Enroute to Nar Shaddaa
Ebon Hawk
Marai
The three days to Nar Shaddaa were...interesting. We had to go there anyway, but I had another reason. With Peragus gone, Telos desperately needed fuel. The nearest supply after Peragus was Nar Shaddaa, and that meant dealing with the Hutt.
We had barely left, sitting down to dinner when problems began. The Mandalorians have what they call the Warrior's story circle, where you sit and tell of your deeds. As a newcomer, it would be impolite to throw yours out there unless asked, so it is custom to ask one of the others.
They share another quirk with the Echani. The idea that Society is only warfare on another plane.
I was cook again. I think better when I cook, and had yet to hear a complaint. Visas got a bowl for herself and left. She was still leery of the others. Atton had seen Manda'lor and gone back to the cockpit with his. Kreia had her meal delivered. That left Bao-Dur, the Handmaiden, Manda'lor and myself. Manda'lor grumbled about the food a bit, but brightened when I found some Pipalli spice. Bao-Dur coughed a bit at the sharp smell, but that didn't stop him from eating. He had found a small sensor remote, and was looking over its innards as he ate.
"So Iridonian. You fought in the Mandalorian wars."
"Yes, I did. I was a technician."
"That gleam of anger at my presence says otherwise. You fought on the front lines."
"A lot of times no one knew where the front lines were." I replied.
"But there is honor in such battles. Come. Tell me of the battles you fought, and whom you fought alongside."
"Honor." Bao-Dur set down the remote, looking at him. I could feel his fury, but it had yet to explode. "I can do without such things as honor after seeing what fruit it bears. The destruction your warriors inflicted, the lives lost. All for honor.
"And look at your precious warriors now. Thugs, mercenaries, bounty hunters. It seems another word for honor in the Mandalorian language is credits!"
Manda'lor knocked back a shot of Tihaar. "I would choose my words more carefully if I were you."
"Gentlemen..." I tried to interject.
"You fought out of bloodlust. You and all your kind aren't happy unless you're killing! Where is honor when you are knee deep in the blood of the innocent?"
"Maybe to some soft Republic slug it looked that way, but we went to war to prove our new generation, to find the honor and the glory in the heat of battle."
"Gentlemen..." My tone was a bit firmer, but it did as little good.
"The Republic ignored us!" Manda'lor snarled. "The finest warriors in the galaxy and we were ignored as if we were trained animals. Even outnumbering us they refused to fight for almost 13 years! We had to goad them!"
"You couldn't be satisfied with what's outside the Republic!" Bao-Dur roared. He stood quivering with fury. "My world fell to you, and it was devastated when it was liberated!"
"Thank Karath. He was in charge. It was he that ordered blasting every defense post, even those that were unmanned. Unmanned I would point out intentionally because your people built them near cities. We do not make war on civilians, but we honor the threat. He merely removed that threat even when they knew we would not man them." Manda'lor was standing, and it was two herd leaders facing off. "The Republic knew enough about us to know our ways, yet we get the blame when they caused such things!"
"The Mandalorians got what they deserved at Malachor! We should have erased you from history!"
"But we were not. And a warrior learns as much from his defeats as he does from his victories."
"I am so glad you're guarding my back with that attitude!"
"Enough!" I shouted. I stood, glaring at them both. "First, Bao-Dur, the Mandalorians attack only active defenses. They have their exceptions, and those are reviled more by them than by us. If you read the history we destroyed as many planets as they did in that war.
"Manda'lor, most people in the Republic would rather that war be dead and buried. It is like an old wound that we don't want to remember. So let it be, both of you."
"Fine by me." Manda'lor returned to his meal. Bao-Dur snatched up the remote.
He started to storm out but paused at the door. "I want to hate your people. But it isn't you I hate. I was a quiet young man that never hurt an insect. That thought every life was precious. You burned that away when you destroyed my home, you took that boy and turned him into a murderer little better than you are.
