Chapter Three

[Ahsoka's Perspective]

"Nope, looks like he's not here either," Lux says, coming out of the cantina. My master and I both sigh. We've been checking all over this place for hours with no sign of Boba Fett or any of his accomplices. It's frustrating being so close to capturing him, yet so far away as well. The only thing that's making this tolerable is the fact that I'm getting to spend a little extra time with Lux.

"There is another place we should check while we're in the neighborhood," Lux says, pointing across the street to another bar. "As far as I know, Boba doesn't go in there too often, but it's at least worth a look, don't you think?" Anakin tells him to lead the way, so we cross the street and head inside. The lighting here is dim, and music is barely audible over the noise of multiple conversations going on around me. Suddenly I can sense something in the force.

"He's here somewhere," I say, and glance around the room. Lux then points him out in a corner booth towards the back. "Just let me do all the talking," he says, and then proceeds to make his way over to Boba. Anakin and I take a seat at the bar and order some drinks. Every once in a while I'll glance back at Lux and Boba, just to see what's going on, but it's impossible to tell from over here. "I don't like this," Anakin says, "I don't like leaving it up to Lux. What if he can't convince Boba to come with us?"

"He will," I answer, "I know he will." "Good thing at least one of us has confidence in his abilities." "He can do it," I insist, and glance back again to see Lux and Boba shaking hands. "See what I mean, Master? They made a deal." Anakin smirks at me and Lux comes back around. "All right, he's going to meet us at the ship in one hour. Then we're home free!" He takes a seat beside me and I smile.

"Thank you so much for what you're doing, Lux. I really appreciate it." He blushes and accepts a drink from the bartender. "It's no problem, really." He says, "You know I'd do anything for you." Anakin coughs, and Lux adds on, "You know, because I owe you. For saving my life." My master stands up, pushes back his drinks and lays some credits on the counter. "We'd better head back to the ship, get things ready for our friend Boba." " I agree," I say, and stand up as well.

Then something catches my eye, and I quickly turn around and walk away from the door. Anakin and Lux follow me. "Ahsoka? What's wrong?" "Deathwatch," I whisper, "They're coming in the front door." Lux glances back, sees them, then turns back to me. "Those are the same troops that we ran in to last time. I'm sure they'll recognize us if they see us." He looks over at Anakin and says, "If you can meet us at the ship, Ahsoka and I will sneak out the back door and try to make our way there without being spotted."

Anakin nods and moves toward the door, but I grab his arm first and say, "Even if we're not there, go ahead and leave without us. We've been trying to catch Boba for too long to throw this opportunity away." "All right, I will. Just try to get there on time." I nod, and he leaves. Lux takes my hand and leads me through the crowd, towards the back entrance. Okay, so maybe it's a little stupid, but I can't help feeling a little excited when he holds my hand. Why is that?

As we step through the door, it seems like we're going to get out fine, but then we run right in to Pre Visla. Lux mumbles an apology, tries to get around him, but he's already recognized us. "You two!" He exclaims, and we burst out running. "After them!" he yells, and several members of deathwatch begin chasing us down the alley. Lux and I run as fast as we can, turn corners, dive between building, and do everything we can to get away from them, but they're gaining on us.

"In here!" Lux shouts, and he opens a door in to a large indoor marketplace. We rush inside and hurry in between the vendors. Quickly, I glance behind me and see that we haven't lost them yet. We need to find somewhere to hide. "This way!" I say, and pull Lux down another aisle. Around another corner is a set of stairs that leads to the second floor. We rush up them and pause to catch our breath. We hear them running below us, but they don't think to go up the stairs.

Lux sighs and leans against a wall, still catching his breath. "That was close," he gasps out. "What are they even doing here on Jaxus?" I shake my head. "I don't know, but whatever it is, it can't be good. Maybe we should try to stop them." "Are you kidding? We need to get back to the ship or else Master Skywalker is going to leave without us, and then we'll be stuck here."

He's right of course, but I still can't help but wonder about deathwatch. Why are they this far in to Separatist territory, and how did they get here? They must be meeting with an ally. Why else would they be here? If the deathwatch have made a deal with Separatists, then we're all in big trouble. "Come on," I say, "let's get back to the ship before they leave."

"Not so fast," I hear a menacing voice from behind me. "You're coming with us," I see a gas filling the room, and the world goes black.