Star Wars

Chapter Three Boba, how has your illness progressed? Has my data been of use to you? My offer still stands. Taun We, former human clone development supervisor on Kamino, now Head of Clone Adjustment at Arkanian Micro Galactic City spaceport, Coruscant It was a planet of a trillion people, and Ben knew Coruscant well enough now to vanish within it. He shut himself down in the Force long before the ight from Bespin landed in Galactic City, more out of fear of implicating the people he intended to contact than worrying that Jacen would sense him and come after him. Knowing Jacen, he'd probably written Ben off as a weakling who couldn't take it. Ben was consigned to the also-rans, minor disappointments Jacen would deal with when he came across them. And Ben had his sources. They said Tahiri had pretty well taken his place at Jacen's side. At Galactic City Spaceport, the transport disgorged its long-haul passengers and Ben slipped through in the merging streams of bodies from all parts of the galaxy, a single Fish in a multicolored shoal. With the easy obscurity of sun visor and a cap, he was just another young man out of millions in the Galactic City area. And maybe it was wishful thinking, but he thought he detected a faint growth of beard, more uff than anything, but it was still . . . different. He didn't look like Lieutenant Skywalker. Ben logged his identichip at the transit security control gatebogus, naturally, one of a dozen he carriedand was still expecting a sudden wail of alarms for a good ten paces as he headed for the open walkway. But nothing happened. All he had to do now was remember to disguise his walk to defeat the gait recognition system on security cams, and then he could wander around at will. A small pebble in each boot changed his stride enough to cheat the software without crippling him. In his baga reversible bagthere were various changes of clothing. He got as far as the First public refreshers by a branch of the Bank of Aargau and started adding to the deception. That's your problem, Jacen. You taught me all this. Or at least the GAG did. In a cubicle, he changed his tunic, cap, and pants, turned the bag inside out to show its light brown side, and repacked. He changed shoes to ones with stack heels. Then he emerged a totally different person, walking differently and dressed differently. He'd keep doing that, and the security cams would have no pattern to track. Lon Shevu's girlfriend, Shula Palasj, worked for a haulage company. He'd start with her; no comlink calls, just in case. The GAG might be monitoring, the same way Ben had eavesdropped on Senators and politicians when he was in the Guard. He made his way to Shula's workplace, doubling back occasionally just as Jori Lekauf had It hit him hard sometimes. Even when he was mired in grief over Mom, Lekauf would suddenly appear in his mind, and he'd feel it all over again. It wasn't any less of a sense of loss than the one he felt for his mother, just different, and it could still make him stop breathing for a moment while he steadied himself. Lekauf had taught him about evading detection and tracking others, so this was another way of ensuring that his sacriFice to save Ben hadn't been in vain; using that training to bring down Jacen wasright. Ben swung right into a walkway lined with clothing stores and tapcafs.What do I really mean by "bring him down"?He was sure now that he didn't mean killing him. It wasn't Ben's job to be the judge. He was just getting a case together, and someone else would decide what to do with Jacen in the end.Traviss, Karen is the author of 'Star Wars', published 2008 under ISBN 9780345477576 and ISBN 034547757X.