At point blank range
Part 4: Skywalker
By SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)
02-02-02/06-02
________________
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs
to George Lucas. Also, everything related to the spoken parts of Heir to the
Empire belongs to Timothy Zhan. I'm only borrowing it to make more sense with
Mara's or Luke's missing thoughts (when we follow Luke's thoughts in the novel,
this story will cover Mara's, and vice versa ;). Naturally, everything related
to the events of Heir to the Empire also belong to T. Zhan. Please don't sue
me, it's only for fun; I'm not making any money out of this.
See my homepage for more details.
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702
Special thanks to my shy, secret beta-reader and best friend, Adrianne, for her
help with the final editing of my new stories. Thanks for giving me some of
your precious time, my friend :)
__________________
After what Luke surmised as two hours after they had set out on their trek, they
finally found a clearing to set the sonde balloon.
By then, twilight had begun to settle over their area of planet.
At first, Mara kept him in range while he prepared Artoo for the most important
part of his plan, then she ordered him to sit a good three meters away from her,
his hands on his head.
Thus holding his position, he watched her as she sent her message to Karrde.
While he made sure to not give her a single reason to feel threatened by him, he
studied her most intently.
She was quite a mystery, he admitted to himself. Back at the base, he had
thought that she had only been a regular being who had been pushed into a lust
for revenge after the loss of a loved one, but out here, in the wild, he had
seen her true abilities...
He knew now that she was a professional at whatever she had done before hunting
him down. A sharper shooter than even Leia was, she had also demonstrated her
fighting skills during a very brief attack from a creature who had tried to
catch her foot, then, there was her knowledge of lightsaber techniques... Where
had she learnt all those skills?, he wondered while he watched her reel the
sonde balloon back down. She could be a remnant of Black Sun, something like
Guri but alive--- hey, he stopped short.
What if his lack of feeling for her was due to the fact that she wasn't a living
being? He had taken her word for it when she had told him about the loss of the
Force, but... He tried to reach out once again... and understood that Karrde's
explanation was the true one.
He was truly cut off from the Force while on this planet.
"The truth hurts, doesn't it?" her taunting voice entered his senses.
He refocused on her and noticed the mean curl of her lips.
"As you said," he retorted softly, sadly, "it isn't easy to loose something
which once made you special."
He expected her to laugh at his discomfiture, but instead, he only managed to
anger her. Before he had realized that she had moved, she was standing in front
of him and pulling him to his feet. Once they were once again at eye level, she
shoved the tip of her blaster back in his jaw, then he heard the slight,
grinding sound of a moving trigger.
"I should kill you for making fun of this," she growled in anger. "I really
should."
Behind them, the droid went about a lecture of warnings and outrage.
For a moment, Luke could only stare at her, careful to remain still and not give
her any reason to pull the trigger. The longer he gazed at her, and the more he
saw the undeniable pain in her eyes, a pain which literally tore at his own
heart. What in the Force had he done to her?, he wondered helplessly, and more
important: how could he help her? He didn't know exactly where his feeling was
coming from, but more and more, he had the distinct feeling that she didn't know
the whole truth about him... that she was seeing him for someone he wasn't.
If that were the case, then, he thought seriously, he had a chance to help her.
Directly in front of him, the woman's eyes were ablaze with cold hatred; even
the dimming light couldn't hide this painful sight from him.
Finally, he did the only thing he could think of: he apologized.
"I'm sorry, Mara. I didn't mean to upset you."
Mara was once again facing the choice to pull the trigger or not, and once
again, she couldn't. Even worse, Skywalker wasn't even fighting against her;
instead, he was standing in front of her, his arms still at his sides--- his
eyes piercingly gazing in hers.
Instead of being cold, they were gentle, worried, and mostly compassionate.
Where was the cold murderer?, she suddenly wanted to shake out of him. Where
was her target and who was the man who was gazing back at her like a worried
friend would.
No, she instantly blocked that thought from her mind. He had just laughed at
her distress, had given her a proof that he was playing a role with her.
And yet... the more she glared into his eyes, and the more they softened,
threatening to swallow her whole with their kindness. She pushed her blaster
harder in his jaw, more out of frustration than any need to threaten him.
"I'm sorry, Mara," he finally told her, his voice a mirror of his eyes. "I
didn't mean to upset you."
For a brief moment, the assassin didn't know how to react.
Never in her life had she dealt with such a man... He wasn't afraid of her
threats, and he didn't hold any visible grief against her.
No, she reminded herself, it was just a ploy.
She viciously shoved him away from herself; Skywalker tripped slightly on his
feet and landed hard against a nearby tree.
"Don't do it again," she warned him, then motioned him up to his feet. "We have
to get out of the clearing before it's too dark to find ourselves a place to
spend the night."
Groggily, her prisoner pushed himself back to his feet, then walked past her,
rubbing his neck. His eyes never left hers, yet again ignoring the fact that a
fully-loaded blaster was aimed at his heart.
When Luke approached Artoo's location, the little droid softly fluted an inquiry
at him. The Jedi remained silent, absorbed in his own thoughts.
Something had happened just a moment ago. After he had apologized to his
captor, a flash of something had crossed her eyes. Were he still naive, he
would have seen it as almost attraction, but he knew better than that. One
thing was sure though, he reflected while he continued to rub his aching neck:
it had been confusion.
There was more about Mara Jade than what he could see on the surface.
"Come on, get up!" the object of his thoughts snapped. "Don't be a baby about
this; you don't even have a scratch."
