Part 9
She woke up to a particularly strong acidic smell. Her head jerked upward and she let out a shriek. She started opening her eyes and the slowly forming image of Dr. Markham came into focus. He was holding something in his hand under her nose that was the source of the smell. He kept his stare at her while she gathered her thoughts.
Then Dr. Markham became elated. "Mary! Oh, Mary, we've done it. I used the memory succession technique and it worked. I knew you were in there somewhere. Do you need anything?"
She started to answer but got as far as parting her lips before he cried out again.
"Water! You need water." He moved backward away from her and went to the water cooler beside his desk to fill a cup of water. She had been sitting at one end of the brown sofa situated at the rear of the office. He had been kneeling down before her, obviously trying to wake her. She did not remember how she reached the sofa, but a flood of memories started pouring in her mind. She now remembered who she had been.
He brought over the cup of water and handed it to her. She accepted it, though she really didn't need it. He still was overjoyed. He pulled one of the chair-beds over to sit in front of her.
"My God, I can't believe that worked. It was just a technique where I got Mara to remember a succession of scenes from her memory so fast that your memories would come through. And, by God, it worked."
"Dr. Markham," she uttered too softly.
He did not hear her. "Now, can you elaborate on that last memory of you in the stable? All that you described was that you were in the stable with the horse and someone approached you. Probably it was your boss who found you."
She spoke a little louder. "Dr. Markham."
He still was not listening. "That was such a great story Mara told. It almost had a Shakespearian quality to it. Killed by her own nephew for power. Amazing. I hadn't thought you had that much of a creative mind, Mary."
She cried out, "Steve! It's still me!"
He didn't have to know the "me" whom she was referring to. All he had to do was finally hear the lack of Southern drawl in her voice. Her plain, clear voice. The blood in his face visibly drained right in front of her. "Mara," he muttered, not wanting the answer verified.
"Yes."
"Where is Mary?"
"I don't know."
The defeat filled in his expression. "So...Mary reverted back. Back to Mara."
Mara thought of his reply and his earlier remark. She now understood his theory.
"Wait...a...kriffing...minute," she slowly barked. "Back to Mara? You believe Mary created me? You don't believe I actually existed?"
The doctor sighed, obviously not wanting to divulge his theory. "I believe that you, Mara, have traits that Mary wished she had. For reasons unknown, she has hidden herself under your personality."
"For reasons unknown? The answer is obvious. Something else happened at that stable."
"That is not possible. Mary's boss–Deke, I believe is his name–found Mary alone in the stable with a massive head wound and that wild horse."
"Did the authorities suspect foul play?"
"They didn't have a reason to."
"Then explain Mary's outburst just now. Don't touch me! Tell me you don't think she was talking to the horse."
"I don't–you heard her cries? You saw her memories?"
"Yes, I was a guest participant. I suspect Mary can see mine as well."
"We can't prove that."
Mara sneered, "Well, the next time I get a chance, I'll ask her about it."
"I'm not sure those memories are yours, anyway."
"Yes, they are! I remember everything now. I remember the smells of my world. I remember Luke's favorite meal was tomo spiced ribenes and hot chocolate because he never had them as a kid growing up on a dust ball planet. I remember how my own child slept with a stuffed Ewok he never parted with until he was four. I remember what Luke sounded like when he snored. Details like that cannot be made up on the spot, doctor. And how do you think someone like Mary could create that? You yourself were surprised that she could make it all up. What makes you think I didn't exist?"
"Your world, Mara. It cannot exit. This "force" ability is totally opposite of natural physical laws. Levitating objects, the controlling of people's minds–"
"Which you just did with me. Didn't you?"
"That's not the same."
"No? You did control my mind into seeing all those memories. I felt like I was hallucinating. I've never taken Death Sticks in my life, but that's what it felt like. How did you do that?"
He didn't notice, of course, but she was watching him very closely after that question. This was part of her training. Interrogation techniques. Getting answers not through words, but through actions. She saw the ever so small motion of his eyes flickering over to his left without turning his head, and then quickly back on her again. She followed the path of his sight line to something sitting on the edge of his desk.
The empty teacup.
