(A/N) Sorry this is later in the day than usual, but my work schedule changed and so I ended up working today instead of having it off. That being said, the next couple months will be interesting. I quit my job and my last day is later this week. Then I'm going to get my Class 1A Drivers license, which is a month-long course, and try to find a new job. I am going to try and keep the to the current schedule the best I can, but I apologize if I can't. I may end up having to change to a new schedule depending on how things go.
This is a bit of a special chapter. As some of you may have noticed, Normal now has a cover image. A while ago, ddaulton94 drew it. The image then inspired a story called "Seeing Clearly" by Westward Glance, which in turn, inspired Normal. I felt it would be an appropriate image to use and so I asked him if I could and he agreed. He even went out of his way to doctor it up a bit for me. Thanks very much ddaulton for allowing me to use this image as a cover image. I bet you never knew it would inspire two fanfictions eh?
If you guys haven't checked out Westward Glance or ddaulton94, which you should have with how much I give them free advertising, you all should go do that.
Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this.
Guest Reviews:
pnew106s: Yeah, it was short, but it was important. Sorry about that.
Red2: We shall wait and see what happens :)
TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne: It would be much easier, wouldn't it? ;)
Guest 1: Maybe, maybe not.
Brandon Palmer: Sorry :D
Guest 2: That's pretty much the size of things right now.
Achillies453: Glad you liked it
Chapter 22
Sabine smiled at Ezra when he walked into the cockpit. "What are you doing up so early?" she asked.
Ezra yawned. "I needed to talk with you." He said.
She turned away from the ship's controls to pay more attention to him, "What about? We're just about to arrive, but we should have a few minutes still."
"I…" He paused. "…I had a vision."
Sabine groaned. "Nothing goes right when you have a vision."
Ezra laughed. "Yeah. Things tend to go a little haywire, don't they?"
Sabine couldn't help but join in the laughter. "So, what was this one about?"
"There was an explosion, a little fighting, nothing outside of a normal day for us, but there was something after. I saw… something pink? I don't know how to explain it other than change. I don't know what or how, but the force was clear on that. Everything changes today."
Sabine grew quiet as she contemplated what he said. Change could be good, and it could be bad, and with the force involved, things would likely get worse before they got better. But, the Force also tended to know what it was doing so…
An alarm beeped on the console a couple seconds before the Nightbrother reverted to real space above the forest planet of Malastare.
Sabine sighed, "I guess whatever happens, we'll face it together, like we always do."
Ezra smiled, "Malastare won't know what hit it."
They turned their attention to landing their ship. It was easy enough to get the clearance codes needed to land and Sabine merged into the rest of the traffic heading towards the capital city of Pixelito.
They landed in one of the many hangar bays designed to load and unload cargo as quickly as possible and powered down the ship's engines. The console in front of her lit up indicating the Nightbrother was demanding more fuel of the highest grade. She ignored it and turned to Ezra. "When's our contact getting here?"
"15 minutes or so."
"After we get the generator unloaded, we might as well refuel and resupply."
Ezra nodded, "Seems like a good idea."
"What about our passenger?" Sabine asked.
"We've taken Rachel as far as we agreed to take her. It's up to her now whether she fulfills her end of the bargain or not."
"I guess we should go wake her and let her know we've arrived."
"I'm awake." Rachel called from the hall. She walked into the cockpit and held out a hand to Ezra for a handshake. "Thanks for all your help and getting me off Tatooine." She said, then turned to Sabine and shook her hand as well, "And you as well Sabine. Without you two, I would be dead."
"Our pleasure." Ezra said, "We're always happy to help someone in need."
Rachel nodded, "I'm going to go and get some credits for you. I'll be back in a little bit. Oh, and Sabine."
"Yes?"
"I always keep my promises." she grinned, then turned and left the cockpit.
"What was that about?" Ezra asked.
"Nothing. What do you think the chances are that she'll actually come back?" Sabine asked.
Ezra eyed her up for a second. Her shields had gone up like a brick wall, so he knew something was up, but he knew he wouldn't get anything out of her until she wanted him to know. "Uh, fifty fifty. I think she's got a good heart. She means well at least."
"But?"
Ezra sighed, "But she's hiding something, and she's nervous. Like she expects something to happen? I don't know. From the cracks showing in her shields, I doubt she's got much sleep at all in the past few days."
Sabine nodded. "Well, no use thinking on her for too long. We have work to do still."
o~0~O~0~o
Rachel took one last look at the Nightbrother before she disappeared into the shadows. These were her last few moments of relative safety. She was literally putting her life in the hands of her worst enemy. At any second Davos could turn his back on his word, kill her, and enslave her family.
She stuck out like a sore thumb. The streets were filled with the native Dug species, short, ugly creatures that walked on their upper limbs and used their lower appendages as arms. There was the occasional Gran walking around, a taller creature that matched her height a little more, but her lack of a third eye or brown skin would be no help to conceal her. If she did get into real trouble, she had nowhere to hide.
Every one of her instincts told her to run, but she couldn't. Not as long as Davos held her family hostage, so she continued walking forward, getting ever closer to the set of coordinates Davos had given her.
The meeting point was a park, but when she got there, no one stood out. No one was looking at her strange. Or had a poorly concealed weapon. There were no speeders or bikes running near by… Just the normal thrall of people going about their day.
