All The Answers

Setting: Approximately one year after the Yuuzahn Vong War.

It was still there. Right where she left it on their kitchen table. It was waiting for her. Waiting to be opened. It seemed to beckon her. It was almost as if it wanted to be opened. It needed to be free. It was the data inside that needed to escape. The information was still locked. Whatever the data was, it couldn't be true yet until it was free. Did that make its secrets any more false if they were not read yet? Does the information automatically become true once it escapes from its prison?

Mara Jade had been in a prison once. Her warden kept her like a pet in the beginning. She was treated like a princess in her young age. That was for a particular purpose as she soon found out. Eventually, the training she received allowed her to roam the galaxy with his orders of violence. She was let loose but with quite a long leash.

The package before her on the kitchen table was without a leash. No one was alive to protect it anymore. Its main guardian had been dead for decades. She held the key to the information inside. All that was required was her unwrapping the flimsi. She could, of course. It did have her name written on it. It was his handwriting. What was under this package was special for him to personalize it.

She kept staring at it in the semi-darkness. Outside the bustling traffic of Coruscant still endured at this late hour. Yes, she could open it. But, will she open it? That was the question she asked herself since it arrived on the previous day.

The sudden light from the kitchen made her jump. She quickly turned to see her husband standing in the doorway. He wore his sand-colored bed robe that he had owned ever since she knew him intimately. That image recalled her memory of the images she had seen through his mind. Mental holographs of his life on Tatooine. His childhood. Mara would always be jealous of him for this. She never had a childhood.

She turned to look back at the package, forcing herself to tear away from the joyful sight of her beloved husband. The package was still there. The data was still safe inside.

"Mara, are you coming back to bed?"

"In a moment. You startled me."

"All right, what have you done with my real wife. She doesn't startle that easily."

"She does when her mind is circling."

Luke came up behind her and started to rub her shoulders. "You're still thinking about that?"

"Ever since Corran left it here yesterday."

"Are you going to open it?"

"Don't push me, Skywalker."

"Oh! You called me Skywalker. This is serious."

"Don't mock me or you'll find yourself sleeping in a cast."

"And, here come the threats. There's the old Mara Jade I know and love." He released his hands from her shoulders and sat in the kitchen chair beside her. "I know this is troubling you."

"Keen observation, Master Jedi."

"Stop it!" he exclaimed quietly. "I know when your mental walls go up and your defensive sarcasm is back in full form. You should know by now that those old tricks of yours won't work on me anymore."

She sniffed. "I really don't think they ever did. I'm sorry. I guess that was my version of regressing." She chuckled humorlessly. "The funny thing is that I don't know what I would regress to. I can only go back as far as I can remember. Maybe what's inside this package can help with that."

"You don't know that."

"Until I open it. I know. Part of me doesn't want to." She looked at him. "What would you do? What if this package had your name on it and it had information about your mother inside?"

"I can't answer that, Mara. You know what I think of 'what if' questions. That package isn't addressed to me. That's your name on there written by Palpatine a long time ago. He must have meant for you to have it someday."

"I figured you would bring logic to the table. He may have meant for me to find it but he did hide it well."

"He figured you would find it, eventually."

"Almost forty years later. Luke, I didn't know this existed. I didn't even know there was a backup data facility to Wayland on Ithor. I should have known. It doesn't make sense. Why there?"

"Maybe it was because it didn't make sense. No one would think to look there. And there was no evidence that there was a data facility like Wayland on Ithor. This was found in a strongbox along with other things Palpatine kept hidden. Mostly stuff from Naboo. It looks like it was part of a lock box held in a bank. It was a miracle it survived the Vong attack. Corran said if it had taken any longer to find, it would have sunk deeper into the black ash and lost forever. Like Ithor was."

"Is it that bad on Ithor?"

Luke sighed. "Corran said pretty much everything on Ithor is now a memory. He didn't exactly go into detail."

"He still blames himself for what happened there."

"Yes. That's why he volunteered on the excavation team. He feels responsible. I'll have to work on him more on that."

She looked at him with a hard expression. "Don't 'work on him', Luke. Talk to him. As a friend, not a Jedi."

Luke smiled and her elation grew tenfold. "Excellent advice." He motioned to the package and suggested, "Maybe there's information in there about where you get your hidden compassion."

