The Gravity Well Projector
Blanket disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Star Wars
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
This Chapter mainly takes place in space as most of last chapter was planet side. Here is Chapter 18. Enjoy!
AUTHOR'S NOTE II:
Here is an updated list of character ages as of the end of the first year of the Clone Wars.
Ages of Characters: Year Born BBY/Age at 21 BBY
Dooku, Born: 102 BBY/81 Years old
Ki-Adi-Mundi, Born: 92 BBY/71 Years old
Sheev Palpatine, Born: 84 BBY/63 Years old
Mace Windu, Born: 72 BBY/51 Years old
Obi-Wan Kenobi, Born: 57 BBY/36 Years old
Bultar Swan: Born 55 BBY/34 Years old (Estimated)
Asajj Ventress, Born 50 BBY/29 Years old
Shaak TI, Born: 48 BBY/27 Years old
Padme Amidala, Born: 46 BBY/25 Years old
Naruto Uzumaki, Born: 44 BBY/23 Years old
Shior Atlee, Born: 43 BBY/22 Years old
Anakin Skywalker, Born: 41 BBY/20 Years old
Barriss Offee, Born: 40 BBY/19 Years old
Ahsoka Tano, Born: 36 BBY/15 Years old
Natasi Roche, Born: 25 BBY/4 ½ Years old
…
{ } Signifies an alien language
…
Last time:
Year 21 BBY
Outer Rim Territories, D'Astan Sector, Planet Serenno, Count Dooku's Palace
Count Dooku was speaking with one of his most powerful subordinates, Asajj Ventress. He said, "Ventress, I want you to find Jedi Master Naruto Uzumaki and invite him here to my Palace. Tell him it is an invitation of friendship from one Sith to another."
Asajj Ventress was many things, but she was not amused. "My Lord, I was unaware that Uzumaki was a Sith Lord." 'Is this some kind of joke?!' "He seems pure as fresh snow to me."
"Ah, and that's where he had us all fooled." said a smiling Dooku. "He is a Sith that is so brilliant at hiding that he was able to infiltrate the Jedi Order itself."
'Yep, the old man is off his rocker.' thought Asajj. "But what of the Sith Rule of Two?" asked the assassin.
"Clearly he is training his own Sith Apprentice in Barriss Offee." said Tyranus.
Ventress said, "You mean the straight and narrow Mirialan?"
"That's the one." replied Dooku. "Obviously they come from a different Sith Sect but are Sith nonetheless."
'Dooku is batshit insane. I need a new gig.' "I shall do as you command Master. What if he refuses?"
"I foresee you having success Ventress. Do whatever it takes." ordered the Apprentice Sith Lord.
"Thy will be done my Lord." said the kneeling Ventress. 'I've had it. I'm going back to flipping burgers on Dathomir.'
…
Chapter 18
Year 21 BBY
Core Worlds, Kuat Sector, Planet Kuat Shipyards, Republic Ship Intrepid
Jedi Master Naruto Uzumaki and his Padawan Barriss Offee were welcomed back aboard the Intrepid which had been under the command of Jedi General Ezzo Mirin*① while they were gone. Mirin was a Prime example of someone who shouldn't be a Jedi General. He had recklessly ordered them to engage a Trade Federation Battleship at point blank range (so they wouldn't miss) resulting in a lot of damage to both the Star Destroyer and her crew. The Intrepid had been in drydock undergoing repairs ever since.
Captain Rom Franz, Clone Commander Checker and the men of the 325th Legion were eager to have Jedi General Uzumaki and Jedi Commander Barriss Offee back after the fiasco under Mirin's command. They'd lost a lot of good men and the blonde Renatasian was pissed. What was considered acceptable losses by Mirin was absolutely appalling by Uzumaki's standards.
Fortunately for Ezzo Mirin; he was long gone by the time Naruto came aboard. Naruto growled, "Where is the slime devil now?"
Commander Checker replied, "Jedi General Mirin is back aboard his own ship, the Star Destroyer Defiance with the 113th Star Corps. We hope he'll stay there General Uzumaki. In his own words, he considered us expendable."
"Expendable?!" roared Naruto. "Why that damned bastard. He'd better hope he never runs into me in person."
Captain Franz said, "We're just glad you're back General. The Intrepid is fully repaired and the new members of the crew are settling in."
"I'm still filing a formal complaint against Jedi Ezzo Mirin with High Command." said Naruto as he looked over the battle reports. "I wonder how expendable he considers his career to be."
