Deep Amongst the Stars Divided 5

In the long weeks that passed, the rumours and the gossip had begun to circulate on the ship. I knew that by the surreptitious looks I was given when I walked into the mess hall or when I walked the more populated corridors. I heard the whispers and pretended that I hadn’t. I had been called worse things than a palace doxy but I bridled at the suggestions which said I slept with every Imperial officer who knocked on my door. I was many things in my life but unfaithful and promiscuous were not among them. I trusted Thrawn implicitly but I hated not knowing what his game was and I really hated that somehow I was wound up in it, without knowing why.

Oddly enough the rumours about me didn’t bother Lord Vader and his only comment when I brought it all up one day was; ‘Since when have you ever cared what others think about you?’ I guessed that when you were as reviled as Lord Vader was there was a point when malicious gossip became meaningless in your life. So I did what I thought he would do and I ignored it all, or at least tried to. Only CJ brought the subject up during one of our sparring sessions. We had become good friends, at least as good a friend to each other as our respective jobs allowed. Perhaps it would be better to describe our relationship as combative companions. We talked a lot while we sparred.

“I hear you are the hot topic for gossip at the moment on board this ship.” He grinned as we warmed up.

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t tell me you believe all the trash you hear.”

“Not at all, I just find it amusing that one little girl is the subject of so much conversation.”

“I’m hardly a little girl and it isn’t my fault people have nothing better to do than talk about things based on malicious rumours spread by credit hungry tabloid HoloNet journalists with no scruples what so ever!” I snapped.

“Is it true then? Are you having a mad affair with the Emperor’s pet alien and half a dozen of his other high ranking officers?”

I stopped what I was doing and looked him in the eye. “If I was do you think I would tell you, or anyone else for that matter? Besides when in the name of the Almighty Sarlacc would I ever have time to do everything and everyone they say I am doing and still get all the work I need to do for Lord Vader done in time?”

“A point to you… so it’s just the one in particular then?” he asked with a teasing grin.

“Good grief, you don’t give up do you? You really think I’d talk that openly about my private life?” I shot back. CJ liked to tease and in the time we had spent together sparring he had figured out pretty quickly how to get to me. Most of the time I didn’t mind, it was friendly and even with the hint of something more underneath he kept himself decently distanced.

He smirked. “No. I don’t suppose you would kiss and tell, you’re not the type.”

“What about you? No romance in your life?” I asked.

“Sweetheart, romance and Imperial Service are two things that never go well together. I don’t have time for that nonsense. A leg over is about all I ever get around to.”

I just shook my head. “You Imperial men are all the same. Crude, quick and dirty!”

He laughed. “I do find it interesting all the women now claiming to be Thrawn’s lover, like it’s a fashion accessory to have slept with the Emperor’s pet alien. One even claims to have had his baby. It is as if going to bed with the man is akin to winning a prize!”

“Really.” I said flatly, and then added sarcastically. “That should please the Emperor to no end.” Not to mention Thrawn, I thought.

He laughed and tossed me a combat staff, today we had decided on hand to hand weapons training. “I doubt it, though it turns out her baby was actually a normal human child dyed blue with red contacts inserted on his eyes. Admiral Thrawn, it seems plays his romance cards very close to his chest. That the thing that attracts the nut jobs. He’s a complete mystery. ”

I shook my head. “I am quite sure, like the rest of us; he doesn’t have time for that sort of crap. I don’t understand this fascination with sex and the Imperial court that everyone has. If it were me, I’d be far more concerned about the political pot that’s set to over boil. Now that is a mess worthy of the news net”

CJ swung at me and I ducked down into a crouching panthac stance to block and then attack. “The HoloNet gossip shows aren’t interested in that, sex scandals sell, politics puts people to sleep.” He said.

“People are a bunch of dopey Eopies then.” I said as I swung my staff around, he very nearly didn’t block in time and that made me smirk.

