And we have what is my single favorite chapter posted! Yes, this is the longest chapter, the one that will make you punch a character, and laugh at the Rogues. It's got everything in my opinion.

But I digress.

DISCLAIMER: Still don't own Star Wars. Outlook is grim as to whether I'll ever own it. So, George, it's still yours.

Chapter Six

"You need to relax."

"How am I supposed to relax? It's like ten degrees in here!"

"I don't know, think of something soothing."

"Well, what do you think of?"

"Flying. Not focus on something you like to do. Something you enjoy."

"Ahh, punching Janson."

"Something with less aggression."

"Krith."

"C'mon, just relax and feel the Force moving about. Through you."

"Fine, fine," Mara conceded, and inhaled deeply to relax herself. After a few moments, she felt the familiar tingle through her veins and grinned.

"You feel it?"

"Yeah, man does it feel good after so long."

"See, you still have it, you just need to re-figure out how to use it," Luke said, and Mara opened her eyes and grinned. They were sitting cross-legged on the mat in the middle of the workout room of Echo Base facing each other. The base was silent, only the night-watch was awake, and the blast doors had been closed almost four hours ago.

"Yeah, but it's like I'm a youngling again," she said, then winced. "I keep expecting to get beaten for not performing my best."

"They beat you?" Luke asked, horrified. How could someone ever hit a child, let alone Mara?

"Yeah," she nodded. "Teaches you responsibility. If you fail in the real galaxy, you die."

"But, how could they in good conscience beat you?" he shook his head.

"They were fallen Jedi, Luke," she told him. "They'd lost themselves. Maybe not as much as Vader..." she trailed off. Luke looked up into her eyes and nodded.

"What happened to them?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"Once they outlived their usefulness and trained all the Hands Palpatine needed," she paused, looking away. "He killed them."

Luke reached out and put his finger under her chin, pulling her face back to look at him. "Would he have done that to you too? Eventually?"

"Eventually, maybe," she shrugged. "But I was the top Hand. I was the one he was the closest to. I never failed."

"You didn't fail by coming here," Luke told her, seeming to sense what she needed to hear. Mara nodded and grinned slightly.

"Okay, enough of this. When can I start trying to float stuff again?" she asked, and Luke chuckled.

"How about tomorrow, since we both need to sleep," he told her.

"Alright, Farmboy," she nodded and they got up.

After a week of Luke retraining her, it became an unspoken agreement that he would walk her to quarters every night. He bid her goodnight, and the two parted again until morning.

Luke entered his sparse quarters and flopped down on his bed. He was still amazed at the cruelty that was the sith and the Dark Jedi. A part of him knew he shouldn't be surprised, but at the same time, he was. How could anyone look at Mara and be able to abuse her? He could never harm her beautiful face.

Luke's breathing stilled as he tossed his last thought over in his head. It was no lie that he and half the base thought Mara was beautiful. But should he even be allowing himself to be having these thoughts about her? He was her commanding officer. He couldn't in good conscience be bother her commander and her... what? Lover?

A part of him knew without a doubt that if he were ever to become that close to Mara he'd be much, much more than just her lover.

Luke groaned and rubbed his palms into his eyes. He needed to stop. He couldn't let these thoughts take him over. He needed to just sever any non-friendship related feelings for Mara now.

"This is going to be hard," he mumbled.

Two weeks later, Mara was able to touch the Force a lot more regularly. She was incredibly powerful, which was no surprise to Luke, even without knowing her history. They'd moved from simple levitation tests to now full on sparring with Lightsabers. Mara used her red one, even if she didn't like it at all. She had informed Luke that she already planned to construct a new one, but lacked the crystals to do so.

One night, the two engaged in serious sparring, focusing only on the fight. Mara was pushing herself hard, and consequently was having trouble using the Force to guide her motions. She'd been so used to calling upon the Force by commanding it, that grasping it lightly and allowing it to do some of her work for her was hard for her to do every time.

