Imperial times- Hyperspace

Tarik slowly regained consciousness, slowly realizing they were moving. He found himself bound and chained, pinned to the floor by a wire-mesh net. He struggled to get loose, whining unhappily.

"Hold still," a voice ordered from behind him where he couldn�t see. He chirruped, twisting under the net, trying to see who�d spoken.

"I said hold still. I know you�re intelligent, you�ve been talking in your sleep," the human snapped, shoving his head flat to the floor again. Tarik growled, snorting through the mesh.

"That�s not going to help," the human said, then Tarik felt a sharp pinch on his tail. He �eep�ed in surprise, trying to pull his tail away.

"Hold still or you�ll end up breaking the needle," the human snapped, "That�ll hurt a lot worse than a little prick, believe me." Tarik growled, forcing himself to stay still. He hissed slowly, flicking his tongue unhappily. The sharp pain lessened, and the unseen human rubbed something cold on the spot, dulling the pain.

"Wh..wh," Tarik tried to ask what was going on, but found his mouth wasn�t working right.

The human sighed, "All right, hold still, just don�t try to bite me again." He reached under a corner of the netting and pulled a strap that had been holding Tarik�s mouth shut loose.

Tarik shrugged out of the muzzle, using the slack from the open section of netting to get his hand free. He snorted, licking his nose accidentally as he flicked his tongue again. The human locked the corner of the net down again, trapping Tarik to the floor again. He wriggled around enough to get his hand up to his snout.

"Well, it�s loose, but it won�t do you any good. The mesh is too fine to get your claws through," the human said. Tarik snorted derisively, scratching at his snout with the back of his hand.

"Itches," he said, snorting again.

"Aha," the human said, smiling slightly.

"Where me?" he said, then growled at himself, "Where is me?" he corrected.

"You�re on board a very big star-ship, an imperial Stardestroyer," the human said. Imperial, Tarik hissed.

"Drathan here?" he asked, uneasy. The human looked confused.

"Drathan?" he asked. Tarik thought for a minute, flicking his tongue again.

"Vader. Him here?" Tarik asked. The human looked surprised.

"No, why should he? He has more important things to be doing than scouting an abandoned rebel base." Tarik growled thoughtfully, they didn�t know yet.

The human suddenly looked as if he�d had an idea.

"Wait a moment, how do you know lord Vader? and why would you expect him to be here?" he asked. Tarik flexed his claws, watching the thoughtfully suspicious look on the human�s face.

Suddenly, something clicked, "You�re one of the hunters!" he exclaimed. "I�d heard one of you had escaped, but I thought it was just a rumor." Tarik snorted in surprise, trying to sit up.

"You know mees?" he said excitedly.

"I was on the project when I was still doing my internship in biochemistry and genetics," the human said. "I never got to see the end result of the project, but I heard it was discontinued. How did you escape?" he asked.

Tarik chirped, "Man in black burn lab, kill all others. Mees not there, mees kept in other lab. No get killed, mees escape when wall blowed up. Mees nearly get squished when wall fall down and break cage. Me run, me hide, they no find."

"How in Hoth�s frozen plains did you end up on Dantooine? As I remember it, the lab was on Coruscant, down on the lower levels." He said, then stopped, looking toward the door warily. Tarik chirped, trying to nod.

"Mees live in city, long time. Mees meet rebels, nice persons. They brings me to place with trees, then say mees can stay." Tarik sighed, "Like trees, like grass, like birds, especially fat ground birds, they stupid, but they good eat," he said, bringing a smile from the human.

"No people, no Drathan, no Jedi, no troopers, just Tarik and trees," he added, sighing again. "Miss trees now," he said, trying to move his tail again. "And fish, and bird, and fruit," he paused.

"Mees think getting hungry," he said, chirping.

The human laughed, "So I noticed, you seem to eat a lot from the look of you." He studied Tarik, "From the tests I�ve run, your metabolic rate is through the roof, everything you eat gets processed directly into energy. You�ve obviously been eating very well to have had enough strength to resist the amount of sedatives they�ve been pumping into you." Tarik peeped curiously.

"By all rights, you should be out cold as a rock, but instead, here you are having a conversation," the human said, seeming impressed.

