The house felt a lot smaller without Pipsqueak.
And a lot colder.
Nancy trudged up the steps and stopped at the closed door with the little pirate flag.
She couldn’t bear to open the door.
Seeing Pipsqueak’s bed, all his little toys and books and other knick-knacks.
And everything else that reminded her of how far away he was.
And how uncertain she was that he could ever get back.
The muscles in her neck felt tight as she looked away and trudged back down the stairs.
She shivered, clutching the corners of her shawl.
Was it really so cold?
Or did it just feel that way?
She’d had one glass of wine and was wondering how long it would take before she needed another. It was cheap stuff.
She didn’t drink unless as a means to ease stress and even then, it was in very careful moderation.
She’d seen what drink did to ponies.
And so had her son.
A knock on the door made her jolt.
She came down the stairs slower than she did normally, more careful.
Her hoof was trying not to shake as she opened the door.
A mare was standing in the doorway. A stout, weathered mare with a cobalt-blue coat and a dark-auburn bob-cut. Her perpetually tired-looking face gave Nancy a comforting smile.
Nancy gave a sigh of relief.
“Blue.”
The two hugged. Nancy was taken back to her foalhood.
Somehow, even at her darkest moments, Blue Murder had always been there for her.
“I came round to see how you were...well...how you were coping.” Blue said bashfully as she was let in.
“Well...as well as can be expected.” Nancy sighed.
“Come on, let’s get you some tea, eh?”
“I’m not sure it’ll help.”
“None of that.” Blue put on a voice of faux-sternness “We're Trottingham ponies. Besides, tea’s always nicer when somepony else makes it for you.” She put the kettle on and set both Nancy and herself a mug of tea. She didn’t take sugar but she remembered Nancy did.
Blue shook her head and gave a sigh out of Nancy’s view and hearing. She often wondered why, in this world of friendship, love and harmony, did so many bad things happen to a good mare like Nancy.
She’d made mistakes, certainly, but who hadn’t? And who wouldn’t in the situation she’d been in all those years ago?
A mother who’d killed herself. A father who forgot who he was, and who she was.
And one hardly needed to add what her husband had been.
There was the sound of distant door slamming, nowhere in the house.
Nancy peered out the window and murmured.
“Ooh dear, I think next door are at it again.”
Blue Murder rolled her eyes, passing Nancy a mug of steaming tea, as they watched out the window to the ‘Student House’ next door to theirs in which a dull moment never seemed to pass.
A thin, greasy, orange-coated young male unicorn with braided mane and tail stormed out of a house with a ratty expression, yelling across the street.
“Right on! Right on! This is just typical!” he was screaming, waving a piece of paper in the air “Absolutely typical of the elitist Celestine Junta! You think you can dupe us? Bribe us? Threaten us? Ha! It won’t work! You, silly sissy slags! Do you hear?! It won’t?!”
Beside him, a short burgundy pegasus stallion with a black pomade, wearing a trench-coat and dark-glasses, was leaning on the porch as a gloomy, dark-teal, long-maned donkey carried out a roll of tarpaulin.
“What’s up, Flick?!” the red stallion asked.
“You tell me. Everything’s just bringing me down today.” the donkey said morosely, gesturing with the tarpaulin “Flick, where do you want the protest barrier?”
“Where do I want the protest barrier?! Ask a silly question, Eel!” The unicorn, Flick, snapped.
“Oh alright, um...Why do unicorns have their horns on their heads and not coming out between their-“
“Shut up, Eel! Shut up!” Flick clipped Eel the donkey round the head with his hoof and pointed to the fence where a second sheet of tarpaulin was slung “Just put up the barrier next to the other one! Now!”
“What do we need a barrier for, Flick?” The red pegasus queried.
“Just look at this, Psyke!” Flick waved the paper in his face “An eviction notice! We, the next generation of Trottingham, learners, thinkers, future world-builders, are oppressed by the totalitarian monarchy! And why, Psyke? Ask me why?”
Psycke raised his brow behind his shades.
“Well, I think I’ve a fairly good idea.”
At this, Flick scoffed.
“Well, you don’t, Psyke. I have fairly good ideas, not you.”
“Your last one wasn’t very good.” Eel muttered dourly.
At this, Flick rounded on him, snapping sourly
“Oh?! Oh?! Is that it, now, Eel?! You’re going to be all patronising now, are we? And how wasn’t it very good?”
Eel shrugged.
