In an hour the two Skywalkers were already packed, showered, and ready to go. They headed down to the Jewel even though Luke had told Nakari they would meet here there in a couple of hours. They were planning to look through the Rodian catalogue for weapons that would fit the Jewel while they waited for her, but to their surprise, she was already there and waiting their arrival when they reached the ship.

"Turns out I'm pretty anxious to leave as well," she said in amusement when the two Skywalkers approached. "Can't wait to do anything besides sit here and hope the Empire doesn't find me. There's something about skulking that doesn't suit me. It's not engaging, but it's not restful either."

Luke brightened at her words, sawing a finger between their heads as she'd done when they'd first met. "Same here!"

Anakin stayed near Artoo when they entered the ship, knowing that Luke would be flying and Nakari would probably want to be in her own ship's cockpit.

"Ready Artoo?" Anakin asked quietly.

Dooep! Artoo confirmed as Anakin strapped in.

"Me too."

"We have to stop on Pasher on the way to get all the details from my dad," Nakari told them as they all got situated. "I think we have to pick up some custom armor, too. The creatures the collection crew were after are supposed to be dangerous."

Luke shifted uncomfortably, thinking of his father's words earlier. "What are they?"

"Not sure. Dad's information protocol means he never gives specifics like that in messages in case they're intercepted. We'll find out soon enough. Plus, I want to impress upon him that we're doing this as a special favor and expect a special favor in return."

****************************************************************************

Nakari didn't quite know what to make of Luke's friend Anakin, and she had to admit that despite the fact that he wasn't much older than she and Luke, the other man acted much older. Plus his eyes...strangely reminiscent of Luke's, spoke to Nakari of hardships and horrors faced at young ages.

This Anakin also shared a special bond with Luke, and Nakari wondered if the pair were brothers.

She put this all aside however, when her father spoke in his booming voice.

"Minion! Fetch us a caf!" Then he added a compliment to the statement, and Nakari smiled. She stepped up and embraced her father as he greeted her, throwing Luke a glance. "Daughter! Who is this and why is he laughing at me?"

Anakin hadn't heard Nakari's impression of her father, and thus had no warning on his mannerisms. However, unlike Luke, who got an earful of sorts for his odd expression, Anakin kept his face neutral, allowing Nakari and his son to do the talking. If he was asked a direct question he would answer, but otherwise he'd keep his comments to himself.

Nakari turned to Luke. "Daddy, this is Luke Skywalker. He's with the Alliance and he's going to help me in going to Fex."

"Pleasure to meet you, Sir," Luke said, nodding towards the bald, many chinned robust man in front of him. He would have never guessed...even with Nakari's impressions.

"Hmph! Skywalker. Where have I heard that name?" Nakari's father—Fayet, if Luke remembered correctly—asked.

"These are the two who destroyed the Death Star, Daddy."

"Ah! The pilots!" he lowered his voice as he spoke to Nakari. "So you've decided to go to Fex after all? Good idea bringing them along."

"Yes, we'll go, but we expect to be compensated for the trip."

"Compensated! For what?"

"For finding the collection crew and bringing back whatever we can."

"Ah! Very well! The more you bring back, the looser my purse strings. But you must be prepared. MINION!" he suddenly bellowed. An assistant appeared through one of the doors almost immediately. "Fetch three suits of the new Fexian armor prototypes immediately for my daughter and her pilots! And a case of stun sticks! Have them delivered to her ship as soon as possible! And," here he lowered his voice again to a soft tone, something that still befuddled Luke, "please give my regards to your family. I hope your son is doing well at the university."

The assistant bowed and departed without saying anything, which was a good thing as Fayet immediately turned his attention back to them and pointed at Artoo. "Can I transfer coordinates and other data to your droid?"

"Of course," Luke replied politely.

"Does this droid interact with anyone besides you?"

"He occasionally interacts with other members of the Alliance," Luke told him, "but mostly he's Anakin's and my personal astromech."

"It's good to have a minion, isn't it?"

Artoo bleeped something in tones that didn't fail to communicate his annoyance with the demeaning label, and by the look on Anakin's face it had been something rather bad, too. Fayet paused to consider the droid before turning back to Luke. "You should make sure to lavish him with compliments for his service."

"Oh, I do. He's the finest droid in the galaxy."

Nakari's father nodded again in satisfaction, ignoring Artoo's blat of disgust. "Are you returning to the Alliance after leaving here, or traveling straight to Fex?"

"Straight to Fex," Nakari assured him.

"Good. After the mission is complete I want all of the data I'm about to give you erased from the droid's memory, agreed?"

"Sure," Luke said with a shrug. He could have Artoo make his own observations for the Alliance and just erase everything that Nakari's father gave them.

"Excellent," he said as he picked up a datapad and started stabbing it rapidly. "DROID! I am uploading the encrypted mission files to our system for your access. They will be accessible for fifteen minutes and you may connect to any socket on your way out. Filename Fexian, download using the password Violet, and decrypt the files using the key Skywalker. Acknowledge!"

Artoo chirped an affirmative as the assistant who'd gone to fetch a caf a while ago returned, supplying them all with comically small cups of caf that were barely half a swallow. Once they were done and the man had whisked the cups away again, Fayet turned back to her, placing massive hands on either side of Nakari's face. "And now, my daughter, go and return to me safely. You are my pride and my world, and my love for you is as vast as the dune sea outside our city walls. You know this, do you not?"

"Yes, Daddy."

He nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Now, this moon is an extremely dangerous place. Do not step outside your ship without your armor. Review the files I have given you carefully on the way."

"I will," she said as she pecked him on the cheek, giving him a brief embrace. "I know you're busy and you have to go; thanks for seeing us."

"Always," he replied softly. His gaze fell on Luke once more, and his booming tone returned full volume. "And you! Pilot!"

Luke straightened instinctively. "Yes?"

"Exercise prudence on your journey. You will not show off. Let your skills commend themselves by your judicious use of them."

Luke grinned at Fayet's way of speaking for the thousandth time, unable to help himself. "Understood, sir."

"And stop grinning at me!"

