Stars in the Darkness - Part Twenty-Eight
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Dalan groaned, his head pounding, both from the injury he'd suffered when Sinja-Bau had thrown him against the wall and from a monster of a hang- over. Staring blearily out the wide windows of Lursan's penthouse, he wasn't sure if he welcomed or dreaded the morning.
He'd awoken to find himself alone, having found a rather terse holo message from Lursan that he was out taking care of some business and would see him later that day. Disappointed, for he had wanted to talk more with Lursan about what had happened yesterday, Dalan had wandered despondently about the penthouse, wanting to contact Onara, yet fearing to do so. Now that his head was somewhat clearer, he recalled with a great deal of shame what he'd done and said to her.
As a result, he had not showered, shaved, or eaten, but had eventually wandered over to the windows, staring out at the gleaming towers of Coruscant, longing so much for the green hills and soft meadows of his estate back on Ahjane, wondering if he would ever walk through his lovely gardens again with Onara at his side and Ben in his arms.
His reverie, however, was shattered by the buzzing of the comm channel. At first Dalan ignored it, assuming it was someone for Lursan. Then he thought that perhaps it was Lursan calling for him. He turned and went over to the large bloodwood desk. But, when he activated the comm-channel he was startled to see not Lursan, but a green-skinned reptilian alien with four eyes.
"Who are you?" the alien demanded.
"Who are you?" Dalan shot back.
"Are you an associate of Lursan's?"
"We've done some business together."
"I must speak to Lursan. Immediately," the alien insisted.
"He's not here."
"Where is he? It's important I speak to him right away."
"I don't know where he is."
The alien's four eyes blinked rapidly and Dalan could see he was quite agitated.
"Do you know when he'll be back?"
Dalan shrugged. "Sometime later today. He's out taking care of some business."
The alien's four eyes widened. "Taking care of some business?" he repeated slowly.
"Yes. Look, I don't mean to be rude, but I'm a bit out of sorts this morning. If you have a message for Lursan, I'd be happy to deliver it for you."
"And you're definitely an associate of his."
"Yes," Dalan replied, somewhat impatiently. "I told you that before."
The alien leaned forward, his lizard-like face filling the full screen. "All right. Tell Lursan that after careful consideration and extensive discussion with my associates, I wish to withdraw my commission."
"Your commission?"
The alien's four eyes blinked in what Dalan assumed was a nod. "I no longer wish for...for Senator Lenor to be...to be..." The alien paused, his quartet of eyes narrowing as if he were examining Dalan under a holoscope. "Just tell him I've changed my mind about Senator Lenor. That I wish to rescind my...arrangement with him regarding her."
Even through the fog of his hangover, Dalan sensed something dark and insidious about the alien's words, and a terrible realization began to form within him. The death threats Onara had been receiving, Lursan's thinly veiled hostility towards her, coupled with his reassurances last night that all Dalan's problems regarding Onara would soon be at an end suddenly clicked together in his mind like the pieces of a puzzle falling horribly into place.
Perhaps he was still under the influence of the brandy, but a horrific suspicion began to grow in his mind. Taking a chance, he decided to confirm it. He hoped that his somewhat grubby appearance made him look less like a Dynast and more like an assassin.
"You're saying you wish to terminate the contract on her life?" he said in a neutral voice, but his heart was pounding in his chest as he waited the alien's response.
The alien smiled, his sharp yellow teeth glimmering. "Yes, yes, exactly. As I said, after careful consideration and extensive discussion with my colleagues we have decided that Senator Lenor is too inconsequential of a target to risk drawing the attention of the authorities and, most importantly, the Jedi Knights---"
But Dalan no longer heard the alien. His head was spinning, the room suddenly bereft of air as his lungs labored to breathe, and there was a roaring inside his mind that drowned out the rest of the alien's words.
_Onara_
Dalan slammed his hand on the comm-channel board, cutting the connection with the alien. Then he groaned, realizing he should have gotten the _partak's_ name. He quickly shook his head. That didn't matter. Nothing mattered but that he stop Lursan, for Dalan had no doubt now as to what business Lursan was out taking care of.
