Out of the Shadows 9

 

Coruscant

 

Leia Organa stood at the private landing platform attached to Talon Karrde’s offices. “You didn’t have to come with me,” she muttered, throwing a glare over her shoulders at Han and Chewie, who had managed to get rid of Cracken’s security detail and had glued themselves to her every move like a pair of mynocks.

 

“Course we did, your worshipfulness,” Han said glaring back at her. “Karrde is an honourable man but he is still a smuggler. I’m not worried about him but there are others less desirable he has to deal with. If you don’t have Karl and Chevin you have us.”

 

“You just had to pull rank on Karl and Chevin.”

 

“Is that what they’re called? I forget. I see so little of you as it is. If this is the only way we are to have time together then this is the way it stays.” He winked. “Of, course, if you’re missing them so much…”

 

Leia rolled her eyes. Yes, she’d rather have Han than Karl and Chevin but wasn’t about to tell him that the way he’d been acting. He was just impossible and had been more so since the fight they’d had about Luke.  She’d put the entire rebel alliance on hold while she’d gone to rescue him. What had she been thinking? “Don’t you trust me?”

 

“Don’t start me on trust, sweetheart. I think the phrase is ‘from a certain point of view’.”

 

Chewie growled in agreement.

 

“I think you’re being unfair.” Leia resisted the temptation to smack the insolent smirk from Han’s face. He was deliberately riling her and he knew he was succeeding.

 

“Besides I want to have a word with Talon about something,” Han continued in that stubborn manner Leia knew so well. “It’s business.”

 

“Not some more illegal hardware for the Falcon?” she queried with a frown. “One day you will add one modification too many and then…”

 

“Allow me to know my own ship, Princess.”

 

“Fine. If you blow yourself up, I’m not telling 2-1B to put you back together again – it would be a complete waste of time.” Leia sighed. She knew why she loved the half-witted nerf. He made her so angry she could kill him, yet he made her laugh. Han Solo had the ability to make Leia Organa feel once more and that was something she thought that after Alderaan’s destruction, would never happen to her again.

 

“This way, Princess.” Han approached a set of smoky coloured glass doors. As they approached, the doors slid smoothly open and a slender woman, wearing a smart, dark green city tunic and pants, walked out to greet them.

 

Leia couldn’t help the little gasp of surprise as she recognised the woman approaching them. This was the same woman who had been at the Senate Hall during the lectures on commerce and trade. Had she something to do with Talon Karrde and his organisation? It was likely. They had been together that day.

 

Leia saw many beings in the course of her work and it was rare that any of them made such an instant impression, especially without even exchanging a single word.

 

Han gave a silent whistle as they got closer. This one was a stunner; there was no doubt about it. Tightly braided flame red hair, vivid green eyes in a beautiful face and curves in all the right places as Lando would have said. But Han, having been around the galaxy several times, recognised someone who had lived on the fringes of that galaxy. Her eyes were hard and watchful, with a keen intelligence, not welcoming and Han could see a blaster displayed very prominently in a quick-draw thigh holster. Very much like his own. Yup, she was part of Karrde’s employ all right.

 

The woman’s lip curled and Leia had the impression that she did not like them, had made up her mind about them long ago and wasn’t about to change it any time soon. She sent out a tentative approach with the Force as Luke had taught her and met…nothing. A blank wall prevented Leia from getting anything on the redhead at all. Could this be some sort of protective barrier? Luke had said that the weak minded could be influenced by using the Force. It confirmed Leia’s feeling that this woman was possibly Force sensitive. Did she know; had she been trained in any way?

 

“She was at the Senate the other day with Talon Karrde,” Leia whispered. “There’s something funny about her. I can usually read people very quickly but with this woman…nothing.”

 

“Chewie, keep your eyes open,” Han muttered. Was this the same woman that Leia mentioned seeing with Karrde?  ‘How did I miss her’, he thought. He might scoff about the Force but his instincts were telling him the same as his lover’s. This woman was dangerous and if Leia thought so too, then...

 

The Organa-Solo party stopped about a metre from the woman. She smiled, a mere baring of perfect white teeth and gave them a stiff little bow. There was no warmth in the greeting. “Talon Karrde sent me to meet you and bring you to his offices.”

 

“Thank you,” Leia said politely. This woman intrigued Leia – she didn’t fit into this situation. Her accent told Leia that the woman had probably been brought up in the Core Worlds and that she was well educated. It wasn’t much but it was a start. Of course beauty was not the sole property of the virtuous. Many used their looks very successfully fostering a life of crime. Leia was fairly new to the idea of having the power of the Force but something told her that this woman could be important to them.

