Disclaimer: All characters in here, with the exception of Maara Jade, are the sole property of Lucasfilm. I'm just playing with them, and only for fun. I'm not making a single red cent. Maara Jade created 1996 by Sithspit.
PART ONE
The Fall of Kyp Durron
"You must leave here, Kyp."
"But Master Skywalker, why?"
Luke Skywalker sighed and looked wearily at Kyp. "Why? Kyp, you should know that your actions concerning Qwi Xux were abominable for a Jedi." He shifted in his seat and continued, "You must leave here and never return."
Kyp sat before his teacher in open-mouthed astonishment. "But Master Skywalker, I atoned for my actions and even Qwi has forgiven me. Why must I leave?"
The first of the new Jedi began to get a little exasperated. He snapped, "Because you reneged on a deal, and that's dishonorable! If you weren't going to finish your little side venture for the Empire, you shouldn't have spent the credits they paid you after you had 'atoned'!" Taking a deep breath, the Jedi Master ran through a veritable plethora of mind calming techniques. In response to Mara's telepathic query, Luke sent a soothing, calming thought back to her to let her know that he wasn't going to kill Kyp.
*Yet*, she sent back wryly.
Luke smiled a quiet little smile and continued, "Kyp, everything you did while under Exar Kun's thrall has been forgiven, but business is business. You have the options of finishing the task for them, killing yourself, or paying the Empire back. Frankly, I don't think you can pay the money back, you can't kill Qwi because then I would have to kill you. So, you can kill yourself and move on into the Force, let someone else do the job for you, or leave."
Kyp gaped. His eyes bugged and his mouthed moved like a Mon Cal lying in Tatooine's Dune Sea, quietly desiccating under the twin suns of the planet. Open, shut. Open, shut. Finally, he closed his mouth and set it in a firm line. "I will not kill myself and I will not allow someone else to do the job for me. If I don't finish the job, the Imps will hunt me down and kill me. At least if I do it I can always try to atone again. Every other way ends in death."
Luke frowned and said, "Kyp, that way ends with your death also. It would pain me to do so, but I will kill you if you kill Qwi. Don't forget that."
Kyp's head drooped wearily as he ran his fingers through his long hair. "Well, I guess I'll just have to take my chances with the Empire's tender mercies, such as they are."
Luke Skywalker nodded his head in pleased satisfaction. He reached out and placed his hand on Kyp's shoulder "You've made a wise and difficult choice Kyp. You truly have returned to the side of the Light. You may stay here and we will help to protect you as best we can."
Kyp Durron raised his head and shook it with resigned negativity. "No, Master Skywalker. I cannot stay. It would be too dangerous for the Praxeum and would only draw the Empire's attention here to all of you. No. I must leave."
With that, Kyp Durron got up and left the study of the Academy's Master. The Jedi Master sighed and sat heavily into his repulsor chair. Behind him, the private door to his meditation chamber slid silently open and a lithe form fluidly glided into the room. She walked up from behind him and placed both of her hands on his shoulders and began to knead them strongly.
"That feels great," he murmured, finally beginning to relax under her ministrations. He thought back to the forest on Myrkr where those same hands were trembling with the desire to kill him. What a strange galaxy we live in, he thought.
Mara Jade tossed her red-gold hair around to the other side of her face. She thought back to the forest on Myrkr when she had stared down at her hands, holding his lightsaber, and fighting with the desire to kill the man she now loved. What a strange galaxy we live in, she thought.
Mara pursed her full lips and asked, "Do you still think there's hope for him?" Beneath her hands, she felt the change in the muscles under his tunic. Reaching out with her own Jedi senses she felt the ripples in the Force as he tried to sense into the future. She relaxed her grip and tried to reach out on her own. A myriad of scenes and visions assaulted her senses, causing her to gasp and reel in shock. Most of the scenes she saw were from her past. She saw herself dancing in Jabba's palace, her attempt to kill Thrawn, and her fight with the mad Jedi clone Joruus C'baoth. One, however, struck her with incredible force, driving her mind into a whirl of emotions and sensations. It left her cold and burning, numb and tingling, awash in the contradictions of her own feelings. In her vision she saw Kyp Durron, Qwi Xux, Admiral Daala, and Luke's former lover, Callista all standing before her. She saw herself in the vision, herself yet not herself, grinning with a dark evil as
she struck down each of the vision people with a hatred that left her stunned and breathless.