"I hate you because what I am now was made by you."
I sighed, sitting back down. The handmaiden sipped her drink. "So every night will be a new foray into the brave new world of indigestion?"
I chuckled.
There isn't much to do in hyperspace. Nothing beyond a large gravity field will reach into it, and you are perfectly safe as long as the hyper drive generator works. Ours was a bit ragged, but it worked.
I spoke with Visas, drawing her slowly from her shell. It was not something I expected to finish any time soon. I sparred with the Handmaiden. She had a fluid grace that made the lightsaber a perfect weapon for her. With the weapons set on practice, we used every centimeter of the cargo hold.
Then there was Kreia.
She called me not long after we had lifted off, motioning for me to sit.
"If you must have both student and disciple, I had better train you more rapidly." She said.
I took the seat for meditation. "You brushed the surface thoughts of the Miraluka. Since she is already partially trained, it was only a minor surprise. Those without the Force are harder to touch so. Close your eyes. Silence your thoughts. Think of the room of the Thousand Fountains."
I saw it. A work of art given by a race we had saved almost 20,000 years ago, it represented every world that had been in the Republic at that time. Every one spraying in it's own pattern, each unique. But so well designed that four times a day, they would all be exactly in synch, one massive beautiful spray for about two minutes.
"Now still them. Make them silent. Imagine that the ice of Telos has frozen them in an instant. "
Suddenly they stopped. The room was deathly still.
"Good. Now listen about you. Not to your own thoughts, but to those about you."
Visas knelt. I could hear her thoughts as if she spoke to me. Kreeon, Variala, Maris, Canalaro-
She repeats the names of her beloved dead. Her father, her mother, her brother and her sister." Kreia sighed.
The handmaiden moved in a choreographed dance that was both beautiful and lethal. I could hear her; the form is the ocean, the rock, the wind, the flame. Every move has a perfect complement, every strike the perfect target. If faced with fire, use water, if faced with rock, use wind, each has a unique weakness.
Faster, I must be faster. If father had been swift, he would be alive today. Revan said he was worthy of respect. Was that because she had killed him? Or because he had fought well? If I were faster I would not be the last of the sisters. I would gain their respect. What must I do to earn that? Why does Atris treat me so?
Does Atris feel physical love for Marai? Is that why she offered to bond? Was it Marai that ran, or Atris that pushed? Why did she send me? This is far harder than anything I have been sent to do before. Yet it was I that was sent. My sisters stay at home, they wait for my return. Perhaps when I do-
"What of your friend in the cargo hold?"
Bao-Dur finished linking the circuits, and the little remote drone hummed to life. It lifted, and for a moment he laughed, all of the pain and years fled and I could see the happy child he had been. The suddenly it was gone.
Why did we do it? Three million dead in less than ten seconds. We did it, General. You gave the order, I built it, but it was that bastard Quintain. I followed my orders, and now I see every face...
Kreia's voice dragged me away. "And what of our pilot?"
Atton was checking the systems as he did every hour. But his thoughts...
...Change the face of the variable one point card, totals nine-ten. Change the variable two point, total eight-eleven. Switch...
I shook my head. "What is..."
Can you hear me now?"
The difference between her mind contact with me at the beginning and now was astonishing. I could hear her as crisply as if she had spoken aloud. I reached toward her mind, and found myself thrust aside.
A master always has secrets she does not teach her student immediately. Leave it at that. She cleared her throat. "You take the first steps on a road that will never end."
"Why can't I hear T3?"
"His thoughts are not really thoughts as we understand the term. They are programmed responses, and heuristic reaction loops. Like Bao-Dur it is better to read their actions rather than their words."
"But I heard Bao-Dur!" I said.
She looked at me for a long moment. "It is odd that you heard him and I did not."
"Perhaps it is because we served so long together. But Atton's thoughts are confusing."
