Rated - PG
Spoilers - 'Specter of the Past', 'Vision of the Future', both by Timothy Zahn
e-mail - angela@yavin4.free-online.co.uk - constructive criticism and happy thoughts greatly appreciated, or just tell me you hate it.
Feel free to post these stories wherever, as long as it's got this spiel at the top.
Disclaimer - all these characters belong to Mr. Lucas (all hail) and Mr. Zahn (yay!). I write about them as a form of flattery - please don't sue. I am not making any money from this.
This fanfic is set during 'Specter of the Past' by Timothy Zahn - if you haven't read said novel, this will make zero sense, so get your butt down to the library/bookstore now.
I'm a fan of the Bantam novels. Honest. And I'm not usually one to criticise (much), but in many of the books Mara and Luke met briefly, said one or two lines (if that), then wandered off in different directions to do their own thing. Then suddenly *wham* - they fall in love ten years after they met. I've already done re-writes of a few scenes from the other novels (see 'Mara's Missing Moments' parts one and two), but now we're getting to the nitty-gritty. Do you honestly believe that Luke and Mara had no feelings for each other before the 'engagement' scene? Doubt it. Zahn gave us the odd hint that they 'liked' each other, but I need specifics!! So here I am, sitting down to rewrite the only Luke/Mara scene in the whole of 'Specter of the Past', giving them a bit more interaction. I KNOW it's not what Zahn wrote. It's just my little vision. :-)
Apology - sorry Tim - I really like your work, but the plot-bunnies around here have big teeth and a vicious streak - they just wouldn't leave me alone. (Like Timothy Zahn's ever going to read this?! Sheesh!)
Dedication - to Roganda Ismaren, who gave me the idea, and to Sheyla for much-needed encouragement and all the e-mail discussions.
Chapter 6 - 'Specter of the Past' by Timothy Zahn (end of chapter nine - Luke in his X-wing and Mara aboard the 'Starry Ice' have just watched the weird starfighter disappear)
Mara got confirmation of the data download from the X-wing's sensors. 'Thanks. You need anything else, Luke?'
'No, I ... dammit.'
Even at that distance, Mara could sense the irritation in his mind. 'What's wrong?'
Luke sighed. 'Shrapnel. Hyperdrive's down. It's okay - Artoo says he can fix it.'
'And how long will that take?'
'Less than an hour,' replied Luke. 'I'll be fine. You just carry on.'
'Luke, if any of those pirates decide to come back for a look-see, they'll be down on you like a flock of mynocks. And I have no desire to face your sister if she finds out I deserted you...'
'Fine,' snapped Luke. 'So what do you suggest?'
'Dock back with us. We'll do a mini-jump, get you and your ship repaired, then you can be on your way.'
'And how much is that going to cost me?'
'Oh, for the love of the Sith, it's on the house. Just get back on board and stop being an idiot.' Mara whipped off her headset, abruptly ending the conversation. She slid down the access tube and marched back to the cockpit irritably.
Faughn glanced up as Mara entered. 'Skywalker's docking now. Where to?'
'Anywhere friendly and close by. And make a start on a report for Karrde. I'll go sort out the stubborn Jedi.'
Faughn nodded as she checked her sensors and started scrolling through the NavComputer. A faint 'clunk' jarred the ship. 'He's on board. Jump in about ten minutes, when I've done the calculations.'
'Thanks.' Mara spun on her heel and headed back to B-port. She arrived just in time to see the X-wing canopy hiss open and Luke jump out, giving instructions and reassurance to his astromech over a comlink. Mara crossed her arms and leaned on a bulkhead as Luke yanked off his helmet with his right hand and threw it in the cockpit.
'Just fix it as best you can, Artoo. We're perfectly safe here.' Luke flinched slightly when he realised Mara was watching him, then smiled sheepishly. 'He's a bit ... ummm ... jumpy.'
