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 TWO
A Qwi Essence
As she scanned the textdoc she pondered the meaning contained therein. She pursed her thin, delicate lips as she tapped the table top with her fragile fingers. With a short, sharp blast of air she blew her feathery hair out of her eyes.
Qwi Xux checked the signature down at the bottom of the doc and confirmed for the twelfth time that it was Wedge's.
Why would he change our plans at the last minute like this, she inquired of herself. It was not like the Commander of Rogue Squadron to go back on his word, especially to his fiancee. Yet there it was for her to read in black and white on the flimsyplast sheet:
"Qwi, I will be unable to take you out for our anniversary as I had originally planned. Admiral Ackbar has put some extra unit reports on my desk and I have to get them done. I will call you later. Wedge."
Cursing his sense of duty and at the same time berating herself for doing so, she petulantly flung the datapad across the apartment they shared. She stormed into their bedroom and proceeded to pace and fume at the sheer injustice of it all. She was startled from her reverie by a light rapping at the door of the apartment.
"Come," she called and made an attempt to gather her wits about her. "Maybe Wedge told the Admiral he would do it later," she thought. The door opened and admitted her caller as she stepped into the living area. She stopped and stared in open mouthed surprise at the lithe, graceful figure that glided into the room.
"Mara! You're not Wedge! Wait...why are you here on Coruscant?"
Mara Jade tossed her flaming red-gold mane out of her eyes and sat on the repulsor couch with feline eIan, crossing her shapely legs and leaning into the cushions with a satisfied sigh. She fixed the humanoid with a pointed gaze and an arched eyebrow and dryly said, "Hello to you too, Qwi. Why yes, I would love to sit down, thank you. And how are you?"
Qwi's brow furrowed as she blushed and began to immediately stutter an apology. "I'm so sorry, Mara. I don't know where my mind is. I just wasn't expecting to see you of all people here on Coruscant. In fact, I really don't know what I was thinking."
"Apparently you were thinking of Commander Antilles. I was looking for him but I take it he's not here."
Qwi sat down in the chair opposite Mara and sucked on her bottom lip, looking as if she was about to cry, which she was.
"Well, he is supposed to be here," she said petulantly. "Today is our anniversary and we had plans, but the almighty New Republic Navy called and he ran to do its bidding."
Mara regarded Qwi sadly and said, "Tough break, kid. I tell you what. While the Jade's Fire is down for some repairs, why don't you let me show you around? I think I might be able to find you some sites AND sights you haven't seen before."
Qwi looked startled. Was this actually Mara Jade talking to her that way?
"What kind of sights did you have in mind? I don't think Wedge would like it if I went anywhere dangerous."
Mara gaped at her in slack jawed amazement. "Qwi, he just stood you up on your anniversary! To blazes with what he thinks and to blazes with him!," she spat.
Qwi recoiled from her vehemence and sat there blinking in owlish confusion. "I don't know, Mara. Do you really think I should?"
"Do I? Go find something sexy to wear and be ready to go in 30 minutes. I'm going to change. We're going to have a girl's night out on the town and to hell with Wedge Antilles and his New Republic Navy." She stood with her usual sensuous fluidity and approached the door. At the door she stopped and tossed over her shoulder, "Consider this, Qwi. Just maybe this will shake him enough to get his priorities straight. As far as I'm concerned, right now he's totally backwards."
Qwi pensively stared at Mara's back as she went through the door. Just before she rounded the frame and went out of sight, she called out to her, "Mara, what if he gets mad at you?"
Mara stopped and leaned back around the frame with a huge grin on her face. "After facing off with the Emperor, Grand Admiral Thrawn, an insane Dark Jedi Master, and Luke Skywalker, do you really think I give a flying ranat's ass if Wedge Antilles gets mad at me?"
Qwi could hear her laughing long after the door slid shut behind her. She walked into the bedroom and began rooting through the closet for "something sexy" to wear. She selected the powdery blue off the shoulder gown that very nearly matched her skins' color and texture. As she gazed at the dress that she had planned to wear that evening, she sat on the edge of the bed with tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "But Mara, what if he gets mad at me?"
Softly, she cried.
***
"Oh, my...," Qwi gasped. She was staring in stunned amazement at the micro-mini dress that Mara Jade was very nearly not wearing. Mara spun slowly in place so Qwi could get a good look.
"Well, what do you think?" She purred.
