Out of the Unknown

by axellon2008

Naruto discovers a crashed starship outside his village and his life is forever changed. Under the unorthodox tutelage of a Sith Lord's spirit, he will learn the technology and history of a larger galaxy that he, and no one else from his planet, ever knew existed.

27. Chapter 27

AN: I don't own Naruto, or Star Wars

x-x

36.3 BBY – Current Year

Chapter XXVII: Home

x-x

About a mile outside of Mos Espa, Plagueis stood on top of a tall weathered rock as he viewed through electrobinoculars what was going on in the city. He watched a smaller ship take off but couldn't tell who was aboard and it wasn't until a large Minstrel-class space yacht started taking off that he was able to determine what was going on with the other members of the group. He could see that a loading lift was still un-retracted and could make out two Rutian Twi'lek's who were quickly joined by an orange-haired teen that he recognized. Juugo appeared to be carrying an injured Naruto, judging by the bandages which covered his entire right arm.

'Far in over his head. His simple plan to collect on his own bounty has definitely backfired.' Plagueis surmised though did feel slight worry as there was no way for him to know what his student's condition was. Naruto wasn't moving at all in Juugo's arms, or at least no movement that he could notice through the lenses. 'Has he stolen the ship from Jabba or killed Jabba and stolen the ship?' He wondered but his attention shifted as he saw a bigger immediate problem.

Watching a blaster fight ensue as the three were being shot at, he panned down to find a Mandalorian chasing up after them. Tensing as he thought about taking the Vulture there, the Sith Lord did nothing as he watched the entire ship executed a significant rotation. Zooming out slightly and keeping the lift in the center of his focus, he saw Juugo hanging on while everything slid off. His possessed body smirked slightly as the Mandalorian was hit by what appeared to be Jabba's corpse and continued to watch the man fail to gain footing on the ship as it moved into the upper atmosphere.

'Naruto must have really done something to him to warrant such excessive.' He noted about the silver and blue armored man. Lowering the binoculars, he caught sight of a skiff heading towards the Vulture and zoomed in on the three passengers, 'And a significant mound of weaponry.' The observation made him frown as that did not seem part of the plan. Money would have been preferable but perhaps they could still gain something. If all the noise he heard while making it back to the ship was any indication, Naruto and his group had done significant damage to Jabba's complex. 'Possibly they've taken out a good portion of the guards and that body was definitely Jabba. I didn't think he'd actually kill Jabba but once people find out he's dead, the vultures will start circling; if they haven't already started to land on what's left of his complex.' Plagueis surmised and thought perhaps they should take the skiff back into town to clean up the mess his student had left.

'Jabba likely keeps something worthwhile aboard that ship but he may have vaults or valuable items somewhere in that complex and I have the Demon Brothers as well as Karin.' He realized and decided to make the trip to Tatooine as profitable as possible. Despite Naruto's inability to negotiate something simple, he had nonetheless done something impressive. Jabba had been alive for nearly six hundred years and dozens, if not hundreds, of attempts had been made on the Hutt. Some sent assassins, tried to poison him, and arranged for accidents to happen all in order to kill said Hutt. He'd personally known at least a dozen powerful individuals, former business rivals or partners, that all had tried but failed to have Jabba killed. The threats even came from those that worked from Jabba. Most didn't try as they felt Jabba was simply untouchable in his Tatooine Palace.

'We'll need to move fast in order to make this count. I know Gardulla Besadii the Elder still lives at her townhouse just across town from Jabba and she's been trying to get rid of him and take over Tatooine for years. Hopefully Mos Espa Police will stay out of Hutt affairs. I'll let them quickly dump everything from the skiff while I check in with Naruto or whoever can answer before we head out.' Plagueis concluded before jumping down from his position and moving back towards the ship.

x-x

Eyelids opened revealing blue eyes. Suddenly realizing that he was under water, Naruto started to panic as he found himself trapped in a tube but he soon realized that he could breath and it was at that point that he finally noticed the breathing mask that was strapped to his face. Floating in the heavy water, which he realized was actually Bacta, Naruto relaxed and tried to peer through the slightly murky liquid to determine where he was.

For some reason he expected to find himself in the medical bay of Forty-Two, but remembered that they no longer had that ship. Looking over his body, he found new skin on his right arm and couldn't feel any pain. Sensing out, he found that he couldn't feel anyone within his range. This was disconcerting as it either meant that everyone else was gone or that he was somewhere completely unfamiliar and alone. 'How did I get here? And for that matter, where is 'here'?' He questioned and tried to remember what happened to him.

His last memory was running to Jabba's ship, however, he couldn't remember ever stepping foot on the lift or entering the vessel. All he remembered was following behind Juugo. It made sense that he must be on Jabba's ship and given it's size, it was no wonder that he couldn't sense anyone. While thinking, his eyes caught movement in the room but he soon recognized that it was a gray metal figure, with no life-signs, which meant that it was a medical droid.

The droid appeared to be monitoring his vital and progress in the tank. Apparently it was time to get out as he noticed that the Bacta soon started to be pumped out of the tank. As it drained, he got a better view of the medical bay through the clearer glass and found it much larger than that of the Vulture or Forty-Two. Instead of a single table, there were three and many more storage areas as well as instruments.

As his feet touched the bottom of the tank and the precious Bacta was drained, Naruto thought the tube would open but was surprised when he started to get washed by what he guessed was water. 'Probably to remove every drop of the Bacta.' He guessed and after being dried, the tube finally opened and the medical droid went to help him exit the tank.

About to push the droid off him, Naruto actually found his legs slightly unsteady and let the droid help him over to the medical table. While it ran a few tests and checked his arm, Naruto noted that the storage seal was now missing pieces of the black tattoo. The needle-like attack had pierced those areas of his arm and it appeared that new skin had formed but with no ink on it, effectively breaking the seal. 'Does that mean it's gone?' He wondered as he continued to look at the incomplete seal. The item he had taken from Jabba's trophy room might be lost forever. He grit his teeth in anger at the possible loss and the medical droid asked if he was still in pain. Though he wished for pain over the reality of the damaged seal, he replied that no, he wasn't feeling any pain. Finished looking over his arm, the droid then started examining his legs. Naruto found this very odd as he didn't remember any damage to his legs.

"What are you doing?" He questioned and the droid responded in a metallic voice, "Making sure your all injuries are completely healed. You were only in the tank for two hours but your body seems to possess great natural healing ability."

Confused, Naruto asked, "What was my condition when I was brought here?" Looking up from the examination, the droid quickly replied, "Circulatory Shock. Severe trauma to right forearm with severed Ulnar Artery. Puncture wounds on the right hand and fingers. Puncture wounds through the right shoulder. Puncture wounds through the right pectoral. Blaster wound through the left thigh with cauterization of wound and damage to left femur and muscle. Superficial blaster wound to right front thigh with cauterization of wound. Bruised jaw." the droid completed as it seemingly listed the wounds in order from most severe to superficial.

'I was shot and then went into shock?' Naruto questioned as he had no recollection of such an injury. 'Once or twice?' He wondered because of the wounds on both legs that the droid had mentioned. Looking down to his legs that the droid was still examining, he found no blemish or sign of an injury. The checkup was soon complete and Naruto stepped off the table. Looking around the room, he spotted a pile of clothing and equipment which he knew to be his.

Taking out the pants first, Naruto stopped when he noticed a burn hole through the leg. Examining the left leg, he found a large entry hole and a corresponding smaller exit hole on the inside of the pant leg. Sure enough, the right leg also had a scorched cut on the front.

'A single shot that hit both of my legs.' He gathered from the evidence and an image of the silver and blue armored bounty hunter popped in his head. A slight chill came over him, and he realized that he was still in the medical shorts so he decided to stop examining and just put the clothes back on. Grabbing his ninja pouches, vest, cloak and sword, he moved for the door.

The door sensed his approach and opened for him, revealing an unfamiliar metal hallway. Still cautious, he peered into the hallway before stepped out and looking either way, unsure of where to go.

x-x

Resting both hands on his sword pummel as if the weapon were a cane, Plagueis looked down to the struggling Chevin who was being held in place by the Demon Brothers. He had already ascertained that the individual was Jabba's Chief of Security at the Townhouse complex and named Ephant Mon. The large pachydermoid sentient was being quite stubborn in telling him what he wanted to know and despite not trained to resist mind tricks, was surprisingly loyal to his deceased employer or just possessed a strong will.

'I will ask once more the location of where Jabba keeps his most precious items. I know they aren't here or at his Palace. Your thoughts have betrayed as much already.' Said Plagueis as he projected his thoughts directly into Ephant's head. The Chevin aimed to try and spit at him again for which he received a powerful blow to the face from one of the Demon Brothers before being able to accomplish the act.

'Then I'll just take the information that I want. You had your chance to be useful and live.' Lied Plagueis as his Mustafarian body reached out and made contact with the Chevin's brain. 'Unfortunately for you, I'm not as practiced at this as my student and you will suffer.' Admitted the Sith Lord as he extracted pertinent information from the being's mind. Although he could have used mind control, the Chevin' strong will and loyalty to the Hutt made it far more difficult and time was precious at the moment. He had hoped not to delve into the Chevin's mind but given the events that day, he should have known that endeavors would continue to not go smoothly.

As Ephant began drooling and slumped in the grasp of both brothers, Plagueis removed his hand and informed those present, 'This one had the information we seek.' With a single, quick strike, Plagueis's blade cut from from the bottom of the Chevin's jaw, through the tall face and exited the top of the head with no resistance. 'Prepare the skiff.' Plagueis ordered, to which both Meizu and Gozu dropped the body and moved with haste from the room.

Karin exhaled a breath as she turned away from the scene, not wanting to have to witness such a thing again. It was bad enough that the first three individuals she had tracked down were not members of Jabba's trusted inner circle and therefore did not have any of the information that Plagueis wanted. Slightly perturbed when Plagueis chose to let her go ahead of him, she doubled up her speed in the direction of the brothers.

Watching the much shorter redhead speed up her pace, Plagueis again questioned whether or not she was suited for such work but relented considering the ease at which she had tracked down those looting or trying to escape from the complex. He found it odd that, like his student, he didn't mind her hesitance to kill all that much. 'It must be her sheer usefulness in both sensing and healing.' He thought but decided to turn his focus to the location they needed to find.

'Glass Mountain.' Plagueis said to himself, repeating the name in his mind and trying to remember if he had seen it's location on any of the maps they had for Tatooine. He did hope it wasn't a colloquial term but a given name for a physical feature. The Chevin's mind contained a rough route to the location but he felt it was always best to have exact coordinates. Hidden in an old mine shaft is where Jabba kept a ship that apparently held the Hutt's most treasured and valuable objects. The Townhouse was for slave and illegal goods transporting while the Palace was a location of safety and leisure from which the Hutt had done most of his business and kept trophies as well as monstrous pets.

Despite having a general idea where the location was, Ephant Mon had not known the security systems present or the layout of the mineshaft. Those were apparently only known to Jabba and the ones that constructed and armed the facility for the Hutt. All of which had promptly been killed when the work was completed decades before. 'The treasures of a Hutt will go a long way to recovering some of my lost wealth.' Mused Plagueis as he exited the complex and noted the many individuals that were also looting or coming to see what had happened. Despite being a bit stranger and dressed differently than the Tatooine natives, they nevertheless were able to blend in rather well and disguise their true intentions.

x-x

A very large pair of ornate doors opened for Naruto when he got past the locking mechanism. Looking inside for any security systems, he soon focused on the rest of the room which was a large and finely decorated bedroom. The centerpiece of the room was a very large circular bed, 'Big enough for a Hutt,' Naruto quipped and he walked completely around the bed, looking at the walls and other items to see what was there. His attention was grabbed by a large fish tank, but it was full for creatures other than fish and something told him that they were more for snacking, than for viewing. Moving past murals on the walls and a collection of various items, the only thing he hadn't seen was where the wide hallway led to, which was presumably the bathroom.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, he let himself fall backwards, which turned out to be a mistake as apparently Hutt's liked really stiff beds; almost like stone with a very nice silky cloth covering. Groaning slightly, he was stopped from getting up by the view through the skylight above him. The transparasteel dome in the ceiling showed him a spectacular view of hyperspace. The blue and black hyperspace tunnel looked rather interesting when viewed from below and not head-on as in the cockpit.

