41:03:12 GrS

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Kobler snapped a curse and surged toward the murderous mop-head, whose dark eyes fell on the onrushing cop. He gave a savage jerk of his wrists and snapped the cable that connected the binders. The hulking trooper went for his gun as the much smaller Hrakian lunged, covering the four or five meters with an unexpected burst of rage-fueled speed.

Kobler's blaster had barely cleared the holster when the Hrakian was on him, smashing at the man's temples hard enough to crack his skull with a sickening sound. Then, howling savagely, the Hrakian dug his fingers into Officer Kobler's throat and ripped his head completely from his thick neck.

Other police were converging but Sera was a few steps closer. Ignoring the brutality, she leaped onto Mop-head's back and threw her arms around his neck, aiming for a chokehold while her legs clamped around his waist to counter his bucking. The binders made it awkward but she managed to get the man's throat in the crook of her elbow, then squeezed as hard as she could.

The crazed Hrakian snarled through his partially collapsed windpipe and released the decapitated cop's head. Reaching back, he dug his fingers into Sera's shoulders hard enough to make her yell. He grunted, throwing the former Ballista commando off his back with no more effort than if she'd been a small child. Sera slammed into the back of the prison speeder and fell to the ground. She rolled as she hit the pavement, lurching to her feet and swaying unsteadily.

Renosi had her batons in her hands. As she leaped toward the angry sleemo his skin began glowing an eerie orange. The ranger delivered a flurry of powerful neural shocks but he hardly flinched. Blocking her blows with his arms, the alien started bearing down on the shorter woman until he caught one of her wrists and clasped it in a crushing grip.

Renosi yelled in pain and punched her other baton into the Hrakian's gut. His only response was to look even more wild-eyed and feral. The glow under his skin took on an angry intensity. He opened his mouth and snapped at her throat.

Renosi jerked back but he held her wrist fast and yanked her toward him. A fearful look fell over her feline face. She struggled and kicked at his legs, crotch, anywhere that might give her an opening to escape his crushing grasp.

The Hrakian lunged for her throat again, but in the next instant there was a screech of a blaster fired once, twice. He snapped his head around.

Lyra was on her knees, Sera's big PP40 gripped in her shaking hands. The raging, mindless eyes fell on her. Her shots barely seemed to slow him but he let go of the ranger and advanced on Lyra, snarling with a kind of malicious fury she'd never seen before and glowing like a white-hot brand.

"S-stop," Lyra warned as waves of heat and rage from the alien made her shake even harder. His feet stamping over the ground startled her and she fired over and over as the Hrakian closed. Lyra screamed, defiant and terrified. After what seemed like forever, he fell face-forward on the duracrete.

Lyra's distracted mind registered Sera's shouted warning a bare instant before the commando crashed into her, sweeping Lyra hard against the ground. She heard a muffled whooph and felt the ground shake while darkness closed in all around her and her vision swam.

Renosi sprung lightly out of the instinctive crouch she'd taken. Chunks of the Hrakian's exploded corpse covered a three-meter radius. She rubbed her wrist and looked surprised. Cops swarmed around their three dead fellows. Breathing hard from the melee, she leaned over Lyra and took the gun from her slack hands.

"Are you okay, Miss Nimor?"

"I... I'm—" she started, almost incoherent. The last few seconds kept flashing over and over. Renosi's voice seemed far away and it was hard to hear her through the sudden swirl in her head.

Sera pulled her to her feet with a painful grunt. "You're alright, Nimor. It's over."

"O-okay." Lyra didn't feel alright, though. Her legs wouldn't hold her and her stomach lurched into a deep chasm. If not for Sera's arm around her waist, she'd have collapsed. As it was, she doubled over and vomited, uttering painful sobs from the force of the wretching. Her vision started to swim again.

Sera held her up, brushing her hair away from her face. "Deep, easy breaths, Nimor. Don't go passing out on me."

"First time shooting someone?" guessed the ranger.

"She'll be fine," Sera assured the officer while she rubbed Lyra's back and glanced at what remained of the dead assailant. "Anyone you know?"

"Dreloo Folbaash. He's a local stim-head, a dead-ender. Don't know what got into him, or why he..." She swallowed and looked sickened. "Anyway, thanks for what you did." Over her shoulder, Renosi called, "Tolfer! Bring a medkit."

A young officer with orange hair trotted over to the prisoner transport where Sera had guided Lyra. She tried to get the pilot to sit on the prison speeder's rear step.

