Darkness had long since settled over the city, with only a half moon and spattering of stars illuminating the sky. The room where Fjord and Caleb sleep is silent, save for the soft hum of voices and music from the city outside their window.
On the bedside table, a communicator illuminates with a ring of yellow light and beeps softly, before crackling to life. At the sound, Caleb's eyes fly open, and his hand is already reaching for the blaster beneath his pillow.
"Hey! Hey, it's Jester," a voice says, scratchy and loud over the comm's speaker.
"Jester?" Fjord says, rubbing his eyes awake and sitting up slowly. He picks up the communicator. "How did you— my communicator was turned off. How did you turn it on?"
"Don't worry about it," Jester says. "I have a mission for us!"
"Is everything okay? Are you hurt?" Fjord asks quickly.
"What? No, no, no, nothing like that. I just forgot Sprinkle's charging base at the ship, and he is fading fast."
In the background, there is a slow, low-pitched bweeop-boop.
"What time is it?" Fjord asks. "Can this not wait until morning?"
"You would let Sprinkle suffer like that? You would let him die?"
"Sprinkle cannot suffer and die, because Sprinkle is a droid," Fjord says.
There is a very loud mechanical wailing sound over the comm.
"Fjord!" Jester hisses into the communicator. "Sprinkle doesn't like to be reminded he is a D-R-O-I-D. Don't distress him anymore than he already is."
Fjord shoots a look at Caleb, who is still tensed, eyes darting around. At this Fjord sighs, and says, "Alright, we can go to the ship."
Caleb's brows furrow and he shakes his head no.
Fjord shrugs as Jester responds, "Okay, okay, I will be right over and we can get going."
As the communicator clicks off, Caleb gives Fjord a stern look.
"You can't say no to that woman, can you?" Caleb says. "We don't want to draw any attention to ourselves."
Fjord shrugs again, and begins to lace up his boots. "You will find out soon enough. Nobody can say no to Jester. Besides, I want to check on the ship anyway, and make sure those docks are secure."
"You may be charming but that is a terrible lie," Caleb says, turning to grab his own jacket.
"You don't have to accompany us," Fjord says.
Caleb doesn't respond, just secures the gun in the holster strapped under his arms. Fjord grins into the darkness, where Caleb cannot see. Jester is already having an effect on the deserter.
Jester knocks on their door not much later, flinging it open with her foot, the red and white BB unit cradled in her arms. She has her green cloak tied around her shoulders, and hood drawn up.
"You're ready?"
"We plan to come back before morning, correct?" Caleb says.
"Well, of course. It's the middle of the night! I still need to sleep."
"You haven't slept yet?" Fjord asks, and Jester gives him an innocent, wide-eyed look.
She leads them out into the streets of Nicodranas, Sprinkle still cradled in her arms. The city still has lights on throughout the capital city, with squads of local law enforcement patrolling, but none stop the crew as they walk purposefully through the streets. They get a few looks towards Caleb, due to his intense observation of the surroundings, at which Jester bumps him playfully with her hip.
"Relax! I promise, we are safe here," she says.
Caleb glances at her skeptically, but softens his posture slightly.
There is music drifting from a variety of cantinas along the way, and raucous noise coming from a handful of them, but still no suspicious figures or lifeforms looking for a fight. Jester steps in time with the music, swinging Sprinkle back and forth. Fjord and Caleb still stay on high alert, but Jester is completely at ease in these streets. As they leave the nightlife districts, the streets grow quiet and Jester falls back into her normal gait, still energized by the familiar sounds and streets of home.
As she guides them back to the docking bays, Fjord feels a chill go down his spine, like he can feel someone's attention focused on them. He subtly glanced around, without moving his head, to try and catch sight of anyone tracking them. As they round a corner, Fjord glances backwards, but there is no one behind them.
"Does anyone feel like we're being watched?" Fjord asks in a low voice.
Caleb's hand goes to the gun under his jacket, and his gaze flickers around, immediately assessing the surroundings. Jester stops as well, scanning for movement.
Above Fjord's shoulder, atop a low building, Jester catches sight of a quick shadow moving through the darkness.
"Wait, did you see that?" Jester asks, stepping around Fjord and glancing into the dark alley.
There is another flicker of movement in the shadows, moving away from them, and Jester's eyes go wide.
"Watch over Sprinkle!" Jester says, as she shoves Sprinkle into Fjord arms. Fjord stumbles as the weight is transfered to his arms, and she darts in a darkened gap between two low brick buildings.
