NOTHING STAYS THE SAME

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

"Got it!  Fifth floor.  Tawnie's got half of the floor converted to a miniature garage, to load up the shuttles.  The other half are the supply rooms.  Part of the sixth story, too."  She gestured towards the map she'd brought up on the screen.  Tawnie hadn't chosen a very difficult code for her computer interface.  Even the farmboy was better than her.  "You want to see if we can get a hold of the New Republic?  Luke?" she asked.

His blue eyes were distant, his face impassive, and she figured he was using the Force to search for any other enemies.  His features relaxed.  "Sorry, I was talking to Corran."

"What did he say?"

"They've got a squad of stormtroopers on their tail."

"Damn.  Where are they?"

"They could move far."

"Should we go back and get them?  I'm leaving the decision to you.  I don't want to destroy all this weaponry.  We could make a shitload selling this to the New Rep."

"Mara, we aren't selling it.  We'll return it to where it was stolen from."

"I was just joking, Skywalker.  Wanted to make sure you were still there.  Although we would get quite a bit of money…enough to go back to, oh, Shan'dri'lan for a week or two…"

"That's not fair, Mara.  You know that's one of my favorite planets."

"Yeah, I know.  And I can afford us staying there anyway.  I just wanted to tease you a bit.  If we found a comm system, would you be able to notify your sister?  We can't use standard channels, so it'll have to be her private code."

"Why not?"

"This is sensitive information, Skywalker.  We can't just blab it over open channels," she answered.

He studied her.  You're hiding something.  I've felt it since you arrived.  What's wrong?  He stepped closer to her.

"We thought you were dead," she replied.

There's something else, I know.  When she looked away, he touched her chin and tilted her head so that she looked him in the eyes.

Very few people saw deep enough into her to discern a lie.  Luke was one.  And she always had trouble lying to Luke.

"They thought I murdered you.  That I finally snapped and lured you to Corellia and killed you."

"Gods, Mara, I'm sorry.  I didn't realize—"

"Hey, Luke, we've already been through this before, remember?  You didn't mean to be kidnapped, okay?  They just jumped to conclusions."

"Ones that weren't true.  Damn it, after all you've done for the Republic, they still actually believe you were capable of murdering me in cold blood?"  He shook his head.  "Bureaucratic assholes."

"Yes.  Evidently impressions don't change much in the wonderful New Republic."

"They arrested you?" he asked, his voice tight.  "How long was I 'dead'?"

"Luke, we need to find the weapons—"

"How long?"  There was a hint of anger in his voice; anger that Mara knew was not directed at her.

"About a month."

"And they blamed you.  MJ, the Republic isn't stupid.  They just didn't want to accept that their vaunted Jedi Master wouldn't be there to bail them out again, and they took it out on you.  Mara, what if I'd really died?  Huh?  The trial wouldn't have stopped.  They would have had you executed—how did you get out?" he interrupted himself.

"Corran vouched for me.  He told them, Luke.  Your sister, Iella, Han, Talon, and even Chewie knows as well.  I guess our plan to hide it didn't work well."

It worked for a while, MJ.  We both knew the secrecy wouldn't last forever.

I at least hoped it would last until the wedding.

You still want to marry me?

Of course, farmboy.  I've never doubted that decision.  She smiled at him and kissed him softly.  He responded by wrapping his arms around her petite form and holding her closely.  He couldn't imagine having to go back to a life, a universe, where he couldn't be with Mara Jade.

After what seemed too little time for the Jedi Master, Mara gently pushed him away.  "If you keep that up, farmboy, we'll never get anything done."

Even though both Mara and Luke knew that there were no living beings inside the huge room, she had kept her blaster out.  Just because there were no living guards or workers didn't necessarily mean that there weren't droid sentinels.  She'd run across many of the damned machines before, but the only way to take them down quickly was a shot in the joint that connected the head to the body, or slice off the weapons and then decapitate.

Although, if Cara had been telling the truth, then Mara had never actually survived one of those ambushes…

Stop it! she told herself.

Luke pushed open the door, having hacked his way into the keypad.  She wondered briefly where he had learned to do that.  Perhaps from his Rogue Squadron buddies?  He knew how to hack into easy keypads, but he'd never learned to protect his own datadisks, except with the most basic of codes.  Such a strange farmboy.  No matter how long she'd known him, there was always something more to learn.

No alarms began screaming, and no armed druids jumped out at the pair.  Instead, large crates filled their view.  There were small paths around the boxes.  Luke led the way, and Mara stood a meter or two behind him, her blaster still free of the holster.  Just in case.

