The Quarry

The Quarry - Part 9

Din watched as hyperspace blurred past them again. Versa had been eager to get back to the ship, even turning down dinner at a local restaurant in favor of heading towards Tatooine. He had never known her to turn down a hot meal, and he was glad he'd been wearing the helmet so she couldn't see his jaw drop. Now, he could hear her boots wearing a hole in his hold as she paced the floor for the thousandth time. She'd barely stopped moving since they had taken off. He'd gone down to the hold several times to find her cleaning blasters or rearranging his food stores or even just sitting on the edge of his bunk with her leg bouncing, deep in thought.

He'd never seen her like this, and it concerned him, not because he didn't share in her excitement, but because of the looming threat of disappointment if the trail they were on ran cold. At the moment, they were banking a lot of hope on Jon going to Tatooine when there were limitless possibilities of planets he could go to, and it seemed as though he had other potential leads prior to going to prison. He had gotten good at preparing himself for disappointment over the years, and he imagined Versa had as well with the number of times she'd hit a wall in her search, but it didn't appear that she was preparing herself for that possibility now, and it made him wrack his brains about the best way to support her if this all went south.

Din heard the clang of her boots on the ladder behind him as she climbed up to the cockpit followed by her collapsing roughly into the seat behind him with a deep sigh.

"Something on your mind?" he asked teasingly.

Versa nudged the back of his seat with her foot, causing him to swing around to face her. She lifted her boot, letting it rest on his thigh and crossing her other boot over it, grinning at him. "Oh, you know, this and that."

He watched her for a bit as she stared back at him. "So where do you think he got Tatooine from?" Din finally asked, breaking the silence when he couldn't handle her gaze anymore.

She shrugged. "Farr doesn't really advertise where his main base is. There are a lot of rumors that fly around, and Tatooine is one of the more common suspects I hear. It's wrong, but I'm hoping he came this way and talked with your Guild Master there."

Din nodded. "I'm hoping so too. But Vers, you gotta know this is still a long shot, right? We're picking up a trail that's more than half a decade old. We may still run out of track on this too."

Her grin faded and her brow furrowed. She picked nervously at her cuticles. "I know, Din."

"Do you? I know you've got your hopes up quite a bit, but I just want to make sure you're ready if the outcome isn't what you want."

She nodded silently. "I can appreciate that."

He didn't necessarily believe that she was prepared, but he opted to not push it any further.

"So what's the plan when we get to Tatooine?" she asked, breaking his train of thought.

"I'm going to go talk to Jesar. See if he remembers Jon coming through. You'll stay on the ship."

"You can't be serious."

"I am. The last thing we need is you strolling around a major hunter hub right now. You'll stay with the ship, and once I've got an idea of the next step, I'll come back and we'll get out of there. I don't plan on being there more than a few hours at most. We can't afford to."

"Din-"

"Versa, I'm not arguing this with you. I need you to stay safe. Alright? I'll keep a comm with me, so you'll know as soon as I have something."

She huffed, crossing her arms in annoyance. She glared at him for several minutes before turning to stare out the window. "Fine," she said quietly. "But I don't like it."