Star Wars: Survivor's Quest

CHAPTER 2

The bright red Star Destroyer was waiting silently in the Distance as Luke brought the Jade Sabre out of hyperspace. "There it is," he said, nodding at the curved forward canopy. "What do you think?"

"I'm picking up some mining and transport ships in the area," Mara said, peering at the long-range scanner. "We'd better get a little closer if we don't want eavesdroppers."

"You want to take us in, or shall I?"

"I'll do it," Mara said. Taking a quick look at the monitors, she got a grip on the control stick and pushed it forward. Luke leaned back in his seat, hunching his shoulders once to stretch tired muscles, and watched his wife work.

Wife. For a moment he listened to the word as it bounced around his brain, marveling at the sound of it. Even after nearly three years of marriage there was something that felt strange and awesome about the whole concept.

Of course, it had hardly been three years the way normal couples counted time. Even Han and Leia, who'd dealt with crisis after crisis early in their marriage, had at least been fighting those battles at each other's side. In Luke and Mara's case, his responsibilities at the Jedi academy and her need to disengage herself in an orderly fashion from the intricate workings of Talon Karrde's organization had kept them apart almost as much as they'd been before their wedding. Their moments together had been few and precious, and they'd had only a handful of the longer periods of togetherness that Han had once privately referred to as the breaking-in period.

That was in fact one of the reasons Luke had suggested he accompany Mara on this particular trip. She would still be working, of course, meeting with groups of Karrde's current and former associates. But between meetings he'd hoped they would be able to spend some decent stretches of time together.

It had actually worked pretty well. Up until now.

"I trust you've already noticed how strange this is," Mara said into his musings. "Even if we push the Sabre for all she's worth, we're at least a week away from Coruscant. Whatever this new crisis is, we're too far away to be of any use to anyone."

"Especially since I made it clear to Leia at the start that we weren't supposed to be disturbed unless it was a flat-out invasion," Luke agreed. "Of course, if this isn't Leia, it only leaves one possibility."

"Two, actually," Mara corrected. "And I'd certainly hope Karrde knows better by now than to flag us for anything trivial."

"Leia and Karrde make two," Luke said. "Who's this third option?"

She threw him a sideways look. "We're meeting Karrde aboard the Errant Venture, remember?"

Luke made a face. "Booster."

"Right," Mara said. "And Booster might not know better. If he doesn't, shall we make a pact right now to make sure he does before we leave this system?"

"Deal."

She threw him a slightly evil smile and returned to her piloting.

Luke turned back to the canopy, smiling out at the stars. Despite all the time they'd spent apart, he and Mara had a distinct advantage: They were both Jedi. And because of that, they shared a mental and emotional bond that was far deeper than most couples were able to forge in an entire lifetime together. Deeper and stronger even than anything Luke had experienced in his doomed relationships with Gaeriel Captison or the long-departed Callista.

He still remembered vividly the moment that bond had first appeared, hammered into existence as the two of them fought those combat droids deep under the fortress their old adversary Grand Admiral Thrawn had set up on the planet Nirauan. At the time Luke had thought it was nothing more than a temporary melding of their minds created by the heat and pressure of a life-and-death situation. It was only afterward, when the battle was over but the bond remained, that he'd realized it had become a permanent part of their lives.

Even then, he hadn't completely understood it. He'd assumed that it had sprung forth complete; that in those few hours it had brought the two of them into as deep an understanding of each other as it was possible to have. But in the three years since then, he'd come to realize that he had just barely scratched the surface. Mara was far more complex a human being than he'd ever suspected. As, in fact, he himself was.

Which meant that, Jedi or not, Force-bond or not, there was going to be more for them to learn about each other for a long time to come. In all likelihood, a lifetime's worth of time. He was very much looking forward to the journey.

And yet, at the same time, he couldn't help but feel a small twinge of uncertainty. His marriage to Mara felt right to him, in every respect... but hovering in the background behind all their happiness and success was the distant echo of Yoda's stories of the old Jedi Order during Luke's training on Dagobah.

