FORESIGHT and SCOPE: BOOK TWO

C H A P T E R S E V E N T E E N

THIRD PERSON POV

Athena traced the blunt side of her vibro-knife along Fern's jawline to her chin, nicking her skin just at the corner of the latter's mouth. Athena sucked in air between her teeth half-sympathetically. "Ooh, sorry about that." With the same hand she wielded the knife, she took her thumb and roughly smeared the blood away. "I didn't mean to damage such a pretty face. Get it? Because we have the same — nevermind."

The soldier noticed a shift in her captor's hold on her wrist and reacted instantly. Acting quickly, she twisted her left wrist to grasp onto Athena's, and with her right reached under to elbow her ribs. Her next drive would have been knocking her over her shoulder and into the wall behind her, switching their positions...But it was as if Athena had predicted her attempt to escape before she even conceived it.

The two women exchanged a series of strikes and blocks, the grin deepened on Athena's face. Even in the narrow passageway, Fern was an equipped fighter and planned her next attack as she continued to retaliate. Abruptly, her opponent chopped her ribs with one hand and wrenched back her wrist with the other. She coiled Fern's entire arm behind her back and slammed the soldier into the stone wall, her jawline scraped into the gritty surface. Athena clicked her tongue in disappointment. "You have spunk, Fern, but I really would like to talk before I kill you."

"I have nothing to say to you." Fern growled. "Whatever trick, you are playing right now—"

"Oh, jeez, Fern." The bounty hunter rolled her eyes and shoved her before releasing her. "No need to be melodramatic." Fern whipped around, wiped off the congealed blood from where she was cut, and glared at the woman across from her. "How do you know who we are?"

"There are many benefits in joining the Empire. They have access to every one of your files during the war. I, perused through basically all of them. I'm quite a fan, I must admit." Athena paused to wink mischieviously. "I then followed the trail from when you first escaped Kamino through Imperial and local authority reports. First, Saluchemai, then on Pantora. Besides the little scuffle on Bracca, I thought I hit a dead end, until I realized who you had a run-in with on Pantora. My old friend, Fennec Shand."

"H-how did you find us here? On Safa Toma?"

"That was tricky..." Despite those words, she wickedly smirked. "But then, whether it was pure coincidence or the Force was with me, I received a heads-up from another person you're familiar with — Roland Durand. Found him in a saloon on my mission, and he informed me, with a little persuasion, that you and the rest of Clone Force 99 resided on Ord Mantell with an informant broker named Cid at her parlor. I arrived just in time to see you and your friends boarding a shuttle, to come here." She gestured with one flip of her index finger.

Fern was gobsmacked. Her back collided into the wall behind her. "I-I thought we were dead to the Empire."

Athena cocked her head with a sarcastic frown. "You were, until your little slip-up on Serrenno."

"Dank ferrik..."

"Mhmm," Athena crossed her arms as she leaned against the opposite wall with one of her boots propped up. "Rampart, from the looks of it, managed to cover it up, and he wants to keep it that way — and that, my dear Fern, is where I come in."

Fern bit the inside of her lip as nervousness rushed down her spine. She hugged her arms as her eyes averted themselves to the dirt ground. "So, what now?" she questioned in a breathy sigh.

Athena shrugged and said nothing for a moment. "I don't know — It's not everyday one meets her replacement in the galaxy."

"Yeah...I guess it's time to address the rancor in the room..." Fern muttered.