Starbourne’s eyes opened and fixed on the door a moment before it slid open.
“Mr. Starbourne,” Drex said in an edgy tone as he stormed into the room, “you son of a ratbit!”
“Mr. Odagon,” Trek began, “you are troubled.”
“You’re very observant, but I guess you’d have to be being a con-man!” Drex shouted, “you almost had me going. You almost allowed me to lead you to the resistance! Too bad your stooge can’t keep his mouth shut huh?”
“What are you talking about?” Starbourne said in a relaxed, yet troubled voice. “I am going to help you Mr. Odagon.”
“Help me to an early grave? Who are you working for, the Sith? Why would you need to hide your name? There’s been a long time in which to come clean Mr. Starbourne, if that is even your name, and you haven’t done it.” Drex’s face was turning red, and the veins were standing out on his neck.
“I assure you,” Starbourne said slowly, “I do not work for the Sith. I have to hide because they are looking for me. It is easier to pass in and out of places when your name is not that of a known fugitive.”
“Oh, a fugitive is it? What did you do? Kill someone?”
R3, charging in the corner, abruptly turned itself on and retracted its power plug.
“I have killed many,” Starbourne responded, “but that is not why they are after me. Have not you killed before? Why are the Sith after you Mr. Odagon?”
Drex paused a moment, sensing a trap. “I am a freedom fighter, I don’t go around the galaxy pretending to be something I’m not.”
“That is true,” Starbourne responded, “but you don’t go around the galaxy much at all. If you did, you might find yourself with a new name as I have. You are not the only one with people to protect Mr. Odagon. Having a different name from that given me at my birth helps me to protect them.”
“So your help is the guarded kind? What did you think would happen when I found out? How can I trust you now?”
“The circumstances surrounding your newfound knowledge are unfortunate,” Starbourne responded, “but it does not change the fact that I do intend to aid your movement. What the DSA is doing is wrong and-“
“Don’t talk to me of right and wrong Mr. Starbourne,” Drex interrupted, “I will not be lectured by someone who seems to draw that line as a convenience as you do. I must know any associate I bring back to the camps intimately. I must be sure they are not spies for the DSA, or the Sith. I cannot be either with you now, not after learning of your deception. You were wrong to deceive me, and it has cost you whatever you would have gotten out of aiding the cause.”
“You are making a mistake,” Starbourne returned.
“No,” Drex said, calming, “you should have said that to yourself before you first opened your mouth to me sir. The mistake is yours, and always has been. R-three, we’re going now.”
The droid whistled and folded out its third wheel housing, rolling towards Drake.
“Thank you for the ride to Hedonna,” Drex said as he turned towards the door, “I can see my own way out.”
Starbourne seemed about to say something, and then censored himself. Instead he watched the back of Drex’s long-coat swing back and forth as Drex made for the door. Starbourne closed his eyes as the door to the suite opened and slid shut behind the man and the droid.
Samedy, Marsyas reached out through the Force as it flowed through him. His mind flowed with it and found that of his old friend’s easily. It would be advisable if you stopped watching the girls jiggle and started heading for our suite.
Marsyas sensed hesitation, and fear in his old friend. I’m on my way, came the response.
Feeling a great swelling of anger within Marsyas breathed and forced it to flow out of him and dissipate into the air until it was nothing but an awareness of emotion. He breathed evenly, and prepared what he would say to his friend upon Samedy’s arrival.
R3 chirped and beeped as it rolled on beside Drex Odagon through the corridor of the station.
“I am sure this is the best course,” Drex re-affirmed. They had been having this argument since R3 cleared the suite’s threshold. “We cannot trust them, no matter what they say now.”
Beeps, whistles, and more chirps followed his statement.
“But they won’t get the chance to show their intentions through action,” Drex affirmed, “I cannot allow them to get close enough to even try. What if you’re wrong? What if they are spies, or pirates or worse.”
R3 gave a prolonged whirring sound before falling silent.
Drex rounded the corner of the “T” junction they had reached, heading for the lift, and stopped dead in his tracks. Before him, coming down the corridor from his destination, was Lyaia Ninda.
“I’m leaving,” Drex said as she came within earshot. “I can’t trust these people.”
“I know,” Lyaia responded. “I figured as much from the bar. I came here hoping to catch you before you did.”
“You can’t talk me out of it,” Drex stated.