With great effort, Luke schooled his expression into a smile instead of a wide grin. "Yes, Sir."

"Come on, Luke, he's late for a meeting," Nakari said, tugging them all out the door. Her father was already shouting for another minion before they even made their exit, and Luke's grin appeared once more at full force.

Anakin allowed his eyebrows to rise only after Nakari's father had disappeared. What an odd fellow...

And he was sending his daughter—willingly—to a world that the man himself had said was extremely dangerous.

Anakin sighed, rubbing at his temples as the group made their way back to the ship, where they again split into pairs: Luke and Nakari in the cockpit, and Anakin and Artoo keeping each other company in the lounge.

Not that Anakin minded. He was curious about the armor and stun batons, though, and after their jump to lightspeed, he joined Luke and Nakari in the cockpit to watch a holovid recording Artoo had been given.

Luke looked up when his father appeared, a small smile on his face. "There you are. Nakari's already warned me her holoprojector isn't the best, but it should be good enough," he told Anakin before he turned to Artoo. "All right, buddy, let's see what we've gotten ourselves into..."

Anakin watched with studious attention as Artoo brought up the recording after their jump to lightspeed, making a face at the low-quality holo projection that theDesert Jewel gave off. She'd apparently been serious about that fact. Anakin managed not to jump when the familiar booming voice of Fayet Kelen suddenly sounded loud and clear over the speaker.

"Behold my minions!" he said. Anakin noted that this recording had been pre-recorded, and he settled in to see what was next. The man talked about how the purple moon they were travelling to—which orbited a noxious planet that in turn orbited a red star—would be a possible huge discovery in biotech. He then talked about how the red sun gave rise to all the purple colors on the moon, but also contributed to high silica and mineral content in the soil. Those in turn had produced strange crystalline structures the man left for another division to exploit.

However, the man really got excited when he delved into the strange wildlife, which, as he described, looked nightmarish in the heads. Images of said creatures flashed by, and Anakin felt his previous foreboding sense in the Force return and grow stronger. He didn't need scientists on a recording to point out that the obvious evolutionary feature of crystalline horns all over their heads and upper body—but which left the bellies and legs exposed—to tell him that something from above was the major threat on Fex.

Anakin wondered just what could cause such an evolution of all the creatures on the moon, a thought mirrored by the scientist on the tape, which were now theorizing about some sort of aerial attack by a creature. Anakin had to admit that theory worked in tandem with the body armor of all the creatures. But why would the heads be so horned and hard to penetrate?

Anakin didn't like where this was going at all, and apparently Nakari shared his opinion. Anakin lifted an amused eyebrow when Nakari began making comments during the recording which now showed a group of scientists walking among the trees of a strange violet forest. In fact, there was so much of the single color that Anakin was beginning to really, really hate the color purple...

Anakin watched with a growing unease as the Bith in the lead suddenly began to panic.

"Wait, something's on my head!"

The camera view swapped back to see the Bith from a farther viewpoint, and the man was swatting at...something...on his helmet. Anakin sucked in a breath when the man's hands, while seeming to hit nothing, came away pricked with blood. Then the Bith began to scream at his friends to 'get it off!' before he abruptly stiffened and dropped dead like a stone.

The camera operator began to curse and then panicked when the camera jolted as his helmet was impacted next.

"Aw, No! What is it? Hafner, stun me, quick! Stun my head and Priban's too!" the human man shouted as he swung to look at his final companion, a green-skinned Duros with a terrified red-eyed gaze.

"What? I don't understand!"

"Just do it!" the man yelled, and the Duros finally did so, stunning the head, but not before the human's eyes rolled up into his head and he dropped like the Bith had.

"Why can't we see what's hurting them?" Nakari demanded of no one in particular, but Anakin knew.

"Camouflage," he bit out. "They're camouflaged."

Nakari and Luke turned stunned gazes on him but didn't question how he knew this as the last scientist started not to run for his life, as Anakin would have been doing by then, but he instead started to study the creature that had finally been revealed thanks to the stun blast.

And while the trio in the Desert Jewel's cockpit finally got to see the small but fearsome creature, Anakin's stomach formed a knot.

"Why isn't he getting away?" Nakari demanded, sharing Anakin's thoughts.

On the holo, the man was talking about the little violet, spindly limbed, six-legged creature that had a bony extension which protected a retractable trunk which in turn housed a rotary blade for teeth. The little animal had little horns also, and it looked to Anakin like a thing from the seventh Sith Hell.

"Incredible!" the scientist said, "I knew it, these things eat brains! They drill through helmets and skulls and then suck out the matter within the head."

Anakin shivered when the scientist continued to study the not-dead creature, even when he noted that the retractable snout began working again. The man had the stupidity—in Anakin's opinion—to say, 'Huh, that's strange, the snout moved from the top to the bottom now.'

"It's not strange," Nakari hollered, obviously sharing Anakin's thoughts, "it's waking up, run you idiot!"

I think I'm going to be sick...Anakin thought, even as the man went on and on about the diamond-teeth, but Anakin couldn't tear his eyes away as the man suddenly panicked when—wonder of wonders—another of the creatures dropped onto him.

Anakin finally had to step out of the cockpit and get away before he lost what little lunch he'd had, but he did hear the scientist call for back up from the Harvester, the ship that transported them to Fex, and then he heard the booming voice of Fayet replace the feed, speaking of how none of the team made it out alive.

Anakin went to the refresher and stood near the toilet in case his churning stomach decided to rebel...which it eventually did, and Anakin clung to the device for stability as he was sick, unable to help it.

Luke also felt sick though, surprisingly, he didn't make a dash for the bathroom as his father undoubtedly had. Luke managed to contain the contents of his stomach, jumping slightly when Nakari turned to him.

"Luke?"

He blinked, trying to recover from what he'd just seen. "Yes?"

"I know it's early and we haven't even arrived at the planet yet, but I'm going to gently suggest that the Alliance not use Fex as a base."

Luke laughed nervously, rubbing his neck instinctively. "Yeah...yeah I agree with you on that," he replied, halfway out of his seat as his shocked mind tried to decide if he wanted to go check on Anakin or wait until the other man returned.

