STARK PROMISES By Leia Organa Solo E-Mail: LeiaOS@aol.com SIXTEEN YEARS AFTER THE BATTLE OF ENDOR, LEIA IS ACCUSED OF A CRIME SHE DIDN'T COMMIT. LUKE AND MARA RUSH ACROSS THE GALAXY IN A RACE AGAINST TIME TO CLEAR LEIA'S NAME WHERE THEY DISCOVER SINISTER FORCES AT WORK THAT IF ALLOWED TO PROCEED SPELL CERTAIN DOOM FOR THE SKYWALKER LEGACY AND STARK PROMISES FOR THE ENTIRE GALAXY. DISCLAIMER: All the usual stuff applies. The Star Wars universe and the characters contained within are all the property of George Lucas, Lucasfilm, Ltd., and the authors who invented them and anyone who says otherwise: my lightsaber is ready! :-) Some of them were my own invention, Stark, Kilana, Cedrik, Jerri Gigel, and Que'ouli and many other minor supporting characters. If you've lurked very long in the Star Wars universe you know who's from books/movies and whom I made up. I hold no copyrights on those characters and this story was not written for profit of any kind. I am receiving no money and nobody else who reads this should be either! It is simply my own addition to a never-ending universe. I in no way wish to detract from the pro-fiction authors or the movies by this story. In fact, if you're like me, the main reason you read fan fiction is to keep yourself entertained between pro fiction's release dates! ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Thank you to all of my beta testers and idea testers, Mike, Carla, Erin, and a few others-you know who you are! You guys were great and I couldn't have done it without you. Special thanks to all the people who lurk in the 'Who Should Luke Marry?' folder in AOL, your discussions keep me on my toes. All Club Jaders, your discussions *really* keep me on my toes. And also for all you inmates of Detention Block C. A lot of you have read this and given me feed back, thanks. AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story takes place approximately 15-16 years after Return of the Jedi. A fairly good knowledge of the SW universe up until that point would probably be helpful. This is a Luke and Mara story, but that is certainly not all that it is. It is also a Leia story, and deals with a lot of political situations in the GFFA. In other words, it is a lot more than simply a romantic romp, although there is certainly a romantic triangle of sorts throughout it. If you like action stories this is probably not for you-action is not my specialty. To web site creators: Please ask me before you place my story on your web site. Chances are I won't mind, but I like to know where my creation is going to be. May the Force be with you Leia Organa Solo STARK PROMISES By LeiaOS@AOL.com Heir to a Jedi legacy Yanbu, Outer Rim "Kilana! Kilana! Wake up!" Kilana awoke to find her father standing over her. "Daddy," she murmured. She raised her hand and covered her eyes with her arm, trying to block out the pure blue light from the lightsaber her father had switched on directly above her. "Get up, Kilana," he urged quietly. "Come on, Munchkin." He turned off the lightsaber and reached down into the dark and scooped her up in his arms. "We have to go." "Go where, Daddy?" She slipped her arms around his neck. "Shhh." He hushed her with a whisper. "Mama's waiting up on the roof." "But, Mashie," she wailed, realizing she had left her favorite doll on the bed. "Daddy! I want Mashie." "Shhh," he hushed her again. Was there fear in his usually calm voice? But this time he turned on the lightsaber and walked quickly over to the bed and found the required doll. "Here you are," he said, handing it to her. Then he flipped the switch on the lightsaber, returning the room to darkness, and hurried out of the room and up the stairs. There was no moon tonight. Kilana clung tightly to her Father, arms wrapped tightly around his neck. She lay her smooth cheek on his bearded one and was quiet in a way she normally was not. Something was terribly wrong. She could feel it in her father's arms. They were tense, not relaxed and gentle like they usually were. As they reached the roof, Kilana glanced around and then looked up at the stars. They twinkled easily and brightly..... Something else was up there too.... A bright flash like a comet streaked across the sky and a sound like thunder was heard. Kilana's mother was waiting on the roof with the new Corellian transport. She glanced quickly towards the sky, her brown robes wrapping around her legs tightly. Then her mother placed the lightsaber on her belt and reached her arms out to Kilana. "Padraic, they're already here" she said to Kilana's father. "I know," he whispered back. "I've cleared the coordinates for Yanbu in the computer; it shouldn't take long for them to come back up. Go straight to hyperspace, Aine. If they find you, they'll. . ." he broke off, glancing at Kilana, "They'll take you as well." "Padraic. . ." her mother broke off as she took Kilana. "I. . .I-" "You have to go, Aine, and quickly. They'll be here any minute now. I have to stay.... You know that." "Yes." "I love you." Her father turned to Kilana as well. "And I love you, Kilana. Very much." "I love you, Daddy." Kilana hugged her father, and as she did, noticed for the first time the tears in his deep, blue eyes. But then several loud noises made her glance around. Her Father looked up too. "Aine, go! Now!" Her Mother started running towards the ship. As she ran up the ramp to the open hatch, she shot at a couple of men dressed in white with a blaster. Kilana screamed and began crying hysterically. As soon as they were inside the ship, Kilana's mother slammed the button to close the hatch door. Her mother set Kilana down and ran to the cockpit. Kilana followed, still crying. She climbed into her seat. "Mama, what's happening?" "Shhh. Buckle up! I have to think." Her Mother switched several switches on the top of the ship. Kilana looked through the cockpit window and caught a glimpse of her Father. He was now fighting, lightsaber glaring and Jedi robes flowing in the night breeze. He blocked the blaster fire easily, deflecting the blasts with his saber blade. "Daddy," Kilana whimpered again. Then she felt the repulsorlifts beginning to rumble as the ship lifted slowly off the top of their old home. A rough voice came over the speaker, "Ship number 223xktz, please state your destination." Her mother shut off the commlink, ignoring the voice. As soon as the transport cleared the building beneath them, Kilana's mother opened the throttle and the ship streaked toward space. The computer counted off the seconds to the hyperspace jump with a red blinking light. Five. . four. . three. . . Two. . . Below them their home went up in a brilliant flash. Her mother gasped. Kilana screamed. One. . . * * * Kilana awoke with a start, sitting straight up in the small apartment she now called home.... She could feel the sweat on her back. Hot beads of perspiration caused her nightshift to stick to her back, wet and clammy. It was just a dream, she told herself, just a dream. Actually it was more of a nightmare than a dream, a recurring one. The worst part about it was that it wasn't just a dream, it had really happened, years ago, when she had been only four. She had dreamed the nightmare for years, until she was nearly a teenager, and then she had felt safe at last. But now, the men in her dreams had come back. Little white soldiers. . . with blasters. She hadn't known then, but they were Stormtroopers. Stormtroopers had slain her Father along with the rest of the Jedi Knights. Stormtroopers were the Empire's slaves, carrying out its dirty work. But the Empire wasn't interested in the far planets, so her mother and she had fled to Yanbu, and they had been safe here for along time. Yanbu was the only habitable planet in the star system and it was on the edge of the galaxy. No new settlers came to it, and very few people left it. There were two reasons for this: First, if you got lost in hyperspace here, no one was going to be around to care, because if you went past the planet, there was nothing beyond it. The second reason was, there was a huge asteroid belt surrounding the planet, and only the most skilled pilots managed to get through. If the residents were lucky, a few traders would arrive once in a while. Of course, that had been before.... Now, nobody left at all and not many people came to Yanbu; not without the express permission of Grand Moff Drogheda Iri. This was the Empire's solution for a planet on the edge of the galaxy. Kilana was glad that her mother had not lived long enough to see the Grand Moff's arrival. Her mother would have hated being here when the Imperials arrived! She had hated the Empire. The truth was that Kilana knew very little about what pre-Imperial life in the galaxy had been like. Her mother had not told her very much about that, or about her family history, or about her father. After her Mother died, it was easy for Kilana to forget.... Until the nightmares returned. The nightmares had returned at about the same time the Grand Moff had arrived and now she had to remember. She had to remember that this same tyrannical government had once killed her Father and, according to her Mother, had destroyed the galaxy. She had to remember that the nightmare she had once lived, could be repeated on a planet where she had begun to feel safe . What bothered her about the Grand Moff's arrival was that the Empire hadn't paid any attention to the small planet at the edge of the galaxy before. So why should they now? The