Chapter 93 - Hutt Territory

The group of five quickly followed the pirates to the connection tunnel. They could hear the pirates talking subtly, and even laughing.

"Kekeke. Dumb clones. All they know is fight. You need brains. Brains and thoughts. Only then can you win. Kekeke. Stupid clones."

"Shut up idiot! I will kill you if you speak again."

After that, there was silence again. Soon, Dageer heard the sound of a door opening and closing. General Di waved for them to keep going, and the advanced carefully, blasters ready to fire. When they were a few meters away from the door, General Di waved his hand in a right to left motion, and the door opened alone.

They entered the other ship quietly, but there was no sign of either the pirates or Ragout. General Di found some stairs leading to the storage room of the ship, and got in. After that, he used the Force to move some boxes and crates, creating a space large enough for all of them.

"Wait here. I will find out how many pirates we are against. Don't make a sound. And no communications by the comlink unless absolutely necessary."

Saying that, General Di used the Force again, and moved the crates back, isolating the clones from the rest of the ship.

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General Di walked with light steps, making no sound. The ship they were was quite big, although nothing compared to the Republic cruisers. It did have, however, the advantage that it was difficult to detect.

The ship appeared to be manned by only the two that he saw early. Asides that, there were only cleaning droids. Eventually, the jedi found the control room of the ship.

Sitting with their backs facing him where the two invaders... pirates. One of them was a tall woman, with white skin and wearing bright orange clothes. The other was a plump man, with red skin and a face looking like a pig.

"Shimba, detach."

"Okay, okay. Why do you keep hurrying me? If it wasn't for your pretty face and that body..."

"Did you say anything? Think about your answer, or I might kill you like the pig you are."

"All right. Detaching in three, two, one, now. Detachment complete. They should find about us... now."

The moment the pig-man said that, the turrets from The Sincerity turned to them and started firing. Large laser bolts almost hit the ship, but the two pirates appeared to be unconcerned. The woman pressed some buttons on the control panel and put her hand above a lever.

"Inserting coordinates to jump point... ready to jump... now."

When the woman pulled the lever, the ship found a spot between two cruisers, and jumped to hyperspace. More feeling than knowing, Ima-Gun Di left just before the pirates turned to where he was and left the control room.

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When the crates were moved again, the four clones pointed their blasters, but it was just General Di. Lowering their weapons, the clones looked at him expectantly.

"We are in hyperspace. I already checked my padawan, although I didn't have the chance to speak with him."

Commander Keeli caught Dageer's eyes. Both of them knew that if the jedi was speaking so calmly, then he planned to take ahead his idea of following the pirates. Metal, unaware of the thoughts of his commanders, asked the question most concerning to him.

"How many enemies are we facing?"

"Here? I saw two pirates, and there were two IG-88 guarding Ragout. But we won't make our move here. Since they are taking my padawan, they most probably have a buyer for him. We will find out who dares to capture young jedis. I just hope it's not Count Dooku."

That last part was said in a whisper, and none of the clones understood it.

"Sorry, general?"

"It is nothing. Now try to get some sleep. I will be able to sense with anyone come."

The jedi sat at meditation position, and closed his eyes. However, none of the clones slept, but just closed their eyes and stayed silent.

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In a planet very distant from the Inner Core, a medium-sized spaceship landed, blowing up a cloud of dust and sand. As the rear of the ship opened, a group of figures walked out.

The woman and the pig-face were walking on the front, and behind them were three IG-88 droids, one of them pushing Ragout ahead of him.

They were walking to a giant palace that sprung from rocks and sand. A big gate protected the palace from invasions, but at the moment diverse visitors were passing through it, many carrying prisoners or stolen goods.

At the gate were many pig-men, similar to the pirate, but those had green skin. When the group arrived at the gate, the red-skinned pig-man said something in a language that made the others laugh. After that, they were given passage to the inside of the palace.

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After waiting for a while, the clones and the jedi left their hiding place. The ship was empty, but they found something interesting in the ship's main computer. Brain hacked into it and found out where in the galaxy they were.

"General, we are on a small planet called Ta... Tatooine? I don't know exactly where this is, never heard of it."

Dageer didn't know the planet, as it seemed Commander Keeli and his brothers also didn't. They turned to General Di, and saw in his face a look more serious than ever.

"General, you know where we are, right?"

"Yes, Dageer. And it is not good. Tatooine is a small planet, very far from the Inner Core. They don't even accept Republic Credits here. It is home to smugglers, bandits, murderers and thieves. But it is even worse than that. Tatooine is under the Hutt Cartel."

"The Hutts?! That is no good."

Dageer only knew that the Hutts were a slimy race of crime leaders, but nothing more than that. On the Clone Wars, they had taken a neutral stance, and neither Republic or Separatist sh.i.p.s could cross their systems.

"So what we do now, general?"

"We get my padawan back. If the Hutts are capturing young jedis, than we will show them that the Jedi Order is not afraid of starting a war with them."