It was now only two hours to go before Padme Amidala was to be laid to rest in the royal tomb. Now while the Nova Star crew was settling into their rooms of the Golden Heart Hotel, Aleah walked along the crowded streets. The people of Theebs were already lining up, waiting to bid their queen a final farewell. The young Nelvannian noticed a few Clone troopers walking through the crowds, checking them for identification or concealed weapons. The last thing Aleah wanted was to be spotted and risk getting the people caught in a shootout, so turning quickly, she got ready to return to the hotel when all of sudden…

"Hey you, halt!" came the commanding voice of one of the Clones. Aleah halted, being careful to keep her face hidden. The Clone approached her with four other troopers. "Where are you going?" he asked her.

Aleah answered the clone. "Just going back to my hotel room, sir."

The Clone cocked his head as if he was trying to get a look at her face which was still hidden. "Let me see your identification!" he growled holding out a hand to the Jedi.

Aleah began reach into her cloak, her hand gripping her lightsaber. She would have pulled it out, but fate had other plans.

"She's a priestess of the Sisterhood of Guidance," came a soft voice. Aleah turned to see another cloaked figure wave her hand as she spoke.

"She's a priestess of the Sisterhood of Guidance," the Clone said repeating her words to his men.

Aleah could feel the force was strong with this stranger, but she suddenly recognized the voice. "Ahsoka?" she whispered, watching her friend do another mind trick.

"She can go about her business."

"You can go about your business," the Clone said to Aleah.

Giving a quick bow to the Clone to keep of the ruse of being a priestess, Aleah hurried away, Ahsoka followed close by. Once the two Jedi were out of view of any Clones or Imperial supporters, Ahsoke pulled back her hood.

The Nelvaanian looked at the Togruta padawan. The two of had a brief silence before Ahsoka spoke. "When I heard the Jedi Temple had been attacked, I thought you had been killed by the Clones," she said pulling her friend into a hug.

"No, I survived thanks to my master. She died so that I could get away," Aleah said sadly. Hearing about Daesha's death, the Togruta suddenly remembered her master was still at the temple last she heard.

"Please tell me Anakin is alive." Ahsoka asked, her eyes full of worry.

Aleah could feel the force around them, it was very negative. No doubt the young Togruta had been dealt a great loss in life, but she couldn't tell her the truth about Anakin turning to the dark side. So the Nelvaanian pulled away and looked her good friend in the eyes.

"Ahsoka. Anakin Skywalker has been murdered by the Sith," she stated sadly to Ahsoka. "His killer goes by the name, Darth Vader." It wasn't a lie, but just the truth told from another certain point of view.

"I can't believe it. My master is gone," came the sad response from Ahsoka.

The Togruta turned to Aleah. "Look, I saw you come in with the Voyagers, you have to go back to them, but you can not tell anyone, including them about me being alive," Ahsoka told her Nelvaanian friend.

"Yeah, but I-" Aleah began to protest.

"No one must KNOW!" Ahsoka said looking her friend dead in the eyes.

Aleah head lowed. "Very well," then she hugged Ahsoka for the final time. "Goodbye my friend," she said.

"May the Force be with you," Ahsoka replied then ran off.

"And you as well, Ahsoka."

Not long after that, Padme was laid to rest, her family wept silently for their loss, while the people just looked on in hopes that the future of the planet would be better. Soon, the Clones were patrolling the streets, ensuring that the civilians were in doors before curfew. Aleah returned to the hotel room she was sharing with Lyra, Feline and Kenna. The three crew members felt it best to take a bath, so all three stripped off their cloths and got into a tub that looked like it could hold two more people.

Aleah felt a smile tug at her lips when Lyra asked her to join them. Not wanting to be rude, the Nelvan girl removed her clothing and stepped into the warm water. She took a seat next to Lyra who handed her a wash cloth. Soon, all four girls were giggling and helping each other bathe. Aleah felt so close to them, as if they were the family she never had. After getting all clean, the Chiss navigator sat down on the bed as Kenna looked out the window of their bedroom. A group of clones were arresting a man who had stepped outside to pick up a fallen statue.

"Poor man," she sighed sadly at the sight.

"I know," said Lyra as she brushed her beautiful black hair. "Things look very bad for these people."

