Harry Potter, The Jedi That Would Not Die
Chapter 51 – Flight of the Oswaft
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've re-written the previous chapter after some readers reminded me that the form of a wizard's animagus transformations is not chosen by them and is a reflection of themselves. I recall read that the Marauders chose their forms and that stuck in my brain as cannon; to quote The Harry Potter Wiki:
"'Padfoot' and 'Prongs' were large enough to control Remus (Moony) during his monthly transformations and 'Wormtail' was small enough to get past the Whomping Willow's defences so the group could get to the Shrieking Shack"
You can understand reading that why I believed they chose their forms, it's a little bit misleading, so please re-read that before continuing
Enjoy…again.
"Are you sure you are ready for this Hermione?"
"As I'll ever be," she nodded. "Are you?
"As I'll ever be," he echoed. "…Ok, here we go."
Closing his eyes he focused on the change.
Hermione watched intently as he began to change.
It started subtly with Harry getting taller and his face stretching. Next his skin began to change, parts turning grey, other parts turning jet black and turning into large scale like plates, from which additional legs and wings sprouted.
The transformation was slow, taking several minutes to complete but before the ten minute mark was reached a ten meter long star dragon stood before Hermione.
"You did it!" she exclaimed happily, hugging his 'neck' briefly. "This is going to work."
She watched as Harry examined himself, testing what his new body could do, from curling himself almost into a ball to gliding a short distance after a jump with the use of his wings.
All the while the small creature Asani watched from the safety of the cave, her eyes never leaving the duo.
"Ok Harry, we need to see if you can hover, can you activate your repulsors?"
Harry's dragon like head nodded, followed by several minutes of nothing. He twisted this way and that, contorting his body in an attempt to discover how to activate the strange organs. Later Hermione would describe it as looking like what a person would do if they were trying to get dressed without using their arms.
If took almost fifteen frustrating minutes before suddenly Harry's upper body launched up over five meters at such speed that he continued up and over, landing on his back like a dog who has tripped before scrambling back to his feet.
"I think you are close Harry. "That looked like you activated at least one. Try doing whatever you did again."
Harry stood still for a minute before his front feet were lifted off of the ground slightly before dropping back. A few seconds later they did so again before coming to hover a few inches off of the ground.
"Well done Harry, can you do more body segments?"
He paused again before more of his body was lifted off the ground, then more until most of his body was off the ground and he flipped over sideways and hit the ground as he lost control. Harry would later compare the experience to trying to balance on top of several large exercise balls.
Righting himself again he then activated all of them at once sending him skyward rapidly before dropping down slightly as he learned how to control what behaved like a downward jet blast from each of his body segments.
He tried this several more times until he could just about balance before dropping down slowly and landing in front of her.
Looking straight at her he used his more dexterous front limbs to gesture to his back.
"Are you sure Harry?" she asked. "You don't want to practice a bit more first?"
He gestured again.
Nodding she walked over to him and climbed on to his back.
"Oh, hang on," she exclaimed before aiming her wand at the Raven.
A few seconds later a small oxygen canister flew from it into her hand.
"This should allow us to go a bit higher before transforming…Ready?"
"Ready," he replied in a much deeper, more gravelly voice of the dragon before launching them both skywards while Asani watched.
Hermione clung tight to his scales as he flew higher and higher into the sky. She cast a strong warming charm on herself as they ascended as it started to get colder. She watched in amazement as the ground below moved away from her, completely free from ship or spacesuit. It was a unique experience. No broom or open canopy speeder would ever go this high.
After a minute of Harry's unstable flight she began to feel slightly light headed as the oxygen level decreased. Utilising the canister she began to calm herself using the Force as they went further and further.
"I'm going to start transforming now," she shouted through the wind as she awkwardly pinned the canister to her mouth using his back, knowing that her other forms limbs would not be able to hold it.
This time when Hermione started transforming she still felt the pinch of gravity squeezing her from all sides, but his time it was noticeably lessened.
She watched as Harry's ten meter form underneath her seemed to shrink before her eyes as she rapidly started to outgrow him, the oxygen canister falling away from them as she no longer needed it.
There was a moment of panic when they started to fall as Harry struggled to continue lifting her great mass, but he overcame it and changing position so that his head was pushing her, briefly looking like a very small tail on a bulbous tadpole.
She kept growing and growing until no matter what Harry did he could not keep them ascending, but by this point that was not a problem.
Her developed wings flapped and she took flight from him, the pair still ascending to space, this time both under their own steam.
