchange for equal chares of the metal trade post and the gas-mining co-operation.

With the Mon-Calamari working overtime, behind him Xander and Jaina started to wave their hands around, signalling it was time to retreat. And then the official signal that meant: "Officer working hard, run, he may order you to be a volunteer".

Junas nodded and gave the unofficial signal for escaping hard work.

The three grinned, but soon stopped as the diplomat gave them the signal for lazy asshole.

7. 3-3

Note: And our thanks still goes to Inachis for making this story more readable. Thank you for your work

3-3

The next day came all too soon. With Jaina sleeping next to him in a way too thin teddy, Xander just wanted to snuggle more, but the sun was evil and unforgiving and even glaring at it did not work. He tried.

*

Later

The breakfast was simple fair, but filling. The years under a complete planetary economical catastrophe had taught Shesharile a valuable lesson in economy. Things were still hard on Shesharile 5+6 and the price for food was high. Smuggling and drug manufacturing had actually created more work and finance for the community.

Later in the day

The meeting between the Mestra and Shesharile 5+6 was just as bad as Xander had expected. Law agreements were argued over. The Mestra pulled back suddenly, wanting something more than to drive a wedge between the twin worlds of Shesharile 5 and Shesharile 6, but something was different today and even the Mestra group of nobles could feel it.

The Shesharile representatives were sitting straighter and with more courage in their eyes, when a navy officer appeared. He slowly whispered to the Shesharile group before handing them a computer file.

The government head of Shesharile stood up. "It seems that tibana-gas might exist in our gas giant Shesharile 1. As such, many of us think that it could be worthwhile for us to ask the Republic or a mining guild outside of the Minos cluster for help," he said, looking at the now nervous Mestra representatives.

He sat down. "But we will let you talk with your head of house. Perhaps you could come with a better counter offer, later this week perhaps?"

That ended the conference for the week.

Shesharile was planning on scouting out the gas giant and the rest of their solar system. Where ever tibana gas could be found, carbonite often followed. Not always but in more than 75 % of the cases that held true. Depending on how much there would be to mine the Shesharile could in theory be rich with only a little start up help needed.

Mestra would not like having a second big mining system so close to them. They would soon come back to the negations table. Being partners would be better for both, after all.

Two weeks later.

Dressed in a light armoured jumpsuit, looking like most of the natives, Xander walked the streets of Shesharile 5.

He was on a hunt.

Swoop gangs needed swoops. They bought and stole them. Swoops needed repairs. And if anybody knew about the gangs, it would be the outlaw tech that sold, repaired and even build the swoops.

With his lightsabers hidden inside his boots and a standard blaster pistol by his side, Xander looked like any native, or a smuggler lost on a strange world.

Finally he found what he was looking for, in a way.

A Biker bar, almost a hundred swoops and some speeder-bikes were parked outside the building and music was playing. Hard looking men and women dressed in skin-tight and armoured jumpsuits, just like he was.

Ignoring the people at the door he walked inside. Focusing his Jedi powers, of mind manipulation, he actively tried to make as many of the people as possible feel that he was welcome in here. It would have been an easier trick if they had been weak minded storm-troopers looking for a droid.

Now they looked at him with dislike instead of anger. That was good. Going to the bar he ordered a luum. Then he turned and watched the gang. The mark on their jackets and jumpsuits was a mynock. Looking a bit around, he found the leader.

A female of perhaps 27, she could not be more than that, with long hair on the right side of her head. The left side was bald shaven and full of tattoos. A pair of no-glare sniper sun-glasses was hiding her eyes.

Even from here he knew that she was an alpha, the leader and queen of the pack. Looking closer, he could see that the left side of her head was full of scars looking like burn marks hidden by the tattoos. She was not clean shaven on the left side, she was bald, but she made it look good.

Lifting the mug of luum he nodded to her as he drank. Then turned around and watched what the other gang members were doing.

Frowning to himself he opened his mouth, which normally would be a mistake, but: "May I ask you a question?" he asked politely but firmly from the guy beside him.

The swooper looked at him with the suspicion that he could be a bounty hunter. "Perhaps" he said with an evil voice.

Xander grinned, taking another taste of the luum. "I'm looking for a swoop, a fast swoop, to buy. Swoop racing is a minor hobby of mine."

That would attract attention, considering that swoop racing was bigger than American football and baseball rolled up together on this world. It was almost a religion.

The swooper looked at him. "Really?"

Xander nodded as he spoke with fake venom. "On my home world they consider racing to be an act of foolishness. In real sports you run after tiny balls or throw a stupid dart or something. So an asshole in the government outlawed swoops." He said his face crunched tight in fake anger, while he tried with his mind control power to force the swooper to trust him.

"No. No way, how could they?" asked the swooper, aghast. For fan of swoop racing the idea of outlawing it was evil, it was wrong. Sure, racers often died, but that was part of the game.

"Sith spit!" he growled out with rage. "From what kind of stupid place do you come from?" he asked.

Xander grimaced. "A stupid place called Laramal. It's outside the Minos cluster, a minor trading world. It's just along the Correlian trade route and the Ithorian side path. Lots of ships are docking there to rest and eat real food before moving on." he said. The place did exist, he had done his research, and swoop racing had recently become outlawed there.

Looking at the outraged swooper, he said: "Now here's something funny. Nothing is made on Laramal. Nothing is made, the only thing that happens there is trade and exchange of cargo. Yet most living on Laramal go around with a freaking stick up their ass like it's the best place in the universe."

The Swooper snorted. "I'm surprised that you dislike your home world that much."

Xander shrugged. "Never said it was my home world, Mom said I was born on Tatooine. Dad might have been from Coruscant. He refused to say anything other than it was a core world. Spend my first nine years living on a cargo ship going between Duros and Correlia." The Swooper nodded. "Then they moved to Laramas." he said.

Xander nodded. "Yea, apparently it is good for a child to live on a planet." He waved to the bartender. "Yo another luum and whatever the big guy likes, give him one." Turning to the swooper again. "Anyway, do you know a place where I can buy a swoop? My name is Rednax. And what is your name, big guy?"

The swooper grinned. "I'm called Crunch. Only my enemies know why." he said with an evil smile. "And yes, I know where you could get a swoop. A good one, if you have the credits." he said with a grin, as he took a glass of Ruvian. "Follow me Rednax" he said.

Xander nodded, paid the bartender and joined Crunch as he walked up to the female leader.

*

At the same time, on the planet Adarlon.

Jaina was bored. No Xander and yet another stupid place they wanted her to see. She was being treated like a princess, chauffeured around between parties and theme parks. Local politicians, Holo-stars, Holo-Directors, they all invited her to see their places.

Adarlon was an Alderaan colony from before the clone wars and she was the daughter of the last princess of Alderaan. They treated her like she was the queen of Alderaan. The whole planets main income was holo-movies and theme parks. Sitting on the edge of the Minos cluster, it had plenty of visitors from outside the cluster. Theatres, movie theme-parks, everything and anything could be found here. Art, culture and simple fun was the driving force of the economy of the planet.

She could see that plenty of Alderaans culture was still alive here in the art, but she was a Jedi Knight, a star fighter pilot and Xander's girlfriend. She had escaped evil empire traps when she and her brother were only 5 years old. At fifteen, she had been fighting a Dark Jedi and survived.

She blinked; she had been intending to think "and a decorated Republic hero", not "Xander's girlfriend." Where did that come from? Was he really that important to her? She had to agree that, yes, he was.

The picture of a perfect star, who was the host of tonight's ball, was bowing and excusing himself.

She just nodded, thinking hard. Xander was perhaps deep undercover right now.

"Excuse me. I said, do you want to dance?"

Jaina turned around, frowning. "Actually, I wanted to see the navy reports on pirate activity, it being the reason why I came here. Then I want to find my Xander and snuggle. I am very grateful of how friendly all of you have been. And I'll never forget the wonderful sights I have seen, but I have a duty to perform and a boyfriend waiting for me. So I wish you a good night." she said, rolling her eyes as she moved away. Snapping her fingers, she said sharply: "Driver, take me to the Navy Headquarters. Now."

A short moment later, at a racing track, on the planet Shesharile 5

Xander put on his Correlian pilot glasses, they were fakes.

(Free of charge if you also buy a Correlian build starship, the glasses are worth 2000 credits according to the Correlian Engineering division. You could get an identical version build by the same maker on the streets for 1 credit.)

Now he would need them.

Sitting on a borrowed swoop Xander swallowed, it seemed that Quayce wanted to see his racing skill. Beside him were two members of the gang, charging up their ion engines. Quayce grinned. "If you want to chicken out, now is the best time to give up, Rednax."

Xander snorted "I may have been blamed for many things in my life, but never for being afraid or smart. Bring it on." he said, than blinked. "Wait, that came out the wrong way. I mean Never Being afraid."

Quayce could not stop herself from giggling. Around them there was laughter as the headset he had on him made sure they all heard his joke.

Xander took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Roars of ion engines send a shockwave of sound as the three swoops suddenly speeded of. They would fly three turns around the track and then land again.

Quickly they were at 250 mph and gaining speed. The Race track was long and had many turns and jumps, even a Z shaped turn that was called the destroyer.

Xander pulled the speed activators and the ion engine roared as the speed of his swoop came to 400.

He was not really driving; he let the Force guide him as he moved faster than ever. The bike's speed indicator was at the maximum speed of 600 and the destroyer was coming up fast.

A quick reverse of speed, a powerful turn and he glided along the wall on both sides and flew out of the other side of the destroyer. Then, with a quick max burn on the ion engine, he was back to top speed again. The engine roared.

One of the other two was slowly gaining on him, pulling up nonstop as Xander pushed the engine, slowly climbing as he came in to the first jump. At 600 mph, jumping was like being fired from a cannon. Gaining height, the repulsor lost contact with the ground and thus the ability to manoeuvre.

Only the ion engine was working now and using the fins on the front of the swoop and his own weight, Xander aimed the swoop down and let the it dive down at max burn. By using the fall, he gained speed from 600 to 800 as he raced into the next curve.

Only the Force was keeping him alive as the swoop was driving on the wall of the curve.

This was real racing.

And there was the destroyer again. A quick reverse of the engine and a 90 degree turn later and he was climbing the wall again until he was at the end of the destroyer, pulling max acceleration out of it.

There were the other two drivers. He had left them behind on the first round. Now he drove by them.

Maximum speed straight in to the jump, now this was fun. He actually managed to jump higher this time. Gliding, he aimed the swoop at the turn as he started a power dive.

With a roar he left the turn at 800, flying at only 5 meters above ground level. Climbing, he quickly slowed down to the normal max speed of only 600. The extra speed he gained from the power dive was drained away, now the last turn around the track.

Xander grinned as he entered the destroyer again. THIS was fun.

He hit the finish with full speed, while the other two were on their second turn around the track.

Quayce walked up to him. "Rednax, you are one crazy racer." she grinned "Alright, I'm going to take you to the greatest swoop-tech on the planet." Her eyes were glittering. "And and I know who I'm going to bet on in the race."

Xander grinned. "That was great!" He opened his eyes and removed the glasses. Perhaps, he would get the guts to drive a swoop with his eyes open, eventually.

The gang moved away, beer was out in the open as they celebrated his victory. The two losers seemed to be impressed. Not angry.

*

Later on in the Adarlon system

Jaina was sitting in the navy headquarters reading the reports. It was not good reading. Ships were vanishing, although not that many inside the cluster, most cases were around Mestra. But the Adarlon defence navy reported many stolen ships and known pirates as well as smugglers passing by.

Not good. Considering that Adarlon's biggest ship was an old Nebula-B and a pair of corvettes, it was not surprising that they avoided needless combat with well armed slavers and pirates.

Any ship moving in or out of the Minos Cluster had to pass by Adarlon, Shesharile or Travin, or move really slowly through an area with lots of debris that made hyperspace difficult and dangerous. The pirates were not stupid. They hunted outside the area where they were hiding. Only some small attacks were made in the area. The slavers on the other hand were outsiders.

Travin was the former Empire headquarters of this cluster. After the Empire had abandoned them, it had fallen deep into trouble.

Travin was in trouble. The Moff in charge of the cluster had decided it would make a good headquarter for the Empire. Cities were built and over 40 million people were brought in to manage the cluster's affairs.

Then the Empire crashed down.

Travin was a cold ice planet, the only one in a double-star system. Atmosphere generators and bioforming, done by the empire, had made the planet survivable, but where a windswept, the planet turned cold. Great starport facilities, where once the Empire's Navy had starship bases and mineral mining were their only source of income.

It might be a good place to start seeking pirates, but the slavers? They would have to find out where they were moving and then surprise them.

Turning around she spoke. "R6, could you make a copy of this and try to find a pattern?" she asked her protocol droid.

Like R2-D2, Luke's old astromech, she never memory wiped R6-B6. She had installed an illegal hidden backup memory inside of him, instead.

Sure you could memory wipe him. But give the backup memory two days and everything was restored to normal.

(The backup worked slowly to stop the techs from discovering that the droid they had just memory wiped, suddenly had its memories and loyalty back).

This made R6-B6 a very loyal droid. And as a newer model then the old R2, he was, according to himself at least, a superior model, with improved repair skills in both starfighters and transports and also with an improved piloting skill.

The stock R6 units were superior. But R2 was a droid that had been active for decades. Not even Luke knew how old he was. And nobody, only R2, knew the kind of secret upgrades he had on the inside.

Luke was sure that R2 had a backup memory somewhere. R2 was a droid of mystery in the Skywalker family. As baby Ben was born, R2 decided to show Luke and Mara Jade the marriage holo picture of Anakin and Padme Amidala. That had been a shock.

So Jaina had high hopes for her astromech.

And right now it was complaining. "I know you are not an analyzing or tactical droid. But you are an astromech droid. They have to jump in. Just think that you were driving those ships. What path would you take?"

The droid was silent as it pondered the information Jaina had given him. It was not enough, so he piped a complaint.

Jaina sighed. "Don't worry I'm going to feed you more information." She kneeled by him. "And I got my hands on military skill chips, tactical analyzing skills with a starship identification program. We are going to hardwire those skills to you later tonight."

The droid beeped a happy smile. He loved it when new skills were hardwired into him.

Hardwiring meant that even if they managed to mind wipe him, the basic knowledge of the skill would remain part of him. Other skills that he learned by experience would vanish if he was memory wiped. Not that it would happen with the backup memory installed in him.

They had tested that it worked twice to make sure. He had been so afraid that it would fail and that mistress Jaina would be sad.

He hoped they would return to Xander. Jaina was missing him. That made him upset. He wanted his mistress happy.

Jaina ignored the droid again as she studied the navigational reports. "Those are Hutt ships. Damn." Turning away she walked over to the commanding officers. "Thank you for the help. I ask that you keep sending me information, especially the identity and movement of the pirate and slave ships." she said.

The man nodded. "We will do that, Jedi Knight Organa." he said.

*

A week later on Shesharile

The Force was with him, Xander thought to himself. The Mynock were a swoop gang that were seen by the locals as heroes. With the lack of real police and military on most of the planet, Quayce and her gang worked as protection for hire. They had an area outside the city in a small town that they protected for free. It was their turf.

But for credits and sometimes food, the Mynock helped other parts of Shesharile 5 to drive away the more criminal element, from swooper gangs to drug dealers.

That wasn't to say that the Mynocks were that good. The gang loved fighting, racing and sometimes hunted other criminal gangs just to prove who the big boys were.

But they had their arch enemies, plenty of them in fact, other gangs that were stronger and had more members than them.

The Mynocks strengths were that they had an old fortress as their base and they had local support and help. To top that, the Mynocks were also better trained then the other gangs.

Quayce's gang did not believe in killing a weak leader and taking his place. The only thing Xander could compare them to was knights and feudal lords. With Quayce as the Queen and Crunch as the lord, baron or duke, the rest were her soldiers, the knights serving in her army. The locals were the serfs and the free men prospering under her protection.

Sure, sometimes one or two of her knights did stupid things like stealing. But they kept the street clean.

He and the head of Shesharile had an interesting talk about that gang. It had potential. With the proper support, they had great potential.

Climbing of the repulsor bus, Xander walked up to an old parking building, only four floors tall. The building was mostly abandoned, but somebody had made his home and affair on the two top floors.

Quayce had said that this was where the planets best Swoop tech was.

Surrounding the building were the members of the Mynocks. He waved his hand as he walked up.

The shop sign made him stop. It had to be a sign from the Powers, or a dimensional joke. On it was written in Basic: Chop Harlison swoop garage.
He was going to buy a Harley-Davidson swoop, or a Chop-Harlison swoop. But it just sounded like a Harley to him.

Moving up, he saw a man standing beside Quayce. He was big and had a short cut beard, sunglasses and was a bit overweight, but not that much. A smell of grease, oil and cigars came from him. He did not smell bad it was simply a personal aroma. He also had permanent grease stains burned into his hands.

Xander nodded to him. "I'm Rednax, Sir." he said politely.

The man looked at him. "I'm Chop Harlison. I heard you wanted one of my babies?"

Xander blinked. "Um, I was planning on buying a swoop or two." he stuttered.

Chop nodded. "Like I said one of my babies."

"Oh." Xander said. "So what do you have?"

Chop grinned. "Quayce said you had some skill. She asked me to show you this." he said pulling a blanked away from a custom build wonder. A pair of tiny but powerful ion engines gave it more power than a normal swoop. The repulsors were customized, for improved lifting and manoeuvrability. It had everything, including a nice blaster cannon.

"What's her name and how fast is she?"

Chop grinned. "She's a Starslinger. I'm the only one that builds them. I'm their creator. Only a handful has been sold so far." He stroked the lines of the engines. "She can move at a max speed of 950. The altitude ranges from ground level up to 150 meters." Chop continued. "The twin engines give it the ability to make a 180 on a credit."

Xander swallowed, that was incredible. He could feel that Chop was telling the truth. "May I take it for a ride?"

Chop looked at Quayce before agreeing. A short moment later he started the engine, it roared in joy under him as he raced out.

40 minutes later he landed again beside Chop. "I'm in love and I'm buying one Starslinger and a normal racer swoop. How much would that cost me?"

Chop frowned. "They are expensive, 20.000 credits a piece. I can give you one of my normal racers for 9000."

Xander swallowed. "I was hoping 12 000 each." A normal swoop costs around 8000 to 10 000 credits. (Note from Beta: I sold them for 20.000 on SWG )

"No, these babies are expensive. Military repulsor coils. Super cooled tibana gas circling and the repulsor coil makes the repulsor field 50 % stronger then the factory claims the coils can create. The twin ion engines are a re-designed version of the same type of engine capital proton torpedoes use." Chop grinned. "You are riding the rocket on this."

Xander swallowed. Well, he did have the extra money Captain Junas gave him for expenses. No, that would be abuse of power. He had his own pay. The reward money the government had given him after he and Jaina had saved the party, but most of that money he was saving to improve the Enterprise.

He frowned. "Would you accepted 18 000 credits for the Starslinger and 9000 for the racer swoop?" he said in a hopeful voice.

Chop nodded. "Hmm. Well I accepted. At least I get one sold." Most drivers were unable to handle the speed the Starslingers moved at.

Xander smiled, delighted. "What is the speed of your racer?"

Chop smiled back. "Max up to 750 kmh." he said, then frowned "Do you want a blaster cannon installed or not?"

"Could you make it so that the cannon is removable?" asked Xander.

Chop nodded. "Sure."

Quayce grinned at the guys talking happyly. She loved swoops and seeing others caring about her hobby made her smile.

*

Later in the Mynock base

The dinner had been nice, a bit bland in taste, but not bad. It was time to get to business.

Xander spoke up. "I saw how you have been protecting the town and areas around you."

Quayce nodded. "Yes, it the right thing to do. Beside, bad guys have more loot than farmers or factory workers." she stated simply.

Xander nodded. "Indeed." He drawled, as he pulled out his Republic ID card and with one sweeping motion his lightsabers flew out of his boots in double-bladed form and landed on the table.

Quayce paled as she looked at the ID card. A Jedi, a freaking Jedi was sitting next to her, an armed freaking Jedi.

Xander took a cup of water, letting his saber lie there. Most of the gang was watching. "Now, I am not here to arrest you or make problems. I need your help."

Quayce started. "You need OUR help? What would a mighty Jedi need the help of scum like us?" she said mockingly.

Xander shook his head. "I want you to keep doing what you are doing." He grinned at their surprise. "But with a twist." He pulled up a computer pad. "This holds a Republic pardon and a planetary pardon for any prior crimes as long as it's not in the top 6, such as slavery and mass murder. Sign this and you are no longer a criminal."

He pulled up a second data pad. "This is a recruitment form. Shesharile 5 and 6 needs a swoop defence force. And they want YOU Quayce to create it. Any one you recommend, they will hire." he looked at her. "This is your chance to make a difference. Shesharile is going to come into money soon. Affairs are coming back and you could be part of that. Protect the town you love and care for and this time the government will help you."

He held up his hand. "Remember, they want you to create the organization. Meaning that you get free hands, within confides of the law, on how the organization is created." He stood up. "No traps. I am a Jedi, I do not lie often."

Quayce said: "What about your name Rednax, your love of racing and your home world?"

Xander shrugged. "I love racing. My home world is called Earth. If you look for it on a nav computer, you won't find it. It's a lost world. My name is Xander. Read it backwards and it's Rednax. It was a joke one of my childhood friends and I came up with. He was Essej or Jessie. And I was Rednax." Looking around as he explained.

"This world is starting to work again. Affairs are starting to work again. The people in charge do not like criminals because they are in the way of profits and most cause suffering and problems for the civilians." He looked at Quayce. "After all I told them about you and your gang." he could see they were watching him.

"They offered you this deal, because they like how you and your gang have been protecting the civilians. Becoming part of the law system makes it official. Help them create a swoop defence force. A free hand, within the limit of the law, and regular pay and retirement checks." More than one of the gang members was nodding. Xander pushed his selling argument.

"The pardon is free of charge. Sign it and your old crimes are forgotten. The enlistment contract is also free and not a condition of the pardon." he said. More of the bikers were listening carefully.

Quayce said: "What about our support persons, our techs and mechanics?"

Xander nodded. "They are building a swoop defence force. They need mechanics and techs for it to work."

Quayce sighed. "Let us think about it." she said. This was big. Accepting this would be the greatest mistake or the smartest deal she ever did.

As they studied the employment contract and the pardon, Xander backed away into the corner of the room, watching. By the time the first gang member had signed his pardon, Xander felt a presence enter the planet. A presence he had not felt in a long time. Jaina was back.

As Quayce signed the employment contract to become part of the swoop defence force, the combined roar of overpowered repulsor engines and a twin ion engine was heard as Xander Starslinger started its journey back.

Only a note on the door told the gang member where the young Jedi was.

-Girlfriend's back in town. See you on the racing tracks. Rednax. PS:
If you ever need anything, call me. Jedi Knight Xander Harris.-

*

Later at the spaceport

Three days in hyperspace, three days in a tiny cockpit, like most Jedi, Jaina had used a hibernation trance to enter a deep coma like sleep. A Jedi must focus on special stimuli or time before waking up from it, or if they were suffering pain.

Then, from the misty sky, the roar of an engine was heard as the X-wing landed softly beside Xander's Ghtroc. The waiting Xander climbed up and looked inside the cockpit at the sleeping Jaina dressed in a white jumpsuit.

He grinned. "Open it R6." he said, leaning forward kissing her. "Wake up sleeping beauty. Wake up my, princess, o beautiful snow white." he said. Kissing her again as he lifted her up in his arms.

Slowly her eyes opened and she smiled. "Hi. I bet you say that to all the girls." she said, grinning. Extending her hibernation trance until R6 gave her the wake up order by sending a screeching sound, or until Xander woke her up with a kiss was brilliant.

The guards at the airports smiled at the romantic show. Beside the X-wing a swoop slowly lifted from the ground, its repulsor engines activated as Xander sat himself in the driving seat and Jaina sat behind him, holding a hard grip around his shoulders.

"Hiho silver, away!" Xander cried and activated the ion engines of the Starslinger swoop. With a flash of fire they were outside the starport and on their way to their hotel.

End of Chapter 3

8. 4-0

Note: Tx again to Inachis for making this story more readable. You are awesome.

.

Knight away. 4-0

Travin was an awful place to live in, but it was an even more terrible place to visit if you were a Jedi of the New Republic.

That was a lesson Xander and Jaina had quickly learned the hard way.

The Crew at the starport looked at them with ill hidden hate. The civilians at the restaurant spit openly in their food. There was lots of anger that was quite justified, from a certain point of view.

The old Moff had made Travin, an empty ice planet, the HQ of the Imperial fleet and the civilian HQ for the entire Minos Cluster. A small number of towns were build almost overnight. Atmosphere generators were built and random plants and animals that could survive were dropped off on the planet's surface, mostly because the Moff liked big game hunting and was planning for big future hunts.

In less than a decade you had a cold wind-swept planet with rugged terrain. Almost barren of life, but the life that did exist was impressive. Big shark like monsters and whale like plankton eaters scored the sea to find the plankton and other life inside an almost barren ocean. The situation on land was slightly better. More life forms had gotten a grip on the planet, but it was still a barren ass end of planet.

Most of the humans were brought here to manage galactic affairs in the clusters. They were clerks, entertainers, technicians, accountants and navy personnel. Then the rebels destroyed the Empire and Travin was suddenly without any support. The navy moved out and the clerks, entertainers, technicians, accountants and ground navy personnel found themselves fighting to survive on a planet where growing badly needed food on a large scale was impossible.

They had to start mining the natural resources of the planet in order to survive. They also opened up the great navy repair yard for smugglers and traders, Jaina suspected even for pirates and slave-ships.

The rebels and the Jedi had done no good for the civilians living on Travin.

Even Captain Junas was nervous as he walked with them. This amount of open hatred was not something he was used to, not that Xander or Jaina was used to it either.

The government had given them a tiny file, with information about the ships moving in this area of space. It was as fake as a flying singing Kung-fu kicking elephant.

*

Later in space

Junas sighed. "So what are we doing now?" Official methods would not work. So now what?

Xander paused. "I think we jump away and visit another planet just for kicks. Then use the smuggler tricks Han Solo told us about to sneak back down on the planet," he said. "If we can get down there, we could sneak inside and steal the information we need. Then leave."

Jaina nodded. "That sounds good. Junas?" she said looking at him.

Captain Junas nodded. "Sounds like a plan. It' been years since I did anything like that." he said, grinning while remembering the old days during the rebellion.

Not that these kids would remember those days, Jaina was born five years after Endor and was 17 now, Junas sighed, during Endor he had been a brave 21 year old scout.

The two Jedi looked at each other as they studied the nav-computer.

Yelsain, Quockra and Adarlon were 15 hours away. Shesharile was 10 hours away, but they had just come from that world and it would feel wrong to return so soon.

Jaina spoke. "The Yelsain said they were friends of the rebel alliance. If we go there, we should stay a bit longer. In a way we do represent the Republic like any good will ambassadors. "

Xander nodded. "Quockra it is then, we do have an invitation to visit there." he grinned.

Jaina nodded. "Let say 20 hours on Quockra, then we sneak back," she said as she and Xander entered the cockpit to set jump co-ordinates to Quockra-4.

*

A short moment later they returned.

Xander walked by and grabbed a data-pad about Quockra, sat down on the sofa and started to read up on the planet. Soon Jaina was curled up together with him on the sofa and reading the same thing.

Junas sighed to himself. He wondered what his kids and ex-wives 1-3 were doing and where his current wife was. They were a perfect match. Neither of them was at home at the same time, so naturally they loved each other.

Unlike his ex-wives, they divorced him because number 1, he was a criminal rebel, number 2, he was never home and always working, and number 3, change your work and start earning real money, get a future and think about me for once.

He pitied his kids. His oldest child was Jaina's age right now and hated him. The youngest was only six years old and cute as a button, and sadly called the nanny droid mom.

Xander nodded. "Quockra-4 it is. Junas, are you alright?"

Junas nodded. "Just remembered my own family," he sighed.

"Do you have a picture?" Jaina asked.

Junas nodded as the two young Jedi moved over.

Xander offered, "If they live nearby, perhaps we could fly you there. Let you stay home a week or two."

"Or perhaps let them visit you." Jaina said.

Junas Turner smiled. "Well, this is my oldest boy. Awel Linel, his mother, my ex-wife no 1, was loyal to the Empire, so he hates me for destroying their life. I forgot to tell her I was a rebel when I married her," he said, pushing the pocket holo projector to show a new picture. "This is my ex-wife no 2," he said, showing a picture of a lightly blue skinned human. Jaina recognized her as a Wooronian near-human.

"We met in the Empire jail. It was a stormy marriage, but she is the mother of my second oldest boys, my twins," he said showing up a pair of happy boys with dark blue almost black skin. "Alern and Elern Turner. NO idea which is which."

He sighed. "Right now they are 14 years old. We're great friends." He switched the button and thanked the Force that he and ex-wife no. 3 did not have children.

"This is my current wife and my daughter Enilia Turner." he said. The cute six year old dark-skinned child made both of the young Jedi go "Ooo so cute."

And she truly was a cute child.

15 hours passed fast as Captain Junas Turner entertained them with stories of his life. As a rebel and New Republic Scout, sneaking around on alien worlds and scouting out enemy postings was an every day event.

He lived a life of adventure. Sure, actual the infiltration and destruction was something others did. His work was finding the place and getting out alive with the information, but mostly he told them about his wives.

His current wife was a machine engineer. She spends most of her time re-engineering or rebuilding factories and big machines, all across the galaxy. He talked and they asked questions until the older Captain saw the two teens had fallen asleep on the sofa.

Finding a blanket Junas sneaked into the cockpit to handle the landing.

It was silent in the ship as it entered the Quockra system.

*

Later on the planet

The starport was different. Only visiting humans, aliens and the Quockra droids were seen. They were strange droids, looking almost snake or snail like, but with arms.

A gold pink droid which the Quockran considered an ambassador escorted them to a meeting room.

