The Eye of a Vulture

[Sal Katarn]

A pale blue eye peered through the cockpit, blinked once, then retreated. Arkaitz climbed down from the ladder up to the shuttle's cockpit and turned to the gathered port authority agents.

"No one is here. How long did you say this shuttle has been sitting here?"

"Eh, about three days now," the agent scratched the stubble over his double chin.

"Do we have surveillance footage?"

The agent pointed up. Arkaitz followed the finger and noted a cluster of security cameras pointing in every direction.

"I see. You, impound this shuttle and bring me the transponder code when you've got access. And you, I need to see that footage."

Apparently, princes did not remember the names of "commoners" as easily as one might hope.

Moments later, Arkaitz sat in a chair watching the footage. His eyes narrowed as a figure came into view on the holoscreen.

"Stop it right there. Zoom in."

The agent did so, then grunted. "Wouldn't mind putting her in a holding tank."

Arkaitz's lips curled in disdain. "Put out an APB and run facial recognition. I want her alive." Turning, he stormed out of the room, black cape flaring out behind him.

On the holoscreen was the face of a young woman, with red hair.

[member="Naomi Carolina"]

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Arkaitz Zambrano"]

Hazels with varying flecks of bright amber, blues, and greens narrowed at the instant stream coming through her comm from the pebble drone. Port authority and looked like some dark-haired man with a cape in charge. Flare for the dramatic?

Dark-grey hoodie was pulled over her mop of copper hair. A wayward strand whisped out and she quickly tucked it behind an ear. Fortunately, she looked like any of the other occupants in the holonet cafe. The teen sat at a table in the back, sipping on a nunberry fizzy.

Teeth gnawed lightly on the inside of her cheek in thought. She was supposed to pick up an Alliance agent a day ago. Where was the agent and what happened? Had this just been a set-up? No. That didn't make sense. Did it?

"Good work R4. Make sure no one is following you and meet me at the rendezvous coordinates. Might need you to go back again tomorrow for some more footage," voice whispered into the comm. standing, she left some credits on the table, shoved her hands in her pockets, and headed out.

Looked like they were grounded until she could steal back her ship or another. Maybe hitch a ride on Star Tours public transport, even though their flying skills were abysmal. In the meantime, she'd send an update to command.

 

[Sal Katarn]

The sound of stamping feet came from just around the corner as a squad of stormtroopers marched into view, crossing orthogonally from [member="Naomi Carolina"]. Their helmeted heads swiveled around, gazes panning the crowd for any sight of the fugitive.

One of the advertisement holoboards on the street suddenly went blank with static. "Sully's Slots" faded out of view only to be replaced seconds later with 2x2 meter image of Naomi's befreckled features. Words scrawled across the bottom of the sign: "armed fugitive - report to authorities if sighted." It then listed a comm number.

Nobody paid attention.

The scrawl continued. "10,000 credit reward for any information leading to her capture."

That got some heads turning.

* * *

Back at the port authority office, Arkaitz surveyed his handiwork. All across the spaceport, the ads were being replaced by images of this "Naomi Carolina." Apparently, she was an Alliance asset. The ads cost a goodly sum, but what was the point of being an Inquisitor in the media division of the Saaraishash if you couldn't have some control over the media?

"Inquisitor," said the double-chinned port agent. "A squad down in the Western end thinks they've spotted her."

Arkaitz leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. He allowed a small smile to creep its way onto his ghostly features. "Excellent work."

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Arkaitz Zambrano"]

Dagum

Head ducked and shoulder turned as her booted-feet hugged the building wall for a sec before turning into an alleyway between the holonet cafe and a deli. There were a few other folks on the streets. Most were crowded around the holonet displays, goggling at that reward for her face. Naomi felt bad for all the other redheads on planet. Short legs moved quickly, taking her form further in. There was an opening on the other side.

Comm came to her lips as she kept her head ducked, cowl over that mop of coppery hair.

"R4 come to my position. We need to find a clear path to lay low for a bit. Streets are crawling. Look up the contact we had here. Looks like we'll need the safehouse."

If they could make it and if it hadn't been compromised yet.

A beep-boop sounded from the other end.

 

[Sal Katarn]

"Release the probe droids."

A grand total of two probe droids zoomed into the skies. Arkaitz watched them go feeling that the command had been somewhat robbed of its full effect.

"That's it?" He turned to the port authority agent.

The agent scratched his belly. "Yep."

"Where are the rest?"

"Scrapped for parts with the budget cutbacks."

"What?"