…
Core Worlds, Planet Coruscant, Grand Jedi Temple, Jedi Creche
Jedi Grandmaster Yoda had his hands full tracking an implacable foe, a four going on five-year-old prankster named Natasi Roche. The little girl had learned a lot of skills from Naruto including an ability unknown to caretaker Master Ruta or Grandmaster Yoda until today. It was called wall walking…
The horror; the horror…
…Flashback
Yoda was sitting on a meditation cushion with his walking stick sitting beside him. He was speaking to a group of excited younglings that were going to be in the newest reformed clan, the Squall Clan. The group consisted of various younglings between 4 and 7 years of age.
The youngest was the not quite 5-year-old Renatasian human Natasi Roche who was turning out to be a little prodigy and the oldest was a 7-year-old Wookiee*② named Gungi. The pair also happened to be best friends as (for some reason) Natasi understood Shyriiwook*③ perfectly. On top of that she was learning to speak the language using chakra to alter the sounds of her vocal cords.
As Yoda spoke to the Younglings; Gungi was fascinated with the Grandmaster's walking stick… he especially wondered what kind on wood it was made of. Natasi asked her friend in broken Shyiiwook, {"What's so special about that stick to you?"}
The young Wookie replied, {"I've smelled that kind of wood before. I just can't remember where. I want to know what kind of wood it is."}
{"Let's borrow it then."} said Natsi in return. {"Master Yoda won't mind."}
Gungi felt panic rising. {"He won't?!"}
Now Yoda was nobody's fool. He overheard the younglings talking about his Gimer*④ Stick and decided to let it play out. There was no malice involved; just youngling curiosity. The diminutive Grandmaster left his walking stick just out of his reach to tempt little Natasi a bit…
What he didn't expect was the child to use chakra and the Force to grab the Gimer Stick like greased lightning, run up the wall and run across the ceiling out into the hallway giggling the whole way before she vanished from sight.
Master Ruta face palmed at Yoda's look of complete shock and the younglings thought it was hysterical. Then Yoda's eyes narrowed and he said, "The chase, it is on."
The younglings cheered and Yoda was off like a shot…
…Flashback end
…That was two hours ago and the Grandmaster was flabbergasted and astonished that the lilac haired youngling had completely ditched him. Every once in a while, he would hear her maniacal giggling as she raced about.
There were three problems Yoda had; the first was she was as invisible in the Force as her father. The second was the child could virtually make the jump to light speed using chakra. The third was nobody bothered to look up as the child raced across the ceiling in complete silence.
The Cosian*⑤ Jedi Instructor Tera Sinube was actually the one that found the lilac haired youngling when he heard soft laughter echoing around him and looked up. There she was sitting upside down with her little eyes sparkling with mischief. He had met the little girl before and knew she was very bright.
Tera said, "Ah, Natasi Roche. Why are you sitting on the ceiling? Come down here and keep me company."
She giggled and hopped down landing quietly on her feet. She presented Master Sinube with the Gimer stick and asked, "What kind of wood?"
Tera wondered what she was doing with Yoda's walking stick but accepted it from her regardless. "This is made out of Gimer wood youngling."
"Gimer wood?" she confirmed.
The Cosian smiled and said, "That's correct Natasi, Gimer wood. Why don't we walk back to the Creche together and I'll return Master Yoda's Gimer stick to him."
She bowed and said, "Okay!" before taking Sinube's hand and walking back to the Creche with him.
…
After waving goodbye to Master Sinube, Natasi came into the Creche and sat down with her friend Gungi. She said to him, {"Master Yoda's stick is made out of Gimer Wood. Master Sinube told me."}
Gungi clapped and said; {"Of course! I remember it from my home world. Thanks, Natasi."}
She gave Gungi a big smile and said, {"Anytime!"}
…
Master Sinube returned Yoda's Gimer stick to him and the Grandmaster looked at Tera in shock. "Caught her you did; how?!"
Tera chuckled and said, "I asked politely. All she wanted to know was what kind of wood your Gimer stick was made of."
Grandmaster Yoda face faulted and the old Cosian roared with laughter…
…
Core Worlds, Kuat Sector, Planet Kuat Shipyards, Republic Ship Intrepid
Within the week; the Intrepid completed her post repair trials and was ready to sail back to the Outer Rim Territories. They were sent back to the Ryloth system and were in hyperspace when they intercepted a distress signal from an older Republic diplomatic cruiser named Blue Eternity.
