The Emerald Price Chapter 10

By Ash Darklighter

Disclaimer: - The characters and situations used in this story are the property of George Lucas and Lucasfilm Ltd. I am only using them for some entertainment and will not even make one Republican credit from this endeavour. This is set around eight to ten years after Luke and Mara met each other for the first time. This one is for all the girls on the AA list and of course the lovely Mona. Where would I be without her checking skills?

Klaz Kasino Hotel, Systra

Lando rolled over and stared at the ceiling. For a number of nights he had found slumber hard to come by - he felt guilty. He glanced at the naked woman asleep beside him, her luxurious dark hair spread over the pillow. She was beautiful and willing and had made his nights in her bed well worth his time. Plus she had sold him her shares in her chain of casinos for a very reasonable price.

He didn't feel guilty about bedding Vari – no, not at all. It had been a most enjoyable experience. Vari was extremely… flexible. She'd been a dancer in the premiere Klaz Kasino until she'd caught the eye of the owner. It was Vari who had encouraged her husband to expand the chain until it included luxury resorts. No, Lando's guilt stemmed from the look of barely concealed disdain on the face of Talon Karrde as he'd let him know about Mara's vanishing act. Karrde knew what he was up to and who with and despised him because of it. Normally he didn't let a little thing like conscience get in the way of his decision making skills.  But this time he wondered if he had been wrong. Maybe the smuggler chief had been right; perhaps he should have gone with Mara.

He had thought he wanted a relationship with her although he was beginning to wonder if it was worth all the hard work. The ease with which Vari Klaz had tumbled eagerly into his bed had been pleasantly surprising. Lando desired Mara – but he knew that he didn't love her. He remembered Karrde's words. "To win Mara Jade, Calrissian, love is what you will need." Who knows? He wasn't even sure if Mara believed in love – at least he didn't think that she did. Regardless, he never wanted to hurt her.  He certainly did not want her to get into any trouble because he failed to go with her.

Pushing back the covers he swung his feet to the floor and stood up without disturbing his sleeping companion, stretching silently. He moved to the ensuite 'fresher and fumbled for the light switch. Lando squinted at his suddenly too bright reflection in the mirror. He didn't much like the guilt he was feeling right now. But how could he have given up this opportunity to expand his business holdings? Deals like this didn't come along every day and if he had waited, he would have lost his chance. He just couldn't have left right then.

Luke had gone after Mara instead. Once the Jedi had found her using the Force they were both so strong with, then Lando would find some way to make it up to her. He'd heard nothing from Karrde except that single com call and that was nearly two weeks ago. Surely, by now they'd found her.  Why hadn't Karrde let him know that Mara was safe?

"Lando?" Vari's throaty voice called.

"I'm in the 'fresher," he replied. Lando smoothed his moustache with long brown fingers and grinned at his face in the mirror. Yeah, he'd make it up to Mara when Luke brought her home. "Coming, Vari." He clicked off the light and walked purposefully into the bedroom.

She was sitting up in the bed, the sheet wrapped around her chest, her dark eyes glittering in the light from a small lamp. "I was beginning to feel lonely," Vari murmured.

"I thought you were still sleeping, but here you are awake and ready for me. We can't have you feeling abandoned, can we?" Lando slipped into the bed and dipped his head towards her, his mouth covering the lush red lips that pouted so invitingly.

Vari's arms curved around Lando's smooth brown shoulders, drawing him close, letting out a gasp as his hand teased her nipple to aching fullness.

"No, we can't have you feeling lonely," Lando repeated as he kissed her deeply. "We…!

His comlink suddenly interrupted their lovemaking. "Stang!" Lando exclaimed.

"Ignore it," Vari urged him trying to kiss him, rubbing her generous breasts against his firm chest.

"No, I can't. It could be important." Lando slid out of bed and walked to his jacket and retrieved his com. He didn't want to say that it could be Karrde calling about Mara. The guilt he had tried to shelve came back gnawing at his senses.

