CORUSCANT SECURITY FORCE: USCRU SECTOR, USCRU ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT

CORUSCANT, CORE WORLDS

Kae tugged off her helmet and tucked it onto the top shelf of her durasteel locker. Sweat made her dark hair cling to her scalp, itchy and damp, but she ignored it, unzipping her thick combat vest. Just as she was going to hang it on the lower half of the locker, a voice echoed in the cavernous room, bouncing off the bare walls.

"Detective. Chief wants to talk to you."

She glanced over her shoulder to see her partner standing behind her, still wearing his uniform. "What? Why? Did he say?" she asked. She was unconcerned why the chief wanted to see her; the constant nagging threat of being laid off vanished long ago—actually, about three years before, when she had been promoted from officer to detective.

Ben shook his head. "Nope, but it seemed important. I offered to bring the message myself, but he wouldn't have it. Better run up there before he gets antsy."

"Thanks, Benny," she said, and quickly tugged off her armoured trousers and heavy combat boots. Less than two minutes later, with a fresh white tunic and comfortable beige trousers on, Kae was ready to meet with the chief. She patted Ben's shoulder as she passed him, leaving the locker room behind.

On-duty officers, forensics specialists, secretaries, and paparazzi from HoloNet News all littered the wide hallways of the station. Several people nodded quick greetings to Kae as she passed them, but for the most part she kept her face down, trying to ignore the excitable rookies of the station and demanding journalists from HNN.

She melted into a group of nicely dressed dignitaries—probably men and women from other stations in Galactic City—and stepped into the open space of a glass elevator. The pleasant music was drowned out by the babble of multiple different accents and intonations all bubbling together. Kae sighed to herself, pressed against the edge of the elevator by the door, and watched with mild interest as the Coruscanti sun vanished below the metal horizon. A truly beautiful and magnificent sight, wasted on the spoiled rich in their penthouse apartments who wouldn't even appreciate it.

The elevator stopped with a quiet ding, and Kae shoved through the bustling crowd to reach the chief's office. His was at the end of a long, foreboding hallway; the walls were lined with glass, but the inner shades were down, blocking her view of his office. She hesitated as she stopped before it, and took a moment to collect herself before pressing her finger on a keypad beside the door.

"Detective Luka?" an electronically amplified voice spoke up, and an image of the Human chief fizzled to life on the screen above the keypad.

"Yes, sir."

"Enter."

The door shot upwards with a hiss, and Kae stepped into the huge glass office. A beautiful desk, dark cherry wood imported from Dathomir, faced her and the door, with the back to the beautiful sunset. Behind it, seated in a plush armchair was the head of the Uscru Entertainment District police force. Lined and speckled hands folded together on the desk, he was smiling at her with his head tilted to the side, his thin salt-and-pepper hair falling over his tall forehead. Dark eyes sparkled in the pleasant florescent glow of the office.

Kae strode across the tile floor and seated herself opposite him, in an oxblood armchair similar to his. "Ben Jurhic said you needed to see me, sir," she said, leading straight into it.

Lines deepened around his mouth as his smile widened. "Indeed, Detective. I have a special assignment for you, if you're interested."

Her brows shot up beneath her messy fringe. "What assignment?"

"Several owners of businesses under our protection have filed reports of complaints," he began, drumming his fingers lightly on the desktop, "and they think they've got a bit of a spice smuggling problem going on. I had Watson look into it, but he didn't get very far—and now that his wife is having the baby, I need someone else to head it. That's where you come in. We have a few leads, but not enough to begin a manhunt. Are you interested?"

Kae perked up as soon as she heard the words 'spice smuggling.' "Yeah, of course I am."

"I thought so." The chief reached into one of the drawers of his imported desk and pulled out a datapad. "Here. This is all the information Watson found on the smuggling ring. Like I said, it really isn't much, but it might be able to help out some. I'll leave the planning to you, Detective. I know you're capable."

"Thank you, sir."

"But a word of advice?"

Kae looked up from the datapad and eyed him expectantly.

"Go undercover. I'm sure you know that smuggling rings won't show up if there's a cop in uniform hanging around the place, but I'd have been a bad chief if I didn't warn you. I'll have you excused from your regular rounds with Officer Jurhic. You start first thing after the weekend."

"Thank you, sir," she said again, smiling warmly. "Is that all you needed?"

"Yes. You can go home now." He smiled and waved slightly, then returned his attention to a large datapad on his desk.

Kae stood and shuffled from the office. The door hissed shut behind her, and she smiled to herself, datapad in hand, as she began the hike to the elevator that would take her to the taxis.