Knight in Shining Armor
Chapter 3
"Sorry I can't be more fun to be around right now," Han apologized. "Just found out tonight that an old girlfriend died. In fact, when I saw you at the Kyrat tonight, I was trying to delay the inevitable."
"That's ok, Han," Jace said, comforting him.
"How'd you find out," Krysta asked.
"Fett told me."
Both Jace and Krysta stared at him, then at Chewbacca, in utter disbelief. Finally, Krysta found her voice. "Boba Fett told you he killed an old girlfriend of yours?"
"Kid," Han began, "Boba Fett doesn't run around the galaxy bragging about the beings he's killed and those he's captured. With his reputation, doing that would only hurt him. Fett promised Bria that he'd find a way to tell her old man she was dead if she died. He told me. I know her old man so I'm telling him."
"How'd she die?" Krysta asked, intrigued by what she was hearing.
"From what Fett told me, the Imps killed her and her rebel team on Topwara."
Jace's ears perked up upon hearing what Han had just said. "This wouldn't happen to be Bria Tharen by any chance?"
"Yeah," Han replied, staring at him. "I take it you meet her."
"She hired me to take her and a couple members of that Red Hand squadron of her's to Balmorra about three months before the Battle Of Nar Shaddaa. They then proceeded to stiff me on the bill, claiming the rebels had some big mission coming up."
It was a lie, all of it. Except the part about him knowing her and taking her on a mission. In reality, it had been his mission. Bria and the other members of Red Hand squadron had accompanied him on his mission to Eriadu. Bria and Red Hand squadron had then provided him the diversion he needed to break into then Moff Tarkin's home and steal the location to a secret weapons development center. They had then traveled to the weapons center and destroyed it.
"Yeah, I remember that time," Han said, buying the story. "You had me and Chewie watch Krysta for you. Sorry Bria stiffed you though. Would not have thought she'd be mean enough to do that to anyone. That is until she did it to me and Chewie."
"Sorry about that Han. Anyway, how well did you know her?"
"She was the first true love of my life. I even proposed to her. At least I proposed in my own, awkward way. I'd managed to rescue her from life as a mindless slave, but not from the emotional drug that turned her into one. It was that emotional drug that eventually tore her from me."
"How did you rescue her?" Krysta asked.
"I caused her to finally see how she was being treated. A Hutt clan had set up this spice processing plant on the planet Ylesia. They were using male t'landa Tils, the Hutts' nearest cousins, to enslave poor, unsuspecting beings who were emotionally unable to protect themselves.
"The males of the t'landa Til race do this special deal to get mates. However, it can also work on those who are depressed. It's just like an emotional drug, making folks feel real good. The Ylesia Hutts set their t'landa Til males up as priests who are able to perform what they call the Exultation. Unfortunately, once a person gets a taste of the Exultation, their hooked. You've got to be strong when you first get a taste of the damn Exultation to resist it.
"Which is why they give this taste to a mass crowd. So many in the crowd won't be that strong and they'll willing become pilgrims and travel to Ylesia. Course what they don't realize their really slaves and may never realize that. I managed to convince Bria to actually look into what the Exultation really was. But even knowing that, she had to go through withdrawal which nearly caused her to return to her life as a slave."
"Tough break Han," Jace said. The story fascinated him more than it did Krysta since he had known Bria. She'd told him she had been a slave, but had never told him how or why she'd become one. Now he understood her problem better.
"Yeah, well enough about me," Han said. "So kid, how ya doing."
"I'm great Han," Krysta enthusiastically replied. "I'm now working as the chief mechanic on board the Wind Star. No longer a little girl. I'm a woman now."
Indeed, she had changed quite a bit. When Han had last seen her, she'd been in her mid teens. But she had been awfully close to being a flat chested, pig-tailed preteen. Indeed she had worn pig-tails and had been short for her age. Her chest had just barely been able to cause her shirt to stick out. Now she stood maybe five four, with long flowing hair which she took to wearing in a long braid. And though she wasn't what some might call gorgeous, she still was capable of getting guys attention when she walked into a room.
"Yeah, I'll say," Han agreed. "Let's see, you were, what, 16 when I last saw you?"
"Actually, it was my fifteenth birthday when you last saw me," Krysta corrected.
"That's right. You were fourteen during the battle of Nar Shaddaa. And as I recall, Jace didn't want you on the Nova Flare during the battle. You two left Nar Shaddaa two weeks afterwards, after you got out of that bacta bath."
"Yeah, talk about a great birthday present. Getting out of that awful stuff. At least I wasn't on the 'Take That' or any of the other freighters that got destroyed during the battle."
"Yes, but our going up against the Pride of the Senate wasn't such a good idea either," Jace pointed out.
"But they looked like such a pleasant target," Krysta whined. "I mean they were moving so much slower than the rest of Greelanx's forces. I thought we could take them."
"Krysta, they were retrieving the remaining TIEs," Jace said. "And I told you to stay away from the Flare's controls while I was repairing the weapons systems. Kas, Stry, and I might have been able to pull off what you tried. Your just lucky Pride of the Senate didn't puncture the bridge with that turbolaser shot. Being tossed around, breaking bones and having 'em tear through your flesh, is still preferable to being killed."
"OK, ok, you don't have to remind me."
"At any rate, we should get down to business," Han said as he got the sonic rifle out. "I want five thousand for this thing."
"No way Han," Jace exclaimed. "One thousand."
"Four."
"Thousand and a half."
"Three."
"Two."
"Two thousand nine hundred."
"It ain't worth that much. Two thousand four hundred."
"Two thousand eight hundred. Gimme something here or get nothing."
"Highest I'm willing to go is two thousand six hundred fifty credits. Take it or leave it buddy."