"I'm alright," Lyra insisted, ignoring her rubbery knees. "Besides, I'm not the one who got thrown into this." she smacked her hand feebly against the van's hard body panel, dented where Sera had hit it. She spit out a mouthful of bile. "By the moons, that gun's heavy!" Complaining made her forget how sick she felt, how terrified she'd been.

Sera cocked a pain-filled grimace and sat while Tolfer ran a medscanner over her. The side of her face was beginning to swell and she moved her shoulder with obvious discomfort.

"Some soft tissue injuries but nothing serious," pronounced the cop. "You're lucky. That sleemo threw you pretty hard." He injected her with a painkiller and sprayed her jaw with bacta.

Sera made a dismissive sound. "That barely qualified as a love tap."

Lyra's nausea was subsiding, leaving her drained and suddenly lethargic. She waved off Tolfer. More than anything, she wanted to curl up somewhere and shut out the world. Around them, medic droids converged on the injured cops with floating stretchers and rushed them toward a waiting air ambulance. Officers loaded the corpses into cylindrical carriers and solemnly bore them to a patrol flyer. It lifted with a tri-toned clamor of sirens and a flashing corona of emergency lights.

Despite her fatigue, Lyra couldn't stop the shaking in her hands. She clenched them, then squeezed her eyes shut against the sudden urge to bawl. She decided to follow Sera's lead, sliding down beside her. "How'd you know he was going to attack?"

The bigger woman took her hands and put on a smile. "He was trying a little too hard to look like he'd been subdued." To Lyra's inquiring look, she added, "All the Ballistas used to pull rotations for security patrol. After a while, you deal with enough intox calls and troops gone bad to spot tells like that."

The gentle pressure of Sera's hands around Lyra's made her feel a little better. "What the hell kind of drug gives you that kind of strength? All my years in Customs, I never saw anything like it."

Rendix shrugged with a groan and rubbed her injured shoulder.

"So much for that huge cannon you lug around," Lyra carped. "Barely made a dent."

Sera's lip curled. "It was set on low power." She watched the police swarming over the scene. "Still, it should have punched right through him."

The ranger winced while Tolfer wrapped her wrist, giving her sympathetic glances. "We've heard rumors of some new, highly addictive stuff on the street with these kinds of effects."

"And the explosion?" Sera queried.

"No idea," Renosi shook her head. "Some kind of implanted device maybe."

"How'd you know he was going to..." Lyra started, then felt sick again at the memory.

"Go to pieces?" Renosi finished with a huge smile.

"Gross," Lyra scowled at the feline woman.

"I didn't," admitted Sera, "but whatever that glow was, it kept getting brighter, so I figured I'd better be on the safe side and hit the turf."

"Well, thanks," Lyra mumbled. She got up, feeling sluggish, and started to climb into the back of the prisoner transport.

Renosi put a clawed hand on her shoulder. "Forget the wagon; we'll take my cruiser." She angled her head toward an open-cab model painted in the green and gold of the Gribolin City Police. A mass of emergency lights crowded the roll bar and chunky blasters hung on either side. After seating the two women in the back, Renosi joined Tolfer up front and he eased the cruiser onto the road.

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An hour later they'd been processed at the precinct station but not yet questioned. They sat on hard benches in a big room awash with the noisy protests of the bar's patrons. Lyra grumbled and looked as annoyed as ever. Beside her, Sera moved her jaw, working the stiffness out of it.

"You alright? That guy tossed you like a rag doll."

"I've had worse," answered Sera, "the sleemo just got lucky. Thanks for the assist, by the way. If you hadn't shot him..."

"I know," said Lyra in a small voice, despite her annoyance. She covered her misery and lingering fear with a scowl. "Where's a pain-in-the-ass medic when you need him, anyway?" Even as Lyra said it she couldn't help thinking how much better she'd feel if Taz were there. Then she castigated herself for wanting him so much.

Ranger Renosi approached the two of them. She'd let her hair down in a long ponytail. "Sorry for the delay. I took a look at the security holovid from the Griffon. It confirms your account that the pirates started the altercation."

"Great. How about letting us go?" Lyra suggested.

"I'd like to, but my hands are tied." She looked down at Lyra's bound wrists, then back up, wearing a catty grin.

"Oh, you're just a bucket of laughs."

"You Humans, always taking everything so seriously." Renosi gave Lyra a smile that was full of carnivorous teeth. Then she pressed a key fob to the binders, activating the release catch. She did the same for Sera.

