EmeraldEyedJedi: I hate that Luke feels that way. I never want him to be sad! But I think he's going through and experience that he needs in order to open his eyes... at least I hope that's how it'll be once the story concludes. Thank you for reading!
Demendora: I agree! I hated when they started killing off characters in the novels. I'm with Tim Zahn on this one. I don't think they should have done it, or at least, not as often! Thanks for reading!
salanderjade: Oh, I remember "He is Married Still". That one was beautiful and so sad. I believe it was written way before Sacrifice... I think maybe Mara had died in childbirth? It was a beautiful story. I"m sorry to have made you cry! And very interesting words about Mara holding everything together for her kids but suffering privately. I think you are more right than you know... Thank you so much!
Fallon Skywalker: Hey there! Thank you so much! I'm so glad that both Mara and Luke still have Han and Leia in their corners. They couldn't ask for better family.
the brown cow: Sorry! The interludes were a bit short, and this one shorter than the other two. Hopefully today's chapter will make up some for that. Thanks for peeking in!
Rarobin: Hey, you! They are breaking my heart, too. (Luckily we won't succumb to it. LOL) Bittersweet is the perfect word for it. I'm glad the voices of the characters are carrying through. Thank you so very much!
.
.
With chapter 8 we'll be to the halfway point... Let's hope it's not all downhill from there. ;o)
CHAPTER 7
Luke took a shower and changed into the fresh clothing that Mara had given him. They fit perfectly, but the tunic was a little different than what he was used to wearing, lighter in color and the collar not so high. He wiped the steam from the mirror and looked at himself, trying to imagine how different he looked from what he had thirteen years before, and what Mara must think of him now.
He walked into the common room to find Mara busy at her HoloNet station. She looked up as she noticed his presence and her eyes visibly widened as she let them trail over him, taking in her husband's clothing on his body. She didn't say anything or look overly concerned, but he knew her well enough to know her mind was probably racing, unwilling to be sentimental over simple fabric.
She easily shook herself from any reverie she might have fallen into and told him that there was not a listing for Naelli on the HoloNet.
"Of course it couldn't be that easy," Luke said with a grin. Mara gave him a sidelong look, the beginnings of a smirk on her lips, but she quickly squashed it. "It's too bad Artoo isn't with me—Artoo! Do you have him? My droid?"
Mara rolled her eyes. "For Force sakes, I know who Artoo is. And he's with the kids, on Naboo. He follows Betrys around like he did Luke."
Luke couldn't help but grin at that. "Well, in that case, we need someone who can get us pure information. Did you ever work for someone named Talon Karrde? Is he around in this universe? I keep taking so many things for granted, I mean—who won the Smashball tournament last meet?"
"Bryx," Mara answered without missing a beat.
"Really?" Luke asked, pulling a face. "This is a whole other place. Bryx couldn't hold a ball in the air much less win a tournament where I'm from."
"I'll show you the highlights," she promised dryly. "And yes, I did work for Karrde. You're right; he's probably our best bet. Let me see if I can raise him."
She swiveled in her chair and placed the call, leaving the line open so that the call would pick up once it connected. "I worked for Karrde when I met Luke. From what you showed me in your memories, the beginning of our relationships are pretty much identical."
"Pretty much?"
"Well, something was different, because we managed to get together quite a bit earlier than the two of you—hey, move out of the range of the screen, would you? I don't want to give Karrde another heart attack."
"Another?"
But Mara didn't answer him as the line opened and Karrde himself showed up on the screen. He looked exactly as Luke remembered and he felt a pang thinking that he hadn't seen Karrde in quite a while. He was such an important figure in Mara's life and Luke knew that he missed her as well. Mara would want Ben to know Talon better. It was yet another mistake he had made in the time after Mara's death. He vowed to himself to do better if—once—he returned home.
"Talon," Mara said, looking at her old friend. "Thank you for getting with me so quickly."
"Think nothing of it," he said. "How are you? And Ben? Betrys?"
"They're fine. On Naboo with Han, Leia and the family. Listen, I need a favor."
Karrde's eyebrow rose. "A favor for the illustrious Master Jedi?"
"Cute. Look, I need some information on a guy. Marse Naelli. That's N-A-E-L-L-I. Everything you can get. Location, first and foremost."