The dress stopped just past the swell of her buttocks and fit her as if sprayed onto her curvaceous body. The back of the dress, if you could call it that, scooped to just above the swell of her buttocks. The strings holding the front in place were nearly non-existent threads that climbed up and around her sculpted neck to tie neatly beneath her wildly teased red-gold tresses. Strategically placed panels of sheer cloth accented the dress and hinted that the best was yet to come from this young woman. It gave her a very predatory look that Qwi thought suited Mara very well. Sensuous, alluring, and "in your face", it fairly screamed "Mara Jade."
"Mara, when you said to find something sexy I had no idea..." she stammered. She looked down at her dress and it paled at the sight of the other's outfit and body.
Mara grinned wickedly and said, "Come on. Let's go look in your closet and find something a little more, ah, revealing."
"Mara, I don't have anything that even comes close to that! Besides, Wedge would go berserk if he found out I went out in something even close to what you're wearing," she choked out.
"Oh, he'll find out something dear. I brought a holocam from the ship to take a holo of us to leave for him. Just so he'll know what he missed." Mara produced a tiny holocamera from somewhere out of sight and Qwi stared in amazement. Where did she have *that* at, she marveled.
Qwi sat down and folded her hands in her lap. She lowered her head to stare at them and said, "I still don't have anything to wear even remotely similar to that."
Mara grinned even more wickedly and chirped, "Must I think of everything?" She strutted back out into the hallway and produced a package with silvery wrapping and a big red bow. "Happy anniversary, Qwi! Now, go get dressed!"
***
Qwi stood before the mirror and stared at the duplicate of herself wearing that scandalous dress. Similar in cut to Mara's, it was a few inches longer (Thank you, Mara, she thought) and less clingy. However, it did have the interesting feature in that it molded itself to her figure, accenting curves she didn't know she had. It also had long sleeves and a high neck that was open in the front of her throat. Whereas Mara's outfit was blacker than Palpatine's heart, hers was blinding white.
"Hey, aren't you ready yet?"
Startled from her thoughts, Qwi jumped at the sound of Mara's voice at the bedroom door and turned to address her, blushing all the while. "Yes! Thank you, Mara. It's gorgeous!"
"Hold still and let me get a shot of you for Wedge. We'll leave it for him to find on the pillow."
"Oh, Mara, get into the picture too! You look too good to not be seen."
Mara lowered the camera after she took the holo of Qwi and chuckled, "Dear, I'm going to be seen quite a bit tonight. Don't you worry about that."
Mara set the camera down and went to stand by Qwi and posed with her. Putting on her most sultry look she pouted at the camera and showed as much leg as she could. SNAP! The camera reset itself as Mara walked over to it and popped out both holos and set them on the pillow. As she stood erect from her crouch, she saw Qwi walk into the refresher. "Be right out," she called.
"Take your time," Mara softly said. Working quickly, she deleted the holos that she had taken, first ensuring that the originals were still in the camera's memory. Then, she accessed the note that Qwi had left for Wedge in the datapad and erased it. In its place, she left one of her own. She had no need to sign it. Qwi already had.
***
Wedge walked into the apartment with the Ithorian flowers hidden behind his back, only scant minutes after the two women had left. He looked all through the space of their home, calling her name and smiling in anticipation. This was a special day. After all, anniversaries only came once a year.
"Qwi! Qwi, where are you? Happy anniversary!" he cried as he jumped through the door of their bedroom. When he didn't find her in the bedroom he became even more puzzled and perplexed. Then he saw the datapad on the pillow. The message light was blinking steadily, a baleful red eye flashing its prophecy that there was a message waiting.
Wedge accessed the message with his and Qwi's passcode and began to read,
"Dear Wedge,
I know that today is our anniversary so I have something special planned. I've booked passage for us on the Core Princess. Don't bother packing. I've taken care of all of our arrangements. Go to the star port and get on board, sailor. I'll be waiting for you."
Qwi
Wedge smiled and whooped his joy, running to and out of his apartment's door, thinking happy thoughts and looking forward to his cruise. Qwi usually did think of everything...
***
For the next several hours Qwi Xux's head spun as she moved through a whirlwind of sights and sounds. Her escort took her to nightclubs she didn't know existed and wouldn't have gone into if she had known.
What she did know was that everywhere they went she and her accomplice were the center of attention. It felt good to her and she found all of the attention very flattering. Even more amazing to her, she completely forgot Commander Antilles and didn't think about him until Jade mentioned him much later in the evening, long after she had become completely ripped.
