Decisions Part 1 Is this a love story?

by Jules Cesar

At the time of the old Republic. During Sith Occupation in the Cold War. A couple, being different species, was forced to marry by the Sith. He thought she was too red, but was interesting. She thought he was too blue, and hated him. How they overcame their differences, and outwitted the Sith, for a life together. (Mature after chapter 7)

14. Chapter 13

©2016

Luk tried punching buttons on the communicator, but there was no response. It was completely dead. He decided to look around, to see if there was another communicator that was not being used. Instead he saw a Twi'lek standing next to the communicator. He turned to run the other way. But he ran into another Twi'lek. They each grabbed him by an arm and proceeded to drag him towards an exit. Luk could not help himself, his bowel and bladder let go.

The Twi'lek who had cut into the wall with his vibro-blade knife, and cut the connections. Went through a door marked, "Restricted! Security personnel only!" He walked up to the room that contained the recording equipment for all the shuttle terminal video cameras. There was a security officer standing there. The security officer told him he needed to pry the access panel off the wall. The Twi'lek pulled his vibro-blade knife out activating the blade. The security officer, told him, "Not like that", and took the knife from him. He powered off the blade, then used it to pry the panel off the wall. He handed the knife back to the Twi'lek, and told him to make a connection on the board in the wall, with his blade. When he did, the door to the room opened. He then told the Twi'lek to activate the blade and to stab the board where he indicated. The Twi'lek did as he was told, and the power to most of the board was disabled. The security office told the Twi'lek that the system is designed to close the door when it loses power. By disabling the board the way he did, the door will stay jammed in the open position, even if it does lose power. They stepped into the room, and the security officer told him how to remove the memory. He then pointed out where to stick his blade to prevent the backup system from kicking in. The Twi'lek handed him what was the equivalence of three months' salary. Then fled the building.

A general utility droid sent to determine the cause of the communicator's malfunction. Found the severed connection, and notified the maintenance office, that a droid familiar with the installation and wiring would need to be called, to reconnect the communicator. It then noticed the dribbled trail of urine leading to the exit. It proceeded to clean and sanitise, the floor. Another utility droid was called to security's recording room, and told to sanitise the room and the hall out front. After it was finished, the security officer, contacted Planetary Defence, and told them that they had a break-in, in one of their security rooms. It looked like their video recording equipment was damaged. They asked if they could record off of their feed until they can get their equipment up and running again. The Planetary Defence told them that their feed was also down, they would be sending a team to investigate.

When the contact was broken, the apprentice called his master, and told him about the call. Someone has confirmed sighting Chitrah on Lianna. They checked the automatic tracer to determine where the call originated, and went to investigate.

Luk recognised the truck they put him in. It was the truck that brought the raw materials to the factory, and took away the finished product. The trailer section had no windows, so he had no idea where they were taking him, nor how long he was in the truck. It was still dark outside when they stopped at the abandoned warehouse, and they strapped him in the immovable chair. The one Twi'lek was disappointed that he only had to hit him twice before he started whimpering and spilling his guts. Luk was still hurting from his last beating.

After he told them everything, they took him to the incinerator. The only thing that still worked in this building. They stripped him out of his clothes, and threw him in the incinerator, and turned it on. They did not kill him first, because they did not want to clean up the mess. He only banged on the door a few times before he finally perished. If he had been screaming, they never would have heard it.

After it cooled down, they collected the ashes and passed them thru a sieve. Any large pieces of bone they crushed until they passed thru the sieve. The teeth they separated from the rest. They hammered them to powder, and scattered them on the street outside. The ashes they put in a small bag labeled fertilizer. Then they called a special contact. He is a caretaker for one of the noble families. Part of his job description, was maintaining their garden, something he was very proud of. They told him that they have a batch of his special fertilizer. The caretaker had told them that this fertilizer was the best stuff at getting the flowers to bloom in the garden. He wished that they could get a more reliable supply. They told him that it was hard to come by, which is why they had to charge him so much. After breaking contact, they threw the rest of the young man's belongings into the incinerator and turned it on. They did not want them contaminating their special fertilizer.

The Sith found the communicator, and the damage that disabled it. At that moment, Planetary Defence Officers showed up. The Sith thought that vandalism to a communicator was not something they would expect them to investigate, until they rushed right past them. So they followed. That's when they found that the video recording equipment room had been broken into, and the recording equipment damaged. The Planetary Defence Officers noted the placement of the thrusts of the vibro-blade knife. Whoever did this, knew what they were doing. The Sith knew they had hit another dead end. They went back to the apartment, and played back the recording. When they looked at everything they could see in the video image, they could find nothing that would give them a clue as to who had disconnected the unit. The only thing they knew, was that Chitrah was back on Lianna, and he had come back undetected.

They decided it was time to call in someone who was used to finding people that did not want to be found. They contacted the Mandalorians and asked them to send them one of their best bounty hunters. They prepared a detailed brief of Chitrah and his wife. They included the reason why they thought they had disappeared. They included most everything they knew about what he did since their disappearance. They edited this part to minimise what could be perceived as their incompetence. They listed two objectives. Chitrah must be captured alive. If there is a child, it too must be captured alive. The wellbeing of the wife was inconsequential.

Chitrah was informed the following day, that someone who used to work at the Ministry had identified him, and informed the Sith that he was on Lianna. Chitrah informed Andriel that evening. They both agreed that if they had to leave, they would leave as a family, and try to find shelter on another planet. The next day Chitrah showed up at the Balosar brothel for his regular meeting. He informed the Madame that this may be his last meeting with them. Someone had informed the Sith that he was present on the planet. He would like to go to each location with the three technicians, so that they could cover items specific to each computer. He only knows of the factory location, so they will be starting there. He needs permission for the technicians to take him to the other locations. He will let the technicians determine the priority of which locations they visit. The Madame told him that she would see what she could arrange.

Chitrah went to the conference room and told the technicians what he had planned for that day. After they left the brothel, the Madame contacted the Balosar enclave and passed along Chitrah's request. They asked her what she thought his motive is, did he intend to sell them out to the Twi'leks? She told them that she thought his motivation was purely professional. It is easier to talk about something specific when you can actually access it on the computer. She said that her intuition told her, that he actually believes this may be his last meeting.

Shortly after they arrived at the factory, the three technicians were summoned into the office. They were asked if meeting at each location would be beneficial to them. They told the enclave that they will be able to learn in one day, what would normally take a month's worth of meetings at the brothel. They asked which locations they wanted to go to. Since they had only three different systems, they only needed to go to two other locations. After a brief pause they were notified which two additional locations they could go to.

The following morning, Chitrah was able to get to the Twi'lek enclave, before the computer technician left with her bodyguards. He told them that they needed to have a meeting with the boss. In the common room, Chitrah did not stand still when talking to the boss. He walked around the room, while telling him that they needed to find at least one more computer technician, so that they each had someone to confer with, whenever a problem arose, after he left. That really got the bosses attention. He asked Chitrah what he meant by, after he left. Chitrah had stopped wandering around by this time. He told him that now that the Sith knew he was back on Lianna, it would only be a matter of time before he and his family were forced to make a run for it. You can only fool the Sith so many times before you run out of tricks. The boss knew he had made a mistake by waiting until they knew who the floor supervisor was contacting, before they intervened.

The last thing Chitrah asked for was a double list of electronic equipment. The boss asked what all the equipment was for. Chitrah told him the technicians need to be able to diagnose every piece of equipment connected to the computers, in case of a failure. They had to determine whether they could repair it themselves, or whether they needed to replace it. The boss handed the equipment list to one of his lieutenants, and told Chitrah he should have it by this afternoon. He also ordered another search be made to find another computer technician.

When they were sitting on the shuttle to hop to the terminal near the factory, the technician asked him if he thought so little of her that he thought another technician was required. Chitrah told her no, he found her highly qualified, he just did not want her over stressed. It would be easier on her, if she had someone to share her burden with her, especially in the evenings when she was all alone, surrounded by the Twi'leks. It would be nice to have a friend then. She thanked him, and kissed him on the cheek. He kidded her, and asked her if she was trying to make his wife jealous. She looked sad and looked at her feet. Chitrah asked her what was wrong. She said that she thought she could never make his wife jealous. He told her that that only put her in the same category with every other woman in the galaxy. She thanked him again, and gave him another kiss. She would have given anything, to spend one night alone with him. She had fallen in love with him, as she knew her two helpers had also done.

When Chitrah finished the last job sitting on his workbench, he made his final goodbye to the old cobbler and his Nautolan apprentice. The old cobbler told him that Lianna was losing its only Master Cobbler. Then he hugged him and kissed him, and wished him and his family well. The Nautolan apprentice also thanked him. His, was a level of excellence that was worth striving for. Then he also hugged him.

When the Mandalorian Bounty Hunter tried going through the security checkpoint on Lianna's spaceport, he was told that he could not bring his modified rifle to the surface. He told them that he had been requested to appear on Lianna by the Sith. If he showed up without it, he would feel naked. They told him that the only person that could give him permission to take it to the surface was the Queen herself. If the bounty hunter wanted, he could contact the palace. He was sure that as soon as the Queen heard who was asking permission, she would insist that he actually go to the surface naked. No armour, no pistols, no toys whatsoever.

The bounty hunter went back to his ship to stow his custom built rifle. Not only could it shot blaster bolts, but he also had another barrel under it, that would shoot flechette rounds. It was like a mini rocket that would explode shortly after leaving the barrel releasing a cloud of razor-sharp flechettes towards the intended target. The cloud expanding ever larger, the further they flew. It was the perfect weapon for mowing down angry mobs of people. Which you need to do from time to time, when you take into custody someone who is popular, or someone with a lots of bodyguards. The third tube, which was under the second barrel, was shorter. It was a rocket launcher, for those times when you need a door and there are none handy. Or for the times you need to stop an armoured vehicle. He carried different rockets for different situations in his back pack.

The bounty hunter knew that he would still carry enough firepower to take out a small military unit, but the bounty hunter believes you can never have too much fire power.

This would leave him with two modified blaster pistols. The one pistol had a second barrel that fired darts. As a young bounty hunter he learnt that clients do not like it when you shot your prey in the back with a blaster bolt, instead of a dart. It's an easy mistake to make, but the difference can be whether or not you get paid. The second blaster pistol also had a disruptor pistol built in. A disruptor can break down objects on a molecular level, leaving a smoking pile of ash. Not a good idea to use on prey, especially when you need to bring your client something to identify. But it is a handy way to take out a Jedi or Sith, or any heavily armoured opponent. Even a fellow bounty hunter that gets in your way. The only drawback is that it takes a long time to recharge, so you only have enough juice to use it only once, in a firefight. On his right forearm he also had a custom rig. On the upper part he had a simple crossbow that fired bolts made of wood and metal, for those times he needed to eliminate someone without others hearing, the only drawback was that you had to get within 5 meters of the subject for it to be effective. On the lower part of the forearm was a mini bomb tube dispenser. It could dispense up to six mini bombs at a time, into the palm of his hand. He had to be careful because they were armed as soon as they left the tube. He was practised in throwing them in an arc to give an effective dispersal pattern. Each mini bomb was 1/3 the strength of a regular grenade. But he could cover a larger area. Under his right forearm were the stun bombs. Some people called them the "flash-bang". Under his left forearm were the high explosive mini bombs. He rarely used them, and you had to be sure to throw them far enough that you don't injure yourself. Above his left forearm was a grappling hook, at the end of a very light and thin, braided synthetic spider silk cable. With an attached cable retractor, strong enough to lift four people.

It would be nice if someone could someday design a rocket pack that could give the bounty hunter limited flight capability. In his belt he had a couple regular grenades, and a custom medi-kit. He wore the standard armour of the Neo-Crusader, commonly associated with Mandalorian bounty hunters throughout the galaxy. His T-shaped visor, gave him the ability to see into the infrared and ultraviolet spectrums, if he chose. He also had a light enhancer feature for lowlight or night operations. He had a maximum intensity filter to blacken the visor if a bright light suddenly appeared so he would not be blinded.

His ship was a Pelagia Duplex Gunship. It had two cockpits, and could be controlled by either one. It was originally intended to have a crew compliment of 5 with a minimum of 2. But the bounty hunter found that he could operate it fine, on his own. Whenever he docked, it gave the impression that he had backup aboard, if he ever needed to call in assistance. With his dual heavy laser cannons, and dual regular laser cannons. Most pirates would leave him alone, if they caused him to drop out of hyperspace. He had the capability of taking out all their starfighters. Then do major damage to their support ship.

When the bounty hunter returned to the security checkpoint, they had him bypass all their security equipment. They told him that their equipment was so sensitive. If he went through it, it would take them at least five days to recalibrate everything. They pointed out which shuttle he needed to take to the surface, so that he would be near the Ministry buildings. He asked them what would have happened if he would have attempted to take his own ship to the surface. They told him that it would no longer exist.

When he finally reached the lounge where the Sith were waiting for him. He complained about his inability to bring his rifle with him. He thought that Lianna was part of the mighty Sith Empire.

The Sith ignored the bait, it was something that bothered them as well. They preferred working on planets were they held absolute control. They did not like that on Lianna, they had to conform to the political norm. They considered this the major reason they had not been successful in capturing Chitrah and his wife. They handed the bounty hunter the packet of information they had collected on Chitrah and his wife. The bounty hunter, enjoyed what he read. This was an elusive prey, it was going to make the hunt more interesting. This Chitrah sounded like a very talented individual, which meant, expect the unexpected. He asked what the Sith's interest was in this couple, from what he has read, this sounds like in should be an Imperial Intelligence operation. They told him that the Sith arranged the marriage, in hopes that they would produce a force user child, that they could train to be a Sith.

That explained the mixed species marriage. That would also explain why the couple chose to disappear. It did not explain how the Sith could be so stupid to do this to someone they had highly trained, and had such a high security clearance. Anyone could have told them they were going to have trouble with this couple. He asked them, what are the terms of pay? This could be a prolonged hunt. He might be better off taking a number of lesser jobs, if the pay was not adequate. He noticed he struck a nerve with them. They had probably hoped he would come cheap. When they did not respond right away he told them what he expected. They did not like that they would have to authorize a regular maintenance wage, to keep him active on the case. If they stopped paying, he would take that to mean his services were no longer required. They did not like the amount of bounty he demanded on each individual upon the completion of the job. They tried to argue that the wife was not important to them. He told them that would be fine, he would than double the bounty on Chitrah, and once he caught up with them, he would let the wife go free. They said that letting her go free was not acceptable, she was part of the reason they had trouble capturing them. The Mandalor told them, that alive or dead, she had to have a bounty, if she was not expected to go free. The Sith reluctantly agreed to all his terms.

The Mandalorian, enjoyed badgering the Sith into accepting his terms. What a wonderful way to start a hunt. He asked them for a copy of the most recent image they have of them. The most recent image were the ones taken on their wedding day, for their Ministry Security ID. Which was over three years old. The Mandalor did not like that the images were so old. But it was something that he could live with. He asked them where on a predominately human planet, aliens could go unnoticed? They told him that anyone living south of the equator would be used to seeing aliens. They pointed out where the four major alien enclaves are. They indicated where small groups of aliens were spotted, usually the size of family groups. They mentioned the band of mixed alien and human population around the Balosar enclave, many of which were employed from time to time by the Balosar. All of which were addicted to death sticks. They pointed out the different areas were the aliens were employed. The Togruta had the largest area, because of their reputation at being so proficient at exterminating rats. He asked where the wife might find employment. The Sith thought she could be anywhere. According to their records, she was proficient in helping other women select lingerie. She was able to custom fit regular off the rack outfits. She could even be employed in one of the noble houses, and no-one would say anything. The Mandalorian asked if that was how she came to the attention of the Lianna Royal Family. The Sith mentioned that they met off planet. While her husband was on assignment, she managed to obtain a position with a local dress shop, where the Princess would come to have outfits made for her. Apparently she collaborated with the owner of the dress shop in designing an outfit for the Princess, which became her favourite. That was how she was introduced to the Royal Family. He asked, if there was a possibility that she could be working for a local dress shop? They handed him a thick stack of papers. It was the printout of every dress shop on Lianna. The Sith told him that every one of them would be happy to have her work for them. This was looking like a bigger challenge than the Mandalorian first thought. He was itching to get out there and get started.

First he went to the Twi'lek enclave. It was guarded like he expected. He showed the images of Andriel and Chitrah to the guards, and asked them if they had seen either one of these people. He was offering 200 credits, to anyone with solid information. The guards ignored him, and just kept looking straight ahead. They had already pressed the warning button, so he was in for a nasty surprise if he tried to force his way inside. The bounty hunter placed his card in the pocket of one of the guards, in case they decided to contact him later. He then went to every apartment complex nearby. He tried to talk with an owner or manager in every complex. He also posted a poster in every building where the tenants would see it. It may be old fashion, but it usually brought results.

From the Twi'lek enclave, he walked over to the Togruta enclave. He was not surprised that it wasn't guarded, no-one in their right mind wanted to mess with the Togruta. He stayed on the road that passed through it. It was not long before he saw Togruta standing in the doorway of the buildings. Some of them let him see the stone knives they always carried. Without his rifle it would be suicide to try to force his way in. Sure there would be a lot of dead Togruta, but how did that matter if he was dead himself. He was there to make his presence known. He knew they would check the surrounding apartment complexes and find his posters. It would be up to them if they wanted to cooperate with him or not.

When Andriel was told that a bounty hunter was walking thru the enclave. She called Krillgan over to her and told him that there was a bad man outside who would want to take him away from her. She asked him to lay at her feet, and she would spread her skirt to cover him so that he would not be seen.

Krillgan knew from mother's voice that this was not a game, so he did as he was told. It was pretty dark and warm under her skirt, and it was close to his nap time. In a very short time, he was fast asleep.

After the bounty hunter finished with the apartment complexes around the Togruta enclave. He headed over to the Balosar enclave. To repeat what he did at the Twi'lek's and Togruta enclave. The Sith had shown him that they controlled a larger area around their enclave then either the Twi'leks or Togruta did. He figured that when he finished with all the apartment complexes around the Balosar enclave, he would call it a day.

When Chitrah returned to his apartment that evening. The owner of the complex was waiting for him. He showed him his copy of the poster, the bounty hunter had put up in every building. He told him that even though a lot of people around here liked him. This was a lot of credits for the people around here. Sooner or later someone was going to call the bounty hunter, and give him away. Chitrah thanked the owner, and went into his apartment. He put his stuff down, and waited until he was sure the owner had left the floor. He then left the apartment and made his way to the Togruta common room. He found Andriel and Krillgan having dinner with the Togruta. She said they insisted, so Chitrah sat done and joined them. Whenever a Togruta adult finished their meal, they would come up to Andriel and Chitrah and hug them goodbye. If they had any children with them, they would give Krillgan a hug goodbye.

Krillgan knew this was not normal behaviour. He believed this had to do with the bad man that came thru the enclave earlier that day.

After dinner Krillgan stayed with Shaak, while Andriel and Chitrah retrieved all their belongings, and Chitrah scrubbed the communicator's memory clean, and unplugged it. Heshaak said he would contact the communications company to let them know that when the current payment expires, they will not be continuing the service.

The Togruta made sure both apartments were thoroughly sanitised, after Andriel and Chitrah left. They would leave the apartments vacant until the end of the month, than a Togruta family volunteered to live in the two apartments for a month.

Andriel, Krillgan, and Chitrah spent the night in the courtyard of Shaak's extended family. Before they lay down for the night, Shaak and her companions had some news they wanted to share with them. They told them that Bandaa was pregnant, they had not told anyone else yet.

Krillgan took Bandaa by her hand, and led her to a place where he could stand on something. He then put his one hand under her blouse and onto her belly, then he moved the blouse so that he could rest his head on her belly. This action had everyone shocked. No-one knew how to react, Andriel would have been really embarrassed if he had been much older. They just stood there and watched his strange behaviour. Shortly he was smiling, and said, "Happy baby", then he started humming the lullaby that Andriel sang to him when it was time for him to go to bed.

Andriel asked him if he was sure the baby is happy? He nodded his head and he came up to mother and pulled her over, to place her hand on Bandaa's belly, and told her to listen. All Andriel could hear was dinner being digested. She told Krillgan that she could not hear anything. Krillgan looked disappointed. She stroked his hair and told him that maybe her hearing was not as good as his. She decided to test him, and called Shaak and Shaas over to them. She told them she wanted Krillgan to listen to their bellies. It was an unusual request, but they were willing to humour him. First he listened to Shaak. He said, "No baby, just noise." Then he pushed quickly on her belly which made her burp. She was embarrassed, but everyone else laughed, so she laughed too. Then Krillgan listened for a long time at Shaas's belly. He said it was too small for a baby, and it was looking for food. No-one understood what he was saying. So they all went to bed. At least they pretended to. They all had their doors open a crack, so they could hear Andriel singing Krillgan to sleep with her lullaby.

The next morning Krillgan took Shaas by the hand. He wanted to listen to her belly again. After a while he smiled, and started humming the lullaby. Andriel asked, him why he was doing that? He said, "It found food, now it was a happy baby." Everyone stood there. Shaas asked Krillgan if that meant she is going to have a baby. Krillgan nodded his head and said yes. She was so excited she started jumping up and down, until Krillgan grabbed her and said, "Don't jump."

She kissed Krillgan on the forehead, and ran over to her companions, and they had a group hug. Then she ran over to Andriel, and hugged her, and thanked her. Andriel asked why? She said that if she had not asked Krillgan to listen to her belly, it may have been another month or more before she knew. Then she ran over to her husband, put her hands around him, and gave him a big kiss. She told him that Krillgan just told her that they were going to have a baby. He asked her, how he knew? She said that he just does. He saw in her eyes that she believed him. So he did not argue, he just hugged her and kissed her.

