Moving around alone had gotten more dangerous than ever, too — I needed a partner who could keep watch on the situation at all times.
And that tied straight into some new developments at the front.
Looked like Republic command had finally realized what kind of idiot they’d sent us as a general.
So one problem got traded for another.
A different Jedi arrived — and this one, as it turned out, was a lot sharper than his predecessor.
Within a month, he’d pushed the front line back toward the city again.
But that wasn’t even his biggest achievement.
The previous commander had thrown everything he had at taking the city and more or less ignored the surrounding territory.
This new Jedi, though, was slowly but surely closing a ring around the city that the Separatists had no way out of — wiping out every criminal gang that crossed his path along the way.
From the chatter on the planet’s underground channels, I couldn’t tell how the Shadow Front was doing.
Whether it even still existed.
None of my calls through the group’s internal contacts were going through.
Either they’d been wiped out, or I’d been struck from the ranks.
I doubted the Boss would do something like that, but if he and the Old Man were both dead, whoever was left might have.
One more problem I’d need to deal with eventually.
I had money, sure, but where was I supposed to go with it?
Keep living in the bunker?
Stupid.
My drive to get back at Malik hadn’t faded, but it had gone from a raging fire to a cold, hard lump that never quite let me forget it was there.
I didn’t want to start my own gang.
But the money I had wasn’t enough to buy a ship of my own, let alone pay an informants’ guild for their services.
And if I left the planet — where would I even go?
For that matter, how?
Orbital space was still locked down tight.
And even if I somehow managed it, what then?
The only things I actually knew how to do were fight, kill, and program a little on the side — and making a living off the first two wasn’t something I wanted, period.
So, bounty hunter, then?
Or bodyguard work?
I remembered from the holos that Jabba had a whole personal mob of thugs on Tatooine.
He probably wasn’t the only one in the galaxy who did.
The problem with bounty work was that it didn’t pay well, and your own client could turn around and try to have you taken out.
Bodyguard for some big shot?
Who’d hire a kid?
Though if I worked under the mask, the odds went up some.
Still didn’t want it.
If five decent droids could take me down — and they’d proven they could — what was stopping an ordinary sentient from doing the same?
There were known cases of professional bounty hunters taking down Jedi and delivering the heads to Separatist command.
Some specialized CIS HoloNet forums had a standing bounty of half a million credits on a Jedi’s head.
And if the HoloNet was to be believed, these were sentients turned into near-unkillable monsters from early childhood.
If people were managing to kill Jedi anyway, what guarantee did I have that the same fate wasn’t waiting for me somewhere down the line?
So it came down to this: cheap and safe, or wildly profitable and just as dangerous.
I could try running cargo, sure, but I didn’t have enough for a decent ship and crew.
Steal one?
Then who’d fly it?
Not me.
Not my droid, either.
The Force wasn’t in any hurry to hand me a clue about what to do or which direction to move in.
So — focus on the here and now.
Realizing I’d need money no matter what path I picked, I started hauling anything valuable I could find back to my new base — a hundred and forty kilometers outside the city — whatever I could scavenge after a fight or steal off Separatist outposts.
I’d have raided the clones too, but the nearby Jedi made me genuinely nervous about that.
Since things around my current hideout kept getting hotter by the day, I had to start looking for a new home.
The city was off the table immediately — first, there wasn’t a single spot there that I could be sure nobody knew about, and second, the odds of landing right back in the middle of fresh fighting were high.
Hutt only knew when this cursed war would ever end.
After stealing a couple of speeders off the Separatists, I set out with my Bodyguard to scout the areas around the city.
Getting past the ring that kept squeezing tighter, cutting the city off from the rest of the planet, wasn’t hard for us.
The Force made it clear which routes to avoid entirely.
And the checkpoints out past the fighting were pretty weak anyway.
We had to take the long way around, but it was safer that way.
“Foolish sentients — why don’t they install motion sensors?
My processing power can’t calculate the extent of their stupidity.”
“Money and resources, my metal friend.
The Republic’s forces simply don’t have the means for that.
Or maybe they’re just not that smart.”
“That’s certainly true as well.
Master is smart.
I am even smarter.
If the two of us started a war together, we would win without question.”
“Your thoughts terrify me, Khran.”
“Initiating indignation protocol.
I asked you not to call me that nickname.
You gave me my name yourself, so live with the consequences — there’s no need to shorten it.”
“Then don’t call me Master.”
“I cannot.
Master is Master, not Chief.”
“And I don’t want to say your full name every single time.
So we’re agreed — treat it like a friendly nickname.
Loosen up a little, and people will warm to you.”
“Nooo—” A muffled cry tore out of my droid’s vocabulator.
“They’ll stain my plating, and I don’t want to spend the whole evening scrubbing off fingerprints.”
“You’ve got such an unpleasant voice when you’re faking emotion.” I winced.
“No need.
I’d rather you replace a few of my gears.”
“You vindictive machine.
Fine, you’ll get your parts.
As soon as I find some.”
By the time we finished talking, we’d already put a good distance between us and the city.
Wild forest rose up around us in a solid wall.
Moonlight barely made it through the canopy overhead.
A pleasant, mysterious half-darkness surrounded us.
“Khran, how far have we gone from the city?” My distance sensor had gotten damaged during the speeder theft.
“More than thirty kilometers?”
“Confirmed, Master.
Should we search here?”
“No, we’re clear of the fighting now, so we can plan our route properly.
Let’s stop.”
I pulled up next to a wide tree, slid off the speeder, and sprawled out on the grass.
Three hours riding in a saddle is not exactly a good time.
Judging by the feel of things, my backside had gone perfectly square, which pretty clearly violated every law of anatomy known to science.
“Khran, you should have a terrain map of this hemisphere loaded.
There should be mountains around here somewhere — plot us a route.”
“Give me a moment, Master.” The droid sank into some tangle of algorithms and, after a while, came back online.
“A hundred kilometers from here, the terrain turns hilly.
Based on what I could find, there’s a large number of caves out there, suitable for setting up a base.”
“Lead on, then, oh mighty pathfinder.”
“There you go again, insulting me with words I don’t recognize, for no reason.”
“Just walk.
Two steps ahead of me.”
An hour later, we really did clear the forest and found ourselves surrounded by tall hills.
Night had already taken full hold by then, so we had to stop at the top of one of them.
Down in the shadows at the base, it would’ve been easy to get turned around and start wandering in circles.
Though what was the rush, really?
We had plenty of supplies, so we could take our time scouting the terrain properly.
With that thought in mind, I gave the order to set up camp.
The campfire crackled quietly in the dark.
The dull snap of burning wood was almost hypnotic.
Orange light played across the speeder’s smooth sides.
The moon slipped in and out behind thin, fast-moving clouds, sending patches of light drifting across the hills.
A light breeze tugged at my overgrown hair.
Man, I hoped I’d find a spot for a new base out here.
It was too peaceful, too good a place not to.
Without even noticing, I sank into a deep, restful sleep.
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