Darksaber

by Kevin J. Anderson

  Now, though, Admiral Daala's conviction and enthusiasm, and her willingness to risk all for the appropriate cause, made something stir within him again, something powerful.

  Pellaeon took a deep breath and spoke to the bloated image of Teradoc. "I believe I know what he would think of me," he said bitterly, "and you, sir, are no Grand Admiral Thrawn."

  He switched off the comm, then turned to his crew. "Prepare a shuttle and inform Admiral Daala that I am coming aboard. Time is short, and I wish to confer with her in person."

  YAVIN 4

  CHAPTER 11

  As Artoo-Detoo trundled along in front of him, Luke Skywalker hurried out of the Great Temple to see the new visitor. Wind currents had torn the clouds to tatters in the sky above, and he blinked in the hazy sunlight of the jungle afternoon.

  Most of the Jedi trainees were working inside their cool chambers or wandering out in the forest depths.

  Callista sat alone studying the histories that Tionne compiled for her, although over the past several days she had found nothing that would help her regain her powers.

  Now Luke saw a slender woman descend from a custom-designed craft that bore the cross-hatched insignia of the Smugglers' Alliance . "Mara Jade!" he called. "What did I do to deserve the honor of your presence?"

  Mara flashed a fast, sharp-edged smile at him. "You don't deserve it, Skywalker,” she said, "but I came anyway."

  He strode forward and clasped her hand. She withdrew quickly, glancing at the close-cropped weeds on the landing grid and then staring up at the dizzying height of the ancient Massassi pyramid.

  "Want to come inside?" he asked.

  "No, let's go for a ride in my ship," she answered. "I need to talk to you about something."

  Luke nodded slowly. "I thought you might. You don't usually come here just because you're bored."

  Mara shook her head, and her mane of auburn hair thrashed about like waves of exotic spice.

  "I'm never bored, Skywalker." She gestured to the cockpit of her ship, where the passenger seat sat empty. "It's my outlook on life."

  Artoo whistled and warbled, rocking back and forth on his footpads. "You stay here, Artoo,” Luke said. "If anybody asks, tell them where I've gone. We'll be back," he glanced sidelong at Mara, "before too long."

  As he slid into the empty seat, finding the armrests and the protective restraints, Mara punched a button on the cockpit controls. The flip-up side door slammed down and hissed into an airtight seal. Before Luke could buckle his crash webbing, she hit the accelerators. With a blast of repulsorlifts her sleek ship rose into the air and shot off above the treetops.

  Luke thought he heard the scraping of witches' fingernails as the bottom hull brushed gently against the upreaching crowns of the trees. Mara grinned as she increased speed, climbing higher.

  Acceleration pushed Luke back against the seat, and he decided he could either be concerned--or he could kick back and enjoy himself.

  He thought of his younger days, taking a T-16 skyhopper screaming through Beggar's Canyon on Tatooine, avoiding obstacles, performing daredevil stunts. Right now Mara Jade was just showing off--and he decided to let her blow off steam. She probably wanted to rattle him, but it wouldn't work.

  Below, the dense greenery looked like clouds of foliage. Mara stormed along, her eyes fixed on her piloting. The Massassi temple dropped away in the distance, but Luke wasn't worried. Though Mara had repeatedly tried to kill him in the past, he now trusted her implicitly. Luke smiled to himself at the irony of their situation.

  "So," he said, "what is it you wanted to talk about?"

  "Got some information for you," she answered, flicking a glance toward him, then looking away just as quickly. "In my work with the Smugglers' Alliance I keep my eyes and ears open.

  Sometimes I hear things the New Republic should know about."

  Luke raised his eyebrows. "Such as?"

  Mara pretended to frown. "You expect me to give you important information like that for free?"

  Luke stared at her in silence for a full second, then smiled. "Yes," he said.

  "Yes, I do."

  Mara laughed. "That doesn't surprise me a bit from you, Skywalker," she said. "All right. You know the Smugglers' Alliance was specifically set up to provide a strong front against some of the more powerful crime organizations, especially the Hutts."