Mara raised an eyebrow but made no move towards him. 'He's not the only one. Don't you trust me, Skywalker?' She glanced at her wrist-chrono, not waiting for his answer. 'Five minutes until we jump. You'd better warn the droid. Wouldn't want him getting anxious, would we.'
Luke frowned at her as he spoke into the comlink once more. 'Five minutes to hyperspace, Artoo.' He was still frowning as he tucked away the comlink in a pocket and strode towards her. 'Shouldn't we get strapped in?'
Mara used her shoulders to shove herself away from the bulkhead. She nodded towards the exit. 'Medbay's first on the left.'
'Medbay, huh?'
Mara gave him a gentle push to encourage him through the door. 'Yes. Medbay. You got a problem with that?'
'Not at all. Whatever's closest.' Luke allowed himself to be steered into the compact cabin that served the Starry Ice as a medical bay. White and clean, the transparent cupboards were full to bursting point with a huge variety of medicinal supplies. A narrow bed was folded and strapped to one wall, while the opposite wall had two built-in seats with lap belts dangling off their sides. Passing a mirror, Luke caught sight of himself and groaned as he remembered his disguise. He carefully pulled off the artificial beard and scars, dropping them down a nearby garbage chute. 'Don't suppose you've got any Maliceum antidote?'
'You took Maliceum to darken your skin? You're lucky it didn't wear off while you were still down there.' Mara typed on a datapad fixed to the wall, then opened a cupboard and took out a bottle of pills. She tipped one into his outstretched hand, peering at him intently. 'It's made your eyes a funny color. I never noticed before.'
'Has it?' Luke popped the pill into his mouth and crossed back to the mirror, blinking a few times at his reflection. 'They do look kind of muddy, don't they. I didn't know Maliceum changed eye-color.'
Mara replaced the bottle and checked the cupboard doors were secure. 'You want to try D'naro next time. It's more reliable.'
Faughn's voice came over the intercom. 'Thirty seconds to hyperspace, people. Grab a seat and strap in.'
'Where are we going?' asked Luke as he sat on one chair and yanked the belt over his thighs, fastening it at the other side.
Mara took the chair next to his and clipped on her own restraint. 'Not sure. I told Faughn to make a short jump to somewhere friendly.' She smiled brightly as she turned to face him. 'Then you can fix your ship and run off to do your save-the-galaxy bit.'
Luke just stared straight ahead. 'Stop trying to rile me, Mara. It won't work.' He heard the sound of the engine change pitch as the ship entered hyperspace. 'Besides, I'm not sure where I'm going to go next. It's not like our pirates have left a trail.'
'For someone who doesn't know where he's going, you sure were in a hurry to get off this ship.'
Abruptly, he turned to face her, the swirling brown patterns in his eyes enhancing the irritation that was already there. 'I was more help to you in my X-wing than I would have been on board.'
Mara slammed up her mental barriers as her eyes met his; even if he claimed to be using the Force less, she wasn't ready to trust him not to read her mind. 'We would have managed fine, and you know it. Three turbolaser batteries and Faughn at the controls can handle one little booby-trapped asteroid field.'
'We wouldn't have got any readings on that weird fighter if I hadn't flown out.'
'You know that for a fact, do you?' replied Mara.
Luke bit back a retort, turning away from her once more. 'I didn't think you wanted me hanging around, anyway. You don't seem to want much to do with me these days.'
Something in Mara's mind clicked into place. 'Is all this antagonism because I haven't been back to Yavin recently?'
Luke's head snapped back to face her. 'Antagonism?! You started it with your "save-the-galaxy" crack. Or was it the one about "wave your hand and make all the traps disappear"? Sure made me feel antagonistic.'
'Are you trying to claim you have never used your Force powers to do anything like that,' said Mara, her earlier feelings of guilt at the remarks suddenly over-ridden by anger.
'What I have or haven't done in the past is not your concern.'
'I disagree,' she replied. 'You say you want to teach me, to make me a Jedi Knight. I think your past concerns every one of your students, me included.'
Luke frowned at her. 'You are not one of my students, Mara.'
