Crimes Between Us

Chapter Six

Rating: PG-13

It wasn't hard for me to find where I'd hidden the seratin, a few short miles from the

medical facility. It wasn't quite dawn when I collected it and stored it in my

knapsack, then sent a quick transmission to Furry, who was still back on Courscant,

to meet me with a ship at the main launching bay on Endor.

I bunked at the launching pad the first night, hiding out among the huge cargo

crates until daybreak came. During the lighted hours, I wandered the planet

aimlessly, barely noticing the passing time in my mourning of a love I'd barely begun

to know. When a humanoid girl told me that there was a young man with short

brown hair and blue eyes looking for me, I registered the fact enough to remain

hidden for the rest of the day, but did not allow myself to think too much into what it

might mean. I didn't want to see Obi-Wan at that point. I wasn't sure I ever wanted

to see him again.

**

Furry arrived on the third day I'd run away from the Jedi, and it didn't take much

explaining for him to understand what had happened. He was good that way, able to

read me without needing to know much of the details. I wanted to get the seratin to

the Jedi on Correlia then get the hell out of the galaxy. I hadn't really thought of

where I'd end up, but debated on heading to the Outer Rim where my father was

holed up and spending some time with him there. He was hiding out from various

mobsters that he owed money to. He'd been hiding for as long as I could conceivably

remember.

I tried to sleep for the short trip to Correlia. Furry wisely left me alone, only

checking on me periodically, grunting softly to confess his presence, then leaving

when I ignored him completely, even though he knew perfectly well that I was only

pretending to sleep. Thankfully, there were no night terrors. Night terrors required

sleep. And that wasn't coming willingly.

Each time I closed my eyes I saw Obi-Wan. Each time I silenced my head, I heard

his disrespectful accusation. I alternately mourned him and hated him. The sound

of the landing rudders grinding and whining as they lowered had never been

sweeter. Distraction was highly underrated.

**

Correlia was vastly different than when I'd left. It looked like a war had been

waged through the streets. And perhaps one had. People trudged wearily along,

looking beaten and discouraged. There wasn't a Macedonian in sight. Old,

hollowed out buildings that had invariably served as occupation camps still

smoldered in ruin.

Furry growled his concern. He stepped onto the landing ramp, surveying the

surroundings before allowing me further down the incline. Finally, he insisted I

wear a cloak to shield my identity. Three Correlian government officials trooped by,

blasters drawn. They glanced causally our way, then moved on, and Furry released

a low grumble of relief.

I patted the brown pelage of his arm and walked close to him, the seratin closely

hidden on my body. My blaster was gripped tightly in my other hand, finger

perched on the trigger. I couldn't control the trembles coursing through my body as

we walked, Furry grumbling nervously as we trekked further and further into

Correlian government territory.

After walking for nearly five miles, Furry and I found the house we were looking

for, the only person I knew I could trust in the midst of the Correlian government

takeover.

"Adro," I breathed as my old friend opened the door just a crack at my insistent

knock. "Thank god you're home."

The boy opened the door further and ushered me and Furry inside. "Kalla!" He

exclaimed, looking around his small home as though government troopers would

emerge from the walls at any moment. "You're the most wanted woman in this

city!"

I smiled crookedly at him and tried to hide my concern. "Yeah," I breathed. "Tell

me something I don't know."

Furry grumbled his agreement and I looked at him sadly before leaning into him,

resting my weary head on his large barrel chest.

"Adro, you know I'd never deliberately put you in danger by coming here, but

you're my only hope," I said earnestly, slipping my blaster from inside my sleeve

and putting it on a nearby table.

"Kalla, I'd do anything for you," the sixteen year old boy said sincerely, gazing at

me with huge brown eyes. "Name it."

I closed my eyes, pulling my legs into my body. "I need a place to rest tonight. I've

got the seratin for the Jedi who are trying to regain control of the government. I

just need to find them or find a way to contact them so that I can give it to them."

Adro furrowed his brow, his young face screwing up endearingly in concentration.

"Why don't they come to you? Why put you in so much danger to bring them the

seratin?"

I sighed. If everything had gone according to plan, I'd have Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon

with me, and they would have contacted the Jedi by now. But as my luck was bound

to go, I didn't have the Jedi with me, and I was at a loss for how to find whoever it

was that I was looking for without opening up a comlink to the Temple on Coruscant

and virtually broadcasting my exact coordinates to everyone in the city.

"Long story," I muttered simply, unwilling to explain my heart's plight to my young

friend. "I'll figure something out in the morning. Right now I just need to sleep."

My eyes were growing heavy and I could barely exhale my yawn before I fell asleep

against my Wookiee's chest, deep and restful for the first time in days.

**

At four o'clock the next afternoon I was getting restless. Adro had been out all day,

scouting the government buildings, trying to find out where the Jedi were. But they

were Jedi, and I began to wonder what I was thinking. Of course they wouldn't

broadcast their whereabouts to everyone on the planet. They were waiting for

Jedi's Jinn and Kenobi, no one else. And because they were receiving a stash of

seratin, the meeting was not to be public.

I knew my hopes of finding them were slipping through my fingers.

I passed the time during the day in Adro's small home playing cards with Furry

and thinking--mostly about what to do next, sometimes about Qui-Gon and Obi-

Wan. What were they doing? Was Qui-Gon healing well? Did he wonder where I

was? Did Obi-Wan tell him what happened?

Surely Qui-Gon would not be happy that his Padawan had allowed me to run away.

