Chapter 14

Frosty Reception

"Here you go."

Celeste looked up and smiled as she saw a bowl of food and a glass of milk placed in front of her. She was starving. Her stomach growled from just gaining the scent of the food and the moment she took the first bite she had to forcibly stop herself from devouring it like a ravenous beast. She ate fast though, ignoring the bemused look she was getting from her fellow Jedi Knight, Aayla, and the pilot, Crys. Within minutes she had an empty plate and had downed her milk in one go.

"You were hungry I'm guessing?" Crys asked as she took a bite of her meat.

Celeste fell back into her chair, smiling a little in embarrassment, "Starving, thank you for the meal."

"You're welcome," Aayla replied before taking a bite of her own food.

Aayla thought as they ate, studying Celeste absently. The way she moved echoed her life, how she held herself told Aayla right away that she was a soldier, someone who had fought her fair share of battles and suffered because of it. Her mental strength spoke volumes, fighting for control of her mind against the spirit of a deceased Sith Lord and only now breaking down under the pressure said that she was stronger than most. But that strength could also lead to stubbornness. She tried to put on an act after her breakdown, tried to keep an air of strength, calmness and control.

It wasn't until after she spoke with Naruto that her demeanour changed, and for the better. Aayla could no longer sense that waning mental control that was stubbornly kept in place, instead it seemed that those failing mental defences had been cast aside and she allowed herself to open up just a little to those around her. The young Jedi once again had to wonder how her friend was capable of this. Getting people to open up and express their inner thoughts was not an ability to laugh at.

"What's wrong?"

Her voice roused Aayla from her thoughts, and she looked over to an expectant Celeste with an apologetic expression. She had been starring, she realised. "I apologise."

Morne smiled wryly, "For wanting to ask questions?"

Aayla turned the question in her mind for a moment, aware that Crys seemed to be torn between staying and going. "I just want to know what the Jedi was like during your time."

"What about your history books?" Celeste asked.

"A lot of the simple information was lost over the centuries, and I would just like to hear what the Jedi were like from someone who has been there." Aayla replied.

Crys watched on as the two Jedi danced around the issue, knowing that she was intrigued and interested in what the two Jedi were talking about, but wondering whether she should remain and hear it or allow the two privacy to talk about their Orders ancient past. "I can leave if you want?"

"No, that's alright Crys," Aayla waved her off.

Morne laughed lightly, "You make it sound like we're talking about the Orders dirty little secrets Mrs. Pilot."

Crys pouted, but didn't feel insulted by the Jedi's laughter, if anything she felt relieved that Celeste seemed to be getting over her spell of shellshock. Until she met Aayla and Dass she had thought that the Jedi were completely immune against such things as mental trauma. She believed that they were uncaring and unemotional mages and sorcerers living in their ivory towers on Coruscant, who kidnapped children and forced their will upon the Republic. It sounded like a cynical conspiracy theory, Crys knew that, but it was one that with the outbreak of the Clone Wars became almost like rhetoric in some parts of the galaxy.

"Anyway, what we were like," Morne frowned as she thought, trying to remember memories which were probably hazy at best. "Well we were recovering from the last war with the Sith Empire, so our numbers were pretty small. A few well known families had been wiped out-"

"Families?" Crys asked, before looking apologetic for cutting her off midsentence.

Celeste frowned, "Why should that be a surprise."

"The Jedi don't have families," the pilot replied.

"What do you mean we don't have families," Celeste sounded a little insulted by the comment. "Do you think we all just magically appear from holes in the ground?"

"No,"

"That's not what she meant," Aayla spoke up before looking over at her fellow Jedi. "Crys means that the Jedi do not associate with their families, one of the mandates of the Jedi Order is that all potential emotional bonds are cut off. We all know that we had families, but we were usually separated from our birth parents if that was what they wished."

Celeste looked a little surprised by this, almost disbelieving. "You're joking."

