A/N: For one moment I want my life to slow down so I can update more often! Anyway with this chapter i bring in Mara Jade so it may not be as action packed since I have to build a new character in, BUT i threw in a duel for you all AND my fav Kyle and Jan kissy moment :) Hope u enjoy! On a side note you may have notice some changes, both story 1 and 2 are now "Grey Jedi Chronicles" as i felt that went with the story better, plus you all know I suck at names! Also each story instead of being just an EPisode also has it's own title! Please tell me what you think :D
Reveiw Response:
ShotgunChief- No probs glad to have you around, compliments are great lol keep them coming! Very glad your enjoying the story.
Nerwen Aldarion- love the pet name for Jan and Kyle! also really happy that your enjoying Kyle rubbing of on Cara, I was hoping that that was running realisticly! Keep up the reveiws they are always helpful!
Mara Jade
"…When I awoke their leader said I wasn't really a Jedi, he must have recognised at least the mark on my shoulder. He then later mentioned a Lord Narcis. By the title I assumed he was referring to a Sith Lord. This was proven later when we were attacked by his apprentice." Cara finished.
"Isn't Darth Narcis one of the more powerful Sith Lords?" Kyle asked.
"Yes, and he is slowly emerging from the shadows." Luke answered.
"How come I haven't heard of him then?" Cara asked with an eyebrow raised.
Luke glanced to a couple of the Council members before answering her.
"As you know Cara your aggressive attacks on the Sith have been frowned upon by the Council, including me. I can imagine that while on Nuwai you where left out of the loop a bit to discourage your attacks…"
"I have spoken to Jan and Cara about this mission you have offered us." Kyle said quickly changing the subject. "We have all agreed to it. Jan's disgusted with the High Council at the moment seeing as they didn't warn us about the possibility of Remnant troops on Hoth."
"Do you know what they were after in the computer?" A human Jedi asked.
"Unfortunately no, it was coded when I removed it and they haven't filled any of us in." Kyle replied.
"The whole Hoth assignment seems to be quite the tangled web. I wouldn't be surprised fi someone pulled a few strings to get it placed in Jedi hands." Said a male Twi'lek Master.
"All that aside, when will the Raven's Claw be ready to go?" Luke asked.
"Anything up to a week." Kyle said and grimaced a little.
"I could offer alternative transport. Or at least back up." Said a female voice from the door.
"Mara." Luke said happily.
"Jade! Long time no see, how you doing?" Kyle asked as he greeted his former student.
"Fine as usual, certain old order Knights have to grow up and quit worrying that I'm going to turn on them." Mara glanced across the room briefly enjoying the glare she received. "Anyway, Luke told me about this mission I'm willing to offer the Jade Saber and myself so I can save your scrawny arse when you get in trouble." Mara said as she proceeded to ignored a few disgruntled looks.
"Actually Mara I was planning to get you to come along, both you and Kyle have dealt with Imperials and you've had your fair share of Sith encounters. This will be more dangerous then what happened on Hoth, but I'm hoping that your all better prepared this time." Luke said.
"Good! We could do with another good ship on our side, plus an added Jedi Knight as back up always helps." Kyle replied.
"I'll be going to." Luke announced.
"Well looks like we don't need you then Katarn!" Mara snapped back at Kyle.
"But Master Skywalker…" the Rodian Jedi started.
"I have made my decision. This ship is a part of our history, the Sith and Remnant will know if they find out about it. We can't risk any of our history falling into their hands and being used against us. This will be very dangerous and they will need all the help they can get." Luke said quickly knocking back any other disagreements.
"Great when do we go?" Kyle asked.
--
Cara watched another astro-droid enter the Raven's Claw for repairs. Jan was replacing parts from where the ship had been blasted out of the atmosphere on Hoth.
Cara was helping where she could but she had enough talent to build a saber and minimal repairs on small ships…then her mechanical talents began to wear out.
Mara came back into the hanger with an armful of spare parts.
"Need a hand?" Cara asked her.
"No thanks," Mara said as sat down to place the parts in a storage box, "that was the last load. I want to run a small check on the Jade Saber when I'm done here."
"Hey Cara can you give me a hand here? Something's wedged in here pretty tight!" Jan called from under her ship.
"Hang on!" Cara called back and ducked under. Between the two of them they managed to pry out something that looked more like a skeleton piece.
"I'll never get over the things I mange to pull out of this ship…" Jan muttered.
"What have you pulled out that's weirder then this?" Cara asked as they both came out from under the ship.
"Well… I think I pulled out someone's arm once, I think it got wedged there when I had to take off pretty quick." Jan replied.
"I've had worse." Mara said joining in the conversation.
"Oh yeah?" Jan asked with a challenging note.
"A modified explosive, thrown at the ship and wedged there when I took off, it got wedged in so tight that it was deactivated." Mara replied triumphantly.
"Actually I think Luke would win." Cara said to them both.
"How?" both Jan and Mara asked.
"One word – Degobah. Can you imagine what got caught on his X-Wing and didn't get blown off in flight?" Cara replied with a grin.