  "Yes," Luke agreed, suspecting where this might lead.

  "We keep tabs on the Hutts' comings and goings, since they're our enemies--or perhaps I should say Hiscompetitors." Recently they clamped down on our usual information sources.

  They've been building up what appears to be a respectable front--several commercial corporations, the most prominent of which is Orko SkyMine, a mineral resource development consortium."

  "Shouldn't we be happy that the Hutts are trying to be "respectable," as Lando Calrissian would have put it?"

  "We'd be happy--if we could believe them,” Mara said, then concentrated on flying again as a thermal updraft buffeted them. The wind rattled the transparisteel windows of her craft, and she banked to the left around a volcanic rock outcrop. She increased altitude. "But you know as well as I do that you can never really believe what the Hutts say." She looked at Luke again. "I think they're up to something. Something big."

  Luke kept his expression bland. "Even though I'm just a Jedi teacher, I have a few sources of information of my own. And I'm inclined to believe your suspicions are right, Mara Jade."

  She blinked in surprise. "Ah. So my coming here was unnecessary ?"

  Luke shook his head. "Your coming to Yavin 4 is never unnecessary. What did you want me to do with this information?"

  "I thought you might take it to your sister on Coruscant. As the Chief of State, she can probably think of something to head off trouble."

  Luke tapped his fingers together, consciously relaxing in the face of Mara's breakneck piloting. "You could have just gone there yourself. Isn't Yavin 4 a bit out of your way just to deliver a message?"

  Mara took a deep breath. "I wanted to do this quietly. Since I'm with the Smugglers’ Alliance , I need to keep things low-key. My involvement shouldn't be too obvious. Talon Karrde taught me that."

  "I see," Luke said. "How is Karrde? Still retired?"

  "Hah!" she said. "More than a few months of relaxation was enough to bring him to the brink of insanity and boredom. He's back at it and busier than ever, with his hands in more schemes than I can keep track of."

  She pulled her nimble craft hard to starboard in a tight loop and shot over the treetops back toward the Great Temple . "The other reason I came in person," Mara continued with some uneasiness, "is that occasionally--for some unknown reason--I almost look forward to seeing you, Skywalker. Not often ... but there are times."

  "And this is one of them?" Luke asked.

  "It was," she said. "I'd better be on my way before it wears off."

  Luke laughed. "Why don't you stay for a few more hours at least? We'll be gathering the trainees in the mess hall for an evening meal. You need something better than stale ration bars."

  Mara acquiesced far more easily than Luke had expected. "All right," she said. "Just a quick meal, then I'm out of here."

  Callista sat alone, picking at her meal next to the empty spot where Luke normally ate --but he had gone off to set up quarters for two new potential Jedi who had arrived on a New Republic transport.

  With mixed feelings of detachment and frustration, Callista stared at the other Jedi trainees in the narrow stone hall, the weakest of whom had powers greater than she could command ... at the moment. It was painful to watch them grow in strength as they played with their Force abilities. She was denied that, though she tried and tried. She was blind and deaf to the Force.

  "Hey, mind if I sit here?" Mara Jade said, wearing her trim flight uniform and holding a tray of stew mixed with greens.

  Callista barely nodded, and Mara plopped into the chair, setting her tray on the polished table. She picked u
p a thick bread wafer and poked around in her stew. "Better than packaged rations, I suppose, but I can tell you don't have a gourmet droid working here." Mara's bright eyes flashed. "So, you're Skywalker's new lady?" she asked.

  Callista wished she could read the emotions behind Mara Jade's visage. The other woman was good at masking her expressions, and Callista didn't know what to make of their conversation.

  Though their bodies were similar in age, Callista had been born decades before Mara Jade. Her own powers were gone now, but she had been a Jedi Knight whose abilities surpassed anything that Mara could manage. She had heard of past connections between Mara Jade and Luke--and she decided it would be best if she took the initiative. "Yes I am," she answered. "And you must be Mara Jade. I've heard about you."