Sithspit, Mara, look at all this.  He shook his head.  I knew Tawnie had stashed a lot of weapons, but this is more than I expected.

We haven't seen it all, farmboy.  I think we're about halfway through the show.

Towards the back of the room, the crates began to spread out further, and Mara and Luke ran across their first druids in the building.  They were simple machines, just moving the weapons closer to where the freighters and shuttles would load.

I'll see if I can find some type of comm system, she told Luke.

He nodded his agreement.  I'll just keep looking around, then.

She walked away from him.  If there was a communications system, then it would have to be away from the weapons.  The excess metal would screw up most messages.  Even with her excellent memory, she knew it would be easy to get lost in the labyrinth of metal boxes.  They all looked the same.  She was about to call out to Luke, to find out where he was, when she found a large clearing.

It's about damned time, she thought to herself.  She walked through the open doorway.  "Thank the Force for small favors," she muttered.  She had figured that if Tawnie had made the entire fifth floor into a storage room and loading zone, it would only make sense to keep a communications array down there as well.  There were two droids plugged into the large and antique computer.  One was red, and the other was a familiar blue and silver astromech droid. 

Hey Luke!  I found Artoo!

Really?  Great, I'll be right there.  She let him see which walkways she'd taken. Hopefully he'd be able to find his way with that.

"Hey, Artoo," she said softly.  She'd never spoken to droids until Luke had convinced her that Artoo-Detoo acted more human than many humans, and that the droid's feelings would be hurt if she refused to speak to him.  According to Luke, the small droid had even "threatened" her, saying that he would speak with See-Threepio about her and his Master's "odd behavior" unless she treated him better than just a normal machine.

The blue and silver droid didn't stop working.  She touched his domed head.  "Hey, Shortie, I'm talking to you."

The droid beeped loudly, and Mara glanced at the datapad she'd rigged to him whenever he stayed with her and Luke.  No one had taken it off when he'd been stolen off of Corellia, with Luke.

[My designation is R2-D2, not "Shortie."  Do not disturb me, I am currently performing an ordered task.]

"Don't you recognize me, Artoo?"

[Yes, but am unsure of which one you are.]

"Mara, Mara Jade."

[No data on Mara Mara Jade.]

"What about Luke Skywalker?"

[No data on Luke Skywalker.]

Luke, he's been memory-wiped.

The Jedi Master reached the door.  "Oh, no, you're kidding me."

"Doesn't remember anything."

"Hey, Artoo, do you remember your previous owner?" he asked the short droid.  Artoo had been his constant companion for over a decade now.  He'd miss the droid's quirky sense of humor.

[Tawnie Calanast and Cara.]

"Damn," Luke said.  Mara understood his frustration. He'd saved the droid so many times, and the droid had helped save his ass as well, and yet the droid had no memory of his adventures anymore.  It was like the death of a close friend.  When Mara had first met Skywalker, she doubted she'd ever understand his fondness for the metal astromech, but now she appreciated it.

"Maybe Han or Talon knows some trick to bring back a droid's memory," he said to her.

"Maybe."  She studied the holomonitors.  "If I'm reading this correctly, then that Star Destroyer is still in orbit.  How can we get help if the ImpStar is still waiting to vape us?"

Luke thought for a minute.  He stood up and moved away from the recording zone.  "You look like Cara.  Why don't you just contact them and tell them to stand down, or something.  That you've already caught the Jedi and his friends."

"Do you actually believe Imperials are that stupid?"

"Hey, it took a couple of X-wings and the Millennium Falcon to destroy two Death Stars."

Mara glared.  "That's different, Skywalker.  Those were Lemelisk's designs, and he screwed up both times.  Not all Imperials are like that."

"You also told me that walking through the front door wouldn't work, but we're still in one piece and they aren't."

"Yeah, you've got a malfunctioning hand, I'm going to have to have a med droid remove all the splinters in my knee, plus we've got plenty of bruises, scratches, and cuts."

"At least we're still alive.  If you won't, I will."  Luke stepped up next to her.

"Are you suicidal?" she asked bluntly.  "Fine.  Get away."  She tapped in the coordinates for the Star Destroyer.  After less than a minute, the commander's face filled the holoscreen.

"Booster?" she asked in disbelief.  The large man's recognizable features and red eye were unmistakable.  The captain of the Star Destroyer Errant Venture grinned broadly at her surprise.

