Chapter 1
Adrift
The blackness of space was broken by an intermittent flashing lighst only visible at close range. The flashing lights could be tracked to a white and brown freighter drifting in the vastness of the black vacuum it was stranded in. The ship was one of a line called the ugliest but most reliable and hardworking freighters. An Arkaxia three thousand model
It can be described as two layers of large square boxes stacked with a half circle welded onto the front and back of the top layer with the engines mounted under the rear circle onto the bottom box as an afterthought. While less visually appealing than the work of the Rendil Star Drives company or the more individualistic form from the CEC, the A three triple zero could lift carry large loads, was easy to maintain and as many hijackers and pirates found out near impossible to take unless you were willing to lose a large number of attacking ships. The turret system of that freighter was just that good. The turrets could be fired from a single terminal in the cockpit or by separate gun crews.
This version was also the last of its kind as the Arkaxia Ship yards of Arkaxis Seven had been destroyed in totality by the Seperatists in the opening of what is now called the Clone Wars. One of the many mysteries of the war as the Arkaxis system was neutral as it had always been neutral in the affairs of the Old Republic. The system was unique in the fact that it was one of the only systems that Galacticorp had a majority possession of sharing control of it with the mandalorian nation and the remnant of the Yuki species. A species that had settled on Arkaxis four when their home planet had become a wasteland after a war with the Mon Calamari species nearly a thousand years ago. Even now putting a Yuki and a Mon Cal in the same room was a guarantee that a body bag would be required shortly.
The owner of said freighter was not contemplating the vastness of space nor the source of his freighters origins. No, the said owner was currently flat on his back underneath the primary console in the cockpit.
"Are you sure you disconnected the power supply?" His voice came from under the terminal
"Roger, Roger The power supply had been disconnected." The tinny reply came from a bipedal droid
A series of whistles and clicks followed as the ships astromech replied to the bipedal droid
"Silence inferior model! Of course I am certain the power supply has been disconnected." The bipedal droid exclaimed
Sparks and swearing came from underneath the terminal. A click followed as the power supply disconnected as the surge board did its duty and disconnected
"SCD3 I am taking a fusion cutter to your core once I get out from under here!" The male human cried out
"I take it the problem was not the command and control circuit chips." SCD3 said
"They were fine before they got fried because something did not in fact disconnect the power." The irritated reply came
"Then I fail to see what caused the ships controls to become unresponsive." SCD3 stated
"Are you sure the primary data couplings have not become loose after the last hyperjump." The man said crawling from under the terminal
"I will go and recheck the couplings just to keep you from doubting me further." SCD3 said, leaving the cockpit
The droid looked abnormal it had the head of a separatist command droid on the heavily modified and reinforced body of a protocol droid. I brushed past another member of the crew as she entered the bridge
"Let me guess, I have a set of circuits to replace now." She said irritably
The young man crawled from underneath the cockpit terminal and looked up from the ground at his companion. The petite yuki female was dressed in a grease stained coverall. Her black tail swinging agitatedly and her ears were erect, the black ears a stark contrast to her red hair. She was tapping one booted foot and anger were clear in her green eyes.
"I was told the power was off." He said apologetically
"Jaune, that droid is not running on a full processor. You know just as well as I do anything the trade federation built was crap. It is not programmed for repairs" She said sighing, rubbing her nose
"Sorry, Katya, I forgot." He said nerfishly
"I should slap you silly, Jaune Noname." She said pouting
"I will give you milk not to." Jaune replied
"I am not a pet to be bribed with treats." Katya stamped a dainty boot onto the deck
"So I will throw the fish in the recycler then." Jaune replied with a grin
She pointed in the direction of the galley.
"Get out of here and go make me fish while I fix up after you again." She said
"You know I am the captain and owner of this vessel. You can not order me around like this?" Jaune protested
Katya glowered at him
"Do you want me to call Yara up here? She is already angry with you for running the engines into the red."
