The Emerald Price Chapter 18

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 for Mona – what would I do without you?

Aaris III

The interior of the dingy tapcaf was hazy with smoke. Whether it was due to spice or a more harmless narcotic, no one cared enough to ask. A tall figure slunk in from the shadowed doorway and seated himself at a table where a glass of lum was deposited on the grimy tabletop in front of his long fingered hands. He couldn't remember the last time he had frequented such a low place as this but he needed peace to think and the anonymity that such a dive provided was ideal.

The dark, hooded cloak hid his distinctive head tails and disguised his lanky frame. He considered himself a marked man these days and he did not like that feeling. Tharakan wondered where and when everything had gone wrong.

His anger rose. A class 'A' thermal detonator had been used on his headquarters destroying the entire building. Luckily, he, his men and his merchandise hadn't been in the building when the detonator had exploded. He'd lost one or two slaves but they'd been sick with the Leptas virus and would have died soon enough. He had been fortunate to sell the other sick slaves in the previous day's showing. Things had been going so well since the Prince of Mittenden IV had graced them with his presence. Funnily enough they hadn't heard from the royal since the man had returned to his home system to prepare for his upcoming nuptials.

He would contact the Prince.  It would start to rebuild his business. The prince had been wealthy and well pleased with his slave. His lips curled into a sneer – that is if she lived long enough for him to get his pleasure. She'd been a troublesome piece of flesh but he was confident that the prince would have shown her exactly how she was to behave and she would have learned to see it his way eventually.

Tharakan had sensed that Aesophas had appreciated his wares and would have contracted more of his business out to the Ho'Din. 'He did intend to buy workers for his mine from me. I could have found him his workers and more pleasure slaves,' he told himself, '…and I still can'.

But now, things were different. His own schemes for building an empire had been dealt a critical blow. Raitt had been invited to a meeting with a governmental investigative team. Invited? Tharakan didn't believe that for a single moment he'd had a choice in the matter. It had been an order. Raitt had died in their offices. They'd told his bewildered, mousy wife that a heart attack had killed him. His own informant inside the ruling body had admitted that this was the truth. It was ironic really, he thought with a grim smile. Raitt had everything at his fingertips until his own body gave out on him.

His distraught wife was no help to their business. She'd never even suspected what her husband had done to keep her in luxury. When they'd asked for the papers pertaining to their business deals, she had thrown them out denying all knowledge of such deals. Her husband had been an officer of the Empire not some cheap alien crook.

She would learn the truth soon enough. He would make sure of it.

He'd had a week to prepare himself to lead the syndicate with none of the information he had needed to take control. The data had to be in Raitt's office safe or the strong room in his mansion. It had been the logical solution – he was the most suited to leadership. He'd found out that Lord Diptil had been thinking the same. Then his building had been targeted. His first thought wasn't the anti-slavers coalition but his associate, Diptil. Then within a matter of days Diptil's premises had met the same costly fate.

It was the damned anti-slaver's coalition and they had changed their tactics, were becoming bolder in their actions.

It was time to leave the system and lie low for a while. Stefft had gone to get his house ready on Moltok. He had to collect his credits and valuables and leave as soon as he could before the anti-slavers came for him personally - and he knew that they would. His ship was ready and waiting. He'd accounted for everything but… Tharakan swallowed the last of his lum, deposited the tankard on the rickety table and strode from the tapcaf.

It had to still be inside the building.

The Wild Karrde

The Wild Karrde's engines shut down and Mara released the breath she'd been so carefully holding. She hated the idea of returning but her ship was here and she needed it. The Jade's Fire was more than just transport.

It would be different this time. She wasn't alone.

Karrde glanced at his second-in-command from the corner of his eye and watched as her hands gradually stopped gripping the armrests of the chair she'd been sitting in. "We're going to go and get your ship. I had a couple of our people secure it and keep a constant guard. No one's been near her."

"Good," Mara said decisively, trying to banish the strange feeling in her stomach. "Her alarm system is one of the best in the galaxy."

"That may be - but no ship is impossible to steal. No security measure can be absolutely foolproof."

"I know but the better the security system, the less likely it is to happen. I did wonder if she was still in one piece. I've been away for too long…months."

