The ship pinged. They were about to drop out of hyperspace.
"Are you prepared for what lies ahead of us, Skywalker?" Thrawn asked quietly. "It is somewhat unorthodox compared to what you have done in the past."
"I am always up for new things," Luke Skywalker returned somewhat absent-mindedly from staring into oblivion. "Always..."
Soon, they were out of hyperspace, looking down upon a planet that was familiar to all three of them.
The fair-headed young man began to quote an old text softly, as if to himself, "And so shall the end or the beginning be determined. Death may come and rejoice his hindering of changes, or Life may rejoice at her unhindered changes to come. What shall come...shall come."
Thrawn allowed himself a tight smile. It seemed to be fitting.
Clearance was granted quickly. After all, there was no reason for any suspicion towards their freighter, and even though Imperial activity had increased, the New Republic's security had not changed very much. And so they descended upon Coruscant.
"It's about kriffin' time you let me out of there," Mara swore, glaring daggers at Luke Skywalker, who just gazed at her expressionlessly. That blasted Jedi goes through more mood swings than a Hutt goes through bounty hunters, Mara snarled to herself.
He didn't venture to reply. Instead, he watched her for a few more moments before disappearing in the direction of the cockpit.
"I hate Jedi," Mara gritted, before she reluctantly turned and followed him.
"Nice place ya got here," Mara said sarcastically as she looked around one of the adjoined rooms that they were staying in for an indefinite period of time. "Why didn't we just all go and bunk at Skywalker's place? I'm sure there won't be too many bugs crawling all over there beds there. Oh, right, I forgot, we're here incognito so that we can take down the g—" Mara cut off as she felt her throat constricting. She glared at Luke, whose hand was outstretched and quivering in anger and frustration.
As Luke mentally cursed Mara, he also sent a brief blessing skyward that he hadn't brought the ysalamiri in with him, since otherwise he wouldn't have been able to stop Mara from foolishly shooting off her mouth. Reaching out to the Force, he told her angrily, We have not swept the room for listening devices yet. Keep talking and we'll have the multitudes on us in minutes.
Kantasha, who was just as angry if not more, and who had been eavesdropping on their Force conversation, couldn't help but add: Yeah, but they won't get to you before my blaster does.
Luke threw a somewhat annoyed look at Kantasha. Just don't do anything stupid, all right, Mara? He almost seemed to be pleading.
Thrawn stood quietly through the whole exchange, but finally he decided it was time to end it. "These quarters will do," he said simply. He walked forward and began systematically disabling the multiple spying devices.
Throwing an evil look at Mara, Kantasha began doing the same.
Mara glared at them the entire time, and when their rooms were completely spy-free, she spoke, "So what are you going to do now?"
"For now," answered Thrawn, "we shall wait."
"Great," Mara said, a sarcastic and somewhat bitter smile on her face, "three perturbed Force users and the galaxy's most brilliant mastermind, all four in the same confined space. Complete with hormones and government upheaval schemes. What more could a girl ask for?"
A few minutes later, as she stared at the closed door in front of her, Mara was wanting to bite her tongue. "This isn't exactly what I had in mind," she spat. But she was ignored.
She allowed herself a grim smile, and she began to look around the room. They had done a good job of securing her in the room, but they had to have made some mistake somewhere down the line.
Kantasha had gone to fetch the ysalamiri, and Luke was quietly talking with Thrawn. With all luck, Mara would have a few minutes.
She set up a strong mental block, courtesy of her years in Palpatine's service, then set to work.
They'd removed the comm unit and placed Kantasha's twisted idea of a lock upon the door. Without any equipment, Mara wouldn't be able to get past it in time.
She glared at the wall. They were in one of the seedier parts of Coruscant and were thus without windows. That removed that possibility.
"Sith," she cursed quietly. If this was the Imperial Palace, she could probably get out of the room in a flash. As it was, with the little time allotted to her in such unfamiliar surroundings, there was only one thing she could do. And she was gonna catch a lot of heat for it.
Mara Jade took a deep breath, trying to will herself to be inconspicuous, then she began to gather the Force to her. She wouldn't have very much time.
She prayed that Leia Organa Solo was presently in the general direction of her apartment, and then she began to reach out as swiftly as she could through the Force to her: Leia, we're—
Leia, we're—
Leia shot up as she tried to reach out in vain for that connection, gasping when her Force sense caught only whispers of the presence.
"What is it, Leia?" Han inquired, staring at her with a concerned face.
