The Awakening

By Ash Darklighter

Disclaimer - The characters and situations used in this story are the property of Lucasfilm Ltd. My thanks to Jackie, Mona and Molly. This story would not have happened without them.

Part 2

The buzz and clash of lightsabers echoed all the way down the corridor in the building, which housed the modest Coruscant headquarters of the New Jedi Order. Modest because the real heart of the movement was kept alive at the Yavin IV complex. The centre on Coruscant contained offices, a few training rooms, plus a couple of lecture classrooms. Luke had argued - and Leia had eventually agreed with him – that since the Jedi had been a source of mistrust for so many years it would be wrong of them to suddenly take over a big building and have Jedi conscripts emerging as fast as a set of Imperial clones. So the base on the heart of the core worlds was kept deliberately small. It was better that way. It also maintained the distance between the Jedi and government. The Jedi had returned to help create order and balance - not act as a policing outfit for the New Republic.

Leia slipped as a clever thrust from Mara made her carefully rehearsed footwork seem as clumsy as Artoo on Myrkr. Mara's saber pointed at her throat before snapping shut with a satisfied hiss.

"You've improved, Councillor." Mara smiled as she held out her hand and pulled Leia to her feet.

"Maybe, but not enough to beat you."

Mara's smile turned a little mocking. "The only one who ever beats me on a regular basis is the dear Jedi Master himself. I'll allow him that much."

"Good of you." Leia winced a little as she rotated her neck, breathing hard. "I'm a little stiff. I'm not getting as much exercise as I'd like. Perhaps we could meet later this week if you're still on Coruscant?"

"I don't know," Mara replied cautiously. She bent and picked up a towel and rubbed it over her face listlessly - all her energy suddenly gone. "I don't know what I'm doing anymore."

Leia assessed her concernedly. She had a lot of time for Mara Jade. She wasn't exactly what you would call a friend, for she never got close to anyone apart from… Luke. This all had something to do with Luke and Leia had a good idea what it was, but she would have to make sure.

Mara visibly snapped herself back into a brisk mode. "You said something about food?"

"I did? You're right, I did."

"As long as the words 'ration bar' don't enter into it. Just let me shower first." She peeled away the thin straps of her black exercise bodysuit from her shoulders. "I stink."

"I've smelt sweeter myself," Leia remarked, picking up her own towel with a groan.

*****************************************

Leia took Mara to a quiet restaurant in an exclusive area near the Imperial Palace. The tall spires and elaborate columns which characterised Coruscant's architecture pressed in upon the two women as they walked to meet the reservation Leia had made.

"I hadn't realised this place was still open."

"It's changed hands but yes it's still here."

Mara stared around her in unabashed pleasure. "I used to love this place when I lived on Coruscant. They only took bookings from certain people and it was near enough to the palace to walk to."

"That's why I chose it. Han and I often eat here and even Luke likes it. We can come here with only light security and Luke can wander in any time. He doesn't like much about Coruscant." Leia casually dropped the name into the conversation and watched as Mara's clear green eyes grew opaque. Leia noted the reaction and carried on with her careful probing. "Luke prefers anonymity these days. He doesn't get it, but he hopes that one day he'll be able to walk into a room and they won't just stop and stare."

Mara gave Leia one of those looks that had her squirming a little in her seat. "You seem determined to talk about your brother."

"So do you," Leia returned. "I love him and I miss him. We're apart far too often. I once thought the greatest gift he could give to the New Republic was to assist the Jedi to return. He's done that, but he's not happy."

"You've finally noticed. I could have told you that a long time ago."

"But you didn't - why not?" Leia asked curiously.

"Would you have listened?"

"Maybe not then, but now - yes. I didn't have the time to listen before and maybe I didn't want to." She pushed away her plate. "Mara, Luke listens to you…"

"What would you have me say to him?" Mara's voice was cutting.

"Have you tried to help him with his happiness?" Leia asked.

"I have no interest in Luke Skywalker," Mara cut in sharply. "He's a friend, nothing more."

