Chapter Five
"Ms. Jade, you have a message from Master Skywalker," Tionne called into the room the Jedi trainees used as a dining area.
Mara rolled her eyes. "Okay, once and for all, I am not 'Ms. Jade'. Call me Mara."
Tionne smiled. "Mara, you have a message in the Comm Room."
Mara nodded and stood, leaving her half-eaten plate of some sort of local salad on the table. She followed Tionne to the Comm Room and there the woman left her to view her message in private.
"I need help," Luke's image said. He looked tired and more than a little tense, even sitting down as he was on a ridiculously opulent bed. "I'm on Antarnae, a planet that has little in the way of resources beyond word of mouth. Could either you, Mara, or you, Leia, try to look up the name 'Namina' in whatever records you can get to…"
Mara listened to the whole message twice, then deleted it once she was sure that she remembered the name of the planet correctly. In long, sure strides, she walked outside to where the Z-95 Headhunter she had flown to Yavin 4 in was sitting. Just a few moments later she was inside her sleek little ship and sitting at her cockpit, punching in the code that would allow her to talk to her employer, Talon Karrde. His main commodity was information; if anyone could figure out who this 'Namina' woman was, he could.
Minutes passed as her code was checked out and Karrde approached the comm station. "Mara!" he exclaimed, his features semi-hidden in his beard. "I thought you were peacefully mediating on how to use your abilities. What brings you to me?"
Mara smiled tightly. "Information. There seems to be a strange occurrence here and I need anything you can give me on a woman named Namina."
Karrde paused for a moment, clearly expecting more than what she had just given him. Finally, he let out a long breath and raised an eyebrow. "That's all you have for me, Mara? A first name? With billions of creatures in this galaxy, you want me to find one? Not even I'm quite that good, my dear."
"She's human, brown hair to her shoulders, about my height," Mara prattled off, taking details that Luke had told to her from his dreams and putting them together in a more cohesive grouping. "Possibly connected with the planet Antarnae in the Outer Regions, or the planetary group located there."
"Is Namina a first or last name?" Karrde asked as he jotted down the information she had just given him.
Mara cursed inwardly and braced herself. "Not sure. Quite possibly a first name by the way it was used."
Karrde paused his writing and again his eyebrow raised. "Well, that narrows it down a bit, but only a bit, Mara. I'll do my best, but I am a busy man and…"
"Make this top priority at the moment, Karrde," Mara interrupted him. Her fingers drummed absently on her control panel, her eyes distantly focused as she used the Force to try to get a general reading of the events. All she could see was a darkness that threatened, though she wasn't sure who or what, or even when. She could be seeing the Force signature of the Empire during the Emperor's reign for all she knew: she wasn't a Jedi yet.
Instead of her boss reprimanding her for the interruption, he grew more serious and alert. She had only acted like this around him a few times, and every time something momentous had happened, like the unintended capture of Luke Skywalker or a sudden, massive strike by a competitor. "What's the situation there, Mara?"
She shook her head, her red-hair, currently in a braid, striking her cheek smartly. "I can't tell you just yet, Karrde. I just need anything you can find on this name, and as soon as you can get it to me. I'll check back day by day. Until then, Jade out."
Now she had to wait.
She hated waiting.
"…and get back to me. Artoo will be awaiting your messages." Luke's image winked out and Leia pursed her lips. Her twin knew how busy she was as Mon Mothma's chief aide, yet he had sent her a copy of this message and included her. Knowing him as well as she did, she knew that he considered this to be vitally important. The fact that his message was kept as short as possible while detailing as much as he could also outlined the fact to her that he was treating this situation with utmost care.
What had he gotten himself into now?
"Thank you," she murmured to the communications crew in Imperial Center. She had been in the middle of a fruitless Council session and had welcomed the chance a message from her brother had given her to leave. Now she almost wished she had waited, as she felt the time-sensitive pressure of his request tug at her.
Focusing briefly into the Force she tried to locate him as he could do her with hardly a moment's thought, but gave up. He had been pleading with her to develop her Jedi skills, but her increasingly heavy load of duties as the Chief-of-State's aide, and a New Republic Counselor as well, just demanded too much of her time. Added to that the responsibilities of being a mother of Jedi twins and a husband who was currently missing…
Leia Organa Solo sighed. Who could have foreseen that such a change from Rebel Alliance to legitimate government would be more stressful than jumping from one star system to the next, always trying to stay ahead of the Emperor's fleet?
"At least then we knew who our enemies were," she muttered to herself as she paced the hall right outside the Council chambers, delaying her return as long as she dared. In mid-stride, she stopped and shook herself.
Her brother needed her. The Council could not deny that fact, nor the admittance to a short leave of absence from the proceedings as she tried to locate the facts he needed. Once she had done that, well, she'd just go from there.
Resolute, she squared her shoulders underneath her thin mint green gown and nodded to the two guards standing outside the main entrance. They quickly opened the doors, allowing her through, and the argument occurring inside halted at her approach.
Mon Mothma, a woman rapidly aging under the demands of putting a government together out of a rag-tag group of rebels, glanced up and immediately caught Leia's purposeful look. "Counselor Organa Solo, is everything all right?"
Leia hid a smile. As usual, Mon Mothma had given her just the right sort of opening to make her plea. "Chief-of-State and esteemed fellow counselors, I'm afraid that I must beg a temporary leave of absence to assist my brother, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker."
Admiral Ackbar, a darkly colored Mon Calamarian who was in charge of the New Republic's military, nodded his head. "Do you need any other assistance, Princess? Perhaps I can call a few ships to help you, or if not ships, at least some personnel."
She shook her head. "Not at this time that I can foresee, Admiral. I will let you know more definitely at a later time." She gazed around at the numerous alien representatives from other worlds. "May I be excused?"
"For how long, Counselor?" That was Borsk Fey'la, a white furred Bothan who frequently clashed with many of the other counselors, including Leia and Admiral Ackbar. "How long will this…crisis last?"
Leia met his gaze coolly. "How long does any crisis last, Counselor Fey'la? As long as it takes to resolve it," she answered.
After a brief glance around those assembled in the very large room, Mon Mothma inclined her head toward Leia. "Go and assist our Jedi Master, Leia. Return as soon as you are able and do keep Admiral Ackbar or myself updated on the situation."
Leia nodded once and turned smartly on her heel, the guards on the inside of the doors scurrying to open them before she ran into them. Freed, for the moment at least, from her never ending duties of a counselor, she resolved to thank her brother when she saw him next…if she didn't have to run after him first.
"I'm the only other person who is currently at Antarnae City who isn't a native. Don't you think that's going to lead him to me more quickly than the others?" He asked, panic creeping into his tone.
She barely glanced up at him as she performed final touches on what she had been creating for several weeks now. "I know this already. What is your point?"
He wanted to scream at her, but didn't dare. Forcing his voice to a more natural level, he inquired, "Well, what if he sees right through me with the Force?"
"I've already told you…the crystals on this stupid planet will dull his ability to use the Force. I doubt he has even noticed the difference yet."
"But what if he does see right through me? What if he knows I'm working with you, instead of trying to hurt you? Don't you think that will anger him, a full Jedi Master?"
Now she looked at him fully and the smile on her lips was cold as ice. "It might."
He thought he was going to have heart failure. "Won't he come after me then?"
She laughed, low and sinister. "I'm counting on it."
