As evening began falling over half of Coruscant, an group made up of two Neti, a Twi'lek, a Kiffar/Human hybrid, and a human walked out of the Galactic City Spaceport looking to celebrate a major milestone for three of them. With the amount of human and nonhuman life that densely populated the planet, nobody paid them any attention.

"All right!" Saa'na exclaimed as they hit the platform outside of the spaceport. "Where we gonna go? Who knows the best nightclub on the planet? I wanna dance! I wanna drink! I wanna…"

"Saa'na." So'lia said.

"Yeah, yeah… control…"

"I love the enthusiasm," said Xinnaa, laughing. "But she's right. We're here… where is the best place to party?"

"Outlander's still around," Kazu said, shrugging. "Kind of a seedy reputation, yeah, but if you're looking for a good time, that might be the place. Maybe I can get in a fight… I'm feeling some pent-up aggression… haven't thrown someone out of a window in a while…"

"When have you ever throw anyone out of a window?" Tycho asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Tycho… there's a lot of things you don't know about me," Kazu smirked. "Maybe by the end of the night I'll finally share what I've been doing for so long."

"You do that and I'll buy us all a round," Xinnaa said.

"So are we all agreed on the Outlander Club?" Saa'na said, looking around to see confirming nods from the other four. "Where is it?"

"The datapad map I picked up in the spaceport says it's on the lower level in the Urscru Entertainment District," Tycho said, looking at tablet. "We need to find a turbolift."

"There's one," said Xinnaa pointing.

The five of them huddled into the lift and Kazu pressed the button for the lower level. The doors closed and they slowly descended. After about a minute or two, they spilled back out onto the artificially lit streets of the Coruscant undercity. Vendors hawked their wares outside and shops and entertainment venues that never closed advertised their offerings with temptations that even the best could find themselves enticed by.

"Wasn't Morak one of the only times you were off Corstris?" Tycho asked, nudging Kazu as they walked to the club. "Bet this is a bit overwhelming huh?"

"It was to me when I came here on the run," Xinnaa interjected.

"Gotta admit," Kazu said, looking around, "it is the biggest city I've ever seen. But it's not as staggering as you think it is," he added, putting his hands behind his head. "Not to me anyway."

"You've apparently thrown someone out of a window and you've supposedly seen something incredibly majestic," Xinnaa said, putting an arm around Kazu's shoulders. "When are you going to stop being cryptic and just tell us what you know?"

"Later," Kazu said, breaking free of Xinnaa and turning around. "Think that's the club," he added pointing with his thumb behind him while he walked backward. He turned back around and headed inside before the other four.

"What happened to him?" Saa'na said. "He… he seems…"

"Looser." So'lia said. "Freer."

"You heard him," Tycho said as they all entered the club. "He's thinking of sharing finally," he added, louder so the other three could hear over the din of the revelry. "He must feel like a weight is coming off of him." He pointed out the booth Kazu had taken control of out to them. "Don't push though… Pressing might make him close up again."

They reached the booth and Kazu, Xinnaa, and So'lia told Tycho and Saa'na what they wanted to drink.

"How old is this place?" Xinnaa asked as the two of them went to get their drinks. "It looks like it hasn't been remodeled since before the Clone Wars."

"Old." So'lia responded. "A relic."

"I guess you keep getting this many people in here and you don't really need to remodel or update anything," Kazu said. "If it's not broke, don't fix it right?"

Minutes later, Tycho and Saa'na returned with the drinks and the five of them kept talking for a bit until Kazu held his drink up.

"To Tycho, Saa'na, and So'lia!" he yelled. "For becoming Jedi Knights!"

They clinked their glasses together and drank before getting back to chatting. It wasn't long before Saa'na left the booth and hit the dance floor.

"Koz, you wanna dance?" asked Xinnaa.

"Maybe later," he said, getting up. "It looks like a podrace is about to start," he added pointing to some screens with various sports on them. "I want to get in on some of that action."

Kazu quickly found the bookie and looked at the odds for the next race. Finding a racer he was satisfied with he walked up to window.

"Two credits on Josmika Drugan," he said, putting two coins down.

"Drugan!?" the bookie asked, bewilderedly. "You realize she's a thousand-to-one shot right? Never won a race. Nobody in their right mind would bid on her."

"I'm feeling really lucky tonight."

"…Whatever," the bookie said, taking the credits and giving him a slip. "Your money…"

Kazu left and walked back to watch the race.