True, he conceded while he sealed up Artoo's communicator equipment; he was
feeling more confused than he ached. He stood back up, then checked the
travois to make sure that it was still securely fastened to his friend. As he
did so, he realized that not one injury had befallen him since he had fallen in
Mara's grip... even if she undoubtedly hated him enough to let a few of those
happen.
Unless...
"Can I ask you a question?" he finally inquired in the silence.
"If it gets you moving," she retorted coldly even as she walked closer, "but
don't expect an answer."
Luke took a deep breath and locked his eyes on hers again.
"If you hate me as much as you say, why didn't you let the vornsks hurt me even
a little today?"
Mara's eyes hardened at this; Luke flinched slightly but continued on his idea.
He had to know.
"I mean, you're an excellent shot; you could have taken them off of me whenever
you chose without hurting me too much."
For a brief moment, it looked as if he was going to pay for his daringness...
But in the end, no shot came from the blaster... nor did any other type of
attack either.
"Move!" his captor finally spat in a tone which left no space for discussion.
He obeyed her and resumed their trek, wondering if he would ever breach through
to her.
What he didn't know though was that he had managed to do so.
Mara was fuming mad behind her prisoner, and the most infuriating factor of the
whole situation was that he was right. No matter if his injuries would slow
them down or not, she would have enjoyed seeing him in pain, then forcing him
back to his feet to trudge on.
Now that would be the beginning of a sweet revenge, she smirked faintly,
coldly... then sighed in annoyance as she reconsidered what 'had', in fact,
happened.
Throughout the afternoon, she had reflexively shot any threat off of the Jedi
before the beasts had even gotten close to him, saving him from any torment.
Aside from the reason that she needed him healthy to use his droid, she was
beginning to realize that something else was motivating her actions... and
Skywalker was also beginning to understand this.
The strangest thing about it was that his most recent comment hadn't been that
of an enemy at all. Whether she accepted it or not, he had shown her kindness.
Just like when he had apologized, she then reluctantly admitted... and when he
had wondered about what he had done to her... and when he had checked on her
after the crash... and---
"Stop!" she suddenly snarled out loud, drawing the attention of her prisoner.
"What's wrong?" he inquired in his gentle manner.
Huh, she thought quickly even as she tried to come up with an excuse for her
vocal, unforgivable outburst.
"We'll camp here," she finally growled in frustration at herself as she moved
toward a big-bowled tree.
Skywalker nodded, set his droid back on its feet, then sat beside him. He
sighed in relief.
"Well," he commented wryly to the droid, "that was quite a day, wasn't it?"
"Oh, we can repeat it tomorrow, with different results," she answered
sarcastically while she turned on the survival lamp.
Skywalker threw her a glance, then lapsed into silence.
Good, she thought as she settled down, finally taking her weight off her ankle.
She didn't want to 'chat' with her prisoner. Meanwhile, her ankle continued to
throb with pain; she forced herself to forget it. It wasn't broken, hence
couldn't stop her.
Instead, she focused on her survival and broke out a ration bar from her pack.
If everything went well, she calculated mentally, they should reach their
destination around the middle of the day after tomorrow. That meant, she
checked in her survival pack, that she had enough water and food to last for an
extra day or two----
She belatedly remembered that she wasn't alone. A man was with her, and given
the physical exercise that they would be doing, she suspected that he too would
be hungry. Well, he could starve for all she cared, she reflexively thought,
then a doubt entered her mind.
If she didn't feed him, he would delay her for sure and they would both end up
without enough food nor water. With a barely concealed snarl, she tossed a bar
on his lap.
She noted that he didn't seem overly surprised by her decision. He even thanked
her.
Again.
If he did it just one more time, she promised herself, she was going to gag him
for the duration of their trek throughout the forest.
She was tired to have doubts about---
A movement caught her attention; she drew her weapon and prepared to fire...
then froze even as her prisoner did.
"Hey, I'm just... taking off my shirt," he explained even as he pulled the
garment open, then off his arms...
His muscled arms which where more than visible despite the dim lighting of the
survival lamp.
When she didn't threaten him anymore, the Jedi nodded, then bunched up his shirt
and made himself a small pillow before settling himself down; she herself
followed every one of his gestures, uncontrollably entranced by the sight of his
shifting biceps and forearms. That, she dimly reflected, wasn't the result of
tricks.
Such coordination could only come from diligent training; it puzzled her. From
what she knew of Skywalker, he wouldn't be an athlete one single bit.
While Mara settled herself for what Luke surmised would be a night watch, he
himself tried to make himself comfortable for the night. Despite his tank top,
the ground under him was cold and hard, something which wasn't particularly
pleasant for him, no matter that he had never particularly cared about comfort
before.
There was just a limit to what he liked.
However, at the moment, it was the least of his concerns. Even though he needed
to sleep to survive his actual predicament, he had to admit that he wasn't sure
if it would be a wise idea or not. A minimum of two enemies were nearby,
waiting to kill him, but he already knew that one of those would protect him
from the other.
Mara had obviously appointed herself as his bodyguard for the moment... even if
she still meant to turn back into his assassin once this would be over.
However, he conceded, assassin or not, she seemed to lack the cold quality of a
heartless killer. If she didn't have a heart, he knew that he would already be
dead. Kind of like... with his father, he reflected yet again.
The more he thought about the similarities about the two enemies, and the more
his memory merged with reality...
"Reminds me of Endor," he finally commented out loud to pull himself out of the
past.
To his slight surprise, his cold companion answered him and even gave him more
information about the forest and its inhabitants.
"Strange," he reflected out loud, "Karrde's pet vornrsks seemed wide enough
awake in late afternoon."
