Chapter Four

'Momma' turned out to be a rather large but kind old woman who went by the name of Momma Simms. At three stories, her boarding home was the tallest building in the city, therefore easy for any visitors to their planet to spot. When Luke introduced himself, she gave him the top floor suite at no charge and had one of her grandsons run to fetch his small travel bag from the X-wing.

The top floor's suite was named the Antarnae Gem, and for good reason too. The entire floor was one suite, large and expensively furnished. What made it such a prize was not the obvious extravagant surroundings, but the unobstructed views of the planet from all four walls. Luke could easily see why the people lived on Antarnae, with its lush spots of forests that simply drowned out the view of the sand and cliffs around it. It was a planet of unusual contrasts, and the designer of the Antarnae Gem had very clearly played on that fact in decorating the suite. Reds and oranges warred peacefully with cool blues and purples, all seeming to mix together just as much as it seemed to stand apart. The furnishings were all self-contorting; the bed too large for even two people to sleep on; the rugs thick but soft under his feet and the windows able to be cycled to dark to keep the sight of the planet away, as well as hide himself from curious eyes—the windows made him feel as if he were back on Coruscant again.

Luke nodded and smiled broadly, knowing that Momma Simms was watching his every facial movement as he took in the suite. "It's absolutely beautiful," he told her truthfully. "Are you sure you don't want to keep this reserved for someone else who can pay for it?"

The white-haired old woman beamed at his praise and shook her head. "None other than you but one, Master Jedi, and he keeps the sparest room to himself. None more important than a Jedi visitor."

"Then I'm honored," he told her politely, though he wished he could have a sparer room. He was not used to all the luxury that surrounded him.

Artoo, however, seemed right at home in the spacious suite. He wheeled right over to the transparent wall directly across from Luke and Momma Simms and gave a little beep that Luke knew meant he was satisfied.

Luke couldn't help but laugh. "Well, Artoo likes it so it must be perfect."

Momma Simms threatened to split her face with her smile as she made to leave him alone for the evening.

"Wait, Momma Simms. A question, if I may?"

The older woman turned expectantly.

Luke folded his arms into the opposite sleeves of his cloak, which he had donned before he and Artoo had come to Momma Simms' boarding home. "Does the name 'Namina' sound familiar to you in any way?"

The woman thought earnestly for a while, then shook her head. "No, but ladies at sewing bee might know."

Luke nearly choked. Perhaps Antarnae was even more rustic than Tatooine after all. Recovering quickly, he asked, "And when is that?"

"Tomorrow night, Master Jedi. Between the girls, one must know." She smiled sweetly at him.

Luke returned her smile. "Please let me know something if you find anything out."

After she left, Luke sighed and tossed his cloak on a small round table. Plopping down on the bed, and nearly flipping himself over in its pushiness, he rubbed his temples. "Artoo," he called, "can you interface with the X-wing from here?" Since Luke refused to allow his X-wing and his astromech to have their memories scrubbed, the two machines were able to communicate with each other in ways that regularly scrubbed machines could not.

Artoo trilled and rolled over to him, lightly bumping his right leg to make sure he had Luke's attention. Luke smiled and patted the little droid on the top of his dome.

"I need you to record a message for me and send it to Mara at the Temple and Leia on Coruscant. Are you too far away to transmit to the X-wing from here?"

Artoo rotated his dome to indicate a negative, then settled himself back enough to have a better recording range of Luke. When his large blue light blinked, Luke knew he was recording.

"I need help," Luke started without preamble. "I'm on Antarnae, a planet that has little in the way of resources beyond word of mouth. Could either you, Mara, or you, Leia, try to look up the name 'Namina' in whatever records you can get to? Mara, I know you have many smuggler contacts. Is there any possible way you can utilize those contacts to try to find any information whatsoever on this woman? Leia, you're on Imperial Center and the archives there are the most extensive in the galaxy. Surely, you'll find something on her. Cross-reference her name with the planet name Antarnae or the moons close to here. If nothing shows, try also the other planets in this area. Something tells me she's close, though I'm not sure how close. I know that with only a first name this will be difficult, but please do this with the utmost speed and get back to me. Artoo will be awaiting your messages." He nodded slightly and the recording light on Artoo's dome went out.


