NOTHING STAYS THE SAME
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Konor Yrevied knew that something very terrible had happened. He no longer felt the reassuring presence in the back of his mind. She was gone. He dug his fingers into his right arm, trying to keep from shaking.
"Plot the course to Imperial Center."
The young lieutenant glanced at him oddly. "Imperial Center, sir? What about our forces on the ground?"
"Imperial Center, now! It is not your duty to question me, only obey!"
"But sir, the stormtroopers, the natives are not—"
"Now!"
"Sir, unknown ships have just entered the system," another youth announced. "Shit, sir, she's another Star Destroyer. I can't get an ID. Is another Star Destroyer supposed to be joining us?"
"Lieutenant, get us into hyperspace to Imperial Center immediately, or I will have you executed for disobeying a direct order."
The young man swallowed. "Yes, sir."
The navigator, a woman, glanced up from her console. "Sir, the other Star Destroyer is heading straight for us."
"Then ram them!" That response hadn't been his thought. Konor touched the walls of the bulkheads protecting him and his crew from the void of space. What was wrong with him? He wasn't like this. He was always cool and in command. He always protected his crew.
Tawnie. It must have been her. What had she done? He had barely a minute to consider this question before his legs gave out, and his body crumpled on the floor.
Tawnie stared at the gaping wound on the left side of her chest. It had not pierced the heart, she knew, but it had broken through the sac around it. She would be dead in a few minutes. She opened her mouth a few times, and finally seemed to convince her mouth to form words.
"How…how could you? I was your mother…"
"No, you weren't."
"Denying it won't alter the past, Mara. I hope…you r-realize. By killing me, you…killed hundreds of innocents. The Retaliator…" Tawnie tried to take a deep breath, and blood flicked on her lips. Her ruined lung wouldn't expand. "The Retaliator will destroy…" She managed a weak laugh before her Force essence left her body behind. Unlike Cara, Tawnie didn't try to redeem herself, and left Luke and Mara's presence without a word.
Mara braced herself for the Dark Side energy she expected to feel when her blade carved into Tawnie Calanast's chest. She felt mild surprise when the angry, scalding rush of Dark power didn't rear its ugly head. All that was left of the fierce pressure in her mind was a dull ache. Tawnie was dead, but she and Luke were still alive.
"The Retaliator?" Luke asked quietly. He didn't want to disturb Mara, as the beautiful redhead looked down at the corpse, but Tawnie had mentioned that the Retaliator would destroy something. He needed to know what. It wouldn't do to save the galaxy from another insane woman with an Imperial agenda, only to lose hundreds in an attack he could prevent.
"Star Destroyer. Shot us down." She looked up at him, her green eyes studying his features. "You don't really believe her, do you?"
"Believe what?"
"That I'm a…clone."
He walked over to her. "Is that what you're worried about? Mara, I don't care. I don't care whether you are a clone of that woman, or whatever. To me, you're the original Mara Jade. It doesn't matter how many look like you. Tawnie allowed herself to be drawn into his web. You broke away.
"But I don't care about them. I care about you. As far as I'm concerned, you are the one and only Mara. There will be no one else for me but you."
A smile flickered across her troubled face. "Thank you." She shook her head minutely, and the old Mara Jade was back, hiding the insecure woman again. She walked over to the shattered glass of the cloning tank and toed the body. "Yeah, he's dead. Great. Check her body. See if you can't find something useful." She glanced around, hoping to find something to show where the weapons were being hid. After all, that was the main reason she and Luke were there, was it not? The reason for coming had been muddied by the appearance of the freaking clones.
Luke checked the pulse by habit. He knew she was dead, but he just wanted to be sure. He began checking the clothing for hidden pockets of any kind, and then looked up at
"Mara, there's nothing here."
She tapped the computer interface on the throne. "Kind of funny, isn't it? She grew Palpatine's clone, and evidently considered herself to be the one to bring the Empire back through creating another Emperor. She was a loyal servant to Palpatine."
"But she created a throne for herself," he finished. "Maybe she was just keeping it warm for him."
"Maybe." She glanced around. "I don't see anything…" Her voice trailed off. "Uh, Skywalker? You should take a look at this."
He looked over at her, and then followed her eyes, and turned his head to gaze at the ceiling. A myriad of pinpoints of light was held in midair, and it didn't take much for Mara to recognize it as a map of the known galaxy. Green represented the Imperial Remnant, Red for the enemy, the New Republic, and Blue was standard for the Unknown Regions. But then there was purple, the planets circling around Caratos.
"I get the red and green and blue, Mara, but what's up with purple?"
She knew that he realized what it was as well. At least a dozen worlds were highlighted. "We've got to tell the Republic about this. They're going to need to know."
"I can't believe that Tawnie had this large a support base."
Corran watched through the macrobinoculars. The stormtroopers had searched the house fully, and were organizing into groups to expand their manhunt. He didn't want to risk Tawnie finding him and the others, so he couldn't use the Force to find the Imperials. He'd had to rely on the conventional techniques. In other words, sit around and watch them through the binoculars Mara had brought from the Asteroid Belt.
