to conduct you to the Emperor. I believe he wishes to discuss with you the
course of the rest of your life. It is to be a short conversation."
Armand Isard stared gape-jawed at his daughter, then closed his mouth and
sighed. "I had expected this someday, you know, Ysanne."
"Of course; I am your daughter." She came around the side of his desk and
gave him a kiss on the cheek. "It's over for you now. Father, but fear not."
She dropped herself into his chair. "The Isard legacy is in very good hands."
***
Jade Solitaire
by Timothy Zahn
Excuse me, folks-I'm looking for Talon Karrde." Mara Jade looked up from
the engine monitor, peripherally aware that, on the other side of the board,
Chin was doing the same. The voice coming from the direction of the Wild
Karrde's bridge door was completely unfamiliar to her.
As, she discovered, was the face that came with the voice. "Captain
Karrde isn't here at the moment," Mara told the stranger, eyeing him narrowly.
Just because they were in a familiar docking bay in a familiar port was no
reason why strangers should be wandering loose around the ship. "How did you
get in here?"
The man waved vaguely behind him. "Oh, Dankin was back at the hatchway,
and he let me in. Karrde and I are old friends-he and I go way back. Any idea
when he'll be showing up?"
"I really couldn't say," Mara said, throwing a glance at Chin. Someone
who went way back with Karrde should logically go way back with Chin, too,
given how long the older man had been with the organization. But there was no
recognition on Chin's face, either. "If you'd like, you can leave a message."
The man sighed deeply. "No, I'm afraid that won't do." He waved toward
the viewport behind them and the bustling spaceport scene beyond it.
Abruptly, the back of Mara's neck tingled with subtle warning. Her right
hand dropped to the blaster holstered at her side-
And froze there. The intruder's waving hand had abruptly split open down
the middle, revealing the blaster that had been hidden inside the prosthetic
shell. "And I don't have time to wait for him, either," he said, his voice as
unconcerned as ever. "My employer would like a word with all of you. He'd
prefer you arrive undamaged, but he'd understand if that's not possible."
Mara hissed softly between her teeth. On her own, she knew, she could
take him easily, trick weapon or no. But she wasn't alone, and Chin didn't
move nearly as fast as he used to. And whether by accident or design, the
intruder's weapon was pointed squarely at the older man. No, better to find
out what this mysterious employer wanted and wait for a better opening. "I'd
hate to disappoint him," she said, lifting her hand away from her holster.
"Especially after such a gracious invitation. Please, lead on."
Though if he had harmed any of the Wild Karrde's crew getting inside, she
promised herself darkly, her cooperation would be coming to a quick end. A
painfully quick end.
Fortunately for him, he hadn't.
"Sorry, Mara," Dankin apologized, looking rather sheepish as he and the
rest of the crew piled out of the group of black-windowed landspeeders in
which their captors had brought them here. "They got the drop on us at the
hatchway."
"Don't worry about it," Mara said, glancing around as they were herded
toward the side door of an ornate and well-guarded mansion. There was no
indication of who the owner was or even exactly where they were, though from
the sounds of spacecraft in the distance they Probably weren't more than a few
kilometers from the spaceport. "Let's see what all this is about. We can
always get annoyed about it later."
They were ushered through the front door, up a staircase, and along a
corridor to a huge office whose luxury level left the rest of the mansion in
the dust. A group of chairs had been set up facing a massive desk that looked
to be nearly half the size of the Wild Karrde's entire bridge.
passing herd of brualiki, was a large, heavily built man. "Thank you for
coming," he said, his voice penetrating the distance without giving any
impression that he was even pushing the limits of his volume. "Please be
seated."
"Your invitation was hard to ignore," Mara told him, choosing the chair
directly in front of him and sitting down. "You might want to consider trying
a more polite approach."
"If I'd had the time, I would have," the round man said, glancing over
them again. "Where's Karrde?"
"He's not here," Mara said. And not likely to bump into th meeting any
time soon, either, she added silently to herself. He was over in the Gekto
system making some shipping arrangements, and wasn't due to return until
tomorrow. She could only hope he wouldn't be as easily nabbed as the rest of
them had been. "I'm Mara Jade, currently in command of the Wild Karrde. What
do you want?"
The man's eyes narrowed. Mara met his gaze evenly; after a few seconds,
his face cleared and he even smiled slightly. "Mara Jade: I've heard a great
deal about you, young ladv. Yes, you'll do nicely."
Beside Mara, Dankin stirred as if he was about to speak. Mara shot him a
quick glance, and he subsided.