Grand Moff had arrived with a small fleet of ships and a few Stormtroopers. Not a very big show of force for the supposedly grand and glorious Galactic Empire. It was not at all what she remembered from her childhood. Of course she had been very young when she had last seen Stormtroopers, not much more than a baby, really. She remembered little about her father, about Corellia, or about the Empire. Except for that night. Tonight especially, that night was as clear in her mind as the hologram on the night table. Etched in her memory was every detail of her mother's face, her father's light blue lightsaber, and the pain and betrayal in his deep blue eyes. The new Corellian ship had sat on the platform, sleek in the moonlight, ready to take off at a moment's notice. Her mother had been worried, so worried that night, and so very sad. Her father too had been sad. His face had been a mixture of worry, hurt, and despair. The wind had tousled his light brown hair over his eyes, and rustled his long brown robes around his legs. In Kilana's memory, her father's lightsaber had seemed like a brilliant beacon, a candle in a small, dark room. A candle snuffed out by the Empire as they blew up the small flat the family had called home. Before they had left, her father had kissed her and her mother...Kilana could remember the nights after they left Corellia. Her mother had been so lonely then... She swung her feet over the edge of the bed and sat up abruptly, throwing the dream from her mind. She didn't want to remember anymore. The nightmares hurt. Kilana stood up slowly. She didn't turn the lights on. On this small planet that would draw attention to her flat this late at night. And attention wasn't something you wanted to arouse, not with the Empire on-planet. Instead she simply walked over to the balcony and stepped outside. Warm night breezes stirred her long brown hair and rustled the loose robe she had wrapped around her. Somewhere in the city, a siren wailed. She stared up at the stars, bright and twinkling. She could see the grouping of stars in the galaxy that included her home planet of Corellia. Those stars formed a thin dotted line drawn straight across the horizon, with home right in the center....home.... the dream. The dream had been so real this time, not hazy like it had been when she was little. Real. So real that she could almost feel her father's arms around her. Feel his bearded cheek against her own. Smell the ozone as the blaster bolts were deflected by his lightsaber. Feel the heat from the explosions. She had begun having it more frequently, and it was becoming more and more realistic. Tonight Kilana felt alone, and so very tired. The day at the factory had been rough. Cedrik, her only friend, had been called in by the Imperials for something insignificant-although nothing was insignificant anymore-and he hadn't returned to the factory. Something about it didn't feel right, but Kilana knew there was not much that she could do. Cedrik was her protector. He was several years older than she. His family had lived on the same street where she and her Mother had lived. Cedrik had shown up on their doorstep, and with a roguish grin, had introduced himself. Somehow, he had ended up being the only person her Mother would let watch Kilana when she had to be gone or work overtime. It was Cedrik who had first interested her in machinery of any type, and it was he who had encouraged her to learn how to fly the Corellian spaceship. Though her mother had wanted her to learn, Kilana was not interested initially. It was only when Cedrik said that he wanted to learn to pilot, that she had shown any interest. Her mother had taken on both pupils, one very, very eager, and the other not quite so enthusiastic, and had done her best to teach them both everything she knew. Kilana shivered. She wrapped her robe around herself a little more and went back inside. Working her way across the room in the dark, she opened a cabinet door and got out a glass to get herself a drink before starting to go back to bed. As she reached her bedroom door, a knock sounded outside. She stopped a second and turned back toward the front door. The knock came again, but it wasn't coming from that door. It was coming from the door to the balcony where she had just been. Immediately alert, she walked back across the room and called softly, "Who is it?" "It's Cedrik." She swung the window open immediately. "Cedrik! What happened today?" The usually handsome man glanced down the hall. Cedrik looked downright awful. The run-in he'd had with the Empire had obviously not been good for him. His clothes were torn and he had several cuts on his face. "Shh!" He hissed, placing his hand over her mouth. "Let me come in and don't turn on a light. You're probably being watched." He stepped in. "Watched? What are you talking about?" Kilana stared, and then seeing the black spot near his eye, started in horror. "Cedrik, what happened to your face?" "Don't bother with it; we don't have time for it right now. You have a ship don't you? The one your mother had?" He stepped into the room quickly and shut the window behind him. "Yes, but what...? Do you need it?" She asked, as she reached to touch the bruises on his face. "Yeah, and I need to have you come with me." Cedrik pushed her hands away from his eye. "Don't bother with it now." "It needs medical attention." "Nothing a little Bacta won't cure. Will you listen to me?" "I have been listening. So far you aren't telling me very much." Kilana ignored his brushing away of his injuries, and still placed a light finger on his eye, examining it in the half-light of the room. "Listen, I need your ship and I need you to pilot it." Cedrik flinched and stood uncomfortably. He brushed her hand away and began pacing the floor. "Pilot it? Where are you going?" Kilana looked up at him, eyes wary. "Cedrik I haven't been off- planet since I was a child. If someone out there recognizes me, I'll be dead." "That's something I have to ask you about." Cedrik said. "Why did your mother come to this planet?" Kilana stopped. She hesitated, not sure whether or not she should tell him what her mother had told her, and about her dreams of that horrible night long ago. "Oh, never mind." Cedrik stood. "I've wondered about it for a long time, but I don't think I have time for it right now anyway. Can you fly in hyperspace?" "Cedrik, you know that's a ridiculous question! You know as much about hyperspace flight as I do. You know that Mother didn't teach us hyperspace travel because of the asteroid field." "All right, all right." Cedrik brushed away her comment. "If the computer sets coordinates we should be all right. Does the computer still work?" "To the best of my knowledge. I've never used the hyperspace navigator before and I haven't used the ship since Iri's arrival.... Cedrik, what's going on? Why did you get called in?" "Because I ran into something Grand Moff Iri didn't want me to know," He said. "I was slicing into some orders that hadn't been completed correctly, and I ran into this." He pulled out a data sheet. "What is this?" Kilana asked as she looked it over. "It tells us and this entire planet that the Empire is no longer in existence." "What?" Kilana stared. "The New Republic is the official government of the galaxy now. They are running things out of Coruscant. They have been for nearly thirteen standard years. They overthrew the Empire years ago." "Then why hadn't we heard about it?" Kilana demanded. "You know how slowly news reaches this planet. I was eight when you and your mother came here. Wedidn't know that Palpatine had declared himself Emperor until I was nineteen. That's eleven years. A long time to get news that was old by the time it reached us. He had declared himself Emperor only a year or so after you arrived. Few people come in and out, you know this as well as I do. But this is beside the point. The garrison that is here is not an Emperor-appointed garrison, but a self-appointed one. Grand Moff Drogheda Iri has appointed himself a ruler and he is plotting to try to bring the Empire back into existence. "He has set himself up as Emperor and he's using Yanbu as a base, knowing that the New Republic will probably not know much about a little planet on the edge of the galaxy that never asked for their protection." Cedrik sat down heavily. "How do you know this?" Kilana stared. "One of the guards was bragging about that." "This Grand Moff....Can he be dangerous?" Kilana asked him anxiously. "Maybe not to Coruscant, but if he can start taking over some worlds, there might be a renewal of hostilities." "The Rebellion?" "That's what the guard called the New Republic. It seems that Iri has refused to concede that the Empire is over, he thinks of himself as the savior of it, and he is going to bring back it's glory." Cedrik snorted. "Some savior." "So why are you here? Do you need a place to hide or..." "No, there's no place on this planet that we'd be safe from them, you know that. There's only one option." "What?" Kilana suddenly knew what he meant. "But neither of us have flown past the asteroid belt, Cedrik!" "I know, but we stand a better chance with that asteroid field then we do with the Empire. They are ruthless with anyone who dares to cross them." Kilana flinched, memories flooding back. She knew that only too well. "Where are we going?" She asked. "To Coruscant. Or to another equally important world. Actually, if we can just get to