"One we were being chased by pirates and I had no choice as someone had forgotten that we were out of tibana for the turrets. Two my idea of running the engines into the red and her idea is two separate things." Jaune objected
"Is that so?" A cold voice spoke
Jaune spun to face the voice and gulped as he saw yet another unhappy Yuki. This one was inspecting her unsheathed claws as she glowered over them at him. Unlike her sister she had brown hair making her black ears less visible. Her tail was still and Jaune gulped as that was a sure sign she was close to attacking
"I am merely saying that your margins are more precise and more accurate than mine." Jaune backpeddled
"Humph." Yara grumbled
Jaune blew out his breath and hanged his head
"What is this one going to cost me?" He asked
"Fish, cream, catnip flavoured tubers." Yara stated
"I will go make it now." Jaune said defeated
The blonde haired young man of about sixteen years of age walked to the galley, muttering about getting no respect from the crew he kept fed and paid, scratching at a tattoo scar on his neck.
"And no green stuff. We are not prey." Yara called after him
Jaune stopped and gave a crafty grin
"Should I com your mothers again, as I recall the last we spoke they instructed me to make sure you get vegetables with every meal." He said innocently
"Go ahead." Yara replied
"Sure I will, and I will also mention that tom we met on Praxis four." Jaune upped the stakes
"They will not believe you, we are good kittens." Katya stated
"I have a datafile that says differently and I believe your father will believe me more than you." Jaune smirked
"No need to go that extreme." Katya said hurriedly
"No need to go that extreme. What?" Jaune replied
"Captain." The two chorused
"Now that is much better." Jaune grinned
Their banter was cut short as the ships proximity sensors went off. There was blue flash as a ship exited hyperspace. The ship was triangle shaped and covered in grey. Nearly immediately the coms panel lit up and Jaune opened the channel
" Unknown Ship this is the Wallowing Bantha." Jaune introduced the ship
"Wallowing Bantha this is the Palpatine's Grace. You are instructed to move closer to be boarded and inspected for contraband." A human voice returned
"Palpatine's Grace, we are unable to comply, our controls are non functional and we are adrift. I will lower my shields." Jaune stated
He powered down the shields and watched as a shuttled and a squadron of Tie fighters were launched. Katya dropped her toolbelt and moved away from the cockpit
"I will go and stand by on the hatch. You better get the ships manifests as well as all our documents." She said over her shoulder
Jaune nodded and walked to a safe next to the sealed weapons locker. Tapping in a code he opened the door and retrieved several datapads before making his way to the docking port, Katya was standing on a ladder to the hatch, a hand on the hatch wheel her eyes on the red light next to the hatch. Yara was standing against the bulkhead away from the door into the ship making sure she was in clear view from the hatch.
The bantha shuddered as the shuttle docked to it. The moment the light turned green Katya spun the wheel and opened the hatch before moving to stand next to her sister, both raised their hands to show they were unarmed. Jaune stepped to the ladder also raising his hands,
"Clear." A filtered voice came from above.
Stormtroopers rapidly climbed down the ladder and trained their blasters on the crew. More climbed down and started spreading through the freighter. Two grey uniformed men climbed down last. One looked at the crew with sneer as his junior stepped towards Jaune. Jaune extended the datapads
"I am Jaune Noname, captain and owner of the Wallowing Bantha. We are carrying cargo for the Empire shipyards on Rendill." Jaune said
"Then you are very much of course." The sneering officer stated
"Emergency hyperjump. We were being attacked by a pirate group, the ships had black moon markings on them. I can provide visual and datafiles as evidence." Jaune shrugged
Jaune pointed to his crew
"Katya and Yara Ichira, my co pilot and ship mechanic. I have three droids, a TD five model in the med bay, one astromech and a patchwork droid built form various models. It has the head of separatist command droid."
"Where did you get that?" The junior officer demanded. Looking up from the datapad he was handed
"Same place as where I got the credits for this ship, I was crew on the Scrapper Tatooine's Luck when she found the Seperatist supply convoy while looking for salvage outside of Dathomir." Jaune replied
The senior officers comlink went of. He drew his blaster after reading the message and pointed it at Juane.