“Why do you think this is happening now? If I understand the news nets right it is almost as if there is some sort of coup going on in the higher ranks with Tigellinus and his cronies on one side and Thrawn and his supporters on the other.” He spun away and landed in riding bantha stance.

I shook my head. “I have no idea. The whole mess makes no sense. Both of these men are supposed to be on the same side, fighting for the same ideals, I don’t know why either of them would pursue this course of action. What is even stranger is that I get the impression that it is Admiral Thrawn doing the instigating. He’s too smart for that. Surely, he of all people would know this can only lead to a messy end. The Emperor does not tolerate this sort of dissent between his men.”

CJ shrugged. He motioned for me to stop and we paused for a moment. “If you hold the staff like this,” he said showing me what he meant, “you’ll find you get even more power in the swing.”

I tested it out and he was right. “Funny, Lord Vader never showed me that move.”

CJ grinned. “Vader has physical strength and height on his side; you are smaller, lighter. You need to use physics to get the same power behind the blows. He probably doesn’t think about that. He’s too busy trying to kill you or something!””

I grinned and we went back to sparring.

CJ got back on topic. “I don’t have an answer for that question, Merlyn. I was always under the Impression that Thrawn was brilliant as a tactician. That for reasons unbeknownst to us mere mortal humans he can almost predict the future in his planning of events. I’ve been privy to some of his conversations with the Emperor while on duty and I can tell you, the man astounds me. From a military, tactical and strategic stand point he is the sort of man most of us desire to be so why he would risk it all on a stunt like this, I don’t know.” He stepped back as I swung and blocked easily. “If I didn’t know better I would almost venture to say he wants to be expelled, because that’s what will happen if he’s not careful, or worse he’ll be executed.”

Even though I knew this was not a possibility the words made my blood freeze and I lost concentration so that the blow CJ made caught me on the thigh with a painfully resounding smack.

“You let your feelings get in the way of your concentration, they betray you, you know.” He said. He had figured out I was force sensitive but not what my exact talents were. We had spoken of it the third time we had met to spar and agreed to try and not use the force while we fought but sometimes stronger emotions and feelings leaked out around us anyway.

I gave him a slight smile and ignored his comment. “I can’t see the Emperor wanting to execute Admiral Thrawn.” I said. “There’s something else going on here, something they don’t want the rest of the court or navy or galaxy for that matter to know about.”

“And Thrawn doesn’t whisper his secrets to you?” CJ teased.

I blocked his next swing and caught the tip of his staff in a way that sent him on his ass. “I accompany him to official events, I am not privy to his inner most secrets.” I said and to some sort of extent this was true.

CJ got up and grinned. He swung at me in a faked roundhouse move that caught me completely by surprise and sent me backwards to the floor. What surprised me even more was he followed me down to lie on top of me, pinning my arms down so I could not move. His face only inches from mine he grinned. “So if I were to kiss you now, he would have no reason to mind and you would enjoy it?”

“Try me.” I said in a beguiling whisper and just as he brought his face close enough I cracked my forehead against his as hard as I could and pushed him away, to get to my feet.

He sat back and rubbed his forehead. “Ow! Nice move, where did you learn that?”

“Jabba’s palace. Boba Fett taught it to me.”

CJ just grinned. “You are so besotted you don’t even see it. When I use the force to look at you it’s so obvious.”

“Besotted?” I rolled my eyes; I was not going to go down that road of conversation. Especially not with a man, that had Thrawn not been in the picture, I might actually have considered letting him kiss me. I was beginning to think I was attracted to the wrong sort of men and CJ was most definitely the wrong sort of man. “I thought we’d agreed not to use the force?”

He winked. “You leak power all over the place whenever his name is mentioned, sweetheart. Maybe the head blind can’t tell what you think or feel but I sure can. Why is it that people having an affair always think no one notices?”