"How apropos," thought Maara. "Ripped now and ripped later." She chuckled to herself, darkly smiling.
Qwi saw the look and thought it odd. "Mara, what's up?" she asked, her skin crawling up her spine at the sight of the other woman giggling.
Maara took another sip from her drink and smiled brightly. "Oh, nothing. Just thinking about Wedge's face when he sees the holos of you that we took."
Qwi paled at that. "Oh, space," she muttered. "I completely forgot about Wedge. I've got to get back."
She stood up from her seat at the bar and promptly fell right down to a seated position on the floor. She groped rather unsuccessfully for her stool in an attempt to use it to help her achieve a standing position. Maara shook her head and grimaced at her inebriated companion. Reaching down, she helped her up and walked her to the closest public transport and keyed in the code for the apartment.
As they stood waiting for the transport to arrive, Maara noticed several tough looking aliens approaching, all of them standing easily over two meters. The three of them wore identical bantha hide jackets that were sporting durasteel chains and metal studs, glittering in the glare of the streetlights and flashing dangerously. The one in the front, the apparent leader, swaggered up to Qwi and cupped her chin in his filthy hand and said, "Well, well, well. What have we here? Are you little girls lost?"
The other two toughs walked up behind Maara and each grabbed an arm, pinning her between the two of them. The leader leaned over and licked the side of Qwi's face, his breath foul and fetid. Qwi stared at him in horror, anger and revulsion. Without thinking, she promptly did the first thing she could react with.
She vomited on him.
The leader growled in fury and jerked her to stare into his face, his visage twisted in rage. "You BITCH," he snarled. As the leader pulled his arm back to slap her, Maara snatched the distraction that Qwi's vomiting offered to augment her natural strength and speed. With her Jedi training and the skills that clone flash teaching had honed, Maara threw both punks several yards away. She then summoned her lightsaber from where it was levitating over their heads, where it had been all night, high and out of sight. The blade snap-hissed into life and the punks were immediately giving her their complete and undivided attention. She lowered the pitch of her voice and raised the volume using Jedi techniques, giving her a menacing growl.
"I'll say this once, very simply," she hissed. "Leave now or die."
Dark wet stains spread across the fronts of their dirty trousers as they turned and fled in sheer, complete terror.
Qwi fainted.
***
Qwi woke to the hum of a vibroblade thrumming in her left ear.
She twisted her head to the left and tried to pull away, but she found that she could not. She could only look at the thrumming blade in Maara's hand and scream. As she drew in the breath to do so, a vise began to squeeze her throat with invisible talons. Terror gripped her heart and she fainted for the second time that night.
Some time later, a painful shock brought her to full wakefulness, gasping for breath and trying to lurch wildly off the bed. When this didn't work, she looked up at her hands and then down at her feet. Syntherope held all four of her extremities securely to the bed. When she looked down her left side and towards her feet, she saw that Maara was sitting in the chair at the foot of the bed. She appeared to be contemplating her, much as a Hutt would contemplate his next choice of entrees. She had shed her slinky dress, exchanging it for one of her no-nonsense jumpsuits instead. Even in her terror the thought crossed Qwi's mind, Gods, she even looks good in that.
She drew in a breath to scream again, but Maara irritatedly waved her hand and it died in her throat, choked off by the same invisible grip as before.
"Enough of that," she snapped. "You've taken up too much of my time tonight as it is."
Qwi fearfully looked at the woman she assumed was Mara Jade and whined, "Why are you doing this, Mara? What have I done to you to deserve this?"
"First, I am not who you think I am. My name is Maara Jade and I am a clone. Secondly, you've done nothing to me to deserve what I am about to do to you. Lastly, I exist to kill the enemies of a person known to me only as `The Hand', of which you are one. So, with no further ado, it's time to get busy."
Having said this, she snapped on the switch of the vibroblade and began to get up out of the chair. Qwi began to thrash and fight her restraints in a vain and mindless attempt to break free, breaking both of her wrists and both ankles in the process. Blood poured from the open fractures at all four sites, soaking the sheets of the bed and making a general mess.
