After his meeting with Rhinda, which lasted until midday, Flik returned to the cantina. Feeling hungry, he decided to risk sampling the roasted nerf served at midday. Normally, he would have eaten elsewhere, as he didn’t want possible enemies to find him easily when he was on a job. Over the five years since he’d become a bounty hunter, Flik and even in the years before then, he’d learnt the value of being hard to track. As it was, he needed time to plan his next move based on the information Rhinda had provided.
When the food arrived, Flik decided that he’d had worse in his time, but eating alone made him miss the hunts he and Auoura had participated in, and Tek, when he’d been old enough to accompany them. It hadn’t been for criminals and other assorted scum like he did now, but for food. He was Shistavanen, after all...
Once he’d finished his meal, Flik went to the rented room upstairs and inspected the items Rhinda had given to him to help him infiltrate the purist’s stronghold. They were a holographic belt that would disguise his appearance and a voice modulator. He tested them, to make sure that they worked and he found no problems with them. He deposited them with the rest of his equipment and locked them away. He checked his chrono and found that it was now an hour past midday. Given the nocturnal activities he had planned to discover the likely whereabouts and if things went well, the rescue of Shiba, Flik decided that it would be wise to get some rest while he had the opportunity.
Flik woke a few hours later. Thinking about Auoura and Tek while he’d eaten his lunch had been a bad idea, for their memory, or more specifically, the memory of their deaths had invaded his dreams. Before he realised what he was doing, Flik had walked over to the box that stored his equipment and had the black cylinder in his hands. He pressed the activation button and the green blade sprang to life in front of him with a snap-hiss. As he stared at the blade, he recalled that day when he’d finished the burial cairn of stones, under which laid the body of Auoura ...
Tek’s body, he’d never been able to recover. After he’d laid the last stone in place, Flik had stood back to look at his work. He howled his grief to the sea wind, until his howl seemed to merge with it and the sound of the waves. He recalled how the wind had snagged at his Jedi robes as he walked back to the home he’d shared with Auoura and Tek for the last decade, the one that was now empty without them.
It had seemed that the wind itself had known what thoughts had been passing through his mind that day, that his life as a Jedi, the one that had taken everything away had now come to an end. Even after leaving the Order to be with Auoura, he’d not stopped being a Jedi. How could have been so stupid to think that he could have taught Tek the ways of the Jedi and expected him not to fall to the darkside when he himself had failed?
As he entered the hidden fortress that Flik’s grandfather had built to safeguard his mother when her life had been threatened by his rivals, Flik made his decision. Once he reached his quarters, the ones that was so empty without his Auoura, Flik began removing his Jedi robes and carefully packed them away, as if one day, he did indeed intend to come back to them again, though at that particular moment, the wolfman would have been glad never to set eyes on the things again. He swapped the Jedi robes for civilian clothing and sat down on the edge of the bed, his mind in turmoil. He’d never made a good Jedi, he reminded himself, at least not in the eyes of the Council that was more dust and bones than his dead wife out there. The reason for that? He’d never been able to let go of his “attachments”, at least the ones that he considered important, the ones that the Council had been most adamant that no Jedi should have. Now, because he’d not been able to let go of his life as a Jedi, he’d gotten both Auoura and Tek killed.
Sometime passed before Flik had gone in search of the caretaker droid Auoura had persuaded him to get to maintain the place. He’d told the droid of his intention to leave. When the droid asked when he’d be back, Flik had replied, “It is unlikely.”
Did he regret turning away from his life as a Jedi? Perhaps...What had occurred back then was he very reason he couldn’t let Shiba get too close to him – he didn’t want to lose anyone he cared about like that again...
