Guest - Sascha's kind of always been the wise-beyond-his-years guy (when he isn't being a petulant teenager). Nara does tend to bring out the best in him though.

Mr. Insane - Yup. I wonder what kind of group would be interested in taking on a force led by Jedi. We'll see soon enough. But rest assured they'll be a formidable foe for the Jedi.

Speechbubbleme - Oh don't worry about me keep writing, I've still got chapters and chapters written in this story. The fact that views/favourites/follows in this story is down fairly significantly is kind of annoying, but I'm still enjoying writing this story and these characters. I like the previous chapter too, because it basically establishes the Nara/Sascha relationship for what it is, a close friendship. They will always have this sort of playful edge to it, but there's no romantic interest from either side, as we've seen.

A/N - I've got nothing.

Anyways, all reviews, follows, and favourites are deeply appreciated as always.

Please enjoy the next chapter.

Chapter 36: Rescue

"The least I can say about Vash Varless is that he's kept anyone from finding out about our Invasion of Ubrora, which seems impossible in this modern day of communications. The jamming package installed in the Reprisal is top notch, I know, but what about the cargo haulers that move the produce from Ubrora? Can Vash keep them from communicating back to anyone who would care about this planet? And what about the Jedi? Isn't someone looking for them?

And Vash wonders why I can't sleep at night.

-From the Journal of Pravin Ecalt, seventeen days in to the Invasion of Ubrora

Pamaf Creel stretched out his legs in the pilot's chair of the Astral Helper. He couldn't stretch his legs very far, for one the Astral Helper was not a very big ship, and second, he was tall and lanky for a human and whoever had owned this ship first had apparently not believed in leg room. Still, the Astral Helper was his ship and he had worked a long time for it to be his. No one was as dedicated to the Antarian Rangers as he was.

His parents had thought that his dream of joining the elite Antarian Rangers wouldn't make it past childhood, after all, who would have wanted to live a meager existence as a mere helper to the Jedi Order? He did. And his dream had never faded. Pamaf had been obsessed by the Jedi at an early age. His birthday parties were Jedi themed. The video games he played? Jedi simulators. His favourite books? Jedi histories. His idols? Jedi Masters.

While he had known even as a child that he could never be a Jedi as he didn't have even a shred of talent with the Force, that had not stopped him from trying every day to live up to the ideals of the Jedi Order. As soon as he had completed his schooling, he had sent a message to the Antarian Rangers headquarters asking…no, begging to be allowed the chance to demonstrate his skills and his commitment.

His friends had said that it was a waste of time, that his message would never be read, but Pamaf knew in his heart that he was meant for bigger things than living on the dustball known as Jakku. The reply came in under a week, offering him a chance to interview with a recruiter for the Antarian Ranger via a very expensive holocomm transmission. The rest, as they say, was history.

He had steadily risen the ranks of the Antarian Rangers over the years, and now by his late thirties he was on the verge of obtaining the coveted rank of Ranger Captain. He had served the Jedi and his fellow Rangers on so many missions and so many planets that he'd almost lost count of them all. He couldn't imagine a better life though. He knew that he was making the galaxy a better place, and few could say that phrase with as much confidence as Pamaf Creel.

The Jedi themselves were always a pleasure to work with, and although some Jedi were friendlier than others, the Jedi always seemed to appreciate having another being with them that they could trust absolutely. As an Antarian Ranger, he functioned similarly to the way a Padawan would, he would be assigned tasks, from tracking down criminals to fighting alongside a Jedi Knight. While some Knights preferred a Padawan by their side, some preferred to have a couple of Antarian Rangers by their side who, almost by definition, were older and knew how to take care of themselves.

Pamaf shifted in his seat, bringing up the main display. The chrono on screen was counting down to when they emerged from hyperspace in the Ubrora system. There were still ten minutes left until their ship arrived, so he started mentally preparing himself for the drop out of hyperspace. He didn't know what to expect, when the Astral Traveller arrived, but frankly he didn't expect anything too unusual.

He had been sent here by his superiors in the Antarian Rangers at the request of the Jedi Order. A pair of Knights and their apprentices hadn't been heard from in a few weeks, and they wanted to someone to check in on them. This would have alarmed someone less experienced than Pamaf, but he knew that sometimes communications grids just failed, especially in areas of space like this that were less developed and off the usual trade routes. They'd probably land on Ubrora and find the four Jedi confused why anyone had been looking for them. They'd all laugh and the Jedi send them on their way, and Pamaf would report back to his superiors that all Jedi were accounted for.

This mission would probably be a boring one for him, completely routine. The only potential wildcard was the person sitting next to him…

"Nervous, kid?" he asked the blonde haired man beside him. Niko Leesman had been assigned to him this mission as an apprentice as sorts, to get a feel for how the young man would fare in the 'real' world of the Antarian Rangers. Youthful and good looking, Niko looked like he had stepped straight from the set of a blockbuster holomovie and into the co-pilot's chair. He was in his early twenties, but looked younger, he could have easily passed for an eighteen year old. Niko was easy to underestimate, but he was whip-smart, with an aptitude for fixing machines and droids of all descriptions that seemed downright impossible. Having grown up in the lower levels of Coruscant, the kid could also take care of himself, being a crack shot and being far, far tougher than he looked. In Pamaf's opinion, Niko had all the tools to become a great Antarian Ranger.