Feline who had been going trough many maps of the many known locations put down her scanner. "If my calculations are accurate, 72 hours from now, the Empire will leave only a small detachment of troops to keep the city secure. With any luck, we'll be able to then leave the city undetected and be on our way to the temple."

As the four women talked, inside another room, Jens was talking with Fang. However, it was about Aleah. Now, Fang wanted to abandon the whole search for the temple, but Jens refused to even consider such a thing. His years among the Jedi had helped him know the difference between cowardice and tactical retreat. What was worth going after and what was considered to be a waste of time. The Nova Star captain reminded his first mate that the minute they took Aleah aboard, she became their employer.

To put it one way—They worked for her now.

Fang's eyes glowed in anger. "She's nothing but trouble!" he protest to Jens. "She's a Jedi who is wanted by the Empire. Why should we now risk our necks for her when we could just turn her over and get some kind of reward?"

Danny who was sitting on a bed reading a cook book, looked up. He knew Fang must have seen that Aleah had a bounty on her head, but he never thought Fang would be willing to break a rule of the Voyagers.

Jens crossed his arms. "We don't turn our backs on those who pay us," he said, but Fang countered back.

"What pay? She hasn't paid us a single credit and for once, hang the code and think for yourself for once, Captain."

"I am," Jens said. "I know that if we do hand her over, the Empire will just kill us. But if we don't, we might just find something worth our time on this adventure."

Then Jens went on to his first mate about how it was now their duty to help fight and protect Aleah.

The next night…

Aleah was going for a walk on the roof of the of the hotel that had an observation platform for people wanting to look at the stars. As she gazed up into the night sky, she almost didn't notice Siv laying down, using his finger to trace the stars to find the hidden images. The Nelvann girl spotted Siv when the moon light reflected off his armor.

"Oh, Hello Siv," she greeted him warmly.

The Mandalorian turned and noticed her smiling at him. "Aleah, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"I came to look at the stars," she replied. "But I also want to know what you're doing."

Siv smiled. "I came to remember the things I did when I was young," he said pointing back up to the stars.

Aleah laid down next to him, her heart began beating faster as she sparkle in his beautiful brown eyes. Those eyes were sure something, she could stare at them for hours and still that wouldn't be enough for her.

"Beautiful," she whispered, referring to his eyes and not the stars.

"Excuse me?" Siv asked.

"The stars," Aleah said correcting herself.

"Yeah, I haven't seen this much since Mandalor," Siv said as he pointed at one of the stars and said, "That's the North Star. It's the only star in the sky that never moves. Back in ancient times, Mandalorians would use the North Star to navigate on land, sea and space."

"That's off the little dipper, Ursa Minor." Aleah said. "That was only ever seen from the deepest zones of Dark Space, by lone freighter that ended up making a blind jump into hyperspace nearly two hundred years ago."

"That's right," Siv said as he admired Aleah for being smart.

For the next twenty minutes, Aleah and Siv talked and looked at the stars. Everything was going good until she brought up the subject on one of the Jedi rules. "Siv, do think it was wrong for the Jedi to forbid romantic relationships?" Aleah asked.

Siv turned his head and looked at Aleah, his eyes locking onto hers. "Yes," he said. "Everyone should have someone love."

"Yeah," Aleah sighed sadly.

"Are you alright?" Siv asked.

"No," she said pulling out the holocron. "Ever sense I found this holocron, my master scolded me for not listening to her, Now, she's dead because of me."

"That's not true. You're being too hard on yourself, Aleah. There's no way you could've known that this was going to happen to her. You loved her and she loved you. She never doubted you would be the girl she would admire. How you were made for great things. You won't disappoint her."

Aleah smiled at Siv's words as she leaned her head against his right shoulder as the two looked up at the night sky.

Meanwhile, David Creed had arrived on Naboo after burying his master, and now had sneaked by Imperial guards to visit Padme's tomb. Looking sadly at the tomb. He suddenly felt Padme's presence with his Force echo. "Padme, I'm so sorry that I wasn't there for you and Anakin," David apologized. "I knew you two were close and in love. But I never knew that you would die at childbirth. I should've been there for you as I should've been there for Anakin."

"David Creed," a calm voice said. David turned around to see a ghost of Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jin.

"Qui-Gon? Am I going insane?" David asked.