"Of course, but I thought…" Leia let the sentence tail off and tried to look a little embarrassed.

"Thought what?" Mara leant forward in her chair, her green eyes spitting.

"Luke seems fond of you – well, Han says more than fond."

"Your husband is a fool," Mara muttered flatly, but her face had stiffened and there was something approaching pain in her eyes. "Fond!" she bit out sharply. "What kind of an emotion is that?" Mara lifted her head and challenged Leia. "You can be fond of a pitten. But lov…" Mara snapped her mouth shut.

'Hah! Got you.' Leia considered her options. Perhaps it was time to tighten the macro-fuser just a little.

"Of course, Luke is fond of you. He talks about you all the time; after all, you have saved each other's lives on a number of occasions. I know for a fact there is no one he would rather have watching his back in tight situations."

Mara grunted. 'Was that all she was to Luke? Why him and why now?'

"Mara!" Leia's voice intruded in her moment of self-pity. "Would you like some more l'lahsh?"

"What? Ah, no…. No, thank you."

"I wonder what's brought him to Coruscant this time?"

"Didn't he tell you last night?"

"No - but he did say something about catching up with people for a change and then I heard the dreaded 'V' word," Leia told her.

Mara shook her head. "What dreaded 'v' word?"

"Vacation."

"Oh no!"

"He'll get into trouble for sure. He doesn't know how to have a vacation."

"I don't have the time to run after him this time."

Leia blinked, her mind busy. 'You always do, Mara. If Luke's in trouble, you go help. Why didn't I see it before? Han saw this a long time ago and was right about it. Luke and Mara will sit and wait for each other to react. They'll fall in and out of love with other people but never in the soul burning way that I love Han. They're interested in each other, but how much? What would make them take the ultimate step and commit to each other? Perhaps now the timing is right for them. Mara is obviously receptive to Luke emotionally, and I've had a hunch that my brother has had a yen for Mara for a while. This could be the Force at work. He needs a home and a family of his own. He deserves that much in his life.'

"Han used to run after him, back after Yavin." Leia's smile was quizzical, bittersweet. "He saved Luke, but Luke saved all of us."

"In what way?" Mara wondered aloud.

"Luke somehow set Han on the correct path. If Han had flown away in the Falcon he would have paid off his debts but it would have been a temporary respite. Han would have been killed in a bar room brawl and we all would have been dead. But something in Luke persuaded Han to take the chance and rescue Luke from becoming another Death Star stastic. He wouldn't have done it for just anyone."

"I see." Mara nodded her red-gold head. "And I understand. Luke trusted me when no one else did. Karrde employed me, gave me back some of my self-respect, but Luke accepted me totally. He didn't care who I'd been or what I did. He liked me and wanted to know who I would become." Mara's eyes met Leia's and the knowledge was there.

"You must have heard all the old stories - the truth is there. Han wanted to leave with his payment, but Luke wanted to join up. He'd lost his family and his home – the very life he'd known. All he had was a cause. I encouraged him in his thinking partly because Han had goaded me into it, but I thought there was no way Luke would be let loose near a fighter. I assumed he hadn't the ability or the experience. He was an innocent caught up in a war. I'd lost that kind of innocence a long time ago - when I started working for the rebellion. My father and others like him showed me what was happening on Imperial controlled worlds. When you see whole families sold into slavery and children starve there is no place for innocence. Let me show you."

Leia leant back in her seat, the far away look in her eyes intensifying. Mara reached out with the Force and, entering Leia's receptive mind, saw the main hangar on Yavin the day they waited for almost certain death. The memories reached back to a time when Mara didn't know Leia, or Han, or Luke. It was hard to conceive of such a thing. For she'd hated him and respected him and lov…. for so long. Even now she still couldn't say what she truly felt about him. Perhaps learning more about the past could lead her towards a future. Hesitantly, she joined Leia in the past where the memories hadn't faded. For Leia, the events surrounding the Battle of Yavin had defined her whole existence and she would never forget them.

"I'm a fair pilot," the slender boy had said.

