Chapter 3

Lona paced up and down. The sun on the planet Cirasso had set a long time. The stars were out and its two moons shone but she could not appreciate its beauty for something was worrying her. Buck walked in on her endless pacing. He recognised that she looked worried but was unsure why. They had safely delivered Ru' Bik's baby and had sold the ship successfully, now all that remained was for the transaction to be complete and as soon as they had the credits they would go their separate ways. She should be happy not worried.

"Hey, are you okay?" Buck asked.

Lona was startled at the sound of Buck's voice, "I'm… No I'm not okay. Zack hasn't returned."

"Is that why this place is so peaceful?" Buck joked but Lona did not laugh nor smile. "Hey, don't worry. His probably drunk somewhere, celebrating the credits his going to get from selling this ship."

The room was quiet for a while. All that could be heard was Lona's nervous steps as she paced up and down the ship deck. "I'm going to look for him." Lona finally said. She took her blaster and strapped the holster around her waist.

Buck sighed, "I'll go with you."

Lona narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. Why would he want to help? She thought to herself. "Okay." They left the ship together to look for Zack.

/

Saza was walking towards a group of out of uniform Stormtroopers. There were three of them talking excitedly about… whatever Stormtroopers talk about outside battle. She stopped some distance away from them.

"Candidate Officer Canoe Ida!" She said in a commanding voice.

The Stormtroopers stood to attention and two of them left leaving Officer Canoe Ida. Canoe had ginger hair and fair skin with freckles on his nose that decreased in number the further away you went form the centre of his nose. His hazel eyes smiled at the woman. "Hello."

"I am Inquisitor Saza Ripper." She said.

"Inquisitor?" Canoe tilted his head to the side as if inspecting the human female. She too had red hair, albeit it was paler than Canoe's and her skin was unblemished with freckles. "You're too pretty to be an Inquisitor."

"I am your superior, Officer Ida and you will address me as such..." She leaned over to him and whispered the next part, "or you're not going to have a tongue to address anyone with."

At the threat Canoe stood straighter to a perfect attention stance. "Yes Sir… I… I mean ma'am!"

Saza narrowed her eyes at him. "Good. I'm here to… Inquire about the storming of Ru' Bik's compound."

"Yes ma'am?"

"There were 16 deaths and 5 injuries and strangely enough, to this day, one Stormtrooper missing in action: Buck Johnson." She informed him.

Canoe involuntarily gulped. "Buck? M.I.A? That guy is probably at home nursing his wounds and has forgotten to report back."

"So you've had contact with him since after the mission?" Saza asked.

Canoe took a moment to answer with a disappointing, "no."

"Apparently you were the last one to have any contact with him. Any guesses what happened to him?"

"No."

"I heard that you are up for a promotion for capturing Ru' Bik." Saza said changing her tone to be a little friendlier.

"Yes. The ceremony is tomorrow. I'm going to be promoted up a rank." Canoe proudly said.

"Any plans on celebrating?"

"Yes. Me and some of the boys are going to have a few drinks." Canoe said. He was confused at the sudden friendliness of Inquisitor Saza. Maybe she was interested in him and was trying to get him to ask her out. Admittedly, he was attracted to her. She was beautiful, slender and was at a high military would look good with her on his shoulder.

"Well, I hope you enjoy your night, Officer." Saza said before walking away.

"Thank you, ma'am." Canoe said disappointed that she did not try to get him to invite her. But something else bothered him, the way she said her last statement was strange, as if she knew something he didn't.

/

Lona and Buck were walking on the dark streets of Tanik. They did not really know where they were going so Buck suggested that they check out all of the bars in the vicinity in hopes of finding Zack. For most of the part they walked quietly accept to confirm whether they had found something or not. That is until, to Buck's surprise, Lona stopped and pointed her blaster at Buck's chest. Buck was taken aback by the act but instinctively reacted by reaching for his own blaster. His hand brushed the area where his blaster should have been but realised that he did not have it with him. He had doubted he would need it and had left it on the ship. Caught without a blaster he did the only thing he could: he placed his hands up in a gesture to show Lona he was not dangerous.

