Chapter 5
The Game is afoot
At one time not too long ago, although it feels like ages ago now, Melissa would have told you that fitness in training during basic was the most brutal thing she had ever gone trough. Now she had a new definition of hell.
Her arms were trembling as she lowered herself from upright, her feet tucked onto her bed. If only that was the worst of it, it would have been tolerable. But, no! She had to have the slave drivers legs on top of her bruised back. She had long since lost count of how many push ups she had done, she was not going to think of the preceding burpees, sit ups, laps around the corridor, suicide sprints, pull ups on the door rim of the refresher. Damn that doctor for declaring her healed. The slave driver must have noticed a drop in pace as she put down the datapad she was reading.
"If you are getting bored we can always go back to CQC training." Terri kindly offered
Melissa's arms collapsed. She dropped down panting, longingly she looked at the space under the cot. It looked nice and dark, they will never find her there as long as she keeps quiet. Now she only had to get her body to move, her body had other ideas, it screamed at her to beg for death and get it over and done with.
"No, pity that. Oh well, I believe Carth has a nice lecture on fleet communication protocols prepared."
Melissa groaned as yet another agony was inflicted on her, watching paint dry was more fascinating than Carth's lectures. Even calculating hyperjumps with star charts manually was more fascinating. She noted with happiness that the sun was finally setting, soon she would be allowed to rest. Eschewing dignity she started crawling to the refresher, too tired and legs too rubbery to stand. She skirted around Carth's chair, too tired to glare at the smirking man only finally standing to operate the controls and stumble into the refresher.
"She is tougher than I gave her credit for" Carth said musingly, "By now even seasoned commando's would have started bitching."
"She is a tough kid" Terri smiled proudly." I am more surprised how quickly she is picking up the Echani style of fighting."
"That is something I wanted to ask you about, where id you learn that? I have heard that it is very rare for anyone not Echani to learn it."
"One of the trainers I was under during retraining was Echani. Actualy I never realy thought about how strange that was, now that you mention it."
Terri pondered that for a while, before getting a mischievous smirk. Carth wanted to drop his head into his hands and groan. Nothing good ever happed when she got that look
"Damn, I knew I was forgetting something."
"What?" Carth asked, already regretting asking
"The courtesy protocols that goes along with it."
"Why is this important?"
"You mean apart from the knowledge and wisdom gained from learning about other cultures?" She replied innocently
"Yes."
"The fact that if she ever fights any Echani bare handed it could be seen as a marriage proposal."
Carth's jaw dropped at that.
"Come again?"
"Apart from them being very class structured and marriage outside your class, never mind non Echani, rarely happens. It is that combat is a part of Echani mating rituals; it is a requirement that the couple or whatever number or gender be compatible in combat, the most dominant one will be the head of the new family."
"Are you seriously telling me that they are not only; not monogamous but to get married you have to beat the crap out of each other first?"
"Yes. The also have no divorce."
Carth sat back and pondered this, before a rare smile graced his face.
"Try to make sure she is drinking something when you tell her this. Five credits that the spit take will reach three feet."
"You are on, but it will be two feet."
Melissa exceeded expectations, it reached four feet, making Carth the happy recipient of five credits.
Melissa woke as a hand covered her mouth and nose, giving an instinctual gasp she tasted synth leather. Terri was standing over her, dressed in the black coverall her hair hidden under a cap, a bandana covered her face. Her hands covered by synth leather gloves. A bundle was shoved into her chest.
"You have two minutes to get dressed." Terri hissed.
Melissa got up, Carth was seated with his back to the her facing the door, watching the droid pad. His blaster was in his lap. Hastily she chucked her sleeping clothes and got dressed. Terri was timing her on her chronograph and nodded when she made it in the allotted time.
"You are clear, go." Carth said not looking from the pad
Terri led the way to the door, pulling on her utility vest followed by an empty black backpack. Melissa followed pulling on her own pack. The hall way was poorly lit, the skinflint caretaker clearly trying to save even more credits to siphon off later. They moved to the even more dimly lit staircase when Terri finally paused.
"Welcome to infiltration one oh one. Your objective tonight is to break into a few units and search it without detection. Now before you say that you don't know how to do it, this is how we will do it. I will show you twice, help you twice and then you are on your own. Nod if you understand."