She chuckled. "He counts Pazaak cards in his head, engine sequencing, trade routes, even allows his baser lusts to come to the fore. Be glad we did not have to listen to that. Perhaps the one I call fool is no fool at all.
"Perhaps our pilot has so much he would hide from you?"
That thought plagued me for over a day. I had just finished a workout with the Handmaiden, and came to check the Navi-computer. Atton was at the controls as always. I wondered if he even slept there.
"ETA about half an hour."
"So precise." I joked with him. "Perhaps if you didn't play Pazaak in your head-"
"What?" His voice had not changed, but his entire aura did. I had gone from someone he knew to a target.
"You play Pazaak in your head. Why?"
"A lot of piloting is reflex. So it helps pass the time. It's not as boring to me as engine sequencing, trade routes, counting the ticks in the power couplings-"
"T3 and Bao-Dur fixed those."
"Yeah, but I can still hear them sometimes."
"But you do all of those things, according to Kreia."
"Did she tell you of fantasies with you Visas or the Handmaiden? If she were a bit younger I might even be thinking of Kreia. She was a looker when she was young. I can tell. She still has the body for it.
"Maybe you just had to look for yourself-"
"Atton, she was teaching me a new skill and I happened to look into your mind once, and only once. I apologize. I promise I will never do it again."
He looked at me. "Why bother? Jedi are all alike, dark side, light side, it doesn't matter. You have to look and see what's inside a man's head. I knew it as a child, and I developed this so everything in my life wasn't common knowledge."
"But why any of them?"
"Do you play Pazaak?"
I shrugged. "I know the rules, and how to play, but no, I do not. I don't gamble with anything but my life."
"Sit." He walked back into the ship, and came back with his cards. He divided the deck, and shuffled each set separate. Then he split the side deck of variable cards "Chose one."
"But I don't gamble."
"A friendly game. Republic Senate Rules." It was almost an order. I chose one, and we played.
I will not describe it to you. If you wish to learn Pazaak, then by all means get yourself a deck and play. I was beaten after about five hands.
"Now, what were you thinking about?"
"What?"
"While we were playing. What was on your mind?"
"Which variable card would be best to change on my next draw." I replied instantly.
"That's why I do it. I don't have to lock the door to my thoughts if they can't find it."
"So this helps you seal your thoughts?"
"No, from what I've been told no one can totally shield their thoughts. But this makes it harder for someone to look."
"Could you teach this to me?"
"Not unless you really want to get good at Pazaak."
"I am not that desperate."
"All right new rule. Some Jedi are polite about it." He turned back to the controls. "Get everyone together, we'll be there in a few, and we had better discuss the problem."
In Orbit of Nar Shaddaa
Marai
Atton had brought up the planet and moon on the holotank. "There you have it people. Nar Shaddaa. The gaping maw of Nal Hutta, and everything that travels through half of known space comes through here first. Home to mercenaries, refugees, and the biggest criminal syndicates in the Galaxy. If you want it, you can get it here."
"Too many of my people can't find their way back to their honor." Manda'lor growled. "They have become little better than thugs. So some will have come here."
"That happened to a lot of soldiers after the wars." I said. "They couldn't go back to their lives, and this defines them now."
"Nar Shaddaa is a great place to get lost in, though." Atton commented. "Traffic in and out is so thick that a ship can slip in and out unnoticed if they do it right. A man on the ground who wants to hide has millions of kilometers of buildings and billions of people to pull over him." He touched a control. "But if this guy you're looking for is anywhere, I'd say it's here. The Refugee Sector."
"The refugee sector?"
"Yeah, a lot of people were displaced by the wars. Some couldn't get to somewhere decent, and they ended up here. The Hutt allow it because it's a ready source of manpower for factories and warehouses. Something like half a million people crammed into old condemned cargo containers and living on what they can beg or steal. If your Jedi wants to hide, that's the place." He switched shots, this time giving us a look at landing pads scattered around it. "It used to be one of the cargo handling areas, so there are pads for everything from freight lighters to ships twice our size. Right now, that one is empty."
