Chapter Six

The Outrider and the new owner of the modified Corellian YV-666 Light Freighter, The Intruder, commander Lance Stimson, separated as they left the planet Ord Mantell behind. Lance deciding to return to his home planet Corellia and to the comfortable surroundings of his father's home put his vessel The Intruder into hyperspace drive and disappeared into dark space.

Dash and Leebo watched as The Intruder disappeared in a flash of light that was exquisite in the many colors of a rainbow hue that lit up the dark space around it. In the tremendously long streak of blurred colors, The Intruder vanished as if passing through a time warp into a different dimension leaving a vacuum in the space that it occupied just moments before.

Dash paused for a moment thinking of the adventure that had just come to an end and his old friend Jocko and their days at the Academy , wondering if the lost of his friend and the others was really worth it. Somehow, he thought, he'll take his revenge on Jabba the Hutt and those outlaws who stole his spice load and put him in the position that cost him the loss of his best friend.

' Are you ready, sir?' Leebo voice broke through Dash's thoughts.

' Yeah! Prepare for light speed,' Dash announced.

In an instant, The Outrider took off in a blur of light headed back to the Y'Toub system and the smugglers moon of Nar Shaddaa. Back to recover that brief case full of Jabba's money. Also to rest a day or two while they decide what their next steps will be to revenge those who loss of lives.

The night past slowly as the long journey made Dash drowsy and he climb into a sleeping berth while Leebo took over the controls of the vessel. Within minutes, Dash was fast asleep as the monotone noise of the ship lulled him into deep slumber.

As the freighter neared the Smuggler's Moon just off the planet of Nal Hutta, Dash was summoned to the cockpit and as he took over the controls he noticed that the daylight from the planet's bright star shown down on the Vertical City as morning approached the tiny metropolis. The light refracted off the mirrored glass windows of the tall buildings and Dash could see that the city was already busy with streams of traffic that flowed in the several levels around the structures. As the Outrider circled the city, Dash could see the magnificence of the beautiful laid out graphics of the highly condense habitat.

As the Outrider set down on the landing platform at the spaceport on Nar Shaddaa, two men watch from just inside the hanger area. Moments later, Dash, Leebo and peetwo exited the ship down the boarding ramp onto the metal deck. Dash reached up and pushed a lever that closed the ramp after Leebo and peetwo cleared it and the three of them turned and headed for the lockers.

' Hey Dash!' one of the men called over. Dash pauses as he looks over to see who is calling his name. He sees one of the men walking towards him.

' Hey Dash. You remember me don't you? I'm John Massant, don't you remember? We met a couple of months ago on Kessel. We were both picking up spice loads for Jabba the Hutt. You remember don't you?'

' Oh yeah! You had another guy with you by the name of Ramon or something!' Dash remembered.

' It was Roemosa, but yeah, that was us. We're not partners anymore, but what I wanted to tell you is.' John paused, ' I just got back from Ylesia and when I was there I heard some guys talking. I heard about your trouble, you know, about you losing your spice load, and anyway, when I was at Ylesia, I heard these guys talking saying that they stole a load of spice. They didn't know I over heard them talking. They were laughing, saying that it was an easy way to pick up some loot.'

' Well, I got to thinking that it must have been about the same time that you lost your load. Anyway, yours was the only one that I heard had gotten hijacked last week.'

' Anyway, I asked some people about them, and they told me that those two guys brought in a load that belonged to Prince Xizor. They told me that those two guys work for him and that the prince sometimes has some of his men ship in a load of spice from Kessel, but I had just come from Kessel and I didn't hear anything about Prince Xizor picking up a load. News like that gets around. You know what I mean. I've been running spice loads from Kessel for months now and I've never heard of the prince or anyone working for him picking up any loads.'

' Yeah! I know what you mean. I've been picking up loads for Jabba too at Kessel. I've never heard of Xizor picking up any loads either, but I have heard of several loads getting hijacked. Nobody has ever caught the hijackers and nobody even knows who they are. It seems Jabba would be aware of this!'

' You would think so!' Massant agreed, ' You know, I've heard of about four or five loads getting hijacked in the past couple of months now. I know my ex-partner Jose just got hijacked a couple of weeks ago. He was making a run for Jabba just like you were when he got attacked by a star destroyer and two Y-wings.'

' Yeah! That sounds like the same ones that attacked me,' Dash told him. ' You would think that the Imperial Space Authorities would catch those thieves.'

' Ah! Those guys are probably in on the whole deal if you know what I mean. I know I don't trust them. You know what we might have to do, don't you. All of us independent carriers might have to get together and hire ourselves a bounty hunter to go after those guys.'

' That's a good idea,' Dash agreed, ' We should do that. That's a real good idea, John. Your really thinking!'

' Well, actually it wasn't my idea. Some of us were talking about it on Ylesia the other day and somebody came up with that idea. I can't remember who first mentioned it, but we sort of agreed to talk more about it when we get back to Kessel. Somebody said that maybe the insurance companies might agree to hire the bounty hunter if we suggest it to them. That way we're not out any money. But if they say no, then we'll have to come up with the cash.'

' Well, tell them to count me in. I'll be willing to chip in my portion.'

Massant looked down at his watch and said,' Oh! I've got to get going, but I wanted to pass on the information to you. I've was hoping to run into you these past several days. I thought for awhile that I'd never see you again. It was lucky running into you today. I hope you can use the information and whatever you do, be careful. Prince Xizor is a dangerous man.' He cautioned as he turned and headed back to the man he had just left and upon reaching him disappeared back inside the hanger to the far right.

