CHAPTER 6
Mara woke up in the cockpit of a ship traveling through real space. She looked around and realized it was Jade's Sabre. Mara smiled as she ran her hands over the controls of her old vessel. If she timed this right she should be in 24 ABY and she was doing a run for the Jedi Academy. If she remembered correctly she was getting food and school supplies for Luke before she was scheduled to travel to Monor II where she was to act as witness to the Accession of the Sunesi tenth Priest-Prince, Agapos the Tenth. While there she was to act as a bodyguard to a minor diplomat named Nom Anor.
During that fateful mission over a hundred New Republic Diplomats perished from what was then an unknown disease. Mara was also affected and barely survived the ordeal. She shook her head in frustration. Things would have turned out so much different if she back then was able to sense that Nom Anor was a member of the Yuuzhan Vong invading force. For Sith-sake he was a void in the Force, after her interactions with Callista that should have peaked her curiosity about the man and given her some indication that something was wrong.
'Maybe I can make things right this time,'she thought.
Mara shifted in the captain's chair so she could access the navigation controls. She deleted the current course and programmed a new destination. She was going to Monor II.
Mara came out of hyperspace in the Doldur Sector near the Monor System. She had chosen a false transponder code identifying her as a trader of exotic botanicals and medicinal goods. Three years earlier a plant native to Monor II called Ginchi Grass was found to have medicinal properties used to treat impotence in human and Devaronian males. Since then the planet has been overrun by pharmaceutical representatives looking to make a deal. Mara thought she should be able to land on the planet without much scrutiny of the documentation she fabricated in the last hour.
She also had taken advantage of the ship databanks and holonet to download street maps, low-level aerial photos and sewer plans of the location where she knew Nom Anor frequented in the days before the Accession of the Sunesi. She had approximately 5 days before she was originally scheduled to make planet-fall, hopefully it would be enough time to determine a pattern in Nom Anor's behavior.
For the last two days Mara had been shadowing Nom Anor's activity. At first it was difficult to find him because of the breathing mask off-worlders wore to protect them from the Cirrifog-laden atmosphere of the planet, but eventually she located him. Mara was shocked that an alien who was in deep cover could be so predictable. Each morning he went from his hotel to the kiosk at the corner of the street to purchase a caf. He then would scout out the area where the Accession was going to occur. He then went back to his hotel room where atmospheric adjusters filter out the cirrifog and allowed him to remove his mask so he could enjoy his drink.
Mara needed to find a good hide location for this mission. She went to the kiosk in the afternoon to reconnoiter the area. Across the street were hotels with fixed transparasteel windows, restaurants, department stores, and a large speeder parking lot. Beyond the parking area Mara spotted a building that might work. It was a deserted building that once used to be a Cirrifog mining company. When the export of Cirrifog was banned all the mining businesses went belly up. This company was obviously no different. Its once burnished anvilstone exterior was now pitted and discolored. A few of the transparasteel windows were missing. On the ground below Mara could see the sun reflecting off the remains of the windows after they fell to the street. That location would do.
Mara returned to the Sabrethat night, tore off her uncomfortable breathing apparatus and began to pack the necessary supplies. Inside the master cabin she went to the small 'fresher. She went to the sanisteam shower and pushed the steam valve in and to the left, then pulled it out from the shower wall. There was a soft click as a hidden panel on the back of the shower popped open. Inside was an assortment of lethal weapons: vibroblades, holdout blasters, incinerator mines, stun sticks, C10 stun grenades, lightsabers, and the weapon she would need at sunrise—A Blas Tech E-17D sniper rifle with scope.
The sniper rifle was broken down in a non-descript carrying case that she should be able to carry through the town without causing suspicions. She didn't have the time to zero the weapon, but since she zeroed all her weapons twice a year minimum, she hoped the weapon would shoot true.
About an hour before sunrise, she slung the carrying strap over her shoulder, zipped up her dark blue flight suit and left her ship heading toward the abandoned mining building. She needed to set up and be ready in the morning.
Mara picked a deserted room on the third floor of the old Acme Cirrifog mining building because it faced the Kiosk and it already had a broken window that she could fire through. She pushed an old desk into a position about 10 feet from the window and then stacked a rusting file cabinet on top of the desk to allow her a firing position looking down to the Kiosk. She used industrial tape to secure the curtains closed around the window and then took her vibroblade and cut open a small loophole in the fabric allowing a tiny opening to view the street below. It was through this opening she would fire her weapon. Her location in a darkened room and having her weapon 10 feet from the loophole would greatly minimize the possibility of a blaster flash giving away her position.
