Disclaimer: George Lucas owns these characters; I'm just treating them right.
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Same as before
RETURN TO SELF--CHAPTER 2
The universe was alive.
With all the time she had spent with her infant son, Mara Jade Skywalker had forgotten how
much energy there was in the universe. Now, sitting in the cockpit of her "loaned" B-Wing,
she was allowed to feel the life around her again. Some people might have considered the
sensation overwhelming, but it was a welcome change for Mara. Surrounded by death and
destruction for so long, she had lost a lot of hope.
But then Ryft had been conceived, despite her illness and their best attempts to wait. His
birth had filled them with wonder and fear. They were amazed that he had ten fingers and
ten toes, but the bubble around him that made using the Force impossible caused them great
concern.
Secretly, Mara blamed her illness. Two healthy Jedi don't generally produce mutated,
Force-less children. She wouldn't tell Luke this, of course; he had decided that the child's
vacuum was merely a chance of the Force, something no one could control.
She allowed him to believe that.
Yawning, Mara looked down at the display and her heart stopped for an instant. In ten more
minutes, she would be entering the Duros system. She had planned it all in her mind: flying
in at sub-light speeds, she would get half-way around the planet before they targeted her.
Fire one "lucky" shot into their laser-black hole, fire a few she knew wouldn't go in, and
then allow herself to be captured.
Simple, right?
Despite the situation, Mara felt herself smiling. This was what she loved--the thrill of the
fight, the danger of getting caught. Not very Jedi-like, but a trader, or an ex-Sith
apprentice, would revel in those feelings. As much as her "advanced years" had brought on
a calm, there was still a part of her that wanted to be reckless and aggressive.
The warning klaxon sounded and Mara buckled into her seat tightly. She held her breath as
the lines of hyperspace disappeared and once again became tiny pin points of light. The
mechanical moons still hung in their orbit above the murky planet, but Mara doubted they
would last much longer. The Vong didn't keep many promises.
Slowing her ship down to half-throttle, Mara dove gently towards the surface of the
uninhabitable planet. Her scan of the planet served two purposes: one, her story of
reconnaisance could later be proven and two, she wanted to know where the largest
concentrations of prisoners were.
Hand on the wheel and tiller, she began a slow moment to starboard and away from the
planet. Straightening out the vehicle, she then began to travel to port, circling the planet as
she scanned for other settlements.
Her targeting and proximity alarms began blaring simultaneously; the Yuuzhan Vong were
right on time. She began some basic evasive maneuvers as she powered up her laser and
ion cannons.
They got off a few lucky shots. She felt the ship rock as several of their weapons fired at
her starboard ion cannon. A shot to the tail of her ship set her into a momentary spin, which
she corrected instinctively.
With one ship finally in her sites, she fired wide with her laser, then hit straight on with her ion cannon. As was to be expected, the Vong ship was not damanged. Next, she moved her
ship hard to port, then hard to starboard, trying to avoid the weapons fire around her.
Another ship fell into her sites and opened a mini-black hole off its own port side. She fired
high, hitting the dovin basal with some of the laser, while the rest of it got sucked into the
abyss. Her sensors, modified to pick up a loss in the Vong shields, was showing a blue
outline around the ship, an outline that had once been bright red. Another few shots at the
dovin basal and then....
She set off a large, full power blast from both her ion cannon and lasers. The display was
marvelously morbid as the ship flew into a thousand different pieces.
She looked down at the status of her ship: aft shields were holding, life support was
nominal. Her starboard ion cannon was pretty much useless, and her tail had been scorched
pretty badly.
*Not bad for an infirm Jedi* she thought.
Two sudden tugs from her right and left startled her. Looking out her viewport, she saw that
two of the ships she had been fighting were emitting their gravity wells around her. She was
trapped. She put up a decent fight, moving the ship around in their make-shift tractor beam,
even attempting to escape out the front and back.
The planet got larger and larger on her view screen. They passed over the destroyed
settlement of their last attack, and memories of Jaina, Jacen and Leia's injuries came
flooding back to her. With a deep inhaling and exhaling, Mara pushed those thoughts out of
her mind. Her friends would not be of any use to her any more. She was here to save them.
The landing on the planet was rough. Mara pulled a blaster from a hidden compartment as
she heard the door open to her ship. The sound of two...no three Yuuzhan Vong coming
towards her was eeire in its familiarity. How many times had she seen these creatures?
How many times had she fought this battle?
The door to the cockpit opened and she ducked into her chair, firing several shots around the
side of it. They had little effect, and she was not surprised when she was picked up by the
collar of her flight suit and thrown to the deck.
"Have you come to sacrifice yourself to the gods?" one of them asked. He looked like
almost every Vong she had seen--scars, tattoos, bones broken and never realigned.
"Actually, I was hear to purge the galaxy of you." She looked up to her captors. "Guess I
needed more back up."
The two of them began to talk to each other in their own language, and the one who had not
said anything to her yet placed a foot firm on her back. She wasn't going anywhere.