Specifically, the part about Jedi keeping themselves out of precisely this kind of love relationship.

He hadn't given those teachings much weight at the time. The Empire was in control of the known galaxy, Darth Vader was breathing down the Rebel Alliance's collective neck, and all his thoughts were focused on his own survival and the survival of his friends. When Han and Leia had gotten married, Leia having Force skills hadn't seemed like a big deal. She was certainly strong in the Force, but she hadn't progressed nearly far enough in her training to call herself a Jedi.

But it was different with Luke. He had been a Jedi when he'd asked Mara to marry him. True, their chances of survival at the time had been somewhat uncertain, but that hadn't affected the sincerity of his proposal or the depth of his feelings toward her. And despite these occasional twinges, he'd certainly found peace in his decision and in their subsequent marriage.

Could Yoda have been wrong about how Jedi relationships were supposed to work? That was the easiest answer. But that would mean the entire Jedi Order had been wrong about it. That didn't seem likely, unless on some level all of them had lost the ability to hear the Force clearly.

Could that particular dictum have ended with the fall of that particular group, then? Yoda had also said something about the Force having been brought back into balance, though he'd been somewhat vague about the details. Could this have rendered that part of the Jedi Code no longer applicable?

He didn't have the answers. He wondered if he ever would.

"Okay, they're on us," Mara announced, leaning back in her seat. "Got an antenna swiveling for a tight beam. I've been wondering how far away a Star Destroyer's sensors could pick us up."

Luke forced his thoughts back to the situation at hand. "Though with the Errant Venture you always have to allow for malfunctions," he reminded her.

"True," she agreed. "Sometimes I think of that ship as one massive red warning light."

"It's certainly bright enough." Luke shook his head. "I am never, ever, going to get used to that color."

"I kind of like it," Mara said. "Especially given where it came from."

"You mean Booster strong-arming General Bel Iblis to refit and repaint?"

"I was thinking of the paint itself," Mara said. "Did you know the New Republic bought all of it from Karrde?"

Luke blinked. "You're kidding. Did Bel Iblis know?"

"Don't be silly," Mara said with a lopsided smile. "You know Bel Iblis. He'd have had a fit on general principles if he'd known Karrde had made any money on this deal. No, Karrde played it all very cool and through at least three intermediaries and a dummy corporation. I don't think even Booster knows."

"Trust me, he doesn't," Luke said. "Corran once told me that one of Booster's great joys in life these days is telling people how he managed this whole thing without any help or interference from the great Talon Karrde. I wonder what he'd say if he knew that was Karrde's Paint on his hull."

"I know what Karrde would say," Mara warned. "Both before and after he nailed my hide to the hull. One of his great joys is watching Booster strut around blissfully unaware of the ways he's dipped in and out of the old pirate's life over the years."

Luke shook his head. "They're a matched pair. You know that?"

"Don't tell them that, either," Mara said. There was a beep from the board. "Okay, here we go. Encrypt Paspro-nine..."

She touched a few keys. There was a second beep, and suddenly the comm display lit up with Karrde's familiar face.

He wasn't smiling.

"Mara; Luke," he greeted them, his voice as grim as he looked. "Thank you for coming so promptly. I'm sorry I had to drag you out here like this, away from your schedule. Especially you, Luke; I know how much you went through to free up time for this."

"Don't worry about it," Mara said for both of them. "The trip was getting a little routine anyway. What's up?"

"What's up is that I've lost a message," Karrde said bluntly. "Four days ago my sector relay post at Comra picked up a transmission, marked urgent, and addressed to you, Luke."

Luke frowned. "Me?"

"So the chief of the station says," Karrde replied. "But that was about all he got. Before he or anyone else could pass it on down the line, it vanished."

"You think it was stolen?" Luke asked.

Karrde's lips compressed briefly. "I know it was stolen," he said. "We even know the name of the man who stole it, because when the message disappeared from the station, so did he. Have you ever heard of anyone by the name of Dean Jinzler?"

