A Young Girl’s War Between the Stars

  76

  Hutt Space, in orbit over Nar Shaddaa. 36 BBY/964 GSC.

  My eye twitched as I stared in the mirror. Off to the side, I could feel the amusement coming from both Cindy and Aylin. Amusement and a few other things that told me that despite the fact that they were enjoying my suffering, what I was wearing worked.

  “I hate it.”

  “But it looks great!” Cindy protested, moving in behind me to adjust the way the dress hung.

  Aylin nodded. “You’re going to turn heads. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”

  “Yes,” I admitted, annoyed. “But…”

  Gesturing at the mirror, I sighed. Admittedly, I looked good. It was a far cry from the red monstrosity I’d been crammed into for that photo op back in the Empire, during the war.

  Unfortunately, as this was a social event, there were certain expectations. Namely, I couldn’t come down wearing armor or wearing an armory’s worth of weapons. I had called ahead and the only weapon I was allowed was my lightsaber, and only then because it doubled as a badge of office. However, I doubted anyone would recognize the computation orb as the threat it was. As far as they were concerned, it would just be a curious piece of jewelry.

  Of course, it’s not like I needed a weapon when I was the weapon. I just preferred to have options.

  As for the dress I’d been coerced into wearing, it was a thin silk number that felt like wearing air compared to what I was used to. Overall, the whole getup had a vaguely… Asian vibe to it, leaning more towards Chinese.

  It was black, with a sort of U-shape that dipped down towards my chest that had been replaced with lace to leave a window through which you could see my skin below. It stopped just above the knees, with matching long gloves that doubled as detached sleeves that went up to the middle of my upper arms. It was split down both sides with more of that lacy pattern, leaving only a glimpse at the legs beneath when I moved and allowing for a wider range of motion. A wide, red sash went over my stomach, with a belt on top of that which my lightsaber went on—along with the small bag I’d be keeping my holocom in. I couldn’t even complain about the footwear, as one of these two had picked up a set of knee high leather boots with a sensible heel—something I could actually run or fight in if the need arose.

  The whole thing hugged my body in a way that showed off my form without giving everything away. It was actually rather tasteful and stylish, if I was being honest and not just complaining because it was a dress.

  I had even let them talk me into letting them do my hair and makeup.

  My hair had been partially done in some elaborate braid at the back, while the rest was combed out and left to hang, while part of the front had been styled to hang over my right eye. They had even managed to tame my ahoge! As for the makeup… Because of the red color of my skin, they had decided to match my hair and had gone with a lot of white where normally you’d see black in the eye area and for my lips.

  Honestly, I had no idea what I was looking at. I should have probably paid more attention when Visha talked about those sorts of things… Regardless, they had done some mundane sorcery and the overall effect added about ten years to my perceived age and made me look different enough that I doubt even Obi would recognize me without the Force.

  Which was all to say that I looked more like some Core world noble than the deadly killing machine occasionally cosplaying as a tank that I was. Overall, a massive success in looking non-threatening. Yes, my looks were a weapon—even more now than in the Empire when I was a child. And yes, I would absolutely use them to my advantage.

  Still, the whole thing just made me vaguely uncomfortable. I had understood on an intellectual level that as a woman I would eventually be an object of sexual desire—and that was in the Empire, when I was just a human and not a member of a race of human offshoots who were sexual apex predators. I had planned to capitalize on it, in fact.

  But it had always been some far flung distant future, not something I had to worry about immediately. The pheromone incident had been a wake-up call, but that was an accident—something that had been mostly out of my control until I’d been made aware of it and had fixed the issue.

  This would be intentionally [edit]. The problem was, I didn’t like the idea of more than half of those even looking in my general direction with sexual thoughts—especially not when I could sense the emotions involved. [Edit: So it was a good thing I was still a child and it was physically impossible for anyone to look at me with lustful thoughts, because that would be against Royal Road's Terms of Service, a force so powerful it was able to affect alternate realities.] I supposed that no matter how long I had been a version of Tanya, a part of the Japanese Salaryman I had been would remain. I knew what I liked and what I didn’t like when it came to a partner.

  Taking a breath, I pushed those feelings to the back of my mind and straightened up.

  Alright, button it up. We’ve got a job to do.