The Quockran were not a hostile race. They are indifferent beings living underground. They disliked contact with most alien races, especially humans. The smell and the appearance of the human body made them sick.

So they build droids that did the talking, but they had invited Jaina and Xander for a talk. Apparently the idea of Jedi was fascinating to them.

*

Hours later

Xander and Jaina walked back to the ship. It had been an interesting meeting. The Quockran had allowed them to meet eye to eye just so they could show of what they could do. By the end of the meeting the poor Quockran had looked sick and revolted to be in the same room as a human.

It was a strange being. It looked more like a snake with tentacles then a snail, but it had some strange snail like traits also, curious and strange.

Both of them could feel that it was more than just a mental disgust that the creature felt, it was physical disgusted by them. Perhaps a bio-chemical reaction to the different smell most aliens had. They were allergic to non Quockrans.

This was not only Xander and Jaina's theory. The Quockran allergies were a documented fact proven by a bith researcher. Biths were one of the small numbers of aliens the Quockran where not allergic to.

The reason why they were here? There was a small number of Quockrans who wanted Jedi training. They wanted to find a way for them to train. It would be a problem Luke would have to solve. They only knew about four alien beings that did not cause the Quackrans problems.

Junas watched the kids as the Enterprise lifted off. "You two are quiet."

Xander nodded. "I don't know if I should pity them or be insulted," he said.

Jaina shrugged. "Pity is what I'm going with," she said as the Enterprise entered orbit.

Xander nodded, "I know, it's just that I have looked at a Hutt and have been disgusted. Hidden my disgust yes, but still felt revolted over how ugly they are. This is the first time something looked at me with that much disgust in their eyes."

*

Later on Travin

Going down slowly, sneaking by the satellites and fighter patrols, the Enterprise landed on an ice filled landscape.

The three quickly powered down the ship and moved out. Grabbing the camouflage netting, they hid the ship under it, then shoved snow over it, to make it look just like one more field of ice.

Dressed up like normal teens, they had a night black jumpsuit with a ninja hood to pull over the head hidden underneath.

Junas looked at them before he wished them good luck and a may the Force be with you.

Xander and Jaina nodded as they jump kicked the swoops.

*

Hours later

The city was boring, nothing, but straight walls in a grey material.

It was one of many towns the Empire had built, all identical copies of each other built from pre-manufactured parts, transported by big containerships and put together like a giant 3D puzzle or a Lego into a boring town. Nothing unique, but a town could be finished within only five months.

All the buildings on Travin were the same. Pre-manufactured and put up on this world. The only difference was the size and that only one town had a spaceport and there was the spaceport. Imperial Class, meaning it could handle millions of visitors, re-build a ship from scratch and handle even the largest ships.

The two nodded as they changed into Ninja-Jedi, as Xander kept calling them.

Xander and Jaina, thanks to Kyle, already had the blue prints of the space port. Silently, using the –Mind Control- to make sure nobody noticed, them they opened a hatch to the underground maintenance tunnel system and jumped down.

It was dark, only strange orange light from the wall lamps lighted their path as they walked under the starport. Every now and then they hid themselves as a garbage disposal droid flew by hunting pests and rats. Under the wall of the spaceport guard droids where patrolling.

Nodding to Jaina Xander grabbed his lightsaber and light-dagger. Jaina did the same with her lightsaber. She had tried fighting using a pair like Xander, but it just felt wrong for her. Luke knew how to fight with a pair of lightsabers and he was good when he did it, but he too felt wrong and unbalanced when using a pair.

Just like Xander said he felt wrong when using only one.

Like one they attacked.

-Force Push- first made the guard rocket off into the wall, confusing them, and before they had a chance to signal an alarm, Xander and Jaina attacked, cutting them in half. Lifting the pair of guard droids together, Xander put a grenade inside both droids.

"Five hours." Jaina said.

Xander nodded and set the grenade for five hours. No reason for them to let the natives known that the robots had been cut in half. Something a light-saber or a light-foil was good at doing.

Sneaking further inside, they came to an entrance hatch. Jaina connected her data-pad into the security computer. With Xander at her side the two disconnected the security computer and opened the hatch. They were now in the cellar of the star port.

Looking around they could see cameras and security sensors. The jumpsuits were another gift from Kyle. They were made out of a sensor baffling material, which made it difficult for sensors to find and identify them. The sensors would know that something was in the area, but it was difficult for it to see the difference between a human and a rat.

Using a trick Mara hade showed only Luke, Jacen, Jaina and later Xander; they focused their powers as they bent light itself, almost cloaking themselves in darkness until they looked like a pair of shadows.

Moving like shadows, the camera or a human eye could still see them, but only with difficulty. The trick only worked in dark or poorly lighted areas with many shadows, not in direct light. It was a hard trick to do and easy to lose control of. A trick Mara had learned from the Emperor himself.

The two moved out and soon the two of them were sneaking along a maintenance crawlway above the corridors. Under them they saw guards and security droids moving around.

Every now and then they had to cross areas with guards or security cameras, as the crawlway did not go all the way. Sometimes they used the mind control trick on patrolling guards to sneak by them –We are not here, nothing strange is going on. - It even worked on the tired guards watching the camera feeds, but the cameras were recording. They preferred Mara's trick even if it was harder to do.

Finally they were near the starport central computer. Jaina sneaked inside a room with only droids moving in it and Xander stood by the door ready to fight. Her data-pad downloaded information as quickly as it could. The security was old, based on Imperial codes created before Endor.

Finally she had the information they needed about starships moving in the space surrounding and landing on the planet. She nodded to Xander as the two sneaked outside. Frowning, Xander waved a signal to her. –Lets investigate- he indicated.

She could see him sniffing in the air. That was somewhat cool. Her boyfriend could actually sniff out things almost like a dog. They moved fast. There sitting in a docking hanger was a Hutt ship, a slaver-ship that was being repaired. Beside it they could see its escort ship, a Hutt-gunship, a Hutt built version of the Correlian gunship.

"They even let them land." Jaina said disgusted.

Xander nodded. "I might need backup on my way out. So wait here and if fighting starts create a distraction." he said.

Jaina looked like she was going to protest, and then nodded. Seeing that Xander changed his gun, from the primitive slug thrower to a real weapon, a Bryar Pistol, a modified sawed down Bryar rifle.

One of many gifts Kyle Katarn had given them.

Jaina smiled. "Good luck" she said as Xander vanished in to the ship.

Inside it was dirty; the smell of abandon was thick as he sneaked to the bridge. The ship was empty. Quickly pushing in a computer disk, he copied the ships flight information and cargo manifest. Also live recordings from the security camera installed in the cargo bay.

Strange, the manifest said it was a live cargo of nerfs. Yet it looked like humans chained to the wall of the cargo bay.

Growling, Xander sneaked out. Freeing the slaves now would not work. Travin guards would only help the slavers recapture them.

Walking to the door, he heard voices. Quickly turning into a shadow, he sneaked inside a corner. The door opened and the captain, a Devaronian with red skin, devil horns and pointy teeth, walked in. He looked more like a demon or a devil then most demons in Sunnydale did.

But Xander knew Devaronians from the Jedi academy. Most of them were good guys, but all he could feel from this Devaronian was greed, lust, anger and the urge to hurt others just for fun. Standing beside him, as a guard, was a creature Xander had not seen before, with a purplish-pink head with keratin-like plates on the neck and skin looking like something from an octopus. Strange tentacle like things grew from its jaw, almost hiding the mouth.

The Kian's, named Ri'shirril, face tentacle twitched as it detected one more living being, a human from the feel of its nerves. The sensitive tentacles could easily detect the aura of every sentient being in proximity. Like a Gothal, they could actually sense the emotions of others and whether there were more beings nearby.

Ri'shiriril drew his gun. "Captain, we have an intruder hiding nearby," he said.

Xander swore. "Sith spit and fucking vampire piss" as he fired his Bryar gun. The Devaronian fell first; half of his head was burned up. As the KianThar rushed forward, Xander fired a rapid burst of fire in its head.

Now the alarm was screaming.

Shrugging, Xander fired a burst of fire in the security computer. Using the Force he grabbed the heavy blaster pistol the Devaronian had on him. With the Bryar gun in his right hand and the heavy Blaster pistol in his left, Xander walked out.

Gamorean guards, followed by Nikto the Hutt's enforcers, rushed to the bridge. A rapid rain of fire came his way as he dived for protection and fired as fast as he could. Putting the power pack of the gun in overload he send it flying towards the guards and as they jumped in fear of the small explosion the power pack created, he rushed them.

Bryar gun blazing and light-dagger swinging as he dived in to the pile of guards. Four seconds later he was the last being standing. Quickly putting the light-dagger away he sent a burst of plasma into the cut wounds of the guards to hide the nature of their death. He rushed back further into the ship, seeking an exit hatch.

Outside Jaina sighed, she never could take Xander anywhere without him creating problems, time to see if she could do the same.

Running like a shadow she sent bursts of fire towards the fuel tank, causing it to explode. Moving away from the slaver's ship she created more explosions near other ships. The space-ports guards started to follow her instead of helping the Hutt ship.

Perfect.

Xander kicked open the guard room inside the ship. "It's Daddy!" he called. Inside the guards and crew of the ship had armed themselves and prepared to hunt down the intruder and there he was.

"I am sorry." Xander said as he dropped the gun. There were too many slaves for him to let the Hutt have them and excessively many guards for his blaster. The guards grinned as the intruder gave up. Then the room turned dark as the intruder turned off the light and they paled.

Snap hiss.

Snap hiss.

The room was bathed in the green and yellow light of a lightsaber and light-dagger.

It was not a fight it was a slaughter. Guards and crewmembers had died like sheep. Xander felt sick inside, but it was his only way to save the slaves. Entering the cargo hold, he spoke up. "Does anyone of you know how to pilot this ship?" An older man nodded. "I do. Why?"

Xander answered. "Because I'm trying to save you." Looking around the joy filled faces and cries of happiness, he snapped at them. "Silence, you are not safe yet." He removed the key. "You and as many as possible have to man the ship." He looked around. "When you hear the report that an X-wing and a transport are attacking the navy, fly away."

"Use these jump coordinates," he said, moving out.

Sneaking out, the shadow of Xander and Jaina stopped near the main power line. Putting on a small explosive, they vanished. Without power the long range sensors and weapons would be offline.

*

Later

Parking the racer and Starslinger swoops in the Enterprise, Xander walked up to the bridge. "Junas, you have the guns," he said. Captain Junas blinked, seeing Jaina and her R6 readying the X-wing. "What are you doing?" he asked in shock.

Xander answered, "Attacking a fleet, so that the slaves we found on a ship can escape."

Junas sighed. "This is not good. It's going to create a diplomatic catastrophe," he roared.

Xander nodded. "I'm counting on it. The coordinates I gave the slaves are to Adarlon. When their heroic princess and her rouge of a knight come storming in, side by side with slaves saved from evil Hutt's and former Empire forces on Travin, what do you think they are going to do?" he asked.

Junas was silent. "Sith spit, if I die I'm so not ever talking to you again for revenge."

Xander nodded. "I think I can live with that if I die." he said ironically.

He hugged Jaina before she climbed in the X-wing. "Be careful and may the Force be with you."

Slowly the X-wing backed out from the tiny hangar. Side by side the two ships started to speed up.

His sensors told him, that they used old TIE's with class 10 engines, but the information said that they also had TIE-Interceptors, which had the same speed capabilities as Jaina's ship.

"I'll take the top turret gun." Junas said.

Xander nodded, as he flipped the control of the lower turret to the cockpit control and locked the gun on front only. To aim he just had to turn the ship a bit. A target mark activated on his front screen. He activated his jammers to hide his identity. Once they were at Adarlon they would know anyway, but it was better to confuse them for now.

He flipped the quad cannon onto rapid fire. The four cannons would shoot one by one as fast as they could, filling space with bursts of laser. "We have incoming Eye-balls at 12 o'clock. Two squadrons." he said, informing them that TIE fighters were closing in.

He could see that Junas had chosen link 2 and 2 on his quad turret. It was a great compromise between power and speed. Having all 4 cannons shoot at the same time was great against big ships, but to hit smaller starfighters you wanted a higher rate of fire.

He could not out fly the TIE's with his upgraded Ghtroc, but with skill he could outmaneuver them. His ship was just as good at maneuvers as the TIE was and his ship had an armored hull and military grade shields.

Like a rocket, the two starships flew out into space right at the old dagger corvette, a small Capital ship 200 meters long, which looked like a micro Star-Destroyer. Its big guns, designed to fight off bigger enemies, moved too slow for his fast and dexterous ship.

Outside, Jaina was holding her own against the rain of TIE's attacking her. Almost lazily she sent three proton torpedoes down on the dagger corvette. A big explosion and he could see that the turbo laser turrets had vanished and the shields were down on the left side.

Junas was shooting –Thing, Thing- the four cannons fired two and two in a deadly twin rain of fire.

Xander turned around, attacking the TIE squadron from behind –thing, thing, thing, thing- the four cannons off his quad cannon fired a rapid rain of fire as he dodged the return fire. The shields were glowing, as he did a boot sharp turn, shielding Jaina's fighter with his transport.

Junas had switched his cannon –THING- the four cannons, in quad fire mode, fired simultaneous at the dagger corvette. Its hull, half a meter of armor, boiled away as the powerful quad liquefied the armor.

The corvette rolled around, showing them the shielded side only.

They moved away, luring the defense forces away from the planet.

"Ready." he said in the radio. Jaina replied. "Ready and willing." she said, flipping the front shield to max. With a roar of the engines the Ghtroc turned around and with Jaina flying in front, they attacked the squadron of TIE fighters.

Xander's trusted R3 informed him about a change in the enemies. "Squints coming in, one squadron." A second squadron of TIE-Interceptors had now joined them. "Behind them is one more squadron of eyeballs," he said, informing Jaina that more TIE-fighters were coming.

Unlike the TIEs, the TIE-Interceptor had four cannons and the same speed Jaina had.

"Ready? I'm doing the flip. Going under in four." Jaina said.

Xander nodded and as she gave the signal, he pulled up. Jaina pulled on the break and the X-wing vanished behind the Enterprise. The twin quad of Junas and his gun opened up a can of whoop ass on the interceptors and suddenly a rain of proton torpedoes flew out from behind the Ghtroc.

The Interceptor sensors had been unable to see what Jaina was doing as she hid behind the other ship and now it was too late. Three TIE-Interceptors illuminated space, as Jaina came up again with engines roaring as she challenged the remaining interceptors to a dogfight.

Junas laughed. "What is it with these guys? They fly like beginners," he said into the intercom.

"Mud-dwellers, not real tie pilots. But they die like real ones." Xander said, swinging the ship around to let Jaina rest and recharge her shields behind his ship. "R3, send over targeting information from my sensors to R6." Xander said to his droid.

Hiding behind the Enterprise Jaina started to drain the cannons to re-charge her shields, when suddenly targeting information came rushing in from R6. She grinned. "Call up the closes squint and paint it as target 1, then give me a lock on it. Then switch to the next squint." she said, as she started to fire missiles from behind the Enterprise.

Rolling around and never letting them focus on one side, Xander turned to the droid. "Where is the Slave-ship?" The information rolled up on his screen. "Perfect. X-wing, be ready for exit, I don't think they like us." he said, and then frowned. "Incoming." he said as the TIE fighters roared in at full attack speed. From behind him missile after missile attacked the interceptors.

But with TIE-Fighters around it would be a bit hard to jump. The Enterprise twitched and rocked. Alarms screamed, he was near to losing all shields in the rear right part, minor hull damage, nothing to bad.

Junas lighted-up another two TIE fighters as Xander managed to cut off one TIE-Interceptors wing. Like an angry angel, Jaina's X-wing came up again, in four seconds four TIE Fighters were burning in space.

In fear an Interceptor turned too fast and managed to clip a TIE on the wing. The two ships were spinning out of control as the Ghtroc raced away.

Still, out of 36 TIE-Fighters (Eye-balls) only 18 were still flying and out of 12 TIE-Interceptors (Squints) only 6 were now flying, but the enemy had not given up yet.

"They're regrouping." Junas said.

Xander yelled. "Damn. X-wing, I'll distract them, you take them down."

To the surprise of the TIE pilots the running ship suddenly did a 180 turn and was now attacking them again. With cannons blasting they dived in to the pack of TIE-Fighters and Interceptors. Dodging like crazy, they had almost no time to notice the rain of missiles Jaina X-wing sent their way.

Junas sighed to himself as he illuminated an interceptor. "These guys are NOT pilots," he complained.

Xander roared back. "Don't complain. Clumsy enemies are good enemies," he said. "X-Wing, the slave-ship has entered hyperspace. Prepare to follow."

Now they just needed to get the TIE's of their backs.

"Perhaps, but I have pride in what I shoot down." Junas answered.

The voice of Jaina interceded. "Boys, argue later, shoot now," she said. Thinking over she illuminated 4 Interceptors and almost 10 TIE fighters by herself. That was instant Ace.

Both she and Xander could claim the title as an Ace. Perhaps the Darklighters claim that both of them were Rogue squadron material was true after all. Her pride got a kick in the rear as an explosion rocked her ship. "R6, what happened?" she yelled. "I'm losing power!"

R6 quickly started to repair the damage. Jaina read the report her robot friend gave her. One missile launcher was gone and life-support was offline, but R6 said he would get it active in half an hour.

She shuddered, it was already cold in the cockpit and frost was forming on the window. Pulling the pilot suite close, she activated the seals on the pilot jumpsuit, sealing it and the helmet. Now she would survive in the cold of space for up to 12 minutes. Inside the cockpit even with no heat, she could manage for hours without problems, but the frost sure made visual flying difficult. Opening herself to the Force and using the sensors, she kept fighting.

Xander voice was heard over the comlink. "X-wing, what is your status? I repeat, what is your status?" she could hear the panic hidden in his voice.

Jaina answered. "No problems. Ready to fight again." she said. The sensors said there were only 14 TIE-Fighters and 3 Interceptors left. On the far side of the planet re-enforcement were closing in, but they would not get here in time. "Transport, reverse shield maneuver two," she said.

Xander nodded as the X-wing flew in front of them like a spear. The X-wings 4 cannons and his two quads fired at maximum. "Ready. Go. Break up." As the TIE fighters dodged to the side, Xander and Jaina broke up on different sides, rains of lasers and missiles came rapidly up from her ship, as Xander dived in shooting another TIE-Interceptor. "They are retreating. I repeat, retreating."

Jaina replied. "Confirmed, show me an exit vector," she said, joining Xander as the two flew out to jump distance from the planet.

In the gun turrent, Junas disconnected the radio intercom as he turned off his cannon. "That was one heck of a fight," he said. The kids had the right instincts. It was good that the two of them had fallen in love with each other. Hell, Xander was flying like a young Han Solo and Jaina Solo was like Luke Skywalker reborn.

Junas suddenly paled at that thought. Bad brain, bad brain.

He felt the vibration as they entered hyperspace.

Xander came walking over. "Hi. We are making a 12 minute micro jump, to pick up Jaina. Uum, why are you so pale?" he asked worriedly, but Junas could not answer as he saw Xander in front of him dressed in pants. Correlian styled pants (Xander had asked Han for a good place to buy something to dress in) and a rancor skin west with a big Bryar gun hanging at his side. Junas flashed to images of a young Solo wearing a similar type of outfit.

Xander was puzzled. "What?" he frowned, as he wondered what that was all about.

Junas swallowed. Alright, Xander's face and body looked nothing like how Han had looked. Good, stupid brain.

As they exited hyperspace, Jaina's battle scared X-wing landed softly as the hangar doors closed. In her orange flight jumpsuit she climbed out only to have Xander catch her and kiss her deeply. They were both safe.

Behind them Junas paled once again as he saw somebody in an orange jumpsuit like the ones the rebels had worn during the attack on the first Death Star. With the helmet on her head and the vacuum seal activated, Jaina's female forms looked disgustingly male at the moment.

Poor Junas could only see the terrible image of a young Han Solo kissing a young Luke Skywalker.

In the hanger Jaina unsealed the jumpsuit. The sealing might protect her against vacuum, but it made her look like a man. "What's up with Junas?" she asked, then frowned.

Xander helped her removing the suit. "I don't know," he said. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Did you perhaps ask Dad for a place to buy things?" Jaina asked Xander

Xander nodded. "Why?" It was comfortable to be in the ship.

"You better change your fashion. You're dressed like my dad." Jaina said.

Of course Xander looked nothing like Han Solo did, but dressed in old fashioned pants and vest he looked like an idiot.

Xander shrugged. "Alright," he grinned. "Why don't you go through my wardrobe and say what's right and what's wrong." he said.

"You know I have NO idea of the fashion in this universe." he frowned. "OR the fashion of my own universe either for that matter."

Jaina nodded as the two walked inside.

Junas was working hard trying to get a hangover.

*

9. 4-1

Note: hmmm I'm not sure but did we say thank you to Inachis? To be sure THANK YOU

4-1

28 hours later

The slave-ship and the Enterprise had entered the Adarlon system.

For the first time ever, Xander and Jaina actually asked reporters to meet them and the slave-ship at the starport. To make sure they made an impression, Jaina flew her X-wing as an escort.

Government and New Republic representatives were also asked to meet them.

The reporters were waiting as the last princess of Alderaan and her consort landed. The ugly form of a slave-ship landed beside them. The reporters' cameras focused on the battled scarred hull of the Ghtroc and the X-wing. The near death hit on the X-wing cockpit got plenty of coverage.

The moment Jaina landed, the reporters surrounded them.

*

Hours later in the hotel

Xander turned the holo projector off. The slaves would get a drive back to their homes and the Travin system would have to pay for their journey back. The New Republic was sending a powerful protest over the action the Travin system and the Hutt's were doing. They were demanding economical compensation for the innocent civilians who had suffered at the hands of the slavers.

A powerful protest, oh joy, was that all? There were whispers that corruption was running rampart in the New Republic. He already believed that, but now he knew it was true.

They had become heroes on Adarlon. Junas loved it, as he managed to get his wife and children over to visit.
Meditating, Xander saw the path of the future stretch out in front of him, constantly moving and changing direction because of the actions of others.

Difficult the future is to see.

Somehow he felt the fall of the New Republic was closer and yet further away than before. Echoes of his speech, "Do not ask what the Republic can do for you, ask what you can do for the Republic," were singing in the flow of time.

His simple statement that the Republic is not a one man show, it is a team effort, loomed equally large.

Xander swallowed, those two ideas might have created a chance for survival, or brought the death of the Republic closer in time. From what he felt, they brought the destruction closer but also improved the chance of surviving it.
Slowly he drifted back to the here and now. They had enemies in the Senate who do not wish the Jedi to return. The path of honesty would hurt their greed.

He felt the death of a Jedi, the Duros guy. They had graduated together and now he was dead. Because of a betrayal, just like before with Order 66.

He opened his eyes just as Jaina came in. Seeing his pale face, she walked over. "What is it?"

"Remember the Duros that graduated with us?" he asked silently. Jaina nodded. "I got a flash that he is dead. Somebody betrayed him. It's someone in the Republic." Xander said silently.

Jaina paled, swallowed to calm herself and then started to meditate.

Xander's own vision of the future was either extremely bad or sometimes scary precise, yet not showing any details. That was frustrating.

Jaina nodded. "Let's find Jacen and Lowbacka. One of us should know what to do," she said. He was right, a Jedi was dead and the Force was trying to warn them. Betrayal, again.

Xander nodded. "He died in a flash, suddenly dead in space." The way the Duros died, he just could not help himself "The X-wing. It was his X-wing that suddenly destroyed itself."

Jaina paled. "That was what I saw. He just exploded. No, the X-wing exploded." she said. What a macabre idea, somebody hiding a bomb in your ship.

Xander frowned. "No. Not hiding, activating. The bomb was already there."

Jaina paled. "No, no way." It is not possible.

Xander nodded. "Think about it. Every Jedi needs a fighter or a transport which he or she gets free of charge as a loaner. They have already replaced your damaged one with a new one, free of charge again." He hugged her. "What would it take to have a bomb installed in your ship?"

Jaina slumped down. "Not much. Every Jedi that uses an X-wing gets it from the same factory, the XJ model. It has an improved cargo capacity because it's used as a transport by us Jedi first and a fighter second."

Jaina got up. "Let's go and talk to my brother." Then she frowned. "And please, Xander, check your ship for bombs also." They would have to find evidence and then talk to Luke. No not Luke or Mara Jade they need Talon Karrde first. HE would be able to send out the warning flags.

The two young Jedi walked out of the hotel room and back to the ship.

*

A short talk to Junas later

Xander said, "I said to him that we are going to talk to friends and be back later. He said have a fun trip." Having Junas's family over was a stroke of genius. Now their watcher was distracted and they could escape. None of them believed that Junas was a traitor, but he was an observer and most likely considered expendable.

*

Two days later

The Enterprise landed on a planet no Jedi wants to land on, Myrkh, the home of the smuggler alliance and also of Talon Karrde, the retired Talon Karrde. Even as a retired smuggler he was just as active. No longer arranging smuggling runs, instead he was into finding and selling information to the right buyer.

The old man smiled as he saw Jaina walking towards him. Mara Jade had worked as his right hand for a while, until Skywalker had come along.

"Welcome." He said. "Let's get inside, I have food and drinks waiting." he said in a friendly voice.

Later in his private dinner room: "So what can I help you with?"

Jaina sighed. "I'm sorry to bring trouble to your door. But I'm afraid official sources are closed for us, right now" she said.
Talon blinked. "Please explain."

Jaina nodded. "We have a suspicion that somebody has installed a bomb in every Jedi ship in the galaxy." There, she said it. Now he would admonish her for being foolish or paranoid.

Talon Karrde nodded. "That could explain much," he said. Seeing the Jaina's depressed face, he smiled, "what? you do not believe your own theory?" he said.

Jaina huffed. "I was hoping you would say it was foolish paranoia."

Talon laughed at the face she made. "So what do you want from old me?" Leaning forward, "And what can you trade with?"

Xander answered. "Information about smugglers and slavers in the Minos cluster and also information that soon a new source of tibana gas will hit the market, traders and smugglers that are early might get a good deal."

Talon nodded. "I was actually hoping for an I own you that I or one of my people could cash in later." He sighed.

Xander smirked. "We wanted you to go through our ships and find the bombs. We believe my Ghtroc might have one also." He leaned over. "And if you find one, could you do two things? First send out a warning to Luke, Leia, Mara, Corran Horn and Kyle Katarn, without anyone in the republic noticing it. And second let us borrow a starship while your techs go through our ships." He leaned back.

"Including what we already said, do the last two favors and we will owe your group two big favors." He said. "And to make the deal ever sweeter, once we find out where the pirate gang has their hideout, I'm going to let you and your gang help themselves to any objects of value." He grinned, "While we bring in the criminals."

Talon Karrde smiled. "I could tell you where the pirate base in the Minos cluster is." He nodded. "It's a deal. I will have my men search Jaina's X-wing first. After all, if they go after Jedi they will, sooner or later, try to hurt Ben Skywalker." He grinned. "I consider that baby to be my grandson," he said with pride.

Jaina frowned. "You would have done this for free?" she said. Talon Karrde nodded. "But a deal is a deal," Seeing their irritation, he grinned. "What about if I include and install a concussion missiles tube?"

Xander laughed. "Sounds good, but make it a pair of missile tubes and install an auto blaster under the cockpit, same type as the B-Wing's use."

The B-wings auto-blaster was fast. It did not do much damage, but it could be used to improve the aim of the target computers. Kind of like a laser sight.

Looking at Jaina, he said. "She also needs some ammo to re-fill her torpedo stock and you would not happen to have one of those old tractor beams for fighters handy, would you?"

Talon nodded. "I have the jammer and tractor beam. You really believe I'm going to give you kids all that?"

Xander nodded. "If you believe Ben is your grandchild. You will. I'm seeking a target right now and whoever is hurting my friends is the target."

He had sacrificed his own future on Earth just to save his friends. In no way would he let a fool, blinded by greed destroy his new friends.

Jaina nodded. "If we are right, it is somebody high up in the Republic who is behind it." She studied him. "What made the old Republic work?" she asked.

Talon Karrde answered. "The Jedi order, millions of Jedi worked to keep the Republic alive. In the…" He fell silent. "There are not enough Jedi now for the Republic to work," he said.

Jaina nodded. "The Rebel Alliance created a house of cards and it's falling down, only we Jedi could stop it. If we fail, it will be crushed bit by bit. So help or get out of the way," she said, looking sad.

Talon was pale as he considers the consequences. This was bad, but the missing part of what he suspected was happening
fell in to place. A second galactic civil war was about to break out and this one would make the old Rebel VS Empire look like a warm up. "You get the help," he said.

The next morning, his team of experts started to pick the X-wing apart. Every bit was removed. Soon the X-wing parts started to fill out the floor of a huge hangar. Even Jaina's R6 and Xander's R3 had to be examined, although they came out clean.

*

Two days later

Talon called them in to the hangar. "I am sad to say that you were right. The X-wing contained a tiny bomb. If activated, it would have destroyed your hyper drive during entry, making the ship destroy itself," he sighed. "Here, let me show you the ship you are going to use while my men investigate your Ghtroc."

The ship they were going to use was a banged up Lone scout-A. A tiny scout vessel, only 24 meters long, but it was fast and had a good hyper drive.

Xander nodded. "Thanks."

Talon grinned. "Do not mention it. I ask not what the Republic can do for me. I ask what I can do for the Republic" he grinned at the shocked face of the young Jedi. "Oh, do not be so surprised, it was catchy."

*

Later in hyperspace

The tiny Lone Scout-A was a fast ship with long legs. Even if it had limited space on the inside, its hyper drive was fast and effective.

Jaina studied a star map and nodded to a part of it. That is where her twin brother Jacen was. She was wondering what kind of ass end of space he had ended up in. Wherever it was, most likely it was not good.

