Chapter26
Lothal
The patrol fell into escort position moments after the freighter came out of hyperspace. The external comlink button started flashing. Melissa toggled the switch
"CEC freighter this is Foxtrot one six. CEC freighter this is Foxtrot one six. Please identify."
"Foxtrot one six this is the Shaved Wookie. Inbound from Correl with mixed cargo for Lothal port." Melissa replied.
"Stand by for customs inspection, Wookie."
"Wookie Copied. Cutting power and standing by."
Bastila cut sublight engines to half impulse and the Satin Claw started a controlled drift. Melissa and Bastila was in the pilot and co pilot seat respectively. Carth standing behind the pilot's chair. Melissa had been jumped up the line for pilot training on receiving her ship.
"I will take over, go get some more practise." Carth said.
Melissa stood up from the chair and went to the cargo hold where the current bane of her existence was innocently waiting on her. One of the first things that had been added at the Dathomir station had been a simulator pod. Melissa had spent the six days of hyperspace travel almost exclusively in the virtual environment of the simulator broken up by sessions flying the real thing under Carth's exacting supervision during hyperdrive cooldowns. At this point flying in a straight line was still a challenge.
The Customs craft docked with a slight thump. The customs agents were accompanied by six Sith troopers. They were patiently waiting at the door to the airlock as the ships doors synchronised and the docking tube connected and sealed. The light above the door flashed green and the started to open. The door of the freighter opening to reveal a dark skinned man and a grey wookie. The customs agent confidently stepped forward onto the soft surface of the connecting tube. The man at the door handed over a datapad.
"Cargo manifest." He said in a gravely voice" The pilot will be with us shortly."
Opening the file the agent looked at the listed inventory. He noted another dark skinned man climbing down a ladder and approaching the airlock. On getting close the man extended a hand
"Pilot Ben Damon, captain of the Shaved Wookie. The ship is owned by Starburst freight of Arkaxis." Carth said
"Agents Gunn And Moore. How may in your crew?"
"Eight Organics and one droid." Carth replied
Cart pointed to Canderous and Zaalbar
"General crewmen Bren Stackhouse and Rugeracara, short version Rug. Where would you like to start?"
" Bridge and work our way down."
On entering the bridge Gunn noticed a red haired and green skinned woman watching the readouts of the monitors. Half her face was covered in swirling tattooed vines. The woman stood up and handed over her id card.
"Beth Penn from Chandrilla, trainee pilot." Bastila introduced herself.
Swiping the card on his datapad a green light flashed as the data was recorded. Carth pointed to a locker standing by the door.
"Weapons locker, sealed at the last port."
The seal of Correl customs showed no signs of tampering and Gunn ticked of an item on his checklist. The galley revealed another red haired and green skinned woman busy chopping vegetables while a blue twi'lek was busy loading a washer with crockery. The second red hair had a less covering facial tattoo with hers being on her forehead extending halfway down the nose' like the one on the bridge her eyes were yellow. The four crew rooms were neatly kept and the quick search revealed no contraband. The search of the rooms had woken the literal grumpy cat as a black furred Cathar woman had been taking a nap on her cot, Stepping into the cargo bay they noted that the cargo was in neatly designated piles. What drew their attention was the simulator pod. Moore looked at Carth with a raised eyebrow. Carth shrugged
" The owner wants as many trained as pilots without having to pay for flight schools."
"Really?"
Carth sighed
"The truth? The boss wants his darling daughter to get some real skills beside drinking and partying. But no flight school or any school for that matter wants to touch her due to her reputation and grades. Now I am stuck with the brat on an apprentice basis."
The door to the simulator opened and a message kept repeating
"Simulation failed. Simulation failed."
Melissa came out.
"Where the hell did those Mynocks come from?" She shouted.
Moore noted a grin flashing across Carth's face.
"Miss Bertha Strider, This is agents Gunn and Moore from Lothal Customs service." Carth introduced them
"The name is Skye." Melissa stated, crossly
"Not according to your father, miss." Carth corrected her.
"Whatever, did you rig that sim?