A spark of fury struck within Arkaitz. He needed this girl apprehended and in custody. Once he captured her and brought whatever information she had to his father, he would be welcomed with open arms. All of that put into jeopardy by what, bureaucracy? His fingers curled into fists and trembled at his sides.

Elsewhere...

Stark, white armor appeared on the other end of the alley. A lone stormtrooper pointed, then raised his blaster carbine at the hooded figure sprinting down the street.

"Hey, you! Halt!"

Given that there was no one else in the alley, it could be implied that the frowny-faced helmet fellow was indeed speaking to her.

[member="Naomi Carolina"]

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Arkaitz Zambrano"]

The refugee pilot froze, hearing the tin-can sounding voice behind her. R-4 was at her feet. Hazels swept where she wanted to go; the next street. Looked clear for now. The pebble drone's head peeked out from around Naomi's legs, facing the trooper as he got closer. A hatch on its domed body opened, the one hidden behind her.

"Thinking the same thing R-4. Ready?" Voice whispered down to her droid before raising in volume to the trooper behind her without turning around. Arms half-raised, clearly away from her body. "What's going on here? I ain't breaking any laws."

Chin gave a silent, curt nod to R-4 as she suddenly lunged to her right and down as R4 fired fired a particle paralysis beam straight at the frowny-face trooper. Without waiting, the teen propelled herself from the mouth of the alley and into the next street, zeroing in on a parked speeder she intended to try and steal.

 

[Sal Katarn]

The beam hit the stormtrooper square in the chest and he keeled over, body freezing up as the nervous system temporarily went haywire. His blaster carbine slipped from numbed fingers. It would be a long while before he could move again. In the meanwhile, his quarry escaped.

The area swarmed with foot patrols. Some stormtroopers, but mostly Port Authority Security. People gasped as the diminutive figure sprinted through the street, pulling away from her. The whoop-whoop of a landspeeder's siren came from just around the corner.

Overhead came the sound of screaming ion engines. A shadow fell across the ground. The form of a TIE fighter loomed in the skies, flying in circles in case the fugitive was spotted.

Local media had by this time gotten wind of what was happening and put their own holocam droids in the air, trying to get some prime footage to put up on the holonet.

[member="Naomi Carolina"].

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Arkaitz Zambrano"]

With a boost of its thrusters, the pebble drone maneuvered itself into the passenger seat of the speeder parked right outside the thrift shop. Grey-hood remained firmly in place over her coppery-red hair. Hopping in, fingers plucked a hydrospanner from her toolbelt and easily hot-wired the speeder. Hazels swept up as there was a scream overhead followed by a shadow that passed her position by and continued on.

TIE fighter.

Feth sticks.

With a push of the acceleration pedal, Naomi maneuvered the speeder into the street and in the opposite direction of the TIE fighter. "R4, see if you can find us a route outta the city. Anything without a check-point?"

There was a razzle at her side.

They had to get out. Things were getting too hot here and her freckled-face was plastered all across the holovids. Might be better in the country. If she could make it. Lay low for a bit and then try to steal a ship.

But who was calling the shots to all this? Was there a leak on the Subversion? How else had they known about Naomi's schedule? Or was it all dumb luck?

Lips pursed into a thin line as she tried to blend in with the other traffic. Couldn't punch the expert-pilot card yet. That'd only make her stand out more than she already might be.

 

[Sal Katarn]

Inside the thrift shop, a Weequay perused a selection of cheap apparel, the sort that might go nicely on an elderly individual.

"Hmm, hmm, gonna pop some tags," he hummed under his breath, "twenty creds in my pocket. Hmm, hmm."

VROOM.

Wow, nice engine, thought Nekay the Weequay, almost sounded like his speeder. Wait a minute. Nekay ran out of the thrift shop just in time to see his ultraVX-9000 get ridden off into the sunset.

* * *

"Inquisitor Arkaitz, there is a distraught Weequay on the line."

Arkaitz clucked his tongue. Why in the star-forsaken night would he care about a braid-tugging leatherface?

"He says his speeder was stolen."

That got the princeling's attention. "The girl?"

The port authority agent shrugged. "Maybe."

"Find and apprehend that speeder, Agent."

* * *

A traffic holocam picked up Naomi's speeder and flagged the make, model, and number as a stolen vehicle, which was quickly bumped up the chain. In a matter of minutes the TIE fighter overhead received the information and sharply altered course to bear down on the suspect while she was in the middle of traffic.

