Chapter Two
The sounds of computers and people filled the air of the hangar as Gareth led Avoria through the building. She marveled at the different ships they pasted: YT-1300s, star fighters, what looked like a heavily-damaged X-wing. The variety of space transports amazed Avoria; she had never ridden in one, let alone been this close to one. She was never allowed to leave the planet whenever her parents went to meet with the Council, so her knowledge on interspacial flight ships was close to none.
"Here we are," Gareth said. He walked up to a seperate door with a numberpad. After punching in the code, the door slid open.
A large and modified YT-1930 transport sat in the middle of the room. A red and yellow R2 unit scurried around, carrying various tools back and forth from a toolbox and the ship. The legs of a person hung out of a hole on the undeside of the ship. The person pulled out, revealing a grizzled man with graying hair. He wiped his greasy hands on his worn clothes and said gruffly, "So this is the girl." His blue eyes scrutinized Avoria, looking her over. "Scrawny thing. How old are you, sixteen, seventeen?"
Avoria tried to keep the sarcasm out of her voice as she said, "I am twenty-two, sir." She stuck out a hand. "And yes, I am Avoria Dragmire."
The man was silent for a moment, then let out a hearty laugh. He clapped Avoria on the back. "Don't be so serious, senator! You don't have to call me sir." He pointed to himself with his thumb. "Max Howser, interstellular shipper and smuggler extroidonare. That over there is Y-2K, my trusty pal." The droid let out a whistle of greeting.
"Listen, Max," Gareth led his friend away from Avoria. The two men talked in low voices as Avoria slowly walked around the ship. She saw the R2 unit working on the ship, clipping wires and soldering pipes.
She knelt down beside it and said," Hello there."
Y-2K beeped and whistled, welding together two pieces of metal. Its metal body was scorched and scratched from numerous battles; the droid had a hand long cut on its backside. The cut looked like it came from a vibroknife or blade, but its presence didn't bother Y2-K.
"Hey, senator!" Max called to Avoria. He walked over to her and looked down. Gareth followed, looking a bit tiffed. "We gotta ask you something." He held out his hand and helped Avoria up. "Ya see, there is a certain Hutt here that has a bounty on my head and is refusing to let me leave Tattooine." He glanced away for a moment and scratched his head. "So, I'm kinda stuck here at the moment."
Avoria's bright green eyes widened. "You are telling me that you are currently of no help to me, correct?" She could feel anger rise inside her, but before she could voice it, something strange quelled it.
Holding out a hand, Max sighed. "Let me finish now." He pointed to Gareth. "Gareth told me something that would help get us off. Savva, the Hutt keeping me here, said if I could get the head of her nephew back to her, she would gladly let us leave."
The whole thing sounded sketchy; Hutts were notorious about going back on there deals. "Who exactly was her nephew?"
"Jabba the Hutt." Gareth piped up. "The drug lord Drago was the last one to have his head. We can sneak in and grab it while he is on a business trip or something."
The Davaronian Drago was a cunning creature; horned like a demon from ancient religions, his intimidating looks matched with his sharp wits made him successful in the underworld of Mos Eisley. He either threatened you until he got what he wanted, or sent one of his loyal assassins after you. And they never failed their master. Although her parents' never outright spoke against Drago, Avoria would hear them on different occasions discussing how they were going to deal with him. Too bad they didn't live long enough to see their city cleansed of his evil touch.
"Is it going to be that easy?" She asked Max.
The rough smuggler laughed. "Where is the fun in easy things? You need a challenge every now and then to make life more exciting." He thumbed his nose and winked at the young Senator. "Besides, what's the worst that can happen?"
From the way he said that, Avoria had a deep feeling in her gut that it wasn't going to be easy at all. Hello there faithful readers! It's Abi here and I just want say thank you very much for reading this. Chapter three should be up soon, so keep an eye out, and may the Force be with you!