Synopsis—Luke had put Arica in a hibernation trance and fell asleep at her bedside.
A Jedi's Return
Chapter 6
PG
By Maara
Luke woke an hour later, reaching up to rub his stiff neck. Lifting his head, he looked over at Arica. It was time to wake her up and find out what was going on.
Luke placed his hand gently on her forehead and closed his eyes. Drawing on the Force, he woke her from her hibernation trance. As Arica opened her eyes, Luke remained poised to put her back in the trance, quickly, if she had an attack.
Slowly, green eyes blinked at the brightness of the lights. After a moment she turned to see Luke watching her. She was wondering what he was doing here, when suddenly the memory of the Emperor's attack came rushing back to her, causing her to bolt upright in her bunk, quickly backing away from Luke.
Luke jumped up and grabbed her arms, giving her a quick shake. "Arica!" The woman's frightened eyes settled on Luke. "Arica. What happened? Are you ok?"
For what seemed like a long time she just looked at him. Luke wasn't even sure she was seeing him. He kept a hold on her in case she bolted. He started to ask her again, what happened, but she spoke first. "Luke." He strained to hear her.
"Luke." she swallowed before she went on. Clearly this was not easy for her. Luke waited patiently for her to continue. "Help me, Luke, please?" Tears fell slowly down her cheeks. With tenderness he pulled her into his arms and held her while she wept quietly.
After a moment, Luke pulled back to look in her eyes. "I will do whatever I can to help you, Arica, but you have to tell me what's going on." Pausing a moment, Luke played his hunch. "Your real name would be a good start."
She looked up at him, then sighed, deciding that if she had asked for his help, he deserved to hear the truth. Reluctantly she began to speak. "My name is Mara. Mara Jade. And up until last night, I worked for the Emperor."
"What do you mean you worked for the Emperor?" Luke asked, trying to hide his surprise. Letting his hands slide down her arms to hold her hands.
"I was a shadow agent. I was the one who could infiltrate the enemy with less chance of being discovered." Mara took a deep breath, trying to get a grip on her emotions.
Luke had a funny feeling he wouldn't like the answer to his next question but asked anyway. "What did you do for the Emperor, Mara?"
Mara looked him in the eyes, "I was his personal assassin. I was known as the Emperor's Hand." Mara steeled herself for his reaction.
Luke stared at her, remembering how she fought on Jabba's sail barge, "Something tells me you were very good at your job." Luke suddenly chuckled. "I guess that means you're not really a dancer."
Mara smiled back. "Right again."
"Are you Force sensitive, Mara?" Luke knew she was, but didn't know how strong.
Mara nodded, "Yes. I can hear the Emperor all the way across the galaxy. That's how I deliver my reports and how he gave me most of my assignments."
"What happened last night, Mara?" Luke squeezed her hands for reassurance, letting her know he was not judging her.
Mara's head dropped to look at their joined hands. "I failed him. I disobeyed his orders." She squeezed his hands harder. "He meant to kill me last night. I've never felt anything like that before."
"How did you fail him, Mara?" Luke asked.
"I missed my intended target. He thinks I betrayed him." Mara shook slightly.
Luke swallowed and asked the obvious question. "Who was your intended target?"
Mara locked eyes with Luke, "It was you." she whispered a lone tear traveling down her cheek.
"What's changed, Mara?" Luke reached up and brushed the tear away. "Why are you crying?"
Mara shook her head. "I don't know. I had a few opportunities to do it, but never did. I had a reason why I couldn't do it each time, but I know I could've gotten through it. I've been in stickier situations before, but…" Here Mara stopped, not knowing what else to say.
"Mara. When we meet up with the Alliance, I have to leave," Luke stopped, feeling her tense away from him and he tightened his grip on her hands. "I am not leaving you, Mara. I'm taking you with me." Luke looked at her closely, "I may know someone who can help you, but I'm not sure how long we have, so we'll leave right away." Luke felt some of the tension drain away from her.
