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.
Joressa waited till both hovertrucks were loaded up with the phony boxes. She had been careful to stack several boxes precariously on top of each other at the back end. She got behind the controls to leave, and followed closely behind Hessen in the other truck as it left the bay. As her truck cleared the bay and scarcely turned to the left she accelerated just enough to have to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting the other truck, and the boxes in back came tumbling down.
Joressa stopped the truck and jumped out in a hurry. "Oh, no! I can’t believe I did that! Look at this," she said, pointing to the fallen pile as Hessen and two others joined her. "We better open it up to make sure nothing’s been damaged."
Joressa made sure to say that last comment loud enough for the four people left in Bay One to hear. And as sure as slime on a hutt, they came running. She had taken the gamble that they would not want anyone discovering what was in the crates, or rather what was not in the crates before they left, and it worked.
Joressa continued her show of anxiety, "I’m afraid the Tintas are going to have my hide for this." She picked up a box and went as if to open it.
"Wait!" a voice came from behind. Three of the four appeared outside out of the bay, and as they rounded the corner they were each welcomed by a stun bolt fired by Hal, Corran, and Hessen. They fell to the ground and Hessen’s team made quick work of tying them up.
"Only one more," Joressa whispered to Hal.
Hal then shouted into the bay, "Are you taking a nap in there? We could use some help!" The final man jogged out of the bay only to meet the same fate as his companions.
Hal turned to Joressa, "Think we can successfully impersonate them?"
Leena jumped in before Joressa could respond, and with a silly smile on her face, said, "I don’t know. I think the odds of this working are about-"
Corran interrupted, "Never tell us the odds."
This time it was Joressa’s turn to roll her eyes at Leena. Joressa examined the pile of tied up riffraff. "We can make it work. There are four of them, which means only four of us need to get in disguise."
Hal nodded and pointed to Joressa, Corran, and Leena, who immediately began dressing themselves with some of the clothing from the stunned scum. Joressa assisted everyone with their disguises and gave Corran a few pointers on how to not act so much like a CorSec officer. "You need to slouch more."
Corran hunched down. "If I slouch any further my knuckles will be dragging on the ground. And do I really have to wear this hat? It smells like ronto sweat."
Joressa couldn’t help but chuckle a little. "It helps hide your face, so yes, you have to wear it."
The four headed back into the bay and immediately a deep voice sounded from the comlink Corran had taken from one of the men. "Report."
Corran responded without missing a beat. "The trucks have left. No signs of trouble."
"Join the others in Bay Two." The comlink gave a little buzz as the communication cut off.
"And may the Force be with us," Leena added. Hal, with a crooked smile, nodded ever so slightly.
* * * * *
Kulreg straightened his coverall and approached the front of CorSec headquarters to join the rest of the tour group gathered outside. The hairpiece he wore was intolerably itchy, but he did not have the luxury of paying it any attention. If everything was going according to schedule, the Horns, who had undoubtedly taken the bait, would be tied up at the Tinta’s personal hangar. And that left Kulreg Horn-free for the morning.
The tour group entered the headquarters, and within the first five minutes Kulreg managed to slip away and deftly made his way into a janitor’s closet. He pulled out a fake moustache and pressed it above his upper lip. The coverall was swiftly removed to reveal a CorSec uniform. Kulreg balled up the coverall and stuffed it behind some chemicals on the shelf. He straightened his jacket, listened at the door for a moment to make sure nobody was around, and silently slipped out into the hall.
* * * * *
Corran adjusted his hat in an attempt to make wearing the thing tolerable.
"Leave the hat alone," Joressa ordered.
Joressa, Leena, Hal, and Corran had been sitting around Bay Two for the last twenty minutes with Kulreg’s other hired helpers, waiting for the ship to arrive. Hessen and her people, who had hauled off the fake cargo and the stunned team from Bay One, were probably already at a safe location by now.
Corran did not like waiting, and had to keep reminding himself to be patient. Joressa was sitting next to him, occasionally making small talk. Hal sat by himself and appeared to be dozing off, but Corran knew better. It was a trick his dad had been working on teaching him -- how to be totally alert without giving off any visual clues. Leena was sitting with a small gathering of Kulreg’s people, and either her jokes were really funny or these people were very bored because there were continuous waves of laughter coming from her direction.
Corran had been fighting the urge to check the chronometer when a voice from the control room announced the ship was inbound. Everyone took up positions along the side of the bay. The ship landed, everything was unloaded, and it left. Just like that. Smooth as a sea skate on water, Corran thought.
After the ship took off, the door to the control room opened and Derk stepped out. This was the moment Corran had been waiting for. He kept an eye on the door and watched for Kulreg to come out next, but nothing happened. The door had shut behind Derk, and nobody else came out. Son of a Sith, Corran thought. He had been positive that Kulreg would have been in there, but it looked like he was wrong. He was not going to give up though, and he thought about what their next step would have to be if they were to connect this heist to Kulreg.
Hal came up behind Corran’s left elbow and whispered, "We will need to ride with them to the drop off spot. From there we should be able to follow the cargo ‘till it reaches Kulreg."
Corran was pleased that his father had also not given up on the idea of nailing Kulreg. They had to take advantage of this opportunity because who knew when another chance like this would come along. Corran boarded one hovertruck with Joressa. Hal and Leena got in the other. There were four other team members, two to each truck. Derk took the controls of the truck Corran was in and lead the way out of the Hangar and down the road.
