The ride to the rendezvous point was quick and smooth. Traffic was light on this part of Coruscant at this hour. Once there, they met their two contacts; A human, Dex had said he was from Raltiir, and a Bothan. They escorted them to a small Corellian cargo freighter.

"Hello, and welcome on the Dawn's edge." The Raltiiri said to Jes and Marin when they were aboard the freighter, "You can call me Delta, and my furry friend here Omega. You must be Jes and Marin?"

"That's right." Jes answered.

"Good, " Delta continued, "Nice to meet you both. We're going to get you of Coruscant. This might be a bit more of a challenge than usual because of the heightened security everywhere with the war going on and the other events of today but I'm sure we'll be fine. Please follow me up the boarding ramp." The one called Delta continued while they walked aboard.

"When we've left Coruscant we'll plan a few short jumps to mask our trail as best as we can. We will then take you to Ba'an, a mining colony world on the edge of the core region. Due to its location next to two major hyperspace lanes Ba'an has become one of the main entry points for war refugees into the core. It has become a very busy place with the infrastructure of an asteroid. This makes it a perfect place to blend in if you're trying to go somewhere and don't want to draw attention to yourself. We've done this many times before so please don't worry about a thing. Omega, please show our guests around the ship and take them to their quarters, I'll start pre-flight."

Although it seemed perfectly ordinary from a distance, Jes noticed the details immediately. This freighter was heavily modified. Extra armored plating was added and he could see a few bulges in inconspicuous places on the hull possibly indicating boosted shields or perhaps counter measure systems, or both. If anything, it added to the smugglers' credibility. He wasn't very confident on trusting them on just their ego's.

The Bothan called Omega asked them to follow him while Delta headed for what must be the cockpit. Once they entered a large open area in the center of the ship he said: "This is the main hold with a small communal area to your left. If the ride goes smooth you can spend some time here relaxing." He walked into a corridor on the left until they came to a room filled with electronics. "This is engineering. You don't want to worry too much about this place except this here..." He pushed a seemingly random set of characters into a keyboard of a maintenance terminal and a section of wall to the left of the terminal opened up revealing a small dark space. "We call this our guest room. If we happen to be boarded by customs officers or something looking for anything illegal, you will have to hide in here. It won't be comfortable but the walls are specially insulated to prevent most scanning equipment from detecting anything out of the ordinary in here. To prevent the detection of irregular energy signatures there are no computers in there and just one small red light. The door can only be opened from the outside. When someone is attempting to open the door the red light will start blinking. When we open the door we always knock on the wall panel three times so you know it's safe. Of course we expect we won't be using these and you can spend the journey relaxing in the communal area until we reach Ba'an. Come, I'll show you to your quarters."

Through another corridor they were led to a small cabin containing Four beds. "Again, don't expect any luxury, we're not a cruise liner but you can rest here if you're tired. Ah, I hear the engines have come online. Let me take you to the cockpit."

Omega led them to the cockpit. It was a room with a wide viewport and an overload of indicator lights, switches, displays and other electronics. Jes noticed that unlike from the outside, everything in here looked like top-notch equipment and up to date with current technology. There were two chairs, Delta was in one of them, busy punching a dozen or so switches and carefully monitoring some of the displays.

"There you are. You like our little cruise ship?" Delta said, while remaining concentrated on the indicator lights and displays.

"Looks good. Corellian right?" Jess answered diplomatically. In reality however, from what he had seen, he was more than a little impressed. He had seen many modified smugglers' vessels back in his NSOC days but not many of them looked this well-equipped.

"Sure is. Might be a little outdated here and there but that gives her a nice low profile while she's extremely reliable and the modification options are endless."

Omega sat down in the copilot seat and said: "Okay, we'll be taking off. Feel free to roam around the parts of the ship I just showed you. You guys look like you could use a rest. "

While Omega quickly finished some of the preflight checks, Delta initiated take off. Jes and Marin retreated to the main hold communal area and sat down.

"So," Marin said, "Your friend Dexter really came through on this."

"Yeah, he's very resourceful. It must be some favor these guys owed Dex. These services usually aren't cheap. He wasn't lying either, these guys look like pro's. I'll make it up to him some day when we return. "

They felt the ship lift off and start it's run to orbit. A few minutes later they heard Delta through the intercom: "Okay, we're in higher orbit. We're navigating to the first jump coordinates. We'll let you know if...wait, what's that?"