He clenched his fist, pounding it on the desk, the edge of the comm channel board cutting into the side of his hand, but he took no note of it. How could he have been so blind?
He reached up and raked trembling hands through his hair, forcing himself to think, but his thoughts were still sluggish, his mind still fogged. He had to contact Onara. Warn her of the danger. He quickly activated the comm- channel, but there were no answer at the apartment.
Fear, thick and hot, filled his throat. Had Lursan already been there? Was she already dead? And what about Ben? Dalan moaned in frustration at his inability to think clearly, wishing he weren't so hung over, wishing he'd not drank that bottle of brandy, wishing he'd not been so jealous of Obi- Wan.
His eyes widened. Obi-Wan! He would save Onara. He'd done it once before. Dalan didn't much understand this Force the Jedi were allies with, even after having witnessed Ben manipulate it. It all seemed like a lot of smoke and mirrors to him, but he could not deny that the Jedi were renowned throughout the galaxy for their use of it. If anyone could save Onara, it would be Obi-Wan. Suddenly, none of his petty jealousy regarding the Jedi Knight mattered. All that mattered was Onara and Ben's safety.
He quickly activated the comm-channel and contacted the Jedi Temple.
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"Master Kenobi," Dalan cried. "You have to help me. It's Onara. I think Lursan is going to kill her!"
Obi-Wan struggled to keep his heart from leaping out of his chest at Dalan's words. He glanced over at Anakin. His padawan's blue eyes were blazing. He turned back to Dalan.
"Lursan?"
"Yes, he's going to kill her. You must save her!"
"Calm down, Dynast Lenor," Obi-Wan said, although he himself was anything but calm. "Tell me everything."
He listened with growing horror as Dalan told him what had just happened. When he described the being he had spoken with, Obi-Wan glanced at Anakin.
"Senator Gillom," his apprentice said in a grim voice, his eyes narrowing.
Obi-Wan nodded, agreeing. He turned back to the comm screen.
"Please, Master Kenobi," the Dynast beseeched him, his bloodshot eyes filled with fear. "You must go to the apartment now. Before it's too late. Protect her. Save her."
"Onara isn't at the apartment," Obi-Wan said in a heavy voice.
"She's not?"
Obi-Wan shook his head. "Keria said she and Ben left early this morning. She doesn't know where they went."
"Ben?" Fear flooded Dalan's face.
Obi-Wan nodded. Then he looked hard at Dalan. "Are you all right, Dynast? Have you been harmed?"
Dalan's face twisted, but with surprise that Obi-Wan was concerned about him.
"Me? Yes, yes, I'm fine."
But Obi-Wan noted him reaching around and gingerly touching the back of his head.
"Can you get back to your apartment, or shall I send someone over to escort you?"
"No, no. I can make it back all right."
"Good. I suggest you leave immediately. Before Lursan comes back. He may harm you if he suspects you know what's he really about. Go back to your apartment in case Onara and Ben return. And try not to worry. Anakin and I will find them."
Dalan nodded wearily. Then he leaned towards the comm screen.
"Master Kenobi?"
"Yes, Dynast?"
"When you see Onara, tell her...tell her I won't stand in her way. I won't contest the dissolution. She can have Ben, she can have anything she wants. Even you. Just save her, Master Kenobi. Please, save her."
Obi-Wan had no idea what Dalan was talking about, but after he had gotten Dalan's assurance he would leave Lursan's penthouse immediately, Obi-Wan promised he would do as the Dynast requested and tell Onara what he'd said. Once the connection was broken, Obi-Wan rose from the desk and looked over at Anakin.
"We have to find them, Anakin," he said, his voice tight, the fear of losing Onara and Ben like a vise around his throat.
Anakin reached over and put a hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder. "We will, Master, don't worry."
The two men turned and hurriedly left Obi-Wan's quarters.
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"I'm sorry, Madame, but we do not open for another hour."
