Mara was dozing off against the wall next to Luke, who was tossing and turning. He was mumbling something, but all she could could discern was: "...blind...Force...No stop! Please don't...stop or I'll...Mara!" Luke was sweating and appeared to be struggling with an invisible foe. The pittin squealed and jumped off, leaving a few fresh scratch marks.
Mara shook him. "Farmboy, wake up!"
Luke didn't wake up; instead, he continued pitching back and forth.
Mara shook him harder, and his eyes opened with a fiery panic in them. He began to yank himself from Mara's grip, but he soon recognized her, his eyes cleared up, and he untensed a little.
Mara tentatively and unsurely put her arms around him to help calm him down, and Luke shut his eyes.
"What's wrong? What were you dreaming about?" She asked him.
Luke shook his head, not trusting his mouth to speak...and not wanting to tell Mara the contents of his dream. The pittin came over and nudged Luke with its pink nose, as a way of inquiry. "Purrowl?" she asked. Her fluffy tail swished back and forth.
Mara gave Luke a stern glare, "Tell me, farmboy."
"No. Tell me why you you were afraid of me," Luke said, throwing his cool gaze her way, calm at last.
Fine. She would tell him a little to figure out what he was dreaming about her. "You...you're so strong and have tremendous power in the Force...It has taken over your life. I don't want some mystical energy field controlling my destiny," Mara said, unknowingly echoing some of Han's words as she told Luke a half-truth.
Luke would have none of that simple answer, "And?"
"And...I have some feelings that I need to work out."
"What kind of feelings?" Luke asked, seeming to peer into the depths of her soul.
Mara shivered and raised her emotional walls up even higher than normal. Force or not, he wasn't going to pry into her private thoughts. "Personal feelings."
"Who am I going to tell? It doesn't look like we are going to get out of here anytime soon." Luke turned his pleading sapphire eyes towards her.
Mara slitted her emerald eyes; he had a point. She paused for a few moments, and she was saved from having to answer when the door whooshed open. Luke gave her a look that said she would tell him later.
Vader studied Luke, then nodded in approval and turned towards Mara. "I see you have cleaned his wounds, much in the way you were taught a decade ago by the Empire."
Luke turned a little pink, as he wasn't wearing much more than strips of cloth and his red boxers.
"I have been taught a few useful things by the Empire...many of it that I would have learned anyway, had I the chance for a normal life," Mara said, glaring.
Vader kept his tongue silent for a moment, then he shifted his head to look at Luke. He seemed amused as he asked, "Have you decided?"
"All I can offer you is myself," Luke replied, sneaking a glance at Mara.
"And me."
"Mara, no."
"Yes, Skywalker." Mara shifted her eyes to Vader. "If we go with you willingly, will that be enough?"
"The Fleet's location—"
"You will more than likely find it anyway; it will just take time," Mara said, and if looks could kill Vader would be melted down into durasteel.
"Time the Empire doesn't have," Vader returned.
"The Empire. Hah, the Empire is in shambles. Everyone thinks it's dead. It would take a miracle to bring together even a faint resemblance to the old Empire."
Vader's helmet stayed upon Mara, and there was a long silence. "Join us, and then tell me how pathetic the Empire is," Vader said, his voice so cold it chilled Mara's blood.
Luke spoke up, "Surely two fellow..." He hesitated at his choice of words before continuing, "—Dark Siders would be worth more than the location of the Alliance's fleet."
Vader turned his head a fraction of an inch. "How do I know you shall be loyal?"
Luke bit his lip, hard, and Mara spoke up. "You can put a small device inside us that shall blow up if we decide to escape."
Luke's eyes widened.
"No, you would be able to disable it with the Force," Vader replied.
"Can you protect it with a few ysalamiri bacteria thing and inject them so they will stay only in that area?" Mara asked.
Vader mulled that, "Yes...My technicians can work on it, they're very capable...if motivated."
Chills ran up Luke's spine, and Vader stalked out of the room.
Mara looked over at Luke, and he glared at her. Great, he mouthed, now how are we going to escape?
She started to say something, and he shook his head gesturing around the room and mouthing, There could be hidden cameras. It's harder to read lips from afar.
Well, it was either that or die, maybe even worse, Mara mouthed back.
Rather we die than millions of others, Luke came back, wincing a little at the 'we.'