Anakin, sitting as he was on the floor if the refresher after being ill, was seriously considering calling off the mission. He was loath to admit it—and if Obi Wan ever found out Anakin would never hear the end of it—but those little purple terrors gave Anakin the creeps. Just the thought of something drilling through his skull like it was the paper on a mache creation made him shiver, and Anakin had to make a mad scramble for the toilet once more.

Luke could sense Anakin's...unease and decided to leave the elder Skywalker be, sinking back into his chair. "Artoo, would you mind pulling up everything we were given about those...skullborers."

Anakin finally pulled himself together, embarrassed by his lack of control, and cleaned up. He stopped in the doorway to the cockpit when Artoo and the others began perusing the rest of the information on the creatures.

Luke looked up at Anakin's return, meeting the other Skywalker's gaze. However, he didn't say a word, leaving the topic relatively untouched for now. They were already on their way to Fex; as much as none of them liked the idea of brain-slurping invisible critters with poisonous spikes, they couldn't exactly back out now.

"I'm taking two of those stun sticks with me..." Nakari murmured as they perused the information Artoo had displayed in front of them. "And if one lands on me, youbash my head with your stunners, too, you hear?"

Luke grimaced both at her comment and when he saw that slapping the creatures was out of the question due to the fact the poisonous spikes all over the creature would cause assured, alarmingly quick heart failure. "Yeah, same here," he said with a nod. "We'll see what we can salvage from the ship and get out. No walking around underneath the trees."

"Definitely not," Nakari said, and the two fell silent. Nakari bowed her head, her dark curls forming a curtain over her face. The thought crossed Luke's mind that now would be a great time to make a clever quip to lighten the mood, but his mind remained blank as he was still in shock form what he'd seen. He sensed Nakari felt the same, so that gave him some comfort on the matter. On the other hand...he still wondered about her father. Now, Anakin had a bad feeling about it and that alone had caused him to give Luke warning; most likely if he'd have known what they were flying into, he would have had Luke stay behind, tying the younger Skywalker up and stuffing him into the dark corner of a closet if he had too. Fayet, on the other hand, Nakari's father...he had willingly sent his child to face these dangers when he could have easily risked someone else. Was he that confident in the armor, or in Nakari?

It seemed she was thinking the same.

"Can't believe he'd send me out to do this," she said quietly.

It took Luke a moment, but he finally managed to say something. "Well, didn't you tell me you've hunted a krayt dragon before? He must figure you're up to it."

"Maybe," she agreed, then laughed in equal measures of bitter amusement and rue. "Or maybe he's more confident in the armor and figures anyone can do it now. You hope it's one and not the other. Sometimes I think the galaxy might be entirely populated by people with daddy issues..."

"Of one kind or another, probably so," Luke agreed gently, eyeing her for a few more moments. He couldn't possibly imagine what was going through her mind.

Anakin grimaced at the 'daddy issue' comment, and he felt a pang of loneliness, no doubt brought to bear by his already unstable self due to the video. He missed Obi-Wan...the only true father figure in his life aside from Palpatine. But even now, Obi-Wan, at least from his time, was more of a brother now. Anakin felt guilty for Luke's 'daddy issue' despite his lack of participation in that area.

However, when Nakari made her comment, Anakin had to step forward. "I'm sure he trusts you. From one f..." Anakin caught himself, hoping Nakari didn't notice his slip of the tongue. "I think he knows you can handle this, otherwise he'd not have sent you. He clearly loves you, Nakari."

She studied him a moment, and Anakin held her gaze until she at last smiled softly. "Thank you, Anakin."

Anakin gave Luke a meaningful look, and then read the name again for the creature. Fexian skullborers. He shuddered; even the name was terrifying, but he set that aside in favor of focusing on the trip, though he was more than eager to try out the new armor...

"All in favor of testing out our armor before we arrive, say I..." Anakin quipped, only half joking.

Luke rolled his eyes. "Well obviously...though I am getting hungry again...hmm...that's a dilemma; food or armor first..." Luke said with a wry grin.

Nakari stood up and moved to the galley, where she produced three frozen nerf steaks, passing them over to Luke when he followed her.

"My vote is on food first," she said with a smirk.

"Fancy," Luke commented, showing them to his father just behind him with a small waggle of his eyebrows. He was pleased to see the action coaxed a smile out of Anakin.

"Enjoy it now. We'll be choking down protein sludge after this," Nakari said, and Luke grimaced at the thought as she gestured for him to get started on the steak while she pulled out a bag of vegetables. He caught a glimpse of the protein and nutrient rations that would soon be the only thing in their diet.

"Why do you bring so little real food?" he asked, far from looking forward to the rations they would be resorting to.

"Jobs like this one usually don't give you enough time to prepare it or enjoy it. We'll be working nonstop and on alert at all times once we hit atmosphere. Food's just fuel then."

Luke sighed. "Okay, but why not save something for when the job's through?"

"That feels like celebrating prematurely. And my desire for real food just pushes me to get home as fast as possible."

She had a point. Turning back to his assigned station, Luke did his best to hide a grimace; he'd never cooked steak before...

Well, there was always a time to learn.

***********************************************************************

Anakin, who had retreated to the cabin where Artoo was situated while their food cooked, plucked away at a datapad journal he'd started keeping on him at all times so he could record events in this time just in case, for some reason, he forgot when he returned, just to reminisce, or whatever need arose.

He was making notes on how Luke, despite how little time he'd known Nakari, was already smitten with her. Anakin smiled softly as he wrote, remembering snippets of his own 'courtship' and other little moments with Padmé.

He could hear dim voices as his shipmates conversed, and Anakin was content to leave them alone. He had been sort of feeling like a third wheel on this trip already, and was determined not to get in their way too much if he could avoid doing so.

Sighing softly, Anakin continued making notes while Artoo stood passively nearby.

*******************************************************************************

Luke wasn't feeling very confident in his cooking abilities; his steak was looking pretty sad. Though then again, Nakari's vegetables weren't looking that great either...