She cursed, more toward herself than at him, "I'll be a Bantha's uncle. You didn't hypnotize me with mind tricks. You drugged me."
His reaction was all the answer she needed. If he turned pale when he found out she was not Mary before, he was now white as a sheet at her accusation.
She continued her berating. "Your secret is out, Steve. I can no longer call you a doctor. I now see why your office is void of patients. And, my, that would have been some case study you would have made out of me. What fame and money it would have brought you."
"It would be a case study on Mary, not Mara."
She suddenly leaped from the sofa and jumped on top of him. She placed her right hand around his neck and folded her index finder against his windpipe, hard. He let out a small shriek before he could no longer produce sound. Or breathe. It was the first time she had seen him genuinely frightened.
She bent down to close in on his face. She uttered in a whisper very icily, "Could Mary do this? All I have to do is extend my finger here...and you stop breathing. Forever. Would this be something Mary would have learned in her sheltered life? Do you figure she created this ability? Let me tell you right now. I am Mara Jade. That little drug-induced mind trip you gave me triggered my memory in full. I don't know where Mary is. Something traumatic certainly happened to her so bad that she is hiding within herself. For some reason, I took over."
He struggled to speak. She loosened her grip.
He choked once and strained to say, "Mara...Jade...died."
That hit her hard. She retracted her hand away from his neck and climbed off of him. She stood up before him and she straightened her shirt. "That is for me to deal with. Alone," she said coldly. She turned to head to the exit door to the office when she turned back and faced him again. "You never answered my earlier question. Why could I, or my world, not exist?"
He sipped some of the water he poured himself and replied, "My God, we're talking about a whole different galaxy. It's impossible."
"Impossible? Or just something else you can't prove?"
He had no reply.
Mara stated, "I get it now. In a solar system of nine planets only one is inhabited that you know of. Since you don't have the means to explore these other worlds yourself, you conclude that no other life can exist outside of your world. No other laws of physics can exit but your own. All because you cannot prove otherwise. Let me tell you from experience that there are things in this vast universe that cannot be explained. That doesn't mean they cannot exist." She paused to look at his pathetic blank reaction. "How conceded and egotistical are you people of Earth? I have been to countless worlds in my lifetime. I have never pitied one more than I do this one."
And with that, she left his office.
She got back in the car and sat down in the pilot's seat. She turned the engine on and relished the cool air coming from the vents that helped her escape from the already forming heat outside. She stayed in idle. Now what?
She was in such a foul mood that she couldn't take going back to talk to the sweet Emma. She wanted to stay inside her anger for a while. What would I have done in my galaxy in this situation? What would the Emperor's Hand do between failed or strenuous missions? The answer came to her. Alcohol. And what better place to have a drink than a nightclub?
She pulled the lever to R and backed out. She reached the main road to get to Airport and headed downtown towards the address she looked up on the computer system the previous night. She knew where Fantasmas was.
As she drove for a while and then sat in traffic limbo at the apex of Airport, she wondered if drinking was the Jedi way.
You are no longer a Jedi, girl. I'm no longer anything.
She remembered what she told Luke on their first ever encounter. Welcome back to the world of mere mortals. That's where she was. Like it or not. Did that mean there were no consequences if she had flashes of extreme anger? Could she hate now without paying the price? There was no longer a Dark Side to succumb to while on this planet. She almost wished Luke was with her just so she could gloat about that. He was always telling her that her famous anger could be a direct path to the Dark Side of the Force. Now, there was no Force. And she was very angry now.
Cut down by a Sith-in-training. Her own nephew. Jacen. If he thought the Jedi were to be merciless when they found out he murdered her, wait until his father, Han Solo, found out. And killed by a poison dart? Somehow, there was no honor in that manner of death, even for a wanna-be Dark Force murderer. Some Sith you're going to be, Jacen. I hope killing me was worth it. She had survived countless traps and battles with ruthless characters all her life, as the Hand and a Jedi. She battled and won over an illness given to her by Nom Anor, Yuuzahn Vong villain extra ordinaire. Hell, she even survived raising a teenager, who may well be the decent and wise human being whom she and Luke brought him up to become.