"Doesn't sound familiar," Luke said, searching his memory. "Mara?"

"No," Mara said. "Who is he?"

Karrde shook his head. "Unfortunately, I don't know, either."

"Wait a second," Mara said. "This is one of your people, and you don't know everything there is to know about him?"

The corner of Karrde's lip twitched. "I didn't know everything about you when I hired you, either," he pointed out.

"Sure, but I was a special case," Mara countered. "I thought you knew better with everyone else. Do we have any idea where the message originated or who sent it?"

"Actually, we have both," Karrde said, his voice going even darker. "The planet of origin was Nirauan." He paused. "The sender was an Admiral Voss Parck."

Luke felt his forehead creasing, a strange sensation trickling through him. Nirauan: Thrawn's private base, full of Imperials and warriors of Thrawn's own people, the Chiss. The fortress he and Mara had escaped from by the skin of their teeth three years before.

And Admiral Voss Parck, the onetime Imperial captain whom Thrawn had left in command of that base before his death. They'd had a brief run-in with Parck during their time on Nirauan, too, right after the admiral had tried to recruit Mara to their side.

"I see that name is familiar to both of you," Karrde said. "I've always had the feeling I didn't get the complete story of your little visit out that way."

Luke could sense Mara's sudden discomfort. "That was my doing," he said. "I insisted we keep most of the details from everyone except the highest-ranking New Republic officials."

"I quite understand," Karrde said calmly. "Actually, with Parck's name I think I can probably re-create most of the missing pieces myself. He was a close associate of Grand Admiral Thrawn's, wasn't he?"

"Actually, he was the Victory-class Star Destroyer captain who found Thrawn at the edge of the Unknown Regions after he'd been exiled by the rest of his people forty-odd years ago," Mara said. "He was so impressed with Thrawn's tactical skill that he took a chance and brought him to Palpatine. When Palpatine himself later exiled Thrawn back to the Unknown Regions, Parck was one of the officers who was sent out there with him."

"Exiled," Karrde murmured. "Yes. And I take it whatever Thrawn's true mission was, Parck stayed behind to complete it?"

"Basically," Luke conceded. So much for the clever little cover story Palpatine had created to explain Thrawn's departure from the Empire. But then, Karrde had always been good at reading between the lines. "I wish I could be more specific."

"That's all right." Karrde smiled. "I suppose the New Republic has to have some secrets."

"Not that they have very many from you anymore," Mara said. "So what's the story on this Dean Jinzler?"

Karrde shrugged. "He's a middle-age man, somewhere in his sixties. Quite intelligent, though he's apparently never made much of a name for himself in any profession or system. He traveled around quite a bit during the Clone Wars, though the details of his activities are sketchy. He joined the organization about a year ago with certificates in comm tech, droid maintenance, and hyperdrive tech."

"Impressive credentials," Mara commented. "Doesn't sound like the sort of person you'd stick in an Outer Rim Dead Zone station."

"Well, that's where it gets interesting," Karrde said heavily. "When I pulled up his file, I discovered that about eight weeks ago he himself asked for a transfer to that particular post."

Luke and Mara exchanged looks. "Now, that is interesting," Mara said. "Eight weeks, you say?"

"Yes," Karrde said. "I don't know if it means anything, but that was just about the time my researchers finished pulling together the material I'd asked for on Nirauan, Thrawn, and associated topics."

"Sounds like our boy Jinzler may have a certificate in creative eavesdropping, too," Mara said. "I presume we have someone digging up everything we can on him?"

"We do," Karrde said. "Unfortunately, it's going to take time. In the meantime, Admiral Parck has apparently sent you a message important enough for Jinzler to consider worth stealing. The question is what exactly we do about it."

"I don't see that we have any choice," Luke said. "Until we know what the message says, we can't even begin to guess what Jinzler might want with it." He shrugged. "So I guess we're off to Nirauan."

