Karrde nodded soberly. “Thrawn.” He looked at Shada. “And yes, I would be greatly pleased to have Shada’s assistance. If she’s willing, of course.”
Shada grimaced, the irony a bitter taste in her mouth. Nineteen years late, she’d finally made the wrenching decision to shift her allegiance from her own people to the New Republic … only to find that the New Republic didn’t want her. And the only one who did was as much an outcast from their great and wonderful new society as she was. “Sure,” she told Karrde. Why not?”
“Trust me, Shada, Karrde gets all his best people this way,” Calrissian said dryly. “When you get aboard the Wild Karrde, ask Mara Jade how she got hired.”
Something flickered across Karrde’s face. “Mara won’t be with us,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you tonight, Leia. Mara’s come to some kind of … accident.”
Calrissian’s sly smile vanished, and the others sat up straighter What kind of accident?” Organa Solo asked.
“A confusing one,” Karrde said with a grimace. “She and the Starry Ice tracked one of the unidentified ships your brother saw in the Kauron system-“
“Wait a minute,” Solo interrupted. “What’s this about unidentified ships?”
“He and Mara saw it skulking around the Cavrilhu Pirates’ base,” Karrde said. “Didn’t he send you a report?”
“Yes, but only a very sketchy one,” Organa Solo said. “He just said he hadn’t learned anything from the pirates and that he would give us all the details when he got back to Coruscant. There was nothing about any unidentified ship.”
“He must not have wanted to say anything on an open channel,” Karrde said. “I’ve got a copy of his and Mara’s records of that sighting, plus the data we took when another of the ships buzzed the Errant Venture. I’ll get copies to you before I leave.”
“Forget the ships a minute,” Calrissian put in impatiently. “What happened to Mara?”
“The Starry Ice tracked it to a small world in Gradilis sector,” Karrde said. “Mara went in for a closer look and spotted a fortress, entered a cave for a one-sided conversation with unknown beings, mentioned Skywalker’s name in response to something they said or did, and then abruptly went silent.”
Calrissian’s face bad gone rigid. “You mean she was-?”
“No, she wasn’t killed,” Karrde hastened to assure him. “At least not then-you can hear her breathing on the recording that was pulse-transmitted back to the Starry Ice.”
“And these beings knew Luke?” Organa Solo asked, her forehead furrowed. With thought or dread, Shada couldn’t tell which.
“Knew him, or knew of him,” Karrde told her. “There wasn’t enough context for us to tell which.”
“We need to get hold of him right away,” Solo said to his wife. “See if he can tell us anything.”
Karrde cleared his throat self-consciously. “Actually, I’ve already spoken to him. He couldn’t shed any light on it, either.”
Organa Solo regarded him suspiciously. “And?” she prompted.
“That was the other thing I wanted to tell you,” Karrde said, his urbane air cracking just a bit. “He’s gone off to find her.”
Organa Solo’s expression didn’t change, but suddenly the temperature in that part of the room seemed to drop a few degrees. “He’s what?” she asked, her tone ominous.
“She’s in danger, Leia,” Karrde said. “Luke was the only one who could get there fast enough to make a difference. The only one who had a reasonable chance of dealing with whatever the creatures were Mara ran into. And whoever or whatever is up in that fortress. This doesn’t just concern Mara; it concerns the entire New Republic.”
“And what, you think this Bothan mess doesn’t?” Solo growled. He was on his feet now, glaring across the conversation circle at Karrde. “We’ve got a hundred little wars simmering out there, half of them using Caamas as an excuse to go in and settle old grudges. We’ve already emptied the New Republic diplomatic corps and Jedi academy trying to find enough mediators to go around, and we still don’t have enough. We need Luke here.”
“I didn’t force him to go after her,” Karrde countered, not quite glaring back. “He weighed all the factors and made his own decision.”
“Except that he didn’t know Thrawn was back,” Solo countered. “Did he?”
“Let it go, Han,” Organa Solo said quietly, reaching up to touch her husband’s arm. “What’s done is done. Karrde’s right: it was Luke’s decision to make. He’s made it, and we’ll just have to manage without him until he returns.”