From Rhinda’s information about what happened to human females when they were brought in, she should be held at the prison governor’s villa. It wasn’t that hard for him to find, as Flik had seen the monstrosity when he’d first arrived. Even if he hadn’t, all he would have to do is find the largest and most pompous looking homestead and he would have found it. Despite the beauty of Naboo, Flik couldn’t help but feel that the human population over did it. He remembered from the days of his being a Jedi, the grandeur of the Senate and though he’d not really thought of it in the same way back then, he couldn’t help but look upon it all differently now. He’d soon changed his perception of it when he saw first hand how the normal people of the galaxy were forced to exist, while their leaders squandered money on appearances. If the Trade Federation hadn’t have been part of the Separatists, Flik wouldn’t have blamed those worlds which joined them, thinking that the Separatists had been the solution to their problems...
Flik turned his thoughts back to the task at hand. The Governor’s Villa might be easy to find, but he still had the problem of how to get in. He’d waited until nightfall before making his move and the darkness did help him conceal himself. However, there was no doubt that the Villa would have some protection against intruders and he had to assume that the place was surrounded by infra red holocams at least as they would detect his heat signature. There were some things in his favour, though. Apparently, the current Queen of Naboo had forbidden the use of the most destructive Imperial weapons and vehicles to be used on Naboo, which surprisingly, the Emperor hadn’t objected to. Perhaps it was down o the fact that Naboo was Palpatine’s homeworld and he looked upon it more favourably than others, or more likely, it could have been that he saw little threat to the Empire originating from Naboo.
For once, Flik would only have to worry about the guards, which was fine by him, but that didn’t mean it would be easy...
Flik decided to scope out the processing centre first, just to make sure that there weren’t any other alternative destinations for her. Though he didn’t see he guards as much of a threat individually because of his Jedi abilities, if there were enough of them, they could easily overwhelm him. Flik also tried to avoid conflict wherever possible. Sometimes, Flik couldn’t decide whether there remained a part of him that still aspired to be a Jedi, or if he just wanted to avoid confrontations because it meant that he was more likely for him to survive to collect his bounty...
Keeping to the shadows, Flik found the human processing division quite easily. After an initial scanning of the area to determine if all was clear, with both his normal senses and through the Force, Flik began to search for signs that she’d been there. He crouched down, almost kneeling, so that he could get a good sample of the scents of the beings that had passed through the place recently. There were a lot and for a moment, Flik feared that the tangle of scent trails would overwhelm any that Shiba might have left behind.
All the ones he detected were male, much to his disappointment...
Then, just as he was about to give up, Flik detected a familiar scent, it so faint that he’d almost missed it among the others, but the feminine odour called out to him and once he’d detected it, he was able to block out all the others and focus only on it. Definitely female, mixed with the sterile disinfectant-type scent of her former occupation.
Flik had to crush the excitement that coursed through his body at the recognition of her scent trail. Forcing himself to concentrate, Flik set about determining where it led...
If it was away from the Villa, then he’d know she was free, and that all it would take was a matter of finding her, rather than coming to her rescue. No such luck, unfortunately when her trail abruptly ended. He detected the scent of metal and fuel and determined that Shiba must have been bundled into an armoured landspeeder of some kind. He growled softly in his throat. She could have been taken anywhere...
Flik heard the sound of footsteps coming up behind him and he cursed when he realised that he’d been so intent on finding her that one of the night guards had almost gotten the drop on him. As Flik turned around to face the threat, the guard snapped off a stun bolt shot at him, which missed due to it being fired in haste.
Reaching out with the Force, Flik yanked the blaster pistol from the guard’s hands. The guard’s expression turned to fear as he turned tail in an attempt to get away from the alien.
Some guard, Flik thought, critically, before setting off after him.
Flik drew his blaster from its holster as he sprinted after him. The wolfman caught the guard easily and tackled him face-down to the ground. With his right knee pressed into the small of the guard’s back and his left arm pinning the guard to the ground, Flik held his blaster to the back of the guard’s head – his blaster was not on stun...
Flik snarled as he spoke. “The woman brought in yesterday; where was she taken?”
Only the guard’s silence answered him.
“Answer me, human – where did they take her?” he asked, pressing the nozzle of the blaster harder against his head. “Think carefully, human. Mine’s not on stun.”
“The governor’s villa,” he stammered in reply. “They took her there.”
“You wouldn’t be lying to me now, would you?” Flik growled.
