More Stories of Pabu 2: Choices (Five years later)
1.
The Imperial ship seemed to come out of nowhere, descending through the atmosphere like an ugly insect and landing at the top of the mountain with a clang.
Within moments a ramp extended, and an Imperial officer strode down it, followed by three TK-troopers, their white armor shining in the Pabu sun. The officer looked around him with a sneer on his face. Most of the residents who happened to be on the landing pad area scattered in panic; but the few brave ones—or perhaps they were simply frozen in fear—who remained saw the arrogance and condescension on his angular face.
He caught the eye of one such resident. "Who's in charge here?" he demanded.
"That would be the Mayor," the old man stuttered. "Shep."
"Get this person. Now."
The old man, eyeing the troopers behind the officer, blasters at their sides, began to scuttle away.
"No need," a voice said from the right. Shep walked toward the officer, stopping a few feet from him. "Welcome to Pabu. What can we do for you, Officer…?"
The Imperial straightened. "I am Captain Zelle," he announced haughtily. "And I am looking for a fugitive you're harboring here."
"A fugitive?" Shep stroked his chin in thought. "Well, let's discuss it in my office. Right this way."
"That won't be necessary," Zelle sniffed. "Bring the fugitive Marissa Highbloom to me. Right. Now."
"Marissa?" Shep shook his head. "I'm sorry, Captain, but Marissa died a short time after she arrived here."
"A likely story," Zelle snorted. "Bring the girl here now, or your little paradise will suffer the consequences." He looked around with narrow eyes. "In fact, I don't think the Empire is aware of your little community here. I just might need to make them aware."
"We are a small island village," Shep reasoned, "With no resources to speak of—"
"I'm sure the Empire would disagree with your assessment. There's always something a planet can offer. You've kept yourself hidden quite well, I'll give you that. It took me some time to track Miss Highbloom's journey here. But it ends now. Bring her to me—"
His speech was stopped short by a stun blast that hit him square in the back, and he fell to the ground. The troopers whirled but suffered the same fate, from a different direction, and tumbled down near their captain.
Hunter came out from behind a pillar holstering his blaster; Wrecker showed himself from behind the large tree near the Arkium.
"That…complicates things," Shep said as Hunter approached.
"Things got complicated the moment they showed up," Hunter replied.
"What do we do now?" Wrecker asked, looking at the fallen Imperials.
"Put them in the brig for now," Hunter told him. He looked at Shep. "Time for a conference."
2.
"Why can't we all go down to the beach?" Jewel asked, as Phee adjusted the sun hat over the child's wild hair.
"Because your daddy and I have to….do some research on our next treasure hunt."
"You can do that yourself, Mommy. I want Daddy to come, too."
"Did you hear that?" Phee exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips. "I'm just chopped nerf nuggets around here."
Omega, who had just finished packing some snacks for them, laughed. "Come on, Jewel," she said, patting the five-year old on the head. "We can have a contest. Whover builds the best Arkium out of sand wins."
"Wins what?"
"Glory, my darling," Tech said, handing her a shovel and pail.
"And that's the best prize, baby girl," Phee said, kissing her on the cheek. "Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
"I want a real prize," the girl pouted.
"How about this," Omega said. "If you win, you get to eat my dessert at dinner tonight. If I win, I get all the kisses I want from you today."
"But I already let you do that."
"Then you've got nothing to lose," Omega replied. "Come on, let's give your parents time to do their research."
When they'd gone, Phee looked at Tech with a raised brow. "Do you think Omega bought that?"
"Not for a moment," he answered, taking her in his arms.
She laughed as he lifted her up to sit on the edge of the kitchen counter and attacked the buttons of her shirt.
His mouth was on her breast, her head thrown back and her fingers flexing in his hair, when his comm unit went off.
"Tech," Hunter's voice issued from the commlink on the other side of the kitchen. "We have a situation."
"Don't you dare answer that," Phee said breathlessly. "Hunter's 'situations' always seem to involve the septic system."