  Focusing inwards, I found the mental muscle I had kept clenched tightly shut, locking down my pheromones. Carefully, I eased up on that control just a little. My body twitched in the first stirrings of relief—similar in a way to the feeling one gets when they finally get to urinate after holding it for an uncomfortably long time. Unfortunately, I couldn’t just let it go willy-nilly, so I kept a careful grip on it to make sure I didn’t contaminate the ship again. The little I’d be releasing coming and going from the event could be dealt with easily enough.

  Nodding, I looked over the pair and asked, “Are we ready?”

  “Good to go, boss!” the blonde mechanic nodded with a grin.

  Cindy was dressed in a suit and cap that wouldn’t have been out of place on Earth, and would be playing the part of chauffeur. It was very different from her usual attire, but I wasn’t complaining. She wore it well.

  “Ready,” Aylin confirmed, pulling on her helmet—the last piece of a black and silver set.

  Aylin had volunteered to be my one allowed bodyguard. Normally, the captain should probably stay on the ship and let someone else handle something like this, but these were Mandalorians, so common sense where danger was concerned tended to go out the window—in fact, they were more likely to run into danger than away from it, if they heard a situation would be dangerous. Her excuse had been that she wanted to get off the ship and stretch her legs, and that she didn’t get much of a chance to wear her armor most days. I was convinced she just wanted to go sample the food, since the Hutts were known for excess and for showing off—especially when it came to food. That, and have a chance to get into a firefight. Couldn’t forget the most appealing part to a Mandalorian.

  We made our way down to the hangar and boarded the Rusted Silver. Cindy set the hologram projector to disguise it as a small luxury yacht and we took off for the moon’s surface.

  We hadn’t even made it into atmosphere before I winced and had to pull my senses back in. The space around it was thick with suffering, despair, addiction, and a bunch of other things I didn’t want to feel. All things I had experienced before from drug addicts, gambling addicts, and others—just more intense.

  “You okay?” Aylin asked, her helmeted head turned my way.

  “I’ll be fine,” I nodded and turned back to look at the screens showing the moon below. Nar Shaddaa was like a seedier Space Vegas—which I hadn’t thought was possible, but someone set out to prove they could do it worse. From the air it was all glittering lights flashing through clouds and lines of traffic, but even this high up I could see the dark spots that made up the underbelly of this cancerous moon.

  Cindy brought us down on the roof of our destination building, where smaller ships and speeders were unloading a constant stream of people. I unbuckled my straps and stood, leaning over the blonde for a moment. “We’ll call if we need an evacuation, or air support.”

  “I’ll do laps around the area and keep an eye on things,” Cindy agreed.

  I left her there as Aylin fell in behind me, holding the handle of a secure metal case, and we left the ship. I winced at the noxious swirls of the Force, now visible to my new eyes—confirming what I had felt with my senses. This place was dark and entirely corrupt.

  As soon as we were clear, Cindy took off and we followed the lighted track inside. Just inside the door were a series of scanners and an almost excessive number of armed security. I could pick out sweeping sensors moving across the room in the UV spectrum, reflecting brightly off of everyone there.

  Worse, practically everyone streaming into the building and through the scanners were some shade of corrupt in the Force. They were surrounded by halos of darker energy, with a few of the guards verging more towards red—which I took to mean both at least moderately Force sensitive, unpleasant, and potentially hostile.

  Just before the scanners, a green female twi’lek met us with a datapad. “Good evening, honored guest!” she chirped, and though she smiled and seemed perfectly pleasant, her feelings told me she would rather be just about anywhere else. Combined with her gray aura, she looked the part of someone who had started off as a decent person but had been worn down over the years and started adapting to match her environment. “Can I have your name, or will you be registering anonymously?”

  “Anonymous,” I answered immediately. If there was no requirement to identify myself, then I wouldn’t be giving the Hutts or anyone else here any means of tracking me down later.

  “I understand,” she nodded. Reaching into a bag at her side, she produced a badge and handed it over to me. Its face was blank until she tapped the back, then it lit up with a number: 310. “Welcome to the Grand Auction, Ms. Three-ten. Please wear this on your person at all times. When you’re ready to bid, just tap the face.” I fixed the badge to my belt and she smiled. “Is this your first visit with us?”

  “It is,” I confirmed.

  “Would you like to hear tonight’s itinerary?” she asked, and I nodded. “Tonight’s events are divided into three sections: the white auction, the gray auction, and the black auction. Each will last an hour and there will be a half-hour intermission between them, during which complementary refreshments will be served. The white auction is open to everyone and free to view. The gray and black auctions will be restricted to guests of a certain standing and you must pay to attend. In order to attend the black auction, you must put something up for bid. Are you looking for anything in particular tonight?