"Food!" Luke called loud enough for Anakin to hear as he set the nerf steaks down on the table, taking his seat beside Nakari. The other seat was on Luke's other side for Anakin.

Anakin finished his thought as Luke called out for him to join them at dinner, and then he secured the datapad in a hidden pocket in his tunic. He then made his way to the galley where Luke and Nakari were already waiting.

"Smells good," Anakin noted aloud as he seated himself, though when he got a good look at his steak, he reconsidered that statement...but only in his mind. He shrugged and began eating anyway, grateful for a piece of real food if all he'd be getting later on were protein tubes.

Nakari was next to try the steak, followed closely by Luke. After a few long moments of chewing Nakari mustered a, "You sure can thaw a nerf steak."

Luke resisted the urge to snort. He had thoroughly thawed the nerf, and then kept going until he'd burned it into a dry, tough piece of leather. He speared one of the vegetables with his fork, regarding it doubtfully when it sagged on both ends instead of keeping its shape. "Wow...these vegetables are really steamed," he managed. The two eyed each other for a moment to see if either would take offense before breaking out in laughter and managing to say "Sorry," simultaneously between bursts of laughter. Luke shook his head with mirth dancing in his eyes, standing up.

"I'll, ah...get us some water to help wash this down," he said with a small chuckle. "I think it's safe to say neither of us can cook."

He gently thwacked his father on the shoulder. "Maybe next time we should have you cook instead."

Anakin grimaced. "Not unless you like ration bars. I can't cook to save a life."

Nakari grinned at him. "Three hopeless cooks on a long trip. Aren't we a sorry lot?"

Anakin chuckled with her, liking her sense of humor and her wit; it was no wonder Luke liked her.

Then he waggled a mischievous eyebrow and leaned forward to whisper loudly to Nakari. "Hey, if we don't finish the steaks, we could use them as weapons against those skullborers..."

"Hey, I heard that!" Luke said indignantly as he set the glasses of water down in front of all of them. He rolled his eyes and took his seat again, fixing his collar before he poked at the vegetables with his fork. "Well...I think the vegetables are edible at least. Perhaps those won't choke us going down."

Anakin snorted. "Naw, they'll just slick the throat to help the meat go down easier."

Luke laughed, as did Nakari. "At least our cooking works when put together," Luke joked, shaking his head. He hadn't felt this lighthearted in...well...a while now. It was a much needed reprieve, and one he was happy to have.

Anakin finished his steak, eager to try on the life-saving gear Nakari's father had sent along.

"So, let's see what this armor will do for us, shall we?" Anakin said as he opened the first crate.

"Hopefully it will be better than our dinner," Luke commented, already headed towards where the armor was being stored. They all collectively shrugged the suits on over their clothes, the suits themselves being fairly lightweight, padded, and reinforced. However, when they put on the helmets...

The helmets were their own nightmare. They'd all immediately realized the helmets were heavy, though it was Luke who discovered just how alarmingly heavy they truly were. He demonstrated their limited movement from the helmets when he tried to look down. Immediately his entire body was thrown off balance, though he overcompensated and ended up falling backwards with a loud thud. Nakari threw her head back to laugh at him and ended up falling backwards as well, pawing unsuccessfully at the walls to keep herself upright. Luke felt some justice at that, and allowed himself to laugh at her as well.

Anakin belly-laughed at the pair of them and barely managed to keep his own balance when, in the spirit of 'cooperation,' Artoo gave him a sneaky nudge.

"Hey!" Anakin protested. "No fair, Artoo!"

The droid merely blatted and wheeled away innocent, but not before tugging him backwards with one of his pincer arms, and Anakin tumbled to the deck.

Luke roared with laughter when the droid knocked over his father, tears of mirth in his eyes as he gasped for breath. When he had some semblance of control again, he managed to gasp out two sentences. "Remember that guy on Pasher as we got on board? He advised that we practice somersaults in these!"

"No way that's going to happen!" Nakari replied. "He must have been messing with us."

"Yeah...because I'm not sure I can get up now," Luke said with a small smile.

"What? Whoa. That could be a problem," Nakari said, sobering as she struggled back to her feet. It took Luke a little while, and it involved rolling onto his stomach and painfully pushing himself onto his hands and knees, leaning back to balance the weight as he slowly got back to his feet, going over to help his father up as well.

Anakin had snuck a stun stick out of the second crate with the Force while Luke and Nakari were busy laughing at him and talking. Thus, he was ready with the same smug innocence as Artoo when Luke came over to help him up.

He kept his expression neutral when Luke approached, but as soon as the young man's hand touched his, Anakin allowed a feral smirk.

Luke could feel that something was about to happen, but of course Anakin was faster, and before Luke could react, Anakin had already acted.

Anakin jerked Luke down toward him. At the same time, Anakin connected the stun baton with his son's visor and was rewarded with a nice vibration.

"Arg!" Luke shouted, tumbling to the floor as he was knocked off balance again. There was a slight shock from the stun stick connecting to the visor, and Luke grunted. It was just a small shock, though, and Luke was much more disgruntled about finding himself on the floor again.

"What was that for?" he grunted.

"That'll teach you to laugh at your elders," Anakin taunted with a playful shove to seal the 'lesson.'

Luke snorted. "It was funny—and you were laughing at me, so that was perfectly fair," Luke returned, struggling to get to his feet again. Nakari was, once again, laughing. "Though I will say, you do feel a mild shock when it hits the visor. Hopefully the rest of the helmet is better."

Anakin lifted his weapon once more with a wide, playful grin. "I'd be happy to help with testing that..."

"I have to be able to defend myself first," Luke shot back, grabbing a stun stick. Nakari seemed perfectly fine with sitting back and watching them whack it out as they both automatically fell into sparring positions, with their stun sticks instead of identical lightsabers.

Nakari watched with open fascination as the two grown men began to whack at each other with their batons as though they were vibroblades.

She was duly impressed by the way the two fought. It was clear that the spar was all in good fun, but Nakari learned something in that moment: Luke and Anakin were definitely close.

And...it seemed to Nakari that Anakin played the older-brother role, in that he was more fatherly towards Luke while the young man looked up to the other.