As had the wild ones who had taken a try at him today. Mara answered him, with
more details, which led to a few exchange about their traveling strategies.
Luke thus discovered that she wasn't only a skilled fighter, she also knew much
about tactic and how to exploite the environment's capabilities.
When he told her so, she snorted at his comment and belittled her talent as
being normal skills.
"Oh," he answered in turn, then turned his head back toward the leafy canopy,
wondering why she had reacted that way to his comment.
He hadn't been sarcastic nor fishing for information. Instead, he had genuinely
been impressed by her knowledge of her territory. Even though he himself knew
how important it was to be familiar with new environments, he somehow had the
feeling that he wouldn't have known nearly as much as she did about this place
had the situation been reversed.
He had been on enough different planets during the Rebellion to know that he had
never bothered about an in-depth investigation of their new territories.
What would have been the point back then? he asked himself. Except for a few,
rare bases, they were constantly changing locations and were not interested to
explore the territory... except on Hoth to patrol the icy plains.
Now there was a place where more knowledge about the Wampas would have been
useful, he conceded with a slight grimace.
He lightly touched his remaining scar, easily tracing it with his index.
He had been lucky that day, he knew. From loosing an eye to being eaten alive
to freezing to death, several things could have gone wrong, but instead, he had
survived... to save his father, he now knew.
Kind of like today, he then reflected seriously.
He could have perished in the crash landing, or could have gotten killed by Mara
or vornsks, but once again, he was still alive... but for which reason this
time---
Artoo suddenly made a sound of warning.
"I think Artoo's picked up something," he told his captor even as he himself
leaned up on his elbows.
"No kidding," was the woman's answer even as she turned on their small luma and
lit one of the hungry beasts.
This one was barely less than a meter away from him, its tail wordlessly telling
him that it was ready to pounce on him, its jaw already salivating at the
prospect of its upcoming meal.
As it continued to advance toward him, Luke's eyes never left the predator; he
also dimly grew aware that the thought of running away didn't enter his mind.
A nano-second later, he understood why. He now literally trusted Mara to save
his life. Not too far from him, the animal died, its tail twitching one last
time before it too stilled completely.
"Awfully good thing we have your droid's sensor along," his savior commented
sarcastically.
"Well, I wouldn't have known there was any danger without him," he informed her
truthfully, suppressing a shudder at the thought that he felt as if he were back
on Hoth.
Inexperienced.
Vulnerable.
"Thank you," he told her gratefully.
"Forget it," she spat in return.
He barely shook his head at her rude mannerism, which looked more and more like
a mask to him than the truth, then his gaze rested on the shadow of the dead
animal.
"Are Karrde's vornsks a different species? Or did they have their tail
removed?" he asked her conversationally.
Again, a silence followed his question, but when he turned around to see his
captor's face, she was as impassible as ever.
However, she did engage in more details about their actual enemy. This topic
then led to the fact that they were probably surrounded by such beasts.
"Fortunately, you seem to be an excellent shot," he told her with barely
concealed relief, then lowered himself back to the ground.
When no answer came forth from his companion, he knew that he had either upset
her again, or something else was going on in her mind. Whatever it was, he
hoped that his trust in her wasn't naive. How did he get himself in such
situations, he wondered with a sigh. Captured by a group of smugglers, trapped
on the only planet of the galaxy where he couldn't use the Force, and protected
by a very beautiful but very deadly assassin...
A trained assassin, he reflected, trying to put more pieces of Mara Jade's
puzzle together.
She was athletic, focused, an excellent shot, and she had used a lightsaber
before. She also seemed trained to bear up with pain since she had been walking
on a twisted ankle all day long.
He dimly wondered if she were feeling better or worse after their trek, but
decided to not ask her. He knew now that her temper matched her fiery hair...
Her beautiful, red-gold hair which were somehow familiar, yet he knew that he
had never seen such hair before in his life.
As for the type of character, she was worse tempered than Leia had been during
the Rebellion, but she was not as cold as Guri had been either.
She was a human... dangerous, but more and more obviously tormented young
woman... Who had trained her? he tried to figure out yet again. Who was
responsible for her torment beside him?..
******
The night slowly passed by for Mara while the Jedi slept through it all.
He didn't even blink when she killed a few more predators throughout the night.
The moment that the first rays of the sun pierced the canopy, she woke him up
with a nudge of her blaster against his cheek; coupled with a burbling noise
from the droid, the Jedi awoke almost instantly.
"Got enough beauty sleep?" she asked him sarcastically, then stood up and nudged
him with her foot. "Get up, it's time to go," she ordered him even as she
crouched by her small survival kit.
Behind her, she heard the Jedi stretch himself; while a small part of her
yearned to turn around and enjoy the sight once again, she didn't give in her
desire. She had spent the whole night watching their surroundings while trying
to not be too distracted by his bare, muscled arms; she really didn't trust
herself to resist the 'real' sight of them.
Even more than her hesitancy to kill him, her weird reactions to his body were
greatly puzzling her. In the past ten years since she had become an active
agent for the Emperor, she had never, ever felt anything for any man that could
compare with what she felt for the Jedi... Even her farmboy hadn't affected her
this way.
Right now, she simply felt true physical attraction for her target, a feeling
that just wouldn't obey her normally strict self-control.
It was totally insane of course, she berated herself. It probably was due to
the fact that she had to 'spend' time with the, she had to admit, very good
looking man instead of doing it quickly and move on to her next step: live.
Yes, she tried to reassured herself, it 'was' that.
