As the Nova Star came out of light speed, Aleah was still in her beloved Siv's arms, dreaming of a better life with him, but soon the dream became a nightmare. Flames roared around her, bodies of Imperial troops and members of the crew from the Star were scattered around her. She looked up to see two dark figures—Vader and what looked to be a Mandalorain.
Could it have been Siv? His body wasn't among the crew.
The Mandalorain wore a dark set of armor and in his hand was a war hammer. He stepped towards Aleah; his weapon raised. Then, with all his might, brought the hammer down.
"NO!" Aleah screamed as she shot up in the bed. Her sudden cry awoke Siv who looked worried. The Mandalorain turned to his Nelvannian lover.
"Aleah? What's wrong?" he inquired.
Sobbing, Aleah told him of her nightmare. "...And then aMandalorain struck me down." she said finishing her horrific recount of the nightmare. Siv couldn't believe that she had such a dream. Slowly, he pulled Aleah into a hug, whispering his undying love and assurance that he would protect her and never let any harm come to her.
Still Aleah was unsure as she had known that her first master told her that the force could predict possible futures through dreams. The Nelvannian looked at Siv, doubt was evident in her eyes. "Are you sure?" she asked him. "After all, these dreams may be the force showing me the future."
Siv then shook his head. "Aleah, nothing will ever make Mandalor join the Empire. My people would rather die than serve an outside power." Then the Mandalorain pressed his lips to hers, in another hot kiss.
Aleah moaned into the kiss and let him roll on top of her. Soon, the two of them were in a heated romantic moment.
Not long after that, the Nova Star crew gathered in the briefing room. Jens opened up the holo table and an image of Tatooine appeared. The crew looked at the images of the Dune Sea, Mos Eisley and Mos Espa. All three were locations of interest to the crew, but in order to find the next holocron, they would need to be incognito.
Jens came up with a plan. First the crew would split into groups, each one being sent to Mos Eisley and Mos Espa. Second part was then a common recon, asking locals about any ruins or out of the ordinary sightings. Third, all groups after a month scouting would meet at the Dune Sea, from there, they would find the location of the next Sith Temple.
And after the meeting was finished, the crew of the Star packed the necessary items of choice, clothing, rations, and fake identifications. After all, Aleah was still being hunted by the Empire, so the crew thought it best to hide in plain sight. As the Nova Star landed in Mos Eisley, Jens and the others quickly left the hanger after paying the docking fee.
However...
"Where is the Nova Star and her crew?!" Vader demanded as he held John Caldans in midair using the force. Around the dark lord were scared Alderaanians being held at gun point by Imperial Clone Troopers. Vader could since John's fear as he asked once more.
"Where are they?!"
The Caldans elder remained silent. This only enraged the dark lord. "Tell me or your children will die," he said with a stern warning. John looked over at his children being held down by the Second could no longer keep quiet.
"I don't know," he said. "After they came here, they took off in a CR90 Corvette."
Vader turned to Fletcher. "Contact all our spies, tell them to keep an eye out for any CR90 Corvettes coming or leaving any of the space ports in Imperial territory." then the dark lord released John Caldans and returned to his ship.
Bail Organa who had seen this interrogation go down quickly sent word to the Nova Star, warning them that Darth Vader knew what kind of ship they were using. However, what Bail Organa didn't know was that Vader's tech specialists had hacked the communication array, thus making it easy for the dark lord to know where his prey was.
As the Nova Star set down in docking bay 12, Aleah, Siv, Dray, Danny, Faolahd and Fang gathered their things and went to hide among the space port's inheritance. This now left Jens, Lyra, Feline, Cutie, Clank, Kenna to make their way to Mos Espa.
The next day, Aleah and Siv had found a nice old couple that were kind enough to offer them a job. From morning to night, the Mandalorain and his Nelvannian lover spent their time selling spices, cooking wear, and other small items to the locals. However, there was someone always asking them where they came from. Aleah would always answer saying she was sold into Siv's family and became his servant. Siv played along with her little story and acted pretty bossy to her sometimes to keep up the ruse. But just after two weeks of working there, something happened.
As Aleah finished packing a small box filled with spice, she handed it to the customer, shethan noticed something off about a man watching her from his spot across the street. He was a human, probably in his early thirties, with dark hair was wearing what looked to be the robes of a Jedi. She couldn't believe it; another Jedi must have survived Order 66.
Aleah turned to Siv. "Siv, there may be another Jedi alive," she whispered to him, as she did not want to give herself away. The Mandalorain looked up from his work bench, his eyes narrowed at the revelation, as if he suspected something dark was coming.
"I'll call this in," he said and left to make the call.
An hour later, Danny and Fang were following the one who had been watching Siv and Aleah. Along the way they passed a moisturefarmer named Owen and his wife Beru, who had a baby who was named Luke. The two Star crew members only stopped to ask if the one they were following lived nearby.
Owen frowned. "That man lives in Beggers Canyon with his family." He looked out to the west and pointed. "If I were you, just forget about him."
"Why?" Danny asked.
Beru spoke up. "Because ever since he arrived, bounty hunters have been trying to find him. Many have gotten hurt because of him."