  I considered her for a moment before giving my answer. “Jedi and Force related artifacts.”

  “Ah, let’s see… Some scrolls, a few books, and miscellaneous items of uncertain authenticity in the white auction. The notes claim they were discovered at a dig site in what looked like a Jedi stronghold, on an undisclosed moon.”

  “What else?”

  She tapped away a moment. “A few lots in the gray auction for uh, unconfirmed items possibly of Jedi origin. Some older weapons and armor pieces, and a few other things.”

  Nodding, I asked, “And?”

  “I really can’t say anything further,” she shook her head.

  “I’m looking for a pyramid. Three sides. Metal and black crystal. Fits in the palm of your hand. Can you confirm its presence, at least?”

  Tapping the pad again, she frowned, then eventually nodded. “Yes, but I can’t say more.”

  “So the last auction, then. How do I get in?”

  The twi’lek girl gestured off to the side, and a room just on the other side of the scanners. “You would have to put up an item for auction before I could say more. If you would like to proceed…?”

  “Please,” I agreed.

  With that, the girl led us through security. There was a brief hiccup over my lightsaber, but turning it on and off silenced any protests. They didn’t even bother scanning Aylin with the machine. Instead, they had someone come over and verify that she wasn’t carrying in any of the weapons on the galactic ban list. Once they determined she was only carrying blasters and a vibro knife, they let her pass.

  Moving into the side room, the girl led us into a private room with a table between us. “If you would, please?”

  Aylin dropped the case on the table and I entered the combination. Opening it revealed a red, cube-shaped holocron bordered in silver. When I removed it from the foam cushion it was set in, the cube began to float. “This was recovered from a site that predates the Jedi order. It requires a Force user to properly interact with it.”

  The twi’lek’s eyes went wide. “Oh my! That certainly looks authentic. But please, let me call in a team to run some scans and verify that it’s not just a very convincing fake. You understand, right?”

  “Of course,” I agreed.

  It didn’t bother me who she called. What I’d put on the table was a holocron and it did contain knowledge that predated the formation of the Jedi order. I never said the holocron itself was made at that time, or that it contained anything dangerous.

  Senator Palpatine had made sure to include the rules of the black auction when he sent me the information, so I’d known about the requirement to auction off an item of a certain level of rarity in order to participate. So, on the ride over, Revan and I had hatched a plan to create a forgery.

  Using a bit of kyber crystal and some freshly made songsteel, I had made a very pretty holocron. Then, to make it look and feel authentic in the Force, I’d inscribed the Force gathering array into it, along with programming it with a very simple program to run a flight formula—my very first experiment in solid state computing for that, in fact. The cube would gather just enough Force to fuel the formula, glow a bit, and keep its internal library active—giving us a cube shaped holocron that floated a foot or so above whatever surface it was placed over. As for the information contained within, I had copied over some of the writings taken from the Je'daii holocrons I’d collected on Tython—history, specifically. All whoever bought this would get would be a very dry historical accounting of the founding of the Je’daii order and the war that ended them.

  She tapped something into the datapad and, a few moments later, a small group of people came in carrying instruments. They poked and prodded the holocron, taking measurements here and there, before one eventually nodded.

  “It’s authentic.”

  After that, it was put back in the case and taken away. The twi’lek girl finished up with what she was writing on her datapad and looked up, sending me a smile. “Alright, you’re all set. The item you inquired about is in a lot in the black auction, to be sold near the end of the event. Enjoy your evening!”

  “Thank you.”

  We left the room and followed the crowd to a room further in, where tables had been set out with finger food and an open bar had been set up at the back. Behind me, I heard Aylin quietly murmur, “Nice.”

  “Let’s grab something to snack on,” I suggested, and she nodded, pulling off her helmet and sticking it to her side, following along as we made our way to the table.

  As we moved through the room, I felt eyes and attention on me. The initial reaction spread like a wave through the room from person to person. Attraction. Interest. About what I was expecting. Then, as we mingled and people approached—mostly to ask about the lightsaber and confirm I was a Jedi—the effect I had been waiting on kicked in. The room grew warmer as [edit] spread with my pheromones drifting on the air.

  That’s right. Have a good, long look. Burn me into your memory. Remember that you saw me here. What I was wearing, who I was with.