"Thanks, Officer Renosi."

"You're welcome, Captain Rendix."

"I'm hungry," Lyra groused, rubbing her wrists. "Barely took a bite before that gashole pirate ruined everything."

Sera made a not-very-sympathetic noise. "All those calories'll just weigh you down."

"Says the woman who out-masses me by, what, thirty kilos?"

"Not even close," Sera countered, "and it's all muscle."

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"It's all between your ears," Lyra volleyed back.

"You two remind me of some of my creche-sisters, always arguing," Renosi interrupted them. She tapped at a datapad, making tiny clicking noises with the retracted claws on her fingers. "Tell me about the pirate attack."

Lyra realized that Renosi's stripes weren't just skin coloration but were actually very short, gossamer hairs. She jerked her chin toward the desks where the bar brawlers were being processed. "Those sketworms intercepted us when we were outside of the Lantillies defense perimeter."

"They were flying V-wings," added Sera, "short-range craft. And there was a bigger contact on our scope during the attack. Might have been a carrier ship."

"Do you know why you were attacked?"

"No idea. I was hoping you might have one, Officer Renosi."

"Call me Naktiya. What did you say you were transporting?"

"Havod hull plates."

The ranger whistled. "Expensive stuff. If a load went missing, someone would be out a lot of credits, wouldn't they?"

"Insurance would cover the loss," Lyra observed.

"Yes it would, Miss Nimor, but insurance fraud is as big a problem as theft." Renosi tapped her chin. "They could've been hired to steal it by the person who bought the havod just to get the insurance payout. Is it possible you were overheard talking about the payload?"

Sera shrugged. "Anything's possible. We executed the contract in a spacers' cantina on Ongary Nine."

"That slime-slurping Heuthomarian set us up!" Lyra shouted, shuddering at her recollection of the nauseating meeting.

Sera pursed her lips. "Maybe but I don't think so. They're not the most pleasant beings but they have a reputation for honest business dealings." She turned to Renosi. "What makes you suspect insurance fraud?"

"The Gomro Hutts have been running insurance scams all over this part of the galaxy. The Rangers are squeezing them hard, but..."

"We're pretty far outside of Hutt space."

Renosi shrugged. "Not that far, and they've been negotiating alliances with other syndicates. Ever hear of the Zann Consortium?"

"Who hasn't?" Lyra responded.

"They're making a big push all through the Kashyyyk region, transshipping spice, stims, guns—you name it. We think they're behind the uptick in the Wookie slave trade, too. But at the same time, they're establishing legitimate businesses all across the Mid Rim, building schools, hospitals, escorting freight shipments."

"That doesn't sound like the Consortium I know,"

"Filling the vacuum left by the Empire, or so we think. The Zann Consortium has a lot of money to throw around. Enough to buy officials at every level of the government. And if they can win hearts and minds, solidify a foothold out here, they can make billions more."

"So what, the pirates were Zann's people?" posited Lyra.

"Could be," answered the ranger. "Could be a rival syndicate, friends of the Hutts, or just locals looking to assert some dominance. Once we finish interviewing them we'll notify the planetary authorities. In the meantime I can cross-reference them with the Rangers' criminal database."

"Planetary authorities," Lyra scoffed. "There wasn't even a patrol ship in the approach lanes until we called for them. Either the Consortium is paying them off or they're asleep at the switch."

Renosi touched her fingertips together, then drew them apart. "Stretched thin out here."

"You said our story checks out. That means we're not being charged, right?"

"I'm not charging you with anything," Renosi assured her. "But I do need your sworn statements regarding the fight at the bar, plus the incident with Folbaash." She clicked her tongue. "Civilians getting involved in a shooting. The paperwork's murder here for things like that." She grinned even more broadly, drawing an eye roll from Lyra. "Also, Forensics will need to record your biometrics and sweep you for any evidence that may be relevant to our investigations."

"Son of a mynock!" Lyra swore. She'd been in law enforcement long enough to know what that meant. "More waiting," she grumbled, then covered a yawn and blinked. Her eyes burned in the dry air.

"I'm sorry but it's important that we document all aspects of the encounters. I'll put you in one of our witness interview rooms. They're comfortable and there's a couch in there if you want to grab a cat nap."

"Why not just take our statements and scans now?"

"The forensics team's still at the bar. Can't do anything until they get back. I appreciate your patience." She put a hand on the young cop's arm. "Tolfer, take Miss Nimor and Captain Rendix to interview eleven and see if you can scare up something for them to eat."

