Chapter 12
"Yeah. It's me. Been a while, eh, colleague?"
"It has. What in the name of Sith are you doing here?"
"I'm looking for information. I want to know where Jessa and Doc are."
Anakin watched silently as Ploovo wondered whether he should help them. "Alright. I'll tell. Jessa is on-"
Suddenly a lightsaber sprang up, its blade ending six centimeters from Ploovo's face. "He's lying," said Anakin, his voice icy cold.
"Ah, ah, I'll tell you Jedi, just get that lightsaber away from my face."
Anakin deactivated his blade, but did not move the hilt.
"As far as I know," continued Ploovo, "Doc died a few years back, and Jessa's on Tyrine V."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Han looked at Anakin. "He telling the truth?" Anakin started to say "Yes," but Han's comlink beeped.
One of Ploovo's thugs took advantage of Han's distraction, drawing his blaster and aiming it at Han's head. Anakin saw it happen and struck the man's forearm with the blade of his hand, shattering the thug's the bones and causing him to drop the blaster. He hadn't even hit the ground before the other thugs began to draw their blasters and vibroblades. Ploovo began to back away slowly, but Han lunged at him. Within ten seconds, all of the gangster's bodyguards were one the floor, bleeding from dozens of wounds and clutching broken bones, provided they weren't unconscious.
"Nice doing business with you Ploovo," said Han casually as he picked up an unconscious guard's blaster and power packs.
Anakin did the same and both father and son walked towards the exits. Han put his comlink to his mouth. "Mara? Sorry about that. We had a little, ah, distraction."
Mara's voice came back sounding extremely working. "Get back to the ship. Now."
***
Anakin was lying in the Falcon's small medical station, heavily sedated. "Anakin, can you put yourself into a trance?" While Han and Anakin had been talking with Ploovo, Tahiri and Mara received a transmission from Anakin Skywalker, telling them about the Yuuzhang Vong tracking creature. Mara was going to take it out as Han took care of a few loose ends with Tahiri.
He nodded slightly. "Good. I'm going to be quick about this. By the time you wake up, we ought to be on the way to Tyrine IV."
Anakin nodded again and closed his eyes, opening himself to the Force.
***
Han walked through the streets of Etti IV with Tahiri. "This isn't easy for you is it Tahiri?" asked Han as they headed for one of the seedier dives in town.
"No. It's not, Captain Solo. I had finally gotten used to Anakin being gone, and now that he's back, I'm afraid that if I lost him, I would never get back to normal."
Han nodded. "I never thought I'd say this, but I'm going to tell you something Hobbie Klivian told Jaina after Anakin died and Jacen went missing. He told him, 'You've got to live each day like it's going to be your last. You never know when you might take a plasma bolt up the tailpipe. So don't get so caught up in mourning those you've lost so much that you forget to live and have some fun once in a while.'"
Tahiri raised an eyebrow. "Hobbie said that? I'll try to remember that Captain Solo."
"And another thing Tahiri, I'm Han. Captain Solo sounds like something the bureaucrats would say."