The Hutt slithered over to Si Treemba and grinned as he stared down at the captive. Obi-Wan recognized him. It was the Hutt who had beaten him up the day before.
“Ready to talk yet?” the Hutt asked. “Don’t you want that dactyl? I could push a few crystals over.
Si Treemba stared at him silently. Even from above, Obi-Wan could see that his friend’s contempt for the Hutt could not mask his fear.
The Hutt leaned closer, his huge head bobbing in front of Si Treemba. “What were you doing in our vents? Who sent you to spy on us?”
Weakly Si Treemba shook his head.
“You don’t look so good,” the Hutt sneered. “we gave you enough salt in the saline injection to deplete all of the dactyl in your body.” He leaned back again and chortled. “So why don’t you tell us what we want to know? It beats dying. Someone was with you. Who was it? Arconans never travel alone.”
Si Treemba shook his head again. His head lolled back, and his cheek hit the floor.
Frustration filled Obi-Wan. He had to do something. He grasped the vent and pulled it out. He shoved himself into the opening, then somersaulted to the floor. In a heartbeat, his lightsaber was in his hand.
“Do you only pick on the weak and unarmed, Hutt?” he asked.
For a moment, the Hutt was so astonished that he could only blink at Obi-Wan. The he began to laugh.
“Blast him,” he said offhandedly to the Whiphid guards.
Obi-Wan had counted on the slow reaction time of the Whiphids. They stared at him, their mouths open underneath their tusks.
Obi-Wan sprang forward, slashing at the heavy table. The lightsaber cut through the thick legs easily. With a crash, the table thudded down on the Whiphids. The flimsy stools they had been sitting on collapsed under the weight, pinning them to the floor. They howled in surprise and pain.
“Sorry to break up your game,” Obi-Wan said. Keeping his eye on the surprised Hutt, he reached over to the table and grabbed the key to Si Treemba’s leg cuff. The shackle was an ancient thing of metal, with a simple lock. Obi-Wan tossed the key to Si Treemba.
The Hutt slithered toward him. “So, young Jedi, you have not yet learned your lesson? How dare you defy me, the mighty Grelb!”
“Oh, but I did learn something,” Obi-Wan said. He held the lightsaber in readiness. “You prey on the weak. Now I am prepared to fight you, coward.”
Grelb eyed the lightsaber with contempt. “With that?”
Obi-Wan glanced behind the Hutt at Si Treemba. The Arconan had managed to free himself. He was quickly eating up all the dactyl on the floor. Already, his color was starting to brighten.
As the Hutt moved toward Obi-Wan, his enormous fist raised, Obi-Wan ducked and rolled in a classic Jedi defense maneuver. As he passed, he delivered a lightsaber blow to the Hutt’s flank. He heard the flesh sizzle.
Grelb roared in fury as he staggered back. His enormous bulk made him clumsy, and he fell onto the table, crushing the Whiphids legs even more. They howled in pain and beat against him with their fists.
“Hurry, Si,” Obi-Wan urged. Keeping himself between Grelb and Si Treemba, he waited until the Arconan had reached the door. The he hurried after him as Grelb tried to struggle to rise. Hutts were powerful, but they were not exactly light on their feet.
“You won’t get away with this, Jedi! Grelb bellowed. “The Arconan is a spy! This is war!”
Obi-Wan ignored him. He half dragged Si Treemba down the hallway. Lucky for them, the lower level wasn’t well-trafficked. They were able to reach the Arconan boundary without any more encounters.
As they crossed onto the Arconan side of the ship, Obi-Wan saw two Arconan border guards hurry away. He knew they were going to alert Clat’Ha that the two had returned — and had come from Offworld territory.
That meant, of course, that Qui-Gon would discover that Obi-Wan has disobeyed his order.
Si Treemba stopped. He turned to Obi-Wan, his luminous eyes glittering once again with the same warm light. “We thank you, Obi-Wan. We owe our lives to you.”
“You owe your capture to me, too,” Obi-Wan answered ruefully. “I’m sorry Si Treemba.”
“But once again your courage saved us,” Si Treemba said, grasping his shoulder.
“What about your courage?” Obi-Wan countered. “Think about it Si Treemba. You were dying, and you still would not betray me. You just faced down a Hutt!”
A slow smile spread over Si Treemba’s face. “So we did,” he said, pleased “So we did.”
“Don’t get too cocky,” Obi-Wan said with a sigh. “We still have to face Clat’Ha and Qui-Gon. They aren’t going to be happy about this.”
As soon as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Si Treemba were gone, Grelb slithered to Jemba and told him everything.
The giant grey Hutt loomed over Grelb, gasping in rage. Jemba was hundreds of years older than Grelb, and also much larger. “SO,” Jemba growled looking around his stateroom in a rage. “I knew it. The Jedi Knight and his young pupil have joined with the Arconans against me!”
“It was inevitable, O Great One,” Grelb said. “They do not like our kind.”
“It’s your fault!” Jemba said. “I should chop off your tail for this and have it for dinner.”
Grelb’s hearts began racing in fear, and he immediately coiled his tail up near his body.
Jemba continued, “If you were going to sabotage the tunnelers, you should have waited until we got to Bandomeer.”
Grelb tried to look hurt by the accusation, but Jemba did not fall for it. The huge slapped Grelb’s face hard enough so that Grelb felt as if his brains had turned to jelly.
After picking himself up off the floor, Grelb said, “You’ve never complained about my methods before!” Theft, sabotage, and murder were Grelb’s methods, but he made sure that Offworld Mining always profited by them.
“But this time there are Jedi around!” Jemba roared.
“I did not know that the boy was a Jedi when I gave him his first beating,” Grelb apologized. “If I had, he’d be dead by now. I promise, next time —“
Jemba pointed a huge finger at Grelb. “The boy is onto our schemes. There won’t be a next time. Let me handle this!”
“As you please,” Grelb said. He turned away and slithered from the room. As the door hissed closed behind him, Grelb clenched his fists, imagining that he was squeezing the throat of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Of course there will be a next time, Grelb promised himself.
Chapter 12