Chapter 6

Kirena Q'erra took great care not to make a single noise as she crept through the woods. She had followed the two rebels into the trees after seeing them leave their room together, curious as to what they were up to. She had indeed seen what they were up to, and found herself growing very excited by it. She had never seen two people in the act of making love before, although she did know how things worked, she had never gone past kissing with any of her guy friends. She wondered at how much pleasure the reptilian woman had received when the man had kissed her in her most private part. Kirena had discovered the ways of masturbation when she was 14, but it had never given her anything as mind numbing as what the woman seemed to be experiencing. Never the less, Kirena had found herself in an absolute frenzy at the sight of the two lovers, and soon was joining them in their ecstasy.

As she slowly found her way out of the trees, she couldn't believe what she had just done. Her breath still came in quick gasps when she thought of the man's tool sinking into the green woman's sex. She couldn't believe that she had brought herself off watching the two making love. It seemed so uncharacteristic of her, and so lude and so wrong. With a mixed feelings of guilt and excitement churning in her belly, Kirena slipped past the two guards, who didn't give her a second glance, at the space terminal's main entrance and made her way to her quarters. She slipped into her bed and stared up at the cold metal ceiling, reflecting on her evening venture.

She felt a great warmth spread from her privates as her mind returned to the man and woman in the woods. She couldn't get her mind to think of anything else. With her hand slowly slipping its way under her lose-fitting trousers, Kirena rubbed herself to sleep, reaching her second orgasm of the night right before she felt herself drop off. Visions of lovers swam through her head all night, the best dreams she had had in a long time.

The sleek black fighter tore through space as its hyperdrive worked double time to keep the ship moving. The dark figure in its pilot's seat was pushing the fighter to its design limitations, risking overloading the power plant and the engines. These were worries that the black clad pilot had little time for though, and he bypassed more safeties, pushing the fighter even faster.

He knew, from pirate connections he had visited in mid-transit, that the rebels had the jump on him and he refused to give them any more time to prepare for his arrival than he had to. He wondered how they knew of his departure, and his mission objectives in such great detail. There must have been a leak on Corescant, and a high ranking leak at that. Few knew of his existence beyong that of myth, and even fewer knew of his activities. If the rebels knew, then there would be hell to pay for someone in Imperial Intel.

He sighed with aggravation and brought up the file on his target for the twelfth time this hour. A pretty girl for her young sixteen years, the dark figure almost felt sorry for her, sorry that she would have to die. Almost. He had no reservations about killing anyone, and anywhere, in order to meet his objectives. His only mission in life was to destroy all remnants of the Jedi, and all resurgence of them as well. He took pride in his work, and felt no guilt at the knowledge that he was an evil being. It wasn't his fault, it was just the way of the empire and the universe. Control must be kept, the reigns tightened, and the Jedi posed a great threat to the Empire's control. Causing people to revolt, and over-turn their local governments, and even joining the rebels in fighting the Empire.

He would have loved to get his hands on the Skywalker boy before Obi-wan had. No one could have known though, that such a power could have come from a wasteland like Tatooine. And no one could have known, save that bitch Leia, that Kenobi had resided there either. It was a backward little planet, existing only to cater to the scum of the galaxy. Not a place one would expect to find a legendary Jedi, or his very powerful apprentice.

The black figure closed his file on the girl, knowing that every time he looked at it, it just made him more angry. He wished his ship would go faster because he hated being behind on his competition. Although his sleek fighter, code named the Adder, was a top of the line Imperial prototype, It still wasn't fast enough to make up for the time he had lost. He sat back in his seat and tried to relax. Ten hours to go, he thought, just ten more hours.

"Twelve hours," said General Haang, who was now pacing back and forth behind his beaten up desk. "All we have is twelve hours until he arrives. How is the security around the base, from your point of view," he asked looking to me.

"It seems to be pretty tight, although I would recommend more guards at the entrances and in the hall ways. That is if you can spare them." I looked down for a moment to collect my thoughts and continued. "There is also another problem though. There seems to be a water intake at the river two kilometers from here. We spotted it when we did our security check this morning," I lied. D'lek and I had really found it when we bathed in the river together some time in the middle of the night. We had made love in that river, and eventually made it back to our room, right before we had to be up. I stifled a yawn and pressed on, "I checked down at the water treatment room in the lower level to see if there was a way into the building from there. It seems that if our hunter can time his swim through the pipe just right, he could get in before the fresh water tank fills itself again."

"What do you propose that we do?" the general asked. He seemed agitated this morning, most likely from the pressures of running, and defending, a planet with such a small force that he had. A force that was undermanned and ill equipped. Which was why we were here in the first place.

"Nothing. I will handle guarding the tunnel and the intake. We just need more soldiers for the perimeter. There is a patch of trees that some well-camouflaged gunners could put to good use. If the hunter decides to approach through the trees."

"I'll see what I can do," sighed Haang. "Our forces are pretty slim here, and I hate pulling them from their regular guard posts, policing units, and their efforts at helping the citizens rebuild their homes. This planet, and its people's support, are vital to our efforts. We need all the allies that we can get if we are to put an end to the Empire's tyranny."

This was the first time I had heard Haang speak in such a strong voice. He really believed in the Alliance and it's cause. I envied him for having such convictions. I wished that I had gotten mine sooner than I had, but I guess I was lucky to get them at all. I nodded to the General in agreement and turned to leave.

"One more thing Malik."

I turned around and faced the General. "Yes General?"

Haang came from around the desk and sat on a corner. "If you were this hunter, which way would you enter the terminal?"

I chewed on my lip for a moment and thought of my options. Finding a solution I replied in my most professional demeanor. "Assuming that I could get past the planetary sensor net without getting blasted out of the sky, I think that I would take the river route. Although it has many dangers, it would be the most stealthy way to enter the terminal. If not that way, I think picking off a couple of guards and crawling through the air filtration system would be my second choice."

The Mon Calimari stroked his chin and weighed my answer against whatever conclusion he had arrived at himself. He then stood and nodded, "I think I would have to concur with you Malik. I believe that those are the best ways into the terminal, although killing the guards would alert your enemies to your presence."

"Not always," I said with a sly smile, "not always."

After my talk with the General I returned to my room where I found D'lek and Nim pouring over the blue prints and layouts of the space terminal. D'lek stood over Nim's shoulder as he worked on the comp. terminal on the desk in our quarters. I slipped up behind D'lek and slipped my hand around her waist looking down at the layout of the air ducts on the screen.

"How was your talk with the general," asked Nim, never taking his eyes off of the screen. "Does he have new orders for us?" All business again, I thought. Something was eating at him, and as soon as I had a chance I was going to find out.

"No, not really. He seems to agree with the conclusions that we have arrived at and told us to do what we see fit."

"That seems a little vague," D'lek pointed out.

"The General is a vague man," I replied. "He seems to have a lot on his mind, and our little mission doesn't seem to rank number one on his list of important things. He's very worried about helping the citizens of Chalum and getting them to fully support the Alliance. He'd make a great politician, which is probably why he is here."