Chapter 11
Benji entered the bridge just as Incident Alley exited hyperspace. Dankin, Odonnl, H'sishi, and Mara were at their respective stations.
"Almost there," Dankin announced over his shoulder as Benji approached.
Mara turned toward Benji as he settled into a passenger seat. "Once we land you're going to stick close to Odonnl. Understand?"
"Okay," Benji replied happily. He had been afraid he might be banished to his room after they landed; he much preferred the idea of spending time with his one of his new friends.
"I take it your father is meditating?" Mara continued. Benji nodded. "He just about disappears sometimes, doesn't he?" Benji was glad Mara had noticed. Sometimes his dad would get so deep in mediation Benji could barely even sense him anymore.
"So . . ." Odonnl began carefully, looking first at Benji and then Mara, "What are you going to do about Faughn?"
"I'll see if she shows for the meeting with Mirax, and then go from there." Mara glanced briefly at Benji before adding, "Hopefully Skywalker will remain in his own little world for a while. I'd just as soon not have him breathing down my neck while I'm dealing with Faughn."
The landing went relatively smoothly, despite the fact that Dankin was working with virtually no external sensors. A few minutes after touching down, Dankin approached the main boarding ramp of the ship. Even with everything else going on, there were still deliveries to be made and Dankin was on his way to contact the Corellian receiver. He pressed the button to lower the ramp. The ramp had not quite settled into place before a robed figure started up it.
"Where do you think you're going?" Dankin demanded, stepping in front of the intruder. The intruder rolled his shoulders and tilted his head slightly back, causing his hood to fall away, revealing a goateed face with dark hair and piercing green eyes.
"I need to speak to Mara," the man replied as he stepped easily around Dankin.
"No," Dankin said defiantly, planting himself back in the man's path. It was not the first time they had played this game. "You are not allowed on this ship, Corran."
The intruder, Jedi Master Corran Horn, barely gave Dankin a second look. "Get out of my way," he muttered as he pushed his way past. For a moment Dankin's hand hovered over the stungun Mara insisted he always carry. But Dankin soon thought better of it and reached instead for his comlink. "Chief, we've got company."
Mara gritted her teeth as she tucked her comlink away. She did not have time for this. She felt a brief flash of annoyance at Dankin for having allowed Corran onto the ship, but she quickly dismissed the notion. Corran was her problem, not her crew's. Furthermore, Dankin would never win in a fight against Corran, and he was smart enough to step aside rather than risk getting hurt. That was, in fact, one of her crew's most appealing qualities—they were not heroic. They would not fall on their swords for something as meaningless as principle.
Mara took a deep breath before leaving the bridge to find and confront Corran, hoping to get him off her ship before he noticed Luke. She found him in the corridor just past the airlock.
"Mara." He said her name in that self-righteous, all-knowing-Jedi tone that drove her up a wall. Or maybe it wasn't his tone she was picking up on, but rather his sense. It seemed every time she saw Corran, he had fallen deeper into the Jedi-as-last-hope-and-savior-of-the-galaxy role. It was a role she found irritating on Luke, but was just plain obnoxious coming from Corran.
"We need your help, Mara," he continued.
"Get off my ship," Mara bit out, ignoring his words. "Now!"
"The Jedi are stretched way too thin. We don't even know where Luke is. It's time you joined the fight. You owe us at least this much."
"I owe you?" Mara rejoined. She'd intended to ignore Corran's words and simply remove him from her ship without acknowledging his tirade, only the most recent in a long line of speeches trying to cow her into the Jedi cause, but she found she couldn't keep herself from responding. "Let me be perfectly clear, Corran. I don't owe you, or your Jedi, or anyone else, one kriffing thing. And if you don't stop pushing my crew around—"
"I thought I knew you, Mara," he interrupted. "I can't believe you would just turn your back on your duty." They were now toe-to-toe, each staring into the other's eyes.
"Then I guess you don't know me at all," Mara said, carefully measuring each syllable.
After a moment Corran seemed to finally accept her response, the muscles in his jaw relaxing just noticeably. "You will regret this, Mara."
"Oh, I've got plenty of regrets, Corran. This won't even crack the top ten."
He stared levelly at her for two more seconds, then in a swirl of robes, he was gone.