The Ship – Chapter 11

By Ash

Disclaimer – The characters and situations in the story are the property of Lucasfilm Limited.

"They don't seem to be in any hurry to move." Forrell whispered loudly.

"Ssh!" rebuked Lek. "Don't broadcast to the whole galaxy."

"I thought you said you worked in security?" Malyre gurgled happily, the smoke from his pipe wafting up in front of his face.

Lek took one look at the Selonian's glassy-eyed stare and sighed. "You smoke too much of that stuff, old friend."

"I don't care. It makes the world a better place."

"Quiet now, they're leaving." Lek picked up his draf and buried his nose in it. Forrell scrutinised his data pad and studiously tapped in some figures. Only Malyre, happy through a haze of mild narcotic, genially smiled as the elegantly dressed man and his crew gave the old timers a hard stare as they passed.

****************************************************

Mara let the shower completely cleanse her body and hair of Zathoq's dust and grime. Pulling on a loose, dark blue tunic and matching sleep pants, she brushed the tangles from her hair before joining Luke back in the crew room. He was still without his shirt, stirring something in the pot he'd placed on the cooking ring.

"Nearly ready," he remarked without turning around.

"It smells good – whatever it is." Mara gave Luke a quick glance.

"Nothing special, just a meat stew. Dried rations don't always make the best meals, but I've mixed it with some of our fresh ingredients and…"

"I get the picture," Mara said dryly.

Luke shifted from one foot to the other. "I've just got time to take a quick shower myself," he commented as he stabilised the heat under the pot. "You… okay?"

"Yeah. Go ahead and have that shower. I'll keep an eye on the food." Mara wondered at the stiltedness of their conversation. It had been a long and very strange day. Mara had checked her chrono against the one in the ship when they returned and to her surprise it was still early in the evening.

"Thanks." Luke hesitated. "I think the ointment has done the trick. My shoulder feels much better now."

Mara's eyes unwillingly moved to the area in question. There wasn't a mark anywhere on his smooth skin where the shot had grazed him. "Good," she whispered through dry lips.

Luke sidled past her into the sleeping alcove and grabbed a pile of clothes that he'd laid out on his bunk. He didn't let his eyes meet Mara's while he did so. "I won't be long."

"Sure," she said casually.

Luke was as good as his word and returned quickly. His hair, clean and shining, fell into gentle waves around his head. He had shaved and pulled on a new pair of tightly fitting black pants. His feet and chest were bare.

Mara's eyes were again drawn to his body. He was a fit man in his prime and Mara was not a member of a celibate order, but even they would find it difficult not to be moved by the sight of the Jedi Master's sculpted torso.

"Mara?" Luke questioned with confusion clouding his blue eyes. He thought he saw something like naked desire burning in her vivid green eyes, but when she blinked he assumed he had been mistaken. The expression he thought he had seen was gone.

"We should eat," she muttered gruffly.

"Of course." He moved to the cooking ring and checked the meal before ladling it into two large bowls. "I hope you're hungry."

"If I'm not, I'm sure you'll manage to finish anything that's left over."

He grinned. "My appetite's never been a problem before, Jade."

"No?"

"Well, unless you count the fact that I need a lot of food to keep me going. Leia says Anakin is just like me."

"Now why doesn't that surprise me?"

Luke shrugged and dug into his food with gusto.

As they ate, Mara's mind dwelt on things she felt it shouldn't have. 'Damn Luke Skywalker and his blue eyes, his well-shaped pecs, and flat stomach dipping deliciously below the waistband of the black trousers clinging to his muscular thighs'. Hold on a minute – blacks. "You're wearing black pants," she accused. "You know I hate seeing you in your 'uniform.'"

"I'm going to be investigating a shipyard in the dead of night, Jade," he retorted. "Should I dress up in a white uniform or cream pants for the occasion? Of course not," he answered his own question, the sarcasm evident. "I thought that black might help me blend in – especially if it's dark."

