The Bounty Hunter Chapter 7

Chapter 7

“This was all I could find,” Flik said, handing Shiba the Naboo peasant clothing he had found. “I guessed your size.”

“Thanks,” Shiba said, taking the clothes from him. Out of courtesy, Flik turned his back on her as she changed, though the skimpy clothes she’d been forced to wear did little to hide her modesty, anyway. Although they weren’t what Shiba would have chosen for herself, the light brown trousers and tunic were practical, she decided.

“You can look now,” Shiba said, after she’d finished dressing. Flik turned around.

“So, what’s this plan of yours?” Shiba asked, sitting down at the bottom of the bed.

“We’ll need to infiltrate the purists,” Flik replied. “If we are to find Sarnad’s killer.”

“A bit obvious,” Shiba mumbled. “Though it’s going to be difficult considering what you look like and all.”

Flik exposed his fangs to indicate amusement. “There’s no need to worry about that,” he explained. He picked up the belt from the equipment they had arranged on the floor. “This device is known as a holographic belt. It will enclose me in a hologram which will make me look human, and the voice modulator will make me sound more human.”

“So, what’s my part in all of this? It looks like you’ve got everything at your end covered.”

Flik hesitated. She probably wasn’t going to like the next part of the plan. “To get you in there, you’re going to have to play the part of my squeeze.”

Shiba raised her eye brows. She didn’t know whether to laugh at him or slap him. “Your what?” she asked in disbelief.

“The purists treat your gender as subservient, as well as treating those not of their species as inferior. It’s the only way I could get you in there and give you some protection. The only honourable trait they possess is that they wouldn’t touch what he sees to be the property of someone else,” Flik explained. “If you can come up with a better plan, then let me know.”

At that moment, Shiba couldn’t think of anything. After a moment, she said, “I just don’t understand you. One moment you act like a complete jerk, the next, you’re the champion of chivalry. I don’t get that.”

“Good. You’re not meant to.”

“I just hope that you don’t hold the same views about - ”

Flik laughed. “Of course not! Things have changed drastically on Naboo since Senator Amidala was in office.”

“You say that like you knew her.”

“Only on a professional basis, even then, I had few dealings with her,” Flik replied.

“We need to bring this group down.”

Flik flashed her a rare smile. “We may not be able to accomplish that by ourselves, doctor, but our actions will contribute to its downfall. Of that, I have no doubt.”

“I wonder why the Empire failed to put an end to all of this.”

Flik glanced out the window as he answered. “The answer to that question is simple, doctor. While the non-humans and their sympathisers are battling against the purists, it prevents them from turning their attention to their real oppressors, the Empire. With the destruction of Alderaan, more and more systems are taking up the call to join the Rebellion. It wouldn’t do for Palpatine’s homeworld to turn against him, now would it?”

“I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

Flik continued looking out the window. “In many ways, the Naboo are much like the people of your planet were, peaceful, but with a strong belief in justice and fairness. Dividing the inhabitants of Naboo like this destroys that.”

Flik checked the chronometer on his wrist. “We have time to spare before we’re due to meet our contact. I suggest we use that time to practice your self-defence.”

“Agreed,” Shiba said, getting to her feet.

They began by practising the postures that Shiba had learnt from him already, and then followed it up by the moves he had taught. Though most of the time, Shiba still ended up as the loser, she was starting to hold her own against him. Flik, however, executed his moves with caution, as he didn’t want to hurt her unduly. As a result, he set up most of his moves to be effective, but he kept back any unnecessary power from them that he would have used against a real opponent. In spite of that, he encouraged Shiba to put all her power behind her moves, so that she could improve and to not be afraid to use force when she met her real opponents in battle. Shiba even succeeded in flooring him a few times.

“You have greatly improved, since we began, doctor,” he said, as he looked up at her from the floor the final time she floored him. “We should call it a day, I think.”

Shiba pushed sweat soaked hair away from her face. “I’ve had it,” she agreed, reaching down to help him to his feet. With a quick movement that Shiba didn’t see, he had her pinned with her back against him, his left arm holing her across her chest tight enough so that she couldn’t struggle. His right hand held a vibroblade up against her throat.

“Now that’s fighting dirty, Sivrak,” Shiba managed to gasp out.

