Imperial times- Coruscant

Tarik sneezed again, shivering under his blankets. The cocoon of canvas and rope around his living space was just big enough for Ryyce to stand up in, which made her job of caring for the sick hybrid just a little easier.

Zolyn was asleep in a makeshift hammock/cradle made from part of the hanging wall- cloth. Ryyce placed another cooled damp rag on Tarik�s hot forehead. He was asleep in the fitful sleep of the severely ill, shivering and twisting in his dreams.

Ryyce felt faint flickers of broken dreams around him when she was close enough, confirming her earlier suspicions. Tarik�s latent abilities were flickering to life of their own accord in response to his being hunted.

This was why his mysterious man in black hunted him, this was why she felt compelled to help him, to keep him on the path of his destiny.

She smoothed a long lock of damp curly hair away from his face, feeling his shivering beneath her long fingers. She could tell he was dreaming again, but she didn�t dare spy on his mind�s most private gifts. Whatever the mercurial energies of the universe saw fit to show his sleeping mind was beyond her rights to access.

Zolyn stirred in his hammock, she turned from the sleeping Tarik to her younger charge, sensing his movement. He had his own destiny to meet, that was why she�d been called to find him in that laboratory.

Perhaps it had been the same shattered and decaying creatures she�d seen in the tanks that were the �others� Tarik had spoken of. Perhaps not, but the similarities were there. Tarik shuddered in his sleep again, then was still, save the constant shivering of his illness. His dreams were his own, and Ryyce had her own nightmares to forget.

~~~~~~~~~

The child sat on a balcony at night, the desert breeze playing with his brown- blonde hair. An older human with long, graying hair was speaking to him. Their day had been filled with much excitement and effort. Something big was happening soon.

The child was called by a voice from within the house, he turned away, and the image faded.

The scents of sand and desert air, laced with machine lubricant and the sweat of a hard day�s work were carried on the breeze.

This would not be remembered, it was not needed to be remembered. Dreams are never remembered past the waking dawn, they fade from the mind so quickly. Somewhere in his deep memory, this would be remembered, because the boy would not, but needed to be reminded.

He would remember, because no one else did.
~~~~

