Lotah glanced across the crowded restaurant at a table set against the wall. There were two men and a woman sitting there, their backed hunched over as if they were discussing something private. The woman was obviously part alien, very tall and thin with a thin layer of hair all over her body, wide yellow eyes, and claws. The men were human - one was dark haired, and was wearing a dirty lab coat; the other had a blaster attached to his belt, and wore a dour expression.
There they are. Lotah shifted in her seat and took another bite of the unknown meat in front of her. It was the cheapest thing on the menu, and even with all the traveling she'd done, she couldn't distinguish the flavor. She wasn't sure that she wanted to know what it was.
She strained her eyes in the dim light and the smoke to get a better look at their faces. Quickly reaffirming that they were the ones who had put out the request for a guide, she returned her eyes to her plate and scraped at the last of the mystery meat. Whatever it was, it was filling. Lotah started to get up, intending to ask about the job now, but something in a booth two tables away caught her eye. Slowly sliding back into her seat, she fiddled with her fork for a few seconds. Reaching back, she removed the clasp that held her in a knot at the back of her neck. Her hair fell across her face, obscuring it, and only then did she look at the being in the booth.
It was a Rodian, and despite herself, she felt her lips curl back in a sneer, as if she had tasted something very sour. Nasty creatures, Rodians had almost no power in the universe, and got back at that universe by being mean to everyone in it. She couldn't tell at this distance whether it was male or female, but it didn't matter. They took a certain delight in memorizing the faces of wanted criminals, big and small, so long as there was a reward. That way they were sure to ruin someone's life, while ensuring that they got some money out of the deal. The Imperial bounty for her wasn't worth anyone's time, but the bounty that her former master had placed on her was more substantial. Not big enough for a bounty hunter to search for her, but still a decent amount of money. The Rodian had almost certainly spotted her.
But almost certainly wasn't good enough. He/she might be watching someone else, in which case Lotah was fine. Her trademark violet eyes and streaked hair were hidden respectively by colored lenses and hair dyes, so she looked like any other traveler or tourist. Normally she didn't bother with such deceptions, but the number of scumbags on her tail had increased on the last few planets. Last time she had checked the bounty on her was only a hundred credits, but things might have changed. She had to check again, and soon.
She started to stand again, and the Rodian visibly jumped, its shiny black eyes reflecting the lights in the bar, standing out against green scaly skin. Lotah started cursing to herself, but forced herself to walk to the bar, where she asked for a glass of water. The bartender hissed in disgust and let forth a jet of steam. Lotah ignored him and took the glass it offered. Seeing her start to drink, the Rodian relaxed. She sipped the water, which was warm and stale, and watched both the strangers' and the Rodian's table.
She didn't want to risk letting the strangers out of her sight, and letting someone else get the job. She needed to get off-planet, and fast, the Rodian was proof enough of that. But she couldn't risk letting the Rodian see her talking to the strangers. She had to loose him/her fast and get back here before she lost the job. Lotah really didn't feel like stowing away on a cargo ship again.
Abruptly she set down the glass and strode across the room to her table, where she dropped a few credits on the plate to pay for the meal - the last thing she needed was to get a criminal record, no matter how small, on another planet. Grabbing her bag, she hurried out the door, catching a glance of the Rodian getting to his/her feet.
Lotah hurried down the street and ran into the mob of sentinents out for a day of souvenir hunting in the pavilion. Street vendors pushed their goods in carts in front of them or set up small huts along the walls of the actual buildings, and thin reed poles that supported the second level were everywhere.
Originally the second level had just been a bunch of reeds thrown over the open area between houses; meant to provide shade for the tourists shopping below. Then someone realized that there was an entire second set of streets above the first, and within weeks that level had been reinforced and strengthened, and a whole new group of vendors had set up shop there. Unfortunately, the support structure for the entire level was still the thin reeds, which rotted out quickly, so collapses were common. Whenever that happened, the local merchants patched it up as quickly and cheaply as they could. Consequently, there were more and more support reeds popping up, and collapses were happening more and more often. Lotah wondered how many of the tourists knew about the dangers, and if they had, how many of them would have ventured onto the second level.
Lotah had barely gotten a hundred feet into the crush when she heard a shout. Turning around, she saw the Rodian pointing at her and yelling at a humanoid. A few seconds later several large humans and humanoids started wading through the crowd towards her, followed by the Rodian.
She turned and fled into the crowd, trying to outdistance the thugs. They had no real skills, at fighting or otherwise, and could be bought for just a few credits. She had seen them hanging around the doors to bars and other such places of entertainment. However, there were five or six of them, and she wasn't sure that she could get far enough away to loose them and also get back to the restaurant in time to get the job.
Slipping her hand into her bag, she loosened the straps that held her eye-lens case and a spray of nullifier for the hair dye. Suddenly she dropped into a crouch, and ran, bent-over, into the nearest shop. Wrinkling her nose at the strong aroma of the incense being sold there, she looked back into the crowd for the thugs. They were not yet aware that they had lost her, and were still trying to push their way though the crowds.
Perfect. She removed the lenses that made her eyes look brown, and sprayed the nullifier in her hair. A few seconds later, the dark brown dye faded, revealing black hair streaked with thin lines of violet. They had just realized that they'd lost her and were gathered around a bunch of support poles, where the crowds were thinner. They were obviously trying to figure out what to do when the Rodian pushed his way towards the poles, shouting insults at them.
Lotah couldn't have asked for a better scenario. She took a couple of deep breaths, calming herself so that she could concentrate. In a few seconds she was in a half-trance, and she reached outward with her mind, to the poles where the thugs were standing, and quickly pinpointed the weakest of them. With a quick tug of her mind she snapped it in half, and the rest also snapped as the extra weight came down on them. The second level collapsed down on top of the Rodian and his thugs.
Lotah waited a half-second for the pain to hit her. She never liked to use her powers to steal, or destroy, and she absolutely hated having to use them to hurt anyone. She only used them in truly dangerous situations, and even then she always knew when someone had been hurt. She still had nightmares about when she turned on that speeder and ran it into an Imperial agent who was searching for her. She broke his hip, and every time she used her powers she remembered his scream. Lotah shuddered.
This time, however, there were only a few twinges of pain. By some twist of luck, no one had been standing on the section of the second level that collapsed. It had provided the distraction she needed, though, so she pulled a black cloak out of her bag and put it on.
Now looking like a completely different person from the one who had stepped into the store, Lotah reentered the crush. The thugs were still trying to extricate themselves from the tangle of dirt and reeds when Lotah passed them, her face hidden deep within the folds of the cloak. There was a slight smile on her face as she headed back to the restaurant.
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Melana stared at the empty glass in front of her, then glanced at her chronometer. They had been in this dump for almost three hours now, and there was no sign that anyone had even heard about their job. I guess we'd better move on... She sighed and dug into her pocket for the credits to pay for all the drinks she and her companions had drunk in the time since they'd arrived.
Tiros Une, seeing her actions, nodded and stood up. "Finally giving up?" he asked, a smug smile on his face.
Melana repressed the growl that came to her lips. She had hired *him*, and even though she hadn't invited him to come along now, attacking him wouldn't help matters. Taking a deep breath, she silently used the calming techniques that Jedi Master Skywalker had taught her. In a few seconds the Huntlust lessened to the point where she could ignore it. She opened her eyes to regard her pilot.
He was a human, medium in height and build, with graying blond hair and a chin full of stubble. He'd been in the business a long time and was still alive, which was in itself a tribute to his skill. He and his first mate (who also happened to be his son) were well known at most of the major ports, and some of the minor ones. She had, in fact, found him through the owner of the local hanger. The same went for mercenary she had hired.
And that was exactly the problem. They were all too well known. They could be easily recognized at any port, and while it meant that they had connections, it also meant that they were obvious. They couldn't walk into a shop or bar and quietly buy something. That's what she was looking for. Someone to be anonymous. There were lots of planet-hoppers in search of a few extra credits around here, people who knew their way around and weren't noticeable. At least that's what she had been told. So far, no one had showed.
She had explained all of this to Tiros before, and she got the impression that she had somehow insulted his intelligence. "I'm moving on to the next bar." Seeing his frown, she added, "No one forced you to come."
"I need to see the people who're going to be on my ship."
"Except that it's *my* ship."
"As long as I'm piloting it, it's mine. If you don't like it, you can fly it yourself."
This time, Melana actually did growl. It started in the back of her throat and vibrated in her voice box, amplifying the sound until she could feel it throughout her entire body. She had been told that to full humans, her growling sounded a lot like the purring of a cat, but no other member of her species would ever mistake a growl to mean anything but the threat that it was.