Onara sighed, looking away from the floppy-eared Bimm who was manning the ticket booth and down at Ben who gazed up at her with a disappointed expression, his hand in hers. When she had impulsively decided, upon awakening, to take Ben to the amusement complex at Monument Plaza in order to keep his mind off yesterday's events, she had assumed that the complex was open twenty-four hours. One of the senators who had an office near hers had remarked on its popularity and had given Onara the impression it was open at all hours.
She looked around. The complex was located just to the side of Monument Plaza, the only place on Coruscant where visitors could actually touch bare rock, as it was once a mountaintop. Although there were quite a few people walking about, she and Ben were the only ones standing in front of the entrance to the amusement complex.
She looked back at the Bimm. "Please, can't you let us in a little early? It took us some time to get here. I thought you would be open by now."
The Bimm's ears wiggled as he stared over at her. "Well, I suppose it won't do no harm." He leaned over and looked down at Ben, who gave him a wide smile. "And the young one here seems eager to get inside."
"I am, sir," Ben said, his blue-gray eyes shining. "Very eager."
"Fine, fine, go on in," the Bimm said, his wide lips stretched in a grin. "You two will be the only ones in there, I'm afraid." Then he winked at Ben. "I'm hope you aren't afraid of hobble-gobbles."
"Hobble-gobbles?" Ben asked, as Onara passed over her credit chit.
"Yes indeed, little master," the Bimm said as he ran the chit through his terminal and handed it back to Onara. "They say that when no one is around, the hobble-gobbles like to come out and ride on the carousel or play the holo-games or slide down the sloop-tubes."
"Really?" Ben said. "What do they look like?"
"Can't rightly say," the Bimm replied as he released the gate and waved Onara and Ben inside, "having never seen one myself, but those that have seem 'em say they have curly pink tails with bells on the ends of 'em and big green eyes that sparkle like fireworks."
"Wow! I hope I see one."
"Well, if you do, don't scare 'em off. Just walk on past like you're just minding your own business. You don't bother them, they don't bother you."
"All right. I'll remember," Ben said as he waved goodbye to the Bimm.
Onara shook her head, a small smile crinkling her lips. She thanked the Bimm attendant for allowing them in and, with Ben in hand, entered the complex.
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Lursan watched as Onara and Ben went inside the amusement complex. He had been waiting and watching outside their apartment for hours. He had seen Sinja-Bau leave just before dawn, but had ignored the ex-Jedi. Then he had not believed his luck when, not long after, Onara had emerged from the apartment with Ben, the two of them boarding an air taxi. It had not been difficult for Lursan to follow them in the speeder he had rented.
Upon arriving at Monument Plaza, he had parked the speeder and followed them, unseen, to the amusement complex and had watched as both had entered it. Now, as he approached the entrance to the complex, he wondered how much longer his luck was hold.
"May I help you?" the Bimm asked once Lursan had stopped in front of him.
"I want to go inside."
The Bimm sighed and rolled his large, black eyes. "I'm sorry, sir, but we won't be opening for another hour."
Lursan gestured to where Onara and Ben had disappeared through the entrance. "You let them enter."
"Yes, that is true. But I was making an exception there, you see, for the little one. But that's the nature of an exception, you understand. You can make only one."
"I see," Lursan said.
He glanced around. No one was near them. He reached inside his jacket and pulled out his dagger. Faster than the intake of a quick, sharp breath, he leaned over and stabbed the Bimm in the chest. The Bimm's eyes widened, his throat already gurgling with a death rattle.
Jerking the dagger out, Lursan wiped it on the Bimm's bright yellow vest, right over the perky little Monument Plaza Amusement Complex logo, and returned it to its sheath inside his jacket.
Reaching over, he pressed the control that would release the gate. He walked through and over to where the Bimm was slumped over the control center. He tore off a piece of the Bimm's shirt and used it to wipe the blood from the control center. He then stuffed the bloodied rag in the Bimm's mouth.
Looking around, he noted a storage shed near the ticket booth. Quickly dragging the Bimm's lifeless body over to it, he opened it, stuffed him inside and closed it. He looked around. No one had seen him. Adjusting his jacket and making sure there were no blood stains on it, Lursan entered the amusement complex.