"They're hailing us." They heard Omega softly say in the background.

"Okay, I'll be right back after we deal with this." Delta said. And the intercom fell silent.

Marin looked at jess, "This doesn't feel right..."

A moment later Omega came into the main hold looking annoyed, "It's Coruscant customs. They have requested we stop our engines and want to board us. They say it's a routine check resulting from the heightened security measures after today's events."

"You worried?" Jes asked.

"Nah, Delta tried to bust their balls to see how serious they were but they sounded like they have been doing this all day and really just wanted to get this over with. I'm going to have to ask you to come with me. You'll have to stay in the guest room until they're done checking us."

They followed Omega to engineering where he opened the hidden entrance to the small dark space. "There are narrow benches on either side of the room. Please remain seated until we get you out. Seeing how busy these guys were I guess it won't take very long. And here, " He gave Jes a blaster pistol which Jes immediately recognized as a DL-44 heavy blaster. "Just in case. Dex mentioned you know how to handle weapons."

"No problem." Jes said, checking the weapon for charge and removing the safety.

Omega looked at Marin and added "Don't worry kid, we'll be fine."

"I'm not worried." Lied Marin, she actually had quite a lot of doubts. She didn't know these Omega and Delta characters. Come to think about it, she didn't even really know Jes Darrin all that well. At least he seemed to have her back so far... Jes seemed to have read her mind and gave her a reassuring look while they entered the small room.

"Okay, just stay calm in there and we'll have you out in no time." And Omega closed the door.

The room was dark, except for a small red light in which they could just make out each other's silhouettes. It was quiet in there. Neither said anything to prevent making any perceivable noise. They heard some distant noises probably indicating docking activity. After that they heard nothing for a while. The insulation seemed to work both ways. The following ten minutes or so seemed to last about three hours. Finally they heard some noises indicating someone was approaching the entrance. The red light started blinking.

No one had knocked. They both realized it and Jess readied the blaster, aiming at the door.

Marin closed her eyes and concentrated. She could make out only one presence nearby other than her and Jes. Wait, it was familiar! She had felt it before, very recently...

Jes was ready to open fire when he felt Marin's hand on his, gently pushing it down. Just like with the temple, Jes thought. And decided to trust her. He lowered the blaster.

The door opened and he held his breath. Delta stood in the doorway waving.

"You can come out now, we're clear. They were as overworked and eager to get it over with as we expected. We'll be jumping as soon as possible." and he walked of in the direction of the cockpit.

Jes looked at Marin, "Good call back there. I would have taken him out without hesitation. Could you sense him?"

"Thank you. Something like that, yeah."

"We're starting to make a pretty good team, don't you think?"

Marin showed a thin smile for the first time since they were attacked. "I guess we do. Marin and Darrin huh?" And they stepped out of the guest room.

When they walked into the main hold they saw Omega. "Like I said, nothing to worry about, right?"

"Except that I almost shot your partner." Jess said to Omega.

"What do you mean?" Omega asked.

"He didn't knock when he opened the guest room door." Jes decided to leave out the details on why he didn't fire. "Good thing I hesitated."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Omega said, noticeably irritated and walked in the direction of the cockpit, yelling ...

"Delta, you bloody piece of Bantha dung!"

"Whoah, what is it?" a voice from the cockpit said while Omega left the main hold and went towards the cockpit.

Omega's voice was loud enough to hear back in the main hold. "You didn't knock before you opened the guest room?! We got out at Onderon, escaped Geonosis and even pulled of that job on Muunilinst and you almost managed to get shot by our cargo?!" Omega ranted on furiously, "For all we know he's a bloody commando and would have blown your head straight off."

"Yeah... sorry about that. I was so caught up in the moment I must have forgot. But hey! We're still here! And I suggest we focus on getting out, quickly!"

Omega appeared in the doorway shortly after this "I'm sorry about that. Sometimes I think something up there is watching over that idiot. The things he gets away with..." and he wandered back into the cockpit still muttering under his breath.

Marin gave Jes a questioning look. "Do they still look like pro's to you now?"

