• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

She looked away from him, her other hand curling into a fist.

“Mara . . .” He kept his voice soft as he closed with her, letting their joined hands rest on her belly. He brushed a tear away with his thumb, then kissed her moistened cheek. “Love, we will get through this. I would love for nothing more than creating new life with you. One child, two, four . . .”

She pressed a fingertip to his lips. “I know you have a lot to do right now, but I need you to be with me, just for a bit, please?”

“As long as you need, Mara, as long as you desire.”

A smile traced her lips. “We both know there isn’t that much time in the universe. I’ll take what I can get now. We complete each other, we complete our connection with nature. And from there, we trust in the Force to guide us into doing what has to be done.”

Corran handed the last duraplast container up to the bald, heavy-set man helping to load the Pulsar Skate. “Looks like that’s it.”

The man nodded. “I’ll secure the hatch and see to the passengers, then. Thanks for the help.”

“No problem.” Corran turned from him as the hatch irised closed, and walked over to where Mirax was checking off the last of her passengers against the list in her datapad. All around them the docking bay on the Ithorian city-ships bustled with activity. Countless ships, large and small, were loading refugees and equipment on as fast as they could. Once they cleared the bay, other ships would come and take their place. Throughout the city, and on all the other city-ships, similar evacuations were taking place.

The Jedi sidled up to his wife. “Got them all?”

“Uh-huh.” She snapped the small device closed and slipped it into a thigh pocket on her cargo pants. “We’re fueled and about ready to go.”

Corran reached out and stroked her cheek with the back of his left hand. “You know I don’t want you to go.”

“I know, but you don’t want me here, either.” Mirax smiled and jerked a thumb at the freighter behind her. “I’m rolling this team out to Borleias. Climate there isn’t quite optimal for Ithorian plants, but they think they can make changes.”

“I’m sure it will work.” He slipped an arm around her shoulders. “You going to be okay with this Chalco guy crewing the ship?”

“From what I’ve seen so far, I think he’s worth trusting. We deliver the cargo, then I drop him back on Coruscant.” She leaned her head against Corran’s shoulder. “Then I’m coming back here.”

“Mirax, don’t.”

She turned to face him, pressing her hands against his chest. “Hey, listen up, Corran. The last time you went off and fought the Yuuzhan Vong you barely escaped, and the time before that you were more dead than alive when they brought you back.”

“Mirax, having you here isn’t going to keep me safe.”

“Maybe not, but I can certainly kill whoever it is who gets you.”

Corran rested his hands on her shoulders. “First, I’m not planning on dying.”

“Very few people do.”

“True.” He sighed. “Mirax, I don’t want you here. The fighting is going to be nasty. What you’re doing now, taking Ithorians and their botanical bounty away, that’s more important than anything I’m likely to accomplish here. You’re going to be doing what you do well, and so will I.”

Her brown eyes narrowed. “The chances of my being killed are rather slender.”

“I know, and I like that.” He gave Anakin Solo a quick nod as the youth went running up the Skate’s landing ramp, then touched his forehead to his wife’s. “My grandfather died when my father was young, and I know you lost your mom young. I don’t want that to happen to our kids, but the only thing worse would be if both of us die here.”

“If we both die, Booster will take care of the kids.”

“Now there’s a comfort.”

She lifted his chin with her hand. “Think of it as motivation to stay alive, Corran.”

He ducked his head to kiss her hand, then looked up, his smile carrying all the way from his mouth to his green eyes. “I have motivation, love, and look at the record. The first time, they nearly killed me. The second time, I escaped in pretty good shape.