Kenobi: Star Wars

by John Jackson Miller

  Yet for reasons that eluded A’Yark, Ben seemed troubled by the prospect of gaining immense power. He bowed slightly.

  “I cannot join you,” he said. “No offense intended. I, er … recognize what I’m giving up. But it can’t happen.”

  “Then boy dies. And we dies, killing him. And clan ends.” She lifted the gaderffii again over Jabe’s head. “It is right.”

  Ben looked down, seemingly disappointed. Readying his lightsaber, he started to close the distance with the Tuskens.

  Then he stopped. He looked over at the lone speeder bike. “You saw who was with the boy.”

  A’Yark nodded. “The settler leader. The Smiling One.”

  “The Smiling—” Ben’s face lit with recognition. “Orrin Gault. You mean Orrin Gault!”

  “Or-rin-gaalt,” A’Yark sounded out. “I will kill Orringault. And all who follows.” She spoke aloud the theory that had been forming since seeing the imposters. “By day, he strikes us. By night, he schemes—so to strike us again by day.”

  Ben lowered his weapon. “You mean Orrin has done something like this before?”

  “Settlers have avenged attacks that did not fall,” A’Yark said. “I don’t knows what settlers do. But I knows what Tuskens do.”

  Quickly, A’Yark named some locations. Ben’s knowledge of the geography of the desert was not the same as hers, and he asked questions in response. She answered them.

  At last, he deactivated his lightsaber and returned it to its hiding place. “A’Yark, your people have been wronged. What Orrin has done is forbidden for my people. Taboo. And he has led Jabe into it. If you let me take the boy, I will see that no more harm comes from either of them.”

  A’Yark stood fast. “Vengeance must be ours.” She studied Ben. “And you don’t speak for the settlers.”

  Ben scratched his hairy chin. “No, you’re right. I don’t. This isn’t even my responsibility, not anymore. But neither can you get satisfaction alone. You don’t have the forces to threaten the oasis, do you?”

  A’Yark said nothing.

  “I didn’t think so.” Ben nodded to the warriors he’d let live. “If you’ll … defer for a day, I will find a way that you can get justice.”

  A’Yark didn’t know what justice meant. K’Sheek and Sharad both had been full of nonsense terms. But she caught Ben’s drift. “I must see this jus-tiss,” she said, hissing the last syllable. “To know.”

  Ben nodded. “I think I understand. There may be a way.”

  “Speak.”

  “That’s what I propose,” Ben concluded, a couple of minutes later. “But it requires bringing the settlers to your—er, doorstep.”

  As A’Yark looked back on her junior warriors, doubts quickly filled her mind. “Plan works,” she said. “I would see. But plan risks the clan.”

  “I understand, but you need not worry,” Ben said. “I would not endanger them, nor you. I would be there to protect your people—”

  “Ootman lies!” A’Yark snapped. “No outlander would care what happens to Tuskens!”

  At her feet, Jabe woke up, moaning. Opening his eyes, he saw A’Yark overhead. “Uh-oh,” he said, in a tiny voice.

  “Hold still, son,” Ben advised. “We’re at a critical stage.” He looked back at A’Yark. “I told you what I would do. Will you free him?”

  A’Yark looked back at her feckless companions. Unaware of what had been discussed, they fidgeted at a sound from faraway: landspeeders, heading toward the ranch from the northeast. There wasn’t much time to make a decision, and A’Yark was inclined to reject Ben’s proposal. It was impossible to think he could succeed. No one could.

  She clutched the gaderffii. “I say—”

  Another sound came from the west, interrupting her. Movement! The warriors stumbled backward, afraid. “The settlers,” one called to A’Yark. “We are surrounded!”

  “It’s all right,” Ben said, walking toward the southern dune. “Just a second.”

  “Don’t leave me!” Jabe screamed.

  Ben was gone for just over three seconds when an eopie trotted over the southern crest. Ben followed, carrying a bundle in his arms. “I forgot I parked near here,” he called.

  The eopie wandered into the middle of the mystified Tuskens. At A’Yark’s feet, it began nuzzling at Jabe’s cheek with its snout. A’Yark looked back at the bundle Ben was carrying. It was moving. “What is that?”