Maara placed one exquisitely shaped hand on Qwi's forehead and sent her into a paralyzation trance much as she had done to Kyp Durron, allowing her to feel without movement. She then proceeded to filet Qwi's delicate blue skin from her thin, fragile bones. Humming the same frequency as the vibroblade, she mimicked the skinning methods used by the Trandoshan Wookiee hunters. When she finished, Maara took another holo of Qwi's ravaged body and placed it next to the one of Qwi she had taken before leaving. Maybe The Hand will pay a bonus for the extra pain I've caused, she thought.
"Qwi dear, great 'before' holo, terrible 'after'," Maara mused.
Almost negligently, she gestured over the butchered body and floated it into the refresher, placing it on the floor, dripping fluids all the way. After she set her down, she released the paralyzing trance and the hideous creature that was once the most brilliant scientist in the New Republic moaned hoarsely, offering up a ragged, hitching sob.
Maara grabbed Qwi's raw, bloody chin and turned it towards her. Looking into those tortured eyes she saw only madness there, a madness that just wasn't complete enough to free her from the burning, shredding talons of her pain. As Maara released her hold on Qwi's chin, she stood and reached into the hidden holster inside her jumpsuit and loosed the disruptor from its leash. Qwi slowly looked up, her insane, clouded eyes briefly clearing at the sight of the pistol. Trembling with exquisite pain, she reached out to the weapon; it was her release, her savior...her executioner.
Maara moved the weapon away from the stripped fingers that resembled nothing more than claws now. A low moan crept from her oozing lips, ending with one word, begging...
"Please..."
Maara raised the weapon and pointed it at her victim, squeezed the activation stud and ended her suffering.
For long minutes she stood there, placidly contemplating the smoking ashes on the floor before her. Eventually, with a deep breath and a sigh, she left the refresher and went back into the bedroom. She cast about to make certain that she didn't leave anything to incriminate either herself or the real Mara Jade. The real Mara Jade. It was certainly difficult thinking about things like this. What would happen to herself when her mission was complete? What if she made a mistake and the authorities caught her? What if the real Mara Jade hunted her down through the Force and tried to kill her? Would she actually be able to kill her "self"? Why did The Hand insist that they suffer so much before dying? None of her victims had requested creation any more than Maara did.
These thoughts and many more occupied Maara as the Vengeance made the jump into hyperspace, launching into the maelstrom of color and light and leaving the living to mourn the dead...
PART TWO
A Qwi Essence
As she scanned the textdoc she pondered the meaning contained therein. She pursed her thin, delicate lips as she tapped the table top with her fragile fingers. With a short, sharp blast of air she blew her feathery hair out of her eyes.
Qwi Xux checked the signature down at the bottom of the doc and confirmed for the twelfth time that it was Wedge's.
Why would he change our plans at the last minute like this, she inquired of herself. It was not like the Commander of Rogue Squadron to go back on his word, especially to his fiancee. Yet there it was for her to read in black and white on the flimsyplast sheet:
"Qwi, I will be unable to take you out for our anniversary as I had originally planned. Admiral Ackbar has put some extra unit reports on my desk and I have to get them done. I will call you later. Wedge."
Cursing his sense of duty and at the same time berating herself for doing so, she petulantly flung the datapad across the apartment they shared. She stormed into their bedroom and proceeded to pace and fume at the sheer injustice of it all. She was startled from her reverie by a light rapping at the door of the apartment.
"Come," she called and made an attempt to gather her wits about her. "Maybe Wedge told the Admiral he would do it later," she thought. The door opened and admitted her caller as she stepped into the living area. She stopped and stared in open mouthed surprise at the lithe, graceful figure that glided into the room.
"Mara! You're not Wedge! Wait...why are you here on Coruscant?"
Mara Jade tossed her flaming red-gold mane out of her eyes and sat on the repulsor couch with feline eIan, crossing her shapely legs and leaning into the cushions with a satisfied sigh. She fixed the humanoid with a pointed gaze and an arched eyebrow and dryly said, "Hello to you too, Qwi. Why yes, I would love to sit down, thank you. And how are you?"
Qwi's brow furrowed as she blushed and began to immediately stutter an apology. "I'm so sorry, Mara. I don't know where my mind is. I just wasn't expecting to see you of all people here on Coruscant. In fact, I really don't know what I was thinking."
"Apparently you were thinking of Commander Antilles. I was looking for him but I take it he's not here."
Qwi sat down in the chair opposite Mara and sucked on her bottom lip, looking as if she was about to cry, which she was.
