Марта Уэллс - From a Certain Point of View

Kelos reached her side and turned his unblinking gaze toward her. “Most of those mines are controlled by the Mining Guild. We are sure that the Guild won’t find out about Cloud City’s mines?”

“The Guild won’t exactly be having a chat before putting the prisoners to work, and misguided loyalty to Cloud City would hold their tongues. Regardless, now with the city’s output in our possession, the Empire will hold a superior position in any future negotiations with the Guild.”

Kelos moved next to her, the light catching the medals on his uniform as he held his hands behind his back. “And without hundreds of their workers, the citizens of Cloud City will know the price of betraying The Empire.”

“Of course. Commander, will you be making an address to those—”

The sound of blasterfire drowned out the rest of her thought. The shots came from three figures in helmets and gold-striped uniforms who had emerged from the abbreviated Cloud City pod that hosted the docking platform. She immediately crouched, pulling her side blaster, and scanned desperately for cover. Finding none, she hit the cold steel of the platform, lying prone with her weapon pointed toward the shooters. Fortunately, the three uniformed figures were focused on the freighter. Fool #203 went down with a zap, and several other uniformed fools fled up the boarding ramps. A few actually did their jobs and fired from partial cover at the freighter entrance.

“Commander, get down!”

Kelos, clearly the original fool, widened his stance, took careful aim at the largest of the figures, and fired. To his credit, his shot found its target. They reeled, then returned fire. Ela thought they shot wildly, until Kelos crumbled to the ground, inches from her. Despite the danger of sharing his fate, she couldn’t suppress a slight smile. As a bonus, his still form provided her a degree of cover.

Stormtroopers finally descended from the freighter and returned fire, and the Mining Guild operatives—as their uniforms indicated them to be—began to pull back. But not before throwing something toward the center of the platform.

“Grenade!” Shouts echoed up through the stormtrooper corps.

Ela believed she’d been forgotten since she hadn’t fired. She rose to a crouch, careful to keep her weight on the balls of her feet lest the clicking of her boot heels give her away. She ran along the side of the platform after the retreating figures.

“Take cover!”

An explosion rattled the platform, lighting up Ela’s path. She ignored its heat as she pursued her prey. The shooters’ escape was slowed by their injured comrade, and Ela caught up to them just as the sliding door to the pod was about to close behind them.

“Halt!” Ela commanded.

The last enemy half turned around, and Ela managed to grab their arm. She pulled it back across the threshold, temporarily halting the door. She managed to keep hold of only a handful of fabric as her attacker wriggled free of her grasp, but lost their helmet. Ela saw her unmasked: a woman with brown eyes, her hair tightly framing her face.

Tal half-smiled at her with a shrug as the door slid shut between them. Ela hesitated for only a moment. She slammed in the code to open the door, but it was jammed. She tried an override code, but discovered they had not yet been aligned with the Imperial codes.

“Open this door!” she yelled to a fool, but found herself momentarily without one. She turned and carried the jacket toward the prone body of the commander.

Who slowly rose to his feet, a blaster wound in his side, not serious. She did not need to mask her disappointment. She had been told that her natural expression was one of cold disdain, and it served her well in this moment.

“Mining Guild operatives. They must have detected our presence on Bespin. If we can’t buy their silence, let’s see how their Guild behaves when we refuse them our prize and keep the Cloud City captives.”

He clasped his wound and stared her down. “They must have detected. They must have detected? You were in charge of this mission. If the Mining Guild detected anything, you are responsible. You will be relieved of duty and sent down to join the miners for deportation!”

“Your injury makes you speak in haste.” Ela felt stormtroopers draw close behind her. “My security protocol with regard to the Mining Guild was unassailable. However.” She looked at the jacket on the ground. She had no choice. “It is possible…it was a ruse.”

—

Tal was desperately trying to stanch the flow of blood from Kiren’s shoulder. The three had jumped through a secret hatch just as the Imps had cleared the block Tal had put on the door. The emergency accessway offered enough space for Baudu and Tal to flank Kiren, and the bare fixtures gave them all the light they needed.

Kiren’s subtle growls indicated they were doing their best to suppress the pain. “Least you got a real good shot on that officer. Went down like an empty suit of stormtrooper armor.” Tal paused. “Or even one that was full.”

“Kiren got lucky. This shot could’ve killed them.” Baudu’s voice cracked.

Tal touched his shoulder. “I get it. I do. But this’ll work. You’ll see. The Empire will be too pissed at the Mining Guild to hand over our miners—”

A sound behind her made her turn around. The click of boots on the cold metal floor heralded the arrival of an Imperial officer. A severe bun held her dark hair back under her cap. Her cold expression did not falter as she adjusted her stance, put her hands behind her back, and stared down.

Tal lost her train of thought seeing her, remembering many stolen nights, last night most of all. She loved watching her lover pull down that bun, letting the hair cascade around her as Tal pulled her close.

“How did she get in here?” Baudu reached for his blaster.

“Wait.” Tal held up her hand. “This is—”

“You are under the authority of the Galactic Empire. Surrender now and you may be spared.”

“Ela?” Tal blinked, confused. Ela’s expression was always inscrutable.

“Damnit, Tal! That’s your Imperial source?” Baudu grabbed his blaster, but Ela pulled hers first.

“Careful,” she said.

Another set of boots approached behind her. Ela hadn’t come through the secret hatch alone. The commander, his wound sporting a rudimentary bandage, came abreast of Ela. “Here the attackers are, just as you predicted. You may redeem yourself yet.” The commander stepped forward and elbowed Kiren in their wound, earning a ferocious snarl. Baudu lunged, but the commander trained his weapon on him.

Tal helped Kiren to their feet, but she was focused on Ela. “Don’t do this. Please.”

Ela, as always, maintained her cold expression. “You betrayed the Empire.”

“The Empire. Right,” said Tal.

The commander wisely kept his blaster leveled at Baudu and returned to his position beside Ela. “A betrayal for a betrayal. Very good. You put your Emperor before your lover.”

Ela let slip her first hint of emotion as she glanced at her superior with surprise.

“Yes, I make it my duty to monitor my reports, in all aspects.” The commander turned on his heel. “Put them with the other prisoners.”

—

Everything started happening very quickly for Tal. Stormtroopers shoved her into the U-33 loadlifter behind Baudu and Kiren. Baudu wasn’t looking at her as he kicked a few miners off a bench to make sure Kiren could sit down. Baudu was mad, but Kiren understood. She hoped.

The U-33 was packed, including its mess hall where Tal found herself. The miner who’d taught Tal a ditty from her homeland with incredibly questionable lyrics. The admin who’d fled a dying planet and a dead relationship. Rajin, the Twi’lek, they were all there, crammed together. Most found it easier to stand, for even the tabletops had been overrun with seated miners. And now Tal had to include herself…the orphan who’d wandered the galaxy till she found a family to take her in. And now that family was being shipped off who knows where. Almost immediately, the transport engines fired up, and they lurched forward on their journey.