Author's website: http://www.ravenswing.com/bas/

Disclaimer:

Author's Notes:

Story Notes:

The Grey Skies of G'nash G'nir: Chapter 1.

*

Ben strolled along the long walkway of the dock, nodding to old acquaintances. "Good evening, Master Harrrg! And how are the routes today?"

Harrrg flung her arms in the air and growled an old Wookiee expression that meant, roughly, "I have eaten my braces and all that's left is my fur."

"Oh dear," Ben replied. "Well, better luck next time." Harrrg beat the side of the ship with a wrench and snarled at her co-pilot. Ben walked on.

The dock was excessively busy on this day. Dozens of sculls brought goods down from the massive transport ships in orbit, too large to broach the atmosphere. From here, items would be carried primarily to the many cities of G'nash G'nir. Some goods were needed on the mining camps of the asteroids and inner rocky planets that provided G'nash G'nir with its income, and the metals and minerals mined there had to be shipped out. Those shipments were the purview of the pilots such as Master Harrrg whose ground-to-space ships could more easily navigate the asteroid field.

"Jedi!" Ben turned at the familiar Rodian voice. Garbo ran to catch up, his antennae quivering with excitement. "You've returned, Jedi!"

His heart ached for a longer stay. The snows on Mount Rise had just reached the bottom slope when he left--but duty called. "I have indeed. I did tell you when I would be back, did I not?"

"Yes." Garbo's antennae slumped. "But these are uncertain times."

Ben clapped him on the shoulder. "Not that uncertain, my good man, not as long as the Jedi are here to watch over you. Now, have you seen my good friend Bail VKh?"

"Er.... Yes. Yes. Berth 14." Garbo's antennae quivered. "But, er."

"Yes?"

His antennae bent back. "Nothing. Just that we live in uncertain times."

Ben patted his shoulder comfortingly. "Thank you, friend Garbo." He turned away and resumed walking down the dock as Garbo wandered away, muttering "uncertain times, uncertain times."

Berth 14 was Bail's usual spot. He generally carried small, valuable cargo and the occasional passenger. For the past two years, Bail had carried Ben back and forth between the harbor and the mines, where the Nir government had invited the Jedi to arbitrate conflicts and keep the peace. The miners had very little respect for traditional law enforcement but a great deal of respect for a human who could stop a mining axe in mid-air with his mind.

"Hello, Veen... Quo Vaden, you're looking well..." Ben soon saw the distinctive curve of Bail's ship. Clinks and muffled cursing suggested that he was performing some of the endless maintenance required in this harsh sector.

"Bail?" Ben walked around the large ship looking for the source of the sounds. "Bail, is that you?"

"Uh, hey!" an unfamiliar voice responded. "Just a sec." Ben heard some louder clangs and a thud before a blond human dropped out of the undercarriage of the ship. He was dressed in a basic pilot's jumpsuit and chewing a senna seed, and he was quite unknown to Ben.

Ben smiled. "Good evening! I'm looking for Bail VKh. Is he around?"

The human laughed and wiped his hands on his jumpsuit. "Hey, Ben, I know I changed my hair a little but it's still me." He threw his arms around Ben.

Ben stood stiffly in the embrace. He knew Bail VKh's touch. This was not Bail VKh. Ben stared at the human as he withdrew. "I'm looking for Bail *VKh,* the human who owns this ship."

The human gave him a strange look. "Yeah. That's me. I own this ship."

"But you're not Bail VKh." He bore no resemblance; nothing about him was familiar.

"Am too." The human reached into a deep thigh pocket and began rummaging through it.

Ben did not let himself anger. "Perhaps you misunderstand me. Let me introduce myself. I am Ben-An Ferr, Jedi Knight. I first came to this sector in search of the killers of my master, and for reasons that don't bear exploring at this juncture, I have remained as general arbiter and peacekeeper in this system. I have recently returned from a short absence and am looking for my longtime friend and partner, Bail VKh."

The human came up with an ID card. "Bail VKh, at your service. Maybe you ought to look into those memory problems, Ben." He shoved the ID at Ben and climbed back up the ladder into the ship.

It was an Alderaanian identity card. It did, indeed, say "Bail," and beside it the letters "ver" and "khe" stacked in the Alderaanian fashion. The picture was of the yellow-haired man before him and the vital statistics appeared to conform. It wasn't his Bail, and yet it was legitimately Bail VKh.

Ben rubbed his forehead, wondering what ripples wended their way through the Force that they should clash so violently here. He turned the card about in his hand, searching the slight information for some clue.