By then, the guard was trembling with fear. He repeated what he’d told him.
Flik determined that he couldn’t be lying, but as he rose back to his feet, keeping his blaster trained on the guard all the time, he said, “That had better be the truth, human. If she’s not there, I’ll be paying you another visit, and next time, you might not escape with your life.”
Flik was gone before the guard regained the courage to get to his feet.
As he disappeared into the night, Flik wondered if it had been a good idea to let the guard live. A part of him, the part that still functioned as a Jedi, refused to take a life unnecessarily, even if sometimes it was more practical to do the opposite. Flik shrugged it off. Besides, if it proved to be a detriment in the near future, he’d just have to live with it and deal with the situation as it arose as best he could.
The curfew was drawing near as the villa came into view. It was huge, and was surrounded by an intricate garden, the likes of which he’d not seen since he’d been a Jedi in the Old Republic. Even in the darkness, he could make out a maze with three metre-high hedgerows, shrubs and what appeared to be flowerbeds. He guessed that the villa had once belonged to a Naboo dignitary, or businessman, as it didn’t look like what he’d come to expect to be the home of a high-ranking Imperial at all.
However, the fact that the grounds appeared innocuous put him on guard. He picked his way carefully through the garden, his senses primed for any sign, sight, sound or smell that guards were about. He moved silently over the lawns, using the shadows cast by the foliage as cover as though he was stalking some wild animal. He’d just passed a gazebo when he paused. He’d caught the sound of a patrol moving towards him, and he saw a beam of light as it shone through the gaps in the leaves of a near by clump of bushes.
Flik sank deeper into the shadows of the bushes, before closing his eyes. It may have seemed a rather foolish move, as he couldn’t see his adversaries, but Flik didn’t need the use of his eyes to “see.” He had his sharper hearing and sense of smell to detect his possible enemies. Besides, the tapetum lucidium, that reflective layer of cells at the back of his eyes that gave sharper vision to those descended from nocturnal species than those of the day would have been a disadvantage at that particular moment, for if the beam of light reflected off his eyes, they would have been as visible to the patrol as a full moon and give away his position.
Flik kept silent and sill, for in the darkness, movement would reveal his presence just as easily as his eyes would have. He listened and sniffed the air for their scent, but the slight breeze was blowing their odour away from him, so he had to rely on his ears, and the Force. He waited there, crouched in the undergrowth for what seemed an age for the patrol to pass him by, but it was in fact only fifteen minutes. Flik held his breath when they were at their nearest to his position, and hoped that they didn’t have infra-red or night vision goggles. It seemed unlikely, for they wouldn’t have had glow rods otherwise, but you could never tell. He tensed in case the need to fight arouse. From the footfalls, he guessed that there must have been six of them. He relaxed slightly as the sound of their passing began to recede. But should he risk opening his eyes? He waited for a minute or two before risking it. They had their backs turned to him, but he still kept his gaze low, so that the light wouldn’t catch his eyes. When they disappeared around the corner of the villa, he deemed that it was safe to move. He could detect their scents on the wind now, for they were moving in a direction that favoured the night’s air currents to bring their scent to him. His estimate had been correct, as he detected six distinct human male scents.
Getting to his feet, Flik continued on his way to the villa.
Try as she might, Shiba couldn’t get to sleep. Thoughts of her children, particularly the question of if she would ever see them again, ran around her head. Perhaps in hindsight, she should have taken the wolfman’s advice and gone back to Corellia while she had the chance. Even if she’d not been able to get her practice back, she could have at least attempted to get work as a doctor in someone else’s, perhaps even the military if that avenue had been unsuccessful. That option would have been possible if she’d found a garrison planet-wise where she wouldn’t have been separated from her children.
Yeah, right, she thought sarcastically. Did she really think that she could have worked for the very same people that were responsible for the destruction of her homeworld, the deaths of her friends and the family that hadn’t been lucky enough not to have been on Alderaan at the time it had happened? And was being a bounty hunter any better? she asked herself. Still, if she’d been anywhere other than a cell facing an unknown fate she wouldn’t even been asking herself these questions.
