Disclaimer: Most of the characters featured are the property of G. Lucas.
No copyright infringement intended. I am NOT making any money with this.
ONLY TO BE ARCHIVED AT FANFICTION.NET
Timeline: Post- Vision of the Future, replacing Union
To M. For feedback, excellent company, fellowship in SW-madness and fun around the clock ;=) (Especially behind the wheel - I sure would like to see you with an X-wing!)
SPOILER ALERT: Planet of Twilight, Showdown at Centrepoint, Specter of The Past, Vision of The Future, Vector Prime as well as some later New Jedi Orders. (And naturally the Thrawn trilogy, how can anyone possibly avoid that? ;=)
WARPED UNIVERSE ALERT: For the sake of storytelling, Isard's not dead at all. Condolenses to those who get stomach cramps from the woman. I know what you're going through. Just thank the stars of Alderaan I didn't bring Callista back.
Star Wars: The Rising By Heidi Ahlmen (siirma6@surfeu.fi)
Looking back to it now, it was all logical. Mara had told Luke she'd worked as a dancer and mechanic before she'd landed a job in Karrde's organization. And that learning to dance had been a part of her Imperial upbringing. But the traditional part of it, the moves familiar to Han through seemingly ancient memories of childhood were of some other origin than the Emperor's court.
Lando still looked sceptic. "That's nice, but how is this going to get things going for Mara now?"
Han sighed. Lando could be so thick-skulled. Or maybe his own head was working faster than usually. "If she dances like a Corellian, what is she?"
"A Corellian?" Lando asked back. Han was getting annoying.
"And Palpatine was?"
"I've no idea," Lando replied truthfully and wondering how his once equally self-sufficient man had suddenly become so well-informed.
"Naboo. Which places the whole Inner Belt between them."
"That doesn't prove anything. He could've given her off to be raised in Corellia. Besides, Mantellians are all of Corellian origin, remember? Who says she isn't from around there."
"Noone is from Mantell." It was strange but seemed to be true. Noone really lived there, not for long, at least. "Besides, it doesn't make any sense. It wasn't as if Palpatine had a reason to hide his kids. It's a matter of too many coincidences. Luke and Mara both can't happen to have Siths as relatives. And they can't both have been hidden."
"Think Fey'lya'll buy that reasoning? And Gavrisom?"
"Not like this, not now. But we'll prove it." Han was determined. After all, did he have anything better to do? Had he ever had anything better to do than to see that the New Republic stayed up and running?
"How?" Lando, ever so sceptic.
"We're taking a little trip to the Bright Jewel Systems Cluster. Maybe we'll find Mara in the process."
Lando sighed.
CHAPTER VI:
Luke had had a quiet evening. One of the quietest he could ever remember having. He'd lounged around, stuffing some forlorn clothes scattered on the floor into closets, prepared a meal from himself and wandered the long halls of the praxeum in search of a quiet enough place for meditation to no avail.
It wasn't quite useless that he felt, just mildly frustrated and tired. He'd tried to get through the Mara all day, and her presence lingered in the Force like it always did, but Mara obviously didn't wish to address him. Luke could sense no anger nor disapproval in her withdrawal, and she wasn't in any kind of danger.
Still, he wondered where she was. Obviously looking for answers in her own way. Luke understood her as he almost always had - he'd often left without a word himself.
It troubled himself, of course - any given moment without Mara was a moment wasted. He could only hope that she would find what she needed. What they both needed.
Leia was right about his staying on Coruscant. Gavrisom had sent him a brief message, calling him in for 'conversation'. No Council meetings yet. Perhaps they'd been a little too jumpy, Luke reasoned.
He truly enjoyed seeing the new order grow and his niece and nephews achieve the peak of their abilities, but more youngters unfortunately meant more liveliness, just as Luke had begun to understand Master Kenobi's yearning for quiet. Luke knew from the Holocron that Obi-Wan Kenobi had been a model student, with the right state of mind - peaceful, thougtful and patient. Luke himself had been so much more lively - even so that Yoda had nearly refused to teach him.
In his late teens during the rise of the rebellion he would've gotten rid of any troubling feelings bu plunging into action, but as losses became deeper and running gauntlet around the galaxy just wouldn't work anymore, he'd learned to appreciate quiet time.
It had been sometime after Callista that his meditation had reached what Mara had called a 'worrying' level. What Mara had meant that he was wallowing in his martyrdom.
She'd been exaggerating slightly. Mostly he just liked it because it helped him stretch out to the Force, and because it was a good way to pass time. Not all actions of the Jedi were benefit-inducing to the galaxy.