Mara scowled. Why did he have to be the voice of reason? That was her job in this relationship. She glanced down at her loose sleep pants. She'd been hoping for a few hours rest before they set off again, but it seemed as if the Jedi Master had different ideas.

"It makes sense." Luke asserted.

"Course it does," she gibed. "Novel to have you thinking sensibly."

"Mara…" he warned sternly and her eyes dropped guiltily to her plate.

"Sorry, Skywalker. That was uncalled for."

Luke masked his surprise quickly. Two apologies from Mara in one day. His luck was changing. "It's okay."

The silence stretched uncomfortably between them; there was no Artoo beeping quietly from the charging unit. They were alone.

"Luke…" Mara hesitated, peering across the table at him from underneath her curling red-gold hair. "Earlier on…"

Luke knew what she was referring to. He'd firmly pushed their gentle encounter into a special place in his mind, where he could bring it forth and examine it at a later point. He hadn't been dreaming about it. That kiss had been real. Since they'd returned to the Vornskr the memory of the kiss had escaped from its confinement and now he could barely concentrate on anything else. Back at the shipyard Mara had accepted his gentle salute, but she was unpredictable in her moods and he didn't like to guess how she might react if he dared to do it again. He decided to play it safe and see what happened. 'That's it, Skywalker,' he told himself. 'Keep things light and uncomplicated.' "What about it, Jade? It was only a kiss – it didn't mean anything." Luke smiled warmly, but it was an effort. 'It didn't mean anything, did it? Force, it did to me.'

Mara was taken aback at the feeling of disappointment curling into her heart. "Yeah," she cleared her throat and then coughed. "I guess that's all it was – just a kiss." There was an awkward silence. Mara frowned – did she really want kisses from the Jedi Master? 'Yes.' She came to the conclusion very quickly. Yes. She did.

Luke watched the frown cross Mara's features and his heart thudded awkwardly. She was regretting it? He suspected this might be the case. When she'd had time to think about what had happened she would recollect who he was and what he had done to her over the years. "Let's face it, Jade," he tossed into the deepening strain. "I'm a disaster with women – including you. A relationship with me is tantamount to suicide or developing terminal wanderlust."

"Eh!" Mara blinked. Where had that come from?

Luke shrugged. "I'm not cataloguing my doomed relationships. I would never dare to hope for more than a friendship with you. Mara… you could have anyone in the galaxy if you wanted them. You're so beautiful…" He closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh. 'Great,' he thought frustratedly. 'So much for light and uncomplicated. If that hadn't given away his feelings, he was a Jawa.'

Mara's tilted her head to one side and scrutinised his features carefully. "I didn't think you thought of me in that way?"

Luke's brows rose. "What way?" His voice sounded perplexed.

"As a woman." Mara tilted her head to one side and surveyed Luke cautiously. "As a comrade, a colleague, a friend to have with you in those life or death spots you manage to fall into every single time – yes. As a woman…" She shook her head. "No."

Luke's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. Snapping his mouth shut he floundered for something to say – anything to say. He got the feeling, and not through the Force, that he was treading on treacherous ground. This was the old right-in-your-stomach, gut-churning nervousness. "I didn't think you'd want me to see you as a woman… I… Mara!"

As Luke's anxiety increased, Mara's edginess began to wear off. She was getting some interesting signals through the bond she shared with him. Her eyes began to sparkle wickedly and her lips curved in a satisfied smirk. He was embarrassed - the farmboy was right there in front of her. Mara Jade began to enjoy herself.

"But you are a woman…" he choked out, totally bewildered at her quixotic mood swings.

"I didn't think you saw me as one – a real one… with needs." Mara began to pile on the agony. "You've never come on to me the way that Wes Janson and, of course, Lando Calrissian have."

Luke's face darkened at the mention of Lando.

"Of course they needed no encouragement." Mara stood up and began to stalk her prey round the seemingly ever-diminishing table.

"I'm not like that," he protested. "You're very beautiful and I do see you…" He stood up and shoved his hands behind his back. "I've been trying not to."