"You'd be surprised at the stupid mistakes pro's make sometimes. I still think we're in pretty good hands here, we just have to keep our eyes open." And they sat down on the benches as the stars stretched out into lines.

"So, where are we going to go? After Ba'an I mean." Marin asked.

"Well, I have an idea but I wanted to discuss it with you first. "

"Okay, tell me about it!"

"Right, have you ever heard of Andean?"

"Nope."

"Well, it's a small world in the mid-rim. There's small colony there. nothing more than a few farming communities and a central space port. I know one family there that owns a farm where we could lay low for a while. It's far from the Core but still relatively safe. It has not been touched by the war. It's also categorized as a legacy world which prevents large scale exploitation. The republic has little to no presence there. "

"Farming, you?" Marin jested

"Heheh, you would be surprised."

"So you've been there, how do you know these people?" Marin asked.

"One time, when I was a marine we had a leave coming up. A good friend of mine from my team asked me if I was interested in spending my leave working on a farm. He had an uncle who owed a farm on Andean. A place of which I had never heard of until I met him. He was always talking about it, how he was going to take over the farm from his uncle one day. His uncle had had an accident which left him immobile for a few standard months while the harvest season was coming up. He could use the help, and it would be a good time, away from everything.

Now, to most people it would sound silly to spend your leave working. But to us it was exactly what we needed. The things we saw and did during our missions. It could really get to you if you let it. Keeping busy with physical work, away from everything, was the best way of dealing with it.

So I went. We stayed at the farm with my friend's uncle and his wife. And I spent the next few standard months working on the harvest.

The colony was located on the central forested belt of the planet and the harvest is in the dry season so the weather was great. Good times... Anyway, it's the only place I can come up with which is relatively safe and little to no republic presence. How about you? Any ideas?"

"Not, not really." Marin answered. "I've lived in the temple for as long as I can remember. I have no other family other than the Jedi and all the worlds I visited are republic worlds. So, sounds like Andean will have to do. Your friend, did he take over the farm? Does he live there?" Marin asked.

Jes stayed silent for a moment, looking out the viewport. "No, my friend died while we were on a mission about a year after our farming trip. I have not been in contact with his uncle since that happened. That was about twelve years ago. I'm not even sure if they live there anymore. But I think it's worth a try.

"Oh, I'm sorry. " Marin said.

"Don't worry about it, It was a long time ago."

"Okay, " Marin said with a bit of hesitation. "Well, I'm in. Do you know how we can get to Andean from Ba'an?"

"Not yet. But since Ba'an is next to important hyperspace lanes, I'm sure there'll be opportunities to travel out of the core. We should have no problem finding a ride to the mid-rim. I should have enough credits on me to get us there."

They both sat there for a moment staring at the hyperspace star lines passing by outside the viewport.

A few jumps later Omega came into the main hold. "We're about to enter the Karoen system. We'll drop out of hyperspace near Ba'an. You can come into the cockpit if you like. I's quite a view with the busy traffic there. "

Jes and Marin entered the cockpit just in time to hear Delta announce: "Exiting hyperspace in three, two, one..." And the star lines faded back into stars. Ba'an loomed in the center of the viewport. An arid, rocky world with only a few regions which are habitable, Ba'an was home to only a few mining colonies. It was its location next to two major hyperspace lanes on the edge of the core region that made it a popular refueling stop for ships who were traveling out of the core and more recently, refugees from the war stricken worlds who were traveling into the core, hoping to find peace and a new home.

"Wow, it really is busy here. What's that space station?" Marin asked.

"That's Bastion station, an old military outpost used mostly as a refueling station. Recently it has been retrofitted for use by Ba'an customs after the refugee situation started escalating during the war. What is up with all the military presence though... wow, check out the Venator!" Omega answered.

"No clue." Delta said, sounding surprised. "I don't remember ever seeing this before near Ba'an. Let's play it cool though. Wait, we're being hailed... by the Venator!"

"Corellian transport, this is the republic cruiser Endurance. Please identify yourselves and transmit your flight plan for inspection."

Marin gave Jes a worried look. He nodded to her, acknowledging her concerns. "Alright," Jes said. "Let's keep calm, we don't know what they want yet."

"Don't worry, our cover should hold." Omega said reassuringly. He answered the com:

"This is Corellian transport Phoenix V, transmitting flight plan now."

