NOTHING STAYS THE SAME
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
"Okay, final jump before we reach Caratos," Han announced. He finished punching in the coordinates and pulled back the lever. The bucket of bolts, also known as the Asteroid Belt, let out a loud grumbling like the belly of a beast before accelerating to lightspeed. Chewie let out a loud growl.
"Hey, it'll hold together, okay? Yeah, it's not as nice as the Falcon, but we've got to work with what we've got, right?"
Chewie rumbled a response.
"Yeah, I know. Well, you try to tell Karrde that. He insisted we take this hunk of junk because the Falcon is too noticeable. Do you know how many YT-1300s are out there?"
"A lot of them, but only about thirteen in working condition," said a voice dryly from the doorway.
"Don't you just love it when people eavesdrop on other people's conversations?" Han asked his companion. The Wookiee yowled his agreement.
"How much longer is this supposed to take?" Talon asked.
"A few hours. Catch some sleep, we should be on planet in about three and a half hours."
"I'll be sure to tell Mara that."
"Uh, lay off of Mara for a little bit. I'd like to surprise her.'
"In other words, you doubt we'll be there in three and a half hours, and you don't want her to kick your ass."
"Yep."
"Not a bad looking place," Corran muttered, looking at the planet that filled the viewport on the Asteroid Belt.
"Yeah, not bad except for the pirates, the vicious smugglers, all those idiots hoping to make the big-time on the black market, the fact that everyone has to wear a blaster to hopefully dissuade anyone who wanted to rob you—"
"Okay, I get the point, Han. I thought you liked that kind of place. Anyways," Corran kept talking so Han couldn't answer, "It doesn't look that bad from up here."
"I haven't been here in a couple of years. They haven't changed landing procedures, have they, Karrde?"
"Not that I know of. Maybe you should turn on the comm unit in case they give instructions."
"Of course. That's just what I was going to do." He flipped the switch to turn on the comm system on the ship. A loud burst of static ripped through the small speakers.
"Shit!" the former smuggler shouted and slammed his hand down on the console, finally hitting the switch to shut off the comm.
"They're jamming the frequencies. What the hell?"
"They can't be doing this for us. No one knows we're here!"
"Yeah, well, calm down, boys." Mara closed her eyes. "We're not the only ones here."
"What the hell do you mean, Jade? You're beginning to creep us out, here."
"There's a battle going on. Damn…" She reached down and changed the sensors to check out the other side of the planet. Much like Talon's other ships, the Asteroid Belt had new sensors, ones that only government ships were supposed to be outfitted with. Han hadn't even known that they were there, and that was evident with his muttered curse.
Although still rough, an image showed a large ship, an Imperial Star Destroyer, on the other side of the planet.
"Is she one of ours?" Han asked.
"If you name your ship the Retaliator, then yeah."
"An ImpStar, out here? Why?"
"You think I know?" Mara asked. "It must just be a coincidence. I mean, come on, the odds of them knowing where we were going when, and arriving here at just the right time—"
"Never tell me the odds," Solo said. Mara rolled her eyes.
"Well, what do you want to do about this?" she asked, instead of the sharp retort she wanted to say.
"We act like we didn't see it."
"We act like we don't know that there is an ImpStar in system, and that this ship carries three figures the Empire would love to get their hands on?"
"Yeah, well, we aren't the only ones. The Empire isn't too happy with you and Karrde, either."
"True," Talon said, before his second-in-command could answer.
"Like I said, we act like we didn't see it."
"Sounds good. Let's get down to the planet."
He recognized the white triangular shape far above his head. He'd seen it many times, often much closer, in an X-wing. He remembered that much. He and…his droid. He had a droid, didn't he? A little white one, that followed him everywhere. White and blue.
He needed to get back into that base. The drugs finally out of his system; he knew he was dealing with a concussion, though how bad he wasn't sure. He was afraid to sleep, in case they found him, or he didn't wake up. Every time he moved his left leg, agony ripped through his spine. It was hard to walk, even harder to think straight. He had a headache that made his worst hangover look like nothing. Normally he could use the Force to suppress the pain, at least for a while, but he knew that ysalimiri surrounded the city. If this was even a city. He'd been here for so many days, he couldn't remember exactly how many. All he knew was that he needed medical attention, and for that he needed the Force.
And Mara. Dear gods, where was Mara? Did they catch her? Is she…? No, they couldn't have killed her. She must have gotten away, or surely he would have known she was near. Or if she'd died. He would know, right? Of course.