Apparently Tiros had some dealings with Cats before, because he didn't mistake her growl for a pleased purr. He didn't back off, though. "Listen, lady... Melana," he corrected himself before she could take offense. "I don't want any trouble, and I do want the job, but I want the right to veto anyone that you pick. I've been around a while longer than you and I've seen a bit more, and I'm just watching out for my own skin and that of your ship."
Melana nodded slowly. She was still angry, but he was trying to be reasonable, and she would do the same. "Agreed."
"Melana..." a soft, scratchy voice intruded on Melana's thoughts. Surprised, she glanced at Kenneth Ron, the scientist. He was so quiet that she'd forgotten he was there.
She had automatically excluded him when she was looking for someone to walk the streets anonymously. A tall, skinny man with dark hair and a bad overbite, he looked pathetically incapable of dealing with real life. Poor thing, he probably wouldn't last five minutes on the streets of any major city.
Kenneth was pointing across the table. Melana looked, and there was a young girl standing at the table, watching her. She was a striking-looking human, with violet eyes and dark hair striped with gray and violet. The girl was carrying a large duffel-bag on a strap on her shoulder. "Are you the ones offering a job?"
Melana was taken aback. This wasn't the type of person she had expected would come by. A few aliens, some locals eager to get off planet, people who had been fired from whatever ship brought them here, stranding them, but not children!
"Why should I hire you?" she managed to ask. It would be easier to get rid of her once she revealed how little experience she actually had.
The girl glanced behind her at the door. "May I sit down?"
She's stalling, was Melana's first thought, but then she decided it was a reasonable request. She nodded, and the girl grabbed a chair, pulled it up to the table, and sat down. "I'm a good worker," she said suddenly, "if I'm given fair wages. I was working on a cruise ship for two years before I got stuck here."
"Why aren't you still on there?" Tiros asked suspiciously.
"The business went under. We were attacked by pirates who stole just about everything. Between the lawsuits from the passengers who had lost valuables in the raid, and the cost of the damage to the ship, it was just too much. They paid off the crew and declared bankruptcy."
Melana nodded. "Fine. But none of that explains why I should hire you instead of the hundreds of other beings who're out of work on this planet."
The girl stared at the table for a few seconds, as if she was planning what she would say. "I have a lot of unusual talents. I worked for the floor show, and I have a lot of experience using makeup. With just a few basic supplies I can make myself look very different. I can get in and out of just about any place quietly. I can handle myself in a fight." She stopped and looked expectantly at the people at the table.
Melana looked at Tiros. She had agreed to let him approve anyone she hired, but didn't want to have him openly disagree with her. He was still watching the girl, but glanced at Melana and nodded slightly. Melana turned back to the girl. "You've got the job. We're at hanger 76. Here's a pass to get in. We leave precisely at 7 o'clock standard time. Don't be late."
The girl nodded. "I won't. Thanks." She grabbed the pass and glanced around the room again. She seemed awfully nervous. "I'll be there." Swinging her bag back up on her shoulder, she hurried out the door.
"I heading back," Melana told her companions, and dropped several credits on the table.
"Wait a second," Tiros said. "I'm warning you... don't trust that girl. She's hiding something. You see how she kept glancing around the room? Someone's after her, mark me."
"Then why did you say it was all right for me to hire her?"
"Because she's as good as she says she is with makeup. I saw her earlier, watching us. Her hair and eyes were a completely different color. It was only because she was wearing the same clothes that I picked her out. She got up and left in a hurry, with a Rodian hot on her trail. Just keep an eye on her," he finished. He stood up and left.
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Tian jumped as a blaster bolt whizzed by his head, narrowly missing him. He spun around, crouching on the ground beside an overturned table. Scanning the area in front of him, he couldn't see who had shot at him. Come on, come on... he's got to be here somewhere...
He heard a click behind him. Again he spun around, and a light flashed in front of his eyes. Then everything went dark.
"Damn it!"
Tian straightened up as the computer's melodious voice announced, "Simulation over. Fourteen out of fifteen targets hit. Would you like to play again?"
He glanced at his chronometer. "Not today," he answered cheerfully. "Got some people to meet."
"Please exit the simulator." Tian did, barely glancing at the alien who was already waiting for her turn in the simulator. He strode through the hall that lead to the sims, and walked out the door without a backwards glance.
As he stepped onto the street, someone grabbed his arm, pulling him roughly to the side. Tian immediately jerked his arm away from the unknown assailant and drew his blaster.
"Dad!" he exclaimed.
"A little jumpy?" his father asked snidely.
"Just got out of the sims," Tian answered, shoving his blaster back into the holster. "Give me a little warning next time. I might have shot you."
"Sorry." His father dismissed the issue. "How'd you do?"
"Fourteen out of fifteen on level nine."
"Not bad. Is that a new record for you?" Tian nodded. "Congratulations." Tian nodded again, waiting for his father to get to the point. He knew from experience that there was nothing he could say or do to get his father to act or talk faster. So he had learned to be patient, at least when dealing with Tiros. But that didn't mean he liked it.
"We have another passenger," Tiros said suddenly.
"We've handled rough characters before," Tian answered confidently.
"This one's different," Tiros countered, kicking at a rock on the ground. Something was really bothering him, and he was very uneasy talking about it.
"Why? What is it? A Wookie? A Rodian?"
"A girl."
Oh. So that's it. He's worried I'll get involved with a client. "Don't worry, Dad. We've had female clients before. I know how to handle myself. I'm not a kid anymore."
"This one isn't like anyone we've flown with before." Tian started to walk down the road. "Damn it, Tian, listen to me! She's hiding something and she has a Rodian on her tail."
"A Rodian? They'll follow someone who found a credit on the floor of a restaurant. Besides, if she's so dangerous, why are we taking her on a job?"
"Because the cat-lady picked the girl, and then gave me a reminder that it's her ship. I didn't need to go head to head with our newest boss."
Tian made a rude noise. "A ship that she can barely fly." His father didn't answer. "Who else we got coming along?"
"Besides the cat-lady and the girl, there's a scientist, Kenneth something, and a mercenary."
"A scientist and a mercenary? What kind of job is this?"
"The kind that pays well. I've signed a contract for 3 weeks, but it's extendible. And we can get out at anytime. I'm getting too old to go chasing around the galaxy shooting everything that moves."
Tian remained silent, estimating that there was nothing he could say that wouldn't get him in trouble. They unlocked and opened the door and stepped inside. Then Tian slammed the door to make sure it was locked. You could never be too careful.
Without a word, both men walked to the stock YT-1300 transport, to check the hall and systems for any flaws that could prove fatal in space. The ship was almost completely unmodified, a fact that surprised Tian. It was a common enough type of ship, but most were modified to a point almost beyond recognition. The fact that this was not modified at all showed either the pilot's total lack of experience or the newness of the ship. Tian was leaning towards the former.
They finished the hull and were working on the systems check when the cat-woman arrived with a man. Looking down from the cockpit, Tian decided that the man had to be the scientist. Only a scientist could look that geeky. He saw his father go out to meet them, put the issue out of his mind, and finished the check.
As he stepped out of the ship, the outer door unlocked with a click. Everyone in the hanger, except for a scientist, was immediately on guard, hands reaching for blasters.
A large black man stepped through the door, closing it carefully behind him. He was wearing a small arsenal on his body, and Tian got the uneasy feeling that he couldn't even see all the weapons. He gripped his blaster a little more carefully, and looked at his dad. Tiros and the cat woman were both relaxing, removing their hands from their weapons.
Tian relaxed, too. They recognized the black man, which meant that he had to be the mercenary. He looked completely able to hold off an entire pirate attack by himself. Tian walked up to where his father, the cat-woman, and the scientist were standing together.
"This is my 1st mate, and son, Tian," Tiros was saying as Tian stepped up. "Tian, this is Melana, of the Parantha Clan, and Kenneth Ron, and that is Lorb Brol." He gestured to the stone-faced man approaching. Lorb grunted and bobbed his head. "We're just waiting for the girl, then we'll get going. You can stow your stuff inside," he added to the mercenary, who turned and walked up the ramp into the ship.
"Ah, miss?" the scientist...Kenneth...asked meekly.
"What?"
"What exactly are we doing?"
"I'll tell everyone once we're under way." Lorb reappeared from inside the ship, still wearing all of the weapons.
The lock on the door clicked, and the door swung open. A hooded figure in a long black cloak stepped through.
Tian found it amazing how quickly a blaster appeared in Lorb's hands. The figure in black froze. "Hands up," Lorb ordered. Melana, Tian, and Tiros also drew their weapons.
The figure raised it's hands slowly to the hood and pushed it back. Tian stared.
It was a pretty girl. She had strange eyes, that quickly took in the entire hanger, or so it seemed. She was frowning slightly, and looked to be a few years younger than he.