"Shall I add it to your ever-growing tab, my dear?"
"You know it. And Talon, thanks."
"Anytime," he said, smiling at her. "I'll have the information to you soon. Karrde out."
The screen went blank and Mara disconnected the call, turning to look at Luke. "I guess now we wait again."
He gave her a sideways look. "Really?"
She rolled her eyes. "And I thought you knew me. Come on. Put up your Force disguise and let's go investigate some of the shadier areas of town. From your memory it looked like your guy was a gambler. You never know what we might find in the lower levels."
.
.
Luke watched Mara's braid as she walked in front of him. He stared at the white strands that wove in with the gold and red and thought about how nice it was to see that braid swing in front of him again. He placed his hand to his pocket and felt the bump that was his Mara's braid of hair, resting safely there. He wondered what this Mara would think of him having it, and imagined her rolling her eyes. Even in the situation he was in, he couldn't help but smile at the thought.
They had already checked out three cantinas, going first to the one where Luke had arrested Naelli in his own universe. He wasn't there and no one knew of him. This was beginning to seem like a fruitless search. Naelli had mentioned that he had jumped universes often to amass a fortune, but what if the Naelli that lived here—if he did indeed exist here at all—had nothing to do with this device? Knew nothing of how it worked?
Mara was getting frustrated at the lack of starting places and was now going into cantinas at random, talking with those who were willing to speak with a Jedi. The effort of keeping the Force disguise up was beginning to wear on Luke as well; it wasn't something he was meant to be able to do indefinitely.
"That place was worse than the others," Mara growled, stepping back into the light of the street from the darkened bar. "Anything?"
"Nothing here, either. My only fear is that someone does know him and is tipping him off that he's being looked for. But I haven't felt any deception from anyone so far."
Mara growled again. "Me either." Her comlink buzzed and she brightened, answering it.
"Mara, I have the information you were seeking."
"Good. What can you tell me?" She detoured into an alley and Luke stood watch, listening to the muted conversation behind him.
"This Naelli character is interesting. He once worked for the Empire, out in the Maw Installation. But since then he's changed his name and is now going by Markei Yalmuth. You're in luck, because he lives right there on Coruscant."
Luke let out the breath he had been holding as Mara thanked Karrde and took down the information on Naelli's—now Yalmuth's—location.
"So this guy worked in the Maw? On super-weapons?" Mara asked as she rejoined Luke and they walked back onto the walkway.
"I'm as surprised as you," he said. "I looked up the basic information on Naelli before I went out to arrest him and this was not in his dossier. When the CSF briefed me they mentioned his device, but I didn't know that he might have had a hand in building it. They led me to believe it was a means of teleportation, and I guess it is, from a certain point of view."
Mara made a face at him. "Since when are you a watch-dog of the CSF, anyway?"
"The Chief of State asked me personally to arrest Naelli. It wasn't something that I could exactly turn down."
"The head of the Jedi Order couldn't say no, or assign someone else the task?"
"Not in this case. Not when the Chief of State is Natasi Daala and she has a grudge against all Jedi."
"Daala?" Mara's eyebrows practically rose off her forehead. "What the kriff kind of galaxy do you come from, Skywalker?"
"Cute," he said, stealing her phrase. "But honestly—sometimes I wonder that, too."
"I'm sure. Interesting, though, that Daala would ask a Jedi for help."
"I thought that myself."
"Hm. All right, well, come on, let's head to this address Karrde provided. See what this guy has to say, if he has anything to say at all."
"Just show him your 'bad Jedi' routine and I'm sure he'll come around."
"Bad Jedi?" Mara asked, a smirk forming on her face. "I have no idea what you mean."
"I'm sure you don't," Luke said, but couldn't help another smile. It felt so good to work with Mara again, as partners. In fact, the longer he was here with her, the more he realized that was one of the things he missed most about Mara. Even more than just his wife and lover, he missed the amazing Jedi Master she had become.
.
.
The address was down another several levels, in an area of Coruscant that received no light from the sun, even after the Vong re-shaping. The levels had been dark for some time before the government had been able to set up an artificial sun again, and though most people had left during the evacuation of Coruscant there were still a few individuals down on these levels, many of whom had come back to stay after the war had ended.