Leebo and peetwo , who was standing beside Dash in silence, now broke Dash's far off stare,' Sir! That means Prince Xizor is the one that stole our load.'

Just then peetwo let out a number of beeps and blurps.

' I'll tell you all about it later,' Leebo told the little droid.

Dash answered still staring at the two men as they disappeared inside, ' Yeah, I know.'

' What are we going to do, sir?'

' I don't know yet, but we got to do something,' He pondered.

Peetwo let out another succession of blurps and beeps, but this time a longer stream with several deeper tones. As he squealed out his message his whole metal body jerked from side to side as if he was walking in place and his round dome twisted back and forth.

' Oh no! We can't do that.' Leebo told the droid looking down at him. ' You know there are laws about such things, and besides, you're a droid, you shouldn't be suggesting such things.'

' Let's get that suitcase,' Dash interrupted, ' Get something to eat and we can set down and devise some kind of scheme. Then we'll decide what steps we'll have to take to get back at Prince Xizor and the Hutt. We've got to come up with a fool proof plan. Something that can't go wrong and be detected.'

Dash, Leebo and peetwo proceeded into the docking bay and found the hanger where they left the suitcase. They found the locker, opened it, took out the satchel and went through the tunnel that read Meltdown Café District and traveled through the corridor until they reached the restaurant . They went in and set at a table near the front window so Dash could watch all of the activity on the busy sidewalks.

It was still early and the mornings air was crisp with a slight chill even inside the semi-busy café. A waitress droid came over to their table and taking a paper pad and a pen in hand asked, ' May I take your orders, sir?'

The scene was amusing to Dash thinking the paper and pad was old fashion in this modern day of recorded messaging. Then he noticed that the entire place was decorated in an older style that was different from when he and Leebo had been there two days before.

' Are you ready to order, sir?' She recanted.

' Oh! I'm sorry. I was just noticing your new décor in here. When did you change it?'

' Last night, sir. May I take your order?' She asked again.

' Oh, I'm sorry. Give me two eggs, a steak, some hash browns, toast and a cup of coffee, black.'

' And you, sir?'

' He doesn't want anything, he's a droid.' Dash answered for Leebo.

' Oh! Of course not, Thank you!' The waitress said as she turned and went back to the counter to deliver their order slip.

Peetwo started peeping going up and down the musical scale, finishing with a loud bass note.

' What do you the mean that was funny?' Leebo indignantly asked peetwo. ' At least she thought that I was a humanoid. She didn't ask you what you wanted, did she? Well of course not.' Leebo answered as peetwo interrupted him with a short burst of beeps.

' If she had, now that would of have been funny.'

Dash looked out the window at all the pedestrians hurrying down both sides of the street as several land speeders, swoops, speeder bikes, hover craft and large trolleys pass by.

He leaned and looked up toward the sky as vehicles of all kinds traveled on invisible roadways at several different levels above the cement ground surface at street level. Several twin pod cloud cars, air speeders, air taxis, patrol ships and several other large and small transports filled the sky above and gave Dash a renewed feeling of the mass population of the Vertical City. He gently shook his head in amazement and breathe a great sigh.

While Dash was looking out the window and Leebo was watching the waitress and the people at the counter, peetwo rolled across the room on it's three wheeled legs with it's rotating head dome twirling around as it moved. The droid found a computer outlet and peetwo plugged into it and occupied it's time in the restaurant surfing the computer's programs.

Soon the waitress returned with Dash's meal. He looked down and grabbed his fork and knife, looked at Leebo smiled and said, ' Boy, you don't know what your missing Leebo. This is the best part of living, getting to eat all of this delicious food.'

' I hope it taste better than it looks, sir!'

' Oh! It does, believe me, it really does! You really don't know, do you. This stuff is really good.'

' No thank you, sir. I don't get hungry. I don't get tired and I don't get cold or hot and I never get sleepy, or have any pain.'

' Alright! Alright! You win. Your right, you have a lot of advantages over us humans, I'll admit that, but there are some things we have that are pretty good too. I wouldn't trade those for anything, not even eternal life of which you probably have too.'

' Well, I do have a power source, and they do run down you know.' Leebo pondered, ' I only hope that if that ever happens sir, that you or somebody else would repair or replace my power source. So you see, my existence depends on the kindness of others.'

As Dash finished his food, wiping up the remaining particles of egg on his plate with his last slice of toast, concentrating intensely on the business of cleaning the dish , Leebo set quietly watching his friend go about it diligently. Then with the last tiny morsel of egg saturated bread, Dash held it up with his elbow on the table and asked the now entranced Leebo, ' Well! What you want to do today? I think we deserve to take the day off and enjoy ourselves for a change, maybe see the city or something, take one of the tours. Yeah, that's it. We can take one of those sightseeing tours. You've seen those buses haven't you. That looks like fun.'

' Oh! How drool.' Leebo responded.' I can't think of anything worst than a boring tour. Please sir, don't make me go on one of those awful tours I beg of you.'

' Okay, I got the message. Let's at least go and take a look at some of the sights on our own. You'll do that won't you?'

' If I must, captain.'

