Chapter 4

In Memory Of… Chapter 4

By: Skywalker's Dream

See first chapter for summery and disclaimer.

Chapter 4

It was dark in the small cabin; the only sound to be heard was the sudden change in pitch from the engines, as the ship exited hyperspace. The unexpected change went unnoticed by the person stretched out in her bed. Mara tossed and turned as the same dream accosted her mind that had done so many previous nights...

She pushed another annoying branch away from her face and trudged through the dense undergrowth that seemed intent on tripping her at every step. Searching ahead of her, she tried to get the first glimpse of her destination. All her vision greeted her with was more shades of greens and browns. Wiping the sweat from her face, she hoisted herself over a rather large log. Pausing to scan the surrounding foliage, she stopped when she noticed an all too familiar woman standing alongside a tree. The woman, a girl really, was bathed in one of the many patches of sunlight that found its way to the jungle floor. She stood staring back at Mara as the gentle breeze caused her sleeveless, white dress to billow around her ankles. As the breeze picked up, the girl reached up to brush a stray, blond wisp of hair from around her delicate face. Although concerned with the fact that this woman-child kept appearing in her dreams, Mara knew that the girl meant her no harm.

Her innocent, liquid blue eyes were the type that seemed to twinkle with a friendliness that was rare anymore. The young woman took a step closer to Mara, impatiently tossing waves of blond hair over her shoulder as she did so.

"You again," Mara said. "Why do you keep bothering me?" She knew she was dreaming, but she couldn't fathom why she kept dreaming about this girl. Their paths had never crossed, as far as she could remember. In every previous dream, the girl would flee whenever Mara ventured too close. There was never a word spoken, leaving Mara to wonder at her presence. Deciding she was not in the mood for this, she turned to leave, but was stopped by a soft pleading voice calling out to her.

"Wait, Mara. I need to speak with you."

"So, you can speak," Mara said, turning back to face her. "What do you want? Why are you here?"

"You are an interesting person, Mara. I've appeared to you in your dreams so I could get to know you." The girl brought her gaze back to the ground as she lowered herself into a sitting position. She absentmindedly fingered a blade of grass and seemed fascinated by how it moved. "It's beautiful here. Where are we?"

Mara looked around at the familiar surroundings. "We are on Yavin IV."

"Funny that you would be dreaming about this place," she commented offhandedly.

"What's funny about it?"

"Nothing, I guess," she said with a knowing smile. "It's beautiful here."

"If you say so. Too hot for me." Mara said, wiping her face again to emphasize her point.

At that time, the girl looked up from her inspection of the jungle floor. Mara met her gaze for the first time since the girl first appeared in her dreams. Blue eyes met green, and something to Mara felt strange.

"I know you," Mara suddenly realized, though she wasn't able to place the face. "You look familiar."

"Do I?" she said, her smile beginning to look forced. "So the truth has finally been discovered."

"You seem surprised," Mara asked, while raking her brain to place the face.

"A bit. We've been wondering if he was ever going to tell his family."

*Tell his family?* The pieces clicked in Mara's mind. "Arielle?"

The girl only smiled, once again pushing her hair out of her face. Thoughts began tumbling around in Mara's mind, and she strained to make sense of them all. She was unable to keep the look of confusion off her face. One thought rose above the rest. Why was Luke's dead wife now stalking her in her sleep? "How are you here, in my dream? Why are you here?"

"It's so hard to let him go, you know," she explained, displaying her now ever present smile. "He gets to you. Once he's in your heart, your world begins to revolve around him. It makes it hard to give him up." She paused, studying Mara, the smile slowly fading from her lips. "I was chosen for him. Did you know that?"

"Chosen? No." Mara found herself drawn to this woman, wanting to know more about her life with Luke.

"No," she said, disappointed. She sighed and lowered her gaze once again. "I guess not. I'm not sure if he ever realized it."

"What do you mean, chosen?" Mara asked, sitting down next to the tree beside her. "By whom?"

"We didn't know, Luke and I." She looked up once again. "But when the Force wills it, you don't need to notice to obey."

"The Force? Are you trying to say that you are Jedi?"

"We were meant to be together from the beginning," she said, as if she did not hear Mara's question. "My father was a friend of Obi-Wan back before my parents adopted me. When Obi-Wan disappeared, my father knew where he would be. That was right after my real parents died, so I guess I was about a year old. We ended up meeting him there a few years later, though at the time I did not understand why. Luke and I grew up together. We went to the same schools, the same stores. My family never went out of their way to introduce us, though. We took care of that on our own. My best friend lived next door to Biggs, and I did not live far away. I saw them all the time. Imagine my father's delight when we became friends. I have to admit that at the time I thought he was just happy that I was making more friends.

