A Certain Point of View
A Star Wars fanfiction by Metroidvania.
Warnings: probably shoujoai/femmeslash, though not graphic ….Expect a few Star Wars style curse words at various points… Violence? Well, there are lightsabers….so expect some loss of limbs…
There's one more thing….Hm….when I remember it, I'll let you know.
Disclaimer: I am basing many key points of this work of fanfiction off of Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy. No plagiarizing, though….you'll recognize elements, but anyone else who has a copy of the book will still be able to tell a difference…..However, I do not intend in any way, shape, or form intend to make any sort of profit off of this. If Tim asks I take it down, I'll do so posthaste. Although, I promise that this won't be a repetition of his….there'll be definitive changes, some slight, some a little more…ground breaking. in nature. Hm…that Lucas guy should probably get some credit too, as well as his organization…though I can't say I particularly enjoyed I, II, or III…..
As an interesting aside, you can find some truly interesting things on Wikipedia…..
And since this is too long as it is…I'll shut up.
"Speech"
Thoughts/Force
Prologue: Needle in a Haystack.
You will kill Luke Skywalker!
Mara Jade awoke with a gasp, the sweat across her brow falling down in droplets as she sat up quickly, glancing at her chrono, which indicated that her shift at the helm was approaching.
I will… She told herself with steely determination as she entered the refresher, feeling the warm water wipe away the grime and sweat, ignoring her own doubts.
Karrde's got the resources for me to find him, and when I do… Her thoughts trailed off as she exited the refresher, throwing on a clean jumpsuit while running a hand through her damp hair.
After one last glance in the mirror to make sure she was presentable, she paused suddenly at the doorway.
She turned back to her storage container, in which she knew her spare power packs for her wrist blaster were available.
After considering it for a moment, her jade eyes flickering with some unknown emotion.
Finally, she shrugged, and moved towards the doorway, making sure that it had closed behind her before walking towards the bridge.
//--//--//--//--//--//--//
"Mara, nice of you to join us." Ave's voice was slightly cold, and Mara's green eyes narrowed in annoyance, but before she could throw back a scathing retort, Talon Karrde's smooth voice interrupted her.
"Aves, I'm sure Mara has a reason for her slight tardiness."
"As a matter of fact, I do." Mara interjected smoothly. "I was checking up on the shipping manifests, it seems that someone had forgotten to run a scan on container number twenty three."
Aves flushed, and Mara barely resisted smirking. She knew that what she had just done might not exactly endear her to the man, but she knew as well as Karrde did that in a business like smuggling, one had to make sure that every container actually did contain what the manifest said. Especially when smuggling.
She walked slowly to her spot at the helm, nodding to Karrde as he took his leave. She still didn't know just how much of her past he was still searching for, despite his claims of not prying. She knew that she was still secure, do to him not having turned her over to either the imperials or the rebels, but for how much longer…that was still up in the air.
She was still trying to think of a way that would convince Karrde to help her find the sith-forsaken Jedi while not arousing his suspicions. Unfortunately, due to her employer's natural curiosity, she was going to have to be more cautious than a Hutt playing sabacc.
Turning her attention back to the helm, she settled down into her mind, thinking once more of how she would kill Luke Skywalker.
//--//--//--//--//--//--//
Mara suddenly glanced up as something caught her attention.
Glancing around surreptitiously, she found nothing out of the ordinary; everyone who should be on the bridge was, and she could find nothing that should have roused her.
She turned back to her instruments, but they all read that the hyperdrive was running smoothly, and no anomalies had been detected.
Suddenly, she heard a voice echo through the ship.
Help….
Her head snapped around, the reddish gold locks swaying as her eyes scanned over the crew.
Without warning, she heard the voice again, and this time, she focused on it, drawing out its origin.
…ia..
Mara's eyes widened in shock as she figured out what was happening. Someone was using the Force.
They can't be looking for me…She thought to herself, her heart racing.
