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 jumpsuit was too small, and the box he carried was cumbersome. But when Derk thought about the payoff for today’s work, a smile threatened to break through his rigid expression. He approached the hangar and strode into Bay Two like he’d been working there his whole life. There were only two landing bays to the small, personal hangar near the Tinta home. A diminutive crew of four technicians and one director/traffic controller manned the hangar. Unfortunately, this meant that Derk could not just blend in and hide his presence.
Dropping the heavy box with an echoing thud, Derk headed for the control room without missing a step. The four technicians in the bay barely looked up from their work to see what the noise had been. This was a good sign. It meant they had not been warned to be wary of anything out of the ordinary.
Derk ascended the stairs to the control room, which was saddled on either side by the two landing bays. The building itself was a dingy looking rectangle box with the openings to the bays facing opposite each other. Derk approached the secure door at the top of the stairs and gave three sturdy knocks. Why pick the lock when the fool will probably just let me in, he thought.
The door clicked open, and a voice from inside beckoned him to enter. Derk smiled sinisterly at the ease of it all. He pushed open the door, took two steps inside, kicked the door shut behind him with his right foot, and drew his blaster all in one swift motion. Before the control man could even squeak out a protest, a black hole radiated from his chest where Derk’s blaster bolt hit. There was still an expression of terror on the man’s face as Derk shoved the lifeless body out of the chair and kicked him toward the corner of the room behind a console.
He quickly comlinked to his team and watched from the control room windows as four of them descended on the hangar and made quick work of stunning the technicians, tying them up, and locking them in storage rooms. After Derk was assured that the hangar had been secured, he went to work slicing into the controls just after he signaled the other half of his team to haul in boxes and crates to be stacked in Bay One.
* * * * *
Leena scuttled further down under the blanket and buried her head like a turtle.
"It’s time to get up, Leena."
"Just five more minutes."
"Don’t make me sing a cheerful ditty," Joressa teased. "We already have to replace the alarm the Horns let us use."
Leena slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Did you hear that thing? It sounded like a screeching Tauntaun when it went off."
"Yeah," Joressa chuckled. "But did you have to throw it?"
Leena shrugged. "I couldn’t find the off switch."
"Well, hurry up and get ready. I’m going to meet up with Hal and Corran. Join us as soon as you can." Joressa left the room, closing the door behind her.
Leena stretched and slowly slipped out of bed. She thought back to what had occurred yesterday, and her excitement began to rise at the prospect of today’s adventures. She quickly freshened up and went to the meeting room where Joressa and the Horns were already making plans.
"Leena," Corran said, "have a seat. And while you’re at it, why don’t you tell us what was on the datacard you gave Kulreg yesterday?"
Leena’s heart jumped at Corran’s brazen question. "Good morning to you too, Corran." She sat down and reached for a pastry.
"You know you have to tell us," Corran insisted.
Leena swallowed and tried to calm her anxiety. "I’ll get it back." Her voice quivered, betraying any attempt at nonchalance.
"Get what back? What did you give him?" By this point Corran was on his feet and staring at Leena. His severe demeanor caused Leena to literally shrink back in her chair.
"Leena," Hal said with concern, "whatever you gave Kulreg could be vital to our case. We know you are here to help us, and we won’t press charges if you tell us what you gave him."
Leena hesitated for a moment, then reasoned that the sooner she got this over with, the sooner Corran would stop harassing her about it. "I gave him a program I created called QuickCopy."
Corran nodded, his facial expression easing slightly as Leena opened up more. "Copies files?"
"Yes. But what makes my program so unique," Leena said with pride, "is that it copies massive amounts of data so quickly that it makes detection basically impossible."
"That has the potential to be very dangerous," Hal said.
Joressa, who had kept quiet up to this point, finally spoke up. "What were you thinking Leena? You’ve pulled some crazy stunts before, and even a couple dangerous ones, but this!? No wonder you didn’t want to tell me about it." Joressa turned to Corran. "I would have stopped her, you know."
Leena hung her head, not wanting to see the disappointment in her older sister’s eyes. "I know I went too far this time, and I realized it a little too late. But that’s why I want to help catch Kulreg and ship him off to Kessel -- and get my program back," she said with determination.
Hal rested his hand on Joressa’s shoulder to forestall any further comments from her. "We will catch Kulreg," Hal assured Leena.
Leena looked up with a little sparkle in her eyes. "So what’s the plan?"
Hal brought Leena up to speed on what had been discussed earlier. "I spoke last night with the controller of the hangar, and he will be expecting us this morning. We decided that the most efficient plan would be to arrive early and watch for any suspicious activity. Since we have several good clues of what to look for, I’m sure we’ll be able to spot Kulreg when he makes his move."
Corran’s comlink beeped. "Corran here."
"This is Hessen."
Leena looked at Hal and mouthed silently, "Who’s that?"
He whispered back, "The lady in charge of the group that’s picking up the shipment from the hangar and delivering it Berlla’s house."
Hessen continued, "We have just been informed by the hangar’s traffic control that the cargo ship has arrived ahead of schedule. We are leaving for Bay One now. The ship’s crew is already unloading the cargo and preparing to head back out to space."
"Confirm Bay One."
"Affirmative -- Bay One," the voice crackled. "They said there was not enough room in Bay Two, where they landed, to hold all the crates till we came to pick them up, so they are unloading everything into Bay One."
