by Джуд Уотсон
Samish told us to be especially careful. He's the glue that keeps the Station 88 Spaceport alliance together. Without him, it would fall apart. He's the one everyone trusts. So he thought if some group wanted to take over the spaceport, they'd go for him first." Dane looked distraught. "Then instead of staying in my sight, or Floria's, the way he promised, he disappeared. I followed, and. "
"You found him dead?"
"Lying there," Dane said "Shot in the heart." "And you saw nothing?"
"What does it matter?" Floria asked them. She had wiped her tears away and her face was pale. "He's dead."
Dane shook his head. "I was too late." He looked off into the trees.
"I should have — " Dane stopped abruptly and squinted into the trees.
Without another word, Dane took off. He raced to his swoop hovering nearby in suspended mode. He leaped aboard and took off.
"Come on, Anakin," Obi-Wan said, spurting forward. "We'll have to follow on foot."
The trees were dense here, and Obi-Wan could see ahead that Dane was having trouble navigating between the trunks. He had to continually slow his speed. He was obviously chasing someone ahead of him on a swoop, which appeared and disappeared through the trees.
They gained on Dane, hurtling through the spaces between the trees.
When they were meters away, Anakin leaped high to grab a tree branch.
Using the momentum, he swung forward and dropped neatly on the back of Dane's swoop. The swoop lurched and careened toward a massive tree trunk. Dane let out a piercing yell. Calmly, Anakin stood on the back of the swoop and leaned forward to grab the controls. He steered away from the trunk, circled, and came back to Obi-Wan.
"He'll get away!" Dane cried.
"Who?" Obi-Wan asked.
"I don't know! But I think he killed Kash!" Dane cried breathlessly.
"I don't know where I know him from, but I know him. He's a bounty hunter."
"Mind if we take over?" Obi-Wan asked Dane.
He jumped off the swoop. "Be my guest. Just be careful with my swoop!"
he yelled after them as Anakin sent the engines screaming to maximum.
Suddenly, Obi-Wan wished he were driving.
The suspect glanced back once and saw they were still following. He chose a difficult route through the trees. The narrow spaces were hard to get through, especially at high speeds. Anakin flipped the swoop, turning constantly to come at the openings at the best angle, never slackening speed. He crashed through leaves and branches. They were gaining, but Obi-Wan was positive he'd lose an arm or an ear in the process.
"Do you think you could slow down?" Obi-Wan yelled over the sound of cracking twigs and the screaming engines.
"And miss all the fun?" Anakin asked, executing a quick left turn, flipping the swoop, then flipping it back again. Obi-Wan tried to find his breath.
The ground was rising sharply. The suspect pushed his speed. He careened through two trees, lost control, and the swoop flipped over and scraped the side of the next tree, sending the swoop spinning wildly. The assassin leaped off a moment before the swoop crashed into a large tree. He hit the ground and ran.
"We've got him now," Anakin said, gunning the engine.
Obi-Wan caught a blur of large brown spots speckling the tree trunks as they zoomed fast. A strange mold? he wondered. The spots had hairs that waved in the air like legs. They were legs, he realized.
Spiders. About the size of a small rodent animal. Obi-Wan had read about them in his briefing notes on the journey to Null. They weren't poisonous, but one had to watch out for their "Anakin, watch out!"
Ahead the sunlight had just caught the silky threads of the giant web slung between the trees. The swoop hit it head-on. The web did not break. The reclumi species of spider had a web so strong it could stop a moving vehicle.
It did.
Chapter 23
The swoop boomeranged backward, crashed into the tree trunk behind them, then shot forward again, caught in the sticky web. The ropy tendrils clung to Obi-Wan's skin and hair and caught in his mouth.
When he tried to pull the skin of the web off him, it stuck to his fingers.
"Aarrgh!" Anakin gave a strangled cry as he tried to pull the web off his face.
Obi-Wan managed to unsheathe his lightsaber and activate it. He cut a swath through the web, creating a hole. He dropped to the forest floor. Anakin landed next to him. Tendrils of the web still stuck to their skin, and they tried to get it off, but it stuck to them like a strong glue. The swoop hung above them while a spider with legs more than a meter long scuttled across a tree trunk to see what it had caught.
Meanwhile, the assassin had disappeared. They would have to track him.
They ran quickly through the trees, snaking through the forest. The assassin had doubled back. After tracking him for a kilometer, Obi-Wan suspected that he was heading back toward the village.
They came out on another path that veered downhill sharply. Through the trees they could occasionally see the rooftops of the village. The path ended at the outskirts of the village, near some outbuildings. A large stone building had a side parking area for speeders.
"Anakin, stop. There he is."
The assassin was moving from shadow to shadow across the street. They could see now that he was a human male, dressed in dark clothing and wearing a helmet with a brim that that shadowed his face.