They landed outside the town and walked into it. It was not a normal town by far. It was a place of drugs smugglers. Xander pointed out the Republic hangers they looked more like an armored bunker then a normal hanger.

Jaina nodded. "Looks like he is in trouble," she frowned, now she remembered. This was no normal world this was a world of exiles. She picked up her data-pad to read what she had about the planet.

The locals of two nearby systems had taken the lovely habit of sending their criminals out to another world and letting them survive, if they could. After a while they started to ask their neighbors, if they wanted in on the deal. By the time of Endor, fifteen worlds used this place as a place to dump life time criminals.

The first generations mostly died directly of starvation, and because of the hostile plants or animals, but eventually some criminals managed to bring with them plants, animals and things that humans could eat and a society of sorts started to grow.

Only four years ago did the locals ask for help, smugglers had discovered their prison world and helped the criminals to escape. Now the Republic had to send over a team of guards because of the pure concentration of criminals on this crime world. The situation was even worse than they thought, as the Republic research team reached the place. For the first hundred years, the criminals exiled to the world had implants that made them sterile. Not that it was really needed back then, as not much on the world was possible to use as human food.

As more and more worlds joined, smuggled plants and animals had made it possible for humans to survive, unless somebody killed them, but many of those worlds did not use implants to stop the exiled criminals from having children. Only a small number of innocents were born each year, but they were growing in numbers. The criminals, the worst of the worst from fifteen different worlds, made a short work of most of the children.

Eventually a pair of children survived, became adults and had their own children. They created a gang of warriors to protect themselves against the never ending rain of criminals which fifteen worlds were dumping on their home.

Then the smugglers came. Drugs and spice were brought in. Criminals who could pay got away. Changing the security satellites to military laser satellites and space mines did help to keep the smugglers away. Then came the fall of the Empire and the trouble with returning criminals had grown bigger by now. After an incident, they asked the Republic for help, struggling with a world where 50 % of all living people were murderers, smugglers, rapist, slavers, political criminals, swindlers, sociopaths and psychopaths.

The rest were the children of said people.

Xander read the note on the Data-pad. "That's one fucked up world," he said.

She nodded. "Seems like Lowbacka and Jacen were send here as guardians and advisors." Jaina said.

Xander sighed. "Look, a pub. Let's go in and have something to eat."

With hoods pulled low to hide their faces, they walked inside.

10. 4-2

Note: And again all our thanx goes to Inachis

4-2

Anger was boiling in the locals. Apparently the Republic was screening the criminals, stopping the worst from leaving and trying to isolate the most aggressive criminals from the civilians.

The local exiles did not like that all, no sir.

Paying for food, with local credits Xander stole from a passerby, the two sat down silently and ate their food.
The locals were looking at them suspiciously.

They ignored it, until a big strong man growled as he walked up with a knife in his hand. "I said, how much your whore is," he yelled at Xander.

Lightning fast Xander stood up, grabbed the hand holding the knife and twisted. A CRACK was heard in the pub, as the hand was broken. He might not have the strength of a wookiee, but Xander knew he was at least twice as strong, maybe more, as a normal human. "I'm her bodyguard," he growled out. "Now say you're sorry to the lady and she might let you live."

The criminal swallowed as Jaina looked at him. Instead of seeing a face inside the cloak all he saw were shadows.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he begged as he rushed away.

Xander bowed to Jaina. "My lady." She nodded and Xander sat down again.
"Why?" she whispered.

Xander whispered back. "Misdirection and confusion, at least now we are not Republic spies in their minds." hearing that she nodded.

They would target her bodyguard now or her as she showed up a bit more then what Xander had expected. Moving out they walked careful around the Republic starport.

"Look." Xander said. Over the way they saw Lowbacka. His fur was pale and he looked thin. "He doesn't look good." Xander said.

Jaina frowned. "I see that." She wondered what was going on. Stretching out she found Jacen. She called to him, asking him to come and meet her in secret.

*

Later

A tired Jacen arrived; he looked like he had lost weight, his hair and eyes where pale.

Jaina gasped. "Jacen, what happened to you?" she asked.

He looked confused. "Nothing, just work, never ending work." he sighed. "What are you doing here by the way?"

Xander grabbed his med kit. "Give me your hand," he said. Jacen blinked "I'm just stressed." he said.

Jaina frowned. "Jacen, let him do it," she said in a commanding voice.

Jacen nodded as Xander took a blood sample. "Nothing, it only shows an unusually high stress level, nothing else."

He frowned and then picked up a straw of hair, putting it in for a poison test. "Nothing," he shrugged, setting his hands over Jacen heart, trying to sense whatever was wrong with him.

Jacen flinced back, "Nothing is wrong with me," he protested.

"Feel this Jaina," Xander said.

Jaina nodded as she let her hand touch her twin. It was a foul feeling of wrong, eating him up from the inside. "O no. Its." she swallowed. "There is something poisoning you and Lowbacka too."

Jacen shook his head. "I'm fine. Nothing to worry about." he said.

Xander frowned. "Why do you say you are fine?" he asked, using a weak mind control attack. Jacen being strong minded should have ignored his tiny push, but instead he fell into a trance.

"The voice during my sleep says there is nothing to worry about." Jacen said in a dreamy voice.
Xander's frown deepend, "Whatever it is, it's affecting his willpower and his mind also."

Jaina was very worried now. "We have to get Lowbacka and get the hell out of here," she said.

Xander nodded. "Let's use your brother to get him," he said.

Jaina wanted to protest, but agreed.

*

An hour later

The results were the same with Lowbacka. Using mind-control on their friends, they quickly got the two cooperating.

*
Later

"What are we going to do?" Xander said. "My first instinct is to take them by blade and put them where the sun doesn't shine."

Jaina shook her head. "We cannot let anger rule us. Our first mission should be to heal our friends. Cilghal is a Mon Calamari healer, she would be our best bet."

"Alright, she is on the Calamari home world with Tekli." Xander said grinning at the memory of the enthusiastic over energized female Chadra-Fan.

"You really like Tekli" Jaina said, grinning. Xander nodded, smiling back. "She's fun. Like a younger sister or a pet dog," he said.

Chadra-Fan's are short aliens with furry bodies and a head that looked like a bat. Only a meter long, the young Tekli had managed to win the heart of all other Jedi. Tekli was a young teenager when Xander first saw her less than a year ago. She was 10 years old then, which in human years would equal a 15 year old. Being hyperactive and almost never sleeping, Tekli spend her time running around getting to know the other Jedi. In the end, she considered every Jedi in the academy to be her best friend. She had graduated two months before they had.

Jaina sighed. "I miss the tiny fur ball" she smiled. "And yes, she is like a pet sometimes." she said, as Tekli actually liked to play fetch. It was apparently a fun game among Chadra-Fan that let them burn some of that extra hyperactive energy away.

They nodded. "Best find a stick she can hunt," they said together.

With Lowbacka and Jacen sleeping behind them, the Lone scout-A lifted up.

*

22 hours later

When Jacen woke up, his head was pounding and he felt sick. Crawling up from the bed did nothing good as he fell down, hurting himself.

Seeing Xander confused him even more. "Rest, we're getting you some help." Xander said.

Jacen frowned. "For what?" he said, feeling sick and yet not. He just needed to rest, just rest.

Two hours later they entered the Mon Calamari home world, a huge water planet with ship yards floating around in orbit and down on the never ending oceans.

Jaina spoke into the microphone. "I repeat. Rogue, Solo, Solo, spacewalker." She said sending a code that would let them into a private hangar.

Slowly they entered a private hanger and landed. As they walked out, guards moved to stand in formation guarding them. The last out was Ackbar himself. "Jaina? How confusing. My report said you should be in the Minos cluster".

Jaina nodded. "That's what I wanted them to believe. I need Cilghal's help and I need your silence," she said.

Ackbar frowned then nodded.

Jaina thanked him and continued. "Can we talk after Cilghal has come here? We have two poisoned Jedi in there," she said.

Ackbar's mouth opened. "Your brother?" he asked. Jaina nodded. "We will keep this private then." he finished, waving the guards away.

*

One hour later

Cilghal with her apprentice Tekli came out from the ship. "They were poisoned, but it would not kill them. It was eating up their minds. Whoever drugged them was planning to use them. The poison slowly eroded their willpower and made them extremely easy to mind wash."

Xander growled. "If my suspicion is correct, they were going to mind wash them to create a political scandal."

Ackbar started. "Who would do something like that?"

"The same person who had bombs put in every ship belonging to a Jedi, that's who," Jaina said.

There was silence. "You are joking. I hope" Ackbar said.

Tekli looked scared. "Our ship also?" she interrupted.

Xander shrugged. "Perhaps, Jaina's X-wing had a bomb and my Ghtroc might have one, it is still being investigated."
He sighed. "Our information makes it clear. It is somebody high on the political scale. He or she believes Jedi are in his or her way to power. Only somebody with connections to starship building could have done it." he said looking the fishlike admiral in the eye.

Ackbar frowned. "Do you suspect me?" he asked. Xander shook his head. "No. Not you, but I do suspect that you know who could have done it. Or perhaps even now have figured out who it could be."

Ackbar head seem to shiver, before he nodded. "That depends on if my niece Cilghal ship has a bomb in it or not. If it has, I know exactly who it is and if so the Republic itself will be destroyed if we make a single mistake." He did not look happy. "I'm going to let my private team look through her ship. They will not say anything."

Cilghal nodded.

Behind her Tekli shivered, eyes full of tears. "Why would they do things like this?" the tiny healer said.
Xander and Jaina quickly hugged her.

Cighal rolled her huge fish like eyes. Tekli was such a drama queen and she loved and would do anything for a hug or a head rub. "I am not sure. At least not completely, but I believe that they were planning on using Jacen and Lowbacka to assassinate Luke and Mara." Seeing their worried look, she calmed them down. "Do not worry, you saved them in time. They had yet to start programming them."

As the Jedi rejoiced in their reunion and knowing their friends where safe, a tired old Ackbar walked out of the room. He might not be a Jedi, but he could feel it in his bones. War was closing in on them again.

War, how he hated war and the fact that he, a born pacifist dreamer, was so skilled in the art of war.

*

Later at a floating city on Mon Calamari

Jacen was sitting on a harbor where ships and submarines were parked and was looking much better. His skin was not as pale anymore. He was still skinny and Cighal had told them that his own Jedi skills had been fighting the drugs and doing that hurt his body as they kept increasing the dose of the drug.

Lowbacka also looked better. Riding on his shoulder and talking constantly was Tekli, behaving more like a child then the Jedi healer she was. The young wookiee was protective of the tiny Chadra-fan, she reminded him of his sister when she was younger.

Jaina was sitting next to her brother, leaning her head on his shoulder. The idea that he could have been killed was terrifying to her. The two were connected in a way only Force sensitive twins could be. She knew he was shocked and afraid. She also knew he felt betrayed and missed his X-wing, which was still parked on the other planet. Going back there and getting it would be hard, but it was also a loaner with a bomb inside it.

Under them, swimming side by side with Cighal, was Xander, looking at the floating city the way only somebody could from under the sea. It was magnificent. Even under the sea they where building parts that would become starships, or perhaps they where storing them. Xander was not sure. In other places he could see children playing inside an underwater play yard.

Then there were the fish farms, huge cages floating in the sea filled with growing fishes. Cighal said that most of the farms this close to the city had fish species that were considered especially delicious, to stop thieves from stealing them.

*

Later at the Mon Calamari star port.

Ackbar was not a happy fish; Cighal's ship had a bomb installed in it. "I am not happy," he told to them.

Xander nodded. "I can see that. Now who is it that's behind the kill all Jedi thingy?" he asked. "Tell me or I bring forth the fishing rods." he joked.

Ackbar made a deep gurgling sound that passed for a laugh among Mon Calamari. "I do not have any evidence or anything besides the bomb that I have secured as evidence, but I know the source of this are the Bothans and the current president of the Republic Borsk Fey'lya may or may not be involved. He might be innocent or he simply being kept silent."

Jaina nodded. "Why are they doing this?"

Ackbar sighed. "In the Bothan culture the pursuit of power and influence is the most important thing that is. Among Bothans Borsk, being president of the Republic and perhaps the most powerful man in the galaxy is considered a star, the sexiest male Bothan that exists." He took a deep breath. "In their own culture backstabbing, counter deals, character assassinations and lies are normal behaviors. They are natural born politicians. Jedi who can sense a lie among others things, are impossible to bribe. They are too dangerous to the Bothans for them to let them live. The Bothans have always feared the Jedi. That was the reason the Emperor trusted Bothans, but they did not like him or the Empire that limited their climb to power." he said, remembering a discussion he had with Grand Moff Tarkin once many years ago during the time he was the Moff's personal slave.

Cighal waved her hand, getting the others attention. "Remember, this is just my uncle's theory. He has no evidence to prove that it was the Bothans that did this. Besides Ackbar does not really like the Bothans," she reminded them.

The young Jedi nodded.

They said their farewells and climbed into the scout ship. It was time to get the Enterprise back.

*

11. 4-3

Note: As in every chapter before we have to thank Inachis for her help. So thank you again .

4-3

Later at Myrkk

Talon Karrde walked out to greet his young guests. What he did for them cost him personally a bloody fortune, but he would not complain. He was finally having fun again; being retired had been killing him with boredom. Perhaps it was time to become more active again. He pushed the idea away for the moment. "Welcome" he said as his two pet Vornskr growled angrily, their instincts identifying four Jedi.

Vornskr were animals native of this world that used the Force to hunt. They did not like other beings that were Force sensitive. Around 80 cm tall they, were the size of a tiger.

Talon could see the kids were a bit nervous, at least three of them. The fourth one, Xander, was different. His eyes started to glow green and yellow as he looked one of the Vornskr in the eye.

The battle of dominion started slowly, until the beast backed down in front of an alpha predator. As it receded, Xander looked the others in the eye.

Looking up Xander smiled. "So did you find a bomb on the Enterprise?"

Talon nodded. "I did. Impressive that you managed to scare my pets Sturm and Drang," he said.

Xander eyes twinkled. "I just explained to him that I was too big and hungry for him to eat." He waved his hand. "Yes, I know it's supposed to be impossible to use the Force here. But if the Vornskr are doing it to others, I can do it to them. I am a bit limited, but the moment it makes contact…"

Jaina started. "The moment its hunting sense made contact, you opened yourself up and dominated it," she said in surprise.

Xander nodded. "I do have predator instincts." he said, knowing the others knew about the Hyena and Soldier.
Moving beside Talon were a much calmer pair of Vornskr, purring as they pushed their big heads in Xander's hands to be petted. Grinning, Xander did. They did look nice, a mix between a dog and a cat with some bear like qualities mixed in and they would make great guards.

Jaina smiled as she tried to pet the cute monster, but quickly pulled back the hand as she almost lost her fingers.

The Vornskr growled angrily the moment she tried to pet it or come close to Xander.

"Hey, he's my boyfriend," she complained.

Xander shrugged. "Talon, could you put your pets away?"

In the hangar they saw his Enterprise. The ship had never looked better in his eyes. Under the chin of the cockpit a twin auto-blaster, same type as the B-wing fighter used, was mounted. Hidden on each side of the ship was one Concussion missile launcher, giving him a pair of missile launchers.

The twin Auto-blaster was a tiny double cannon that could destroy a TIE and perhaps hurt a TIE-Interceptor. What was great about it was that it could be used to improve the ships targeting computer, making it a great tool to hit tiny targets that moved too much for the computer alone.

"Its beautiful." he said turning to Talon "Thanks. I know I asked too much, but…"

Talon waved his excuse away. "I was going crazy here with nothing to do. Even half-retired like I am now, it was killing me."
He looked at the ship. "Arranging for a secret courier to Luke, Mara, Leia, Han, Kyle and Corran was just what the doctor ordered."

He gave them a smug smile. "Your sensors were bad. I put in some military sensors. What good are weapons, if you are unable to find your enemies?" He had also stolen the mini-hangar design.

Jaina looked at the old man. He was strange. In some ways he reminded her of an older version of her own father Han Solo, a Han that decided to become the smuggler kingpin.

Talon looked at them seriously. "I want the four of you to stay out of the core worlds until I have sent out the messenger." he said.

Xander nodded. "Give us the co-ordinates for the pirate base near the Minos Cluster and we'll do some spring cleaning there." Then he grinned. "If you just happen to have a smuggler or two nearby, there was nothing we could do to stop them from looting the pirate base."

Lowbacka growled, unhappy at the idea of being part of illegal plunder.

Jacen frowned, then nodded. The smuggler did help them more than he needed to and like most Correlians, Talon Karrde had a distinct dislike for slavery. His smugglers did carry illegal spice, but the more dangerous drugs, like death-sticks, he left for the Hutt smugglers to handle.

A spice cargo could give you 1-5 years punishment on Kessel, depending on what type of spice it was and what planet you were on. Death-sticks would give you life sentence or death as a punishment no matter where you were.
The Talon smugglers were loyal to their boss and they knew that if they ended up on Kessel, Talon would help them out, legally shorten their time or arrange for nicer postings outside of the spice mines.

*

Later on their way to the Minos Cluster

Jacen was watching as his sister snuggled near Xander and he wished Tenel-ka was nearby. Xander was good for his sister, he could feel that.

Meditating he could see difficulties in the future. That was not good.

*

At the same time on Coruscant

Borsk Fey'lya read the report. Another Jedi had died. That was bad. If you could get an honest answer out of him and were
to ask him what he thought about the Jedi, he would have said that he hated them. But he would also have said that he needed them. The republic would fall apart in corruption and interior fighting without the calming present of the Jedi.
Jedi were being murdered and the most awful part was that he had a suspicion that it was his own people, the Bothans, which were doing it. Somebody was assassinating Jedi and he was the most powerful man in the galaxy, surrounded by people he could not trust. If he warned the wrong person, whoever was part of the plot would hide OR speed up the assassinations.

If he did not warn anyone, they might succeed.

Jacen Organa Solo and Lowbacka were missing. Their work as watchmen on Achalem was strange, but understandable. The Republic was actively trying to separate the most dangerous criminals from the native innocents and the less dangerous criminals. The idea of carpet bombing Achalem and forgetting it existed sounded like a good thing to do, if he could do it without looking like a monster. But no, they had to send in the troops, trying to save the innocent children of criminals.

And now Jacen Solo was missing.

He had to warn somebody.

He calmed himself. He once was a master spy and it was time to use those skills again. "Could you call in Esser Nei'lar," he said to his aide.

Moments later Esser came inside. She was a gorgeous Bothan of 25 years old and one of his many lovers and as well as a secretary. At least officially and he would not complain, if she let him become her lover.

No, Esser was actually courier, the best of the best. She was trained in hiding, escaping, and driving anything that flied, rolled or walked. She even had a cybernetic implant that could change the color of her fur.

It was luck that he managed to hire her. "We need to talk," he said, activating a zero sound field. No sound could escape the bubble the zero-sound generator created, as the two talked.

*

Later

Esser walked out, frowning as she focused on her mission. Her loyalty was absolute. She would... Tiny sparks of pain sent shivers of confusion through her as her real personality awakened from its sleep.

The greatest spy is always the one that does not know it is a spy, an old Bothan saying went. Unknown to Borsk, she was a living example of that. On the surface the loyal Esser, a skilled courier absolutely loyal to Borsk, so it looked to him and even to the Jedi and a Gothal that had tested her.

After all that part of her mind was loyal. Not even the Emperor himself had discovered the Bothan spies hiding as loyal friends and advisors. Trained with drugs combined with mind washing technology, she had given herself a second personality, one that she could reprogram as needed. A personality that had no idea that it was a fake, a funny mirror created in her own image. Normally it was that part she let control her body as she watched or was sleeping.

Now her real masters would pay her well for the information she had. Grinning, Ellan Nei'sar walked away. Perhaps they would finally give her the order to end Borsk's life.

*

At the same time on the Enterprise

They docked at the old Caroonas Space station, which was build almost 2000 years ago and had started its life as an asteroid base. But now nothing of the stone was visible, only deep inside station could you touch the original rock.
The station was almost 5 km long from one end to the other and 2 km tall. It served as a refueling station, restaurant, hotel and resting place for tired spacers out in deep space. It looked like a metallic brick hanging in space and hundreds of small docking hangers dotted its surface.

Docked inside one of the hangars was the Enterprise. Inside the ship Xander frowned as he looked at Jacen. "Do you have to wear a red shirt?" he complained.

He himself always wore black, white, green or whatever Jaina gave him, but never red, it was forbidden, to her amusement.
Jacen blinked. "What?" he said. Lowbacka was just as confused.

Jaina was giggling. "Xander, stop being ridiculous, he looks good in that shirt."

Xander shook his head. "I told you. This is a starship named Enterprise. On the make-believe movies and shows Star Trek, anyone wearing red shirts from the starship Enterprise ends up DEAD. I'm trying to keep your brother safe." He looked at the other two. "Right? I'm not being stupid."

Jacen frowned. "Because of a make-believe show? You are being stupid." he said, walking out in to the space station.

Lowbacka growled out something that sounded quite amusing.

They exited the ship and looked around. Aliens and humans of every type surrounded them. Xander could see nineteen other light transports in this hanger alone.

Moving out into the exit corridors, they found themselves in an alley where on one side were turbo lifts and on the other stores that sold heavy gears and ship spare parts.

Commercial areas, said a sign on one of the turbolifts.

Xander, Jaina, Jacen, Lowbacka, R6 and fifteen others strangers moved inside the huge lift. Just as fast as the door closed it opened again and they were there.

Further inside and on a different level.

Lowbacka and Xander growled as a pickpocket tried to steal from Jaina. She just rolled her eyes and pushed the thief into the side of the wall.

The room they were in was big. Tucked into the floor was an asteroid that looked tiny compared to the room, but the cave that had been dug inside the asteroid had room for no less than five boutiques: a clothes store, a candy store, a book-holo movie store and a space suits R'US, gizmo and things. Around the asteroid shopping mall were more stores and restaurants. Also bathhouse with massage and sunbathing could be enjoyed. It even had a weapons store.

Lowbacka sniffed his fur. He really hated to bath, but cleaning his fur in a real bath where he could comb and shampoo his fur and then have it dried by professional, now that was a completely different matter. "Rrror" he said, pointing at the bath. "Groor rhar" he said, handing over most of his valuables to Jacen so that nobody would steal it while he was bathing.
Thank the Force, the stink of a dirty Wookiee would finally be taken care of, was what Xander, Jaina and Jacen were thinking. R6 just sighed, feeling sorry that the new life forms developing in Lowbacka fur would be destroyed.

Then they split up.

Jaina rushed to the book-holo movie store.

Xander found an interest in the Gizmo and things store.

Jacen sighed as he looked at the clothes store. He really needed something more.

*

Later

Lowbacka's adventure

Lowbacka was nearly purring as he enjoyed the shampoo massage. The Twi'lek female, a big fat and strong woman, was massaging in shampoo and grinned at the Wookiee. "You liked that, don't you?" she said.
The kid had been so dirty. She put more shampoo on her hands. "Now, this is going to make you fur shiny and soft." she explained.

Lowbacka just hunked answers, drifting between sleep and being awake, he and his fur would be clean again.

*

Jaina's adventure

"Oh, that's a good book," she said, putting a nice adventure book in her cart.

*

Xander's adventure

"What the hell." Xander said in English. He was looking at a real, honest to God Swiss army knife. Of course it was possible that other objects had followed along with the stolen gold and kidnapped humans from Earth.

The store owner paled. "You, you are from Earth." he said. Xander nodded. "Yea. Why?" he asked. It felt good to talk in English for a change.

"Me too, I'm from New York. Former police officer, Carlos Nieto, NYPD." The man said with pride and enjoyed seeing one more of the exiled.

Xander smiled. "Your store?" he asked. The man nodded. "Yeah. Mine and some others, most of us were put on slave ships and were never seen again. But I and some others were lucky. They put us in a big cargo ship full of plunder and things. We managed to overpower the crew. In the end perhaps seven out of nine made it out alive, but we were free and had a ship."

He shrugged. "Somehow we ended up here. My girl Sophie Kerr and I stayed here. The rest?" He shrugged again. "The ship was full of riches, we split the loot and well I did a good deal on what the others considered junk."

Xander nodded. "I'd love to talk about Earth with you guys. I'm here with my girl Jaina and her twin Jacen and Lowbacka." Seeing the guys confusion he explained. "I'm the only one from Earth."

Carlos Nieto nodded. "So how did you get here?" he asked.

Xander frowned. The truth would sound crazy unless he added a twist. "I jumped. The Powers That Be on earth didn't like it, so I was send to stop the gate machine. It was all they could do." he said.

Carlos frowned. "Why you and powers that be? Who are they and how old are you?" he asked.

Xander shrugged. "I'm a trained special forces operative. They even included some experimental gen-manipulation. To make sure I would survive."

He looked at the older man. "The powers that be are what you might call presidents, directors, Kings, Queens, who rule good old Earth." He smiled. "I'm only 18, but I started fighting when I was 16. Like I said, I was in a special unit."
Carlos nodded. "Alright Captain America," he grinned. "So, what have you been doing since then?"

Xander grinned. "Believe it or not, I managed to become a Jedi knight." Carlos snorted. "Really? I don't believe in Jedi."
Xander shrugged. A wave of his hand and objects started to fly around Carlos. The former police man looked shocked before he said. "Alright, I believe now." Then he turned back to Xander and asked: "Is there any way for us to return home?"

Xander shrugged. "According to the smart ones, every time the gate opened, there was a big chance the sun would become instable and would go in an instant super nova. So they had to close it, fast."

Carlos nodded. "Why don't you and your friends come by later to chat a bit? Take the pocket knife, I have more," he said. He and his wife had started to manufacture new pocket knives.

The two started to talk about earth movies and TV shows.

Hours later Xander walked out of the store when the strangest group walked up to him. They were two female near humans with red to purple skin and beside them holding their arms were two male near humans, one with soft purple and the other with blood red skin. Aside from the skin, they looked beautiful and human.

"Excuse me, but you are the captain of the Enterprise, correct?" one of the men said. "I am Aridel. I found out about you from the landing computer, you are listed there as the captain."

Xander nodded. "That's right. What can I help you with?" The four looked at each other.

Then they turned back. "We would like you to let our daughter come with you on your adventure. She is a computer expert and we are willing to pay for her journey." Aridel said.

Xander frowned. He felt no greed or evil from them, they were simply worried. "Why?" he asked.

"Let us explain. It's a long story."

*

Jacen Adventure

Frowning, Jacen looked around the clothes store. Most of it was space-wear or Duros and Ithorian styles. Then suddenly a pair of red purple arms hugged him from behind: "Hi! I missed you." a female voice said.

Jacen frowned. "Um… Do I know you?" he said, paling. It was a Zeltron. A race of red and purple skinned near humans. A race Luke, Leia, Han had warned him about. Not that they were bad or evil, just that they were clingy and for some reason they were attracted to Jedi, especially those of Skywalker blood. He could see that the clingy girl hanging onto him was perhaps his age, a year younger or older maybe, it difficult to say.

"No. But I'd like to get to know you." she purred as she hugged him again, letting her fingers touch and play with his back.

He sighed. Let's see, what was it Luke had said? They are empaths and they have a combination of outer appearance and pheromones that makes them attractive. They also have quick reflexes and are formidable fighters. "Um... Could you let me go?" he asked as her hand was moving inside his pants.

"No, I'm comfortable." she said.

"O'My DARLINGS HURRY UP!" a female voice yelled. Jacen could see an older Zeltron female.

Suddenly three more Zeltrons were there, another female and two males.

One of the males spoke. "He is hugging our baby." he said. The other male nodded. "Now what is your name, boy?" he asked.

Jacen swallowed, seeing all of them had guns and looked dangerous. "Um, Jacen Organa Solo," he studdered out.

The angry sounding one looked like he was blushing. "Oh, don't be afraid boy. I'm just happy my daughter has found somebody. She is 17 after all and showed no interest in boys or girls before now." He looked at the other Zeltrons in the room.

Jacen winced. "Um, stop that." he said to the girl climbing to his body and trying to remove his pants.

"They are so cute together," one of the adult females said. The others nodded. "He is embarrassed."

That made them all say: "O so cute. Young love!"

Jacen was horrified by the situation. "HEY, I don't even KNOW your daughter." he defended himself.

The other male suddenly looked angry. "IS my daughter not good enough for you?" he roared.

Jacen winced fearfully. "No. No, she's perfect. I meant I... I don't even know her name." He frowned. "Um, wait a minute; I thought HE was her dad."

The girl hanging on his body licked his ear. "I'm Samy." she purred in his ear. He was so perfect.
The second female spoke up. "The four of us are all married together. We are bisexual, twice the fun, and twice the pleasure."

The first female nodded. "And we were so worried that our baby was frigid or un-interested in boys or girls. All she did was play with computers and program things. No having sex or going to wild parties, only strange dreams. You have to understand how worried it made us."

The other female nodded. "It even looked like she was…" she swallowed "Shy."

Jacen blinked. "Would you stop that? Not now. Um Samy" he said, pulling his pants back up. The girl was holding them down. "Later, promise." she purred.

Jacen sighed, seeing four dads. And four mothers, there was only one thing he could say. "Alright, later," he was so dead.

The girl let him go as she yelled: "Yay, I got a Jedi boyfriend." She quickly hugged his arm, not letting it go.

The loud voiced Zeltron paused. "Wait a minute. Did you say Organa Solo?" he frowned. "I used to be a bodyguard to a Leia Organa when she was visiting our planet. She did have a cute smuggler on her hands. Han Solo was his name." He was almost sure the two were famous even outside Zeltron. But he couldn't stand politics.

His husband nodded and so did his wife, both of them.

One of them frowned: "Remember? I did visit Coruscant to give Luke some Jedi artifact, but I met your mother and father instead. Both of us were pregnant at the time." She remembered that they both had felt a strange spark going through them as she gave her the artifact. An old statue that was created as a symbol of love once many millenniums ago during the time a Jedi could marry and have children.

The others suddenly realized who their daughter had fallen for. She was not crazy.

