Chapter 8
Flik and Shiba hardly said a word to each other while they relocated Rhinda, which was fine by Flik. He hoped that once the mission was over, that Shiba, having had a taste of the brutality surrounding a Bounty Hunter’s life, would decide to quit. They had found a small cantina, this time run by a Qurren, which seemed to be more tolerant of non-native species which the wolfman put down to it being owned by an off-worlder. Flik figured that they would be less noticeable as there were even humans, though not many, among the mix of patrons. What none of them knew was that the cantina was a front to disguise a Rebel Alliance cell which was there to monitor the situation between the alien and human prisoners.
At that particular time, the only concern of Flik and the two women was that they remained hidden from their enemies and that the other patrons reminded their own business, which they seemed to be intent on doing. However, in spite of this, Flik kept his suspicions up, as there was always a possibility of a spy, among them, especially because of the presence of humans.
To combat this, after stowing their belongings in the two rooms they’d rented, Flik did a sweep of the building to determine possible routes of escape in the event of a raid, either by Imperial forces, or the Purists. It had been a habit he’d gotten into during the latter days of the Clone Wars after he and his family had been forced to flee Coruscant. Then, once he was on his own after Auoura and Tek’s deaths, he’d no longer cared if Imperials busted their way into anywhere he was staying, and he’d dropped it off. Now, with a client in tow, he could no longer take such risks.
He met up with Shiba and Rhinda in the bar area. The two women had wisely chosen a booth, rather than a table, which gave them some degree of privacy. He noticed a glass of Lomin ale waiting for him.
“Hope you don’t mind,” Shiba said. “I thought it would make us blend in better.”
Flik didn’t reply as he sat down, taking note of the drinks that Shiba and Rhinda had in front of them. He glanced at Shiba suspiciously, but he picked up no indication of deception from her.
“Everything secure?” Shiba asked.
“There should be no problem,” the wolfman replied.
Rhinda sipped her drink. Looking the wolfman in the eye, she opened her mouth to speak.
“Once our business here is finished, I want passage off this world,” the Bothan said. “There is little keeping me here now. Kothlis or Bothawui -”
“I can take you to Kothlis,” Flik said. “It’ll cost you extra. From there, it’s up to you to find your own way to Bothawui, if that is where you want to go from there.”
Rhinda’s eyes narrowed. “How much more?” she asked.
“One hundred percent of the price we’ve already discussed,” the wolfman replied.
“That’s steep,” Rhinda started to protest.
“Yeah, well, look at it this way. After we’ve done this job, we’ll already be going out hot. Taking you with us will increase the risk. I need to be able to cover the cost of any damages done to my ship, if we run into further trouble. I think the price I am asking is fair. Of course, if you think it’s too much, you can always stay where you are.”
“Very well, wolfman,” Rhinda replied, but it was clear from the tone in her voice and the rippling of her fur that she was far from pleased with the deal.
With that, Rhinda rose to her feet and left them. After she was gone, Shiba looked at Flik.
“You drive a hard bargain,” she said.
Flik shrugged his shoulders. “Most people only put value on credits, doctor, and as such, are easily manipulated.”
Shiba frowned at him. “She came to you for help. They killed her husband,” Shiba reminded him. “You’re using her -”
Flik cut her off. “Don’t use that argument with me, doctor. If family meant something to you, you would be with your children right now.”
***
Ever since the time of the Clone Wars, Flik had taken to sleeping lightly, so the soft tapping on the door didn’t escape his notice. He slipped on his trousers and glanced at his chrono. Less than half an hour had passed since he and Shiba had left the bar, and it didn’t take much guessing that it was the human woman before he even opened the door, and he’d guessed correctly.
“Look, I know you don’t really want me here, but you’re wrong if you think that I don’t care about my children,” Shiba began.
“You woke me to tell me that?” Flik asked, not even attempting to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.
“Yes,” Shiba replied, deciding to ignore the sarcasm. “And the fact that Rhinda wouldn’t let me in our room after what you did earlier.”
“The fees? She’s still sore about them?”
“Apparently,” Shiba said.
“I’m not going to drop them. They stay has they are.”
“You’re stubborn, you know that?” Shiba crossed her arms over her chest.
