Lexa found the blonde waiting outside the illuminated cantina, seated on one of the many benches lining the street. She let a stumbling humanoid pass her before making her way over, not wanting the drunken fool to stumble into her and start an unnecessary fight. 

Clarke looked up when the Jedi approached, flashing a smile small as she scooted over to create a space next to her. 

'That went better than expected,' the Jedi began, taking a seat on the bench. It was hardly located in the most scenic of places and the faint stench of alcohol did nothing to improve the ambiance. 

'I still have to track down a known criminal and retrieve a shipment of goods from the other side of the galaxy within a month,' Clarke trailed off, almost talking to herself as she began to see all the things that could possibly go wrong within that time. 

There wasn't any guarantee that Janos would keep his word even if they did manage to locate the escapee and expensive goods in time. 

Lexa looked out over the quiet street, sensing the woman's spirit slowly plummeting at the prospect. 

'It could be worse,' she finally said, the blonde glancing sideways at her in the pause that followed. 'You could be dead.'

Clarke chuckled and lent back against the bench, kicking her legs out and crossing them at the ankles. 

'You're right, I could be dead. Once this is done at least I can finally rid myself of that scumbag for good.'

Janos Karr was not one let his victims escape so easily, but the Jedi decided that now wasn't the best time to voice such concerns. 

'We should return to the ship soon and let the crew know that we're bound for Nar Shaddaa.'

Clarke glanced at the Jedi in surprise, the inclusive use of we had been unexpected. 

'Don't you mean I should be getting myself a ride to Nar Shaddaa and finally leave you in peace,' she countered, more than grateful for everything the Jedi had already done for her. There was a Sith Holocron to be contending with which was far more important than chasing ghosts around a crime riddled planet for a stranger she had only recently met. 

'You fought by my side on Hoth against the Empire and, after wrongly imprisoning you, the least I can do is help you with this.'

The Jedi had grown to enjoy the blondes company over the last few days, not that she would say as much. Clarke had spirit, a good sense of humour and was defiant in the face of danger. It was refreshing to meet someone with such an intriguing personality. 

Besides, she did owe her as much after all of the unfounded accusations that had been thrown around since their first meeting. It was strange to think that the first glimpse of blonde hair she had witnessed on the planet Hoth would lead to such events. 

'True, you did try to out me as an Imperial spy,' Clarke recounted in a teasing manner, shaking her head at just how far they had come in such a short time. 'We'd best be getting back, your crew will be getting concerned. Can't have them thinking I've assassinated you.'

They retraced their steps back to the upper levels of Coruscant, using the speeder to return to the private docking platform in good time. 

The crew were relieved when their captain finally returned, gathering on the lower deck when they saw the two distinct figures approaching the HellDiver. 

'Commander, did everything go as planned?' Cal inquired as the two woman stepped into the ship. His question was intentionally vague and he briefly glanced sideways at the blonde, not yet knowing that she had been cleared by the Jedi. 

'Clarke is with us, there is no need to treat her with such hostility anymore,' Lexa revealed, loud enough to ensure that the entire crew heard and understood. 

'But she had no records, no ties to anyone or anything, does that not strike you as suspicious?' Sharr argued, voicing the concerns of the room as they all observed the blonde with undisguised apprehension. 

'There is an explanation at hand for everything, one that I will disclose once we are en route to our next destination.'

Lexa's voice was strong and assertive, leaving no room for argument. That was made clear. The crew had been in her presence long enough now to know when to question such decisions and when to leave well alone. They wisely let the matter drop.  

'And where would that be Master?' the G3P unit chimed in from the back of the gathered crew. 

All faces looked expectantly to the Commander, hoping for a more welcoming planet such as Naboo with its rolling hills and expanse of lakes, a much wanted comparison to the undercity of Coruscant. 

'Nar Shaddaa.'

A collective sense of displeasure filled the ship, it was hardly a desirable destination. If they thought that Coruscant was riddled with crime then it paled in relation to the criminal presence on Nar Shaddaa. 