  When Mara nodded briskly, Callista raised her eyebrows. "I also heard hints that you might have been interested in Luke yourself at one time."

  Mara frowned again in distaste at her stew, but took a large mouthful. She swallowed, took a drink, and finally let loose a short laugh.

  "Who told you I was ever interested in Luke Skywalker? When I first met him, the thing I wanted most in the universe was to kill him. I thought that way for a long time. ..." She shrugged.

  "Sometimes it still seems like a good idea to me."

  Mara took another bite and chewed slowly. "Not a great basis for a long-term relationship, you think?"

  Callista shook her head. "No, I suppose not." Even without her Jedi powers, Callista wasn't sure she believed Mara's answer. "Aren't you with Lando Calrissian? I heard something about you two being a hot item."

  "Calrissian? You've got to be kidding!"

  Mara actually blushed and turned away to take another drink before she could cough on her quickly swallowed mouthful. "We're still good business partners in a very profitable operation at the spice mines of Kessel right now--but I think Calrissian was more interested in chasing me than in winning me ... which is fine as far as I'm concerned."

  Mara wiped the corners of her mouth. "Well, good to meet you." She stood up, smoothing out the wrinkles in her flight suit. "Give Skywalker my regards. I've got to be heading out. Just stopped by to drop off a message."

  Mara left without so much as a nod of acknowledgment to the other Jedi trainees, while Callista wondered about her mysterious message.

  CORUSCANT

  CHAPTER 12

  Leaving the Jedi praxeum behind, Luke took Callista with him to Coruscant where Luke had set up a private audience with his sister. He quickly met with Leia and delivered the information

  Mara Jade had brought. Added to what they had already learned at the ruins of Jabba's palace, the rumors of a Hutt secret plan grew more threatening. Leia had already reinforced her network of spies, hoping to gather more hints and details.

  In the ornate presidential briefing chambers, Callista sat next to Luke, her fingers resting lightly on his forearm, but he could not feel the binding of her presence around him. It was as if she did not exist in the Force.

  Luke looked into his sister's large brown eyes, mapping out the faint tired lines that had begun to form around them. The weight of leadership pressed down heavily upon her. The New Republic was large and scattered, beset by hundreds of problems, brushfire squabbles, and growing threats. And Leia had three children to contend with, as well as a husband.

  "Leia," Luke said, "I have a request, an important favor to ask."

  She sat up straighter, looking at Callista and then at her brother. "The last time you asked for a favor was to let Kyp Durron destroy the Sun Crusher." She bit her lower lip. "But I suppose that came out all right."

  Luke relaxed. "Nothing so monumental this time," he said. "Callista and I have a lot of things to work out between ourselves. We need some time alone so we can devote our attention to reawakening her Jedi powers. She could be one of our strongest Jedi, if she regains her affinity for the Force. She could teach me a lot. I think the only way we can crack that wall around her is if Callista and I work together. Intensely." He grasped her hand. "We need a week or so alone, to focus on salvaging her powers, not a thousand other problems. No distractions."

  Leia smiled wistfully. "I know exactly how you feel. ..." Then she became serious. "I can't order you around, Luke. There's no need for you to ask my permission."

  Leia looked at Callista, and Luke could see that her face held a whirlpool of conflicting emotions: the need to see her brother happy, the desire for Callista to be his equal again, and her own need to keep Luke focused on training new Jedi Knights to strengthen and protect the New Republic .

  But Leia loved her brother very much, and her choice was clear. "Take all the time you need. I wish you the greatest success." She looked up. "Or should I say, may the Force be with you?"

  Later, still holding hands, Luke and Callista went to the upper westside docking platform of the former Imperial palace. The air was thin so high above ground level, and the gusting breezes were cold and cutting.

  He squeezed Callista's hand, and her grip returned his twice as strong. Though Luke couldn't read anything from her with his Jedi senses, he saw her obvious eagerness mixed with reluctance. Callista shared his high hopes for their journey alone, but she was also afraid they would fail.