I gave him a speculative look and shrugged. “Now that is a good question.” I said wearily. “Sarlacc’s teeth, am I really that obvious?”

He frowned and looked at me. “Honestly, all kidding aside, I don’t think so, but you forget I am trained to observe and use every means in my power to get answers; it’s so inbred I can’t help it.” Then he grinned at me. “So, there is something more serious going on between you two then?”

I just smiled and I suppose that was answer enough.

He shook his head. “So what’s he like?”

“What is who like?” I asked being evasive.

His answer surprised me. “Fett? I hear he’s the best bounty hunter in the galaxy, how does an Imperial office girl know such a man?” he picked up his staff and circled me.

“That’s a long story.” I said avoiding his swing.

“Shorten it for me.” He said, “I’ll promise I’ll behave.”

“I’ve heard that before.” I told him ducking his blow and twisting around to bring my staff between his legs and flip him backwards so he landed on the matt again. It had never occurred to me until that moment that CJ’s teasing was really flirting and I egged him on. I suddenly felt a little guilty.

“Seriously, what’s he like?” he pressed.

I stopped and leaned on the combat staff. CJ just sat on the floor looking up at me, waiting.

“He’s very quiet, very smart and very deadly.” I said.

CJ patted the mat beside him and I sat down.

“How do you know him then?”

I sighed. “When I was in my late teens I danced at Jabba’s Palace. Call it my rebellious phase. Fett was often there, he does a lot of work for Jabba.”

“You really worked for a Hutt?” he asked in surprise.

“You even know what a Hutt is?” I asked with a grin.

CJ nodded. “Part of the Royal Guard training is to be familiar with just about every crime syndicate in the galaxy. Knowing who runs the underworlds is good for knowing who to lean on for information. It’s not something the Royal Guard does but we are trained in the arts of interrogation and espionage anyway. The Emperor’s theory is that it takes a spy to know a spy. So yeah, I know who Jabba the Hutt is and I am surprised that you would work for him, you don’t seem the type.”

I laughed. “On Tatooine there isn’t much choice available to a would be dancer.”

He nodded. “So go on with the story, how did you learn that move from Fett?”

“Well, I’d only been at the Palace a week or so and I was still considered fresh meat, as they say. I had just finished dancing a set and was on my way back to the dressing room when I got cornered. I don’t know who he was, just some guy who wanted much more than a dance. I knew some self defence but he had caught me by surprise and I couldn’t get out of his grip.” I shuddered at the memory. “Anyway he had one hand over my mouth and the other all over me. I couldn’t get out away from his hold which seems strange to me now because now I could kill him without thinking about it…” I paused.

CJ said nothing and did not move so I drew a deep breath and continued. “He was about to remove my dance costume when suddenly he was just sort of yanked back and then sort of lying dead on the ground. When I looked up I found myself staring into Fett’s face mask. He said nothing but he dragged me by the arm into a small room off the hallway somewhere and not only closed the door but locked it. I was pretty sure he wanted the same thing the other guy wanted but instead he took off his helmet and folded his arms. What surprised me was the look on his face. He was furious. He was absolutely furious with me.” I smiled at this memory. “He looked me over in that making sure you are in one piece way and then he said. ‘You’re Kit Gabriel’s little girl, Merlyn aren’t you?’ It hadn’t occurred to me he would recognise me from my father’s docking bay or even that I had worked from time to time on his ship when he had brought it in for repairs. Of course it’s always hard to tell what a person sees when their face is hidden behind a mask. I had nodded and he had asked me not so politely what I was doing in the scum hole of Jabba’s palace.”

“‘Working.’ had been my answer to him. ‘This is no place for a sweet kid like you, go home.’ He had said. I told him that my home life wasn’t so good and I had needed to get away. I guess maybe he understood that because he had just nodded. He’d asked if I was serious about dancing in the palace and when I told him yes he said; ‘Then you need to learn a few tricks.’ And with that he showed me how to defend myself.” I said.