Dash popped the final portion of food in his mouth and as he stood up he reached in his pocket and tossed a couple of credits on the table, grabbed the satchel that he had laid in the chair next to him and told Leebo, ' We had better put this money in the bank. I don't want to carry this much cash around with me.'

' Will it be safe, sir?

' Sure, why not. I'll start a new account. It'll be nice having a little nest egg in the bank.' Dash said.

' It'll certainly be different!' Leebo remarked.

The three comrades exited the café and walked two blocks toward the bank. On the way, Dash was stopped by a street urchin, a jowled Sullustan species from the home planet Sullust. The round-eared humanoid creature peered out at Dash with those large, round black eyes that was visible from beneath his orange and green visors.

He is playing a small flute with both hands as he stops momentarily to reach out for a donation. He begin chattering in an extremely subtle sound fluctuation that was muddled and indistinguishable.

' I think he wants some money, sir,' Leebo told Dash, who seemed agitated by the interruption of his thought pattern. Dash growled at the young ling,' Ah, get away from me!'

' That creature must be hot in that orange environmental suit, ' Leebo remarked, ' I'm sure glad I have no need for such things. '

' I don't know Leebo, ' Dash quiped, ' Maybe a pair of those green and orange vest would look good on you. At least you would be easy to spot from a distance.'

' No thank you, those subterranean gutter snips can just keep them, sir, ' Leebo shot back.

Just then peetwo sounded off with several sympathetic soft tone beeps that played on Dash's softer side as he paused and tossed the Sullustan several credits that the youth caught in his hat, ' Okay peetwo, is that better?'

The Sullustan patted peetwo on the cranium as the droid peeped in several higher tones that ran up the musical scale as it's head spun in acknowledgment and the youngling chattered something back.

' You understand what he's saying,' Dash asked of peetwo as he continued walking and peetwo sped up in order to come along side as he let out several beeps.

' I believe he does, sir.' Leebo answered, as he turned to peetwo and warned him, ' You should be careful who you talk to peetwo. There are many dangerous sorts here, and you could wind up disassembled on some scrape heap if your not careful.'

As they continued on their way, Dash decided it would better to get a savings deposit box instead of a checking or savings account and in that way a crooked official at the bank couldn't tip off Jabba the Hutt that he deposited that much money or if he deposited any money at all.

Dash told Leebo and peetwo to wait out in the huge foray until he finish with the deposit drop as a bank clerk pushed a button to let him through a two foot high swinging door into a petitioned off cubical as he waited at a desk in interview Dash for a deposit box. While he was busy with that peetwo went rolling off with Leebo trailing behind.

' Where are you going?' Leebo asked chasing after the droid.' Wait up! Not so fast.'

Peetwo let out some beeps going from a high range of tone down to a lower one.

' Well! I never. You know I can't move as fast as you can on this flat surface. All your doing is rolling, I have to walk all the way. What's that? You think you can beat me in a race on any surface. Would like to make a wager on that?' Leebo argued.

Peetwo let out several high scaled beeps punctuated with deep bass blurts every fourth or fifth note. As he sounded off the droid would twist it's dome back and forth and would move around in a circle leaning from side to side.

' What do you mean, I don't have any money. Me and Master Rendar are rich. Very rich in deed. The one that don't have any money is you. All you do is make noise and track up the ship with your greasy wheels. Then I have to clean up all the marks that you leave. If it wasn't for me you wouldn't be here.'

' Oh, don't get all upset now, you know I didn't mean it. Of course your important to the team, and yes what ever money I have is yours too. We are all rich. So go over there and occupy yourself until the captain returns. Whatever you do, try to stay out of trouble. You're my responsibility, so do what I say!'

Peetwo continued around the huge room exploring and Leebo return to a seat by the wall where Dash had entered the closed off safety deposit area. Leebo picked up a magazine he found left on a bench and began thumbing through the pages. It was a magazine of the new droid models and as he reached the centerfold he turned the magazine sideways to look at the featured protocol female model 3FPO.

A bank official led Dash to a wall where the boxes were kept and showed him how to use his key as the official also put a key in the box's key hole and they both turned their keys at the same time. The clerk removed the box and took it to a closed off booth for privacy. He set the box on the table and told Dash that when he was done to call him and they'll return the box back to it's place in the wall and lock it up.

Dash sat down on one side of the table, opened his briefcase and started putting the rapped bundles of money inside the box in a nice neat order. As he got down to the bottom of the briefcase he noticed a vanilla folder and as he loaded the last of the money he took out the envelope and discovered several official papers inside. He read some of the papers and realized that Hirum Johnstone was Jabba the Hutt's lawyer and official book keeper. As he skimmed over the next important document he discovered something that made him drop the papers to the table.

' Oh my god! ' Dash said to himself,' Those bastards were in it together.'

Dash resumed reading the papers. They were bank statements from the same bank that he was now in and a query to Hirum Johnstone, the accountant.

Hirum had been depositing money for Prince Xizor and Jabba the Hutt into a joint account under the name, Galactic Transport, Inc. There was several canceled checks in the briefcase, one made out to Prince Xizor from the manager on Ylesia for a load of spice and a check made out to Jabba from Prince Xizor.

Dash looked at some of the other documents and found other slush fund accounts at other different banks. Also in the paper work were receipts from Kessel for spice loads that were purchased by Jabba the Hutt from Moruth Doole, the same person from whom Dash had picked up his last load from several days ago. The briefcase had a few canceled checks from Planetary Insurance, Inc., and the Intergalactic Insurance Corporation, that were both made out for the same loads of spice that were picked up at Kessel and hijacked a couple of days later.

