“No, I mean like Nawara and Rhysati.”
“Oh.” Corran nodded slowly. Throughout the galaxy the permutations of relationships between two or more individuals were legion, as were the rules, formal and otherwise, that governed their conduct. Prohibitions on relationships between races and classes and castes varied from planet to planet, but the rules governing interspecies relationships tended to be largely similar. The majority of them were set by official Imperial policy—a policy CorSec officials had called “look but don’t touch.”
“Exotic and different can be very attractive, Gavin. There are some folks who absolutely draw the line on dating outside their species while there are others who seem to be interested in experiencing anything and everything they can.” Corran shrugged. “I guess I don’t think it’s wrong, but it just may not be right.”
“I don’t think I follow you.”
“I wasn’t very clear. Look, would you like to have children someday, have a family?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“Okay, what if the person you fall for isn’t capable of having children with a human?”
“I would, well, urn, I don’t know.”
“There are other problems, too, and we’re not talking the possible difficulties and dangers of making love, either.”
“Dangers?”
“Sure. Suppose the person you’re with is used to giving and getting gentle little love nips—with ten-centimeter-long teeth?” Corran hooked two fingers over like fangs. “Your hide isn’t as thick as a Gamorrean’s, so you’d be leaking.”
“I hadn’t thought about that.” Gavin frowned and his shoulders slumped. “I mean, I don’t think that will be a problem.”
“Some species don’t live as long as we do—though amid present company, life expectancy isn’t that big an issue.” Corran picked up a new heavy blaster and began to disassemble it for cleaning. “There are a lot of things you can take into consideration, Gavin, but it pretty much boils down to the same thing relationships between humans do: if you and the other person get along, problems can be worked out.”
Gavin nodded. “So have you ever, you know …?” The young man’s voice trailed off as color rose in his cheeks.
Corran felt two hands on his shoulders and looked back to see Iella’s smiling face above his. “Has Corran ever what?”
Corran shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing.”
Mirax appeared on his left and leaned on the table between Corran and Gavin. Her dark hair had been pulled back into a thick braid. “The look on Gavin’s face doesn’t suggest it was nothing, CorSec.”
Iella’s hands tightened playfully on the back of his neck. “Come on, Corran, there’s not much you haven’t done.”
A smile blossomed on Gavin’s face and Corran suddenly felt outnumbered. And reluctant to answer Gavin’s question. He knew it wasn’t because of Iella’s presence—she already knew the answer and could even tell the story better than he could. And he figured Gavin would find it amusing and make him less nervous. Clearly Gavin wanted to hear that Corran had dated an alien because the boy obviously had an interest in someone, and from the glances Corran had seen and the stories he’d heard, Gavin was thinking a lot about the Bothan, Asyr Sei’lar. While Corran thought she was a bit worldlier than Gavin could handle, he was willing to bet the farm boy from Tatooine could learn fast.
He found his reluctance to say anything came from Mirax’s presence and his feelings toward her. Erisi and Rhysati had been paired together for their part of planning the operation, giving Corran time apart from her. It allowed him to put Erisi into perspective. Even though they were of the same species and even were attracted to each other, something deep down inside told Corran that their getting together would be wrong. Not wrong, a disaster!
Everything that made Erisi wrong seemed to make Mirax right. She understood him because of their common background. Granted their fathers had been enemies—Corran characterized them as chronic enemies instead of mortal enemies—but that gave them a bond he would never have with Erisi. Ultimately with Erisi he knew he’d have felt like a pet, whereas with Mirax he felt like a friend and equal.
During the planning operations Corran, Mirax, Gavin, and Iella had gone out and secured a lot of supplies for the operation. Things were scarce and, if available at all, were high priced. More than once Corran wished Emtrey had been on Coruscant to help with procurement, but Mirax proved every bit his equal in obtaining things. Whereas the droid might have used an instant analysis of a trader’s wares to figure out his markup and squeeze him until his prices became reasonable, Mirax charmed, cajoled, wheedled, and even threatened. She’d learned every trick in the book from her father and Corran thought old Booster would be proud when he learned about her exploits.