It has worked.
It was the strangest feeling for Hermione; she was now over a hundred meters long, dwarfing Harry's form, but what was stranger was that her mind seemed to have expanded as well. Her mental abilities were vastly greater than they were before, testing her abilities she experimented by thinking up some difficult mathematical equations but she almost instantly was able to calculate the answers. She now understood how oswaft were able to plot hyperspace jumps, their brains were number crunching machines.
The pair reached space and both turned to look down at the planet.
It was no Earth, not be a long shot, but from this angle hanging on the edge of space very few planets would not be beautiful.
They both hung there for several minutes before she slowly turned her immense bulk towards Harry, they could not communicate like this, there was no air so she could not hear him speak and he could not translate a maser beam. After staring at each other for a minute she turned and pointed herself towards the dark side of the planet, from there she would be able to see the darkest of stars without the glare of the system sun and then plot their position.
He stayed with her, like a fighter beside a giant cruiser as they progressed towards the dark side and waited with her for over an hour while her immense brain worked out where they were in the galaxy; calculating the position of the galactic core, working out their position around the galaxy and then finally once that was calculated, working out the distance and working out the best route home.
After finishing her calculations she turned to him again and bowed her head, he mirrored her action, once again wishing that he could journey with her but as they did not know if his body could survive unprotected in hyperspace they did not dare risk it.
After a minute he watched as she turned and 'swam' away from the planet for several minutes, clearing most of the gravity field before accelerating and 'jumping' into hyperspace.
He waited there for a minute before turning back to the planet. He now had a different challenge. After flying half way around the planet with Hermione…he now had to find out where on the planet the ship was.
Hyperspace was an incredibly weird experience for Hermione, it did not require an awful lot of concentration to stay in hyperspace, though she had to keep focusing on maintaining her speed or she would drop back into normal space again, the only thing she could compare it to was running a marathon, but one that her new body was adapted to run. The effort was with in doing so for long periods of time, she felt she could go faster but not knowing how fast that would make her go she did not want to push herself in case it was not worth the effort of doing so, she had no idea how long her reserves of energy would last or where she could eat to replenish them. She calculated that she was only just maintaining hyperspace, almost any ship in the galaxy would be over taking her, but at least her speed was steady and she was flying.
Her calculations had shown Knowhere to be in the south/south east of the galaxy; when they had jumped out of Malastare they had, she theorised, followed a course almost vertically opposite to the Hydian Way hyperspace corridor, curing slowly anticlockwise from a southern course ending up on the edge of Wild Space, no wonder they had not been found.
She calculated that it would likely take over three months to get back to Coruscant at her speed so she had opted to head to Naboo instead; it was significantly closer and she knew she would be safe there and able to get some help for Harry, although it would still take over a month to get there it was Harry's best chance.
It had taken Harry almost a day to find his way back to the ship, Asani had been prowling around like an agitated house cat when he returned and refused to come near him for several hours, obviously annoyed that he had left her for so long.
As the weeks progressed Hermione's predictions about the heat started to come true. He did not waste his energy repairing the melting solar panel circuitry, with Hermione bringing help they were not needed so he focused his energy on cooling the ship down. He managed to create a partial canopy over parts of the ship using some tarpaulin related materials that they had, allowing him to keep the direct sunlight off parts of the ship which they utilised, but as the heat increased the lake and stream did indeed dry up leaving them with only the emergency rations and the few gallons of water that remained that they were able to stockpile.
Harry had tried scouring the land much further north and south of the crash site in search of freshwater but he found no other sources, even the oasis where he had found Asani was gone, which appeared to really surprise her when they returned to check. At one point the duo chain-apparated so far north that the sun was nothing but a strip of light on the horizon. Harry theorised that they must have been close to one of the planets poles but still it seemed to make very little difference; this did not appear the same sort of seasonality that Earth had where the tilt of the planet determined the season, this planet was definitely moving significantly closer to the sun with each day, moving north only reduced the temperature by a few degrees.
As a result the pair spent much of their time nearer the planets northern pole in the twilight and only apparated back at night when they needed to sleep or when they needed additional supplies from the ship.
Harry estimated that if he were to put Asani in stasis, and if he drunk conservatively, using meditation and the Force to help keep him cooler and therefore his need lower, that he had only enough for a little over five weeks and they would be in bad shape by that point he thought it amazing that Asani had survived so long here before they arrived. Maybe this was an exceptionally hot year; she had seemed surprised that her oasis was dry; she likely would have died if they had not been stranded there when they had.