"Your ship is fine. You only have to say the word and the Jade's Fire will be prepped for take off. You don't have to remain here any longer than you have to."

She nodded. "My enthusiasm for this end of the galaxy has faded somewhat. I think I'll try other parts next time."

Karrde smiled and flicked the switch activating the ship-wide com. "Captain's announcement," he declared. "No one is to leave the ship unless they are in small groups. This is a safety precaution. No one, and I repeat no one, is to go anywhere on their own."

Mara heard the low hum of murmured conversations. There would be no protests from the crew. Karrde had given such directions before. Many places in the galaxy weren't safe for unaccompanied travellers and you'd be considered a fool to travel alone.

She sighed. Had that made her a fool when she'd set off on her own to the Elrood Sector? She could have asked Lando to come with her. She could even have asked Skywalker but no, Mara Jade had still things to prove and in doing so had almost lost herself her own life.

Karrde flicked a look at Aves. The smuggler chief hesitated but felt that this course of action was for the best. "Mara…"

"What?"

"Aves and I will accompany you to the Jade's Fire."

"Of course." Mara fiddled with the end of her heavy braid of red-gold hair, her eyes staring at the grey deck plates beneath her feet. Why did she feel so apprehensive? She'd faced and overcome other such hurdles and dangers all of her life. She was still alive wasn't she? She lifted her head to make the protest that she knew they would expect her to make.

"Mara…Aves has offered to fly back to Coruscant with you."

"I should be okay. I don't need someone to hold my hand any longer…" Mara began to voice her objections but they lacked conviction and she knew it.

"Mara," Karrde stilled her protests with a gentle word. "No one is suggesting that you need your hand held…" He glanced up at Aves. "We just thought that you might like some company."

"I offered," the older man said. "I need to get back to make a run with the Starry Ice. Karrde has business in the Belgaroth system. It's quite practical. You are doing the organisation a favour. I get back to Coruscant – pick up the Starry Ice and I'm already ahead of schedule. If you don't want company I can go and sit in your spare cabin and you can drop me off on Czerip."

"I don't think that is necessary, Aves," Mara chuckled feeling reassured. "The company would be welcome."

"I'm very good at holding hands," Aves joked lightly.

"Yes, so I've heard but it didn't stop there and got you thrown out of several establishments," Karrde quipped lightly.

Aves plump unprepossessing face tried to look outraged. "Unfair, boss."

"Yes." Karrde's voice was dry. "I will meet you back on Coruscant. I will have a run for you if I'm successful with this trade." Karrde grinned at her, his pale blue eyes gleaming. "No, I cannot tell you what it is yet, Jade."

Mara grinned back feeling oddly relieved. A run, nothing complicated but she suddenly felt as if she was back in business – as if her life was back following some sort of path. Karrde's dry use of her second name added to that feeling. "I'll do it," she stated decisively.

"Good," Karrde said. "I thought you might."

Mara peered out of the viewport at the drab surroundings of the Aaris III spaceport and the basic control building ahead of her. Yes, her life was back on track but was she destined to remain a mere trader? She felt that her destiny lay in something greater.  Should her feet follow the difficult path of the Force and the Jedi? It suddenly felt like the right thing to do; she had to take that road.  Her life stretched before her in an unending vision of drab spaceports and nameless star systems if she didn't. What had once satisfied her now felt as if it tied her down. She thought of Luke. Her future was linked with his. She wasn't certain why but it just felt…like her destiny.  She owed it to herself and to Luke.

She would tell Karrde of her decision when they both returned to Coruscant - after she talked to Skywalker. She would only go to Yavin if the Jedi Master would agree to finish her training personally. It was the only way. She would accept no other master.

Mara and Aves left the bridge and headed back to their respective cabins to collect their belongings. "You did the right thing. This will make Karrde happier," Aves said quietly.

"I know," Mara admitted as she paused in front of her door. "I don't know when he turned into such a den mother."

"Calrissian will be happier too."

Mara's eyes narrowed. It was time to put a stop to this affair. "It has nothing to do with Calrissian," she snapped.

"But…"

"It was a business deal…nothing more," Mara muttered. "I was helping him with a job. Karrde knew about it."

