So now we know what Colton came to Tatooine for. It appears that rivalry may be in the future for our favorite pilot ;) Personally, I like the Sol/Colton relationship; it's cute becuase he's teaching her the language and everything (Kind of like Noriko and Izark from From Far Away That's an awesome Manga, by the way...).

No flashback in this chapter, but you'll be seeing more about Aishlinn's past in the near future. Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Star Wars. If I did, there would be more romance between the Exile and Atton Rand. Atton Rand is a sexy beast who will *possibly* be joining me in introducing new chapters. Prepare for it.

Chapter 3

"Sol asks where we are going." TI-29 interpreted. Colton looked around in search of the cantina. His eyes were drawn to a large sign towards the center of the town and realized it said 'CANTINA' in various languages. He smiled and turned to the Tusken Princess.

"We're going to the cantina to grab our pilot and head back to Alderaan." He answered. TI-29 translated, just in case she didn't pick all of that up. "Oh, and try not to speak in your own language; more than likely people won't appreciate hearing you."

Sol nodded and followed the Jedi closely; outsiders frightened her, especially when she wasn't layered in her Tusken robes. Those robes not only provided protection, but they struck fear in the hearts of most outsiders. "But not Colton…" she thought to herself. He had been nothing but kind to her, the only outsider to do so; even when she had been covered in her robes he had been kind. Something stirred in her heart and she clutched her chest involuntarily.

"Pilot, nice?" she asked. Colton nodded.

"Very nice."

She followed Colton the remainder of the way in silence, observing the outsiders that mulled about their day. These people weren't fierce and evil all the time; they had families and had the capability to be kind, just like her own people.

"Stay close." Colton murmured and grabbed her hand as they entered the cantina. The Tusken's face heated up and she keep her tattooed gray face to the ground in order to hide her blush.

It was intimidating being in such an unusual place; Sol had never seen so many different sentient beings gathered in one place before. She couldn't name what species they were, but she knew enough that each one spoke a different language. Sol knew Tusken and a bit of Basic, but other than that…

"Our pilot is in here somewhere… I'm not sure exactly where, but—"

"Master, I do believe the smuggler is over there." The droid interrupted, pointing in the direction of a small gray rabbit-looking alien and a girl who was smoking. The trio made their way to the table and the girl cracked open a closed eye to stare at Colton.

"Yo, what happened to your coat?" she asked. Then she noticed Sol standing closely behind the Jedi Knight. Aishlinn opened both of her eyes and squinted curiously at the Tusken Raider Princess. "So, you go out in the dessert with a droid and come back with a girl?" she accused. Sol pressed herself closer to Colton, not sure how to deal with the other female. She was pretty, a little rough around the edges, and Sol felt intimidated by her.

Ash observed the other girl with interest; she had dusty skin and vibrant orange eyes along with several diamond-shaped tattoos that circled her scalp like a halo. Circular tattoos went from the corners of her eyes and down while more diamond-shaped tattoos formed a triangle on each of her cheeks. Various other tattoos were on her exposed arms and legs, but Ash didn't see a definite pattern. She had light, caramel colored hair that was in ringlets and she stared at Aishlinn with a mixture of fear and respect.

The smuggler had never met an alien of her species before. She was beautiful, though, and a stab of jealousy went through Ash at the sight of the alien girl clutching Colton's arm.

"Add some horns and she could pass for an Iridonian." Ash muttered darkly. "So, what are you?" she asked rather rudely. Tegrit rolled his eyes and approached the other female. Standing on the table, his head reached the Princess' shoulder blade and he held out a furry hand for her to shake.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss." He said politely as she shook his hand.

"Meet… you." She said in broken basic. Colton smiled sheepishly.

"She can't speak basic very well, so it'll be hard to communicate with her." He explained. "We need to head for Alderaan now, or things might get a bit…" he trailed off not sure how to finish.

"We shall all die painfully unless we leave at this moment." TI cleared up. Ash stared at him speculatively, but motioned for the other passengers to come quickly.

"When you put it that way… let's haul jets!"

The hangar wasn't too far away, so the two humans, one droid, one Kushiban, and one Tusken Princess made it onto the ship within minutes. Ash and Tegrit ran to the cockpit and started up the ship without asking questions, yet. Sol and Colton took their seats in the central hull while TI-29 strapped himself in against the wall.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" the droid said. Colton gave him a sympathetic smile.

"It'll be okay, Tee-eye. Ash'll get us out of here and we won't have to worry about the Sith. She'll get us to Alderaan safely and the Sith won't get their hands on Sol."

Sol smiled at the Jedi, picking out enough from his words to know that he was going to keep her safe. Once the ship had left Tatooine's atmosphere, Ash left Tegrit in control and moved to the hull to speak with her passengers.

