Chapter 2

Kate stepped into the landspeeder and waited for Dekka to climb in. They would travel to a nearby town, then wait for Dekka's friend to pick them up and drop them off on Talún. Kate could tell Dekka was concentrating on not crashing into something and sending them down in flames, so she remained silent for most of the trip. She only spoke to pester him as to how far they had yet to travel and when they would get there. His answer was always a disgruntled, "Soon enough."

Just when she was beginning to think that Dekka had gotten them lost, she spotted the city in the distance. Before long she was clambering out of the landspeeder clutching her luggage and trying to remain upright while stretching her cramped leg muscles.

"So where is this friend of yours? He owns a ship, I suppose," Kate said as they walked through the city.

"Yes, but he probably won't show up for an hour or so. Always late, that one." Dekka led her into the more dangerous side of town. "The landing pads are over there, right next to that long oval building over there, see?"

Kate eyed a few people standing on a street corner. She nervously placed her hand on the top of the blaster in her belt and walked a little closer to Dekka.

They reached the landing pad and found it completely deserted. Kate sat down against a rough mud-brick wall to wait and Dekka paced back and forth nervously. She had only met a few Jedi who happened to be passing through Carun, but from what Kate knew of Jedi, Dekka was acting very strangely.

He looks more frazzled than a Quinn caught in a hunter's trap.

Something in the air tickled Kate's nose and she sneezed. Dekka spun around, blasters drawn and a snarl on his face. When he realized nothing was there but a very petrified Kate, he shoved the blasters back into his belt and grunted, "Sorry about that. Can never be too careful because…" The rest of his words were drowned out by the roar of engines as a small ship descended onto the landing pad. The peeling silver letters on the side read, "The Royal Eagle."

Dekka walked over to it, the limp oddly gone from his step, a very un-Jedi-like sneer forming on his lips. Seconds after the ship hit the ground the doors burst open and his sneer turned into a dumbfounded gape as a second Master Dekka leapt out of the ship, green lightsaber and brown eyes blazing. Kate let out a cry of surprise and fired three blaster shots at the newcomer who easily deflected them with a twirl of his blade, sending them flying into the wall and leaving sizzling holes behind.

The first Dekka could only send one badly aimed shot at the second before he was knocked off his feet by some untold power emanating from the stranger's outstretched palm. He slammed into the wall and fell to the ground unconscious. Kate, who had been rooted to the spot, wrenched her feet from the dirt and ran towards Dekka, stopped short of his still form and faced the man advancing on them.

"If you want to kill him, you'll have to go through me," Kate said, trying to keep the panic she was feeling out of her voice. "I…" It came out as a shrill squeak and she swallowed. "I'm a Jedi," she said fiercely, attempting to look the part even though her heart was hammering loudly against her rib cage.

The man retracted his lightsaber and stowed it inside his robes, holding up his hands in a gesture of peace. "Calm down. There will be no killing today. I think you had best listen to what I have to say before making any rash decisions."

Kate's finger, which had been tense on the hair trigger she had installed herself, did not relax any. However, she lowered the blaster hesitantly, still ready to fire if he tried anything.

Looking slightly less intimidating, the stranger strode over to Dekka's unconscious body, knelt, and then seized his neck as though to strangle the poor man. Kate gave a yell and raised the blaster again, then gasped as Dekka's face came away in the stranger's hand, revealing a much younger, tawny-haired man she had never seen before.