The group reassembled in the hangar and went out to meet Garindan in the cantina. The bar was packed- the day had turned to night, and the scum of the planet had come out to wash the dust from their throats. On walking in, Lexo, T'ek and Zybor all sensed it- there was an unusual amount of nervous anticipation here. It was hard to get a feel on what the mood in a sleazy cantina was SUPPOSED to be like, though, so they let it go.
Garindan was sitting far at the rear of the bar. He gestured to the seats around him in the darkened alcove. The others took their seats. "Did you get the access codes," Uschi asked in a low voice.
"First, the money."
She exchanged a look with the others, then transferred five thousand credits to his credit stick. He put the stick away and withdrew an odd looking device with wires and a metal band at the end of an odd electric node. He gave it to Uschi. "This is a passkey coded with what you need to get inside the Imperial garrison. You'll still need to get past the guards- there's a stormtrooper watching the entrance from the inside front behind blast glass, and two standing outside."
"Where will we find the holonet?"
"I believe it's in the back of the complex. I couldn't find any plans for you, but it's behind another guarded entrance inside the garrison. Chances are high that you'll have to do a little blasting, unless you can create a proper diversion or infiltrate the command room. If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving now..."
Uschi seemed impressed. "Yes, thank you Garindan."
The kubaz got up to leave, took three footsteps, then turned back around. "Uschi. I buy and sell information- this is what I do. Should something bad happen to you..."
"I know, I know. We didn't get this from you."
"Not only that. Just remember that I buy and sell information. All for my own personal gain. All in my best interests- without malice. I am an innocent." He made a motion with his hand and walked out of the cantina.
Zybor watched him go. "What an odd guy," he mused. "Seems a long way to go to justify your own crimes to someone. Dent, does the passkey look like it'll work?"
Dent looked the key over. "It looks good. Of course, I don't know the access code- this could be a fake, but it DOES use Imperial signatures. I think it just might be for real... which is good, because paying that much really hurt our resources."
Woonwooken growled. "Yeah, I noticed that too," Lexo said. "Do you think he was signaling something with his hand gesture while he left?"
T'ek looked around and felt alarm. "I don't know, but there are suddenly a great deal more patrons on this side of the bar." It was true- there was now a congestion of people drinking and socializing between them and the exit. Their eyes occasionally darted over to the heroes.
"Yeah," Uschi said, standing up from her seat. "I believe you're right. Let's get-" A voice from the next table over interrupted her.
"Want to know why you feel like you've been trapped? You have. It's that simple. You walked into the trap, and now the noose is about your necks." The heroes looked to see a cocky looking Twi'lek sitting at the table with one leg propped up on it. His left arm was bent back over the seat, and he smiled with glittering teeth. Several of his companions at the bar stood up, and the people blocking the exit stopped pretending to be doing anything but.
Uschi wrinkled her nose and spoke the Twi'lek's name slowly. "Ende Kalspree."
"I'm honored you recognize me anymore, Uschi, considering how you're far above socializing with the likes of me and my friends. You don't come by the cantinas anymore."
Ende Kalspree was a fellow bounty hunter that Uschi had never really gotten along with, but hadn't ever come to blows with over any given matter. The code of mutual respect among the bounty hunters carried certain guidelines. One trapping another certainly broke that code- unless the one had good reason (a confirmed bounty) on the other. Somehow, Kalspree must have found out about her relationship with the Rebellion, and Garindan delivered them right into his mottled little hands. "I didn't think you were low enough to trap your own, Ende."
"You're mistaken about two things. One: you're not my own. You don't hunt bounties anymore. You don't attend guild meetings anymore. You're traveling with your important new friends. Two: You're not trapped. You're free to go. I'm here for the wookiee."
The heroes were all surprised to hear that, most of all Woonwooken herself. Ende took out a little palm-sized holoprojector and pushed a button. A bluish hologram of a wookiee wearing a bow atop her head sprung into the air. Below it was written:
UNIDENTIFIED WOOKIEE
Adult Female
Wears colored bow on head
Armed with Tricaster
Last seen with unidentified human male wearing breathing mask
WANTED FOR CLASS ONE INFRACTION: Aggression against Imperial representatives
REWARD: 100,000 credits on live delivery to Imperial government
Woonwooken groaned a deep sound in her chest. Her bloody escape from Tatooine some time ago had caught up with her. It was how she'd met Lexo: She'd attempted to steal his ship, and when stormtroopers attempted to intervene, she opened fire. Lexo had followed suit and the two made it away from the planet. It seemed the Empire didn't believe a man in a breathing mask was noteworthy enough to put a bounty on- but a wookiee with a bow in her hair was just distinguished enough.
Uschi said "I'm disappointed in you, Ende. I didn't figure you for the type to try to take another hunter's bounty from their custody."
"Save it, Neff. I know you've been traveling with the wookiee. You haven't captured her. Now, I have. Either take off now with your friends, or fight and die. We outnumber you."
Uschi began reaching for her pistol. "You may outnumber us, you scum, but at least I'll have no problem killing you before we're overrun."
Ende laughed. "Remember Greedo, Uschi? Rodian, worked for Jabba? Well, he died not too long ago. Just over there, in another booth. Greedo was getting sloppy. You know what he didn't do? He forgot the first rule- make sure you know where their gun hand is. Never let them reach under the table." A heavy blaster barrel poked out from underneath the table. Ende laughed again. "You're covered, Neff. Make your move."
Uschi stopped reaching for her gun. She thought quickly. "All right- why, then, haven't you-"
Woonwooken roared and slung her tricaster up in one lightning-fast motion. Kalspree fired- a stun blast shot up over Uschi's shoulder. Ende flinched, barely being grazed by the three tricaster bolts that ripped his seat up around him.