She stopped right in front of him – inches from his naked chest. Waves of intense, sexual emotion,  but she was too caught up in the lure of his presence to categorise, poured from him and hammered at the walls guarding their bond.

"It's just…"

Mara stared him straight in the eye and the words dried up. Luke swallowed as her gaze narrowed to slits of sharp, focused green.

It was then that his unwilling desire hit her. Mara stopped laughing inside and began to lean closer.

Luke swallowed once again. He was really in trouble now – he could feel it. "Mara, I see you as a woman but also as an individual. I know the Empire didn't treat women equally, but I see you as a real one… woman… I mean person… Jedi." He was babbling and he knew it.

Something devilish awoke in Mara and she leaned even closer, her lips within touching distance. "So you would kiss me… again?"

His gaze suddenly zeroed in on her sensuous lips; he'd been trying to avoid looking at them all the time she'd been advancing. Luke squeezed his eyes shut as the only way he could resist such temptation, but this way he was more attuned to her through his other senses. He could hear her quickened breathing, the faint rustle of her clothing as she moved closer, could smell the tangy fragrance she favoured as a cleanser - nothing cloyingly sweet for Mara Jade - and all around him her presence in the Force continued to tease him. "What?" he croaked.

"So you would kiss me again?" she repeated.

"Mara!" he yelped. "Of course not… I mean… you're an individual and individuals have rights – the individuals.... I could never treat you as just a sexual object." His mouth spewed forth a torrent of gibberish as his stomach dived to the soles of his bare feet.

"But suppose…" Her voice was breathy. "What if I wanted you to kiss me."

Luke's eyes snapped open and something blazed into life in their azure depths. "Now look here, Mara. I…" He bit off what he was going to say as she swayed a little closer still. He could feel her breath graze his cheek in sweet little puffs. He cleared his throat, stammering awkwardly. "Didn't you say something about…" He coughed. "…Hoth… and a serious spring thaw?" Leaning away from her as far as he could, his neck bent into an awkward position. "I didn't think you would want… Mara… this isn't fair." Luke's voice cracked. He craved this so much, but he didn't want to be part of a game she was playing.

Mara's mind determined itself on a course of action. She took that final, minute step, placed her hands on his shoulders and fastened her lips over his frantic words, cutting off the sound neatly.

Luke's eyes widened and then closed as he responded, letting nature take over. Their first kiss had been a gentle promise, whether of friendship or passion neither of them had been entirely sure. But this kiss… there was no doubt – no doubt at all. Passion was unleashed from its locked cage and began to run riot. His arms moved from where they'd been held stiffly by his side to wind around her waist, pressing her lithe body against him.

His tongue parted her lips and wrestled an equal part of the encounter with hers. At the back of his mind there was a stunned voice saying. 'You're kissing Mara… this is Mara Jade and how could you not know how perfect she would feel? You are so dead.' But he couldn't help it and leaned in further to the kiss. 'She kissed you first,' his baffled mind protested. 'She kissed… is kissing you… oh nerfshit!'

He pulled away with such an expression of shock on his face, that Mara - whose wits had been swimming away just as fast, so totally affected by the kisses of Luke Skywalker - took a moment to regroup.

"Force," he whispered, gazing at her, his beautiful eyes wide and serious. "Mara… I had no idea."

"Me neither," she answered just as softly.

"What are we going to do?"

"I don't know." Mara turned and walked shakily towards the sleeping alcove. Her blood still sang with the fervour he'd induced in her. How could he do this to her, especially when she had sworn never to need anyone again?

"Mara!" Luke called, his feet moving after her.

"What?" She turned, stumbling, only to be caught in his arms as Luke grabbed her and began kissing her as if his life depended upon it. Both of them were shaking now and clutched at each other feverishly, their bodies tight against one another as they fought to get closer still. Mara trailed her hands over the naked flesh of Luke's torso and his found fastenings and pulled the loose tunic over her head. Naked flesh met flesh and their skin burned as it touched. Her rosy nipples stiffened as her desire rose and Luke felt his body harden. With an anguished moan Luke pressed himself to her warmth…

"Mara!" A voice shouted loudly and they heard a banging on the side of the ship.

