through the human colonists on Gamma-lin.
"This last entry," Zekk said, scrolling ahead, "was made just one day
later." He punched up the record, and the image of a diseased, disfigured man
lurched in front of the recorder. His hands trembled; his skin had a slack and
blotchy appearance.
Zekk thought he recognized the dead controller Boba Fett had tossed out of
a chair only moments before.
"This plague has hit all of us," the man croaked. "Must've come in aboard
the ship of that alien trader. He brought the plague here."
The dying man sucked in a deep, shud-dery breath. "He's not affected by it.
He seems to know something about - it, though he is without symptoms. We have
imprisoned him in our small brig to give
He coughed. "To give us time to investigate.
"Crime was rare here on Gammalin. We all worked hard together to make this
our home. Now nothing is left to us but death. Everyone is dead. Man, woman,
child. I fear... I fear there is no one left alive even to feed our plague
carrier. Fonterrat..." He collapsed onto one elbow, trembling. "Ah. No matter...
he deserves no less for bringing this total devastation upon us."
The man slumped forward, coughing and wheezing, without turning off the
recorder.
Zekk fast-forwarded through several minutes of the man's gasping
convulsions, and then the log recorders timer shut it off automatically.
"Fonterrat may still be alive," Zekk said.
"I've got to find the town brig," He turned back toward the metal stairs,
and was surprised when Boba Fett followed close behind him, his armored boots
clanging on the floor.
After searching through several likely buildings on the silent streets,
Zekk finally threw open a door to a small secured facility with bars on its
windows. Once inside, he pulled a glowrod from his suit pocket and shone it on
the row of makeshift cells, most of them empty. He crept forward, peering from
one into another.
Small creatures skittered about, tunneling into the ever-present dust that
had gathered in the corners.
One human prisoner sprawled out on his bunk, showing the now-familiar
symptoms of the plague. "Justice comes in its own time," Boba Fett observed. "No
'matter what this man's crime was."
Zekk found Fonterrat, dead, in the fourth cell.
Though the alien scavenger had been immune to the strange plague that wiped
out the entire human colony, he had not been immune to starvation and neglect.
Judging from the information on the log tapes, Fonterrat had been trapped
in his cell, without food or water, for more than two weeks.
Zekk worked the controls outside the cell door. They were simple enough,
but he used the Force to nudge the code and unlock the security systems. As the
door swung open, Zekk stepped in, uneasy with anticipation. His breath echoed in
his helmet.
He recognized the small rodentlike alien from the holo the bartender had
shown him--big eyes and ears, pointed snout, and fine gray-brown fur across much
of his body. In his delicate, stiff hands Fonter-rat clutched a message cube.
The light blinked on the top. He had left some sort of final recording.
Boba Fett was there first, grabbing the message cube. "Hey!"
Zekk said. "Fonter-rat is my bounty. You're interfering with my hunt.
Bounty Hunters Creed, remember?"
"Your hunt is concluded," Fett said. "We will both view this message." With
a gaunt-leted finger he punched a button, and a holographic projection appeared
in the air above it.
In his cell, the little alien looked miserable and distraught.
Fonterrat held the holocube as if he found it difficult to speak, though
Zekk imagined he had rehearsed his words over and over again before punching the
Rv. CORD button.
"They gave me this message cube to speak any last words to my loved ones."
A sniveling little laugh escaped Fonterrat.
"Loved ones! If I had any loved ones, I wouldn't have spent my life hopping
from one assignment to another for so little pay and so much risk." He moaned
softly. "I did not mean to bring this epidemic upon the human colonists of
Gammalin--but Nolaa Tarkona did. I see that now. I did not even know my ship
carried the plague.
"I gave her two samples of the terrible organism, but I never dreamed she
would repay me by planting one on my own ship, in the code-locked chest that
held my payment, so that I would spread it to the first human colony I visited.
The humans were helpless against the plague. In their efforts to stop it, the
colonists incinerated my cargo and burned out the inside of my ship. But it did
no good. If Nolaa Tarkona has her way, I fear that annihilating Gain malin will
have been merely an exercise. A test case.
"However, I believe she has been foiled, at least for now. I told Bornan
Thul, our middleman, the secret of what her cargo held when we made the
exchange. I gave him the navicomputer, and he gave me the code to unlock the
chest holding the payment the Twi'lek woman gave me in advance."
The image of Fonterrat made a rasping sound that must have been meant as a
laugh. "She betrayed me. Now he has disappeared, much to Nolaa's outrage..I hope
she never finds him."
Fonterrat swallowed several times, as if looking for more words, then
switched off the recording.
"What does that mean?" Zekk said.
