Star Wars: The Last of the Jedi, Volume 3 by Jude Watson Read Free Book Online Page A

as a Jedi apprentice had taken him to the Mid-Rim worlds and beyond. He knew that a few of the other Master-Padawan teams, such as Anakin and Obi-Wan, had more experience on
Coruscant. Ferus didn’t know the underworld of Coruscant very well. But even he had heard of the orange district.
    It wasn’t an official name. You wouldn’t find it on a map. It had gotten that name from the residents’ habit of replacing the Senate-issued street glowlights with orange ones
that lent the passages and walkways a lurid air. Every time the officials had changed the lights back to the clear ones, the residents somehow managed to return them to orange, block by block and
street by street. At last the Senate had given up on the problem and let the orange district be.
    Ferus had never actually been there, but he wasn’t worried about finding his way around. This was part of what he did, go into dicey situations and try to find out information without
making too many stupid mistakes.
    Sometimes he did better than others.
    They took an air taxi down to the district. The driver zoomed off as fast as he could. Who could blame him?
    There was little illumination here except for the garish laserlights that flashed invitations to various clubs and bars and, of course, the orange glowlights. Down here, it was never silent. The
press of beings made walking difficult. Those who couldn’t afford the upper levels lived here, in small cubes that passed for apartments in huge structures housing thousands. Many of them,
Ferus was sure, were scheming how to make their way to the upper levels to live underneath the sun again.
    “Smart,” Trever said. “Hide in plain sight. Even the Empire would have trouble tracking someone here. Can you imagine making a house-to-house search? It would take about a
thousand years.”
    They continued down the walkway. Blocks of compressed garbage towered above them. Although it had been sanitized in the processing, it still gave off a faint smell.
    “I think I just lost my appetite,” Trever said.
    “We’re in the quadrant now,” Ferus said. “And it’s sunset.”
    “How can you tell? It’s always orange down here.”
    Ferus gazed around. He could go into a shop or sit on a bench and wait until someone approached him. In districts like these, beings always had things to sell, and that always included
information. But maybe a café was best.
    “It’s better not to advertise that you’re a stranger here, but not seem too at home, either,” he told Trever as he looked around. “If we can find a small
café...”
    “Ferus...”
    “...it has to be the right one.”
    “Ferus! Look.”
    Ferus followed Trever’s jerk of his chin. Down a particularly dangerous-appearing alley, a small laser-light hung over a door. It would be easy to miss, thanks to the all-enveloping orange
glow in the air. It was a round red light with cracks emanating from it. The cracks made the light appear to be a dying sun.
    “Sunset,” Trever said. “In the orange district.”
    “Maybe. Certainly worth a try.”
    Ferus led the way down the alley. “I’ll go in first. You stay out here.”
    “I’m not sure about this,” Trever said. “Maybe I should hit the street, pick up something I could pretend to sell—dataparts, for example, and—
    “Pick up dataparts? Don’t you mean
steal
them?”
    “Don’t be so precise. My point is, I’ll get inside pretending to be a seller and get a good look around. Nobody ever suspects a street kid.”
    “No, I’ll go,” Ferus said. “I’ve got experience with this. It’s got to be some sort of cantina. You can always find someone to help you in a cantina, if you
approach it the right way. Wait here.”
    He pushed open the door...and walked straight into the tusk of a Whiphid as it picked him up and threw him out the door.
    Ferus landed hard. He felt his side gingerly. The Whiphid had barely nicked him with his tusk. Still, he could feel the burn. Thank the stars for small