Star Wars_ Rebel Force 03_ Renegade - Alex Wheeler [15]
But in the center of the chaos, Luke hadn't forgotten what was at stake.
Jaxson wrapped an arm around his neck and twisted him into a choke hold. Luke gasped for breath. "This is what we do to traitors!" Jaxson growled.
Luke stomped down hard on Jaxson's instep, then dug an elbow sharply into his stomach. Jaxson flinched and his grip loosened, only for a moment, enough time for Luke to wriggle out of his grasp. Jaxson swung his fists, but Luke darted out of the way, and none of the blows landed. Luke ducked behind Jaxson and wrapped his arms around the larger man's waist, twisting him off balance and kicking his legs out from under him. Jaxson toppled to the ground with a thump and clatter. With a roar, he snatched Luke's ankle and yanked with all his strength. Luke went flying.
The thunderous crack of laserfire hitting the ceiling made everyone pause and look up: A large man emerged from the back room, hoisting a blaster. The first shot had gone straight up. But now he had the muzzle aimed out at the crowd. Merl Tosche spent as little time at the power station as he could afford to do. But when he was at work, he hated to be disturbed. "Enough!" he roared.
With a shrug and a grin, the fighters dusted themselves off, shook hands, and slunk out of the station. That was the thing about most fights on Tatooine—it didn't take much to get them started, but it took even less to end them.
Most, but not all. Luke wasn't ready to give up. Neither was Jaxson.
Windy grabbed Luke by the shoulders and pulled him to his feet. Jaxson lunged forward, but Deak grabbed his shirt and dragged him backward. The two glared at each other.
"You children done playing?" Leia asked dryly, gazing at the debris strewn across the station. A rickety JR-8 maintenance droid was already sweeping away the worst of it, sucking shattered fuel cells and puddles of spilled ruby bliel into its hollow durasteel belly.
"This isn't a game," Luke said.
"No, it's not," Jaxson agreed.
Windy forced a grin and slapped Luke awkwardly on the back. "Let's forget the whole thing," he suggested. "Empire, Rebellion, who cares? What's that got to do with us?"
"Yeah," Fixer agreed. "Whoever's running the galaxy, the suns will keep rising and the vaporators will keep sucking moisture. Vader can't bring water to the desert, any more than the Rebels can tame a krayt dragon. Tatooine will always be Tatooine."
"Fixer's right," Camie said, slipping her arms around her fiancé and nestling her head on his shoulder. "It's not our problem."
Luke shook his head. "You don't understand. If you knew what was really going on out there—"
"Like you know?" Jaxson scoffed. "You think you're so much smarter than us because you left and we stayed? You walk away from your responsibilities to run around the galaxy playing space pilot, and you want to come back here and tell us we don't understand?"
"That's not what I meant," Luke protested.
"You think you're so special, just because you can pilot a ship," Jaxson jeered. "But I'm a better pilot than you any day."
Luke scowled. "I've seen you fly," he retorted. "You couldn't drive a skyhopper twenty meters without trashing into a dune."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah!"
"You think you're so much better? How about you prove it!" Jaxson challenged.
"Anytime, any place," Luke said.
"Tomorrow. Race in Beggar's Canyon. We'll thread the Needle. At least, one of us will."
Luke hesitated.
"Scared?" Jaxson jeered.
"Scared for you, maybe." Only two people had ever successfully threaded the Needle. Luke was one of them; Jaxson wasn't the other.
"Jaxson, don't be crazy!" Camie squealed.
"Yeah, you got nothing to prove," Windy added. He'd been in the cockpit the first time Luke had threaded the Needle, and he still looked traumatized by the memory.
Jaxson ignored them, keeping his eyes fixed on