Heart Of Darkness (Star Wars)

Chapter 27: Old Imperial Base

"Things have changed a lot around here." Cara commented.

"We're going to leave the little one...and the almost adult, so we can talk business." Karga mentioned.

Kaytia's eyes lit up. "Can I? Mom? Dad?"

"Wait, wherever I go, they go." Din mentioned.

"Mando, please. Where we're going, you don't want to take children. Trust me." Karga insisted.

"They'll be fine here. You have my word." Cara assured us.

I turned to face Din, who was already looking over at me. "It's all right, they'll be safe here. But if you're so worried, we'll leave Ani to keep an eye on them."

In response, Din nodded. "All right, they can stay."

With that, Karga then led both Selba and Kaytia towards the desks. I turned towards Ani, who was patiently sitting beside us. "Ani, you will stay here and watch over Selba and Kaytia, make sure they're safe and they remain here."

Ani gave me a firm nod as he wagged his tail. I gave him a smile as I patted his head. "Good boy, Ani."

"We'll be back soon, Ani." Din assured him.

Selba and Kaytia both sat down in empty seats towards the front of the class. Once the children saw Selba, they all smiled as they whispered amongst each other. Karga then made his way back towards us.

"Come on." Karga urged.

Karga and Cara walked out of the classroom. Reluctantly, Din turned around to head out. I looked at the class one last time, seeing Kaytia looking happy as she spoke to a girl around her age. I followed him out with a smile on my face. I wish this entire mess of the Empire's remnants would be over, so Kaytia could live a normal life as a girl. I wanted to give her a life that she deserved, a life that I could never have. Once we entered another building into Karga's office, we saw a Mythrol behind a desk. "There's no registration on the ship, but I'm sure it belongs to..."

He trailed off upon seeing Din. I could see the horror in Mythrol's eyes. And the fear, radiating off of him. What did Din do to him?

"I believe you two have met." Karga commented. 

"I'm surprised to see you here." Din mentioned.

"Right back at ya." The Mythrol replied. 

"Mythrol here's been taken care of my books since he was a pollywog. But then he disappeared one day after a bit of 'creative accounting.'" Karga explained.

"Magistrate Karga was generous enough to let me work off my debt. Thank you, by the way." The Mythrol chimed in.

"Three hundred and fifty years, but who's counting?" Karga questioned. 

"Well, if he runs off on you again, let me know." Din advised. 

"Let me assure you, I do not wanna spend any more time in carbonite. Still can't see outta my right eye." The Mythrol informed us.

"Can we talk business?" Cara suggested.

"We're only here for repairs." Din commented.

"Which will take a while. Which means you'll have free time on your hands, right? And we could really use your help." Karga confessed. 

"Help how?" Din asked, tilting his helmet.

Cara turned on the holoprojector on Karga's desk. A hologram appeared at once. "This is Nevarro. We're here."

She then pointed to the green area of the map. "This entire's area a green zone. Completely safe. But over on this side is the problem."

She moved the map around, showing us what looked like an Imperial base. Karga chimed in. "It's an old Imperial base."