"No, it's one of our main mandates when it comes to recruitment. If the parents agree then we take potential Jedi initiates in and train them, cutting them off from all ties outside of the Order." Aayla explained.

Celeste snorted, still thinking it was a joke, but the seriousness on both of her host's faces soon told her otherwise. Soon the smile gave way to a serious expression. "Force preserve me you're not joking."

"You mean it wasn't like that in your day?" Crys asked.

"You bet your pretty ass it wasn't." Celeste replied, the slightly pieces of pure disbelief and near outrage filtering into her voice. "Sure we were told to watch our emotions, trained into how to deal with it, but we didn't outright ban Jedi from falling in love and getting married. By my time there were hundreds of families of all sizes in the order, some had been in service for nearly thirty generations or more, sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, you name it."

Aayla was deep in thought as Celeste continued on to a steadily more interested Crys, thinking. If she had been born during that timeline then her feelings for Naruto would have not been so taboo. She quickly berated herself; it was a waste of time dwelling on impossible what ifs.

"So you were a member of one of these families?"

"No, I was an orphan." Celeste replied, beginning to settle down a bit but Aayla could tell by the look in her eyes that she was far from completely settled down. "There were plenty of Jedi who didn't hail from one of the families, many were born from non-force sensitive parents, others were orphans but we never cut them off from their families."

"Then what could have happened to the Jedi to make them take such a drastic step." Crys asked.

"I have no idea," Celeste replied. "But I can tell you that that might have contributed somewhat to their image, if what you told me was widespread. It might have contributed to their strength as well, statistically Jedi born from force-strong families were usually stronger force users than those who were not. There were only a few exceptions to this and they were pretty few and far between."

"So back in your day Jedi families were encouraged?" Aayla asked.

"You bet they were." Celeste replied resolutely and without hesitation. She then looked over at Aayla. "So what's your story, are you an orphan?"

"More or less," Aayla replied. "I only remember having an uncle, and he was going to sell me at the slave auctions on Ryloath. I was saved by the Jedi at the last moment. They found me to be strong in the force and I was brought to the temple."

Celeste nodded her head. "That was quite common in my time."

"You were a slave," Crys asked softly.

Aayla nodded, "Mm, quite a few Jedi were."

"And you're uncle was going to sell you?" she sounded angry now. The young woman felt touched.

"It's a common practise on Ryloath," Aayla shrugged. "It was mainly used to protect our people from pirates when we first freed ourselves from the Hutts, but over the millennia it became imbedded in our culture. I don't like it, in fact I hate it, but there was only so much I could do."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Celeste sighed tiredly. "I had hoped that the Republic would have cracked down on this by now."

"Well the Republic didn't really have much control of the Outer-rim." Crys answered for her. "Most of the systems out there were members of the Republic in name only, and there were many who completely ignored most of their obligations as members."

Both Celeste and Aayla heard the bitterness in her voice, but it was Celeste who decided to act upon it. She leaned forward, clasping her hands together on the metal table and looked Taanzer right in her brandy coloured eyes. "So what's your story?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what happened to you to make you so bitter," Celeste clarified. "Everyone on this ship seems to have come from a bad past, whether they'd be soldiers, slaves or those who were just at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Crys narrowed her eyes at Morne, "Why should I answer?"

"Because you know what happened to us," Morne replied without a moment of hesitation. "I was trapped in a box hounded by a Sith lords spirit for a few thousand years. Aayla was a freed slave turned Jedi who has just lost almost all of her friends and nearly her own life with this Order 66. It's only fair."

Crys thought for a moment before sighing. "Alright, I was born and raised on a small farming colony called Nadiem in the Outer-rim, married with a husband and a beautiful baby boy called Kennan. About five months into the beginning of the war my planet was attacked by the Separatists, for no other reason than that the Republic had chosen to defend it with a small contingent. My husband was killed, my home was destroyed and as I attempted to get off world with my son I knew that the chances of us both getting onto a transport was next to impossible."