Heshaak cleared his throat. When everyone looked at him, he reminded them that it was time for breakfast. They had breakfast in their courtyard, like all the other Togruta did. This was not clan time, it was family time.

After breakfast, Andriel, Krillgan, and Chitrah went to the shuttle terminal, with some Togruta accompanying them as body guards. They took a shuttle to the spaceport, and boarded a freighter that Chitrah had pre-booked for them. It departed just after they boarded. Chitrah had booked this freighter, because it was listed as stopping at many planets. Many opportunities to catch other freighters.

The bounty hunter had just entered the Nautolan enclave, when he was stopped from entering further by a crowd of sad Nautolans. Someone had already brought a copy of the poster into the enclave. An elder made his way through the crowd, to the bounty hunter. He politely asked him to leave the enclave. The bounty hunter asked him why? He told the bounty hunter it was a sad day for them, they were in morning. The bounty hunter knew the Nautolans are an emotional people. They were also good warriors. It was not good to agitate them when they are upset. So he left the enclave. He did not know that they were mourning, because they knew they would never see their good friends Andriel, Chitrah, and little Krillgan, again.

Just after he left, his ship contacted him. The two adults accompanied by a child had been spotted entering a freighter that had already departed Lianna's spaceport. The bounty hunter smiled, the hunt was on. When he got to the shuttle terminal. He found out that he just missed the shuttle to the spaceport. It would be at least six hours before the next one was ready to leave. He looked into hopping to another terminal, to see if he could catch a shuttle to the spaceport from there. In each case he would arrive just after the shuttle departed for the spaceport. It was faster for him to stay and wait, then it was to chase the other shuttles.

When he questioned the staff at the terminal. They told him that twice a year, the schedules go out of sync, usually because of maintenance issues. This just happened to be one of those days. He contacted his ship and asked it to contact the person that gave him the tip. It was one of the maintenance workers on the spaceport. He said that he was doing a repair with the help of a maintenance droid, and he happened to glance up, and saw the family enter a gate for the docked freighter. The next time he looked up, the freighter was gone. He gave the bounty hunter the gate number. The bounty hunter, then made arrangements to transfer the reward credits for information, to the maintenance worker's account. He would have to wait until he was on the spaceport, before he could find out the freighter's name and destination.

On the spaceport the bounty hunter was able to track down which freighter the prey had boarded. From the company that owned it he found out its itinerary. He could see why the prey chose this freighter. They would be stopping at many spaceports for short periods of time. Many opportunities to catch a ride on another freighter.

When he was ready to depart, he contacted spaceport officials to release his ship. They told him that he needs to come to the spaceport's office to clear up his docking fees first. The bounty hunter could not believe he had made such a novice mistake. He had to go to the office and have them contact the Sith, so that they would cover the fees. At the same time he informed the Sith that the prey had bolted, and he was on their trail.

When he finally manoeuvred from the spaceport, and activated his in-system scanners, he was disappointed to find that the freighter had already jumped from the system. All the delays had cost him his one big advantage. In system his gunship was as fast as any starfighter. Which allowed him to close quickly on any ship he was chasing. Unfortunately his hyperspace drive was very old and could not be upgraded. Making his ship the second slowest through hyperspace. That meant the longer the trip in hyperspace, the further they would get away from him. With the short jumps they were taking, it would be hard to tell who had the advantage.

As the freighter approached the Lorrad spaceport, Andriel told Chitrah that they should depart here. Chitrah went to the captain and asked if there was a freighter at the Lorrad spaceport that was departing the spaceport shortly after they docked. The captain contacted the spaceport authority, and asked them what freighters were currently docked at the spaceport. When were they leaving, and what was their destination. From the estimated departure times. The captain was able to determine which freighter would be leaving just after their arrival. He told Chitrah that there was a freighter associated with their company that would be heading back to Lianna just after they arrived. He would deduct from their tickets, the equivalent of a trip to Lorrad plus a 20% penalty for transferring to another ship in their company. When they get back to Lianna, there would still be a balance in their favour, if they wished to purchase tickets to another destination, with their company. Unfortunately, they cannot offer the balance be transferred to another freight company. Chitrah agreed to the transfer, and went to his cabin to pack. The captain of their ship contacted the Twi'lek Captain of the other freighter, letting him know that he would be having passengers. When he saw their id on his monitor, he was already looking forward to talking with Chitrah again. He decided to let his brother find out the hard way, who the passengers will be. Maybe he will lock himself in his cabin again.

The Mandalorian was finding this hunt frustrating. The freighter was able to stay just ahead of him, just jumping to the next system when he entered the last. Even though they had to dock at each spaceport along the way, and he didn't. There in-system drives, must be faster than he expected.

The Twi'lek captain, greeted Andriel and Chitrah as soon as they entered the freighter. He was surprised, but happy to see the little boy with them. He told them that he had not yet told his brother that they were traveling with them. They asked the captain permission to keep their luggage in the common room, while he manoeuvres away from the spaceport. The captain told them that he had no problem with that.

Andriel whispered to Krillgan, that the Twi'lek captain is good, the other Twi'lek on the ship is bad, and he should stay away from him.

Krillgan was belted in on his mother's lap, on their chair in the common room, when the first officer entered, and noticed they had passengers. He turned pale when he recognised who they were, and went straight to the bridge to confront his brother about their passengers. His bother told him that he thought he liked surprises. The first officer told him that he did not like these surprises. The captain told him that if he leaves them alone, they won't bother him. He needs to especially stay away from their little one. There is not telling what they would do to him, if they found him near their boy. The first officer told him that after they finish manoeuvring away from the spaceport, the captain could find him in his cabin. The captain wished that all their passengers instilled such fear in his brother. Life would have been so much easier.

On the Lianna spaceport, the Twi'lek captain used the balance of their credits in the account to purchase tickets for them to Draukyze. That was the best he could do. Unfortunately he let his brother know where they were heading.

Andriel and Chitrah both suspected that the first officer would turn them in, if he found out they were on the run. As the spaceport was built long before the Sith Empire and the Republic were at war, it still had many amenities that catered to a traveling public. They found a family washroom, where they decided to put on their disguises. Before they did that, Andriel approached a Caamasi and asked her if she could buy some tickets for them.

Andriel did not recognise her, but she recognised Andriel, and had seen the posters planet side. She readily agreed to help them. She bought Andriel and Chitrah's tickets from different kiosks, even though they were for the same flight. She used the names of spaceport staff, to make up their names on the bookings. She used Lillian Jon, for Andriel, and Greg Hans, for Chitrah.

When she went to the washroom, where they indicated they would be waiting. She pleaded with Andriel to let her come in. She told Andriel that they have met before, when she was preparing for a special day. The next thing she knew, Andriel opened the door, grabbed her and pulled her in.

Andriel asked her if she was the one who sold the virginity blanket to her. She told Andriel that that was her mother. She was the witness standing on her right. They both hugged. She told Andriel that she has shared that memory with many of her kind, and they are just as moved by it as she was that night. She looked at Chitrah, and told him that he is a special man, and he has a special wife. She was so sad when she saw them on the poster near her shop. Then she knelt down and hugged Krillgan. She told him that it was very important for him to listen to his parents, so that they can keep him safe from all the bad people. Krillgan nodded his head, he could feel a warmth coming from this stranger. He knew he could trust her. She and Chitrah helped Andriel get her Togruta headpiece on. Then she helped her with the white makeup, to have a proper design on her face. She helped Chitrah get his Twi'lek head piece on properly. She gave them their new tickets, and told them how she came up with the names. Chitrah liked that idea. It was an easy way to make up realistic sounding names. They were booked on a flight to Lantilles.

The Twi'lek first officer thought of following Andriel, Chitrah, and their brat, on the spaceport, but he wasn't very good at it, and soon lost them. What he did find was a poster left behind by the bounty hunter. He was so excited, he could hardly wait to contact him. Then he would never have to be afraid of them again. He was wrong, Chitrah had left a little surprise for him on the freighter. Chitrah had hacked the freighter's computer, so it thought it was receiving commands from the captain. It was ordered to keep a constant recording of the first officer's movements aboard the freighter. If the first officer interacted with any passengers in anyway, the computer was to send a copy of this interaction to the security office of the next spaceport they docked at. The first officer was recorded raping the teenage daughter of a Barseg Nobleman, on their next trip from Lianna to Barseg.

On the Lianna Spaceport the first officer, contacted the number on the poster, he kept out of view of the communicator's camera. He recorded a message saying that the fugitives, Andriel, Chitrah and their brat, were on a freighter heading to Draukyze. He gave the details about which freighter they were on. When he returned to his brother's freighter, his brother told him they were going to Barseg, and they had passengers.

The bounty hunter received the Twi'lek's message the next time he dropped out of hyperspace. He did not like that the person who had contacted him did not appear on screen. For all he knew it was Chitrah himself trying to confuse him. He did recognise the Lianna spaceport in the monitor, so he stopped chasing the freighter to return to Lianna. He would need to resupply his ship, before heading to Draukyze, since it was not on a hyperspace lane. That meant it would be a long flight, even thru hyperspace.

Mr. Radcliff had Kenny keep in touch with the Ministry on Yitabo, to try to keep as current as possible, on what was being done to find his stepdaughter, her husband, and their son. When Kenny informed him that the Sith had hired a Mandalorian bounty hunter. He had Kenny use their contacts to find out all they could about this bounty hunter, especially any details on his ship, and any toys he liked to use. Through his contacts he was also able to hire his own bounty hunter. He hired a female Cerean. Cerean's are from the Mid Rim planet of Cerea. They stand an average of 2 meters tall. For the most part they look human with the exception of their tall tapering cranium, which houses a binary brain. This makes their head around twice as tall as the regular human head. Making them one of the most intelligent species in the galaxy. They have two hearts to help pump the blood needed to support their brains. They are a matriarchal society, for a number of reasons. They have a low birth rate, and the males of the species ages faster than the females. Thus the ratio of females to males on the planet is 20:1. This has led to a polygamist society, where each male will take one bond wife. After bonding, the male will then take several honour wives. This bounty hunter chooses her assignments based on how mentally challenging they will be, rather than on how many credits are being paid. Her ship is a Plug-6 Heavy Fighter, which is also used as a freighter by many smugglers. There are some who think that it should have been classified as a gunship, since it carries more armament than a standard fighter, and its capacity to carry freight, not to mention having a hyperspace drive. But there is only room for one person in the cockpit, which is why it is classified as a heavy fighter.

The bounty hunter has custom rebuilt its hyper-drive, doubling its speed in hyperspace over the regular Plug-6 Heavy Fighter. The bounty hunter does not wear armour like most bounty hunters, because to wear a helmet on such a large head would put too much strain on the neck muscles. She does wear protective gear, with the emphasis on being light weight, so speed is important to her. Her one piece of special heavy equipment, is her missile tube launcher. It and the missiles are custom designed. Once she has chosen a target, and has a lock on it. She can then go behind cover and fire the missiles vertically. Once a missile is fired it will arc towards the last known position of the target to seek it out and re-establish a lock on the target, and destroy it. She has found from experience that it takes two missiles to get a kill on a Mandalorian wearing the Neo-Crusader armour.

She was intrigued when Mr. Radcliff told her that he did not what her capturing anyone. He wanted her to prevent a family from being captured. She asked if she was supposed to eliminate the other bounty hunter. He told her that it was not a preference, since the Sith would probably hire another bounty hunter, and would also place a bounty on her. She asked him how long this assignment was supposed to last. He told her that it would last as long as she wanted, unless she was sure the family had successfully managed to disappear.

The idea that they could disappear amused her. Was it really possible? She asked Mr. Radcliff, if he really thought they could disappear? He said his wife believed so. They knew that there were other forces besides the Sith and bounty hunters, at work here. She wanted to know, if that was the case, then why was she needed? Mr. Radcliff told her that she could consider herself insurance, or she could consider herself a witness. To him it did not matter. Would she take the job?

"Yes!"

Andriel, Krillgan, and Chitrah, had no trouble getting aboard the freighter bound for Lantilles. The id they wore matched the way they looked, and the names were never checked for a match. It was believed that there was a rigorous enough check of id just to board the spaceport, that id was rarely checked anywhere else. Now if your id was not displayed while on the spaceport, then security would stop you and check you, then lecture you for not having your id displayed. At Lantilles, they used the Caamasi method to purchase tickets to Uyter. At Uyter, they purchased tickets to Kashyyyk. At Kashyyyk, they purchased tickets to Terr'Skiar. From Terr'Skiar, they traveled to Deysum. Their plan was to only travel as far on one freighter, as the next intersection of hyperspace-lanes. Making it harder for anyone trying to track them. At the Deysum spaceport, they boarded a freighter bound for Randon. They wanted it to look like they were backtracking. At the Randon spaceport they found a freighter traveling down the Trax Tube to Daalang.

The captain of the freighter was surprised to find that his male Twi'lek passenger, got along so well with the female Togruta passenger and her son. They would go so far as to exercise together in one of the cargo bays. It was cute to watch the little boy imitating the adults. He was surprised one morning, to see his first officer, being taught by them the exercises, and questioned him about it. When his first officer told him how much better he felt after exercising, and how much easier it was to manipulate the gun turret, since the stretching exercises, he had to try it out for himself.

Since they would exercise twice a day, the first officer would join them for the exercises before lunch, and the captain would join them for the set before dinner.

During one of these sessions, the freighter was suddenly knocked out of hyperspace. Pirates! The Twi'lek grabbed the captain, and asked him to go to the gun turret. He knew how to re-engage the hyper-drive. "Please captain! Protect my family!" Suddenly it all fit together. He ran for the second gun turret, and informed his first officer that he was taking over its control. The startled first officer asked, who was on the bridge? He told him the Twi'lek was, he said he knew how to engage the hyper-drive.

"And you believe him?"

"Yes! That's his family we are protecting!"

There were three starfighters closing on the freighter. Two Sith Starfighters, and one old Blade Starfighter. The captain was not as good as his first officer. But he was enough of a distraction, to allow the first officer to do his thing. First he took out one of the Sith Starfighters in their first pass. The remaining starfighters tried to attack their in-system drives from different attack angles. The first officer was able to take out the Blade Starfighter next. The third starfighter broke off its attack after the demise of the second starfighter. When the crew started to cheer, the hyper-drive was re-engaged.

Everyone met in the common room to celebrate. The captain asked the computer to play captain 1, it was some Hoe-Down music from the planet where he and the first officer were from. The two of them started dancing to the music. They were surprised when the Twi'lek joined them, like he had been doing it all his life. The little boy sat on his mother's lap clapping, saying something like, "Bacgruta happy", then he climbed down off of his Togruta mother's lap to dance with his Twi'lek father. After they were able to burn off the adrenaline, there were hugs all around, and everyone settled down to have dinner.

The captain and his first officer knew that they would never look at aliens the same way again. It wasn't hard for the captain to figure out they were running from the Sith. He sure hoped they got away.

After Andriel, Krillgan, and Chitrah had left the family bathroom aboard Lianna's spaceport, a Zabrak family used it. They were at their wits end. They had traveled here from another sector to try and hide their daughter from the Sith, who had arranged their marriage, and now wanted to take their daughter. They had run out of funds and decided to hide in the family washroom, until they could think of what to do next. Both parents started crying when they saw the tickets to Draukyze just sitting there.

The Zabrak are a humanoid species, also known as Iridonians, because they originated on an inhospitable world in the Mid-Rim called Iridonia. Iridonia is a world of dangerous stalking predators, deep canyons, fierce winds, and acidic seas. The Zabrak stand an average of 1.8 meters tall, and resemble humans. They differ in that their heads are crowned with vestigial horns of varying patterns. For both males and females the horns start appearing with the onset of puberty, and signal that their right-of-passage is drawing near. Their skin colour can vary from a peachy white, through to brown, and black. In this family the mother was more red than cream, and the father was a dark tan. Their daughter was a darker red than the mother. Being able to grow hair, varies just as much in Zabraks as their horn patterns. The mother had lovely black hair that grew on the back of her head, with the daughter having the same hair growth as her mother. The father was completely bald.

The Zabrak also wear facial tattoos that they receive during their right-of-passage. The facial tattoos can signify anything from family lineage to a personal design. The mother had a dark brown tattoo, made from a pattern she designed. The father had a light blue tattoo, showing he descended from a family of warriors. The Zabrak are a self-confident people, believing they can attain any goal they set for themselves to achieve.

The bounty hunter was very disappointed when the family he tracked down on Draukyze was a Zabrak family. They were surprised the bounty hunter did not take their daughter, when he found them. After he left, because they did not have the funds to leave the planet, they just moved to another part of the planet.

When the bounty hunter returned to Lianna. He informed the Sith that the family on Draukyze, was not the family he was looking for. A filing clerk miss entered the information in the Sith's system, as the family was not of interest to the Sith. So anyone coming to Lianna, looking for the Zabrak family, interpreted the information as Draukyze was investigated, and was a dead end.

The Sith told the bounty hunter about the Twi'lek first officer who was convicted of rape on Barseg, who hoping to get a lighter sentence, revealed that he was set up by the blue contractor named Chitrah. They handed him a copy of the information obtained by an interrogation droid. The bounty hunter asked if he could interrogate the Twi'lek, and asked where the captain was so that he could interrogate him as well. They told him that he would have to get to Barseg quickly, because he was scheduled to be put aboard the next prison ship heading to Drummond Kaas, to take part in one of the Emperor's many experiments. As far as the captain goes the transportation company arranged to get him away from Barseg as quick as possible, then lost track of him, after informing him they had no openings for him.

The bounty hunter was able to question the Twi'lek, before the prison ship arrived. The local authorities gave him permission to use whatever techniques he wanted. The threat of violence was enough to get the snivelling coward to talk. He confirmed that he was the one who contacted his message system from Lianna's spaceport. He confirmed that they picked them up at the Lorrad spaceport, and dropped them off on the Lianna spaceport, where his brother bought them one way tickets to Draukyze. He did not know how the Zabrak family got the tickets. Maybe they traded tickets because the bitch suspected him.

The bounty hunter found out about their previous encounter. How when he attempted to rape her, she put up a fight, injuring him. That her husband threatened him with permanent physical harm, after assaulting him. Even though the bounty hunter was starting to admire them. This brought him no closer to finding them than he was before.

On top of that he had picked up a shadow. He could not figure out the Cerean's interest in all this. He could not tell if the Sith did not trust him, and had hired her as well. Or maybe Imperial Intelligence was tired of waiting for the Sith to produce results, and had hired her to keep them appraised of their interest.

If that was the case she might try to snatch Chitrah from him, once he got his hands on him. What he did know, was that she made it evident to him that she is watching him, and he had observed that she was reporting to someone else.

Andriel and Chitrah both agreed to try hiding on Daalang. They thought that with it being the tightest security planet they knew of, that the Sith would never think to look for them there. When they reached the surface Krillgan complained that he did not want to wear the Togruta head piece anymore. It hurt his head, and his head was always itchy.

Andriel believed that he had outgrown it. So they went into the women's washroom as Togruta, and came out as Devaronian and hybrid.

Chitrah also went into the men's washroom to stop being a Twi'lek, and returned to being a Deysum III Chagrian. They had to dispose of their disguises, so that security could not find them in their possession. Chitrah needed to wear his Ministry ID. So that the Imperial Troopers would not confiscate his equipment at the checkpoints. They decided that their cover story was that Andriel had found out that a favourite childhood aunt, was on this planet and not doing well. They have come here to help nurse her back to health. Chitrah had some vacation time due, and decided to use it to be with his wife and son. The Troopers found it amusing that someone would consider Daalang, as a vacation resort for aliens.

They were not able to find any droid taxis to take them to the alien quarters in the city. The taxi droids complained that if they went there, they would be turned into scrap metal before they could leave.

The Troopers advised Chitrah to hang his Ministry id inside his shirt, and only bring it out for the Troopers to see at each checkpoint, or he might not make it to the alien quarters alive.

They ended up having to take public transit, most of the way there. When they went through the last checkpoint before the alien quarters, they both wondered if they made the right decision. Most of the city looked depressing, the alien quarters looked abysmal.

An Ugnaught walking by, noticed the Ministry ID Chitrah showed the Troopers to get through the checkpoint, and guessed that he must have some special equipment in his case if he had to carry Ministry ID to get through the checkpoint. He approached the family and asked them to follow him, it was not safe for them to be on the streets.

The Ugnaught are a porcine humanoid species that originated on Gentes in the Anoat System. They stand only 1.2 meters, and are known for their tireless work ethic. Adult Ugnaughts have two tusks that grow up from their lower jaw and curve slightly around their flattened snout.

Unfortunately, they have been taken by human merchants, smugglers, traders and slavers, around the galaxy to work as indentured servants or slaves. They are good mine workers, as their short, stocky bodies are able to withstand long periods of work under harsh conditions.

Andriel, Krillgan, and Chitrah's Ugnaught guide went simply by the name Ugnut. He was a descendant of Ugnaught miners that were brought here centuries before. He had a repair shop where he could repair almost anything big or small that was mechanical. That was where he was taking them. Once everyone was inside his shop. He secured his front door.

Chitrah figured it would take a missile strike to dislodge the door, if someone really wanted to get inside. They went through his workshop to his small residence in the back. He offered them some tea and asked them what brings them to this part of the city. Andriel and Chitrah asked him if there were any Chagrians or Devaronians in the alien quarters. He told them there weren't. There was manly Balosar, Kubaz, Twi'lek, and lots of Ugnaughts. He then asked permission to look into Chitrah's equipment bag. Chitrah put his equipment on the kitchen table, which was of standard height. The chair that both Krillgan and Ugnut were sitting in were specially designed high chairs. Chitrah thought he must have many human sized visitors to have a lot of standard sized furniture in his apartment.

