Imperial times- Coruscant

Tarik snuffled unhappily in the long robe Riker had made him wear as a disguise. It was an ugly dull brown and the hood felt strange against his sensitive ears. He flicked his ears in agitation, hissing angrily at the rustling noise the fabric made in his ears.

"Too loud," he muttered, pulling at the hood again. Riker smacked his hand, pulling the hood back up over his head.

"Leave that on, unless you want someone to recognize you and start shooting," Riker hissed. Tarik growled softly in warning, rubbing his hand.

"No smack," he growled, snorting at Riker. Riker�s attention was trained on the building across the street from him, he barely paid attention to the threat. He refocused the macrobinoculars on the landing pad outside the shielded doors as an air-car pulled up and an annoyed-looking man in a gray uniform stepped out.

"There�s Onak," he said quietly, sweeping his gaze up the side of the building, finding the little grate Tarik had decided was his best entry. He swore softly,

"You sure that thing�s big enough? It looks smaller than I thought from the photos," he said, turning to look at Tarik, who was fighting with the hood again.

"Big enough, without this thing," he said, scratching at his trapped ears uncomfortably. Riker nodded.

"You can take it off now anyway, it�s time to start," he said, putting the binoculars back into his pack. Tarik practically shredded the robe as he ripped it off hastily, glad to be free of the itchy cloth. He pivoted his ears, searching the area. He flicked his tongue, then snorted.

"More troopers today," he said, smelling the amount of burnt ozone and armor cleaner drifting from the detention center.

"I noticed, Onak�s always been one of the more paranoid interrogators," Riker said calmly.

Tarik�s head snapped up at him with a snarl. Interrogator.

"No hurting friends!" he hissed, flattening his ears and glaring toward the door as it closed behind Onak.

"Easy, don�t eat me for it, he�s the one with the tools," Riker said, hearing the low hiss under Tarik�s breathing that meant he was mad. He�d finally learned what to listen and watch for to know when he was pushing Tarik too far. He�d been attacked one too many times this past week not to learn the warning signs Tarik exhibited when upset.

The scaly being studied the door for a moment longer, still growling, then he flicked his tongue angrily and sat back from the ledge.

"Wanna bite someone," he hissed quietly, crossing his arms over his chest in an attempt to cool his sudden flood of anger.

"Not me," Riker muttered, "Try taking your hostilities out on them for a change," he added, nodding toward the building. Tarik flicked his tongue slowly, a sign he was considering it.

"Better get gone, no let them be hurt," he finally said, slinging his new staff over his shoulder by its strap. Riker nodded, then looked toward the building,

"One thing I didn�t ask you yet," he said, keeping his gaze on the building. Tarik snorted, waiting.

"How are you going to get all the way up there from here?" Riker said, looking back over his shoulder at the green being.

Tarik snorted, grinning and exposing his pointed teeth. "How else?" he said, extending his claws fully, "I climb," he finished, sinking his claws into a piece of the masonry next to Riker with a cracking/scraping sound and the visible effort of his massive muscles straining under his mottled green skin.

He pulled his claws back out, leaving four claw-shaped troughs and some small piles of rock dust and chips. He shook the rock dust off his claws, orange eyes darting about for the best way over to the building.

"You do you part, I do mine," he said, slinking off along the roof ledge and disappearing behind piece of decorative statuary that almost resembled him. Riker shook his head again, pulling out the binoculars and watching the building.

Almost ten minutes later, he spotted a green dot against the gray and black of the detention center�s wall, sneaking along a ledge toward one of the vertical bands of black stone decorating the building. He watched in amazement as the creature managed to find claw-holds in the shadow of the stone band, nearly disappearing in the shadows as he started to climb up the side. Riker swore in awe, starting to realize what kind of creature he was really dealing with.

Vader didn�t stand a chance against them.

----------

Miles Onak, information extraction specialist for the empire, looked bored as he studied the files on the rebel stragglers he�d been given.

"No major offenses, no great political motives, no nothing," he said aloud, then looked up at the Stormtrooper who�d brought him the files.

"These people are worthless. The only thing they want me to ask them is if they know anything about some escaped laboratory project? Call in Mitchell, he enjoys worthless cases," he tossed the datapad with the file he�d been reading onto the desk. He pressed his thin fingers to his forehead, sighing in annoyance.

"Sir," the Stormtrooper said, looking a bit uneasy. Onak looked at him strangely, Stormtroopers usually didn�t have too much to say.

"Yes? you have something to add?" he said shortly. The trooper shifted his weight, glancing at the door, then back to Onak.

Secretive as well as talkative, Onak mused.

"Sir, I know what that lab project they�re looking for is capable of, I was there the last time it attacked someone."

Onak suddenly looked very interested. "Go on," he said, leaning back in his chair.

"Sir, I�m not allowed to say....." the trooper looked toward the door again nervously. "It nearly ripped one soldier in half," he said quickly, "through the armor," he paused to add emphasis to his words.

Onak�s eyebrows tilted up in surprise, but he didn�t let the surprise show on any other features.

"It left another guy comatose, just slammed him off the wall like a toy," the trooper was starting to sound shaken. "After that...." he paused again, drawing in a breath and looking around furtively. "It jumped fifteen feet, straight up, then it disappeared along a fire escape," he shook his helmeted head in remembered awe.

Onak�s stony expression dropped completely at that one.

"Straight up? That�s impossible," he scoffed, "Even the Jedi had problems jumping that high," he stopped, mulling over something remembered. "Has anyone ever said what this... creature was designed to do?"

The trooper shrugged, "Not that I�ve heard of, it�s classified."

Onak thought for a moment, steepling his hands together against his chin in contemplation.

"There...are a few rumors in the ranks, Sir," the trooper said hesitantly. Onak nodded for him to continue.

"There�s been a rumor for a while now that it, he, whatever it is," he paused, wondering if he�d be believed or not. "It�s supposed to have been designed to hunt down Jedi knights," he finally said, watching Onak�s expression change from surprised interest to something a lot more complex. He smiled beneath his steepled fingers.

"Really," he said in mysterious curiosity.

The trooper shuffled his weight again, starting to look uneasy at having told the interrogator so much.

"Thank you, young man, you�ve made my day here a great deal more interesting," he said smiling strangely. He nodded in dismissal, and the Stormtrooper backed out of the room nervously. He waited for the door to close before he dropped the smile, frowning in thought.

"So that�s why you sent me, you want him back?" he said quietly, talking to himself and his invisible incarnation of the Empire he imagined watching him at times.

"Or are you afraid of it, that it might hunt you instead of a Jedi, since there are no others left," he mused, pressing his fingers against his lips.

"Yes, that�s it, isn�t it? They know what he is, and you want me to ruin them so no one else will know what they know," he smiled again, leaning his elbows on the desk. "Knowledge is power, and this is one piece of knowledge powerful enough to make even you afraid of it," he whispered, casting a glance toward the direction of the imperial palace. He smiled wickedly.

"No, I think not," he said softly, "These people are mine now, I�ll not ruin them for you, not until I hear everything they have to say."

He leaned back in his chair, folding his hands over his stomach. "And they will talk to me," he said menacingly. He let a cold smile twist his face as he chuckled,

"They always talk for me."

----on to Part 2 of Chapter 4---

© 2000 Michelle Petrosky

-Back to Tarik's Page

Return to the Main Page