“Well, they’ve got dogs at the scrapyard now so all I could get for the protest barrier was a bit of tarpaulin somepony thrown out.”
“Don’t make such a fuss, Eel!” Flick sighed “It’s not about the materials, it’s about the effort! And the cause! And our cause is just, Eel! Eh, Psyke?! We know why they want us out, don’t we!”
“Well, I imagine it’s ‘cause Div keeps throwing bricks through the corner shop windows.” Psyke replied flatly
“Ha! That’s what they want the public to think, Psyke!” Flick retorted “Just to paint them in the right!”
“Well, if we are evicted, could we move somewhere closer to a doctor. Look at these dog bites, heavy, man!”
“Stop being such a girl’s blouse, Eel! Now, watch as I make a stand!”
The greasy student then leaned over the fence and began yelling to anypony who would listen, seemingly addressing the Princess but whether she would hear was far from certain.
“Here, you fat, old, royal tart! Are you listening?! Look at me! I’m the voice of dissent and I’m saying you can bugger off! D’you hear?!”
Psycke gave a cocky grin and spoke more so he could hear himself than anypony else.
“I tell ya’, if the Princess does come along, let me work the old charm. I’ll get her to see things my way, and I’m not talking a first-row seat of some smashing hind legs.”
Flick and Eel ignored him. The sullen donkey kept on feebly upholstering the tarpaulin while the student kept on hollering down the street
“Look at us, eh, eh? You old cake-shoveller! Look at us, doesn’t this get on your nads, eh? Upsetting the establishment?!”
Without warning, a bright yellow cart tore up the road and crashed straight into the ‘protest barrier’, throwing Flick and Eel back into the yard. On the porch, Psycke gave little reaction.
The door to the cart swung open and slammed shut almost in a single movement. A towering blue earth pony stallion with wild, spiky bright-orange mane and punk studs in his forehead lumbered out and idly kicked loose a single part of the barrier that his cart had missed.
Neither of the two were seriously injured. Eel meekly shuffled to his hooves and slunk out of range. Flick, meanwhile sprung up and raged at the fourth member of the household.
“Deviant! You utter flank-bag!” he screamed “What do you think you’re doing?!”
“I’m upsetting the establishment, Flick, like you said! Brilliant!” The punk, Deviant, replied, in a voice that few across the street or even the town did not hear.
“Not our establishment, you stupid, stupid, stupid bastard!” Flick roared, jumping impotently in the air in fury
“Oh. Well, you could have been more specific, Flick!”
“Fine! Go ahead! Bend over to your alicorn overlords!” The young stallion set about putting the pieces back up, his momentary self-righteousness overtaking his wish to demand Eel do the same “There is nothing the fascists can destroy that the forces of liberty cannot rebuild!”
Deviant gave his chin a rub.
“Hm...Allow me to test the verity of that statement!”
Flick seemingly allowed it and was swiftly kicked hard in the head by the mad stallion. Clambering groggily to his hooves, Flick swung a punch, missed and lolled against the fence with a disdainful look.
“You may mock...” he spluttered “But the revolution will not be civilised! Do you hear?!”
“Oh shame, we’d get better plumbing that way.” Eel whined, shaking his head “Oh wow! I tell ya, man, I’ve really lost sight of the plot, right?”
Forgetting his argument, Flick gave a snort and butted in with a wry grin.
“Hey, you could make a really good joke about that, losing sight of the plot! ‘Snerk!’”
Instead of the laughter he was hoping for, Flick found his collar grabbed by an irate Deviant yelling in his face.
“Shut up or I’ll kill ya!”
Blue and Nancy gave a chortle at the mad antics next door.
“They really are all bonkers aren’t they.” Nancy said breathlessly “I’m surprised it’s taken the council this long to kick them out.”
“They’ll still be there next year, you mark my words. Nothing seems to get rid of them.” Blue chortled, then caught sight of Nancy’s returning sullenness “Come on now, what’s wrong?”
“Just had to think of Pip again.” the young wash-mare sighed “He used to sit at the window and laugh at what that lot got up to. It was always something new and it always had him rolling with laughter...”
She looked up, her eyes beginning to brim with tears.
“You know, I never had to worry about him picking up bad words from them...He knew what words were bad. He didn’t know what they meant but it didn’t matter. He never wanted to say them...Not when his father used to say them all the time.”
“Now don’t start thinking about him, love. You know it puts you in the gloom.”
