Usually, Clipper gets his exercise by going on long walks with Dan on
whatever planet we're on. If we're restricted to the ship, they do laps in
the hall. On Kitzlym, we made do with what we had. -Jess Jess's Journal
He pranced around, trying to jump up on his master while not letting her grab his paws. She stepped back and half-turned, sending the vornskr flying halfway across the room, which wasn't far considering it was a small cell. He jumped back up and lightly bit her striped forearm.
"At least we finally found something to do," Jess Jess breathlessly commented to her satisfied pet. He sat and stared at her with his large, pure brown eyes, his ears perked half way up. His head was stuck out far from his body and the stump of his tail heavily beat against the white tile floor, looking all the world like he was saying, "Why'd you stop?" Then he sensed how tired she was and jumped up on the "bunk" to curl up in a circle of fur. She had barely just laid down beside him when the door hissed open.
The familiar lieutenant stepped in and tossed her two ration bars one at a time. "The chocolate's for Clipper." The vornskr merely lifted his head, recognized the visitor, and went back to sleep. *Some guard,* she thought.
"Thanks." A glance at the traladon ribs flavored food told her she'd probably be switching with Clipper. No one could say that she was thrilled at the thought of Corellian cuisine.
She then remembered her crew and ship. Three days had passed since the "tour of the base." Had no one wondered what had happened to her, or had something happened to them? Was Dan in the next cell over without her knowing? It was possible, even if slightly unlikely, that a comm officer might know. "How's my ship?"
His eyebrows dropped in an expression the Gungan had long since learned meant confusion. "I thought you knew." The way he said it inspired dread in her. Was it worse than she'd thought; could the Imperials have harmed her employees in Clipper's absence?
She shook her long head, causing her floppy ears to sway back and forth. "You're the only one brave enough to talk to me," she replied, forgetting for a moment to be sarcastic.
"Well, once you left, we got the cargo off. No one."
"I told Jan to take it out to you! Why would she have let Imperials on my ship?"
Zimel was speechless at her prejudiced statement. Of course, she had more reason to dislike Imperials than they had to hate nonhumans. "Uh, I. I don't think she had much of a choice. We'd 've gotten on no matter what. I was going to say that none of them were happy about it. My friend, George, was one of the people to go on. He said that he didn't like having his back turned to your people either."
The captain was surprised. She thought stormtroopers were never nervous. So much for that idea.
"Then we contacted them and told them what had happened to you. After that, they left and it looked like they went back to Coruscant."
They were silent for a moment as Jess Jess thought about this new information. Finally, her voice filled with disbelief of the legendary stupidity of Imperials, she told him, "They're going to come back for me. We're all friends and unless you took Baka, we'd be back for anyone."
A smirk appeared on his comparatively small face. "I know. The general's counting on that. That's why we didn't pull this on any of the other freighters."
One of the Gungan's elevated eyebrows lowered. "What do you mean? They're going to come back with as much help as possible, though I don't know why they'd go to Coruscant. I guess they decided against Jedi help."
"You know Jedi?" he exclaimed, suddenly scared that their plan might backfire. If they brought Jedi here instead of a fleet of ships like they were supposed to. "I think I'd better go now." He absently walked back to the door and tapped. It immediately slid open, revealing many more people than were usually outside her cell. After he was through, the door didn't close, but the guards did have an eye on her. The comm officer whispered to another man for a minute. Clipper stood and tried to get over to the door, but she held him back by his ID collar. The watching guards seemed surprised by this benevolent act as if they hadn't believed Zimel when he told them she wasn't demonic. Or had he told them? Well, this wasn't a merely amiable visit. Maybe that was his initial intention, but she had some things to remember from what he'd said. Obviously, her friends were fine. They had gone to get help, but that's what the general had wanted. Hopefully, they wouldn't be able to get the military involved. Maybe something had gone wrong with the Solos' upcoming visit to Corellia, Han Solo's homeworld. In any case, there may be a tracking device onboard her ship. Janua might have checked for one, but she probably wouldn't know what to look for. After all, they weren't smugglers.
Out in the hall, Zimel moved across from her room and the other man stepped in. "Hello." He motioned to a guard who moved forward to take Clipper by the collar.
"Oh, here," the Gungan said. She took his leash out of her pocket and clipped it onto his collar. Turning to her pet, she whispered, "Be good." The startled Imperial took the leash, his body tensing somewhat. When he was standing still out in the corridor, she commanded, "Sit." The obedient vornskr did as he was told and the Imperial officer that stood in front of her was quite astounded.
