18 years later:
Mara silently slipped through the darkened corridors and went by unnoticed by the night watch. She wore a black cloak with a black hood to hide her flaming red hair. She blended in perfectly. Smiling she removed a small round object and placed it onto a lock of one of the many rooms and a second later the door soundlessly opened and Mara slipped inside the room. Removing the device from the lock, the door closed without the slightest hiss.
The room was dark except for a small source of light that slipped underneath one of the doors in the quarters. Smiling in anticipation, Mara headed for the door, taking care not to bump into or trip on anything. Using the device on the door, she quickly moved out of sight until she was sure that it was safe to proceed.
When Mara entered the room, she saw a droid that was standing in the corner powered down and in recharge mode. Pleased that an obstacle was already out of the way she continued toward an open door. The next room was a small office area and her target was slumped on the desk, her head laying on one hand while the other clutched a datapad that was still on while its owner quietly snoring away.
Arching a delicate red eyebrow, Mara scanned the contents on the desk and saw that there were several reports waiting to be signed and fifteen unread holomesseges blinking from Mara's target's built in communication device. A half cup of coffee sat forgotten on the desk, and clutched in Mara's target's hand was a datapad that had been getting read.
Walking around the desk and behind her target, Mara lifted part of her cloak with one hand and withdrew a blaster. After Mara checked the setting on the blaster, she pointed it within inches of her target's neck. "You should fire your security guards. Getting in here was pathetically easy." When no response came from her target, Mara frowned and pressed the cold muzzle of the blaster into her target's neck.
Her target woke up with a startled shriek and whipped around, knocking Mara's blaster from her hands. Mara backed up against the wall and waited.
Furious brown eyes glared at Mara as her target recognized who her unknown assailant was. "What in the nine Correlian hells do you think you were doing Mara!" Her target snapped at her.
Mara pushed her hood off of her head and smiled. "I think you have been spending way to much time with that Correlian, Leia."
Leia stood up and flung the datapad at Mara.
Catching the datapad before it could hit her, Mara glanced at the data for a moment before pressing a button on it to turn it off and handing it back to Leia. "This is not bedtime reading."
Grabbing the datapad from Mara's hand, Leia tossed it onto the desk and put her hands on her hips, a sour expression on her face. "You better have a good reason for waking me up like that."
"What? I can't show off my skills?" Mara asked, mock hurt in her voice.
"Stuff it Mara!" Leia shouted, clearly not in the mood for Mara's games.
Mara sighed and her face became serious. "Okay, I'll give you several good reasons. Number one, you're overburdened with work. Number two, you have been not been getting enough sleep because of this work you have to deal with. Number three, a bed is so much more comfortable than a desk. number four, I also have reason to believe that you have not been eating properly, and number five, you told me to report to you as soon as I completed my mission and got back to base."
Leia turned back to her desk and sat down in her seat. "Very well. How did your mission go?"
Annoyed, Mara stomped over to her blaster, picked it up and hooked it back on her belt before facing Leia. "I think you missed the point Leia. You need to go to bed, the work can wait unto you have gotten adequate rest and have eaten something other then ration bars and drinking something other then coffee. Until then you won't be getting any mission report from me." With that said, Mara began to walk from the room.
"I want your mission report now!" Leia demanded. "The rebellion's next move will be determined by the result of your mission."
"Then I will report to Mon Mothma in the morning. At least she has sense to get a decent amount of sleep." Mara retorted, exiting the room.
Leia stormed after Mara and halted in the living area when she saw that the lights were on and Mara was sitting on the couch.
Mara removed her cloak and placed it on the seat next to her and then removed her belt and laid it on the coffee table.
"What are you doing?" Leia asked, as Mara took one item off her belt and press a small knob.
"Making sure you get some sleep." Mara casually responded as the door that led to Leia's office was shut and locked. "Don't think about trying to deactivate it. I have the remote that will disengage the lock and if you try to remove the jamming device from the lock then you with melt the circuitry and you will have to send for someone to cut the door open." Slipping the remote in a small pocket of her tunic, Mara then went to take her boots off.
Red faced, Leia watched as Mara made herself comfortable on the couch by using her cloak as a blanket and taking the pillow, used more for decoration purposes, to lay her head on. "Fine then!" She snapped and headed for her bedroom, not bothering to turn the living area's lights off."
Once the bedroom door closed behind Leia, Mara got up to go turn off the lights. "Good night Leia." She called, satisfaction in her voice.
Leia turned the lights on in her bedroom and got ready for bed. By the time she was in her nightgown and sitting on her bed her anger had drained away and her adrenaline fell, leaving her incredibly tired. Tucking her feet under the cool covers, Leia laid down on the plump pillow and felt herself beg to relax a little.
Looking toward her nightstand, Leia picked up a picture in a picture frame and looked at it. Her mother's smile brought a small smile to Leia's face. Tears formed in her eyes as she examined her mother's features. "I miss you mom." Leia whispered. "I miss you so much. I wish you were still here."
Leia placed the picture of her mother back on the nightstand, Leia picked up the picture beside it. The picture was taken eight years ago. She was standing beside Luke, her twin brother, and the background showed a beautiful pink, orange, and purple, sunrise. Luke had his arm wrapped around Leia's shoulders and they were both smiling at their mother who was taking the picture. More tears fell from Leia's eyes as she remembered the terrible day, not long after the picture was taken when her brother was killed. It had been so unexpected, so sudden, so painful.
Putting the picture back, Leia picked up the last picture off of the nightstand and looked at the smiling faces. It was a picture taken of her mom, her brother, and herself ten years ago. The only person who was missing from the picture was her father. The father that she never knew, the father she only heard about from her mother's stories, the father who died never knowing that he was going to be a father. Her brother was the next person in her family to die, and then it was her mother.
Leia laid the picture on her chest and wrapped her arms around it, hugging it tightly against herself. Soon Leia drifted off into a deep slumber and did not awaken to the sound of someone entering her room, placing the picture back on the nightstand, tucking the covers around her, and kissing her on the cheek.
The person turned off the light and entered the living area. "She's asleep."
Mara nodded her head has she sat against the couch, her eyes closed. "I know." Opening her eyes, Mara looked at the Correlian who was leaning against the wall beside the bedroom door. "She is not well, Han. You need to get her away from all of this for awhile, or at the very least get assigned a position that will keep you near her."
Han looked at the bedroom door where his love slept and nodded in agreement. "I agree with you," he paused for a few seconds before continuing. "I thought she was getting better."
"So did I." Mara admitted. "She did a good job at pretending to be getting better. She had everyone fooled." Her gaze was piercing as she looked at Han. "Don't you go starting to blame yourself Solo!"
Han was about to object, but wisely kept his mouth shut. She was right even though he hated to admit it. "I need to go finish unloading the cargo and get some paperwork filled out. Are you staying here the whole night?"
"Yes." Mara replied."
Han nodded and stepped away from the wall. "I'll be back in the morning."
Mara watched Han leave and then turned off the lights and settled down on the couch. It had been a long day.