Disclaimer - Lucasfilm Ltd. Owns the characters and situations used in this story. I have only borrowed them for my own pleasure and not for the gaining of Imperial or Republican credits. My thanks to the girls for their help and support. This would be a real mess without you.
Chapter 15
Luke Skywalker's Coruscant apartment
Luke gazed steadily across the low table towards Mara. Her green eyes contained all the promise and trust that their relationship had sought and gained over the years. He did not smile - neither did she. What was to come before them contained some of their own history. The things they were about to find out could tell them why they were what they were. They'd come a long way together. They still had a long way to go, but it was a journey they were ready to take.
"It's time," he whispered gravely. "Banish fear from your mind, empty it of all thoughts save the connection to the Force. We will need all our combined strength."
"I know," Mara answered. "I can feel it."
"Then we are ready. It is time - begin."
Earlier the same day
Mara awoke alone in the big bed, but didn't feel the disorientation and unease she'd felt the time before. It had been good last night - in fact, it had been better than good. Payback was definitely something she should have done much earlier and that man…. Her body tingled at the memory of how passionately he'd reacted to her touch. All that Jedi calm was extremely deceptive and Mara wouldn't have it any other way. What it hid was for her alone and her face warmed at how wantonly she'd succumbed to his fervent caresses.
Light was streaming through the open windows and the smell of caf teased her nose. Rising quickly, she showered and dressed, then followed the appetising smell onto Luke's lower balcony.
Luke sat engrossed reading a data pad, munching on his breakfast and occasionally patting Artoo Detoo's little domed head. Mara grinned and sneaked up behind him. She would have to have words with him about his general level of alert concentration. She could have been trying to kill him. As it was, she was just after his breakfast. Luke's hand hovered in mid air, clutching a newly baked bread roll as he absently scrolled down the text he was reading.
"Hey!" Luke's face pouted. "That's my breakfast!"
Mara grinned triumphantly and took a healthy bite, her perfect teeth closing over the roll with a satisfying crunch.
"Was your breakfast, farmboy."
"Artoo, she's stolen my breakfast!" Luke complained. "Zap her with something - now."
Artoo let out a pealing electronic chuckle and then snorted. That's what it sounded like to the humans. Luke rolled his eyes; he would get no help from that quarter.
Mara grinned and took another large bite taunting Luke, her eyes gleaming with irrepressible good spirits. Luke stood up and closed in on her, his arms surrounding her tightly.
"Do you want to share?" he asked throatily.
"Should I, share? You know I don't normally share anything with anybody." Her tongue slipped out and moistened her lips. Luke's breathing quickened, his gaze focused on her lips.
"You shared plenty with me last night," his voice deepened, and Mara felt her insides quiver.
"Yes, but only with you." Pausing, she relented and fed him a small piece of the roll. His mouth closed over her fingers and he sucked at the suddenly sensitive tips.
"Good morning," he whispered, gazing steadily into her sharp green eyes.
"Luke…"
"I just wished you a good morning, Jade. What have you to say for yourself?"
Green eyes narrowed in on twinkling blue. "Morning, Skywalker," her voice turned breathless as he pulled her closer. "Luke…. I… Oh hell." She wrapped her greasy, bread-crusted fingers around Luke's neck and kissed him. When they drew apart they were both breathing heavily.
"Now, it is a good morning," Luke whispered unsteadily.
"Oh, go away with you," she muttered. "Sleep well?"
"Yes and no." His mouth curved into a smile. "I kept trying to sleep, but this strange woman kept brushing up against me, winding her arms around my defenceless body and forcing me to make love to her."
"I didn't hear you complain much," she countered dryly, watching with wicked amusement as Luke flushed. His awkward flirting was a welcome change to the penetrating regard of the Jedi Master. This was the man she'd fallen in love with. Oh, she loved the Jedi Master too but he was only part of Luke's persona - part of a complicated, frustrating, annoying, wonderful individual.
"I forgot," he offered lamely, tilting his head and giving her a sideways look. "Hungry?"
