Chapter by Dax0042.
Aleah could only stare dumbfounded at the ship before her. It was an old Incom Corp X4 Gunship, nothing fancy, but had surely seen some action in its time of service. Captain Jens walked up to a male Shistavanen who was white as the snowy mountains of her home world. The captain smiled as he gave the ship a playful kick, only for a part of the landing gear to fall off.
"What's a piece of junk," she said finally breaking the awkward silence.
Dray didn't comment, but merely gestured toward the ship, where a female beautiful, blue skinned Chiss was coming to meet them.
The Chiss didn't seem to thrilled to hear how Aleah called the ship a piece of junk, but responded with a smile and said, "Thanks for the compliment. The ship was Jens' father, he got eat by a Rancor last year."
Oh, great. Aleah thought to herself. They have have a since of humor now. With out missing a beat, the female Chiss lead her inside the ship. But as they were going up the loading ramp, Aleah stopped. The force was calling to her, trying to warn her of approaching danger.
The female Chiss was confused at first, but the Nelvannian suddenly said, "They are coming!"
Outside the docking-bay a group of black suited clones of the elite commando unit marched in formation toward their new target. Each clone had only one order to follow: Kill the Jedi and anyone with her. Docking-bay workers either fled or took cover when they saw them coming, but a single worker quickly ran up to them.
The leading clone asked the worker, "Where are they?"
"In there," the worker replied, then took his leave.
The leading clone turned to the others behind him. "Alright men, load your weapons!" he said barking commands, then they rushed into the docking-bay.
A glint of light on moving metal caught Jens' eyes as the unwelcome outlines of the first commandos showed themselves. The captain quickly drew his blaster, managing to get off a few shots before the commands opened fire themselves.
The rest of the crew of the Nova Star quickly rushed into the safety of their ship, while Fang manged to get the Nova Star into the air. The clone commandos seeing that their targets were getting away, quickly made call to the nearest Republic battle-cruiser for them to intercept the feeling gunship.
As the Nova Star escaped into the atmosphere, leaving behind the clone commandos, Jens took a quick glance at the tracking screen. "Looks like a Republic cruiser. It appears that somebody really hates us," then, turning to his first mate Fang he said, "Angle the deflector shield to full power, I'm setting our course."
With those instructions he ceased conversing with the powerful Shistavanen as his hands flew over to the computer input terminals. Just then, Aleah appeared behind him.
"How long before you can make the jump?" she inquired easily, apparently showing very little concern that at any second they all might be reduced to space dust.
Jens scanned some of the screens that were giving him info about his surroundings. "We're still with getting set, maybe… two more minutes."
That was when they felt the Nova Star shake! She had just been hit, but she kept on moving. As the big Republic cruiser moved in closer for another shot, Jens finally had the intel he needed. With a smile, he turned to Fang.
"Punch it!" he shouted.
Fang's hand shot forward, grabbed the hyperdrive trigger, and away they went.
After jumping to lightspeed, Jens turned to Aleah. He smiled at her. "Want to meet the crew?"
Aleah nodded. "Sure," came her quiet response.
Being lead out of the bridge, Jens and Fang called all crew back to the main cargo bay. It was a sight to be held as the lovely Nelvannian saw a few faces from earlier, but the others she had yet to meet. However, she kept glancing at the armored crew member. His armor was truly fascinating, Mandalorain from the looks of it. Aleah watched Jens walk toward his crew who where now lined up.
The captain first introduced himself to the Nelvannian. "I'm Jens Alden. Captain of the Nova Star."
Then Fang stepped forward. "I'm Fang, second in command of this ship."
The female Chiss smiled and walked up and shook Aleah's hand. "Lyra Bray," she said with a smile. "I'm the navigator."
"And a real flirt with Fang and Dray," Jens said under his breath. Lyra turned to her captain.
"Says the guy who thought a sack of poorly packaged Bantha crap was worth stealing," said Chiss responded with a laugh.
Then the Bothan who had saved the crew from the clones stepped forward. Aleah could see that his light brown fur was starting to turn gray around some of the face, clearly, he was the oldest of the crew. Said Bothan smiled and introduced himself. "I'm Dray Flang, scout and explosive expert of the Nova Star," he said with a small bow of his head.
Aleah suddenly felt the force around her. It was strong with Dray. She wanted to ask him if he had once ever been a Jedi, but the male Mirialan stepped forward. He smiled as he greeted Aleah.
"I'm Daniel Brathe, but everyone calls me Danny. I'm the cook of the Nova Star." Danny said, then turned and looked at Faolahd, walked up, his sheer height alone made Aleah feel small in the Wookie's presence.
