NOTHING STAYS THE SAME

CHAPTER SEVEN

                Talon Karrde sifted through the notes on his desk.  He'd neglected his organization for four weeks now.  Four weeks Mara had been imprisoned.  His business had held up very well, even with his inattention.   That was the real sign of a good business: even when he was too busy, it still held up.  And still expanding.  On the top were some weekly notices stating the gross total for the previous week.  He glanced through those and found the notes from Ghent.

                "Smuggling weapons?" Karrde asked himself out loud.  "Mara's never smuggled weapons for this organization."  And she told me that it was too risky to try even on her own.  And this is a recent article.

                He tapped the comlink on his desk.  "Ghent, it's Talon.  I want to talk to you about your research.  Come on up here."

                "Yes sir."

                Five minutes later the kid walked into Talon's office.  The first thing the smuggler noticed was that Ghent had just walked into the office.  But Karrde knew that the only way the kid could have gotten in was if he had typed in a command letting the door be opened by anyone.  And he knew he hadn't.

                "Ghent, if you're going to illegally slice into your employer's office codes, at least try to pretend you didn't."

                "I didn't do anything—"

                "I didn't call you here to yell at you, kid.  Sit down.  Now, have you found anything else about this Mara look-alike?"

                "Not really."

                "Did you try looking up the weapon smugglers?"

                "Not really."

                "Are you going to look these up?"

                "Not really—I mean, yes, sir.  I'll do that right away."

                 "Good.  Keep me informed.  This might help us out."

                After the computer slicer left, Talon turned towards his communications center in the corner of his office.  In less than a minute, the connection was already established and a holo of a pretty young woman appeared.

                "Doctor Tavison."

                "Ah, Talon Karrde.  I assume you're calling for the results?"

                "Yes, please."

                "You're lucky.  I've been very busy, but you're a friend, so I pushed yours to the front.  Okay, I'm sending the full report to you, but long story short, the eye your friend left behind, it's been scarred."

                "How?"

                "I don't know.  Possibly from a recent surgery.  Did Skywalker have any eye problems?"

                "No.  Not that I know of."  Tavison knew that the comment meant that no problems at all.  Things were certain when she spoke with the leader of the galaxy's best intelligence organization.

                "It could have been when he was beaten, but I doubt it.  If it were from that, then it would have had to happen as soon as they captured him, and he would have had to be in their custody for several days.  Well, I guess with the Force it wouldn't have had to be so long."

                "Maybe it happened before he was captured.  Could it have happened sometime on Yavin 4?"

                Tavison laughed.  "I seriously doubt it.  It healed wrong.  I mean, it looks fine from the outside, but I perform surgery on eyes, remember?  This man wouldn't have been able to see out of the eye at all."

                Talon leaned forward.  "So, wait.  Kali, do you think that someone could have performed the eye surgery on him just to—"

                "Frame Jade?  Yeah.   Easily."

                "Will you testify on Mara's behalf?"

                "Of course, Talon.  I know Mara.  She's got a good head on her shoulders.  Don't let her know I said that, though," the doctor added.  Tavison brushed back a stray piece of silver-black hair.  "Just tell me when to be there, and I'll come."

                "Great.  Come down now."

                "I'll be there."

                "Mara, we have some information," Talon said the next morning.  "Good news."

                "Great, I could use some."  Mara had a splitting headache, but she was now allowed any kind of medication against it.  Liability, or something like that.  Cruel and unusual punishment, Mara thought.  But then again, she was also aware that the Intelligence agents must have known something about her past, so they would err on the cautious. 

                "I have a friend, a Doctor Kali Tavison.  She's offered to testify for you.  She found some scarring on the eye, and she says that it can mean that this guy underwent surgery on his retinas."

                "You mean you guys think that this isn't Luke?  That someone faked Luke's death?"

                "Yeah.  They picked some stranger with blond hair and the right build up off the street, tortured him, changed his eyes, and killed him."

                "Damn.  But why the hell would someone try that shit?"

                "Someone's trying to frame you."

                "I kind of figured that out already, Karrde," Mara replied testily.

                "Now we have proof."

                "Will it hold up in court is the question."

                "Yes.  It will help."  Karrde watched his second in command.  If he hadn't been with her daily for her entire imprisonment, he wouldn't have been able to tell a difference between the Mara from before and the one now.  But all that he'd seen only proved that Mara was only human.          

                "And again I say 'no.' Didn't you tell him that?"

                "I did, but he just wanted to double-check."

                 "You can tell him that he can stuff that idea up his ass because it's not going anywhere else."

                "I'll be sure to tell him that."  Karrde successfully hid a smile.  Now, this was the real Mara Jade.

                "Good.  Anything else?"

                "Not right now.  Rendel should be here soon.  See if you can get rid of that headache."

                "Yeah, well, I'm trying."