Fjord grimaces in pain. With a strained voice, he calls out, "Wait! Jester, where are you going?"
Jester disappears into the alley, and Caleb quickly follows behind, leaving Fjord trying to try and adjust his grip on the heavy, metal droid.
Just ahead, Caleb and Jester spot a shift in the shadows above, gliding over rooftops. As they follow, they see a shadow curve around a corner and enter an empty docking bay.
"Jester, what are you doing?" Caleb hisses, grabbing her wrist to keep her from running into the empty docking bay.
"I think they were following us," she whispers, glancing around the empty docking bay. "You saw that too, didn't you?"
The sound of an engine grows loud, and the shadow of the vehicle falls over them. Caleb and Jester press back into the alley as a sleek, four-person speeder flies overhead and lands at the dock. There are two shapes sitting in the front of the open speeder, outfitted in Zhelezo uniforms. The third figure sits in the back, a hood drawn up over their face.
"Jester, it's nothing. We should leave," Caleb whispers.
"Wait, I know that speeder."
"So what if you do? We shouldn't get involved in any business that happens in the middle of the night."
There is another hum of an approaching engine, and a small landing ship descends from the sky. It's an inconspicuous ship, with no identifying markings. The ramp to the ship's hull lowers, and four figures emerge, not wearing uniforms, but still moving in a formation. Caleb's breath catches in the back of his throat. Even without the armor, the uniformity of trained stormtroopers is difficult to disguise.
"Jester, we need to get out of here," Caleb whispers, his eyes darting between the figures.
Jester shushes him, presses a few buttons on her bracer, and holds it out towards the crowd. A blue image shimmers as it appears to scan the scene, and the digitized shadow of the person in the speeder glows. She presses another button on her wrist, and the shadows shimmer and reassemble into a face.
"That's Representative Sharpe," she whispers, deactivating the blue of her bracer. "What is he doing out here?"
"We need to leave, Jester," Caleb says again, his voice shaking. "They are Empire."
"Empire?" Jester says, eyes wide. Her eyebrows furrow as she thinks through the communications she and Sprinkle had been scanning. Maybe the Imperial encryption she had spotted was a lot closer to home than she realized.
Behind them, they hear Fjord call out for them. Caleb freezes as all the faces spin towards Fjord's distant voice, and directly into the shadows where he and Jester are hiding.
Jester hurries to switch over to comms. "Quiet, Fjord! We are spying!"
On the platform before them, one of the disguised Imperials reaches into his cloak and pulls out a little black sphere. The sphere hovers above his hand, sprouts an antennae and unfurls a few dangling appendages beneath the metal body.
Caleb's eyes go wide as he recognizes an Imperial spy drone.
"We have to go," Caleb says, grabbing Jester's arm again.
"I want to record their conversation," Jester replies. "Just give me a minute."
"They cannot find us, and if we hang around, that drone will pinpoint our location. We have to leave, now."
Reluctantly, she deactivates her bracer. "At least I have their faces recorded."
She follows Caleb back into the alley. They quickly retrace their steps back towards Fjord.
When he spots them, he takes a deep breath. "I was starting to get worried. What do you mean you're spying?"
"Ran into a bit of trouble," Jester says. "Not a problem, but we should probably walk away very quickly."
Behind them, there is a faint whirring around as the spy drone turns a corner, hovering down the street, scanning the scene with a red beam.
"What's that?" Fjord asks, his arms still trembling from the weight of the dying droid.
"Bad news," Caleb mutters, and grabs Fjord's arm, steering him down another alley, following Jester. They weave through a few empty roads, moving quickly through the dark.
"Can't we just shoot the thing?" Fjord asks.
"If you miss, it will immediately send out a signal calling every Imperial sympathizer to this very spot. We would be cornered in an instant."
"I'm a pretty good shot."
"It's no larger than a hand's width and you can't get close enough for its beam to identify your features. I don't trust anyone with those odds."
"Can we outrun it?" Jester asks, pushing ahead, further through the maze of streets surrounded by short, darkened buildings.
"It might be able to track our recent footsteps," Caleb warns. "We need to get to a heavily trafficked area if we hope for it to lose the trail."
"I feel like we're getting close to the entertainment district," Jester says, rounding another corner.
She stops suddenly, and Fjord and Caleb slam into her. Before them, a wall rises up, cutting off their path.