'If the bed was more comfortable, this would be preferable to sleeping in the pilot's seat all the time.' He thought and decided to close his eyes and try it out. His attempt, however, was interrupted as he felt Juugo moving towards his position. While wandering the halls, the others had come into his range but he decided not to go and see what they were up to, instead favoring to see parts of the ship.

The door to the bedroom was still open and Juugo looked inside to see what had changed since he had last been through because the door had been locked before. Seeing Naruto on the bed, he walked in asking, "I've been looking all over for you after I found the medical bay empty. How are your wounds?" Leaning up slightly and looking at the teen, Naruto faked a smile to provide some form of comfort to the teen and said, "I'm fine."

Sighing Juugo looked around the room for a few seconds before sitting on a different part of the bed. "Just fine? You were pretty injured and everyone's been worried." Naruto wondered if Juugo's version of 'everyone' included HK or not, but feeling that Juugo needed some proof, he showed the teen his right arm and Juugo was rather amazed at the lack of any wound. "That Bacta stuff really works, but how do you feel?"

Taking a moment to think about how to answer, Naruto decided to go with honesty, "I feel tired." he said while continuing to stare at the hyperspace tunnel through the dome. Thinking that Naruto was giving him a hint to leave so he could rest, Juugo commented, "Maybe you should find a better room, there's bunch just down the hall and to the left.." but before he could finish, Naruto clarified, "Not physically tired, though I do agree about the bed. However...I don't know why I feel this way. I've been feeling it for maybe a week now and it seems to be getting worse."

"Well we all did go through a pretty stressful ordeal, or ordeals given that it spanned almost two days." Juugo suggested but searching his own feelings, Naruto wasn't convinced that was it, "It's more than that but I can't seem to describe it. Something is missing."

"Perhaps it's the places we've been and how soon we leave?" Juugo said, suggesting a different explanation. Not exactly understanding what the older group member was getting at, Naruto lifted his head and gave a questioning look. "I know we've left Ibonihs and you don't have any plans to go back, but it would be nice to have some other place to come back too. I guess you would call it a 'home' for lack of a better word but some place that is both safe and familiar." Juugo explained as best as he could.

"What about the ship. Is that not a home?" Wuestioned Naruto as they had all been living on the Vulture for several weeks. "The ships okay." Admitted Juugo but he quickly amended the statement, "But we've already traded our original ship for a new one and now we're using this one. This is completely unfamiliar and not really safe. I keep expecting more of Jabba's men to suddenly come out. I like the Vulture and I liked Forty-Two but the rooms are small, everyone is forced to share but you and Plagueis, and not everyone in the group gets along very well. I may have been in a cell for years but it became what I was used to and I considered that a home. The others are probably used to open spaces and trees. Also an occasional breeze that isn't recycled air."

'I have yet to see a single tree on any of the planets we've visited.' Naruto admitted and could see the the point that Juugo was making. "Does everyone feel this way?" He asked and after receiving an affirmative nod from Juugo, he then wanted to clarify something, "Are you suggesting we make a more permanent place on one of the planets that we've visited?"

"No, I don't think that would be a good idea. Sarafur was nice but there was something missing about it. It would be nice not to have to walk in pairs or worry about someone around every corner, even if you basically own the planet now. Ast Kikorie was much better but we aren't really allowed back or probably shouldn't go back anytime soon. Mustafar was hot and ashy, the planet itself was dangerous, and not somewhere anyone but the Mustafarians would want to stay for long periods. And Tatooine..."

"It sucked." Naruto said while filling in Juugo's unfinished sentence. The orange-haired teen nodded in agreement. "I like going to new places and all but it would be nice to go somewhere that's a little nicer or that has nicer people and isn't somewhere that we need to worry about someone shooting at us." Confessed Juugo and Naruto thought over everything that had been said.

"And everyone else feels like this?" He asked and receiving a nod from Juugo, Naruto then commented, "No one's said anything to me about it." Juugo couldn't help but give a sad smile at the statement. Part of it was true but it made him wonder. To him, Naruto seemed like someone that could adapt and survive no matter where they went. He also didn't seem like the type to desire a safe place, given how easily he had left everything on Ibonihs behind for the seemingly more dangerous galaxy. It therefore struck him as ironic.

'They haven't been complaining but I wonder how much he has been 'absorbing' of their real feelings concerning the matter. He does seem to pick up on the feelings of those around him rather easily. Hypersensitivity, I guess it could be called. They didn't need to complain because he seems to have felt what everyone else is feeling and it's affecting him. Maybe he doesn't realize it or understand it.' Thought Juugo and he decided to keep such thoughts to himself, but wondered if Naruto could read what he was thinking. Naruto seemed to have recovered from whatever had happened when he had been shot and though Juugo wanted to ask, he was well aware that everyone had their demons.

"It seems you might be on to something." Conceded Naruto and went one step further, "I'll give this some further thought." A moment of silence passed between the two, with one still laying in the same position on the bed and Juugo leaning against the door frame. Deciding to end the silence and change the discussion to something that should be of a bit more importance to him, Naruto asked, "By the way, where are we going right now?" It was odd for him to be so far out of the loop and since he normally piloted all the ships, it was very surreal that he should be sitting in a room and looking out a window, instead of in the cockpit at the controls.

"Plagueis checked in and gave us coordinates to rendezvous at. They aren't far away and we actually should be there in about an several hours. It should be unpopulated, I believe is what was said." Juugo updated and Naruto responded with lackluster, "Oh."

"Perhaps you should consider some rest though. It's only been about three hours since we left Tatooine." Stated Juugo after another moment of silence between the two. "Sure." Naruto decided to say as he felt it was best to end the conversation to take time and think about what Juugo had said. Juugo left the doorway towards the rooms that the had mentioned, intent on getting some sleep.

After taking perhaps an hour of trying to achieve a meditative state, Naruto eventually had to stop as the smell of the Bacta was disrupting his concentration. A sickly-sweet smell emanated from his body and he knew from previous experience that it would take a long bath in order to eliminate most of the odor.

Standing up on the bed and stretching, he went to find the bathroom and hopefully get the smell of him. Moving to the short hallway inside the room, he stopped when he spotted something sitting on a small table next to the bed. It appeared to be a large remote control with various buttons. Interested, Naruto picked up the large device and found each button was labeled, however he was not familiar with the writing system.

Looking it all over, he eventually decided to mess with it. The ship was now his after all. Pushing one of more important looking buttons, a part of the ceiling opened up and a mechanical arm emerged that maneuvered a viewing screen in front of the bed. The screen activated and Naruto found himself looking at the hallway outside of the room he was in.

'Seems Jabba has lots of cameras here too.' Naruto thought before eventually finding the button to switch to the next camera. Different hallways were displayed and the bridge, where he found HK who appeared to be recharging in the pilot's seat. Finding other areas of interest, a throne room, storage areas, the loading bays, the views switched until they eventually started showing him rooms on the ship. He stopped when he found the room that Juugo was evidently staying in as he spotted spiky hair and body underneath the covers in the darkness of the room.

About to change the view to another part of the ship, Naruto stopped as he noticed something change in the room. Two shadows were caste onto the floor of the room from the light in the hallway. His eyes widened as he thought perhaps that they weren't alone on the ship. About to contact Juugo and grab his sword, he stopped as Juugo turned on the light in the room. His group member, however, looked confused more than anything else. Evidently the figures weren't a threat.

As two figures stepped into view, Naruto recognized Ann and Tann and wondered, 'What are they doing there.' The ship had plenty of rooms and it wasn't as if any of them needed to share. The muted conversation that Juugo started stopped part way as both girls began making very lithe movements while moving towards Juugo. The orange-haired teen's mouth dropped open, as did Naruto's when the two started performing a very erotic dance for Juugo. Naruto's cheeks tinted and he thought perhaps he should turn it off.

Fumbling with the remote, he thought he had the correct button but instead of turning it off, he simply changed the view to another hidden camera in the room. 'They're taking off their clothes...' he realized and his cheeks grew redder as his thoughts became incoherent. A moment later all he could think about was, '...blue...'

Getting control of himself and looking over the remote, he pressed another button, intent on doing anything to change the view on the scree, however when he pressed it, it simply turned on the volume from the hidden microphones in the room. "..Just sit back and let us..." Frantically pushing every button to stop the feed, various things in the room started happening. A shutter began moving over the skylight, blocking out the view. A trapped door activated in the floor halfway between the bed and the door. The lights in the room started dimming and then suddenly brightening and it wasn't until he pressed one of the very last buttons that the monitors finally shut off, cutting a soft moaning and giggling.

Thoroughly embarrassed and blushing like mad, Naruto had no idea that he had also activated the rooms butler droid. Coming out of a seamless doorway in the wall, the droid looked around the room before finding only one person inside. Moving closer on a single wheel instead of legs, it got right behind Naruto before saying, "Is there anything that you need?"

The sudden sound from something so close behind him caused Naruto to jump in the air and nearly fall off the bed. Looking to find a droid behind him, he wondered where it had come from while practically shouting, "Fine! I'm Fine!...What?" The droid seemed slightly puzzled at his actions but repeated the question, "You summoned me. Is there anything that you require?"

In the state that he was in, Naruto's mind went through a very long list of things that he might like at that particular moment in time, few were things that the droid could do for him. Eventually he regained some rational thought and said, "Can you prepare a bath?" It was more because of earlier and the fact that he really wanted the droid to go away so it wouldn't notice the tent in his pants.

"Of course." the droid replied, before asking, "Mud or Water?" Naruto turned his head back to the droid, while keeping the front of his body faced away. "Water." he replied as if it was obvious but after answering he did find himself rather curious about the mud bath. The droid moved across the room and to the short hallway, going out of view as it entered a doorway. Looking down at bulge in his pants, Naruto tried to calm himself down but found it very difficult.

Plagueis was almost always with him, twenty-four hours a day, for most of his life growing up so he never got the chance to look at any of the dirty magazines he noticed in the Konoha bookstore or the orange covered book that he saw Hatake Kakashi with his nose glued to. He'd heard about other shinobi spying on kuniochi and civilian women in the hot springs but this was also something that he hadn't dared do. It sounded rather sad, but the images on the monitors were the most graphic things he had ever seen. Even looking through Jiraiya's head, he had pushed aside all the smut and looked for more useful information.

A brief thought entered his mind about turning the screen back on but he immediately decided against it. In a few hours they would be landing and he would have to face those three. Being in the same room with them would be quite awkward after what little he saw and far worse if he continued to view what he probably shouldn't. 'I'm a Sith for crying out loud.' He ranted but that didn't help ease the embarrassed he was feeling at the entire situation. He looked up as the droid informed him that the bath would be ready shortly and decided to head towards the bathroom. Taking his cloak to hide the problem, he walked underneath the wide archway and into the short hallway, however something caught his eye.

Taking a few steps back, he stared at what was recessed into the opposite side of the wall from the bathroom door. Where probably there should have been a walk-in closet, Naruto instead saw a large vault door. With his interest peaked, he felt that it was at least something to keep him occupied after the bath.

x-x

Core Worlds

Ralltiir System

Planet Ralltiir

x-x

Sitting back in his exquisite chair, a blond haired man swirled his nearly empty glass of colored liquor, as several servant droids began removing the plates before him; the remains of a very expensive meal. The table he sat at was very long, but the head seat was the only one that had been set for a meal and contained an occupant. Long shadows were caste off all the vacant seats which only helped to emphasize that the sun was getting lower on the horizon. A slight breeze came in through the open window of his large estate and he kept his eyes closed while feeling the breeze.

Despite the empty table, he was far from alone as guards that were stationed in the room just outside on the balcony. They were there for his protection and he paid them for that. He had gotten used to their presence and thus was able to retreat to his mind and ignore their presence. Each had been hand picked and had their backgrounds thoroughly checked so he could feel a modicum of safety while at his fortress.

