HEAD TRIP - PART II
"Excuse me. We are investigating a theft. We think you have something that does not belong to you. If you are smart, you will turn it over, and no one will get hurt." The human woman stared fiercely at Bobbo. Her shoulders were back and her bearing haughty. She and her two companions, both human men, were each wearing miner's grey jumpsuits, but the creases were neat and precise, and their hair was short and worn in a military style. The suits bore the insignia of Outer Rim Oreworks.
"Hey, baby, ORO might own this stinking planet, but this shop belong to Bobbo!" The Toydarian rubbed his hands together, leering at the woman. "Besides, Bobbo have no idea what you talking about."
In the back of the shop, Jirair Gann, Dev Novo and Biqua listened intently. Everyone knew that Bobbo's dealings were often somewhat less than legitimate. But this ... this sounded serious. Suddenly, a metallic voice called out loudly. "Where am I? What is this place? You are not the master!" Jirair looked down at the head of the droid in his lap. It had somehow activated!
From the front, a man's voice said, "That sounds like our target!" Biqua pushed at Jirair and Dev, waving them out of the back of the shop. Jirair was still staring at the talking droid head. Dev grabbed him by the arm and the two raced through the junk in the shop and out the back door. When the three ORO agents burst through the curtain into the backroom they ran directly into Biqua, and all four hit the ground in a tangle of flailing limbs and junk parts.
Out back, Dev Novo mounted his speeder bike and it roared to life. Jirair looked from the droid's head to the shop and back. Dev's blue eyes flashed with excitement. "C'mon, Jirair, hop on!" Jirair climed on behind Dev, holding the droid's head cradled in one arm. The speeder tore off, flying down a narrow jungle trail.
"Duck!" yelled Dev above the hum of the repulsorlift engine.
"What?"
"Duck!" Dev leaned down far over the controls. Jirair barely saw the branch before it whacked him in the face, but he somehow managed to stay on the bike without losing his head or the droid's.
As they neared the end of the trail that opened up on the beach they saw something coming their way up ahead. It was a group of three swoops, piloted by two Quarren and an Aqualish. Dev and Jirair recognized them immediately ... thugs in the employ of the local crime lord, Choti the Squid.
Dev accelerated, and the swoops parted as the speeder bike whooshed past, narrowly squeezing between two of the larger swoops. The Aqualish, his four eyes wide in terror and anger, shook a fist at the two humans and cursed them, his pincer-like mouth tusks moving fiercely. But one of the Quarren had spotted something of interest. Clutched beneath the arms of one of the humans was the head of a droid. Could it be the droid they were looking for? He signaled with his hand and the three henchmen whipped their swoops around and accelerated in pursuit of the speederbike, their ion engines roaring through the jungle.
Dev and Jirair burst out of the jungle onto the broad, hard packed beach. Jirair yelled above the crashing surf, "We've got company!" Dev looked back over his shoulder to see the swoops in hot pursuit. He was the best repulsorlift pilot on Malabar, but his old speeder bike could never outrun the more powerful swoops. He turned sharply and headed down the beach, accelerating to top speed.
"You are in big trouble, you know! I belong to Riboga the Hutt, and I suggest you return me to the master immediately!" Jirair was so surprised to hear the droid speak again that he almost fell off the back of the speeder.
"Riboga the Hutt is dead," shouted Dev through gritted teeth. He looked back to see the swoops were gaining. "If this droid belonged to him, no wonder everybody's after it. They say Riboga stashed treasures all over this system. If the droid knows their locations, whoever gets that data will be extremely wealthy!"
Suddenly a blaster bolt exploded past their heads! A warning shot. But there would be no more warnings. These thugs meant business. "Take my blaster!" Dev yelled. Jirair grabbed the blaster, but it was difficult to hang on to both the weapon and the droid's head as Dev maneuvered side to side evasively. Jirair had never fired a blaster at someone before. His eyes squeezed almost shut, he reached back and triggered a blast. Not even close, but the swoops did scatter and lose a little ground.
Now all three thugs were firing away, and blasts passed through the air all around the speeder bike. Realizing he was fighting for his life, Jirair looked back again and squeezed off another shot. The blast took one of the Quarren in the arm and he went flying off his swoop. The swoop kept going until the nose dipped down suddenly and it hit the beach, sending up a spray of sand and parts and pieces flying everywhere before exploding in a fiery blast. The lead Quarren whipped around the explosion, still in hot pursuit. The Aqualish ducked his head and flew right through the fireball, emerging on the other side unscathed.
"These guys just don't give up," yelled Jirair.
"Hang on," said Dev. He decelerated rapidly and whipped the speeder bike off the beach and back into the jungle, this time taking a path so narrow and unused that vines grabbed at the riders and threatened to pull them from the bike. The sun had set almost completely, and the jungle path was dark and forbidding. The swoops roared after them, tearing through the foliage. At least the trail was treacherous enough to force the thugs to holster their blasters and concentrate on flying.
Jirair continued firing the blaster pistol, but it was impossible to aim with any accuracy as Dev raced the speeder bike down the winding trail. Jirair looked forward just in time to see what appeared to be a dead end ... a stand of enormous palms rose up out of the trail directly ahead! Barely slowing down, Dev forced the speeder bike into a tight turn. The front forks barely missed a tree, and now the bike was hurtling down another path. Behind them the Aqualish tried the same turn, but his swoop was moving too fast. He crashed into a giant palm, sending fragments of swoop and Aqualish spinning through the jungle. The Quarren made the tight turn, however, and was now gaining on them rapidly.
Jirair reached back to squeeze off another blast, but the pistol was snared by a vine and ripped from his hand! The Quarren was close now, close enough that Jirair could see his mouth forming curses between his writhing head tentacles. The Quarren accelerated, pushing his swoop forward at near top speed, and suddenly jerked to the side, slamming into the speeder bike! Dev and Jirair howled in pain as their legs were crushed between the two repulsorlifts, but Dev managed to keep the speeder bike on the trail. The jungle foliage whipped at all of them as the trail narrowed even more. The Quarren began pulling up for another ramming maneuver.
Jirair raised the droid head high, and yelled back at the Quarren. "You want this? You can have it!"
"Oh my!" said the droid as Jirair hurled it through the air. The head struck the Quarren right in the face and he was thrown from the swoop. Dev slowed and the swoop sped riderless past the speeder bike, crashing off the trail and into the jungle ahead.
"Nice shot," said Dev. Jirair's heart was pounding. He had never known such excitement, and he found he was thoroughly enjoying it. Dev turned the speeder around, and as he passed at a slower speed Jirair leaned far over and plucked the droid head off the chest of the unconscious Quarren. They were safe for the moment, but the ORO agents were still after the droid's head, and they had no doubt earned the ire of Choti the Squid this evening.
To be continued ...