"Skywalker blood," one of the mothers whispered. The other nodded "A strong Jedi also." She whispered back.
The first dad sighed. "Jedi and Skywalker blood," he frowned. "The question is are you on a mission and did you come in a transport or a fighter?"

Jacen was still dumfounded by the girl licking his ear and stuttered his answer. "Um… The Enterprise, she's a transport. Why?"

"Excellent." was all he heard from the dads and mothers as they walked out. "Let's find out more about the Enterprise then."

*

Later, at the home of Carlos Nieto and Sophia Kerr

Lowbackas fur was shiny, fresh, and smelled of flowers and forest. He looked happy.
Jaina looked amused.

Jacen was trying to crawl under the table.

Samy was using him as a chair.

Xander was trying not to laugh. "By the way, Samy, I met your parents, wonderful people. They even said you could join us. But I have to warn you, death is always nearby where we walk."

Samys smile lighted up the room. "Great, then I can get to know my boyfriend." Jacen was confused and looked like he was trying to find a way to either run away in fear or carry her to a bedroom and have wild sex.

Jaina looked at Xander. "What? You can't take her with us. She'll be in mortal peril."

Xander replied: "If we don't let her come with us, they said they would hire another transport captain to follow us." He whispered in Jaina ears. "There is more to the story, much more. Feel it in the Force." he said.

Jaina leaned away. Seeing the girl happily snuggled up with her twin brother who still had the most amusing look between utter fear and total happiness on his face, she finally understood why Luke had warned them about Zeltrons.
But using the Force she could see a fire of pure happiness burning inside both Samy and Jacen. Except Jacen, being stupid ignored it.

Sophia, the owner of the home, smiled. "It's truly a strange galaxy." she said in English. Unlike Carlos, she didn't speak Basic very well. She understood it perfectly, but talking? Not so good.

Xander nodded. "Yes. It is. You two have made a wonderful home here." he said.

Carlos nodded. "Yes, it took some time to adapt." A pling from the kitchen told him the food was ready. "It took quite some time to find the correct mix of strange foods to make this." he said, carrying the food to the table.
Xander gaped. "Is this what I think it is?"

Sophia nodded. "Spaghetti made out of real pasta or something that tastes just like pasta, with tomato sauce. We grow our own tomatoes." she explained.

When the gate kidnapped them from New York, other things had followed also. Mostly plants, but also a strange human that said he felt sick and then suddenly exploded into dust.

Lowbacka, Jaina and the others ate the food with joy and curiosity.

Xander was eating with happiness. "Do you have other Earth recepies?" he asked.

Carlos nodded. "We experiment. Sophia has quite the talent in finding out how to make Earth foods from alien raw-materials. You can buy our recepies. Most cook droids can follow them."

In the living room they had photos and post cards from Earth, mostly New York, and micro models of the Statue of Liberty.
Xander smiled. "I have got to get one of these."

Jaina was puzzled. "What is it?" she asked, frowning.

Xander explained. "It's an idea and a dream. USA, the country I come from on Earth, based their laws on ideals of freedom and justice. France, which is another country, gave USA that statue as a gift and as sign of friendship. The real statue is over fifty meters tall" he said.

Carlos piped in. "Actually, the pedestal it stands on is over 90 meters. The statue itself is only 46 meters tall." he explained.

Samy frowned. "That not very impressive" she said.

Xander hesitated. "Um... It was build during a time when there were no big machines and no droids. Only sailing ships and steam powered engines."

He looked at the tiny statue. "It was man made with pure skill using copper. But the important thing about the statue is not how it was made, but what it symbolizes. It stands for justice and liberty to all."

Samy nodded as she too looked at the statue. "I understand now." she said. It was an ugly statue, but justice and liberty to all that was a good thing. Then she quickly grabbed Jacen so that he would not escape.

She knew waiting for the right guy to come along was a good idea and what she needed to do know was capture him and never let him run away. She wondered if she could find manacles somewhere. He did look bit nervous.

12. 4-4

Note: Before we start with the next part of this chapter our thanks again to Inachis for her help. You make those much easier to read.

4-4

Hours later

Only Carlos, Sophia and Xander were still awake and they were talking about Earth. Jacen, Lowbacka and Samy had gone home/back to the ship.

It had been a wonderful talk. Carlos also told him what the name of the Hutt that had kidnapped the humans from Earth was. Xander frowned. If they were lucky, that Hutt could have information in his data banks that would allow him to save the others born on Earth.

The next day Carlos Nieto and Sophia Kerr followed them to the hangar. Carlos laughed at the name Enterprise. It was perfect. "Now you only need a pointy eared Vulcan," he joked.

Xander grinned. "Yeah."

They said their goodbyes and then they lifted off to soon enter hyperspace.

Jaina turned to Xander. "Should we visit Junas?" she asked.

Xander shrugged. "The ship holds five passengers and one in the jail cell."

Samy reminded them that she could sleep in Jacen´s room. The moment she found a good lock pick she would sleep in there anyway.

Jacen looked afraid.

Lowbacka looked amused.

"Back to business" Xander explained. "I'm not going to put Samy in the jail cell and Junas may or may not be a spy for the wrong people. Hold your friends close, but hold your enemies closer."

Samy spoke up. "Listen, I told you, I can sleep in Jacen's room."

Xander frowned. "Well, that would solve a lot of problems once we pick up Junas." Behind Samy he could see Jacen waving in his hand signing –No way no way- "Yes that sounds like a good plan," he said, ignoring Jacen.

Jaina nodded. "Yeah, sounds good, Samy lets go and talk, I want to know everything I can about my twin-brother's girlfriend." she said to Samy, grinning.

The cockpit door closed.

"You are evil." Jacen said.

Xander shrugged. "You like her. I can feel it" he said.

Jacen frowned. "I like Tenel-Ka. I don't know Samy," he said irritably.

Xander nodded. "I know, but let's be honest, whenever Samy is around I feel a burning flame of pure happiness in you and in her both. With Tenel-ka I feel a tiny spark, which your brain tries to hide for some reason." He leaned forward. "So who do you really like? "

Lowbacka nodded. He liked Tenel-ka and Jacen, but they were not that good for each other. Both tried to be the boss and both failed.

Jacen growled. "Sith spit, that's pure Sith spit," he swore and walked out. Why did his friends make things so hard?
He loved Tenel-Ka. Sure it was difficult and she was not the warmest girl, but he loved her. Right? She was intelligent, fascinating, skilled, and powerful. She also looked sexy and wonderful and she never backed down from a challenge.
Samy, he did not even know her. Well, except for stupid flashes of the past that might have told him about the girl and how lonely she had been in her home with overflowing parties and overemotional mothers and fathers.
Swearing about meddlesome friends the young Jedi walked into his room.

Samy frowned. "He feels angry, no, more confused than before," she said, turning to Jaina. "Why is he so confused?" she asked.

Jaina shrugged. "He is a boy and in love with a fantasy." She looked the red skinned girl in the face. "Why my brother?" she asked.

Samy shrugged. "I had dreams my whole life. When I was young I would dream of my prince. He and his sister and then his baby brother lived in a deep underground fortress. A beautiful white haired lady was taking care of them." She said, remembering the dreams. "Then an evil man tried to kidnap them, but their real mother and father came and saved them all." Taking a deep breath she continued.

"Sometimes they were living in a gigantic city and the three of them would sneak down hidden tunnels to have adventures in the underground."

By now Jaina was looking pale. "Always some dark lord was trying to kidnap them. As I grew older the dreams came further apart, but more clear. I could see the two brothers and his twin sister training to be Jedi. I even learned some small tricks myself and my worst dream was when a dark lord kidnapped them. Tricking them to fight each other using lightsabers, with the help of holographic illusions and mind tricks, the brothers and sister were fighting each other."

"So am I Force sensitive?" she frowned. "For some reason Luke refused to visit our world. That was rude of him." She wondered why.

If he had visited, they would have had a gigantic party and many girls would have been overjoyed, trying to get the Skywalker into bed. He, according to history, is extremely shy, but great in bed. "I managed to convince my family to visit the Minos cluster, because on Shesharile I would find my prince."

Jaina was pale now. Some of what Samy had said were things nobody knew about. Except for Jacen, Luke and herself and a few others, only the Solo family knew.

Standing behind a nearby wall Xander moved out and gripped Jaina in a hug. "Now you understand." Samy's mother and fathers had told him about it all and he could feel the truth in their voices. Behind Xander Lowbacka stood silently pondering the power and will of the Force.

Jacen was in his room and could not help himself as he overheard his sister and Samy talk. No way, absolutely no way was he a slave of the Force.

Unknown to him an old statue, once created to help Jedi and their wife/husband to communicate and which was now sitting in the Jedi Museum, had accidentally helped create a spiritual bond between the two. Many months before either of them were born.

Thanks to Jacen´s twin-bond with his sister, he had never noticed his dreams about Samy.

Now they were growing stronger and Jacen was afraid.

*

Later in space

Lowbacka growled. Xander nodded. "We have to make a short stop first." He turned to look at his hairy friend. "The Mestra system, one of the top ten greatest asteroid fields in the galaxy."

Lowbacka looked surprised. "Greel" he said.

Xander nodded. "Correct. No planet, just stone and artificial homes, like on space stations."

He could feel her as she slinked down beside him in the Co-pilot chair. "Hi Jaina" he said.

She smiled, feeling his emotions more and more by the Force. "Hi you self, how long to normal space?" she asked.
Xander replied, "25 minutes, just wanted you here early to double check everything. The maneuvering thrusters seem to be acting up."

Jaina nodded as she helped him double check the ship. "Nothing wrong here." She frowned. "That's it. They installed a new setting on your control. It's just a computer circuit they installed. It is a classic smuggler trick. It makes the ship more sensitive to your movements. It's great in a fight or if you are escaping, but bad if you are trying to land with heavy cargo on board. The ship tends to be a bit more jumpy." She frowned. "There." she said, pressing a button. "Standard cargo setting."

Xander pulled the maneuver control. "And now it's moving like a turtle again. Where was that button again?"
Lowbacka shrugged as he walked out.

*

25 minutes later

With Xander as the pilot, Jaina as the co-pilot and Jacen by the communication and navigational controls, Samy was at the sensors. This was so great. She had trained on computers so long and now finally she could put her skills to use.

Lowbacka was sitting behind them all. If they needed help, he would fill in as a tech. But he missed his X-wing.

The ship suddenly arrived in normal space.

Outside they could see the gigantic asteroid field of the Mestra system.

Xander said, "Alright, Samy look out for enemy ships and people with names that starts with Darth." The other grinned at
Sammy's confused look. "Jacen, find me the navigational buoys and Mestra prime."

Samy was puzzled. "How do I do that?" she asked. Jaina chuckled. "He was kidding."

Jacen spoke up. "I got the buoys and Mestra prime. It's pretty deep in there."
M-TD, the tiny translator droid Lowbacka owned, piped in, "The odds to navigate an asteroid field like this are…"

Xander interrupted the droid. "Wait. Did you include navigational buoys, before you calculated the chances for navigating the asteroid field and the fact that this is a mostly stable asteroid field?" he said to the tiny rust bucket.

M-TD frowned. He might have forgotten those details. "The odds of surviving are 95 % or more," he said quietly.

Xander sighed, worthless rust bucket, able to talk fluently in more than six forms of communication.

Then he put on the speed and raced into the asteroid field.

Samy called out. "Look out, coming from the left," she warned him as she put the information on his screen.

Xander smiled, now he knew why they had trouble finding buyers for the metal mined in this place. It looked far more dangerous than it was, but as long as he kept within the path marked by the buoys, he would be in an area that was mostly stable and was held stable by the aid of repulsor field generators.

There they were, a huge city flying in the dark, with repulsor beams and shields keeping it safe in the middle of the asteroid field.

"Please open a channel Jacen," he asked.

"This is the Enterprise, Captain Jedi Xander Harris coming in for refueling." Xander said to the space control station.
A moment of silent filled the radio before they were answered.

"This is Mestra space station, welcome to Mestra prime. Hanger 23 is open. Hold speed at 20 mglt."
Slowly the Enterprise followed the landing beacon into the huge hangar, where a luxury yacht was already parked.
Softly the landing gear of the ship touched the hangar floor.

Jacen blinked. "I'm impressed, you can land a ship," he said, sounding truly surprised.

Jaina smirked. "It took time and hard training," she said, faking sadness.

Lowbacka nodded sagely.

Samy was once again puzzled by the exchange. "What? He landed perfectly," she said.

Xander laughed. "The first flight lesson I took was when I had to survive and stole this ship from a drug smuggler. The first time I landed a ship I had no idea what I was doing and almost crashed the thing. I did manage to destroy a tree on my way down," he explained. "These guys are still afraid of me landing a ship," he said with irony.

Jaina kissed him. "And that's the reward for a good landing."

*

Later in Mestra prime

The Enterprise was refueled and the larder had been restocked also. The food had been quite expensive. Not that Xander was surprised. Mestra had to import all their food, so buying food here was bound to be expensive.

The city, half of it carved inside huge asteroids, was beautiful. Cave buildings worthy of kings.
All their carvings were literally screaming, "We are rich".

The inside was full of interesting stores to visit.

"Look" he said, dragging Jaina into a jewelry store.

Jaina blinked as he let her go inside, she saw him go up to the store owner and talk to him.

Moments later he had paid for something, something big.

*

Later in a cafe

Jacen was curious. "If you got a wedding ring in there, you better ask mom and dad first. My sister is still only 17," he said.

Xander blushed. "I know that. I'm not that stupid. I'll wait until she turns 18 before I ask her if she wants to be my fiancé.
That way I can escape Han Solo's anger," he said, rolling his eyes.

Jaina grinned. "Really, I accept?" she said smiling happy.

Xander blinked. "Um, honey your dad is going to kill me."

She frowned. "But on the other hand, why let fear of Han Solo stand in the way of love? The moment I have real money I'm going to get you an engagement ring."

Jaina nodded happily.

Jacen frowned, that had not worked the way he had planned. "Um what did you buy then?"

Xander smiled "This." He said holding up a huge crystal ball. "One of the ghosts I talk to explained and taught me a skill that lets a Jedi project an image of a memory in a crystal. The more advanced version of this skill involved technology, holographic projectors with a power source and a pure crystal that you could use to create a holocron."

Samy started. "Ghosts?" she asked in surprise.

Xander shrugged. "Old dead Jedi seem to like visiting me and talking to me every now and then." He put the crystal on the table. "Watch."

The crystal sparked and suddenly they saw a five year old girl crying on the ground. Suddenly a dark haired boy appeared.
"My yellow crayon is broken." The girl said fearfully. "What if the teachers hate me?"

The five year old boy shrugged. "Here, take mine." he said. "I'm Alexander" The red haired girl smiled and hugged him. They could see the young girl trying to say Alexander, but she was stuck on the lex part. Her expression became resolved as she turned to the boy. "Your name is Xander now, because Abexander is stupid."

The five year old Xander nodded. "Alright," he had gotten a nickname.

The image stopped playing. They could see Xander looked tired. "And that is how I meet Willow."

Jaina smiled. "You looked so cute. You have got to teach me how to do that." Samy nodded, "Yeah, so cute."

As the waiter arrived with food, Xander put away the crystal, although he was planning to show them more scenes from Sunnydale later. Only Jaina knew English, but she wasn't too good at it, but knowing an unknown language could be useful.

As they were eating a loud obnoxious voice jelled out. "You, I challenge you to a duel of honor."

Xander raised an eyebrow as he turned around.

Seeing a dark haired man dressed in robe like pants and a shirt. Behind him Xander could see the idiot he had insulted at the party a while ago.

Xander answered. "Not interested."

The man frowned. Unless the Jedi accepted, he would not get the money he had been promised. "What, are you to afraid to fight like man? Not surprising as you surround yourself with whores."

Xander turned and looked at the man with a lazy eye.

Jaina's hand on his knee stopped him. "That's the best insult you can come up with? Intelligence sure is a rare gift in this part of the universe." he twitched. "Oops."

Jaina looked at him with irritation. "You were supposed to ignore the idiot."

Jacen was a bit curious. "What do you mean with better insults?"

Xander shrugged. "He could have said something like," Jaina sighed resignedly. "That the girls were boys dressed up like girls or that I might like my men hairy," he explained.

Looking at the duelist he said: "Correct, that's a much more biting insult, but calling me fearful when I know I'm not, is not going to work at all."

The duelist opened his mouth. "So you…" he was interrupted by Xander. He could see holo cameras hiding nearby.

"No no. I already used that as an example on how to insult. Come up with your own insult. There are so many different ways you could insult me."

He grinned. "Or are you so unable of insulting others that you need a script writer?" Xander looked at his cup of caf and put it down again. "Drugs? Putting drugs in my caf, now that is an insult. But I'm not angry at you." he said turning to the café waiter, who paled.

Xander smiled at him. "So why did you drug my caf?"

The waiter swallowed. "He ordered me to," he said, shivering in fear.

Xander turned to his girlfriend. "Jaina, can I show the idiot how Jedi Knights fight?"

Jaina nodded.

Xander stood up and pointed at the rich idiot he had insulted at the party. "You, I challenge you to a duel, you inbred, incompetent imbecile, who is even unable to hire competent fighters to do his dirty work."

The professional duelist started. "Hey. I chal…" He was silenced by a wookiee that grabbed his head.

Jaina shook her head. "Wait your turn." she admonished him.

Lowbacka forced the man's head to move in a nodding motion.

The noble man backed down. "What? Are you unable to stand like a man? You shivering squirming worm." Xander said. "Is it just you or are all of your fathers cum droppings the same gutless wonders?"

The duelists listen in rapped fascination.

By now the noble man was red in fury. "I accept."

Xander sneered. "Accept what? Talking is supposed to separate sentient beings from animals."

The man was livid now. "I accept the challenge. Lightfoils at dawn."

"Listen, you poster boy for pre-emptive abortion. Lightblades and right now." he said. "I have work to do and places to go, you worthless waste of human skin."

"I… I accepted the terms." the man stuttered in his anger.

Xander turned. "You wanted a duel also asshole. Five seconds after he is done, you are next."

The professional frowned at that. If he did it like that, he would get no money. "No, I go first." he said.
Xander shrugged. "Lightblades now." he answered.

The duelist was angry at having a furry hair ball that smelled like roses detain him and it was clouding his senses.

Xander turned around to the holo-camera documenting the occurrence. "You heard it, they accepted the terms. Lightblades and not lightfoils, but any energy bladed weapon."

The professional duelist swore. This was bad.

From somewhere an official officer walked up, nodding. "That is what the camera says".

Xander walked out of the cafe. "Ready." he said, holding his lightsaber up. The dagger was attached at the end making it a double bladed lightsword. The duelist grabbed his lightfoil, a thin string sprung up from the handle as he activated it. A force field around the string created a thinner and weaker blade then what the lightsaber had.

Snap Hiss.

Two blades, one short and the other long, hissed out from the Jedi lightsaber. The crowed watched in awe at the strange double bladed lightsaber. It looked impossible to use.

The officer swallowed. "Ready? Set, fight." he said, quickly moving away.

Cut, stab, slash the duelist jumped in, but each attack was parried either by the dagger or by the sword. The Jedi seemed to fight defensively only, taking no action except for parrying. Then suddenly something clicked in the eyes of the Jedi.
Xander grinned. He had him. The guy was good, was being the key word.

Suddenly with a swinging motion the long end of his lightsaber came down just as the duelist dodged and parried the short dagger like end. Xander danced aside, swinging the long side of the blade down.

The duelist frowned as the Jedi seemed to dance, the two sides of the blade were everywhere. There, he saw an opening.
He jumped in, striking fast in the middle of the chest and the Jedi would not be able to parry unless he wanted to cut off his own arm with the long blade.

Hiss and the Jedi parried with the short end.

The duelist looked in surprise and before he had a chance to do something else, the long end of the blade rested under his jaw. "Surrender" Xander said. That's when the duelist saw it. The double-bladed lightsaber was now in two pieces, one normal and one dagger size.

Xander grinned. "A good fight," he looked up. "Right, next," he said.

The noble man looked afraid now.

The official nodded. "Are you ready?"

They nodded and the fight was on.

Stab dodge. Stab dodge. Xander jelled: "Ole" and wished he could slap the idiot in the ass with his sword without cutting him in half.

As the noble man came back for more, Xander asked him a question. "Do any of you know why Jedi use Lightsabers and not lightfoils? After all, lightfoils are easier to build."

There was silence.

"I'll show you," he said. With one swift attack he slashed hard at the noble man's light-foil. A sound like an explosion was heard as half of the foil was sent flying in the air and the lower back short-circuited in the noble man's hand.
Xander held up his lightsabers. "And that's the difference between toys used by boys and the adult variant." he said.

The noble man stuttered. "I surrender."

Xander rolled his eyes. "Let's get out of here," he said as they moved away.

Jaina was amazed. "How did you do that?"

Xander grinned. "I read up on light-foils. Anything a lightsaber can do a light-foil can do, too. Except that a lightsaber can cut deeper and the light-foil depends on a thin energy coil to project the energy field around it. Thin coils can break if they are exposed to a weapon that focuses energy better."

Lowbacka nodded, like a lightsaber. Its energy was far more focused.

*

Two days later outside the sol system Insharil

The crew of the Enterprise was hiding as they read the information on the system. It was an empty system, with no native sentient life. Its irregular orbit made its winter below -10 even in the equator region and during the summer half of the year it was too close to the sun, with temperatures of over 45 degrees Celsius.

The sad part was that the difference between the polar region and the equator was not that big, great storms helped to spread the warmth over the planet, but according to Talon Kardde's information, the pirates that had been plundering outside the Minos Cluster were hiding near the equator.

Xander nodded. "Let's sneak in. Its spring, so the snow should be gone by now." He said studding the holo map of the planet. "Any ideas?" he asked.

The others blinked as they watched him.

Xander sighed. "Come on. I'm from a primitive ass end of space type planet. You guys have all the knowledge."

Jaina shrugged. "Ride in and kick butt. It's worked before."

Jacen shook his head "We could observe the group first. From what I read it's only a Correlian corvette and perhaps half a dozen old X-wings."

Samy asked, "Why don't we call for backup?"

They blinked.

Jaina held up a tiny comlink. "Rogue squadron?" They nodded.

The Enterprise changed direction again.

*

Sometime later on a nearby planet

The native groups of humans, on Stone Age level of technology, were keeping far away from the alien starships that had landed on the island.

Gavin Darklighter climbed out of his ship. "Goodag. You ask for a group willing to do some damage and keep it silent?"
Beside him walked General Wedge Antilles.

Jacen grinned at them. "Hi Wedge," he said. Jaina rushed forward and hugged the man. "Hi!" she said to the man who was a close friend of the family.

Wedge nodded. "I wanted a good explanation to why Jacen and Lowbacka, who are officially missing, are suddenly here and looking good."

Xander answered him. "Luke trusts you so I'm going to show you," he said, giving the older man a tiny object. "We found this in Jaina's X-wing. Evidence indicates that every Jedi craft given to them by the Republic, has a similar explosive installed and the Jedi have started to die or suddenly vanish during missions."

Wedge turned to one of the pilots that stood silently by. "Corran, is this true?"

The Jedi master and commander of Rogue Squadron nodded. "My wife gave me a warning. We managed to remove the explosive from my X-Wing. But my investigations told me that at least one person in the support crew is part of the conspiracy."

Wedge swore. "That is not good. It could become a civil war."

Corran sighed. "Wedge I don't like to say it, but the core reason the old Republic worked and was stable, were the Jedi Knights. The reason it fell was because that the Jedi order had grown weak and the Republic too large. All Palpatine had to do, was push."

Gavin frowned. "And the New republic is almost as big as the old one was before the fall." He did not like the implications of that.

Xander nodded. "We have a pirate base to take out and sure the four of us could attack with lightsabers swinging and pirates dying. But I was thinking something more along the lines of taking them alive." He then looked at Wedge. "And here comes the real trick. We owe somebody that helped us remove the explosives and warn other Jedi. After the pirates are done, we leave the place and IF a smuggler should happen to arrive and plunder the place, we will be too late to stop him," he said simply.

Corran Horn and Wedge nodded and so did Gavin, but he looked unhappy about it.

Xander smiled. "So who are the pilots?" he asked.

Corran frowned. "The best of the best, you said a land mission so we found some we could trust in the Wraith Squadron and asked them to join us. Officially they are all on vacation."

Xander blinked. Wraith Squadron, where had he heard about them?

Seeing his confusion Wedge explained, the Wraiths had been his brain child after all. "The Wraiths are a team of ace pilots, elite pilots who could fight almost as well on the ground as they did in space."

He looked at the youth. "Many times the Rogue Squadron had to fly and land to finish the fight. With the Wraiths I did the reverse. They are a team of elite fighters, infiltrators, saboteurs, snipers, and demolition experts who can fly almost as well as they fight on the ground."

Around him the pilots puffed up in pride. It was no secret that Rogue Squadron was the brain child of Luke Skywalker, Wedge Antilles and Wes Jansson, but the Wraiths were his creation.

The Rogues had been Wedge's home, his family, his love and his adopted child. He loved the squadron and was proud of it, but the Wraith's were his child and they could hear in his voice the pride of a proud father.

Even if the heroic actions of the Wraith's were seldom heard about, it was still the secret weapon of the Republic.

"That so? You guys have got to be incredible then." Xander said. The others laughed at the young man's eager voice.

The Rogue's had seen him and Jaina in action, training with seekers, and their laughter was out of fondness, but the Wraith's had not.

A young man with a hard face marred by scars frowned. "So how can we be sure you guys can keep up with us?"

Now it was the members of Rogue Squadron that laughed.

Corran Horn chuckled. "They were trained by Kyle Katarn and me." The Wraith's stopped laughing at that. Among them Kyle was a legend, a dark whisper that kept Imperial officers awake at night screaming for their mommy.

Wedge nodded. "So how do we do it then?" he asked and looked at Xander.

Xander looked at the sky. "Why me? Alright, first we use infiltration to find their weaknesses and strengths. Perhaps
destroy or sabotage the fighters while they are grounded. You said sniper, correct? If it comes to a fight, then he could give us support."

Xander frowned. "You are 16 right now. That's a squadron and four men. We infiltrate and destroy or sabotage the base generator, then attack. Give us a squadron's worth of air support to scare them and force them to escape, so that they hide outside of their base."

Wedge nodded, "Where you and the others are waiting, with a sniper." He said. It wasn't a bad plan.

Corran asked, "What if they have an escape ship waiting?"

Xander smiled. "I'm counting on it. That's why I said a squadron's worth. Don't tell me you guys need 12 fighters to wreck havoc on a pirate base?" he looked at the pilots. "Two to four fighters will be attacking. The rest waits for the runner and forces it down."

They laughed at his badly hidden insult.

Samy raised her hand. "Um what will I do?"

Xander frowned. "Lowbacka, Jacen, both of you are good pilots. The Enterprise would be useful as air support."

Lowbacka growled out an affirmative. He would do it.

Xander nodded. "Right, Lowbacka and Samy, you are the Enterprise crew. Your mission is to coordinate with the Slayer Squadron."

One pilot blinked. "Slayer squadron?" he asked.

Xander turned to him. "Half of you are Rogues and the rest are Wraiths and you're both the best. So's the Slayer. The Slayer was and is a girl on my home world born with powers that rival that of a Jedi. She has the natural instincts to hunt down evil, anyone murdering innocents for fun. With those instincts came also strength and speed almost four times that of a normal human. She also has a natural talent for any form of fighting. A normal slayer learns in a week what others spend months or years learning when it comes to fighting. A slayer's powers are activated suddenly without warning when she reaches the age between 12 - 18 or it could stay inactive her whole life, depending on the situation. "

One female grinned: "GIRL POWER. Now that is a kick ass woman," she said.

Xander lifted the crystal ball. "Not really. Normally a slayer lives perhaps a year or so before she dies. There are real monsters on my home world," he said, focusing a memory of Buffy kicking ass in super speed surrounded by demons and vampires.

The squadron closed in as they watched a tiny young girl kick ass in over drive, sending beings twice her size flying with a strength that made them crash true walls and dusting human looking beings.

Xander continued. "The human monsters are vampires. They are a parasite that infects dead bodies and reanimates them. Vampires need a constant flow of blood and other fluids to keep their body moving. Use the correct weapon and they turn to dust."

Corran Horn looked up. "You have to tech me that crystal trick," he said. Xander nodded. "Luke told me a bit about your home world. I just hope we are never going to see those beings here," he said.

Xander nodded. "Me too."

The newly named Slayer Squadron nodded. "Poor girl, those things moved so fast. Was that your arm I saw?" one asked.

Xander nodded. "You saw everything through my eyes. I was sixteen and had no training then." He grinned. "We found out that while a Slayer is the greatest student in the art of fighting, they are the worst ever as teachers. The fact that a normal human is unable to become a master in any form of combat in only a week is not something they seemed to grasp or something Buffy at least was unable to understand."

The squadron grinned. "How good was she?" one asked.

Xander frowned. "No idea. But I would not be surprised if she managed to defeat Master Corran or Luke Skywalker in a fight."

The Jedi Master, after seeing that and hearing the conviction in the young Jedi, simply nodded. "It is possible. She has the power of combat, a perfect warrior in a way."

*

13. 4-5

Note: I know you are all probably bored with those kind of notes, but it has to be done because she earned it. So again our tx to Inachis for her work.

Note2: Happy Eastern to all of you.

4-5

Later on the planet Insharil

Sneaking up onto the pirate base was easier then Xander had expected. Then of course it was not a real military base.

The security was a joke. The crew was lazy and except for the animal traps that he almost was captured in, there was nothing he had to worry about. The members of the Wraith, now Slayer Squadron were on the ground team, he waved his hand as they joined up. "I put micro charges on the fighters. They will not lift unless somebody replaces the broken cables."

