Gone

Chapter 7

Mara Jade's hand grabbed Han's arm in a death-like vice, stopping him in his tracks as they were about to head down the Jade Sabre's ramp. She had unconsciously reached out as she had been doing countless times, when she had felt the sudden contact.

Looking round at her face, Han knew instinctively it was a Jedi thing.

"Luke?" Mara murmured under her breath as she closed her eyes trying to find the powerful presence that was Luke. Their bond, as sudden as it had swept through her, was gone again before she was able to pinpoint Luke's location.

Han waited for Mara to open her eyes. He hoped it was going to be good news.

"Luke." Mara affirmed more positively. Looking up at the taller man, Mara gave him a half smile. "Luke is still here on this planet. The bad news is that I can't tell where."

"Is he okay?" Han asked. He was too used to these sorts of things happening when they were in trouble.

"I'm not sure." Mara shook her head hesitantly. The contact had been brief and very intense but the lingering echo of pain worried her. How could she explain Luke's Force presence to Han? It was just so unique. She had missed him so much on so many different levels. She just craved him and his presence. Reaching out again, Mara met no answering touch. Disappointed, Mara gathered her thoughts and senses together. "I'm not getting anything else from him."

"Okay." Han nodded. He hoped that it was a positive sign as he followed behind Artoo Detoo and Mara. The heat hit him immediately as he stepped off the ramp.

"Phew!" Han exclaimed. He was getting more intolerant of extremes of heat as he got older. At least it was not a binary system like Tattooine. Han had forgotten about the pecularities of this planet's rotation and orbit until the heat had hit him.

Mara quietly ignored Han as she looked around at the hangar personnel. Back to business.

"Wait here." She instructed him as she headed off to check her arrangements for the unloading of her cargo. She hoped that the goods she had picked up on Kyrash IV were going to make her the tidy profit that her data had projected. She had already made arrangements for her next cargo as it would look suspicious if they did an empty run. She was keen to get on with their search for Luke so had quickly made those decisions on their approach to Circadia. She had plenty of space without Luke's T-65 installed in it's intended place in the cargo deck.

Han let his attention slide around the rest of the spaceport while Mara haggled with the customs officer. Unfortunately, Mara had been unable to get a private berth so her shuttle was nestled at the edge of one the main spaceport hangars. An assortment of craft were in sight. Han checked out the other freighters and shuttles appraisingly but none of them matched the lines of the Sabre. He had to admit that Mara's shuttle did stand out.

* * * * Rather dazed, Ruaridh felt himself being helped to his feet by a kindly looking older lady. Covering his uncertainty at what had happened, he started to brush off the dirt from his trousers.

"Just watch yourself, son."

The woman watched him closely as he stood a little unsteadily on his feet.

"You okay, now?" She asked him.Slightly reluctant to release her stabilising hold on his arm until she was satisfied that he would be alright.

"Yes. Thank you, ma'am." Ruaridh dipped his head in thanks.

"You should be more careful, son." She admonished him.

Ruaridh smiled wryly at her. "I'm fine, now. Thank you."

She continued to watch him carefully for a few more moments before nodding her head in return, taking his hint of dismissal before leaving him.

Ruaridh sighed before he continued over to his original destination. Gratefully, he sank down on to one of the cafe's chairs. His head still hurt. "What had happened?" He wondered as he rubbed his temples with his fingers to try and ease the pressure. Something significant had just happened to him, it had been more than just fainting due to lack of food but he couldn't remember what. The last few minutes before the woman helping him were all a blur.

Ordering a drink and a small snack, Kerr tried to blow the cobwebs away from his mind as he attempted to figure out what had occurred in the street. The pain was finally easing. At least this time, he didn't feel sick.

Ruaridh was beginning to think that it was time to try and find transport off this planet. It was starting to feel that he had been on planet too long and about time he started to work his way in towards the Core. He would visit to the spaceport and see if there were any freighters needing hired help in the few days that were heading in to the Core Worlds. He certainly did not have enough to pay for a passage to Coruscant. He would either have to work his way or find another means. He could always sell the lightsabre's crystals in an emergency, but he was loathe to part with any of them, especially when they had been gifted to him.

