Star Wars_ X-Wing 04_ The Bacta War - Michael A. Stackpole [47]
Seeing that nothing was happening immediately, Corran guided Mirax over to a row of seats set beneath an overhead walkway servicing offices on the second level of the spaceport. The seats were also located fairly near a refresher station of which he wanted to make use. “Watch my stuff for me?”
Mirax nodded and sat while Corran piled his satchel and tool belt in the empty seat beside her. He started to step away toward the refresher station when its door opened and a stormtrooper with a blaster carbine slung at his right hip came walking out. In that armor, how can they …? Corran realized he was staring, then turned away quickly. He realized that looked suspicious as could be, so he leaned down and smiled at Mirax. “What did you say, dear?”
The look of fear in Mirax’s widening eyes and the reflection of a stormtrooper’s helmet eclipsing her brown irises told Corran his attempt to look inconspicuous had failed utterly and completely. He felt a heavy hand land on his shoulder, straightening him up and turning him around. Belly to belly with the stormtrooper, he looked up into the black eye lenses and tried to smile. “Is there something I can do for you?”
“I know you. Identification card.”
Corran’s mind reeled. It had to be impossible for the stormtrooper to actually know him, then he realized the man may have been on the Lusankya and might have seen him there. Then again I could just look like someone else.
Anxiety began to build in Corran as he handed over his identification card. Think, quick, what to do? He forced himself to breathe normally. First thing is to avoid panic. The identification is good and solid. It will hold up.
The stormtrooper held it up and examined it forward and back. “It seems fine, but you’re familiar, and I don’t know anyone named Eamon. Come with me so I can check you out.”
Fighting the urge to panic, Corran flashed on one of the Jedi stories. He settled a simple grin on his face and stared intently into the black recesses of the helmet. “I don’t need to go with you.”
“You don’t need to go with me?”
Corran’s grin grew. Hey, it’s working. I’m influencing his mind. “I can go about my business.”
“You can go about your business?” The stormtrooper shook his head, then grabbed a handful of Corran’s jumpsuit front. “Your business is my business, void-brain.” The stormtrooper’s comlink clicked from inside the helmet. “This is Nine One Five, bringing one in.”
The stormtrooper looked past him at Mirax. “She with you?”
Fear for her cleared Corran’s brain of disbelief over his failure to warp the stormtrooper’s mind. He twisted toward his right to get a look at her, letting his right hip hit the back of the seat containing his luggage. He let himself begin to fall back, using his weight to tear his clothing free of the stormtrooper’s grip. His head went down and his feet came up, letting him somersault backward over the chair. As he did so his right hand grabbed the hydrospanner and slid it free of the belt. Landing on one knee, he brought his head up and looked at the stormtrooper.
Corran found himself staring into the barrel of the man’s blaster carbine.
“Hydrospanner will work better if you have the heavy end pointed toward me, but it hardly matters.” The stormtrooper’s two-handed grip on the carbine kept his aim steady. “Come along with me or the janitorial staff earns its pay.”
“Sithspawn!” Corran swore and hammered the floor with the hydrospanner’s head. As the tool rebounded from the floor, and the head of the hydrospanner went bouncing off to the right, he thumbed the lightsaber on. The silvery blade sizzled out and swept up through the muzzle of the blaster carbine. The weapon’s barrel fell one way, the stormtrooper’s left hand another as Corran whirled to his feet and brought the lightsaber around in a slash at the stormtrooper’s eyes. The blade burned through the helmet, filling the air with the pungent scent of melted armor