Star Wars_ Darth Bane 01_ Path of Destruction - Drew Karpyshyn [23]
“I don’t have a lot of other options,” Des mumbled in reply.
“Maybe, maybe not. If you stay here, the ORO authorities are sure to find you. This wasn’t a cold-blooded murder. The judiciary probably won’t let you get off by pleading self-defense, but they’ll have to admit there were extenuating circumstances. You’ll serve time on one of the penal colonies—five, maybe six years—and then you’re a free man.”
“Or I join the Sith.”
Groshik nodded. “Or you join the Sith. But if I’m going to help you do this, I want to be sure you know what you’re getting into.”
Des thought about it, but not for long. “I’ve spent my entire life trying to get off this hunk of rock,” he said slowly. “If I go to a prison world, I’m trading one barren, blasted planet for another. No different than staying right here.
“If I join the Sith, at least I’m out from under ORO’s thumb. And you heard what that Republic commander said about them. The Sith respect strength. I think I’ll be able to hold my own.”
“I don’t doubt that,” Groshik conceded. “But don’t dismiss everything else that commander said. He was right about the Brotherhood of Darkness. They can be ruthless and cruel. They bring out the worst in some people. I don’t want you to fall into that trap.”
“First you tell me to join the Sith,” Des said, “now you’re warning me against joining them. What’s going on?”
The Neimoidian gave a long, gurgling sigh. “You’re right, Des. The decision is made. Grim fate and ill fortune have conspired against you. It’s not like sabacc; you can’t fold a bad hand. In life you just play the cards you’re dealt.” He turned away, heading for the small stairs at the back of the cantina. “Come on. In a few hours, after they’ve searched the housing units in the colony, they’ll start searching the starport for you. We have to hurry if we want to get you safely hidden away on one of the freight cruisers before then.”
Des reached out across the bar and grabbed Groshik’s shoulder. Groshik turned to face him, and Des clasped the Neimoidian’s long, slender forearm.
“Thank you, old friend. I won’t forget this.”
“I know you won’t, Des.” Though the words were kind, there was an unmistakable sorrow in the gravelly voice.
Des released his grip, feeling awkward, ashamed, scared, grateful, and excited all at the same time. He felt like he needed to say something else, so he added, “I’ll make this up to you somehow. The next time we meet—”
“Your life here is over, Des,” Groshik said, cutting him off. “There won’t be a next time. Not for us.”
The Neimoidian shook his head. “I don’t know what’s ahead of you, but I get the feeling it isn’t going to be easy. Don’t count on others for help. In the end each of us is in this alone. The survivors are those who know how to look out for themselves.”
With that he turned away, his feet shuffling briskly across the cantina’s floor as he headed to the back exit. Des hesitated a moment, Groshik’s words burning into his mind, then rushed off to follow.
* * *
Huddled in the hold of the ship, Des tried to get comfortable. He’d been crammed into the small smuggler’s hatch for nearly an hour. It was a tight fit for a man of his size.
Twenty minutes earlier he had heard an ORO patrol come to inspect the ship. They had made a cursory search; not finding the fugitive they were seeking, they had left. A few seconds later the captain, a Rodian pilot, had rapped hard on the panel keeping Des hidden.
“You stay until engines go,” he had called in passable galactic Basic. “We take off, you come out. Not before.”
Des hadn’t recognized him when he’d climbed aboard; he had looked like any other Rodian he’d ever seen. Just another independent freighter captain picking up a load of cortosis, hoping to sell it on some other world for enough profit to keep his ship flying another few months.
If ORO had offered a reward for Des’s capture, the captain probably would have sold him