Star Wars_ I, Jedi - Michael A. Stackpole [151]
A couple of blocks later, down curving hilly streets that took us well away from the Aviary, she spoke again. “Charmed me. He became friend. He sat with me in the dark. He did not draw me out like you. He worked his way in.”
I frowned. “What did he want?”
“Possession. I am apart from everyone. Isolated.”
“Because of your photosensitivity.”
“And raising. My mother was the only Shistavanen I knew young.” She hesitated, groping for words. “When we came to Uvena 3, she was home. I was in new place. My scent was not right, you understand?”
“You were different. It became easy for others to pick on you.” I reached out gently and rested my left hand on her right shoulder. “You let Remart know this, and he turned it against you.”
“False friend. Made demands.” I could feel tension start her body trembling, but she quelled it quickly. “I rejected him. He beat me. Badly. Fear and pain. I was happy to vote him out.”
I gave her shoulder a little squeeze. “Your confidence is safe with me.”
“I know.” She turned toward me and I saw a crescent moon reflected in her eyes. “You hide pain, secrets, too.”
I blinked. “How do you know?”
“I am Shistavanen enough to read sign.” Her grin returned. “You walk alone. You do not visit, seek companionship. You do not drink more than is needed to make you fit in.”
I gave her a quick smile. “Quite the detective. Of what am I guilty?”
“You have lover away. You look for reunion or redemption.”
That stopped me. “You’re a very good tracker.”
“So, I think, why are you here?” She sniffed twice, quickly. “Your lover is not an Invid.”
I shook my head, wondering how close to the truth I could come without jeopardizing my entire mission. I decided I had to skirt the truth by a wide margin, but quickly built up a story that would suffice. “Her cousin controls the Tinta line, and has decreed that my lover cannot be with me without having her whole branch of the family cut off from the Tinta fortune. I am greasier than Hutt slime in her eyes, and considered to be after my lover’s wealth alone. I want to destroy the Tintas, and I see being an Invid as the way to do it. I want them to know I am the instrument of their destruction, and I want to have their wealth in my pockets when I take my lover away from her poverty-stricken family.”
Caet sniffed once more, then gave out with a sharp yip. “Fools fight for love, the wise for money.”
“Thanks, I think.”
“Bold plan. You will need to be True Invid to accomplish it.”
I caught a whiff of something cooking from further down the street and headed toward it. “What do you mean by True Invid?”
“Crew on ship.” She fell into step with me. “Two ways. Merit in combat.”
“That can be done.”
“Not as Rock. We are ignored. Bolts are not.” A playful growl rolled from her throat. “Bolt you can become.”
“I hope so. What’s the other method?”
“Berth duty.”
I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”
Caet reached out and caught my chin in her right hand. She turned my face to the left and nodded. “Minimal scar. You might do.”
“Excuse me.”
Another yip. “Admiral Tavira has appetite for men. You can become True Invid that way, too.”
I nodded and she released my chin. Becoming a True Invid and joining the crew of the Invidious was the final step in locating Mirax. As a crew member I’d learn where the Impstar went between attacks. I knew, at that location, I would find Mirax. I would do what it took to get there and save her, I had no doubt in my mind.
“So, Caet, tell me,” I smiled as I waved her toward the small restaurant from which the scent of food emanated, “just what do we do to make me a Bolt?”
THIRTY-SIX
Caet laid out a very simple plan to boost me into the ranks of Bolt Squadron, but we ran into some unexpected complications over the next several months. The first, and most frustrating, was the paucity of challenging missions for us. While the Invidious made a number of forays