The com stayed silent for a while, no-one said anything. A minute later the comm came alive again.

"Corellian transport Phoenix V, there seems to be an irregularity in your flight plan. Please power down your engines and remain stationary for inspection."

"I thought our cover would hold?" Jes asked.

"It should, I have no idea what's going on here. We need to find out more. " Delta said.

Omega nodded and answered the comm: "Republic cruiser, this is Corellian transport Phoenix V, what seems to be the problem? We're on a tight schedule and would like to make our stop here as short as possible."

"Phoenix V, your flight plan shows you originated from Alderaan but your drive signature was scanned leaving Corusacant just a few hours ago. All ships entering from Coruscant will be inspected. Please power down your engines or we will be forced to engage."

Delta noticed an alarm on one of the displays. "Drat! We've got 3 v-19's and a boarding craft coming in on an intercept course from the Venator. Time to intercept on present heading, eight minutes." Delta said.

"Should we go back to the guest room?" Marin asked looking a bit nervous.

Omega looked at Delta and said: "No, These aren't you regular overworked customs. This is the military and what they're doing is quite irregular. They might know more then they're letting on. The risk is too high. We cannot let them board."

"I agree." Delta said. "But we have more tricks up our sleeve. Time to put our skill to the test. Are you thinking what I'm thinking Omega?"

"I assume you mean the 'Onderon special'?" Omega asked. "We could use the asteroids for a drop cover."

"Exactly. You take our guests and explain the plan. I'll feint the power-down and prepare our run."

"Got it. Jes, Marin, please follow me. There's a part of the ship I haven't shown you yet, I'll explain on the way ." Omega got up and took Jes and Marin past engineering to what Jes recognized as an escape pod area.

"Escape pods?" Jes asked.

"Yes, and no." Omega answered cryptically. "Listen, I'd like to give you an extensive briefing but under the circumstances the short version will have to do.

It looks like an escape pod, but it's not anymore. We modified it so it can be used for covert orbital delivery. In short, We'll use it to get you to Ba'an.

We'll make it seem that we're running away while calculating jump coordinates. Using the asteroids for cover we'll launch the escape pod which will use a short engine burst to place itself stationary near the cover object, in this case the asteroid. Our own engines being at full power should mask the pod's engine burst from scans. "

"Sounds like a risky maneuver." Jes commented.

"It's not very conventional flying, I agree. but Delta's the best pilot I know. He'll pull it off. "

"So, we've removed all unnecessary electronics from the pod to minimize the energy signature. Unfortunately, this also means there are no means for manual control from within the pod. It will follow the programmed instructions only. With its small size it will evade all but the most extensive scans. With the pod hiding in cover, we'll continue our distraction run clearing away from the cover object to pre-calculated jump coordinates and get the hell out of here while losing our pursuers through a series of pre-calculated jumps. Once we're out of here the pod will become active after a programmed time and start a preset course for planetary entry. It will do so at a controlled speed mimicking a small meteor. The pod engines have been upgraded for better control and landing capabilities. Once it reaches a certain altitude the engines will slow the pod down to landing speed. We'll set it up to take you near Ba'an's space port Par'iva. You should be fine from there. "

"Sounds risky" said Jes.

"That comes with the business I'm afraid." Omega answered diplomatically. "But we think it's the best chance we're going to get."

"You've tried a maneuver like this before?" Jes asked, still not very sure of this plan.

"Yes, we've successfully used this method many times." Jes thought he noticed a hint of hesitation in Omega's answer but they were running out of time, so he didn't enquire any further.

"Good to know." Jes said, "Well, Marin, you ready?"

"I... guess so, let's get in."

"I's been nice meeting you Marin and Jes. The best of luck to the two of you and your journey."

As Omega closed the door behind them Jes could just make out Delta through the intercom: "Delta here, Everything's set. We're approaching the asteroids. Isn't this exciting? I've always wanted to try the Onderon special with live cargo!" Jes looked through the door's viewport at Omega. "What was that?!"

Omega quickly put on an exaggerated smile and said: "No worries! We promised to get you to Ba'an, we'll get you to Ba'an!"

Marin and Jes gave each other worried looks. " Well, we're in this now. Let's hope this all works out." Jes said.

"Funny thing though," Marin answered, "I don't feel worried at all..."