He leaned against a moss-covered wall. He was inside one of the abandoned houses. There was some foodstuffs in the cabinets, enough for a few more days if he didn't mind eating slightly stale food. When it came to that or starving himself, he was willing to eat the less than healthy food. Maybe another house would at least have a weapon that he could defend himself with. His lightsaber was still with them, and he doubted it was even in one piece anymore. The first thing they would have done is destroy his only weapon.
He knew he was surrounded by ysalimiri because the Force was just an empty hole to him. He tried to console himself—he'd sensed the Force in the old woman, and he knew that she was as blind to the Force now as he was. They'd have to rely on the more conventional methods to find him. He'd need to move somewhere else, soon.
His mind reverted back to his worries of Mara. Now that he thought about it, he had seen his fiancée. During one of his sessions with the old woman, he saw a lithe woman with red hair pulled back. She looked almost like Mara, or at least how she used to look, when he first met her. He had thought seeing her had been a pain- and drug-induced hallucination. Now that he thought about it, wouldn't he have dreamed of his beautiful Mara as she was now? Her hair was longer than the woman he'd seen, and had more gold in it from the suns of the worlds she'd visited for the past several years. This woman's movements had been like that of a well-oiled droid. Almost like she'd just learned to walk—mechanical.
The imposter.
Damn, that girl was good. Who was she? He'd actually mistaken her for his Mara.
Before he left the house, he made sure the red crystal was still in his pocket.
The five people aboard the Asteroid Belt decided to wait for nightfall on the planet before landing. They'd burn off speed over the ocean, and land outside Caratos' main city. They'd check around the city for any news on this imposter. Maybe they'd receive some information through that. The imposter was the best lead they had.
They had just entered the atmosphere when Solo heard a familiar sound—the high-pitched whine of a TIE fighter.
"Oh, shit! Hold on, everyone!" Han tried to comm unit, and the static filled the cockpit again. Red laser blasts burned past the cockpit. Chewie had already raised the shields to maximum, and the next blasts rattled the ship.
"I sure hope this thing stays together, Karrde," Corran told the smuggler chief quietly.
"Same here."
"Doesn't this junk heap have any weapons?" Han cried out. "We've got four of the damned things on us!"
Mara was already searching for the gun turrets. She'd never been on the Asteroid Belt before, but she'd spent several days on board. Talon had mentioned that although the ship was outdated, the weapons were new. She found an old fashioned ladder and climbed up into what she recognized as the gun turret she'd been searching for. Quad lasers, not too bad… She flipped on the switch to activate the comm system directly to the cockpit. The jamming didn't affect inner-ship functions.
"Solo, I'm in the upper gun turrets. Give me something to shoot out."
"Got it Jade. I've already numbered the bastards. I'll go ahead and bring the targets to you."
Mara strapped herself into the chair, but not quickly enough to be slammed into the back of the chair as Han dove the ship. Inertial compensators…where the hell are they…She brought her hand down onto the console until she felt comfortable, as the pressure on her decreased. The inertial compensators were to make sure the pilot wasn't crushed during any crazy stunts they tried. Especially useful in small snubfighters, many weapons personnel also preferred to use it. Mara snapped off a few shots at a passing TIE, getting a feel for the controls. Ah, a KingStar 185D6. I've used this before. Mara heard sounds below her and knew the X-wing pilot was climbing into the lower turrets.
"Leave something for me, Mara," he said into the headseat, letting everyone know he was in place.
"I was beginning to wonder whether all the Rogue heroics was just a lie," she said, aiming and following a TIE as it screamed by the turret. She fired just as the blue box on the targeting system turned red, and glanced down as the TIE fighter burst into flames that quickly died in the void of space. The viewscreen dimmed, and then went back to normal. She heard Corran announce that he hit one, but it was still flying. Wasn't doing any fun maneuvers, though, anymore. He must have hit something vital. Mara caught it on it's second, stupid approach. She hit a third, sending it veering into space, critically damaged. She knew they wouldn't find the pilot—she'd seen the red blasts shoot through the cockpit. They'd have to get the pilot out with a sponge, she thought grimly to herself. Corran caught the fourth one, turning it into a fireball as the Asteroid Belt shot through the fire.
"Oh shit!" they heard Han yell. "We've hit the atmosphere—hold on!"