"Mara," he said in greeting, "I've never seen you that surprised before in my life."

"Booster, what happened to the other ImpStar, the Retaliator?"

"Oh, we scared them out of the system."

"Oh, good.  Now your ego will swell even more.  Now, tell me, how the hell can the Venture scare of a fully functional ImpStar?  The Venture has seen better days, and the Retaliator seemed to have all her weapon mounts."

"I think I helped with that, Mara."  Another recognizable man walked up behind Booster Terrik.

"Wedge Antilles.  Scourge of the Empire.  Ah," she said, laughing.  "Booster let you transmit from the Venture, and the Imps know the New Republic wouldn't give you anything less than the best.  They figured it was a trap.  Smart, Antilles.  My impression of you just elevated a point."

"Oh, good, so I'm no longer Hutt-slime."

"She doesn't think that badly of you, Wedge."  Luke had waited to step into the recording plain when he was sure he wouldn't start laughing again.  Too few times had he seen Mara surprised.

"Luke, you're alive!"  The general beamed.  "Damn it, Luke, we thought someone actually managed to kill you off this time."

"Yeah.  What can I say?  It's hard to get rid of me."  He slid an arm around Mara's waist.

"My question is, why the hell are you here?" Mara asked.  Tact had never been her strong point.

"My wife said you might need some help, and so I gathered this mini-fleet.  We couldn't let the Republic know that Mara Jade had mysteriously escaped from prison, so I couldn't bring in the actual Republic fleet."

"How mini?"

"Errant Venture, Pulsar Skate, and of course, Rogue Squadron."

"A very capable group," Luke said in response.  "Good.  All right, can you see whether Mirax can land the Skate onplanet?  Han and Talon are hurt."

"Where are they?"

"Not far from here.  Do you have the coordinates we're transmitting from?"

Wedge glanced at something off-screen.  "Yeah.  I'll send Mirax down.  How badly are they injured?"

"Talon's got at least one broken bone in his leg, and Han's going to have to spend some time in the bacta tank.  I did what I could for him, before we came out here."

Mara and Luke backed away from the landing platform when the landing lights of the Pulsar Skate grew brighter.  Mirax Terrik Horn landed her personal freighter with the ease of an experienced pilot.  After she brought the engines to idle, she opened the ramp and jogged out to the pair.  She caught Luke up in a big bear hug. 

"A lot of people thought you were dead, Luke.  Good thing they were wrong.  Of course, I'm sure Fey'lya won't be very happy."  Mirax grinned.  "Well, screw him.  The rest of us are happy to see you alive.  Where are Corran and the others?  I believe Chewbecca, Han, and Talon came as well."

"Correct.  We'll take you out to them."  Luke and Mara walked onto the ship.

"Its great to see you both relatively healthy," Terrik Horn said.  "Was that your artificial hand?  I'm sure my father won't charge you for bacta use.  I'll make sure of it.  What happened, anyway?"

"Normal Imperial trouble."

"Damn Imps.  So, all those stolen weapons…are they all here?"

"There's a shitload here, but we're not sure if they all are accounted for.  I don't think we'll ever know.  Tawnie had a fairly good system going.  She rarely stole from the same company twice, and never from the same storage area.  She knew that immediately after any theft, security increased, and it would be difficult to steal from the same place."

"Yeah, I know.  I reviewed the information Master Skywalker here compiled.  By the way, you did a very good job.  You managed to get rid of those robberies that didn't match the main profile.  If you were looking for a job, I'm sure Iella wouldn't mind having you on her payroll.  You too, Mara.  Good insertion agent."

"Hell no.  I work for myself, Mirax," Mara answered.

"And anyone else who could pay more," Terrik Horn finished.  "That's my motto, too."

"Should I be covering my ears?" Luke asked.  "Really, I don't think the Jedi Master should associate with smugglers."

"Smugglers?  Skywalker, I am a Master Trader, and I make more a year than you ever will," Mara answered.  She knew he'd said that just to get a rise out of her.

"Come on, guys.  Let's go find Corran and the others."

"I'll stay here and make sure no one takes the crates," Mara said.  She had to take care of business first, before more people arrived here.  Mara stepped off the Pulsar Skate.  "I'll be waiting, okay?"

"Mara," Luke began.  Mara cut him off.

"Get out of here, Skywalker.  Go get Han.  He's going to need a bacta soak.  I'll be fine."

Mirax nodded.  If Luke knew what Mara was going to do, he didn't show it.