Melissa nodded
"Now gaining access without detection can be done in two ways electronically and manually. It is commonly reffered to slicing and splicing Slicing is the electronic means to get access to a system be it on site or remote, this is highly dependant on your knowledge of computer systems and can vary from easy to near impossible depending on the system. Splicing is obviously gaining manual access by shortening or overriding locking systems. Good, let us go"
Melissa swallowed her questions and followed. Terri led the way up two floors and slinked through the shadows before coming to stop before a door. A contamination label was slapped across the two halves. Terri pointed to it.
"What would happen if that door was to be opened?"
"It would tear in two, showing someone had opened it."
Terri pulled out object, with a small click a blade jumped into view. She handed it to Melissa
"Get rid of it"
Taking the blade she approached the door, looking at the label, She paused before pulling a glove off. She ran her back of her hand across the surface feeling for imperfections, then tested the thickness with a nail before taking the knife, She slipped the edge under the label and peeling it carefully from the door. She stuck the label onto the leg of her coverall.
"Explain yourself."
"I felt the surface to feel for imperfections that could indicate something stuck underneath it, even with the finest flimsies you can feel the embedded electronics. I tested the thickness to see how much pressure I can exert to remove it,"
"Then why not use your fingertips? That should allow you to get a better sense of touch."
"I don't want to leave fingerprints."
"And the label? I told you to get rid of it."
"I kept it to reapply it on exiting so there is no indication the door has been opened."
Terri turned to the controls of the doors, pulling a datapad out. Two wires fitted to it held an access card being secured by two clips. She slipped the card into the slot, a series of numbers started running on the screen every few moments a number would be highlighted. At the bottom of the screen a progress bar went from green to yellow to orange edging towards red. Terri rapidly tapped numbers corresponding to the highlighted numbers as they flashed. She reached out and pulled Melissa into a crouch behind her on the side of the door. Moments later the door opened. Keeping low they moved in and Terri pulled Melissa to the side of the doorway.
"Never stand in front of a door you have sliced or spliced. You never know what is on the other side even if you had sliced the security. An opening door will attract attention and standing in front of it will give nice highlighted target to anything inside."
Melissa placed a hand on Terri's shoulder and gave it a squeeze to show she understood, for some reason she felt it was too risky to reply. Terri stood up and switched on a penlight quickly checking the room before switching on the lights. Melissa blinked in the sudden light.
"Take a good look and tell me what you see and think."
The unit was in disarray, broken furniture and containers scattered around, char marks were present on the wall. A dark green mark led to the door, the starting point a larger pool. The beds were used and dishevelled; the cabinets and two foot lockers were still closed though.
"There was a fight, judging from the cots there was possibly at least three occupants here before it happened. I think one of the occupants is dead and the body was dragged out. The place was not searched as the cabinets and lockers are still closed."
"That is my take as well."
Terri held up the modified datapad.
"This is one of the most common devices used for on site slicing. Being caught with one of these is a guaranteed conviction on most planets. The only program you will find on one of these is a number recognition system. It will scan for regularly used number combinations and highlight it. Most security systems will run from zero to ninety nine per combination slot. The simpler the system the less combination slost. The progress bar is for a timer, the maximum time you have is ninety seconds before the program will shut down an established link. In most cases this will trigger whatever security systems are in place and alarms start screeching."
" Where did you get the card and why is it attached to those clips would it not have been easier to attach the card directly." Melissa asked,pointing
"Second part first. The clips are there for systems that do not use cards, like keypads. In that case you have to gain access to the processer and apply the clips to override the keypad. The card I picked from a pocket when we were in the lobby. By wrapping it in foil and chucking it in the micro oven I wiped it clean."
Melissa pondered this for a moment
"The foil and micro radiation would have created a small EMP that would have erased the memory I take it?"
" Correct, no let us get a move on."
Terri knelt in front of one of the footlockers and pressed a screwdriver in just under the keypad and pushed down. The lock jumped with a small pop. Using a knife she run the edge under the hinge seems.
"I am checking for booby traps, if you feel any resistance doing this you probably found the trigger to a charge. Listen closely, if you hear a click or any sound, get away fast, that is usually a device arming and probably the only warning you will get before it blows."