"You are not. Now listen to me, David. You're a brave Jedi, but not all lives are destined to be saved. It was out of your hands," Qui-Gon said as he laid a hand on him.

"I refused to believe it. If I was there I could have saved Padme!"

"The guilt of surviving is what keeping you trapped. You must let go of your guilt. Go to Tatooine, you can be with your family there. Also, soon, you will be called to follow Daesha's padawan on a big adventure."

"Qui-Gon, thank you, for everything. Goodbye, my friend," David said with tears in his eyes.

"Goodbye, David," the Jedi ghost said as he vanished.

After that, David returned to the hanger and bought a ticket for a one trip to Tatooine.

The next day…

The afternoon sun was warming the beautiful green grass, but the Nova Star crew were too busy eyeing the ancient Temple of the Elders. Siv scanned the area, there was only some crates and a few diggers at the temple, none of them were armed from the looks of it, but Jens turned to Dray and said, "Check the area, then give the signal."

The Bothan nodded and ran off. Taking caution, Dray scoped out the whole area. It was interesting. The diggers were employed by the Empire to dig up relics for them to auction off to the higher bidder, no doubt to fund their increasing control over the known systems in the galaxy. Seeing that there was no threat of any kind, Dray gave the signal.

"Alright, lets go," Jens said. He motioned for the others to follow and to remain as silent as possible. They were sneak pass the first set of diggers before entering the temple, only to see that the diggers weren't the only ones in the temple. Taking cover behind some rocks, they watched things unfold.

A group of clones and a few Naboo royal guards were in the main entrance. All them seemed to be in some sort of panic. As two Clones argued among themselves, a Clone commander turner to one of the Naboo Royal guards. "You!" he shouted pointing his DC-15LE at the royal guard. "Go in there and see what happened to my Sargent."

The Naboo royal guard obeyed without question, armed with a sword, he cautiously climbed a set of stone stairs toward an arched opening in the back wall of the temple. As he was nearing the top of the steps near the arch, he saw something else. A body. A few steps away from the man was a clone soldier, and near the sprawled corps was something else. Aleah leaned forward, trying to make it out.

It was the clone soldier's head.

"Keep going," the clone commander ordered the guard. "Just keep going."

The Naboo royal guard took the next step under the arch, and it was his last. A loud whooshing sound like a sudden gust of wind swept through the temple, and suddenly the guard's head was clearly severed severed from his neck.

"By the force," Aleah gasped.

Just then, Kenna tapped her on the shoulder. "Uh, Aleah." The sound of mechanical breathing filled the ears of everyone.

The Nova Star crew turned to see a black clothed figure standing behind them, with over a dozen clone soldiers. Whoever he was, Aleah felt her anger rising as something felt familiar about him. Her hand went for her lightsaber, but Siv reached out and stopped her.

"Not yet, Aleah," he said, "wait until the right moment to strike." Aleah listened to him and let the clones take her weapon.

As the clones surrounded the crew, Kenna had to ask, "Who are you?"

The cloaked figure tuned to the Star's medic. "I am Darth Vader," he said.

"And how did you find us?" Dray asked.

Vader pointed at Aleah. "A tremor in the force," he boasted. "And I have ears and eyes everywhere." The dark enforcer of the Sith walked up to Aleah. "Please accept my compliments of escaping Coruscant," he said, mocking the Nelvannian. He then pulled out his lightsaber and ignited it. The temple was lighten up with a red light. Vader raised it, ready to strike Aleah down, but suddenly halted.

"Any last words, before I let you join your master?" he asked.

Aleah quickly thought of a way to buy some time. "If you kill me you won't be able to find the next temple."

Vader cocked his head. "The next temple?" he asked.

Aleah had him. Only this time it wasn't a lightsaber in her hand, but the truth. The Nelvannian knew Vader would want the Holocron as well, so she decided to play her hand to see if he would take the bait.

"The Holocron I have was a map that led us here to find this temple and what lies deep within it, and there are three more temples scattered across the galaxy." she exclaimed pointing to the archway where the clone and royal guard laid dead.

Vader pointed his lightsaber at Aleah. "Then go and get what's in this temple," he said, then turned to the rest of the crew. "And I will let them live. Fail to return and they will die."

