The Trace Which Remains

Chapter 16: ... new complications...

"Attention, this is a Red Alert. We have a murderer aboard Home One. We are now in a state of full lockdown. After the hour of 20:00, we ask that all crew and passengers remain in their cabins. This will continue until the murderer is detained. Repeat, return to your quarters until 06:00. We are in a FULL LOCKDOWN. Only classified ships may enter or leave any ship in the fleet."

Mon Mothma's voice was heard on every deck, every level, throughout the entire fleet. Nobody could have missed it- or the flashing red lights which indicated a state of dire emergency.

Myka scowled- this would make things more difficult.

Keeping his mind clear, his physical stats as subdued as was safe, Myka crept through the halls, his eyes catching every detail. He operated in absolute silence- trading his red-trimmed white scrubs for a nondescript black jumpsuit within which he had installed sensor-dulling microtechnology. He knew that he looked the part of a stereotypical murderer- but that couldn't be helped at this moment.

His senses took him back to the sublevel where they had found Skywalker- she had been here, of that Myka was certain.

He swept his senses over the room, and found something amiss. There was genetic material here that wasn't there earlier.

Stooping over the dried blood, he noticed loose blood flakes and a clear-scraped spot. Standard procedure in forensic investigations- but those flakes were the foreign matter. He pulled a tiny vial from his utility belt, and levitated the flakes into it. He then held his wrist-chrono- really a modified multi-tool- over the spot and snapped a high-res picture.

He was dead certain that the planted blood came from Luke's father. And more of the false matter- this time, semen- was mingled with the evidence.

Someone intended to frame Anakin for this assault.

Myka had to work fast.

****

The quarters that Morata had been given were plain, simple- standard digs on Home One. Myka reached out with the Force to absorb the sound energy given off by the door as he mentally picked the lock.

She was fast asleep. Good.

Careful not to touch anything, Myka squirmed his way around the haphazardly placed furniture and boxes. He knew how Morata worked- she used ordinary objects as a booby trap- he had been caught as a child trying to sneak food from her, and he caused an old vase to clatter on the ground. Morata had the ears of a predator.

Thankful that years of walking on eggshells around Morata had fine-tuned his stealth abilities, Myka cautiously approached a simple black briefcase. Unlatching it silently with the Force, he quickly began to record the flipping of the pages, not even bothering to read them. He forced frustration out of his immediate thoughts as the task dragged on far too long for comfort.

Finally, when the files had been thoroughly scanned, he stood, allowing his light-gathering camera to catch the sleeping form of Morata. For all he knew, she would change her disguise tomorrow, but it would never hurt to be careful. Moving to her closet, Myka recorded the contents- simple things, really. He wanted to record all of her personal effects.

He slowly backed out of her quarters, silently opening the door and re-locking it behind him.

****

Morning arrived to find Luke Skywalker in a healing trance. His shoulders were his primary concern, followed by the internal injuries. The disappearance of Myka was irritating- but understandable. Myka didn't want to be caught.

What would Myka's former master be doing here? Was she looking for Myka? Was it the young Sith doctor's pride which kept him from admitting the danger he was in?

But Myka had warned Luke to be careful- maybe he didn't want his presence to endanger Luke.

Whatever was up, Luke was definitely going to be careful.

****

Leia rushed to Mon Mothma's office as soon as she was called shortly after 06:00. Breathless, she asked, "Who was killed?"

A clearly exhausted Mothma answered, "The informant who tipped me off to the location of the men who attacked Commander Skywalker. By the blood smears, it seemed as though he had been murdered right outside my quarters- but there was a mark of medical tape across his throat, indicating that his slit throat was then sealed for transport, and opened when the body was at my door."

Leia squirmed uncomfortably. "How gruesome."

"It seems that the person guilty of this crime is also guilty of the assault on your brother- he is likely the leader of the group. Zeta- my informant- did not know the appearance or identity of the one their group called Alpha."

"So that's why the increased security."

"These are dangerous times, Leia. We seem to have new enemies. I don't know whether they are Imperial spies or personal enemies of your family- but we need to be careful."

