"There are far too many examples of the Empire breaking its word. It will only swallow you whole, leaving nothing behind!" Lindsey continued. "Dead Hand has operated here for more than twenty years. We can't just let it be destroyed in the Empire's hands. We have to stop Nuruddin!"
"Mm!" The people around him all responded in low voices, greed gleaming in their eyes.
Even if Dead Hand's power on Nar Shaddaa was not great, and even if it was only a dog under the Hutts, it still held considerable value. Those who stood at the top would at least possess abundant wealth.
That alone was enough to move anyone's heart.
"All right, scatter. Act according to the plan later!" Lindsey snuffed out the cigarette in his hand and picked up the blaster beside him.
The dozen or so people all left the place. Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, Amir slipped over to the corner and met up with BD-4.
"Did you find anything?"
"Beep beep beep-gwoo-beep!"
"Mm-hmm."
Dead Hand's camp was divided into several sections. The place he was in now was one of the camp's outer sections. Many side courtyards surrounded the camp square, while Nuruddin was waiting in the square itself.
The central square resembled a huge arena. It had a high roof, and at the deepest part stood a raised platform. The enclosed space there was Nuruddin's residence.
It was also where he usually handled business.
The rest of the hall's vast space was used by Dead Hand members for gatherings and resting.
BD-4 played the images it had recorded.
High above the hall, a Rodian covered in scars sat on a chair, overlooking the large square below.
Beneath him were numerous Dead Hand members, all sorts of fugitives, bounty hunters, street thugs, and the like who had drifted here. Of course, there were also the pickpockets they had trained.
Those pickpockets were all fairly young. They were scattered in every corner, heads lowered, not daring to speak.
Offending any one person would be a disaster for them, and sometimes, they would not even know how they had offended someone.
"Come with me!" Lindsey suddenly looked over from nearby and beckoned to Amir.
After letting BD-4 act according to the situation, Amir walked toward the turncoat.
Lindsey, like Nuruddin, was a Rodian. As for his appearance, sorry, but to Amir, all Rodians looked pretty much the same.
"I've heard of your reputation, Sirdan, so I trust your strength. Later, you stand in this position." Following Lindsey into the square, Amir also saw Nuruddin sitting upright on the high platform. He was clearly the boss of an organization, but he looked somewhat nervous.
Amir followed Lindsey to the position he pointed at. There was a shipping container there, and the view from above was excellent, covering the entire square.
After arranging Amir's position, Lindsey took out another cigarette and placed it in his mouth.
At that moment, an assassin droid walked over. Its cold synthetic voice said to Lindsey, "Your brother asked me to tell you not to make any little moves. He must complete this transaction. If you cause trouble, he will not spare you again because of family ties."
Lindsey turned his head and looked at the assassin droid angrily. He clenched the cigarette in his hand, threw it to the ground, glanced back at Amir, then walked straight away.
The assassin droid did not care about the result. It was only delivering a message.
But it did not leave. Instead, it looked at Amir.
"And you, Sirdan. I hope you do not make a mistake. A person should understand his own strength." After the assassin droid finished speaking, its head rotated one hundred and eighty degrees to face backward, and it strode away.
Amir was utterly confused. The situation now seemed to be that Nuruddin, as Dead Hand's boss, wanted to trade the accidentally acquired relic with the Empire, while his younger brother Lindsey and a group of subordinates did not accept that decision. Whether because of ideology or profit, they had decided to rebel.
And the identity Amir had stolen, Sirdan, was a hired fighter recruited by Lindsey. There were quite a few others like him, all arranged by Lindsey in different places.
This was still Dead Hand's internal affair, and Amir was too lazy to think too much about it. He simply jumped onto the top of the shipping container, took out his blaster pistol, and observed Nuruddin.
The Rodian looked worried. On the table in front of him sat a cylindrical alloy safe, and he was tapping it with his fingertips from time to time, whether consciously or not.
Soon, the assassin droid returned to his side and stood beside the seat, waiting like a bodyguard.
Assassin droids were very different from battle droids in structure. Unlike battle droids, whose bodies were solid and like mobile bunkers, assassin droids were slimmer and more agile.
All of their limbs were connected to the torso and could rotate rapidly around the central frame, including the head and arms.
This structure allowed them to adjust their line of sight in any desired direction in an extremely short time, followed immediately by the rotation and aiming of their arms and the blasters in their hands, locking onto enemies from every direction without blind spots.
Together with their precise internal systems, all of this turned them into efficient killing machines.
Amir paid particular attention to the assassin droid, then began probing the safe beside Nuruddin with the Force.
But in the Force's vision, he did not find anything unusual.
If it was a Force-related relic, there should be at least some kind of Force reaction, especially considering how exaggerated the rumors were.
Could it be in some hidden state? Or was it really, just as Joan hoped, a purely mechanical creation?
If it was the latter, Amir was even more interested.
Just as Amir was letting his thoughts wander, a group of people walked in through the square's main entrance.
The one leading them was, unmistakably, the familiar Grand Inquisitor.
Millisyn followed Kexi, secretly moving across the rooftops and avoiding many lookouts.
"How are you so good at this?" Millisyn could not help asking.
"I walk this route a lot." Kexi did not look back and continued forward. "You have to jump across here."
The two reached a gap nearly two meters wide. Below was ground more than ten meters away. Kexi jumped across without hesitation, then looked back at Millisyn encouragingly.
Millisyn felt a little displeased by that look. She was brave too, all right? So she used the Force and easily jumped four or five meters, passing over Kexi's head and landing on the rooftop on the other side.
Kexi's eyes widened.
What kind of monster was this? How could she jump so far?
Were Twi'leks originally this strong?
"Hehehe." Millisyn looked at his shocked face and laughed proudly.
Surprise was surprise, but Kexi still took two steps forward and said, "See that group of buildings ahead? That's Dead Hand's camp. You have to stay close to me, or you'll be discovered."
Kexi skillfully flipped and climbed across the rooftops, following a hidden route until he reached the roof of the camp.
"Keep quiet. The scouting here is especially strict." Kexi pulled open an iron panel beneath his feet, revealing a pitch-black passage.
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🌌 STAR WARS: RELICS OF THE PAST
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✨ THE FORCE STILL HAS SECRETS.
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But beneath forgotten worlds and ancient ruins...
Something older is still waiting.
Star Wars: Relics of the Past has 100+ chapters ahead available now.
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🌌 THE PAST NEVER TRULY DISAPPEARS
⚔️ Jedi mysteries
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