Naruto came onto the bridge of the Intrepid about the time the weak signal started to cut out. "This is the Blue Eternity; we are on a diplomatic mission and have been attacked by a vessel from the Confederacy of Independent Systems. We require immediate assistance! We are…"
"The transmission just cut out Captain Franz." said the Communications Officer to the Captain. Rom Franz looked concerned and said, "Inform High Command we are going to investigate a distress call." he said. "Inform General Uzumaki we're going to be late arriving in Ryloth."
Naruto said, "That's fine Captain Franz. What do we know about the Blue Eternity?"
Rom nearly jumped out of his skin and said, "How is it you move so silently General?"
The blonde grinned as he looked over to Communication Officer's shoulder and said, "Ancient Renatasian magic. Why would the CIS attack a diplomatic cruiser? That's bad form even for them."
Captain Franz pushed a few buttons and said, "The Blue Eternity is registered as the personal ship of the Pantoran*⑥ Senator Riyo Chuchi. She is a strong supporter of the Republic and kept Pantora*⑦ from joining the Confederacy."
"It looks like we have a Senator to rescue then." said Naruto. "Let's head for their last known location."
The Intrepid changed course and jumped in near the last coordinates transmitted by the Blue Eternity. There they found debris of the ship and started scanning for an escape pod from the small vessel after nearly 30 minutes of sweeping the area they detected life signs.
"We've found them sir!" said a sensor tech triumphantly.
"Send a shuttle out to pick up the escape pod. We need to get them aboard as quickly as possible." said Naruto. "I sense they are fading fast."
…
Senator Chuchi awoke in the medical bay to the view of Naruto Uzumaki looking down at her. He said, "I see you are awake Senator Chuchi. You are safely aboard the Republic ship Intrepid. How are you feeling?"
She blinked her gold eyes and blushed slightly indigo. 'He's handsome.' she thought. "I'm glad to be alive…ummm."
Naruto shook his head in embarrassment. "Forgive me Senator; I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Jedi Master Naruto Uzumaki."
"Master Uzumaki…" she said rolling his name around on her tongue. "I'm very glad to meet you. The last thing I remember we dropped out of hyperspace and were attacked. I remember being pushed into the escape pod and…What about my crew?! Are they alright?"
"You and your pilot were the only ones on the escape pod Senator." explained the blonde. "He's still unconscious. We found no other survivors."
She teared up and said "No… They lost their lives because of me…"
While Naruto was trying to comfort Senator Chuchi; the pilot came around and muttered angrily, "Damn those Confederacy scum! They were waiting for us."
That's when he noticed Barriss Offee sitting quietly beside him. The Mirialan said, "I'm Jedi padawan Barris Offee. What happened out there?"
The pilot answered. "I'm Lae Chalo. We were on our way home when something pulled us out of hyperspace like getting to near a planet would. It appeared and when we dropped out of hyperspace a weird looking CIS battleship was right there! They opened fire on us and we were all but defenseless.
All I could do was try to make a short jump to get away from them but we were still caught in the gravity field and got nowhere. I rammed the sublight engines as far as they would go and then I guess we were hit hard because I don't remember anything after that."
Captain Franz said to Naruto, "It sound like a new Confederacy Weapon sir. A ship dropping out of hyperspace with an enemy ship waiting for them is no mere coincidence, especially if the configuration was odd."
Naruto said to the pilot Cholo, "Were you on a straight course or zigzagging like a military ship would?"
"We were on a straight course." answered Lae. "Diplomatic vessels have no reason to zigzag."
Naruto pondered and said to Captain Franz, "Assuming it is a weapon I have a hunch."
"What's that sir?" asked Rom Franz.
"This was a test." said the Rentasian. "They don't want us to know about it yet so they picked a civilian hyperspace route that is routinely travelled. They just happened to snag the Blue Eternity."
"It sounds plausible General. The question is how to counter such a trap." said Franz.
Naruto got a gleam in his eye and said, "My goal is to spring the trap."
…
Modified Lucrehulk Class Battleship Cato Neimoidia
The Cato Neimoidia was originally a standard Trade Federation Battleship. However, it was now a test ship for a new weapon; a gravity well projector*⑧ that would pull entire fleets out of hyperspace and leave them vulnerable to attack. There were still a lot of problems with the Cato Neimoidia but it's first combat test had been successful.
