This is a rather long story I wrote. I broke it up into three chapters to make it easier to read.

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Know Your Enemy

Shaa Kyra was waiting in the dark.

For certain death, the irrational part of her mind tried to tell her, but she had suppressed that part for an awfully long time. No one would find her here. Not in this form. No one was looking for a mouse, after all. They were looking for a human man, middle aged and balding. When they failed to find him, they would leave and look elsewhere. At least, that's what she was hoping. No one had told them she was a Shi'ido. No one could know here, on this god forsaken rock of a planet. And even if they did know, she had hidden herself from sight very well, as well as the datacards. There was no way they would find her.

Even as she was thinking this, four Imperials entered guns up. Her breathing quickened and she forced her flexible mouse body deeper into the gap between the packing crates. They came closer and closer and then they were beside her…

Despite been very uncomfortable, she tried to wedge herself in tighter and slow her breathing, playing dead. Even over 200 years of acting experience couldn't alleviate the need to breathe, however. Her spine was stiff and it smelt like something had died in here. All the better for her ruse. She was lucky her face was pointed into the corner, away from the open air, because she kept wrinkling her nose.

She tried to stiffen her body. She had had experience, long and often painful experience, with playing dead, and knew that if they even suspected she was alive, if even the slightest sign betrayed her… she sucked in a huge breath, as much air as her now minuscule body could handle, and squeezed her tiny eyes shut tight.

She felt someone's hot breath on her back, and though screaming for air, she tried to suppress the urge to breathe. It wouldn't do to give up the game now. Eventually he walked away, and she relaxed slightly, allowing herself to take tiny breaths. When the four left she relaxed completely and crawled out of the hole and found a place more comfortable, taking the strings that tied the datacards together in her teeth and dragging them along as she went to a hole in the wall she had spotted too late to hide in. Still in mouse shape, she curled up around them and watched the entrance warily.

***

It had been a very long night. She yawned as she uncurled and crept out from her new hiding place, taking a good long sniff before changing to her more familiar and favourite Zabrak form. She stretched hugely, for she was very stiff after been tightly curled all night, and knelt to pick the datacards up. Tucking them into her breast pocket, she changed again, into the form of a young human woman with flowing brown hair and warm brown eyes. Her skin was creamy and she was slim and fairly short. The datacards appeared to have disappeared. They hadn't: she had used her species natural and rather remarkable ability to hide small objects under their skin. She had hidden a small hand blaster and vibroblade this way as well.

Shaa Kyra was a Shi'ido, a shape shifter. Her species was incredibly rare in the wider galaxy, as they usually preferred to stay at home on Lao'mon and pursue whatever leisure activity took their fancy. They had a long time to perfect and hone skills. They lived for 500 years. But Shaa had always been different.

As soon as her childhood had ended, she had taken a ship- many things were for free on Lao'mon, since no one had much use for credits- which she had heavily modified and took off for the unknown reaches of space. She had made blunders, mistakes, and her only limited shape shifting abilities- Shi'ido reached maturity at 61, but could only change their skin colour and certain humanoid forms- caused problems for her until she learned to hide them. But she had learned. And here she was, 200 years later, working for the Rebellion.

The Rebellion was only the last in a long list of employers. She had worked for the Old Republic, as a helper for the Jedi, the Black Sun a few times, the Empire, and now the Rebellion. A few smuggler and pirate groups had ended up in the equation as well. She admired the Rebellion. Their ideals were inspiring. But they could never win. They were outmatched and out gunned, low on supplies, and always on the run. They had achieved a few startling victories but, as she only expressed to her partner, she didn't believe they could win the war. But it was worth the fight. She truly believed that. However, she never got too attached to a group. She would outlive all rebels and still be in her prime. And she would move on.

But worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. For now, she needed to get these cards to Yavin's third moon, along with the intelligence she had gathered. She had to pray hard that her beloved ship hadn't been detained. Though she was a wonderful actress, no amount of acting would get her out of an execution if her cargo had been discovered.