Melana and Tiros lowered their weapons. Tiros was very touchy right now, and Tian wondered again what type of job this was. Despite his comment, Tiros seemed quiet ready to 'go chasing around the galaxy shooting everything that moves.' The girl started walking towards the group. Her eyes fell on him and the slight frown deepened. He realized that he was staring, and hastily shoved his blaster back into the holster.
She stepped up to Melana and turned her head upward to look the tall woman directly in the face. "It's a hot day to wear a heavy cloak," Melana commented.
"I'm comfortable," the girl answered.
Melana glanced at her chronometer. "Let's get going. We've only got fifteen minutes until my visa runs out." She smiled slightly and jumped into the ship.
Tian halted, surprised by the maneuver. It was almost fifteen feet from the base of the ramp to the top, and Melana had been standing a few feet from the base of the ramp. He hadn't realized that the Cats had gotten anything else in their evolving other than the strange faces. Apparently they had gotten some extra strength in the deal. He made a mental note to find out what planetary society had spawned the Cats.
In the pause, the girl moved on to the ship ahead of him. That startled him out of his paralysis. He started after her when his dad grabbed his arm. "Remember, Tian. Watch out for her," he warned.
Tian shot him a disgusted look and headed onto the ship.
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Tian slid into the copilot's seat, and glanced at his father. Despite Tiros's warning, he had followed the girl up into the main bunk area of the ship. It wasn't very big, with six bunks that slid out from the walls, all meant for humanoid body types, and each with a small compartment underneath the beds for personal items. By the time he caught up with her, the girl was already stowed her bag in a compartment, and was in the process of removing her cloak.
He stopped in the door and watched her. The shirt she had underneath the cloak was drenched with sweat. That was what warned him. As she stuffed the cloak into the compartment, she sighed and pulled her shirt away from her skin several times, fanning herself. Straightening up, she lifted her long hair away from her neck.
"I'm comfortable," she had said before. She did not look at all comfortable. There was something odd here.
Then the girl froze and dropped the hair. Slowly turning around, she eyed Tian. For a few seconds her eyes looked dark and suspicious. Suddenly they changed, loosing the suspicion and turning bright and innocent. The change was astonishing. "Hello," she said quietly. His distrust increased substantially.
"I just came to stash my stuff." He picked up his bag from the spot on the floor where he had dropped it earlier. Stuffing his bag into an unoccupied compartment, he glanced over his shoulder at the girl. She was staring at him, her eyes narrowed slightly as he pulled out the card coder that locked the door. "You should find a seat, we're taking off soon," he said, and walked out of the room.
Now he was helping Tiros start the ship, debating whether or not to tell his father what he had seen. Above the ship, the doors to the hanger opened.
Tiros had been speaking to traffic control. Now he looked at Tian. "We've got clearance. Everything set?"
Tian glanced around the panel in front of him, automatically checking for any signs of system failure. There were none. "Everything's in the green."
Tiros flicked on the inter-ship com, and said, "Everyone sit down, we're taking off." He glanced at his son and asked, "You want to take it this time?" He gestured to the steering rudder.
Tian accepted the offer with a broad grin, and laid his hands on the controls. Expertly guiding the craft out of the hanger and then the atmosphere, Tian barely noticed when Melana walked up behind his chair.
Only when she shoved a data card in front of him did it register in his mind that there was someone behind him. He started and began to turn around to check that everything was all right, momentarily forgetting that his hands were still on the controls. The ship started to swerve. Sensing the change in the ship's angle of inclination even before he realized what had happened, he automatically adjusted, so the ship literally rolled over but didn't deviate from its heading.
Muttering curses to himself, Tian flicked on the auto-pilot. He again started to turn around when he caught a glance of the look on his father's face.
Tiros looked like he was about to burst with uncontrollable laughter. "Nice flying," he muttered, trying unsuccessfully to hide his smile behind one hand.
"Stop looking at me like that!" Tian exclaimed. His comment only caused his father to burst out laughing. It was a deep chuckling sound, and even at the best of times it drove him crazy. "All right! I'm sorry!" His father only laughed harder. "Won't you just give me a break?!" At this point, Tiros got up from his chair, still chuckling, and left the cockpit.
Melana stepped up in the space where Tiros had been sitting and held out the data card. "Here's the coordinates of the destination. Put them into the navi-computer and come on back when we're in hyperspace."
He took the data card and turned back to the controls, but not before he was the smile that she had been struggling to hide. For all the differences between their faces, Melana's smile looked amazingly like Tiros's.
Tian angrily started pushing buttons, punching the coordinates into the navi-computer.
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"We're on our way," Tian said as he sat down. Melana watched him carefully, he seemed to have gotten control of himself. "Where are we going anyway?"
Melana glanced around the room. Everyone was there, each one seated on one of the beds in the main bunk. Lorb was leaning back against the wall, his legs stretched out in front of him, his arms crossed in front of his chest. He was still wearing several blasters and a grenade at his waist. The girl was kneeling on her bed, her hair falling across her face. Kenneth was sitting gingerly at the edge of his bed, glancing nervously around the room. Tiros and Tian were seated on beds right next to each other in identical positions, leaning forward, resting their elbows on their knees. Except for the lines of scales lining Tian's face, Tian could have been a younger version of Tiros. Melena wondered who was the mother that had given Tian that face.
It had to be an alien. Somehow the boy had managed to inherit only a thin line of scales that started at his temples and traced his hairline down to his ears, where they continued down his neck. There his shirt broke off the line, but she could see the line of scales extended down his hand, tracing the middle finger. His hair was a dark brown, but sometimes when the light hit it right, it had a greenish tinge. Melana wondered if he had the same problems with prejudices against part-humans that she did.
"We're going to my home world," here she paused. "It's designation is PC-348, and is known by many different names by the inhabitants. My people call it 'Nalaskya.'"
"A PC designation?" Lorb asked. "I've heard of that, somewhere. What is it?"
Melana saw the girl's jaw drop. She must be more traveled then she let on, if she knew the meaning of the designation. It was a pretty obscure reference. "It stands for Prison Colony, established several hundred years ago during the time of the New Republic. There haven't been new prisoners shipped in for five generations, and none in my Clan for eight."
Everyone was quiet, watching her intently. "You're from a prison colony?" Lorb rumbled. Melana started. His voice was deep enough that it almost sounded like a warning growl. Every time he spoke she had to fight an urge to attack him.
"Originally, that's what it was," Melana took a deep breath and drew on the power inside of her. "Now I'm not trying to deceive anyone. I didn't hire any of you to help out on my planet. The people who settled it were criminals, and it's still mostly lawless. My mother was the chief of my Clan for fifteen years - that's a record for my people, because you only hold the leader position as long as you're the strongest. Once you gain the chieftain's position, your life is constantly at risk. Leaders who last for more than five years are considered either very strong or very popular.
"There's another aspect. Competition between the Clans is always very fierce, and we set traps for each other all over the planet. Except for the spaceport, leaving your own territory is almost always a death sentence. Life there is often short. I am the only one left alive from a litter of 12, and there are only 15 total left in my age group from almost 100. I'm just warning you. I advise that you all wait in the ship until I get back. Even if the mission ends there, I'll still pay you. You're no good to me if you get killed in the forests."
"So what is the mission?" Tian asked.
Melana closed her eyes, trying to find some peace of mind. "My mother was ousted as chieftain two months ago."
"Ousted?" Kenneth asked.
"She was killed by one of the members of my tribe. Then there was a contest, and the winner took over as chieftain. I want to find out who killed her."
"Isn't that simple enough? Whoever is the new chieftain is the murderer."
"Not necessarily. The murderer might not have been strong enough to win the contest."
"Wait a second... if murders are so common, and there's no law, what do you expect to accomplish by finding the murderer?" the girl asked.
"Who are you?" Melana asked, realizing that she didn't even know the girl's name.
"What?" the girl seemed startled by the question.
"You never told me your name."
"Oh," she seemed relieved. "I'm Lotah."
"Lotah what?" Tian practically jumped on the question.
"Lotah Heriskcha," she replied without missing a beat.
"OK, Lotah," Melana placed a certain emphasis on the girl's name. "My mother was poisoned. Our planet is not completely lawless. There are certain rules that you have to follow when assassinating a chieftain. If it is done by poison, the poison must be a species native to my planet. For that reason poisons are not usually used. My mother knew all of the poisons located on the planet - she had been teaching me to recognize them by scent since I was a child. She wouldn't have been fooled by a local poison."
"So?" Tian asked.
"If I can prove that my mother was killed by an imported toxin, I can make sure that the individual who arranged it never gains a position of power in my tribe or the planetary government. I'm not sure how long it will take to find that person, or where we'll have to go. That's why I hired you, to be prepared for any situation we might encounter on any different planet."
"This is all assuming that your mother was killed by a foreign poison," Tiros observed.
