Jak parked the dune buggy behind an outcropping of rocks and got out. Daxter climbed onto his shoulder while he loaded the Morph Gun. They slipped over to the Marauder hideout undetected and Jak hopped the fence.
"What exactly are we looking for?" Daxter asked.
"Anything that could tell us what the Marauders are up to," Jak replied.
"Maybe we should split up," Daxter suggested, "so we can cover more ground."
"I don't wanna have to rescue you again," Jak said, "so be careful. Meet back here in an hour."
"When am I ever not careful?" Daxter asked as he slipped off Jak's shoulder and vanished down an alleyway. Cautiously, he peeked inside one of the Marauder's shacks. The coast was clear. Daxter climbed through the window and proceeded to tear the house apart.
Once the hut was in complete disarray, Daxter decided that what he was looking for wasn't here and left. As he crawled onto a table on his way out of the house, one of the legs broke and Daxter tumbled to the ground. The ottsel freed himself from the wreckage, grumbling incoherently under his breath. Suddenly Daxter noticed something he hadn't before: a cylindrical item taped to the underside of the table. Daxter pulled it free and examined it. It was an old scroll. Daxter opened it and read its contents. He recognized the writing as ancient Precursor cuneiform, but he couldn't understand what it said.
Daxter, scroll in hand, slipped quietly out the door and moved on to the next house. Inside was a lone Marauder tinkering with something at his desk. Daxter was about to leave when he noticed that Jak was at the other window, waiting to break in. The Marauder accidentally dropped one of his tools and bent down to pick it up. That was the chance Jak had been waiting for. He jumped in and fired off a single round into the Marauder's head.
Jak picked up the trinket the Marauder was working on and looked at it quizzically as Daxter gasped. It was Veger's locket! The Marauder had apparently fixed the cover in place, because the hinge was still broken. But at least it was in one piece again, despite missing the chain.
"What kind of artifact is this?" Jak asked himself.
"It's… ow!" Daxter had not removed his eyes from the medallion, and as a result, he landed flat on his face when he tried to climb in. Daxter got up and climbed onto the desk. "That was Veger's…" Daxter stopped himself. He'd almost said that it was "Veger's wife's".
"This was Veger's?" Jak looked it over. "Seems kinda girly."
"Well, it belonged to… er, a relative, I think," Daxter said. "The Marauder stole it."
"Well, not my problem," Jak said as he tossed it over his shoulder. "Hey, whatcha got there?" He took the scroll and looked it over. Daxter climbed down from the desk and slipped the trinket into his pocket.
"We should get this to Seem. She can probably translate it," Jak said. "C'mon, let's keep looking for--"
Suddenly there was a banging sound from the door. The Marauders were trying to break into the hut. They must have heard the gunshot and figured out something was wrong.
"We'd better get outta here!" Daxter said.
Shards of woods went flying as the Marauders broke the door down. They rushed in, weapons drawn. They looked around. Except for their dead comrade, no one was here. One of the Marauders walked over to the window and looked around the alley. Right underneath his nose, Jak and Daxter were crouching in the shadows.
Don't look down, don't look down, don't look… Daxter thought breathlessly.
After a moment, the Marauder disappeared. Jak immediately got to his feet and took off running. Suddenly a bullet whizzed by his head. Looks like the Marauders had seen them after all.
"Jak!" Daxter yelled in panic.
Jak turned around and fired his Scatter Gun, knocking most of the pursuing Marauders down. As they struggled to pick up the pace, Jak raced through the streets until he reached the fence. Jak hoisted himself over the walls and headed for the hidden Sand Shark. Behind him, the Marauders gave chase in their vehicles.
The hero got into his car and tore out of their hiding place. The Marauders behind them unleashed the fury of their vehicles' weapons. As the bullets pounded the Sand Shark, Jak turned sharply, sending sand everywhere. He hit the turbo, and the car zoomed out of the Marauders' range.
Daxter looked behind them. "Jak, I think we lost 'em!"
No sooner had the ottsel said that when Jak swerved suddenly to avoid colliding with a Marauder that had come out of nowhere. Now they were neck-and-neck. Jak glanced over at his opponent and his heart skipped a beat. The Marauder was holding a grenade!
Sig just happened to glance out the palace window at the exact moment an explosion appeared, with the desert as its backdrop.