Corellia, we can get news to Coruscant easily," Cedrik replied. "Someone should report this guy. Are you game?" "It's dangerous?" Kilana asked. "I won't lie to you. Yeah, it's dangerous. Will you help?" Cedrik implored. "I'm already in trouble." Kilana wrinkled up her forehead. "If anyone is watching me, they'll know that you came here, and then they'll take me in to question me." Kilana smiled grimly. "Yes, I'll go. Let me get some stuff packed." "Okay," Cedrik said. He stood up next to the couch cautiously. "Uh..." He grunted. "Listen Kilana," he started, as she moved to her room to throw some things into a bag. "I'm not going to promise that we can get off this planet. We're going to have to do some sharp flying. The odds are definitely against us" "Never tell any good Corellian the odds!" She exclaimed tersely. "I'm up to the challenge. Don't worry about it." Kilana went back across to her bedchamber. She looked around the room. Anything she left, she'd never see again. Quickly she threw off her robe and pulled on a jumper. She threw the robe into a bag along with a couple of other items of clothing. Then she pulled open a drawer. Inside were two treasures: her doll from a long time ago, dear Mashie, dressed in the robes of a Jedi Knight; and her Mother's lightsaber,... for her mother too had been a Jedi. She wondered if there was anything else that she should bring with her. She knew that they would probably have to blast out of the spaceport, and who knew if they'd ever be back. Anything she left would be as good as donated to the Imperials. And then she remembered.... Heading quickly into the adjoining room, the room where her mother had slept, she opened a closet and took out a box filled with data pads. Gingerly touching them, she remembered her mother's admonition: "This is your legacy, Kilana, never forget it." She bit her lip and slipped them into the bag. She had never read them, but she could not leave them; to do so would be to disappoint her mother. Kilana left the room and headed back. Cedrik had gathered some supplies from the kitchen and had put them into a box. He glanced up as she entered the room. "Hope you don't mind," he said. "I thought we'd need some staples." "No, of course not." Kilana replied. "You're right." Kilana threw the bag over her shoulder and followed him up the permacrete stairs to the roof. The ship was docked in the flight dock on the top of the building. "The real trick is going to be getting the ship to warm up without alerting any of the Empire's guard dogs," Cedrik said as he slipped into the hangar. He motioned for Kilana to follow him and as they reached the ship, it was Kilana who punched in the code for the ship's prep cycle. They both entered the ship quietly, and Kilana shut the door behind them as they both headed to the cockpit. The buttons and gears were whirring and there was a soft hum of repulsorlifts and engines warming up. "Any ideas to keep it quieter?" Kilana said softly. "Nope," Cedrik said. "We just have to hope that whoever is on watch duty is a little sleepy tonight." Kilana cringed. She was hoping that their fate would have a little better odds than the chances that someone would be sleepy at his post. "How are the shields?" She asked Cedrik. "They're charged and ready. I just hope that they're all right. Thank the Force that you've kept this thing in good condition, Kilana. We're going to need every one of them to get away from the Empire, not to mention that the asteroid field's going to be a pain in the..." Cedrik stopped short. "It's going to take some sharp flying." "Cedrik, the last time I flew, I didn't check the shields against anything, and that's been since before Iri!" Kilana said. "I know. But you did the best you could do under the circumstances." Cedrik watched a data printout on the screen, checking the figures with what Kilana's mother had told him they should be. Kilana watched some of the data printouts too, and checked the figures as they flew by. "We're going to have to do this quietly." Cedrik said. "I thought you said that we couldn't do it quietly." Kilana said. "Well, we should do it as quietly as we possibly can," Cedrik admitted. "Shields?" "On." Kilana flicked the switch quickly. "Hyperspace coordinates?" "Set." All that was left was to pray that they were still good after nearly two decades of sitting unused. Cedrik brought up the navigation computer. ` "Can you get us through that belt?" "I hope so," he said focusing. "All right, then, here goes nothing." He pushed the button and the ship's repulsorlifts hummed and buzzed beneath them. "Corellian ship vessel number 222xKtz, please state your business." "Sithspawn!" Cedrik swore. "I'd hoped we could avoid that until after we'd gotten a little farther along than this. Ignore them." He quickly flipped a switch over his head. "Corellian ship vessel number 222xKtz, please state your business, and return to your docking bay immediately." "They're sending a fighter after us." Kilana motioned to the sensor screen. "Actually, there are two of them." "Vessel 222xtKz, please return to your docking bay immediately-" "Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you?" Cedrik snarled. "This is your last warning." The voice on the other end took on a very annoyed tone. "We will not be responsible for the consequences if you choose to defy this warning. "Yeah, I'll bet you won't." Cedrik said. "Jam the fighter's communications, we'll see how they like that. It's that button right there." Kilana pushed it as he spoke. "Now what?" "Now you cross your fingers and hope we have just a little bit of luck, something I've been short on all day." The transport lifted up, and Cedrik turned it so it was directly in line with Yanbu's small pinkish moon. Hitting the throttle, he increased the speed, and they shot out of the atmosphere. "Coming up on the asteroid belt in five-" Cedrik cut himself off. "Does this thing have guns?" he asked Kilana. "It's got one on the top-" "Go and see if you can't get a couple of those TIE's off our tail." Kilana climbed out of the cockpit and into the gunner's hole. She'd never shot the gun in her life. She wasn't even really sure why a transport had one, and she'd been forbidden to touch it by her mother. Now she was supposed to shoot a couple of TIE fighters without any practice? Cedrik was really pressing his luck. Then the voice of her mother drifted back to her. 'There is no such thing as luck, Kilana, everything in the galaxy happens for a reason and a purpose.' She paused a second, as a feeling came to her just as her mother's voice did. Kilana knew that to dismiss this feeling would probably be one of the dumbest things she could do. The one thing she'd learned over the years was not to dismiss those odd feelings. She ran out of the gunner's hole and back to the cockpit. "Cedrik! Let me fly and you shoot the guns." Cedrik didn't even turn around. "Are you crazy? You haven't had any experience flying off-planet." "I know, but neither have you! And you have had experience with guns. Remember all those classes you took and you wanted me to take with you? If you can handle the TIE's, I can handle the asteroids. I promise you." Cedrik was about to dismiss the advice, but then he realized that the truth was Kilana often had feelings like these. And usually it was best to trust them. "All right! You better watch those sensors though." Kilana nodded and slid into the pilot's seat. Cedrik ran back to the guns. Within a few minutes, he had taken out two of the TIE's, but they weren't out of the Carkoon pit yet. More TIE's had taken their place. Kilana tried to avoid them and realized that the asteroid field was looming in front of the ship. "They'll be crazy to follow us in here," she murmured, and set her mind on concentrating on the asteroids. The sensors were blaring. Kilana slammed them off. She'd do better she knew without the distractions of the loud, blaring, bleeping sound. Closing her eyes, she tried to sense each of the asteroids. It wasn't easy. Some were small; others were larger than ships; but any of them would be fatal if the ship were to run into it. "You turned off the sensors!" she heard Cedrik exclaim. "Why in the galaxy are you trying to fly blind?" "Just shut up!" She replied tersely. She didn't have time to try and explain to Cedrik why she was flying a ship with her eyes closed and the sensors off. She wasn't even sure that she could explain it, but she knew that if she *did* try to, they would run into an asteroid. Cedrik stared at her. "I don't know how you're doing that." He sat down beside her and checked the hyperspace coordinates. The nav computer was finished with the calculations for the jump. The last asteroid passed their viewing port and ran into a TIE that had stayed on their tail. The TIE and the small asteroid exploded in a brilliant burst of flame. Kilana sank back into her chair, drained. Cedrik glanced at her for only a second before pulling back on the throttle and watching with awe as the stars faded into white starlines, leaving behind them a tiny planet on the edge of the galaxy, and an Imperial ship trying to blast its way through the asteroid field. * * * Mara Jade opened the door on Jade's Fire and walked out of the ship. It wasn't often she got to Corellia, but she still had friends there. She waved to the short, chubby man with a mustache and a red face. He grinned broadly and waved back enthusiastically. Mara turned away and rolled her eyes. He was probably hoping for something more than just the extra credits she was laying down to get a first class-no questions asked flight dock in one of Corellia's major cities. She locked up the ship and activated the slave drive. You never knew when you might need to leave a planet in a hurry and last time she'd been to Corellia, that slave drive had come in very handy. The silly little man waddled up to her. 