Chapter Thirteen

"So where is this place, again?" Saera and Glynn were in a landspeeder taxi, on their way to the hidden Rebel recruitment base. They were in costume and ready to play their parts.

"It's on the other side of the town." He lowered his voice so the driver wouldn't hear. "Disguised under a library archive, apparently. And will you stop bringing it up in front this guy?"

"Fine, fine." She ran through the list of directions in her head. Move slower than usual. Act distressed and naïve. Hmph, that shouldn't be too hard. Let Glynn take care of you and act sisterly towards him. Act like you depend on him.

The speeder stopped and the driver was paid. Just before they got out Glynn leaned across the seat and gave her a peck on the lips. "For good luck," he whispered.

"I'm sure." She fake-glared at him, slightly thrown off.

"Stop acting so giddy and start being scared, little sister," he half-teased, half shot back.

"Yes, brother dearest."

The archives building was enormous, despite everything being stored on computer ships and discs. That should be someone's first clue that all isn't as it seems.

The library was beautiful, exquisite carvings adorning the stone of the building. It was certainly at least five hundred standard years old. There was nothing like this on Tatooine, at least nothing Saera had seen. She supposed something underground might last five hundred SYs, but then, people weren't enjoying it, so it might as well not even exist.

As she stared around in awe she felt Glynn elbow her and remembered to play her part, gazing down at the ground and clinging on to his arm like a poor, helpless soul.

Glynn spoke to the librarian, saying a bunch of stuff that, really, didn't make any sense, so she didn't even try to follow it. Eying both of them suspiciously, the librarian led them to a small room in a restricted area. She left, and Glynn reached in to an old tablet box, pulling out one titled Rancor Legends.

My gosh, that tablet must be...she couldn't even contemplate something being that old, if it was authentic.

Glynn pressed a few letters scattered throughout the first paragraph and pressed the tablet onto a wall. A door opened where a second ago there hadn't been one. They walked down a long, sloped corridor and were scanned for electronic bugs before being led to a waiting room by and old woman. These guys are pretty paranoid...

"Now, just sit here, dears, and he'll be with you soon." Saera almost asked Glynn who 'he' was before remembering to stay in character. The old lady was still sitting behind a desk in the room, and who knew what kind of surveillance they might have. The woman murmured something into a commlink and came over to them. "You can go in." She smiled sweetly, mostly at Saera.

"Thank you," she murmured as Glynn helped her up again.

It turned out 'he' was a middle-aged man in an office painted steel gray with all metallic colored, sparse furniture. "He' was very general-looking, brown hair, brown eyes, normal-sized nose, no way to tell him from the other five guys that you saw that looked like him on your way to work. In other words, someone the Empire would have a hard time finding.

"I know why you are here, you know why you are here. So let's just talk specifics." He had a Core accent, but a generic one. "What I would like to know is why you've risked the life of your child by coming here today." He looked down at her narrowly.

"Sir, this isn't like it seems--"

"I asked the lady."

Great. Glynn had told her not to say anything.

"Well, sir," she tried to act timid. "Well, the baby's father, he...joined the Alliance, without knowing I was pregnant. And my brother and I can't really take care of a baby, we haven't got that kind of money. All we have is a ship, but if we sell that we've got nowhere to stay, and...and..." she managed to sniffle. "I don't want to be a burden to him. I won't ask for much money, only if he can spare it. But he needs to know. He needs to know he's going to have a child!" She started sobbing, working herself up enough that she could shed tears. Glynn hugged her in a brotherly way and whispered that it would be all right.

"Miss?" She didn't think she was imagining that 'he' seemed a bit more sympathetic towards her. "Would you like to wait outside while your brother and I discuss further matters?"

She nodded, thinking Glynn should handle things from here, and 'he' called back the old woman, who escorted Saera back to the waiting room.

"When are you due?" the woman asked kindly.

"Oh, not for a while, but I think it's going to be a big baby."

"Well, how far along are you?"

"Um, maybe five months?" she said, doing quick math to make sure it was credible.

"You don't know for sure? Hasn't your doctor told you?"

"I, uh, don't do doctors..."

"Oh, dear, you simply must see a doctor when you're pregnant! Here." She held out a credit ship. "Take this and go see one."

"No, I can't--"

"Yes, you can. You can't afford to risk your or the baby's health. Make sure you eat right, too. Oh, so young," she clucked to herself, walking away.

Saera's eyes began to mist with tears as she watched the old woman walk back to her desk. Why was she being so kind, motherly even, to Saera, a complete stranger? She was making this all too hard. How can I deceive these people, they're good people. What if this woman is poor, this is her weekly income or something. This is so wrong. How could I hurt these people, just for a guy who couldn't even be bothered telling me he was leaving the planet

Suddenly, she was seeing everything she had done in the past few months in a new light.

-

"Look what he's done to her! Can you believe that! She's nineteen. Nineteen! She's been disgraced! I...I'm sorry, it's just that this has been very hard for us to deal with. He shouldn't have left so abruptly!"

"Mr. Mernoai, please, I've already decided that perhaps this case needs some special attention--"

"The kid can't grow up not knowing its father. There are too many children just floating around without any links to anyone." Ouch. He'd just described himself.