"Mara reached out to me..." She bit her lip in concentration, still searching for Mara's presence. "I think she's on Coruscant..."
"What did she say? Has she seen Luke? Were they being held prisoner?" Han bombarded his wife with questions.
She held up a hand. "She seemed more annoyed than scared...I think she might be with Luke, but...something just doesn't feel right."
Han frowned. He'd been with Leia long enough not to doubt her tuition. He kept quiet, hoping she might say more.
"She was cut off by what felt like...like a sort of sinister, but familiar presence...I don't..." Leia trailed off, her eyes closed as she tried to regain the connection and failed.
"I'm gonna call Karrde," Han stated, getting off the couch.
Mara's eyes flared as she glared at the door and clawed at her throat. As soon as she'd started to call out to his sister, Luke had sensed it, and he had managed to get a Force choke-hold grip on her even though he was in the other room. He maintained it long enough for him to unlock her door and go into her room.
His blue eyes were as ice, and his nostrils flared with barely restrained rage. His jaw worked angrily, and at last he spoke, tightening his Force hold somewhat. "Do not try my patience, Jade. I have had enough of your insolence." With this last accented word, he released his hold on Mara.
She gasped for air, looking angrily at him, and finally she spat at his face.
He slapped her.
Stunned, she stared at him.
"Don't you ever, ever pull that stunt again," Skywalker warned, a harsh warning in his cold blue eyes, "or I shall do things to you that are so terrible that even Kantasha would not dream of them."
With that, he left, leaving Mara staring incredulously after him.
The blasted Jedi was like a ping-pong ball...One that she was going to slap into next week if he didn't start pulling his act together.
Mara sighed in frustration. This was just the kind of situation she didn't like to be put in. She was so upset with how he was acting that she wasn't able to give him the kind of friendly support that he probably needed most at this stage, and as such, he would just continue to get even more vicious as she continued to lash out even more at him. But she couldn't blame him. Even for slapping her.
Curse Thrawn. And curse Skywalker for getting himself into this mess. And curse the whole blasted universe for being so krething messed up.
Fuming, Mara clenched her fists. Suddenly, she felt a sort of heavy blanket come down over her Force sense. Skywalker was stopping her from using the Force!
She tried in vain to dispel the cloak about her. Curse Skywalker!
When the expression of astonishment had appeared on Skywalker's face and was followed quickly by anger, Thrawn had at first been alarmed. The look of concentration that appeared on the faces of Jedi when they were accessing the Force came upon Luke Skywalker's face, and as his eyes had been focused in the direction of Mara Jade's room, Thrawn had quickly guessed that whatever was happening had something to do with Mara. The Jedi had then quickly strode over to Mara's room, leaving Thrawn alone to await his return. When he did, it was with an expression so sour that the Chiss wondered whether it would be wise to ask him what had happened or wait until a better time.
The perturbed Force user told Thrawn soon enough, leaving him to ponder just how much Mara's short message had been able to reveal.
The Solo's door opened to reveal a shining golden protocol droid with a blue astromech unit at its side. "Captain Karrde, I must say I am glad you decided to come over here in person. It seems humans think much better when—"
"Yes, Threepio," Karrde said, cutting the droid smoothly off. Artoo whistled something derogatory-sounding toward his golden friend.
"Artoo!" See-Threepio exclaimed. "Behave yourself! We have company. Please come in, Captain Karrde," the droid said, motioning towards the living room.
The information dealer wearily complied.
Watching him, Threepio said softly to Artoo, "I do believe he has not been getting enough sleep lately."
Artoo blatted something that sounded suspiciously like, 'Naw, ya think?'
"Karrde, I'm glad you came," Leia said, still sitting on the couch. Her face looked strangely strained, and she seemed somewhat weak.
Han, however, had stood, but only long enough to point Karrde towards a seat before he sat back down.
"Mara contacted me," Leia said bluntly.
"Really?" Karrde said, a light jumping into his eyes. "Where? How?"
"She reached out to me through the Force, and I think she tried to tell me where they were, but she got cut off by someone. I think she's on Coruscant."
"So she didn't really get to tell you anything?" Talon Karrde asked.
Leia shook her head. "No."
Karrde hesitated, then he asked, "Have you found out anything about Skywalker?"
"We think Mara might be with him, but we're not sure," Han answered. "The fact that Mara and Luke haven't managed to make their way back here tells us that something's definitely up."
"I can't argue with you there, Solo," the smuggler said quietly. "I can't argue with you there..."