“I hate to miss anything,” Okadiah said, “but a host must entertain. Jarrus, lad, hold the fort.” He pitched his towel to Kanan and bowed to the huddled woman. “Let’s talk again sometime,” he said, exiting from behind the counter.
Kanan grabbed Okadiah’s shirt as he passed. “This is weird. What am I supposed to say to her?”
“You’ll be back there with all the booze. Offer her a drink. Or have one yourself.”
Kanan weighed the facts and realized his friend had made an excellent suggestion. Hoisting his body onto the bar, he deposited himself on the other side of the counter. There, he saw the Sullustan woman sitting on the floor, leaning back with her head and shoulders inside the cabinet beneath the sink.
“Hey! What are you doing in there?”
“It’ll be just a second,” she called out.
Kanan waited. Perhaps she had a lifelong ambition to be a plumber.
She peeked out. “Excuse me. Can you hand me the cutter in my bag?”
Stupefied, Kanan did as he was asked. The little bag was packed to overflowing with electronic gadgets.
“Thank you,” she said, taking the tool. A few seconds later, she emerged with a look of satisfaction. “There. Taken care of.”
Kanan offered his hand to help her up. “What did you do?”
“Neutralized the surveillance cams in here,” she said, getting to her feet. “Thanks for the help.”
“There are cams in here?”
“There are cams everywhere,” the woman said, brushing herself off. Seeming much more at ease, she removed her poncho, revealing a dark-colored outfit. “That’s what I was doing when I came in—moving between the blind spots. I figured Transcept hid the transmitter relay behind the bar. That’s a favorite spot for cantinas—no one ever wants to clean under the sink.” She put her tool back in her bag. “I cut the power to the whole system.”
Kanan looked around the room. He still couldn’t see where the cams were.
“Don’t worry—I made it look as if a rodent chewed into the works. Happens all the time. Someone pretending to be an ale distributor will be by next week to repair everything.”
“If you say so.” Kanan took a deep breath, wondering if he’d ever done anything other than get soused in the place. Knowing he hadn’t, he shook off the paranoia. “How do you know this, Zaluna?”
She stared at him, suddenly serious again. Big eyes got even wider. “How—how do you know my name?”
“It’s on your name badge, there,” Kanan said, pointing.
The woman looked at him—and then down at the official badge clipped to her work clothes. “Oh,” she said, disgusted, ripping the tag off and putting it in her bag. “I guess I’m not very good at this.”
“At what?”
Regaining her composure, Zaluna glanced at Kanan and smiled primly. “I am just another customer visiting a cantina. You should pay me no mind.”
“Okay,” Kanan said, turning away to the bottles.
“But I could use a little more help.”
Kanan looked over his shoulder. “Look, ma’am, I’ve had a long day. I’m really not in the mood to help anyone.”
“But you will.” Zaluna leaned against the bar and smiled gently. “I know you. I’ve seen you working—on Cynda.”
“How? I haven’t seen you there.”
Zaluna didn’t explain. “You help people. I’ve seen you do it before. And I saw you saving your friend from Count Vidian today.”
“You saw me?”
Zaluna didn’t elaborate. But she smiled, a little ashamed of what she’d revealed. “That’s one of the rare pleasures of my world. You spend all your time watching for bad people, and you want to forget what you see. But the good ones, those you remember.”
Kanan stared. None of what Zaluna was saying made sense. The woman, he now realized, reminded him of Jocasta Nu, the Jedi librarian. They didn’t look anything alike, of course. But Jocasta always seemed to know everything, and acted like knowing everything was nothing. That was definitely in this woman’s manner.
“What do you want help with?”
Zaluna looked into the teeming crowd. “I’m supposed to meet someone, but I don’t know what they look like.”
“You don’t know what everyone looks like?”
“Not this time. And I need to keep a low profile. Can you look for me?”
Kanan looked down and put his hands before him. “Zaluna, I don’t know who you are or who you think I am—but you do not know me. I do not go around randomly helping people!”