Terri handed over the screwdriver and pointed to the second footlocker. There was minimal resistance and the lock popped, a check revealed no traps. Melissa looked at Terri to ask a question
"I know what you are about to ask, why pop the lock instead of using the pad to slice it?"
"Yes."
"The answer lies in the processing power on the locks. It has only enough memory for one set of numbers. Unlike processors on the doors that can contain several possible combinations. If you don't input the correct code the mechanism seal the case and you can not open it. By popping the lock you bypass the system as it is armed by a pin in the lock mechanism that touches a plate creating a circuit."
Terri paused for a moment.
"Of course the higher grade the case the more elaborate the locking system. Unless you have a droid with a hacking program it is easier just to force the issue. If you do not have time to jimmy the lock bashing it open also works but that is load and you risk the chance of damaging the contents"
Melissa pointed to the crates.
"Are we just practising or are we looking for something here?"
Terri pulled the bandana down slightly and gave Melissa a regretful look.
"We are here to clean this place of any weapons, credits and small valuables that could be sold easily. I know this feels wrong, however our survival depends on how much resources we can obtain and we need a lot."
Melissa bit her lip and nodded before lifting the lid and starting to rummage through it. She pulled holster and belt out, the pouches on the belt held two tibana cartridges and several power cells on it, the cells looked a bit strange to her, nor did she recognise the pistol as she pulled it from the holster.
"Arkanian heavy blaster," Terri identified it, "Only good for selling."
"Is there something wrong with it?" Melissa asked, puzzled
Terri snorted
"It is probably one of the most flawed designs possible, not that you would get an Arkanian to admit it is flawed. It drains it energy cell in ten shots, then there is the fact that it cannot use standard blaster cells, the tibana delivery tube to the plasma also tends to block. Only collectors would buy one, seeing the snobs running around here it should be an easy sell"
Melissa pushed it back in the holster and dropped the gunbelt in her pack. She found a few credits at the bottom of the locker. Terri found nothing of significance. The cupboards and lockers nothing of value. Switching of the lights, they exited locking the door, Melissa reapplied the label carefully.
On the second door Terri showed how to open it by slicing into the processor. Unfortunately the unit was empty. Their luck ran out on the third door.
Splicing the lock was easy, the entered crouching and waited for the door to close. Then it went south. The lights clicked on. A woman stood by the wall, a vibroknife held in a trembling hand. Her clothing and hair was dishevelled, eyes bloodshot. A heavy yellowing bruise marred her face
"Did that bastard send you to kill me! I warn you I will not go down without a fight!" She screamed.
Terri lifted her hands in the air.
"We are just thieves, we are not here to hurt you."
The woman sat down the fight going out of her, her shoulders started shaking.
"You might as well kill me for the bounty, I am dead anyway, no food, hiding like a rat, what is the point."
She dropped onto the bare cot, crying piteously. Akwardly the two left. In the next unit Melissa stood looking at the stored food. Terri sighed as she guessed what was going through the girls mind.
" Fine, take it to her."
The woman was looking listlessly at them when they entered again. Slowly she sat up as they piled the food onto a table. She stumbled over and bit greedily into a fruit.
"So good" She moaned
"What happened to you?" Melissa asked
Terri sighed in exasperation, they were now committed to the woman one way or another
"I stabbed an enforcer working for Davik Kang. Holden was always coming around to the restaurant where I worked pushing for "favors", I refused his advances. One day as I was locking up he came around and tired to force me. I stabbed him in the face and ran. I hid with friends till bounty hunters came knocking. My friends covered for me then kicked me out with a handful of credits. I have been here since. My name is Dia Artura."
Terri spoke before Melissa could.
"It is best that you do not know our names. Tell you what; if we hear anything we will knock three times, once and then twice and tell you what we know."
Terri led the way out. Melissa paused before dropping the gunbelt on the table.
"Here, now you have something better."
"Thank you." Dia stammered, clasping the belt tightly
Terri was leaning against the wall. She shook her head when Melissa was about to speak
"Getting involved is a bad idea but I cannot fault you. If you did not jump in I likely would have in your place. Just remember anything has a time and place especially compassion. Be careful not to get used."
She pushed herself away from the wall.
"Are you ready for your practical exam?"
"Do I have the option to extend it to later?"
"Nice try, no."