"Lona? What are you doing?" He said uneasily.

"Oh, you think you're so smart don't you, Trooper?" Lona said. "But you're not as smart as you think. I know you have someone tailing us. You're probably leading me to an ambush."

"What? I didn't even know that we were being followed. If we work together, maybe…"

"I don't want to hear your lies." Lona said. "Tell me where Zack is or I'll blow a hole through you."

Buck's heart began to race. He was not sure if she would go through with it. He began to analyse the situation: Lona had a gun pointed straight at his chest. She was close enough to not miss and too far away for Buck to disarm her before she could get a shot out. He could not use brute force to get out of this, so he would need to rely on something else. He needed to calm her down and make her believe that he meant her no harm. "I don't know where Zack is and I don't know who is following us… assuming someone is following us because I did not see anyone."

"Why would I believe you?" Lona said.

"You have no reason to believe me but nonetheless I'm asking you to. I might not know who is following us but if we work together we can ambush them."

Lona thought about it for a moment. "Fine." She said slowly lowering her gun. But I'll do the ambushing."

/

The little Twi'Lek followed the humans from the shadows of the night. It had been a long time since she had seen any humans on Tanik. The only humans she had ever seen were Stormtroopers passing by the planet but these humans looked a little different than the ones she had once seen without their white helmet. They had a darker skin tone.

The humans suddenly stopped and the female one pointed a blaster to the male and they had a conversation. She waited in anticipation to see what would happen. Would the female shoot the male? They spoke for a while then the female lowered her blaster and they began walking together again. She darted from corner to corner, alleyway to alleyway in an effort to keep following the human's without being spotted. She was hoping to get an opportunity to steal something of value form them, something she could sell.

The humans turned a corner and for a few moments were out of her sight. When she could see her targets again she noticed that the female human was gone, nowhere to be seen. The male human continued to walk on like normal and so she continued to follow him. She stopped for a while behind an alleyway and suddenly heard a sound behind her. She turned around just in time to see the female human rushing towards her. She involuntarily yelped as the human female grabbed her arm and pointed her blaster at her.

Buck heard the sound of someone yelping and guessed that Lona was confronting the person who was following them. He ran to the source of the sound to help Lona fight off whoever it was, however when he arrived he found Lona talking to a frightened Twi'Lek girl.

Lona looked at Buck as he arrived. "I've found our little 'tailer'."

The Twi'Lek said something in her native tongue which neither human could understand.

Lona got up. "A little girl like you should not be out at this time of night. Now go home." Lona said softly.

The Twi'Lek girl ran away as fast as she could. Buck looked at Lona with an 'I-told-you-so' smile.

Lona sighed, "alright Buck. You were right. I'm sorry." She said walking out of the alleyway. "Now, let's find Zack."

/

Zack's eyes began to flutter open. For a moment he felt at peace. He felt like he had woken up from a long and restful slumber only to be greeted by a sky full of stars. But then his memory of what had happened before he had lost consciousness came back to him. He had been drugged! He got up from the sandy floor, displacing dust as he did. Before him stood Kisto, the Twi'Lek rebel and on either side of him stood a Vultans. Zack's hand wandered to where his lightsaber usually rested but did not find it.

"Kisto? You drugged me! How? I saw you drink the same drink I had." Zack angrily said.

"Obviously my drink was spiked too." Kisto said. "Of course I have built up a little immunity to the tranquilizer, so I passed out after you and woke up before you. Yes, I drugged you but what did you expect I would do to an Imperial spy?" Kisto said stepping forward and producing a blaster.

Zack put his hands up as he slowly got to his knees. "I'm not an Imperial spy. I'm a Rebel like you."

"Then explain to me how you fell for our trap. Rebels don't go to the Ground Haven bar and ask for me by using my real name." Kisto said. "That's a trap that we set up for spies."