She frowned and stared at the package again. "Ever wonder why Karrde always stayed in the information trade? Information is twice as powerful than money. He could have been a smuggler. He could have made tons of money."

"Some say he still did with the information trade."

"He could have made much more with smuggling. But he knew that credits come and go. They're too tangible. Any piece of information can stay with you forever. It can bring on all kinds of emotions that credits can't." She let a pause in before she stated, "The information that could be in that package may trigger emotions that I don't want to feel."

"It could also bring on ones that you will cherish forever."

"Should I take that chance? Will I be a better person if I knew my birthplace? My mother could have been a rich heiress or a criminal who rotted away in prison. Do you think information like that can change a person? How would my life change if I knew I had a long lost uncle–"

"Or a long lost sister?" Luke raised his brow for emphasis.

Mara looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, Luke. I didn't mean–"

"I know. But, Mara, how do you know that information will be in there?"

"Because he told me it would be there. Someday. Before my initial training began, I was tutored first in general education. I was very young. Everyday I would ask him about my parents. When will I see my mommy? You know, non-essential data."

"Mara, that's not non-essential. Especially at that age."

"Palpatine told me it was. He said I didn't need to know. He said who I am now is all I will ever be. The information about my past will not change anything. But, I wouldn't let up."

"Something told me you wouldn't."

"I kept on asking him day after day. Then one day, he gave up. I asked him for information about my background and he said, 'Someday.' But, he never did. At least, as far as I knew. I had forgotten that over the years. It was so long ago. When this package came, I remembered that he said that. I knew what was inside. Especially when it was included with his most treasured things. I grew up, continued my training, and did my duty to the Emperor. Soon I believed that my past meant nothing to me." She looked back at Luke. "Until I knew you."

"Mara, if you're about to reveal that you were jealous of the Skywalker family, you may want to consider how dysfunctional a family we really are."

"It doesn't matter. It's a family. Not just blood relatives. You have a sister and a brother-in-law who is your friend for life. You had an aunt and uncle who raised and nurtured you. You knew who your father was. In the end they all cared about you. For the first half of my life, I cared for me and no one else. You will never know what it's like being lonely, Luke, because you had friends and family around you. While I was the Hand, I secretly wished that someone would care for me. Just once. Instead, I held on to that secret and buried it deep within myself."

Luke cut in assuredly, "Mara, you have people who care about you now. My family is your family. Nothing will ever change that now. Especially after what we had to go through in the past several years. As far as your past history goes..." He trailed off as he tried to find the right words. He finally stated, "There's one thing I learned on my own from Yoda's words. Not only is the future always in motion, but the past is always motionless. It's gone. Nothing we do now can change it. Not even information from the past." He looked at the package and said, "I will support you in any decision you make with this. Just remember something. No matter what information is in there, you have to ask yourself if there will be more answers or more questions that come with it."

Mara took in his words for a few moments. She then reached for the package and started tearing away at the wrapped flimsi from the bottom. Once she had torn it all away, an old datapad was revealed. She glanced at Luke and he nodded. She could feel his anticipation was as strong as her own. She reached for the connector switch and the screen flickered in and out for a moment out of age.

There on the page was a basic profile screen. In the top corner was a holograph of a young looking Mara Jade. She could sense Luke's enjoyment at seeing her younger features. She remarked at how much more red her hair looked then. The title page spelled out her name. Underneath there was an empty field with a request for a passcode.

Luke asked, "Do you know it?"

"Of course. It would be my old generic Imperial code that could get me into any system."

"Go ahead, Mara. I'll be right here whatever it is."

She looked at him with consideration. "And you will always be here. No matter what."

"Always," he sincerely whispered.

She looked back in the direction of their bedroom. She could sense through the Force her son, Ben, sleeping soundly. Her future. She looked back at the screen. The key to her past.

As she reached for the keys, she could hear Luke hold his breath. Her fingers found the buttons and she typed. Her young picture and the title screen was replaced by another screen with a message.

File Deleted.

Luke smiled awkwardly and said, "You know that could have contained all of your answers."

She stared into his bright blue eyes and instantly lunged to kiss him passionately. He returned the kiss with the same passion. She broke away after a few moments and replied, "I already have all the answers I need."

The End