Terri led the way to the twentieth floor, the so called penthouse level. She stood in the shadows of the stairwell. Melissa was wishing she was not wearing gloves, at least that way she could have been able to dry her hands. Her mouth was a dry as surface well on Tatooine. Terri handed her the datapad, the penlight and mini toolkit as well as a short crowbar
"Here is how this going to go. You will go on alone and enter a unit by slicing in. Once you are in I will follow and observe only. You will decide what to take or leave. Now go."
Melissa stalked into the corridor, heart bouncing in her chest. In her owns ears every step sounded like that of a marching band. She slid the card into the slot an numbers started running across the datapad screen. The last number was tapped in as the bar just reached orange. The door hissed open. She paused in a crouch before stepping in. She flicked the penlight on and off, getting a quick look at the interior. It was easily twice the size of their unit, with two doors leading of to the side. She skirted around the wall and palmed the controls and waited, listening for movement or any sound Before flicking on the penlight. She saw a perfectly made empty bed and another open door showing a refresher. She looked over her shoulder, barely making out Terri's form against the doorsill, her hand was covering the door sensor keeping it open. The second door led to another room, the bed was made. The door to the refresher was closed. She crept closer putting an ear against the door, listening for a moment before opening it and checking the interior. She returned to the main room and motioned Terri to come completely in. She switched on the light after the door closed.
The room was lavishly decorated. A bar stood in one corner. Gilded galsses on the counter and a wide variety of bottles on display. She moved to the counters underneath and opened it. Several gift boxes of alcohol stood there. She unshouldered her backpack and loaded three in. Various item were strewn across the surfaces of the room, but she ignored those as probably too distinctive to easily sell. The cupboards in the first room was bare. The bedside drawer in the second room contained a blaster and a few scattered high denomination credit chips. The jewelry she noticed was once again probably too distinctive too risk.
She walked back to the main room, curiously disappointed with her haul, then disappointed with herself for thinking that. She paused looking at a holopicture on the wall. Something was off about it. She stepped closer. The picture frame was not flush against the wall. Touching the frame it swivelled to the side, revealing a safe.
Terri stood still watching Melissa trying to make a decision, curious. Would she take the plunge or would she rather play it safe? Either way she was already planning exfiltration.
Melissa looked to the safe and then the closed main door. Taking a deep breath; she made her choice. She moved to the light switch and turned the light of. She opened the small tool kit and looked into it aided by the penlight, She gave a small smile as she saw what she need. A roll of insulation tape; she tore of two strips Before opening the door and placing the strips over the door sensor keeping it open.
She returned to the safe. She paused looking at the open door. Taking a shuddering breath, she activated the penlight and pulled up her bandana slightly biting down on the torch. She forced the screwdriver underneath the plate protecting the safes processor ripping it off exposing the innards but also chipping the screwdriver. Clipping the data pad onto the processor the numbers began running. The progress bar running much faster.
She reached light red before the final numbers were punched in and the safe clicked with a green Led indicating it was open. The door opened after she pulled on a recessed indention. Four trays filled with credit chips grabbed her attention. She pulled them out and dumped them in the backpack, ignoring anything else in the safe.
Terri took a shuddering breath; standing by the doorway. She had been seconds away from rushing in and pulling Melissa through the door and leaving. Melissa left the safe open and walked to the door, pulling the tape from the sensor.
"Number one done" She cockily stated, riding a wave of euphoria
The euphoria rapidly dissipated as she was approaching the second door. The sensation was replaced by a strange rising alarm, increasing with every step she took. She swallowed trying to get some moisture into her mouth. Her hands were shaking as she opened the door control terminal to splice it. The door opened. A whistling sound came from within.
Danger!
Melissa staggered back as pain erupted behind her eyes and a headache slammed into her. She dropped to one knee. She felt malicious excitement, anticipation and sexual arousal, followed by seconds; cold amusement.
She staggered to her feet and grabbed onto Terri; who had been rushing closer.
"We need to leave now!" She gasped.
Terri grabbed onto her and pulled her to the stairwell. She pulled her blaster and pointed it to the closing door. Melissa was barely upright, shivering uncontrollably. Slowly she moved down the stairwell, pushing Melissa in front of her, covering their descent all the way.
Reaching their unit, she pressed the communicator on their door. Carth opened the door, pistol in hand.