She stopped, looking down at the table and holding her fork tightly. Celeste saw this and sighed. "I apologise, if the pain is still too fresh-"

"No, it's alright," Crys waved off abruptly, quickly flicking a tear from her cheek. "I was just reminiscing. Anyway while we were waiting a Jedi Healer was tending to my son, he got a deep cut on his arm and I had grabbed him as he was running by. He asked his Padawan to check my son's blood work and they found that he was force-sensitive. The Healer offered to take my son off world to Coruscant so that he could be trained to become a Jedi. At the time I thought it was a godsend, so I agreed and they got him on the first transport off the planet. The Separatists broke through the Republic line not long after that, the Healer was killed alongside every soldier left behind, and a lot of civilians were killed in the crossfire. I was lucky to make it out alive."

Crys stopped again, looking up at the ceiling. The two before her made no move to hurry her along. They simply waited. "After that my home was forgotten by the galaxy as the war spread. I moved from planet to planet, getting by however I could. Eventually I got into trouble with a crime lord. That was when the Captain saved me. He took me in, taught me to fly and offered me a job. I took it, feeling that if I kept flying I would one day be able to see my son again, but then Order 66 happened and I heard that all of the Jedi, including Padawans and younglings, were killed, ever since I've hated the Empire for killing my son and the Jedi for not being able to protect him."

"I'm sorry," Aayla replied as she looked down at the table, eyes faraway.

Crys snorted. "What are you apologising for. I don't like the Jedi, but that doesn't mean I have anything against you Aayla. You helped save Bomo's daughter from a monster and that makes you and Naruto alright in my book."

"That doesn't mean your son is dead though," Aayla pointed out, seeing Crys frown. "I mean it Crys, Dass knows a few safe havens. Maybe your son is on one of them."

"Thank you for saying Aayla," Crys replied with a small smile, a sad smile. "But I'm almost too scared to hope."

"Doesn't mean you have to give up though," Aayla replied with a sad smile of her own. "As long as there's hope anything is possible."

"Who said that?"

"Naruto,"

Crys laughed, "Sounds like something he'd say."

Celeste smiled as she leaned back in her chair then used the momentum to come forward. There was a soft thud as the front of her chair hit the decking, and then she spoke. "I don't think I'm going to rejoin the Jedi Order, even if it was still here."

"Why is that?"

"Too different from the one I remember," Celeste replied with a sad smile. "It would feel like joining a bad imitation to me. I just don't like the idea that I would be unable to fall in love, or be frowned upon for laughing or crying or showing any emotions, both positive and negative. I believe that you need to vent your emotions in some way and not bottle them up, because if you do then you will eventually explode."

"But you were a Jedi Shadow," Aayla pointed out. "You couldn't have that, at least not in the long term."

Celeste thought about this for a moment before leaning against her chairs back. "You're right, doesn't mean I wanted the whole Jedi Order to be like me though. To fall in love is not something to be frowned upon. It is to be cherished. To be able to love each other, to hold a son or a daughter or both in ones hands, to raise a family. That isn't something that should be taken away."

A small smile graced Aayla's lips, as what Celeste said reminded her of her former master. The Shadow caught onto this rather quickly and with a wry smile cupped her face in her hands. "Did I say something funny?"

"No," Aayla replied, smile not leaving. "You just remind me of someone."

"Was he important?"

"He was like a father to me." She replied. "He did exactly what you said, what the Jedi considered taboo. He fell in love, was going to quite the Jedi, and live a life with her."

The melancholy smile told the other two women exactly what they needed to know. It was Crys who said it. "He's dead isn't he?"

Aayla just nodded. She was sure she felt his death, mixed in with all the others when that horrid order was given out. Quinlan Vos, an undercover spy for the Republic, Khaleen Hentz, a spy for the Confederacy. Her master was supposed to infiltrate the highest echelons of the Separatists, Khaleen was sent in to keep tabs on him by the Separatists. They fell in love somewhere in the middle, Khaleen turned to the Republic. Quin told her, Tholme, and Tra'Saa that he was going to resign from the Order once the war was over. She had supported it, because she felt in her heart that it was the best thing for the both of them. Khaleen was pregnant at the time.

