CHAPTER SEVEN
Anakin, Naar, and the others rode into Anchorhead driving three of the four landspeeders they had rented in Mos Eisley, returning the fourth one to the trader they had brought them from. Anakin wasn't sure if Kyle Katarn would find a speeder large enough for him and the other troopers once he had freed them, but knew that the Jedi Master would find a way.
If he rescued the other troopers...
As they entered Anchorhead, Anakin wasn't surprised that it did not look much different from Mos Eisley, with buildings made of hard, sand-colored rock and residents of all species roaming everywhere. In fact, Anakin would not be surprised if all settlements on Tatooine looked the same.
"So where is this hideout, Jast?" Naar asked the smuggler, who sat in front of Anakin, beside Naar, likely so he would be under careful watch. Despite Kyle's reassurances, Naar didn't seem to fully trust the short man.
Jast pointed in a direction somewhere to his right. "It's right near the Tosche Station. Just keep going, I'll show you where it is."
The group continued to ride through Anchorhead, passing by a cantina, droid shops, lodges, and other businesses. They finally reached the outskirts of the settlement, where they found the Tosche Station right where Jast had directed.
The entire place seemed to be abandoned, with womp rats scurrying in and out of the unlit building. Damaged power convertors laid outside, as if someone had thrown them out of the station, and electric cables dangled from the top of the door way.
Vex let out a low whistle as he got out of the speeder Sev was driving. "Gee, whoever owned this place really let it go..."
Jast gave a somewhat solemn nod. "Sometime during the Civil War, Fixer left the station to join the Empire or something. And ol' Merl, the guy who founded the whole thing, left for Mos Espa and never came back."
Anakin stared at the abandoned station, uncertainty fixed on his face as he watched the womp rats claw through the mess of cables lying around.
"So where's the hidout?" he asked Jast. "You did say it was near the Tosche Station."
Jast responded with a lopsided grin. "Ah, I misphrased that. I meant it was under the Tosche Station. But close enough, right?"
Naar glared at him. "Anything else you'd like to tell us before we go in?"
Jast's smile faded, along with some of the color of his face. "No..."
"Good, because if something you didn't tell us about comes out of nowhere and starts killing us, I'll make sure it kills you first."
Sweat beads began to drip down Jast's face. "Master Katarn wouldn't be happy if you did that..."
"Maybe so," Naar said coldly. "But he wouldn't be happy with you lying to us either."
Jast gulped as he nodded. "Understood...Commander."
He then led the others into the Tosche Station, where Anakin suddenly sensed the strong smell of womp rat droppings and other odors and did his best to keep nausea from taking over him. They stopped before a hatch on the floor, hidden behind a counter. As Jast began to unlock it, the stormtrooper known as Kalvin tilted his bald head.
"Wait," he said, quietly and slowly. "How do you know how to get into this hideout?"
Jast gave him an uneasy chuckle, throwing a quick, nervous glance at Naar. "I've been here before. I used to be partners with a guy who owned this hideout before he died."
"Who killed him?" Anakin asked.
Jast's mirth vanished. "The same guys who own it right now..."
He lifted up the hatch and noise immediately blared out from under it. Below the door, Anakin could see what almost looked like an underground cantina. Shady patrons of all sorts of beings gathered at tables, drinking their beverages, while Nautolan musicians played their native music throughout the vicinity. The sight deeply contrasted the Tosche Station's one right above it.
Naar glanced at Jast skeptically. "Are you sure we'll find evil alien invaders here?"
Jast shrugged. "I can't promise anything...but I'd say this would be a good place to look."
The Iktotchi commander grunted. "All right. Anakin, Jast, Kalvin, Tesara, you're with me. The rest of you, stay up here."
"Good luck," muttered the young Duros stormtrooper Levat, eying the underground cantina below nervously. "You might need it."
Anakin, Naar, Kalvin, and the female stormtrooper Tesara followed Jast down a ladder that led into the cantina. As soon as they had set down, the music came to an abrupt stop and the place went silent. All eyes turned to focus on them.
Anakin froze, as did Kalvin and Jast. Tesara's hand twitched, reaching for her dual holstered blaster pistols and Naar simply returned the glares aimed at them. In order to ease the tension, Jast gave a nervous wave of his hand.
"Uh, hey, you guys! Remember me? Jast Kyjar? I was friends with Jago, remember?"
One of the patrons, a tall, burly Trandoshan, hissed. "You mean the guy who got his brainsss blown out by Zordo?"
Jast laughed uneasily. "Um, yeah. That guy..."
At the other end of the cantina, a Neimoidian bartender eyed Jast and the other warily. "What brings you here, Jast Kyjar?"
The short smuggler stood straight. "My friends and I are...looking for something."
The Neimoidian's gaze hardened. "For what?"
Jast glanced at Naar, who responded with a curt nod. Looking back at the bartender, he said, "Has anyone here heard of a Glorian?"
At first, silence hung over the room. Then, with each second, the click of a blaster sounded all around the cantina, sounding like a clock counting down the seconds Anakin and the others all had to live. Soon, every blaster in the cantina was aimed at the. Naar, Kalvin, and Tesara all brought their own blasters while Anakin ignited his lightsaber and Jast cowered behind them.
The Neimoidian bartender smiled cruelly as he brought out his own weapon. "You certainly have come to the right place...and the wrong one."
No comments:
Post a Comment