Tarik shrugged, "No sleepy," he said, half-closing his orange eyes.

The human nodded, "So I noticed."

Tarik let a low rumble escape his throat, thinking.

"You tell Drathan mees here?" he asked.

"Tell who? oh, you mean Vader?" the human looked uneasy. "Um, no, I�m not sure it�s a good idea to bother lord Vader right now. He�s likely to be a little....preoccupied with the rebels." Tarik sighed, looking up at the human sadly.

"Rebels gonna win," he said softly, "Seen it." The human looked down strangely. Tarik snorted and closed his eyes.

"By the way, my name�s Rico Nerai, some of my friends used to call me Dr. Nick if that�s easier for you to remember." Tarik looked up at the dark-haired human curiously.

"Mees Tarik," he said, studying the odd human. He smelled like the one who�d caught him in the net, and he sounded like him too.

"Well, Tarik, it�s nice to meet you," he said, then ran a hand along the edge of the metal mesh. "Well, considering the circumstances anyway." Tarik hiss/snickered, surprising Nick.

"Good grief, you sound like a giant Vornskr when you laugh!" he said, smirking oddly. "Wait a minute, you�re not supposed to even have a sense of humor. Come to think of it, you�re not supposed to be this intelligent either. Or this independent." he paused in thought, "Or male. As I remember, all the hunters were supposed to be neuter, to reduce the chances of one escaping and reproducing."

Tarik snorted, "Mees no have kids no-how, no girl me-kind," he said with a grumble.

Nick smiled, "No, I suppose not." He looked curious for a moment, "Um, Tarik, can I ask you a personal question?" he asked hesitantly. Tarik peeped curiously, cocking his head toward him.

"If you�ve been on your own all these years, and been male, a mature male in any case,...well..." he began, but a growl of warning from Tarik cut him short.

"None of bald monkey�s business!" he snapped, snarling.

"Okay, okay, I�m sorry, I�m just a scientist, I was curious," Nick said. "It�s none of my business," he said as Tarik struggled under the mesh net again. He hissed, twisting himself loose in his bindings enough to end up on his stomach, his tail finally free of the straps that held it to the floor. Tarik continued to grumble insults at the human for a while, then gave up with a sigh.

"Help?" he asked, trying to twist his snout off the floor where it was tangled painfully in the tight netting.

"I can�t let you up," Nick said, "This is just temporary until they finish welding the cage together."

Cage!

"No!!" Tarik cried, fighting against the wire mesh and bindings. "No cages! no cages!" he cried in panic, whining.

"Woah, calm down!" Nick said, setting a hand on Tarik�s shoulder through the mesh. Tarik snapped at him, growling from his tangled position.

"No cages!" he hissed, orange eyes glowing in panicked rage.

"Tarik!" Nick said, trying to calm him, "Tarik, stop or I�ll have to sedate you again!" Tarik twisted in the wire net again, getting his claws into one of the spots where the slack made the holes a little bigger. He ripped a hole through the mesh, fighting in a panic.

Nick tried to hold him down physically while he fought to get the injector closer through the mesh. Tarik bit him in a nearly-blind panic, struggling against the bindings that held him down. He finally fought loose of the last human-grade binding, squeezing out of the hole in the net and looking around the room in a panic.

Nick had made it to the comm and called for help, not knowing what Tarik might do. The scaly being bolted for a far corner, squeezing between the wall and a large piece of medical equipment as the door opened. He fought and struggled in panicked instinct, the memory of his last time in a cage overriding his reason.

"Noooo," he whined as they finally got hold of him enough to inject him with a sedative. "No cage," he repeated, whining and crying as the soldiers held him still long enough for the sedatives to start working.

"No cages," he pleaded, whimpering like a wounded animal. He curled himself into a sobbing ball on the floor as the guards let him go, letting others come closer with more binders. "No cages," he sobbed, still trying to fight as they locked the metal restraints around his wrists and ankles.

Nick looked stunned and confused as they carried Tarik out of the room. He held his injured arm close as he watched the door close and one of the medics walked over to him. He shook his head silently, shaken and stunned. The medic asked him about his arm, but he barely heard.

"What did they do to him?" he asked no-one in particular, dazed.

----on to Part 3 of Chapter 6---

© 2000 Michelle Petrosky

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