Niko scratched his head, "Uh, yeah, boss, pretty nervous. It's my first time on a starship and only the third planet I've ever been to."

"With all the gadgets on Astral Helper you should feel right at home."

"I do…actually. The only other place I've felt more at home is in the junkyards back on Coruscant."

"Well the Astral Helper has never run better, thanks to all these in-flight upgrades you've installed."

"Thanks, boss."

"For the hundredth time, don't call me that. Call me Pamaf."

"Right, sorry boss…err… Pamaf."

Pamaf rolled his eyes good-naturedly. He remembered the nerves that he'd had on his first mission. He'd been a nervous wreck, thankfully the Jedi that he'd been on a mission with had been understanding, giving him detailed instructions on what he'd wanted him to do and ignoring his slight, uncharacteristic mistakes. Pamaf wondered how Jai Maruk was getting on these days.

"Excited to get to meet a Jedi?" he asked.

Niko shot him a nervous smile, "Of course. I've dreamed about it for years now. Somehow I don't think it will go exactly as I dreamed," he said self-deprecatingly. "Can you go over the ground rules again?"

"For dealing with the Jedi?"

"Yeah."

"Kid, you know the regulations backwards and forwards. I bet you could quote them for me."

"I probably could," laughed Niko. "But I want to know about what's not covered in the regulations. I want to know what the Jedi are like. What is it like to work with a Jedi?"

Pamaf leaned back and smiled, "Do you know how many Jedi there are, Niko? There isn't just one type of Jedi Knight, some are friendly, very affable beings, the kind that you could consider a friend. Some are very stern and will barely give you the time of day outside of giving you assignments. The one think that you must remember is that they are the Master and you are the servant."

"Even the Padawans? I mean, come on, I'm older than both the Padawans that are on Ubrora."

"You have a little more leeway with the Padawans," he admitted. "But don't underestimate them, just because of their youth. Some Padawans can be arrogant, but most will just be like other Jedi. They will seem older than they look."

Niko nodded amiably, and then fell into silence for a moment. "I have another question. I heard that Antarian Rangers sometimes have…relations with Jedi. Is…that something that happens?"

He repressed a smile, he remembered wondering the same thing when he was Niko's age. He had dreamt about finding a nice Jedi to maybe start a family with, dreamt that their love for each other would be so strong that she would leave the Jedi Order for him. It had been a teenaged fantasy, nothing more. The reality was that although he was friendly with some Jedi, including some female Jedi, there hadn't even once been the barest of suggestions of interest in him. Which was fine with him. He wasn't going to miss this opportunity to needle Niko though…

"So which of our future Jedi companions has drawn your eye, Niko?"

"Well, the Togruta is kind of cute…"

"Isn't she a bit young for you?" he said pointedly.

Niko raised his hands in protest, "I know that! I was just commenting…"

Pamaf personally thought that Aurine Bynar was the most attractive of the Jedi on the planet. Something about the holo in her file had stuck with him on the trip to this system. The Togruta was cute, he supposed, but she looked like every other Togruta he had ever seen. And she was so very young. Returning his attention to Niko, he smiled a fatherly smile at the obviously now uncomfortable young man, "Relationships between Jedi and Rangers do happen, but they are very rare. Don't get it in your head that you'll go waltzing up to any Jedi and they'll fall in love with you. Though some of them may swoon, even Jedi have emotions. Just…use your brain, Niko. If a sixteen year old is making kissy faces at you, I'd like to think you'd have the good sense to let her down gently, Jedi or not. If it's someone your age and you both want to…there is nothing standing in your way."

The handsome young man considered that response, "So it's kind of a use your best judgement thing. I guess I was hoping for something more…detailed than that."

"It's hard to make detailed rules when dealing with matters of the heart."

The young man nodded respectfully, "Okay, thanks for the wisdom, Pamaf."

"Just know if you need a second opinion Niko, I've been there and done that. I don't judge either. Life's hard enough as it is, it gets worse when people judge you. We in the Antarian Rangers, we like to think of ourselves as a family. A weird, totally non-traditional family, but a family nonetheless."

"Thanks, Pamaf. This…this feels like the first place I've ever been welcomed in since…well…since my parents…you know."

"Let's not focus on that right now, we are just about to come out of hyperspace so make sure everything is ready."

"I'm on it."

The glittering blueness of hyperspace reverted to the black bleakness of realspace. While Pamaf had seen it happen hundreds of times and was frankly bored of it, Niko watched the reversion as if he was a kid given a hundred credit card and unleashed in a candy store. Pure, unadulterated bliss. "Welcome to the Ubrora system, Niko Leesman. Open a channel to our Ubroran hosts. Get clearance to land."