“There isn’t much place else for me...” The gaunt mare shook her head “What do I do, Blue?”
“Well, after you’ve drunk your tea, you make plans to visit Ponyville and make an apology to those two fillies Pip likes.”
“Ah...you heard about that, eh?” Nancy lowered her head and Blue nodded.
“Nancy, I know you’re in a state, any mare would be, but that’s no excuse for going off on one with seven-year olds.”
“I know, I know, I’m sorry.” Nancy shook her head “I don’t know what came over me, I...I don’t have anything against those kids. Every day I tell myself that but...”
“Look, you’re worried. Let’s just leave it at that.”
“I just...I don’t trust myself anymore.” Nancy stumbled and held her head before the front window over the sink, looking like she was trying to make herself vomit.
“Nancy, stop.” Blue held her by the shoulder “There was nothing you could do. You’ve been a decent mother, okay?”
“Have I, though?” Nancy asked frantically “Every time something like this happens, I just can’t think of anything else other than the seven years that bastard I was once stupid enough to love made life Tartarus for my baby boy!”
The weathered blue mare nodded but gave her a reassuring half-smile.
“Well, for a colt who spent seven years in Tartarus, he’s remarkably chirpy.” She replied “Somepony must have been looking out for him.”
With trembling lips and streaming eyes, Nancy hugged her oldest, dearest friend, quietly crying into her shoulder. Blue Murder patted her head gently, letting her get it all out of her system.
Two mares, younger than life had left them, trying to cope with what it had done to them.
As it always had been.
*
Lined-up in single file, the Coruscant Police stood to attention, rigid as cortosis staves.
Honor Salima marched down the line, stopping at Rae Sloane, Parisian Froul and Cad Bane, little Pipsqueak tucked into the box they’d found him in, now empty of blackmail material.
Salima paused at the Duro who gave her an innocent grin.
“Any funny business from you, bounty hunter, any hint of it...”
“Wouldn’t dream of it, doll-face.”
“Grand Commandant!” she barked.
“Apologies.” Bane gave a shrug.
“Just stay out of trouble, Caddy.” Rae quipped. The other men and women in the line chuckled as the Duro raised an unimpressed eyebrow.
“Nobody ever calls me ‘Caddy’ but my ma.”
“I know. I figure it might make you better-behaved.”
More laughter. The Duro was trying to not let it show. The side of his lip twisted in ironic mirth.
“Ma’am, I like you but if you push too many of my buttons, I’ll start pushin’ yours.”
“It’s not my buttons you should be worried about. Just stay out of trouble and I won’t tell ma.”
Parisian was biting his lip hard, standing closest to the Duro and fearing what would happen if he burst out laughing.
Salima stamped a foot and drew her squad’s attention to the Hauff Nerf Industries Factory, standing so cold, dark and lifeless it looked for all the world like a corpse among Coruscant’s smoking industrial works. The sky above was a dark ochre, late evening. The din of the work was settling as all over the cityscape, droids began taking over the nightshift.
She spoke.
“Alright meatheads, listen up because it’s only coming once. Rae goes in with Pip, Divo takes her as far into the den as they’ll allow. She makes sure they don’t go anywhere by any means necessary. Once she makes some noise in one those offices...” she pointed to the floors above the hanger “We hit the place. If it’s carrying a gun, shoot the frakker. Divo; try to take alive. Lo and Kee; fair game. We have scum in our cells who’ll talk once this is over. Everyone got their blasters?”l
There was a clacking sound as all present drew firearms.
“Lovely sound, that.” Salima chuckled as Rae stepped forward. The Grand Commandant cracked her a wry smile.
“Go work your magic, sweetie.” Honor’s hand swung up and clapped Rae’s backside. The Lieutenant gave an unimpressed sigh.
“That’s the second time that’s happened today.”
“Put a Narglatch on it, honey. Bite ‘em back!” Salima chortled.
Rolling her eyes, Rae strode in, keeping Pip steady in the box.
“So...” Pip mumbled “Were you and her...”
“I’ll tell you when you’re older, Pip.”
Divo was waiting at the hanger door. He was leaning his shoulder against it in a way he was trying to make sook suave but his fish-face, pot-belly and bandy legs removed all possibility of that. Rae made sure to wear a mask of fear and vulnerability. Pip stayed quiet, his eyes wide and ears pricked, ready to move on Rae’s first word.
“You look positively tantalising tonight, Miss Sloane.” Divo began in his slimy tone.