"It means Fonterrat could have led me to Bornan Thul, my quarry.
But now he is dead and useless to me." The bounty hunter did not seem to
care about the implications of the message, though he did hesitate, perhaps
pondering what Nolaa Tarkona's involvement with the deaths on Gammalin might
mean.
Without asking, Zekk took the message cube from Fett's gloved hand. "Mine,"
he said. "I can use it to prove that I found my bounty, to demonstrate that
Fonterrat is dead. The message cube is of no use to you."
Boba Fett stared coldly at him through the visor of his Mandalorian helmet.
"The information is of use to me, but I have already heard it. Take the message
cube. I hope our paths do not cross again as competitors."
Fett spun about and began to march out of the brig. At the door, he paused,
turning his sinister helmet toward Zekk. "It is against my principles to offer
information at no charge, but remember this: Never cross Boba Fett." He checked
the blaster pistol at his side. "Follow that advice, and you may survive to
become a great bounty hunter."
Zekk stood and watched Boba Fett until he was out of sight. Just to be sure
he had left no stone unturned in performing his assignment, Zekk located the
burned-out husk of Fonterrat's ship and verified that the cargo had indeed been
destroyed. Then he slowly returned to the Lightning Rod.
JACEN WOKE REFRESHED and full of energy, thanks to the comfortable sleeping
gear from the Rock Dragon. A noticeable tightness in his arms and legs reminded
him of yesterday's strenuous activities: the search along the crater rim, the
climb down into the ruins--not to mention being chased by giant combat
arachnids!
All in a day's work for a young Jedi Knight, he thought with a smil
e.
Jacen stretched his muscles and enjoyed the freedom of lying outdoors under
the stars on an insulfoam mat that was large enough to sleep a full-grown
Wookiee.
Wookiee. With a tingle of alarm he remembered that Lowie and Raaba had
still not returned to the Rock Dragon by the time the rest of them had decided
to turn in the night before.
The two Wookiees had been inseparable during the evening meal and
afterward, talking in low unintelligible voices with Em Teedee switched off for
privacy. Long after dark, Lowie and Raaba had left for a walk along the crater
rim, deep in discussion, catching up on old times.
Jacen had worried whether, in their preoccupation with each other, the two
might fall prey to some nocturnal hunter. He thought it unlikely, though, since
Lowie had his lightsaber and his Jedi senses, and Raaba had a good blaster at
her side. He sure wouldn't have wanted to tangle with them.
Tenel Ka had dissuaded Jacen from waiting up for Lowie, pointing out that
the two friends might choose to stay up all night to relive old memories or to
confide in each other. Lowie and Raaba had a lot of things to work out between
them, Tenel Ka pointed out, adding that Lowie had the entry code for the
security shield whenever he decided to return to the Rock Dragoh's campsite.
Jacen sat up, ran both hands through his tousled hair, and looked over at
his snoozing sister. "Hey, Captain Jaina wake up!" he said. "You're missing half
the morning."
Pulling down the lightweight blanket under which she had slept, Jaina
rolled over on her mat, propped her chin on both fists, and glowered at her twin
as she stifled a yawn. "Well...?, she demanded.
"I was just considering our options. Deep in thought."
"Uh-huh," Jacen said, not believing her for an instant. "What time do you
want me to help you with the preflight check? If there's nothing else we can do
here on Kuar, shouldn't we get back to the Jedi academy before Uncle Luke gets
too concerned?"
Jaina quirked a skeptical eyebrow at him, then rubbed her eyes.
"You're right.
Let's do it after the morning meal, in about an hour." Her face disappeared
under her blanket again. "Or longer."
Jacen got up and headed for the Rock Dragoh's refresher unit. To one side
of the ship, wearing a supple lizard-hide exercise outfit, her hair freshly
braided, Tenel Ka had already nearly finished her morning calisthenics, taking
advantage of the cool shadows. Tiny pearls of perspiration glinted on her bare
skin.
He saw no sign of any extra sleeping mats spread out on the ground, and
guessed from the evidence that Lowie must not have come back after all. Where,
then, had the two Wookiees gone? When he emerged from the refresher unit a
moment later, though, Jacen found his sister waiting to use the facilities and
Lowbacca perched on the edge of one of the Rock Dragon's crew berths, blinking
sleep from his golden eyes.
Glancing around, Jacen asked, Where's Raaba? Did she leave early?"
Lowie smoothed a hand over the dark streak on his forehead. He explained
that Raaba had felt uncomfortable about staying in a Hapan ship and declined.
Instead, she had chosen to spend the night in one of the Rising Stars tiny
sleeping compartments.
"You couldn't have been more persuasive?" Jacen asked.