"Mara! Mara," Luke said, urgently trying to get her to respond. Just as he began to use a Jedi healing method, she opened her eyes, smiling weakly.
"What happened?" she asked once she was able to concentrate and think clearly. She sat up and immediately regretted it as the world around her began to weave from side to side. Her voice sounded thick and slurred to her, as if coming through partially cooled gelatin. "What happened?" she repeated, blinking owlishly around the room.
"You cried out and fell to the floor," Luke replied. "I called Streen in to help me lift you from the floor to the bed in the meditation chamber."
For the first time, Mara realized she was no longer in the outer office of Luke's quarters and that Streen was indeed there, looking at her rather concernedly. She also noticed, very much to her surprise, that the sun was almost below the top of the Yavin moons forest.
"Are you all right, Mistress Jade?" Streen asked. He made an ill concealed but admirable attempt to keep the worry out of his voice. "Shall I get you some caf or some of Master Luke's hot chocolate?"
Mara winced as she thought of the drink that Luke so highly regarded. She wondered to herself if it was the sweetness of the drink or the fact that it came from Lando Calrissian that made her dislike it so...
"Actually, Streen, some Whyren's Reserve would be more to my liking at this point," she muttered. "How long was I out?" she asked, rubbing her temples and making a second, successful this time, attempt to sit up and look around.
Luke stroked her hair and told her, "About two and a half hours, I guess. I came out of my trance when you shouted and found you slumped behind my chair. You felt so cold..."
Mara knew that Luke meant her presence in the Force and shivered, remembering the hatred and violence from her vision. She looked up into his concerned eyes and smiled reassuringly. "I'll be fine, Luke. If I took everything C'baoth had to throw at us and made it here then it will take more than some vision to vape me."
Luke's eyes narrowed at that, and for a brief moment it looked as though he were about to ask her about it. She glanced over at Streen and narrowly shook her head, sending him the thought of, *Later*
A grimace and an arched eyebrow later, Luke acquiesced. "I have to go and examine the newest arrivals," he said, rather archly. "I'll check in on you when I can break free."
Mara smiled and sent him a soft, soothing thought. His visage noticeably softened. He knew how hard it was still for her do some things softly, much less tenderly. Her road had been a hard one, and together they were breaking down some of those old barriers. He had learned very early on that she neither wanted nor needed pity, and that her hardness was a strength she had allowed to callous her feelings instead of tempering them. Most importantly, he knew what even that small bit of giving in her feelings must have cost her. He relaxed fully and said, "Good. If you feel up to it, come join us in the 'testing room' in the forest," he offered. "There are a few good prospects in this group. One of them is Chewbacca's niece from Kashyyyk."
Surprise crossed Mara's face as she heard this. "Another Wookiee?" she queried.
Luke laughed as he walked out of the chamber. "Why are you surprised?" He chuckled. "Nobody questions when two to three out of ten potential Jedi are human," he teased.
She followed him out, cursing his gentle rebuke. "That's not what I meant and you know it. Aren't Wookiees a little too... 'temperamental' most of the time for Jedi training?"
"Usually. I've begun to notice that our other Wookiee pupil is rather more even tempered than the average Wookiee. Perhaps this one will be the same."
Knowing their newest pupils' famous uncles' temper, she was slightly skeptical about that. However, she kept her misgivings to herself and she kissed Luke good-bye. She declined meeting the new arrivals, claiming that she was still a little unsteady on her feet, which was true enough. Instead, she turned and went back into the meditation chamber and began exercising her Jedi calming techniques. She had much to meditate upon.
***
Cold. Cold and shivering were her first sensations. As she began to absorb more and more stimuli, she noticed that she was analyzing the sensations and making decisions about them. She opened her eyes, blinking against the brightness and harsh glare of the overhead glow rods. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she looked around and immediately noticed she was without clothing. She knew she had to find some and immediately began to cast about her room. Her room? How did she know that? How did she know that she needed clothes? As she dressed in the robe lying next to her she pondered these and other questions. As she pondered, she realized that many of her answers should be in the computer on the desk. Going to the computer, she found the power switch and activated it. Speaking softly and without hesitation, she entered the correct password at the terminal's prompting. She reached next to the terminal and picked up the towel that was resting there, not once questioning the
particulars of how it came to be there when she needed it. She began to towel off her red-gold hair as she read the scan-docs on the screen. It was all so clear now. She had life now, and that life was hers to accomplish a mission. She must prepare.
