Imperial times- Coruscant

Vader paused outside the door to the mezzanine above riker. He felt the same tremor in the force he�d felt at least three times today. It was close by, and getting stronger with each time.

He�d been feeling it for almost two weeks now, and the disturbing quality of an unknown being using the force so close and yet having no idea of its origin was increasing. This one came from the far side of the room ahead, near the main door.

He opened the door to the mezzanine quietly, shielding his presence from Riker or any others who might be present. He crouched behind a pile of boxes, watching the scene below unfold in silence.

------

Tarik crept through the vent shaft, peeking out into the room through the grate he�d finally found big enough to squeeze through. It was higher on the wall than he liked, but it gave him a good view of Riker and his friends.

Mina looked ill, and Derek was out cold on the floor. Minero was tied up, and Nyan was nowhere to be seen. He growled softly, ears twisting toward the grate in the cramped space thoughtfully. Riker was pacing like a trapped animal, and he was.

A plan hit Tarik, foolhardy, dangerous, but a plan. He still had smears of Vader�s blood on his claws from when he�d slashed his leg, and now he had a use for it. He dampened his claws by spitting on them, loosening the already-drying blood and carefully smearing it across his snout and other hand. It wasn�t much, but it might work, if he played it right.

He kicked open the vent cover, wriggling out and dropping to the floor with a thump. Riker turned in surprise, blaster drawn. He aimed the weapon at Tarik, until he saw the blood. Tarik growled as menacingly as he could, flicking his tongue at Riker.

Vader stared from above, suddenly curious what the lizard was up to.

Riker looked confused, then looked around the room uncertainly.

"You survived?" he said, incredulous. Tarik just growled, trying to remain as distant and menacing as possible, even though he felt like falling to the floor laughing at Riker�s face.

"What happed to Vader? Did you escape? He�ll come looking for you, we�ve got to..." he rambled, confused.

"No," Tarik snarled, "You liar, them hurt," he said, pointing to his friends. Mina looked stricken at the sight of blood on Tarik�s face. He wished that he could tell her he hadn�t done anything, but he had to play this along. Riker stared, still not comprehending.

"You say, kill man in black and no hurt them, you lied," Tarik snarled, forcing himself not to snicker as he caught sight of a large figure in black ducked behind some boxes on the balcony.

Riker�s jaw dropped, he finally caught on.

"You, you actually...killed....Darth Vader?" he gasped, astonished and dumbfounded. Tarik just growled, wondering what was going through Vader�s head as he listened from above. He flicked his tongue again, licking one of the smears of blood off his face to prove his point. He instantly felt like gagging, but he fought it off.

Riker�s blank stare faded into some sort of twisted glee, making him do a little spin and cheer before he caught himself.

"I don�t believe this," he said, stretching out with his meager abilities as far as he could, trying to detect Vader�s presence.

Vader stayed down, increasing his mental shielding so that Riker wouldn�t sense him.

He smiled to himself at Tarik�s ingenuity, though he wasn�t so sure about that little licking the blood off his face bit. Poor Tarik looked ready to run behind some boxes and lose his lunch, but he kept standing there, keeping the illusion going.

The girl Mina looked about to join him in being nauseous, his act was devastating her belief in him. Riker was too happy to think he was dead to consider he might be alive and shielding his presence. Tarik had seen him, he was sure of it, he�d seen the little flick of the tail toward him that indicated he was playing for his benefit too.

Tarik interrupted Riker�s gleeful moment by growling again, this time an obvious threat. Riker stopped, looking toward him.

"Now what�s wrong with you?" he snapped, sounding like an annoyed child. Tarik swished his tail unhappily, flexing his claws.

"You liar," he said coldly, "I warn you what I do if lie to me," he said, snarling and baring his teeth. Riker backed away, a look of uneasy panic drifting onto his features.

"Hey, i saved your friends, don�t forget," Riker said, baking up another step as Tarik took one toward him. Tarik snorted in derision.

"Rescue, torture, they mean same to you?" he said, snarling. "In that case, maybe me �rescue� you," Tarik said, lowering into one of the lethal attack poses he�d used on Vader. He flexed his claws, growling with as much threat as he could put into it.

Riker backed all the way into some cargo boxes that were piled against the wall. He finally thought to look up, seeing Vader�s black-robed form appear from behind the boxes.

Riker nearly choked on his own air in terror. Vader flicked a finger toward him, dropping the cargo netting that had been draped on the boxes behind him over him.

Riker cried out in panic as the net covered him, trapping him. Tarik couldn�t stand it any longer, he started laughing at Riker, as loud as he possibly could. He lost his balance, rolling to the floor as he rubbed at the blood on his face with the back of his clean hand.

