Chapter Two:
Two days later, Mara sat with Leia, looking through an annoyingly large volume of flower arrangements. Mara repressed a sigh for Leia's sake. Mara really didn't care what her wedding looked like: as long as Luke was there, she would be happy.
"How do you like these ones?" The clerk asked, bringing Mara back to reality.
Mara looked at the exotic bouquet pictured on the page, and scrunched her nose.
"Absolutely not." She said, a bit harshly.
When both Leia and the clerk winced, Mara closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.
"I'm sorry, to both of you." Mara said, opening her emerald eyes again. "I just don't think I can do this today."
Mara studied the page again, wondering was really so bad about this flower arrangement. Or any of the other ones she had denied. Mara flipped through the photos they had already seen, and spotted one pattern.
Every bouquet she turned down had yellow flowers. The same color of Palpatine's eyes.
Suddenly furious, Mara jumped to her feet and stormed out of the shop.
"Hey!" Leia said when she caught up. "What's wrong?"
Mara was still fuming, but she refused to yell at her sister-in-law. Leia was just trying to help, and did not deserve to be the recipient of Mara's anger.
She was about to speak, when something caught her eye. A Barabel stood a few meters off, staring straight at her. When their eyes met, he hissed.
She frowned, and when her danger sense began to tingle, she grabbed Leia's arm.
"We need to get out of here."
Leia glanced back, spotted the Barabel, and acquiesced without another word. The two women walked as quickly as they could without drawing unwanted attention. Mara could feel the Barabel tailing them, and as they passed out of the main shopping area, Mara sensed three more emerge from various flanking positions.
Mara stopped, pushed Leia forward, and turned to face their pursuers. "Get out of here."
Leia took up a fighting stance beside Mara.
"Not a chance!"
Mara felt warmth at Leia's loyalty. She and her brother were so much alike.
As passerby's realized that a fight was about to break out, they scrambled out of the way. The lead Barabel bared his teeth at Mara, and signaled the attack. Mara and Leia's lightsabers hissed to life simultaneously, and they moved apart for some elbowroom.
A Barabel came at Leia, and Mara watched as she pivoted to meet the attack.
Mara didn't see what happened next because two more sprang at her. She saw that they brandished long staffs, with bulbous protrusions on either end. Mara did not recognize the weapons, but when purple lightning suddenly zapped to life at the staff ends, she realized that she was in trouble.
Leia must have realized the same thing, because she let out a startled gasp.
Mara held her saber up anyway, opening herself to the Force. The first Barabel struck high, twirling the staff as he sent it toward her head. Mara blocked, and then spun out of reach. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Leia take a hit on the leg and yelp in agony.
Mara felt her pain in the Force, but had no time to send her reassurance, because her two assailants struck again, one from each side. Mara jumped high over the first staff, and rolled beneath the second. As she came up on one knee, she pushed out with the Force, trying to knock the Barabel over, or at least make him move a few inches.
The reptile barely nudged.
Mara thought of Saba Sebatyne, and suddenly found herself wishing the Jedi Master were here. Mara ducked the same Barabel's next attack, but felt something zap her painfully in the small of her back.
She doubled over in pain, and light exploded before her eyes with the shock. This battle was not going to end well, and she knew it. Leia was still learning the ways of the Force, and Mara was greatly outnumbered.
Luke!
…
Sitting at a table in a tapcaf with Han Solo, Luke watched the skyline of Coruscant flow in all directions. When Mara had told him about her vision, she assured him she had told all. But Luke knew she was keeping something from him. He'd monitored her through their Force bond, had watched her eyes as she talked to him. Something had happened that frightened her tremendously, something more than just seeing her former master.
"So, you're sure this wasn't just wedding jitters?" Han asked.
Luke had told Han about Mara's vision. Han was a great listener, and he did his best to understand when Luke or Leia talked to him about the Force. Luke had always been thankful to his brother-in-law for that.
Luke shook his head, turning to face Han.
"No. This was real." Luke said. "Real enough to scare her. Han, I don't think I've ever seen Mara that afraid."
Han looked into his ale, and Luke could feel a question burning in his brother's mind.
Finally Han looked up. "You don't think it means Palpatine had a clone survive or something, do you?" he asked quietly. "Cause I thought you destroyed all of them on Byss."
Before Luke could answer, pain slammed into him through the Force. Luke jerked and his glass dropped from his hand. Han looked at him with alarm.
"What's wrong?"
Luke felt Leia's Force signature attached to the pain, and with it came a flash of fear.
"It's Leia, something's wrong."
Han immediately stood.
"Where?"
Luke stretched out with the Force, trying to locate his sister. That was when another burst of pain seared him… but this time it was both in the Force, and through his bond with Mara. White exploded in his mind's eye, and Luke stumbled, thinking that his vision was being affected by the sensation. Then he realized that he was seeing things from Mara's point of view.
"Luke!" Han steadied Luke with one hand.
Luke shook his head and lead Han from the restaurant at a run.
"Mara and Leia are under attack!"
…
Leia felt her arms tremble with the effort to stay ahead of her opponent. It was only by sheer willpower and the help of her limited Force abilities that she was still in this fight.
And though she was bruised and bloodied, Mara was in worse shape. Mara was being roughed by two Barabels, and one was difficult enough to fight. Mara had managed to inflict substantial damage to one of her attackers, but he refused to give in to his injuries.
Leia's Barabel jabbed at her abdomen, and as Leia moved to fend off the blow, her assailant swung around at the last second, swiping his tail through her legs. Leia hit the ground hard, tasting blood.
She saw Mara likewise take a hit, and then she slumped to the ground. Leia saw a nasty cut on her head where the Barabel's had hit her. She now lay unmoving in his scaly arms.
"Mara!" Leia cried.
She climbed to her feet as the Barabels began to retreat with Mara in tow. She hurled herself at the closest Barabel, and landed a punch to his right eye. He growled in outrage, and whirled on her.
He jabbed his staff into her middle and activated the electricity. Leia screamed in agony as the purple lightning coursed through her. She crumpled to the floor, gasping horribly for air. The last thing she heard before her world went black was the lead Barabel's voice.
"It'z Jedi Master Skywalker!" he sissed harshly. "Get her out of here!"
