Bang!

Time: Two years after Union, or Luke and Mara's marriage.

Setting : The Xylax system in the Outer Rim

Synopsis: Luke and Mara are on a special assignment to detain and question an old Imperial weapons expert named Garrack about recent bombings of New Republic facilities. Things are not going well for the Skywalkers.

"There were fifteen minutes left."

"What do you mean, were?"

Luke bent down to read the counter ticking backwards again. "I mean now there is fourteen minutes and twenty-three seconds until we become wallpaper in this chamber."

Mara Jade Skywalker did some quick calculations in her mind. "Ok, we have some time."

"Are you all right? You are sweating."

"Men sweat. Women perspire. And I work well under pressure, as you should know."

"Not like there can be anymore pressure now."

"Garrack can still be full of surprises after all these years. It's what made him so effective for the Empire."

Luke started to get up from his crouch and was about to reach for her arm that was tied down with straps. "First thing is to get you out of these–"

"Stop! Don't touch me! For all we know this thing could detonate on static electricity."

"Mara, I can't let you be in pain. You're my wi–"

"Listen to me now, Skywalker! At this moment, I am not your wife or friend. I am the Emperor's Hand right now. If you do exactly as I say in the next several minutes, we will survive and you can have your wife back. Your concern for me personally may actually hurt us now."

"How can you tell? We have no Force, thanks to Garrack's placement of ysalamiri in the room."

"There is a way to remedy that."

"No, Mara. I'm not reducing myself to murdering innocent creatures."

"Which is what Garrack anticipated for you to say."

"Stang, I wish I detected that chloragas before it knocked us out."

"We can assign blame later. Right now I need you to describe this bomb that's under my chair."

Luke got back into his crouch and started describing. "We've got a detonator with about five wires coming out of it."

"Different colors?"

"Yes."

"Let me guess. Red, green, yellow, white, and black."

"That's in order from left to right. I assume you've dismantled one of these before."

"More like set one up. Are the wires going to a canister full of a dark pink liquid?"

"Two."

"What?"

"There's two canisters."

"Sithspawn! Garrack gave us a Bonbassi Rig."

"What's that?"

"A bomb that's virtually impossible to defuse. Many traps that could set it off if you try."

"Wonderful."

"I did say virtually impossible. There are ways around a Bombassi."

"What if we just carefully get you loose and head down that air duct. I'm sure they destroyed the door controls."

Mara sighed, "You know, for a Jedi Master, you know so little about demolitions. For one, moving me could set this off. Breathing on it the wrong may set it off. The sparks from opening the air duct vent could set this off. And if this goes off and while we escape, we're dead anyway."

"How's that? The blast range can't be any more than five-hundred meters."

"Try five-hundred kilometers."

"But there's barely a pint in each container."

"If I know Garrack, he used a traditional Imperial grade mixture of matabium and baradium. Much more potent than your average thermals or IM's."

"So, how do we defuse it?"

"We don't try."

Luke started to get frustrated. "Oh, that's great, Mara. It's not like you to just give up. But, since we have only...less than twelve minutes to our lives, let me say how much I–"

"Skywalker, if you get sentimental on me now I will pull this chair over and we'll be done with each other once and for all. And I am not giving up. There is a way. If he's got the circuits aligned like I think he does, then we can delay the leads. Or at least delay the wire that detonates the canisters."

"Yes, but which one?"

"Traditionally, it's the white one."

"Wouldn't Garrack anticipate that you would know that? He does know your background."

Mara gave a defeating sigh. "He does." She paused for as long as she could as she concentrated on her demolitions training so long ago. She asked her husband, "The detonator. On the faceplate do you see a logo? Three concentric circles with a ring in the center?"

Luke looked and replied, "Yes, there is."

Mara grinned. "Tri-Con Industries. Typical Imperial demolitions equipment. What Garrack doesn't know is why these detonators were recalled."

"Does that spell 'yay' for us?"

"It can. Can you carefully remove the faceplate?"

"No problem." Luke took his mechanical hand and removed the front plate of the detonator. He purposely used his mechanical hand to avoid the nervousness he would get if he used his human hand. "It's off."

"Ok. You have to be looking at the timing mechanism. Is there a small metal wheel with cogs spinning?" Luke nodded. "Ok. Under that wheel is what looks like a thin pin going across. The trick is that it isn't one pin. It's two pins that are not touching each other"

"I see it. But, that's a very small gap."

"This is why they were originally recalled. Once the timer goes down to zero, a current goes through those pins through that gap. Block that gap and the timer stops."

"Why is Garrack using this if he knows it's defective?"

"Because he thinks it's defective for a different reason. The real defect was never made public because Tri-Con would have been ruined and stocks would have plummeted."

"How do you know this?"

"Guess who had stock in Tri-Con."

Luke affirmed, "Palpatine."

"He couldn't let a cash cow deflate that easily. He allowed the actual defect and made Tri-Con create a false defect that could be fixed with an upgrade."

"Sneaky, Palpatine was."

"In many ways. Now all we need is a piece of metal."

Luke mocked looking around. "Sorry, I didn't bring any scraps of metal with me."

"That's not entirely true," she said wryly.

Since he did not have the Force at that moment, Luke had to follow where Mara's brilliant green eyes were being focused. She was looking at his right hand. "No, Mara. I–"

"You just need a small piece. Maybe a thin paneling. Come on, it's time you put that droid hand to good use."

"I already have. I used it to escape the cell you and Karrde put me in on Myrkyr."

Mara scoffed, "I knew that's how you created a power source. We shouldn't have put you near Artoo. What's our time?"

"Ten minutes and counting," he said before he started opening up his mechanical hand. He pried a piece of metal of the inside panel and tore it off. "There. You sure this will work?"

