Into the Void: Star Wars (Dawn of the Jedi) (43 page)

“Oh, I can
see
that,” Han said. He was starting to wonder about the convenient timing of the pirate
attack on Kaeg’s ship … and he was starting to get angry. “And I’ll bet after the
pirates had you limping back into the station, someone at the bar was buying drinks
and talking about the Mando sucker in the back room.”

“As a matter of fact, yes.” Kaeg sounded embarrassed. “How did you know?”

“It’s an old trick, Omad.” Leia’s voice was kind. “Han has fallen for it himself a
few times.”

“You have?” Kaeg asked. “Han Solo?”

“No need to talk about that now,” Han said.
A few times
was exaggerating, but he knew Leia was just trying to keep Kaeg from starting a fight
she didn’t think they would win. Deciding she was probably right, he shifted his gaze
back to Scarn. “So now that we know your marker is no good, why don’t you sign it
paid—”

“I didn’t cheat,” Scarn said, sounding a little
too
insistent. He raised a thumb to the damaged side of his face, then popped out his
cybernetic eye and slapped the device on the table. “Check it yourself.”

Han barely glanced at the thing. “I’d rather check the eye you used during the game.”

“That
is
the one I used.”

Scarn’s tone remained aggressive and hostile, but the mere fact that he had switched
from intimidation to arguing his innocence told Han the balance of power had shifted.
Scarn recognized the Solo name, and he was no more eager to start a fight with Han
and Leia than
they
were to start one with him and his Nargons.

“Maybe that’s the cybernetic eye you were using,” Han said, “and maybe it’s not. But
you didn’t tell the kid you had one, and you gotta admit that looks bad.” When Scarn
didn’t argue, Han extended a hand. “So give me the kid’s marker, and we’ll put all
this behind us.”

Scarn remained silent and looked around the table, no doubt weighing his chances of
actually leaving with Kaeg’s thumbprint against the likelihood of surviving a fight.
Han risked a quick peek in Leia’s direction and was rewarded with a subtle nod. She
could feel in the Force that Scarn was worried, and
worried
meant they were going to avoid a battle.

Then Kaeg asked, “What about the rest?”

“The rest of what?” Han asked, confused.

“I lost ten thousand credits
before
I signed that marker,” Kaeg said. “It was all the money I had.”

Han frowned. “You took your last ten thousand credits to a sabacc table?”

“I didn’t see another choice,” Kaeg said. “And don’t tell me
you
haven’t done the same thing.”

“That was different,” Han said.

He glanced over at Scarn and caught him glaring at Kaeg in fiery disbelief. There
was no way the Mandalorian was going to return the ten thousand credits, probably
because most of it had already been spent. Han shifted his gaze back to Kaeg.

“Look, kid, ten thousand credits may seem like a lot right now, but it’s not worth
starting a firefight over. Why don’t you think of it as tuition?”

“No,” Kaeg said, glaring at Scarn. “Nobody cheats Omad Kaeg.”

“Omad,” Leia said gently, “
we’re
going to pay you for serving as our guide. It will be more than you lost, I promise.”

Kaeg shook his head. “It’s not about the credits. These Out-Rifters come pushing in
here, thinking they can just take what’s ours.” In a move so fast it was barely visible,
he laid his blaster on the table, his finger on the trigger and the emitter nozzle
pointed in Scarn’s direction. “It’s time they learned different.”

Han groaned but slipped his own blaster out of its holster and placed it on the table
with a finger on the trigger. Scarn did the same, while Jakal pulled his weapon and
held it nozzle-down, ready to swing
into action against Han or Kaeg. Leia simply laid the transfer document in front of
her and dropped one hand onto her lap, where it would be close to her lightsaber.
The Nargon watched them all and snarled.

When no one actually opened fire, Han let out his breath and shifted his gaze back
and forth between Kaeg and Scarn. “Look, guys, things can go two ways from here,”
he said. “Either everyone in our little circle dies, or you two come to an understanding
and we all walk away. Which will it be?”