"What could be more important than us?" Vari rolled on to her back and gazed moodily at the ornately carved ceiling of her suite.

"Someone knows I'm here. That is important. I wanted to keep our time together exclusive. Soon everyone in the galaxy will know that I have bought your late husband's business. Let that and us be private for a little while longer. I am enjoying just spending the time with you. For someone to know where I am means it is serious."

"But Lando…"

"I'll get rid of them, I promise."

Lando switched the device on and quickly stifled a curse. "Karrde!" he hissed. "Don't you know that it's the middle of the night on Systra…? Yes, I know…" He threw a look at Vari. She gave a petulant sigh, got out of the bed and stalked to the 'fresher. She'd been married to a business man and knew what that particular look meant. 'Leave me alone, this is not for your ears.'

Lando couldn't help himself; he leered at her naked body as she passed him by and gave her a tender pat on her magnificently curved rear. Vari Klaz was all woman and generous with what she had. She speared him with a disdainful glare from her beautiful dark eyes and disappeared into the 'fresher. After a moment of silence he heard the bath being run.

Lando sighed. "Yes, I'm alone now. Where's Mara? Has Luke found her yet? Is that why you contacted me?

"Luke thinks he knows where Mara is."

"Good. I'll see her when they get back then," Lando said heartily.

"He thinks she may be injured."

"Injured! Not seriously I hope?" Lando's voice rose a little. He heard the bath water stop and heard the splash as Vari climbed into the sunken tub. A smile crossed his lips as he pictured her full breasts bobbing in the water, their proud rosy peaks covered with bubbles… "Of course, I'm listening, Karrde. I'm just a little distracted. What were you saying again? Luke said what!"

Karrde told Lando Calrissian succinctly exactly what the Jedi Master had said. "If he is not there for Mara when she arrives on Coruscant I will personally vape him – dark side be damned."

"Karrde, that sounds like a threat the way you're saying it," Lando protested. "My business…"

Karrde smiled coldly to himself as he interrupted. "I think that's exactly what it was. When we bring Mara home you'd better be there waiting or else. Luke doesn't care about your business. He wants you there for Mara. He thinks she will need you."

Lando heard the click and stood holding his now silent com. Biting back another curse; Lando threw the comlink on top of his clothes. Mara would be fine. She had Luke and Karrde to fuss over her she didn't need him as well. He finally managed to push his guilt away. This was the last time he got involved with anything outside his own business. From now on it would be number one all the way. He smiled and headed towards the fresher door. The hotel's baths were big enough to host a party and there was someone waiting for him to get that party started. He picked up the two glasses and the bottle of the hotel's best champagne chilling on a nearby table. Yes, time to look after himself.

*********************************************

The Wild Karrde

Talon Karrde heaved a sigh as he let the connection drop. Sometimes he didn't understand Lando Calrissian at all. He'd delivered Skywalker's message to the former Baron Administrator of Cloud City but part of him wondered if he shouldn't have told Luke the truth. For some reason Mara hadn't divulged the most important fact about her relationship with Lando – there wasn't one. The whole thing had been a sham - it was all pretence.

He pressed a switch on his desk. "Dankin!"

"Yes, boss."

"I want you to set a course for Czerip."

"Consider it done. Plotting co-ordinates now."

"Thank you." He clicked off and slumped back in his chair. He had a feeling that their problems were far from over.

************************************************

The Merry Pirate

It would be surprising if the cantina hadn't changed. Han tried to work out the last time he'd been inside the Merry Pirate. The bar was almost hidden in an archway between a couple of repair shops. He stared thoughtfully at the run down exterior. Some of the coloured lights announcing the name had long fizzled out and proclaimed in lurid pink and green that the place was called 'The Me—y P-rat-' instead.

He grinned. It was Showtime. The kid and Mara Jade were counting on him again. He gave his blaster an affectionate pat and made his way to the doors. They slid open with a strange buzzing sound as if some of the motors were giving up. He relaxed his posture, let his shoulders slump and shuffled inside. For a moment the noise dipped. And Han sensed several pairs of calculating eyes gazing at his unprotected form. His fingers tightened on his blaster and he lurched to the bar.