What Dash had discovered was a business partnership between Jabba the Hutt and Prince Xizor. Jabba would contract someone like Dash to pick up a load of spice from Kessel that Jabba would insure through two different insurance companies with policies on the same load. Then Prince Xizor would hijack the loads and sell them at Ylesia with phony receipts saying that the loads were his. He would then give Hirum Johnstone the check to deposit in the Galactic Transports account, a phony company, to launder the money and to make it seem that everything was legal and above board.

It became a huge paper trail that would make it difficult for anyone to detect. The only one they had to trust was Hirum. Dash figured that Hirum decided that since the whole thing was so complicated that Jabba and Prince Xizor wouldn't realize anything if he would steal some of the money himself. When he deposited the checks, he could write out a withdrawal slip to take out some money for himself. In that way he could show Jabba the deposit slip with the right amount.

Since he controlled the bank books, he could change or hide whatever he stole through his accounting knowledge, and a set of phony books. He then put that money into the briefcase and hid it in the locker at the hanger of the spaceport. When he returned to Nar Shaddaa after checking in with Jabba, he'd pick up the briefcase and make an escape Off World.

Jabba the Hutt, being the cautious crook that he is known to be, must have had someone following Hirum. Hirum knew that he had a tail and that's why he bummed a ride from Jocko.

Hirum made Jabba suspicious by trying to trick who ever was following him. That gave him away, and in doing so he eventually signed his own death warrant.

Dash put the papers back into the folder and placed the envelope on top of the well stacked money.

Then he remembered the money that was his share of the IG-88 loot that he had in a paper bag in the inside pocket of his jacket. He took it out and placed all but one bundle of the cash underneath the folder in the box as it was now nearly full. He returned that bundle of money to his inside pocket, closed up the box and called for the bank clerk to put the box back where it belonged.

Dash and the clerk repeated the process they did earlier and the clerk told him to make sure to put the key that he had into a safe place and not let anyone know his box number or what the key even went to

He told him to lock the key away and had him sign his signature three times on a small signature card. He told Dash that when he came back again that he would have to sign another card and they would check his signature with what they now have on file to see if they match.

He also told him that the address that Dash wrote down as his place of resident would also be asked of him and if he got it wrong that he would not be able to access the box. These are normal and routine procedures that the bank clerks must follow and if they don't when he returns that he should report whom ever helps him to the head clerk. That these procedures are in place for his protection and the protection of the bank.

Dash thanked the clerk and then followed him out into the main foray where Leebo was patiently waiting. ' Well, you ready?' Dash asked.

' Indubitably!' Leebo responded.

' Where's peetwo,' Dash asked looking around the immediate area for the little droid.

Just then peetwo came wheeling toward them with a small Rodian child chasing him as he was peeping away like a wild goose. He spun around to be behind Dash's legs for protection as Dash looked around at him and then back at the angry child. Just then the kids father came running after him and caught him by the arm just as the child had reached Dash.

' Whoa!' Dash called out turning the palms of his hands toward the charging child as if to prevent him from ramming into his legs.' What's going on?'

The father told Dash that his child was playing with his droid and the droid gave his child an electrical jolt. Dash looked around at peetwo and frowned at him as the droid seemed to recoil as if Dash was going to slap him.' Did you do that peetwo?' Dash asked as peetwo lowered it's crown and slowly turned it's top back and forth twice.

' I'm sorry, but my droid is not child broken, if you know what I mean.' Dash flipped the father a credit with his thumb and told him,' Here, go buy your son a galactic malt or something, on me.'

As the father dragged the squirming child away, Dash and the two droids went out the rotating glass door of the bank onto the busy sidewalk. They turned and headed down the street a block and a half until they came to a turbo-lift, which is a faster model of an elevator, that went up the outside of one of the tallest buildings in the surrounding neighborhood.

They entered the turbo-lift and as it rose they could see the magnificence of the beautiful city as it stretched out before them. The higher the turbo-lift got the smaller the people on the ground became until they looked like ants on a miniature road set and the vehicles looked like toys moving very slowly.

They stopped and the turbo-lift doors opened behind them and as they turned they could see a wide flat surface along the side of the building with numerous people walking in both directions. It was like the ground level street traffic but without the vehicles, and literally twice as many people. It was like another complete city high in the sky, and above them was five more levels of the same.

Just beyond the fenced off edge of the outer walkway was the vehicle traffic going both ways just like a street and each level was the same. It was as if the city was a huge layer cake with seven layers, one on top of the other. The railing along the outer edge was just two decorative glass bars running parallel connected to glass posts every 3.5 meters that every so often ended with openings approximately 14 meters wide that allowed for a taxi or transport vehicles to load or drop off customers.

In between the buildings were parking areas with the sidewalks in a continuous flow that meant the traffic traveled above and crossed over the other vehicles at the intersection. When a vehicle wanted to turn the corner it had to drop down to the lower level and enter the flow below like an on ramp, picking an opening between vehicles.

The continuous sidewalks connected the buildings on the same side of the street and every two or three blocks an enclosed archway enabled pedestrians to cross the street, with the street traffic passing underneath. On every building was a turbo-lift traveling from the top story down to the ground level and each one was lit in multi-colored lights that reflected off the numerous glass windows and shinny silver makeup of the tall structures.

