Chapter 6
Mara walked along the hangers reading the signs posted above each entrance, looking for something that fit her needs. They had landed during the night, deciding to get a few hours sleep while waiting for the town to wake up. She had left the ship early that morning, leaving before Luke exited the refresher so that she would not have to tell him she wanted to do this on her own. Locating a hanger that looked promising, she went inside.
"May I help you?" asked the young man inside. He was leaning casually against a desk, wiping his hands on a rag.
"That depends," Mara stated, placing her hands on her hips. "I am trying to find someone in this town with the knowledge needed to fix my ship."
"Your ship?" he repeated, his eyes shining. "Yes, of course. We fix everything here."
"I bet you do," Mara said, wishing she could just get this over with so she could be closer to getting away from the planet.
"For a price."
"Of course," Mara said, tossing her hands up and rolling her eyes. Everyone was the same, always worried about credits.
"What seems to be the trouble with your ship?" The young man asked, reaching behind him and snatching up a datapad from the desk. "Then we can be certain that I'll be able to help you."
"The hyperdrive. All I really need is the parts. I can fix it myself."
"That's a big job to do alone," he said, smiling.
"Who said I was alone? Do you have the parts or not?" Mara knew she had no desire to fix the ship herself. She would not only end up with having to buy all the tools, but the extra hours she had to put in - with Skywalker, she added silently - were too much.
"Yes," he said, checking the datapad again. "We either have the parts you need or can get them fairly quickly. Though I can't just sell the parts, I can fix your ship for you."
Mara looked at him with disbelief. "You do not even know what type of ship I have, or the damage."
"Doesn't matter," he said, matter of factly.
Mara stared at him, raising one eyebrow. "Worked on a lot of hyperdrives have you?"
"Sure," the guy said. "We get them a lot."
"Do you now? And why is that?"
"Because," he said, smiling at her. "The best way to stop a ship from leaving is to have another ship knock out the hyperdrive."
"What?" Mara exclaimed, shocked that this guy would know what happened to her. As she thought about it a little more, something else occurred to her. "You're saying this is a common thing?"
"We get a lot of people coming here looking for ship repair. We don't question it. It's one of our biggest businesses around here."
Mara just stared at him, her anger starting to rise. To think she flew into this scheme with her eyes open was nothing less then irritating. "How long will the repairs take?" she asked, changing the subject. The frustration she felt threatening to send her into a rage.
"A few days. A week at most, depending on the extent of the damage."
"A week!"
"That's at most," he added quickly. "Most likely sooner. I'll do my best to get the work done as quickly as possible."
"See that you do…" Mara said. A week. If it wasn't bad enough that she would be stuck on this planet, she just knew Skywalker would not leave until he knew she was on her way home.
She informed the guy of where she had landed her ship and arranged for it to be moved to the shop's hanger, filling out all the proper forms. Then she stormed back to her ship.
Luke climbed the ladder to his X-wing. He was preparing his ship, making sure it would be secure during the repairs. When he woke up that morning, Mara had still been on the ship, but she had left before he had spoken to her. It was just as well, he decided, it saved them from arguing over the point of who would search for someone to fix the ship and who would stay behind to secure the ship. Leaning inside he reached behind the seat and grabbed the sliver case he had stored there. Placing it on the hull of his fighter craft, he proceeded in closing and locking the hatch. Mara had been adamant about locking everything down before letting anyone work on her ship. Not that there was much left on the ship that needed to be secured after her captors were done with it. Understanding her reason for the precautions though, he was making certain that the only thing of his that would be left on the ship would likewise be protected. He felt Mara approaching, grabbed his belongings, jumped to the deck, and headed to the front of the ship. He snatched up the bag she had dropped just inside the ship and was walking down the ramp as she arrived.
"Everything set?" he asked, handing Mara her bag. He studied her, noticing how tense she was. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Mara said, shaking her head to clear it.
"No, what's going on?"
"It's everything," Mara admitted, reluctantly. "This whole thing was just a big scheme."
"What was?" Luke asked, thoroughly confused as to what was upsetting her.
"It's not important Luke." Luke did not back down, he continued starring at her. "Oh, it just gets under my skin," she continued. "To think that those guys set a trap, shooting down ships so that this town could make some money off the repairs. It would seem that when they found out who I was, they decided to make a little more money. It just makes me mad that I stayed for so long. That I didn't blast my way out of there when we first landed on this blasted planet."
