SATHKAN's helmet, of course, lacked a radio communicator. How he wished he had one – but he was no way trustworthy enough.
So he just kept running. Hopefully, Kaff would – no, he'd probably just have all the troopers after Sathkan, rather than the rebel.
Sathkan dove down a side street, startling a couple of unregistered traders. He narrowly dodged smashing an old Astromech droid, turned a corner so sharp he almost tripped and fell, and dashed out into a small square. He stumbled to a halt, panting. He felt like he wasn't getting enough air under his helmet, so he pulled it off with his free hand. He held it under one arm as he shoved the too-heavy blaster into his belt.
I have to find that rebel, he thought as he gasped for breath. But she's definitely not back by that alley anymore… Sathkan looked up, shaking his coppery-blonde hair out of his steel-gray eyes, and scanned the square, hoping there was a nicer stormtrooper there who would help him. There were none. The square was mostly empty, with only a couple illegal stalls offering illegal wares, owned by bored and irritable vendors who looked like they definitely did not speak Galactic Basic.
Besides the vendors, there wasn't anybody in the square, except for a tall man who looked like he was in his mid-twenties. He had a tan complexion, troubled cyan eyes, and dark brown hair drawn back in a ponytail. There was a bit of facial hair at the end of his chin, and his angular eyebrows were pinched together. The man was frowning about something or other.
The very instant Sathkan laid eyes on the stranger, the Force began to scream.
Sathkan cried out in shock and pain and clutched at his head, groaning. He hardly heard the clatter of his helmet hitting the ground. This had never happened to Sathkan before. It was so loud… it hurt… Usually the Force was so much quieter. Was it trying to warn him about something? If it was, something really horrible was about to happen – and he wouldn't be able to escape. The Force was howling too loudly in his mind for him to do anything but sit down hard.
Suddenly, there was a strong hand gripping his shoulder. "Are you all right, kid?" Sathkan heard somebody ask, and the ringing abruptly stopped, leaving him feeling kind of woozy and shaky.
He blinked twice, shook his head, and then looked up, a little dazed. The man's concerned cyan eyes stared back at him.
"Yes, sir," mumbled Sathkan, stumbling to his feet. The man kindly helped him up.
Sathkan swayed dizzily, but the man held onto him.
"What happened?" the stranger asked, his eyebrows meeting again. He tilted his head and gave Sathkan an odd look the boy couldn't interpret.
"I…" Sathkan knew better than to tell a completely unfamiliar person, however kind, that he had been mentally betrayed by the Force. "I get vertigo, sir," he said lamely.
"Mmhm," the man grunted, his eyebrows lifting. So he knew Sathkan was lying. Too bad – Sathkan was not about to tell the truth.
Sathkan noticed the vendors gawking at them. He felt annoyed, but at the same time, he didn't really care.
"Thank you for helping me, sir," Sathkan said sincerely. "I'm sorry I inconvenienced you."
The man sighed. "It's fine, kid – you didn't... 'inconvenience' me." He paused suddenly as a disembodied voice issued from his belt.
"Specter One! Come in, this is Specter Five."
Sathkan's eyes stretched wide in disbelief. It was the rebel girl's voice.
The man's face grew taut as he glanced nervously at Sathkan. "Specter Five, I-"
"Specter One, the distraction has been created. Specter Four and Specter Six are free to begin stage two," the rebel girl interrupted.
The man grimaced, glancing at Sathkan again. "S-Specter Five -I know, I heard the explosion, but-"
"But what, Specter One?" she demanded. "It took me five days to make that bomb. It was beautiful. And the others are going to miss their window! The mission will fail!"
"Specter Five, I'm trying to tell you-"
Sathkan reached for his blaster with shaking fingers.
"You're not calling the mission off?! Specter One, we've made it so far! The information was spot-on! We need these supplies!"
"You've been speaking under an Imperial presence, Specter Five!" shouted the stranger. "There is an Imperial cadet STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO ME." The man slapped himself in the face. "That's what I've been trying to tell you, Specter Five."
Specter Five went very quiet.
Sathkan had his clunky blaster gripped in both hands.
The man noticed what Sathkan was doing and whipped around, his palms in the air and his eyes stretched wide.
"You're... you're under arrest," Sathkan stammered. "For... for treason."
"Specter One..." The rebel girl's voice was quiet and fearful. "I'm calling backup."