“Look, doctor, if I went around giving into my clients, I would never get paid, I’d never be able to cover my expenses, and now that you’re with me, you expect to get the pay you deserve, on top of which if you’re ever going to earn enough to restart your medical practice, not to mention those brats of - ”
“Yes, I get the picture,” Shiba cut him off, a frown creasing her forehead. “And my kids aren’t brats.” After a moment, she said, “You really don’t want me here, do you?”
Seeing that they were in danger of gathering an audience, Flik grabbed her arm and pulled her inside before closing the door.
“I don’t think this is the right place for you. We’ve been lucky so far in that neither of us hasn’t been killed.”
“You would have,” Shiba tried to remind him, referring to the time she’d had to rescue him.
“Perhaps. You tell me that I’m stubborn, but no matter what I do to try convince you otherwise, it just makes you more determined to stay on.” His lupine eyes fell on her and he wanted to tell her the real reason why he didn’t want her to stay. I don’t want you here because I’m falling in love with you and that’s far more risky than all the dangers we’ve faced together so far combined.
There must have been a hint of his true feelings in his eyes at that moment because Shiba kissed him. As her lips met his, the tension that had been steadily building up between them snapped. Before he had time to stop and think about what he was doing, because if he’d paused he would have finished it before he started, he’d pulled Shiba’s tunic up over her head and dropped it to the floor. He could have stopped there, they both could have, but instead Flik guided her, with her full cooperation, towards the bed.
Shiba woke to find Flik’s arm wrapped around her, pressing her back into his chest. She shifted on to her back and saw that he was awake, his lupine eyes staring back at her.
“I was wondering if you were ever going to wake up,” he said. He wanted to kiss her, but time was pressing and he knew that if he did so that neither of them would want to get up soon...
“You could have woken me,” Shiba replied.
Flik said, “I didn’t want to disturb you.” He’d not had this much fun since before Auoura died. Though he knew he shouldn’t, he kissed her, but only for a minute, after which he pulled back and got to his feet. He caught Shiba’s disappointed expression as he dressed.
“We have a job to do,” he reminded her. Shiba sensed the reluctance in his voice. “But,” he said with a grin, “We could continue this later.”
He felt Shiba’s eyes on him as he finished pulling on his shirt and it took all of his will power not to return to her. He thought that after they’d made love, that it would lessen the distraction, but it only increased it.
Flik headed towards the door. “I’ll meet you and Rhinda in her room in about an hour. There’s still some details we need to go over.”
“Ok,” Shiba replied as he disappeared through the now open doorway. Since when had the room she and Rhinda were supposed to be staying in just became Rhinda’s? Shiba laughed once the door had closed behind the wolfman, feeling like a college girl again, and tried not to berate herself for it.
Shiba could hardly bring herself to look at Flik during the meeting with Rhinda. The Bothan had calmed down some what but Shiba could hardly concentrate on taking in any of Flik’s words while he outlined his advice to the Bothan to keep a low profile while they were gone. The meeting was over before Shiba realised the time had gone. Flik indicated that she should accompany him. Once they were alone again, the tension that had been building up between them returned, this time even more strongly than before. It was Flik that spoke first.
“Shiba,” he began, surprising her by using her name. That surprise quickly vanished to be replaced by dread, as it meant he had something serious to impart indeed. Shiba knew that dread was well founded as she listened to his next words. “We can’t let what occurred between us last night interfere with our work. We can’t let it happen again.” His tone was cold, but not unkind.
That college girl feeling vanished in an instant. “And if things were different?” She had to know, even while attempting to make it appear that it didn’t affect her.
Flik knew what she was really asking him was if there was a chance that he would change his mind. If he wasn’t a Bounty Hunter, he’d still be a Jedi, and the impossibility of it would still stand. Flik didn’t have the heart to give her false hope. That would be far more cruel than rejection.
“It wouldn’t happen, even then,” he replied quietly. “You of all people should know of the prejudices that would drive us apart.”
He was referring to the fact that they were different species, hoping that would give her an understanding of the unfeasibility of a relationship. Shiba nodded, understanding and trying to put up a front that everything was fine, even though inside her emotions were tearing her asunder. She couldn’t help but feel that he was brushing her off, tossing her aside like she was nothing.
“I suggest that you focus your energy on our upcoming mission, doctor, and forget about last night.”
