Star Wars: Tales
A Disturbance in the Marketplace
Owen Lars would have preferred to be just about anywhere on Tatooine than Mos Espa. At the top of that list was the moisture farm he'd inherited from his father. Anchorhead, Tosche Station, and Mos Eisley all vied for some place beneath that and each came out ahead of Mos Espa. It wasn't the distance- Mos Eisley was well out of his way, but when he had to, Owen climbed into the landspeeder and drove all that way to get what he needed- it was the development. Mos Eisley was a spaceport, but barely not really crowded. Beings in Mos Eisley kept to themselves, and didn't like to stand out or get any sort of attention. It was that Mos Espa was a city, and Owen Lars, moisture farmer, just didn't feel comfortable in cities.
Mos Espa had the podrace arena, the junk dealers, hotels and casinos, slave quarters, the works. Mos Eisley had Chalmun's Cantina and the Lucky Despot. Mos Espa was filled with merchants hawking their wares; Mos Eisley was a quiet place where the occasional squabble between a jawa and the junk's owner was the most exciting thing that anyone would pay attention to.
If it hadn't been for the fact that the womp rats had been getting bolder, Owen Lars would have happily stayed at the homestead, or out in the fields, harvesting the condensers, or fixing the vaporators. But the rats had been getting pretty brave, and Owen needed various parts and supplies for just about every piece of equipment in the field. Owen had known that Mos Eisley didn't have the parts he needed, but he'd put off going out to Mos Espa until there was just no way to get around it. He'd tried to jury-rig some of the equipment, and he'd tried staying up late nights to blast the rats, both to no avail.
So when his wife had announced that she wanted to go see the Mos Espa market, Owen had grudgingly agreed to go. He was grateful for the opportunity his wife had provided, but Owen was too proud to say so. Moisture farmers got to be like that. Harvesting water on a desert planet was not for the Kuati noblewoman who ran at the first sign of discomfort. Moisture farmers, constantly fending off raids and the desert, were tough and independent sorts.
Now, Owen wandered though the city. He'd stored the parts he needed in the SoroSuub V-35 landspeeder, and Beru wasn't due to meet him for another couple hours. Maybe he'd seriously think about getting another landspeeder.
Owen drifted through the streets, past the spacers, the twi'leks, the bounty hunters, the nikto, the theives, the weequay, and all the other aliens. He tried to avoid them all. Owen didn't dislike aliens, but it was a rule of thumb on Tatooine to stay out of the way of people you didn't know. There was only one person he knew that didn't think that way and that was Huff Darklighter. Owen preferred Jula's, Huff's brother, company to the large businessman's.
The moisture farmer found himself in a large bazaar type area, where droids and parts of droids were neatly on display. Owen was mildly surprised. Any such display in Mos Eisley would have been an invitation to a jawa fiesta. An idea struck Owen, and he began looking for droids that might serve to patrol the farm at night and keep the womp rats away.
He found himself at one booth belonging to an old toydarian, who seemed to have fallen on hard times.
"Good afternoon," the toydarian greeted in huttese. "Anything in particular you're looking for?" He took off his hat and shooed away some flies.
"Not really," replied Owen casually, in Basic. It was best to keep one's business to one's self. Especially in Mos Espa. The haggling would go smoother this way- the old toydarian wouldn't try to swindle him.
"Well, you just letame know if you need anything, eh?" the toydarian said in Basic. He floated back down to his stool, and went back to tinkering with something that looked like the head of a protocol droid attached to the body of a pit droid.
Owen moved around the booth to inspect some of the deactivated pit droids. Pod racing wasn't such a big event any more. He could probably get a good price for the pit droids. On the other hand, they were small, and tended not to be very bright. The rats would probably tear them apart for fun.
A man in a brown cloak appeared in the doorway of the building behind the booth. Taking quick glances out of the corner of his eye, Owen supposed it could have been a woman, but probably not. The cloak completely enshrouded the wearer. And in a voice that only the toydarian and Owen could hear, "What are you doing!? You're supposed to be hiding me, not drawing attention to yourself!"
"Eh, it'd look mighty suspicious if I didn't show up for the bazaar, eh?" the toydarian returned in huttese. "Justa relax, there's nothing to worry about."
Owen picked up a tooex and began inspecting it. He glanced up and saw an Asp droid and an Array servant droid- both humanoid- both of which had definite possibilities.
There was a commotion in the bazaar. Merchants and browsers began disappearing at an alarming rate. The man in the brown cloak took a step back into the shadows of the doorway. It quickly became apparent what was causing the disturbance. Imperial stormtroopers marched up the street. And trailing in their wake, was the unmistakable black armor of the Empire's champion, Lord Darth Vader.
Owen set down the tooex, but was unable to make his legs move.
The stormtroopers arrived, two announcing the Dark Lord, and two following. They formed a perimeter around the toydarian's booth, which Darth Vader stepped into.
Vader's breathing was the only sound for several seconds. Then that dark voice, full of menace, spoke. "Where is he?"
The toydarian, surprisingly, didn't appear phased in the least. "Hey, Lord Vader! This is an unexpected pleasure, I'm honored by your presence! Hi chuba da nago?" It was an amazing display of courage and bravado, for any sentient.
Then, another surprise as Vader replied, "Keel-ee calleya ku kah." You disappoint me. In Basic, he continued, "You are harboring an enemy of the empire. Turn him over now, or face the consequences."