How long had that been?

How old was Khaleen's child? Five, or six months old by now

Aayla, I want you to be our child's godmother.

That last day the two of them were on Felucia.

It felt so much like a goodbye.

"What a dump."

"That's the point."

They were pretty far away from the centre of the district, bright multicoloured lights slowly replaced by dim and flickering counterparts. As the group walked down a labyrinth of passageways and side alleys Naruto felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand. This was a lawless part of the district. He felt it in his bones. Drunks and the homeless lined the streets, watching him with either tired or unnaturally sharp eyes.

"Watch what you say," Dass muttered into his ear, looking around quietly. "Chances are a few of these guys are thieves, snitches or aides to crime lords and bounty hunters."

Naruto simply nodded, now looking straight ahead and ignoring all those around him. Eventually they crossed to another side alley, and looking up Naruto could see the huge spires of towers and skyscrapers, some looking more than large enough to hide whole armies into. He guessed that these brokers they were going to visit were within one of these huge buildings.

Finally they reached an entrance, a large side door that looked more like a blast door. It looked capable of deflecting heavy blaster fire, and the small flap at head height only confirmed it as a security door. Dass raised a hand, stopping the procession and walked up to the door on his own. He raised his hand and knocked three times in quick succession, hesitated for a moment, then knocked another two times. There was a moment of silence, and then the flap slid opened.

"Yes?"

"I hear this is a refuge for the lost."

"That depends, what is the password?"

"I am a defender of peace."

"We are the defenders of the defenders."

"The force guides us all."

There was another moment of silence, followed by a thud as the flap was brought back into place and a snap as at least six different locks were unlocked. The door opened and Dass waved the rest of the group in before moving in himself. Schurk, Naruto and Bomo followed through the door, which closed and relocked itself after them. Beyond the door was a large room and at least six armed men, four humans of varying ages, one Zeltron and a three eyed Gran all wearing civilian clothes yet the weapons they carried and the way they held themselves told the group that they weren't dealing with amateurs.

"Hand over your weapons." Dass said as he handed one of the men his lightsaber and blaster. The three of them hesitated before reluctantly handing them over. Bomo growled as he handed over his blaster carbine, and Naruto gained a few surprised looks when he handed over not a weapon or two but a small armoury's worth of weapons including his duel blasters, weapon pouches and his katana.

Once they were all checked to see if there were any other weapons they were herded out of the small room into a long corridor, led by the man and flanked by the other five. Naruto was well aware of how tense these guys were, and how close their fingers were on the triggers of their blaster carbines. He mightn't be able to get out of here without a scratch. Took away most of his main Jutsu, and shadow clones would be useless in such an enclosed space.

They exited the corridor into perhaps the biggest space Naruto had ever seen indoors. The ceiling stretched up by at least a hundred meters, and the far wall was also quite far away. Ships were scattered across the deck of all shapes and sizes from yachts and transports to freighters and even a few old military vessels. In the centre of the deck were large scaffolding holding up what looked like the skeleton of a ship, a transport the same as the Uhumele, in the process of being stripped for spare parts. Men and women of all species, between forty and fifty strong, worked away on the ships. They were all armed, Naruto saw, and they all carried themselves like soldiers.

They were led across this bay, right to the centre, where they saw a table, plans stretched along its surface, and a few workers scrutinising over them. Naruto knew in the back of his mind that these three individuals, two men and a woman were the leaders of this operation. All three looked up as the group approached, and with a nod from the tallest man the woman rolled up the plans.

The woman was in her late thirties early forties, with black hair done up in a ponytail which showed the first signs of turning gray. Her skin was a greenish yellow with small diamond shaped tattoos decorating the bridge of her nose and her cheeks. She wore a black jumpsuit and leather boots. She kept herself physically fit and the blaster holstered to a utility belt told him that she knew how to use it.