Luke and Mara tore themselves apart, staring in complete panic. They'd sensed nothing in their absorption with each other and now someone was at the ship.

"Mara!" the voice sounded again.

"They're not on board," Mara whispered shakily.

"Outside…"

"Yes," she nodded.

Luke stared at Mara's naked breasts and willed his ardour to decline. "You are so beautiful," he trailed a trembling finger over one perfectly pointed peak and watched as the breath caught in her throat. "Here." He picked up her tunic and she pressed it over her breasts, a flush staining her cheeks. "Hurry."

"Luke…" The banging on the hull continued loudly.

"Someone knows I'm here," she muttered.

Luke grabbed a shirt and thrust his arms into the sleeves. "I suppose they do if they are shouting your name. I'll go and delay them at the door. I, at least, am decently covered."

"It's not my fault!" Mara muttered indignantly. "How can I see someone now?" The last word rose upwards in a wail. Mara Jade didn't normally wail. "I look a mess. My hair is all over the place and… and…"

"I told you…" Luke gazed at her. "You look beautiful," and to him she did. Her face was flushed with passion, her eyes dark and smokily green and her lips… Luke ached to cover them with his own once more. Her lips were swollen and red from his kisses.

"You go and put your tunic back on then come out of the fresher. Wash you face or something. I know… you've been showering – take your time."

She stretched out her Force senses. "It's Karrde!"

"I know." He sent her a small, uncertain smile which curled her toes. "Damn his timing."

Mara gave him a faint wobbly smile in return. "He might not know you're here."

"Well, it will be a nice surprise for him – won't it?" Luke answered with a grin.

Luke pulled his black shirt over his shoulders leaving the front unfastened, and ran to the entrance hatch. "I'd better get there before Karrde blows it open," he mumbled. He could hear the pounding on the Vornskr's hull becoming louder and more frequent.

He pressed the release switch and the door slid swiftly aside. Luke held his hands up. "Don't shoot," he said mildly. The expressions on the faces of the men were so comical that he couldn't refrain from laughing.

"Skywalker!" Aves said in amazement and shook his head at Dankin in confusion.

The pilot shrugged. Not who they had expected to see at all.

"Hello," Luke murmured, standing there completely at ease with the situation. "You gonna stop pointing that thing at me? I'm no threat to the cargo or the captain."

Karrde blinked and stared stupidly at his blaster pistol. It wasn't often that he was surprised, but where Skywalker was concerned it was always possible. "You're missing."

"Nope, I'm not."

"Your sister has been worried about you," Karrde remarked softly.

"I know. I spoke to her the other day. She chewed my ear out for forgetting to contact her."

"Mara?" put in Aves.

"She's taking a shower, or something," Luke said smoothly, not a trace of emotion crossing his face. "Come on, I don't think this is the best place to carry on a conversation."

"No, you are correct in this matter, Skywalker."

Luke wandered slowly into the crew room and started clearing the remains of their meal. "Find yourself a seat." He cocked his head to one side and grinned. "Mara's just coming once she's finished categorising you with all the choicest epithets she can think of."

"There are rumours and reports circulating about your absence, Skywalker." Karrde assessed the Jedi Master's appearance as he spoke. Dressed in an open black shirt and black trousers, Luke seemed well. The air of stress, which had hung about him the last time they'd met, had gone. He was relaxed and smiling.

"Won't be the first time. Leia was quite upset with me."

"So you've contacted her?"

"I told you I had. Mara reminded me to do it."

"Ah, yes," Karrde mused. "Mara." He pulled off his black leather gloves and laid them on the small table. "How on the bones of Palpatine did you manage to bump into Mara on Zathoq? Were you looking for her?"

"Complete chance encounter, Talon. Either that or the Force."

"Oh, the Force." Karrde's face remained non-committal.

"She said Faughan was coming to collect the cargo – not you." Luke remarked pointedly.

