Imperial times- Coruscant

Mina, the rebel girl Tarik had developed a bit of a crush on, sat in her cell, separated from the others.

Over two weeks ago, they�d been captured and detained. They�d been questioned, battered, insulted, inspected and left to rot in their cells. Four allies, turned into friends by the betrayal of one of their own. Mina kept her knees pulled up to her chest, her arms wrapped around her legs miserably.

All this, and they still won�t say what they want from us, she thought, fighting off a tear. The odd medallion she�d found in her pocket the morning they�d been arrested hung securely around her neck. She�d managed to convince the guards it was an old family heirloom, and that if she was going to die, she wanted it with her.

The truth was, she�d recognized the medallion as the same one Tarik had been wearing when he�d come to them. From what little Minero had told her, he didn�t give things away for the fun of it, not when he�d fought and lost blood to keep them.

Tarik liked her.

The thought was amusing at first, then disturbing as she wondered what kind of relationship a human rebel and a giant lizard in a loincloth could have. It was somewhere near a sad longing now, guessing she�d never see the big scaly creature ever again.

Something had changed in the detention center around them in the last week, something big. There were more troops, and more security placed specifically on them.

The laser-burned memory of Tarik�s mysterious man in black himself looking into each of their cells as one of the officers told him how long they�d been here and various other facts about their imprisonment.

He�d stopped at her door just a little longer than the others, studying her. The worn gray flight suit and off-white shirt beneath felt like cellophane wrap under the searching gaze of the helmeted and robed figure.

It took her nearly a few heartbeats to realize it was the medallion he was staring at so intently. Her hand had strayed to it guiltily as he looked away, immediately drawing his attention again.

She�d bitten her lip and pretended she didn�t feel the little razors of his searching in the back of her mind. She'd squeaked in surprise when he was able to make her remember her time combing Tarik�s hair, and their conversation before he left. He also felt her mild affection for the scaly creature, she had almost been able to see the scowl of his face deepen at seeing that momentary flicker of her smile at Tarik.

Thankfully, he�d left without saying a word, or even looking back at her again. He had what he needed, something to use against Tarik. They were going to use them as bait.

She sighed, drawing her knees tighter to her. Tarik wouldn�t come, he was a loner, a few days of friendship and free food couldn�t possibly make him risk his life to rescue them.

How would someone who ran around in a loincloth and spoke a total of fifty words of basic manage any sort of assault on a place like this? And why would he bother if he could?

She sighed again, knowing that trying to rationalize Tarik as a heartless creature with no loyalty wasn�t going to work. He�d try something to get to them, if only to make sure they were all right. She�d seen it in his eyes, he didn�t have it in him to leave someone in danger. A soft heart beat under the tough scales and even harder claws.

She sniffled, wiping at her face as the tears she�d been fighting seeped out, running down her cheek. Tarik was too stupid and too caring to stay away, he�d be dead the moment he showed that cute little snout around here. She buried her face in her arms, crying.

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Tarik finally reached the air vent, clinging to his precarious perch on the thin band of molding at the top of the building as he tried to pry off the cover.

He chirruped in panic as a strong gust of wind tugged at him, threatening to toss him off the building like a leaf. He sank his claws into the moulded concrete of the wall, fighting to slow his frightened breathing.

He caught a faint, familiar scent on the air being blown out the exhaust vent he clung next to. He sniffed more carefully,

Mina, Nyan, Minero, Derek, all of them were here, and safe for now. He let out a breath of relief, he didn�t detect any pain from them, just sadness and worry. He flicked his tongue, smelling the number of different odors of people and weapons.

Way too many people, he hissed to himself, they�re guarding them too well.
He tied the rope he�d brought in the thin crevice between the column of black stone and the gray concrete of the walls. There were no windows on this side, no one would really notice him crawling down the side of the building until it was too late.

He suddenly stiffened, sniffing the air uneasily. Something..... familiar was close. He couldn�t identify the scent, so he tried to ignore it, concentrating on the knot that might have to hold the weight of four human-sized people and one Tarik.