"Famished."
"All that exercise…." Luke turned scarlet, then white before his colour returned to something approaching normal. "… makes you hungry," he finished bravely.
Mara smiled at him and sat down, grabbed his plate and began to munch her way through the rest of his breakfast, before he finally went to get more. When he returned, he proceeded to steal items from her plate.
Breakfast was a carefree and light-hearted meal, as if they both knew they had difficult issues to deal with later in the day. Luke behaved in a way that Mara had never witnessed before. It was as if being together and being happy had turned him into the man he should have been. Mara's heart filled with a fierce determination that he would become that man.
For the rest of the morning they went through a strenuous workout and drill with lightsabers, focusing mind and body. Then Luke insisted on meditation.
"Skywalker!" Mara moaned.
"Jade," he returned unmoved, his tone even. "We need to do this - to be completely in tune with the Force today. We need its strength and its guidance."
"The holocron?"
Luke nodded, his expression intent. "Something tells me this is the way forward."
"A Force hunch?"
"Perhaps."
This was the Jedi Master, not the lover. Mara, in turn, became more serious. She'd never been one to turn away from difficulties.
"Of course, I'm sorry," she told him, her face grave.
"You've nothing to be sorry for, Mara."
"I have, you know."
"It's past - over. We're wakening a new future. Yes, we look backwards today, but only to help us move forwards into tomorrow."
"Very profound, Skywalker. Just the thing the Jedi Master would say," Mara teased lightly.
"I am the Jedi Master. I can't get away from it, Jade. It's part of who I am." He offered her a bittersweet smile. "If you take me on, Mara, this is what you get."
Mara dipped her head and a rueful smile appeared. "I know, but I'll never let him take you over completely."
Luke moved to her side and took her into his arms. "I need you, Mara Jade. Never forget that. The Jedi Master needs you. So does the man from a third rate farm on a tenth rate backwater, sandball planet. The one who doesn't think he deserves you, but desperately loves you and hopes you will pity him enough to love him back."
"You know I do, Luke." Mara peered at him, her green eyes suspiciously bright. "You gave me your soul and I now know what a precious gift that was. Could you keep mine safe for me?"
"Oh, Mara." Luke murmured tenderly and brushed his lips over hers, a wisp of a touch, gossamer wings of delight spiralling through them both. She placed her head on his shoulder and they moved into the warmth of his favourite room, shutting away the bright lights and hectic life of the planet city.
"I'm ready."
Luke nodded and brought Mara to a low table surrounded by cushions. "Sit there," he murmured, then he moved towards where Artoo Detoo was plugged into a computer socket. "I'm going to move you upstairs Artoo, and I want you to make sure we are not disturbed by anyone for any reason. I don't care how many clones of Emperor Palpatine are discovered, or if the Ssi-Ruuk invade. I'm not at home. My sister may contact me, but you can give her a message. Tell her…." he paused. "No, I'll tell her…"
'Leia,'
'Luke!' He could feel his sister's surprise, but Leia was naturally interfering and would not be able to wait much longer on learning how Luke and Mara had fared on leaving her and Han the previous day.
'We're going to investigate the holocron tonight, so I'd prefer if you didn't contact us. We'll be in touch if anything happens.'
'Do you need any help?'
'No, this is something Mara and I have to do alone.' In his mind's eye he visualised his sister, her dark eyes serious, wanting to aid him in any way, but also respecting his judgement.
'Okay, brother and May the Force be with you. I'll be thinking of you both.' Her tone turned mischievous. 'How did things go yesterday?'
Luke grinned; Leia just couldn't help it. He loved his strong-willed, interfering sister but there was no way he was telling her everything. He sent a feeling of warmth and satisfaction to her. 'Things went fine.'
'Love you and take care.' He felt her smile.
'Will do," Luke, with a tender smile of his own, cut the link and helped Artoo move upstairs to his usual place by the door. Artoo swivelled his head and chirped a couple of times.
"Of course I'll be careful, Artoo. You know me."
