Episode X Dark Hunter

Boots

Cam rubbed behind his ear and leaned back against the cargo bay wall. The blue light of hyperspace rippled off the far wall and sent shimmering shadows across his already blue face. The cargo hold was adequate for this small starship, but with Videsse's anchored hovercarts, there was just enough room for two people to lie down parallel to each other. There was a passenger seat, which Videsse had failed to tell Cam about. Hence, the boy rubbed his head, where he had hit it against the far wall when Slave-1 jumped to hyperspace.

Videsse rose from the pilot seat and angled back to where Cam was seated. She stood over him akimbo, her hands on her hips.

"Okay," she started. "We're off that moon. Now, who are those men?"

Cam looked up at her, his brown eyes squinting in thought. "Where are you taking me?"

"Headin' to the eastern expanses. There are plenty of systems there to choose from," Videsse answered. "Who are they?"

"Any of those systems nice?" Cam replied, not answering the question.

Videsse gritted her teeth. "Answer the question. I got you off that rock like you asked." She leaned over and grabbed him by his collar. "Now, who are they? Or I'll drop you off right here."

Cam swallowed hard and scrunched his face. "I, uh--." His voice trailed off and he looked at the floor sheepishly.

Videsse knew what this meant, and the silence lingered like a third person in the room. She spoke unemotionally, cooly, yet sharply, "You don't know."

Cam pursed his lips and squinted meekly as if waiting to be beaten. He could not tell what was going on behind the blue eye screens of Videsse's helmet, but he knew he was in trouble when her grip on his collar tightened and twisted, which usually meant that he was about to be thrown. His muscles tightened in preparation.

Instead, Videsse pushed him solidly back into the wall and groaned in frustration, slamming his head against the wall again. "Of course!" She threw up her hands and turned to a small cabinet on the wall, unlatched it, and removed a bottle of whiskey. With only an aggravated huff, she returned to the cockpit, threw her helmet under the pilot seat, and sat quietly for about an hour. The liquid flow of alcohol dispelled the rising heat of anger and at the same time raised the tide of her sorrow.

Cam remained silent in the cargo bay, rubbing his now reinjured welt behind his ear, and figuring it was best not to make a sound. He had seen Videsse kill without a second thought, and he was not planning on giving her any other reason to awaken that impulse. He bided his time checking a few other trinkets and credits he had swiped on the way out of Felga's palace; about three hundred credits, a handheld comm, and a small retractable six-centimeter blade, probably for cutting lines of Kessel spice. Each piece found its place in one of his vest pockets.

Videsse stirred in the cockpit and came to the back. With her helmet off, Cam could see her face for the first time. Her hair was up as usual, tightly braided to her head, except for her chin-length bangs. She did not look at him and opened a cabinet opposite him. Her face was drawn, downcast, and seemed defeated. So it was with her whole body, defeat seemed to cover her like a blanket, and the half-empty bottle of liquor loosely held in her hand did not help. Her shoulders drooped. She removed a few nutrient sticks from the supply cabinet and leaned against the supply cart across from Cam, who was mesmerized, wide-eyed and gaping at her appearance. She did not notice his eyes immediately and tossed a nutrient stick at him, which hit his chest and fell in his lap as if she had thrown it at a sleeping droid.

Cam shook his head, waking from his trance and looked down at the stick.

"That's for you, Boots. Eat," Videsse ordered. "You'll need it. I'm dropping you off at Mimban."

Cam continued to stare at her, without a word.

Videsse, now noticed his ogling and irritation came over her again. "What! Have you never seen a clone?"

Cam swallowed hard. "Uh, yeah, but you . . . are a lot. . . younger."

Videsse shook her head, "Whatever." She took a sip of the whiskey. He was right. The Terrah Otlell clones were commissioned for the Second Galactic War seven years prior, and since they were in their mid-twenties when assigned, those Terrah-clones were now in their thirties.

A short and awkward silence settled on them again, then when Videsse could not stand his staring gaze any longer she burst out. "Would you look at something else!"

There was not much else to look at, but Cam tried.

"How old are you?" Cam asked when he finally mustered enough courage. "Fifteen?"

"Ha," Videsse guffawed, not expecting that comment. "Yeah, four years ago." The comment surprisingly amused her, but only for half a second.

"You know, I'm fourteen," Cam lied. "Not much younger than you."

Videsse erupted in another laugh. The irritation with the boy was still there, but she found his forwardness ridiculous enough to temporarily hide her annoyance. "Eleven more like," she persisted. "Nice try. And I hope you like the swamp, 'cause that's what you're in for on Mimban." She tried to change the subject. It worked, in a way.

Cam tilted his head in thought and scratched his dry brown-haired head. "What are you doing after that?"

"Headin' back to Nar Shaddaa to get a real lead," she said with all the acidic temper she could spit.

"That's not gonna do you any good," Cam said matter-of-factly and folded his arms. "Probably shouldn't've killed Felga." He regretted it as soon as he said it. "Uh, I mean--but-- she probably wasn't gonna tell you anything anyway," he sputtered.

Videsse did not reply. She looked deep in thought. The awkward presence of silence returned for five more minutes.

This time Cam broke it, "You should take me to Takodana. We can find better leads there."

Videsse furrowed her brow and looked at him incredulously. "What are you talking about?" She was sure to make Cam know how nonsensical he was with her tone.

"That's where those guys came from," Cam said as if it was obvious. "They were looking for some saber weapon there and didn't find it, then came to Nar Shaddaa looking for a ship instead. And have you seen the leader's saber weapon?" He took his first bite of the nutrient stick.

Now Videsse returned a gaping stare in his direction, her eyes wide and jaw dropped. "You said you didn't know who they were."

"Yeah, I don't know who they are," he agreed. "But they did talk a lot."

Videsse shook her head. "Boots, I don't know how someone hasn't killed you yet. I've been around you for only two hours and I've already thought of it a dozen times." She turned and bent over to move to the forward cockpit, sliding into the pilot's chair. "I'm gonna get leads at Takodana." She emphasized I'm. "You're gonna do whatever. Quit the 'we' talk. You're on your own at Takodana."

"You never know. Maybe you need a thief like me..." Cam said, stopping short when he realized he did not know how to address her. "What do I call you?"

"Nothin'. 'Cause you'll be on your own as soon as we arrive. And for your information, I work alone. And I especially don't need a boot thief."

Cam smiled a satisfied grin. He was not going to be dropped off on Mimban. "We'll see," Cam replied under his breath. Whether Videsse heard it or not, I will leave that up to you to decide.

Videsse, however, did make one comment under her breath. "I don't need anyone."

Oh, Videsse, how you assume to know what will make you happy; the hopeless remedies that you try to cure your soul with; the hopeless remedies we all search for. If only, Videsse, you knew, as I do, and as those hearing your story also are coming to understand, what it is that that will heal you. How you are searching for an impotent cure and abandoning the very thing that would remedy your ailing heart. Alas, if only I could tell you. If only you would hear. If only we all could hear.