Leia barely prevented herself from scoffing derisively. "It seems like it's becoming personal on all fronts, Mon. I mean, just yesterday I met a forensics investigator who was widowed by my father."

"Forensics investigator? I didn't know we had any trained forensics specialists within the Alliance."

"She said she was here as a witness, and she volunteered to perform investigatory work while she is here. I met her at the closet where Luke was hurt."

Mon stood up abruptly. "This was not cleared through High Command."

"What do you mean?"

"We set guards there immediately."

"There were no... guards there..." Leia's eyes widened.

"It was to keep the crime scene from being tainted before we could hire an investigator." Mon switched on the comlink.

"Alert nine-five black! We have missing security personnel! All security personnel report from the nearest com!" Turning to Leia, she asked, "Where is that young doctor- Severeth?"

"I don't know. I haven't spoken to him since Han got back from Sulon yesterday. Why?"

"He's the closest thing we have to a professional investigator. That woman you met yesterday was likely a spy. Do you recall her name?"

"Ummm... Devix, I believe."

"I will have her quarters investigated- we also need to search for corpses. If previous events are any indication, they will be left in situations which will frighten people."

A grim half-smile formed on Leia's face. Finally, a lead.

****

"Excuse me, but where's the nearest 'fresher?"

Wedge turned around to see a young Twi'lek female, in a simple jumpsuit of slashed red leather which offset her creamy daffodil shade. She seemed clearly uncomfortable.

"Uh, just go to the first hall to the left, then the fem's 'fresher is the second door down."

A bright, sharp-toothed smile flashed at him, and she spun off, lekku swaying.

****

"How many bodies have we found?"

"Eight, Lady Mothma. Two in the mess hall's galley- one of them was in the soup pot- three in 'freshers of the opposite gender, two taped to the viewports of the bridge, with the Huttese words for 'You can't find rot in a graveyard' written in blood on the deck. One was found inside Rogue 8's X-wing, hands arranged as though it was flying the ship." Gaim Labrish, a young male Twi'lek who had been with the Alliance for not quite a year, shook his head as he looked at the reports. "The victims were all members of our security force- most of them my supers. In fact... I'm now third in command of my squad, so... I'm not sure what to do."

"Thank you for being honest with me, Lieutenant Labrish. Go get some rest."

"Eight..." Leia sank in her seat. "Against numbers like casualties of war, it's nothing... but when it's an inside job, it's terrifying."

"All loss of life is terrifying, Leia. But these poor people died in a far more deliberate and horrific manner. To be blown apart is one thing... to be murdered in such a grisly way is true sadism." Mon Mothma paused to skim the report. "No evidence on the culprit in any of the deaths. It seems as though video surveillance has been somehow tampered with."

"Then might a video tech know something about it?"

"Perhaps... but none of them have been forthcoming with any information."

Leia adopted a thoughtful expression. An idea was beginning to form.

"Then it might be time to take the investigation to the level of complexity that our enemies are using..."

****

Severeth was using an escape pod in the underlevels of Home One as a makeshift office as he pored through the recorded images of the paperwork. They were heavily encoded- translated through a variety of different languages and back to Basic in what would be a migraine for the most up-to-date protocol droid, complete with an extensive thesaurus program.

He had to force his brain to logically assess every possible meaning of a word. This would be SO much easier with Damnyou's help.

So engrossed in his work was Severeth that he didn't even notice as the sealed hatch on the pod whirred open. He was caught completely off guard when a small hand firmly covered his mouth.

A micron after he nearly pissed his pants, Myka relaxed. "What is it, Princess?"

She turned him by the shoulders to face her. "Do you know anything about disguise?"

Warily, Severeth returned, "Some. Why?"

"I need to be unrecognizable. Someone else."

"I can do that- if you don't mind temporary prosthetics."

"What do you have in mind?"

****

Three quarters of an hour later, Leia looked down at herself and shuddered in revulsion. //A Rodian male is not what I had in mind.// She was shocked to hear her voice translated and modified into the squeaky voice of a Rodian.

"Exactly."

She grimaced. //Is the artificial... anatomy... really necessary?//

"You want to fool people, you're gonna have to act male. And that includes a bathroom break."