Feeling that his contemplation was about to be disturbed, he turned and opened his brown eyes to find his personal secretary, Oolth, moving to stand beside him. The bald Fondorian bowed slightly before stating the reason for his intrusion, "Narees is asking to speak with you. He claims it's urgent." Since business always came first, the man certainly couldn't let Narees wait, especially if it was urgent. Setting down the glass, he quickly stood and turned to follow Oolth to his study. He didn't discuss private matters out in the open, even when they were all his employees. He had more than enough trouble with spies from all the other criminal organizations, there was no need to help facilitate them by talking out in the open.

In order to reach his attention, most information first had to pass through the lower ranks and then to one of the nine Vigo, usually the one in charge of that area of their operations spanning the entire Galaxy. From there, the Vigo would decided if it was important or not for his attention or just handle it themselves if it was insignificance. He couldn't devote all of his time to every matter and his Vigo's knew not to waste his time. Though it was a good system, it did unfortunately have it's flaws as by the time information reached him, a fair amount of time had already passed, sometimes as much as an hour. It was therefore important to always be available and work as swiftly as possible to maximize their response or action.

Sitting down in his desk, he waived Oolth out of the room and activated all of the anti-snooping devices to keep the conversation private. Taking a shallow breath before activating the holopad, an image soon appeared of an Iktotchi male. The horned man gave a toothy grin before saying, "I've got something that you need to see, Lex." The statement elicited a response from the Underlord of the Black Sun as the corners of his mouth twitched to form a small smile.

Only close friends and his Lieutenants, or Vigo's, as was the historic term for their organization, were allowed to refer to him as Lex and not his given name Alexi. Narees always did have a slightly less than professional attitude about the business but he had always been a trustworthy Vigo and amusing at times. "And what would that be?" Alexi questioned and Narees' smile only widened before explaining, "That monk we've been paying at Jabba's Palace on Tatooine has finally earned the amount we've spent on him, that and maybe more. Take a look at this security footage that was sent. I already checked, it's not edited in any way that I can find. I'll wait while you watch."

Extremely intrigued that Narees would offer to patiently wait on hold while he watched some stolen holorecordings, Alexi eagerly waited for download to finish and the movie to start. What he saw was nothing of what he expected. Taking multiple small holorecordings, everything had been rendered into one large view that showed the entire Throne room of Jabba's Palace. It was a place that once upon a time he had personally visited but not something he had seen in quite a few years. It however had not changed in that time. Alexi watched as events unfolded in the room. He expected a person that they had not seen in a while, or that they had been after, would make an appearance on the recording. However, he never expected what played out on the recording as a teenager started a fight in the middle of Jabba's crowded Throne Room.

As he watched, people were cut down as chaos spread throughout the digitally rendered room. Jabba was injured and fled while an assassin droid and the teen began systematically taking out everyone in the room. For a moment, he thought like everyone else that the teen was cornered but a large explosion and diversion, rendered the cameras useless for a handful of seconds as smoke obscured the recorders. When it cleared, the fight renewed with new arrivals destroying Jabba's trophy room. The events afterward were what really caused Alexi's eyes to widen. A projectile took out two after moving through a wall and then spikes came out of the floor and walls, impaling the remaining foes.

During his time with the Black Sun as an underling, Vigo, and ultimately the Underlord, he had seen many strange things but nothing quite like what was playing on the recording. As the teen exited the Throne room, the recording stopped and Alexi was left replaying several key moments in his mind. Idly he pushed a button on the holopad control panel to put Narees back on display. "So, you saw it. What do you think?" Alexi however was very quiet for a few more moments until he turned to ask, "What happened next?"

Unsure whether his friend and boss had believed what was sent or not, a slightly more serious Narees revealed, "That's where things get really fuzzy. Nobody is completely sure about what events took place next but it culminated the following day with the confirmed assassination of Jabba."

Few times in his decade as the Underlord of the Black Sun had any of his Vigos managed to truly surprise him with news. He had been stunned on a number of occasions but never truly shocked. The fact that someone like Jabba had finally been killed was possibly the most interesting news he had heard in quite some time, especially because no information had come to him about any assassination attempts on Jabba. Wanting to know more, Alexi demanded, "When did this happen?"

"About three hours ago, with the tape you saw happening yesterday." admitted Narees and before Alexi could get too angry and respond, the Iktotchi quickly explained his actions, "I received this with no explanation and have spent the past day trying to find more information when I got the news about Jabba about two hours ago. You saw the tape, I needed some corroboration before presenting you with this. Honestly, if I had sent you that recording hours ago without trying to figure out if it was fake or if it could be believed, what chance would I have had to keep my position as Vigo?"

Taking time to calm himself, Alexi said out loud, "So someone finally killed Jabba," and he had trouble believing it himself. The death of a Hutt was rare but it did happen. They were nearly all involved in illicit criminal activity, so a few were killed every few years. Usually, the Hutts made sure to insulate themselves with a small army, in very much the same fashion that Alexi used to protect himself. It was actually incredibly shameful and hurt a Hutt's reputation for them to be caught or jailed so they were always careful to use others and not do anything personally. Fifty percent of the time, when a Hutt died, it was likely the result of another Hutt.

"It's not just Jabba, Lex. In less than twenty-four hours, whoever these people are, they wiped out Jabba's entire Tatooine operation. Forced him out of his Palace and then finished him off at his Townshouse. All of Jabba's top ranking men are dead or missing." Explained Narees as he tried to convey his amazement and Alexi quickly asked, "Did we hear anything about this before it happened?"

"Nothing at all. I didn't hear about any attempts or hiring of any assassins. No large movements of money or secret meetings." Stated Narees and Alexi knew this was quite troubling. The region that Narees was in charge of included Tatooine along with thousands of other systems and dozens of sectors. Most of the habitable worlds were of little consequence but they took special interest in their competitors and the Hutts. In the past they had usually heard something about big attempts on Jabba's life right before they happened. Few large criminal acts escaped the ears and bank accounts of the Black Sun. An attempt to not only kill Jabba but cripple his entire operation on Tatooine was certainly something that they should have heard about.

"Is anyone taking credit? Do we know who may have hired this person or these individuals?" Questioned Alexi of his Vigo but Narees merely shook his head and said, "Nobody has taken any credit but rumors are flying around and we have no idea who did it or who would hired them. As far as I can tell, Lex, they're nobodies. No history or bounties on any of their heads before this and no criminal activity attributed to the name he gave of 'Rasen.' The leader is young but too well trained to not have been noticed before. This must have been his first contract, and it's got to be the biggest assassination success of anybody just starting out."

Taking a moment to gather his thoughts on the matter, Alexi went over what he had been told, 'A powerful and uniquely skilled unknown comes out of no where and kills someone previously thought untouchable, or at least protected enough by his men, clan and other criminal ties to ward off most attempts for fear of retribution.' Opening his eyes from his near meditative thought process, Alexi demanded, "Tell me everything you know, every detail."

With enthusiasm, Narees begins the tale with the information that he was sure about, "It all started with Jabba's five hundred and sixty fourth birthday party. Somehow those three that you see on the recording, two humans and a droid, made it inside the Palace. Despite the venue being private invitation only. They mingle in the party and the time comes for their tribute and present to the Hutt. Not sure on the exact details but some problem occurred and then Jabba gets bored I guess and sends two of his dancers into the pit. But suddenly one of the trio jumps into the trap door for the pit."

Remembering that part of the recording, Alexi frowned slightly as the actions of that particular individual, thinking, 'Perhaps the girls were some kind of decoy or were used to get the other three access. Such...foolish heroism is not something I would expect from an assassin group, though they are quite young and perhaps he was just green and not willing to sacrifice others for the mission.' Coming out of his thoughts and seeing a very geared up Narees, ready to continue the story, Alexi suppressed a sigh and motioned for his impatient Vigo to continue.

"So then Jabba gets ready to send the other one into the pit; the droid escaping in the confusion and moving through the crowd. Right there the kid explodes into action, never seen anything quite like it. Suddenly Jabba's men start dying left and right, huge explosion," says Narees while gesturing with his hands, "...and Jabba runs for cover after being injured. Everyone in the room tries to kill the young man but he somehow escapes and kills quite a few while under the cover of some kind of smoke grenade. Suddenly the droid starts killing guys left and right but the pair get pushed back to Jabba's trophy room. Somebody starts shooting everything up and then the really weird stuff happens." said Narees and Alexi nods as he knows exactly what the man is talking about.

"Outta all the guys in that room, I'm told only Jango Fett, former True Mandalorian and now a bounty hunter and hired gun, managed to live through that. That's not all, the three that went into the pit with Jabba's new pet rancor somehow manage to escape and the rancor gets loose. Jabba meanwhile calls for reinforcements and leaves his own Palace on his sail barge, heading back to his Townhouse before a sandstorm prevents him from leaving. That's right about the time our spy downloads the security recordings that I sent and makes his exit." Explained Narees and Alexi finds himself becoming captured in his Vigo's exuberance and asked, "So they managed to escape as well?"

"I guess so." Admitted Narees before adding, "All the reinforcements Jabba sent disappeared or were eaten by that rancor and there's a huge ten hour or more gap as the sandstorm hits and nobody can find the assassins."

"But it doesn't end there." Gathered Alexi and he was eager to hear more. Smiling with a few nods, Narees elaborates, "Half a day after the Palace incident, somebody walks through the front door at the Townhouse claiming the bounty Jabba put on the assassins head. He apparently walked in with that assassin droid in tow. Jabba sends out a message that the bounty was claimed, however that's just the beginning of the matter."

A frown adorns Alexi's face at the news of the assassin's death but Narees quickly added, "I haven't finished talking about him yet, there's more. Just wait until the end." With his interest renewed by the words of his Vigo, Alexi motions for Narees to continue so he may hear everything.

"Minutes later an alarm starts going off in one of the buildings close to the main complex. The slave processing center. Jabba's men rush in and put up a jamming signal. A short while passes with the alarm not going off and then there's a huge explosion in the main complex. That's when all hell breaks loose, Lex." Said Narees and Alexi watches as the Iktotchi begins making motions off-screen of the holopad. A new file is soon sent with and Narees explains, "A repulsor-lift patrol droid used by the Mos Espa Police responded to the explosion."

With a slight laugh, Lexi guesses, "And you managed to get that recording as well." Narees nodded with another toothy grin and Alexi went to open the file, putting it up on holopad so he could watch what was happening while keeping Narees on speaker for the man to narrate. "This is right after the explosion and the droid is up a few hundred feet in the air surveying the damage and reporting it to the police. It catches something real interesting." Said Narees and Alexi is at first confused before he notices blaster-fire on the roof. One figure starts attacking all of the sentries that Jabba has and takes over one of the laser cannons.

Alexi watches with rapt attention as a single droid creates utter chaos and destruction on the roof of Jabba's complex, taking out anything that moves and even a small transport that tries to take off. "What about those at the entrance? What do we know about them?" Questioned Alexi as he sees that the only individuals that the droid does not take out are a group of three at the main entrance to the Jabba's Townhouse.

"The one carting what looks like weapons is the one that collected on the bounty. It seems that they may be in-league with the primary assassin and his group." Explained Narees and Alexi was about interject when Narees made a motion to give him a bit more time to explain his reasoning. Nodding to his Vigo, Narees continued, "I surmise that they are looting the place after collecting the bounty and used it as a ruse to get inside the building. The assassin droid quickly leaves the roof and heads to the hangar bays, presumably while whoever set the bomb inside the building is also headed there as well."

Looking over the recording, Alexi watches as it fast-forwards to presumably another point of interest. Watching a ship take off, Narees soon says, "I haven't been able to determine anything about that ship. I can only guess that it's Jabba's men escaping or whoever owns that ship is leaving. What's next is really what you want to see."

Continuing to watch, Alexi sees Jabba's yacht start to take off and the security droid focuses on the craft. After it starts to leave the bottom of the ship is finally visible and Alexi leans closer to see that one of the loading bay lifts is still open and two familiar Twi'lek girls are shooting blasters down at something on the hangar floor. Moments later, a figure emerged from the hangar, likely using a jetpack or similar equipment and flies up to the lift. Besides recognizing the person from the other recording, Alexi also notices that someone else is being carried.

The image paused and turning back to Narees with a curious look, Alexi asked the question on his mind, "You think this is the same assassin that was in the Palace and believed to be dead? His bounty was collected on, Narees. Was he turned in alive?"