The highly illegal military grade ship upgrades she had stolen from various people were well buried in the bottom of a stack of innocent looking boxes. But she had no doubt Imperials were willing to poke through everything, particularly if they had bothered to scan her ship, the Lucky Break, on entry and discovered the also highly illegal military upgrades in weapons, sensors, shields and engines. And no amount of explaining would cover the fully functional cloaking generator a ship her size wasn't supposed to be able to support.

With a slight smile she set off at a brisk walk. The faster she could get off this rock, the faster she could be home. Home been space. She had always considered in the middle of the blackness of space 'home'. She hated Corillia. And it had only gotten worse since the Imperials had moved in. The garrison was a pain in her shape shifting behind.

Her partner, Koryn Merr, was waiting nervously when she arrived at the spaceport. A gorgeous Twi'lek with pale blue skin and huge eyes to match, and petite features, Koryn had been with the Rebellion as long as she had this time around. She was jumpy, but competent, good with a blaster and had a way of seeing everything. She just needed a firm hand to quell her active imagination, which tended to jump to the worst case scenario.

"Shifter!" she exclaimed when she saw her. This was the form they had agreed to meet in if the mission was successful. Shifter was her Rebel codename. The Twi'lek's huge eyes were worried, and she was very jumpy. She was attracting attention. "I've been waiting for you."

"Not for long, I hope." Shaa said with an easy grin, though her own heart was picking up its rhythm. Why wouldn't the girl relax? Attention was bad. "Relax, kid, I'm fine. I can look after myself." This was a not-so-subtle way of telling her to cool down. "Besides, you're making a scene. People are staring." Koryn jumped guiltily.

"Did you get it?" she asked in a lower voice as Shaa approached. The shape shifter saw peoples interest piqued and silently cursed Koryn, but just answered,

"Yeah, I picked up the package." She knew and understood the curiosity of other spacers. If Koryn was that nervous, it mush be good. Probably illegal, and very expensive. Concentrating hard, she sent a clear message to the girl telepathically, like all her kind could: Shut up!

Koryn didn't speak again until they were safely in the Lucky Break. "I'm sorry about out there," she said instantly as soon as the door was sealed. "I just get nervous."

"I know," Shaa sighed. "You're doing a great job, Koryn. Just remember the signals we agree upon." The girl changed into her favourite Zabrak form. Her pale skin was covered in swirly purple tattoos in this form, from her face, to her arms, down her back and shins. The best part of the deal was she didn't even have to go through the pain of having them done.

Shaa entered the cockpit and slid into the pilot's chair. Over the years she had heavily modified the Lucky Break, who had started life as an YT-1300 freighter. Like many owners of YT-1300s she had installed new hardware, upgraded and replaced. The beauty of the ship was it was so upgradeable, so user friendly if you knew what you were doing. Shaa knew what she was doing. She had been doing it for 220 years.

Koryn sat in the co-pilots seat next to her and fidgeted while Shaa ran through the pre-flight checklist and then commed the landing tower. She smiled while she waited for a response, imagining what the tower was seeing. A battered and rugged freighter, a junk heap in all respects of the words that no doubt failed half the time. In fact, every single system, modified, newly installed or heavily upgraded, worked perfectly. Most of the time. She had a lot of credits in accounts under various names all over the galaxy, and a fair few of them went into her ship.

"This is cargo freighter Lucky Break requesting permission for lift off," Shaa sent again. This time a response came quickly.

"Lucky Break, please identify your cargo." She heard Koryn's breath quicken but she was well prepared for these sort of questions. She had dealt with customs officers and control towers for well over a century.

"Technical parts." She replied smoothly. "Sensor upgrades and the like, I think. I'm not paid to open the boxes." She heard the man on the other end laugh.

"I'd open them anyway, were I you. You look like you could use the upgrades." Shaa smiled. Her image always worked.

"Not worth my life to steal from the Imperials." She said in a very convincing tone. The irony was, these parts were stolen from the Imperials. There was another laugh on the other end of the comm.

"Too true. Go on, Lucky Break, and good luck." Shaa rather thought she would have liked to meet the man on the other end. He sounded like a nice guy.

