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It was the sort of cantina that could be found in any city, on any planet in the galaxy. A third-rate band played despondently in a corner, ignored by the bar's patrons, who ranged from poor working stiffs just looking for a drink after their shift to shadier types lurking in corners and selling low-quality spice to interested parties. Irregular pools of hazy yellow light provided illumination and cast murky shadows along the walls—not dark enough for serious illegal activity, but enough to obscure small illicit transactions. The glasses had probably never been cleaned properly, but the drinks were strong. No one would recommend the food.
Han kinda liked it. He'd picked a table in an unobtrusive corner of the room (with a view of the door, old habits, etc) and ordered a bottle of halfway decent whiskey. It was nice to relax somewhere he could remain anonymous after a grueling session of wheeling and dealing for the New Republic. An hour ago, he'd slipped away from the rest of the team sent to negotiate with the local business tycoons who controlled the planet and set out to look for the shadier corners of the city. He wished Chewie or Lando had joined him on this particular mission, but both had been unavailable at the time. Drinking alone in a corner of the room really wasn't his idea of fun anymore. He missed Leia and the kids.
His musings were interrupted when the door to the cantina opened and a remarkable young woman walked into the unremarkable establishment, her distinctive red-gold hair catching the light as she came in through the entrance. Below the cut of her jacket, she was wearing a very familiar lightsaber on her belt. That and the blaster on her other hip were the only obvious weapons she was carrying, but Han knew about her holdout blaster and the knife in her boot. That probably wasn't all she was holding, but Han figured she probably didn't really need anything else. Mara Jade was deadly enough on her own.
The less inebriated patrons glanced up to get a look at the newcomer as she coolly surveyed the room with the air of a professional, no doubt assessing the threat level of every single individual in the cantina. An expression of surprise flickered across her face when her gaze landed on Han, but she quickly hid the emotion under her usual inscrutable expression before strolling over to the bar as if nothing had happened, sliding onto a stool next to a shabby, shifty-looking Rodian. Han watched in fascination as her usual brusque demeanor slid away as she faced the Rodian, soothing the jittery informant with a reassuring smile. It didn't entirely work; her Rodian contact remained jumpy, fidgeting as he craned his neck to check the room again.
The negotiations began. Han had no idea what Mara was after or why it made the Rodian so nervous, but he watched the encounter with interest. Judging by the Rodian's behavior, it wasn't entirely legal, if at all. Karrde had a passion for information, and Han would lay a bet that Mara was fishing for sensitive data. Her contact grew more and more agitated and Mara's face hardened as the conversation progressed, obviously not going the direction that she wanted.
He was so caught up in watching Karrde's second in command at work that he almost missed the second woman who brushed by the Rodian as she reached for her drink. Her face was obscured by a heavy fall of grey hair; her oversized jacket was shabby and worn. In a quick movement, the older woman slipped something out of his pocket and into hers. Mid-gesture, the Rodian didn't notice as she stepped away from the bar, a bottle of Corellian ale firmly in hand. There was no way that Mara would have missed that maneuver, but she didn't even glance at the other woman. The pickpocket had to be another one of Karrde's people. Hand it to the two of them to have a backup plan in place.
Han lost sight of the older woman as he watched the conversation between Mara and her informant continue to deteriorate, her contact's voice sharp and agitated. Finally, the Rodian shoved a datacard into Mara's hand and darted away from the bar and out the front door. Mara let him go. She fingered the datacard thoughtfully before slipping it into her jacket, and then looked straight in Han's direction, catching him watching her. She had probably known he was watching her the entire time. He gestured at the empty spot in his booth. Mara looked a little nonplussed at the gesture, but after a word with the bartender, she came over and stood before his table.
"Hey, Red."
"Solo," Mara said. "What are you doing here?"
"I had a meeting in the financial district and I needed a drink afterwards. Join me."
It took him a minute to figure out why she was hesitating, her gaze flicking around the table, before he realized that his seat had the best view of the door. He shifted over to give her the better seat; this was a job he was happy to leave to a professional. She flashed him a look half relieved, half grateful.
"A meeting with whom?" Mara asked as she sat.
Han hesitated for a moment. The NRI probably wouldn't be happy with him if they ever found out he was sharing information with a member of Karrde's organization, even if she was the liaison for the Smugglers Alliance. Ah, screw it, Han thought. Mara probably had better intelligence on the political situation, not to mention better dirt on the local wheelers and dealers anyway.
"Businessman name of Chol-tak. Since he's some up and coming local lynchpin, the New Republic's interested in what sort of influence he can throw around in this sector. He used to have some more unsavory business interests, so they sent me. Thought it might impress him or something." Han shrugged. He was a war hero with a criminal record. It came in handy sometimes.