'I'll set the coordinates now,' Sharr said reluctantly, her boots clunking up the stairs to the flight deck. 

'The rest of you gather at the holotable so I can fill you in on the plan.'

The crew filed past their captain and followed Sharr up the stairs, begrudgingly having to trust the blonde woman until they were given further reason not to. Clare hoped not to give them such a chance. 

They all gathered around the Holotable, Clarke standing by the Jedi's side as the events that took place on Coruscant were recounted and the deal they had made with Janos Karr revealed. 

Lexa's fingers flew over the controls as she drew forth a projection of the escaped criminal, Kranog, the male Zabrak who had stolen the smuggler ship with the crime lord's shipment on board and fled from his former boss. 

'This is our target.'

'So, just to be clear,' Toril began in the silence that followed the Commanders speech, 'We're going to risk our necks for a smuggler who bombed some mission for a crime lord and has lied to us at every turn?'

The silenced reigned heavy once more as none of the crew made to defend the blonde, not even Sharr who could have been considered the most compassionate of them all. 

Lexa looked at each of their faces individually, the faces of her closest friends, faces filled with uncertainty.

'Do you all remember what our purpose is, what we strive to do on a daily basis?' she asked softly, holding every gaze in the room as she stood with arms braced against the table. 

'To protect the innocents from those that would do them harm,' Sharr recited, dropping her eyes as she considered this. 

'You trust me to lead you and so I ask you to believe in me now, Clarke is not the enemy. Crime lords like Janos Karr are the true threat and we do ourselves no justice by arguing over the past mistakes of one of his victims.'

The crew reflected on this as their Commander stood upright, the very vision of a powerful individual. 

'Are you with me?' she asked, a wave of nods circling the room as Clarke witnessed a change in heart that she could not have anticipated so soon. 

'Always,' the Zabrak insisted, speaking for the crew with the simple response. 

'Then go and get some rest, there's no guessing how long we'll be tied up on Nar Shaddaa for with this mission.'

The crew disbanded and made their way downstairs, more resolute in their decision after the meeting. A reminder was sometimes necessary to prioritise focus on what really mattered. In this case it was stopping Janos Karr from doing any more damage to those who fell into his path. 

'You too Clarke,' the Jedi directed at the blonde next to her, 'I need to check on the flight path first.'

Clarke nodded and went to follow the others, hesitating at the top of the stairs. 

'Thank you,' she sad simply, grateful for the much needed chance to prove her good intentions to the crew. 

'It was nothing, now go and rest.'

The blonde returned downstairs and found Cal waiting for her outside the bunks.  

'You'll have to rest in the med-bay for the time being,' he instructed, pointing it out even though she had far from forgotten it's location. 

'It's better than a cell any day,' she muttered to herself as he disappeared into his bunk, a final warning echoing through the corridor as he called out from inside. 

'And don't go disturbing the Commander, she won't take kindly to any unnecessary pestering.'

Clarke didn't bother with a reply and continued on into the med-bay which was just as cold and unwelcoming as she had remembered. It was no surprise due to its function, it was not meant to be the most well decorated and inviting room on the ship. 

She sank down onto the closest bed, perching on the end and sat in silence, listening to the almost imperceptible sound of the engine that propelled them through the galaxy faster than light speed. 

There were too any thoughts circling through her mind to sleep. Thoughts of Janos and the suspicions regarding this mission wouldn't rest. There was too much at stake. 

After ten minutes of attempting to sort through the never-ending torrent of possibilities, it became apparent that she would not be sleeping until this business was over. 

Cal may have warned her not to pester the Commander but had said nothing about going to explore the ship. She rose from the bed and padded over to the door, stepping out of the med-bay when it pulled aside to allow her through the arched entrance. 

She glanced both ways, finding nothing out of place as the faint voices of the crew drifted out from their bunks. To her left she saw the G3P unit bent over a machine in the engine room, his mechanical arms moving carefully as he inputted an assortment of instructions into the keypad. 