His eyes flicked from the creature to the captive. "Anyway. I have a few questions for you to answer."
"And I, you." Because of her seated position, she was forced to look up at him. She took the liberty of asking first to see how he would react. "Why do you want the *Gungan Vornskr* to come back?"
"In your opinion, what is the economic state of the New Republic?" She noticed that he had only answered her question with another one.
"Pretty good. Almost everybody needs something to go somewhere."
"I didn't ask how business was going; I asked about the economic state of the New Republic."
"On a whole, I couldn't tell you; ask your representative in the Senate. Based on my business, I gave you an answer." Even though the officer wasn't satisfied, Jess Jess knew her logic could not be discredited.
He sighed and continued with his questions. "What security measures are set up around Coruscant?"
He must have wanted to know so that they could be prepared to overwhelm the security forces. They probably wanted to take Coruscant back for the Empire. Well, she wasn't about to give anything like that to nerfherders like this. She never paid that much attention anyway. It would be pointless. "Why do you want the *Gungan Vornskr* to return?" she asked again.
He thought for a moment. *Maybe if I answer her question, she'll answer mine. It's a fair trade.* "If you really must know, we want to test the D- BAM on them. Now, what kind of security do they have around the Imperial City?"
"I never really studied it. I know they're there, but I never paid attention to them."
"Do you know any of the kinds of ships they have?"
"No. What's a D-BAM?"
"It stands for Durasteel- Bacterial Acid Missile. Are the various fleets of the New Republic ready to assemble quickly?"
Did they think she was the Chief of State or something? There was no possible way she could answer that. Besides, she wasn't just going to stand by while they shoot prototype weapons at her friends and her ship! "You shoot the *Vornskr,*" she warned, pointing to Clipper, "and that vornskr will have his way with you!" She knew, of course, that her pet wouldn't hurt the Imperials too much. Or so she thought; she'd never seen him when he was really mad. He might be inspired enough to seriously go after them.
He seemed rather taken aback by this. She had seemed so polite and docile when he had first arrived, but now the tall nonhuman was outraged. Nodding to the guard to give the beast back to Captain Cadyue, he stepped out of the cell and left. As soon as the sentry was out again, which was not long, the door was shut and the occupants of the cell could hear the two recent visitors conversing on their way down the hall. This was definitely not an uneventful day.
the hall. On Kitzlym, we made do with what we had. -Jess Jess's Journal
He pranced around, trying to jump up on his master while not letting her grab his paws. She stepped back and half-turned, sending the vornskr flying halfway across the room, which wasn't far considering it was a small cell. He jumped back up and lightly bit her striped forearm.
"At least we finally found something to do," Jess Jess breathlessly commented to her satisfied pet. He sat and stared at her with his large, pure brown eyes, his ears perked half way up. His head was stuck out far from his body and the stump of his tail heavily beat against the white tile floor, looking all the world like he was saying, "Why'd you stop?" Then he sensed how tired she was and jumped up on the "bunk" to curl up in a circle of fur. She had barely just laid down beside him when the door hissed open.
The familiar lieutenant stepped in and tossed her two ration bars one at a time. "The chocolate's for Clipper." The vornskr merely lifted his head, recognized the visitor, and went back to sleep. *Some guard,* she thought.
"Thanks." A glance at the traladon ribs flavored food told her she'd probably be switching with Clipper. No one could say that she was thrilled at the thought of Corellian cuisine.
She then remembered her crew and ship. Three days had passed since the "tour of the base." Had no one wondered what had happened to her, or had something happened to them? Was Dan in the next cell over without her knowing? It was possible, even if slightly unlikely, that a comm officer might know. "How's my ship?"
His eyebrows dropped in an expression the Gungan had long since learned meant confusion. "I thought you knew." The way he said it inspired dread in her. Was it worse than she'd thought; could the Imperials have harmed her employees in Clipper's absence?
She shook her long head, causing her floppy ears to sway back and forth. "You're the only one brave enough to talk to me," she replied, forgetting for a moment to be sarcastic.
"Well, once you left, we got the cargo off. No one."
"I told Jan to take it out to you! Why would she have let Imperials on my ship?"
Zimel was speechless at her prejudiced statement. Of course, she had more reason to dislike Imperials than they had to hate nonhumans. "Uh, I. I don't think she had much of a choice. We'd 've gotten on no matter what. I was going to say that none of them were happy about it. My friend, George, was one of the people to go on. He said that he didn't like having his back turned to your people either."
