Between Light and Dark

Death Trap

Cadria sighs as her holo with Hondo ends. It had been weeks since Boba ran away, and she was no closer to finding him. And the Force was of no help.

"Razor Crest, this is the Jedi Cruiser Endurance, please respond."

'Kriff.' "Endurance, this is Razor Crest."

"This Jedi Master Mace Windu." 'Double kriff.' "I'm afraid we must ask you to leave this system, or we will be forced to bring you aboard in a tractor beam."

"That won't be necessary, Endurance." Cadria presses some buttons quickly. "Prepping to jump." A beep sounds from behind her and she rolls her eyes. "Not now, Roxy."

"Razor Crest, abort jump." A clone's voice fills the cockpit. "Relinquish controls and prepared to be boarded."

"Copy that, Endurance." She flips some switches back to their positions. "You're green." The Crest jolts before moving to the cruiser and the girl hurries to pull on her armor and helmet.

It doesn't take long until her ship is sitting in a hangar and she's walking down the ramp. Yep, that's definitely Windu. But who's that beside- oh no. Of all the Jedi in the galaxy, it had to be him. It had to be Skywalker. "Is there a problem, gentlemen?"

"We just found it odd that a civilian ship would be so far out," he says nonchalantly.

"Work is slow." Lie. She didn't care about bounties; she cared about finding her vod'ika. "I figured if there was a place to not be bothered . . . I was told to leave, and I was prepping to do so."

"Yeah, but-"

"We understand the frustration," Windu cuts Skywalker off. "We have to be certain you aren't in league with the Separatists."

"Confederacy," Cadria corrects out of habit; Dooku was something of a friend now, but she hadn't joined the CIS. "And definitely not. I may be a bounty hunter, but I'm highly selective with the jobs I take. I only go after bounties set by the Republic. Criminals and the like."

"Still, we'd like you to stay aboard until we can confirm all your tags are in order."

"Whatever you say." Cadria gives them a sarcastic, two-fingered salute before reboarding the Crest.

A while later, she's checking the Republic wanted list for anything interesting when the alarms start to blare. "Endurance, this is Razor Crest, report."

"Copy, Razor Crest, there's been an explosion, minimal damage. Stay in the hangar."

"Roger that, Endurance." Cadria closes the comm channel and leans back in the pilot's seat, searching the Force signatures on board. Clones, of course, their signatures are all identical. Windu and Skywalker. Boba. Boba?

-

Windu leans over a table in the war room on the bridge. "We have a killer on board this ship. And we are locked in dead space."

"Just like our assassin. We'll form an unbroken line of troopers and scour the ship from bow to stern, checking every corridor, bulkhead, and storage unit," Skywalker tells the troops.

"I want them alive. Two troopers will check our guest's Razor Crest." Windu orders. "We cannot rule out anything unless we check first."

-

On the Crest, Cadria is pacing in the hold. 'If Boba is on board, then I'll bet he's the one that set off that explosion. But how-'

"Ahem."

The hunter stops in her tracks, staring at two fully armored clones.

"Forgive the intrusion. General Windu has ordered your ship to be searched for anything that may be related to the explosion."

"Go figure," she mutters. "Go ahead, you want me to wait down here or can I wait in the 'pit?"

"Whichever is fine; we'll try to be brief."

"Right, just stay out-" Cadria is cut off by another explosion. This one is much larger and knocks her off her feet.

"Ghost!" One of the clones is kneeling beside her.

"I'm okay. Armor took the brunt of it."

"Yes, sir." The other clone clicks a button on his vambrace. "The Endurance is being evaluated. I suggest you do the same."

"Definitely." Cadria takes the hand offered to her and lets him help her up. "I'll wait nearby to see if I can be of assistance." The clones scurry to help their brothers so she hurries to close the ramp and climb the ladder to the cockpit, starting the takeoff procedures. She jolts as another explosion rocks the cruiser and maneuvers out of the hangar. She can see the escape pods eject, but one of them overshoots the others, trailing smoke. With a deep breath, Cadria follows, the Crest's scanners working overtime to find it.

The proximity alert starts to blare, but the signature is much larger than the pod she's looking for. After a moment, the scanner shows a ship. 'The Slave I?'

Before Cadria can hail them, she's jerking out of the way to avoid a collision. "Dank farrick!" The ship continues on as if it hadn't almost hit her, and it leads her gaze directly to the wayward pod. She easily lines up the airlocks on the pod and the Crest and hops down the ladder to the hold. Several beeps and a clunk are heard before the hatch opens and she looks down upon a group of clone cadets. "Hello, boys. Need some help?"

One of the cadets quickly reaches for her hand but is quickly stopped. "No! She might be with them."

"You mean whoever was in the other ship that nearly ruined mine? I almost wish I was, that way I could chew them out for almost hitting the Crest. Now, you can either come with me and my life support, or you can wait here while I hail the Jedi."

"Sorry, Jax. I'm going with her."

"Atta boy." Cadria reaches down and helps him up. "Go up that ladder to the pit." She turns back to the cadets. "Well, you two?"

"Fine. Go on, Whip. I'll give you a boost." Jax kneels down and gives his brother a leg up, letting the bounty hunter grab the boy's hand and pull him up.

"C'mon, cowlick," she teases lightly through her helmet, reaching down a final time.

He hesitates for a second before looking back at her and jumping up to grab her hand, allowing her to pull him into the hold. She steers him to the cockpit ladder and follows him up it, taking her place in the pilot's seat.

"So, what happened?"

"It's all Lucky's fault!" The blonde one blurts quickly. "He got picked up by some woman and left us for dead!"

"She called him Boba," Jax corrects.

"Boba?" Cadria repeats. "Did you catch her name?"

"I think he called her Aurra. Tall, grey skin."

"With an antenna!"

"And a ponytail!"

"Aurra Sing. A deadly bounty hunter." She leans back in her seat and faces the dashboard, pressing some buttons.

"Razor Crest?"

"Skywalker, I think you lost some lambs."

"You found the cadets?"

"Three. They said there was an imposter named Boba. He went off with the bounty hunter Aurra Sing."

"Thanks, Ghost. A rescue ship will come by shortly; you can dock with them to drop off the cadets."

"Copy that. Want me to hang around afterward? In case Sing comes back?"

"That would be advisable. She may not attack a fellow bounty hunter," Windu's voice fills the ship.

"Let me get these boys to their brothers and then I'll meet you on the surface."