Turning her attention to the lockers, Zam located the one that contained the satchel that held her weapons. She fumbled with the keys until she found the one that fit, then opened the locker and grabbed the satchel.
Still disguised as a Kuati security guard, she carried the satchel out of the chamber and proceeded to exit into a public lobby. She walked past several space station workers without drawing any attention to herself. Although the guard’s uniform had gotten her this far, she knew there would be trouble if she was stopped and questioned by any real security guards. She entered a public restroom and ditched the uniform. On her way out, she was momentarily distracted by the sight of her reflection in a mirror. Her face was still shaped in the likeness of the Kuati security guard. Without any great physical effort, she transformed her face back to her standard human female visage.
Leaving the restroom, Zam went to a wide transparisteel window that offered a sweeping view of the planet Kuat. She wondered if her quarry, Hurlo Holowan, felt truly safe in her family’s metropolitan home in Kuat City. If Holowan did feel safe, Zam would make certain the feeling didn’t last.
Through the window, Zam watched a space ferry approach the space station, then dock. She left the window and walked through the lobby, heading in the direction of the ferry dock. Shortly, she arrived at a large hangar.
At the far end of the hangar, there was a space ferry that bore the logo of the Kuat City Express. Several dozen travelers were already in the process of boarding the ferry. Zam heard a loud, synthesized voice announce over a comm speaker, “Last call for the Kuat City Express, departing from Kuat Passenger Port in one minute.”
Zam was not the only person who heard the announcement. A slender man, wearing the clothes of a Kuati merchant, ran past her, heading for the space ferry. The merchant accidentally dropped his credit purse, then stopped and turned. He was about to pick up the purse when Zam’s arm swept down, snatched it up, and held it forward to the man.
“Thank you,” said the merchant, reaching for his purse, but Zam took a step backward and held the purse tight. “See here,” the man said. “I’m Khoss of Knylenn, and that’s mine.”
Zam took another step back, edging her body past some storage containers that would block her from the ferry passengers’ view. Holding up the purse, she smiled playfully at the merchant and said, “Come and get it, Khoss.”
“I don’t have time for games,” the man said as he moved to grab the purse. Within a single second, Zam brought her knee up fast into the merchant’s stomach, drove an elbow into the base of his neck, and then cracked him on the chin. When he hit the lobby floor, he was out cold.
After hiding the merchant’s body between two storage containers, Zam inspected the contents of the purse as she walked casually toward the space ferry. She had expected the purse would be rich with credits but she was not at all disappointed to find it also contained a luxury-class, one-way ticket for Kuat City.
Zam boarded the space ferry and made her way to the luxury-class compartment. Seating herself near a wide viewport, she was just stretching out her legs when a steward appeared beside her and said, “Excuse me, but this seat is reserved for Khoss of Knylenn.”
Zam flashed a smile at the steward and said, “He couldn’t make it. He had a business matter to attend to. How long is the trip to Kuat City?”
“Twenty minutes,” said the steward.
Zam’s eyes twinkled. “Just long enough for a nap.” She closed her eyes, and the steward left her alone for the rest of the journey.
Bossk didn’t have any concealed explosives, but he had sharp claws, strong legs, and a very hard head. By the time he broke through his cell door, he was so angry he could hardly see straight. He only slightly noticed the two unconscious guards outside his cell but didn’t notice that one was no longer in uniform.
And when Bossk returned to the chamber that had the locker where the guards had stowed his blaster rifle, he didn’t notice the unconscious sentry who lay beside the security console. Bossk was too busy tearing off the locker doors until he found his weapon—plus a few extras.
“I’ll show them not to mess with me!” Bossk muttered as he stormed out of the detention area. “I’ll show everybody!”
Kuat City Spaceport was remarkably clean, and every Kuati that Zam saw was wearing elegant clothes. Although billions of beings were employed in the orbital stations and stardocks surrounding Kuat, few actually set foot on the planet, which was inhabited primarily by the wealthy Kuati merchants, their families, and their servants. From what Zam had gathered, the Kuati didn’t welcome outlanders. To travel freely, she would have to assume a new disguise.