"Yuck…" Mara replied and shook her head.
Jan rolled her eyes and went back under the Raven's Claw.
Mara went back to packing away the spare parts.
Cara went back to her own thoughts.
Mara was the first to break the silence.
"So you were a student of Tormel?" she asked bluntly.
"Yeah." Cara replied stiffly.
"Must have been tough… before I met Luke and Kyle I heard a lot about him. Heard he had a reputation for killing off students. Not to mention leading a fanatical cult." Mara commented.
"I don't want to talk about it." Cara said.
"Look, I know most of the stuffy Jedi Masters would tell you to just bury it away and be all Old Order but let me tell you. They are wrong, tell you what you should do?" Mara turned her attention away from the parts as she spoke.
"Really? What should I do then Mara?" Cara shot at her sarcastically.
"Get over it." Mara said meeting Cara's glare.
"What!" Cara cried back.
"It's true, get over it in your own way and get on with life. Maybe you haven't realised it yet Cara but you have friends now and a life ahead of you. But if you don't get over what happened to you it's going to swallow you whole again. And I don't think that's what you want." Mara said.
Cara didn't say anything.
"And one other thing, I was Palpatine's Hand, if I got over it then you can get over it." Mara said a little softer before closing the storage box and taking it on board the Raven's Claw.
--
"She said that?" Kyle asked Jan later.
"Yup, gave her a complete chewing out." Jan replied.
"Ouch. Mara's not known for being subtle." Kyle said.
"Maybe it's something Cara needed to hear." Jan said carefully.
"You're kidding." Kyle snorted.
"One thing I've learnt about you Kyle is you always care for your students. Sometimes you care a little too much. You know as well as the rest of us what the risks of the Dark Side are. Maybe I don't know as well as you since I'm not a Jedi but I remember when you nearly fell to it. And Mara knows the Dark Side better then you or Luke." Jan replied firmly.
"I think I see what you're getting at…" Kyle admitted.
"I think having Mara around might help Cara as well…" Jan said and rested her head on his shoulder.
Kyle put his arms around her.
"Stop being right." He said
"But it comes naturally." Jan replied in the same tone of voice.
"So does this…" Kyle whispered in her ear before turning her face to kiss her.
--
Cara sat alone in the bare meditation chamber. It was harder to meditate on Coruscant. It was made especially harder when her mind kept drifting back to the conversation with Mara.
What made it worse was that Mara was probably right.
Cara sensed Mara walk in before the door even opened.
"Look Cara, I just wanted to say sorry. I was a bit too blunt before. I know how sensitive that topic can be." Mara said.
Cara looked up at her.
"I stand by what I said though." Mara continued.
"I know." Cara replied.
"Now," Mara began, "I've heard you one hell of a saber duellist. Care to demonstrate?"
Mara's saber hummed to life, illuminating the room with its blue light.
"Your on…" Cara replied jumping to her feet and activating her own two sabers.
Mara was an extremely fast duellist. Just as soon as Cara had attacked with one saber Mara was ready to parry the second one.
Neither of them actually gained any ground in the friendly spar.
After twenty standard minutes of fighting Cara took a small opportunity to combine her two sabers into their powerful saber staff form.
Mara hung back a little bit. She, like most of the Order, knew of this trick. Yet since Cara was the only Jedi wielding sabers of this design it was the first time Mara had faced them.
They both attacked at the same time.
With the sabers joined Cara wasn't able to pull of her personal favourite spinning attack with the same ferocity, yet each time Mara attacked she could use the force of Mara's attack to bring the second blade up even faster.
Mara quickly realised that Cara's staff was using her own force against her.
Mara lunged for Cara and at the last moment redirected the attack.
The duel came to a sudden end as Mara's saber hovered barely an inch away from Cara's side.
Cara's own saber was inches away from Mara's neck.
"I guess we call this a draw?" Mara asked jokingly.
Cara laughed and they both switched off their sabers.
Mara walked over to the wall and turned the lights on.
"How did you get so fast?" Cara asked.
"I was trained as an assassin. I had to be fast." Mara replied. "How did you learn to fight like you do?"
"Sith practices tend to focus on fighting…" Cara replied with a shrug.
"And look at us now. Both Jedi Knights. You know it's possible to bring the skills from the past over to our present. No matter how dark that past was." Mara told her.
"Is that a nicer way to tell me to get over it?" Cara asked jokingly.
Mara laughed.
"Yeah pretty much. Look, I'd never admit it to him but Kyle's a good teacher. You could learn a lot from him." Mara said turning serious again.
"Yeah, thanks Mara."
"Don't mention it."
Story Recomendation
Title: Sleight of Hand
Author: kayladie
Genre: Drama/Angst
Summary: What if the path of the Emperor's Hand had taken a very different twist? VERY AU LukeMara HanLeia COMPLETED
My Description: An AMAZING story! Mara Jade fans especially will love it but i reckon EVERYONE should go read and reveiw it, it is well worth it!