Yet, for all her skills as a fighter and assassin, how did she fall for a cheap Force vision of her own son, when she knew he was nowhere nearby? She knew that was the moment Jacen had been waiting for. And she handed it to him on a silver platter. Jacen didn't kill her. She killed herself. She paid the price for her stupidity. She remembered there was no real pain when the needle struck her. Only surprise. Regret. Anger. By the time the poison set in, she couldn't act on her anger like she had in the past. Then, she felt...nothing. Until she woke up again.
As Mary Jane Skyler.
Was this reincarnation? If it was, how, or why, did she retain the memories of her past life? Was Mary Jane still deep inside her coma while Mara took over? Would that be fair?
How she so wished there could be someone to just come down and give her all the answers. If she was dead, would it be an angel? She didn't think of Force users as angels. That hit her. Why didn't she dissolve into the Force? She retained her physical self. Was she not worthy to be a Force-ghost? Had all of her support of evil in her first life negated that privilege? Did she keep her body for evidence of the poison? She could have easily have just told Luke and Ben who killed her as spirit in the Force. But, how would they prove that?
She stopped thinking about it right there. Great, I'm thinking like the people of Earth, now. She decided that traffic jams were not the best way to think of nothing for a while. That drink would help that. She finally reached downtown and made turns here and there to come to the address of Fantasmas. She parked in front of it in a diagonal parking spot. The building stretched the entire block. Blue neon signs adorning the facade were now dormant. She could imagine them being lit up and look similar to many ad signs on Coruscant at night.
She exited the car and headed to the entrance. There was an elaborate design on two glass doors. She pulled on the handle...and the doors did not move. Locked. She looked first for ways to break in, but decided that would not go over well with authorities. She noticed a locking mechanism attaching both doors at the bottom. She could try and pick it. Then, she realized. If Mary worked here...she reached for her keys and saw there were three others beside the car key. She tried them one by one. The last one was it. She turned it and she opened one side of the glass door.
Inside was a space that looked even larger than it did from the outside. She walked through a small hallway. A long bar was to her right with rows of bottles on shelves behind it. A long mirror ran down its length. Directly in front of her, several feet away, was a raised platform that was for dancing. She saw various golden posts coming through the floor spaced a few feet away from each other. There were several chairs, tables, and sofas riddled in between her and the dance floor.
The place was deserted. "Hello," she called out, making her voice echo in the empty space. She edged closer to the bar with no hint of anyone else inside. She noted the lines of bottles behind the opposite counter. She was just about thinking to partake in one when she heard it.
A thud sounded to her left and she saw a door swing open from the bar side. From out of a doorway, most likely to an office, a figure appeared quickly. She couldn't get a description yet. As soon as she identified the object in his outstretched hand as a weapon, she acted too quick to see who the beholder was. She threw herself sideways behind her to dive under a nearby table for cover.
"I know you are here," the male voice called out in an even stranger accent than she heard on Earth yet. If she had to compare, it sounded like a Neimoidian's accent. "I heard you pick lock. You work for Carlos? I tell him not today."
She deduced that this had to be the manager and she crawled out from under the table and stood straight up. He spotted her in no time and pointed the silver colored weapon at her.
"No," she sighed, "I do believe I work for you."
The man was short, brown-haired with specks of gray, and looked to be around fifty-ish. He wore a full facial beard and wore a white button-down shirt with black slacks. She was staring at the barrel of the business end of the strange looking blaster. It was smaller than anything BlasTech would make, but larger than her mini-blaster she used to carry under her sleeve. Once he saw her and identified her, he lowered his arm.
"Mary?"
"Sort of. You must be Deke."
"Yes. Why you here? I thought you recover from coma."
"Strangely, this body survived the coma with flying colors. It's Mary's mind that's in question."
"Yes. Luke tell me you are not yourself. We were worried. But, why are you here?"
"Oh, I just came back from a false doctor who subjected me with, I suspect, an illegal drug-induced mind trip. He made me reveal that I died in a previous life. So, I needed a drink." She could see the confusion on his face. "By the way, I'm not Mary. I'm Mara Jade."
"You not Mary?"
"No. Mary is off somewhere in her own little world. That happens with a traumatic event. Which you could help in answering some questions."
"What about?"
