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"A good price being?" I asked.
"Up to you two," he said.
"So...should I just click my heels 3 times and pray for him to appear?" I pressed.
"Come back here tomorrow, same time, I'll have him here." he told me with another chuckle.
"I'll see you then," I stood up after polishing off my drink. I dropped payment on the counter, "keep the change."
The next day Shomari and I arrived at the bar about 30 minutes early so we could have an edge on our situation before Husb Reggoe arrived. However, I immediately felt very glad we'd chosen this mindset. As we walked in, as inconspicuously as possible, we saw a man, whom we believed to be Husb, talking to the bartender. I cocked my head curiously, and read their hand gestures for a several moments before I realized that the bartender was relating the events of the previous day to him.
"Well, they don't seem to be plotting," Shomari said picking up on my interest in their conversation. "I'd be more worried if they didn't talk about what you did yesterday."
"Let's just go over, no need for us to scheme either." I jerked my head in their direction as I walked over.
"How's it goin barkeep?" I announced my presence cordially as Shomari and I took a seat at the counter.
"Why so early?" he raised an eyebrow, cutting off his conversation with Husb to try and screen us first.
"Just wanted a drink like the one you made me yesterday," I said in a friendly tone. Then I realized my mistake, "this is my younger brother."
"Would you like a drink?" He questioned Shomari, skipping name introductions because of the nature of our business.
"I'd rather a soup of some kind." He declined.
"No alcohol, not in here," the bartender responded. "This, gentlemen, is Husb Reggoe, the man you two were looking for."
"I don't like the way you phrased that." Husb's voice wasn't very well projected, and I found myself struggling slightly to hear him. His face was shrouded in a similar manner as mine had been earlier until I'd approached them.
"Well how would you like it phrased?" I questioned his own suspicions.
"Not sure," he answered honestly.
"You know, to be this well-known weapon's dealer, you don't seem to have the personality to use one yourself," Shomari told him.
"Well, people have a way of presenting themselves in a deceiving manner," he mumbled and I enhanced my ears with the Force so I could hear him clearly.
"I'll toast to that," I lifted my cup momentarily before downing the burning liquid.
"May we speak outside?" Shomari interrupted, I felt his urge to finger his light saber. "What we look for, shouldn't be widely known."
"Sounds expensive," a look of greed engulfed Husb's face.
"Let's just go," I said.
As we walked outside, I could feel the barkeep watching us head towards the door. I wondered if he had any idea what horrors Shomari and I planned for Husb. We'd been disturbingly well controlled in the presence of the man that killed our mother. And now, it was time for me to let my pain, loneliness, frustration, and fury out on him.
"So, I heard you're from Earth," I started casually. I knew I'd made a mistake because he seemed to clam up.
"Yeah," he mumbled. "Born and raised."
"Really?" Shomari's voice was peaked with interest. "Both of us were born on there."
"You two are brothers?" he didn't sound surprised, more of a confirming voice.
"You could already tell," I answered. "About when did you leave?"
Husb seemed to double his pace as if he knew what we were going to "find out" and I was sure he knew who we were, what infuriated me was that he had the nerve to even look us in the eyes after what he did.
"Few years ago," he mumbled.
"About 10 or so?" I prompted.
"How'd you know?" Husb stopped suddenly, showing his suspicions.
"I was just guessing," I grinned. "That was about when we left Earth, we were just a lot younger."
"Oh," He sounded relieved and continued moving.
"What'd you do there?" Shomari asked.
"This," Husb said as he opened the cargo area of his transport.
My jaw very literally almost dropped when I saw the assortment of weaponry he had on his ship. From the pile of guns, electrospears, vibroblades, and assortment of other killing devices, one might assume there's would be only room for the the pilot in the cockpit. The organization to it was simple, but chaotic. It seemed in fact, designed to keep only the organizer from knowing where anything would be, in case someone were to try and steal some specific item I guessed.