                Mara leaned against the wall, tucking her knees up under her chin.  The trial would begin in two days.  She'd be stared at by people who condemned her for just living her own life.

                Later that night, Mara heard a scuffling outside her door, and she turned to see who it was with some interest.  A late night visitor?  The door slid open, and Mara backed away.

                A being about her height stood in the doorway, a cloak covering it's body.

                "Who are you?" Mara demanded.

                The person said nothing, and everything slowed down for Mara.  The being pulled a blaster from the folds of his or her cloak.  Mara ducked low and swept her leg under the other person, who jumped up and away from the former assassin.  Mara was back up on her feet, muscles tensed, ready to move.  The other person aimed the blaster again and snapped off a shot.  Before they even completely depressed the trigger, Mara dodged aside and brought a snap kick to their chest.  She could feel the body armor the person, woman, Mara realized, wore.  Mara lunged for the blaster, grabbing the barrel and pushing it aside as another laser bolt burned into the wall.

                Mara could hear footsteps outside the door, and knew the guards would be too late.  She brought her elbow into the woman's face, snapping her head back and the woman grabbed Mara's arm, twisting it up and behind her body.  Mara moved with it, keeping the woman from breaking her arm. Mara knew she was up against a professional, one with almost the same amount of expertise as her.

                The woman lunged towards her, panic making her movements jerky and not thought out.  Mara grabbed the other woman's arm, pulling her closer, and then brought her fist down across the back of her neck, stunning the woman.  Mara shoved the woman down onto the ground, bringing her head back.

                "Who sent you?"

                No answer.

                "Who the hell sent you?" Mara shouted.  She pulled back on her head further.  The woman had a mask on over her face, and Mara put her fingers under the mask, and began to pull it off.  The door slid open and the last thing Mara could remember was shouting "No!" and then falling into the darkness.

                "Miss Jade?  Follow the light with your eyes."

                Mara heard the cool voice of an expert.  She forced her eyes open, a task that seemed to take all her energy.  She could see the light flickering across the wall, and she watched it go by.

                "Can you hear me?  Nod if you can."

                Mara nodded.  "I'm fine," she tried to say, but the words came out slurred.

                "Just a minute.  All right, can you feel your legs?"

                She waited a moment before answering.  "Yes, I'm fine.  You don't have to go through all that crap with me.  Who the hell stunned me?"  She knew that she'd been shot with a stun blast.  She had always recovered fairly quickly from it, but even still she was glad that her words were understood.

                "One of the guards."

                "And why?"

                "They thought you were the intruder."

                "Oh, shit.  Where is that bitch?"

                "I don't know.  After they hit you, she got past them.  She's long gone."

                "You let her get away?" Mara asked incredulously.  "This is the damned NRI headquarters.  You let someone in to kill me—and then let her back out again?"

                "None of our people even remember her walking by.  The only way we knew how she got in was the holocameras.  We have no idea how this happened—our guards just had this collective gap in their memories."

                The Force.  I had a Force-sensitive assassin.  Shit.

                "My question is: how did you beat her?" the man asked.  Mara was acutely aware of the holocams in her own room.

                "Oh, just something I picked up somewhere.  Did she leave anything behind?"

                "Nothing except two dead guards.  Broke their necks.  Their blasters didn't even clear the holsters."

                So, she used the Force to enter the building…I wonder whether she realized that they had ysalimiri surrounding me.  She killed the guards because she couldn't use the Force to blank their memories.

                That's why she panicked.  She no longer could access the Force and her prey—me—wasn't totally helpless.  She wasn't as professional as I originally thought.

                So the real question is, who would send an assassin after me?

                Corellia: one of the five inhabitable planets in the Corellian system, all of which orbit around Corell.  Home to unknown numbers of "former smugglers" and other scum of the universe, including more famous people than many other systems combined.  Homeplanet of Garm bel Iblis, Crix Madine, Han Solo, and many others, like New Republic pilots Wedge Antilles and Corran Horn.

                From her window she could see the stars above, and could point out Imperial Center's location easily.  No matter how long ago its name had been changed back to Coruscant, she would always know it by its true, honorable name—Imperial Center.  Soon it would be back under Imperial rule.  She would make certain of it.  Time didn't matter.  No matter what those alien-loving New Republic assholes did to the planet, she had faith that the Imperials could fix it.

                She believed herself to be the only one strong enough to capture and hold the capital planet.  She knew it.  Without a strong, mentally superior leader, the Imperial regime would fail.

                She had been a young, vigorous, determined woman.  Now she was mature, but still determined.  She had promised her lover that she would make sure the Imperial spirit would dominate the galaxy before she died.

                But her body was slowing.  She was no longer the youthful woman she'd been.  Silver streaks were evident in her red hair.  Her eyes were still bright, but the color wasn't as vivid as they'd once been.  She knew she was aging, and that if she were to see the Imperials rule again, she had to move quickly.