Artoo blatted a quick raspberry and plugged himself into the socket.
Luke climbed quickly down the spiral stairway and retrieved a small box from a drawer in his workstation. With a rapt expression on her face, Mara watched him placed the box reverently on the table in front of her. A breeze from the slightly open windows moved over her face, teasing her tumbled curls without disturbing them. Luke's hands pulled gently at a springy reddish-gold lock before sitting across from her.
He gestured for her to go ahead and Mara opened the box, bringing out a small cloth-covered item. With careful fingers, she unwrapped it from its jade green cover. The cloth was old and almost felt as if it might have come from a piece of clothing. Ignoring the holocron, she fingered the fabric. It had to be vinesilk and a vision of a woman dressed in the fabric holding a baby to her breast flashed into her eyes.
"Luke!" she said, her eyes sparkling. "That's the first real memory I have of my mother. It's the only memory. I never thought it possible."
"I know. I see it too." He marvelled that their connection, their bond in the Force had become so intertwined that they almost could experience the same things at the same time. "Don't worry, Mara, we'll find more and if we don't, we will just have to make memories of our own."
"It was Mirahn." Her voice was certain.
"Yes, your mother."
"My mother." Mara hugged the knowledge to herself.
The holocron sat nestled in the soft fabric and Mara finally paid it the proper attention it was due. The power of the Force rippled from the small crystal cube.
"It's beautiful," Mara whispered, awed.
Luke gazed deeply at the woman across from him and stretched out his hand, his rough fingers clasping hers. "So are you," he murmured. Mara stared at him, the man who was her destiny, and took a deep breath. Luke was right. It was time.
Luke closed his eyes and sought the patterns in the Force that centred and grounded him totally in the lightside. Mara watched him curiously. She'd seen him lose control in her arms, now she was watching him gain the ultimate in control through the Force. She saw all of Luke Skywalker – Jedi master and man. Closing her eyes, Mara sought to join him in the cool calm of the meditative state. As their fingers reached for each other and entwined, Mara inadvertently touched the holocron and it began to glow with a steady pulsing hum in the Force as it, too, tapped into the power that connected all living beings.
The room grew dark as Coruscant's sun descended over the horizon. Time passed and Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker sat motionless, their eyes shut, their breathing deep and slow. The two Jedi were caught in something so powerful that they would never have believed it if they hadn't experienced it. Colourful images began to swirl in front of their closed eyes. Luke suddenly became aware that he could see Mara – he could feel her presence with him in the vision. They were both experiencing exactly the same thing. He'd never sensed such unity between two Jedi before – ever.
They saw an agricultural world and behind a ramshackle farm building, two figures embraced passionately. The man wore an Imperial Captain's uniform, but his hat lay discarded on the dusty earth. His hair, a flaming red, shone in the weak sunlight. The woman was smaller with red brown hair and dressed in rough homespun work clothes. When they parted, Mara could see that the couple had tears in their eyes and the woman's green eyes were uncannily like her own.
"Come on, we have to get out of here," the man whispered brokenly.
"Why?"
"I've deserted. I can't be without you any longer."
"But we'll be tracked, hunted down, like the rest of the Jedi. You're the Emperor's man, his loyal servant. Captain of the finest flagship in the Imperial fleet. He'll take this personally. I'm on the run because I was a Jedi Knight. You didn't have to share my exile. Now there are two of us and you cannot shield."
"Mirahn, I don't care. I'm beginning to believe you about the Emperor. Vader is evil, but I've seen things, done things that His Majesty cannot be unaware of. I've done it because the Emperor wanted it done. No reason, just a vicious whim and Mirahn…. You are a Jedi Knight. You can still be one."
"Do you trust me, Jan?"
"You know I do."
A small cynical smile flashed quickly across her face. "Do I?" she questioned, but not expecting an answer. 'Never underestimate the Emperor, Jan. You may think Vader is evil, but he's mainly Palpatine's puppet, his tool – the Emperor created Darth Vader to destroy us."
