The Ruins of Dantooine by Voronica Whitney-Robinson

nail in your mother’s living coffin, wasn’t it? And your older brother—”
    “Stop it,” she hissed at him.
    “All right,” he agreed. “Then let’s take a look at you. You study, you learn, and you take a job that turns out to be exactly what you didn’t believe in.”
    “What are you taking about?” she asked through clenched teeth.
    “Don’t know what I mean? What about that mission on Tatooine?”
    “What about it?”
    “What happened to the genetic sample of the Sarlacc you were supposed to retrieve? Where did that disappear to?”
    “It wasn’t properly stored and didn’t survive the transport,” Dusque explained.
    “Sounds plausible enough,” Finn agreed. “Except you’re better than that. I think that you had an attack of conscience. After all, if the Empire started playing around with the DNA, mixing and matching creatures with that kind of potential for destruction, how many innocents could they kill?”
    “That’s not my problem,” she said, trying to dismiss his accusations.
    “Ahh … but I think it is. I think it bothers you more than you admit to anyone. And then there were the snow slugs of Alzoc Three, the failed attempt to improve the combat arachnids of Carida, the clawing dinkos of Proxima Dibal, the—”
    “That’s enough,” she interrupted.
    “You’re right,” he agreed and glanced around. “It was more than enough reason for the Alliance to take notice of you. We did. And we need you now.”
    “For cover,” she said, “and nothing more.”
    “Exactly.”
    She shook her head slightly, thinking that here again was someone who didn’t realize her abilities.
He knew I had a sample from a Sarlacc
, she thought,
and didn’t even recognize how difficult it must have been to collect.
    “So that’s all I am to you people? You want me to risk bringing the displeasure of the Empire down on my head so that you can have a free ticket to go planet-hopping? I won’t do it.”
    “Why not?”
    “I’m surprised you even have to ask, after you laid it out so obviously before me,” she countered, growing angry. She started to tick off items on her fingers. “The Empire destroyed my family. I won’t lose anything more to them. I’ve got a good job and I’m safe,” she added and started to walk away. Before she had taken two steps, though, Finn grabbed her and spun her around.
    “Safe?” he nearly shouted at her, but remembered where he was and lowered his voice. “You think you’re safe with your head buried in the sand? If we noticed the things you were doing, or rather not doing, it won’t take your Imperial superiors much longer before they do—if they haven’t already. And when they do,” he added, “they will come for you. Make no mistake about that.”
    Dusque shook her head in refusal, but didn’t say a word.
    “Don’t you see,” Finn added, moving closer to her, “that there is no safety in not taking a stand. The Empire doesn’t just kill exposed Rebels. Even if you choose to do nothing, you could still be choosing death.”
    Before Dusque could respond, Finn grabbed herupper arms and pulled her to him in a deep kiss. Dusque was momentarily stunned. But even more startling was the fact that she found herself responding to him. For a moment, she forgot who and where she was. A flash of white and the clink of armor, however, brought her back to reality as a stormtrooper patrol passed by them a moment later.
    Dusque pulled herself free of Finn’s grip and dragged a hand roughly across her mouth. She looked at him disgustedly and said, “Was I just cover there, too?” In the subdued light, though, Finn didn’t look so self-possessed. That observation off-balanced her more than the kiss, and she realized that she just didn’t know what to make of the man. It frustrated her, but it confused her, as well.
    “I’ve got to go,” she said awkwardly.
    Finn hadn’t given up quite yet. He reached out and caught her hand once more. “What will it