Chapter 21AE

'Old Empire Savings Day'

'Maul Rats'

'Empire Records'

'Battle Hymn of the Red and the Gold'

Leia is waiting anxiously. She shouts at her brother.

"So, where is he? Did you see him?"

Luke points his thumb towards the glass doors.

"Yeah, he's inside greeting customers. He's got a little red vest, name badge and everything."

Han smirks.

"So…he's dressed like an Ewok? Okay, I've got to see this."

Leia pushes pass her brother.

"Well then what are we waiting for? Let's go inside!"

"Leia, we can't draw attention to ourselves."

Alex and Li-An each pull out a pair of sunglasses and put them on. Luke sees them just as they are about to walk through the electronic doors.

"Will you cut it out?"

Han folds his arms.

"What are you afraid of? Think we'll get the old guy fired?"

Mara sulks as she leans against the wall near the entrance. She holds a fork and eats leftovers from one of the smaller containers she brought from the house. She is reading a store circular.

"I refuse to patronize any place with ties of to old oppressive regime that exploits its workers."

Han smirks.

"Wow, and you said that with a mouthful of food. Right-on, sister."

"Han, are you making fun of me? Because I'll kick your ass."

"I'm just giving credit where credit is due, hon; you've got spunk."

Mara responds with another mouthful of food. She is quite proud of herself.

"Thanks." She is suddenly distracted by something she is reading in the store circular. "Oooh! Food containers…three for one!"

The group enters the store. Their target is standing at the first aisle greeting the steady flow of customers. Palpatine looks smart in his red TaggeMart vest, white polo shirt, khaki pants and brown Seniorpedic softshoes. There is actual color in his otherwise pasty face and a true smile.

"Good evening. Welcome! Welcome to TaggeMart, the number one Galactic Super Store. Don't forget your Empire Bucks coupons for extra savings."

Lorian Nod is two aisles over and greets more customers. He deviates from the TaggeMart Greeter script. He attracts attention from customers arriving at the store. Unfortunately, it is not the sort of attention store management wants.

"Hey-Hey, Ho-ho, TaggeMart is the place to go!" Before Lorian can sing the second verse, someone heads over to stop him. Someone wearing a polyfibe TaggeMart jacket weaves hurriedly through the crowd in Lorian's direction.

Old Palpatine, meanwhile, continues his scripted greeting. He appears to be the ideal employee. Someone taps him on the shoulder. He is about to lose his composure after being taunted by a few juvenile delinquents earlier in the day. He senses they are back.

"Blasted kids!" As he turns to see who it is, his demeanor quickly changes. The wide smile creeps across his face. "Kris!" Palpatine remembers to greet another customer. "Good evening, welcome to TaggeMart." He turns to see his grandson. "Kris! This is a wonderful surprise. What brings you here this evening, my child?"

"Hi, Palps. Dad said you were working here." Kris surveys the galactic megastore. "This is way cool."

"So, how was Sunday dinner?"

"It was alright, Dad yelled, Nana was angry at Dad, Mom wasn't talking to Dad, Obi-Wan was…you know…the usual." Kris tips his head back with his thumb to his mouth to imitate the drinking Jedi Master Kenobi."

"Ah….I see. That doesn't surprise me one bit. Master Kenobi is an emotional drain on the family…but enough about that…And what about you, my dear boy?"

"Oh, I'm grounded; I'm not even supposed to be here."

Palpatine is sympathetic.

"Your father is way too harsh on you, Krizten. I would talk to him but I am afraid he won't listen to me…" Palpatine pauses for a moment as if awaiting an invitation from the child to intervene but Kris has other ideas.

"He smashed my air surfer board too; now I can't even have fun with my friends."

Palpatine tries his sympathetic tone once more.

"Yes…your little friends…so how is that lovely young lady friend of yours?"

"Who? Ohhh… Sieglinde…I guess she's okay…for a girl."

"Just okay?"

"Oh, I don't want her to take me for granted. I have to play hard to get."

"I see."

"Leia taught me that."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"But it might be awhile before we can hang out since I'm grounded and all."

"Oh. Well, when you're able, perhaps you'll bring her by one day."

"Sure…well, I'd better get going or else Dad will never stop yelling."

Suddenly someone shouts at the former Sith Emperor.

"Hey, Pops! You're not here to chitchat with the customers. Get back to work!"

"I will, Tyler. Oh, Tyler, this is my grandson Kris."

Kris looks at Tyler.

"Hey."

"Hey. What up?" Tyler turns his attention back to Palpatine. "Ok, back to work, old man. Don't forget, we've got inventory to put out for tomorrow."

Kris stares at the young manager. He senses that his presence there is not a good idea. He whispers to his grandfather.

"I'd better go."