The spaceport had many shops, including one that sold fine clothing. In front of the shop stood a mannequin that wore a hooded cape that almost completely concealed the head as well as the body. The cape was just the kind of outfit Zam was looking for, because she could wear it over her own clothes. She considered stealing the cape, then remembered the credits in Khoss of Knylenn’s purse and she decided to pay for the cape instead.
After making her purchase and donning the cape, Zam left the shop to find the House of Holowan. Just outside the spaceport, she found an information kiosk maintained by a protocol droid. Behind the droid, there was a map of Kuat City.
Zam said, “I need directions to the House of Holowan.”
The protocol droid replied in a tone programmed for friendliness, “I would be delighted to give you directions or assist you in any way that would make your visit to Kuat more pleasant. My, what a fashionable cape you’re wearing. I trust you’ll fit right in among the local population.”
Zam drew a blaster out from under her cape and aimed the weapon at the droid. “Tell me how to get to the House of Holowan, or I’ll blow your head off.”
The droid pointed to a nearby station, where a hovertrain was just pulling in over a magnetic track. The droid said, “Take the passenger hovertrain north to Holowan Terrace, then walk one block north.”
“Thanks,” Zam said as she holstered her blaster, then placed a credit chip on a shelf beside the droid. As Zam left the kiosk and walked quickly to the hovertrain, the droid picked up the credit chip and looked at it with surprise.
“I’ve had plenty of blasters aimed at me, but no one’s ever given me a tip before,” the droid muttered. The droid turned his photoreceptors after Zam and said, “I don’t think she’ll fit in at all.”
Not having any better ideas, Bossk returned to the docking bay that had been his arrival point to Kuat Passenger Port. There were quite a number of security guards in the docking bay, but Bossk—fighting off an urge to shoot everyone in sight—managed to avoid detection as he sneaked back to the battered starfighter he had stolen on Esseles.
Climbing into the starfighter, Bossk slipped behind the controls and started the engine. He muttered, “Next stop, Kuat City.”
The engine stalled. Bossk wanted to smash the controls with his bare claws, so he did. Then he tried to think of how to proceed. Unfortunately, he wasn’t very good at thinking, and he sat there in the cockpit while the Kuati security guards surrounded his stolen ship. Again.
The hovertrain pulled into Holowan Terrace, and Zam stepped off into the street. As Kuati pedestrians walked past her, she located the House of Holowan, a well-protected mansion one block north of the hovertrain stop, just where the protocol droid had said it would be. From Zam’s position at street level, she could see the mansion’s upper floors and pyramid-shaped roof.
She walked the block and arrived before the mansion. It was surrounded by a wide, water-filled moat, and the main entrance was a bridge that traversed the moat and extended to a high, arched doorway. The doorway was open, but the bridge was defended by two guard droids.
Remembering her earlier impersonation of Hurlo Holowan on Slave I, Zam once again transformed her face to resemble Holowan, then stepped onto the bridge and walked toward the droids.
Both droids carried stun weapons and they raised t
hem when they saw Zam approach. Zam pulled back her hood so the droids would have a clear view of her face—Hurlo Holowan’s face—but she was disappointed when the droids did not lower their weapons.
“Stand aside,” Zam said.
One droid responded, “Voice recognition for Hurlo Holowan: Failed.”
The droids tried to move into an attack position, but Zam moved faster. Drawing her blaster, she shot one droid in the head, while she lashed out with a long leg to kick the other droid, causing it to lose its balance and topple into the moat. The droid couldn’t swim, and sank.
Zam passed through the arched doorway and entered a corridor that led into the House of Holowan. Even though there had been two guard droids stationed on the bridge outside, it seemed odd that the door was open and not locked. Zam did not assume Hurlo Holowan was careless and suspected she was walking into a trap.
The corridor emptied into a three-story-high enclosed courtyard with vine-covered walls. Two massive chandeliers dangled from the ceiling. At the center of the courtyard, a tall statue of a severe-looking man overlooked a circular reflecting pool that was situated under a skylight. According to a plaque, the statue was a likeness of a Holowan ancestor. Zam could not help but be impressed by the statue’s craftsmanship, and wondered what it might be worth.
