lunch when a gang of Nedwuts showed up, saying they had orders to impound the ship and throw me in the dungeon. I ran back onto the ship as fast as I could and closed the hatch, but then they hauled out the biggest disruptor I’ve ever seen in my life and threatened to blow up the ship. When I couldn’t raise you on the comlink, I didn’t know what else to do, so I just fired up the engines and took off. I called your mom as soon as I calmed down enough to think.”
“Well, no harm done, really.” Moe dropped an arm around Klara and gave her a squeeze. “Everything actually turned out pretty well.”
“So I’m not fired?” Nevid asked hopefully.
“No, you aren’t fired,” Moe assured him. “Although the next time you decide to go off and leave me, please don’t go out of comlink range.”
Larry rolled his eyes. “Why you’re still using that antique comlink when I can get you one that will get a message through from halfway across the galaxy is beyond me.”
“But I’ve had it for years,” Moe protested. “It has all my stuff on it.”
“Yes, but what good is it if you can’t even use it when you get stranded on some backwoods planet?”
“You’re right, of course.” Moe started to laugh until he remembered that his comlink had been confiscated when he was arrested. “I’m gonna need a new one anyway. I’m guessing one of the Nedwut guards has my old one.”
Klara gave him a nudge. “If you ask nicely, maybe they’ll give it back.”
Moe thought for a moment. “Nah, they can have it. Although I would like to get my music off it first.”
“You mean you don’t have it backed up in the Cloud?” Larry demanded. “Oh, little brother, what am I gonna do with you?”
Listening to the lively banter between Moe and his relatives, Klara was already starting to feel like one of the family. But there was one person she still needed to meet, although this probably wasn’t the time to mention it.
What would her father think of her—particularly since she’d been conceived through trickery? She’d never truly imagined that she would ever have to face him, but now that she’d met other Zetithians, the likelihood of meeting him wasn’t nearly as impossible as it once seemed. Moe had never said where he lived. Perhaps he was on some distant world that the rest of the Zetithians rarely visited, or had a ship of his own to call home. Klara, being somewhat afraid to ask, opted to leave the subject alone until someone else brought it up.
To return her focus to their current predicament, Klara did a quick head count of those who’d come off the ship versus those who had been aboard and came up one short. “Where’s the Avian guy?”
“Val’s sifting through the ship’s database,” Jack replied. “He’s hoping to find something in there that would eliminate the need to go to Orpheseus.” With a sardonic laugh, she added, “I hope he does, too—for reasons I’ve already mentioned.”
“Aside from the fact that Orpheseus isn’t exactly nearby,” Moe pointed out. “Might take us months to get there and back, especially if we don’t find the money right away. I think we should give Val all the time he needs to sort this out. In the meantime,” he said, addressing the crowd at large, “What do you say we head back to the palace, throw this dude in the dungeon, and celebrate our independence with a party?”
The crowd responded with a resounding cheer. As though Moe had said the magic word, the Nedwuts began a stomping, leaping dance while waving their rifles and chanting “Par-ty, par-ty, par-ty” at the top of their lungs.
“We definitely need to confiscate their weapons,” Klara muttered. “Perhaps if we asked nicely…”
Moe nodded. “Better hide the wine, too. A gang of drunken Nedwuts could get out of hand in a hurry.”
“No shit.” Because most of the townsfolk had come to the spaceport expecting a fight, Klara thought it would be best if they were encouraged to drop off their weapons along the way, as well. Considering the distance, transportation might also be an issue. Velkma would definitely benefit from a ride in a speeder—and so would several of the others, many of whom looked as though they probably wouldn’t make it back to the palace before dawn.
Glancing toward the road, she spotted a number of stragglers heading toward them, including Temfilk, whose flipper-like feet were stirring