Fame and the Force

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Six weeks later....

Nexx Turner was not a brave man, nor did he know how to fly a ship through hyperspace. Therefore he located and hired a Sullustan pilot by the name of Seep Nilub who owned a very nice VCX-100 Corellian small freighter. Turner strongly suspected Nilub was a smuggler, but that didn't matter, and he didn't ask questions about the Sullustan's usual employers. All he wanted was to hire a pilot that would mind his own business and take him where he needed to go. The Sullustan was a suspicious being, and initially demanded ten thousand credits - payable up front - for taking Turner to the Hapan Consortium. Unfortunately, Turner hadn't been lying when he informed Isolder he was tapped out of funds. It took Turner a lot of fast talking but he managed to convince Nilub to fly him to Hapes for twenty thousand credits, payable after they returned to Coruscant.

They traveled to the Hapan Consortium through the Transitory Mists, from the entry point of Lorell, then headed to the remote planet of Zadaria, the planet that Isolder claimed was home to his vast, hidden wealth.

The Sullustan put his ship down near the dirty spaceport town of Vurrshun. Turner turned to the Sullustan as he exited the ship.

"You wait for me," Turner ordered the humanoid. "Whatever you do, don't leave! I'll be back as soon as I can."

"You owe me twenty thousand credits," Nilub stated flatly, his wide ears wiggling. "I will hunt you down and painfully kill you before I leave you behind without receiving payment."

The threat only served to make the jittery reporter even more nervous. He hurried away from the Sullustan, increasingly concerned that if Isolder had been less than honest, it would be Nexx Turner who would pay with his life for swindling Nilub.

Turner checked his flimsi notes as he shuffled through the dank and dusty streets, frequently glancing back over his shoulder as he passed by dark alleyways. He patted his small blaster under his overcoat, reassuring himself it was still there, although Turner was far from an expert when it came to blasters and he certainly wasn't a fast draw. At least the weapon was there and that reassured him he wasn't completely helpless.

Finally he found the address he was looking for, and slowly walked up the steps toward a decrepit warehouse located in a heavy industrial area. He double checked the address, confused. He had been expecting a bank, or at the very least, some rich Hapan's house.

Cautiously, he rang the buzzer next to a rusting, durasteel door. After waiting a few minutes, he rang the buzzer a second time, then a third. Finally a tiny, elderly woman opened the door, ever so slightly, frowning at Turner in confusion. She was holding an old fashioned mop and bucket, and it appeared she was a cleaning woman. This surprised Turner, since he assumed that droids would be the ones doing the cleaning.

"Hello," Turner said, struggling to speak the Hapan language that he'd studied only briefly prior to leaving Coruscant. "My name is Nexx Turner, and I've been personally sent by Prince Isolder on a mission to retrieve his wealth."

"I am seeking Calelyn Du'Srue," he said, trying to remain polite.

"I am she," the old lady said in broken Basic, coughing in his face.

Although he was surprised, Turner perused his scribbled notes on the Hapan language, then bumbled forward with his speech, "Prince Isolder and his Mother, Queen Filamina have been unjustly arrested and imprisoned by the evil New Republic and require their funds to purchase their freedom."

"Code," the woman croaked out, this time in Hapan.

Turner carefully repeated the phrase Isolder had told him during his last prison visit, "The Mists of the Fountain are Bewitching and Fair. The Reign of the Queen is neither Transitory nor Temporary."