NOTHING STAYS THE SAME

CHAPTER THREE

                "She sure as hell looks guilty."

                "She sure as hell is guilty," Cardinal Ling'ah declared.  "I have all the proof right here in front of me.  She was there, she had motive…what more could I ask for?"  The prosecuting attorney looked at her aide.

                "A murder weapon?" the man asked.

                "Easy.  She always carries around a blaster.  The NRI just have to hand me the reports saying it matches.  Of course, they won't actually say it completely matches Skywalker's wounds—you can never be sure with blaster bolts."

                "Still, that's a hole.  All whoever would want to defend that Imperial whore has to say is that there's no definite murder weapon."  Shalloh frowned.  "Or that there were no eyewitnesses."

                "I've won cases with less evidence and more opposition than that," Cardinal brushed it off.  "Besides, don't forget who this is: Luke Skywalker.  Everyone on the Inner Council will vote her ass to be executed."

                "Maybe it was just an accident?" he asked without real conviction.

                "Just an accident carythinol was injected before he died?" she laughed.  "You know how expensive that shit is?"

                "They might say it's all circumstantial," Shalloh suggested.

                "Never.  The Council would never listen."

                Cardinal couldn't keep the smile from her face.  Once she had been elected Senator, she feared she'd never be allowed back to the courtroom.  Now, she had the chance for her grand finale—the prosecution of Mara Jade, ex-assassin, former Emperor's Hand.

                Ten days after Luke's body had been found, formal charges were brought against Mara Jade.  Luke Skywalker was laid to rest in a massive ceremony led by Leia Organa Solo, who could barely make it through her speech.  Rogue Squadron buddies General Wedge Antilles, Tycho Celchu, as well as Hobbie Klivian and Wes Janson, also spoke, talking about times when Luke pulled through whenever it seemed impossible, how he helped with anything and everything.  Corran Horn and his wife Mirax attended the ceremony.  Corran still seemed to be reeling—two of his friends, one dead, the other charged with his death.

                Mara heard every speech, saw every sob, saw all the tears and sadness.  Leia Organa Solo had demanded for Mara to be forced to watch the entire ceremony in her cell.  Mara let herself fall back into her blind-to-the-galaxy phase, where she didn't acknowledge anything or anyone.  Instead she retreated to the part of her mind that still let her think in the midst of everything.  After the Emperor's death, she had relied on this cool, inner self to pull her through.

                Karrde still wasn't here.  He knew by now, it was impossible for him not to know.  So why wasn't he here?  Maybe he felt it was in the business' best interest to condemn her actions and get back to work.  He'd never betrayed a loyal employee before, but there was always a first time for everything.

                She'd been a loyal employee, and this was how he repaid her…

                But maybe the NRI wasn't letting Karrde near her.  That thought comforted her somewhat.  Maybe he'd been trying to contact her for days, since he found out about her imprisonment and they weren't letting him near.  He'd find her a lawyer, a damned good one, with the best record.  He wouldn't let the traitorous New Republic tear apart his second-in-command without a fight.

                Two days of imprisonment, the only other person she'd seen was that damned NRI agent.  She hadn't said a word.  She knew nothing she'd say would help her.  They'd just say she was lying, so why try?

                She didn't notice when the speakers grew quiet and the holoscreen disappeared.

                She was safe inside her mind where she wasn't locked up like an animal, where Luke was still alive.

                "Mara!"

                Mara looked up, startled.  She knew that voice.

                "Mara, what happened?"

                She heard Talon's voice, but saw Luke Skywalker's face.  He walked towards her, and his face bled away, and she saw Karrde right in front of her.  His icy eyes studied her face, no small amount of concern on his face.

                "Talon?" she asked softly.  He hadn't deserted her?

                "Gods, Mara, are you alright?"

                "Of course," she said, smiling faintly.  "Couldn't be better.  But the service here sucks."

                "I came as soon as I could.  The Republic tried to keep me from seeing you."  He sat on the edge of the bed, the only object in the cell besides the tiny refresher.  "I have to ask though, Mara," he added quietly.  "Are you guilty?"