Gunn and Moore could see where the bad reputation could come from. Her hair was multicoloured set into spikes. Nearly every surface of skin not covered by her skimpy clothing was covered in multi hued tattoos. The smell of nicotine sticks wafted from her, one finger showing a yellow nicotine stain.
"Miss, I am a pilot not a software engineer. I do believe you have another two hours allotted to simulation training before your lesson in astro navigation." Carth continued calmly
" But we are supposed to land soon." Melissa whined
"And you will not be stepping from the ship by order of your father till you have passed the novice program."
"You are ruining my life!"
Melissa gave a small shriek before stepping back into the simulator. Gunn looked at Carth
"You have my sympathies." He stated
"Double pay is double pay." Carth sighed
Walking to the simulator he opened a panel and adjusted the setting with a smirk before closing the panel. The Custom agents looked at him deadpan
"Got to get my kicks in somehow."
Carth watched as the last of the cargo was offloaded before lifting the boarding ramp. Taking a tablet from his pocket he dry swallowed the antidote to morph. He would be returning to his normal colour within an hour. Zaalbar on the other hand would be grey till they could undo the hair dye agent he had been dosed with, the same for Juhani though in her case she had voluntarily taken the hair dye.
Entering the galley he found the crew seated at the table and various scattered chairs. Bastila and Terri still showing some green tinges, Melissa was dressed in her combat suit with no traces of the elaborate tattoos remaining. He helped himself to a mug of caf before sitting down.
"Well we are down and cleared customs and immigration, what is next?" He asked
Bastila opened her datapad and reread the information supplied by the council.
" Apart from physical descriptions we have very little to go on." She said after a few moments." They arrived here by a ship named the Guiding Code, a consular class vessel."
"Could they be any more obvious?" Mission remarked with a groan, rolling her eyes
" No it is a perfect disguise, nothing about the name or craft screams Jedi from Coruscant." Melissa snarked
" Last communication reported successful landing."
"That is it?" Carth commented
Bastila shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
"Yes. The outpost coordinates is unavailable as the data from the Archive has become corrupted." She reported
"This going to be one of those trust the force and let it guide you things?" Mission replied.
" Is there any other way?" Melissa responded
Terri rubbed her face for a moment
"We are going to have to split in different teams. One to find the ship and retrieve any data it might have. One to try and make contact with the local crime groups and try to get information. Third for general information gathering from the local news and markets. Team four to trawl the local watering holes for gossip and rumours."
" Sounds a lot better than what we have to go with." Carth remarked
" I will take T3 and Zaalbar and search the docks for the ship. Juhani, Mission, the local crime groups are yours. Melissa and Canderous the markets. Bastila and Carth hit the cantinas."
The Lothal informal market was typical of markets of its sort. A heavy conglomeration of beings pshed around each others and the stalls. Fresh produce mixed with high priced items from of world, the knock off products being displayed in a stall opposite the original product vendor. Seated at a table at a small café Canderous and Melissa was consuming a heavy lunch while the Ortolan owner was busy giving them chapter and verse on the local news and gossip. That one place had given them more information than walking the market for hours had given them to point.
Melissa stiffened as she felt it. Cold Amusement, Excitement. She scanned the market. Looking up she spotted a cloaked figure standing on a nearby roof. The figure gave her a wave and come here motion. Canderous spotted her being distracted and followed her gaze. Spotting the expression on her face he sighed.
"Keep your tracker on." He grunted
Melissa stood up from the table, leaving a small pile of credit chips. She heard the beep as her tracker synchronised with Canderous's datapad. The Ortolan sensing something was amiss had stopped talking and even more troubling eating.
Melissa pushed her way through the throng of people. The figure keeping pace from the roofs. A roving Sith patrol spotted their movement and moved in to investigate. A force push from the figure on the roof had them falling down. All attempts at subterfuge now useless Melissa jumped for the roof. Flipping over in a somersault as she landed she spun looking for the cloaked figure. A slow handclap came from the edge of the roof.
"Well done, Kitten."
"Do I know you?" Melissa replied.
"We have not been formally introduced. But I have been watching you for a while now."
"Taris. I first felt you on Taris." Melissa stated
The cloaked figure gave a delighted laugh. From below Melissa heard the troopers calling for backup.