'He looks like a shrunken rancor,' she thought bemused with his plump red face and incredibly red nose. Geof Frisken was a full 5 centimeters shorter than she and a good deal wider. "Thanks for the docking bay, Geof." She said, attempting to give him a smile. Geof's smile widened across his entire face, making him look three times as ridiculous. "It was really no problem at all Mara, absolutely a cinch," he gushed, and he grasped her hand. "All I had to do was push a few buttons here and erase a couple of things here and-" "Yes," Mara interrupted him, trying not to let her aversion to the poor guy show. "I'm sure it wasn't. If you'll excuse me, I've got things to do." "Of course." He grinned broadly. "I'm sure you do. Please, if you need anything, anything at all, then let me know." "Don't worry, I will." Mara said patronizingly. Her patience was wearing thin. She turned away from him abruptly, and walked out of the docking bay, glancing back at the sign to make sure she knew which one she was in. She headed down the street to the hotel she usually stayed in. Idiots! She thought to herself. Of course, who in the galaxy wouldn't want to brag to his friends that he was on 'intimate' terms with Master Trader Mara Jade. Geof wasn't as annoying as some men were. He was too stupid and too easily manipulated to be any real trouble. Some of the men she ran into though, created a little more of a problem. Mara wasn't interested in any of them. She had long ago given up any allusion of having a normal life where men were concerned. After all, the first man that had influenced her life had brainwashed her; the second had never really ever understood her, but had given her a job and a home in spite of it; and the third she had tried to kill the first time she'd met him. Of course she'd given that up. Or had she? She'd known Luke Skywalker for a long time, but she still couldn't say that she never had an urge to pull a blaster out and pulverize him. Of all the men she knew, he was the most annoying. Maybe it was because of all those Jedi tricks; she couldn't manipulate him the way she could some of the other men she knew. Mara reached her destination and pushed open the door to the Galaxy Inn and walked across the lobby. The place left something to be desired with its flashing lights and tacky furnishings. It looked more like a tacky amusement park than a hotel. However, Mara had stayed here before, and she knew the owner, which was enough to make her decide it wasn't such a bad place in which to stay while she was here. She wouldn't be staying here that long anyway. The real reason she'd stopped was to get in touch with Coruscant. Something she'd run into on her last cargo run had been a little strange. She hadn't really thought about it until she'd already made the jump to lightspeed, and then she had started thinking it over in her mind. Mara walked over to the desk and pushed the buzzer. A Selonian looked up disgruntled from the holovid she'd been watching. "What'd'ya want?" the Selonian asked her. "Well, generally people who ring the buzzer on a desk in a hotel are looking for a room," Mara replied dryly. She placed a mental note in her head to remind the owner to take a serious look at whatever contract he might have with this clerk. "Yeah, yeah. Okay, fine." The Selonian glanced at the holovid one more time and then muted the sound. "Just you?" The Selonian whirled back around, eyes mostly on the holovid and pulled out an entry card. "Yes," Mara said. "And I'd like a front room please." The Selonian grunted and replaced the card she'd pulled out with a different entry card. "Here." "Thanks, and will you tell Tierney that Mara Jade is in room-" she glanced at the card, "549." "Yeah," the Selonian had already turned away and turned the volume on the holovid back up. Mara doubted very seriously that the message would reach the owner. Oh well, she'd call him herself after she checked out the room. Tierney Lane might not be in the highest social circles, but he could get her access to a private link, which was what she'd like to have when she called up the slicer friend of hers. She would have usually called directly from *Jade's Fire* but she'd needed the rest anyway. Long hyperspace voyages got very tiresome. Plus, she wanted to pick up a couple of crates of Corellian ale. And so, since she was here, she didn't want to call on an non-secured channel. Jeru wasn't exactly the most legal slicer. But he was a good information person. He could find out almost anything you wanted to know about anyone. Mara climbed creaky, musty stairs to the side of the lobby. It was a wonder the Corellian government hadn't condemned this place already. It was probably simply because of the inn's proximity to the spaceport. Ratty-tat establishments thrived in this part of town. The real reason Mara usually stayed here was because it allowed her to maintain a very low profile. This time, low profile was probably better than anything was. She'd met with a fellow trader on her last run, one Karrde told her was a force to be reckoned with. Kieran Stark, the newest Who's who in trading, had been at a reception on Kuliir. Mara had introduced herself mostly because Karrde had told her that Stark liked to know everyone in the business. Stark was an insignificant little man, shorter than Mara, with mousy brown hair and a full beard. He was not the type you usually saw in the trading business. Most traders stuck out like a sore thumb, or at least made an impression. Mara was certain that if she had not had him pointed out to her, she would have mistaken him for one of the servants. In a business where people remembered what clothing you wore or what you looked like, this Kieran simply blended in wherever he was. He had been polite enough to her and had acted the part of a struggling little trader who had little business and was struggling to survive, but Mara knew better from the reports she'd seen on him. Kieran Stark had started in a humble beginning, working his way up the ladder into Jerid Styne's trading company. Starting as a lineman and a behind the scenes person, he had moved up to second-in- command in a matter of five years, and when Jerid was killed, Kieran had been given command of the company. Mara had her doubts about Jerid's death, just how legitimate had that 'cause of death-natural' been? However no one else seemed to question anything, and so she had let it go; after all, it wasn't any of her concern. However, something Kieran had said at the reception had made her wonder just what kind of background he had. It was because of this, that Mara had stopped. She wanted an NRI background report on this fellow, because the truth was she had a really bad feeling about him. She opened the door to the room and looked in. Definitely third class lodgings, but she didn't really care. All she wanted was to shower and get a night's worth of sleep, call Jeru, and then get off to Coruscant for a while Mara stretched out on the bed, wondering why she hadn't just gone back to Coruscant. She could have gotten the reports from there just as easily and would now be talking with Han, or trying to pretend she wasn't amused by Jaina's pleas to 'pilot' Jade's Fire, or just getting a nice shower in her own apartment. A buzz from the commlink on her belt interrupted her thoughts. 'It's probably Geof,' she thought dryly 'wondering if I need anything.' "Yes, Jade here." "Mara, long time no see!" "Tierney Lane, I'm glad you got my message." "I just got it," the gruff voice replied over the commlink. Mara rolled over and sat up. "Yeah, I'll bet. You know, you certainly didn't hire that idiot at the desk for her people skills." "Ooh, Mara, don't let the other Selonians on Corellia hear that remark. You'll be labeled as part of the human league." "Hey, I'm not prejudiced; I just like people to acknowledge my existence that's all; and I wasn't being acknowledged." Tierney chuckled at the other end. "Listen, have you eaten yet? We can go down to the cantina and you can tell me what you've been up to." Mara smiled. "Sounds good, I'll be downstairs in-" she looked at the chronometer,"...ten minutes." "Great," Tierney replied back. "I'll be in the front lobby." "All right." Mara flipped off the commlink, and glanced at herself in the mirror. She didn't really care what she looked like; it was just Tierney who was twenty years older than she. Her red gold hair was in a knot at the back of her head and wisps of hair stuck everywhere. She undid the knot and redid it, hooked her blaster to her belt, and picked up the entry card so she could get back into her room. Downstairs in the lobby, Tierney was across the hall. A tall man with deep brown eyes and almost white blonde hair, he was wearing a flight jumper and was deep in conversation with the Selonian at the desk. Mara walked over to the desk and rang the bell. Tierney looked up. "Oh, Mara. Be with you in a minute." He turned to the Selonian. "When paying customers come in, you turn that thing off and you pay attention to them. Okay?" He turned