Dash noticed several patrol vehicles mingled in with the traffic as he pointed out several other differences to Leebo, ' Hey, Leebo. There's a lot more patrol speeders up in this area. Look at them all.'

' I believe there are more humans up here as well, sir' Leebo commented.

Dash looked around at all of the people walking on the sidewalk. Ninety percent were human. There were only a few scattered Rodians and Twi-lek among the crowds of pedestrians. The others were mechanical in nature including; protocol droids, some Model E droids accompanying several younglings as playmates, as well as canine guardian droids, a few MSE-6 mouse droids scurrying under foot and jetting in and out among the many obstacles, a few flying messenger droids and some droids that were waiting at some of the transport stops to help disembark customers. There were even a couple traffic droids stationed every so often watching people as well as vehicles directing the mingling of the two.

Dash and the two droids continued walking down the walkway coming to a section that was doorway with white gloved attendants checking well dressed couples dressed in evening attire in a reservation book and hand removing a velvet rope allowing them into the establishment.

At the curb, uniformed red-cap attendants opened vehicle doors for more well dressed customers to exit shiny black luxurious limousine transports and several taxi cabs as the vehicles were lined up at the exit ramp waiting their turn to disembark with two vehicles being unloaded at a time.

At several different moments some of the female members of the crowd of on lookers let out squeals and cheers as certain couples came into view.

As Dash and his two droids came closer to the gathering, Dash asked one of young Twi-lek females who seemed excited about the whole affair, ' Hey! What going on?'

' Oh! It's the celebrity event of the season. Don't you recognize Analaya Zandoski and Slick Portalee.'

Dash shook his head no, ' I'm afraid not. Who are they?'

' Who are they!' She spurted out not taking her eyes off the movement of the couple as they made their way inside the restaurant. ' They're probably the greatest actor and actress ever to come to this ungodly place, that's who.'

' How about all the others?'

' Well, I guess some of those are actors too. Most of them I don't know, but I did see Malory Appleton and directors Georgio Mucus and Stefeno Smillberg go in earlier. This is just about the most exciting thing that's ever happened around here.'

' Why are they here, madam?' Leebo interrupted.

The Twi-lek looked around to see who addressed her in such a manner and discovered Leebo leaning slightly to his left looking over her shoulder. ' Oh! They're here for a luncheon and to promote the opening of their new film, Galactic Warriors. It's premiering at the Inter-planetary Theater tomorrow night. Do you have a ticket! Everybody's going. The place is going to be packed. Me and my friends are going. We've had our tickets for a month now. We got them on line through Danfago.'

Soon the last of the guess entered through the glass doors of the building and the attendants moved to stand in front preventing any of the on lookers from entering. As the young Twi-lek turned back around she spoke dishearten, ' I guess that's it. They're all here.'

' I guess you'll go home now, ha!' Dash asked.

' Are you kidding? Another hour or two, the banquet will be over and they'll be coming out. Maybe I can get one of their autographs or something. Wouldn't that be tubular!'

' Yeah tubular. Real cosmic, man. Real cosmic. Well, good luck to you young miss and I hope you get what your after, ' Dash said as he started down the promenade, with Leebo and the little peetwo trailing behind.

Farther down to the next block, Dash spotted a rest area petitioned off for weary shoppers that had numerous glass benches that was intermingled with several different water fountains spraying multiple colors. There was also a variety of plants including three various types of ferns mingled with bamboo plants, a couple pink crate-myrtle, a Venus fly-trap and several clinging vines.

Dash found a secluded bench away from any of the others that were there. He then set down saying, ' Come here I want to tell you what I found out at the bank this morning.' He told them about the partnership between Jabba and Prince Xizor, and their scheme to steal spice loads and collect the insurance, splitting the profits between them.

' What can we do to get back at them, sir?' Leebo queried.

' I'm still thinking about that, Leebo.' Dash pondered,' There's got to be way to steal their money where they end up blaming each other. Maybe we can bring in the authorities to catch them bare handed or something. I don't know yet, but there's got to be a way. I think maybe I'll have to get away from thinking about it for a while so I can clear my head and maybe I can formulate a plan later or something.'

' I'm glad I told you though. At least that burden is off of my mind. It was starting to weight on me a little. I was having trouble concentrating there for a while. I feel better now. Come on, let's go find some excitement around here.'

The two of them got up and with peetwo close behind them they headed down towards the next block that had a huge multi-colored neon sign that lit an entrance into a casino. The entrance had a large crowd of people standing on both sides of a set of sliding glass doors. Several patrons were entering and exiting through the doors as Dash and his two droids drew near.

' This looks like a hot spot,' Dash quipped.

' Sir, do you think they allow droids?' Leebo asked.

Dash looked through the windows and saw several droids inside and looked at Leebo, pointing with his thumb towards the window, ' Sure looks like it. Come on, let's go inside.'

The three of them entered as a gush of centrally heated air poured down on them as they stepped through the door's threshold into the noisy spacious room. They stood there inside on the plush red and green carpet surveying the surrounding activity. ' Oh, my word!' Leebo said surprised at the many activities that were taking place.

Inside against the back wall to the left was a crowded long decorative bar that had multi-screen sporting events above on the wall. To the right were several rows of cushioned green seats with numerous customers enjoying which event they were watching as each screen was showing something different.