"Hurry, we need to go back!" Jester says, spinning around.
They start towards the connecting street, but the humming of the drone grows even louder, and its red beam passes over the space in front of them, just around the corner.
Caleb removes the blaster from his jacket, getting ready to shoot, when a shadow moves above them.
Just as the drone rounds the corner, a figure slides off the roof, with the barest sound of shoes scraping against tile. The figure pushes off the wall, and lands feet first on the drone, crumpling it beneath their weight, without getting caught in its scanning beam.
Jester and Fjord stare at the figure, and Caleb shifts his aim towards them.
"You can get in a lot of trouble, wandering these docks at night," the figure says. They have a dark cloak over their shoulders, hood pulled low over their eyes, and a dark cloth wrapped over the bottom of their face. The shape of two long ears are visible out beneath the hood, though, giving away elvish heritage. Dark brown skin peaks out from the gaps between their gloves and sleeves.
"You are not wrong," Caleb replies, gun held steady. "If you would kindly move, we would like to be getting on our way."
"I can do that," they reply, "and in exchange, the tiefling hands over the footage she caught."
"That is evidence. I can't just hand it over to a stranger," she replies. "The authorities need to have it!"
"You think the authorities of this neutral system would do anything? You mean the same authorities that escorted the Representative to the docks?" the figure asks. "You can't trust them. Besides, everyone fears the Empire. No one in authority would dare move against Sharpe knowing he has them as allies."
"And what would you do differently, if she hands over the evidence?" Caleb asks.
Their eyes, darkened beneath the hood, scan Caleb with a discerning glare. He feels his neck grow warm, and his hand tenses around the blaster, aiming steady.
"I would give it to someone who doesn't fear moving against the Empire," they reply. "Someone who can move carefully enough to not put this planet at risk."
"Like someone in the rebellion," Jester says, her eyes wide in wonder. "You are with the rebellion, aren't you?"
Fjord curses just as his arms give out, dropping the droid to the ground.
Jester cries out and hurries to Sprinkle's side when the figure makes their move.
They dart down, low to the ground, straight towards Caleb. They knock the weapon from his hand, and punches him square in the chest.
A moment too late does Caleb remember he isn't wearing his stormtrooper chest plate, and he feels the full force of the blow radiate across his ribs. His gun goes flying from his hand, and the elf snatches the gun out of the air, and level it towards Caleb. Fjord draws his out his own weapon and aims it at the figure.
Jester is crouching beside Sprinkle, who beeps slowly in his fading battery life. Her eyes flick between Fjord, Caleb, and this rebel spy.
"You are a peculiar bunch," they say. "But I'm not leaving without that evidence."
Jester frowns, and turns to Sprinkle. "Do you have one more message left in you?"
The droid beeps slowly, but confidently, the small antennae flickering blue. Jester presses a few buttons on her wrist, and a communication device that neither Fjord or Caleb notices chimes on at the figure's belt.
The eyes beneath the shadow of their hood narrow towards Jester. "Quite a talent you have there. Almost like you have picked up my signal before."
Jester only smiles sweetly, and taps a few more buttons on her wrist. "There, the evidence is deleted from my files. Let me know if there is anything else we can do to help you and your cause."
The figure lets out a disapproving grunt. "Forget this ever happened. That is how you can help."
"We can't help the rebellion?" Jester presses.
Fjord, Caleb and the figure all reply, "No!" simultaneously, to Jester's intense disappointment.
Without another word, the elf places the Caleb's gun on the ground in front of them, and melds back into the shadows of the alley, disappearing with soft receding footsteps.
"What were you thinking?" Fjord hisses.
"I don't want to just sit by while the Empire infiltrates Nicodranas!"
"And this doesn't have anything to do with you father?" Fjord says.
"So what if it does? I could find my dad and keep my home planet safe!"
"The rebellion is fighting a war," Fjord says. "We are not equipped for that!"
Caleb clears his throat, scanning the windows of the nearby buildings for any sign of movement. "Perhaps we continue this conversation later?"
Sprinkle sighs, as much as a droid can sigh, and his light flickers off, falling into low power mode. Jester scoops him up without a word and starts heading in the direction of the rest of the docking bays. Silently, Fjord and Caleb follow behind.
And just out of sight, a few blocks behind, the shadowy figure follows the trio back to the ship. As the three enter the ship, the elf secures a tracking beacon to the exterior, and then disappears back into the city.