"What happened?" He demanded
"I don't know, something freaked her out and she insisted we leave"
"Did she say anything?"
"No, whatever it was terrified her, she was frantic."
Terri pushed the shivering and near catatonic girl to the bed and undressed her before pushing her into the bed. She followed moments later after stripping down herself, holding the girl tightly she pulled the blankets up. She looked at the door. Carth was standing by the door, pistol pointed unwaveringly at it.
Several floors up a Togrutan woman settled herself in an armchair. She was dressed in a skin tight red leather corset and trousers. She placed a cylinder down on an end table and placed her high heeled black boots onto a coffee table, leaving deep scratches on the delicate crystal glass surface. Languidly she reached out to a bottle in an ice bucket and poured herself a glass. She pouted at the door and sighed.
"So sad. No one wants to play with me anymore."
She scowled at two bodies on the floor.
"Such a disappointment; a high ranking mob boss who does not know how to play the game. And really a common whore? Don't you know you will catch all types of diseases?"
She took a sip and looked at the label on the bottle.
"This is nice, I must remember this vintage."
She turned her attention to the door and started giggling
"How delightful! What a great puzzle such a nice virginal presence constantly flickering and a very familiar but different one. I do so love a nice mystery"
Melissa woke to a sensation she had never experienced before. She felt safe, held tightly by a warm body. She felt content, appreciated, loved. She luxuriated in the feeling, never wanting to let that go. Slowly she opened her eyes. Terri gave her a small smile, pulling her closer.
"Morning; kiddo. Slept well?" She asked softly
Melissa snuggled even closer. She heard movement coming from the door. Looking up she saw Carth standing up from a chair, holstering his blaster, he looked exhausted.
"I am going for a short walk and then go to sleep." He said, "Should be enough time for you two to get up and get dressed."
The door opened and closed. Melissa reluctantly disentangled herself from Terri and got up. She grabbed a shirt and threw it on over her underwear and made her way to the refresher, pausing only to grab fresh clothes. Curiously she was not embarrassed by where she woke up. She had not slept in another's bed since she was a little girl in the orphanage, and even then she had not felt as safe as she had now.
Terri had just gotten dressed as Carth came back in. He walked to his cot and pulled of his boots. Sighing he stretched out.
"Saw nothing out of the ordinary. No extra activity or anything" He reported.
"Thank you, Carth. I will keep watch for now."
"Wake me in three hours. Then we all need to talk about what happened."
Terri picked up the droid camera data pad. Melissa got out of the refresher and started to prepare food, She stood up to quickly take care off her own ablutions.
An hour later she noted a woman rushing to the reception desk, clearly hysterical. The caretaker jumped up and waved to the Sith guard by the door before frantically punching something on the desk console. She got to her feet and jumped onto the chair, pushing a ceiling panel to the side.
"Melissa bring the packs." She called urgently
Carth snorted awoken by the noise. Terri pushed the backpacks into the opening and closed the panel. She grabbed the two coveralls and rushed to the sink. She soaked them completely and hanged them over their washing line.
"Melissa, take something apart and strip a screw with that damaged screwdriver."
Terri turned to Carth.
"Sorry for waking you, something is going on in the lobby and it is drawing all kinds of attention."
Tensely they watched the screen. Ten minutes later a large group of Tarisian police officers entered. The caretaker rushed to them gesticulating wildly. An older officer in a scruffy uniform appeared to listen closely, He pointed to two officers, who detached themselves and stood by the doors. The group moved to the turbolift. Terri cursed that the had no visual feed from within the lift. She minimised the screen to see all twenty feeds
The droid on the twentieth showed activity. She switched the view between the lobby and that floor. Thirty minutes later two Sith officers and a small squad appeared. The door guard went over and appeared to give a report. The two officers went to the lift, troopers on their heels, the droid was able to give a clear view of their faces.
"Dursley and mister suspicion." Melissa groaned "Why not someone new?"
"Because they are Sith and being an inconsiderate bastard is in the job description." Terri replied not looking up," Guess we are getting visitors."
Five minutes later a group in white coveralls entered pushing two gurneys and a two hovercrates. Terri stood up on the chair again and pushed the pad into the hiding place in the ceiling. She turned on the holofeed on the overhead. Ironically enough was the fact that the big news was that upper city lockdown was to end at noon.
