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.
"Hey!" someone shouted from behind. "Wait up."
Kulreg kept walking, but soon felt a hand on his shoulder. He stopped and turned to face the officer. He smiled as best he could, "What can I do for you?"
"Have you seen Officer Bast? I can’t find him anywhere."
The tension in Kulreg’s muscles eased up a little. "No, I’m afraid I haven’t seen him."
"Really? Someone told me they saw him heading this way. You sure you didn’t see anyone?"
Kulreg lied, "Sorry, but no."
"Thanks anyway." The officer turned back the way he came and walked away.
Kulreg was getting anxious and could not afford any more delays. It had taken a bit of time already to find out where the main computer was housed and to lift the clearance pass he needed. He continued down the hall, rounded the corner and approached the door. Kulreg held his breath as he inserted the pass. The door slid open and he silently slipped inside.
He knew there would be holocams covering every square inch of the room, so he approached the console and tried to act like he was supposed to be there. The QuickCopy program had worked like a charm in the tests he had performed, but now was the real test. Kulreg made the connection and started the dump of all of CorSec’s data files.
The whole process was so fast Kulreg could hardly believe anything happened. He checked the readings to make sure the data had been retrieved before disconnecting and sliding the datapad back into his pocket. Kulreg smiled with sheer elation. Perfect, he thought. He was three feet from the door when it slid open, and standing right in front of him was Corran Horn with a blaster aimed as Kulreg’s head.
"Well, well. If it isn’t one of the Bald Brothers." The casual smile Corran wore belied the fierceness in his eyes.
Kulreg shifted his right arm to go for his own blaster.
"I wouldn’t do that if I were you," Joressa said as she stepped out next to Corran. "I don’t think you’ll get us both before one of us shoots you."
Kulreg couldn’t believe this was happening.
"And I don’t think you want to make a lot of noise in the middle of CorSec headquarters. Might mess up any chance of getting out of here alive." Corran approached Kulreg, disarmed him, and emptied his pockets. He tossed the datapad to Joressa.
"I always hated you, Horn," Kulreg said with venom in his voice.
"Really? I’m hurt," Corran mocked. "Does this mean you won’t be coming over for dinner tomorrow?"
The look of triumph on Corran’s face was the worst part for Kulreg.
"You should be happy, Brugg," Corran added, "Now you’ll get to be reunited with your brother."
* * * * *
The rumors about the extravagant parties at the Tinta home were in no way exaggerated. There were enormous bouquets of flowers, two live bands, an impressive light show, and enough food to feed a small planet. Exotic animals not native to Corellia roamed around, including a kaadu that anyone was welcome to ride. Berlla had decided to throw the party to honor Hal, Corran, Joressa, and Leena for a job "superbly handled with the utmost care and dilligance," as she put it. Joressa was happy that Berlla had welcomed the rest of her LSW Elite Unit to the party as well. Of course, Joressa made sure to warn them first about Berlla’s hugging nature. Joressa folded her arms and leaned against a wall. She was enjoying standing back and watching everyone have a good time.
Julia approached Joressa, "That’s quite a story Corran tells. Sounds like you had an incredible time."
"Yeah." Joressa smiled. "These last two days have been rather unbelievable."
"Corran told me how the two of you caught Kulreg, but I was wondering what happened to Hal and Leena after you guys split up."
"You haven’t heard yet? Hal and Leena went with their half of the shipment to the drop off location where they met up with one of Kulreg’s contact men. The crates and boxes were unloaded from the truck and onto a gravsled. At that point the hired help was paid and dismissed. But Hal and Leena continued to follow the shipment, which eventually ended up in a huge warehouse filled with all sorts of stolen and illegal goods. Once Hal knew the location, he was able to go back with reinforcements and crack that place wide open."
"So that’s why Hal has been smiling non-stop while dancing the night away."
"Yep." Joressa could hardly stop smiling herself. Not that long ago she had hoped to be lucky enough just to meet Corran Horn, and now they were good friends.
Joressa watched as Corran strode over to join her and Julia. He bowed ever so slightly, "Ladies." Then in a most gentlemanly manner he offered his hand to Joressa, "Would you like to dance?"
"Sounds like fun," Joressa responded. The two were about to head out to the dance floor when Joressa paused to ask Julia a question. "Is everyone else having a good time?"
"Oh, yeah!" Julia said. "Marlene and Hal are out on the dance floor. Berlla has promised to show Kris all the good shopping spots, and Wendy and Lori have been exploring the grounds."
"What about Leena?" Corran asked.
Joressa thought for a moment and realized she hadn’t seen Leena in a while either. "Yeah. What’s she up to?"
"I’ll give you two guesses," Julia said with a wry grin.
Just then the crowd on the dance floor rapidly spread apart either screaming or gasping in surprise at the sight of Leena galloping in on the kaadu while shouting "Yeeee-haw!"
Joressa just shook her head, smiled, and said, "That’s my sister."
The End
Copyright 2001 by Beth Jameson.
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