  A few dozen alibis would be a very handy thing to have. Especially when they would all be able to say that there was no way I could be connected to what was coming…

  I was halfway into using a pair of chopsticks to pile a few sushi rolls onto one of the little plates they provided when I felt an annoyingly familiar ripple in the Force approach from behind. Aylin turned halfway to look, then went right back to filling her own plate.

  Just go away. Ignore me. I’m not who you think I am—

  I felt a tap on my shoulder and glanced up, finding a young sandy haired girl in a blue and white dress smiling at me. It was the painfully naive girl from Naboo—Padme, I believed her name was. I had to suppress a wince as I took in the Force around her. Seeing visual proof of what I’d been feeling, I didn’t want to be anywhere near her. That outsized ripple, whatever it was, had only grown.

  Over her shoulder, I saw another young lady—perhaps a little older than Padme—with red hair and wearing a green robe, looking somewhat uncertain. This one at least was normal. Not quite the spot of bright blue that Padme was, but much brighter than just about anyone else in the room.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Behind them, a pair of guards stood quietly and unobtrusively, eyeing Aylin briefly before turning their attention back to the rest of the room. They seemed to be focusing most of their attention and anxiety on my companion even if they were looking elsewhere—which, honestly, I didn’t blame them.

  Outside of her armor, my Mandalorian captain wasn’t a particularly imposing figure. Average height for a woman, athletic, lithe—slim and attractive. In her armor, Aylin looked like she could probably take out most of the other security herself—at the same time.

  One of the men wore the somewhat familiar uniform style I recalled from Naboo, while the other was dressed in a style I didn’t recognize. If either of them had on armor, it was very well concealed beneath their clothes, and both were armed only with small, concealed blasters—likely the biggest cause of their worry. Standing beside them, Aylin was a walking tank.

  By comparison, I felt naked. The dress hadn’t allowed for wearing even just my beskar chest piece.

  “Tanya? What are you doing here?!” the small brunette asked, pulling me from my observations.

  Resisting the urge to sigh, I forced a smile onto my face. “Padme. It’s good to see you again. I’m here on Jedi business, actually. What about you? I didn’t expect to see you here.”

  I hadn’t expected to see her at all outside of Naboo, really—let alone in Hutt space. She was exactly the sort of pretty little thing that looked like she, or rather her parents, had money and she would make a good kidnapping target for ransom.

  Alternately, it was Hutt space. That hypothetical kidnapping could lead directly to child sex slavery instead.

  And just like that, I couldn’t leave her and her red haired friend with just the pathetic security force they had brought with them, in good conscience. I would have to remain near them for most of the night, simply so Aylin’s highly visible and very threatening presence would deter any would-be ne’er-do-ells.

  There is an upside to having them around though. I’m a Jedi. It’s my responsibility to ensure nothing bad happens to them. They are the perfect alibi, even beyond the other attendees. After all, Padme is just so earnest that any Jedi questioning her will immediately be able to tell she’s telling the truth when she says I’ve been by her side for nearly the entire evening.

  “It’s uh, it’s a ‘field trip,’” she explained, looking a little embarrassed. “We were allowed to go off-world for a social function to gauge how we’re progressing in being able to gather information, make friends, and influence people. There’s a proctor hidden here somewhere watching and recording everything I do to be graded later. Also, a lot of the Republic’s senators either come for it or they send a representative, so it’s a good opportunity for networking.”

  That was true. I had recognized a few familiar faces. Familiar mostly because they were on my list.

  “Oh! Speaking of making friends!” Padme turned and grabbed the slightly older redhead by the arm, pulling her closer with a smile. “This is Mon Mothma! She’s a friend from Chandrila I met through the contact exchange program. Mon, this is Tanya Mereel. She’s the Jedi Padawan I told you about, who came and spoke in our class.”

  “Knight now, actually,” I corrected.

  “Congratulations!” Padme beamed.

  I offered a hand to the redhead. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  The girl straightened up, trying her best to look serious and grown up, while internally she was a nervous wreck. She took my hand, but not in the handshake I was expecting, as she curtsied. “Likewise. Padme had a lot to say about you.”

  “All good, I promise,” the smaller girl grinned. “Sooo… What sort of Jedi business are you here on? If you don’t mind me asking?”

  Seeing the way Mon perked up, as well as the interest of those around us listening in subtly and pretending to do anything else, I motioned for them to follow. One wall of the room was a permeable force field, leading out to a balcony overlooking the city below. I led us over near the wall but not outside, since I didn’t want to smell the stench of the place. Aylin and the two guards followed, but spread out a bit and kept their distance to give us the illusion of privacy. I turned that illusion into reality with a quick formula, creating a field to cancel the noise of our conversation while letting in noises from outside.

