"Master Yoda, you had my first loyalty, and you have it still," Lorian said. "I have done things in my life that I know were wrong, but I am here to do right. I am here to serve the Jedi."
"What do you propose?" Obi-Wan asked. He wasn't interested in Lorian's avowals. He was only interested in what he would do.
"Dooku has called a meeting," Lorian said. "I have indicated to him that Samish Kash is leaning toward the Republic. He thinks he needs me to persuade or strong-arm Samish into the Separatist camp. Also at the meeting will be the rulers of Bezim and Vicondor. Dooku has proposed this as a friendly meeting at his villa on the world of Null."
"I've heard of this world," Obi-Wan said. "Dooku has its leader in his pocket. It was one of the first to join the Separatists."
"Although he proposed this as a neutral place to meet, obviously we are on his territory," Lorian agreed. "I have agreed to come, as have Samish Kash and the rulers of Vi-condor and Bezim. We have a strong alliance among us. We have always acted as one. Dooku is hoping that I will help him convince the others to join the Separatists."
"And what do you propose?" Obi-Wan asked.
"I am not proposing anything except that I will attend this meeting as a spy, and hope to bring back useful information," Lorian said. "If the Jedi give me a specific task, I will perform it."
"Request we do that while we confer you wait here," Yoda said.
He accessed the door to an interior chamber. Obi-Wan and Anakin followed.
"I don't trust him," Obi-Wan said as soon as the doors closed behind them.
"Ask for your trust I do not," Yoda said. "Asking for your help I am. No matter his past, help us Lorian Nod can."
"He could have been sent here by Dooku," Obi-Wan said. "This could be a trick."
"Unlikely it is," Yoda said.
"Qui-Gon told me that Dooku and Lorian Nod were bitter enemies," Obi-Wan said. "Why would Dooku trust him now?"
"He said that Dooku didn't trust him," Anakin said. "But he needs him. Alliances are seldom based on trust, only need."
Yoda nodded. "Wise, your Padawan is. Think I do that best for this assignment, you are. If refuse you must, understand I will."
"What is it you wish us to do?"
"Travel to Null. This thread you must follow. Discover if Lorian is truthful. On this, the downfall of Dooku could depend."
CHAPTER No. 21
Null was a world of forests and mountains. It had no large cities, only small mountain villages, each so fiercely individualistic that attempts at alliances had always failed. There was a planet-wide government and a system of laws, but crimes tended to be solved among villagers according to an ancient tradition of fierce, swift retaliation that left no witnesses.
It was a perfect world for Dooku's hidden retreat. The villagers had a fierce sense of privacy and kept his comings and goings secret.
As Obi-Wan guided the small cruiser to the landing platform, he deliberately looped around the coordinates of Dooku's villa. Dooku had taken over the cliffside dwelling of a monarch who had reigned hundreds of standard years before. It had originally been built of stone, but Dooku had faced it in durasteel that was the exact gray of the mountain cliffs. The durasteel had been treated so that it did not gleam. It seemed to suck in light rather than reflect it. If Obi-Wan had not been looking for the villa, he would have missed it.
Obi-Wan guided the cruiser to the landing platform. They stood, feeling a bit odd in their clothes. They were dressed as hunters, with thick short cloaks made of animal skins. Hunting was the only tourist trade that Null supported. The mountains were full of wild beasts prized for their skins, especially the wily laroon. They disembarked, feeling the cold wind against their faces like a slap.
"We're scheduled to rendezvous with Nod in the Spade Forest," Obi-Wan told Anakin as he paid a fee to an attendant droid to keep the cruiser at the platform. "We should avoid being seen with him, even though we're in disguise. We have time to check into the inn at the village."
Anakin nodded as he slung his pack over his shoulder. "Just don't make me shoot anything," he said.
Obi-Wan grinned. The small joke brought back the days when everything was easy between them.
They were below the tree line, so the path ran through a heavy forest. The mountains rose around them, stabbing the thin air with their snowy, jagged peaks. The landing platform had been built into the largest mountain, which rose into the clouds. It was under this mountain that the village crouched.
The thick trees cleared as they walked down the mountain and the roofs of the village appeared. The buildings were made of stone and wood and were only a few stories tall.
Narrow streets wound through the cluster of buildings. The villagers seemed to rely on a sturdy native animal, the bellock, for transportation. Obi-Wan saw only a few speeders parked in yards.
Then they turned a corner and saw a cluster of gleaming speeders in front of a tall stone building, and they knew they had found the inn. Obi-Wan and Anakin entered, keeping their hoods on. The interior lobby was scattered with seating areas made of plush materials. A fireplace twenty meters tall held a huge blazing fire that chased away the damp chill. Various beings sat around the fire, some consulting datapads, others drinking tea. By the look of their clothes, Obi-Wan guessed they were outsiders, most likely aides to the rulers of the four planets. In a dark corner a hunter sat, covered in skins, an awesome array of weapons at his feet. His bored gaze seemed to regard the sleek, sophisticated beings with contempt.
"He's got enough weapons to bring down a capital ship, let alone a laroon," Anakin remarked in a low voice.
Obi-Wan's gaze traveled up the fireplace. The wall was fashioned of jagged stones from the mountain, fitted together in intricate patterns. He could see no evidence of mortar or joinery, but each stone nestled against each other in what must have been perfect balance.
