(This story takes place in year three, 2270, and is during the shadow war.)
(Somewhere just outside Cloud City)
"Ah, nothing like a nice easy flight through space to settle a person's nerves," said Han Solo as he piloted his ship, the MILLENIUM FALCON. His copilot, the wookie Chewbacca, howled his agreement. He leaned back in his chair and started thinking about Leia, who was somewhere on this ship. Not to mention their children, Jacen and Jaina, as well as their friends Tenel Ka and Lowie. Anakin had decided not to come along, but stay at home instead. Luke was on the FALCON also. Since he hadn't gotten much of a vacation for a while, Han and Leia had coaxed him into comeing along.
"Put the ship on auto-pilote Chewie. I think we can safely travel through here until we meet Lando at Cloud City." Chewie roared his agreement and started the auto-pilot sequence while Han went to check on his passengers. Jacen, Jaina, Tenel Ka, and Lowie sat around in a circle talking about their adventures as Young Jedi Knights. Luke sat cross-legged with his eyes shut, meditating no less, and finally discovered Leia sitting in a chair reading a book.
Jacen was the first to see his father enter the room. "Hey dad. Are we almost to Cloud City?" Han smiled.
" You bet. I have Chewie setting up the auto-pilot now. We should have a smooth flight to," Just then, the FALCON's alarm system rang out. As everyone jumped up at the sound, Han insinctivley ran to the controls to find out what was happening. "Chewie," he said with a surpriseingly calm voice, "What just happened?"
Chewie raored that he didn't know and then pointed outside. Han looked to see a bluish portal of sorts that they had gotten caught in.
"This sure isn't any sort of hyperspace jump I've been through." Han was almost thrown out of his chair as the MILLENIUM FALCON was finally able to leave the cloud.Chewie and Han quickly set to work while all of his passengers came flying tword the cock-pit to see what had happened. Leia first emerged.
"So much for smooth flying. Han, where are we?" Everyone anxiously waited as Han checked his navigational log.
He looked up with a grim look on his face. " I can't tell. The whole nav. system is down. I can't even tell what are last coordinates were."
"Is the rest of the ship all right at least?" asked Luke.
Chewie checked the ship and let out a groan. Lowie's little translator droid, EmTeedee, shrieked, " Oh no! What are we going to do?"
"Why," Jacen asked. What's the bad news?"
Han translated for everybody. "According to this, the ship has been totally damaged. Not only do we not know where we are, we are practically floating in space."
Everyone looked at each other with a grim look. "I have a bad feeling about this," Jaina said at last.
Tenel Ka then said, "This is a fact."
(At the Babylon 5 station)
Commander Susan Ivanova sat at the control center of Babylon 5 looking out into space and actually relaxing. It had been a surpriseingly slow day and there was no sign of activity anywhere. "Now this is my kind of day." But she knew it would be short lived. Something was going to happen yet she didn't know what. It was probably just her stubborn Russian attitude but it never brought her down. She was about to call it quits when she looked out the corner of her view window and spotted some sort of craft. Looking closer, she saw that it was a ship, one that she had never seen before, and it looked pretty beat up. She turned to her comm unit and tried to hail the ship. She knew that the quiet wouldn't last. It never did.
(aboard the Falcon)
"Babylon 5 to unidentified ship; do you require assistance? Repeat this is Earth Allience station Babylon 5 to unidentified ship" Han Solo looked out the view port at the space station stilluetted against some planet. Taking one quick look at the dead controls, he replyed, "Uh ya Babylon 5, we're pretty much floating dead out here. We would really appreciate whatever help you can give."
(at Babylon 5)
Hearing the strange ship's reply, Commander Ivanova sent four of their fighters to tow them into the docking bay. She sighed and muttered "I knew something would go wrong. It always does."
Captain Sheridan met Commander Ivanova at the docking bay assigned to their unexpected visitors. As the ship moved slowly into the docking bay he looked at the commander and nodding towards the beat up freighter said, "I wonder if it looked this bad before whatever accident happened." The ship's boarding ramp slowly lowered and several people exited: a young man holding what appeared to be a handle of some sort, a rough looking older man wearing a strange and powerful looking gun, a regal woman, three children about 15 years old, two, the boy and one of the girls with brown hair and the third with startling red hair and the look of a proud warrior, and two tall hairy aliens, one a great deal taller than the other. The rough looking human stepped forward and introduced himself as Han Solo, the woman as his wife, Leia, the younger man as Luke Skywalker, Leia's brother, the taller alien as Chewie, his copilot, the brown haired children as Jacen and Jaina, his kids, the warrior as Tenel Ka, and the shorter alien as Lowie.
Captian Sharidan introduced himself and Commander Ivanova. Turning to Han, he asked, "What kind of a ship is that?" Han answered that it was a very heavily modified Correllian YT-1300 Transport. Looking again at the ship, Sheridan commented that he had never heard of theat king of ship before.