Lieutenant Detective Columbo sighed as he spotted the silver and grey uniforms trooping from the lift. Absently he started patting his pockets for the packet of antacids he carried, cursing that he had not followed his instincts this morning and called in sick. A dead mob boss, great, this was going to be a wonderful pressure free investigation; the Sith taking an interest how could that possibly have an impact.
" Six months to retirement, just six" He reminded himself.
He sighed again as he recognised the officers. Dursley; a bombastic buffoon with delusions of competence. At least Pearson would follow crime scene protocol. Said officer spoke first
"What can you tell us, Lieutenant."
"Two bodies, two forms of forced entrance. Waiting on forensics. One victim identified as Kenth Atilles, aka Boom Master, alleged leader of the Silent Warden gang."
" Boom Master?"
Columbo popped an antacid and chewed.
"Boom as in a fiery explosion destroying annoying things like evidence, witnesses, police officers and judges."
A group in white pushing two gurneys and hovercrates exited the lifts. Two paused at the open door, pulling covers onto their shoes and gloving. Columbo walked closer and pulled his covers and gloves on before stepping in. From the corner his eye he saw Pearson relieving one his men of his covers and gloves. Thankfully Dursley decided to stay outside.
Two curtains were flapping mildly. The floor surface and thick carpets riddled with plassteel shards. No bloodstains visible. Three glasses, two clearly different shades of lipstick. Scratches on the table, another scratch on an end table. The coroner placed a device against the stomach of the male body, it hissed as a needle sprung from it taking a liver sample. The coroner recorded the reading and stepped back. His assistant stepped in and took a holorecording. The coroner stepped in again and rolled the body over.
" Posterior showing extensive damage to clothing. Cauterised incision from top of shoulder left to hip right. Depth of incision undetermined till further investigation. At current stage; determination made as possible cause of death."
He moved to the second body taking another liver sample.
"Minor damage to clothing. Cauterised puncture left anterior mid thorax."
Again his assistant recorded before the body was rolled.
"Minor damage to clothing. Cauterised puncture left posterior thorax.'
The coroner stepped back for the required recording.
" Further investigation to follow. Recording ends."
Columbo noted a technician had logged in to the door controls and was downloading the information
"Prelimenary log?"
The technician called up the details.
"Eight fifteen, twenty nine seconds, ourrecorded time on scene. Prior seven thirty two, seven thirty, ten seconds. Zero three seventeen fifty seconds, zero three seventeen, zero five seconds. Twenty three hundred, eleven seconds."
Estimated time of death"
The coroner consulted his pad.
"Unconfirmed time Zero three eight and zero three nine."
A junior officer stood well outside the door trying to get Columbo's attention. He motioned to the officer.
"Sir. Forced entry detected at neighbouring unit. No residents in attendance. The caretaker is retrieving the residential records."
"This was determined how?" Pearson asked
The officer looked at Columbo for permission to answer. He waved giving the go ahead.
"As per protocol we started to canvas the immediate are for potential witnesses. There was no answer at said unit. The caretaker was instructed to give us access to ensure that there were no further casualties. On opening it was observed that a wall safe was in an open condition, damage visible to the control panel. I requested a technician to access the log. Last entry showed the door had been opened for three minutes from internal control. The external log showed a delay of forty three seconds from card insertion till acceptance of code and opening. Residue was found on the door sensors."
Columbo thought for a moment.
"Take technicians and access all entrance and exit point logs."
"Sir." The officer replied
He stepped back and gestured at several individuals, who dispersed on their assignments. Columbo turned to the coroner.
"Mallard, of the record, What is your take on the weapon used."
"Something high energy is the only things I can think of. This is not consistent with a vibroblade or blaster.
"What about a lightsaber?" Pearson asked, interrupting
Mallard gave it a thought.
"Possibly. Could not say that with certainty though. Lightsabers do not tend to leave legally admissible traces."
Columbo took a walk around thinking. He idly popped another antacid and chewed. Several minutes passed. Pearson coughed to draw his attention. Columbo sighed and pushed his hands into his pockets.
"The perpetrator entered possibly through the window which was likely breached by explosive."
"Ironic, considering the alias of the deceased." Pearson stated.