To be continued...
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Dalan groaned, his head pounding, both from the injury he'd suffered when Sinja-Bau had thrown him against the wall and from a monster of a hang- over. Staring blearily out the wide windows of Lursan's penthouse, he wasn't sure if he welcomed or dreaded the morning.
He'd awoken to find himself alone, having found a rather terse holo message from Lursan that he was out taking care of some business and would see him later that day. Disappointed, for he had wanted to talk more with Lursan about what had happened yesterday, Dalan had wandered despondently about the penthouse, wanting to contact Onara, yet fearing to do so. Now that his head was somewhat clearer, he recalled with a great deal of shame what he'd done and said to her.
As a result, he had not showered, shaved, or eaten, but had eventually wandered over to the windows, staring out at the gleaming towers of Coruscant, longing so much for the green hills and soft meadows of his estate back on Ahjane, wondering if he would ever walk through his lovely gardens again with Onara at his side and Ben in his arms.
His reverie, however, was shattered by the buzzing of the comm channel. At first Dalan ignored it, assuming it was someone for Lursan. Then he thought that perhaps it was Lursan calling for him. He turned and went over to the large bloodwood desk. But, when he activated the comm-channel he was startled to see not Lursan, but a green-skinned reptilian alien with four eyes.
"Who are you?" the alien demanded.
"Who are you?" Dalan shot back.
"Are you an associate of Lursan's?"
"We've done some business together."
"I must speak to Lursan. Immediately," the alien insisted.
"He's not here."
"Where is he? It's important I speak to him right away."
"I don't know where he is."
The alien's four eyes blinked rapidly and Dalan could see he was quite agitated.
"Do you know when he'll be back?"
Dalan shrugged. "Sometime later today. He's out taking care of some business."
The alien's four eyes widened. "Taking care of some business?" he repeated slowly.
"Yes. Look, I don't mean to be rude, but I'm a bit out of sorts this morning. If you have a message for Lursan, I'd be happy to deliver it for you."
"And you're definitely an associate of his."
"Yes," Dalan replied, somewhat impatiently. "I told you that before."
The alien leaned forward, his lizard-like face filling the full screen. "All right. Tell Lursan that after careful consideration and extensive discussion with my associates, I wish to withdraw my commission."
"Your commission?"
The alien's four eyes blinked in what Dalan assumed was a nod. "I no longer wish for...for Senator Lenor to be...to be..." The alien paused, his quartet of eyes narrowing as if he were examining Dalan under a holoscope. "Just tell him I've changed my mind about Senator Lenor. That I wish to rescind my...arrangement with him regarding her."
Even through the fog of his hangover, Dalan sensed something dark and insidious about the alien's words, and a terrible realization began to form within him. The death threats Onara had been receiving, Lursan's thinly veiled hostility towards her, coupled with his reassurances last night that all Dalan's problems regarding Onara would soon be at an end suddenly clicked together in his mind like the pieces of a puzzle falling horribly into place.
Perhaps he was still under the influence of the brandy, but a horrific suspicion began to grow in his mind. Taking a chance, he decided to confirm it. He hoped that his somewhat grubby appearance made him look less like a Dynast and more like an assassin.
"You're saying you wish to terminate the contract on her life?" he said in a neutral voice, but his heart was pounding in his chest as he waited the alien's response.
The alien smiled, his sharp yellow teeth glimmering. "Yes, yes, exactly. As I said, after careful consideration and extensive discussion with my colleagues we have decided that Senator Lenor is too inconsequential of a target to risk drawing the attention of the authorities and, most importantly, the Jedi Knights---"
But Dalan no longer heard the alien. His head was spinning, the room suddenly bereft of air as his lungs labored to breathe, and there was a roaring inside his mind that drowned out the rest of the alien's words.
_Onara_
Dalan slammed his hand on the comm-channel board, cutting the connection with the alien. Then he groaned, realizing he should have gotten the _partak's_ name. He quickly shook his head. That didn't matter. Nothing mattered but that he stop Lursan, for Dalan had no doubt now as to what business Lursan was out taking care of.