Wait. Some time ago Bail had shown him his card and told him of the hidden information there. "Pilots don't use the full surname," he'd said, "just the use-name. Tradition. But if you look in the code, the surname is there. See? Vekhillus." And Bail had taught him the droid-language of the code.

This card secretly bore the name Kovalkh. And Bail was an exceedingly common name on Alderaan.

Ben stormed up the ladder. Bail--this imposter Bail--was bent over the manifests. He stood up as Ben approached. "You are not Bail Vekhillus!" Ben shouted.

"Shut up!" Bail shoved him up against the bulkheads, his fists clenched in Ben's tunic and his spicy breath brushing Ben's chin. "No! I am not Bail Vekhillus! But I am Bail VKh, and if you'd give a quark's liver for Bail Vekhillus then you'll shut the hell up!"

Ben gathered the Force around him and pushed Bail into the other side of the passageway. "You're a fool if you think you can get away with this charade. I am a Jedi, sworn to uphold the laws of the Republic."

"We're not in the Republic." Bail shoved the seed from one cheek to the other. His fingers flexed against the bulkhead as he tested the strength of Ben's will. "We're not breaking any laws. Vekhillus had to take off. He sold me his ship. It's all legit. You wanna see the receipt?"

He was lying. Ben could feel the lie inside his mind. He only wished he could see the true shape of it. "Then why are you so insistent upon this confusion?"

"Because of the people who aren't legit. You wanna let me go?" Bail shifted a little and Ben released him. "Look, I can be your partner, everything the same. I mean, to the Nir, all humans look the same anyway. No big deal."

"It is a big deal, and everything will not be the same." Ben rubbed his eyebrow, thinking over his options and finding few. If what this new Bail said was true, than his Bail required his silence. He would have to play along until he uncovered the underlying story. "However, if you are willing to take up Bail's duties, I am willing to accept you as my partner."

"Sure. Sure thing. Deal." Bail held out his hand to shake. Ben reluctantly took it.

"I already have an errand, if you have the time," Ben said.

"Sure. Name it." Bail grinned and spit out the seed.

*

"I don't get this. I thought Jedi weren't supposed to have luggage." Bail drummed his fingers on the instrument panel of the ship's runabout. They were waiting in line at the passenger's berth, across the harbor from the merchandise berths where Bail's ship was docked.

"We don't. We carry only the bare minimum to survive. I deposited my bag at Astarte's Hotel already." Ben sat upright, observing the other runabouts and their occupants. "My goodness! A Nauru. I wonder what she's doing in this sector?"

Bail's fingers abruptly stopped drumming. "Astarte's...wait, you mean the coffin hotel? You're staying at the coffin hotel!?"

"The rooms are considerably larger than coffins."

"Yeah, but not so big you can sit up! It's just a bed in a hole!" Bail shivered. "Man, it makes me nervous just thinking about it. How can you stand that?"

"Jedi are trained not to put stock in things of the flesh." Only the Force and things of the Force--love, honor, friendship. Ben looked away.

"Yeah, but--ah, never mind, we're up." Bail pulled in to the luggage bay. Ben gave his transport code to the droid and received the cage containing D'if in return.

Bail watched the cage as it was lowered into the runabout. "Ben. What is that?"

"My companion, D'if."

"It's a lizard."

"Why, yes. A Dvorak cave lizard. Although, you know, they're not properly lizards, as they're warm-blooded. They have to be to survive on Dvorak." Ben settled the cage in the cargo area and typed in the unlocking code.

Bail turned around in his seat. "Don't do that! What are you doing?"

"Letting him out, of course!" Ben flung open the cage. D'if licked his wrist in thanks and then bounded over to investigate Bail.

Bail cringed. "Aa. Aaah! What's he doing to my EARS! He's doing disgusting things to my ears!" D'if was flickering his tongue about Bail's neck and ears, tasting his sweat.

"He's tasting your pheromones, Bail." Ben leaned over and pressed the button advancing them in line, leaving it to Bail to steer.

"Stop that! Why's he doing that?" Bail flailed around the cockpit trying to avoid D'if's tongue, barely managing to hit the auto-return button that would take them back to the ship.

Ben glanced at D'if ear holes to check the color. "Given that his ears are red, he's likely wondering if it's mating season for you as well."

"GET HIM OFF ME!"

Ben rapped D'if on the head to get his attention. "D'if! To me." D'if lolled his tongue and climbed into Ben's lap to look out the window.

Bail settled into his seat, casting the occasional wary glance at D'if. "I didn't know Jedi had pets."

"It's very common, actually. Especially in long-term postings." Ben stroked D'if's scales, looking for travel damage. "As you would know, if you were Bail VKh."