 

“This way – if you would follow me, please,” the red-head murmured.

 

“It would be nice to be introduced, Red,” Han said, his tone challenging. He did not move.

 

Leia thought that the woman stiffened before turning back to face them.  “I didn’t know that smugglers had manners.”

 

“Oh, we have them. I’m not in the smuggling business these days but, of course, I learned my manners at the Imperial Academy . Many of these I aim to forget totally. Some of them…” he winked at Chewie, “…were never worth acquiring.”

 

“Han!” Leia hissed warningly.

 

“I’m sure an independent operator like yourself also has them…somewhere.”

 

Mara hesitated as she tried to keep her anger under control. No one talked to her like that – no one. She could feel the reassuring weight of her wrist blaster against her skin but no, she couldn’t. She had a new life to exist in.

 

“Karrde is one of the most polite beings I know,” Han drawled. The woman had barely said anything to them and she had already got his back up. “Of course, some people should know better.”

 

“Han,” Leia hissed again, mortified at her lover’s behaviour.

 

He gave a cheeky smirk and looked again at Chewbacca. The Wookiee growled faintly, the sound audible even against the constant sound of the Coruscant traffic, his massive hands moving to grasp his bowcaster. It was a not so subtle move and Han nodded with satisfaction.

 

“As my friend, Chewbacca, reminded me, the Princess of Alderaan should be treated with respect.”

 

“Should she now?” The red-head arched one eyebrow disbelievingly. “Even though there is no Alderaan?”

 

Leia’s face blanched. She couldn’t believe that this woman could be so insensitive. “Billions died,” she said, her voice laced with the pain that was her silent, constant companion.

 

“And there wasn’t innocent life lost on both Death Stars?” Her lips stretched into a humourless smile. “Of course, it all depends on your point of view. My name is Mara Jade,” she said with an irritated sigh as if all this baiting had finally bored her, turned and walked into the building.

 

“Pleased to meet you, Red,” Han said. So this one was a former Imperial. Nice to know for sure.

 

“Jade,” Mara snapped without turning back to face them.

 

“Sure thing,” he chuckled. “Come on, Your Worshipfulness, we’d better follow the lady before she leaves us out here.”

 

The turbolift trip to the top floor of the building was travelled in silence. Not once did Karrde’s assistant glance in Leia or Han’s direction. As they exited the lift, Talon Karrde was waiting for them. “That will be all for now, Mara,” he said and the red-head gave them a look which none of them understood before walking away. “My second-in-command,” he explained as he led them into a large room dominated by an imposing greel wood desk. “She takes her duties very seriously. And this is my office. Please…take a seat.”

 

“She’s not very friendly – your second-in-command,” Han muttered as he sat down next to Leia.

 

Karrde raised his eyebrows. “She has had a difficult time in recent years and takes a while to warm to people.” He wasn’t going to tell Solo and his princess that Mara hated all former rebels, especially ones that were close to her enemy, Luke Skywalker. He did think that Mara would have wanted to meet Solo and he’d been right – she had. “She’s very efficient,” he offered quietly.

 

“I heard about Tapper and for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.” Han said quietly.

 

“We got the Krish that did it,” Karrde declared gravely. “Now, Princess Leia, I believe you wanted to view some of the items I have collected from Alderaan.”

 

“I would, and call me Leia.”

 

“Thank you, Leia.” He smiled and seated himself behind the large desk. Leaning forward, he pressed his finger against a raised panel. “Viksoth, could you bring some refreshments please.”

 

Immediately a side door Leia had not noticed before opened and a Duro entered carrying beautiful crystal glasses filled with a pale green wine.

 

“Is that…?” Leia asked, her eyes widening.

 

“Yes, the glasses were made for the export market and the wine was produced two years before the Death Star made its impact.”

 

She accepted one of the slender long-stemmed glasses and sipped at the wine. Tears glistened in her eyes for a moment but she rapidly pulled herself together. Karrde was impressed. This young lady was made of durasteel, rather like Jade, both of them strong women forged by the hardships of war. But then, heroes and heroines of any conflict had to have something to fight for. What had Leia Organa gone through when her world was destroyed? What had made her continue the fight? What had made Mara Jade the way she was? Both of these women had been affected by Emperor Palpatine but in very different ways.

 

“I have several different vintages from various years.”

 

“What else have you got to show me?”