He moved away from the woman and taking out a small knife, violently ripped the Imperial insignia and rank cylinder from his tunic and ground it into the dirt beneath his booted feet. The picture then changed to a shabby building in an anonymous industrial world and two naked figures tangled in a bed, communicating the way men and women had done for millennia. That there were repercussions from this act was not lost on the watchers. The picture changed and the woman was in great pain. The Imperial Captain, still wearing his now threadbare uniform, was helping her as she gave birth.
Mara tightened her grip on Luke's hand. "My birth," she sent to him. Then the calm picture of Mirahn wearing the dress of green vinesilk. It must have been a happy time, for her face bore an expression of love and contentment.
"Isn't she beautiful, Jan?"
Jaden moved towards his wife and child, placing his arm around them. But the look on his face was a troubled one. "You both are." He hesitated, unwilling to spoil the moment; they'd had so few. "Mirahn… we have to leave here."
"But why?"Her voice rose. We've been happy here, made a little money, and lived comfortably for only six months. What have the Jedi done that is so terrible?" Then she nodded, her face paling with the dawning realisation of a horrible fate just over the horizon. "I feel it – it's Vader."
"It's worse than that, Mirahn. The Emperor has tracked us himself."
"How can you know?"
"I heard some of the troopers talking." Jaden lowered his face a little ashamedly. "I know I shouldn't have been anywhere near them, but I had to know."
"Oh, Jan," her voice murmured sadly.
The fear and darkness palpable in the next jumbled series of images made Mara and Luke's blood run cold as the little family ran for their lives. There was no doubt that a great love was present, albeit a slightly unwilling one between the Jedi woman and the Imperial. They had given up everything for one another. They had made their choice and now they were paying for it. The two adults grew careworn; streaks of grey appeared in the man's bright hair and tiny lines on her face. Mirahn's shoulders seemed to bear the brunt of the hardships as they plotted to stay one step ahead of Palpatine and his Jedi catchers, yet the baby grew and thrived. Sharp green eyes, pale creamy skin and a determined little chin with curls of a colour most people only dreamt about. It wasn't as red as her father's, the child's' hair contained copper and streaks of gold. It was getting more difficult to hide her.
Time passed, scenes changed and things happened that Luke and Mara couldn't and didn't understand, but time was running out. Imperials were catching up with the little family. The net was closing in and there was no way to slip through the mesh. The relationship wasn't as happy either. Yes, two people who loved, but even the most secure struggle, living the way they were.
"Mirahn! She's broadcasting the Force like an Imperial homing beacon. I'm only slightly Force sensitive and I can feel her over at the space station. Vader lands on this world, and we're all dead."
"Don't you think I don't know that? I've tried to shield her presence," she coughed weakly. "But I haven't the strength to do it and your powers are too weak to help."
"Don't remind me that I'm not as strong as other Jedi. I wasn't picked for training." He turned his back on Mirahn, his shoulders stiff, his voice bitter.
"Jan, don't let us fight. I've been having such dreams." Her voice was truly terrified. "I'm tired, Jan, so very tired." She coughed dispiritedly. "I'm using all my strength protecting Mara and I don't know how long I can go on doing that. Fear is of the dark side and I'm frightened, Jan. I'm really frightened. Look at her, she's so innocent and beautiful, and she's more Force sensitive than any Jedi child I've ever come across. What's going to happen to her? We're not going to outrun them for ever." She broke down and he wrapped her in his arms, his own face tight. He knew she was right. He was tired of running and they had little money, but he would protect his wife and daughter with his last breath.
"Palpatine won't change, when are you going to realise that. He's evil and he's Sith. Vader is under his control and more of us are picked off every day."
" Mirahn!"
"Perhaps you should go, take Mara and hide. Perhaps if I gave myself up, they wouldn't hunt for you."
"I'm not leaving you."
"So we go on as before." Her lips tightened into a thin line and she walked wearily to check on the baby who lay sleeping.