Krillgan was delighted to see Ugnut actually get right up onto the kitchen table to get a good look at Chitrah's equipment. After examining his equipment, he asked Chitrah if he would work for him in his repair shop. He has to turn away a lot of work, because he has no electronics expertise. If he was not mistaken Chitrah is carrying an entire electronics lab in his bag.

To sweeten the deal, he took them to the apartment above the shop and his residence. It was completely furnished, and he would let them have it rent free, if Chitrah worked for him. He assured them that the big bed in the bedroom, had nothing living in its mattress.

Andriel asked if there were any dress shops nearby, where she could work as a seamstress. He told her that there were many dress shops but there were no seamstresses. All their clothes were made by robotic machines. He told her that he could get her lots of work, if she would be willing to do repairs by hand. Chitrah asked if they were to be slaves here, or would they be allowed to leave the building. Ugnut snorted. He told them they could go outside if they wanted to, but he doubted that they would want to. If they did go out, he recommended that they wear hooded cloaks so that people would not see who they are. Even in the alien quarters they will stand out.

The only restriction he had, was when certain customers came over, he would send Chitrah to their apartment, and access to the main floor would be barred. It would be better if the customers did not see them, and it would be best for them, if they did not see the customers.

Chitrah asked him, if it might be best if he worked in the apartment? Since he did not want to leave any equipment behind, if he had to get to the apartment quickly. Ugnut scratched his chin as he thought about what Chitrah said. He walked over to the area of the apartment right next to the stairs. He told Chitrah that he could bring up a workbench, and place it next to the entrance. They could put up a curtain to separate it from the rest of the apartment, so that he could have his own private workspace.

Chitrah looked at Andriel, he felt that Ugnut was being honest and upfront with them, but she had better intuition. She nodded her head in agreement. So Chitrah told Ugnut they have a deal, and they shook hands. Ugnut had them grab their luggage that they had left in his kitchen, and suggested that they get some rest. Work starts first thing in the morning.

Next morning the family is awaken by a chiming sound. Chitrah gets up and opens the door. Ugnut enters the apartment with a basket of goodies he apologizes for not asking them what they normally have for breakfast. Behind them two Ugnaughts are carrying a workbench up the stairs that normally takes four people to move. Ugnut tells them where to place the bench. He then turns and tells Chitrah that they will be back in one hour, to install the curtain.

Chitrah accepts that they have one hour to eat breakfast, and get dressed. When he checks in the basket, he finds salted meat, some cheese and flatbread. He also finds a bag of loose tea. He puts some water on to boil and heads back to the bedroom. Andriel asked him what that was about. Chitrah tells her that Ugnut brought them breakfast, and his workbench. They will be back in one hour to install the curtain. Andriel tells him that she will get up after they finish installing the curtain and leave. She turns over fully intending to go back to sleep.

Krillgan shakes his mother, and tells her he is hungry. Andriel turns back, and reluctantly agrees to get up. Krillgan bounces out of bed and runs to the kitchen to have breakfast with father. He asks his father if he can have a chair like the man downstairs has? Chitrah tells him they will have to get him one later. He then goes to the bedroom to get a pillow to place on a chair for Krillgan.

Andriel is still in the bathroom when Ugnut shows up with the other two Ugnaughts with scaffolding and tools to install the curtain. Chitrah had just finished dressing Krillgan, and they came out of the bedroom. Ugnut hands each of them what looks like headphones for them to cover their ears. The Ugnaught blast power spikes into the ceiling to hold the curtain rod in place.

Andriel thinks there are bombs going off in their apartment, and cracks open the bathroom door, to look. Chitrah throws a pair of hearing protection through the door's opening, and closes the door. After they finish hanging the curtain. Andriel comes out of the bathroom. Ugnut collects the hearing protection from them, and apologizes. He tells them that they still like to do things, the way they did them in the mines.

Chitrah laughs and asks Andriel if she was now glad she got up when she did? That would have been an awful noise to wake up to. Andriel sticks her tongue out at Chitrah. Then turns and tells Ugnut that she needs to go buy groceries. Ugnut tells her that they should go right now. Chitrah asks if it is okay for him to grab one of the special chairs from his kitchen, for Krillgan. Ugnut tells him that he can take the one Krillgan sat on last night. He is rather partial to the one he sat on.

After he leaves with Andriel, the two Ugnaughts return with a couple of stacks of cards and boards for Chitrah to start working on. Chitrah goes downstairs to the kitchen and hopes he has taken the right chair.

Before leaving the shop, Ugnut hands Andriel a pointer. He wants her to point out the items she wants him to buy, and he will buy it. That way she does not have to show her hands. Andriel thinks he is being a tad paranoid, but this is his world. She will do things his way. Ugnut knows that there are Imperial spies everywhere. People who would sell out their own mother for half a credit, if given the chance.

Chitrah is actually impressed that Ugnut does not waste any time getting things done. He put Krillgan's new chair in his workshop and grabs a chair from the kitchen. This way Krillgan will be with him, until Andriel gets back. Krillgan had never seen his father work on electronics before. So this is something new for him. He climbed up off the chair and onto the workbench, like Ugnut did last night, so he could have a better look. Chitrah sighs, it is going to be hard to teach Krillgan not to climb up on furniture, after he has seen an adult do it.

Andriel was impressed by Ugnut's negotiation skills, for the prices he obtained for all their purchases, and complimented him on the way back to the shop. She also checked out every shop they walked by to see if they might have something to help keep Krillgan occupied through the day. She did not think it would be wise to take him out of the apartment, except for the occasional trip down to the main floor.

When they arrived back at the apartment, Ugnut asked if she could bring Krillgan down to his workshop. He believes he has something that he might like to play with. When Andriel brought Krillgan down to the workshop, she handed him the credits he spent for their purchases. He told her that he was going to just deduct it from Chitrah's pay. Andriel told him that she is responsible for maintaining her household, so she is responsible for covering the purchases. Ugnut sensed this was not something to argue about. So took the credits.

Ugnut picked up Krillgan and sat him on his workbench, so he could see what he was going to do. From the pieces on his workbench, he assembled a small primitive droid. He handed it to Krillgan, than lifted him down onto the floor. He told Krillgan to put it down on the floor when he is back in his apartment, to see what happens. When he did the little droid scurried quickly along the floor, they only time it changed directions was when it bumped into something. Krillgan could be heard giggling as he chased the droid all over the apartment. When he finally caught the droid, he would sit down on the floor and try to dismantle it. He could only get a few pieces off before he could not figure it out anymore. He would then put it back together and put it down to see if it still worked. When it raced off, he would go chasing after it again. Andriel and Chitrah both enjoyed hearing the giggling Krillgan race around the house. The only hard part for Andriel was trying to put Krillgan down for naps. He refused to take a nap until Andriel caught the droid, so that he could hold onto it when he slept.

What Andriel and Chitrah did not know, was that they had just been recruited into the maintenance arm, of the Daalang resistance.

The Mandalorian had no choice but to go to every spaceport in the Tion Cluster. What frustrated things even more, was that someone always remembered seeing Chitrah on the spaceport at one time or another. Sometimes they remembered seeing Andriel with him, but no-one remembered seeing a child. The Mandalore would curse the stupidity of the Sith for letting Chitrah have a position where he was allowed to move around between planets. Everyone who had claimed they saw Chitrah, expected him to pass some credits along to them.

On Lianna, the male Balosar who was now in charge of the clan, thought it was wrong to let the loss of their computer consultant, go unpunished. He decided to place a death stick bomb, at the intake vent of the Ministry Annex, where the Sith took up their residence. He did not think it would do much, because of the excellent filtration system in the Sith Empire buildings. It should set off a few alarms, and cause general mayhem for a short period of time.

His purpose was to tweak the noses of the Sith, just to let them know that they are not in complete charge. If the filtration system on the air intake into the buildings did break down, and they became addicts, that would be fabulous. The advisors warned against it, but did not tell him not to do it, since they could not see a direct negative impact to their business. They just reminded him to make sure that there was a healthy amount of glitteryll, sprinkled in with the death sticks. That way, it could not be determined which organization was responsible for the bomb.

When the smoke from the death stick bomb entered the ventilation system, it set off a lot of alarms. The Ministry's building computer ordered an evacuation of all Ministry buildings, except the Moff's personal residence, since it was at a completely different location.

The Sith were furious, they took it as a personnel attack on them. When the Planetary Defence Force offered to help with the investigation, the Sith turned them down. They told them that the Sith Empire would handle it. The Moff did appreciate the gesture, and ordered the Ministry Security unit conducting the investigation to keep the Planetary Defence force informed. Which infuriated the Sith even more.

The Sith decided to use this incident as an opportunity to increase the amount of Imperial Troopers on Lianna. They contacted an Admiral, and ordered him to the Lianna system, and to start transferring troops to the surface.

When the fleet arrived in the system, Lianna's Planetary Defence Force was placed on full alert, and the Queen complained to the Moff that standard protocol was not followed, and wanted to know the purpose of the fleet.

The Moff was caught completely off guard, and informed the Queen that he wanted to know the purpose of them being there as well? He contacted the Admiral of the fleet and asked him why he was there. He told the Moff that he was instructed by the Sith to send reinforcements to the surface, because of an incident that had recently occurred on the planet. The Moff ordered him to stop approaching Lianna, and to return to wherever he came from. The Admiral told him that that would counterman his last orders. The Moff told him that he has to decide who is in charge of this sector. Was it him as Moff, or was it a bumbling Sith Master and his apprentice. The Admiral told the Moff that he would halt his approach to Lianna, and contact the Dark Council, to receive instruction from them as to what he should do.

The Planetary Defence Force asked permission of the Queen to halt all shuttle traffic, to surround all shuttle terminals, and to surround all Sith Empire properties. The Queen told them it would damage the local economy to halt shuttle traffic in any way. She did agree with placing defence corridors around all the properties they mentioned, and surrendered control of 1/3 of Santhe Corporations Security forces to their control, to make sure they had enough bodies.

They started restricting who could come and go to the Ministry buildings. Only former Lianna citizens were allowed unrestricted access to and from the Ministry. (A Lianna citizen has to surrender their Lianna citizenship, if they become employed by the Sith Empire, since the Sith Empire are now responsible for their security). Ministry personnel that came from other planets, were asked to stay in the Ministry buildings, for their own safety.

The Moff along with all of his personnel bodyguards, decided it was prudent to visit with the Queen, until this whole incident was over.

The Sith contacted the Admiral, and told him that they were under siege, and the Moff had been arrested by the Queen.

The Admiral contacted the Moff, and asked him if it was true, that he was arrested by the Queen? The Moff told him that he has been misled, he is currently a guest of the Queen, and still has all of his fully armed personal bodyguards with him, and stepped back from the communicator so that the Admiral could see past him.

The Admiral asked about the Planetary Defence forces surrounding the Ministry's buildings. The Moff told him that his sudden appearance has upset a number of citizens, so the security forces are there to insure that no buildings are damaged if the citizens suddenly start rioting.

The Admiral had to forward the Sith's additional request for assistance, and the Moff's reply.

It did not take long for the Dark Council to contact the Admiral, and tell him that the Sith and his apprentice are to be placed under arrest, and transported back to Drummond Kaas, to appear before the council. He is to remind the Moff that he is still in charge of that sector.

The Admiral immediately informed the Moff of the Dark Council's decision. He then contacted the Sith and instructed them to surrender themselves to the Ministry Security Forces, who will escort them to the spaceport, where a fleet shuttle will be waiting for them. They must present themselves to the Dark Council for judgement.

The leader of the Balosar clan, was considered a hero to his people. The nervous energy he created on Lianna, had tripled death stick sales during the entire incident.

When the Mandalorian could not generate any solid leads in the Tion Cluster, he decide to expand his search to other places that Andriel and Chitrah were familiar with. When he arrived at the Lantillies spaceport, he received the first confirmation that a child had been spotted, in the company of two adults more than a month ago. No-one could remember what the child looked like, or what his parents looked like. They could only remember that he seemed a happy child, and his mother was indulging him to explore the spaceport.

The Mandalorian did not believe this was the Zabrak's child, because she seemed quite nervous and shy, when he showed up at their door. The Mandalorian was sure he had picked up their scent once again. When he arrived on Uyter he confirmed another sighting of the child. At the Kashyyyk spaceport, he heard of an incident where a child had come up to a Wookiee, and showed that it wanted to be picked up. The Wookiee had growled at the child which made it cry, but it did not run away. The child's mother scolded the Wookiee for trying to frighten the child. The embarrassed Wookiee apologised to the child and reached out its arms to pick the child up. The child jumped into its arms, and let the Wookiee hold him. He then hugged the Wookiee around the neck, and let it know that it wanted to be put down. When it walked away, with the mother holding its hand, it turned around and waved at the Wookiee, who waved right back. Again no-one could give a description of the child or the mother. When he approached a Wookiee, to ask him about the incident. The Wookiee made a noise and crossed his arms, like he was upset at the Mandalorian. The Mandalorian asked the senior security officer manning the checkpoint, if he understood what the Wookiee just said. He told the bounty hunter, that he said he was no child's play gym.

From the Kashyyyk spaceport the bounty hunter went to Randon spaceport, again there was a child sighting. From Randon he traveled to the Deysum spaceport. There he found someone who remembered that the family boarded a freighter bound for Randon. This is not what the Mandalore wanted to hear having come from Randon. This is by far the most difficult hunt he has ever been on. What is so amazing is that they keep disappearing, when they have no connections to organised crime, and they don't have their own ship. They are just smart civilians, usually the easiest type to find.

Andriel told Ugnut that it would be easier to make new clothes, then to keep patching up these old garments. Ugnut told her that things are just not that easy, first you need to find a source for the material. Andriel said that was easy, it's made in the slave factories of Lorrad. Ugnut asked her how she knew this. She told him that she knew this because Chitrah brought her some sample books from the fabric mills on Lorrad when he was there. Ugnut asked her if she ever ordered fabric from them. Andriel told him that she did not, but if she wanted this fabric, she would buy it from the Military's Quartermaster's stores. He asked Andriel, if she could buy it from the Quartermaster's store on Daalang? She told him that she doubted she could, because they don't normally sell to civilians, when there are local goods suppliers on the planet. So how did she know about buying it from the Quartermaster's store? She told him that when she was working as a seamstress on Eriadu. The Quartermaster's store was the only place you could buy something. Unfortunately, this is the best quality fabric they have. Which is fine if you want to sew uniforms, but it is terrible if you are sewing dresses. Ugnut asked if anyone could go to the Quartermaster's store on Eriadu and by stuff. She said in theory yes, but in reality they are probably comfortable with the people they regularly sell inventory to. They would probably be very suspicious of someone new suddenly showing up and ordering a whole lot of items. He asked Andriel what would be the best way that someone new could get their hands on their items. Andriel suggested that they go to the Devaronian general store in Old Town Factoryville. They purchase most of their items through the Quartermaster's store. Ugnut asked Andriel if she could write down a list of items that they could purchase that way. Andriel told him that she could only write down a partial list, because she could not remember everything they purchased through there. Ugnut went over the list. "You can buy medi-kits from them?"

Yes but probably two or three at a time. They might get suspicious if you asked for twenty or thirty.

"Women's and men's undergarments?"

"They have to supply their own people. So yes!" Ugnut excused himself from talking with her, he had to go see someone.

The only other spaceport that the Mandalorian bounty hunter found anyone who had spotted a child was Terr'Skiar. He had even gone into Hutt space just in case they had hired a smuggler to get them out of the Sith Empire. It was time to go down the Trax Tube.

Five months they have been there. Five months on Daalang, and Andriel wakes up this morning and says they have to leave now. Ugnut is a little upset, who else is going to make veggie patties for him for breakfast.

Krillgan is so smart, he has finally figured out how to take that target droid apart, and put it back together all by himself. Not to mention the exercise he gets from chasing it. After two months it was hard to keep Chitrah occupied. He had repaired the backlog of electronic components for all the resistance's equipment. Getting supplies from the Sith Empire themselves, was a stroke of genius on Andriel's part.

They will never know that they are considered Heroes of the Resistance. It was only after they had been there a few months that they found out that Chitrah is the "Blue Ghost" that the Sith Empire is dying to get their hands.

They had to silence a few informers, to keep that information from leaking out. It's a good thing that the old mines are very deep. It's a nice place to park some bodies you don't want discovered.

Andriel had told Krillgan that he cannot take his little droid with him, he has to give it back to Ugnut.

A sobbing Krillgan came down to his workshop to return the droid. Ugnut told him that if he tried to take it with him, the Imperial Troopers would take it from him, than they would make all sorts of trouble for his parents. He did not want that. Krillgan shook his head, he did not want his parents getting into trouble. Ugnut promised Krillgan that he would keep it safe on his workbench, so that he can think about him every time he sees it. Then he gave him a big hug. Krillgan liked hugging Mr. Ugnut, they were close to the same size. He was glad that Mr. Ugnut told him that he could get his parents into trouble if he took the little droid with him. He felt better about leaving it behind with him, and was able to stop crying.

When Krillgan returned to the apartment his mother gave his face a good washing. She did not want him to look like he was crying when they went through the checkpoints.

When they went through the checkpoint next to the shuttle terminal, one of the Troopers asked Andriel if her aunt was feeling better. Andriel told him that she had hiccups. She was being a little over dramatic because she really wanted her to come visit. The Trooper laughed and waved them through.

Just after their shuttle took off for the spaceport. The Mandalorian bounty hunter exited the shuttle that landed. When he went up to the Imperial Troopers at the checkpoint, and showed them the poster. They told him that he just missed them. They are on their way to the spaceport. He ran into the shuttle terminal, only to hear that the next shuttle would be leaving in two hours. He went back to the Troopers at the checkpoint to see if they could give him a detailed description. They told him that the couple looks pretty much like they do on his poster, only older. Their little boy is purple. This was the best description that he had of the child. He wondered if it would mean anything to the Sith if they found out it was a boy.

On the spaceport a Devaronian male called out Andriel's name, and runs up and hugs her. He said that he was so worried for her, when he saw her picture on the poster the Mandalore bounty hunter was handing around.

Andriel was furious with him, because now the whole spaceport knows that she is there. The Devaronian male's face suddenly became real dark.

Krillgan tugged at his pant leg and told him that he has to go to the bathroom. The Devaronian male took his hand and told them all to follow him. He quickly led them right past the public washroom, onto a freighter. He opens the door to a cabin and tells Krillgan, this is his cabin, he can use the bathroom in there. He then tells the ship's computer, that it can tell the captain that their guests have arrived, it is now safe to depart the spaceport. He tells Chitrah that his cabin is the one directly opposite.

Chitrah asks him, where are they going? The Devaronian tells him, the Seswenna Sector, of course. He asks them to make their way to the common room as soon as possible after their son is finished with the bathroom, he has to go verify that the electromagnetic clamps have released. Andriel and Chitrah are dumbfounded, as they sit down and fasten themselves in, Andriel tells Chitrah that there has to be a good story behind this.

On the Daalang spaceport, the Cerean bounty hunter was angry that the Mandalorian jumped on the shuttle to the surface at the last minute. By the time she got to the doors, they were already sealed, and the shuttle had manoeuvred away from the spaceport. The next shuttle leaves in two hours. She decided to walk around the spaceport to blow off some steam. Suddenly she hears someone shout Andriel. She wonders who could be so stupid. She rushes over to where she heard the shout come from. But can't see anyone she is looking for. She wants to start laughing. If she had not been there, she would not have believed it. They disappeared again, right from under her nose.

To make things interesting there are five freighters departing this spaceport, and none of them has any passengers listed. She can't wait to see the look on the Mandalorian's face, when he returns to the spaceport only to find out that they have given him the slip again, when he was oh, so, close. Then she sobers up. She won't see his face, because he is always wearing that stupid helmet.

After they are told they can unfasten the restraints. The Devaronian male comes back to them and introduces himself. He is the first officer on this ship, and he would like to assist them any way he can. Andriel asks him if she has ever met him before. He tells her they haven't, but she does know his wife, and his daughter Matrucy. Andriel holds her hands over her mouth for a moment. "You are the father of Uleanna's best friend Matrucy!" The first officer nodded his head yes. Andriel gets up and hugs him. Then she holds him away from herself. I thought they said you were dead. "I very nearly was, until the foot patrol came along and rescued me from the street gang. I was so badly beaten that the medical team had to induce me into a coma, and suspended me in a Bacta tank for over a year. After my body was healed they could not bring me out of the coma for another three years. They did not know I was still alive until after you left.