Beside him, Mara stirred in her chair, and he sensed her sudden tension. But she remained silent. "I was afraid you'd say that," Karrde said heavily. "Given all I don't know about your last trip there, I do know that you were chased out of the system. True?"

"Not exactly chased out," Luke said. "On the other hand, I'll admit I've never felt we'd be especially welcome if we went back. But the situation's changed. If Parck has a message for us, I assume he'll at least wait until he's delivered it before he tries to shoot us out of the sky."

"Not funny," Mara muttered.

"Sorry," Luke apologized. "I'm open to other suggestions."

"Why can't you just signal him from here?" Karrde asked. "Between the Venture and the HoloNet, we should be able to boost a signal that far."

Luke shook his head. "No. He sent the signal through your station, not the regular HoloNet. And he addressed it to me, not the Senate or anyone else on Coruscant. That implies it's something he doesn't want leaking out."

"A little late for that," Karrde murmured.

"Even so, we can't risk running any of this through regular communications channels," Luke said. "And under the circumstances, we'd better not trust your network with it, either. Jinzler may have left friends behind in case of follow-up messages."

"I suppose that makes sense," Karrde said reluctantly. "Mara? Thoughts or comments?"

"Only that if we're going, we'd better do it," she said, her voice under careful control. "Thanks for the heads-up."

"Under the circumstances, it seemed the least I could do," Karrde said. "It also occurred to me that if you went, you might prefer to use that alien ship you brought back from there. I've sent Shada and Wild Karrde to go pick it up."

"A nice thought," Luke said. "But I don't think we've got time to wait for it."

"Definitely not," Mara agreed. "Thanks anyway. How many people have you told about that ship, by the way?"

"Just Shada," Karrde said. "No one else."

"Good," Mara said. "I'd like to keep it a secret a little longer, if we can."

"No problem," Karrde assured her. "If and when we dig out information on Jinzler, shall I send a courier to Nirauan to meet you?"

"Don't bother," Luke said. "Chances are we'll be heading straight back to Coruscant within a couple of days anyway."

"And never mind Jinzler's history," Mara added. "You just concentrate on tracking down the man himself. The last time secret information slipped through our fingers, we nearly ended up with a civil war."

Karrde winced. "Yes; the Caamas Document," he said. "Don't worry, we'll find him."

"Good," Luke said. "We'll talk to you when we get back to civilization."

"Right," Karrde said. "Good luck."

"And happy hunting to you," Luke said.

He touched the comm switch, and Karrde's face vanished. "Well, like you said, the trip was starting to get routine," he commented.

Mara didn't answer. "I take it you're not happy about all this?" Luke suggested as he punched for the nav computer.

"You mean about going to Nirauan?" Mara asked, her voice thick with sarcasm. "Nirauan, where I single-handedly destroyed their whole docking bay deck for them? I'm sure Parck's just dying to see me again."

"Oh, come on," Luke soothed. "I'm sure he's gotten over that by now. Anyway, it's really Baron Fel you should be worried about. He was probably the one in charge of the fighters you wrecked."

She turned a high-voltage glare on him. "You're just dripping with cheer and good humor today, aren't you?"

"Somebody has to be," Luke said, giving her a totally innocent look.

Mara held the glare another moment. Then her face softened. "You're as worried as I am, aren't you?" she asked quietly.

Luke sighed. "I can think of only one reason Parck would suddenly want to talk to us," he admitted. "Probably the same reason that's already occurred to you."

Mara nodded. "The unidentified enemy he told me was coming this direction," she said. "The one that had both him and Fel seriously concerned."

"Unless they were lying about that," Luke suggested. "They were trying to talk you into joining them, remember."

Mara turned to look out at the canopy. "No," she said. "No, they were convinced. They might have been wrong, but they were sincerely wrong."

"You're probably right," Luke agreed. "I wish now we'd brought Artoo with us. He came in pretty handy the last time we were there."