"Thanks, Control. Have a good shift." She replied.

"I will thanks." The comm shut off. Koryn was staring at her. She grinned at her friend.

"What were you thinking? Not worth my life to steal from the Imperials?" Koryn mimicked. The Twi'lek frowned at her.

"Relax, Koryn. We've been through that before. And just because I do it doesn't mean its worth my life." She smiled as she took off and jumped into hyperspace. Koryn didn't look any less worried.

***

Colonel Maxamilion Veers watched the Lucky Break taking off from his office window and smiled.

Not so clever are we, Shifter? He asked silently. You think we don't know about your upgrades, but we do. We know about your cargo too. Whoever you are. Whatever you are. You'll lead us to your Rebel friends, then we will crush you all.

He stretched as he rose, intending to make himself a cup of caf. He had heard many stories of the rebel agent Shifter, who charmed his- or her, depending on who told the story- way past any customs. It was said nobody could beat Shifter, that he or she was the very best. He was about to prove them wrong. The homing beacon her had had planted on the hull looked exactly like a part of the ship, and not even the legendry Shifter would be able to detect it.

He glanced at the dot labelled 'Lucky Break' on the screen one last time, watched the ship jump into hyperspace just outside the atmosphere, and nodded, satisfied. Shifter would soon be behind Imperial bars, and he wanted a nice large lunch.

***

"What if they planted a homing device on the hull?" fretted Koryn, her beautiful eyes disturbed. Shaa shrugged, seemingly unconcerned.

"He did." She said. She was tapping her toes to some music that was playing from somewhere in the cockpit and humming. Koryn stared at her, horrified.

"Then why are we leading him straight to the base?" she stuttered. "Are… are you an Imperial?" she looked horrified and curious at the same time.

"No," Shaa said, though I was once, she added to herself, "And we aren't. If you check the navi-comp, we're headed to a small planet called Myrkr."

Koryn frowned at her, confused. "Why are we going there? What's on Myrkr?" she asked.

"Absolutely nothing." Shaa said cheerfully and sang a chorus out loud while Koryn puzzled over her answer.

"Then why are we going there?" her question didn't seem to be entirely genuine, it was asked a few seconds too late, and something had clicked in the girls eyes before she asked it. But Shaa wasn't looking at her. If she had, she might have been suspicious of her friend.

"Try to think like and Imperial officer." She told Koryn. Been there, done that. Koryn wondered at the strange look in her partner's eyes. "They're arrogant. They don't think we're clever enough to know they're onto us." Koryn looked down and mumbled, shamefaced,

"I didn't." she knew where this was going now. She might have known since Shaa had told her they were heading to Myrkr. But Shaa, still not looking at her, still tapping her foot and humming merrily, didn't see the not-at-all ashamed expression she was wearing.

"So Veers thinks we go straight back to base. When we drop out of hyperspace he calls a fleet and goes to apprehend the 'Rebel base'. He finds this place, maybe catches a band of pirates or smugglers, big black mark on his record, and boom, he's out of the way for a while." She did turn to the Twi'lek now, but she had composed her face into an embarrassed and slightly sheepish look now.

"Koryn, learn to think like your enemy. Then you'll be able to predict everything they'll do." She stood and clapped the girl on the shoulder. "I'm going out back for a bite to eat. Want to join me?"

Koryn shook her head and called after Shaa's retreating back, "Shifter?"

The shape shifter turned. "Yeah?"

"Thanks for helping me and having patience." Koryn shifted her weight in the co-pilot's chair. "Teaching me, I mean. I never thought anyone would bother to take me on and help me do what I want to, fight the Empire." If Shaa saw shiftiness in Koryn's eyes, she put it down to admitting something embarrassing.

"When I'm finished with you, you'll be an intelligence agent." She said with a smile, and Koryn smiled too. Shaa turned and left, and when she was out of eyesight, Koryn's smile changed. It turned more smug, self-satisfied. "That's all you know," she said with feeling.