She turned to Aves quickly.
"Aves, drop us out of hyperspace."
Aves frowned at her, his eyes clearly indicating his unwillingness.
"Why should I?" He asked, mostly successful in holding back the slight sneer from his tone.
Mara's eyes bore down at him as she turned in her chair.
"For a routine maintenance check on the drive, we're due for one soon anyways." Was her simple reply, and Aves flushed.
"Jade, just because Karrde made you…" he started, only to fall silent at as Mara stared at him.
Now, some might have gone into ranting and raving at such insubordination, but Mara had always prided herself on her self-control, and merely continued to stare at him evenly.
After a few moments, Aves muttered an affirmative, and the red-haired woman nodded to him.
"Bring us out of lightspeed." She commanded, and one of the other members of the bridge quickly hastened to do so.
Mara reclined slightly in her chair. For some reason, the voice had seemed far weaker than any command she had ever heard from Palpatine, and her connection to the Force, as weak as it was, was urging her to move with haste.
Turning her eyes to her viewscreen, she called up a map as the ship decelerated, idly wondering what had moved her.
//--//--//--//--//--//--//
The Wild Karrde had smoothly switched to its sublight engines as it exited lightspeed, and the former Emperor's hand had moved from her spot at the helm to the transparisteel viewing deck
"Vaughn, start running the check, I don't want this to take too long."
Mara spoke without moving her gaze from the blackness of space, vaguely accentuated at points in time by the sparkling of distant star clusters or nebulae.
The Vornskr handler gave a nod of assent before leaving the bridge, and once more her thoughts drifted back to the Force.
She still felt that same phantom sense of urgency, and ground her teeth. She would not miss Skywalker this time, she vowed to herself tersely.
Her eyes darkened as she remembered how the dream had gone, time and time again.
Luke Skywalker stood helpless under Darth Vader, the glowing red blade held to his throat even as Luke's own green saber lay on the floor beside him.
Suddenly, both the Dark Lord of the Sith and the young Jedi turned as one, Luke leaping to his feet and holding his lightsaber high, their gazes directed towards the Emperor.
Brilliant bolds of white-blue lightning flew towards them both in desperation from her master, but they deflected it with their lightsabers, advancing wordlessly.
Mara could hear herself scream something, anything to make them stop, only to find herself paralyzed as Vader and Skywalker raised their blades, and brought them down with resounding force on the Emperor.
As always, the command followed the dream, and she shuddered slightly at the menace in the Emperor's mental voice.
You will kill Luke Skywalker!
Turning her concentration back to the present, she paused in the middle of scanning through her datapad.
She felt….something out there. Whatever, or whoever it was, it was close.
Mara entered a command into her console, initiating a scan of the nearby area.
Several seconds later, the subspace receivers caught something, and she pressed a button on the comlink.
"Ghent." Mara called out, making sure to disguise the level of interest in her voice. "I've got something here, but it's pretty garbled. Think you can give it a run for me?"
"Sure thing, Mara!" Ghent's voice was almost too eager, and Mara groaned internally even as she dumped the transmission to him.
Great, now I've got a case of hero worship combined with hormones…
A sudden blink of the radar caught her eye, and she brushed a stray lock of hair back into place as she peered down at her holoscreen.
"Karrde, we've got an unknown fighter as a new neighbor."
"Is that so?" Karrde seemed thoughtful, and Mara could easily imagine the man playing the pros and cons of contacting.
"It seems to be in trouble, we've got a garbled distress signal, and its engines are cold."
"Hmm...contact them, see if they actually do need assistance…and bring up the deflector shields."
"Roger."
Mara turned, smiling slightly. It was only a matter of time now, before Luke Skywalker was dead.
And then maybe, just maybe…Palpatine's voice would fall silent.
She activated the subspace radio, and tried hailing the vessel, noting with interest that the fighter appeared to be powering up from a cold shutdown.