"Done," Han said, with a slight smile. "Now if I can just get another ten thousand I'll be able to pay Jabba what I owe him."
"Well, best of luck Han," Jace said, taking the gun and handing it to Krysta. "See to it that this gets back to the ship Krysta. I've got something I need to do."
"Going somewhere?" Han asked.
"Yeah, I need to talk to Chalmun. Need to see if I can't rent one of his rooms for an important meeting I've got tomorrow."
"Well, good luck."
Jace sat at the bar in the Mos Eisley Cantina. Chalmun had charged him an arm an a leg for the room he'd rented. But it had been worth it. He'd been able to bring in the equipment he'd need to capture Gallaex and Jalril. Once he planted the tracer on the man Gallaex sent, he'd then slip down to the rented room in the cantina's basement and prepare for the capture. Until then, he'd have to prepare for the arrivals of Jalril and Gallaex's man.
"Excuse me," a voice beside him began, "but I do believe the whole point of drinking is to get one's drink into one's mouth instead of on their clothes."
"Uh, yeah," Jace agreed not sure what to say. He looked beside him. A bearded, elderly man in a dark robe stood there, looking at him intently. He looked like some moisture farmer or something. "Can I help you."
"Yes, I think you can. My young friend and I are looking for passage to the Alderaan system," the man told him. He spoke with such authority that Jace was shocked to realize this man might not be a local. "But that is not how you can help me."
"OK, how can I help you then."
"You are helping to return the light of freedom to our galaxy. But as you well know, the fire of rebellion that promises to return that light is now threatened. You have found a traitor, now you must bring him in. That is how you can help me."
Before Jace could ask him how he knew who he was, or even how he knew why he was in the cantina, the man walked off and began talking to other starship captains. His thoughts were interrupted by Wuher's shouting.
"Hey, we don't serve their kind here!"
Jace turned to see a young man and two droids standing in the doorway. The young man had a confused, unsure look on his face. "What?"
"Your droids. They'll have to wait outside. We don't want them here."
The young man had his droids leave before making his way to the bar and asking Wuher for a drink. Jace was about to return to his own drink when he noticed a pair of drunken thugs moving towards the young man. Looking closer, he realized who it was.
"Ponda Baba and Dr. Evazan," Jace muttered to himself. "What do those two monsters want with the kid there."
"Negola dewaghi wooldugger?!?" Ponda Baba said to the young man, who tried to ignore him.
"He doesn't like you," Dr. Evazan translated.
"I'm sorry," the young man replied.
"I don't like you either," Dr. Eazan continued, with a menacing glare. "You just watch yourself. We're wanted men. I have the death sentence on twelve systems."
"I'll be careful."
"You'll be dead!"
Not wanting to see the young man killed, Jace reached for his blaster, ready to take out both Ponda Baba and Dr. Evazan. No one in the cantina would object if he killed them. But he grabbed the blaster and was just beginning to remove it, when he saw the old man he'd been talking to before intervene.
"This little one's not worth the effort. Come, let me get you something."
With a snarl of contempt, Dr. Evazan sent the young man crashing through some nearby tables. He and Ponda Baba then drew their blasters, aiming them at the old man. Even though the old man gave off a sense of peace and calm that kept Jace from drawing his own blaster, Wuher was a different story.
"No blasters! No blasters!"
It was a useless and needless waste of breath. The old man moved faster than anyone his age could possibly move, drawing and igniting his weapon. The blue blade deflected a blaster bolt into the cantina's ceiling. In the next instant Dr. Evazan found the blade slicing through his blaster, effectively taking him out of the fight. Ponda Baba shoved Dr. Evazan out of the way, but before he could do anymore the old man brought the lightsaber blade down and throw his arm. Both thugs, realizing they were no match for the old man, quickly ran out the door. The old man let them go, knowing there was no need for senseless murder. He shut off his lightsaber and helped the younger man to his feet.
"A Jedi Knight," Jace whispered to himself. "No wonder he knew why I was here, probably read my mind. Kid must be with him. Maybe he's the Jedi's apprentice or something."
Jace's thoughts of the Jedi and his companion were interrupted by the entrance of Jalril. Deciding that he at least smelled like someone who was so drunk that he was spilling more of his drink onto himself than actually drinking it, Jace ordered a lomin ale and moved closer to the door. Sitting there quietly, he sipped his drink while watching Jalril nervously watch the door.
Finally, Jalril's escort arrived.. The man walked up to Jalril right away and explained who he was. Jace finished his ale and went into action. Acting like someone falling down drunk, he made his way to Jalril and his escort as they left the cantina.
"She left me," Jace drunkenly said as he grabbed ahold of Jalril. "My wife left me cause she says I drink too much."
Jalril pushed him away. "You reek of alcohol!"
"No I don't. I never touch the stuff," Jace slurred as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a picture of some little known holo starlet who'd died years before he'd been born. He then wrapped an arm around the Imperial beside Jalril, showing him the woman's picture. "She's so beautiful. Now what am I gonna do without her?"
"For starters, I would stop drinking," the Imperial said, throwing Jace into a nearby table.
"But I only had a little," Jace said, knowing it was contradictory to what he'd already said. Yet he didn't try to get back on his feet and approach the two. He'd already planted the tracer, and that was the important thing.
"You bantha herding drunk, I should have you arrested for even touching me," Jalril snarled, "much less lying about not drinking in the first place."
Jace watched as the two left the cantina. He then hurried down to the room he rented and put on the suit of armor he had placed there the night before. Exiting the Mos Eisley Cantina through the rear entrance, he activated his armor's tracking unit.
"That's it, lead me to where Gallaex is staying. Come tonight he'll wish he never agreed to meet with a traitor like you, Jalril."