yourself, Ghitsa Dogder. That's the only pointer you'll ever need." He slipped
out of the cockpit. With a final glance back at Ghitsa, Fen followed him out.
In a show of initiative that could become irritating if it were habitual,
Kyp had already opened the ship's hatch. A whoosh of hot, humid air surged
into the cabin, leaving Fen momentarily breathless.
Kyp trotted down the ramp to his friends, or whatever they were, Fen
thought sullenly. She followed, refusing to be cowed and annoyed that these
priests could probably divine how nervous she really was.
He exchanged a few words with them and the other Jedi dispersed. One
woman, however, remained, exuding to Fen's eye a proprietary protectiveness.
Fen leaned indolently against a landing-ramp strut, returning the suspicion
with a sardonic glare of her own.
Kyp hurried back, his face, Fen thought, a bit drawn. "Something wrong?"
she asked.
"Tionne says Master Skywalker has been injured."
"Again?"
He smirked. "They've just broken orbit and should be in shortly." Kyp
shifted, uncomfortably, as if he could feel the hot ground through his boots.
"I should..."
Fen waved him off. "I hate good-byes," she said gruffly, wondering why
her eyes were misting. Must be something in the wretched jungle air. "Get
going. We'll see ourselves out." She turned, only to stiffen as a gentle hand
at her shoulder brought her back around.
Kyp ducked his head, then glanced up through bangs that really needed a
trim now. "I'll miss you, too. Fen." He let his hand fall from her shoulder,
blushing shyly at the bold move. "You sure you don't want to stay for a few
days?"
"Positive. You're needed here." Fen glanced at the woman who must be
Tionne, still patiently waiting. "And the Academy certainly doesn't need me."
She held out her hand, wishing now that the words weren't sticking in her
craw. "But if lifting big rocks doesn't work out, there's always a place for
you on my crew."
He stared at her offered hand for what seemed forever, then slowly took
it, wrapping it in both of his own.
"Thanks, Fen. For everything." As Kyp stumbled for something to say, Fen
pulled away.
"You too, Jedi." She pivoted on a heel and headed back up the ramp
without looking back. Kyp finally found the words that had eluded him when she
heard softly in her mind, "The Force is with you, too, Fen."
They cleared the Academy airspace in half the time it had taken to get
into x. Fen ignored the inquisitive hails from the inbound Corellian freighter
and space yacht. As soon as they jumped, she fled to her quarters.
A half hour of composure later, Fen rejoined her partner in the main
cabin. With ceremonial solemnity,
Ghitsa was depositing her brown robe and lightsaber handle in the ship's
waste disposer.
Ghitsa finally broke the silence and joined Fen at the gaming table.
"It's not as much fun anymore."
"I'm not sorry to see it go." Fen scowled. "This whole trip has been a
bust."
"Yes, it has." Ghitsa inserted a datacard she had been fingering into a
datapad and slid it across the table. "I lifted this from Ral. What do you
think?"
"Orko SkyMine? Never heard of it."
"That's what the Desilijic wanted me for," Ghitsa explained. "They were
looking for someone who could tell them what Durga was up to." She rubbed her
cheek where the bruise was just beginning to fade. "They were disappointed I
hadn't heard of it, either."
"So what?" Fen shrugged. "It's probably just some new Hutt corporate
interclan espionage."
"Scroll down a little further."
Fen moved down the pad, stopped, studied it, and then studied it again,
and whistled. "Whatever Orko is, they're raking it in and pouring it out
again. It looks like the Hutts are up to something really big if this data is
real."
Ghitsa slid out of the booth to pace restlessly. "The Desilijic Clan
believed it enough to track us down, sabotage your ship, and kidnap a former
Counselor from Durga's clan."
Fen stared again at the readout on the datapad, an idea forming. "Ghits,"
she began slowly, "this would be worth a lot of money to an information
broker."
Her partner visibly wilted and slumped into a cabin chair. "I was afraid
you'd suggest that."
She burrowed manicured fingertips into her forehead to massage the
creases there. "Who? New Republic Intelligence?"
Fen snorted. "We'd have to explain way too much to a low-level flunkie.
And end up in their blaster sights for the trouble. And NRI won't pay top
credit. No, I'd take this to Talon Karrde."
Ghitsa opened her eyes wide in surprise. "Karrde? He hates me."
"Most of the Fringe hates you, Ghitsa. But he'll pay good money for
reliable information."
"That's not really the issue though, is it?"
"No," Fen said carefully. "It's whether you are finally willing to turn
your back on the Hutts." She rose. "Think about it. It's your decision."
As she was heading out of the cabin, Ghitsa stopped her.
"Fen?"
She turned slowly around, knowing that her partner of eight years was at
a cusp. Even after all this time, Fen had no idea which way this would go. Be
true to yourself, the Jedi had told Ghitsa. What did that mean to a woman who
was a con to her core and had worked for Hutts most of her life?
"What do those numbers on the datapad look like to you?"
"They're not what I would expect as a front for a smuggling operation or
criminal syndicate."
Ghitsa raised her eyes, and caught and held Fen's gaze. "No, they
weren't. Numbers of that magnitude are only found in a military budget." She
hoisted herself out other chair, moved over to the table, and removed the
datacard from the pad. "Jabba made the same mistake, you know."
"What's that?" Fen asked, taking the disk.