“That’s not what I’ve heard about you,” came a voice from the far end of the bar. The voice.
Kanan decided to play it cool, as he turned. They always seek you out, brother. “Hey there, Hera,” he said, smiling confidently. “What can I get you?”
THE JEDI ORDER WAS more than an unpaid police force, more than just an exercise club that was into metaphysics. It was a way of life, based on the Jedi Code—and a lot of rules for living that weren’t in the Code, that had been tacked on later. One was that Jedi avoided becoming involved in romantic relationships. Once on the run, Kanan Jarrus had found that rule pretty easy to forget about.
Hera’s visit here, now, wasn’t any kind of date—but she was a lovely woman wanting a private conversation, and from his earlier experiences he knew just the spot. The Asteroid Belt had a nice, secluded table in the back where the light was just right and where you were out of the stumbling line of the drunks and the brawlers.
But never in his past visits to the table had he brought along a short, gray chaperone—and Zaluna was talking more with Hera than he was. After being sent to the bar for something for the third time by Hera, Kanan had started to suspect that the Twi’lek really had come here looking for Zaluna after all, and not him.
The two were chatting closely when Kanan returned to the table with the coasters Hera had requested. It was time to step things up. “You can stop talking about how much you miss me, ladies—I’m back!”
“Great,” Hera said, in a tone that, for the first time, wasn’t music to Kanan’s ears. She seemed annoyed at having been interrupted, but he wasn’t going to let that deter him.
Looking down, he saw that the chair he’d been sitting in was pushed well away from the table, out into the aisle. Hera’s foot had pushed it there, he realized. So much for gratitude over being saved. “Standing room only tonight,” he said, grabbing the chair and chuckling. “Good thing nobody else grabbed this.”
“Good thing,” Hera repeated.
Kanan spun the chair around backward and straddled it as he sat down, putting his chest against the back of the chair and crossing his arms over the top of it—a move intended to bring him fully into the conversation. “So what’d I miss?”
Hera looked at him with impatience—until Zaluna reached out and touched her hand. “I think you can trust him. I’ve watched him longer than you have. He helps people—though he makes a show of doing otherwise. He stood up to Vidian just today.”
“I saw,” Hera said.
“You did?” Kanan asked, slack-jawed.
Hera seemed to fret. “It’s still not smart. You protect secrets by keeping the circle small.”
“And you protect yourself by having a witness,” Zaluna said. “I’ve been a professional witness my whole life. If we’re really going to discuss this, I’d like one now.” She regarded Kanan. “He’ll do.”
Kanan slumped in his chair and shrugged. “I’ll do.” What’s going on here?
Hera seemed to reach a decision. She leaned across the table, her hands clasped together. “All right. I’d come here to meet this guy I met on the HoloNet—”
“Oh, well, there’s your first mistake,” Kanan proclaimed. “I could have told you—”
But before he could finish his sentence, Hera flashed Kanan a smile that was only slightly patronizing. “Can it wait?”
Mildly chastened, Kanan shut his mouth.
“I was looking for a man
named Hetto. He and Zaluna both work for a company with a surveillance contract for the Empire. Hetto had grown worried about what he saw as abuses of authority—and he had already been in contact with other…concerned parties.”
Kanan could tell from the way Hera pronounced the words that she didn’t want to elaborate too much about that. But she did say that it was Hetto she was supposed to have met until his arrest changed that.
“He was arrested for trying to meet you,” Zaluna said, shaking her head.
“It wasn’t just that,” Hera said, sounding soothing. “You know that. Hetto was aware, Zaluna. Awake to all the things the Empire is doing. This meeting? It was him reaching out, trying to do something. You were brave to take it on yourself, to finish what he started.”
“I’m not brave,” Zaluna said, her voice a little shaky. “I’m an old fool. I remember too much. I remember how it was—and how it got worse, even before the Empire. I remember when people didn’t kill guildmasters on a whim and walk away without a thought.” Her black eyes glistened. “And I remember when my people were safe. Those employees of mine are my children, and now one of them’s in deep trouble.” She focused on Hera. “Will they kill Hetto?”
