Star Wars - Kenobi

the counter to shoot them with? The old man hadn’t seemed to know himself, earlier. But now he was filling in blanks as quickly as he could imagine them. Ben, the drifter, remained in the story, but he’d arrived after it was all over, the crazy fool bringing a can of fire retardant to a gunfight.
    There was something else was in Ulbreck’s tale, which he repeated every third sentence. “Sure I did it myself—you can’t depend on Gault and his little club for nothing. Settlers’ Call?” He spat through brown teeth. “ Settlers’ Fall is more like it!”
    “That’s not fair, Wyle!” Orrin pushed through the crowd toward the old man. “This was a fluke. A festival day—”
    “I wouldn’t pay another credit to that fund if I were you,” Ulbreck shouted. “I’d want a refund!” Around him, several of the listeners nodded and began chattering to one another.
    “No!” Orrin could feel his heart thumping. “Listen to me, all of you!” He stepped over to his landspeeder, putting his boot on the hood just as he’d done in his victory celebration, days earlier. It was the same pose, the same crowd—but so different now. “Everyone, the Call worked . Annie just didn’t have her activator at hand. As soon as the alarm sounded, they all took off like scared womp rats.” He raised his voice. “All of ’em—even Plug-eye !”
    Plug-eye? The dissonant conversations in the crowd suddenly became one. “Plug-eye was here?” asked a farmer.
    “Yes—and they all headed that way,” Orrin said, pointing toward the south. “We got a report from a skyhopper. They’re headed toward Hanter’s Gorge!”
    The buzz became silence. Then the party erupted into shouts. Someone said it: “We go now, we can get them all!”
    Orrin looked around, uncertain, as the clamor rose. Of course, the mob was right, the prospect obvious. Plug-eye had brought out more warriors than had been seen in recent memory. Now they were fleeing toward Hanter’s Gorge, a well-mapped part of the Jundland Wastes that sat close to the nearest entrance to the Roiya Rift, the rocky labyrinth where the Tuskens liked to hide. Plug-eye might think they were heading for safety—but in fact, they were moving into a trap. This could be a chance for the Settlers’ Call posse to eliminate the Sand People and finish off the threat once and for all.
    Orrin glanced at the departing Devaronians and then down at Ulbreck. The old man had lost his audience, but he’d be talking again soon. Orrin had to preempt that.
    He looked up at the suns. Seeing lots of daylight left, Orrin made a decision. No, he couldn’t let this go unanswered. The Tuskens had struck the heart of the operation, knowingly or not. The locals paid their hard-earned credits to the Settlers’ Call Fund. If the Call couldn’t protect its own base of operations, it wasn’t much good, was it?
    He shot a direct look at Mullen. “All right! This is it. Muster drivers to the left, gunners to the right.” He smiled darkly and fired his blaster into the air. “We’re going hunting!”
    “This is disgusting,” Leelee said, poking a Tusken corpse with a broom handle. Her crimson nose crinkled. “I don’t think I’m eating here again.”
    “Thanks for your support,” Annileen said, pulling at a canvas tarp. A dead Tusken warrior lay facedown on it, the body jostling as she dragged it toward the eastern door of the Claim. She didn’t know what Sand People ate, but this one weighed plenty.
    Plug-eye’s party had barely been gone when Annileen had set to work calculating how to repair her store. It couldn’t wait. Too many people had seen the mess in the Claim, and had reacted just as Leelee had. There wasn’t any thought of opening again today; the Tuskens had ruined a profitable evening, along with her property. But if there was any hope for the future, the cleanup couldn’t wait.
    Kallie, her riding kerchief pulled up over her mouth, reentered and pitched a pair of gloves to Leelee. “Ready for another one,” the girl said. “Should we start piling them in the dewback pen?”
    “Can’t,” Annileen said. “They stink too much. The dewbacks will never sleep there again.” She turned to her daughter. “Tie a hoverpallet to the back of the LiteVan. We’ll haul it into The Rumbles as soon as Orrin gives us the all-clear.”
    “The Rumbles? We’ll have corpses rolling off all over the place.”
    “I really don’t care.” Annileen glared at the black smear on