Heart Of Darkness (Star Wars)

Chapter 21: The Frog Lady

That night, we arrived at Mos Eisley, making our way to the cantina, where we saw Peli playing sabacc against an insectoid alien creature with brown skin and yellow eyes. They sat at a booth towards the back of the cantina. Peli did a double take upon seeing the Mandalorian armor that Din was carrying.

"You finally found a Mandalorian and ya kill him?" She inquired, rather baffled.

"He wasn't Mandalorian. I bought this armor off of him, though." Din informed her.

"What'd that set you back?" Peli inquired.

"Killed the Krayt dragon for him." Din added.

"Oh is that all?" Peli retorted, sounding very sarcastic.

Kaytia grimaced as she looked over at Din and me. "I don't like her."

I placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, we're leaving Tatooine soon."

"We are, but I don't know where we'd go next. He was my last lead on finding other Mandalorians." Din stated.

The creature spoke in his language, baffling us. Peli turned towards us. "Okay. You might be in luck. Dr. Mandible says he can connect you with someone who can help you, if you cover his call this round. It's what he said."

I furrowed my brows. "What's the bet?"

"Five hundred." Peli replied.

"That's a high-stakes game." Din pointed out.

Peli shrugged. "Hey, he's on a hot streak."

Din let out a sigh, reluctantly he tossed the credits onto the table. Peli glanced over at Dr. Mandible. "Is the pot right?"

Dr. Mandible nodded. Peli let out a laugh as she slapped her cards down. "Ha! Idiot's Array! Pay up, thorax!"

She stood up, grabbing the pile of credits as Dr. Mandible spoke in his language, no doubt protesting. Din glanced over at Peli. "I thought you said he was on a hot streak."

"Oh stop you're crying, you'll rust." Peli retorted.

I clenched my jaw, but I remained silent. It's all right, Delmira, that's just the way she is. She doesn't mean to be personal. Dr. Mandible then spoke in his language as he turned to look at us. Peli translated his words. "All right. He says the contact will rendezvous at the hangar. They'll tell you where to find the Mandalorians. That's what you wanted, right?"

Din nodded. "Yes."

"All right, well, stop you're mopin'." Peli advised as she walked away from the booth. "More importantly, did you bring back any of that dragon meat? Better not have any maggots on it. I don't like maggots."

With that, we returned to the hangar. While Kaytia played with the pit droids near the Razor Crest, Peli's WED-15 Treadwell droid was roasting the chunk of dragon meat that we brought with one of the engine's blast, while Selba watched in awe. At that moment, Peli walked into the hangar.

"Hey, don't overcook it, Treadwell! I like it medium rare! I'm not some Rodian for crying out loud." Peli mentioned as she approached us. "All right, here's the deal. A Mandalorian covert is close. Its in this sector, one system trailing."

"Are they the ones that left Nevarro?" Din asked.

Peli shrugged. "Don't know. All I know is that the contact will lead you to them."

"How much will it cost?" I questioned.

"Well, that's the great news. It's free. Aside from the finder's fee, of course." Peli informed us.