Star Wars Character Cafe - Redemption Chapter 3

REDEMPTION

CHAPTER 3

Flik gave Kaitlin the access code to his ship, the Forgotten Warrior. The small Shistavanen Scout ship was well known to Coruscant security so he would be piloting one of Trin's ships. Kaitlin herself was a good pilot, in spite of her youth and knew the controls of the Warrior well since he'd let her fly the craft a few times just for a situation like this. Flik was still trying to think of a way to tell her that she had the potential to be a Jedi and he wanted to teach her how to use the Force. He was reluctant to do so because telling her could scare her off, as the legacy of deceit that surrounded the last days of the Old Republic regarding the Jedi still ran deep, even among those who would have once supported them, and so for the moment, he was in the process of building up her trust of him. Even without realising it, he had already built the foundations of their relationship, a teacher and pupil one. He felt a wave of pride emanating from her and knew that he could trust her with his ship.

"Be ready to leave if there is any trouble. You might not think that the task I have given you is all that important, but it is far more critical than you could realise, and not just because I am trusting you with the safety of my family. Shara will be staying behind to help you."

His words compelled her to kiss his cheek. She had to stand on her tip-toes to reach him because she was shorter than Shiba. A warm glow spread through Flik's body. It was unlike Shiba's kiss, trusting and friendly, but lacking her passion that rested just below the surface. He realised then that he cared for her, not in the same way he did for Shiba, it was more like the way he had cared for Tek's mate.

"Be careful, Flik," she said.

"Don't worry about us. We're big enough and daft enough to take care of ourselves. Trin has told me that we will be going to Sullest after resolving our business on Coruscant. If anything happens that comprises security here, head there and we'll rendezvous there."

"We will."

Flik moved away to say goodbye to Shiba. She was clad in the familiar black flight suit that she had worn during their time as bounty hunters, her hair was bound in a tight braid and piled on her head, in the style of Alderaanian women. To disguise her identity, she had used colour creepers in her hair to mask its natural colour and had used cosmetics the colour of silver on her nails, lips and eye lids. The only other thing she wore was the rings Flik had given her when he'd proposed, and the one that signified their marriage.

"You look exotic," the wolfman said.

"I'll miss you, Flik," she murmured, taking his hand in her own.

"Remember what I said last night - "

Shiba let go of his hand and slipped off one of the rings. She pressed it into his palm and curled his fingers around it.

"Look after it for me."

"Are you sure?" he asked her.

"Take it," Shiba said. "Give it back to me when next we meet."

Flik uncurled his fingers and looked at the ring as though he wouldn't see her again. When she had taken off the one Chan had given her at their wedding, it had been forever. She knew what he was thinking. "This is not goodbye, Flik. It's just insurance, that's all."

"Insurance?" he asked her.

"Of course. It'll give me extra incentive to get back to you." She squeezed his arm.

Flik still stared at the ring. It was far too small to fit on any of his fingers. He put the ring in his inside pocket, where it would be safe. His gaze flicked back to her.

"I've got your promise now, that you'll get back to me?"

"Yeah, of course," she kissed him. "Bye Flik."

He returned the kiss. "Bye," he said.

He turned from her and spotted Zan talking to Kaitlin. Irritation rose inside him, Zan was supposed to be on board the ship, and he also wanted to put a stop to his pursuit of Kaitlin - he'd promised her family that he would look out for her and that included discouragement of irresponsible young men. He considered shouting a Shistavanen curse at him, but he saw Trin entering the hanger bay with his entourage.

"Come on, Zan. We ain't got all day!" Flik barked as he reached the bottom of the boarding ramp. He didn't stop to see if Zan heeded his command.

It took only a few moments before he reached the cockpit of the marauder corvette that the Ackley would be taking to Coruscant. Artea Fen was already in the co-pilot's seat when he arrived. Flik heaved himself into the empty seat next to the cathor. "I swear one of these days that kid'll be left behind!"

"He only does it to irritate you," Artea answered.

"More than likely," the wolfman snorted, wishing for the first time in more than twenty years that he was in command of a squad of clone troopers, rather then the motley crew he now had, but that was more than a lifetime ago.