He heard nearly silent footsteps behind him, and he whirled around, pulling his blaster from its holster in one neat motion. He'd gotten plenty of practice doing that with Rogue Squadron and their barhopping nights. Of course, Mirax never let him join up with his pilot buddies anymore without her. She knew too well what usually happened when Rogues drank. All twelve of them ended up spending the night in prison. She was sick of bailing him out, not that he could blame her.
"Chewie, how are the others?" he asked, sliding the blaster back into its place. Although the Corellian didn't understand Wookiee, he guessed that he would be able to tell from the hand motions and tone of Chewbacca's grunts and growls.
[Talon's in pain, but okay. Han is asleep again. He's going to need to have his bandages replaced soon. He reopened some of his wounds when he began struggling.]
So maybe I won't be able to tell. "Okay," he said, drawing the word out. Chewbacca watched him crouch down and then did the same.
"The stormtroopers are getting ready to fan out and begin the actual search. I think we covered our tracks well. They shouldn't be able to pick up on it that easily. But just to make sure, I'm going to go lead them somewhere else. Stay with Han and Talon, okay?"
The large Wookiee shook his head. [You can barely stand up yourself. I've got more energy than you. Besides, I'm better at this sort of thing.]
"I have no earthly idea what you just said, except for shaking your head." Why didn't they teach Wookiee at the CorSec Academy? He was opening his mouth to tell Chewie that someone had to watch over the injured men, but hesitated when he felt measuring touches along his mental shields. The contacts weren't like Tawnie's sharp jabs, so he let his defenses lower.
Corran, it's Luke, he heard immediately.
Are you and Mara all right?
Yes, we're okay. Tawnie's dead.
Good. Uh, we've got stormtroopers searching for us.
How? No, don't answer that. Tawnie. Corran could feel his friend shaking his head. Where are you, then?
Not nearly far enough away. We didn't have enough time.
Okay. Just stay low. Mara's checking for the location of the weapons. She hacked into Tawnie's computer interface.
I'll see if I can get the others out.
Good.
Corran nodded an affirmative. "Come on, Chewie, we've got to get the others out of here."
[What about your brilliant idea of being bait?] the large Wookiee asked.
"Chewie, I don't understand Wookiee—"
"He asked about your brilliant idea of being bait to drag the Imps away," said a familiar, although tired, voice. "He was being sarcastic." Corran turned around to face the weary ex-smuggler.
"Han, you woke up. Great. We're going to have to move you again. You think you can do it without the blue streak of cussing?"
Han laughed weakly, and then grimaced. "Don't make me laugh. Shit, what the hell happened? I feel like I took on a Rancor or something."
"The Asteroid Belt crashed. We're on Caratos. Don't you remember anything?"
"Not really." Solo closed his eyes, and then opened them again. "Wait, you mean I crashed a ship?"
"It wasn't really your fault. The ImpStar shot us down—"
"Okay, okay," he interrupted the Rogue. "I don't need the whole commentary right now. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't my fault."
"Fine. How are you feeling?"
"Wonderful. Couldn't be better." Corran doubted that the man could add any more sarcasm to his voice.
"This is a message to the Retaliator," the communications officer heard over the open frequency.
"Sir, a message from the other Star Destroyer," he called out.
"Yes? Do you have any information on her? Is she a Rebel ship?" Captain Zuckrash had become the de facto commander of the Retaliator when Yrevied hit the floor and the medical crew called the time of death. They were performing the autopsy immediately.
"Oh, come on, we're no longer the Rebellion, Captain. We've been the New Republic for years."
Zuckrash felt his face pale as soon as he recognized the face on the holoscreen.
"Antilles. So they've actually put you in charge of a Star Destroyer. Looks like you're moving up in the world."
"Thank you. Nice to know someone appreciates me." The Corellian pilot smiled. Booster would never let him command the Errant Venture. "Too bad I don't know you," he said in return.
"Zuckrash. Captain Zuckrash."
"What happened to Commander Yrevied? Last I knew, he commanded the Retaliator."
"The Commander is not here. I am in charge of this vessel."
"Okay." Antilles shrugged, and the captain noticed the smirk. "Then I'll ask you for the surrender."
"Surrender? An Imperial Star Destroyer surrender to a Rebel? Never."
"Have it your way, then."
As soon as Wedge Antilles' face disappeared from the holoscreen, Zuckrash turned to the navigator. "Do you have the coordinates for hyperspace?"
"Imperial Center, sir?"
"No, Bastion."
"Yes sir. Just a moment."
Rondel Zuckrash shook his head. He didn't know what had happened to Konor, but it was best that he just bring the Star Destroyer back home, and report to his superiors. He never knew why his vessel was selected to guard a pirate planet. It must have been punishment for some misdemeanor the Commander had committed. It wouldn't have been the first time.