"I don't about how they managed to get that one over the Hutt, I do have a good source that says that the assassin somehow faked it all and is still alive." Narees countered and pushed a button to continue the recording. Alexi didn't question about the source, yet, but instead turned back to the recording to continue watching the events unfold. Another individual soon took off after the fleeing pair. Recognizing the armor, Alexi watched as the ship turned and started dumping cargo onto the Mandalorian in order to keep him at bay. The image paused again and Alexi looked to his Vigo. "I didn't notice it at first either and someone told me about it so I'll show it again and highlight what I'd like you to see." Explained Narees before replaying the containers falling on the bounty hunter. The recording replayed, but unlike before it froze and the image was zoomed in on the last item to fall from the lift. It took a few moment before Alexi realized through the fuzzy image that the object was oddly shaped and certainly not a crate or container that he had ever seen, in fact it looked like, "Jabba." Alexi said out loud and looked to Narees for confirmation.

The Iktotchi nodded and waited for Alexi to finish looking. "A failed kidnapping." Suggested Alexi but Narees knew that was not the case, "I thought so too at first but it turns out the body that fell did belong to Jabba's but it was also missing the head."

"How barbaric." commented Alexi in response to the information as he thought of the many times that he had used a hired gun, bounty hunter, or mercanry to take care of a problem. For the most part, they brought back something simple for proof. A tooth or blood sample, some kind of DNA evidence to prove the deed was done and collect. Thinking that the assassins had taken the whole head as proof was quite something as few if any assassins or bounty hunters he had encountered, went that far.

"And how exactly did you come by this information that you are saying is confirmed?" Inquired Alexi as he wanted to be certain before expending any further resources. "I talked to the only living eye witness of the events." clarified Narees and Alexi said the name of the individual a moment later, "Jango Fett."

"Initially he was quite tight lipped but for the right price he did tell me that the recording was true and that the boy had faked his death. He refused to comment on those unique techniques used but did say that Jabba's bounty information was inaccurate. The assassin was younger and shorter than what Jabba claimed. Jango believed he was near-human and no more than twelve years old with unique facial markings. He also confirmed that while he did injure the assassin, it wasn't a mortal wound and he should still be alive. He doesn't seem like the kind of person to make up a story or admit that he failed at preventing his employers death." Narees cleared up and he watched the leader of their syndicate lean back in his chair to think over everything.

"What about the droid?" Questioned Alexi suddenly as nothing was explained about what had happened to it. "I would hazard a guess that the droid was piloting the stolen ship. As to anything else concerning that particular droid, I really don't know. I've tried to identify it's model but not had any luck. I can only guess that it is fairly new or that it was custom made."

"So the Twi'lek dancers were definitely in on it then?" Was the question Alexi posed as he wanted to know what his Vigo thought, "Most likely. Give Jabba a few dancers to check out his facilities. It would explain why that one assassin was so determined to help them." Answered Narees and he watched Alexi nod in agreement before asking, "Is there anything else?"

"I'm afraid not. When my other spies arrived at the facility, the scavengers had already arrived but I did ascertain that the group leaving with the weapons did come back and I think they were there to also play cleaned-up because all other security data and recordings had been deleted. I was lucky to get the recording from the patrol droid as they probably didn't notice it." said Narees in response.

Remaining silent for several minutes, the Iktotchi waited to see what the Underlord wanted to do. He thought perhaps Alexi would call together all of the Vigos to make sure that the Black Sun got their share of Jabba's former empire but the decision was ultimately not his to make. Alexi eventually concluded on their course of action and spoke to Narees in a serious tone, "Do not share this with the other Vigos. I want to explore this but let's keep this between ourselves for now. I want you to put out feelers and start passively looking for this group using whatever means necesssary.

They couldn't have gotten that far on such a large and recognizable stolen ship. I'd like to find out more about them before making contact and perhaps getting a little leverage. Until that time, I want you to use your best men and distribute as much false information and rumor as you can about the whole thing. I want a smoke screen large enough to make everyone question what really happened on Tatooine and who did it. I'll be calling shortly for a holo-meeting of all nine Vigo's. You will only mention Jabba's death and provide none of the details you gave me. Don't take any action against the known locations of Jabba's interests. It would be best to not make the Desilijic Kajidic think we were involved with the death of such an influential member of their clan."

"As you wish." Responded Narees with a slight bowand he knew that he had his work cut out for him. The holopad was turned off a moment later as the transmission was ended. Taking a deep breath, Alexi turned to a dark corner of the room and asked, "Have you ever seen techniques such as these, Mighella?"

A feminine figure emerged from the corner and took another look at the recording of the spikes killing members of Jabba's syndicate in the Hutt's Throne Room. Mighella had long brown hair tied in numerous different pony tails and a very pale face with several black facial tattoos around the eyes, nose, and mouth. The Nightsister was very knowledgeable about the dak-side of the Force and about Jedi but despite this knowledge, she had never seen such manipulation of rock. "No, I haven't. This kind of technique is unknown to me or my sisterhood." She answered honestly to her employer. Though the response was given with a straight face, the black tattoos around her lips made it always seem as though she was smiling. Alexi smiled too and asked her to leave so he could be alone with his thoughts.

Since becoming the Underlord, he began building up the Black Sun, aiming to make it even larger and finally eclipse the plateau that his predecessors had stalled out on. Despite being around for over three thousand years, the Black Sun was still one of the largest criminal empires in the galaxy. The key words being 'one of the largest.' The syndicate had hidden bases and holdings throughout the Rims with thousands of people working as smugglers, soldiers, pirates, mercenaries, and various other positions that supported a vast empire of illicit activity throughout the known Galaxy. In addition there were countless individuals who simply didn't realize that they were working for a subsidiary or shell corporation owned by the Black Sun.

This however was not good enough for Alexi. He wanted to take the Black Sun to the next level, a level that all of his predecessors had failed to seek or come close too. Despite all their bases and holdings, the Black Sun did not truly own any planets. They had influence on countless planets and some power over the government but did not own the planet. They did not own any systems and certainly not any sectors. There also was no 'Black Sun Space' or 'Black Sun Territory'. Seemingly the expansion of the Black Sun had stagnated at some point in the distant past and each Underlord strove to increase it's size until their death, a coop, or action by other criminal syndicates. The syndicate therefore had experienced a large but steady fluctuation as various Underlord's would raise in power and influence but then fall and go back to start over with someone new.

Surviving for so long was impressive but what the Black Sun really needed was the ability to compete with the Hutt cartels. The Republic was losing influence and the ability to police it's space and this was only made more clear when he first became Underlord, right before the Stark Hyperspace War. A combined group of pirates and smugglers, despite being completely tricked by their charismatic leader, was actually able to pose a sizable threat to the Republic.

Despite such impressive dreams for the Black Sun, he faced many problems. Though very large, the Black Sun was still one of hundreds of other criminal organizations in the galaxy and not large or powerful enough to try and deal with the Hutt cartels or squash their smaller competition. Each group was after similar things and competing for areas, distribution, and piracy targets. This inevitably led to confrontations and those confrontations were what he and the Black Sun spent most of it's time on.

Not taking out the smaller competitors would only allow them to become larger but straight fighting came with a great risk. If they destroyed enough of their competition, the smaller groups may band together against the threat and create a very costly syndicate war. The Stark Hyperspace War also proved this was possible. That unrelated organizations of pirates, smugglers, and other criminal could band together under a leader.

'It would therefore be best to have someone working for me, but that couldn't be traced back to me, and have them go after my competition. Or I could strive for something even more elaborate.' Thought Alexi and he remembered implementing the plan once before but suffered a very costly setback in the design phase. He had secretly payed for the training of several individuals at the Orsis Academy, a well known and accomplished school for training some of the best assassins, spies, soldiers and trackers. No one knew that the students were being trained to work for the Black Sun, not even the students themselves. After years at the Academy, they were close to graduation when one student, a male Zabrak under a false identity, decided to kill every student, faculty member, and ultimately destroy the Academy itself.

'I still haven't found that Zabrak.' Recalled Alexi with a sneer as it had only been just over a year since the massacre. He took a deep breath and exhaled to calm himself down. With the Academy gone, he couldn't very well send another group to be trained and few other facilities such as the Orsis Academy existed, or better yet, were allowed to exist by the Jedi Order.

'Perhaps, however, my luck may be changing.' He wagered and once again looked through the recordings that Narees had sent. The only problem was controlling such a powerful individual or group of individuals. He needed to find out who they worked for, what they worked for, and if their services could be bought for the right price.

x-x

Back on Tatooine

x-x

Flinching as she continued to hear blaster cannon fire, Karin stayed behind Plagueis as he waited for the Demon Brothers to deal with the more dangerous defenses. After finding Glass Mountain, it didn't take long for the Demon Brothers to locate the old mine shaft that Jabba was using. Slowly they had managed to make their way through the veritable maze of different passageways that would supposedly lead to Jabba's hidden treasures.

While a good treasure hunt was supposed to be fun, it was anything but for Karin as Jabba seemed to take security very seriously for his hidden treasures and had used just about everything against them. From hidden mines to laser traps and even older styles of traps like pitfalls. Thus the journey for treasure had been terrifying as danger seemed to be around every bend in the tunnels.

"Clear." Yelled one of the Demon Brothers and Plagueis led the way into what was hopefully the end of their journey. As they rounded the bend, the narrow tunnel widened dramatically into a good sized cavern. Looking away from the energy field at one end, Karin found Meizu finish ripping out a turret from the wall and tossing it to the ground. As the brothers made to move to the energy field, Plagueis ordered them to stop.

Using the Force, Plagueis picked up the disabled turret and with a flick of his hand, tossed it against the energy field. The metal struck the field and seemingly began to be eaten by the energy field until there was nothing left. Karin let her mouth drop at the scene and Plagueis explained, 'Its a disintegration field and don't think it can't harm you two. The spell placed on you is very powerful but neither of you are invincible and it would be good for both of you to remember that.'

Finished with the explanation, Plagueis began a thorough examination of the field. Normally such a security measure was used to prevent explosives from being placed on doors to breach them or prevent the use of cutting tools. They were primarily used in facilities rather than starships but there were some exceptions. Sometimes a lighter version of the field was implemented which simply gave a painful shock and they were found primarily in detention facilities. The field was not however to be confused with ray shielding as they were very different.

Ray shielding could be let energy weapons pass through one-way and not the other. It was also not normally dangerous to people, save for some radiation in certain cheaper shielding systems that were not used in starships. People could pass through ray shields and so could objects and the shields could be bent to envelop an entire starship or used to form a shudder to protect a specific region.

Disintegration shields could not be bent around anything and operated on a single, flat plane; not let anything pass through from either side. They were also very power hungry, and could only be activated between special emitters, 'Which appear to be buried deeply into the solid rock.' Noted Plagueis as he knew that two tall devices were placed in such a manner to protect them from tampering. The only way to get to the emitters was to use explosives or to use mining equipment, neither of which had they brought and neither of which Plagueis was willing to use, lest they chance a cave-in.

On the other side of the red, semi-transparent field, they could all see a medium sized starship in a makeshift hangar that had likely been carved out of the rock."How'd they get that thing in here?" Questioned Karin and Plagueis froze as he realized that her inquiry was extremely valid. He had too concerned with the field to even think of such a question to even considered how had Jabba gotten a starship inside a mine shaft that was far narrower than the size of the ship. Stepping closer to the field, the Sith Lord glanced in the direction the ship was pointed and found a tunnel in the rock that was just big enough for the ship. It was cut at an angle and presumably went to the surface or more likely the face of the mountain. Preventing himself from getting angry over the thought that if they found the camouflaged door, which was likely at the end of that tunnel, then they could have avoided all the traps. Plagueis calmed himself and pushed aside such thoughts, and looked for other possibilities to bypass the field.

Glancing to where the power was coming from, he found conduits traveling from one of the concealed emitters and heading to a back room where there was likely some kind of generator. 'I doubt they keep this field on all the time, we must have activated it along with one of the traps.' He wagered and looked over the hangar for something to use to take out the conduits. Finding nothing in the hangar, he decided to try it the hard way.