"Okay, what is going on, exactly?" she demanded. Colton and Sol shared a look as Ash crossed her arms over her chest impatiently. "Come on, out with it."

"Well," Colton started slowly, looking at Sol for confirmation, "There are probably a bunch of angry Tusken Raiders searching for us as well as Dark Jedi."

A vein popped in the smuggler's forehead. "Why?"

"Sol is a Tusken Raider Princess."

Silence fell over all the occupants on the ship before Aishlinn burst out laughing.

"Oh force, you had me going there for a second." She said between chuckles. "So, who is she, really?"

"It's the truth, Aishlinn. She's a Tusken Princess." Colton urged. Ash stopped laughing and stared at him.

"Look, the joke isn't funny the second time. Who. Is. She?"

Colton sighed and looked the pilot straight in the eyes, making sure he had her undivided attention. "She. Is. A. Tusken. Princess. I am being dead serious, Aishlinn." He enunciated. Ash stared at him silently for a good three minutes before her gaze shifted to Sol. "Her name is Sol."

"She's really one of the Sand People?" she asked. Colton nodded his head. "Huh, I wasn't expecting them to look so pretty underneath all that… stuff, ya know?"

Sol smiled softly at the pilot, "Nice meet you?"

Ash chuckled at her innocence and ruffled her hair. "Yeah, nice meet you too." The smuggler took a seat next to her and propped her feet up on the table. Sol looked at her filthy boots in disgust, but didn't say anything.

"Sol, how did you learn basic?" Colton asked. Sol shook her head, not understanding. "Tee-eye, could you translate?"

The droid nodded and roared something at the Tusken. She roared back, startling Aishlinn; she wasn't expecting a sound like that to come out of the petite girl.

"Master, she says that they had captured a young Twi'lek male named Bux who she became friends with. He had helped teach her basic while she taught him her native language so the two could understand each other." TI translated. "She also says that he died from the heat a year ago."

"I'm sorry…" Colton said and silence fell over the occupants on the ship. After several minutes of the uncomfortable silence, Colton spoke again. "Would you like to learn more basic?" he asked. Sol's eyes lit up and she nodded.

"Yes! Me learn speak you!"

"Well, I better get back to the cockpit. You three have fun now." Ash said with a hint of bitterness in her voice as she stood. Colton watched her go, not sure what was bugging her. He made a note to talk to her about it later.

—

Ash yawned as she stared out in the expanse of dark hyper speed, unable to shake the feeling of anger towards the Princess. The way she looked at Colton made the smuggler feel quite jealous.

"I saw him first…" she mumbled under her breath. Tegrit glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and sighed in exasperation.

"Will I ever understand human females…?" he asked himself rhetorically. "Ash, what is bothering you?" he asked despite already knowing the answer.

"It's nothing."

"Ash…"

"It's nothing, Teg, alright!" she shouted. She shook her head and stood up, making her way to the starboard dorms. However, once she reached them she wished that she had stayed in the cockpit with the nosey Kushiban. In the starboard dorms, Colton and her majesty were curled up on one of the beds (sitting way too close for comfort) and the handsome Jedi knight was gently speaking with her in basic while TI-29 helped him with the translating. Ash's lips turned up in an involuntary sneer as she decided to head to the dorms on the other side of the ship.

Thinking about Colton and the Princess made the smuggler sick. Then again, she shouldn't be forming attachments; she was being paid to take him to force knows where, so she shouldn't be developing anything for him. Especially since she was a—

And most importantly, she shouldn't be jealous of a Princess from a psycho tribe of killers.

Ash yawned and fell onto the center bed as gracefully as possible. She untied her boots and set them by the bed, reconsidering sleep for a shower. She sighed and pulled off her jacket, setting it on the bed by her boots. She walked to the refresher and started the shower. After making sure the water was scalding hot, she stripped and slid under the burning torrent.

Ash sighed in content and closed her eyes as the water pounded on her weary body. There was nothing like a hot shower to relax and calm her tense mind and body.

The smuggler exited the shower as the water turned cold, towel-dried her hair, and dressed in clean clothes she stored in the tiny closet. She pulled on a fresh red shirt and clean pants before leaving the 'fresher barefoot and heading back into the dorms. Even though her hair was still damp, Ash managed to get comfortable enough in the small bed to relax her body and try to sleep.

But her mind continued dragging her back to Colton and Sol.

Aishlinn wasn't a restless person, but she decided that if she couldn't sleep, she might-as-well do something productive. She wasn't a Pazaak shark, but it was something to do on long, boring trips. She sifted through her bag for a playing deck, and let out a shout of joy when she found them. She sat cross legged on the floor and began to deal for a single player game.

A knock on the open door caught her attention.

Aishlinn looked up to see Colton standing in the doorway. He smiled at her. "Mind if I join you?"

