Title: SOMETHING TO DISCOVER: SAYING IT!
Setting: A few hours after the end of VotF
Genre: L/M Romance
Disclaimer: This is not written in order to make any money with it. I do not own anything belonging into the Star Wars Universe.
Summary: During a conversation with Corran, Mara discovers that she forgot to do something very important.
Chapter 1: Getting there!
Corran watched the Pulsar Skate lift off and slowly leaving the Chimaera's hangar, which had been reserved for both New Republic's officials and some selected private Citizens that had been involved the signing of the peace treaty lately.
He wished he could have accompanied Mirax, who gave Booster a lift back to his ship, so that he could have spend the night with her on the Errant Venture, but orders had been otherwise.
Not that he really mind those orders lately, especially not when recalling Wedge's grin when he explained those to rogue squadron.
Wedge was one of the people, together with himself, who had decided to resign from the military service now that the war with the Empire had come to an end, and since this was the last time acting in a NR military function, he had asked the squadron to make an impressive appearance at this very special event. This meant showing up together in squadron formation, attend the signing and the reception afterwards in their best pilot's dress uniform and then departing simultaneously in their X-Wings."
Corran could remember most of the pilots wincing just at he thought of the dress uniform. Finally not everyone was bestowed with Wedge's slim figure, but in the end it had been worth it.
The now Ex General and leader of the squadron really deserved a little show, even when they finally did not get this much attention than they normally would have, but this was okay counting all those prominent faces gathered here today.
The only thing that bothered him, now that the official reception was almost over, was that he probably had to wait another hour before Wedge would call for departure and that he had to return to Coruscant together with the others instead of spending the night together with his wife.
With Mirax being gone he did not feel like returning to the Chimaera's command room that was serving as a ball room after the signing of the treaty. He was not up to some superficial small talk and he had nobody to dance with anyway.
Corran took a look around; the hangar was filled to capacity with all kind of small and middle sized yachts and shuttles, he could see the Millennium Falcon parked about 50 meters away and recognized at least two shuttles usually used by crew members from the Wild Karrde.
Getting a bottle Correlian Ale from the storage compartment of his X-Wing, he had decided to recline to sit on the wing of his spacecraft, when suddenly, being halfway up the X-Wing's ladder, he sensed another presence in the otherwise deserted hangar.
"I have to admit; those dress uniforms are really flattering to a male's rear, Horn!"
He resumed climbing and when finally reaching the top he turned around to greet her while standing on the Transparisteel Canopy of the cockpit.
"Hi Mara, I like your compliments, makes an insecure guy like me feel so much better."
This was unexpected, but rather pleasant company; Corran had seen her briefly during the reception, dancing with Skywalker, but then she had vanished from his sight again.
"Hi Corran, I thought I'd be the only one sneaking around here at this time, most people either already left, are drinking themselves senseless or are drawn into important political negotiations by now."
"Well, it is not really interesting up there anymore, at least not when having to stay sober, Mirax and Booster just left – I went to see them off - …and now I am waiting for Wedge to finally call it a 'night' for the squadron."
He climbed over the X-Wing's engine and settled down sideways on the wing using the engine as a backrest.
"… and what brings you here."
"I was cold, I wanted to fetch the shawl that belongs to this dress from the Falcon, but forgot to ask for the access code to the ship."
He observed her wile she approached the area where they had parked the X-Wings.
Due to the relatively light weight of the snub-fighters, the landing area he had been assigned to was on a steel grid, on top of one of the ventilation shafts that provided the hangar with fresh air.
In order not to get stuck with her high heels she had pulled her shoes off and was now balancing on tiptoes from one cross of the grid to the next. Shoes in one hand, she was trying to secure the skirt of her dress against the current of air coming from below with the other.
"… Do you have an Ale for me as well?"
"Sure, in the storage compartment, just help yourself, it's open."
Corran admired her dance like movements. In a gentleman like manner, he had briefly considered offering her his jacket against the cold, but self-protection had kicked in just in time.
Watching Mara like this, one could easily forget how dangerous this woman could be; not only as an opponent in any combat, but in a verbal encounter as well.