"Unidentified fighter, this is the freighter Wild Karrde, do you require assistance?"
No response was given, even as the Wild Karrde decelerated cleanly to match the drifting fighters speed.
"I repeat, unidentified fighter, this is the freighter Wild Karrde, do you require assistance?"
After a few moments, a low, mechanical sounding trill resonated through the receiver.
"Did anyone understand that?" Mara asked, turning to face the crew.
"Um, I think it might be a droid, Mara."
Ghent sounded slightly timid now, but Mara nodded slowly, searching her memory on the various types she'd encountered over her various careers.
"An astromech?"
"Could be." Aves added slowly, and Mara frowned.
"Don't we have a protocol on board?"
"No, I'm afraid not." Karrde's voice came over the comlink. "I left it at our base in Myrkr."
Mara cursed in Rhodian under her breath, turning back to the subspace radio.
"Droid, does the pilot need?..."
A sudden voice on the other side interrupted her.
"Roger, Wild Karrde, this is New Republic X-wing AA-589."
Mara started. Rather than the voice of a male that she had expected, this voice was a smooth counter-soprano, and from her experience, not something that could truly be duplicated by a human male.
But, even in her confusion, she noted the slight inflection of pain in the other woman's voice, and wondered just what had happened, tuning into the conversation once more as the woman continued.
"As a matter of fact, I could use some help."
"What seems to be the problem?"
"Hyperdrive. I've got two cracked shield cases, probably along with a few other problems. I don't suppose you'd be carrying any spares?"
Mara turned to Aves, who shook his head.
"Not for a ship that size," she retorted calmly, freezing the transmission as Karrde's comlink light flashed at her.
"Let her aboard, I'm interested in seeing how she got here."
"Acknowledged." Mara flicked the transmission back on.
"I've been instructed by the captain that if you'd care to come aboard, we can take you as a passenger to our destination system."
"That sounds fine." There was a slight pause on the other side. "I don't suppose you could take my ship too?"
"I doubt that you could afford our shipping rates," Mara countered dryly. "Besides, our cargo manifest doesn't quite have room for an X-wing at the moment."
Silence reigned for a few moments more, as if the pilot was giving the offer thought.
"If you'll hold your position, X-wing, we can move up close enough to throw up a force cylinder." Mara paused. "Unless you'd prefer to suit up and walk across."
"The cylinder sounds faster," The pilot acknowledged. "I don't suppose that either of us wants to hang around here much longer." There was another pause. "How did you happen to wind out here, anyways?"
Mara ignored the slight probe, and spoke briskly.
"We can handle a limited amount of baggage." She replied. "I suppose you want to bring your astromech along?"
"Yes, I will."
There.
Mara could sense the slight pain in the voice again, despite the obvious lengths the pilot was going through to hide it.
"Very well. Incidentally, the transport fee will be five thousand."
Karrde hadn't actually specified anything, but she didn't think he would mind. If worse came to worse, they'd figure out a different form of payment.
"Understood."
The pilot's voice cut out, and Mara turned to Aves.
"Well?"
"Force cylinder is up…..now."
Mara nodded slowly, and turned to her comlink once more.
"Karrde, she's on her way."
"Very well. Send someone to greet her, and then have her come to my office."
"You're the boss." Mara acknowledged, and turned to Denkin.
"Denkin, you're up."
Throwing her a mock salute, the man exited the bridge quickly, moving towards the docking bay.
Mara turned back to Aves.
"Are we almost done?"
"Yeah, the techs are finished." Aves gave her an odd look. "You all right, Jade?"
"Spectacular." She replied drolly, paging Karrde.
"Karrde?"
"Yes, Mara?"
Mara hesitated for a moment, not wanting to divulge her small talent in the Force. Even though Karrde was her boss, she had deigned to keep that a secret, and for now, she was planning on keeping it that way.
