Any feedback would be appreciated. Reviews are always welcome.

~JL~

Chapter 2

The Sith holocron was a teaching device. Deep within its core was a black crystal used to power and store knowledge. When activated the holocron would show a hologram image of its gatekeeper. Since the name of Darth Sidious appeared on the device Mara could only assume she would see old 'yellow-eyes' upon activation. Once the gatekeeper appeared she would be able to access the information stored within by asking questions to the hologram. Normally only Sith could activate such a device, but Mara knew if a Jedi had enough willpower and strength in the Force they too could access the dark device.

Mara had found the holocron purely by accident during the Vong War. When it became apparent that Coruscant would fall her and a few other Jedi went to the Imperial Palace to destroy documents and digital information that the Galactic Alliance didn't want to fall into enemy hands. When Mara and her small detail of Jedi reached the palace they discovered it had experienced severe structural damage by a Vong bombardment.

Mara worked her way through the various offices of key officials. She would systematically run a KillDisk program on every computer to wipe the drive and then she would plunge her lightsaber into the computer's inwards just to make sure all information was destroyed. She thought using the KillDisk was a waste of time when she could simply slice up the computers, but Intel was adamant that they often could scrounge information off even the most highly damaged hard drives.

Luckily Flimsi files had been phased out of existence in the last decade, making her job a lot easier. She was glad she didn't need to burn documents inside a building or take the time to shred them.

Eventually she found herself in a room that decades prior served as Palpatine's private library. All of Palpatine's original documents were packed up and sent to NR intel decades ago; the room was now used as a private library for one of the senior senators.

Mara did a memory wipe on any functional computers and completely destroyed any computer not functioning. She was about to leave when she noticed a wall partially knocked down exposing a small alcove that was once hidden within the recess of the wall. It was a secret compartment probably used by Palpatine. Inside Mara discovered a cache of datachips, flimsy blueprints, but she also found a lightsaber and the Sith holocron.

Mara turned over the datachips and blueprints to GA intelligence and the lightsaber to the Jedi Temple, but she kept the holocron. She knew she should destroy it, but she couldn't bring herself to do so. There was a chance, albeit a very remote chance, that in its memory crystal there was information on her background such as where she came from and the identity of her family. Originally it didn't bother her not knowing about her past, but after Luke discovered the identity of his mother in the memory system of R2D2 the curiosity concerning her family returned.

She could have given the holocron to the temple, but she didn't want it to fall into the wrong hands. She knew its power. She didn't want any Jedi tempted by the sinister powers that lay within. Luke, as strong as he was, had already had fallen to the darkside on Byss, Mara didn't want any Jedi swayed by its power and knowledge. She had seen what the dark side of the Force did to Palpatine and that was a fate she didn't wish on anybody.

She decided to keep it hidden away, waiting for the day she was powerful enough in the Force not to be tempted by its evil and comfortable enough to face her old master and make him answer her questions.

"I don't know if I'm ready for this, but time is running out," she said to herself and she steeled herself for what lay ahead.

Mara pressed the recessed button at the bottom of the holocron and placed it on the cabin floor. At first nothing happened and she thought perhaps it was damaged by the Vong assault. Eventually the device started to glow and Mara could feel a familiar dark ripple in the Force. A holographic projection suddenly coalesced into a grainy image of her old Master, Emperor Palpatine.

The holographic image looked at Mara and frowned. "Why does the Emperor's Hand call on me? Where is my apprentice Vader?"

Mara shuddered at the sight of the Sith Lord. She forgot how caustic and grating his voice was, but at least the hologram was devoid of the old man smell that lingered around the aged emperor while he was alive.

"Vader is dead. I possess the holocron. I need answers that perhaps you can provide."

The holographic image smiled. It was a smile that reminded Mara of a sand panther's—that is if the sand panther suffered from poor oral hygiene and gingivitis.

"What knowledge does my Hand wish to know," the dreadful image inquired.

"I want to know if you have knowledge of Aing-Tii Flow walking?"

Palpatine scoffed, "The Aing-Tii have only an elementary understanding of that Force ability."

Mara's eyebrows went up. "You have better information?"

"Of course," Palpatine said in smug voice.

"Teach me how to Flow-walk," Mara commanded.

It only took Mara a few hours to grasp the basics of flow-walking. She didn't have enough time to become an expert and she also didn't want to spend one second longer listening to Palpatine's voice droning on about the power of the darkside. Mara found out what she needed to know and deactivated the device. It wasn't until she safely stashed it in its hideaway that she felt the malevolent oppressiveness subside. She wasn't sure how a hologram could exude the feeling of darkness, but it did.

It had been decades since Mara felt the Force presence of the Emperor. When she was younger she never noticed how repulsive and stomach-churning the darkside of the Force could be. She assumed that she had become accustomed to the Emperor's presence over the years, similar to a person living next to a foul smelling chemical plant eventually stops smelling the odor.