* * * * *
The cab of the hovertruck where Corran and Joressa sat was uncomfortably crowded since they tried to fit five people in four seats. Joressa sat to Derk’s right in the front half, with Corran squished in between the other two in the back. He hung his head down and tried to make some sense of all the thoughts bouncing around in his mind. It’s almost too easy, he thought. Especially if Joressa was right about this being a trap. There had yet to be any sign of a trap for the Horns, and the pieces to the puzzle were just not fitting together. The comment Kulreg made in the tapcafe yesterday morning, the datapad Leena gave to Kulreg, and the stolen uniform. He failed to see how those connected to today’s heist.
Corran knew he needed some more information, so he decided to take advantage of the cramped ride knowing it would facilitate irritability. And if there is one constant truth to the galaxy, it’s that people like to complain. "How much longer do we have to stay packed up like herded nerfs?"
The woman to Corran’s left responded. "No kidding. I’m losing the feeling in my leg."
"And can’t we get any air back here?" the other guy said.
Perfect, Corran thought. Get them talking, then lead the conversation.
Joressa must have realized what he was doing as she added, "I didn’t realize this would be boredom central. I wanted to see a little action."
"Yeah," the man agreed. "This is work for slaves."
Corran prodded things a little further, "And I don’t understand why more people weren’t hired to move all these crates. We could have been done in half the time."
Derk finally spoke, "This job will take precisely as long as it needs to take."
Corran realized he was finally getting somewhere and pushed a little further. "And why are we doing all the work with Kulreg getting the big payoff, and he’s nowhere to be found?"
Derk responded harshly, "Boss Brugg had an appointment to keep, and we are doing exactly what we agreed to do. Now all of you, shut up."
He had pushed a little too far, but Corran felt like he got something useful out of that. Why would Derk say that this would take precisely as long as it needed to take? It didn’t make sense. Then Corran thought back to Faundrie’s Laundry and how the burglar at the front of the store created a distraction so that someone else could steal the uniform and sneak out the back. What if this whole heist was one big distraction? That would mean that the trap for the Horns was not to kill them, but rather to divert their attention. And the only thing that Corran could think of Kulreg wanting to divert attention away from would be Kulreg himself.
Of course! The pieces were all starting to fit together now! Kulreg wasn’t here because he was saving the really important job for himself. Whatever Kulreg was up to right then was what Corran should really be concerned with.
He thought of the stolen CorSec uniform, which had yet to be seen, and reasoned that Kulreg must be using it. He remembered Joressa telling him what Kulreg had said at the tapcafe yesterday morning, that CorSec is a nuisance he would be happy to be rid of. If this heist was not a trap to kill the Horns, then he must have meant something else by that statement. What if Kulreg was referring to all of CorSec, rather than just the Horns? Corran then pondered on the QuickCopy program that was now in Kulreg’s possession, and he recalled the comment his father made yesterday about information often being a more valuable and powerful tool than any physical matter. The final piece clicked into place, and Corran knew he had to get to CorSec headquarters immediately.
Corran leaned forward and discreetly touched Joressa on her arm to get her attention. He then gave a slight nod of his head, leaned back, and punched the guy on his right with a swift blow across the jaw. He pulled out a small holdout blaster and held it to Derk’s head. Joressa had her blaster out and twisted to aim it at the guy sitting directly behind her.
Corran maneuvered to the front between Derk and Joressa, keeping his holdout blaster trained on Derk. He used his free hand to pull out his other blaster and pass it to Joressa. She quickly and steadily aimed it at the woman in the back seat while continuing to keep a sharp eye and her own blaster focused on the guy in back.
Corran grabbed the controls of the truck with one hand. "Move over!" he shouted to Derk. Derk accelerated and Corran tumbled back. Derk’s fist came flying in Corran’s direction. Corran ducked and twisted his body to the left, giving himself a little leverage to kick his right leg out and up into Derk’s thigh. Derk flinched, leaving Corran a second of opportunity. He fired his blaster, hitting Derk’s right shoulder on the side, leaving a deep blackened wound that shocked Derk into unconsciousness. The truck began to swerve, and Corran quickly took the controls while maneuvering Derk out of the seat. He settled down in the driver’s seat and steered the truck to the left, in the direction of CorSec Headquarters. Then with a flick of the wrist, Corran removed the smelly hat he had been wearing, tossed it on the floor, and flashed Joressa a big smile.
* * * * *
"What’s Derk doing?" the driver sitting next to Hal wondered. "He’s going the wrong way!"
Hal figured Corran must be involved with whatever was going on, but he had no way to contact him without blowing their cover. Rather than try to help Corran, Hal made the tough decision to follow his instincts instead, and continue with the original plan to see if it would lead him to Kulreg. "We better follow Kulreg’s orders and go right to the drop off site. I’m sure they will catch up as soon as they can."
"I don’t know," the driver responded. "Maybe we should follow."
Hal continued to reassure the driver. "Let them get in trouble with Kulreg. I want to get paid, so I say we follow our orders."
The driver agreed, and they went their separate way.
Copyright 2001 by Beth Jameson.
Continue on to Part Eight.
Back to Part Six.
Back to Beth Jameson's vault.
Back to Corran Fanfiction page.