A/N: Zam Wessel is another awesome female character who doesn't get enough attention. So I wrote this, some background on Shanti's parents. And I made her father up completely.

I don't own Star Wars or any of the characters used here except Shanti's father. Yay, I remembered the disclaimed this time! *goes to add to other fics*

The tall lizard creature raised the weapon to her shoulder and aimed. The end of her long rifle tracked her prey as he walked across the platform. A tall human by the name of Bail Organa; he was a very important figure in the galactic senate. So many people wanted him dead it would take all her different shape's fingers and toes to count them. She'd left it up to the one with the most money, and offered her services as a bounty hunter and assassin to the one who'd come out on top.

Peering through her sniper's scope, she noted that Organa was remarkably handsome, for someone constantly under the pressure of politics. Most politicians had graying hair and wrinkles by the age of thirty, but at nearly forty standard years, his hair still grew jet black and his skin smooth.

But enough admiration. She was here to kill this man, and nothing short of a Jedi would stop her. She aimed at the back of his neck and pulled the trigger.

And lo and behold, her rotten luck and tendency to forget to knock on wood came back to bite her in the back once again. A blur of orange, white, and blue was suddenly between them and the red bolt was sent hurtling back at her. The Togruta Jedi was young. The clawdite noted the lack of a Padawan braid. A young knight, then.

Taken aback by her sudden appearance, the bolt she had deflected grazed the bounty hunters shoulder. Zam gasped briefly in pain and staggered backwards before getting a hold of herself.

The Jedi handed Organa off to the guards and took off after Zam in a matter of seconds. She could see the blue of her lightsaber vanish into its silver hilt. Zam jumped from the roof of the building she had been on and down into the alley. Her feet splashed in a puddle as she ran. She needed a place to stash her rifle, and then she could shift into someone else and melt into the crowd. She found a crate and stuffed her rifle in it, and then shifted into her second favorite form. Her first favorite was a red-headed human female, but she had a bit of a reputation attached to that face.

Her second favorite was a female mirailian. Most of them were so completely docile, it was a perfect disguise. She squeezed the sphere she carried everywhere with her, and felt it speed her body along in its shape shifting. The long black hair, thick and heavy, was the first to come, and her skin and eyes followed suit. She flipped her usual pack inside out, it changing from a durable backpack to a dainty handbag in one simple step, grimacing as she felt blood start to flow from her shoulder wound. She pulled the thin black robe she carried everywhere around her body, concealing her purple jumpsuit. She pulled the hood up to cover her new hair, stuffed her weapons in her bag, and took a deep breath.

The entire process took less than ten seconds, and by the time the Jedi had followed her into the alley, she found not a bounty hunter, but a slender Mirailian pressed against the wall and trembling.

"Are you alright, miss?" The Jedi asked. "Did you see a bounty hunter come through here?"

"Sh-She went that way…she took my purse…" Zam said, trying to sound weak and frightened. The Togruta stepped forward and pulled the shape shifter's hand away from her shoulder. Zam was bleeding straight through her jumpsuit and her black cloak.

"You are hurt! Let me take a look at that!" The Jedi yanked off Zam's cloak and pulled her purple jumpsuit away from her shoulder. Without hesitating she tore a few long strips of cloth from the hem of her Jedi robe and tied them tightly around the wound, slowing the flow of blood. The Togruta fixed those endless onyx eyes on her and said, "You must come with me so we can get you medical attention!" Zam's eyes opened wide as the Jedi started to pick her up.

"But-the bounty hunter! She'll get away!"

"I can capture her murderous hide easily. I just do not want any to die on my watch."

Zam felt slightly offended that this Jedi dismissed her skill so easily, but forced herself back into her demure and shy mirailian façade. Letting this Jedi discover her would be the last mistake she would ever make. So, of course, it was a mistake she never planned to make.

She stayed silent as the Jedi carried her across the tops of buildings; jumping with all the grace and power only a Jedi could ever posses. Zam felt a brief sense of remorse that she was bleeding all over her fancy robes.

"I have a wounded civilian!" The Jedi said, speaking into a comlink at her wrist. Doing so involved an awkward looking twist of the young Jedi's neck. "Where should I take her?"

"Bring her to the temple," an unfamiliar voice said from the comlink. Zam was not surprised she did not know the voice. She knew no Jedi personally, and knew of only a few.

"I understand, Master Gallia," the Togruta said. She picked up the pace, not showing a single sign of slowing down.

"Here she is." They arrived at the temple, and Zam was starting to feel sleepy. A tall woman with chocolate colored skin and a tholothian headdress took Zam from the Togruta, and then she black out. She could only pray that her disguise would hold.