  Leia, her robes of state whipping briskly around her, held the hands of the twins, Jacen and Jaina, as she came to see Luke off, while Han carried young Anakin propped against his hip; the dark-haired boy blinked his ice blue-eyes, drinking in the sights.

  Threepio and Artoo came along at their own pace, though the hairy Wookiee urged them to greater speed. "Do be patient, Chewbacca,” Threepio said. "I can only move so fast. If you had replaced my leg servomotors last week--as I suggested--I'd be able to move much more efficiently." The Wookiee groaned something untranslatable back at the golden droid.

  Callista stood by Luke's side at the boarding ramp to a nondescript space yacht.

  Luke saw her in profile--her long face and generous lips, her highlighted blond hair that had been cropped short and was still growing out from her stormtrooper cut on the Eye of Palpatine. Han had once called her "the blonde with the legs," and Luke couldn't argue with that description.

  Callista was so beautiful to him--but that wasn't all. Many women were beautiful. With the Force, he had seen Callista inside. He knew her in a way it was impossible to know most women. They had fallen in love before they had even seen each other face to face, back when Callista had been no more than a wandering presence. Now she inhabited another body--a beautiful body, to be sure, but Luke would have loved her no matter what. They had treasured one another in Luke's dreams before Callista had manifested herself in the body of one of his former students.

  Now, as they stood in front of the space yacht, Luke watched Callista staring wistfully at Han and Leia's children. Her lips were firm, and her eyes remained wide and clear, but he knew exactly what she was thinking.

  The children. Luke and Callista had spoken of having children of their own if they were to get married.

  Callista insisted that Luke, being the foremost Jedi Master of the day, must have powerful children, to make the strong Jedi bloodline flourish--if one were to look at romance in such a cold and ... Imperial fashion.

  She was terrified that if they had children while she had no access to her powers, their descendants might suffer the same Force blindness. But Luke didn't care: he wanted Callista, though she would not listen when he tried to reassure her. Their only chance lay in severing the invisible chains around her, breaking through the maddening transparent wall.

  Leia came forward to hug Luke. High above the skyline, the wind picked up, and breezes stung his blue eyes, whipping his hair in all directions. He bent down to scoop up the kids in a warm hug.

  "Now do I get to hug Callista?" Han said, and came forward to give her a brief embrace as Leia laughed. Chewbacca blatted something, and Han waved him aside. "Nah, Chewie--you can hug Threepio if you want."

  "Well, the very idea!" Thr
eepio said.

  Luke set foot on the boarding platform with Callista at his side. Artoo whistled mournfully, blinking his optical receptor from red to blue. "Don't worry, Artoo," Luke said. "You enjoy your time with Threepio. We need to be by ourselves for a bit."

  When Artoo gave a low hoot, See-Threepio placed a golden hand on the dome of the astromech droid in indignation.

  "Humph! I'm sure I see no need for a starry-eyed couple to turn down the companionship of a faithful droid. I can't imagine why they'd need to be .completely alone." He patted his counterpart. "Come along, Artoo. We'll find something useful to do."

  As the droids hurried toward the turbolift, Luke and Callista waved farewell again and prepared for launch.

  See-Threepio and Artoo-Detoo passed through nine security check-points as the turbolift descended deep into Coruscant's crust. "We're obviously droids,” Threepio muttered. "I simply don't understand why they need to put us through such indignities to get down here. Virus scanning, indeed!"

  Finally the doors hissed open, and they stepped into the sterile chambers of pulsating mainframe computers in the Imperial Information Center .

  "Remember when you and I were here, Artoo, trying to find Jedi candidates for Master Luke?" Artoo bleeped that of course he remembered. "This time it's nothing terribly exciting, I'm afraid, but in the process of studying backup files for Mistress Leia, I discovered some troubling computer glitches that I'm at a loss to account for. I cannot find any trace of them before the day that horrid Durga the Hutt came to visit and all chaos broke loose. At first I was concerned that our mitigation efforts might have caused some deep core damage, but standard diagnostics yielded nothing. I have been reticent to point this out to Mistress Leia because I'm sure she's still upset about that entire debacle."