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Corran's speeder flew almost recklessly through traffic, one hand on the steering, the other on the throttle.
"She's going to kill me.... She is...going...to...kill me!" He swerved, narrowly missing another speeder, which was crawling along in the center lane. "Learn how to drive, nerf for brains!" he yelled, glaring at the woman driver as he sped past.
"Yup, she is going to kill me." Corran glanced to his left, about to pass another lumbering speeder, when he caught sight of a blinking light in his peripheral vision. "Oh no...No!"
The speeder bike, painted in the blue and gray color scheme of the Coruscant Constabulary, swung in behind Corran, lights flashing, siren blaring. Corran checked to his right, then pulled his vehicle over. He stopped on one of the city's 'emergency stop only' out-croppings, on the roof of a building.
Play it cool, Horn. No sense in enraging the local Speed Demon. He sighed, thinking back on how many times he had stopped reckless speeder-jockey's when he was a member of the Corellian Security Force. Now she's really going to kill me.
Corran reached into the back seat, grabbing his jacket. He searched through pockets for his wallet, finding it in the last place he looked. When he turned back around, a helmeted officer was standing over him, dark goggles obscuring the face.
"Good afternoon," he started conversationally. "Is there something wrong?"
"You were doing 140 kph in a 60 zone," a voice retorted, and the officer pulled off her helmet. A coiled tail of dark hair fell out of it, and she shook it loose, swinging her mane back and forth over her shoulders.
I'm sure I saw this exact same scene in one of Wes's really bad holo-vid's... The night of Wedge's bachelor party...
Corran cleared his throat, trying to cover his slight embarrassment. "Was I going that fast?" he asked, trying to be the very holo of innocence. He gave her his most endearing smile. "I'm terribly sorry, ma'am."
"Stow it, ace," she answered briskly, tucking her helmet under one arm. "License and registration."
"But of course," he tried again, his smile increasing to the point of being idiotic. He pulled his military ID out of his wallet, handing it over to her. He found the registration for his speeder buried under juzy fruit wrappers in his small storage compartment.
The Constabulary officer looked over his military ID, then back up at him. "Rogue Squadron, huh? Explains the way you drive."
Corran frowned. Her tone of voice gave him no indication of if she was impressed or not by his driving skills, but he was pretty sure she was being sarcastic. "I drive as safely as I can," he offered hesitantly. He glanced at the chrono on his console, groaning internally. I am a dead man.
"I hope you're better in the cockpit than you are in the speeder lanes," she commented, handing back his registration. "It will be just one moment while I prepare your ticket, sir." She placed her helmet on the roof of his speeder, then pulled out her datapad, tapping at some keys, then slipping his ID into a slot on the side.
"Um...will it take long? My wife is sorta expecting me..." He trailed off, noticing the arch of her eyebrows, the cold look in her eyes. "Uh...no rush."
Great... How many women can I infuriate in one day?
"It will just be a moment, sir."
Corran couldn't be sure, but he thought her key-punching slowed. Leaning back heavily against his chair, he waited as she filled out her report, one probably very similar to the ones he used to fill out. He began tapping an uneasy rhythm on the steering column, pursing his lips. He glanced up to see that she was watching him.
"Sorry," he said shyly, ceasing the drumming. He blew out a long breath, consciously trying to sit still as long seconds ticked by on the chrono. Might as well just shoot myself now...save the carpet at home.
"Here you go, Captain." She handed his ID back to him, a flimsi-disk receipt underneath it. "You will need to pay this in the next 30 days. Or, you have the right to contest it."
"I understand," Corran answered with a nod, trying to streamline the process as much as he could. The longer this took, the later he was; and the later he was, the more Mirax would make him suffer. It wasn't every day that her father made the effort to come to Coruscant, fly down in his personal shuttle, just to have dinner with them...
"Just one more thing, Captain."
Corran raised an eyebrow, looking up at the dark haired officer. He smiled, trying to be as pleasant as he could. It was becoming more of an effort, though. "Yes, ma'am?"
"I will need your signature," she said, handing over her datapad and the mini-stylus that was usually concealed in the side. "To make it official."
Corran smiled again, then looked down at the datapad. He expected to see a form, a request for a signature from the interactive database, something, but it was blank. There was only a blinking insertion point. "Um...where do I sign?"
"Anywhere," she answered, her own lips curving into a smile. "And could you make it out to 'Sylvora, from an another Ace pilot'?"
Corran nearly dropped the stylus, his mouth hanging open. She wants an autograph? Hey, do you think she'd drop the ticket if I...? Nah.
"Um, sure...No problem." Corran tightened his grip on the writing implement, signing her datapad as she had directed. "Anything else?"
She grinned, and then shook her head. "No, just pay your ticket and save the fancy flying for your X-wing. Have a good day, sir." She offered him a casual salute, her datapad quickly tucked into its pocket, and then she swept up her helmet. Corran leaned out of his lowered window as the woman strolled back to her speeder bike. After carefully tucking her hair back into her helmet, she started up her vehicle, and took off into traffic at a speed that even Corran hadn't reached.
He stared after the bike a moment longer, shaking his head. With an abrupt punch of a button, his speeder hummed to life again, and he lifted off the out-cropping.
Yup, she's going to kill me.
Copyright May 2002 by Susan Hill.
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