Saga of the Bridgers-Year 5

Chapter 8: Chase on Bothawui

They walked inside the structure and quickly stepped inside the loud environment, with music, people speaking without much restraint on the tone of voice and other factors that made the bar pretty chaotic. Perfect for a secret meeting, as nobody would be able to eavesdrop on them. They also disabled their holograms, so their contact might recognize Ezra.

"Ok..." Kallus whispered his comment. "Who are we looking for?"

"From what I was told, a middle-man should come to us and then..." Ezra started to explain, but a voice that he hadn't heard for months surprised him.

"My friends!!"

Ezra jolted around with his eyes wide open, in a mixture of excitement and total disbelief. As he turned around, he quickly spotted an old Weequay with a pair of goggles and a hard hat.

"Hondo?!" the Jedi exclaimed as he turned around and the two shared a vigorous handshake.

The pirate cackled openly. "Yes. It is I. Hondo!" he then proclaimed. "Here to save your neck again, Ezra."

The young man chuckled, then turned toward the Padawan. "Luke, meet Hondo Ohnaka. Despite being an avid pirate, he helped us liberate Lothal." he said with a joking tone.

"Nice to meet you." the Padawan said cordially with a nod of the head.

Hondo though squinted his eyes and examined Luke with a face that seemingly tried to remember. "You look...familiar." he said with a curious tone.

Ezra realized that Hondo was probably guessing who Luke's father was, since he had heard from Obi-Wan that the old Weequay met both him and Anakin Skywalker during the Clone Wars. Presumably they were the 'Jedi friends' Hondo spoke about on the first adventure with Ezra and Jaral.

However, this was not the time for another reunion, especially since Ezra knew that Hondo might overreact and draw attention to them.

"Let's discuss this at another time." he intervened with quietness. "Once we all get paid for the job."

Hondo chuckled. "Ezra, my boy. You really know how to talk to a pirate. Now, follow Hondo." the Weequay concluded as he turned around and led the group to table at the edge of the tavern, where a Bothan with a brownish fur was waiting with a glass in his hand.

"Greetings, gentlemen." the alien said in a cordial tone. "Please, take a seat."

Ezra observed the fur of the Bothan. He had read that, apparently, it changed color according to their emotional state. Since nothing happened, he tried to reassure himself that the man was not hiding a thing from them.

So he sat at the bench opposite to the alien, with Luke and Kallus following quickly after.

"The pleasure is all ours, mister..." he started.

"My name is not important and we don't have much time." the alien replied, then his left hand disappeared briefly from the table, slid into his pocket and came out of it with a small data disc. "Here's the list of planets where you may establish a new base in this region. I suggest you return to your ship immediately. Most of the clans might sympathize with you, but the Empire has many ears as well." he concluded quite ominously before standing up and walking away, but not before handing over a few very valuable credit bars to Hondo.

"That was quick." Kallus commented as they stood up again.

"He has a point, though." Ezra said. "This is the planet of spies and the Empire surely will have many of them on their paychecks. Let's get back to the ship."

"Well, my friends." Hondo interjected as he lifted his cap to do a bow. "It's been a joy to work with you again. I hope we meet again."

Ezra smiled. "Stay safe out there, Hondo."