  “If you’re going to fish for information, have a little more tact in the future. Time and place,” I warned, and Padme blushed, radiating embarrassment as she realized her mistake. “Do you have any idea how many people were listening, hoping I’d drop something interesting?”

  “Sorry. I didn’t realize—” she started, but I cut her off.

  “Don’t apologize. Do better.” At that, the girl nodded. Deciding to turn this into an impromptu lesson, I asked, “How many people have just moved closer to try and hear us, because they haven’t realized I’m actively preventing them from being able to do so?”

  “Uh…” Padme murmured, looking around.

  Mon bit her lip, not being as blatantly obvious as Padme. “Six? No, seven. There’s a man with something concealed up his sleeve who keeps turning his palm towards us and looks frustrated.”

  “Eight?” Padme asked, and I shook my head.

  “Three times that. You’re not counting the guards, or the servers. In fact, be quiet a minute,” I shut up and dropped the formula as a human woman dressed as serving staff walked over carrying a tray containing drinks.

  “Can I offer you ladies anything?” she asked.

  “Privacy.”

  The word made the woman’s smile falter and I held her gaze, raising an eyebrow as I waited. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, she took the hint and turned around, walking away. I reapplied the noise canceling formula. “Give it just a moment.”

  The woman paused, turning back to us as though she’d forgotten something and hurrying back as I dropped the field again. “Are you sure I can’t interest you in anything?”

  Reaching out with the Force, I plucked her earpiece out. The woman went wide-eyed and made to grab it, but wasn’t fast enough to stop me from crushing it. “Why did you approach us?” I asked, using Mind Trick.

  The woman blinked, before answering, “I was told to check to see why we couldn’t hear your conversation.”

  “By whom? Are you working for the venue or someone else? And for what purpose?”

  “…A private firm out of Coruscant. We gather intelligence at events like this for our clients, to peddle influence and favors.”

  Padme’s mouth fell open. “You mean blackmail?”

  The woman shook her head, fighting against the technique, and I leaned on it a bit harder. “Answer.”

  “Yeah. It’s for blackmail,” she answered with a wince.

  Padme started to ask something else, but I motioned for her to be quiet. “Go away now.”

  The woman turned and left, and I put the field up again. Frowning, Mon asked, “What was that just now?”

  I shrugged. “They don’t like it when you take away their ability to collect information, so they sent someone to check and see how I was doing it.”

  “No, I mean the other thing! How did you get her to do what you wanted?” the girl asked, eyeing me warily. Internally, she felt conflicted. On the one hand, afraid. On the other, I could practically hear the wheels turning as she thought of ways to put what I had done to use.

  Sending her an amused look, I asked, “First time meeting a Jedi? I thought Padme told you about me.”

  The redhead looked away with a frown. “Everyone knows the Jedi are just a religious order of monks who worship the Force. Sure, they get a fancy glowing sword, and they’re technically part of the Republic government, but the position is largely ceremonial! You’re not supposed to be able to just, just mind control people!”

  I looked to Padme, who shook her head. “I told her what I saw, but I didn’t know you could do that.”

  “I thought you were exaggerating! Or it was some kind of trick!” Mon protested, and I shook my head.

  I gestured and the girl lifted off the ground a foot with a squeal that she quickly fought off. “What do you think? Still a trick?”

  “Please put me down,” she pleaded, and I lowered her back to her feet. The girl’s hands clenched in her robe as she stared at me. “So… all the stories? Those are all real?”

  “That depends on which stories you’re talking about,” I shrugged. “The Force is real. As real as the electromagnetic spectrum. Just because you can’t see most of it most of the time doesn’t mean it isn’t there.” Or that it can’t kill you, if you’re not careful—but I didn’t think she needed to hear that. It would only worry her further. Still, it gave me an opportunity to segue nicely into answering Padme’s question.

  “That’s why I’m here. I’ve heard there are Force related items going up for sale and I’d like to acquire them to keep them from falling into the wrong hands. When it comes to the Force, there’s no telling how dangerous something is just by looking, in some cases. What some may think is merely a curiosity and conversation piece may actually contain secrets that are best left that way.”

  Biting her lower lip, Mon asked, “Can all Jedi do that?”