back to Mara and motioned for her to follow him out the door. "I'm trying to get a hold of a secretary droid to do the desk, but until I can afford it, I have to hire a certain number of Selonians for each human, and there aren't too many Selonians that want to work in a dump like this place." Mara smiled. "They're too good for you, Tierney." "Yeah, I know. It's the price you pay for buying property so close to the traders' flight docks." He grinned and led her into a cantina. "I'd tell you to be careful, but you know how to handle yourself in places like this." Mara gave him a arched look. "I can handle myself anywhere." "I'm not doubting it, Mara." He grinned and nodded over to an empty and secluded booth in the corner. A band played across the room and a surly group of non-human species gathered around the bar. Tierney led the way through the smoke-filled room to a booth in a corner. A small Bothan waitress waltzed over to the booth and smiled seductively at Tierney. "What can I get you?" She purred, batting her eyelashes. "I want a Corellian ale and she'll have..." he glanced at Mara with a question in his eyes. "Same thing," Mara said evenly. "All right," the Bothan smiled. "If you need anything else, my name's Wyssri and I'll be happy to get it for you." "I'll bet she would," Tierney said as he watched her walk back over to the bar to get their order. Then he turned to Mara. "So what brings you to Corellia, Ms. Jade?" "Just passing through, and I decided to stop and say hello." "Mmm-hmm. Sure. Somehow I don't believe you," Tierney said. "What do you need?" "A secure channel to Coruscant," Mara stated, dropping all pretense. "That can probably be arranged. Who are you calling?" Tierney asked. "Jeru," Mara stated flatly. Tierney raised his eyebrows. "Jeru? The slicer? Are you sure you really want to do that?" "Is there a problem with calling Jeru?" Mara asked pointedly. "Well, Mara, you know as well as I do, he's not always said to be totally above the board in his operations. Anyone who calls him is liable to be under suspicion of dealing in illegal operations." "Well," Mara said, "That's why I came down here; to ask for a secured line. I knew you could get one for me, and if I'm going to be calling somewhat questionable people, I want a secured link. That way I don't have to worry about any one finding out that I've called him." She smiled wryly at Tierney. "I always get my information, Tierney, and when you want it, you never ask how I get it." Tierney nodded gravely. "Point well taken. All right. Then I'll see what I can do." Mara looked up as the purry Bothan made her way back to the table. "Your friend's back," She said in a low voice with just a hint of sarcasm. "Great," Tierney murmured back. "Just what I always wanted." "Your drinks." Wyssri smiled, setting each of the glasses down in front of them. "Thanks," Tierney said and handed her a couple of credits. Mara nodded her thanks as well, and took a sip of the ale. "If you need any-" Wyssri never finished her sentence, for as she started talking, a voice from the table beside them yelled, "Cedrik!" and a blaster was pulled from the other side of the room. Mara looked up quickly. A Delvorian had pulled a blaster and a laser beam shot across the room and ricocheted off the wall. Wyssri screamed and ducked. Mara immediately drew her blaster and stood up. Tierney stood too and shot his blaster at the Delvorian before the Delvorian could shoot it at him. Everyone in the cantina turned to look at the table beside Mara and Tierney. The threat seemingly over, Mara took a good look at the people at the table. A tall man with dark hair and piercing eyes had drawn a blaster, but he held it awkwardly in his hand. Beside him, a frightened lady with brown hair and wide eyes sat in the chair at the table. Tierney walked over to the man. "Who was he?" He asked him, but it was the lady who spoke. "We don't know. He just said that we were sitting at his table," the brown-haired woman said. Mara looked the lady over and then glanced around the cantina. Faces turned away from the table. Now that the show was over, each went back to his/her ale or sabacc. The woman continued, "Then he drew his blaster and-" "Lana, don't say too much." The man warned. Mara looked at the two. It was obvious that they didn't belong in the cantina, didn't even belong in this part of town; and if someone didn't do something, they'd end up with a blaster shot in their backs. She took a final drink from her glass and then tossed a credit to a now standing, slightly recovered, Wyssri. "What?" She stared at Mara as she caught the coin, a question mark in her eyes. "Tip," Mara said evenly. "Com'on." She motioned to the couple. "We're going." "We're not going anywhere," the man said. He took the lady, Lana's, arm and held her back. Mara shrugged. "All right, if you want to play the fool. Of course don't blame me when CorSec comes poking around wanting to know what happened." Mara put her blaster away. The lady looked at the man and said, "I think it's all right, and she's right: if the security people on this planet show up, what are you going to tell him?.... That the guy pulled on us first?" "Absolutely," The man said . "It's as good as anything." "No, it's not and you know it," She corrected. "The lady's right." "Of course she's right," Tierney spoke for the first time. "I can't remember a time Mara's been wrong. Come on. I own an inn down the street. We can go and talk this over." Tierney walked up to the counter and tossed a couple of credits to the barkeeper. "Sorry about the mess, Jur." Mara nodded to them and followed Tierney out of the cantina. The man and lady followed behind. "Listen, I don't know who you two are, and I thank you for coming to our aid in there, but-" "I'm Mara," Mara said without turning around. "He's Lane. And you got lucky in there." "I-" The man started. "Save it," Tierney commanded. Once they got back to the hotel, he'd have plenty of time to hear their stories. Mara glanced at Tierney. She would have let the guy talk, but obviously Tierney wasn't interested. He probably thought he'd done everything he'd needed to do, Mara thought sardonically. Then she turned around and stared at the both of them. "Besides, You know our names, so you're already ahead of us." The lady spoke first. "My name's Kilana-" "Don't tell them," The man started. "It's okay, Cedrik. Trust me." Mara almost grinned. This woman was smart. Now she knew both of their names, even though Cedrik hadn't said his. "All right, Cedrik and Kilana. What I want to know is what you were doing in a place like that, because obviously you don't know what you're doing. Where are you from?" "All right," Cedrik said. "I don't know who you are, but I don't want to get messed up. We're on our way to Coruscant, and we'd like to make it there in one piece." "Well," Mara said dryly, "Best way to do that is to not go into places like that cantina back there. Another way is to use well-traveled tourist areas. One other thing: when you don't know how to use a blaster, it's better not to carry one, or at least keep it covered; people will think you do know how to use it." Cedrik glanced down at his blaster. He looked around to figure out what in the galaxy to do. He shouldn't have taken Kilana into that place, he knew. He'd been uncomfortable with it from the beginning, but he hadn't seen much of a choice. They were low on funds and the quickest, least expensive place to land had been on the flight docks nearby. Now knew why. But now it was too late to reconsider, and now they were on their way to an inn in a questionable part of the city, with two people they knew nothing about, one of whom had shot down a man in cold blood back there. Kilana walked along side Cedrik as they followed their two saviors back to the hotel. She could tell Cedrik didn't trust them, but Kilana just didn't feel like they were dangerous people; and her feelings were rarely wrong. She glanced at the woman and then noticed something she'd hadn't noticed before: a lightsaber hung from her belt. A wave of curiosity struck her. She knew that a lightsaber was the weapon of a Jedi, but the Empire hadn't liked Jedi, and she hadn't seen a lightsaber for years... Except for her mother's. Mara felt Kilana's eyes on her and her open curiosity, but she kept walking ahead. She pushed open the door to the inn. Tierney held it open for their two companions and led them all into a room off of the lobby. Tierney shut the door behind them and then motioned to some seats. Mara took off the blaster and laid it beside her. It was then that she noticed it: Kilana had slowly taken off the cloak she'd been wearing, and underneath it was the small, cylindrical weapon of a Jedi. She looked up at Kilana, hiding the surprise on her face. A trained Jedi would not have been as naive as these two obviously were. Something was up.... Mara glanced through to the room next to them. "Tierney, could Kilana and I go to that room right there? You could talk to Cedrik about maybe getting them a room to stay in?" "Of course." Tierney nodded. "Kilana?" Mara motioned for her to get up. Kilana followed Mara into the room ,which looked like it might have been a private kitchen for Tierney at one point. Looking her over, Mara asked her point blank. "Are you a Jedi?" The look of surprise and then terror confirmed Mara's suspicions in a glance. Kilana wasn't a Jedi but she was Force sensitive. A trained Jedi wouldn't