Chapter 2

The next morning, Mara made sure to get up early so she could prepare for her surprise challenges. She showered and quickly got dressed so she could then stretch and warm up. During her stretching she was caught off guard by a voice in her head

You sure your up to the challenge.

Skywalker, get out of my head, She sent back before putting up her mental shields.

She then hurried to the training rooms, to be the first one there. To her surprise she was greeted by grinning Kyp Durron. He just stared at her with a teasing glare that made Mara really upset.

" And what are you looking at, Durron."

" Oh nothing. Just admiring the view," he replied with a mischevious smile. That was enough to make Mara attack. She sailed across the room in pursuit of making Durron pay for his words. She quickly kneed him in the groin and connected her palm to his cheek in a not-so-pleasant way. Kyp tried to counter attack but she was already behind him. Mara then tripped him and watched as he fell head first onto the practice mat. She swiftly moved to be out of his grasp and was then standing by the door watching Kyp Durron on the floor writhing in pain. The sight brought a wicked grin to her face and a huge boost to her ego.

Beating him is going to be the easiest thing I have ever done,she thought to herself. A few minutes later, Kyp finally got up barely able to walk but still finding his way towards Jade in an angry fashion. When he straightened, ready to attack, the door swooshed open behind Jade to reveal the masters including Master Skywalker

" Well look, our competitors are early. Good we can start earlier then. First we start with the rules. Rule number one: There is to be no form of cheating or sabotage. If this is to occur, the saboteur will be disqualified immediately. Rule number two: Unless stated so, you are to receive no help in your tasks. If so points shall be deducted from your score. Rule number three: Absolutely no dark side is to be used to assist you in your tasks. If you break this rule, you just got to get the hell out of here. So if there are any questions, Please speak up now. None, so let the competition begin"

Corran then stood up, " Now, as you all know I love flying. Generally people who love flying love ships. I'm one of those people. So whoever can turn your X-wing into the best ship I've ever seen wins this round. This round is worth 35 points. You have until tomorrow at 0830 hours to complete this task, and your time starts... now!" Mara and Kyp then ran off for the utility belts to start their challenge as Luke stared at Corran with a look of disbelief.

" What kind of challenge is that? That sounds more like that show that Jaina keeps watching, 'Pimp My Ride'.

" Hey, this is a great challenge to test their skills in mechanics. Plus the best one gives me sweet ride to fly with no effort on my part," Corran said with a chuckle and then walked off to go teach his class.

The rest of the chosen masters would watch them "Pimp their Rides" and their judgement would be worth ten points each in addition to Corran's final decision. A few minutes later Mara returned with her utility and mechanical kit and got to work. Kyp came in afterwords with his stuff and got to work as well.

Hours passed and it was time for Master Skywalker to judge. It was hot in the room and he couldn't help but notice Mara Jade's sweating form. He stared and stared, paying no attention to Kyp. If that was bad, Mara then took off her jacket to make matters worse. Luke just stared and stared at the sweat running down her muscular arms, sweat running from her face down her neck then down into her- Dammit!You need to control yourself and focus on your judging! He thought to himself as he turned his head and just decided to give Mara a ten out of ten just for looking that good. He then turned to Kyp to find him working hard. He put in a lot of effort in his 'repairs' and it looked to be turning out good. I think this deserves a ten. Nah, I'll just give him a nine.


At the end of the day all of the masters returned, excepting Corran, to get their last views of the ships. Kyp had already finished and left for the Mess Hall while Mara Jade stayed back to give the grey ship a new coat of paint. The masters watched as she painted it a new coat of lime-green. That definitely earned her bonus points from some of the masters.

The next morning they all met in the practice rooms for the reading of the scores. They all waited for Corran to come back with his final judgement. Corran came back with his scores, " Mara, Luke gave you a 10, Kam gave you an 8, Tionne gave you a 9 and Kyle gave you a 10. May I say you got bonus points for actually painting the

X-wing. Kyp, Luke gave you a 9, Kam gave you an 8,Tionne gave you a 7 and Kyle gave you a 9. You most certainly fell off because of the lack of colour on your ship but no worries this is only the first round. Now I have judged your ships and I've decided which one I would like to fly. That one is: Mara's ship. She scored a 30 and you scored a 29, once again because of her painting it and your not painting it. Congrats Mara and better luck next time Kyp. Your scores were: Mara, 67 and Kyp, 62."

" See Durron I totally whooped your ass there." she said as she got up to leave

" Not so fast Mara," Kam said, " It's my turn to state your challenge. In this round you guys shall need to show off your skills in telekinesis. You shall need to put on a show of entertainment using a lot of telekinesis for the younlings to watch. You will have to be ready by 3 pm today. Good luck and your time starts now." Kyp and Mara then returned to their quarters to prepare for their little show. Luke sat their wondering to himself, I wonder what Mara is gonna wear?