As Jedi Padwan JANE LANE returns to Yavin Four to take her trials to become a Jedi Knight, Padawans DARIA MORGENDORFFER and JODIE LANDON meet as their Masters cross paths.

Deciding to sample some of the local food, the two have, instead, stumbled upon a raid on Sienar Fleet Systems. Despite her misgivings, Daria has gone along with Jodie in finding out what the raiders are after, and who is behind them . . .

DM/SW/DM/SW

The warehouse was filled with crates a full story tall. Several corridors had been arranged between them, allowing for the massive cargo mover droid to load and unload the warehouse. At the moment, however, the droid was sitting in a corner, deactivated. The guards who had been working at the warehouse had been killed, either at once or after being captured. Now firmly in control, the intruders came to attention as a new figure entered.

It was obviously a female Human. Her figure was covered but not hidden by the skin-tight outfit she wore beneath a black cloak. Her legs and arms were covered by fishnet with a gray material beneath. A very short skirt was slit on the left side, showing the leg all the way to the hip. A sleeveless black turtleneck covered her midriff. Her hands were in gloves that ran three-quarters of the way to her elbows. Metal studs circled her arms at the wrists and the end of the gloves. She was wearing black boots with zippers running up the inner side to the top, which was past the knee. A black veil that billowed slightly as she breathed was draped across her lower face, hiding it from view. Her head was in a mask, with black-lined gray fishnet holding in her hair. The only part of her skin that showed was around her brown eyes.

"Not much left to the imagination," came a whisper from three crates up. The figure who had spoken was cloaked in the darkness, as was their companion. Both were in robes, the speaker in brown, while the other was black.

"You think?"

The figure walked up to a trio of Humans in the brown uniforms worn by the intruders. Two men flanked one blond woman. "Lady Frost," the woman said, "the facility is secure."

"It had better be," Frost replied. "I would be most displeased if you missed anything, Colonel Transin." Her voice was low, almost sultry, but carried little in the way of emotion. Frost might have been discussing the color of dirt. "Have you found the software?"

"Our decryptors are working on it now," Transin told her. "We will have it any moment, now."

"Good." Frost glanced at the crates. "See that a few of these are placed aboard the ship. There is no point letting them go to waste. Besides," she looked back, "if we cannot find the software in one place, we will pull it from the fighters, themselves." Turning, Frost strode from the mammoth room, leaving the officers to hurry to keep up.

The brown-robed figure put an arm on the other, then led them back from the edge. A light from the ceiling illuminated the center of the crate where they stopped.

"There are fighters in here?" the brown-robed figure asked as they pulled back their hood. Beneath the robe was revealed a dark-skinned Human in her early twenties, with dark brown eyes and a concerned face. Her hair was parted on the left and grew loose to just past her shoulders, with a long braid signifying a Jedi Padawan hanging down behind her right ear. Beneath the robe, she had on a dark tan tunic with a black under tunic. A loincloth the same color as the tunic extended past her black belt to her knees, partially covering the black slacks. A pair of brown boots covered her feet. A cylinder on her belt was held in place by a hand she frowned.

"I guess that's what's in the crates," came the reply from the other woman as she, too, pulled back her hood. She was Human, although much more pale, with auburn hair cut just short of her shoulders. A Padawan braid reached to her green tabard. Beneath the tabard, she wore a mustard-yellow tunic with slightly flared sleeves. Her obi had two sections, the top was the same green as the tabard, while the lower half was black and served as a belt. Below the belt, the tabard became two three-inch wide pieces of cloth that extended to just past her knees in the front and rear. Her boots looked formidable, and were the same black as her loose-fitting slacks. A gray cylindrical device hung from her belt as well. The thing that held the observer's attention, however, was a pair of thick round frames of some black material that rested over her eyes, giving her a 'standoffish' appearance.

"Great. So, Daria," the first one asked, "what do we do, now?"

Daria frowned, "Now you ask my opinion? Look, Jodie, you got us into this, you're calling the shots."

"Hey, you saw them in the market," Jodie pointed out.

"And you said we should follow them."

Jodie shook her head, "This is getting us nowhere." She moved to take a quick glance over the side, then returned. "They're working on the cargo droid. We can't let them get any of these fighters loaded."

"What fighters are they, any way?" Daria looked down. "Ah, here's some kind of manifest." Kneeling, she read the label attached to the top of the crate. "Hmm, a Triple Ion Engine fighter."

"Triple?" Jodie looked down in surprise. "That's right, this is Sienar Fleet Systems. They use to make the TIE fighter for the Empire."

"Ooh," Daria glanced around. "This must be a new generation of them."

"I seem to remember they made a bid for replacing the old C-Wings a few years ago. But Cygnus Spaceworks got the contract when they included the droid pilot system."

"I still think that was a bad idea," Daria muttered as she stood. "Every simulation versus a skilled pilot lead to a loss for the droid."

"Ours is not to reason why, I guess," Jodie shrugged. "But we still can't let them get these ships."

"Herm," Daria grumbled. "Okay, they're after some ships, and the software. They're probably looking for the plans, too."

"That'd make sense." Jodie nodded, "Tell you what, you keep them from getting a ship, and I'll go protect the plans."

"Jodie, that woman had a lightsaber," Daria reminded her. "You know, like these," she patted the cylinder on her belt.

"It'll be okay," Jodie said, sounding confident. "Now, let's get going." Turning, she walked to the far side of the crates and stepped off.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Daria muttered to herself.