"Okay. Okay. I admit I might not know much about Rebel procedure on this planet but I am a Rebel."

"Yeah righ-" Kisto was saying before Zack suddenly lunged at him.

Zack caught the blaster and it was pointed upwards before a shot went off into the night sky. It was knocked away as they fell on the dusty ground wrestling. The Vultans pointed their guns at the ball of dust made up of a human and Twi'Lek fighters. They were reluctant to shoot, in case they shoot Kisto.

The Twi'Lek and human wrestled on the ground. Zack was able to get on top of Kisto and threw a few punches but it did not last long as Kisto was able to overturn him and place himself on top as he threw his on punches. Zack was able to get him down and they continued to wrestle. They eventually separated and got up. Zack lunged forward leading with a right jab. Kisto put his hands up to protect his face from the onslaught of fists. But he was slowly making his way closer to his attacker and when he was close enough to Zack he grabbed his long black hair and pulled him down as he kneed him in the gut. Ignoring the pain in his abdomen, Zack grabbed Kisto's knee and pushed forward to make him lose balance.

Kisto bounced on his one leg as he struggled to get his other free but eventually he lost his balance and fell but he kept hold of Zack's hair to ensure that his combatant fell with him. Once again they were on the dusty floor. Zack fell with his face in Kisto's stomach and he began to throw a few hammer fists above his head while simultaneously moving his body up to Kisto's face. Zack's hammer fists caught Kisto in the stomach then chest then face as he was constantly moving up. Kisto could not use his hands to block as he still had a firm grasp on Zack's black hair. His knee was still raised in between him and the human. By flexing it and pulling his opponent's hair away from his body, he was able to get Zack off of him.

Zack rolled away on the sandy floor. Both he and Kisto were down on their bellies. Zack rushed to his feet but Kisto was faster and he was able to kick, the still in kneeling position, Zack in the face. Zack rolled away but quickly got to his feet.

Both men stared at each other while breathing heavily. Zack had a swollen and bleeding bottom lip and Kisto's boot print on one side of his face. Kisto's nose was bleeding from Zack's earlier hammer fists. Both men's clothes were dirty thanks to the dusty floor.

Zack was readying himself to go at it again but was stopped when he saw the Vultans approaching him on either side, pointing their blaster's at him. He saw Kisto's cocky smile and hated it. "I came here to help! If you don't want my help then I'm not going to give it!" Zack said angrily before turning to leave.

Zack stopped when he saw the blasters of each Vultans raised higher at his head. "You didn't think we'd just let you leave, did you? You know our identities." Kisto informed him.

Zack knew that his life was in danger and he needed to do something desperate to escape the situation. If only he had his lightsaber he could have easily defended against the blasters but he did not so he'd have to rely on the Force in a different way. He looked at the closest Vultan's blaster and began to concentrate on it, willing it to come to him. He had not done this trick in a long time and was never much good at it. But if he failed it could mean his life. The Vultan's blaster began to shake. Initially, the Vultan wrote it off as his nerves making his hand shake but then the shaking became too much and it felt like there was something pulling his blaster away from him. Suddenly the blaster jumped out of his hand and flew through the air towards Zack. Zack caught the blaster and for a moment fumbled it but he was able to get a good grasp on it and pointed it at Kisto.

"If I'm going to die, I'm going to take you with me." Zack said to Kisto.

Kisto laughed, "okay kid. You're a Rebel and we're not going to kill you." Kisto gestured to the other Vultan to lower his weapon.

Even after the other Vultan lowered his weapon Zack was a little weary of Kisto. This could be a trick, Zack thought to himself. But if he wanted to live he had no choice but to trust Kisto. Zack threw the blaster to Kisto who easily caught it. For a terrifying moment Kisto pointed the barrel of the blaster at Zack. It looked like he was going to fire but then he gave Zack a wide smile before tossing the blaster over to its original owner, one of the Vultans.

Kisto walked past Zack, "Come on kid. Say what you have to say while we walk."