She finally turned around, her blaster at the ready; Skywalker was slowly
getting ready to go, checking his droid's safety.
"Ready?" he asked her nicely.
"Get moving," she snapped in return, settling her own backpack and equipment on
her back.
She didn't trust him with those, she reminded herself when her ankle resumed
complaining against her bad treatment. Hence, she once again ignored it as she
followed her prisoner away from their nightly camping site.
******
Some time later, and three dead vornsks later, Luke trudged onward in front of
Jade. While the previous day had been relatively easy as far as Artoo's
survival went, the young Jedi was beginning to appreciate the true weight of his
metallic friend.
Even though he was in good shape, the effort of dragging the droid all over the
forest was beginning to affect him. His arms and legs were slowly singing with
growing intensity at the continued efforts. Sweat was already pouring down his
face and back, and his breath was beginning to turn ragged.
Still, his captor pushed him onward, not allowing him respite unless they were
attacked and that she took a moment to double-check their surroundings.
Artoo suddenly squealed again; Luke let go of the handles and dropped to the
ground, covering his head with his hands.
A shot later, it was over.
"You really are the popular guy nowadays," the young woman sneered at him,
walking closer to him while he slowly pushed himself back to his feet.
"Don't believe everything the media say," he retorted tiredly, resorting to
humor to slightly lighten his own mood.
He expected her to shoot something sarcastic or caustic at him, but instead, she
remained silent. When he gazed at her, he noticed how her eyes were once again
hard yet softening thanks to confusion.
Now what had he said?, he wondered while he took a short breather. Artoo seemed
to share his worry; he slightly tilted himself in the travois until he could see
him.
"You know," he told his metallic friend while he bent down to inspect him.
"You're getting pretty resistant to repeated falls."
Artoo didn't agree with him; he whistled an indignant raspberry.
"I know, sorry," Luke smiled at him while clearing grass from his collar/joint.
He then refocused on the silent woman beside him; her eyes were not leaving him.
"Is something wrong?" he finally asked her, checking around himself for the
presence of another predator.
"Course's clear now," she retorted after just a short hesitancy, then she
silently incited him to get moving.
"Just a second," he commented even as he began to unbutton his tunic.
While he had been wearing blacks for almost six years now, he had never worn
them to exercise, and now he knew exactly why he had never been tempted to try
it. Despite their light fabric, his chosen Jedi uniform was pretty warm,
especially when he was working out as much as he was at the moment. His tank
top would be more than enough for now.
He finally wedged his tunic under Artoo's head to cushion his next falls, then
took a moment to stretch himself.
"Okay, ready," he finally informed her while he took hold again of his charge,
then he walked on.
As he walked passed his captor, he never, ever noticed how she was eyeing him in
a fashion which might have reminded him of the vorsnks eyes... except for one
detail: she wouldn't kill him if she were to pounce on him.
The Jedi walked past her, then continued onward, leaving her behind, her eyes
still riveted on the tanned expanse of flesh which she could now see without any
hindrance. He was even better sculpted than she had first surmised after the
quick peek of the previous night.
Her feet finally carried her after the Jedi, but her mind was not following yet.
Instead, it was replaying over and over again the sight of the divesting young
man. Every single motion had made his muscles shift, thus exposing themselves
to her knowledgeable eyes.
She had trained for years, had fought against enemies of every kind and had
learnt to recognize signs of a truly strong individual versus one who wasn't
developed the right way. The Jedi didn't show any sign that his muscles weren't
trained to make use of all their abilities.
They weren't bunchy like someone who had more volume then strength, nor were
they small like someone who didn't train at all. Instead, they were lean,
proportionate to his stature, and supple-looking. His shoulder blades also
seemed developed although she couldn't be sure about those given his tank top.
Still, she reflected as she followed him and took advantage of her point of view
on his straining muscles, it was an unpleasant surprise. Not only did it mean
that she would have her hands full against him if he ever attempted anything,
but the fact that she could see him like this wasn't helping her to remain focus
and detached.
While she had managed to dampen her irritating surge of attraction toward the
sleeping man the previous night, she was now hard-pressed to not admit, again,
her attraction to him.
He was an enemy, she reminded herself like a mantra. A target, someone to kill,
a disposable nuisance. She didn't feel anything for him.
Still, he seemed to tease her, she liked to watch him--- then her eyes traveled
lower and she became aware that he didn't only have great arms. She briefly
shut her eyes to block out the sight of his shifting backside as he continued to
walk quietly in front of her.
Facing her, the droid warbled slightly at this; she snapped her eyes open and
glared at it, silently threatening it from ever informing Skywalker about this.
The robot slightly rotated its head as if in understanding.
They walked onward.
As she forced herself to focus on anything else but the temptation who was under
her responsibility, her eyes rested on the sky above them.
Between the morning and Skywalker's little striptease, it had turned gray until
there was no doubt in her mind that it would---
As if on cue, a tropical rain suddenly assailed them, instantly drenching them
to the bone. It also diminished her radius of surveillance since their
surroundings quickly became blurry and white.
"What now?" Skywalker asked her over the sound of the falling rain.
"We continue," she answered him, walking all the way up to his side until her
weapon was wedged against his hips. "Nice and easy, Jedi."
"Always," he sighed, refocusing on the trek ahead of them.
Mara however had eyes only for his very close flesh which seemed even more
tempting now that it was glistening under the water.
She forced herself to refocus on her mission.
TBC in part 5: Waiting out the rain
Well, liked it? Had fun? Hope so ;)
2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)
Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff will be thrown down the
Sarlacc's throat without even being read.)