He stared at the unfamiliar controls. "I'd prefer to be flying the Warrior," he said, looking out the veiwport at his ship. Shiba was visible in front of the Warrior and Artea wasn't sure if he was referring to Shiba or the ship when he said, "I'm missing her already."

"At least you have me for company, Captain," Artea said.

Flik glanced across at her.

"It's not the same, Artea," Flik said as he turned to look out the veiwport again and sighed wistfully. He unconsciously reached inside his jacket pocket and took out Shiba's ring. He twisted it around in his fingers and thought of her. He closed his eyes and visions of what they had gone the night before flashed through his mind's eye.

"Hey fleaball, time to go," Zan said, poking his head into the cockpit. "We ain't got all day, ya know!"

There were times when Zan could be so tiresome.

He opened up the internal com. "Sholinar, if Zan enters the cockpit again, will you toss him out of the airlock?"

Flik was answered by guffaws of Wookiee laughter. He said to Zan, "I'm serious!"

Flik shook his head to clear it and concentrate on the moment. They were departing before Trin and Shiba because they had to make a series of jumps to disguise their point of origin and it would take longer than Trin and Shiba's more direct route. He put the ring back into his pocket and said goodbye to Shiba again in his mind.

Looking out the cockpit again, he saw Shiba and Kaitlin wave at them before moving aside as the hanger bay doors cracked open and they left.

***

Shiba was alone with Trin in the passenger compartment of the Imperial Shuttle. She didn't really trust him, not after it turned out that he was in fact, the brother of a man she and Flik had killed during their last commission as bounty hunters. She always felt that he always had an alternative agenda. She sometimes caught him looking at her the same way his brother had when she had gone to apprehend him. Being a beautiful woman, Shiba was aware that most men were attracted to her. The ones she had hunted had died for it. Her time as a bounty hunter was a part of her life that she was not proud of, for she had gone against everything she believed in, almost everything. Yet if she had the chance to do that time over again, she'd still have made the same decisions: she'd never have had Flik if she'd not gone down that path, and she and Flik had accomplished some good things, even if the means by which they did them sometimes were questionable.

To distract herself from Trin's leer, she busied herself checking her weapons for the tenth time since their trip had begun so she would not have to look at Trin. She thrust the blaster back into its holster and stared at the bulkhead in front of her.

"Some people would think you were anxious about something, cleaning the blaster over again," Trin said. "Are you nervous about the mission?"

Shiba flashed him a smile, one that she had used to intimidate the fugitives she and Flik had pursued, or other bounty hunters. "Not at all. Why should a trip to Imperial Centre make me nervous?"

"Maybe it's something else, then," Trin said, misreading her. "It's being alone with me you're nervous about -"

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, she felt him sit down beside her. "You know, I've looked forward to this for a long time," he said in her ear, his voice low.

Shiba wished that Flik was with her. They usually did this sort of work together when they acted as Trin's body guards. Over the past few months, Shiba had become increasingly aware of the tension between them and had avoided being near Trin as much as possible. If it hadn't been the need for a secure place for the children, she was sure that she and Flik would have left Eriadu a lot sooner. Shiba decided to put on her best voice of intimidation, one that she had used frequently during her time as a bounty hunter.

"I bet you have."

"You know, Shiba, you are one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. I've wanted you the moment I saw you fight in the arena."

He just didn't seem to take the hint, as Shiba, becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the situation, got to her feet and backed away from him. Still trying to keep her composure of tough bounty hunter, Shiba said, "A lot of men have said that. Most are dead."

"I notice you aren't wearing your ring. Why would a beautiful woman like yourself want to be with someone like Flik. You could have had any man you choose, why an alien? I mean, I could understand if it was a near human-alien, or a Twi'lek, but why something so -"

"You don't have to look like a monster to be one," came Shiba's reply. "And not everything that looks like it should be a monster is. Humans destroyed my homeworld, Trin, not Flik or his kind."