"I see," Aves muttered but he didn't see at all. Mara and Calrissian had been involved in what appeared to be a hot and heavy romance for a long time. The holonet had been full of Calrissian's devotion to Mara as she'd been confined to the medicentre. It had been said that he'd rarely left her side.

By Mara's own admission, the relationship had been a cover for a job that Karrde wanted done. Aves wasn't upset at being left out of the loop. He'd played many a part for his boss and would do so again. The fewer people that were party to certain pieces of information meant it more likely the scheme would work.

The former administrator of Cloud City was a shrewd operator but Aves had been puzzled at what Mara had seen in the dark-skinned man. He didn't seem to be her type and she hadn't been calling for him every night in the middle of her nightmares. But if it was a cover that Karrde had set up, it made sense.  Mara had often dealt with Calrissian with barely hidden disdain. Well, they'd certainly fooled him as well as the rest of the galaxy.

"He drives me mad," she mumbled.

"Five minutes," he said sensing that Mara didn't want to talk about Calrissian any longer. "I'll meet you at the exit ramp."

"Sure," she said.

Aves gave her a nod and headed for his own cabin.

Mara stepped off the bottom of the Wild Karrde's exit ramp and tried not to show a sudden urge to laugh nervously. Karrde stood waiting for her flanked by three of his crew. They were standing to attention like stiff little Imperial soldiers, their blasters ready in their hands.

"Is this necessary, Karrde?" Mara drawled slowly.

"I think it is."

"It just looks a little too obvious. We don't want to attract attention. I want to go, collect my ship and fly out of here."

Karrde's eyes narrowed as he thought about what she'd said. "Fair enough," he conceded. "Smitt, Dankin… Return to the ship. We won't be hanging around here once Mara and Aves have left. "Zen'khas," he spoke to a large Agorffi, "…you're with me."

"Yes, boss." Zen'khas gripped his blaster tightly.

Mara grinned at Aves and joined the smuggler chief. "Get me to my ship," she ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am." Karrde chuckled. It was good to see Mara back like this although he suspected that he would lose her to the Jedi sooner rather than later. Since she'd recovered, there had been a certain air of distraction about her as if she was suddenly seeing things differently. Skywalker had it too sometimes.

Aves and Zen'khas fell in behind Mara and Karrde as they took the five minute stroll to the Jade's Fire's docking bay.

"I want to know what happened, Karrde," Mara said, her manner direct. "I've waited to see if you would fill me in but you've said nothing and neither has Lando."

"I was waiting for you to ask the questions," Karrde answered. "I'm not keeping anything from you that you desperately need to know."

"Really." Mara arched a red-gold eyebrow. "You don't often bend reality with me, Karrde."

"You were attacked by a scouting party for a Ho'Din slaving lord."

"That part I do remember," Mara said feelingly. "It's the section after that, I can't."

"Not surprising," Karrde commented. "You were beaten, drugged and finally you became sick."

"I thought I'd picked up something," Mara said, satisfaction colouring her voice.

"That's enough for anyone to go through, let alone have to relive."

"I tried to cleanse my body with techniques Lu…" Mara frowned as something whispered to her in the Force. What was it trying to tell her? She shook her head. Time to dwell on that later. "Skywalker taught me," she finished gruffly, as if the mention of Luke was a sensitive issue.

"We heard of your whereabouts and came to collect you." Karrde kept his expression neutral. That wasn't a lie.

Mara clenched her fists and took a deep breath. "Why do I get the feeling that you're hiding something, Karrde?" A sudden dread crossed her mind. "They didn't…and I can't remember. I would know if they had…?"

Karrde's mouth dried as he saw terror in her eyes. It shook him. He knew Mara felt fear – they all did but she never showed it. When she did, that was a truly frightening thing. "No, they didn't. You were…left alone."

"That's a relief," she whispered as her eyes caught the graceful, streamlined hull of the Jade's Fire. "You got there in time and I'm grateful, Karrde."

Karrde swallowed. Skywalker and Solo had placed him in an invidious position. He hated being credited with their rescue. He wondered if he should just tell her everything. He opened his mouth, only to close it again as Mara started towards the docking bay.

