Chapter Eleven

I woke up a little later than usual, so I went straight to breakfast instead of meeting Corran to run with him. I was a little surprised he hadn't woken me, until I reached the mess hall and caught sight of him at one of the tables. His hair was, to put it mildly, a mess. Upon closer inspection, I was able to make out almost handprints in his hair, as though they'd been glued there. "Morning, Corran," I greeted him, trying hard not to laugh.

Corran looked up at me, a grumpy expression on his face. "Hey, dad."

The look on his face was too much; I busted up laughing. "What happened?"

"Apparently, my hair gel turned into glue," Corran answered, casting a suspicious glance to Wes Janson. "I got my hands unstuck at the infirmary, but they decided to just let it wear off of my hair."

"How long?" I asked, taking the chair next to him.

"Thirteen hours," Corran muttered, shaking his head.

Janson coughed. "It's a good look for you, Corran."

Corran glared, but there was a distinct glint in his eyes that made me suspect he was up to something. "Right."

"How did sims go this morning?" I asked, recalling Luke and Janson challenging each other the night before.

"Luke needed his early morning advantage," Janson answered, settling back in the chair.

Luke shrugged, swallowing a bite of food before responding. "Still vaped you."

"Not every time."

One of the cooks cleared his throat, looking somewhat embarrassed. "Wes Janson?"

"That's me," Janson answered, shamelessly eyeing the citros snow cake that the man held.

"A Miss Nakari Kahn sends this to you, with the message: 'Sweet for a sweet," the cook said, then lowered his tone. "She asks for something equally tasty in return."

Janson sat back, a huge grin on his face. "And what would that be?"

The cook loosened his collar. "A kiss."

"Really," Janson murmured, glancing across the room toward a very shapely blonde. "Well, I can hardly keep the lady waiting," he said, taking the cake and placing it on the table. He shot the boys a warning look. "Anyone touches this cake and even Luke's Force powers won't save you," he said with a wink to Luke, before strutting across the room.

"Course not," Corran said innocently, waiting until Janson was a few meters away before picking up a fork and taking a bite of it. "Watch this."

"Nakari's going to kill him," Antilles said softly, leaning forward with interest.

Luke smirked. "Is that a line you've tried on girls, Corran?"

Corran lifted his finger to his lips, then pointed back toward Janson. "He's going for it..."

I looked toward where he was pointing, watching as Janson first greeted her, then pulled her to her feet, kissing her deeply. Nakari stiffened, and Corran snorted with laughter. "She's going to slap him," I said, shaking my head.

Apparently, though, Janson must have been either a better kisser than we were giving him credit for, or smoother, because she suddenly melted against him, running her fingers through his hair.

"I don't believe it," Luke said, amazed. "She liked it."

Corran slapped his hand against his forehead. "What in the Force..."

I patted his shoulder, joining in with Antilles who had just started laughing at him.

Janson swaggered over a moment later, swiping the cake away from Corran, and taking a huge bite. "Nice try, Corran." He grinned. "Thanks for the date."

"She must be as crazy as you," Corran said, shaking his head.

Shrugging, Janson sat down again. "You're just jealous it wasn't you."

I glanced at my chronometer then, and noticed I had ten minutes before I was supposed to meet with Talina. "I need to go, I'll see you at...1500 hours, Corran?"

Corran nodded, and I gave Luke a questioning look as well. He hesitated, before bowing his head just slightly.

Good.

I left the Rogues to their bantering then, somewhat apprehensive about my next meeting with Talina. What Corran had told me last night about her certainly wasn't going to help matters at all.

***

I went into the next session with Talina with mixed feelings. Iella and I were to try one more time to get her to talk on her own, before introducing the skirtopanol. If, by some chance, she managed to fight the truth serum, the next step would be environmental manipulation. Due to the fact that Talina was an intelligence agent, she was likely to know most of Iella and my techniques. However, it was still important to try, and despite her words yesterday, I didn't think she believed in the Empire as much as she was trying to portray.

Or perhaps that was wishful thinking on my part.

Iella began the session this time, starting out soft. "Agent Korror, all we are looking for now is a doesn't even have to know you gave it."

Talina shook her head. "That's not what concerns me, Agent Wessiri."

"We've spoken with our people concerning possible spy activity," Iella said smoothly, spreading out a stack of holos on the table. "These are a few of our suspects. Would you be willing to say whether or not he is among them?"

Normally, I would pass the holos one by one in front of her, with my hand on her shoulder to detect which ones her gaze lingered on the most. I wasn't entirely comfortable with close contact with her because of what Corran said, and didn't want any unintentional distractions. So, improvising, we spread the holos out and watched her eyes. Talina glanced at them only briefly, pausing just a moment on a few, before pursing her lips, and meeting my gaze. They were a deep blue, framed with long dark lashes, and despite misgivings, I found myself staring at her.

She looked away first.

"I don't recognize any of them," Talina said after a moment.

I detected a slight lie, and Iella frowned at her. "Are you sure?" she asked, removing the holos Talina had spent the least amount of time looking at.

"Quite," Talina answered, this time refusing to pay any attention to them at all. "You're wasting your time, Agent Wessiri. I can't give you what you want. You may as well stop trying."

"You know I can't do that," Iella said, leaning back in her chair. "Your agent has cost many lives, and has threatened even more, my old partner, Corran included. To protect him, Hal is more than willing to use skirtopanol. [i]I[/i], however, think you're smart enough to talk on your own. That way you won't end up giving away more than you need to. All we want is a name."

"For [i]now[/i], anyway," Talina said, a humorless smile forming on her lips. "I know how interrogation procedures work. You'll never be satisfied with just one or two answers, and I certainly don't intend to give any. Your false concern isn't going to work. Neither are your drugs."

"You know you can't resist skirtopanol," I said softly, once again meeting her gaze. There was fear in her eyes concerning the drug, and I intended to call her on it. "Which is why you are afraid."

Talina raised an eyebrow. "Not even you idealistic Rebels can prevent perfect resistance, Agent Horn."

Iella frowned. "The only people who have that are either Jedi or dead."

"Exactly."

I stiffened slightly. Talina certainly wasn't a Jedi, so the only other option was that somehow, the Empire had engineered it that the truth serum would kill her. More than likely she had been given some sort of drug that would interact poorly with it, and from what I knew of Imperial Intelligence, it wasn't likely to wear off soon. The fact she admitted to this suggested it bothered her, and perhaps hadn't taken it willingly. I leaned forward. "By choice?"

Talina looked away. "Hardly matters, Horn."

"I think it does," I said, steepling my fingers. "I think it matters far more than you are willing to admit. You claim you are not a slave, and yet they have taken the choice from you of whether or not you live or die for [i]their[/i] cause. The Empire has always concerned itself more with power than life, and you know that just as well as I."

She hesitated, before looking back at me. "I would suggest you let Skywalker deal with him, Agent Horn," Talina said, her tone very soft. "He's the only one who can."