 

************************************

 

It was a bittersweet hour for Leia, spent gazing at holos and examples of goods Karrde had managed to accumulate over the past six years. He was unashamed in his desire to collect credits by any means. He was a businessman not a philanthropist, yet he had some standards. The Princess and the remaining Alderaanian citizens would pay well for pieces of their history and culture. He might have made more on the open market but somehow it didn’t seem right. He would still make a tidy profit.  “When Alderaan was destroyed, these things went up in value.”

 

Leia’s smile had held a touch of cynical humour. “I can understand that, Talon. These things can never be remade. You do what you do to survive. I hope you have a discerning eye and are able to pick out the fakes that will inevitably result from such a calamitous happening.”

 

He held her gaze and nodded. “We are most careful.” He understood that she was talking about more than just merchandise.

 

“That is reassuring to know.” Leia glanced regretfully at her wrist chrono. “I am expected at a meeting. As much as I would have loved to stay longer, I had better go. My secretary will contact you to arrange payment and transportation of the items we agreed on.” Her com link beeped three times. “Han, you don’t need to take me back to the Imperial palace. My usual escorts have arrived. They’re waiting outside on the landing platform.”

 

“Good old Karl and Chevin,” he muttered.

 

“Han.” Leia’s look said volumes.

 

The Corellian scowled but gave a resigned sigh. “That’s okay, sweetheart. I wanted to talk to Karrde about a few things. He’s been places that the New Republic fleet hasn’t managed to reach yet.”

 

Leia wrinkled her forehead suspiciously, but it was possible – probable even. “Like…”

 

Han lowered his voice so that only Leia could hear his words. “The vague stretch of space between Imperial territory and New Republic affiliated systems. There’s definitely been an increase of activity along some sensitive boundaries lately. Cracken hasn’t said much but I can tell he’s nervous. Karrde’s welcomed in both camps.”

 

The overly-stretched New Republic had been trying to get the smuggling fraternity to help out. They’d helped the Rebellion but now that the Rebels were now the ones making the laws, the smugglers had backed off. Admiral Ackbar was well known for his dislike of their kind. She gave him a penetrating stare and then nodded. Han could be onto something. “I’ll see you back at the Falcon?”

 

“Sure, com me when you’ve finished. I’ll be at the Senate offices.”

 

Han escorted Leia back to the landing pad where the new Republic security guards were waiting for her. He dropped a kiss on her cheek and watched as she boarded the tiny covered speeder. Cracken wasn’t taking any chances where Leia was concerned. It was one of the things he and Han agreed on.

 

He headed back into Karrde’s offices as he had a little proposition for the smuggler chief – if he was interested. And Han could afford to pay him for the favour. Oh, not more wealth than he could possibly imagine but just enough to sweeten the deal.

 

Karrde sat open mouthed as the Corellian outlined his proposal. Solo had surprised him. “I’d like to bring my second-in-command in on this – if you don’t mind?”

 

“The unfriendly redhead?” Han queried. “Do you trust her?”

 

“As much as I trust anyone in my employ.”

 

“If she’s as efficient as you say, I would be interested in her input but I want your assurances that she can be trusted. This must be kept quiet.”

 

Karrde jabbed at the com button. “Mara,” he called. “You want to come and listen to this?”

 

“What is it?” The red-head stalked gracefully back into Karrde’s spacious office. “You’re still here,” she said a little ungraciously in Han’s direction.

 

“Charming female you have here, Karrde,” Han drawled, a lazy smirk on his handsome face. “You should try a smile sometimes, Red. It might suit you.”

 

“Like carbonite suited you?” she queried maliciously. “Kept you quiet.”

 

“You didn’t employ this lady for her tact,” Han retorted. So she knew about his little enforced vacation at the palace of Jabba the Hutt. While it wasn’t a secret, it was not something that was generally well known or talked about. Interesting. Should he trust her? He wasn’t so sure but he had good instincts and Karrde always had the best people.

 

“She’s good at her job.” Karrde kept the smile from his face but Mara must have suspected something because she glared at him.

 

“I’m glad of that,” Han muttered.

 

“I have work to do if you’ve finished wasting my time, General?”

 

“Oh, no,” Han replied, his manner as supercilious as he could make it. “Your boss wanted you to hear my little proposition.”

 

“I’m all ears.”

 

Han nodded and told her.

 

At first there was silence as the words sunk into her brain. “You have got to be joking!” Mara finally exclaimed, shocked into a reaction.

 

Han bristled. “Do I look as if I’m joking?”

