Fame and the Force

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Coruscant, a week later

Isolder glared at the guards who escorted him inside the tiny visitors room, which was divided into two sections by a wall of transparisteel with a chair situated on either side of the clear partition. "Leave us!" Isolder snapped, pretending he still had the power to give orders.

The guards were unimpressed with the bossy prisoner wearing wrist binders and ankle shackles. "You have ten standard minutes," the older man said. "Don't waste it with idle talk about the weather." The two men turned and left Isolder to have his short moments of privacy with his visitor.

The former Prince hobbled over to the lone chair and sat down, glaring through the clear wall which had a small two-way speaker unit set in the middle for communication purposes. "Those worthless scum guards shall pay for their insolence when I get out of here. Everyone shall pay! I shall destroy Coruscant! I shall bring the New Republic to its weak knees!"

The HoloNet shill studied the Hapan's face intently. It was obvious the tall Hapan was no longer playing with a full deck of sabacc cards, not that the tabloid reporter ever believed Isolder was mentally stable in the first place. "I received your message to see me, Prince," Nexx Turner said carefully. "So, I'm here."

"Yes, of course thou came," Isolder sniffed. "Thou shall be spared when I destroy this perversion known as Galactic City. You have proven to be very loyal to me, and I shall reward thee."

"Uh, right," Turner muttered. He'd heard rumors that the Prince, when under duress, would sometimes lapse into a bizarre old-Hapan vernacular, but this was the first time he'd heard the Prince actually using it. "Glad to hear it, Your Lordship."

Isolder leaned forward, his eyes wild. "I need you to find out about my wife. Or find out about her lover. Or both... maybe both."

Turner scratched his head. "Find out what, exactly? They're engaged. The galaxy knows all about them already, and I hate to be the one to tell you that no one cares that they're engaged. Well, except for all the females that wanted to marry Daysun themselves. They seem to care he's been taken off the market. But, really, he can only marry one woman at a time, at least while he's living on Corellia, so I guess the other women will have to wait for their turn, since I sincerely doubt that a princess and an entertainer will stay married for very long." He pursed his lips thoughtfully. "I give it a year, two at tops."

The former Prince jumped up, even though he couldn't move faster than slow shuffle with the ankle binders hindering his movements. Obviously, he was not listening to Turner's musings on Evin's heartbroken fans or the longevity of his future marriage. "Find out dirt, Turner! That's what you do, right? Find out about Daysun's past. Find out where he came from! It's a mystery, I tell you! And if his past is a mystery, there must be a reason for it." He spun around in a tight circle, looking frantically at the walls before once again focusing on Turner. "Find out about my wife's past. She was adopted, did you know that? Find out who her real parents were! Why did they give her up? There has to be something unpleasant in her past, I tell you. They are both filthy with dirt! Find out what secrets they are hiding. I desire nothing more than to destroy both of them! How dare Daysun survive level five of my torture! He should be dead, or his mind should be gone... I don't understand what happened. Why...how did he survive?" He sat down, panting, unaware that Turner had surreptitiously moved his chair further from the transparisteel. "It's not fair. My arm shall never be the same from that beast ripping apart my tendons. I want that thing dead."

Nexx Turner slowly nodded, deciding to humor the Hapan. "I can see what I can find out about them, Isolder. But nothing I do is free, and I'm sure not an assassin. If you want to kill the Wookiee, then find another being for that job." Turner glanced around the room, wondering if there were listening devices planted somewhere. He might be a greedy man, but he wasn't a fool, nor was he interested in spending the rest of his life in prison for murder.