                So he thought she'd snapped, finally giving into the voice in her head and shooting Skywalker.  "Guilty?  Of killing Luke—of killing Skywalker?  Hell no.  I didn't do it, Talon."  Mara tentatively let herself come out of her hiding place in her mind.  "They've got the wrong person."  She tired to keep her voice steady and unwavering.  She was Mara Jade, and even if Skywalker was dead, then she would continue.  The Emperor's Hand would always survive.

                Right?
                "I knew you didn't kill him, Mara.  I just had to ask.  You know how it is."

                She nodded.  "Talon, what's going to happen?" she demanded, a spark of the real Mara Jade.  The numbed Mara, the one incapable of dealing with Luke's apparent murder, was hidden away, locked tightly up.

                "New Republic versus Mara Jade.  They're putting you on trial."

                "What's the evidence?"  I hadn't left anything behind…

                "They say you had opportunity and motive.  I sent you to Corellia, and they've put his time of death sometime between ten at night to two in the morning.  That's when the drunk found him.  The lawyer keeps saying that you swore to kill Luke and it just took a while longer than you expected.  Leia Organa Solo, Han Solo, the med examiner from Coronet City, and an expert on Imperial torture are witnesses."

                "Imperial torture?"

                "He had carythimolin his system, as well as marks obviously the result of torture.  Beatings, deep cuts, some burns, stuff like that.  They think they can connect that to your Imperial past."

                "Carythimol?  What's that?"  Mara knew what it was, and her mind was already turning…not many had access to that drug.  She asked the question to keep the conversation going and in case the NRI were recording this session.  It was doubtless that they were.

                "It alters DNA and all that.  Makes DNA identification practically impossible."

                "It's a drug?"

                "Yeah.  They found large quantities of the stuff in his system."  Both Talon and Mara avoided mentioning Luke's name.  Talon considered the man to be a good friend, and he wasn't quite sure how far Mara had come from wanting to kill the Jedi.  For all he knew, they could have been very close.  They had compatible personalities, so why not?

                "Tell me about this drug," Mara ordered.

                Talon had a feeling she would ask this.  She would demand to know everything involving her trial.  For that reason he'd looked up information on it before he arrived.  "Expensive.  Has to be kept at a certain tropical temperature or it loses it's effectiveness.  It's really finicky, but it works, and there are still illegal studies going on. They're working to make it stronger."

                They've been working on it since before my time as Emperor's Hand, Talon.  How is it a smart guy like you thinks that it took so long to come up with DNA altering drugs?  The Emperor had that as a secret project.  It didn't work too well anyway.  I should hope they've actually made it better in all this time.  "So let them check my credit account.  I haven't taken any large amounts, well, except for those two shipments, but those can be proven.  If I had bought any of this stuff—carythimol—it would be obvious in a huge chunk missing from my account.  And if I were to buy it and transport it to Corellia, then I'd have to have bought a heater of some sort—I keep my ship much too cold for this.  Has the Republic found and so-called witnesses for this?"

                "Some poor drug dealer the Republic caught who swears you bought carythimol from him?  No, not yet."  Talon put his head in his hands, tired, but not wanting to convey the image of surrender to his second in command.  "I've gotten you a lawyer.  Best in the trade.  "Name is Rendel Alino."

                "Alino?  I know that name.  Handled that dispute between Bakura and Commenor.  Nice piece of work.  Met him at one of the Republic trade functions I attended."

                "Yeah, he'll be here in a few hours; he's coming from Corellia.  He was talking to witnesses and checking out information.  He's a real hands-on guy.  He knows what he's doing."

                "Prosecuting attorney?"

                "Cardinal Ling'ah."

                "The Senator?"

                "Yeah.  Jury is the Inner Council."

                "You've got to be kidding me.  Juries are supposed to be impartial."  Mara felt sick to her stomach.  With a normal jury she knew she had no chance, but the Inner Council would probably bring her to the front of the Imperial Palace and shoot her immediately after the trial.  With a normal jury, maybe they'd put he on Kessel or something like that.  A place like that she knew she could escape.