The innkeeper smiled as he greeted Obi-Wan and Anakin. He was obviously a native Null. They were tall humanoids, easily a meter taller than Obi-Wan and Anakin. The men wore heavy beards, which they braided, and both men and women dressed in animal skins and thigh-length boots. "I see you are admiring the stonework of the inn," he said. "It is a native art. One pull of the keystone and the whole wall comes tumbling down."
"And which is the keystone?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Ah, that is the maker's secret," the innkeeper said. He noted their traveling clothes and sacks. "Always glad to welcome our hunters to the inn," he said. "As you can see, we have important guests, very important guests. But we do not neglect our regular trade." He pushed the data register toward Obi-Wan.
"What's going on here?" Obi-Wan asked, bending forward to sign the register. "I didn't realize Null was now on the tourist track."
The innkeeper leaned closer. "A very high-level meeting, I believe. Don't know what it's about. But I expect more of these meetings in the future. So book early or you'll be out of luck!"
"We'll be sure to." Obi-Wan pushed the register back along with the credits to pay for a room.
A young woman sat in a small chair tucked against the wall. He had not noticed her before, and would not have noticed her if a flicker of recognition didn't jolt him. He could not place her, but he felt he knew her. She was slender, dressed in a dark green tunic the color of the leaves outside. A matching headwrap covered her hair. He had met thousands of beings all over the galaxy, and though his memory was excellent, it was hard to remember everyone. Or maybe she just reminded him of someone... .
He turned. "Anakin, do you recognize that woman in green, sitting against the wall?"
"What woman?" Anakin asked.
There was a flicker of green, and the door of the inn closed. Obi-Wan filed the woman away in his mind to investigate later. He didn't like it when something nagged at him.
The hunter warmed his hands at the fire, picked up his weapons, and rumbled to the door. The native Null workers rolled their eyes after he had passed, clearly considering him an overly armed amateur.
"Come on," Obi-Wan said. "Let's find our room. It's almost time to meet Lorian."
First they stowed their gear in their room, a small one tucked under the eaves of the roof. Obviously they were not among those "important guests" the innkeeper had mentioned.
They walked out into the village street and toward the path that led into the forest. Obi-Wan called up the prearranged coordinates on his datapad. They would meet not far from the village in a forest clearing that Lorian had already determined was secluded but not difficult to reach.
As they reached the edge of the village, they saw a villager running down the mountain path. The thud of his panicked footsteps came to them clearly.
"Sound the alarm!" he shouted. "There's been a murder! Samish Kash has been assassinated!"
CHAPTER No. 22
Three blasts of a horn sounded as Obi-Wan and Anakin raced up the trail. They found Samish Kash lying a few meters off the main path. Villagers crowded around him, and a speeder arrived. Samish Kash was loaded onto it. Obi-Wan saw the blaster wound near his heart. He was a young man with curly dark hair, dressed in a plain tunic. As far as Obi-Wan could tell, he was unarmed.
Lorian Nod stood by, his face full of sorrow. He acknowledged the Jedi with a glance, then leaped aboard the speeder that held the body of Kash.
Obi-Wan saw the young woman in green turn away. Her shoulders were shaking. The hunter with the impressive arsenal put a hand underneath her elbow.
"An aide to Samish Kash," one of the villagers whispered. "She found his body."
Then we will most definitely need to talk to her, Obi-Wan thought. He watched the young woman and the hunter. Now his mind was clicking. They were arguing in a way that told him they were not strangers. Obi-Wan began to drift closer, hoping to overhear. But they kept moving away from the circle of villagers, the woman trying to get away from the hunter while still talking to him.
As she made an abrupt move to turn away, her hood fell back, and he saw that she had blond hair, braided tightly and coiled around her head. Then he caught a flash of wide blue eyes. The hunter spoke urgently in her ear.
"It's Floria and Dane," Obi-Wan said.
Anakin looked where Obi-Wan had indicated. "The brother and sister bounty hunters we met on Ragoon-6? How can you be sure? It was so long ago."
"Look carefully."
Anakin studied them. "You're right. What are bounty hunters doing here?"
"Exactly what I'd like to find out."
The two Jedi moved quickly through the crowd. Floria and Dane had now moved well away from the commotion.
"If you had done what you were supposed to —" Dane was saying.
"So you're saying it's my fault?" Floria's voice was choked with anger and tears. "You always —"
"You never —" Dane stopped talking as Obi-Wan and Anakin walked up.
"I must confess I never expected to see you again," Obi-Wan said.
Floria and Dane stared at them for a long moment.
"Black holes and novas, it's the Jedi," Dane said. Now Obi-Wan could see his blue eyes, so much like Floria's. "What are you two doing here?"
"Which is exactly what I want to know about you two," Obi-Wan said, steering them farther away from the others, and underneath the trees. "Who are you hunting? Are you involved in the death of Samish Kash?"
"No!" Dane exclaimed. "We're his bodyguards!" "Obviously, you are doing an excellent job," Anakin said. Floria burst into tears.
"Bounty hunting was getting too dangerous," Dane said, handing his sister a cloth to wipe her tears. "There were so many of us out there that all honor was lost. Some were using truly cutthroat techniques."
"I've seen a few," Obi-Wan concurred.
"So we decided to become bodyguards. It's simpler. Samish Kash hired us a couple of months ago for protection. He didn't want the usual big goons or guard droids. He didn't want anyone to know. So Floria posed as an aide, and I just used disguises. Then this meeting was called. 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 No. 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.