"You escaped and no one was hurt. Whether you realize it or not, Mara, that's something to be proud of." Mara just snorted in response. Luke smiled. "Let's just get out of here. I talked to a few people around here and I think I can find our way to the hotel. Do you have everything you need in that bag or do you need to go back inside?"
"No, everything is here," she said, looking at him. "I'm all set, Skywalker, I will be out of here in a week. Thank you for all your help."
"I'm not going anywhere," he told her, sounding shocked that she would suggest such a thing.
Mara rolled her eyes. "How did I know you would say that? You have other things you need to do. You should get going. Don't worry about those goons. I am sure they figured we blasted off this rock by now. I don't think they will come looking for me."
"But they might. If what you said is correct then they may know we are still here. No, I'll be fine here until you get underway."
Mara was frustrated as she stormed away from her ship. They left, following the directions Luke hand managed to get from the owner of the hanger they were renting.
"Now what?" Mara asked, dropping into a chair in the lobby of the hotel. They had arrived there to find out that there was not a single room for rent in the entire town. It seemed they had the wonderful timing of breaking down during one of the towns biggest festivals.
"We could always stay on the *Fire*," Luke offered.
"Bad idea. If I have to watch the repairs I may end up shooting someone."
"Not a good idea if you want the job done well," Luke said.
"Oh, I don't know," Mara said, looking up at Luke. "It worked well for some people."
"Naw, you're too pretty to be my father," Luke replied with a straight face. That made Mara laugh and soon had Luke laughing with her. Then they lapsed into silence, trying to decide what they should do next
Behind the counter, a man and woman talked while glancing back at the two people that had entered looking for rooms.
"They are waiting for repairs," the woman said. "They could not have known about the festival."
"They will not find a room in this town," the man said, with genuine regret in his voice. "Not this week."
"Is there anything we can do to help?" The woman asked.
"Maybe. Hey, wait right there," the man called to the two that were still sitting in the lobby. "I might be able to find something. Could you wait a few minutes while I check on something?"
"It is not like we have much of a choice," the red haired woman called back.
"Mara!" The rest of the conversation was spoken too low to be heard, and the clerk turned to the task of finding these two some rooms.
It was twenty minutes later before the clerks were finished with their search.
"We found a few things," the male clerk explained, after he called Mara and Luke back over. "It's not exactly what you were looking for. We have located a double room. Two beds."
"Oh, no," Mara said, looking at Luke. "I am not sharing a room with you."
"Well," the clerk added. "We did find one other room." Mara's eyes lit up at his words. "On the other side of town." Mara looked at Luke, knowing before he spoke that it would not work. There would be no point in him staying if they were that far apart.
"No way," he said, shaking his head. "There would be no way I could get to you if the need arose."
"Fine!" She said, turning away from them. "Do whatever you want. I am tired of all this. I just want a room."
They arrived at the room and Luke opened the door. Mara walked past him and threw her bag on one of the beds. The room was small, with the two beds taking up most of the it. A long dresser sat in front of them and a small table was pushed over in the corner, next to the windows.
"Mara, I wish you would cheer up, it's not as bad as you're thinking. See, two beds. Everything will be fine."
"If you say so."
"What are you so upset about?"
Mara looked him astonished. "What am I upset about? I was shot at, kidnapped, harassed, and made to look like a fool. Now I have to sit around until some grease monkey has a chance to fix my ship."
"But you forgot the worst part, Mara." Luke said as she sat down on the bed.
"Oh, what's that?" Mara asked, letting herself fall backwards.
"You're stuck here with me."
"No," Mara said, waving her hands in the air. "I have been thinking about that. It could be worse. You could have been Lando."
Luke laughed along with her as he looked out the window. "It seems like we got here just in time. It looks like rain." He looked over at Mara who had got up off the bed and had looked into her bag. She pulled a box out and was looking at it with disgust. "What?"
"Nothing," she said, stuffing the box back in her bag.
"Mara would you stop doing that," Luke said, walking from the window to stand in front of her. "What's the matter?"
She looked up at him, a smirk forming on her face. "I just realized I was hungry."
"You brought food from the ship didn't you?"
"Sure. Rations." She pulled the box back out, opening it and showing it to Luke. "Anything here look good to you?"
"Ugh … Mara, how old are those?"
"I have no idea. This was all that was left." She closed the box and tossed it in the trash compactor. "Seems they took the rations along with everything else."
"I see the problem." He glanced back out the window. "Well I guess I need to go out and get something."
"You sure?"
