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Chapter 12

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Coruscant was the big metropolis of the galaxy. From outer space, the planet just looked like a big ball of durasteel and lights. It was the largest political and entrepreneurial centre in the system. It had been the ruling core of the Empire, and now it held the headquarters of the New Republic Government.

Luke watched the busy sight while he sat in the pilot's seat of the Jade's Fire. Mara had asked him to fly her precious spacecraft all the way from Yavin, which for Luke meant one of two things: she had finally admitted that she trusted him as the skilled pilot he was to allow him to put his hands on the helm, or else she wasn't feeling up to the task of flying. He was inclined to believe it was the later. She did love flying her own ship -which she had had modified to her own personal preferences, but for some reason she had preferred to be the passenger this time. Mara had been not herself the past few days, she'd been too quiet, taciturn, and was not fighting Luke back over the little stuff, which was a big thing. Something was really bothering her, he had sensed certain sadness lingering in Mara. Luke had been trying to find the right moment to ask her about it, a moment he hadn't found yet.

The assignation of their landing platform was taking longer than expected and they had been orbiting the planet for a couple of hours already. Luke talked to the Veeone unit -who was very protective of his Mistress' ship and had started to trust the substitute pilot now. The Jedi gave some instructions and asked for some readings, the droid performed the task diligently.

Artoo Deetoo had also come with them on this trip, but he had stayed in the cargo hold powering up during the whole trip, along with Luke's X-Wing Fighter. Of course he was on vacation, but you never knew when a galactic crisis could arise. It seemed like the astromech droid and the Veeone unit had a hard time getting along, so Luke had decided to keep them away from one another. Artoo had always had a 'mind' –if such term could be used on a droid, of his own. So he made it very clear to the little droid that he had to obey his orders this time.

They had left Yavin IV the very next day of Mara's ordering, just as Luke had promised. The hyper jump from the jungle planet to Coruscant was a four-day trip, when traveling in a fast ship as the Fire. They had arrived on time as predicted, but from the looks of it, it was going to take a bit longer before they could touch ground. The Veeone unit could take care of everything until then, so there was some time to spare.

Luke headed to the common area of the ship where he had sensed Mara's presence. He spotted her sitting at the table in the common area of the ship, lost in her thoughts.

"We have to wait our turn to touch ground. They're experiencing more traffic than usual." He casually spoke while entering. Mara was lost in her thoughts and didn't notice him coming in. "Mara?" he called.

"Mmmm?" She turned her head.

"Are you all right?" Luke asked concerned.

"Of course, I'm all right." Mara answered sharply, shaking her thoughts away.

She had gotten on the offensive, which always meant she was trying to hide behind her barriers of toughness. Now Luke could tell that there was something really going on.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked taking a seat next to her, trying to sound as casual as he could, so she wouldn't feel like if he was prying.

She gently shook her head "May be some other time… not now."

"You know I'm here for you…. When you're ready." He offered.

"Yes, I know." She paused for a few seconds, looking down at the table. Mara turned to Luke, the words in her eyes but her mouth being unable to pronounce them.

Luke looked back at her, expectantly.

She looked straight into his eyes, seeing his concern, his acceptance… Perhaps now was as good time as any.

"I cared about him…" She confessed "As sick as it sounds, I did care about him."

Luke knew who she was referring to: the late Emperor.

"And does that make you feel guilty?" Luke probed.

"It makes me feel disgusted!" She said with frustration in her voice. She felt hurt, disappointed.

Luke nodded; he could sense the mixed emotions that dwelled in her. "Mara, I don't pretend to say that I understand what kind of relationship you and he shared, but… I do believe that in his own way, he saw you as a daughter." He carefully said.

"In his own twisted, sick way…" Mara snorted and paused for a moment. "And in return, in my own twisted, sick way… He felt like the closest thing to a father to me." She admitted, a tint of sadness and longing hanging in her voice. "Just listen to the irony in that!" She angrily said while slapping her hand on the table. "After all I know about him, about all the wrong he did… Is it all right that a part of me still misses him?" She asked Luke, like pleading for forgiveness.

"It's only natural." He answered trying to ease her frustration.

"I know he did terrible, horrible things… And that I endorsed many of them. I was so blinded by my duty and devotion towards him that I couldn't make out the difference! And I've been mad at him for that! Still I am!" She paused for a moment, giving her emotions some time to settle down. "And along with all the anger I also feel like and ingrate… Because in that twisted way of his… He was good to me." She gravely finished.

