Jedi Apprentice 3: The Hidden Past
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Obi-Wan felt the dark side of the Force shimmer outward from the gold speeder. With a slight touch to his shoulder, Qui-Gon led Obi-Wan to withdraw silently and quickly. They faded back into an alley and watched the speeder blast by.
A silver-coated driver was at the controls. In the back were two figures. They wore long coats of gold. The Phindian woman had lovely orange eyes shot through with gold the color of her coat. The male next to her was larger than most, with the long, powerful arms of the Phindian people. He did not wear a mirrored visor, and his small, bronze-colored eyes swept the street arrogantly.
Obi-Wan didn't need a Temple lesson in order to pay attention. His senses were on alert. Qui-Gon was right. Something was very wrong. Every detail he had seen told him so. Evil was at work here.
The gold speeder zoomed around the corner, nearly hitting a child who was being frantically pulled along by her mother. Obi-wan stared after the speeder, incredulous.
"Come, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon said. "Let's go to the market."
They crossed the street into a large plaza. It was an open-air market like ones Obi-wan had seen on Bandomeer and Coruscant. Only here, there were plenty of stalls, but nothing for sale. Some scraps of metal, fit for nothing. A few rotten vegetables.
Still, the market was crowded with people milling about. Obi-wan had no idea what they could be buying. In a shop window across the plaza, Obi-Wan saw a worker power up a readout sign. The word flashed in red: BREAD. Suddenly, the mass of people began pushing and hurrying toward the shop. Within seconds, there was a line that snaked around the perimeter of the plaza.
Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon almost lost each other in the confusion. Then, suddenly, a figure stood at qui-Gon's elbow.
"So nice to see the Jedi again," Pilot remarked in a pleasant tone, as if he were admiring the weather. "Follow, please."
Chapter 5
Qui-Gon melted behind Pilot. Obi-wan followed. He had no idea how Qui-Gon had known that Pilot would find them, or why Qui-Gon trusted him to lead them.
Pilot loped through twisting alleys and narrow side streets. He moved quickly, often looking from right to left, or up above to the rooftops, as if her were afraid they were being followed. Obi-Wan was sure that they doubled back on their trail a few times. Finally, Pilot stopped before a small caf? with a window so streaked with dirt that Obi-Wan could not glimpse the interior.
Pilot opened the door and hurried them through. It took a moment for Obi-Wan's eyes to adjust. A few small halo-lamps were mounted on the wall, but they did little to chase away the gloom. A half-dozen empty tables were scattered around the space. A faded green curtain hung in the doorway.
Pilot pushed aside the curtain and led the Jedi down a hallway past a tiny, cluttered kitchen to a smaller room at the back. The room was empty except for one customer who sat, his back to the wall, in an alcove farthest from the door.
The customer stood and spread his long Phindian arms.
"Obawan!" he cried.
It was Obi-Wan's friend Guerra!
Guerra's orange eyes beamed at Obi-Wan. "You come at last, friend! How glad I am to see you, no lie!"
"I'm glad to see you, too, Guerra," Obi-wan answered. "and surprised."
"It is a surprise, ha!" Guerra chortled. "But I had nothing to do with it. Not so, I lie! I think you met my brother, Paxxi Derida."
Pilot smiled at them. "it is my honor to have brought you here. Good journey, yes?"
Qui-Gon raised an eyebrow at Obi-Wan. The cheerful Derida brothers were acting as though the Jedi had accepted an invitation for a friendly visit. Instead, they'd been hijacked, fired on, then abandoned.
Qui-Gon walked farther into the room. "So Pilot deliberately dumped the fuel, didn't he."
"Please do call me Paxxi, Jedi-Gon," Paxxi said amiably. "Of course I dumped fuel. We did not expect you to say yes to a Phindian journey."
"Did you know about this?" Obi-Wan asked Guerra.
"No, I was unaware," Guerra answered earnestly.
"Not so, you lie, brother!" Paxxi said, digging Guerra in the ribs.
"True, I lie, I do!" Guerra agreed. "I was on the ship, hidden in the cargo hold. After I escaped the mining platform, there were those who wanted to bring me back to work in the mines. But I longed for Phindar. So here I am!"
"But why did you hide?" Obi-Wan asked. "And since you are native Phindians, why didn't you just land?"
"Good question, very smart, Obawan," Guerra said earnestly. "First of all, there is a blockade. And second, criminals are especially not welcome, even if they're natives."
"You're a criminal?" Obi-Wan couldn't believe it.
"Oh, yes, but such a little one," Guerra said.
"No so, brother! You have price on your head!" Paxxi chortled. "As do I! Assassin droids are ordered to shoot on sight!"
"So, it is true, brother!" Guerra agreed. "You are right again, for the first time!"
"Who put a price on your head?" Qui-Gon asked. Obi-Wan could see that he was both irritated and amused by the Deridas. "And why?"