Aleah nodded and walked up the stairs. She could see the archway at the top and a dark passage. The Nelvannian walked past the two dead bodies, she felt a huge tremor in the force. The dark side was strong here, just then, with the force she pushed herself forward as a giant saw like blade just barely made contact with her neck. Using her Jedi reflexes, she avoided three other blades. Once past the blade, Aleah then saw a switch in the wall and pressed down on it. The blades stopped.

"I'm through!" she shouted.

Dray smiled and looked at his friends. "She made it." he said, but received a shove from the clone guarding him.

Vader then felt it best to send a clone in, along with one of the other prisoners. He turned eyeing each crew member. His dark gaze fell on the Lyra. "Soldier, take her through the arch way, and keep that Jedi in your sight. If she tries anything, kill the Chiss." he commanded.

"It will be done, Lord Vader," the clone said obediently. Then he grabbed Lyra by the hair and dragged her up the stairs.

"Hey, watch the hair buddy!" The female Chiss said to the clone.

Aleah kept walking until she came to a large pit with many pillars, but a closer examination showed that each pillar had a letter on it, each one clear as daylight. Great, another puzzle. She thought to herself, but her friends needed her. If she failed, then Vader would kill her friends. The Nelvannian began to scan the room, noting but symbols and statues on the walls that were all related to the Sith or Jedi. Then she figured it seeing how the eyes of all the Jedi were on one statues and their hands were gripping their lightsabers.

Aleah recognized the statue from her study on powerful Sith of old. "The First Sith Emperor, Ajunta Pall." she said.

She noticed the first pillar only five feet away, but before she could jump, the clone and Lyra arrived. The Chiss looked at the clone and then Aleah. There was only one thing to do. "Looks like we follow you," she smiled.

Aleah nodded, smiling as if she was playing a children's game. "A-J-U-N-T-A." The Nelvannian then came to the last part of the name, but these pillars were moving. She steadied herself with the force and jumped. "P-A-L-L." She made it to the end and there, a room full of treasure. Aleah felther holocron reacting to something in the room.

Once inside, she held up the holocron. It opened and a light shot out and scanned the wall of what looked like star charts. Then the holocron closed.

"I'll take that," the clone growled, then pushed Lyra into Aleah's arms. The Nelvannian and Chiss looked at the clone who was staring at the dropped holocron. The clone removed his helmet and smiled. "Lord Vader will be most pleased." he said picking up the Holocron.

Aleah could have used the force on the clone. But something from the nether realm of the force told her not to, but to wait and watch. She didn't have to wait long.

The clone suddenly dropped to his knees, he looked up at Aleah and Lyra. "What….is….happening….to….me?" he gasped.

"This holocron has chosen me to be its keeper," she said. "You on the other hand was not chosen."

Then right before the two females, the clone began aging rapidly. Lyra began to scream in terror as the clone crumpled to the ground, an ancient skeleton becoming one with his decaying armor.

Aleah then used the force to send the pile of bones and armor into the pit behind them. The Nelvannian then quickly picked it up and activated it, seeing the next part of the map. After reading the riddle and memorizing it, she placed the Holocron in her pocket and led Lyra safely back to the main entrance. All that remained was to find out how to escape from Vader.

For about ten minutes, Vader waited patiently for Aleah to return, but so far nothing had been heard of the Nelvannian or the Chiss and the clone soldier who had followed her. The Sith enforcer was not at all happy, but before he could take his anger out on the Nova Star crew, Aleah returned, alone, but unharmed.

"Lyra and the clone is dead," she said sadly, trying her best to sound sincere. Vader took a step toward her, he reached his hand out toward the Nelvannian.

"Do you have the Holocron?" he asked.

Aleah pulled it out to Vader. "Yes," she replied, then tossed it him.

"Good," Vader said catching the holocron in his hand, he turned to the clones. "Execute them."

"You said if I got you the holocron you would let them live," Aleah protested hotly. "You can have me killed, but let-"

"I lied. You of all people should have suspected that from the beginning." he said before turning to leave, however, he failed to notice theNelvannian smileas he stepped over an ancient symbol that was engraved on the floor.

A moment or two passed, then a deep rumbling sound that was felt as it was heard erupted beneath the temple. The walls began to shake. Dust flew as debris began to tumble from the shaking walls. Vader spun around, terrified, he could hear the voices of the ones who built the temple.

Aleah spoke up. "This whole place is a trap!" she shouted to Vader. "And you just triggered the last one."