"If only I had my most magnificent weapon still," he reminisced. "I kept it for myself for so long, but I daresay you boys might have more use out of it. It is of the nature you suggested in the bar."
"What weapon would this be?" I asked pulling back my hood.
"I don't quite remember what it was called, actually," his mood changed from nostalgia to fear and denial almost instantaneously.
Shomari threw back his hood and drew his light saber, putting the tip to Husb's throat, "What…was the name of the weapon?"
"Wh-what is this?" Husb laughed nervously. "You're Jedi?"
"I would answer his question with something better than a question if I were you Husb," I said pacing behind Shomari who's arm was astonishingly steady. "See, back on Earth you did something that affected him deeply and he most likely is going to kill you."
"What? What'd I do?" Husb began to scramble away, but quickly backed into his own ship and Shomari was upon him again.
"You killed our mother," Shomari explained in the most dangerous voice I'd ever heard in my life. In fact it gave me chills to hear, and I was sure it wasn't very comforting to Husb who couldn't fight such a force if he needed.
"No! I never use my own weapons! I swear to you, I sold the Harvester that was used to attack Earth." Husb explained in a panicked voice.
"Who?" I roared at him. "Who'd you sell it to?"
"H-his name is Taelin Cunae!" Husb Reggoe's eyes looked to be at the edge of exploding out of pure fear from the sight he was facing. To be honest.
"Good answer," I told him calmly.
"Let's go Shomari," I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him away from the cowarding arms dealer. "I've been telling you to kill him for years."
"So?" I asked him sitting in the pilots seat.
"I don't know," he sighed frustratedly. "For some reason he seems to have vaporized, I can't find him."
"Come on Shomari, don't give me that." I returned angrily. "You worked with the scum for two years, and you can't even sense him?"
"Don't act like I'm not trying, as a way to protect him." Shomari answered standing up and walking towards the back of the ship.
"Protect him? You think I know you that little?" I returned. "Who have you ever tried to protect?"
"Well it seems you finally broke down and started believing my own press clippings." Shomari snapped back. "So why don't you jump out of the ship and call it a suicide attempt?"
"Why? So I can catch myself?" I answered.
The small references in our argument were towards happenings a few months back, before the whole ordeal with the Harvester. The way it happened, Shomari had, for some reason I still hadn't managed to drill out of him, or bothered to try, thrown a Twi'lek out of a ship. I had luckily been passing under, and used the Force to rescue the alien.
"So you can see if anyone cares more about you than they do me," Shomari explained. "Hate to tell you, but even the saint you are, nobody but Raena and I care about you."
"And your murders to try and create an aura of fear around your name has earned you nothing but the sneers of the universe!" I yelled at him. Then my bitterness at his method's decided to come out. "Not to mention how many leads on our mother's murderer you've lost because you have no control over yourself!"
Shomari slumped back down in his seat, "I don't see you getting a lot more answers than me."
"I beg to differ." I returned quickly. "Notice I didn't shove a light saber through Trance's throat, and he got me some answers."
"Well, I'm not shoving a light saber through anyones throat now, so where's Taelin?" he challenged me.
"The answer is somewhere in there," I triumphed again by showing him the Federation's fleet ahead of us. The biggest ship, the trade federation's headquarters, blocked off by a fleet of TIE fighters.
"How in the Force's name do you plan on getting through there?" Shomari questioned.
"Well, I don't see a big difference between you and the Sith we killed on Tatooine, so I guess you might have a good reason to visit Lance," I explained bitterly. Then I tossed him my light saber, "what with you being the only Sith in the history of existence to bring in a Jedi alive, and disarmed."
Yes, this is the end of this book. If you can't tell, I'm thinking about bringing this series to a close, not sure if I want to yet though. If I do, there will be a sequel coming out based on this storyline. This is a big point of doubts/ands/buts for me though, so hang tight. Jedi Crossing 4 is a DEFINITE however.