Outer Rim
Morkai Anomaly
Morkai 4.3, one of four moons in orbit about supermassive gas giant Morkai 4

Agent Sluka and Sal. Each stared at the other.

Agent Sluka offered his profile to Sal, knees bent and yellow plasma blade emitted from the Shoto hilt in his hand. Two swollen red dots marked the side of his neck where the Horned Serpent had bitten him. Sal in her blue flight suit and a blue blaze of plasma extending from her Shoto hilt. Long scratches on her neck, the product of raked claws which Agent Sluka assumed was from the feline hunter of Tython. He connected with her blue eyes and their gazes locked. Her face was filled with concentration and focus.

No! Agent Sluka snapped in his head. Where are you? Horned Serpent! Is this what I have to do to claim the Kingship? He hardened his focus. If beating an illusion of Sal to claim the Kingship is what I have to do, so be it.

Each took a step forward, toward the gap between the trees, then burst into motion. Sluka's long strides carried him while Sal's long red hair flowed in the wind behind her.

Sluka slid forward, leading with his left foot, and lunging with his yellow blade. Blue plasma met yellow and tapped it aside as Sal sidestepped to her right then reversed her blow with a flick of her wrist that brought the blade inside Sluka's guard. He effortlessly slid back and turned, stepping out with his left and drawing his blade overhead for a two-handed strike. Down came the yellow-bladed strike as he slid forward, rotating his hips, and up came the blue blade in a two-handed block.

Each took a step back from the other.

Agent Sluka looked at one tree and then the other and then back to Sal who was also eyeing the trees.

"Well?" Sal asked. "Are we going to do this or not?"

Agent Sluka and Sal stared at one another, unmoving. "Not," Agent Sluka said. His yellow plasma blade winked out but he did not put it away. "I was just standing here thinking about those two trees," he said.

"You too?" Sal asked, forcing a smile, but still focused on him.

"One of us could kill the other," Agent Sluka said. "Or we could build something together. I was kind of hoping for that."

Sal smiled and extinguished her blade, but did not put it away.

They rushed together and embraced between the trees. His lips met hers and they began a long kiss, then Sal buried her head in his neck.

"Is it really you?" Agent Sluka asked Sal. "I was afraid this was a part of my trial."

"I was afraid you were a part of my trial too," Sal answered. "You are an Agent of the Imperial Security Bureau, the long arm of all that is wrong in the Galaxy," she continued. "How could I trust that?"

"I don't know," Agent Sluka answered. "But I'm glad you did." He looked past her and then back at her face. "Your trial? What do you mean?"

"I grew worried waiting on you," Sal replied. "After a few hours, when you hadn't returned, I went looking for you."

"Let me guess," Agent Sluka answered. "The Cat found you."

"Yes," Sal answered with a smile.

Agent Sluka looked at the two trees they were standing between. Damn, he realized. He spoke up to Sal. "I thought these were the two we passed through on the edge of the clearing we landed in. But they aren't. Do you have any idea where we are?"

"No," Sal laughed. "I bet there are too many pairs of trees like this to count on this moon," she said as she looked around at the jungle. "Perhaps we should just trust our feelings to lead us back to the shuttle." She leaned into him.

Agent Sluka glanced down at her and at himself when he felt her body more firmly pressed against his. They were…in need of some freshening up.

"Sounds like a good idea," Agent Sluka replied.

They separated from their embrace but kept holding hands and walked off into the jungle. After what seemed like an hour of walking, they finally reached the shuttle, exactly as they left it. The two quickly entered and closed up the vessel. Agent Sluka patiently waited for Sal to finish freshening up and exit the head. He nodded at her with a smile and entered it. Glad to be out of the humid jungle, Agent Sluka shed the upper half of his flight suit and looked into the mirror.

Five tattoos covered his right pec, arranged into a pentagon and surrounded by runes in the script of ancient Tython. One for each of the tribes, only the images were vibrant and full of detail, appearing as he had seen them in the Force dream within the Temple of the Unnamed King. The blue wildcat of Tython before it had been domesticated into the Alinde cat, the green camouflaged pattern wolf before it had been domesticated into the pit fighting breeds seen on Tarpau 1, the purple avian so similar to a breed living on Corvus, as well as the black spider which he had not personally seen anywhere. And above them all was the Horned Serpent which was only a tale told to scare children. When did I get those? Agent Sluka asked himself. You'd think I would remember that. After washing off, he quickly re-donned his flight suit and returned to the cockpit.

Sal was awaiting him…in the pilot's seat.

"I saved you a seat," she said with a laugh, pointing to the copilot's chair.

"Thanks," Agent Sluka snarked back as he took the seat and prepared to lift-off. He looked at Sal for a moment, and stared into her eyes.

"Do you have them too?" Sal asked without bothering to say what "them" was.

"Yes, I do," Agent Sluka answered her. "With the Horned serpent on top where it belongs."

"Nope," Sal replied. "The Alinde cat is on top where it belongs." They shared a short laugh as each underwent their pre-flight diagnostics.

"I'll be damned," Sal exclaimed.

"What?" Agent Sluka snapped back.

"Records say that we landed thirty-seven standard days ago," I thought we were only out there for a few hours," she said.

"Well, I know I lived through untold millennia and fought more duels than I could possibly count," Agent Sluka answered.

"Sounds about right," Sal answered with a shrug.

"Now where to?" she asked. "How long until you need to report back to your superior? Is it Janda?"

"I've got some time," Agent Sluka answered. "and yes, it's Janda. Perhaps I will do some of that undercover work I am technically assigned to doing." He paused, then added. "We know that the Inquisitor was operating outside his proscribed parameters. So, that would be a legitimate lead for me to follow."

"Are you still set on pursuing the agenda of the Empire?" Sal asked.

"Maybe the Inquisitor set something nefarious in motion," Janda replied without directly answering her question. "I thought that would be of interest to you too. You want to help me track down what the Inquisitor was up to?"

"Sounds like a plan," Sal answered.

Thus ends Episode 7 of The Adventures of Agent Malgo Sluka, ISB