He was too focused on his work to notice the blonde sneak out onto the grated deck, her back close to the wall as she stepped silently past the crew sleeping quarters. The voices inside continued to drone on, oblivious to the listening ears outside. 

'You think she's trustworthy?' a deep voice was asking, seemingly Cals if the blonde was correct. Of course he would still be barking on with the same old question. 

'The Commander believes so and I trust her judgement,' Sharr replied, a huff sounding from the Cathar who wasn't quite as convinced as the Sarkhai was. 

'We'll see.'

Clarke didn't particularly want to hear any more and moved past the bunks towards the main entrance of the ship. A collection of storage boxes were situated off to the side, their contents unknown to the woman. 

There was nothing more down there to see and she soon found her gaze drawn to the stairs leading to the upper deck, the Cathar's warning not to disturb the Jedi echoing in her ears as she debated her next action. 

Screw it, she thought to herself. The Jedi herself should be resting in her quarters so she was not necessarily disturbing anyone by having a look around.  

On the top deck the holoprojector was dark and unlit, waiting to be activated and brought to life. The area was split into the front end of the ship where the nav controls were located, and the back of ship which was separated by the secure metal doors that secluded the Commanders private chambers  in relative peace.  

Clarke turned to the front of the ship, wincing at the unmistakable hiss the door made when sliding open and stood there for a minute, looking over the collection of controls and vacant seats laid out before the viewing window. 

The autopilot was engaged and the blonde was careful not to knock any of the perfectly positioned controls as she lowered herself into the central chair. 

Outside the viewing window, blue swathes of light danced around the ship in a mesmerizing shift of different hues. Clarke had never been presented with the opportunity to be near a window when travelling at hyper speed before, more likely to have been stowed away in a hidden compartment on a ship rather than lounging on the flight deck as she was currently doing. 

They were being flung through the galaxy faster than light speed, with precise coordinates ensuring they arrived safely at Nar Shaddaa on the fastest route available. It was all rather mind blowing when you actually sat and thought about it. 

The moment of peace was soon just a fleeting memory when the hiss of the door opening behind her made Clarke twitch with an involuntary wince. She really wished these ships would just have quieter mechanisms that would allow more stealthy movements onboard. 

It didn't matter now at any rate. She had been caught. She almost daren't look over her shoulder to see who had come to investigate her presence. Maybe the G3P droid was coming to check on the flight path, or perhaps the human, Toril, had arrived to take over controls himself. If it was the Cathar then she was not going to be in his good books after his clear instructions not to go disturbing the Jedi and a poorly put together justification would not win back any respect from him. 

It was almost with a spark of relief that she found the Jedi standing in the doorway as she risked a glance over her shoulder. She had changed into a robe similar to the one she had been wearing previously, the material splitting away at her waist to allow greater freedom of movement, but without the tear in the arm that had been created by the bounty hunters dart. 

'Should you not be sleeping?' the Jedi asked, no hint of annoyance evident in her tone. Not yet at least. That was always a good sign. 

'Shouldn't you?' Clarke retorted, judging that there was little point in listing all her possible reasons for being up here. It was too late for that, not that the Jedi seemed bothered by her presence in any case. 

Rather than insist that she be left in peace, the Jedi stepped further into the small area and dropped into the seat adjacent to Clarke's and they stared out at the blue tendrils of light together in silence for some time. 

'They still don't trust me,' Clarke finally spoke, almost hypnotised by the display outside of the window and switched her gaze to the controls instead, blinking to clear her vision of the persistent glow behind her eyes. 

'Can you blame them?' Lexa responded, her head resting back against the support of the chair as she looked out at the blur of light surrounding them. 'You've hardly given them any reason to.'

'I suppose not. I'll just have to prove myself.' Clarke shifted in the seat, sighing at the mere prospect of gaining trust from the suspicious crew. 'You don't seem to have any doubts.'

Lexa shrugged lightly. 