Then Lorian Nod appeared from the back pathway to the mountain. He was walking quickly and didn't notice the Jedi. "He's meeting Lorian,"
Anakin said.
Suddenly the street came alive with villagers. They surged forward, shouting in their native language and brandishing blasters and the native weapon, a sharp blade atop a thick wooden pole. The assassin melted back into the shadows, The villagers rushed down the street. Lorian was lost in the midst of them. Suddenly, Obi-Wan saw that Floria and Dane were being herded near the front of the crowd. Their hands were bound in lasercuffs in front of them.
Dane caught sight of Obi-Wan. "They think we killed Samish!" he shouted. "Help us!"
Floria and Dane were carried along with the crowd. The villagers surged into the stone building like one giant moving beast. The street was suddenly empty. Lorian had vanished.
"Should we try to find him?" Anakin asked.
Obi-Wan sighed. "He's not going anywhere. And we'd better see what's happening with Floria and Dane."
They walked into the building. It was a basic prison, but the security wasn't sophisticated. The cell was a small room in a corner with a durasteel door and a basic security coded lock. There were no official guards, no data-screens, no evidence of record-keeping or comm devices. Obviously this was used as a holding cell until the villagers decided on their own brand of justice.
The locals sat around a massive wooden table, drinking tea and grog and arguing. Obi-Wan stepped forward. "We would like to see our friends."
"They are our prisoners." This was growled from the largest villager who sat at the head of the table.
Obi-Wan dug into the bag at his side and threw the skin of a laroon on the table. They had brought skins and furs with them to cover their identities.
"We would like to see our friends," he repeated.
The fur of the laroon was inspected with knowing fingers. Then the villager nodded. He rose slowly, ambled to the lock, and keyed in the security code. The door slid open.
Dane was pacing in the cell. Floria sat quietly on the one chair provided. The door slid shut behind the Jedi.
"Thank the stars you are here. They are going to kill us," Dane said.
"Don't be so dramatic," Floria said. "You don't know that."
"Let me think. They just debated on whether to use blasters or do it slowly by lowering us into a laroon den. What's your conclusion?" Dane asked fiercely.
"They can't just kill us without a trial," Floria said. Obi-Wan noted that she had regained the color in her cheeks. Floria had been a pretty girl. Now she was a beautiful woman.
"Floria, Dane, if you could stop arguing for a moment," Obi-Wan said, holding up a hand. "Do they have evidence against you?"
"I found the body, and Dane came up right after," Floria said.
"In other words, they don't need evidence," Dane said. "We're outlanders. We were in the vicinity. That's all they need to know." He slumped against the wall of the bare cell and drifted down until he was sitting on the floor.
"We will protect you from the villagers," Obi-Wan said. "But you must help us."
"You were Kash's bodyguards," Anakin said. "You must have a few likely suspects. Who would have hired that assassin?"
Floria shook her head. Dane shrugged.
"No one and everyone," Dane said. "He didn't have any particular enemies. He had brought prosperity and peace to his people. But with this Separatist thing, everything changes. It could have been Dooku himself. It could have been one of the other members of the alliance, Telamarch or Uziel, if they wanted to control the alliance."
"You didn't mention Lorian Nod," Anakin said.
"Him too, I guess." Dane looked gloomy. "I don't trust anybody."
"Not Lorian Nod," Floria spoke up. "They started the alliance together."
Obi-Wan crouched down near Dane. "Dane, you said the assassin looked familiar. You have to remember where you met him."
Dane buried his head in his hands. "Floria and I have been all over the galaxy. I've met so many beings. He's one in a line of awful ones.
I really need to retire." He looked up. "Hey, how's my swoop, by the way? Is it safe?"
Obi-Wan and Anakin exchanged a glance.
"Well, it's definitely not going anywhere," Anakin said. "We ran into a reclumi," Obi-Wan said., "Web!" Dane shouted.
"Yes, a big one — "
"No, Web! That's his name! The assassin," Dane said. "I met him about two years ago. Robior Web. We had auditioned for the same job but he didn't get hired. The thing about him was, he got started as a security officer but the security force was disbanded on his planet so he found himself out of a job. He's got a reputation for taking on big jobs, assassinations, things like that. He used to be a Guardian on Junction 5."
Obi-Wan slowly rose.
"There is our connection to Lorian Nod," he said.
Chapter 24
Promising to return, Obi-Wan and Anakin raced out of the prison and into the inn. They found Lorian in a secluded area of the lobby, deep in conference with the rulers of Bezim and Vicondor. Obi-Wan and Anakin hovered unseen, able to pick up some of their conversation.
"What is happening?" Yura Telamarch asked, his voice full of distress.
The ruler of Bezim was a tall humanoid with a domed head and a grave manner. "Do you think Count Dooku is behind the murder of Kash?"