Faolahd then pulled Aleah into a big hug. "I'm the muscle of the Nova Star," he said putting the Nelvannian down. The Wookie stepped back. "Call me Faolahd."
Being called the muscle of crew was a good way to describe him. It would be very interesting to get to know him. Aleah then turned to the female Shistavanen who was smiling at her. "I'm Kenna, medic of the crew," she said.
The female Zygerrian who Aleah had met during her escape earlier walked up. She pulled out a scanner and held it in front of Aleah's face. She pressed a button and laser moved up and around the Nelvannian's face. When the scan was complete, said Zygerrian smiled. "Body temperature normal, stress levels are a little high, but other then that you are fine."
Aleah looked around at the crew who could only shrug. The Zygerrian then introduced herself. "I'm Feline Leumas, chief scientist of the Nova Star."
Then the Mandalorain walked up, his face hidden by his helmet. He said nothing as his hands lifted his helmet, revealing his face to the Nelvannian. Aleah just looked at him, like she was being drawn into some kind of trance. He was a really handsome man, with beautiful blue eyes and dusty blond hair. She felt her body temperature rise as her heart began to beat really fast.
"Are you alright?" the Mandalorain asked the Nelvannian, who quickly composed herself.
"Yes, I'm fine. My name Aleah," she smiled, feeling a little embarrassed by her sudden dream like state.
The Mandalorain smiled back. "I'm Sivad Drawoh, but my mates call me Siv. I'm the maintenance tech of the Nova Star," he said.
Just then there was a loud crash as two droids appeared. Siv turned and smiled. "Aleah, meet Clank, he's a reprogrammed B-1 Battle-Droid I made from a hodgepodge of recovered parts." he proudly boasted.
"And the other?" Aleah asked him.
Siv smiled. "And the other is R2-QT. We call her: "Cutie", but she can be a real bitch most of the time."
Jens then walked up. "Now that the introductions are, I say that it's time to eat."
Within minutes, the crew were lining up with trays ready to eat, while Danny removed pots of food from his stove. As Fang got a big helping up something, he took a sniff and made a face of disgust. "What's this stuff supposed to be?"
"Eggs, stupid,"said Kenna.
"I know what an egg is, sis. I mean this soggy flat yellow stuff on the side."
"Corn bread, I think." Siv fingered his portion and added absently, "Hey, I wouldn't mind getting me some more of that sexy Twi'lek dancer we saw the other day. Remember her?"
Feline was sitting on a box to the right. The chief scientist glanced up briefly, then looked back at her tray. "Is that all men can think about?" she asked sarcastically.
"What else is there to think about?" Fang asked as he hacked at his eggs. "The only one who doesn't think like us is our droids."
"I prefer the term "artitficial person" myself," Clank interjected softly.
Just then Lyra spit out her drink. She coughed and gagged, trying to get the flavor out of her mouth. "Damn, Danny," she complained, scratching at her throat, "what did you put in this anyway? Hyperdrive coolant?"
"Just to add a little color," Danny told her defensively, then he and Faolahd cracked up, slapping palms.
Dray looked up at Jens. "So?" he asked taking a sip of his drink, which tasted revolting. "What's our mission captain?"
Jens put down his fork. "Don't know," he replied. "Aleah should know. She's the one who needed to get off world."
Aleah put down her tray and pulled out the Sith holocron. "I wish I knew as well. All I do know is that the newly formed Empire will be looking for this," she said putting the holocron on the table.
Dray put down his food and took a closer look at the holocron. There was something unusual about it's design. It wasn't shaped like any holocron he had seen. Being very careful, he picked it up and could already tell that it wasn't just a holocron, but something much more. He then gave it a twist, a turn and another twist.
It was a puzzle box!
Suddenly, the Sith holocron light up like a star. The crew and Aleah all watched in awe as the holocron projected a map and a riddle.
Dray read the riddle out loud. "On Naboo, follow that which runs, but never walks. To the mouth that never talks. There your path will lead to the first of five keys."
Jens turned to Lyra. "Set a course for Naboo!" he ordered.
The female Chiss jumped up from her seat and ran to her station. They now had a clue to their mission, but what neither the crew or Aleah knew was that Empire were already on Naboo. And not just the Empire, but Darth Vader as well.
Looks like the Empire might just catch our heroes in a trap, but that still remains to be seen. And Siv seems to have caught the eye of Aleah, to bad she's a Jedi. Please leave a review and stay tuned for the next great chapter of Voyagers.