Micro-charges were a new thing he had learned about, they were tiny charges that created almost soundless small explosions for destroying power cables or other small, soft or fragile objects. The best part about the micro-charges was that now every one of the pirate starfighters was unable to fly and finding the fault was almost impossible. The tech computer would read it as a complete engine malfunction when in actuality only one cable had been cut. It would take perhaps 12 minutes to replace or half a minute to patch as an emergency repair, if you could find it.

As they spoke, unheard and unnoticed, the tiny micro charges suddenly went puff, cutting of vital power cables inside the old X-wings and the even older Z-95 Headhunters these pirates were using.

Putting the last speaker in place they sneaked out.

Jaina and he had sneaked inside as many buildings as possible. The pirates had used space containers as buildings, some of which were over 30 meters wide and 25 meters tall and around 60 meters long. It worked perfectly. They looked ugly, but it was a fast and perfect solution to the housing problem. Those containers could carry live cargo in space as long as they had energy to power their life support units.

"Slayer Squadron, show them what you are made of."

In space Wedge's voice was heard over the radio. "Slayers 1-2, are you ready? Take the first run," he said. "Slayers 3-4, you will follow at a normal distance. Let's not be pushy boys, the girls might be shy."

Suddenly part of the base exploded, sending a rain of dirt into the sky.

More and more explosions were heard as the X-Wings attacked. From a distance you could see they were attacking the ground and some of the containers, but not the pirates or the containers that the pirates lived in.

Panic broke out as the fighters failed to work. When the pirates tried to run for the hills, the X-wings attacked them again, driving them back to the base. There was only one way to run in, into the valley and the sharp cliffs that would protect them or so some thought as they ran. Some were driving their speeders. Others were sneaking into the underground hangar where they had an old patrol ship secreted away.

As the first pirate entered the valley they suddenly saw a man diving down from the cliff, holding two lightsabers. The Jedi landed on the speeder skiff just in front of the driver. One Force push and the pirate was flying out of the skiff. Xander pushed the lightsaber into the engine, making the skiff crash down.

He was out of the craft before it crashed.

Jaina joined him side by side as Jacen took to the sky with his Star-slinger and hunted down the pirates on speeder bikes or swoops.

The voice of Gavin echoed around the valley. "Surrender now or you will be dead soon."

Seeing the Jedi walk in, parrying blaster bolts with their lightsabers, one by one the pirates surrender. Only a small number were brave (or stupid) enough to challenge them.

As most of the criminals had given up, a small gang armed with energy weapons attacked. Bolt after bolt of energy rained on the Jedi as they parried.

Xander was feeling rather irritated. What were they trying to do? He saw yet another one lift a heavy blaster rifle. Well that pirate would get the blast returned to him, he thought. Here they were actually being nice and trying to capture the pirates alive and they refused to give up.

Then suddenly Jaina screamed, "JUMP!"

It was almost too late. Just as Xander jumped the ground exploded from the powerful concussion rifle. Landing Xander did not look happy. A Force push and the rain of stones turned into missiles which showed the pirates the error of their ways.
As the guy with the concussion rifle lifted it again to shoot, Xander stood ready with his lightsaber. His whole body screamed, "Fire away if you got the guts". Jaina looked nervous. She knew Xander was not stupid enough to try parrying a concussion rifle blast.

The second the pirate pulled the trigger Xander forced the pipe of the gun down and the blast made the ground near where the pirate stood explode.

That is when the fight stopped.

*

Later

Xander twitched at the pain in his arm. "It is nothing," he said, as Jaina did first aid on him.
Jaina shook her head. "That was a concussion rifle." She shivered. If she had not warned him, Xander might have died as he tried to parry the rifle attack.

Xander shrugged. "I know it was a concussion rifle now, but it looked like a blaster rifle. I'm sorry."
Jaina relaxed. "I was so worried that you would die."

Jacen returned with Lowbacka and Samy. "Reporting for duty," he said. Not really his style to be second in command, but Xander's plan had been good. "We got the runners," he added.

Wedge called in from above, "General Wedge Antilles reporting that Slayer squadron has defeated the pirates in a show of skill I only believed the Rouges or the Wraiths could have." They could hear the grin in his voice.

Xander responded: "Excellent. All right, let us cage up the pirates in one of the space containers able to carry LIVE cargo. My ship is able to lift 150 tons and it's only about 200 pirates and just a 12 hour journey to Eliad." He then continued. "I want you all to know this. Republic officers and men are not beings that plunder from fallen enemies. But Republic beings that are officially on a vacation like you are having been known to find a souvenir or two," he said.

The Slayer squadron all arrived as they chained up the pirates in a container that they had checked then double checked to make sure it would work, once that was done the Rogues and the Wraiths looked through the left over objects, picking up some valued treasure.

Jaina, Jacen, Lowbacka and Samy did the same thing.

Xander on the other hand was meditating over what was most useful or interesting. Soon small objects were picked up as they moved around.

"Samy, join me," he said. "Close your eyes and stretch out with the Force," he instructed. She felt a fluttering like a butterfly wing at first then stronger as she reached out into the Force. –Jacen- she said in her mind.
On the other side Jacen twitched -Samy, what are you doing in my mind?- he questioned her, surprised that the girl knew telepathy.

Xander grinned. –I am teaching her Jacen. I was planning to let her learn meditation, but she seems to be a natural at contacting you- he mind talked to Jacen. Normally it was a difficult task in itself, but while meditating and with Samy as a link, it was easy.

*

Later in hyperspace

As it was only a 12 hour jump to Eliad, Corran who would be going to Mestra, asked for a lift for part of the way.
Hanging under the Enterprise was a huge cargo container, loaded with pirates chained to the wall of the container. Its life-support system would give them air, gravity, heat and some lights.

Corran Horn held the crystal as he tried to imitate Xander's trick. At first nothing happened, and then slowly a wild flash of images appeared. "This is difficult to do," he said.

Xander nodded. "Yes. I trained using a piece of transparent plastic. The ghost said if I could get a flash of pictures inside that, I would have mastered the art of the crystal by the time I found one. Use Mestra crystals and gems. They are cheap and buy something for you wife while you there."

Then he grinned evilly. "Or I will tell her that you where there and forgot all about her."

Corran Horn did not look amused, but nodded. "A transparent plastic ball, do you have one?"

Xander brought out a small fist sized transparent rubber ball, a bouncing ball of the type children love to play with, but transparent. He focused and flashes were seen within the plastic. "Natural crystals seemed to work better, but this is a great training tool before you use a real one."

The rest of the afternoon he could enjoy himself by looking at Corran Horn staring at a plastic ball where nothing was happening.

Jacen was feeling sorry for his master. "Did you lie to him Xander? Is that the crystal training you did?"

Xander nodded. "Yes. I never said it was easy. Plastic demands more power and control then a real crystal, but if you make a mistake and the plastic is destroyed, it costs less to replace than a real crystal."

Behind him Corran jumped as the ball was suddenly crushed in his hand. "Oops." He frowned "Do you have any more?" he asked.

Xander nodded as he got a small bag from his spacer chest. "Here, knock yourself out. It took me fifty balls." He threw one at the wall, using telekinesis to change its path. "But then I also used them for telekinetic training."

The ball bounced in the air and every now and then it would bounce into the wrong direction as if somebody had hit it.

Then Xander captured it. "I heard you are good at illusions made through manipulating energy, but weak at telekinesis. Have you ever tried focusing the light in an area and using it as a weapon?"

Corran horn frowned. "Could you show me?"

Xander shrugged. "Nope, energy manipulation is nothing I'm a master off. But it has been done by past Jedi or so the ghosts say." he lied.

He never even asked the ghost about that, but it should be possible. Old myths said Jedi defeated enemies using the power of the lightside. Therefore it was not a lie.

After all both the ghost of Anakin and Luke Skywalker said that with the Force, anything is possible. Who was he to doubt them?

Corran Horn nodded. He had already sensed one Force ghost visit the boy. Use light? Like a laser perhaps, but how to collect and focus it? Had they looked, they would have seen how the area around Corran Horn turned darker and suddenly tiny blinding flashes of light could be seen coming from his hand.

Corran frowned. That was difficult, both to collect light and then to focus it. It just escaped in a flash. He looked at his hands. Perhaps he would need a focusing tool, like a crystal. He lifted the rubber ball. As he drained the area around him of the light the room became dark. Then a flash of blinding light was seen and the sound of a rubber ball exploding could be heard.

Corran Horn rubbed the burns on his hand. "Need something to focus the light in. A rubber ball was not good enough," he simply said.

Xander, blinking his eyes, nodded. "Use a gem, crystal or maybe glass then," he said, happy that he had told the Jedi Master the truth. "You do know, Master Corran, that what I told you were a theory, which you just proved to me, would work?"

Corran Horn blinked. "A theory, you lied to me?" he said in surprise.

Xander shook his head. "No. I would not lie. It was the truth from a certain point of view. Luke always said that anything is possible with the Force. Correct? Tionne told us about legends were Jedi strike down their enemies with the power of the lightside of the Force. The old myth was very specific that it was the power of the lightside."

Corran frowned. "I don't get it," he said. Then he opened his mouth again. "No, I do get it. What if it was not the power of the light, instead a Jedi manipulating the light itself?" he grinned. "If you ever get another idea like that, please do lie to me, would you?"

Xander huffed. "I do not consider that a lie, just active reconstruction of facts that turned into myth."
Laughter echoed in the room.

The 12 hours passed quickly and Corran Horn left the transport in his X-wing and flew away to the Mestra system.

The Eliad system was right before them.

*

Later

The paper work had taken them a whole day to fill out. Xander had walked out sometime during it to find something special.

*

Later in the ship

Jaina looked with suspicion at the pile of bags that had been stacked up against the wall. "Um, what is all that?"

Xander pulled out a simple lightly armed battle jumpsuit, one size fits all. It was dark black with a picture on the back. A circle and inside it she could see a girl holding a sword and throwing an X-wing away or maybe using it as a throwing weapon. Around the circle was written: "Slayer squadron, just as good as any of the Rogues or Wraiths."

Xander smiled. "I'm going to send these over to the guys in Rogue and Wraith Squadron that helped us. You guys also get one each."

Jaina giggled. The Slayer crest was fun.

-KA-

Later that morning

Xander returned from the cockpit. "Luke is calling a meeting. We have to pick up Corran, he knows where it is."

Jaina nodded. "To Mestra then," she just hoped the fly guy had not vanished from there in the mean time.

Samy frowned. "Do you guys ever stay on a planet?" She had heard about spacers, but this was ridiculous.
The young Jedi Knights looked at each other, slowly nodding, "Sometimes."

End of Chapter 4

14. 5-0

Note: It's us again and now we have to say our humble Thank you to Inachis for all her work.

5-0

Four days later

Corran Horn was once again back on the Enterprise and they were on their way to see Luke. Xander was currently meditating inside the jail cell. With so many onboard Samy had started to sleep in Jacen's room. She found a lock pick and he gave up. The girl had calmed down somewhat lately. During their first meeting, she had been overtaken by joy that her dreams were real and had lost control over her emotions.

The Jedi had come to an agreement. The jail cell would work as a meditation chamber. Anybody inside were to be left alone.
Not that Xander was completely alone.

"Good after noon Master Anakin, Mistress Jocasta Nu and Master Saesee Tiin," he said, greeting Jaina's grandfather and the strange demon like looking Jedi Master that had just arrived. Saesee Tiin was once a Jedi Master on the Council. He had worked side by side with Yoda until Chancellor Palpatine had killed him. He was a male Iktochi with pale red, almost sickly pink, skin and a pair of big down pointing horns. Even if his appearance was telling Xander to run, the Jedi Master was growing on him. You could feel the power and kindness in his eyes.

Mistress Jocasta Nu was once the librarian of the Jedi temple on Coruscant. She had been murdered by Darth Vader as an old woman.

The ghosts greeted him as they started the lessons for the night.

Xander asked, "Have you found the reason why I'm a ghost magnet?"

Anakin nodded. "I do believe so. You do come from an alternate reality, one that seems to have different laws of nature. They changed you and adapted you to fit our nature. They also tried to make you powerful by granting you what they sensed was the gift of powerful warriors, Force sensitivity. Like any Jedi or Sith, but part of your original nature still exists, your natural ability to see ghosts and interact with spirits seems to have been improved when they made you Force sensitive."

Xander nodded. "They said that witches, the Slayer, even vampires or demons from my reality would not survive in your reality. Do you believe the reverse to be true?" he asked.

Jocasta Nu answered the question. "The first time you asked that question Anakin said that the answer would have to wait. We have asked any sprits we could about this and yes we do believe that they told you the truth. Making you part of the Force has forever banished you from your home" she finished.

Xander nodded. "I knew that would most likely happen and honestly I have no plans for returning home." He sighed to himself. "Right, let's start the lesson."

The three ghosts started to describe the powers of Jedi long gone and Xander memorized the training methods, trying to learn them himself. Most were just recorded in R3 for later review for when he would become more skilled and to give Luke a copy.

*

Later, on a planet called Susevfi.

With the Enterprise behind them, parked by a river flowing near a forest, they could see many ships all around the river, but the forest itself made it hard to see how many there actually were.

As they left the ship and followed Corran Horn, their Jedi Master, they saw Luke, Leia and many other old and young Jedi Knights sitting around a campfire. Probably around a hundred Jedi or more where gathered here. Strange Force user's Xander had never seen before were standing near Luke. They had armor with mostly animal face masks, but some had other styles on their mask, one even had the face of a crying human. The face mask hid their identity. Only a small number had removed their mask.

Xander smiled. "Alright, Luke is alive." Now they would rock.

Luke nodded. "For most your warning came in time. For some it did not. Kyp Durron and more than nine other students have been murdered in the last week alone. The Duros Helake was among the first. Over seventy Jedi have been murdered in all." he finished.

Xander swallowed as he felt his knees go weak. "So many?" he asked.

Luke nodded. He felt tired. "Yes. Many Jedi trained by me have taken their own students. Our order had been growing stronger than the Republic knew, yet still too weak to openly fight the forces of greed."

Leia nodded. "But we have a bigger problem. Kyp died somewhere near Coruscant. I felt his passing myself. Two days later President Borsk was murdered by a lightsaber. Guards and a young Bothan secretary claimed they saw Kyp do that. Kyp's lightsaber was left behind. The guard claimed he managed to shoot the Jedi in his hand and the secretary confirmed that story."

One of the armored beings interrupted. "Who do you think did it?" he asked.

Leia shook her head. "I do not know, but they suspended my rights as a senator because of my ties with the alleged criminal Kyp Duron. Han and I took the Falcon out as fast as we could," she said.

Luke nodded. "It is as we have foreseen. The numbers of Jedi are too small for us to keep the Republic stable. Saarai-Kaar, I wish that you and your Jensaarair would help our young students further their skill in the Force. Train them in the path of Jensaarair. It is a grim future we face and the Republic does not know about your order yet, although they will have the information eventually. It's only a question of time and a question of what they will do once they learn of you."

The female with the crying girl mask walked up. "I understand, Jedi Master. It will be done. The time has come for Jedi and Jensaarair to stand as brothers and sisters. What the Jedi knew, they have been teaching us. Now it's time for us to teach them."

Jacen frowned. "Uncle?" Seeing Luke's face he corrected himself, "Master Skywalker, what are you going to do?" he asked.

Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master, looked around. "Master Horn, Master Katarn, Mistress Leia and I are going to infiltrate the Republic. Right now they are arguing over where to lay the blame. We are going to find evidence to clear our name, but also remove the Jedi artifacts from Coruscant." he finished.

Mara Jade interrupted what many younger Jedi were about to say. "Quiet down, even if they succeed it might be too late. According to the reports, over fifteen sectors already have withdrawn their support. The Republic is falling."

The lady called Saarai-Kaar walked forward. "Come with me, young Jedi and Jedi Mistress Jade Skywalker. It's too cold here for your child." she finished, removing the mask, showing her face as that of an old woman with a gentle face.

Xander sighed. "Saarai-Kaar, I am coming a bit later. I have something I have to talk to Master Skywalker about. Master Luke." he said. "Here are the new recordings I made with R3. We have also Samy, a girl that needs training, with us. I have written down all her teacher needs to know. There is also a warning from the ghosts. Choose wisely the heir of the Republic." he finished.

Luke nodded. "I understand. The Jensaarair and Mara Jade can help her with the basics. You should hurry up." he sighed as Xander vanished.

They had all been made look like fools. Blinded by their past experience, they had investigated Borsk Fey'lya, the president of the Republic, and his group of Bothans. They had found much evidence on some minor crimes, but nothing really condemning and they knew he hated the Jedi.

Then this new side came attacking from nowhere. He had his suspicions. A group of aliens, reptilian Yinchorr from the planet Yinchorr, had been seen making friends with many different groups, among them the Bothans.

He had only had little dealings with them, but what he knew of them was that they were Force resistant against mind manipulation. They lived by the expression: Might makes right. Most of this, he had read about during his research into the beginnings of the Clone Wars.

Years before the Clone Wars started or his own father was born, they had tried to destroy the Jedi, but they failed. A small group of Jedi traveled to their home world and took their ruling elders hostage, proving the Jedi had the right of power. The Jedi had found evidence that they had been manipulated by an outsider.

Later the Empire destroyed most of their home world. Only a small number survived, at least according to the history books. His gut feeling was screaming about them. Revenge was part of their philosophy. If they blamed the Jedi for their own destruction, they would seek to destroy the Jedi in turn. They could have manipulated others to turn against the Jedi just to get petty revenge or were they only part of the plot, a minor player themselves?

Luke was not sure, but he would be soon.

*

Later on Susevfi

Saarai-Kaar told the young Jedi of their past. "The meaning of the word Jensaarair is 'follower of the truth' and the meaning of the name Saarai-Kaar is 'keeper of the truth'. We are the protectors of this world and those that live on it. The armor is a sign of our dedication to the truth and the protection of others." She looked at them.

"Our beginning was not that noble. A renegade Jedi fiddling with the teachings of the Sith had created his own order, the Jensaarai. During that time he was still a user of the lightside. The darkside he told us about was wrong and evil, but I do not know if it was the hunger for power or foolishness that made him and his brothers leave to find more secrets of the Force. Secrets they were planning on finding in Dark side tomes," she said sadly.

"All of them turned to the darkside and committed crimes that forced the Jedi to hunt them down. We the Jensaarai did not know what had happened. Our first Saarai-Kaar warned us that the Jedi were evil and would be hunting us down. He asked us to hide while he took care of them, but he failed. The four Jedi killed him and his team in a duel to the death." She looked at them.

"Many years later, with the help of Master Skywalker, we found out that he was planning on transforming the Jensaarai into his darkside soldiers, but thanks to his death we survived and grew stronger in the lightside. Our teachings are different from the Jedi, but they are similar enough that we can go to the advanced lessons in Force skills and Force alchemy, the ability to impute the power of the Force in a non living object. One of the final tests the Jensaarai have is to build an armor that has been made one with the Force. We are going to tech you that and more."

And school started, again. The Jensaarai kept the students busy with learning as the older Jedi had walked in to the jaws of danger and did not want the younger generation to follow. The Saarai-Kaar was more than happy to train them and unlike training children, these Jedi already knew the basics. She only had to improve and show them the new tricks. Once they got the basics of the new skill, they could master it on their own. That way she could teach them even more skills.

It was different from the normal Jedi Praxeum was. The first week the Jensaarai spend trying to figure out what level of skill the different students had. Then came the training itself. Technology and how to merge it with the art of alchemy, the art of empowering a non living object with the Force.

The Jensaarai used it on their armors, but there were pilots among them who had improved the connection between a pilot and his starship with the help of alchemy. It was mostly theoretic, except that they were being showed how to build their own armor.

One of the Force skills they where showed and taught were Ballistakinesis, how to use telekinesis to make deadly projectiles out of tiny objects and using the Force to aim them at the target. Ballistakinesis was an art which Xander quickly mastered as he already had started to learn how to aim using the Force.

Then the more exotic arts:

Force stealth to move without being sensed through the Force or by a human eye. A stronger Force user could over power the Force stealth and if the stealth user came too close to a skilled Force user, he would know that something was nearby, but not where or in what direction. A good sense of hearing and smell could cause a stealth user to be discovered. Lastly anybody actively using a Force Cloak could detect them.

The great advantage with Force stealth was that you could have only part of it active. Anybody would still be able to see you, but detecting where somebody was over a long distance was almost impossible using the Force. This skill had kept the Jensaarai hidden from the Empire and Lord Vader.

Then there was the more advanced skill of Force Cloak which is based on Force Stealth. It demanded that you had mastered the stealth skill before you could even try to learn it. Force Cloak was awesome in that it was just like Stealth, but it would hide the user from droids and computers also. Even better, unlike stealth, which was a power that affected the user only, the Cloak could be used to hide more than just the user. A skilled Jensaarai would cloak a whole star fighter or even a transport from the eyes of sensors and Force users. A group could cloak a whole Star Destroyer, something the Jensaarai had done in the past.

While both Force Cloak and Stealth could hide a Jensaarai from being detected by the Force, a skilled Force user would still detect that something was nearby, but just not where. While the Force Cloak was more powerful and also hid both sound and smell, it drained more energy from the user, so even a master of the Cloak used Stealth if they had to move undetected for a longer period.

Jaina and Jacen had taken to this like a fish to water, learning Stealth and the basics of the Cloak in record time. Second came Lowbacka and Tenel-Ka. Xander was the last as his Stealth was good, but his Cloak was unstable. He needed to train more.

Among the Jedi students were others that had come from other Force using traditions and had joined Luke's Jedi order to learn more of the Force. Kirana-Ti, like Tenel-ka, was trained in the way of the Jedi, but also in the way of the Force the witches of Dathomir used. Her people had been using similar methods of alchemy to make their armor stronger, even if the materials they used were more primitive.

With that revelation the witch decided to teach them to anybody willing to learn more skills of her people. Such as Force Flight, a telekinetic trick, were you used your power to fly a short distance. Most would only be able to fly a short distance of maybe 10 to 200 meters. Others, who had talent in this, could learn to fly a mile before they had to land. She herself was not that strong in this skill, it was only 40 meters before she just could not focus her power of Force flight any longer.
She also taught those who would listen the art of animal domination. The Skill how to tame animals and monsters was the reason why the Witches of Dathomir could tame rancors to let them ride on their backs.

Force Flight was a skill Xander was eager to learn. It was difficult, but he mastered it quickly and soon he could make short jumps and a glide over a short distance. Each day the distance would grow longer as he learned to keep his focus while flying.

Animal Domination was a trick he already knew and had used it on a pair of Vornskr. It was also a skill Jacen managed to master in record time. He too must somehow have used something similar.

A young Gand Jedi tried to teach others the Gand finds man ceremony. It was a tradition of hunters and finders. Focusing completely on their ability to sense and detect, a findsman would be able to detect or find anyone they were searching for, in theory.

Xander, Jaina, Jacen even Lowbacka were unable to understand his lessons. It might have been because the Gand's was only partly trained as a findsman or perhaps it was simply not possible for others to learn.

As the lessons started, Xander had lot of amusement from the situation around him. The triangle of love between Jacen, Samy and Tenel-ka was hilarious to him.

Tenel-Ka was born in the royal courts of the Hapes cluster, a monarchy ruling 63 nearby solar systems, which are always ruled by the queen mother. Her father was the crown prince and her mother, a powerful warrior witch of Dathomir, was by marriage the future queen mother.

Dathomir witches were stronger and taller than the average human female. Until recently the only thing a man could be on Dathomir was a slave, protected by a witch from the monsters that walked the planet. The Hapans had selectively bred themselves to be beautiful and Tenel-ka was a perfect mix of both cultures. She had strength, power, was beautiful and had the intelligence to back it all up as well.

Samy was a Zeltron. A race notorious Hedonistic with empathic powers and pheromone enhanced beauty. She came from a society were monogamous relationships were frowned up on as boring.

It was not a war. It was a slaughter house and Jacen was the only victim. The two girls soon became friends, as Tenel-ka learned about Samy's Force visions. Who was she to go against the wisdom of the Force?

Samy on the other hand showed Tenel-Ka her family picture, knowing that some of the witches of Dathomir had more than one husband or wife, the idea had intrigued her. Besides, as a future Queen mother, she would need a strong husband just to keep himself alive. Hapans practiced assassination within the family.

Her paternal grandmother was a scary person that had killed one of her own sons because he was incompetent. It might even be better if she never married. Many of the Queen mother's never had married the man they loved, just to keep them safe.

As long as she got pregnant at least once, everyone was happy. She was sure in time, with Samy's blessing, Jacen would and could help her with that.

Was it wrong to enjoy the carnage so much? Xander did not think so, as he, Jaina and Lowbacka watched the soap opera that was Jacen's life. Letting Samy come onboard was his smartest idea ever.

Jacen was stuck between being fearful or happy about the whole thing. Now he knew why Luke stayed away from Zeltron. They were just too much and what was worst, you were unable to even stay angry with them.

15. 5-1

Note: A box of virtual cookies goes to Inachis. Tx for your work.

5-1

Later

The Saarai-Kaar was pleased with her decision to keep the young ones away from distracting news, especially since the distracting news was bad. It was time for them to start building their armor and they did not need any distractions.

*

In the workshop

"So what do you think, Jaina, gang?" Xander asked, holding up a holo picture of himself with armor.

They all gathered around him as he held up the holo. He had a lot of help in designing and creating it, from the Jensaarai armor crafter. Sure the last part, the actual alchemy, he would have to do himself and he would also have to learn the art of armor crafting to keep his armor working.

There were two pictures and Xander switched between them. The first was one of him in a bodysuit that looked like a body glove made out of flexible armor, heavier than the normal jump suits, but within the definition of a light armor. It was covered in spun cortosis fiber, a mineral that protected against lightsabers.

The armor itself was black with yellow inside of the arms, no helmet, just a simple cloak with a hood. While the front side was night black, the further back you came, the more green it became. The side of the body suit was dark-green, almost black, while the backside ranged from soft green to dark green.

Jacen asked, "Why that color combination?"

Xander shrugged. "Mostly because I enjoy having green yellow eyes now, but also because in nature, if you're going to hide, a combination of green and black is best. Pure black or plain green and you are easier to see," he said.

"Why no helmet?" Jaina asked leadingly. The two of them had worked together and she knew exactly what Xander would do.

Xander smiled. "But my dear, I do have one." He activated the second picture. "That is just a basic armor, a sealed black body glove. With the helmet on I can survive in vacuum and if things get tough, I can put the rest on," he explained.

Now they saw a computer generated image of him in the same body suit, but over it he had dark yellow armored gauntlets, which protected the whole under arm. The chest piece was yellow green and made out of a hard material that protected his back and front, but not the shoulders. Shoulder pads of the same material took care of that, without limiting his movement. He also had groin armor to protect against low aimed attacks and a dark green helmet with a transparent yellow visor similar to what Mandalorians used.

"The material in the outer plates is plastoid, just like the storm troopers," he said. "The helmet, when sealed to the bodysuit, gives me a 25 minutes survival time in space, if I have the whole armor on, its 2 hours."

"The cloak can also be used as armor," Xander explained. "It's not as good as the real armor, it has almost no protection against bullets or blaster bolts, but it's made out of fire resistant material with great protection abilities against heat. One side lets heat through, the other one reflects it," he continued.

The material was used by fire fighters, because one side of the armor let body heat through and the other side reflected it.

They could stay cool while working in the center of a hot fire storm. Using it as a cloak was an interesting idea. You could use the outside if you were in a cold climate.

"Alright, it's not the best material for heat reflection, but it is soft and flexible." Xander remarked further about the cloak.

Jacen nodded as he looked at his own armor and sighed. It was boring, a simple black and red flexible armor with a sealed helmet that looked disturbingly like a storm troopers, but with bigger eyepieces. Simple, but yet useful.

Jaina looked at Xander's armor. It was unique, not bad and definitive Xander. Her armor was less glorious, just a black body piece made of the same flexible armor material with spun cortosis fiber. It had a helmet, which looked like something a roman soldier would have used (not that she knew anything about the Romans,) except it had a visor that protected her face and the build in hood inside of the helmet gave her whole head protection. Thin plastoid gauntlets protected her hands. She suspected that Xander had build weapons or tools in his. She had only a climbing rope in hers. Both Xander and she had macro binoculars and a radio-comlink installed in the helmet.

Lowbacka growled out as he showed them his picture. Most Wookiees disliked the use of armor, but it was not completely unknown for a Wookiee to don armor. Lowbacka's armor mirrored that fact. Simple yet functional plates protected the vital areas of his body and an open helmet, with a visor, his head. If he needed to enter space, he would use a spacesuit.

Tenel-Ka's armor was looking like an armor shell that was stolen from a crab, pale red in color with a black body piece made of the same material that the rest had used. The helmet was in the same crab like shape and pale red with a simple visor that she could activate if needed. Like the others, her hands and head were sealed and could handle vacuum for a short time. She had put extra armor on her right arm just in case. After all, she did not want to lose that arm too.

The Jensaarai armor crafter nodded at the Jedi. There were only fifteen Jedi that wanted to make a full armor. Most decided for a simple helmet or protective piece. That was just wrong, like running around nude.

But these four, they where special. Jaina's and Xander's armor were exclusive in their design. The two had taken to designing them like a fish to water. In fact, Xander's armor was even aquatic adapted.

No surprise there as the Armor crafter had learned the boy had gills.

They worked well together and understood technology fast.

Jacen on the other hand did not have the instinctive understanding of technology that his sister and friend had, but he did understand his limits and asked for help when he needed it. The armor crafter liked that.

The Wookiee, like most of his species, was proud, dressing up in complete armor felt wrong for the hairy youth.

Then Tenel-ka created a simple looking armor that was high tech. She also had lacked the deeper instinctive understanding of tech, but like Jacen, she had nothing against asking for help.

Finally the armor was build, now they had to put it together, infusing the Force into the material and changing it into something that could repair itself if damaged. After a long month of theory and tests, they now had their armor. All they needed to do was to infuse it with alchemy.

A long draining process of meditation, just like building a lightsaber, it took a month or more with limited time for sleeping or eating and the more complicated the armor was, the longer the process took.

