Release From Mercy

Setting: Approximately a year after the events of the NJO in the Skywalker apartment on Coruscant.

Summary: Luke and Mara wake up in the middle of the night by little Ben's crying. The reason why is a surprise from Mara's past.

The crying stirred them out of their sleep gradually. Mara Jade Skywalker slowly turned her head on her pillow to the glowing light of the chrono on the bedside table. She winced as she muttered, "01:30? Seriously, Ben, we've only been in bed an hour and a half."

Muttering next to her was her half asleep husband. "How do you know it's really Ben? Maybe it's a dream. Or we wish it was."

"Well, if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it's probably a duck."

She lifted her head enough to see a grin forming on Luke's lips before he said in mock innocence, "What's a duck?"

"Shut up. That joke's got whiskers on it."

"If Ben's crying now, it's because you put him to sleep so late."

"I'm positive you meant to say 'we' instead of 'you'. Fact is, I'm surprised he didn't get his sleep while Threepio recited those boring stories."

"With all of Threepio's long winded stories he does play well with children. Remember Jaina and Jacen at that age?"

"Don't remind me. So, I'm pretty sure it's your turn to check on him."

"When did we choose that?"

"I just did."

"What's his mood like in the Force?"

Mara concentrated in the Force and suddenly received back–

Nothing!

It was like hitting a permacrete wall head on. The sudden absence of the Force made her jerk up from the bed. "Luke, I can't feel anything–"

"In the Force," Luke exclaimed as he, too, sat up in bed. "That would mean a Force bubble."

"That means Ben isn't alone." She instinctively reached under her pillow to fetch an item she needed.

Luke looked over at what was now in her hand and asked, "You still keep one under there after all these years? Good thing the safety's off."

"Luke, my darling, there was a time once long ago when I didn't need the safety on." She switched the safety off and checked the charge. Satisfied, she held the blaster firmly in her hand.

Luke could already tell that she was in Hand mode. He decided not long after their marriage that when Mara Jade entered that phase, all of his decisions were overruled. "How do you want to play it?"

"I'll see who we're dealing with first. Stay back until I give our phrase."

"The same one?"

"The one and only."

"Kind of fitting. Got it. Be careful."

"Always."

Mara left their bedroom with her senses on full alert. At least, her natural senses. There was only one thing that could shut down the Force. And someone brought it inside of their apartment. Worse yet, they were using their three year old as bait. Her son cried out more. He hadn't learned exact Basic yet, but could emit sounds that related to "mommy" and "daddy". Normally, she would ease him within the Force but that option was taken away from her. She felt so vulnerable without the Force. Naked. She didn't like the feeling of no feeling. Long ago in another lifetime she could work around it. Now days, especially after her experience with the Yuuzhan Vong, she considered the Force as a friend. A friend who brought her to her soul mate whenever she needed. At the moment, that bond was missing. But not non-existent.

She reached their living room in total darkness save for the constant light show of a Coruscant night outside their window. Even in the dim light she could make out the shadow of a dormant C-3PO in a frozen state of protest. Someone deactivated him. She eased further into the room, having memorized the layout of their furniture. She could hear Ben crying closer now. Someone took him out of his bed. Mara's rage began to boil over at this point.

She called out to her son in a soothing voice, "It's all right, Ben. Mommy's here." He cried harder and Mara could sense his panic even without the Force. "Shh, honey. It's all right."

Suddenly, the light tower by their padded chair came on, bathing the room in a dim light. A voice spoke to her, "No, it's not all right."

The accent was pure Coruscanti, with a resonance of upper-class. Sitting in the padded chair was a man of about seventy years of age. He was bald and his skin was red and cracked. Some system's sun was not kind to him. With the addition to many cuts and bruises on the man's arms, Mara could guess which system he had been on for several years. His black vest was sleeveless and in tatters. His brown eyes were worn but no less menacing as they bore into Mara.

The next thing Mara noticed was her son sitting on the man's left knee. The man had one hand on Ben's back to hold him in place. The other hand was resting on his right knee with a blaster being held tightly, trigger finger at the ready. Once Ben saw his mother, his crying turned to soft sobs.

"Hello, Mara. Good to see you again."

"Should I know you?"

"Once. Long ago. Many things did change since we met last. Maybe you've forgotten about me. I've thought of nothing but you for several decades."

"I'm touched. Though I do have to tell you that I am a bit taken."

"Cute. Go ahead and sit down. Oh, and put your little toy over here."