"Did you ask traffic control to tell them to wait until you arrived before leaving?"
"Yes, but he said something about a tight schedule, then the transmission ended."
"We’re on our way. Take up positions outside the entrance to Bay One, but do not enter until we arrive." Corran waited for an acknowledgment before ending the transmission.
Leena jumped out of her seat. "I think this qualifies as suspicious activity."
"Indeed," Hal said as he led the way out the door. "Let’s just hope that we get there before Kulreg does. And before anyone gets hurt."
* * * * *
The landspeeder cruised at near breakneck speed with Corran deftly handling the controls. Hal didn’t appear worried in the least about Corran’s driving, so Leena figured she should trust him too.
In the seat in front of Leena, Joressa shifted uncomfortably. "I have a bad feeling about this."
Leena rolled her eyes and looked at Joressa as if to say, I can’t believe you just said that.
Corran gave Joressa a sideways glance. "My driving making you nervous?"
"It’s not about your driving, Corran. It’s something else." Joressa certainly had no reservations about Corran’s piloting abilities. "I was just reflecting on something Kulreg said yesterday, that CorSec is a nuisance he would be happy to be rid of."
"I think he’s still pretty upset about his brother being sent to Kessel," Corran said. "I don’t think such a comment from him is all that unusual."
"It was more the way he said it rather than what he said." Joressa explained. "I think this unexpected early arrival is a trap. There’s something about it that’s just not right."
Hal pulled out his comlink and tried to establish a connection with the cargo ship. "Something must be jamming their frequency because I’m not getting through."
"Can I see your comlink for a moment?" Leena asked Hal. She connected the comlink to a port in her datapad. Then she tried sending a communication to the cargo ship again, only this time she was able to analyze the pattern of the message when it bounced back. "The ship isn’t there," she concluded. "They must have finished unloading the crates and headed back to space. You have to give them efficiency points for their speed."
"That is fast. Maybe too fast." Corran said.
Leena puzzled over the situation. If the ship arrived early, surely the captain would have told Berlla as soon as they were in system. And if Berlla knew, then there was little doubt she would have contacted the Horns immediately since she didn’t want anything to happen to her shipment.
"Unless," Corran hypothesized, "they haven’t really arrived yet."
The moment he said it, the logic behind the idea clicked.
Corran expounded. "Kulreg and his people arrive early. They unload some phony boxes in the empty Bay and call the delivery team to come and get it. The worthless boxes are loaded up, and Hessen’s team leaves thinking they’ve got what they came for. Meanwhile, the ship with the real cargo enters the system and lands shortly thereafter as scheduled."
Hal jumped in and finished Corran’s thoughts. "Kulreg and his men unload the real cargo and drive off with it. Nobody the wiser until it’s too late. Very efficient, and a most probable plan given the evidence."
Leena could tell from the look on Joressa’s face that something was still bothering her. "What is it, sis?"
Joressa thought for a moment before responding. "I still think it’s a trap. It would be really easy for Kulreg’s hired hands, who already have control of the hangar, to make quick work of the four of us if we’re discovered. For Kulreg, stealing a big shipment and eliminating the Horns would be like killing two womprats with one shot."
"So let’s call for backup," Leena suggested.
"If we call in a CorSec team," Corran said, "Kulreg would be sure to notice and scrap the job, and there would be little to no grounds for an arrest. We need to catch Kulreg in the act, which means for the time being we have to be discrete."
* * * * *
As the landspeeder neared the hangar, Corran saw a light glimmer from behind some foliage. He steered in that direction, and met up with Hessen and her team. Corran smoothly parked the landspeeder next to the two empty hovertrucks that Hessen’s team brought.
"Any more communications from the hangar?" Hal asked Hessen as he jumped out of the speeder.
"Nope. Nothing."
"Good. We have to assume they have taken over the entire hangar; including both landing bays and the control room. Most likely Kulreg is in the control room so he can run the operation. Hessen, your team, along with Joressa, will enter Bay One to pick up the delivery as scheduled. Once inside, Joressa will find an excuse to get Kulreg's men out of the bay, away from the visibility of the control room."
Joressa nodded.
"I should be going in too," Corran protested. He did not like the idea of sending people in to face so many uncertainties, especially knowing that a conniving Bald Brother was on the scene. "What if Joressa is right and this is a trap, and they decide to just blow up half the hangar? I should be there to assess any dangers."
"If they did set off a bomb," Hal remarked, "then the ship which has yet to arrive would turn around and leave before landing in a half destroyed hangar. No, they will have to be subtle if they want us dead. Corran, you and I can't go in because we might be recognized. Joressa will draw out whoever is in Bay One. Then at that point we can disguise ourselves and take their places. It’s our only shot at infiltrating Kulreg’s team and getting close enough to catch the thieving lizard monkey himself."
Corran couldn't argue. He knew his father was right, but he had to voice one more concern. "What if someone recognizes Joressa?"
"I wouldn't worry about that," Leena piped up. "Joressa's talent for fitting in and disguising herself is uncanny."
Joressa looked at Leena with a smile of appreciation for the compliment.
"And the three of us will be waiting just outside," Hal added. "If something does go wrong, we will be there before you can say, ‘sleeping Selonians.’"
Copyright 2001 by Beth Jameson.
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