"Sounds like you've been here before." I commented.
"Anyone who's been on the wrong side of the law at one point or another has been here. Along with every spacer who has ever worked more than a year." He shrugged. "Once we're on the ground, no one will spot us, that I can guarantee."
"Then take us down."
Goto's Yacht
The meeting was quiet. Not because the people there wanted to be, but because Goto wanted peace and quiet aboard his ship. He tended to deal with loud voices by making them silent.
The top bounty hunters were represented and no one else. Everyone below these representatives had already gotten the word of what this meeting was about, only these were considered important enough to need personal attention.
The largest group was the Zhug family. Duros hate moving in small groups, and they were uncomfortable in groups less than eight or ten. The fact that only three were here was proof of Goto's power within the Exchange. The HK 50s, were there. Who had built them and why they had started working as Bounty Hunters was unclear. There were three of them as well, but they usually had enough firepower to smash the entire ship. However Goto had been smart enough to order their hard-points emptied for this meeting. Now they could only kill everything in the compartment.
Zora and Kaliea, the Twi-lek pair nicknamed the Twin suns lounged languorously. They always seemed amused, though usually only death would make them happy.
Finally Hanharr, the wookiee. The average wookiee is two and a half meters tall, Hanharr was a giant of his kind. He wore slave bracelets, a fashion statement that no one in his right mind questioned. After all, he might rip off the top of your head to see if he could find what suicidal impulse caused you to ask.
A black spherical battle droid floated in, passed them and turned. Then a hologram appeared. The man was an older human, long sideburns surrounding a chin that was smooth shaved. Goto, one of the most feared of the Exchange's leaders.
"It has come to my attention that A Jedi is approaching Nar Shaddaa as we speak."
There was a tightening of tension in the room. So much money-
"However my businesses cannot handle a Jedi's scrutiny at this time. So until she departs, the contract is in abeyance, though the truce is not. She has been given a round trip ticket by me." The head turned, looking at each group in turn. "Track her, observe her habits so you may catch her later. But if you eclipse her movements while she is on this moon, I will eclipse yours."
Why?" Hanharr roared. "A fortune walks among us and you expect our hands to remain empty?"
"This one failed Jedi is nothing of importance, but there is the other one who has eluded you all this time you could be hunting if you bestir yourselves. But if this Jedi dies or disappears here, it will bring others until not even you can kill that fast." Goto looked at the wookiee blandly. "Hunt her here, and your fellows will be glad to hunt you afterward. That is all." The hologram vanished, and the droid left the room.
"Goto's head is full of madness!" Azanti Zhug almost screamed. "There are few enough Jedi in the galaxy that this one has no army to call any more."
Kaliea looked at him with the disdain only a Twi-leki woman can do so well. "Oh please, you slug eating freak. Hunt her against Goto's wishes. My sweet sister and I would love to add you to our trophy belt. And your family will give you up to stay alive."
"Besides, it is not as if she intends to live here." Zora added. "She will leave, and the beautiful one will be caught by us eventually. Patience is a dancer's art after all."
"Yes." Hanharr growled. "Let the Duros hunt her. When I am through all of your heads will be on my trophy wall!"
"Never utter a threat you cannot carry out, animal. You may be the best in a forest, but among the more intelligent races out here you are a stupid child. You cannot even capture that red maned girl you owe a life-debt to. What is it, two or three times she has beaten the great Hanharr-"
Hanharr leaped to his feet. "Goto or no Goto. Speak of her again and I will carve my way through all of your family!"
"Request:" They all looked at the leader of the HKs, number 17. "If Goto's vessel is no longer considered neutral ground, would one of you creatures make such a statement, or draw a weapon? We would not violate the truce but if it is no longer valid, we have contracts on all of you." Weapons began to slide out of metal arms.
"We are not so stupid, machine." Zora commented. "Our orders are clear."