Part 4: Skywalker
By SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)
02-02-02/06-02
________________
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs
to George Lucas. Also, everything related to the spoken parts of Heir to the
Empire belongs to Timothy Zhan. I'm only borrowing it to make more sense with
Mara's or Luke's missing thoughts (when we follow Luke's thoughts in the novel,
this story will cover Mara's, and vice versa ;). Naturally, everything related
to the events of Heir to the Empire also belong to T. Zhan. Please don't sue
me, it's only for fun; I'm not making any money out of this.
See my homepage for more details.
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702
Special thanks to my shy, secret beta-reader and best friend, Adrianne, for her
help with the final editing of my new stories. Thanks for giving me some of
your precious time, my friend :)
__________________
After what Luke surmised as two hours after they had set out on their trek, they
finally found a clearing to set the sonde balloon.
By then, twilight had begun to settle over their area of planet.
At first, Mara kept him in range while he prepared Artoo for the most important
part of his plan, then she ordered him to sit a good three meters away from her,
his hands on his head.
Thus holding his position, he watched her as she sent her message to Karrde.
While he made sure to not give her a single reason to feel threatened by him, he
studied her most intently.
She was quite a mystery, he admitted to himself. Back at the base, he had
thought that she had only been a regular being who had been pushed into a lust
for revenge after the loss of a loved one, but out here, in the wild, he had
seen her true abilities...
He knew now that she was a professional at whatever she had done before hunting
him down. A sharper shooter than even Leia was, she had also demonstrated her
fighting skills during a very brief attack from a creature who had tried to
catch her foot, then, there was her knowledge of lightsaber techniques... Where
had she learnt all those skills?, he wondered while he watched her reel the
sonde balloon back down. She could be a remnant of Black Sun, something like
Guri but alive--- hey, he stopped short.
What if his lack of feeling for her was due to the fact that she wasn't a living
being? He had taken her word for it when she had told him about the loss of the
Force, but... He tried to reach out once again... and understood that Karrde's
explanation was the true one.
He was truly cut off from the Force while on this planet.
"The truth hurts, doesn't it?" her taunting voice entered his senses.
He refocused on her and noticed the mean curl of her lips.
"As you said," he retorted softly, sadly, "it isn't easy to loose something
which once made you special."
He expected her to laugh at his discomfiture, but instead, he only managed to
anger her. Before he had realized that she had moved, she was standing in front
of him and pulling him to his feet. Once they were once again at eye level, she
shoved the tip of her blaster back in his jaw, then he heard the slight,
grinding sound of a moving trigger.
"I should kill you for making fun of this," she growled in anger. "I really
should."
Behind them, the droid went about a lecture of warnings and outrage.
For a moment, Luke could only stare at her, careful to remain still and not give
her any reason to pull the trigger. The longer he gazed at her, and the more he
saw the undeniable pain in her eyes, a pain which literally tore at his own
heart. What in the Force had he done to her?, he wondered helplessly, and more
important: how could he help her? He didn't know exactly where his feeling was
coming from, but more and more, he had the distinct feeling that she didn't know
the whole truth about him... that she was seeing him for someone he wasn't.
If that were the case, then, he thought seriously, he had a chance to help her.
Directly in front of him, the woman's eyes were ablaze with cold hatred; even
the dimming light couldn't hide this painful sight from him.
Finally, he did the only thing he could think of: he apologized.
"I'm sorry, Mara. I didn't mean to upset you."
Mara was once again facing the choice to pull the trigger or not, and once
again, she couldn't. Even worse, Skywalker wasn't even fighting against her;
instead, he was standing in front of her, his arms still at his sides--- his
eyes piercingly gazing in hers.
Instead of being cold, they were gentle, worried, and mostly compassionate.
Where was the cold murderer?, she suddenly wanted to shake out of him. Where
was her target and who was the man who was gazing back at her like a worried
friend would.
No, she instantly blocked that thought from her mind. He had just laughed at
her distress, had given her a proof that he was playing a role with her.
And yet... the more she glared into his eyes, and the more they softened,
threatening to swallow her whole with their kindness. She pushed her blaster
harder in his jaw, more out of frustration than any need to threaten him.
"I'm sorry, Mara," he finally told her, his voice a mirror of his eyes. "I
didn't mean to upset you."
For a brief moment, the assassin didn't know how to react.
Never in her life had she dealt with such a man... He wasn't afraid of her
threats, and he didn't hold any visible grief against her.
No, she reminded herself, it was just a ploy.
She viciously shoved him away from herself; Skywalker tripped slightly on his
feet and landed hard against a nearby tree.
"Don't do it again," she warned him, then motioned him up to his feet. "We have
to get out of the clearing before it's too dark to find ourselves a place to
spend the night."
Groggily, her prisoner pushed himself back to his feet, then walked past her,
rubbing his neck. His eyes never left hers, yet again ignoring the fact that a
fully-loaded blaster was aimed at his heart.
When Luke approached Artoo's location, the little droid softly fluted an inquiry
at him. The Jedi remained silent, absorbed in his own thoughts.
Something had happened just a moment ago. After he had apologized to his
captor, a flash of something had crossed her eyes. Were he still naive, he
would have seen it as almost attraction, but he knew better than that. One
thing was sure though, he reflected while he continued to rub his aching neck:
it had been confusion.
There was more about Mara Jade than what he could see on the surface.
"Come on, get up!" the object of his thoughts snapped. "Don't be a baby about
this; you don't even have a scratch."