"Ask me in fifteen minutes. Does that have a flat side? Good. Now comes the tricky part. You see that gap between the pins?"

"I get it. Slip this piece in between them."

"Yes, but you can't let it touch the sides of the pins. Only the two ends. I suggest you use your mechanical hand for more steadiness."

"Are we placing bets?"

"Only if we get the shorter odds."

"Ok. Here it goes." The two were deathly quiet as Luke took extra care to get his metal in between the small gap. He lowered the metal. Lower. Lower. It was harder than it seemed. He did manage to get close but the metal twitched and was just about to hit the side of a pin until Luke pulled it away quickly.

They both gasped inward and held their breath. They looked into each others eyes for a few seconds and Luke started again.

He was successful of the next try. The metal slipped between the gap and they heard a beeping.

Then silence.

Luke froze. "That wasn't what I thought, was it?"

"No, Farmboy. Look at the counter."

He looked at the display and it blinked the numbers for eight minutes and forty-two seconds. Luke breathed out. "We stopped it."

"For now. Who knows how long your metal will last. It buys us time."

"Ok, lets get you out of there."

"Wait! We still don't know how volatile those wires are. Just loosen the straps and I'll take care of the rest. Just don't touch me."

Luke proceeded to only touch the straps to avoid static electricity. He loosened them and Mara took off the straps and carefully stood from the chair and examined the bomb. "Nice little set up, Garrack. Just like the old days. Your metal is already starting to bend. Go ahead and get to the vent–"

Luke was already working on the air duct grate with the ends of his tunic so as to not create a spark.

"Good thinking," Mara replied.

The grate was opened and Luke entered the four-foot tall shaft. Mara went after him and started to bend down to get in when she heard an audible but faint ping. Curiosity got the better of her and she went around to the display. The metal Luke put in had split and the counter was back to dwindling down. "Oh, I've got a bad feeling about this. Luke! Your metal broke and we have eight minutes."

Luke's voice echoed from within the shaft. "Well, stop stalling and get going!"

"I can try to slip it back in–"

"No, Mara! Let's go!"

Mara quickly took off into the shaft and exclaimed, "Right behind you. Don't stop."

"I found the duct to the room with our weapons. If I remember right, the hangar connects to it."

"It does. Just keep going. Get our stuff and get to the hangar." Mara slid as quick as she could inside the shaft and found the open vent where Luke had gone through. She dropped down into the room and headed back into the hangar. By the time she reached the shuttle ramp, Luke was already at the controls.

She barked, "Don't try any fancy ignition sequences. Just start it cold."

"And hope for no burnout."

"You have to think positive."

"Look who's telling me to be more positive. Are you in?"

Mara strapped herself in the co-pilot's seat and demanded, "Go!"

Luke tried the engines cold and they stuttered. Luke looked at Mara with a worried look and then tried it again. Nothing.

Mara remarked, "Should I tell you we have maybe two minutes left?"

Luke gave no reply and tried the engines again and they whined on. They both could breath again. "It seems that I remember some wife of mine suggesting we use an old Kuat Astro shuttle to avoid detection."

"Quiet. Is it my fault that Garrack saw through it?"

"Honey, we are among the most recognizable beings in the galaxy." Luke looked straight at the open space of the hangar and was about to throttle the shuttle out, when he noticed the thin smoky barrier in the space between the hanger and the Xylax environment. "Did we forget to shut down the ray shields?"

Mara wordlessly took the controls to the canons and fired a shot at the ray shield housing. The shield disappeared instantly. She sighed, "I have to think of everything."

"Not everything. Hold on." Luke thrust the repulsors in high gear and the momentum pushed them into their seats as the shuttle catapulted out of the hangar. Once they were a good distance away heading towards space, Luke asked, "Wonder what our time is."

As soon as he finished the sentence, a mighty blast was heard from behind them and the shockwave shook the small craft jerking it's passengers forwards abruptly. Mara looked at the rear view screen and it showed a massive fireball where they had been only seconds ago. "I'd say our time is now."

After they were in space, the sudden feel of the Force returned to them much to their joy.

Mara asked, "What's our damage report?"

Luke read a readout and answered, "Auxiliary and calibration systems are offline. We lost several thermal panels on the outside from the shockwave. When we approach the next system we'll have to enter its atmosphere very slowly."

"Nothing too vital then." She then gave a long sigh. "Chalk up another narrow escape for the Skywalkers. There must be a blessing with that name. Good thing I added it to my own. Once I think we're safe, then bang, we're in danger again."

"Where do you think Garrack is headed to?"

"Either Yaga-Minor or Bastian. He'll have a field day boasting that he defeated the mighty Skywalkers. One, a former Emperor's Hand, and the other is the Jedi Master."

"So...to the nearest New Republic outpost?"

"I'm game." She unfastened herself out of the co-pilot's chair and started for the back. "I don't know about you, but I'm ready to crash."

Luke supplied with, "The nearest outpost is on Fondor. Eight hours of hyperspace travel."

"Good time for a nap. That'll work up my appetite for the rhonto steak you'll be buying me for dinner."

"That I'm buying?"

"Hey, I got us through a Bombassi Rig."

"Ok. I admit, you did a good job there."

"So did you with putting that metal through that gap. I wouldn't have the patience for it."

Luke set the coordinates on the nav-com to calculate the jump to Fondor. He swivelled his chair to face her and said, "That's all well and good, but I just need to be clear on something. Am I addressing the Emperor's Hand or my wife now?"

"I'm both," she answered with no real conviction. And since they had the Force back, so was their bond. Luke could see through her statement. She added, "But, I will always be your wife." She paused and said, "I'm going to go in the back to lay down."

The door to the back room slid open and Mara went through but stopped at Luke's call to her.

"Hold on a minute. I'll join you."

THE END.