Destiny at Work
Part 6: Checking on Mara
by SJ 23-03-99/2002 (skyjade@globetrotter.net)
__________________________
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs
to George Lucas. Also, if something is related to the spoken parts of Dark Force Rising, it 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, and vice versa ;). Naturally, everything related to events of Dark Force Rising also belong to Timothy Zhan. Please don't sue me, it's only for fun; I'm not making any money out of this. See my home page for more details.
Http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702
Special thanks to Adrianne for her help with beta-reading. Thank you for
giving me some of your precious time, my friend; I appreciate.
_________________________
(Place: after DFR)
Clones, Luke thought as he guided his x-wing back to the medical frigate where Mara had been taken. The Empire had not only acquired almost two-hundred ships, but now also had the ability to fill them with a trained crew within years... perhaps even less.
Would Mara have known about this?, he wondered as he reached out and searched for the unconscious presence of the young woman. Would she have information about this new resource for the Empire, or would she, like they were, deal with something she had also believed impossible anymore.
As he found her warm/cool Force signature near the middle of the ship, he promised himself to inform her of this turn of events as soon as she would be fit to deal with it.
Focusing back on his piloting, he brought his ship into a final approach with the Star Cruiser.
******
Later on, Luke was standing in front of a glass bay window behind which were bacta tanks gathered in a semi-circle.
Unconscious, Mara Jade was drifting in one of them, her beautiful features almost completely covered by the breathing apparatus while her slim, underwear-covered body was barely outlined in the red goop.
"She will be unconscious for a while, Jedi Skywalker," a medic commented as he stepped in the observation room.
"I know," he nodded, his eyes still locked on hers. "Will she be all right?"
"She has suffered severe neural damage; that kind of healing is time-consuming."
Luke nodded somberly in understanding. "Is there anything I--- we can do to help her recovery?" he queried softly.
"I'm afraid not. It is up to her and the bacta," the medic specified as he stepped closer to him. "She will probably stay in coma for a month anyway, maybe more."
"A month?!" Luke gaped as he whirled toward the other in disbelief.
"Neural reconstruction is tricky, Jedi Skywalker. However, the longer it takes, the more complete is the recovery," the other reassured him sollicitously. "I understand that you are worried about your friend, young man, but for the moment, there is nothing to do but wait."
"I... understand," the Jedi nodded while he noticed which word the other had used to talk about the young woman.
Friend.
For the medic, him and Mara were friends.
Well, true, he conceded, he was looking after her as if he were his friend, and he had come after her the moment he had been able to. Could he have delayed if something else had come up?, he wondered as he refastened his gaze on the unconscious features of the young woman.
He didn't think so. Helping Mara had felt... well, like the right thing to do, the only thing he had to do right this moment. Perhaps it was his Jedi compassion, he sighed in confusion, but perhaps it was because he was now 'really' thinking of her as his friend.
No matter what she kept telling him about how she would kill him, and how she disliked him, he could feel, from the bottom of his heart, that she would never kill him. Even if he always had doubts when faced with her blaster, he never 'believed' that she 'would' kill him. No, he reflected, Mara didn't want to kill him; the voice and nightmares were trying to convince her otherwise, but as far as 'she' was truly concerned, she didn't want to take him out.
Careful to not disturb the healing unconsciousness of the confused and confusing woman, he reached out and barely established contact with her subconscious.
*Mara,* he sent gently, *Heal well; remember that I'll be there if you need me, my friend.* then he withdrew, aware that what he had just sent had more than one meaning.
While it could relate to her physical status, it could also relate to her fight against the compulsions which had been planted in her mind; either way, he would be true to his word and be there for her if she needed help.
He had never let his friends down, would certainly not begin with her.
He stayed with her for as long as they didn't reach Coruscant; except for Karrde, nobody else checked on the mysterious woman who had been revealed as an ex-imperial.
******
Far away from those events, another, malevolent soul checked on his favorite slave.
She was unconscious, and not merely knocked out but totally, utterly unaware of anything.
Not even his manipulations could break through to the woman's mind; it simply didn't react to anything except her need to keep her body functional to survive. Everything else was canalized in healing processes.
As if that particularity wasn't enough, Skywalker was once again omnipresent around the young woman, and unlike his distant influences, the Jedi's healing energies were making it through to the woman's subconscious.
He couldn't even stop them in any way without revealing his existence. Were Thrawn further into his conquest, he would not hesitate and reveal his presence, but the other had barely begun to wreak serious havoc in the Rebel world. Considering who he was facing, he himself knew that a turnabout was always possible until the particular troublemakers had been dealt with.
When Jade would kill Skywalker, his victory would be at hand and he would reclaim what was rightfully his, but for the moment... He was condemned to wait for the events to take place.
Which meant that he had to wait for his incapable assassin to recover from a minor neural injury and do her job.
And when she would wake up, he promised himself as he glared at the far away stars that were the Coruscant system, she would know to obey him to get rid of her torment.
He would hound her so relentlessly that she would not even consider having a reason to keep Skywalker alive.
Then her revenge would be complete and a new dark age would begin for the Sith Order.
TBC in The Death of the Emperor's Hand (or missing moments from the Last Command ;)
Copyright 1999/2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)
Webmaster : Skyjade(Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff won't even
be read.)
