While Others Became Specters

by Lux's Sister

Some were very much alive. It's rebel versus thief when the crew of the Ghost encounters a group of Onderonian con men, that is until it comes to light that they both work for Fulcrum. With more than enough corrupt Imperials to go around, a new job for both teams is in order. After all, every good rebel must know how to steal. [While Others #6]

6. Sabine Suffers for Art

CHAPTER SIX – SABINE SUFFERS FOR ART

SABINE

I know this day is going to be interesting when Katooni shakes me out of bed saying she needs to scrub the painted designs off my arms.

"But I just painted them last night," I protest.

"I know," Katooni says. "Sometimes, artistic flair has to be sacrificed for the greater good. But there's an upside."

"What's that?"

The former Jedi Initiate drags a chair into the refresher and sits me down in it. "We're going to give you a makeover."

Makeover, I tense up a little, then force myself to relax. Makeovers are a form of art, Sabine. This should be fun, even if you're not big into makeup.

Katooni rubs a wet cloth over my arms, removing the designs I so painstakingly created last night.

And it took an hour to paint those. But she needs a clean canvas to do her work.

Art, art. Think of it all as art.

…

"Ow!"

Katooni yanks the wax strip from my eyebrow, tearing out the delicate hairs and leaving the skin red and screaming.

"Sorry," she apologizes, dabbing a soothing lotion on my brow. "But beauty is pain."

"You know, you haven't even mentioned why you're making me over." I point out as she rubs a moisturizer over my face. So far, Katooni's makeover is entirely underwhelming. I can only hope there will be more color with the clothes and makeup.

"Well, Sierra can't do her job because the mark knows her." Katooni explains. "Hera and I can't do it because the Empire won't let anyone but humans in. Steela has to do her own job, and my mom is a really bad actress. So, that only leaves one person."

"Why can't Lux or Kanan do it?" I ask desperately.

"It's a masquerade, not an alias." Katooni says smoothly. "You're taking the place of the real inspector, who's a woman. Don't worry, you shouldn't have any trouble since you went to the Imperial academy. And if you do, Sierra will walk you through it."

She brandishes the makeup brush.

"Now, hold still."

…

At least the colors Katooni rubs into my face are nice: a series of browns and tans for most of my face, black kohl smeared around my eyes, and a soft pink applied over my lips. I might have made some bolder choices if I was the one picking the colors, but it's clear I have no say in the matter. When I suggested a nice-looking purple eye shadow a few minutes ago, Katooni only said "Uh-huh" and grabbed a brown one.

But the painful ordeal is over. I now have waxed eyebrows, glossed lips, and mascara on my eyelashes.

"Am I good to go?" I ask.

For an answer, Katooni hands me a bundle of clothes.

"Put those on and meet us in the common room." She says, waltzing out of the room.

I look down at the clothes in my hands. It's general business clothing, a white shirt and gray blazer with a matching set of pants. Wondering what Katooni has against color, I step into them and glance into the mirror. My dyed hair sticks out like a blue rose in a snowbank. Or more accurately, a slush bank. At least Katooni couldn't take it away.

I open the refresher door and walk into the common room.

Katooni's sitting in a chair, preening. Hera and Kanan are on the couch, next to Lux and Sierra.

"How's that?" Katooni asks, gesturing to me.

"You look pretty, Sabine." Hera interjects.

"You do," Katooni compliments. "But the hair is going to be a problem. Hang on."

She zips off to her cabin and returns with a black wig, wasting no time before affixing the hairpiece to my head and scooping the false tresses into a professional bun.

"Perfect," Sierra announces. "Sabine, you look ready to steal my job."

"You can have it back." I mumble.

Sierra gets out of her chair and hands me a small flesh-colored object. "Here's an ear comlink. To go with that, we're going to put a button cam right here." She fixes a tiny device to one of my shirt's buttons.

"And last but not least, this." Hera butts in, holding out a small package wrapped in scrap flimsi.

I take it and start to tear the flimsi. Our crew doesn't have much in the way of material goods, and it's nowhere near my birthday. There's no reason for Hera to give me a gift.

The flimsi falls away and I look down at the trinket in my hands. It's a bracelet with glass beads, each a different color with a complementary swirl.

"To make up for all that gray," Hera winks.

"You shouldn't have," I say, staring at the piece of jewelry.

Hera clasps the bracelet around my wrist. "You deserve it, Sabine. Now let's get on the move; we have a job to do."

…

"Alright Sabine," Hutch says through the ear comm. "All the identification cards you need are in the purse we gave you. Your name is Livia Blane, and you're from the Imperial Department of Agriculture."

"You're not a very high-ranking employee to be sent to Lothal," Sierra chimes in. "But the mark is going to treat you as if you're a queen. I want you to be assertive, but fall back on your cadet mannerisms as if they're habit."

"Just a question. What happened to the real Livia Blane?" I ask.

"She and the auditing department both think her boss sent an email to wait at the hotel for further instructions." Hutch explains. "She's in a real nice hotel; she won't have any problem keeping busy there."

Next to me in the speeder, Steela checks her gear. "You seem like you're up to the task. Hutch and Sierra have you covered."