There was no going back on the choices she had made, as there was nothing she could do to change them now.
To her surprise, Shiba had been treated well, and the cell wasn’t the usual uncomfortable box that Imperial prisoners were normally given. It was equipped with the kind of furniture and decor she’d expect a person of minor aristocracy would be imprisoned with. Still, a cage is still a cage, no matter how appealing it appeared.
Earlier, when the attendant had brought her food, Shiba had over heard the guards talking about an out-going shipment next week. Where, she couldn’t have said, for the guards had kept that part out, but by their tone, it seemed to be a regular event. This had garnered her curiosity, but other than hazarding a guess that it had something to do with the skimpy garments she’d been forced to change into upon her arrival at the villa, she had nothing else to go on. Still, that mean she couldn’t imagine what was in store for her...and it was something she didn’t really want to think about.
Shiba sighed and got to her feet and began pacing.
What was taking the wolfman so long? She was starting to wonder if he was ever going to rescue her, for in spite of her investigations, the cell (she refused to think of it as a room), was escape-proof, at least from the inside, or if he was just going to leave her there.
Getting her out of his hair was what he’d wanted all along, after all...
Unknown to Shiba, Flik was only a few metres away. Now that he’d managed to get to the east side of the villa without encountering anymore guard patrols, Flik had the problem of finding a way inside without tripping any alarms. Once he’d accomplished that, he then had the problem of finding her. Rescuing her needed to be carried out quickly, preferably she’d be gone and they would be beyond the garden before anyone even noticed she’d escaped. Somehow, Flik had the feeling neither of them would be that lucky, especially if he had to spend a significant amount of time wandering around in side the villa in a vain effort to find her.
Perhaps the best course of action would be to find the place where Shiba had entered the villa and follow he scent trail if he could find it. That method had, after all, been useful to him earlier. He sniffed the night air for any sign of the guard patrol he’d avoided earlier, and because he could still detect them, he figured that there was little chance of him being discovered, at least by them, for the moment. He kept his senses primed for any other patrols that might be in the villa’s grounds.
Flik began skirting the villa’s perimeter, moving swiftly, but still attempting to maintain a degree of stealth. He was unsuccessful at finding a possible entrance, as the wall along this side of the villa was solid, aside from the windows and he didn’t want to take the chance entering through one of those in case it was protected by an alarm system. He paused when he reached the corner and sniffed the air to try and determine the whereabouts of the guard patrol. They had changed direction, Flik noted, as he failed to catch their scent on the night breeze. He would have to proceed more carefully, as he didn’t want to nearly run into them again.
Flik rounded the corner, and there, a few metres away, was the likely entrance that Shiba had been forced to take. It was non-descript the kind of thing you’d expect to find would have been frequented by the house staff, delivery men or in this case, guards. There was a small landing bay near-by that was big enough for a ship the size of an Imperial shuttle, and there was enough space for the comings and goings of armoured landspeeders and transports, though nothing on the scale of the ATATs that the Empire often used, which came with some relief to him.
He studied the area for any sign of a turbo-laser turret, or any other heavy defensive weapons of that nature, but there weren’t any. There were plenty of storage crates in the unloading bay, Flik noted. Perhaps it was something he could use to his advantage.
His ears primed, Flik listened for the sound of movement which would indicate that there were guards around. He detected two sets of booted footsteps and one of the guards, a Stormtrooper, came into view.
Good. He could easily take out two guards if the situation required it. However, as before with the patrol, Flik would much prefer to let the guards think that nothing was amiss until there came a time when he did have to reveal his presence. He moved forwards towards the entrance to get as close as he safely could before it was likely that he’d be seen, which was difficult because there was no cover.
As his eyes moved over the crates again, an idea began to form in his mind. Seeing that the line of crates stretched a fair distance away from the entrance, Flik came up with a plan to distract the guards and give him a chance, no matter how slim, to slip inside without being noticed. Reaching out with the Force, Flik caused one of the storage crates to fall, creating a heavy bang as it came into contact with the ferrocrete.
