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Chapter 7
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Wedge and Inyri left the hotel together an hour before the time they were supposed to meet whoever had sent the message, hoping that they were leaving themselves enough time to figure out where, exactly, Brewer's Mall was, and to lose anyone who might be following them.
By the time they found a store that sold such tourist-oriented things as glasses with "Ralltiir" emblazoned across them – and, hopefully, maps – Inyri was certain that they did indeed have a shadow – though only one that she could pick out. She followed Wedge into the show and toward a display of everything from detailed maps of Cambrielle to maps of the galaxy that she sincerely hoped no one would ever attempt to use to navigate the galaxy. Unless they'd missed out on a lot more than she thought in the short time since they'd left Coruscant, Bothawui wasn't a Core World.
"There," Wedge said, pointing at a spot on one of the local maps, being careful to keep his back to the store's window. "The city plaza, with all the shops and stands all around it."
She nodded and sighed. Brewer's Mall looked like it covered about a square kilometer. "Let's hope whoever's supposed to be meeting us knows what they're doing."
"Let's hope this map is more accurate than that one," he replied, pointing at the galaxy map. "If I remember correctly, Tatooine and Hoth aren't in the same sector."
She stifled a laugh as she looked over the map once more, before taking it from him and walking up to the clerk, Wedge following behind her. Pasting a flirtatious smile on her face, she dropped a few credits on the counter and pushed the map toward him. "Can you tell me where the museum is?"
He smiled in return and pointed at a spot without taking more than a second to look it over. "It's right there. It's actually pretty easy to find."
Inyri cocked her head to one side, well aware that Wedge was trying not to laugh. "Do you think you could just trace the route for us? I'm so hopeless with these things, and he has trouble seeing such small print."
The young man's smile broadened. "Sure. No problem." He picked up a stylus and drew a line through a couple of streets, ending by drawing a circle around the museum she'd randomly chosen. "There you go."
She slid the credits across the counter as she picked up the map, and murmured a quick thank you before stepping back and heading out the door, letting the smile disappear from her face.
Outside, Wedge took the map back from her. "I trust you don't actually plan on visiting the…" he looked at the circle on the map, "Historical Museum of Ralltiir?"
Inyri shook her head. "No. Nor do I plan on holding on to this much longer. This," she said, tapping the map in his hand, "is for the benefit of our unwanted guest."
"You noticed him too?" he asked.
She looked hurt. "Of course I did." Then she looked at her chrono. "We have thirty-five minutes until we're supposed to meet this person. And there are a couple of ways to get to the northern end of the mal, via a couple of side streets."
He glanced down at the map and then up at an intersection about a hundred meters ahead of them. "You go left, I go right, and we hope we lose him?"
She grinned. "And then we meet up here." She point at the northeast corner of Brewer's Mall. "Great minds think alike."
"We can pat ourselves on the back when and if it works," Wedge said. "Let's go."
She took the map back, folded it, and tucked it into her bag – just enough for it to stay in place until she wanted to get rid of it.
They covered the distance to the corner quickly, stopping at the intersection as if trying to decide which way to go. She nudged the map with her elbow, hearing but not turning as it hit the ground. "See you," she murmured, and darted around the corner as Wedge heading off in the opposite direction.
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"Mister Kesag, Minister Cesra wishes me to extend to you an offer of employment."
Wes frowned, glancing over his shoulder at Corran and Karin, who both shrugged, before turning back to face the comm screen. "What kind of employment?" he asked slowly.
"The attack on his daughter that you interrupted last night has him quite concerned. He has never before considered protection for her to be a necessity, but it certainly seems to be now."
"You're asking me to be her bodyguard?" Wes frowned. This seemed wrong for any number of reasons. "You know nothing about me."
"On the contrary. Your record of service on Chandrila is a testament to your abilities." The man folded his hands on top of the desk. "And the fact that you risked your own life to save Alisse last night, with no obligation whatsoever to do so, speaks volumes."
Wes' frown deepened. "I…I don't know."
"The Minister would like to meet with you tomorrow morning, if at all possible. You have until then to decide. The Minister is, I will admit, rather set on your acceptance."
Wes blinked. "Ah, yes, of course. I'll need to speak with my brother and sister about it." That was as good a reason as any to delay answering.
"Yes, your family. If you accept, you'd be living in the Minister's house, in a room near Alisse's. Your brother and sister would be moved into a guest home, one of a handful on the Minister's property."
Wes blinked again. This was getting more odd instead of less. "I'll let you know in the morning. How can I reach you?"
The man gave him a contact number, told him he'd be expecting his call the next morning, and terminated the connection.
Wes turned around slowly. "That was one of the strangest conversations I think I've ever had."
Corran gave him a pointed look. "Knowing you, I doubt that very much." Wes stuck his tongue out in response.
Karin stood and moved between the two before Corran could react. "Corran, stop instigating arguments with Wes just because your wife isn't around to put you in your place. Wes, stop antagonizing Corran just because you ended up sleeping alone last night." She was clearly going to continue but stopped when pillows hit her from both sides.