Aiming an outstretched hand at the conduits, Plagueis began to use the Force to pull at the conduits. Though the disintegration field hindered him, the conduits began to strain under his application of Force technique. Soon they were bending outwards toward him until they could not take the stress and ripped apart, severing the power cables inside and erupting in sparks as the field lost it's power and promptly failed.

With a motion to the others to hold back, Plagueis stepped forward to the edge of where the field was and looked over the entire hangar. Turning to Karin, she realized what he wanted and she shook her head as she couldn't feel anything. 'Possibly still droids or other security measures that I cannot sense or see.' He thought and took out his sword while stepping forward to further examine the ship.

Giving a mental command to the brothers, they both started up the exit tunnel for the craft. Karin looked to see where they were going and Plagueis answered her question before she could ask, 'I asked them to examine where the tunnel leads. Hopefully they can open the doors or whatever is at the end and bring the skiff around.' She nodded in understanding but wanted to clarify something, "Shouldn't we just take the ship?"

'Definitely not.' Plagueis immediately answered and knew that was not a good enough explanation. Karin was like Naruto and always wanted details so he elaborated, 'Given all the traps that Jabba put to protect the ship, it is highly likely that the ship itself is the last trap. It may only respond to Jabba or perhaps it could have a variety of different internal security systems intended to foil theives. We aren't going to even try starting it up. In fact, I plan to sever the ships power and cut our way inside or at least a hole large enough for the Demon Brothers to get in.'

Karin's eyes widened as she hadn't even thought of that possibility. To her, the obvious answer to the situation was to take the ship and pilot it back to their ship, rather than transferring everything into scrolls or the skiff. 'Its a very good thing he's leading this group, although he did bring us into this deathtrap in the first place.' She acknowledged but decided to keep such a thought to herself, given how easily Naruto could read her thoughts, Plagueis might be even better.

'You are quite correct.' Plagueis said to himself as he read Karin's thought. He could have said it to Karin in order to scare her but, given the current situation, decided against such an action. Looking away from the ship, Plagueis glanced to the power conduits and to the door that was nearby. The conduits stopped close to the door which meant that they passed through the wall and into whatever room was beyond. Curious to see what was inside, Plagueis took his sword and started cutting a piece out from the door.

Caution was best considering what they had already faced in order to get to the hangar so he only made a small cut, enough to look through and didn't even consider using the control panel on the door, because it too may be a trap. Removing the piece of thick metal door with the Force, Plagueis glanced through. The Mustafarians had excellent night-vision as a result of their planet always being so clouded with ash from volcanic activity that it blocked most sunlight, so he had not trouble looking inside. Shapes soon appeared and he noted that the room was much larger than he initially thought it would be. Inside, he could see the outline and some detail of a reactor that would normally be found on a small capitol ship but instead was feeding the disintegration field. 'I was wrong, that disintegration field has been on for a very long time.' Realized Plagueis and he looked around the room once again.

If it was him and he had been trying to hide his treasure ship, the Muun would have left a small number of assassin droids at the very end. A last defense against those that made it so far. It seemed that Jabba did not favor the use of such droids though. 'But I would think that someone would need to come here and check that reactor from time to time.' he believed and didn't see any maintenance droid inside the room, though he did only have a narrow field of vision.

Staying watchful of his surroundings, he would wait for the Demon Brothers to return before doing anything further.

x-x

Outland Transit Station

Outer-Rim Territories

Baxtel Sector

x-x

Coming out of hyperspace, Jango piloted the Jaster's Legacy toward a docking port on the large and very familiar space outpost. Though he basically lived on his ship, it was always nice to have some place to come back too and he knew the person that owned the station. Once the ship was docked, the Mandalorian found himself still sitting in the pilot's seat and not moving to disembark from the ship. Frustration was the primary feeling that he couldn't seem to shake and the thoughts running through his head only fueled it. Normally he kept himself detached from his work and was able to return to the station without any baggage but apparently not this time.

The events kept playing in his mind and he kept coming to the same conclusions, 'With Jabba's death, I've lost significant job opportunities.' Like all the Hutts, Jabba employed many bounty hunters but the Hutt didn't hire just anyone. To gain Jabba's trust and interest required a significant reputation or the ability to impress the Hutt. His first bounty for Jabba had been a few months previously and had been a great success. Jabba was pleased with his work and he received jobs directly from the Hutt. Quickly, he became the favored hunter of the Jabba and was even invited to his birthday celebration. The Hutt had become a good ally. He didn't have friends, he had allies and enemies.

In less than twenty-four hours time, all that was gone. There would be other bounties but those were much harder. He would be competing with everyone else that found the notice and not given the special treatment like with Jabba. He was just another bounty hunter. Coming out of Tatooine with barely a scratch, while everyone around Jabba was killed, did not bode well for his reputation. It looked bad from his perspective. Perhaps it was all in his mind, but if someone had told him a similar story about someone else, he would have thought the person that survived had run away or avoided conflict. 'I'd be reluctant to hire somebody like that.'

In the end, the assassin himself or even the group of assassins didn't matter and therefore Jabba's death was not the end of the situation. It was the person that had hired the assassin which he had wanted and which was why he tried to capture them. Taking a boy back to Jabba's clan and claiming him as Jabba's killer would get him laughed at, but going to the Desilijic clan with the name of the person that hired the assassins, was completely different. That would have gotten him a bounty to go after and a good rapport with other Desilijic Hutts. He may have lost out on one bounty and lost an employer but he could have created another opportunity for himself.

However, he had been unable to capture any of their group. 'I've killed Jedi with my bare hands but I couldn't stop an assassin droid, two brats, and two Twi'lek dancers.' He thought, in spite of knowing that he was understating the abilities of his enemy. A failure was still a failure. 'I'll just have to start taking the longer and more dangerous missions again. Perhaps his face will come back up.' He hoped but something told him that it may not.

On his way back to the station, seemingly with his tail between his legs, somehow his situation had managed to get a little worse. A transmission from the Black Sun. They weren't however interested in him for a job, they wanted to know about the assassin and his group. That irked him to an incredible degree. 'Maybe I should quite bounty hunting and become an information broker?' He thought sarcastically as he made more money on his trip to Tatooine from the Black Sun's payment than through his combat skills.

'If the Black Sun has developed an interest in him, then I either won't ever encounter him again or he'll be protected.' Jango thought and pushed his head into the headrest of the pilot's seat. The image of the animalistic face soon came to the forefront of his mind. The eyes were yellow and the smile was the most sadistic he had ever seen.

'That damn face is gonna haunt me. I need a drink.' Were his thoughts right before getting up to board the station.

x-x

Uninhabited planet in the Mid-Rim

Chommell Sector

x-x

'Disappointing.' Naruto said to himself as he looked out on the planet that Plagueis had given them coordinates for. He thought perhaps a base would be there or at least something worthwhile to see. Standing on top of the parked ship, all he could perceive was described by that single word. Everything in view was dead or dying slowly and he was positive that rivers weren't supposed to have such a tint to them, especially in that shade of green. It wasn't some kind of unique ecosystem, it was just a ruined planet. The air didn't smell very good either and there was a slight burn inside his nose when he breathed in. It was probably the most polluted planet they had ever been too.

There was no telling how long it would be before Plagueis arrived and more importantly how long they would be stuck with nothing to do. The only item of interest was the remains of a large factory that had evidently exploded at some point, with part of the tallest tower falling over. 'That would have been something to see.' Thought Naruto as he zoomed out from examining the details of the fallen structure with his goggles; not understanding the significance of the building. His viewing was disturbed as he felt someone getting near and then heard the lift activating. 'Juugo.' Naruto realized and wasn't really thrilled to have the teen visit him. He had been hoping to avoid them for a little longer.

"So here's where you went." He heard Juugo say as the teen walked over to where Naruto was. "Everybody was looking for you after we landed." Juugo explained as he looked over the view that the top of the ship gave over the surroundings.

'Oh, I'm sure all of you were. Thoroughly searched your bedroom first, probably.' Thought Naruto sarcastically as he didn't even think to include HK in Juugo's statement. "Is everything alright?" He heard Juugo question and Naruto quickly responded, "Fine, just fine."

'There's two of them and one of you!' Naruto raged inside his head. However the more he thought about it, he really never tried to get to know either girl. Aside from helping them remove the slave chips, Juugo had been with them for far longer, saved them from the rancor and the bounty hunter and held actual conversations with both. 'And apparently he saved my life too.' He thought begrudgingly. Juugo was also much closer in age to the girls than he was and regardless of his abilities, they still probably thought of him as a child. Despite some understanding of why events turned out the way they had, he still wanted to push Juugo off the side of the ship. However, then he would have to explain his actions.

Seeing that all of this thoughts had created a long moment of silence between them, Naruto decided to do something to avoid further questions and change the subject completely, "I've given some thought to what you said before about finding some place to stay for a longer period of time."

"That's not exactly what I said," started Juugo but he decided just to go with it, however, there was one thing he wanted to confirm, "Not here, right. I mean, we aren't going to stay here."

"Hell no." Naruto responded while giving Juugo a strange look. "I think the ship has a good computer and navigational database. We'll consult that before making any decisions." Stated Naruto as he turned and walked back to the hatch so he could head for the bridge.

x-x

As one of the Demon Brothers passed another urn through the hole in the ship's hull, Plagueis decided to emphasize once again, 'Be careful with those!' Both brothers gave him slightly irritated looks but complied as Gozu walked the fourth of the eight total urns over to Karin and set it on the seal. They had actually unloaded items from the storage seal back on the Vulture in order to make room as they'd filled every storage seal that had been brought with them.

Looking over the item, Karin examined all of the detailed work. Shades of blue and green were intermingled on the surface and the top rim appeared to be inlaid with precious gems as well as some metal which she couldn't quite identify. Noting that the vase had a lid, Karin opened it and looked inside. 'Ashes.' She realized and shut the urn right before giving Plagueis a disgusted look.

'You can make whatever face you desire, so long as you don't drop or damage that urn.' Was the Sith Lord's response and Karin frowned before demanding to know, "This is treasure!? It's full of ash, right? It's somebodies relative, right?" Plagueis soon responded in a slightly amused tone, 'Indeed it is. These look to be from the Krung dynasty, though I could be mistaken.'

"And that makes it valuable? A dead person in a nice urn?" She contested as Gozu brought another and carefully set it down. 'These Mendacian funeral urns are in fact priceless. Everything else in Jabba's Palace and Townhouse is cumulatively worthless in comparison to these eight pieces.' Responded Plagueis and he actually found himself enjoying the redhead gawking at what he had just revealed. Even Naruto wouldn't have known something like that but he had been around for quite some time and besides his hefty bank accounts, he also used to own numerous valuable pieces of art.

After the brothers had finished with the urns and Karin had sealed them safely in storage, Plagueis climbed into the ship so he could look at the remaining items. Looking over the main hold, Plagueis came across numerous artifacts and valuables, however they were all focused around Hutts. Jabba had an ancient Hutt suit of armor as well as Hutt weapons and other valuable cultural items but they were only valuable to another Hutt. No one else would want to buy them, so the question on Plagueis's mind was, 'Who do I know that would want them?'

While he could just leave them, they could also be used as bargaining chips with any Hutt in the galaxy. So long as no one knew where they actually came from, or as long as they didn't mind where they had come from. 'Those close to Jabba would probably know something of his collection. That rules out the entire Desilijic clan. His clan is historically enemies with the Besadii clan and I doubt that has changed in the time that I have been gone, but I don't know any members of that clan save for Gardulla. She makes terrible business deals, gambles away most her money, and no one has ever been sure about the relationship she had with Jabba. That leaves only a few others that I've ever done business with...' He concluded and though he did have one in mind, he wasn't keen on the prospect.