The first problem was the ship had only defensive armament. The gravity well projector was so huge that it took up most of the ship's hanger space so there were no droid fighters to speak of. The other problem was the new weapon took an exorbitant amount of power so when it was active the Cato Neimoidia was very vulnerable to counterattack.
Targeting Civilian vessels was no problem but enemy military vessels were. The Captain of the modified ship was a Neimoidian veteran named Rune C'cHaan who had failed upward throughout his career as a commander. At any rate he was ready to withdraw to Confederacy Territory when the Cato Neimoidia picked up a transmission from the freighter Ramsis from exactly where the Blue Eternity was destroyed.
Senator Riyo Chuchi appeared on screen. "This is the Pantoran Senator Riyo Chuchi. My ship, the Blue Eternity, was destroyed in a Confederacy attack. We were able to thoroughly scan the vessel and have transferred that data to the freighter Ramsis. We are preparing to jump into the Pantora System to-"
"Jam that transmission and move to a position to intercept that freighter!" said Captain C'cHaan. "We cannot let them get that data out!"
After a few tense moments the Communications droid said, "Transmission successfully jammed Captain."
"Excellent!" said C'cHaan. "Power up the gravity well projector once we are in position."
…
Republic ship Intrepid, bridge
"We're being jammed sir." said the Communications Officer. "It's coming from nearby as well"
"So they didn't leave just yet." said Naruto. He turned to Riyo Chuchi and said, "Thank you for your help Senator."
She smiled warmly at Naruto and said, "It was my pleasure, Master Jedi." Then she added. "Do be careful." to which the Jedi nodded.
Captain Franz said, "All primary tutbo laser turrets are ready, tractor beam is ready. Make the jump to light speed."
…
CIS ship Cato Neimoidia, bridge
"We are in position sir." said the command droid.
"Activate the well projector and capture that freighter!" ordered C'cHaan.
That was when the Intrepid appeared right on top of them.
"Uh… That's not a freighter." said the droid it the helm. "It looks more like a Star Destroyer to me."
"That's because it is a star destroyer!" squealed C'cHaan. "Get us out of here!"
The ship shook. "Ummm… Does not compute." said the helm droid. "They've locked a tractor beam on us."
C'cHaan was on the verge of an aneurism…
…
Republic ship Intrepid, bridge
"…Tractor beam is locked sir."
"Open fire and blow their shields down!" commanded Captain Franz. "Then target their facing turrets."
"…Fighters are away sir. No sign of enemy droid fighters."
"…Assault transports are away!"
…
CIS ship Cato Neimoidia, bridge
"Republic assault transports are docking with us Captain." said the Command droid. "The enemy appears to want to capture this vessel."
"Damn it all!" ranted C'cHaan. "Send droids to stop any boarders. Prepare to launch the fighters."
"Roger, roger. Ummm… Wait! We don't have any fighters." replied the droid at the helm.
C'cHaan raged, "You droids are useless! Useless I say!"
The Command droid exclaimed, "You don't have to be mean!"
…
Port Shuttle Bay
Naruto landed aboard the Trade Federation ship in his fighter, the Dragon Lady. He was in the Cato Neimoidia's tiny shuttle bay wondering where all the enemy fighters were. After cutting down a group of heavy brattle droids sent out to welcome him aboard, he started to look about with his R4 unit guiding him via comm link.
"Look R4; I know this ship has to have some internal defenses." said the blonde. "All you are seeing is power generators where the fighter bays should be? …See what the generators are powering. It's certainly not the shields."
The droid beeped and whistled in binary.
"A gravity well projector?" asked Naruto as he came into an open bay where his clone troopers had already secured the area. "See what you can find out about this projector while I reconnoiter with Commander Checker."
Checker waved Naruto over from behind hard cover where the clone troopers were picking off destroyer droids with heavy weapons. When Naruto arrived Checker said, "General Uzumaki; their defenses are pitiful. This is the first hard resistance we've met and we're nearly a third of the way to the ships bridge."
"Hmmm…" said the Renatasian. "I'm beginning to think this entire ship is dedicated to powering the gravity well weapon they have aboard. I wonder if this ship is even meant to operate alone."
…
Starboard Side
Barriss deactivated her light saber having cut down the opposing droids and clearing the way for the clone troopers under her command. She decided to contact Naruto. "Master Uzumaki?" she said into her comm link.
"I read you Barriss, go ahead." replied the blonde.
"This ship is overloaded with power generators and batteries. It has been practically emptied of droids." said the Mirialan.