  Assuming she meant Mind Trick, I held up a hand and made a so-so gesture. “It’s a very simple Force ability that is taught fairly early, but it’s not necessarily easy to grasp. Not everyone is cut out to use more subtle skills. Most can at least manage it to some degree. I’m actually not very good with it myself.”

  The pair stared for a moment before Padme pointed out, “You got her to do what you wanted though?”

  “Yes, but I had to metaphorically bludgeon her over the head to do it.” It was one of the skills I needed to work on. I could use it more subtly, I just didn’t have much practice doing so, and when I had to use the skill I tended to be in too much of a hurry to bother with being subtle anyway.

  “So you, or practically any Jedi, could just do that to basically anyone?” Mon asked.

  “We could, yes. We don’t, because that would be an abuse of power. We only use it when we need to.” She made to open her mouth and I added, “Remember, at the time the Jedi were folded into the Republic government during the Ruusan Reformation, the government knew we could do that and more. The Republic may have tried to put the Jedi on a shelf and forget about us, but we weren’t always a ceremonial position.”

  Mon winced at that. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it that way.”

  I shook my head. “No offense taken.”

  From a hidden speaker system above our heads, a chime sounded. At the entrance to the room, a well dressed twi’lek woman announced, “If you would all come this way, the auction will begin shortly.”

  The room began to clear out and I dropped the soundproofing, putting a hand in the middle of each girl’s back and gently pushing them towards the doors. “Let’s go.”

  Soon enough, we entered a large, open three-story room, with private balconies overlooking a stage in the middle floating on a platform suspended in the air by repulsors. The pair of young political aspirants and their guards joined us as we made our way to the booth that matched the number I had been given. We took our seats and, a few minutes later, the lights in the booths dimmed as bright lights lit the stage and a human man walked onto the stage, flashing a big smile and waving at the crowd. Given the general reaction from the females in the crowd, I was pretty sure that was exactly why he had been hired.

  I wasn’t fooled. He looked sickly and disgusting in my vision. Not as bad as some of the politicians I had seen, but not the kind of person I would willingly have anything to do with. However, he paled in comparison to what came next.

  A large, floating bed hovered onto the stage, carrying an extremely fat worm that waved to the crowd and called out something in Huttese as it came to rest behind the human announcer. I felt my stomach roil in disgust at the feelings rolling off of it and the pile of filth and putrescence I saw in my new Force enhanced vision.

  Whatever else happens tonight, that worm isn’t leaving here alive.

  “Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to tonight’s auction, brought to you by our generous benefactor—”

  Nearly three hours into the assignment, Aylin was just starting to get bored of listening to the two younger girls go on and on about how this auction and events like it were a sign of a failing system and the excesses of rampant late stage capitalism and blah, blah, blah she really couldn’t be fucked to care and regretted pulling her helmet off, because at least with it on she could mute her audio feed—but the food made up for it, so she suffered in silence. After all, she had volunteered for this gig.

  The one spot of trouble they’d encountered had been when the gray auction started and someone came by to check to see why two people who weren’t registered were still there. But Tanya was her usual convincing self and the man left with the girls’ badges, convinced that allowing them to stay and observe wouldn’t hurt anyone.

  As Aylin ate another sushi roll and the last few minutes before the final auction wound down, Tanya finally made her move.

  “Girls, if you’ll excuse us for a moment?” she asked, and the pair of young ladies, wrapped up in their own conversation, barely acknowledged them as they slipped away.

  Aylin followed along behind her Mand’alor as Tanya led them from the room and into a nearby ladies’ room. For what was probably the hundredth time that night [edit].

  Once inside the restroom, a quick command of, “Get out,” from Tanya had the few women inside scrambling for the exit. The air around them felt funny—the same sort of static-y feel Aylin recognized from when the younger woman used the Force occasionally. Usually when she was surrounding them with something. Tanya dug into the bag on her belt and produced a silver piece of jewelry—one that looked identical to the one dangling [edit]. Then, she pulled off the badge she had been issued at the door.

  “Take this,” Tanya said, handing them over. As soon as she did, a second Tanya popped into being beside her and the Mando blinked. “It’s an illusion. It won’t stand up to being touched, so try to keep anyone from doing so. I’ll be controlling it remotely, so you won’t have to worry about its movements or placement.”

  Aylin slipped the chain around her neck and tucked the round piece of metal beneath her chest armor. Then, she slipped the badge into a pocket under an armor panel. “Got it. So, what am I doing?”

  “Head back to our booth and wait. When the fireworks start, get Padme and Mon out. I’ll have my duplicate act as the rear guard. When it’s done, I’ll come find you and swap places with the illusion.”

