Star Wars_ Young Jedi Knights 02_ Shadow Academy - Kevin J. Anderson [19]
"We dare not blast the surrounding rock for fear of destroying the treasure. We've come to Borgo Prime in search of industrial-grade Corusca gems to slice through the armor and open the treasure vault. We are ready to pay handsomely for the right type of gems."
Tenel Ka watched with interest as the dull, lumpy asteroid of Borgo Prime loomed in their forward viewports. The rock had been hollowed out, honeycombed in ages past by generations of asteroid miners who sought one type of mineral, then another as market conditions changed. But more than a century ago, Borgo Prime had been stripped clean of even the least-desirable ore-leaving a spongelike network of interlocked caves, fully equipped with all the life-support systems and transportation airlocks the miners had needed. It had been a simple matter to convert the played-out mine into a bustling spaceport.
Luke transmitted the standard request for clearance to land and received it without difficulty.
"We've been cleared for docking bay ninety-four," Luke said. "Are you ready, uh, Beknit?"
Tenel Ka nodded matter-of-factly. "Of course, Iltar."
Luke studied her for a moment, earnest concern filling his face. "It could be rough down there, you know. You heard what Lando said: Borgo Prime is filled with people who have no conscience-thieves, murderers, creatures who would just as soon kill you as greet you."
"Ah. Aha," Tenel Ka said, raising an eyebrow. "Sounds like a visit to my grandmother's court on Hapes."
The two Randoni traders, "Iltar" and his ward-cousin "Beknit," left their blockade runner in the dockyard cavern behind an immense hangar door and walked along the causeway that joined Borgo Prime's largest space dock to its business district deep in the core of the asteroid.
In spite of her many rehearsals, Tenel Ka found it difficult to remember that she was supposed to be an experienced trader, used to frequenting such spaceports. She gawked openly at the tall rows of prefabricated dwellings welded up and down the inner walls and all the garish flashing lights of the alien businesses in separate atmosphere domes around them.
This place was so different from the primitive, untamed world of Dathomir. Even Hapes with its serene and stately cities-some of them larger than this entire asteroid-bore no resemblance to the spaceport's seedy, gaudily lit establishments, that hummed with a life of their own.
Overhead, through the clear arching plasteel that covered a rift in the ceiling, the stars and space were all but obscured by Borgo Prime's glaring lights.
Luke paused beside Tenel Ka, letting her collect her thoughts. "You've never been anyplace like this, have you?" he asked.
She shook her head and started to walk again, searching for words to describe the unsettling emotions. "I feel... foolish. Out of place." She scuffed her toes along a causeway surface that was paved with colorful, glowing advertisements. She paused to read an ad, then another. The first one announced in phosphorescent script that flared into light as she stepped near it, borgo landing space docks by the hour or by the month.
The next one said simply info to Godiscreet inquiries of all sorts completely confidential.
Tenel Ka shook her head. "I do not understand this place," she said. "It both revolts and . . . entices me at the same time."
"You don't have to go through with this, you know," Luke said. "I could handle it myself."
It was completely true, Tenel Ka realized-an uncomfortable thought. She tossed her head and ran a nervous hand over her hair, which she wore loose, in Random style, so that it flowed down her back in a cascade of red-gold ripples like a sun-dappled stream. She tried to look confident, but icy fingers of doubt prodded her mind. "I will do what I must to rescue my friends,"