The cantina exploded into panic. Some patrons ran, screaming, and some pulled blasters out of their own and started firing on the heroes. T'ek and Zybor lit their lightsabers and began whirling around, deflecting blaster shots into the rafters. Uschi and Dent pulled their own blasters and fired at the thugs closing in around them. Lexo clicked his force pike on, and began sweeping the vibroblade end through the thugs. It was a full-on saloon shootout. The gruff bartender hid behind his bar, shouting "NO BLASTERS NO BLASTERS!" over and over again.
Ende dropped the holoprojector on the table in the fight. As it clattered to the table's surface, the frequency changed and the hologram shifted to static, then to the form of an Imperial officer speaking. Woonwooken took note of it, and cocked the tricaster once more. She fired three more bolts, this time into the wall. Ende got up and clicked his blaster off of stun. He fired and missed- then was blasted backwards by tricaster bolts to the chest. He fell to the ground, dead.
T'ek Nova backflipped high into the air, vaulting over a table and landed facing a very startled thug. The thug fired at Nova, point-blank, who dodged the blasts. A thug behind Nova fired at his back. T'ek bent his arms up and swept his lightsaber around his back, neatly deflecting the bolt. The saber came back around to swiff through empty air- the thug had jumped backwards, out of range. T'ek raised the saber towards the thug, then touched a control on his lightsaber's hilt and twisted it sharply. The blade grew a meter in length in the space of a half a second. It killed the thug. He twisted the blade back to its original size and fought on.
Uschi was facing down a thug and trading blaster shots over some toppled tables. Uschi took a hit to the chest and fell back. Dent shot the thug, and cried "Uschi's down! T'ek- help her out, huh?"
T'ek could indeed move back and help Uschi, but he was calmly defeating roughly four goons with blasters. He was in the moment, and it was where he wanted to be. "Zybor's closer- let him do it," he yelled. Dent frowned at T'ek.
Zybor caught his cue and began moving toward Uschi. He cut and swung with his double-bladed lightsaber, the green blades flashing when he deflected a blaster shot. He cut a thug's head off and spun around, missing another thug and cutting a table in two. He flipped over the table and knelt by Uschi, his lightsaber already deactivated and hung on his belt. He let the Force flow into her. He stabilized her, then rejoined the fray.
Lexo was greatly enjoying his battle. The Ice Bears would tell him when a blaster shot would fire a moment before it did, and he managed to dodge a great many shots. He misjudged one shot... and was hit in the shoulder. He grit his teeth and began working his way through the thugs with renewed vigor. Lexo Yust with his spinning force pike was as awe-inspiring as almost any Jedi. He slashed and spun, parried, blocked and feinted. He got to the goon that had shot him, and kicked him, then stabbed him through.
Woonwooken fired one more time, blasting another thug in the back. He fell on his face in a smoldering heap. For a moment, the entire cantina was silent. Then, the sounds of the lightsabers being turned off, and the wounded being tended to.
The bartender briefly considered shouting for help, but didn't want to tempt the ire of these scoundrels who'd come into his bar. He'd seen these laser swords in action before, and didn't want that kind of trouble. Better to hide out and clean up later, to live another day.
The heroes ran back to the hangar. Uschi was up and moving about, though not feeling terrific. When they got to the hangar, they had perhaps the biggest surprise of the day: Garindan himself was standing alone, unarmed, and waiting. Woonwooken rushed forward and slammed him against the wall.
"Easy, Woonie!" shouted Lexo.
Uschi approached Garindan. "You sleemo, you sold us out!"
Garindan raised his hands and spoke in an even, if nervous voice. "Yes, I did. I sold you into a trap for a good chunk of money. Remember what I said before I left, though- I am an innocent. Besides, I knew you could handle yourself against that rabble. I made myself some money, and helped clean up the town a little."
"I oughta blast you right here," growled Uschi.
"Before you do, there's something else I should tell you," he said. "I sold you to the Empire, too." Uschi's jaw dropped. Saying that was going to save his hide?! Woonwooken prepared to smash him into the next parsec. "However- I only told them the truth in that you were going to attack the Garrison. When probed for more information, I told them what they DIDN'T pay for: that you were going to attack in two days' time, that you are a group of trandoshans, and that you're hiding out in a warehouse three blocks away." Woonwooken's fist froze at the end of her arm. What was the little creep trying to say?
"The point, Uschi, is that they're going to launch a preemptive raid on 'you'- tomorrow around noon. A good number of the stormtroopers are going to leave the garrison reasonably defenseless, to follow a red herring I planted."
Uschi looked confused...as did her companions. "Why would you do that?" she asked.
"Again: I act in my own best interests. I know you work for the Rebellion. Whatever you're going to do with the Holonet- I'm assuming it's toward the greater end of wiping the Empire out. My job here will be much busier if you could erase their position here on Tatooine. This is why I'm putting my neck on the line."
At Uschi's signal, Woonwooken released the kubaz. He was obviously very relieved, and smoothed his cloak out as he twittered. "So- tomorrow. Noon. The garrison. You'll have to deal with minimal troopers. You don't know me. Are we clear?"
Lexo spoke up. "One more thing. How do we know you don't have further 'best interests' that involve screwing us over in this twisted plot of yours?"
"Simple. If I were going to really betray you, I'd have done it right away. You're Rebel agents, and you..." he looked at the wookiee. "...are worth one hundred thousand credits. I could be quite wealthy at this moment, but you might say that I'm investing in a better future."
NEXT TIME: THE LOCATION of FARLAN-EUL