"Very good, indeed," the large man murmured. "Perfectly in command, both
of yourself and of your people. Yes, you'll do."
He took a deep breath. "First, some introductions. My name isJa Bardrin.
Perhaps you've heard of me."
Mara kept her face steady, wincing inwardly at the ripple of surprise
that ran through the rest of the crew. Of course they'd heard of the
industrialist-half the sector had-but that was no reason to play into th false
modesty, ego-stroking game of his. "I think I've noticed your name go by once
or twice in a footnote," she told him calmly. "Under weapons and ship systems,
if I recall correctly. Usually dealing in market areas Uoti hasn't gotten to
yet."
She had the small satisfaction of drawing a flash of annoyance from him
on that one. The Bardrin Group and the Uoti Corporate had been jockeying for
market position and prestige for over two decades now, a rivalry that was deep
and bitter and showed no signs of being resolved any time soon.
Unfortunately, Bardrin's brief flicker of anger subsided too quickly for
her to use the lowered mental guard to pull any insight from his mind. "But
enough of this chitchat," she continued. "I'll ask again: what do you want?"
Bardrin locked eyes with her. "My daughter Sansia has been captured. I
want you to rescue her."
Mara frowned. "I think your information sifters need a refresher course
in how to do their job. We don't handle military operations."
"The mission requires a woman," Bardrin said. "A resourceful, competent,
combat-trained human female."
"So go hire a Mistryl."
Bardrin shook his head. "There's no time to contact them, even if I knew
how to go about it I have to get Sansia back now, before her captors realize
who it is they have."
"What are you talking
about?" Odonnl spoke up. "You said they kidnapped
her."
"I said they captured her," Bardrin countered, pinning Odonnl into his
chair with a single contemptuous glance. "Kindly pay attention."
He brought his gaze back to Mara. "She and the SoroSuub three-thousand
luxury yacht she was flying were taken by a pirate gang while in port on
Makksre and given to a slaver consortium headquartered on Torpris and run by a
Drach'nam named Praysh." He lifted his eyebrows slightly. "I presume you've
also come across the name in your footnote perusals."
"Once or twice," Mara conceded, suppressing a grimace. In the circles the
Wild Karrde moved in, the name of Chay Praysh was even more well known than
Bardrin's. "I understand he makes the late and unlamented Jabba the Hutt look
like a fine, upstanding citizen."
"Then you understand why I want Sansia and her ship out of his hands,"
Bardrin said, his voice suddenly low and with an underlying edge of
desperation. "I know Karrde would have been willing to help me, but Karrde's
not here. You, Jade, must make the decision."
"What about the authorities?" Dankin spoke up. "The Sector Patrol, or
even the New Republic?"
"And have them do what?" Bardrin shot back. "Request an audience with
Praysh? Mount an attack on his fortress that will leave it in ruins and
everyone inside dead? Besides, their security leaks like rock sitters. If
Praysh learns who Sansia is, he'll bleed me for everything I own. And then
kill her anyway."
He looked at Mara, an almost pleading look in his eyes. "Sansia will have
been sent to work in the slime pits in his fortress," he said. "He sends all
human female captives there-some deep desire to humiliate them, I presume.
You'll have to get them to take you in as another prisoner-was
"Wait a minute," Mara cut him off. "I've already told you we don't do
this sort of work."
"Then you'd better learn how quickly," Bardrin rumbled, his earlier
desperation changing abruptly into ominous threat. "There's no time for me to
get anyone else. You're it."
Mara crossed her arms, bringing her hand close to the tiny blaster
concealed inside her left sleeve. "And if I refuse?"
"There are twenty-four blasters concealed in the walls of this room,"
Bardrin said. "Three trained on each of you. Before you could even pull that
weapon clear, you'd watch your crewmates die around you."
Mara flicked her eyes across the room, stretching out to the Force as she
did so. He was right; she could sense the alert presences hidden behind the
ornately carved walls all around them.
And if she hadn't been willing to risk Chin's life earlier, she certainly
wasn't going to play games with the entire Wild Karrde's crew now. "You didn't
answer my question," she said, unfolding her arms.
"You won't refuse," Bardrin declared, leaning back in his chair. "You
see, you'vejust now given me all the leverage I need. You'll go to Torpris and
bring back Sansia and her ship... or I'll execute your entire crew."
Someone off to her left inhaled sharply. "You can't be that stupid," Mara
said, trying to put confidence she didn't feel into her tone. Through the
Force she could read Bardrin's intentions, and knew he was deadly serious.