"That is right, such a clever little kitten. Do you want to play for bit with your aunt Bella?"
" Bella Ashari, I take it?"
The woman threw the hood of her cloak of and pouted
"Someone has been talking to the kitten about aunty Bella. What naughty things did they say?"
"That you were royally screwed over by your master during the war, what with her abandoning you."
" That is true. But aunty Bella has to know why do you look so much like HER?"
"As you probably has guessed by now I am her daughter."
Melissa started circling closer. Bella watching her movements closely.
"So you and mommy got to play happy families while aunty Bella suffered."
Melissa laughed harshly
"Sure if you call being blocked off and ultimately abandoned to an orphanage playing families."
"So have you come here to hunt for mommy? Do you want revenge? Do you want to kill her?"
"Like you have?"
"Aunty Bella asked first."
"I don't know yet. Do I want to punch her face into a pulp, yes. Tell her she is royal bitch, hell yes. Is she ultimately worth taking revenge on, I don't know."
"Aunty Bella, thinks you are telling the truth."
The woman unclipped her lightsaber and lit it. She swung the crimson blade in errant circles
" Enough talk time, it is play time now." She purred
Melissa sent a force push to Bella's feet before moving in deploying her blade as she drew. Bella somersaulted over her. Melissa threw her blade up and parried the downward slash. She swung in retaliation and had her blade blocked. Disengaging she stabbed in short thrusts with her blade, Bella tapping the blade in reply.
"Aunty Bella does not know this style, not makashi not soresu either. Is this new?"
"And I shall tell you my style why?"
"Oh, Kitten, you are experimenting with styles. Did they not tell you to learn a style fully first before trying to make your own?"
Melissa went in with a blustering barrage of cuts and thrusts. Bella batting the attack back with some effort.
"Not bad, kitten. Now it is Aunty's turn."
Melissa was driven back relentlessly. She cried out as her defense failed and a glancing cut scored her shoulder. Her blade deactivated as it fell from her hand
"You have to keep your blade up, kitten."
There was the slap of two sets of boots and the snap-hiss of lightsabers being deployed. Bella looked at Melissa with a smile.
"Time for aunty Bella to go. We shall play again soon."
Bella threw her cloak hood back up before jumping across to the other side of the roads rooftops. With a jaunty wave she moved away.
"Melissa!" Bastila called
Bastila and Terri rushed closer to where Melissa was leaning against a wall, holding onto her shoulder. Tenderly Terri pulled her hand away as Bastila was searching her pockets for a med kit. Ripping the cloth she exposed the narrow burn. Melissa sighed as Bastila sprayed kolto onto the burn.
"I am afraid this is going to scar." Bastila informed Melissa
Melissa gritted her teeth as a dressing was applied onto the wound. She noticed an approaching mass of silver on both the ground and running along the rooftops. In the distance she could see a troopcarrier flying closer. She pulled her lightsaber to her and clipped it to her belt.
"Time to go." Terri said
They rushed along the rooftop ignoring the cries to stop following from behind. A few blocks away they dropped to streetlevel and merged into the crowd. Terri keeping an arm around Melissa both to keep her upright and keep the dressing hidden from view; by blocking it with her body.
Melissa was seated in a chair in the gulley with Bastila redoing the dressing properly when Mission came in with Juhani. With a speed almost reaching a force dash Melissa suddenly had Mission's face close to her. She felt her body encased in an iron grip as Mission grabbed hold of her with one arm. Bastila grabbing Mission's other hand to keep her from opening the dressing
"What happened?" Mission demanded
"Got my ass kicked by my mothers first padawan." Melissa replied
"Explain! Now!"
"Can't it wait till everyone is here?" Melissa tried dodging
"Everyone is here, so talk. Terri stated
Looking around she noticed that everyone has indeed collected in the room. Melissa sighed.
" Fine, I screwed up by being over confident. I should have called for backup before trying to talk to a force user I have never met. I have no excuse or justification." Melissa said
"We will come back to that later in the next set of spars," Terri promised
"And I will take that beating without complaint. Well much complaint."