Rae blinked, her face emotionless.
“I’m a lieutenant.”
“Well, for now.” Divo smirked as a female weequay approached, looking somewhat bedraggled, nursing the side of her neck “Oh, do you know Miss Tas Kee?”
“Know of her.” Rae gave her a glance that she tried to look pensive.
‘You’re first, hag.’ she said to herself ‘I’m taking you off the streets and putting you in whatever corner of hell can stand you. That’s what I do for a living and I’m damn good at it.’
“You’re meeting my boss.” the weequay growled “No clever moves.”
“Right...” Rae said softly “Lead the way.”
A small door beside the massive hanger opened for them.
Into the heart of the beast’s carcass, the two led Rae Sloane into the complex. What she saw gave her quite a bit of unease.
Instead of slaughtered nerfs, fresh or carbonite-frozen, the rotating hook systems were carrying something very different.
Weapons. Firearms. Large ones. Loaded off and on to cargo freighters by dozens of thick-set folk.
She counted at least twelve Blastmill Rotary Cannons and even a couple of Cip-Quads.
It dawned on her that Salima and her squad could be running straight into a death-trap.
This was all about to wrong in a great many ways.
There was a horrid clanking sound as one of Lo’s thugs, a slack-jawed Crolute in dark glasses, struggled getting a cannon off its hook.
“Oi!” Tas Kee thundered, pointing at him fiercely “You break that and I’ll test to see if still works on your fat arse! You hear me?!”
“Y-yes, Miss Kee.” he burbled with dread.
Rae worked things around in her head.
They had the weapons but there was no guarantee they knew how to use them. Things may not have been as dire as they seemed. But, as per usual, she was banking high hopes on matters she was not in control of.
Getting control of them however was not entirely out of the question.
Up a still-functioning elevator, Rae was flanked by Kee and Divo. Pip made sure to stay as still and silent as possible.
Rae had told him Lo wanted him specifically.
But to what end? Hat Lo had barely stopped himself from killing him last time he saw him.
Was that what this was in aid of? Did Hat Lo really want him dead that much?
Or was there something else?
The door to an office opened, a boxy, grey chamber that looked more like a trash compactor than anything else.
Hat Lo squatted in a chair, his feet barely touching the ground.
He began speaking before Rae had even sat down.
“You’re gonna’ tell me who’s been killing my associates, first and foremost.” His voice was without humour and Rae noticed his hands were shaking.
“I’m...afraid Mumpfasoom was killed by one of my men.”
Hat gave a long sniff.
“Well, you’d better hope he’s a light sleeper.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen him sleep.”
“Well, I’ll give him his first. A long one.”
Rae shuffled in her seat, keeping two feet squarely on the ground, ready to leap into action at first opportunity.
“The Leffingite called Mumpfasoom was killed in the midst of attempting to take the life of a witness to one of our investigations.”
“Lady, the only life that should concern you right now is your own.” Lo growled “What about Seib Nodd?”
“I’m afraid we don’t know who killed her.”
“I’ll take over on that then. The next thing I want is Gume Saam released from custody and transferred to mine.”
“Gume Saam’s solicitor is on his way to the garrison as we speak.”
She missed out the part where Balan was under no obligation to let him do his job. And if it was Saam’s regular lawyer, what Balan would do to him didn’t bear thinking about.
“Third.” Lo continued “I want amnesty and a safe route off Coruscant. I want compensation for my losses, full access to the Baath Brothers assets and finances and high-security escort from here to Cantonica.”
“And...what if, hypothetically, we can’t arrange that?”
“Then what you and Glira get up to will be greeting the ears of everyone in the Empire, from his high and mightiness right down to the frakking mouse droids!”
“...right...”
“Fourth. I want the word put out on two associates of mine, gone walkabout. Ayy Vida and Lunae Minxx. Imperial hunters are to bring them in then give them straight to me.”
“Alright...Anything else?”
“Yeah. The foal. Meet those five requirements and news of what Glira’s been doing never reaches anyone’s notice again.”
“...I see.” Rae went for the problem bugging only her “And why do you want Pip?”
“I don’t. My contacts do.”
“Why?”
“That’s not your concern.”
“Mr Lo, I will be doing what you asked regardless of why. I just want to know.” Rae gave him a pleading look.
Rae knew Lo’s sort. Divo’s too and Kee. They were the sort of people who liked power. It wasn’t just about feeling it. They had to know they had it. To be certain of it. To feel safe in it. Because deep down, they were rather weak people who only felt strong in the presence of someone weaker. She’d spent half her life surrounded by their sort.