"We're not going down to the planet itself," Mara said firmly. "Besides, I know Leia is a lot more comfortable having him aboard during this stage of Jaina's flight training."

Behind Luke, the computer beeped completion of its task. "Here we go," he said, feeding the course setting into the helm.

"It's almost funny, you know," Mara commented thoughtfully. "You actually called it, not fifteen minutes ago. Remember?"

Luke grimaced. Especially since I made it clear to Leia at the start that we weren't supposed to be disturbed unless it was a flat-out invasion. "The Force is strong in my family," he murmured.

"So I've heard," Mara said. "Let's just hope that was you talking and not the Force. Come on; let's get this over with."

Two days later, they reached the Nirauan system.

"Looks quiet enough," Luke said as they flew through space toward the battle-scarred planet itself. "No fighter patrols or anything else I can pick up."

Mara was silent a moment, and Luke could sense her reaching out with the Force. "I'm not getting anything, either," she said. "I get the bad feeling Parck wasn't expecting us."

Luke frowned at her. "I thought you didn't want him waiting for us."

"I didn't want his fighters waiting for us," Mara corrected. "But the complete lack of a welcoming committee implies that the message he sent was complete in and of itself. He may be annoyed to find he has visitors."

"Well, there's one way to find out," Luke said, adjusting the comm for one of the frequencies the Imperials and Chiss had been using the last time they were here. "Let's knock and see if anyone's home."

He tapped the key. "This is Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master of the New Republic, to Admiral Voss Parck. Repeat; this is Luke Skywalker calling Admiral Parck. Please respond."

He leaned back in his seat. "Now, I guess we wait until—"

Abruptly, the comm display came on, revealing the blue face and glowing red eyes of a Chiss. "Hello, Skywalker," the alien said. His eyes seemed to burn into Luke's face. "And Jade is here, too, I see," he added, his face turning slightly to gaze at Mara. "This is Kres'ten'tarthi, commander of Mitth'raw'nuruodo's household phalanx for the Empire of the Hand. This is certainly a surprise."

"I don't know why it should be," Luke said evenly. "Or didn't you know Admiral Parck had sent me a message?"

"Yes, I knew," Kres'ten'tarthi said. "The admiral will be here in a moment. In the meantime, would you care to land and join us?" His face seemed to tighten slightly. "Don't worry, the docking bay has been completely repaired since your last visit."

"Thanks for your hospitality," Mara said before Luke could answer. "I think we'll stay here."

The Chiss inclined his head. "As you wish."

The display blanked. "You know him?" Luke asked.

"Yes, though I'd only heard his core name, Stent," Mara said. "He was one of the Chiss on guard duty when Parck and Fel were talking to me. I think he took it personally when you came charging to the rescue."

Luke shook his head. "We have friends all over this planet, don't we?"

"We have friends all over this whole region of space," Mara retorted. "Don't forget, the rest of Thrawn's people are out there somewhere. Whole star systems full of Chiss, whom I notice haven't exactly been eager to make their presence known to the New Republic."

"Maybe they've got enough troubles of their own, and figure they don't need to share ours," Luke offered.

"Maybe," Mara said. "Interesting term Stent used. Did you notice?"

"Empire of the Hand," Luke said, nodding. "Probably relates to the Hand of Thrawn."

"Obviously," Mara said. "I was wondering more about the Empire part. You and your Rebel friends certainly had plenty of trouble with Palpatine's Empire. You suppose the Chiss might be having similar problems with Thrawn's?"

"Could be," Luke said doubtfully. Grand Admiral Thrawn—Mitth'raw'nuruodo, to give his full Chiss name—had been arguably the greatest military genius the galaxy had ever known, certainly the greatest the Empire had ever had in its ranks. Palpatine had sent him and a task force out into the Unknown Regions before the Rebel Alliance had been formed, ostensibly in punishment for a breach of palace politics, but in reality with the secret mission of exploring and conquering new systems for future Imperial expansion.