She looked at the chrono; Luke was probably looking for her already. She needed to hurry. She intended on flow-walking back a few weeks, spy on Jacen and find out what he has been planning and what he is capable of doing. Then she would prepare to face him again. The next time they met only one of them would come out alive.

Mara lay down in her bunk on the Shadow, she didn't know exactly what would happen to her body when she flow-walked so she thought it best to be in a position where she wouldn't topple over and bang her head.

She thought over the instructions given to her by the holocron. She needed to get into a deep meditative state and picture her force essence entering into the flow of the Force. She had to visualize where she wanted to go and hold onto that thought.

Mara sank deeper and deeper into the Force, her mind concentrating on Jacen. As she finally slipped into the flow her mind wandered to Luke and hoped he wouldn't be too upset over what she was doing.

Mara came out of her meditative state slowly. The first thing she was aware of is she was no longer on the Shadow. The air was warm and damp and smelled of exotic plants. She blinked her eyes adjusting to the light coming through a window.

'A window? Where am I?' she thought.

She was sitting in a chair. She felt a weight on her lap and noticed a small blaster lying there. It was a blaster she owned years ago. Something was wrong. She couldn't be flow-walking…she was supposed to be a ghost like apparition in the past. But she could feel her body. She looked down at her hand and squeezed it into a fist feeling the sensation of flesh. The only thing she couldn't sense was the Force itself.

She looked around the small room and suddenly froze in shock. There, lying in a small bed, clothed in an orange flight suit was Luke. Mara slowly rose out of her chair placing the blaster on her seat. She walked over to him and looked down at his sleeping form.

'Stang, he is so young!' she thought tenderly.

She quickly went to the window to confirm her suspicions. Outside was a thick forest that she immediately recognized…Myrkr, she was on Myrkr. She had flowed way too far back in time and was now in the room where Karrde and his crew concealed a stunned and then drugged Jedi Knight. Mara remembered volunteering to guard him. She had wanted to be the first face he saw and hopefully, later on, the last face he saw before she took his life.

She had flow-walked back in time and right into her own body!

'This possibility was never mentioned by Palpatine!'

Mara wondered if she made an error in the technique or if Palpatine gave her incorrect instructions on purpose. Her greatest worry right now was trying to figure out if anything she did differently would affect her future. The Aing-Tii believed any changes in the past wouldn't affect the future in any perceptible way…but Palpatine said the Aing-Tii only had a rudimentary understanding of Flow-walking. Could she be doing a more advanced form of the technique? Could her actions now affect her future?

'Fierfek!' she swore silently. She only wanted to spy on Jacen, not change anything in the past. She was going to have to remember exactly what she said and did until she can get to a Ysalamiri free area of the compound so she could go back into a Flow-walking trance. She remembered there were a few areas in the middle of Karrde's compound where she could feel the Force. She needed to get to there as soon as possible. She turned to go to the door, but then hesitated. If Luke woke up and she was not in the room would that alter their future? She wasn't sure. She would have to wait until she brought Luke to Karrde and then shuffled her future husband back to his room. Then she would have some time to locate the area of the compound where she could touch the Force and then hopefully get out of this time frame and back home.

She went back to Luke lying silently on his back, his chest slowly rising and falling, deep in a drug induced slumber.

'At least he's not snoring,' Mara thought with a smile remembering how her husband's snoring increased through the years. She stood over him admiring his face. It was devoid of the fine wrinkles and laugh lines he developed over the decades. Mara still saw her middle-aged husband as extremely handsome and sexy, but this young Luke was stunning. How come she never saw him that way? She knew it was because of The Last Command. She cursed Palpatine for that. All those years she could have been in Luke's arms…wasted. What was she thinking?

She ran her finger over Luke's cheek and touched his lips. He didn't move. His body was still trying to overcome the effects of the drugs Karrde had pumped into him. Mara looked over to the door to make sure it was locked. She then bent down and brushed her lips softly over Luke's.

"I love you Farmboy," she said softly.

Luke groaned and Mara jumped away from him quickly and rushed back to her chair. She put the blaster back into her lap and frantically tried to remember what the hell she said to him thirty years ago.

Luke's breathing changed and Mara could see he was now conscious and looking out the window, no doubt wondering how the frack a bunch of smugglers could capture a Jedi.

'What did I say to him?' Mara thought frantically. It took a few seconds but finally the words came to her.

"Finally awake are you?" she said. She cringed when the sentence came out sounding rehearsed and completely lacking the contemptuous tone she knew she must have used the first time around.

Luke jumped in the bed, obviously startled that he was not able to sense her presence. A small smile crossed Mara's face, 'he is so cute when surprised,' she thought amused, but pushed away those feelings so she could give Luke the remainder of her little speech.

"Don't like it, do you," she asked trying to sound derisive. "It isn't fun losing everything that made you special." Those probably weren't the exact words, but it was close enough.