"We have traces of a third person present in the room evidenced by the third glass. A possible witness or more likely the perpetrator. A potentially second witness or witnesses who attempted illegal entry, identity unknown. Possible means of tracking said secondary if residents of secondary crime scene could divulge nature of missing items by searching known purchasers of stolen goods or pawn shops depending nature of said items. Needless to say in current circumstances not really viable. No presence of security system in building that could be utilised."
"Not necessarily." Pearson interjected." I believe we need to visit a unit on the lower levels"
The chime by the door came as expected. The trio got in position Carth walked to the door his customary surly expression in place. Terri; chopping vegetables by the kitchen unit. Melissa was pottering by the workbench.
Carth opened the door waved the group in and plodded to his chair, picking up his datapad and seemed to immerse himself in his game. A group of two Sith and two police officers stepped in.
Melissa pulled a screwdriver across her hand, opening a very shallow cut. She let out a small scream and dropped it. She stamped on it with her boots, cursing up a blue streak, looking at it intently; before giving it a kick.
"Melissa, language." Terri cried out, bustling to a cupboard and grabbing a first aid kit
"Give it a rest. She is a spacer" Carth drawled, not looking up
"That remains to be seen." Terri retorted
Dursley stepped forward.
"Are you allright, my dear girl."
Melissa looked up and flashed a small smile.
"I am fine, sir. It is just a scrape, sorry for my bad language"
"Forgiven already, make sure not to make a habit of it though" Dursley pontificated
Terri fussed over the wound as she applied a bandage, Finally seeming satisfied. She turned to the officers.
" How can we help you, today? More broken droids?"
Dursley waved that off. Columbo looked at Pearson in query who just shrugged
" Not today, the lieutenant here had some questions in regards to the security system young Melissa cobbled together. A brilliant piece of work that."
"Not really, sir. It is not that great really." Melissa said, shyly
"Nonsense. You built that out of junk, I am certain a lot of qualified engineers would have failed to do that."
Pearson cleared his throat, derailing Dursley.
" I am sorry the lieutenant has limited time. This system. Does it have a recording function?"
"No sir. The data bandwith was too small to work it in, with better parts and equipment it may have been possible."
" A dead end then. Thank you for your time, we will see yourselfs out."
Reaching the lobby Dursley bustled off. Columbo looked at Pearson
"Dursley sees the girl as his meal ticket to promotion." Pearson answered the unasked question.
"You have your doubts?"
Pearson nodded at him
" Naturally. Now if you will excuse me?"
Pearson strode of motioning his master sergeant to attend to him. Columbo turned to his junior officer.
" Get another guy here in civilian clothes, point them out and have them followed."
Columbo shook his head.
"That little scene was too convenient. I smell a Dugg."
Melissa was unrolling the bandage from her hand and was carefully rerolling it as she did so. Terri was up on a chair retrieving the backpacks. Putting them down she pointed to the chairs. They all sat down. She looked at Melissa and pointed between her and Carth
"We have to talk about last night. Obviously whatever that was had saved us from whatever happened up there. But we need to know what that was."
Melissa picked at her tunic; looking down
"It is the second time it happened. I get a strange feeling and feel emotions not my own, this time it was worse."
"When was the first time?" Carth asked, gently.
"On the Endar Spire just before the attack. Every time I feel so cold, like ice but worse."
"Anything else?" Terri asked
"Pain behind my eyes and a headache. Nothing else"
The mood fell rapidly. Terri decided to lift the mood.
"Time to split the loot." She called out.
She lifted the three boxes out first, Carth grabbed the first two with a surprised whistle
"Correllian reserve fifteen years old. Alderan cognac. Organa orchards. I don't care if you need to go out and steal again, we are not selling this." Carth enthused
"Good thing we got this as well then." Terri replied, smirking
She placed the four credit trays on the table next to one another, two trays were Republic, the other two Sith. They were sealed and a Bank of Taris stamp was imposed on the seals. A label on each tray read contents ten thousand
Terri opened one box and pulled three glasses out. Cracking the seal she poured two decent glasses and one with a finger only. She passed a fuller glass to Carth and placed the finger glass before Melissa.
Melissa was about to say she was not allowed to drink, but decided to give it a shot, literally. Terri stood up and raised her glass.
"Here is to our baby cracking her first safe"
"Hey." Melissa called out in protest