He hoped Hermione would not take too long.
Aayla was getting increasingly desperate with the situation; she had been angry and anxious before but now, although she could not feel her padawan she could feel the bond starting to weaken, the only reason that would happen would be if Harry was getting weaker and that meant he was in trouble.
She and Coleman had split up, he had started working through the north eastern quadrant of the galaxy why she was working through the south east, Alema had been recalled temporarily, against much protest to update her superiors on the ongoing search but she had assured them that she would be back within two weeks.
Aayla had briefly stopped in at Naboo for supplies before resuming her search. She was currently heading through hyperspace on route to Zhar to check all the uninhabited systems in between.
Suddenly and for the briefest moment she was startled from her quiet worrying as she felt a familiar Force presence go streaking by.
For a moment she thought that she must have imagined it before realising that if she was going to imagine anyone it would be Harry.
Quickly dropping out of hyperspace she turned her ship and re-entered hyperspace back towards Naboo. She may have imagined it but she was less than five minutes hyperspace travel from the planet so she would soon know if she was wrong.
As she reversed course she felt the presence again but for longer, it got closer before moving away again. She was right, it was Hermione.
She must be travelling in a slower ship towards Naboo, pushing her engines to the max she made it back to the planet and returned to normal space. The wait seemed to go on forever before she felt the presence growing closer again.
Far from seeing the Raven or some old or battered ship emerge she was confronted by the sight of a giant creature re-entering normal space.
Doing some quick manoeuvres she evaded the massive shape which would have obliterated her fighter and looked back it. Hermione's presence was coming from it though she did not know how. But before she could fully analyse the situation she realised that the creature was not flying properly and almost appeared to be tumbling through space.
Hermione was exhausted; she had travelled almost nonstop to Naboo and had not stopped at all for rest during the last few days because of a strong feeling she got from the Force. She had known she would have to be quick for Harry's sake and she feared that the Force was telling her that she had already taken too long, but in forcing herself to be faster she had overextended herself.
When she reached the planet she was so short on energy that she could not even control her re-entry and was barely able to slow herself down. She was barely aware of being able to feel Aayla's presence, thinking it just a trick of her imagination as she began plummeting towards the planet.
It was then that she realised that she and Harry had made one very big oversight, one that might doom the whole mission; she had needed his help to get out of the atmosphere while she transformed but he was not here to help her land. If she was able to transform back she would either be suffocating for most of the descent or crushed by the pressures of atmosphere, and if she survived that she would have to survive the atmospheric friction and the landing, which could incinerate and crush her.
This whole thing might have been for naught.
#Knight Secura, we are monitoring a large object, we believe a meteor of some kind, heading for Naboo near your coordinates. Are you aware of it? It appeared to have come out of nowhere?#
"Yes Ground Control, it's not a meteor it's some kind of space based organism that just dropped out of hyperspace, I think it may be out of control."
#We are dispatching a squadron of fighters to intercept it. It cannot be allowed to enter the atmosphere.#
"No! Do not attack it. To traverse hyperspace it must be intelligent and I don't think it's a threat, I sense no malice from it."
#We have no choice Knight Secura! If a creature of that size hits land at that speed it will cause an earthquake and if it hits the ocean a major tidal wave. Thousands, even millions could be killed or injured. At least if we blast it into smaller pieces the damage might be lessened.#
"Fine send up the ships, but send some tugs as well. If we can slow it down the creature might awaken and be able to achieve orbit. If not the slower speed should reduce the destruction on impact."
Aayla pulled her ship alongside the creature; less than a minute later she saw the yellow glints of the Naboo Royal Squadron heading her way and from another direction a quartet of tugs designed to help large freighters dock were heading towards her as well.
"Naboo Squadron and tugs, this is Jedi Knight Aayla Secura, do you read me?"
#This is Bravo Leader Wing Commander Olié, I read you Knight Secura.#
#Tender Group Six, we read you.#
"What instructions have you both been given?" she asked. The creature was already brushing the outer atmosphere.
#This is Tender Group, we've been instructed to try and stop the creature, though given its size I am not hopeful.#
#If they have no success we are to try and break the thing up,# finished Bravo Leader.
"Very well, tugs get in position as soon as possible, we don't have much time."
Hermione faded in an out of consciousness due to exhaustion as she tumbled towards the planet, she was vaguely aware of the tugs buzzing around her head but did not figure out what they were until she felt herself being pulled on as their tractor beams locked on.