He finally lessened to a snicker, with the entire room watching him in bewilderment. He took one look at Riker�s face and started laughing again, rolling on the floor like an idiot. He didn�t care, the Drathan wouldn�t hurt him or his friends ever again, and he had the best revenge of all on him.

He was alive.

"Hey Drathan," Tarik finally said, sitting on the floor, "Wanna know what?" Riker looked at him in complete confusion.

"What?" he finally forced himself to say.

Tarik looked up at Vader, then to his friends.

"You are dumb as you look," he said, rubbing at the splotches of Vader�s blood left on his snout. He heard a deep chuckle from the balcony that was quickly suppressed. Tarik looked up, long ears pricking toward the man who never laughed.

"Woah, day for miracles," he muttered to himself, looking down and scratching at his ear thoughtfully. Then he remembered.

"Mina," he suddenly said, almost hopping over to her. She backed away a little, unsure.

"Mina, it me," he said, crouching near her. "That pretend, no mean," he said, trying to reassure her. He chirruped, looking at her from an angle with his best big, sad, �lost pet� look. He flicked both ears forward at her, clicking at her playfully. She finally smiled, placing a hand on his snout and shoving him away playfully.

"You weirdo," she said, imitating his last comment to her before his dissapearing two weeks ago.

"You bigger weirdo," he said, pressing his snout back against her hand. She smiled, rubbing at a streak of dried blood with her thumb.

"Hey, excuse me, love-birds, but can someone explain where in the frozen plains of Hoth we are?" Derek said groggily from beside Mina. Tarik reached over and cut Minero�s gag with a claw carefully.

"Bah, I was starting to think you�d frogotten me, scaly," Minero said, rubbing his wrists as Tarik cut them free as well. Tarik suddenly had a thought, looking up toward the balcony.

Vader was gone, not really gone, just out of sight. He obviously wasn�t too fond of mushy reunions. Tarik ticked to himself thoughtfully, then chirruped as Mina tugged on one of his braids.

"Hey, you gonna finish the mission or what? We still gotta find Nyan," she said, forcing herself to stand.

"I say we ask him," Derek said, nodding toward the terrified Riker. "The hard way," he added, grinning malevolently.

"No," tarik interrupted him. He stepped between Riker and the group. "No more hurt," he said softly, "Just ask." They nodded slowly in agreement, looking at riker.

"Okay, brains of a Bantha, where�s Nyan?" Derek ordered, forcing himself to stand. Riker kept silent, pretending not to have heard them.

"Okay, maybe little hurt," Tarik said, stepping toward him.

"NO, No, no, keep away!" Riker cried, struggling in the netting. "Keep him away, I don�t know," he said, looking at Tarik with total fear of the scaly being in his eyes.

"C�mon, you managed to snag us as bait, you gotta know where Nyan is," Derek insisted, leaning on Mina for support.

Riker shook his head, "Believe me, I wish I knew, but I don�t," he said, fighting under the net again, tangling himself further.

"So, who would?" Mina said, then looked up to the now-empty balcony. He was gone for real this time, like a bad dream that woke itself up.

"He probably wouldn�t have helped a bunch of rebels anyway, Mina," Derek said, then murmured an oath, thinking about who they�d just met.

"Tarik?" Mina asked, looking down at him. He swished his tail in interest. "Can you smell him? I mean, can you follow his scent like you found us?" Tarik thought for a moment, twitching his nose.

"Maybe, no much to follow, but try," he said, stretching a bruised leg and sniffing at the air. She crouched down next to him, wiping his snout off with Minero�s gag.

"Maybe you�d be able to smell him without this all over you," she said, wiping Vader�s blood off his snout. She held his chin still with the other hand as he sneezed at her.

"Tickles," he complained as she finished wiping. She looked at his snout from both sides, making sure it was all off. Then she leaned over and kissed him on the snout again, making his ears stand straight up on the sides of his head.

"Eww, Mina," Derek complained. Minero chuckled to himself.

"Nose working any better?" she asked, absently stuffing the rag into her pocket. Tarik sniffed, looking around the room.

"Little," he said, twitching his tail happily.

She nodded, "Good, now, let�s find Nyan and get out of here," she said, standing. Tarik sniffed, then walked toward the door, following the invisible threads.

"You can�t just leave me like this!" Riker screamed, fighting with the tangle of netting again. Tarik looked back with a growl.

"Yes we can," Mina said, walking toward the door with Derek. Minero looked back at him, shrugging with a grin as he left to follow the others.

----on to Part 6 of Chapter 4---

© 2000 Michelle Petrosky

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