Part 1

Walk into splintered sunlight,

Inch your way through dead dreams to another land.

Maybe you're tired and broken,

Your tongue is twisted with words half spoken

and thoughts unclear

What do you want me to do,

to do for you to see you through?

A box of rain will ease the pain,

and love will see you through.

And its just a box of rain, I don't know who put it there,

Believe it if you need it, or leave it if you dare.

And its just a box of rain, or a ribbon for your hair;

Such a long, long time to be gone, and a short time to be there. +

Mara quickly, yet carefully, put on the brakes of Mary's black Mustang during the rain when she started hearing a voice inside her head singing along with the Grateful Dead song that was playing in the car. She pulled onto the secondary road of Airport Boulevard and into the parking lot of a small strip mall. She parked and shut off the engine.

Mara called out within the empty car, "Hello?"

There was a weak voice inside her head that replied, (Hello.)

The voice had a Southern twang to its accent. It was timid and shy which was an opposite effect when it was singing. Mara gently called out from inside the car, "Mary?"

(Yes, ma'am. That's my name.)

"Uh...are you awake now?"

(I'm answering you, ain't I?)

"It sure sounds like it. Though, if you were truly awake, why can I only hear you in my mind?"

(Our mind. And Hell if I know that. I ain't the scientist here.)

"Me neither. So...I guess...how are you?"

(I feel strange. I can see things through my eyes but I'm not really there. Did that make a lick of sense?)

"I think we can rule out any form of sense in our situation."

(You're Mara Jade, right?)

"Mara Jade Skywalker. In the flesh. Or...in your flesh."

(Mary Jane Skyler. Good to meet 'cha.)

"Likewise."

(I must say you have great taste in music. Box of Rain is one of my most favorites from The Dead.)

"You have a good singing voice."

(Thank you.)

"Now that we have the small talk out of the way, let's get to the meat of the order. What do you remember about that day in the stables?"

(That's the thing. I don't remember it. I just heard that song and it just made me want to sing.)

"Ok, let's go with what you do remember. Your name is a good start."

(Yeah. And I know my son is Benjamin. Hey, same as yours.)

"At least mine doesn't have a dog's name."

[Spike. Don't 'cha just hate that? Luke thought it'd be cute because Spike the dog died the same year Benjamin was born.)

"And you remember your ex-husband's name. That's unfortunate."

[I wish I could forget. That bastard, heavy on the 'turd.

Mara laughed. "Well, I'm heading to work. I've kept your same job at Fantasma's."

[I think you may have another kind of job there. I watched what you did with Marcos and his men.

"Not a field I want to get into. Again. And if you remember those creeps, you should remember Deke."

[Oh, yeah. Deke and his son, Victor. Can't remember the names of his bodyguards.

"Kivan and Nikoli," Mara supplied.

[Yeah. Tough guys.

"They'd like to think so."

[And Deke's driver is cute. But, shy. Jeremi.

"He doesn't talk much. When he's not driving he's always writing in his notebooks."

[I don't think he belongs in Deke's crowd.

"That's my assessment too. Of course, Emma has been great these past weeks."

[Good ole Mama. I don't think I could have survived my divorce and raising Benjamin if it weren't for her.

"If you can remember that far back, why can't you remember your accident at the stable?"

A pause, then[I don't want to talk about it.

"So, you do remember. You just choose not to." Mara wanted to stress to her that by waking up and revealing what happened to her, Mara could go back to her Luke and Ben. Mara couldn't be that shallow but she explained instead, "You do want to come out of your coma? You can't speak through your mind to me for the rest of your life. Or my life." There was silence save for the sound of pelting rain against car metal.

"Mary?"

Nothing.

"Oh, Mary."

Still, nothing.

"Wonderful. What did you do today, Mara? Why, I had a conversation with the woman who lives inside my head. But, I'm still sane." She let out an exasperated sigh. "Oh, just what I need. A conscience inside my head who's as stubborn as I am."

Mara turned the ignition of the Mustang and headed back towards downtown through the back way. She learned quick in Mobile to avoid Airport Boulevard in dry weather. On rainy days, which were nearly constant in this town, traveling on Airport was just as long as watching grass grow. As she drove, she called out to Mary every so often. She even played the same song again. Mary stayed silent.

As Mara parked along the street, she still considered the conversation with her alter-ego inside of her, however brief, was a step in the right direction. She just wouldn't know when Mary would decide to decide to provide commentary to her own life that Mara was living for her. Mara placed the thought on her mental back burner and opened the double glass doors of Fantasma's.