She eyed Luke as he lunged in at Anakin, only to take a hit on the back of his helmet.

Back and forth they went, laughing the entire time. Luke crowed with victory when he actually managed to hit Anakin on the top of his helmet, feeling a rush of success for landing a blow on the older Skywalker. Feeling mischievous, Luke suddenly changed directions and thwacked Nakari on the helmet as well before rapidly retreating to face his father again, fishing out another stun stick with one hand and tossing it to Nakari.

No one should be missing out on the fun here.

Anakin lifted a brow and glanced to Nakari when Luke had his back turned. She, still playing 'sore' from Luke whacking her helmet, caught his eye, smirked, and nodded her assent.

When Luke turned about, Anakin gave him a sweet smile, which caused the youth momentary suspicion.

Anakin gave him his best 'who me?' expression, and proceeded to drive Luke toward Nakari, who waited in ambush.

Luke eyed Anakin warily, stepping around the stun stick the best that he could with the heavy, cumbersome helmet. Usually he was much more agile, but with the helmet throwing him off balance with too sudden movements, he couldn't do much about it.

By the time Luke realized he was being shepherded, it was too late, and the blow came swiftly from behind.

Nakari didn't need to be told twice: once Luke was within range, she smacked him on the helmet, laughing like a snood when Anakin battered him from the front.

She surreptitiously scooted her foot forward when Luke attempted to get out of his corner, waiting innocently for the inevitable.

"Hey, no fair!" Luke cried out when the two teamed up on him, though the words had hardly left his lips when he stepped backwards and suddenly found himself weightless and dropping fast.

Again?

As the pieces clicked, Luke reached out and took a hold of the leg that had tripped him, successfully taking Nakari down with him as she was the one closest to him. Breathless, he laughed even when his sides hurt, Nakari trapped on top of him.

"Okay, okay," he gasped between laughs, tears streaming down his face. "I give! I give! I think we've effectively tested out these suits!"

Nakari wasn't done with Luke yet. "Oh, I'm not too sure we've tested them entirely..."

Without waiting for him to catch on, Nakari snuck her hands to the seams in his suit and began to tickle his sides mercilessly.

Anakin, sensing a private moment opportunity, bowed out gracefully to remove his suit and take up the pilot's seat.

Artoo appeared at his side and whistled, Anakin smiling and patting his dome in response.

"I'm glad to see him happy too, Artoo."

Luke blushed when Nakari slipped her hands under the suit, though soon squirming away became his main goal as she mercilessly attacked him. "No! No!" he shouted between laughter, trying but failing to get away. She was in his suit after all; it was harder to get her off than just pushing her away. Still, he was enjoying it.

Nakari spoke in what she tried to make serious tones around her own fits of laughter. "See? If you're not careful, something could slip past your suit and defenses..."

Luke, scrambling, managed to trap her hands against his chest, holding them tightly so she couldn't keep tormenting him. "There we go! Threat neutralized!" he laughed, finally able to catch his breath as he gazed up at her. She was extremely close. If they weren't wearing these cursed helmets...and if he was a little braver...it could have turned into something. But instead he simply gazed at her with her hands trapped against his chest as he caught his breath.

Nakari felt a strange heat sear through her when Luke caught her hands and trapped them to his chest. She could feel his heart beating even as his chest heaved for air.

Her own lungs worked heavily for a moment and she wondered briefly if he wanted to kiss her. He was certainly looking at her like he did.

But then she recalled the helmets...and their position. She blushed lightly, clearing her throat some as she attempted to extricate herself from his grasp.

As soon as Luke felt Nakari move to shift away he released her, not wanting her to feel uncomfortable. He brought his hands up to the cumbersome helmet, pulling it and its rubber cowl piece off in relief.

"That's better," he commented, ruffling his messy hair to try and fix it as he rose to his feet with ease now that the helmet was off, helping Nakari up as well.

Nakari socked his arm gently once they were both free of their suits. "You fight pretty good, but I think Anakin's the more experienced swordsman of our group." She realized how that sounded once her mouth was closed and winced, hoping Luke didn't take offense. "By the way, are you guys brothers?" She asked curiously.

Luke sighed, peeling out of his suit. "He is the better swordsman; he's got a lot more experience than I do...though we're not brothers. Close, but no. It's a long...complicated story that's not even really mine to tell," Luke told her sheepishly.

Nakari lifted a brow, but respected his privacy. She also heard his unspoken message: maybe Anakin was the one to ask.

"All right," she said, glancing about. "I'm going to visit the refresher, take a shower."

Luke nodded. "I'll go ahead and clean up our carnage," he said with a wry grin, gesturing towards the things they'd knocked over and the suit parts lying around.

Nakari laughed. "You do that."

*************************************************************************

When Luke was finished, he made his way to the cockpit where Anakin had stowed away, coming up behind the pilot chair and draping his arm across the back. He still felt flushed from the brief moment with Nakari, and his smile still lingered. "And predictably you disappeared to the cockpit. You know you're a devious, mischievous person, right?"

Anakin threw Luke a smile over his shoulder. "And you should be careful when picking on a woman." He laughed. "I learned that with your Mother, more than once."

"I wasn't picking on her, I was trying to involve her," Luke said defensively as he took up position in the copilot's seat, leaning back. "How was I supposed to know you two would gang up on me? I thought the two of us could have doubled up on you; it might have been a fair fight then," Luke said with a grin, reclining with his hands behind his head.

Anakin laughed harder, having to take a moment to regain some of his dignity. "Fact number one about women that all men need to know: they're usually going to do the unexpected. Don't always try to make sense of it, just go along with it."

Luke snorted. "I could say the same thing about you," he said humorously.

Anakin gave Luke a pointed look. "Yes, but then, you already knew about me, didn't you?"

Luke rolled his eyes with a small chuckle. "Yes, I guess I did," he admitted. He grew a little serious as his mind wandered to something else. "She asked about us by the way; asked if we were brothers. I told her no and said it was a long story...and not really mine to tell. Just so you know in case she asks you," Luke explained.