The pilot inside the TIE didn't wait for confirmation. Instead, he squeezed the trigger. A small missile shot out from the TIE's belly and homed in on [member="Naomi Carolina"]. When it reached approximately ten meters before hitting the target the missile shell fell away, unleashing the contents within. A large shock-net unfurled, capable of covering both the speeder and the two repulsorsleds in the other lanes.

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Arkaitz Zambrano"]

"Great. Rush hour traffic," hazels rolled as R4 booped. "One good thing about growing up in a small town. Yeah. Didn't have to deal with this." A roar overhead caused Naomi's head to jerk-up as the TIE-fighter circled back. R4 beeped a warning.

"I see it. Wait. deploying what?!"

Hazels widened and her foot slammed down on the accelerator ramming into the patron in front. Flipping the gears like an ace pilot, the redhead reversed. Patrons swore around her as she did more damage.

Almost. Free.

There was a loud pop and fellow traffic jammers screamed around her. The teen's head jerked skyward again, hood of her jacket falling away as netting suddenly filled her vision. Scrambling, she tried to dive from the speeder. Pant leg caught on the seat as a jolt of electricity went through her body.

"Alpha seven," the redhead yelped. There was a pop-fizzle from R4 as its sensor light dimmed, hard-drives erased as the command protocol was spoken. The Alliance pilot's body convulsed and she slumped forward as blackness took over hazels of shifting blues and greens, copper-hair fanning across an unconscious face.

 

[Sal Katarn]

When [member="Naomi Carolina"] awoke she would find herself suspended in the air in a containment field, with bracelets conducting the energy around her wrists and ankles. The field rotated her around ever so slowly. The walls of the chamber were a non-descript gunmetal gray. The sort commonly seen in spaceports and in the interior of ships.

Arkaitz stood in front of the containment field, hands clasped behind his back. A black-and-chrome spherical droid hovered just behind him, its one red-eye leering at Naomi.

"Awake? Good." A thin, sad little smile scrawled its way across Arkaitz's features. "Then we can begin. Let's start with your name. Simple, yes? Who are you. Don't lie. I'll know if you're lying."

The pale eyed gaze glittered, like sunlight off the tundra.

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Arkaitz Zambrano"]

Blues and greens slowly sharpened in her hazels, trying to...focus. Some guy's voice sounded far away. Coppery-brows scrunched together.

Where...what....

Felt like she was stuck in a big ol' pile of mud. Limbs were snug and unmoving. The teen could barely twitch her fingers. But it felt like the pile of mud was rotating in the wash. Ugh, made her stomach boil, which was odd for the pilot. Head felt funny too.

Awake.

Was she? Or in a dagum nightmare? Too bad Asmus wasn't playing a prank on her now. There. She caught a glance of the guy speaking. Had a pair of pale blue eyes that looked as cold as icicles in the Barkesh winter. Probably as sharp too. Was he moving or was she? There was a prick of bile in the pit of her belly as she tried to overcome the disorientation.

"I think I'm gun be sick," she muttered, perhaps not able to focus on his question. "What IS this?" Hard to tell if she was asking about the containment field or the situation itself.

 

[Sal Katarn]

The princeling grimaced. Sick? Perhaps the disorienting effect of the containment field's rotation was too much. The last thing he wanted was to have her vomit all over the floor in the middle of answering a question. He pulled out a datapad and pressed a button. Her body stopped rotating.

"This is the consequences of your actions," he replied, then glanced down at the datapad. "Evading port authority. Grand theft speeder. Reckless driving. You've racked up quite a list. We haven't even gotten to the espionage charges yet, but with these alone there's enough to put you away for four to eight years in an imperial cell."

He glanced up. "It doesn't have to be that way. We know you're working for the Alliance. Give us information and we can arrange an immunity deal. Resist and..."

Arkaitz's eyes flicked over his shoulder, where the floating droid loomed. "And we'll have to use alternative methods to gain your compliance."

[member="Naomi Carolina"]

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Arkaitz Zambrano"]

Hazels quenched closed for a moment, then slowly opened as the rotating stopped. Thank the sweet collared greens. Espionage charges?! Reckless driving?!

Harumph.

The teen thought it was rather skillful driving.

But how did he know anything? Was there a mole in SIS? Had her jedi pick-up gotten away? The redhead knew it hadn't been Aela Talith this time. Teeth chewed thoughtfully on the inside of her cheek as her hazels darted between the inquisitor and the hovering droid behind him with that beady-red eye. SIS were the ones called when someone needed an extraction. But what happened when a SIS member needed the extraction?