He had clashed with that Hutt as persona Hugo Demask but there was the chance that as an unknown Mustafarian with numerous Hutt artifacts, they might get along. Deciding that everything could be sorted out later, he took the items that, in his mind, would be the easiest to get rid of for a good price. Selecting the weapons, armor, and a few of the nicer pieces, he informed the brothers of what he wanted and let them do the lifting.

x-x

The bridge of the Star Jewel was quite large, despite only needing a single pilot in order to pilot the ship. The help of a co-pilot was more effective but that still did not warrant such a big bridge. In the middle of the room was a raised circular piece of equipment that most would easily recognize as a holoprojector. The device was however about 10 feet wide and therefore larger than any similar device Naruto had seen before. Walking up to it, Naruto looked over the controls as he tried to figure out how to operate everything. Most holoprojectors were similar in control operation and user interface but he was more interested in the features that particular model had.

Finding that it could accept voice commands, he switched that feature on and activated the holographic emitter. Opening the ships galactic database and bringing the ship's computer online, Naruto started his quest for a star system and habitable planet, "Display our current location in the Galaxy." The projector came to life and rendered an image of the galaxy as well as an arrow pointing to their location.

Not completely sure how to proceed, he changed gears for the moment, "Show me the navigational database." He commanded and the projector rendered a columned list of the different systems and coordinates in it's memory banks. The scrolling list was incredibly long going by the number of listed entries, which was displayed in the corner of the representation. Naruto knew that even if he had multiple lifetimes, he could never visit all the systems that were being displayed.

"What criteria can I use to eliminate systems from this list in order to find a specific system that meets my needs?" Questioned Naruto. He believed a futuristic machine combined with the ship's computer should be perfectly capable of complex tasks and data comparison. The list changed to a shorter listing of different characteristics that could be searched for or used to better define his search. He noted things such as atmospheric characteristics, population, pollution levels, and a variety of other categories and perhaps even subcategories to choose from.

'Good.' He thought and ignored the gathering of all of the other ship's passengers onto the bridge to see what he was doing. "Eliminate all systems without habitable planets." Was the first criteria that Naruto chose and the list of systems came back, but was noticeably shorter.

"Eliminate all systems that have no planets with a Type 1 atmosphere." He ordered and the list dropped entry number again but by a smaller amount than before. Seeing that the list still included several million systems, Naruto decided to go for a much narrower criteria, "Based up the specifications of the shuttle craft in the hangar bay, and using 40% of it's available fuel capacity, show me the systems that I would be able to reach from our current location; piloting that ship on charted space lanes."

The Star Jewel was too noticeable to fly anywhere inhabited so they would have to get by with the shuttle which appeared to have a hyperdrive. He also wanted to have enough fuel to get back to the Star Jewel after they were done. 'It's thinking.' Naruto realized as the projector flickered rapidly while it seemed to be plotting routes and determining what systems could be reached.

After about twenty seconds of waiting, a much smaller list was displayed but it still included a few thousand systems. 'What else..' Naruto contemplated as he mentally reviewed the list of criteria that had been displayed earlier. "Show me a list of individual planets instead of systems." Ordered Naruto and the list got longer but he felt it would be easier to work with.

"Eliminate planets with extreme hot or cold seasons as well as planets covered in ice, having no water, or covered in sand. Also eliminate planets that have extreme volcanic or tectonic activity. Remove from this list planets that have high crime rates. Also remove planets that have no stable governmental system in place and have less than a million population." Said Naruto in rapid succession and everyone watched as the list began shrinking until only about fifty planets were left. Naruto smirked as evidently he had underestimated the computers ability to approximate and input his slightly generic criteria. 'I just hope that information is at least somewhat up to date.' He idly thought before thinking of what to say next.

"Show these planets, highlighted on a map of the galaxy." And once this was done, he added, "Magnify to only include these planets and not the rest of the galaxy." Looking over the chart, it was immediately apparent that most of the planets in question were not in the Outer-Rim but rather the Mid-Rim and Expansion Regions of the Galaxy. 'I'd still like to stay close to the Outer-Rim if at all possible.' Naruto thought and said, "List the planets in order of closeness to the Outer-Rim Territories and on more heavily traveled space routes."

Looking over the top ten planets on the list, one instantly jumped out at Naruto. 'Naboo.' He read to himself and tried to remember where he had heard that before and why it was so familiar. 'Sidious is from Naboo and is now Senator for the entire Chommell Sector.' he remembered and began thinking perhaps he should skip that planet as it would be too dangerous.

However, he was curious to see what kind of planet it was and the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to go. 'If Sidious can hide under the nose of the Jedi, I'm sure we can hide on Naboo. Besides, if he's the Senator for the sector, then he spends most of his time on Coruscant and not on that planet. Master Plagueis also mentioned that Sidious disliked his home planet.' He thought and decided it couldn't hurt to just go and look. If there were no prospects that could provide them with a safe place to stay and could be purchased for a reasonable amount of the money he had found in Jabba's vault on the Star Jewel, then the could return and wait for Plagueis. Naboo was close enough that it would only take about twenty minutes to get there.

x-x

Entering the Naboo System, Naruto piloted the small shuttle closer to the third planet of the system. He thought their ship had been picked up by whatever scanners and sensor system the inhabitants were using but they had yet to be hailed or asked to declare their intentions. Circumventing one of the planet's moons, a light began flashing on the main controls and Naruto answered. With a few lies, their shuttle was cleared to land at Theed Stpaceport and an approach trajectory was given to them. Since they were expected to follow the path that was calculated for them, Naruto didn't stray and kept the course.

As the small ship pierced into the atmosphere of the green and blue planet, the clouds which had been blocking some of their direct view were pushed aside and revealed a large city on a plateau. The detailed architecture of the city became more visible the closer they got with many green capped buildings and unique designs. Large buildings were spaced slightly apart from each other and the entire landscape did not seem like any city Naruto had pictured in his mind before they arrived. Trees grew between the buildings and movement of people soon could be distinguished on the roads and walkways. Despite the crowded cockpit, as three others began pushing forward between the gap of the pilot and co-pilot seats to get a better view, Naruto and HK took the ship to the designated landing site.

Though very impressed with the beautiful buildings, Naruto also kept an eye out for gun emplacements or any other possible threats. He was glad that they hadn't tried to sneak in because they passed a rather large hangar from which squadron of yellow and chrome starfighters were parked. The shuttle they were in had only a twin blaster cannon at the front and it was too slow and cumbersome to even think about outmaneuvering the swift looking fighters.

Bringing the ship down to land at a starport situated at the base of the plateau, Naruto powered down the shuttle while the others moved for the loading ramp at the very back of the spacecraft. As they prepared to disembark, Naruto looked over his gear and tried to determine what would be best to take. He didn't have a change of clothes and had been wearing the same outfit for over two days. The events of Tatooine did not help the matter as his pants had blaster holes and his cloak as well as shirt and armorweave body glove were missing portions or stained with blood. As such, he decided not to wear the armorweave and looking to his trusty cloak, he decided to leave that as well.

While passing over part of the city, they were low enough to see that none of the citizens were wearing any black clothing or cloaks. Most were dressed in colorful garb but not a single person wore a cloak. Frowning at the holes in his pants, he decided not to worry about it. Glancing to his sword, blaster, and ninja pouches, Naruto contemplated what he would need. While walking around with a sword was perfectly alright on most of the planets they had visited up until that point, it didn't seem prudent on a planet with such low crime. Taking the pouches, he left the blaster and hesitated with the sword. With the seal on his arm damaged, there was no other place to hide it or at least he hadn't created any other seals and didn't have his sealing supplies with him.

Taking a deep breath, and against his better judgment, he left the sword sitting with on top of his cloak. Turning to the rest of their group, he found HK holding a blaster rifle and frowned before saying, "We aren't taking any weapons. Leave it." Swearing that the droid twitched in response before setting down the weapon, he eyed HK for a moment longer before then looking to the others. Juugo was dressed in very plain clothes, which were quite dirty from their travels and the girls were still wearing their outfits from Jabba's Palace with cloaks to cover them.

Sighing, Naruto said, "I'll go and find something for all of you." As he headed down the ramp, he met a customs official that had come to welcome them to Theed and inquire about their visit. It only took a brief mind trick to fool the uniformed man.

x-x

Walking the streets of Theed in all new clothing, Naruto felt rather out of place and could tell that the others did as well. While not giving off feelings of great wealth or nobility, the city of Theed certainly presented a mid to upper-class feel with extremely clean buildings, stone roads and happy people whose presence they didn't seem to bother or affect in any way. Such an atmosphere and aesthetic buildings were very strange things for all of them. Ann and Tann were former slaves and while not originally from Tatooine, their native planet of Ryloth did not have many cities, mostly sporadic villages and living areas. Konoha had interesting buildings but most were simple structures and not all that grand in comparison; the roads were also dirt. Spending a portion of his life in an underground cell, Juugo was quite out of his element as well.

'I have no clue where to go in order to find property.' Admitted Naruto as he looked around and wondered if he should ask someone on the street or find someplace a little quieter. The decision on what to do next was made for all the non-droid members in the group as a wonderful smell wafted through the air and caught their attention. With a loud and embarrassing growl from Naruto's stomach, a near unanimous decision was made to stop to eat.

x-x

Back on Tatooine

x-x

Approaching the Vulture, Plagueis slowed down the skiff and positioned the repulsorlift vehicle near the ship's loading lift. With a flick of his wrist, the lift began descending for them to get on. The trip from Glass Mountain had been uneventful, 'Likely because everyone is focused on Jabba's Townhouse and Palace.' Thought Plagueis as he took the scroll with the funeral urns in hand and decided to keep it close. He had no idea what he was going to do with them as despite being priceless, someone would have to put a price on them in order for them to be sold.

'An auction would fetch a good price but I've been out of touch with the shadowy auctions where items of this type will always find a buyer. Flooding the market with multiple urns will also draw much suspicion and lower the price. I'll either have to sell or auction them one at a time and wait a good length between, or I could use them as valuable bargaining chips.' Reasoned the Sith Lord as he waited on the lift with Karin while the Demon Brothers loaded the Hutt paraphernalia from the skiff.

Plagueis guessed that for the near future, the urns would becoming friendly with the Tessents as they waited to become useful in their plans. 'Now that we have some finance and bartering items besides the weapons, I can turn my attention back to my Apprentice.' thought the Sith Lord as he knew that despite discovering that his experiment was a success, it was extremely important to determine what his Apprentice was up to. The adventures in the Outer-Rim would certainly need to come to an end before they continue to attract the wrong attention or create a major problem. The death of such an influential Hutt would no doubt attract far too much attention and he only hoped that the ruse of feigning death would keep his student's image from being distributed on wanted posters throughout the Galaxy.

'It is not yet time to create events that garner the notice of the Republic, Jedi and my Apprentice. It will be a few more years before we can start testing the waters and seeing how powerful our opposition's sensing and precognitive abilities are. The last thing we need is for him to start hiring individuals to search the Galaxy for us or even worse, to use the Jedi to do it for him. For now, I will go back to where this extreme detour in my life, and afterlife, began.' Concluded Plagueis as the Demon Brothers finished and he activated the lift controls.

x-x

Naboo, Theed Palace Complex

x-x

Naruto exhaled heavily and wanted to complain about his overly full stomach but it was his own fault for eating so much. He ordered multiple meals in case he didn't like the food but actually found that everything tasted quite good. After that, he had gathered some information from the waitress and proceeded on his own while giving the others some spending money. Walking through a portion of Theed Palace, Naruto marveled at the grandeur of the building's interior, the high ceilings and tall columns. It made the Hokage Tower and the Fire Lord's Palace look like hovels. He wasn't even in the main building where the monarchy lived but it still looked incredibly nice and well cared for.

Heading for the Property Management and Tax Department, he followed the directions he had been given and tried not to make eye contact or look suspicious to the Palace security guards. He had learned that while many different reality companies could help him find a place to stay, they didn't have anything he was truly interested in. A large apartment or house in the city was not what he was after. Even something just outside the city was questionable at best for a good hideout and if he was honest with himself, he didn't want to stay in a cave or tunnel system again either.

A property that was unknown by the majority of the planet and that was either abandoned and nearly forgotten about, the loan was defaulted on, or was seized for some reason. That was what what he had in mind. Getting something for a fraction of the actual sell price was always best. It turned out that claim of these type of properties were turned over to the throne, until such time as something was done with them; whether sale, auction, or demolition. The only problem with the plan was that Naboo was doing quite well. The planet did not appear to be suffering economically and he had a feeling that properties such as the one he was after, may be few and far between.