Throughout the center of the facility were numerous gambling machines with brightly colored scenes showing all types of games of chance. Mechanized poker and sabacc games as well as jubilee and roulette wheel games and tumblers with various fruits and numbers twirling around, all making loud noises with beeps and hooting sounds. Each machine had multi-colored glass spirals jetting up a half of a meter above them that added to the glow of lights and the noisy chatter of all the patrons.

' Man, I don't feel like gambling. How about you, Leebo?' Dash asked.

' Not me sir. Maybe we should find a place that is not quite so busy, captain,' Leebo told him.

' Yeah, and not quite so noisy either,' Dash admitted, ' Come on, let's try someplace else.'

Dash turned and headed back out the door followed by his two companions. As they got outside and moved away from the crowd malingering just outside the entrance, Dash breathe a breath of fresh air and remarked, ' Thank goodness I'm out of there. That place was a little too much. All of that noise and those damn machines were making me nauseous. I guess that's a little too much action. Let's try and find a place a little quieter with less people like you mentioned, Leebo.'

The three companions walked down the walkway another block until they found another venue that wasn't as crowded and no way near as noisy. They went through the glass doors as Dash observed, ' Gee! Is everything made out of glass around here?'

' Most certainly sir,' Leebo answered as peetwo also peeped in agreement. Just then another small droid, an R2 unit approached peetwo and the two droids started peeping continuously as they rolled away over the blush carpet.

' Oh great, now even peetwo is scoring before I am now. That just makes my day. Come on Leebo, now I need a drink.' Dash said dishearten.

The two companions head for the bar that sets in the back of the room to the right. As they walked past several groups of humans standing at tall tables that didn't have any chairs, drinking and talking in loud conversations, Dash notices other groups to his left seated around shorter tables playing various games.

On the wall to the left was four gigantic video screens broadcasting the same sports events that he saw in the last place with another square set of rows of chairs similar to the casino as well. One of the main differences between the two places was that this one didn't have gambling machines and the noise that they caused. Instead, it had various groups playing games where wagering wasn't involved. It also had numerous groups who were just drinking and talking. One thing that was the same was the mixture of humans with other species. The humans still held a dominate number as was the same as on the walkways outside.

Dash reached the bar and found a couple vacated stools for Leebo and himself as they set down and ordered their usual. A fizzer for Dash and nothing for Leebo.

' This is pleasant, ' Leebo remarked as the waitress brought Dash's drink.

Dash turned and spotted a dejarik table that no one was at and said to Leebo, ' Come on, I'll play you a game of dejarik.'

' Oh! Well of course sir.'

They went over and turned on the machine's power source and set down. Seconds later, the holographic figures rose from the projection scene inside the boards playing surface. ' Go ahead Leebo, you move first.'

As Leebo made the first move with his savrip piece, Dash noticed a man looking his way. Just then the man stood and made his way over to him. The man was dress in freighter togs, had dark black hair and a two day stubble of a beard on his face and rough, rugged look about him as he stepped up beside Dash.

' Hey! Is your name Dash Rendar,' He asked.

Dash continued making his counter-move on the board game bringing out his wampa that mangled Leebo's piece as the savrip disappeared from the board and all of Dash's pieces roared in triumph. Dash raised his eyes to look at the man and replied, ' Yeah, that's my name, who wants to know?'

' You don't know me, my name is Josh Olsen. I'm a friend of John Massant. I got a transmission from him and he asked me to warn you that the bounty hunter Boba Fett is looking for you. I guess one of his contacts on Nal Hutta wired him. He didn't say how that guy found out but I guess the guy's pretty reliable.'

Olson continued, ' He kind of described you to me that's why I was looking at you kind a strange. I figured you were Dash. There's not that many people around here that are dressed like we are. Especially above street level, if you know what I mean.'

' Yeah, I know what you mean. Thanks for the information and if you get a chance thank John for me.' Dash told the man.

' Will do. I'll be headed for Kessel in the morning. John told you about that meeting that some of us contractors are going to have on Kessel didn't he? ' Josh Olsen replied as he started to leave but turned back to ask Dash.

' Yeah, he did.'

' Sir, you should tell him about the evidence you found about Prince Xizor and Jabba.' Leebo interrupted.

' Evidence! What evidence is that?' Josh asked.

Dash told Josh about Hirum Johnstone and the briefcase full of damaging information about Jabba's business dealings with Prince Xizor and about their criminal insurance swindle.

' You should come to Kessel and show everyone those papers. In fact, I'd like to see them for myself. Do you have them with you?' Josh pressured.

' No, not on me, but it wouldn't take long for me to get them. Where are you staying tonight?'

' I'm not staying here tonight. I've got to fly out to Nal Hutta right now, but I'll be back about two in the morning. Maybe we can meet at the spaceport tomorrow early. I've got to leave before eleven tomorrow morning to get back to Kessel in time for that meeting.'

' Okay, but if we miss each other, give me a call on your transmitter on band 207. I don't know what we're gonna do yet, maybe I'll just give the papers to you and you can take them with you to Kessel. That'll save me a trip.'

'Okay, Dash. If I don't make it back on time or something goes wrong, I'll call you in the morning around ten. Well good luck to you and I hope I see you in the morning,' Josh told him as he turned, went out the door and down the street.

' Alright Leebo, your move,' Dash said.

' But sir, don't you think we should get out of here?' Leebo asked worriedly.

