Star Wars - Kenobi

Didn’t they?”
    Annileen sat, wooden, contemplating.
    “The attacks stopped,” he said. “And within months, the money stopped. The Settlers’ Call Fund began to dry up.”
    “People even stopped buying so many weapons here,” she added.
    “Orrin couldn’t make Jabba’s payments. There was nothing left to borrow against. His strategy relied on fear of the Tuskens. So when that fear vanished, he had to create some.”
    Annileen’s eyebrows shot up. “I can’t believe this!”
    “It’s true,” Ben said, clasping his hands together. “Orrin and his kids—and probably some hands—staged their own attacks. And your arms business came back, and the Fund came back.” He looked out the window. “And they didn’t choose random targets. They struck those who wouldn’t contribute.”
    Her mouth dropped open. “How do you know this? Did Jabe tell you?”
    Ben shook his head. “The boy seems only to have been brought in now, at the end.”
    Annileen was glad to hear that.
    “No, the first clue I got was from A’Yark, tonight. She said her Tuskens of the Roiya Rift—what they call The Pillars—have been struck by settlers nine times this season.” He counted on his fingers. “That matches the Fund’s recorded attacks. But A’Yark said the area Tuskens have only raided four homes in that time.”
    Annileen sat fully upright. “You believe her?”
    Ben looked directly at her. “Why, exactly, would a Tusken lie?”
    “It could have been another band. There are so many!” Looking back at the closed door, she lowered her voice. “A Tusken can’t know everything that happens!”
    “I think this Tusken knows. More than most, anyway,” he said. Ben knelt before her. “Orrin targeted the holdouts. His strikes never killed. But they frightened and injured, and drove people to buy in. And to complete the illusion, he sent his vigilantes to wage punitive strikes against the Tuskens—and those did kill. Orrin needed a cycle of violence to profit. So he created one.” Ben looked away. “I’ve seen it before,” he said, darkly.
    She looked at him in anguish. “But there are Tusken attacks! We lived through one!”
    “Yes. But how often do you think real Tuskens strike isolated farmers and leave them alive?” Ben stroked his beard. “Do you know Lotho Pelhane?”
    Of course she did. “Tyla Bezzard’s father. He worked for Orrin’s ranch, years ago. The Tuskens killed him the day you and I met!”
    “Lotho was a holdout. Weeks earlier, he was beaten by night raiders. He moved to his kids’ place, where they finally subscribed to the Fund.” Ben looked at her. “That’s in Orrin’s records—along with a notation of problem solved from the night Lotho was allegedly originally attacked.” He sighed. “There were others. Orrin wasn’t just skimming from the Fund. He made it into something Jabba would understand: a protection racket.”
    Annileen looked into the blackness. “Then he’s betrayed every single person on the oasis.”
    “And the wastes,” Ben said. “Don’t forget that. Sand People have been dying, because killing Sand People was the service he sold.”
    “You’re not going to get me to feel sorry for the Tuskens,” Annileen said indignantly.
    “All life is sacred,” Ben said. “Even life that comes in forms that we don’t understand.” He looked up at her. “You know that, don’t you?”
    She closed her eyes tightly, caught her breath, and nodded.
    “But everything changed today. Mosep wants his money. That’s what the Mos Eisley trip was about,” he said.
    “So you did overhear something!”
    “Yes.” Eyes on her, Ben spoke tactfully. “I … fear the marriage proposal is more about money than love. I’m sorry to have to tell you this.”
    “I found out a couple of hours ago,” Annileen said. “I don’t care. I just wish you’d told me on the way home today!”
    Ben took a deep breath. “I don’t like to interfere. But Mosep said something else about Orrin’s ‘other resources’ that put me to thinking about the Settlers’ Call, and about Ulbreck, his biggest holdout. On a hunch, I rode there and saw Orrin in his disguise. And he saw me. That changes everything.” He spoke gravely. “Right now, if I know his mind, Orrin is planning to have me killed.”
    “Killed!” She laughed. “Orrin might play dress-up, but he’s no killer!”
    Ben disagreed. “He won’t come for me alone. His kind never does. But I can handle it. I have a