Standing up from the terminal, she let the robe fall away from her lithe, graceful body. Going to the wardrobe, she selected a body hugging flight suit and the military style boots sequestered in there. Donning them, she noticed an arm holster and hold out blaster lying on the floor where the boots had been. Putting them on with the outfit, she marveled that they fit her perfectly. Next to the holstered weapon on the floor was a silvery metal cylinder, shining in the dim light of the room with a cold but alluring gleam. A lightsaber! How perfect, she thought. Picking up the weapon, she went back to the terminal and continued reading. As she did, numerous memories began to surface in her mind. A wicked grin spread across her face as she read the last entries. She memorized the codes at the bottom of the screen and shut down the computer. Sitting in front of the terminal, her piercing green eyes sparkled as she began to braid her hair. She mentally ran through the names on the
list the terminal had revealed to her. Finally finished with her hair, she looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. Dressed to kill, Maara thought to herself. She laughed.
***
Cold rain fell outside in the night of Ord Mantell, matching the mood of the person sitting in the back booth. Smoke from tabacc drifted in the thick, humid air, further adding to the murkiness in the mind and soul of that sullen drinker.
Kyp Durron sat in the cantina, nursing his third Durindfire of the last five minutes and brooding over the most recent events of his life.
"How DARE he throw me out," he muttered. "I'll show him. I'll handle the those damned Imps and then the whole problem will be solved." In his drunken state it never occurred to him that he had willingly left the Praxeum, nor did he care. As he raised the drink to his lips a shadow fell across the table, blocking out the light and throwing shadow across the face of the person leaning across it.
"Is this seat taken?"
"Mara! How did you find me? What in space are you doing here, anyway? Did our great and all-knowing master send you?"
"Actually, no, he didn't. I came on my own. There's something we need to talk about and we can't talk here. Is there somewhere we can go and--talk?" As she spoke, she reached out and lightly stroked his forearm.
Kyp frowned, a puzzled look crossing his befuddled face. "About what? And why the sudden interest in me and my welfare?" He pinned her with a wary gaze as he arrogantly tossed his drink back.
"Oh, let's just say I finally opened my eyes to your natural charm. I'm getting tired of Luke. All he does is meditate, meditate, meditate, all day long. He never spends time with me. I've seen the way that you look at me when he's not looking. Come on, admit it. You want me and have since day one," she purred, lightly snaking her pink tongue across her top lip. "Come on, let's go." She grabbed his hand and pulled him out of his seat, dragging him towards the door of the tapcafe. "I know a great place where we can get a little better acquainted."
Kyp tried resisting at first, then finally gave up as she pulled him out of the booth and towards the door. He attempted to detoxify the alcohol from his system, but just could not seem to get it right.
"I must have had more to drink than I thought," he muttered. "Where are we going?"
"Oh, just around the corner to a little place I know."
"Mara, I don't know about this," he said, beginning to get more than a little concerned as he saw where she was bringing him.
Her eyes followed his to the run down spaceport accommodations looming ahead of them. They had obviously seen better days and those days were undoubtedly several years before the fall of the Old Republic. Well, maybe several centuries.
"I promise they aren't as bad on the inside as the outside looks," she assured him. "I stayed here more times than I can count during the Emperor's reign. The owner is a friend of mine."
Kyp frowned and shook his head as if trying to clear the cobwebs that seemed to be exponentially multiplying in his brain. He made several attempts to say something but kept forgetting and restarting himself. Finally he got it out, slurring the words and drooling on himself.
"Not that. I meant ush," he blurted. "Wha' if 'The Great Jhedi Mashter' findsh out an'..."
"He won't," she spat with just a little too much vehemence and venom, sending a brief feeling of uneasiness over Kyp.
Kyp tried to pull away from her but she caught his hands and began to speak soothingly to him, whispering tender apologies and sweet promises to his ego, stroking its bruises and easing its worries. She led him into the unit farthest down the row, looking out and around before shutting the door with a wicked grin.
The unit smelled of alien odors mingled with human sweat. Moisture oozed down the transparisteel viewports and gathered into small lakes at the base of the sashes. The walls bore stains from years of tabacc buildup, yellowed and streaked, marbled with the smoke from decades of weary travelers. She led him down the hall and into the small bedroom at the end. While cleaner and fresher smelling, the furnishings were very sparse. A beaten and dilapidated bureau occupied the far left corner of the room and a freshly turned down bed squatted expectantly in the center of the room. From the far right corner of the small room a glaring light shone from the open refresher as a steady "drip-drip-drip" came from the opening, tapping a slow tattoo into the hard skin of the basin. A single bare glow beam hung from exposed wiring in the center of the room, daring any one and anything to try to hide from its revealing brightness.