On their last visit to Nirauan, Luke and Mara had learned just how well he had succeeded at that task. In just those few short years he had opened up huge expanses of territory, putting them under the control of his Imperial forces and the handful of Chiss such as Stent who had remained loyal to him. The original secrecy of the project had also been maintained, with the leaders of the Imperial Remnant on Bastion having never even heard of the project up to that point.

Now, three years later, Supreme Commander Pellaeon and a handful of trusted advisers had had some limited contact with Parck and the Nirauan offshoot of their former regime. Leia and some of the other top people in the New Republic also knew of its existence, though Luke suspected neither government had any idea how extensive the new territory actually was. Only he and Mara knew that, and for the moment they had decided to keep it private.

The designation Empire of the Hand for the region, however, was a new one on them. "I can't see Thrawn becoming that kind of tyrant, though," he went on, thinking back over the New Republic's own struggles against the Grand Admiral. "He never struck me as the sort to rule by terror or suppression."

"Doesn't mean he couldn't have learned," Mara pointed out. "Palpatine was an excellent teacher. Or if not Thrawn himself, maybe those who succeeded him went in that direction. Happens all the time."

"I suppose," Luke conceded. "Still—"

He broke off as the comm display came on again, this time revealing a gray-haired human with a lined face and quick, shrewd eyes. "Hello, Mara," he said. "Master Skywalker. This is a surprise, I must say. I assumed you'd be well on your way to Crustai by now."

Luke frowned. "Crustai?"

"The rendezvous point," Parck said, his forehead furrowing as he frowned in turn. "Didn't you get my message?"

"Unfortunately, it took a wrong turn," Mara told him. "Someone named Dean Jinzler made off with it before anyone else could see the contents."

"Really," Parck murmured, looking back and forth between them. "You know this man?"

"Never heard of him before," Mara said. "I take it this message was worth stealing?"

"In the proper hands, it could very well be," Parck said, his lips compressing briefly. "This is not good at all."

"Yes, that's basically the conclusion we came to," Mara agreed. "You want to fill us in?"

"Of course," Parck said, his thoughts clearly still on the wayward message. "Though if the Chiss..." He seemed to shake himself. "Well, what's done is done," he said briskly. "Reality must always be dealt with, whether we like it or not. Tell me, Skywalker, have you ever heard of something called Outbound Flight?"

"Yes, I think so," Luke said slowly, thinking hard. "I came across a reference to it when I was searching for information on Jorus C'baoth, back when his clone was working with—was trying to kidnap Leia's twins," he corrected himself quickly. C'baoth's former connection with Thrawn, and especially his connection with Thrawn's death, might not be a wise subject to bring up. "Wasn't it some grand effort a few years before the Clone Wars to send an expedition to another galaxy?"

"Very good," Parck said. "Yes, that was basically it. The project consisted of six brand-new Dreadnaughts, clustered together in a hexagonal pattern around a central storage core. The personnel consisted of six Jedi Masters and a dozen Jedi Knights, including C'baoth himself, plus some fifty thousand others, crewers and their families."

Luke blinked. "And their families?"

"Traveling to another galaxy would take time," Parck reminded him. "Especially at the low speeds Dreadnaughts were capable of making. In addition, since they would be passing through the Unknown Regions on the way, there was some suggestion of planting a few colonies as they went."

"Ah," Luke said, nodding. "Hence the design."

"Correct," Parck said. "If a colony was indeed formed, one of the Dreadnaughts could be easily detached from the cluster to provide the colonists with protection and mobility."

"Yes," Luke said. "Aside from that, about all I know is that the expedition never returned. Did they make it to another galaxy?"

Beside him, Mara stirred. "They didn't even make it out of ours," she said quietly. "Thrawn intercepted the mission at the edge of Chiss space and destroyed it."

"Yes," Parck said. "The rest of the Chiss were not pleased, to say the least. Thrawn was nearly exiled on the spot, though he apparently was able to talk his way out of it somehow."