"Where is the Jedi?" The officer demanded
"There is no Jedi on this ship." Jaune said with a sigh
"Are you saying the Inquisitors is lying boy." The officer snapped
"Not lying, merely unaware of a few facts." Jaune replied tiredly
"Tell that to them, they are coming to find the Jedi you have hidden." The sneer was back
Minutes later the freighter gave another small rock as another ship docked. The junior officer went to the bottom hatch and opened it. To black clad figures stepped abourd their faces hidden by conical helmets. One turned to the officer
"Have they cooperated?" A female voice came from the helmet
"No they have not." The officer said in malicious satisfaction
"Is that so?" The voice sounded expectant
Jaune cleared his throat. The two officers and the black figures turned towards him. He pointed to the datapad in the junior officers hand
"Open the file labelled irritating necessity. You will need an Inquisitors code to open the file." He said
The junior looked to the Inquisitors who made a get on with it motion. The junior officer opened the file and handed the datapad over. One inquisitor tapped a code in and read the file. Malicously amused laughter followed soon thereafter
"A rare pleasure to meet a legendary figure of the Jedi order." The womans voice came
The officers tightened his grip on his blaster
"Put that away." The inquisitor ordered
She pointed to Jaune
"Let me introduce you to Jaune No Name. A powerful force sensistive. Also known as the Cripple." She said with a grand bow to Jaune
"The cripple? The officer asked
"No the Cripple. The emphasis is important. A midichlorian count close to Skywalker as a padawan and completely unable to use the force in any way." She said
The helmet slid away to reveal a human face. She could have been called beautifull if not for the scar bisecting her face and the sulphurous yellow eyes.
"I find it very strange that you are not with the Agricorp Jedi rejects." She stated
"I was not on a Agricorp world but assigned to the Alterran Rangers when the Republic ceased to exist." Jaune explained
The woman looked at him expectantly and Jaune sighed before rubbing his eyes
"I was assigned there due to my force potential. A lot of the Rangers had Jedi ancestry and I was informally expected to get a few pregnant and produce force sensitives for the Order. Of course that was never said out loud and if questioned I would have been told I was wrong about my impression." Jaune said by rote
He lowered his hands
"I surrendered to the local garrison, was taken to Coruscant and tested by Vader himself. As you would notice from the file he stated that I am no threat. I was then taken to the docks and kicked out of the airspeeder and told to get lost. I signed up on the first freighter out of there and moved around till I signed on with the Tatooines Luck and got my own ship" Jaune said tiredly
The second black figure studied him before removing a three fingured hand from the circle on his belt
"The Cripple is being truthful." A gravely voice came
"Great can we now do the inspection, the parts we are carrying is for the Empire shipyards after all and we are on a tight schedule." Jaune suggested
The officer looked at the manifest and then to the cargo as the stormtroopers were counting and calling out manisfest numbers
"I do not see the Siennar Sensor packages." He stated
"You are standing on it."Jaune replied
Jaune pointed to the deck
"Smugglers hold. I always load the most sensitive cargo there first and then the less important cargo. That way the cargo will not disappear, I have had some untrustworthy crew aboard before and learned that lesson the hard way." Jaune answered
"Where did you train as a pilot?" The female inquisitor asked
"Correlia. I also found this ship in the scrapper yards there and refitted her there." Jaune answered
The intercom crackled. Katya's voice came over.
"Sir, we have fixed the controls." She reported
Jaune looked expectantly at the officer. The man closed the cargo manifest and handed it back to him
"It seems everything is in order, mister Cripple." He said
Jaune visibly bit back a retort to the amusement of the officers and the Inquisitors. The group returned to their ships and detached. Jaune watched till they were out of range before sliding into the command chair.