Mara pushed Kyp back onto the bed and smiled down at him, all the while whispering soft delights into the fetid air. She slid out of her jumpsuit and smirked at his goggle-eyed perusal of her. She leaned forward and took his face into her hands...
Kyp awakened and tried to look around the room. He found that he could not. The glow beam overhead still shone down accusingly upon him, but he was unable to see anything else until a shadow leaned over him and he recognized the face of Mara Jade. He tried to frown at something that just didn't seem right to him, but the thought fled from his consciousness nearly as fast as it had appeared. Drowsily, he gave up and slept.
Kyp woke up and found that he still could not look around. Fear and hopelessness welled up in his soul as he fruitlessly tried willing himself to move. His face itched horribly and so did several other very delicate areas of his body. He became aware of the stench of human offal and realized with horror that it was coming from his own body. His mind screamed at his body to move, willing it to get up, get up, please get up....
She looked down upon the fallen Jedi and smiled her private satisfaction. The sweetblossom she had paid the bartender to put in his drink at the cantina had made it possible for her to get Durron to his execution spot with ease. Once she arrived at the monoplex she had leased, it was child's play to lead Kyp on and let him think he was about to get very lucky. Well, the luck was all bad. It was so easy to distract him by stripping, (Oh, how she had laughed at the look on his face!), she placed him into a Jedi hibernation trance. She then initiated an IAU into his subclavian vein and set up the IV drip of dextrose and sweetblossom, setting it at a very slow rate of about lOOcc an hour. The IAU line snaked to a tank of fluid that held approximately 500 liters of her witches brew. Also connected to the setup was a fusion generator that would supply power to the IAU pump long after its internal battery had ceased to work. All that remained was to pay the remainder of the lease
for the rest of the year.
Once the IV sweetblossom was well into his system she released the trance and leaned over him so he could get a good look at his executioner. He didn't realize his situation at the time, but at some point in the next few months, before he died, he would. He just wouldn't be able to scream.
PART ONE
The Fall of Kyp Durron
"You must leave here, Kyp."
"But Master Skywalker, why?"
Luke Skywalker sighed and looked wearily at Kyp. "Why? Kyp, you should know that your actions concerning Qwi Xux were abominable for a Jedi." He shifted in his seat and continued, "You must leave here and never return."
Kyp sat before his teacher in open-mouthed astonishment. "But Master Skywalker, I atoned for my actions and even Qwi has forgiven me. Why must I leave?"
The first of the new Jedi began to get a little exasperated. He snapped, "Because you reneged on a deal, and that's dishonorable! If you weren't going to finish your little side venture for the Empire, you shouldn't have spent the credits they paid you after you had 'atoned'!" Taking a deep breath, the Jedi Master ran through a veritable plethora of mind calming techniques. In response to Mara's telepathic query, Luke sent a soothing, calming thought back to her to let her know that he wasn't going to kill Kyp.
*Yet*, she sent back wryly.
Luke smiled a quiet little smile and continued, "Kyp, everything you did while under Exar Kun's thrall has been forgiven, but business is business. You have the options of finishing the task for them, killing yourself, or paying the Empire back. Frankly, I don't think you can pay the money back, you can't kill Qwi because then I would have to kill you. So, you can kill yourself and move on into the Force, let someone else do the job for you, or leave."
Kyp gaped. His eyes bugged and his mouthed moved like a Mon Cal lying in Tatooine's Dune Sea, quietly desiccating under the twin suns of the planet. Open, shut. Open, shut. Finally, he closed his mouth and set it in a firm line. "I will not kill myself and I will not allow someone else to do the job for me. If I don't finish the job, the Imps will hunt me down and kill me. At least if I do it I can always try to atone again. Every other way ends in death."
Luke frowned and said, "Kyp, that way ends with your death also. It would pain me to do so, but I will kill you if you kill Qwi. Don't forget that."
Kyp's head drooped wearily as he ran his fingers through his long hair. "Well, I guess I'll just have to take my chances with the Empire's tender mercies, such as they are."
