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Cid walked slower these last few days.
It was guilt. She knew that much. It was a foreign feeling to her, and she didn’t like it. But she had experienced bad jobs before. The sour taste they left in her mouth always went away eventually.
Not this time.
She shrugged off her wet coat as her eyes adjusted to the interior of her barely lit parlor. The place was deserted apart from Ketch and Bolo, whom she barely recognized as customers. They were basically the two homeless guys that lived at her bar. If they did have homes, they certainly never went there.
The sight of them made the pit in her stomach feel even deeper. If they were there, the others should be too—Bandana, Muscles, Killjoy, Tiny. And Goggles. Her usually unfeeling heart sank at the thought. Regret wasn’t something she was used to, and it was a feeling that seemed to come at her from every corner of her empty parlor.
“You two. If you’re not going to play the slots, finish your drinks and scram. I’m closing up early today.”
Ketch tipped his drink back and chuckled. Cid couldn’t be certain, but she thought she caught something to the effect of, “That’s what she thinks” coming from Bolo’s translator as she crossed the space leading to her office but couldn’t bring herself to care. She knew how to use a blaster. They’d be leaving one way or another. Still, the odd show of confidence in her presence was strange, and she kept her office door open so as to keep an eye on them.
Her blaster was in her hand the moment the door unexpectedly slid shut.
“Hello, Cid.”
Cid lowered the blaster immediately, pleased to see a friendly face as her startled heartrate tried to return to normal. “Phee. I didn’t know you were on Ord Mantell.”
“Thought it best not to announce myself. The Empire’s been hanging around for some reason.”
Cid walked around behind her desk and sat, placing the blaster off to the side as she did. “Yeah, I noticed that. I’m surprised you decided to land with all the Imperial ships orbiting the planet.”
“Desperate times, Cid.” Phee pushed herself from the wall and took a few slow steps toward the center of the dimly lit office, running her fingertips lightly along the edge of Cid’s holotable. “I was hoping a certain group of clones would be here when I arrived. I would have commed, but I couldn’t risk the Empire intercepting a message saying that I’m looking for a group of rogue clones, now could I? I’ve got a job I’m going to need some help with. You wouldn’t happen to know where they are, would you?”
"I haven’t seen them in a few days. And with the Empire here, I doubt they’re coming back.”
Phee pursed her lips and nodded seriously. “No. I don’t suppose they would. Did they tell you where they would be?”
“I don’t know where they are. If they come back, I’ll let them know you were looking for them.”
“Hmm. There’s one problem with that, Cid.” The old Trandoshan watched her friend approach the desk, and it was then that she saw a look in Phee’s eyes that she had never seen before—a barely contained fury that burned blue behind her brown eyes. “The problem isn’t that you don’t think they will come back. It’s that you know they won’t. You haven’t seen them because you turned them over to the Empire.”
Cid shifted her hand slowly under the desk, and Phee tutted. “Ah, ah, ah. Don’t bother, Cid.”
“Don’t bother with what?”
Phee rolled her eyes. “I know you have another blaster under there on your left and a dart launcher on the right. I also know that it’s in your best interests not to use either of them on me today.”
Cid had been part of enough deals to know when a show of confidence was a bluff and when it was the real thing. Phee’s calm sent a chill through her. “And why is that?”
“It’s simple,” Phee began lightly. “I’ve known you for a long time, and I know that there are far worse things in your life than the Empire. I also know where you keep a certain disc, the one you use to keep track of all your business transactions. I know who you’re in deep with and what aliases you gave them. I’m impressed. You’ve kept good records.”
Cid flinched, trying desperately to keep her eyes on the woman in front of her and not let them drift to a particular spot on her wall. Phee was bluffing. She had to be. There's no way she could know about the disc.
“The boys told me about your ‘mutually beneficial arrangement.’ I started to think that maybe having some insurance would be a good idea just in case you decided to treat deals with me that way you have with them.”
Cid gulped hard.
“Mel is holding on to that special little disc that you used to have hidden in that helmet on the wall.”
Game over.
“If I don’t check back in with her in…” She glanced over at the chrono on the wall. “…a little over eight minutes, the contents of that disc will be sent to everyone on that list along with your current whereabouts. And I do mean everyone. All the people on that list you owe money to, do they know about your holdings? About the money you have to pay them back but haven’t? It wouldn’t be pretty if word of that got out, would it?” She jutted her chin toward the wall. “Ironic that you kept it in a clone trooper helmet.”
Cid was cornered. She always hated the phrase “up a dune without a bantha”, but she couldn’t think of a more apt description for her current predicament.
“I thought we were friends, Phee. Friends don’t pull stunts like this.”
“See, here’s the thing.” Phee put both hands on the desk and leaned in until she was almost nose to nose and whispered low. She didn’t trust her voice to remain steady otherwise. “We aren’t friends, Cid. Not anymore. Friends don’t turn people over to the Empire when they ask for their fair share of a score, or when they pull your butt out of the fire again and again and again. I don’t want that happening to me.”
Cid’s eyes narrowed as she tried to keep that chill in her spine from turning to ice. The fact that her throat was still able to produce words was a shock.
“What do you want, Phee?”
“Information. All of it. I want the names of every contact you have.”
She wasn’t expecting that. “What? Why?”
“For a rescue mission. I need to call on some specific help. I can’t do it on my own.”
This wasn’t the Phee she knew. “Why do you want to risk your life for those laser brains? It happened. I’m not happy with what I did, but it happened. There’s no getting them back now that the Empire has them.”
“Them?” Phee drew away from the desk and ran her hand down her face. “You used to be able to see ten steps ahead, Cid. The Empire doesn’t have them. They have her. The Empire wanted Omega. The boys got away, and the Empire got the kid. It was the reason they came to you in the first place. You knew Omega had bounty hunters after her from the beginning! But you brought the Empire here anyway. What did you think was going to happen to her?”
“They got away? I didn’t know that.” She didn’t think the clones were the type for revenge, but her choice to remain on Ord Mantell was starting to look like a poor one. “They’ll find her then. Don't worry. Even without Goggles, those boys are—”
“TECH! His name was TECH, Cid! You owed him most of all, and you couldn’t even give them time to grieve him before you turned them over to the Empire that wanted them dead. And for what? A case full of credits?”
“I said I’m not happy with what I did! I regret it. But it’s done now. That list won’t help you get her back.”
Phee glanced again at the chrono and sighed. “We have to try. The Imperial who has her isn’t part of the military. He’s a scientist. A cloning scientist. We don’t know exactly what he wants with her, but it can’t be good.”
“Tiny’s…a lab rat?”
“At best.” Phee straightened, pulled out a datapad, and tapped in a series of codes. Then she sat down in a nearby chair and wiped a stray tear onto her sleeve. “You’ve got ten minutes to pull together the information I want.”
Three minutes later, Cid handed over a data rod with a shaking claw. “That’s all of it. It’s every mercenary and inside guy I know.”
“Force users?”
Cid narrowed her eyes. “Yeah. There might be one or two in there.”
Phee took a deep breath. “Good.” She got up quickly and made for the door.
“Phee?”
Phee’s hand stopped just before hitting the door panel. “Hmm?”
“Tell those boys that…that…”
Phee scoffed and shook her head. “If you ever see them again, tell them yourself. And make it face to face. Do the decent thing, and give them the choice of whether or not to shoot you on sight.” She opened the door and strode through.
Cid got up immediately and walked to the door, but all that met her on the other side were the judgmental stares of her two resident hobos and rain pouring through the still-open door.