He stuffed the rope into the crevice, satisfied with the knot. It was long enough to reach the second ledge he�d passed, but no further. He�d have to re-tie the rope to one of the other parts that stuck out down there for them to keep going down.

He went back to loosening the grate, hoping it was long-forgotten enough not to be rigged for security. Luckily, it wasn�t. No one expected someone to crawl in from the roof to get into the prison. The hard part would be getting out, especially with four people who were a lot bigger than Tarik.

He lifted the grate to look inside, and lost his balance as the grate came loose in his hands. He �eep�ed in panic, as he nearly dropped the grate, scrambling for a hold on the smooth concrete wall.

He wrapped his tail around the rope he�d just secured, stopping himself from falling with a painful yank to his tail as his full weight strained against his grip on the rope. He managed to wrap one leg in the rope and balance himself upside-down as he reached up to set the grate down inside the vent.

He clambered up the rope backwards, rubbing his tail with a rumble of displeasure at the strained muscle that yelled at him for being stupid. He hissed at the tail muscle to shut up and heal so he could think. He barely noticed as he studied the vent shaft that the muscle had listened, the pain messages quieting as he squeezed into the shaft head-first.

The shaft was bigger on the inside than it looked from the outside, and Tarik guessed that even heavy Mr. Minero could make it through if he tried. He flicked his tongue, searching. He followed the passage all the way to where it split into several horizontal branches and a very big vertical drop into the rest of the vent system.

He ticked to himself, thinking, then squeezed into a side passage, then backed into the vertical shaft. Tarik slid his claws carefully into the first segment weld of the larger shaft, testing the strength of the metal. It held, and the lower weld held his feet where he tested the thin ledge.

He glanced down over his shoulder, and suddenly wished he hadn�t. He pressed himself to the wall, a faint chirrup of fear sneaking out and echoing in the smooth shaft, heightening the impression of danger. He fought to slow his panicked breathing, he had to do this.

There was no rope here, one slip and no more Tarik. He growled softly, pivoting his ears to listen to the sounds around him to distract himself from his fear. The sounds of Stormtroopers on lunch-break and of a loud game of cards filtered through the vents to his ears, a thin mechanical hiss echoed from one near the bottom of the shaft, where the big doors were.

The hiss made Tarik cringe, that and the smell from earlier had something to do with each other, but he couldn�t think about it now. He concentrated on stretching his lithe green form silently from weld to weld, lowering himself toward the strengthening scent of his friends.

Luckily, there was another way up, they wouldn�t have to use the shaft to get to the roof after they escaped. If they could get to the lift before they noticed them missing and shut it off, he thought as he descended.

He shook off the idea that they might not escape, they had to. He wasn�t going to let his friends be tortured because they�d been betrayed by someone they trusted. He suddenly froze next to one horizontal branch, a familiar scent in the air.

Mina, he thought, pricking his ears toward the side shaft. He heard a gentle sobbing sound, Mina crying? he wondered what might have made her so sad already. Well, better cheer her up with a rescue, he thought, snickering quietly.

He slid into the side shaft, grabbing his staff to keep it from scraping. He crept through the vents with only the faintest scraping occasionally as his staff hit a low spot.

He finally reached the vent over Mina�s cell, looking down at her. She was balled up on her cot, crying. Tarik caught a glimpse of a frayed brown cord around her neck and realized she was still wearing his gift. He clicked to himself happily for a moment, then realized he�d better get on with the rescue.

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A scraping in the air vent above her made Mina start from her tears.

"Psst," an all-too-familiar voice hissed from the vent above her head. She looked up, seeing a pair of glowing orange eyes in the darkness between the grating. The faintest glimpse of pointed teeth grinning down at her suddenly filled her with joy and dread at the same time.

"Tarik," she gasped, trying to keep below a whisper. "What are you..." she began, but was interrupted by a hiss to be quiet.