Zack jogged to catch up and then matched Kisto's walking pace. "A few days ago Ru' Bik was captured by the Empire. They know he has been helping us... Rebels."

Kisto rubbed his chin. "This is unsettling news. Why haven't they reported this in the news?"

"The Empire is probably trying to keep everything quiet in order to get information out of Ru' Bik and attack the Rebels."

"Ru' Bik has given us many bases where most of the Rebellion is operating from. If he gives up the location of these bases then the Empire could effectively crush the Rebellion. I'll need to warn the Rebels to evacuate all the sites that Ru' Bik has given us or knows about."

Zack thought for a moment about what Kisto said. "Are you not going to try and recue Ru' Bik?"

"We don't have the resources to rescue Ru' Bik. We can't sacrifice soldiers to rescue him. We owe him a lot but I'm afraid he's on his own."

Zack was saddened by the news. Ru' Bik had shown him kindness; he had taken him and Lona into the compound when they could not even afford to feed themselves. He had grown to like the Vultan as he was humble and always eager to help. A genuinely good soul. Zack was forced to just keep quiet and nod.

He remembered that Kisto still had his lighsaber. "Hey, can you return everything you took from me."

Kisto nodded to one of the Vultans who gave him back the cylindrical device and the few credits that were on him when he was drugged.

/

Buck and Lona had failed to find Zack. They checked all the bars and the medical centesr within the vicinity. They could not even report him missing to the planet's authorities because they themselves may be wanted.

Buck looked at Lona. He could tell that she was both worried and sad about the whole situation. He felt sorry for her and wanted to comfort her but she did pull a blaster on him last night so he suspected that he could do very little to comfort her.

Lona felt like she was holding back tears. Zack had gone to find the Rebels stationed on this planet. The fact that he had not come back may mean that he was either dead or captured. She had many regrets. She wished she could have gone with him to watch his back. She had many fears. She feared of being alone again without him. They had been together for so long that it would feel like she was incomplete if she had to carry on without him.

The spaceship deck had grown quiet with her sullen mood. Then they were startled when the doors of the spaceship opened revealing Zack and an magnificent sunrise behind him. Lona's face lit up and she ran to him and hugged him. She felt like she could squeeze the life out of him. Zack was too exhausted to do anything but wait to see if she could actually do it.

When she reluctantly let him go she punched his shoulder. "Why didn't you call?"

"Well, I was fighting for my life." Zack said.

"Is that why you look like hell? But to be honest it's an improvement from how you usually look." Buck said leaning back casually on a wall.

Zack made a face of disgust. "Oh! For a moment I forgot that you even existed. Why are you still around? Haven't we sold the ship yet?"

"Yes we did. We'll finalise everything tomorrow." Lona looked up at the red sky as the sun began to rise on Tanik. "I mean… today."

"So where were you?" Buck asked.

Lona and Zack looked at him suspiciously. "Oh well, might as well tell you. It's not like there's anything you can do now." Zack said. "I made a long distance call to the Rebels and informed them of Ru' Bik's capture."

Buck was surprised to hear that. Questions were racing through his mind but they were questions that would make him look suspicious to the two Rebels. Meaning they would not answer any of them as they lacked trust in him. But to his relief Lona asked the question that was the most forefront of his mind.

"Are they going to try to rescue him?" Loan asked.

Zack looked at her in disappointment and even if he had not quietly shaken his head like he did, she would have known the answer by simply looking into his sad green eyes.

Buck clenched his fists in silent anger. He could not believe that the Rebels would not even attempt to save Ru' Bik. He had given them shelter at the risk of his freedom and life and now that he needed them they would abandon him? They are a bunch of ungrateful criminals, Buck angrily thought to himself. He regretted leaving him there. If he could go back in time… An idea began to form in his head.

"Why don't we save him?" Buck said.

Zack and Lona looked up at the former Stormtrooper. "What?" They simultaneously said.

Buck was more confident this time, "Let's save Ru' Bik!"