"Yes, I remember the history lesson from the last time I was here," Mara said. "The Chiss are fanatics on the topic of preemptive strikes. So what does a fifty-year-old tragedy have to do with us?"

"Just this." Parck's eyes bored into hers. "The Chiss have found the remains of Outbound Flight. And they want to give it back."

For a long moment, Mara just stared at the screen, a hundred different thoughts and emotions twisting themselves through her mind. "No," she said, the word popping out without conscious effort. "That's impossible. It has to be a trick."

Parck shrugged. "I agree it sounds odd. But Aristocra Formbi seemed sincere when he contacted me."

"It's impossible," Mara insisted again. "You told me Thrawn destroyed Outbound Flight. When Thrawn destroys something, he does a very thorough job of it."

"Which I would know far better than you," Parck returned pointedly. "The fact remains that the Chiss say they've found Outbound Flight. The description Formbi gave certainly fits the design, and there's no other reason I can think of why even a single Dreadnaught should be out this far."

He lifted an eyebrow. "The hows and whys are questions none of us can answer right now. The only question you have to deal with is what you're going to do about it."

"What we're going to do?" Luke asked. "It seems to me this is something for the entire New Republic leadership, not a couple of Jedi."

"Perhaps," Parck said. "But perhaps not. Outbound Flight was a brainchild of the Jedi, after all, not the Old Republic Senate or even Palpatine. That's why Formbi asked that you be contacted and invited to join the official expedition to the site of the remains."

"He asked for Luke?" Mara asked.

"Specifically," Parck confirmed, turning to look toward a screen to his right. "Here's the entire message: 'To Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master, Jedi academy, Yavin Four; from Chaf'orm'bintrano, Aristocra of the Fifth Ruling Family, Sarvchi. A patrol from the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet has located what appears to be the remnants of the expeditionary mission known to you as Outbound Flight deep inside Chiss territory. As a token of respect, and with deep regret for Chiss involvement in its destruction, we offer you the opportunity to join the official examination of the vessel. I will await you at the world Crustai'—here he gave the coordinates—'for the next fifteen days, at which time we will travel together to Outbound Flight's location. I urge you to attend, so that through you we may discuss arrangements for the return of the remains to your people.' End of message."

"And this all came from this Chaf'orm'whatever?" Mara asked. "The address and everything?"

"Chaf'orm'bintrano," Parck supplied. "Call him Formbi. Obviously, I supplied the location of the Jedi academy for him. The Chiss know virtually nothing about the New Republic, and certainly nothing about its worlds."

"Yet he knew Luke's name?"

"Well, no, not exactly," Parck said. "Formbi asked for the name of the New Republic's most prominent Jedi. That would of course be Master Skywalker."

"So you and Formbi are on good speaking terms?" Mara pressed.

"I wouldn't say we're on good speaking terms," Parck hedged. "Official Chiss policy is still that Thrawn was a renegade who brought nothing but dishonor on the rest of his people."

"Tell that to Stent," Luke murmured.

Parck shrugged. "I didn't say all the Chiss agreed. I simply said that was the official line. But Formbi and I have spoken on occasion, and the conversations have been reasonably civil."

He glanced somewhere offscreen. "I've run the numbers on travel to the Crustai system. Assuming you can make at least point three in that ship, you should have just enough time to get there before Formbi's fifteen days are up."

"Thank you," Luke said. "If you don't mind, we'll discuss it and get back to you."

"As you wish," Parck said. "I hope to speak with you again soon."

He was still sitting there, gazing at them, when Luke switched off the comm.

Mara kept her eyes on the planet, feeling Luke's unspoken question hanging in the air between them. "What do you think?" she asked instead.

"It's an intriguing offer," Luke said. "As far as I could tell, the whole Outbound Flight Project was wrapped in secrecy. There was hardly anything even in the Coruscant archives that I could find."

"There's a lot we don't know anymore about that whole era," Mara said. "The Clone Wars and Palpatine's purge saw to that."

