Chapter 6
***
Gage L’Reesan tried to concentrate on his work, but the princess’s face kept floating through his mind, begging for his attention. Finally, realizing he was never going to finish his data work, he shut down his computer and called the front desk. When finally someone came to the screen, the employee asked, “How may I help you sir?”
“Might I find out where Princess Nor is staying?”
“I’m sorry sir, but that information is classified unless proper identification is presented.”
“Fine,” Gage replied. He turned off the monitor and called over his droid. “Eenine, come here.”
The short droid rolled over and beeped a response.
“I don’t care what you were doing with your oil. I need you to print up a false ID for me.”
Another string of beeps and whistles erupted from the unit.
“Yes, I know they are illegal, but so is murder, and I think I’ve found the culprit of a horrid crime. If I’m ever to get to that damned Tingiri girl, I’ll need an ID, so print it up!”
The droid backed up a bit in fear of his master’s tone and quickly began running his specially-installed programs to print up an identification card. After a few grinding sounds, a metal card shot out of Eenine’s side and landed on the floor. Gage quickly snatched it up and headed for the door. Before leaving for the hotel’s front desk, he turned back to glare at the R2 unit still waiting near the couch.
“Eenine, I don’t want you leaving this room, and I don’t want you charging up my room service bill with long distance calls again. Understand?” The droid beeped in the affirmative and rolled away.
***
Si tossed dress after dress to the floor, searching for just the right one for her dinner engagement. She kept glancing nervously at the wall clock, noting that she only had one hour to prepare. Finally choosing a gorgeous green dress covered in expensive beads, she changed hurriedly into it. Then, sitting patiently on the couch, Ti’ie and Jun’ie did her hair while Da’ie chose her shoes and accessories.
After she was done, Si left her room for the dining hall, followed closely by the three handmaidens.
***
On the way to the hotel’s front desk, Gage L’Reesan was stopped by a young tramp. She threw herself into his arms and exclaimed, “Why Gage, where have you been? Take me to your room so we can have some fun!”
Gage tried to pry the girl’s arms off his body and get away from her. It was Stephanie, the whore. No last name, just Stephanie. Gage had met this blond, blue-eyed girl at a bar on Corellia. They had spent one night together, and ever since then, she’d been following him around. Wherever he was, she was sure to find him. Gage decided it was going to end here and now.
“Listen Stephanie, let’s go to the bar and talk about things between us over drinks.”
“Okay!” she agreed, taking his hand and pulling him towards the bar.
***
Si entered the dining hall and bowed respectfully towards the two Jedi standing near the table. Three places were set with silverware and crystal glasses. Si walked to her place and sat down. The three servants stood along the wall behind the princess. Kel and Junni also sat down and looked over at the monarch.
“So, Caleea, what is your home planet like?” Junni began the conversation.
Si hesitated, then replied, “Well, Onderon is a jungle planet, so it’s hot and humid throughout the year. We’ve been discussing future settlements on Dxun, our moon, but it’s still an issue in dispute. We hope to expand our people and populate more regions of the planet. We are, after all, a new planet to the Republic. Our senators have just recently been elected into office.”
“Are you a senator as well, or just ruler of your planet?” Kel inquired. Servers entered the dining hall with large platters and dishes heaped with food. They set the steaming food onto the table and placed serving spoons on the plates.
“Well, I’m neither. My mother is the queen. I am not an official senator, but I do represent my home on occasion. Now, let’s have less talk and more food. This shellfish looks splendid!” Si grabbed a large crustacean from the platter, using the silver tongs, and dropped it onto her plate. Looking over at the large bowl, Si asked politely, “What type of soup is in the tureen?”
Junni replied, “Mungruebe stew from Agamar. It is one of our favorites.”
“Yulee, could you please tell us about the rest of the menu for tonight?” Kel looked over at one of the servers.
“Well, ladies, along with the seafah shellfish and mungruebe stew, we also have quivry hunted down on Antar Four by the best Gotal hunters, sink-crabs from Bestine, and snoruuks from Gamorr. Later on, we will have drutash grubs in omaton sauce for desert.”
“It all sounds very delicious. I’ll be popping my buttons off before I’m finished with it all!” Junni replied energetically. Si only smiled slightly as she thought, Geez, what kind of stimulant is this girl on? Apparently Junni got the negative vibes, because her large smile faded and she looked down at her plate, concentrating on her food.
“Why haven’t you been able to decipher the language on the disc? I thought Jedi masters could understand many languages,” Si looked over at Kel, who was trying to crack the shell on her seafah.
“Well, I’m really not very good at any foreign language. I only understand Basic and a few others. Also, I’m not yet a Jedi master. Junni here, well she’s my first Padawan learner. I’d only just passed the trials months before I met Junni and took her on as my apprentice. She had barely turned ten at the time.”
“Who was your master when you were a Padawan?” Si asked.
“Well, it was quite a tragedy. My master, Kianna Di, was killed in a battle when I was only seventeen. Afterwards, my training was completed under the Jedi Master Eeth Koth. Although it isn’t suggested to pair a man with a woman, I learned much under his direction.”
“I’ve heard much of him. He’s on the Jedi council isn’t he?”
“Yes. He was appointed not long after I passed my trials.”
“Ladies, here is your desert.” Yulee entered with three sundae glasses filled with a burgundy colored liquid and small noodle-like critters swimming through it. He set the glasses down in front of the three women and walked away.
Si picked up her fork and skewered a few of the writhing worms. She bit into their soft skins and chewed them slowly. The two Jedi ate their desert quietly. The sauce that the worms were marinated in was very much like brandy. After eating the worms, Si drank the liquid.
When the women were done with their desert, they all stood up to say goodbye.
“Your Highness, it has been a pleasure this evening,” Junni said as she dropped her napkin on the table.
“Well, thank you very much for inviting me. I’ve never had such an extravagant meal. I enjoyed it.”
Kel pushed in her chair and replied, “We enjoyed speaking with you. We’ll see you tomorrow to look at that disc, I assume?”
“Yes, I’ll see you both tomorrow. Good evening,” Si bowed and left the room, followed by her three handmaidens.
***
At the hotel’s bar, Gage and Stephanie sat at a table, nursing a couple of drinks. Gage turned to the girl and said, “Look Stephanie, we had one night together and that was it. I don’t like you, okay?”
“Well if you don’t like me, then why did we go out?” her voice began to fill with sadness.
“Steph, you’re a whore. You’ve gone out with lots of guys. Besides, I was drunk.”
“Well, okay. I’ll just leave you alone then,” Stephanie looked down at her glass as a tear glazed her cheek. “But I really do like you. You were so much nicer than all those other guys I slept with.”
“Yeah, but I can’t return those feelings,” Gage was trying really hard not to make the girl cry. Too late, he realized, when he saw Stephanie’s pretty blue eyes become shiny with tears. They tumbled down her cheeks as she began to weep. She started to hiccup between sobs, and just the pitiful sound put Gage on a major guilt trip.
“Hey Steph, just because I don’t want to go out with you doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.”
Stephanie raised her head with hopeful wet eyes. “Really?”
“Absolutely. Now let’s get drunk. There’s nothing more fun than a few hangovers between friends.” Looking over at the bartender, he shouted, “Hey! Give me a bottle of your best whiskey and some shot glasses. We’re gonna get drunk over here!”
A bunch of drunk bar patrons cheered and held up full beer mugs in celebration.For disclaimer, see chapter 1.