Some people say that where they are from is a hellhole but, I don't think that they have ever been to Endo-Quar 7. They have never lived where the flora is just as likely to kill you as the fauna is. On a good day the air won't kill you either, but that is few and far between. What is this place good for you ask? Credits mostly. Seems like some of the rarest minerals in the galaxy could be found here, all of course for the price of the highest bidder.

Sometimes I don't know who I despise more, the smugglers who come here to buy the stuff or the other miners trying to sell it. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't some hot shot miner with one hundred strong men under my command, I was just a gal from, some faraway place that no one would remember. I kept my nose down, sold what I could, gave away the rest, all in hopes one day I could find a way off this shit hole. Make a life for myself somewhere far, far away where you didn't have to sleep in a metal box to make it through the night alive.

The work was hard and not even all that satisfying, but if you hit a payload, it was all worth it in the end. Sad thing was, that I had never hit the payload as long as I'd been here. Most days all I found was dooinium or some other spaceship metal, which you could find almost anywhere in the galaxy. What I hoped for was to find some phirik, or even a vein of glitterstim spice which was known to be found every now and again, but after seven years of nothing things were looking pretty bleak.

The day everything began to turn around I was exchanging the filters on the air filtration system when I heard the winding down of an engine just outside my mining pod. That was all I needed, some dunder headed macho man hoping to meddle with my claim, in hopes of pushing me out.

"Hey," I called out my rebreather altered my voice to sound robotic, "get outta here! Do you even have a permit to land here?" I wiped the yellowish sediment from my goggles as I waved my arms at the pilot exiting his ship.

I was met with bright blue eyes and an honest looking face, not something I was accustomed to, and I was immediately suspicious. His goggles dubiously clean his rebreather new marking him as a first timer on this planet.

"No permit," he said his voice like sunshine, making me want to kick him in the shins, "but I was hoping you could help me out."

I folded my arms across my chest, "And why would I want you help you?"

His eyes went wide for a moment, and he stepped closer surprised by my crass answer, yet his smile never wavered. He extended a palm, which held a rather large leather sack, "I need some directions, I'll make it worth your while."

I narrowed my eyes, "Seems like a lot of credits for directions, what's the catch?"

He paused and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise for a moment and I steeled myself. I saw him take pause as he observed me for a moment longer than was appropriate, then he was quiet. His mouth bobbed open and closed for a second as though he had thought better of what he had been going to say and reworded it, "I'm looking for a place." He said finally.

I felt the honesty in his phrase, and that was something I had not come across in a long time and honestly it was refreshing. I sighed before giving in. In the back of my mind, I wondered if he had some sort of magic that was coaxing me into doing what he wanted.

"What place?" the words fell out of my mouth before I could stop them.

"Well, the thing is, I'm not completely sure." he ran a hand through his sandy coloured hair causing it to stick up oddly because of the humid moisture of the noxious air. His flesh already damp with sweat.

I rose my brows, but I wasn't sure if he could see that beneath the heavy goggles I wore, nor could I make out what was on the paper he was shoving in my hands. When was the last time I saw paper?

"Have you seen this place?" he asked hopefully, and I couldn't help the grin that lifted at the corner of my mouth as I stared at the drawing on the page.

"Sure, I've seen it." I answered passing his paper back to him.

"Will you take me there?" he asked.

I shook my head, "I'd be leaving my claim, anyone could come by and take it."

He looked around and shrugged, "Not much to take."

I bristled, "Is this how you expect to get me to help you?" I couldn't tell if he was ruffling my feathers on purpose.

"You're right," he sighed, "listen, I will give you this bag of credits, and another one just like it when I find what I'm looking for."

I looked at the credits, there had to be twenty thousand credits in that bag, it was more than enough to get me out of here let alone another twenty when I returned.

I must have taken too long to answer because he turned away and started walking back to his ship, "If you're not interested, I will just move on to the next camp."

Again, I found myself reacting before thinking and I grasped him by the back of his dark cloak, "Ok."

He looked at me and grinned, "Ok?!"

I nodded and he practically skipped away, "Alright, let's leave right away, so I can get you back as soon as possible."

I scoffed, "No chance hotshot," I shook my head, "It's a day's travel at least it's not safe to travel at night."

His grin fell into a look of determination, "I'm sure, I could keep us safe at night." His hand fell to his waist under his cloak, and I could have rolled my eyes.

"No weapon can fight off acid fog; you find one sign me up." I moved towards him taking the credits from his grasp.