Andriel remembered that the representative of the transportation company telling her about the badly beaten Devaronian male. That was the reason they setup the hotel and cantina near the base and the truck depot. His wife had not seen her name on the list of wives that had a husband coming for their days off. Our friend told him not to worry, she would be coming in a day anyway, to bake some bread. He remembered her telling him how much she enjoyed helping her best friend's family in the bakery when she was younger. When she arrived at the hotel the afternoon before her baking marathon, she looked so tired, he did not have the heart to keep her from her sleep. The next morning when he got up, she had already been up for hours baking. He came up behind her, and asked if it was okay for her to take a break and have a cup of tea with him. She turned around and started sobbing on his shoulder. They had told her he was dead. He told her that he thought that he was dead, and told her the story, about what others told him, had happened to him. They spent a good part of the day just sitting there touching each other. They were both covered in flour, while the human helpers finished preparing all the rest of the loaves of bread. One of them came up to his wife and told her that it was time for her to leave, the patrol was waiting for her. He was not going to let her go. He found out later that he was the first Devaronian male allowed to go back to their community, and it was only because his wife had a special patrol escort her, because they loved eating her bread. His daughter Matrucy was as shocked to see him as his wife was. In fact all the ladies in the community thought he was dead. That night they let Matrucy stay with them in their bed, as his wife told him what happen the night of the invasion. Matrucy, smart girl that she is, had found a place to hide. But was still traumatized by the screaming and the crying she heard all around her that night. His wife was not as lucky. He told her how proud he was that they helped each other survive, and they managed to hang onto their friendships. When grandmother came by to wake his wife up to start baking bread. His wife asked her if she could wake the other ladies, she wanted to spend time with him. Grandmother smiled, she was glad that she wanted to do that, and went and woke the other ladies. It took a few days for them to get to know each other again. Of course Matrucy wanted him to go with her, when she went to inspect the snares, and keep the bait moist. His wife showed him how to dispatch a chinchawwa. Between Uleanna and Matrucy, all he heard was, Aunty Andriel this, and Aunty Andriel that. He was starting to feel intimidated by her. Yet so grateful for all she did. They let Matrucy sleep with them the whole time he was in the community. It helped to heal their hearts, and bind them back together as a family. His wife was not ready to make love to him, until she returned to the hotel to bake bread. He got up with her, to help her in anyway. He thinks he spent the morning getting cups of tea for his wife and the two humans helping her. It was so nice to indulge with them, in sharing the first loaf that came out of the oven. He was so proud of her, and let her know it. She told the patrol she would be spending one more day at the hotel. They said they would be back for her. They spent the rest of that day not making love, but cuddling. They gave each other strength. They shared their hopes and their fears. Their biggest fear was not being able to find a mate for Matrucy.

"Andriel you would not believe how much things have changed since you have been there. The Imperials cleared the road of rubble. All the way from the base to the Devaronian community, just so that they could have their turbans properly cleaned. All the communities between the Nautolans and the Devaronians have cleaned the road joining them. The Red and Horn Transportation Company, now has a fleet of trucks bringing supplies to all the communities, and taking salted and smoked fish, and fish eggs to Eriadu City to be sold to the nobles at outrages prices. The Nosaurian hunters that moved to live with the Nautolans. Killed an animal they thought was wild, but turned out it was from a farm. The farmer was very upset, until the Nosaurians profusely apologised, and offered to pay for the creature. The communities banded together and cleared the road leading to the farming community. The Devaronians, Nosaurians, and Humans, joined together and opened an abandoned meat processing plant, with the Imperial Military being their main customer. The Devaronians and Humans built a large warehouse were the farmers bring their goods and sell it to them. They turn around and distribute it to all the communities, at a profit. Any surplus gets sold to the Ministry Residences, in Eriadu City."

Andriel was expecting a story, she did not expect it to be so good. She gave the first office another hug, then they sat down to share some tea, while he continued sharing details about the community. Chitrah decided to go introduce himself to the captain, and to offer his services as a computer technician. Krillgan followed his father, to see what he was going to do, since mother does not like to play when she is talking.

The apprentice was asked to appear before the Dark Council first. They told him that his master is no longer considered a Master Sith, so can no longer be allowed to have an apprentice. As no-one who is qualified will take him, since they consider him tainted, they will lend him to the Imperial Army, where he will start with the rank of Lieutenant.

This is a real slap in the face. Normally a Sith Apprentice is considered to be the equivalent of a Major. They said they are starting him this low, so that every promotion in rank he gets, will have been earned. When he has earned the rank of General, his Sith Apprenticeship will be considered concluded. They had him leave through a different door than he entered, because he is now forbidden to communicate in any way with his former master.

The Master was next summoned before the Dark Council. They asked him why he was so quick to start the war again with the Republic. He told them he was not trying to start a war, where is his accuser, he demands the right to face them, face to face. The Council tells him that his own actions are what accuse him. He tells the Council that he was just trying to increase Imperial presence on Lianna. They tell him that that was for the Moff, who they appointed, to decide. He wasn't a Sith Lord, why was he trying to act like one? Even the Admiral has been reprimanded for obeying the initial orders from him. Had he forgotten that the Republic has their own fleet parked in the Tion Cluster, just waiting for a planet like Lianna to call for help?

"There is more than a fleets worth of the new Blade Class Starfighters, sitting on the planet's surface, waiting for us to finish building the replacement fleet, for the one that disappeared over Voss. Between the Republic's fleet and the Starfighters they built for us. Our fleet would be destroyed. It would take the combined firepower of three fleets, to destroy the planetary defences on Lianna, to the point that we can start sending down our troop transports to retake the planet. Which would be pointless, since the entire industrial complexes we want, would have already been destroyed. If it had not been for the quick thinking of the Moff, this is what you would have accomplished. You can no longer consider yourself a Master Sith. You are just Sith. All of your assets have been seized, and are to be sold, for the benefit of the Sith Empire. Your apprentice has been given a new master. It is time for you to reconnect with your Mandalorian lackey. Who is only slightly better than you at finding the contractor and his family, then losing them again. What we decide about your future, will depend on whether you can bring that entire family before us, alive!"

The Sith was not very happy with his new position, and he neglected to tell the Mandalorian bounty hunter that Andriel was also expected to be brought in alive.

Andriel found out that the brat's mother had remarried. She married her dead husband's cousin, who had a crush on her for a long time. Unfortunately for them, the brat became much harder to control, so the stepfather had arranged to escort him to another planet where they both have family.

At the Eriadu City shuttle terminal, a passing Master Sith, sensed he was a force user, and took him away to the Sith Academy to be trained. What was heart breaking for the parents, was how willing he was to go with the Sith. There are those in the community, that swear they heard him say that he would come back some day, and hurt them, until they all agreed to be his slaves.

Andriel had a bad feeling in her stomach when she heard that. She also found out that they were not getting the response from the Devaronian community at large, for eligible bachelors. Despite her husband having managed to get the message thru to Deveron. A lot of the Devaronian men that have come, were not expecting to share any of their income with their bride. The clan suspect they were clanless pirates. They also had some Devaronian men come and try to get their clan women to go with them to another planet. The elders were able to discover that they were really slavers, and wanted to take the women and sell them as slaves. For the sake of the future of the clan, the elders decided to accept interspecies marriages, considering that there was already a precedent, of one member of the clan having married someone from another species.

Andriel asked him if they are aware that she was forced to marry Chitrah. He said they are aware, but it was the excuse they needed to open that door. "Some of the young men from the human families she helped rescue, are very interested in our young ladies. They know what they suffered, because they suffered the same things themselves. They are even being taught the traditions, by grandmother, since there is no male elder to teach them."

Andriel wanted to know why he was looking for them on the spaceport. He said that when he saw the bounty hunter's posters in the spaceport, he knew that this was their Andriel, he was looking for. He convinced his human captain to let him take one trip around the spaceport, in case they were there. She knows how excited he was to find them. He had already shown Andriel and Chitrah the planets they would be going to, in the Seswenna Sector, before returning to Daalang. The first mate thought they might want to try hiding out in the Devaronian community on Eriadu, but both Andriel and Chitrah agreed that that would be the first place the bounty hunter would look, if he suspected they were in the Seswenna Sector. The first officer did not realise that the bounty hunter would know that much about them.

Chitrah convinced Andriel that they should go to Lumptoom. It wasn't for him, but he thought she would enjoy herself, and Krillgan was young enough, not to be corrupted by it. After that description, she was very curious to see this planet. She also wanted to visit all the places that make the lovely fabrics she loves sewing with.

Andriel and Chitrah had taken up their self-defence training once again, since they no longer need to hide their identity. The captain and first officer, watching them, would cringe at some of the blows they land on each other. The knee to the face has got to be the worse. The only padding protecting the face is on the knee of the attacker. No wonder both Andriel and Chitrah always look like someone has been rubbing the tips if their nose. The other blow that is hard to watch is the elbow smash to the side of the head. The person getting it, has got to feel it, padding or no padding. With little Krillgan watching them, it's like he is making sure that they both get beaten up equally. Now the first officer knows why his wife warned him not to let his daughter practise on him. It would have bruised his ego, if he had found out the hard way that his sweet, innocent, little girl, could beat him up.

It was good that Andriel and Chitrah continued to do their modified exercises in the morning. The crew would alternate taking turns to exercise with them.

On Luptoom they were able to find a partially furnished apartment to rent. They did not need a couch anyway. This gave them more room in the apartment to practise. There was a park near their apartment, which had a play area for children. This was the first time for Krillgan, to use a slide and swings. Andriel would sit and watch, and sketch the different designs of the various outfits she would see the locals wearing, while keeping an eye on Krillgan. Now she understood why Chitrah thought she would like it, while he doesn't. Some of the locals don't attempt to hide anything, with the outfits they wear. She could tell that some wear outfits only for sensation, but others wear them for style. It was the ones with style that she tried to draw.

Krillgan expressed an interest in drawing as well. So she bought him a set of coloured ink dispensers, made specifically for children, and some drawing paper. He made no attempt to try and draw actual figures, he just wanted to draw the different colour patterns he saw. When he was finished his current masterpiece, he would give it to his mother. Andriel would get him to mark it, because every good artist should mark their work. He just put a little checkmark in one corner. Then she would find a place in the apartment, to hang it on display.

The other thing that Andriel and Chitrah bought him to play with, was a colourful ball that had the ability to return to the place designated as home. When they went to the park, Andriel would set the place beside her feet as home. Krillgan would kick the ball as hard as he could, than get his mother to have it come back. They also bought him a set of building blocks, of various sizes, shapes, and colours. The blocks would just seem to stick together. Krillgan being able to make some very intricate designs. When he felt the design was finished, he would show it off to his mother and father. Then he would point the neutralising box at it, and zap the design, so that it would all come apart. He enjoyed playing with the set on the rainy days, when he had to stay indoors, and was not allowed to go to the park. Chitrah, spent his days doing computer installations for the Ministry.

When they noticed that they were starting to get streams of data from computers they have never gotten data from before. Instead of notifying the Ministry on Eriadu, they contacted the Moff's office directly. Asking what they should do? The answer, "Do Nothing!" So all they did was identify the computer that became active, and removed it from their list.

The Madalorian bounty hunter guessed wrong when he chose which freighters to follow. He chose to follow the two that went back up the Trax Tube. He was worried that Andriel and Chitrah might try to double back on him, and go back to Lianna. Like they did before, when the Sith were trying to track them. Since the one freighter was going to Lianna spaceport as its final destination, while the other showed Reaver Space Station, as its final destination. He had to go back and check every spaceport along the way in case they were on one of the freighters, and managed to get off.

They went as a family to visit the factories that produced the fabric Andriel loved. Krillgan loved watching the machines where spools of thread went in one end and the fabric came out the other. It was like the giant version of the weaver's loom in the Togruta common room, only faster, very much faster. He touched everything his mother touched, and had a feel for the different fabrics.

Andriel was interested in seeing the fabrics that had limited runs, the ones that did not make it into the sample books. Now Andriel carried a lot of credits on her person, since they had to close the joint account that she had with Chitrah. The one the Imperials knew about. She did not want to open any new accounts, since she was sure that their names were flagged, and it might expose all of their emergency fund, accounts. So she was not shy about buying bolts of the limited runs fabric, and arranging for it to be shipped to every dress shop she has worked in, except her mother's shop on Deysum III, because of the problems it could cause her mother. But she did send some to her sister's dress shop using Krillgan's name.

Some other visitors noticed what seemed like an endless supply of credits, and contacted some acquaintances, because they wanted to know the limit. When they exited the last factory on their tour, it was already dark out. As Andriel, Krillgan, and Chitrah, made their way to the public transit stop, they suddenly found their way blocked by some thugs. They could not go forward, and they could not go back. Krillgan told the guys to move, before they make his mother angry and she hurts them. The thugs said they will move, after his mother hands over all her credits. Krillgan told them that his mother does not give credits to someone just because they ask. She only gives credits to those who earn them. The one guy told his companions that it was time to earn their credits.

One guy from the front group, pulled a vibro-blade knife, and rushed at Andriel. A guy in the back group rushed at Chitrah with his knife. They both were sent flying. The guy from the front group crashed into the guys at the back. Where the guy who rushed Chitrah slammed into the guys who were in front.

Andriel, Krillgan, and Chitrah, quickly walked around them before they could get back up, and regroup. Krillgan told them that they have to work harder than that, if they hoped to earn some credits.

Fortunately the transit vehicle pulled up at the stop, and they were able to board, before the thugs could regroup and catch up to them. Both Andriel and Chitrah praised Krillgan in his understanding of financial transactions. They did not know he was paying attention whenever they discussed their finances.

When the fabric arrived on Yitabo, Mrs. Radcliff bragged to her husband about the lovely bolts of fabric Andriel had sent her. Mr. Radcliff contacted the Cerean bounty hunter, and told her that the family was on Luptoom. After he broke the contact, he became upset with himself. He knew he should not have told her, because she will now want to go and check it out. He apologised to his wife, because he just may have gotten his daughter and her family in trouble.

The Cerean bounty hunter, did break off following the Mandalorian. He noticed his shadow had stopped following him. So he decided to follow her.

Andriel sensed trouble was coming their way and told Chitrah that they have to leave. Krillgan was sad when they told him that they had to go. He asked his mother, who he had to give his toys to? Andriel told him, they have enough room in their luggage, that he can bring them with him, he returned to his normal cheerful self when he heard the news, and helped make sure everything was packed away.

At the spaceport they were not sure where they should go next. A human approached them and told them that their freighter was ready to leave if they would like to come aboard now. The surprised parents followed the human, who introduced himself as the first officer of the ship they were boarding. Andriel asked him why he was helping them. He told them that every transport company knows about what they did for the Devaronian community on Eriadu. Everyone who works on a freighter has worked with Devaronians at some point in his or her career.

He made the mistake when he first started working that he thought he could out drink a Devaronian. The Devaronian, picked him up after he had passed out, and carried him to his cabin, on his first freighter, and put him to bed. So he would not miss his departure. When he woke up with a big headache, he realised that he did not even know the guy's name. The crew teased him for thinking he could out drink a Devaronian, but he never had an opportunity to thank him. He found out later from his crew that the guy had died protecting his ship from a pirate attack. So this was his way of saying thank you. Andriel asked if he ever did find out what his name was. He told her that the crew knew him and gave her his name. Andriel stopped dead in her tracks. She told the first officer that the man was her father. The first officer took her hand and kissed it. He had tears in his eyes. "Now I get to pay back an old debt that I thought was unpayable."

After they departed the spaceport, the first officer took her to meet the captain, another human. He also knew her father, and started sharing stories that he knew and heard about him. She shared with them her life with him growing up, and how devastated the family was, when they heard of his death. She also told them that the company still sends a small portion of his pay to her mother.

Chitrah stayed in the common room with Krillgan, where they played with his blocks together.

The Mandalorian was furious when he found out that the Ministry on Luptoom, knew that Chitrah was on their planet, but had not contacted him. They told him that they passed that information on to the ones who needed to know, and apparently, he was not one of them. The bounty hunter left the Ministry building, afraid to ask, if the area Moff, was the one who did not pass along the information. He would have to get the Sith to find out.

If the local Moff was not going to cooperate with him, then he could not trust the Ministry offices to help. This was going to make his job much harder. None of the locals would talk to him, because they found his outfit too depressing. He noticed the other bounty hunter was trying hard not to laugh at his misfortune.

Chitrah convinced Andriel to leave the freighter at the Uvena Prime spaceport. He described the Shistavanens as being very isolationist, but also very intelligent. They would not betray them to the bounty hunter, no matter how many credits he offered. Provided they accepted them first, they would feel honour bond to watch over them, until they left. Andriel felt that she needed to trust Chitrah on this. Chitrah did not start looking for accommodations when they landed, like he did on Luptoom. Instead he boarded the public transit. They did not go near the Ministry buildings, which made Andriel breathe easier. Instead they got off the transit and headed to an unusual looking building.

Andriel asked, Chitrah what it was? He told her that it is a martial arts training institute. He made some friends there, when he was sent to Uvena Prime to help train the technicians. They entered the lobby, and as there was no seating area, they placed their luggage on the floor in the middle of the lobby, and Chitrah told them they should sit on the floor in front of their luggage and wait. Andriel asked him if they should talk to someone, to let them know they are there. Chitrah told her, "They knew we are here, as soon as we entered the building. We are just waiting for the word to get to the right people." In the largest training room, filled with the most senior of the martial arts practitioners, a junior martial arts student enters the room, and signals the instructor that he would like to approach. The instructor waves him forward. He bows to the class to show respect, then he approaches the instructor and bows to him, and he keeps his head bowed as he relays the message. He tells the instructor that the blue foreigner is back. He has also brought a red female, and a purple child with him. He is in the lobby waiting. The instructor points to one of the men sitting behind him, and tells him to take over the class. When the instructor gets up, everyone else who was sitting behind him gets up and follows him.

When Chitrah sees him entered the lobby, he gets up quickly and bows to him to show respect. Andriel and Krillgan follow Chitrah's lead. The instructor grabs Chitrah's shoulders in his paws, and growls his name. Then he asks him what he is doing back on Uvena Prime. Chitrah asks him if he remembers him telling him that he was forced by the Sith to marry the woman they choose? The instructor says he remembers. Chitrah introduces Andriel as the beautiful creature they made him marry. Then he introduces Krillgan, their son. He tells him that the Sith would like very much to take their son from them, going so far as hiring a Mandalorian bounty hunter to track them. The instructor tells Chitrah that he still has not explained why he was there.

Chitrah told him that they happened to be in the neighborhood, and he wanted his wife to see their fighting technique for herself. This causes the instructor and everyone with him to start laughing. The instructor has to wipe tears from his eyes. He tells Chitrah that he does him a big honour, when most people would try to run and find a place to hide, he goes and visits a friend. He tells Chitrah that he and his family will be his honoured guests. He turns to the junior student, and asks him to go to his residence to inform his wife that they will have guests for dinner, and also prepare the guest room for their guests.

The instructor asks Chitrah about his wife's training. Chitrah tells him, "The instructor that first taught them self-defence, told his wife that she is a dangerous student, because she does not know how to pull her punches. He had told her that if he was a martial arts instructor, he would have thrown her out of his class. Because he was teaching self-defence, he would instruct her, provided that she only works with me, and we both had to wear special practise suits." The instructor asked Chitrah if they have their practise suits with them. Chitrah tells him they do. So the instructor sends one of the men with him to show Chitrah where he can change, and he sends one of the women to show Andriel where she can change. Chitrah asks him, where they should put their luggage? They instructor says they can leave it right where it is. He then signals one of the men to watch over it.

The instructor than offers his paw to Krillgan, who places his hand in it, and they walk away. After Andriel and Chitrah, have changed into their practise suits. The person with them leads them to the training room where the instructor is sitting, and waiting, with Krillgan at his side, and everyone else behind him that came to the lobby. When he sees Andriel and Chitrah in their practice suits. He instructs the class to stop practising and to sit down, for a demonstration. Chitrah has told Andriel what he thinks they want to see, and to follow his lead when they enter the training room. When Chitrah sees the signal to enter the room. Chitrah first bows to the class, then he enters the room, and bows before the instructor, with Andriel imitating his every move.

The instructor asks Andriel and Chitrah to give them a demonstration of their self-defence techniques. The man that had the class turned over to him translates what the instructor had said in basic, so that all the Shistavanens could understand. When the instructor nods his head, Andriel and Chitrah proceed. The students are surprised to see that neither person is holding back. That would explain why they are wearing those suits. After a few minutes, the instructor holds up his left paw for them to stop. When they do, the instructor asks if they could now demonstrate the Togruta style of fighting. Again the request is translated. When the instructor signals, they again proceed with the demonstration. The students are savvy enough to appreciate the different styles. When the instructor held up his left paw again, they stopped. Before the instructor dismissed them Chitrah bowed to the instructor, and asked if it would be okay for them to demonstrate a little of the Shistavanen's technique, that he was able to teach his wife? The instructor was curious to see how much he had taught her, so he gave him permission. The translator told the class that they would now see a demonstration of the Shistavanen's technique. The students were impressed with what Andriel and Chitrah showed them, considering he had been there less than half month.

After the instructor signalled them to stop, Chitrah bowed to the instructor, and told him that now he can understand why he brought his wife here, since his instructions are lacking. The instructor smiled and sent them away to get changed. When they left, the instructor had the students get back up and go through some of the basics. When Andriel and Chitrah came back, the instructor signalled them to come back in and sit beside him and Krillgan. They again bowed to the class then they came in and bowed to the instructor. Chitrah sat at his left since Krillgan was sitting at his right. Andriel went and sat beside Krillgan. When they were seated, the instructor told the class in basic, that he wanted them to demonstrate to the foreigners, what was lacking in their technique. The instructions were translated, and they started doing the basics all over again. When they finished. The instructor dismissed them. As the students left the junior student came back in and told the instructor that dinner is ready, and the guest room was prepared. The instructor asked some of the people behind him to go bring their luggage to his residence. As his residence is on the top floor of the complex.