Flik waited, until he saw the guards leave their post to investigate the noise. Flik took that opportunity to enter the villa. Once he was inside, Flik cast around, in an attempt to find Shiba’s scent trail. Knowing that his time was limited, Flik worked quickly. Flik had to stifle an excited yip when he detected her familiar scent, and began to follow.
Shiba was just about to sit back down again when she heard a noise, much like that which accompanied a scuffle, right outside her door. A moment later, the door slid open to reveal the very same wolfman she had thought had abandoned her.
“I thought you weren’t coming,” Shiba exclaimed.
Flik’s muzzle creased in a grim smile. “Yeah, well, we’re ain’t outta this yet, doctor,” the wolfman replied, handing her the weapon that had previously belonged to the unconscious guard at his feet.
Shiba gingerly accepted it. Taking one look at her outfit, and trying to suppress the amused laugh that threatened to emerge, Flik shrugged off his jacket and handed that to her as well. It was on the large size, but Shiba didn’t complain as she put it on.
“We’d best get out of here while - ” the alarm klaxon cut off his next words and he growled a curse. “You’d better be ready to use that thing, doctor.”
Shiba just nodded, figuring that now was not really the time to argue over it and followed him out into the corridor. Mirroring his battle stance, Shiba trailed after him, a little off to the right so that she wouldn’t accidently shoot him in the back if she panicked when they ran into any guards.
As this was the first time she’d ever been in a situation like this, Shiba found her movements to be rather jerky and nausea crept its way into her stomach along with the adrenaline. Her mouth had gone dry. She cast her mind back to the very first operation she’d participated in, back when she was studying. Somehow, back then, she’d managed to calm her nerves and as a result, succeeded to complete it with only a few minor errors that were easily corrected. She swallowed and tried to conjure up some of the calmness she’d felt back then. As if sensing her anxiety, Flik’s eyes rolled in her direction before they focused forward again.
“You ok, doctor?” he asked.
“I’m fine,” Shiba managed to choke out.
“You’d better be,” the wolfman replied. “Otherwise, you’re no good to me.”
Shiba felt a tinge of anger at his words, which was the reaction Flik had hoped to get as it distracted her from her own self-doubt.
The encountered no one in the corridors and Flik began to wonder if the place was as heavily guarded as he’d thought it was when he abruptly stopped.
“What is it?” Shiba asked.
“Hopefully, nothing,” Flik replied as he began moving forward again.
After about ten more paces, Flik grabbed her upper arm and stopped her in her tracks.
“Someone’s coming this way,” he informed her. Glancing around, Flik’s gaze fixed on a doorway going off to the side. Letting go of her arm, Flik walked over to it and attempted to open the door. It slid open and he motioned her inside. Thinking that he was on the verge of going nuts, Shiba obeyed and ducked inside, the wolfman a step or two behind her. Flik closed the door and gestured for her to be silent and they waited. After two or three minutes had passed, Shiba was beginning to wonder if Flik was imagining things when she heard the footsteps of a sizable patrol going past just a few centimetres beyond the door. Shiba looked at him and mouthed, “How did you know they were there?”
In reply, Flik pointed to his ears.
Shiba nodded her understanding. After another couple of minutes had gone by, Flik said, “Once they see we’re not back that way, they’ll come back and start checking these rooms. There’s too many of them for us to get out the way I came in. We’ll have to find another way out of here.”
“Will that do?” Shiba asked, indicating the window.
“Yeah, that’ll do,” Flik answered.
He stalked over to the window and opened it. Fortunately, they were on the ground floor.
“I’ll go through first,” Flik said, over his shoulder.
“Won’t they figure out that we went out this way?” Shiba asked, pocketing her blaster.
“Trust me, we stand a better chance of evading them out there,” Flik replied. “And if we hurry, we should be long gone by the time they do.”