She grinned back. "Only if we play Nar Shaddaa rules." Ash teased playfully. Colton tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"What are Nar Shaddaa rules?"

Ash sighed and shook her head. "If you don't know, it doesn't matter." She said dismissively. "Just take a seat and I'll deal. You ever played Pazaak before?"

Colton nodded his head.

"Good. Makes my job a helluva lot easier."

The two played several rounds, tying most of them and Aishlinn winning the rest. When the game began to grow boring for the both of them, Ash retrieved her cards and offered Colton a hand to help him stand up.

"Not bad for a mind reader."

Colton visibly flushed. "I did not read your mind during this game. I do not use my powers to cheat at games."

Ash gave him a toothy grin. "Just ruffling your feathers a bit; don't get your Jedi robes in a twist."

Colton shook his head in exasperation as he followed the pilot out of the dorm.

"I should probably Head back up and help Tegrit out. We're going to be entering Alderaan space in an hour, give or take." She commented. Colton nodded and watched her head back to the cockpit.

"Nice of you to join me." Tegrit said as the dirty blond entered. She made a face at her friend as she sat down in the piloting seat.

"Good to know you missed me."

Tegrit opened his mouth to give her a sarcastic retort, but was interrupted by the ship jolting from impact. Ash glanced at the readings and realized they were being followed by Sith fighters. Again. Aishlinn suppressed a groan.

"Colton! I need you to take out those fighters!" she shouted. A muffled shout of agreement was heard from the Jedi Knight and he climbed up into the turrets.

'I'm starting to see a pattern…' she thought to herself. 'Ever since this guy got on my ship, things have gone sour.'

Another vicious blaster shot from a fighter caused the ship to rock as something important was taken out. Aishlinn cursed silently when she realized the hyperdrive was damaged as well as the stabilizers. They were running out of power and needed to land somewhere soon. The Fancy Fox wasn't yet in Alderaan space, so the pilot knew Colton's Jedi friends wouldn't come to help them. However, she checked the map and saw that they weren't too far from Nar Shaddaa, the smuggler's moon.

"We're going to have to land!" she shouted as she flipped several switched and began bringing the ship in for a landing. "We're going to have quite a few unhappy people when we land…"

Colton slid down from the guns and strapped into a seat in the hull of the starship. A shout of surprise came from the starboard dorms where Colton had let Sol rest in. He panicked and rushed towards the dorms. He stumbled as the ship rocked fiercely. The Jedi balanced himself and prayed that they would be able to land safely.

"Sol, are you alright?" he asked. The princess was on the floor gripping the side of the bed to keep from sliding around. She gave Colton a tight smile.

"Yes."

Colton wrapped his arms around her and helped hang on so neither of them got injured in the landing.

Aishlinn (being the amazing pilot that she was) managed to land the ship on an empty landing pad with minimal damage. The stabilizers and hyperdrive were still ruined, but the occupants of the Fancy Fox were unharmed.

"Ow!"

Well, almost all of them.

Aishlinn clutched her bleeding head as she stood shakily from the pilot's seat. She had hit her head on the controls and now she was bleeding profusely. Tegrit sighed exasperatedly; she just couldn't help but get in trouble, could she?

"Follow me, Ash. I shall dress your wound."

Ash followed the Kushiban out of the cockpit and towards their three other companions.

"Is everyone okay?" She asked as Tegrit found some bandages.

"I am unharmed, as are Sol and Tee-eye." Colton answered. "Are you bleeding? I can heal that with the force, if you like."

Aishlinn held up her hand not clutching her forehead. "No thank you. I'm not letting you use your Jedi mumbo jumbo on me. Tegrit can handle it."

Colton nodded. "As you wish."

When Tegrit returned, he was carrying bandages. He hopped up onto the table and began wrapping them around her injured head. Satisfied with his work, the Kushiban hopped up on her shoulders and draped himself around her neck.

"Force, my head throbs…" Ash muttered. "Anyway, the stabilizers and hyperdrive are ruined beyond repair, so we'll have to buy new ones. Without them, we won't be able to leave this planet. However, the minimal cost for the used parts we need will run to about 20,000 credits. I don't have nearly that much with me. Any of you think you can help?"

Colton sighed and shook his head. "I already gave you all the credits I own."

"I not know what you mean. What is credits?" Sol asked, her basic already ten times better than before. Aishlinn shook her head, stifling a snort.

"Ish'ka, I guess we're stranded here. We'll have to find alternate means of transportation with what money we have." She said. The Fancy Fox's crew nodded and all began piling out of the ship. "Where should we start looking?" Ash asked.

"The cantina seems to be a good place to start our search." Colton recommended. Ash nodded.

"The cantina it is." Aishlinn gave a little snort as they stepped off of the ship and into the light of Nar Shaddaa. "Welcome to the Little Slugland, my friends."