"Oh…yes…wait…here's a little pocket change." He lowers his voice to s whisper. "No need to let your father know. Here's a discount card. Get yourself a new board."

"Gee, thanks, Palps."

"Now run along."

Kris heads to the sporting department.

Two more visitors arrive at the CoCoTown Mall. Threepio walks up to the electronic doors. Artoo trails behind him. A Red Guard stands at the entrance. His uniform consists of the traditional red hood, a white button-down shirt with a patch on the left sleeve, red polyfibe chinos and red softshoes.

Threepio looks down at Artoo.

"Gaudy but enticing. This place doesn't look to bad, Artoo. Let's go inside."

Just as they are about to enter, two guards stop them at the door.

"Hey! No droids allowed."

Threepio recoils.

"Oh dear! What an unpleasant fellow. Come on Artoo, we'll find the children some other way."

Artoo chirps something. Threepio responds.

"You're right, Artoo, I'm definitely going to pen a strongly-worded letter to 'AlieNation Security Services'. They have a horrible slogan, 'Security Service with a Smile…you can't even see their faces!"

Over in the Entertainment Department, Ana-Lena casually flips through the music data chips for the latest hits. She lingers there much too long. She is exchanging flirtations glances with a couple of young ensigns who are on the next aisle. The young men are dressed in dress-down liberty attire. One blushes at the attention while the other is a bit more reserved.

Ana-Lena bats her eyelashes. Her hypnotic blue eyes cause the officers to lose focus for a moment. One of them accidentally knocks down a row of music chips. He scrambles to pick up the credit card-sized jewel cases. Ana-Lena smiles sweetly then initiates the conversation. She pretends to be confused.

"Excuse me; are you knowledgeable about the latest sparkle-bop music-chips?"

The first ensign seems to exude a wealth of knowledge. He finds Ana-Lena's beauty intoxicating and is eager to impress the young lady.

"Uhm…well, Monocrystal Chaining is really hot right now. They're number two on the top 40,000 list. I have their entire pre-8 ABY microbox set. "

Ana-Lena is like a passionate fan.

"Wow…really?"

"Yeah… if you're really into sparkle-bop then Kamino Tide is awesome. They do an amazing cover of the Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes song 'Mad About Me'."

"Oh, Whyrren Bestine is so awesome when he sings that riff."

"Yeah, he's totally rad."

Ana-Lena nods in agreement.

"Totally."

By the time Kris selects a new board his siblings have done enough shopping for a week. Leia discovers that Kris is in possession of the discount card and promptly takes it.

"I'll take that"

"But I was going to use it to buy my new board."

"It's good for 30% off one shopping visit."

"Han is right. You are bossy."

Leia scowls as she turns towards her husband. The scruffy nerfherder quickly picks up a holo-mag tabloid from the checkout line and pretends to read it. Leia gives Han a dirty look.

"Is that so?"

Han responds once he knows she is looking at him.

"What?"

They gather their purchases. Ana-Lena is still in the music aisle. Han hangs back the checks the aisles. Where would a fourteen-year old go? He calls to the others.

"Hold on, guys…we lost a member of our party. I'll be back."

Han weaves through the aisles for a few minutes before he finds Ana-Lena and grabs her by the arm. She complains.

"Hey, wait! Will you stop embarrassing me?"

"Come on, jail bait."

The ensigns intervene and try to block Han's path.

"Who are you?"

Han turns and points a warning finger at the young man.

"I'm warning you, toy soldier."

The other ensign chimes in.

"Hey, leave her alone. We're military officers." He turns to Ana-Lena. "Miss, is this old guy bothering you?"

"Yes, but we're related…unfortunately."

Han gives the two young officers an ultimatum.

"Listen, you snot-nosed jerks; you have no idea what you're getting into. You're going to regret getting involved, trust me. You'll thank me later."

He pulls Ana-Lena towards the exit. She whispers tersely to him.

"They were just being friendly. Let go of me! I can walk on my own."

"Nice try, sweetheart. You want those poor saps to wind up at the Milagro5 Military Prison?"

"Daddy would never do that…."

"You're his youngest daughter and you're 14 years old."

"You and my dad are such killjoys."

"Yeah, kid, but we're killjoys who care."

"You used to be a cool brother-in-law, Han. My sister and father have totally destroyed your spirit…totally."

"You're going to have some spirit issues when you get home, kid. I wouldn't worry about me."

Han sees a flash of gold speeding pass the hardware aisle. Two Red Guard are in hot pursuit. Han shrugs. Perhaps it is not what he thinks it is. There is a loud crash of metal followed by astromech droid sounds.

"No, it can't be."

There is an announcement over the store public address system:

"Assistance in Electronics. Clean-up in Aisle 12…Security!"

They head back to the checkout line where Leia is paying for their purchases. The total spending for the unplanned shopping spree is 875 credits.