  A bleat came from the shadowy mass, and Ben set it upon the ground. Dark cloth opened. A young eopie, just a few hours old, ambled toward its mother.

  “That … is not from here,” A’Yark said. She knew the old man who lived here kept no livestock.

  “Hmm? Ah, yes,” Ben said, musing as he watched mother and child together. “When I realized Orrin was targeting this ranch, I had to get here quickly, so I had no choice but to ride. But Rooh had just given birth this morning, and I couldn’t leave the child.”

  A’Yark stared at him. “How—”

  Ben picked up the cloth. “I carried him. In my cloak.” He shook out the garment and put it on. “He slept pretty well.”

  A’Yark looked at the eopie with the two children, one human. She knew how far it was to Ben’s home. He had ridden across the desert—with an infant eopie in his lap?

  It occurred to her Ben would do anything to return Annileen’s child to her—just as he had returned A’Deen. And so he might be capable of anything.

  Lights swept over the eastern ridge. “They have come,” A’Yark said. She poked Jabe lightly in the shoulder with the point of her weapon. “You must go. I agree to Ben’s trade.”

  Ben looked around. He spied the speeder bike. “I need to get to the oasis fast, but—” He looked apprehensively at the eopies. “I can’t ride alongside, and I can’t carry us all.”

  A’Yark gestured, and warriors stepped up to lead the eopies away. At least they were capable of that, she thought. The night was still young, and she had much to prepare, as well.

  Helping a confused Jabe toward the speeder bike, Ben looked back with apprehension. “You … you won’t eat them, will you?”

  “We do what we want,” A’Yark said, offended. The insinuation that they wouldn’t was worse than any assumption about their diet. “But no one acts, but I say.” That much was true, now.

  Ben climbed aboard the vehicle in front of Jabe. “I’ll return. And if I fail—the next time you see me, I will do as you ask. I swear.”

  “I will makes sure of it,” A’Yark said. With that, the Tuskens and their animal charges vanished over the dune and into the night.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  IN THE DARKNESS OF the Claim, Annileen staggered against the counter. “What … what did you say?”

  “Jabe is dead,” Orrin repeated. He knelt beside the shards of the bottles on the floor at his feet. Down in the darkness, his mind raced. Annileen would have to learn sometime that the Tuskens had taken Jabe, but he’d hoped to put it off until after he settled his financial affairs.

  Now he wondered what to say. Could he say Jabba’s toughs had struck at him, killing Jabe instead? That would sell Annileen on the danger Orrin was in, but it might solidify her resolve not to pay the criminals. No, he thought as he picked up the pieces, there might be a way instead to ensure that she did help him. And it involved the truth.

  Starting at a certain point, of course. “The Tuskens killed him,” he said, rising with the shards. “I was bringing him back here from my place when I broke down. Plug-eye got him.”

  “The Tuskens?” Annileen grabbed at him. “Where?”

  Orrin dumped the glass into the refuse bin. “Out on the desert. You won’t find him. They took him away.”

  “Then he might not be dead!” Kallie yelled, tears glinting in her eyes.

 
Annileen shoved past Orrin, finally escaping from behind the counter. “I’ve got to go,” she said, heading toward the gun racks. She looked back at Kallie. “Get dressed.”

  Kallie handed her rifle to her mother and ran back into the residence. “What are you waiting for, Orrin? Activate the Settlers’ Call!”

  Orrin stood taller, having formulated his plan. “At first light,” he said. “You know there’s nothing anyone can do until then.” He stepped forward from behind the bar. “But I swear, I’ll call out every vehicle we’ve got until we find him. You need to stay—”

  “Not a chance!” Annileen looked back at Orrin. “Trigger the Call, or I will!”

  Orrin wiped his hands on a rag from the bar. “No one will come at this hour. You’ll just scare the Tuskens farther into the wastes. Or push Plug-eye to do something desperate. You’re going to have to trust me, Annie. Nobody knows Pluggy like me. I’ve been chasing this guy for years!”

  Annileen glowered. “Some expert. Plug-eye’s a female!”

  “Huh?”

  “I met her again on the range with Ben that day!” she told him, grabbing a satchel.

