“Are you going to Lisal?” a voice growled from a dim corner near the entrance.
“Yes,” Qui-Gon answered quickly. The ship’s destination sounded familiar.
“Tickets?” the voice demanded.
“Two please,” Qui-Gon answered.
“It’s too late to buy them now.” The surly captain stepped out of the shadows to reveal his bad breath and broken teeth to the Jedi. “If you don’t have any you’ll have to pay double.”
“We’ll be happy to pay the regular fee,” Qui-Gon replied, calmly looking into the pilot’s beady eyes.
“Two at the regular price, then,” the captain said. He reached into his vest pocket and pulled out two grimy stubs. “You’ll have to sit in the back.”
Obi-Wan handed the captain a few credits while Qui-Gon scanned the crowd for Murk Lundi. He was not sitting with the rest of the passengers. But with so many eyes on them the Jedi did not dare search the rest of the ship for him. At least not yet.
Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon squeezed into the back row and sat down. As he settled into his seat, Qui-Gon’s knees pressed comically against the row ahead of him. There was not nearly enough room to accommodate the Jedi’s large frame.
Several of the motley passengers ahead had turned to glare at them.
This is not a typical tour group, Qui-Gon noted. The passengers on the charter seemed surlier than the average pleasure travelers
to Coruscant. Jocasta Nu had warned them that members of the Sith Sects might be anyone and that they would be difficult to pick out of a crowd. Suddenly Qui-Gon wondered if they had stumbled into the middle of a sect. Why had Lisal sounded so familiar?
The captain struggled to close the ship’s doors. After pushing and then pounding several buttons he ripped the control panel off and began to tug on the sparking wires inside.
“I hope the engine is in better condition,” Obi-Wan observed, gaining the Jedi a few more hard stares.
Qui-Gon wished he had had a little more time to reflect on how this mission was shaping up and what exactly he and his apprentice were getting into. It was all happening too quickly. This morning they had been asked to keep an eye on an influential professor, and now they were suddenly headed off-planet.
In the back of his mind Qui-Gon had a strange feeling that this trip wasn’t what it appeared to be. He was suddenly filled with a feeling of foreboding. This could easily be a trap.
Qui-Gon stood. Perhaps there was still time to get off the vessel. But before he could decide what to do, the captain’s swearing turned to angry shouts. Someone was screaming Dr. Lundi’s name and struggling to get through the partially closed door.
It only took Qui-Gon a moment to recognize the young man trying to board. It was Norval, the dark-haired student from the front row.
The captain did his best to push the intruder back out the half-open door. Several passengers crowded around. It was not clear whether they were trying to help Norval in or help the captain force him out. Then, in a shower of sparks from the control panel, the doors suddenly opened. Norval and several passengers fell into a heap on the floor.
“You’ll pay triple!” the captain bellowed, pointing at Norval and splattering him and several other passengers with spittle.
“He won’t be staying,” said a soft, familiar voice behind the captain. It was the professor. In the chaos Qui-Gon had not seen him appear.
“Please take me with you,” Norval begged. He grabbed the edge of Dr. Lundi’s robes. “You need me,” he whimpered. “Nobody knows your texts as well as I do. I’ve studied every word. You must show me how to use the - “
“Guards,” Lundi snapped. “Guards, remove this boy immediately.”
Two enormous hangar guards appeared on the gangplank and pulled Norval to his feet.
“You are too old to use it on your own!” Norval continued to shriek as they pulled him out of the ship and down the ramp. “You need me!”
Murk Lundi did not move. Even after Norval’s pleas had faded and the captain had succeeded in sealing the door, he still stood staring at the durasteel hatch.
Qui-Gon seized the opportunity to leave his seat. He squeezed past the distracted passengers, pulling Obi-Wan along with him. They would not be leaving the ship. The mission was more important than he’d originally thought.
It looked as though there was a Sith Holocron and Murk Lundi was going after it.
CHAPTER 4
Obi-Wan tried the door even though he did not expect it to open - none of the other doors in the corridor had. So he was surprised when this one slid easily into the wall. The stale odor that billowed from the room confirmed that although the door was unlocked, it hadn’t been opened in some time. The musty room would be perfect.