"What can you tell us about her?" Juhani asked
"Ataru user, she is fast and precise. She is also lizard monkey shit insane, keeps talking in third person and like a little girl. Even better she is here for the same reason we are."
Terri looked around the others.
"Before we get to my report did anybody learn anything useful?"
Mission snorted
"Organised crime is centred around the selling of stolen seedstock and livestock. Oh and the production of moonshine and loan sharking. There is no sign of a thieves guild. Apparently the local police had gotten much better very quickly. The one loan shark willing to talk said that the police is as clean as whistle now."
"No useful information floating around the taverns. Only local news is that the local cult has not been in town for a few days." Carth reported
Terri looked around the room
"My news is a good news bad news case. We found the ship but there were Sith technicians crawling all over it. The dockmaster said they had been all over that craft for the last two days. By now the databanks will have been sucked dry. The dockmaster was moaning about the dock space being blocked apparently the police impound vehicle had been standing waiting for a day, so hopefully we will not have to break into another Sith base again."
Columbo took a deep breath of fresh air as he stepped from his two bedroom cottage. The time on Lothal had been good to him. No longer looking as careworn as before, he seemed to have found a new lease on life. He had lost his ashen pallor and had attained a light suntan. A small black figure rushed past his feet and ran across the grass to the fence. Yes he was now the proud owner of a yard with a garden, something he would never have been able to afford on Taris. A girl was hanging over the fence cooing at his newest companion, a pug puppy. She looked up from the puppy jumping on the fence trying to get to her and waved to him
"Morning uncle Charles." She happily called
" Morning, Nerina."
" Are you coming to the pub tonight?: She asked
" If I want to eat tonight, yes."
" I mean for my show." She pouted
"I would not miss it for the world."
He clipped a leash onto the collar of the puppy and started his walk to work. His companion stopping every few feet to sniff at something new. Walking into the quiet police station he was awarded a salute by the officers on desk duty. Though he had a sneaking suspicion the sergeant was more saluting the puppy than him, having caught her sneaking the puppy nerf bite snacks.
" Anything I need to know about." He asked
"No, Chief inspector, it has been a quiet night."
He would never admit it out loud, but he owed Saul Karath bigtime for pulling him away from Taris. Cleaning up the police force had barely taken a week expedited by firing the family members of a few local councillors. Training the very inexperienced but eager officers was something he had never done before and found that he actually liked it. Lothal City barely qualified to be called a city and not a very large town and as such the police force consisted of two precincts. The busiest time was on the weekends when the farmhands and the local garrison got paid, the worst crime livestock theft. Of course fate had different plans that day.
A constable came out of the communications room and pressed the bell to activate all units in the precinct. Making a mental note to move the bell to the desk Columbo walked closer to hear the report.
"Sith Patrol reporting a disturbance in the informal market. Two females engaged in combat on the rooftops, reports state they are using laser swords."
Columbo turned to the gathering officers.
"Stand down, this is a garrison matter until a civilian gets injured. Believe me this is a matter we don't want to get involved in."
Walking to his office he unclipped the leash and the puppy rushed to its basket in the corner. Soon the noise of a toy being devoured filled the office with slightly annoying whistles. Sitting at his terminal he went through the night reports and found as reported earlier nothing except two drunk and disorderly reports.
The day passed quickly and after work he dropped the puppy of at the cottage before walking to the Starlight Lounge. The barman greeted him with a wave and pointed to the private booth where a woman was already seated.
" Good evening Allegra, where are the girls?" He asked.
She pointed to the stage where Nerina seemed to be having a minor panic attack, her instrument held in a white knuckled grip. Her cousin Talya talking her down while tuning her instrument. The barman handed over to a waiter and joined them at the booth.
" Heard there was a spot of bother at the market today." He said
"Garrison business that, Steven. Unless a crime was committed we do not get involved."
" So you cannot confirm that they were floating in the air and fighting each other with lightening and fire."
Columbo snickered at that
"The local rumour mill has been running wild again, I take it."
The door opened and a group of four entered. They took a table large enough for eight. The waitress moving to their table talked for a moment before moving to the bar counter and picking up a pile of placemats.
"Steven, you still have that carbine under the counter." Columbo asked quietly, drawing his service blaster and comlink.