He hesitated, then began to work on her other breast.
"Tech," Hunter persisted. "Are you there?"
Phee made a frustrated sound; he sighed and held up a finger. "One moment."
He clicked on the commlink. "Hunter, for your sake, I sincerely hope this is import—"
"Tech, the Empire is here."
They looked at each other with wide eyes. Phee began to button up her shirt.
"I'll get the girls. Go."
"I'm on my way," he told Hunter, dashing out the door.
Yes, indeed, a voice said inside, rather gleefully. Here we come.
3.
"He's after Red?" Crosshair said, sitting at the table in Shep's office with the rest of them—the Mayor, Hunter, Tech, Wrecker, and Omega. "What's he want with her?"
"Her name was Marissa," Hunter reminded him. "And I don't know. He claims she's a fugitive, but I get the feeling there's more to it than that."
"It doesn't matter, anyway," Shep said. "We can't give him what he wants. But the bigger problem is obvious. If we let them go, they'll alert the Empire and bring them down on us. After stunning them like that, I fear Captain Zelle will have no mercy."
"The Empire isn't known for its mercy," Crosshair said. "It's not in their lexicon. Even if you hadn't stunned them and thrown them into the brig, they'd smash us, simply because they can."
"So what do we do with them?" Wrecker asked. "Keep them in the brig forever?"
"That would be impractical, at best," Shep said. "What if they escape? And….I don't feel comfortable keeping prisoners like that. It's not what Pabu is about."
"I don't think you understand what you're up against," Crosshair said. "Are you going to let your morals endanger us all?"
"I know exactly what I'm up against," Shep assured him. "And I don't wish to end up like them. It's a slippery slope."
Crosshair narrowed his eyes at him. He liked the Mayor, he supposed, but the man could be incredibly naïve sometimes.
"There's got to be a way," Omega said, thinking. She looked over at Crosshair. "What if….what if Senn could use his, you know…." She waggled her fingers. "Influence. Make them forget they were even here."
Crosshair sighed, shaking his head. "It doesn't work that way. Even if they're weak-minded enough to be influenced, it would only be temporary." He looked over at Hunter. "You know what needs to be done. And I know the lot of you don't have the stomach to do it. So I will."
Shep looked at him in shock; the rest of them just looked to Hunter to see what he would say. Except Tech; he was looking down at the table, his lips moving slightly, as if talking to himself.
Hunter met Crosshair's gaze evenly. "We're not executioners, Crosshair."
"I won't let them destroy what we have here!"
"We'll figure something out," Hunter began.
"Are you willing to take that chance?" He shot his gaze to Tech. "You haven't said a word. Are you willing to risk Jewel's life? Phee's?"
Tech looked up from the table, his eyes filled with indecision. Then it disappeared, and he straightened in his chair. "It is not our decision, in the end. As Mayor, it is Shep's call. Until then, we see what we can come up with. I will go onto their ship and check their communication logs to determine if they sent any signal of their whereabouts."
"Good idea, Tech," Hunter said. "I'll go talk to Zelle once he wakes up and try to get more information. But for now, nothing has been decided. Understood?" That last was directed to Crosshair.
"Fine," he said, getting up from the table. "But it won't do any good. There's only one outcome that will solve this problem. I'm the solution, and you know it." He pushed his chair away noisily and left the office, fuming.
He'd only been home for a few days and would be gone in another few for his next job. Whatever was going to happen, it needed to happen soon.
Senn. He needed Senn. Whether it was simply his lover's presence that calmed him down, or a result of any "smoothing" of his emotions through the Force, it didn't matter. He walked blindly home, to their shared rooms on the peninsula.
He'd come to love Pabu. Mostly, it was because his family was here. His brothers. Omega. Little Sass. He loved them all. He would die for them all. Kill for them all.
But his fear of losing Senn drove him to make his decision.
4.
Pabu had no modern prison cells; just a room with old-fashioned metal bars for the door. There wasn't too much crime to speak of on the island, just the occasional drunken resident causing trouble, sent here to sleep it off.
