The Approaching Storm (звёздные войны) Page 9

  Ogomoor held his ground. His own head, he knew, remained at tached to his shoulders only because of his continuing value to the Hutt.

  "Put out the word to every lowlife, criminal, lawbreaker, and felon in Cuipernam. A thousand Republic credits to anyone who brings the accursed Padawan back to me alive, or the head of a dead Jedi. Hurry! We may still have a chance if she can be intercepted before she can rejoin her companions."

  "I hear and obey, Bossban." Too relieved at the dismissal to fear a shot in the back, Ogomoor whirled and fled unceremoni ously from the bedroom, his comlink already out and activated.

  Behind him, the gerils reflexively sealed their nostrils as their misshapen employer voided his disgust in an exceptionally ghastly and malodorous manner.

  What Ogomoor did not know was that his intimidating employer now had to report the failure to one far more important than his Huttish self. Soergg did not fear that individual-but he respected him. Almost as much as he respected the credits being paid into his own local account in the service of furthering the cause of Ansionian secession.

  Who was behind the one making the payments? he often wondered. Not that it really mattered. It was the money, the credits, that were important. The Hutts had little interest in politics except insofar as these served their immediate interests. It mattered not at all to Soergg whether Ansion and the worlds to which it was tied via treaties and pacts remained within the Republic or pulled out.

  Or even if something else, as yet unseen and unvoiced, arose to take its place.

  Chapter 6

  No one was surprised when Luminara was the first of the anxious searchers to find Barriss and her new allies. They met in the middle of a secondary marketplace. The two Alwari looked on with interest as Master and Padawan embraced unashamedly. Intent on the day-to-day grind of business, everyone else, shoppers and merchants alike, ignored them.

  "And who might these two stalwart-looking locals be?" Lumi nara eyed the Alwari with interest. Kyakhta felt Jedi eyes burning into his own. For no reason at all, he began to shuffle his feet.

  "My kidnappers, Master." At the look on Luminara's face, Barriss had to laugh. "Don't gauge them too harshly. Both suffered from cerebral infirmities. In return for my curing them, they helped me escape."

  "A temporary escape, I'm obliged to remind you, Barriss," Bulgan said. Straining to see over the heads of vendors and customers alike, he was scanning the multitude for signs of imminent assault. "Even as you enjoy this happy moment, I'd wager my last good credit that Bossban Soergg is sending a host of cutthroats in pursuit of us all."

  "Then we must hasten to leave." Pulling a comlink from her belt, Luminara addressed it briefly, listened to a reply, spoke again, and replaced it. "Obi-Wan and Anakin are hurrying to join us." She pointed. "We'll gather by the fountain on the far side of this square." Putting an arm around her Padawan's shoulders, she guided Barriss in that direction.

  "I'm glad you've had a chance in the field to use your skill in the healing arts. In the future, I wish you would try to find practice subjects other than kidnappers. I should be upset with you for letting your guard down so badly, but I'm too happy to see you safe and returned to us to be angry."

  They had to wait only a short while on the steps of the lorqual fountain before a swirl of robes in the crowd marked Obi-Wan's arrival. Anakin was not far behind him. Both greeted Barriss in the traditional Jedi fashion: ceremonial, yet affectionate.

  Bulgan observed the proceedings in silence. Only when the formalities had been concluded did he venture to inquire, while swatting away a hovering green-winged pekz, "What are you going to do now?"

  Luminara turned to him. "We have secured an agreement with the Unity of Community to make peace with the nomads, if the Al-wari will consent to share a percentage of their traditional lands with the city folk. In return, the city folk will agree to provide the Alwari with all manner of advanced goods and services, and will not try to intrude on or otherwise alter the time-honored Alwari way of life. Each will respect the other and the Senate will stay, insofar as it is possible for bureaucrats to do so, out of Ansionian affairs. In return, An-sion will remain within the Republic, which will ensure its economic and political independence from the Commerce Guild. Among others." Her tone darkened. "Ansion will not become another Naboo."

  Kyakhta scratched at the bare skin of his neck, careful not to irritate the explosive still buried there. "Sounds complicated to me."

  "So it is," Obi-Wan admitted. "More complicated than should be necessary. But that's the way of things these days."

  "Do you think the Alwari will accede to such a proposal?" Barriss was watching her friends and the crowd simultaneously.

  The two nomads exchanged a look. "It depends on how it is put to them," Kyakhta finally decided. "If you can get the most prominent of the overclans, the Borokii, to agree, the others will follow their lead and fall into line. Among the Alwari, it has always been so."

  Luminara nodded thoughtfully. "Then we must get their representatives to come to Cuipernam so we can talk with them in person."

  Bulgan started to laugh, stopped when he saw that the Jedi was serious. "No chieftain of the Borokii will come within a hundred huus of Cuipernam, or any other city of the Unity. They don't trust the city folk, or their representatives. I speak now as a Tasbir of the Southern Hatagai. Albeit," he added painfully, "one who is presently clanless."