She went through the small hallway and entered the wide dining and entertainment area. The place was nearly deserted. It was a Tuesday and the only feature that night was .25 cent Buffalo Wings. To Mara, these tasted like a cheap downgrade of Luke's favorite tomo-spiced ribenes. She had to admit that some of the hot sauces that their cook and bartender, Chappy, made were so blazing that her mouth had been on fire for an hour.

Chappy was behind the bar wiping it down and smiling away. The dark-skinned man was always too cheerful. She waved a hand to him in greeting and he waved back to her in a flourish.

"How you doin' Miss Mara? Or is it Mary yet?"

"Almost. But it's just me now, Chappy." She no longer had to say her name was Mara to anyone at the nightclub anymore. They could tell just by her lack of Southern drawl.

She walked past the bar and through the doorway to the back room. In front of her was the employee lounge area, where five men were sitting at a round table playing cards. Most likely Poker. To her right was the kitchen and left was the way to the storeroom and rear exit. Deke, Kivan, and Nikoli were among the men playing cards. The other two were both heavy-set men whom Mara had never seen before.

"Hey, Mara. You get wet again in sunny Mobile?" Deke greeted her.

"Naturally. I haven't seen this much rain since a mission I had long ago on Kamino."

By this time since Mara Jade had come to be inside Mary Jane, Deke knew she was speaking of one of the worlds in her galaxy. He merely nodded to the other men to pay her comment no mind.

Kivan and Nikoli were Deke's equivalent of the men Carlos sent to persuade Deke into paying quicker. The two men in Deke's protective employ were large in muscle size but small in class stature. They were usually involved in the violent portion of Deke's organization, or whatever other task that was too messy for Deke to handle. They both were dark haired with chiseled features, and stayed silent until they were needed to be heard. They both also possessed an overabundance of confidence. All of this added to terror for Deke's clients. Mara, though, knew simple ways to take either of them down within seconds.

There was a sixth man present in the room. Far off in the corner sat Jeremi. He was writing away as usual in his notebook. He was Deke's driver and all around gopher for basic odds and ends. To her knowledge, Jeremi had not broken any laws. At least no major ones. He was also silent like the two henchmen but it was more of a shy and timid silence. Kivan and Nikoli's silence was for intimidation. Jeremi's was to keep himself in the background. The scribbles in his notebook were for+ his stories of mystery. Like Mary had said earlier that day, Jeremi did not belong in Deke's category of people. Many times Mara wondered how Jeremi got involved with Deke in the first place.

She changed into her work blouse and hung her jacket near her locker. She called out to Jeremi.

He jerked his head up from focusing on writing to say, "Hey, Mara. How are you tonight? Besides wet."

"Fine, Jeremi. Writing another one?"

"Yeah. This one is a murder mystery in a London Gentleman's club."

"You have a female as the killer?"

Jeremi gave a defeated look and pushed his hand through his thick blonde locks and asked, "How did you know?"

"It makes sense on so many levels. Well, happy writing. I'm going to help Chappy with the few customers we have."

Deke explained as he asked for two cards from Nikoli, the dealer, "It is Tuesday. And it is raining. Two strikes against us."

Kivan added in his slight accented booming voice, "Three if you count Chap's wings."

Deke defended his cook. "He not so bad. When I was kid in Ukraine, we would have to share one piece of stale bread for the week."

Nikoli chimed in, "Oh no, another 'when I was a kid in Ukraine' story."

One of the heavy set men spoke up. "Can we play cards? I have to win back my losses."

Deke asked, "How you do this in one night? You down a few thousand, Johnny."

"Just you wait, my friend from Ukraine."

"I'm going to let you guys to your game. I'll be out with Chappy if you need me."

Being a waitress was not foreign to Mara. There were many missions where she had to pose as a local waitress. There was also the stretch of time after the Emperor died when she was reduced to a mere mortal in her own words and went from assassin to waitress. She didn't mind hard work. Lately, the chores she did around the house and what she did at the nightclub kept her too busy to think. Cleaning, washing clothes, fixing meals, chauffeuring Ben to school and back were all tasks that had eluded the great Mara Jade while she was a Jedi and assassin. At the time she considered those duties to be too mundane. After the past few weeks, she discovered that the mundane had a greater life span than a Jedi.