To him, it didn't matter if it required a little work, as long as it was standing, isolated, and something that he could work with. It would also be helpful if it had enough rooms for each of them to get one as well as work-areas for himself, Kabuto, and Plagueis, in addition to many other features and amenities. 'I guess I really do have a long list of necessities.' He mused and the more he went over everything in his mind, the more he believed that Naboo would not have such a building or property.

Turning a corner, he found the office that he was after. Entering the room, he came to a bench and sat while he waited for the person ahead of him. For being in charge of most of the planet, the office was not very large, with several receptionists and droid workers but few other people. This unfortunately only furthered his earlier belief about not being able to find anything. Realizing that the person ahead of him was having more of a long personal conversation instead of inquiry or problem, Naruto decided to take some action and not wait patiently for them to finish. Throwing out his hand, he flung an imaginary object which went unnoticed by everyone else but caught the attention of the conversing pair. With their chat completely stalled by the distraction, and finding nothing the matter in the direction that Naruto had thrown toward, they turned back but found very little to say, slightly confused by what had happened. Saying their goodbyes, it was his turn and Naruto walked up to the receptionist.

They both smiled at each other but secretly each seemed to know that they probably weren't going to get along. The woman began with an opening list of possibilities for his visit, "Have you come to..." Naruto raised his eyebrow slightly as he listened to the choices and noted that the particular sentence was likely something that the woman had repeated over and over again, so much so that the words had become dull to her and beyond repetitive, "...or claim an ancestral home." She finished and Naruto perked up at the last one.

"Claim an ancestral home?" He blurted and wasn't sure himself if it had been a question or an actual statement of what he wanted. The receptionist looked quite surprised, which only emphasized in Naruto's mind that few if any ever chose that particular item of the other six listed. "And I suppose you have the correct identification, genealogy records, citizenship, certificates, and the proper forms, filled out in triplicate to prove that claim?" Demanded the woman with a skeptical look at his utterance.

Arriving quickly at a metaphorical crossroad, Naruto decided to take the path that continued on instead of retreating. Though frozen for a second, he quickly replied "I've already shown them to you." The use of the mind trick was more out of self-preservation and habit than planning as he found himself a bit overwhelmed with the materials she had asked for. The woman looked confused for a second before shaking it off and agreeing with him, "I see, you've already shown them to me." Accessing the terminal in front of her, she suddenly stopped and asked, "I'm sorry, what property and name was it again?"

Thinking fast and knowing he was probably in over his head, Naruto decided to try and get her to decide for him, "When I use the words, isolated, extravagant, good condition, and no known heirs to inherit, a property comes to your mind." Naruto said as he began to confuse and try to extract the information he was after. "What is that property?"

"The Rudshar Estate." The woman answered and soon came out of her daze as she waited expectantly for him to answer, "The Rudshar Estate." Repeated Naruto with a nervous smile and the woman nodded before looking through her records. Finding the information, she stepped away from her station and moved to back room, out of sight.

Having no idea what he had just claimed, Naruto calmed himself from panicking as he continued through the process of stealing...claiming property. He contemplated leaving but knew it would look worse if he left than if he stayed and finished. 'What I am even doing?' He thought but found no good way to stop the momentum that he had built up towards acquiring a hideout. 'Could I just say it was all a mistake and try to make her forget everything with mind tricks?' He wondered but was distracted by her return.

The receptionist walked back to her seat and opened a small box using her thumbprint on a small scanner built into the box. The top of the box opened and she removed a thin key card, swiping it on a device on her computer console. Looking over something on her screen, she nodded and set the key card down on her desk. Going back to the small box, she removed a second object which Naruto identified as a data chip. Taking out a datapad, she input the small memory device into a slot and then looked over the displayed information, checking for accuracy and making sure everything was in order.

When finished, she handed the device over to Naruto, and asked, "Please sign and provide your print to complete the transferal." Taking the datapad and trying not to look nervous or suspicious, Naruto looked at the screen and found it displaying a Title for the estate, legal jargon, coordinates of the estate, and finally at the very bottom, a place for a signature and presumably thumbprint. Knowing he had definitely gotten in way over his head, Naruto pretended to read through the document as tried to determine what to do next. Originally he had only gone to look for properties, 'I didn't even bring any money to buy anything. I was just going to look and now I'm accepting ownership of a place I've never even seen and I'll be leaving a digital trace of it all.' He thought, concerned at the situation he was in but knew that he had created an opportunity. 'Why am I doing all of this and going so far?' He wondered and it suddenly hit him that Juugo had been right.

The purpose of going to Naboo was to look for some place to call a 'home' and now he was right about close the deal. He wanted a home or at least some place that was safe to come back too between traveling or whatever else he was doing. He wasn't just acting without a plan, he was actively pushing to seal the deal and acquire a property. It seemed that the idea of a place of his own, or a place for the group, was more important that what it actually looked like. Setting aside the bigger problem what would happen when he told Plagueis of what he had done, there was the problem of the signature. Obviously he was transferring it to himself, but by what name was he going to transfer it too? There was no way he would pick his given name and since it was the Rudshar Estate, he wondered if he should use that surname. 'No just pick one name at random, and not Rasen this time.' He decided and his hand began signing right before his thumb touched the reader, providing his print.

Handing it back to the receptionist before he even realized what he had written, Naruto waited agonizing moments while she looked it over. "Everything looks to be in order... Menma." She said as she read off the name on the Title and then began finalizing the transfer on her computer.

'Of all the names I could have chosen, Menma? Did it have to be a Ramen topping? Why do I feel like I was the one who was robbed?' Thought Naruto as he regretted the spontaneous choice. He only had to wait a few moments before the receptionist was finished and she handed him the datachip as well as the key card. "The chip has the deed information as well as the transferal of ownership, don't lose it. The key card will get you past the locks. If there are any problems, please let us know and enjoy your ancestral property." She said with a smile a little nicer than when they first met.

"Of course. Thank you." Naruto responded and before he left and backtracked through the Palace.

x-x

Walking with a slightly aimless or dazed look, Naruto was rather easy to spot amongst the more purposeful people of Naboo. He reached Juugo and the girls without really registering it. 'I now own property.' He tried to convince himself of the fact but the significance had not yet set in and at that point, all he had was a datachip with a digital document and a key card.

Stopping near the three, he found them looking through a shop window and it took almost a minute before one of them noticed him. "You're back." Noticed one of the girls and Naruto absently nodded. His lackluster response and the general look about him did not go unnoticed by the three. Juugo decided to say something and try to find out what was the matter, "Did you not find anything."

"I now own an estate." Naruto revealed but his response made them think that perhaps he was unsure about whether or not that statement was true. He had simply looked at them while stating it plainly. "I thought you were just going to look?" Asked Juugo with quite a bit of surprise. "Stuff happened, and I ended up with an estate." Reiterated Naruto, despite knowing that the statement wasn't completely true. He had taken advantage of an opportunity that presented itself and did everything he could to exploit it.

"Is that not a good thing?" Inquired Ann as a result of Naruto's lackluster enthusiasm over such a big event and Naruto simply shrugged in response. "What's it look like?" Aked Tann and Naruto responded both simply and truthfully, "No idea." All three were slightly surprised and confused that he had purchased a property without even looking at it but decided not to say anything.

"So I guess we're staying or at least long enough to see this place before heading back?" Asked Juugo for confirmation and when Naruto nodded, he found himself pleased at the prospect of coming back to Naboo. From just what he'd seen of the city, it was a very interesting and beautiful place, surpassing everywhere else they'd visited by far. The twins were also happy at the prospect of staying. 'Well I guess it's good they're all happy.' Naruto thought but couldn't be sure how long that would last. He had yet to tell Plagueis any of his intentions or actions and with the way they had left Tatooine, as well as the mistakes made along the way, he did not see his Master's response as being positive or painless. Finally realizing the absent member, Naruto asked, "Where's HK?"

"He found nothing of interest and went back to the ship." Reported Juugo and for a second, Naruto had the sudden thought that perhaps the droid had left in their ship but he soon reconsidered the thought considering the type of planet that Naboo was. 'There really isn't anything that would interest him here. Hopefully the ships still there.' He thought and if he had to guess, he would say that it still was.

Looking to the twins, Naruto said, "Why don't you two head back to the ship and we'll meet you there." They both looked to each other and back at him. Just the look alone said that they knew something was up and that he wanted to talk with Juugo alone. Though Naruto could feel they were skeptical of him, he also felt that they put great trust in Juugo and headed back to the ship without saying another word. Juugo immediately looked to him and Naruto could tell that the slightly naïve teen did not have as much understanding of his statement as the two former slaves.

"They shouldn't come back with us. We should part ways before heading back to the Star Jewel." Naruto clearly stated as he and Juugo walked together a good distance behind the twins. "What!?" Juugo demanded in more of a surprised than angry tone. Keeping his tone firm, Naruto reiterated, "They don't have to leave the planet and you don't have to cut all ties with them but it would be best for them not to come back with us."

Seeing that Juugo was not in agreement or simply unable to understand his train of though, Naruto elaborated in a hushed but serious voice, "Yesterday we got messed up in what was supposed to be a simple negotiation. I ended up with a bounty on my head. We freed two slaves who now know quite a bit about us, especially given how much you've been talking with them. I detonated a bomb, we stormed a Hutt stronghold, and you killed that very influential and powerful Hutt. A bounty hunter tried to kill us and is still likely alive, perhaps even still looking for us. To make matters worse, we left Tatooine flying a stolen ship in a very showy manner. Now I've led us away from the rendezvous and secured property on Naboo, which in retrospect may not have been a very good decision. I honestly don't know anymore and from a certain point of view, I seem to be losing my ability to think straight. It would be best if they weren't around when we next see Master Plagueis and he asks us to explain ourselves."

Slightly wide eyed at the hushed abbreviation of the past two days for them, Juugo decided that he didn't like what Naruto was saying. "Why are you so concerned about how Plagueis is going to react?" Before Naruto could even respond to the surprising question, Juugo added, "We did what we had to do and he wasn't even there, nor did he help us when you called him for help at Jabba's Palace. Why do we need to explain ourselves to him? I don't think we did anything wrong and if he has a problem with that, then that's tough. I'm not going to just tell both Ann and Tann to leave. They don't have any money, possessions, or place to go. I seem to remember both of them helping when you were injured, both times. Have you forgotten that? What about what they want and what about what I want?"

Rather stunned at Juugo's outburst and the things that were said, Naruto remained quiet in contemplation as they soundlessly headed back to the edge of the city and to the lift that would take them down to the cities starport on the plains below. 'Why am I so concerned?' He kept thinking but he really didn't have much of an answer. He was supposed to meet his teachers expectations and had been trained not to fail, he didn't want to fail, but things had gotten out of hand.

Arriving at the spaceport level, they moved across the long and wide durasteel surface of the port to their ship. The ramp was already down and the two walked up and moved inside the craft with Naruto going to the pilot's seat. Sitting down and remaining silent, he pulled out the datachip and turned to HK, "There's coordinates in the documents on this chip, I'd like to go there."

Perhaps out of intrigue or just believing it might cure his boredom, HK readily took the datachip and turned his left forearm over. Touching a part of the rust colored metal panel that protected the underside of his forearm, the panel opened and revealed several slots and other ports. Choosing one of the ports, HK connected the datachip and reviewed the file. After aquiring the coordinates, Naruto watched as the droid activated the ship's sensor array and began determining the location.

'I didn't know that connection ports were underneath that panel.' Thought Naruto as he watched the assassin droid processing the information and plotting the best course to the estate. Turning to him, HK said, "Notification: These coordinates are not far away from our current location, less than thirty kilometers. If this is an assault or infiltration mission, I would advise renting a speeder instead of taking this ship." Naruto quirked an eyebrow but decided not inform the droid that it wasn't a mission they were going on.

x-x

The wind whipped through his hair as the landspeeder cruised just a few feet above the ground but at high speeds. 'I forgot how much I like using a speeder.' Naruto thought and moved off the path that had taken them north from Theed and made his own course through the trees and around the mountains. Glancing back at the passengers, Naruto found that the girls were enjoying the nice ride while Juugo seemed slightly petrified, possibly because they were going rather fast and didn't have a protective canopy like in the ship. HK was sitting in the front while the other three occupied the backseat of the vehicle. Earlier, HK had tampered with the tracer beacon which was apparently easy to confuse and thus their actual destination was obscured.