Morning comes too soon, even for those lost in the sleep of sickness.
~~~~~~~~

Tarik awoke slowly, staring up into the star-sapphire eyes of Noryyce. She smiled warmly, tracing long fingers over Tarik�s forehead in a pattern only she understood. He chirruped, feeling the tingle from her touch. He looked at her curiously, rubbing at his forehead with the back of a clawed hand.

"I had wondered if you could feel the difference," she said, sitting back on the cargo crate she used as a stool. Tarik grumbled to himself about feeling like something had eaten him and spit him out, Noryyce looked confused by his use of his own language.

"Sorry, no speak bad to Ryyce," he said, forcing himself to speak basic. He�d just been born speaking his own language, no one else understood the growling and guttural sounds of the words he understood as clear as daylight. Galactic Basic was a constant battle for him to speak, some words refused to come out right because of the shape of his snout, and others just were unpronounceable to him.

Ryyce looked confused for a moment, then smiled softly, attributing his mysterious comment to his illness. Little Zolyn was half-asleep in his hammock, rocking gently from his own wriggling. Tarik sniffed curiously, then detected the smell that told him why Zolyn was giggling to himself.

"Ugh, him stinky," Tarik complained, covering his snout with his clawed hands. Noryyce looked over at the hammock, then frowned.

"I just changed his diaper," she sighed wearily, standing and walking over to the hammock. "Can�t you do that all at one time like a normal baby?" she said, picking Zolyn up from the canvas cradle. The tiny alien giggled, his tail curling around his ankle. Tarik snorted, getting his first real look at the infant.

"No big ears?" he said, starting to notice the differences between himself and the wriggling green baby.

"No big ears," Noryyce said, laying Zolyn down on a crate. "From what I can tell, you�re similar, but you�re definitely not the same species, though you may be some small part of his species," Noryyce said, pulling a clean diaper out of a bag.

Tarik stood, stepping closer to the infant as he chirruped, holding his foot with a pudgy, nearly human hand.

"No claws," Tarik mumbled, studying the baby. Ryyce smiled a little at Tarik�s curious expression as he studied the child.

She pushed him to the side as the unfastened the baby�s diaper and the smell got much worse. Tarik chirruped, covering his snout and backing away.

"Woah, nasty," he complained, trotting off to the far side of the room.

Tarik turned his back toward them as she removed the diaper. Ryyce studied him as he hid his eyes and snout, giving them privacy while she changed Zolyn�s diaper. She smiled lightly, realizing how much she�d assumed about Tarik when they�d first met, and how much of it had been wrong.

And how much had been right, she reminded herself, fastening the clean diaper securely around the squirming little creature�s bottom half.

"You can look now, he�s clean," she said, wrapping the dirty diaper in a plastic bag and tying it shut.

Tarik turned slowly, orange-gold eyes still hid behind clawed hands until he was sure it was okay. He snorted, dropping his hands.

"How thing that small make stink so big?" he said, rubbing his nose with the back of his hand. Ryyce laughed, looking over her shoulder at the scaly being.

"Many things are capable of more than you�d think at first glance," she said, only half speaking of Zolyn. She studied Tarik thoughtfully. Whatever he was, he had been made in the same facility as Zolyn, the similarities were too apparent to be coincidence. Which meant the poor creature really was being hunted by the empire.

Ryyce looked back to Zolyn as he grabbed hold of her long fingers with pudgy hands. Zolyn�s future she had already seen, but Tarik�s was a mystery to her.

For over a century she�d been an advisor to the Jedi council, now she lived in hiding, on the run from her own past. Even she couldn�t see what this creature�s future held for him, it was clouded by the fates of too many others. She pushed the growing worry from her mind, not wanting Zolyn to sense her discomfort again.

"Yeah, him makes bigger stinky than is big," Tarik said, making an attempt at a joke.

"Someone probably said that about you once too," Ryyce said, turning to look at him. Tarik shook his head a thoughtful �no�.

"No think so, mees made in tank, no baby," he said, twisting one ear higher than the other in thought. He scratched at his twin goatee, trying to remember something. "Remember little thing, once saw. Other room, no let see long." Tarik said, thinking aloud. "No him though, little thing too little, no be this one," he said, sniffling again as he shook off whatever else he was going to say and walked off.

Tarik picked up his backpack of belongings from its hiding place in one of the cargo crates.

"Move soon, Drathan get too close," he said, rifling through the pack. Noryyce looked toward the ceiling, searching.

"I don�t sense anything, what makes you sure he�s coming?" she asked, picking up Zolyn and cradling him in her arms.

Tarik snorted, "Always come when find nice person," he muttered, "You too nice, he come and chase soon." Ryyce smirked at the unintended compliment.

"You Jedi?" Tarik suddenly said, looking up at her curiously. Ryyce suddenly felt uncomfortable under that orange-gold gaze.