There were a few more customers that night. One other reason for the slow night Mara figured was because it was the dancers' night off. Mara had already told Deke weeks ago that she was never to set foot on the stage in any capacity. She couldn't recall when the last time she truly danced. As she was putting away some glasses, she fought back tears as she remembered her dance with Luke at their wedding reception. That was our first and last dance.

It was near closing time after midnight when the quiet night turned to chaos.

All of the people who came in for a drink or two had left. Chappy wiped down the bar for the tenth time that night and was about to take glasses out of the dishwasher. Mara then told him to go home, which he did with smile on his face. She overtook Chappy's job and soon she heard the front door open and the unmistakable voice of Victor Werner. He was laughing as he walked through the hallway into the main area. He emerged around the corner with a strange man along with him. As far as looks, Victor was a mini version of Deke but with a goatee instead of a full beard.

He spotted Mara behind the bar and called out his greeting to her. "Mara! I'd like you to meet someone. This is Gustov, our third cousin from Lemsk." He spoke the basic language much clearer than his father but did have a slight dialect.

"It's Gustavo," the olive-skinned man corrected.

"Ah, yes. Gustavo. This is Mara. She is the glue that holds this place together."

Right then, Mara knew something wasn't right.

Since her arrival in Mary Jane's body, Victor's resentment toward her had grown larger. He also had a short fuse to his temper. The reason for his battles with Mary, and now with Mara, were obvious. Mary had been groomed by his father to be second in command at the nightclub when the position was supposed to be reserved for Victor. Not that Mary would have accepted. Even as timid as Mara found her to be, she couldn't see Mary agreeing to be part of Deke's world. Despite Mary's apparent reluctancy in accepting, Victor still lashed out at Mara whenever he could.

When he came in with Gustavo, and was actually praising her, she knew that display of positive greeting was for show. Victor claimed Gustavo as a cousin, yet there was no family resemblance. Even with the two words he spoke, she could detect that Gustavo's accent was not nearly the same as Deke's.

Instead of calling out Victor on that bit of information she noted, she went with his joke by saying, "If I'm the glue, what does that make you?"

"Heh, I'm the cement."

"I agree with that. You are a hard case."

Victor laughed and said to Gustavo putting his arm around him, "She is so funny."

Victor never laughed at Mara's sarcasm until that moment.

She addressed Gustavo. "Would you like something to eat? We have plenty of wings left."

"Si. I mean, yes. That would be well."

Victor yelled out, "Yes. Beer and wings for all! On the house!" He looked around at the empty nightclub. "Well, guess there won't be that many."

"We are closed, Victor," Mara answered. As she retreated to the kitchen, Deke, Kivan, and Nikoli came out the backroom.

"I knew I heard my son's cry for beer. Gustav, my friend! You have returned."

Mara caught Deke on the way to the kitchen as his two henchmen went to join the others, and muttered, "Where's your two other friends?"

"They go out rear door."

"I'm surprised they fit through it. And Victor referred to Gustavo as a third cousin. If he's your cousin or friend then I'm Queen of Naboo."

Deke gave a smile that was too wide. "Mara, we are from Ukraine. Our friends are family. What you still doing here?"

"You need wings and beer. Do you see Kivan or Nikoli serving?"

"Ok, but after that you go home. Go see your son."

"Deke, it's past midnight. He's in bed. And you know perfectly well that Benjamin is not my son."

"Yes, of course. It has been long day for you. You must be tired."

"I can get over tired. Why are you rushing me out, Deke?"

Deke laughed. "Do I need reason? I just try to think of you while we conduct business."

"I can stay longer if you need me."

"I have Kivan and Nikoli."

"Amateurs."

"Mara, I never had to ask Mary to leave our business to us."

"You're not dealing with Mary now. You're dealing with a professional."

"I know. But last I heard, there are no Emperor's in Mobile, Alabama."

"No, but there's plenty of kingpins. Besides, I thought you were grooming Mary for second in command."

"You misunderstand. I was grooming her to be assistant manager here. No more. Mary had nothing to do with our business. You should do same."

"I'll tell you what I am doing. I'm getting them some food and drink. I am then going to sit at the bar while you conduct your business."

Deke didn't have time to argue and even with knowing Mara for a few weeks, he knew once she made up her mind, it was pretty much set. "Suit you self." He went off to join the other men.

Her overdeveloped sense of curiosity prevented her from not knowing what Deke and his gang was up to. She had worked at the nightclub from the week after she woke up, but had yet to see evidence of Deke's true business. She admitted he hid it well. That didn't mean it didn't exist. She went ahead and fixed the leftover wings, which only needed to be warmed up. She took all the men's drink orders and prepared them. After they ate, drank, and small talked for a few minutes, Mara found that she was also famished. She fixed herself some wings and poured some wine. Then she watched.