"I am Bail VKh."

"The other Bail VKh." Ben looked out the window at the activity of the dock.

Bail prodded his shoulder. "Work with me here."

"I am." Ben sat up, spotting illicit activity. Two humans running in opposite directions, one with a jewel pouch clutched in his hand. "Thief!"

"What? Where?"

"There! A human stole the pouch of a D'reg!" Ben shoved D'if out of his lap and scrambled back to the open-topped cargo section. He leaned over the side of the runabout, calculating distance and height.

"I can't land until we reach the ship! It's illegal," Bail said, craning his neck around.

"No need!" Ben jumped over the side of the runabout.

It wasn't far to the ground, perhaps four times his height; a slight application of the Force to gentle his fall was all he needed to land with a tidy somersault. He sprang to his feet, nodding to the surprised travelers around him, and spotted the thief. "Stop!" he shouted.

The thief looked at him and began to run. Ben threw out one arm and pushed the air sharply with the Force, sending a concussive bolt through the atmosphere between them that knocked the thief off his feet. The jewel-pouch flew from his hand.

Ben walked over to the stunned thief, picked up the pouch and patted the thief's shoulder as the harbor security guards closed in. "As my master always said, 'He who disturbs the Force will have the Force disturb him in return.'"

The thief groaned.

"Let that be a lesson to you." Ben stood, looking around for the D'reg family. He ran a hand over his tied-back hair. Ah, there they were.

The D'reg family gargled their thanks. The youngest one tugged on his tunic. "I wanna see your laser sword!" it said.

"Oh, er..." Ben touched his lightsaber protectively.

"Hey!" Ben looked up to see Bail clasping the arm of the second running human, the one who did not have the pouch and who Ben had dismissed as less important. "Ben, look at this."

Bail glared at his captive as Ben and one of the security guards closed in. He opened his hand, showing off a small tube. "This bottom-feeder was carrying this."

Ben peered at it. "What is it?"

"It's a conversion tube," the guard said. "It means one of the D'regs has the yeuk and can't eat caromid-based food without it. Can't eat here without it, right? They're expensive without state support--they go for I don't know how much on the black market."

"25,000 credits." Bail shook his captive's arm roughly. "Hey, am I allowed to punch him in the head?"

"Not without a permit. Come on," the guard replied, and took the man and the conversion tube into custody.

Ben raised an eyebrow at Bail. Bail thrust his hands into his coverall pockets. "Some things it's okay to smuggle. Some things it ain't okay to smuggle," Bail said, and shrugged. "Is your lizard ship-trained?"

"Yes, but he'll eat the seat coverings if he's not fed soon."

"Ah, hell." Bail turned on his heel and ran back toward his side of the docks. Ben followed more sedately.

*

Ben chucked D'if under the chin. He had not, in fact, eaten any of the seat coverings, although Bail was still crawling around checking the undersides.

"He's not a bad man," Ben's master said in his ear. Ben startled back against the bulkhead.

Ben's master R'ban ir-F'res--or rather, his spirit--floated cross-legged in the air of the ship's corridor. His spirit glowed blue with the Force. "You can't see into his heart, Padawan, but I can."

"Not now, Master," Ben muttered.

"Every time is the right time in the Force," his master said, smiling. D'if flicked his tongue into the air at R'ban's feet.

"Master! Later!"

Bail poked his head up. "Huh?" He didn't appear to see R'ban's spirit.

"Nothing," Ben told Bail.

"Oh. Hey, you want something to eat? We gotta feed the lizard so he doesn't wreck my ship." Bail stood up and stretched, bracing his hands against the low ceiling. Bail--the first Bail--had done the same thing. It gave Ben an unexpected pang in his chest.

"He's a good man, Padawan. You'll see soon enough." R'ban faded away, still smiling.

Ben let out his breath. "Yes. Yes, all right."

"Great. Let me change out of these rags." Bail started past him, then paused. "Hey, do you know Knight Fell?"

Ben blinked.

"Or maybe it was Knight Fellen..." Bail snapped his fingers as if trying to remember something.

"No, I know Knight Fell quite well," Ben said slowly. "And his Padawan, Paxe."

"Yeah, that's right." Bail paused, rocking back and forward on his heels. A slight, closed-mouth smile played about his lips. "I'll get changed," he said finally, heading for his cabin.

Ben rubbed D'if's head absently.

Knight Fell and his Padawan Paxe. Code words.

Bail was also in the Corto Rebel Group.

the end--for now....

End The Grey Skies of G'nash G'nir: Chapter 1 by Basingstoke: bas@yosa.com

Author and story notes above.