Rebel Force_ Target Part 9

"Next time you could just say 'behind you,'" Han grumbled. But he was grateful for the save. He had to admit, Elad was just as good with a blaster as he was with a ship. He fought like a machine, cool and efficient.

Deadly.

Speaking of machines...

"What are you doing?" he shouted at R2-D2, almost tripping over the droid. "Figure out a way to get that door open again!"

R2-D2 beeped indignantly, but he rolled toward the door, injecting a manipulator arm into the instrument panel.

Smoke clouded the air, heavy with the acrid stench of blasterfire. Half the stormtroopers were down, but three more crouched behind a toppled chair and table.

Every few seconds, they popped up from behind their makeshift barricade and unleashed another volley of fire. Han and Elad were pinned behind a thick marble column. There was too much cover in the room, and too little s.p.a.ce-it was impossible for Han to get a clear shot without exposing himself.

The fight was a draw...at least until the stormtroopers called in reinforcements.

Which could happen any minute.

"How we coming with those doors?" Han asked urgently. How long could it take to pry open some millionaire's front door?

Then again-Han took a look around the ruined apartment, realizing there was probably more wealth between these four walls than he'd smuggled in his lifetime. It was understandable that Luunim would have wanted a state of the art system to keep people out.

Or keep people in.

R2-D2 trilled triumphantly as the doors slid open.

"Go!" Elad shouted, a second before Han was about to do the same. "I'll cover you."

The droids rushed out first, followed by Leia, Luke, and Chewbacca.

"Go!" Elad shouted again, pinning down the stormtroopers with another round of fire.

"You go!" Han insisted. "I'll cover you you."

"You want to fight about this, or you want to live?"

"You have to ask?" Han grinned.

"On three?"

Han nodded, counting silently.

One... two two... three three, he mouthed, and they both took off for the door, twisting backward as they ran, firing at the stormtroopers who followed. As blasterfire punched holes in the marble wall, they slipped out of the apartment, just as the doors shut behind them.

"Can you stop them from coming through?" Han asked the astromech droid.

R2-D2 whistled a response.

C-3PO looked at him in surprise. "He says he's already done so, Captain Solo. He jammed the command circuitry. Who told you to do that, Artoo?"

R2-D2 beeped and whistled, sounding proud.

"What do you mean, you came up with it on your own?" C-3PO asked, horrified.

"Need I remind you of our place, Artoo? We're to carry out orders, not concoct crazy schemes sure to-"

"Nice work, Artoo," Luke cut in, smiling. "You saved us all."

"Well...yes, now that you mention it," C-3PO bl.u.s.tered, "I suppose we did."

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

They slipped safely out of the building, quickly absorbed by the dense crowds. Leia led them up and down packed streets, wandering aimlessly in hopes of losing any Imperials that might be on their trail. But as nearly an hour pa.s.sed without incident, they decided that they were safe.

For now.

They eventually found themselves on the fringes of the city. There were no more gleaming marble edifices here, only squat stone buildings the color of mud. Orange dragon beasts, nearly as large as a human foot, scampered through the streets, nibbling at the piles of garbage that lay piled on every corner. It was obvious that none of the wealthier Muuns, with their rich satin robes and fat bank accounts, ever strayed toward this part of town.

"We need to figure out why the Imperials killed Mak Luunim," Leia said, stumbling over a narrow ditch. Luke reached out to steady her, but Elad was faster. He caught her arm just before she fell. She shook him off. "If they discovered his connections to the Alliance, we could be in danger."

"Princess, those stormtroopers back there nearly turned us into burnt mealbread toast," Han pointed out. "I'd say we're already in danger."

"We need to ask around, find out whatever we can about Luunim," Luke suggested.

Han shook his head. "We need need to lay low." to lay low."

"Might I suggest a way of doing both?" Tobin Elad paused in front of a dingy cantina, its blinking sign hanging precariously over the door. So much mud spotted the windows that the transparisteel had turned a uniform brown.

"Ah, my kind of place." Han nodded appreciatively.

" This? This? " Leia wrinkled her nose and jerked out of the way as a grunting Gamorrean pushed through the doorway, his stench trailing behind him like a shadow. "It's a total dump!" " Leia wrinkled her nose and jerked out of the way as a grunting Gamorrean pushed through the doorway, his stench trailing behind him like a shadow. "It's a total dump!"

Han broke into a wide grin. "Exactly."

The inside of the cantina was even dingier than the outside. It took several minutes for their eyes to adjust to the darkness. Leia almost would have preferred it if they hadn't.

Then she wouldn't have had to watch the Gungan on the next stool brushing his companion's hair with a long, pink tongue. Or the unusually scruffy Muun behind the bar serve her a gla.s.s of water that he'd just used to wash his feet.

But in addition to clean feet, the Muun had a big mouth, and that was serving them well.

"That gundark-face Luunim owed me money," Han lied, leaning toward the bartender like they were old friends. "Should've known he'd rather die than pay me back."