"She's growing so fast, Jan. This isn't the kind of world I wanted her brought up in, amongst fear, hatred and persecution."
The picture faded and as much as Luke and Mara strained they couldn't bring it back. The next image wasn't pleasant. Jaden sank to his knees clawing at his collar, gasping for breath and in front of him stood a black visaged figure.
"The Emperor will be pleased. He wants to see both of you, most particularly." His breath mask hissed chillingly as the child, sensing the darkness and fear in the air, began to cry.
Mara moved as in a dream into Luke's arms. They were powerless to stop what was going on for it had happened a long time ago. Vader stretched a black-gloved hand and the figure of her father crumpled to the floor. Mara choked back a cry as she immediately saw Mirahn holding a screaming child close to her breast.
"Don't take my baby…"
The Imperial soldiers took hold of Mirahn and one of them wrenched her daughter from her. She fought with all that she had, but she couldn't risk using her blaster, not when one of the soldiers trained his on the wailing toddler. The child sobbed and held her arms out to her mother but was carried off until her piteous cries could no longer be heard. The expression on the woman's face was heartrending in her anguish and despair. She begged, pleaded, but to no avail and was left next to the unconscious form of her husband in the planet's garrison detention block, where her sobbing cut through the dreaded emptiness in her heart.
The Imperial soldier put the sobbing child on the cold metallic floor of the Emperor's private shuttle. "This is the Jedi woman's child."
Vader knelt down and swept the child into his arms. "She's strong in the Force. The Emperor will want to see her too." He scrutinised the small figure in his arms. She stopped crying and surveyed him with a cool almost adult look on the tiny, flower petal face and placed a hand on Vader's black mask. He chuckled for a moment. "We would not see you suffer, for you are innocent of their crimes. You have a destiny to serve a higher cause." He made her a promise then drew a hand across Mara's forehead, lulling her into a Jedi hibernation trance.
Luke opened his eyes to find Mara clinging to him, tears running down her face.
"Mara," he whispered. "Mara." He shook her gently. "Snap out of it. You're here now with me, and you're safe. It's past."
"Here." Luke handed her a glass of something strong and helped her take a sip. Mara choked and coughed as the fiery Corellian Brandy trickled down her throat. Luke poured himself a generous measure and tossed it back in one gulp. Mara widened her eyes a little, but said nothing. Luke wasn't one to drink much.
They both looked at the holocron, seeing for the first time that it shone with a strange inner glow as if it was fired by a mysterious power source.
"The holocron aided our vision," Mara said, sounding shocked.
Luke nodded looking unsurprised. "Yes - it did. We know very little on how they work. But let's take a little break. I feel I've gone ten rounds with the rancor."
"Me too." Mara rubbed her hands wearily across her reddened eyelids, too emotionally drained to notice Luke's apprehension. Was he ever to escape the legacy of being Vader's son? Would she hold it against him - stop loving him?
He returned to her side and pulled her onto his lap, her head on his shoulder and they sat just drawing comfort from each other.
They sat for about an hour, not speaking, just touching. Luke caressed Mara's hair and the gentle motion soothed her into a light doze. This had to be so hard for her. He secured her firmly in his arms and lifted her through to the bedroom. He would access some of the data files while she slept. Anything to stop thinking about his father and the evils he'd helped to perpetuate
He looked down at Mara, as she lay curled in sleep, her face free from the brittle mask she often assumed like a suit of armour. She was not an easy person to love; though he admitted to himself that he found it very easy and had done so for a long time. Would she forgive him after the things they had seen together? He hoped with all his heart that she would - he loved her that much. Wandering back into the sitting room, he switched on his desklamp and sat at his workstation. Drawing on the Force, he again peered at the strange hieroglyphs until they formed the data he required. Names, dates flashed past his eyes. If he'd ever wondered about the number of Jedi killed during the purges, he had his answer. It was all there. He switched off the light and rubbed his hands tiredly through his hair and still the holocron pulsed with power behind him. All the names of the Jedi Palpatine had destroyed had been meticulously entered into the records. Mirahn's name was among them as was a mention of her husband. They had died together, but it didn't say how. Mara would have to be told yet he knew it would be no surprise to her.
