This story takes place between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, when Corran is 20 years old and working for CorSec with his father. Some important background information here: The Lady Star Warriors (LSW) Elite Unit is a specialty unit of 7 women. They are from Earth and have traveled to the GFFA for some adventures. Each member of the unit has a special job and title, and they travel around in their own ship called the LSW Athena. The Star Wars characters and universe belong to George Lucas. This story was written for fun, not for monetary gain. Do not repost this story anywhere without the permission of the author!
Extra Special Thanks: To Becky Schone for helping every step of the way.
That was different," Leena remarked as they left the Tinta home.
Corran smiled, "That was Berlla. She is definitely one of a kind." Corran had encountered Berlla before on several occasions, and it was always an experience to be remembered. "Remind me to bring some hug repellant next time," he smirked.
Joressa sniggered. "She certainly is charismatic."
Hal grinned and nodded. "That's one way to put it."
"What's our next step?" Joressa inquired.
Corran smiled with appreciation for her knack of keeping the group focused.
The four began loading into the landspeeder. Hal climbed in last, sitting in back with Leena, as he responded to Joressa's question. "We have a couple hours before we meet with the team that’s in charge of unloading and delivering the shipment. What do you say we --"
"Get some food?" Corran interrupted with a hopeful look in his eyes.
Hal shook slightly with silent laughter. "Why not," he shrugged. "We could use a little break. And it is already mid-day." He patted Corran on the shoulder. "Take us back to Coronet."
Corran piloted the landspeeder, giving everyone a smooth ride back. He slowed down as they approached a row of stores and eating establishments. Corran looked over at Joressa sitting next to him. "What are you in the mood for?"
She smiled at him. "How about something native?"
Just then Hal's comlink beeped and an urgent voice was heard through some static. "Robbery in progress. Faundrie's Laundry. Could use some backup."
"We're on our way." Before Hal could get the words out, Corran had the landspeeder turned around and racing for the laundry. As luck would have it, they were only a couple blocks away. Guess my stomach will have to wait, Corran thought with only a little regret.
* * * * *
As they approached Faundrie's Laundry, Corran brought the landspeeder to a stop and jumped out. Hal jumped out after him and turned back to Joressa and Leena, "Stay here. This won't take long." The two raced to the front of the store to talk with the other officers that were already on the site.
From what Joressa could make out things were winding down. Several officers already had a woman in the store in custody and it looked like they were in the process of disarming her.
Joressa turned to Leena. "Shall we?" she said with a sly smile.
"I'm your wing," Leena smiled back mischievously and the two slipped silently out of the landspeeder.
Joressa led the way to the side of the Laundry. Everyone was too busy watching the action inside the store to notice the two sneak by. Joressa paused at the corner at the back of the building to scout out the area. When she peered around she saw someone in a dark outfit slip out of the back door carrying a large sack. "Someone's left the building. Come on. Let's follow him."
"How did you know to check back here?" Leena whispered.
"Intrusion expert intuition?" Joressa shrugged and gave a little wink, then silently took off down the back ally. She didn't worry that Leena would keep up. She knew her sister was perfectly capable in this kind of situation. She also recognized that in the back of her mind somewhere she hoped this situation might help to further convince Corran of her own capabilities. She knew she could help the Horns, but she also knew she would have to prove herself to Corran.
Joressa and Leena followed the man dressed in black through several back alleys and around a couple crowded streets. He stopped periodically to look around and make sure he was not being followed. Joressa expected as much and when the man slowed down she'd touch Leena's arm and they would slip into a store, blend into a crowd, or hide behind a building. At one point when they stopped, Joressa looked at Leena and could tell from her face that she was immensely enjoying this little game of chase. It was then that Leena leaned over and whispered, "And I always thought you were a stick in the mud. I must admit it's pretty fun to see you in action."
"Whoever said you’re the only one allowed to have fun?" Joressa smiled back. "Let's go."
Leena looked confused.
"He’s moving again," she explained and then chuckled. "Don’t worry. I don't expect you to notice such things any more than you'd expect me to be able to break a simple code."
After about fifteen minutes of zigzagging through streets and backtracking around buildings, the man finally stopped in a small dead end alley. He looked around and dropped the sack he was carrying behind some stacked boxes in the corner of the alley. Joressa waited until the man left, and then she scanned the area to make sure nobody else was scouting the site. Gesturing for Leena to stay behind, she slipped into the alley to see what was in the sack.
After a brief moment Joressa returned to where Leena waited. "Let's find a place to hide and wait to see who picks it up."
"So?" Leena asked.
"So, what?" Joressa shrugged off Leena's inquiry.
"What was in the sack?" she begged.
"It could be nothing. Or it could be something very important depending on who picks it up. That's why we have to wait." Joressa knew she was torturing Leena by not telling her right away what she found. She had to chuckle at the frustrated face Leena made.
"Don't make me go over there and look for myself!"
With that comment Joressa outright laughed. "Okay, okay! It was clothes. What else do you expect to be stolen from a laundry?"
"Clothes." Leena frowned. "I don’t get it."
Joressa hushed her voice to a mere whisper, "One of the articles of clothing was a CorSec uniform."
* * * * *
The landspeeder was empty and Joressa and Leena were nowhere in sight. I knew it, Corran thought. He turned to face Hal. "I thought you said we could trust them." He carried an edge in his voice that he knew was bordering on disrespect, but he was starting to get upset. He could not let those two ruin his chance to catch Kulreg.
"They were the ones that gave us our chance to catch him in the first plac, Corran," Hal reminded. "I'm sure they aren't far. Let's contact them on the comlink we gave them."
Corran pulled his comlink out, dubious that he would get a response. To his amazement Leena answered the call. "Leena here."
"Where are you?"
"Um, I can't say." She spoke so quietly that Corran had to hold the comlink up to his ear to hear her.
"Why not?" Corran was getting annoyed.
"Because I don't know. But I'm sure Joressa kept track and will be able to get us back just fine. No need for worry. We'll explain everything when we get back. We’ll meet up with you back at headquarters. Uh oh, gotta go. Leena out." The comlink gave a little buzz and the connection ended.
"No need for worry," Corran repeated sarcastically. "Of course not. Why would I worry?" He was not happy about this situation, and yet for some reason he really wasn’t as worried as he thought he should be. When he searched his feelings he realized it was because somewhere along the line he had started trusting Joressa. He still wasn’t sure about Leena. But if Joressa was with her, which he had no doubt she was, then he didn’t feel so worried. This insight surprised Corran, but he knew he could trust his feelings.
Hal’s piercing hazel eyes looked searchingly at Corran. He then placed a strong hand gently on Corran’s shoulder. "Come, son, let’s go. We still need to meet with the crew in charge of delivering Berlla’s shipment to her home."
Copyright 2001 by Beth Jameson.
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