By: TygerEye Antilles
Okay, finally got around to writing this. Mara/Luke, because there is no more perfect couple than them. Well, Jaina/Jag is a close second. Anyhow, Luke is injured on a mission, and Mara tries to help him out…Enjoy!
Chapter One:
Mara Jade glanced down at the data reader in front of her and carefully compared the information on the small screen to what the leader of the organization—a man of average height, with dark hair, named Talon Karrde—was saying. He was giving out assignments for the next standard month.
She noticed that her workload was visible lighter than it normally would have been. Mara had just closed a largely profitable deal with the Nimorodans, the dominating species on the planet of Darinil. The lighter workload was Karrde's say of expressing his appreciation. He'd actually offered her a full vacation, but Mara had turned it down. Nevertheless, she could easily tell he'd taken some of her jobs and given them to his other employees, or even himself. He was nothing if not a fair boss, but it gave her extra time, time she didn't feel she needed. Mara felt more than slightly annoyed by this, but hid it behind the barest of smiles. She tapped her fingernails absently against the Ardualian hardwood table.
Karrde asked if anyone had questions about their tentative schedules, and after a few seconds of silence, he dismissed them. Mara stood with everyone else, but waited a minute for the businessmen and women, as well as the "fringe-types" to leave before walking to the door.
She felt something creeping along her back, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She glanced behind her, and then subtly placed her back to the wall. This eerie feeling she usually associated with her "danger-sense," the sometimes seconds-early warning her Force sensitivity would give her before something happened. Talon Karrde looked at her oddly. He hadn't noticed anything, but his hand hovered near his unclipped holster.
She dimly heard Karrde ask her a question, but all her concentration was on utilizing the Force, searching for whatever had perceived as a danger to her. Not finding anything initially, she reached out with her Force sense even further.
A searing pain rushed through her, and Mara doubled over. The pain ran up her spine from the small of her back and expanded to the rest of her body. Her brain felt as if someone had driven a vibroblade through it. She thought she heard a moan come from her own lips, and she collapsed to her knees. She couldn't figure out what happened, but it almost felt like it could have been a concussion bomb, or maybe some sort of ion cannon. She knew what an ion blast felt like, and this was vaguely it. She tried to breathe, but couldn't. Something was stinging in her lungs.
"Mara, are you all right? What happened?" Talon asked. His face blurred, and Mara gasped, trying to force air into her oxygen-deprived lungs. His face came back into focus, but she concentrated on the collar of his shirt until she felt more "concrete." She looked up at his face, and her eyes met his pale blue one. Pale blue eyes.
Blue eyes.
Luke Skywalker.
"Mara are you all right? Can you hear me? Nod if you can," he said, kneeling down on one knee next to her. She dimly wondered when she ended up completely on the floor, but gave up on it. She blinked and tried to sit up.
"No, just lay here for a second. What happened? Do I need to get a Med-droid in here?"
"I'm fine." Her voice sounded like she felt-shaky and unsure. Her body ached, and she took in another shaky breath, and tried to will her heartbeat to slow from its panicked pace. She cleared her throat and sat up. Karrde supported her until she leaned against the wall. Her head was swimming, and she concentrated on a framed picture on the opposite wall. It was an original print, by some obscure painter, whose artworks had become desired after his death. A Tatooine native.
When she looked back at Talon, all she saw were his blue eyes.
"Oh, gods," she breathed. What trouble had Luke gotten himself into?
"Mara, what happened?" Talon asked, the worry beginning to either subside or being better hidden.
"Luke," she whispered, barely audible to her own ears. "Skywalker," she said, louder, and Karrde's eyebrows lifted fractionally.
"Skywalker? What does the Jedi Master…the Force. Mara, tell me what happened."
"Skywalker's been hurt."
"Physically or emotionally?"
A part of Mara's mind reminded her of the anguished tones Luke's Force presence projected after the Callista incident.
"Physical."
"Good. Well, not good, but you understand. Not another Callista disaster."
Mara glanced sharply at him, and Talon spread his hands out, palms skyward, in a silent apology. Mara wasn't quite sure what Karrde was apologizing for.
Talon had seen the cold hatred in her eyes for the woman whose name he'd mentioned, hence his apologetic gesture.
"There was an ion cannon," she continued. "Yeah, I know how that feels. They're going to have to reconstruct all his neurological paths from his brain." She closed her eyes partway. "Shrapnel. He was on the ground. In his ship."
"He was still on the ground? Mara, the shrapnel could have come from something else." At a glare from his associate, he shrugged. "Fine. Skywalker was in a ship. Do you know where?"
"Close by. Not Yavin 4, or I'm sure his feelings would have been accented by their panic. His little Academy. He's not so far out on the Outer Rim. Somewhere closer."
"Interesting. I wonder what mission Skywalker was on. He is still alive, I assume?"
"Yes. He's not feeling well, though. I'm surprised he's alive. His X-wing kept taking hits after the initial ion bursts."
"I haven't heard anything about the New Rep sending him on a mission…" This fact seemed to perturb the information broker and smuggler chief. "Why didn't he eject?"
"First ion blast disabled ejection seat."
"And you got all this from a few seconds? How did you know this? I mean, I know you Jedi can all feel each other, but this is pretty detailed…"
"I don't know why I felt so this so detailed…I'll ask him when I see him."
"I can get Saladi tracing his ship. We can find out where's he been and where his is."
"No," Mara said. Something bugged her about what she'd felt…that was it. His unfamiliar ship. It was an X-wing, but not his. It was too new, and had no astromech droid.
"Won't work," she said. "Artoo wasn't there. It was a new X-wing, no droid port."
"Skywalker actually went somewhere without his astromech?" Karrde asked, surprise evident in his voice.
"Artoo is getting his own reputation. How many blond pilots talk to their blue and silver outdated astromech droids? Artoos's recognizable when he's with Skywalker. Makes bringing the droid a liability."
"Do you know…" His words trailed off as Mara's eyes got a faraway look in them.
"They found him." Her voice caught in her throat. "He's trying to hide…no, he's pulling his lightsaber out? Why in all the hells did he bring his lightsaber if he was traveling incognito?"
Karrde remained silent, and waited for her to finish.
"He's turning it on, oh gods, it hurts for him to even do just that. He's so weak…it's on. I can see all around…still in his X-wing, if you can call it that. It's a pile of rubble, and spare parts. It is completely totaled. The men are coming closer. I don't think they noticed him to begin with, but they see him now. Damn you, Skywalker. Have you no brains?" Her tirade sounded tired. Talon noticed what he thought was fear on her face, but it quickly turned into relief. "They found him."
"They who?"
"Antilles. Some other Rogue. What the hell would they send the flyboys out that they needed the Jedi Master for as well?"
"I don't know, but since they've found him, he'll have the best care the Republic can give him. After all, his Academy's only half-trained. They still need him."
"The Academy isn't the only ones who need him." Talon glanced at her curiously. "I mean, the Republic needs their Jedi Master, their weapon. They send him on these missions, and he usually comes back, able to heal from nearly anything, things that would kill other normal guys."
Talon put his hand on her shoulder. "You want that vacation now, Mara?"
She looked up at him. "Yeah. A short one."