"A thought my dear love." Kaliea mused. "We are allowed to defend ourselves even within the truce."
"Observation: Jedi seem to be programmed with tolerance and nonviolence. It is statistically unlikely that she will strike at us first."
"True." Kaliea said. "But while Goto has given strict orders about the Jedi, he has said nothing about her companions."
They all looked at her. "And there are those that say you are the stupid one." Azanti said. Both women looked at him, and he was glad for the truce.
"Not unless they are under truce, fool." Zora said. "The last that said that died screaming in agony."
"Yes, it was a sweet afternoon of pleasure for me. I do so love to hear them whimper." Kaliea said with a sharpened grin.
Nar Shaddaa
Atton
I stepped out, taking a deep breath. "Just smell that! The beautiful stench of decay and desperation." The others came out with varying degrees of reaction to it. The three that flinched the least were Manda'lor Marai and of all people, Visas. I moved her from the 'maybe dangerous' list to the 'watch your back' list.
"This moon literally teams with life." Kreia said softly. "It is difficult to center yourself in such a place."
Visas was turning her head, a hound trying to catch an elusive scent. "Never have I felt a world so alive to the Force, yet dead to it. The contrast is like the back of a blade compared to it's edge."
"Well welcome anyway. Buildings almost three kilometers tall, and canyons so wide you can almost dogfight in them. Be careful where you step. You might never find the ground again."
Marai was looking around. She was unconsciously mimicking Visas. "Will this pad be safe?"
"If it doesn't belong to a Hutt or a Corp, no one cares about the pads. Since this is technically refugee territory, that benign neglect is heavy." I stamped, and everyone winced as the pad shuddered slightly. I grinned. "Don't worry. If it was going to fall, we would have caught it when the engines shut down."
"Yeah." Bao-Dur said in a whisper. "Too late to stop us from taking the plunge."
"Hey, you don't like risks, why are you with us?"
"I don't like the exposure." Marai mused. She paced, looking at the pad. It was half again the size of the Ebon Hawk. "Clear fields of fire all around. A fighter swarm could take us out without scratching the paint on the buildings."
"Never happen." I said. "We didn't transmit our ID code on the way in, so unless they had eyes on us every second, they won't know which pad to hit."
Marai looked at me. "Tell me you cleared us through traffic control."
"Well, I kinda forgot." I raised a hand before she could explode. "You wanted to find this Jedi master whatever-"
"Zez-Kai Ell." She replied.
"Yeah, whatever. If he wanted to hide where no one would find him, this is the first place to look."
"That does not explain why you did not notify traffic control."
"Do you think every smuggler signals 'hey here I come with my illegal cargo'? Don't bet on it. If you're not using a corporate or Hutt landing pad, they couldn't care less. Besides, I know a guy here that can get us a new transponder signature. There are something like eight of them in the computer, but T3 says they're all voice locked. I for one want to take that big bulls eye off my back."
"Then let's move out."
"All right oh fearless leader. Where do we move out to?" I waved theatrically. After all, I knew this area, she didn't.
"It doesn't matter where we go." Kreia said softly. "What we seek will find us eventually."
"Listen if you want to sit and mediate then by all means do it and leave us out of it." I snarled at her.
She gave me that disdainful look. "What I am saying you young fool is that this is not a hunt that has easy marks to follow. Finding one touched by the Force here is like trying to pick one leaf from a tree a kilometer away. The masses of people here are something few will be able to see through."
"The moon is a swirling cloak of thought fear and deed." Visas breathed. "Any with the Force can pull it over them like a blanket. But if I get close enough to him-"
"What will you do then?" The Handmaiden hissed. "I will not let you near him, witch."
Visas turned her head toward the girl. "I seek him because Marai does, woman." She waved toward our leader. "You think I still answer to the one who murdered my home, but it is her I serve until I die. This Jedi means nothing to me but if finding him speeds her search, I will seek him."