"Hold on a second, Specter Five," the man said calmly, his eyes locked on Sathkan, but the small com in his belt had gone silent.
Sathkan's jaw was set. He knew his blaster didn't work, but the rebel didn't. He stared at the tall man, who stared back.
"Why are you afraid?"
Sathkan flinched, taken aback.
The rebel's cyan eyes were gentle. "I can see you're afraid, cadet. Your hands are shaking." He tilted his head. "But why? Are you afraid of me? I'm on the wrong end of that blaster."
Sathkan cast his eyes downwards, unnerved. He felt like the rebel was reading his soul. "That's true," he mumbled, glancing up again. "So why aren't you afraid?"
The man smiled vaguely. "Because you're not going to shoot me."
Sathkan's eyebrows met. "What makes you think I won't?" he demanded nervously, hefting his blaster, which was making his wrists ache.
The rebel reached forward and put a hand on Sathkan's left shoulder. "For one, your blaster's dead," he said, grinning. Sathkan's eyes widened in shock. "Secondly, I don't believe you would hurt me, even if it wasn't."
Sathkan's mouth opened, but no sound came out.
The man lifted his gaze, looking at something behind Sathkan. "Don't fire, Specter Four," he ordered. "He was never going to harm me."
Sathkan stiffened and slowly turned to find the muzzle of some sort of very large blaster pointing into his face.
All the color promptly drained from his complexion.
The blaster was wielded by a muscular, short-furred, green-eyed beast that almost reminded Sathkan of a Lothcat - if Lothcats were seven feet tall, gray with purplish stripes, humanoid, and blaster-wielding.
The creature growled and reluctantly lowered his blaster. His ears were pinned back and he eyed Sathkan with disgust and hatred. "Fine, but if it makes one wrong move, I'm shootin' it."
Sathkan swallowed.
A boy who looked a little older than he was stepped out from behind the enormous guy with the blaster and surveyed Sathkan. The boy's short, unruly hair was jet black and hung in front of his eyes, which were bluer than any Sathkan had ever seen. The boy wore mostly orange, and had a complexion that was slightly darker than "Specter One"'s. "He doesn't look very dangerous," the boy remarked, stooping down and picking up Sathkan's helmet.
"Give me that back," Sathkan said weakly, attempting to grab it. The boy dodged him easily and tucked the helmet underneath one arm.
"Specter Six," warned the rebel man.
The boy sighed and tossed the helmet at Sathkan, who dropped his blaster in order to catch it.
"You can have that," Sathkan mumbled, shoving the blaster towards the blue-eyed rebel with the toe of his boot. "It doesn't work... and it's too heavy."
The boy considered Sathkan, then lifted the blaster off the ground thoughtfully. "Maybe I could fix it," he mused, eyes on Sathkan.
Sathkan frowned. The Force rang in his head when the boy looked at him - not as loudly as before, thank goodness.
"What are we gonna do with it, Specter One?" demanded the massive, aggressive rebel with the big, strange blaster (which he kept pointed at Sathkan) - just as the final rebel ran into the square.
Sathkan recognized her immediately, and she recognized him.
"I knew I shouldn't have let you go," she growled, aiming not one, but two blaster rifles at Sathkan.
Sathkan stood frozen. There's no way out.
He slowly slid on his helmet as the man, who still stood behind him, said with exasperation: "Relax. He's not a threat. We'll take him back to the Ghost, and-"
Sathkan loathed to reveal his abilities, but he knew he had no other choice.
He was not going to be captured. That would be the worst form of failure he could possibly be endowed with today.
Sathkan closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating, then thrust one hand towards the biggest thread - the mutant Lothcat creature... or, more specifically, the blaster the creature was holding.
The behemoth yelped in shock as his weapon flew from his grasp to whack the rebel girl in the helmet. She cried out and stumbled, firing her blaster rifles - mostly accidentally. All she hit was stone street, way far away from Sathkan. But it didn't matter anyway - Sathkan had long since leapt away, too quickly for Specter One to seize from him from behind.
The monster roared with rage and sprang forward. Sathkan yanked his helmet off and threw it at the rebel's face, then turned and bolted.
The rebel snatched the helmet out of the air before it hit him. Snarling, he hurled it after Sathkan, but the Imperial cadet was already gone, fleeing at top speed down a narrow street.