"Yes, I am aware of all the complications involved in this issue. But what I would like to know is the identity of the father. Perhaps we can locate him."

"Oh, he'll definitely be somewhere important. Father's name is Luke Skywalker." The rebel looked rather incredulous. "If you don't believe me, let her send him a message. He'll verify growing up on Tatooine with her."

"We'll send the message, telling him we have a brother and pregnant sister requesting his whereabouts."

"She won't go for that. She's got this crazy idea that she wants to tell him herself, in person."

"How convenient. Still, if he recognizes her, I suppose we might be able to arrange something..."

"Thank you. She'll be so relieved. I can't tell you what this will mean to her. It'll give her such a peace of mind." He got up to leave. "Oh, and we're sorry about having to trick you to get in here. She's just so scared and she wants to see him again. I don't know why, but then he and I don't really care for each. Which reminds me, best not mention me, either." The rebel shot an eyebrow up. "I...gave him a black eye coupla months ago. When I found out this thing was going on." The rebel chose to respond with nothing more than a slightly higher eyebrow.

"When you have recorded what you want, lock it with three questions only he would know. Do not mention the Empire, the Rebellion, or this planet. Actually, it's probably better you don't mention the child. The Empire wants him enough to try to use that against him. Bring the message to the Parsnil Dancer Cantina tomorrow at seven time parts and ask the bartender for an Alderaanian Ale and water. When you've drunk the water, slip the holo underneath the Ale glass and leave the credits in the water glass. We'll take care of the rest, and if you've been cleared a maintenance droid will come to your ship in about three days. Say to it 'Coruscant's angels are dying in battle' and it will download the coordinates of Skywalker's location on to your navigation system in such a way that as soon as you activate the hyperdrive, it will take you straight to the coordinates. Don't bother trying to crack the encryption codes; you won't know where you're going until you get there. So you'd better not talk to the droid unless you're absolutely certain you want to leave. But then, you wouldn't be here otherwise."

"No, Sir. And thank you. This is very kind of you. I know how risky this operation will be."

"As much for you as for us." The rebel sat there, still.

"Well, as long as there isn't any outside interference, you can count on us to keep it from the Empire." There didn't seem to be anything left to say, so Glynn left the room, picked up a rather teary-eyed Saera, and was escorted back up to the library.

They caught a speeder back to the dock and he noticed that she was very silent for the whole trip. And then, when they got into the ship, she completely broke down.

"I can't do it! Gods, Glynn, I can't do it! They're too good! I can't do it!"

"Shh, shh, it's OK." He gathered her in his arms and felt her shaking terribly. "What's wrong? What can't you do?"

"I can't lie to them. They're nice people, they're doing something good, they're working so hard! And if we were Imperials, they'd be dead by now! It's just not right to do this. It can't be. Glynn, she gave me money, to see a doctor for my so-called baby. I had enough money to build four of that library, and she gave me money because I had a pillow shoved up my shirt!" She pushed away from him and ripped her 'baby' away. "I...I..."

"Saera." He held her again, feeling warm patches on his chest as she cried. "I don't really know what to say. Except that you're going to have to make a choice, for yourself. You have to decide whether you really want to see Skywalker enough to lie and scheme to get to him. That's the reality of it."

"But if I don't have Luke, I don't have anything more to live for! Don't you see, I can't go back to Tatooine; I can't go back to my father! Luke's all I have left!"

"Hey, I'd still stick around with you." He looked down at her and she lifted her head, not making eye contact.

"Yeah, sure. You have better things to do, places to go. You've got to make your living."

"I mean it," he said seriously. "I'd let you stay with me. In fact, I'd be glad to have you."

She met his eyes. "Glynn, thank you so much. I know I've been nothing but trouble, and you've never been anything but wonderful. Thank you." She smiled, a weak yet perfect smile.

He had to look away. He couldn't bear it, when she was so beautiful and she'd already made it clear she wasn't interested in him. Stop thinking about her like that. You can never have her that way.

"You--you have three days to make a recording," he said, voice strained. "Now, the deal we have is that you record a message, they send it, and three days later, if he replies positively, we get the coordinates to the base. I need that message by six point five time parts tomorrow, then I'll deliver it and you'll have a few days to make your next move. Will that work?"

"I guess so. Oh, but Glynn, I want to see him so much. I couldn't bear if it got them hurt, though."

"I know, I know. But these are professionals. And we'll be careful." He pushed back the hair that was sticking to her wet cheeks. "OK?"

"OK." She buried her head against his chest again. "Thank you, Glynn. You always make me feel so much better." She gave him a quick squeeze before going off to rustle up a holo. He was left in even more turmoil than before. Why couldn't she make up her mind? It seemed like it was made up, but still he dared to hope. Maybe, just maybe he would somehow be able change her mind so that she could see that if she was willing to give up her fantasy with Skywalker, she could have a reality with him.

Stop being obsessive. She doesn't feel that way. You can't have her. End of story.

Sorry it took so long! I really did mean to get it up quicker, but then I had all these viggies...

lightman: Erm...thank you! Nice use of expletives? Or rather, lack of...

Freetrader: Wow! Thanks! It's great to get such a positive review, especially on this story, because I have so much time, energy, and love invested in it. Glad you like Saera and Glynn! I think Glynn's my favorite ;)