Leia looked at him, dressed as he was in the shabby white desert clothing he'd worn on Tatooine. Blue eyes bright with intelligence gleamed at her in the gathering gloom. Luke Skywalker had no place here. He should be back on his moisture farm with his family.

"I can't go back," he whispered. "I've nothing and no one to go back for." A brief flash of pain added depth to the eyes. "I want to join. I could fly a fighter," he added louder. Behind him someone sniggered and Luke swung around, ready to flatten them, his chin lifted at a pugnacious angle.

Leia's eyes had widened in surprise. It was as if Luke had read her mind for she hadn't voiced her thoughts out loud. "I'll speak to Commander Willard. But Luke, I can't promise anything. We're desperately short of pilots, I'll grant you that, but we're short of everything here."

"I understand," and he gazed around him challenging anyone to laugh at him again.

The Commander had sighed and shaken his head. "He won't last long out there, none of them will, but I'll see he gets a trial in a simulator."

Leia sent someone to fetch Luke and he arrived, having just fallen out with Han. He trailed into the Command centre dragging his heels, his sulky demeanour hanging over him. When Commander Willard saw Luke, he glanced at the Princess as if she'd lost her mind. "This is just a boy, Your Highness."

"I know, but he got me out of that thing that destroyed Alderaan and he wants this. I can't deny him the chance to be killed like every other pilot we have here, right?"

Willard recognised the truth of her words. "I'll find someone available to take him through the sim test."

*************************************************

Mara entered into the memory with a smile in her voice. "I've seen that face. He can still do it."

"I know," murmured Leia. "So can his youngest nephew. It's Luke to the very life. But Han's version of it is even worse."

Leia's memories shifted and events that she'd had no knowledge of began to unfold for her and Mara.

*****************************************************

Commander Willard sighed again. War was inevitable here and so was death, but some of these boys had no experience of living. He studied the slender young man Princess Leia had pointed out to him and wondered if he could even read. The boy lifted his head and stared at him, bright blue eyes blazing at him from beneath a mop of tousled fair hair. This boy wanted it very badly and somewhere a long dormant memory began to stir. It was impossible to ignore this one.

"Lieutenant!" He addressed a tall dark haired man as he went past.

"Sir?"

"Do you have time to put a volunteer through a sim test?"

"Of course, Sir. I'm going nowhere until the Death Star pays us a little visit. Then I might be busy."

"Humour, Lieutenant. I'm impressed. Seriously - we've got this boy who has just arrived from the back of beyond and I mean it. He's from some little rim planet so be kind and let him down gently."

"Where is he?"

"Over there in the white."

The lieutenant stared over to the slight figure in the desert robes and gasped. Suddenly he began to laugh. "Oh boy, I don't believe it. He does come from a rim planet, but it's home, sir. Never harmed my piloting skills either."

The Commander looked at the Lieutenant strangely. "You've lost me there, Darklighter."

"I know him, Sir."

Willard looked momentarily embarrassed. "I'm sorry." Then Darklighter's words became clear. "You know that young man?"

"Oh yes, Sir."

"Seriously?"

"In all honesty, sir. With billions of worlds in this galaxy he ends up on the same piece of earth that I do. Coincidence is a strange thing. We went to school together."

"All his family were killed by the Empire. A not uncommon tale I'm afraid. He ended up getting Princess Leia out of the Death Star."

"Beru and Owen gone? It was Luke who rescued the Princess?" Biggs whispered. "Oh stars! I hope he's okay."

"It's funny, he reminds me of someone." The Commander spoke almost to himself. "Someone I met long ago."

"I would keep an eye on the sim scores, Sir. Luke Skywalker's one of the best pilots I've ever seen."

"Skywalker! That's his name?"

"Yes, Sir. He's my best friend from Tatooine."

"You sure that's his name?"

Biggs eyed the Commander uneasily. "Yes, Sir."

Willard flicked on his com. "Someone get me Garven and inform Princess Leia I would like to talk to her. Get me any data files we have on Outer Rim citizens and hurry."