"Right let us get to Rendill and get paid." He said
Moments later they were back in the blue. Jaune sighed as he saw his crew looking curiously at him
"Am I going to get smacked if I mention what curiosity did to the cat?" He asked
"Yes. And then you will tell us your story anyway." Yara said from the engineering terminal
Jaune swivelled in his seat so that he was facing the engineering terminal. Katya swivelled her chair as well. Jaune leaned forward and placed his hands on his knees as he looked to the two sisters
"I use the surname Noname as I literally do not know any other. I have always been Jaune No Name. My earliest memories is of a town in flames and time in a slave cage. I was part of a group of slaves rescued by the Jedi when they raided a Zygerran trader ship, while most could be returned home I could not as I only knew my name, not a surname, not a planet of origin. It was decided that I must have come from a pre space capable planet as I could not recognise any known planet, nor could I read Aurabesh as any four your old could. When it was found I had an abnormally large midichlorian count I was taken to the temple. There they found I was force sensitive but that no matter what was tried I could not interact with the force." He said
Jaune rubbed his face wearily before sighing deeply
"If not for Masters Jacarda I would have been send to Telos or some other Agricorp world. She was the master who rescued me from slavery and a life of pain and misery, She saved me again when she took me with her to Alterra when she was assigned as the supervisory Master to the Rangers."
"So the marks on your back?" Katya asked cautiously
"I was the footstool and whipping boy for the master of the Zygerran trade ship." Jaune said, closing his eyes
He found himself being pulled to his feet and enveloped by gently purring Yuki's as they embraced him
"Sorry Jaune. We did not want to bring back bad memories." Katya said softly
"What she said." Yara added
He pulled the closer before letting go
"Now I believe some fish is on the menu for tonight." He said with a slight sniffle
He left the cockpit and walked to the galley. Katya looked to her sister
"We really screwed up just now." She said
"I know, but Jaune will forgive us. I hope." Yara replied
"Do we tell the Mothers?" Katya asked
"No, that is Jaune's tale to tell them. I will not break his trust." Yara stated firmly
"You know they will be angry if they found out we knew." Katya pointed out
"They will be more angry at someone hurting their kitten. I swear sometimes they love him more than us." Yara replied
"Fine, but I get to say I told you so when they pounce on us." Katya said
"We have a bigger threat to face now." Yara waved it off
"What?" Katya said
"Jaune is most certainly making vegetables with the fish now and we will have to eat it." Yara said, tail drooping
True to Yara's prediction three quarters of the plates were filled with prey food. The two felines took their time eating it. Jaune cocked an eyebrow at them
"If I did not know better I would have said the two of you were six instead of sixteen. Vegetables is essential for a balanced meal, you can not exist on fish, cream and sugars." He said
"That is a lie and I dare you to prove it." Yara reported
"Ok follow me to the medbay and ask TD 25." Jaune challenged
"That droid is filled with false propaganda." Yara rerorted
"So you are right and the medical droid and all the evidence on the holonet is wrong." Jaunse said amusedly
"Yes, now serve me more fish." Yara said regally
Jaune closed the loading bay door as the boarding ramp slipped back into position and turned to the Duros that had come aboard as the shipyards had taken their cargo from the holds
"You are late." The Duros stated
"Ran into the Black Moon and into an Empire Destroyer." Jaune said
"You can tell that to Minasa herself. She send me to get the cargo and you." The Duros replied
Jaune walked to a bulkhead and pressed on a panel. The panel slid to the side revealing several gunbelts hanging from pegs. Jaune buckled one on before reaching into the cavity and pulling a carbine and ammunition belt out and tossing it to SCD3. Yara and Katya had lifted a floor plate in front of the door and activated the repulsor coils on a hovertrolley. The pushed the floorplate back as the trolley lifted into view before walking to get their own gunbelts. The astromech LA1D2 attached itself to the trolley and the trolley shifted to face the door.
