Once again, constructive criticism is welcome, just as long as you put it nicely. Please R&R.
Once she had made it clear that she was not interested in being bothered, the ride to Alderaan had been pleasant enough. She finished her holo-novel and had fine-tuned her plan of action upon landing on the planet. Her plan did not really need the fixing; she had looked into every detail before booking her transport to Alderaan, but Mara was a firm believer in making sure that there were no surprises.
She had always found that the best way to do that was to make sure that her plan was perfect, with several back up plans held in reserve in case something went wrong. As was to be expected, her strategy for this mission still seemed logical; she was the Emperor's Hand after all. The title meant that she was the best at what she did.
As it turned out, Mara was not the only visitor to Alderaan who had booked a room at Grand Accommodations, and so she had quite a wait before she was able to step up to the desk to get her room key. When it was finally her turn, the man at the desk smiled appreciatively at her. Although he was probably old enough to be her father, his eyes still had that interested brightness in them.
Mara sighed and decided to ignore the look this time. "Quilana, Jezzel."
He blinked, startled by her abrupt statement. "I'm sorry?" he stammered, looking in her eyes now instead of checking her out.
Mara didn't feel to bad about nonplussing the jerk, but she did want to keep us the pretense of being a normal girl visiting Alderaan for pleasure. Besides, she could use his interest in her to her advantage. She threw him a self-deprecating smile. "Sorry about that," she apologized, putting as much sincerity as she could into her words, "It's been a rough trip. I just want to go upstairs and soak in an actual water bath for once."
The man behind the desk nodded sympathetically. "I hate space travel myself," he admitted, "I never leave Alderaan if I don't have to. Are you here for the festivities this week?"
Mara gave him a little grin. "Oh, I wouldn't miss them." She leaned forward on the desk, getting into the man's personal space. He shivered slightly as she whispered with carefully maintained excitement in his ear. "I heard that Senator Bail Organa is going to be speaking… is that true?"
His head jerked up and down with such vigorousness that she thought it would topple off his neck. "Oh, yes," he enthused, obviously very happy to give the beauty before him the information she wanted, "As a matter of fact, he is hosting the festivities. It is the 20th anniversary of his being Alderaan's representative; I've also heard that a lucky few will get to actually eat with him at the celebration meal – a different group of four each day of the week."
"Wow!" Mara made herself sound impressed as her nimble mind took down all this information, "What do you think my chances are of being one of those few?" She pushed a strand of red-gold hair behind an ear with seeming self-consciousness.
He smiled idiotically at her. "Very good, I would say."
From behind her, an irritated male voice complained. "C'mon, lady! Stop holding up the line! I want to get to my room some time tonight!"
Mara and her informant glanced back at the line behind her. Mara let an embarrassed look cross her face. "Oh, dear," she sighed, straightening up, "I suppose I better go to my room now."
The hotel's deskman straightened as well. He threw the loudmouth behind her an irritated look. "Yes, I suppose you should. What was your name?" He moved to the desk computer, his fingers poised over the control panel.
"Jezzel Quilana," she repeated, passing over her false passport as identification. The man on the other side of the desk glanced at the passport, all business now, and tapped something into the computer. He nodded with satisfaction as the information popped up a second later in response.
"Age 24, from Corellia?" he asked.
Mara inclined her head in the positive. "That's me," she said.
Actually, not only was the name false, but so were the age and the planet of origin. He would never find that out, though; the Intelligence Department of the Empire was too good to slip up on her cover story.
He passed her back her passport and slid her keycard over to her. "Room 229, Miss Quilana; I hope you enjoy your visit to Alderaan."
"Oh, I shall," she replied, gathering up the keycard and passport, and shoving them into a vest pocket, "Thank you. Have a nice day."
His response got lost in the noise of the hotel foyer as she headed toward the lift. Mara smiled as the lift doors closed behind her. Everything was going as planned. The talkative hotel worker had confirmed her information, and she already had arranged to be among those invited to eat with the Senator.
The young woman glanced at her wrist chrono. She had approximately two hours to wash and dress for the festivities.
Maybe she would take some time for that bath after all.