Biggs looked totally confused. "Do you still want me to test him?"

"Oh yes. It should be interesting. If he lives up to his name."

Mara smiled wistfully at the pictures of the teenaged Luke. He'd been impossible to ignore right enough, even then. The idea that the Emperor or Vader knowing about him and tapping into all that raw power was unthinkable. Luke was brought up in obscurity and poverty, denied his birthright. Denied the love of a sister and possibly a father, so the galaxy might have a chance. Luke would probably still say it had been worth it – or would he? Or would he feel manipulated by others just as she had? They had both lost so much. When would it be their turn to gain something instead?

"I've been told to report here for the simulator test, Sir."

"He calls me 'Sir'," Biggs erupted into good-natured laughter.

"Biggs!" Luke's voice rose in disbelief. "Biggs!" Some of his world tilted back to rightness again.

While the test was in progress a small group of orange clad pilots clustered around the monitor. Word had got around that the boy in white from the rim planet was being tested for a fighter. Biggs deflected the raucous humour with an easy smile.

"How's Baron Fel shaping up?"

"Wait and see."

"This can't be the farmkid. Whoever's in this sim is exceptional," muttered a young teenaged fighter pilot by the name of Wedge Antilles.

"Watch who you're calling kid, Antilles."

As the scores began to rise, more pilots clustered around. Whoever was in there was phenomenal. Garven Dreis, who'd been alerted by Willard, strolled over casually. "Well?"

"That's incredible!" A comment echoed in his ears.

Biggs grinned smugly.

*************************************************

Leia stared through the transparisteel window of the operations room. The pilots were certainly finding something interesting out there. She turned away, sorry there was no sign of the impetuous young man who'd risked his neck to save her, or the cynical smuggler, who she'd hoped might stay and help them. He had other places to be and was preparing to leave.

"Your Highness?"

"Yes, Commander Willard."

"How much do you know about young Skywalker?"

"About Luke?" Leia frowned. "Very little but I'm sure he's not a spy."

"No, no. We're pretty sure about that one. What has he said about himself?"

"Practically nothing, but I'll tell you what I know." Leia glanced at the pad the Commander held in his hand. It had the name Skywalker at the top of it and a stream of data Leia was unable to read.

"He's from Tatooine, brought up by an Aunt and an Uncle who were killed…"

"By the Empire. Yes, I know that. Has he spoken about, say, his parents at all?"

"He spoke about his father. Says he was killed by Vader."

"Doesn't that strike you as a little strange, Princess? That someone whose father was killed by the great Dark Lord of the Sith is living in obscurity on Tatooine?"

Leia frowned again. It did seem odd. Normally such a family would be enslaved in an Imperial prison colony, the children being brainwashed in military school or dead. But Vader had killed many.

"It wasn't odd – it was the Force," Mara inserted into the memories.

**************************************************

"How did he get to you?"

"I hid the plans of the Death Star in an R2 droid which beamed to the surface of the planet Tatooine with instructions to locate and bring the Jedi Knight Obi Wan Kenobi to my father on Alderaan." Her lip trembled a little but resolutely she refused to give into her weakness. "Luke's family bought the droids to help them on their moisture farm, paid for it with their lives, and Luke ended up on the run with the old Jedi and the smuggler Solo." She tucked a stray hair into her slightly dishevelled hairstyle. "Surely he'll never be good enough to fly a fighter?"

"If the information I have here is correct, your Highness, I have the feeling that his ability will be the like of which we haven't seen for a long time, and it is better than good."

"But he's just a boy from Tatooine."

"I wonder."

Leia didn't understand. She was too tired and had been through too much.

The Commander, seeing this, smiled sympathetically at her. "Your Highness. I think you should get some rest."

Leia nodded and watched as the sim hatch opened and a flushed Luke Skywalker jumped out. The other pilots suddenly went quiet. The guy putting up the near impossible scores was the farmkid from the tenth rate planet.