Sera waved her hand. "That's not necessary, Naktiya."

"If you don't mind yesterday's lunch, we had a Cybot rep trying to peddle new patrol droids in here. He brought sandwiches. I'm pretty sure we still have a cooler full of them."

"Alright, thanks. Mind if we call our ship while we're waiting?"

"Sure. I'll send in the forensics team as soon as I can. Here." She handed their wrist links to them. You can pick up your blasters and other gear when you leave."

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After nearly three hours in the waiting room Lyra's annoyance turned to simmering anger that was on the verge of erupting into a supernova. Sera reclined on the faded sofa's worn cushions, her long legs poking out into the small space so that Lyra had to pace around her, which only tweaked the pilot more.

Sera patted the stained sofa cushion next to her. "Listen, wearing out your bootheels isn't going to make this go any faster. Why don't you try to get some rest?"

"This is ridiculous, making us wait!" she raged, brushing roughly at the platinum locks that kept falling across her face. "What's taking so damn long?"

"You know the drill. They have to process the bar patrons, check out their stories. Not to mention that Hrakian and his victims."

Lyra kept circling, though she felt somber when she thought about the dead police. Kobler's lifeless stare and horrified rictus imprinted itself on her mind's eye and wouldn't leave her alone.

Sera let out a weary sigh. "Come on, sit down. You're making me nervous."

Lyra stared hard at her before she uttered a truculent noise, plopped down on the sofa, and crossed her arms.

Hands on Lyra's shoulders, Sera turned her on the cushion. Then she pulled the elastic band out of the pilot's clumsily captured hair.

"What are you doing?"

"Fixing your hair," answered the commando. "When I'm bored I like to play with Rei-sha's hair."

"Hey!" Lyra glowered over her shoulder, "I'm not your plaything."

"Just turn around," Sera urged. After a moment Lyra did and Sera resumed her task, smoothing her hair as best she could with her fingers. "You've let it grow out."

She didn't respond for a few seconds while her ire slowly evaporated. In a low voice, she admitted, "He likes it longer."

Behind her, Sera smiled. "I keep mine longer for Rei-sha's sake. Funny what we do for them, isn't it?" She combed through the streak at Lyra's temple. "Keeping the red, too?"

"I've been thinking about getting rid of it."

"Well it's your hair but I kind of like it." She gathered the dark hair with its platinum and scarlet highlights and slipped the band around it. "You did really great back at the bar." She finished by tugging gently to set the elastic band in place. "There."

Lyra put her hand to the ponytail. "Thanks, I think."

"I knew you were brave after we fought the Kantorius but I didn't know you were good in a scrap, too. You keep your head. Not a lot of people do that."

"It's not like I enjoy fighting. I'm actually pretty sick of it. But I'm not going to let some mudrutting pirates get the better of me, either."

"I'm glad you were watching my back, especially after that Hrakian ruined everybody's day."

Lyra's hands started shaking again, even harder than before. She couldn't get the image of the dying man out of her head, either. The stench of incinerated flesh and entrails seemed like it was buried so deeply in her nostrils that she'd never be rid of it.

Without even realizing it, tears filled her eyes and Lyra couldn't stifle the sudden onslaught of sobbing. Sera held onto her until her cries and trembling subsided. "I'm alright, Rendix." Lyra shrugged away, scrubbing her sleeve across her eyes. She felt miserable but she sniffed and forced herself to stop shaking. "Thanks," she muttered.

"Don't mention it. Sure you're alright?"

Lyra nodded. "I've just never—"

Sera laid a hand on her arm, looking sympathetic. "You did what you had to. You saved Renosi and probably a lot of others. Maybe even me," she smirked. "Listen, I know it can be hard but sometimes it's best not to overthink things."

"Easy for you to say. You've probably kil—" She sniffled and couldn't finish the sentence.

"Dozens," Sera finished in a low, intense voice. "Not quite the same as sitting in a cruiser or a starfighter, I imagine."

Lyra's voice was tremulous, without any of her usual asperity. "I never had to shoot down anyone before Rho-Two-Seventy-seven. But in a ship, it's... different. Impersonal, I guess." She wiped at her eyes again. "I'm... not sure how to process it." She let out a joyless laugh that was frustrated and cold.