'I am a Jedi. My crew don't share my affinity with the force.'

'And what does the force tell you?'

The interior of the ship was lit with the faint blue gleam from space and it danced over Lexa's face as she considered her answer. 

It was true that she could reach out with the force and sense any ill intentions from those around her. In this case, however, her powers were being tested by the blonde's shear strength of mind which made it more difficult to decipher her true intentions. 

Despite this, the woman was the most defined being that the Jedi could sense when she did reach out, like a beacon of light that was never diminished. It had both intrigued and unbalanced her at the same time when she had first experienced it on Hoth. 

'That you are true to yourself. You stand for what you believe in and I trust that you have a good moral compass.'

It was almost a riddle of an answer that Clarke was left to decipher, not as straight forward as she had expected. Even so, it was all positive and it was a good feeling to know that at least someone on this ship wasn't waiting for her to crash and burn. 

'What will you do once this is all over?'

The question was rather abrupt and Clarke found herself caught off guard. It wasn't something that she had necessary considered. 

'I don't know,' she replied honestly, too wrapped up in this business with Janos to even imagine a life without his constant shadow over her existence. 

'Well, what do you want?' 

Another tricky question. Another endless list of possibilities. 

'Right now?' Clarke sighed, turning her head to look at the Jedi, 'To get Janos off my back for good, the rest is just ifs and maybes.'

Lexa could understand the woman's reluctance to think further ahead than a day at a time. That was the effect life as a smuggler could have on you, there was no promise that you'd ever see the dawn of the next morning. 

'You never did tell me what happened to the Sith Holocron?' Clarke added as an afterthought, wondering what had become of the artefact. She had been falsely led to believe that they were passing it on to Jedi Master Eadon on Coruscant, but that had just been a front for Lexa's attempts to learn more about her prisoner. 

'What I told you about the Jedi master on Coruscant was partly true,' Lexa explained, returning her gaze to the flashing lights outside. 'Rather than meeting with us, however, he came to my ship whilst we were in the undercity and my crew handed it over to him.'

Clarke nodded slowly, that made sense. It was a dangerous object that a single Jedi was not equipped to deal with alone. 

'What will be done with it?'

'That's up to Master Eadon. He could attempt to have it opened to discover what information lies within it. Or, more wisely, he could have it hidden where no living soul will ever find it again. The power that exudes from it could easily turn a young Padawan to the dark side if stumbled upon.'

Either way it was out of their hands now.

The information contained within a holocron could overwhelm the weak minded and it took great skill to harness it's power without being destroyed in the process. Clarke had seen the effect it had on Lexa, even unopened, as it had seeped dark energy. 

Silence fell between them again and, from the closure of light blue eyes, the Jedi was almost certain the other woman had fallen asleep until she spoke, her words lightly mumbled in her relaxed state.

'I don't mean to sound insensitive, but you're unlike any Jedi I've ever heard of,' Clarke said, her curiosity about the Jedi peaking as she ran the events of the last few days through her head.

Stories and legends painted the famous Jedi as the noble protectors of the galaxy, using the force as a trusted tool in their fight against the Empire. They fought for peace and justice in the Republic, training relentlessly to adhere to the code and uphold the Galactic status as self-disciplined, responsible role models for defenders of the Light side. 

Defending the weak and defeating those that would disrupt peace was an essential part of their lives. Attachment was generally frowned upon and every Jedi was expected to do their part in aid of the greater good of the galaxy. 

Many Jedi became detached in the face of such rules, relying on their critical thinking and objective evaluation of situations to make the best decisions. Great wisdom and knowledge allowed them to see the world in a fresh light and their denouncing of emotion was believed to result in an inner peace that was supposedly only achieved by upholding the code. 

Lexa was a mystery in every sense and, from what little the blonde knew of her, she had already come to the conclusion that her ties with the Republic and Jedi Order were weak at best. She would not be out here taking on such unimportant missions in the eyes of the Galactic War if she were under orders from higher powers. 

'Maybe you just haven't