"Well, I am certainly not eating that!" Luke said with a smile.
"I could go with you." Mara offered, not sounding like she really wanted to.
"No, I think I can handle it."
"I don't know. Those food venders are a tough lot. You think a Jedi Master is enough to handle them?"
"It's a tough job, but I think I can handle it." Mara shook her head and smiled as he walked out the door. She looked in her bag, pulled out a travel cup and filled it with water. Taking her water, she sat down at the small terminal in the room and logged in to check her messages. She sat the cup down after taking a sip, and it splashed over the side onto the table. Walking back to the refresher, she grabbed a towel. Scolding herself, she cleaned up the mess and sat the towel aside, then began scanning through her messages. She did not see anything majorly important, so went to the first one and began reading.
The door opened again as she finished a message to Karrde, telling him that she was fine and informing him when she would be arriving back. Luke came running in with two bags in his hands.
"What happened to you?" Mara exclaimed. His hair was plastered to his head and his clothes were dripping.
"I tried to beat the rain back. I didn't make it." Luke ran his hands through his hair, making it stand on end. "I am completely soaked," he said, shaking his head, spraying water everywhere.
"Yes, and now I am too!" Mara exclaimed, protecting her face with her hands. She grabbed the towel she had discarded and threw it at him.
Luke laughed as he dried his hair. He reached under the bed, pulling out the sliver case he had stashed under there.
"What put you in such a good mood?" Mara asked, his smile becoming contagious.
"I don't know," Luke said, his eyes shining. "Nothing put me in a good mood. Must be your company, Jade."
"Sure it is. So, what did you get to eat?"
"I found a little place not far from here. I got a little bit of everything," Luke told her, finishing with his hair and wrapping the towel around his neck. Pulling uncomfortably at his clothes, he crouched down on the floor and opened the case. "Good thing I remembered to grab this thing."
"What's in there?" Mara asked, glancing over his shoulder.
"Clothes," he told her. "I have had too many trips take longer than expected. So, now I always keep extra clothes in the X-wing."
"Really?" Mara asked, surprised. "Do you still use that ship a lot?"
Luke made a face. His smile threatening to break free at any moment. "Not as much as I used to. I don't even remember what I have packed in here."
"I bet I know," Mara said, placing her hands on the case to keep him from opening it. "Black Pants and a matching black shirt."
Luke opened the case and looked at her in mock surprise. "You're right! How'd you know!"
Mara laughed, his mood bringing her spirits up.
"Good, I even have a pair of sleep pants and a shirt," Luke said to himself, pulling the old white clothes out and placing them on the bed.
"Hey wait a minute, those can't be yours."
"Why?" Luke looked confused.
"Because they are not black!"
Luke smiled too. "Well that just goes to show that you do not know everything about me. I wear all sorts of colors when no one's looking."
"Ohh… Like what?" Mara asked trying to peek into the case.
"Nope, nothing in there. Guess you'll never know."
He was laughing again, Mara noticed as she stepped over to the window. He really seemed to be relaxed and she found that pleased her. His mood lately had worried her, and she felt relieved that he was feeling better. Luke continued looking through his case gathering the things he would need for a shower. Collecting everything he needed, he left the room. Mara stayed at the window for the ten minutes it took him to shower and re-enter the room.
"You are not eating?" he asked, still towel drying his hair.
"I was waiting for you," she said. He was standing there in his lose pants and shirt and bare feet, organizing the things before them away.
"Oh well, I will be done in just a second." He went back to his case, rummaging through it again. Mara turned her attention back to the rain beating against the window. Suddenly she was assaulted by a strong sense of loss. She spun around to see Luke still crouched on the floor.
"What's wrong?" she asked worried.
Luke started, then gathered up something in his hand, and crammed it into his pocket. "Nothing's wrong."
"That was nothing?" she asked, her eyes wide from the adrenaline that was suddenly rushing through her body.
"I just found something," he told her apologetically. "I forgot it was there."
"What is it?"
He pulled the object out of his pocket, and held it out to her. He let it fall and hang from his fingers. It was a small metallic heart bound to a chain.
"That's beautiful. Where did you get it?"
Luke cleared his throat and put it back in his pocket. "It was Arielle's. I forgot I put it in there."
She now understood his feeling of loss. The sudden reminder of such a painful event seemed to change his mood considerably. "I'm sorry, Skywalker. If I had never asked you to go out…"
"I would have just found it later. This is not your fault." She looked at him again. The pain had returned to his eyes, and Mara found herself wishing she could have kept it a bay for more then a few hours.