She fixed Wes with a glare, but he raised his hands in a submissive gesture. "Wasn't just me."
She turned to face Corran, who, Wes, saw, gave her an equally innocent expression. Then she threw up her hands and flopped back onto the couch, nearly landing on Corran. "Y'know," Wes said, "You could probably just ask him if you can sit on his lap rather than trying to break his legs."
Karin's eyes widened and she jumped to her feet, running into one of the bedrooms. Wes watched as the door slid shut behind her. "Oops."
Corran glanced toward the bedroom and then back at Wes. "Nice job."
"It was a joke," he muttered. "If I'd known…" he trailed off and shrugged.
"Known what?" Corran asked, frowning.
Wes stared at him, mouth slightly open. "For a Jedi, you sure are slow."
"What do you…no." The Corellian shook his head as Wes nodded.
"Karin's got a crush on you, you idiot."
Corran glanced at the door once more before burying his face in his hands. "We don't have time for this."
Wes shook his head. "Forget about it for now…I'll try to talk to her later. Unless, of course, you want to."
Head still in his hands, Corran shook his head. "Knock yourself out. Just, let's figure out this job thing first."
Wes moved to sit next to the Jedi. Speaking too softly for any listening devices to pick up his voice he asked, "Wait and talk to Wedge?"
"Yeah, that sounds good." Corran leaned his head back. "You really think—?"
"Yeah. You?"
"Yeah."
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Lana walked into the suite and called out for Hobbie. Getting no answer, she shouted his name twice more as she checked both rooms. "Sithspit," she muttered, pulling out her comlink. Landis answered right away. "Tell me Antilles and Forge are in their suite."
"No, ma'am. Klivian gone?"
"Find them," she hissed through clenched teeth, but was unable to ignore the voice that told her that if Hobbie wanted to hide from her in the city, there was no way she'd find him. He'd known this place far better than she had when they were kids, and it hadn't changed much. "Find out where Dans is."
"Yes, ma'am."
As she ended the conversation, she threw her comlink across the room. She was going to enjoy exposing Klivian for what he'd done to her – to all of them. And he could try all he wanted to stop her, but it wasn't going to work.
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Wedge saw Inyri standing in a doorway to avoid the rain. He headed in her direction and was a few meters away when he saw a dark-haired man in a black jacket approach her.
He reached automatically for his blaster before remembering that he didn't have it – a sidearm wouldn't have fit very well with his cover identity. But it didn't matter because Inyri apparently saw him and motioned him forward. The man standing in front of her turned slightly and Wedge saw that it was Hobbie. He'd thought it would be.
As Wedge joined them, Hobbie took Inyri's arm and walked a few storefronts down to a small restaurant. Wedge followed behind silently, and remained quiet until Hobbie spoke after they'd been seated in a back corner. He almost laughed at his friend's first words. "This is ridiculous."
"What's going on?" he asked softly.
Hobbie waited until a waiter droid had delivered them glasses of water before he replied. "I'm pretty sure Lana was involved in the attack against Alisse Cesra."
"What? How?"
"How do you know?" Inyri asked, making slightly more sense than he had.
"Because when we got back up to our suite, she started ranting about how Wes shouldn't have gotten so close to Alek. I said he couldn't just stand there and let her get killed, and she said, 'He wouldn't have killed her.' Then she ran into her room and when I got up this morning she was gone."
"Wait…Hobbie, you just called him Alek." Inyri said, frowning. "Do you know him?"
The Ralltiirian nodded. "Yeah. We grew up together. Which is another reason for this to bother you – there's no way Intel doesn't know that. But they put me here anyway."
"There's a lot about this that doesn't make sense," Wedge muttered. "And not a lot that does. Be careful, Hobbie. Don't push it with Tierney. The last thing we need is for her to decide that you're too much of a threat."
"I think it might be too late for that," Hobbie protested. "She slipped up. She can't afford to have me know that she had anything to do with what happened to Alisse."
"That's why you did this," Inyri said softly. "Isn't it? In case she…" she trailed off, and Hobbie nodded.
"Someone else needed to know."
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"It is as I suspected. Rogue Squadron is here."
"Sir?" Daraf looked at him questioningly.
"This man." Alek froze the holorecording and pointed at a dark-haired man in a dark suit. "I know him. We grew up together; he was a close friend." A best friend, actually. They'd seen more than their share of difficult times together.
Daraf looked over a datapad. "He is…Tem Bissen, bodyguard to a Miss Resa Elbex." He leaned over the holo. "This woman," he said, pointing to a woman Alek recognized, having spoken to her several times at the party the night before.
He shook his head. "His name is Derek Klivian. He's a pilot in Rogue Squadron just as Major Janson is. That name…Bissen, you said?…is clearly a cover identity, which means that your Miss Elbex is as well. Find out."
"Do you know why they are here, sir?"
"If she is who I think she is, I have an idea."
"Yes, sir. Did you turn up anything about the men who shot at Alisse?"
"No, nothing more than Janson said. They were mostly hidden by the crowd."
"I'm sorry, sir."
Alek waved him off. "No need. If I'm right about that woman, I know what happened."