After about 10 minutes, they were off, zipping through the track next to waterfalls, across a lake, over rocks and by trees. Within minutes came the first crash when a Toydarian and a Dug collided into each other. Eventually, the racers crossed into the second lap and an Aleena began having engine problems and ran into a tree, narrowing the amount of entrants to seven and Drugan was overtaking the two second-to-last competitors who were next to each other. One, a Triffian, attempted to sabotage her but it backfired and their engine stalled and blew up. She was now in fourth place and narrowing in on third. Moments passed and the second place, a Vulptereen, got too close to the waterfalls and lost control. The racer wound up bailing on the machine before it hit the wall and exploded. Drugan was now in third and getting closer to finishing her second lap. After the lake portion of the lap, a fire started in the second place podracer, causing the pilot to have to slow down and move into the pit as the crew fixed the problem. Drugan was on her third and final lap and in second place. She eventually came up right behind the first place racer, a Nuknog. She cut in on a corner and the two of them ended up being neck and neck. They would remain next to each other for the majority of the rest of the leg before Drugan just barely overtook the Nuknog on the final stretch. She hit the accelerator for all it was worth and crossed the finish line nanoseconds before the Nuknog.

Kazu ran back to the bookie and put the slip down. The bookie looked at the results and her eyes went wide.

"Huh… Congrats, I guess" she said, giving Kazu his two-thousand credit winnings. "I don't believe it," she added as he walked away.

Kazu was heading back toward the booth when a human male walked up to him.

"Some luck you got, kid," he said. "You wanna see if you can keep it going? There's a Sabacc table in the back with your name on it."

"Heh… why not?" Kazu replied, following the man into the room. There were three others around the table: a male Twi'lek, a female Togruta, and female human.

He sat down and the game began. Kazu started with some 10 credit bets, checking and calling a few times. He won some hands before upping his initial bets to 20 and then 30. After a long streak of luck, he started losing quite a bit more along with the Togruta and Twi'lek. Eventually, he was down to 700 credits and the Togruta got up in a huff.

"I'm out," she said. "Again."

She turned to Kazu.

"Playing cards against her is suicide, kid," she said, pointing to the human. "Quit while you still have money."

"Wise advice," the human said in an accent he had never heard before. "Would mean more if it came from someone who didn't keep coming back every week."

"Grah," she grumbled. "How do you keep getting so lucky?"

"Guess I inherited it," she said with a grin as her gaze followed the Togruta out of the room. Kazu caught it and saw a hint of green in her eyes. He did a double take before seeing that her eyes were brown.

Weird… she is a brunette though… guess I was imagining what I wanted to see.

"Can we get back to the game… please?" the Twi'lek asked.

"Sure," the woman said.

The game started back up and Kazu caught some of the woman's luck, having brought his winnings back up to 2,000. A few more games and he was ahead. Even more games and he had about 3,000 credits.

The Twi'lek grumbled.

"No shame in bowing out," the woman said. "I don't mind it being one-on-one and taking this kid's money."

He sighed.

"No… I'm getting it back," the Twi'lek said. "One more gamble."

"You don't have the credits," the dealer said.

"I got this," he said, putting down a small holopad and pressing a button. An image of a starship flickered. "It's a YT-1930. I call it Ryloth's Edge but… if either of you happen to win it… I guess you can name it whatever you want."

The dealer snapped his fingers and a pit boss came over with a datapad. The Twi'lek typed a bit and some information came up.

"Registration checks out."

"Je joue pour de l'argent, pas pour un vaisseau spatial." the woman said in a language Kazu didn't recognize.

"Basic or Huttese, please," the dealer said.

"I said, 'I play for money, not a starship," the woman said. "I'm out for this one."

"You, sir?" the dealer asked Kazu. "To match this starship, you'd need to wager everything you have."

"Yeah…," he said, pushing his chips into the pot. "I'm in."

"Very well," the dealer said, dealing each of them two cards. Kazu looked at his: a -15 and a 10.

Five.

They both checked.

The Twi'lek chose a card, Kazu then chose one: a -17.

Negative Twelve.

Neither of them made any more moves as the Sabacc Shift went into effect. Kazu's cards changed into a -10, a -15, and a 3.

Negative Twenty-Two.

"Hah," the Twi'lek said, putting down his cards: two 8s and a 5.

"Twenty-one," the dealer said.

Kazu held his cards and grinned, setting them down.

"Negative Twenty-Two."

"NO!" yelled the Twi'lek. He pointed at Kazu. "He must have cheated! He had to have! Throw him out," he continued to yell, motioning for the pit bosses.