"If I remember correctly," she spoke quietly. "That particular X-wing belongs to…"
"Luke Skywalker." Karrde's voice was calm. "And if it is him, since we're disregarding the less than likely fact that someone could have managed to somehow steal his X-wing, we'll have to take precautions."
He paused.
"Aves, bring up one of the ysalamiri up from storage, and strap up. Make sure to stay out of sight, but hang around my office, and have your blaster set for stun. Skywalker may have found a way to modify his voice through the transmitter, I've seen it done before."
"Roger."
Aves was on his way out of the bridge at once, heading for storage.
"I want to…"
"You'll stay on the bridge, Mara." Karrde's voice interrupted her.
Mara scowled.
"But…"
"If it is Skywalker, he'll be helpless on Mykr. And we can decide what to do with him then."
"Skywalker's no pushover."
"But I rather doubt he's ever encountered a ysalamiri before." Karrde's comlink cut off, and Mara seethed at her casual dismissal.
On one hand, she knew that Karrde had discerned her anger for Skywalker, and that logistically, his keeping her far away from the incoming Jedi was his prerogative.
But she would be damned if she let Skywalker escape this time.
//--//--//--//--//--//--//
Talon Karrde had always prided himself on two things: the first, his passion for intelligence and information, and second, his ability to maintain neutrality in any given situation.
However, with Grand Admiral Thrawn leading the empire, the once doomed remnants were now on their way to becoming a full-fledged threat, especially with what rumors had muttered about their leader's tactical genius.
He glanced around at his office, taking note once again on how cramped and cluttered it appeared to be.
Communications and encryption equipment basically made up the walls, and his large desk with the built in console didn't really help to alleviate issues of space.
But deep down, he knew that any such attempt on his part to clean it would lead to only far more trouble than would be worth the effort to clean it.
"Captain Karrde will see you now."
Karrde caught Denkin's voice easily, despite the thick door, and grimaced internally. If it really was Luke Skywalker behind that door, things were about to get very….interesting. He turned around in his chair, reaching for the button that would allow the door to open.
"Thank you."
He stopped suddenly, his hand a few inches away.
Unless his hearing was playing vast tricks on him, he had just heard the same female voice that he had listened into on Mara's conversation.
It is possible, he supposed, that Skywalker has managed to find a combination of using the telekinetic aspects of the Force to modify his vocal chords, though I don't see how that would do him any good. And even if he did manage to hide himself, why a female voice?
Karrde stopped his mental wanderings, chuckling to himself.
He knew that his thirst for knowledge bordered sometimes on the line of crossing from hobby to obsession, but he couldn't remember a time when it had actually distracted him from his duties.
Pressing the hidden button on the bottom of his desk, he turned up to stare at the person entering his domain…and could barely keep a neutral expression as he caught sight of who had boarded his vessel.
"Good evening," He replied, taking extra care to keep his voice steady. "I'm Talon Karrde."
"Very nice to meet you." The voice was pleasant, if a little forced. "So, where are we heading?"
Karrde's eyes flickered over the jumpsuit, making sure to keep his gaze level.
"Our temporary base of operations." He finally answered. "From there, we can discuss further arrangements."
"Very well." His guest answered politely. "How long will it take us to get there, if you don't mind my asking?"
"Not long," Karrde assured. "But If I may be so bold as to ask, what is your name?"
His guest appeared hesitant for the first time, standing silent for several seconds.
"…Lara. Lara Darklighter."
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Karrde continued easily, deigning to not focus on the hesitation. "And now, if you don't mind my curiosity, why does it appear to be that you are carrying a lightsaber?"
The woman flicked her own blue eyes down to the metallic cylinder, attached to the slightly ill-fitting pilot suit.
"It was…a gift." She answered softly.
"And you're not…a Jedi?" Karrde ventured, still not satisfied that Skywalker wasn't merely using the Force to hide himself.
The woman shook her head slowly, removing her pilot's helmet and running a hand through her short, sandy blonde hair.
