CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
It was almost midnight and both Leia and Padmé were sleeping. Luke was free to sneak out of the house again.
Luke and Mara were wandering through the crowded sidewalks of Coruscant.
"What have you been up to lately?" Mara wondered.
Luke shrugged, "Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It's too messed up to think about how I'll be going to actual school in the fall."
"It won't be that bad," Mara replied. "Granted, it won't be the same as the Academy…"
Luke shrugged. The Academy—the Coronet City Academy, situated in the heart of the capital of Corellia—was Luke's old school. All his life, when Luke wasn't on the Death Star or training to be a Sith apprentice, Luke was a student at the prestigious and militaristic Coronet City Academy. A reformation on Corellia that had changed the once Jedi-loving people to a more Jedi-hating people was also accompanied by the reformation of CorSec. Corellia's old security force was reformed into a military force, and the old CorSec Academy was turned into the Coronet City Academy. The future of Corellia's youth was molded by intensely trained professors at the Academy that made sure every student that came out of that school was a Jedi-hating, Socialist-loving brainwashed future Corellian soldier.
"At least he's not making you become a Jedi," Mara said on the bright side.
Luke rolled his eyes, "He wishes."
Mara looked around at all the colorful lights of Coruscant, trying to hide her disappointment that Luke wasn't opening up as much as she hoped he would. She could not upset her master on her newfound mission, the one that he had only presented her with last night.
"What do you think about the rest of your…family?"
Luke raised an eyebrow, "I mean, have you met Leia?"
Mara chuckled, "Yes I have."
"She thinks she's so high class. It's infuriating."
"Maybe you should educate her on the ideals of socialism," Mara suggested.
Luke rolled his eyes.
Mara laughed, "Are you saying you would rather have a friend that's a scoundrel?"
"Yes," Luke replied automatically.
"I think I know one..."
Luke raised an eyebrow at Mara, knowing where she was going with this, "No."
"Just admit that you miss him!" Mara said, exasperated.
"I definitely wouldn't miss him if he was standing two centimeters away from me and I had a proton torpedo blaster."
Mara frowned. She looked at Luke, not amused, "That's not funny. He's your friend."
Luke didn't answer. They just kept walking down the sidewalk.
Mara was contemplating over ways she could get Luke and Han to reconcile. They can't feud forever, she thought. And the sooner they settle their differences, they can realize how stupid they've been and just go back home.
"So," Luke said casually after several minutes, "do you still have what it takes?"
"Have what it takes to do what?" Mara asked, although she already knew the answer.
Luke gave her a mischievous grin and all of a sudden Mara knew that tonight would be an adventure she hadn't had in a long time.
"What exactly are you thinking?" Mara asked slowly.
Luke smiled, "I'm open to ideas. It's Coruscant—there are all sorts of treasures worth stealing around here."
Mara looked at him seriously, "Luke, remember last time you played burglar? You were arrested."
"Yeah, because of stupid what's-his-face." Luke replied, "I got this, Mara. Are you in, or what?"
Mara sighed, realizing that an adventure might be just what she needed to complete her mission. "Fine, but if anything bad happens—"
"Great!" Luke exclaimed, happy for once that maybe he wont be bored to death on this stupid planet.
They continued down the sidewalk as it turned less and less crowded. They were heading off into the less commercial areas. It became a lot less easier to blend in.
"Let's turn back," Mara suggested.
Luke nodded and turned around. He stopped suddenly in his tracks. Mara frowned, "What is it?"
Her eyes followed Luke's gaze and gasped.
It was Leia. She had been following them the whole time.
Luke took a step closer to a sheepishly embarrassed Leia.
"What are you doing?" Luke hissed.
Leia shrugged, "I wanted to see where you were going. I heard Luke sneaking out. Again."
"I thought you were asleep!"
"I was pretending." Leia explained, rolling her eyes as if it was supposed to be obvious.
Luke frowned, angry that his plans were foiled. He could never take Leia along for a criminal joy ride. She and her goody two shoes would spoil the fun.
