Imperial times- Coruscant

Riker South paced impatiently near the open window that Tarik usually came in and out of. He hadn�t shown up in two days. He stood for a moment, his back to the room as he searched the city beyond for any sign of the scaly annoyance.

"Miss me?" a voice said from behind Riker, nearly making him fall through the window in surprise. He swore, clutching the window frame and fighting to control his rapidly beating heart.

"Don�t sneak up on me like that," he gasped, fighting off the urge to smack the snickering creature as he trotted off a few paces, watching Riker.

"No very good Jedi, no feel me there," Tarik chided, snorting and shuffling through his pack for something. Riker frowned, considering a whole string of rude comments, then discarding them at the memory of Tarik�s claws fully-extended.

Tarik pulled a small bundle from his pack, tossing it at Riker. "Gift," he said as Riker caught it. Riker opened it suspiciously, glancing at Tarik warily.

"Why in the universe would you bring me a gift?" he said, pulling the rag away from the object. He stared at the lump of black slag metal in his hand, looking at Tarik questioningly.

"And this is.....?" he asked, mildly confused.

"That you, if fight man in black," Tarik said, closing his backpack.

"Aha," Riker mused quietly, "And you don�t have a rock that looks like yourself?" he said, turning the chunk of metal over in his hand.

"No melt me, mees too quick," Tarik said, grinning playfully.

"Ah," Riker said, smiling.

"So, shall we get back to your training?" he said, setting the rock down onto the table.

"No," Tarik said, studying Riker with one clawed hand resting on his backpack. "We teach you, you fight me, or him fry you like bug," He said, nodding toward the rock.

Riker laughed, "You�re going to teach me how to fight?" he said questioningly.

Tarik nodded, "This lesson one," he said, suddenly leaping over the table and tackling Riker to the ground by the shoulders with a roar. Riker didn�t have time to react, barely eking out a cry of surprise as he hit the floor with a thud.

"No trust nobody, �specially me," he growled, his snout inches from Riker�s face. "Got it?" Tarik asked, standing on Riker�s chest. Riker nodded, stunned. "Good," Tarik growled, snorting.

"Lesson two," Tarik said, stepping off Riker�s chest. "Get back up, stay down and died," he said, then growled, "mean dead, wrong word," he muttered, hissing at himself. Riker sat up, rubbing his chest.

"Point made, despite grammatical errors," he said, watching Tarik warily.

"Lesson three," Tarik said, standing and stretching his muscles. "No make mees mad this early in morning," he growled, yawning and flicking an ear toward the window. "Too early be fight, tired no fight right," Tarik muttered, twitching his tail.

"Tired no speak right either I see," Riker commented, bringing a quiet growl of warning from Tarik.

Tarik snorted, walking away. "No more lessons, me make plan," he said, digging through the pack again.

"You made a plan?" Riker said, incredulous, "Does it involve stopping for lunch before, or after we�re killed?" he said derisively. Tarik growled softly, then snorted.

"Before," he said with a chirp, countering the joke. He snickered, wrinkling his snout at Riker to show he was joking. Riker just shook his head, looking at him from an angle.

"You�re the most bizarre creature I�ve ever met," he said, then looked away from Tarik. "All right, what�s your brilliant plan," he said with a sniff, crossing his arms over his chest and looking back to Tarik.

Tarik ticked to himself, rooting through his backpack.

"Find friends," he said, "Got snapping of building," he pulled a small flat-image camera from the pack, tossing it at Riker. He caught the camera, surprised.

"How did you..." he began, but Tarik placed a clawed finger on his snout, twitching his nose to indicate he�d followed their scent.

"Always remembers smells of things," he said, sniffing at him as if to illustrate.

"You smells like burned fish," he said, crinkling his nose and backing his snout away. Riker looked over his shoulder at the plate where his fish sandwich had caught fire on top of the heater yesterday. A few dozen ideas of what else Tarik might have detected around the room flashed through his mind uneasily.

Tarik interrupted his thoughts by tapping a claw on the camera in his hands.

"Moved them yesterday, these of new place keep them," he said, then reached for his pack. "Big door, little windows," he said, remembering without the pictures. "One little hole, way near roof, metal cover, like vent," he said.

"Little, but good big enough for mees," he chirped, folding his ears flat and crouching back to his normal height to look smaller. "Sneaked in smaller before," he added, clicking to himself to hide his uneasiness.

It was a lot little smaller than he liked, and the last time, he�d nearly gotten stuck in the smaller vent he�d mentioned. If that Stormtrooper hadn�t yanked him out by the tail, he�d probably still be stuck in there, he thought, making a tick/chirp and flicking his tongue.

Riker looked at him curiously at the noise, so he straightened up to his full height again. "Problem be," he said, sighing, "Smelled man in black near." Felt him too, he added silently, remembering the chill crackle of something he�d detected near the building.

Riker looked surprised, "Are you sure? I mean, how can you be certain it was him, not a Stormtrooper? The armor probably smells alike," he said, trying to look doubtful. Tarik sensed the nervousness immediately, flicking his tongue again.

Yep, that�s definitely a bigger stink load than Zolyn�s diaper, he thought, the shift in scent indicated Riker was lying through his flat ugly teeth. He knew Vader had been near his friends, Vader was using them as bait to trap him, and Riker was using them as bait to trap Vader.

Tarik didn�t like their game, and he had no intention of playing it, all he wanted was to get his friends free and forget all the others. He flicked his tongue again, slower this time, staring at Riker with all the malevolence he could form in his orange-gold eyes.

"Remembers," he hissed, "You lies to me, I bite your arm off." Riker flinched. "You betray me, I cut you apart still awake, let you watch till die," he snarled, flexing his claws to show he meant it. Riker flinched worse, swallowing hard at the sight of his claws. Tarik growled quietly, then turned back to his backpack.

"Man in black no problem, just want friends free," he said quietly. Riker started to protest, but was cut short by a snarl from Tarik. "Them first, then you play with man in black all you want, but them free first," he snapped coldly.

Riker paused, breathing out slowly in consideration. "Fine," he finally said, forcing himself to appear calm. "We�ll get them loose, then you help me kill Vader." Tarik nodded. "After that, there�s no more deals," Riker said.

"There be no �after that�," Tarik snorted, looking Riker straight in the eyes. "After only if we no get killed selves," he growled. Riker was not sliding out of this one, he was finally being used as much as he�d used other people. And he had no choice but to agree.

"Fine," Riker said, looking unhappy at the arrangement.

"Fine," Tarik said, the low rumbling of a suppressed growl still present in his throat.



--------------End Chapter Three-------------

----on to Chapter 4?---

© 2000 Michelle Petrosky

-Back to Tarik's Page

Return to the Main Page