Karrde noted with some interest on its style; long bangs in the front and layers cut into the back. To his admittedly limited knowledge, long hair was in fashion with most of the ladies of the New Republic.
Whatever it is, it looks good on her, Karrde admitted, it manages to stay short while looking decidedly feminine, and remaining within any possible regulations. He pulled his mind from its thinking as Lara stirred.
"…No," Lara finally answered. "I've heard of Luke Skywalker and his sister, Leia Organa Solo, of course…but I've never worked up the courage to ask for a meeting with either of them."
She paused.
"I don't know if I'm even strong enough in the Force to be a jedi, actually."
"I see." Karrde spoke distractedly, glancing to his monitor for a moment.
Whatever had just walked through his door, the sensors built around the door frame, a modification of a custom security package confirmed that a holo projector wasn't being used, which left only the Force illusion.
"I do sense, though…" the woman he knew as Lara started speaking slowly. "someone…who hates. Stronger than anything I've felt before."
"Ah." Karrde said simply. "That would be Mara Jade." He watched closely for any sort of reaction, but could find no recognition in the light blue eyes that stared at him calmly. Turning to the doorway past his guest, he spoke loud enough to be heard.
"Aves, would you come in here for a moment?"
He watched with bemused interest as the pilot's eyes widened.
She whirled around, one hand reaching for her blaster, only to stop abruptly as Aves entered the doorway with his own blaster held at the ready, the bulky nutrient pack stopping him from entering the room completely, but more than enough to have the ysalamiri's Force-nullifying bubble intrude upon Skywalker's disguise.
When he had turned back, however, to his surprise, a woman was still standing clearly in front of him, though she was now rocking back and forth on her heels slightly.
"Wha?..." She spoke slowly. "What?…"
She fell to the floor in an ungainly heap, and after a moment or two, Karrde was immediately out of his chair.
He grabbed a portable scanner from one of the desk cabinets, and ran it over the woman's body.
"Aves, take that the nutrient pack off, and get in here. Now, if you could be so kind."
"Karrde?" Aves' voice was quizzical, though he did immediately start shedding the bulky frame.
"Something's wrong, her vitals just dropped. We need her at sickbay."
Karrde rose from the unconscious woman, and moved to the comlink.
"Mara?"
"I'm here, Karrde. What happened?"
Karrde frowned.
"I'll tell you in a few moments, Mara, but for now, we need to get to Mykr. Now."
"Something the matter?"
"Our…" Karrde paused for a moment, turning to see Aves finish stripping off the large pack. "visitor has suddenly gone into a state of unconsciousness, her vitals have dropped dramatically, and I'm not sure that sickbay is equipped for the damage I'm seeing."
"Roger that." Mara's voice was clean and crisp, and Karrde nodded in no small satisfaction as he felt the gentle vibration of the hyperdrive engine being engaged.
//--//--//--//--//--//--//
Mara Jade, however, was far from satisfied.
Even as hyperspace flew by on the transparisteel, she couldn't help but wonder just what had happened in Karrde's office.
However, her new position as second in command, as much as it offered her, wasn't without its drawbacks.
She would have liked to be able to be with Karrde when the meeting had taken place, but Karrde had left her in command of the bridge, and she wouldn't even consider handing it over to one of the regulars that Karrde always managed to pick up, ignoring the small voice in the back of her head that stated quietly that, once upon a time, Karrde had found her much the same way, after she had saved his life.
"Jade?"
She whirled around, immediately spotting Aves coming out through the door.
"Karrde needs you down at sickbay."
She nodded quickly, relinquishing her chair to him as she walked down the corridor of the Wild Karrde, the matte gray matching her mood nicely.
As she reached the sickbay, she steeled herself mentally before walking into the room, the slight whir of the door alerting Karrde to her presence.
"This is our mysterious pilot?" Mara asked bluntly, running a critical eye over the unconscious body on the medical pallet.