Anakin sobered as well, nodding. "All right." He pursed his lips, thinking. "I still say let's get through Fex before we make any big leaps of faith with her like that."

Luke put his hands up in defense. "All right, that's fine with me. It's your big secret anyway, it's up to you."

Anakin lifted a brow at his son. "It's not just mine, Luke. And...just in case, you need to be prepared for her negative reaction when we try to explain the truth."

"I was kind of expecting that kind of reaction with Han and Leia," Luke admitted, his posture showing that he was taking the conversation seriously. "And I know that it's not just your secret, it's mine too, but...I just figured since it was about you..."

Anakin nodded. "I understand. And I appreciate your discretion." An alarm sounded on the console, and Anakin glanced back.

"We're five minutes from reversion, why don't you go find Nakari?" he suggested, taking the controls and looking to Artoo. "You ready to fly Artoo?"

Dooep! Artoo assured him.

Luke stood with a nod, turning and making his way down the hall. He paused by the refresher, hearing the sound of running water coming from within. He blushed lightly and kept his mind away from thoughts of what was inside as he rapped on the door just loud enough for Nakari to hear. "We're reverting back to real space in a few minutes," he called through the door, picking a spot on the wall to stare intently at.

Nakari heard the rap and the warning and hustled to rinse off.

"All right!" she called back. "I'll be right out!"

"Okay," Luke called back, heading back to the cockpit and taking up the copilot chair. "She's on her way," he told Anakin, stretching his arms above his head and keeping his eyes on his half of the controls. He wanted to get a look at this planet before they landed on the surface.

Anakin brought them out of hyperspace and looked back to Artoo just as Nakari stepped in.

"Your turn, buddy," he said. "Let's get this over with."

Luke told Artoo to take holos for the benefit of the Alliance, thinking that even if Fex itself couldn't be used as a base, the orbit might be useful. Besides, the system was beautiful and packed with stars. Nakari reached around him to activate the Harvester's beacon, and as soon as the sensors picked up the signal theJewel started to take them in on autopilot. Luke ran back into the cargo hold to fetch the suits, though everyone decided to wait to put the helmets on right before they went out the air lock.

The autopilot took them to a lavender clearing among an equally purple forest where the Harvester was quietly resting. Anakin landed the Jewel in the clearing, putting the Harvester well between the forest and the Jewel. The collection crew ship looked relatively undamaged from where they were.

"So far so good," Nakari commented, taking one of the horrible helmets and two stun sticks from Luke with a small grimace. "Nothing can drop down on us going from ship to ship at least."

"Artoo, run a scan to see if there's any life-forms on that ship," Luke ordered as he handed a helmet and pair of stun sticks to his father, who was just standing up from the pilot's seat. A few moments later and Artoo had the results, which showed that there were lifeforms inside the ship...but not enough to make up the entire crew of the Harvester. Raising them via comm systems didn't work, so they would have to investigate in person.

Anakin, meanwhile, took up the rear in case something decided to come at them from behind while Nakari opened the Harvester. Brain-eating parasites weren't the only thing to worry about on this moon, after all. Once they were all inside the ship, Anakin only grew tenser, tapping Luke on the shoulder.

"Be on guard at all times, Luke," he warned.

Luke nodded. "Oh believe me, I plan on it," he said with a grimace, inching forward cautiously. The group stood collectively together in the cargo bay, looking around. "All cargo areas first, agreed?" Luke asked the group around him.

"Agreed," Nakari replied.

Luke couldn't help but think how it was encouraging to have not seen any bodies yet or been attacked by anything. Nervously, Luke cast his eyes along the ceiling of the cargo hold, double checking to make sure his stun sticks were on and operational. The clanking of their boots as they advanced sounded muffled through the helmet, which was why there were comm devices inside. They checked the crates that were stored in the first cargo hold, and once they'd cleared the first area they moved on to the next, where they were greeted with the sight of specimen containers. Five containers on a bottom row held skullborers, each of them dead. Luke approached the containers cautiously, ready to bolt should one of them twitch or breathe in the slightest.

"You know, this makes me wonder," Nakari said as she came up behind him to inspect the dead skullborers as well. "How do you keep a Fexian skullborer alive in captivity? Does anybody sell brain chow on the market?"

Luke didn't know if he wanted to wince or snort at her joke, though he surprised himself by going along with it. "I'm sure butchers would be able to supply nerf brains or something like that."

Had he really just said that?

"Uhg," Nakari said, echoing his thoughts.

He decided to roll with it as one last comment popped into his head. "The skullborers might find them delicious."

"Uh-oh," Nakari suddenly muttered. "Luke, Anakin...look at this."

"What?" Luke asked, though he stopped when he saw what she was pointing at. Thick polymer glass that looked just like the polymer of their visors had been cut through with uneven edges. The units themselves were still functioning, showing that they had housed living beings inside, though said beings were no longer inside their containers. Luke felt himself pale; he'd been hoping they wouldn't run into the creatures.

"I bet the glass is all over the floor, but I don't want to look down or I might join it," Nakari added.

"That means we have five skullborers lose in the ship..." Luke murmured.

"Maybe. If we're lucky, they just snuck out past us real quiet and invisible when we lowered the freight elevator," Nakari said hopefully.

"Not sure if we're that lucky," Luke muttered.

Anakin agreed with Luke: no Skywalker in history—albeit an admittedly short one—had that kind of luck. His family was a magnet for trouble, no matter the precautions they took.

Still, Anakin shuddered as his nerves crawled, and he kept a more watchful eye on the ceilings after the discovery of the missing creatures. Also, he made a mental note to protect the visor before the rest of his helmet if it came to that.

The others began to move onward and Anakin dutifully followed, though his gait was now much more timid. Images of what his death would look like at the hands of tiny six-legged purple parasites ran in a torturous loop in his head.

Luke and Nakari pressed forward to the next part of the ship, the first to discover a body. Nakari recognized the first and second victims, though when they reached the lounge and came across the gruesome murder scene of three more crewmates, complete a violently torn open head, she only recognized one. Luke felt a little sick at the sight, though he wasn't sensing any immediate danger.