Melana caught herself before she could growl. It was hard living among these humans! They passed insults like it was a joke. "That's why we're going there first. I should be able to find out whether or not my mother was killed fairly in a few days. If she was, we'll start from there. Any questions?" She glanced around the room, but no one said anything. "Please let me know when we reach the planet," she said to the pilots. They nodded, and she stood up and left the room.
Once she left the room, she paused, struck by indecision. What she really wanted was to pull up the life history of the girl, Lotah. She was beginning to regret her decision to hire the girl. She had been very careful about who she had hired, up until the girl. Melana was getting very nervous about how little she knew about Lotah.
Finally she turned towards the cargo bay. The ship was supposed to be a carrier or something, because they had three times the amount of space to store supplies than they could possibly use. So Melana had used a large piece of heavy cloth to divide the cargo bay into roughly two equal parts. The part closest to the door was the actual cargo bay, and the section further from the door she had converted into her own private quarters. Now there was a little bed-cushion, a small chest with some of her possessions, and most importantly, privacy.
Stepping into the cargo bay, Melana looked around. There wasn't a lot of room on this side of the brown curtain. With all of the room in the cargo bay, there would have been plenty of room, but with only half the space, the supplies were stacked on top of each other almost to the ten foot high ceiling. There was one small aisle down the middle of the bay clear of boxes and the bright red straps that held them in place. The room was lit by light strips running all around the curved edge of the room.
Walking through the stacks of boxes, Melana carefully checked the black writing on the sides to make sure that all of the supplies were where they were supposed to be. Food, camping equipment, it was all there. She was pretty well set, she hoped.
Pushing aside the curtain, she stepped into her 'room.' Sighing, she sank down onto the bed cushion, folding her legs up underneath her. Rubbing her hands against her forehead, Melana tried to massage away the sharp pains running through her brain. It wasn't working, so she unsheathed one of claws and dug it into the skin above her right eyebrow. It still didn't help.
Melana gave up. She lay down on the cushions and positioned herself so that she was comfortable. Then she closed her eyes and reached for the Force. A few seconds later she felt stirrings in the energy around her. As the Force flowed through her, the pain in her first lessened, then disappeared completely. She breathed a sigh of relief.
Now she extended her senses outward, trying to sense the people around her, the way Master Skywalker had taught her. Tried to teach her, anyway. No, not now. There is no try. There is no emotion, there is peace. She attempted to clear her mind again, and this time came a lot closer to success. Again she reached outward.
One by one, she found five different life-forms in different parts of the ship. As she touched each person, she could feel the slight tremor in the Force that marked their life-force. All except the last person - whoever that was, they pulled back from her touch with a flash of terror.
In her surprise, she lost her concentration and came out of her half-trance. Silently wishing that she had better control so that she could identify individuals instead of just life-forms, Melana relaxed herself again. She reached out again, but whoever it was that had reacted before didn't react again. Frustrated, Melana returned her attention to her own body. Her breath had slowed, and so had her heartbeat - she carefully brought both up to normal levels.
She opened her eyes and sat up. Carefully arranging herself against the wall, she reentered the trance. This time she kept her eyes open. When she could feel the Force flowing through her, she let her eyes roam around the room. They settled on a small data pad resting on the chest in the corner. Carefully watching the data pad, she reached out with her mind and tried to pick up the data pad. Nothing. She took a deep breath and tried again. The data pad shuddered slightly. Encouraged, she reached out again, and managed to raise the pad a half-centimeter above the surface of the chest. Then she was hit by a wave of exhaustion and dropped the pad. It clattered loudly as it fell to the floor.
Melana lay down again, exhausted and dejected. She wished that she had more practice with telekinesis - but she had never had much talent for it, and when she started her training, when she still wanted to follow her mother as chieftain, it had seemed wiser to look at the mental aspects of being a Jedi rather than being able to move small objects. Forcing someone to do her bidding would have made her almost unstoppable as a warrior, and would have made it easy for her to become chieftain.
Melana shuddered. Such objectives were no longer desirable to her, an opinion that had alienated her from her mother and from the rest of her race. She remembered her mother's disbelief when Melana told her that she wouldn't be returning to try to gain leadership. She wouldn't have believed it either, not until she spent some time at the Jedi Academy. There she met people from planets that could barely support life, and from planets where war was a foreign concept. There she learned the value of peace, and then realized that she wouldn't be able to find satisfaction in her old lifestyle anymore.
Master Skywalker had been very helpful in helping her through the transition - more so than she had any right to expect. He didn't answer any of her questions, either about the galaxy or the change, but he gave her the data cubes she requested on space flight and interplanetary travel, and then practically gave her the shuttle and supplies when she found about her mother's death and wanted to find out what had happened. He did all of that for her, and didn't say anything but to warn her about the dangers inherent in revenge, danger in submitting to the Dark Side.
Sometimes she was hesitant to use the Force, for fear of turning to the Dark Side when the Huntlust came on. Her mother had said something about that too, that she would never be able to be a lover of peace - it was too much against her nature, and some day she would revert back to her proper form and become the warrior that she was. Then her mother had cut off the link.
Her strength was coming back, now, and Melana struggled to her feet and began exercising, doing the same warmups she had used since she was a child, when she was first learning to hunt. Someone at the Academy had commented on this too, that she could never truly be a keeper of peace, because she wouldn't let go of her warrior side. But Master Skywalker never said anything, so she kept doing her exercises.
First she stretched, relaxing one muscle at a time. Once she was loose, she kicked up into a handstand and carefully balanced herself. She could still feel the Force flowing through her, but this way it was different, more natural. Smiling to herself, she split her legs apart, carefully measuring the distance so that she would stay balanced. Slowly she brought her legs back to a vertical position, and kicked down. She had barely worked up a sweat, that would change.
Over the next forty-five minutes she went through a series of exercises, and managed to tire herself out. She was in the middle of her second round of stretching when someone rapped on the wall next to the curtain. The sound of metal hitting metal grated in her ears.
"Yes?"
Tian stuck his head through the space between the wall and the curtain. "We're approaching your system."
Melana nodded. "I'll be there in a minute."
Tian nodded, then made a sloppy salute with his blaster. "Whatever you say."
-------------------------------------------
"Captain, we just received the report," the young soldier who stood before her looked very nervous. A bad sign.
"And?"
"She's left the system, sir."
"How?" A tone of outrage crept into her voice.
"We were tracking her, through some locals, and then she just disappeared. By the time we found her she was on another ship that had just jumped out of the system."
"What happened?"
"We-we're not sure, sir. Near as we can tell, some local decided to collect on the bounty himself. A Rodian was seen following her out of a bar, and later that same Rodian and a bunch of thugs were pulled out of some rubble."
"What happened?"
"A floor collapsed on them."
"Of course. And then?"
"Well, our agent left the bar to find the girl. He couldn't, so he went back to the bar. There someone informed him that the girl was seen speaking to a bunch of strangers. The girl was given a pass to a hanger, and then she left. By the time he traced the people back to their hanger, they had already left. Then he informed us."
"Too late for us to trace the ship."
"Ah, yes sir." The man was sweating, and swallowed convulsively several times.
"Do you have the current location of our agent?"
"Yes sir."
"Eliminate him."
"Yes sir." Despite himself, the man let out his breath in relief. Captain Randel fought the urge to smile at the boy's predicament. He was her newest communications officer, the last in a long line. For some reason, her communications officers never seemed to last long. That probably contributed to his fear.
"Do we have any idea who these people are or where they were going?"
"So far we only have an ID on the captain, and it's pretty vague. She's from PC-348. She is a Melana, claims to be part of the Parantha Clan, which claims a large portion of the northwest continent of that planet."
"A prison planet?"
"Yes, sir, but she's been off-planet for more than a year now, we don't know where."
"And?"
"That's all we have so far. Sir."
"Very well. Set a coarse for her home planet, and contact me when you get any more information."
"Yes, sir." The man barely managed to control his fear as he hurried out of her private quarters.
C'nen Randel slammed her open hand down on the black metal table in front of her. Her room was sparsely furnished, with no furniture other than her bed, a table, and a single chair. Everything was black, including the walls, with only a few white lights illuminating the room. There were no decorations, other than a single poster reading in white block letters, "SERVE THE EMPIRE."
This was the fourth planet in a row where the girl had gotten away just as Randel's forces were closing in. But they were getting closer, and she couldn't evade them forever. Each time she jumped a planet, it took them less and less time to find her again. It wouldn't be long now.
And they were running out of time, too. All of her sources showed that the girl was learning to control her powers. Much longer and she would be unrecoverable - then Randel would have no choice but to eliminate the girl immediately. Now there was still a chance that she could be trained as the next Emperor. It was just a matter of catching her, then turning her over to the Moff for proper training...