"Lum," Han demanded thickly, peering up at the barman. Feenus had said this guy was a friend. He looked into the face of a square-jawed middle-aged man.

Mal'orch rubbed his ear. The listening aid hidden above it had suddenly buzzed. Ah – this was the contact. He turned away, grabbing a glass and pouring a measure of cloudy yellow-green lum. "Here."

"Thanks," Han made to move away.

"You're new in port. Don't think I've seen you before?"

Han grunted. "Never been here before."

"Where you from?"

Han waved his arm vaguely almost knocking over his glass which Mal'orch managed to rescue. "I'm from somewhere out there."

"Know it well."

Han blinked owlishly – he had the appearance of a man who had visited several of the establishments in the spaceport that day. "I'm from… from…" He stopped. "Where am I from?"

"You tell me?"

"Mittenden IV. That's where. M'name's Bohb."

"Hi, Bohb. You on yer own?"

"Am now. Boss got fed up with me trying to tell him what to do."

Mal'orch was a patient man. If he just waited and asked the right questions, drunken beings would tell a surprising amount of their secrets. "He's the boss…"

Han shook his head slowly. "He just thinks he is. I'm his adviser. I am paid to advise him. He used to listen to me but now he's aware of who he really is. What's the use of having an adviser when he won't listen to any advice I give?"

"Difficult," said Mal'orch sagely.

"My boss." Han spat on the floor. "He's looking to meet people."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

Han's hazel eyes gleamed as he raised his voice a little. "I think it's too dangerous to meet the people he wants to meet but no, his royalness wants to check out the services for himself. I told him his father wouldn't like it but he told me to get lost. I have to tell the King…." Han swallowed a mouthful of lum and shuddered, the satisfaction easing through him almost visibly to anyone who might be watching. "I reckoned a bit of liquid courage might help but now I'm too drunk to care. I'm stuffed whichever way I turn. The king will punish me for not doing my job and 'His Magnificence' will punish me because I spoke to the king."

"A difficult position to be in. I'm sure you will decide on the correct course of action." Mal'orch was sympathetic. He found that the right amount of sympathy sold more lum. "What kind of services would your employer be looking for?"

Han weighed up his options. "I suppose you would know who to go to. You hear things working in a bar, right?"

Mal'orch nodded. "I certainly do."

"So you could help me and I wouldn't be in so much manure with his royalness - okay?"

"Who is 'his royalness'?"

Han gave a nervous look over his shoulder and then gulped down a mouthful of his drink. "I suppose it can't hurt to say." He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "The boss is supposed to be in disguise but no, he's still wandering around like he owns most of Mittenden IV." Han gave a high-pitched drunken giggle of glee. "Oh, I forgot. He does own most of Mittenden IV - and III and parts of V, too."

"He does?"

"Yeah, he does. Prince Aesophas…" Han slurped noisily at his lum. "Wants slaves," he hissed loudly smacking his lips together. "Worker slaves and one or two slaves with a certain . . . appeal, if you know what I mean." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Prince Aesophas heard that this place is where to find them."

"Slaves, eh?" Mal'orch also raised his voice.

Feenus, watching with Altra and Beridor, could have sworn that the conversation in the cantina dropped a little and Mal'orch's words rang out across the room.


"Well, what do you know!" Beridor's low voice was admiring as they saw Prebs and Vreet lift their heads, look at each other and inch closer to Han. "Mission accomplished. Your old navy pal is good at his job."

"Yes," Feenus said. "He is, but our mission will never be accomplished. Our true goals will take time."

"It will be worth it," Beridor whispered, the gleam in his dark eyes fervent.

"Oops!" Han covered his mouth with his hand. "Not supposed to tell. The Prince was going to find that out all by himself."

"But you can help him," Mal'orch said encouragingly.

"Buy you a drink, stranger?" Two men stood crowding into Han's personal space.

"Why?" Han's voice had turned coldly hostile.