"I know." He told her softly.

Luke took Mara's hand and squeezed it gently. He wanted her to understand that he didn't judge her or was trying to evaluate her. He just knew she was experiencing the side effects of confronting ones fears and frustrations, something you had to do to become a real Jedi. Oh, yes! He knew it all too well. Mara's ordering was not just about her achieving a goal, but also about her coming to terms with her past. It was her own closure with the remnants of her Imperial life.

Mara just smiled back at him. A tight smile, but a smile nevertheless.

That was all Luke needed from her.

A soft beeping called from one of the consoles in the common room and the flashing light gave Luke all the information he needed. They were coming out of orbit.

"It seems we've gotten our clearance." Luke announced, "Get ready."

Mara nodded, and followed the Jedi with her eyes as he left the room. Suddenly everything simply felt better. She could sense the warmth of his acceptance. Reflexively she set one of her hands on her chest, feeling the rhythmic beating of her heart. A heart so much used to feel anger and contempt, and that now was experiencing a kaleidoscope of emotions she had been so afraid of letting in. Yes, her universe was a better place with Luke in it.

After getting their clearance, landing the Fire was just like any other routine landing Luke had performed before. Once on the ground he proceeded to turn all the systems down and get Artoo out of the cargo hold -he'd take care of the X-Wing later.

Artoo chirped and beeped in content while he followed Luke through the Fire's aisles. They came across the Veeone unit who was obediently standing by the exit door of the ship and Luke could almost swear that Artoo's beeping had suddenly changed from one of content and excitement to one filled with mockery and sarcasm towards the other droid. Knowing Artoo, probably he was making fun of his counterpart for not being allowed to get off the ship. Luke chuckled at the thought; Artoo was really quite a character, and because of this he had chosen to not give him any memory wipes as the years had gone by.

The little droid wasn't gonna go too far anyways; it had to stay in the hangar area to run all the prep sequences for Luke's fighter. Artoo was the only droid capable of coupling with the X-Wing's navicomputer –this due to the lack of memory wipes for the astromech unit and also for safety measures, so no one else could tinker with the ship.

"Don't let R2 get close to my Veeone unit or he'll go on strike on me." Mara told Luke, as she brushed past him, half joking and half being serious about it. "It might achieve to imprint some little ideas in the Veeone's memory core." She remarked while grabbing her bags and heading to the exit ramp first.

Luke shook his head in amusement at her remark, as he grabbed his own luggage and followed Mara. Yes, Artoo was some sort of a little rebel, perhaps he was the personification of the spirit of the Rebel Alliance: determined and feisty, a little out of place at times, but enormously committed and true to its own beliefs.

A flash back of those times came to his mind. The running around, the heat of battle, the ideals he fought for, old friends –some already gone… He thought back, as he felt a bit of nostalgia… Perhaps –like Mara, he even missed a part of that old life himself. He walked down the ramp, feeling the little droid roll behind his footsteps.

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oOo

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Luke and Mara were riding the turbo lift that would take them to one of the higher floors in the building. It had taken them a good standard hour to make it from the landing platform to here. Coming out of the lift they walked a few doors down the aisle and stood in front of a large, nicely polished durasteel door. Luke set his hand on the side panel and the door slid open. He then nodded with his hand to Mara, inviting her to step in.

Luke walked behind, dropped his bags by the door and turned to hit the main control panel to activate the environmental systems in his apartment. The light came in, revealing the lavish interiors. The placed looked cosmopolitan and trendy, and maybe a bit too flashy for Luke's taste, but very nice indeed. It looked a lot different from the sobriety of his apartment back in Yavin.

"This is nice!" Mara noted, "I never had the chance to visit you here in Coruscant before. Who did the furnishing?" She knew Luke would have never chosen such designs in furniture, knowing how much he disliked non-simple things.

"Leia did." He shrugged, feeling a bit embarrassed. He was after all, a farm boy from Tatooine at heart.

"Besides having great taste, your sister seems to really take care of you." She added as she paced the place.

"She does." Luke sweetly whispered while noticing a fresh flower bouquet in a beautiful vase placed in the living room and a bowl full of fresh fruit set on the bar that separated the dining area from the kitchen.