“I’m not going to try,” Lyaia responded, “you saved me and Oz back in the void, when we found you. Well, I guess we saved each other. We needed the co-ordinates of our position, and you had them. You saved us again on Nar Dundo when you sent R3 out to get that Bothan lady, and we owe you.”
“I came here to tell you,” Lyaia continued while working one hand with the other in alternation, “that I am going to ask Starbourne to allow me to fly the ‘Flame out of the Armistice’s cargo bay. I’ll take you wherever you need to go Drex. Helping you still feels like the right thing to do.”
Drex looked at her for a long moment, “thanks. I’ll need a ride, and I don’t relish the idea of spending days in that cramped Z-95 again.” He thought a moment, “can we fit the Z-95 into the ‘Flame?”
It was now Lyaia’s turn to think. “It would be an extremely tight squeeze, and we couldn’t really take on much past 850 kilograms of cargo mass after the fighter’s aboard, but yes, I think we can.”
“Ok, I think that we should take it,” he said, “just in case. I don’t see us taking on much cargo in the near future anyways. We may need to sell it to hire mercenaries. I think that’s the only option left to me now.”
“Alright, I’ll go talk to Starbourne,” Lyaia nodded, “I’ll be right back.”
Drex watched her stride purposefully down the corridor to their former suite. “That’s one good woman R3,” he said, “she knows what’s right and she does it no matter what.”
R3 let out a few low beeps.
“What do you mean by that? Of course it’s always a good thing.”
More beeps were emitted by the little droid.
“Fine,” Drex shrugged, “whatever you say. What are the odds that we’ll find mercenaries here?”
R3 rotated its head back and forth while responding.
“No,” Drex sighed, “I don’t suppose it’d be a very good chance but still we should try. The more time that passes the worse the situation gets on Austeron I’m sure.”
Just then Lyaia emerged from the suite and began to walk back towards Drex and R3D9. “We’re clear,” Lyaia said, “he’ll meet me at the ship in an hour so we can get the ‘Flame out. I’ll have to pay docking fees for it though. On the plus side she’s been completely fueled up courtesy of our former hosts.”
“At least they did that,” Drex said. “Can we check it for bugs or homing beacons?”
Lyaia made a face, “it would take a long time. An old ship like the ‘Flame lends itself to hiding places for those things, but I think we could do it in a day or two if we work hard.”
“I hate to ask you this but-“
“Ok, I’ll get on it.”
“I’ll help,” Drex said, “just tell me what to do.”
Together with R3 trailing them, the Duros and the Human began to head for the lift.
“Samedy,” Marsyas began as his friend sat down opposite him on the couch. Marsyas’ robe lie between them. “Before you make excuses like you were drunk, you should know I don’t want to hear them. We have let a man desperate for our help walk out of here believing he does not want it. Whereas he really does not, it was our failing that he is now without.”
Samedy raised his hand, “I hate to interrupt but could you speak Basic please?”
Marsyas gave Samedy a stern look. “I’m displeased at recent events.”
“There, not hard huh?”
“Samedy!”
“Sorry,” Samedy looked down at his feet.
“I sense that there is great danger ahead for our friend Drex,” Marsyas continued, “I think it would be best if we tailed them.”
“Really? Won’t he be even madder at us if he finds out?”
“That is why we must choose the moment of our entrance carefully,” Marsyas continued. “Not having a plan to tell him may have been the cause of our blunder now. I don’t intend to make that mistake again. He also may be more receptive to our case after he’s calmed down.”
“Why didn’t you do your thing with him?” Samedy asked meekly.
“Because it would have been wrong,” Marsyas explained. “The Force is a tool of guidance, not control. If I altered his will with him so dead set against us as he was, it would have been an act of the Dark Side. There is another way, and so we must take it. Only if there was no other way would I use the Force in such a manner.”
“Oh,” Samedy nodded. “Shall I follow them around the station?”
“Keep an eye out,” Marsyas instructed, “but don’t do it so blatently. Give Mr. Odagon breathing room and hold off for a day or so. I don’t think he’ll be leaving right away. That reminds me, the Duros are going with him.”
“Really?” Samedy contradicted, “not the little one. Oz just finished telling me that he was really glad he’s with us. He’s waiting outside now.”
Marsyas’ eyebrows rose of their own accord. “Really? I think this matter is between him and his sister then. Tell him what has happened, and let them work it out themselves.”
Samedy nodded. “Alright, I’m on it.”