"Well, he is supposed to be here," she said petulantly. "Today is our anniversary and we had plans, but the almighty New Republic Navy called and he ran to do its bidding."
Mara regarded Qwi sadly and said, "Tough break, kid. I tell you what. While the Jade's Fire is down for some repairs, why don't you let me show you around? I think I might be able to find you some sites AND sights you haven't seen before."
Qwi looked startled. Was this actually Mara Jade talking to her that way?
"What kind of sights did you have in mind? I don't think Wedge would like it if I went anywhere dangerous."
Mara gaped at her in slack jawed amazement. "Qwi, he just stood you up on your anniversary! To blazes with what he thinks and to blazes with him!," she spat.
Qwi recoiled from her vehemence and sat there blinking in owlish confusion. "I don't know, Mara. Do you really think I should?"
"Do I? Go find something sexy to wear and be ready to go in 30 minutes. I'm going to change. We're going to have a girl's night out on the town and to hell with Wedge Antilles and his New Republic Navy." She stood with her usual sensuous fluidity and approached the door. At the door she stopped and tossed over her shoulder, "Consider this, Qwi. Just maybe this will shake him enough to get his priorities straight. As far as I'm concerned, right now he's totally backwards."
Qwi pensively stared at Mara's back as she went through the door. Just before she rounded the frame and went out of sight, she called out to her, "Mara, what if he gets mad at you?"
Mara stopped and leaned back around the frame with a huge grin on her face. "After facing off with the Emperor, Grand Admiral Thrawn, an insane Dark Jedi Master, and Luke Skywalker, do you really think I give a flying ranat's ass if Wedge Antilles gets mad at me?"
Qwi could hear her laughing long after the door slid shut behind her. She walked into the bedroom and began rooting through the closet for "something sexy" to wear. She selected the powdery blue off the shoulder gown that very nearly matched her skins' color and texture. As she gazed at the dress that she had planned to wear that evening, she sat on the edge of the bed with tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "But Mara, what if he gets mad at me?"
Softly, she cried.
***
"Oh, my...," Qwi gasped. She was staring in stunned amazement at the micro-mini dress that Mara Jade was very nearly not wearing. Mara spun slowly in place so Qwi could get a good look.
"Well, what do you think?" She purred.
The dress stopped just past the swell of her buttocks and fit her as if sprayed onto her curvaceous body. The back of the dress, if you could call it that, scooped to just above the swell of her buttocks. The strings holding the front in place were nearly non-existent threads that climbed up and around her sculpted neck to tie neatly beneath her wildly teased red-gold tresses. Strategically placed panels of sheer cloth accented the dress and hinted that the best was yet to come from this young woman. It gave her a very predatory look that Qwi thought suited Mara very well. Sensuous, alluring, and "in your face", it fairly screamed "Mara Jade."
"Mara, when you said to find something sexy I had no idea..." she stammered. She looked down at her dress and it paled at the sight of the other's outfit and body.
Mara grinned wickedly and said, "Come on. Let's go look in your closet and find something a little more, ah, revealing."
"Mara, I don't have anything that even comes close to that! Besides, Wedge would go berserk if he found out I went out in something even close to what you're wearing," she choked out.
"Oh, he'll find out something dear. I brought a holocam from the ship to take a holo of us to leave for him. Just so he'll know what he missed." Mara produced a tiny holocamera from somewhere out of sight and Qwi stared in amazement. Where did she have *that* at, she marveled.
Qwi sat down and folded her hands in her lap. She lowered her head to stare at them and said, "I still don't have anything to wear even remotely similar to that."
Mara grinned even more wickedly and chirped, "Must I think of everything?" She strutted back out into the hallway and produced a package with silvery wrapping and a big red bow. "Happy anniversary, Qwi! Now, go get dressed!"
***
Qwi stood before the mirror and stared at the duplicate of herself wearing that scandalous dress. Similar in cut to Mara's, it was a few inches longer (Thank you, Mara, she thought) and less clingy. However, it did have the interesting feature in that it molded itself to her figure, accenting curves she didn't know she had. It also had long sleeves and a high neck that was open in the front of her throat. Whereas Mara's outfit was blacker than Palpatine's heart, hers was blinding white.
"Hey, aren't you ready yet?"
Startled from her thoughts, Qwi jumped at the sound of Mara's voice at the bedroom door and turned to address her, blushing all the while. "Yes! Thank you, Mara. It's gorgeous!"
