Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 02_ Omen - Christie Golden [21]
Slowly, Vestara smiled.
ABOARD THE JADE SHADOW
THE JADE SHADOW WAS FULL OF ALL THINGS MARA.
Once or twice, during the long silences that filled too many hours spent simply traveling, with the quiet, controlled hum of the engines the only sound, Ben Skywalker could have sworn he felt his mother’s presence. And he did not dismiss it every time as wistful imagination; he was a Jedi, and he knew better. If her spirit was to linger or visit anywhere, surely it would be here, with her husband and son, in the ship that had been designed especially for her.
In a way, it was like having almost everyone who’d cared about Mara Jade Skywalker present. Their love and labor had gone into turning an ordinary space yacht into something unique, formidable, and unexpected, like the woman for whom it was intended.
The basic vessel itself had come from Lando Calrissian. Tendra, Lando’s wife, had given it the name Jade Shadow. The name was ostensibly because of the vessel’s hull, gray and nonreflective, but Ben thought it an apt choice. Mara’s shadow was everywhere in it. With all the extras, Mara could have piloted the vessel herself. The bridge, however, was originally designed for a pilot, copilot, and navigator. Three, just like the Skywalker family had once been three.
Upgrades, some astonishing and cutting-edge, had come. Lando and Talon Karrde gave the vessel teeth in the form of retractable AG-1G laser cannons and two concealed Dymex HM-8 concussion missile launchers. Each had a magazine of eight high-yield torpedoes. The whole defense system could be controlled manually or by a targeting computer that did everything except send consolation notes back to the next of kin. The ship might be a shadow, but it was quite substantial when it came to fighting back.
Han Solo himself had souped up the engines, replicating many of the tricks he’d learned over the years on his own beloved vessel, the Millennium Falcon. On top of that, he’d given the Shadow an advanced long-range sensor suite that anyone seeking to avoid detection or beat a hasty retreat would salivate over. Port and starboard visual scanners, sensor decoys, jamming devices, fake transponder codes, and what Ben had always thought of as the jewel in the crown—a remote-controlled slave circuit that summoned the Shadow over short distances.
After that, Luke and Mara had worked together on many aspects of the vessel, just as they had worked together on a marriage that had been dedicated and true. They’d complemented Han’s contributions by adding an autopilot capable of admirably evasive maneuvers, and retrofitted the aft docking bay to accommodate a modified starfighter.
Mara herself, at not insignificant cost, had installed an extremely sensitive holographic communications array that could send and receive messages all the way from the Deep Core to the Outer Rim. Ben now viewed that almost as a prescient gift, though of course Mara could not possibly have known how vital a lifeline it would one day be for her son and husband. The places Ben and Luke were going to could hardly be considered a quick trip.
Ben was leaning back in the copilot’s seat, hands clasped loosely behind his head, gazing up through the transparisteel canopy at the velvet blackness punctuated by stars.
“Thinking of Mom?” Luke asked quietly.
Ben nodded. “Yeah. Spending so much time in her ship—it’s hard not to.”
“I know what you mean.”
“I’m glad we took the Shadow. Not just for the practical reasons.”
Luke glanced over at his son and gave him a quick grin. “Me too. It feels appropriate. As if part of her is making this journey with us.”
Ben nodded. He didn’t mention the feelings he’d had, almost as if she’d been present. If it was real, Luke was doubtless already feeling it, too; if it wasn’t, it was his own imagination and he’d keep it to himself.
In a way, this was a memorial