Chapter 3

Sailing With the Captain

In Which the Smuggler and the Jedi discover how small a moon base can be

Disclaimer – See Chapter 1

"What a piece of junk!"

"She only looks like junk, trust me she may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts."

Obi-Wan stared in horror at the saucer – shaped ship before him. Its primary component seemed to be rust. She doesn't dare clean any of that off; the whole thing will fall apart. But having little choice, he followed her up the ramp. Examining the internal configurations he couldn't hide his surprise. "It's a Corellian Falcon, isn't it?"

"She is a Falcon, yes." The smuggler didn't stop to chat, but headed straight for the cockpit.

He followed, "They made less than fifty of these. I read they were designed expressly for smugglers, and the Republic can overlook any number of Corellian sins, but building ships for illegal freight was a little over the limit."

"Only thirty-eight were actually finished, and the Republic seized twenty and destroyed them. I know of only five others that are currently in operation." Her hands flew over the controls and Obi-Wan watched through the cockpit window as the ceiling opened above them, and the little freighter rose smoothly and rapidly towards the darkening sky. "She's everything they say a falcon should be and I've made a few modifications myself. Strap in." Pulling down on the double levers in the middle of the controls, she shot them into hyperspace, the stars stretching into silver streamers against the black.

"Are you sure you know where you are going?" Obi-Wan queried, but without a trace of concern in his voice.

Jerika looked up from the controls to watch the Jedi's reflection in the view port. Her eyes sparkled in wicked delight as the frustration that he could disguise in his voice, marred the perfect calm of his face. She had set course for one of her hideouts without telling him where they were going, and he seemed to accept this. However, the Jedi was used to being in charge; his fingers twitched when she'd taken the ship's controls. Still, he was able to ignore all attempts to get under his skin, and no one had ever been so diplomatic when trying to worm information out of her in her life.

He ate the meal she had prepared with apparent relish and jumped up to assist her in clean up of the tiny galley. "You are quite an excellent cook Captain."

She would have grinned wickedly if not for the complete sincerity in his voice and on his face. "Why thank you very much Mr. Jedi." She said in an attempt to fish for information herself. Surprise colored her cheeks when he answered her.

"Kenobi."

"Excuse me?"

"My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi." He actually bowed to her formally. Having never met a Jedi before she could only conclude this was how they introduced themselves, and she just barely kept from snickering. Instead she held out her hands, palms up and inclined her head with a small nod.

"Jerika Lilamara Solo Delorolo, pleased to meet you." He nodded back to her and being the diplomat he was, laid his hands over hers, his palms far more callused than she'd expected.

"The pleasure is all mine Captain. Which of that formidable list do you prefer to be called by? Captain Delorolo? That is doubtless your official title. Jerika seems a bit too familiar and Lady Solo too formal…ah, perhaps Lilamara? I do believe that you and the younger goddess of Corellia have a great deal in common." The sudden wicked smile that appeared in the midst of that red forest covering his face completely disarmed her. In an instant he went from the emotionless warrior to handsome charmer. He quite took her breath away.

I was wrong. He wears that beard so women can function in his presence.

But Jerika had survived a long time in a profession where she had to keep her wits about her in any situation. In spite of the fact that she was unable to tear her eyes away from his, she managed to pull back her hands. "I'll answer to any of them Jedi Kenobi, but most people just call me Jerika." Barely able to, she turned away and finished cleaning up.

Now, after four of the longest hours she'd ever experienced on board the Falcon they had come out of hyperspace and his agitation had returned. Clearly he had no idea where they were. She decided to relent and let him in on her secret.

"What kind of smuggler would I be without a few unknown bolt holes?"

"Alright then, where are…" He turned to look at the navigation computer, "Sulren three? There is no Sulren three."

"There was. See that narrow asteroid field out there? Three thousand years ago that was it. Then a meteor happened by and suddenly - no more S-3, but its moon is still intact."

"Doesn't look like it has an atmosphere though."

"Nope, but it did have an underground tritanium mine several years back. When the ore ran out it was abandoned of course."

"Of course."

"And it was a small operation, too small for the major freight lines to notice."

"But large enough to be profitable to smugglers."

"Until the tritanium ran out."

"And it went out of business -?"

"About a year ago, I got it for almost nothing." She grinned triumphantly. Deftly she guided the freighter to an unremarkable spot on the surface and gently landed. Swiveling around to her left she punched in a code and spoke into the pick-up for a voiceprint. There was a pregnant pause, a loud clunk, a sharp drop, and then the ship began to descend below the surface.

The ramp lowered and Jerika briskly trotted to a bank of computers imbedded in the bare rock of the far wall of the cavernous hanger to check the hideout's status. Obi-Wan followed more sedately, his senses on full alert.

Together they said, "There's no one else here." For the first time since meeting, they shared a grin.

Heading for the doors on the far side of the hanger she called out, "Come on, there are crew quarters through here. We can see if anyone has tried to contact me and plan what to do next."

"Likely a good idea." He followed her through the doors into a fairly comfortable looking common area. Like the hanger, the walls were simply hollowed out of the moon's rock, but in here, they had been smoothed down and squared off. Five tables were ranged around a room that measured about 15 meters across, about half the size of the hanger they'd just left. Along with Sabac and Holochess boards, there was a food preparation station, two communication terminals, and four repair bays for weapons and droids. He went at once to one of the communication terminals to report back to the temple. Before he could dial her hand slapped the terminate button.

"What the fu-?"

"Since when does Jedi wisdom include sending out a transmission the minute you get to a safe haven?"

"We were not followed, I would have detected them, and I will be using a coded channel."

"Right. And how do we know our enemy isn't in the temple?"

