[Dark Nest] - 1(24)
“A deal you can’t keep until you find two hundred credits,” Han said. “How long are they willing to wait?”
“We are facing a bit of a dilemma,” Juun admitted.
“What if we were to buy a copy of your charts?” Luke asked.
Juun shook his head. “My charts wouldn’t help you. Your friends went to Yoggoy.”
“And you don’t know where Yoggoy is?” Luke asked.
“Nobody does,” Juun said. “The Yoggoy are very proud and secretive. They hide the location of their nest from outsiders.”
Saba glared down at Tarfang. “Then why did you say you could help us find our friendz?”
Tarfang jabbered an answer.
“Because the XR-eight-oh-eight-g has been assigned a cargo for Yoggoy, ” C-3PO translated, “and when a ship is assigned a cargo for Yoggoy, it is also assigned a Yoggoy to serve as its navigator for the trip.”
“Fine,” Leia said. Even she seemed to be losing patience. “Help us get a cargo, and we’ll pay you for consulting.”
Tarfang rattled off a long response, which C-3PO translated as, “Tarfang suggests you simply give Captain Juun the money. They’ll check on our friends and give us a report when they return.”
“Sure they will.” Han turned to the others, then nodded toward the door. “We’re wasting our time here.”
Luke motioned Han to wait, his gaze fixed on Tarfang. Han realized for the first time that Mara was no longer with them; under circumstances like these, she had an uncanny knack for slipping away unnoticed.
Finally, Luke turned back to Han. “Tarfang’s not trying to swindle us, Han. He really does want to work out an honest deal.”
Tarfang snarled something at the Jedi Master.
“He wasn’t stealing your thoughts,” C-3PO said to the Ewok. “Master Luke is not a thief.”
Tarfang whirled on the droid and yapped a command.
“Very well. But I wouldn’t blame him if he used his lightsaber on you. ” C-3PO turned to Luke. “Tarfang is threatening to remove your eyes if you do that again.”
“Oh, that scares him,” Han said to the Ewok. “You want to make a deal? Here it is: two hundred credits to get us a cargo.”
To Han’s surprise, it was Saba who answered. “He can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because Lizil wouldn’t allow it,” Luke said. “He-or she - doesn’t want us to find Jaina and the others.”
“They,” Juun corrected.
Luke frowned. “What?”
“They,” Juun said.
The Sullustan continued to work, soldering what looked like the rear hold powerfeed onto the main cabin output. Han would have said something, but he had long ago learned never to tell another captain how to maintain his own ship. Besides, anyone who looked at the Falcon’s main control board would probably have just as many doubts about his work as he was having about Juun’s.
“Lizil isn’t their leader.” Juun looked up from his work, dragging the hot tip of his soldering iron across the flux-inhibitor circuitry “Lizil is them.”
“They all share one name?” Leia asked.
“In a sense, but it’s more than that. The way they think of it, they’re all Lizil together. Lizil is the nest, but so are all of the members.”
“They don’t have an individual sense of identity?” Leia asked.
“I think that’s so,” Juun said. “But I’m not really current on my xenobiological definitions.”
Tarfang chortled something helpful sounding.
“Master Tarfang says that it’s only important to remember that when you say Lizil, you might be talking about the entire nest or any of its members.”
Tarfang chattered something impatient.
“And you’ll never be sure which,” C-3PO added.
“Cozy,” Han said. “So why doesn’t Lizil want us to find Jaina?”
When Juun hesitated, Tarfang let out a long, urgent chitter.
“But nobody said it wasn’t secret,” Juun countered.
“You are being rockheaded,” Saba rasped. “Something is only secret if- “
“Hold on,” Han said to Saba. The Sullustan mind was as stubborn as it was methodical, and the Barabel would only delay things by browbeating Juun. “It is a bit unclear.”
Saba glared at Han out of one dark eye.
“There are your implied agreements and your tacit obligations.” Han turned to Juun. “Am I right?”
The Sullustan nodded rapidly. “Only captains understand these things.”
“True,” Han said. “But aren’t you smugglers, too?”
Tarfang grunted an affirmative.