On the other side of the pool, there was a wide doorway with a balcony suspended above it. As Zam walked cautiously across the courtyard, a door slammed down behind her, closing off the corridor — preventing her from leaving the same way she had come in.
Zam heard footsteps from above and then she saw a woman step out onto the balcony. The woman wore a red evening gown with a black cape. She looked down, and Zam recognized her immediately as Hurlo Holowan. At the sight of Zam, still disguised as Holowan, the woman on the balcony responded with an expression of great surprise.
Suddenly, three guard droids entered the courtyard through the doorway below the balcony and stopped near the base of the statue. Each droid was armed with a blaster rifle. From above, the woman commanded, “Kill the intruder!”
Zam raised her blaster pistol and fired twice at a chain that secured a chandelier to the ceiling. The chain snapped and the chandelier fell, crashing down on two of the droids. The third droid fired its blaster rifle and nearly clipped Zam’s left shoulder. Zam squeezed off five shots that hammered at the droid’s head and upper torso, and the droid’s head spun in its neck socket before it exploded in a shower of sparks.
On the balcony, Holowan ran for cover, darting out of the courtyard through a side door. Zam ran to the statue, scrambled up its surface and then leaped for the balcony. She caught the balcony’s edge, swung her body up onto it, and sprinted through the side door.
At the end of a hallway on the upper level, Zam sighted Holowan running for an open window. Zam drew her blaster pistol, thumbed the stun setting, and fired. The charged projectile met its mark, and Holowan went down.
Zam went to the fallen woman’s side. Holowan’s eyes were still closed, and her mouth was partly open. Zam touched Holowan’s neck to check her pulse, but the woman’s facial muscles twitched and shifted, then her flesh changed from pale white to a dull green. Zam realized she had not shot Holowan at all.
The woman was a Clawdite shape-shifter.
The Clawdite made a mumbling sound and opened her eyes. Seeing Zam, she reflexively changed her face back to resemble Hurlo Holowan.
“Don’t waste your energy,” Zam said as she transformed her face to its natural Clawdite state.
The other Clawdite gasped. “You’re a Clawdite, too.”
“That doesn’t make us sisters,” Zam said. “Hurlo Holowan hired you as a decoy?”
“Yes.”
Zam pressed the barrel of her blaster pistol against the Clawdite’s head and said, “Tell me where she is.”
“She’ll kill me!”
“I’ll kill you if you don’t.”
The Clawdite raised a hand and pointed to a stairway at the end of the hall. “That way,” she said. “Down the stairs. They lead to her laboratory.”
“You’d better be telling the truth,” Zam said. The Clawdite was about to respond, when Zam shifted the blaster pistol and fired into the Clawdite’s hip. It was a stun shot just powerful enough to knock out the Clawdite and prevent her from warning Holowan. Zam holstered her pistol, dragged the Clawdite into a closet, and placed her inside. Once she was certain the path was clear, Zam ran for the stairs.
On her way down, Zam transformed her face back to her human female mode. At the bottom of the stairs, she found a single door. It was locked, and there did not appear to be any way to open it. Even her universal key was useless, as there wasn’t any visible key slot. But high above the door, there was a transom, a hinged window that looked just wide enough for Zam to slip through.
Zam scaled the wall and peered through the transom. She saw Hurlo Holowan—the real Hurlo Holowan, she hoped—standing at a worktable covered with many droid parts. A magnet crane and numerous power cables were suspended from the lab’s ceiling. The lab doubled as a hangar for Holowan’s private starship, which rested on a landing pad under an open roof at the other end of the lab’s spacious interior.
Zam lifted the transom and slipped through the narrow opening, then dropped to the laboratory floor. She landed quietly but she must have tripped a sensor, for Holowan jumped and looked toward the door.
As soon as Holowan saw Zam, the bounty hunter said, “Raise your hands.”
