Act 2: Chapter 9 - The Child (Part 2)
Nightfall came, and most of the townspeople have turned in for the day. It took Theron the entire afternoon to walk from where his ship and R4 was stolen to back to the town with the child in tow. They enter the inn and see the Innkeeper and HK-47 discussing the payment. Not long after, the droid and Ithorian notice him as well as the child.
"We thought you left." The Ithorian says, a bit surprised that he didn't.
That wasn't the case, however, as Theron looks tired and humiliated due to the fact that he was bested and stolen by a bunch of scavenging Jawas.
...
Later outside the inn, the child sees a frog hopping close by and looks on with excitement. While the child follows it on foot, Theron is discussing about his current situation.
"So the both of you found this little guy after you got rid of those bandits?" The Innkeeper questions as he looks at the child.
"I think it's a child." Theron answers, believing that it is. "But that's not important right now. My ship and astromech is most likely destroyed by those scavenging rodents. I'm trapped here."
"Stripped, not destroyed." The Ithorian corrects him. "The Jawas steal. They don't destroy."
"Stolen or destroyed makes no difference to me." Theron bitterly says, hate building up inside him.
Theron hears the child coo and he sees it taking baby steps toward a frog. The Jedi then looks back at the Innkeeper.
"They're protected by their mobile fortress. There's no way to recover my stuff." He continues. "Unless I resort to using the Force and my lightsaber on them which would get the Inquisitors' attention, then yeah, I should definitely do something stupid like that."
The child then catches the frog with its bare hands.
"You could trade." The Innkeeper suggests, annoying the Jedi even more.
"With Jawas? Are you out of your damn mind?"
"Commentary: I concur." HK agrees with the Jedi. "The Jawas steal and sell the items to buyers, which is considered swindling. Trading with these vermin meatbags is unacceptable. Shall I kill them?"
"I didn't ask for your opinion, HK." Theron glares at him annoyingly.
The Innkeeper sighs at how narrow minded these two can be when it comes to violence or peace.
"I can take you to them, but it's best that you don't resort to violence while we're there."
"Whatever, old man." Theron huffs, not giving a damn anymore. He just wants his droid that he built and his ship back so badly.
"You might consider into resting first, though."
"I'll sleep when I get my stuff back." The Jedi stubbornly says.
The Innkeeper shrugs and leaves to get to his landspeeder. Theron then turns around and sees the child do something to the frog.
"Hey! Spit that out." He orders the infant.
However, the child starts swallowing the frog whole as it went inside its mouth completely. The child looks up innocently and laughs before burping cutely. Theron shakes his head with amusement once more, wondering why he's talking to a baby that probably doesn't understand him.
"Explanation: The child is carnivorous and prefers to eat small creatures like that frog or possibly a snake."
"Quiet!" Theron raises his voice at the droid, not in the mood for a biology lesson right now.
...
The next morning, the landspeeder managed to track down the Jawas as they are outside the sand crawler next to them. HK decided to stay back at the settlement due to not wanting to be taken apart and sold separately by the Jawas. Theron, meanwhile, went with the Ithorian and brought along the child since he doesn't fully trust the assassin droid into babysitting it.
The Jawas notice the landspeeder and are excited that they have a customer. However, they immediately went on the defensive when they saw Theron in the back passenger seat.
The Innkeeper looks at him from behind.
"They don't seem to like you for some reason."
"Well, I did disintegrate a few of them." Theron casually admits, satisfied that he got a chance to that earlier yesterday.
The landspeeder stops moving and the Innkeeper gets out first.
"You need to drop your rifle." He urges the teen.
"It's my weapon. I'm not risking it getting stolen."
"Then you're not getting your droid and ship back."
"Fine." Theron answers and leaves it in the vehicle as he hops out.
However, the Jawas still have their weapons trained on him.
"And the blaster." The Ithorian points at the Jedi's blaster pistol.
The Jedi sighs in annoyance and places his blaster in the vehicle beside his rifle. Unbeknownst to the Innkeeper, however, he doesn't realize that the cylinder shaped object is a lightsaber as he is more focused on Theron's firearms.
The Jawas lower their weapons and allow the Jedi and Ithorian to talk to their leader about trading the droid and Jedi starfighter that hasn't been taken apart yet. Both Theron and the Innkeeper sat down and begin negotiations.
The Jawa speaks in his native language and the Ithorian translates for Theron.
"They will be willing to trade both the astromech and ship for your disintegrator." He translates in English, causing Theron to rolls his eyes and scoff.
"I'm not gonna trade anything. That's my droid and ship. They stole them from me."
The Jawa continues to speak in his native language, not understanding what Theron said.
"Deejak, deejak... je... jeechachook! (They, they... belong... to me!)" The Jedi stutters in Jawa.
The Jawas laughed.
"Chawakee sawa koota." The leader says in his native language before mocking him with hand over his hood, pretending to not understand him. "Male fane shinana Wookiee."
Translation: "You speak terrible Jawa. You sound like a Wookiee."
Theron twitches in anger.
"You understand this?!" He threatens as he unleashes his flamethrower underneath his right sleeve of his jacket.
"No, wait!" The Innkeeper exclaims as the Jawas ducked and panicked from the flames unleashed by Theron, who then stops and stands down. "Easy, easy."
The teen wasn't planning to kill more of them but he decided to make sure they get the message of not screwing with him. Threatened, the Jawas chose to not piss him off any further before their leader continues talking.
"Forgive him." The Innkeeper says in Jawa. "He's not a fan of being provoked and mocked at."
Theron opened his mouth but shuts it immediately, otherwise he won't be able to get his stuff back.
The Jawas then asked them if they're willing to trade for the child in the landspeeder. The Ithorian and Jedi turn their heads to see two Jawas observing the infant.
"GET AWAY FROM IT!" Theron shouts.
The Jawas moved away from the speeder, not wanting to feel the teen's wrath again.
"Surely there must be something else we can trade." The Innkeeper suggests in Jawa.
The Jawas then huddle together as they whisper to each other. Theron was getting suspicious and thinks this is a waste of time. However, the Jawas turn to them and offered a different item the Jedi could trade.
"We will require The Egg. Bring us The Egg."
The Innkeeper facepalms in annoyance but Theron becomes confused.
"The Egg? What egg?" Theron asks him, but the Ithorian didn't say.
The Jawas begin chanting 'Suga' repeatedly.
...Not long after, the sand crawler is on the move that will take Theron to where the Egg is located at. Inside the small cockpit of the vehicle Theron's height makes it difficult to sit in.
"Suga..." A Jawa chants to annoy the Jedi.
Theron looks at him with an annoyed glare and goes back to looking forward through the front windshield. He sighs to himself at why he's doing this when the sand crawler shakes and Theron bumps his head hard.
"Gah! Motherf-!" He curses, earning a cackling laugh from the Jawas.
Theron growls in anger and annoyance since they most likely did that on purpose.
...
Finally, the sand crawler has reached its destination and Theron walks down the ramp with the child's crib in tow. He's not leaving it for the Jawas to steal behind his back after all.
To be continued...