The poverty was abject here, trash littering the streets and spice houses on every block. Luke could feel eyes on them from the surrounding buildings and more than that could feel the anger and curiosity the sight of two Jedi brought the dwellers here. But he and Mara kept walking and no one offered them any resistance.
Naelli's home was in a dilapidated storehouse in between two spice houses, but Mara marched right to the door and knocked, calling out Naelli's assumed name. Luke walked around to the side down a narrow alley and noticed a slight movement in the shadows there. He sharpened his gaze and watched as someone, he could feel it was a sentient being, backed up on his hands and knees through the filth on the ground.
"Yalmuth!" he called, jumping over a puddle of sewage.
Naelli jumped up then, not bothering to hide where he was, running toward a hanging fire escape ladder. He jumped on it and started to climb.
"Look, I just want to talk to you," Luke shouted, trying to stop him. "You're not under arrest."
This didn't seem to calm Naelli any, as he kept climbing. Luke rolled his eyes and Force jumped, landing lightly on a landing just above Naelli's head.
"Hey!" Mara yelled out, below them. "Come on down, Yalmuth!"
Naelli looked up at Luke and back down at Mara. "Kriffin' Jedi," he muttered.
Naelli jumped off the end of the ladder and landed at Mara's feet, stumbling on his dismount. Luke jumped from where he was standing and landed, too, then turned to Naelli. "We just want to talk to you. We're not here for any other purpose."
"Unless there's something we should know, starting with why you're using an assumed name," Mara added. She stood standing with a hand on her saber, though it was still attached to her belt.
"Ah, just a misunderstanding," Naelli said, looking around nervously. "Can we talk somewhere else?"
"You're the one who ran. We were trying to talk to you in your home," Luke said. "But come on."
They entered into the old warehouse after Naelli, standing around in the darkened room while he looked out the window at the house next door. "I thought you were one of my neighbors," he said. "They're always in here looking for something to steal and sell."
"Do they knock on your door?" Mara asked pointedly.
"What do you want?" he snapped at her.
"We have some questions for you, about an object with which you might be familiar," Luke cut in, pulling the machine from his pocket. "Is this familiar to you?"
Naelli's eyes widened and Luke could see that it was indeed familiar to him. "Where in the blazing stars did you get that?" he asked, reaching out a hand as if to grab it.
Luke pulled it back. "That's what I want to know from you. What do you know about this machine?"
"Quite a lot. What's it to you?"
"Nothing to me personally, but I wouldn't mind dragging the information out of you," Mara said. Luke tried not to smirk at her 'Bad Jedi' routine.
"Bah. You're a Jedi. What are you going to do? Use your saber to menace me?"
"If you'd like…" Mara's saber snapped on before she had even finished speaking. She pointed it at Naelli's nose, the bright light illuminating the darkened room. "Are you done posturing?"
Naelli looked over the saber to Luke, who stood there casually holding the machine. He rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know all about that machine. It's called IDD—Inter-Dimensional Device. It was something of a scrap project of a scientist named Niargen."
"Niargen," Mara repeated, withdrawing her saber. "That sounds familiar."
"It should," Naelli said. "He was one of the brightest minds of the Empire. I worked with him in the Maw Installation."
"Where they worked on Death Star," Luke said, nodding. "So why was this project scrapped?"
"It wasn't a weapon. At the time all the Empire wanted was bigger and better weapons of mass destruction. That," he said, pointing at the IDD, "was just something that Niargen did on his down time."
"But I would think the Empire would love the idea of branching out into other realities," Luke countered.
"Well, they did, but then when it was discovered that there was a time window associated with it, it was deemed too unstable. Also, it was stolen before it could be used to the Empire's advantage."
"Stolen?" Mara and Luke asked at the same time.
"Yeah, stolen. A guy named Marse Naelli stole it from me."
"But you are Marse Naelli," Luke said.
"And so was he. I was using it on a test run, and decided to look myself up. Get a kick of seeing how he lived, what he did. Right before my twenty-four hours were up the bastard grabbed me and rode my coattails back here and then promptly knocked me out and took it. I haven't seen it since."
"So it was never his device to start with," Luke said, looking down at the IDD.
