Long Live Sal, Crystal Snake of the Academy
After talking with Leia, Luke Skywalker declared that the next week at the Academy would be a short vacation. This was partly so Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin could spend some well-earned time with their parents. In recent months all the students had trained very hard and made him proud of their determination. But they were getting restless and he knew they all loved it when he 'spontaneously' declared a vacation day or even a week. Also, Luke knew that at the end of the week, when the Jade Shadow arrived, he would be leaving on another adventure with Mara. After they left, the young Jedi would resume their lessons.
And so it was that Jaina, completely bored out of her mind and having lost track of her parents and younger brother, tried to find some trouble. She sat in her twin's room, cross-legged on his bed.
"Hey, Jacen, wanna spar? I know I can beat you this time!"
"Maybe later, Jaina...I'm feeding my pets. I apparently didn't leave enough while we went to Coruscant. Look how big Sal has gotten!"
She looked at his pet crystal snake, "What kind of a name is Sal for a snake of all things!" she laughed, though not at Jacen's choice of names, "Do you remember that time back on Coruscant when Mom was having some Senators over for dinner and we let Sal out? That one fluffy Bothan jumped and screeched so loud! It was hilarious!"
'Yeah, I remember. We haven't played any pranks in years."
"Let's do it again, just for old time's sake!"
"Jaina...I don't know if that's such a great idea."
"Oh, come on! Just this once! I'm so bored! Can't we just have a little fun!"
"Alright...but we better make it good. This time we will plan an escape route beforehand."
"Yes! Definitely!
That was always the only fault in our plans..."
As the two conspired, brown eyes glittering with playful excitement, Sal curled around a little stick in this cage and thought dejectedly to himself, 'I have a bad feeling about this...'
Her footsteps echoed lightly off the stone hallways as Mara Jade headed back to her temporary quarters. She had been sparring with Skywalker, who had seemingly easily won their lightsaber match. Even though he was now nearly invincible with his lightsaber and mastery of the Force, she was usually able to meet him in a practice match. Today, though, Mara had been a little distracted, her stress marring a complete surrender to the Force guiding her movements and thoughts. And when Luke had observed this she had challenged him to a rematch the next day. She angrily kicked in the old-fashioned door and walked into her room. 'More like a crypt.'
Mara sighed. 'Maybe I'm just embarrassed for acting so melodramatic yesterday. 'You're my only hope.' I can't believe I said that.' She dropped her gunbelt onto the little table. 'All those holovids must be getting to me. But it's not my fault. There's only so much you can do on long hyperspace jumps. Besides, Chewie cheats at dejarik better than I do.'
Still rationalizing her love of holovids, she bent to pick up the disposable plate, silverware, and cup; all that was left of the breakfast Skywalker had brought her that morning.
Something shimmery flashed in the corner of her eye and she jerked her head around but it was gone. Then along her foot just for a second, she felt something dry and smooth brush by. In one swift movement Mara had snatched back her gunbelt. The blaster caught a little on its holster but made it out in time to shoot a red bolt into the Shimmery. It writhed and spewed blood and lost some of its almost crystal-like translucent shimmer. Mara could see that it was a jungle snake of some sort.
There were footsteps then her primitive door was shoved open. Han Solo had heard the blaster shot and come running. His words paused in his open mouth as he recognized the charred remains of Sal, his son's pet crystal snake. Then he saw Mara Jade standing there with a still-smoking blaster. With the memory of shrieking Senators trying not to touch the floor, giggling children, and a dawning realization, Han burst out laughing.
Confused, Mara demanded to know what was so funny but couldn't make much sense out of his hysterics. 'Oh well...That man's always had a distorted sense of humor...'
She just gave the Correlian a look that clearly said she doubted his sanity and headed back out into the hallways of the labyrinthine one-time Rebel base. She easily made it to the Mess where she took her usual place next to Skywalker, having already forgotten her earlier issues with him. Between almost starting another food fight and explaining to Skywalker the real reason why blue milk is blue, a common initiation inside joke among Karrde's organization, Mara watched the next table over where the Solo teens and their friends sat. She noticed that Jacen Solo, who sat next to Tenel Ka, was giving his sister the silent treatment. Jaina, on the other hand, seemed rather reflective. The young Jedi thought to herself about their 'adventure' that morning and remembered why they hadn't played any pranks since they were little children.