CHAPTER EIGHT – SABINE AND MOLLY PLAY WITH FIRE

SABINE

Konrad Nightwine. He specializes in tearing down grifters.

Wow Sierra, that just boosted my self-confidence through the roof.

"It's all right," Ahsoka reassures us. "Sabine, if you stay calm he won't suspect a thing. Eighty thousand is a good paycheck any day. Just introduce yourself and say you're leaving."

I extend my hand. "I'm Inspector Livia Blane. Pleased to meet you."

"Special Agent Nightwine." He says, pumping my hand with one firm shake.

"Aw man, he got a promotion?" Hutch moans.

"Loss prevention." Nightwine continues. "I'm sure you understand, working at your position."

As much as I hate the thought, I'm going to kiss up to him. "For sure. We use a lot of the same tactics, actually."

Sierra butts in. "Make a little complaint about a shared part of the job. That'll throw in a nice dose of camaraderie for him; it'll give him a nice, warm feeling about you."

"When I first started, I thought I would throw up if I saw another expense report!" I say, tossing in a chuckle for good measure.

Nightwine's lip twitches.

"That's good," Hera sighs. One doesn't have to be force-sensitive to sense the relief pouring off her.

"Sierra, you didn't use that complaining trick on any of us, right?" Steela asks.

"Um…I don't know, Steela. All the stealing we do, I think if I have to lift one more wallet I'll go nuts."

"That's not funny."

"So, what brings you here?" I ask Nightwine, praying that my alias doesn't know the answer.

"I've been stationed on Lothal to monitor the transactions for the Empire's new facilities." Nightwine says coolly. "A planet housing factories, mines, and large-scale agriculture requires a loss prevention agent to prevent any kind of error from occurring."

"Ask him if he means fraud." Sierra orders.

What?

"It'll make you sound innocent," She explains. "And considering you have a check for eighty thousand cred of bribe money in your briefcase, you need everything you can get."

"You mean fraud?" I ask, praying that Sierra's instincts are half as good as she thinks they are. "Who would try to defraud the Empire?"

"There's been an issue with a small band of rebels." Nightwine says. "I'm sure the damages have been noted on your expense reports."

"They have," I say, swallowing a lump of concern.

"Don't worry," Hutch says. "I'm beefing up the alias beyond belief. The one he cracked looks like Swiss cheese compared to this one. And I doubt anyone would recognize you without your blue hair."

But I find aid in the most unlikely of places: Robert Spencer, shady businessman extraordinaire. "It's nothing our financial teams couldn't handle." He says, smiling widely.

Your financial team and your skimming operation. I think wryly. Too bad you're up against not just one team of rebels, but two. One of which happens to be a cell of elite con artists.

Takes one to know one, I guess. Except that our scheme flew right past Spencer's eyes. Maybe we didn't get the exact payout that we wanted, but eighty thousand credits still help the people of Tarkintown and supply a considerable commission for Fulcrum's team and our crew. And if Hutch manages to worm his way into Spencer's account, we'll only get more.

"I'd have to agree with that. We're working day in and day out to keep everything safe." I smile. "Well, I need to take my numbers back to headquarters before they start to think I've fallen into a hole."

"Of course," Spencer says, carefully ducking around Nightwine. I follow him. "If you'll excuse us, Mr. Nightwine, Miss Blane's speeder is waiting for her."

Nightwine nods. "Of course. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Blane."

"Yours too," I say and follow Spencer out, slowing my steps so I lag behind him. "Hutch, we need to deposit this check as soon as I get back to you."

"Don't worry, I already have mobile deposit open."

I close ranks with Spencer in the turbolift. "Thank you for showing me out."

"Of course," he says, wringing his hands as the turbolift door closes. "And thank you for being so, um, understanding about the nitrates. I assure you we'll get that problem fixed as soon as possible."

Should I do it?

"It would be in your best interest to do so." I say, looking straight ahead.

That moment feels almost as good as cheating Spencer out of eighty thousand credits.

"Right, right." Spencer stammers. The turbolift stops and we walk through the lobby. "Is this you?" he asks, pointing to a speeder parked in front of the building.

"It is," I say, waving to Kanan in the driver's seat. "Thank you for your hospitality, and it was a pleasure doing business with you."

I offer my hand.

Spencer swallow hard and takes it. "Right, a pleasure. H-have a nice day!"

I half-strut out of the building and get into the backseat of the speeder.

"Got it?" Kanan asks, looking in the rearview mirror.

"Got it." I confirm. "Where are the others?"

Kanan starts driving. "They're waiting around the corner. Prepare yourself, Sabine. They're very excited."

…

"You were amazing!"

Hera climbs into the speeder, her lips a fountain of rare praise. "Sabine, you did such a good job. Eighty thousand credits!"

"Speaking of which..?" Hutch reaches out for the check, which I proudly hand over. He quickly scans it using his comlink and smiles. "Went straight through. I'm transferring it to our accounts now."

Sierra and Steela pile into their seats in the back, and Ahsoka and Lux follow getting in next to Hera and I.

"Sabine, you're a natural." Sierra praises.