Solo shrugged and commented "Well I never heard of this 'Earth Alliance' of yours before today so I guess we're even." Luke turned to Ivanova and told her that she didn't have to worry, all they wanted to do was get the Falcon fixed and get home.
If looks could kill, Ivanova's glare would have fried Luke on the spot. "Your a telepath, aren't you." she accused. Luke explained patiently that he was a Jedi and one of the skills of a Jedi is picking up on people's thoughts. Seeing that his explanations weren't helping, he promised that he would not try to pick up on he thoughts again.
Seeing that Ivanova still wasn't satisfied, Sheridan suggested that she go back to the observation dome while he gets the machanics down there to help fix the Falcon.
Upon hearing that Sheridan was going to order mechanics to fix his ship Han immediatly objected. "Wait a minute, no one works on my ship except for Chewie and me." Sheridan was startled for a moment but quickly recovered and then nodded. "Very well. I can leave your ship here and you may work your repairs in this hanger." Han, seemingly satisfied, nodded his head in approval.
"Well, now that we have that all settled, would you mind telling me what a jedi is?" Sheridan notted that the group gave him an odd look.
" You mean, there are no Jedi here?" asked Luke who seemed more confused than any of them.
"Never heard of them."
Leia stood there letting all this information sink in. "Han, this may seem a little odd, but I don't think we are in our own universe any more."
There was silence except for the normal souds of ships docking.
"I think we may need to talk this over." Sheridan finally spoke up. "But first you people need to rest. I could show you to a couple of quarters for lodging and then maybe we could all figure this out."
Leia agreed to this. " We would be willing to pay but I don't think you would take Republic credits." Sheridan had to laugh at her remark. " I think we may have a lot to talk about."
When the rooms were in order and everyone had had a peaceful rest Sheridan came back to check on the group. "I was thinking that before we started up on where you all came from I thought it would be wise to show you around." Leia, acting as if she were a representative for the Republic, readily agreed.
As everyone started down the coridor a bald-headed man came running towords Sheridan. "Sorry I was late Captain, " the man said after taking a few deep breathes. "There was a bit of trouble in Down Below that needed immiediate attention." Sheridan nodded as if this kind of thing happened a lot. "No apology needed. We were just heading out." Sheridan turned to Leia. "This is Micheal Garibaldi. He is our Chief of Security here on Babylon 5 and will show you on the tour. I would do it myself but I have a meeting with the Drazi."
Garibaldi laughed. "Good luck Captian. Your gonna need it."
Sheridan smiled. " You should be lucky. If it weren't for these people here I would have you do it."
Garibaldi gave a mischeivious smile and nodded to the group. "Well then, I guess we better be on our way. Mr. and Mrs. Solo, if you would follow me." The children laughed except for the warrior girl who showed no amusement and the tall alien, which Garibaldi understood was a Wookie, who seemed for make a cheuff sound. Han gave him an amused look. "Just call us Han and Leia. I'm considering this a vacation away from the senate and would like to keep this as casual as possible."
"Well then, you can simply call me Garibaldi. Everyone else does." And with that they headed on there way.
By the time the tour was over, the Solo family and their friends had seen most of the station and met an assortment of people. The two that the group thought to be the most interesting were Delenn, the half human-half Mimbari, and a telepath named Lyta. Garibaldi told them of yet another curious sight, Kosh, the Volon ambasedor who always wears a bulky encounter suit.
Han said "Thanks for the tour Garibaldi, but Chewie and I should start fixin' up the Falcon." He looked toward his daughter and Lowie. "The two of you want to help?" Soon the four were on their way to the docking bay where they had left the ship.
Luke turned to his sister and asked "Want me to go with them; make sure Han dosen't get into trouble?"
Leia laughed, "That is what he does best but he can take care of himself."
Tenel Ka and Jacen stood next to Luke and Leia contemplating everything that they had just seen. They were both mystified that a whole new universe had been discovered. Not wanting to go back to their rooms the two friends decided that they were going to explore some more of the station. Leia agreed but told them to stay away from Down Below. She remembered Mr. Garibaldi telling them that Down Below was dangerous and that it would be best if they left that area of the ship alone. They continued down blue sector and decided that it would be interesting to check out the alien sector again. They had seen many typed of aliens already and thought that it would be cool to see something new.
After about twenty minutes they found an elevator, Mr. Garibaldi called it a transport, and made their way to green sector. They found the entrance and took the neccasary proceedures with the masks and made waited for the light to let them know when they could enter. A thick type of fog flowed through the hallways as they made their way down the corridor. They were mistified, if not dissapointed, when they saw no one in the hallway.
"Maybe they don't like to come out when their are visitors," Jacen suggested.
"Or maybe they just don't like anybody invadeing their space." Jacen didn't like Tenel Ka's suggestion and didn't reply. After a few minutes they realized just how big the alien sector was when they didn't come to an end of the hallway.