 

Her green eyes flicked to look at her boss. “There’s something very peculiar about this. If you want my advice, Karrde, I wouldn’t touch this job for all the spice in Kessel.”

 

“I need time to think about it,” Karrde murmured, wondering if he had been right to involve Mara. “What is Princess Leia’s opinion?”

 

“I don’t want Leia to know…not yet.”

 

**************************************************

 

Sluis Van - Rogue Squadron Temporary HQ

 

Wedge slipped from the cockpit of his x-wing to face the concerned face of his executive officer.

 

“What’s wrong, Wedge?” Tycho Celchu asked curiously as the Corellian pulled off his helmet and gloves.

 

“You’ve been friends with the Lady Winter for too long, Tycho. You’ve become as adept as she has at reading people’s expressions.” He handed the Alderaanian his carryall and his helmet and reached into the storage locker for a medium sized wooden box. A peal of electronic terror made Wedge turn and watch one of the techs lower his R-2 unit to the duracrete floor of the hangar. He rolled his eyes. “Droids. Why did I get a paranoid one?”

 

Tycho chuckled. “Luck? As for your expression or lack of…I’ve just served with you for even longer than I’ve known Winter and I just recognise that sabacc face you sport when things don’t go to plan.”

 

They began to head to the set of rooms Rogue Squadron had commandeered as their temporary quarters on Sluis Van.

 

“Didn’t go to plan is the understatement of the year. I’ve seen a lot of weird things over the years but this just spooked me a little.” Wedge gave Tycho the look that he knew meant ‘not here. Wait until we’re inside’.

 

“Is it right that we’re packing up and heading straight back to Coruscant?” Tycho queried casually.

 

“Yeah. As soon as I give the order. You hoping to bump into Winter?”

 

“It would be nice if I knew where Winter was in the galaxy at the moment. She’s a good friend and I miss her but these days I never see her. I know she’s not on Coruscant.”

 

Wedge clapped the Alderaanian on the shoulder. “One day we’ll be able to see our loved ones whenever we want to.”

 

“But just not yet, eh?”

 

“Nope.” They entered Wedge’s office cum living quarters where Tycho dumped Wedge’s helmet and carryall on a narrow sleeping pallet in the small room next to the office.

 

“So tell me what happened on Praesitlyn,” Tycho murmured as the door closed giving them privacy. “I know Leia was very excited when she contacted me.”

 

“We were told to collect a box of Jedi artefacts from the university library on Praesitlyn…”

 

“This is the box?” Tycho asked, lightly tracing the decorative carving.

 

“This is one of the boxes. There were two. Except this one was empty.”

 

“And the other?”

 

Wedge shrugged. “Gone.”

 

Tycho frowned. “Gone where?”

 

“Beats me. This is the only one I saw. But the strange thing was - someone tried to steal this one.”

 

“Thinking it was the important box.”

 

“You got it, Tycho. But it wasn’t the right box. Apparently this is exactly the same as the first box but was packed with rubbish to make it seem as if it contained the Jedi artefacts.”

 

“So the whole thing was a hoax.”

 

“No. They definitely had a box. The head librarian showed Leia some lightsabers over the holonet.”

 

“So someone took the Jedi stuff. Did it show up on the security cams?”

 

“The theft of this box showed up nice and clear on all the holocams but there was neither sight nor sign of anyone taking the first box. It vanished into thin air.”

 

“And it definitely existed.”

 

“Oh yes.” Wedge ran his hand through his dark hair. “We’re pretty certain of that. There was something else that I wondered about. How common would you say x-wings are in the galaxy?”

 

“They exist. Not much outside the military these days. Some of the Corellian Security service use them but they’re not common. The Empire didn’t allow their pilots to fly them. They wanted to believe that the TIE fighter was the superior vessel. It has its good points but I prefer the x-wing. Superior shields and hyperspace capability have served us well over the years.”

“That’s what I thought.” Wedge moved to his locker and began emptying his clothes into his carryall. “Just as the thief made his or her get away without this box, an x-wing left planet. We checked at the spaceport. It was using a false transponder code.”

 

“So you couldn’t tell who it belonged to or where it was from and there was no way that the thief could have been flying the x-wing?”

 

“No possible way. I watched the thief fire the engines of his swoop bike just at the time the x-wing flew overhead.  Pash has picked up quite a few tips from his old man over the years and he made some enquiries and couldn’t tell us anything either. They either genuinely don’t know who was flying the ship or they’re too scared to say.”

 

“It was too far away to tell if it was painted with Alliance colours?”