                "Do you really think you'll find an impartial jury in this galaxy, Mara?  Luke was the only living Jedi Master," Talon reminded her.  As if she could forget.

                I don't know how all this happened!  "So I'm on trial."  At Talon's affirmative nod she added, "And I'll be executed in due time.  They won't care and they'll vote guilty.  Damn it," she said with strong feeling.  This all happened too quickly!  There's something wrong with this.

                "How have they been treating you?" he asked.  He carefully hid his anger.  He noticed the empty look in her eyes, the pain.  What little color had been in her naturally pale skin was gone.  Or that could just be because of the harsh lights.  How could the New Republic accuse her of this?  Mara had worked hard to put her past behind her and all these people could do was drag her back.  She was sill in shock.  Didn't that mean anything to these hawk-bats?

                "Like the normal prisoner.  I haven't seen a window to the outside in almost three days.  They've questioned me in two hour sessions.  They've accused me of every crime possible, including smuggling Ewoks off of Endor."  That was an old joke in the smuggling community.  "Nothing new," she added.  She didn't mention that she thought the lights were being left on longer every day, and food was in small quantities than the other prisons she'd been in.  It was a much milder version of Imperial interrogation, and she'd been forced to endure Imperial torture before.  This was a jaunt in the park compared with a session with the Emperor's most talented.

                "Rendel's working to get you out on bail."

                "Won't happen.  Who's the Judge?"

                "At first they wanted the President—"

                "Organa Solo," Mara interrupted.

                "But she's to be a witness.  You've got to realize, this is a big case, Mara.  Everyone in power wants a piece of this verdict." 

                Everyone wants me dead.  "Of course.  This is just another belt buckle for them."  Mara tried to make her voice neutral, to keep the bitterness from leaking through.  She barely succeeded.  "Where am I?  They never bothered to tell me."

                "NRI headquarters."

                "New Republic Intelligence?" she asked incredulously.  "What the hell?"

                Talon saw his employee losing her nerves.  Usually she was cold, distant calculating.  Now he could see a glimpse of the woman underneath.  One who knew she was to die.

                "They were afraid to put you in a normal prison.  They've surrounded this room with ysalimiri.  I recognized them as I was escorted in."

                "Yeah, I know.  They think I can escape using the Force."

                "They also weren't sure where to put you.  This is a very big trial.  They decided to keep it all in the government.  No one can get to you.  Security is much tighter here that the overcrowded prisons."

                I'll never get out of here! she thought.  These damned New Rep Senators have always hated me.  Anyone who got close to their precious Jedi had to have a puppet mind for them to like them.  And me—Emperor's Hand, and then a Trader.  Of course they hate me.  I probably make more money a year than they will in three or four.  "I've never much enjoyed that grey that's standard in prisons," she said instead.

                Karrde closed his eyes briefly.  Why did this have to happen to her?

                "Talon," Mara said, very softly.  It was out of character for her to beg, but she would if it meant that her employer would find Skywalker.  Her next words were barely audible.  "Find Luke."

                "Mara, they found his body—" Talon began to say, but the red-head interrupted him.

                "I never felt him die."

                "You were transporting ysalimiri, Mara.  If he'd died when you were unable to sense the Force, how would you know?"

                "Because…" Mara looked away from his icy eyes.  How indeed?  How would she now if Luke had died?  She just figured that she'd know.  "There was about an hour or so where I could feel the Force.  I sensed nothing out of the ordinary."  Except when I tried to reach him…But there was no pain.  Just a shadow…

                "All right, I'll put more personnel on it."  That phrase told Mara that he already had a team together to search for the Jedi.  The softness to his tone made her wonder whether Talon knew.  Did he think that she would actually…?

            "Thanks, Talon.  I know he's not dead."  And yet she couldn't keep the seed of doubt deep inside from questioning her.  Karrde was right—if she was in the Force-free bubble, how would she know?