Hera didn’t seem to know what to say. Zaluna closed her huge eyes, mournful. Kanan reached out and patted her hand. “Hey, there, maybe your friend’s just in a labor camp.”
“Kanan is right,” Hera said, a phrase he thought sounded wonderful coming from her, whether she meant it or not. “Hetto is a talented person, and they’ll want to keep him around, maybe even doing work like he is now. Just someplace else.”
“Yeah, and maybe they even have daylight there,” Kanan said. He smiled awkwardly at Hera and shrugged.
Recovering her composure, Zaluna reached into her bag and pulled out a data cube. It was bigger than the storage device Kanan had seen Skelly waving around. “This is what Hetto wanted you to have.” She peered up at Hera. “You know what’s on it?”
“I think so,” Hera said. She reached into a pocket and withdrew a small reading device. “May I?”
Zaluna paused, suddenly reluctant. “This is it, isn’t it? This is the moment.” Glancing all around the bar, she took a deep breath. “It’s exciting, almost, being on this side of the cams. You wonder who else is here.”
“There’s no Imperial agents here, if that’s what you’re asking,” Kanan said. He looked back across the room. “These are all one hundred percent pure shovel-carrying drunkards. I’ve tussled with too many of them to think they’re plants for the Empire.”
Hera looked at him. “And what do you think about the Empire?”
“As little as possible,” he said. “I could take it or leave it.”
“Hmm.”
She sounded disappointed, Kanan thought, but only a little. Clearly, Hera was politically aware; he knew the sort, having wooed a university woman or ten on more upscale worlds. But those women had all aggressively tried to get him to care about their causes of the week. Hera was letting him be, at least for the moment. Good for her.
“You can look at it,” Zaluna finally decided, offering the data cube. “That’s what Hetto wanted. But—maybe you’d better give it right back afterward. Okay?”
“Okay,” Hera said. Taking it, she plugged it into her device and began reading. Kanan saw her eyes widening as she read, and he realized she was savoring something wonderful.
“Juicy stuff?”
“Mm-hmm.” She manipulated the device for several minutes. “This is huge. It’s not just the information—it’s how it was retrieved. The Empire is everywhere.”
“But not omniscient,” Zaluna said. “Eyes and ears can fail.” She nodded to what Hera was holding. “Study that long enough, and you’d see where they fall short.”
“This section here. What are these names?”
Zaluna examined what Hera was looking at and cleared her throat. “That’s different. Those are all the requests made on the Imperial channel to the Transcept database. People they’re interested in. Background checks, video files being pulled.”
Kanan took a peek as Hera paged through lists of names. He still couldn’t believe any of this business was real.
“I think Hetto was downloading right up until a few minutes before he was arrested,” Zaluna said. “There are some really recent ones in there.”
Hera pointed to a name. “What’s this very last one—Lemuel Tharsa?”
“That’s one of the command-level requests from the Star Destroyer. Somebody important wanted to know about him.”
“Command level? Like the captain? Or Count Vidian?”
“I suppose.”
“And who is Lemuel Tharsa?”
“The name doesn’t sound familiar,” Zaluna said. She took the cube and reader from Hera and ran a search. “Someone by that name did visit the planet twenty years ago—someone started a file on him, at least. No details, though.”
“Why would they be looking for someone like that?” Hera asked.
“No idea. Sorry there’s not more—back in the commercial surveillance days, there were more legal limits to tracking.” Zaluna passed the cube and reader back to Hera. “Of course, I probably saw the guy back then, if it was even the same person. Maybe something will jog my memory.”
Kanan chuckled. “Well, you people spy on millions of people. I wouldn’t expect you to—”
“Kanan Jarrus, human male, early twenties,” Zaluna said, looking up at him. “Freighter pilot, dangerous cargo. Flight clearance seven. Emigrated to Gorse five months ago from—”
Kanan grabbed her wrist. “Okay, you’re spooky. I get it.” His mouth went dry, and he reached for his drink.
