RZ-7 and Karr exchanged glances. Clues were clues, and at this point they were desperate for anything. But before Karr could say anything, the droid beat him to the punch. “Tell us.”
The being craned his tapered neck left and right. Karr couldn’t tell if he was being secretive or just struggling with the weight of his own head, until he began speaking in a hushed tone. “There’s a desert moon that orbits Oba Diah. I’d tell you its name, but I doubt it has one. What it does have, however, is what makes it so intriguing: the crashed ship of a Jedi Master.”
Karr’s skepticism had not left him since the incident with the old woman. “When did this happen?” he asked.
“Long ago. Back before the Clone Wars.”
“How do you know about it?”
“I know, because my family was responsible. As Pykes we deal in, well, let’s just say…spice trade. But that’s not where our talents end. And when a plan was devised to take down a certain Jedi Master named Sifo-Dyas, the Pykes were the ones recruited.”
“I don’t believe you,” Karr shot back. “Jedi Masters are incredibly powerful. You couldn’t—”
“Go see for yourself if you don’t believe me,” the Pyke insisted. “While I wasn’t there personally, I am a descendant of the ones who performed the deed. The ones who blew his ship out of the sky.” He emphasized the last four words.
Karr almost felt like this guy was trying to pick a fight.
“Why are you telling me all of this?”
The Pyke tilted his head a bit. It was a question he wasn’t prepared for, but Karr could see him searching for the truth nonetheless. And after a moment he said, “Pride, perhaps? The Pykes defeated a Jedi Master.”
“As the Jedi are most likely all dead now, it seems to me the Pykes aren’t the only ones who have that distinction,” RZ-7 observed.
The Pyke glared at the droid. “I’m not talking about the clone troopers taking out those traitors. You asked me why I shared this? That is why. Besides, it was long ago. I cannot assure you what you will find if you search the moon of Oba Diah. But sometimes the most valuable thing to remain…is the tale to be told.”
“I plan on it,” Karr said almost as a threat.
“Do it,” the Pyke demanded. “Go to the moon of Oba Diah. Scream your questions to whatever corpses you find there, or whatever wreckage is left. But remember this: The reason you and the Jedi are both there is because of a Pyke. And if you’re not careful, the Pykes will be the reason neither of you leave.”
“Is that a threat?”
“A threat is not necessary. Oba Diah and its moons house many criminal outposts. Heed it only as a warning.”
And with that he turned and drifted off among the various tents and vendors.
RZ-7 asked, “Are we really going to Oba Diah, sir?”
At first, Karr hesitated. Then he said, “You bet we are!” He mused for a moment more and then mumbled, “Spice trade. Didn’t Maize say the ship we saw might have been a spice freighter?”
“Yes, sir. And I did discover traces of spices remaining in the hold.”
“It’s not much of a connection, but if there’s nothing on the Oba Diah moon, we can at least follow the spice route. If that ship we were on was shuttling Jedi along its path, we might be able to find something. If not, we can always go home and break Maize out of prison. Start all over again.” He clutched the comm device in his pocket.
But the droid didn’t think it’d be so easy. “Sir, when we return to Merokia, you’ll be sent to the trade school—and I daresay there’s a chance that Maize will be sent to a reform school, perhaps even on another world. Did you hear those troopers talking about her? She must have a record already.”
“She also has a father who doesn’t mind using First Order resources to bring her home. If he wanted to send her away to some boarding academy for young criminals, he could’ve done that a long time ago.”
The droid nodded and walked along beside him, and when they got back to the ship, they spent another hour or two between them—making sure they had a good, solid idea of how it worked. Maize had told them everything she knew, and she’d flown just fine. Surely the pair of them could do the same.
“I’ve updated my navigational protocols to the fullest extent possible,” RZ-7 assured him.
“And I was listening really hard when Maize was talking.”
The droid dipped his head. “I bet you were.”
“Very funny. I can’t help it if we get along really well.”