If anyone is confused and wants to know when the regular characters are going to appear, it's never, or at least not for a long time. This story is only about my characters, and the regulars don't arrive until the very end.
There they are. Lotah shifted in her seat and took another bite of the unknown meat in front of her. It was the cheapest thing on the menu, and even with all the traveling she'd done, she couldn't distinguish the flavor. She wasn't sure that she wanted to know what it was.
She strained her eyes in the dim light and the smoke to get a better look at their faces. Quickly reaffirming that they were the ones who had put out the request for a guide, she returned her eyes to her plate and scraped at the last of the mystery meat. Whatever it was, it was filling. Lotah started to get up, intending to ask about the job now, but something in a booth two tables away caught her eye. Slowly sliding back into her seat, she fiddled with her fork for a few seconds. Reaching back, she removed the clasp that held her in a knot at the back of her neck. Her hair fell across her face, obscuring it, and only then did she look at the being in the booth.
It was a Rodian, and despite herself, she felt her lips curl back in a sneer, as if she had tasted something very sour. Nasty creatures, Rodians had almost no power in the universe, and got back at that universe by being mean to everyone in it. She couldn't tell at this distance whether it was male or female, but it didn't matter. They took a certain delight in memorizing the faces of wanted criminals, big and small, so long as there was a reward. That way they were sure to ruin someone's life, while ensuring that they got some money out of the deal. The Imperial bounty for her wasn't worth anyone's time, but the bounty that her former master had placed on her was more substantial. Not big enough for a bounty hunter to search for her, but still a decent amount of money. The Rodian had almost certainly spotted her.
But almost certainly wasn't good enough. He/she might be watching someone else, in which case Lotah was fine. Her trademark violet eyes and streaked hair were hidden respectively by colored lenses and hair dyes, so she looked like any other traveler or tourist. Normally she didn't bother with such deceptions, but the number of scumbags on her tail had increased on the last few planets. Last time she had checked the bounty on her was only a hundred credits, but things might have changed. She had to check again, and soon.
She started to stand again, and the Rodian visibly jumped, its shiny black eyes reflecting the lights in the bar, standing out against green scaly skin. Lotah started cursing to herself, but forced herself to walk to the bar, where she asked for a glass of water. The bartender hissed in disgust and let forth a jet of steam. Lotah ignored him and took the glass it offered. Seeing her start to drink, the Rodian relaxed. She sipped the water, which was warm and stale, and watched both the strangers' and the Rodian's table.
She didn't want to risk letting the strangers out of her sight, and letting someone else get the job. She needed to get off-planet, and fast, the Rodian was proof enough of that. But she couldn't risk letting the Rodian see her talking to the strangers. She had to loose him/her fast and get back here before she lost the job. Lotah really didn't feel like stowing away on a cargo ship again.
Abruptly she set down the glass and strode across the room to her table, where she dropped a few credits on the plate to pay for the meal - the last thing she needed was to get a criminal record, no matter how small, on another planet. Grabbing her bag, she hurried out the door, catching a glance of the Rodian getting to his/her feet.
Lotah hurried down the street and ran into the mob of sentinents out for a day of souvenir hunting in the pavilion. Street vendors pushed their goods in carts in front of them or set up small huts along the walls of the actual buildings, and thin reed poles that supported the second level were everywhere.
Originally the second level had just been a bunch of reeds thrown over the open area between houses; meant to provide shade for the tourists shopping below. Then someone realized that there was an entire second set of streets above the first, and within weeks that level had been reinforced and strengthened, and a whole new group of vendors had set up shop there. Unfortunately, the support structure for the entire level was still the thin reeds, which rotted out quickly, so collapses were common. Whenever that happened, the local merchants patched it up as quickly and cheaply as they could. Consequently, there were more and more support reeds popping up, and collapses were happening more and more often. Lotah wondered how many of the tourists knew about the dangers, and if they had, how many of them would have ventured onto the second level.
Lotah had barely gotten a hundred feet into the crush when she heard a shout. Turning around, she saw the Rodian pointing at her and yelling at a humanoid. A few seconds later several large humans and humanoids started wading through the crowd towards her, followed by the Rodian.
She turned and fled into the crowd, trying to outdistance the thugs. They had no real skills, at fighting or otherwise, and could be bought for just a few credits. She had seen them hanging around the doors to bars and other such places of entertainment. However, there were five or six of them, and she wasn't sure that she could get far enough away to loose them and also get back to the restaurant in time to get the job.
Slipping her hand into her bag, she loosened the straps that held her eye-lens case and a spray of nullifier for the hair dye. Suddenly she dropped into a crouch, and ran, bent-over, into the nearest shop. Wrinkling her nose at the strong aroma of the incense being sold there, she looked back into the crowd for the thugs. They were not yet aware that they had lost her, and were still trying to push their way though the crowds.
Perfect. She removed the lenses that made her eyes look brown, and sprayed the nullifier in her hair. A few seconds later, the dark brown dye faded, revealing black hair streaked with thin lines of violet. They had just realized that they'd lost her and were gathered around a bunch of support poles, where the crowds were thinner. They were obviously trying to figure out what to do when the Rodian pushed his way towards the poles, shouting insults at them.
Lotah couldn't have asked for a better scenario. She took a couple of deep breaths, calming herself so that she could concentrate. In a few seconds she was in a half-trance, and she reached outward with her mind, to the poles where the thugs were standing, and quickly pinpointed the weakest of them. With a quick tug of her mind she snapped it in half, and the rest also snapped as the extra weight came down on them. The second level collapsed down on top of the Rodian and his thugs.
Lotah waited a half-second for the pain to hit her. She never liked to use her powers to steal, or destroy, and she absolutely hated having to use them to hurt anyone. She only used them in truly dangerous situations, and even then she always knew when someone had been hurt. She still had nightmares about when she turned on that speeder and ran it into an Imperial agent who was searching for her. She broke his hip, and every time she used her powers she remembered his scream. Lotah shuddered.
This time, however, there were only a few twinges of pain. By some twist of luck, no one had been standing on the section of the second level that collapsed. It had provided the distraction she needed, though, so she pulled a black cloak out of her bag and put it on.
Now looking like a completely different person from the one who had stepped into the store, Lotah reentered the crush. The thugs were still trying to extricate themselves from the tangle of dirt and reeds when Lotah passed them, her face hidden deep within the folds of the cloak. There was a slight smile on her face as she headed back to the restaurant.
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Melana stared at the empty glass in front of her, then glanced at her chronometer. They had been in this dump for almost three hours now, and there was no sign that anyone had even heard about their job. I guess we'd better move on... She sighed and dug into her pocket for the credits to pay for all the drinks she and her companions had drunk in the time since they'd arrived.
Tiros Une, seeing her actions, nodded and stood up. "Finally giving up?" he asked, a smug smile on his face.
Melana repressed the growl that came to her lips. She had hired *him*, and even though she hadn't invited him to come along now, attacking him wouldn't help matters. Taking a deep breath, she silently used the calming techniques that Jedi Master Skywalker had taught her. In a few seconds the Huntlust lessened to the point where she could ignore it. She opened her eyes to regard her pilot.
He was a human, medium in height and build, with graying blond hair and a chin full of stubble. He'd been in the business a long time and was still alive, which was in itself a tribute to his skill. He and his first mate (who also happened to be his son) were well known at most of the major ports, and some of the minor ones. She had, in fact, found him through the owner of the local hanger. The same went for mercenary she had hired.
And that was exactly the problem. They were all too well known. They could be easily recognized at any port, and while it meant that they had connections, it also meant that they were obvious. They couldn't walk into a shop or bar and quietly buy something. That's what she was looking for. Someone to be anonymous. There were lots of planet-hoppers in search of a few extra credits around here, people who knew their way around and weren't noticeable. At least that's what she had been told. So far, no one had showed.
She had explained all of this to Tiros before, and she got the impression that she had somehow insulted his intelligence. "I'm moving on to the next bar." Seeing his frown, she added, "No one forced you to come."
"I need to see the people who're going to be on my ship."
"Except that it's *my* ship."
"As long as I'm piloting it, it's mine. If you don't like it, you can fly it yourself."
This time, Melana actually did growl. It started in the back of her throat and vibrated in her voice box, amplifying the sound until she could feel it throughout her entire body. She had been told that to full humans, her growling sounded a lot like the purring of a cat, but no other member of her species would ever mistake a growl to mean anything but the threat that it was.
Apparently Tiros had some dealings with Cats before, because he didn't mistake her growl for a pleased purr. He didn't back off, though. "Listen, lady... Melana," he corrected himself before she could take offense. "I don't want any trouble, and I do want the job, but I want the right to veto anyone that you pick. I've been around a while longer than you and I've seen a bit more, and I'm just watching out for my own skin and that of your ship."
