Silencing a Witness

In the vast emptiness of space, a flash of white light suddenly appeared, and a YT-1000 light freighter dropped out of hyperspace.

This ship was naturally the Lancer, the one Tang Xiao and the others were aboard.

Having finally escaped Makito alive, everyone let out a sigh of relief. Tang Xiao, in particular, was nearly collapsing from exhaustion. He crawled out of the turret and slumped onto the floor. Cun Te quickly unfastened his harness, ran over from the cockpit, and helped him up.

"Thanks to you, we survived." Cun Te smiled at Tang Xiao.

"We escaped? We escaped! Hahahahahaha!!" Dubrak Kunto, sitting in the copilot's seat, stared at his hands in disbelief.

He unfastened his harness and sprang to his feet. "We did it! We did it! We actually broke through Makito's defenses, hahaha! You have to know, no one who caused trouble on Makito has ever managed to escape!!"

Tang Xiao did not even have the strength to speak. Sitting on the floor, he weakly pointed toward the cargo hold, telling them to check on Semir.

Cun Te nodded. He first had Spade conduct a full inspection of the ship and recharge the shields, because no one knew what might be waiting ahead.

"I think we should find somewhere to restock our ammunition and fuel," Kunto suggested.

"My suggestion is no. This Semir is a hot potato. The sooner we hand him off, the better. If we land on some planet, there's a good chance something else will go wrong," Cun Te said, shaking his head.

A moment later, the T-850 carried someone over as though he were holding a chicken. Only then did Tang Xiao and the others see that the target they had come to retrieve was a timid Muun wearing a monocle. He looked weak and cowardly, completely unlike the vicious criminal they had imagined.

"By the rules, we don't ask about his business. Contact Hego first," Cun Te said, taking out the communicator Hego had given them earlier.

It was clearly a temporary device. Once the deal was complete, throwing away the communicator would sever all contact.

The communication connected, and the tall figure of Hego Damask II appeared in the hologram. "You retrieved Semir. Very good."

At the sight of Hego, Semir became even more terrified. Despite standing nearly 1.9 meters tall as a Muun, he practically curled into a ball. "L-Lord Hego. I got it... The Tonis family's transaction records are right here." He took out a storage device.

"Excellent. You will receive a generous reward." Hego's words carried a double meaning, but as he spoke, his eyes were fixed on Cun Te.

Semir said quietly, "Y-yes... Then according to our agreement, can I..."

"Kill him." Hego looked at Cun Te, and that cold command came from beneath his metal mask.

"Lord Hego! Spare me! I fulfilled the agreement..." Semir dropped to his knees with a thud and begged desperately.

Cun Te frowned, hesitating. Killing an unarmed innocent was absolutely not his style.

"We should do it immediately. Those are the rules," Kunto said quietly.

Hego Damask II said nothing, merely watching them coldly.

Cun Te raised his pistol, but he still could not pull the trigger. Then, without warning, a gunshot rang out beside him! Semir fell to the ground. Cun Te whirled around and saw that Tang Xiao had fired. A wisp of smoke still rose from the barrel of the revolver in his hand.

"Heh... Fine, fine." Cun Te gave a bitter smile and turned to Hego. "It's done. I killed him."

"Hehehehe..." Though his expression could not be seen behind the metal mask, Hego let out a harsh laugh. "Good, very good! Hahahaha! Next, go to Roon as agreed and collect your payment."

Cun Te snorted and pointed at Semir's body on the floor. "This man was acting according to an agreement with you too, wasn't he? Did he get his payment?"

"It's simple. He knew too much, while you... know nothing yet. Come to Roon, or you will find that in the vast Milky Way Galaxy, there is nowhere for you to stand. Hehehehe..." Hego Damask II sneered and cut off the transmission.

Cun Te walked over to Tang Xiao and sighed. "Administrator, you made the right decision. I'm sorry. I should not have hesitated just now. I almost ruined everything." He looked distinctly dejected.

"He can still be saved. Treat him quickly," Tang Xiao said weakly, unable even to open his eyes. The nonstop use of the Force had almost drained him mentally. He had only just awakened to the Force; it was like making a kindergarten child run ten thousand meters.

Cun Te's eyes lit up. He hurried back to check and found that Semir was indeed still barely alive. He immediately brought over a medical kit and began emergency treatment.

"I used live ammunition, and I used the Force to aim at a nonlethal spot. At this range, the bullet would pass straight through his body. If he receives treatment in time, he should be all right," Tang Xiao added.

"All right, the bleeding has stopped. He's temporarily clinging to life, but he needs treatment immediately," Cun Te said as he straightened up after treating the Muun's wound.

"We don't have time to take him to a planet for treatment. Think of something," Tang Xiao said softly.

"A Carbonite Chamber! We can seal him in a Carbonite Chamber! This ship happens to have carbonite equipment," Kunto suddenly said.

They acted immediately. The T-850 picked Semir up and followed Kunto into a small storeroom. Kunto pressed a switch, and countless jets of mist sprayed out, quickly encasing Semir in a gray substance that was half metal and half rock. They then stuffed the carbonite block among a pile of cargo to hide it. That would make it foolproof.

Carbonite Chamber technology was similar to cryogenic hibernation, except it was far more thorough. It was originally used for extremely long-distance travel, but after hyperspace engines were invented, Carbonite Chambers gradually fell out of use. Nowadays, they were often used to imprison fugitives.{Note 1}

"I'm sorry I misunderstood you earlier, Administrator. I truly didn't expect that you would..." Cun Te came before Tang Xiao, took his hand, and apologized.

If this had been a game, Tang Xiao probably would have seen Cun Te's loyalty shooting upward.

"Don't think too highly of me. I only wanted to leave us with a trump card. All right, I need to get some sleep." Tang Xiao patted Cun Te on the shoulder, went over to the simple bed nearby, lay down, and almost immediately fell asleep.

"We should get moving as soon as possible too. Roon is still very far away. We need to reach the Hediah Route first, then transfer to the Corellian Run. I have to say, once we reach Roon this way, we won't have much fuel left. Hego definitely calculated that before making us deliver to distant Roon," Kunto said to Cun Te.

"We have no choice. Things have come to this, so we're going." Cun Te nodded, returned to the pilot's seat, and fastened his harness.

{Note 1}: For example, in the first episode of the first season of "The Mandalorian," the protagonist used this technology to imprison that troublesome Misroer.

Bonus chapter illustration 1: Muun

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