There was another long pause, as if the bartender was gathering himself. 'How would you feel about joining the Sith?' he suddenly blurted out.
Des was caught completely off guard. 'What?'
'I know. people. I can get you offworld. Tonight. But these people aren't looking for passengers: the Sith need soldiers. They're always recruiting, just like those Republic officers tonight.'
Des shook his head. 'I don't believe this. You work for the Sith? You always said never to take sides!'
'I don't work for the Sith,' Groshik snapped. 'I just know people who do. I know people who work for the Republic, too. But they're not going to be much help in this situation. So I need to know, Des. Is this something you want?'
'I don't have a lot of other options,' Des mumbled in reply.
'Maybe, maybe not. If you stay here, the ORO authorities are sure to find you. This wasn't a cold-blooded murder. The judiciary probably won't let you get off by pleading self-defense, but they'll have to admit there were extenuating circumstances. You'll serve time on one of the penal colonies, five, maybe six years, and then you're a free man.'
'Or I join the Sith.'
Groshik nodded. 'Or you join the Sith. But if I'm going to help you do this, I want to be sure you know what you're getting into.'
Des thought about it, but not for long. 'I've spent my entire life trying to get off this hunk of rock,' he said slowly. 'If I go to a prison world, I'm trading one barren, blasted planet for another. No different than staying right here.
'If I join the Sith, at least I'm out from under ORO's thumb. And you heard what that Republic commander said about them. The Sith respect strength. I think I'll be able to hold my own.'
'I don't doubt that,' Groshik conceded. 'But don't dismiss everything else that commander said. He was right about the Brotherhood of Darkness. They can be ruthless and cruel. They bring out the worst in some people. I don't want you to fall into that trap.'
'First you tell me to join the Sith,' Des said, 'now you're warning me against joining them. What's going on?'
The Neimoidian gave a long, gurgling sigh. 'You're right, Des. The decision is made. Grim fate and ill fortune have conspired against you. It's not like sabacc; you can't fold a bad hand. In life you just play the cards you're dealt.' He turned away, heading for the small stairs at the back of the cantina. 'Come on. In a few hours, after they've searched the housing units in the colony, they'll start searching the starport for you. We have to hurry if we want to get you safely hidden away on one of the freight cruisers before then.'
Des reached out across the bar and grabbed Groshik's shoulder. Groshik turned to face him, and Des clasped the Neimoidian's long, slender forearm.
'Thank you, old friend. I won't forget this.'
'I know you won't, Des.' Though the words were kind, there was an unmistakable sorrow in the gravelly voice.
Des released his grip, feeling awkward, ashamed, scared, grateful, and excited all at the same time. He felt like he needed to say something else, so he added, 'I'll make this up to you somehow. The next time we meet?'
'Your life here is over, Des,' Groshik said, cutting him off. 'There won't be a next time. Not for us.'
The Neimoidian shook his head. 'I don't know what's ahead of you, but I get the feeling it isn't going to be easy. Don't count on others for help. In the end each of us is in this alone. The survivors are those who know how to look out for themselves.'
With that he turned away, his feet shuffling briskly across the cantina's floor as he headed to the back exit. Des hesitated a moment, Groshik's words burning into his mind, then rushed off to follow.
Huddled in the hold of the ship, Des tried to get comfortable. He'd been crammed into the small smuggler's hatch for nearly an hour. It was a tight fit for a man of his size.
Twenty minutes earlier he had heard an ORO patrol come to inspect the ship. They had made a cursory search; not finding the fugitive they were seeking, they had left. A few seconds later the captain, a Rodian pilot, had rapped hard on the panel keeping Des hidden.
'You stay until engines go,' he had called in passable galactic Basic. 'We take off, you come out. Not before.'
Des hadn't recognized him when he'd climbed aboard; he had looked like any other Rodian he'd ever seen. Just another independent freighter captain picking up a load of cortosis, hoping to sell it on some other world for enough profit to keep his ship flying another few months.
If ORO had offered a reward for Des's capture, the captain probably would have sold him out. That meant the ORO managers hadn't put a price on his head. They were more worried about paying out a bounty than letting a fugitive escape Republic justice. It wasn't important that they found him, as long as they could show the Republic they had tried. Groshik must have realized all this when he made the arrangements to smuggle Des aboard.
The high-pitched whine of the engines powering up caused Des to brace himself against the walls of his close quarters. A few seconds later the whine became a deafening roar, and the ship lurched beneath him. The repulsors fired, counterbalancing the vessel, and Des felt the press of the g's as the ship took to the sky.
He kicked at the panel once, knocking it free, and untangled himself from the hidey-hole. The captain and crew weren't around; they would all be at their stations for liftoff.
Des didn't know their destination. All he knew was that at the end of the trip a human woman was waiting to sign him up for the Sith army. As before, the thought filled him with a mix of emotions. Fear and excitement dominated all the others.
There was a slight jostling of the ship as it broke atmosphere and began to speed away from the tiny mining world. A few seconds later Des felt an unfamiliar but unmistakable surge as they jumped to