Deke began, "Now, Gustav, how was business?"

"For one thing, it's Gustavo. And before I get into our profits, I want to know if Miguel is on the way. I tried calling him and he's not at his apartment."

Deke said, "Oh, he call earlier. He'll be here later."

Mara shook her head. There was a lie.

"Now, how you do?" Deke demanded.

Gustavo reached into his coat pocket and took out an inch thick stack of money. "We sold all we could. The product is getting lower in demand, bro."

Deke thumbed through the stack. "Lower in demand. Tsk, tsk, Gustavo. There seems to be something missing here."

"No, man. It's all there."

The inflection in Gustavo's voice told Mara otherwise. Oh, Gustavo, you're digging a hole too deep.

Deke paused so long that Mara was about to call on him to wake up. He spoke before she had to.

"What you not understand, my friend, is when you get product to put on market, the supplier expects profit."

Gustavo pointed to the money. "That is the profit. And the seller expects twenty percent."

All the men laughed. All but Gustavo.

Deke replied, "Victor, you remember last time I agree to twenty percent?"

"Been a long time, father. I can't recall."

"Hmm, neither can I. I tell you, Gustavo, since this is your first time in business with us, I will be generous and go fifteen percent."

The new seller looked at the money and took a moment to answer. The time of that moment was way too short. "Ok. Fifteen it is."

Mara so wanted to scream at him. You stupid idiot! You agreed to a lousy percentage too fast. If that stack on the table was all the profit, you would have haggled more.Mara wondered if Deke and his men caught that.

Instead, Deke shouted with glee, "Excellent! Victor, would you kindly subtract Gustavo's earnings from the stack?"

Victor took the stack in hand and started counting it. Slowly.

Deke motioned to Kivan. "I think our new partner need receipt."

Instead of answering back, Kivan reached into his own coat pocket. It wasn't a receipt.

The shot from Kivan's silver handgun fired directly at Gustavo's left knee.

Amidst Gustavo's cries of intense pain, Mara closed her eyes to her answer. Yes, they caught it.

Gustavo squirmed inside his seat and his hands tried to hold the blood coming out of his knee. His screams were growing more intense. Mara fought the urge to grab a wet towel and tie off the bleeding. Deke and his men had a reason to keep this man in pain.

Deke said to Nikoli, "I know what is missing. A screwdriver."

Gustavo's eyes popped and he yelled more in anticipation of more pain. He kept pleading to them, "No! No!"

Nikoli went behind the bar to fix a drink. He got out the vodka and the orange juice from the cooler. Mara questioned this move silently as Nikoli brought the drink over to Deke.

Deke took the glass and sipped it. "Ah, a Screwdriver. I'm sorry, did you think I meant a real screwdriver? Heh, how cruel do you think I am? No, I like drink Screwdriver. It is simple. Vodka and orange juice. A breakfast drink with a kick, no?" He and the men laughed. "But, I show you the effects the citric acid in the orange juice." He then immediately poured some of the drink directly over Gustavo's wound.

Once again, Gustavo's screamed in pain. Kivan came over and held the man down. Gustavo breathed deep and his mouth spat wildly.

It took all of Mara's strength to resist stopping this. She was at a disadvantage. Without her trusty hand blaster or her lightsaber, there was no chance to go against four armed men without a weapon. Deke and his men had the upper hand. She so wanted to leave the scene. Something held her back.

I once dealt pain like this long ago. Instantly, the cold ghost whisper of the Emperor rang through her. I need not tell you the consequences if you fail me. She mentally shook off the voice inside and focused on what was next.

Deke was cool and calm as he addressed the injured man. "You see, I believe that this small profit you made us is not the amount that should be here. I am wondering, where is rest of money?"

Gustavo sat there controlling his pain and said nothing. Even if he had not been tortured, he more than likely would still be silent.

"No?" Deke beckoned. "Hmm, we thought perhaps your friend, Miguel, would know. But, he did not."

Gustavo used all his strength to ask, "Miguel...is...here?"

Deke answered, "Yes. He arrived earlier. Nikoli, go fetch Miguel."

Nikoli disappeared into the back room and was gone for a minute when he returned with a large gym bag. He set the bag down on the floor and opened the top flap. He then kicked it so the bag would tumble on its side.

