The Deadly Hunter

9

Lightsabers drawn, they rushed into the café. With a quick sweep, they saw that it was empty. Plates with half-eaten food sat on the tables. Qui-Gon charged past the tables to the kitchen. Pots were overturned, their contents on the floor. Bins of flour and grain spilled onto the counters. The cooler door was open.

They ran to Didi’s private office. Papers and files were thrown on the floor, the contents of durasteel bins upended and kicked through. Everything on the shelves had been tossed onto the floor.

“Upstairs,” Qui-Gon barked.

He raced up, Obi-Wan on his heels. They burst into Didi’s private quarters together.

In times of danger, Qui-Gon’s senses slowed down. He took in everything in the room in what felt like several long seconds but was more likely the flicker of an eyelash. Astri on the floor, unconscious or dead. Didi standing, wrapped in the bounty hunter’s whip, his eyes wide with terror, a bruise on his forehead. And the bounty hunter turning, pausing for an instant when she saw them. Her expressionless gaze showed no surprise, no fear.

Real time snapped back. Qui-Gon anticipated the bounty hunter’s reach to the blaster strapped to her thigh. He moved forward to counterattack. He did not anticipate that she would aim at Astri, not at him. His Jedi reflexes were fast enough so that he was able to spin and turn, sweeping his lightsaber wide. He was slightly off-balance, but he managed to deflect the fire.

Astri stirred. Relief streamed through him. She was alive.

A perfect attack blended deception with speed and strategy. Qui-Gon feinted a pass to the bounty hunter’s left and instead charged straight at her. She did not respond to the feint but fired straight, then leaped high to the left to avoid him. His lightsaber whizzed through empty air where she’d been.

She was even better than he’d thought.

Obi-Wan moved forward to cover Astri so that Qui-Gon could concentrate on the attack. The bounty hunter activated her whip and retracted it. It spun off Didi in a dizzying circle, sending him flying against the wall. He hit it with a thud and fell to the floor, dazed.

The whip reverted to laser mode. With a slashing maneuver, the bounty hunter shattered the transparisteel in the window. Qui-Gon sprang forward, still keeping his body between his opponent and Astri. Didi began to crawl toward his daughter, getting underneath Qui-Gon’s feet. Qui-Gon jumped to avoid him, his attention now focused on protecting Didi.

The bounty hunter leaped out the window. Outside was a small enclosure that held various speeders and swoops. She jumped into one and took off.

Qui-Gon stood at the window as the lights of the swoop twinkled and receded. He felt anger rock him, and he took a minute to accept and release it. His opponent had eluded him. Sometimes it happened. He had fought the best fight he could.

But she has eluded me three times now.

“Astri,” Didi said brokenly. “Astri…”

Qui-Gon knelt by the young woman’s side. He felt carefully around her skull. “What happened?” he asked Didi. “Did she get hit by blaster fire?”

“No, no. Knocked out from behind,” Didi said. “With the handle of the whip.”

Qui-Gon felt a lump rising on Astri’s skull. Her eyes fluttered open. Her pupils were not dilated and her eyes focused on his face.

“Ouch,” she said.

“She’s all right,” he said to Didi. “Lie still, Astri. You’re going to have a headache.” She let out a hiss of air. “I’ll say.”

“We should call a medic,” Didi said worriedly.

“I’m all right,” Astri said. Wincing, she raised herself on her elbows. “What happened? The last thing I remember is all my customers going out the door.”

“Did anyone come in while they were going out?” Qui-Gon asked.

“No,” Astri said. “I locked the door behind them and told Renzii to go home. Locked the door behind him, too. Then I came upstairs. That’s all I remember…”

“I was up here,” Didi said. “I heard Astri on the stairs. She opened the door and suddenly fell down. Then the bounty hunter came in. She tied me up while she searched the place. She went downstairs and I heard her searching my private office.”

“And the kitchen,” Qui-Gon said.

“No, not the kitchen,” Didi said.

“But it was chaos, pots everywhere,” Obi-Wan said.

“It always looks that way,” Astri said with a sigh. “What bounty hunter? I thought we were talking about a common thief.”

“Why did the group leave?” Qui-Gon asked Astri.

