Strolling up to her, Malik ran his hands down her shoulders and arms, inspecting her attire. “Absolutely stunning.”
“I had hoped you might like it,” she smiled, giving him a quick peck on the lips.
“I am glad you are both pleased,” Nira said. “In the bags I gave you, you will also find a bit of cold weather gear, heavy coats and pants. You never know when you might need them.”
“Awesome. Nira, thank you so much for taking such great care of us,” Serra said.
“Oh, you mentioned something earlier about hiding our lightsabers?” Malik asked.
“Of course. As you can see, Malik, your boots have a thick rim on top. If you pull this leather strap here, you expose a secret compartment in the side just big enough to hide your weapon in.”
“Impressive,” Malik said, slipping the handle into his boot.
“Serra, if you will join me here at the mirror and turn your back to it. Now, you see these two leather straps forming an X on your back, yes? Though they appear to be mere decorations, they actually are meant to house your two lightsabers.”
“I love it,” Serra replied with a grin, placing her weapons on her back.
“You will likely need to use the Force to arm yourselves quickly should the need arise, but I doubt this would be an issue for two accomplished Jedi such as yourselves. May I assist you with anything else today?”
“No, Nira. You’ve been wonderful to us today,” Serra said, wrapping the girl in a warm hug. “We’re going to have to leave soon, but I want you to promise me something. As a friend.”
“Anything.”
Serra grinned at her. “Find a nice man of your own and give him a couple of kids for me, ok?”
Nirra giggled at the sheer overtness of Serra’s request. “I’ll… do my best,” she managed to reply at last.
“Take care of yourself, Nira,” Malik said as she departed.
As the two Jedi prepared to sit down to a quiet meal of fruit, the comlink in the room buzzed.
“Malik? Serra? It is Senator Organa.”
“Senator, what’s wrong?” Malik replied.
“I’ve just gotten word: Imperial troops have landed in our hangar. I’m going out to receive them now. You two need to make your way back to your ship. Do so quickly, but also remain casual. I believe they will not recognize you if you do not draw attention to yourselves.”
“Understood. Thank you, Senator. May the Force be with you.”
By now, Serra was already throwing clothes into the bags Nira had brought. “We better take our Jedi robes with us for now. If the troopers were to discover them in here, they’d know the Organas were hiding Jedi,” she reasoned.
“Good idea.”
Once they had gathered their things, the pair made their way through the corridors of the palace. At first, nothing appeared to be out of place, but all too soon, Malik detected the presence of Imperial soldiers around the corner. Serra seemed to sense his nerves and sought to calm him.
“It’ll be ok. Here, put your arm around my waist. We need to walk as if we’re lovers, just out for a stroll,” she whispered.
Doing as she suggested, he replied, “I believe we are lovers out for a stroll.”
Serra giggled, planting a sweet kiss on his lips in plain view of the soldiers ahead of them. The group eyed them for a moment, but soon focused their attention elsewhere. So it went through most of their walk, the pair deflecting any suspicions with an overt amount of affection.
“You’re really playing into this. How much of it’s acting and how much is real?”
“That’s for me to know, and you to find out,” Serra replied with a smirk.
Soon, the pair arrived at the main hangar. Off to one side, they saw Bail Organa speaking to the clone in charge. As they made their way to the exit that would take them down the mountain and back to the clearing their ship was hidden in, a soldier stopped them.
“Hang on a moment, we need to speak with you.”
“Is there a problem, officer?” Malik asked politely.
“Where are you going with those bags?”
Drawing Serra close, he replied, “Just a little… getaway vacation.”
“We’ve been planning it for months,” Serra added, grabbing Malik’s ass in not-so-subtle fashion.
“Ah, I see. Well I won’t take more than a moment of your time, if I may. Can you look at this image and tell me if you’ve seen this man anytime in the last two days?” the trooper asked, displaying an image on a handheld screen.
Inspecting it, Malik could tell that it was himself from their encounter on Ord Mantell, though his cloak obscured his face. “Huh… no I can’t say that I have. And I certainly would report any Jedi activity, what with the attempt on the Chancellor’s life.”
“Yes, the Emperor had quite a scare that night, but he’s as tough as ever, I can assure you of that,” the clone replied.
“What do you think, Dear? Have you seen this man anywhere?” Malik asked, turning to Serra.
“Hmm… no I don’t believe so, Honey. Not that I could say.”
“Perhaps… though I can’t help but notice, sir, that your hands appear as strong as the ones in the picture. And about the same size, too,” the clone said, eying them through his helmet. “Would you take hold of this hydrospanner and hold it in the position depicted onscreen?”
Serra tensed up, preparing to draw her swords, but Malik calmed her with a few strokes to her back. “Officer, that won’t be necessary,” he replied, probing the clone’s mind with the Force.
“Uh… that won’t be necessary.”
“Alderaan is a peaceful place, filled with citizens of the Republic. No Jedi would dare come here.”
“Alderaan… is a peaceful place. No Jedi would come here,” the clone repeated softly.
“We really should be on our way, shouldn’t we officer?”
“Ah, right… you really should be on your way. Move along, citizens.”
“Thank you so much for your dedication, officer,” Malik said with a smile.
Walking arm-in-arm, Malik and Serra strode past the remaining troops unhindered, waving and smiling politely. As they exited the hangar, they took the lift back down to the base of the mountain.
“You are something else,” Serra marveled. “I’d never even dream of attempting a mind trick that complex!”
“I’ve found that the more logic and common sense you inject, the better chances a complex mind trick has of working,” he smirked. “Here we are. Next stop: Dagobah.”
The pair boarded their ship, powering up the systems to prepare for departure. They soon activated the cloaking systems, then waited for a lull in the Imperial ships flying overhead before lifting off. After carefully navigating through the opposing vessels, they broke the atmosphere, silently passing the clone’s command ship as they went. Before any of the Imperial agents could guess at what was near them, the two Jedi were safely away into hyperspace.
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