"Gotcha."

Pamaf gunned the sublight engines and chose the most direct vector to the planet, calculating the rotation of Ubrora as it twirled passively around its sun. "Hey Pamaf? I'm not getting a response from Ubrora landing control."

He frowned in confusion, "No response? Is it nighttime on that part of the world?"

"No, there should be hours of daylight still."

Pamaf Creel had a sudden sinking feeling. He was not a Jedi, but long years of working alongside them meant that he picked up some 'Jedi-esque' habits, one of which was that he tended to trust his feelings. He turned the sensors to their widest setting. After a moment of silence, the sensors squealed, indicating that there were multiple incoming contacts coming from behind them.

As an experienced Ranger, he didn't panic, he immediately opened a channel to the incoming vessels, which by the speed that they were encroaching on the Astral Traveller, they had to be fairly quick ships. Possibly a Starfighter or something similar. "Inbound ships this is Astral Traveller. Please state your intentions."

"I…don't think they can respond," said Niko as he furiously worked his controls, "those are droid starfighters."

Droid Starfighters? Out here in the Ubrora system? That didn't make any sense, they simply didn't have the range to be out this far. "Then where is the mother ship?" asked Pamaf.

Then he saw it emerging from the shadow of a large gas giant, the unmistakable features of a Lucrehulk-class battleship. He immediately swung the Astral Traveller in the opposite direction. It was fruitless, however, by the time he had pushed the engines to the red-line, the ship had already started shuddering with the unmistakable rattle that told him that a tractor beam was locked on to them. A brief glance down at his control panel only confirmed that. He tried to shake the beam, tried to let his engines go dead and then go back to 100% to try to confuse the tractor beam operator. Nothing worked. They were going to be paying the Lucrehulk an up close and personal visit real soon.

"What…what do we do?" asked Niko, who now really did look like a scared teenager that was turning to his parents to bail him out.

"Can we get a transmission out?" he asked.

Niko's hands flew over his controls, almost faster than his eyes could process. "We are being jammed, but I'll see if I can defeat the jamming. Make the message short, and I might be able to get it to Coruscant through some back channels. Maybe. It's a long shot. But it's something."

Pamaf nodded approvingly at Niko. The kid could keep it cool under pressure, which was an ability that not everyone had.

"Open a channel," said Pamaf.

"Channel opened."

His message was direct and to the point, "This is Pamaf Creel of the Antarian Rangers. Ubrora system is being picketed by significant hostile forces. Fate of Jedi unknown. Send reinforcements. Creel out."

Niko shot him a worried look, "Nothing about saving us?"

Pamaf didn't reply, instead he headed towards the rear of the ship, opening the weapons locker. He selected his favourite blaster rifle, one that he had handled on over fifty different worlds. If a Jedi's lightsaber was a pure expression of the Jedi's personality, this blaster rifle filled a similar niche for him. It fit perfectly into his arms, had a scope that was perfectly set to his eyesight. Pamaf was this rifle and the rifle was he.

He moved back to the cockpit just in time to see that the Astral Dreamer slide into the massive hangar of the Lucrehulk. The hangar itself was packed almost to the brim, Pamaf saw a slew of cargo ships in the hold, all of the large and basically immobile type, the kind that would have been used to transport foodstuffs from Ubrora to the rest of the galaxy. He was beginning to have a really bad feeling about this.

He tossed another rifle to Niko, who fumbled and then caught it. The young man's eyes were wide with surprise, "What…what are you doing?"

"Do you see the other ships in the hangar, Niko? Do those seem like the normal compliment of ships for a Lucrehulk? No, they've been sitting in this system for weeks, capturing any ships that entered the system. Set the self-destruct, there aren't many droids around, if we can cause some confusion, we might be able to find a safe place to hide out and see what is going on."

"Maybe they'll just capture us," Niko said hopefully.

"And once they know that we are Antarian Rangers, if they don't know that already? You think they'll just let us go?"

Niko swallowed heavily, but then found his courage, entering the self-destruct code and following him towards the exit of the ship. They may have to fight their way out, but Pamaf Creel was an Antarian Ranger, trained to fight in any terrain, including the hangar of a Lucrehulk.

They didn't get the chance. A high-pitched whine echoed through the ship, and Pamaf saw with horror that a turbolaser battery had turned in their direction, "Get…"

Pamaf Creel didn't get to finish that sentence. The turbolaser opened fire on the shield less Astral Dreamer and hit it's main fuel tank. The small ship exploded in a fiery ball of light. Parts of the ship rattled around in the hangar, causing minor damage to some of the other ships and decapitating a luckless R2 unit. A few more shots were pumped into the wreckage of the Astral Dreamer for good measure before a team of firefighting droids were dispatched to put out the flames.

In the control room of the Reprisal, a slow smile crept over the features of Vash Varless.