Naomi knew she was very much on her own.

The teen could try and deny she was Alliance but she figured that'd be a waste of everyone's time. He knew the moment she landed. Or else, they wouldn't have wasted all those resources tracking little ol' her down.

"You might as well take me to a cell then, cause I ain't talking Mister Inquisitor man." For all her bravado, she still gulped.

 

[Sal Katarn]

"That is... unfortunate."

The black spherical droid started floating toward her. A cylindrical appendage on its right side opened a flap and a needle extended outward.

"I had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but you leave me no choice. IT-O will inject you with a powerful truth serum."

Slowly, the needle sought the fleshy part of her arm.

Arkaitz watched her expression, wondering if she would gasp at the prick of the sharp metal.

"Now, who do you work for?"

[member="Naomi Carolina"]

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Arkaitz Zambrano"]

The teen had her fair scrapes growing up. Broken her arm in two places when she climbed the highest in a tree at age six. Busted her lip for stitches a few times. Still didn't mean she liked needles.

Lips pursed into a thin line and her hazels screwed shut real tight as the needle went in.

Dagum that hurt.

Hazels remained squeezed closed as he asked his question. Thoughts churned. Mind strained to keep her mind jumping to the answer it immediately sought.

"The Galactic Alliance."

But it wasn't just a thought. She'd spoken it out-loud. Hazels snapped open in horror. Even though he'd already known the answer, she'd sung it freely as a bird. It was only a matter of time before he asked the right questions. And then? The teen wasn't sure she could stop the answers.

 

[Sal Katarn]

The words blurted from her lips, followed swiftly by a look of horror. A realization of her body's betrayal. A terrible thing, to be unable to stop yourself from selling out your country and your friends. She looked so young to be on the front lines of this shadow war. A mere pawn in the grand scheme of things. He wondered what sort of general had pushed her into position, then realized it didn't matter. His father would have done the same if he thought it could get him an ounce of leverage.

In the end, she and I are all just pieces in their game.

Yet, Arkaitz hoped that after this, after he pulled the information from this girl and delivered the Alliance to his father on a silver platter, that the Dark Lord might see him as more than just a piece on the board. "Well done, my son." He clung to the hope of hearing those words. All he needed to do was keep her talking.

"What is your mission here?"

[member="Naomi Carolina"]

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Arkaitz Zambrano"]

Teeth clenched closed. Entrapped limbs tried to pull-push, break-free, anything. But the only thing the teen managed to do was twitch her right index-finger. Coppery-hair fell across her freckled-face as her head turned.

Lips parted without her control and the words spilled out.

"Picking up a jedi contact. I was supposed to be their pilot escort."

Hazels focused on the cold-blue orbs of the inquisitor.

"Why are you doing this? Who are you?"

Desperation clung to her tone as she squirmed again without any movement. Wait. They'd been trained to resist serums like this. So why wasn't the training working? Maybe it took a bit to kick in. Naomi sure hoped so. [member="Asmus Janes"] would be angry enough as-is. She didn't want to disappoint her squad-mates.

 

[Sal Katarn]

Strands of hair like thin wisps of flame fell across her face. He thought he saw a tremble in her lips. Terror? And then the questions directed at him came out as she tried to gain some kind of control over the situation. The prince sighed.

"I am Arkaitz. This is happening because you are a spy. Now, let me ask the questions, please."

The truth serum was working. He'd only to pull a bit more on this thread of questioning to see the whole web unravel. All without the use of torture. Hm. It made him wonder. Did his father employ the darker methods because he found they produced better results? Or was it simply because he enjoyed them more?

The young Zambrano grimaced.

"Who else is in your unit?"

[member="Naomi Carolina"]

 

[Naomi Carolina]

[member="Arkaitz Zambrano"]

Arkaitz?

Name didn't ring any bells. Good thing this wasn't the First Order or she'd be strung up on a cross by now. Blues and greens in her eyes shifted as she gulped at the thought. And a spy?!

Sure, she was part of a secret group in the Alliance but she hardly counted herself as a spy. She was a pilot - first and foremost.

"Unit? I don't have a unit," she grounded out a response but she couldn't keep her thoughts from drifting to Asmus and Adder and the others. The SIS training was finally kicking in and her exposure to the multiple truth serums upon her initiation into the Alliance. Still. If he'd said squadron, she might've just about spilled some names.

"See? I don't know much. Might as well let me go Arkaitz."

Did she pronounce his name right in that Barkesh drawl of hers?