Cougar

"What should we do with him? Shouldn't we kill him?" Natalie asked.

"He's no good to me dead," Sol was rewarded with a secret thumbs-up from Gar. Natalie saw it, but didn't say anything. 

"If we're not going to kill him, what will we do with him? I have other things to do than guard him, and he can't be let go," Natalie looked between Sol and Gar. 

"We'll freeze him in carbonite," Sol had his hand resting on his chin thoughtfully. "The only problem is that I don't know how much Tibana gas we have. It's possible we can only do this a few times, but this is a good opportunity to use it. We still need to get our HQ set up."

"You don't want to carry him back to the ship, this guy's huge! He'll wake up before we get there, and I don't think we can take him if he fights seriously," Sol commented. 

At that moment, they heard the roaring of a car engine. V6 worked on the car he hid behind during the battle. 

"Great job V6!" Sol praised his little droid.

"Now we have transportation, that's one mission accomplished," Gar smiled.

"Your dwarf friend is a mechanic?" Natalie asked feigning confusion.

"You are right, he isn't a dwarf, V6 is a droid, an advanced robot," Gar admitted to the truth because after the battle there was no point lying. Plus, this girl is really smart. 

"Can I come with you to your ship, you're aliens right?" Natalie asked.

"No, we're humans from Earth, but we work in outer space," Gar laughed for a reason that was beyond Natalie. 

"I guess there's no harm in you coming. I also want to test something. Sol, you drive V6, sit in the front passenger seat. You can turn that into your astromech slot. You can update the car and give it some kick. Let us know if there's any useful junk along the way. If not, we can always find some material later. Natalie, you're in the back seat with me, and Zaran goes in the trunk," Lifting with his legs, but not with his back, Gar hoisted the large man over his shoulders using his young and powerful muscles along with the force to get the big man into the trunk of the car. 

Sol sat in the driver's seat and looked at the inside of the old car. Neither he nor Gar could identify the type of car. It was big like a boat on land and made of steel, "You know, we should put some repulsors on this thing, a turret, blasters, and adjust the cockpit. Look at this thing it has an old-time thing for giant cassettes, I think."

"This is a 1974 Mercury Cougar XR7 it has rear-wheel drive and a 114-inch wheelbase. It features an eight-track tape deck," Natalie introduced the features of their new ride.

"Ok, whatever, with this boat, we should be able to reach the ship in a few minutes," Gar said. 

The Mercury drove okay, V6 got it working, but the suspension was shot, the air in the tires was low, but it had half a tank of gas. The blue Mercury was rusting in places, but it wasn't dirty on the outside and smelled clean on the inside. Someone was taking care of it. 

"We should probably find the owner and pay him for the car, Sol commented.

"You two aren't very ruthless. You keep someone who tried to kill you alive, and worry about stealing someone's car," Natalie observed from the backseat.

"Why do we need to be ruthless? What the world needs now is love, sweet love. Not more death and murder," Gar leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes.

"Well, don't worry about the owner, he's dead. Died a few days ago, and he doesn't have any heirs. No one knows about the car or that he's dead," Natalie said. 

"How do you know the car owner?" Sol asked.

"More importantly, how do you know he's dead?" Gar asked.

"He was our contact, my sister and I. Someone killed him before he could arrange anything for us. I've been surveying his apartment and car to see if anyone returned. I ran across Zaran, who somehow knew who I was. He chased me, but I thought I lost him and returned to my post," Natalie explained.

"I'm surprised you're being so open about all of this," Sol looked in the rearview mirror.

Natalie crooked her thumb and pointed at Gar, "This guy can tell when I'm lying. Besides, you two are letting me see your spaceship, consider it an information exchange, or a trade," she smiled at Sol who continued to look at her in the mirror.

"Pay attention to the road," Gar's voice floated from the back. Sol returned his attention to the road but nearly caused the car to drift into a ditch.

"If you can't even drive a car, how can you expect Master M'tz to let you fly a spaceship? Speaking of spaceships, I haven't seen your Tie Bomber. When are you going to get that?" Gar asked. 

"I asked Master M'tz this morning, he said I needed to complete the flight training course before I could fly my Tie Bomber. That's not going to happen until my mentor gets here," Sol responded.

Natalie looked at the two strangely, "You boys aren't planning on killing me are you? You sure are easygoing with the information."

"Who would you tell, besides, it's not like you're a threat," Gar said lazily.

"Maybe I'm not a threat, but I know people who are," Natalie responded. 

"I don't care who you call, they won't be stronger than Master M'tz. He's a Master Jedi," Gar said with pride.

"You two keep using terms I'm not familiar with, do you care to explain?" Natalie tried to bat her eyes, but it looked a little stiff, Gar laughed a little. 

"Maybe later, right now I want to rest. I expect that we will be busy once we reach the ship. We'll let you stay in one of the free rooms," Gar told Natalie.

The conversation in the car died down after Gar said his piece, and about ten minutes later they returned to the ship. The car was hidden behind a few trees since there wasn't a proper path for the car.

"I send you out on a mission, and you return early with guests," The trio heard Master M'tz before they saw him. 

"Oh, a little assassin and a warrior," Master M'tz commented when he saw Natalie and Zaran. 

"Hi, Master M'tz," Gar made a slight bow and carried Zaran into the ship. 

"Where's he going with that guy?" Master M'tz asked.

He wants to freeze him in carbonite," Sol responded.

"Oh, I better stop him!" Master M'tz hurried in after Gar leaving Natalie and Sol alone. V6 rolled towards the ship and disappeared up the ramp.

Natalie looked at the shuttle it was strange but intimidating, "This is your spaceship?" 

"It's Master M'tz's spaceship. I have a ship, but as you heard, I might not get it for a while. Come one, I'll show you around!" Sol grabbed Natalie's hand and rushed into the ship.