She looked at her chrono. She had approximately one standard hour before Nom Anor would make his way to get his morning caf. She had to hurry.
She quickly assembled the sniper rifle and climbed onto of the desk and file cabinet. She set up the weapon adjusting her fields of fire. The angle wasn't quite right and having to aim through her filter mask would make the shot even more difficult. She climbed down and picked up a couple old abandoned manuals and folders and tossed them on top of her sniper position. She climbed back up and positioned the books to stabilize the weapon in the correct position. Once she was satisfied she positioned herself behind the weapon and adjusted the scope, taking aim at the service counter of the tiny café.
She used the Force to calm herself. It had been decades since she acted as an assassin. As the Emperor's Hand she would always have a feeling of anticipation and excitement before taking the shot, now she felt different. She was a Jedi and this felt more like murder. She shook off that thought. The Galaxy was at war…they didn't know it yet, but the Vong had declared war and she was about to prevent trillions of deaths with one blaster shot. If this was of the darkside, then so be it. She would gladly give up her humanity for the galaxy.
She saw movement in front of the hotel as Nom Anor stepped out and walked casually to the corner to get his morning drink. Mara purged her mind of all thoughts but the shot. She focused in with the scope and adjusted her aim. The Vong infiltrator passed the vendor a credit chip and was handed a covered cup of caf. As usual the alien stood at the corner for a moment reconnoitering the area. As he stood in the open he was the perfect target.
Mara made sure she aimed at his head. If he was wearing crab armor a body shot would be a wasted effort.
She aimed, took a breath, slowly let it out, paused and then slowly squeezed the trigger. The sound of the blaster reverberated throughout the empty room. Below she could see Nom Anor's head violently jerk back followed by a spray of black blood covering the clerk behind the counter. The Monorian kiosk worker jumped back in surprise wiping the black blood off his face with his hand. After a second or two the realization of what happened hit him and he ran off in terror. Mara didn't wait to see if she had a kill shot. Either he was dead or not; she couldn't take another volley without risking getting caught.
She jumped off her perch and quickly disassembled the weapon and wiped it down in case she needed to ditch it; she then put it back into her carrying case. She grabbed her bag and pulled out a small incinerator mine. She set the timer for 10 standard minutes and placed it on the floor next to the desk. The mine would burn away any DNA, hair or fingerprints, which could place her at the location.
She gave the room a quick look over to make sure she didn't forget anything and then hastily moved in the direction of her planned escape route. By the time the mine went off she should be back in the Sabre. She then had one more stop before she went back to her time and back to her life with her husband and son.
Mara arrived to her ship with no problem. She stowed away her gear in the 'fresher hideaway and then went to the main galley where she clicked on the holonet to see the news reports.
She flicked through the channels until she found one showing the panicked pedestrians on the street where Nom Anor died.
'…early reports stated that Nom Anor, newly elected Prime Minister of Rhommamool and leader of the Red Knights of Life, scheduled to witness to the Accession of the Sunesi tenth Priest-Prince, Agapos the Tenth was assassinated by an unknown shooter this morning. There are now conflicting reports coming in: one report indicates the person who died was not a human, but an unknown humanoid species. City police have reported that the victim was wearing some sort of biotechnical mask that appeared to be attached to the decedent's head by cilia clinging to the pores of the alien's face. The creature has been sent to the morgue for autopsy. Police believe the alien's disguise was an attempt infiltrate and possibly disrupt the Accession Ceremony set to take place in two days.
' Also in the news a mysterious fire broke out in the old Acme Cirrifog-Mining company building. Fire investigators have ruled it an arson and an investigation is being conducted to see if insurance fraud might be the motive for the fire.'
Mara turned off the Holo. She hoped that the authorities would be so engrossed with the discovery of a new species and with anything they found in Nom Anor's hotel room that they wouldn't be too concerned about the shooter.
She went to the communications center of the ship. There were various holomessages queued up for review. She looked at the senders and seeing none from Luke she ignored the rest.
She requested a clearance to leave the planet. She expected a long wait and a perfunctory search of her ship after an assassination, but she was immediately cleared.
'I guess this is my lucky day,'she thought as she set a course for Helska IV.