She walked to the table where he had put the food down and started pulling things out of the bag.
They sat down to eat, and neither dared to look up at the other. Mara, being so well attuned to the Jedi Master's mood, could feel his distress. It pained her that events that had been out of his control still touched him so deeply. The meal proceeded in complete silence, each lost in their own thoughts and pains.
Luke finished the last of his food, pushed his empty containers away, and stood up. "Well, it's getting late." He gathered up his trash and dropped it in the compactor. Then he walked to his bed and laid down. Mara sighed and walked into the fresher, returning a few minutes later. She turned off the lights and sat at the edge of her bed. She was removing her boots when Luke rolled over to look at her.
"You're sleeping in that?" he asked, indicating the oversized blue flight suit she still wore.
"Well, it's not like I have much of a choice," came Mara's annoyed reply.
"Why?"
"They took all my clothes when they cleaned out my ship."
"Why didn't you say something? I can let you use mine." He crawled to the edge of the bed, flopping down on his stomach and reached for the case that was still on the floor. Opening it, he pulled out the black shirt and started to hand it to her.
"I'm not taking your only clean shirt. What would you wear tomorrow, the wet one?"
"It might be dry by then," he said, returning to his previous position on the bed.
"Come on, Skywalker. I'll be fine in this," she said, undoing the belt and dropping it next to her boots.
"No, here, use this one." Mara turned just in time to see him remove his shirt and toss it at her.
"What are you doing?" She asked, shocked to see him sitting there without anything covering his chest.
"Don't worry about it, Mara," he said, getting back under the blankets. "I will sleep better without it. I hate sleeping in a shirt anyway."
"Then why did you have it?"
"Just in case. Sometimes it's not appropriate to sleep so … freely."
Mara snorted and walked into the refresher again.
Luke squinted his eyes when Mara opened the refresher door, until she turned out the lights. She exited holding her pile of clothes, clad only in his loose shirt, her hair loose around her shoulders. She walked to the bed, dropped her clothes on her bag, and climbed into her bed.
"Goodnight, Skywalker."
"Night, Jade." Luke pulled the blanket up around his shoulders and took a deep breath, trying to keep his emotions under control. He was upset that he had let his emotions jump all over the place the way they had been doing over the past few days. He pulled the necklace out of his pocket to gaze at the only belonging of Arielle's he had kept over the years. He could not believe that after all the time that had passed, seeing it could still affect him so much. Taking another deep breath, he closed his hand around the necklace and he tried to get comfortable enough to fall asleep. Pushing the feelings deep down where they normally stayed.
"You are not helping, you know." He heard Mara state from her bed. "The reason you are still having so many problems with it is because you will not let yourself deal with it."
Luke sighed and turned over so he could see her face. "Mara, if it has not gotten easier after all this time, I doubt it ever will."
"How do you know that?" Mara asked, propping herself up on her elbow. "Have you ever given yourself the chance to deal with it?"
"Deal with what?" he asked, his voice rising slightly. "How do I deal with the fact that I stood there and watched my family get murdered and did nothing to save them?"
"What could you have done?" Mara asked.
"Something, anything," he said, rubbing his face with both hands, the old frustration starting to burn his insides again.
"You have said, many times, how hard it was to deal with the death of your aunt and uncle, and all your friends you lost during the war."
"Your point is?"
"That you were able to deal with their deaths. Why is this so different?"
"Because," he said, wondering why he was even taking the time to explain it. "I was not in a position to prevent the others. I didn't do anything to save them, Mara. I did not move, yell, anything. When I saw her with the blaster I froze. I couldn't move. I keep thinking that if I had moved, or spoke, they would be alive."
"Luke, you were just a kid," she told him, sounding shocked at his statement.
"But they were still my responsibility!" he exclaimed, sitting up in bed. He felt like he was going to explode with all the emotion that was flowing through him at that moment. "Don't you see? If I had been stronger, less afraid, they would not be dead. This is my fault. I should have been able to save them."
"You can't save everyone, Jedi," she shouted at him.
Luke took a deep breath, running his hands over his face again. He fought to get his emotions under control again. "You know what, Mara," he said a few moments later. "I will do everything in my power, to save as many people as I can."
"Saving all those people Luke, it won't bring your family back."
"I know," he said, knowing she was right, but still wanting her to understand what he felt. "But maybe, one day, it will help me get over the guilt."