"It happened too fast. They had no warning and they weren't protected at all," Luke murmured as he neared the body lying in front of the door to the med bay. He glanced around at Nakari and Anakin, who were both standing on the other side of the room. "They have to be in here; some of them anyway..."

Nakari visibly shuddered, eyes flickering towards the ceiling and then towards the medbay. "We should clear the medical bay first."

"Agreed," Luke said, taking a step towards the medical bay as he was the closest.

"That door should open without a code," Nakari told him.

Anakin was practically shivering with nerves, and while he was secretly disgusted with himself, he just couldn't help it. Things weren't helped any by the discovery of five out of six crew members. All of the ones so far had been killed by the same method his mind had been hammering him with for the last several minutes.

Anakin shuddered when, upon their opening of the medical bay and Luke stepping through his danger sense tingled.

He opened his mouth to shout a verbal warning, his skin crawling along with his sense of danger...

Luke walked through the door and felt danger rush up his spine in a tingle through the Force as something thumped onto his head.

"They're in here!" he shouted, swinging at his head with one of the stun sticks in his hand. There was no squeal, but something did slide off of his head. He wasn't expecting it to fall on his shoulder, and when his head whipped around to look at it he lost his balance and fell to the floor. He put his hands out and managed to control his fall, but no sooner had he hit the ground did two more thunks sounded, signaling more falling on his head and throwing his head back in turn. They'd landed right on the visor, disorienting him, and a high pitch scream followed by a white spot appearing on his visor told him the creature was drilling through right above his left eye. Panic rose in his chest but he managed to swing with one of the stun sticks. There was another thud and a skullborer appeared, but to Luke's horror the drilling continued. It took him a moment to realize that two had fallen on top of each other, and the one that was drilling was completely protected. Knowing precious seconds had passed, Luke pulled out his blaster and, relying solely on the Force, he took a shot. The blast burned across his visor, but the drilling stopped just in time. A few more seconds and he would have been done for: he could see the rotating bone poking through his visor.

Shaking, Luke's hand fell back against the floor as did his head, relief rushing through his veins, his heart pounding erratically in his ears.

Anakin, third in the door, began to let out a virulent stream of multi-language curses under his breath. He cursed the forces of nature that had thought it would be nice to create such blasted parasites, and he cursed the crazy scientists who would risk their lives for a chance at becoming richer.

He trained his blaster all along the ceiling, having switched one stun baton for the long-range weapon. He was sorely tempted to just start blasting everything in sight just to be sure he got all the stupid things.

Anakin glanced down to Luke, who was being assisted by Nakari.

"Did he get anything inside your gear?" Anakin asked. "Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine," Luke replied. "It punctured my visor, but only just. I'll be okay...there's three down, right?" Luke said with a shaky laugh.

Nakari cracked a nervous smile. "I guess so." she reached down to help Luke up, but chaos erupted again before Luke could grasp her outstretched hand

When Nakari screamed and jerked away from Luke, Anakin was so trigger-happy at that point that he let out a harsh growl and charged forward as she swiped at her right hand with the stun baton in her left. However, even as the one on that limb fell stunned and she blasted it to purple gooey smithereens, she still screamed. Anakin could sense the malicious intent of the final skullboroer as it tried to attack Nakari's left hand.

She screamed once more in pain and Anakin wasted no more time. He reached deep into the Force, called up a mixture of anger and the need to help the woman. Thrusting out his hand, Anakin splayed his fingers, directed the energy he'd been calling to himself, and with a battle cry, Anakin released a thick burst of lightning.

It was an odd greenish-purple color, which in itself would have given the Jedi pause had he not been in the throes of his impassioned attack. He was hell-bent on ridding himself and his friends of the little hellions.

The creature actually shrieked before it seized up and fell dead to the floor, where it burst just as the one shot from Luke's visor had done. Purple goo spread all about, and Anakin wiped it from his visor with a slightly-shaky hand.

"If I never see the color purple again it'll be too soon," he grated, wiping his gloved hand on the first available surface that wasn't the medical table.

He only then realized that the room had fallen eerily silent, and he turned to see both Nakari and Luke gazing at him, mouths agape.

"What?" Anakin asked, glancing about to see if his work wasn't yet done.

Nakari managed a shaky sentence. "W-what was that?"

Anakin frowned. "What was what?"

"That...lighting from your fingertips?" Nakari demanded a little fearfully.

Anakin froze. Whoops. Maybe I overdid it...

"You can do that?" Luke gaped, staring in wonder at his father from his spot on the ground. He heard the drip of blood hitting the floor and hefted himself to his feet slowly but painfully. "That...that can wait for later; let me look at this," Luke said seriously. He tenderly took Nakari's hand in his own, sweeping the room with the Force to make sure there were no more skulborers as he did so. He didn't sense any, so he carefully tugged her glove off.

"There's no more in this room so we don't need to worry about that," Luke explained as he led her to the medical table. "Let me see..." he murmured, turning her hand over carefully and examining the torn tendons and flesh with an unfortunately expert eye.

Anakin stepped forward, watching with chagrin as Nakari's eyes tracked him with some fear.

"I'm sorry for frightening you, Nakari," Anakin said softly while Luke checked her hand. He could both see and feel Luke's distress at Nakari's injury. When Luke started to search for a way to help the woman via medicine found in the room, he took his son's hand with just as much care as the boy was using for his girlfriend to stop him.

Luke looked at Anakin first in surprise then a little bit of anger. Why wasn't he letting Luke treat Nakari?

Luke cradled her hand in his own, the other hand in Anakin's grasp.

"What—" he started to protest before Anakin cut him off and thoroughly chastised Luke, causing him to duck his head a little as the anger evaporated into guilt for assuming his father wasn't letting him treat her.

"Luke, calm down," Anakin chastised his son mildly as he felt the boy's anger raise some because he'd stopped her from being treated. "I would never want to cause her more pain."

When Luke dipped his head in some shame, Anakin softened. "We can help her in a much more effective way."

Luke's brow furrowed in confusion for a second before understanding slowly fell over him. "Oh...oh!" he said, taking off his own gloves to cradle Nakari's hand once more, now fully open to his father's instruction and slowly starting to immerse himself in the Force.