The larger of the two cracked a grin. "I think we have the answers to your problems."

Han turned back to his lum. "I don't know you."

"That can be changed." The speaker was a squat man. "My name is Vreet and this is Prebs. You are?" He cocked his head to one side.

"I'm not sure I should tell you," Han slurred with the careful enunciation of one that wasn't quite sober.

Vreet's smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "It would only be good manners to introduce yourself to people who could help you with your difficulties."

"Bohb… Bohb Barattas," Han grunted unwillingly.

"Well, Bohb," Vreet said brightly. "I would like to buy you another drink." He pointed to Han's almost empty glass.

"Don't know about that. I should be trying to sober up. His royal highnessness…" There was no mistaking the sneer that crossed Han's face. "If I go back him like this he will hang me by the feet down his precious Tellen mines."

"Tellen mines. Your boss is in charge of some?"

"He owns a whole planet of them," Han snapped.

"And he needs… workers for these mines?" Vreet enquired, his manner obsequious.

"Sure he does. Just not keen on paying them. How else will he make credits?"

"Get him a caf, barkeep," Prebs said carefully, wincing at the ache in his jaw. He'd spent two hours being treated by the docdroid and it still hurt.

"We don't do caf here," Mal'orch growled. "This is a bar, not some fancy cafshop."

"Sure you do. It will be worth it for you." Prebs had suddenly realised this could be a way for him to get back into Tharakan's good graces and turned back to Han. "We can help you and your master. We have information that could lead you to the supply of many workers."

"This ain't good," Han mumbled to himself, his head almost lying on the bar. "Can't just land on a strange world and find enough slaves. This is too good to be true; there's gotta be a catch. New Reb… New Rebup… Them guys in the Core – they banned it."

"The Core?" Vreet laughed. "Too far from here."

"Told him he should just forget about the mines. He needs hundreds and hundreds of workers and he doesn't like to pay them. If it had still been the Empire – no problem. Old Palpy would have had a supply of Wooks straight down the shafts before you could say Death Star. And anyone who has these kinds of workers don't have the pretty ones for sale too. He likes them feisty, you know. These princes. . ."

Mal'orch interrupted Han's rambling monologue by banging a large mug of frothy looking caf down on the bar, the milky liquid slopping over the sides in an undignified puddle.

Vreet chuckled. "I said that I may be able to help you out and I may be able to do exactly that. Drink your caf. I'm sure you can advise your 'boss' if you are in a more sober mood." He turned away from Han and motioned to someone in the shadows. As Beridor and Feenus suspected, Solpar emerged from one of the darkest corners in the place.

Altra reached into her pocket and activated the listening device. They'd bugged the whole place years ago and luckily no one had discovered that vital piece of information. Vreet and Prebs were frantically conversing with Solpar, almost ignoring Han for the moment. He was staring gloomily into his mug of caf.

"I think they might have bought it," Altra murmured to her husband.

Han's eyes met those of Mal'orch and winked. He switched on his com which he'd discreetly hidden under his collar. "Kid! Looks like we're set to go," he whispered. "Wait until I give you another signal. Shouldn't be long. Don't do anything stupid."

Luke clicked back in response.

*******************************************

"How many princes from Mittenden IV drop into our laps every day looking for the kind of goods that only we can supply?" Vreet asked, his round, pudgy eyes gleaming with avarice.

Prebs shrugged. "Never heard of him."

Solpar's thin face seemed to grow thinner. "I have heard of him and the answer to your question, Vreet, is: not many. There are not very many Mittenden princelings. Not with as much money as he's reputed to be worth."

"And he's worth a lot?" Prebs asked.

"Apparently." Solpar assessed Han's figure still slumped against the bar.

"I suppose he's genuine," Vreet said.

"Oh, yes. Drunk as anything. I can tell when that's faked and he wasn't faking it. Just to be sure we can run a check on his name when we get to headquarters. You did get his name?"

"Bohb Barattas," Prebs supplied eagerly and then winced as his badly swollen jaws protested.