"I agree." confirmed the blonde. "I sense a dark side presence aboard as well. Keep your guard up."
"Yes Master." confirmed Barriss. "I feel it too."
"Be careful Barriss." said Naruto as he signed off.
…
Bridge
Captain C'cHaan was shocked at the overall situation. The Clones had already taken half of the ship and the heavy battle droids he had on board weren't even slowing the enemy down. He looked over at his droid in charge of gunnery and saw it was unmoving. "Gunnery droid, what are you doing?"
"I'm sitting here sir." answered the droid.
"…And why?" asked the Captain sounding a bit constipated.
"You told me to shut up and sit down so I am following your orders sir." answered the droid.
C'cHaan smiled unnaturally and said "Report on gunnery. Why are our turrets not firing?"
"Roger, roger." said the droid. "Enemy fighters have destroyed every last turret sir. Repairs are impossible at this point."
"So we have no fighters and no weapons correct?" asked the Neimoidian.
"That's correct sir." answered gunnery.
C'cHaan felt his world start to crumble. 'Join the Navy for adventure they said. Get rich quick they said.' he mentally ranted. "Commander, do we have the enemy Clone tropers contained at least?"
"80% of the outer hull has been captured by the enemy and 10% of the core section is lost." said the droid Commander. "It appears that we are doomed sir."
"Thank you for that wonderful forecast." said the Captain sarcastically.
"My pleasure sir." answered the droid brightly.
…
Port Side
Naruto sensed something and activated his ghostfire light saber just in time to block Asajj Ventress's two red blades from cutting him down. He said calmly to Commander Checker. "You and the men keep moving forward. I'll deal with this one. She's an old acquaintance."
Checker nodded and said, "Move out!"
Soon the to Force users were slowly circling one another and Naruto asked, "What brings you here to this doomed ship Ventress? Surely you aren't here to save it."
Asajj said, "There is no saving this ship Uzumaki. Any fool can see that. I came to see you."
"In that case; let's dance!" said Naruto as he launched a brutal offensive. Ventress found herself completely on the defensive as multiple afterimages of Naruto danced around her at different angles. She finally caught him in a blade lock with both of her crimson blades crossed to block the relentless blonde.
Asajj was going to foot sweep Naruto but he hit her with a force enhanced Teras Kasi mid kick in the gut that sent her crashing into the wall behind her and her blades flying. She dived out of the way as Naruto slashed exactly where she'd been standing a split second ago.
Flipping backwards she retrieved her dropped light sabers and fell into a defensive stance. She had fallen down a level and found that Naruto once again held the high ground.
"You are much stronger than you were last time Ventress." said Naruto. "What is it you really want? You haven't taken the offensive at all. If it's just a delaying action then you're too late. This ship belongs to the Republic now."
She frowned slightly and deactivated her light sabers before holstering them. "You're right, I came to deliver a message from Lord Tyranus."
Naruto raised an eyebrow and said sardonically, "A message for me? What could the great and mighty Count Dooku want from me?"
"He thinks you are a Sith Lord." answered Ventress looking mortified.
Naruto tried to keep a straight face; he really did. "Pffft! Bwahahaha! You've got to be putting me on. Just how much spice has that doddering old fool been snorting?"
The Sith Assassin was embarrassed as Naruto sat down and deactivated his light saber. She said, "Do you want to hear the message or not?"
Narato was kicking his legs playfully like a child. Then the blonde sparked his eyes with chakra. His voice took a bone chilling edge as he focused his killing intent like his ancestress Darth Zannah did. "Fine, I'll humor you. What is the message?"
Suddenly, Ventress felt fear of the being in front of her. She said, "I have a communicator here. I'll let Count Dooku speak to you directly."
"Proceed assassin." hissed Naruto.
A hologram of Count Dooku appeared and Naruto changed gears back to his normal self. Dooku was doing his best to look intimidating and bowed slightly in respect. "I bid you greetings from Castle Serenno, Naruto Uzumaki. My Master and I have discovered your true identity as a Sith."
Naruto gave a fanged smile and asked, "…And how's that right arm and leg? You ran away crying the last time we played together."
Dooku did his best not to cringe at the memory. "They are fine, thank you. I wish to invite you here to meet face to face, Sith to Sith… in friendship."
"And why would I be stupid enough to trust you Dooku?" asked the blonde in a bored tone.
