[ 03 - CHAPTER THREE ]

― ominous remembrance ―

Indirys Calrissian would never be able to escape the heady odor of alcoholic substances, it seemed. Mere minutes after she and Delorian traded their hustling behavior in the cantina for a less respectable sort of stealing, Lando had appeared to her in the streets, prompting her to accompany him for a drink or two.

Indirys had, of course, requested that they converse in a residence other than the cantina she'd been playing Dejarik in, as she would rather not bear witness to the spiteful comments that were sure to escape the lips of the men she'd beaten. Lando had agreed, but his agreeance hadn't stopped him from leading Indirys into a different bar to talk at.

Ergo, the young girl found herself seated on a hightop, leaning over a filthy and greasy bar as she watched Lando's slow and sluggish movements. His hesitancy as he sipped on the red drink in front of him was rather concerning to Indirys. Lando had never been one to take time to savor the taste of an alcoholic beverage. Not entirely different from his younger sister, he did everything for rush and exhilaration, and his drinking habits were no exception to that unspoken rule.

"You're not drinking," Indirys hummed. She tried not to let her worry show when she spoke, but she doubted the disguise would work against her brother. He probably heard every bit of her underlying anxiety, even as she tried her best to hide it. "Is something bothering you?"

Lando's shoulders bristled and his gaze flitted about his surroundings, almost as if he was maintaining suspicions about his surroundings. Indirys frowned. Lando was never affected by any form of paranoia. He was often cautious, yes, but never paranoid. "Delorian, she...she didn't see us come in here, did she?"

Indirys shook her head, prompting Lando to continue speaking. "Good. I need you to leave Coruscant as soon as you can manage. I would take you with me to Cloud City, but I fear that would put you in more danger than I would be able to protect you from."

A deluge of chills suddenly ran through Indirys' veins, and a sweeping layer of ice froze every one of her muscles. In her mind, she realized she was on a planet with a cordial atmosphere and not an inhospitable one such as Hoth, but her body was telling her otherwise. What danger would Lando need to protect her from? She'd long since grown accustomed to the common dangers that came with her disreputable lifestyle. An intoxicated man's gun would simply set her on edge rather than make her fearful, and she hadn't been afraid of a mere tussle since she was twelve. The danger Lando was speaking of, however, had an air of cripticism that frightened Indirys more than she would like to admit.

"What are you talking about? Lando, what's going on?" Indirys asked, her shoulders straightening as her nerves began to ignite with consternation.

"I met with some Imperials today," the older man explained, his dark eyes refusing to meet with those of his sister. "I didn't want to, but when someone with that much authority tells you to do something, you listen. When I walked in..."

A cloudy haze began to leak into Lando's expression as he recalled his recent encounter. He shook his head before continuing his commentary of the meeting, saying, "Rys, I've never seen so many dangerous people in one place. Not in a long time. Stormtroopers guarded every entrance, and a Mandalorian stood in one of the corners. I could only assume he was a bounty hunter, but how was I supposed to know what the man was?"

Indirys ran her finger in circles along the rim of her glass, the droplets of white champagne dampening her fingertip. She only refrained from acting on her nervous tic when she noticed it was worsening the twitch in Lando's eye. Her heart jumped. She'd never seen him so distressed before. Not since one of his old friends, Han Solo, had won the Millennium Falcon from him in a game of Corellian Spike.

"I don't understand. What does Delorian have to do with this?" Indirys was almost scared to voice her concerns about her lifelong friend.

Lando pushed his drink away from him and raised his head to look his sister in the eye. "Delorian was there. She was standing right next to the head general the entire time, listening to every word he said. When one of the troopers stepped forward and said they'd located you, and Delorian left the room, I knew I had to end the meeting so I could find you before she did. So I refused their deal."

"What deal? My stars, Lando, I never have understood why you choose to be so inconspicuous all the time."

Lando shot Indirys a look that she knew all too well. Even in his discomfort, he was still able to call out his sibling's hypocrisy, and Indirys couldn't blame him. She did enjoy her own fair share of splendor and exaggerated conundrum. Yet, somehow, she found it hard to believe that Lando was enjoying his own storytelling at the moment.

"They want me to betray Han's trust," he stated, adding no form of grandeur to his explanation. "They're convinced he's working with the Rebellion and will eventually come to me for help, and when he does, they want me to let them know. In exchange for my help, they promised to turn a blind eye to Cloud City. But now...I might as well have spat in the Empire's face. I'm not so sure they'll leave my city alone."

Indirys rose and eyebrow. Han? Part of the Rebellion? If their current situation were any different, she might have laughed at the very idea of it. Han didn't work for anyone but himself, and he wouldn't dare risk his life for a cause she doubted he believed in, anyway.

"The Empire wants Han?" Indirys asked, the disbelief in her voice glaring.

This time it was Lando who shook his head. "No, no, no, you've got it all wrong. They want some guy named Luke Skywalker, and they think Han is working with him. Personally, I've never heard him mention the guy in my life."

The bartender passed by the Calrissian duo, and their conversation quieted while he was in close proximity. Lando seemed perturbed about being interrupted, but Indirys didn't mind. It gave her time to think. If the Empire was after Lando and, quite possibly, his city, why would he remain on Coruscant? It would be wiser for him to return to Cloud City and notify them of the forthcoming danger. Though she was grateful for his warning, Indirys knew how to handle herself. Especially against Delorian, who she doubted was working for the Imperials, as Lando had implied.

"The streets are teeming with Imperials," Indirys barked as soon as the bartender was far enough away that she wouldn't be heard. "You risked your life by searching them to find me, and you're risking your life now by sitting here with me!"