Melana nodded slowly. She was still angry, but he was trying to be reasonable, and she would do the same. "Agreed."
"Melana..." a soft, scratchy voice intruded on Melana's thoughts. Surprised, she glanced at Kenneth Ron, the scientist. He was so quiet that she'd forgotten he was there.
She had automatically excluded him when she was looking for someone to walk the streets anonymously. A tall, skinny man with dark hair and a bad overbite, he looked pathetically incapable of dealing with real life. Poor thing, he probably wouldn't last five minutes on the streets of any major city.
Kenneth was pointing across the table. Melana looked, and there was a young girl standing at the table, watching her. She was a striking-looking human, with violet eyes and dark hair striped with gray and violet. The girl was carrying a large duffel-bag on a strap on her shoulder. "Are you the ones offering a job?"
Melana was taken aback. This wasn't the type of person she had expected would come by. A few aliens, some locals eager to get off planet, people who had been fired from whatever ship brought them here, stranding them, but not children!
"Why should I hire you?" she managed to ask. It would be easier to get rid of her once she revealed how little experience she actually had.
The girl glanced behind her at the door. "May I sit down?"
She's stalling, was Melana's first thought, but then she decided it was a reasonable request. She nodded, and the girl grabbed a chair, pulled it up to the table, and sat down. "I'm a good worker," she said suddenly, "if I'm given fair wages. I was working on a cruise ship for two years before I got stuck here."
"Why aren't you still on there?" Tiros asked suspiciously.
"The business went under. We were attacked by pirates who stole just about everything. Between the lawsuits from the passengers who had lost valuables in the raid, and the cost of the damage to the ship, it was just too much. They paid off the crew and declared bankruptcy."
Melana nodded. "Fine. But none of that explains why I should hire you instead of the hundreds of other beings who're out of work on this planet."
The girl stared at the table for a few seconds, as if she was planning what she would say. "I have a lot of unusual talents. I worked for the floor show, and I have a lot of experience using makeup. With just a few basic supplies I can make myself look very different. I can get in and out of just about any place quietly. I can handle myself in a fight." She stopped and looked expectantly at the people at the table.
Melana looked at Tiros. She had agreed to let him approve anyone she hired, but didn't want to have him openly disagree with her. He was still watching the girl, but glanced at Melana and nodded slightly. Melana turned back to the girl. "You've got the job. We're at hanger 76. Here's a pass to get in. We leave precisely at 7 o'clock standard time. Don't be late."
The girl nodded. "I won't. Thanks." She grabbed the pass and glanced around the room again. She seemed awfully nervous. "I'll be there." Swinging her bag back up on her shoulder, she hurried out the door.
"I heading back," Melana told her companions, and dropped several credits on the table.
"Wait a second," Tiros said. "I'm warning you... don't trust that girl. She's hiding something. You see how she kept glancing around the room? Someone's after her, mark me."
"Then why did you say it was all right for me to hire her?"
"Because she's as good as she says she is with makeup. I saw her earlier, watching us. Her hair and eyes were a completely different color. It was only because she was wearing the same clothes that I picked her out. She got up and left in a hurry, with a Rodian hot on her trail. Just keep an eye on her," he finished. He stood up and left.
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Tian jumped as a blaster bolt whizzed by his head, narrowly missing him. He spun around, crouching on the ground beside an overturned table. Scanning the area in front of him, he couldn't see who had shot at him. Come on, come on... he's got to be here somewhere...
He heard a click behind him. Again he spun around, and a light flashed in front of his eyes. Then everything went dark.
"Damn it!"
Tian straightened up as the computer's melodious voice announced, "Simulation over. Fourteen out of fifteen targets hit. Would you like to play again?"
He glanced at his chronometer. "Not today," he answered cheerfully. "Got some people to meet."
"Please exit the simulator." Tian did, barely glancing at the alien who was already waiting for her turn in the simulator. He strode through the hall that lead to the sims, and walked out the door without a backwards glance.
As he stepped onto the street, someone grabbed his arm, pulling him roughly to the side. Tian immediately jerked his arm away from the unknown assailant and drew his blaster.
"Dad!" he exclaimed.
"A little jumpy?" his father asked snidely.
"Just got out of the sims," Tian answered, shoving his blaster back into the holster. "Give me a little warning next time. I might have shot you."
"Sorry." His father dismissed the issue. "How'd you do?"
"Fourteen out of fifteen on level nine."
"Not bad. Is that a new record for you?" Tian nodded. "Congratulations." Tian nodded again, waiting for his father to get to the point. He knew from experience that there was nothing he could say or do to get his father to act or talk faster. So he had learned to be patient, at least when dealing with Tiros. But that didn't mean he liked it.
"We have another passenger," Tiros said suddenly.
"We've handled rough characters before," Tian answered confidently.
"This one's different," Tiros countered, kicking at a rock on the ground. Something was really bothering him, and he was very uneasy talking about it.
"Why? What is it? A Wookie? A Rodian?"
"A girl."
Oh. So that's it. He's worried I'll get involved with a client. "Don't worry, Dad. We've had female clients before. I know how to handle myself. I'm not a kid anymore."
"This one isn't like anyone we've flown with before." Tian started to walk down the road. "Damn it, Tian, listen to me! She's hiding something and she has a Rodian on her tail."
"A Rodian? They'll follow someone who found a credit on the floor of a restaurant. Besides, if she's so dangerous, why are we taking her on a job?"
"Because the cat-lady picked the girl, and then gave me a reminder that it's her ship. I didn't need to go head to head with our newest boss."
Tian made a rude noise. "A ship that she can barely fly." His father didn't answer. "Who else we got coming along?"
"Besides the cat-lady and the girl, there's a scientist, Kenneth something, and a mercenary."
"A scientist and a mercenary? What kind of job is this?"
"The kind that pays well. I've signed a contract for 3 weeks, but it's extendible. And we can get out at anytime. I'm getting too old to go chasing around the galaxy shooting everything that moves."
Tian remained silent, estimating that there was nothing he could say that wouldn't get him in trouble. They unlocked and opened the door and stepped inside. Then Tian slammed the door to make sure it was locked. You could never be too careful.
Without a word, both men walked to the stock YT-1300 transport, to check the hall and systems for any flaws that could prove fatal in space. The ship was almost completely unmodified, a fact that surprised Tian. It was a common enough type of ship, but most were modified to a point almost beyond recognition. The fact that this was not modified at all showed either the pilot's total lack of experience or the newness of the ship. Tian was leaning towards the former.
They finished the hull and were working on the systems check when the cat-woman arrived with a man. Looking down from the cockpit, Tian decided that the man had to be the scientist. Only a scientist could look that geeky. He saw his father go out to meet them, put the issue out of his mind, and finished the check.
As he stepped out of the ship, the outer door unlocked with a click. Everyone in the hanger, except for a scientist, was immediately on guard, hands reaching for blasters.
A large black man stepped through the door, closing it carefully behind him. He was wearing a small arsenal on his body, and Tian got the uneasy feeling that he couldn't even see all the weapons. He gripped his blaster a little more carefully, and looked at his dad. Tiros and the cat woman were both relaxing, removing their hands from their weapons.
Tian relaxed, too. They recognized the black man, which meant that he had to be the mercenary. He looked completely able to hold off an entire pirate attack by himself. Tian walked up to where his father, the cat-woman, and the scientist were standing together.
"This is my 1st mate, and son, Tian," Tiros was saying as Tian stepped up. "Tian, this is Melana, of the Parantha Clan, and Kenneth Ron, and that is Lorb Brol." He gestured to the stone-faced man approaching. Lorb grunted and bobbed his head. "We're just waiting for the girl, then we'll get going. You can stow your stuff inside," he added to the mercenary, who turned and walked up the ramp into the ship.
"Ah, miss?" the scientist...Kenneth...asked meekly.
"What?"
"What exactly are we doing?"
"I'll tell everyone once we're under way." Lorb reappeared from inside the ship, still wearing all of the weapons.
The lock on the door clicked, and the door swung open. A hooded figure in a long black cloak stepped through.
Tian found it amazing how quickly a blaster appeared in Lorb's hands. The figure in black froze. "Hands up," Lorb ordered. Melana, Tian, and Tiros also drew their weapons.
The figure raised it's hands slowly to the hood and pushed it back. Tian stared.
It was a pretty girl. She had strange eyes, that quickly took in the entire hanger, or so it seemed. She was frowning slightly, and looked to be a few years younger than he.
Melana and Tiros lowered their weapons. Tiros was very touchy right now, and Tian wondered again what type of job this was. Despite his comment, Tiros seemed quiet ready to 'go chasing around the galaxy shooting everything that moves.' The girl started walking towards the group. Her eyes fell on him and the slight frown deepened. He realized that he was staring, and hastily shoved his blaster back into the holster.