"I could expose your identity to the Jedi Council." said Tyranus menacingly.
Naruto asked, "Are you threatening me Darth Tyranus? Go right ahead. It will be amusing to say the least."
Seeing Naruto wasn't intimidated in the least; Dooku said, "I could give you Ventress as a gift in return."
The Renatasian shifted gears again and said in the darkest tone he could muster, "A dog cannot have two Masters you fool. I have an apprentice."
The older man's eyes widened a bit and he said, "At least consider my offer."
"I'll think about it." replied the blonde. Dooku bowed again before the hologram faded out. Naruto stood up and hissed, "I don't know about you assassin but if I were in your place I'd leave this ship as soon as possible."
Ventress quailed a tiny bit and nodded before leaving the communicator behind on her own accord.
Naruto checked the communicator over and pocketed it before contacting his padawan. "Barriss, do you copy?"
"I'm here Master, are you all right?" replied Barriss in a concerned tone.
Asajj Ventress is aboard but will be leaving soon." said the Renatasian. "What's your situation?"
"Commander Checker and I met on the bridge Master." said the Mirialan. "The ship is ours."
"Very nicely done my apprentice." complimented Naruto. "Contact the Intrepid and inform them of our situation."
…
Asajj Ventress's Starfighter
Ventress was a bundle of nerves. She'd had enough for one day. It was bad enough that Naruto had rattled her cage with his ruthless light saber style and defeated her. Worse still he seemed to be able to at least act like a Sith. She couldn't really tell what the blonde enigma was.
"A dog cannot have two Masters you fool. I have an apprentice." was what Uzumaki said when Dooku seemed to be willing to just toss her his way.
'Does Dooku really value me that little?' she thought to herself. 'Dooku is over 80. Uzumaki is younger than I am by a few years. Hmmm… Uzumaki fought with Dooku before and sent him running at one point.' She thought for a bit and said, "Perhaps this was all a test… Or perhaps it's time I found a new Master. Just what are you Uzumaki Naruto?"
Then she remembered a person who had crossed swords with Naruto more than anybody: Ventress' fellow Dark Acolyte, the Lethan Twi'lek, Shior Atlee. 'That Twi'lek is loony but she might be willing to help me given she's crazy about Naruto. Now where could I find her and her Master Rena Fenn right now?'
Looking through her database, Asajj found the pair of Twi'leks and their Corellian transport Gemini were currently on the desert world of Tatooine at Mos Espa spaceport. 'Looks like I'm headed towards the Outer Rim once more.' She punched in the coordinates for the Arkanis Sector and her ship jumped into hyperspace…
…
POSTSCRIPT:
*①: Ezzo Mirin -An OC Human Jedi from a wealthy family on Corellia, he is a few years older than Naruto and regards himself as a strategic genius. More on him as the story progresses.
*②: Wookiee - Wookiees are a tall Species of furry humanoids from the planet Kashyyyk who can grow to a height of nearly three meters.
*③: Shyriiwook - Shyriiwook is a language of the Wookiees, others of which include Thykaran and Xaczik. The language consists of growling and howls, and thus is difficult for anyone non-Wookiee to speak or learn and is also rough on their throat.
*④: Gimer -A gimer bush is a plant that grows in the mountains on Genesia. The cane used by Grandmaster Yoda is constructed from gimer. He often chews on the stick to consume its helpful nutrients, which also aids him in meditation. The bush also grows on Ohma-D'un and is known for its sap which can be made into a juice. The bush was also found on Kashyyyk and Dagobah.
*⑤: Cosian - Cosians are a species of sentient reptilian humanoids from Cosia who have beaked mouths, four-fingered hands, eyes with lids that blinked upward instead of down, and a long tail that ends in a tuft of hair.
*⑥: Pantoran -Blue -skinned near-humans native to the moon Pantora. The color of their hair varied from white and purple to blue and black. The Pantorans had a greater resilience to low temperatures than humans.
*⑦: Pantora -is the primary moon in orbit around the planet Orto Plutonia in the Pantora System. Its terrain is primarily marshes.
*⑧: A gravity well projector was a powerful device used to pull ships out of hyperspace. As a ship could not usually enter hyperspace when within a planet's gravitational pull, the gravity well projector mimicked the effect by creating a strong artificial gravity well known as an interdiction field. See Wookieepedia for more details.
And the footnotes strike back! I thought I'd never get through with them. Hopefully it won't be as bad next chapter. See you next time Blue out. 3/2/24