  Leaning toward Obi-Wan, Luminara whispered something that soon had the other Jedi smiling and nodding. She turned back to Barriss's new friends. "If you are clanless," she said sternly, "it means you have nowhere to go. No responsibilities, no place to call home."

  "Haja, that is all too true," Kyakhta exclaimed mournfully. "One who is clanless is as rootless as the blowing irgkul bush."

  "Then," she continued, winking at Barriss, "you're free to work for us, to lead us to the Borokii."

  "Ou, I suppose we…" Kyakhta paused, blinked, and stared back at the Jedi. As he did so, his mouth parted slightly, the thin lips moving farther and farther apart, showing more and more whiteness of tooth. "You mean-you would take on two such clanless ones as Bulgan and myself as your guides? Even after what we did to your Padawan?"

  "That's in the past," Luminara told him. "And besides, Bar riss says it wasn't really your fault, and that you're cured. I accept her conclusion on that."

  "Guides for Jedi! Us!" Bulgan could hardly believe the change in their fortunes that had taken place in a single day- from working for a slime-tracker like Bossban Soergg to escorts for Jedi Knights.

  The ever-wary Anakin leaned close to Obi-Wan. "Master, do you think it wise to place our trust and requirements in such as these?"

  Obi-Wan pursed his lips. "I sense no danger in these two."

  "Neither did Barriss," Anakin pointed out sagaciously, "until they abducted her."

  "That was before she performed her healing. I think we shall be well looked after by this grateful pair. And they offer us an advantage we could not have hoped to obtain from the city folk: being Alwari themselves, they should find the right path and make the eventual necessary introductions as well or better than any others we could hire here in Cuipernam."

  Anakin mulled this over. "Are in the final analysis all relationships between sentients ultimately reduced to politics of one kind or another, Master Obi-Wan?"

  "It is thought so by many. Hence my continual attempts to hammer into you the basic principles of skillful diplomacy. Who knows? One day they might serve you in personal as well as professional relationships."

  That thought was sufficient to quiet the Padawan, and to set him on an entirely unrelated line of thinking. Meanwhile, the two older Jedi discussed details with their new guides as together they strode from the crowded square.

  "The first thing," Luminara declared, "is to have these wicked devices removed from beneath your respective scalps."

  "I know a healer who can do it in minutes, and will not be afraid to, now that they have been deactivated.
" Kyakhta flashed bright, sharp teeth at Barriss. "He is a fine craftsman, but he would never even have thought of treating us-before. To do so would have meant incurring the wrath of Bossban Soergg."

  "Good." Luminara sidestepped a trio of wandering Mielps, bent down beneath the weight of shopping bags nearly as large as themselves. "Then we can hire a landspeeder, and proceed to-"

  "No, no!" Bulgan cautioned her. "No landspeeders. We must take with us as few examples of galactic technology as possible. All Alwari are die-hard traditionalists. As you already know, this argument between them and the people of the towns centers largely on differences between long- established customs and new ways of doing things, of living. If you wish to gain the trust of the Borokii, to prove from the beginning that you do not favor the city folk, then you must approach them with reverence for the old ways."

  Obi-Wan nodded amiably. "Very well then. No landspeeders. How do we travel?"

  "For traversing the great prairies, there are many riding animals that are suitable."

  Anakin made a face. "Animals!" He'd always been far more comfortable working with machines. If they gave him enough time and access to sufficient equipment and spare parts, he could have built them a vehicle that would perform as required. But the native had been insistent-no landspeeders.

  "By far the best is the suubatar." Kyakhta's enthusiasm was palpable. "If you can afford them, they are the preferred means of travel for Alwari highborn. Arriving in a camp atop one immediately marks the rider as a person of consequence. Not to mention taste."

  Luminara considered. "The Jedi Council prefers that we travel modestly. We have at our disposal only limited means of exchange."

  "I think we might manage it," Obi-Wan told her. "Given that we've been told to resolve this business as quickly as possible, no one should object to our spending a little to achieve that aim. The sooner we leave Cuipernam in search of these Borokii, the better our chances of quick success, and the safer we all will be."

  "Riding a suubatar is like riding the wind." An eager Bulgan leapt over a dozing crowlyn. As he cleared its wide jaws, it pawed at him indifferently and went back to sleep.

  Anakin shrugged. "I'm a champion Podracer. I'm afraid no organic riding steed, no matter how 'noble' it might be considered locally, is going to impress me very much."

  But he was wrong.

  If there was one thing advanced technology had largely eliminated from modern transportation, it was smell. The latter was present in abundance at the travel market, where an amazing variety of domesticated riding creatures was to be found. While the two older Jedi went with their new guides to find suitable animals, the pair of Padawans were placed on guard.

  "I've already apologized to my Master for allowing myself to be abducted." As she spoke, Barriss's eyes were never still, regarding every vendor and shopper, every merchant and animal trainer, as a potential threat.

  Having already been lulled once by the apparent tranquillity of his surroundings, Anakin was equally alert. He stood alongside his counterpart, wishing she were someone else but never less than properly and politely respectful of her already established bravery and talent.