Kaeg stared into Scarn’s remaining eye. “I’m good with dying.”

“Then why are you talking instead of blasting?” Scarn asked. Without awaiting a reply,
he turned to Han. “Jakal is going to put his blaster away and hand over that marker.
Then we’re done here. Clear?”

“What about the kid’s ten thousand?” Han didn’t really expect to get it back, but
he wanted Kaeg to understand that some mistakes couldn’t be fixed, that sometimes
the only smart move was to cut your losses and move on. “Jakal going to hand that
over, too?”

Scarn shook his head. “The ten thousand is gone,” he said. “You think I’d be out here
on the edge of nothing, wrangling a bunch of overgrown lizards, if I didn’t have problems
of my own?”

The question made Qizak’s skull-crest stand erect, and it studied Scarn with an expression
that seemed half appetite and half anger. Han contemplated the display for a moment,
wondering just how much obedience the Mandalorian could truly expect from his “overgrown
lizards,” then turned to Kaeg.

Kaeg sighed and took his finger off the blaster’s trigger. “Fine.” He held a hand
out toward Jakal. “Give me the marker.”

Jakal holstered his weapon, then pulled another flimsy from his belt pouch and tossed
it in the middle of the table.

And that was when Qizak said, “
Coward
.”

Scarn craned his neck to glare up at the Nargon. “Did you say something?” he demanded.
“Did I
tell
you to say something?”

Qizak ignored the question and pointed to the unsigned transfer document, still lying
in front of Leia. “The bosses need Kaeg’s share,” he said. “That is the plan they
have.”

Kaeg’s eyes flashed in outrage. “
Plan?
”

Shaking his head in frustration, Han said, “Yeah, kid,
plan
. You
were set up. I’ll explain later.” Hoping to keep the situation from erupting into
a firefight, he turned back to Scarn. “Like you said, we’re done here. Go.”

Qizak pointed a scaly talon at the transfer document. “When Kaeg gives his share to
the bosses.”

“No,
now
,” Scarn said, rising. “I give the orders. You—”

A green blur flashed past Han’s face, ending the rebuke with a wet crackle that sent
Scarn sailing back with a caved-in face. The blur hung motionless long enough to identify
it as a scaly green elbow, then shot forward again as Qizak grabbed Kaeg’s wrist.

Jakal cursed in Mandalorian and reached for his blaster again—then went down in a
crash of metal and snapping bone as the Nargon’s huge tail smashed his knees. Han
stared.
How do we stop this thing?

By then, Qizak was dragging Kaeg’s hand toward the transfer document. Han checked
the other Nargons and found them both in their corners, still watching the crowd rather
than the trouble at the booth. Good. If they were worried about the other patrons
getting involved, it would take them longer to react. That gave the Solos ten or twelve
seconds to even the odds—maybe longer, if the miners really did jump into the fight.

Han pointed his blaster at Qizak’s head. “Hey, Finhead. Let—”

A green streak came sweeping toward Han’s arm. He pulled the trigger, and a single
bolt ricocheted off Qizak’s temple. Then a scaly wrist cracked into Han’s elbow; his
entire arm fell numb, and the blaster went flying.

From the other side of the booth came the
snap-hiss
of an igniting lightsaber. The acrid stench of burning scales filled the air. Qizak
roared and whirled toward a spray of blue embers that made no sense, and then an amputated
forearm dropped onto the table, trailing smoke and sparks.

Sparks
?

Too desperate to wonder, Han launched himself at Qizak, burying his shoulder in the
Nargon’s flank and pumping his legs, driving through like a smashball player making
a perfect tackle.

Qizak barely teetered.

But the huge alien
did
look toward Han, and that gave Leia the half second she needed to jump onto the booth
seat. Her lightsaber
whined and crackled, and Qizak’s remaining arm dropped next to the first. Two arms,
maybe three seconds. Not fast enough. Han drove harder, trying to push the Nargon
off balance … or at least distract him.