The instructor introduces his wife, his oldest son, who happens to be the junior student, and his youngest son, who is almost a year older than Krillgan. During dinner, the instructor tells his family about the fine demonstration Andriel and Chitrah put on for them, and how patiently young Krillgan sat through the whole thing. The youngest son heard the respect that his father had for these foreigners. He knew that his father's respect must be earned. So they must be good people, for foreigners. The families got along quite well. Chitrah was welcome into the instructor's senior class as a student, Andriel was only allowed to watch. She did practise later, alone with Chitrah. The youngest son took Krillgan with him, whenever he went to his class. There was a beginner's class for children, that he took Krillgan to, with all of the parents' approval. Later in the day they would play in the garden that was part of the instructor's residence. The two boys became quite close. Krillgan shared the few toys he had with him, and youngest son did the same. Their favourite game was playing "Moog and Rancor" where they would both take turns being the Moog, or the Rancor. When the Rancor caught the Moog they would both end up wrestling on the ground. One afternoon when the two wives were sharing some tea watching their children play. The instructor's wife asked Andriel, if she was worried about her son injuring Krillgan? Andriel asked her if her son would intentionally injure Krillgan. She replied, "Of course not! My son loves your son!"

Andriel replied, "That's why I am not worried."

If they do happen to injure the other, we know it is not intentional.

"My son told me that both you and your son have fur. Is it true?"

Andriel reaches across to her, to let her feel for herself.

"It is true, but it feels so different. Does it bother your husband when the two of you are alone?"

"Sometimes my husband gets really upset!"

"Do tell."

"Because I have fur and he doesn't!"

"Andriel, you are such a tease!"

Both women laugh. The instructor's wife really likes Andriel. She insisted on helping with meal preparations, even though she is a guest. She even taught her how to make those veggie patties her husband has become fond of. She lets her and her husband watch while she practises her self-defence with her husband Chitrah. She wanted to cry, when she shared her story about being forced to marry Chitrah, and the struggles to get a committed loving relationship. She can understand why her husband feels drawn to them. They are the first non-Shistavanen couple that she and her husband, both like. She has been told that all of the students in his class really respect Chitrah. It's too bad that they could not stay and live on Uvena Prime. It must be awful to live with the knowledge that at any time a bounty hunter could come and destroy their lives.

The Sith storms into the Moff's office on Eriadu. And demands to know why they are not getting the cooperation from his people that he deserves. The Moff is unimpressed with this Sith's entrance. He tells him he is getting the cooperation he deserves, he is just not getting the cooperation he wants. He asks the Moff, why his people aren't giving him their full cooperation. The Moff tells him, that it is because he does not know the people he is dealing with. The Sith asks him, who these people are supposed to be, that he should be concerned? The Moff replies with one ancient Sith word, "ShaakRea!"

"Servants of the Force? What makes you say that?"

"I say that because I have read all the reports. You also are proof, as is your bounty hunter!"

"How are we proof?"

"What happens to those who come against a ShaakRea? Disgrace, dishonour, and ultimately death."

"Which one is the ShaakRea?"

"Both parents, and possibly the child."

The Sith does not buy it, but decides to humour the Moff. "What should I do to capture them?"

"You cannot capture them. You have to make them come to you."

The Sith scoffs at the Moff. "Many thought that the Jedi Knight, Revan, was a ShaakRea, but the Emperor did not hesitate to kill him."

The Moff decided to teach the Sith, they only way many of them learn, with pain.

"For a Sith, you are dumber than you look. The Emperor did not kill Revan, he has kept him in stasis all these years, because he has not yet determined if killing Revan will affect his own immortality!"

This was news to the Sith. "How do you know this? Did your uncle tell you?"

"For my uncle, a Sith Lord, to tell me this, a non-Sith, would have meant certain death. How I know, is none of your concern. What does concern me is how you, a Sith, do not know. This tells me that your training was not complete."

The Sith stormed out of the Moff's office, just like he came in. He was tired of this Moff insulting him. Yet to retaliate against him, would bring a death sentence upon the Sith.

The instructor approached Andriel with a personal request. A rival of his has insulted him, and his whole house (meaning the training institute), because he has received some non-Shistavanen, as his personal guests. He would like to put Andriel's name down in an upcoming tournament. It is a full contact tournament, and he has already checked with the organising committee, in that she will be allowed to wear her training outfit, even though it is different from their own equipment.

Andriel asks him why he does not enter Chitrah. The instructor told her, that because he has accepted Chitrah into his senior training class. It makes him over qualified for this tournament. But since she is considered his student, she has the right qualifications. She does not need to win the tournament, she just needs to do well (She needs to beat everyone from the rival's training institute, that she meets).

After she agrees, the instructor tells her that his son is also in the tournament, and he has already instructed him, that if he meets her, to show her no mercy. He asks her if she will need extra training time with Chitrah. He can excuse him from his classes until after the tournament. Andriel reminds him that Chitrah is her instructor, she trusts that he will do what is right for both of them. Chitrah did not skip any of his classes, but he did make extra time for her training. He did find out all he needed to know about the tournament from his fellow students. He suspected, with the encouragement of the instructor. After all, how well she does will affect their reputations in their society. The rules of combat are simple. Two combatants compete in a 5 meter diameter ring. You win by knocking your opponent out of the ring, or by forcing your opponent to submit. A knockout is considered a submission. If the combatants are just grappling on the ground, and no-one appears to have the upper hand, then the referee will break them up, stand them up, and have them start over. There is no time limit to the match. The only time they do use a timer, is when opponent has the other opponent in a hold they can't seem to break free of. The Umpire will activate the timer, giving the opponent 10 seconds to break free of the hold. If he cannot, it is considered a submission. There are two judges, one umpire, and one referee. Their chief function is to make sure none of the combatants smuggled any foreign substance into the ring, to give them an unfair advantage. If a foreign substance is discovered. The combatant automatically forfeits the match, and is banned from any further competition for life. Any combatants in the competition from the same institute, are disqualified from any further matches in that competition, and the institute is banned from entering any of their students, in any competition, for the next five years.

One thing Andriel and Chitrah talked about when they weren't practicing, was diet. Especially for the day of the competition. Chitrah suggested that Andriel prepare the same foods for the competition, as she did for their wedding night traditions, except for the sweet treats. Andriel picked up on what he was suggesting. He wanted her to have the foods that would burn slow all day for breakfast. A snack on foods that burn faster just before she dresses for the tournament, and for lunch. He would give her a thimble of sweet juice just before each match so she has some quick energy to burn. A juice/tea/salt drink for just after a match to replace electrolytes, chased by regular clean water.

Of course Andriel would have to prepare everything. The instructor's wife was surprised, when Andriel handed her a shopping list of items she needed to buy, for Andriel. Andriel was smart enough not to offer her any credits, because she was still considered her guest. After dinner Andriel commandeered the kitchen, and the confused wife offered to help. Andriel told her about their wedding night traditions, and the food preparation involved. The Shistavanens did not have any food preparation associated with their traditions, so this was something knew to her.

She asked Andriel, if Chitrah was planning on taking a second wife, and this is why she had to do these preparations? Andriel laughed, and told her the reason behind some of the different foods. Chitrah thought it might help her supply the energy she needed, for tomorrow's tournament. The instructor's wife asked her if she could make some extra for her son. Andriel told her it was her kitchen, she was only a guest.

The instructor's wife was happy that she bought extra of everything. They made enough for both competitors for the day. The instructor was surprised that Andriel and his son had a different breakfast, than everyone else. He did not say anything at the table, because it was not his place, but he would ask his wife about it later.

They met in the lobby with everyone else going to the tournament. Chitrah was carrying everything for his wife. Andriel, Krillgan, and Chitrah all wore hooded cloaks, everyone else wore jackets with the institute's emblem on the back. They boarded the public transit as a group. There was no doubt in any passengers' mind where they were headed. That is why this day was a declared a holiday. They were traveling to another martial arts institute for the event. Fortunately, not the rival's institute, that had insulted the instructor.

Before the tournament started, the two judges, umpire, and referee had asked to meet Andriel and Chitrah. They were interested in seeing Andriel's suit before she put it on. After they examined every opening to make sure that there were no secret pockets where items could be hid, the referee held the suit directly in front of him and ran straight into the wall. He gave his approval, telling the others how well it protected him.

There were over 600 contestants competing in this tournament. Some of the competitors would get a bye from fighting in the first round. The order for competition were drawn lottery style with all the names in a big drum. After all the names were drawn, both Andriel and the instructor's son had byes into the second round. Chitrah found that all of Andriel's bouts were taking place in the same ring. It was the one that had the largest capacity to hold the fans. The organisers felt that many of the people were coming just to see the foreigner compete.

Since Andriel was actually not from any of their institutes, and had no markings on her protective gear, the umpire spray painted a red circle on her front. After a moment's contemplation, he added a red dot in the middle, then he did the same on her back.

The first opponent she faced, was from the rival's institute. Because her suit was so much bulkier than anyone else's, he thought she would have trouble moving around. So he opened the match by running at Andriel, than jumping in the air to hit her with a flying drop kick. She easily stepped to the back side of the opponent, so he could not grab her as he flew past her, out of the ring.

Her next opponent, from the same institute, must have thought she was not very strong, because she was a female. He wanted to tackle her, possibly to force her to the ground, and put a submission move on her. Andriel rolled backwards just before he got to her, planted one foot on his chest, and catapulted him out of the ring. The referee and one of the judges tried catching him, so that he would not injure himself, and to prevent him from flying into the next ring.

Andriel's next opponent, was also from the same institute. He was their last competitor, the only one to make it out of the third round. He was more cautious in his approach to her. He opened with what he hoped was a round house kick to the head. Andriel easily stepped underneath it and swept his other foot off the mat, causing him to collapse in a heap. The crowd was disappointed that she did not press her advantage, but let him get back to his feet. (Being trained in self-defence, Andriel was never taught many submission moves.) He tried the round house kick again expecting her to try to sweep his leg again. But this time she stepped in close took his leg on her arm, at the same time delivering two solid hits to his midsection, causing him to stumble back, and having him snarl at her. She just growled right back. He charged her to tackle her. She sidestepped and tripped him, then dove at him as he was going down, and twisted sideways as she hit the mat, flipping him out of the ring.

The crowd applauded her victory. They knew now that she was a serious contender. Her next two opponents were more challenging, since like her they had experience from their first few rounds.

During the lunch break, while Andriel ate a small salad and the foods she prepared. The instructor's wife fed her son the same things. The instructor asked her why she was feeding him these prepared foods, when there was some nice hot food to be purchased from the vendors gathered outside. She shared with her husband what Andriel had shared with her, about the significance of the different foods for their wedding night traditions, and how Chitrah had suggested that she take advantage of her knowledge of the foods to prepare what she would eat today, and she wanted her son to have the same advantage.

He took his wife's paw and told her that he was sorry that they did not know these traditions, or he would not have fallen asleep on her so soon. She told him, that now that they know, he has many years of making it up to her. He promised to do his part.

She changed the subject, and asked if he noticed that Chitrah had prepared three different drinks for his wife. He should ask him about them, in case they could be good for their son as well.

Just before the lunch break was over Chitrah stepped outside to buy some sweet treats for Andriel. So that she could enjoy them after the competition.

After the lunch break, the officials gave the remaining competitors the opportunity to stretch and warm up their bodies. Chitrah suggested to Andriel that she do the modified exercises. The crowd enjoyed seeing the foreign child imitating the one in the protective suit.

The instructor realised from what his wife told him about Chitrah's idea for the food, the special drinks he prepared, and the exercises he had her do, that he is a very good trainer.

When Chitrah came back to the stands after giving his wife a small sip of one of the drinks. He asked Chitrah about the beverages he had prepared for his wife. Chitrah let him taste the one he had just given his wife. The instructor noticed that it was sweeter than regular juice. Chitrah told him that this was to make sure that Andriel had enough energy to make her quick moves. The danger would be to give her too much. She would have lots of energy at the beginning of the match, but would tire quickly, and the body might not switch to her other energy sources, quickly enough, causing her to lose the match. He then tried the one he gave her right after the match. The instructor noticed how salty it tasted. He asked, if this was a good idea? Since she would already be thirsty from the loss of fluids. Chitrah reminded him that salt is also lost, so to prevent the muscles from cramping, you have to replace some of the salt, before indulging in water. The instructor liked how Chitrah had thought everything out.

This next bout for Andriel, was the hardest one so far. But in the end she was able to force him out of the ring. She came and sat beside Krillgan sipping on water after having the salty drink mix. Chitrah who was sitting behind them, leaned over and told her, she was not going to like who she would be fighting next.

There was only one person she did not want to fight. When her next match was announced, Chitrah gave her a quick sip of the sweet drink. She slowly walked over to the ring to get a good look at her opponent. As the referee instructed them to meet in the middle of the ring, Andriel told him that his father had said no mercy. He nodded back, and said "No mercy."

The referee told them to take their positions, then ordered them to fight. The son advanced, and tried landing two punches to the face. Andriel blocked the punches, and retaliated with a round house to his head. He blocked that kick, then tried sweeping her leg. Andriel jumped the sweep and lashed out at him with her leg that she had tried the kick with. She caught him on his forehead with her heal, causing him to tumble backwards. When he was back squatting on his heels, he instinctively snarled at Andriel, who growled back.

The two children at the very front, loved this exchange. The younger brother snarled, and Krillgan growled, and the parents behind them laughed softly because they did not want the combatants in the ring to hear. The son advanced on Andriel again, again he tried the two punches. This time Andriel blocked them both with the same arm, twirled and slammed her elbow in his back, causing him to stumble forward two steps. When he spun around to face Andriel, he snarled again, and Andriel growled right back. This time more people in the audience heard the two children snarl and growl, and more adults tried hard not to laugh out loud. The two of them went back and forth, each of them able to knock their opponent a blow but not able to take advantage of it. The crowd loved it. Everyone was routing for both of them. The officials felt that this was the best match of the tournament so far. This justified the hardships involved in organising an event like this. Finally Andriel made a mistake, and the son was able to make a poor throw. With Andriel landing partially out of the ring. The son dove at Andriel before she could recover, hitting her in her side with his fists as he dove. His momentum was just enough to force Andriel, all the way out of the ring. The audience all rose to their feet and clapped for both combatants, they wanted them both to know that they appreciated their efforts.

The instructor asked Chitrah if it was okay for his son to take advantage of his drinks now that Andriel was eliminated. Chitrah said it was fine. So his father called him to come over with Andriel. Chitrah first gave Andriel some of the salty drink, then handed her the water bottle. Chitrah gave the son a drink of the salty drink, and the father handed him his water bottle. Andriel then went to the dressing room to change, while the son was asked to come back to the ring for his next bout. So Chitrah gave him a quick sip of the sweet juice.

The son was still breathing heavily, when his next match started. He knew that he was at a disadvantage right from the start. He let his opponent come at him. They exchanged blocking punches. The opponent knew that the son was sufficiently tired so he stepped back and launched a snap kick at his head. The son was able to step back quick enough so the kick did not connect, and he was able to catch his opponent's foot by the heel of his foot. The opponent did not know what to do. So the son pulled him to the edge of the ring by his heel, his opponent hopping on the one foot trying to stay upright. When they were near the edge of the ring, the son suddenly gives a quick jerk on his heal knocking him off balance so he stumbled closer to the edge of the ring. The son had spun around so he ended up behind his opponent, and gave him a big push, causing him to stumble completely out of the ring.

Andriel had changed, but was sorry she missed his match. She did not know he was fighting right away. When she sat down beside Krillgan, Chitrah quickly explained how the match went, while the father looked after the fluids for his son.

Chitrah handed Andriel the box of sweet treats he purchased for her. She let the little ones take a couple each, and kept the rest for herself. The instructor and his wife held each other's hands for support. They realised that they now have three hyperactive children in the front row that they have to keep an eye on.

The officials gave the son time to catch his breath, because the next match is the title match. When the father signalled that his son was ready, the referee called him to the ring. The son's opponent turned out to be a member of the institute that was hosting this event. They were hosting the event, because a member from their institute won last year's event. This just happened to be the third year in a row that they were hosting the event. They both approached each other and they both launched their punches simultaneously. They both stepped back stunned by their opponent's attack. They were both more cautious in their next approach. This time they were each able to block their opponents punches. They tried this a few times more, but no-one was able to get an advantage. As they started to approach for the next round, the son decided to try a snap kick to his opponent's head. The opponent was able to catch his heel, just like the son had done the previous match. The son collapsed to the ground right away. His opponent thinking he still had the advantage, clung onto the heel. As the son collapsed to the ground he also pulled his leg in forcing his opponent to move towards him. There was enough forward movement that the son was able to place his other leg on his opponent's chest, and throw him over. There was not enough momentum for the son to throw his opponent very far. But it was enough to momentarily stun him. Allowing the son to get to his feet. Both opponents snarled at each other. The audience then heard a snarl followed by a growl. Andriel almost peed herself, trying not to laugh. The two opponents tried exchanging blows again, then they backed away. The next time they approached the opponent tried the snap kick. When the son caught his heal. The opponent tried collapsing to the ground hoping to drag the son with him. The son pushed his foot causing the opponent to tumble over faster than he anticipated. The son then jumped on him, as his back became exposed. The son was able to manage a simple arm lock, with his opponent's face down on the mat. The son used his own body weight, and spread his legs pinning his opponent in that position, with his arm locked behind his back. The umpire signalled the judges, that he had started the count down. The opponent could not manage to get out of that hold before the red light on the timer started flashing. The Umpire called time, and the match was over by submission. The son had won the tournament.

The three children jumped to their feet, wanting to rush into the ring to congratulate the winner. The instructor managed to grab his young son by the shirt to hold him back. His wife was able to grab Krillgan's shirt, and Chitrah grabbed Andriel by her shoulder. He thought if he grabbed her just by the blouse, she would rip it, then they all would have been embarrassed. When she turned around, she saw the instructor motioning them to sit.

Everyone considered the tournament a success. When the award ceremony started, they announced the top ten placed contestants in the tournament. When each contestant was announced, they stood up to receive the applause from the crowd, then they would bow to everyone to show their gratitude. When Andriel stood up, after her name was called, for her fifth place finish, the crowd was surprised that she was a slender, well dressed lady. Because of her suit, they were expecting someone much larger. They all waited until the son was awarded the tournament trophy before rushing onto the floor to congratulate the son. Everyone wanted to hug him, and pat him on the back, congratulating him. When the two young children approached, he got down on one knee to hug them. His younger brother snarled at him, and his friend growled at him, so he snarled back, and hugged them. On the way home, he approached Andriel, and asked her if she let him win. Andriel decided to tease him, and asked him if he thought he should have been in fifth overall, and she should have gone on to win the tournament. He was embarrassed, and said no, he just wondered if she was easy on him, because she likes him. She told him that she likes her husband very much, but won't let an opportunity slip by, if she has a chance to beat him up. He laughed, because that was the answer he wanted to hear. Now he felt better abought his win. He told her that she should have been awarded second place overall, because she was his most difficult opponent, and he is confident that she could have beaten the others as well. She told him that she agreed with him, but was satisfied with her placement, when you consider that there was more than six hundred below her, in standings.

The next day the son was allowed to join the senior class because of his victory in the tournament. What surprised the students was that the instructor had allowed his wife to teach todays class with Andriel and Chitrah's help. She talked to them about the importance of different foods and how they can help, especially when competing in a tournament. She talked about what they should drink, and when they should drink it. How supporting someone in a tournament is almost as important as competing in one. She then let them do something they never did before, ask questions. The instructor had done this because, he believed that Andriel had really beaten herself. By letting his son eat the same foods she had prepared for herself, his son was able to hold his own with her, throughout their match. Because of the drinks Chitrah share with his son after their match. He has able to compete in the next match, when he normally should have been defeated. Before dismissing the class, the instructor told them that this knowledge about foods was important for other aspects of their life, not just competing in tournaments. One of the students, plucked up the courage to ask the instructor, what other areas of their life would benefit from this knowledge. The instructor told them, "the bedroom".

The Sith told the bounty hunter, not to expect any more help from the Ministry, than he has already received. The local Moff believes this family is special, and they should be trying to get them to surrender, rather hunt them down. The bounty hunter said that maybe the Moff is right. He has never had so much trouble, hunting down a civilian family. The Sith became angry with the bounty hunter, telling him to do as he was told, and to leave the thinking to others. The Mandalorian asked him, what about the other bounty hunter. What orders has he given her? The Mandalorian told him about the Cerean female that had been shadowing him, while he was still in the Tion Cluster. The one he followed to the Seswenna Sector, to the Luptoom spaceport, where he was able to pick up the scent of the prey again. The Mandalorian knew from the Sith's reaction, that he knew nothing about this bounty hunter. That was too bad, because he was hoping to use it as an excuse to back out of this contract. His reputation has already been dishonoured by it. Now he had no choice but to stick with it, or give up ever working as a bounty hunter again.

They both wondered who the Cerean was working for. The Sith wondered if the Moffs' had banded together, and hired this bounty hunter to discredit him before the Dark Council. He will show them what he will do with their ShaakRea.

One morning Andriel told Chitrah that it was time for them to go. They told their hosts at breakfast that they needed to go. The instructor asked them how they knew they must go. Chitrah told the instructor that Andriel just knows, and she has never been wrong. The instructor accepted that. He has known others that knew they must do something, and others have benefitted from their action. He decided that the best thing he could do was to be there for them. He sent his oldest son to stand at the door of their practise hall, to tell the students that today's classes have been cancelled. They would stop by on their way to the shuttle terminal, to get him, so that he could come with them, and say his goodbyes. Krillgan decided to give his ball as a present to his friend, because he enjoys playing with it, and it was easy to play with, when you have no-one who will play with you. His friend went to his parents, to ask their permission, to give a present to Krillgan. He wanted to give Krillgan his practise outfit that his mother had made him, with the emblem of the institute embroidered on the front pocket, and on its back. Krillgan had been wearing a generic outfit with no markings on it when he attended their classes. He wanted Krillgan to know he was part of them. The parents both agreed that it would be an appropriate gift, and praised their son for thinking about it on his own. When he gave it to Krillgan, Krillgan ran up to his mother and asked if he could wear it to the shuttle terminal, instead of his regular clothes. Andriel told him there are special rules about wearing clothing like this, they don't want to do anything that might dishonour their hosts. So she led the two children to the instructor and his wife, to find out if it would be appropriate, for him to wear it to the shuttle terminal.

