Chapter 4, Part 15

The night wore on. That seemed to happen alot to Jaka and AL. Both were tired and eager to leave. And as the sun rose, neither of them heard any marching footsteps or thumping AT-AT's. Both tenderly and quietly stuck their heads out of the caves to see if all was clear. Both left the caves to continue their journeys. Jaka turned down the canyon, AL turned up. Both stared at each other for a minute. Jaka started to laugh at the irony of it all. Both had waited out the night in adjoining caves just a few steps from each other. His laugh subsided when a terrible gurgling sound rushed out of AL's cave along with the worm creature it belonged to. AL knew what it was (he spent the night with it) and rushed towards Jaka, and in the rush to hide from the creature he managed to shove Jaka back into Jaka's cave. Jaka understood what AL was feeling. It's OK, son. The creature won't get us. Neither will those troopers or Vader. AL's circuits stood on end with the mention of Vader and shuddered. He let out a small screech of terror, for he knew Vader all too well. Jaka calmed him down, hugging and petting his dome. It's OK, I've got the speeder here. We'll have to travel light. AL showed him his stuff, burlap bag and all. It wasn't exactly traveling light, but AL was simply not going to depart with any of his stuff.

Jaka quickly loaded the speeder, got AL into it somehow, and off they went back to Mos Espa. It took them two days (mostly at night) of dodging in and out of canyons, hiding from the Imperials, before they got to the edge of the desert. Problem was Mos Espa was overun with troopers. The AT-AT's had taken position at the mouth of the canyons, eager to destroy anything that came out. Fortunately for our two intrepid travelers, they didn't have enough to post at every canyon. So, once again Jaka and AL waited through the night before making their getaway.