"Let us go." Jaune said
The group followed the Duros into the back exit of an illegal docks casino. The kitchen crew barely looked up from their tasks as the group moved through the kitchen to the back room where Minasa the Hutt held court
Jaune patiently waited for the Hutt to acknowledge them. From the size of the Hutt one could see it was still relatively young as it was barely the size of an adult Hutt, it still had a way to go before it reached the size of their clan head Jabba. The Hutts presence on an industrial world also marked it as a junior in the Cartel. Not that it being a junior made it any less dangerous. It finally looked at Jaune
"Jaune, I though you knew better to disappoint me by being late." She demanded
"Honoured Minasa, there is a bigger problem than me being late with your intact and fully accounted for cargo." Jaune replied
The Hutt pulled on a hookah and blew acrid green smoke from her pursed lips
"The Black Moon jumped us as we exited hyperspace on the second to last jump. They were waiting for us." Jaune said
"And how do you know that?" The Hutt demanded
Jaune pointed to the Astromech
"Laid has our telemetry data as well as the hull camera footage. The Black Moon ships ignored several other freighters and moved straight for us. And I do not for one moment believe that they ignored the lighter armoured and unarmed Alderaan freighters because they wanted to prove their skills in battle." He said
"So you are suggesting I have traitors in my nest?" Minasa demanded
"Not suggesting, stating a certainty." Jaune replied firmly
The Hutt motioned the droid forward. LA1D2 moved forward and a Rodian attached a data cable. The studied the data before motioning the Rodian to disconnect the cable
"I will look into this. However I will reduce your pay for being late and you will deliver a cargo to my uncle free of charge." The Hutt stated imperiously
"As long as you refuel and refit my ship sure, after all it was not my fault that your cargo was delayed. You can take that cost out of whoever betrayed you." Jaune replied
The Hutt chuckled
"That is why I like you Noname. Any other smuggler would have been pushing for at least half pay in your place. You know just how much to push and when to back of."
"The cargo?" Jaune asked
A Zygerran stepped forward and Jaune's hand flashed to his holstered blaster. He removed his hands as the lackeys all turned their weapons on him. The Zygerran studied him before starting to laugh
"I wondered what happened to my footstool." He chuckled
The Zygerran pointed the family crest on his tunic. A quick look confirmed it roughly matched the tattoo scar on Jaune's neck
Katya grabbed Jaune's hand and kept him for going for leather again, risks be damned. Minasa rumbled in deep laughter
"I see introductions are not needed. Las'h Tack will land near your ship and load the cargo for you while you are preparing to launch. My uncle is eager for his present."
The Hutt glared at the two before her
"I do not care for your history, I will be most displeased if my uncle does not get his present and I will make the one responsible suffer." She hissed out
The Zygeran gave her a mocking bow before stepping back. Jaune rigidly nodded to the Hutt. The Duros who brought them there pushed a case towards Jaune.
"Your payment, now leave." He ordered
"With pleasure." Jaune said stiffly
Katya and Yara found Jaune in his room. Above a gleaming pyramid shaped cube a holographic Kathar female was displayed. The figure turned to face them
"Are you going to introduce me Jaune?" It asked
Jaune looked at the door, in his distraction he had not heard them enter.
"Jaune, what is that?" Katya asked pointing to the cube
The Kathar figure chuckled
"My dear, this device is known as a holocron. Only those who are force sensitive can manipulate one be it actively or passively. As for me, my name is Jacarda and I made this holocron for Jaune. A copy of all I have teached and hoped to teach him is contained in the data matrix, From what he has told me I am assuming you are the Ichira sisters."
"Are you sentient?" Yara asked
"Sentient? No, I am merely the imprint of my creator and can update data from interactions with my student."
Katya pulled Yara back.
"Stay here and talk to your friend. We will take care of everything." Katya said
Jaune merely nodded as he turned his attention back to the figure before him
Katya led the way to the cargo hold and approached the astromech.
"Go to your disguise mode and get aboard that Zygerran ship. Drain it s memory bank and load you nastiest viruses." She ordered
The Astromech whistled and several panels flashed open on its dome and flipped over turning it from blue and red highlights to black and making it resemble an Empire droid. It moved out of the freighter and hid behind several piles of cargo crates lining the edge of the docking area.