The instructor told Krillgan that his mother is a smart woman. Whenever he wears something with the emblem of the institute on it, he has to remember that he is representing the honour of the institute. If he is willing to do that, then he can wear it to the shuttle terminal. Krillgan promised the instructor that he would always be respectful whenever he wore it. Krillgan ran to the bedroom to put it on. The instructor motioned for his son to come to him. He ruffled his fur, and gave him a hug. He told him that it is hard to find friends like the one he is losing today. He must remember that his memory of him, will help him to be strong, will help him to be a better person. He gave his father a hug, and told him that his best friend is still here to help him with this. This brought tears to the instructor's eyes, and when he looked at his wife, she had tears in her eyes. They must be doing something right, in the way they have raised their sons.

When the students came to class they were surprised to see the son barring the way. When he explained why he was there, they decided to wait with him, to see the family off. After everything was packed, and Krillgan had changed. Andriel and Chitrah told them it was time to say goodbye. The instructor told them that they were accompanying them to the shuttle terminal, he had promised his oldest that he could come with them. When they went to get the son, they found the whole class waiting, they all wanted to accompany them to the terminal.

When they boarded the transit system, the passengers asked the students, if there was going to be another tournament today? They told the passengers that the foreign lady who fought their instructor's son in that tournament, was leaving today, and they wanted to honour the family. Most of the passengers had seen the fight on the local broadcaster, they told the students that they were doing the right thing, even if she was a foreigner. She fought very well, and the instructor's son was fortunate to win. There was no shame or dishonour in losing a match like that one. They believe that many students will benefit from watching that fight again. The students felt good that the local people were with them. This was good for the honour of their institute. At the terminal the instructor made the students line up like they did in class, just because they were in public, was no excuse for lack of discipline. The only exception, was his son. He was allowed to stay with his family. The two families hugged and said their goodbyes. Then Andriel, Krillgan, and Chitrah, lined up and bowed to the class. The class bowed back. After they had left to board their shuttle, the instructor approached some of the more senior students in the class, and asked them to hang around the terminal for a few days to see if something unusual happens. They asked the instructor what might happen, he told them that a foreign bounty hunter might show up.

On the spaceport, a Devaronian male walks up to them. It was the gunner/cargo handler from the Wayfarer Medium Transport. Chitrah greets him by shaking his hand. He introduces Andriel to him, but he doesn't shake her hand, instead he hugs her. He tells her that when he heard they had left the sector the last time they were here, he thought he had missed his opportunity to meet her. He was glad to meet Chitrah, but she is special.

Then Chitrah introduces him to Krillgan. He asks Krillgan if it is safe for him to shake his hand, or is he going to throw him. Krillgan said it was safe to shake hands, unless he was bad. If he was bad he would have to throw him. They shook hands.

The Devarinian male leads them to where the transport is waiting, and tells them it is their turn to fly them somewhere. They put their luggage in the crew cabin across from his, and asks if that will be good enough, or will one of them need to bunk with him. Andriel asks Krillgan if he thinks they would be able to share a bunk together, since they are narrower than the ones they had in the passenger cabin. Krillgan thinks they can, and he wants the top bunk. Andriel says okay, but if he pushes her off the bunk, he is in big trouble. Krillgan tells her that if he does, than Papa will catch her.

The gunner tells them that they can use the crew's facilities or the passenger's facilities at the back. Right now for manoeuvring, they need to go sit in the chairs in the passenger section. This freighter was a completely different design from the others Andriel has been on. She could hardly wait to go exploring with Krillgan. The only disappointment was the lack of room for practising.

When the Madalorian bounty hunter departed his ship, at the spaceport over Uvena Prime, he found only one person on their maintenance crew who was willing to talk to him. He did confirm that the family had been there, but if he wanted any more information, he would have to pay for it.

The bounty hunter thought he had enough information. Though the Shistavanens did not like him, if there was an alien trying to hide out on their planet, they were more than willing to turn them over. The sooner he could get them off their planet, the better. He left his rifle on his ship, because he knew they would not let him take it. He took the first shuttle down to the surface, confident, that if they are here, he will have them. If they are not, he should be able to find out where they were hiding, and get some idea as to where they could have gone. He did not care that the Cerean bounty hunter was also on this shuttle, he was still trying to figure out who she was working for. They did not owe any credits to any underworld loan sharks. The Sith had reassured him they were squeaky clean.

When a Shistavanen employee saw the droid repair man, talking to the bounty hunter about that family, he knew he had to do something. He really enjoyed watching that fight between the foreign woman and the instructor's son. Then when he saw them on the spaceport, with her little son wearing that practise outfit with the instructor's institute's emblem on the back, he knew that they were highly respected.

He called maintenance, and told them that one of the maintenance droids in the back sector was malfunctioning. He knew there was no recording equipment back there. When the Shistavaen employee showed up, he was not surprised that other Shistavanens had the same idea, as he did. All the exits were blocked. The droid repairman became nervous when he found that every way out of this area was blocked by a Shistavanen. He told the Shistavanens that he did not really say anything to the bounty hunter. What do they care about these aliens anyway, they are usually very happy to see them leave? The Shistavanens did not say anything they just kept advancing on him. When one became close enough, he just reached out and broke the man's neck. They instructed the droid that was cleaning in the area to spill some liquid at the man's feet, than go to another area to clean. The droid did as it was told. After the droid left, they picked up the body of the man. Placed the bottom of his feet in the liquid, then dragged him a short way to make it looked like he slipped. They laid him down on his back. Two agreed to stay with the body while one went to call medical, about an injured worker. The rest disappeared.

On the planet's surface, the bounty hunter was not getting the response he expected out of the locals. Most of them snarled at him, if he stopped them. They almost behaved like he was asking them about one of their own. At the Ministry, they remembered Chitrah working for them a number of years back, but haven't seen him since. They did tell him that when he did work here he stayed in the single employee's residence, and there is no way that anyone would let them stay there again, especially with a kid. The other thing that was bothering him, was the group of Shistavanens that was following both him, and the other bounty hunter. They wore jackets with the emblem from one of the local martial arts institutes, he was hoping that they weren't spoiling for a fight, because if he killed one of them, before he could get back to the shuttle terminal, the local Planetary Defence would be all over him. With the way the local Moff was helping them, it might be many years before he would be allowed to get out. He doubted that the Moff would let the Sith come to his defence. When he did make it back to the spaceport, he could not find the droid repair guy anywhere. He went to the security office to see if they could help him. He showed them the holographic image he took of that guy, while he was talking to him. Security told him they knew where the guy is. He is in a cooler at the medical clinic. Apparently he slipped in a puddle of something, and fell and broke his neck. He asked if he could go see the body. They told him no. He has already done enough on this spaceport. They would appreciate it if he went straight to his ship and left, and not stop to talk to anyone on the way. They have already had enough unfortunate accidents for today. The Cerean chuckled quietly to herself. She had overheard what the security officers told the Mandalore. His only lead was dead. The only information that he got from him, was that the family was seen on the spaceport. He has hit another dead end.

The students reported back to the instructor. There were two bounty hunters that came down to the planet. But only the one in armour was asking about Andriel and Chitrah. The female bounty hunter was enjoying the fact that none of the Shistavanens would talk to him. This was a curious turn of events. The bounty hunter came, just like Andriel believed that he would. Who was this female bounty hunter, was she a jilted lover that was using this opportunity to mock this man. If so, he would hate to be in his shoes. He must have hurt her really bad if she was doing this to him.

Andriel and Chitrah decided to leave the transport at Dzass IV. It had survived the war unscathed. The people there prided themselves as being a planet of higher learning. Excelling in the area of natural sciences.

There were a number of groups that wanted to study Andriel, and Chitrah, especially since they had managed to produce a viable offspring. Andriel and Chitrah politely turned them all down. They had no interest in being anyone's lab rat. They were able to find a cozy apartment, for reasonable rent. Unfortunately, cozy meant they had no place to practise their self-defence. Andriel's first order of business was to find a place to make some new outfits for Krillgan, he had already outgrown most everything he owned. The only thing that still fit him was his martial arts practise outfit. She had sent Chitrah to see if he could find some place to make Krillgan a new pair of shoes. She came across a nice dress shop. There was nothing outstanding in the outfits they had on display. She entered the shop, and when the lady came out to help her, Andriel told her that she is a seamstress, far from home. She is in the unfortunate circumstance that her son has outgrown his clothes, and she needs to sew him some new outfits. She is willing to pay for the use of her sewing machine, and for any materials she uses. The dressmaker was not busy, and she could use some company. So she let them into her workshop. She put a pot of water on to boil, then came back to watch the red lady (she believes she is called Devaronian) work. Andriel looked over her selection of fabrics. She was surprised that it did not look like she had anything from Luptoom. She first selected what looked like durable fabric, to make some pants and a matching jacket. She was not looking to make him a suit. Tailoring was a skill set she has not yet acquired. She just wanted to make him something he could play in, but looked good doing it. She was hoping to make him three outfits. If she was lucky they might last him another six months. She also selected some material to make his shirts. She always asked Krillgan if he liked the fabrics she selected, she did not want him to feel left out of the process. He would come over and feel the fabric than ask if this was for the pants or the shirt or the jacket. He did not want the pants and jacket to match in the outfits, because he was still too young to go to work.

Andriel smiled, she was happy that he was starting to develop his own sense of humour. She made him stand on the platform and remove his outfit. He ended up standing there in his undergarments, and stockings. The dress maker asked if she could look at the outfits. Andriel handed them to her, then proceeded to take her son's new measurements. The dress maker had never seen work like this before. She asked Andriel, how it was that she had learnt to sew men's style of outfits? Andriel told her that they had sewn some outfits for a troupe of street performers, male and female. The men had brought samples of items that had been sewn for them before. After studying them for a while, she was able to determine the differences between sewing garments for men, and sewing garments for women. The dressmaker then asked her, what was going to become of her sons garments? Andriel told her that normally, garments would be passed along to someone else in the clan, as the need arose. But she had no-one here that she could pass them along to. The dressmaker told her that her sister has a son that is younger than hers. He would probably be ready to grow into them in a few months, if she was willing to pass them along? Andriel told her that this was fine, she could drop off the other outfits tomorrow.

After Andriel finished with all of Krillgan's measurements. She handed him a bag with his blocks in it, so that he could sit down on the platform and play. The dressmaker was surprised to see that Andriel did not first sketch a chalk panel before she started cutting material. It was like she already had a pattern in her mind. She just double checked the critical measurements before cutting. Andriel found the sewing machine to be of a much older design than what she was used to. The only machine that she worked on that was older, was the manual one on Eriadu. So there were a lot of stitch designs that she was used to using, that were not available on this machine. When she looked at what was available, she was satisfied that she could make it work. The dressmaker was mesmerized watching her, this was no simple seamstress. The dressmaker told Andriel that she was doing things with the sewing machine that she has never seen before. Andriel asked her, how long has she owned the dress shop? The dressmaker admitted that she has only owned it for one year. She gave Andriel a brief history of the dress shop. The dress shop has been owned by a succession of woman, who have used it to pay for their education. She suspects that in the transition from old owner to new owner, a lot of dressmaking knowledge has been lost along the way. Before she bought the shop, her only experience with sewing, was repairing her own clothes by hand. She took a gamble and asked Andriel, if it was possible for her to teach her the things she should know, so that she could look after her clients properly. Andriel told her that she did not know how long she would be on Dzass IV, she would need to talk to her husband. The dressmaker was downcast. She told Andriel, that because she thought she is Devaronian, she believed her husband was probably working on a freighter, and that she was here to expand her knowledge of the natural sciences, so that she could get a position working at a medical facility, in patient care. Andriel asked her, if that was why she was on Dzass IV? She confessed that she was. Ever since she was a little girl, she has been interested in health sciences. Wanting to help sick people get better. Andriel asked her, if she knew that dressmaking was part of the health sciences? The dressmaker was curious, and asked her how that was? Andriel told her that dressmaking deals with the mental health of a woman. If she feels comfortable, and knows she looks good, than she has more confidence to tackle the other issues in her life. Whether it is studies, or family, or business, or her job. The dressmaker had never looked at her business like that before. She knew from her own studies, that the seamstress was very accurate in her assessment. She asked Andriel, if that is why she became a seamstress? Andriel admitted that it did have something to do with it. The dress designing also gave her the opportunity to express her creative abilities. The dressmaker readily admitted that the last few owners, herself included, were not very creative. When the dressmaker brought Andriel some hot tea, Krillgan mentioned that he was thirsty. Andriel forgot to pack a container with juice for him. She asked the dressmaker if there was any place nearby. That she could go buy some juice for her son. The dressmaker told her to keep sewing, she could go out and buy some juice. She asked Krillgan what type of juice he likes. He answered all of them. He did not know that they had different names, he was used to drinking what they gave him. So the dressmaker went out and bought a few different types, just to be safe. When she arrived back at the dress shop. Andriel had already finished making the first shirt and pants, and was dressing her son to make sure they fit properly. They fit loosely, Andriel was satisfied that he had room to grow. The dressmaker handed Krillgan one of the containers of juice, and asked him if he liked it. He took a big drink, than told her it was good. She put the rest of the juices in the cooler. She did not know that she had handed Krillgan a family sized container of juice, just for him to drink from. Andriel did not say anything, because she knew Krillgan was generally careful, and had drunk from the larger containers before. When lunchtime came, the dressmaker again volunteered to go get something for them. Andriel asked her if she could take Krillgan along, because he knows some of the things mother likes to eat. Krillgan felt proud that he was asked to select something for his mother. He ended up asking the dressmaker to buy the same thing for his mother, as he wanted for himself. The dressmaker bought three of the meals. Andriel praised Krillgan for making a good choice. The dressmaker thought it wasn't too bad, she probably would have picked something else. Later Andriel told her that it was important for children to feel they have made a good choice, when you ask them to choose something. It gives them more confidence in making choices down the road. The dressmaker realised that she could learn more than sewing from this lady.

Chitrah found a shoe store that let him use their equipment, to make some shoes for his son. He was surprised at how young the owner was. He admitted to Chitrah that he had only purchased it a few months back, to help him pay for the cost of his education. He was feeling a bit overwhelmed, and could use his help in helping him with the work, his customers expected of him. Chitrah told him that he could help him that day, but would have to talk to his wife, before committing further, he was not sure how long he was going to be on Dzass IV.

The Mandalorian realised that his only course of action, was to put up posters in all of the spaceports in the Seswenna Sector. He hoped that the security officers did not follow him around, like they did on Uvena Prime, and tear them down.

When they met for dinner, Andriel and Chitrah discussed their job offers. They were bothered by how similar the stories of their potential employers were. Chitrah said that in an odd way, it made sense. When you look at all the businesses, they all had young owners, and they were only open four days in a seven day cycle. The days they were closed, was different for each business. Which probably meant, that that was the day the owner had courses. It also meant that a lot of people on this planet were hungry for credits. If the bounty hunter ever came here, he would find no shortage of people willing to sell them out. That was a depressing thought.

Chitrah asked Andriel, how long she thought they might be able to stay there. Andriel thought long about that one. She told Chitrah that she only felt comfortable about being there for one month.

"So is it safe to commit to these people for one month?"

Andriel thought it was safe. After that they talked about what they should charge, and were there any common days that both businesses were closed. There was one day in the cycle that they would both be off. Andriel suggested that if the weather was good, they should go away some place, and have a picnic. They both agreed that whoever had a day off from work, would be responsible for looking after Krillgan. That left them with only one day in each cycle that Krillgan would have to go to work with each of them.

Krillgan loved the day that he had both parents looking after him. When one became too tired to play with him, he would go find the other one. He would not let them stop at a place, where he sensed a bad animal nearby. But it was okay if there were nice animals. Everyone loved to watch them, and sometimes they had little ones like him.

One morning Andriel woke up, and told Chitrah that they have to leave right now. They don't have time to say goodbye to anyone. They had a cold breakfast, from the perishable items in the cooler. Packed their bags and left. They were surprised to find Krillgan had already packed his stuff away, and was wearing his martial arts workout clothes. He told them he was ready to protect them from the bad guy. It was only when they arrived at the spaceport. That they called the businesses to tell them they had to leave.

There were a couple of freighters ready to leave, so they approached one, and asked if they could book passage on their freighter. The Twi'lek captain, and human first officer told them no. When they saw the shocked expressions on Andriel and Chitrah faces, they told them that they would not be allowed to show their faces in any cantina or bar, if they took credits from them. Then ushered them aboard their ship.

The Mandalorian bounty hunter did not know that he had just missed the family again. While he was flying down to the planet, they were flying up to the spaceport. The few people he stopped and asked about them, told him that they had seen them recently but could not remember where. They did think that they were a lovely family. His ship interrupted him with a message it just received. Someone on the Dzass IV spaceport had called to say he had just seen the couple he was looking for on the spaceport. He ran to the shuttle terminal, only to find out that the next shuttle to the spaceport would not be leaving for two hours. He spent that time locating where they had lived, and where they had worked. Whenever anyone asked him what they did wrong, he could only tell them that they had a baby. Everyone told him that it was wrong to hunt them just because they had a baby. The Mandalorian was starting to think the same thing. On the spaceport, the bounty hunter found security officers going around, tearing down all his posters. He went to the security office to find out why they were tearing down his posters, and if they could help him find the person that contacted him. They brought out the guy who had contacted him. He had a black eye, and a swollen lip. They asked him if he wanted to talk to the bounty hunter. He shook his head no, and tried to hide behind the security officers. The officers took him back to his cell. They told the bounty hunter that that is why they were tearing down his posters. Guys he has been friends with, ever since he has worked on this station, beat him up because he contacted the bounty hunter. They told him that the couple on the poster are good people, they like to help people, they were disgusted with him, that he would try to make money off of people like that. The bounty hunter asked them if he was charged with anything. They told him no, he asked that he be protected from the bounty hunter, so that we can confirm to his friends that he never talked to him.

"We know you have your job to do. But our job is to keep peace on this station. So we have to ask you to leave."

Andriel and Chitrah could not get a sense of where they should go next. They kept going from freighter to freighter. They probably stopped at every spaceport. They saw posters of themselves everywhere, and just hopped on the next freighter.

The Mandalorian was getting frustrated again. He was getting calls about sightings from every spaceport. But the response was always the same. Security was tearing down his posters, and the one who called him was hiding in the security office. Hiding from him, because his friends beat him up.

Andriel and Chitrah got off at a spaceport they had been to before. Surprised that someone had taken down all the posters. A guy who had been beaten, approached them and apologised to them. He said he was sorry he called the bounty hunter about them. Could they please come and talk to his friends, so that they would stop hurting him. Chitrah asked the man, that if he knew that by calling the bounty hunter that he would come and hurt them? The man said no, it was not true, everyone knew that the bounty hunter could not catch them, because they are special. He just wanted some extra credits to spend on his family. Now he is sorry, and he wants to be friends with everyone again.

Andriel felt sorry for him. She did not like that other people were being hurt because of them. She found out what department he worked for, and asked him to tell the computer that there was going to be a meeting in their cafeteria. They went with the poor man to the cafeteria, to wait with the man, while the rest of the people he worked with showed up. He bought Andriel and Chitrah, tea from the machines, and he bought juice for Krillgan. The other staff members wondered what the meeting was about, and were surprised to see the fugitives waiting for them.

When Andriel was told that everyone was there, she stood up on a chair, holding on to Chitrah to help keep her steady. She told the people that the man was wrong for having called the bounty hunter, but they were also wrong for beating him up in their name. She told them that the man has apologised to them, so now she expects them to apologize to the man they beat up. He just wants to be their friend again. She told them it was hard enough trying to think of how they were going to get away from the bounty hunter. It will be even harder now, knowing that friends were hurting friends because of them. She got down off the chair, so that everyone knew she was finished talking. Everyone went up to the beaten man to apologise, and to thank him for finding the family. They then went up to Andriel and Chitrah, telling them how happy they were to meet them. They had heard so many good stories about them, telling them they hoped they could make a clean break, getting away from the bounty hunter. They all patted Krillgan on the head, because they knew he was the big prize the Sith were hoping for.

Krillgan did not like them patting him on the head, but did not say anything. He just wanted to leave and get back on a freighter.

Word got out to the other spaceports, about the impromptu meeting that Andriel had called, allowing other staff to meet and apologize, and to let their work relationships heal.

Andriel and Chitrah talked about their options. They both agreed they needed to leave the Seswenna Sector, so that there would be peace. They decided that at the next spaceport they came to, they would contact the bounty hunter and tell him they were leaving the sector. Chitrah hooked his computer up to the communicator, he disabled the video, and distorted the audio. When the bounty hunters ship took the call. Andriel simply said, "The family you are looking for has left the Seswenna Sector." She let the spaceport staff know that it was okay for one of them to tell the bounty hunter, when he showed up, that it was her who contacted him, and they were on their way to Daalang. Whoever talks to the bounty hunter must share the reward with everyone else.

