Star Wars_ Legacy of the Force 01_ Betrayal - Aaron Allston [39]
Jaina took a deep breath and looked around, wary for signs of too much attention being directed their way. There shouldn’t be any. After having made planetfall hours ago, she and her team had had time to check into a hostel, clean themselves up, sleep, and eliminate disguise elements that would cause them to stand out. Jaina now wore a cumbersome Commenorian traveler’s robe; her hair was back to its natural dark color; her false tattoo was gone.
“I miss the tattoo,” Zekk said. He was now dressed in Corellian common citizens’ garments—dark pants and open jacket, a lighter, long-sleeved shirt, knee-high boots in black. His long black hair hung in a braid.
A passerby, a young woman with orange hair and a green, filmy dress, flashed Zekk a smile as she passed. Jaina felt a stab of irritation, pushed it from her mind.
Zekk grinned at Jaina. “What was that I felt?”
She scowled at him. “We’re on duty. Concentrate on your mission.”
“Yes, Commander.” The grin didn’t leave his face, but he turned his attention back to the ministerial residence.
A few years earlier, Jaina and Zekk had bonded, a union of mind and personality that went beyond even a Force-bond. It was something that had resulted from their interaction with the Killiks, a hive-mind species. Eventually the intensity of that union had largely faded, but Jaina’s and Zekk’s thoughts and feelings remained intertwined to a degree unusual even for Jedi. Sometimes it was comforting, even exhilarating. Other times, like now, it was uncomfortable and distracting.
Nothing suggested to Jaina that she or her companions were attracting attention. The broad, multilane avenue before her was thick with groundspeeder traffic—and the Corellians were such maniacal speeder pilots that anyone near the street with any sense kept his or her attention on their lane-changing, position-jockeying antics. The huge, gated building behind them was, by contrast, inert, some parts of its grounds in deep shadow from trees and creeping vines. Even the guards at the sidewalk gates and main doors were still.
The other two members of their team, female Bothan Kolir Hu’lya and male Falleen Thann Mithric, moved up to join them. Kolir, the youngest member of the team, having completed her trials and achieved Jedi Knight status only weeks before, wore an abbreviated dress in white that contrasted nicely with her tan fur and would not overheat her on this warm day. Thann, dressed in a traveler’s robe, looked the most Jedi-like of the four of them but was still thoroughly unremarkable of appearance in this cosmopolitan city; he had his hood up over his long black topknot and was maintaining his skin color at a light orange, making him virtually indistinguishable from a human.
“I don’t see any problems,” Kolir said.
Not that reassuring coming from someone who’d been an apprentice a few days ago, Jaina reflected. She heard Zekk snicker. Kolir looked curiously at him, but Jaina said, “Transmit that we’re onstation.”
Kolir nodded. She dug around in her white carry-bag, the same bag that held her lightsaber and an array of other destructive weapons, and brought out a comlink. She smiled as though she were calling a boyfriend and spoke into it: “Team Purella here, just checking in.”
OUTER SPACE, NEAR THE CORELLIAN SYSTEM
Luke, dressed in what looked like standard brown-and-tan Jedi gear but which actually had all the equipment and functionality of a pilot’s suit, sat on the rolling staircase that was meant to give a pilot or mechanic access to the X-wing’s top surfaces. It wouldn’t be needed for that purpose. The mechanics were finished for now with his XJ6 X-wing, and Luke wouldn’t need any assistance in getting to the cockpit—for a Jedi, it was just one quick leap away.
The bay where his squadron’s X-wings waited was frantic with