Shiba had to wonder just how he could shake everything off so quickly, like it hadn’t happened, or meant nothing to him at all. Pulling herself together, like the way she done after losing a patient and gathering the resolve she needed to carry on with the job, Shiba left the room.
Once he was alone, Flik punched a nearby wall with his fist in frustration. He hated upsetting her like that, he hated having to lie to her. Why couldn’t he just be allowed to tell her the truth? In reality, he felt the wound of having to stay apart from her cut just as deeply. The only difference was, he’d had more practice at hiding it.
Time to enter the Rancor’s den, Flik thought. He glanced across at Shiba, who now sported copper-red hair that she wore in a style similar to that of a Naboo’s lady’s. She’d dyed it as part of her disguise, as there’d not been an extra holographic belt for her use, so she’d had to rely on the more traditional ways of hiding her identity. To complete her disguise, she wore the clothing he had found for her while they’d resided in the Gungan’s cantina. He just hoped that it was enough to fool them.
He thought that she looked small, vulnerable and he wished one more time that he only had himself to look out for. Shiba caught him looking at her with the expression on her face that told him that she could handle it. He only hoped that was the case. The blaster displayed at her waist helped to reinforce that impression.
Flik’s features were obscured by the holographic belt Rhinda had provided and he appeared as a tall, brown haired, bearded human male. His clothing, at least, that on his torso was real. The disadvantage using the holographic belt was that he had to avoid any physical contact with Teff’s men; otherwise, the disguise would fall apart.
It had taken Flik a few days of manoeuvring to actually get this audience with Teff, and even now he and Shiba were forced to wait in the lobby. The two guards flanking the entrance to the corridor that led the way to Teff’s office eyed him and Shiba suspiciously and as the waiting time dragged on, Flik became increasingly convinced that their cover had been blown.
At last, a human, athletic enough to have been a stormtrooper, and given Teff’s connection to the Imperial overseer, Flik wouldn’t have been surprised to discover that he was, or had been. Flik studied the man carefully as he and Shiba were escorted to Teff’s office and marked him as an adversary to watch out for over the coming days. He made a mental note to alert Shiba to do the same the first time he got the chance.
They entered the office. Their escort, whose name Flik was later to learn was Delmon Roscoe, moved to stand behind Teff, at his right hand side. The office consisted of a desk that had seen better days and adorning the opposite wall was a holographic projection that displayed various scenes from around Theed. Along the left wall was a closed door way.
“You want to join my organisation, is that correct?” Teff asked, looking at him with scrutiny. He directed his question at Flik, ignoring Shiba standing beside him completely.
“It’s what we’re here for,” Flik replied, putting as much emphasis on the word we’re, as he could. Fortunately, the voice modulator filtered out the growl that Flik was sure was in his voice.
“I need men who are dedicated to our cause, Mr Naja,” Teff said. “You are familiar with it, I presume?”
“Very,” Flik replied. “The cleansing of Naboo by eliminating the primitive aliens that mar the perfection of our homeworld.”
Flik resisted the impulse to look across at Shiba. They had practiced this part of the speech. If they could not do it convincingly, then their efforts were for nought. The irony of Flik’s words was not lost on him.
Teff nodded his approval. “You must first prove your loyalty to our cause,” Teff said, reaching for the comm system and activating it. Speaking into the comm, Teff said, “Bring the creature in.”
After hearing those words, Flik had no doubt what kind of “loyalty test” Teff was talking about. Two of Teff’s guards entered through the left side door, dragging a heavily beaten Gungan between them. Flik’s keen sense of smell recognised the Gungan’s scent immediately. It was the proprietor of the cantina that Flik and Shiba had stayed at, prior to their moving to the one run by the Qurren.
Panic surged through Flik momentarily, not because of what Teff as about to ask him to do, but for the fact that the Gungan might recognise Shiba and spoil the mission.
“Not only is this creature one of the primitives that infest this planet, but the Gungan you see before you has been harbouring enemies of our movement, an off-world alien, a wolfman, I believe, and a human woman, whom it has been consorting with. I am sure you know what is required.”
For once, Flik was glad that Shiba couldn’t see his features, and before she could react, Flik drew his blaster, aimed it at the Gungan, and fired.