"Luke," Mara said urgently. He looked up in surprise at her use of his name in front of Naelli.
"What?" he asked, wondering what could be so important that she would risk using his real name.
"Did you hear what he said? 'Before his twenty four hours were up…'"
A horrible, gnawing feeling started in his stomach as he swung back to look at Naelli. "What do you mean about the twenty-four hour period? You said, 'before' it was up?"
Naelli looked confused, his brow furrowed. "Well, yeah. Didn't he tell you how it works? Once you jump dimensions you only have twenty-four hours to leave. If you don't leave in that time-frame, well, I'm afraid you're stuck in that galaxy forever."
"Forever?" Luke repeated, trying to keep the shock from his voice. He felt as if his stomach had dropped completely from his body. "Is it usable at all after the twenty four hours? I mean, could you use it to jump to another universe, but not the one you came from?"
"No, it's essentially dead after the time has run-out. Niargen couldn't seem to find a way to fix that flaw. That's why the Empire deemed it too unreliable."
"Where is this Niargen now?" Mara cut in. She was still all business, but Luke could see the tight grip she had on the handle of her lightsaber, the tension in her fingers belying her calm. "Is he still alive?"
"We don't exactly have Maw Installation Project Team reunions," Naelli answered rudely. "But I think I heard something about him being in a mental institution on Crseih Station."
"Thanks for the tip. Now, one thing I'm confused about—the Empire deemed this unreliable, yet you still had it stolen from you? Were there more than one IDD?"
Hope sprang in Luke's mind at Mara's question. Maybe there was a way back, after all.
"There was a second, but it was destroyed. All that was left was that one," he pointed to the IDD in Luke's hand.
"What happened to the first? Could it be pieced back together or something?"
"No, I'm afraid it's long gone. It was on the Death Star, you see."
.
.
They left Naelli's house and headed back to the Temple, both lost in their own thoughts. Luke's stomach was in a constant knot, the reality of his situation setting in. He could never leave. Never go home to Ben. He would never see Leia, Han, Jaina or Allana again. And they would never know what happened to him. He left no note. There would be no evidence that anything had happened to him. He wondered if they had noticed yet. Ben was probably still on Adumar, but the Jedi would have noticed his absence by now. He no longer lived in his suite at the Temple but was there every day, teaching classes and interacting with other Masters.
But then again, he had withdrawn so much since Mara's death, finding pain in being with others instead of comfort. He knew that he wasn't the only one who had lost her, but the pain was still so fresh for him. Everyone else seemed to go on so easily, hugging their significant others to them and thanking the Force it hadn't been their wife, or husband. It wasn't fair of him to feel that way, he knew. He was not the only one to lose someone. Leia had lost both of her sons. Chewbacca had died at the beginning of the Vong war and it still seemed unreal that he was gone and not a constant presence at Han's side. So many of his students and fellow Masters had gone into the Force as well, but Mara…the loss of her had made even the simple act of breathing a hard one to accomplish.
Mara ushered him back into her suite through a secret escape hall that had been built. He wasn't sure how much longer she would be able to hide him from the other Jedi, and dampening his sense in the Force was becoming harder as the emotional hits kept coming. Mara was a whole other consideration. He knew she was finding it hard to live and work with him, comparing him to her husband and most likely finding him lacking. He wanted to be the man she had known, but as always she was behind the walls she had built to protect herself. Since that single kiss, when he had thought he was going to leave, she had retreated behind them again, and the emotional rollercoaster they were on didn't seem to be helping things in that regard.
"I'm going to see what Karrde can find on Niargen," she said as they exited the passage and entered the hall of the suite. She walked away, and he watched her go, too tired to go after her, and knowing that she needed the time away from him to process things.
He entered the guest room and sat in the chair that was swiftly becoming his 'go-to' spot, looking out over the traffic as it zoomed by again. He swallowed hard as tears pricked at his eyes, thinking of what a mess he had made by his own selfish desires. But as quickly as the despair fell over him, he pushed it back, realizing it did him no good. It was what got him into this situation, and he wouldn't succumb to it again. The Force had led him here for a reason, and there had to be a way home.
And no matter what, there was still Mara. Always Mara. She had been his home, his touchstone in the galaxy, and it seemed so strange to now be working so hard to leave her behind.