" Yes, why."
"I am calling my boys in, you have four very dangerous people at the table to the left. Allegra get to the girls and take them to refresher, Nerina is looking really ill right now. She will need a few moments to recover."
" How much danger do they pose?" Steven asked.
Carth was looking towards the stage as the performers was being led off by an older woman to the refresher, the younger girl looking a bit green around the edges. Their drink order came and he took a pull from his glass.
"This is a nice beer." He commented
"Locally brewed." A familiar voice spoke.
Carth spun in his chair looking straight into the barrel of a blaster pistol.
"All four of you, hands on the table."
Melissa was looking towards the bar and spotted the barman aiming a carbine in their direction. The door opened and four constables came in blasters in hand.
"Stand down. Too many civilians." Terri ordered
Calmly and slowly they laid their hands down on the surface of the table.
"Detective lieutenant Columbo. A surprise seeing you here." Terri spoke
"Chief inspector now."
More constables came flooding in, keeping their weapons trained on the four and Columbo holstered his side arm. The barman lowered his carbine and walked over to stand next to Columbo. The older woman and the younger girls approached as well.
" Who are these people uncle Charles?" Nerina asked
" Don't you recognise your cousins? That is Terri and Melissa Plant and their friend Matt Ritter. The fourth is I believe called Bastila Shan, a Jedi knight."
"So those are the two who stole my girls identities." Allegra spoke angrily, taking a step forward
Steven grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her back.
"Easy love, you have not been in the ring for ages. They might just be able to beat you."
A female constable motioned for Melissa to stand up. Melissa slowly stood, hands clearly visible. A wave had her stepping away from the table
"Why does this feel so familiar?" She muttered.
The constable moved behind her and pulled her blaster from the holster on her thigh.
"Clear." The officer called, stepping back
Columbo ran a hand across his face and sighed in exasperation.
" Miss Plant, would you be so kind as to point out to the junior officer what she missed." He asked
"You mean the blaster behind my back under my jacket or the knife in my boot?" Melissa asked in reply.
"Yes and whatever is under your left armpit."
Melissa slowly reached and pulled out her lightsaber and handed it over.
"Don't press the button and if you really have to don't look into the emitter." Melissa instructed
The constable handed the lightsaber over to Columbo before moving in to retrieve the blaster with shaking hands.
"Right boot above my ankle."
The knife was removed and the constable handed the weapons over to another.
"Now do a proper search." Columbo ordered.
Melissa fought against the urge to start laughing as a now very red face constable started patting her down. Moments later her hands were pulled behind her back and she heard the cuffs click in place. She looked over her shoulder.
"Can I put them on you later? Turn around is fair play after all." She smirked.
The older woman placed her hands over the younger girls ears and glared at Melissa
"Watch your mouth, Missy, there are impressionable young girls here."
Terri was next. With a grin she looked at the older woman while addressing the female constable
"I am into leather and tight bonds, and you?"
Bastila rose with a sigh. She slowly unclipped her saber and handed it over.
"No other weapons and no inappropriate comments from me."
The younger girl was not paying attention to the comments here gaze was fixed on the lightsaber in Columbo's hand.
" Is that really…"She started asking
Melissa shook her head. She looked to Columbo
"Just show her, be careful of the emitter. The term laser brain exists for a reason."
The silver blue blade lit with the familiar snap-hiss sound. The young girl looked enraptured at it. Columbo deactivated the blade.
"I have never heard of a blade of this colour before, Blue, green, yellow and red sure, but not blue silver" Nerina said
"It is a unique crystal." Melissa shrugged
" Are the others also unique colours?"
"No they are the boring yellow and blue."
Another constable entered and motioned to Columbo. He nodded and pointed to the door.
"Your transport is here. Please move to the door."
The walked in single file to the door, a constable holding on to each arm. Reaching the door the older woman spoke
"There is something I must know." Allegra spoke
They stopped and looked back at her.
"How did you know so much about my girls to be able to pretend to be them? How long have you been watching us?"
Terri paused for a moment before speaking, there was no point in maintaining secrecy as the cover id had been obliterated. She could see no risk to any Intelligence team.