Danny and Fang looked at one another, the mention of a bounty hunters raised their level of suspicion about the strange they were investigating. Thanking the two of them, the Mirialan and Shistavanen went on their way. Upon reaching Beggers Canyon, the feeling of someone watching them began to set in.
Fang took a sniff of the air around them. It was clear someone was following them, but it was impossible to known from where. The only thing they could do was go on and hope they wouldn't get blasted. Rounding a bend, Danny noticed what looked to be a door carved into a wall of the canyon.
"What do you think?" Danny asked Fang.
The Star's first mate smile. "Let's check it out," he replied and pulled his blaster, but as the two were about to reach the door, blaster bolts hit the ground near their feet.
Danny and Fang quickly jumped behind some rocks and got ready to face their unknown attacker. The Mirialan peeked over from behind his rock. He could see a cloaked figure holding a blaster rifle in his hand, the barrel was still smoking. Fang leveled his blaster on the cloaked figure.
"Are you two bounty hunters?" the stranger asked.
"No," Fang shouted, "but I won't hesitate to kill you."
Danny could see the cloaked figure crack a smile. "Many have tried, and all have failed." he said with a hint of pride in his voice.
Well, this wasn't going to keep Fang from trying. Jumping up, he opened fire with his blaster, the cloaked figure jumped into the air and fired his blaster rifle. His shot struck Fang in the arm and the Shistavanen let out a loud pained howl. Clutching his wounded arm, Fang got back behind cover, while the cloaked figure slowly approached them. Danny drew his knife and took a deep breath.
The Mirialan cook jumped up, threw his knife with true skill and would have killed the cloaked figure, but the knife never got close.
It just hovered in the air, while the cloaked figure held his arm out. It didn't take Danny long to realize that they were dealing with a Jedi… or a member of the Sith.
The cloaked figure than drew his lightsaber and ignited it. A beautiful blue glow was seen, and Danny and Fang breathed a sigh of relief. This guy was a Jedi, so this meant he wouldn't kill them if they were unarmed.
"Ok, you win," Danny said putting his hands up.
Fang looked at him confused. "What are you doing?" he asked.
"Oh, I'm putting my hands up," the Mirialan replied quickly.
"You're making us look bad," Fang growled and stood up, still clutching his wounded arm.
"No, I am not," Danny protested.
"Yes, you are!" Fang snapped.
"No, I'm not!"
"Yes, you are!"
"No, I'm not!"
Yes, you are!"
"STOP IT!" the cloaked figure shouted. He stepped forward and pulled back his hood. Danny couldn't believe who he was looking at. It was Jedi Knight…
"David Creed?" Danny gasped.
David was a handsome human male with black hair, had a slight Asian skin tone and sharp blue eyes. The Jedi Knight wondered how did this Mirialan know his name. "Have we met?" he asked Danny.
"I guess I was about thirteen when we first met," Danny smiled. "You and five other Jedi took down the king of all space pirates, Nex Slars."
David's eyes lit up. "You were one of the hostages being sold off to the Zygerrian queen."
"Indeed," Danny said, shuddering a little at the memory of the worst days of his life.
"Nice to know you two are going to get along so well, but what I want to know is how did you survive the Jedi purge?" Fang asked joining the conversation rather rudely.
David Creed felt a great shadow fall over him as he thought back to the horrible day. "I was on route to Bespin with my master when the clones turned on us. I ended up escaping, but my master had been killed during the attack."
Danny and Fang listened to the sad tale of the Jedi survivor.
"I was picked up by a group of spice traders and I was able to barter a deal to get back here to Tatooine. Then I returned to my family and now I live here in Beggers Canyon, trying to live a life of peace, but the Empire and Nex Slars pirates won't leave me alone."
Danny and Fang felt bad for David, but then he said something that shocked them. "If you are looking for the Sith holocron, don't bother, it has already been found by Nex and his pirates, who are going to be selling it to a contact of theirs that is pro Empire."
"Where is this contact of his?" Fang asked.
"He's going to meet Vex on board the Taint of Darkness. It's a huge cruiser which Vex goes there to do business with the richest scum and villainy across galaxy."
An hour later, David was in a meeting with the other Star crew members at the cantina in Mos Eisley. The handsome Jedi Knight was explaining that Vex found the Sith holocron three days before the Nova Star arrived. He also explained how the Sith temple had been destroyed by the pirates as they extracted the holocron. Things just seemed to get more and more complicated.
Jens shook his head. "Looks like we need to pay Jabba the Hutt a visit and hope he'll help us out." the captain said, really hoping that he was still on the Hutt crime boss' good side. After all, Jens did owe a debt to Jabba and maybe he could use that to his advantage.
However, there was another problem that he needed to deal with. Rushing to the nearest refresher, Jens emptied the contents of his stomach, only to notice some blood in his vomit. The captain looked at himself in the mirror. His eyes were bloodshot, and a strange black substance was dripping from his nose.
"NO!" he gasped in utter disbelief as he remembered the mutant Fang killed on the Ember Moon. Its blood had gotten in his eyes, and some got in his mouth as well. "I'm infected!"
Jens is infected! How will he be able to tell his crew, but how will he be able to convince Jabba the Hutt to help the Star crew?