Karrde frowned. "The Etherway developed a fault and I need that cargo. It should have been on Gyndine last week." The rebuke was subtle, but it was there.

"I didn't put pressure on Mara to stay. It was her own idea - she wanted to see the ship sale."

"Why are you here?"

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you. It's personal business. I'm on the Vornskr because Mara offered me one of the spare bunks." He smiled ruefully. "I came in my X-wing. I honestly didn't know Mara was here."

Karrde relaxed a little. "She didn't give me totally sound reasons why she wanted to stay. I might have guessed you were at the root cause of it all."

"Are you blaming me for the non-delivery of your cargo? I cannot pay your rates as you very well know." Luke said mockingly. "I'm only a poor Jedi Master with a pilot's pension from the war. Mara's reasons for staying here are her own."

"I'll think of something you can do to repay me," Karrde's sardonic voice murmured.

Luke raised his eyebrows. "I bet you will."

Mara stood in the refresher, her hands over her burning cheeks. She'd let Skywalker kiss her senseless. 'You kissed him first,' she argued to herself. 'Maybe it was you who kissed him senseless and not the other way around'. She picked up her black leather jumpsuit from where she'd dropped it, stepped into it, and pulled it over her hips. The black leather suit had been made many years ago especially for her by one of the Emperor's most favoured dress designers. Every curve was dangerously outlined. What Luke would do when he saw it, she had no idea. He always stared at her, his blue gaze burning uncomfortably into her flesh whenever she wore it. Could he have desired her as far back as their time together on Myrkr? Had Luke Skywalker lusted after Mara Jade from the moment he'd seen her?

'Okay, Jade. I think it's safe to come out.' Luke's voice echoed comfortingly in her head as she finished loosely braiding her shining hair.

'Coming,' she replied, and grabbed her utility belt, fastening it around her slender hips.

She didn't look at the Jedi Master when she returned to the crowded crew room, but greeted Karrde and the others with composure. She felt his eyes travel over her svelte leather clad form. "You do pick your times to come calling, Karrde," she said derisively. "I was in the shower and after the dust this planet can engender, believe me I needed it. So did farmboy here."

"I'm not arguing, Jade," Luke put in quietly and for the first time she looked at him, a faint blush covering her features. His eyes only held hers for an instant, and the warmth filled him completely.

"I haven't seen that outfit for a while, Jade," Karrde observed.

Mara glared at him. "It's practical," she snapped.

"Okay," he observed her carefully. "If you want to stay, you can, but I need this ship." Karrde remarked briskly.

"What about the other ships?" Mara enquired.

"Most of them are in space dock. I did bring the Dignity…"

Mara's snort told him what she thought about that. "I'm not going anywhere in that piece of junk. It's worse than a flying crate. It will take me a month in that thing to get back to Coruscant and…"

"Tell me about it, Jade. I had to fly it here while everyone else lived it up in the Wild Karrde," Aves complained.

"Hardly," Karrde squashed the other man. "Mara – if you want to stay with Luke, that's what you'll have to come home in. I have nothing else in the vicinity. The others that might do are too far away."

"What about the Wild Karrde? Can't we transfer the cargo into there?"

"I'm not heading anywhere near Gyndine and the cargo has to get there as soon as possible."

"Fine," she grumbled. "I'll get my things. Skywalker, you'll have to sleep in your X-wing tonight. No room in the Dignity for both of us."

Luke shrugged unconcernedly. "Nothing I didn't think I'd have to do in the first place. Just let me get my stuff together. He followed Mara into the sleeping alcove. He knew it was risky, but he pushed her further in until she was at the far end and out of Karrde and the other's line of sight. There was no room for her to get past. The space between the bunks was only wide enough for one person, but if that person had taken hold of the other's chin, pressed his body firmly against hers and had fastened his lips over hers, then there was plenty of room after all.

Mara stiffened then relaxed as his firm lips caressed hers. This kiss was too swift and left her wanting more. She would get him back for this – she would get her revenge and it would be sweet. As sweet as his lips were as they tasted hers.