"Enemy?" the merchant repeated, sounding shocked. He turned to Owen, grinning conspiratorially. "Do you know of any enemies of the Empire around here?"
The unmistakable sound of a lightsaber coming on grabbed everyone's attention. Even the stormtroopers seemed to stiffen. Vader raised his crimson blade and pointed it at the merchant. "You forfeit all if you do not comply."
"There's no need for that, traitor!" a shrill voice called. The cloak let out of the doorframe, unnaturally high, cloak flaring out like some mynock's wings. Owen was surprised yet again to see that it was, indeed, a woman. She twisted in the air and landed on the other side of the fallen Jedi. Her blue lightsaber hummed beside golden locks.
Owen suddenly felt like he'd faded into the background. He sensed that for the two Jedi, there was only the opponent. Not Owen, not the toydarian merchant, not even the stormtroopers factored into this match.
Even as he stood in awe of the following display of skill and battle prowess that followed, Owen would remember little beside the swirling dust the combatants kicked up, the flashes of blue and red, and the smell of flesh burnt by lightsaber.
The champion of the Empire stepped back, holding his lightsaber in a high guard. The Jedi was tired, her hair pasted to her face by sweat and dust. She was desperate. Owen stared as fingers of lightning leapt out of her hand at Darth Vader. The Dark Lord batted them aside with his lightsaber. Neither took notice of the stormtrooper that was killed by the ricochet. There was another burst of energy. This redirected blast slammed into the wall beside Owen's head. He jerked away.
Vader, lowered his lightsaber, pointing the tip of the blade at the woman. Large bits of droids streaked in towards her. The asp and array droids Owen had been considering hurtled at the battered Jedi. A dismembered droid arm finally made it past the woman's defenses, and clipped her in the head. She collapsed.
Owen fought back an urge to rush to her side.
"Captain, take her back to my shuttle. And alert my star destroyer to prepare for my arrival," instructed Vader. He turned to the other two stormtroopers. "Arrest the merchant and destroy his shop."
"Now just a moment!" Owen exploded. As the Dark Lord turned his attention to him, Owen felt suddenly small and vulnerable. He steeled up his courage and his resolve. "He's just an old man, trying to get by! There's no need to destroy his livelihood."
"He gave aid to an Enemy of the Empire," intoned Darth Vader. "That is a crime punishable by death. He should feel grateful that I allow him to live."
"An Imperial holding cell is a poor imitation of life," Owen spat. Some of the other merchants and shoppers who had been hiding in their booths were emboldened by Owen's bravery. They cheered their agreement and approval.
Owen sweated as the Emperor's right-hand man considered him. The constant, machine-aided breathing began to unnerve the moisture farmer.
"He will be made an example of."
"An example that honest businessmen and merchants shouldn't do business with the Empire?" Owen pressed. He gulped down a small fear. He was almost talking treason.
"An honest businessman would have immediately contacted the authorities," argued Darth Vader.
Scarcely believing he was having an argument with Darth Vader, Owen shook his head. He tried one last desperate gamble. "But a desperate man might not. Compassion is a characteristic lacking in the Empire these days. To remove one of it's valuable citizens would be to devalue the Empire. To tarnish it." He forced himself to swallow.
Raising a warning finger, Vader gestured. "Very well. The Empire is indeed concerned with the safety and well-being of its citizens. But do not presume too much, farmer." Indicating their fallen comrade, the Dark Lord spoke to the two remaining stormtroopers. "Come with me."
As soon as the Empire's agents had disappeared down the way they came, cheers erupted. Men congratulated and applauded Owen. It died down quickly enough as beings went back to their own business.
The toydarian flew over to Owen and bowed his head humbly. "Eh, thanks a lot. Take anything you need, you know, as a thanks."
Owen shook his head to clear the shock. "Oh, ah, I'll just take this little fellow," he said, picking up the tooex. He wandered over to some wires, spare motivators, and sensor arrays and began rifling through them. After picking out the parts he wanted he held them up. "And these."
"No problem!" the merchant laughed heartily. "It's yours, take it. And come back anytime you need anything!"
Owen allowed that he would, and walked off with the droid under his arm and the parts in his pockets.
He only had a short wait for his wife at the landspeeder. She carried a small container of produce, but was followed by a stack of containers that seemed to float off the ground. Owen smiled as he spotted the two small legs holding up the boxes.
"How was the market, Beru?" Owen asked, opening the landspeeder doors.
"It was alright," his wife answered. "I think in the future though, I'll stick to trading with Silya and Lanal Darklighter. But I wouldn't mind coming back every now and then."
"Here, I'll trade ya," Owen told the legs carrying the produce containers. He took the containers and loaded them into the rear of the landspeeder, then handed the tooex to the boy. "What did you think of the market, Luke?"
"It was so wizard!" little Luke announced. He immediately began inspecting the new droid. "What's it for?"
"We're going to use it to keep the womp rats away from the vaporators out in the field," explained Owen.
"I bet I could take care of those dirty womp rats," Luke stated seriously.
"I believe you could," Owen chuckled. He turned to Beru. "All set?"
As Owen climbed into the landspeeder, he felt a prickle at the back of his mind. Craning his neck, he thought he saw a dark shape at the far end of the alley. It was probably just his imagination.
End.