Old Friends Homecoming

Chapter 6 - Messenger

The slums of Couruscant were not the most pleasant place on the planet. Many buildings were old and rusty unlike the fancy silver ones on the higher-class areas of the city. Ships and speeders were sometimes seen around, but they were often much smaller and did not carry as many passengers. It was safe to say that everyone in the slums travelled solo.

It was lit with dim green lights on the roads making the place look gloomy. The only other lights you would see were neon logos of various shops and shady bars and some of them were more popular with nonhuman patrons due to them being run primarily by any nonhuman imaginable.

Litter was left untouched on the streets unless a homeless wanderer picked it up, hoping there was some left to eat, and there were many poor citizens living down here. Some were human and others were not; they were either living in old rundown apartments, or they slept on benches. Some of them had taken up becoming criminals or bounty hunters in order to survive. Credits were much harder to come by that it was like you had to be lucky to land a job down in the slums.

The Rodian had arrived here from Dexter's diner searching for a quiet place to make a private call. He had been listening to the entire conversation between two Jedi at the diner; the female human and her male Nautolan companion, but snooping was what he was hired to do. He was a very typical-looking Rodian with a green reptilian face and wide round eyes and he also found himself much more fluent in his native language than Basic. It was required that everyone living on Couruscant learn Basic, but he still preferred to communicate in his own way.

He wore a tan-colored tunic with a rucksack and blaster in a holster. Some areas of the city allowed you to carry a weapon if you weren't a Jedi, as long as you kept it out of sight. If you wanted somewhere where open carry was allowed, then Tatooine was the place to go.

The Rodian came to an isolated ally with a full dumpster and checked the street quickly to make sure no one was coming. When the coast was clear, he pulled out a small device that projected a hologram of a Separatist commander.

Its torso was box-like with rectangular arms and legs and a flattened hexagon face. The commander's voice was completely robotic, almost automated that it made the Rodian chuckle.

"Report spy," it said,

The Rodian spoke his own tongue but didn't have to worry about barriers, just about all droids were capable of translating, "Your General's target has interesting traits, commander. She was spotted at Dexter's diner with another Jedi. These Jedi seem to enjoy sneaking out,"

"Irrelevant, what do you know about her? The General says her name is Emi Takori, an old foe of his, he wishes to eliminate her,"

"Fine, you want answers? I found out that her home planet is Naboo, she's got family there, presumably in the capital city. The rest of their conversation won't be any interest to you, it just turned into them eating and yapping about Jedi Order nonsense,"

The commander paused, "Naboo you say? General speaks of a time where our forces once occupied that planet over ten years ago. Set up a blockade and tried to make it legal. It is a peaceful planet now,"

"So that's all you need?" The Rodian asked, "where are the credits you promised?"

"We will take it from here, spy. You will be paid by the General personally when the deed is done. He will contact you to come to the location of his ship."

The hologram faded and the Rodian spy stroked his chin, eavesdropping on a young Jedi that one powerful leader of the droid army wanted to kill seemed like a big deal. If only there was more he could do.

You better give me a large crate of credits for this if this girl is really a threat to you. He thought with a snarl on his face. Then he emerged from his spot behind the dumpster and thought it was best to return to the diner to see if the target was still there.