She stepped up to Melana and turned her head upward to look the tall woman directly in the face. "It's a hot day to wear a heavy cloak," Melana commented.
"I'm comfortable," the girl answered.
Melana glanced at her chronometer. "Let's get going. We've only got fifteen minutes until my visa runs out." She smiled slightly and jumped into the ship.
Tian halted, surprised by the maneuver. It was almost fifteen feet from the base of the ramp to the top, and Melana had been standing a few feet from the base of the ramp. He hadn't realized that the Cats had gotten anything else in their evolving other than the strange faces. Apparently they had gotten some extra strength in the deal. He made a mental note to find out what planetary society had spawned the Cats.
In the pause, the girl moved on to the ship ahead of him. That startled him out of his paralysis. He started after her when his dad grabbed his arm. "Remember, Tian. Watch out for her," he warned.
Tian shot him a disgusted look and headed onto the ship.
--------------------------------------------
Tian slid into the copilot's seat, and glanced at his father. Despite Tiros's warning, he had followed the girl up into the main bunk area of the ship. It wasn't very big, with six bunks that slid out from the walls, all meant for humanoid body types, and each with a small compartment underneath the beds for personal items. By the time he caught up with her, the girl was already stowed her bag in a compartment, and was in the process of removing her cloak.
He stopped in the door and watched her. The shirt she had underneath the cloak was drenched with sweat. That was what warned him. As she stuffed the cloak into the compartment, she sighed and pulled her shirt away from her skin several times, fanning herself. Straightening up, she lifted her long hair away from her neck.
"I'm comfortable," she had said before. She did not look at all comfortable. There was something odd here.
Then the girl froze and dropped the hair. Slowly turning around, she eyed Tian. For a few seconds her eyes looked dark and suspicious. Suddenly they changed, loosing the suspicion and turning bright and innocent. The change was astonishing. "Hello," she said quietly. His distrust increased substantially.
"I just came to stash my stuff." He picked up his bag from the spot on the floor where he had dropped it earlier. Stuffing his bag into an unoccupied compartment, he glanced over his shoulder at the girl. She was staring at him, her eyes narrowed slightly as he pulled out the card coder that locked the door. "You should find a seat, we're taking off soon," he said, and walked out of the room.
Now he was helping Tiros start the ship, debating whether or not to tell his father what he had seen. Above the ship, the doors to the hanger opened.
Tiros had been speaking to traffic control. Now he looked at Tian. "We've got clearance. Everything set?"
Tian glanced around the panel in front of him, automatically checking for any signs of system failure. There were none. "Everything's in the green."
Tiros flicked on the inter-ship com, and said, "Everyone sit down, we're taking off." He glanced at his son and asked, "You want to take it this time?" He gestured to the steering rudder.
Tian accepted the offer with a broad grin, and laid his hands on the controls. Expertly guiding the craft out of the hanger and then the atmosphere, Tian barely noticed when Melana walked up behind his chair.
Only when she shoved a data card in front of him did it register in his mind that there was someone behind him. He started and began to turn around to check that everything was all right, momentarily forgetting that his hands were still on the controls. The ship started to swerve. Sensing the change in the ship's angle of inclination even before he realized what had happened, he automatically adjusted, so the ship literally rolled over but didn't deviate from its heading.
Muttering curses to himself, Tian flicked on the auto-pilot. He again started to turn around when he caught a glance of the look on his father's face.
Tiros looked like he was about to burst with uncontrollable laughter. "Nice flying," he muttered, trying unsuccessfully to hide his smile behind one hand.
"Stop looking at me like that!" Tian exclaimed. His comment only caused his father to burst out laughing. It was a deep chuckling sound, and even at the best of times it drove him crazy. "All right! I'm sorry!" His father only laughed harder. "Won't you just give me a break?!" At this point, Tiros got up from his chair, still chuckling, and left the cockpit.
Melana stepped up in the space where Tiros had been sitting and held out the data card. "Here's the coordinates of the destination. Put them into the navi-computer and come on back when we're in hyperspace."
He took the data card and turned back to the controls, but not before he was the smile that she had been struggling to hide. For all the differences between their faces, Melana's smile looked amazingly like Tiros's.
Tian angrily started pushing buttons, punching the coordinates into the navi-computer.
--------------------------------------------
"We're on our way," Tian said as he sat down. Melana watched him carefully, he seemed to have gotten control of himself. "Where are we going anyway?"
Melana glanced around the room. Everyone was there, each one seated on one of the beds in the main bunk. Lorb was leaning back against the wall, his legs stretched out in front of him, his arms crossed in front of his chest. He was still wearing several blasters and a grenade at his waist. The girl was kneeling on her bed, her hair falling across her face. Kenneth was sitting gingerly at the edge of his bed, glancing nervously around the room. Tiros and Tian were seated on beds right next to each other in identical positions, leaning forward, resting their elbows on their knees. Except for the lines of scales lining Tian's face, Tian could have been a younger version of Tiros. Melena wondered who was the mother that had given Tian that face.
It had to be an alien. Somehow the boy had managed to inherit only a thin line of scales that started at his temples and traced his hairline down to his ears, where they continued down his neck. There his shirt broke off the line, but she could see the line of scales extended down his hand, tracing the middle finger. His hair was a dark brown, but sometimes when the light hit it right, it had a greenish tinge. Melana wondered if he had the same problems with prejudices against part-humans that she did.
"We're going to my home world," here she paused. "It's designation is PC-348, and is known by many different names by the inhabitants. My people call it 'Nalaskya.'"
"A PC designation?" Lorb asked. "I've heard of that, somewhere. What is it?"
Melana saw the girl's jaw drop. She must be more traveled then she let on, if she knew the meaning of the designation. It was a pretty obscure reference. "It stands for Prison Colony, established several hundred years ago during the time of the New Republic. There haven't been new prisoners shipped in for five generations, and none in my Clan for eight."
Everyone was quiet, watching her intently. "You're from a prison colony?" Lorb rumbled. Melana started. His voice was deep enough that it almost sounded like a warning growl. Every time he spoke she had to fight an urge to attack him.
"Originally, that's what it was," Melana took a deep breath and drew on the power inside of her. "Now I'm not trying to deceive anyone. I didn't hire any of you to help out on my planet. The people who settled it were criminals, and it's still mostly lawless. My mother was the chief of my Clan for fifteen years - that's a record for my people, because you only hold the leader position as long as you're the strongest. Once you gain the chieftain's position, your life is constantly at risk. Leaders who last for more than five years are considered either very strong or very popular.
"There's another aspect. Competition between the Clans is always very fierce, and we set traps for each other all over the planet. Except for the spaceport, leaving your own territory is almost always a death sentence. Life there is often short. I am the only one left alive from a litter of 12, and there are only 15 total left in my age group from almost 100. I'm just warning you. I advise that you all wait in the ship until I get back. Even if the mission ends there, I'll still pay you. You're no good to me if you get killed in the forests."
"So what is the mission?" Tian asked.
Melana closed her eyes, trying to find some peace of mind. "My mother was ousted as chieftain two months ago."
"Ousted?" Kenneth asked.
"She was killed by one of the members of my tribe. Then there was a contest, and the winner took over as chieftain. I want to find out who killed her."
"Isn't that simple enough? Whoever is the new chieftain is the murderer."
"Not necessarily. The murderer might not have been strong enough to win the contest."
"Wait a second... if murders are so common, and there's no law, what do you expect to accomplish by finding the murderer?" the girl asked.
"Who are you?" Melana asked, realizing that she didn't even know the girl's name.
"What?" the girl seemed startled by the question.
"You never told me your name."
"Oh," she seemed relieved. "I'm Lotah."
"Lotah what?" Tian practically jumped on the question.
"Lotah Heriskcha," she replied without missing a beat.
"OK, Lotah," Melana placed a certain emphasis on the girl's name. "My mother was poisoned. Our planet is not completely lawless. There are certain rules that you have to follow when assassinating a chieftain. If it is done by poison, the poison must be a species native to my planet. For that reason poisons are not usually used. My mother knew all of the poisons located on the planet - she had been teaching me to recognize them by scent since I was a child. She wouldn't have been fooled by a local poison."
"So?" Tian asked.
"If I can prove that my mother was killed by an imported toxin, I can make sure that the individual who arranged it never gains a position of power in my tribe or the planetary government. I'm not sure how long it will take to find that person, or where we'll have to go. That's why I hired you, to be prepared for any situation we might encounter on any different planet."
"This is all assuming that your mother was killed by a foreign poison," Tiros observed.