  "There's no need to be embarrassed. I've done plenty of stupid things in my life, too."

  "I didn't say it was stupid." She turned away from him.

  He hesitated momentarily. "Look, I'm sorry. We've managed to get off on the wrong foot somehow. All I can say in my defense is that I've got a lot on my mind."

  "You're a Jedi Padawan. Of course you've got a lot on your mind." Eyeing a seuvhat driver heading purposefully in their direction, her hand strayed toward her lightsaber. When he turned his vehicle, her fingers fell away from the weapon.

  "I mean I'm preoccupied." Reaching out, he put a hand on her shoulder, hoping the gesture would not be misconstrued. He needn't have worried. "If I hadn't been, if I'd been doing my job, I would have been paying more attention to the shop you went into. I might have followed up in time to prevent your abduction."

  "The fault was mine, not yours. I was guilty of thinking of only one thing at a time. Besides," she added briskly, "if events had unfolded differently, I wouldn't have been able to help those two unfortunate Alwari, and we would still be looking for guides to take us to find this overclan. As Master Yoda says, there are many paths through life, so it is best to be happy with whichever one we finally decide to take."

  "Ah yes, Master Yoda." He slipped deep into thought.

  Along with watching the crowd for signs of trouble, she also stole occasional glances at her fellow Padawan. A hard one to read, this Anakin Skywalker. Strength boiled within him. Strength, and-other things. Already, she saw that he was far more complicated than anyone else she had trained with at the Temple. That in itself was unusual. Once chosen, a Jedi's path was straight and uncomplicated. That was not what she perceived within Anakin Skywalker.

  "You said you were preoccupied," she finally said to him. "I sense that it's an unhappy preoccupation."

  "Do you, now?" She couldn't decide if he was being sarcas tic, or merely agreeable. Behind them, Jedi and guides continued to haggle for mounts. He found himself wishing they would get on with it. He was tired of this place, tired of this assignment. What did it matter if Ansion, or even several dozen allied worlds, seceded from the Republic? Given the current state of galactic governance and of the Senate, with its proven record of corruption and confusion, who could blame them? It might serve as a wake-up call to the rest of the Republic, a warning to clean things up or risk worse to come.

  Strong thoughts for a Padawan. He smiled to himself. Obi-Wan was wrong. I do think about the state of things, sometimes, and not just about myself.

  "Yes, I do," Barriss continued. She was not in the least in timidated by him. "With what are you so preoccupied, Anakin Skywalker? Why are you always so pensive?"

  He thought about telling her the truth. In the end, he decided to explain only part of it. With a wave of one hand, he took in the travel market, the surrounding streets, the mixed throng of An-sionians and offworlders, and the city beyond.

  "Why are we here? Master Obi-Wan has tried to explain it to me, but I'm afraid I'm not very sympathetic to the intricacies of politics. I find them difficult to understand, even irrelevant to life. Ever since I was a child, I've always had to be a direct sort of person." He looked over at her. "Where I grew up, the way I grew up, if you dissipated your energies, idled away your time, you didn't last long. You want my sincere opinion of this assignment?"

  She nodded, watching him.

  "It's a waste of time. A job for jabbering diplomats, not Jedi."

  "I see. And what would you do if you were in charge, Anakin?"

  He didn't hesitate. "I'd round up the leaders of both fac tions, city and nomad alike, lock them all in the same room, and tell them that if they didn't make peace within a week, the Republic would send a full task force and assume direct control of local affairs."

  She was nodding slowly, an infuriatingly tranquil expression on her face. "And how would the Commerce Guild respond to that, given its extensive interests in this sector?"

  "The Commerce Guild does what is profitable. War with the Republic is not profitable." He looked convinced. "That much I've learned."

  "And if the Ansionian Unity of cities and towns, in conse quence of this action of yours, makes good on its threat to join the new secessionist movement, and the other worlds that are allied to Ansion decide to join in-?"

  "It wouldn't make any difference to people's daily lives. Trade would continue, everyday life on the worlds involved wouldn't change," he huffed.

  "Are you so certain that you would risk thousands of lives to

  find out? And what would happen to the Alwari, who disagree with the present path of the Unity? Would not the Commerce Guild and its allies come down hard on them?"

  "Well, I'm not sure that…" Under her relentless reasoning, his wall of certainty was beginning to crack.

  She looked away from him, returne
d to studying the lively crowd. "Better, I think, to send a pair of Jedi and their Padawans to try to fix things. Far less threatening than a task force. Also cheaper, a course of action that always pleases the Senate."

  He sighed. "You argue plausibly. But Ansion is such a no where world! Even Obi-Wan wonders if it is very important. He's spoken to me about it several times, as well as about what he thinks is wrong these days with the Republic itself."

  "Flashpoints," she shot back. "Surely he has also spoken to you about flashpoints, and the need to stamp them out before they can grow into uncontainable conflagrations."

  "Interminably." He sighed resignedly as he resumed surveying the crowd with her.