"Politics. Tangling with the wrong people. Not being content with
dominion in the criminal Fringe." Ghitsa shook her head. "Call up your
contact. Tell him we've got something Karrde will be very interested in."
"Karrde's got some good contacts within the New Republic." Because there
was nothing so demeaning as a futile sacrifice. Fen added, "He'll make sure
this gets to the right people."
As she headed forward, Fen mused there should have been some
acknowledgment to mark the occasion. In the twisted path of a lifetime in the
moral ambiguity of the Fringe, somehow both she and Ghitsa were doing the
right thing. She supposed, she thought sourly, it came from meddling with
Jedi. There was nothing simple to a Jedi's tricks. Nothing simple at all.
***
About the Authors
Kathy Burdette lives in Williamsburg, Virginia, where she is a manuscript
editor for the Institute of Early American History and Culture. Although she
has co - written several source articles for the Star Wars Adventure
Joumalwith a mysterious, bearded rogue, this is her first solo attempt. When
not fighting dangling participles in the name of academia, she enjoys spending
&nb
sp; time with said rogue and playing alternative country music through a Les Paul
and a tubeamplifier that goes to eleven. Former journalist and magazine
ownerstpublisher Laurie Burns now edits publications for students at a
community college in California. When not working, she enjoys writing, riding
horses, and gallivanting about with her husband in the mountains around their
home. Her short story, "Retreat From Coruscant," appeared in a previous Bantam
Spectra anthology. Star Wars: Tales from the Empire.
Chris Cassidy is a freelance writer who has worked for more than ten
years in corporate communications and video production. "Simple Tricks" and
"Hutt and Seek" (written with co-conspirator Tish Pahl) are her first ventures
into the realm of intentional (as opposed to corporate) fiction. She has spent
the last three years moving about from Toronto to Guatemala to Oregon to
Toronto to her current location in Colorado Springs, which is oddly enough in
Colorado. She and her husband, Bob, are owned by a loony border
colliestterrier. She is currently enrolled at the University of Colorado,
working toward a second degree in psychological anthropology. Chris is a
longtime Star Lady and a founding member of the Club Jade listserve.
Paul Danner originally wanted to write The Empire Strikes Back, but he
was only eight at the time and Mr. Lucas wouldn't return his calls. So he
waited fourteen more years to carve out a little niche in the Star Wars
universe with "One of a Kind" for the Official Star Wars Adventure Journal. He
would go on to write five more stories for the Journal, as well as Wretched
Hives of Scum and Villainy, a game sourcebook for West End Games. A recent
graduate of the University of Miami with a bachelor's degree in screenwriting
and creative writing, Paul spends his free time playing basketball and trying
to pass himself off as Darth Maul. He hopes to one day make a name for himself
writing both novels and screenplays. Are there any gold statuettes in his
future? Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future....
George Bernard Shaw once stated, "There is always danger for those who
are afraid of it."
Patricia A. Jackson agrees ardently and assures that there is nothing to
fear from the dark side... so embrace it! "Uhl Eharl Koehng" is a continuation
in the saga of her dark side family and her driving obsession to rid dark Jedi
(as well as the Galactic Empire) of their unwarranted bad press. Chivalry does
occasionally come dressed in black. Patty has recently stepped down from
school administration to take the battle of education and creativity to the
front lines in the classroom where it truly counts. This fall she will begin a
new saga as an English teacher at William Penn Senior High School in York,
Pennsylvania.
Tish Eggleston Pahl is a food and drug attorney practicing in the
Washington, D.C., area. Her previous publications include professional journal
articles, technical manuals, labeling and advertising copy, legislative
drafting, and congressional testimony. With her coauthor, Chris Cassidy, "Hutt
and Seek" and "Simple Tricks" mark Tish's first foray into the realm of
science, rather than legal, fiction. She lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with her
husband, the long-suffering Tom, their young son, Tom.Jr., and two Labrador
retrievers, Ghitsa and Zozo. In her not-so-copious spare time, she is the
postmistress to the America Online Star Ladies.
Jean Rabe is the author of ten fantasy novels and a dozen short stories-
among the latter a few Star Wars offerings published in the Star Wars
Adventure Journal. A longtime Star Wars fan, her office features an old Darth
Vader speaker phone; an R2-D2 cassette player that usually belts out steel
drum music; a miniature Millennium Falcon; and a stuffed Ewok. Her other Star
Wars memorabilia is carefully stored in the basement, which has come to
resemble the cluttered inside of a Jawa sandcrawler.
Michael A. Stackpole is the New York Times bestselling author of several
Star Wars novels, including the Rogue Squadron series and I, Jedi. "Interlude
at Darkknell" is his second story collaboration with fellow author
Timothy Zahn, the first being "Side Trip" in Tales from the Empire. Mike
has also worked on and scripted several story arcs for Dark Horse's Star Wars
X-Wing Rogue Squadron comics. In his spare time he writes BattleTech novels
and fantasy novels, including Once a Hero, Talion: Revenant, and A Hero
Reborn. Timothy Zahn is the author of eighteen novels, including five Star
Wars books: the Thrawn Trilogy (heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The
Last Command) and the Hand of Thrawn Duology (specter of the Past and Vision
of the Future). His most recent book. The Icarus Hunt, was published last
August by Bantam Books. He contributed several short stories about Grand
Admiral Thrawn and Talon Karrde to the Official Star Wars Adventure Journal.
Tales From the New Republic Page 47