"That depends on what you mean by 'his kind,' Shiba. I've looked things up. I know what Flik was before he abandoned them. Darth Vader has similar powers -"

"Vader is a Sith Lord, Trin. He is nothing like my husband."

"I apologise if I offend you, Shiba."

He reached forward to grab her.

Shiba caught his hand in her iron grip. "Don't! The reason I married Flik is because I love him and he loves me. I've known a lot of men, and let me say this: apart from Flik and my late husband Chan, none of them desired my company because of my intelligence. I don't welcome your advances, I don't care for you that way and I never will. You might not be the same kind of creep your brother was, but you're still a creep. Now back off before I do something to you you're going to regret!" She pulled a vibroblade on him. The sharp point sank into his neck, just deep enough to draw blood without causing further harm. It had happened so fast that he didn't notice it until it was up against his throat. "On Alderaan I was trained to be a doctor, a healer, a saver of lives. Flik taught me how to fight and kill. Now, you don't want to push me."

She removed the vibroblade from his throat and said quietly, "I'm staying faithful to Flik as I know he does with me. Cresentina is carrying your child. How could you even think of trying a stunt like this when she's in that state?" Shiba gave him a hard, sharp slap across the face before moving to another part of the cabin.

***

Shiba and Trin arrived on Coruscant twelve hours later, of which Shiba was glad to finally be out of the ship. She had been thinking on the long trip and thought that perhaps it really was time to move on. There was no question of staying at the base on Eriadu any longer. Perhaps the Ackley could apply for a transfer elsewhere.

After a check through security, they were escorted to the Imperial Palace, to the room that had served as the Senate Chamber, not the one that had been used during the days of the Old Republic, but the one that had been used by the Imperial Senate, before Palpatine's forced disolvement of what had remained of democracy.

Already seated around the table were twenty Governors and Moffs of the main sectors under the Empire's thumb. Most, if not all, were human and male, though there was one exception: a male Shistavanen.

This would be interesting, it seemed, Shiba thought as she and Trin took up their positions, Trin sat in his place at the table, with Shiba standing behind him. There was a nervous tension in the room and not even the wolfman got the looks of disgust that he normally would have gotten in the xenophobic Empire. Shiba got the feeling that something unusual was afoot, but she was at a loss to guess what that was.

After several long moments, the Emperor entered, accompanied by his scarlet guards. Even without being sensitive to the Force, Shiba could feel the darkness surrounding the former Senator from Naboo. Monsters come in many guises, she thought, echoing her earlier words to Trin. At seeing the man responsible for so much suffering and despair in the galaxy, Shiba finally knew that what Flik had told her had been the truth.

At first glance, he looked nothing more than a shrivelled and frail old man, but that came from the darkness of his heart, not from the age of his body, and she had learnt from her time with Flik not to trust first impressions. The Imperials, including the wolfman, stood up and respectively waited for him to take his seat before taking to their seats again.

After every Governor and Moff were seated, Palpatine began to speak, his voice sounding as old and gravely as his body looked.

"I have called you here because we are on the verge of crushing the Rebellion once and for all," he gestured to a man dressed in a scientist's white lab coat who had accompanied the Emperor, but whom everyone had failed to notice as their attention was on Palpatine. "Dr Lemlisk, if you please."

Lemlisk circled the table until he came to the controls for the holoprojector and slipped a data disc inside before he turned it on. The next few seconds caused Shiba to forget the vileness of the dark hearted Emperor as an image even more horrible materialised before her eyes.

The ghostly image of a Death Star hovered above the table. Shiba's time as a bounty hunter was the only thing that saved her composure when she saw the holo that would be the successor of the super-weapon that had destroyed her homeworld.

Shades of Alderaan!

Her hand drifted unconsciously to the blaster holstered at her hip, as if she could take up the weapon and destroy the annihilator of worlds - but common sense surfaced and she masked the movement by nervously rubbing her hands together.

"After analysing the weaknesses on the first Death Star, I redesigned it so that it will now be impenetrable by enemy weapons once completed. Once completed, it will be bigger and more powerful than the original, and will be the most powerful weapon ever created by the hand of man the galaxy has ever seen!" He rambled on enthusiastically about the technical capabilities of the super-weapon.