Kazu put his hands up and rolled down his sleeves, revealing nothing but his arms.

"Somehow!"

The human woman stood and drew a blaster and pointed it at the Twi'lek.

"Sign over the ship. You put it down, he won it."

"He cheated!" the Twi'lek yelled again, drawing his own blaster and shooting the woman in the chest.

The force of the bolt pushed the woman back into her chair and three pit bosses ran over, tackling the Twi'lek. Another walked up to Kazu with the datapad bearing the ship's information on it.

"Need some change of ownership information for the Bureau of Ships and Services," they said. "check here… initial here… and here… sign here… and congrats. She's yours." The pit boss walked over to the holopad with the image on it. Says she's docked over at Galactic City."

"G-great," Kazu said, taking the holopad and his winnings and looking back over to where the woman had been shot, only to find the chair empty.

He walked back out into the main room of the club. Saa'na was still dancing, Tycho was chatting a red Twi'lek up at the bar and So'lia and Xinnaa were still in the booth.

"Where have you been?" Xinnaa asked Kazu as he walked closer.

"Uh… gambling." He responded.

"Winnings?" asked So'lia.

"About 3,000 credits. And a starship."

"How'd you win a starship!?" Xinnaa asked choking on her drink.

"The Sabacc Shift gives, and the Sabacc Shift takes, I guess," he said. "I'm gonna go check her out. Let me know where you guys end up."

"You want some company?"

"Not really… Nothing against you but… I need some time alone… gather my thoughts."

"Yeah… okay."

Kazu left the Outrider Club and walked down the street toward the turbolift they had come from. He reached it, got in and pressed the button to take him up. It eventually ascended and the doors opened where he saw the human woman from earlier leaning on the opposite railing looking up. She had a hole in her clothing where the bolt hit but was unharmed.

"Hey…" Kazu started, walking toward her. "How'd you…"

"Oh!" The woman said, looking forward and noticing Kazu. "You'd be surprised at how often that happens. I started wearing armored clothing. You though… I wouldn't call it wise to be gambling in Coruscant's undercity without a weapon."

"I'm not… totally defenseless…" he said, pointing to the lightsaber on his belt.

"Oh, you're a Jedi."

"Well, no… not anymore…" Kazu replied as he started walking again toward the Spaceport. "I… I never passed my Initiate Trial."

"You aren't worried you'll cut something off?"

"Nah… I've always been pretty good at swordplay."

"But you wouldn't be adept enough in the Force to last in saber-to-saber combat… or deflect more than one blaster bolt at a time… So what good is a lightsaber to you?"

It's got a green blade.

"Huh… I hadn't thought of that… I hadn't planned on doing that all much fighting though."

"In this galaxy, you should always plan on a fight. The best defense is a good offense."

"Sounds like you know what you're talking about," he said as they reached the entrance to the spaceport.

"I should," she replied as he asked the attendant where a YT-1930 named Ryloth's Edge was docked. He pointed them in the right direction. "I own a company that makes weapons," she continued giving him a business card.

"JadeStar Technologies."

"Technology research and development and manufacturing with a specialty for weaponry. My name's Jack Baudelaire" she said, also humming three short bars after her name.

"Kazu Starskimmer… what's with the humming? And Jack?"

"Nervous tic that's never gone away," she explained. "And it's short for Jacqueline. But with the industry I'm in, it can really throw off new clients when they're expecting to meet with a crusty old man, and I show up. Anything can be an advantage if you use it right… But anyway, you ever need tech made or a weapon, call me. I'll hook you up."

"Why are you being so nice?"

"You seem like a decent young man with a whole future ahead of you," she said with a smirk. "You're bit naïve but give that time… Hey, she's a beaut," she continued, pointing to Kazu's new transport ship. "What are you gonna call her?"

"Haven't figured that out yet."

"Hah, you're still in shock from winning. I bet you'll get a spark of creativity. Hey, I gotta get going, but," she continued, walking up to him and leaning in. "Credit's worth of advice for someone who just found out their weapon's useless to them: a lightsaber can repel blaster bolts, but they're useless against a slug. Or a flamethrower."

She started walking away.

"See you around, Starskimmer."

She seems nice. A little strange. But nice. He thought, looking at the business card one more time before pocketing it and giving the outside of his new ship a once over.

She's right. She's a great looking ship. Now… what to name her?

But before Kazu could think of a name, his datapad chimed. He picked it up to notice a notification from Tycho bearing the name of a diner near the club they'd decided to get some food at before leaving.