He clenched his fist, pounding it on the desk, the edge of the comm channel board cutting into the side of his hand, but he took no note of it. How could he have been so blind?
He reached up and raked trembling hands through his hair, forcing himself to think, but his thoughts were still sluggish, his mind still fogged. He had to contact Onara. Warn her of the danger. He quickly activated the comm- channel, but there were no answer at the apartment.
Fear, thick and hot, filled his throat. Had Lursan already been there? Was she already dead? And what about Ben? Dalan moaned in frustration at his inability to think clearly, wishing he weren't so hung over, wishing he'd not drank that bottle of brandy, wishing he'd not been so jealous of Obi- Wan.
His eyes widened. Obi-Wan! He would save Onara. He'd done it once before. Dalan didn't much understand this Force the Jedi were allies with, even after having witnessed Ben manipulate it. It all seemed like a lot of smoke and mirrors to him, but he could not deny that the Jedi were renowned throughout the galaxy for their use of it. If anyone could save Onara, it would be Obi-Wan. Suddenly, none of his petty jealousy regarding the Jedi Knight mattered. All that mattered was Onara and Ben's safety.
He quickly activated the comm-channel and contacted the Jedi Temple.
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"Master Kenobi," Dalan cried. "You have to help me. It's Onara. I think Lursan is going to kill her!"
Obi-Wan struggled to keep his heart from leaping out of his chest at Dalan's words. He glanced over at Anakin. His padawan's blue eyes were blazing. He turned back to Dalan.
"Lursan?"
"Yes, he's going to kill her. You must save her!"
"Calm down, Dynast Lenor," Obi-Wan said, although he himself was anything but calm. "Tell me everything."
He listened with growing horror as Dalan told him what had just happened. When he described the being he had spoken with, Obi-Wan glanced at Anakin.
"Senator Gillom," his apprentice said in a grim voice, his eyes narrowing.
Obi-Wan nodded, agreeing. He turned back to the comm screen.
"Please, Master Kenobi," the Dynast beseeched him, his bloodshot eyes filled with fear. "You must go to the apartment now. Before it's too late. Protect her. Save her."
"Onara isn't at the apartment," Obi-Wan said in a heavy voice.
"She's not?"
Obi-Wan shook his head. "Keria said she and Ben left early this morning. She doesn't know where they went."
"Ben?" Fear flooded Dalan's face.
Obi-Wan nodded. Then he looked hard at Dalan. "Are you all right, Dynast? Have you been harmed?"
Dalan's face twisted, but with surprise that Obi-Wan was concerned about him.
"Me? Yes, yes, I'm fine."
But Obi-Wan noted him reaching around and gingerly touching the back of his head.
"Can you get back to your apartment, or shall I send someone over to escort you?"
"No, no. I can make it back all right."
"Good. I suggest you leave immediately. Before Lursan comes back. He may harm you if he suspects you know what's he really about. Go back to your apartment in case Onara and Ben return. And try not to worry. Anakin and I will find them."
Dalan nodded wearily. Then he leaned towards the comm screen.
"Master Kenobi?"
"Yes, Dynast?"
"When you see Onara, tell her...tell her I won't stand in her way. I won't contest the dissolution. She can have Ben, she can have anything she wants. Even you. Just save her, Master Kenobi. Please, save her."
Obi-Wan had no idea what Dalan was talking about, but after he had gotten Dalan's assurance he would leave Lursan's penthouse immediately, Obi-Wan promised he would do as the Dynast requested and tell Onara what he'd said. Once the connection was broken, Obi-Wan rose from the desk and looked over at Anakin.
"We have to find them, Anakin," he said, his voice tight, the fear of losing Onara and Ben like a vise around his throat.
Anakin reached over and put a hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder. "We will, Master, don't worry."
The two men turned and hurriedly left Obi-Wan's quarters.
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"I'm sorry, Madame, but we do not open for another hour."