"Skywalker?" He turned at the sound of her soft voice. "Do you think the holocron held our vision within it?"
He stared at her for a moment, then said. "Partly. I wonder if it's been connected to your signature in the Force. It formed in my hands, but I had to see you first before we accessed it."
"Is it too late to access now?"
"No, I don't think so, not unless you're still tired." Luke tried to keep his unrest from their strengthening bond in the Force, but she knew something had upset him. A shadow had darkened his eyes and his sense had clouded.
"Skywalker - what is it? What's wrong?"
He peered up at her through his overlong fringe, the fair strands hiding the expression in his eyes. "Nothing."
"I want to know and don't give me the garbage about patience. You're concealing something from me. "
"Would I do that?" He quirked an eyebrow, trying to change the subject
"Farmboy, you can't lie to me. I know. Out with it".
"Vader."
Mara instantly understood and she saw how he'd been worrying over it for the past couple of hours. Luke Skywalker may be the Jedi Master, but in some areas he had little or no confidence and what irked her was that he was anticipating how she would react and immediately thinking the worst. Fire leapt to her green eyes and she immediately grabbed the front of his tunic pulling him roughly from his chair. "You ever doubt me like that again and you'll be missing another limb. You are not answerable for what Vader did. You can't change the past, Luke. My parents weren't saved, but you saved me."
Mara examined her feelings and found that she didn't care who had done this to her parents. Vader had been the Emperor's puppet, just as her mother had said. Luke wasn't to blame for any of it, but he still wanted to shoulder the blame, if she'd wanted to lay it on him. Didn't he know how much she loved him? She pushed him back into the chair, where he sat with wide blue eyes staring at her in bewilderment. But Mara was to learn the innocent guise was just that - a mask to cover the fragile heart he guarded so carefully beneath. The heart he'd given to her
"I'm truly sorry about my father, Mara."
Mara laid a graceful hand on his cheek in a comforting gesture. "Forget about it, Luke. It changes nothing between us."
He stretched out a careless arm and wrapped it around her slim waist pulling her towards him. Tumbling her into his lap he pulled her close and nuzzled into her hair. Mara stiffened for a moment, she was unused to such loving, but Luke seemed to see it as perfectly natural so she relaxed. Pulling back a little he gave her a quick possessive kiss and pushed her to her feet again.
"Hey! I just got here."
"You did want to access the holocron?"
"You know I do."
"Well then!"
"Jedi masters!" Mara muttered crossly.
"Don't you just love us," Luke quipped and pulled her back to the low table where the holocron sat on the faded piece of vinesilk. He plopped down on a cushion and pulled Mara down with him where she rested in between his legs. "Go on Mara. Touch it," he urged quietly all teasing gone from his handsome face.
"Only if you touch it with me."
"Sure,"
Luke threaded his hand through Mara's and together they placed their intertwined hands gently on the delicate cube. It was literally like being sucked into a whirlpool. The cube drew them towards it.
"I am the gatekeeper of …."
The voice crackled and broke off. Luke frowned, as he'd had little experience with holocrons, most having been destroyed long ago. The vision of a bearded man with silver eyes vanished and a young woman appeared in his place.
"This is the holocron containing the teachings of Jedi Master Ranik Solusar, Jedi Master Allia Dinn and Jedi Master Ekhro Yharn. Unfortunately they were unable to finish what they started, but all the information on their teachings has been recorded. I was the third padawan of Jedi Master Ranik Solusar. I am Jedi Knight Mirahn Vashneyik of Commenor. I must make sure their work is not lost forever, yet it must not fall into the hands of the Sith."
"I am Jedi Master Luke Skywalker of Tatooine and this is Jedi Knight Mara Jade of Coruscant."
The holographic figure hesitated. Whatever technology was used to make this was simply amazing. Mirahn looked surprised. "So you are alive, my daughter?"