"We will take you to the War Master," her friend finally said. "He will decide your fate."
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Same as before
RETURN TO SELF--CHAPTER 2
The universe was alive.
With all the time she had spent with her infant son, Mara Jade Skywalker had forgotten how
much energy there was in the universe. Now, sitting in the cockpit of her "loaned" B-Wing,
she was allowed to feel the life around her again. Some people might have considered the
sensation overwhelming, but it was a welcome change for Mara. Surrounded by death and
destruction for so long, she had lost a lot of hope.
But then Ryft had been conceived, despite her illness and their best attempts to wait. His
birth had filled them with wonder and fear. They were amazed that he had ten fingers and
ten toes, but the bubble around him that made using the Force impossible caused them great
concern.
Secretly, Mara blamed her illness. Two healthy Jedi don't generally produce mutated,
Force-less children. She wouldn't tell Luke this, of course; he had decided that the child's
vacuum was merely a chance of the Force, something no one could control.
She allowed him to believe that.
Yawning, Mara looked down at the display and her heart stopped for an instant. In ten more
minutes, she would be entering the Duros system. She had planned it all in her mind: flying
in at sub-light speeds, she would get half-way around the planet before they targeted her.
Fire one "lucky" shot into their laser-black hole, fire a few she knew wouldn't go in, and
then allow herself to be captured.
Simple, right?
Despite the situation, Mara felt herself smiling. This was what she loved--the thrill of the
fight, the danger of getting caught. Not very Jedi-like, but a trader, or an ex-Sith
apprentice, would revel in those feelings. As much as her "advanced years" had brought on
a calm, there was still a part of her that wanted to be reckless and aggressive.
The warning klaxon sounded and Mara buckled into her seat tightly. She held her breath as
the lines of hyperspace disappeared and once again became tiny pin points of light. The
mechanical moons still hung in their orbit above the murky planet, but Mara doubted they
would last much longer. The Vong didn't keep many promises.
Slowing her ship down to half-throttle, Mara dove gently towards the surface of the
uninhabitable planet. Her scan of the planet served two purposes: one, her story of
reconnaisance could later be proven and two, she wanted to know where the largest
concentrations of prisoners were.
Hand on the wheel and tiller, she began a slow moment to starboard and away from the
planet. Straightening out the vehicle, she then began to travel to port, circling the planet as
she scanned for other settlements.
Her targeting and proximity alarms began blaring simultaneously; the Yuuzhan Vong were
right on time. She began some basic evasive maneuvers as she powered up her laser and
ion cannons.
They got off a few lucky shots. She felt the ship rock as several of their weapons fired at
her starboard ion cannon. A shot to the tail of her ship set her into a momentary spin, which
she corrected instinctively.
With one ship finally in her sites, she fired wide with her laser, then hit straight on with her ion cannon. As was to be expected, the Vong ship was not damanged. Next, she moved her
ship hard to port, then hard to starboard, trying to avoid the weapons fire around her.
Another ship fell into her sites and opened a mini-black hole off its own port side. She fired
high, hitting the dovin basal with some of the laser, while the rest of it got sucked into the
abyss. Her sensors, modified to pick up a loss in the Vong shields, was showing a blue
outline around the ship, an outline that had once been bright red. Another few shots at the
dovin basal and then....
She set off a large, full power blast from both her ion cannon and lasers. The display was
marvelously morbid as the ship flew into a thousand different pieces.
She looked down at the status of her ship: aft shields were holding, life support was
nominal. Her starboard ion cannon was pretty much useless, and her tail had been scorched
pretty badly.
*Not bad for an infirm Jedi* she thought.
Two sudden tugs from her right and left startled her. Looking out her viewport, she saw that
two of the ships she had been fighting were emitting their gravity wells around her. She was
trapped. She put up a decent fight, moving the ship around in their make-shift tractor beam,
even attempting to escape out the front and back.
The planet got larger and larger on her view screen. They passed over the destroyed
settlement of their last attack, and memories of Jaina, Jacen and Leia's injuries came
flooding back to her. With a deep inhaling and exhaling, Mara pushed those thoughts out of
her mind. Her friends would not be of any use to her any more. She was here to save them.
The landing on the planet was rough. Mara pulled a blaster from a hidden compartment as
she heard the door open to her ship. The sound of two...no three Yuuzhan Vong coming
towards her was eeire in its familiarity. How many times had she seen these creatures?
How many times had she fought this battle?
The door to the cockpit opened and she ducked into her chair, firing several shots around the
side of it. They had little effect, and she was not surprised when she was picked up by the
collar of her flight suit and thrown to the deck.
"Have you come to sacrifice yourself to the gods?" one of them asked. He looked like
almost every Vong she had seen--scars, tattoos, bones broken and never realigned.
"Actually, I was hear to purge the galaxy of you." She looked up to her captors. "Guess I
needed more back up."
The two of them began to talk to each other in their own language, and the one who had not
said anything to her yet placed a foot firm on her back. She wasn't going anywhere.
"We will take you to the War Master," her friend finally said. "He will decide your fate."