"Personally we have not watched you. Sometimes agents pick up a cover story from something they read or hear. They will investigate it and if usable will forward it higher up the food chain. If the story needs further investigation a team will be send for surveillance and gathering. What you are fearing however, will not happen. No one will come after you and your family. They have no reason to, the cover would have fallen apart at first serious investigation. Covers like this get used and discarded daily."
"How can I know you are telling the truth?"
"You can't."
They walked out and stepped into the rear compartment. The door closed behind them. Columbo turned to the Plant family
"I am next door to you and will keep an eye out. I believe I have enough experience to spot any surveillance. I will also have the council upgrade security in the area. We have enough justification now to do so. Till those four are dealt with I will assign two constables on protection detail."
Columbo turned to Nerina
"I am sorry this ruined your debut night."
"I can always do it again next week. A little bit of stage fright is nothing to finding spies sitting in your family bar." Nerina grinned" Anyway I have a much cooler story to tell at school tomorrow now."
She pointed to the security camera mounted above the bar
"Plus I have proof if someone says I am lying."
Mission was trying to push through the crowd to get to the bar when she felt Canderous grabbing her shoulder.
"Wait! something is going on." He said softly
A transport vehicle pushed through the crowd and the driver opened the rear. Juhani and Zaalbar had caught up with them at this point. The constables in front of the door moved away and a file of prisoners were led out. She saw Melissa flash the back away sign from the thieves guild sign language as she stepped into the craft. A message Terri repeated.
Mission pulled back deeper into the crowd.
"Fall back." She said softly.
They slowly drifted back in the opposite direction. Stopping at a café Mission sat down at an outside table, canderous and Zaalbar followed suite. Juahni remained standing
"Why are we not rescuing our companions right now." Juhani demanded
" Because both Terri and Melissa told me not to interfere." Mission replied
" How did they tell you that?" Juhani insisted
" Both know the thieves guild sign language and both kept signing stay away. They knew where we were."
Juhani sat down
" Did they not trust us to help them?" She asked
" They could be playing an angle to get access to the police records. They could have decided there is too many innocents around who could get hurt. I do not believe it is a lack of trust. You saw those cuffs they were in, only Carth would be the only one not to get out of them by himself."
"Tails is right, the only thing we can do now is watch and wait." Canderous added
"Why are we back to Tails?" Mission demanded
"Till you do something to really impress me it will be Tails. And no dating my adopted daughter does not count."
Arriving at the police station the group was searched again. Scanned, fingerprinted and holopics taken. They were left in the same cell after having theri belts and boots confiscated.
"Why would they take our shoes?" Bastila asked looking around the cell.
"To prevent us from strangling them with the shoelaces, making it harder for us to escape on foot should we break out. Prevent suicide attempts. Take your pick." Carth replied.
Melissa sat down on a cot and looked at the fluctuating force field keeping them in
"Just to make sure we are all on the same level. We are in here due to a last minute plan, right?" She stated
"What do you mean?" Bastila asked
"There is no way I am going to admit we got caught because we did not spot a cop we dodged on Taris sitting in a bar on Lothal. The others will not let us hear the end of that."
Terri and Carth shared a glance and nodded
"Agreed."Carth said
"It seems dishonest not to tell the truth, things happen due to the will of the force." Bastila objected
"Fine, you deal with Mission then." Terri replied
"Perhaps I was hasty, yes it was due to a cunning last minute plan. We simply did not have the opportunity to let them know."
Melissa suddenly grinned
"Hey Bastila, how does it feel to be part of the jailbird club now?"
" Mission's sense of humour is definitely rubbing off on you." Bastila sniffed
"That is not the only thing rubbing off." Terri grinned, wickedly.
"Shower buddies." Melissa retorted
Carth was looking confused at the exchange, noticing Bastila rapidly changing colours, he lifted a hand
"Ladies. I don't want to know."
" You sure, it is a very thrilling tale?" Melissa replied
"The only thing I want to know is when are we walking out of here." He replied firmly
The door to the cells opened and Columbo walked in. He pointed to Melissa.
"Miss, please follow me."