Anakin placed a gentle hand over Luke and Nakari's, allowed his eyes to fall half-lidded in concentration, and began to guide Luke through the process of healing Nakari in the Force.

It took a while, since her hand was made up of tendons and sinews and more defined cartilage. It was starting to take a toll on Luke but the young man pushed through it until the hand was healed fully, and Anakin dropped his limb with a deep breath to re-center himself.

Nakari was gaping openly at her hand, and Anakin stepped back, allowing the two a moment while he resealed his suit, grabbed his weapons, and went in search of the final scientist.

************************************************************************

Anakin stopped his search of the remainder of the Harvester when he came to a sealed hatch. Only then did he recall that Nakari had use a code to get them onboard in the first place. Anakin ran a hand down his helmeted face, grimacing when the effect wasn't the same with the facial protection.

He thought it over a moment, musing that he could use his lightsaber to open the door, but Nakari's father would likely subtract the cost for repairs from their reward...he could use the Force to search the key-code...or he could just hotwire the door.

Anakin opted for the latter option, removing his gloves after a thorough search in the Force and with his stun baton of the ceiling just in case. He popped the keypad off its mount and began to root about the wiring, and after a few minutes the door slid open, and Anakin replaced his gloves before he entered the area.

He then settled into Jedi-mode and cat-walked forward, all senses alert for any sign of danger. As such, with his senses so attuned, Anakin caught the barest flicker of life on the left, third door in. Knowing that he would be left vulnerable if he didn't check the rest of the ship first, Anakin did so, then returned to the left-side room.

He opened the portal the same way he'd opened the last one, pausing upon seeing a man curled upon the bunk with a collection of empty water bottles scattered about the floor. He seemed intact, but barely alive. Anakin grimaced, but searched his final room just in case...but there was no threat.

Anakin knelt before the man, drew close, and sure enough, a tiny cloud fogged his faceplate and Anakin had solid proof this person was still alive. Anakin wasted no more time in gathering the man up and walking him in an emergency carry to the medical ward.

****************************************************************************

Luke was shaking and he had to brace himself against the medical table, one hand still clasped over Nakari's as he brushed his thumb against the spot Nakari's injury had been moments ago, reassuring himself that it was indeed healed.

Nakari varied staring at her limb, the door where Anakin had disappeared, and then the man before her, who was trembling.

"Luke?" she murmured, not sure if she should be afraid, angry, or exhilarated. "What is going on? Who is that man in there? Really? And how can he do...all this?"

Luke eased himself into a sitting position on the med table, his hand still on Nakari's as he searched for a way to explain.

"I'm sure you've heard the stories of the Jedi...they really did exist and...we're both Jedi. Well...Anakin's a fully trained Jedi Knight; I've only just started learning. Anakin, he's training me," Luke explained softly. "The lightning and the healing...we can do that through the Force, apparently. I didn't know we could actually. But through the Force we can sense things and manipulate the world around us."

Nakari lifted both brows, surprised. "Jedi, really?" She thought it over. "Well...he did save my life, and you both healed me, so I'm not going to hold that against you."

She touched his helmet with her free hand. "Thank you, Luke."

Luke's smile reappeared and he gently covered her hand with his own trembling hand. "It was nothing," he said softly. "And I'm sorry we haven't told you much, it's just...hard to explain and not something that's exactly safe to be mentioned. Simply being associated with the Jedi in some way...well...let's just say the Empire is all too happy to inflict pain for it," Luke said, his smile tightening and a dark look flickering across his face.

Nakari heard his tone, and then looked down. "You speak as if you know what that feels...personally."

Anakin paused just outside the door when he heard Nakari and Luke speaking, and when he heard the subject he completely froze.

Luke stiffened, a tremor going through him as he suddenly felt a flash of cold flood his chest. "I..." he trailed off, fighting a wave of memories and emotions that choked off his voice. "Yes...unfortunately. A few months ago..." he managed to say, suddenly feeling much weaker.

He glanced down, hands trembling again. One of them was still gently clasping Nakari's hand, though he hardly realized it. "I'm still...still prone to relapses every now and then..." Luke admitted.

Anakin listened intently, despite his slight guilt over eavesdropping. He wanted to hear how Nakari would react.

She surprised him.

"Hey, there's nothing to be ashamed of," Nakari's voice floated out the door. "I can't imagine what they did to you, but I know it wasn't pretty. You don't have to apologize for it either."

Luke looked up, surprised by her words. He swallowed the lump in his throat, a different emotion swelling inside of him. "Not many think of it that way," he said quietly, throat closing again. Involuntarily, his grip tightened just a little on Nakari's hand.

Nakari would have kissed Luke's cheek if the helmets allowed it, but she settled for allowing Luke to hold her hand a little tighter.

Their moment was interrupted by the return of Anakin, who was carrying a man in his arms.

"I found a live scientist," Anakin said by way of explanation. "But he needs help, and soon."

Luke blinked in surprise, but reacted quickly, sliding off of the table and taking Nakari with him so that Anakin could lie the man down on the medical table.

"He looks like it," Luke said seriously. "We should make sure there's no more skullborers and then leave as soon as possible."

He was completely oblivious to the fact he still held Nakari's hand.

Anakin focused on the man he'd discovered, but did turn to Luke upon hearing his suggestion. "Have Artoo scan this ship, his sensors will pick up any other tiny hitchhikers we might have missed."

Then he gestured to the man. "If the ship is clear, then I'd say we strap him down and hook him up to the medical table so it can help him enroute."

Luke was about to leave to do as he'd been told when he hesitated. "Someone needs to fly the Harvester, as well as the Jewel. And someone else really should stay to keep an eye on him," Luke finally said, standing by the door already with Nakari.

Nakari solved the flying problem. "We can slave the Harvester to the Desert Jewel."

Anakin nodded. "And we can just get him basic treatment now, then take him to the Jewel with us. I think he's more dehydrated than anything."

Luke nodded. "All right then," he said, and they all split up to work on getting far away from Fex.