"It started because one of the boys liked my friend, so they all came over to talk to us. I guess I was about ten at that time. He didn't say much, but even then, I was drawn to Luke. He was this shy boy that the others liked to pick on, but he was the sweetest person I had ever met. He was always very nice to me, and we had so much in common. He became one of my best friends; we understood each other. I'm not even sure when we started dating. We were together all the time. All our friends just assumed that we were a couple… guess we just became one. He was very special to me."

"You sound like you regret it," Mara stated, turning so she could see Arielle's face clearly.

"No, not at all," Arielle said, astonished. Her features softened as she continued. "I cherish the time we had together."

"Did you love him?" Mara asked, wanting to keep the conversation going long enough for her to get some real information out of this girl. She had a feeling that eventually Skywalker would want to know about this, and she wanted to have something to tell him.

Arielle took a deep breath. "As much as a teenager could I suppose. Neither of us were ready to be married. I would hate to think where we would have ended up without the support of our families…and then there was MaCayla. His aunt did most of the work with her. Luke and I took it for granted. We were still able to be kids. We would go be with our friends while MaCayla stayed with Beru."

"Luke loved you." Mara was uncertain why she felt the need to tell her this, but the look in the child's eyes confirmed that it was a good thing.

"I know that now. He is very special, and has an endless heart, one that I will cherish always."

"But if you were chosen, why are you not here?" To Mara the situation was running far from her understanding. Her jumbled thoughts giving no indication of settling down soon, she tried her best to ask the questions she wanted to know.

"I was supposed to be there for Luke, to help him though the hard times. All three of us were the ones to be given the weight of reviving the Jedi. He was not meant to do it alone, but I guess even the Force cannot control everything. The shooting was not supposed to happen."

"So, the Jedi's right," Mara stated. She felt a pang of sympathy for him. *It just wasn't fair! Why can't he be happy too?* "Because of what happened when he was eighteen, he is domed to live alone. He wants a family so bad, he can't *not* have one."

"As soon as that shot hit me, another was chosen for him." She locked gazes with Mara. "They have just not realized it."

"So why not tell him that, why come to me?"

"I have tried to tell him. The dreams of me still hurt him too much. He will not listen."

"So that is why you have come to me? To have me tell him?"

"Yes, so to speak." Suddenly the ground beneath her shook. The girl in front of her started to fade.

"What do you mean 'so to speak'?" The girl did not answer. Suddenly Mara felt panicky, like she was missing a big piece of information.

"What are you trying to say!" she yelled as the person in front of her disappeared.

"Wake up, Mara." Mara snapped awake to the face of her co-pilot.

"What!?" she yelled.

"Snap out of it, girl. Can't you hear that alarm?" Faughn said, bracing herself as the ship rocked. Mara, still not completely awake, fell out of bed.

"What is going on here?" Mara asked, getting her hands and feet under her and standing up, hearing the blaring alarm for the first time.

"We're under attack."

---

"What happened?" Mara demanded, running into the cockpit of the *Jade's Fire* while pulling on her flight jacket on the way.

"I noticed a malfunction in the hyperdrive. I dropped us out of hyperspace so I could take a look. They were just sitting there! I tried to jump back out, but they started shooting."

Once inside, she dropped into her seat and started checking out the situation. The ship rocked again and she grabbed Faughn's arm to keep her from falling as she sat in the co-pilot's seat.

"Who does this idiot think he is, firing on *my*, ship? Well, he's about to learn who he's dealing with."

"Um, Mara." The tone her friend's voice caused Mara to glance in her direction. She was looking at her displays in shock.

Leaning over, she took a peak at the display. She bolted to her feet to get a better look at what they were up against, as color drained from her face.

"We're in trouble." No less then thirty ships surrounded the *Jade's Fire*. All with weapons, all trained on them.

"What have I gotten us into?" Faughn asked in shock.

---

Leia was sitting in her office finishing up the last bit off paperwork for the night when her comm beeped.

"Organa-Solo."

"Leia, I'm glad I caught you before you went home," a male voice said in return.

"Karrde, is everything alright?"

"No," he said, his voice sounding strained. "It's Mara. I need your help."

"What happened?" Leia asked, suddenly worried. "What's wrong with Mara?" For Karrde to be calling, Leia knew it was bad.

"She's missing."

"Missing?" Shock filled Leia at the sound of those two words.

"Leia, where's your brother?"

"He should be at my place. He was meeting us for dinner."

"Do you mind if I join you? I think this is something you guys need to know about."

"Talon?" She asked, intending to get more information.