Luke Skywalker nodded his head in pleased satisfaction. He reached out and placed his hand on Kyp's shoulder "You've made a wise and difficult choice Kyp. You truly have returned to the side of the Light. You may stay here and we will help to protect you as best we can."
Kyp Durron raised his head and shook it with resigned negativity. "No, Master Skywalker. I cannot stay. It would be too dangerous for the Praxeum and would only draw the Empire's attention here to all of you. No. I must leave."
With that, Kyp Durron got up and left the study of the Academy's Master. The Jedi Master sighed and sat heavily into his repulsor chair. Behind him, the private door to his meditation chamber slid silently open and a lithe form fluidly glided into the room. She walked up from behind him and placed both of her hands on his shoulders and began to knead them strongly.
"That feels great," he murmured, finally beginning to relax under her ministrations. He thought back to the forest on Myrkr where those same hands were trembling with the desire to kill him. What a strange galaxy we live in, he thought.
Mara Jade tossed her red-gold hair around to the other side of her face. She thought back to the forest on Myrkr when she had stared down at her hands, holding his lightsaber, and fighting with the desire to kill the man she now loved. What a strange galaxy we live in, she thought.
Mara pursed her full lips and asked, "Do you still think there's hope for him?" Beneath her hands, she felt the change in the muscles under his tunic. Reaching out with her own Jedi senses she felt the ripples in the Force as he tried to sense into the future. She relaxed her grip and tried to reach out on her own. A myriad of scenes and visions assaulted her senses, causing her to gasp and reel in shock. Most of the scenes she saw were from her past. She saw herself dancing in Jabba's palace, her attempt to kill Thrawn, and her fight with the mad Jedi clone Joruus C'baoth. One, however, struck her with incredible force, driving her mind into a whirl of emotions and sensations. It left her cold and burning, numb and tingling, awash in the contradictions of her own feelings. In her vision she saw Kyp Durron, Qwi Xux, Admiral Daala, and Luke's former lover, Callista all standing before her. She saw herself in the vision, herself yet not herself, grinning with a dark evil as
she struck down each of the vision people with a hatred that left her stunned and breathless.
"Mara! Mara," Luke said, urgently trying to get her to respond. Just as he began to use a Jedi healing method, she opened her eyes, smiling weakly.
"What happened?" she asked once she was able to concentrate and think clearly. She sat up and immediately regretted it as the world around her began to weave from side to side. Her voice sounded thick and slurred to her, as if coming through partially cooled gelatin. "What happened?" she repeated, blinking owlishly around the room.
"You cried out and fell to the floor," Luke replied. "I called Streen in to help me lift you from the floor to the bed in the meditation chamber."
For the first time, Mara realized she was no longer in the outer office of Luke's quarters and that Streen was indeed there, looking at her rather concernedly. She also noticed, very much to her surprise, that the sun was almost below the top of the Yavin moons forest.
"Are you all right, Mistress Jade?" Streen asked. He made an ill concealed but admirable attempt to keep the worry out of his voice. "Shall I get you some caf or some of Master Luke's hot chocolate?"
Mara winced as she thought of the drink that Luke so highly regarded. She wondered to herself if it was the sweetness of the drink or the fact that it came from Lando Calrissian that made her dislike it so...
"Actually, Streen, some Whyren's Reserve would be more to my liking at this point," she muttered. "How long was I out?" she asked, rubbing her temples and making a second, successful this time, attempt to sit up and look around.
Luke stroked her hair and told her, "About two and a half hours, I guess. I came out of my trance when you shouted and found you slumped behind my chair. You felt so cold..."
Mara knew that Luke meant her presence in the Force and shivered, remembering the hatred and violence from her vision. She looked up into his concerned eyes and smiled reassuringly. "I'll be fine, Luke. If I took everything C'baoth had to throw at us and made it here then it will take more than some vision to vape me."
Luke's eyes narrowed at that, and for a brief moment it looked as though he were about to ask her about it. She glanced over at Streen and narrowly shook her head, sending him the thought of, *Later*
A grimace and an arched eyebrow later, Luke acquiesced. "I have to go and examine the newest arrivals," he said, rather archly. "I'll check in on you when I can break free."
