We finally get a break from all the action. Now it's only Salo and Zare, I have no reason to write about what happens to Anakin and Obi-Wan, since you can see what happens with them in the Clone Wars cartoon. Well enjoy

-----

The Clone Wars

Chapter 8: The Smuggler's Moon

The Jedi Starfighter erupted from hyperspace, followed by the other one. Salo and Zare could see it, the planet, Nar Shaddaa. This planet was filled with city lights, and so loud that the random noises could be heard from above.

"Well…we made it." Salo said over the intercom. Zare nodded a reply as the two Jedi Starfighters entered the atmosphere of the dark urban planet. They flew over the vast city, searching for their enemy through the force, but it was hard, this planet made it difficult to find anyone, even if you were a Jedi; so much commotion and noise that threw off concentration.

Salo and Zare eventually found a landing pad situated on top of a building, so they set their ships down. The cockpits opened, and the two Jedi hopped out of their opposite fighters. A young Twi'Lek man approached them, "Welcome, Jedi," He greeted smugly.

"How do you know we're Jedi?" Salo asked with a suspicious look.

"We don't get many Jedi on this planet, when we do, it's obvious who you are." The Twi'Lek explained.

"I guess we don't blend in very well." Zare mentioned.

"No, you don't. Although, if you dressed in formal clothes, then you would blend in."

"We don't need to blend in, we need to go." Salo started to walk toward the stairs leading down to the city below, but was stopped by his former Master's voice.
"Patience Salo, we don't even know where to look."

"Excuse me," The Twi'Lek man cut in, "But what is it that you are looking for?"

"It's Jedi business," Salo replied annoyed, "It's none of your concern." Salo turned once again and started for the stairs. Zare reluctantly followed, leaving the Twi'Lek with a slight angry look; but once the Jedi were completely out of sight, he smirked and pulled out his comlink and spoke into it, "The Jedi are here."

-----

"Alright, we've searched everywhere, and we still can't find him." Salo remarked.

"If we haven't found him," Zare started, "Then that means we haven't looked everywhere." Salo sighed because of the truth, of course they haven't looked everywhere, it would take days, maybe weeks to search the whole planet… It was just an expression though.

"Well, I'm going to the Cantina." Salo turned into the direction that would lead to the Cantina.

"What makes you think he'll be there?"

"Who said anything about him being there, I just need a drink."

Zare closed his eyes and sighed, then shook his head and chuckled. Salo was already on his way to the Cantina, Zare thought he might as well, and so he followed Salo.

Once at the Cantina, Salo and Zare took a seat at the bar and asked for their drinks, "I wish this war would hurry and end," Salo started, "I'm getting tired of all this fighting."

"I thought it's what you liked, constant action." Zare smiled.

"Not when it's this constant, it was just yesterday that Anakin and I fought this Sith, now me and you have to fight him again." Their drinks arrived and they took a drink simultaneously.

Zare put his drink down and replied, "I know it's difficult fighting in a war, but, look at the bright side."

Salo waited for Zare to tell what the bright side was, but Zare said nothing, "…Okay…What's the bright side?" Salo asked finally.

"We got to fight by two of the greatest Jedi in the order." Zare smiled as he took another drink.

"Yeah, it was awesome fighting side by side with Anakin, he's really strong, just being around him seemed to give me more strength."

"Obi-Wan said the same thing one time."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he did. And you know, you're not much different from Anakin."

Salo paused for a minute, and then asked, "How so?"

"You have the same passion for all living things, and even non-living things, such as droids."

"Yeah, Anakin is the same way," Salo replied, "I actually knew we already had that in common."

"Right, but did you know that you also can inspire people like Anakin does?"

Salo finished the last bit of his drink, then continued, "I guess I never really thought about that."

"Well, it's true, and I know from first hand experience, I'm always around you, and I always feel stronger." Salo didn't reply, he just looked away in thought as the drinks were being refilled.

Salo's thoughts went back to the war, "I just can't wait for this war to end, and we can be more at peace."

"Considering we make it through this war alive."

"Don't think like that, we'll make it through, and more than that, we'll win too."

"I sure hope so…"

Just then, a figure approached them, a male, human-like alien with pale skin. He appeared at Salo's side, "You wanna buy some Glory Stick?" The Alien had bad grammar, and was the type that couldn't talk in plural form. Salo had a disgusted look on his face before he looked at his Master questionably, and Zare gave him a confirming hand wave.

Salo then waved his hand and said, "You don't want to sell us Glory Sticks."

The Alien repeated, "I don't want to sell you Glory Stick."

"You want to go jump off a cliff." Salo continued, but Salo felt the disapproval right away from Zare as the Alien repeated the words, and quickly corrected, "All right fine, you want to go and make something of your life." Salo had a big joking grin on his face as he looked at Zare, and while the Alien repeated the words of the mind trick and left.

"Glory Sticks?" Zare asked confused.

"I think it's just a worse version of Death Sticks."

"So why do they call them Glory Sticks?"

"Probably to get people to think they're something good to get more money off of it."

"Maybe it would have been best for him to jump off a cliff." Zare joked as he took a drink.

"It would have been more fun." Salo returned the joke as he also took a drink.

-----

Darth Ravel paced back and forth, waiting impatiently. Finally, the door opened, and the Twi'Lek man stepped in to the huge room. Ravel halted his pacing and stalked up to the Twi'Lek, "What took you so long?" His deep threatening voice startled the Twi'Lek.