' We've got time. If the call came in from Nal Hutta like he said, then it'll take about eight to ten hours for Fett to reach us. Even if he was here now, he isn't going to do anything with all these people around. He'd wait for darkness and someplace else besides here. Besides, I don't run from no man, not even Boba Fett. Now that I know he's looking for me, that gives me an advantage, because he doesn't know I know.'

' I sure hope your right, sir.' Leebo said as he paused and then continued,' I was thinking about our situation sir, and about John Massant and the rest of the other captains. If they are going to approach the insurance companies about hiring a bounty hunter against Prince Xizor, wouldn't it be better if you took the information that you have in the safety deposit box to them in person, sir? They might need your support and if you told the whole story to the insurance companies yourself, wouldn't that be better?'

' You know something Leebo, your right. I don't know why I didn't think of that. But instead of telling the insurance people ourselves, we'll get the head guy to deliver it for us.' Dash pondered, ' You know, we could even get the insurance companies to turn that information over to the authorities. They also have their own investigators to look into these kind of crimes. We wouldn't even have to get involved in the whole mess. That's perfect! That's our way of getting back at both Jabba and the Prince without getting our names mixed into it.'

Two hours later, Dash and Leebo are into their fifth game of dejarik. Leebo moves his final piece the Acklay out and it immediately desecrates Dash's Varactyl in a fearsome battle. Then Dash brings out his final creature, the Rancor, and in one gigantic maneuver it ravaged Leebo's piece as Dash announces, ' Finally! I finally won one. Well, it's about time. I sure don't know what makes you so good at this damn game. I try to bring out the same piece that you do and I loose. Then later you bring it out in the exact same situation and you win. Why is that, Leebo?'

' Well captain, it's just knowing the right time to move a certain piece. I guess I have the right touch, sir.' Leebo admits,' My extensive data base enables me to scan the characteristics and the probability factors of each individual creature in accordance to it's reference to each individual circumstance. Then, I factor in the percentage of a particular outcome and cross reference the deniability quotient to determine what you call the human factor and come up with the right piece that will defeat another piece at that particular moment. It's relatively simple'

' Well, maybe for you it is, but to me everything you just said sounded like double-talk to me.' Dash told him,' Well, I've had enough. Go find peetwo and let's get out of here. We probably should go find a room for the night and maybe grab some dinner or something.'

As Dash turned off the game, Leebo went to find peetwo. Minutes later, the two droids came back with Leebo leading the way looking back over his shoulder down at the trailing P2 unit saying, ' I know she was a nice R2 unit, and very colorful too. Her blue and yellow color veneer was most striking. Yes, I know she was a lady. No, I didn't mean that at all. Well, of course not.' Leebo answered to several of peetwo's beeps and blurts.

' Are you two about done?' Dash asked.

' Why of course, sir. The little droid is just being a nuisance, sir. Most annoying at the very least,' Leebo states, ' Well, I know you are. No, I know you are.' He continues bickering with peetwo.

They exit the building and head down the block when Dash senses that someone is following them.

' You know Leebo, I feel like we're being watched or something.' Dash says as he stops and turns around checking out the surrounding area behind them.

' Oh my word. Who do you think it might be, sir?' Leebo asked as he too turned and searched the area with his sensor lenses. ' I don't see anything suspicious, sir.'

' I don't either, but I've got this funny feeling that someone is following us. Oh well, we'll just have to keep a sharp eye out just in case. Come on let's keep going. Hey look! Over there, there's a bath house. Man, that sounds just what I need, a clean bath. Hey, and look, they take droids too. Come on, you both could use a good cleaning too.'

They all enter through the doors to the bath house. The place is draped with lanterns and oriental designs all around the room. There are several men milling around, some wanting to get checked out and some waiting to get checked by a woman behind a counter. There is also several Asiatic women going about their duties making sure everyone is accommodated with what they need.

They are greeted by a young oriental woman, ' May I help you, sir?'

' Yeah, I'd like to get a bath for me and my two droids if I can. Do you have an autobath for them?'

' Oh yes, we have an autobath, but only for your LE unit. The other smaller unit will have to be hand washed.

' Fantastic!' Leebo exclaimed, ' I really need a good cleaning. My circuitry has gotten all kinds of dust contamination and I believe I have a lot of carbon scoring as well. A good bath sounds just fantastic. How about you peetwo. I know you could use a good cleaning as well.' Leebo continues,' No, well of course not. I didn't mean anything by it. I just meant that we both needed a good cleaning. Your getting awful sensitive ever since you met that R2 unit earlier.'

As Leebo steps into the autobath, the woman takes Dash over to the counter to the other woman and told Dash, ' She'll sign you in and give a locker key. When your done, I'll take you into the bath house through here.'

' Good evening sir, please sign this paper and I'll get you and this other gentleman your locker keys,' She said as she turned and grabbed two keys off the nails on the wall behind her. She turned back when the man waiting to the right started complaining, ' Please madam, I'd like to get checked out if you don't mind. I'm kind of in a hurry.'

Just then another man entered the shop. A short but slender man who looked worst for wear, with dark black hair and a suspicious look about him.

' Oh, sorry sir, I'll be right there,' She said as she laid the keys on the counter.' Sir, you have locker number 333 and you sir have 218. Just go with Milee and she'll show you where to find your lockers.'