When Hunter entered the brig and stood in front of the bars of the cell, Zelle and his three troopers were awake. They sat on the long bench against the wall, the troopers without armor, in their blacks. There were two men and one woman. With their helmets off, it was easier to see them as people, rather than faceless minions.
Zelle stood when he saw Hunter and glared at him. "Release us immediately!"
Hunter shook his head. "Can't do that. I can't endanger the people of Pabu."
"And who do you think you are? You will answer to the Empire, as all worlds do."
"He's a clone, sir," one of the troopers, the female, said. "I trained with a clone commander years ago. This one's different, not regulation, but I'd know one anywhere."
Zelle looked him up and down with a curled lip. "Hiding from the Empire here?" he said with contempt. "Your kind lost your usefulness long ago."
"Then there's no reason to cause trouble here."
"I'm not here for you, clone. I told you. I want the fugitive, Marissa Highbloom. Deliver her to me and I just might forget I saw this place."
Hunter knew he was lying; Zelle was the kind that would hold a grudge forever. But it didn't matter.
"What Shep told you was true. Marissa is dead. She died here years ago. She….took her own life." His guilt over the young woman's suicide still stabbed at him, and talking about it again now only sharpened the blade.
Surprise momentarily crossed Zelle's face, before it hardened again. "Why would she do that? She was young and found her way to this lovely utopia. What reason could she have for killing herself?"
"You tell me," Hunter said. "Why do you want her? What was she running from?"
"That's not your business."
"Then I guess we don't have anything else to talk about," Hunter said, turning to go. "I'll let you know what we decide to do with you."
"Wait!"
Hunter turned.
"I don't want to hurt her," Zelle conceded. "I….didn't want to hurt her. We were going to be married, and she ran. She ran away from her duty. From her family. From me." A cold grin spread across his face. "I took that rather personally."
"Married?" Hunter said, disbelieving. "You loved Marissa?"
Zelle snorted. "Of course I didn't love her. Her parents were arrested for treason, and she was taken in by her aunt, who wanted to redeem the family name with the Empire."
"And what was in it for you?"
"The Highblooms were a rather influential family during the Republic. Senators, diplomats, public officials, that sort of thing. I didn't care about any of that, nor did I worry about the taint of treason. Many officials were arrested back then for alleged crimes against the Empire," he said, waving it all away. "But the Highblooms did have something I wanted."
It was beginning to come together to Hunter. "Credits," he said in disgust.
"Don't discount the importance of wealth in this galaxy, clone," Zelle said. "Many marriages on many worlds have been arranged for lesser things."
Hunter crossed his arms. "So this isn't official Empire business. This is personal."
"Between my duties to the Empire, I've spent the last five years tracking Miss Highbloom's movements since she fled Coruscant. It was easy enough to find the transport she took to Daiyu. A little more work to discover her doings there—unfortunately for her, she wound up in a brothel, but I was willing to overlook that and give her a fresh start. It was the last part of her journey, how she made her way here, that took the longest. I will admit, it became somewhat of an obsession."
Hunter felt he'd been punched in the gut. He thought of Marissa, barely out of girlhood, her parents arrested, fleeing this man decades older than herself, and ending up in a brothel on that pit of a planet, Daiyu. He couldn't imagine what she had suffered there. No wonder she hadn't liked to talk about herself. As much as he disliked this odious man, he was grateful to learn this information about Marissa. Her death had haunted him, but she'd been an enigma. At least now he understood her a little better.
"You spent years looking for Marissa, even though you had no feelings for her. You could have married some other wealthy woman, but you chose to chase her down across the galaxy. Why?"
Zelle sneered. "Because I can. Just like the Empire will destroy this little island community of yours. Simply because they can. And they will when they come looking for me. So I suggest you release us, and perhaps I can negotiate a deal so you don't lose your pathetic little lives."
