The Jedi Code

XIV : The Mysterious Dart

"Kamino . . . I'm not familiar with it," Obi-Wan said as he observed the little cuts on the side of the dart Dex had pointed out. "Is it in the Republic?"

"No, no. It's beyond the outer rim. I'd say about twelve parsecs outside the Rishi Maze. Should be easy to find," Dex said resting one of his arms on the top of the booth before his tone turned arrogant. "Even for those droids in your archives."

Obi-Wan and I both gave small laughs to his comment as we both then took another sip of our drinks. However, Dex's face then turned dark and his voice grew quieter as he leaned in close to us. "These Kaminoans keep to themselves. They're Cloners. Damn good ones too," he told us while Obi-Wan gave a semi-understanding nod but I just frowned.

"Cloners. Are they friendly?" I then asked growing a bit concerned having a good feeling Obi-Wan and I were going to have to be heading to Kamino and I'd like to avoid trouble if at all possible.

"Well, it depends," Dex said with a shrug as he leaned back in the booth again.

"Depends on what, Dex?" Obi-Wan asked with a slight chuckle but also growing concerned as well.

"On how good your manners are," the Besalisk told us plainly before his eyes grew a tad bit serious but his smile still remained humorous. "And how big your . . . pocketbook is," he told us with a somewhat dark chuckle before then having to excuse himself to get back to work. However, he informed us that we could stay as long as we liked and that the drinks were on him.

"I'm guessing as soon as we explain this to the council they'll have us on the first plane heading to Kamino," I said a bit sarcastically but also serious as I took another sip from my Jawa Juice while Obi-Wan just gave a shrug.

"Most likely, especially if that is where the bounty hunter is getting his supplies, we may be able to find him there. Besides what's the rush?" Obi-Wan said before looking at me intensely in my eyes with humor etched into his smile. "This is like a first date," he then said in a joking manner, but it was like my whole body just froze.

I didn't know what to do. Part of me couldn't even register what he really said while the other part of me was questioning if he really did even say that. Either way, I totally panicked. Not knowing how to react, I actually ended up throwing my drink on him. The juice flew from my drink as it splashed all over Obi-Wan's face and onto his robes. As soon as it happened, a loud gasp escaped my lips as I covered my mouth with wide eyes and stared at him in utter shock at what just happened.

In truth, I have absolutely no idea what possessed me to do that. Even to this day, I have no idea why the hell I did what I did. I wanted to run and jump on a starship and take the starship all the way to an unknown planet where I could remain in hiding or banishment for the rest of my life. Heck, running into a glass door or even running into a waitress and spilling all the drinks would have been way more preferable than this. I wouldn't even do this to my brother, so why I did it to a fucking Jedi Master is beyond me.

I could feel the heat practically radiating in my cheeks and was sure that they were a bright red as I continued to stare at Obi-Wan who was just staring back at me with his bright blue eyes, most likely questioning what in the universe just happened. "O-oh my Force," I found myself stuttering as my hands began to shake from utter humiliation. Talk about how embarrassing this was, people all over the diner were looking at us and it certainly didn't help that we were sitting beside one another. People were probably thinking he tried to do something to me when the reality was he was only trying to joke around with me when stupid me freaked.

There was a loud hysterical laugh coming from the kitchen that broke the terrible silence in the diner. When Obi-Wan and I looked over towards the sound, I realized it was coming from Dex who, turns out, had been watching us the entire time. Now he was sitting behind the counter practically with tears streaming out of his eyes as his laughter continued to echo throughout the diner. He kept slapping the counter over and over again and while I didn't even think it was possible for me to turn a deeper red, with each slap, somehow I managed to practically turn into the bright red shade of lipstick Padmé used to wear back when she was Queen of Naboo.