He'd also gotten to see Ghent and asked him to do a search in the libraries for Mara. He'd done it already of course, on Leia's and some others' behalf, but after witnessing the mood Luke was in he had simply nodded and did as asked. He'd offered Luke the usual NRI files - there wasn't much to find about Mara, anyway, but he had refused after deciding he had no right.
Luke could also guess he was taking the matter a whole lot more lightly than the rest of the galaxy, and even Leia - he really didn't care one way or another. The truth, whatever it be, would not change his opinion of Mara. After all, she'd first wanted to kill him. Family relations to whoever were a much lighter disturbance in comparison. And neither to Luke played any role in his plans to marry her.
He'd returned to the praxeum and let himself into the empty assembly hall. There were still students walking around, and Luke had exchanged a few words with Tionne who'd been ushering a group of juniors into her usual place of teaching: the libraries. Luke valued Tionne as both student and teacher - what she lacked in Force awareness she made up to with her desire to teach and learn of the history and the teachings of the Jedi.
Now he sat, deep in meditation. He felt the Force flow steadily through him, and for a moment the whole glaxy felt at easy, everything in its right place. He sensed Leia - talking to Jaina and Anakin who were like two bright stars in a black sky, their presences even stronger than Leia's. He felt his students and other Jedi in the praxeum, a haven of positivity in the otherwise melangent Coruscant.
Mara was still there, too. Slightly restless but safe.
Then Luke a presence moving in his vicinity. He opened his awareness slightly, probing the person approaching. He remembered leaving the door open.
'Master Skywalker?' came a question into his head and he recognized the inquirer. Amarice. He retreated from the silence back into reality. "Evening," he smiled. Amarice sat down next to him. "How are you doing?"
Amarice stiffened a yawn, embarrassed that she was perhaps sending a message to his Master that she was bored - something the Jedi in her opinion never should be. But the only thing emanating from Master Skywalker was interest and encouragement. "Tired, I guess. Still, that Senator's a smaller pain than we might've thought."
Luke smiled. "Is that what your instincts tell you?"
Amarice shook her head. "It's strange - she seems to have absolutely no personal feelings towards the issue - the Jedi, I mean. I can't read her at all. She doesn't seem too interested but at the same time she asks pretty nasty questions."
"For instance?"
"Like if the Jedi were given absolute power would we use it to enforce belief in the Force."
Luke didn't answer. An odd question indeed, but not an unusual one coming from a non-Force-sensitive. Still, if the Senator was so preoccupied with the Jedi issue, why hadn't she educated herself beyond this? "Maybe she meant to ask if we wish to make everyone Jedi."
Amarice thought about it. "I don't know. I just answered the best I could. I told her the Jedi are protectors who do not want to enfroce their lifestyle on anyone. I told her it's a calling that has its prices, even so that not all would choose it again, given the choice."
Luke noticed her sad tone. It wasn't a wrong thing to say, but troubling coming from a student.
Jedidom meant giving up a lot of things - even more so during the time of the Old Republic, and Luke was still trying to shape the boundaries inside a which a Jedi was to function. He'd done away with celibacy, obviously. And he did accept students who'd joined the Jedi on their own, during their adult lives and not through some youth program. His students were dedicated and he liked to think it was because they'd tasted ordinary life like he had, and chosen to be Jedi anyway.
"Would you choose to be a Jedi if you could make the choice again, Master Skywalker?" Amarice had noticed his silence, perhaps sensed that he agreed at least in part, but the question was daring, impolite even.
"Would you, Amarice?" he decided to evade by countering. He could've answered but this was hardly an issue that should have been discussed with a student.
"I don't know. Ask me in a few years again, Master." Her reply made him smile. A wise answer, indeed. A Jedi could never totally stiffen his or her inner turmoil.
His answer would've been that he would have gladly said yes again. In his youth his decision had been hasty, pushed by the tragedy of the death of his Uncle and Aunt, and he'd hardly had a choice, but it had been the right one. A way of much pain, yes, but without it he would not be where he was now.
And without it he wouldn't be with Mara.
Lando shivered in his seat as the Falcon took another almost fatal curve. Near the beginning of the Derby season Ord Mantell's sky was filled with some improved old fighters; mostly X- and A-wings along with Headhunters and even a few trimmed TIEs as fans of the races crowded into the small planet's atmosphere, if not to take part but to enjoy the thrill of watching the race from the orbit instead of the casino Holocams.
"Watch that Sienar -" Lando began, and the Falcon dropped height so dramatically he was nearly knocked off his seat.
"What I'd give for a beacon," Han muttered under his breath. He'd landed on Mantell more times than he could care to count and it still proved tricky - like evading asteroids in a comet cloud, asteroids that all had a mind of their own and excitement as their middle name.