"Sorry sir, I had to make a quick stop." The Twi'Lek said.

"If it was quick, it wouldn't have taken so long. Be more mindful next time, Jaqual, I won't continue being lenient on you if you constantly keep me waiting." Ravel turned to pace the opposite way, and that's when Jaqual saw it, Ravel's hands clasped behind his back, the right hand…mechanical – a mechanical hand. Ravel must have had it cut off during the war, but Jaqual didn't say anything about it, he just kept silent and waited for Ravel's next orders. Ravel stopped walking for a minute and looked back at Jaqual, "I want those Jedi dead."

"I won't fail you sir, I've killed many Jedi; I know what I'm doing."

"For your sake, Jaqual, you better hope so."

-----

"Alright, let's go." Zare got up from his seat and started heading toward the exit, and Salo followed.

Once outside, the two Jedi began to walk with their Jedi robes swaying with the wind. They didn't know exactly where they were going now, they just had to keep looking around until they found Ravel's hiding place.

Their stroll through the city, however, was cut short when a smirking Rodian entered their path, carrying a heavy blaster rifle. Salo and Zare stopped in their tracks and stared at the Rodian, suspecting the worst. They sensed the presence behind them and turned around to see him, the Twi'Lek man – the one that greeted them at the landing pad, and was also carrying a heavy blaster rifle.

"I knew from the moment I saw you that you were hiding something." Salo glared at Jaqual.

"Did you now? So then you mean to say that you knew this whole time that I am the famous Jaqual?"

"Jaqual? Never heard the name, but I did know you were hiding something when you greeted us, you had it written on your face."

Jaqual laughed, "You Jedi and your suspicions." He mocked. Without any more words, he aimed his blaster at Salo, as the Rodian lackey aimed at Zare.

"Bounty hunters!" Zare spat, "The scum of the universe."

Jaqual's eyes narrowed, and without another second of hesitation, his blaster unleashed a storm of laser bolts, followed by the Rodian's. Salo leapt through the air, dodging the shots, and landing right behind the Rodian. Blue radiation flared from the Rodian's stomach, the Rodian had a shocked look on his face that quickly changed to being expressionless as the dead body collapsed to the ground. Salo stood there with an angered look on his face, one hand holding the lightsaber in a white knuckled grip.

Zare deflected Jaqual's shots, one after the other, as Salo made his way for the Twi'Lek, deflecting any of the shots directed his way. The buzz of Salo's lightsaber split the air as it whirred after Jaqual, but surprisingly, it was dodged. Jaqual jumped over the blade, shooting at Salo from the air, but Salo managed to duck under one of the shots, then spin his blade around through the air to block the next few shots.

Jaqual was suddenly sent soaring through the air, the force caused it, and Zare was the one controlling it. Both Jedi ran after the bounty hunter as he skidded into the ground. Jaqual quickly got up to his feet and shot at the oncoming Jedi, catching them off guard. One of the shots scratched Zare's arm, causing him to stop dead in his tracks. Salo didn't stop though, and Jaqual was distracted by the hit he scored on the Jedi Master to concentrate on Salo. The Jedi Knight was almost close enough to be able to run his blade through the Twi'Lek's body. Jaqual quickly concentrated and took multiple shots; Salo spun his lightsaber through the air deflecting each shot. It managed to slow the Jedi down, but not stop him; Salo was still advancing toward Jaqual, who continued to shoot while backing up to keep space between them.

This was too much for the bounty hunter, he managed to stop one of the Jedi, but the other one wasn't about to lose. Jaqual saw his bounty hunting days were over right as the flaring blade sliced through his blaster, then continued to his arm. Jaqual collapsed to the ground, clutching his severed arm; he thought his life was over now like his bounty hunting, but to his surprise, Salo had his lightsaber back on his belt.

Zare walked up from behind, his lightsaber also attached to his belt, "Why did you attack us?" He asked.

It took a minute for Jaqual to get his grasp on reality, then he answer with a weak voice, "It's what I do… I kill Jedi."

"You know who Ravel is though." Salo accused, "Tell us where he is."

"Why do you think I know who 'Ravel' is?"

"I told you, I can see when you're hiding something, it's written on your face. And I suspect your hiding what we want to know." Salo's eyes were cold, staring into Jaqual's eyes, not letting them escape. And Jaqual had no chance, he couldn't resist this Jedi, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't hide the truth any longer.

"He's in the East District… in a warehouse." Jaqual was shaking, realizing what he just did, who he just defied. He couldn't help but be afraid; Ravel would kill him, right after he kills the Jedi, he'd hunt Jaqual down, and kill him. It was too much for Jaqual to handle, he finally snapped, "No… NO!" Salo looked at Zare with a confused look, then Jaqual jumped up to his feet and ran, while screaming, "No! He won't kill me!"

Salo and Zare stood up straight as they watched the insane Twi'Lek run straight toward the pit in the middle of the block. Both Jedi's eyes widened at the sight, the armless Twi'Lek jumping down off the walkway into the pit, and the scream echoed through the block as he fell to his demise. Other beings around were surprised by what they just witnessed, some of them laughed at the stupidity of the Twi'Lek.

With a raised eyebrow, Salo looked at Zare, who returned the look, "That was…" Salo started.

"Strange." Zare finished. They shook their heads in disbelief, but they had no time to wonder what in Yoda's name went through Jaqual's mind, they started off toward the East District.

Darth Ravel was going down.