Mara saw his discomfort at the thought of both of them dying...more specifically, her. Farmboy, are you falling for me?
The pittin looked at Luke and mewled.
Luke was still for a moment, Why were you afraid of me?
What was your dream about?
They were both stuck, so Luke finally mouthed, How about an exchange?
Yeah, so long as you go first, Mara smiled.
How good are you at reading lips? Luke asked.
It's another one of those things that got drilled into me by the Empire.
Ah...Still, do you think you could use the Force to generate silence? questioned Luke.
Mara hesitated, then she spoke aloud. "I could try...But I don't know if..." She sighed. Closing her eyes, she reached out, concentrating. Then she opened her eyes and shook her head. "I can't do it, farmboy."
"Did you try?" Luke asked.
"Yes," Mara replied.
"That is why you fail. You must not try, you must do." Luke grinned at Mara. Then he started mouthing, Feel, don't think. Reach out and feel the air molecules, make it so that sound doesn't penetrate very far.
Mara closed her eyes again and moved the air particles, making them vibrate in such a way that sound would go no farther than her and Luke. She opened her eyes, "We'll have to hurry, I don't know how long I can do this."
"Okay. I was blind Force-wise, like I am now. I felt like I was fixing to choke and faint. A blurred figure had you with a vibroblade at your throat. I was begging him to leave you alone, or at least wait until I was able to use the Force and give me a fair fight. But he wouldn't listen to me. He lightly touched the blade to your throat, drawing blood in a long thin line. I..." Luke's eyes were wild, as he continued. "...I went crazy...I yelled your name, and I jumped on the blurred figure. I saw his eyes widen, and he let go of you and dropped the vibroblade. You rolled away from him, and he and I went into a tumble. We fought like wild beasts, and my anger...I was so furious...I just kept kicking and punching...The Dark Side...it's the price of anger, and I was..."
"Skywalker, calm down, shh." Mara put her finger to Luke's lips. "It was a dream."
"Yes, but dreams can come true, and whether it was a dream or not I shouldn't dwell so easily in the Dark Side...And then the man's features came into focus...And it was me."
Mara wasn't quite sure what to say to that, and Luke continued. "I was fighting against myself. Evil is self-destructive and causes one to decompose from the inside out...But..." Luke was hesitant. "That wasn't the worst part..."
"What was?" Mara asked, almost knowing the answer.
"...I was afraid I would lose you." Luke pulled Mara's hand down and leaned towards her.
Mara started to say something, but Luke silenced her. She tried to pull away, then she tentatively came closer. Just as their lips were about to meet, the door opened, and the pittin hissed. They pulled apart as fast as someone would pull away their hand from hot coals. Luke looked angrily at the two black-clad Force users. Mara poked him in the side, cautioning him about his anger.
"We have discussed your proposition, and we have agreed to let you two live if you have a detonator inside the both of you that will explode if you leave more than 5000 kilometers away from an assigned Imperial ship. Thus, instead of us having a control to explode if you leave, something that you could steal and escape alive, we have something that you have no hope of surviving if you escape. If anyone else tries to remove it, with the exception of a few of our most trustworthy technicians, then it will detonate. You shall have spycams inserted into your quarters. If you don't do what we tell you to do, or you remove the spycams, or you do anything else that displeases us, then it shall detonate." Vader threw a piercing glare at the both of them. "You two will share an Imperial suite."
"In the morning, your schedule will be sent to you, my servants." The Emperor looked gleefully at Luke and Mara. "I shall have some clothes sent to you immediately," he said, looking pointedly at Luke. Luke felt himself turning red again.
Mara smiled at Luke's embarrassment, but she looked like she was ready to object. Vader stared at her, inviting her to say something. Instead, she threw a glare and remained quiet. The pittin put its paw on her as if to say "It's okay."
Luke swallowed and looked Palpatine in the eye. "Understood...my master." He seemed to want to shy away from calling Palpatine by that title, and Mara winced.
"Good..." The Emperor looked at them, gloating. "Guards...Take them away."
A few Stormtroopers and even a few members of the Emperor's Royal Guards stepped forward, picked up the unwilling pittin, turned on the droid, and escorted them all out. The Emperor looked at Vader triumphantly. "Today has been a grand victory."