"I don't know, Yura," Lorian said. "They've arrested Samish's bodyguards. It could be an internal plot of Delaluna."
"We are not safe here," Glimmer Uziel, the ruler of Vi-condor, said.
She had a musical voice and pale gold skin. Four tiny tentacles waved delicately in the air, like fronds. "What if this is a trap? There are those among my aides who say that Count Dooku will not show up. He has lured us here to kill us all and take the space station by force."
"Without Samish, our alliance is weaker," Yura said. "No doubt the pressure will increase. What do you think, Lorian?"
"I think we trust Dooku for now," Lorian answered. He stood. "I suggest you get some rest. The meeting is scheduled to take place in an hour."
Reluctantly Yura and Glimmer rose and headed for the stairs. As soon as the rulers were out of sight, Obi-Wan and Anakin walked up to Lorian. "Trust Dooku?" Obi-Wan asked sardonically. "Good advice, Lorian."
"What did you expect me to say?" Lorian asked. "Dooku must not suspect that I am against him."
"Are you against him?" Obi-Wan asked. "Things have changed now that Samish Kash is dead. If someone wished to drive a wedge through the alliance, it has worked."
"Are you accusing me of killing Samish? He was my friend."
"So you say. Have you ever heard of Robior Web?" Obi-Wan asked.
Lorian frowned. "The name is familiar, but.." "He was a Guardian."
"I could hardly be expected to remember every Guardian."
"He is now working as an assassin."
Lorian took several moments to reply. "He is on Null?" "Yes. Dane recognized him."
Lorian nodded slowly. "You think this Web killed Kash, and I hired him to do it."
Obi-Wan said nothing.
"I did not," Lorian said. "And if you think about it for a moment you will see that if someone wanted to smash the alliance, the way to do so would be to kill one member and pin the murder on another. It is no accident that the assassin is a former Guardian. Naturally you would suspect me."
"Naturally," Obi-Wan said.
"And that is exactly what Dooku would want Yura and Glimmer to do,"
Lorian continued. "This is how he works. He waits. He watches. He likes to undermine loyalties. He likes to fracture bonds. He likes to encourage betrayal."
All of this was true, but it didn't mean Lorian wasn't guilty. Just clever.
"There is more going on here than the Force can sense," Lorian said.
"And more than your logic can decipher. There are feelings here, Obi-Wan. And among those feelings are mine for Samish. I did not do it."
"We have only your word for it, along with everything else," Obi-Wan said. "That is the problem."
"There is only one solution to the problem, then," Lorian said. "You must trust me."
"Can you give me any reason to do so?" Obi-Wan asked.
Lorian hesitated. "I cannot prove my honesty."
"Then we'll continue to suspect you," Anakin said.
"We come from the same place," Lorian said, looking at them both. "I was raised in the Temple. I fell away from its teachings for a time.
Why? I was afraid. I was young and alone and I took a step forward, the only step I felt I could take. Then I took another, and another, and I ended up in a life I didn't recognize."
"These are excuses," Obi-Wan said. "Tell that to the people of Junction 5. Tell that to Cilia Dil."
"I harmed my people," Lorian admitted. "And I must say that Cilia is not one of my supporters. She can't forget what I was. I know all I have are excuses. When you live a life filled with wrong, what else do you have but excuses and blame?" He paused. "Do you believe in redemption, Obi-Wan?"
Obi-Wan had been asked the question, but it was Anakin who spoke up.
"I do."
"I do, as well, young Anakin Skywalker," Lorian said. "It is what keeps me going. At the end of my life, I will do good. That's all I can tell you for now."
"Do you believe him?" Anakin asked as they walked outside the inn.
"I think he talks well," Obi-Wan said. "And I don't know what to believe. Not yet." Would Qui-Gon have known? He had always seemed to know who to trust.
"You are too hard on beings sometimes," Anakin said. "Mistakes are made. Things happen. That means that change can happen, too."
"The meaning of life is change," Obi-Wan said, startled at Anakin's characterization of him. The charge stung. He did not think he was hard on other beings. Perhaps that had been true once, but he had learned from Qui-Gon. "I didn't say I didn't believe Lorian. But I can't discount the rest of his life just because he tells me I should.
If he is in league with Dooku, we should find out what they are planning. And if he is not in league with Dooku, we should still find out."
"So what's our next step?" Anakin asked.
"Do you have any suggestions?" Obi-Wan asked.
"I have a question," Anakin said. "If Robior Web was hired to kill Samish Kash, he has accomplished his objective. Why is he still on Null? Assassins seldom hang around after they finish an assignment."
"He was going to meet Lorian and give his report," Obi-Wan said.
"That could be true," Anakin said, "but usually that is done by comlink or dataport. Usually an assassin and his employer don't like to be seen together."
"So if he's still on Null, he could have another assignment to accomplish before the meeting," Obi-Wan said. "Maybe we should find him."