"Yes," she answered honestly. Tarik growled softly, nodding.

"Guess me better get gone then, or he chase you too," he said, flexing his claws behind the pack where he hoped she wouldn�t notice. She noticed. Ryyce studied him.

"Why don�t you like the Jedi?" she asked. His snout snapped up from the pack to look at her. He growled quietly, then stopped himself.

"Dunno, no like word," he said, shrugging. "But like you," he added, sniffing.

He walked over to the wall of crates, watching the empty warehouse below for a moment. "You stay, you be safe," he said, turning and ducking under one of the flaps of canvas. "I go, keep you safe," he finished, slinging his pack over his shoulder.

"You�re not well enough to go anywhere yet," Ryyce objected. "You�ll die of pneumonia or worse in that kind of weather," she said, nodding toward the freezing rain that had formed icicles along the cracks in the window. "You�ve already been sick for nearly a week, you want to die this soon?" she demanded, setting Zolyn back into his hammock. The child squeaked unhappily, wanting to be held. Tarik growled, ending with a hiss as he looked toward the ice covered window.

"I go," he said with a snarl, heading for the hole in the wall near the ceiling that he usually left through. He hopped onto the lowest crate of his makeshift stairway, glancing back at Noryyce�s look of disapproval. His ears drooped, tail twitching uneasily.

"Be back later," he mumbled, "Bring back food," he snorted, climbing the rest of the boxes before Ryyce could protest further.

Zolyn cried from his hammock, demanding Ryyce�s attention.

"All right, all right, I�m here," she sighed, picking him up from the cradle. "I was actually pretty good at being a Jedi, you know," she said, rocking Zolyn in her arms. "But no amount of training in the force could ever prepare an old woman like me for motherhood," she sighed, letting Zolyn pull on the edge of her robe�s hood.
He giggled, making Ryyce look down in something between exasperation and adoration.

"Ych n�dro maya ika, little Zah�lyn," she said softly, running long fingers through Zolyn�s short fuzz of blonde-streaked brown hair.
------

Tarik shivered under an awning, still feeling weak from his illness. He was determined to find food for them though, he�d said he would. He�d blocked his exit from the warehouse with his pack to lessen the cold air seeping into the building. He suddenly wished he owned a coat, or even a shirt, anything warmer than the drafty shorts and loincloth he was cursed with.

He ticked to himself, thinking. Something wasn�t right today, and it wasn�t just his feeling sick. He bolted for another overhang, sliding under just as someone walked along the walkway overhead. He kept still, hoping they wouldn�t notice him. Then he smelled him, the Drathan, the odd feeling had been right.

He looked up through the grating of the walkway, seeing someone dressed in dark clothes standing above him. Every muscle in his body tensed, locking him into position as he watched the figure pause uncertainly, then continue walking along the walkway. He sighed in relief as he left, a little too loudly.

The Drathan spun around, looking down through the grating at the source of the noise. They stayed still, staring at each other for nearly a minute, then Tarik recovered himself and took off down the alley. Riker followed him as fast as he could, yanking his blaster from its holster as he ran.

He fired once as Tarik rounded a corner, his shot going wide. The blue energy from the shot sizzled on the damp street as the striped alien dove under a large garbage receptacle. He wriggled out from under the other side as Riker caught up with him, looking under the receptacle as he cleared the other end.

"Hold it!" Riker shouted, firing again at Tarik. He whimpered in panic as one shot hit too close to his tail and he felt the sizzling sting of energy numb part of his tail. He tried to slow down as he approached a side-alley, but his feet started to slide out from under him.

His claws did little to slow his slide as he skidded down the icy alley. He slammed into a garbage can as he neared the end of the alley, stunning him momentarily.

He shook his head, trying to clear the ringing enough to stand back up and run again. He was too weak from both the impact and his recent illness to shake it off so easily though. Riker stepped more carefully toward Tarik in the slick alley after watching him slide.

Tarik tried to shake his head to clear it again, vaguely hearing the crunch of ice under someone�s boots. He looked up, suddenly realizing how close Riker had come in just the few moments he�d been immobile. He backed up into the trash can again, looking back in surprise as he hit it, then up at Riker again as he fought to balance himself on the sheet of ice Tarik had slid on.

He raised the muzzle of the blaster to point at the semi-stunned being. Tarik chirruped in panic, scrambling to get away, his feet still skidding out from under him. He barely felt the initial impact of the stun shot, only feeling the tingling numbness coarse through him, knocking him to the ground after.

He whined softly as orange eyes tried to focus on the dark form leaning over him as he lost consciousness.

----on to Part 3 of Chapter 3---

© 2000 Michelle Petrosky

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