Out of it came a large object that rolled toward Gustavo and stopped at the leg of his chair.

It had once been attached to a body a few hours ago. Now, the severed head of Miguel stared back at his partner with frozen fear in his dead eyes.

The cries that emitted from Gustavo this time were not related to pain. They were screams of horrified fear.

This time, Mara spoke out. "Deke! That's enough. Don't you think this is a little extreme?"

Victor answered for his father. "You let us handle our business our way. I thought you trusted her, father?"

"Trust not always include extreme torture, son. But, Victor is right. I told you Mary had left us conduct our business with no question."

"Maybe she didn't want to know the answers," Mara replied.

"You not want to know, either. Maybe it's time for you to go home now?"

"Only if I can take Gustavo to the hospital on the way. I can bring him in anonymously."

"I am sorry, Mara. We need further discussion with Gustavo. Nikoli."

Nikoli raised his black handgun and fired a shot in Gustavo's stomach. The grunts of pain from the poor man cried out as he doubled over.

Deke said back to Mara, "As you can see, we only have but a few more hours to speak with him about payment of betrayal."

Mara stared at Deke Werner in a new dark light than when she first met him. She compared his actions tonight to that of Palpatine's. Their ideas of torture philosophy were similar. She had heard terrible stories about Palpatine's methods. One of which was an associate who failed him once. Palpatine had made him succumb to the most gruesome torture and let him die an agonizing death. But, the Emperor didn't stop at death. He cloned the man with his memories fully intact, making sure he would remember the extreme pain.

Mara wanted nothing more to do with Deke and his cronies that night. She no longer wanted to have memories of dealing out pain again. She spent her years as Luke Skywalker's wife trying to forget her past duties. Or at least setting them aside for future reference. She had been Kivan and Nikoli in her early life. She was sure that if the Emperor had commanded her to decapitate a target, she would have complied with no question. Not for revenge nor out of anger. Her purpose for carrying out orders of violence were even worse. They were part of her duty.

She looked into the almost dead gaze of Gustavo. He wore a near peaceful look on him now. There was nothing she could do for him. He was lost.

"Ok, Deke. You do what you have to. I want no part of it." She got off her stool and prepared to leave. She changed out of her work blouse and into one of Mary's shirts. When she put her coat back on, she headed out the rear door. She couldn't bear to walk past that scene again.

Before she could reach the back door, Victor was there in the doorway blocking her path.

"That's it, run away. Mary would have. Though, she would have left us alone the whole night.."

"I'm not running away. I'm choosing to ignore. If it were up to me, I would cut all ties from this place. I can't decide that for Mary."

Victor came very close to her and said, "You know, I'm getting to like Mara better than Mary every day. Maybe we can have our own little moment together. Mary wouldn't remember it. Then again, Mary and I may have already had our little moment and you don't remember."

"That's interesting. Let me ask you, on the day of Mary's accident, when did you get back from New Orleans?"

"First off, it's Nawlins; not New Orleens. And I got back late that night when Mary was already deep in sleep. What are you doing, investigating? I hear the culprit was put to sleep."

"I believe someone else was there. Human."

"That so? Good luck in proving that. You have tougher balls than I thought. Now, what about that moment?"

"You know, I've met many different types of men in many different systems, and here on Earth. You know what I found to be the same in all of them?" She jerked her knee up hard into his groin. As he doubled in pain, she finished her thought with, "They all have the same weakness." She bypassed him to reach the back door, but she stopped to add, "Seems I have tougher balls than you, Victor."

She reached Mary's black Mustang and drove in the cool mist back to Mary's home. Once she got back, she dragged herself to Mary's bedroom. She sidestepped in her path to stop at Benjamin Skyler's bedroom door. She creaked it open and saw him fast asleep peacefully.

As she prepared for bed, she wondered if either Gustavo or Miguel had any children at home sleeping as peaceful as Benjamin that night. They would be expecting their father to greet them in the morning.

Had her own Ben in her galaxy sleep as soundly the night she was murdered? He would have totally expected his mother to be there the next morning.

After laying in Mary's bed and not ready to sleep from the events of the night, she almost forgot that Mary had actually spoken to her earlier in the day for the first time.

Mara muttered aimlessly, "Mary, if you can hear me now, my advice would be to get away from these people you work for."

She sat there with nothing in her head for a few minutes. Then a faint reply resounded inside her head.

[I know.

Part 2 coming soon.

- Box Of Rain lyrics by Robert Hunter