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Synopsis:
ASSIGNMENT: CORELLIA
A week after the Battle of Geonosis, Mace Windu summons
up to the empty Council Chamber one of that battle’s
survivors – Aayla Secura. She, and a Caamasi Jedi
named Ylenic It’kla, are assigned to travel to
Corellia undercover as smugglers, and there extract one
Ratri Tane, a former Techno Union researcher who seeks
to trade – he and his family’s safety for files and
a working prototype of a weapon the Union was secretly
developing for the war. Since Corellia has declared
itself neutral in the war, this will be especially
difficult as the Confederacy are looking for him as
well.
The two Jedi travel in a yacht, the Flare. As they fly
through hyperspace, Aayla admits to Ylenic that she
doubts her ability to handle this mission. She is
inexperienced, and the stakes are high. Ylenic counters
that this is exactly why Mace chose her for the mission
– her doubts prevent her from being arrogant, with all
that entails. Landing at Coronet City, the two travel
through Treasure Ship Row and stop at a cantina called
Homestar. They spot Tane there… and so does a pair of
Gotals who open fire on them! The melee that results
attracts the attention of CorSec agents led by one
Rostek Horn. Horn buys their story, noting that the
Gotals and the others who fought were “small-time
hoodlums who hire out to whomever’s being free with
credits.”
Lorfo, an annoying Toydarian who’d tried to flirt with
Aayla at the Homestar, reappears and offers to lead them
to the Gotals and their boss. Which he does, leading
them to a captive Tane – and a trap! A Corellian thug
named Tendir Blue gloats that now he can deliver Tane,
his files and prototype (which he stupidly kept with
him) and two Jedi to Count Dooku. They give up their
lightsabers, trapped…and then Aayla has a vision of a
lightsaber coming to her hand. The Gotals sense the
Force, and Blue shoots Tane. Suddenly a lightsaber does
come to her hand, and another fight ensues. When it’s
over, and Blue is knocked out, it turns out Aayla was a
pawn in an intricate game of misdirection…because “Tane”
is actually Master Nejaa Halcyon, who absorbed the
blaster bolt from Blue with the Force. Nejaa, along with
Ylenic, Rostek and Lorfo, used Aayla’s status as a
Geonosis survivor (and hence a target for the
Separatists) to keep the Separatists off of the real
Tane’s scent. He’s already been relocated, and the
files and prototype that Blue retook are sabotaged.
Furthermore, this will convince the Jedi of Corellia
that they can’t stay out of the fight. But, Aayla
notes, how can Blue return to his master without Dooku
piecing together that it was all a deception? A good
point – and one she sees an answer to…
When Blue awakens, he’s in a corridor and Lorfo is
pulling him along, trying to escape Aayla (“The Jedi
you didn’t kill!”). He squawks that Blue killed
Ylenic and stumbled out wounded. When Aayla appears
behind him, Blue assumes Lorfo’s lies are truth and
throws the Toydarian at the Jedi to make good his
escape. He flies off into space, bound for Count Dooku,
unaware that he’s working for the Jedi. A nice tidy
solution, courtesy of Aayla. “Must be why I was put in
charge of this mission, don’t you think?”
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