"You wanna be rescued or no?" he hissed as she slid her feet to the floor. She nodded, looking around warily. Tarik lifted the grate straight up into the shaft, sliding it past him and creeping forward far enough to lower his arms through the narrow opening.

"Grab on, squeeze out," he said, reaching down to her.

She bit her lip, glancing at the door, then hopped up onto the bed and grabbed his clawed hands above the wrist. She felt for the first time how powerful the muscles under the rough green skin really were as he hoisted her into the air by the wrists.

She climbed into the vent shaft, backing down the shaft away from him as he slid the grille back into place quietly. He signaled her to be silent, pivoting his ears toward the room below. When he looked up, her face was a very short distance away, looking down with him through the grille. She looked up, noticing how close they�d gotten.

She suddenly leaned forward, kissing the end of his snout and making Tarik�s ears smack the roof of the vent in surprise as he backed away.

"Thank you," she whispered as Tarik suddenly forgot what he was doing a moment ago. "Now, let�s go get the others," she said, squeezing to turn around in the narrow vent.

Others?.... It took him a few moments to recover himself, remembering that there were three other people to rescue. He shook his head, snorting. Whatever she�d just done, he hoped she�d do it again if they got out of here.

He chirruped quietly to himself as they crept through the passage.

"Ssh," Mina ordered from in front of him as they neared Nyan�s cell. Minero and Derek were in it instead of Nyan.

"Hey," she said, trying to keep her voice hushed. Derek looked up first, then tapped Minero on the arm, signaling him to look up.

"You boys need a rescue?" she said, grinning down at them through the grating. Derek grinned widely.

"Babe, you are the most beautiful thing I�ve ever seen right now," he said, trying to whisper. Tarik growled softly behind her, she smiled, realizing he was a little jealous.

"Don�t be jealous scaly, I�m sure he�d say the same about you," she said over her shoulder.

They looked up at her strangely, "Who else is up there?" Derek asked.

"Tarik. He came here to rescue us," she said, trying to loosen the grate the way Tarik had.

"You�re joking," Derek said, disbelieving.

"I think this one�s stuck," she said softly to Tarik, who shoved her foot to tell her to move. She crept along the passage, letting Tarik move closer to the vent grille. He pulled it up as easily as he�d done the other one, sliding it back past him and sliding forward to lift the others up. He chirruped cheerfully as he grinned down at Minero and Derek, who looked at each other in amazement.

Derek locked his wrists around Tarik�s like Mina had, and Tarik lifted him toward the shaft.

"Show-off," Mina teased Tarik as he helped Derek into the vent.

"Where to now?" he asked as he cleared the hole.

"That way, lift at end of hall no lock," he said, pointing past them. He pulled a small palm-sized blaster from the back of his belt, holding it toward Derek.

"Take. Too many troopers here, no know where may be," Tarik said as Derek took the blaster. Derek looked at Tarik in surprise, then shrugged and looked back toward Mina.

"Let�s go," he said over his shoulder as he twisted to follow her in the narrow space.

Tarik reached down for Minero, but he looked skeptical.

"I�m not sure I can fit in there, old friend. I�m not as flexible as I used to be," he said, placing a hand on the paunch he�d developed from years of tasting his own cooking at his restaurant.

Tarik chirped, "You no that big," he said, reaching down again. Minero shook his head.

"Maybe it�s better to save you and the young ones," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. Tarik growled, he was starting to sweat in the small space of the vent.

"No," he said firmly, "You come, or I no go," he said, reaching up to shift his position in the vent.

Minero looked up sadly, "Don�t do this, my friend, get out of here."

Tarik snarled, "You no fit? I cut off and make fit if no come now," he said threateningly, extending his claws to their full length. Minero backed away, arms dropping to his sides in surprise.

"Come on," Tarik demanded, retracting his claws and reaching toward him again. Minero finally gave up, reaching up for him.

Then the door opened.

----on to Part 3 of Chapter 4---

© 2000 Michelle Petrosky

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