First things first though.

He made his way back to the undercity and found the eatery. Looking through the window, he noticed the four of them chatting and laughing, having a good time and enjoying themselves.

And I'm about to ruin it.

He walked in and over toward them.

"Now this guy," Tycho said. "We come here to celebrate me, Saa'na and So'lia becoming Knights and he walks away with money and a starship. And you said you didn't want to come."

"What's her name?" Saa'na asked.

"Guy who I won it from called it Ryloth's Edge," Kazu said, pulling up a chair and sitting at the end of the table. "But… that's a strange name for a ship owned by someone who's not a Twi'lek."

"No kidding," Xinnaa interjected with a snort.

"I haven't thought of a good name yet… But… It's time I started being honest with you guys." He breathed in and out slowly. "I've been hiding something from all of you for a long time… It's going to take a little bit of explaining though…"

"We've got time, Kazu," Xinnaa said. "Whatever you need to tell us, we're here for you."

You say that now.

Kazu breathed in and out again, closing his eyes. He opened them to see the four staring at him. The only four friends he had in the galaxy.

"How do you guys feel about reincarnation?"

"Well, technically," started Saa'na. "Neti who are about to die can plant a part of themselves and sprout again. They'd be the same in every possible way, but I get the feeling that's not what you're talking about."

"Not exactly…" He breathed in and out again. "This… is… my second life."

"Kazu, I don't…" Tycho said.

"I hardly understand it some days either," he said, looking up. "I'd start at the beginning but there's. Just. So. Much."

"Try," So'lia said.

He looked back at them.

"I don't know how long ago it was. I'm 15 now, so it's at least 15 years but it could be hundreds, it could be several thousand, it could be millions. But I am the reincarnation of a prince from a different galaxy. The star system I'm originally from was called the Solar System, named after Sol, the first king of that sun. When time began, Sol formed an alliance with a moon queen named Luna the Lovely. It was a duumvirate. In war, the Sun was in charge. In peace, the Moon."

"Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of years passed and I was born to King Vulcan and Queen Consort Amaterasu. I had a twin named Princess Misaki and eventually a brother named Prince Hayate. Over time, the Sun and Moon would engage in a series of conflicts with the planets of the system called the Solar Wars. I fought in them, did things I'm not proud of in the name of peace. No… we did things we weren't proud of. Me and my best friend… the Moon's then princess, Serenity."

"One by one we'd bring the planets under control and created the Silver Millennium. Princess Serenity's mother was Queen Tranquility. She made me her captain of the guards. When my father passed away, I kept refusing to take the throne for one reason or another. The duumvirate gave way to a singular monarchy. The Silver Millennium was then also known as the Moon Kingdom. And when Serenity became queen, she made me her spymaster. Eventually she had a daughter, also named Serenity. I fell in love with the princess of one of the planets. Her name was Jupiter. We loved each other so, so much. Princess Serenity had a love of her own: Endymion. He was a prince of one of the planets."

"Years of peace passed until one day, it was shattered by an ill wind. It didn't happen all at once but… a sorceress named Beryl conspired to usurp Endymion, bring down the kingdom, and take control of the entire System. My brother was murdered and my sister died under a collapsing volcano. Beryl bewitched me to think I ended my relationship with Princess Jupiter, attempted to torture a prisoner, and assaulted Queen Serenity. As it happened, she was also working with my assistant who had betrayed me. I figured it out, apologized and proposed to Jupiter, and decided to ascend my throne. But before I could marry her, before I could become king, everything came crashing down.

"It all ended in one final battle…I kicked the assistant through a window. I watched Princess Jupiter be stabbed three times in the back. She died in my arms. I helped another one of the princesses kill Beryl but not before she killed Endymion and most of her forces had killed nearly all of the royal court. Princess Serenity tried to fall on Endymion's sword, but I pushed her out of the way, only to fall on it myself."

"Queen Serenity had tasked me with looking into the ill wind, with finding out the odd goings on that were happening, with bringing the Moon Kingdom out of danger to the other side. Something she'd trusted me to do several times over but this time… this time I failed, and it cost us everything."

"In a final act of selflessness, Serenity sacrificed her own life to send all of us to the future. I was reborn on Sorgan and taken to the temple. Ever since I knew how to work a computer, I spent as much time as I could in the archives. I've been trying to find out how long it's been since the Silver Millennium, trying to find Jupiter, trying to see if I could find out where Princess Serenity ended up, trying to locate the rest of the court."

Kazu looked down.

"I haven't found anything."