But there is so much about her I don’t know, like her reaction to learning I dated outside my species. Fear that she might see such an action as making him unclean or unworthy killed any quip he might have tossed at Iella. He looked up at Mirax but saw no suspicion or disappointment in her face.
Gavin fit two pieces of the blaster rifle together and tightened down a restraining bolt. “I wanted to know if he’d ever dated someone who wasn’t human.”
Iella laughed. “Well, there were plenty of women he dated who weren’t human, in spirit, that is.”
Mirax sniffed lightly. “But why bring the bacta queen into this.”
“I never dated Erisi.”
“No, you just pretended to be her Kuati impregnator, then kissed her in full view of the Grand Hall of the Galaxy in the Imperial Palace.” Mirax shook her head. “Clearly no relationship there at all.”
Corran laughed. “The way you tell it, I might have actually had fun.”
Iella lightly cuffed the back of his head. “You always did complain about the easiest duty, Horn.”
“Believe me, I’d take Chertyl Ruluwoor over Erisi gladly.”
“Oh.” Iella raised an eyebrow. “That’s interesting.”
Gavin frowned. “What’s Chertyl Ruluwoor?”
Mirax straightened up and tapped a finger against her chin. “Sounds Selonian.”
“It is.” Iella smiled broadly. “Tell them, Corran.”
“No, you tell them. You tell it better.”
“You don’t mind?”
“If I have to be mortified, I’d prefer not to do it to myself.”
Mirax swung around and seated herself on the edge of the table. “This sounds wonderful.” She winked at Corran, then looked up at Iella. “Go ahead, he’ll survive it.”
“True, it’s not like it’s the first time he’s heard this.” Iella smiled and Corran knew she’d put a good face on the incident. “Chertyl Ruluwoor was a female Selonian who had been sent to our unit to get some training. It was a cultural exchange program. She was tall—at least two meters—and slender. Selonians are all very lithe and she was covered with relatively short black fur that glistened a silver-blue when the light hit it right. Definitely gorgeous, definitely humanoid, but definitely not human.
“The Annual CorSec Awards Ball was coming up and she didn’t know anyone. Selonians tend to be a very private sort of people and the only ones you see in public are sterile females. They run things in their society and maintain a family unit with fertile males and females, but she was all alone. The unattached male officers in our branch put together a pool to see who would take Chertyl to the celebration. Each man was required to buy a ticket for five credits and the winner—whom everyone considered a loser—would get the pot to compensate for the evening.”
Mirax frowned. “It strikes me that the whole process was the wrong way around.”
Corran smiled. “The Awards Ball pool is a tradition dating from a time when the Director had a daughter who, as decorum dictated, could not go to the Ball unescorted. The Director refused to order someone to ask her to go, though he did order participation in the pool. Most years the prize is someone in the squad who has volunteered to be ‘won,’ with the money going to the Survivo
rs and Orphans fund.”
“This year, though, the prize was Chertyl and she knew nothing about it. Most everyone who knew what was going on thought it was barbaric, but they hid behind tradition.”
Gavin smiled. “And Corran won, right?”
“You could say that.” Iella gave him a gentle punch on the shoulder. “What he did was talk to the women who really wanted to go to the Ball with the other officers and gave them the impression that the whole thing had been rigged—whatever ticket their guy had would be selected as the winning ticket. The only way their man could get out of winning would be to get out of the pool. When pressed Corran allowed that he could be bribed into taking on just one more ticket—but it would have to be a secret. The women pressured their men to get Corran to take their tickets. By the time the pool winner was chosen, Corran had all the tickets.”
Mirax beamed at him. “Quite enterprising, sir.”
“Well, I knew I’d be miserable because of how my life was going at the time, so I saw no reason for anyone else to be away from the person they wanted to be with.”
“But you did something noble. That’s good.”