"We do not need your help-"
"Silence." Kreia snapped. "Arguing will not make the moon smaller, or the people fewer. This is as good a place to start as any."
They all looked at Marai.
"All right, Atton, you and the Handmaiden with me. Visas, do you mind doing the shopping for food?"
"I am here to serve."
"Then you and Kreia can do that."
"She can't even see the spots on the vegetable!" I wailed.
"Do you want to fetch and carry with her Atton? No? Then table the argument. Manda'lor, will you and Bao-Dur go check out the chandlers at the docks?"
"I will also check the mercenary listings. My people must know I am here, and where to go."
"Do that. While you are at it, watch for bounty hunters. If I can I will have that bounty lifted before we leave this rock."
What're you doing on my pad?" a voice growled. The figure flying toward us was a Toydarian, wings buzzing like a demented hummingbird, elephantine snout writhing. "What do you think you're doing landing on my pad like this?" As small as he was, he was as belligerent as most of his race was.
"It's a landing pad. Ships land on landing pads."
"Whoever told you that you had a sense of humor lied." He snarled back. "I got another ship coming in the next day or so, and they already reserved that bloody pad there." He pointed sharply at the pad to emphasize the last four words. "So push off!"
"A day or so?" Marai looked at him. "How about we pay for the day or so we're here?"
"Oh, and what makes you think I'll-"
"Fifty credits."
"Done! But I would suggest you be gone before the Red Eclipse arrives. They aren't known for their sense of humor."
"Neither are Toydarians."
"Hey, you want humor, go watch humans walk. Now push off."
"I can find us another pad a bit farther down if necessary." I said.
"Then let's get to it, people."
Marai
The Hutt had spread through their area of space and made themselves a tidy little empire not by being the suppliers or manufacturers. Not even by military might, though the Hutt tended to arm their ships as a matter of course. They built that empire by being the middlemen in every transaction. Back in the mists of history they had polluted their original home world into uselessness, and moved to Nal Hutta 'Gleaming Jewel' in their language. Since they didn't want to ruin this planet, they had built a series of warehouses and offices on the moon, Nar Shaddaa.
Now it was a mass of buildings rising kilometers into the sky. They had imported workers, managers, security forces and every other necessity. And of course, such a place caused crime to flourish.
No one in their right mind would deal with the Hutt if they could avoid it, but I was desperate. Telos had only a few months before Citadel Station fell. It was my fault in a way, and I had to correct it.
A pair of goons were bothering a man in tired old clothes, they left when they saw our expressions.
"Thank you." The man whispered. "The Exchange is keeping us trapped in the Refugee housing sector."
"Why?"
"We don't know. It started about two years ago. Suddenly a Quarren named Visquis sent out goons led by another named Saquesh, and the word was spread that if you wanted to work, he was your manager. Anyone who refused, were beaten into submission, or disappeared. If you wanted to work, you went to his hiring hall." He waved vaguely toward the door ahead. "You go where you are sent, work as many hours as they say, and all but enough to keep body and soul together goes to Visquis.
"Then it got worse. About a year ago, Visquis started offering people a way off the planet. But you had to pay. Those that could pay just left. But no one has ever come back to tell us where they were going. Fathers would go to find a place for the family, and never send any word. Parents would send their children to relatives, but the relatives say they never got there.
"I wanted out, but I don't want to get out the way Visquis allows. So I slipped by the guard on the refugee-housing door. But they caught me."
I handed him some money. "Go, get out of here while you have the chance."
"Thank you." He looked like he was going to cry. He ran.
"And what good did that do?" Kreia asked. "You yourself told the Handmaiden that no one is rich enough in time money or resources to help everyone. Why waste it on him?"
"Kreia, I can't just let people be abused. When I see it, and can help, I do."
"Like throwing money to the crowd in Iziz? Was that selflessness, or self interest?"
I shook my head. I was sick of having her at me like this. If We reached the door into the refugee sector. Atton tapped my arm. "I know a guy who can get us a new ID transponder. I'll talk to him. Wait here."
