Imperial times- Coruscant

Old man Minero nearly fell out of his chair as Tarik tackled him happily after following his scent with the escaping rebels.

"Oof, easy old friend, I�m not dead yet, but if you don�t take it easy!" he chuckled, scratching Tarik�s head like a giant pet. Tarik�s tail swished happily, nearly knocking over one of the rebels who had come into the room after hearing Minero talking to someone.

Tarik still had blood on his claws from the Stormtrooper, and a rip in his new pants along the seam where his massive muscles proved stronger than the fabric. He whined happily, hugging Minero again as if he were a long-lost friend.

"Tarik, now, now, you�ll choke the life out of this old man," he said, shoving Tarik away. He chirruped, pacing away a short distance and adjusting the strap his staff was slung over his back with.

"Interesting friend, Minnie," the rebel said, rubbing the spot where Tarik�s tail had hit him in the leg.

"Ah, Tarik�s a good boy, he probably smelled me and followed me, huh?" Minero said, leaning forward in his chair and handing Tarik a rag to wipe the blood off his claws. Tarik took it, looking at his claws and realizing he had blood on them. He chirruped in embarrassment, taking the rag and hiding his hands behind his back sheepishly.

"Mind if I ask where the blood came from? and where you came from for that matter?" the rebel said, looking down at Tarik. He chirped uneasily, looking down at his taloned hands.

"Troopers chase, I fight," he muttered, turning an odd shade darker of green.

"You clawed an Imperial Stormtrooper?" the rebel asked, incredulous, "Through the armor?" Tarik nodded, rubbing at his claws with the rag in shame.

"Tarik is stronger than he looks," Minero said, remembering the screech of Tarik�s claws through the med table at the clinic. The rebel whistled in astonishment, looking at Tarik�s crouched form with a new respect.

"Well, anyone that takes on a �trooper and saves us in the process is welcome here," he said, walking away from Tarik as the door opened.

Two more rebels came in the room, then stopped upon seeing Tarik.

"He�s okay, he�s the one who set off the trooper�s alarm and distracted them when we escaped," the first rebel said, jerking a thumb toward Tarik.

"I do not think his rescuing us was intentional, but it was welcome, my friend," Minero said, batting at Tarik�s long pointed ear gently.

"By the way, my name�s Derek, that�s Mina, and Steve, we don�t go by last names much here," the first rebel said, then indicated the girl rebel and the other who�d come in. Tarik waved timidly with a taloned hand, ears flattened in embarrassment still.

"Hi" he said quietly, curling his tail around his leg.

"And since Minnie seems to know you and we don�t, you�ll have to tell us your name," Derek said, looking down at Tarik. He shrugged, flattening his ears further and looking toward Minero nervously.

"Min-nee?" he fought to pronounce the word, questioning amusement present in his voice.

Minero laughed, "He can�t pronounce his name very well, he�s not that great with the basic language at all, but he does understand," he said, then looked down at Tarik.

"So, you wanna be called Tarik? Or you found a new name yet?" Minero asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Nope," Tarik shrugged, "Use Drekano name, guess" he shrugged again, flopping the blood-streaked rag on the floor with a sigh.

"Well, in that case, his name�s Tarik, until he finds a better one," Minero said, looking toward Derek.

"Well Tarik, nice to meet you," Derek said, smiling. The other two rebels said their greeting as well, then called Derek out of the room to speak with him.

"R... Rhee..." Tarik fought over the word, "Rebels?" he finally said, looking minutely proud of himself.

"Yep, they�re rebels, Tarik." Minero said, grinning.

"And you�re one of us now."

--------

The Dark Jedi that had confronted Tarik, a man named Riker South, strode down a back hallway of the imperial palace toward a meeting with his master. Apparently, the dumb creature he�d been sent to kill had survived, and now the Emperor was mad at him for failing.

Mad was not the word, furious, disappointed, annoyed at the least, which in itself was dangerous. Riker fumed sourly, glaring at a stray sycophant of the emperor�s who was hurriedly leaving after a generous day of boot-kissing. He had no patience for these kind of people, why the emperor let them keep their lives was beyond him.

He tripped the man�s assistant as he left the room at the end of the hall, making him fall flat on his face with an arm load of data-cards scattering across the floor.

