She changed into her clothes, a white shirt with no sleeves, a black one with short sleeves over it, a pair of tight blue pants, a pair of boots, her brown belt, and the thin white ribbon she always wrapped around her left wrist for luck. On her belt she clipped her lightsaber and a blaster. She then ate and went outside. The streets of Bakura always cheered her up. It was great to be back home, even if only for a little while. The place had just really to look like it had before the Ssi-Ruuvi and Dev Sibwarra had tried to enslave them all into battle computers. That was when she first decided she wanted to be a Jedi.
Master Skywalker had saved them all from that crisis, and she wanted to be just like him. She was a only twenty three years old now, and she had only been seven when it had happened, but she remembered it like it was yesterday, her parents had both died in that fiasco. Her father had been one of the pilots captured and put into a battle computer, and her mother had been killed in the chaos afterward. She still remembered standing there, by the small cantina, watching Luke Skywalker fighting the Ssi-Ruuvi while protecting Gariel Captison, there had been rumors of a romance between the two, but Captison marrying had more or less dispelled all such rumors. She breathed in, filling her lungs with the fresh air, her home was near the forest, and so was subject to some very pretty mornings. She exhaled and began her walk to the landing pad where her ship The Lucky Star was kept. Not quite by accident it was the same one the Rebel's had been assigned to during the battle that would one day be remembered as the Truce at Bakura. Bakura had been the first, in a long line of Imperial planets to surrender to the Rebels.
"Where would you be off to this morning Cheri?" The lot attendant asked.
"No where special." She replied. There was no reason to tell him she was going to Yavin 4. "Just some things that I've gotta take care of off planet."
"Well don't stay away to long, we don't have many Jedi here" the older man laughed.
"I won't," she promised.
An hour later Chera was seated in her ship, blasting through Hyperspace, heading toward Yavin 4. I hope they still remember me, she thought to herself, it would be a shame to come all this way for nothing.
Just then a signal sounded, she was about to exit hyperspace. She wasn't at Yavin yet; she had some things to do on the planet below her. It was called Irdonia; she didn't know why she was going there, she just had a feeling about it.
She opened the hatch to see the most dismal planet she had ever been on. A heavy fog hung over everything; even the landing lights on her ship did little to allow her to see her surroundings.
"Whoa," She said, "this has got to be the darkest place I ever saw."
She began to walk down what she thought might be a street. She walked awhile until she came upon a cantina. She wasn't sure exactly what the name of the cantina was, the name was written in several languages on the wall but the only one close enough for her to read it in the mist was in a strange language.
I wonder what that means. Was the first thing to pop into her head. Do I really want to know? Was the second. She continued inside where she found almost less light then there had been outside. She sat down and ordered a drink and some food. She looked around and her gaze settled on a young man, about her age, maybe a few years older, he had very dark hair and eyes, he was about average height and built. But something about him, maybe, the tiny Force ability she sensed in him, but something told her he was why she had come to this planet. He walked over to her and sat down.
"Hello" he said
"Hello" she responded.
"How are you?"
"I'm good, you?"
"I'm good" he replied
Oh great, Chera thought. Small talk,
"I've gotta go now," She said, "this was just a pit stop, I'm on my way somewhere"
"OK," he said, "if you need any help just ask"
"I will,? she said. Then she got up and walked out, OK, why was I in such a hurry to get out of there? She asked herself, a moment later she saw why. Her ship had been ransacked; the entire thing was in shambles on the landing pad. There is no way I'm going to get that thing flying before I should be at Yavin! Then it occurred to her, she could ask the man she had just met to take her. He was a mercenary, that much was clear, so much the better, she could hire him to take her to Yavin then arrange to be picked up from there. The more she thought about it the more it seemed like the favorable option. She turned around to go back to the cantina to talk to him when she realized that he was right behind her.
"How did you know about this?" she asked with venom in her voice. She was angry, she and tried to calm herself before she continued.
"It seems like your ship has been ransacked, huh?" He replied ignoring her tone and question,
"Yeah, it would seem that way." She said with just a touch of sarcasm in her voice,
"Do you need a ride? To wherever it is your going"
"Yes that would be great, how much?" She asked, once again just a little sarcastic, but she was calming down. She decided to leave the questioning about the destroyed ship for later. Right now he was her only ticket off this planet and she wasn't about to alienate him.
"First one is three thousand, if you need another rides it'll cost a few hundred more."
"OK" she said, "where is your ship kept?"
"Docking bay twelve," he said then as if noticing the heavy fog for the first time quickly added, "it's about nine bays down that way"
"OK, thanks for the help, I'll see you in about half an hour, I need to get some things from my ship and arrange for it to be fixed"
"I understand perfectly" He replied "I'll see you then."
A half-hour later she was boarding The Dark Abyss that was his ship, it was Necropilton, and they had a thing with death and darkness. The mans name was Jerik Daanho, he hadn't told her, she had looked him up on her ships data base before she sent it to be fixed. He was a small time mercenary, he had a small bounty on his head for a minor things, only one detail had really caught her eye, he was wanted for questioning in the death of an older man. The man had been pushing for the small planet of Naboo to be re-entered into the republic. It had been abandoned for years and was just now starting to receive some attention. Mostly the only reason it hadn't been admitted yet was because most of the inhabitants were smugglers and other's who didn't want the attention they would receive if Naboo were re-admitted to the republic. She wondered why cold-blooded killer hadn't sparked her danger sense.
There is no ignorance; there is knowledge she reminded herself quietly during the hyperspace jump to Yavin.
An hour later they were coming out of hyperspace near Yavin 4, "OK, I'm going to get on the com, see if I can get coordinates to land" Chera told Jerik just as he was kicking in the sub-lights,
"OK," He said, "you want some privacy?"
"Um, yes that would be great." She responded That way I'll have a chance to speak about you to Master Skywalker. She added silently to herself. |
