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?”
“You said you were going to quit anyway, right? Just let me borrow your badge. I’ll give it back after I’ve made my case to Vidian.”
“I won’t get it back, because they’re gonna shoot you in the head! And Vidian’ll have a ball watching.” Kanan shook his head. “That guy’s horrible.”
“He’s brilliant. He doesn’t take any guff from corporate types.”
“That’s for sure,” Hera said. “He kills them.”
“I know a few who deserve it. From what I hear, he does what needs doing.” With his left hand, he gestured to his motionless right hand. “And he’s not ashamed of his cybernetics. I think he talks my language. We’ll consult, like two professionals. I’ll save the moon. And then I’ll go.”
“This is the dumbest plan I’ve ever heard.” Kanan looked over at Hera in disbelief. “This is what you let loose.”
Hera sighed. “I saw someone with a grievance. I wanted to know what it was, before the Empire rubbed him out. I wanted to know if he was worth knowing.” She fixed her eyes on Kanan and spoke calmly. “You can’t always guess what role someone will play.”
“You can’t pick your friends, you mean?”
“Oh, I’m very selective.”
“I bet.”
“I have high standards,” Hera said. “Only very special people are going to be able to help me right now.”
“Like Skelly? Or her?” Kanan gestured with his thumb to the door Zaluna had left through.
“No, probably not.” She smiled charitably. “And not even you. I thank you for earlier, but you’re not going to be able to help me.”
“Help you do what?”
She smiled gently. “If you have to ask, you’re not ready to know.” She rose. “And now I really need to go. The Empire’s still looking for Skelly—and if they break Hetto, they could know about my rendezvous.”
Before Kanan could respond, he heard the front door being kicked open. Two stormtroopers appeared there. Turning, he saw two more coming in through the side door.
Hera saw them, too. She sighed. “Speak of the Empire, and it will appear.”
Crouching behind a garbage bin, Zaluna struggled to calm down. She’d been right to move when she did. Every Imperial on Gorse was looking for Skelly, and bounty had probably been offered. She didn’t know whether he was guilty of what he’d been accused of, but she wasn’t going to sit around possibly betraying the Empire while he was anywhere nearby.
Treason! That was what she’d just committed, she realized. Zaluna’s breaths came quickly as she looked down at the ground and her open bag. The data cube was there, glinting in the moonlight. By showing the object and its contents to Hera, Zaluna had just thrown away thirty-plus years of faithful service—and for what? To help a woman who might be in league with a mad bomber? Skelly had seemed to recognize Hera. Had his whole tussle with Kanan on the moon been a fraud, to trap her?
Entrapment had been a concern going in, and she’d taken a few steps to prepare for that. They hadn’t included an escape route on this side of the building, however. Hearing the clatter of armor as stormtroopers ran past, Zaluna looked furtively for someplace to hide the data cube or something to smash it with. There was nothing. Even the garbage bin was locked.
As the sound of another transport came from the street beyond, Zaluna saw her only possible sanctuary looming large and dark, up the alley. She picked up her bag and ran for it. Either those years in the Transcept exercise room would save her, or they wouldn’t.
The clamor inside The Asteroid Belt lessened only a little as the stormtroopers—one male and three female—made their way inside, blasters handy but not raised. Kanan saw Okadiah leave his sabacc game long enough to greet them. “Welcome, Officers, welcome! Happy hour all night!”
Kanan shot a concerned look at Hera. “Only two ways out of here,” he said.
“I know. I checked before I came in.”
Of course you did, Kanan thought.
Skelly stood up and reached for his hood. “I’ve had enough of this,” he said, beginning to remove his cowl. “I’m trying to see Vidian anyway. I’ll just go with them!”
“No!” Kanan and Hera said in unison, each grabbing an arm and jerking Skelly down. Kanan yanked the top of the hood forward so it was almost covering Skelly’s nose.
