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.
The sky was turning a beautiful shade of reddish-orange as the sun began to set. Leena filled her lungs with the cool air and exhaled slowly. It was a beautiful evening and the walk back to CorSec Headquarters to meet up with Hal and Corran was thoroughly enjoyable. The day had turned out to be quite an adventure. Leena smiled to herself thinking back to how it began with Joressa waking her up by asking where she had been yesterday. Yesterday’s activities were decidedly less exciting than today’s have been, Leena thought. I just hope that the rest of our group...
"Joressa!"
"What?!?" Joressa jumped at Leena’s shout. "What on Corellia is wrong with you?" She gave Leena a little backhanded slap on the shoulder. "You scared me half to death."
"Our unit back on our ship?" she prompted. "Captain Marlene? They are probably going crazy worrying about us."
"Uh oh. Can you call them on your comlink?"
"Nope. My comlink was confiscated back at CorSec. All I have is the comlink that Corran gave us, which is a secure direct line to him. Maybe we should make a quick stop by our ship to let them know we’re okay."
"That’s not a good idea." Joressa quickened her pace. "We should meet up with Hal and Corran and explain the situation. I’m sure they will be able to come up with an acceptable solution that will not compromise security for this case."
"I hope so or else our very capable team will form their own search party to hunt us down, if they haven’t done so already. And there is little doubt in my mind that they will find us." Leena imagined for a moment the look on Corran’s face if word leaked out about their plans and Kulreg decided to scrap the job. "Think we can find a shortcut to headquarters from here?"
* * * * *
The room was chilly. Joressa lay on her back staring up through the darkness. She knew Leena was asleep by the steady rhythm of her breathing. The accommodations provided to them for the night had been sparse but comfortable. They were staying in one of several rooms in CorSec Headquarters designed for officers who needed some rest or sleep but didn’t have the time to go home. The Horn's had opted to stay in the room next door instead of going home for the night so they could "protect" Joressa and Leena. Joressa thought it was totally unnecessary but sweet just the same.
Joressa found it difficult to ease her mind enough to sleep after all that had occurred that day. A little grin came to her face as she realized she was not at all surprised that Leena was sleeping soundly. After all, this kind of excitement was commonplace for Leena.
After they had arrived back at CorSec Headquarters, Joressa had told Hal and Corran about their need to contact the LSW unit. To her relief, Hal sent someone to inform the rest of the team that they would be without Joressa and Leena’s company for another day. Of course the messenger was only going to give them limited information and Joressa was sure that several of the ladies would attempt, albeit futilely, to pressure Marlene into letting them try to find out more.
As Joressa’s thoughts began to drift she paused at the remembered image of Corran’s emerald eyes sparkling when she informed him and Hal that Leena recognized Derk, Kulreg’s henchman, as the one who had picked up the laundry sack in the alley with the CorSec uniform in it. That meant that the thief at the laundry was hired by Kulreg to create a diversion while someone else sneaked out with the uniform. The plan would have worked too if Joressa hadn’t been there. She allowed herself a little self-satisfied smile.
The burglar from the laundry was still in custody, but Hal and Corran had not been successful in getting any worthwhile information out of her. And if anybody could get information out of someone, it was Corran. Unfortunately the hired thief knew less than they did, which was a credit to Kulreg’s carefulness. At least they now had one more piece of useful information though. They knew that Kulreg’s plan would involve someone impersonating an officer.
A thousand thoughts swirled around in Joressa’s mind like the dust from a Tatooine sandstorm. She decided she needed to get up and clear her head if she was ever going to get any sleep tonight. She quietly slipped out of the room and padded down the hall to where she saw light peeking out from behind a half-shut door. She carefully peered inside and saw Corran sitting with legs propped up on a table.
"You couldn't sleep either?" Joressa quietly asked.
Corran looked up and motioned for Joressa to enter the room. He flopped his legs down and pushed an empty chair out with his foot. Joressa took a seat and leaned forward on the table, propping up her tired head with her left hand.
She waited a minute before speaking again. "Thinking about tomorrow?"
"Yeah. I was thinking about that stolen uniform."
Joressa didn't say anything in hopes that Corran would elaborate.
"I find myself wondering why Kulreg would go through the trouble of stealing one."
"To get easy access into the hangar perhaps?" Joressa offered. "Or to be able to get the hovertrucks to pullover en route to the Tinta estate?"
"That could be." Corran's brow furrowed as he puzzled things through out loud. "But there are easier ways to get access to the hangar, and if Kulreg wanted to take the hovertrucks en route then he would just kill the drivers and drive off with the delivery." He paused for a moment and then slowly shook his head. "No, there must be a reason that makes it absolutely necessary for him to impersonate an officer. I just don't know what that reason is yet." He looked up, his eyes meeting Joressa's. "And that makes me feel very uneasy."
Joressa nodded in agreement. She hadn't put that much thought into the reasons behind the stolen uniform, and she found herself impressed by Corran's deductive skills. "I wish we knew more about Kulreg's plan, but the fact of the matter is that no matter how much we know, there will always be surprises." Joressa smiled. "At least we know what our surprise tomorrow will be wearing."
Corran let out a light laugh. "Yeah. And I have to admit," Corran said with a tilt of his head that matched his tilted smile, "I am grateful for the extra help we are getting from you and your sister."
Joressa's checks blushed ever so slightly. "Speaking of Leena, there is something I've been meaning to talk to you about."
"What is it?" Corran leaned forward with interest.
"This morning when Leena met with Kulreg," she began.
"Feels like a week ago, doesn't it?"
"Yes, it has been a very long day," Joressa agreed before she continued. "Leena made a deal with Kulreg and traded him for a datadisc."
"I remember," Corran said with a mixture of agitation and disappointment in his voice.
"Well, she didn't just pay him money for the disc. She also gave him a datacard."
"Really? Now this is interesting news. Leena is pretty skilled with computer files, is she not?"
"Yes. She’s one of the best. But don't tell her I said so. The last thing that girl needs is food for her ego." Joressa and Corran both chuckled at the truth of the statement. "I've asked Leena what was on the datacard, but she won't tell me. I'm worried because she seems pretty intent on finding Kulreg, and it makes me wonder just what exactly she gave him. So I was going to ask if you--"
"Say no more," Corran said with a raised hand to stop her. "I will talk to Leena. I'm sure she would be simply delighted to tell me what was on that datacard."
Copyright 2001 by Beth Jameson.
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