The Mandalorian was surprised to receive the message from the ship. When he played it back, he could tell that someone had used some sophisticated equipment to tamper with the audio and video, but did not attempt to hide the address of origin, allowing him to determine where the call originated. When he docked at the spaceport. He found an old maintenance worker, standing near the communicator, sipping tea. He asked the worker if he could answer some questions for him. The worker continued sipping tea, but motioned that it would cost him first. The bounty hunter sighed, and had him enter an account number on his link with his ship. The bounty hunter showed him how much he was willing to pay him. The worker shook his head, signalling he wanted more. The bounty hunter input a higher amount and showed it to him. The man smiled and nodded his head. The bounty hunter hit the enter button, and started asking questions. The worker held up his hand, showing the bounty hunter that he wanted him to wait. Just then the station computer interrupted them, telling the worker that credits have been transferred to his account. The worker put down his hand and smiled.

"Was it Andriel and Chitrah who contacted me?"

"Yup."

"Did they say where they were going?"

"Yup."

"Where are they going?"

"Daalang."

"Do you believe them?"

"Yup."

"Did they say you could talk to me?"

"Yup."

"Did they ask you to split the reward with others on the station?"

The worker smiled, "Yup."

The bounty hunter believed him. He figured that they must have heard what was happening on the spaceports, and left the sector to protect the people. He had to admit he they were a Noble couple. He turned back to the maintenance worker, to ask him one more question, but he was gone. It did not matter, he had the time stamp showing when the call was made. He checked the spaceport records, there were two freighters that indicated Daalang as a destination. They both departed this spaceport shortly after the call was made. They both showed that they were making multiple stops along the way. If he took the hyperspace lane to Eriadu, and from there jumped straight to Daalang, he should arrive there before the freighters, and be in position to capture them when they got off. He contacted the Sith, to let him know he was on his way to Daalang, and was anticipating that he would finally capture his prey.

The freighter captain told Andriel and Chitrah, that he should not be surprised that head office approved the route change they requested. They confirmed that there had been many people injured on the spaceports, they also mentioned that word of their meeting is also spreading, causing impromptu reconciliation meetings. They expect things to return to normal in no time. They also wish them the best, wherever they go.

When the Mandalorian bounty hunter exited his ship at the Daalang spaceport, he was already savouring the moment he captured his prey. He was not anticipating any resistance, they were civilians after all. It did not bother him that the Cerean bounty hunter docked just after him. She has mocked him long enough. It was now time for her to witness his victory. He would show her no mercy, if she tried taking his prey from him. He was surprised that she did not have her famous missile launcher with her. His sources warned him that she could kill a fully armoured Mandalorian with them. He wondered if she had other weapons at her disposal, or did she know something he did not.

He went to the information kiosk, and asked the droid to check when the freighters were expecting to arrive. He had already turned over the registration numbers. The droid said that the one freighter was not scheduled to arrive for another 36 hours, and told him where it would be docking. The second freighter arrived 12 hours ago, loaded its freight, and departed 6 hours ago. There is no indication of when they will be back. The Mandalore was so furious he started jumping up and down shouting, "No! No! No!" Much to the delight of the Cerean. The droid tried pacifying the Mandalorian. When he would not respond the droid asked for security to come to the information kiosk. The Mandalorian calmed himself down, when he heard that security was summoned. He asked the information droid to list all freighters that departed the spaceport, between 12 to 8 hours ago. When security arrived, the bounty hunter told them that he thought he saw a lit death stick on the floor, and was stamping it out. The droid simply misunderstood his actions. Security asked him, where the death stick was now? He told them that he managed to grind it to powder. Security did not believe him, but no property was damaged. The droid was intact. They had no grounds to take him to their office for questioning, especially since he was better armed than they were. The Mandalore noticed that there were three freighters that departed the spaceport, to take the Trax Tube. One was heading to Deysum, one to Randon, and the third to Terr'Skiar. They were all newer models, so their lead would grow in hyperspace. By the time he reaches Deysum their lead may have increased from 8 to 12 hours, to 36 to 48 hours. At least he was still in the hunt. He ran to his ship, as did the Cerean, to hers.

Andriel, Krillgan, and Chitrah, had boarded the freighter going to the Deysum spaceport. Their plan was to make it back to Lianna, as quick as possible, which meant they could not take the freighters that were doing multiple stops. They were told by the freighter captain that brought them to the Dalaag spaceport, that the Mandalore's gunship had a really old hyper-drive system. Probably the second slowest system there was. So the farther they traveled in hyperspace, the greater the time difference between him and them. They had no idea what they should do once they got back to Lianna.

The Mandalore was happy to find out that they had gotten off of the freighter, at the Deysum spaceport. What he was not happy about was that they had managed to get a 50 hr lead on him. Now he had to decide whether they took the freighter that was going to Randon, then Yitabo, than Chalacta, planets they were already familiar with. Or where they taking the freighter that was going to Kashyyyk, then Lantillies. The other possibility was the one that was going Terr'Skiar, Kashyyyk, Uyter, than Lantillies. He decided against Randon, since they could have stayed on the freighter they were on. He suspected that he had his prey on the run. So he did not think that they would take a freighter that was taking multiple stops, when they could take one that was more direct. Kashyyyk it is. He was disappointed that he could not verify that they had been on the Kashyyyk spaceport. But that could mean that they stayed aboard the freighter. He decided to press on to Lantillies. If he could not find anyone who saw them on that spaceport then he would have to backtrack, and check Yitabo, and Chalacta.

The good news was that someone had spotted the purple kid on the Lantillies' spaceport. The bad news was that they were 72 hours ahead of him. The Mandalore expected that they were heading home to Lianna. It was too bad that he never figured out where they lived on that planet. If they went to ground in the Balosar controlled area, it will take a lot of credits to smoke them out. It will be even harder if the Balosar decided that they did not want them found.

On the Lianna spaceport, Andriel and Chitrah figured they had two choices, they could go further into the very heart of the Sith Empire. They both felt that that path lead to death. Or they could take the freighter heading to Mandalore, and maybe work their way into Republic space. They were sure the Togruta on Shili, would welcome them. But would they help them deal with the bounty hunter? They both agreed that going to Mandalore seemed like their only option. They went into the family bathroom to change. Chitrah put on the suit he despised, and did not know why he packed it. Andriel was surprised he still had it. She thought he had left it on Lianna. Andriel put on her most regal looking outfit. They both agreed that they should not enter the restricted area together. They would both need to wear their Ministry id, and hope that no-one noticed that Krillgan was not on hers. Chitrah would go first, once he was past the checkpoint, Andriel would follow. If Chitrah was arrested, than Andriel would try to get to Chalacta with Krillgan, maybe their friends would be able to help them hide there.

The Mandalorian was having trouble finding someone that could confirm they had been on the Lianna spaceport. All the security officers working the checkpoints for the shuttles for the surface swore that they did not get on a shuttle. Finally someone said that they may have seen a purple child enter the restricted area. The Security officers working that checkpoint said that they could not remember, since the security alert was lifted on them a number of months ago, when it was reported that the Mandalorian bounty hunter had them cornered in the Seswenna Sector. It was a good thing the Mandalorian had his helmet on, or the security officers would have seen him turn as red as a Devaronian.

He had them play back the video recording of everyone that entered the restricted area. They found that six days ago, first Chitrah entered the restricted area, followed shortly by Andriel and Krillgan. Unfortunately for the bounty hunter the recording only showed their backs. The cameras were set to capture the faces of everyone coming from the restricted area. He asked the security officers what they were thinking when they saw Chitrah? The security officers told him that they saw a poor technician that did not like wearing a suit. Not like the old blue technician, who was always wearing comfortable clothes and always seemed happy. The Mandalorian shook his head then asked them what they saw when the saw the red female? The one security officer told him that his teenage son was part of a group of teenagers that were spying on a couple of Ambassadors that were having an affair, and had an apartment at the Ambassador Apartments. They had even been invited to have dinner with the Princess, then they had dessert with the Queen. His son showed him the images of them getting into a royal limousine. A few months later his son came across a royal watchers site that had an image of them dancing. When I saw the red lady with the child, I knew I was looking at the Ambassador. The other security officer told the Mandalorian that his buddy's son had also shown him the same images. He too recognised the female Ambassador. The Mandalorian turned away from the officers, before he shot them.

The bounty hunter had hard copies made of their images anyway. They were the most recent image he had of them. He asked which freighter was docked in the restricted area, and where was it heading. He smiled when they told him it was heading to Mandalore. He did not care that they were now six days ahead of him. They were going into his territory. Now they would have to play by his rules. They will find no place to hide there. They can only run. It did not matter where they ran to, he would always be able to find them. Finally things were starting to go his way. He took his time, making sure his ship was properly resupplied. He also decided that Mandalore was the perfect place to get the Cerean off his back.

Once the freighter had left Lianna's spaceport. Chitrah asked Andriel's permission, to change out of his suit, and destroy it. This time Andriel agreed. Chitrah also offered his services to the captain, who was quick to take him up on his offer.

The trip from Lianna to Mandalore, was not a simple hyperspace jump. First you took the Perlemian Trade Route to Columex. From Columex you take the Salin Corridor to Phindar. At Phindar it is just open hyperspace to Mandalore. At Mandalore, Andriel, Krillgan, and Chitrah, were walking into a trap.

In approximately 7000 BBY the Warlord/Chief of the Taung people, Mandalore the First, led his followers from their abandoned world, Roon, to this new world they called Mandalore in his honour. The followers of Mandalore the First were known simply as Mandalorians. They were a semi-nomadic warrior race, whose government was based on a clan system. Being a warrior race, leadership in the clan was not inherited, it was earned. The Mandalore was the leader of all the clans. By the time of the Great Sith War, under the leadership of Mandalore the Indomitable. The Mandalorians started taking control of neighbouring systems. Under Mandalore the Ultimate and his Neo-Crusaders, Mandalorian controlled systems increased exponentially, resulting in the Madalorian Wars. To fuel their expansion, they forced the survivors of the planets they conquered to become Neo-Crusaders or die, sending them to their indoctrination camps. Ironically most of the people they conquered were human. By the time of Mandalore the Ultimate's death, and the end of the Mandalorian Wars. The Madalorians had gone from being predominately Tuang, to being predominately Human. With no known pureblood Tuang in existence. How well you did in Mandalorian society, depended on how good you were as a warrior, or how good the warrior was that you served.

Before leaving Lianna spaceport. The Mandalorian bounty hunter contacted his people on Mandalore. Instructing them to pay off all the freighter captains. So that none of them would take his prey as passengers. He also had them make arrangements with spaceport control, on the planet's surface. So that they would have the Cerean bounty hunter's ship park where he wanted it to. Now the prey would find out how things happen when he was in control.

When their freighter landed on Mandalore. Chitrah found that none of the freighter captains were willing to take him anywhere. The freighter they had just arrived on was going back to Lianna, and the captain told them he would take them back with him at no charge if they wanted to, because of the help they had been to him. Andriel told him they were staying, because something was bound to come up. Their captain went into the cantina where the other freighter captains were waiting, and called them all fools. He told them what Chitrah had done for him, and at no charge. Everything on his ship is running as if it just came from the factory.

The freighter captains were all upset, because they were told by the bounty hunter's people that they were just ordinary passengers. Now they believe the bounty hunter purposely deceived them, so that he would not have to pay them what they were really worth to them.

They went over to the bounty hunter's people and complained that they thought their master was an honourable man. Now they have found out from the captain of the freighter that just brought them. That the passengers are very valuable, to a freighter's captain. If their master is a man of honour, than they will pay them what the passengers are really worth to them. The bounty hunter's people asked the captains what the passengers' real worth, was to them. They told them that it is five times what he has already paid them. This amount surprised the bounty hunters people, they did not know if the bounty he expected to collect would cover what they asked for. The people told them that they did not have the credits to give them what they asked. The captains replied, that this is as they suspected. Working for the Sith, has caused their master to lose his honour. They will no longer accept payoffs from him.

It was not long before everyone working at the spaceport heard that the bounty hunter had lost his honour. The bounty hunter's people knew that the longer this family sat in the spaceport, the greater the chance was that one of the captains would return their payoff money, and take their master's prey as passengers. It was time to change the plan, or they may need to start looking for a new master. They contacted an old freighter captain, it was time to dust off his old ship, and take some passengers for a ride, as he has done for them so many times before.

The captain's freighter was one of the oldest in existence. The plaques were all so worn that no-one knew who made it, or what it was called. It was the slowest ship around. What his mission was, was to fly in open hyperspace past systems where the planets had little or no inhabitants. When the bounty hunter caught up to him in hyperspace, so that he was close enough to communicate. The bounty hunter would tell him to drop out of hyperspace. He would then take them to the nearest planet where they can disembark. He would leave them stranded, and the bounty hunter would land and easily snatch them up. The bounty hunter usually paid him 10% of the bounty, on top of what he collected as the passengers' fee. The trick was to not get too close to any hyperspace lanes, because of the chance of encountering pirates. He doubted he could fight them off, with just one laser turret.

He approached the prey and told them he heard that they were looking to book passage on a freighter. He had an old freighter, where was it they would like to go. Chitrah told him that they would like to eventually end up at Shili. The captain asked, if anyone there was expecting them? Before Chitrah could answer, Andriel told him that they had recently been to a Togruta wedding, and the families of the grooms had invited them to visit them on Shili. They had contacted them before they left that they were on their way. This would not be good news for the bounty hunter. If Togruta were involved, this could get messy for the bounty hunter down the road. The captain agreed to take them to the edge of Mandalore space. Then they would have to find passage for the rest of the way on their own. Then he quoted them a price. It was double what they paid to travel from Lianna to Mandalore. Andriel told him that she could only pay him half that amount right now, since she was having trouble accessing her account at this spaceport. The captain actually believed her and accepted the down payment, since he also had trouble accessing his account at this banking kiosk. To the captain it also meant that they had limited funds on them. The captain would have liked to be the one to check the woman for credits, once the bounty hunter captured her.

Chitrah whispered to Andriel, that he did not trust this guy. Krillgan told his parents that he is a bad man. Andriel told them that she believes as they do, but she also believes that in spite of himself, he will take them to where they need to go. This reassured them, and they picked up their luggage, and followed the captain to his ship.

Chitrah could not believe how long it took them to reach the point where they could jump to hyperspace. It took them three times longer to leave the system then it did when they entered it and landed on Mandalore. He did not know if the captain did this on purpose, or was this ship really is that slow. If they were ever stopped by pirates, they would be almost dead in the water. Instead of offering to help the captain with his electronics, Chitrah decided to familiarize himself with the ship's gun turret. He did not think this captain would try very hard to protect his family. Chitrah was able to find a description of it on line, and a simulation program. He found out that being just twin lasers, and not laser cannons, he would need to hit a starfighter multiple times before he could eliminate it. In the simulation he hit a starfighter, twenty times before it blew up, and the starfighters in the program were probably just as old as this ship was. When they finally did jump to hyperspace, the captain pointed his ship coreward, through the least inhabited portion of the slice, after first dropping a directional beacon for the bounty hunter, before making the jump. What the captain did not know was that his instruments were off, and they were traveling a different vector than he expected, or was indicated on the beacon.

When the Manalorian bounty hunter finally landed on Mandalore. He expected that his prey would be there waiting for him. His people told him why they had to change his plan. He was not very happy, with the lead they had on him, it could take between one to two months, for him just to catch up to the old freighter. Even though his ship was faster in hyperspace, it wasn't that much faster. He would have to make sure his ship was fully stocked before leaving to hunt the freighter down. He told his people what he expected them to do with the Cerean's ship, who landed just after he did. He warned them not to try actually entering her ship. Because Cerean's were notorious for booby-trapping their ships, with everything from toxic gases, to shaped-charge explosives. All designed to kill the person, or persons, that were trying to enter the ship, yet leave the ship unharmed. He wanted them to sabotage her ship, and because their hanger was next to where her ship was parked. He expected that she would come to them to order replacement parts. They could take the credits they get for their inflated prices, to distribute bonuses to the freighter captains, to try and reclaim their good will. One of his people asked him, what if she decides to go to someone else, what should they do then? He told them that they needed to find out who was helping her, and let them know that they expect a good portion of their profits.

What the Mandalorian bounty hunter did not know, was that the Cerean bounty hunter had recorded his reactions every time he realised he had lost his prey. Before leaving the ship, she edited what she had, fully intending to download it onto the local net. This is his territory, and these are his people. To get their cooperation, just to resupply her ship, she will need to let the locals see what sort of noble Mandalorian he really is. So that they would stop supporting him, and give her a chance.

The Mandalorian's people wondered, what was taking the Cerean so long to leave her ship? Were the preparations for her booby-traps that complicated. When they finally saw her enter the cantina, they knew this was their chance. At the cantina the Cerean bounty hunter, saw two men leave the hanger next to were her ship was parked, and cautiously approach her ship. At the time she did not think anything of it. Ship enthusiasts would often approach her ship, to see if they could determine what modifications she did to her ship. She went to the cantina's communicator, and accessed their local net. She downloaded her vid, and titled it, "The hard working Mandalorian." She spoke to a freighter captain nearby, and asked him if he wanted to see something interesting. He was bored since he had to wait until the Mandalorian bounty hunter left, before he could try to line up new contracts for hauling freight. When he saw what she was looking at, he told the other captains that they had to see this. He then departed the cantina, he had no intention of waiting any longer, to arrange new contracts. He felt that he had no obligation, to do what his people asked, now that he has seen for himself how he has disgraced and dishonoured his own people, while on the hunt in the Sith Empire. The Cerean did embellish his temper tantrum on the Daalang spaceport, by making it three times as long as it really was, but that was just for affect. What he did, and what he said where real. It did not take long for all the other freighter captains to follow him out the door. Everyone else in the cantina were curious to see what the freighter captains had seen. They also piled out the door to go get their buddies from where they worked, to come back to the cantina, to see what they saw for themselves. At first the owner of the cantina was upset with the Cerean, for emptying his establishment. She assured him that most of them will be back, and they will bring others with them.

The Mandalorian bounty hunter took off at this time, unaware of the damage his reputation was taking.

While it was quiet, the cantina owner had a look for himself at what the Cerean had downloaded. After that he busied himself, for the rush that he too expected. He did not know if the freighter captains would be back. So he cleaned off their tables and rinsed their glasses, he did not think he would have time to clean them properly. He left everything else as it was, because he was sure those clients would be back. It wasn't long before there was a line up at the communicator. After seeing the vid, they would order a drink, then go sit down with the person who had got them to come over. The Cerean told the owner of the cantina that she needed supplies. Did he know where she could get some? The cantina owner asked if he could see her list. She handed it to him. After looking at it, he told her that he could arrange it all for her. He expected the different people that could sell her these supplies to be in shortly. He quoted her a price, to arrange everything for her, and found out where her ship was, so that they could direct the porter droids. She paid him what he asked, it seemed a reasonable price to her, and went back to her ship, so that she could start putting stuff away as soon as it arrived.

When she got back to her ship, she found a small inspection hatch had been pried open. When she looked inside, she found damaged components. There was no rhyme or reason to what was done, except to do as much damage, in as short a time as possible. She now realised that the two men who had come out of the hanger next to her, must be the Mandalorian's men, and she suspected that this was his hanger.

She was furious, now it was personal. She would destroy him the next time she sees him. First she has to ready her ship to receive her supplies, then she could determine the extent of the damage.

When the Mandalorian Bounty hunter made it to the beacon, he downloaded the vector from the beacon's transmission into his hyper-drive, not knowing it was not the true vector.

After the Cerean assessed the damage, she snuck into the hanger, to see what she could find. Sure enough, it was the Mandalorian's hanger, and he was using the derelict ships inside as his spare parts supply. She decided that she would do the same. From the ships she was able to find the components she would need to repair her ship. It would mean rebuilding some components completely, from what she found. But it would be faster, and definitely cheaper, than getting someone to order them in. Plus she had all the tools she needed right hear. She would have to sit on the tarmac, and use it as her workbench, since she did not want to leave her ship again.

The Mandalorian's men saw her sitting on the tarmac doing her repairs, they wondered who might be helping her, since bounty hunters do not normally carry that much equipment with them. They got the rest of their people to start inquiring at the neighboring businesses. That's when the Mandalorian bounty hunter's people found out about the vid. When many of them saw it, they decided it was time to jump ship. The man they had been supporting was not the man they thought he was.

No-one could find out who was helping the Cerean, and it took a few days for the two guys who had sabotaged her ship, to notice that their group was getting smaller. They asked the people who were still there, what was going on. They gave them an address of a vid on the local net they should see. They walked over to the cantina to use their communicator to access the vid. They both turned white. This was not good for them. The owner of the cantina did not even acknowledge them. They quickly returned back to the hanger, to talk with the people who were still there, about what they should do. All of the people who were still there, were there because they were afraid of the bounty hunter. They feared that the bounty hunter, would hunt them down, and kill them for abandoning him. So they decided to stay.

It was two cycles in his jump into hyperspace that the Mandalorian bounty hunter realised that he was flying in virgin hyperspace. The old freighter must have drifted off of their vector. Now he had to slow down, and try to manoeuvre in hyperspace, to try and find their trail. It was either that, our backtracking until he came across their drifted vector. That could take him all the way back to the Mandalore system. Putting him another month behind.

Andriel and Chitrah were surprised to find that there were no cameras anywhere. Not in the computer consul in their cabins. Not in the common room, and not in the empty freight bay. The captain had no idea where on his ship they were. They decided to take up their self-defence training, but they felt that they had to leave Krillgan at the door in case the captain came along and tried to lock them in. Then Andriel would watch the door while Krillgan went through the martial arts training that he had learnt, under Chitrah's watchful eye. Then Krillgan, and Chitrah would do the modified exercises together, since Krillgan was not running around. Andriel would spend the balance of her day going over the drawings she had made on Luptoom, and designing outfits based on her drawings. Chitrah would play Hutt Wars with Krillgan on his computer, when Krillgan was not playing with his blocks, in mother's cabin.