Leia had always taken good care of him, even back when they were a bunch of rebel fighters of the Alliance and they didn't even know they were related. No matter how busy of a woman she was, she always found time for him. He had always wondered how she managed to do so much in the time span of a regular busy day of hers. Probably she had sent Threepeo to do the cleaning and get everything ready for his arrival. And knowing Leia, the refrigeration unit should be full of the Force knew what by now.

"It's not as flashy or big as Han and Leia's place…" He called out loud to Mara who was inspecting the place –mere curiosity or a die-hard habit of scrutinize every place she found herself in, Luke couldn't tell which. "…But still I think is just too much for me." He added, "I'm never here! When I'm in Coruscant all I do is to go from one meeting to another, visit Han and Leia, dine out and only crash here at night. I rarely use this apartment, I think a hotel room would do just as good. But Leia insists that for political and diplomatic reasons I have to have some presence in the capital planet."

"And a permanent residence surely gives you that. Besides you can afford it." Mara stated while admiring a beautiful Sullustan painting on one of the walls. She turned to him, "You should also see the bright point about it, you get to have some privacy when you're on planet." She smirked.

'Privacy', he liked the sound of that word coming out Mara's mouth… He thought of all the things they could do in private… But not now, they were running late, and Leia and Han were waiting.

Coming back to reality, he wondered for how long their privacy was gonna last, once all the media in the Holo Net got to know about their relationship. It was going to unleash havoc! The Jedi Master and the former Emperor's Hand… He could almost see Fey'lya's face when hearing the news! That was going to be something worth to be seen. Han was certainly gonna get a kick out of that! He chuckled at the thought. Luke was used to all the attention by now, and had learned to not mind all the gossip, but Mara… one more thing she was gonna have to learn to deal with. It really seemed to him that he was the one who was getting more out of this deal. He should ask Mara about her thoughts on this matter sometime.

"We're running late, so we should hurry." He told the pacing red-head. "You just go ahead and settle down. I'll call Leia and let her know that we'll be at her place shortly."

'Luke's family...' Mara thought to herself while remembering the reason why they were in this planet. Family… that was such an alien term for her. 'Well, one more thing that comes along with pairing up with Skywalker I guess.'

Settling herself in the bed chamber Mara undid her bags, carefully sorting out the outfits she had brought with her… The burgundy one that went well with her hair, the dark green that enhanced the color of her eyes, and the black one piece that fitted her like a glove… 'What?' She stopped abruptly when realizing what she was doing. It did not matter at all how she looked, she wasn't here to please anybody!

Furiously grabbing the first piece of clothing at her reach, she stormed into the fresher.

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oOo

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The speeder cab swiftly traveled among the rivers of vehicles that transited the traffic lines. The city was as busy as Mara remembered, full of technology and alien life. She had lived here once, a long, long time ago; but that was in the past. The ride was a quiet one. She could sense Luke's excitement and eagerness building up inside of him, although his features remained as relaxed as usual. If the Jedi cared about everybody and everything in the Galaxy, she could imagine just how much he cared for his family, his friends… for her.

A tiny grin appeared on Mara's face as she looked out the window, and she then immersed herself back into her contemplation of the city.

The active sight slowly turned into a quieter and less transited one -they we're heading towards the mountains, Mara noted. So, the Solo's lived in the rich part of the planet city. Well that was expected, being a Princess and the Chief of State, Organa-Solo could afford anything –not to mention her husband's position as a General and perhaps some profit from his smuggling years he had stacked somewhere. In the end, he hadn't paid to Jabba the Hutt, had he?

As they continued she noted the change in architecture of the buildings and residences that lay along the way. Large and sumptuous constructions, all of them fitted to their owners' pocket and personal taste. On this part of the city there were wide sidewalks for pedestrians, with sets of trees and vegetation nicely arranged along the sides.

They reached a large silvery gate, which opened automatically when the sensors registered the vehicle. A huge, beautifully well-kept garden was the fore view of a lavish residence in the back.

Mara gave a quick look at the building. Fancy… she could handle fancy, she could handle rich, she could handle Organa… even Solo! As a matter of fact, she could handle anything. She had handled Galactic crises for the Force's sake! The speeder stopped. 'So, this is it.' Mara thought. She wondered what was waiting behind those doors. Bracing herself she took a deep breath, witnessing family reunions was not something she looked forward to, even less being part of one.

Luke helped Mara out of the speeder cab and, without letting her hand go, together headed towards the main entrance.

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