***

A beeping came from the console, indicating the Lucky Break had exited hyperspace. Veers smirked. Gotcha now, Rebels. He crossed to the desk and noted the planet. Myrkr. Hmm. He hadn't heard of it before, but it did seem to be a fair way out. Probably the Rebels chose it because it wasn't known. He commed the control tower.

"Yeah," said the bored voice. It sounded like whoever was on the other end of the line was young, and about to come off his shift. He probably hadn't even checked to see who was calling in. Anger bubbled up in him and he forced himself to speak calmly.

"Colonel Veers here." He said. He could almost see the boys panicked expression as he sat up suddenly, straightened his shirt lifted his chin, forgetting he couldn't see him and the link was audio only.

"Sorry Colonel! I didn't…" his voice trailed off and he swallowed audibly. "Yes sir?" he finished. Better.

"I need my ship ready." He didn't need to say 'or else'. The boy had got the message. "In five minutes I will be there. If it isn't ready by that time…" another audible swallow, then:

"Yes sir. Right away, sir," The boy sounded much more professional now. Much better.

Ending the conversation, Veers summoned his lieutenant. The smart young man marched in briskly. He was clean shaven and looked dashing. Must be a real hit with the ladies, he thought.

"I'll be away on business for a while. You're in charge." He told him. The lieutenant smiled.

"Yes sir. Good luck hunting the Rebels sir." Veers smiled at him. He liked this lieutenant.

"Thanks you. Keep this lot under control." He told him. The young man seemed slightly alarmed to see him smile.

"That shouldn't be too hard, sir," the lieutenant said and saluted Veers. Veers saluted him back.

"Good man," he said, and marched out.

The boy looked around nervously, letting his military poise drop, and swallowed.

***

A few hours later a ship dropped out of hyperspace near Myrkr. Shaa frowned when she saw it and checked the sensors again. Yep, that was it. One Imperial shuttle. Don't underestimate your enemy, Shaa, haven't you learned that already? She scolded herself. Her advice to Koryn floated back to her. 'Learn to think like your enemy. Then you'll be able to predict everything they'll do.' Take your own lessons, Kyra.

She had already landed once and removed the tracking device, having already traced its position using extremely precise sensors placed at certain positions and disguised on the hull for just that task. She could tell any foreign object on her hull, no matter where it had been placed. She had to laugh, for Veers had put the homing device right on top of one of the sensors.

As intended, Veers passed right by the cloaked freighter. Beside Shaa, Koryn hardly dared breathe. She shook her head as the Twi'lek hunched into her chair, eyes fixed on the shuttle. There was something strange in her eyes, the shape shifter thought. Something strangely purposeful. Maybe I missed something in the girl. Or maybe I'm just teaching her well. She dismissed it.

"They can't hear us, Koryn," she pointed out, and Koryn looked at her and blushed faintly. She seemed to be clutching something in her fist…

"I know," the girl said. "I still feel nervous. I'll be ok but." She seemed to relax slightly for she unclenched her fist. Shaa was still staring at the suddenly revealed syringe when Koryn emptied the contents into one of the shape shifter's veins and she began to feel dizzy. Completely in shock at this betrayal, she sat bolt upright and cried out,

"Koryn! What is this?" the world began to blur as the sedative took effect. It was strong, she'd give her that. She must have been planning this for some time. The real question was, why?

Koryn smiled coldly and shoved her out of the pilot's seat to the floor. "Sorry, Shifter. Or should I say Shaa?" Shaa blinked blearily as she fought to remain conscious. Koryn sat in the seat she had just forcibly vacated and deactivated the cloak.

"Colonel Veers, I have her," she sent to the shuttle, and Colonel Veers' face appeared on the screen. He smiled.

"Good, good." He said. "Very well done, Koryn. I assume you will do the interrogation?" he asked. Shaa was, despite her best efforts, losing her battle to reman conscious. Koryn turned to her.

"The datacards," she said. She shook her head. The world was slipping into darkness. She didn't see any point fighting it anymore. As she slumped she murmured over and over,

"No. No, won't give to you. Traitor." The last thing she heard was:

"Yes sir, I'll do the interrogation."

***

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