Mara ran through all of the options open to her so she could gain the advantage. As the Emperor's Hand, she would have a choice of several. But now as a mother, the risks were too great to take any of those options. She proceeded to place her weapon on the table beside the man. She noticed him watching her every move. She then sat down on the sofa opposite him. "All right, you win. How is it that you know me but not the other way around?"

"Well, it has been a long time, as I said. Let's see, the last time we saw each other, you were wearing an exquisite fire-blue Iraslian gown in the Imperial Palace."

"I wore that gown on many occasions."

"Oh, but this time was ours together when I knew you to be the mistress of the Emperor himself. I had thought you were a willing participant of my advances when Palpatine allowed to share you with me. Instead, you arrested me in front of the 501st."

Mara's memory worked overtime but came up with a name. "Ambassador Coffstellar. It has been a while."

"Yes. And thank you for the title. It's been too long since I've heard Ambassador in front of my name."

"I was sure you would be used to Prisoner 1138 by now. I'm assuming you served your term."

"Parole. Time off for good behavior."

"That only means you were a slave to all the wardens on Xian over the years."

"And I got a nice sunburn while doing it. The only place you can get a sunburn from inside a building. The lava surrounding the prison is that hot."

"Well, I would ask what you're up to, but what would be the point? And your probation officer would have to be in our same district or we'd have the authorities here by now. How you got into our apartment is a mystery."

"Your droid. Posing as a building maintenance worker helps. Once it's back was turned, the deactivation switch was right there. But enough about me. Look at you. The Empire's best kept secret assassin and agent has settled down with the Jedi Master and Rebellion hero. Now you're a mother. And you look no different than the last day we saw each other."

"You've obviously changed your looks over the years. I didn't recognize you at first. You had a full set of hair last time. And I don't seem to remember you having a violent bone in your body. You've never threatened to harm a child before, have you?"

"What can I say? I talk small but carry a big blaster."

"Right. Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"

Coffstellar looked confused for a second but then realized what she was talking about and turned his neck. Sitting against the chair was a long tree limb on which a small ysalamiri clung. "Oh, you like him? I was told these creatures hold a special place in many Jedi hearts. Guess you can't feel anything right now."

"I can't sense you in the Force. I can assure you that I'm feeling rage with you holding my son at gunpoint. So, what's your next move?"

"Well, you know what they say. The blaster fight isn't over until the cantina band plays."

"Oh, so you need my son to start a band? He won't be much for singing right now. He likes to bang on things, so he'd make a great drummer."

"You can cut the cuteness act. You have no idea what I have in mind for your family. After all, you ruined mine. You know, my ex-wife and daughter will have nothing to do with me. They told me I don't exist to them anymore."

"That is hardly my fault. You were misappropriating Imperial funds for your, shall we say, female interests. None of which included your daughter or ex-wife. I'm sure there weren't any of your female interests around at Xian prison, especially blue-skinned Twi Leks. Weren't they your preference?"

Coffstellar shook his head. "Xian. The very definition of Hell. Either you swelter inside your cell for days at a time, or literally melt into the hot lava in trying to escape. Did you know they don't put fences on the outside complex at Xian? There's no ray shields protecting the edges of the building. They figure if any inmate wants to escape, they let them. Sometimes the body burns up meters before even hitting the lava. But, here I am. Alive and well. You don't know what it's like to be so close to death and yet live."

"As a matter of fact, I do have experience with that. The result of my near death is now sitting on your lap."

Coffstellar chuckled. "Oh yes. I heard a little about the galaxy's run in with a new species from Unknown space. Sorry I missed them. Funny, though, isn't it? Being so close to death that you can kiss it. It gives one a feeling of enlightenment. Euphoria. And then it goes away and life comes back into you. It's almost a disappointment."

Mara sighed. "If your plan includes killing us, please start now."

Coffstellar cried out, "You don 't know what I've lived through to actually live! For what? To see my family again? I have no family anymore."

"So, you come and visit mine?"

Coffstellar suddenly grinned. "You must have forgotten my last words to you when you arrested me."

Mara thought back a few decades. "Something about finding me when you get out. I don't remember exactly because you were screaming. Well, you found me."

"Yes, I did. You and your family. Incidentally, where is your husband?"

"If I know him well, he may have gone back to sleep."

"I doubt that. But you would follow him anywhere, wouldn't you?"

Mara smiled and said, "To the edges of the galaxy."

"How touching. I'm sure he has something up his sleeve."

"I don't know yet. Oh, and welcome back to the land of mere mortals."

Before Coffstellar could understand what she said and why, there was the unmistakable snap-hiss and he was suddenly facing the green blade of a lightsaber from behind him. He looked up and to his right to see Luke Skywalker looking down at him.