The captain was surprised. She thought stormtroopers were never nervous. So much for that idea.
"Then we contacted them and told them what had happened to you. After that, they left and it looked like they went back to Coruscant."
They were silent for a moment as Jess Jess thought about this new information. Finally, her voice filled with disbelief of the legendary stupidity of Imperials, she told him, "They're going to come back for me. We're all friends and unless you took Baka, we'd be back for anyone."
A smirk appeared on his comparatively small face. "I know. The general's counting on that. That's why we didn't pull this on any of the other freighters."
One of the Gungan's elevated eyebrows lowered. "What do you mean? They're going to come back with as much help as possible, though I don't know why they'd go to Coruscant. I guess they decided against Jedi help."
"You know Jedi?" he exclaimed, suddenly scared that their plan might backfire. If they brought Jedi here instead of a fleet of ships like they were supposed to. "I think I'd better go now." He absently walked back to the door and tapped. It immediately slid open, revealing many more people than were usually outside her cell. After he was through, the door didn't close, but the guards did have an eye on her. The comm officer whispered to another man for a minute. Clipper stood and tried to get over to the door, but she held him back by his ID collar. The watching guards seemed surprised by this benevolent act as if they hadn't believed Zimel when he told them she wasn't demonic. Or had he told them? Well, this wasn't a merely amiable visit. Maybe that was his initial intention, but she had some things to remember from what he'd said. Obviously, her friends were fine. They had gone to get help, but that's what the general had wanted. Hopefully, they wouldn't be able to get the military involved. Maybe something had gone wrong with the Solos' upcoming visit to Corellia, Han Solo's homeworld. In any case, there may be a tracking device onboard her ship. Janua might have checked for one, but she probably wouldn't know what to look for. After all, they weren't smugglers.
Out in the hall, Zimel moved across from her room and the other man stepped in. "Hello." He motioned to a guard who moved forward to take Clipper by the collar.
"Oh, here," the Gungan said. She took his leash out of her pocket and clipped it onto his collar. Turning to her pet, she whispered, "Be good." The startled Imperial took the leash, his body tensing somewhat. When he was standing still out in the corridor, she commanded, "Sit." The obedient vornskr did as he was told and the Imperial officer that stood in front of her was quite astounded.
His eyes flicked from the creature to the captive. "Anyway. I have a few questions for you to answer."
"And I, you." Because of her seated position, she was forced to look up at him. She took the liberty of asking first to see how he would react. "Why do you want the *Gungan Vornskr* to come back?"
"In your opinion, what is the economic state of the New Republic?" She noticed that he had only answered her question with another one.
"Pretty good. Almost everybody needs something to go somewhere."
"I didn't ask how business was going; I asked about the economic state of the New Republic."
"On a whole, I couldn't tell you; ask your representative in the Senate. Based on my business, I gave you an answer." Even though the officer wasn't satisfied, Jess Jess knew her logic could not be discredited.
He sighed and continued with his questions. "What security measures are set up around Coruscant?"
He must have wanted to know so that they could be prepared to overwhelm the security forces. They probably wanted to take Coruscant back for the Empire. Well, she wasn't about to give anything like that to nerfherders like this. She never paid that much attention anyway. It would be pointless. "Why do you want the *Gungan Vornskr* to return?" she asked again.
He thought for a moment. *Maybe if I answer her question, she'll answer mine. It's a fair trade.* "If you really must know, we want to test the D- BAM on them. Now, what kind of security do they have around the Imperial City?"
"I never really studied it. I know they're there, but I never paid attention to them."
"Do you know any of the kinds of ships they have?"
"No. What's a D-BAM?"
"It stands for Durasteel- Bacterial Acid Missile. Are the various fleets of the New Republic ready to assemble quickly?"
Did they think she was the Chief of State or something? There was no possible way she could answer that. Besides, she wasn't just going to stand by while they shoot prototype weapons at her friends and her ship! "You shoot the *Vornskr,*" she warned, pointing to Clipper, "and that vornskr will have his way with you!" She knew, of course, that her pet wouldn't hurt the Imperials too much. Or so she thought; she'd never seen him when he was really mad. He might be inspired enough to seriously go after them.
He seemed rather taken aback by this. She had seemed so polite and docile when he had first arrived, but now the tall nonhuman was outraged. Nodding to the guard to give the beast back to Captain Cadyue, he stepped out of the cell and left. As soon as the sentry was out again, which was not long, the door was shut and the occupants of the cell could hear the two recent visitors conversing on their way down the hall. This was definitely not an uneventful day.