Night on Antarnae was deep, filled only with the distant sounds of the animals native to the planet. With Antarnae City only a hundred meters or so from the nearest forest, sometimes the predators ventured too close to the humans making their living off the sometimes harshness the planet offered. Most predators had learned to stay away from the tall creatures with the small holders of painful light, yet even the most cautioned would come to civilization if the prize was tempting enough.

Or was lead to it.


Laughter filled the air, filling his dreams, filling his ears, his head. The woman gasped and glanced behind her as she ran toward the nearest cliff. There she paused, breathing heavily as she collected her thoughts.

"Namina…Namina…"

Startled, her eyes wide, Namina whirled around, eyes searching the forest only a few meters from where she stood on the cliff for her pursuers, yet did not see anyone. By the sound of it, they were too close. Taking a deep breath, she raised her right foot and prepared to jump off the cliff…

This time when Luke woke it wasn't from the dream, but from the sense that something just wasn't right. The Force was somehow muted to him, but still seemed to be screaming at him that there was danger near him. Luke lay quietly in the overlarge bed, listening with his ears and probing with the Force to try to figure out what exactly the danger was. He didn't have to wonder long.

A low and menacing growl came to his ears at about the same time he was able to feel the alien presence of some kind of large animal standing right beside him. Luke thought furiously without twitching a muscle to alert the animal to his varied state of wakefulness. The animal, he could clearly sense, was ready to attack him, though he wasn't sure why or even how it got up three flights to his suite, unlocked his room, and also got past Artoo.

Where was Artoo?

Luke didn't know but he did know that if he didn't do something fast, the predator would soon be trying to tear his throat open. His lightsaber was beside him on a bedside table…near the animal. Any movement he did would trigger the predator, it was that poised to attack. How to get the lightsaber into his hands before the predator jumped on him, pinning his arms underneath it and useless to get to the lightsaber?

Suddenly, he heard a whirling from behind the predator. Luke half-smiled. He remembered the sound: it was Artoo's cutting beam charging up. The little droid was obviously going to try to do something to gather the predator's attention. That might buy Luke the few seconds he needed.

The animal turned toward the new sound…and Luke acted.

Calling his lightsaber the short distance toward him, Luke was just able to close his hand around the hilt when the predator shifted back to him and leaped on top of him. Extremely large teeth dripped saliva onto his neck as the animal prepared to rip into his throat. Luke was just able to bring the lightsaber hilt up and thumb it on as the predator attacked. The light blade went straight through it's insides, searing things as it went, including it's heart. In just a mere matter of moments it was dead, it's weight now pressing Luke into the bed.

There was a curse near the door and Luke glanced up to see the young man from the landing pad rush in. With a grunt of effort, he pushed the animal off of Luke and helped the Jedi sit up. In the night's glow, the lightsaber already turned off, the young man looked haunted and afraid.

"Leave," he croaked. "Someone wants you dead, Jedi Master Skywalker. Leave now."

The man made to leave, but Luke grabbed his arm with his mechanical hand, keeping the young man with him. "What was that thing? And what's your name? Does this have anything to do with Namina?"

For a moment, it seemed as if the man wasn't going to talk at all, then he relaxed just a little and pointed at the predator. "Name's Charm Beldane. That is a nebexar striker. Deadliest thing here."

"How did it get in my room?" Luke demanded.

Charm glowered at him. "Maybe you pretty friend, Namina, she let it in, eh? Stop digging before you end up like it." He tugged at Luke's strong hold on his arm, clearly wanting to leave.

Luke let him go, then eyed Artoo. "You just let it in? Didn't you even check its credentials?"

Artoo made a noise like he couldn't believe Luke had just accused him of letting the predator into the suite on purpose and whirled away, still beeping. Luke couldn't help but give a quiet, though slightly shaky, laugh.