Leia buried her lightsaber in Qizak’s side. The Nargon roared and pivoted away … but
not to retreat. Remembering how the lizard had smashed Jakal’s knees, Han threw himself
down on the huge tail, slowing it just enough to give Leia time to roll onto the table.
The lightsaber fell silent for an instant, then sizzled back to life.

Qizak let out an anguished bellow, then its tail whipped back in the opposite direction.
Han went tumbling and came to rest against a flailing heap of armor—Jakal, writhing
with two broken legs. Han spun and reached for the Mandalorian’s blaster but discovered
his numb hand lacked the strength to wrench the weapon from Jakal’s grasp.

Jakal pulled the blaster free and started to swing the nozzle toward Han.

“Are you crazy?” Han jerked his thumb toward Qizak. “He’s the one who smashed Scarn’s
face!”

Jakal paused, and Han used his good hand to snatch the blaster away. So far, the fight
had lasted six, maybe seven seconds. The other Nargons would arrive soon. A tremendous
banging sounded from the booth, and suddenly Leia was trapped against the wall as
the armless Qizak tried to kick the table aside to get at her. Kaeg stood next to
her, pouring blaster fire into the lizard’s chest, but the bolts bounced away with
little effect.

“What
are
those things?” Han gasped.

Jakal might have groaned something like
scaled death
, but Han was already attacking Qizak from behind, firing with his off-hand. The storm
of ricochets was so thick, he did not realize he was caught in a crossfire until he
stood and nearly lost his head to the bolts screeching in from two different directions.

Han dived and began to kick himself across the floor behind Qizak. The bolts had to
be coming from the other Nargons, blasting on the run as they tried to push through
the panicked crowd to help their companion. But who would do that, fire into a brawl
when their buddy was right in the middle of it?

He continued to squeeze his own trigger, pushing himself toward Qizak’s flank and
firing toward the smoking hole Leia had opened in the Nargon’s ribs. Finally, he saw
a bolt disappear into the dark circle.

And
that
drew a reaction. Qizak spun as though hit by a blaster cannon, pupils diamond-shaped
and wide open. Gray smoke began to billow from its chest, followed by blue spurting
blood and something that looked like beads of molten metal. The Nargon lurched toward
Han, its legs starting to shudder and spasm as it prepared to stomp its attacker into
a greasy smear.

Leia came leaping over the tabletop, her lightsaber flashing and sizzling as she batted
blaster bolts back toward the other Nargons. She pivoted in midair, bringing her bright
blade around in a horizontal arc. Qizak’s head came off and went bouncing across the
durasteel floor.

Han saw the body falling and tried to roll away, but he was too slow. The huge corpse
crashed down atop him, and the air left his lungs.

In the next instant, the weight vanished. He saw Leia crouching at his feet, one arm
outstretched as she used the Force to send Qizak’s body flying into a charging Nargon.

“You okay, Flyboy?” she asked.

“I’m …” Han had to stop. His chest hurt something fierce, and the breath had definitely
been knocked out of him. Still, he managed to get his feet under him. “Fine. I think.”

Kaeg scrambled from beneath the table. A flurry of blaster bolts nearly took his head
off. He cried out in surprise, then waved an arm toward a dark corner.

“Emergency exit!”

He scrambled away, staying low and not looking back.

Han did not follow immediately. Recalling the strange sparks that had sprayed from
Qizak’s arm as Leia amputated it, he grabbed one of the limbs off the table—and was
so surprised by its weight he nearly dropped it. He flipped the stump around and saw
that instead of bone, the Nargon’s flesh was attached to a thick durasteel pipe with
just room enough for a bundle of fiberoptic filaments.

“Han!”

Leia used the Force to send the last Nargon stumbling back toward
the bar, then grabbed Han by the arm and raced down a short passage, past the refreshers,
and out through an open iris hatch. It wasn’t until Kaeg sealed the hatch behind them
and blasted the controls that she finally released his arm and took a good look at
what he was carrying.

“Really, Han?” She rolled her eyes in disbelief.
“Souvenirs?”