The next twenty minutes were a blur for Shiba and she didn't take any of it in. Painful memories came flooding unbidden back to her and she relived them in her mind. She wanted to scream. There must be no more Alderaans!

Unconsciously once again, her hand drifted to her blaster.

She wanted to kill this vile, evil old man and the scientist who had been responsible for the destruction of her homeworld. Hate and rage that she had bottled up since her homeworld's destruction boiled to the surface, hot and uncontrollable.

She fought for control of her emotions. She knew that if she lost it now, then she was dead and there was nothing she could do to stop more worlds suffering Alderaan's fate.

***

Flik and the other members of the Ackley were in a cantina as near to the Imperial Palace as they could get, which was no easy task, for aliens, unless they happened to be minions of the Empire, or associated with underground organisations like Black Sun, rarely left the pusedo sanctuary known as the Invisible Sector on Coruscant, or as the Imperials called it, Imperial Centre. What had made their task of getting this close to the Imperial Palace was also due to the fact that movement of non-humans around that sector was even more restricted than else where.

The cantina was vastly different from the ones Flik had grown used to since the fall of the Old Republic. Instead of being dark, dank and unhygienic, it was light and sterile, but it lacked the stylish decor and trendiness that such cantinas and nightclubs would have possessed in the days when Flik frequented them. It had been replaced by the stark loss of personality that was more at home on board the Imperial Star Destroyers of the Empire's fleet. It didn't have the usual mix of aliens either, which had once been present during the days of the Old Republic.

Most of the cantina's patrons were humans, ranging from the lower middle class that supplied the drones for the low levels of government administration to those higher up. In short, they were the desk jockeys that were only bothered about keeping the supply of credits coming their way and the avoidance of incurring the wrath that would take them, and more away from them. Flik knew the type well, for they had risen to their positions during the Clone Wars. They were the ones that looked down on those less fortunate than themselves and exploited them to keep themselves where they were. They did it without realising that it they themselves who were the real trash because they failed or more like refused, to notice the suffering around them because they knew that to do so would mean loss of their position. They were quite happy to back stab their colleagues just to climb higher up the ladder. Ironically, they were essential for the "healthy" functioning of society. However, they didn't have it all for nothing, for even those lower than themselves could take away their position if they so wanted to, so most pretended to care about the lower classes, when they didn't.

Occasionally, there were those who really did care about the masses, but most of those were imprisoned as traitors by the Empire, forced into becoming outlaws, or like Bail Organa of Alderaan, had been killed by whatever means the Empire could get away with. As such, anyone in a position of power left with the ideals of those who formed the Rebel Alliance and still in the Empire, were rarer than the extinct Honogorian Stava.

Aside from the civil war, the price for peace at the end of the Clone Wars had been the cost of the galaxy's soul and the death of diversity.

Flik felt more uncomfortable than he would have had he been sat on a nest of piranha beetles.

The only aliens in the crowd besides Flik's companions, were the more human-like ones and therefore fitted into the crowd more easily. A quick look around confirmed that Flik was the only Shistavanen in the whole place. He knew he stuck out like a sore thumb, as did the Cathor, Gotal and the Wookiee, but it was Kobrossk who caught the most stares. Flik could clearly tell by his body language that he was beginning to get agitated and looked like he would tear the next person who stared at him into tiny pieces.

The wolfman was beginning to think that coming in here was a bad idea, but it was the only place that they could wait without drawing more attention to themselves than they already were.

Out of them all, Zan seemed to draw less attention to himself, but not for want of trying! Zan was trying to chat up a pretty young woman about nineteen years of age a couple of tables away. He, in his scruffy looking overalls with grease and the Force knows what else splattered all over them was clearly out of place. She was not impressed, and Zan, finally decided he was getting nowhere, gave up and joined the others at the table. That wasn't his only motivation - a security guard had clocked his number and was almost ready to come over and sort it out himself. The young lady was someone more important than Zan had realised...