“I was just making the observation that if you were searching for the romantic in you as opposed to the Jedi in you, we’d have already accomplished our mission.”
Karr laughed. “I guess we would have. But then again, where’s the fun in that? Now let’s fire this baby up!”
The droid positioned himself in the copilot’s seat and buckled in.
“Will do, sir. And I’ve already located the coordinates of Oba Diah and its desert moon.”
“Excellent!”
Karr slipped into the pilot’s seat. He wasn’t 100 percent confident in his skills, and he didn’t know if this quest would ever amount to anything, but he couldn’t deny that it felt important. Was he in control of his destiny? Maybe, maybe not. Was he in charge of this very fancy ship? For the moment, yes.
He’d never in his life felt so free.
He’d also never felt more frightened or more lost, but he wasn’t alone and he had the Avadora’s maps to guide him.
“Let’s go, Arzee. Let’s see if we can find a lone Jedi, lost on a moon with no name. We can do that, right? It’s not a feather in a sandstorm, is it?”
“Not at all, sir,” the droid replied.
Karr knew it was a lie. But he let it go. “This is going to be amazing.”
“Indeed, it will be, sir. But soon, you should get some rest. The galaxy is large, and you are only human.”
Karr didn’t want to rest. He wanted to continue adventuring—but the droid was right, and Karr was exhausted. So after they successfully launched the ship into the atmosphere, which was no small feat considering its novice pilots, he decided it was time to nap and to dream. And to remember.
“I hate him!” Karr cried as he ran into his grandmother’s room.
“Who?” she asked, putting aside the pattern she was working on.
“That stupid Zabrak! He broke a wing off my ship!”
“Calm down. A fourteen-year-old boy should not be crying over toys.”
“It’s not a toy,” he argued. “It’s a model replica of a B-class X-wing. And it took me forever to put together.”
“Regardless, if you are to be trained in the Force, you must learn to detach from your feelings.”
“I’d rather detach his arm from its socket.”
“Karr!” his grandmother scolded, causing him to respond with a quick, “Sorry!”
“In the Jedi Order, attachment and possession are forbidden.”
“The Jedi can’t play with toys?”
She laughed. “That’s not what I meant. The Jedi believe that attachment and possession could lead to jealousy…and ultimately the dark side of the Force.”
Karr dropped the model ship as if he expected it to give him a disease. “Oh, no! I didn’t just get the dark side, did I?”
“No,” J’Hara said comfortingly. “But you need to focus on what’s important in life.”
Karr looked down at the model ship, which was now missing both wings thanks to him. “I guess I can do without a crummy spaceship.”
“Yes, but it does not just apply to material items. It applies to living things, as well.”
“People?”
“If need be, yes. And for that reason, Jedi are not allowed to marry.”
Karr stopped what he was doing. “They can’t marry?” This had never occurred to him. Not that he had anyone in mind, of course. He barely had friends as it was, and the one girl he sort of liked was a Twi’lek who wouldn’t give him the time of day. But it was worth
noting. “So they don’t have family?”
J’Hara swallowed as if she was about to say more but instead just shook her head.
“Wow, that must be tough,” he said. “Family is important.” And though he said the word family, it was clear that what he really meant was J’Hara. Someone he could rely on. Someone who looked out for him.
Karr had always considered himself to be a loner, a kid who didn’t need friends, but he was realizing that the term loner didn’t really apply if you also had a sweet grandma who made you gloves. Did he have it in him to be a true loner? He would have to if he was to become a Jedi. That was what this was all about, wasn’t it? What his grandma was helping him achieve?
“But even Jedi need friends, don’t they? Wouldn’t you wind up loving the person who taught you about the Force? About how to use it? It’s a little confusing.”
“You’re not the first one to think that,” she said. “And you’re right, the relationship between master and apprentice is a strong one, but it only goes so far, in order to minimize the emotional loss when the master is no longer needed.” J’Hara reflected on what she’d just said. “Although I’m guessing that was accomplished easier in theory than in practice.”