"Sorry," Riker said insincerely, smirking maliciously. The assistant scrambled to pick up the cards as the door opened again, a guard stepping out to gesture Riker inside.

The antechamber of the throne room was as blatantly imperial as you could get, conveying the emperor�s taste in the gothic and the garish both in one swift viewing.

The throne room itself was a different matter, oppressive to even Riker�s morbid tastes in scheme, he hated the thought of even entering the room beyond the massive double doors before him. Unfortunately, they opened and Riker was ushered in to meet his master.

He hoped it wouldn�t be his last time.

The throne was turned away from him as he entered, a withered hand resting on the armrest was all that was visible. He liked this, making people wonder, making them wait, to feel uneasy, to be concerned for their futures. Riker could have cared less about being uneased by the shrunken figure in the chair, if that figure didn�t hold nine-tenths of the galaxy in his skeletal little hands.

"You didn�t kill it," the voice from the chair said simply. Riker remained silent. The chair turned to face him.

"You didn�t kill it," he repeated, this time making it sound like a threat against his life.

"He jumped out the window, how was I to know it survived," Riker began, then was cut short as a skeletal hand raised to stop him.

"I did not ask for an excuse," the Emperor said, glowering at the man before him. "I asked you to kill one little reptile," he said, "No, ordered you to kill one little reptile," he corrected, lowering his hand back to his armrest slowly.

"Master," Riker began pleadingly. The hand went up again.

"You were supposed to kill that creature for me, not drive it deeper into hiding," the withered being said, his voice growing louder toward the end of his sentence. Riker cringed.

"I ask you for one thing, and you give me a dead medic and two comatose Stormtroopers for your efforts," the Emperor said, noting Riker�s surprise at the Stormtrooper mention.

"But I," he began, but was cut short by Palpatine again.

"Because of your driving him out of this area, the creature ran straight into a search team that was about to invade a rebel hideout in the lower levels of the city. It attacked two Stormtroopers, but left them alive," he smiled wickedly "fortunate for you." Riker looked extremely nervous, though he tried to hide it.

"I am giving you one last chance to destroy this thing, then I will give the assignment to someone I am certain will succeed," the Emperor said as the side door to the room opened. Darth Vader strode into the room.

"Lord Vader has already expressed his disappointment as well, it is not wise to disappoint either of us again, boy," the Emperor said. Riker folded his hands behind his back to hide his nervousness.

"I will not disappoint you, I will find it again and kill the creature," he said, bowing.

"Good," the figure on the throne said, "Now get out of my sight," he added viciously, glaring at Riker with barely veiled menace. Riker turned and retreated from the throne room hastily, not noticing the malicious smile on Palpatine�s face.

"You see, Lord Vader, I do have a sense of humor," the Emperor said, looking up at Vader, who had moved to stand at his side. Vader looked down in curiosity.

"And there goes the biggest joke in the palace," Palpatine said, laughing to himself at Riker�s ambitious stupidity.

"That creature will most likely kill him, my master," Vader said.

"I know," Palpatine let out a sigh of false sadness, "I will miss sending him off on foolish missions simply to watch him fail though," he smiled evilly. "Mister South is so much fun to play with," the Emperor giggled, grinning repulsively.

"I hope this, what did you say they called him? Tarik?" Vader nodded. "I hope this... Tarik, finishes him off quietly and quickly, Riker is a good man in combat, but he is a very sad excuse for a sentient being. I have too many others more deserving of my attentions to waste time on fools, even fools powerful in the force," Palpatine said, still staring toward the door where Riker had exited.

He looked up at Vader again, "Are you certain even you can handle this creature? You saw what the last one was capable of, even without the force." Vader tensed, the haunting image he�d seen of the creature�s claws in his chest like it had pinned the Stormtrooper drifted back to him. He shoved the thought away.

"I will succeed. I have defeated fully-trained Jedi knights, why should some half-breed freak be any harder to kill?" Vader said, the faintest hint that he was still trying to convince himself of the same thing behind his voice.

The Emperor smiled, "Why indeed," he said quietly, thinking.

----on to Part 5 of Chapter 2---

© 2000 Michelle Petrosky

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