'Maybe I don't study at your academy. Maybe I don't particularly wish to become a Knight. But I use the Force, and so I'm affected by your actions, even indirectly.'
'My other students don't question my actions all the time.'
'And you're happy with that?'
For a time he said nothing, his eyes continuing to burrow into hers. 'I'm not able to give you the one-on-one training I did on Myrkr, Mara. I wish I could.'
'Do you?'
'Of course,' replied Luke. 'I wish I could give all my students that much attention. But it's just not practical.'
Before she could reply, Mara heard the whine of the sublight engines kick in. She slipped off her restraint and stood up, flicking on her comlink. 'Faughn?'
'Sensors say it's all clear, Mara. Certainly nothing else insystem.'
'Good,' replied Mara. 'Put her into orbit and make a start on the report for Karrde.'
'Will do.'
Mara clicked off the comlink and turned back to Luke. 'And now we can make a start on getting you cleaned up.'
'It's nothing, Mara,' said Luke, standing up. 'At least, nothing I can't handle.'
Mara took a step closer to him. 'But why handle it if you don't have to?' She started circling round to his left side. 'Besides, you haven't been using your left arm properly since you came on board. That's not a very sensible way to fly.' She reached out and tentatively tugged at what remained of the left sleeve of his tunic; he hissed as the material caught on his injuries.
Mara frowned at him. 'You've been using pain suppression, haven't you. You didn't tell me it was this bad.' She crossed over to the bed and started unstrapping it and pulling up to the horizontal position. 'Shirt off, please.'
'Fine,' growled Luke, as he started unfastening his tunic. 'I'll let you stick a few bacta patches on me if it will make you feel better.'
She turned back to help him out of the ripped shirt. 'I think the idea is that it makes you feel better.' She swore as he slowly peeled off the tattered material and his injuries were finally revealed. 'Luke, you're a mess. This is going to take more than a few bacta patches.'
'I thought as much.' He grimaced as he looked at the shrapnel wounds down his arm and side. 'I guess it's another dunk in the pink goo for me.'
Mara indicated the narrow bed. 'Lie down. I can take the worst of the bits out now. Should make you more comfortable, at least.'
'Are you qualified?' asked Luke as he hopped up on the bed.
Mara started pulling instruments out of drawers. 'I'm not a doctor, but I've been trained in field surgery.' She held up an infuser. 'You want anaesthetic?'
'Not a good idea if I want to fly in half an hour,' he replied, lying down. 'I'll use a pain suppression technique.'
Mara shrugged. 'Whatever you want. Just don't move.'
'Okay.'
She looked up from her examination of his injuries to see his face completely relaxed, totally serene. His breathing had slowed, and Mara smiled to herself; very few people must have seen the Jedi Master so vulnerable. Her smile froze when she realised she didn't feel smug, only ... privileged. She cleared her throat. 'You ready, Luke?'
'Mmmm.' He could hear the hum of the extractor, but didn't feel it make contact with his skin. A second later, he had the disconcerting feeling of a piece of shrapnel working its way out of his body, exactly the same route it had used going in. Not painful, but still not an experience he wanted to repeat on a regular basis. He sank further into his light trance.
'Got the first one.' Mara's voice sounded as if it came from a distance, although he could hear the words clearly.
'Mmmm.'
Mara smiled again as she continued removing the smaller pieces of shrapnel. 'You're not very talkative in this state. I could get used to this.'
No reply, but Mara thought she could detect a twitch of his lips. She shrugged and concentrated on her work, removing as many of the metal pieces as she could. She glanced up occasionally, but Luke's face remained relaxed and pain-free. 'Your skin is almost back to normal and your hair is nearly there.'
'Mmmm.'
Mara sighed. Finally she had the great Luke Skywalker as a captive audience and she couldn't pluck up the courage to tell him of the thoughts she'd been having lately. Thoughts about the Force and his place in it. Thoughts of the dark side and the mistakes he'd made in the past. 'I'm going to leave a few of the more awkward ones in; I'd rather they were treated by a doctor or med-droid.'