 

Wedge screwed up his face in concentration as he tried to recall the ship. He shook his head. “It was too far away.”

 

There was a buzz at the door. “Come in,” ordered Wedge.

 

“You filling in Tycho, boss?” Pash Cracken entered carrying his kit bag.

 

“Yes.”

 

“I think it was Luke,” the red headed man stated.

 

“I didn’t want to say that out loud just in case you thought I was mad,” Wedge confessed.

 

“Not the guy on the swoop bike but the x-wing pilot,” Pash declared. “And who but Luke could get into and out of a building without anyone knowing he was there.”

 

“It was a box of Jedi artefacts after all,” Tycho reasoned. “But why steal them? Are you going to tell the Princess?”

 

“I have to. She and Han really miss Luke. Hell, we all do. He’s supposed to be somewhere secret completing his Jedi training without the distraction of life.”

 

“We have another mystery.” Hobbie wandered into the office, Janson just behind him.

 

“What kind of problem? Your ship is fixed,” Pash muttered.

 

“Whoever tried to steal the second box knew that it was there. The only people who supposedly knew about the find were the university library and us. No one else was talking.” Hobbie looked at Janson for confirmation of his theory. The usually wise-cracking Wes was thoughtful.

 

Wedge nodded. “Yes, that is something to think about.” He stared out at the array of x-wings lined up and swarming with New Republic techs.

 

Tycho waved his hands at the boxes and bags littering the hangar. “If we could get packed up, ladies and gentlemen? I would like us to be in the air in under three hours.”

 

“You’ll be lucky,” Janson mouthed towards Hobbie.

 

***************************************

Coruscant

 

Mara Jade paced back and forth across the dark grey plush carpeting of Karrde’s office. “He was serious, wasn’t he?”

 

“Yes, I do believe he was.” Karrde was sitting at his desk, a glass of the pale green Alderaanian wine in his hand.

 

“Does he know what he’s asking?” she said.

 

“Yes.” Karrde smoothed his beard. “He’s offered us a good price.”

 

“Are we going to do it?”

 

“I said I would think about it. We have avenues of enquiry open to us that a New Republic investigator has not.”

 

“The underworld.”

 

“Of course. We are still part of it despite our many claims to respectability. Sit down and relax, Jade. I know this is an obsession for you but if we accept this job, we do it in a professional manner.”

 

“They weren’t at all what I expected,” Mara confessed suddenly.

 

“Organa and Solo?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“No, I suppose they were not but you’ve been fed a lot of Imperial propaganda over the course of your entire life. It’s hard to break from such conditioning.  Are you so sure what you know is the truth?”

 

Mara’s hands clenched into fists, her whole air becoming tense. “It has to be; otherwise my whole life has been a lie.”

 

“That is a possibility you might have to contend with. They didn’t seem like cold blooded murderers to you?”

 

“No…they seemed like people I might want to get to know if I were that kind of person. I was a trained assassin, for sith’s sake. I don’t do cosy cups of caf and talks on whether the weather grids are effective.”

 

“I can’t see you doing that,” Karrde agreed.

 

The confusion on Mara’s face was clear to see. “Solo, he’s very sharp - been on the fringes of respectability for a long time and can hold his own in a fight. I’ve seen holos and reports – they didn’t exaggerate.”

 

“The Princess is not a hothouse flower. She can also hold her own in a crisis – she has also been trained to fight.”

 

“Yes, I know. I’ve been fed so many pieces of information on these people. They were the enemies of my master and thus, also of mine. But Leia Organa was pleasant and likeable - that I did not expect. I knew she was clever. No one is elected to the Imperial Senate at sixteen without superior acumen. Nor could she have evaded Imperial capture for so many years without a modicum of intelligence. Vader and the Emperor sent the top bounty hunters and agents after Skywalker, Organa and Solo and they escaped every single time. I’ve killed my fair share of the scum of the galaxy, Karrde. I was told that Organa was part of that underclass of people. I’m not easy to impress - never, ever forget that - and she’s managed to impress me against all the odds.”

 

“I don’t forget the fact that you’re not easy to impress. But never underestimate these people, Jade. The Emperor did and he lost.”

 

The expression in her green eyes grew cold at the reminder of her former master. Meeting possible victims was never a good idea. “They will still pay.”

 

“Not if we accept this task.”

 

“You’re going to accept?” Mara was astounded. She had never considered that Karrde might be interested in such a proposition.

 

“Have you ever considered the notion that Organa and Solo have already paid for what they have done?”

 

Mara had not.

 

*****************************************************