As the shuttle landed on a high platform surrounded by dust corn fields, a pair of dark blue eyes peeked out from the last row of seats.
"So, we have arrived to Sacorria! Wake up, guys!"
"Yeah, now you'll be in your natural habitat, Dale. With Sacorrian grey bears. Maybe you'll find yourself a mate, too. Are you herding?"
Dale Pavan, the grey bear of a man, just grinned at Wompy's strange reply. He had spent most of the trip from Corellia to Sacorria with the members of Deeply Religious, since his own band mates were fast asleep. He had been concerned about Sassvar and Antonio for a while, but this time, even Wompy seemed to be absent-minded and almost unfriendly. His duty, or so he thought, was to keep everybody's spirits up.
And he was failing miserably.
A Drall intelligence officer was waiting for the seven passengers in front of the shuttle. She wore nothing but a red cap and a harness for a commlink and a blaster. Antonio Nokaarbe raised an eyebrow and started flexing his muscles, barely covered in a white piece of what seemed to be an oversized camisole. The other three members of Steamy Wasaka Stew walked past him.
"Names. Species. Hometowns. Homeworlds."
The shortish Wompy rolled his eyes and blurted out. "Con Brochet. Human from Tralus. And you didn't say welcome. Kriff that!" The Drall ignored his comment and looked up to the tallest individual in the group. He spoke before she repeated the question.
"Dandelion Roba Pavan. Human from Tyrena, Corellia." The Drall intelligence officer laughed and bit her tongue. "But you can call me Dale. The two guys who are still half-asleep are Sassvar Graba, Zabrak from Coronet City and Antonio Nokaarbe, Human from…"
"Not Human! That would be an error in the identification of the individual that is me. I'm part-Kiffar!" Antonio grinned. "Have you ever heard of psychometry…beautiful lady?"
"No and I don't care. Anything that does not contribute to progress and unity is a waste of time. Please, be quiet." She reached for the blaster in her harness, then stopped and just ran her hand through the fur on her hip instead. "Also, put a proper shirt on, now. It's not allowed to walk topless in public here. This is your second warning. Third warning means I'm pulling out my stun gun."
The intelligence officer walked to the other band.
"Dale, you ruined my chances with that one." Antonio looked at his drummer with an angry expression in his almost black eyes. "You completely ruined the probability of my engaging in procreation with this attractive individual! And I have an affinity to lady officers! And stun guns!"
Members of Deeply Religious were properly dressed and though chatty, pretty calm. The Drall woman was pleased.
"Names. Species. Hometowns. Homeworlds."
"Charon San Valorum, Human. Anra Renek, Duros. Koobalt Nubes, Ortolan. We are all from Ronto, Nubia. You are very welcoming, you know?"
"And so I am. Thank you." She offered Charon her hand. "I'm Brigada. I'll bring your host for the day over."
Antonio pouted like an angry toddler. "She didn't tell me her name! And she seems to like Valorum, out of all people! H-he wrote that atrocity of a song, which was clearly an attack on my persona and…"
"You promised that you're going to be friendly to him!" Dale reminded his friend. "It's not our fault we were booked to play with them on the planet with the most notorious prison in the sector. Remember that?"
The intelligence officer came back with a slender, black-haired Human male who was smiling.
"Welcome to the most progressive planet in the Sector, dear comrades! Comradette Brigada just told me you arrived and, of course, I cannot contain my excitement! I am your host for the day, Joak Bluest…"
It was too late. All seven guests were doing the "baby burp" goal celebration choreography already.
"Hey! I have done more than that with my life, of course!" Code:Blue protested.
"We know, you know?" Charon patted him on the shoulder. "We just couldn't resist. By the way, why are we taking the stairs?"
"Turbolifts are for climbing up only. Of course, we all need a bit of exercise, in order to live long and prosper."
Charon looked at Anra, who just shrugged, his permanent frown not making it clear if he was amused or bemused by their first taste of Sacorria. All seven beings rushed down the stairs, stocky Koobs panting behind the other six, struggling to follow their hyperactive host.
Once on Sacorria's well-known fertile soil, they were approached by a group of Selonian troopers. The musicians looked at Code:Blue, who seemed to be clueless so as to what was going on.
"Of…course…" He could not continue, as if somebody was jamming his grey matter. He kept on looking at the troopers, then at his guests.
Finally, one of the Selonians stepped ahead.
"We are acting on the order of Their Leaderships themselves. One of these groups of wailers needs to leave Sacorria, immediately; otherwise they will indoctrinate our innocent and well-behaved youth!"
Antonio Nokaarbe grinned.
"We knew it. Thanks for getting us rid of this major offender and his gang and…"
"Steamy Wasaka Stew are not welcome on this planet!" the leading trooper interrupted him. "Comrade Nokaarbe, you are to stay, but these three men will have to leave. We were told that only the singer of the offending band should stay on Sacorria."
Sassvar's eyes shifted from one side to the other, as if he had made a vow not to say a single word that day. Dal seemed genuinely surprised, while Wompy was unable to contain himself.
"You kriffin' den rats! Why are we not allowed to play here when we were invited to play?"
"Den rats? I am afraid I'll have to…" The trooper fired from her blaster. "…stun you. Calling me a den rat is offensive, den rats are our backwards ancestors on that clearly inferior world known as Selonia. Now, back to the shuttle with the three of you! Big guy, you seem smart. Carry this parasite and repeat what I have just said to the one with little horns. Nokaarbe, take your luggage and roadie droids and accompany the members of Deeply Religious and comrade Cod…Glisse."