"I can't see why you bothered," Artea admonished him, taking a sip of the non-alcoholic drink Flik had insisted on them ordering, not that he couldn't trust them, but Zan was hardly the responsible type, so he decided not to have the temptation there. "It was obvious she wasn't interested in you."

"That's bantha poodoo. When I turn on my charm - "

"All the women within a thousand light year radius stampede to get away from him," Artea said finished for him.

"You can't fool a Gotal, my friend. She would rather have kissed the Trandoshan here," Cathos said, before Zan could come up with a suitable retort.

Sholinar laughed.

"I don't think Kaitlin will be very pleased when she learns you've been talking to other women," Artea said.

"You'd better what yourself, then Artea, but then I suppose you don't count - "

Suddenly angry, Artea hissed and her hackles raised.

Flik set his glass down on the table with a bang that would have shattered it if it had been made of weaker materials, drawing everyone's attention to him. "Can we get back to the task at hand, people? We're not here to debate Zan's appeal to the opposite sex," he growled softly, so the other patrons wouldn't hear him. He was annoyed.

Zan looked at him with a hurt expression. "Did anyone ever tell you you're no fun, Fleaball?" he asked.

"That's funny. I've never had any complaints from Shiba - "

Zan's look of expiation turned to triumph as he said, "Got you there, Fleaball."

"I'd shoot you, but I don't what to have to do the paperwork," Flik said, taking a swig of what was left of his drink.

"Permission for me to shoot him, sir?" Artea asked.

Flik shook his head. "I don't think that would be necessary, Ms Fen - "

Zan grinned at the wolfman, that annoying, smug grin he used when he wanted to rub Trin up the wrong way. Zan was just about to make some witty retort - or witless, depending on your opinion - but was interrupted by the appearance of the local cantina brawlers.

"If you have a problem with these freaks, we could take care of it," the one in the middle, who seemed to be the leader, said.

"Freaks? Did he just call us freaks?" Kobrossk spoke for the first time since they'd sat down at their table.

Sholinar roared a challenge.

Flik shook his head. Thugs are thugs are thugs - no matter what guise they come in, or what cantina they frequent.

"You said it, Sholinar," the wolfman turned his lupine head and stared at the three thugs fixedly. "Are you going to take back that insult, or do I let the Wookiee tear you apart?" Flik reached under the table and his fingers curled around the handle of his blaster, ready to fight if the occasion called for it. It was a dangerous game, now, and it looked like these fools were just about to blow their cover. "Then again, I might just choose to blast your brains out."

"I'm sure violence isn't necessary," Artea purred, trying to diffuse the situation. "I like you."

She drew closer to the man who'd spoken, but he pulled out a vibroblade on her. Reacting quickly, Flik shot him in the wrist and the vibroblade clattered to the floor.

"I suggest that you crawl back into your hole. Next shot'll fry your minuscule brain cell."

A year ago, Flik would have killed for their insolence. Now, he didn't think such amateurs were worth spitting on. It was, he surmised, better to save your power cell for a worthy opponent than to squander it. His hesitation was also due to the fact he'd been working on controlling his anger. He couldn't just go around killing everyone who had the audacity to annoy him. If he was going to take up being a Jedi again, then he would have to control it or be lured to the darkside. He didn't really believe that there was a dark or light side to the Force in nature, it just existed. It was how you used it that counted. If you used it in fear, anger, hate or aggression, you hurt people. Since the loss of his family, he had fought hard against the darkside of his personality.

Sometimes, he found it easier to give into that, but like animal predators, he couldn't kill indiscriminately. It was natural for him to be violent, because it was in his nature, but like the wolf, that savagery was not the only part of his nature. He was a hunter, true, but with that came a better understanding. He, like the wolf his species was named after, formed strong social bonds with his family, whether that family was related by blood, the Old Jedi Order, or those in the Ackley. Being in a pack was natural to him, it had been something that had determined his actions even when he was a Jedi Knight all those years ago. Like a lone wolf that had lost its pack, or chosen to find a new one, he had been searching for another, even through his years as a bounty hunter. He'd found Shiba, though their species were different, they'd had similar motives, wants and needs, and both had had their family taken away from them. When they had found each other, it had taken them a while to realise what they had and as with most things, it is difficult to see what's right in front of you until it is threatened.