"You should be grateful that I found you before Delorian had the chance to turn you in!" Lando retorted, his quick wits allowing him to compete with the shrewdness of his sister.

Indirys huffed and rolled her eyes, the majority of her previous anxiety having dissipated in the face of the ridiculous accusation her brother was holding against Delorian. "Your ignorance knows no bounds, brother. Delorian is my friend; she would never turn me in to Imperials."

Lando gave no answer. He never had been one to argue with Indirys. They had the occasional scuffle, of course, as all siblings do, but Lando was always the first to surrender when their arguments became too personal. It was obvious his news was offending Indirys, and why shouldn't it? He's just told her that her closest friend was planning on turning her in to the Empire, and people who were captured by the Empire were never seen again. She had a right to feel whatever emotion she felt justified to, so Lando silently retreated.

"Lando," Indirys spoke up, absentmindedly adjusting the blaster holsters that were strapped to each of her legs. "You need to return to Cloud City, in case you angered those Imperials. Like you said earlier, they might not leave your city alone anymore. It's your duty to take care of it."

As those words seeped from Indirys' curved lips, a terrifying thought wormed its way inside her mind and sent a shiver down her spine. If it was true that Lando refused the deal so he could find her, and if they attacked Cloud City because he refused the deal, then the city in the sky's destruction would be on her hands. The thought only made increased Indirys' want to push Lando to travel home.

Lando nodded. "I'll return to Cloud City, but only if you promise to find a ship and leave this planet as soon as you can. The longer you stay here, the easier it gets for them to find you."

One end of Indirys' mouth rose in a cocky grin, and her renewed playful attitude only made her want to grin more as she said, "Then why don't you stop holding me up here so I can get off this blasted planet?"

"You're not half as funny as you think you are," Lando retorted. His words didn't come across as fond, and the way they pillaged Indirys' eardrums was neither soothing or kind, but the glinting light in his eyes and smile that teased his lips told her otherwise.

Indirys rose to her feet in unison with Lando, and when she held out her hand for him to shake, he simply chuckled and pulled his sister in for a hug instead. Indirys couldn't help but smile as she breathed in Lando's signature scent. He always carried a lingering smell of alcohol and motor oil with him wherever he went, and there were times when Indirys wondered if her fondness of Lando was partly the reason why she often occupied cantinas and ships - perhaps the pernicious fumes those places sustained reminded her of him.

"I will contact you as soon as I can," Lando announced as he pulled away from the brief embrace. "Be safe until then. No stealing in the streets, and no pickpocketing. I've already warned you about that, it's dangerous."

Indirys shrugged, allowing a light-hearted giggle to bubble from her lips. "What can I say? I enjoy the feeling of running from authority."

"I'm serious. Don't get yourself killed or I'll find a way to kill you myself."

Indirys turned on her heel, the bottom of leather-soled boots squeaking against the marble floors as she began to walk away from her brother. "See you on the other side!"

The flighty young woman could barely make out Lando chuckling as she walked through the bar's exit. Though the Coruscant sky was dark and was lit only by a single luminescent moon, the city's streets were as blindingly bright as they had been in the daytime. The streetlights that lined the roads flickered a soft white light, and each of the crowded buildings had its own share of artificial lamplight to add to the cacophony of illumination.

'So much for pickpocketing,' Indirys thought to herself as she began to trudge down the sidewalk nearest to the bar. The walkways were narrow and cramped, and provided her with the perfect atmosphere to blend in with her surroundings and collect her thoughts.

She wasn't sure she would have continued stealing from Coruscant citizens, even if conditions allowed her to. She didn't necessarily trust Lando's intel about Delorian and her involvement with the Empire - how could she? It wasn't at all like her friend to work with any form of authority - but even if she did, Delorian was nowhere in sight. The effervescent woman was the only reason Indirys had even begun pickpocketing in the first place, so she had no desire to do it on her own.

With her friend absent and nothing else to occupy her time, Indirys figured she would obey Lando's precautions. If what he said was true, and Imperials really were searching for her, then leaving Coruscant was the wisest thing to do.

Indirys had just decided to head for the nearest shipyard when she felt a hand close on her shoulder blade. She was just beginning to debate whether she should run or not when she remembered what had happened the last time someone had gripped her shoulder in the middle of a crowded Coruscant street. A smirk crawled its way onto her face, and she whipped her head around to face what she could only assume would be a friendly face.

"Lando, you really don't have to follow me around. I said I would-"

Indirys' words died on her dry lips, and she found herself unable to speak. She was not facing her jocular brother, and the hand on her shoulder was not one she was familiar with. Instead, her eyes rested upon the peeling paint of a warrior's helmet, and the vibrant black pattern that told her the warrior was a Mandalorian.

Lando's retelling of his ominous meeting resounded throughout the forefront of her mind. 'Stormtroopers guarded every entrance, and a Mandalorian stood in one of the corners. I could only assume he was a bounty hunter, but how was I supposed to know what the man was?'

There was no doubt about the man's identity now. He was a bounty hunter, through and through. Why else would he be standing in front of her now, suited in armor with a gun in hand? Not to mention, the fading uniform was familiar to her in a way she wished she could forget. She'd seen it many times before. Once while flying the Millennium Falcon with Han and Lando, and again when she'd helped Han escape the clutches of the nefarious clutches of Jabba the Hutt.

"Boba Fett," she breathed, her voice echoing the whispers she'd heard about the infamous bounty hunter.

"We can do this two ways," he responded abruptly. His voice sounded muffled as it made its way through the barrier the helmet served as, but Indirys didn't have to strain to hear him. Her adrenaline-filled nerves made sure of that.

"The easy way," Fett continued. He gestured to the carbine rifle in his grip before finishing his sentence. "Or the hard way."