“It gets better, Mirax. Corran gave the pool and the bribes to the fund, then went all out and showed Chertyl the time of her life. He hired a repulsorlimo, found out what kind of flowers were considered appropriate by Selonians, and flew out in his X-wing to the only import florist on Corellia who had them in bloom to get them. He even got a new formal dress uniform tailored up for the occasion. And he proved he cleans up very well.
“For her part, Chertyl was nothing short of stunning. She had that long, sleek physique that enabled her to wear a slinky gown over which light slithered. She wore a necklace of silver and aquamarine and a bracelet to match that looked like light playing across her fur. Every woman who saw her was instantly jealous and Corran was the envy of all the men. And, to make it worse, they actually enjoyed each other’s company. That was about six months after his father’s death and things had been rough for Corran, so the whole situation seemed perfect.”
Being unable to stop a smile from tugging at the corner of his mouth, Corran nodded, and discovered he was disinclined to kill the smile. That evening was a lot of fun. I put enough energy into it that I got to leave my life behind for a while. “It was great.”
Gavin leaned forward. “So what happened?”
Corran looked up at Iella. “Spare the salacious details, please.”
Mirax smiled. “You can elaborate another time, Iella.”
Iella shrugged. “Though Chertyl was infertile it didn’t mean she was incapable. Apparently she had enjoyed the evening as much as Corran had and they continued to celebrate after they left the Ball. Is that circumspect enough for you?”
“It will do.”
“Was it …?” Gavin began to blush.
Corran gave him a wink. “Better.”
Mirax raised an eyebrow. “Than what?”
“Imagine finding a pile of rocks, deciding to throw them out, dropping one, and having it split open to reveal a Corusca gem embedded in the middle.”
“Oh, my.”
“And with each stone after that, the Corusca gem is more lustrous and beautiful than the one before it.”
“I see, very special indeed.”
“And each of those stones, when fitted together, creates a brilliant, exquisitely carved sculpture.”
“I’ve got the hologram digitized and analyzed here, Corran. Thanks.”
Gavin blinked. “Wow.”
Mirax’s brown eyes narrowed. “So if it was as great as all that, how come you’re here and not in some den on Selonia?”
Corran winced. “Well, there was one little, microscopic problem.”
Iella nodded. “The chemistry wasn’t right.”
“Sounds like it was perfect to me.” Gavin grinned broadly.
“Personal chemistry, yes, Gavin, was perfect. Personal biochemistry was not, however.” Iella rested a hand on Corran’s shoulder. “The reason the lucky charm Corran wears is on a gold chain is because his sweat is acidic enough to tarnish something like silver. It’s within normal range for a human, mind you, but just on the acidic end. And that was sufficient to get through the waxy surface on Chertyl’s fur and irritate her skin. And as it turned out, Corran was mildly allergic to her fur.”
“It was much like being sunburned all over for the both of us.”
Mirax giggled for a second, then made herself appear sober and saddened. “That’s horrible.”
Corran shrugged. “Unfortunately, it’s life.” He looked over at Gavin. “There you have it, kid. My advice, see what happens. It can’t hurt, except in rare cases.”
Gavin set the blaster rifle down and stood. “Thanks. I’ll take your advice, if you’ll excuse me.”
“Good luck, Gavin.” Corran waved him on his way, then smiled up at Iella. “Nicely told.”
Mirax’s brows furrowed. “How much of that was true?”
“All of it, every bit.”
She frowned. “That’s so sad, though.”
Corran shook his head. “Not really. We both knew we were living out a fantasy, but it wouldn’t have worked in the long run. I had no desire to move to Selonia and become part of a broodhome. Chertyl knew she couldn’t bear the children I’d want. We remained friends and both have wonderful memories. In fact, that was the best ending I had for any of my relationships.”
“True, Corran, but that’s because you never listened to my advice about the women you were interested in.” Iella shook her head. “Disasters, every one of them.”
Mirax smiled. “And what is your impression of the bacta queen?”