  Orrin stared, puzzled. He started to ask more—but then returned to the immediate problem. He walked toward her, wary of where her rifle was pointing. “I promise you. Wait, and I’ll have the Grand Army of the Oasis out there.”

  Annileen shook her head. Nothing, it seemed, was going to keep her from searching. Kallie ran back in wearing warm clothes, and her mother passed her a rifle. Annileen looked back at him in anger. “Why didn’t you tell me this when you came in?”

  “I had to make sure you understood first,” Orrin said. “I can’t help you find Jabe tomorrow if I’ve got the Hutt’s goons showing up.” He walked to the gun counter and picked up a rifle of his own, figuring a physical show of support would be good now. “Look, I’ll ride out with you. We can have a quick look.” He turned to face Annileen. “Then we’ve got to come back here. Forget the business about the store. You’ll give me the money to make Jabba go away—”

  “Jabba?” Kallie repeated, stunned.

  “—and I’ll devote the rest of my life to finding Jabe.” Orrin struggled to look earnest. “And if it’s already too late, I’ll exterminate the lot of them. You lost Dannar to these monsters. I lost a son. Do it my way, and it’ll be—”

  At the front of the store, the door clicked open.

  Rifle in hand, Orrin looked up. Annileen and Kallie were already moving, dashing up the long aisle through the darkness. Their weapons clattered to the floor. “Jabe, Jabe!”

  Startled, Orrin followed. There, through the open doorway, Jabe was staggering in. A great brown robe, a bit too large for him, blew in the night wind as he entered. In a second, his mother and sister were at his side.

  “You’re hurt,” Annileen said, looking at the dried gash on his forehead.

  “It’s okay, Mom,” Jabe said weakly. “Ben looked at it.”

  “Ben?” Orrin and the women said it at the same time.

  “He brought me home,” the boy said, looking tired and bewildered.

  Orrin tromped forward, weapon raised. “Is Kenobi here?”

  “No,” Jabe said. “He saved me from Plug-eye. I don’t know how he did it, but he did.” He rubbed his bruises. “I guess I was wrong about him.”

  Annileen embraced her son again. “This is Ben’s cloak!” she blurted as she grasped his collar.

  “He … uh, thought I was cold,” Jabe said, pulling away.

  Orrin stood, dumbfounded. Kenobi had seen him in Tusken guise at the Ulbreck place, yes. But Orrin had assumed that the real Tuskens had killed both Ben and Jabe. If Ben lived, that changed everything.

  As the women turned back into the store for water and a medpac, Orrin sidled up to confer quietly with Jabe. “Where did Kenobi go?”

  “You left me out there,” Jabe said icily.

  “Never mind that! Where did he go?”

  “I don’t know,” Jabe said. “But he was in a hurry.” Looking first to make sure his mother and sister were still in the back, he slipped the cloak slightly open so Orrin could see that he still wore the Tusken costume underneath. “He didn’t want the locals here to see me in this,” he whispered.

  “Huh.” Orrin wondered at that. Why didn’t Ben want to expose Jabe? There could be sinister reasons. Kenobi thought he had something now. Leverage. How would he use it? To blackmail Orrin for money? Or maybe to stop him from marrying Annileen?

  Orrin decided it didn’t matter which. Something had to be done about him. “Don’t say anything about tonight,” he urged Jabe quietly. “Don’t tell—”

  “Don’t tell me what?” Annileen stood nearby, holding the chair she’d brought for Jabe. She dropped it on the floor. “There’s something else, isn’t there? Something you’ve done, to try to pay off your debts?” She looked at Jabe and then back at Orrin. “Was that what tonight was about? What have you done?” she demanded. “What else have you done?”

  “What I had to do,” Orrin said. “And right now, I could be in trouble.”

  “You’re already in trouble!”

  “A different kind of trouble,” Orrin said. “Legal trouble. The kind that will make it difficult for me to walk around freely, even if I get clear of the criminals and the bank.”

  Annileen raised her hands to the ceiling. “Why not? You’ve ruined everything else in your life.” She took a deep breath and grabbed his sleeve. “Orrin, that’s enough,” she said, yanking him toward the doorway. “Leave, and don’t come back. I’ll have the stuff in your office here cleaned out and sent to you!”