Willard caught Garven's eye and nodded and spoke into his comlink. "The name is Skywalker, Garven, and the data checks out. Nothing on the kid, but he's the right age and the info tallies."

"He's the spitting image of his father at the same age. Not as tall, but it looks like the ability is there. I've never seen anything like it in a simulator and before you ask, I checked the calibrations. Darklighter assures me he flung the entire Imperial force at the boy and he only got killed twice."

****************************************************

"Ah, the famous Skywalker genes." Mara muttered mockingly. "His father, yet to become Vader."

"My father too. It's just sometimes difficult to admit to it. It's easier to think of him as Luke's father, because Luke's heart was big enough to accept both Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader."

"He looks for the best in everyone, doesn't he?"

"Yes."

******************************************************

Garven took the data pad from Biggs and perused the information with a raised eyebrow. "I knew your father, Luke. He was a great pilot."

"You knew….?" Luke stammered in awe of the veteran pilot in front of him. "Obi Wan had told the truth."

"Welcome aboard. I think you'll do just fine."

"You mean? I have a…."

"Congratulations, hotshot. Looks like you're with me." Biggs thumped his friend on the back, almost causing him to overbalance.

Luke grinned, but his face turned solemn as he made eye contact with a small tired figure in white in the command centre and tipped her a salute.

***************************************************************

Leia shook herself from her reverie of the past and turned to face Mara. "It was strange. I faced death so many times in just over twenty-four hours. When Luke came along it was as if he was some sort of catalyst which kick-started the Force."

"Don't you mean catastrophe?"

"That too, especially with Han in tow."

"I'd taken this rim farmboy into the heart of the rebellion and he fit in better than I did sometimes. It seemed that this kid from nowhere had a background not even he was aware of."

"Luke wouldn't like fancy airs on people. It's not his way," Mara commented dryly.

"He'd been exposed to Han quite a bit by then. My husband has an effect on everyone he meets. Whether he means to or not."

"Luke has thanked him for it many times over the years."

"I spotted Luke's friend Biggs looking totally confused at the way all the top brass were muttering and pointing at Luke. As far as he was concerned, Luke's father had been a navigator on a spice freighter and Luke was a no-one from a backwater world. For most of his life Luke had thought that too until he'd met Obi Wan Kenobi."

"In the end Biggs Darklighter gave his life to protect Luke."

"Yes, he knew Luke was special too." Leia sipped at a glass of water, her throat dry. "Luke saved the future of the rebellion with one shot, but we didn't realise he was the hope of the Jedi too. I remember speaking to him a few days after the destruction of the Death Star. Everything that had happened had just hit him. Me too, but I was more prepared for that kind of life than Luke was. I joined him at the table for lunch in the mess hall and he didn't know whether to bow or salute. In the end, he did both."

Mara chuckled; she could see it so clearly. Luke would be embarrassed and gauche wanting to impress the Princess, yet not seem overawed by the whole thing.

"After the Death Star blew, we'd had a ceremony to reward Han, Luke and Chewie. Then they began moving personnel. Obviously the Empire knew where we were. It was time to start getting out. Luke was assigned to one of Commander Narra's X-wing squadrons, but he was doing a little training while he waited to go. He spent extra time in the sims and in the gym and started working regularly with his saber. He'd been given some exercises to do by Obi-Wan before he was killed. Some of the new guys who didn't know who he was were giving him a bit of a hard time."

"Luke being Luke didn't say anything, right? He was being bullied and he put up with it?"

"You know what he's like. If he fell for some girl, he'd watch from afar without saying anything. She would have to make the first move."

Mara squirmed a little. 'Was Leia suggesting something?'

"Luke had no formal military training and 'moisture farm on outer rim' just screamed out of him." Leia sighed.

"Still does sometimes, even after all these years. Well, you know what they say…"

"What do they say?" Leia asked perplexed.

"You can the boy out of the moisture farm, but…."

"I get the picture."

"What changed their minds?" Mara asked.