Luke couldn't help himself. He had to find out if the madness was still present within them both. Madness or a strange kind of sanity.

Mara emerged first, her stuff in a medium-sized carryall; Luke followed tugging his boots on and dragging his own duffle bag.

"Is that it?" Dankin asked.

"Yeah, I travel light. It's not as if I'll be going to any independent trader's balls."

Luke coughed as something tickled the back of his throat. "Sorry… some dust," he apologised.

Mara sent him a suspicious glare. 'Get your mind out of the gutter, Jediboy!'

'Mara! What are you inferring?' The look he returned was full of innocence.

Karrde smiled. "It's good to know you're not in any trouble, Luke."

"Now when have you ever known me to be in trouble, Talon?"

"Oh please," Mara moaned. "There's still time."

***********************************************

As soon as they'd cleared the tapcaf Forrell checked with his subordinate in the security office.

"Everything's quiet… No… wait. These guys are back."

Forrell was rather disturbed to find that they'd resumed their patrolling around Merah's ship immediately. "Any sign of Merah and Luke?" he asked.

"They returned about an hour ago."

"I told you to tell me as soon as they came back."

"We had a couple of ships in earlier than expected, Sir and nothing was happening."

Forrell looked aghast. "We have to warn them…" He thought for a moment. "We have to tell them there are men surrounding their ship."

"Hardly surrounding, Forrell," Lek argued. "There's only four… or five of them."

"They look dangerous. I could send a team out to detain them," the portly security officer insisted.

"They haven't done anything wrong. You can't have them arrested - especially if it is Merah's boss." Lek argued. "We're probably overreacting."

Malyre dragged deeply on his pipe before saying carefully. "Call her. Do you have her com frequency?"

Lek shook his head. "No."

"We could go and visit…" Malyre smiled. "I would like to see her ship."

"Why? It's no different from any other ship that lands here," Lek muttered in exasperation. "I don't think she's used the same ship twice in a row. She flies whatever she needs to transport the cargo."

Forrell's com beeped.

"Yes?"  He listened to what his caller had to say and shut the tiny device off. "Karrde's people have started banging on the hull."

"They've what?"

"Come on, let's go." Forrell rose to his feet, which didn't make him any taller, and began to weave his way through the crowds now pouring into the tapcaf.

"Follow him, follow him," chanted Malyre merrily.

"You're out of it, Malyre." Lek accused.

"Maybe so, but I'm off to help rescue the fair Merah and her farmer Luke."

"He's not a farmer…" Lek bit his tongue.

"Course he's not," Malyre said with a chuckle. "I may be old and too fond of spice, but I recognise a Jedi when I see one."

"What!" Lek ground to a halt.

"Can't you tell? I've been around the galaxy a long time and there's always that little something about them. I'm surprised you didn't notice. Plus he wore a lightsaber when he collected Merah from the tapcaf. They're the only beings I ever heard of that preferred to use them." Malyre lurched unevenly to his feet and tottered carefully after Forrell's rotund little figure.

Lek squeezed from the booth and made for the bar, giving the barman and one of the service droids some instructions. Malyre and Forrell had already vanished from the tapcaf. "I guess I'd better follow them. Someone has to keep a level head around here." He limped as fast as he could out of the building and into the spaceport. 'Does a Jedi really need rescuing?' he thought.

Merah had landed one of the premier docking bays, as it was right in the centre of the spaceport. So Lek was able to spot the four-foot security officer and the seven-foot Selonian with ease. They didn't exactly blend in, either of them. "You two are going to land us in trouble," he hissed.

"Look," whispered Forrell. "They've got guns."

The door to the Vornskr slid open and Luke stood framed in the entryway, his hands in the air. There was a short conversation between them until Karrde gestured at Luke with his blaster pistol. They disappeared inside the ship and the hatchway slid shut.

"What do we do now?" Malyre swayed gently behind the pile of containers they'd used for concealment.

"We have to help them." Lek declared staunchly.