"The day you found Mary in the stable."
"But, you were there...no, you were not there."
"Yes, that wasn't me. At that point of time I was in a rather unglamourous fight to the death with my nephew." Which she suddenly realized may not have been true. She never considered when she had lived. In Earth time, she could have been alive last week...or a thousand years ago.
He noted, "You no speak with accent."
"No, but you sure have a strange one. Where are you from?"
"I am from Ukraine. But, you know this. Or do you? My name is Deke Werner. Mary knew my Ukraine name. I never trust no one else with it."
"Mary knew; I don't."
"My God, is true. You not Mary."
"Glad we're on the same page. Now, how about that drink?"
"Sure. Belly up to bar." He set the weapon down on the bar counter and went behind it to reach the bottles as Mara pulled herself onto a barstool. He stood in front of the bottles facing her. "So, what you drink?"
"I take it you don't know what a Fogblaster is. Or a Star Dazer?"
"Uh...no. What these? New fad drinks?"
"Hardly. No, drinks from my world. Hey, Emma mentioned a whiskey. Made by a Jack Daniels."
"Ah yes. A classic. I prefer Crown Royale myself. Most people think Ukraine people like only vodka. Not true. No wrong in Jack Daniels. You want straight or on rocks?"
Mara stared at him and frowned. "Why would I want rocks in my drink?"
Deke chuckled. "No. Rocks is ice."
"Oh. Then, yes. I want rocks."
"Coming up. You know, I always had hard time to get Mary to drink with me."
"She was a dancer here?"
"For while. And she dance only with clothing. First, men not like. Mary was so good dancer, the men started not to mind." He took two glasses from below the bar and placed two frozen cubes of ice in each. He poured some whiskey into each and he handed one to Mara.
She took the glass and sipped it. "Wow. Strong. But good." Her next motion was in downing the entire contents of the glass with a flick of her wrist. "Oh yes. Much better than your ale. Another?"
Deke stared at her with a grin. "I never see Mary slam drink so fast. Strange." He poured her more.
"I'll promise to go slower this time." She sipped again but set it down. She reflected on something and said, "There was a time when I wanted to be a dancer myself. I certainly had the body for it, even as a teenager. Palpatine–that's who raised me then–he took me to the Coruscanti Ballet once. I so wanted to be on that stage. He wouldn't hear of it. He had other training planned for me."
"What kind of training?"
"All types. The kind that made people cringe when they saw me. Then again, I was also trained to make them not see me when I was coming for them."
"Really? Mara...Jade, is it? What were you in your past life?"
"You seem to be very accepting all of a sudden."
Deke shrugged. "I already know you not Mary."
"The accent gave it away."
"The whiskey. Mary would never touch it." After Mara nodded, Deke asked again what she was in her world.
She sipped again and replied back with no small amount of ego, "I was a personal assassin for an Emperor."
"Mmm...not much demand for such job here. Maybe we need one."
"Are you saying you can alter Mary's job description?"
"Oh, not yet. I must see with my own eyes."
She eyed the weapon nearby on the counter. "Is that your version of a blaster?"
"I know not of 'blaster'. It is my gun, yes."
"Can I see it?"
He reached for it and there was a faint clicking sound as he handled it before he laid it in front of her. "You never held gun before?"
"Several. Just not one from Earth. But, I'm guessing you clicked the safety on just now, right?"
"I see you no miss much."
"No, I don't." She picked it up and got a feel for the trigger. "Lighter than I thought."
"It is a Rugar Mark III, semi-auto, single action, .22 caliber. Some think .22 is not, how you say, efficient. It does good job enough."
"Trigger mechanism feels harder. Sight line is straightforward. What does this thing shoot?"
"Ah, special bullet." He motioned with his palm that wanted the gun to show her something. She placed it inside and he took it like he was going to shoot but his index finger triggered another button and out popped a magazine from inside the stock handle. She had been used to power packs for blasters and she saw this was similar. Until he showed her what was inside.
She looked and quipped, "It shoots pieces of metal?"
"Exploding tip pieces of metal."
"That could get messy."
"Yes." He put the magazine back inside the gun and laid it down on the counter again. He took a swig of his own drink and then asked her, "What you want to know about Mary in my stable?"