"She is indeed," Karrde agreed from her right, not moving, his back against the bulkhead.
Mara frowned slightly, noting the visible wiry presence muscles beneath the skin on the woman's arms.
"Fighter jocks aren't generally known for their physique…" She spoke inquisitively, and Karrde was pleased that she had noticed.
"I agree," he stated. "But there are always exceptions to the rule, Mara."
"I'm aware," She retorted, pausing slightly. "What's wrong with her?"
"I'm not quite certain," Karrde conceded. "She appeared fine when I first spoke with her, but she fell unconscious when Aves arrived, and her vitals suddenly dropped."
"And since we both know Aves doesn't have that affect on women, what does that leave us?"
"Not much, I'm afraid. The scan showed poisoning of some sort, I can't quit make it out, but what the scanner was able to determine was that somehow, her coolant injector broke, and reached flash point when she powered back up the X-wing, sending the fumes into the cabin."
"The X-Wing didn't look too damaged, though." Mara brought up, her expression thoughtful. "Are you sure it's not artificially induced?"
"Because she knew we were coming?" Karrde chided her lightly. "No, I think something happened, but she can't tell us anything as it is, and I don't want risk her condition worsening by waking her."
Mara nodded in agreement, moving slightly to the foot of the pallet, where a glimmer of an orange jumpsuit had caught her attention.
"This everything?"
"No," Karrde replied. "She did bring her astromech aboard after all, but we're leaving it in storage for right now. It's tried to escape twice already, so we put it in a restraining collar."
He paused, watching Mara shift through the pilot's articles.
A sudden gasp alerted him that Mara had found something, and with a mental slap, he grimaced slightly.
"Karrde…" Mara was careful to keep the snarl out of her voice as she held up the lightsaber, her thumb resting near the activation switch. "You do know what this is, right?"
"Yes, Mara, I do." Karrde's eyes flickered to the small cylinder. "And honestly, I must admit that I'd rather have you point it somewhere else."
Mara turned towards the unconscious woman, and activated the lightsaber with a snap-hiss, and the steady thrum of the emerald blade gave the medical room a slight tint.
"It's not Skywalker, Mara." Karrde implored her. "We tested her with the ysalamiri, she wasn't using the Force to trick us ."
Mara lowered the blade slightly, her green eyes cold.
"She admitted to being able to use the Force," Karrde urged. "But that's it."
"Tell me, Karrde," Mara spoke to him calmly. "Have you ever seen a holo of Skywalker?"
"Yes," Karrde acceded. "And I don't believe this is some sort of cosmetic change, Mara."
Mara's eyes flickered, and her face lost some of its hardness.
She shut down the lightsaber wordlessly, and Karrde gave a sigh of relief.
"I'm keeping this." Mara stated as she started towards the door.
"Very well. How long till we reach Mykr?"
"Another hour or so." Mara called out as she set one foot back into the corridor.
"Karrde…" She turned slowly. "I don't like this."
"I apologize, Mara, but she agreed to pay us, and it's not like she's got any real value to the Empire, I'm sure, one way or another, that we'll get compensated nicely."
Mara frowned.
"I suppose." She admitted quietly, and left the sickbay without another word, the lightsaber clipped to her belt.
Karrde's posture relaxed after the door had shut, turning his gaze back to the pilot that Mara Jade had miraculously located.
"Well, Lara Darklighter…" He stopped by the door, turning to give the woman one last glance. "Let's see if we can't find any information on you."
Exiting quietly, the lights dimmed as the door shut behind Karrde, leaving the pilot to her own mind.
A/N.
And here's the beginning of something admittedly weird.
I'm sure some of you know what's coming, but I have a feeling it won't be too obvious as to ruin your enjoyment. At least...I hope.
I hope Mara seemed like Mara, she's the only one I have a tiny bit of trouble getting into.
Feel free to leave a review!
Later,
MV