Mara smiled and sent him a soft, soothing thought. His visage noticeably softened. He knew how hard it was still for her do some things softly, much less tenderly. Her road had been a hard one, and together they were breaking down some of those old barriers. He had learned very early on that she neither wanted nor needed pity, and that her hardness was a strength she had allowed to callous her feelings instead of tempering them. Most importantly, he knew what even that small bit of giving in her feelings must have cost her. He relaxed fully and said, "Good. If you feel up to it, come join us in the 'testing room' in the forest," he offered. "There are a few good prospects in this group. One of them is Chewbacca's niece from Kashyyyk."
Surprise crossed Mara's face as she heard this. "Another Wookiee?" she queried.
Luke laughed as he walked out of the chamber. "Why are you surprised?" He chuckled. "Nobody questions when two to three out of ten potential Jedi are human," he teased.
She followed him out, cursing his gentle rebuke. "That's not what I meant and you know it. Aren't Wookiees a little too... 'temperamental' most of the time for Jedi training?"
"Usually. I've begun to notice that our other Wookiee pupil is rather more even tempered than the average Wookiee. Perhaps this one will be the same."
Knowing their newest pupils' famous uncles' temper, she was slightly skeptical about that. However, she kept her misgivings to herself and she kissed Luke good-bye. She declined meeting the new arrivals, claiming that she was still a little unsteady on her feet, which was true enough. Instead, she turned and went back into the meditation chamber and began exercising her Jedi calming techniques. She had much to meditate upon.
***
Cold. Cold and shivering were her first sensations. As she began to absorb more and more stimuli, she noticed that she was analyzing the sensations and making decisions about them. She opened her eyes, blinking against the brightness and harsh glare of the overhead glow rods. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she looked around and immediately noticed she was without clothing. She knew she had to find some and immediately began to cast about her room. Her room? How did she know that? How did she know that she needed clothes? As she dressed in the robe lying next to her she pondered these and other questions. As she pondered, she realized that many of her answers should be in the computer on the desk. Going to the computer, she found the power switch and activated it. Speaking softly and without hesitation, she entered the correct password at the terminal's prompting. She reached next to the terminal and picked up the towel that was resting there, not once questioning the
particulars of how it came to be there when she needed it. She began to towel off her red-gold hair as she read the scan-docs on the screen. It was all so clear now. She had life now, and that life was hers to accomplish a mission. She must prepare.
Standing up from the terminal, she let the robe fall away from her lithe, graceful body. Going to the wardrobe, she selected a body hugging flight suit and the military style boots sequestered in there. Donning them, she noticed an arm holster and hold out blaster lying on the floor where the boots had been. Putting them on with the outfit, she marveled that they fit her perfectly. Next to the holstered weapon on the floor was a silvery metal cylinder, shining in the dim light of the room with a cold but alluring gleam. A lightsaber! How perfect, she thought. Picking up the weapon, she went back to the terminal and continued reading. As she did, numerous memories began to surface in her mind. A wicked grin spread across her face as she read the last entries. She memorized the codes at the bottom of the screen and shut down the computer. Sitting in front of the terminal, her piercing green eyes sparkled as she began to braid her hair. She mentally ran through the names on the
list the terminal had revealed to her. Finally finished with her hair, she looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. Dressed to kill, Maara thought to herself. She laughed.
***
Cold rain fell outside in the night of Ord Mantell, matching the mood of the person sitting in the back booth. Smoke from tabacc drifted in the thick, humid air, further adding to the murkiness in the mind and soul of that sullen drinker.
Kyp Durron sat in the cantina, nursing his third Durindfire of the last five minutes and brooding over the most recent events of his life.
"How DARE he throw me out," he muttered. "I'll show him. I'll handle the those damned Imps and then the whole problem will be solved." In his drunken state it never occurred to him that he had willingly left the Praxeum, nor did he care. As he raised the drink to his lips a shadow fell across the table, blocking out the light and throwing shadow across the face of the person leaning across it.
"Is this seat taken?"
"Mara! How did you find me? What in space are you doing here, anyway? Did our great and all-knowing master send you?"
"Actually, no, he didn't. I came on my own. There's something we need to talk about and we can't talk here. Is there somewhere we can go and--talk?" As she spoke, she reached out and lightly stroked his forearm.
Kyp frowned, a puzzled look crossing his befuddled face. "About what? And why the sudden interest in me and my welfare?" He pinned her with a wary gaze as he arrogantly tossed his drink back.
