The Flame [3]

Chapter 10

We walk up to Poe and Charth.

"High praise," I hear Poe say. "I'm sure she would appreciate it."

"Appreciate what?" Suralinda asks.

They turn to face us. Poe's studying Suralinda's purple silky dress, while I'm studying Charth's blue cape and matching shirt and pants.

"Found your wife," Suralinda says pushing me towards Poe. "She was cheating on you."

I stumble into Poe. His hands go to my arms steadying me. I turn around to face Suralinda.

"It's on," I tell her. "You're going to wish you never did that."

"Where did you get that?" Poe asks Suralinda.

"Yendor gave it to me. There's a whole wing of historical clothing here. Do I look like an ambassador's girlfriend?" she put her hand on her hip, and struck a pose.

"Girlfriend?" my eyes go wide as I realize what she said. My eyes dart to Poe's. They meet for a brief moment.

"I was thinking you would be my attaché," Charth says.

The feelings through the force were strong. What I felt coming from Charth could power an entire galaxy. I look at Poe and raised my eyebrows grinning. He smirks back. I smile even bigger knowing Poe's thinking what I am.

"Oh," she shrugs. "Whatever works, as long as I get to wear the dress." She takes the hangers and slaps them to Poe's chest. He clutches them. "Got something for you, Bree, and Finn, too."

"What are you talking about? And how did you know Finn was coming? I just invited him. Did Ree tell you?"

"I didn't she found me," I say putting my hands in the air in surrender.

"Cheating on you with Jess. But, lucky guess. Anyways, the clothes are from the historical clothing collection are here. Maz said you needed to look dapper, so I brought you dapper."

Poe sniffs the garments, then holds them at arms length.

"Dameron, wearing a full suit won't kill you," I tell him.

"I know that, it's just..." he starts.

"We're all set!" Finn says walking over. "Connix transmitted the confirmations and the money for our buyings. We have cover stories too. You two," he pointed at me and Poe. "Are Lorell and Skylar Shda. Lorell is a notorious weapons dealer who wants that list to free some old brothers-in-arms who were caught up in the First Order sweeps of your home planet. Skylar wants the list to free her brother who got caught by the First Order after he spoke out against the First Order. I am your business partner, Kade Genti, who..."

Poe laughs. "Really? That's your name?"

I elbow him as hard as I could in the ribs. I winces in pain. "Your names Lorell," I hiss. "So shut it."

"You don't like it?" Finn asks sounding disappointed.

"It's a bit..."

"A bit what?"

"Kade Genti, Master of Section Nine!" Suralinda says.

"Who?" Charth asks.

"A program on the entertainment feeds when we were kids. Well, when I was a kid, at least. That is where you got it, right?"

"Connix asked, and I had to think fast. I remembered the comics from when I was a kid. FN-1971 would sneak them in. They weren't regulation, and they would have sent us to reprogramming if they'd known, but man, they were great. Do you think anyone will notice?" He asks with a frown.

"That your name is the same as a dashing cartoon character from Coruscant?" Suralinda shrugs. "Who cares? Half the people there will be using aliases. Might as well pick a great one."

Finn looks at Poe. "Sure, why not? I'm Lorell, what was the other name?"

"Shda. He's a notorious..."

"Yeah I got that part. Okay then." Poe looks at his chrono watch. "We don't have much time before the auction starts. I suggest we head for Coronet City."

"I agree," I say checking mine.

"Aren't you going to change your clothes first?" Suralinda asks.

"What's this?" Finn holds a hand to his ear leaning in. "We have disguises? This mission just gets better and better."

"Historical clothing," Suralinda corrects Finn. "I guessed your sizes, so they might not fit perfectly. But I think we can make it work." She takes two hangers from Poe, and held them up. "This one is for you," she says handing Finn a suit. "And this one's for Poe. I mean, Lorell Shda."

"Who's this for?" He asks holding the dress bag up.

"Who do you think," I say snatching the bag from him. I open the plastic and look at the dress. It's a red silk dress that cascades to the floor, and has a long slit up the side. I look over to Poe's suit. I hold my dress up next to his black suit with a black velvet lapel. He had a white shirt and a black ascot with red embroidery. I look at Finn's and see a shiny silver suit with a white shirt and a silver tie.

"I see we match," he says putting an arm around my shoulder. "That's definitely something you would do."

"I know, right? Suralinda got my style, too. I better have black heels to go with this dress."

"Oh, I got all of you shoes. A few to choose from in the back, but you really didn't want me guessing your shoe size," she winks. "And I got you your black heels."

"Yes!" I say.

"We should go. Time is passing quickly." Charth informs us.

I nod and put my dress back in the bag and hand it to Poe.

"Don't worry. We can dress on the way to Corellia." Poe says speaking to Finn.

"It's not that. It's just, I got arrested at the last fancy party I was at," Finn says.

"Really?" Suralinda asks.

Finn just shrugs.

"Well, this may be fun after all," she says.

"Oh," Finn says grinning. "We'll have fun, if it's the last thing we do."

"There's the spirit! This might get us killed, but at least we go out in a blaze of glory."

"How about we don't go out at all," Poe speaks sharply.

"Live free, die young. Like heroes in a story," Suralinda says careless.

"Let's just try to stay alive." Poe says keeping whatever he was thinking to himself.

"Sometimes death comes for you," Charth says deeply. "No matter how hard you try."

Those words will haunt me for the rest of my life.