have looked as absolutely shocked as Kilana had. "That's what I thought." "I'm not a Jedi," Kilana protested, real fear in her voice. "I know," Mara said dismissing her. "Where are you from?" "Yanbu. We just flew off-planet about a standard week ago. We need to get to Coruscant, but money's a problem." "Money usually is a problem," Mara said. "I've never been to Yanbu before. I've only heard it mentioned a couple of times. It sounds vaguely familiar, but I don't know much about it." "There's not much to tell," Kilana said. "It's a small planet, surrounded by an asteroid field, on the edge of the galaxy. Nobody much goes there; nobody leaves. Especially now." "Why not?" Mara asked. "Who are you?" Kilana asked her. "I told you. My name's Mara, and right now I'm someone who can get you to Coruscant. But I need some information." Kilana hesitated a minute, not sure if she should trust this woman. But, with her own intuition telling her to, she finally nodded. "Anything." "Why did you leave Yanbu?" "Cedrik..." she paused. "Cedrik had a run-in with the government there." "Government?" "Grand Moff Drogheda Iri." Kilana told her. That caught Mara's attention. "Grand Moff Drogheda Iri? An Imperial?" "Yes." Mara looked at the lady before her. She had at first thought her naive and not a little stupid, but she was beginning to see her in a new light. It was pretty obvious to her now that Kilana was not naive or stupid. She just hadn't been exposed to what Mara had been exposed to. And because of that she was way out of her star system. "One more question. Why are you going to Coruscant?" "We thought someone on Coruscant needed to know about Iri. He only has a few ships and he's not much of a threat to the New Republic, but if he got any support, he might get to be." "You're a smart person," Mara said. "Listen, I think we might be able to work out a deal. I have someone you ought to meet, and I'm headed to Coruscant as soon as I make a call. I can always use a good crew." "We have our own ship," Kilana said. "We shouldn't be a bother to you..." "You wouldn't be a bother. I like my space, but it would be okay." Mara stopped a second, thinking things over in her mind. Luke Skywalker would want to meet her. Here was someone with Force potential who was at least as old as Luke or Mara, maybe a little older. If she was, maybe she'd know something about the old Jedi Knights. At any rate, what they knew about this supposed Grand Moff on Yanbu should be passed on to Coruscant and shared with the Chief of State. Mara stood and motioned for Kilana to follow her into the other room. Cedrik looked up as they entered. Mara gave Kilana one more look and then turned to Tierney. "Tierney, Why don't you help them sell their ship," Mara said. Then, seeing the slight look of opposition in Cedrik's eyes, she continued, "Depending on how old it is, you may or may not be able to get much out of it, but this is a smuggling and trading center; you'll get as good a price here as you will anywhere. You can join me on Jade's Fire and we'll make the jump to Coruscant tomorrow morning, bright and early." Kilana nodded. "All right. What about Yanbu and the Grand Moff?" "I know people on Coruscant, who will want to hear this," Mara said. "I would like for you to tell them yourself. If you'll excuse me, I need to make a call." Kilana nodded. "Of course." Mara gave her a quick smile and then turned to the holovid across the room. Luke Skywalker wasn't exactly on the top of her list of people to talk to today, but she had a feeling he'd want to know about this. She punched the talk button and then punched from memory the code for the Jedi Academy. * * * "And so a Jedi receives his power from the Force. The Force surrounds everyone. A Jedi simply knows how to use it to his advantage." Luke looked out across the auditorium at his students. They were all different sizes and species. Each varied in his or her ability to use the Force. Each also varied in the talents that he or she was able to use. Luke wondered how he had ever imagined that he could teach all of them. Even now, nearly seven years after he had started the academy on Yavin 4 with a small group of promising students, he felt so inadequate. He did his best though. That was all he could ask of himself. Now he smiled as he noticed Han and Leia standing at the other side of the ancient rotunda. "And I think that wraps it up for tonight." He smiled. "If you have any questions, don't hesitate to come to my room and ask." The students broke up, some staying in small groups and chatting; others heading immediately to their rooms. Luke watched them all for a moment. Then he walked over to where Han and Leia were. "Hey, Kid. How you doing?" Han greeted Luke. "Hey Han, Leia." Luke smiled, wondering if Han would ever stop calling him "Kid." He was far from being a kid anymore, but Han still greeted him that way. "Where are Jaina and Jacen?" Leia asked. "They're in their rooms. Hello, Anakin! How are you?" He greeted his nephew, who had come from the Falcon with Chewie. "Great, Uncle Luke!" Anakin rushed to give his uncle a hug. He had been a little upset when his older brother and sister were allowed to spend the Coruscant summer with their Uncle and he hadn't, but it seemed that he'd gotten over it now. "That's good." Luke swung Anakin around and then motioned for Han and Leia to follow him down the hall. "Jaina and Jacen could have been here, but they didn't really needed to hear this lecture; mostly, this was for the Jedi students who have almost completed their training for knighthood. I arranged for all of us to have a private dinner in my quarters. In fact, Jaina and Jacen should already be there. . . with dinner." "Well, that's good." Han grinned. "I'm hungry." Chewie growled his agreement. "Well, it should be good," Luke said. He knew the twins would be anxious to see their parents. After they had seen their Uncle Luke on their vacation to Corellia a few months ago, they had begged and begged to come and visit their Uncle on Yavin 4. But, their visit had been extended for a semi- indefinite length of time as Leia was kept busy with her government duties, and the twins were kept busy with their training. They showed wonderful potential, these two. They were always fighting, but were very close too. Sometimes they finished each other's thoughts. Luke often wondered if Leia and he would have been that close if they had grown up together like Jaina and Jacen had. He suppressed a sigh. One more thing about his past, a 'what if' that always lingered in the back of his mind. One more thing he could blame on the Imperials. He opened the door to his room. He had been right. Jaina and Jacen were both inside the room already. "Mom!" "Dad!" With a cry, Jaina and Jacen both rushed at their parents at once. Han grinned and tousled Jacen's hair. "I think that you've grown. You're at least a couple of centimeters taller than you used to be." "You think so?" "Oh, yeah." Han winked at Luke over Jacen's head. "Maybe even three or four." "Dad!" Jacen groaned. "Jaina, you're prettier than ever." Han avoided replying to Jacen's comment, by reaching to hug Jaina. "Thanks," She tossed her chestnut brown hair out of her eyes and hugged him. Luke stood aside from the family, a touch of envy passing through him as he watched Leia hug her kids. It was the thing he missed most about not having married: the children. He knew that he had to be content with simply sharing Leia's and Han's. They were growing up quickly, even Anakin, he thought, as he glanced at the brown-haired young boy. Anakin would be the most difficult one, he was certain, and he felt a small shudder as he realized that within a few years, Anakin would be ready for his Jedi training. He had the potential to become the strongest Jedi Knight known to the galaxy thus far, and yet, he would be so difficult to train, because he also would be the most easily tempted to the dark side. This was a fear he had not yet shared with Leia, but it was a valid fear; he was certain. It was easy to tell that Jaina was going to look exactly like a mirror image of Leia, but in personality, she was Han all over. She loved machinery and was a little cocky at times. However, because she was still a child, she didn't get nearly enough chances to work on the machinery she loved. Jacen was quieter than his twin was at times. He didn't remind Luke of Han or Leia, or even of himself in personality; but as far as looks went, he was a lot like Han. He loved animals, and in the couple of months he'd spent here on Yavin IV, he had filled his whole room with cages of different sizes and shapes containing animals he had found in the jungle. Luke wasn't sure how his parents were going to react when he wanted to take them back to Coruscant. Luke smiled as Anakin came up and hugged his sister. "Dinner?" Luke asked them all, motioning toward the table. Han grinned. "Yeah, I'm starved." Luke motioned for them to sit down. He'd made certain that they could be with him, arranging for Jaina and Jacen to set up the table and bring the food up from the mess hall where they usually ate. Luke normally ate with his students, but today, of course, he would eat with his family. "How are things going, Jaina?" Leia asked her. "Great!" Jaina bubbled enthusiastically. She was excited about her Jedi lessons. Both she and Jacen had wanted to come and spend the Coruscant summer on Yavin IV with Uncle Luke. They weren't very old yet, but Luke had