Continued from the Mara Jade Durron bio.......
Before they left, Hart verbally sparred with Mara/Celina, and each of them left the conversation knowing the other was not who, or what, they seemed.
"Hart" and "Seoul" were actually top smugglar Talon Karrde and his second in command, Tapper Quelev. They were looking into the profitability of the safaris as a business venture. When they snooped around too much and Tapper got killed, Mara had to rescue Karrde. As they flew off planet, they introduced themselves and Mara asked for a job.
For the next five and a half months, Mara became an indispensible member of Karrde's crew of smugglars and pilots. He didn't ask too many questions about her past -- although he wanted to -- as he sensed that Mara wore a rock-hard surface on her feelings, designed to keep him and everyone else out. Mara was happy to be useful again, and even enjoyed Karrde's company, but at night, she had nightmares in which Emporer Palpatine came to her again, berating her for her failure.
When Mara and Talon picked up a distress signal from a damaged X-wing, the last person Mara expected to find was Luke Skywalker. Nor did she expect to spare or save his life several times over the coming months, or to have him save hers. Mara and Karrde were pulled into the battle against the Imperial forces of Grand Admiral Thrawn and the mad Jedi clone Joruus C'Baoth. Although she made it brutally clear to everyone she met that she planned to kill Luke Skywalker, Mara gradually became an invaluable resource to the New Republic.
Finally, Mara would face her destiny. During a mission that took them to Wayland to destroy the Emporer's Spaarti cloning cylinders, Luke trained Mara in her slowly returning Force talents. Joruus C'Baoth called both Luke and Mara to him, intending to turn them to the dark side. When it became clear he couldn't turn Luke, he unleashed his own clone of the hero, calling it "Luuke Skywalker." In the battle to follow, Mara killed the Luuke clone, and with help from Luke and Leia Organa Solo, she slew C'Baoth as well. She had done what the Emporer's compulsion commanded her. She finally felt free.
Back on the New Republic base planet, Coruscant, Luke gave Mara the lightsaber he had lost on Bespin -- his father's lightsaber -- and urged her to join the New Republic. Although she saw her future with them, she had other duties.
For after the Battle of Bilbringi, Talon Karrde and the smugglars he had gathered decided to formalize and solidify their support of the New Republic. They formed a guild which, over the following two years, would become the Smugglars' Alliance. Karrde decided to retire, turning the running of his operations completely over to Mara Jade.
When Luke opened a Jedi Academy on the moon Yavin IV, Mara visited for a few days. Altough she knew Luke had much to teach her, she had to run the Smugglars' Alliance, and to help defend a galaxy under attack by Admiral Daala and her fleet.
Following a mission with Han Solo and Lando Calrissian, to liberate Kessel's Imperial Correctional Facility, Mara rode in the Millenium Falcon as it opposed the Death Star prototype within the blackhole cluster known as the Maw.
After that, a victorious and very rich Lando began work on reopening the glitterstim spice mines of Kessel. He talked Mara into teaming up with her Smugglars' Alliance to distribute the expensive spice. Lando also had other plans for Mara, but she rejected his romantic overtures. Rejected them COMPLETELY.
Three years after the defeat of Daala's forces, Mara was contacted on her ship, the Jade's Fire, by Leia. Mara was able to help Leia by providing information regarding the original Emporer's plans to wipe out the Jedi children.
OK, I need to write up the rest of Mara's bio. This will present a problem, because in sim, Mara was around when Luke decided to start the Jedi Academy. It shall be up soon.
~Laura~