It seemed every bounty hunter in the galaxy had set out to find Thul, and if Zekk could succeed, his name would become famous indeed.
Many people laughed at his youthful optimism and his battered ship. Zekk fought hard to keep his anger in check, but when his emerald eyes flashed, most of those who had joked at his expense fell silent and turned away. Naturally, Zekk could tap into the Force if he wanted to, but it frightened him to do so. He dreaded the possibility of slipping again into the endless gulf of the dark side, a place from which he knew he would never escape a second time.
One afternoon, he found his way into a popular interspecies bar called Shanko’s Hive, whose insectoid caretaker was famous for using his many arms and legs to whirl about, mixing several drinks at the same time. Shanko hibernated for a month out of every year, though, and when Zekk entered the hive he found that the insect had cocooned himself in his chambers and would not return again for some time.
Shanko had left management of the bar in the capable hands—the capable three hands, actually—of his lead bartender, Droq’l. The three-armed, blue-skinned semi-humanoid had two eyes centered in the middle of his head, another in the back, and one on top of his bald blue skull.
“Bornan Thul, eh?” the bartender said, washing glasses with one hand and mixing a drink with another, while the third arm (which protruded from the center of his chest) reached forward to shake Zekk’s hand. “You do know that Nolaa Tarkona has put out a widespread call, now don’t you? She’s offering enough credits to interest every bounty hunter in the galaxy.”
“Yes. And you do know that most of them aren’t as good as I am, now don’t you?” Zekk countered.
“I see you don’t lack in self-confidence,” Droq’l answered with a smile, flashing glossy black teeth.
“No,” Zekk answered! “No I don’t.”
At one table in the back of the bar two squealing Ranats threw glowing dice at each other and attempted to catch them in their long, ratlike snouts. It appeared to be some sort of a game rather than an argument.
Suddenly loud sirens erupted, along with clanging, whoops, flashing lights, and tinging bells. Zekk jumped to attention, fully alert and ready to defend himself. “What is it? What happened? Is that an alarm?”
The ear-splitting noise continued without interruption for a full minute. “No, that’s just music,” Droq’l shouted over the din. “It’s that blasted Ishi Tib popular stuff. Most of the other patrons can’t stand it but—hey—whichever customer puts a credit chip into the music machine gets to pick the tune.”
Finally the commotion ended, and the three-armed bartender set another freshly washed glass aside. Leaning across the bar, he placed all three blue elbows on the polished countertop and stared at Zekk with his front pair of eyes. “Listen, kid—I might be able to give you a little errand to run. That is, if you’re interested,” he said.
“Of course. I’m ready to take on any assignment,” Zekk said, a little too enthusiastically.
“Good. I need you to find somebody who said he had a buyer for a small shipment of mine: ronik shells with a premium luster finish. He’s a scavenger and a trader, some times even a bounty hunter … but not too successful at any of those careers.” He took off. “Haven’t heard a thing from him since.”
“Who is it?” Zekk said.
Droq’l flipped out a small holo image and switched it on, showing a rodentlike creature with big eyes, large round ears, and a pointed snout. Zekk didn’t recognize the species.
“Name’s Fonterrat. Not overly trustworthy, but I didn’t think he’d have the nerve to skip out on me. I’ll pay you a modest bounty if you can find him for me so I can sell that shipment of shells myself,” The bartender stared at Zekk intently. “Since you’re new at this, you can’t command a high fee, of course.”
“Of course. I’m out to establish my reputation, and you’re providing me with an opportunity—the start I was looking for,” Zekk said. “Where do I find this Fonterrat?”
The bartender laughed and clapped all three hands together to mimic a round of applause, “If I knew for certain where to find him, I wouldn’t need to hire somebody, now would I?”
“All right,” Zekk countered, “where should I start to look for him?”
“Now that’s a better question,” the bartender said. “I knew a bit of Fonterrat’s schedule. He had a few other stops to pick up routing cargo and meet with certain associates … but his last scheduled destination was a human colony known as Gammalin. He never came back, and I never received any word from him.”
“Gammalin,” Zekk said, letting the word burn itself into his memory. “My ship has navigational files, so I’m sure I can find out where that is.”
“Good. And when you do find him, you might want to backtrack his route, because…” Droq’l paused for effect, his round eyes twinkling as if he were a child with a secret “one of those associates Fonterrat was supposed to meet along the way was none other than the person you’re trying to find for Nolaa Tarkona’s big bounty: Bornan Thul. So, if you do a good job for me, you may just find more than you actually thought you would.”
Zekk felt a surge of excitement. “It’s a good start, at least! Thanks for the lead. You can count on me.”
“Yes, but don’t get too cocky. Everyone else in the galaxy is looking for Bornan Thul too, remember?”
“I remember. But it doesn’t matter,” Zekk said. “I don’t mind the competition as long as I’m the one who finds him first.”
And with a cheerful wave, he turned and raced back to the Lightning Rod.
7
After the battle against the predatory ship High Roller, Lowie climbed out of the quad laser emplacement on the bridge of the Tradewyn. Though full of energy and pumped up from the fight, he was also disturbed that the ill-conceived ambush had cost their ruthless attacker his life.
Turning in a slow circle, Lowbacca scanned the viewports, observing the space debris and mangled bits of hull plating that drifted there all that remained of the bounty hunter’s ship. They were safe now … at least until the next unexpected attack from someone else with a grudge against the Thul family.
When the weapons officer had been unable to score a hit on the swift High Roller from the control console, Tyko had called on Lowie and Jaina to assist him. The attacker’s ship had fired relentlessly at the bridge, darting and dodging all return fire—until Lowie and Jaina had joined the fray, with their Jedi-enhanced abilities.
In the end, one of Jaina’s shots had taken out the High Roller, and the danger from outside was truly over. For the moment.
Lowie’s battle-ready reflexes began to relax, but waves of tension still rolled from the quad laser emplacement where Jaina sat.
A security guard entered the bridge deck, his face grim. He informed Tyko that Officer Kusk had been apprehended while trying to abduct Raynar and Aryn and that Jacen, Tenel Ka, and Raynar himself had thwarted the plan devised by Kusk and his bounty hunter brother.
Tyko thrust out his generous lower lip and commented, “Brother? So Kusk was in on it. You see, you just can’t get good help these days.”
Lowie helped a shaky Jaina climb from the quad laser well. Her face remained flushed from the excitement of the space battle, but her brandy-brown eyes were somber. “If Zekk still wants to become a bounty hunter, I hope he never does anything that stupid,” she said in a low voice.
Lowie crooned a soft note of understanding.
Tyko Thul approached them, his hands clasped behind his back.