"You kill Karrde's people, and Karrde willcome after you. And I guarantee he's
not an enemy to trifle with."
"Neither am I, my dear," Bardrin said darkly. "A contest between us might
prove quite interesting."
He leveled a thick finger at her. "But regardless of the outcome, you
would still have to live out your life with the knowledge that it was your
obstinate stubbornness that had sent them to their deaths. I don't think
that's a burden you really want to carry."
"There's no need to be quite so melodramatic," Mara said, forcing her
frustration and anger deep down where it wouldn't show. To find herself being
so easily manipulated was infuriating.
But she had no choice. She was Karrde's second-in command, and she'd seen
the concern and respect he consistently showed toward his people. She wasn't
about to lower those high standards, and she certainly wasn't going to risk
her people's deaths by refusing Bardrin. And everyone in the room knew it.
"I'll see what I can do. What can I have in the way of equipment?"
"Anything you want," Bardrin said, standing up and waving a hand. Behind
them, Mara heard the doors open. "My people will escort your crewmates to
their quarters, where they'll remain until you and Sansia return. You and I
will go make whatever arrangements you need."
"Fine," Mara said, falling into step beside him as he passed between the
entering lines of guards.
But that didn't mean the matter would end with Sansia's rescue, she
promised herself silently. Not by a long shot.
Bardrin had told her that Praysh's mansion and grounds were set up near
the center of one of Torpris's larger cities. He had failed to mention,
however, that that particular section of the city was otherwise composed
entirely of slums.
Or at least that was how it seemed to Mara as she maneuvered her
landspeeder down the winding streets toward the high walls of the compound,
wincing at the garbage and debris piled in alleyways between the dilapidated
buildings and trying not to hit any of the ragged derelicts shuffling along
the street. A dozen different species were represented here, all looking
equally hopeless, and she found herself wondering how much of it was a result
of Praysh's presence in the city.
Passing one final clump of huddled beings, she reached the side door
she'd been told to come to. Flanking it were a pair of Drach'nam guards,
looking even more massive than usual for the species in their heavy body
armor. Each of them held a neuronic whip, with a bolstered blaster and long
knife standing ready in reserve. "Hey, there," she called cheerfully to them,
eyeing the whips with the sort of contempt she reserved for unnecessarily
barbaric weapons. "I have a package here for His First Greatness Chay Praysh,
a gift from the Mrahash ofKvabja. May I enter?"
There was an almost chuckle, quickly strangled off, from one of the
guards. "Really," he said, lumbering toward her. "Bring it here and let's have
a look."
Mara slid out of the vehicle and pulled the packing cylinder from the
storage compartment in back. It was large-a good meter tall and half a meter
in diameter- - but fairly light, most of its bulk consisting of cushioning
material for the delicate floater globe she'd borrowed from Bardrin. "It's
some kind of expensive art object, I think," she said, setting it carefully
down in front of him.
"Oh, it's that, all right," the guard agreed, looking Mara up and down.
"Just a minute."
He went back to the door and busied himself with a comm panel built into
the wall. There was a breath of movement beside Mara-
[Leave it and go,] an alien voice spoke quietly from behind her.
Mara turned. A Togorian female was standing at the rear of the
landspeeder, her fur matted and dirty, clearly just another of the derelic
ts
loitering on the street. But her yellow eyes were bright and alive, and her
teeth were bared slightly toward the guards. "Excuse me?" Mara asked.
[I said leave it and go,] the alien said, mouthing the Ghi trade language
words with some difficulty. [You are in great danger here.]
"Oh, don't be silly," Mara said, shaking her head with casual unconcern
even as she wondered at the Togorian's courage in sticking her neck out this
way. Clearly, she knew or suspected what happened to human females who
wandered near Praysh's fortress; but to try to chase a potential prize out
from under the slaver's snout this way bordered on the suicidal. "I'm just
delivering a present to His First Greatness, that's all."
The Togorian hissed. [Fool-you are the present,] she snarled. [Flee,
while you still can.]
"Okay, we're set," the guard said, keying off the comm unit and walking
over to Mara. She turned back to him, making sure to keep a pleasantly blank
expression on her face. If he even suspected the Togorian had tried to warn
her, there might be unpleasant repercussions. "You can take it right in."
"Thank you," Mara said, stooping to pick up the cylinder-
A gauntleted hand came down with a thunk onto the top of the package.
"After we unpack it, of course."
Mara felt her muscles tighten. "What do you mean?" she asked cautiously,