"Your stable?"
"Yes. Mary had love of horses. I have purchased a few here and there. I let her ride when time permits. I warn her about Crescent Fire. We had hard time to train. I had a buyer for the Mustang, but they not make good ride sometime."
"Mustang? That's the type of car Mary has."
"Ah, I know you not from here. They named that car after the horse."
She nodded to the information and went on. "So, you were already there. Along with Luke and Lynn."
"Yes. I tell her about Crescent Fire and how wild she was and Mary was determine to tame. She was gone for maybe half hour or more and we heard horse go wild and Mary scream."
"What did she scream?"
"I don't know. She just scream. No words. Anyway, I was closest and ran to stable and found Mary on ground with blood on her head. Luke and Lynn come help get you in my truck to take you to hospital. She not wake up for a year. Until now."
"Technically, she still hasn't. The so-called doctor actually got close to reaching her." She sipped again. There was no one else there besides you three?"
"Not that I know of. My men were here and Victor was in New Orleans."
"Victor?"
"My son. He is in business with me."
Before she could ask about Victor any further, the sound of the glass doors swinging open was heard and emerging from the short hallway were four very dark-skinned men. They were all young and they each had the most gold and silver jewelry she had ever seen on any male in her life. In each of their hands were weapons of some kind. Three had handguns and the fourth had a longer one that looked greater in power.
They came forward but they split as they neared. Mara took note of their positions. One stayed by the entrance and another went around to their right to stand near the door where Deke had burst out of earlier. The two remaining came directly forward head on to them.
"Yo, Deke," said the one slightly in front of the other.
"Who let you in, Marko?"
"Door was open. I figure you was invitin' us in. Hey, Mary, you're back."
"That remains to be seen," she replied blankly.
"Whoa, whole new accent. What, you come outta a coma and get you some religion?"
"I certainly came back with something. You boys need something yourselves?"
"Direct. I like it. Matter of fact, your boss here owes some money to Carlos. We his collection agency."
Before Deke could answer, Mara was quicker. She spoke fast and evenly. "I believe he told Carlos not today."
Marko looked back at Deke. "You makin' Miss Thang here do all your talkin', homeboy?"
"She is assistant manager," Deke said matter-of-fact.
"And here all along I thought that was Victor's position. So, what, now that she's back she be taking his place? Victor ain't gonna like 'dat."
"Victor does what I tell him. Now run off to Carlos and tell him I will have money tomorrow."
"Delay in payment, Deke. Carlos don't like delays. What's the hold up?"
"Let's say one tenant is slow to persuade."
"Hey, why didn't you come to us? We specialize in persuasion."
"I have my own people. You know this. And they have more loyalty."
"Loyalty. Yeah. Heard 'dat. But, lemme tell ya, Deke. Carlos was very specific if we didn't collect today. I mean, you do see my boys here."
Deke sneered, "You cannot hurt me. You know why. So does Carlos. This is why Carlos not show up here."
"There was no need to." Marko cocked his gun with a loud click. "Now, way I see it, we have two against four." Marko looked over at the gun sitting on the bar counter. "And you have that pea-shooter there. So, I figure, odds' in our favor."
Mara had watched and listened to the scene carefully. That last remark triggered another memory from her past life. Something Han Solo always said. Never tell me the odds. She had to act quickly or she may end up dying...again.
She spoke to Marko as she gestured to his weapon. "What kind of gun is that?"
Marko stepped even closer to her and extended his arm so he could point his black gun directly at her head.
Mara did not flinch.
He warned, "Would you like a closer look? Now, I don't have a problem wit you, Mary. You always seemed quiet, mostly because you went off hiding when me or Carlos came in."
She spoke evenly, not taking her eyes off his. "I'm not hiding now."
"I see that. That's either a good thing to change after you been in a coma, or maybe stupidity. I said I don't have a problem wit you...until I have a problem wit you."
She checked her position and theirs. It was a perfect setup. Now, she only had to make Mary's body perform. There was only one shot at this. She replied back at him with no fear behind her words, "Do you even know what you're doing?"
"Oh, I know."
"Don't you realize the mistake you're making right at this very moment?"