agreed, on condition that they would be patient; and he had warned them that they would only be learning beginning techniques. More than anything, it was a chance to spend time with their Uncle Luke. Han pushed a napkin into his lap and looked at Jacen. "What about you, Jacen? You keeping ahead of your sis?" Jacen grinned. "I'm keepin' up with her anyway." Figures." Han grinned broadly. "And you, Luke," he said. "You, I suppose are keeping up with them?" "It's tough," Luke teased his niece and nephew. "They give me a run for my credits." "And you're up to the challenge, Uncle Luke!" Jaina exclaimed. "You're so far ahead of us we'll never catch up." Luke smiled wisely. "Yes, you will, dear Jaina, but for right now, I am the Master." "And you won't let us forget that either will you?" Leia entered her own playful banter as she passed the food dish to Anakin. Luke pretended to pout, sticking his lower lip out and wrinkling his brow. "Jacen, they're all ganging up on me." "You'll be okay, Uncle Luke." "What? You too?" Luke asked in mock dismay. Leia laughed. "You'll never grow up, Luke." Luke smiled at her. Leia's own dark eyes twinkled with laughter and a touch of love. Luke winked, and then passed her an unidentifiable meat. Leia wrinkled up her nose and looked at Luke in feigned horror. "Is this what you have been feeding my children? Oh, dear, I think the New Republic would be well off to spend some credits helping feed their supply of young Jedi trainees. Yuck!" She passed it on to Han, who looked it over skeptically. Jacen grinned, not able to resist teasing Uncle Luke once more. They didn't usually get to joke with him like this around the other students. "Yeah, Mom, that's why I decided to become a vegetarian." Luke shook his head. "My own nephew.... What's the galaxy coming to?" Han looked at his older son with chagrin. "Jacen, I thought the reason you became a vegetarian was because you didn't want to hurt any of the animals." Jaina rolled her eyes and said, "Well, now the real reason comes out." Jacen was about to throw a retort at his sister, when a knock at the chamber door interrupted the good- humored banter. Luke looked toward the door, and sighed inwardly. "I'm going to have to get that, I'm afraid." "It's all right," Leia said, hearing his unspoken annoyance at being interrupted. "Go ahead." She glanced at him sympathetically, knowing all too well what it was like to be brought away from family dinners on business. How many times had it happened to her? Luke got up from the table and walked over, opening the door. Kyp Durron stood on the other side. "Master Luke? Sorry to interrupt you, but there's an important holovid coming in and they say they won't speak to anyone but you." Luke glanced at Leia and then stepped outside the door, hopefully out of hearing of the children. Closing his mind to any eavesdropping by Leia or the mischievous twins, he looked at Kyp seriously. "Did they say who they were?" Kyp shook his head. "Only that they would only speak to you." "All right," Luke said. "I'll take the call." Luke slipped a thought to Leia and followed Kyp down the hallway. He stepped into a private holovid room and glanced at the code on the display screen. He frowned slightly. Mara. What in the galaxy could be so important that she should holovid him from. . . Corellia? That wasn't cheap either, and Mara wasn't one to throw credits away; it must be awfully important. He pushed the button on the holovid. A woman in a well-worn work suit appeared in front of him. She obviously wasn't expecting him so soon, because she was talking to someone else in the room. Taken off-guard, she turned quickly to the screen. "Well, Skywalker. Hope I didn't spoil a training session." "It's nice to see you again too, Mara." Luke smiled. "Listen, Jedi, I didn't call all the way across the galaxy to chat. I've been doing a run between Corellia and Coruscant and I ran into some people that I think you should meet." Luke looked at her curiously. "People I should meet?" "Yep. A young man named Cedrik Yor, and a woman named Kilana Riu. They are from Yanbu-" "Yanbu. Where's that? I've never heard of it." Mara looked perturbed at being interrupted. "It's a small planet on the far edge of the galaxy, not used much, not visited much, and it doesn't make the news much. In fact according to them, the news doesn't make it there much either." "All right," Luke conceded. "You said I needed to talk to them. Why?" "I was getting to that part," Mara said. "Touchy," Luke commented. "Listen, I'm not joking, Skywalker. It's kind of a sensitive thing, and I'm not sure that I want to discuss it over a non-secured channel. But, it's serious; I think it really could be something important." Luke frowned and glanced down at the floor. Mara was being awfully ambiguous. Then the message hit him in his head: 'She's a Jedi, Skywalker; she might not be a trained one, but she's got the Force and she's strong.' He glanced up at Mara. She hadn't said anything, but he could tell from her look that the message had been from her. He looked at her and made an instant decision. "You know, Mara, I could use some supplies. Why don't you drop by Yavin with your next shipment?" Mara nodded. "I thought you might feel that way. I'm at Corellia, and I need to drop by to see Leia. It could be a while." "Leia's here, Mara." "So if I don't drop by Coruscant, it'll still be four or five standard days," Mara warned. "I'll wait," Luke said simply. "Okay." Mara punched out the holovid and Luke stood stock still for a moment wondering what in the galaxy he was going to get himself into now. * * * Mara watched the stars fade into the familiarity of hyperspace, then she turned around to look at her two passengers. Kilana was staring into the marbled viewport with something like awe on her face. "That is so weird." Kilana said. "What is?" Mara questioned. "That view. It's almost, I don't know, it's like it's not natural or something." Kilana motioned to the view outside the glass. Mara glanced at it too. She was so used to it, she never even questioned the miracle of a ship simply going at lightspeed whenever she pressed the button. She looked Kilana over carefully. "Well, get used to it. That's all you'll see for the next four days." Mara stretched and got up out of the seat. "You might as well make yourself comfortable. We're going to Yavin 4 first." "What's at Yavin 4?" Cedrik asked, standing and following Mara back into the huge room where she usually lounged during a hyperspace voyage. "It's a moon," Mara answered nonchalantly. "The person that I wanted you two to talk to is there right now. She'll be there for quite a while, so I'll take you there first. Then, if she needs to have you to go to Coruscant, you'll be welcome to leave from there." "Why the four?" Kilana asked. "Why the four? Because one, two, and three were taken." Mara grinned. Kilana smiled warily. She was never quite sure how to take this woman. But she decided that it had been meant as a joke. There was a long silence as Mara stretched out on the couch and picked up a datapad. She had cargo manifests to go over and she couldn't stop just because she had passengers. Kilana glanced at Mara uneasily, and then she looked back to Cedrik. She didn't want to say anything, because it was too quiet. If she decided to say something, she knew it would have to be a whisper, simply because it was so silent. Pretty soon, however, even Mara became uneasy, really uneasy, because she too thought it was unnaturally quiet. She glanced up from her datapad and looked over at the table where Cedrik and Kilana had sat down. Both of them were sitting there, just looking at one another. "You know, it'll be a really long voyage if all you do is stare at each other for the entire time," Mara declared. Kilana looked at her. "Well, what do you usually do for a long trip?" 'Boy, is she naive,' Mara thought to herself. Sighing inwardly, she placed the data pad down on the table beside her. She obviously wasn't going to get much work done, not if she was going to have to baby- sit these two for the entire voyage. "All right, sometimes I sleep, a lot of the time I do work, uh, I sometimes, if I have a co-pilot, play games. "What games?" Mara grinned mischievously. "Do you know how to play sabacc?" Cedrik nodded. "I haven't played it very often though....Isn't that usually played in cantinas or bars?" Mara nodded, a perfect image of an angel. "Oh, yes. But if you play it with 1-credit pieces, we call it simple sabacc. And that's not so bad; you don't lose any money that way." "Oh," Kilana said. Mara grinned. They'd fallen for it. She had never gotten over the irony of the people who considered gambling, *not gambling*, if they were only using small credit pieces. "Well, it's a time filler." Cedrik looked at Kilana. "Teach me," She said. Mara grinned. "All right. I'll get the Sabaac deck." It took a while... Cedrik had played before, that was obvious; but it was also obvious that, as he had said, he hadn't played very often. Mara tried to be patient with Kilana; and after a couple of hours, she was actually doing fairly well. Kilana was a fast learner, Mara discovered; and she wondered if her Force sensitivity had anything to do with it. With an inward smile, she wondered what Luke would think of her teaching Kilana sabacc. Somehow she didn't think that a Jedi Master would approve. That was one reason she had never finished her training: Jedi just never seemed to