The clones were looking around as if confused, they started to randomly open fire at were the voices were coming from. Seeing this as their chance, the Nova Star crew rushed the clones, grabbed their weapons and began to fight their way out of the temple. Vader turned around to see Aleah come at him with her lightsaber ignited. The Sith enforcer drew his and parried her attack.

As Vader and Aleah dueled, a clone grabbed Kenna from behind and put his blaster to her head. Her brother Fang turned and took aim, but with his sister being used as a shield, he couldn't risk hitting her. Suddenly, a blaster bolt struck the clone in the back, Kenna and Fang were both shocked to see Lyra still alive.

There was no time to ask questions, because the temple was about to collapse. As the crew fled, Dray stopped and turned to see if Aleah was following them. She wasn't. The Nelvannian was in a heated battle with Vader, wanting only to avenge her master's death. With a mighty swing of his saber, Vader knocked Aleah over, causing her to drop her lightsaber.

Vader picked Aleah up with the force. "Feeble," he said, but before he could strike her down, a powerful tremor in the force was felt and Vader was sent flying against the wall. He looked up, stunned to see Dray holding Aleah's lightsaber in his hand.

"I knew you had to be a Jedi," Aleah said with a smile.

"Go Aleah," Dray calmly said. "I'll deal with Vader."

The Nelvannian ran off to join the rest of the crew. Dray looked at Vader as he got up and slowly walked toward the Bothan.

"You are full of surprises," Vader said. "I had no idea that other Jedi survived Order 66."

Dray smiled. "I left the Jedi order forty years ago," he said and began to circle Vader slowly. "Tell me something Vader," the Bothan asked, "What made you turn to the dark side?"

Vader readied himself to strike. "The Jedi turned my beloved wife against me."

Dray narrowed his eyes. "And by who's hand did she fall?"

"Mine," Vader replied. His voice filled with self-hatred. Then, he launched his attack.

Even though Dray had left the Jedi Order all those years ago, he did not allow his skills with a lightsaber to diminish. He would often practice in private. There were times he would even encourage his colleagues to shoot at him in order to keep up his defensive prowess. To add a greater challenge, he always insisted that their blasters were set to kill, rather than stun.

But, at that moment, the bothan realized he should have practiced more, his eyes wide as Vader barraged him with a flurry of fast, and rather unorthodox attacks. And given the fact that temple continued to collapse around them, Dray was faced with a new level of difficulty. Jumping back just in time to avoid be crushed by a falling pillar, Dray had just enough time to brace himself for one of Vader's attacks, which came in the form of faking a swipe to the Dray's side, the former jedi moving to block it, only to realize his terrible mistake when Vader suddenly changed the attack, whirling around in order to bring his crimson blade down on the bothan's head, who just barely managed to block the attack before his head was relieved from his shoulders. Though that did not mean he did not receive a new searing gash across his right cheek, the smell of bunt fur and charred flesh making him sick to his stomach.

Although he was probably more concerned about becoming COMPLETLEY blind after this duel.

But he would have to dwell on that later, for the moment Vader forced the Jedi's saber into the ground, he reeled back to attempt to deliver another killing blow across Dray's back, only to have the wind knocked out of him as Dray used his legs to sweep Vader's out from under him. In an a matter of seconds, Vader crawling on his back, desperately attempting to deflect the savage downward strikes from the bothan hovering over him.

Meanwhile, the rest of the crew were faced with another challenge. Despite having made it outside of the temple, the ground was become quite unstable. Pulling a topographical scanner, Feline took a quick reading of the surrounding area, all while trying to keep her balance. Unfortunately, the readings came that came back were not good.

"THE AREA HAS BECOME UNSTABLE!" she shouted over the thundering noise of breaking rock and crumbling earth.

"SEVERAL UNDERGROUND STRUCTURES ARE COLLAPSING!"

"WE NEED TO GET BACK TO THE STAR!" Faolahd shouted over the noise, the wookie bolting for the ship, followed closely by his colleagues. However, Siv noticed that Aleah had stayed behind, her attention solely on the collapsing temple, her eyes wide in worry as she kept trying to find any sign of Dray.