'He didn't lose everything that made him special,' Mara thought warmly. 'He still has those beautiful blue eyes, that compact muscular body…' Mara's eyes roamed down Luke's body until it focused to just below his belt. 'and other special things,' she thought with a smile.

'Fierfek! Focus!' Mara chastised herself mentally.

Luke slowly sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed until they touched the floor. Mara couldn't help feeling bad for him, she knew the drugs did a number on his body and the loss of his Force sense would be a shock to his system.

"Umm.." Mara grasped for the right words. "I hope you are not getting up to impress me?"

'Because you are most impressive in bed,' Mara thought and then immediately reprimanded herself for wanting to grab him up in her arms and kiss him. 'Thank the stars he can't sense my emotions through the Force,' she thought relieved that she had some leeway.

"Nothing so devious," Luke said as he tried to catch his breath. "The purpose of his activity is to get me back on my feet." Luke looked straight at her giving her a hard gaze. 'Stang he is gorgeous when he gives me that intimidating Jedi Master look,' Mara snickered mentally.

"Don't tell me; Let me guess. You're Mara Jade." Luke said.

Mara resisted the urge to correct him. She is Mara Jade Skywalker…or at least would be one day…unless she was now totally screwing up the timeline.

"You got that right Farmboy," the words came out of her mouth before she could censor herself. 'Stang, I hope I don't get back to my time and find out I screwed up everything and I'm now married to Corran!' Mara thought in a panic.

"What did you call me?" Luke asked confused.

It was time to cut her losses and get on with the show. "Karrde wants to see you, on your feet!" she ordered her prisoner. "And don't try anything...or I'll shoot you right here!" She hoped that came off sounding halfway serious. She knew there was no way she could ever hurt him. "Move! Karrde's waiting."

Mara marched Luke at blaster point through the barracks across the courtyard and to the large central building. They entered the structure and went through a large door to the area Karrde referred to as the 'great room'. There sat Karrde under a large tree growing from a hole in the floor. Two large pet Vornskrs flanked the smuggler. Mara had to smile; Karrde looked almost as young as Luke. It brought back a flood of emotions, both good and bad. She owed so much to these two men. She wished things weren't so complicated in the past.

She motioned for Luke to go up to her boss. Karrde began discussing with Luke what should be done with him. As the conversation dragged on the Vornskrs got antsy so Karrde had Chin take them away. With the guard animals gone Mara made her way to stand next to her old smuggler boss. It gave the pretense that she was acting as a bodyguard, but she really just wanted to gaze at Luke some more. She found herself entranced by the young Jedi. She felt such a sense of longing. She wanted more than ever to get back to her time to be with Luke and Ben.

She wished she did so many things different after they returned from Wayland. She remembered when they were on to Coruscant and Luke gave her his father's lightsaber. She should have kissed him. She wondered what a difference that would have made in her life.

"Mara?" Karrde said looking a little confused at her inattentiveness. Mara blushed realizing she totally zoned out during the two men's entire conversation.

"Sorry," Mara said flustered as she motioned to Luke with her blaster. "Let's go."

On the way back to the room Luke made an attempt to start a conversation with his captor.

"Did I miss dinner?"

Mara rolled her eyes, 'There's that Skywalker appetite.' Mara shook her head slightly. "Don't worry, we'll bring you something to eat."

"Thank you," Luke said sincerely. He looked over to her with a questioning look. "Why do you dislike me so much?"

Mara resisted the urge to start a discussion with him. It was too risky. "Shut up! Just shut up," She said impatiently. She wanted to get him back to the room and then find a quiet place where she could will herself back to the future.

She pushed him into his impromptu prison cell. "The window has an alarm on it. If you try to escape it will be a toss-up on who will get you first the Vornskrs or me!" Before he could say another word she quickly closed the door and locked it. She leaned against the wall and gave a sigh. She then quickly moved to the center of the compound and down to the basement where the storage rooms were located. If she remembered correctly there was an area in one of the storage rooms where the effects of the ysalamiri could not be felt.

Mara entered the storage pantry and turned on the lights. The walls were lined with shelves full of dehydrated foodstuffs. Mara went to the corner of the room and sat down on the floor with her back against a shelf stocked with grain. She didn't know what the current Mara would remember when the future Mara went back to her time. Hopefully she wouldn't remember all the suggestive thoughts she had been thinking about Luke or else the Mara of this time would probably shoot him outright. On the other hand, if Myrkr Mara had a total memory loss, how would she handle that? There was also the possibility that the current Mara may have viewed her own body moving around almost like an out of body experience. She wasn't sure which option would be best.

"I guess I'll know soon enough," she said as she closed her eyes and thought about returning to her own time. After seeing Luke so young and irresistible all she wanted to do is be back in his arms again. She just hoped what she did here today didn't irrevocably change her future.