He knew that he had upset her the other night, that what he had said implied that Chan, her husband, had to die for them to find each other and for Flik to find Zak. He had not meant it to come out sounding so callous and had berated himself ever since. He'd never meant to have been so insensitive and realised that he could be a real oaf at times.

It was at that moment that he sensed her agonising scream of anger. The feelings were so powerful that instinctively reached out with the Force and tried to get the words, I am here my love, don't be afraid, to her, but he realised that she wasn't sensitive to the Force.

He activated the implant they'd used to communicate secret information during their time as bounty hunters and repeated the message. He looked around at the others and said, "It is time we left this place."

***

“I am here, my love. Don’t be afraid.”

It was Flik’s voice, coming through the implant. The little demonstration of the new Death Star had now come to an end and Shiba was getting ready for her part in the proceedings, but the Emperor’s next words made her blood run icy cold, if the prospect of a new Death Star hadn’t been enough.

“There is also another reason I have called you all here. I have known for some time that there are traitors amongst you, traitors that deal with the Rebel scum that threaten the security of the Empire, and those that do not enforce Imperial law. The question was, who among you is the traitor that that would plot against me with the Rebels?” All eyes around the table, including Trin’s, all looked at the Shistavanen representative. In the company of a non-Force sensitive, perhaps Trin’s cool exterior and body language would have fooled them, but Shiba knew from her time with Flik that experienced Force-sensitves would pick up on the feelings boiling just below the surface, even if they maintained a vestige of calm. Guilt coursed through her veins – had she been the one to give them away? She looked straight ahead, now, trying to plug the leak in a dam that had already been breached.

“Now, however – “ the Emperor continued, “ – with you all being in my presence, I now know who they are.” He raised his arms as he spoke and spread out his hands, directing Force-lightening at Trin. “At this very moment, the Governor’s Palace on Eriadu is being pacified.”

Shiba reacted quickly with the grace and agility that almost matched the Jedi of old, she leapt over the table and took out Lemlisk. She’d only knocked him unconscious, but that would have to serve as payback for the destruction of Alderaan for now. She pulled the data disc out of the holoprojector and dropped it inside the neckline of her flight suit. Taking a quick glance around she noticed that all the Governors had taken flight, leaving her, the wolfman, Trin, the scarlet guards and the unconscious scientist in the Senate Chamber with Palpatine. One of the Imperial Guards rushed her. She dodged his Force pike and shot him with her blaster. Another Scarlet Guard came at her from behind and the wolfman killed him with a wicked looking vibrosword that cut through the guard’s armour like a meat cleaver.

“Come on, this way,” he said.

She was reluctant to leave Trin. Even though he was a bona fide creep, and she didn’t really like him, she had a duty to protect him. He lay slumped on the floor, the Emperor still had him in the Force-lightening. Though she would have loved to take a shot at the Emperor, the information she was carrying was far more important than revenge. Besides, she doubted that she would get out alive even if she did succeed in killing him. There was nothing she could do for Trin. Not even a dip in a bacta tank could save him now. Without a word, she followed the wolfman out of the chamber. Some how, she knew that the other traitor would be him.

Her curiosity got the better of her as she trailed him down the corridor.

“Who are you, anyway?” she asked.

“I am the Alpha Premier of the Archetypes and Prince Rivik, ruler of the Uvena System until a descendent of Senator Mizet is found. Though now I’ve probably just been made an out law, just like her.”

The way he said the word Ruler made Shiba suspect that it was ruler in name-only. The real power on most worlds under the Empire was reserved for the Governors and Moffs appointed by Palpatine himself. His response raised more questions that it answered, but now was hardly the time to get distracted.

“Shiba Black,” she informed him of her name simply, just before they turned the bend in the corridor.

They rounded the corner and came face-to-face with a squad of Stormtroopers that blocked the corridor ahead of them. Fortunately, the bend in the corridor offered them some protection.

It look’s like I’ve really got myself in the bantha poodoo this time, Shiba thought.

