see ch 1 for headers n' crap.
Author's Notes: Oh, glee. Tonight it's only 1am so I might be a little more sane. One could only hope. Anyway, here goes…
Ooh, and I loooove reviews. Thanks for the great comments, guys. =)
Oh, I have a plan for an upcoming chapter already. It's gonna be a doozy! It's…. interesting. Anyway, on with it.
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Morning had been typical. Or as typical as it got with a slightly eccentric Jedi Master who liked ration bars far more than any sane person would. Although, Mara preferred having a ration bar in her line of vision as opposed to the sun. But she didn't like being woken up by one.
"MARA!" Luke squealed with pent-up excitement, as if he had been wanting to tell her for so long, but didn't want to wake her up. //Well, so much for that.// Mara thought.
"WHAT… do you want, Skywalker?" Mara snarled, angry at having her precious sleep disturbed.
"Something amazing has happened!" Luke sprung into the air and tilted his head sideways in midair, much resembling a whale jumping out of the ocean.
"Does it have to do with that ration bar?" Mara inquired, pointing at the nicely wrapped foodstuff lying beside her head.
"Yes!" Luke jumped again.
"Well, then, I don't want to hear it," she paused, "And stop jumping! You're making me dizzy."
"MMMMMKAY!" Luke tried not to jump, but Mara could see him standing on his toes as compensation.
"Rar." Mara hungrily tore into the ration bar beside her head and began eating it. As soon as Luke noticed, he let out a high-pitched scream roughly resembling, "NOOOO!".
"What?" Mara asked, taking another bite.
Luke rushed into action. He reached out and snatched the ration bar away from her and cradled it in his arms like a baby.
"You can't eat this one! It's special," Luke sniffed and stuck his nose in the air. Then looked at her disgustedly.
"Oh, really," Mara said dryly, "Well, do tell, how special is it?"
"Very." was Luke's only answer.
"Care to elaborate?" Mara prodded.
"No, not really. But now you're on my black list," Luke informed her.
"And why is that?" Mara rolled her eyes, tiring of Luke's uninformative answers.
"Because you ate a sentient being!" Luke exclaimed, as if stating the obvious.
Mara stared at him blankly.
"Ohhh… I didn't tell you… right… ummm… well… This ration bar is special because it's made from crushed, slow-roasted Ewok," Luke explained while petting the ration bar, as if it were alive.
"Oh, I thought it tasted familiar," Mara said, without a hint she was joking.
Luke looked at her in pure disgust. "You… you… ANIMAL, you!"
"Yes, I am an animal. So is every other species in this galaxy. Anyway, if it's alright with you, I'd like to go investigate those rocks while there's still daylight left," Mara looked at her nails, frowning. //I really need to file these.//
Luke just stood where he was, staring at her. Not believing even the ex-Emperor's Hand could be so cruel as to eat a little Ewok for breakfast. Sure, the things got annoying after awhile, but surely eating them wasn't the answer?
"Move it, Skydork! We have work to do!" Mara hurried him.
"Heyyyy, are you insulting me?!" Luke furrowed his eyebrows. Sometimes all this thinking could be SO overwhelming.
"Yes and no. HURRY UP, Ewokhugger!" Mara yelled louder this time.
"Okay, okay…" Luke mumbled, running after her.
-- Two Coruscant Hours Later --
Luke and Mara had finally reached the mysterious if not downright spooky rock formation. Luke was less than overjoyed, but Mara was completely ecstatic. She was glad to have something to investigate other than the evil sith-bushes which seemed to cover the entire planet.
"Oooh! Luke, c'mere! Look at this!" Now it was Mara jumping up and down in excitement.
Luke obeyed and peered at what she was pointing at: a small, red bug climbing on the giant rock formation. "WOW. A BUG! FABULOUS. I really missed seeing creepy things since we got here! Great work, Mara." He said sarcastically.
"Oh, shut your mouth. At least it's a sign of life," she stated.
"Oh, ho ho! A sign of life. Wonderful. I came all the way here to look for signs of life!" Luke rolled his eyes.
"Actually, we did, really." Mara pointed out.
"How so?" Luke crossed his arms smugly.
"Our mission, remember? We're here on behalf of the New Republic to forge an alliance with any native peoples and simultaneously find a mysterious flower or plant that reputably grows here in extremely rare quantities to bring back for scientific study," Mara summarized their mission file.
"Oh, right! I forgot all about that!" Luke's eyes lit up with the prospect of exploring ahead of them.
"Only you could forget about a mission directly given to you by your sister, Princess High and Mighty herself," Mara snorted.
"Only I can do many things," Luke nudged her.
"Are you coming on to me, Skywalker?" Mara's tone was less than inviting.
"Maybe… maybe not…" Luke attempted to be cute.
"Well, suck it. I'm here with you on a mission, not a romantic little getaway, okay?" Mara nudged him back. Well, it was more of a shove.
"OW! Stop hurting things! First the vegetation, then a poor, roasted Ewok, and now me! Hmm… Maybe I should just tie you up before you can do anymore damage…" Luke raised his eyebrows once, then twice.
"Rar!" Mara smacked him in the arm and rolled her eyes.
While her eyes were orbiting, they caught sight of something interesting. She stopped and investigated further. The soil in this part was darker than the soil around it. Like it had been overturned recently… It was also in a perfect square shape… How interesting… She poked it, and was surprised to find her finger land on something hard. Mara brushed the soil away quickly, revealing a metal trapdoor.
"LUKE! LOOK!" she yelled at him, even though he was right beside her. "I think we should investigate this."
"Well, of course," Luke rolled his eyes for emphasis.
"Mara opened the trapdoor and peeked inside cautiously. No reason to be reckless, after all. After estimating that the ground of this underground cavern was only about a four metre drop, she sat down along the edge of the opening and jumped down. She landed on her feet while her knees protested this sudden landing. Luke followed her, except he landed on his ass. Some comments worthy of the Dark Side followed.
"Well, what now?" Luke shrugged, getting up on his feet.
"We explore," Mara smiled, the prospect of an interesting place filled with dirt just rattled her mind with glee.
Luke and Mara headed toward the darkness of the cave, not being able to see more than a few centimetres in front of them. Mara's head was spinning with ideas as to what this place could be for. A hiding bunker? An attack bunker? A food-storage bunker? Why couldn't she get bunkers off her mind?
Luke wasn't really thinking about the cave. He was trying to navigate mostly. Even his incredible Jedi powers seemed to limit his ability to see in this dark place. Which might explain how he ran into a wall made of concrete.
"Oh, sith!" Luke exclaimed, rubbing his nose.
Mara giggled at him.
"Oh, stop it. It was an accident. I'm not all-powerful, you know… and caves aren't my thing. … I said stop laughing!" Luke grumpily began walking the other way.
Of course! All good bunkers are made of concrete. Mara chastised herself for not realizing this sooner. Good thing it wasn't her who ran into the wall. She laughed at Luke's misfortune… and plain idiocy.
Her thoughts turned more serious as she realized another thing. The trapdoor had closed itself after them, as if of its own volition… Well, that was a creepy thought. Mara swallowed and continued mentally scanning the bunker. She hoped they would find a door or something soon, this was getting tedious.
She also hoped they wouldn't run out of air down here. She'd hate to die on a backwater planet, much less in a dark concrete bunker… also on a backwater planet! And one filled with strange vegetation… Mara sighed. It was going to be another long afternoon.
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end ch three. I promise chapter four will be more interesting. I'll try to get it up soon. Thanks for reading! =)