She knew how to play them.
Pip’s voice piped up suddenly. Rae’s heart jolted.
“But you said you’d keep me safe.” he gave a whine.
Rae glanced down. Little Pipsqueak was staring up at her with wide, sad eyes. A heartbroken expression was set on his face. A little too well.
She caught sight of it. A tiny wink. He covered it the moment he screwed his eyes close to shut. as if ready to cry. But she saw it.
‘Brilliant, kid, brilliant.’ she thought ‘He knows. I’d bet anything he’s played the same game before.’
“Well,” she forced herself to say the most ruthless thing possible before looking away “Plans change. Welcome to the galaxy, kid.”
The little pinto hung his head, his bottom lip trembling.
His voice came out quiet and low.
“I knew it’d be like this...”
“Well, look on the bright side, kid.” Hat Lo chuckled “At least yer’ learnin’ early. But to answer your question as far as I am divulged, my contacts are interested in him...and in the other people interested in him. Namely a certain aspiring young admiral known for his devious ways, unflappable attitude and skin as blue as Mas Amedda’s balls.”
“Thrawn?”
“Right genius, this one.” Tas Kee sniggered.
“General rule. Anything Thrawn is interested in is worth anyone’s interest.” Tan Divo added.
Rae pursed her lips. She wasn’t far wrong.
“Is this contact Toora?”
“No. And that’s all I’m obliged to tell you.” Lo said plainly “Now would you mind making the calls.”
“Right...right...I...Do you mind if I have the light on, my head feels weird.”
Rae got to her feet unsteadily, one hand on her temples. Tripping herself up, she bumped into Tas Kee and fell against the open switch box.
Salima’s eyes flickered just the rooms she was watching keenly did the same.
She clicked her blaster.
“Go time.”
Cad Bane chuckled.
“They always attack at sundown.” he muttered to Parisian who gave him a quizzical look.
“Who?”
“Nexu.” The Duro pointed to Salima’s back who turned a moment to give him a glare.
“Shut it.”
Rae found herself grabbed by the collar by the weequay who must have been looking for any excuse to take her anger out on someone.
“What’s your game?! You playing at something?! I’ll have your teeth out one by one!”
“Miss Kee, please. You’ve no need to worry.” Divo held up his hands “By now, Miss Sloane knows exactly how this is going to work, doesn’t she.”
Rae made herself gulp.
“Yes...sir.” She fumbled at her uniform “Er...I didn’t bring a commlink. I didn’t want to be traced. I need to use yours.”
Hat Lo gave a sigh.
“You can use the one at the gate. Kee.”
“Right, boss.” Tas Kee grabbed Rae by the shoulder and bluntly hauled her out of the office onto a stairway platform overlooking the hanger. Rae continued to stumble, one hand pawing at the walls.
“Please...Miss Kee...If I do this, my career is down the toilet...” she whined.
“Not my concern or Mr Lo’s.”
“But this gonna’...I’m gonna’...I’m gonna’...” On and on she stammered and rambled right at the walls made way for the conveyor belts.
They were now carrying EMP Launchers.
“I’m gonna...”
She felt her hand brush the handle. It closed.
“I’m gonna...FRAK YOU SIDEWAYS!”
Ducking down, hauling Kee forward by the hand, she grabbed EMP launcher, swinging it round with full force and clattered the weequay right round the face. Tas Kee was flung off the railing with a screech, landing hard on a high pile of boxes.
Rae chuckled. To think she’d made such a fuss when others had damaged the goods.
As Divo and Lo saw just how much she’d been holding back, they scrambled back inside the office frantically. Turning round, every thug who saw the blaster in her hands throwing themselves to cover, she pointed at the box switch for the hanger doors down below and charged the shot.
Striding forth in her long-coat, her squad moving in, still cloaked in darkness, Honor Salima held up a hand to around four of Lo’s henchman watching the doors.
“Excuse me, sirs. Sorry to ruin your evening but there’ve been noise complaints. We’d like to speak to your employers.”
The leader of the thugs, a bald, pale, thick-skinned zabrak gave her a snarl.
“And just who the hell are you supposed to be?”
His answer was delivered by two blasters whipped out of the woman’s longcoat and pointed straight at his eyes as Grand Commandant Honor Salima gave her answer.
“THE LAW, YOU SONS OF BITCHES!”