The landed in a few minutes. Han guided the slightly battered Falcon into a larger hangar outside the city - neither of them felt like facing intercity traffic - the entrance had been bad enough.
What was more, they both knew many of the passing ships to be loaded with weaponry. Many businesses on Mantell got most of their annual unofficial turnover from ammunition trade as Ord Mantell had a long history of supplying for a neighbouring planet, Anobis which had been the playground for civil wars for generations. A collision with a therm-grenade-carrying ship would not have been a pretty sight.
They shut off the navicomputer, loaded their blasters, answered Chewbacca as he called to ask them to pick him up sometime in the next four days from Kashyyk, and then sent down the ramp.
Lando locked up the ship and Han went out to check for possible damage.
The Begaria Spaceport was a smuggler's heaven - no logs, no personnel except for an old Sukarian who was more interested in the Derby than incoming ships. It was also not very well advertised. Han and Lando had used it numerous times before - it had once been their primary port on the edge of the Unknown Regions. They were usually the only customers.
That was why Han was very surprised to notice another ship parked in darkness in the next hangar. He decided to take a look. Lando walked out of the Falcon and set the ramp away. Han gestured to him and they snuck closer to the other hangar.
Lando went to read the name in the side. "Han, take a look at this. It's the Starry Ice. Coincidence of no coincidence?"
"What would Karrde be doing here?"
"Isn't Tendra usually the one in charge of the Ice? Maybe she's on one of her usual jaunts."
Lando scratched his shoulder. "It's getting dark. There's no point in going to Tyrena this late. Maybe we should sleep on it."
"And wait for Karrde or Tendra? I wouldn't mind seeing her for a change and I never even got to have a word with Karrde yesterday."
Satisfied with their plan, they called up Leia, telling her where they were but nothing much of the reason for their departure in case Han's memories all proved to be invalid.
Leia was worried as she always was, but seemed satisfied after she'd decided that Han and Lando were probably just visiting some friends along with doing some usual business.
After Leia said goodnight and cut off, Han and Lando decided to spend some time making sure Falcon's systems were running - you never knew when you had to make for a quick escape.
************************************************'
Thank you for reading. Reviews and feedback would be greatly appreciated - they're the fuel that feeds this creative furnace.
Heidi Ahlmen siirma6@surfeu.fi
ONLY TO BE ARCHIVED AT FANFICTION.NET
Timeline: Post- Vision of the Future, replacing Union
To M. For feedback, excellent company, fellowship in SW-madness and fun around the clock ;=) (Especially behind the wheel - I sure would like to see you with an X-wing!)
SPOILER ALERT: Planet of Twilight, Showdown at Centrepoint, Specter of The Past, Vision of The Future, Vector Prime as well as some later New Jedi Orders. (And naturally the Thrawn trilogy, how can anyone possibly avoid that? ;=)
WARPED UNIVERSE ALERT: For the sake of storytelling, Isard's not dead at all. Condolenses to those who get stomach cramps from the woman. I know what you're going through. Just thank the stars of Alderaan I didn't bring Callista back.
Star Wars: The Rising By Heidi Ahlmen (siirma6@surfeu.fi)
Looking back to it now, it was all logical. Mara had told Luke she'd worked as a dancer and mechanic before she'd landed a job in Karrde's organization. And that learning to dance had been a part of her Imperial upbringing. But the traditional part of it, the moves familiar to Han through seemingly ancient memories of childhood were of some other origin than the Emperor's court.
Lando still looked sceptic. "That's nice, but how is this going to get things going for Mara now?"
Han sighed. Lando could be so thick-skulled. Or maybe his own head was working faster than usually. "If she dances like a Corellian, what is she?"
"A Corellian?" Lando asked back. Han was getting annoying.
"And Palpatine was?"
"I've no idea," Lando replied truthfully and wondering how his once equally self-sufficient man had suddenly become so well-informed.
"Naboo. Which places the whole Inner Belt between them."
"That doesn't prove anything. He could've given her off to be raised in Corellia. Besides, Mantellians are all of Corellian origin, remember? Who says she isn't from around there."
"Noone is from Mantell." It was strange but seemed to be true. Noone really lived there, not for long, at least. "Besides, it doesn't make any sense. It wasn't as if Palpatine had a reason to hide his kids. It's a matter of too many coincidences. Luke and Mara both can't happen to have Siths as relatives. And they can't both have been hidden."
"Think Fey'lya'll buy that reasoning? And Gavrisom?"