“I agree,” Karr admitted. He couldn’t imagine what he would do without his grandmother. Would he ever find someone to replace her? No, replace was the wrong word. Would he ever find someone who would relate to him the way she did? Who could make him smile like she could? He didn’t know. But those weren’t questions that had to be answered. Yet.
By the time Karr and RZ-7 emerged from hyperspace, they found themselves on the Kessel Run, a specific route usually used by smugglers to transport spices to unsavory customers.
“I feel we might be out of our element here, sir,” RZ-7 said.
“All the better. We already know what we know. Let’s start learning things we don’t know.”
“I’d like to point out, sir, that I am fluent in many languages, but in none of them does that make any sense. Also we’re coming up on Oba Diah and its moon.”
The two travelers pored over the maps they were able to download. Not a great deal of survey work had ever happened on the sad little moon, and enough of it was classified by various militaries over the years that it all felt woefully incomplete.
“But look, right there. That’s a canyon, right?” Karr stared closely at the holomap.
“I see cliffs, yes. I think?”
“Well, the rest of the planet is as smooth as an Umbaran’s scalp, so let’s start there.”
The droid hesitated. “What about the criminals that Pyke warned us about? Do you think this is one of their settlements?” He indicated a little encampment a few klicks to the east.
Karr enlarged the map as big as he could make it. “I can’t tell. On these images, it almost looks abandoned, doesn’t it?”
“Let’s hope it is. If it’s not, this trip may not go as smoothly as the others have so far.”
He tried not to let the dire possibilities dampen his spirits. “Let’s set down on the other side of the canyon. Even if it’s not an empty settlement over there, maybe no one will see us.”
“Very good, sir, but let’s be careful. This will be your first landing.”
“I hear that any landing you can walk away from is a good one.”
The droid said, “I tend to set a higher bar, but I guess that is true. However, if we can’t also fly away from this landing, it’ll mean we’ve crashed on a desert moon that might be abandoned or might be crawling with criminals.”
“I hate it when you’re right. Your diagnostics are up to date?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And I’ve read every manual I could find in this thing, so between us, we’re about as prepared as we’re going to get.”
“Very confidence-inspiring, sir.”
“Thanks, Arzee. Now submitting coordinates to…a spot that looks like it might be a decent place to set down. I guess.”
Ten minutes later, the Avadora dropped with only a couple of bumps and bounces at the bottom of the canyon’s north edge—in a clearing that once might have been a waterway or might have only been a wide, shallow sinkhole that settled into dust.
“That was…not as smooth as I had in mind, but we can walk away—so I’m calling it good.” Karr unbuckled himself from the pilot’s seat and stumbled before getting his footing. The ship had landed on ground that wasn’t quite level, and the boy was rattled from his first experience bringing a starship to a planet’s surface. Even a week before, he would’ve never dreamed it was possible. Now he was chasing Jedi rumors from system to system.
Even though he was still frightened and permanently overwhelmed, he grinned from ear to ear.
“Systems seem to be sound, and no damage is reported from the engines or shields, so I’d call it a success, as well.” The droid unfastened his safety belt and wobbled, then steadied himself. “Scanning for fragments of heavy metals, or other signs of wreckage.”
“Cross your fingers for Jedi remnants, not weird crime-family business.”
“If I had traversable phalanges, I would absolutely do that.”
Karr laughed. “You know what I meant.”
“I did. And the ship’s scanner has picked up evidence of a crash, I believe. A few klicks to the west of here.”
“Seriously? Is it the shuttle?”
“Unclear, sir. I’m detecting pieces of metal, but nothing large.”
Karr sighed. “Well, let’s go find what we can. It’s odd but I almost wish that Pyke was wrong.”
“I understand, sir. He did have a little too much exuberance in his family’s achievement. But if we do find something that connects to the Jedi, then it’s a win-win.”