The two men seemed parallels of each other. One was a head smaller than the other with black hair and a well trimmed beard. His skin was pale and his dark eyes were sharp. Like the woman he too wore a black jumpsuit, blaster holstered to a utility belt. His build was lithe, like a man who gained his muscle by work rather than through exercise. He also carried himself with an air of authority and deadly ability, the leader of this group perhaps.

The last man was tall, almost as tall as Naruto himself. He was also well muscled, like a man who could snap your neck with his little finger. He was bald and his skin was the colour of charcoal with dark eyes which had the dimness of a seasoned soldier. Eyes like Naruto once had after the Fourth Great Shinobi War. He wore the black jumpsuit, but the blaster holstered to his belt was larger and it looked like it could take a head off.

The man who led them walked up to the smaller of the two and whispered into his ear, as he informed him the leaders expression turned from a thoughtful frown to a small smile. He nodded, dismissed their escorts and walking up to Dass pulled off a perfect military salute. "It's good to see a Jedi alive out here, Master Jennir was it?"

"Yes," Dass replied, shaking the man's hand. "It's good to see some friendly faces this far out as well. I take it your Colonel Jack Cristo of the 10th Division?"

"Got it in one," the man replied, grinning. "I'm glad that we made a name for ourselves. So what can I do for you?"

"We have an Imperial ship that we need getting rid off for a suitable price, and I hear that this little business of yours is just what we need to do so." Dass replied. It had been decided early on that they would let Dass do all of the talking, with Schurk acting as his advisor while Bomo and Naruto simply acted as stone faced bodyguards.

"I see," Cristo nodded before turning to Naruto and the others. "And they are?"

"Friends with a common goal," Dass answered. "I hope they're presence won't cause too much of a fuss."

"As long as they don't pry into anything Master Jennir," Jack replied before waving the Jedi Master to the table. "So what kind of ship are you trying to sell?"

"It's an Imperial shuttle, Theta-class," Schurk spoke up for the first time.

Cristo whistled in appreciation, "That's a fine ship, seen the specs for her before everything went to hell. That'll get you between a hundred and fifty and two hundred thousand credits easy if you tried to sell it openly."

"Well for obvious reasons we can't sell her openly." Dass replied as the two of them sat down, "So how much are you offering? She would probably come in handy to sneak past Imperial patrols, has access and clearance codes recently installed."

The woman sat beside Jack, eyeing Dass and the rest of them with a serious gaze. "Meet Serena, probably far better at telling you price than I am. What do you think?"

She leaned forward, "Any damage to her?"

Dass shrugged, "Some carbon scoring from ricocheting laser fire and the tracking device has been wrecked though that might do the buyer better than if it was intact."

She nodded her head, "Can she be tracked?"

"I had my friends thoroughly check her for any additional tracking devices. She came up all clean." Dass answered, "Though you guys can do a follow up if you like."

Serena nodded her head before leaning over to the Colonel and whispering into his ear. He nodded once, then twice, before bringing his attention back to Dass. "We'll give you a hundred and twenty thousand for her, cash with no paper trail, and only if she's in as good shape as you say she is."

"I thought you said she was worth between a hundred and fifty and two hundred thousand in open market?" Schurk asked with a frown.

"That she is, but these are harsh times for all of us. It isn't just the Jedi who have suffered from the end of this force-awful war. Anyone associated with them is targeted with just as much zeal, and considering we Antarian Rangers were their support we've got impressive bounties on our heads as well." He looked up at the larger man, who nodded his head. "A hundred and twenty thousand is all that we can afford to give you right now."

"It's still good enough for you to buy a decent second hand starship," Serena piped up. "Plus remember that the shuttle your selling is more designed for atmospheric than long range space flight."

"She's right," Schurk muttered into Jennir's ear. "And a hundred and twenty thousand is still pretty good by back alley standards."