*
Alix Balan browsed idly through the security holocrons at the main desk. Ross Yularen brought in a cup of caf for him and the Commissar and gave him a nod.
“Are you finished on that, sir?
“Why? You hoping to find what Sloane and Salima get up to in the lockers?”
“Oh, Mr Balan, you’re so terribly funny, look at me, I’m rolling on the floor in hysteria.” Ross replied in a deadpan tone, doing little to none of what he was claiming to do.
Balan chuckled but his tone turned serious soon after.
“Look, that dodgy berk, Rax, has gone off on his own and I want to find out where. I’m searching all the patrol drones and street cameras but I can’t find anything.”
“But he doesn’t even change to go out.”
“Spooky, isn’t it.” Balan shook his head “That smarmy twerp thinks he owns the place. Your dad’s dead when I find him for sending him over here, just so you know.”
“Whatever you say, sir.” Ross replied disinterested.
There was a whisk of a door opening and a man walked in. A sharply-dressed Sarrish, bright red, filletty-skinned, snaggle-toothed alien with a snide look plastered on his face.
“Do you work in this establishment, sir?” he asked in an imperious tone.
Alix Balan gave him a glance.
“No, I’m here to take out the bins. You think I wear this suit for a bet or something?” Balan snapped.
“Can we help you, sir?” Ross asked.
“I represent Mr Saam and his current interest in leaving your cells. As per the rules of lawful imprisonment or the lack thereof, you will comply.”
“Will we now?” Balan asked, unimpressed.
“You haven’t begun questioning, have you.” The Sarrish tutted “You’ll get that done now. Five minutes. Then my client leaves this place and it’ll be time for you to answer some questions.”
Ross was looking at the lawyer like he needed his head examined.
Balan was looking at the lawyer like he needed it removed.
“I’m afraid, sir, we cannot question Mr Saam until we have concluded our raid on...”
“No, no, no, that is not acceptable.” The lawyer interrupted “The questioning begins now and is concluded in five minutes. Anything else will immediately be considered grounds for unlawful arrest.”
Ross stepped forward while Balan turned back to the holocrons a moment.
“Are you not aware that we are uncovering an underground criminal network that your client is connected to.”
“I’m aware that that’s your accusation.”
“Your client openly paid an entire room of armed criminals to kill Imperial investigators.”
“He is not obliged on comment on that accusation and neither am I. As we will discuss...”
“Now I recognise you.” Balan butted in, a slightly unsettling grin on his face as he switched off the holocron “Didn’t you represent Kar’sunn Nepto twelve years ago for his GBH charge?”
“What? Oh...yes, yes I did.” The lawyer drew himself up with a smirk as he answered.
“Excellent.” Balan was grinning ear to ear, leaning against the side of his seat. Pressing a button, he rolled the seat sideways, out from under the desk.
And revealed he was holding a blaster.
Not moving anything but his trigger-finger, Balan reduced the lawyer’s knee to fragments. Ross Yularen jumped back as the lawyer fell on his back, screaming in agony.
Alix Balan got to his feet, smoking blaster in hand.
“That was for Yarsa Ardan! Member of my first team, medical staff, four-days on the job when Nepto left her crippled and maimed in an alley! She took her own life three days after seeing you and your client walk out of the courtroom laughing in her face...She’d want me to give you that.” he breathed through clenched teeth “You’re under arrest for intentionally abetting a known criminal! Take him to a cell! I’ll get to work on him when I’m done with his new client!”
“This...This...This is outrageous!” The lawyer managed to scream cohesively “This is unlawful arrest! Your badge is out in the trash for this, you-”
“Furthermore, we have DNA evidence that puts you on the scene for the incident involving the Chev girl and the known criminal, Panza Hondi, who you’d represented on a murder charge a year before. Did you just watch or take over afterwards? I suppose we’ll find out either way!”
“You have no pro-”
“Also, we have evidence placing you at various locations where serious crimes and the investigations thereof took place.”
“Of course there is, you maniac! I was called to represent my clients in-person, on-scene!”
“Aha, intrusion and violation of crime scenes then, eh?! You’re for it now! Lock him up!” Balam twirled his blaster in his hand as the frantic Sarrish was taken away by guards at the doorway. He sighed and turned to the nonplussed Ross Yularen with a giddy smile.
“I love our new system, don’t you?”
*
The night-shift had begun.
The door switch went up in sparks and the hanger doors slowly worked their way open. A brace of thermal grenades slid underneath the rising door.