'Mmmm.'
She looked back up to his face, a face that was becoming more familiar as his hair returned to its normal blonde colour. 'I have to move your arm now, so I can get access to your side.' Luke gave no response, so Mara gently moved his limp arm across his chest and started removing shrapnel from his side. 'This isn't so bad. It shouldn't take long.'
'Mmmm.'
Why couldn't she just tell him? He wouldn't be able to yell at her, at least, not straight away. And since when was she bothered about Luke yelling at her, anyway? Heck, they argued almost every time they met. Her eyes flicked momentarily back to his face, then returned to her work. She didn't want to tell him now precisely because he couldn't answer back. That was it. She needed an immediate reaction, good or bad, to decide if she really could try to explain what she had been feeling. If he took the moral high-ground, if he did the 'I'm the Jedi Master, you never even finished your training' bit, well then, she knew he wasn't ready to hear everything.
The tiny subconscious voice that periodically reared its ugly head whenever she was physically close to Luke chose this moment to add its two-credits-worth. You don't want to tell him now because it would spoil the moment. You're enjoying being near him. And if you tell him about his failures, he might just leave and never want to see you again.
Mara frowned. Shut up. Gods, first the Emperor, now her own voice telling her things she didn't want to hear. The psychologists would have a field day.
She straightened up and switched off the extractor, moving Luke's arm back to his side. 'That's all I'm willing to remove, Luke.' She watched him take a slow, deep breath, then his eyes flicked open. They were an intense blue. Mara didn't remember them being this blue; must be an after-effect of the drug. Her eyes met his for a long moment. 'How does that feel?'
Luke lifted his left arm and tentatively rubbed the skin. 'Much better, thanks. He grinned. 'Much nicer than waking up in an NR medical facility with only a two-one-bee for company. I'm glad you talked me into it.'
Mara quickly turned away from him and busied herself fishing bacta patches out of a cupboard, metaphorically bopping her subconscious on the head. 'Don't get used to it. I'm fed up dragging your ass out of trouble.'
He sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. 'Don't you ever get into trouble, Mara?'
She started tearing open packets of bacta patches. 'Of course I do. I just plan better. Like an escape route.' She began applying the patches to his arm, trying to avoid wounds with shrapnel still embedded. 'You want something for those bruises?'
'Not necessary. I won't even feel them until tomorrow.'
Mara nodded and continued in silence.
Luke watched her as she tended his injuries. Her hair was, as usual, pulled back in a thick braid, although he noticed a few strands had escaped and curled towards her eyes as she concentrated on placing the patches just so. She was a good friend. Most people seemed to be hell-bent on turning him into some kind of God, an instrument of the Force, to be loved or loathed according to circumstance. Mara, on the other hand, was determined to make him more 'normal', foregoing his power as a Jedi. And he was beginning to agree with her. Her green eyes met his and he smiled. They would have to talk about it some day. Shame he was in such a hurry. 'Thanks.'
She nodded again, like she wanted to say something but was holding back. 'Next time, remember to duck.'
'Wouldn't have helped in this case.'
'Are you really going to keep following those pirates, Luke? It doesn't seem like a wise move.'
'I have to.' He frowned. 'I have a really bad feeling about all of this clone business.'
'A vision?'
'No, at least, not yet,' he replied. 'I just feel that all hell is about to break loose in the New Republic, and the Cavrilhu pirates have something to do with it.'
She gave a resigned smile. 'Off to save the galaxy again, Skywalker?'
He tilted his head to one side, his eyes never leaving hers as he fought to keep the smile from his lips. 'You could always join me, Mara. You'd be a great help...'
She held up her hands defensively. 'No thanks. I've already got a job, and the pay's a damn sight better than anything you're offering.'
'It's not about pay, Mara.' He thought he had sensed something in her automatic reaction to his request, and his eyes narrowed. 'It's about fulfillment, and duty. And you know it.'