“Her? All wrong for Corran. Attractive, sure, but just not his kind of woman.”
“My thoughts exactly. I’ve told him so, but he doesn’t listen.”
“Never has.”
Corran held his hands up in surrender. “Stop, please. You may not think Erisi is right for me, and I don’t really think so either—a conclusion I came up with on my own, too, I might add. Regardless, though, she doesn’t deserve this. Ysanne Isard wouldn’t deserve this.”
Iella glanced down at him. “Actually, Ysanne Isard does deserve this.”
Corran thought for a moment. “Yeah, you’re right, she does, carry on. By the time you’re done, I’ll have finished cleaning all these blaster pistols. Then we’ll be ready to do the job that really needs to be done.”
33
Though General Derricote’s office was no larger than his own, its stark white color made Kirtan Loor feel more vulnerable. He would have preferred waiting to deliver his message to the Director from his own office, but the delay the trip back would necessitate would not be acceptable. Ysanne Isard would be furious with what he had to say, so he saw no reason to compound her anger.
On one knee, he refused to look up when her image burned to life in the General’s office. “What is so urgent, Agent Loor?”
“General Derricote’s estimates of the incubation period for the Krytos virus in Sullustans was generous.”
“What?” Loor could not see Isard’s expression, but her voice sounded as it might if he had told her that the Rebels had just showed up with a Death Star. “Generous in what way?”
“Generous in his favor. He promised you ten days until the Sullustans began to sicken, but a dozen appears more correct. And …”
“There is more?”
“Yes, Madam Director. The virus has resisted airborne transmission. Contact with virus-laden fluids and tissues will still infect another individual, but fluid contact is still required.”
“This is impossible, Loor, and I hold you responsible for all this. Look at me!”
Loor lifted his face and saw molten fury roiling in her left eye. “General Derricote gave me false information.”
“He did that at Borleias, but you found him out.”
“But I didn’t have to be tracking Rogue Squadron’s activities on Imperial Center at the time. I was
worried about your deadline, which came and went today.” Loor hesitated and found himself cringing in anticipation of her reply.
“The deadline was based on a ten-day incubation period followed by a week-long terminal cycle. This throws everything off.” Isard’s image towered over him. “What are the transmissibility figures? Is the virus jumping from species to species?”
“Flesh contact with ten ces of viral fluid results in a twenty percent infection rate and the virus is viable for thirty-six hours outside a host, longer if the conditions are warm and moist. The virus can be frozen and thawed without lost of viability or lethality. If the virus is actually injected or injested, as little as one cubic centimeter is enough to infect a subject.”
“And species migration?”
“General Derricote projects …”
“Projects! I want results, not projections.” Isard’s hologram slammed a fist into an open palm but the sound relayed by holo-link sounded muted and weak. “Order Derricote to begin replication of the current virus strains and release all of them into the water supply.”
Loor again bowed his head. “I anticipated your request. Derricote says that in four days he should have sufficient supplies to take care of the planet.”
“Tell him he doesn’t have four days. Full replication and production begins immediately and batches go into the water supply when they are complete. I want it done now. I will tolerate no more mistakes, his or yours, do you understand?”
“Yes, Madam Director.”
“And one more thing, Agent Loor.”
“Yes, Madam Director?”
“Your last report on the Rogues indicated this evening appears to be when they are taking their first step at liberating Imperial Center. It is too soon. I won’t have it. Scatter them, kill them, deal with them. This time tomorrow I do not want to have to worry about them.”
“As you wish, Madam Director!”
Isard’s image vanished revealing Derricote standing in the doorway to his office. He applauded politely. “That was a wonderful performance.”
Loor snarled inarticulately and came up quickly. He buried his left fist deep in Derricote’s stomach, then clouted him on the side of the head with a roundhouse right. The heavyset man stumbled sideways and slammed into the wall. He tipped shelves, overturning countless boxes of datacard journals, then abruptly sat down on the floor and wallowed in them.