The tugs were tiny single person craft but were immensely powerful for their size. Capable of guiding massive transports into dock or moving large goods containers around easily. She rapidly began to decelerate as it was only gravity and her momentum carrying her forward now.
It was only when she started to feel the heat and pressure of atmosphere on her skin that she realised that she was heading for the planet. She did not have the energy to stop herself and her orientation was fixed by the invisible energies of the tractor beams acting like tow cables on her wings.
If they kept slowing her at this rate she would be slow enough for the friction of the atmosphere to be minimised so that she could survive the re-entry…she had one chance. Doing the only thing she could she slowly began to transform back into her normal shape, hoping beyond hope that the powerful tug tractor beams would find it easier to slow a smaller form and possibly even stop her fall. She would likely pass out from the lack of oxygen but if they got her down quickly she should be able to breathe again, but regardless she had to be in human form to survive planet fall.
Aayla watched dumfounded as the creature seemed to change size and shape in front of her. Utterly perplexed by the events for several seconds before a long forgotten memory awoke in her mind; a thought that would explain her sensing Hermione's presence from the creature, that would explain it changing form and also would explain what it was doing here. It gave her hope for the first time in months.
#Knight Secura are you seeing what we're seeing?#
"I am Bravo Leader," she confirmed. "And I think I am now beginning to understand what is happening."
#Feel free to share,# he said impatiently.
"The reason I doubled back to Naboo was because I sensed the presence of a lost jedi padawan pass me in hyperspace. When I returned here ahead of it this creature appeared but I sensed the presence of the padawan from it. The padawan in question if from a planet where they have many strange abilities, one of which is changing into other creatures."
#Are you suggesting that this…thing is a jedi?# he asked incredulously.
"It would explain what I sense from it and the fact that its form is in flux."
#And if it does not stop we will lose lock,# added the Tug Leader, his voice strained from where he was pulling on his controls to slow the creature down. #The beams aren't designed to hold writhing targets, our emitters are beginning to overload.#
As he said so one of the tugs, which has been travelling in parallel to the creature suddenly shot backwards as its emitters did as the Tug Leader predicted and the reversed engines flung the ship away.
#Number Two's down!#
"Hold it as long as you can," instructed Aayla. "With luck she will finish changing before she hits the surfaces so you will be able to stop her fall."
Hermione struggled for breath as she dropped through the atmosphere, down to a third of her oswaft size. Although it was a relief to escape the crushing pain of re-entry the ability to breathe was still rather important.
#Number One and Four are down,# shouted the Tug Leader as his own tug went flying back passed Aayla's fighter.
"Hang in their Number Three," she shouted.
#We're trying Ma'am,# came the same strained tone that his leader had used as his lone tug was towed further through the atmosphere.
Aayla watched in horror as a second later that tug too went flying as its emitter overloaded, forcing her to dodge rapidly to avoid being taken out by the spinning craft.
Hermione was almost back to her normal size, it was definitely her, she was currently almost entirely human though about ten meters long with extra wide arms, but shrinking fast. The tugs had done a good job at slowing her and had got her far enough through the atmosphere that combustion was not likely but now that the tugs had stopped she began to accelerate again.
#Knight Secura, this is Olié, she's no longer a danger to the planet but we know have no way of slowing her.#
"You don't, I do," she countered as she kicked her fighter into full speed as she raced to catch up with Hermione's tumbling form.
She pulled alongside in what could be considered a suicide dive.
Hermione had finally returned to her usual form but she was tumbling through the air unconscious with no attitude control. The terrific winds generated by their speed had ripped her cloak and robes away leaving her in nothing but her underwear, which Aayla was convinced were only staying on because they were skin tight. Her lightsaber, wand and equipment belt had also been torn from her clothes; they would have to be found later.
Looking down she realised that there was less than a minute to impact, she had to be quick.
"R2-B6, keep us steady and in this relative position to Hermione," she ordered her droid before extending her hand she focused on the Force.
Slowly Hermione's spinning slowed until she was flying through the air on her back. Once she had control Aayla slowly began pulling back on her joystick, if she pulled back too fast the resulting movement could snap Hermione's neck.
Aayla watched the ground get closer and closer, she was still pulling up but she dared not do it any quicker.
#Pull up jedi!# shouted Olié. #Pull up!#
500 meters
250
100
She got to level just in time for her fighter to skim the top of the trees; Hermione's back missing them by inches.
