InsaneJediGirl - Thank you for taking time to review. My take on Mara's actions is that she has a strong connection to the Force and thus an intuitive understanding that 1) she has no choice but to go with Palpatine and 2) what is required of her to ensure her family's survival, namely the appearance of willing submission.
AN: That being said, I promised twice a week updates. Looks like Sunday and Wednesday are the days. Review people! I want to know what you think as this stuff comes out. It encourages me to write more (yes, this is not-so-subtle coersion)
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"Everyone wants off this rock," the young Emperor's Hand declared, her blaster never wavering from its aim. "Believe me, you're not the only ones."
Karrde quietly studied the mechanic not letting his face betray any concern about being on the wrong end of a small but extremely powerful blaster. "Then why haven't you left yet?" he asked keeping his voice calm and casual.
Mara made a sound somewhere between a grunt and a laugh. "You try living on a mechanic's salary and I won't sleep my way out of here. So we're back to the offer on the table. You take me and leave or," a feral smile crossed her face, "I let your fan club catch up with you." The smuggler boss no longer needed to strain his ears to pick up the angry din of the steadily approaching mob.
Neither did his crew. "Cap't, what says we take her up on it, hee?" Chin's nervous statement was echoed by the rest of the group, though no one dared stir toward the ship while their chief was still in danger. A loud crash indicated that the docking bay door was under siege and would not last long against the big-game racketeers and their irate clients.
Karrde didn't blink. "No arguments here, Chin. Alright, Jade, you've got yourself a ship."
A short nod of her head and Mara was already moving toward the ship, her blaster disappearing impossibly fast into some secret holster. "She's all ready to go," the confusing young woman reported. "Has been since the day after you landed. A real joy to work on. Most of the ships that land here are cross wired six ways from Coruscant."
The hanger bay door exploded inward while the Wilde Karrde was still waking up. Karrde turned hefting his oversized hunting rifle only to have a precise shot beat him to the first target.
"Karrde!" Mara growled next to him, "This ship won't jump for me; get in there!" Her blaster had reappeared from wherever she tucked it and was blazing away with pinpoint accuracy. Still shooting, the multitalented woman tossed a comlink to Karrde, flashing him a peek at the matching 'link tucked in the neckline of her tunic.
Karrde stowed the small cylinder on his belt and left with only the slightest twinge of conscience for leaving a lone woman to fight off the horde.
The smuggling boss charged onto the bridge eliciting a flurry of reports that long practice allowed him to interpret and respond to in a tangle of call and answer.
"She'll dance like a Coruscant deb, Cap't," Chin sang from the helm.
"Put her through her paces, Chin," Karrde's answer was coming out of his mouth even as his attention diverted to the comm report.
"Still no response from control, Captain," Dankin's voice was laced with his perpetual worry.
"We're not asking permission, Dankin. We're leaving," Karrde reminded the jumpy crewer. "Who's on guns?"
"Faughn and Torve." The entire crew answered together.
Karrde smirked at himself. "Should have known. Aves, you're spotter for this. The last thing I need is retaliation 'cause we had trigger-happy rookies manning the quads. Shields?"
Aves responded, working the sensor grid. "All they've got is hand blasters, Karrde; we're not even down half a percent." He paused. "Looks like the party's getting rough out there."
"Show me." A few buttons and one of the displays scattered about the bridge began to show the docking bay. Mara stood her ground ten feet away from the lowered boarding ramp single shots ringing rapid-fire from her blaster to catch the approaching thugs with deadly precision. The small mountain of bodies surrounding her attempted to hold back their live companions and failed miserably. Karrde watched with interest for a few moments noting the clean kills worthy of any assassin.
"Aves, show me the landing bay." A view from inside the ship split the screen with the continuing footage of the firefight outside. "This should be an interesting show. Chin repulsors now and start pulling in the boarding ramp." Karrde tore the comlink from his belt and called into it, "Jade, we're leaving."
It was, as Karrde had promised, an interesting show. Never letting up her covering fire, Mara went from standing still facing the mob to a dead sprint toward the ship in just under half a second. When the rapidly rising ramp threatened to be more of a trip hazard than it was worth, she threw herself into a horizontal dive, clearing the threshold with inches to spare. Not about to belly flop onto unforgiving metal, Mara turned her dive into a shoulder roll coming up in a defensive crouch and squeezing two more deadly shots out before the loading bay doors closed with a decisive clang. Only then did Mara relax her stance breathing slowly if a little deeper than normal.
The silence on the bridge said it all. Karrde let himself and his crew be stunned for a few moments before calling them back to reality. "Chin, take us out. Any word from control, Dankin?"
"No, sir," the man at the comm station was still in shock.
"Then I'll head down and see if we don't have a new member of the family."
"Karrde," Aves called, eyeing the young woman in the loading bay with open wariness, "be sure you know what you're getting us into." The warning hung in the air demanding a comeback.
"We need her," Karrde responded simply. Aves knew the chief well enough to take the reassurance and turned back to his station, letting the tension waft away from the situation.
The landing bay door accepted Karrde's handprint and hissed open. Mara hadn't moved and certainly hadn't relaxed. Her hair fell in red-gold snarls about her thin angular face and even doing nothing her body held all the tension of a predator ready to pounce. Karrde approached as one might a strange animal on the outskirts of town.
"I could have left you behind."
Mara turned a piercing emerald gaze to the fringe boss. "But you didn't," she observed. Then after a pause that would have had a lesser man squirming she added, "And you wouldn't"
"Are you that trusting?" Karrde asked not believing for a second that she was.
A minute shrug. "Let's just say I'm good at knowing who to trust."
Not willing to let her hedging rob him of an opportunity, Karrde took a chance. "You trust me enough to work for me? I'm short a hand or two."
Be my helping hand? As per her training Mara's face did not show the flash of pain on hearing the title. Her practical side told her she had precious few other options. Her more secretive self shied away from working with anyone at close quarters for long, lest she reveal things best forgotten. "I have no past," she warned.
"I'm asking about your future," Karrde replied.
Reassured, Mara nodded. "All right, Karrde. I'll come with you."
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