"That's my point," Luke said. "If even a part of Outbound Flight survived, there's a chance that some of its records survived with it. This could be the kind of glimpse into the past that we've always wanted."

"That we've always wanted?" Mara countered, looking at him. "Or that you've always wanted?"

"All right, fine," Luke said, clearly puzzled by her reaction. "I admit it: I'd like to know more about the Jedi of that time. Wouldn't you?"

"That's also when Palpatine came to power," she reminded him darkly, turning back to the canopy. "Personally, there's a lot about that era that I don't want to know."

"I understand," Luke said gently. "But on the other hand, we can't ignore the potential of this offer."

"What potential?" Mara scoffed. "The chance for the Chiss to assuage their guilt over letting Thrawn run wild as long as they did?"

"I'm sure that's part of it," Luke said. "The Chiss claim to be an honorable people. Even Thrawn made a point of not killing or destroying more than he thought was necessary. But I have a strong feeling that there's more to this than just a simple act of atonement."

"Such as?"

Luke shrugged. "I don't know. It may be that the Chiss are looking to open diplomatic relations with the New Republic, and finding Outbound Flight has given them the opening they needed to do so."

"Really," Mara said. "Well, in that case, my dear, they're going about it in an awfully strange way. I've been running some numbers, too, and even if that message had been delivered when it was supposed to be, we'd barely have had time to alert Coruscant before we flash-tailed it out to the Unknown Regions. And they wouldn't have had time to even organize a diplomatic mission, let alone get it in space in time. Face it, Luke: Formbi doesn't want the New Republic involved, at least not on any official level."

"I can't argue with that," Luke conceded. "Still, if the Chiss consider Outbound Flight to have been a Jedi project, it makes sense for them to ask for me instead of someone from the Senate."

"If Parck's telling the truth," Mara said. "It also could be that he's lying through his teeth."

"There's one way to find out," Luke pointed out. "I doubt he could hide that massive a deception from both of us in person."

"We're not going down there," Mara said flatly. "The last time I sat in the same room with him he first tried to recruit me, then almost had me shot with those wonderful little charric fire guns the Chiss carry. Thanks, but I can hear him just fine from up here."

"Okay, don't get excited," Luke said. "I'm not in any rush to go down there again, either. Just bear in mind that in that case all we've got to go on is what he says."

"I know," Mara muttered. "I just don't like it."

Luke shrugged. "It's a gamble," he said. "But I think it's worth taking." He cocked his head to the side, and again Mara could feel his mind pressing at hers. "Unless you have something more solid to go on, one way or the other?"

"You mean am I getting something from the Force?" Mara grimaced. "I wish I was. But all I've got is my own natural suspicion."

"No, it's not just that," Luke corrected her thoughtfully. "There's something else there, something deeper than just caution or suspicion. It feels a little like the way I felt when Yoda told me I would have to face my father before I would truly be a Jedi."

"But I've already been through that," Mara protested. "You told me that that transition had to do with sacrifice. I made mine." She jabbed a finger toward the planet in front of them. "Right down there."

"I know," Luke said, and Mara felt a new warmth flow into his concern. That sacrifice, after all, was what had finally made this whole relationship possible. "But it wasn't the sacrifice aspect I was thinking of. It was more the—I don't know. Call it the need to face the past."

Mara snorted. "I've never even been to Chiss space. How can going out there possibly have anything to do with my past?"

"I don't know," Luke said. "I just said that was what it felt like, that's all."

Mara sighed. "You want to go, don't you?"

Luke reached over and took her hand. "I think we have to," he said. "If Parck was right about an enemy moving in toward us, we're going to need all the allies we can get. If there's even a chance of getting the Chiss on our side, we need to take it."

"Yes," Mara said, a shiver running up her back. "Unless Parck was lying about that, too. Well, if we're going to go, we'd better go."

Squeezing Luke's hand once, she let go and reached for the comm switch. "Let's contact Parck and get those coordinates."