"Hold still and let me get a shot of you for Wedge. We'll leave it for him to find on the pillow."
"Oh, Mara, get into the picture too! You look too good to not be seen."
Mara lowered the camera after she took the holo of Qwi and chuckled, "Dear, I'm going to be seen quite a bit tonight. Don't you worry about that."
Mara set the camera down and went to stand by Qwi and posed with her. Putting on her most sultry look she pouted at the camera and showed as much leg as she could. SNAP! The camera reset itself as Mara walked over to it and popped out both holos and set them on the pillow. As she stood erect from her crouch, she saw Qwi walk into the refresher. "Be right out," she called.
"Take your time," Mara softly said. Working quickly, she deleted the holos that she had taken, first ensuring that the originals were still in the camera's memory. Then, she accessed the note that Qwi had left for Wedge in the datapad and erased it. In its place, she left one of her own. She had no need to sign it. Qwi already had.
***
Wedge walked into the apartment with the Ithorian flowers hidden behind his back, only scant minutes after the two women had left. He looked all through the space of their home, calling her name and smiling in anticipation. This was a special day. After all, anniversaries only came once a year.
"Qwi! Qwi, where are you? Happy anniversary!" he cried as he jumped through the door of their bedroom. When he didn't find her in the bedroom he became even more puzzled and perplexed. Then he saw the datapad on the pillow. The message light was blinking steadily, a baleful red eye flashing its prophecy that there was a message waiting.
Wedge accessed the message with his and Qwi's passcode and began to read,
"Dear Wedge,
I know that today is our anniversary so I have something special planned. I've booked passage for us on the Core Princess. Don't bother packing. I've taken care of all of our arrangements. Go to the star port and get on board, sailor. I'll be waiting for you."
Qwi
Wedge smiled and whooped his joy, running to and out of his apartment's door, thinking happy thoughts and looking forward to his cruise. Qwi usually did think of everything...
***
For the next several hours Qwi Xux's head spun as she moved through a whirlwind of sights and sounds. Her escort took her to nightclubs she didn't know existed and wouldn't have gone into if she had known.
What she did know was that everywhere they went she and her accomplice were the center of attention. It felt good to her and she found all of the attention very flattering. Even more amazing to her, she completely forgot Commander Antilles and didn't think about him until Jade mentioned him much later in the evening, long after she had become completely ripped.
"How apropos," thought Maara. "Ripped now and ripped later." She chuckled to herself, darkly smiling.
Qwi saw the look and thought it odd. "Mara, what's up?" she asked, her skin crawling up her spine at the sight of the other woman giggling.
Maara took another sip from her drink and smiled brightly. "Oh, nothing. Just thinking about Wedge's face when he sees the holos of you that we took."
Qwi paled at that. "Oh, space," she muttered. "I completely forgot about Wedge. I've got to get back."
She stood up from her seat at the bar and promptly fell right down to a seated position on the floor. She groped rather unsuccessfully for her stool in an attempt to use it to help her achieve a standing position. Maara shook her head and grimaced at her inebriated companion. Reaching down, she helped her up and walked her to the closest public transport and keyed in the code for the apartment.
As they stood waiting for the transport to arrive, Maara noticed several tough looking aliens approaching, all of them standing easily over two meters. The three of them wore identical bantha hide jackets that were sporting durasteel chains and metal studs, glittering in the glare of the streetlights and flashing dangerously. The one in the front, the apparent leader, swaggered up to Qwi and cupped her chin in his filthy hand and said, "Well, well, well. What have we here? Are you little girls lost?"
The other two toughs walked up behind Maara and each grabbed an arm, pinning her between the two of them. The leader leaned over and licked the side of Qwi's face, his breath foul and fetid. Qwi stared at him in horror, anger and revulsion. Without thinking, she promptly did the first thing she could react with.
She vomited on him.
The leader growled in fury and jerked her to stare into his face, his visage twisted in rage. "You BITCH," he snarled. As the leader pulled his arm back to slap her, Maara snatched the distraction that Qwi's vomiting offered to augment her natural strength and speed. With her Jedi training and the skills that clone flash teaching had honed, Maara threw both punks several yards away. She then summoned her lightsaber from where it was levitating over their heads, where it had been all night, high and out of sight. The blade snap-hissed into life and the punks were immediately giving her their complete and undivided attention. She lowered the pitch of her voice and raised the volume using Jedi techniques, giving her a menacing growl.