Jennir leaned back in his chair, sighed and finally nodded his head. He rummaged into his pocket and tossed a small tracking device over to the Colonel, who caught it deftly. "She's hidden in the asteroid belt. That tracker will lead your crew right to her."

Cristo smiled and nodded, handing the contractor to the larger man, "A pleasure doing business with you, Master Jennir. I'll have my boys get the money right now."

"Thank you," Dass bowed his head slightly in thanks. "If I may ask as well, is there any news on any other Jedi coming through this area?"

Jack looked right at Dass for a moment, and for a while Naruto could see a conflict of emotions in the Colonels eyes. "There is, a small group passed by here a few days ago. We're still in contact with them."

The eyes of the Jedi master gave him away, hope. "You're sure?"

"I'm positive," Jack replied. "I can contact them and tell them you're here, perhaps set up a rendezvous and-"

Anymore words were silenced by the blast of blaster fire, a bolt of crimson slamming into the big man's chest and sending him onto his back, unmoving. More blaster fire followed, one hitting Serena in the shoulder and forcing her to spin onto her back. Jack overturned the table, grabbing Serena and dragging her behind it as Naruto, Bomo, Schurk and Dass made a rush to cover. They jumped and dived behind a pile of equipment and reached for the empty spaces where their blasters would have been.

Naruto took the chance to look over, noticing that the attackers were firing from places of height, walkways and scaffolding. At least five bodies were scattered across the floor, and of those two were still moving. One of them was a Rodian, attempting to crawl for cover, and the other, a human woman, lying on her side, holding onto a wound in her abdomen, moaning in pain.

"I'm starting to wish for our weapons boss," Bomo called over the din of blaster fire.

"Keep your frills on Bomo," Naruto called as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a small scroll. "I'm working on it."

"I thought you took care of them!" Schurk yelled.

"I did!" Naruto shot back in agitation.

The Antarian Rangers and workers had mostly found cover, drawn blasters, and proceeded to return fire upon their attackers. Volleys of blaster fire peppered the walkways high above, but the durasteel of the decking and the railing coverings would not yield to the superheated blaster bolts. Naruto pulled off the scrolls seal with his teeth, opened it across the ground, placed his hand on the release seal and concentrated some chakra into it, a simple word and a puff of smoke showed what was within the scroll.

Weapons

A nice laid out group of weapons ranging from blaster pistols to carbines to rifles to even a lightsaber which Naruto picked up and tossed to Dass, "Regards from Aayla."

"Naruto, I love you man." Bomo cried as he picked up a carbine and checked its magazine. "Where did all this come from?"

"Felucia," Naruto replied with a shrug as he picked up a blaster rifle and checked it over. "Courtesy of the 327th Star Corps, you like?"

"I like a lot," Bomo nodded enthusiastically. "Say what you want about the Clones but at least their equipment is state of the art!"

"Indeed," Naruto agreed before looking over at Schurk who was hauling up a heavy repeating blaster onto the crates and Dass who was finishing reloading a pair of pistols. "Are we ready?"

"Yes,"

"Then let's give it to them!"

The four of them aimed their small assortment of weapons at the walkway and opened fire in a withering mass of azure blue blaster fire, scorching and burning away at the durasteel, but it still failed in piercing through the material. They needed something stronger, a grenade or rocket launcher maybe, but that was not in Naruto's scroll and looking around he surmised that the Rangers didn't have anything like that in their arsenal either.

That meant only one thing.

"Cover me,"

"What?"

"I'm going to blow them away." Naruto said grimly as he stood up and took a few steps back before concentrated chakra into the palm of his hand for what many back home called his ultimate offensive Jutsu. "Let's go wild!"

"Are you sure that's the one?"

"It's the one. It's the only ship matching the description and those two out front only make it all the more likely."

Boba Fett listened into the conversation as he activated the zooming function of his helm, taking a closer look at the ship and its occupants. It was pretty simple to place a tracking and listening device on a few of the bounty hunters who were opting to ally with each other. Most of them seemed pretty new to the game, and with a lack of experience comes great depths of confidence, but also stupidity.