Her heart pounded in her chest. Her ship and inside…her link to the Jedi. Her lightsaber. Becoming a Jedi had grown to be one of the most important things in Mara's mind. Possibly the desire had always been latent within her just waiting for the right moment to make itself felt.

As they approached the silver ship, four figures detached themselves from behind the vessel and Mara found her hand straying again to the blaster at her hip.

The tallest of the figures relaxed his grip on a powerful looking firearm. "Captain Karrde?"

"Erzon," Karrde said with a broad smile spreading across his face. "Any trouble?"

"Nothing much. A couple of individuals well known to us in the area did come looking last month but when we made our presence known, they backed off. We've been on twenty-six hours a day alert ever since. The vessel is secure."

A compact Rodian whistled something in his own language and Erzon laughed. "You got it, Heeto." He translated for Karrde and his companions. "Heeto thinks they would have run away in any case. They wouldn't know how to get it off the ground."

Mara gave a husky laugh. "They would have some difficulty. You have to put the correct code into the navicomp or it won't leave the permacite. How are you, Heeto?"

The Rodian chuckled something incomprehensibly and Mara chuckled.

"What did he say?" asked Karrde.

"I haven't a clue," Mara said out of the side of her mouth."

Karrde laughed. "Thank you for your time, gentlemen. Your accounts will be credited with the usual rates."

Mara could tell that the men were pleased. Karrde paid handsomely for a job well done. She stepped past Karrde and let her hands linger on the smooth surface of the Fire's hull. Keying in her entrance code, she waited for the ramp to lower.

Mara walked sedately into her ship. She'd thought she might never see it again and then her desire to feel her lightsaber in her hand took over. Racing to her cabin, Mara slapped her door release and gazed at things undisturbed for nearly six months.

Where was it?

Mara threw open her locker and rummaged frantically through the contents. Where was it?

'Easy, Jade,' she seemed to hear. 'Calm and peace, remember?'

"It's simple for you to say, Skywalker," she grumbled, not realising that she was having a conversation with a man who was on the other side of the galaxy.

'Never simple in your mind, Mara. Always a problem.'

Mara suddenly did understand what she was doing. "I'm having a conversation with Skywalker and he's starting to talk like Yoda? He's not another Palpatine," she told herself. "He's different. This has never happened before. It's a fluke. I'm hearing things. I have to be. I've turned the voice of my conscience into Luke Skywalker. I don't need that in my life right now."

But she never turned down a piece of good, free advice. Yeah, right. Calm and at peace. Mara closed her eyes, held out her hand and reached for her lightsaber.

A serene expression crossed her face. Of course it was simple. She reached deep into the well of warmth and security that was the Force. She even thought that she touched a presence or two as she did so. She could almost see Luke on Yavin teaching his students, his handsome face serious, occasionally breaking into a smile when the student achieved their goal. Mara relaxed, her hand steadied and, from the depths of her locker, the lightsaber flew into her grasp.

Her fingers tightened around the casing and, with her eyes still closed, she thumbed it on. The familiar snap-hiss sound filled her cabin. Mara opened her eyes to see the blue blade fizzing and sparking in front of her in the dim lighting. "Yes," she breathed, a sense of completeness filling her soul.

"I'm going to finish my training," she declared. "Next time I'll be ready. This is not enough any more." As always when she thought about finishing her training her mind turned to the man who had given her the saber. "Damn you, Skywalker, for being right. I'll come to you if you want to train me." She gave a dry little laugh. "Of course he wants to train me."

'I'll be waiting.'

Again she could hear his voice as clearly as if he were standing next to her. The ways of the Force were strange indeed.

She shut off her saber and gave herself a quick inspection in the reflector. She didn't appear to be any different for the woman who had set out for the Elrood sector all those months ago. She stared hard at herself trying to see past her attractive façade. Not many people saw the real Mara Jade. Even Karrde couldn't guess at the mass of seething uncertainties under her very skin. She met her own clear green eyes in the glass and frowned. She saw the same pale oval face, the same smooth complexion and the same wild, vibrant red-gold hair. She'd braided it tightly in a thick rope down the centre of her back and its lustre hadn't dimmed under its confinement. 