have any fun, and until Luke could prove to her otherwise, she wasn't about to finish training. Time went by quickly, and after a while, Mara begged out of a game with the excuse that she was tired. Kilana simply smiled and told her not to worry; they'd be fine. She and Cedrik started another game, and Mara escaped with the data pad to her sleeping quarters. "What do you think of her?" Cedrik asked Kilana quietly after the door shut behind Mara. "She's a little intimidating," Kilana said, and smiled. "But I think she's nice enough. At any rate she'll get us to this person, this friend of hers, and we'll be able to pass on the information that we need to." "Right," Cedrik said. Kilana studied his face anxiously. He'd refused to go in and do a Bacta treatment of his injuries and though they were healing naturally, it was taking a couple of weeks longer than it would have with the treatment. Kilana had a feeling that his nose would probably always be a little crooked. He had probably broken it. But the bruise around his eye was beginning to fade away. Studying his face, Kilana was reminded of the young boy who had watched her when she was little, and had patiently played with her and her dolls as she had reached the age when playing house was her favorite thing to do. He had helped her learn how to fly their Corellian Transport, and he had stood beside her as she'd watched her mother buried. He had protected her and looked after her ever since her mother's death. Even coming to her after he'd escaped from the prison had been a measure of protection too. He'd known that even if he didn't go to her home, the Stormtroopers would never believe that he hadn't. He'd also known that if he did go there, she would go with him. Despite all that, he was a big brother for her more than anything; that was what he'd always been... Sometimes a very, very protective, big brother. Cedrik glanced up at her, realizing she was taking an awfully long time to look over her cards. "What are you thinking about, Kilana," he asked. "The time you punched Hil Negar in the eye because he didn't open the door for me on our first date." Cedrik looked down with a grin. "You are never going to let me live that down are you?" "No," Kilana agreed, but she grinned too. "He had a black eye for weeks after that." "Only because he was too proud to treat it with Bacta," Cedrik said defensively. "If he'd only taken a little of his time to go treat it, it wouldn't have lasted a day. You know what I think? I think he was proud of that bruise." "Oh. Well, thank you for that insight into the male mind," Kilana said. Then she glanced down and played her card. "Anytime," Cedrik grinned. He glanced at her cards and then squinched his face up in disgust. "That is not fair. This is your first time playing and you've got me beat!" He threw down his stack in mock disgust. Kilana smiled. "Probably just beginner's luck." "Aren't you the one that always says there is no such thing as luck?" Cedrik questioned. "Weeelll..." She stalled. Cedrik looked her over. She was beautiful. Brown hair, light brown eyes, ordinary features, but there was nothing ordinary about the woman who stood in front of him. Somewhere in the past years, he had stopped thinking of her as a younger sister, someone he had a duty to protect, and he had started thinking of her as... well as something different. They had lived on Yanbu for a long time, and for some reason neither of them had married. It was something Cedrik was at a loss to explain. Most men his age would have been married twenty years or more; most women Kilana's age would have been as well. A lot of people had assumed that they would marry, and something that made Cedrik stop to think was the simple fact that it had never caused any strife between them. Not to say that he hadn't thought once of twice of asking her out. He had wanted to. But something had stopped him. Maybe it was the fact that he was afraid of ruining something he knew they had: A special friendship which was worth far more to him than anything he might get out of an evening date. For her part, Kilana had always cared for him. She had tried to get him a droid to keep the apartment where he lived clean; she hadn't succeeded. She had cooked meals for him occasionally; they were excellent. She had even tried to make him a match a couple of times. Those attempts had been humorous, nothing else. In short, she had tried to make his life easier; sometimes had made it more difficult; but it was okay with him that she had wanted to try. Cedrik shook his head out of his reverie. "Well, I'm tired. Maybe we ought to follow our leader to bed?" "Yes." Kilana stood up and stretched. "That is an excellent idea. Are you sleeping on the couch here?" "I think that's what Ms. Jade wanted, since she didn't have but two sleeping areas." "Oh, don't call me 'Ms. Jade'. Mara will suffice. I feel like an old maid when you say, Ms. Jade." Cedrik turned around. Mara stood in the doorway, blinking as her eyes struggled to adapt to the sudden light after leaving her dark cabin. Her red-gold hair was flying everywhere. She grinned at Kilana's unabashed stare. "I know, I know, my hair is an Imperial mess." She took the locks and pulled them back, knotting them at the back of her neck. She walked out of the door and looked at the sabacc game on the table. "So, who won?" She yawned. "I did," Kilana said. "Beginner's luck," was Mara's remark. She stacked the sabacc cards and put them away in a storage closet. "That's what I said. Did we wake you up?" Cedrik asked. "No. I only got to sleep for a little while. I'm kinda tense I guess, so I wasn't sleeping well. Anyway, you guys aren't going to quit the party already are you?" Mara said. "I am tired,..." Kilana started. Mara shrugged. "How boring." She grinned and said, "Oh, well... I'm just going to get a cup of tea, see if I can't relax a little bit, and then I'm going to try to get back to sleep anyway. It's the best thing to do on a long hyperspace trip." "All right. Good night then," Cedrik told Kilana. "Good night, Cedrik" Kilana said, and smiled. "You too, Mara." "Yeah." She yawned again. "Good night." Mara made her way over to the water boiler and took it to her sleeping quarters. Once in the room, she shut the door and went over to her bunk. She set the cup of tea down on a table beside it and picked up the data card she'd gotten at Corellia. All the information on Kieran Stark that she'd been able to get out of Jeru. It wasn't a lot, but maybe it would give her an overview. <> <> <> 'Blah-blah-blah.' Mara thought. She had guessed this much on her own from meeting with him once. She wondered a little about the amount she'd paid Jeru for this. He needed to improve wherever he sliced out his information. Obviously from this, the NRI didn't have any reason to think badly of Kieran Stark. Mara really didn't have one either, except for a feeling she'd gotten when she was around him. Mara slammed the data card down on the nightstand and frowned. She knew better than to ignore those feelings. Maybe she could talk with Luke about it when they got to Yavin IV; perhaps he'd have ideas she hadn't thought of. With that thought on her mind, Mara switched off the light using the Force, pulled the covers up around her shoulders, and went to sleep. * * * Chapter Two Learners Permit Yavin IV, Jedi Academy Leia stood on the balcony at the academy and allowed short wisps of hair to escape the neatly braided buns, twirling gently around her face and playing with her cheeks. She glanced down beneath her and watched her family running around the gardens of the Jedi Academy. Jacen and Jaina were both overjoyed to have their father's *and* Chewie's undivided attention. They were shooting Anakin with water blasters, both trying to shoot the fastest, the straightest and the best to get their Father's approval, and were winning very easily. Anakin was putting up a fairly good fight, but he was outnumbered. Han was standing beside a tree smiling at their antics, teasing them and egging them on. Chewbacca stood beside him, his furry arms crossed over his chest. Han had somehow managed to stay dry and out of the fight until Jacen accidentally shot him in the face with a straight stream of water. Han pretended to be indignant and ran after Jacen and Jaina, but Leia knew that he had really just been looking for an excuse to enter the fight. He loved his kids, probably more than anything, and the fact that he wasn't Force sensitive as they were, had never made any difference to any of them. At ten, the twins were old enough to be excited about learning to be Jedi and anxious to learn everything, but they were young enough that they were still kids. They squealed and ran as fast as they could, but Han caught up pretty quickly and tackled Jacen. They both tumbled to the ground, and Jaina, ever eager to protect her twin, tackled her father, climbing on top of him. Anakin, not to be outdone, ran up and dumped an entire bucket of water on the three of them. Leia grinned suddenly, because her baby had just gotten the better of the three older soldiers. Jaina sat up quickly, her straight brown hair dangling in clumps about her face, Han sputtered, and Jacen, who'd been on the bottom, and definitely in the worst place, sat up and shook his head like a dog. Leia could hear Chewie's chuckling all the way up to her balcony. And then she heard Han's reply, "Laugh it up, fuzzball." And he then proceeded to ignore the ad