“This is good,” Hera said, detaching the reader and passing the data cube back to the woman. “Very good, very worth Hetto’s sacrifice—and yours. May I have it long enough to copy it? I’m busy with the reason I’m here, but for this, I’d make time.”
Kanan’s eyebrow went up. “I thought meeting her was the reason you were here.”
Hera looked at him kindly. “Kanan, I appreciate what you did for me back in Shaketown—and also your hosting us here. But I’ve done all I’m going to do to satisfy your curiosity, so—”
“Oh, no!”
Hera and Kanan looked at Zaluna.
“He’s here,” the Sullustan woman said, looking into the crowd. “Why would he be here, now?”
Kanan looked around, but could only see the bustling patrons. “What? Who’s here?”
“What is it, Zaluna?” Hera asked, worried. “The Empire?”
Having already made a decision, Zaluna stuffed the data cube into her bag and stood. “This is too much. I have to go.” She turned from the table and headed for the side door. “Good-bye!”
Kanan and Hera looked at each other, puzzled—until they became aware of a figure in a tan overcoat standing nearby.
“Kanan! Just the guy I’m looking for,” Skelly said, peering out from beneath his hood. “And I see you’ve met my friend!”
“YOU! I THOUGHT I’D gotten rid of you!”
Skelly stretched out his hands and smiled broadly at Kanan. “Hello to you, too,” he said, speaking loudly. “Don’t get up.”
Kanan did get up. He grabbed the startled fugitive by the back of the neck and forcibly shoved him down into the seat Zaluna had been occupying. “This is a room full of miners who think you tried to crush them to death!”
“That’s all wrong.” Skelly started to rise. “Look, I could tell them—”
“Sit down!” Kanan barked, shoving him downward. He looked around the room to see who had noticed. Thankfully, it was chaos as usual—a term that was quickly coming to describe his entire evening.
“Why did—” Hera started to say. “Our friend, the Sullustan. She ran out of here when she saw you. Why?”
“No idea,” Skelly said.
“She probably met him in an elevator once,” Kanan said.
Skelly pointed at Hera with his good hand
. “You should be careful around this woman, Kanan. I don’t think she’s who she says she is.”
“Thanks for the advice. But she hasn’t said anything yet.”
Hera stood and glanced at Kanan. “I should see where she ran off to. I’ll be back.”
“No, wait.” He rose and touched her shoulder. “Sit with Skelly. Make sure he doesn’t do—well, anything. Anything at all.”
Kanan walked quickly back along the bar. Reaching the side door, he saw nothing outside but Okadiah’s aged hoverbus, parked in the moonlight.
He saw Skelly and Hera talking furtively when he returned. Did they really know each other?
“Couldn’t see her,” he announced.
Hera frowned. “She’d know Skelly was wanted,” she reasoned.
“Maybe she’ll come back when he’s gone.” Sitting down, Kanan faced Skelly. “What are you doing here in the first place? Who let you go?”
Skelly pointed. “She did!”
Kanan looked at Hera and gawked. “What?”
Hera simply nodded—and shrugged.
“When? Where?”
“At Moonglow,” she said. “He was being held prisoner. I set him free.”
“Why?”
“It seemed like the thing to do.”
“What, like activating a thermal detonator?” Kanan couldn’t believe it.
She seemed unconcerned. “It seemed safe. There weren’t any reports of casualties from the moon—”
“I was nearly one. He’s a biological weapon.” He clapped his hand on Skelly’s sleeve. “Now will you please get out of here?”
“I’ll go,” Skelly said, pulling his hand back. “But I came to see you because I need a favor.”
“This should be good.”
“Vidian’s coming to inspect Moonglow in a few hours,” Skelly said.
Hera’s interest was piqued. “That’s odd. I thought Moonglow was a small operation.”
“I overheard him telling Lal. The stormtroopers have already put up a security cordon around that part of Shaketown. So I’ll need your ID to get me onto the grounds, old buddy.”
Kanan took a large swallow of his drink, then asked, “My what?”
The Rise of the Empire Page 44