"I could do that," Hunter said, and Zelle nodded as if his captor was coming to his senses. "But I probably won't, seeing how the Empire has no idea you're here." Tech had confirmed it; no transmissions had gone out from their shuttle. This had been a private mission, not official Empire business.
Zelle's confidence faltered. "What do you want?" he asked flatly.
"I want you to go away and never return," he answered. "I want Pabu to remain unknown to the Empire. But I don't think I'll get those things." He turned to leave.
"What will you do with us?" Zelle demanded.
"We haven't decided yet," he said over his shoulder.
"I can pay you," the Captain continued, trying to keep the desperation out of his voice. "We can make a deal."
"No deals," Hunter said, and left the brig.
"Clone!" he heard Zelle scream, but he kept walking.
5.
Senn pretended to sleep and listened as Crosshair rose from the bed, got dressed, checked his weapons in the other room, and quietly slipped out of their apartments.
He would have liked to continue their evening activities, as he only had Cross for a few days; but his lover had been distracted as it was and had waited for Senn to fall asleep.
He knew where Cross was going, and what he intended to do. He'd heard about the Imperials' arrival and the conundrum this caused. They were after Marissa, after all these years. Even if she was alive, they wouldn't have simply handed her over. And they would have been in the same spot they were in now.
Cross had come home agitated, cursing everyone as fools. Senn had got him a cup of grog, sat him down and listened to him until he could string two sentences together without the word "kriff." It took a while. He didn't like to use the Force on Cross if he could help it. He had other ways of calming him down.
When Cross ran out of words and the grog relaxed him, Senn took his face in his hands and said, "It will be all right," and kissed him before any retorts could come out. And kept kissing him, until Cross sighed and gave in, his arms coming up around Senn.
Now he sat up in bed staring into the darkness, wondering what bothered him more: what Cross was about to do, or the fact that he didn't try to stop him.
6.
Crosshair silently approached the brig, which was near Shep's office at the top of the mountain.
He still tasted Senn on his lips, which only bolstered him in his task. He knew Senn had only been pretending to sleep, but he couldn't wait much longer; this had to be done. He'd half-expected Senn to call after him and tell him to stop, but he hadn't. He would examine that later.
Whenever anyone was in the brig—which wasn't often, but it happened—Shep left a volunteer to watch them overnight. He'd have to stun them, but there was no way around it.
He opened the door casually, as if he were going to chat with whoever was there. But when he stepped inside, the guard—a Weequay man named Titi, who'd been teaching him how to play Sabaac—was lying on the floor near the desk.
Crosshair knelt and checked him. Alive, just unconscious. Before he could wonder what happened, he heard a commotion in the next room where the cell was. Yelling, banging, and—and sickening crunches, like bones breaking.
He ran into the cell room. What he saw there caused his mouth to open and his toothpick to fall to the floor.
Someone was inside the cell beating—no, breaking—the Imperials. Two of the troopers were already on the floor, their bodies lying at unnatural angles. The assailant was in the act of holding the third from behind, breaking his neck. A crack echoed through the cell, and the trooper thudded to the floor. Zelle, cowering in the corner, begged for his life.
"Please. I'll make you rich, I guarantee it. I'll give you whatever you want, just don't kill me!"
The assailant, whose back was to both Zelle and Crosshair, turned to look at the Captain with glittering eyes and a malicious smile.
"You don't have anything I want, Imperial," Tech said. "Except your life."
7.
After checking the Imperial shuttle and confirming there'd been no communications giving their whereabouts, Tech went home. It was a long walk down the mountain, but he wasn't alone.
No one knows theyr'e here, the Shadow said. Only one thing left to do.
"Nothing has been decided yet," Tech muttered. "Now be quiet."
Oh yes, Shep and Hunter deciding what to do. What a joke. The sniper is right, and you know it.
"Shut up."
This is what I was made for, the Shadow went on, wheedling. If anything remotely good can come out of Tantiss, let it be this. Let me save your precious family. And you can make yourself feel better by knowing this: it won't be you. It will be me. Let me do it!