Six crate of ammunition went up in flames, blowing apart any thugs unlucky enough to be standing close.
The flames cleared, as if to part, for the Coruscant Police.
Rae managed to be heard over the din.
“Get to cover! All of you! They’ve got heavy stuff in here!”
As if to answer her question, a rocket from a launcher on the landing shot forth and blasted the inside of the hanger door, barely missing Salima.
“Noted.” she called back with an uneasy glance as she and her men ducked or crouched behind any debris they found.
Rae let loose another pulse at wherever the rocket had come from, looked up and groaned.
Another stairway system was lowering down and Lo’s men were teeming upon it, all taking down some of the nastiest-looking weapons their side of the Core Worlds.
There was a whirring sound as they lowered. Then it suddenly cut off.
All at once, with a shuddering metallic growl, the conveyor belts carrying the weapons snapped clean of their cargo, hook, line and bunker-busters tumbling to the ground, atop many of the men trying to use them. There was an explosion here and there as the weapons went off.
Rae Sloane stared befuddled at the sight.
Then a little pinto head poked out of the window in the office they’d been standing in.
“Sorry! Was that button supposed to that?”
Rae couldn’t help herself bursting out laughing as the guard moved in.
More doors opened on either side of the hanger and more of Lo’s boys lumbered forth into the fray. With his trusty jet-boots, Cad Bane propelled himself up atop the ammo boxes, drew his blasters and readily began clearing house.
“I can’t believe I’m gettin’ frakkin’ paid for this!” he cackled wildly “Line right up, ya’ shmucks, come fill my pockets!”
Honor Salima and Beorna Yularen nodded to each other and struck out, Honor with her twin-blasters and Beorna with her flechette launcher. Within moments, the hanger was clear and the guard were spreading out. Refilling her blasters,
Salima looked up at Rae and yelled.
“Sloane! Get Divo! Quick!”
“Right!” Rae nodded, turned back to the office and stopped in her tracks.
Tas Kee was standing in front of her with a demented expression set in her leathery face.
Snapping like a dog, she drew her daggers and spun them in rapid circles in both hands. It went all for a full minute before she held them out before her foe.
Rae blinked.
Then held up her charging blaster.
When the blast had subsided, all that remained of Tas Kee was a pair of blackened high-boots, smoking like factory funnels.
“Moron.” Sloane muttered as she made her way back into the office.
“Pip, did you see where they went?”
“Outside!” Pip pointed to the rear exit. Rae blasted the lock open and pulled the door aside.
Hat Lo and Tan Divo were scrambling towards a landing-pad where an expensive speeder was parked. Lo managed to crawl inside and, before Divo could do the same, the speeder took off before rising, bumping against the edge of the pad on its way into the street.
With a feeble shriek of dismay, Divo turned and got in an elevator connected to the pad.
Rae ground her teeth in frustration. The two had separated and if either escaped, there was no telling what secrets would live on in them to one day threaten her or the Empire.
“Lieutenant!”
With a muffled call and the sound of boosters, the Dusk Trooper appeared in the sky on his jet boosters.
“I’ll deal with Lo. Get Divo. Quickly.”
“Right.”
Rae rushed inside, throwing away the EMP Blaster for speed.
The battle in the factory was nearing its conclusion. The corpses of Lo’s criminal empire littered the place. Yet the firing on either side went on regardless.
Cad Bane stood atop them all, held his blasters up in front of his face and sniffed deeply.
“I am gonna’ drink ‘til I go blind tonight then wake up three days later with a dozen expensive ladies!”
Rae scanned the area.
There he was, doing an odd combination of sprinting and waddling feebly. He was on the lowest floor, avoiding the guard, heading for the hanger doors.
Rae cursed. She was three floors above, without a blaster and everyone else was occupied.
Above her the arm of the massive conveyor produce-line shook slightly.
Something jumped down from it, down to the conveyor belt above.
Rae blinked, dumbfounded.
Pipsqueak was racing down the conveyor system, teeth bared and four little hooves going like turbine engines as he leapt off the last one, right above the fleeing Tan Divo, with a high-pitched war-cry.
“YAAAH! PIRATE ATTACK!”
The next instant, Tan Divo was struggling on the ground helplessly as the little colt kicked with all hooves at his face, biting his ears and pulling out strands what little remained of his hair. The cowardly, treacherous inspector screamed for anyone who’d hear.