Part 6: Checking on Mara
by SJ 23-03-99/2002 (skyjade@globetrotter.net)
__________________________
Disclaimers: Nothing in the Star Wars Universe belong to me; everything belongs
to George Lucas. Also, if something is related to the spoken parts of Dark Force Rising, it 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, and vice versa ;). Naturally, everything related to events of Dark Force Rising also belong to Timothy Zhan. Please don't sue me, it's only for fun; I'm not making any money out of this. See my home page for more details.
Http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702
Special thanks to Adrianne for her help with beta-reading. Thank you for
giving me some of your precious time, my friend; I appreciate.
_________________________
(Place: after DFR)
Clones, Luke thought as he guided his x-wing back to the medical frigate where Mara had been taken. The Empire had not only acquired almost two-hundred ships, but now also had the ability to fill them with a trained crew within years... perhaps even less.
Would Mara have known about this?, he wondered as he reached out and searched for the unconscious presence of the young woman. Would she have information about this new resource for the Empire, or would she, like they were, deal with something she had also believed impossible anymore.
As he found her warm/cool Force signature near the middle of the ship, he promised himself to inform her of this turn of events as soon as she would be fit to deal with it.
Focusing back on his piloting, he brought his ship into a final approach with the Star Cruiser.
******
Later on, Luke was standing in front of a glass bay window behind which were bacta tanks gathered in a semi-circle.
Unconscious, Mara Jade was drifting in one of them, her beautiful features almost completely covered by the breathing apparatus while her slim, underwear-covered body was barely outlined in the red goop.
"She will be unconscious for a while, Jedi Skywalker," a medic commented as he stepped in the observation room.
"I know," he nodded, his eyes still locked on hers. "Will she be all right?"
"She has suffered severe neural damage; that kind of healing is time-consuming."
Luke nodded somberly in understanding. "Is there anything I--- we can do to help her recovery?" he queried softly.
"I'm afraid not. It is up to her and the bacta," the medic specified as he stepped closer to him. "She will probably stay in coma for a month anyway, maybe more."
"A month?!" Luke gaped as he whirled toward the other in disbelief.
"Neural reconstruction is tricky, Jedi Skywalker. However, the longer it takes, the more complete is the recovery," the other reassured him sollicitously. "I understand that you are worried about your friend, young man, but for the moment, there is nothing to do but wait."
"I... understand," the Jedi nodded while he noticed which word the other had used to talk about the young woman.
Friend.
For the medic, him and Mara were friends.
Well, true, he conceded, he was looking after her as if he were his friend, and he had come after her the moment he had been able to. Could he have delayed if something else had come up?, he wondered as he refastened his gaze on the unconscious features of the young woman.
He didn't think so. Helping Mara had felt... well, like the right thing to do, the only thing he had to do right this moment. Perhaps it was his Jedi compassion, he sighed in confusion, but perhaps it was because he was now 'really' thinking of her as his friend.
No matter what she kept telling him about how she would kill him, and how she disliked him, he could feel, from the bottom of his heart, that she would never kill him. Even if he always had doubts when faced with her blaster, he never 'believed' that she 'would' kill him. No, he reflected, Mara didn't want to kill him; the voice and nightmares were trying to convince her otherwise, but as far as 'she' was truly concerned, she didn't want to take him out.
Careful to not disturb the healing unconsciousness of the confused and confusing woman, he reached out and barely established contact with her subconscious.
*Mara,* he sent gently, *Heal well; remember that I'll be there if you need me, my friend.* then he withdrew, aware that what he had just sent had more than one meaning.
While it could relate to her physical status, it could also relate to her fight against the compulsions which had been planted in her mind; either way, he would be true to his word and be there for her if she needed help.
He had never let his friends down, would certainly not begin with her.
He stayed with her for as long as they didn't reach Coruscant; except for Karrde, nobody else checked on the mysterious woman who had been revealed as an ex-imperial.
******
Far away from those events, another, malevolent soul checked on his favorite slave.
She was unconscious, and not merely knocked out but totally, utterly unaware of anything.
Not even his manipulations could break through to the woman's mind; it simply didn't react to anything except her need to keep her body functional to survive. Everything else was canalized in healing processes.
As if that particularity wasn't enough, Skywalker was once again omnipresent around the young woman, and unlike his distant influences, the Jedi's healing energies were making it through to the woman's subconscious.
He couldn't even stop them in any way without revealing his existence. Were Thrawn further into his conquest, he would not hesitate and reveal his presence, but the other had barely begun to wreak serious havoc in the Rebel world. Considering who he was facing, he himself knew that a turnabout was always possible until the particular troublemakers had been dealt with.
When Jade would kill Skywalker, his victory would be at hand and he would reclaim what was rightfully his, but for the moment... He was condemned to wait for the events to take place.
Which meant that he had to wait for his incapable assassin to recover from a minor neural injury and do her job.
And when she would wake up, he promised himself as he glared at the far away stars that were the Coruscant system, she would know to obey him to get rid of her torment.
He would hound her so relentlessly that she would not even consider having a reason to keep Skywalker alive.
Then her revenge would be complete and a new dark age would begin for the Sith Order.
TBC in The Death of the Emperor's Hand (or missing moments from the Last Command ;)
Copyright 1999/2002, SJ (skyjade@globetrotter.net)
Webmaster : Skyjade(Any positive stuff is welcome, but any mean stuff won't even
be read.)