Before she could reply, Flik was through the window. Shiba followed him more carefully and when she was half out of the window, Flik helped her down. The wolfman seemed to merge with the darkness and Shiba soon understood what he meant when he said they’d stood a better chance. It took a moment for Shiba’s eyes to adjust to the darkness after the bright lights inside. Speed was of the essence now and Flik, gripping her arm didn’t wait for her to get used to it and hurried her along.
Flik returned to the cantina with Shiba after he’d rescued her. They’d had an encounter with a patrol in the garden, but Flik had easily dealt with that and they’d had to avoid one or two Stromtrooper patrols that were out trying to catch the odd curfew violator. There was only the proprietor in the bar at that late hour and the Gungan jabbered a lecture consisting of broken basic at them, complaining at Flik’s lateness as the Gungan was about to close up the bar. Upon seeing that he’d brought Shiba, a human, to his cantina, his barrage intensified.
Flik growled, showing his impressive set of fangs and shoved his blaster under the Gungan’s nose. The Gungan uttered a quick apology before making himself scarce. Flik lowered his blaster and he and Shiba continued to his rented room.
“What in the ruins of Alderaan was all that about?” Shiba asked as Flik closed the door and made sure that the lock was secure to keep out unwanted visitors.
“The Gungan doesn’t like humans staying here,” Flik explained. “He thinks that you will bring trouble down on to his establishment.”
Shiba opened her arms wide to show off the ridiculous skimpy clothing she’d been forced to wear by the purists. “Do I look as though I would smash the place up?”
“Not you personally,” Flik replied, his face taking on a sheepish expression. “He thinks I brought you back here for some night-time entertainment.”
Shiba stifled a laugh. “Yeah, right - ” her eyes met his for a moment and there was a glint to them that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. “As if that would happen.”
Flik shared her amusement, his laugh a low growl, very different from that which he’d used to intimidate the Gungan a few minutes earlier. Both, however, couldn’t help but suspect that the other was trying to cover their true feelings on the matter up. Shiba shrugged off the jacket he’d lent her to protect her from the cold night air and laid it beside her on the bed as she sat down.
“He has a point,” Flik said, padding over to the window. At that moment, he just didn’t want to look at her. His voice had a serious tone to it as he continued. “A lot of humans wouldn’t take too kindly to the thought of one of their women with someone like me, even if that relationship was platonic. Even just a suggestion or a rumour of that - ”
“Yeah, well, it’s just as well that we’re not here for that, isn’t it?” Shiba replied. From the way he spoke, Shiba couldn’t help but get the impression that he was talking about more than just romantic relationships between different species. “But I’m no stranger to what you described. Many of my human patients back on Corellia didn’t like the fact I treated non-humans. And many of my non-human patients felt the same way about them as well and mistrusted me because I am human. The fact that the Empire put more tariffs and taxes on the medication and treatment of non-human patients didn’t help matters either. I was even considering quitting the profession before Alderaan was destroyed because of it.”
“I had no idea it had been that bad,” Flik said. He’d thought that she’d made a mistake approaching him to take on a career as a bounty hunter. Now, he was going to have to re-evaluate that assessment.
“Oh, don’t get me wrong – I loved being a doctor. After worrying about the fate of my patients, that’s worst part of giving it up.”
Flik nodded. He could relate to that. He heard her get up and she went over to stand next to him beside the window.
“I’ve not thanked you for rescuing me yet,” Shiba said, standing on her tip toes, she reached up to kiss his lips.
“The only reason I went after you is that you’re important to my mission, doctor,” Flik replied, coldly, as unwanted visions of them sharing intimacy flashed involuntary through his mind. It was not something he should let himself pursue, even if he did want it.
Shiba took a step back away from him and for a brief moment, Flik wanted to apologise for his harsh words. Instead, he said, “You take the bed, doctor,” Flik said. “I’ll sleep on the floor.”
“Forever the gentleman, aren’t you?” Shiba said, probably a little too sarcastically.
Flik didn’t reply as she sat down on the bed and removed her shoes. He stared out of the window into the blackness of the night because if he turned to look at her, he knew he would give in and sleep with her. Only once her breathing became deep and regular did he himself settle down on the floor and sleep.
