Vision of the future

'Just the way I like it,' Navett said, leaning an elbow on the counter and gesturing the other to a chair. 'You get those messages off?'

'Yeah.' Klif circled behind him and dropped into one of the seats. 'But I don't think any of them are going to like it.'

Navett shrugged. 'They can join the club. It's going to be awkward for us, too, you know—we're going to have to delay the delivery date for those three mawkrens. But there's not a lot any of us can do about it. It was the Bothans' idea to start keeping their techs locked in the shield building for six days at a time, not ours.'

'Yeah,' Klif said heavily. 'I suppose we can't be expected to send our little time bombs in with the next shift any earlier than the next shift goes on duty.'

'Don't worry about it,' Navett soothed him. 'Our cover is plenty secure, and it won't hurt Horvic and Pensin to wash dishes for the Ho'Din awhile longer. We can hover an extra six days without any trouble.'

'Maybe not,' Klif said darkly. 'Guess who I spotted at the comm center while I was checking for messages.'

Navett felt his eyes narrow. 'Not our two New Rep military types?'

'In the skin and twice as pompous.' Klif nodded. 'And they had company: some old woman in a hooded cloak who seemed to know her way around better than they did. A fringe type, no doubt about it.'

Navett scratched his cheek. 'You think she's the one who got their wallets back from the Bothan lifters?'

'Well, they had their wallets with them,' Klif said. 'So I'd say, yeah, she's probably the one.'

'Um.' New Rep military types with a fringe lifter. Interesting. 'Were they picking up or delivering?'

'Neither,' Klif told him. 'They were pulling a list of all outgoing transmissions for the past five days.'

'Interesting,' Navett said, drumming his fingers gently on the countertop. 'Analysis?'

'They're on to us,' Klif growled. 'Or at least, they know someone's here.' He lifted an eyebrow.

'And they suspect it has to do with the Drev'starn shield generator, or they wouldn't have spent so much time hanging around there.'

'Recommendation?'

'We vape them,' Klif said bluntly. 'Tonight.'

Navett shifted his eyes past him to the display window across the store, gazing at the hundreds of pedestrians and dozens of vehicles hurrying past. Drev'starn was an immensely busy city, made all the more frantic by the presence of those warships overhead. Humans and aliens rushing around all over the place... 'No,' he said slowly. 'No, they're not on to us. Not yet. They suspect something is in the works, but they don't know for sure. No, our best plan right now is to lay low and not let them draw us out.'

Klif's lips puckered, but he nodded reluctantly. 'I still don't like it, but you're the boss. Maybe all they're trying to do is get a handle on Vengeance; and they're not going to look for a group that big in a little pet store.'

'Good point,' Navett agreed. 'We could even consider staging another riot for their benefit if they seem to be getting too close. If you're up to another performance, that is.' Klif shrugged. 'Two riots on Bothawui might be pushing our luck,' he said. 'But I can get one going if we have to.'

Across the room, one of the animals squawked twice and then fell silent again. Probably one of the pregnant mawkrens, Navett decided, muttering in her sleep. He'd better get those injections started if he didn't want a mess of tiny lizards running around underfoot six days before he needed them. 'I just wish we knew who our opponents were,' he commented.

'Maybe we can find out,' Klif said, pulling out a datapad. 'I followed them back to the spaceport and their ship. A surplused Sydon MRX-BR Pacifier, as it turns out.' Navett grimaced. The Pacifier had been the Empire's scout vehicle of choice, able to seek out new worlds and deliver a devastating pounding to them if it proved necessary. Considered by the New Republic to be too provocative for the delicate sensitivities of frightened primitives, their use had been summarily discontinued. Just one more reminder, if he'd needed it, of how badly things had been falling apart since Endor. 'You get a name?'

'And a registration code,' Klif said, handing him the datapad. 'It's the woman's ship, unfortunately—she was the one who unlocked it—but we might still be able to backcheck them through it.'

'Excellent,' Navett said as he took the datapad. 'The Fingertip Express, eh? Sounds like a lifter's ship, all right. A smart-mouth name for a smart-mouth lifter.' He handed the datapad back. 'There should be a Bureau of Ships and Services office somewhere in Drev'starn. Find it and see what you can pull up.'

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