#Jedi!...I mean Knight Secura, are you alight?#
Aayla breathed deeply in relief before looking over at Hermione, she was in bad shape but she was breathing.
"Yes Bravo Leader, please have a medical team waiting for me in the hanger, I have a patient for them."
As soon as she touched down in the hanger the medical team was on Hermione, rushing her towards the nearest medical bay, Aayla right behind them.
Hermione was in a bad way, she was barely breathing and her skin was red and burnt in places from the friction descending through the atmosphere.
"How is she?" she demanded as the doctor examined her with a handheld scanner.
"Not good, it looks she was starved of oxygen during the descent, she's also physically exhausted and dehydrated, judging by eye I'd say she hasn't eaten or drunk anything in a few weeks. She should be ok in the long run but for now she needs to rest."
Looking down at Hermione, Aayla could not help wanting to revive her now to get the information she needed to hear. She wouldn't see any harm come to Hermione but after months of searching the information was directly in front of her, it was almost unbearable to wait for it.
Looking down at her padawan's best friend, now covered with a blanket to protect her modesty and to keep her warm, she saw how her face and skin were heavily tanned, her hair was a good deal longer and, according to the doctor's scanned, she had suffered broken bones since they had last met. What had happened to them since they were separated?
It was six hours later that the doctors thought it safe to awake Hermione, they had not wanted to do so at all but Aayla has insisted, she had felt her bond with her padawan fluctuate and she was increasingly anxious. She had sent a message to the Council, Coleman and Alema with the update and the latter two were on their way at full speed.
It was with a whimper that Hermione was brought around, intravenous drips in her arms and strapped to a life monitor as a precaution.
"Hermione?...Hermione can you hear me?" the twi'lek asked.
"Master…Secura?" she asked croakily.
"Yes Hermione, it's me," she replied. "Where is Harry, is he ok?"
"Data…pad?" she asked which Aayla quickly summoned out of the hand of a passing nurse, who huffed in annoyance before retrieving another.
Aayla quickly handed the pad over, not asking why, allowing Hermione to start weakly typing before handing it back, almost fading back into unconsciousness in the process.
Examining the pad Aayla saw that a galaxy map had been brought up and a planet highlighted.
"Hermione, is this where Harry is?" she asked urgently.
The padawan weakly nodded before passing out.
"Thank you Hermione," she replied, squeezing the padawan's hand. "Your Master knows you're here and is on his way, I'll see you soon."
She did not waste another minute and began Force Speeding out of the Medical Centre towards her fighter.
"R2-B6," she called into her comlink, "Transmit these coordinates to the Council, Alema and Coleman, advise them that they came from Padawan Granger and request assistance from the former two, then start calculating a hyperspace jump. Launch as soon as I get there, don't even wait for me to close the canopy."
The conditions on Knowhere were getting worse; Harry had put Asani in stasis a week back and had transported the rest of the water and supplies north.
He had tried to find the bantha herd again, knowing that although it would not be a great substitute that the bantha's meat could be an alternative source of water for him, providing the one thing that the dried rations he had did not. Unfortunately they had migrated from where he had seen them and sand storms since had concealed their route. He had not encountered any more herds so assumed they were a rare species on this planet.
He was down to less than six pints of water and was already extremely dehydrated. He was spending all his time in meditation, slowing his body processes in order to make the water last longer. He estimated that the water would last less than a week.
Several days later Aayla's fighter dropped out of hyperspace over the coordinates provided by Hermione. As soon as she re-entered normal space she knew she had found him, for the first time in months she could feel her padawan. She called out to him down their link but he did not respond. His life signs were weak, he was likely unconscious.
#Knight Secura, this is ExplorCorps survey ship Galor III, we are reading you in orbit.#
"This is Knight Secura, have you located my padawan?" she demanded to the jedi ship, they had obviously been able to respond to her call for help faster than she anticipated.
#Not yet Knight Secura, we have only been in orbit a few hours but we have located his ship, it was in the northern hemisphere close to the equator but there was no sign of him there. We are currently scanning the planet to locate his transponder but after so long it might not be working."
Aayla breathed deeply before focusing on the Force, she had one advantage the Force sensitives on the survey ship did not, she was a full Jedi Knight and also had a mental link to her padawan.
Following her senses she searched for him on the planet, feeling for his location. Using the Force she piloted her ship towards the ground.
"Galor III, follow me in, my padawan's going to need a medical team."