Mara shook her head, "He'll find me, Luke." Swallowing hard, "It's probably best if I just get a ride on a transport and fade away."
"Why do you think that, Mara?" Luke didn't like the idea of her leaving.
Mara turned her pained expression up to Luke's face. "I have seen too much. I know too much, Luke." Mara turned away, "He can't afford to let me live."
"How would he be able to find you?" Luke didn't know how powerful the Emperor was, but had a feeling he would soon find out.
"Our minds have been linked for so long, that it shouldn't be too hard for him to trace me." Mara looked up at Luke. "I'm surprised he hasn't yet."
"I've been shielding our presence," Luke shrugged, "although I don't know how much good it's doing. He may just be busy and can't take the time to find you right now." Luke hesitated before he asked his next question, "What makes you think he'll look too hard for you?"
Mara locked eyes with Luke and took a deep breath, "He raised me, Luke."
Luke wasn't expecting her to say that. "What do you mean?" Luke's eyes widened, "Do you mean he's your father?" Luke was a little surprised at that thought, but considering who his father was, anything was possible.
"No. I know he isn't my father." Mara let go of Luke's hands and hugged her arms around herself, feeling a sudden chill. "I learned many things while training. I was privy to classified records. Some he gave me pertaining to my missions and some I found on my own. Many of them tell of him taking me from home when I was about 5 years old. I was never able to find out anything about who my family was and what happened to them."
"How did you come to be with him?" Luke asked. He was very curious to learn as much about her as he could.
"I don't know." Mara seemed pained by this, but buried the feelings deep down; "I can't remember anything but my time with the Emperor. I've looked and looked every time I got the chance, but was never able to find out anything." Mara looked down at their hands again, "I don't even know who my parents were."
Luke rubbed a hand up and down her arm. "Are you ok?"
Mara smiled up at him, "Yes, I'm ok."
"Mara? How did you disobey his orders?" Luke knew some of it, but felt she needed to tell him more.
"You were supposed to die at Jabba's Palace. I was supposed to make sure you did." Mara chuckled then, "That's when you ended up saving me." She blew out a breath. "He ordered me to have no contact with you."
"How did I come to be your target?" Luke watched Mara pull herself together and turned her attention back to Luke.
"The Emperor told me that he had a dangerous enemy and gave me dossiers and holos of you, telling how you killed innocent Imperial citizens, who were just trying to eek out an existence. About how you raided their businesses to get a hold over them. He told me you were trying to unseat him and take over the Empire." Mara looked straight into Luke's eyes, "He ordered me to kill you."
"Mara," Luke let go of her hands to rub his face, "those things were done by the Emperor and Vader. They put my name to their deeds to make it easier for you to hate me."
"Yeah, I was starting to wonder. You weren't acting like you had been depicted." Mara sighed, "That must be the real reason why I was ordered to have no contact with you."
"Vader has done so many things over the years to hurt people, to get what the Emperor wanted, but" Luke hesitated, could he tell her this? Would he be revealing too much? Luke decided to press on and see what happened. "I have felt the conflict in him. I've felt the good in him."
Mara couldn't believe her ears. Vader good? Not likely. Mara gripped Luke's hands tightly. "Don't you believe it, Luke. He has too much hate in him." Their eyes were locked tightly on one another, and Mara asked one more question. "What makes you think there is good in him?"
"The last time I faced him, he didn't want to kill me. He wanted me to join him. Even after I refused he let me get away." Luke was somewhat touchy about this, but felt right in telling her.
Mara's eyebrows arched, "Vader." She looked away then back at him, "Darth Vader, let you go? He didn't try to kill you?" Mara sat up straighter and cocked her head at Luke, "Are we talking about the same Darth Vader?" She gestured at him with her hand, "You know, Lord of the Sith?" Mara felt she needed to set Luke straight on what she knew about Vader. "Look, I don't claim to be an expert on him, but every time I saw him, he had just killed someone or was going to kill someone. He loved to torture prisoners to get the answers he needed." Mara shook her head, "He is bad news, Luke. Not someone you should be trying to find good in – it's just not there."