"Luunim owed everyone money," the bartender said. His voice was nearly a hiss. "It was bound to get him into trouble one day." The bartender had confided that Mak Luunim died when his airspeeder's central turbine failed in midair. An Imperial inquest had deemed the incident an accident. The bartender sneered at anyone gullible enough to believe it.

"Thing is, who's going to pay me now?" Han complained. "Imperials are crawling all over the place, and I get the sense they're not too interested in paying his debts."

"Imperials!" The bartender spit into his gla.s.s. Leia resolved to keep an eye on it, lest he try to serve it to her next. "Only honorable beings repay their debts. The Imperials merely take and take-and then move on." He snickered. "Lucky thing for Nal Kenuun that he always takes first."

Han tensed, and Leia could tell he was trying his best to sound casual. "So this Nal Kenuun guy got at Luunim's place before the Imperials showed up?" Han asked. "Did Luunim owe him, too?"

"Everyone owes Nal Kenuun," the bartender said. "I have no doubt he collected on his debt, whether or not Luunim was alive to pay him."

Han glanced at Leia, and she knew exactly what he was thinking. If this Nal Kenuun had plundered Luunim's apartment, looking for items of value, then it was possible he had possession of the Rebellion's datacard-or at least might know where to find it.

Certainly it was the best lead they had, since they couldn't very well go back to Luunim's apartment and look for themselves. Not with the Empire swarming all over it.

"Don't suppose you know where I could find this Kenuun," Han said.

The bartender stiffened. "I wouldn't know anything about that." He scooped their gla.s.ses off the counter and retreated into a back room. "I got dishes to wash. Leave your payment on the counter when you go."

"That Muun never washed a dish in his life," Leia said, glancing at the spotted gla.s.ses littering the bar.

"He was definitely spooked when we started talking about Kenuun," Han agreed.

"Must mean we're on the right track."

It could, in fact, have meant anything, but Leia decided not to mention that. She wanted to believe that Han was right. Because they needed that datacard-the Rebellion Rebellion needed that datacard. And this was their only lead. needed that datacard. And this was their only lead.

Unfortunately, the bartender wasn't the only one who refused to help. They split up, wandering into different areas of the cantina, casually dropping Nal Kenuun's name into conversations. Each conversation ended abruptly.

When they met up again outside the front door, they were no closer to Kenuun than when they'd started.

"He's rich, he's powerful, and he likes to gamble," Luke reported. "And no one wants to cross him. That's all I found out."

"Looks like that's all any of us found out," Leia said, defeated. She supposed they could return to the city center and track him down through the central directory, but with the Imperials on their tail, that seemed too great a risk.

A loud hiss slipped out of the alley behind the bar.

They fell silent, turning as one toward the source of the noise. A scaly Dug emerged from the shadows. "Yeah, you," he whispered, curling a finger toward them. "C'mere."

Chewbacca growled softly.

"I know," Han muttered. "I saw him too. Sitting alone. Watching us."

"Limited time offer," the Dug warned, retreating further into the alley.

C-3PO raised a finger in protest. "I must say, I find it highly unadvisable to follow this being into-wait, where are you all going?"

Leia led the way.

The Dug was shorter than most of his kind, barely a meter high. His scaly flesh hung thick and loose around his neck. He wore a scooped metal blade in a holster slung across his shoulders.

"Hear you're looking for Nal Kenuun," he said in a low, gravelly voice.

"It's possible." Han kept a hand on his blaster.

"Whadya want with him?" The Dug squinted with suspicion.

"Looking for some action," Han said. "Hear he's the place to get it. I've got some credits to burn."

"You think you're some kind of gambler?" the Dug asked.

"The best kind," Han retorted. "The winning kind."

"No one wins against Nal Kenuun."

Han shrugged. "Only one way to find out."

"Kenuun runs a high stakes game," the Dug warned him. "The buy-in's at ten thousand. No IOUs. You don't look like you have that kind of cash on you."

"Looks can be deceiving," Han said. "I have what I need."

Leia shot him a sharp glance. Between them, they barely had ten credits, much less ten thousand-not to mention that posing as a high-stakes gambler didn't seem to qualify as lying low.

"And what's in it for me?" the Dug asked.

"The deep pleasure of helping out a friend?" Han suggested.

The Dug snorted.

"Okay then, a hundred credits," Han said. "But only when we reach Kenuun."

Leia expected the Dug to ask for payment up front-but surprisingly, he agreed.

"Call me Grunta," he said, drawing back his thick, weathered lips into a puckered smile. "It'd be my pleasure to take you where you need to go. Friend Friend." The Dug jerked his wrinkled head at the others, his ear fins twitching. "What about them?"

Han leaned in close and lowered his voice. "You know how it is when you start racking up the credits. Plenty of hangers-on wanting a piece of the action. Follow me around everywhere, do whatever I say. They're harmless."

Leia fumed, but kept her mouth shut. The Dug set off down the alley on his long, spidery forelimbs, without waiting for them to follow.

"What makes you think we can trust him?" Leia murmured to Han, as they hurried after him.

"Relax, Princess," Han said. "You're in my world now."

Leia sighed. "That's what I'm afraid of."

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.