Flik pressed his muzzle up to her right ear. She could feel his breath on the side of her face. “You’ll find that most of your opponents will fight dirty, dear doctor,” he whispered. “I have to prepare you for that.”

He took the vibroblade away from her throat and returned it to its sheath on his belt. He spun her around and the look in his eyes caused her heart to miss a beat. The next thing Shiba knew, his mouth was pressed up against hers. The following kiss was as gentle as Flik could manage it. Shiba found herself returning the kiss and she was glad that he’d found her more appropriate clothing because if he hadn’t, she knew that it would have gone much further than just the kiss.

A moment later, Flik pulled away from her and turned his back on her as he stammered over an apology. He squeezed his eyes shut in frustration. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he stepped away from her.

“We should get on with our mission, doctor,” he said.

***

Before they left the cantina, Flik suggested that they should gather up their equipment and take it with them since given the Gungan’s reaction the night before, t he cantina was no longer safe. In fact, Flik was surprised that the Imperials hadn’t came down on them already. Shiba agreed, and she’d been surprised that they had escaped from the villa so easily.

Flik advised Shiba to wait outside for him while he settled business with the Gungan, as he didn’t think it was a good idea for the Gungan to set eyes on her again. Shiba had to agree and she had no desire to meet the Gungan face to face so soon. So, having gone out the back way to avoid the Gungan, Shiba waited on the wooden bench situated near the cantina’s front entrance while Flik settled things. As she waited, Shiba watched a group of Gungan children play. It seemed that no matter where she went in the galaxy, or what species they happened to be, kids were all the same. After about five minutes, an adult Gungan, which Shiba took to be a female, came out of one of the nearby buildings and glared at her before herding the children inside. Shiba sighed and waited for the wolfman to appear.

It seemed to her that he was gone for ages when in fact only a few minutes had passed. Shortly after the mother Gungan had herded her children inside, another adult Gungan came out of the building and headed towards her.

“Is there a problem?” Flik asked, holding his blaster casually at his side. His posture was non-threatening, though there was a hint of a growl in his voice. The Gungan passed his gaze over the wolfman, taking in the blaster and his tone. Deciding that continuing the confrontation wasn’t worth it, the Gungan retreated back into the building.

Shiba glanced up at him as she got to her feet.

“Did you get it sorted?” Shiba asked.

“Yeah, after a manner,” the wolfman replied. “The Gungan tried to make me pay extra because of your presence...to keep quiet about you if the Imperials came around asking questions.”

“What did you do?” Shiba asked.

Flik’s muzzle creased in a grin. “I persuaded him that trying to blackmail me was not in his best interests,” he replied. “We’d better be on our way. The people are resentful of humans around here.”

“I’ve noticed.”

***

The protocol droid, H-3PX, met them in Rhinda’s front garden and this time the droid took them to the kitchen. Rhinda proved to be more amiable than the Gungans had been, much to Shiba’s relief. Today, the Bothan woman was wearing a green tunic and trousers. After the droid introduced the visitors and left, Rhinda bade them to follow her and took them through to a small room lined with shelves that were filled with data discs, most of which were works of literature, some of which Flik recognised from his time as a padawan before the onset of the Clone Wars and some which Shiba remembered reading during her time studying on Alderaan. There was a computer terminal in the middle of the room with a pile of data discs and a collection of holocubes on the desk beside it.

“Those are all the data discs and holocubes that I could find, Sivrak. I will leave you to your work now – there’s a lot for you to get through. If you need anything, just ask H-3PX.”

“Of course,” Flik said. Once Rhinda had left, Flik filled Shiba in everything he already knew about the case before they started looking through the data discs and holocubes. They spent the rest of the afternoon researching the data discs that Rhinda had been able to dig out. From what they could determine, all of them pointed to this Janos Teff as being the killer of her husband, but there was something about it that didn’t sit right with Flik – he had the feeling that there was more going on than the evidence was showing him and it all seemed too neatly packaged.

“You think someone’s trying to cover up for someone else?” Shiba asked him from the opposite side of the desk after he had mentioned his misgivings to her.

“Yeah, I do,” Flik indicated the computer screen, which had Janos Teff’s profile on it, and he turned it around so she could see it. “We know from what we’ve read about Teff’s background that he’s a viscous thug. He’s been behind the murder of several Gungans before the creation of these prisons, which is why he was placed here to begin with.”

