Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of the characters. I am not
making money with this.
Only to be archived at Fanfiction.net. All other sites: email me first at siirma6@surfeu.fi to gain permission.
Notes: I apologize for the fact that this story remains unfinished. SW is not my forte - my SW works only mark a period in my writing career when I simply did not have enough inspiration to carry on with my Tomb Raider writings.
Star Wars: Excess Mercy
By Heidi Ahlmen
Part I / III Into The Fire
Bonfires raged on the beach. Outside their sphere of red-yellow flames pouring ashes up in the skies like diminished volcanoes it was so dark it seemed palpable, velvety. City lights had long since gone out, perhaps for good, it seemed. Urbanized but traditional populace of the planet had been forced to return to the old ways.
And tonight the fires would rage for the last time. There were few things to be burned, only the last mementos that were to be banished before the invaders came. For noone wished to leave them anything, as if the very touch of them would infect memories, twist and distort.
And come they would. The usually starry sky now manifested bright flares like meteor showers - battle in-system raged on as the scarce New Republic force that could be spared raced against time not to prevail but to buy some precious time for those who'd been left last on the surface.
For some this was goodbye to their homeworld. For some it would only mean saying farewell forever to loved ones as some had vowed to stay and face inevitable extinction in the hands of the Yuuzhan Vong.
A weary woman paced the moonlit beach, silently stepping barefoot in the moist sand. Reaching out with her senses, she could almost sense the cy'eens - the last ones whalelike creatures that inhabited the oceans. The Yuuzhan Vong - she'd never got to calling them 'vong' as she felt a pet name would belittle the threat they posed - had cut off all the major trade routes during the last six standard months, and the starving populace were forced to overrule the conservation laws protecting the fragile, long-ago overexploited fauna.
The cy'een had been special to her. Strong, agile animals with a wild spirit and an open mind. She'd been the only one who dared to ride them. Until her Master had swept her off to make her Jedi. Back when the old ways had been the everyday ways.
During her long absence - unnaturally long as she'd had her fair share of uncanny adventures - her homeworld had modernized under the New Republic.
For the current inhabitants this was a downturn in evolution. For her it felt like home - returning to tradition. Suddenly old songs were sung again, artificial clothing materials abandoned, skyscrapers abandoned, only necessary chores performed.
She stopped for a moment to stare out into the ocean. Even with her abilities she could not see past the black surface as the bonfires contrasted her vision. People sat around them, laughing and chattering. But she could feel they weren't enjoying themselves.
It reminded her of what an old acquointance had once told her about Rebel Alliance parties prior to battles. The participants had felt obliged to have a blast of a time for those who had perished.
Tomorrow, she'd feel like a rebel too, escaping this world that was coming into the clutches of an evil empire in the making.
She felt only hollow sadness for having to leave this planet. It was home as a place, but the people that had made it into the place of her memories were dead. Her family had not seen her return, and Jan, her husband, was a recent casualty of war.
The hems of the whitish dress were not soaked, but she ignored the moist, clinging fabric that gathered dust and sand off the beach as she hurried to join the biggest of the bonfires.
There was nothing for her here anymore. And after Jan, she felt she had filled whatever purpose she'd been given. Or maybe she'd done that a long time ago and after her return been living on borrowed time. With the choice she had made, she would not last long until her peril anyway. If there was anything she could still do, one more act of a Jedi, the time had come.
Milions of parsecs away, in a transparisteel-ceilinged corridor heavy, grey rain poured down soaking sentients outside and dampening the spirits of those dispersing from a conference room in a less-used wing of the former Imperial Palace. Many suggestions had been made through the years to rename the construction of black marble and transparisteel, but the Imperial-era name had stuck.
The small group abandoning the command room consisted mostly of military insignia uniforms or plain woven robes. These were the insiders, the new rebels against the backforces of yesterday's rebellion against the Empire. The New Republic Senate existed now only in title, a chaotic group of bickering politicians. The insiders had grown weary of them, and before long they had an outlaw alliance in a galaxy slowly losing its laws.
The first to pace down the corridor, red locks of hair trailing in her wake, was Mara Jade Skywalker. She cut a corner in a sharp turn, and disappeared toward the turbolifts.
Luke Skywalker was only rising from his chair, deep in thought.
Her sister touched his arm. "You'll talk to Corran about the shipments?"
Luke gazed up, disoriented for a second. He nodded, making a mental note to get in touch with Leia later and ask what on Earth she'd been talking about. He was aware the subject must've been pressing - probably to do with Eclipse - but he'd learned to prioritize certain things even before his Jedi duties.
One thing, to be precise, and that would be Mara.
The realization had crept up to him slowly in the course of their battles with the Yuuzhan Vong. The Jedi were protectors of the galaxy and its sentients, but on a personal level, he had to have a reason to want to hold onto that debt.
When he'd married he had been aware that the thought of losing Mara would prove to be quite an obstacle and depriver of peace, but life without her would... not be life at all.
If only Mara hadn't been complicating things even more.
Luke stood up, gathered his robes - a hem was caught under a chair leg, and went to turn of the lights as he was the last one in the room. It was a miracle Leia had managed to find them a conference room. Officially, the Jedi were not linked to the military, thus the meeting would've raised a lot of alarms in the powers-that-be. This place was secure, in the unrenovated section of the Palace and noone was likely to stumble in, but Leia'd obviously been walking on coals nonetheless. It was her neck on the line.
Luke sighed. He knew what awaited him.
************************************************'
Thank you for reading. Reviews and feedback would be greatly appreciated - they're the fuel that feeds this creative furnace.