This time Em Teedee spoke up. "Oh no, Master Jacen. I can certainly attest
to the fact that he did his utmost to persuade her, but Mistress Raaba was
simply adamant. I'm afraid she has a certain... distaste for human company."
The droid made a sniffing sound. "I tried to add my own compelling
arguments, but Master Lowbacca switched off my speaker. Again."
Jacen couldn't help feeling that something was not quite right.
It seemed that Raaba didn't want to be around the companions, and that it
might be more than simple embarrassment or uneasiness. What could Em Teedee have
meant about her having an aversion to humans? An odd tingling persisted at the
back of his mind, but Jacen could not put his finger on what the problem was.
For Lowie's sake, he hoped it was nothing too serious.
"Hey, do you mind if I go over to Raaba's ship with you and chat with her
for a little while?" Jacen asked. "We didn't get much of a chance to talk last
night, and I'd like to get to know your friend a little better."
From Lowbacca's enthusiastic reaction, Jacen would have guessed that the
young Wookiee considered his suggestion the most brilliant one he had heard in
months.
Obviously, Jacen thought as he followed Lowie past Tenel Ka toward Raaba's
small skimmer, there was a great deal he still did not understand about
Wookieeswor women, for that matter. This made Wookiee women a doubly difficult
challenge! At any rate, Jacen intended to do his best to make sure Raaba felt
welcome in their company, despite her apparent reservations.
The previous evening, before their meal, Lowie had drawn Jacen, Jaina, and
Tenel Ka aside and told them briefly about Raa-ha's rite of passage and her
decision to disappear and let everyone believe she had been killed. Now Jacen
wanted to tell her that they understood her need for privacy and that she could
trust them.
In the morning light Raaba climbed out of the Rising Star and luxuriously
raked her fingers through her glossy chocolate fur. She glanced sidelong at
Jacen as Lowie presented the young man, putting considerably more detail into
the introduction than he had the day before. Lowie praised Jacen's sense of
humor, described his love for animals, and commended his skill with a
lightsaber. Only the third virtue seemed to make much of an impression on Raa-
bakyysh, and when Lowie paused, Jacen hurried to change the subject.
"So, uh, what actually brings you to Kuar?" he asked. "It's quite a
coincidence that you found us here."
Raaba cocked her head slightly to one side, as if this' had been an
unexpected question. Then she held up both hands, her fingers pressed together,
describing an approximate oval. She growled a name.
"Shells?" Jacen asked.
Raaba explained that she had been sent altera shipment of ronik shells.
They were a rare commodity which her employer prized highly, but the trader
Fonterrat, who had been sent to procure them for Nolaa Tarkona, had disappeared.
The trader last confirmed meeting before his disappearance had been here on
Kuar. Jacen's mouth fell open as he looked at Lowie.
"Do you realize what this means?" he asked. "That must be the same person
that Bornan Thul came here to meet--maybe even to negotiate a trade with. But
what would Bornan Thul want with ronik shells? Especially since he was supposed
to meet with Nolaa Tarkona, too. I guess he could have planned to use the shells
as a kind of bargaining chip." His eyes lit up. "Hey, maybe if we locate that
shipment of shells, we'll find another clue about where Ray-nar's dad went."
Raaba seemed about to reply when Tenel Ka dashed up to get Jacen's
attention.
"Company," she said, pointing skyward.
At first Jacen could seen nothing but swirling dust around the crater rim,
but then he saw a flash of metal the color of tarnished brass high above.
"I heard your shout. What's wrong?"
Jaina asked, trotting up to join them. Jacen indicated the approaching ship
with a lift of his chin. His sister's eyebrows shot up.
"For an out-of-the-way planet, Kuar sure gets a lot of traffic," she
observed.
A low growl came from deep in Raaba's throat. Her dark fur seemed to
bristle, and she reached for the blaster at her side.
Lowie held up a hand, though, asking her to wait and grumbling a comment
to'himself.
"Why, whatever do you mean, Master Lowbacca?" Em Teedee said with some
asperity. "How could you possibly recognize that ship?"
"Didn't think anyone else in the galaxy even knew we were on this dust
ball,"
Jaina commented, squinting to get a better look.
"Except Tyko Thul," Tenel Ka said.
"That's his ship all right," Jaina confirmed.
Jacen now recognized its boxy design and unusual color. Soon the ornate
craft was close enough for Jacen to see the slightly rotund figure in the
cockpit. He felt the tingle again at the back of his neck, only stronger this
time. "I've got a bad feeling about this," Jacen said. "First Raaba shows up--
and we thought she was dead. Now Tyko Thul is here..."
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