Sredniy shuffled himself along between the tarps and packing crates. An observant bystander would have seen the Ewok as a box walking along by itself; fortunately, he was sneaky, and no one was the wiser. He nestled himself between a large cylindrical tank and an antiquated wooden box, peering through slats of his stuffy enclosure. He stared out over the bustling shipping pool, beady eyes glittering as he drank in the scene. He clutched in his tiny paw a small holoprojector, which he played absentmindedly, squashing the tiny image against his furry chest so no one would see its telltale shimmer from his hideout in the shadows.
"Upon delivery, return immediately to the factory to receive new instructions. Mama Ocha has a new initiative and we will need all hands."
The Bothan lady had kept him company on the long voyage over from Endor, her sharp, no-nonsense voice utterly imprinted in his memory. "Mama Ocha." Mama, he knew, had something to do with family in basic. He felt sure he was on the right track.
The shipping pool bubbled with random pockets of activity. There were a number of Duros, mostly decked out in flightsuits, a Talz, a few Jawas. Sredniy's heart patterned, seeing them. He knew Jawas meant machines and he longed to make himself known to the small folk, but he felt the metal of the holoprojector in his claw and remembered his true mission. There would be time for Jawas later.
There were a few unique specimens in the yard as well, some Sredniy had never seen. From his vantage point he could see exactly one Wookie talking animatedly with a Duros. A Bothan, like the one in his projector but differently colored and male strode across the compound, trailed by a human-looking thing with a tall head. He'd never seen one of those before. They were trying to look like they weren't together, it seemed. Sredniy strained, looking for any evidence of Mama Ocha, but he came up short.
"Ai gtoocha," he cursed quietly.
A clatter from the opposite side of the yard drew his gaze. A metal door rolled upward and a few other workers wandered out, two Duros and a Bothan. Sredniy's small breath caught, mental checklist ticking. Female, slight of build, dark colored vest and tight canvas pants, boots. Her coloring had been difficult to decipher on the hologram but she was dark in color, with paler eyes. This woman was jet black but from this distance he couldn't be sure about her eye color. If only he could hear her, then he would know. She stopped, tapping her finger on her datapad and greeting the Wookie and Duros from before. He needed to get closer.
Sredniy tipped the box forward and snuck out the back of it, pulling his little Ewok hood up and walking purposefully towards another pallet. Easy. He just had to look like he knew what he was doing. He was pleasantly surprised – not only was he not stopped, no one even looked at him. He stifled a laugh. Wouldn't do any good to draw attention to himself now. He hopped up on another pallet. The Bothan lady was moving again, but toward him this time. He dropped to the bottom of the loaded sled and quickly covered himself with a tarp.
"You'll be on this load. One driver and one set of muscle each. Hey, you two!" Sredniy clenched his fists, staving off the joy he felt. It was definitely her.
"You're new and this is easy so consider it a training run. You speak shyiriiwook? Good. Tarnik will run you through it. It's not too tough, just a routine delivery."
Risking just a little of his cover, Sredniy pulled back a corner of the tarp. Through a thin slot between two crates he could see the straight back of the sand-colored male Bothan from earlier and the tall-crown. It was to them the female was issuing orders. He saw them move to touch her, clasping their hands in some sort of humanoid gesture. Trust, maybe? And then they turned immediately around to face his exact hiding place.
Pudu!
He recovered himself, the pallet creaking under the weight of the three larger creatures as they mounted the sled. He held his breath as they settled themselves. The Wookie's voice could be heard above the others as the Duros pilot revved the engine of the speeder attached to the sled and they swooped out the door into the sun. Sredniy didn't understand Wookie, but the tall-crown seemed to.
"Pleasure to meet you, Tarnik. I'm Jimi Djedii and this is my companion, Ros'cha Fey'lya."
The Wookie said something interrogative.
"No, no, not Jedi," the one called Jimi seemed regretful. "At least not anymore. For now, anyw—ah!"
The tall-crown made a noise like he'd had something sharp jabbed into his ribs. From his vantage point Sredniy could see it was actually a boot heel coming down on some of the tall-crown's toes. The Bothan called Ros'cha turned away from the Wookie and said something he surely thought only the one called Jimi could hear above the screech of the speeder.
"You're entirely too willing to hand out information. Literally anyone could be listening."
"Relax," said the one called Jimi. "Have I led us astray yet?"
"I'm not sure I would use the word 'led,' but you've certainly bumbled us into something."
"I resent that."
"That's fine."
The one called Jimi made a face at the Bothan and they turned back to the Wookie called Tarnik.
"So what exactly is the mission, big guy?"
The Wookie said something demonstrative.
"Right. Deliveries. You know I've never really done much in the way of routine work - manual labor, um, lifting crates. Could be fun, right?"
Sredniy could only see Ros'cha's foot from his hiding place but the Bothan's sigh of irritation was audible.
"Oh c'mon, Ros'c, you need to lighten up!"
The speeder stopped somewhere, whether it was its final destination Sredniy couldn't be sure, but it didn't matter, because without warning his nose tickled furiously and he let out a mighty sneeze. He looked up to find three pairs of eyes staring at him. He reluctantly peeled back his tarp just as the Duros pilot came around to the sled.
"Ew, what in Hapes is that thing?" said the Duros.
The Wookie called Tarnik muscled his way through the group and grabbed Sredniy by his ankle, dragging him up and dangling him over the pallet like a sack of meat. It occurred to Sredniy that that's exactly what he probably looked like to the Wookie, and he began to struggle ferociously.
"Don't eat me! Don't eat me!" he said, speaking in Ewok.
Blessedly, the Wookie called Tarnik began to laugh.
"We seem to have acquired a stowaway," the one called Jimi said, walking up and pulling on one of Sredniy's ears. Sredniy growled and batted at the tall-crown, trying to shake himself free. They were distracted, though, by the sound of a jingling bell and a Jawa stepped out into the street.
"LATE!" he roared in basic, his tiny voice indignant. "I will not stand for lateness!"
"Aw shut your slug-hole, Rax, no one cares," said the Duros whose name Sredniy had yet to learn. Tarnik finally put Sredniy down, setting him on top of a crate with a growl that the Ewok knew meant "don't move."
"I'm counting these boxes!" said the Jawa, continuing his tirade. "Mama Ocha's swindled me enough times!"
Tarnik bellowed at the Jawa but the little thing planted his gloved fists on his hips and barked right back.
"Hush you big rug! I paid for this much," here he produced a datapad and waved it in the air. "I'm counting. And it BETTER all be here!"
Tarnik backed off, wuffling through his nose in irritation as Rax began to count.
"I don't want to hear it!" the angry little man hopped up on the sled and counted quickly. He touched each box and canister from one end of the gravity sled to the other, then touched them all again on the way back.
"ONE MISSING!" he roared. "You swindlers! I'll have the Marshall on you for this! You've cheated me for the last time!"