True, he conceded while he sealed up Artoo's communicator equipment; he was
feeling more confused than he ached. He stood back up, then checked the
travois to make sure that it was still securely fastened to his friend. As he
did so, he realized that not one injury had befallen him since he had fallen in
Mara's grip... even if she undoubtedly hated him enough to let a few of those
happen.
Unless...
"Can I ask you a question?" he finally inquired in the silence.
"If it gets you moving," she retorted coldly even as she walked closer, "but
don't expect an answer."
Luke took a deep breath and locked his eyes on hers again.
"If you hate me as much as you say, why didn't you let the vornsks hurt me even
a little today?"
Mara's eyes hardened at this; Luke flinched slightly but continued on his idea.
He had to know.
"I mean, you're an excellent shot; you could have taken them off of me whenever
you chose without hurting me too much."
For a brief moment, it looked as if he was going to pay for his daringness...
But in the end, no shot came from the blaster... nor did any other type of
attack either.
"Move!" his captor finally spat in a tone which left no space for discussion.
He obeyed her and resumed their trek, wondering if he would ever breach through
to her.
What he didn't know though was that he had managed to do so.
Mara was fuming mad behind her prisoner, and the most infuriating factor of the
whole situation was that he was right. No matter if his injuries would slow
them down or not, she would have enjoyed seeing him in pain, then forcing him
back to his feet to trudge on.
Now that would be the beginning of a sweet revenge, she smirked faintly,
coldly... then sighed in annoyance as she reconsidered what 'had', in fact,
happened.
Throughout the afternoon, she had reflexively shot any threat off of the Jedi
before the beasts had even gotten close to him, saving him from any torment.
Aside from the reason that she needed him healthy to use his droid, she was
beginning to realize that something else was motivating her actions... and
Skywalker was also beginning to understand this.
The strangest thing about it was that his most recent comment hadn't been that
of an enemy at all. Whether she accepted it or not, he had shown her kindness.
Just like when he had apologized, she then reluctantly admitted... and when he
had wondered about what he had done to her... and when he had checked on her
after the crash... and---
"Stop!" she suddenly snarled out loud, drawing the attention of her prisoner.
"What's wrong?" he inquired in his gentle manner.
Huh, she thought quickly even as she tried to come up with an excuse for her
vocal, unforgivable outburst.
"We'll camp here," she finally growled in frustration at herself as she moved
toward a big-bowled tree.
Skywalker nodded, set his droid back on its feet, then sat beside him. He
sighed in relief.
"Well," he commented wryly to the droid, "that was quite a day, wasn't it?"
"Oh, we can repeat it tomorrow, with different results," she answered
sarcastically while she turned on the survival lamp.
Skywalker threw her a glance, then lapsed into silence.
Good, she thought as she settled down, finally taking her weight off her ankle.
She didn't want to 'chat' with her prisoner. Meanwhile, her ankle continued to
throb with pain; she forced herself to forget it. It wasn't broken, hence
couldn't stop her.
Instead, she focused on her survival and broke out a ration bar from her pack.
If everything went well, she calculated mentally, they should reach their
destination around the middle of the day after tomorrow. That meant, she
checked in her survival pack, that she had enough water and food to last for an
extra day or two----
She belatedly remembered that she wasn't alone. A man was with her, and given
the physical exercise that they would be doing, she suspected that he too would
be hungry. Well, he could starve for all she cared, she reflexively thought,
then a doubt entered her mind.
If she didn't feed him, he would delay her for sure and they would both end up
without enough food nor water. With a barely concealed snarl, she tossed a bar
on his lap.
She noted that he didn't seem overly surprised by her decision. He even thanked
her.
Again.
If he did it just one more time, she promised herself, she was going to gag him
for the duration of their trek throughout the forest.
She was tired to have doubts about---
A movement caught her attention; she drew her weapon and prepared to fire...
then froze even as her prisoner did.
"Hey, I'm just... taking off my shirt," he explained even as he pulled the
garment open, then off his arms...
His muscled arms which where more than visible despite the dim lighting of the
survival lamp.
When she didn't threaten him anymore, the Jedi nodded, then bunched up his shirt
and made himself a small pillow before settling himself down; she herself
followed every one of his gestures, uncontrollably entranced by the sight of his
shifting biceps and forearms. That, she dimly reflected, wasn't the result of
tricks.
Such coordination could only come from diligent training; it puzzled her. From
what she knew of Skywalker, he wouldn't be an athlete one single bit.
While Mara settled herself for what Luke surmised would be a night watch, he
himself tried to make himself comfortable for the night. Despite his tank top,
the ground under him was cold and hard, something which wasn't particularly
pleasant for him, no matter that he had never particularly cared about comfort
before.
There was just a limit to what he liked.
However, at the moment, it was the least of his concerns. Even though he needed
to sleep to survive his actual predicament, he had to admit that he wasn't sure
if it would be a wise idea or not. A minimum of two enemies were nearby,
waiting to kill him, but he already knew that one of those would protect him
from the other.
Mara had obviously appointed herself as his bodyguard for the moment... even if
she still meant to turn back into his assassin once this would be over.
However, he conceded, assassin or not, she seemed to lack the cold quality of a
heartless killer. If she didn't have a heart, he knew that he would already be
dead. Kind of like... with his father, he reflected yet again.
The more he thought about the similarities about the two enemies, and the more
his memory merged with reality...
"Reminds me of Endor," he finally commented out loud to pull himself out of the
past.
To his slight surprise, his cold companion answered him and even gave him more
information about the forest and its inhabitants.
"Strange," he reflected out loud, "Karrde's pet vornrsks seemed wide enough
awake in late afternoon."