Shiba shrugged her shoulders. “It seems a strange thing to do, considering the large population of Gungans that live here.”

Flik flashed her a grim smile. “Yeah, but his connection to the Imperial Governor saves him from getting sent straight to Kessel, where those like him belong.”

Shiba shrugged her shoulders. “You could bet that had he killed a human, that he would have been, or had an alien done the same deeds, he or she would have been executed.”

Flik made no reply to that, knowing her words to be accurate. Shiba was about to suggest that perhaps it would be best to stick with what they knew for the moment, when Flik suddenly shot up out of his chair and drew his blaster.

“What is it?” Shiba asked.

“We have an intruder,” he replied. He didn’t elaborate more and exited the study.

***

Flik soon came up on the intruder, another bounty hunter that he had seen around the Bounty Hunter’s Guild, but one he had paid little attention to because he was one of the less prominent members, and so Flik had considered him less dangerous. Flik failed to recall the hunter’s name, and that was if he had even known it to begin with. Perhaps that had been a mistake.

He had Rhinda pinned down in the kitchen, the Bothan woman attempting to use the furniture for cover. The droid, H-3PX, had taken a blaster shot to his metallic torso that had melted his casing and wiring. Flik instinctively ducked as the hunter snapped off a shot at him, which missed, hitting the wall in the hallway behind him, causing it to blacken. A moment later, Flik heard movement as Shiba came up behind him, her blaster pistol primed for action if need be. Shiba’s arrival distracted the other hunter as he looked at her. Using the distraction to her advantage, Rhinda had produced a blaster pistol that she must have kept hidden in one of the cupboards and had a third blaster pointing her attacker’s way.

“Don’t move,” she snarled. The hunter glanced at Rhinda.

“You’re out numbered,” Flik barked at the intruder, before adding, “Drop the weapon.”

Seeing that there was no way he could survive a three-pronged assault, even if he managed to kill or severely injure one of them, the bounty hunter, a human male, did as the wolfman ordered and placed his blaster on the floor. Still keeping his gaze on the human, Flik indicated for Shiba to retrieve it. When she was back at his side and had her blaster on him once again, Flik asked him, “Who hired you?”

“Jessa Endeel,” the human replied, glancing at the Bothan with her blaster still trained on him. “It seems that she has an alien problem.”

That was all Flik needed to know. Without warning, the wolfman aimed his blaster and shot him. Shiba gasped in surprise as he slumped forward, dead before he hit the ground. Flik turned to Shiba.

“It had to be done, doctor,” he explained, coldly. “Other wise he would have jeopardised the success of our mission.”

Shiba merely nodded, uncertain whether to agree with him, or not. All her professional life, she’d had those words drilled into her, do no harm, and it wasn’t until that moment that she began to appreciate why he’d been so reluctant to take her on. She didn’t know what was worse, the cold way in which Flik had dispatched the other bounty hunter, or his calm demeanour as though nothing of the sort had happened afterwards. Ignoring Shiba’s moral dilemma, Flik turned back to Rhinda.

“A price is out on your head,” Flik said to the Bothan. “You mentioned earlier that Teff has your late husband’s associates under surveillance now.”

“That’s correct,” Rhinda replied.

Flik looked thoughtful. “That means you can’t go to them for protection. We’ll just have to think of something else.”

“You can bet that once he doesn’t report back that Jessa will want to find out what’s happened to him,” Shiba said, cutting into his thoughts.

Flik had to concede that point to her. To Rhinda, he said, “You’d best gather up what ever you think you’ll need. It’s no longer safe here.”

Once the Bothan had gone, Flik said quietly to Shiba, “You’d best start pulling yourself together, quickly, doctor,” Flik indicated the body of the bounty hunter sprawled on the floor. “He would have killed Rhinda if I’d arrived a few seconds later. It’s rare that you get a second chance in this game. Think about it, with her gone so would have your money.”

“Don’t you think that I know that?” Shiba asked.

“You’re going to have to start putting those sensibilities that your university professors drilled into you aside, doctor, if you want to stay in this. If not, you’ll end up dead.”

Shiba didn’t know whether to count that as a warning or a threat, possibly both. Frowning at him, she said, “That means we end up becoming like those we hunt.” Shiba didn’t add, like the Empire, but she was definitely thinking on those lines.

“Just remember, you chose it, doctor.”