Thanks for your comments on part 10. I've posted both 11 and 12 today. I'm as eager to get to Vader's arrival as some of you are!

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Frowning, he studied the two stormtroopers positioned at the end of the block. They were probably only on routine patrol, but he still couldn't risk returning to the little ones. With a shrug, he turned to avoid them and entered an underground club a few blocks away. Imps generally avoided these dens, knowing it was likely they would not exit in one piece. The clientele was rough, but Luke kept his blaster in plain view and the face coloring helped obscure his youth. He ordered a drink and a glitt stick, then bent his head over the bar, engaging in no conversations and looking at no one -- directly. The unbreakable reflective plexi behind the bartender acted as a mirror and would warn him if anyone tried to approach.

And an hour later, it did. He gave a rueful sigh when he saw an angry young woman storming through a thick fog that was created partly by smoke and partly by the pleasant haziness in his mind. He gulped down his fourth drink and waved the glass at the bartender who quickly refilled it, slopping liquor over the rim and onto the counter. He handed the man a few extra credits. "Stick for the road," he mumbled, holding out his palm until the glitt was slapped into it.

"What are you doing?" Tia hissed in his ear. "Do you know what time it is? The kids won't settle down until they know you're back. And here you are, drunk and high and who knows what else!"

The Rodian to his left snorted and the bartender chuckled. "If I had a credit for every old lady who came lookin' and scoldin' her old man..."

Luke sighed again. "She's not my -- "

"He's not my old man!" Tia knocked the glass out of his hand, shaking her head, dark hair flying around her face. "Come on, we're leaving now."

"They can make your life hell, can't they?" the bartender continued. "Not worth arguing. You either go along with 'em or dump 'em. I dumped mine. She wasn't as hot as this one, though. If you get tired of her -- "

Before Luke could reply, Tia was halfway over the bar, the tip of her knife at the bartender's crotch. Luke sighed again and tugged her arm. "Fine, I'm coming, let the man go."

"I should slice off his -- "

"And bring troopers down on us?" he reminded her. Tossing a large tip onto the wet counter, he dragged her off, casting a glance back to be sure the bartender wasn't going to contact the authorities. The man gave him an amused nod, apparently not at all distressed by his encounter with Tia's blade.

"You're a pain in the ass, Oz," she complained bitterly as they walked through the cold night air, Luke staggering slightly.

"Go to hell," he replied with a bored yawn.

"I had everything under control here until you -- "

"You had nothing under control, you didn't even have enough food."

"That was a temporary situation!"

They argued during the short journey back to the tunnel, then parted in cold silence. Luke returned to the small 'room' that served as his sanctuary and collapsed on the bed, not bothering to remove his boots.

"Oz back..." a sleepy voice whispered.

He turned his head. Four-year-old Tessi was curled up in the corner on a rumpled bundle of old blankets. "Why aren't you in your own bed?"

"Scared." Her lashes drifted up, then closed again, obviously too heavy to remain open. "You smell funny."

"I know." Resignedly, he rose and changed into his old white clothes, using the oversized coat as a modesty shield, though he suspected she was too sleepy to peek. He pulled his boots back on, a habit he'd developed while living 'on the run'. Always be ready, Owen said. Funny, he'd hated his guardian, but now he was realizing just how much Owen Lars had taught him.

Bending over, he straightened the blankets to cover Tessi better and considered carrying her to her own cot in the makeshift dormitory with the other young ones. But if she woke during the night she'd be back, and it wouldn't the first time. Once he'd almost stepped on her before noticing her asleep on the floor in his room. So he moved her into his bed against the wall, then lay beside her, one arm curving protectively over her tiny body.

"Oz save me," she whispered before falling asleep again.

Yeah, good old Oz, the drunk, glitt-using Jedi-Sith, hiding from Imps, hiding from his maybe-father who wanted to kill him, wondering where the famous Anakin Skywalker was, and stuck on this rock with a barrelful of kiddies under his wing.

It was tempting to mope further, but the combination of intoxicants he'd consumed chased him into a deep sleep instead.

The world was shaking. Quake? Shouts pierced through the fog, and Luke struggled to stay asleep. Kids were playing, calling... screaming? His body was being jerked to and fro.

"OzOzOzOzOz!"

He opened his eyes. Tessi was kneeling beside him, shaking his arm. Ready to scold her, he saw that her eyes were wide with terror. Then the sounds registered. Adult voices giving orders, mingled with the protests and sobs of children.

"Krit!" Luke leaped up, grabbing his pack and stuffing it with clothes, extra watersticks and Fixer's 'hopper model before anchoring it across his chest. He threw on the long, nondescript cloak that he wore when he wanted to fade into the scenery. Never go in any place without knowing another way out. The narrow tunnel was the reason he'd chosen this room as his own. It opened into the basement level of Jabba's townhouse, and from there he could get outside without being seen.

Stormtrooper boots echoed on the hard dirt, coming closer. He raced to the hidden exit and pushed aside the curtain that disguised it.

"Oz...?"

Luke closed his eyes, cursing silently, then snatched up Tessi, hiding her in the folds of the cloak. "Don't make any noise," he warned as they slipped behind the dusty fabric.

She whimpered, but pressed her face into his shirt as he ducked and ran through the dug-out passage, not hesitating when he reached the end of it. If troopers were there, they were trapped; they couldn't go back so there was no point in delaying. But still he heaved a shaky gasp of relief when he saw the room was empty save for a few corpses that Jabba stored for a purpose Luke didn't want to consider. He held the back of Tessi's head so she wouldn't see them as they hurried past. She had already had enough nightmares in her short life.

Tumbling onto the street, he turned and walked quickly in the opposite direction, keeping his face well covered. From an alley, he climbed up to one of his favored rooftops and put Tessi down. "You stay here, don't move and don't make a sound."

Dropping to his stomach, he used his elbows to propel him toward the edge where he could spy on the happenings a few blocks away. It was Imps, all right, and they had rounded up the kids. Stealthily, Luke drew out his blaster, considering which trooper to shoot first. Could he take down all of them? Probably not, but killing one would throw them into confusion and give the kids a chance to get away.

He took aim, then saw Simri run up to the trooper and punch the stock of his blaster rifle. Luke caught his breath, but the Imp only shouldered his weapon and bent to say something. Then he picked up the little boy, tucking him under one arm. The gesture was so experienced that Luke realized the trooper had to be a parent, and he lowered his blaster.

They weren't going to arrest the kids. It was Oz they wanted, Oz the trouble-making thief. When a speedervan labeled Family Services pulled up, he knew the kids were going into official custody, maybe even to foster homes. Wherever they went, it would probably be a lot better than living in a cave and scrounging for food.

"Oz come back," Tessi called, crawling toward him.

"No!" he whispered sharply. "Stay there, Tessi. Don't talk. We don't want the troopers to find us."

She sat down again and stuck her thumb in her mouth.

When he turned back to the group, a scuffle was underway. A teenaged girl broke away and ran, and Luke fingered his blaster again as a trooper took aim on Tia. But an officer stopped him with an upraised hand, and Luke watched as she ran behind some buildings and disappeared.

He wriggled away from the edge of the roof and made his way back to Tessi. "We'll stay here for awhile."

"I'm hun'ry. An' t'irsty," she whined.

"Me too." He gave her a single sip from a waterstick and a cookie. "Why don't you take a nap."

"Oz stay?"

"Oz stay," he affirmed, then moved them both into the shade of an overhang, contemplating his next move while his little charge slept.