Melana caught herself before she could growl. It was hard living among these humans! They passed insults like it was a joke. "That's why we're going there first. I should be able to find out whether or not my mother was killed fairly in a few days. If she was, we'll start from there. Any questions?" She glanced around the room, but no one said anything. "Please let me know when we reach the planet," she said to the pilots. They nodded, and she stood up and left the room.
Once she left the room, she paused, struck by indecision. What she really wanted was to pull up the life history of the girl, Lotah. She was beginning to regret her decision to hire the girl. She had been very careful about who she had hired, up until the girl. Melana was getting very nervous about how little she knew about Lotah.
Finally she turned towards the cargo bay. The ship was supposed to be a carrier or something, because they had three times the amount of space to store supplies than they could possibly use. So Melana had used a large piece of heavy cloth to divide the cargo bay into roughly two equal parts. The part closest to the door was the actual cargo bay, and the section further from the door she had converted into her own private quarters. Now there was a little bed-cushion, a small chest with some of her possessions, and most importantly, privacy.
Stepping into the cargo bay, Melana looked around. There wasn't a lot of room on this side of the brown curtain. With all of the room in the cargo bay, there would have been plenty of room, but with only half the space, the supplies were stacked on top of each other almost to the ten foot high ceiling. There was one small aisle down the middle of the bay clear of boxes and the bright red straps that held them in place. The room was lit by light strips running all around the curved edge of the room.
Walking through the stacks of boxes, Melana carefully checked the black writing on the sides to make sure that all of the supplies were where they were supposed to be. Food, camping equipment, it was all there. She was pretty well set, she hoped.
Pushing aside the curtain, she stepped into her 'room.' Sighing, she sank down onto the bed cushion, folding her legs up underneath her. Rubbing her hands against her forehead, Melana tried to massage away the sharp pains running through her brain. It wasn't working, so she unsheathed one of claws and dug it into the skin above her right eyebrow. It still didn't help.
Melana gave up. She lay down on the cushions and positioned herself so that she was comfortable. Then she closed her eyes and reached for the Force. A few seconds later she felt stirrings in the energy around her. As the Force flowed through her, the pain in her first lessened, then disappeared completely. She breathed a sigh of relief.
Now she extended her senses outward, trying to sense the people around her, the way Master Skywalker had taught her. Tried to teach her, anyway. No, not now. There is no try. There is no emotion, there is peace. She attempted to clear her mind again, and this time came a lot closer to success. Again she reached outward.
One by one, she found five different life-forms in different parts of the ship. As she touched each person, she could feel the slight tremor in the Force that marked their life-force. All except the last person - whoever that was, they pulled back from her touch with a flash of terror.
In her surprise, she lost her concentration and came out of her half-trance. Silently wishing that she had better control so that she could identify individuals instead of just life-forms, Melana relaxed herself again. She reached out again, but whoever it was that had reacted before didn't react again. Frustrated, Melana returned her attention to her own body. Her breath had slowed, and so had her heartbeat - she carefully brought both up to normal levels.
She opened her eyes and sat up. Carefully arranging herself against the wall, she reentered the trance. This time she kept her eyes open. When she could feel the Force flowing through her, she let her eyes roam around the room. They settled on a small data pad resting on the chest in the corner. Carefully watching the data pad, she reached out with her mind and tried to pick up the data pad. Nothing. She took a deep breath and tried again. The data pad shuddered slightly. Encouraged, she reached out again, and managed to raise the pad a half-centimeter above the surface of the chest. Then she was hit by a wave of exhaustion and dropped the pad. It clattered loudly as it fell to the floor.
Melana lay down again, exhausted and dejected. She wished that she had more practice with telekinesis - but she had never had much talent for it, and when she started her training, when she still wanted to follow her mother as chieftain, it had seemed wiser to look at the mental aspects of being a Jedi rather than being able to move small objects. Forcing someone to do her bidding would have made her almost unstoppable as a warrior, and would have made it easy for her to become chieftain.
Melana shuddered. Such objectives were no longer desirable to her, an opinion that had alienated her from her mother and from the rest of her race. She remembered her mother's disbelief when Melana told her that she wouldn't be returning to try to gain leadership. She wouldn't have believed it either, not until she spent some time at the Jedi Academy. There she met people from planets that could barely support life, and from planets where war was a foreign concept. There she learned the value of peace, and then realized that she wouldn't be able to find satisfaction in her old lifestyle anymore.
Master Skywalker had been very helpful in helping her through the transition - more so than she had any right to expect. He didn't answer any of her questions, either about the galaxy or the change, but he gave her the data cubes she requested on space flight and interplanetary travel, and then practically gave her the shuttle and supplies when she found about her mother's death and wanted to find out what had happened. He did all of that for her, and didn't say anything but to warn her about the dangers inherent in revenge, danger in submitting to the Dark Side.
Sometimes she was hesitant to use the Force, for fear of turning to the Dark Side when the Huntlust came on. Her mother had said something about that too, that she would never be able to be a lover of peace - it was too much against her nature, and some day she would revert back to her proper form and become the warrior that she was. Then her mother had cut off the link.
Her strength was coming back, now, and Melana struggled to her feet and began exercising, doing the same warmups she had used since she was a child, when she was first learning to hunt. Someone at the Academy had commented on this too, that she could never truly be a keeper of peace, because she wouldn't let go of her warrior side. But Master Skywalker never said anything, so she kept doing her exercises.
First she stretched, relaxing one muscle at a time. Once she was loose, she kicked up into a handstand and carefully balanced herself. She could still feel the Force flowing through her, but this way it was different, more natural. Smiling to herself, she split her legs apart, carefully measuring the distance so that she would stay balanced. Slowly she brought her legs back to a vertical position, and kicked down. She had barely worked up a sweat, that would change.
Over the next forty-five minutes she went through a series of exercises, and managed to tire herself out. She was in the middle of her second round of stretching when someone rapped on the wall next to the curtain. The sound of metal hitting metal grated in her ears.
"Yes?"
Tian stuck his head through the space between the wall and the curtain. "We're approaching your system."
Melana nodded. "I'll be there in a minute."
Tian nodded, then made a sloppy salute with his blaster. "Whatever you say."
-------------------------------------------
"Captain, we just received the report," the young soldier who stood before her looked very nervous. A bad sign.
"And?"
"She's left the system, sir."
"How?" A tone of outrage crept into her voice.
"We were tracking her, through some locals, and then she just disappeared. By the time we found her she was on another ship that had just jumped out of the system."
"What happened?"
"We-we're not sure, sir. Near as we can tell, some local decided to collect on the bounty himself. A Rodian was seen following her out of a bar, and later that same Rodian and a bunch of thugs were pulled out of some rubble."
"What happened?"
"A floor collapsed on them."
"Of course. And then?"
"Well, our agent left the bar to find the girl. He couldn't, so he went back to the bar. There someone informed him that the girl was seen speaking to a bunch of strangers. The girl was given a pass to a hanger, and then she left. By the time he traced the people back to their hanger, they had already left. Then he informed us."
"Too late for us to trace the ship."
"Ah, yes sir." The man was sweating, and swallowed convulsively several times.
"Do you have the current location of our agent?"
"Yes sir."
"Eliminate him."
"Yes sir." Despite himself, the man let out his breath in relief. Captain Randel fought the urge to smile at the boy's predicament. He was her newest communications officer, the last in a long line. For some reason, her communications officers never seemed to last long. That probably contributed to his fear.
"Do we have any idea who these people are or where they were going?"
"So far we only have an ID on the captain, and it's pretty vague. She's from PC-348. She is a Melana, claims to be part of the Parantha Clan, which claims a large portion of the northwest continent of that planet."
"A prison planet?"
"Yes, sir, but she's been off-planet for more than a year now, we don't know where."
"And?"
"That's all we have so far. Sir."
"Very well. Set a coarse for her home planet, and contact me when you get any more information."
"Yes, sir." The man barely managed to control his fear as he hurried out of her private quarters.
C'nen Randel slammed her open hand down on the black metal table in front of her. Her room was sparsely furnished, with no furniture other than her bed, a table, and a single chair. Everything was black, including the walls, with only a few white lights illuminating the room. There were no decorations, other than a single poster reading in white block letters, "SERVE THE EMPIRE."
This was the fourth planet in a row where the girl had gotten away just as Randel's forces were closing in. But they were getting closer, and she couldn't evade them forever. Each time she jumped a planet, it took them less and less time to find her again. It wouldn't be long now.
And they were running out of time, too. All of her sources showed that the girl was learning to control her powers. Much longer and she would be unrecoverable - then Randel would have no choice but to eliminate the girl immediately. Now there was still a chance that she could be trained as the next Emperor. It was just a matter of catching her, then turning her over to the Moff for proper training...
If anyone is confused and wants to know when the regular characters are going to appear, it's never, or at least not for a long time. This story is only about my characters, and the regulars don't arrive until the very end.