  Aylin nodded and, a moment later, Tanya disappeared as the copy moved into an open stall. “I’ll need you to open the door. Shutting down the illusion hiding us from the cameras in three, two…”

  The toilet flushed and the other Tanya walked out and made her way over to the sink. Aylin saw and heard water running as the copy washed her hands, and if she hadn’t known it was an illusion, she would’ve never suspected something was off.

  Leaving the restroom, they made their way back to the waiting room with just enough time to catch the two girls leaving and rejoin them and their guards. To her surprise, the illusion carried on a full conversation with them as they walked back to the booth.

  The three of them sat while Aylin and the two guards stood at the back of the booth and to either side, close enough to see out into the other booths and make sure no one was lining up a shot on one of their charges. It was only a few minutes later that she caught motion up above, and only because she had been using her helmet’s optical filters to cut out the glare from the lights.

  A figure moved along the ceiling beams suspending the lights, before finding a spot beside the light directly over the stage below and crouching. It settled in to wait as item after item went up for bid. Until finally, the black holocron Tanya had told her to be on the lookout for came out. She immediately stuck a hand into her pocket and hit the badge as bidding began and the digital display above the stage registered the bid under Tanya’s number.

  A few more bids went through before suddenly, there was a muffled explosion and the lights across the whole building cut out. Down below, there was a crash and a curse as the repulsorlift stage fell to the ground. Someone in one of the booths let out a startled shriek before settling down as nervous laughter filled the air and lights from flashlights and other devices began to come on. Aylin contributed her own spotlights from her helmet, doing her best to look like just another guard.

  “It’s okay, everyone. Power will be restored—” There was a heavy thump from the stage as a shadow landed behind the auctioneer. “—shortly. Huh?” The man turned as the hutt behind him began saying something in its language.

  “Hey, are you okay? Do you need medical—”

  Light flared on the stage as a bar of bright red plasma ignited with a familiar thrumming hum. The crowd went silent for just a moment, before Tanya—or rather, the illusion of Tanya—stood and yelled a warning. “It’s a Sith! We’re evacuating!”

  Aylin moved, grabbing the two younger women and hauling them up onto her shoulders as, down below, the red lightsaber moved. She didn’t see it clearly as she turned, but judging by the thumps and the screams that followed immediately after, her boss had gotten to work.

  Blaster fire strobed against the walls as multiple someones opened fire on the stage, but Aylin had seen how that song and dance usually ended. She had watched her men shoot blasters at Tanya for training while the Jedi was blindfolded and if she didn’t dodge them outright, her favorite thing was to send them right back to where they had come from.

  Cries sounded from behind them as one of the two girls’ guards got the door and the other rushed ahead, leaving Aylin to carry the girls at damn near a sprint as they ran through the hall for the exit—Tanya’s illusion practically in her back pocket as it worked to keep from bumping into something and giving away the game. Occasionally, blaster bolts punched through the wall around them and a shield would spring up if one got too close, but that only happened a couple of times before they made it to the stairs leading up to the roof and the landing pad.

  As they went, Aylin used her helmet’s interface to punch in a call to the Rusted Silver above. Cindy picked up immediately. “Hey, what’s going on? Got a lot of radio chatter and emergency services just went nuts—”

  “We’re under attack! Need immediate exfil!”

  There was a pause, then the blonde mechanic’s voice came back, sounding somehow sexy and threatening at the same time. “You got it~! Coming in hot! Twenty seconds on target.”

  I have a feeling I’m going to regret authorizing that but the boss would want it to look authentic—so if someone gets shot, oh fucking well.

  “Alright, we’ve got a ride coming. What about you two?” Aylin asked, glancing over her shoulder at one of the other guards as they reached the lobby—only to find the security team already there and waiting, guns drawn.

  “Stop where you are and put your weapons on the ground!” one of the security members in front called.

  “Someone in there is killing everyone! We’re not sticking around—” the lead guard, the one from Chandrila, started to deny only for two of the security team to open fire.

  “We won’t tell you again! Weapons down!”

  Tanya’s illusion frowned, stepping out from behind Aylin. “We don’t have time for this.” Weapons shifted to track her and a shield sprang up between them, blaster bolts splashing uselessly off of it for a few seconds before they stopped. “You’re in our way. Now, either you can move…”

  A spotlight flared into the building from behind them and Aylin’s helmet compensated a moment later, revealing the familiar form of Tanya’s gunship hovering just outside. For just a moment, she felt a tingle across her skin and someone tapped her arm, before the tingle faded and the illusion? nodded towards the door as behind them, people began rushing out of the stairs and elevator to join them, only to freeze upon seeing the armed security team.