Luke just stared at Mara for a moment before speaking. "You can't sense him like I can, Mara. There is good in him, I've felt it." Luke's gaze was intense. He truly believed what he was saying.
Mara was having a hard time understanding him. "What makes you think you can sense him better than me or anyone else for that matter? Because you're a Jedi?"
Luke hesitated, he wasn't sure he wanted to answer this question, but he felt that he needed to trust her and then maybe she would trust him more. He braced himself for her reaction. "It's not just because I'm a Jedi, it's...it's because he's my father."
Luke watched Mara's jaw drop open. She was not expecting him to say that. She quickly shut it and sat there looking at him. Suddenly so many things clicked in her mind. "I stand corrected." Mara shook her head, "I try my best not to let much shock me and after all I've seen and done, not a lot does. Until now."
"Yeah, I had an even worse reaction when I found out." Luke still remembered his shock and initial disgust to find out that his father, was nothing he thought he was.
"He wanted me to join him and we could rule the galaxy together as father and son. He wanted to take control from the Emperor. I was so shocked I yelled that it wasn't true or it was impossible or something like that and let myself fall into ventilation shaft rather than have this man be my father."
"Vader just let you fall? He could've stopped you and pulled you back to him." Mara was very interested to hear more.
"When I was falling I felt something push me to a smaller opening that led to the bottom of the floating city, where Leia and Lando picked me up. I realized then that there was good in him. He couldn't let me die"
"Well, it explains a lot to me." Mara took Luke's hand, "Like the Emperor having me come after you. It had to be revenge on Vader. He had to know what he said to you." Mara shook her head; "He wanted Vader completely under his control."
Luke looked incredulously at her, "How could he know what he said? We were the only ones there."
Mara shook a finger at Luke, causing him to jerk back slightly. "Don't believe that either." Taking a deep breath, Mara decided to tell him something she had never thought she would tell anyone. "The Emperor has great powers of the mind, Luke. He can sense me across the galaxy, don't you see?"
"But he trained you and raised you. You have a connection with him." Luke reminded her.
"No, Luke that's not the only reason for the bond I have with him." This wouldn't be easy, "When I was very young, the Emperor came to me in my room." Mara looked at Luke as she spoke, determined to be strong in the telling of this story, "He sat on the edge of my bed and started to explain to me that because my training was going so well, that he had decided that now was the time for me to learn how to use my mind." Mara swallowed, but held Luke's gaze steady, "At the time, I had no idea what he meant."
Luke squeezed her hand tighter, "What did he do, Mara?"
"He forcibly entered my mind." Mara choked back tears at the pain the memory brought back to her. "He battered down my natural mental barriers and tormented my mind, breaking me down so he could rebuild me the way he wanted me to be." With that statement, the tears fell and soon Mara was crushed in Luke's arms with him whispering reassurances into her hair, trying to absorb as much of the pain as he could.
Mara clutched at Luke desperately, feeling safer in his embrace. When her tears stopped, she continued, trying to keep her voice steady. "He forced the link with our minds and maintained his grip on me for a long time."
Luke stroked her hair, "Mara, I will do everything in my power to help you." he promised.
Mara pulled back slightly to look in Luke's eyes. They were clear and determined. "Thank you," she whispered.
Luke's only response was to place a gentle kiss on her forehead, caressing her cheek as he pulled away. "Get some sleep, Mara. We have a lot to do tomorrow." Luke stood up and headed for the door. There he stopped and turned to her again. "Sleep well, Mara. I'll be just down the corridor if you need anything." Turning, Luke stepped into the corridor and watched the door shut. He stood outside her door a few moments, not really wanting to go back to his cabin, but knowing there wasn't much more he could do at the moment. Sighing, Luke turned and headed to his room to get more sleep.
TBC…