“True, true,” Karr replied as he strolled down the ramp.
Outside, the air didn’t feel too different from Jakku—hot, dry, and flecked with blown bits of sand and gravel. But the canyon offered a little protection and a lot of shadow, so it wasn’t quite so bad as the desert land from which they’d come. At his hip, Karr wore a canteen he’d found in the ship’s tiny galley area that didn’t remotely qualify as a kitchen; on his face, he had a protective visor he’d found stashed under a seat—so the glare didn’t blind him. He’d taken every precaution possible, but it still didn’t feel like enough.
He set a beacon so he could find his way back and set off, with the droid moving cautiously behind him—bringing up the rear and watching for trouble.
For about an hour they poked through dusty channels, hiked up piles of rock that’d slipped down the canyon walls, and found a number of dead ends with nothing to recommend them at all. They hadn’t seen any sign of other people, either—of any species or potential moral alignment.
For all Karr could tell, the whole moon was deserted.
“That isn’t true, sir—there are small communities, here and there. Silicate miners, mostly.”
Karr’s lips were dry and cracking. He tried not to lick them, but it was hard. He pulled off his gloves and stashed them in his pockets; it was too hot to wear them, and there was nothing but sand to touch, regardless.
“I’ll be quite content if the planet is bereft of dangerous criminals.”
“Yeah, me too. Hey, what’s this?” Karr stopped at the edge of a large trench.
“A geological feature of the moon?”
He shook his head. “No, look. It’s like a drag mark etched into the stone. Like something big scraped along right here. Could have been yesterday, could’ve been a hundred years ago, but it’s the only sign of disruption on this whole eroded planet, so let’s follow it.”
“Very good, sir. You may be right, and it can’t hurt to look.”
“Unless we find dangerous criminals.”
The droid said, “Let’s not tempt fate, shall we?”
“No fate-tempting, right.” He walked along the side of the trench, stomping through the upturned soil beside it. “Look!”
“What have you
found there?”
He pointed down at a twisted panel of metal, wedged into the dirt. “That’s definitely wreckage from a ship!”
“Oh, definitely. Yes, sir,” RZ-7 said, in a tone that suggested he would roll his eyes if that was an option.
“I mean, it might just be trash, but it’s probably not. Looks like a piece of heat shielding to me.” He poked it with the toe of his boot. When the droid didn’t argue, he left the scrap and started to jog. “Hey, there’s a pile of rubble over here.”
“Be careful, sir. You don’t want to start an avalanche.”
But Karr was halfway up the slippery hill of rocks and gravel, kicking down pebbles as he scaled the hill. Either he wasn’t worried about falling, or he was too excited to care. “Arzee, I found it! I found…something….”
The droid attempted to hike the hill, but stumbled and slipped. “If you don’t mind, sir, I’ll stay here and keep lookout.”
“Works for me! You really ought to see this, though.”
“Take some measurements with your recorder, if it’s that important.”
“Left it in the ship,” he said, then hopped down the other side of the embankment.
There, sticking out of the sand, he saw a triangular piece of metal a bit taller than he was, casting a long, straight shadow in the sand. The metal shard had been broken off of something larger during a terrible crash—that much was clear. Here and there smaller pieces of wreckage dotted the landscape, but except for the big sharp piece, everything he saw was small enough to fit in a satchel.
“Do you see the shipwreck, sir?” RZ-7 called out.
“I see small metal pieces,” Karr said. “That’s all, though. If there’s anything bigger, somebody’s already carted it off.”
Shuffling sideways on the steep grade, he crept downward. He slipped, fumbled, and rolled until he was flat against the biggest piece, standing straight up like a weird obelisk. “This thing has been here a long time!” he called, in case RZ-7 could still hear him.
The droid shouted something back. It sounded encouraging, not alarmed, so Karr didn’t ask him to repeat it.
Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Page 10