Sipping at the drink and nibbling thoughtfully on the pnumba bread, Kerr tried to figure out what he was going to do. Nothing was coming to mind, so he decided just to see what happened. Maybe something would just turn up if his luck was with him.

* * * * *

Mara finished with her business quickly and efficiently. She hadn't been long enough for even Han to get bored. "Okay, let's go!"

They set off across the hangar. Mara became aware that they were being followed. Turning around, she stopped the astromech droid with a foot.

"Where do you think you are going, Artoo?" Mara asked the stubby droid. She had wanted him to stay with her ship.

The droid just gave an indignant stream of noise at her.

"Stop that!" Scowling, Mara just warned the droid. "Look, get back to the ship and make sure none of the hangar staff mess with the Sabre's security system while they are loading the cargo."

Artoo blew suspiciously what sounded like a raspberry at her. "Artoo!" Mara warned him as her patience began to evaporate. Her eyebrow raising with her challenge as she dropped her hand down to her blaster in subtle warning. The droid took the hint and turned smartly around and trundled off, complaining to himself all the way back to the ship.

"Whoever said, droids don't have characters, obviously never met Artoo or Threepio." Han commented, amused at how Mara was handling Luke's droid.

It would be fun to see how she handled Threepio but he doubted that the protocol droid would have survived his first trip with Mara. 'Why?' Han thought, 'Oh, why hadn't Leia given the golden droid to Mara as well as his counterpart?'

* * * * *

The woman quietly made her report to her superiors. She had been assigned to watch over the man and had even dealt with a few of the pesky NRI agents that had been taking up surveillance on him. Slipping the agents some space dust, rather than relying on her other skills, had made them forget about their jobs for awhile. It would give their bosses a headache to try and find out what had happened them. Vivane smiled at the thought. The dust had been a fairly pure source. She knew that the agents would not care about their work while they were on the drug induced high and that the withdrawl would also incapacitate them for quite some time. She had deliberately planned it that way. She also knew that when they eventually recovered that their memories would be rather sketchy. In this way, she had managed to ensure that she had been unobserved for most of the time here on this planet.

Vivane would not been needed here much longer. She was convinced that Skywalker was en-route to Coruscant although he may not know it yet. The conditioning was holding better than she had even dared to hope. She had not been too sure how well things would work with a Jedi despite all their preparations. She knew that it was solid with normal humans but with the uncertainty.about the effects on a Jedi had meant that she had to more closely monitor him.

The start of the real test would be on Coruscant where there was more significant chance of exposure to friends and colleagues. Vivane was quite happy that things were well established after their many sessions as he had followed her instructions very well so far even without being aware of it. She was sure he would continue to play his part. Her only anxious moment had been when he had suddenly collapsed in the street. She wasn't sure what had caused it. She just hadn't been quiet quick enough or near enough to catch more than fleeting impressions from him.

She had grown to respect the Jedi in the end. He had been a very stubborn and resistant subject as expected. It had taken all her special skills for the procedure to work. He had been quite a challenge which she had enjoyed overcoming.

However, she viewed him as her tool. Luke Skywalker wasn't a person to her. She had to distance herself from her subjects so that she could do her work. It just didn't do to become emotional involved with her experiments. Emotions weakened you and prevented you from doing what had to be done. She had learnt that long ago, the hard way. In her mind, despite her actions helping him at several points, Skywalker meant nothing to her other than a conduit for her own personal revenge.

Over the decades, her talents had been used by many Imperial officers but the Emperor had been her main benefactor. She had vowed him her life and career as he nurtured her only remaining ambition after her last family member had been killed. The Rebels were just jumped up terrorists in her eyes. They had killed her past and her future. Her father, her brother and finally her son had all paid the ultimate price with their lives.

The Emperor would have been delighted at the symbolism of what they were doing. It meant a lot to her that she could finally complete the circle, even if it meant giving up her life in the process.

Grinning at her thoughts, she cut off her comlink with satisfaction. It wouldn't be long now.

She headed down to the spaceport to pick up her transport with grim satisfaction. It would be a lesson to those traitors - both sets.

She had to ensure that she would be in place before Skywalker reached Coruscant so she could view her revenge.