"Luke went to supposedly do some weapons training and a couple of idiots followed him. Imagine their surprise when they caught him working with a lightsaber and a remote. Just to give him a fright they started taking pot shots at him. He blocked the shots. Someone reported him. I suppose they thought it might have caused a bit of trouble. Luke was working with a weapon most of them had never even seen or heard of before."

"Didn't work, huh?"

"You guessed it. Jedi skills, now that was different. When you first see someone wielding a lightsaber properly it is impressive. Luke, although a relative beginner, had grasped the basics pretty well and was improving at a rapid rate. Then Commander Willard gave me information I hadn't known and Luke hadn't told me. His father had been a Jedi Knight and now his son was exhibiting signs that he too might be a potential Jedi candidate. Imagine what that would do for the rebellion's cause. Wherever we were encamped, Luke could be found reading data disks and making copious notes on anything he could find out about the Jedi. He was educating himself on other things too. The naïve young man grew up in front of my eyes. The men began to respect him because he worked harder than any of them to earn their trust. Yes, Luke is special in so many ways, Mara. He really cares."

Mara's eyes grew misty. "I know," she whispered.

"He's one of the best pilots I've ever seen. His comrades came around when they saw him fly."

"I agree. The Force is truly with him. When he flies, he's free. But don't tell him I said so," she bit out like a Kubindi fire wasp.

"Wedge regards Luke as the greatest pilot he ever saw fly an x-wing and Han agrees."

"Your husband being no slouch in the cockpit either."

"Han has the Falcon and no one will ever fly that ship like Han and Chewie do. I think it's a symbiotic relationship."

Mara nodded, but then mused, "Luke can appear so ordinary half the time… When he wants to that is. The first time I saw him in person was in Jabba's palace and I frankly couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. My plan would go ahead and that would be it. When I thought about my failure many years afterwards I realised that I'd been given the wrong picture of the man. The person the Emperor painted for me would not have returned to free his friends, wouldn't have given Jabba the chance to bargain. I underestimated him that day. I refused to do so again, yet I often did, and every time he saved my life I resented it bitterly until the day Luke saved my soul."

"Wayland?"

"Yes."

"Mara, does he know how you feel about him?"

"What do you mean?" Mara leant forward, her tone rather belligerent.

Leia placed her head to one side, and Mara had the uncanny effect of being looked through. "I only meant, did you ever tell Luke how much you valued his friendship?"

"Once," Mara answered abruptly. "I'm not given to romantic warblings. It was a weak moment."

"But Mara, romance is never weak. It keeps a lot of things together, including Han and I." Leia took a sip of her water and leant in for the kill. "It kept the ideal of the Old Republic alive in the hearts and minds of people like my adoptive father and Mon Mothma. Don't discount romance, Mara Jade. You've a rather romantic image yourself." Her dark eyes narrowed and Mara got the feeling she wasn't going to like the next question. "When did you think Luke was special, Mara?"

Mara's face stilled and her heart hammered loudly in her chest. It was a wonder Leia couldn't hear it, couldn't feel the panic course through her veins. "I never said I thought that."

"By your question to me you implied it." Leia gave the former Emperor's Hand a whimsical look. "You do think that way, don't you, Mara? You have feelings for Luke you can't explain because you've never had them for anyone else. They're scaring the life out of you because for the first time in your life you don't know what to do."

Mara's face went white, and she gripped her glass so tightly it shattered, the water spilling in tiny droplets over the crisp Chandrilan linen. The waiter immediately rushed over to clear the mess and Leia asked for the bill. Mara sat motionless, apart from the slight tremble noticeable in her fingers. "Stang, Leia," she managed to say shakily. "I'm not in love with your brother." But even as her lips uttered the words, her heart wondered if it was a lie.

Leia's features softened. "If it's any consolation, Luke won't notice."

"It's not," the response ejected from between closed perfect teeth.

"Now I believe I asked you a question. When did you first think my brother was special? You're not fooling me at all."

Mara closed her eyes and wished herself elsewhere. Leia Organa Solo was a force to be reckoned with and then she was supposed to face Luke tonight!"