//Don't tell me there's fake urine in this thing//

Severeth looked shocked. "No way!"

//Good.//

"I wouldn't trust fake urine!"

Leia resisted the urge to vomit in her mask.

****

The vid tech on duty was a tall, wide-shouldered youth with shaggy brown-blond hair and eyes hidden behind thick specs. He had his chair tilted dangerously back and his feet irreverently propped up on the console. //'Scuse me... I've been assigned to learn the ropes over here.//

Leia watched the tech sullenly lift his feet from the console, causing the chair to precariously lean even further, before it came down onto the deck with a loud THWANG! "Yer name, newbie?"

//Miggs Falan, sir.//

"Shut up with the 'sir' shit. My name's Van Daemon. Not 'Van.' Not 'Daemon.' Not 'Dae' or 'Mon' or any other crap. 'Van Daemon.' Learn it quick, greenhorn."

//Got it, Van Daemon.//

"Good." The tech rolled his eyes and set to work. "Ya see this? This is the button that sets all cams to auto-track. That's your main job- making sure that they're always auto-tracking." Van Daemon pulled a small package from his shirt pocket. "Jerky?"

Leia WAS hungry. She wasn't sure how to eat in this thing, though- but Severeth DID say to act male. //Sure. Thanks.// She accepted the offered piece of meat, and was impressed and grateful that her Rodian mask slurped it up and allowed her to eat it. Quite tasty, actually- spices that seemed vaguely Naboo.

"Now, the next thing you need to remember is that in times of full alert, you need to pay as close of attention as possible."

//Makes sense.//

"You fly?"

//Some.//

"Then you'll be a natural. Jes' watch the screens. There ain't much else ta teach, so you can just do the job while I finish my nap."

It seemed longer than a half-hour before Leia had an idea. //'Scuse me... Van Daemon, sir?//

With a groggy groan, the tech stared angrily at her. "What?"

//I gotta piss. Be right back, cool?//

"What-the-fuck-ever, man."

****

Thankfully, the 'fresher was empty, so she didn't have to use the "anatomy's" function to keep up her charade. She returned, and asked, //So, what with these damn alerts going on, it's prolly pretty exiting up here, ain't it?//

"Not really."

//Come on. There's been folks offed lately- what is it, eleven people?//

"Nine."

//Ain't there any vids taken of 'em? I'm here for the action!//

"Ya want action, get on the front lines. This is a great place for a nap. Can I get back to it?"

//Come on! I wanna see the dead people! I bet their guts were ripped out and turned into pasta! Mebbe their brains was tossed around like a smashball, eh? I heard that the killers did nasty things to the bodies- I wanna see it!//

With an irritated sigh, the tech flipped a few switches. "Fine- you can go through last night's tapes- I swear there's nothin' in any of them. Just some walls. And floors. Just shut the fuck up and let me sleep!"

Acting like a hyperactive teenage boy who was waiting for the game to start, Leia settled herself closer to the monitor as Van Daemon settled back to snooze. Pressing a secret button on a wart on her mask's temple, Leia set to record the video of the hall where she had found Luke...

And there it was... over in the top of the screen.

Every sixteen minutes, she saw an identical shadow cross the floor- the shadow of a small droid.

She had proof the vid was tampered with. Leaning back, she stretched. //Damnit... you're right. This crap is boring.//

"I told ya ta let me fucking sleep! Shut up!" Van Daemon gave Leia a shove away from him...

... and ripped her disguise.

The left shoulder of her chest-flattening jumpsuit was exposed, and Van Daemon gasped. "A Sith-fuckin' SPY!"

Leia backed away as quickly as she could, but unarmed, she was cornered...

Until she abruptly unzipped her pants, grabbed the fake Rodian balls, aimed...

And squeezed.

Van Daemon cried out in pain as the highly acidic urine exploded in his face, scalding his eyes and making him gag as it sizzled on his tongue. Leia wasted no time in bolting for her life, discarding the Rodian disguise- but keeping the devices from the mask- and hurrying to Mon Mothma's office.

***********************

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