“Head butting your opponent?” CJ asked rubbing his forehead.

“Yeah, among other things. He came at me the same way the guy in the hallway had and when he had backed me against the wall holding my hands above my head he had asked how I thought I could get out of this situation. I was pretty clueless and had no idea really. When he had gotten within a hair’s breadth of my lips he whispered. ‘Now hit my forehead with yours as hard as you can.’ So I did. He went on to show me a few other interesting manoeuvres such as a knee in the groin, all of them effective. I suppose we were in that small changing room for about an hour. Before he left he said to me, ‘Merlyn get out of here while you still can. They eat little girls like you for breakfast in this place. You’re a damned good mechanic go back and be a damned good mechanic. I don’t trust my ship to just anyone, you know.’ And with that he slipped his helmet back on and left the room with me following. After that, most of the time, I was left alone. I am pretty certain that the rumour got around I was either his girl or under his protection. When he was at the palace he was almost always around where I could see him, I never knew if it was deliberate or not but I felt a lot safer with him there than when he was off on a hunt.” I sighed. All of this seemed so very long ago.

“Sometimes he would request my presence in a private room. I know what people thought but it was never ever like that. He would order food and drink and then he would share the meal with me and we would talk, well mostly I would talk, telling him stuff about daily Tatooine life, the docking bay and stuff and he would listen. Fett isn’t much of a conversationalist, although when he does talk, he’s really interesting. I always got the impression he did this to reinforce the message that I was off limits, but now I wonder if maybe he also just liked the company. I mean, it’s not like the galaxy’s most revered and feared bounty hunter has any real friends is it? I didn’t care one way or the other to be honest. I suppose a part of me kinda looked up to him, you know maybe even idolized him a bit, after all I’d known him most of my life. He scared me a little but he fascinated me as well. Every chance he could he would tell me to get out of the palace and find a new job. I guess his message sunk in because when I got the chance to get out, I did. I haven’t seen him since I left the palace but I always wanted to thank him for his help.”

“Jeeze kid, you lead a charmed life.” He said in admiration.

I shrugged. “I don’t know about that.”

He grinned at me. “Hardly anyone knows what Fett looks like for real. He keeps his face hidden from the world and the rumour is that if he does show you his face you don’t live long to remember what he looks like.”

“Why would he do that?”

“Well the story is that Fett wasn’t born he was made. That the original clone from the clone wars was a man named Jango Fett and he requested a clone of himself to raise as a son in payment. Boba Fett is that son.”

My face must have turned a ghastly white. “Boba Fett is a clone?” I asked.

“That’s that story.” He said. “Hey, are you feeling okay?”

I nodded. “So, if you see his face that’s what the clones, all of them, looked like?”

“Yeah, I guess, why?”

“I just always wondered what a clone soldier looked like, is all.” I told him, lying.

CJ nodded. “They were amazing soldiers. We often speculate about what it would have been like to fight with them, especially the ARC commanders, the independent thinkers that Jango had a personal hand in designing.”

I was about to comment on this when the door opened and Lord Vader strode in. CJ was faster in getting to his feet than I was. Lord Vader dismissed him with a wave of his hand. CJ nodded and left the room. Once he was gone Lord Vader spoke.

“Get yourself ready to leave. We have been recalled to Coruscant immediately.” Lord Vader said to me. “You will dress in an appropriate manner for a public assembly before the Emperor.”

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“I do not know but the Emperor specifically commanded I bring you along.” He said. “Get moving, girl, we have no time to waste! In half an hour I shall be in the shuttle, do not be late!” and he swept out of the room. Before I had a chance to take in the situation CJ slipped back through the door.

“What’s happening?” he asked.

“I don’t know.” I told him, that wriggle of fear began to knot my stomach.

“Is everything alright?”

I looked at him and shook my head. “I don’t think so.” I said. “I think all nine Corellian hells are about to break loose.”