"For sure." Steela elbows her friend. "You gave Sierra here a run for her credits a few times."

"What?"

"It's true," Steela jests.

"But in all seriousness," Ahsoka says, ignoring the women in the backseat. "If you ever get tired of being a graffiti artist, then you could look into acting."

"Not just acting." Lux specifies. "Grifitng. The Alliance can always use more people like you as long as it needs credits. And yes," he hurries to say before Hutch and Steela can protest. "I realize that stealing the Imperial Lottery grand prize was very difficult, Hutch. And yes, Steela, taking the Amulet of Iziz was no picnic-."

"No picnic? I was in an air vent for almost twenty-four hours waiting for the guard to go away."

"How are we going to get the credits to the people of Tarkintown?" I ask, changing the subject.

"Easy." Hutch says. "I'll ship them all bonus checks and put "employee appreciation event" in the memo line. Molly could help me with it, easy as pie."

"Come to think of it," Hero says. "Ahsoka, have you talked to any of the kids recently?"

MOLLY

It took about half a second for Tav and Kiara to start fighting again. This time, they dragged the poor rebel boy, Ezra, into it.

I'm left where I always am: behind my computer, trying hack Dad to find more information about the con.

And also, to serve as a distraction from Tav and Kiara yanking Ezra to their sides of the argument like a yo-yo. Man, it's kind of nice that he's taking my place.

I go back to the computer. Nightwine would probably be a good place to start. Opening up Empire-wide search parameters…

Hmm. Konrad Nightiwne, forty-odd years old. He works for the ISB's loss prevention department and apparently transfers that knowledge over to his finances. His savings are more stable than Coruscant's orbit. And the money market…impressive. Most impressive.

I go deeper. It looks like Nightwine lives alone for the most part. He's sending payments to someone named Emily Spring – probably a girlfriend or client. There was a recent withdrawal for a Matthew Cooper, too. I'll have to check those out.

HELLO MOLLY.

I freeze, eyes glued to the text which has seemingly written itself across my screen. Suddenly, a new window pops up.

THIS IS DAD.

Oh, I'm in so much trouble.

I type back Hi Uncle Rex! This is totally a prank he would pull. The response is almost instantaneous.

THIS IS DAD, AND YOU'D BETTER EXPLAIN WHY YOU'RE TRYING TO HACK ME. RIGHT NOW.

Dad, I can explain. I type, opening another window from which I plan to back-hack him. Ezra got worried about Sabine and wanted me to check up on who she was working with.

Simultaneously, I sneak in through his channels. Come on, I just need one tiny little opening!

My program is thrown back in my face with a message.

MOLLY, DON'T YOU DARE TRY TO BACK-HACK ME.

I'm not! I type, sending another worm.

A new message fills the screen.

DDO NOT LIE TO USS

Uh-oh. Dad may have nigh-perfect typing skills, but when Mom gets angry she tends to hold down the keys. Shot in the dark, she grabbed Dad's computer.

Hi Mom?

MOLLYY STOP TTRYING TO HACKK YOUR FATHERR!

Mom, I'm just looking at the con stuff. I'm not doing anything. Hopefully she buys it and doesn't want to look at the records I've been digging through.

But the next message is neatly typed, with no double letters. That means Dad has the keyboard again.

I CAN SEE YOUR INTRUSIONS ON THE SERVER. YOU HAVE NO REASON TO BE LOOKING AT UNAUTHORIZED DATA FOR AN ACTIVE JOB. IT'S TOO DANGEROUS.

It's just the bank. Ezra was worried.

THEN ASK SOMEONE ON THE SHIP HOW WE'RE DOING. THEY ALL KNOW.

But they're busy and I can just look it up myself.

FOR THE RECORD, SABINE IS FINE. SHE DID A GREAT JOB.

Well, that's a relief. I stick my head out over the top of the computer.

"Hey, Ezra. Your sister's okay. Dad says she did a great job taking care of the mark."

Tav and Kiara's argument ceases long enough for Ezra to process what I just said. "Sister? Sabine isn't my sister."

"Could have fooled me." Kiara grumbles.

"But we're not." Ezra protests. "Not biologically, anyway."

While they talk, I go in for the back-hack one more time.

YOU'VE LEFT ME NO CHOICE. SORRY.

Right after I read that message, something pops up in my feed: a string of code only a few characters long.

My eyes widen. "Oh, no."

"What's going on?" Tav asks to my worried face.

I immediately close the messaging program and everything else I had open, trying to scrub the code from my hard drive. "My dad just sent me a fork bomb. It's a program that makes a gazillion copies of itself and it completely bogs down your computer. The only way you can get rid of it is to scrub it from all your programs."

"And that's not the only thing he sent."

My fingers freeze on the keys. Tav gulps. Kiara swallow hard. Ezra blinks.

The most terrifying person in the universe stands in the doorway.

"Hi, Grandma Mina." I squeak out.

A/N: Bonscary has returned! If Ezra hasn't already learned the depths of maternal rage from an angry Hera, he's going to learn it now!

But it might not have been for naught. Does anyone recognize those names from Nightwine's finances?

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

Until next time,

Lux's Sister