"C'mon, Mara, just allow the Force to flow through you," Luke said breathlessly. His strokes and parries were fluent and smooth, whereas Mara's were still the aggressive fighting style enabled by the sith.

"I'm trying, Farmboy," she gritted through her teeth.

"Don't try, just do," he said. She gritted her teeth, but relaxed her hold on the Force some. It immediately filled her limbs with the power, and she was able to block Luke's strikes more effectively. Luke was pushed back as she went on the offensive, and he ducked a few slashes aimed at his head. Their sabers locked, and Luke pushed back with a Force enhanced push. Mara stumbled back and Luke took the offensive now. She parried every slash made at her, until she finally ducked down and kicked Luke's legs out from under him. She stood over him and held his lightsaber to his throat before deactivating it, and holding her hand out.

Luke grinned and took her hand, allowing her to help pull him up.

"What's going on here?" a sharp voice came from the doorway, and Mara and Luke snapped their heads towards it. There stood Leia, arms crossed, looking angrier than a Gundark in a confined space.

"Oh, sith," Luke hissed under his breath.

"Yeah, oh sith is right, Luke," Leia said, anger coating her voice. She walked in and threw her hand out to gesture at Mara. "What are you doing?"

"Um, teaching Mara the ways of the Force?" he tried, and Leia's expression only became angrier.

"Forgive me if I'm wrong, Future Jedi, but is her lightsaber not the color of Darth Vader's?" she asked. "I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure that makes her our enemy."

"Leia, I can explain," Mara started before Leia gave her an angry glare.

"You lied, Mara. I don't know whether or not you are a threat to the Alliance," Leia told her.

"Leia, she's on our side," Luke pleaded.

"How do you know she's not fooling you, Luke? She lied to us!"

"She didn't lie to me," he said. "You need to calm down. She's with us now."

"Luke, I'm sorry, but she needs to be interrogated," Leia said, a touch of sympathy in her voice for the Tatooine native.

"Leia-" Luke began before getting cut off.

"I'll do it," Mara said, and Luke's head whipped to hers in disbelief. She looked at Luke to explain. "I'll go through rounds of explaining everything to garner the trust of the Alliance. I'm not a spy."

"I'm sorry," Leia began, and Luke thought she was apologizing for the outbreak before she grabbed Mara's forearm. "I have to put you in holding tonight before we begin the interrogation, just in case you try something."

"Leia, no!" Luke called, panicked.

"I'm sorry, Luke," Leia said, and led Mara out of the training room with no resistance. Mara glanced over her shoulder at Luke and smiled sadly before she rounded the corner out of the room.

Luke stared at the doorway for a long moment before he heard a strangled cry escape his lips. He brushed a hand to his eye and realized he was crying. He was crying for Mara.

He fell down to his knees, and let himself cry, because what he'd just witnessed was almost an outright betrayal by his best friend.

"Mara, we're sorry to have to do this," General Rieekand said, sitting in front of Mara at the interrogation table. "But this is Alliance Protocol, and it does appear you have forged your Imperial Records.

"I understand, General," she nodded. She glanced at the mirrored window as she felt Luke's presence enter the other room.

"Okay, Ms. Jade, please state your position in the Empire, prior to joining the Alliance to Restore the Republic."

"I was a Hand to the Emperor," she stated, ignoring the shocked waves of emotion coming from the general in front of her and in the room behind the window.

"And as a Hand to the Emperor, what did you do?"

"I was an assassin, or I gathered intelligence for the Emperor himself," she explained. "There was a bond that linked us via the Force that I could receive orders from anywhere in the Galaxy."

"So by this bond, you could have revealed the location to Echo Base?" Rieekand asked, a somewhat worried tone to his voice.

"I could have, yes, but did I? No," she stated. "Commander Skywalker can attest as well as the Med Droid that almost three weeks ago I entered the Med Bay due to an extreme headache that almost impaired my abilities. This was the severing of the bond by the Emperor himself, after receiving a pre-recorded holo-message stating I defected."