Onara sighed, looking away from the floppy-eared Bimm who was manning the ticket booth and down at Ben who gazed up at her with a disappointed expression, his hand in hers. When she had impulsively decided, upon awakening, to take Ben to the amusement complex at Monument Plaza in order to keep his mind off yesterday's events, she had assumed that the complex was open twenty-four hours. One of the senators who had an office near hers had remarked on its popularity and had given Onara the impression it was open at all hours.
She looked around. The complex was located just to the side of Monument Plaza, the only place on Coruscant where visitors could actually touch bare rock, as it was once a mountaintop. Although there were quite a few people walking about, she and Ben were the only ones standing in front of the entrance to the amusement complex.
She looked back at the Bimm. "Please, can't you let us in a little early? It took us some time to get here. I thought you would be open by now."
The Bimm's ears wiggled as he stared over at her. "Well, I suppose it won't do no harm." He leaned over and looked down at Ben, who gave him a wide smile. "And the young one here seems eager to get inside."
"I am, sir," Ben said, his blue-gray eyes shining. "Very eager."
"Fine, fine, go on in," the Bimm said, his wide lips stretched in a grin. "You two will be the only ones in there, I'm afraid." Then he winked at Ben. "I'm hope you aren't afraid of hobble-gobbles."
"Hobble-gobbles?" Ben asked, as Onara passed over her credit chit.
"Yes indeed, little master," the Bimm said as he ran the chit through his terminal and handed it back to Onara. "They say that when no one is around, the hobble-gobbles like to come out and ride on the carousel or play the holo-games or slide down the sloop-tubes."
"Really?" Ben said. "What do they look like?"
"Can't rightly say," the Bimm replied as he released the gate and waved Onara and Ben inside, "having never seen one myself, but those that have seem 'em say they have curly pink tails with bells on the ends of 'em and big green eyes that sparkle like fireworks."
"Wow! I hope I see one."
"Well, if you do, don't scare 'em off. Just walk on past like you're just minding your own business. You don't bother them, they don't bother you."
"All right. I'll remember," Ben said as he waved goodbye to the Bimm.
Onara shook her head, a small smile crinkling her lips. She thanked the Bimm attendant for allowing them in and, with Ben in hand, entered the complex.
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Lursan watched as Onara and Ben went inside the amusement complex. He had been waiting and watching outside their apartment for hours. He had seen Sinja-Bau leave just before dawn, but had ignored the ex-Jedi. Then he had not believed his luck when, not long after, Onara had emerged from the apartment with Ben, the two of them boarding an air taxi. It had not been difficult for Lursan to follow them in the speeder he had rented.
Upon arriving at Monument Plaza, he had parked the speeder and followed them, unseen, to the amusement complex and had watched as both had entered it. Now, as he approached the entrance to the complex, he wondered how much longer his luck was hold.
"May I help you?" the Bimm asked once Lursan had stopped in front of him.
"I want to go inside."
The Bimm sighed and rolled his large, black eyes. "I'm sorry, sir, but we won't be opening for another hour."
Lursan gestured to where Onara and Ben had disappeared through the entrance. "You let them enter."
"Yes, that is true. But I was making an exception there, you see, for the little one. But that's the nature of an exception, you understand. You can make only one."
"I see," Lursan said.
He glanced around. No one was near them. He reached inside his jacket and pulled out his dagger. Faster than the intake of a quick, sharp breath, he leaned over and stabbed the Bimm in the chest. The Bimm's eyes widened, his throat already gurgling with a death rattle.
Jerking the dagger out, Lursan wiped it on the Bimm's bright yellow vest, right over the perky little Monument Plaza Amusement Complex logo, and returned it to its sheath inside his jacket.
Reaching over, he pressed the control that would release the gate. He walked through and over to where the Bimm was slumped over the control center. He tore off a piece of the Bimm's shirt and used it to wipe the blood from the control center. He then stuffed the bloodied rag in the Bimm's mouth.
Looking around, he noted a storage shed near the ticket booth. Quickly dragging the Bimm's lifeless body over to it, he opened it, stuffed him inside and closed it. He looked around. No one had seen him. Adjusting his jacket and making sure there were no blood stains on it, Lursan entered the amusement complex.
To be continued...