There was nothing she could do except sit down on a nearby park bench and wait.
Whoever had chosen this spot was good. It was a wide-open area. Lots of people around. Too many witnesses for her or anyone she met with to pull anything, but a well-placed sniper would be able to take her out with little repercussions. She knew she was being watched. Whoever was supposed to meet her was sizing her up, gauging how much of a threat she was.
She hated waiting. Or more precisely, she hated not knowing if she would come out of this alive or dead, and every second she spent waiting for her contact was grating on her already fried nerves. Would Davos change his mind and kill her? Or would he honour his agreement? Of course, she knew the answer already. Whichever option was more profitable to him.
Two people began walking up to her from down the street. A male iktotchi and a female zabrak. The zabrak had on a light chest plate, a couple shoulder pads, and had a couple thermal detonators and couple small blaster pistols hanging off her hips. The iktotchi on the other hand had enough armour on that she wouldn't be surprised if he could take a tank head on and had a large blaster rifle slung across his back.
The iktotchi she didn't know, but she recognized the zabrak, a woman named Neelin. They'd met on Tatooine, run together in the Flich Syndicate for a while, and had become friends before she had faked her death. Neelin was probably the only person who grieved for her when she died. Of course Davos would send her.
She should run. Neelin would probably shoot her for leaving her behind, but she stood her ground and waited for them. There was only one avenue open for her right now, one way she could get her family back. She had to face this head on.
o~0~O~0~o
Once the buyer arrived, it didn't take long for Ezra, Sabine and K-4 to unload the generator from the Nightbrother's hold. With the successful delivery of their cargo, they got paid, then sat down in the cargo bay to rest a bit and figure out what to do next.
"We still have those credits from the bounty and the delivery. We could go and get most of the ship repaired at least." Ezra suggested.
"Yeah." Sabine agreed, "That would be a great idea, but good luck finding any parts for a Kom'rk around here."
"So, we go to Mandalorian Space then. Search around some of the junk yards there and get the parts we need." Ezra said, "And I'm sure your parents would love to have you visit for a bit."
"Yes to Mandalore. No to visiting my mother. I'd like to stay away from Krownest if we can."
Ezra shrugged, "Whatever you say. I just figured you'd like to see your family while we're in the area."
"I can't face my mother. Not right now."
Ezra shrugged, "Worth a shot."
"I'll work things out with my mother eventually." She sighed, " Just not right now. Now come on, we still have to get fuel and supplies before we leave."
Sabine got up and walked back down the ship's ramp with Ezra by her side.
They had K-4 lock the Nightbrother up tight and found a tech to refuel the ship. They made double sure that he would pay close attention to what type of fuel he was putting in though.
Just as they were getting ready to leave the hanger to go get some supplies for their trip, Ezra felt the force nudge at the back of his head and he turned around.
"What is it?" Sabine asked.
Ezra narrowed his eyes and studied the area. Nothing seemed out of place. There were a few crates full of tools and a couple machines lying around. Nothing that would be out of place in a space port, but he still had that feeling… pink…
Just as quickly as it had arrived, the feeling was gone.
"I don't know…" he finally said. "There was something, but now it's gone."
"Should we investigate?"
Ezra shook his head, "No. Whatever it is isn't coming back with us around."
o~0~O~0~o
"Kyler Moive isn't it?" Neelin asked, "No. That's not right. Kyler Moive is just a facade. But you can't be Rachel Sheppard? Can you? She's dead."
Rachel didn't rise to take the bait. "Do you have what I need?"
"Oh come now Rachel, I thought we were friends. Tell me those days when we were running together meant nothing to you."
"I left that life behind me a long time ago."
"And look where you ended up." The zabrak looked her up and down, "Would have been much better for you to stick around."
"Look, Neelin. Can we just get to business? Or maybe your boyfriend would be better to deal with."
The iktotchi grunted, but didn't say anything otherwise.
"He's not my boyfriend, but he is great for lugging things around. You know, heavy machinery, packages, bodies… You should really look into getting some muscle of your own."
"Neelin, I'm not in the mood to mess around. Can we get this over with?"
Neelin sighed. "Fine." She said. "Give it to her."
The iktotchi shifted his arms and pulled a briefcase out from behind his back.
"You'll find 15,000 credits in here, as well as the numbers to an account that will have another 15,000 added to it each month. If Davos finds out you've used them for anything other than your 'protection detail', your Dad and Sister are dead. Use them Wisely."
Rachel took the case, "Thank you."
"You're welcome. Now, on to our next item of business." Neelin drew her gun and shot Rachel in the shoulder. Rachel yelled out in pain and was thrown to the ground. Around them people began to scream and run. Neelin walked up to Rachel as she struggled to get to her feet, hauled her up, and whispered into her ear, "Time to run."
o~0~O~0~o
Ezra pushed a crate up next to the Nightbrother's ramp and disengaged the anti-grav. Sabine did the same with hers.
"Why are we stopping?"
"It's back… That feeling I had earlier."
An image passed through Ezra's mind and Sabine recognised the look on his face, "What? The vision?"
"Yep."
Ezra's hand trailed to his lightsaber, unclipped it from his belt, and ignited it. Sabine followed his lead and drew her Westars. Whatever was on their ship, they would be ready for it.