It had barely moved out before refuelling tenders came into view along with a cargo lifter carrying technicians and crates and barrels. A sharp whistle of air followed as a large freighter landed in front of the smaller freighter.
Katya and Yara armed themselves with Carbines and stood to the sides of the boarding ramp as the Zygearran freighter disgorged a cargo lifter with fifteen rectangular cubes loaded on it. Construction droids followed behind the cargo lifter and carried the cubes aboard. A smaller astromech droid followed them attached to a hovertrolley piled high with power cables. A Twi'lek male walked to the boarding ramp and stopped as rifle barrels were lifted in warning. He said something
"Basic." Katya snapped
The Twi'lek spoke again
"The cubes are the gift from Minasa. We will pay you extra to deliver payment to Jabba from Master Tack. And we will pay you to return the cargo here." He said
"The cargo?" Yarra replied
"Carbonite statues." The Twi'lek replied
The sisters shared a glance.
"You can bring your payment here and show it to us outside the ship, we will only load it once we scanned the contents." Katya demanded
"Plus we will confirm everything against a manifest as well. You can then add whatever seals you want afterwards." Yara added
"And just to make sure the cases will be spot welded as well." Katya concluded
"My captain might take offence at that." The Twi'lek replied
"Then he can find someone else to do his bidding." Katya retorted
Behind them the astromech was attaching power cables to the cubes before connecting the cables to a central unit and attaching the central unit to a power conduit of the ship. The blinking blue lights went to green once power was sent through the central point.
Katya spotted the black droid exiting the large freighter and head to the cargo crates on the side of the docks. Moments later a blue and red domed droid emerged and made its way to the Bantha. Once it touched the ramp Katya pointed to the crates piled outside
"Laid, spot weld those crates." She ordered
The droid spun around and a welder arm appeared as it moved to the crates. Fifteen minutes later it was done and the construction droids carried the crates aboard. The Twi'lek handed over a datapad
"Our comlink frequencies for when you pick up our cargo. Your captain can arrange delivery using that."
The sisters stepped back and pressed the button to raise the boarding ramp. The door to the cargo hold closing behind them as they stepped from the boarding area into the cargo hold
The larger freighter lifted of first and headed for atmosphere. Tas'h Lack stood up from his command chair and moved to his quarters. He stopped in shock. His personal droid was lying on the floor in a charred pile, more importantly the datapad he had given it to secure in his safe was not in said safe. He moved to the bridge
"All Stop. Run diagnostics and anti virus programs now." He ordered
The freighter came to a stop outside the gravity well. The crew activated the diagnostic and antivirus programs as commanded
"Navicomputer files have been corrupted." The navigator reported
"Electrical systems have multiple viruses." The engineer reported
Lack swore as he slammed his fist into the console before him
"Damn that slave trash. Move us closer to a holocom satellite. Purge our drives and download new files. Destroy the viruses." He ordered shrilly
"At once." The pilot said
The freighter moved to a cluster of satellites.
"Data uplink ready." The navigator reported
"Anti virus programs destroying the viruses."
"Once they are destroyed purge the drives and download." Tack commanded
"Viruses purged, starting purge of drives." The Twi'lek reported
"Who is the clever one now slave." Tack gloated. Looking towards the planet.
Unknowingly he sealed his own doom. LAiD2 had anticipated that its viruses would be found and had added a subroutine to the ships controls. It activated the moment the ships drive was being purged. All doors opened suddenly. The crew looked in surprise and shock at the open doors that had no reason to open. The airlocks disengaged next and sprung open. Decompression was the inevitable result and with the normal safety protocols having been disabled the only way to close the airlocks was manually something the suffocating crew could not do as they were holding onto anything they could to prevent themselves from being sucked into space.
The smaller freighter left atmosphere on a different trajectory before jumping away, no one aware of the revenge the droid had gotten for his master. In the cargo hold one of the cubes went from a green light to a blinking blue. An hour later the blue went to amber and an alarm tone emitted from it.