"ALEAH!" Siv, desperate to get the Nelvaanian woman's attention, only for his cry to fall on deaf ears. Ripping his helmet from his head, Siv tried again to call to Aleah, again to no avail. Unfortunately, Siv could not call again, for in a matter of seconds, a spray of blaster bolts rang out, the crew quickly trying to find whatever cover they could, which was minimal as the only really cover would have been diving into he many rapidly forming crevices in the ground, which were only growing larger by the send.

"BLAST 'EM!" a 501st trooper shouted, the rain of blue bolts growing by the second as more and more troopers converged on the team. Unfortunately for the one trooper who gave the order, he and a few other unfortunate clones could only let out short, ferried screams before they found themselves crushed under falling stones, many others following suit or falling to their deaths in the deep chasms. But luckily for Aleah, when one clone grabbed her from behind, she was pulled from her catatonic state just in time to push them out of the way of a falling boulder.

"GET OFF ME!" Aleah grunted as she began rolling on the ground with the trooper, his grip so tight that she couldn't even break her arms free. But, if Aleah knew what was happening in the still crumbling temple, she would realize she had it easy.

Within one of the narrow passageways within the temple, heated dust and rocks erupted from the walls as the green and crimson clashed in the confined space, the bothan and Sith trying to make do with the amount of space they had in order to trying to land a blow. Luckily, they did not have to stay in this position for long, as they exited into a rapidly crumbling anti-chamber, three other passages leading to who-knows-where. But, despite being cut out from the force for nearly forty years, Dray was able to sense the best escape route for him…the tunnel to his left, which would most likely lead him put of the temple.

However, his train of thought was broken when he felt a searing pain in his left thigh, the blackened cloth and skin underneath a clear sign of Vader scoring a direct hit on the bothan. And unfortunately, that wasn't the end of it, reeling back his hand, suddenly extended it, the force projected from the flat, gloved palm sending Dray back hard against a wall, the impact knocking the wind out of his lungs and the clarity from his head as his brain rattled around, his vision blurred as a result.

"It is quite impressive that you have lasted this long against, Dray Saron."

Despite the sudden grogginess in his head, Dray managed to cast his shocked gaze towards the black-armored warrior before him. And while he couldn't see it, the bothan knew that Vader must have been smirking under his mask.

"Yes, I know who you are. I read of your exploits during my studies at the Jedi Temple."

A long, very unnerving silence followed, the only sound being the consistent destruction happening around them. But one thing was for sure, Dray knew that the smirk beneath that menacing faced had grow into a full, sinister smile.

"How the mighty have fallen."

With that, Vader raised his saber, the Sith lord ready to strike the killing blow that would end the life of the once great Dray Fang. But, just as he prepared to bring the blade down, he suddenly froze. He didn't know why, but for some reason Vader felt he had no control of his body. And it was only then he felt…something prod his mind. And the moment he looked into he one green eye of the former Jedi, a pure defiance in his gaze, Vader knew what was happening.

"N-NO!" Vader managed to grunt out as Dray stood to his feet, the jedi soon slowly outstretching his hand towards the face-plate of the Sith's mask, the bothan tapping deeper into the force than he had in years as he penetrated deep into Vader's mind. And the deeper he went, the more he found to torment his opponent. But what he found was truly…horrifying.

"Skywalker," he whispered in disbelief.

But for Vader, the man formerly known as Anakin Skywalker, all he could hear was the voices of the past.

Voices of that caused deep anguish.

"I have to sort this out on my, without the council…and without you."

"YOU WERE MY BROTHER ANAKIN!"

"ANAKIN, YOU'RE BREAKING MY HEART!"

And then…

"It seems, in your anger…you killed her."

"NOOOOOOOO!"

The call of anguish resonated, both within, and without. And at that moment, Dray knew he had his chance. In a matter of seconds, the compromised Vader tried, and ultimately failed to block the massive onslaught brought on to him by dray, the bothan landing hit after hit on the despondent Sith, who cried out in anguish as the green saber was thrust into his left arm, cut into his right leg, slashed the control panel on his chest, until finally receive an upward strike across his mask.

And at that moment, Dray could only catch a brief glimpse of the scared face beneath before, with all the strength he could muster, using the force to hurtle Vader toward the wall, the impact so powerful that the faced crumbled around the dark sider, who was practically buried in rubble as Dray, upon recovering from the exertion, regained enough of his bearings to making his way down his escape route.

