Star Wars: Skywalker's Revenge

Chapter Five: Former Allies

The Mynock burst out of hyperspace and Cade flew it down toward the planet he knew to be Vendaxa. Somewhere on the planet was the princess' family, and Cade couldn't wait to get his hands on the reward money. It had taken some time to sink in, but during the flight Cade had realized that this could be his most profitable bounty yet. And even better, he would be getting the credits from someone other than Rav.

"I'll land," he told Jariah, who was sitting beside him at the controls of the ship. "You tell Deliah and our guests that we're about to land."

Jariah disappeared and left Cade to his thoughts. Cade gazed down at Vendaxa, his eyes narrowed. Something felt weird about the planet, but he didn't know what it was. He should have been excited about his future richness, but instead he felt solemn. Vendaxa just didn't seem very lucky. Quite the contrary, actually. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but he got the feeling he wasn't going to like what happened next.

Jariah reappeared several moments later, with Deliah, Marasiah, and Astraal on his tail.

"So where to?" Cade asked, directing his question to the princess. "Where is this 'family?'"

The princess, Marasiah, nodded her head to her maiden Astraal, who pulled out a circular disc. She tapped it and a hologram of Vendaxa appeared over it. She shook the disc a little and the hologram zoomed into a specific location. She handed it to Cade.

"This is where we're supposed to meet up," she said.

Cade took it and held it up to the actual planet through the ship's windshield. He compared the planet's topography and soon pinpointed the location. He nodded to Astraal, who tapped the disc again to get rid of the hologram. Then he brought the ship closer to the planet and looked for a spot to land.

A couple minutes later Cade was gently setting the Mynock down in an opening of the dense forest that made up a great portion of Vendaxa.

"You sure this is the place?" he asked.

"Positive," replied Marasiah.

"Okay then," he said as he lowered the ship's ramp.

Marasiah stood by the ramp anxiously as she waited for it to fall to the ground. As soon as it was down all the way she stepped out of the ship and looked around eagerly at the forest. Cade watched as she searched for her family, but then he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. A colorful reptile was sprinting across the moist grass toward the princess. It gained ground quickly and leaped up at Marasiah, going in toward her neck for the kill.

Then there was a blast of light. Marasiah stood still, shocked, and touched her neck lightly. But nothing was there. Instead the small creature lay dead on the grass. Marasiah glanced back at Cade, who still had smoke coming off of his blaster.

"Better watch yourself here, princess," Cade said, lowering his blaster slowly.

"Thank you," Marasiah breathed. "It would have killed me."

Astraal nodded at Cade, impressed. "Looks like we found a good escort."

"No one has a quicker hand than Cade," Jariah said, clapping Cade on the back.

Cade simply nodded at Marasiah and then looked out at the dark forest. "So where is this family you spoke of?"

"Yeah, about that..." Marasiah started. She didn't get to finish, though, as two figures soon appeared on the other side of the clearing.

"Your family?" asked Deliah, nodding to the figures coming ever closer.

"No," answered Astraal. "It's my Jedi brother, and his master."

"A Jedi?" gasped Deliah.

"What's the meaning of this?" Jariah demanded.

Cade put a hand up to silence his crewmates' complaints. He looked at Astraal. "You said your surname was Vao?"

"Yes," replied Astraal. She narrowed her eyes. "Why? Do you know my brother?"

Cade turned his attention to the two Jedi coming near. Before long, they were close enough to make out appearances, but Cade already knew who they were. It was Shado Vao, the padawan that Cade had gone on a mission with once and Wolf Sazen, Cade's former master. He hadn't seen either of them in seven years, since the Massacre at Ossus.

Cade noticed Sazen looking at him and his crewmates, and he diverted his gaze. He did not want to be recognized.

"So you're father's not here," he said to Marasiah.

"No," the princess replied. "We'll be going with the Jedi from here on out."

"Woah, hold on a minute," Jariah said, stopping the princess from walking toward the two Jedi. "You're not going anywhere."

Marasiah smiled a little. "I know about your plan to turn my in to my father, and then to turn my father in to the Sith."

"Nonsense," said Jariah. "That's crazy. We would never..."

"Save it," interrupted Marasiah. "We're leaving."

"Let them go," Cade said to Jariah. He had already realized that he would be collecting no bounties. Now his only goal was to get off the planet before his former allies recognized who he was.

"Hold on a minute. She hasn't paid us yet." Jariah said, not as eager to let the money go.

"She doesn't have to. We didn't do anything except bring her to another planet. Now let them go," Cade repeated. He didn't raise his voice, but it was enough for Jariah to know he was being serious.

"Alright," said Jariah. He and Deliah walked with Marasiah and Astraal to meet the Jedi in the middle of the clearing. Shado and Astraal embraced each other when they reached the middle. Cade decided to hang back, and reduce his chances of being made out.

"They'll have safe passage with us," he heard Sazen tell Jariah and Deliah. "Will you be requiring payment of some sort?"

"No," said Jariah begrudgingly. "I think Cade just wants to get out of here."

Cade cringed as both Sazen and Shado perked up at the mention of his name. Why did Jariah have to call him out like that? They'd almost gotten away.

"Cade?" asked Shado.

"He's the leader of our crew," Jariah explained. "He's back there, not sure why he's hanging back like that."

"Hmm," said Sazen. "I would very much like to make his acquaintance."

Cade groaned inwardly as he stepped forward. He walked to the middle of the clearing and he and Wolf Sazen stared each other down intently. Cade watched his old master's eyes, looking for any signs of recognition. But none were there. At least, none that he could make out.

After a while, Wolf Sazen stepped back, satisfied. "Thank you for protecting Marasiah Fel and her company, Cade. We'll take it from here."

"By all means," Cade said as he stepped back, relieved. Neither Jedi had recognized him. The seven years worth of bounty hunting must have changed him even more than he realized. "I'm guessing you have means of transportation."

"Yes," said Shado Vao. "We have a ship back a little ways, hidden in the trees. We'll be leaving in that."

As the padawan spoke, a giant explosion came from behind him. Cade watched as pieces of tree bark and various gears flew in all directions.

Cade closed his eyes, knowing exactly what happened. Their ship had exploded, which meant one thing. "No," he said. "You will not be leaving in that."