Chapter Seven--Redoubled
Beru supposed that she ought to feel guilty for framing Owen Lars as a spice smuggler. Not to mention stealing his fake passport. But she didn't; in fact, what really disturbed her was how much she had enjoyed it. She knew she would pay a price for that enjoyment, too. Owen was not going to be tied by the heels forever. He'd be back on their trail in short order; and in no very cheery mood when he got there. The only question was how long it would take.
She and Luke went on to Aosta as planned, it being too late to dodge the shuttle. When they got there, she deliberately doubled back to Shakolt, and caught a shuttle going in the opposite direction, which proved to be Djerba Station. This wasn't a planet, but an orbiting space station that operated as an important transportation axis on the edge of the Shakolt cluster. An even better spot than Shakolt to make a complete getaway, Beru thought.
In the interests of making herself less memorable to the officials, Beru attached herself to a group of refugees from the Core Worlds. Several of them had babies or small children, and she and Luke attracted no attention in their midst.
The refugees were, like her, looking for a place to hide. Beru found their presence comforting. She began, after the passage of several weeks, to feel more confident. Maybe Owen had given it up as a bad job. Maybe he wasn't still looking for them. And, even better, maybe they had lost him.
At that point, Beru relaxed a little. Which was, as she later acknowledged, a mistake.
The refugee band had decided to look at Ghazni, a zone planet. The zone was the area between the Middle and the Outer Rim. There was little policing, plenty of lawlessness, and several planets and planet clusters that called no one, not the Republic and not the Empire, master.
Ghazni was a planet that wanted to ally itself to some form of order. It had been recently opened up to settlement under the aegis of the Empire. That might have given Beru pause, except she concluded that it would mean Owen Lars would never expect her to choose it.
The Ghaznians, in their eagerness for settlers, had provided transition housing for them. The quality was higher than Beru had become used to. She and Luke were allotted in a small flat, and signed up for resettlement. Beru was not exactly sure that they would stay on Ghazni, but it was a convenient spot to lay low.
Beru was congratulating herself, yet again, on giving Owen Lars the slip, when the door of her flat burst open. Owen stood in the doorway, framed by two Ghaznian officials. He was dressed, she noted with horror, in the regalia of an Imperial civilian agent.
Owen gave her a pleasant smile. "Here she is," he said to the officials, "and the baby, too. Good."
Beru jumped to feet, and ran to Luke's crib, but it was too late. The officials politely but firmly took her arms and led her away from the crib. Luke stared at them, wide-eyed.
Beru looked at the officials. "He's not with the Empire--"
"Here's the court order for apprehension of the child," Owen interrupted smoothly. "Signed by your local governor and counter-signed by the Zone Commandant."
"He's my son!" Beru said.
"Poor woman," Owen said, in a sorrowful voice, "She has delusions, you know. Kidnaped the child from his real parents, too. Very sad case." Out of range of the officials, he gave her a triumphant smirk.
Beru was fiercely angry; she wanted to rearrange Owen's expression with a blunt, heavy object, but then she remembered how much pleasure his rage on Shakolt had given her. She took a firm grip on her emotions, and schooled her face to a deadpan expression. Owen's smirk faded; he now looked wary.
"You have the concurrent detention Order, right?" Owen said to the officials. "That will allow you to keep her here until an Offence Unit arrives to deal with her. I'll take the child with me and restore him to his parents. They'll be overjoyed."
That's true, in a sick sort of way, Beru thought to herself. She'll be overjoyed all right. And he'd be an easy target. She looked at Luke.
Owen went over to him, and lifted him out of the crib. Luke looked at Beru. She made no move. Her face was expressionless.
Owen gave her a gloating look, and bore Luke off. Beru was left with the two officials, who regretfully confiscated her passport, while assuring her that she could stay in the flat until the Unit arrived. There was no Unit coming, Beru knew, but she said nothing.
After the officials left, Beru lay down on her bed. Luke's empty crib was still within her line of vision. A detention Order! Owen obviously expected her to chase after him, and had taken precautions to prevent it. He needn't have bothered. Beru had no intention of going anywhere. She knew she didn't need to.
Owen, of course, knew nothing about small children, and it did not occur to him that separating an unweaned infant from his wet-nurse would cause any sort of problem. Beru smiled to herself, nastily. He was in for a big surprise. She fully expected to see Owen back again within two days.