The rest scattered on their missions. The Handmaiden and I stood, waiting. There was a hiss from the shadows, and a nightmare of a bygone age stepped out. A Trandoshan. He stopped, hands out and up to show that he was unarmed.
"A word, Jeedai." He hissed. I motioned, and he approached. "You are very brave or very foolish, Jeedai. To land on Nar Shaddaa is to rest from your travels on the tongue of a Thunder-Beast of my home."
"I landed here because I must. You are?"
"Vossk. Once of the Bounty Hunter's Guild. But no more. They are no longer the Guild I swore to. They are now cowards and honorless betrayers of a proud ideal."
I considered. Considering the backlogs in the Republic courts, and the inability of law enforcement of different planet to even agree on what was illegal, a lot of crime went unpunished. Back not long after the Republic was formed, the Bounty Hunter's Guild was formed to capture as many of these criminals as possible. The Bounty ranged from a few hundred credits to several thousand, and a lot of them were 'dead or alive' because the people being chased were sometimes cold-blooded killers. But soon it merely became a way to kill someone you might be angry at legally. A lot of people assured the person arrived dead merely because while the pay might be different (In most cases you got only half as much if you brought in a corpse) it was simpler to merely kill them.
"These days there are few that bring in their quarry alive. The Guild has become a license to kill anyone and everyone. Few in the guild take pleasure in the hunt and the capture. Now they glory only in death."
"It sounds as if you hate them."
"Hate? No. There have always been some of that kind in the Guild. But the leaders here on Nar Shaddaa are all that sort. Except for a few, the Guild Rules are spat upon now as often as not. But there are some only a fool will ignore.
"A contract is honored if accepted. It can be set aside only by asking the one that issued it. When you hunt, if you discover another has already begun their hunt, you may both hunt the same prey, but are not allowed to kill the opposition."
It made a sick perverted sense when you thought about it. If you agreed to hunt someone, only the one issuing the contract could revoke your part in it. The prey belonged to the one that caught him. I said as much.
"But the fools are caught in the words they cannot disavow. Every major bounty hunter on the smuggler's moon have accepted contract for Jeedai. They have been told there is one here on Nar Shaddaa, and they hunt fruitlessly. Almost five years it has been, and they cannot leave the moon until he is caught because it was worded so in their contracts.
"But you have come. They would now seek you if the contracts had not been put in abeyance in your case."
"What?"
"The word has come down that you are to be left alone. Why I do not know. They must watch you like a tree-leaper of my world, but cannot leap to attack. They are getting... frustrated."
"How can I find out who has put a bounty on Jedi?"
"Simple. Let a Bounty Hunter take you, he will take you to whomever it is."
"I had hoped to avoid that."
"Hope is a currency of little value here. Make them come from the shadows. If you could I would say get them to break the law and hunt each other, but that is not likely to happen. If nothing else, break the truce that keeps them from hunting you here. Credits are the lifeblood of the guild.
"If all else fails, make trouble. If someone were to issue a contract on you, not as a Jedi, but as a person. it would cause some to take the chance. Even with the truce there are ways around it. They could get you to attack them, say. If you did, the Laws and the Truce allow for self defense."
"I may have to deal with someone from the Exchange. Would that do?"
He hissed in a pattern I recognized as a laugh. "Leaping into the mouth of a Thunder-Beast will get his attention, but the Exchange is like that animal. Only a fool wants that attention. But they have enough money to pay for a bounty. Surely enough to break the truce."
"Say they come after us, any idea who will try?"
"Try? Any bounty hunter worth the name. Succeed, there are few you need to worry about.
"There is a nest of Gand that came here right before the Bounty was set. They are confusing to other races, but as hunters they are excellent. They will hunt you anywhere and everywhere, and they have yet to fail.