The stormtroopers began working their way through the room, speaking to individual patrons. The drunks weren’t cooperating, and the stormtroopers weren’t being gentle in return.
“Side door?” Hera asked.
Kanan shook his head. “Hear that sound?”
Hera concentrated for a moment. “Just the bar.”
“There’s a personnel carrier idling out there. Must be more stormtroopers.”
Hera glanced at the exit. “Couldn’t it be the hoverbus?”
“Different sound.” Only he and Okadiah had the activation code, anyway. Kanan looked around the bar, furtively—until his eyes fixed on the short hallway directly behind their table.
Kanan glanced back to make sure the stormtroopers weren’t looking his way. Seeing his moment, he stood, grasping Skelly’s arm tightly. “Quick,” he said, making for the corridor. “You, too!”
“But that doesn’t lead outside,” Hera said.
“Just follow—and do exactly what I say.”
“You there!”
“Me there,” Kanan said, emerging alone from the short hallway with a white towel in his hand. Less than a minute had passed—and two of the stormtroopers had reached the table he’d vacated.
“We’re searching this establishment,” the one with the female voice said.
“For what?”
“A spy, here to meet a traitor.” The male trooper shoved past Kanan and entered the short hallway.
“You’re kidding.” Kanan laughed. “Have a look around,” he said, picking up his empty mug from the table and rubbing it with the cloth. “If your spy’s here tonight, he’s blasted off his boosters!”
The female stormtrooper surveyed the cheering crowd. A blitzed Ugnaught, snout-faced and only a meter tall, was riding drunkenly around on the head of a similarly soused Ithorian. The brown-hided, hammer-headed titan had a pitcher in each long-fingered hand and was lumbering around trying to serve both himself and his small passenger at the same time without spilling any ale.
A normal night for The Asteroid Belt, in all respects.
“Maybe that’s your traitors there,” Kanan said, pointing to them with a smile.
“Never mind,” the stormtrooper said. “We’re also looking for a pilot from Moonglow. We don’t have pictures of him yet, but he’s a witness—the bomber stowed away on his ship. We were told he lives here.”
“On the floor, maybe,” Kanan said, walking to set the empty mug on the bar. “These pilots are in one night, out another.” He reached for an empty bottle and pitched it in the trash. “I’m just the bartender. Can I get you something?”
From down the short hallway, the other stormtrooper called out, “
There’s someone behind this door!”
“Uh-oh,” Kanan said, stepping lively to get there first. There was a small door to the left at the end of the corridor, and the stormtrooper that Kanan had seen earlier was about to kick it in. Kanan stepped up and raised his hand. “You really don’t want to go in there.”
The stormtrooper looked up at Kanan, helmeted head tilted slightly in puzzlement.
And then they all heard it: the loudest, most sickening retching sound, coming from behind the door. Something metallic inside banged loudly against the wall, and then against the door, before the horrible heaving noise began again.
“It’s one of the Wookiees,” Kanan said, shaking his head. “Always thinks he can handle Trandoshan ale. That stuff can take the finish off a landspeeder.”
The female stormtrooper didn’t turn away. “But that doesn’t sound—”
She was interrupted with a horrific symphony of heaving, louder than before. Kanan looked behind the armored pair. “Bring the heavy stuff, Layda!”
“Excuse me!” Hera, wearing a long apron, appeared in the open doorway on the other side of the hallway. She exited the storage room holding a mop in one hand and a carrying case of industrial-strength cleansers in the other. While the stormtroopers watched, she set the case down outside the door and reached in to find several cloth face masks. She tied one over her face, and then another. “You’ll want to get back,” she said to the watchers as she placed the third shield over her mouth. “I don’t know if those suits will protect you.”
“Rrrraaa-arrghh-arrggh-arrrrgh!” came another miserable howl from behind the door. The pounding resumed.
“I think we’ll move along,” the female stormtrooper said. Her partner’s body language showed immediate relief. “If you see any suspicious characters,” she said, “call the authorities.”
A New Dawn Page 13