Astri cradled her head in her hands. “I tried my best,” she mumbled. “I guess I’m not quite elegant yet. Renzii kept mixing up the orders. I couldn’t handle all the cooking. Some of the food was cold. So Jenna Zan Arbor had a fit, and they left. Next time I’ll hire extra help. That was a big mistake. It’s just that I spent all the extra money on the food…”

“So how did the bounty hunter get in?” Obi-Wan asked.

Astri lifted her head. “What bounty hunter?” she asked again in frustration.

“Didi, tell her,” Qui-Gon said.

“Not while you’re hurt, Astri,” Didi said nervously. “You need to lie down—”

“What bounty hunter?” Astri asked through clenched teeth.

“I might—ah—have gotten myself in a tiny spot of trouble,” Didi told her. “Nothing serious.”

“Sure,” Astri said. “This isn’t serious. Just another ordinary evening in the café. I get knocked out on a regular basis.”

“What a sense of humor my daughter has,” Didi said to the Jedi nervously. “Isn’t she marvelous?”

“Your father may have a piece of information that is valuable to someone,” Qui-Gon broke in impatiently. “That someone has sent a bounty hunter after him. We’re assuming they want the information back at any cost. And yet, the bounty hunter did not kill him when she had the chance.”

“That’s a good sign,” Didi said encouragingly. Then he looked fearful again. “Isn’t it?”

“You’re selling information again?” Astri yelled angrily. Then she winced and closed her eyes. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “You slimy, slithery, snaky son of a Kowakian monkey-lizard,” she hissed through her teeth. “You lied to me. Again.”

“I didn’t lie so much as not tell you everything,” Didi said, patting her shoulder. “I would not say that I have the thriving business I once did. But Fligh still came to me with bits and pieces to sell. How could I abandon him? Without me, how could he sell his little tidbits? It is tragic that he has been killed.”

“Killed? See where his business has gotten him,” Astri said, fixing her father with a steady stare. “Am I next, Papa?”

Didi turned away, unable to face his daughter. She got up unsteadily and left the room. “Let’s return to what we know,” Qui-Gon said to Didi. “The bounty hunter has not found what she is looking for. She tore this place apart. That means there is an actual object she wants, not just information in your head. What is it, Didi? This time you must tell the complete truth. You see now that you have put the ones you love in danger.”

“Yes,” Didi said heavily. “I see that. But I cannot help you, my friend. I do not have anything. Fligh didn’t give me anything but information. This I swear.”

“Not a data pad?” Qui-Gon asked.

Didi shook his head. “Nothing.”

Qui-Gon sighed. “Then there is no alternative. You must close up the café. Take Astri and leave Coruscant.”

Astri was just returning to the room as Qui-Gon finished. She paused in the act of pressing a cold cloth to her head. “Close up the café?”

“Just until we know what the bounty hunter is looking for,” Qui-Gon told her. “We can’t stay by your side all day and all night, Astri. I think you are in danger as well as Didi.” He paused, then said gently, “I know you are angry at your father, but you do not want to see him hurt.”

Astri bit her lip and nodded. “But where will we go?”

“I know where,” Didi said. “I have a house in the Cascardi Mountains.”

“You bought a house?” Astri exclaimed. “But you say you have no money!”

“It was a deal I could not refuse,” Didi explained. “I haven’t even been there yet, and I haven’t told anyone about it.”

“Where are the Cascardi Mountains?” Obi-Wan asked.

“On the planet Duneeden,” Qui-Gon said. “A short journey from Coruscant. But the mountains are a good choice. The Cascardis are remote and rugged. It’s a good hideout for a time. Obi-Wan and I will wait while you pack a few things. You must leave quickly.”

Didi sprang up and helped Astri from the room. They went into their bedrooms to pack.

“Do you think they’ll be safe?” Obi-Wan asked Qui-Gon in a low tone.

“Safer than here on Coruscant,” Qui-Gon said. “But the bounty hunter is no doubt an expert tracker. Even though the galaxy is wide, it’s hard for beings to just disappear. No, I fear we must unravel this mystery. No matter where they are, Didi and Astri are still in great danger. She will find them, and it will be sooner rather than later. Of that I have no doubt.”