• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Wolam glanced around. Luke saw his attention freeze, for the barest of moments, on several of the faces present at the meeting, including Luke’s own. Then Wolam returned his attention to Wedge. “If I may, I’d like to stay instead. I’m a historian. Here is where history is being made. We won’t be much of a draw on your resources. We have quarters aboard my shuttle.”

“Very well.” Wedge stood. “Now, it’s back to work. I’m sorry it’s all bad news today, but we need to be kept updated.”

On his way out the door, Tam accepted congratulations from many of those who’d been present—congratulations on bringing valuable information, congratulations on surviving. He nodded and gulped, uncomfortable at being among so many people—at being among so many famous people—and moved as quickly as he could. His size, for he was tall enough to brush his hair against the top of the doorjamb and bulky enough to bring a smile to the face of a smashball team owner, acted against him, as it usually did; he managed to catch chair legs with his feet and inadvertently brushed some smaller people out of the way as he staggered for the door. Then he was out in the hall, where at least the traffic was moving in the direction he wanted to go, and a few moments later was outside, gratefully gulping in Borleias’s moist, warm air.

“Not much for crowds, are you?” The speaker—female, young—had moved up beside him as he’d recovered.

He took a look at her and his stomach lurched again. She was right. Crowds were bad. But attractive females didn’t help either. They, too, made words stick in his throat and made his heart hammer. This one was slender, her hair a cascade of blond curls now tied back in a tail. Her eyes were a lively blue, her features the sort that brightened any chamber they entered.

Tam took a moment to remember what it was she’d said. He managed a smile that, he hoped, suggested he was at ease. “That’s right. I’m a field holocam operator, not a city boy. How I ever let Wolam persuade me to come back to Coruscant with him really baffles me.”

“I suspect that he’s pretty persuasive.”

“He is.” Tam thought furiously, trying to remember what normal people did in these situations, then extended his hand. “Tam Elgrin.”

She shook it. “Danni Quee.”

“Say, I know your name. You’re almost famous.” Then he winced. “That came out wrong.”

Her smile said that she was amused rather than offended. “Listen, Tam, I have a question for you. Do you have any recordings that Wolam Tser didn’t show us back there? Any recordings of the Yuuzhan Vong?”

“I—” He felt the onset of a headache but ignored it. He hadn’t been told that he couldn’t share his recordings. Wolam Tser might fret about it, but then again, in these times of war, when it was vital to share information with appropriate parties, he probably wouldn’t. “I do. I have some recordings of a Yuuzhan Vong hunting pack. In the midlevels of Coruscant. I was with some people. After I stopped recording and really started running, I got toward the front of the pack and the Yuuzhan Vong fell on those in the rear.” He shrugged. “So I got away.” He pulled up the bag he always carried with him, the one that held his holocam, his miniature backup holocam, his recordings, his recording blanks. He found the recording he was looking for and pressed the data card into her hand. “That’s the one. I’d like it back.”

“I’ll copy it and get it back to you soon. Today, even.”

“Thanks.”

“Nice meeting you.” She flashed him a smile and headed back into the building.

“Likewise.” Finally able to get his heart rate under control, Tam headed away from the building, out into the kill zone.

Within the half kilometer nearest the front of the building, the burned-out area that had once been jungle was heavily occupied by vehicles and vessels; two large docking bays were under construction, duracrete being poured, prefabricated metal walls being raised. All around them were shuttles and starfighters, speeders and hovercrafts, transports and one large freighter with extensive damage to its bow.

Tam brought out