"Let's go, I crave their skulls."

"By all means go on in, get your ass shot off for all we care."

It seemed that there was at least one with a brain in this bunch. Still they did find the Uhumele, and that at least showed that the bounty hunters he had decided to shadow were at least half capable. There were five of them, including the Trandoshian and another Mandalorian who he simply knew as Seth. It was Seth who seemed to have more than a single brain cell.

He ignored the chatter for now and focused his attention on the ship. There were two sentient beings guarding the vessel from the launch pad. They had set up a small table and two chairs, there was something hidden by a cloth on the table but he couldn't tell what it was. Only the one wearing a kimono and a wide brimmed straw hat was sitting on a chair. The other, a large and intimidating feline sentient who he could not place was standing with a blaster rifle held idly at his side. The two of them looked like simple hired help, but Fett knew better.

These were professionals.

For now he would stay and wait, see what came of the battle. The bounty hunters may be fools, but there were five of them and only two defenders. They were bound to at best kill the guards or at least cripple them, and then he would enter into the equation, deal with any remaining crew and haul them in for the bounties. The mercenaries below may think themselves capable, but they had no experience in dealing with Jedi, and Jedi were in an entirely different league from anything else in the galaxy.

There was only a handful of other prey more dangerous than Jedi. There was only a handful in the same league as fully trained Jedi. Most of them also had a connection with their so called force, and only a few who had no connection whatsoever.

Sith

Dark Acolytes

Trandoshan Slavers

And Mandalorians

Boba Fett was of the latter.

"You see them?"

Ko Valkier didn't move, not an inch. His wide brimmed straw hat didn't waver in the slightest. "Mm, I see them."

Mezgraf was still, serene, looked like he was talking about the weather rather than about the half dozen bounty hunters watching them from the rafters. "Should I get out the big guns?"

"Don't run, don't even jog," Valkier replied as he finally moved, raising his head just an inch to see their potential opponents from the shadows of his hat. He thumbed the small device secreted in his robes, knowing that it would make its way to the interior of the Uhumele. A moment later the comm. at the entrance to the ship began wailing. "Just walk, as casually as you can. Make it look like your simply answering a hail."

Mezgraf didn't nod, didn't even give any indication that he got an order. He just looked over at the blaring comlink, sighed and walked over to it. He picked it up, put it to his ear and answered. "Yes?"

"Do we have company?"

It was their pilot's voice, definitely her voice. "Yes."

"Activating ray shields. They should be maximised enough to protect you guys as well, but be careful."

"Yes ma'am."

"We're sending Celeste and Aayla out, should provide the response we need."

"Got it," the towering feline nodded, "Mezgraf out."

He hung up and walked casually over to his partner, Valkier looked at him from just under the brim of his hat, waiting for his signal. Mezgraf nodded in response, and Valkier calmly sat up and pulled the cloth from the table, revealing a miniature sized heavy repeating blaster set up on the surface. He gripped onto the handle and pulled the trigger, unleashing a volley of crimson blaster bolts at the bounty hunters.

He only had enough ammunition for ten seconds of fire, but that was enough for Crys to set up the ray shields on the Uhumele. Aayla and Celeste rushed out. Lightsabers ignited and watched as nearly two dozen sentient beings rushed them with blasters and knives drawn.

"That's more than I thought." Aayla muttered before falling into a defensive stance.

Celeste smiled grimly, "It feels just like home."

Author Alert 1: Star Wars and Naruto are the properties of Musashi Kishimoto & Lucas Arts, not particularly in that order.

Author's Alert 2: Again I apologise for the lateness of this chapter, but I have some good news. I have passed my resit, I'm graduating in December. I'll never get tired of saying that. I am officially an Architectural Technologist . Anyway hoped you enjoyed this new instalment, not so much Naruto this time but then again I never said that this story would revolve around him twenty four seven.