#... so.

“He seems to be doing quite well for himself.” The smallcrowd around him was steadily growing, particular with Zeltron females. Kavyahad been under the impression—falsely,apparently—that Zeltrons were supposed to be irresistible to alien species, notthe other way around.

“He’s very charming. You should talk to him.” Reshmi gave alittle nod in the human’s direction—but there was a wry look on her face, as ifshe knew what Kavya was going to say before she even got the chance to speak.

“And get myself tangled up in that circus? No thank you.” As if on cue, the humanlooked up and caught her staring. Though she immediately looked away, she feltmore than saw his answering smile. “You can keep him.”

Reshmi grinned, her eyes on the stranger, then leaned closerand cupped her mouth to Kavya’s ear. “Lin-Rinsin swears that he’s a clone.”

This time the senator couldn’t conceal her surprise. She staredat her companion, lowering her voice. A part of her knew that the two of themmust look like gossiping hens, but she couldn’t help herself. This was, by far,the most interesting development of the evening. “A clone? What’s he doinghere?”

“On a pleasure cruise full of senators and their veryattractive friends? Maybe he worked very, very hard.”

“Or there’ssomething wrong.”

Reshmi’s smile finally faltered just a little, but she wasgood at keeping up an act. It was part of the reason she’d stayed on Kavya’sstaff for so long. “I know. That crossed my mind too. But if that was the case,why would they only send one?”

Kavya didn’t have an answer. She considered the stranger foranother long moment, then moved past Reshmi toward the stairs leading up to theopen deck. She suddenly felt the desperate need for air.

It was cold outside—particularly above the commuter skylanes of Coruscant—but her dress was a layered, voluminous thing that kept herwarm enough.

              A clone amongsenators.

She didn’t mind his company, of course, but a nigglingfeeling in the back of her mind told her that trouble was brewing. She feltedgy and nervous—even moreso than she did speaking before the senate—and shewould have been more than content to stay up here for the rest of the eveninghad she not gradually become aware that she wasn’t alone.

There was a huddle of humans in the far corner, talking lowamongst themselves. She slid a glance at them over her shoulder, and as one ofthem caught her eye, she felt her heart jump into her throat.

                      Humans? Or Shaanites?                                               It was impossible to tell.

Careful not to walk too quickly, she started back toward thestairs. Her pulse picked up when she saw the group move as one after her—it couldhave been paranoia, but something in her gut told her otherwise. They weregaining on her and she couldn’t break into a run without tipping them off. Movingthrough the corridor back to the main deck, she grabbed a steak knife from awaiting tray and hid it in the folds of her sleeve. It wasn’t much, but it was her last resort.

As she reached for the door to the cabin, she heard loudfootsteps pounding behind her and a hand gripped roughly at her throat. Shetried to scream—the sound boiled up through her lungs and died there, chokedout by a sudden jerk. She was pulled back against the hard body of a stranger,and though she was unfamiliar with the sensation of a blaster being pressedagainst her head, there was no mistaking that cool barrel for anything else.

The knife was still in her sleeve. It was all she had.

One of the other humans reached for the door and opened itfor her captor. In she was herded—like a prize nerf on display—and all at oncethe revelry came to a halt. The low murmur of conversation gave way to silence.All eyes in the room turned toward her in a wave, and as the brown eyes of theclone fixed on her, she stared at him in silent desperation.

She never used her telepathy, but this was a specialsituation. She reached out to him, a flood of emotion and fear. Please.

                A nod.                 A promise?                         It was so subtle she might have imaginedit entirely.

“Indrajit Jhaveri is a usurper and an imposter.” A member ofthe group spoke to the crowd, angling his face toward the holorecorder held byone of his comrades. “Time and time again, he has ignored the pleas of ourpeople—he has robbed us when we have nothing left to give, slaughtered ourdaughters when they begged for mercy. And tonight, we retaliate with theslaughter of his.”

He drew his arm in a theatrical arc toward Kavya. Sheclutched the knife so hard in her hand that her fingers were starting to gonumb. She just needed an opportunity.

“Kavya Jhaveri, you are hereby sentenced to death.” She could hear the blood pounding in her ears, drowning out his voice. Thiswas it. They were going to pull the trigger.

She searched the crowd for the face of the clone only tofind he wasn’t there. She’d been so distracted by the speech that she hadn’tnoticed him slip away.

Where was he?

Their leader was listing off her crimes one by one—making ashow out of it. Good. That bought hermore time. She focused on the body of the man holding her captive, trying tomap the positions of his limbs. His grip had loosened since they first enteredthe room; he held her by her arm now, which would make it easy to pull away.The blaster was still close enough to her head that it would kill her, but thehand holding it was beginning to sag.

And itch,apparently.

As the speaker turned away again, her captor wiggled theblaster to scratch at his palm. It was all she needed. She threw one arm up toknock the blaster away and drove the knife hard into his gut.

The next few seconds seemed to pass in slow motion. Thecrowd broke like a herd of startled nerfs—some dropped to the ground whileothers ran for cover. Her captor let out a stifled groan as he crumpled to thefloor, and she dipped down to a crouch to retrieve her knife—only to realizethat the others weren’t coming after her.

“Bad day, ner vod.”There was a sickening crunch as a body was thrown back against a table, andthree efficient blaster shots dispatched the last three attackers. Kavya roseto her feet still clutching the knife, unable to parse how quickly it was over.

There was a beat of silence onthe deck, broken only by the uncertain shuffling of feet. It was over just asquickly as it had begun, and they had nothing to show for it but a fewincapacitated bodies.

                                                                        * * * * *

“Are you warm enough?” It was nice to be coddled after atraumatic experience—Kavya was willing to admit that—but Reshmi was starting toget on Kavya’s nerves. She sighed and pressed her fingers into her temples,trying to drown out the sensation of the blaster against her skull.

“Here, have another blanket.” Reshmi piled one more aroundher shoulders anyway, and Kavya supposed she couldn’t blame her. She hadn’tstopped shaking in the hour since they’d made their emergency landing.

“Kavya, the GAR’s requested your presence.” It was SenatorAlefor’s wife. She looked uncharacteristically weak as she moved to sit downnext to Kavya.

“What, now?” Reshmi turned to look around and spotted theclone at the same time as Kavya-- across the landing pad, speaking to an officer next to a police vehicle.

“This might not have been an isolated threat.” Kavya wassurprised at how calm her voice sounded. “Now is better than later.”

“Maybe I can go.” Reshmi smoothed back Kavya’s hair—and thoughthe gesture was more intimate than usual for public spaces, the senatorappreciated it all the same. “I saw it as well as anybody.”

“It needs to be me, Reshmi. Give your statement to thepolice and I’ll comm you when I’m finished.” Kavya shed the cocoon of blanketsand started in the direction of the clone, who greeted her with a reassuringsmile. There was concern in his eyes, too, but he didn’t strike her as the typeto directly voice it.

“Your chariot awaits, milady.” He stooped into a facetiousbow and she very nearly smiled—but for the moment, a smile just felt like toodistant a thing. He was trying to be kind, to lighten the mood with humor-- but he didn’t understand. To her, he looked like a bowing Shaanite, forced into a begrudging subservience.

All she wanted to do was help them.