One by one they vanished inside the armor room.

On the roof a slow drum beat started to play to help them enter the trance.

16. 5-2

Note: As in each chapter before we have to thank Inachis again. She really helps a lot.

5-2

Weeks later

Lowbacka was the first to come out, but his armor was the lightest and so the easiest to infuse. Then only a day after Lowbacka, Jacen came out as he had the second easiest armor to infuse. He was followed by Tenel-ka five days later. Her armor was just as simple as Jacen's, but her powers in the Force were weaker.

It took almost a month before Xander returned from his room. The armor fitted perfectly, glistering in the light of the room, and he looked majestic as he walked out.

Only hours later Jaina joined them, the electronics had been difficult to infuse without destroying them, but she had done it. Like a gladiator queen from a time lost long, she glided over to Xander and hugged him. Finally they were done and from the feelings they had gotten from the Force, it was just in the nick of time.

Saarai-Kaar had arrived. "All of you have done well. The lightsaber and your own master's words proved in the eyes of the Jedi that you are Jedi Knights. The armor mastery and the skill needed to make it one with the Force is the sign of a Jensaarai protector." She bowed her head. "Students of the path of the Jedi, I hereby grant you all honorary status as Jensaarai. If you ever need to hide, our home will be open to you," she said.

Then she puts on her face mask.

"As the Saarai-Kaar I have to inform you of the status of the New Republic. The Hapes system along with the Mon-Calamari has withdrawn their support in protest of the Republic's actions and has declared themselves independent. Luke Skywalker is currently missing in action. We know he is alive, but he has vanished. Leia Organa Solo and her husband Han Solo are currently in hiding on Mon Calamari."

Seeing the shocked faces of the youths, she continued. "They managed to find the evidence and the murderer, but that did not stop the Anti-Jedi party from dragging up the past mistakes of both Jedi and other Force users. They declared the Jedi order to be a criminal organization. "

A scared gasp was heard from Jaina. It was like the return of the Empire all over again.

Jacen was flabbergasted. "What? How could that happen?"

Saarai-Kaar sighed. "The Anti-Jedi group is sponsored by many races that disliked the Jedi and was well prepared. They have chosen their representatives carefully. The Senate is currently arguing worse than ever. Hapes and Mon Calamari were not the only systems that removed themselves, nor will they be the last." She shook her head. "The Hutt fractions are arguing that it would be good for the economy to legalize slavery in limited form. The worst is that I believe they might succeed." She studied their faces. "Dark forces are at the center of this. Not as strong as Vader or the Emperor, but strong and able enough to create chaos and destruction instead."

Xander frowned. "Like children in a school yard. What they cannot have, they destroy." He tightens his armored fist. "That does it. Just like my freaking vision. The Republic is dead," he said.

Leaning on the wall he could see Jaina, Samy and Jacen all cry. Quickly he hugged Jaina and with a wave of his hand Jacen and Samy found themselves pushed together.

The stoical Tenel-Ka did not cry, not when somebody other than her most trusted friends could see her.

Jacen dried his tears. "I'm going to find Uncle Luke. What about you guys?"

Samy nodded. "I'm joining you Jacen," she said simply.

Xander pondered the question. "I think it's time I visit a Hutt. He enslaved humans from my home world. I believe he will tell me where they are or he will become a fried Hutt," he simply said.

Now there was no risk that his actions could create war between the Republic and the Hutt sector, which gave him the freedom to act.

Jaina nodded. "I'm joining you," she said. "But first we are going to talk to mom and dad." Her face said it all.

Tenel-ka looked sad. "I have to go home or the fleet will come for me again." she sighed. "I'm going to prepare the Hapes cluster for you. Jacen, Samy, join me, the two of you can find a ship on Hapes." She smiled. "No, do not protest. Luke is my friend also. As crown princess my powers are limited. Dangerous adventures are out, but I can help my friends."
Lowbacka roared out his agreement. He needed to talk to Uncle Chewbacca.

Jaina frowned. "What about Anakin?"

Xander nodded. "We will ask him. Mara, if she's smart, will stay and protect Ben, but she might have a clue where Luke is."
"Anakin is four years younger than you, correct?" he asked the twins. Jaina and Jacen nodded. Jaina was seventeen, just month short of eighteen now. Having a moody 14 year old with them would not be fun.

He frowned, "Do you know the status of Corran Horn and Kyle Katarn?" he asked the Saarai-Kaar. She blinked in surprise: the boy had a voice of command. "Corran Horn and his wife escaped and were last seen on the Errant Venture. Kyle saved his partner Jan Ors, when Republic commandos were holding her jailed as bait to captured him. He apparently disagreed with their actions, they died, and Kyle and Jan are currently on the run."

Xander sighed. "The only reason Kyle would do something like that was if he had a good reason to fear for Jan's life."

The door opened as Mara Jade walked inside. "They were torturing her. Kyle contacted us fifteen minutes ago." She looked at Xander. "And you are right, I can give Jacen navigational info to where Luke is and I'm going to hide here with the Jensaarai. My Ben's life is worth too much for me to risk him." Her face turned soft and happy for a moment as the child in her arms tried to eat her hair.

Xander nodded. "Alright, first the Hapes cluster, then the fishy planet and then Hutt space." He nodded while stretching his body. "I'm going to see that the Enterprise is ready and then I'm going to find somebody and test my lightsaber skills in a friendly way. I need to know that I can fight in this armor." he finished.

The Saarai-Kaar nodded. "Just return here, I will have some of my best ready for you. They will know what knowledge you are seeking and they will test you." She looked at the others.

"You all should join him in this. A short, but hard training fight is something that will teach you how to move in your armor." They could not see it, but inside the face plate she was smiling. "Xander, I'm going to send some of my ship crew over with you. They can help you get the Enterprise ready."

Xander powdered slightly. "Thank you Saarai-Kaar. I must hurry," he said as he moved out, the cloak flying behind him as he vanished outside the building.

Jaina looked at Jacen. "Then we have to ask Anakin, if he wants to stay here and learn more, or join us. And which one of us he wants to join."

Jacen nodded.

Mara leaned back as she sat down beside the Zeltron girl. She thought them a wonderful race of near-humans and for some reason they scared her husband silly.

"Hi." she said as the girl leaned over to look at the baby.

17. 5-3

Note1: As you all have noticed before Inachis has helped a lot to make the read of this story much easier so tx to you again. (I hope you don't get bored hearing it chapter for chapter *g*)

Note2: For all who have read this story before on XanderZone. This chapter was originally split into the parts 5-3 to 5-5, but because I was bored at work to today I looked of all three and put them together.

5-3

Later, near the Enterprise.

"We have come to you to help you train a bit" a Jensaarai with a catlike mask said.

Xander nodded: "Good, should I hold back?" he grinned.

A Jensaarai with a bird mask snorted. "You'd be a fool if you do." There was a reason they wore armor.

With a snip and a hiss the lightsabers were activated. Swinging around with his lightsaber, in double-bladed configuration, Xander attacked.

The Jensaarai was surprised at the speed the youth had and was unable to parry. A hissing sound was heard as the cortosis fiber in his armor made the lightsaber part of Xander's double-bladed weapon disconnect. A short burned cut appeared in the armor of the Jensaarai before he could react. The lightdagger part of Xander's weapon was aimed at the open cut in the Jensaarai's armor.

The others applauded. "Apparently it would be foolish of us to hold back," one said menacingly.

"O shit," was all Xander could say as they attacked.

He danced around, parried as fast as he could, earning some moving space before he disconnected the blades. With lightdagger in one hand and lightsaber in the other, he shifted from the double-bladed style into a free form of Jar'Kai, the double bladed lightsaber form.

Of course his form had mixes of other styles in them. He often began with a mix of Niman and Shien mostly as he held his lightdagger blade in a reverse grip, while he held his Saber in a normal grip. The Niman form was described as the Way of the Rancor. It had no real weaknesses, nor had it any real strengths.

He knew that he often switched from a mix of Niman and Shien to Soresu and Shien. Soresu was also called the way of the mynoc. It was designed to defend against multiple long range attacks, but combine it with Niman or Shien and you would get a dangerous combination, if you managed it.

Xander did manage it. He wasn't a master, but he knew a bit from all 7 forms of official lightsaber combat. He was worthless in Makashi, a style Count Dooku had been a master of, which was a battle form good against other lightsabers, but bad against blasters.

He also knew the double-bladed style and Jar'Kai, the twin blade form. It was Jar'Kai he was fast gaining master-level skill in and he was also not bad in the double-bladed style. The ghosts had showed him and together with Kyle and Jaina they had trained.

Grinning, he parried as the attackers came closer. Whirling like a hurricane, he cut himself a path out. Only the skill, experience and armor of the attackers stopped them from loosing arms and legs to his whirling blades.

Xander frowned as his cloak was cut in half, but that was fine, he had spares. "Alright, let's really try out the armor." he said and opening himself up to the Force, he dived towards them using Force flight. The four Jensaarai dived for cover before striking back with Force pushes and Ballistakinesis, sending a rain of deadly missiles towards him.

It would not be easy to test this hot-headed Jedi and from above came a hyena like laughter as mist suddenly began rising from the lake, hiding them all and leaving only the lightsabers to be seen in the thick fog.

"Now, this is a trick which was worth learning." Xander voice was heard from somewhere.

The Jensaarai nodded, definitive more work than expected.

*

Later in space towards Hapes space

Jacen starred at him.

Xander frowned back. "What?"

Jacen shook his head. "You put two of them in the hospital with multiple broken bones," he said.

Xander flinched at that. "Um, I might have overestimated their skill a little."

Jaina piped in. "Or our training together has made you more skilled in pure lightsaber combat than they expected."

Turning to Jacen, she said, "Did you notice that the people testing us let us do gymnastic movements first, then combat, and they stopped us the moment it looked like we were going to go wild?"

Lowbacka nodded.

Jacen agreed. "Yes, but why test his skill so much?"

Xander answered the question. "It was because I took command and she knew I talk to ghosts. Saarai-Kaar wanted to know my real skill in combat."

The he grinned. "Besides, I took great care not to hurt or maim them permanently. The broken bones were their own mistakes, they tripped." It was his mist trick that had given him the victory.

With his lightsabers turned off, he had attacked, disarming one of the Jensaarai with his fist before going into lightblade combat again. Compared to Luke, these guys weren't that good. On the other hand, the four guys he had fought weren't the best fighters they had, which only showed how much they had underestimated him.

*

A day later

Finally they entered the Hapes cluster, where a friendly battle dragon was meeting them, threatening to shoot them to dust if they wanted to enter Hapes space. After Tenel-Ka started giving them commands to back down, they were escorted instead.

Apparently the defection of Hapes had not been welcomed in the Republic. They were threatening with war and Hapes had closed their borders and isolated themselves again.

Xander and Jaina stayed silent and in armor as they escorted the royal princess home. Beside them walked Jacen, unarmored and holding a nervous looking Samy by the hand. Anakin was trying not to stare as he followed them with Lowbacka at his side. Should there be a fight, it would be five young Jedi against hundreds of troopers.

For some reason Xander wasn't afraid or nervous, even when confronted by the idea of combat breaking out with the hundreds of self assured troops looking down on them from everywhere.

Not feeling fearful himself, he could only think of one thing. Good that one group feels overconfident. He just hoped it wasn't he that was overconfident.

The old Queen mother greeted them as well as the new Queen Mother (Tenel-Ka's mother). There wasn't much love lost between the two, but they did respect each other and they both shared a love for Tenel-Ka.

Teneiel-Djo was beautiful, but among the Hapes, a people bred for beauty, she looked common or even bulky, as she was a warrior witch. Her skill of finding traitors was slowly becoming a legend among the Hapes, as was her skill in killing anyone who was endangering her family.

Yet it was the old queen mother, who represented the real danger and she could feel danger to Tenel-ka, from someone that did not wish for her to return, from nearby.

Jaina, Jacen, Lowbacka and Anakin bowed to the two women.

Xander bowed slowly. He bowed first to the throne and then to Tenel-Ka. Looking at her, he said to Tenel-Ka, "Lady Tenel-Ka, do you wish to be alone with your family or do you wish us, as your friends, to remain in your company for a while?" He wasn't looking at her, but rather at the guards and the noble men. His eyes were glittering in yellow and green with a dangerous promise of death and destruction to any who threatened his friends.

Jacen frowned as he stretched out his feelings. He too could feel the hatred someone was aiming at Tenel-Ka. He was about to speak when Jaina stopped him.

Jacen might keep up with Xander in combat, but could not defeat him unless he trained really hard. She could defeat Xander about 1 in 3 times. In pure Force power they were about the same in strength and level of skill, but Xander's level of "I'm going to rip out your heart and eat it for fun" for looking dangerous was something different altogether.

The nobles gasped and shivered as his eyes passed them by.

Tenel-Ka smiled as she too noticed the danger. "Thank you my friend Jedi Knight Xander Harris. I do believe it would be nice if you stayed while the royal engineers refresh the Enterprise." He bowed and moved to stand behind her with his helmet on again as her body guard. Lowbacka soon followed. Xander's hands moved in signals unseen by the watchers, but caught by the gang.

Jacen and Jaina moved to Tenel-Ka's side, followed by Anakin and Samy. Seeing Xander's signal, they chose the side that indicated they were friends and followers of the lady. Tenel-Ka quickly pushed Jacen and Samy to the other side, which meant she was romantically interested in both and they had her personal protection.

The queen and her mother smiled. The boy, in old Republic tradition, declared himself to be her body guard and so did the Wookiee. She knew him, Lowbacka or something, but the boy was a newcomer and not a Skywalker, that was for sure. It also interested her that her daughter was still trying to capture the Organa Solo boy, a pure Skywalker, as well as a Zeltron girl.

It would be an interesting night.

*

Later the same night

Xander looked at Tenel-Ka and her mother as they talked about the situation. Jacen, Jaina, and the rest had been sent to bed, he as a body-guard was ignored.

The break with the Republic had created a difficult situation in the court, with plenty of power games and assassinations, a joy fun place to live in.

As Tenel-Ka was about to stand and leave for her room, her father the Crown Prince Isolder turned to talk to him. "How long are you planning on staying as her body guard?" he asked.

Xander looked at him directly. "I'm actually planning on asking Jacen and Samy to remain here. Master Skywalker is a Jedi master and he can handle himself. Especially if I ask Anakin to team up with his mom and dad and go after him."

Prince Isolder nodded. "And what are your plans?"

Xander sighed. "I come from a lost world called Earth. A Hutt used an artifact that I personally destroyed to transport us across the galaxy. A million Earth humans were enslaved because of that Hutt. I plan on freeing them."

Prince Isolder frowned, "Just like that?"

Xander nodded with a smile that sent shivers up the prince's spine. "Just like that." For some reason Isolder suspected that many Hutts would soon find themselves on the wrong end of a lightsaber. Whoever this young man was, he made him more nervous than the nightwitches of Dathomir had managed.

"Just see that the court of Hapes knows that your daughter is under my protection, just like that." Xander said before vanishing in the air.

Tenel-Ka giggled as she walked out of the room. "Are you crazy?" she said as the air thickened and Xander was standing behind her again. "Probably, but it will keep them on their toes and the guards and the spy will know to fear me," he whispered. "If they keep their attention on me, it'll be too late when they learn that Jacen and you are just as dangerous. Besides, if you can hire a team of Jensaarai…" he said before once again vanishing in the air, using the Force cloak.
Tenel-Ka smiled, wondering where Xander was going.

*

Later

Crown Prince Isolder sighed. "What do you think of that new bodyguard our daughter has found?" They were alone in the room for a little private time. The guards were on standby outside.

Teneiel-Djo frowned. "I think he wanted to talk to us," she said, gripping her lightsaber. She was not a true Jedi, but over the years she had learned a trick or two.

The air shivered as Xander's armored body suddenly stood near them. "You are correct. I do wish to talk to you," he said, slowly removing his helm.

Isolder was surprised. He had expected something more. In the throne room the boy had looked intimidating, now he looked like an 18 year old with too much on his shoulders. "Breaking into the royal room is a crime," he noted.

Xander snorted at that. "Wouldn't be the first law I have broken to protect my friends." He leaned forward. "Your daughter is ONE of my friends, as are Jacen, Samy, Anakin, Jaina and Lowbacka. They are all my friends and I have killed, even betrayed friends and allies, to save the lives of the very same friends I betrayed." he said, looking at the prince.

Isolder was a brave man, who risked his life hunting and infiltrating pirate and criminal organizations, and he showed not a sign of fear in his eyes.

Teneiel-Djo smiled. "Sounds good, but why are you here?"

Xander nodded to her. "I have some work to do. The lives of other friend's are in danger and those are lives that I need to save. Tenel-Ka's life is in danger, if she stays here or if she leaves this place. Most of the danger she faces will on the other hand come from this place. Making it a snake's nest with a poisonous beast inside." He looked at the sofa before shrugging and sitting down.

Isolder smiled. "Please, why don't you sit down?"

Xander smirked. "Already did, thank you. Now, I'm asking Jacen and Samy to look after Tenel-Ka. But Samy needs somebody to watch her back as well." His eyes narrowed.

"It would be good, if the court knew that fearing me is a good policy for a long life. I'm sure the two of you could, with Jacen and Tenel-Ka, help spread some rumors."

Isolder nodded. "That could work, but they would just work around you," he said.

Xander snorted again. "Jacen and Tenel-Ka are just as good as I am. He and she on the other hand don't look dangerous."
Teneiel-Djo understood the plan then. "They will strike after you have left then, ignoring the harmless looking Jacen." She nodded. "The faster they make a mistake, the less chance that my daughter may relax and make a mistake of her own."

She nodded again. "I'll see to it. By morning Hapes will fear you" she said, then blinked as she felt his presents vanish. "Do that in the throne room and they are sure to fear you." she said to the empty air. He was still in the room, waiting for the door to open. She smiled; of course he needed somebody to open the door. She pushed the button to summon a servant.
As the butler entered, Xander left.

*

A Short time later in Jacen's room

"Don't scream." Xander said, holding a hand over Jacen's mouth while leaning over him. Not screaming wasn't an easy thing to do when face to face with Xander's helmet.

"You asshole," Jacen whispered.

Xander tried not to laugh. "Sorry, couldn't help myself there. Listen, you and Samy…"

"Me?" Samy asked as she popped up her red head from somewhere beside Jacen where she had been sleeping.

Xander shrugged. "Like I said, you and Samy are going to stay here." He waved his hand to silence Jacen. "Let me explain. Anakin, your mom and your dad can and will save Luke, Leia is Luke's twin after all."

Jacen nodded; that was true.

Xander nodded back. "Good. I have it arranged so that by tomorrow the court is going to fear me and will be ignoring you and Samy and you better keep looking harmless and nice too Jacen. Because the moment the others and I are gone, they are going to try something against Tenel-Ka. You have to be there and watch her and Samy's back. I know Tenel-ka can handle herself, but backup is always welcome."

Jacen nodded. "Sounds like a plan. I better keep up teaching Samy what I can." He blinked as he felt Xander move away. Unseen by his eyes he could feel Xander's presence moving further and further away.

To Samy, who hadn't learned the trick yet, it was like Xander had suddenly vanished. "Incredible" she said. Jacen nodded. "It's a good trick, but any Force user feels that something is nearby, just not where it is, and you are completely unable to attack." he said, cloaking both of them to make sure nobody was listening.

Samy did not even notice that for a moment she was invisible.

*

Next evening

The ball room was filled with people wishing Tenel-Ka well as the welcoming party kept going. Her cousin, two times removed, Jalicie-Leda had a perfect face, long blond hair and a body most photo models would kill for. She also had a personality that would make a Hutt run and hide. "So I heard you had a mystical body guard, where is he now?" she said mockingly.

Tenel-Ka snapped her fingers and suddenly Xander stood face to face with her blond cousin, his cloak waving in a wind that affected only him.

Xander growled, "You called." he said, sounding like Lurch from the Addams family would if he had a Hyena stuck in his gut.

Jalicie-Leda squealed in terror as she backed away as fast as her legs could carry her.

Slowly, almost in slow-motion, Xander turned. Then faster, then before most of the untrained noble men could move, he was standing next to the blond Jalicie-Leda.

"Do you wish for me to take care of her?" Nobody doubted that if he did take care of her, she would never be seen again.
Tenel-Ka smiled. "Not right now, Xander." she said and snapped her fingers again. With a deep unhappy sound from somewhere inside of him, he vanished into thin air.

The room was silent.

Xander returned to visibility, hiding behind a pillar and eating some food he had stolen. He had the visor open on his helmet. Force cloak was difficult to maintain, so right now he was using only Force stealth, meaning that no human eye could see him, only cameras or the Force.

"Having fun?" Jaina asked as she snuggled up with him under Force stealth.

Xander cloaked them both. "Not really, but by the time I'm done, they are so going to underestimate your brother." he said, knowing that while cloaked they were invisible and soundless.

She nodded. "I have to go or Anakin will do something stupid like actually impress them with his skills," she said sighing. Anakin was the power house in their family.

Jacen and she were powerful, but Anakin was just as powerful with a natural understanding of both the Force and anything technological. What took weeks for them to learn, Anakin did in mere hours. He had already started to build his own Jensaarai armor from what he managed to learn.

It was a long party. More than once Xander had to make a sudden appearance, but they had timed things well. Half the time he suddenly appeared, it had been just an illusion Tenel-ka created and the whispered rumors that flew around were amusing in themselves.

According to the rumors he was either:

1. An experiment created by the Emperor.

2. A Sith lord returned from the grave.

3. An evil bounty hunter trained in the way of the Mandalorians and as a Dark Jedi.

4. A monster hunter from an alternate dimension, which had been trained as a Jedi.

The last rumor confused him. How the hell did they know that? He shrugged as he sneaked up to the queen. Using Force stealth he whispered to her. "We might have problem. Someone might have inside information about me that ONLY a handful of beings outside of Jedi Masters know."

She blinked. "What kind of information?" she asked.

Xander looked worried. "They know. I have no idea how, but they know I am a monster hunter from a alternate dimension." He shrugged. "Only Master Skywalker and a small number of trusted people in the Republic know that."
He wondered where the information had come from.

Teneiel-Djo blinked. She and her mother in law had made up that rumor just for fun. "Me and my mother in law decided to let the rumor spread just to keep the correct person on their toes" she said. Everything was true, not one lie in the sentence.

But if she was correct Xander would now be worried about what she knew.

Xander nodded "Oh. Well, that's good then I think." he said as he vanished. He was a bit nervous, who would have known that the Queen mother managed to spy on Luke Skywalker or did Tenel-Ka inform her? No, not likely.

Teneiel-Djo sneaked over to Isolder to whisper in his ear. His eyes lighted up in surprise. Eneiel-Djo then sneaked up to her beloved (as she would love to see her dead) mother-in-law. "The alternate reality rumor we made up is true. He panicked, believing someone has inside information on the Jedi Masters. I let him believe that it was us."

The old queen nodded smiling. That would make the young Jedi nervous, after all, if they knew that, who knows what more they would know.

It was a perfect plan to create respect and fear. Sadly for them, anybody living on the Hellmouth either become ignorant or lost the ability to become nervous just because something was planning to kill you or knew your secrets.

Xander was nervous about five seconds and then his Sunnydale reflex took over. There was nothing he could do about it and it wasn't a direct enemy who was planning to kill him. Perhaps his secret could hurt him, but if it did, that would be a future problem. He would have to warn Luke about the spy, though.

*

Four days later

With the Enterprise fixed up, and new parts installed to update the old military class sensors, new communication equipment and an upgrade to the computer to military standard, everything was good to go. Xander had also had a new acceleration compensator that could handle more speed and maneuverability installed. That had been expensive, but thanks to the royal engineers and the bounty he got from the pirates, he could afford it easily. Especially with the 60 % price cut the royal family gave him.

They had also helped him improve the ships maneuverability by installing extra thrusters. Now his ship had a slightly better maneuverability then a TIE fighter and even better maneuverability then the Millennium Falcon.

He now had type 2.1 maneuverability, in theory at least, but with great difficulty he could boost the maneuverability up to a type 4. Something he was planning to do and the reason why he got the new compensators in the first place.

Just as Jaina could improve her X-wing to type 7 maneuver ability, but also with some difficulty as she would have to change the compensators to more powerful ones as well, which would mean removing either cargo space or a weapon.
He had to sacrifice cargo space, but as he had rebuilt her, he had prepared for that with plenty of extra room just for further rebuilding in the future and the Falcon was still faster than he was. With Solo's brand new class 9 engine, his class 7 was nothing.

Most civilian ships had engines between classes 1 – 4, so in speed he was good with a class 7, with a cruising speed of 70 mglt and a max of 280 Mglt at least, compared to a standard Ghtroc Class 3 engines cruising speed of 30 mglt and max speed of 120 mglt. His ship has doubled her maneuverability when compared to that of a standard ship.

But the thing was, the Falcon moved with a cruising speed of 100 with a class 9 engine. Han, the bastard, had modified his class 9 instead of putting in a more expensive engine. So they moved with the speed of a class 10. The cost of doing that was obvious. The ship needed more repairs and mishaps happened more often.

Before Han got his class 9, he was using a Class 4 modified to the power of a class 8. That was sheer madness. Just hearing the stories sent shivers down his neck. The Falcon must have had constant engine problems.

"What is it?" Jaina said as she watched him study the Enterprise carefully.

Xander frowned. "The falcon is still faster." he whined. Lowbacka growled in surprise.

Anakin started. "Huh, what?"

Xander nodded "Sure my ship can drive circles around your father's ship, but it's still faster than mine."

Lowbacka nodded, this was serious; Chewbacca never did shut up about how good his ship was.

Anakin looked thoughtful. "I think if we modify the engine boost, we could in theory get a 110 mglt cruising speed out of them."

Jaina sighed, "Boys."

*

Xander stared at Anakin. "Are you crazy? That's four classes more than I currently have."

Anakin nodded. "Dad did it before, with the Falcon, and he is trying to boost the new class 9 up to a class 11."

Xander and Lowbacka nodded as they hummed together at that.

Jaina sighed in exasperation. "Boys, hello, hello? Hmm, did you say class 11?" She frowned as she picked up her calculator, punching the numbers. "It could work, but it would raise the risk for the Enterprise, mishaps and engine malfunctions will be more likely."

Xander nodded. "Yeah, it'd take time too."

Anakin interrupted. "But it's not as if we'd have to install a new ion engine. So, a lot of the work can be done from the inside." he reminded them. Lowbacka nodded; at least it would give them something to do during the journey.

The three tech interested Jedi nodded. "We have to start small, to find her limits." Anakin said. Lowbacka nodded as he growled out, "We could get some bigger power couplings at Mon Calamari."

Xander nodded. "And we have to find one more starfighter. My hangar is only half full."

All of them took a deep breath as in shocked terror.

Lowbacka growled at that, he was more of an engineer than a pilot.

Anakin frowned. "I always liked the A-wing. Tiny, fast, deadly and as the name said, it's an Anakin-wing, so what's not to like?"

Xander nodded. "Then let's go." It would be a long journey from Hapes to the Mon Calamari home world.

The Hapes cluster lies near the inner rim of the galaxy while Dac lies on the outer rim and to make things worse, he had to either use the small hyper route or the fast way across the inner rim trade route and then to the Perlemian trade route straight to Dac. "I need a faster hyper drive. The Falcon has a Class ½ and I have only a class 1," he sighed.

The others snickered at him.

Jaina sighed. "Don't worry Xander. I think we could use the Duros side step. Eight hours the wrong way and we come right to the Ithorian side Route and it will take us to the expansion region and the Perlemian trade route faster than on the normal way. I did some calculations last night."

Xander smiled. "You are a treasure."

The teens walked into their ship and lifted off.

It would still take twelve days of journey, but it was much better that the calculated 40 days. That much time was saved going eight hours the wrong way. Hyperspace travel is mostly straight, like the flight of a bullet. Near suns and big physical object the ship has to enter normal space and fly or jump around them. Hyper-routes or hyper-roads were areas in space that had no objects standing in their path. Most routes were short, rarely going more than 100 light years before the pilot had to shift to a new route. But on routes like the Duros trade route, the Perlemian and the Correlian Trade route you could fly from the core worlds to the outer rim in one jump and the Ithorian side route circled the galaxy, 40 % of the way starting in on the inner rim and passing both the Perlemian and Correlian trade route and ending in the expansion region.

*

Seven days later outside the Gelgelar free port.

They had stopped to get news and stretch their legs a bit. Sitting, working with the engines and just being cooped up that long made all of them crazy and one of them had the power to remove human arms with pure physical strength. They all had lightsabers and were teenagers. So a stopover really was a matter of life and death.

Lowbacka growled in happiness as he walked out to the swampy planet. Being cooped up so long made humans a bit crazy. They all had started to look nervously at him and they like him had lightsabers. Humans are a funny species; he understood why they made such good friends. You would never be bored with humans around.

*

In the training area where once Kyle had trained them, the teens were standing around 19 wax cylinders. Each had a tiny steel ball bearing on the top.

Jaina explained. "This is a lightsaber control exercise Kyle had us do, at the first cadence. The goal is to burn away the steel balls without hurting the wax cylinder. All in one motion, once you start moving you have to keep moving, swinging until the last ball is burned away or you hurt a wax cylinder. It is said that it is impossible for a Dark Jedi to master this exercise," she said, nodding to Xander.

He walked in the circle. Around him, in different lengths and in random locations, were the 19 cylinders. The blast helm on his head stopped him from using his eyes. Not that he needed them with the Force as his ally. Click Hiss, Hiss. Both light-blades were active. Taking a deep breath he focused and let his fear and anger leave his body as he started to move.
With a dancing motion, never stopping, he moved round and round then just as suddenly as he started to move, he stopped. Anakin swallowed as he moved in. "All of them" he said in awe, gripping the lightsaber he had found together with Tionne. Luke said that it was Ben Kenobi's blade.