Turning to HK, the droid understood what Naruto wanted and it pointed in the direction that they should take. He could have used the vessels on-board computer to plot the course but decided against it and had HK plot it for him while he memorized the journey as they went. Passing good sized forests full of short trees with green leaves and moving over a river of crystal clear water, Naruto couldn't prevent a small smile form on his face. It was an aesthetically pleasing planet and the only negative thoughts he had concerned the estate.

'Since it's called an estate, it should have enough rooms. It better have enough rooms.' He thought but in truth, he had no idea what it would be. The term estate could be used to describe any number of different combinations of land and buildings and that was on Ibonihs. He had no idea if the word 'estate' meant the same things on Naboo. Removing the thoughts from his mind, he focused solely on piloting the speeder.

Entering into a valley and following a river, HK motioned up ahead, "Notification: We are approaching the designated coordinates." Naruto took the information and acted by slowing the speeder down. He wasn't trying to make the reveal more dramatic but just wanted to make sure that they could approach without garnering much notice. There was no telling if he had neighbors or the much smaller chance that someone was currently using the building. The river soon widened into a long but narrow lake and the father they moved towards their destination, the wider the lake became. Snow capped mountains were on both sides of them in the distance and Naruto was reminded of Spring Country.

Traveling farther down the lake, a shout came from the backseat as Ann claimed that she had spotted something above the trees but when everyone looked, they couldn't see anything above the treeline or through the leaves. Rounding what was likely the final bend before the estate came into view, Naruto slowed down a bit more and crept the vehicle forward next to the tall trees to see what was ahead of them.

Leaning forward in their seats to get a better look as whatever it was that he had gotten, Naruto's hopes were dashed aside as something came into view. It was a shack or boat house that looked rather dilapidated, with a partially sunken dock stretching out about ten meters into the lake. The vehicle continued to move out from the trees as Naruto was distracted enough that he didn't stop.

Before anyone could say anything, stone came into view that was similar in color to what was used throughout Theed. The side of building kept growing, much faster vertically until an entire tower came into full view. Jaws dropped as the magnificent looking building made them completely forget about the old shack that stood just in front of it. It had the distinctive look of a Naboo building, with green capped roofing and similar building materials but it stood apart from buildgins in Theed because it was taller than it was wide. Most structures in Theed were more uniform and not towers. Naruto estimated it was about a hundred meters tall, and wider at the bottom than at the top, having an almost conical shape to it.

The structure had quite a few windows and multiple rounded green roof caps as well as many semi-circle turrets that were partially absorbed by the single tall structure. The turrets all ended at different heights and appeared to be spaced around the entire structure, with none but the very top one providing a completely panoramic view but only partial view of the surroundings. The structure also seemed less refined than the ones in Theed or at least less polished on the outside and it had almost a sandcastle-like quality to it.

Completely uncontrolled, the speeder continued to move until Naruto realized that they were steadily moving across the entire lake. Their heads had continued to turn to the right and keep the constant stare going on the castle that surprised all of them. Moving the speeder around to face the building, Naruto increased speed and made for the shack. The wooden structure was large enough to store the speeder in until they needed it again and they disembarked while continuing to stare at the estate.

"So this is what they call an estate?" Asked Juugo to no one in particular and Naruto added in a soft voice, "It's more like a castle. Forget getting your own rooms, we could each have our own floor. It must be fifteen to twenty stories tall, depending on how high the ceilings are." Moving closer to the building, the height was slightly staggering from so close and given the steep sides. Naruto thought it must have been nearly as tall as the Hokage monument. Turning to look at Ann, he thought, 'She probably did see the top of it above the trees.'

Deciding to take a look completely around the estate before going in, Naruto moved first and walked partially around the building, coming to a set of stairs as he came close to the lake edge. Moving up them, he found that the building was situated against the lake with a large uncovered balcony or deck area made entirely of stone that overlooked the lake and mountains in the distance. Looking back at the building, he found that it was made to be able to walk right into the first floor from the 'deck' but transparasteel glass panels were blocking the way while giving tantalizing glimpses inside. Presumably they were to weatherize or at least keep things out when the building was not in use or during the night.

Continuing his journey, Naruto walked along the the stone raining as the deck became narrower until it became a stone walkway and underneath a very interesting archway that was attached to the building and part of the supporting structure. Passing a pair of large double doors on his right, presumably through which the castle could be accessed, he continued and soon found himself at the back of the building. His eyes looked over the lake as it continued and eventually narrowed into thick branching rivers that continued off into an expanse of rolling grassy plains with a herd of some kind of animal in the distance. The mountainous area apparently ended right after the building and all he could see was the what was known as the Western Great Grass Plains.

Looking away from the plains, he found that behind the building was a good sized hangar for shuttles and other craft. It was built with one side having three large open archways for three large craft and a flat landing pad in front. The opposite side of the hangar was made of large windows, through which he could see the trees. Their shuttle could fit inside one of the arched landing areas as could the Vulture, if they squeezed it in, and several craft could fit on the landing pad, but certainly not the Star Jewel. Walking out on the landing pad, Naruto looked up at the back of the castle before continuing through the hangar and out an open archway to stairs that led him back onto green grass. Underneath the hangar on the opposite side appeared to be arched storage areas for speeders and other craft and he noticed an old trail that led off presumably into the woods, though he couldn't be sure what purpose it served or where it actually went.

Remembering the view of the building from his entire course around it, Naruto couldn't find an area or vantage point where the building didn't look magnificent. Making his way back to the shack, he found HK looking through a blaster rifle scope and surveying the area, possibly looking for targets. Slightly confused, he asked, "I thought I asked you not to bring along blaster rifles?" Looking between the craft and HK he found himself wondering how the droid had managed to sneak the rifle aboard without him noticing.

"Correction: This is a sporting blaster rifle, perfectly legal on Naboo for the purposes of hunting 'game.' I purchased it with the spending credits you provided." Clarified the droid and Naruto noted the emphasis the droid put on the word 'game', most likely hinting that HK considered humanoids game as well. Deciding not to go further into it as the droid was probably right about laws concerning firearms, Naruto didn't say anything else about rifle. Fishing out the key card from his pocket, he looked to the large arched doorway and double doors ahead of him.

While he walked to it, the others soon came around the path that he had just taken and joined up, eager to get a look inside the castle. With a locking mechanism visible at the center of the double doors and clearly not an addition or part of the doors, Naruto found the small slide reader and his card was accepted as the magnetic lock disengaged. Removing the device from the doors, Naruto found a very old fashioned pair of round handles beneath. He noted the control panel to one side of the door but he could tell it didn't have power running to it. Taking both handles, he pulled the large doors open.

He was surprised to find that despite being heavy and solid, the doors opened with ease but before he could even take one step inside, HK moved past him with sporting rifle drawn and moved down the short dark hallway. 'Is he going to clear every room?' Naruto questioned but he decided it wasn't a bad idea. He couldn't feel any life-signs but he wasn't sure if he could detect all the way up to the uppermost floors. 'It would also give him something to do.' He concluded and let it go while taking his first step into his new castle.

x-x

Sitting in a large chair, Naruto soon sneezed as cloud of dust filled air floated off the old and obviously unused furniture. While the others were exploring the large and open first floor area, Naruto had created numerous clones that were climbing the staircases to get to the upper levels. He had waited until the others had left the immediate area so they would go unnoticed by the two Twi'leks.

Since the building had no power, the turbolifts weren't operational and neither were the lights or any controls but there was still enough sunlight coming through the windows to light up most of the building. It seemed the first floor was all about entryways and presentation. The openness and extravagance of the architecture was to show off the wealth of the owner to all those that entered the building. Several landscape paintings adorned the walls with many ornate support columns and a grand staircase that led to the turbolifts. In fact, just about every entrance to the building really led to the turbolifts which was why he thought that the ground floor was entirely for show.

Several sitting areas were set up but there was no living areas or kitchen with only a few bathrooms and storage rooms. He had also noted a staircase down to a lower level which Juugo and the twins had decided to explore. It all made him very curious about what the floors were like above him and he closed his eyes while connecting with his clones to see what they were seeing and guide both them and himself through exploring the building.

As the clones entered the areas above, Naruto found that the three floors above him were all created for hosting rather extravagant parties or at least entertaining a large number of guests. There was a ballroom with huge chandelier, a large kitchen with duplicates of every appliance, and a large dining area with long table and numerous chairs. The dining area had a great view and one room had an entire service area full of powered down service or butler droids. One of the three floors consisted entirely of guestrooms. Above this area, the rest of the building was dedicated solely to the owner.

The fifth floor contained a much smaller kitchen and dining area than the floors below as well as a lounge area and balcony with good view of the lake. The sixth floor was partially filled by a medical bay or really a medical center as it had much more than even the Star Jewel with an adjoining laboratory. The floor also had a good sized greenhouse and hydroponics room. Unfortunately, years or perhaps even decades of not being watered, cared for, or given artificial sunlight had killed off everything in those rooms. He wondered why he had such rooms and thought perhaps the owner was a scientist or just liked to grow his or her own food.

The sixth through ninth floors contained penthouse suites, four to each floor for a total of sixteen rooms. They were of vaying sizes but each with complete bathroom as well as walk-in closet space. All were fully furnished. The tenth floor as well as eleventh floor were both unfurnished as well as basically unfinished, being completely bare save for structural supports, making Naruto think that perhaps the previous owner never figured out what to put in those rooms. The twelfth through fourteenth floors were partially combined to provide a hangar, workshops, equipment area, and maintenance area for small to medium ships. There wasn't enough room on the hangar floor to fit the Vulture but the walls on either side had a row of storage alcoves for small courier vessels. In fact, the clones found six dusty ships waiting to be used.

On the top floor of the building was a covered and enclosed veranda that gave one of the most amazing panoramic views that Naruto and his clone had ever seen. It had more than one meeting room and at least one eating area as well as a balcony. Opening his eyes back on the ground floor, Naruto was again amazed at the building he had just acquired. It had the things he wanted and had many, many more features that he hadn't even thought about nor may he ever even need. Responding to a nearby noise, he heard Juugo and girls returning from the lower level, or levels because he wasn't sure what exactly was beneath them.

"There's an entire stocked wine cellar beneath us." Exclaimed Juugo and Tann added, "Not just a cellar, there's equipment and storage for an entire wine making operation." Thinking over the information, Naruto wondered if his property had a vineyard somewhere. 'A small greenhouse and hydroponics, the small couriers, and basement full of wine and means to make wine. It seems the Rudshar Estate used to be involved in the wine making business and possibly delivered their own brand to customers.' Surmised Naruto and the information was mildly amusing because he had never consumed a single alcoholic beverage and if what Juugo said was accurate, he now had more wine than he would ever need, 'And the means to make more, apparently.'

As his clones finished searching and encountered HK on the fourth floor, he had them tell the droid that he had already searched the rest and to come back down. Going over everything and sifting through all the information as his clones dispelled, he realized that despite getting an amazing castle, there was a large amount of work to do before it was ready to be lived in. 'The dust. The power issue. Making sure there is running water and working atmospheric controls.' And these were just the tip of the iceberg in order to get the building back into good working order.

'I really need to get my datapad back from the ship and write all this down.' He thought as he eventually gave up trying to organize and prioritize everything that needed to get done. A slight frown formed on his face as he realized that he was the most likely person that was going to be doing all the rehabilitation work. 'At least I have clones. Thank the Force for the clones.'

When he thought about the fact that he just acquired the castle around him, he still had trouble explaining what emotions he was feeling. The goose bumps had not left his arms for quite some time, 'It's all just so surreal. I went from a shitty apartment in Konoha to...this.'

Turning to the others as they went to go look upstairs, Naruto's eyes widened and he looked to his watch to find out what time it was. To make matters worse, he realized that he had no idea what time they arrived and therefore didn't know how long they had spent on Naboo. 'We need to get to the shuttle and head back to the planet.' He realized and called for the others.