Surprisingly, it only took a few days for the Mandalorian bounty hunter to find the right vector. He would have found it sooner, if he had guessed right which direction they drifted. He did not even try to guess how much of a delay this cost him.

The owner of the cantina came out twice a day, to bring a hot meal to the Cerean, so that she would not have to start using up her supplies. He did not care that the bounty hunter's people were watching him from there hanger.

It was strange how they all looked like frighten little children. He had asked her, what she was going to do, the next time she saw the bounty hunter? She did not hesitate to say that she would kill him. He had asked if she was planning to collect the bounty on the family he was chasing? He was surprised when she said she was not interested in their bounty. She just wanted to make sure they were all right. He asked her, why she was chasing the bounty hunter, if she was not interested in taking his prey? She just told him that she was only doing what she was paid to do. He guessed from her comment that she had an unusual contract. He told the Cerean, that the freighter captains had said that they were very valuable passengers because the blue man could adjust and repair their equipment, and he usually did not charge for it. She told the cantina owner that she believes that is true, since so many freighters in the Sith Empire did what they could to help them. Which was one of the reasons the Mandalorian was always frustrated. She had also heard that the blue man was being called the "Blue Ghost" since he seemed to go through a computer undetected. Even Imperial counter-Intelligence, wanted to find out how he could access their computers undetected.

He asked her what else she knew about them. She told him that apparently they helped a lot of people in their previous travels, because when they were traveling through the Seswenna sector. The bounty hunter would get contacted by someone working at a spaceport that they had seen the family. When he would show up to question them, he would find them in the security office hiding from him. They did not want to speak with him, because their own friends had beaten them up for contacting him. For trying to make money off of good people. This happened at almost every spaceport. This is why the family fled Sith Space. They did not like that friends were hurting friends to protect them. The cantina owner agreed that that was most unusual, they must be quite a special family. The other thing the cantina owner liked, from learning all this stuff from the Cerean, was that he had more gossip to pass along to his customers. More people were coming in, curious about this family that the bounty hunter was chasing for the Sith. He tried not to give out too much information each night. That kept them coming back to want to hear more. That is also why he did not charge the Cerean any credits for the meals he took out for her. Her knowledge about this family was far too valuable.

After working on the repairs for close to three cycles. She finally had everything to where she could test it. She fired up the heavy starfighter, and found everything in working order. She turned the fighter so that the nose was pointing at the opening of the Mandalorian's hanger doors, and waited. When she saw the two men that had sabotaged her ship, she opened fire on them. With the first burst she cut them cleanly in half. She then strafed the hanger back and forth with her four heavy laser cannons. Her laser cannons were just as powerful as turbo-laser cannons. With the first pass the hanger doors flew off. She also saw a number of people leaving the building like a bunch of rats. With her next strafing pass, the ships inside the hanger caught fire. With her next strafing pass the entire hanger was engulfed in flames.

It was time to leave, before the authorities showed up. She dumped all the solid waste that had accumulated, while she was working on her ship. Normally she dumps her solid waste just before she enters a planet's atmosphere, so that it can burn up into dust, as it follows her ship in. But she has been using her ship as her bedroom and bathroom, while she has been sitting here doing her repairs, and she did not want to haul it with her.

She was not worried that the authorities would try to pursue her once she was airborne. This is Mandalore, they would recognise it for what it was, a dispute between bounty hunters. If they had caught her on the surface, they would have held her for arena justice. Because she is not a Mandalorian, they would not have allowed her to take any of her weapons with her into the arena. Instead they would let her choose from a rack of weapons of questionable quality, half of which probably would not work. She would have to face the bounty hunter, so that he could meet out justice. He would be allowed to take whatever weapons he wanted to, into the arena, and they would fight until she was dead. Not her type of justice. Now that she has taken off, it is solely up to the Mandalorian bounty hunter to track her down, and execute justice.

She could return to Mandalore anytime she wanted to, and they would not touch her. They would assume, that either the Mandalorian bounty hunter is a coward, and they would want nothing to do with him, or he is dead, which means he was not much of a Mandalorian.

One day on the freighter, Andriel was explaining to Chitrah and Krillgan, what she was feeling about their situation. She felt that they were at a crossroad. Either they were going to die, or the bounty hunter chasing them must die. She did not know how this would happen, but for them to live the bounty hunter must die. She believes the dream that the Iktotchi first officer shared with her and Chitrah, where she saw them playing with many children, some of which were hers. She also believes that Krillgan has stuff in his life he must do, because she called him a healer. Chitrah told her that he hopes she has faith enough for all of them, since he could not see any way out of this situation. Krillgan said that he believes mommy, because she is always right. The old captain had walked by and heard Andriel say, that for them to live, the bounty hunter must die. He thought, fat chance of that happening. The only weapon they have is that blaster pistol his great nephew sold to the guy, when his wife and son went to buy food. His great nephew assured him that the pistol was as good as dead. It might have one shot in it. Two if he is very lucky, before it burns itself out. Two shots from a blaster pistol, is not going to do much against Neo-Crusader armour. It saved his life more than once during the Mandalorian Wars.

When the Cerean bounty hunter reached the beacon. She also input the vector into her hyper-drive. She hoped that she could catch up to the Mandalorian, before he catches up to the family. If he does capture them, than she would have to attack his gunship. It is a good thing she has missiles in the wing tips of her heavy fighter that no-one knows about. She figures that she would only have to take out the gun turrets on only half of his ship, before she could take out his hyper-drive, which would force him to land on a planet to do repairs. Her ship is slightly more manoeuvrable then his. It should be enough that he could not manoeuvre his now-crippled side to attack her. She just hopes that she does not hurt anyone in the family during the space fight.

A short distance into her jump into hyperspace, she noticed that the two ships ahead of her, started to diverge. She guessed that the ship that stayed on the vector given, was the Mandalorian's because it was newer and better maintained. She believed that the older freighter had drifted from its pre-set vector, and followed it.

The old captain was wondering what was taking the Mandalorian so long. They were coming up onto the end of the second month since leaving Mandalore, and he was not sure where they were. He did not know that they had crossed two major hyper-lanes, and were not kicked out of hyperspace by the normally busy traffic. He felt that he could only go for another half month, before he would be forced to drop out of hyperspace to find out where they were, and to go to the nearest habitable planet, so that they could resupply the ship. Unfortunately, it would give the family a chance to jump ship, and escape the bounty hunter one more time.

The Cerean was quite upset when she was knocked out of hyperspace, by a freighter. She got on the communicator right away, and demanded to know, why they knocked her out of hyperspace? They called back that they thought she was a pirate, who had knocked them out of hyperspace. She asked them, if they had been traveling in a hyperspace-lane? When they answered yes, she asked them which one? The confused freighter captain told her the Perlemian Trail. She suggested that they put distance between them so that they did not interfere with each other when they are ready to jump back into hyperspace. They agreed, but kept a wary eye on her in case this was a rouse. She had no trouble picking up the trail again.

A couple cycles later she was again knocked out of hyperspace by a freighter. This time she came right out and asked the captain of the freighter what hyper-lane he was traveling in? The captain asked if that meant that she was not a pirate, and would not shoot at them? The angry Cerean told the captain that she would start shooting if he did not answer her question. The captain quickly told her that they were traveling on the Trellen Trail. The bounty hunter told them to keep moving, they have delayed her long enough.

When the old freighter was knocked out of hyperspace the old captain wondered why the bounty hunter had not notified him first. Then he saw the four starfighters approaching. There were two MK-VI Imperial Interceptors, and two Republic Liberator-class Starfighters. Normally when you see these starfighters together, it is because you have just stumbled upon a space battle. Only they weren't fighting each other, they were rapidly closing on the freighter. The only thing that seemed unusual was that they had no support vessel nearby.

Chitrah yelled for the old captain to stay on the bridge, he was taking the gun turret. The only advantage Chitrah knew he had, from playing the simulator, was that he could engage them from further away than most guns. So he opened up on them, just as they were coming in range. He was able to make a few direct hits on the lead starfighter, and switched to the next one when it veered away. The other starfighters broke off the attack when Chitrah was able to make a number of direct hits, on the next starfighter. The captain spoke to Chitrah over the intercom. He told him, that he thinks he confused them. They might think that it might not be worth taking damage for such a puny prize. They have just come out of hyperspace in the Pyrshak System. Their best chance was to try and make it to the planet Manaan. The starfighters were flying around out of range, like they were trying to decide what to do. He was sure they were confident that this freighter could not outrun them. Suddenly the fighters formed up into an attack formation. He knew they were now serious, and he was pretty sure he knew what they were going to attack. The gun turret.

As they approached Chitrah opened fire. He expected that their strategy would be to take a few hits, than veer off, until the gunner starts engaging the next starfighter, then resume the attack. Just as the starfighters came within range so that they could return fire. Another ship pops out of hyperspace. It's the Mandalorian Bounty Hunter's Pelagia Duplex Command Assault Gunship.

The starfighters break off their attack on the freighter, and regroup to attack the gunship. They probably know that they cannot outrun this ship, their only hope of surviving this battle, is if they can take out the gunship's in-system drive. The two Liberators circle around one way, while the two MK- VI Interceptors circle around the other way. This was the first time Chitrah was hoping that the pirates would win. He was surprised when the gunship opened fire from turrets on both sides of the ship. He did not think that the bounty hunter could target and shoot accurately, from both sides of his ship, at different targets at the same time. He was pretty sure the bounty hunter was doing this so that the starfighters would not suspect that he was alone.

After the first assault, the bounty hunter was able to keep all the starfighters on one side of his ship. Then he was able to concentrate all his firepower from the one side, on one starfighter at a time until it was destroyed. Chitrah was disappointed that the starfighters did not do more damage to the bounty hunter's gunship than they did. The old captain came on the intercom and told Chitrah that he has just surrendered to the captain of the gunship. They were being given permission, to land on Manaan.

Chitrah replied that the captain may have surrendered, but he hasn't. If he comes in range, he is going to let him have it. The Mandalorian approached the freighter, like he was going to escort it to the planet. He was surprised when the gun turret started firing at his ship, at the cockpit he was in. He had to veer off suddenly, when a lucky shot caused one of the panes of glass to start cracking. He swore at the captain, telling him that he thought he said they surrendered. The captain said he surrender, but the guy in the gun turret didn't. He ordered the captain to go seize control of the gun turret. He said he can't. There is a red lady blocking him from leaving the bridge. The Mandalorian told him to cut off the power to the gun turret. The old captain said that he could not, since it was directly connected to the ship's power supply. He would have to shut down all power to the ship. The Mandalorian bounty hunter had to back away, and seal the cockpit, in case the glass broke completely. He had to go to the cockpit on the other side of the ship, and take control of the ship from there. He was uncomfortable, since he was used to controlling the ship from the one cockpit. Normally he would have just taken out the gun turret. But he needs that man alive, if he expects to collect the bounty. He really needs the bounty, because his expenses on this hunt were much higher than he anticipated. But he would get his revenge. Once he captures his prey, and he secures the blue man and his son in the holding cell. He will take the man's wife into one of the empty cabins, and do whatever he wants with her. The Sith said he did not care what happened to her, as long as he did not let her go free. Maybe if she pleases him, after he collects the bounty, the Sith might be persuaded to let him keep her as a slave. He was sure that the guys who help him would also want to play with her.

The old captain, since he was not allowed to leave the bridge, decided to spend his time, telling the passengers about the planet they are going to.

Manaan is an aquatic world, home to the amphibious Selkath. It is the only place in the galaxy, where you can find the oldest known healing drug, Kolto. Because of Kolto, Manaan, was at one time, one of the wealthiest planets in the galaxy. It was the only planet that was able to maintain a position of neutrality, in every Galactic War, except the last one. As there are no large tracks of land above its waters surface, it built floating cities for the alien species that would visit this planet. Warring factions would establish embassies here to try to curry favour of the Selkath, hoping that would translate into more Kolto, at lower prices. They say that most of the Kolto, comes from a place called the Hrakert Rift. The Kolto has a natural guardian they call the Progenitor. This Progenitor is believed to be an enormous firaxan shark. The Selkath people themselves claim that they are descendants of the Progenitor, as are their cousins, all the firaxan sharks on Manaan. There may be some truth to that, since they are the only creatures that can swim freely with firaxan sharks in the water, and not be afraid of being attacked. This all came to an end when another healing drug was discovered called, Bacta. With their monopoly gone the economy on Manaan, started showing signs of collapse, then the Great Galactic War came. Both the Republic and the Sith tried negotiating secret deals with the Selkath. The Sith were exposed for trying to overthrow the government, and were banned from the planet. Since you cannot put Bacta into your standard issue field medical kit, only Kolto. The Sith Empire were afraid that the Republic might now have an unfair advantage. They returned with many of their Star Fleets, and bombarded the planet. They flattened all of the floating cities, and sank many of the rafts that supported them. Most of the Selkath managed to survive the bombardment by diving into the water and swimming to giant underground caverns, deep under the surface of their oceans. The alien species that inhabited the floating cities, were not as fortunate. No survivors were ever found. Many firaxan sharks were also killed because of the concussive nature of the bombardments, not being able to get out of the water like the Selkath could. They could only swim deep into the bottom of the rifts, to keep from being killed. They say there was a feeding frenzy in the water after the bombardment ceased, that lasted a month, because of all the dead bodies in the water. There is no confirmation that the Selkath themselves participated in this feeding frenzy, and it is definitely something an outsider cannot talk to them about. Right now they are trying to rebuild their floating cities. They all look like shacks on rafts.

When he stopped his narrative, Andriel asked him, if he could describe the Selkath people themselves? He told her that the Selkath resembled anthropomorphic rays. They stand on average 1.5 meters in height. Their skin appears blotchy having either a blue, pink, or green base. The blotchy appearance acts as camouflage, when they are in water. The pink being very advantages when swimming amongst the coral reefs, and in the shallow seas. Their mouths are bracketed by cephalic lobes, which they tend to stroke when conversing. The female Selkath differ from the male, in that they have tendrils that grow from the back of their heads. All Selkath have retractable, venom-tipped claws. It is considered dishonourable to use these claws when engaged in any form of combat with another Selkath. To do so indicates that you are giving in to basic animal instincts, and is considered a sign of madness.

Because they believe they descended from the Progenitor, they actually worship her as their deity. Andriel than asked him about the Kolto, since she remember that it was first injected into her hand, after Chitrah broke her hand to save her life. Then it was applied to the surface of her hand to help accelerate her healing. He told her that it is an oily substance that is harvested from the ocean rifts. No-one knows what actually produces it, since the Progenitor keeps every one away, except the Selkath that she has given permission to, for harvesting it.

Andriel placed herself in charge of distributing meals to Chitrah and the captain, so that they would not have to leave their posts. She would relieve Chitrah at the gun turret, when he had to go use the bathroom. Krillgan sat on the floor, in the hallway running from the bridge to the common room, playing with his blocks. If the captain tried going beyond his cabin, Krillgan would yell, "Mama", then stand in his ready stance, ready to deal with the old captain if he tried going any further. The old captain would usually duck into his cabin, as soon as Krillgan yelled.

The Mandalorian bounty hunter, let the old freighter land first. He was afraid that the prey would force the old captain to leave the system if he went down first. He was not a military pilot, so he did not know how to descend to the planet's surface in formation. Once he saw that they were safely through the first layer of atmosphere, he followed them down.

Andriel, Krillgan, and Chitrah, were all standing at the freighter's door with their luggage, while it was still descending. As soon as they felt the freighter settle on the surface, they were out the door, off and running. The Selkath, had cleaned the rubble off of one raft so that freighters could land and unload their freight. There was a path through the rubble leading away from the landing area that they followed. When the path forked, they choose to go down the left fork. Which brought them to the edge of the raft. They followed the edge to the corner of the raft. When they looked over the edge, the water looked like it might be more than seven meters down to the surface. They followed the new edge until they came behind a pile of rubble, and some empty packing crates. They decided that this is where they would make their last stand. Chitrah pulled a blaster pistol out of his jacket. Both Andriel, and Krillgan's eyes opened wide.

"Where did you get that?"

"I bought it on Mandalore, when some kid approached me. When you took Krillgan, to go and buy us dinner."

"Does it work?"

"I don't know. I was afraid to take it out and check it on the freighter, in case I accidentally shot someone, like our son."

They just stood there, waiting for the bounty hunter to show up, not knowing what else they can do.

It was easy for the bounty hunter to follow their trail in the dust from the rubble. When he saw a flutter of fabric appear from behind a pile of rubble up ahead, he stopped. He was sure that it was from Andriel's outfit. If she was there, than so was the rest of the family.

The bounty hunter shouted out, "Alright! It's time to surrender!" Now there was a large shack nearby that was used by the freighter crews as a cantina. (The right fork). Just at that moment two smugglers had come out of the cantina. When they heard the bounty hunter yell, they thought he was there to collect a bounty on them. So they opened fire on the bounty hunter and split up behind cover. The surprised bounty hunter was glad he had his armour on. He ducked behind cover and returned fire, knowing he wasn't invincible. Chitrah took that opportunity to try his pistol. When he fired he saw a puff of smoke come up from his pistol. He was pretty sure it was dead, he was also sure he had missed. His shot hit the rubble right in front of the bounty hunter.

Believing he was in a three-way crossfire, the bounty hunter fired a flechette missile towards the family, hoping it would keep their heads down. Not knowing that Chitrah had already thrown the useless pistol off of the raft.

When the missile exploded, somehow Krillgan was hit with at least four razor sharp flechttes. He jumped backward in pain, but there was nothing there for him to jump back to. When he realised he was falling, he screamed out "Help" in panic, but not with his voice. Andriel, and Chitrah both heard him, and Chitrah did not hesitate to jump down after his son.

All the Selkath on the planet heard him, and so did some other creatures. When Chitrah was able to get back to the surface of the water. He felt Krillgan put his arms around his neck. Not as a drowning victim, but as a child, confident that his father would protect him. If he had thought he was drowning, than even as a child, he would have been able to strangle his own father to death.

Chitrah remembered something rather important, and called up to Andriel who was watching them from the surface of the raft.

"Mother, I don't know how to swim!"

"Just kick those powerful legs of yours, and keep our sons head above water."

"What about my head?"

"Just make sure that you come up to breath from time to time."

This was one time Chitrah was very thankful for his Chagrian legacy. His legs are powerful, and he found he wasn't having too much difficulty keeping their heads out of water. The bounty hunter was able to determine that he had two opponents. He was hesitant about using his missiles, because there were a number of people who had stuck their heads out of the big shack's door, then quickly withdrew them, when they saw that there was a battle going on, just outside the door. If he starts killing locals. Then they might decide to swarm him, and he knew about their venom tipped claws. For right now, it was a stalemate, until he could figure out what to do. The one thing that was bothering the bounty hunter, is why perfect strangers, were always willing to risk their lives for this family, wherever he goes.

Suddenly Chitrah yells out, "Mother, there is something big in the water, and it is coming this way."

Andriel hears the locals start chattering. It does not sound like they are alarmed, more like they are surprised and excited. Andriel suggests that Chitrah not move. Chitrah reminds her that if he stops moving, they will both sink and drown. The only thing Andriel could think to say, was that he should make sure that he doesn't get eaten, because she would be very upset with him if he did. Chitrah told her that he would be upset too. Then he told her that he loves her.

Krillgan who is not at all bothered by this huge creature approaching them, yells out, "I love you too, mommy." Then he waved.

The bounty hunter knows nothing about what is happening in the water, or he might have panicked that he was about to lose his bounty. He also did not notice that a couple of locals had snuck up close to him, and were waiting for something to happen. Andriel cannot believe the size of the creature in the water. To her it looked like it was the size of a large freighter. She also noticed that it was not heading directly for Chitrah, and Krillgan, but was going to hit the corner of the raft. She braced for impact. If she had not, the force of the impact would have sent her tumbling toward the surface of the water, right on top of her husband and son.

When the creature struck, the two Selkath, which had braced themselves for impact. Suddenly jumped towards the bounty hunter, who had lost his balance. The bounty hunter was twisting around, because he was stumbling backwards, so did not see the two Selkath. The two men grabbed the bounty hunter and threw him overboard.

The bounty hunter twisted back around in the air. He was looking for a place to fire his grappling hook. He was also swinging his rifle around to shoot at the two assailants. Suddenly he feels a searing hot pain in his midsection, which causes him to let go of his rifle, as it flies off into the arms of one of his assailants. He looks down to see what has caused this pain. The lower half of his body is missing. This gigantic shark that he sees below him, has just risen up and bitten him in half, as if he wasn't wearing any armour, and now the blood is gushing out of his body. He passes out, before he sees that shark, coming back up, for the rest of him.

The two smugglers when they got back to their feet, saw the bounty hunter being thrown overboard, by two locals. They decided to not stick around, in case the locals decided they were next. Chitrah hears Krillgan say, "Bad man, no more."

The huge shark slowly swims by. Chitrah does not like its cold eye looking at him. Nor does he hear it communicating with his son, using the force.

"Look after yourself little one."

"Someday. I help you." Then Krillgan waves goodbye.

When the shark swims away, some Selkath dive into the water, to help the two people there. Others toss down ropes to help haul them up. The last Selkath is hauled up out of the water, just as the firaxan sharks approach, attracted by the smell of blood in the water.

Krillgan was the first to be hauled out of the water. When they removed the ropes from him, he rushes into his mother's waiting arms. She picks up her soaking wet son, hugging him to herself, and smothering his face with kisses. When Chitrah is hauled up, he can't wait to get out of the ropes, to go join his wife and son. He goes up and embraces both of them. Andriel hugs and kisses him, than she starts crying on his shoulder. The bounty hunter is dead, and now they are free.