Holowan raised her hands, but as she did, she flipped a hidden switch on her worktable. Suddenly, the floor rumbled beneath Zam’s feet. She stepped aside and braced herself against the wall, then watched as the floor slid back to reveal a rectangular pit. Within the pit, an elevated platform rose until it was level with the lab’s floor. A droid stood on the platform.
Zam had never seen a Razor Eater before, but thanks to Jango, she knew all about them and knew that she was facing one now. The droid was a 2.25-meter-tall killing machine. It focused its red photoreceptors on Zam, then flexed its claw-tipped durasteel arms and opened its jaw to reveal jagged, razor-sharp teeth.
“You need a dentist!” Zam said.
The Razor Eater stepped forward. Behind the approaching droid, the elevated platform began to descend back into the rectangular pit, and the floor started to close over the pit.
Zam had no doubt that the Razor Eater, if it got a hold of her, would tear off her limbs and shred her to pieces. She wasn’t going to let that happen.
Zam fired her blaster pistol at the Razor Eater’s photoreceptors, temporarily blinding it, then leaped. Her feet made contact with the droid’s chest, and she kicked out, launching herself away from the droid as she threw it off balance. The droid tried to regain its balance by waving its arms, but it stumbled backward, falling into the pit while the floor was still closing. The floor’s surface edges acted like a giant vise, crushing the droid as they converged.
Zam turned to Holowan and said, “Your Razor Eater’s a goner. Give up.”
“Never!” Holowan shouted. Before Zam could react, Holowan threw another switch, activating a hidden sliding door from the lab’s wall. The door opened to reveal a cage that contained an impossibly large felinx, with pointed ears and a long tail. The only felinxes Zam had ever seen were small, fur-covered, domesticated animals, and she suspected Holowan had manipulated the genetic makeup of this particular felinx to create a monster.
Zam said, “Nice kitty.”
Holowan pressed a button, and the cage swung open. The large felinx glared at Zam through its golden eyes, then pounced. Zam fell back against the floor and the beast sailed over her body. The felinx landed on its massive paws and turned to find itself staring at the open barrel of Zam’s blaster.
Zam fired a stun shot at the felinx’s lower jaw, and the animal howled. Zam leaped to the side of the creature and fired again, this time stunning one of the felinx’s hind legs. Hauling its injured leg behind it, the felinx retreated, scramb
ling back into its cage.
Zam aimed the blaster at Holowan and said, “Push one more button, and I’ll shoot off your fingers.”
Having run out of tricks, Holowan knew there was no escape. She didn’t offer any resistance as Zam handcuffed her, but said, “What now?”
Zam shoved Holowan in the direction of the starship, and said, “Let’s go for a ride.”
They boarded Holowan’s ship. Inside the bridge, Zam ordered Holowan to sit, then tied her to the seat. Strangely, Holowan grinned.
Zam asked, “What’s so funny?”
“Oh, nothing,” Holowan replied, losing the grin.
Zam settled into the pilot’s seat, let her eyes sweep over the console, and found an anti-theft device that had been secured to the ship’s flight controls. The device was a T-shaped locking mechanism that was braced to the primary controls to prevent ignition. There were three key buttons on the device, and each button bore a different symbol. The symbols were a triangle, circle, and square.
Without looking at the restrained Holowan, Zam said, “So this is what you found so amusing. What’s the combination?”
“I don’t know,” Holowan said.
Zam drew her pistol and aimed it at one of Holowan’s bound hands. Holowan said, “Really! I don’t know! If I did, I swear I would tell you! Only my driver knows the combination, and she has the day off!”
Zam said, “The buttons are wired to stun anyone who enters the wrong combination, right?”
“Yes,” Holowan said. “That’s right.”
Keeping her blaster leveled at Holowan, Zam used her free hand to uncuff one of Holowan’s. Holowan asked, “What are you doing?”
“Letting you figure out the combination.” Zam grabbed Holowan’s liberated wrist, forced her hand over the three buttons, then released her grip and said, “Go on, Hurlo. Take a stab at it.”
Star Wars Adventures 005 - The Shape-Shifter Strikes Page 3