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| - What am I doing here? I was supposed to have put away my lightsaber for good... Sora had been asking himself the same question over and over again since he had landed on Dantooine, a planet which consisted mostly of wide grassy plains. Every time, the same answer came to him: Just because I've left the Order, doesn't mean I can leave my friends. I won't leave Leela in her time of need. Sora walked the streets of the village of Jeeqwa, where his transport had dropped him and a few other travelers off. By Dantooine's standards Jeeqwa was pretty big, but to Sora and anyone who had been to any semi-developed planet, it wasn't much. A small road of trampled grass lined on both sides with a few buildings stretched before him. With very few settlements on Dantooine, he expected it would prove easy to find out where Bolvo and his pirates were located. Sora walked to a small stand where a Human woman was peddling roasted iriaz meat, spouting off how special her prices were. "You, sir! I know you want iriaz meat!" She pointed at Sora and smiled. Some of her teeth were missing. "No, thank you. I was wondering if you could help me, though," Sora smiled. "Anything for you, handsome. Nice goatee." She leaned on the cart she was peddling from. "...Thanks...Anyway, I'm looking for Bolvo. Know where I can find him?" The wind stirred and blew dust and grass around his feet. He brought his robe closer around him, keeping the lightsaber hanging at his belt concealed. "You mean Bolvo the pirate?" The peddler seemed a little off-put. "Yes, the pirate." "Well, I don't know much. He's pretty much kept his boys away from here. But there's been some people come rollin' through here on speederbikes, causin' trouble and all that nonsense. Don't know if it's Bolvo or not. Who else could it be, though? It's Dantooine; the most dangerous things here are the kath hounds." "Are those troublemakers you mentioned here right now?" "Yeah. There's three of 'em in the bar right now." "Where's that?" The woman pointed across and down the street a little bit. "See their speederbikes parked outside?" "Thank you." Sora laid a credit on the cart. "Do you want some iriaz meat for the road?" She smiled again. "No...Thank you..." Sora walked away quickly before she pressed the foul-smelling food on him. As Sora passed the speederbikes, he inspected them. In his youth, he considered himself a fair mechanic and good with technology. He closed his eyes and focused, trying to summon the Force inside the machines. Without touching them, he removed one wire, which would make them inoperable and render it impossible for any of Bolvo's men - if they were his men - to escape. Swinging bat-wing doors creaked as Sora stepped into the bar. Everyone inside turned and looked at him, but with the sun behind him, all they saw a cloaked man casting a long shadow across the floor. Sora saw three Human men sitting at a table in the center of the room. It had to be them, every other person in the bar sat alone. Sora walked to the bar and ordered a juri juice, his back to the three men. He heard one of them sniff, and another cough. The third said, "Were you getting cozy with the woman selling iriaz meat? 'Cause it smells like it!" They busted out laughing and pounding their fists on the table. The bartender sighed, and Sora could tell that he didn't like having the three in his bar. "That's a good joke," Sora said, "but sorry, that's not iriaz meat you're smelling. It's your mother," The laughter died immediately, and the sound of chairs grating across the floor could be heard. "What?" The one man asked, a threatening note in his voice. "Did I use big words?" Sora countered, simply glancing over his shoulder without turning. One patron, a Nautolan, dashed out of the bar, expecting a fight to erupt, his chair slamming to the floor. Sora also expected a fight, which had been his intentions all along. He had always been good at picking fights. He had also been good at winning them. "Be careful, you don't know who you're messin' with." "No, you don't know who you're messing with!" With that, Sora drew his lightsaber while spinning to face the three men. The blue blade glowed against the shocked faces of the pirates. "Where's Bolvo at?" "A Jedi!" One of the pirates exclaimed. "Run!" Another shouted and they all made for the door. Sora was in no rush; he knew they couldn't leave. Stepping onto the wooden sidewalk, he watched the three pirates struggle with their vehicles. Chuckling, Sora deactivated his lightsaber and and walked up to the first pirate. Glancing at him nervously, the pirate took a swing at him. Sora caught the man's arm and pulled him off of his speederbike and onto the ground. A second pirate attempted to sneak up behind Sora, but the Jedi sensed the attack and used to Force to bring the empty speederbike crashing into him, sending him sprawling into the grass. The third pirate drew a blaster pistol and opened fire. The Force came alive within Sora, and he immediately activated his lightsaber and deflected with deadly precision the bolts launching towards him. With the Force, he guided one deflected blaster bolt into the hand of the pirate holding the blaster. He dropped the pistol and grabbed his injured hand. By this time, the first pirate had recovered from being tossed to the ground and had picked up a rock with which he could throw at Sora. Sora sensed the rock before it was in the air. Spinning, he reached out with a hand and caught it in mid-air with the Force. Grinning, he sent it back with a push of his hand. The rock hit the pirate in the chest and knocked him back onto the ground. With all three pirates out of commission, Sora bound them sought a room with which to begin the interrogation. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ "Tell me about Bolvo," Sora said. He paced the floor in front of the three pirate hostages. He had rented out an empty room that the bartender had in his bar to conduct his investigation. "He's Human. He only takes Human's in his gang, too. He doesn't trust any other species," One of the pirates said. The man was obviously scared, and the fear had broken his loyalty to Bolvo. "He's not a very violent man unless pushed. Usually he has other people do whatever fighting has to be done," another piped in. "How many people are in his gang?" "Not many. Maybe twenty here on Dantooine. He's some people on other planets, too." "Is Dantooine his main base?" "No. He's usually on Nar Shaddaa, but we captured a young girl - a Jedi, like you - and he flew here immediately. He said we could ransom her out for a lot of money, which could then be used to expand out business." "Where's the girl being kept?" The third pirate answered: "An old temple or somethin' like that. It's not far, maybe ten miles west. You can't miss it." "That's all I need to know." Sora stopped pacing and looked right at them. "You gonna let us go?" One of the pirates asked nervously. "Yeah, I'll let you go. But I hope you're smart. Tomorrow, I'll be coming after Bolvo with the intent to kill. If you're there, you're a target. So I'd stay outta the way if I were you." Sora was just about to release the three men when the door was kicked in. Immediately Sora drew his lightsaber and backed into a defensive stance. A cloaked figure rolled across the floor into the middle of the room. When it jumped to it's feet, a lightsaber appeared in it's hands. Green blades emitted from both ends of the weapon. Sora recognized the face of the person wielding the weapon. It was a Human female with long black hair spilling out from her hood and over her shoulders. Blue eyes like his own glowed under the shadow cast by the hood. A look of surprise, which Sora expected was found on his own face, appeared on the intruder's face. With a gasp, she said, "Sora?" "Lora?" Sora replied. It was his own twin sister.
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