The Jedi Master proceeded to say, "Incidentally, this was up my sleeve."

Mara grinned and explained to Coffstellar when he looked back at her, "You didn't do your homework, Ambassador. If you had seen the plans for our custom-built apartment, you would have known there is a secret passageway from our bedroom to the living room."

Luke added, "And here I never thought we needed it."

"For instances like this, my dear," Mara said sweetly.

Coffstellar wore a sinister grin and asked, "You think you have everything worked out? Think again." He swiftly raised his blaster up to the side of Ben's head. Up until that point, Ben was quiet and almost content sitting on the ex-prisoner's lap. Now he was crying again with the blaster to his head.

Luke quickly reacted. "No! Don't do this! It's all right, Ben. Look, I don't know who you are, but you'd better drop that weapon or I'm going to use this blade in ways you can't imagine."

Coffstellar chuckled without taking his eyes off Mara. "You know, for a Jedi Master, you don't bluff very well."

"Then talk to me, Coffstellar," Mara exclaimed, "because I don't bluff."

"And what can you do about it? Your blaster is over here and you don't have the Force. All I have to do is take one shot and your boy is dead."

Luke could not sense his wife's rage within the Force, but he didn't have to. He had seen that rage before glaring in her brilliant green eyes. They might as well have been knives poised to be thrust at the man holding his son hostage.

Coffstellar went on with his demands. "Now, have your husband remove his blade from my neck or you're going to have a funeral with a small casket very soon."

Luke began the motion of retracting his blade but he stopped when Mara said, "Don't move the blade, Luke."

"What?"

Coffstellar looked at Mara as if space slugs were coming out of her skin. "Have you lost all of your sabacc cards? Do you know what you're doing?"

"Do you?" Mara asked calmly.

"I believe I do."

"Really? Then you don't know me very well, Coffstellar. If you did, you would know that if you don't get that blaster away from my son you will be dead within seconds."

Coffstellar laughed. "How? You're unarmed."

With a flick of her wrist and arm, a sudden mechanical click was heard and a small hand blaster appeared in her hand from under her sleeve. She pointed it at Coffstellar. She then stated, still in a calm voice, "I am never unarmed. Now, kindly remove your blaster away from my son."

"If you think you can get a shot off before I can pull this trigger, then go ahead and shoot me. See what happens."

"Don't test me, Ambassador."

"You're crazy. There's no way you can get a shot off before I–"

Mara's shot fired true and quick. At the same time, many things occurred. Mara's bolt hit Coffstellar straight in the chest. The ex-Ambassador and ex-prisoner of Xian was stunned, but he had just enough strength to squeeze the trigger of his own blaster. Both Luke and Mara could hear the click from the firing pin initiating a laser bolt out of the barrel. The barrel that was aimed at their son's head. Luke acted quicker because of his proximity. While screaming, Luke threw his lightsaber down, scorching the rug a little before extinguishing. He leapt at his son to catch him after Coffstellar's hand let him go from his knee. Coffstellar himself fell backward into the chair and his own blaster fell to the floor as well. Luke grabbed his son before he also fell to the floor. He curled Ben up to his chest and held onto him tightly. He whispered calmly to him to assure him everything was all right. He then started checking for any injuries.

When Mara saw that Luke had Ben, she went over to Coffstellar. He was slumped in the chair with mere moments left to his life.

Mara looked at him with a strange sense of pity. "I told you not to test me."

He tried to smile but it came out as an awkward grimace. He whispered hoarsely, "It...wasn't a...test. It was...my goal." He swallowed to gain just enough of his last strength to mutter, "Thank you." His head fell to the side and his eyes stared blankly and glazed over. There was an exhale of breath for the last time.

Mara was still wondering about his last words to her when Luke asked, "Is he gone?"

"Yes. Is Ben all right?"

"Yes. I don't understand. I heard him trigger the firing pin but why wasn't there was a shot?"

Considering it a good question, since she heard the same thing, Mara reached for Coffstellar's blaster. An ancient Blas-Tech 130. She unhinged the power cartridge and checked the readout. "It's not charged. Looks like it hasn't been for a long time."

Luke almost laughed. "He forgot to charge it?"

She looked into the dead eyes of the ex-Ambassador and former inmate of Xian prison. "I don't think so."

"What does it mean, then?"

"I was wrong before. He did know me."

"Maybe. Whatever his plan was, it didn't work."

She stared at the dead face. She had seen death before on faces. Mostly they were frozen expressions of shock or pain. Coffstellar's lips formed a small smile. Peaceful.

"No, Luke. His plan did work. It certainly did."

The End.