  “You don’t understand,” Orrin said. “This trouble. I’m in it, yes. But Jabe’s in it, too.”

  Annileen and Kallie looked at the boy, baffled. “Jabe?”

  Standing in the shadows, Jabe looked down and swallowed. “Yes. I’m in it.”

  His mother gawked. “What? What have you done?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Orrin said. He pointed his finger in Jabe’s face. “What matters is Jabe will go away, too, if it comes out. But it won’t come out. Only one other person knows, and I’m going to take care of that.”

  Overwhelmed and confused, Annileen seemed not to know where to look. Orrin changed that by getting in her face. “Did you hear me? I can make sure Jabe stays free,” he said, snarling. There wasn’t any reason not to let his anger show. “I’ve been helping your family for years. Bringing business here, watching over you. It’s time you paid me back! So you’d karking well better help me stay alive in the next twenty-four hours.” He jabbed his finger in the direction of the cashbox. “That means we pay Jabba off tomorrow. Me—and you. You’re in this with me whether you want to be or not.”

  Kallie moved to her mother’s side. “Mom, what’s going on? What’s going to happen?”

  “I don’t know, sweetie,” Annileen said, looking between Jabe and Orrin. “But I think we need help.”

  Orrin looked up at the chrono. A little over fourteen hours until Jabba’s deadline. The hoodlums would be serious, this time. However it had happened—and it was still a mystery to Orrin—Mosep Binneed and his minions had been embarrassed today in the town house. Orrin didn’t expect that anyone in Jabba’s organization could let that happen twice. Not and continue to draw breath. They’d have to be paid and taken care of.

  But he had to deal with Kenobi first. Reenergized, he opened the front door to the night. “I’ll be back in time, tomorrow. I’ll fix it all. You’ll see.”

  Her arms around her children, Annileen shuddered. “I see a monster,” she said.

  “I’m a farmer,” Orrin replied. “And I’m going to save my farm.” Adjusting the settings on his rifle, he called back to Jabe. “Kenobi—did he say where he was going, boy? Did he say anything?”

  Jabe respo
nded coolly. “He had a message for you.”

  “For me?” The tall man paused, curious.

  “Yes.” Jabe said. “Turn back now.”

  Orrin’s eyes widened as he weighed the words. Then he stepped out into the night.

  Annileen locked another door and barred it. She’d changed the passcodes on all the electronic locks, even from the entryway from the garages. Tar Lup would just have to knock in the morning. She’d thought then about entering Orrin’s satellite office in the store, until she remembered Jabe needed tending to back in the house.

  Her son sat under the lonely light at her kitchen table. Ben’s cloak was off and being folded lovingly by Kallie. Underneath, Jabe wore the rags of a Tusken Raider. He made no move to hide them, but he looked embarrassed and humiliated.

  Seeing her mother stare, Kallie spoke to the air. “I think I’m going to have ammunition in every fight from now on.”

  Jabe shook his head. “It’s a long story,” he mumbled. “You won’t believe it.”

  Annileen pulled up a chair and sighed tiredly. “Try me.”

  Jabe started speaking slowly at first, and then gained speed, rambling from one part of his young life to another. His lost father. His hated job. His need to fit in with the Gaults, whom he saw as doing something with their lives. And his desperate desire to please Orrin, a man of stature and independence.

  And he spoke of the favor Orrin had asked, in Mos Eisley.

  “He said it was a prank,” Jabe said. “We were going to dress up and scare the Ulbrecks.”

  The air went out of Annileen’s body. She sagged. “Wyle Ulbreck. My best customer, Wyle Ulbreck.”

  Kallie brought her mother a warm drink. The mug shook in Annileen’s hands. She put it down without tasting it.

  “Zedd was supposed to go with them, but he couldn’t,” Jabe said. “Orrin had a whole trove of the Tusken gear—from the Settlers’ Call rescues, I guess. I thought—I don’t know, that maybe this was my chance to get on Orrin’s lead support team.”

  “By dressing up like the people who murdered your father and scaring an old man.” Annileen was numb as a droid, at this point. “Makes perfect sense to me.” She waved aimlessly. “Continue.”