Fame and the Force

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Coruscant

Nexx Turner was looking smug and feeling rather proud of himself as he held up a piece of flimsi and showed it to Isolder. "The Princess has relatives on Naboo."

"Do you have names?" Isolder hissed. His eyes were looking even more crazed than the first time Turner had visited the former Prince inside the penitentiary. "I need names. I must depart this terrible place." He leaned forward and put both hands flat against the transparisteel window. "I have been unfairly sent to Hell. I'm not allowed to do anything! How dare these low-life beings tell me, Prince Isolder, what I can and cannot do? I shall have them interrogated when I leave this place. They will be begging me for mercy, but I shall not spare them."

A guard's voice echoed into the room from a hidden speaker. "Please take your hands away from the window or you will be removed from the visitation room."

Isolder immediately lowered his arms to his sides. "Do you see what I mean?" His head whipped around. "Evil spirits are watching me. They see everything I do. And the others types... the real prisoners that belong here? They look at me. They talk about me. They dare to even threaten me."

"Uh, right," Turner said, glad he had thick transparisteel protecting him from the prisoner. There was no way Isolder was getting all the information he had accumulated without coming up with a lot of credits. "I don't have any names, yet," he lied smoothly. "That's the problem, you see. I have to pay people a lot of money to get this information." He gave a sad shake of his head, pretending he cared about aiding the Prince. "In fact, I don't see why I should be using any more of my personal credits on this project. I'm not the one worried about dropping the soap." He sighed, knowing Isolder was desperate and then gave him another nudge, "All I need are credits. Lots of credits."

"I have the credits," Isolder whispered. "I just can't access it from here. You know that I will pay you. I will make you wealthy, once I am free from this place."

Turner held up his hands, palm sides up. "Sorry, Prince. I'm financially tapped out." Noting the Prince's conflicted expression, Turner leaned closer. "Daysun's file is very interesting. I'm not sure what to make of it, either. Multiple paternal DNA hits show on the Corellian." He leaned back, then shrugged. "I guess it'll forever remain a mystery, since I can't go any further in this research without more money."

Isolder was breathing hard, rubbing his hands together nervously. He whispered, "I suppose I can get you funding right now. I can name the planet in the Constortium and the person you need to contact there to get access to my accounts. Do you have a stylus to write this all down?"

Turner suppressed a grin. "I have an excellent memory, my Lordship."

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Corellia

Late evening

The main house seemed eerily quiet since all the Jedi students had moved, parts and parcels, into their new apartments located on the upper floor of the Academy building. Now it was only Han, Leia, and Isabell, as well as Luke and Mara living inside the big mansion. The two droids, C-3PO and Artoo, also were residents, although Han stubbornly refused to count them as actual inhabitants, insisting that dish recyclers and autovalets fell under the same category as droids and those certainly weren't counted. With only the five humans now living in the house, this also gave Leia much more freedom to call Han by his 'real' name, rather than constantly having to worry about slipping up in front of the Students.

Lando Calrissian's fuzzy image projected into Han's living room, where both Leia and Han sat on their sofa in front of the dapper man's shimmering image. "The tour schedule is all set to go. You'll be leaving in five weeks, so that'll give you enough rehearsal time, especially since you have your own studio now." Lando looked down at his datapad. "The first stop on Chandrila. You'll be also giving a number of concerts on Ord Mantell, Coruscant, Tinnel IV and Naboo. The last stop will be twelve weeks later, back home, in the biggest venue in Coronet City. But you'll have a week break before your Coronet City concert."