  “Or my chauffeur for the night might creatively interpret her standing orders and just decide to blast everything in the lobby. Your choice.”

  A moment later, the security team moved aside and they began moving, hurrying through the doors as the ship set down. “We’ll sort out who goes where later. For now, let’s just get out of here,” Tanya ordered as the hatch to the ship opened and she waved them in. Once the last of them was inside, she followed, closing the hatch and rushing to the cockpit.

  “Boss, we’ve got incoming! Hutt security forces keep trying to comm us! They don’t like that we broke their cordon!” Cindy warned as she hopped up and slid into the co-pilot’s seat, while Tanya dropped into the pilot’s seat. Aylin had just enough time to throw the two girls into a seat and get them strapped in, then grab one of the grab bars overhead before they lifted off and the ship accelerated so hard that the inertial dampeners couldn’t keep up as it screamed into the sky.

  “Let them! What are they going to do, send a gunship?” Tanya asked, only for the ship to shift abruptly to port, then hard down as red blaster bolts streaked past them. “…Let me guess. A gunship?”

  “Two!” Cindy laughed.

  “Well, make yourself useful and discourage them from following!”

  The mechanic nodded and the sound of the blaster cannons on the roof firing filled the cockpit—along with the sound of two girls screaming that everyone had been mostly tuning out. “Already on it!”

  Aylin, meanwhile, put in her own call. “Redoubt, we’re coming in hot. Warm up the engines and as soon as we’re inside, get us the hell out of here.”

  “Roger that, captain. We’re moving into position for intercept,” her comms officer replied. A moment later, she added, “The orbital security fleet is breaking off from their patrol route and heading this way. XO says you might want to put a rush on it, cap! Unless you really want to get into a punch up with them…”

  Aylin rolled her eyes, recognizing the tone. And as much as the idea of slugging it out with one of the big ships the Hutts used for planetary defense appealed, they weren’t at war with the Hutts and any interplanetary incident would result in paperwork she didn’t want to deal with. “Negative, Redoubt. Just be ready to go.”

  She cut the connection and moved forward, standing between the pilot and copilot’s seats. “Redoubt is coming in for pickup, but it looks like we’ve drawn the attention of the planetary defense, so…”

  “Got it. Didn’t like this moon anyway,” Tanya murmured, flipping a few switches. “Brace for full burn.”

  Aylin magnetized her boots and held on. A moment later, the ship leapt forward, climbing sharply as it roared from only a bit faster than the sound barrier to mach fuck in a matter of seconds. Even with the inertial dampeners doing their best, Aylin still felt like she was being crushed as the ship pulled several G’s breaking atmosphere.

  Then, they were through and everything went quiet. The G-forces quickly relented as the inertial dampeners caught up and, through the viewports, she made out the Redoubt looming ahead as it rushed to meet them.

  “Haha~! I should come with you more often, if this is how things usually end up,” Cindy laughed, breathing out a sigh and relaxing into her seat.

  “Well, can’t say I’m bored anymore,” Aylin chuckled, demagnetizing her boots and letting go of the overhead ‘oh shit’ handle. Leaning forward, she patted Tanya on the shoulder. “You take me on the best dates.” [Edit for humorless mods: That was a joke.]

  “If your idea of a first date is a firefight, followed by a daring escape from local forces, I have to wonder about the second. A duel to the death with someone? A dog fight? Perhaps a boarding operation, or ship to ship combat.”

  Aylin’s lips twitched into a grin. “Nah. A boarding operation is for proposing and ship to ship combat is reserved for marriage.”

  “Good to know,” Tanya sighed, exasperation clear in her voice. Quietly, just loud enough that Aylin’s helmet audio picked it up, she muttered, “I’m surrounded by bloodthirsty lunatics and battle junkies.”

  Aylin almost pointed out that Tanya didn’t exactly have room to complain, since she was now the leader of an entire people made up mostly of bloodthirsty lunatics and battle junkies. They were her people and she fit right in. But something told her it wouldn’t be received all that well at the moment.

  Later though. Now, if I could get back to the ship, pour myself a nice drink, and [edit], it’d be the perfect end to a night. Fuck me [edit].

  …[Edit].

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