"Everybody does it differently. Don't bottle it up inside, though. That'll just eat at you." Sera turned Lyra gently and fixed her green eyes on the pilot. "Plenty of my team were right where you are now. Even when you're trained to kill, it's not easy. It's never easy. If it gets to be..." she drifted off, looking grim and uncomfortable. Sera clasped Lyra's hands like she had outside the Griffon. "Don't be afraid to talk to me about it, okay?"

Lyra took a few long breaths. "You, um, took care of me back there. On Allegra, too. I feel... safe when you're around." She felt a sudden wash of—warmth? Affection? The emotion caught her unprepared, and new tears appeared. "Can't believe I'm saying that about a Rebel."

"Bet you'd have preferred it was Doc, huh?" She rubbed her sore jaw and shoulder to hide her surprise at Lyra's admission. "Speaking of Doc, I could use some of his feel-good juice right about now."

Lyra made a joyless chuckle. "How come you call him that, anyway?"

"What, 'Doc'? We all called him that back on the Old Ghost."

"Was Oktos the only medic on your ship?"

"We had a few. M'nik Gurudord was the senior medtech onboard. He was a Filvian. Good medic, and a great sense of humor, always cracking jokes; we called him 'Doc Guru'. And there was Doc Reetoo, our surgical droid, but he almost never left the ship. It's pretty common for soldiers to call their medics 'doc'. But to be honest, it makes me feel a little closer to him, you know?"

"Um, no, not sure I do," she sniffed. The change of subject made her feel a little better.

"I came from a big family. Don't really remember much about them, though. My folks sold me into indenture when I was four."

"I... didn't know that. Sorry."

Sera waved her fingers. "I didn't grow up with anything you could call a family. Until I met Rei-sha, I didn't really get what family was all about." She smiled, recalling pleasant memories. "Anyway, Doc used to volunteer to go on missions with us, even before he got his combat medic rating. He wasn't a thrill junkie or anything; I think half of it was that Tess was usually the pilot for my squad and he wanted to be there with her. But he also wanted to take care of us soldiers and take some of the same risks we did, even though he didn't have to. It made an impression on me. Eventually my squad kind of adopted him as our medic.

"Then after that last fight on Jakku, well, when somebody saves your life, especially the way he did..." Sera seemed like she was hunting for the right words to say. "Anyway, I think he's... like my brother. No, not like my brother, he is my brother, as much as if we shared the same blood. So I guess 'Doc' is like the nickname I'd give my brother."

Lyra was astonished, though she tried to keep it off her face. Sera didn't talk about herself or her past, and she felt like she was gaining some insight into the Corellian woman's unexpected complexities. It made her own problems recede for the moment. "Do you ever use his name?"

"Mmm, not really. He's just Doc to me." She leaned against the back of the sofa with an achy groan and crossed her ankles again. "So, what about you?"

"Me?"

"Yeah. Got any pet names for Doc?"

Her blush was automatic. "If I did you'd be the last person I'd tell."

Sera just laughed. Lyra joined her in repose and Sera put her arm around the pilot's shoulder. "I'm sorry about all this. I know it's not what you wanted."

"I'm not..." Lyra trailed, holding back more tears. "I don't want you to think I'm unhappy or that I'm not grateful." She squeezed Sera's hand over her shoulder, feeling none of her usual reserve. "I just want a life where things aren't blowing up around me all the time. A few blue milk runs would be nice." She hesitated a moment, then added, "Sorry if that sounds childish."

"Galaxy's an unsettled place right now. Everyone's trying to figure out where they belong."

"I know, I just wish they wouldn't be so damn violent about it."

Sera grinned. "Was life pretty quiet for you on Inusagi?"

Lyra nodded. "It was a sleepy place until... it wasn't."

Sera sounded sympathetic. "Listen, I know there are some bad memories for you there but it might do you some good to go back. Put the past behind you, maybe make a few new memories with someone." She wore a faint smile when Lrya glanced at her. "You know how Doc's always reading those travelogues. He really wants to see it with you."

"He told you that?"

She rolled her eyes. "Only every time we talk." Then she yawned. "Think I'm gonna get some sleep." She wiggled her head against the firm cushions and shut her eyes.

Lyra's mouth twitched. Maybe it would do her good to put her old life away, finish the new start she'd made with Rixon Charter Service and with him. And maybe flying halfway across the galaxy would make the awful experience on Lantillies fade. "Thanks, Rendix."

"Don't mention it," responded a torpid-sounding Sera. Her fingers tightened around Lyra's hand. Lyra leaned her head against Sera's shoulder and closed her eyes too.