"There are the Twi-lek pair called the Twin Suns. Zora and Kaliea, beautiful and deadly like a well-made blade. Their master on Nal Hutta tortured them, and it warped their minds. They danced for him one final time, doing an Echani Saber dance. When his body was found, the master was sliced thousands of times. They enjoyed that feeling of power, and now they hunt merely to feed the thrill again.
"Then there is the Zhug 'Family'. Banished from Duros. It is said they tried to overthrow the government, and fled the failure with only their lives. Azanti Zhug swears that when he gets the credits, they will return with an army and take the planet. Like the Gand there are hundreds of them grouped in separate clans beneath the Zhug name.
"A year ago droids of a series made by Systech suddenly entered the market. They are supposedly HK50 models."
"We have dealt with a few."
"They hunt, but why they do not simply walk away from the contract is unclear. The number of them here on the smuggler's moon is unknown.
"Then of course there are Hanharr and Mira. But the only thing that keeps them both alive is the truce. Hanharr is a Wookiee. Taken as a slave from his home world long ago. He killed the Czerka slavers, took their ship, and stopped here. But like the Twin suns, it has warped him. He now hunts exclusively humans. When he captures them, he sells them into slavery after brutalizing them. Only one has ever been caught and escaped. That one is Mira.
She escaped from him in this very moon, and to this day, no one knows how. She had taken her first contract as a bounty hunter before she was found; the second one she took was to hunt the Jeedai and only that kept her alive.
"Hanharr has hunted Mira since she escaped from him here on the moon, and only that truce keeps him from killing her. He has sworn to hunt her until the stars die of cold. But of all it is her I admire the most."
"A human?"
"She is before anything else, a hunter. She does not hunt for the kill. She accepts more contracts where the target is returned alive than any I have seen in decades. She kills rarely, but does not glory in it. To her it is something to be avoided. If you would follow my advise on how to find who has set this bounty, it is to her I would suggest you turn, for bringing you in alive would be her way."
"Thank you."
"Good hunt, human. You are the kind that deserves a decent hunt." He moved away.
"What an odd perspective." The Handmaiden said.
"Not really." I replied. "Have you ever hunted?"
"Yes, we needed to eat on Telos after all."
"Which hunt satisfied you the most? The one where you went out shot it and brought it home? Or the one where the animal made you work for it?"
She nodded. "He is like a master sword maker. He disdains the mass produced garbage that drive him from business because any idiot can plunk down a few credits for one that has been mass produced."
Atton returned, and reported that while his friend could still make us a transponder, he needed a clean navigational chip to do it on, and they were in short supply.
Suddenly I staggered;
I was home free. The crew of the ship that had landed had intervened, and all I had to do was get to the shuttle station. The money the woman had given me was enough to-
Three figures stepped from the shadows. I recognized one of Visquis's men as the stunner hit me. "You will love where we're sending you." He hissed.
Kreia's voice was suddenly there. "See? The Force binds everything. The slightest touch the smallest gift or the least harm reverberates through it.
"Your act freed him for a time, but those that seek him were angered. In reaction he has been chosen for a fate worse than any death you can possibly imagine. If he had stayed in the Refugee housing, he would have survived. They have not stooped to kidnap, yet. All you and he did was guarantee that he would become a target; for the Exchange does not let go it's power for anything.
"In the end, all you have wrought is more pain. They might have merely beaten him back to his nest. That is my lesson for you today.
I snapped back to the here and now. Atton and the Handmaiden were looking at me in concern. I shook my head, but I vowed I would find him and free him.
Twin Suns
They stood together, watching the woman and her companions across the Refugee sector.
"I want to taste her." Kaliea purred. "She is so close. I want to taste her flesh, her blood..."
Zora had to admit that her sister in death was downright stupid. But she danced well, and no one was more single minded on the hunt. "Patience, my sister. There is so much to savor in the hunt. Have you chosen?"
Kaliea pouted. "How about the young man with her?" She asked. "He looks like he will be fun in more ways than one."
"Yes... That one."