He was glad he remembered that he was wearing his dress uniform at the very last moment, though. Taking the jacket of had left him in a tight sleeveless turtleneck body stocking and even though he wasn't in a bad shape, exposing himself like this to her sharp tongue wasn't anything he felt up to do.
Mara vanished under the nose of the snub-fighter where the cargo hold was located and came back into view with a bottle in her hand.
He looked down at her.
"You came in the Falcon? Weren't you here earlier in order to support Karrde? I was already wondering because I could not detect the Fire anywhere, but I guess they have limited the landing authorization lately, this hangar is overcrowded already and I think the others are filled in a similar way?"
She took a first sip from the bottle.
"No I came today; I have to admit I wasn't involved into the final preparations at all."
Corran had the impression that her cheeks colored slightly.
"Yeah, and so I needed a ride since…" She hesitated. "I don't have the Fire anymore."
His normally fairly quick brain needed some time to really comprehend what she had said here? "You are kidding, right? What happened to your ship? I don't suppose you sold it?"
"I crashed it … don't look at me like I have a third eye on my forehead. I had to …there was no other way…"
He was not sure if he understood her correctly. "What do you mean: You crashed WITH it? Or did you crash it on purpose?"
She looked up and met his gaze again "It was a sacrifice I had to make… nothing to mourn about too much lately."
"You are not trying to fool me here, are you? A sacrifice; do you know how this sounds like?"
. "Well, I guess… there were many things happening lately …" A small smile appeared on her lips. "Peace with the Empire is not the only change, at least not for me…"
This was going to be interesting. Corran summarized the information he had been given in his head. First, Mara traveling to the Chimaera together with the Solos instead of Karrde and then the way she talked about loosing the Fire; he could feel her grief but somehow the feeling wasn't as strong as he had expected.
"I am starting to wonder about how many things we are talking here … The last thing I heard about you was that you went missing on a planet near the Unknown Regions and that Karrde sent Luke to look after you, and today Booster said something about that it had been you and Skywalker who where finally able to get hold of an intact Caamas document's copy? Looks, like you have quite a story to tell … do you care to join me up here?"
"There is no story that I can tell here … at least not when it comes to how and where we found the document or to the situation we have been in."
Mara's voice was determined; he knew there was no way to press her though. On the other hand, she was already halfway up the ladder; it looked like she wanted to let him know something anyway, even if it wasn't about the document.
Corran waited for her to finish the climb.
She was balancing to avoid the sharp edges of the X-Wing hull's metal with her bare feet; sitting on the smooth round surface of the engine facing away from him she then pushed herself up with one arm until she reached the top. With shoes and bottle in the other hand, she pulled her knees up to her chin and with a little push she rotated her body for about 180° and slid down the engine in order to sit right next to him.
"Impressive move … So what kind of story is it then?"
She took another sip from the bottle. "Hmm …. I guess, I have difficulties to find a point to begin…" She chuckled at her own inability to find words.
"What's about starting with the Fire and the reason for that sacrifice…?"
She studied the surface of the ship's wing. "That's where the problem is going to start; I just cannot tell you why I did it in regards of the outside circumstances… but maybe… let me say it this way, it started out as an inevitable sacrifice but in the end it looks like I traded the ship against something I'd never thought I would have, something I thought I'd never wanted to have, but …something I needed badly."
"Jade, you are talking in riddles…something you needed badly?"
She took a deep breath then the words came out in a rush. "The galaxy has produced itself another Jedi finally!"
I was good that Corran had waited with taking another sip from his Ale, he had certainly spilled it.
He stared at her in bewilderment.
The memory of an incident that had taken place eight years ago was suddenly vivid in his mind again. Mara's nearly uncontrolled rage when she found out that Kyp had stolen the Z-95 Headhunter.
I hadn't been the loss of the property itself; the craft had been Karrde's anyway, but the temporary loss of her freedom, even if it had been only for a couple of days. The fact that she had been stuck on Yavin 4 and could not back out in case she did not want what was offered to her in regards of Jedi training, had driven her insane at first.
He recalled a conversation they had at that time, about the responsibilities that were part of the job when becoming a Jedi and the Jedi's place in the society.