"Oh, let's just say I finally opened my eyes to your natural charm. I'm getting tired of Luke. All he does is meditate, meditate, meditate, all day long. He never spends time with me. I've seen the way that you look at me when he's not looking. Come on, admit it. You want me and have since day one," she purred, lightly snaking her pink tongue across her top lip. "Come on, let's go." She grabbed his hand and pulled him out of his seat, dragging him towards the door of the tapcafe. "I know a great place where we can get a little better acquainted."
Kyp tried resisting at first, then finally gave up as she pulled him out of the booth and towards the door. He attempted to detoxify the alcohol from his system, but just could not seem to get it right.
"I must have had more to drink than I thought," he muttered. "Where are we going?"
"Oh, just around the corner to a little place I know."
"Mara, I don't know about this," he said, beginning to get more than a little concerned as he saw where she was bringing him.
Her eyes followed his to the run down spaceport accommodations looming ahead of them. They had obviously seen better days and those days were undoubtedly several years before the fall of the Old Republic. Well, maybe several centuries.
"I promise they aren't as bad on the inside as the outside looks," she assured him. "I stayed here more times than I can count during the Emperor's reign. The owner is a friend of mine."
Kyp frowned and shook his head as if trying to clear the cobwebs that seemed to be exponentially multiplying in his brain. He made several attempts to say something but kept forgetting and restarting himself. Finally he got it out, slurring the words and drooling on himself.
"Not that. I meant ush," he blurted. "Wha' if 'The Great Jhedi Mashter' findsh out an'..."
"He won't," she spat with just a little too much vehemence and venom, sending a brief feeling of uneasiness over Kyp.
Kyp tried to pull away from her but she caught his hands and began to speak soothingly to him, whispering tender apologies and sweet promises to his ego, stroking its bruises and easing its worries. She led him into the unit farthest down the row, looking out and around before shutting the door with a wicked grin.
The unit smelled of alien odors mingled with human sweat. Moisture oozed down the transparisteel viewports and gathered into small lakes at the base of the sashes. The walls bore stains from years of tabacc buildup, yellowed and streaked, marbled with the smoke from decades of weary travelers. She led him down the hall and into the small bedroom at the end. While cleaner and fresher smelling, the furnishings were very sparse. A beaten and dilapidated bureau occupied the far left corner of the room and a freshly turned down bed squatted expectantly in the center of the room. From the far right corner of the small room a glaring light shone from the open refresher as a steady "drip-drip-drip" came from the opening, tapping a slow tattoo into the hard skin of the basin. A single bare glow beam hung from exposed wiring in the center of the room, daring any one and anything to try to hide from its revealing brightness.
Mara pushed Kyp back onto the bed and smiled down at him, all the while whispering soft delights into the fetid air. She slid out of her jumpsuit and smirked at his goggle-eyed perusal of her. She leaned forward and took his face into her hands...
Kyp awakened and tried to look around the room. He found that he could not. The glow beam overhead still shone down accusingly upon him, but he was unable to see anything else until a shadow leaned over him and he recognized the face of Mara Jade. He tried to frown at something that just didn't seem right to him, but the thought fled from his consciousness nearly as fast as it had appeared. Drowsily, he gave up and slept.
Kyp woke up and found that he still could not look around. Fear and hopelessness welled up in his soul as he fruitlessly tried willing himself to move. His face itched horribly and so did several other very delicate areas of his body. He became aware of the stench of human offal and realized with horror that it was coming from his own body. His mind screamed at his body to move, willing it to get up, get up, please get up....
She looked down upon the fallen Jedi and smiled her private satisfaction. The sweetblossom she had paid the bartender to put in his drink at the cantina had made it possible for her to get Durron to his execution spot with ease. Once she arrived at the monoplex she had leased, it was child's play to lead Kyp on and let him think he was about to get very lucky. Well, the luck was all bad. It was so easy to distract him by stripping, (Oh, how she had laughed at the look on his face!), she placed him into a Jedi hibernation trance. She then initiated an IAU into his subclavian vein and set up the IV drip of dextrose and sweetblossom, setting it at a very slow rate of about lOOcc an hour. The IAU line snaked to a tank of fluid that held approximately 500 liters of her witches brew. Also connected to the setup was a fusion generator that would supply power to the IAU pump long after its internal battery had ceased to work. All that remained was to pay the remainder of the lease
for the rest of the year.
Once the IV sweetblossom was well into his system she released the trance and leaned over him so he could get a good look at his executioner. He didn't realize his situation at the time, but at some point in the next few months, before he died, he would. He just wouldn't be able to scream.