As had the wild ones who had taken a try at him today. Mara answered him, with
more details, which led to a few exchange about their traveling strategies.
Luke thus discovered that she wasn't only a skilled fighter, she also knew much
about tactic and how to exploite the environment's capabilities.
When he told her so, she snorted at his comment and belittled her talent as
being normal skills.
"Oh," he answered in turn, then turned his head back toward the leafy canopy,
wondering why she had reacted that way to his comment.
He hadn't been sarcastic nor fishing for information. Instead, he had genuinely
been impressed by her knowledge of her territory. Even though he himself knew
how important it was to be familiar with new environments, he somehow had the
feeling that he wouldn't have known nearly as much as she did about this place
had the situation been reversed.
He had been on enough different planets during the Rebellion to know that he had
never bothered about an in-depth investigation of their new territories.
What would have been the point back then? he asked himself. Except for a few,
rare bases, they were constantly changing locations and were not interested to
explore the territory... except on Hoth to patrol the icy plains.
Now there was a place where more knowledge about the Wampas would have been
useful, he conceded with a slight grimace.
He lightly touched his remaining scar, easily tracing it with his index.
He had been lucky that day, he knew. From loosing an eye to being eaten alive
to freezing to death, several things could have gone wrong, but instead, he had
survived... to save his father, he now knew.
Kind of like today, he then reflected seriously.
He could have perished in the crash landing, or could have gotten killed by Mara
or vornsks, but once again, he was still alive... but for which reason this
time---
Artoo suddenly made a sound of warning.
"I think Artoo's picked up something," he told his captor even as he himself
leaned up on his elbows.
"No kidding," was the woman's answer even as she turned on their small luma and
lit one of the hungry beasts.
This one was barely less than a meter away from him, its tail wordlessly telling
him that it was ready to pounce on him, its jaw already salivating at the
prospect of its upcoming meal.
As it continued to advance toward him, Luke's eyes never left the predator; he
also dimly grew aware that the thought of running away didn't enter his mind.
A nano-second later, he understood why. He now literally trusted Mara to save
his life. Not too far from him, the animal died, its tail twitching one last
time before it too stilled completely.
"Awfully good thing we have your droid's sensor along," his savior commented
sarcastically.
"Well, I wouldn't have known there was any danger without him," he informed her
truthfully, suppressing a shudder at the thought that he felt as if he were back
on Hoth.
Inexperienced.
Vulnerable.
"Thank you," he told her gratefully.
"Forget it," she spat in return.
He barely shook his head at her rude mannerism, which looked more and more like
a mask to him than the truth, then his gaze rested on the shadow of the dead
animal.
"Are Karrde's vornsks a different species? Or did they have their tail
removed?" he asked her conversationally.
Again, a silence followed his question, but when he turned around to see his
captor's face, she was as impassible as ever.
However, she did engage in more details about their actual enemy. This topic
then led to the fact that they were probably surrounded by such beasts.
"Fortunately, you seem to be an excellent shot," he told her with barely
concealed relief, then lowered himself back to the ground.
When no answer came forth from his companion, he knew that he had either upset
her again, or something else was going on in her mind. Whatever it was, he
hoped that his trust in her wasn't naive. How did he get himself in such
situations, he wondered with a sigh. Captured by a group of smugglers, trapped
on the only planet of the galaxy where he couldn't use the Force, and protected
by a very beautiful but very deadly assassin...
A trained assassin, he reflected, trying to put more pieces of Mara Jade's
puzzle together.
She was athletic, focused, an excellent shot, and she had used a lightsaber
before. She also seemed trained to bear up with pain since she had been walking
on a twisted ankle all day long.
He dimly wondered if she were feeling better or worse after their trek, but
decided to not ask her. He knew now that her temper matched her fiery hair...
Her beautiful, red-gold hair which were somehow familiar, yet he knew that he
had never seen such hair before in his life.
As for the type of character, she was worse tempered than Leia had been during
the Rebellion, but she was not as cold as Guri had been either.
She was a human... dangerous, but more and more obviously tormented young
woman... Who had trained her? he tried to figure out yet again. Who was
responsible for her torment beside him?..
******
The night slowly passed by for Mara while the Jedi slept through it all.
He didn't even blink when she killed a few more predators throughout the night.
The moment that the first rays of the sun pierced the canopy, she woke him up
with a nudge of her blaster against his cheek; coupled with a burbling noise
from the droid, the Jedi awoke almost instantly.
"Got enough beauty sleep?" she asked him sarcastically, then stood up and nudged
him with her foot. "Get up, it's time to go," she ordered him even as she
crouched by her small survival kit.
Behind her, she heard the Jedi stretch himself; while a small part of her
yearned to turn around and enjoy the sight once again, she didn't give in her
desire. She had spent the whole night watching their surroundings while trying
to not be too distracted by his bare, muscled arms; she really didn't trust
herself to resist the 'real' sight of them.
Even more than her hesitancy to kill him, her weird reactions to his body were
greatly puzzling her. In the past ten years since she had become an active
agent for the Emperor, she had never, ever felt anything for any man that could
compare with what she felt for the Jedi... Even her farmboy hadn't affected her
this way.
Right now, she simply felt true physical attraction for her target, a feeling
that just wouldn't obey her normally strict self-control.
It was totally insane of course, she berated herself. It probably was due to
the fact that she had to 'spend' time with the, she had to admit, very good
looking man instead of doing it quickly and move on to her next step: live.
Yes, she tried to reassured herself, it 'was' that.