His eyes widened and his face went red, his mouth compressing to a thin line. She took a step back, shocked and a little frightened at his sudden fury. Until this moment his emotional reactions had been nearly undetectable; slight amusement and mild irritation were the most she'd seen. It had put her off guard, half expecting him not to react to anything she did or said. Now he stood, looming over her, reminding her that Jedi or not everyone has his or her limits.

"No Sith could exist in the temple! We would know immediately! I would know immediately! Never would I endanger you by making an unsafe communication."

A dozen smart-ass comments and clever comebacks rippled through her brain, but none of it would come out. He has the most fascinating eyes I've ever seen. They shift back and forth from green to blue and now they're both. Maybe he's not completely human, maybe one of those races who can cross breed…

Her silence only frustrated him further, "Well?" Then he realized that he'd backed her into the wall and had one hand braced on either side of her. Stepping back, he pulled his emotions in under tight control. "I-I'm sorry, forgive me, I didn't mean to lose my temper."

Damn he smells good! "No, no need to apologize, it was my fault. Call it an automatic response. When I'm running from something I wait to be contacted rather than sending out a signal that announces my presence. But I don't have any one I can call on or need to report back to."

"A wise policy, I apologize for my over-reaction." Mmmm…those eyes, like green jewels. And the shape of her mouth – control Kenobi, remember, that's what the Force is there for. He inclined his head, resumed his seat before the terminal, and dialed his code into the keyboard. "My transmission will be brief, I promise."

She stared at his squared shoulders in annoyance and then spun on her heel and went to a computer on the far side of the room and began checking for communications received. I am not attracted to him! That is not why I have been teasing him, its not! He's bigger than he looks up close, much wider at the shoulder and those eyes…oh Goddess please no!

A sleepy-looking Mace Windu appeared on the screen before Obi-Wan. He came instantly awake when he saw who was calling. "Kenobi! Where are you? The reports from Daltair are that a droid army destroyed a hanger in the middle of the spaceport!"

"I'm fine Master Windu thank you for asking, and how are you? And I really wouldn't call it an army, thirty 'droids hardly count as-"

Windu grimaced and interrupted, "I can see you are fine. Why did you not contact us?"

"I believe I am – "

"This was to be a covert mission young man! What have you done!"

Obi-Wan slowly counted to ten and sighed, "Master I was about to complete the deal with the erm – Captain, when a large group of droids arrived. All the ahh – Captain's people got away while I took care of the droids, then I detected a much larger force en route that included several destroyers and decided it would be unwise to challenge them alone. The Captain sent her people away in her freighters, and she and I escaped in her personal ship and came here to one of her – uhh – supply depots.

"Do you believe the…Captain (Mace paused the same as Obi-Wan did before saying the title and just a hint of a smile lighted his features) is in danger from whoever attacked the spaceport?"

"It seems a logical assumption. Whoever else wanted the spice would want to destroy anyone who might have had some way of identifying them. Even if the Captain didn't get to see the other buyer she might have heard something. If I were in his shoes, I wouldn't feel safe knowing she's alive."

"Then she will need your protection for the immediate future. And you would now be recognized on the planet, so stay where you are and focus your investigation on what information the Captain (again with the pause that made Obi-Wan want to shove his fist through the screen) may possess."

"You believe a smug – one of her people leaked the information?"

"It is the best explanation. Do what you can to find the traitor, it may be our only lead in this mess to finding exactly who wanted that spice."

"Yes master."

"Report back with any leads. I will tell Anakin that you have been delayed. We shall expect your return in seven to ten days unless you tell us other wise."

"Yes Master."

"Windu out."

Obi-Wan watched the screen go dark and closed his eyes as he attempted to find his calm center. Becoming a knight had given him a new understanding of just why his master had been so frustrated with the Jedi council. In fact, he now found it difficult to believe that any knight actually managed to get along with the council. He focused on a short form of meditation he been forced to adopt, since becoming a knight and a master all at once. Reaching out to the Force he used its calming effect to get past the frustration of Mace's amusement, his own feelings of confusion and the memory of her face, inches from his own, and the shape of her mouth.

Delorolo jumped when she felt the Jedi's hand on her shoulder. "Force! Do you always sneak up on people like that?"

"I walked as I always do. If you were not paying attention that is your problem."

She glanced over her shoulder at him and saw the glint of amusement in his eyes. Oh no, you're not going to get the jump on me "You must be fun at parties." She felt satisfaction as the small comeback caused him to blink and then smile just a little in acknowledgement of her rejoinder. "I've no word from any of my people yet at my message stations, no one has reached a safe haven, or they are wisely choosing not to communicate yet." She smirked at his grimaced reaction to the little jab. "Everything ok at the temple? You get chewed out for being out past curfew?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about-"

"I'll bet you did, those guys are probably pretty strict." Raising her arms above her head, she yawned, a little too obviously, and perhaps the stretch pulled her clothes tight in certain strategic places, but that was just an accident, wasn't it? "Well, I'm beat." She stood slowly. Smiling gently, she noticed how his eyes flicked back and forth between her body and her face. Ah good, he is human after all "There are crew quarters through the door, you can take any of the empty rooms. Goodnight Jedi Kenobi." Unable to resist the temptation she patted him condescendingly on the cheek and walked to the door. It slid open at her approach and she disappeared through it.

Grinding his teeth in frustration, Obi-Wan swore out loud in several languages. He touched on her parentage, her intelligence and her personal hygiene. It helped. While it was not the method of calming relaxation he was trying to teach his apprentice, it had gotten him through a number of Qui-Gon inspired frustrations during his own apprenticeship. Being able to calm himself, he took the chair she had been using and cleared his mind. He gathered the Force around himself and examined every meter of the little base. All clear, no one was there except a sleeping smuggler and a Jedi trying to ignore his libido. With a last look around Obi-Wan stood and went to find his own bed.