"I have a modified X-34 landspeeder, but you tell anyone I've got it I will toss you out into the fog myself."

He looked almost gleeful before I turned away and groaned to myself. What in the maker was I thinking? Heading out here in the dead of night was no better than a death sentence. It wasn't just the acid fog we had to worry about, it was the reavers and the bog lichen. I swung open the door to my pod grabbing a satchel full of supplies, anything we might need for the run, then started to the land speeder hidden behind the drilling equipment.

I turned to head back to the stranger only to find him inches behind me causing me to drop what was in my hand. Without missing a beat, he caught my satchel and turned to walk away from me. I bit the side of my cheek to keep from cursing this walking bankroll into oblivion.

I pushed past him and moved towards the drilling equipment looking around, making sure there was no miner hiding out in the desolate rocky ground to see what I was about to uncover.

I pulled a heavily stained tarp off the vehicle.

I couldn't help the smile that fell upon my lips, this was my baby. A refurbished X-34 landspeeder with the hull of an old imperial TIE welded to the hull. Not only were we safe from the acid fog but, proton lasers as well. I just hoped we wouldn't need to worry about the latter.

"What is THAT?" he asked, and I turned to see an appalled expression plastered on his face.

"That is Mavis." I smirked. "She will get us where we need to go."

"Is it safe?" he asked dubiously.

"Safer than acid fog." I deadpanned, "Is this going to be a problem for his Highness?"

He looked at me with an all too amused expression, "You remind me of someone."

I narrowed my eyes not asking for an explanation, "You gonna get in, or are you just going to stand here and make faces at her all night?" He gave me another amused glance and hopped gracefully into Mavis, I followed boorishly behind him.

Years ago, I would have never imagined getting into any sort of vehicle with anyone for any amount of money, now, times were a little different.

What would my mother say?

I grinned as I pressed the ignition and the loud roar of the engine caused my companion to jump, "Is that normal?" he said wearily.

"Nothing is normal on Endo-Quar 7, after a while you just learn to roll with the punches." I grinned as I took the steering into my hands.

Endo-Quar 7 like I said, is a hellscape. The sky was forever hidden by a cloud of yellowed noxious smog, that was more likely to kill you than anything else here. Nothing lived not really, everything fought for survival. From the small lizard like S'illek' to the large mutant Ravager's that roamed this barren world in packs, like loth wolves. However, whatever living threat there was on this place I would rather deal with that than the bog lichen that grew like the plague over half the planet. It made mining more difficult than anything when it started to flash over the barren soil five winters back. No one knows where it came from, some say it came from another planet in the system, others say it came from the ground when the minders dug too deep. Either way, that stuff was the devil, it burnt your skin even metres away, a sickly turquoise colour that would have been otherwise beautiful.

The ride was silent for the most part. The first six hours or so were uneventful, but just as my companion began to doze off my curses woke him abruptly from his impending nap.

"Shit... Shit... Shit... Shit!" I cursed.

"I take it it's bad?" he said.

"You could say that." I frowned as I looked around hastily for a way through the living blockade, "The dam gave way, must be because of the lichen."

He blinked, "So the water is poisonous?" he asked.

I could only laugh, "If the water was poisonous, I would happy but, Endo-crocks, well, they'll attack a boulder if it gets in the way?"

"Endo-crock?" he asked.

I pointed out the windscreen. The night sky glowed green in the acid fog, you couldn't even make out the stars above, but clear as a Kyber crystal, there was a creature before us larger than an x-wing. With skin a putrid mottled green and speckled with brown its eyes glowed an eerie red in the darkness.

His mouth fell open, "That doesn't look good."

I could have rolled my eyes, "If it sees us, it will attack."

"Stay in the speeder." He turned to me and opened the latch.

I just shoved my rebreather in my mouth in time for the blast of humid poisonous air to smack me in the face. I wanted to argue, but I also didn't want to die. I would be happy to keep twenty thousand credits and come back to fish the remaining twenty from endo-crock shit later on.

As much as I wanted to watch, as soon as he opened the hatch the windshield fogged up and all I could see was bright green blasts of laser fire, and I sat and waited to see if he would make his way back to Mavis.

There was so much noise I couldn't tell who was winning. Then suddenly there was silence and I sat for a few long minutes before I heard a noise just outside the hatch. It burst open again and I came face to face with the stranger, his cloak splattered with the thick blue blood of the Endo-crock.