She knew the name, that was obvious. Whatever she had on the guy wasn't common knowledge, and it wasn't something she was eager to share. Mara chewed her lip, and Han watched her mull over the same dilemma he'd had minutes earlier as he waited for her to reach a decision.
"I wouldn't say he's a safe bet," she finally said.
"Yeah, that's the same impression I got," Han sighed, leaning back in his chair. What a waste of a trip.
"He has too many old Imperial connections," Mara said, her voice low.
"Ah. Well, that's not something I would have picked up on," Had said.
Mara fidgeted, fingers tapping the side of her glass. "I don't have any proof—"
"Hey, I get it. Your secret's safe with me."
Luke had told Han a little about Mara's past; filled in a few more details beyond what had been revealed during the Wayland expedition. Just thinking about what Palpatine had done to her made Han feel sick. That bastard had been the closest thing she'd had to family, a thought that made Han's guts churn, and it was clear that she'd never had any friends. Poor kid.
Han was glad that it was Karrde who had finally found her. Karrde was kind of a strange guy, but by all accounts, he did right by his people. He'd certainly gone to a lot of effort to retrieve her from Wayland, and Han had seen him fussing over her like a distressed parent afterward, though he doubted that Karrde would ever admit to it.
A bored-looking waitress stopped by their table, dropping off another glass of whatever Mara had ordered at the bar. Mara picked it up and examined the smudges skeptically, but didn't complain.
"I enjoyed your game of dejarik over there," he nodded toward the bar.
"That I can't tell you about."
"Can't blame a guy for trying."
"You'd make a terrible spy, Solo."
Han gave her his patented "who, me?" look, which worked just as well on her as it did on Leia. Mara rolled her eyes. She appeared to have relaxed a fraction.
"How are Leia and the children?"
Han got the sense she was only asking out of politeness. He decided, out of politeness, not to inflict his usual bragging about the twins' daily accomplishments.
Leia would be so proud of him.
"They're good."
"Good."
Look at them, making appropriate small talk! Han knew for a fact that Mara was the kind of person who preferred to talk about the latest developments in blaster manufacture than other people's children.
"Where are you headed next?" he asked, graciously changing the subject. "If that's not a big secret too?"
"Dytho. There's a dealer there who hasn't been cooperating with the Smuggler's Alliance and we've decided to stop playing nice."
"Dytho," Han mused. "Haven't been there in years..." He remembered the place well, though. "You've heard of Jysella Terrik?"
"Booster's wife?"
"Yeah. She and Booster ran this smuggling route from Dytho to Corellia. There was an Imperial garrison that patrolled the area, so it was tricky, but profitable." That had been a long time ago. The garrison, and Jysella, were gone now. "You know a grift relay?"
She nodded. "We've used them a couple of times."
It was nice to make a reference like that and be immediately understood; if Han had been at home on Coruscant, he'd probably have to explain the trick to his audience. A grift relay was essentially a set of beacons that broadcasted misleading signals. It was a favorite among pirates, who used it to lure in unsuspecting freighters by broadcasting a fake distress call. The beacons could be "flipped" to bring in different ships using different types of signals. These days a decent scanner could spot a fake and they were mostly outdated anyway.
"The Terriks used them to target other smugglers along the route. When a smuggler followed the call, it took them slightly out of the space lane until they were somewhere they wouldn't attract any attention. Then they'd flip the beacons so that they were broadcasting the Imperial garrison's signal. The smugglers would think they'd walked into an Imperial trap, and hopefully dump their cargo before splitting.” Lots of smugglers dumped and ran. Han had done it himself, incurring Jabba’s wrath all those years ago. “Jysella'd swing by later and pick up the cargo with her freighter. Booster would fence it on Corellia. I found out the Terriks liked to plan their smuggling runs in this cantina on Dytho and tried to talk my way in on the run, but Jysella wasn't having any of it."
She had also sucker-punched him because she thought he'd been flirting with her husband, which was something Han decided that Mara didn't need to know; Booster wasn't his type anyway. Pride wounded, he'd been reduced to sulking into a cheap drink and eavesdropping on the Terriks.
"So I decided to steal her ship and hack the grift relay."
Mara snorted. "Stars, Solo, what the kriff were you thinking?"
"Understand, this was before I had the Falcon—"
"And before Chewbacca became your co-pilot, obviously."
"Obviously?"
She tilted her head as though she was considering her answer. "He seems smart enough not to try and rip off the Terriks."
Han decided to ignore that particular comment on his relative intelligence and continued on with his story. "At first it all went as planned, got the ship, sliced into the relay, picked up the cargo. I was heading back to Dytho when an Imperial star destroyer came out of hyperspace practically on top of me. That's when I realized..." He paused for dramatic effect.
