CHAPTER 3
Mara slowly awakened from her trance-like state. She found herself in bed in a semi-dark room; the only light came from the moon and stars shining through a huge transparasteel window. In the distance she could barely discern an imposing mountain range—its silhouette making a jagged line across the horizon.
Mara could feel a warm nude body pressing against her back and the movement of another person's breathing.
Anxiety coursed through her body. If she changed anything in her past she might not have married Luke and that thought terrified her. She could find herself now in bed with a stranger…or worse a friend. If she woke up with Corran, Karrde or, Force forbid, someone like Kyp or Streen, she was sure she would run out of the room screaming. Mara hesitantly reached out with the Force to ascertain the identity of her bedfellow. She blew out a sigh of relief when she realized it was Luke.
She slowly turned to look at her husband. She had mixed feelings about what she saw in the dim light. It was Luke, but a much younger Luke. He was not as young as when they met on Myrkr—but he was a good two decades younger than the future Luke she left in their apartment on Coruscant prior to embarking on this strange journey. She was at the wrong place at the wrong time…again.
Mara quietly got out of bed and tried to figure out where they were. She immediately felt chilled once away from Luke's warm muscular body. Mara looked down and realized why. She was clothed in a sheer mesh and lace camisole—one she remembered buying not long after her wedding. The lingerie wasn't made for warmth; it was made to seduce.
She looked around the room. In the dim light she could make out some chairs, a small loveseat and at the center of the room was a long dresser. On top of the dresser Mara could see the outline of a vase with a cut flower arrangement and she could smell the familiar scent of Dew-Sparkled Velanie Flowers. Mara smiled knowingly…she was in a room overlooking the Karrish Mountain Range. Luke brought her here on their second honeymoon. She remembered it was the most perfect two days of her life.
Her sweet Farmboy spared no expense and thought of every way he could spoil her on that happy occasion. It was a time prior to the Vong War, before the death of Chewie and Anakin, and long before all that creepiness with the Killiks. It was a good time for Mara and Luke. If she had her way she would stay here forever, making love, drinking Garwillian champagne and eating air cake. But she knew she couldn't, she came on this mission to stop Jacen and to protect Ben.
She walked over to the bed and climbed back in. Gazing at Luke's handsome young face she shifted closer to him and gently placed her lips over his. She fully intended on slipping back to the flow of the Force and try to get back to 40 ABY—the time when she started her flow-walking. That was her plan, but when her lips touched his, Luke woke immediately and returned her kiss with a passion. They kissed and caressed each other until she couldn't stand it any longer. She pulled her lips away from his, "Make love to me Luke," she said huskily. The Jedi smiled and eagerly complied.
'The Force-Flow can wait," she thought and then gasped at Luke's ministrations. 'The Force can definitely wait.'
After a few hours of passionate lovemaking Mara lay exhausted in bed. Luke was lying next to her snoring softly, a satisfied smile on his face. Mara took the time to think about her Flow-walking experiences so far. She thought back about her second stint on Myrkr to see if she could figure out if her memories had changed. To her surprise, she had two sets of memories. The original recollections and another similar set of memories in which she remembered waking up in a storage closet confused, disorientated and wondering what in the worlds possessed her to kiss the man she wanted to kill.
It appeared that once she leaves this body, her old self will remember making love to Luke but won't remember any thoughts the future Mara experienced. 'Good,' she thought. 'That makes things a little easier; we wouldn't want my past self to think she's gone crazy.'
She knew she needed to figure out if her Flow-Walking was affecting the future since she appeared unable to pinpoint her designation with any accuracy. She just hoped her next flow-walk didn't drop her into the middle of the Vong War or worse.
'I need to figure out if I am changing things,' was the last thing she thought before she dropped back into the flow.
"Do you want stew or glymph pie?" an elderly woman wearing a hairnet asked Mara in a raspy voice.
Mara blinked her eyes, reorienting herself to her surroundings. She was up at a serving line in a dining hall. She looked around quickly and recognized it as the Jedi Academy dining facility on Yavin IV.
"Gymph pie or stew?" the woman repeated impatiently.
"Umm, I'll take the stew," Mara replied. The older woman placed a bowl of steaming liquid on Mara's tray along with a bread wafer.
"Thank you," Mara said as she turned and looked down the long room full of polished tables and hungry Jedi students. She wasn't sure what era she landed in, perhaps if she recognized some of the Jedi apprentices she could figure out what part of the timeline she had flow-walked into.