From all what he knew about Mara, she was one of the people who could practice loyalty up to a fault. She had proven this time and time again during the past years, but somehow if people asked her about it she was always able put it of. There were always good reasons, people had earned her respect, others she owed a favor, and then and again there were just things she liked to get involved in, always making sure that there had been a way to back out if she had really wanted to. Not that she had ever backed out, but Mara Jade just did not do things she did not want to do!
And now she had sacrificed the Fire, the only thing she really owned, the thing that ensured her independence, he just could not imagine what this had taken from her, but somehow it made sense.
"So the sacrifice was the one of a kind that is unavoidable to become a Jedi? Skywalker must have been with you at that time. Didn't he try to stop you?"
"At that point, the only thing I was longing for was to prevent that from happening, what would have taken place in case I had not done what I did. …becoming a Jedi wasn't planned, I surely have not asked for it, but it was a thing that was inevitable lately.
What makes you think that Luke tried to stop me? In the end he was the one who always wanted me to become a Jedi, and who wanted me to take the last step that meant a sacrifice proving my commitment to the galaxy or whatever you want to put it."
She glared at him, Corran had the feeling she was challenging him for some reason.
"Come one…. We are talking about Master Skywalker here, as much as he had wanted for you to become a Jedi - and I can assure you, he really wanted this – knowing the way he cared about you, the fact that he could not prevent THIS must have driven him mad. He must have seen this as his personal failure…"
"Huh…. You think so?" A small smile tugged at her lips. "You are right, Luke hated it, and I believe he had done everything in his power to prevent this from happening if it had been his choice. Well, I made sure he had no choice at all in this case, it was nothing else but my very own decision here."
"Not his choice? You must have pulled quite a stunt there. … "
"I believe that in the end accepting the situation was much more difficult for him than it was for me. Of course, it was me who crashed her ship and I can assure you it had hurt, I have cried my eyes out while watching, but in the end it happened because I wanted it. For Luke it was that he had to experience that he could not protect me, and that despise all his power he had no right to take this decision away from me, that there are things that are beyond his control…."
There was a long moment of silence while Corran tried to stifle some maybe too smug remarks. In the end it was inevitable…. He just had to voice the thoughts that were running around in his head.
"Somehow I always thought that you and Skywalker had a very special relationship." He grinned "What is it what people say about Jedi becoming too powerful? … The Galaxy had probably not been able to endure the additional power of Jedi Knight Jade, unless Master Skywalker was willing to surrender some of his own."
Interestingly; the way he had dared pairing her up with the Jedi Master, did not forge any sarcastic response, the smile remained on her lips. If anything, it rather turned into slight amusement; while she chose to stay silent.
"Just for me to know what to expect for myself one day, what makes you so sure that you are a Jedi now? Was it just, that Jedi Master Luke Skywalker stood up and bestowed the title on you in an official ceremony?"
Mara giggled "Well, maybe he will do, when I am going to ask him now. Don't get me wrong, one thing I learned about my abilities during the past weeks is that I surely need some more training. But anyway, it was a surprising change. There were some things; I just could not do before, while I could never find a reason for it. After the incident those abilities were suddenly there."
"So there is still hope for me?"
"Corran, you might want to disguise it but you are a Jedi, at least when it comes to those terms we are discussing right now. Just get used to the fact that telekinesis is not among your talents."
She had picked up on his thoughts immediately. He raised an eyebrow at her in a mocking frown.
"Too bad, I just feared you'd tell me this … but anyway, I believe I understand most of it now …. What I don't understand is the part about 'needing it badly', still…"
He was not done with her yet.
She chewed on her bottom lip. "Count on you, for not letting this drop" Mara gazed at him from under her red-gold eye lashes, suddenly appearing shy.
"You know me; I was too long with CorSec, in order to miss something like this. There is more… come on, spill it out!"
"Are you sure, you really want to know it?"
Corran knew he was wearing a cocky grin on his face; he leaned back against the engine.
"Well, as long as it concerns you, Jedi Knight Jade, I guess nothing can really shock me anymore after tonight.
He took another large sip from the Correlian Ale….
"Luke and I are going to get married!"
…..and sputtered his drink as far as to the Laser Cannon at the end of the wing.
TBC
