Chapter 7.

NAR SHADDA

(10 BBY)

"A-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-H!" screamed the Bimm as he sat bolt upright in bed. His cranio-facial hair dripping wet from the transparisteel cup of cold water that had poured over him.

"What. . .?" he sputtered. "Who. . .? M-m-m-m-mph!"

A gloved right hand gagged his mouth while a gloved left hand put the barrel of a blaster against his right temple.

"Arnwes Kar," whispered a frighteningly soft voice. "You may call me... The Hawk-Batman. I'm going to ask you a series of questions. You will answer each one of them calmly, truthfully, and unhesitatingly. That is _not_ a question, in itself. That is a fact! It's also a fact that, when I un-gag your mouth, you will not try to shout for help. Otherwise, you won't live long enough to regret it! Nod if I make myself clear."

The Bimm's head moved frantically up and down as much as the iron grip over his mouth would permit. So, the costumed crusader kept the first part of his promise.

"Question Number One: where have you been getting the guns, like this one, that you've been selling through Dr. Reducto's clinic?"

"From a Toydarian 'travel agent' named Blobbo... who gets them from a B-B-Baragwin arms dealer on Peridon's Folly."

"Peridon's Folly is just a clearinghouse for obsolete weapons. Try again!"

"I'm telling you the truth! I r-r-read it in Blobbo's mind."

The Hawk-Batman paused. "As a result of your glitterstim addiction?"

Arnwes Kar nodded. "Th-Th-That's why I had to flee from Bimmisari. My people are so proud of being honest in their business dealings, that even shoplifting is a capital offense!"

"So, it follows you might be summarily executed for using glitterstim to read the minds of your competitors and thereby gain an unfair advantage over them."

More frantic nodding. Which the Hawk-Batman was going to follow up with his next question. Unfortunately, he was prevented from asking it by the loud crashing of vibro-bladed axes chopping their way through a low-quality durasteel door.

"Gamorreans!" screamed the terrified Bimm.

It was, indeed, a squad of the green-skinned porcinoid mercenaries that came bursting through the door of Arnwes Kar's bedroom. Their very bulk forcing the costumed crusader to leap backwards, dragging the terrified Bimm with him. It was not a Gamorrean who was leading this squad, however. Rather, it was a turquoise-colored being with a half-drooping proboscis and two pairs of translucent fluttering wings.

"Blobbo the Toydarian, I presume," said the Hawk-Batman.

The latter grinned.

"I see my fame precedes me," he replied in heavily accented Basic. "And the anonymous tip I received was obviously quite accurate. For shame, Arnwes! Only a dummy would think he could double-cross me and get away with it. Something I never previously considered you to be."

"It's not you I'm seeking information against," the Hawk-Batman retorted. "So, leave now- -Gamorreans and all- -and you can resume business as usual with Arnwes, tomorrow morning. As if none of this ever happened!"

"I got better offer," the Toydarian countered. "Hand him over to me- -right this minute- -and you can go. Safe and sound."

Now, it was the costumed crusader who grinned.

"OK. Let's shake on it."

Whereupon, he extended his right hand... throwing down a trio of mini-glop grenades in the process.

The instant they hit the floor, they exploded! Splattering their adhesive gel all over Blobbo, and pinning him to the wall, behind him, by his wings. Whereupon, the Hawk-Batman lifted Arnwes Kar in his arms and leaped toward the open bedroom window.

"Hey!" shouted the Toydarian. "Come back here with that spice-head!"

"When Gamorreans fly," quipped the other, before taking to the night skies of the Smugglers' Moon.

"You heard him, boys," replied Blobbo. "Go get him. No! Not you, Boompah. You stay here, and cut me out of this stuff."

The Hawk-Batman had not even gotten fifty yards away from the efficiency apartment when he heard the crashing sound of falling masonry. He looked behind him... and was understandably amazed at seeing a quintet of airborne Gamorreans in hot pursuit!

"Heh!" he exclaimed. "Cyborg-implanted flitter packs. Clever! Let's see if they have built-in deflector shields."

He shifted the horizontal position of his body one hundred eighty degrees, so that he could draw his confiscated blaster. Whereupon, he aimed it and fired it. Four times in a row; each one on target. As a result of which, each of the struck Gamorreans shrank to a size five times smaller than the shortest Ugnaught known to medical science! And that, in turn, led the last normal-sized Gamorrean to swerve in mystified terror (squealing something, in its own language, about "witchcraft").

The Hawk-Batman then resumed his intended flight path.

"W-W-Where are we going?" asked the somewhat relieved Bimm.

"To see the one other being who knew I was coming here. The only one who could've made that 'anonymous' tip to Blobbo. Dr. Reducto!"

The growling tone in his captor's voice made Arnwes Kar involuntarily shudder. A shudder that was highly visible through the macrobinoculars currently being wielded by the Hawk-Batman's purple-and-black stalker.

"This guy gets more and more interesting," she muttered (with a half-smile).

Meanwhile, back on Coruscant, the erstwhile Darth Sidious was engaged in some private meditation when he felt a massive disturbance in the Dark Side of the Force. Followed by a massive disturbance in the floor beneath his feet! He immediately got up out of his meditation chamber and motioned for two of his Crimson Guardsmen to accompany him to the balcony of his palace. For it was in that general direction that he sensed the first disturbance. So, for the next five minutes, he stood there. Moving his head from left to right, then back again. All with his eyes closed, so he could better attune himself to the Force.

It was at the start of the sixth minute that he felt it again. The seismic vibrations that had marked the second disturbance. His eyes flew open... just in time to see a sight so mind-boggling that he actually became slack-jawed with astonishment. A redheaded human female was headed straight toward the Imperial Palace. A human female at least. . .

. . .one hundred meters tall!

The giantess finally got near enough to spot the dictatorial Darksider staring up at her, completely nonplussed. And this caused her to smile, mirthlessly, as she said (at the top of her lungs): "Emperor Palpatine! I am Darth Giganta. And I hereby condemn you to death... in the name of the Legion of Doom!"

tbc

MINI-GLOSSARY

Ugnaught: small porcine humanoids famous for their manual dexterity and mechanical expertise.