She strode through the dining hall looking for a familiar face and finally she found one.
"Frack!" Mara swore softly. A couple tables down sitting alone was a sandy-haired woman Mara wished she would never have to see again…Callista Ming. Mara was shocked, not only at the sight of Luke's old lover, but at the strong emotions the sight of Callista evoked in her. Mara was filled with revulsion and anger. This was the Force reanimated cadaver that broke Luke's heart and had him scouring the galaxy for her for years. Mara really, really disliked the woman, almost to the point of hating her.
She must not have been shielding very well because a number of Jedi students looked up at Mara startled or with questioning looks. She smiled and shielded her emotions before every Jedi, including Luke, sensed her annoyance.
'Well, at least I know 'when' I am,' Mara thought sarcastically. It was approximately 12 years after the battle of Yavin. She had come to the Academy to give Luke some information about the Hutts. That was the time she came very close to revealing to the Jedi her true feelings for him…close, but not quite. She did tell him she came out in person because she sometimes liked to see him. 'I sometimes liked to see him.' How pathetic was that?
'You were an idiot back then,' Mara mused to herself. She should have just gone for it, laid her sabbac cards out on the table and told Luke what she felt for him, but she didn't. 'An idiot!' she repeated to herself silently.
She realized she was standing in the middle of the dining hall looking lost. She might as well get this over with. Mara walked over to the table where Callista was sitting and stood across from her. "Do you mind if I sit here?" she asked the former old order Jedi.
Callista looked up from her food and nodded for Mara to join her. Mara sat and started to eat the stew, taking the bread and dipping it into the liquid and plopping it into her mouth. Mara grimaced at the taste. The academy was never known for its fine cuisine. "I guess they don't have a gourmet cooking droids working here, but I guess it is better than dry rations." Mara remarked trying to remember what she said to Callista almost three decades ago.
"So you are Skywalker's new lady," Mara said almost gagging on the words.
Callista gave Mara a measured look. "Yes, I am. You must be Mara Jade. I heard about you."
Mara nodded. The fair-haired woman raised her eyebrows a bit. "I also heard hints that you might have been interested in Luke yourself at one time."
Mara gave her a thin smile. She was fighting a tremendous urge to strangle this woman. Mara knew it was irrational, but, after remembering being married to Luke for over two decades, the realization that this woman would be in bed with Mara's future husband tonight filled her with loathing. It was like sitting down to lunch with 'the other woman'. Totally irrational thinking, but Mara couldn't help it. She was just glad Callista couldn't read her emotions through the Force or she would be running for the hills right about now.
"Interested in Luke?" Mara laughed. In the past she denied, denied, denied, but she really wanted to get a reaction from this woman. "What woman wouldn't be interested in the Jedi Master? He's handsome, charming and has a butt to die for."
Callista's jaw dropped.
Mara realized she really should leave before Callista made a scene. "Well good to meet you," Mara lied as she stood up and swiftly proceeded to leave the dining facility. Mara was almost out the door when she bumped into Luke.
"Mara," Luke said concerned. "I felt a spike of emotion from you earlier, are you alright."
Mara smiled. "Everything is fine Luke. I have to go, but I just want to say I will miss you." She felt Luke's astonishment through the Force when she leaned in and gave him a friendly hug and an almost platonic kiss on his cheek—a kiss that almost touched his lips. At that same moment she dropped her shields ever so slightly and allowed Luke to feel her desire for him. She backed away from him and smiled then turned to leave. "Bye Luke," Mara said as she seductively ran her tongue over her lower lip.
Luke looked like he was having trouble breathing and his eyes were wide with astonishment.
As Mara walked out the door she stole a glance back down the dining hall and saw a very irate and flustered bodysnatching former Jedi storming toward the Jedi Master.
As Mara quickly headed back to her ship she knew that Luke would remember that kiss, especially if he got an earful from Callista. If she flowed forward into the future she would ask him if he remembered their first kiss. If he said Yavin IV then Mara knew she was changing the timeline and she would have to be very careful in her travels. If he said Nirauan, then there were no worries.
She chuckled to herself. "After feeling a Force-enhanced kiss, having sex with his Force-void girlfriend is going to feel like he is Kriffing a blow-up doll."
She would go back to her ship and get back to flow-walking.