"There was nothing you could have done," Cerena said, gently squeezing his hand. "You weren't old enough to defend your parents. You mustn't feel guilty about something you couldn't have prevented."

She paused, wondering if she'd said enough, then went on.

"You asked me how you can deal with the emotions you're feeling over your parents' fate. I think you can turn those feelings into determination. Jedi dedicate themselves to the protection of other beings; we prevent injustice like the attack on your freighter. As a Jedi, you can help make a difference to the galaxy; and, in so doing, honour your parents' memory. But you must let go of these negative emotions that cloud your judgment. Your parents wouldn't have wanted that, would they?"

Josh wiped away his tears. "You... You're right." He said. Slowly, his grief made way for determination. "I will make my parents proud. I... I owe that to them! It's the least I could do, right?" He asked Cerena.

"But..." He continued, "this experience has also raised new questions... I didn't remember this until now, but it seems my parents might have known their attacker..." Josh sighed. "I guess that's one uncertainty I have to live with... for now, at least."

Josh straightened his back. "Whoever it was that killed my parents, he must be brought to justice!" Josh exclaimed. "We should bring back justice once again in the galaxy!"

Suddenly, he noticed that he had clenched his fists. He felt... something that he hadn't felt for quite some time. Anger. Anger at himself, for not saving his parents. Anger at his parents' killer. Anger because there was so much injustice in the galaxy.

As he unclenched his fists, Josh inhaled and exhaled deeply, once. "I apologize, master. I shouldn't have let my emotions take control of me." He said as he bowed his head in shame.

"I believe that now you have a clearer memory of what happened, we can deal with your feelings of helplessness regarding the situation," Cerena said, soothingly. "We can take action. We can try to identify the type of ship that attacked the Stardrifter and correlate that information with Brigian spaceport records from that time. I'm sure that Carr will be able to help us dig up that information.

"What's important is that you understand how your parents' fate has affected you and remain conscious of it. Jedi do not seek vengeance, and we do not allow anger to influence our actions. We will aim to bring your parents' attacker to justice. And then, in our own small way, we will have brought some balance to the universe."

---
Later that day, as Cerena and Carr were eating dinner together, she broached the subject of doing some research into the encounter over Brigia.

"The memory enhancement went well," she told him. "Josh had a very clear vision of the ship that attacked the Stardrifter. The first step is to identify the model, and then hopefully narrow it down to a specific vessel. Do you think you'd be able to gather some data on commonly-used starfighters in this sector for us?"

Carr frowned and looked up at Cerena. "How long was that ago?" He asked cynically. "Are you still intending to find that old crashed freighter?" He asked rethorically. He still couldn't get what motivated his master. But if the Force was leading them, maybe all the hassle would have some benefit in the end.

He shrugged. "Sure I can consult the university's space ship data base." He wanted to go to the university anyway. There were rumours of a couple of missing students. Some said, that they'd just transfered to Brigia. He was also looking for better melee weapons, like a real vibro-sword.

"It was six years ago," Cerena explained, "over Brigia. I feel that it's important for us to help find the Stardrifter. Josh still has to deal with what happened that day before he can truly be at peace with himself."

Carr shrugged. "Sure, I can consult the university's space ship data base."

"Thank you," Cerena said. "Perhaps now we'll be able to get some idea of who or what we're looking for."

A couple of days later Carr gave Cerena a set of selected datasheets of vessels that fit the description he had gotten.

"I have left out any model manufactured after the date of the attack." He commented rhetorically. "Heavily modified proprietary ships won't be in there either, unless its owner was keen on having their ship's data published." Carr added.

"Thank you, Carr," Cerena said, taking the datacard. "I'll show these to Josh and see if they jog his memory."

Later that day, during her evening class with Josh, she did just that. They sat down and went through the information that Carr had collected.

After browsing through the database for about 30 minutes, Josh still hadn't found the ship he was looking for.

"So many different ships... I didn't even know there were so many different types..." Josh sighed deeply. "This is useless..."

He showed Cerena an image of a C-73 Tracker and an image of a Z-95 Headhunter, his fighter. "Look. These are the only types that look somewhat similar to the attacker... but it's neither of these."

Josh closed his eyes and pictured the ship in his head again. "It's bigger than both of them... at least one laser cannon on each wing, although most likely much more powerful than the Z-95's... definitely better armour and shielding..."

He opened his eyes and looked at Cerena. "I've never seen any ship like it in my life... could it be a custom design, perhaps?"

"It could have been," Cerena agreed, thoughtfully, "especially if the person who attacked your parents' freighter was a bounty hunter. They're known for customising their ships. Perhaps we're approaching this from the wrong direction. Let's enter what we know about the attacking ship into the database and see what comes up. If we still don't find anything, we may need to search the spaceport records at Brigia."

She called up the search screen on the datacard reader and started filling in the boxes. "We know that it was a one- or two-person fighter," she said, entering that information. "Armoured, at least two laser cannons. Fixed-wing configuration. Most likely hyperspace-capable. All right, let's see what we find," she said, keying the search button.

As Cerena was talking to Josh and entering the information into the database, Josh closed his eyes and focused on the unknown fighter once again and tried to come up with more details.

"All right, let's see what we find," Cerena said, keying the search button.

"...SD... Striker." Josh mumbled, his eyes still closed. He opened his eyes and looked at Cerena. "SD-Striker. That's probably the ship's name! I could see it clearly on the side of the ship, just before it took off."

"That's great!" Cerena said, brightly. "The 'SD' might be part of its registry code. We really need to get to Brigia now and consult the landing records at the spaceport. I wonder if Carr could get access to those records from here... Anyway, let's add that to our list of information about the ship that attacked your parents. It might help to narrow the field down a bit."

Josh sighed. "But, if it was indeed a bounty hunter, chances are slim we will find it in any database... Right?"

He closed his eyes and shook his head. "Besides, it has been so long... who knows where he might be at this point..."

Out of Character: Arch, I'll leave it up to you whether or not they find anything about the ship that attacked the Stardrifter - whether it's information on the specific ship or just the model of starfighter it was.


"It's too early to give up," Cerena said, encouragingly. "We know that the ship exists; it's out there somewhere. And so, there must be a record of its existence somewhere. If it's not in the information that Carr collected for us, then we'll go to Brigia and continue our search there."

"That makes sense." Josh agreed. "That ship had to come from Brigia! There could very well be records of it there..."

Josh stood up from his chair. "I think visiting Brigia would indeed be the logical next step to take, then." Because browsing through the database and trying to bring back his memories had given him a headache, Josh rubbed his forehead. "Perhaps it isn't the most convenient step, or the safest... but I guess we have no other choice right now."

He looked at Cerena, calmly. "Unless it's too risky, of course. We don't want to rush things, right?"

"Well, it's not completely certain that the ship's origin was Brigia," Cerena said, cautiously, "but it certainly seems to have been active in the vicinity of the planet. There must be some record of its existence somewhere - docking permits, refueling receipts, perhaps even maintenance reports.

"I don't think going to Brigia will raise too much attention," she continued. "There could be any number of reasons - perfectly innocent reasons - that someone would want to find out about the attack on your parents' freighter. Insurance assessors, for example, or just journalists after some sort of sensationalist article. We should be just fine."