"Thanks." I smile, checking my identity card. Sure enough, it's a Department of Agriculture badge with my picture and Livia Blane's name. The quality is impressive; I never would have pegged it as a forgery.

Kanan pats me on the shoulder. "You'll do great. After all, acting is a performing art."

Well, that makes me feel a bit better. "Thanks, Kanan."

Lux mutters something to Ahsoka. Something that sounds like "Unhand me, brigand!"

"That was once." She replies.

"I wish your master had gotten it on tape."

I look at Steela for an answer, but she just shrugs. This must be some kind of inside joke.

Captain Rex brings the speeder to a stop. "All right Sabine, this is your stop."

"Remember to keep your chin up!" Hera reminds me as I climb out of the speeder and walk toward the front door of the building, letting myself into the lobby.

The ear comlink crackles to life. "Sabine, the mark is moving in. Shake his hand after he introduces himself." Sierra orders.

I bite back a smarmy reply and focus on the man coming toward me.

"You must be the officer from the Department of Agriculture," he announces and extends his hand. "Robert Spencer, Vice president of the division on Lothal."

I shake his hand. "Good to meet you. I'm Livia Blane, investigations and auditing."

The people in auditing are the scariest people alive.

And oh yes, Spencer looks just a little taken aback. "It's a pleasure to have you here, Miss Blane. I take it you'd like to see our accounts?"

"Yes," I say. "I just need to copy the records for my superiors before I inspect the rest of the operation."

Spencer's step catches. "The rest of the operation?"

"It's a new protocol. Didn't you get the HoloMail this morning?"

We didn't send it per se. Lux, Ahsoka, Hera, and Kanan fought over its content for a good hour and when they finally came up with a final draft, Hutch re-routed it through the Empire's servers to make it look like the Department of Agriculture actually sent it. The only reason his wife Hero didn't come in to help write it was because she was still moping over her vanilla fried nuna.

The look on Ezra's face told me he had something to do with it, but I kept mum.

Spencer digs his comlink out of his pocket to check his HoloMail. "Oh, of course," he says as he blatantly reads the message. "I'll be happy to send you the coordinates of our fields, the packing plants, and all our offices. There are no other surprises coming, are there?"

"Give him an ambiguous answer; it'll keep him on his toes." Sierra advises.

"I don't think so. But you never know with beauracracy these days." I say, walking ahead of him into the turbolift.

"Beautiful," Sierra compliments. "You're a natural. If you keep this up we'll have his credits in no time."

The turbolift arrives at the agriculture floor, which doesn't look like I expected at all. The only thing vaguely agricultural about it is a painting of crops. Otherwise, it's a generic office building.

"The accounts are this way," Spencer says, leading me down the hall and to a large room. "Please feel free to use whatever you need."

I take a seat at a terminal. "This should work. Thank you."

"All right Sabine, I'll walk you through this." Hutch says. "To send the files to me, plug your datacard into the port, and then select -."

"I know how to send files," I whisper, plugging in the datacard and easily copying the files to send to him.

"You do," Hutch says, a little surprised. "Leave the datacard in there for one more…okay, I've got it. You can take it out now."

Force only knows what he did, but it has to be good news for us.

"Sabine," Lux says, "Look at the files like you know what you're doing with them. After a while, tell him that the output numbers don't match up."

"Lux, are you nuts? That'll just scare him." Sierra protests.

"You didn't let me finish." Lux says through what I imagine are gritted teeth. "Say that you need to visit the fields in person in order to find out what's wrong. That's your opening."

I bite my lip. "Looks like there's a problem here."

Spencer leans in. "Problem?"

"Well, your output numbers don't match with our estimates." I say, looking down at my datapad. "I doubt it's your fault, but I'll need to visit your fields to find out for sure."

…

The fields are exactly how I pictured them: absolutely depressing.

The hungry residents of Tarkintown labor with the crops, probably only to get a few credits for their efforts.

"Keep your cool, Sabine." Hera says. "Do you need Sierra and I to coach you through the next part?"

I duck away from Spencer. "No, I've got it under control."

"This is one of our fields." Spencer calls after me. "As you can see, everyone's hard at work. I don't know why those output numbers wouldn't match up."

"You've been using pesticide, correct?" I ask, walking to one of the tankers.

"Yes," Spencer says, jogging to catch up. "It's Imperial-grade; we buy it from a local company."

I unscrew the cap and look at the contents. "Looks okay," I lie, not knowing pesticide from Hoth. "And fertilizer?"

"Compost," he explains. "It's free and functional."

"Good," I agree. "There are just a few more matters I can think of. The weather's been agreeable?"

"It has. I just don't know how this happened."

"That leaves us to our last option."

Bending down, I open my briefcase to remove a small set of test tubes. I scoop some of the soil into the vial and add a few drops of liquid from two bottles. It almost immediately turns black.

"Well, that explains it."

"Explains what?"

I hold up the vial.

"Let's go back to your office, Mr. Spencer. We have a problem to discuss."

A/N: She may have a dangerous role, but she's doing all right! Now, what's the problem with the soil? And what is she even trying to steal here?

Thank you to starwarshobbitfics, Johnt12345, and Rose Ravenclaw for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!

Until next time,

Lux's Sister