Heidi Ahlmen siirma6@surfeu.fi
Only to be archived at Fanfiction.net. All other sites: email me first at siirma6@surfeu.fi to gain permission.
Notes: I apologize for the fact that this story remains unfinished. SW is not my forte - my SW works only mark a period in my writing career when I simply did not have enough inspiration to carry on with my Tomb Raider writings.
Star Wars: Excess Mercy
By Heidi Ahlmen
Part I / III Into The Fire
Bonfires raged on the beach. Outside their sphere of red-yellow flames pouring ashes up in the skies like diminished volcanoes it was so dark it seemed palpable, velvety. City lights had long since gone out, perhaps for good, it seemed. Urbanized but traditional populace of the planet had been forced to return to the old ways.
And tonight the fires would rage for the last time. There were few things to be burned, only the last mementos that were to be banished before the invaders came. For noone wished to leave them anything, as if the very touch of them would infect memories, twist and distort.
And come they would. The usually starry sky now manifested bright flares like meteor showers - battle in-system raged on as the scarce New Republic force that could be spared raced against time not to prevail but to buy some precious time for those who'd been left last on the surface.
For some this was goodbye to their homeworld. For some it would only mean saying farewell forever to loved ones as some had vowed to stay and face inevitable extinction in the hands of the Yuuzhan Vong.
A weary woman paced the moonlit beach, silently stepping barefoot in the moist sand. Reaching out with her senses, she could almost sense the cy'eens - the last ones whalelike creatures that inhabited the oceans. The Yuuzhan Vong - she'd never got to calling them 'vong' as she felt a pet name would belittle the threat they posed - had cut off all the major trade routes during the last six standard months, and the starving populace were forced to overrule the conservation laws protecting the fragile, long-ago overexploited fauna.
The cy'een had been special to her. Strong, agile animals with a wild spirit and an open mind. She'd been the only one who dared to ride them. Until her Master had swept her off to make her Jedi. Back when the old ways had been the everyday ways.
During her long absence - unnaturally long as she'd had her fair share of uncanny adventures - her homeworld had modernized under the New Republic.
For the current inhabitants this was a downturn in evolution. For her it felt like home - returning to tradition. Suddenly old songs were sung again, artificial clothing materials abandoned, skyscrapers abandoned, only necessary chores performed.
She stopped for a moment to stare out into the ocean. Even with her abilities she could not see past the black surface as the bonfires contrasted her vision. People sat around them, laughing and chattering. But she could feel they weren't enjoying themselves.
It reminded her of what an old acquointance had once told her about Rebel Alliance parties prior to battles. The participants had felt obliged to have a blast of a time for those who had perished.
Tomorrow, she'd feel like a rebel too, escaping this world that was coming into the clutches of an evil empire in the making.
She felt only hollow sadness for having to leave this planet. It was home as a place, but the people that had made it into the place of her memories were dead. Her family had not seen her return, and Jan, her husband, was a recent casualty of war.
The hems of the whitish dress were not soaked, but she ignored the moist, clinging fabric that gathered dust and sand off the beach as she hurried to join the biggest of the bonfires.
There was nothing for her here anymore. And after Jan, she felt she had filled whatever purpose she'd been given. Or maybe she'd done that a long time ago and after her return been living on borrowed time. With the choice she had made, she would not last long until her peril anyway. If there was anything she could still do, one more act of a Jedi, the time had come.
Milions of parsecs away, in a transparisteel-ceilinged corridor heavy, grey rain poured down soaking sentients outside and dampening the spirits of those dispersing from a conference room in a less-used wing of the former Imperial Palace. Many suggestions had been made through the years to rename the construction of black marble and transparisteel, but the Imperial-era name had stuck.
The small group abandoning the command room consisted mostly of military insignia uniforms or plain woven robes. These were the insiders, the new rebels against the backforces of yesterday's rebellion against the Empire. The New Republic Senate existed now only in title, a chaotic group of bickering politicians. The insiders had grown weary of them, and before long they had an outlaw alliance in a galaxy slowly losing its laws.
The first to pace down the corridor, red locks of hair trailing in her wake, was Mara Jade Skywalker. She cut a corner in a sharp turn, and disappeared toward the turbolifts.
Luke Skywalker was only rising from his chair, deep in thought.
Her sister touched his arm. "You'll talk to Corran about the shipments?"
Luke gazed up, disoriented for a second. He nodded, making a mental note to get in touch with Leia later and ask what on Earth she'd been talking about. He was aware the subject must've been pressing - probably to do with Eclipse - but he'd learned to prioritize certain things even before his Jedi duties.
One thing, to be precise, and that would be Mara.
The realization had crept up to him slowly in the course of their battles with the Yuuzhan Vong. The Jedi were protectors of the galaxy and its sentients, but on a personal level, he had to have a reason to want to hold onto that debt.
When he'd married he had been aware that the thought of losing Mara would prove to be quite an obstacle and depriver of peace, but life without her would... not be life at all.
If only Mara hadn't been complicating things even more.
Luke stood up, gathered his robes - a hem was caught under a chair leg, and went to turn of the lights as he was the last one in the room. It was a miracle Leia had managed to find them a conference room. Officially, the Jedi were not linked to the military, thus the meeting would've raised a lot of alarms in the powers-that-be. This place was secure, in the unrenovated section of the Palace and noone was likely to stumble in, but Leia'd obviously been walking on coals nonetheless. It was her neck on the line.
Luke sighed. He knew what awaited him.
************************************************'
Thank you for reading. Reviews and feedback would be greatly appreciated - they're the fuel that feeds this creative furnace.
Heidi Ahlmen siirma6@surfeu.fi