"Why don't you enlighten me?"
She paused, seemingly to consider, and said back, "Why not?"
With a blur of motion, she brought her left arm up to jerk his gun arm up. A shot was fired from it but it went wide to the ceiling. In that same moment, she made a fist with her right hand and landed a punch to thrust it against his chest. The action knocked the wind out of him and he went down, which also loosened his grip on his gun. She took her right hand and pulled the gun from his hand and got her own grip on the trigger. She aimed down at the man nearest them, who was already preparing to fire himself. He never got a shot off.
She pulled the hard trigger and fired a shot at his upper leg. Right about at the same spot where she herself was injected by a poison dart once. He went down in pain. Once he landed on the floor, blood from his wound started spurting out. The other two guarding the exits were also prepared to fire. She could never get them both spread out as far as they were. She was good, but not that good. She had another target in mind.
She pointed the gun at Marko's forehead point blank. She yelled out, "Don't! You shoot; he's dead in an instant. And I really don't want to get messy. Deke, collect their toys, if you could."
Deke grabbed his own gun from the counter and proceeded to grab each of their guns. The whole time he did so he wore a wide grin that he could not seem to wipe off.
She looked into Marko's eyes. They were no longer filled with confidence or ego. She could no longer tell what people felt, but she sure could see the fear in his eyes now. She also would like to have believed that he was no longer staring at a mousy thin woman with long black hair and plain brown eyes. He was looking up at a tall woman with attractive facial features, fiery red-gold hair, and the most brilliant of green eyes flashing her anger back at him as if they could pierce metal like butter.
Yes, Marko, I am the Emperor's Hand. Glad to make your acquaintance.
But, she didn't say that to him. It would not make sense. Instead she said to him, "By the way, your mistake–pointing your weapon too close to your victim. May want to think about that next time."
"You...you really ain't Mary, are you?"
"Really? What gave it away? The name is Mara Jade. I'm sort of a temporary, or I hope temporary, replacement for Mary at the moment. Now, as Deke stated, he will have the money for Carlos tomorrow. Care to send him that message?"
Marko made no movement.
"You can nod, can't you?"
He did. Slowly.
"Good. Deke, you got them?"
"Yes, mishka."
"Mishka?" she repeated.
"'Dear one' in Ukraine."
"Oh." She turned to face Marko again. "Now, if I remove this gun, am I going to have a problem wit you?"
He shook his head.
She nodded herself and took the gun away. She let him stand by himself.
"Your man may need some medical attention. Get some pressure on the leg quickly."
"Can I have my gun back?"
"I love how you have your priorities in order." She fiddled with the gun and found the lever she was looking for. The magazine popped out of the handle just like Deke's did. She tossed the gun to Markos and kept the magazine. After he caught it, she said, "I bet you have more magazines for it."
The three men then helped the fourth up who was in pain. They limped him out with two on either side of him and they all disappeared into the hallway and out the glass doors.
She looked back at Deke. "See enough with your own eyes now?"
"That was incredible. You just wake up from coma three days ago but you handle four armed men with only one shot fired. How you know which to shoot first?"
She explained, "Had to take out the one closest first."
"He was closer than other two?"
"No. Because he had a larger weapon. The other two had handguns with not much range. The guy I took out almost had his drawn by the time I shot him. And, wow, are those triggers hard. The blowback threw my arm up. Good thing I was aiming low. If I pointed at his chest I would have blown his head off."
"You really were assassin."
"In a past life. A really past life."
"You need another drink? Or a medal? After this, I not like to see your encore."
She laughed. "No. That sobered me up a little. Maybe I needed a bit of action with what happened this morning. I've had one full day of events and it's not even half over yet. Think it's time I headed home. Or, at least Mary's home. Maybe I don't have a home anymore."
"Eh, you make home wherever you are."
Mara considered. "Maybe. Perhaps it's the people you're around that create your home." She shook her head. "Ok, getting way too profound. We'll talk later. Thanks for the drink, Deke."
"Mara."
"Yes?"
"My real name is Dekterai Vernonov."
She nodded. "You're all right–uh, can I stay with Deke?"
"Yes. And you not so bad, either."
"Thanks, Deke."