"Watch you don't stain the seats!" I called and he only glared in my direction.

Fortunately, the rest of the way there was less eventful, and the stranger even offered to drive after I enter the co-ordinates into the nav-system. It was my turn for my eyes to droop heavily and I was only jostled from sleep when I heard the hatch close.

My eyes burst open to find that we'd arrived at the location of the drawing he showed me.

That ass thought to leave me in the speeder.

I scrambled out and called after him, no need for the rebreather here as we had moved higher into the mountains. The air was thin, but we were above the acid cloud.

"Hey!" I called, "did you think you could just leave me here?"

He turned and smiled, "You snore when your sleep you know."

I tossed a rock at his head, which he nimbly avoided.

"I didn't think you'd want to know." He said continuing to look straight ahead as he spoke.

"Well," I frowned, "Forty thousand credits say whatever garnered your interest is worth being curious over."

He shot a grin over his shoulder which melted away instantaneously into a grim look of determination. My breath caught in my throat when I turned to see what had caused this look. My insides clenched.

A Ravager.

An enormous half lizard half rancor looking creature, and by the looks of this one it had seen its share of battles. Its grey leathery flesh was littered with scars, and it was missing an eye. My gaze darted hastily around before landing back to the creature unwilling to keep my eyes off it for too long. It looked like this was a lone Ravager which was almost worse because it was old and experienced and meaner than the rest, It was exiled from its pack, and it looked like it had decided the ruins from the strangers drawing was its new home.

"Run!" the stranger called to me hastily as he flung off his cloak. His black clothing and leather boots blended into the night but when he ignited a green laser sword it cast an eerie glow over the entire landscape. The Ravager appeared all the more menacing with its yellowed teeth shining with saliva in anticipation of its oncoming meal.

The Ravager kept its black eye on the stranger as though he knew who was more of a danger to it. I slunk back to Mavis putting her between the me and the pair of them.

The Ravager struck first. Its thick back legs pounced forward the long claws on its shorter front arms slashed at the stranger who somehow was faster than the Ravager. The Ravager lashed out with its long lizard tail which the stranger easily dodged, I was impressed, it was like this man could move faster and jump higher than your average human. As I watched the pair of them dance around one another, it seemed like the stranger could predict the beasts' movements before the beast had even decided to perform them.

With a roar the beast lunged forward with its powerful jaws. Long teeth caught the stranger's black tunic, the fabric ripped noisily as it caught on the large incisors.

I couldn't help the scream that tore from my throat or the second one that erupted as the beast swung its head in my direction. It decided that I was perhaps an easier target than the man before him.

I stumbled backwards tripping over myself in some feeble attempt to get away, but I knew that to escape one of these mighty creatures was a near impossible feat, especially for me. I had no weapon and definitely no fighting skills a mean left hook notwithstanding. This, however, was much different.

The Ravager approached its sharp claws dug into the rear hull of Mavis and pushed her out of his way the shrieking of metal was almost as loud as my heart hammering in my chest. This is what I get for ignoring my own instincts.

I end up dead.

I squeezed my eyes closed as the beast reared up with its massive jaws. A thundering thump landed beside me, humid putrid wind blowing my hair back off my face causing my eyes to burst open.

The Ravager was dead.

Its head was neatly shorn from its body and had landed to my left, its body to my right, the black clad stranger standing between them. His green glowing sword in his hand.

"What the fu-"

He grinned and my words died on my lips. "Wanna see if what I'm looking for is inside?"

He offered me a hand and I when I reached for it numbly, I found myself hoisted up. I followed the stranger with a thousand questions rolling through my mind all at once.

"What is this place?" was the only question that fell from my lips, and it most definitely didn't feel like the most important.

"It's an old Jedi Temple." He spoke.

"Space wizards?" I barked out a laugh but the smile on my face was wiped out with the serious expression on his. I swallowed thickly my cheeks blazed with embarrassment, "You're him aren't you." I asked.

He raised a brow that same cheeky grin on his face, "Depends."

"On what?" I said.

"On whom he is." He continued on, using his laser sword to light our path forward.

"Skywalker," It came out as barely a whisper but I knew he could hear me, "The Jedi who defeated the Emp-"

He cut me off, "I found it!"

I blinked.

My heart pounded fast as he turned to me. A white leather-bound book held tight in his hands,  that same signature grin plastered on his features.

"A book!" I yelled incredulously, "All of this for a book?"