"I'll say this once, very simply," she hissed. "Leave now or die."
Dark wet stains spread across the fronts of their dirty trousers as they turned and fled in sheer, complete terror.
Qwi fainted.
***
Qwi woke to the hum of a vibroblade thrumming in her left ear.
She twisted her head to the left and tried to pull away, but she found that she could not. She could only look at the thrumming blade in Maara's hand and scream. As she drew in the breath to do so, a vise began to squeeze her throat with invisible talons. Terror gripped her heart and she fainted for the second time that night.
Some time later, a painful shock brought her to full wakefulness, gasping for breath and trying to lurch wildly off the bed. When this didn't work, she looked up at her hands and then down at her feet. Syntherope held all four of her extremities securely to the bed. When she looked down her left side and towards her feet, she saw that Maara was sitting in the chair at the foot of the bed. She appeared to be contemplating her, much as a Hutt would contemplate his next choice of entrees. She had shed her slinky dress, exchanging it for one of her no-nonsense jumpsuits instead. Even in her terror the thought crossed Qwi's mind, Gods, she even looks good in that.
She drew in a breath to scream again, but Maara irritatedly waved her hand and it died in her throat, choked off by the same invisible grip as before.
"Enough of that," she snapped. "You've taken up too much of my time tonight as it is."
Qwi fearfully looked at the woman she assumed was Mara Jade and whined, "Why are you doing this, Mara? What have I done to you to deserve this?"
"First, I am not who you think I am. My name is Maara Jade and I am a clone. Secondly, you've done nothing to me to deserve what I am about to do to you. Lastly, I exist to kill the enemies of a person known to me only as `The Hand', of which you are one. So, with no further ado, it's time to get busy."
Having said this, she snapped on the switch of the vibroblade and began to get up out of the chair. Qwi began to thrash and fight her restraints in a vain and mindless attempt to break free, breaking both of her wrists and both ankles in the process. Blood poured from the open fractures at all four sites, soaking the sheets of the bed and making a general mess.
Maara placed one exquisitely shaped hand on Qwi's forehead and sent her into a paralyzation trance much as she had done to Kyp Durron, allowing her to feel without movement. She then proceeded to filet Qwi's delicate blue skin from her thin, fragile bones. Humming the same frequency as the vibroblade, she mimicked the skinning methods used by the Trandoshan Wookiee hunters. When she finished, Maara took another holo of Qwi's ravaged body and placed it next to the one of Qwi she had taken before leaving. Maybe The Hand will pay a bonus for the extra pain I've caused, she thought.
"Qwi dear, great 'before' holo, terrible 'after'," Maara mused.
Almost negligently, she gestured over the butchered body and floated it into the refresher, placing it on the floor, dripping fluids all the way. After she set her down, she released the paralyzing trance and the hideous creature that was once the most brilliant scientist in the New Republic moaned hoarsely, offering up a ragged, hitching sob.
Maara grabbed Qwi's raw, bloody chin and turned it towards her. Looking into those tortured eyes she saw only madness there, a madness that just wasn't complete enough to free her from the burning, shredding talons of her pain. As Maara released her hold on Qwi's chin, she stood and reached into the hidden holster inside her jumpsuit and loosed the disruptor from its leash. Qwi slowly looked up, her insane, clouded eyes briefly clearing at the sight of the pistol. Trembling with exquisite pain, she reached out to the weapon; it was her release, her savior...her executioner.
Maara moved the weapon away from the stripped fingers that resembled nothing more than claws now. A low moan crept from her oozing lips, ending with one word, begging...
"Please..."
Maara raised the weapon and pointed it at her victim, squeezed the activation stud and ended her suffering.
For long minutes she stood there, placidly contemplating the smoking ashes on the floor before her. Eventually, with a deep breath and a sigh, she left the refresher and went back into the bedroom. She cast about to make certain that she didn't leave anything to incriminate either herself or the real Mara Jade. The real Mara Jade. It was certainly difficult thinking about things like this. What would happen to herself when her mission was complete? What if she made a mistake and the authorities caught her? What if the real Mara Jade hunted her down through the Force and tried to kill her? Would she actually be able to kill her "self"? Why did The Hand insist that they suffer so much before dying? None of her victims had requested creation any more than Maara did.
These thoughts and many more occupied Maara as the Vengeance made the jump into hyperspace, launching into the maelstrom of color and light and leaving the living to mourn the dead...