I had the seratin, and without me, they could not successfully finish their mission. I

half expected them to show up at Adro's doorstep, having used the Force to figure

out where I was.

I realized that was ridiculous, and it was entirely possible that Qui-Gon had not even

opened his eyes yet, much less spoken with his Padawan about the mission. The

journey to Correlia from Endor was less than twelve hours, and for a Jedi, that

meant they could cut that time in half.

I wondered if they would even bother to come here without the seratin. What good

could their presence possibly do? There was seratin on other planets on which

Macedonians resided. The seratin I'd been providing to them when Correlia cut off

their supply. That could be obtained and brought back to Correlia if need be. I

knew it was the Council's last hope, but perhaps Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon would write

me off as easily as I had run away.

Either way, I wanted to get the seratin to the Jedi. I didn't feel right about having

the supply and not putting it in hands that could help save the Macedonian's lives.

The cowardice in me wanted to dump it in the nearest mailbox, get it to the Jedi

Temple, and run off to the Outer Rim. But I wouldn't do that. Not just yet. If worse

came to worse, I'd fly it to Courscant myself. They could have another set of Jedi

take it back to Correlia. That is--if Furry and I could get off the planet without a

scuffle.

Ironically, my last thought was of this scuffle when Adro burst in the door, his

chest heaving. He seemed to want to say my name but couldn't get it off his lips, and

he nearly doubled over in exhaustion.

Furry and I both immediately grabbed for our blasters. The Wookiee checked the

door that was still hanging open behind the gasping boy. It seemed clear in the

relatively quiet street. He shut it and locked it, grunting his confusion. I understood

him perfectly, although I knew I was in rare company being a non-Wookiee that

could understand the grunts and growls of their native tongue, and his words

mirrored my thoughts.

"What the hell is going on?"

I didn't bother with polite candor, simply needing answers to what the boy was

running from. We were wasting precious seconds. Minutes. Finally, Adro spoke.

"They know--you're here," he breathed, each word broken from the last, barely

finished but understandable.

Panic raced through my mind. I thought of the seratin, secured in a plastic bag and

clipped to the inside of my bra. My blaster was in my hand, where it should be.

There was no more protection to be had. Still, I felt like I was missing something.

I knew instantly, I was missing my Jedi.

Pushing the useless thoughts aside, I tried desperately to focus on the task at hand. I

wished I'd listened better when Obi-Wan described the use of the Force to me. It

had all sounded like a bunch of bull, until I needed to focus and couldn't.

Control your fear. Don't let fear control you. Fear is the path to the Dark Side.

His words echoed in my mind and I desperately tried to grip them. Control your

fear. I repeated it over and over until I had some sort of dominion over my thoughts

and managed to quell my trembling body.

The Wookiee growled out a question and Adro looked to me for clarification.

"Do they know where we are?" I translated impatiently. I knew it wasn't his fault

that the government had tracked me. In fact, I'd put him directly in harm's way and

if anything happened to him--

I forced myself not to think of it. "Do they know?" I repeated.

Adro nodded, his head only having to jerk upward once in a half-confirmation for

me to catch it and swing into action. I gripped onto Furry's arm and pulled him

haphazardly through the small home, his big body bumping wildly against framed

holos on the wall, knocking a few of them down in his wake. We scrambled out the

back exit, blasters drawn and aimed, ready to fire at anything that dared move in

our peripheral vision.

I pitied the next alley cat to jump onto a trash can lid with a clang.

No alley cats in sight as we thundered through the narrow lane, although I did

notice Furry aim at a skittery shadow, then pull his blaster away before his itchy

trigger finger snapped. If it wasn't a trooper, we didn't want to waste time, bullets

and energy.

Not to mention draw any unnecessary attention to ourselves.

I wondered what would happen to Adro when they showed up at the home and

searched it for me, the seratin, or both. It startled me with the realization that they

could kill him, just for the hell of it, and I hoped he was wise enough to get the hell

out of there for the time being, at least until they came and searched the place. I

wished I had thought to tell him to run and hide.

Chalk up another one for Solo. Selfish brat, you are really Daddy's Girl.

Furry and I got another hundred yards or so before the silvery white uniforms

surrounded us, seemingly out of nowhere. We raised our weapons automatically but

managed to gain the clarity, for once, not to fire, as we were severely out numbered

and out gunned. I realized that they'd kill me without a second thought, and vaguely

wondered why they didn't just do it.

But, as Master Qui-Gon would say (I found myself missing his calm rationale), my

destiny was routed along another path, and I would not die that day. I heard Furry

grunt at me to put down my weapon, and I heeded, crouching cautiously to the

ground and laying my trusty thigh blaster down before righting myself and raising

my hands dutifully in the air.

Well, it was over, at least for me. They'd find the seratin, probably in a sick, gleeful

strip search, and stick me in a cell somewhere to think about the life and times of

Kalla Solo, or kill me. Either one worked for me, they were pretty much the same. I

mostly felt bad about Furry. He was claustrophobic and hated to feel out of control

more than I did. Life in lock up was not for the Wookiee, and he would no doubt

suffer endlessly, lashing out every chance he got so they would take mercy on him

and kill him.

My heart ached with the thought and I found myself crying. Truth be told, I didn't

even realize the tears were streaming down my face until one of the troopers hissed

into my ear, "Shh, pretty girl, later on I'll make everything better."

I kicked him with every ounce of strength I could muster as they led me off in

shackles, and he went down, moaning in agony. I heard Furry growl but I wasn't

sure if it was with pride or castigation, before a swift blow to my head sent me

spinning into blackness.

**