By JediGirl
CATAGORY: New Republic
SPOILERS: Tim Zahn's Hand of Thraw duology
RATING: R
SETTING: Those missing chapters that Mr. Zahn forgot to write in Visions
of the Future. Luke and Mara have just taken off from Nirauan and heading
out to meet up with Leia,
Han and Karrde. This is my version of what happened between Luke and
Mara during those days alone on their "borrowed" Chiss ship. And of course
how the "family" hears
about the pending nuptials.
DISCLAIMER As always, these charcters do not belong to me. They belong
to wonderful people such as Mr. George Lucas and Mr. Timothy Zahn, among
others. They inspire
me to make up my own tales and share them with others....just for pure
enjoyment. There is more to life than just money :)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: A huge big THANK YOU to my wonderful beta reader,
Michele. This story would never have happened without her. She completely
inspired me
and helped to make it as good as it could be. Plus, if it wasn't for
her, the "challenge" would never had happened
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CHAPTER 7
Mara sat down at the comm station in the sitting room. She punched in
the codes to
make the connection to Talon Karrde.
The screened blinked and then an image of a Kloperian male appeared.
"This is the
Wild Karrde," the Kloperian said. "Who's-MARA JADE!" He all but yelled
when he
recognized the woman on his screen.
"Hey Mikhal," Mara responded to the Wild Karrde's comm technician. "I'm
looking
for Karrde. Is he around?"
"Yeah, sure," the tech answered. "He's been real worried about you. What happened?"
"Long story Mikhal. I'm sure you will hear all about it later," she
said, not at all in the
mood for small talk. "Could you just connect me to Karrde?"
Mikhal frowned a bit in disappointment at being pushed aside. "Sure,"
he grumbled,
"Hold on a moment."
A minute later the screen fluttered and then cleared to show the image
of Talon
Karrde, head of the biggest smuggling organization in the galaxy. He
wasn't looking
at the screen at the moment. He seemed to be distracted by someone
else in the room.
He held up his hand and asked them to hold on a minute as he turned
to the comm
screen. "Karrde," he barked, seeming a bit annoyed at being interrupted.
But then
his eyes brightened as he realized who the caller was. He leaned closer
to the screen
as if to get a better look. "MARA!" he said in a much happier voice.
"Hello Karrde," Mara answered slyly. "Am I interrupting something? I
can call back
later."
"No! No of course not!" he replied with a big smile on his face, at
the same time
waving the someone out of the office. "I just didn't know it was you.
How are you?
What happened? Where are you? Is Skywalker with you?" he shot off the
questions
rapidly.
"I'm fine. I'll tell you all about it when I see you in person. I'm
on Carva III and yes,
he is with me." She answered all his questions in succession.
"I'm looking forward to hearing all the details," Karrde replied as
he settled himself
in his chair. "As to me sending Skywalker, I know you..."
"Don't worry about it," she interrupted him quickly. "We'll talk about
it later," she
glanced up and to her right where Luke was leaning on the desk, out
of sight of the
comm screen.
"Sure Mara," Karrde responded feeling he had just hit a sore spot. "I
just did what I
thought was best."
Mara brought her eyes back to the comm screen. "We will talk about it
later," she
repeated and then changed the subject. "What are you doing at Bothawui
anyway?
What's the situation there?"
A smile returned to Karrde's face. "Well you know me Mara, always where
the action
is, if that tells you anything."
"That's what I figured," she answered.
"There are big doings going on out here, Mara, " Karrde continued, turning
all
business. "I think you should get out here as soon as possible. Is
Skywalker there
with you now?"
Mara caught a tone in Karrde's voice that told her there was indeed
big things going
on, but she sensed it was even bigger than he was hinting to. "Yeah,"
she replied.
"He's right here." She pushed back from the station and Luke
leaned around to look
at the monitor.
"Hello Talon," Luke greeted him plainly.
"Hello Luke. It's good to see you again," Karrde returned the greeting.
"First I want to
thank you for getting Mara out - successfully. I'm sure you know how
much she
means to the organization. I am willing to repay you anyway I can."
"Well, I think we can discuss that when we see each other," Luke replied.
The statement seemed to catch Karrde off guard a bit. Luke Skywalker
had always
turned down any sort of payment when he had lent his help to Karrde
and his people.
Karrde found it strange that he would start now. Mostly since it concerned
Mara, who
Karrde thought Luke considered a close friend. His left eyebrow raised
slightly in
surprise, "As you wish," he answered as he composed himself and continued
on with
what he had to say. "Secondly, your sister is also here at Bothawui
and if you haven't
already, I strongly suggest you contact her. I think she would like
to hear from you
and will probably want you to join her."
Luke was not surprised that Leia would want to hear from him. They hadn't
seen each
other in over a month, and he didn't get a chance to let her know where
he was
going before he set off to rescue Mara. But why would it be so important
that she
would want him to come out to her. Sure the situation at Bothawui could
be heated, but
he was sure there were plenty of people there who could deal with it.
Could they be in
need of a Jedi to help mediate a discussion? Somehow, he doubted it.
And not only
because he didn't feel very 'popular' as of late. Something in Karrde's
voice and
mannerism told him there was more going on than there seemed.
"Thank you for the information and your concern. I will definitely put
a call in," he
said in his usual Jedi calm.
Karrde nodded his head in response. Luke moved away from the screen
to allow Mara
to move back in view.
"Mara, how quickly can the Fire get you out here?" Karrde asked.
Mara lowered her gaze, closed her eyes and swallowed hard. "I don't
have the Fire,"
she replied in a small voice.
The comment visually shocked Karrde. He knew what that ship meant to
her. If she
didn't have the Jade's Fire, then where was it? "What do you mean?
How did you get to
Carva III without the Fire?" he asked, genuinely concerned.
Swallowing hard again and looking back up at Karrde's image she responded
as Luke
reached over and squeezed her hand. "We had to leave it behind, it's
gone," she said
solemnly. "As to the second question, I don't want to answer over this
line."
"I see," Karrde said as he leaned back in his chair and stroked his
beard in a
contemplative manner. "I'm sorry Mara," he said with a sigh, not knowing
what else
to say.
"Don't be," she answered gathering her composure back. "I did what had
to be done.
It's over with. No sense in worrying about the past.
"As to how fast we can get to Bothawui," she continued before Karrde
could give her
any more sympathy that she didn't want or need. "A few days, unfortunately.
Possibly
4 or 5. Carva III's on the other side of the galaxy you know."
Karrde sighed deeply. The news did not satisfy him. "About what I thought.
I guess it
will have to do. Just get here as soon as you can. We have alot to
talk about. I'm
thinking about making some changes to the organization. I would like
to discuss
them with you."
Mara's eyes opened wide. "Really? What kind of changes?" In her mind
she thought
there was to be more changes then he realized.
"As you said before, I don't want to discuss it over this channel. Best
to tell you
everything when you get out here. We won't be going anywhere soon.
"Ok Karrde, we'll be there as soon as we can. Jade out." She shut down
the
transmission.
On the Wild Karrde, Talon Karrde hit a switch on his comm unit. "Yes
sir?" a voice
answered.
"Mikhal," Karrde said as he stared out a view port that looked in the
direction that his
out-post on Carva III lay. "Get Gerri Pabos at Carva on the horn. I
need to speak with
him."
"You got it boss!"