"I said shut up!"
People looked at him oddly as he passed. Not for the first time, he wondered if he was insane. Senn had told him once that insane people aren't aware that they're insane. It gave little comfort.
When he walked into his house, Jewel left the table where she'd been eating and ran into his arms. "Daddy!"
"Hello, my darling."
The girl had sunberry juice stains around her mouth. "Since we didn't have dinner with everyone else, I didn't get my dessert." Her pout turned into a proud smile. "I won the contest, even though we weren't done yet. When Mommy came to tell us about the….the Perials."
Phee came over and took her from Tech's arms. "I'm sure Omega will give you her dessert tomorrow. Now let's get you in the bath."
"I don't want to," she whined.
"I've got glow bubbles," Phee offered.
"Yay!" Jewel clambered down from her mother's arms and ran to the refresher.
They watched her go and smiled. Phee looked at him then. "You okay?"
"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" Did he look twitchy?
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because we have Imperials here who could potentially ruin our lives, along with everyone else's on Pabu."
"That won't happen."
"What makes you so sure?"
"Hunter and Shep are working on it."
"Hmmmm."
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing," she said, shrugging.
"Clearly it is not nothing."
"Well, I don't know, Tech," she said irritably. "I'm just….scared. You know?"
"I do know," he said, coming closer and putting his hands on her arms. "I am, too."
"Mommy!" Jewel yelled from the refresher. "Bubbles! Hurry up!"
"Coming, baby," Phee called. "Hold your fathiers."
"What are fathiers?" she called back.
"Never mind." She pulled away from him and headed toward the refresher. "There's fish stew on the stove," she said over her shoulder. He watched her go.
She wants you to do something.
"Don't you think I know that?"
He went over to the stove and stirred the stew. But he couldn't eat.
Later, he tucked a clean Jewel into bed, making sure Lula was beside her.
"Daddy?"
"Yes?"
"What does the Perial man want?"
"He….is looking for someone. But she's not here."
"Is he mad?"
"Yes. I think so."
"Is that why everyone is afraid of him?"
He stroked her hair. "You don't have to be afraid, my darling. I won't let anything happen to you."
"I know you won't, Daddy." She snuggled up with Lula.
Such trust. Such utter faith, the voice said. Can you live up to it?
He pushed the voice away.
"I love you, Jewel."
She yawned. "Love you, too." She turned on her side, closed her eyes, and was asleep within minutes.
He watched her sleep for a long time, observing the rise and fall of her chest, until he heard Phee call softly from the other room.
"Tech? Are you coming to bed?"
He got up, closed Jewel's door, and went to the bedroom he shared with Phee, who sat up in bed waiting for him. He stood in the doorway. "I'm going to go talk to Hunter. To try to come up with a plan."
"Okay." She looked at him uncertainly. "Tech…."
"Don't wait up for me," he said, and left the house.
As he walked up the road, he said, "If I let you out, if I let you do what you do, you will never speak to me in my head again unless I want you to. Do you agree to this?"
He nearly felt the Shadow smile in his head. Agreed.
"Then let's go."
8.
"What are you doing?" Crosshair cried.
"Beating you to it, sniper." He grabbed Zelle by the throat and squeezed.
"Tech—"
"Guess again," he said, not looking away from Zelle, whose eyes were bulging from his head, his face turning from red to purple, his hands trying to pry the vice from his throat.
"Stop," Crosshair said.
"Why? Isn't this why you came here?" he grunted, tightening his grip. Zelle was now blue, his eyes rolling up in his head.
"Not like this," Crosshair stammered. He liked a clean, quick blaster bolt to the head or chest. Not this…. mangling.
Zelle gurgled and went limp. Tech—this person who looked like Tech—dropped him to the floor. He turned to Crosshair, a satisfied smile on his face. "Mission accomplished."
"What….who-?" And then he remembered: Senn had told him about a "shadow" inside Tech. His blood went cold. He never thought he'd actually meet such an entity. It was terrifying.