Dash grabbed the key closest to him and he and the other man followed Milee into the locker room. They went through a set of swinging doors, down a short hall and through an open archway that led to the locker room. Dash found the locker that corresponded with the number on the key, opened it and put his belongings into the locker and locked the door. The other man was busy all the while looking for a place to change out of his clothes as the women showed him some stalls to the left.

' Would you like your clothing washed too?' She asked Dash as she waited for the other man to finish getting undressed.

' Yes, that would be great.' Dash agreed.

' How about you sir? Would you like your clothes washed too?'

He told her yes and then she turned to Dash and said,' You can change in here. There are soaps and towels in there and the bath facilities are through there. I will place your cleaned clothes back in here and when your both done you can throw your dirty towels in that hamper. Take as much time as you want. It'll take me twenty or thirty minutes to hand wash your P2 unit, but there is still no hurry. Just relax and enjoy your bath. If you want any drinks, just let me know and I will serve you.'

' Yeah, I'll have a Rangoon fizzer if you don't mind,' Dash replied.

' How about you sir, do you want a drink?'

' Yes, I'll take a Galactic Ale if you have one?' The man called out.

' Oh yes sir, that's one of our most popular drinks here.' She quipped,'. I'll bring your drinks into you once you both get into your tubs'

' Thank you, madam.' Dash said.' Can you keep an eye on my droids for me. Just tell them to wait for me out in the lobby when they're done. I would sure appreciate it if you would.'

' Of course sir, they'll be find. We always take care of our customers.'

Dash went into one of the stalls to change when the other man came out of his and went over to the lockers. He looked puzzled and then turned toward Dash and said, ' Sir, I think we got our keys mixed up. I have number 218 and you've got mind.'

' What!' Dash said disgruntled.

' Oh, never mind. I guess it doesn't really matter. Besides, you've already put your stuff away. I'll just use locker 218. They're all the same anyway. By the way, my name is Evan Gardner.'

' Oh hello, my name is Dash, Dash Rendar.'

' I'm here from Hapes. I'm here on business, the import-export business. What do you do?'

' I'm an independent contractor from Corellia. Right now I'd like to just take it easy and have a nice quiet bath if you don't mind.'

' Oh, sure. I'll just let you alone if you don't feel like talking.'

' That'll be great, I really appreciate that,' Dash told him.

Dash finished undressing, threw on a towel, came out of the stall and went through a curtained doorway into the bathing room where there were several ground level pools of scented water. There were three other gentlemen already there in three of the tubs drinking and relaxing. Steam escaped from the hot bath water and the room was darker than the locker room. The tiled floor was wet and somewhat cold on Dash's feet as he picked the tub furthest away from the others and took off his towel and stepped into the warm pool of fragrant water.

Evan Gardner went to the other side of the large room and started a conversation with the men close to his tub as he too slide into the hot bath.

Minutes later, Milee returned with their drinks and placed them next to the edge of the water where the men could reach them. ' I'll be back and forth, just let me know when you want another drink.'

' I'll save you a trip. When you come back, just bring me another.' Dash told her with a big smile on his face.

Three drinks later, Dash laid relaxed in his tub just taking in the warmth of the hot scented water. The din of the other men's conversation soon faded into his thoughts of the past several days and of his adventure on Ord Mantell. The lost of his friend and the narrow escape at the hands of IG-88.

' Sir! Are you done with your bath yet?' Leebo asked startling Dash, who didn't see him approach.

' What! Oh, yeah I guess so. You about ready to get out of here,' Dash spoke as he started to climb out of the tub. ' Whoa! I guess that stuff could almost put you to sleep. What time is it anyway? I'm starved.'

' Sir, it's exactly seven- twenty seven and thirty-nine seconds,' Leebo answered looking at his wrist computer screen.

Just then, Dash heard a commotion coming from the locker room. As he and Leebo rushed into the room, Evan Gardner was standing in front of an open locker shouting, ' What kind of place is this. I've been robbed! Look, someone broke into my locker and took everything.'

At that moment, three women came rushing in and Evan repeated his discontent with the establishment and demanded satisfaction. The women told him that they had insurance and anything he lost would be covered.

' Just think of it,' Evan pondered,' If you wouldn't of grabbed the wrong key, it would have been your locker and not mind that would of got robbed. Isn't that strange how a simple thing like that could change everything?'

' Yeah, that's strange alright. Come on Leebo let's get out of here.' Dash said as he grabbed his freshly washed togs and went into a stall and changed clothes.

As the women took Mr. Gardner in the other room to call the authorities, Dash checked out and he and the two droids went out the door and down the street toward a hotel just on the next corner.

' We'll check in here and get a room. They have a restaurant it looks like, so I can grab some grub and we can settle in for the night.'

They entered the hotel and registered. They went up to their rooms and Dash asked the two droids, ' You guys want to go back down or do you want to stay here?'

Just then peetwo turned on the full wall projection screen on and let out several beeps in answer to Dash's question. ' Yes sir, we'll be just fine here, sir. We'll just watch the video screen and scan the computer web sites. You can go ahead without us, I'll keep an eye on peetwo so he won't get into any trouble, sir.' Leebo answered.

' That's alright, I think peetwo can take care of himself. He doesn't need a babysitter. You too just take it easy and I'll be back a little later on, okay?'

Dash went back out, into the elevator and back down to the main lobby where they had checked in, across the foyer from the registration desk and into the restaurant.