Harry was barely lucid on the planet; he was so weak now that he could not even focus to meditate. He knew there were Force techniques that would allow a jedi to exist almost in stasis for long periods of time, but unfortunately they were not listed in any of the materials that they had had on the ship.
He was so out of it he did not even hear the sounds of two ships descending towards him, or the touch of his Master's hand and mind as he and Asani, who had awoken as soon as she was touched, were transported out of the slightly cooler cave they had been sheltering in onto a ship on a stretcher, Asani's smaller form curled up at his feet.
The first truly conscious thought that Harry had was two days later when he awoke in the Medical Bay of the Galor III, intravenous drips into his arms and medical equipment beeping and otherwise making noises around him.
His vision slowly cleared up to reveal the bright white room. Looking around his eyes finally fell on the smiling form of Aayla Secura sitting beside him.
"Master," he said happily.
"Hello Padawan," she grinned. "How are you feeling?"
"Drained."
"Not surprised," she replied. "The healers recon you were down to only a few days of life. Once again you have managed to dodge another blaster bolt with your name on it."
"I barely dodged the lightsaber though," he replied.
"Yes, the judicial forces you led told us him but were not able to give us many details. Do you know where he is or who?"
"He's buried several thousand miles south near the Raven, when we jumped into hyperspace we got flung to the back of the bridge, my lightsaber impaled him. We kept his for identification, its back on the ship."
"Good idea, we can show it to the Council on your return..." she paused as her emotions started to catch up with her and months of not knowing was finally at an end. "You really had me worried this time Harry. Coleman, Alema and myself have been searching for you almost non-stop since the battle."
"Sorry Master, but at least you did not have to endure this planet's temperatures."
"You forget Harry, my species is adapted to hotter temperatures, you on the other hand now have a skin tone which is almost dark enough to make me think you are related to the late Mace Windu."
"Well, parts of me are," he replied. "I didn't make it a habit of walking around starker's. It will be a miracle if Hermione and I don't get skin cancer as it is after all that time in the sun."
"Well at least that is easily curable in the Republic," she replied.
"Hermione!" he burst out, realising he did not know what had happened to her. "How is?…Did she?"
"She fine, she made it to Naboo but barely, she's recovering there, I contacted them and Coleman arrived there yesterday. She was exhausted and malnourished when she arrived; it seems there were two rather large mistakes or oversights that the two of you made with your escape plan."
"Two mistakes?" he asked.
"Yes, firstly you knew her trip might take weeks but she had nothing to feed on during it, hence the malnourishment and exhaustion. The second though almost proved more fatal."
"What?" he asked concerned.
"You forgot to figure out a way for her to land. I don't know how she got into space in the first place but if it were not for me and four tugs she would have either slammed into Naboo creating earthquakes and tidal waves or have burned up in the atmosphere, suffocated on the descent or died from impact. Oswaft and gravity do not mix."
"Oh," he said slowly. "No we…we didn't consider that."
"Thankfully I was there resupplying around that time and managed to convince the Naboo not to blow her out of the sky when I felt her presence. The Force was with us on that one. How did you get her into space?"
"I also learnt to transform, my form could make it from the ground into space but not into hyperspace. I carried her to the edge of space and then she transformed. When she took off she had the space to get the lift to take her the rest of the way. We'll have to find a better way of getting her orbital so she is not reliant on me."
"Maybe she just needs practice, start on lower gravity planets and asteroids etc."
"Where's Asani?" he then asked, realising that the little creature was nowhere in sight.
"The small furry creature? She asked. "We wondered about that, it's currently in a storage crate with some air holes cut in it with some water and a bowl of ration bars. It was almost as weak as you but as we don't know what it is we thought it better to keep it confined. Apparently it isn't very happy about it being locked up."
"She should be fine; she's caused us no problems over the last few months."
"Where did she come from?"
"An abandoned smugglers camp, there was a young sarlacc there as well which I doubt ever wants to see me again."
"What did you do?" she asked, recognising the signs of another near miss.
"Just defended myself, it will be fine long term…What's the plan now then?"
"Well, assuming that there is nothing here other than supplies we will head back to the Raven and attempt to repair it before reuniting with Coleman, Hermione and Alema and heading back to Coruscant."
"The Raven needs its hull plates reattaching and replacement primary conduits for the core."
"Shouldn't be a problem, there's bound to be at least one on board, that should be enough to get it space worthy."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: In case there are any Trekkies amongst you, yes I did name the Galor III after a Cardassian warship. I needed a name and as I have a couple of star trek models on my desk the idea presented itself.