Xander nodded, wiping sweat from his forehead. "It's harder than you think and the best part is that these exercises get much harder at the next step. Second cadence involves 72 cylinders and 2000 ball bearings, with the ball bearings sometimes on the floor and at other times on a cylinder."

Anakin frowned. "What good is this exercise?"

Jaina answered him. "Control, it gives improved ability to use your own lightsaber and to focus yourself. It also makes it easier to learn the harder moves we use during combat."

Xander nodded. "It's a training method that's impossible to use if you're angry. So it helps you in that way also."

Lowbacka nodded. He did have an anger problem and the way they moved during the exercise looked incredible, more like dancing than fighting. They nodded as Jaina and Xander put up a training field with wax cylinders for each of them. Jaina and Xander walked over to a different area where their group of 72 cylinders was already standing.

*

A tired gang returned 26 hours later to the Enterprise.

Anakin was good. He had managed 10 ball bearings in the end. They all said so. Lowbacka got 11, but he had more training then Anakin.

As they lifted off, Anakin leaned over to Xander, who was piloting the ship "Do you know any more exercises like that?" he asked.

Xander nodded. "Only the remote training can be done inside a ship." he frowned. "But you could do the bottle exercise. It's telekinesis training."

Jaina grabbed an emptied bottle and gave it to him.

Anakin blinked. "What should I do with it?"

Xander grinned. "Make it empty." The younger teen looked at the already empty bottle "But…"
Xander stopped the protest. "It's full of air. Use the Force to remove it and put something on the bottle. But use the cargo weight to see what its weight is before and after you removed the air."

Lowbacka growled a surprised question as he too took a bottle.

Xander laughed. "No, I have not mastered this exercise. But I have emptied a bottle of about 60 % of its air. This is one training method the ghosts told me about and the second part is filling it with only oxygen."

Jaina, seeing Anakin was about to ask something, answered the expected question. "No, I have only just started with it. I managed 10 % the first time."

The two walked out, each holding a bottle.

Xander mused to himself. "It's good that I told Jacen and Tenel-Ka both about the lightsaber cadence and the bottle training."

Jaina nodded. "They need some training. From what Lowbacka said, sparring in lightsaber combat forms and then the remote training was the only type of training they did" she sighed. The remote was a form of control training that, depending on the number of remotes, could become incredible difficult, but variation is the key. The remotes showed a Jedi how to parry long range attacks. The candence did only one thing, it helped you to improve the way you move and use your lightsaber, thus making every other type of combat training easier.

Xander reminded her: "Kyle spent years in the valley of the Jedi. Corran Horn did teach them the illusion tricks and ways to extend your sense of vision that we have not learned yet."

She nodded. They had told Luke about the candance and it would be an exercise he would include among the new Jedi, the moment they started lightsaber training.

*

Three days later over the planet Dac, this also was called Mon Calamari prime.

The Enterprise landed on a space platform and they walked out.

Xander blinked. "Hey, this is solid ground!" he said in surprise.

Meeting them were Leia and Han Solo. "What? Did you believe this was only water?"

Xander nodded. "Yes, the information about the planet said no continents." he explained.

Leia smiled. "Dac has a lot of small islands, but no continents. The Mon Calamari treat those islands as holy and almost no outsider may land here. It was here on these islands that their civilization started."

Xander nodded, looking respectfully at the tiny space port on an island that would burn a vampire to death.

*

Later in the guest house

Xander finished his explanation. "That's our plan."

Han nodded. "The Falcon is flight ready by now." Escaping the New Republic had hurt his baby big time.

Leia agreed. "I can find Luke," she smiled and hugged Anakin. "And it's so good having my cute baby with me," she said while hugging her youngest child.

From her arms a sound something like "mom you're embarrassing me" was heard.

A short moment later Jaina was also hugged.

Han Solo turned back to Xander. "Look kid, attacking the Hutts is a bad idea. They stick together, one murder and even Hutts who were enemies before will be gunning after you."

He leaned forward. "Why don't you use the smart way instead? Sneak inside and steal the information." The security among slave traders was always bad.

Xander nodded. "Right, by the way, my ship has Type 2.1 maneuverability and a Class 7 engine that has a cruising speed of 80 mglt. It also has two quad cannons, two missile launchers and a twin auto-blaster, same type the B-wing's use. Also a military class 5 hull and class 3 military shields," he said with pride.

Han Solo raised his eyebrows. "You have a long way to go kid. The Falcon has two quads, one double missile launcher and a heavy anti personal repeater blaster and last but not least a tractor beam. That's for the weapons."
He grinned. "Class ½ hyperdrive, Class 9 Engine with a cruising speed of 110, Type 2 maneuverability and a military class 6 hull with military class 3 shields." He gave a smug smile.

Xander eyes narrowed. "The Enterprise is going to be the best ship ever."

There was silence all around them as the two pilots kept bragging about their ships.

Leia sighed. Jaina sighed back. It would take some time before they managed to make the Enterprise as good as the Falcon is. Anakin smiled, he could feel that his dad and Xander were really starting to bond now.

Han nodded. "We'll see about that, let's go out kid and I'll show you how to modify your ship."

Lowbacka and Chewbacca followed the two outside.

*

Han really liked the young Jedi now. It was the duty of the older to help the young, especially one who was keeping his daughter safe.

An hour later, after a live pilot test, that the local Mon Calamari fighter aces were more than willing to help with.

Some of those Aces were members of Rouge and Wraith squadron who had abandoned their place in the Republic. The two ships had landed again and Han and Xander were talking with each other. Han Solo was not Force sensitive, but he had a deep imprint in the Force and his skill piloting a ship was of the charts. Using his own skill, improved by the Force, Xander still was nowhere near the level of the piloting skill Han had.

Only a day later Xander and Jaina, with Lowbacka beside them, were flying to Nal Hutta and the smuggler moon Nar Shaddaa. Nal Hutta is a large planet with almost no natural heavy metals. It consisted mostly of swamps, bugs and oceans. The natural day lasted 87 hours and a year lasted 413 local days. Constant rain drizzled down on much of the surface and the big industrial center of the Hutts made it a polluted greasy rain.

According to the Hutts, it was a beautiful planet that they called their home world. Originally it had been full of rainforests and plains. Then the Hutt came to the planet after losing their own world Varl and took it over.

They were still changing and adapting. The long lived Hutts were in no hurry. Polluting the atmosphere was all part of their plan to make Nal Hutta better than their now destroyed home planet had been, in their mind.

They had the addresses of more than one place to visit. First was a stop by Shug Ninx on Nar Shadda, to leave him a gift of money and some rare power accumulators to replace a ship Han destroyed 13 years earlier.

"This is the light cargo ship Klingon. I need clearing to land at the Shug Ninx yard." Xander said, using one on of his ships fake IDs that Han and Ackbar had helped him fix.

Finally a reply came. "Captain Al-Xan, you are cleared to land at Shug Ninx yard. Do be warned it's a private starship yard." landing control said as the Enterprise speeded down on the city moon of Nar Shadda.

The yard was as it always had been, hidden inside a huge building. Its size was so large that you could park a Correlian corvette and still have room over for five more. Engines and other systems were being installed in over nine ships at the moment.

As they landed Xander noticed some of the ships in nearby repair docs were hard to see.

Jaina nodded. "Probably a visual distortions field which makes it impossible to see what it is. Just that something is there."
Xander nodded as a big tall human looking person with spots on his face walked up. He was in his early 60's or there about and looked strong as a Wookiee. That was the engineer Shug Nix. Lowbacka was actually shorter then Shug Nix.

Xander smiled a greeting. "Hi. I have 400 000 credits and a pair of military graded power accumulators. It's the X-912 accumulators."

Shug Nix nodded. "You want to improve the ship using that much money? If it's really an X-912, then they are too big for you ship."

They were priceless, nobody build X-912s anymore and it was the only accumulator that could improve the power access on capital and medium sized transport ships more than 170 % in one simple and easy to hide installation. Sure there were others, but they were not as good.

Xander grinned. "Not really, it's to repay a debt of guilt. I am just a courier, but our friend managed to destroy one of your priceless ships and he felt guilty about it. When we said we were flying by, he asked us to carry the money and accumulators here and ask you humbly for your forgiveness. Last time he was more worried about his 5 year old twins and the new born child, than actually noticing that he had insulted you and caused you the loss of a priceless ship," he said, sounding diplomatic.

Shug Nix frowned and then smiled a big grin. "Han Solo the old pirate, I heard he has gone criminal again. Don't worry, I forgave him years ago. He was a dad and it was war. Sure it hurt, but I recovered." He then looked at them sharply. "But I'm still going to keep the money and the accumulators. " He turned around and started to walk away, he needed to
arrange for the cargo droids to offload those babies from the Klingon. "Follow me."

As they entered the cargo area, he started to guide a pair of cargo droids outside.

Shug Nix turned back to Xander. "That was 13 years ago, those twins and the baby must be what, 18 and 14 now?"

Jaina piped up from the shadows below, "18 next week."

Shug Nix turned and looked at her, frowning as he tried to put Han Solo's face on Jaina. "I think I can spot some of Solo in you." he smiled and slapped his hand friendly on Jaina's shoulders, almost crushing them.

"Let me tell you about a young stupid hot head with the name Han, who I had working here. See Solo had found that dump he called Bria after a girl he knew. The Bria was a SoroSubb starmite class." He stopped. "I have not seen one of those ships in years."

Later in the home of Shug Nix he and Sally Zend, a former girlfriend of Han, entertained the teens with funny stories about Han Solo and Chewbacca from when they were young.

Sally Zend, a dark skinned human, moved a bit too ferociously and was too strong to be a pure blooded human. Not that Xander cared, since he too was a near-human now. Chances were that Sally Zend was actually closer to normal human than he was.

"So I heard the girl turns 18 in a week?" she said as she managed to capture him alone, while Shug Nix entertained Jaina and tried to intimidate Lowbacka by showing that he was actually stronger then a Wookiee. (Thanks to an Accident and a replacement cybernetic arm. Not that he told Lowbacka that.)

Xander shrugged. "I have plans." He sighed. "She is worth a million of me and yet…" he said, looking at the giggling woman.

Sally smiled. "Good. She deserves it. Give you a tip on where to take her."

*

Later on Nal Hutta

They had taken the Enterprise down, hiding it using the Force cloak. It was difficult, but combined the two did manage to do it. Unseen, they had landed near where the Hutt in question had his palace.

While on Nar Shadda Xander did experiment with the Force cloak. Hutts were immune to most mental force powers, but the Force cloak was both physical and mental, as it affected both machines and the living. Force Stealth on the other hand was a pure mental power and it would not affect a Hutt.

His suspicions were proven correct. The Hutt on Nar Shadda could see them, even when they were using the Force cloak. It looked like he had difficulties focusing his eyes on them, but he could see that something almost invisible was sneaking nearby and the Hutt started screaming for his body guard.

Now they were going to sneak inside a Hutt palace.

Jaina sighed. "It's a stupid idea. Let's do it."

With Xander leading the way, they moved on. In their armor they looked like a pair of elite fighters. A short burst of Force flight and they were on the palace roof. Getting inside was not that difficult. The droids and guards noticed nothing and they used mostly the shadow trick of Mara Jade and old fashioned sneaky skills while moving about. Only while passing the more populated or the more guarded areas did they use the draining power of the Force Cloak.

In a big courtyard they could see the Hutt partying and enjoying themselves, twil'lek and human dancing girls were standing by, ready for dancing or just feeding the Hutt. For now they ignored it as they entered the computer room.

An hour later: Finding half a million humans spread out across the galaxy was not easy. Xander almost paled over how many the Hutt had sold to spice mining on Kessel or other hostile worlds, but there was a big transport to Tatooine and one shipment full of fighters to a hostile world named Sevarcos to mine Andris and Carsunum spice and four of the girls in this castle were Earth humans.

Too many, spread out on too many worlds. Literally thousands of worlds were the 500 000 or more humans had ended up. He was angry, too many to help, too many to save. If he spends a life time finding them, he could still not find them all.
Jaina could feel the rage growing inside Xander before he took a grip on himself and calmed himself, slowly, very slowly, until he once again was calm and collected.

Xander sighed. "Right, take the information back to the Enterprise and tell Lowbacka and the droids to be ready for takeoff when we return." He grinned. "We are going to steal some slaves, all five of them. I'm going to need your and Lowbacka's help. They have explosive implants and the key to remove it safely is here. Fastest way would be to just kidnap them." He was silent. "Killing the Hutt would be bad for our future life. But stealing some of his money and terrifying him when he is alone would be acceptable," he said hopefully.

Jaina shook her head. "No. Why don't we steal the slaves and some treasure and write down the mark of the Black Sun? The Hutts hate them."

Xander nodded. "We could assassinate one of the Hutts using that mark as a shield against their wrath. Han said the Hutt conclave have been itching for a fight against the Black Sun."

Jaina nodded. "Better if we use explosives. That way we can hide the fact that the slave girls were kidnapped. Of course then we have to save all the girls in that part of the palace."

Xander nodded. "Explosives do sound like a Black Sun tactic. From what I read, they like explosions." Of course the Hutt lord in question could survive with luck, but at least he would have a chance to cripple these slavers and their friends.

They moved away.

*

Later on in the long night

Cloaked in shadows the three Jedi moved like Ninjas out of the palace, each carrying two sleeping slaves. Then back again for the last pack of slaves, but this time only two of them were carrying slaves. The last one was installing explosions in the courtyard, the slave stable and the Hutt sleeping quarter.

They had to sacrifice four proton torpedoes to create the bombs and they also left a tiny ring that they had made. Jaina said it looked exactly like a real Black Sun ring. Leaving it near the explosion made sure that some of it would survive and could be identified and the Hutt conclave, already itching for a war against the Black Sun, would jump at the chance. They hoped that it sounded like a good plan.

Shrugging they moved away.

In the cargo hold three Earth and four Twi-lek girls were still sleeping. The Twi-lek slaves had become more expensive after the New Republic helped free Rythol from slavers, but there were still many small Twi-lek colonies and even slave farms, because Twi-lek's were popular as slaves. Xander could understand that there was something almost hypnotic and alluring with the way a Twi-lek moved.

Using Force Cloak on the ship, they quickly lifted off and flew away from the planet.

*

Later in the cargo hold

One by one the girls awoke, as the drugs in their blood were removed.

"Where are we?" was the first question one of the humans asked.

Seeing a furry Wookiee in armor and two armored humanoids did not make them feel any less nervous.

Xander removed his helmet. "You are safe. I have removed the slave implants and I can drop you of anywhere you like." he said to the Twi-lek girls. Then he continued in English: "You five, I know were another American lives. He can help you girls get an education and a chance for a new life here."

He smiled and continued: "My name is Jedi knight Xander Harris."

One of the Twi-lek's frowned and said, "Jedi do not use armor."

A young African American girl gasped in surprise. "You are from Earth?"

Another, blond-haired, Earth girl looked confused. "What is a Cheddar knight?" she asked. A red-haired girl corrected her.

"Jedi, not cheddar."

"Cheddar? Cheddar? I'm not a cheese." Xander whined, making the entire girls giggle at the way he sounded.

*

Later in the ships galley

Having only room for 5+1 passengers in the rooms on the ship, the girls had to share a room and use the prison cell, not that they minded. The name of the girls were Emily, the blond, Molly, a redhead who apparently got angry if you asked if she was English or Irish, and last the African American Rona.

Xander cleared his throat. "Right, I'm going to give each of you a part of the loot in exchange for your silence about me freeing you. Officially you are dead, according to the Hutt, and most likely, so is he."

He finished. "So where do you girls want to be dropped off? I know" he said to the Earth girls, "where you would find a home and help, but you Twi-lek's, where should I bring you?"

Seeing their confusion, he nodded. "I know of a planet called Gelgelar, where there is a free port where you could find work and a home. Is that fine with you?"

They nodded. "That would take about two days, between the station and Gelgelar."
One of the girls asked if they would free all of the enslaved people from Earth.

Xander shook his head sadly. "I wish I could. But there are too many enslaved people spread out on thousands of worlds over a whole galaxy." He sighed. "I'm going for the big and easy targets, where I can free many at the same time and I hope that in time I can forgive myself for not saving all."

Jaina nodded. "Most of them have probably been sold and resold to other owners by now."
Lowbacka nodded as he moved away. He had some training to do.

Xander nodded as he studied the girls, especially Rona, before talking in English. "Lots of strange things go on here, although compared to Sunnydale, this is nothing."

As he had suspected, the girl was too good, she moved like a fighter. Like a trained fighter, yet she was only 16. The name Sunnydale made her twitch.

He smiled and innocently asked. "Rona, did you live with your parents or with a Watcher?" He used the Force, trying to influence her to answer.

Rona answered: "My dad was a Watcher." She fell silent as she looked up, in fear of him.

Jaina looked at him with a puzzled frown.

Xander nodded. "I think we should talk in private. It seems Rona and I might know some common friends from England."

Now Rona really twitched.

A short moment later Jaina, Rona and Xander were alone in the cockpit.

Rona looked worried. "So what do you want?"

Xander shrugged. "Nothing, but let me tell you about me first." Picking up a crystal ball, he projected some of his memories in it. "The blond over there is Buffy the Vampire slayer, the redhead beside her is Willow Rosenberg and the old stuffy guy is Rupert Giles." He looked at her and she recognized the name.

Xander continued. "Then the dimension rifts happened. Civilians vanished, gold was stolen and suddenly they appeared." An image of the angel and demon were seen in the crystal. "They said every time the gate opens, Earth risked facing a super-nova." Seeing her surprise Xander nodded. "And that both the side of good and evil had invested too much time to let that happen."

"To make a long story short, the laws of nature are different here. No champion like a Slayer, a witch or even a demon from Earth could survive in this universe, but they could send a NORMAL human through. They adapted him to be successful in this new reality, but they told him it would be a one way trip. Being the only normal human fighting demons in our group, I accepted." Xander said. Jaina leaned her head on his shoulder.

Rona looked as the picture faded.

Xander continued. "Since then I have adapted the skills implanted in me and have made the process fast. I managed to become a Jedi knight in record time and before that I had been fighting side by side with the Slayer since I was fifteen."

Rona frowned. "But vampires are too fast for normal humans."

Xander nodded. "I know. But there are tricks you can use."

He leaned forward. "What are you? The way you move, the way you act. I don't know, you seem to be, yet you are not." He looked frustrated. "Something about you says close, but not a Slayer."

Rona swallowed. "I'm a potential Slayer."

Xander nodded in comprehension. "Like Kendra." Seeing Jaina's confusion, he explained. "As I said, there could be only ONE slayer at the time, but Buffy drowned and I brought her back to life through CPR and a girl named Kendra was called as the next Slayer. Even being temporarily dead seemed enough to call a new girl." He showed them a picture of Kendra from his memory, then his memory of Buffy lying pale in the dirty cave water.

After that he showed a moving memory of both Buffy and Kendra dusting vampires like they were going out of style.
He looked down. "She was murdered by Drusilla, a master vampire, but I remember that she said the Watchers raised her from newborn on. They knew she would or could become the Slayer."

Rona nodded. "I should have been the same, but my father was a former Watcher and we made a deal. He taught me what I needed to learn and they just kept an eye out on me."

Xander nodded. "I see the fine print. No Champion like the slayer could survive here. But you are not an active Slayer of their force."

Rona nodded. "I survived."

Jaina frowned in puzzlement. "So what is the difference between normal humans and potentials?" she asked.

Rona shrugged. "Nothing, but since I came here, I have become faster, stronger and I heal faster, but not as fast as a Slayer would." For a while she had believed she had become the Slayer, but she had no Slayer dreams and she could not bend iron with her hands.

Xander was silent as he watched the girl. "Normally the Slayer potential is activated by magic. The spirit of the Slayer enters the body and you are the new Slayer, but part of the potential is always there. It is just that there is not enough power to activate more than one Slayer at the same time. I believe the Force in this universe discovered the potential in you, then adapted and activated it."

Jaina gabbed at Xander. "What? She is a Slayer now, but Force activated?" She frowned a bit. "The girl does give of a strange feeling in the Force."

*

Later

Dressed up in padded protection gear, Xander and Rona stood on either side of the cargo hold. Jaina and her trusted R6 were recording.

"Ready. 3, 2, 1." and Rona attacked, dodged, parried and blocked. Xander danced around. "Faster. Faster! What, are you weak?" he yelled as Rona moved faster and faster.

Jaina could feel it. The Force was pumping into the girl like she was permanently using it to enhance her body. Using Force speed and Force strength Xander started to move faster and faster to keep up with the girl. "Rona, don't be angry. Calm down and move faster." he instructed. Rona stopped moving. "What?"

Jaina nodded. "Seek outside yourself to find it. Wait." she said, walking up to the girl and putting her hands on her head.

"Do you feel me?" Rona nodded. "Now follow me."

She said as she sent a Force probe inside the girl, trying to find her center, her core of strength. Then an echo was felt from both of them. This was one way a Jedi could help their students to access and learn to use the power of the Force. Finding the power was always the key to learning how to use it.

Rona was different, she was not really Force sensitive, yet she could use the Force to improve her own natural ability, perhaps even better then a Jedi could. A battle between a fully trained Rona and a fully trained Jedi would be a terrible thing to see. Telekinesis and long range attacks would be the solution against Rona. Close combat and they were most likely almost equal, with Rona as the slightly stronger and faster person.

Lowbacka growled, agreeing in how difficult it could be to find the Force.

Emily and Molly eyes were big as Manhattan, they had a hard time seeing the two move. The Twi'leks surprise was just as great, even though they expected something like that from a Jedi.

Xander nodded as he dried the sweat off. He turned and looked at Jaina, who nodded back. She was interested in seeing exactly what a Slayer could do.

"Right, If you want training Rona, we offer you that and a home with us. It will not be a safe journey, but we will teach you anything we can or if you wish, you can follow the others to a former Earth police officer who is now a store owner on a deep space platform. He can help you get an education and perhaps some work. It might not be the same as mine, but safer." Xander said.

Jaina nodded, that was so cool, as Xander sometimes said. She never did get what cold had to do with anything impressive, but Earth was a primitive planet, maybe keeping food cold was something only rich families could do. That would make cold stuff impressive ergo they called them cool. She patted herself on the shoulder for analyzing that in such a logical way.
The potential Slayer, mutated into a Force Slayer, was definitively cool. Perhaps Force warrior. No, Force guardian would be the correct term. Force slayer sounded like something the Sith would use.

*

Later

Rona had lot of thinking to do. She was only 15 when she and a half a million other New Yorkers were suddenly on an alien world. An ambush was waiting for them as they arrived in a huge, crater like, dugout, which was surrounded by armed aliens or demons, as she had believed then. Strong energy weapons that stunned anyone they hit and gas grenades putting others to sleep.

It did not take long before the New Yorkers had given up and were chained up like animals. Strange robots, so called Translator droids, were brought to talk with them. It had taken the droids less than a day to learn English and once that was done, they started to question them for information. She was considered too young to know anything, so instead they had put her in a sped up language lesson.

Two hour lessons and she knew Basic and it was a short time after that she knew her future would be hell or worse. Becoming a Hutt dancing girl was actually good, compared to what the other girls had to suffer. All she had to do was dance and keep looking beautiful. The Hutt actually protected them against rape or other physical attacks that could hurt them. Some girls had been given to a guest as night gifts, but as a dancing girl and as one of the favorites, she had escaped that humiliation. They were treasures, decorations that kept the Hutt's palace more fascinating. He even said that the graceful motion of dancing humans and Twi'leks reminded him of the flowing rivers and the muddy swamps, with water constantly moving in the wind.

In a Hutt mind a swamp could be used to describe something beautiful, but she always felt insulted and now she had a choice. As the ship raced through the awesome distances in space, Rona sat curled up on the sofa, twisting her dark hair with her fingers. Thinking and trying to find out what she would do. Beside her Molly and Emily sat and watched.

End of Chapter Five

18. 6-0

Note1: As before and probably in the future also our thanks goes to Inachis
Note2: Originally this chapter was posted as 6-0 and 6-1, I just merged them for the reposting here.

6-0

Jaina's birthday party had been a small affair, inside a luxury restaurant on the Errant Venture, a mobile base for traders and smugglers inside a remodeled Star Destroyer.

It was simple yet wonderful, as they could relax knowing that Corran Horn and Lowbacka were keeping an eye out for any trouble coming their way and as promised the moment she was 18, he asked her THE question. Jaina's answer was to wrestle him down with a hug of death, screaming YES, YES, YES.

They were now engaged to be married, the moment her whole family could come or they would most likely hurt him.

*

Later on Tatooine

The two suns made the atmosphere hot like a boiling oven. Only the hardest life forms, evolved to survive in a dry climate, could live on a planet like this.

Of course that did not stop humans, durros, Hutts and even Mon Calamari from considering it a good idea to call the dust ball home. It was far away and outside of such irritating subjects as LAW and ORDER. It had also been a place where heroes had been born or grew up more than once.

Something on this planet made it easy to forget. Perhaps it was just the heat. You just could not bother to remember strangers. Xander personally believed the planet was cursed. The air was just too dry and his gills hurt. Putting some cloth around the gills to moisten them helped, most of the pain vanished. Good to know his weakness before it bit him in the ass.

Lowbacka was back at the ship as backup, but also because he was trying to install a pair of power couplings that perhaps could nurse out more speed from the engine without hurting it. Rona was moving around, eyes on everyone and everything.
Xander spoke with a rusty voice that made Jaina concerned. "What is it, Xander?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I have gills. It's dry."

Rona was there in an instant. "Gills?" she asked in surprise. Jaina nodded. "He got improved by the Angel and Demon he showed you," she said.

Xander croaked out "Cantina" and walked away.

Rona blinked. "But gills?" she asked again as she hurried after him, without noticing the alien she bumped into. The creature did and he roared out as he pushed back. Rona fell down and was about to attack when Xander moved in between. Seeing him in a body-armor made out of flexible armor material, in black and with his eyes glittering green and yellow, the alien stopped.

"Careful should you be. Dishonor this one you did. Careful should you be," he grounded out and then turned and left.
Making sure the being would not attack them in the back they kept going towards the Cantina.

They walked in. Jaina frowned, she was sure both Luke and Dad had told her about this place. She shrugged as they walked inside. Jaina tugged Rona along to a table as Xander came with the drinks. Without a word he handed them out.

Jaina asked, "Better now?"

Xander nodded. "I think I got dust in the gills. Moist cloth seems to keep the pain away." He purred more water on the cloth before putting it back over his gills.

Rona looked absolutely shocked. "Do they work?" she babbled. Xander nodded, smiling more with the pain was. The air must be thick with dust particles. Stretching out with the Force, he tried to sense if that was true.

"The air is full of dust particles. Sand is everywhere." Jaina said, grinning. She had checked the moment he complained about the pain. Xander nodded and double checked what she said, not because he doubted her word, but because he wanted to recognize the feeling the air had.

Rona drained her drink quickly. "I'll get another one," she said, moving up to the bar.
"Hey" she waved to the bartender. "3 scorro rava if you have them." Scorro rava drink she had learned to appreciate as a slave girl. It was much like brandy, but more spicy and hot.

"Hey you pushed me," an ugly female Aqualish said.

Rona blinked. Did she anger somebody again? "I'm sorry."

Xander and Jaina watched the goings on from the table. It felt like she had heard this story before.

The ugly one had a just as ugly human female with her. "You be careful, we are wanted females." she said.

Rona looked at them, really looked at them and tried to be peaceful, tried to find a good lie, tried to turn her back to them. "Wanted by what, the ugly planet?" Crap.

The whole bar was silenced.

Somehow an echo carried her response around the Cantina.

The Aqualish female attacked first. Roaring in anger, she tried to bash Rona's head in with her fin like hands. Rona dodged and gave the Aqualish a hard hit in the gut with her left and a jaw breaking uppercut with her right hand. Using her full strength she sent the Aqualish flying, almost crushing a Jawa.

The ugly human now standing behind her drew her gun.

She could hear the sound of the bartender screaming "No blasters", but it was too late.

A click, Hiss, Click was heard and then a sound as a hand and a gun crashed down on the floor and a scream of pain, as the ugly female held her arm, the hand and the gun cut off.

Jaina put her lightsaber away. "This feels so familiar," she said as she helped Rona carry the drinks back. "It's as if I'd heard about something like this happening before." She wonders why.

Xander grinned at them. "Good reflexes." he said to the confused Jaina. "Right, let's drink up and get out. We know where the slave import and the slave factory are."

Jaina nodded. "How are we going to do this?" she asked.

Xander frowned. "Good question. Going around creating new enemies is bad, if you want to live long, but we have to convince the owner to let any Earth humans he has to leave."

He drank and then snorted as the drink burned in his throat. "That's spicy." Shrugging he continued. "If I could, I would free all the slaves. But that would mean a war I would not win."

Jaina nodded. "You have no idea, have you?" she translated. Xander nodded. She hummed, leaning back and sipping her Rava. It was good, but not her favorite. It was a bit too spicy.

"First get the information on where the slaves are and then look around. See what we can do to free them."
Xander nodded as they walked out.

*

Later

The slave factory where the slaves supposedly were worked to death under inhuman conditions was different from what he had suspected. A tiny flying alien greeted them, while beside him walked a human wearing glasses and a tattoo of spider- and super girl.

An educated guess would be that this man was from Earth.

The alien spoke first. "Greetings and welcome to our recycling and repulsor factory, where you can get old parts good as new and new repulsor coils cheap." He floated up in the air "I am Addo, owner of the factory." he said with pride.

Xander nodded. "Um right, let's talk inside."

*

Half an hour later

The human with the Tattoo was Thomas, an Earthling. The flying bug guy was Addo, a Tooderian. This was an alien race neither Xander nor Jaina had no information about.