"You really should get that looked at," Solpar commented snidely. "Looks as if it could hurt a bit."

"I've had it checked."

"Then Tharakan should get his docdroid disintegrated. Ready to persuade our friend that we are exactly what his lord needs?"

Altra moved the tiny listening device back behind her ear and grinned. "It is sounding as if we've fooled them."

"Good." Feenus gave a thin smile. "If all goes to plan, Han should take them to the Falcon. Luke is waiting there."

**********************************

"We would like to meet your prince." Solpar said ingratiatingly. "We are sure we could solve his problem."

"Don't know about that." As he sobered up Barattas was becoming less forthcoming and far more truculent in his manner. "You in charge?"

"No, but my boss listens closely to my words."

Yeah, right, thought Han. "And your boss is?"

"My boss doesn't like his name bandied about in a place like this."

Han shrugged. "Then we don't do business. I notice you haven't given me your name. His royalness don't put up with underlings, no matter how important they are still below him. He just deals with the main man. No offence."

Solpar's nostrils twitched as if he'd just smelled something unpleasant. "None taken. My name is Solpar, this is Vreet. We work for a local syndicate organised by General Raitt."

Han's demeanour changed immediately. "Nice to meet you. The prince does listen to me sometimes but as he's reached his majority he thinks he can do without me most of the time. I have advised him on what he should do - but will he listen?"

"The confidence of youth," Solpar gritted out between his teeth. Trying to stay pleasant to this character was extremely trying. He was tempted to just blast him but noted that Barattas' hand never strayed far from his blaster.

"I practically raised him after all. The king isn't big on parenting. No time for that kind of stuff when you have a kingdom to run and Prince Aesophas could have done with some serious parenting."

"You acted like a kind of tutor?"

"Yeah." Han turned back to his drink and sipped carefully. It wasn't the best caf he'd had by a long shot and it was getting cold. "That's what I did – I was his tutor and believe me it was no sinecure."

"We have instructions to take you to the… ahem… 'main man'."

"Oh" Han drew the word out. "But will he listen to me?"

"Probably not, that's why you have to convince the prince."

Prebs guffawed and then groaned. "Convince the prince…" he managed to say before subsiding against the bar holding his jaw tenderly.

Han glowered at the stricken man. "How can I trust you? I am responsible for my young master. Not that there is any love lost between us but if something happens to him, you understand. Say - if he gets hurt. . . It wouldn't go well for me. I'd be dropped at the bottom of the Tellen mine and never seen again. I value my skin."

"Not to worry. He'll be perfectly safe with us.  And I am sure the prince has more than just you as his security detail?" Vreet smiled. "We will allow him to keep his guards with him."

Han tilted his head to one side as he considered this surprising option. They must want Prince Aesophas' business badly to agree to allow him to keep his own security.

Solpar gave Vreet a sideways glance which Han intercepted. "There are those who would like to deprive us of our livelihood. We agree to the prince keeping his guards and arming himself because those beings would stop at nothing to ruin us."

'Ah,' thought Han. 'Feen and the others have been far more successful than they thought.' "No," he said, tugging carefully at his fuzzy black beard. No use advertising it for the fake it was.

"Yes," said Vreet.

"I'll contact the royal head of security," Han said at once, opening the channel on his comlink which linked it to Altra's, "and advise him of the situation. He will not be happy."

"He will be glad to ensure the safety of his master."

"This is true," Han agreed as he raised his comlink to his lips. "Commander Feen?"

Feenus raised his eyes to those of his wife. "What's he up to?"

Altra grinned. "You'd better answer him. I think you've just been promoted."

Feenus grimaced. "Yes, sir," he muttered.

"I have arranged a meeting for the prince with people who can help him find what he desires. I will need you to be ready to provide him with suitable protection. This has been cleared with our contacts."

"I will tell the prince," Feenus breathed into the mic. Clicking it off again, he looked at Altra and Beridor. "Solo's got them hooked. Let's hope the Jedi is also as good at subterfuge."