“Get him off! Get him off! He’s got rabies! Somebody, get him off me!”
This was more than anyone could stand. Doubling up, Rae Sloane broke down, howling with laughter, followed swiftly by Parisian Froul, Honor Salima, Beorna Yularen and even Cad Bane.
Little Pipsqueak stood up on the barely-conscious Tan Divo’s chest and grinned proudly.
“Did I do good, Rae?”
Clambering down onto the hanger floor, Lieutenant Rae Sloane craned down and picked up the little colt in a warm hug.
“You did great, Pip, you did great!”
*
Hat Lo had managed to jump free of the speeder before it crashed, planting itself into the lounge area and now stood stuck in place, smoking amidst confused screams and wailing alarms. The apartment complex would likely have something serious to say to that but he didn’t plan on staying long.
The Dusk Trooper was on his heels, trailing through the air between the soaring traffic.
Rushing through the corridors, knocking over bystanders and service droids, he flung himself into the elevator and frantically shut the door.
Checking the number on the key-fob once more, Hat Lo looked out the elevator window.
Then paled as he saw the Dusk Trooper following the elevator upwards, rising motionlessly, arms folded like a disapproving schoolteacher. As the elevator slowed and stopped, the Dusk Trooper somersaulted in mid-air, drew back and flew forward, kicking forward with both feet.
Hat Lo practically hurled himself forward out of the elevator and down the corridor as the sound of smashing glass and thundering boots sounded behind him.
Winding corridors seemed his best bet to escape his pursuer.
Down the maze, he finally came to the door required.
Saam’s apartment. Not only was it wired with high security but it contained everything he needed to get his way out of Coruscant. The information on everyone of note in the sector, the means to dupe, threaten or bribe everyone in the Core Worlds. Just as his contact had promised.
Slamming the key fob against the lock, dreading to check if the trooper was still behind him, he pounced inside.
To find a young Imperial Officer lying casually on the king-size bed opposite the door, holocron in one hand and blaster in the other.
“Do you mind?” Gallius Rax asked nonchalantly, raising the blaster without looking at the intruder “Trying to read here.”
The Dusk Trooper paused as Hat Lo flew out of the room as quickly as he’d flown in, lying on his back with a smoking hole through his head.
The self-titled King of Coruscant’s reign had come to an abrupt end.
The trooper sighed, approached the door at a steady pace and checked inside.
Gallius Rax gave him a cheeky wave, fingers waggling girlishly as he grinned.
“You made it. Congratulations.” He hopped off the bed playfully and skipped forward with his hands behind his back “I found the documents. High Command will get them soon, no worries.”
“How exactly did you know he was coming here?” the trooper asked, voice dripping with disdainful suspicion “And how did you get in without the key in the first place?”
Gallius giggled, giving him a look of faux-sympathy.
“Oh bless.”
Craning down, he smiled over the body of Hat Lo and removed a cigarra box from his jacket pocket and chuckled.
“Long live the king.” he said mockingly “At least it was majestic. You, on the other hand, are looking just as silly as ever.”
He spun round and sat down on an armchair in Saam’s suite, opening the senator’s drinks cabinet and pouring himself one.
“Thirsty?”
“No thank you.”
Gallius gave him a cocky smile.
“You don’t need to worry. I know what face I’ll find under that helmet. You must genuinely think you’ve got everyone fooled, you sad, old clown. How do you expect to rule the Empire with that sort of poor deduction?”
“My ambitions are my own business.”
“Wrooooooong.” Rax said in a sing-song voice “You’re not going to just scowl and walk away, are you? You’re not like the lovely Miss Sloane, you don’t let blind hopes optimistically called ideals get in the way of good old-fashioned ambition.” he grinned with gleaming teeth “You’re like me.”
“A smug, little parasite with ideas far above his station and whole worlds worth above his capabilities. I hardly think so.”
Gallius’s smile tugged and an eyebrow rose but he said nothing. He simply turned away and browsed the holocron in his hand. The door shut behind him.
His chrome-coloured eyes glinted at the possibilities.
‘What to do? What to do? What to do?’ he sang to himself.
The blackmail material? Passé.
The bomb threats? Crude.
There! He found it. The good stuff.
Encoded files from anonymous senders. Leaning back in the chair, lighting a cigarra, Gallius Rax set about idly decoding the holocron, tides of ideas swirling round his sinister, ever-active mind.
“Knowledge is for the strong...and this knowledge is only for me.”