Addo laughed. "Slaves? No, I have no slaves, not anymore, you see. I bought many slaves. They do not work very well. I buy lot of slaves, give them small pay, if they work bad, and big pay if they work good. If they want, they can buy themselves after a year. Most have to work nine years. This year was good. Slave was genius." He said looking at the tattooed man. "He tripled my income, he earned me big money. Now slaves earned freedom in half a year or gain freedom by work in five years. Now the two of us are boss of the company. We hire out workers to all of Tatooine. Farmers pay big money for many farm hands and small money for one farm hand. If not working as farm hands, they are working for me in the factory, earning small money."

He smiled proudly. "Have fifty worker retired as farmers or move out. I buy more and more slaves. All of Thomas brothers and sisters from Earth I could find I bought. Offer them the half year as slave then freedom, if they can pay it, or freedom without pay in 5 years. They worked hard and Thomas plan gave them freedom in five months. They still work hard for me and painted man is rich." He said waving his hand at Thomas.

He buzzed around the room. "We are getting rich, future in company. Company helps slaves buy farms. Company owns half farm and help farmer. Company helps slave buy ship, owns half ship and takes half the pay, but help ship owner find cargo to earn money."

Jaina giggled. "Wow, you became rich by freeing your slaves," she said.

Addo nodded as he or she landed on a desk. "Yes. Painted man Thomas helped me good." He said smiling at his human friend.

Thomas grinned. "Well, you have the connections to make it work. It is a team effort," he said.

Xander looked shell shocked. "Um. Well, don't I feel stupid." he said in basic. Then he switched to English. "I was trying to find as many slaves from home as possible and free them," he said.

Thomas quickly switched to English as well. "You know a way home?" he asked, with hope in his voice.

Xander twitched. "No. Not home. Just tried to find a way to free you from slavery," he said in English.

Addo spoke up. "You from his home" he said in English. "Proud should you be, painted man made both of us rich."

Xander snorted in laughter. "Yea, I'm proud. Why do you call him painted man?" Addo grinned. "In my home there are priest. Much respected, much feared they are. They paint themselves permanent. We called them Enarote. In Basic or English it would be painted man. It's a sign of respect."

Thomas shrugged. "Well, I'm satisfied with this, but you are free to talk to the other workers. Right now we have only fifteen slaves. All of them have earned the cost of buying themselves out and will be turned free in five months."

Rona giggled. "You really know business," she said.

Thomas nodded. "I was a rich playboy at home, old money. Never needed to do anything but party, and I hated it. This was, as strange as it sounds, a challenge to become something more than a shadow of my forefather." He looked at them. "My Great, great, great grandfather did almost the same thing with African American slaves. He let them buy their own freedom, no tricks. He even paid for their work. The more they worked, the more he paid. When the war came between the south and the north, he escaped to the north, rich as a dog, and with a ship load of former slaves full of gratitude towards him."

He grinned. "He created a factory making saddles in New York. Later he invested in the shipyards."

*

Later

The factory was just that. Xander really did not need to see anything. He could feel honesty from Thomas. It was just… He felt stupid. It was as if he was riding in like a shining knight to save the poor princess from the evil farm eating dragon and she had married the dragon and they had become friends with the farmers.

So, he felt a little stupid.

He looked around in the factory's cafeteria. It was full of workers who all seemed to know what he had been here for. What was worse, they had heard stories from what Rona had told them and from what they had been told about both the famous Jedi Knights like him and about the feared Mandaloorians, who had armor as he did. Now they where whispering about a real hero trying to save them. Even if he was late, it was a real hero.

Xander stood and cleared his throat. "I came to a later gate. I was lucky, managed to escape and get training as a fighter, a Jedi." He smiled. "As soon as I could, I tried to find and help the kidnapped and enslaved people from Earth. 500 000 were kidnapped and sold illegally over the whole galaxy as slaves. I knew I could save perhaps 1000 of them. I would have to risk my own life and be lucky to succeed and many would have died in my fight to free them." He turned to Thomas, drawing his lightsaber. "He freed over 6000 of you and once again he proved that the pen is indeed mightier than the sword or a blaster."

He continued, using the lightsaber to point at them. "I will always remember this and so should you. That man is a real hero." With a click and a hiss, he put the blade away.

There was silence as they started to think about what he had said, then applause filled the room and they were screaming for Thomas to take a stand. Cries of "Thomas Thomas" filled the room.

Xander sighed happyly. "Now I'm happy," he said, seeing Thomas blush, looking both uncomfortable and yet extremely happy.

Rona was puzzled. "Why did you do that?" she asked.

Xander answered: "Because a real hero might be late, but he is always in time," he said, confusing the younger girl.

Rona frowned. "Ah I see, you have no idea why you did it either, right?"

Xander frowned. Perhaps he had to do more to confuse her. Jaina giggled, the traitor. Sighting, Xander explained the truth. "It's the tattoos. One of Spider-Girl and the other of Supergirl, both are heroes. Something I believe or feel that Thomas wished he could be. But he already is a hero." he finished.

He had been able to feel a mix of envy and dreamful longing leaking out from Thomas when they explained the duty of a Jedi to defend and protect.

Jaina smiled knowingly as she hugged Xander's shoulder. "And that's one reason. Now tell her your personal one."

Xander sighed. "I came here to help the slaves and I was too late for that, but I was in time to help the hero understand that he is what he always dreamed off, a real hero." he said. If he could not help the former slaves any more, he could help Thomas.

Rona nodded. "You felt useless and had to do something," she said, rolling her eyes.

Xander grinned. "She is a smart one," he declared.

*

Inside the Enterprise Lowbacka activated the power core. The hum of the engine was singing perfectly. He growled in satisfaction and agreement with the engines sound. He wondered if Xander had discovered that the slaves had become free by themselves. He had discovered it during landing by reading some old Tatooine news, but decided to keep the information to himself. He needed some time to work on the Enterprise power core. The power couplings gave them perhaps 5% more energy to use during combat. If he could turn that five percent in, that would be Hyper as Jacen used to say.

*

Later on their way to Sevarcos

The file on the planet did not say that much. Not even updating the information on Alderaan gave much more.
Sevarcos

Type: Terrestrial
Temperature: Hot during the day, cool during night.
Atmosphere: Type B
Hydrosphere: Arid
Gravity: Standard.
Terrain: Plains, Dessert, Mountains, a small sea.
Length of day: 26 hours.
Length of year: 378 local days.
Sentient Species: Humans: Others in Mining regions.
Starports: 2 imperial classes and 4 standard classes.
Population: Native Unknown, believed to be around 5-6 million. Not including spice mine slaves and imperial personal.
Planet function: Home world, Spice mining.
Government: Council of spice lords, local Imperial governor.
Tech Level: Industrial with Vestiges of feudal.
Major Exports: Andris and Carsunum spice.
Major Imports: Low tech. Space tech.
Capture: Sevarcos is known for its varieties of spice and its infamous spice mines. Although the native Sevari have grown accustomed to the tiny granules of pure spice carried into the atmosphere by the wind, visitors should wear breath masks or breathe filters to negate the effect. See file: Spice narcosis.
Warning: The tiny spice particles are known to enter weapons and cause explosions inside blasters when used.
Sevarcos is still under Imperial control.

Rona closed the file on Narcosis. "Uh, it's like the planets air is full of drugs." she said. Spice Narcosis was an unusual form of drug overdose that airborne pure spice could cause. The victim would fall into a coma like sleep that only a doctor's treatment would wake them from.

While Rona was learning about the dangers of the atmosphere, Jaina and Xander were studying the local space. It was not easy to fly in. Asteroid fields combined with an elite TIE fighter wing using Mark 2 TIE-Interceptors. The difference from the Mark 1 being that it had shields. Probes and satellites moved on the outside of the system, making it hard to enter without being detected. They did have a way pass that, but it would be draining.

The Jedi files Luke gave them had some information also, not much but interesting. Andris spice was interesting, mixed in food and medicine to improve and protect them from spoilage. Andris was the common spice they sold and everyone wanted more of it.

See classified file: Andris spice medication advice. Open to healers only.

It can also be used to improve the natural strength of flavor in food. No side effects are known, but drug and spice abusers claim mixing Andris with other drugs and spice protects the user from overdosing on the drug / spice. No evidence exists to confirm this.

Carsunum on the other hand was also called black spice. It enhanced the users' physical abilities and senses for five or six minutes. Constant use caused a powerful addiction to evolve, but used slowly over a year or two, Carsunum created a permanent and improved protection against telepathy.

Uses of Carsunum: improve physical development in a human. Strength endurance can be improved. Warning, the addiction is powerful and causes rage, sadness and confusion. Andris spice can lessen the side effects of Carsunum addiction. A side affect of long term use of Carsunum is that the white of the eyes turns grayish.

Rona looked shocked. "Except for the addiction, that Carsunum sounds useful," she said.

Xander nodded. "That's why it's a spice. The side effects are often mild compared to other drugs, but the addiction can be severe. Glitterstim users have been known to remove their own eyes in pain if they have no glitter to consume."

Rona nodded. "It's just the improved physical strength sounds good and so does the telepathy protection." she grinned.

Xander shrugged. "Your mind already has a strong protection. Not the strength of a Hutt, but stronger then a normal
human, and from what I feel, its growing stronger the stronger you become."

*

Hours later

The Sevarcos sun was burning in front of them as they created a bubble of Force Cloak around the ship and then quickly moved to the planet. Sweat was flowing down their faces by the time they finally landed.

Xander helped Jaina up, only to fall onto his knees.

Lowbacka was already sleeping in the sensor operator's seat.

It was Rona who had to carry them to bed. Cloaking the ship for such a long distance had truly drained the three young Jedi. The more skilled you became, the less energy it demanded, and the more power you could use and the Jensaarai leader, the Saarai-Kaar, had managed to cloak a 1600 meter long Star Destroyer for an hour each day, alone.

Rona looked out at the wind pained planes of the planet. What was it they were supposed to do now? She mused. Right, put up the camouflage net. She hurried to pick up a breath mask and then turned to the two droids. "Right R3, R6, it's up to us to put the net up. You two are in charge and I'm the muscle. Just tell me what to do," she said, hurrying out.

The two astromech droids looked at each other. They could whistle and beep. Not talk.

It took a long time and by the end, a frustrated pair of droids and Rona walked into the ship. They had done it. "We did good, guys," she said to the two droids.

They stared at her before beeping an agreement. She did well for a human that could not understand them. It had taken an hour before she got the idea to use a data-pad as a translator.

*

Next morning

The endless wind whipped the constantly moving sand as a pair of swoops flew over it. Xander enjoyed driving the swoop with Rona sitting behind him on his Starslinger. Rona did not.

She had noticed early on that Xander had his eyes closed while piloting the swoop. His excuse that he was too afraid to drive with his eyes open and that the Force was with him, guiding him as he drove, did not make her calmer. Even if it did look like he somehow could see or sense where they were going.

Xander did have his eyes closed most of the time, although he did open them to double check the swoops navigational sensor and to look at Jaina. Sitting on that swoop with the armor on and the wind blowing through her cloak she looked like a warrior princess. He hoped she would accept him as her king.

He had officially asked her THE question. She did say yes, but she also wanted Xander to stay alive, so any wedding would have to wait until her family could actually be there to watch them being married, but she had said yes.

Both of them felt a disturbance in the Force. Humans where moving towards them. Seeing Jaina and Xander becoming more alert, Lowbacka stretched out his senses. There were humans moving towards them.

They slowed down. In the distance they could see simple repulsor rafts equipped with sailing masts. They sailed in the wind, flying over Sevarcos sand. As it was full of burrowing human eating monsters, that was probably a good idea. Four barges or rafts were sailing to them, each with around sixteen passengers or warriors.

The sailing rafts, equipped with cannons in the front, real chemical driven cannons not so unlike something you could see on Earth, slowed down. Apparently they could use the repulsor for drive also, but the wind moved them faster. Inside the rafts were human barbarians, sixteen of the warriors of one of the local spice lord's, out on a patrol.

Xander stood up on the tiny swoop. "Hi. Mind if we come over and talk?" he said, being as friendly as he could while wearing his armor, including hard chest pieces.

Annassa-Agreel Driistal was a man and a proud warrior who, for this one year, used the female name Annassa in tradition and gratitude, as a female warrior had saved the life of one of his loved ones. So for one year his name would be Annassa-Agreel, showing all that he considered the female warrior of his tribe to be part of his family. A great honor, even if some of the less traditional were amused over his new name, but he was neither a soft person nor a fool. He studied the three strangers, no four strangers. One of the swoops had a passenger. The man wore a strange armor in yellow and green. The armor protected the chest and stomach, the shoulder pads of the same material protected part of the over arms, while the lower arms were incased in dark yellow gauntlets. A dark green helmet hanged from his belt.

The other girls armor was less flashy, but otherwise almost identical. Then the girl sitting behind the now standing man, she had simple body armor. It would protect her against light attacks with knifes, but not much more.

The last swoop driver was a Wookiee, off all things, a Wookiee in armor.

Annassa called to them: "Then welcome onboard strangers. If you have the guts and hope that the reason for violating my home world is one I approve of. I might offer you sanctuary."

Xander nodded and pushed the button on his swoop so that it glided over and landed on the repulsor sailing barge. Beside him Jaina did the same thing. They looked at each other and smiled. Rona was nervous.

Annassa greeted them. "My name is Annassa, named Agreel in the past and again in the future, of the Driistal clan. What are your names and your reason for being on our home world?"

Xander leaned on his swoop in a relaxed position. "I am Xander, Jedi knight and former defender of the New Republic. Innocent members of my people were sold as slaves to the spice mines on this world. My reason and my duty is to save them and leave with as many as possible."

Each of the spice warriors was difficult to sense. The withes of their eyes were darker than normal, on all of them, and they all looked stronger then what would be normal for a human.

Of course these guys were used to enhancing themselves with black spice. He could see a black bag hanging around each warrior's neck.

Lowbacka snorted behind his breath mask. He was not afraid. If combat would come, he would show them the old Wookiee trick of ripping their arms off and beating them to death with it.

Annassa gave a grim smile. "You are going to storm the spice mines?" He laughed and then stopped as the armored girl suddenly vanished into thin air.

Then suddenly she was standing behind him. "No. He is not going to storm the spice mines. WE are going to storm the spice mines," she said.

His warriors grabbed at their weapons.

Annassa waved them off. "Calm down." He was quiet for a moment. "If you come in peace, I offer you and your friends' sanctuary on my war barge," he said, quietly hoping none of his warrior would be foolish enough to attack.

Xander nodded. "Gladly accepted, we only seek to save our friends and then leave your world. Even if it is a charming world, the spice in the air is a bit dangerous to outsiders," he said in his breath mask.

Annassa agreed. "It's a world for the strong, weaklings die or become strong," he said simply. The young man's armor was flashy, but he seemed to be a true fighter even so.

*

Later that night

Breaking bread and eating food with the warriors of one of Sevarcos clan of spice lords was impossible, as they also knew. Too much of their food held pure black spice in it, so the four outsiders were forced to eat dry rations while the warriors feasted on incredibly good smelling food. The warriors knew smart outsiders did that to survive, but it was fun to see them drool from the delicious smell of roasted hulifa.

Annassa explained where the spice mines where located and where you had to go to find information about the locations of slaves and also where one of many space ports where. They would need to steal a ship, if the slaves were still alive in larger numbers.

They would also need spice to help the slaves with their addiction. Andris could be used to slowly nurse away the addiction of the black spice. The air itself was full of spice particles, both Carsunum, the black spice, and Andris, the white spice. Spend some months living here and you could become an addicted spice abuser just from breathing the air itself. In a spice mine, the doses of black spice were higher and more concentrated. Slaves either died or became addicted to the spice filled air.

Annassa explained things to the three Jedi. "But we, our tribe, sell spice to the Imperials. No matter how much they dig out, they always want more. We know where the truly strong spice is located. We can offer you tons of Andris spice and advice on how to use it to nurse spice addicted slaves off of the black spice."

They did not have much of a choice in the matter. After talking between themselves, Lowbacka and his translator-mistake, also called a Translator-droid, stayed behind with the barbarians, holding the money they would need.

On the next day they said farewell as they drove closer to the Imperial garrison. Outside city, the barbarians called it, with walkers patrolling around it, the name fit. The garrison was standing in the centre of the city, big, ugly and mass produced.
Unlike the mass produced town, there weren't all that many ways to actually sneak inside the garrison. Because of the pure number of sensors, including weight sensitive sensors, even Force cloaked persons could be detected, if you were unlucky.
Leaving Rona in a safe place the two Jedi sneaked inside the town and then moved on to the garrison. Finding the bureaucratic section was easy, as each garrison was build to the same plan. It was entering and leaving again that would be the hard part.

The number of guards and patrol droids forced them to use the Force cloak the whole time. It was very draining. Finally they reached the computers, where Jaina swore. The computers had files had been updated. The governor on this place apparently had a brain. Luckily the slave information was considered low profile. She grinned as she started the download.
A shiver danced down their back as the file clicked finished. Suddenly the door to the computer room opened and storm troopers rushed in, shooting stun blasts.

Jaina dodged as she pulled her lightsaber free, too late to cloak. It was difficult, almost impossible, to cloak in the middle of combat. Another problem with the technique she had now discovered that the Jensaarai had not told them about.

Xander moved just as fast, but instead of dodging he kicked a chair, sending it flying into the path of the stunbolts, shielding him from the first attack as he pulled out his lightsabers and activated the sword and dagger blade, one in each hand. "Surrender now," he said threateningly.

Somehow he had managed to put on his helmet as well. Not even Xander knew how he had managed that trick. The left hand picked the lightdagger, the right hand picked the lightsaber and the right foot kicked the chair. So how did the helm end up on his head? As such thoughts flew through his mind, stood Jaina stood beside him, clicking her helmet visor down.
She had seen it. Xander, in an incredible combination of Force speed, drew the lightsaber in its double-bladed form in his right hand, put on the helmet with his left hand, and as the hand moved down, he grabbed the lightdagger part of the hilt. Then he activated both blades. All in one motion, to other humans it looked like the helmet suddenly teleported on to his head.

Stormtroopers, never being known for their cooperativeness, switched from stun to kill and opened fire, as they called for reinforcement.

Xander moved first, waving his saber in a coming low and cutting upwards motion on the first storm trooper, cleaving him in half and at the same time cutting of the second trooper's arms. With the Light dagger he parried five blaster bolts in one motion.

Behind him, Jaina also acted. Sending a Force push at the storm troopers and grabbing a pile of steel ball bearings, she used Ballistakinesis to turn them into a deadly rain of missiles, just like a shotgun. The stormtroopers hard armor protected them, but it hurt when the soft part between the armor was hit and before they could gather their wits or stand up, Xander was in front of them. Cut and slash in a single never ending motion and four more stormtroopers were mutilated or dead.

Outside the door they could hear more troopers coming.

Xander was panting for breath. "Let's hurry," he said, trying to cloak. It didn't work. Well, now he knew one weakness to the technique. You had to have calm around you to cloak.

The two rushed out the door. In front and to the right of them were fifty stormtroopers, which was a few too much, but to the left were only ten troopers, perfect. The ten troopers were shooting all that they could, but it was not good enough as the Jedi walked through them, cutting, slashing and stabbing.

"Hurry up!" Xander screamed as the rest started to shoot.

Jaina nodded as they rushed out in full Jedi speed. They were out of the corridor.

"What way?" Xander asked as they entered a crossing.

Jaina, who knew the basic base maps better, frowned. "Left down to the repulsor and walker hanger, the right path leads to the stormtroopers training area and the left to engineering. Right up are officers quarters." she said, looking at the different corridors and elevators.

Xander nodded. "Right, what way DO you think we should go?" he asked.

Jaina frowned again, then looked around, pointing at a tiny opening in the wall. "Droid elevator, it uses a powerful force field to push them up or sideways to where ever they need to go. Humans cannot use them or they get hurt," she said.

Xander frowned. "And?"

Jaina grinned. "Use the Force to protect yourself. The armor does the rest," she said.

Xander nodded. "Where can we go with it?"

Jaina shrugged, "Anywhere."

Xander thought about it. "TIE hangers." he grinned. "Wanton destruction and theft of TIE-Fighters sounds pretty good right about now."

She nodded as she explained what Xander had to do to activate the elevator. It was just a big open shaft, he was held up by an energy field inside it. Pushing the button as he focused himself he was away, twisting and turning as he flew at rocket speed through the base. Quick 90 degree turns almost knocked him out and then he suddenly went from full speed to full stop. He had arrived. Scrambling out, he tried to collected himself.

Nothing was hurt. He did it.

Seconds later, Jaina fell out of the elevator. It took her a minute before she could stand. "That was not good," she said.
Xander nodded. "Right, never use droid elevators again." he said.

In the base the security was feverishly trying to find them.

They had just collected themselves when security screamed out that the intruders were in the hangar. Xander shrugged as he climbed up on the catwalk and started to run and slash the TIE-Fighter engines as he passed them by. Jaina did the same from the other direction.

Soon out of the 72 active TIE-Interceptors only 2 remained undamaged. It would take at least half a day or more for the techs to repair each fighter from the damage they had done.

The door opened and stormtroopers marched inside. Between the shuttles and heavy equipment in the hangar, they had to split up in smaller groups in order to move around in the room.

Xander moved at the sight. "Ready the fighters and keep the hangar doors from closing. I'm going to have a heart to heart with the guys in white," he said, jumping down and landing softly, thanks to Force jump.

Jaina nodded as she hurried to the hangar doors. It was not easy, but she was better at this then Xander was. This of course made him the logical choice in who would talk to the troopers she smirked.

Diving down, he discovered that these troopers were not those bad fighters, they moved faster and they were stronger than he had expected. In addition, each of them could parry his lightsabers with the armor on their arms.

That was new, but he did not let that stop him as he fought. Fast and controlled, with no fury in his mind, he moved on like a machine, leaving nothing standing in his path. As the troopers were regrouping and calling for backup and heavy weapons, he heard Jaina call him.

She was done. He picked up a stormtroopers arm, still encased in the new type of armor, on his way to the fighter.
Jaina blinked in surprise, seeing Xander carry the armored arm of a stormtrooper. "Collecting something." he said, amused. This made Jaina curious, as she knew he had to have a good reason for such actions.

As they lifted off with the TIE-Interceptors, the big cannons on the base started to fire. They were built to defend against capital ship attacks or attack against ground moving enemies, not against small one man fighters.

Even so, both of them were lucky to get out of there alive.

19. 6-1

Note: Just a short part but tx anyway to Inachis

6-1

The Next day at the meeting point

Lowbacka was back and part of the Enterprise's cargo hold was now stocked with the Andris spice. Rona and Lowy looked at the TIE-Interceptors they had stolen. It was an impressive craft. Four cannons, the speed was incredible and this version even had shields, very wow-worthy indeed. Yet the X-wing was still the better craft.

The news from the mines on the other hand was not good. Of the over 8000 Earth human slaves that had been sent here, only 2 remained. The huge group of slaves bought by one single buyer on Tatooine and Sevarcos was Xander's only real clue on finding and saving his Earth brothers and sisters. The rest were spread out all over the galaxy and space is a very big place, but he had been too late. The slaves on Sevarcos had been Earth soldiers, who were kidnapped by the gate machine. Naturally, Earth's best did not like the idea of digging for their whole life. They had made trouble.

Some hundreds or more had been sold as gladiators to who knew where. Others had been transferred into the darkest and most dangerous mines where the black spice was mined out. That was a death sentence to any slave.
Jaina petted his shoulder.

Rona looked sad. "I'm sorry, too," she said. They were all alone in space.

His armored gauntlets smashed together. "Let's save what we can and report back to the rest of the gang," he said. "But first." He picked up the storm trooper armor. "They parried my lightsaber with this part. The rest you can cut." he said and then showed her.

Jaina snapped her fingers. "Remember what they said about cortosis minerals?"

Xander nodded. "I remember. You can make fibers that short circuit a lightsaber or you can mix it with steel and get an alloy that's brittle and can easy shatter, but gives almost 100 % protections against lightsabers and blasters."

Rona looked surprised. "Why not use it in the whole armor?" she asked.

Xander grabbed the back of his dagger and smashed it hard in the part protected from lightsabers. The thin plate like part of the armor shattered like glass and fell off, leaving the normal stormtrooper armor underneath visible.

Jaina nodded. "It's too fragile to be used as armor and it's heavier than normal steel, but put a thin protective layer over a chosen part of normal armor and that part can be used for parrying."

Xander mused further. "It's an expensive combination, because it needs barrium to act as a catalyst during the smelting process. Dangerous too, since barrium has a nasty tendency to explode."

Jaina nodded. "Thicker parts of the alloy can be installed on the back or on the side of vibroswords, to give them the ability to parry lightsabers. If it's the back side, then reverse the blade."

Xander continued. "Sometimes they also make vibroswords that look much like a katana. But it's too fragile for making armor plates."

Jaina picked up a thin piece of the alloy. "What they used on the gauntlet is way too thin, only as thick as a paper. Way too thin, but it can still protect against a lightsaber. The question is why they have it here?"

Rona nodded. It sounded like the material had a very limited use. Then she blinked. Why indeed.

Lowbacka growled out that he felt a growing darkness in the Force. Xander and Jaina nodded in understanding. Xander frowned. Yes, he had understood it too. "I can understand Wookiee. Sweet. Take that, translator-mistake."

M-TD, Lowbacka's tiny translator unit, sulked at that. He really did not like that human. "I have updated myself to be fluent in over fifteen different languages and five different forms of military protocol," he said with a wounded voice.

Xander froze, seeing Jaina glaring at him about bullying the droid. "Um. M-td that's actually quite useful and you did it on your own initiative. That is good too. We should talk a bit about what you can and cannot do at some point." Perhaps the tiny-mistake calling itself a translator could become useful, perhaps.

Jaina looked at him proudly, giving M-td a wink. She had helped the poor droid in finding useful updates and burning them into his translator unit, making them a permanent part of the droids skill.

M-TD sounded happy. "Of course sir, an organic can never truly be completely effective unless he can speak or understand what is going on, and a good translator like myself is a treasure to be found."

Lowbacka sighed and turned him off.

*

Later next day

At the entry gate of the black spice mine.

Big security doors, guards, armored droids and cameras and also a nearby space port with a shuttle waiting in case of an emergency.

Jaina frowned. "We have to wait until somebody is entering or leaving. The slaves sleep inside. The moment we remove the slave chip, they will know that one of the slaves is on the loose."

Xander sighed. "One on inside and the others as back up would be wise. Could you prepare that ship for the slaves to use? Lowbacka can help you. When the fight inside starts, create some chaos outside and secure that ship," he said and gave Rona his pistols.

Jaina did not like the idea much, but nodded. "Right, remember to get back alive or I will kill you myself."

Lowbacka frowned and whispered to himself. There seemed to be a storehouse full of spice nearby. Perhaps they could see what was inside, load the shuttle up with Andris and take some black-spice for themselves. It had some medical and military uses after all.

Xander vanished as he entered the guard station. Soon he saw his chance. A guard was entering the mine. He entered behind the guard, using Force flight to minimize his weight in order to fool the weight sensors in the floor. He would have to fight his way back out.

Taking a deep breath inside his helm, he looked around. It was dark and strangely moist as he walked further down into the mine. He had to switch from the Cloak to Force stealth soon or risk draining himself.

He walked around for hours, which felt like weeks, until he found the slave quarters. Slowly engaging the Force cloak again, he entered the room as the slaves went inside to rest. The security was not that good, but now he was locked inside with the slaves.

Two humans, nine Gamoreans, one Duros and fifty different types of aliens that he had no idea about were scattered about the room. Hiding in the last shower booth, the broken one, he relaxed as the aliens entered the room one by one.
Finally the two humans entered. They where silently soaping themselves when Xander made his move. He used the Force to make the soap jump out and glide on the floor.

"He Riley, you are way too tired." the other said.

The man who had just lost his soap snorted. "Right, do I need to watch my back against you too, Graham?" he said, snorting again as he leaned over in the shower to pick it up.

Suddenly a voice spoke in English. "Pretend to clean your feet." it said. "I'm here to save you both." Xander continued.
Riley and the nearby Graham both heard the voice and then saw a flicker in the air, just like a Klingon warship decloaking on Star Trek. Then an armored person could be seen moving out from hiding in the shower.

Xander decided to shut off his Force cloak to make them believe him. It seemed to work as both suddenly had a look of hope on their faces again. No, not hope, but focused dedication. Hope had never left these two.

"Tell me everything about the security and then about your room mates." Xander ordered. According to the file, one of them was a traitor and would be freed from the mine after two months. The room had over fifty aliens in it.

Xander nodded after listening to a long, but precise report. "Right, tell only the ones you can trust to stay with you tomorrow." he said, pushing a chip remover into their hands. "The moment the slave chip is gone, the alarms will activate. Tomorrow, as you start to work, use this and pass it along. First do only the ones you can trust, then you can let the rest have it."

They looked at him. "What are you going to do?" Graham Miller asked.

Xander smiled. "Right now? Rest. Tomorrow my partners on the outside are going to take out the gate." He looked at them. "What? You thought I'd come alone to a hostile world like this?" he grinned. The ship was hidden nearby and if Jaina did what Jaina always did, so would be the shuttle craft.

He ignored them as he leaned back, trying to meditate hidden in the broken shower booth. The air was so dry that even with his helmet on he felt dried out. It was moist in the shower booth and he removed the helmet, letting water drip on him before putting it back on again.

He could feel the effects of the black spice creep on him. It had entered his bloodstream somehow. Crap, the breath mask protected his mouth and nose, but not his gills. He had been driving around and standing outside a spice mine without a mask to protect his gills, just a moist cloth.

Xander tried to relax. If he was about to suffer narcosis, he would have had an attack by now, and his helm protected the gills as well. He would have to remember this lesson in the future.

The two enslaved humans from earth continued showering as the Jedi cursed his carelessness.

Soon a small group of twelve slaves huddled together as they often did, talking about other slaves, their problems and the things they needed to protect themselves against, plots to steal more food and dreams of escaping. The security did not care as they started to talk about the unsafe roof in corridor fifteen-ninety-one. Then slowly they shifted and whispered to the others to stay close the next day.