"She flipped the beacons?"
"Don't interrupt, Jade," he gave her a mock indignant glare.
She grinned into her drink. "It's the oldest trick in the book, Solo." She wasn't wrong. Flipping the beacons to trick your competitors into a trap was another reason grift relays weren't used much anymore. You only fell for that trick once.
"Well, yeah, but even I was just a dumb kid once."
"Hard to imagine," she said so dryly he winced.
"Harsh, Red."
She shrugged a shoulder. "So you were the fall guy."
"I was the fall guy. They had my number the moment I walked into that cantina. Which I realized when they hauled me back to the garrison and Jysella was there, making a show of thanking all the officers for rescuing her ship and cargo from a no-good scoundrel. She even talked them into giving her a guarded escort back to Corellia." Han shook his head at the audacity. "That was the plan all along." She hadn’t pressed charges, naturally, and eventually the Imps had released him.
"That round to Jysella." Mara topped off their glasses. Han wasn't sure that was wise, but he also wasn't going to object. "Karrde would say you learned a valuable lesson about infringing on someone else's turf."
"And what would you say?"
She smirked. "Next time, play the game smarter."
Han reflected that he'd rarely been around Mara when she didn't have the intense focus of a woman on a mission. He liked off-duty Mara.
"Yeah, but I didn't dare take her or Booster on again. You would have liked her. She was one hell of a woman."
"Is her daughter anything like her?"
"Mirax? A bit. But she was mostly raised by Wedge's folks, you know?"
"Antilles?"
"Yeah."
"No, I didn't."
“Apparently Jysella believed that a contraband goods ring wasn’t the best place to raise a kid.”
“Fair enough,” Mara commented neutrally. Han supposed, considering her own past, she didn’t have much of a concept of what a healthy childhood environment was, but then again, neither had he. (He was learning!) And they had both ended up reasonably stable adults, though he was sure Leia would argue that point.
"You should swing by the next time you're on Coruscant. Come over for dinner." Han didn't know if it was seeing Mara in a new light or just the alcohol that compelled him to invite her into his home. She gave him a dubious look, but Han figured she didn't get a lot of social invitations. "It's not so bad, as long as you don't let either set of twins run you over. I could use another scoundrel on my side.” She raised an eyebrow. “I mean, look, it's just me against all of them!"
"You're a martyr, all right."
"Hey, being the middle of a family of Force-sensitives isn't all it's cracked up to be!" Yup, he could feel the alcohol now. It was probably a good thing Leia wasn't here, she'd definitely make fun of him. "Sometimes it's like the two of them are in their own secret world, d'ya know what mean?"
Mara nodded slowly, tipsily. "There's that look he gets when he's talking to her in their heads."
"You do that too!" Han accused, pointing a finger that Mara swatted irritably away. "Jedi." He said the word with more affection than irritation, shaking his head. "You know, he really enjoyed talkin' about all that Jedi stuff with you."
Mara looked as if she didn't quite know what to do with that information. Han suspected she had enjoyed it too, though she'd clearly never admit as much. It had certainly been hard to drag the two of them apart during their "training sessions" on Wayland. Han decided, as always, to push his luck. "I always thought you and him...you know."
"You're crazy, Solo," Mara said flatly.
"What can I say, I'm a romantic. I never thought that a Princess and a guy like me could ever work, but look at us now."
"Uh-huh." She was clearly uncomfortable with the topic, but Han didn't get the sense that she was leaning towards murderous. He couldn't wait to get home and tell Leia he talked to Mara and no one got stabbed or anything!
He may have been a little drunk.
She tried to deflect. “Anyone who ends up with Skywalker would spend the rest of their lives hauling him out of deadly situations.”
“Welcome to my world.” Han raised his glass.
“I’ve already got a job, thanks.”
“Yeah, but you’re good at it,” he teased.
"Whatever." She glared at her chrono a bit blearily, as though it was to blame for her inebriated state. Whyrens packed a punch and they both knew better. "I have to go."
Han stopped her as she began to search her pockets for the credits to pay for her drink. "My treat. You saved my kids from an insane Jedi, not to mention all of us on Wayland. That entitles you to free drinks for life, at the very least."
She blinked, nonplussed. "Oh. Okay. Thank you," she said, as she stood to leave. "Be seeing you, Solo."
"Hey, Mara." She turned back. "May the force be with you."
She looked surprised, but then she smiled. It was a genuine smile, with only a hint of her usual cautious reserve. It was an expression he hadn't seen often on her face. "Thanks, Solo."
And with that, she slipped out of the cantina and into the night.