Coruscant Time: -261 days
Obi-Wan adjusted the tight helmet again, as it was growing more uncomfortable with every passing minute. It was just his imagination but he felt as if there was a Force dampener in it that was partially blinding all of his senses. How had Ruan Uri been such an efficient hunter in the heavy, unyielding armor? Worse, the black jumpsuit under the armor was hot even in the cool Vego afternoon.
Dahla, whoever she was, had provided him with the detailed coordinates of a small village far from every major population on the planet. With no port of trade, it made him all the more obvious in a crowd. Biting back his concern he moved silently through the streets keeping his senses sharp to any danger.
What little he knew of Vego was the population was quite unsympathetic to the Empire and chose to withdraw their place in the Imperial senate but it did not save them from coming under the thumb of the new regional governor. After the plagues had wiped out a good portion of the population the world quieted down and had remained so for the last several months. Imperial HoloVision reported the plague had been spread through infected nerf meat but in truth it had come at the hands of blaster wielding Imperial Peacekeepers. They had wiped out family lines that were noted for producing Force sensitives.
On Vego, it was a matter of pride and social status to offer their children to the Jedi Order. Great families were defined by the amount of Jedi a line produced.
As he walked through the village, he quietly noted the burned foundations where homes and businesses had once been. And with every step he grew more aware of the growing number of eyes that secretly followed him.
A voice called out from the shadows, "We have given you all we have, go away! There is no one left for you to feed upon!"
He would quietly listen, but he would not respond for he all ready knew that he wore the face of a Jedi killer. Besides, Obi-Wan sadly reasoned no one would be searching for a Jedi disguised as a bounty hunter. The more the terrified eyes settled on him, the more concerned he was about facing Padawan Farrago. He would scare her to death.
Knowing if he did not quickly find her, she would be dead anyway. He was not the only bounty hunter or Imperial with a track on her. The only thing he had going for him was that he arrived first.
The heavy boots impacted the cobblestone as he made his way through the tiny village. Carefully, he cast out searching for the padawan. It did not take long before he zeroed in on a bright, yet frightened Force signature. She was moving quickly toward the edge of the village.
Picking up his pace, the masked Jedi vaguely noted movement in the shadows. There was no overt threat but Obi-Wan remained tense. As the Clone Wars ended and the Chancellor began tightening his grip of the unified Republic, Obi-Wan had seen factions form. Watched as worlds began to strife under the martial law. Saw the willingness of those who wanted their freedom to do anything necessary. He could not afford to lay too much trust, even in sympathizers.
But if the girl was being protected, he might have trouble.
So many questions welled up in the Jedi that he stopped in the center of a quiet street. First and foremost, what was he going to do with her once he found her? Certainly she couldn't stay on Vego; her presence now was bringing bounty hunters and Imperials to an already devastated world.
Aware that the silent figures from the shops had crept out and gathered around him at a distance, Obi-Wan turned carefully. Through the dark visor of the mask, he studied the perfectly still bronze skinned humans.
His concern was immediately pushed back the moment the Force spiked in warning. Fear pulsed through the Force and sent the Jedi racing again. Obi-Wan bounded around a corner and instinctively reached to his side where his "trophy" lightsaber hung but caught himself. Consciously he grabbed the two silver blasters at his hips. "Hold it right there!" he barked the mechanized voice a severe distortion of his natural dulcet tone.
A humanoid bounty hunter twisted and fired in a single motion. "She's mine!"
Obi-Wan ducked out of the way of a volley of blaster bolts. Taking shelter behind a nearby building, the Jedi cast out seeking a mental picture of what was happening on the side street.
A terrified shriek shook the Jedi again. Tightening his grip on the blasters he physically peered around the corner and discovered the padawan was very much alive. Her shoulder length hair shifted in front of her face as she struggled like a maddened animal to break free of the grip that held her.
"No!" Emeute Farrago howled, falling to her knees causing the bounty hunter to drag her over the stone street.
"Get up!" The hunter barked, yanking at the girl's bound hands. He jerked causing his long reddish brown beard to flip back and catch in the various rings that decorated his left ear.
"Leave me, please," the padawan begged but a sharp kick of a pointed boot caused her to scream.
She was just a child, Obi-Wan thought while studying the dinghy, shapeless clothing that helped to disguise her tender age of fifteen. But her frightened, tear streaked face gave her away.
"Please, don't," The girl cried out, shaking her golden tinged, dark hair wildly. "The Jedi are dead."
Ignoring her, the hunter searched the empty streets. "I'm no fool!" the man with growled, pulling the girl from her knees and thrust her in front of him as a living shield. "I know you're out there, Uri!" The leather-clad figure roughly adjusted the girl's position to better protect himself.
Emeute sobbed.
Obi-Wan stepped from behind the building brandishing a single blaster. The small silver form glinted in the pale white afternoon light. "Back away from her," he said evenly with a small dose of Force compulsion.
"You back off Uri," the other man hissed bearing his sharpened teeth. Wrapping a leather glove across her chin, the hunter yanked Emeute's head back. She whimpered but her jaw was still held closed by the large hand. "Pretty little Jedi girl will bring me a good price alive." He slid his hand down over her throat and slowly tightened his grip over her soft neck. "The pay is almost as good if she's dead."
While the blaster was not a weapon Obi-Wan was used to handling, he had been trained to use it adequately. Exhaling slowly he aimed the weapon past the frightened girl and a focused on one beady eye of her captor. "The pay will do you little good if you are dead."
"We don't kill our own," the other said as he guided the girl around the armored figure. "Or have you forgotten that being fed by the Imperials all this time?"
Obi-Wan remained silent, masked eyes following the large human.
"Of course," the hunter continued, "if I were hunting Kenobi, I wouldn't have let him escape me once, let alone three times."
Emeute howled still struggling against the heavy arm that pressed her to her captor's chest.
The Jedi knew as long as the girl fought, he couldn't get a clean shot. Reaching through the Force, he tried to calm her.
The moment the recognition hit the struggling padawan her dark eyes calmed, turning wide in shock. She knew. She knew what he was. Horror glossed over her features as the fight drained out of her and she grew heavy in her captor's arms.
The large hunter raised his blaster and fired at Obi-Wan.
The girl shrieked as the very large, dead man drug her to the ground. She kept screaming but she possessed little strength to pull herself free of the dead man's hold.
Dropping his weapon to his side, Obi-Wan rushed toward the panicked girl but stopped as threat exploded through the Force. Before he could respond, dozens of locals stepped from the shadows. Turning to study the heavily armed men and women that circled him, he realized why the girl had hidden there. She must have been taken from this world when still an infant and was searching for the safety of home.
A woman broke through the armed circle and rushed out to the terrified child. On the surface she appeared not to be bothered by the large dead man in the street and easily stepped around his corpse. "Come, Emeute. We must get you too a ship."
Obi-Wan holstered his weapon. "Every bounty hunter in the surrounding systems as well as the Imperial death squads are descending on this planet. You will not get far before you are hunted down."
"You're kind does not deserve to live!" The woman snapped. As if her words were an order, the armed circle opened fire on the surrounded bounty hunter.