Meanwhile, back outside, the rest of the crew had made it to the Nova Star, Kenna immediately going over each one to ensure they did not have any life-threatening injuries. But, her train of thought was broken the moment she heard the worried voice of their cook.

"Where's Dray, and Siv…and Aleah?"

It was at that moment that the remaining crew realized that the aforementioned members were not present on the ship. And it was only when Clank pointed out the open hatch.

"I SEE SIV!"

It was then that the crew noticed Siv running towards the ship, a barely conscious Aleah holding onto him as he was practically dragging her to the ship, all the while returning fire to the pursuing clones, each still falling in droves into the ever-widening chasms, or being crushed by the falling debris. In the spur of the moment, Jens bolted from the ship, the crew too stunned to stop him as he bolted towards the young duo, the captain of the Nova Star firing upon the pursing clones in an attempt to give them cover.

"GET TO THE SHIP AND TELL THEM TO GET READY!"

But just as Siv and Aleah got past Jens, the dark-haired human gave out a cry of pain as a clone got a lucky shot at his shoulder, the man falling onto his back, letting out a loud grunt from the impact. Unfortunately for Siv, all he could do was watch as the clones converged on the captain, the Mandalorian youth unable to reach him as a massive chasm opened between them.

It almost seemed as if the captain was finished.

Until…

The ground still shook…but the debris stopped falling, floating in midair. The sight alone left everyone stunned, the sound of blaster fire having subsided as each clone and crew member gazed awe at the source of this display.

Dray, ignited lightsaber in one hand as the other was outstretched, the force-user not seeming to put in an effort as he began to walk towards the reaming troops, some bravely, or rather foolishly, attempting to gun down the former Jedi, who easily deflected the shots back at their chest or heads. This alone left the remaining clones feeling they would rather take their chances at the bottom of the chasm. And once he reached Jens, Dray, after extinguishing the pale-green blade, offered his hand to his friend, who took it with a grateful smile.

"I should have remembered you liked a grand entrance," he jabbed, the statement alone making the beat up bothan laugh a little as well. And as they entered the edge of the chasm, Jens ended getting a little more than he bargained for as Dray, with an amazing display of force ability, jumped over the chasm with ease, landing at the feet of a stunned Siv and a significantly recovered Aleah.

Unfortunately, the admiration would have to wait as Faolahd called from the ship.

"COME ON!"

Pulled from their thoughts, the foursome ran towards the ship, Aleah and Dray lagging behind the other to give them a "push" if they needed it. And as they ran, Dray handed Aleah's staff back to her.

"Here ya go kid, he said, sending the appreciative girl a teasing wink just as Jens and Siv reached the ship, which Lyra now had hovering over the rapidly disintegrating ground. But, just Dray and Aleah leapt towards the hatch, the ground gave out from under them. This resulted in Dray having to grab the edge of the ramp…

And Aleah's outstretched hand.

"DRAY! ALEAH!" Siv shouted, the boy rushing to help, only to be held back by Jens as Kenna and Fang ran to help their comrades, Keena gripping the frame of the hatch, her arm linked to her brothers as he grabbed a hold of Drays. Unfortunately, without Dray's abilities keeping them at bay, the debris came raining down again, making Lyra take evasive maneuvers to keep the ship from getting pelted.

And needless to say, it made it difficult for both shistavaven's to properly pull their comrades in. And given the injuries he sustained; Dray couldn't haul them up either.

"KID! CLIMB!" he called to Aleah, who tried her hardest to climb up the bothan's body like a ladder, only to find that her body was too fatigued to do it.

"I CAN'T" she bellowed, only to release a yelp as a large piece of the debris hit close to the hatch, causing Keena's grip to briefly loosen, the sudden jerk resonating down the chain. And what happened next seemed to happen in slow motion, for all Dray and the siblings could do was watch as Aleah fell into the chaos below, the dense cloud of dust concealing her descent as her terrified scream fell on deafened ears.

But they couldn't wait any longer, despite the pleas of Siv.

At this point, the only thing they could do was go back to Theed and recover.

Unaware, that deep within the earth of Naboo, after the chaos had subsided, Aleah, banged up but otherwise unhurt, recovered consciousness…

Only to find she wasn't alone the small, naturally formed cavern.

Before her stood the ghostly figure of her master, Deashe!