Jacen said, "I think we should turn around." Tenel Ka agreed and they turned around and walked a few feet when TEnel Ka stopped.
"What is it Tenel Ka?" He saw her motion her head to look behind him and when they did they Jacen gasped. Directly behind them was a huge alien in a purplish robed suit. There was some sort of orange-ish plastic shoulder pad of sort that connected the robes which draped over is feet. The robes were drapped out far enough that the surrounded the body so they could see no for. For a head it was a rounded rectangular piece with a huge circular 'eye'. There was a slight musical twinkle of sorts that the children heard and then a voice. "Leave this place. There is danger." Jacen was shocked but TEnel Ka wasn't fazed. "Who are you? What sort of danger are we in?"
There was a musical noise that again sounded while the figure talked. "Beware the shadows that walk in the light." A white cloud slowly engulfed the figure and he seemed to dissapear. The two Jedi Kinghts were dumbfounded.
"What was that?" Jacen was perplexed. What had they just seen? Tenel Ka just stood there for a moment. Though she didn't show it, Jacen sensed that she, to, was slightly disturbed at what they had just heard.
"Let's leave," she finally said and turned to head to the only exit that they could find.
Alida drove through the forest at tope speed avoinding every tree and obstical in her path. She would reach her ship in now time and by the time. There was no doubt that Skywalker, Solo and Organa-Solo would head to her ship in no time. She had seen Skywalker's skills but she knew that not even a Jedi's skills could repeatidly head off the laser shots from four blaster guns on her ship. If it weren't for the fact that she needed the the inofrmation from the main computer then she would have left with the girl right then and there. Oh well, that would be no problem- There was a blaster shot to the engine and the speeder bike slowed to a crawl. It took whatever inginuity she had to keep the bike, and the two, from crashing. However, the steering was jammed and Alida was forced to jump off the bike before they crashed into a tree. The girl was thrown only a few feet but had a soft landing in a pile of tall grass. Alida landed on the hard ground and had the wind knocked out of her. As Alida slowly go up she saw her merchandise gasp. Before she could get up she felt the barrel of a blaster jabbed between her shoulder blades.
"Well, Alida, we meet again."
"Boba Fett." There was a harsh sound from her voice. She grated her teeth in hatred for the other bounty hunter. "How did you find out that I had come here?" Alida cautiously asked.
"You really need to learn how to protect your ships files when talking in close proximity to another ship." He spliced her computers! That son of a...
"You are going to pay for that."
"Perhaps. But first, all three of us are heading to my ship. Now." Alida didn't argue. She knew when she was beat, at least for the moment. Boba Fett would pay for this, she promised herself. Boba Fett motioned for her to help the girl up and the quickly made their way to Slave I. As soon as they entered the ship the ramp shut and the engines started. Obviously, the bounty hunter had programmed the ship to take off as soon as he came back to the ship. He quickly disarmed Alida and motioned for her to sit on the floor by the far wall. Then he holstered his blaster knowing that Alida wouldn't try anything. He opened a pouch on his belt and removed a long peice of gauze and proceeded to wrapp the swollen ankle of the girl. She didn't give much resistance but waited patianly until her foot was wrapped.
"So why am I still here?" Alida finally asked. "If you have your information then why don't you kill me?"
"Simple." Boba Fett replied. "I may have the access codes but it will take more than just one person to get into the Lost City. And now that the Republic knows where to look they will be after anyone who tries to interfere. Namely you and me." Alida knew that this was true. It would take one person to get the information from the computer and another to watch the girl. It would also take both people to watch out for anyone who tried to stop the intruders.
"You suggesting... a partnership?"
"The cards are on he table. Of course, if you say no then I would have to get rid you which would make things twice as difficult for me."
Alida pondered for a moment. "Give me your word that we will split the profits 50-50. Otherwise you can jus pull the trigger now."
This time Boba Fett pondered the conditions. "I give my word. The profits will be split 50-50."
It was good enough for Alida and she stood up. "Now what do we do about the Republic?"
"Simple. I have allowed Solo's ship to pick up on mine and I relayed the trajectery of my hyperspace jump when I left Dantooine's atmosphere."
"Then Solo and the rest will follow the coordiants leaving us to get the computer information." Alida nodded her approval. "Clever."
"Solo won't be fooled for long so we have to make it quick. In and out." Alida nodded toward the girl. "Arentt you worried that she might somehow 'tell' the other three about our plans, what with those Jedi powers of hers?"
"The Jedi aren't telepaths. We should have nothing to be worried about with her."
Krys grimly thought threw her predicament. Everything that the bounty hunter had said was true. Even if Jedi could talk to each other and read other's thoughts she was not trained to do anything like that. Like it or not she would have to bear with her surroundings and hope that Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa-Solowould come to her rescue.