"Not like this, not now. But we'll prove it." Han was determined. After all, did he have anything better to do? Had he ever had anything better to do than to see that the New Republic stayed up and running?
"How?" Lando, ever so sceptic.
"We're taking a little trip to the Bright Jewel Systems Cluster. Maybe we'll find Mara in the process."
Lando sighed.
CHAPTER VI:
Luke had had a quiet evening. One of the quietest he could ever remember having. He'd lounged around, stuffing some forlorn clothes scattered on the floor into closets, prepared a meal from himself and wandered the long halls of the praxeum in search of a quiet enough place for meditation to no avail.
It wasn't quite useless that he felt, just mildly frustrated and tired. He'd tried to get through the Mara all day, and her presence lingered in the Force like it always did, but Mara obviously didn't wish to address him. Luke could sense no anger nor disapproval in her withdrawal, and she wasn't in any kind of danger.
Still, he wondered where she was. Obviously looking for answers in her own way. Luke understood her as he almost always had - he'd often left without a word himself.
It troubled himself, of course - any given moment without Mara was a moment wasted. He could only hope that she would find what she needed. What they both needed.
Leia was right about his staying on Coruscant. Gavrisom had sent him a brief message, calling him in for 'conversation'. No Council meetings yet. Perhaps they'd been a little too jumpy, Luke reasoned.
He truly enjoyed seeing the new order grow and his niece and nephews achieve the peak of their abilities, but more youngters unfortunately meant more liveliness, just as Luke had begun to understand Master Kenobi's yearning for quiet. Luke knew from the Holocron that Obi-Wan Kenobi had been a model student, with the right state of mind - peaceful, thougtful and patient. Luke himself had been so much more lively - even so that Yoda had nearly refused to teach him.
In his late teens during the rise of the rebellion he would've gotten rid of any troubling feelings bu plunging into action, but as losses became deeper and running gauntlet around the galaxy just wouldn't work anymore, he'd learned to appreciate quiet time.
It had been sometime after Callista that his meditation had reached what Mara had called a 'worrying' level. What Mara had meant that he was wallowing in his martyrdom.
She'd been exaggerating slightly. Mostly he just liked it because it helped him stretch out to the Force, and because it was a good way to pass time. Not all actions of the Jedi were benefit-inducing to the galaxy.
He'd also gotten to see Ghent and asked him to do a search in the libraries for Mara. He'd done it already of course, on Leia's and some others' behalf, but after witnessing the mood Luke was in he had simply nodded and did as asked. He'd offered Luke the usual NRI files - there wasn't much to find about Mara, anyway, but he had refused after deciding he had no right.
Luke could also guess he was taking the matter a whole lot more lightly than the rest of the galaxy, and even Leia - he really didn't care one way or another. The truth, whatever it be, would not change his opinion of Mara. After all, she'd first wanted to kill him. Family relations to whoever were a much lighter disturbance in comparison. And neither to Luke played any role in his plans to marry her.
He'd returned to the praxeum and let himself into the empty assembly hall. There were still students walking around, and Luke had exchanged a few words with Tionne who'd been ushering a group of juniors into her usual place of teaching: the libraries. Luke valued Tionne as both student and teacher - what she lacked in Force awareness she made up to with her desire to teach and learn of the history and the teachings of the Jedi.
Now he sat, deep in meditation. He felt the Force flow steadily through him, and for a moment the whole glaxy felt at easy, everything in its right place. He sensed Leia - talking to Jaina and Anakin who were like two bright stars in a black sky, their presences even stronger than Leia's. He felt his students and other Jedi in the praxeum, a haven of positivity in the otherwise melangent Coruscant.
Mara was still there, too. Slightly restless but safe.
Then Luke a presence moving in his vicinity. He opened his awareness slightly, probing the person approaching. He remembered leaving the door open.
'Master Skywalker?' came a question into his head and he recognized the inquirer. Amarice. He retreated from the silence back into reality. "Evening," he smiled. Amarice sat down next to him. "How are you doing?"
Amarice stiffened a yawn, embarrassed that she was perhaps sending a message to his Master that she was bored - something the Jedi in her opinion never should be. But the only thing emanating from Master Skywalker was interest and encouragement. "Tired, I guess. Still, that Senator's a smaller pain than we might've thought."
Luke smiled. "Is that what your instincts tell you?"
Amarice shook her head. "It's strange - she seems to have absolutely no personal feelings towards the issue - the Jedi, I mean. I can't read her at all. She doesn't seem too interested but at the same time she asks pretty nasty questions."
"For instance?"
"Like if the Jedi were given absolute power would we use it to enforce belief in the Force."