* * * * *

Ruaridh wandered through the spaceport, heading towards the cargo loading area. He was drawn to one of the craft at the side of the main hangar. There was something about the shuttle that kept drawing his gaze. There was just something it that seemed to connect with him but he just couldn't figure out why.

Heading over towards the shuttle, Ruaridh decided to get closer to take a better look at the sleek lines. He was becoming more sure that he definitely knew this ship somehow.

Trailing his hand over the craft's surface as he ducked underneath a side pod, Ruaridh tried hard to remember why it seemed so familiar. Coming round to the other side of the ship, he was surprised to see the ramp opening up. Curious, he quickly checked around, and after a moment's hesitation, he decided to take up the opportunity offered to him and slipped inside.

At the top of the ramp, Ruaridh came face to face with a blue and silver astromech droid who was chirping and warbling wildly at him.

"Hey!" Kerr had drawn his blaster as he backed up to see what the fuss was about but it was only the stubby droid rocking with excitement. He tried to hush up the noisy thing. "Quiet now!"

There didn't seem to be any other crew on board rushing to see what the commotion was. Kerr was extremely reluctant to blast the droid when it was only carrying out it's programming.

Amazingly enough, the barrel sized droid acquiesced to his command although the domed head followed his blaster's movement carefully.

Artoo Detoo was delighted to see Master Luke. He had deactivated the security system when he recognised him wandering around the outside of the ship. He looked slightly different to his photoreceptors but he had identified the human correctly. Turning a few spins, Artoo was pleased. He was sure that the others would be pleased also when they returned. What he didn't know was why his master was pointing a blaster at him.

Ruaridh decided the droid was going to behave so he slowly lowered his blaster.

'Why had the droid let him come onboard?' He wondered at first, then shrugging his shoulders, Kerr decided to investigate the ship while the going was good. He was beginning to get an idea. A little risky but he might be able to pull it off, if the little droid would help him.

"Let's see what we have here." Kerr muttered to himself under his breath as he decided to have a quick exploration around the ship.

Smiling back at the Artoo unit. "R2?"

The unit responded positively to the moniker. Nodding to himself, Ruaridh thought he may well as take advantage of this good fortune. It seemed too good an opportunity to waste.

"R2, can you alert me if anyone approaches?" Kerr asked and he took the noise that the droid made to be a positive answer. Somehow, it sounded positive to him.

Whoever actually owned this shuttle was going to be very, very upset with him if he succeeded with his plan. He had found his transport but he planned to return their property back to them once he had reached his destination.

* * * *

"What?!" Mara's voice rose dramatically.

Han winced. He felt sorry for the spaceport officer who was backing away slightly at Mara's reaction to his report.

"How can my ship have gone?" Mara was incredulous.

"Your loading was completed in good time and your ship took off. The spaceport cleared you for take-off." The officer shrugged, trying to make it understood that it wasn't their fault. "All the proper authorisations and codes were given."

Han was stumped. How had someone managed to steal Mara's ship? Even he couldn't get past her state of the art security rig. Artoo Detoo wouldn't have let anyone he didn't know get past him. Backing up his thoughts, Han suddenly had an insight to what might have happened.

"Is there any evidence of anyone going onboard her before take-off?" Han asked whilst mentally considering events. Artoo wouldn't let anyone he didn't know, but would the droid let Luke on board and even take-off in the ship? Han had to credit the kid for ingenuity but he would not like to be in his boots when Mara finally caught up with him.

Mara just frowned at him. She was stunned and just couldn't believe that her pride and joy could be stolen so easily when her security system was top of the line.

The officer replied to Han. "I'll check the hangar footage."

"What about Luke?" Han asked quietly as soon as the man was out of earshot. "Artoo would still obey his commands."

Mara just groaned, hitting her forehead with the heel of her palm. "Of course! His biometrics will still be recorded as a permitted user with the ship's central computer from when he was helping build and design the Sabre. I never deleted them. I didn't see the point."

Han just looked at Mara. He couldn't believe it himself but there was little they could do about it now, and as he had said to Chewie many a time, there was little to be achieve by moaning about it.

"Let's call, Karrde. He'll have someone in the area."

* * * * * End of post 7