"I didn't even know that you two knew each other." Leia said, looking between the two suspiciously.
Luke and Mara glanced at each other. He opened his mouth to say something, but his words were lost in his mouth as soon as he heard blaster shots nearby.
Luke frowned and quickly reached down for his lightsaber at his belt. But of course, he didn't have a lightsaber anymore! Stupid Aria.
Good thing Mara was prepared for the both of them.
"What was that?" Leia gasped, turning around to look at the source of the noise. All of a sudden, she realized that she had never been out on the streets of Coruscant so late at night without her father.
She didn't understand how Luke and Mara could handle this so calmly.
"It sounded like it came from over there," Luke pointed over at the shady-looking garage across the street.
Leia's eyebrows flew up, "You want to go towards the people firing blasters?"
"It was one blaster shot," Mara rolled her eyes. "Probably just a scuffle."
And to be honest, Luke was more intrigued than apprehensive about this possible scuffle. He was always drawn towards the trouble.
They crossed the street and found a group of rowdy teenagers gathered in a dark alley, surrounding what appeared to be a fight ensuing.
Luke, Mara, and Leia all walked closer to see the situation better.
"Is that Han?" Mara whispered.
Luke and Leia both looked at her confused.
Sure enough, one of the boys in the middle was Han. He was arguing with another boy who seemed to be a little taller.
"You cheated!" The tall boy said.
Han rolled his eyes, "I won fair and square. It's not my fault that you suck at racing."
The tall boy took Han by the collar of his shirt, "Why you little—"
"Hey!" Mara pushed herself through the crowd to get into the middle. All eyes were fixed on her.
"Mara?!" Han exclaimed, completely bewildered.
The tall boy, dressed in a shabby flight suit with annoyingly bright orange hair, peered down at Mara with an amused look, "You know this chick, Solo?"
"Um…" Han bit his lip, wishing he hadn't said anything.
"What's going on here?" Mara demanded, placing a hand on her hip.
"Is it Solo's bed time already?" The tall boy mocked.
Some of the other kids surrounding the fight chuckled.
Mara rolled her eyes and grabbed Han's arm, "Let's go, Han."
Han shook her off, "No! This kriff-tard still owes me money!"
The tall boy laughed, "Yeah right. I demand a rematch."
"Han!" Mara warned.
"Fine!" Han agreed, ignoring Mara.
Wanting a closer look, Luke grabbed his sister's hand and tried threading his way through the thick crowd of boys surrounding Han and that other kid.
"Okay, how about this," The tall boy proposed, "we can make this a little more interesting. We'll have one of my boys ride with you to make sure you don't cheat this time. And to make it fair, the redhead will ride with me.
"What?" Mara yelled among the rowdy yells of the other boys.
"Again?" Han repeated, raising his voice among the noises, "I told you I didn't cheat!"
"Han!" Mara shouted, angry that he was getting her sucked into this.
Before Han could say anything else, two more people joined them in the center of the circle.
Luke had made his way through the crowd with Leia following closely behind.
"What's going on here?" Luke said.
"Oh, well look who decided to show his face again," Han jeered.
Luke glowered at Han, "You senseless, idiotic fool."
The kids laughed again, enjoying the fact that even this third party person had beef with the Solo kid.
Han glowered at Luke.
The tall boy laughed at Luke's composed demeanor, "You're my new favorite blonde kid!"
Luke raised an eyebrow at the tall boy.
The tall boy extended his hand out, "I'm Caz."
Luke ignored the hand, "I'm leaving."
"No, wait!" Caz said, grabbing Luke by the shoulder.
Luke turned around and glared at Caz.
Caz quickly let go, "You should ride with Solo to make sure he doesn't cheat."
"No." Luke said coldly.
"Fine, wimp." Caz sneered, "I bet you never raced before anyway. Too scared."
Luke clenched his fists, "I've won more races than you can even count, brick-head."