"Just meet me there, ok?"

___

Leia burst into the apartment with Talon hot on her heals. Her heart was beating so fast she was sure it was going to explode. *I'm out of shape.* She scolded herself.

"Is Luke here yet?" Leia asked, skidding to a halt in front of her husband.

"No, he hasn't got here yet, what's wrong?" Han asked, glancing from Leia to Karrde. "Leia, what's going on? What's wrong?"

Leia took a breath and looked at her husband, willing her heart to slow down. "Mara's missing," she told him.

"Missing how?"

"Her ship was attacked," Karrde informed him. "Her co-pilot, Faughn returned a few hours ago on public transport, they are asking for a ransom."

"And Luke…" Han asked. The look in his eyes, Leia knew he understood the depth of her worry.

"Doesn't know yet," she admitted.

"He knew something was going to happen," Han said, rising his hand to his face. "He told me so the night at dinner after she left."

"He normally does." Her heart was breaking. This was the last thing Luke needed to deal with, but there was no way she could not tell him. He would know anyway.

"Have you talked to him?" Karrde asked Han. "Do you know when he will be here? We need to move on this."

"I talked to him just a few minutes ago. He is on his way over."

"He's already here," Leia said, just before the door announcer sounded. Han walked quickly to the door and escorted Luke back inside.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked, as soon as he entered the room. He looked from one person to the other.

"There is no easy way to say this, Luke," Leia began. "Mara had trouble on this run, her ship was attacked and captured."

"What? What did you say?" Luke stepped closer to his sister, his apprehension growing.

"Mara has been kidnapped." Leia whispered and prepared herself for Luke's reaction. She fully expected him to break down with this newest trauma in his life and was saddened to know she was right when Luke whispered no and his shoulders slumped. Just as she started to envelope him in a loving embrace, her brother transformed right before her eyes. Luke's shoulders squared and he took a deep breath, closing his eyes briefly. When they reopened, Leia shivered at the intense heat of his gaze.

"Luke?"

The calm Jedi demeanor had returned, but there was something else there that Leia had not seen since Bespin. Luke was withdrawing into himself, hording his emotions and showing only his legendary strength of will.

"Where is she?" he asked.

"We are going to get her back," Karrde told him, carefully.

Luke turned his ice blue eyes on the man standing across from him. "No," he stated, his voice hard. "Just tell me where she is. I can handle this."

"Luke, that's crazy. There is no reason for you to go on your own." He turned his gaze to his sister. The intensity of his gaze killed anything she would have said next. Looking back at Karrde he asked him again.

"This is the ransom letter we got. It's all the information I have." Luke took the data pad Karrde offered and read it over.

"That's it?" Luke asked, handing the datapad back.

"This was sent back with Faughn. We have heard no other word."

Luke sighed, and looked at his sister and best friend. With a frown, he turned for the door. Karrde grabbed his arm. "Luke, wait! There is no reason for you to do go out there alone."

"Why should I let you help?" Luke asked, his voice lowering in what sounded like anger.

"Why should you *let* me? You're not going on your own. She is a member of my crew. I have to help her."

"You could have helped her by *not* sending her on this run," Luke snapped.

"What?" Karrde shot back. "Let's get one thing straight, here and now, Skywalker. I never send my employees into a job where I know that their lives may be in danger. If I know there is serious risk, I simply don't send anyone, unless they volunteer. When they *are* in danger, I do what I can to rescue them. Which is what I plan to do now." Karrde's eyes went wide when he realized what he had just told the young man.

"Volunteer? She wanted to go?" Luke asked, the anger in his eyes quickly turning to confusion. "Why? Why would she want to leave just after…" He shook his head as if to clear it. "It doesn't matter, I'm going. I'll call if I need your help." With that, he was out the door.

"That confidence of his is going to get him killed one of these days," Han stated.

Leia signed, rubbing the back of her neck. "It's not that, Han. He actually feels that he is the only one that can save her."

"Sister or Jedi thing?" Han asked.

"Both."

Karrde stood watching the two of them in astonishment. "Are you two just going to let him leave like that?"

"You are the one that told him where to find her," Han pointed out.

"You saw how he was, Karrde," Leia said, her frustration finding it's way into her voice. "Do you know a way I could have stopped him?"

"What if he can't get her out? Maybe I should just give the guy the ransom."

"Just give him some time, Karrde," Leia pleaded, worried how Luke would react to interference in his current state of mind. "Luke has accomplished harder things then this."

"He was in a more rational state of mind at those times."

"When have you ever known that kid to be in a rational state of mind?"

Leia threw her husband a warning look. "Just please give him a little time."