Luke didn't answer. An odd question indeed, but not an unusual one coming from a non-Force-sensitive. Still, if the Senator was so preoccupied with the Jedi issue, why hadn't she educated herself beyond this? "Maybe she meant to ask if we wish to make everyone Jedi."
Amarice thought about it. "I don't know. I just answered the best I could. I told her the Jedi are protectors who do not want to enfroce their lifestyle on anyone. I told her it's a calling that has its prices, even so that not all would choose it again, given the choice."
Luke noticed her sad tone. It wasn't a wrong thing to say, but troubling coming from a student.
Jedidom meant giving up a lot of things - even more so during the time of the Old Republic, and Luke was still trying to shape the boundaries inside a which a Jedi was to function. He'd done away with celibacy, obviously. And he did accept students who'd joined the Jedi on their own, during their adult lives and not through some youth program. His students were dedicated and he liked to think it was because they'd tasted ordinary life like he had, and chosen to be Jedi anyway.
"Would you choose to be a Jedi if you could make the choice again, Master Skywalker?" Amarice had noticed his silence, perhaps sensed that he agreed at least in part, but the question was daring, impolite even.
"Would you, Amarice?" he decided to evade by countering. He could've answered but this was hardly an issue that should have been discussed with a student.
"I don't know. Ask me in a few years again, Master." Her reply made him smile. A wise answer, indeed. A Jedi could never totally stiffen his or her inner turmoil.
His answer would've been that he would have gladly said yes again. In his youth his decision had been hasty, pushed by the tragedy of the death of his Uncle and Aunt, and he'd hardly had a choice, but it had been the right one. A way of much pain, yes, but without it he would not be where he was now.
And without it he wouldn't be with Mara.
Lando shivered in his seat as the Falcon took another almost fatal curve. Near the beginning of the Derby season Ord Mantell's sky was filled with some improved old fighters; mostly X- and A-wings along with Headhunters and even a few trimmed TIEs as fans of the races crowded into the small planet's atmosphere, if not to take part but to enjoy the thrill of watching the race from the orbit instead of the casino Holocams.
"Watch that Sienar -" Lando began, and the Falcon dropped height so dramatically he was nearly knocked off his seat.
"What I'd give for a beacon," Han muttered under his breath. He'd landed on Mantell more times than he could care to count and it still proved tricky - like evading asteroids in a comet cloud, asteroids that all had a mind of their own and excitement as their middle name.
The landed in a few minutes. Han guided the slightly battered Falcon into a larger hangar outside the city - neither of them felt like facing intercity traffic - the entrance had been bad enough.
What was more, they both knew many of the passing ships to be loaded with weaponry. Many businesses on Mantell got most of their annual unofficial turnover from ammunition trade as Ord Mantell had a long history of supplying for a neighbouring planet, Anobis which had been the playground for civil wars for generations. A collision with a therm-grenade-carrying ship would not have been a pretty sight.
They shut off the navicomputer, loaded their blasters, answered Chewbacca as he called to ask them to pick him up sometime in the next four days from Kashyyk, and then sent down the ramp.
Lando locked up the ship and Han went out to check for possible damage.
The Begaria Spaceport was a smuggler's heaven - no logs, no personnel except for an old Sukarian who was more interested in the Derby than incoming ships. It was also not very well advertised. Han and Lando had used it numerous times before - it had once been their primary port on the edge of the Unknown Regions. They were usually the only customers.
That was why Han was very surprised to notice another ship parked in darkness in the next hangar. He decided to take a look. Lando walked out of the Falcon and set the ramp away. Han gestured to him and they snuck closer to the other hangar.
Lando went to read the name in the side. "Han, take a look at this. It's the Starry Ice. Coincidence of no coincidence?"
"What would Karrde be doing here?"
"Isn't Tendra usually the one in charge of the Ice? Maybe she's on one of her usual jaunts."
Lando scratched his shoulder. "It's getting dark. There's no point in going to Tyrena this late. Maybe we should sleep on it."
"And wait for Karrde or Tendra? I wouldn't mind seeing her for a change and I never even got to have a word with Karrde yesterday."
Satisfied with their plan, they called up Leia, telling her where they were but nothing much of the reason for their departure in case Han's memories all proved to be invalid.
Leia was worried as she always was, but seemed satisfied after she'd decided that Han and Lando were probably just visiting some friends along with doing some usual business.
After Leia said goodnight and cut off, Han and Lando decided to spend some time making sure Falcon's systems were running - you never knew when you had to make for a quick escape.
************************************************'
Thank you for reading. Reviews and feedback would be greatly appreciated - they're the fuel that feeds this creative furnace.
Heidi Ahlmen siirma6@surfeu.fi