She snapped off a couple of blaster shots round the bend at the Stormtroopers, before taking cover behind the bend again. She switched on the comlink implant.

“Flik, it’s a trap. Trin’s dead and I’m pinned down somewhere in the Imperial Palace.”

“I read you Shiba. I’m on my way.”

“We can’t stay here,” Rivik said, exchanging blaster fire with the Stormtroopers.

“I know,” Shiba said, wishing that Flik was there to deflect the shots with his lightsabre, as he had done when they rescued Shara from the prison. The longer the Stormtroopers had them pinned down, the more time reinforcements had to gain their position. This was one situation where Shiba seriously doubted that she would get out of.

She quickly evaluated the corridor for an escape root.

“Think you can make it to that door over there?”

She reached inside a boot and pulled out a small, light-weight disruptor pistol, as Rivik gave his answer in the positive. She aimed and fired the pistol, turning the door into black ash. They made the dash to the doorway together. Shiba avoided being hit, but Rivik, who was slightly slower, took a shot in the shoulder. She heard him grunt in pain.

“You ok?” she asked him. “I’ll fix it up when we get out of this place.”

The room they had blundered into was some sort of administration office. A woman of about forty years old stood staring at them, her face one of pure shock. She dropped the file she was holding papers spilled to the floor.

“You can’t come in here. This is a restricted area,” a man, about the same age as the woman advanced upon them. Rivik pushed his blaster in the man’s face. “This says otherwise,” he growled. Sometimes looking like a slobbering beast has its advantages, Shiba thought.

“A squad of Stormtroopers will be coming in here any minute. I suggest you all find some cover,” Shiba said, looking at the window. Her disruptor was overheated – that was the problem with having a small one, even if it could be concealed more easily.

“Rivik, do you think you can smash that window?” she asked.

In answer, the wolfman pushed a desk, complete with computer equipment, straight at the window, shattering it in a thousand pieces.

The man was about to voice his objection, but a snarl from Rivik made him keep his peace. Shiba snorted.

She stepped on to the ledge of the window, Rivik following her a second later. A Stormtrooper poked his head out of the window and Rivik pulled him out and let him fall to his death. They dispatched the rest of the squad the same way before inching along to the next window. Rivik kept a look out while Shiba searched for her grappling hook and climbing cable. It was a device that kept in a gun-like structure and could be fired. She had several of these on her.

Once she found it, she fired the grappling hook so that it lodged into the ledge above and she climbed down the cable. It reached one level down from the ledge they were stood on and once she reached the ledge one floor below, she waited for Rivik to join her. Only the adrenaline kept her from freezing up at such a height. Rivik was heavier than Shiba, and his weight caused the grappling hook to slip towards the edge of the ledge it was resting on as he descended. It finally gave way when he was a few centimetres from the ledge where Shiba waited. He caught hold of the ledge at the last second, causing pain to stab through his injured shoulder. If it hadn’t been for Shiba, he would have plummeted to the surface of the planet, kilometres into the darkness below. Shiba grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him up onto the ledge. Fortunately, there was just enough room for her to get some leverage. Rivik used his good arm to help pull himself up so that he lay on his stomach on the ledge. Shiba made herself as small as she could to give him room to get back onto his feet. His strength and dexterity suggested to Shiba that he was no stranger to a fight, and for that she was glad. They might have a chance of getting out of this mess after
all.

She fired the disrupter to clear away the transparisteel of the building window opposite them and fired another grappling hook at the opposite ledge. It lodged into the side of the window frame. Shiba secured the end of cable to wall above them. Rivik guessed what she had in mind.

“Climb on to my back,” he said. Shiba looped her arms around his shoulders and the wolfman, using his vibrosword, kicked off the ledge and they slid down the cable.

They fell through the window into what was fortunately, an empty office. Shiba picked herself up off the Shistavanen and had a look around.

She saw an open locker with an Imperial uniform inside it, just the right size for her. She turned to Rivik. “Act like you’re my aide.”

Once she’d changed, they exited the building and stepped out into the Grand Corridor.