FORESIGHT and SCOPE: BOOK TWO

C H A P T E R F I F T Y-S I X

"Hey, Droid! Quit yakkin' and start workin'!" A raspy, female voice sounded from a back room.

"Y-Yes, Mistress Cid!" AZI-3 stammered, his body whirled around before fixating on me again. "If you would like to be served, I will have to ask you to wait patiently. I must go!" And just like that, he zipped away. I shook my head, despite my growing interest on how a Kaminoan droid ended up on Ord Mantell—it was obvious he had travelled with Fern and the rest of Clone Force 99, so it begged the query: Where were they?

I decided to serve myself and ask the owner of this...questionable establishment.

The parlor's main room was dimly-lit, containing a bar area with seating in the middle, a large, oblong holotable, and a bench seat along the back of the room on the side nearer the door. Smaller holotables were available for playing dejarik, and slot machines were arrayed around the sides of the room. Gandering at the assortment of alcohol that were displayed on shelves behind the bar, I noted that the parlor served a wide variety, including Whyren's Reserve, Deep Core, Oo'ta Goo'ta, Mooften, Wicked Womprat, Dark Blue Milk, Thermal Detonator, and Reactor Coolant.

Just to name a few.

I marched right to the backroom, activated the panel door, and slid in, discovering it was an office. It contained a holotable, a desk, and a swiveling chair, as well as shelving along the sides. There were trophies scattered everywhere, including a fur pelt behind the chair, a mounted horn on the desk, an axe, and several clone trooper helmets on the dusty horizonal panels. Cid herself had her oval-shaped body turned away from me. "Yeah, what do you want?!" she snapped without even a glance over her sloped shoulders.

"You should treat your little servant with more respect." I chided with a smirk, crossing my arms.

"Gah, Fern," Cid dryly laughed. "I see you made it off that planet on your own aft—" The Trandoshan froze when she finally faced me. Her thin lips tightened in a straight line as she studied me, as if to absolutely determine if I was not the female soldier. "Who are you?" she growled.

"Not Fern." I confirmed for her. "Though I am looking for her, but according to you, she's not here. Do you know when she'll be back?"

Cid's reptilian, yellow eyes glared at me. She crossed her arms aggressively. "That's classified information."

"First off, since when were you the conscientious employer?" I smirked, strolling up to her desk and teetering the horn on its display stand with one finger. I flicked my eyes up at her. "We both know you have a record of—how should I put this—withholding your executive duties to the benefit of your profit." As I shifted my weight to one hip, my hand removed itself from the desk decor and rested on the hilt of my knife instead. "Second off, I am family. I'm sure Fern will understand if I ask her boss for her whereabouts. I've come to check in on her."

"Funny," Cid scoffed. "she never mentioned she had a twin."

"It's a funny story." I shrugged, my fingers drumming my weapon. "We both only discovered each other fairly recently. Once I found out, I immediately sought her and conversed with her on Safa Toma. Haven't seen her since. Been busy, you know, being a military occupant of the Empire and all that."

I noticed a bulb light up in Cid's head. She jabbed a pointed claw at me. "So you are the one who freaked the princess out."

"Yeah, I guess it was a shock. Guilty as charged." I shrugged, then raised a brow. "You mentioned Fern was stuck on a planet? Which means the clones contacted you from said planet. Which means you ignored their plea for help. Which means that further supports my research. Ha!" I smacked my forehead with a huge grin. "I wouldn't be shocked if Fern and those boys call it quits on you. Ergo, why am I wasting time here? I came all this way to stretch my legs, get some...well, mediocrely fresh air, and to spy on my sister for nothing. How disappointing."