She finally turned around, her blaster at the ready; Skywalker was slowly
getting ready to go, checking his droid's safety.
"Ready?" he asked her nicely.
"Get moving," she snapped in return, settling her own backpack and equipment on
her back.
She didn't trust him with those, she reminded herself when her ankle resumed
complaining against her bad treatment. Hence, she once again ignored it as she
followed her prisoner away from their nightly camping site.
******
Some time later, and three dead vornsks later, Luke trudged onward in front of
Jade. While the previous day had been relatively easy as far as Artoo's
survival went, the young Jedi was beginning to appreciate the true weight of his
metallic friend.
Even though he was in good shape, the effort of dragging the droid all over the
forest was beginning to affect him. His arms and legs were slowly singing with
growing intensity at the continued efforts. Sweat was already pouring down his
face and back, and his breath was beginning to turn ragged.
Still, his captor pushed him onward, not allowing him respite unless they were
attacked and that she took a moment to double-check their surroundings.
Artoo suddenly squealed again; Luke let go of the handles and dropped to the
ground, covering his head with his hands.
A shot later, it was over.
"You really are the popular guy nowadays," the young woman sneered at him,
walking closer to him while he slowly pushed himself back to his feet.
"Don't believe everything the media say," he retorted tiredly, resorting to
humor to slightly lighten his own mood.
He expected her to shoot something sarcastic or caustic at him, but instead, she
remained silent. When he gazed at her, he noticed how her eyes were once again
hard yet softening thanks to confusion.
Now what had he said?, he wondered while he took a short breather. Artoo seemed
to share his worry; he slightly tilted himself in the travois until he could see
him.
"You know," he told his metallic friend while he bent down to inspect him.
"You're getting pretty resistant to repeated falls."
Artoo didn't agree with him; he whistled an indignant raspberry.
"I know, sorry," Luke smiled at him while clearing grass from his collar/joint.
He then refocused on the silent woman beside him; her eyes were not leaving him.
"Is something wrong?" he finally asked her, checking around himself for the
presence of another predator.
"Course's clear now," she retorted after just a short hesitancy, then she
silently incited him to get moving.
"Just a second," he commented even as he began to unbutton his tunic.
While he had been wearing blacks for almost six years now, he had never worn
them to exercise, and now he knew exactly why he had never been tempted to try
it. Despite their light fabric, his chosen Jedi uniform was pretty warm,
especially when he was working out as much as he was at the moment. His tank
top would be more than enough for now.
He finally wedged his tunic under Artoo's head to cushion his next falls, then
took a moment to stretch himself.
"Okay, ready," he finally informed her while he took hold again of his charge,
then he walked on.
As he walked passed his captor, he never, ever noticed how she was eyeing him in
a fashion which might have reminded him of the vorsnks eyes... except for one
detail: she wouldn't kill him if she were to pounce on him.
The Jedi walked past her, then continued onward, leaving her behind, her eyes
still riveted on the tanned expanse of flesh which she could now see without any
hindrance. He was even better sculpted than she had first surmised after the
quick peek of the previous night.
Her feet finally carried her after the Jedi, but her mind was not following yet.
Instead, it was replaying over and over again the sight of the divesting young
man. Every single motion had made his muscles shift, thus exposing themselves
to her knowledgeable eyes.
She had trained for years, had fought against enemies of every kind and had
learnt to recognize signs of a truly strong individual versus one who wasn't
developed the right way. The Jedi didn't show any sign that his muscles weren't
trained to make use of all their abilities.
They weren't bunchy like someone who had more volume then strength, nor were
they small like someone who didn't train at all. Instead, they were lean,
proportionate to his stature, and supple-looking. His shoulder blades also
seemed developed although she couldn't be sure about those given his tank top.
Still, she reflected as she followed him and took advantage of her point of view
on his straining muscles, it was an unpleasant surprise. Not only did it mean
that she would have her hands full against him if he ever attempted anything,
but the fact that she could see him like this wasn't helping her to remain focus
and detached.
While she had managed to dampen her irritating surge of attraction toward the
sleeping man the previous night, she was now hard-pressed to not admit, again,
her attraction to him.
He was an enemy, she reminded herself like a mantra. A target, someone to kill,
a disposable nuisance. She didn't feel anything for him.
Still, he seemed to tease her, she liked to watch him--- then her eyes traveled
lower and she became aware that he didn't only have great arms. She briefly
shut her eyes to block out the sight of his shifting backside as he continued to
walk quietly in front of her.
Facing her, the droid warbled slightly at this; she snapped her eyes open and
glared at it, silently threatening it from ever informing Skywalker about this.
The robot slightly rotated its head as if in understanding.
They walked onward.
As she forced herself to focus on anything else but the temptation who was under
her responsibility, her eyes rested on the sky above them.
Between the morning and Skywalker's little striptease, it had turned gray until
there was no doubt in her mind that it would---
As if on cue, a tropical rain suddenly assailed them, instantly drenching them
to the bone. It also diminished her radius of surveillance since their
surroundings quickly became blurry and white.
"What now?" Skywalker asked her over the sound of the falling rain.
"We continue," she answered him, walking all the way up to his side until her
weapon was wedged against his hips. "Nice and easy, Jedi."
"Always," he sighed, refocusing on the trek ahead of them.
Mara however had eyes only for his very close flesh which seemed even more
tempting now that it was glistening under the water.
She forced herself to refocus on her mission.
TBC in part 5: Waiting out the rain
Well, liked it? Had fun? Hope so ;)
2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)
Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff will be thrown down the
Sarlacc's throat without even being read.)