Caz looked down at Luke, amused. "If that's so, then why don't I race you?"
"What?" Han and Mara both exclaimed simultaneously.
"Why not?" Caz said, liking the idea even more.
"You still owe me money," Han argued.
"I'll pay you double if shorty here wins," Caz shrugged.
Luke fumed at being called short, "You're on."
"Luke!" Leia cried.
Luke ignored her and continued to stare Caz dead in the eye.
Leia sighed; it was going to be a long night.
Han was very angry. He knew that Luke would purposely loose just so that Han wouldn't earn his winnings.
Stupid Luke.
"I'm not going to purposely lose, Solo. But I'm not doing this for you, either." Luke said behind him.
Han rolled his eyes at Luke's mind-reading skill. "Show off," he muttered.
They were now at Han's speeder.
"So where did you steal this from?" Luke wondered.
"Who said I stole it?"
"Who said you bought it?" Luke shot back.
Caz walked up to Luke and Han, "Alright boys, this is how we go. I have a member of your party to make sure I don't cheat. Now you need to have a member of my party to make sure you don't cheat."
Luke looked around and then spotted Leia, "Her."
Leia's eyes widened.
"Don't you two know each other?" Caz asked, frowning.
"No?" Luke said, as if it was obvious. "If I knew her, I wouldn't pick her."
Caz nodded slowly, not thinking about the fact that he actually didn't know Leia at all either. "Okay… Fine. Guess this will be a good time for you to prove yourself. Although I doubt you've ever even raced before, you look like a momma's boy. And I've never seen you around here, either."
Luke's eyes narrowed. "All my races were in Coronet City."
Caz glowered down at Luke. "Corellian, eh?"
No doubt Luke thought that Corellia's reputation for exceptional pilots must have intimidated the boy.
He, however, leaned down closer to Luke.
"I hate Corellians."
Caz walked away before Luke could say another word and got into his speeder. Mara got into his passenger seat, giving Han an icy stare.
Han laughed, "She does not look too happy."
Luke shook off the bad feeling that he got from Caz and turned his newfound anger towards Han.
"Of course she doesn't!" He snapped, "Look what you got her into!"
Han rolled his eyes and got in the back seat of the speeder.
Luke got into the pilot's seat and Leia sat next to him in the passenger's seat.
Han rested his elbows on the backs of Luke and Leia's chairs.
"So, what's a pretty girl like you doing with a stupid boy like Caz?" Han smiled.
Before Leia could say anything, Luke sighed, "Don't make a fool of yourself, Solo."
Han shrugged, "What? I was just wondering!"
"She's obviously not friends with that earworm." Luke said.
Han raised his eyebrows, "So you lied?"
Luke rolled his eyes, "Wouldn't be the first time."
Han chuckled, "You bad little boy."
Caz drove his speeder up to Luke's window. He had one hand over the wheel in front of him. Mara was sitting next to him with her arms folded across her chest. She gave Luke a worried look.
"You set, Blondie?" Caz taunted.
Luke tightened his grip on the wheel in front of him, "If you crash and hurt my friend, I will kill you."
Leia bit her lip, thinking that Luke would probably actually kill Caz if anything happened to Mara.
Caz just laughed.
The two speeders were situated side-by-side. One of the boys came to stand right in-between them to read them the rules.
"The first speeder to finish the route first wins. You must stay in the Undercity at all times to avoid being caught by the police. You must hit all the designated checkpoints. Any shortcuts will result in an automatic disqualification."
Caz looked over at Luke and winked at him.
Luke ignored him and set his eyes on the route in front of him.
Leia took a deep breath, "If we die…"
Han let out a nervous chuckle, "Doesn't sound like you've ever raced before."
Leia turned around to look at Han, "I haven't."
Han raised his eyebrows, "Oh."
The boy in-between the two speeders cleared his throat, "On your mark…"
Caz revved his engine.
"Get set…"
Luke closed his eyes, focusing on the Force to guide him.
"Go!"