He led the way to his office and waved her to a chair. Sitting behind his terminal he looked over at her.
"We both know you are not Melissa Plant, could we have a real name and planet for the records."
"Melissa Carpenter, Alterra."
" Not going to give rank and serial number as well?"
" If I was attached to the republic in that way I would have."
" You know that Sith Intelligence will not accept that answer, why not make it easy on yourself?"
Melissa gave him a soft smile.
"Sir, in order for good interrogator/ bad interrogator to work you need one of each. I can sense you are a good man and is finding this distastefull. So let the record state you tried and failed."
She was aware of the patter of little feet coming from the side of the office and then a sudden weight as something leaned against her leg. She kept her eyes on Columbo. Tired of being ignored the weight jumped down and bit her big toe through her sock. Looking down she saw a black shape gumming her socks. She looked up with a smirk
"This the newest in torture? Confession extracted via puppy?"
She leaned down and picked the small weight up and gave it the attention due to its station. Columbo looked at his dog as it made friends with his prisoner.
"I saw on you arrest report that you have sustained an injury to your arm, Would you have been in the informal market today?"
Melissa stopped rubbing the soft belly under her fingers. She looked Columbo square in the eyes.
"This one I will give you for free. Stay away from that woman. Tell your people if they see her to run. That woman is an insane killer."
Putting the puppy back on the ground, she stood up
"I would like to return to my cell now."
They knew something was up when the constables came in and cleared the adjacents cells and left the room. Three soldiers and an officer walked in. A constable came in behind them carrying a chair, putting it down he left. The officer pointed to Bastila.
"If she moves or speaks shoot." He instructed the soldiers.
He sat himself down in the chair and sat straight backed.
" I am Captain Von Helm. You will address me as sir or captain. In terms of the articles of war you are classified as insurgents and as such do not have the protections provided by the articles."
"Why are we having the conversation here and not at your base?" Carth asked
"I will be doing the questioning, not you." Von Helm snapped
The four shared a glance. The soldiers lifted their weapons and aomed at Bastila.
"Wrong Target. Aim at each other and shoot." Terri intoned
The officer tried to jump up as three stun blasts hit their targets. Melissa made a twisting motion with her hand. The chair and the officer lifted from the ground and spun rapidly around, Twisting her hand faster the rate increased. She suddenly stopped and the officer flew face first into the wall. Bastila motioned to the control panel by the door and the force field to their cell flickered out. Carth pulled the soldiers into the cell and Bastilla restarted the force field. The officer was on the ground groaning.
"Think he knows something?" Carth asked pointing
"Everything screams low level pad pusher, but we have nothing to go with anyway so I guess it can't hurt to ask." Melissa replied
Bastila looked thoughtfully at him.
" He became very defensive quickly after that one question. I would suggest starting there."
Terri pulled him from the ground and threw him back into his chair. Grabbing him by his chin she forced eye contact.
"Tell me you are not a senior intelligence officer are you?"
" No I am attached to the commanders office." The man responded
" Why did you come and not the intelligence officer?"
"To get a promotion out of this shithole of a planet."
"Why did you not simply move us to the base?"
"The cells have been compromised by an escape."
"Who escaped?"
The man resisted. Bastila and Melissa added their hands to Terri's shoulders and leaned into their bonds
"Who Escaped?"
"Two…Jedi…Children."
"Where were they last seen?"
" In the…agh…City."
The man developed a nosebleed. Terri stood back and the other two released her shoulders.
"We will get no more out of him." Terri said
Bastila operated the controls and the officer was pushed into the cell. Melissa tried the controls to the door and it slid open. There was a complete silence in the adjacent room. Walking into the office they noticed that the building was empty. A cup of caf standing on a desk was still steaming.
"Evidence Lock up?" Melissa suggested
The door to the lock up wielded to a force pull. Their weapons and equipment was lying on a table in bags with their names labelled on each bag.
"Any idea where to start looking for those kids?" Carth asked
The three sat down in a circle and joined hands. Closing their eyes and deepening their breathing they went into a meditative trance. Carth was almost willing to swear he saw gold and silver sparks flashing across them. As one they opened their eyes
"The sewers." Bastila said