The Shadow moved toward Crosshair, and he took a step back, raising his blaster. "Don't."
He cocked his head, his mouth turned up slightly. "Don't worry. I won't hurt you. He wouldn't let me, anyway." He looked around the cell, at the bodies strewn on the floor. "I must say, this was very satisfying." He looked back over at Crosshair. "He owed me, you see. I protected him on Tantiss. Without me, he would have died."
A blank look suddenly passed over his face, and he fell to his hands and knees with a gasp. "I did not let you do this for you," he said, and Crosshair knew it was Tech speaking now. He looked up at Crosshair. "I allowed it for Pabu."
Crosshair said nothing. He only nodded, held out his hand and helped Tech up. There was, really, nothing to say, except, "What do we do with them?"
9.
They loaded the bodies onto the Imperial ship and flew to a small uninhabited island about a hundred klicks away. There, they buried the Imperials. It took several hours, digging into the sandy ground with small shovels they found on the ship, and by the time they were done, it was dawn, and they were covered in sweat and dirt.
When the Imperial shuttle touched down on the landing pad, Hunter was there to meet them, his arms crossed and his face severe as they descended the ramp.
"Where are they?" he demanded.
"Gone," Crosshair said. "That's all you need to know."
"You killed them." Anger and disappointment laced Hunter's words. "Damnit, Crosshair—"
Tech said, "No. It was not him."
Hunter looked at him in surprise. "You?"
"It wasn't him, either" Crosshair said. "Well, not really."
"You're not making any sense," Hunter said, exasperated.
"Let's just say….a shadow took matters into his own hands," Crosshair suggested.
Hunter looked from one to the other. Tech held his gaze, willing him to understand.
Finally, Hunter nodded. "All right. What's done is done. We'll strip the ship for parts. We'll never speak of this again." He threw Tech a questioning look. "Will we?"
"No," Tech said, no doubt knowing Hunter meant Will this happen again?. "I give you my word."
"Good. Now go home. Phee is worried."
After Tech walked away, Hunter turned to Crosshair. "You saw it?"
"Yes." He put a toothpick in his mouth as he watched Tech make his way down the road. "And I hope I never do again."
"But you were there," Hunter continued. "That means you planned on doing it yourself."
Crosshair raised a brow. "You going to arrest me for something I planned on doing?"
Hunter shook his head. "I'm not arresting anyone." He sighed. "But what am I going to tell Shep?"
"Tell him whatever you want. It can't be undone and Pabu is safe. That's all that matters."
"But—"
"I'm tired, Hunter," he interrupted, supremely uninterested in the conversation. "I'm going home."
Senn was waiting.
10.
When Tech walked into his house, Phee got up from the table where she'd been staring at some steaming tea and hurried over to him, clutching him to her.
"Thank the stars," she whispered in his ear. "When you didn't come back and Hunter said you were gone, I didn't know what to think. I was so scared. I thought…." She wept softly.
He knew what she'd suspected and feared: that he'd been lost to the Shadow.
"It's all right," he said, running his hand over her hair. "It's over. It's done."
She pulled back and looked at him, her eyes red with tears and no sleep. "Is it done? With….him?"
"I gave him what he wanted, and now Pabu is safe. It is done," he assured her.
She embraced him again; they stayed like that for a long time, until Jewel ran from her room where she'd been playing.
"Daddy!"
He picked her up and she hugged him. "Eww, why are you so dirty?"
"I had some work to do. But I'm done now. I'm home."
One more question, the voice intruded as he gazed at his family. Was it worth it?
"Yes," he said, without hesitation.
"Yes what?" Jewel asked, looking up at him quizzically.
"Yes, I definitely need a bath. And I heard we had some glow bubbles around here."
Jewel laughed. "Those are my bubbles!"
"What, you won't share?" he teased, as he headed toward the refresher.
"Well, okay, but just a little bit."
"A little? I am bigger than you. Which means I need more. It is a mathematical fact…