Star Wars - Kenobi

trooper. I’ve … seen holos of them.” He studied the figure for another second before looking away. “But the uniforms are slightly different.”
    Annileen watched the strange pair. They weren’t looking at her—or even at the festival going on all around them. Instead, they were examining the building they were standing in front of. “That suit’s got to be awful in this heat,” she said. “I wonder why they’re here.”
    “I don’t know,” Ben said, head down as he scraped his plate. “Er—what are they doing now?”
    Spying the datapad in the hand of the hatted figure, Annileen recognized the behavior instantly. “They’re taking inventory,” she said. “That used to be the Republic’s aid station on Tatooine. I don’t know what it is now, given whatever has been going on out there.”
    “What has been going on?” Ben asked.
    “You’d know more than I would. I’ve never left the planet,” she said. “But if they’re with this New Order or whatever it is, maybe they’re still figuring out what it is they own.”
    “Mmm,” Ben said. He glanced around, newly uneasy.
    Annileen checked her chrono. “I guess we’d better get down there ourselves and get back to the kids.”
    “You know what? I think we should wait awhile.” Ben stretched and patted his stomach. “To go down to the street.”
    A little surprised, Annileen nodded. “Sure. More time to talk, I guess.”
    “And it’s the strangest thing. I’m suddenly developing a chill.” Ben rubbed at his throat. “I hope I’m not coming down with something.” With that, he pulled his hood back over his head and sank lower in his seat.
    Annileen shook her head. Obfuscation Kenobi was back.
    Across town, Mullen signaled from his post near the round building.
    “Nothing yet,” Veeka said, speaking into her comlink.
    In the passenger seat of the landspeeder, Orrin shook his head. “They said Docking Bay Eighty-Seven.” For the third time that minute, he checked to see if his blaster was in its holster. He just felt more comfortable knowing it was there.
    Orrin knew the docking bay wasn’t where the second of his two Mos Eisley meetings was to take place. He had called the meeting; the other party would take every step to place him at a disadvantage. He knew he didn’t need to be worried, given his plans. But still, he wanted Mullen and Veeka nearby, checking things out. Whatever faults his children had, there wasn’t much they couldn’t handle if things came to a fight.
    He was mostly sure things wouldn’t—but he still reached down to pat the handle of his blaster again.
    “You won’t need that,” a voice said from behind him.
    Orrin turned to see Bojo Boopa sitting in the backseat of the USV-5, pointing a blaster at him. He hadn’t heard the Gossam get in, but now he saw the creature’s Gamorrean companions taking station at either side of the vehicle, parting only to permit the entry of a character Orrin had never met before.
    “Nice speeder,” the scaly-faced Klatooinian said, taking the driver’s seat. The bronze-skinned creature then burst into giggles. “I want one! I want one!”
    Orrin looked at the alien—and then back at Boopa with alarm.
    “Just drive, Jorrk,” the Gossam said, lowering his gun and stretching out in the cushy seat. “Our buddy Gault here has somewhere to be. And he’d better tell us what we want to hear.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
    “NOW, KIDS,” ANNILEEN SAID, “you realize this will be my landspeeder and not yours, right? Just so we understand each other.”
    “Huh?” Jabe said, sitting behind the controls.
    Equally spellbound, Kallie ran her hand across the hood. “Oh, yeah. Sure, Mom.”
    Ben grinned at Annileen. “I think you’re in trouble.”
    “I have been,” she said. “For seventeen years.”
    Annileen looked around the Delroix Speeders showroom. There were models here she’d never seen—nor was she likely to, out in the desert. With its open cockpit and ornate steering vanes up front, the JG-8 seemed the least practical of all; she’d need to keep it in the garage to preserve its ruby color.
    “It’s nice,” Ben said, examining the display nearby. The price was there, at the bottom, listed with options and without. Both figures were in the tens of thousands of credits. He looked up at Annileen. “It’s a generous gift, to be sure.”
    “A gift. Right,” Kallie said, rolling her eyes. “If you can’t win their hearts, buy them. It’s the Gault