Her clothes made no statement about what kind of person she was. Her blue jumpsuit and over tunic were the best that Karrde's organisation could provide. She hung her lightsaber from the belt surrounding her trim waist.

She looked exactly like she always did but she felt different inside.

"Mara!" Aves' voice interrupted her contemplations. "Which cabin?"

She gave her tunic a final tug and stuck her head out of her cabin door. "Third door on your left."

"Thanks." Aves disappeared inside hefting a large carryall.

Mara slapped her door release closed and made her way to the weapons locker. They'd taken her small wrist holster and tiny blaster but she had a spare. Her fingers located the weapon. It was as much a part of her as the lightsaber. The wrist holster slid over her slender fingers and she tightened the straps, diligently testing that it couldn't slip.

'A Jedi relies only on their lightsaber. Nothing as random or as clumsy as a blaster.'

A memory of Luke teaching a class of Jedi initiates came to mind and she smiled. "Can a lightsaber do this?" Mara had asked him and proceeded to show him how elegant her own weapon could be while in the hands of a former Imperial assassin trained by the best to be the best. Obi-Wan Kenobi had never seen a blaster in the hands of someone like Mara Jade.

Luke had smiled and conceded but had spoken the last word. 'Working with a lightsaber is a discipline for the body and the mind.'

The vibroshiv was slipped inside her boot and another knife into a small backpack. Karrde wasn't going to like this but she had to see where they'd taken her.

"Ready to go?" Karrde asked quietly.

"Nearly...Karrde?"

"What is it, Mara?" Karrde watched as his second-in-command slowly closed and secured the weapons locker.

"I need to see where I was held." She turned her head slowly to meet his eyes. "It must be close and I'm betting that you know where it is."

"I do." Karrde's stomach sank. She was single minded to a degree. He should have expected this.

"You found me there after all."

"No, we didn't," Karrde contradicted her. "You were found on Elrood. But you were apparently kept here for most of the time that you were missing."

"I was taken here. I can remember that now but after that things are still a little… foggy." Mara's voice was dry and her smile slightly amused but her voice trembled on the last word of her sentence.

"We didn't want you to have to relive your experiences…"

"I can face what I have to, Karrde. I've faced worse than this and still lived. It's the not knowing that's driving me crazy. Help me remember," she pleaded, her fingers curling into her palms with frustration. "So let me see." Her jade-green eyes were bright with an inner fervour. "Please," she whispered.

The smuggler released the breath he'd been holding. "If you are sure?"

"Something is calling me there, Talon. I need the closure and I won't have that until I see it. Just from a distance. I don't want to march in there and say, 'Hey! Remember me?'"

Karrde frowned. "That wouldn't be a good idea, Jade. However, it won't be a problem now."

"It won't?"

"No, there's a little group that like to call themselves the anti-slavers coalition and..."

"That's a bit of a mouthful," Mara interrupted lightly.

"Whatever they call themselves is good by me. They dropped a couple of thermal detonators on Tharakan's headquarters last week."

Mara's mouth twitched into a smile of grim satisfaction. "Good."

Karrde raised an eyebrow but he couldn't suppress a smile. "I thought the Jedi weren't into revenge?"

Mara's smile was full of dark amusement. "They tend not to be but I'm not a Jedi Knight yet. They do, however, understand the idea of justice." Mara lifted her sleeve and Karrde saw her tiny holdout blaster attached securely to her wrist. "I'm still keeping my options open but justice to me is a far better word."

Aves stepped forward. He'd been listening to the conversation for quite a while. "The place is close, boss. We can walk to it."

"Very well." Karrde was clearly unhappy about this but Mara was grateful that he chose not to pursue an argument. He flipped open his comlink. "Zen'khas – are Heeto and Erzon still with you? Good. Tell them I need them for escort duty and they'll be paid extra for their trouble." He gave a short burst of laughter. "Good. We'll be with you in two minutes." He closed his comlink. "You're both fully armed?"

Mara nodded her red-gold head.

"Yes, boss," Aves patted the powerful blasters held in quick-draw low slung holsters.

"They didn't get Tharakan, did they?" Mara asked glumly."

"No," Karrde replied. "He's vanished. Probably lying low off-world."

"Let's get it over with," Mara said decisively. "Then I can get on with my life."