Star Nomad Cast (starnomadnpc) wrote in starnomad, @ 2015-06-16 11:01:00 |
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“I can’t believe he sent a baby present.” “I think he’s just expecting that you’ll invite him to be the honorary grandfather,” Shada D’ukal responded, reaching for her cup of caf. She was sitting with Mara Jade Skywalker in a tapcaf on Coruscant, while Mara drank a muja fruit smoothie and she nursed a cup of strong caf. It was a public place, but she knew Mara had her senses alert, and Shada had her own people out as well. The New Republic hadn’t been very happy with Karrde’s willingness to help the Jedi, and her own ship had been recognized as coming in and out of the Coruscant security blockades during the crisis and so she was here on a loaner – one of Karrde’s lesser well known associates who was stuck doing Karrde a favour somewhere he wasn’t going to need his yacht. The codes the ship held were his and not hers, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to be careful about this meeting. And it meant she was unlikely to stay for a long time, but Luke had mentioned to Karrde that Mara might enjoy seeing friends, and that she had a favour to request as well, and Shada was less recognizable – she’d made a living on being less recognizable. “I suppose he can have his wish then,” Mara laughed, but her expression was tired and Shada knew that it had been a rough year what with the illness first and now a pregnancy on top of that. No matter how much the Skywalkers might have wanted a child – and Shada could only suppose that they had wanted one – this had to be physically stressful for the other woman. “I’ll have one of my men bring it by,” Shada said with a smile. “You should be able to install it in the Shadow without much difficulty so Skycrawler can travel in style." Mara shook her head at the nickname. “It’ll be a while before he’s even crawling you know.” “Not that long, he isn’t a Hutt child.” “Stang I hope not,” Mara retorted, but there was an automatic feel to the words, and an edge to her voice. “He’ll be beautiful, and he’ll be crawling in no time,” Shada reassured. Motherhood and parenting wasn’t something she’d spent much time on, but she had spent enough time around Mara to know worry when she saw it. “But you said you had a favour to ask?” “Yes,” Mara said, and she turned her attention more focused and business. It didn’t take Mara long to explain the situation. There was the possibility that she and Skywalker might need to leave Coruscant, what with the Jedi situation becoming so politically charged, but she had a niece, a young girl who was capable and intelligent, but who had come out of a situation where she’d had very little. They could re-route a Jedi X-Wing if they needed to, but they would prefer to keep her more separate from the Jedi, and to give her codes and the ability to leave Coruscant herself should her projects require it. “Can you talk about what she’s doing?” Shada asked, turning over in her head the possible options and what it was likely Karrde would say. Talon Karrde was a business man, and he hadn’t become one of the foremost shippers in the Galaxy by having a soft heart, but he also rewarded loyalty and recognized hard-work, and Mara Jade had been one of his closest associates for longer than Shada had known Karrde. She knew he would consider any request she gave him carefully, because he knew she would not ask if she felt there was somewhere else to turn. “It’s related to Luke’s projects,” Mara said simply enough. “She’s a decent pilot, if somewhat inexperienced. She may or may not have a co-pilot of her own, but we can make certain she has any droids that are needed. It would probably be helpful if it had room for a crew of a half-dozen, but it isn’t necessary.” Shada’s commlink beeped and she answered. The phrase from the man she had watching, suggested her own time was up here. She took a final sip of her caf and nodded at Mara. “I’ll see what we have local that could be rerouted and I’ll come by your place as soon as I have an answer – in the next day or two.” |