Members of Deeply Religious grinned, as Antonio trailed behind them and Code:Blue on the way to the repulsortrain station, accompanied only by buzzing roadie droids.
"Mrgwfr frgrh asrrh."
"Is that old Kiffar, comrade Nokaarbe?" Koobs pretended to flex his floppy ears as if they were muscles. "You sure are in the need for some psychometry yourself."
Anra's cold tone was barely audible. "No use. He probably doesn't know what it means."
"It's fine, neither do we." Charon stopped playing with the ring on his hand for a moment. "But he will find out…at some point, you know?"
They got on the speeder. Saccorata was visible in the distance, but they did not seem to be heading there.
"Where are we going? I need to get my hair done before the show!"
"Relax, Nokaarbe…" Charon put his hand on Antonio's knee, regardless of how repugnant his unwanted travel mate was. In reality, he was scared himself. Something could have been wrong.
"You'll see." Code:Blue grinned from the seat next to his musteline protocol droid who was entering directions into the navigation computer. "Of course!"
…
Tendra and Doria had been waiting in line for about five hours. It was getting warmer and warmer. On top of it, there was nobody else in sight, just a single red and a single orange shirt in the middle of a large, green field that dust corn may have been growing on come the day before.
"I cannot believe I am going to see Antonio up close! Doria, can you believe it?"
"No, I cannot believe that you are going to see Antonio up close. What is the deal with SWS, anyway? Why do you like them?"
Tendra opened her second pack of chocolate and grain candies for the day and sighed.
"Steamy Wasaka Stew have got to be the best group in the Galaxy! They're fusing jizz with pronk on regular basis, their songs are so, so liberating…just read this." She waved her datapad before her friend's face. "Just read this. Please, please, please read!"
Doria glanced at the lyrics of a song, apparently called Master Lover and shook her head.
"If I understood this well, that Antonio of yours first wants to be stunned by a female trooper or an actual Imperial Stormtrooper and then sleep with her while the prisoner ship is in hyperspace. Nothing weird about that, all right." She rolled her eyes.
"In a truly free world, such things would be acceptable! It's a fantasy and…and…being swept off your feet by such a handsome man is what every girl would desire. Don't you?"
"Right…what I always wanted. An Antonio for me, an Antonio for you, an Antonio for everybody. Shame they outlawed this after the Clone Wars. Any other songs you would recommend? Something else?"
"Watch the holovid for Underlevels. It's about serious problems poor Antonio was facing while he lived on Coruscant! He had personal demons, poor dear!"
"Gredda, whatever is the reason you're putting me through this torture, stop!" Doria thought to herself and tilted her head to see the video from the right angle. It was the usual thing – Antonio posing, Antonio's hair in the wind, Antonio's chest up close, one Antonio fading behind another Antonio.
"Oh, so he does not use epilaser on his nipples and chin? Antonio, how dare you?" Doria tried to crack a joke. "Anyway, does this band have any other members?"
Tendra pointed at the datapad. "This is Wompy, the bassoon player!"
"It's a trash compactor."
"And this would be Dale, the beast on drums! Our mothers would probably say he's the real man."
"It's a tree, Tendra…wait, who is this? The one whom I can actually see for more than half of a second?" Doria pulled Tendra's hand at the sight of a thin young man with thick brown hair. "Pause!"
Tendra shook her head. "That's Anjie Men-man-manicure…no, Mencuri, sorry. Sorry. Anyway, Ant…"
"Why are you sorry? We all get names wrong."
"I'm sorry because I think he's dead and you asked about him. Nobody knows. He hasn't been seen for five years now. The last thing I know, he was possessed and they got rid of him. I don't think he was a good fit, anyway. So, Ant…"
"How do you mean 'possessed', Tendra?"
"You know, like, crazy. Tonight, I think Ant...Doria, what's wrong?"
"I need some water. And I changed my mind; give me a large piece of that chocolate."
Tendra shrugged. Doria grabbed her comm and typed out a message to Gredda, containing the thing she thought about earlier and a plea for a short-sleeved orange shirt instead of her long-sleeved one. Minutes later, the comm beeped.
"Gredda? Are you going to bring me the shirt?"
"I don't have much time, Doria…but I had to tell you this. I got a very strange HoloChat message. I was asked if I would lend my knowledge to an important project with super-high priority."
Doria moved away from Tendra. It took her good thirty seconds to respond.
"That has got to be a prank, Gredda! Either that, or they are trying to scam you and make you pay a fat pile of credits to invest in something…those Neimodian scammers!"
"Not this one. Whatever it is, they clearly know my name and background and they know what we're making at the factory. And they cannot make it without me!"
"Irrigation machinery and droids are pretty much common knowledge."
"Hmmm…right." The tone of Gredda's voice was strange for a moment. "Anyway, they want me in Dorthus Tal, tonight. I am leaving to an undefined location near Corellia from Their Leaderships' private spaceport. Maybe something is wrong with the Centerpoint Station and it actually has a purpose. This is so exciting, Doria!"
"Their Leaderships have a…what? And how am I going to survive mom now, before reuniting with great aunt Larax on Vagran? You have kept me sane for the past two years, since dad and granny died..."
"Oh, you will survive. And you are sane. Don't worry. Duchess Branna said that you can always drop by whenever Maris is being…Maris. On top of it, I will e-mail you from Corellia tonight. Make sure you join everybody at the Grain Night banquet after the festival."
"Will do, but…"
The call was over.
"What is going on, Doria? Who is it?" Tendra barely managed to mutter a couple of words through a mouthful of whatever the next thing she had in her bag was. "Sorry, I am so, so nervous!"
Doria didn't listen. She had forgotten to ask about the shirt again.