'Get out of my head, Skywalker,' growled Mara, slapping on the last bacta patch with more force than was strictly necessary. 'You have no right to talk to me about duty. I had my fill of duty fifteen years ago.'
'That was different.'
'Not from where I'm standing.' She noticed her hands had clenched at her sides and she forced herself to relax. 'Why are we fighting again?'
Luke sighed. 'Because you're Mara Jade, the mercenary. And I guess I'm Luke Skywalker, the Jedi Master.'
'As long as you're not implying you're better than me.'
He smiled. 'I wouldn't dare.'
'Good.' Mara glanced at the chrono. 'We'd better get you back to your ship, I guess. See if that droid of yours has got it fixed.'
He hopped off the bed, flexing his injured arm. 'You've done a great job, Mara. Hopefully I won't be so long in the bacta this time.' He reached out with his right hand and caught her left hand. 'Thanks. I appreciate your help.'
Mara forced herself not to tense every muscle in her body. REALLY forced herself. Every time Luke had touched her hand before, it had been to shake hands, right to right. Easy. Not like this. This felt ... different. It didn't help that he was half-naked either. 'That's okay.' She didn't think her voice sounded shaky, but the voice in her head was laughing itself silly. 'I'm sure you'd do the same for me.'
'You know I would.' He caught her defensive reaction and dropped her hand quickly, scared he'd alienated her once more. He knew she wasn't a 'tactile' person, but this was getting ridiculous. He'd never even hugged her; Luke couldn't think of one other close friend he'd never hugged at one time or another. And yet, why had it become such a big deal to him? She was his friend, nothing more. Wasn't she?
Mara smiled tightly at him, barely able to meet his gaze, nervously glancing at her wrist-chrono again. 'We'd better go.' She opened a drawer and pulled out a plain white shirt, throwing it to him. 'I hope this is okay. It's all we've got.' She walked quickly to the door, not waiting or looking back to check he was following her. Once in the corridor, she pulled out her comlink. 'Faughn? How are we doing?'
'We know where we're going, as soon as Skywalker has launched.'
Mara nodded to herself, automatically slipping back into the role of mission commander. 'We know where we're going' was code for knowing where the next rendezvous was. 'Have you got the NavComp programmed?'
'Affirmative. And the report for Karrde is ready for your approval.'
'Thanks.' Mara flicked off the comlink as she reached the door to the docking bay and slapped a hand on the controls. The door whizzed open and she strode into the bay, before finally turning round to see if Luke was following her. He was, at what appeared to be a 'safe distance'.
'You want to see if your R2 unit has finished?'
Luke nodded and pulled out his own comlink, almost reluctantly it seemed to Mara. 'Artoo? How's the X-wing?'
The flurry of beeps and whistles that came from the comlink were way beyond Mara's comprehension. Apparently, they were beyond Luke's too, as he crossed to the cockpit of the X-wing and hung over the side, reading the translation. 'That's fine. We can fix that later. Are we hyperspace-capable?'
Beep.
Luke started pulling out an orange flightsuit and life-support unit from beside the acceleration chair. 'Weapons?'
Beep.
'We'll manage without torpedoes,' replied Luke, pulling on the flightsuit. 'Have you got a course calculated?'
Whistle.
He switched off the comlink and turned back to where Mara stood, adjusting the life-support straps. 'All fixed and ready to go.'
She nodded. 'Take care.'
He covered the distance between them in two short strides, taking both her hands in his own, ignoring the possibility that she might try to deck him. 'You too. And come visit.'
'Maybe.'
She had tensed up again, he could feel it. He dropped her hands. 'Bye, Mara. See you around.'
'Bye, Skywalker. Try to keep out of trouble.'
He grinned before turning to climb into the X-wing. 'I'll try. Not promising anything, though.' Jumping into the seat, he pulled on his restraints and helmet, before waving to Mara and closing the canopy.
She merely nodded and turned away, striding towards the exit, trying to remember what she was supposed to be doing next. She paused once the door had closed behind her, watching a nearby pressure gauge as if mesmerised.
And then he was gone.