“Not For Nothing” - From a Certain Point of View

"Not For Nothing", by Mur Lafferty‏, comes through the eyes of Ickabel G'ant. This story runs concurrently with events in the previous story, "The Luckless Rodian."

You can order this book from our sponsor, Amazon, here.

WARNING: This is a plot summary of the short story, spoilers ahead:

Figrin D'an was one of, if not the, greatest musician in the galaxy. And the Modal Nodes would follow him anywhere. But that meant dealing with his nonsense when the weren't performing. D'an had told the band that he had arranged for an awesome gig on Tatooine that would have them playing in a palace in front of a powerful lord. Ickabel Gant tells the real story; that D'an owed Jabba the Hutt a debt, so the gangster sent Greedo to reel in the band. They were basically indentured servants, and played for the Hutt in order to pay down the debt. While playing, the Bith players were always listening in on the gossip (they had an elevated sense of hearing), and learned that Greedo, in his small-time way, was always double crossing Jabba. It took a year, but D'an had paid off the debt, at which point Jabba altered the deal and asked for triple. D'an, ever the dealer, was able to exchange dirt on Greedo instead of the new price. Jabba took the info and dumped the band off in the desert. They were free.

The band made it to Mos Eisley, with barely any credits. While looking for work, Ickabel was stopped by an Imperial Stormtrooper Patrol and asked if he had seen a pair of renegade droids, which he hadn't, and filed away this info. The band managed to score a gig at Chalmun's, where they hoped to earn enough money to get off-world. Wuher told the band that the only thing that would keep their scummy patrons from tearing each other, and the cantina, apart was the music. So the band would not stop playing; "not for nothing." One day while performing, the band noted a couple of humans enter the cantina with a pair of droids, which were then dismissed outside. The two humans soon got into an altercation, which left one patron without an arm. Ickabel figured those were the droids the troopers were looking for. At that moment,he looked up and saw none other than Greedo eyeing them, and soon approached the band. They knew he was there for revenge, and their hopes for escaping Tatooine were doomed. But Ickabel, in a serendipitous maneuver that he later claimed was purposeful, had his Kloo horn malfunction, and the pipes and tubes broke apart and flew onto the floor. Greedo slipped on one of the pipes, and hit his head on the floor.

Greedo angrily got up and was about to make a move for Ickabel, but Ickabel realized that Greedo's demeanor changed suddenly. His sneer became a smile, and he was looking over and beyond Ickabel's shoulder to something else: a table in the corer of the cantina with 3 humans and a wookiee. Greedo suddenly had no interest in the band and appeared consumed with this other group. After some business, Ickabel watched Greedo get blasted. Ickabel knew that the troopers who had just arrived would have been looking for that group, and the information he had about the connection to the two droids would earn a reward big enough to get them out of this hell. But Wuher told them to never stop playing, not for nothing. He gave D'an a look, and decided that the human who shot Greedo had done enough of a favor for the band that he didn't want to turn them in. It was a favor he was willing to pay back, even though they would never know. They'd figure out how to get off Tatooine soon enough,

---

comments powered by Disqus