"Those claims will be checked out to hold up your story," Rieekand said, a small grin on his lips. "Now, please explain the reason you chose to defect from the Empire, for the record."

"I had been growing weary of the Emperor's more rash orders and little thought to my needs such as sleep and rest between missions. I was punished for any slip up or something as small as a request for leave time. Then, as I'm sure you and the Alliance is well aware, there was the destruction of Alderaan. That sent me extremely close to the edge of defection then," she said, pausing to gain her bearings. "After that, I was sent on Jedi hunts, but I found none being that they are all but extinct. I was punished for that, and sent on a mission to discover the whereabouts of the Rebel Alliance. I used any intel I gained during that mission to defect myself, and turned nothing into the Empire. That brings us up to date I believe."

"I'm sorry, Ms. Jade," the General said sadly. "But, for the record, I'm going to have to ask you about the 'punishments'."

Mara paled, and looked to the mirrored window towards Luke's presence. She hoped she was staring right at where she thought he would be before turning back to the General.

"Force lightning."

General Rieekand swallowed heavily and nodded. "Thank you for your cooperation." He stood up and walked out of the interrogation room, leaving her alone once more. She felt the Force surrounding the room next to her and felt those that had watched the interrogation leave, save Luke. Once everyone had left, she looked at Luke and nodded, a small smile on her face. But her eyes betrayed her, as they watered with unshed tears.

Luke watched her through the glass, smiling slightly at him before she put her head on her arms on the table. Several minutes passed where he simply watched her, awaiting an answer from the high-ups. The door slid open and he broke his watch of Mara to look at the person who stepped in.

Leia smiled meekly before Luke's expression hardened and looked back to Mara.

"Luke, I'm so sorry to have to do this," she told him, walking up next to him.

"She's innocent, Leia," he said. "You have to believe her. Believe me."

"I know, Luke," she said. Luke looked at her again.

"Do you?" he asked. "Do you know just how innocent she is? How she was taken from her mother to be raised in evil? How even after everything, she's still a good person?"

"Luke, I know how it feels to be taken from my mother and not remember her," Leia started, her own eyes watering.

"So do I, Leia. And we both know how it feels to have the only family we've ever known to die at the hands of the Empire," he said. "So we of all people should know how she feels to an extent. I thought the Alliance helped those that the Empire hurt?"

"It does, but she lied about her file, Luke," she said. "Surely you see how suspicious that is?"

"I do, but I also know that she didn't deserve to spend a night in an Alliance Prison Cell."

"Maybe not, but she's being cleared as we speak. Rieekand doesn't think she's a spy, and neither do I. She'll be cleared."

"I hope that's true, Leia," Luke said calmly before turning his attention back to Mara. Rieekand entered the room, and smiled.

"I'm sorry for holding you Ms. Jade. I as well as the others in Command have found you innocent of any accusations," he told her. She smiled and nodded.

"Thank you, General. I assure you that I am innocent," she said, and stood to exit the room. Luke saw her get up and started bounding to the door, exiting the room just as she exited her room. He pulled her into a tight hug and she returned it.

"Thank gods you've been cleared," he said into her hair.

"I know," she said, nodding against his chest. He pulled back and broke the hug, a huge grin on his face.

"C'mon, let's go get something to eat. It's almost dinner and the Rogues are worried about you," he said, and the two walked past Leia, who truly did look sorry, and towards the mess hall.

Leia was left alone in the hallway with General Rieekand, who walked up beside her.

"There something going on between them?" he asked casually. Leia looked up at him and grinned.

"I think there might be, but they probably haven't acted on it."

"Reminds me of someone else I know," Rieekand smiled and looked down at Leia. She blushed and looked away.

"I don't know what you're talking about, General," she said evenly.

"Of course you don't, Lelila," Rieekand smiled, using Leia's old nickname. He brushed the side of her head and headed down the hallway, leaving Leia alone once more.

"So you really worked for the Emperor?" Dak asked, excitedly.

"Yeah," she nodded, giving a slight smile.

"Wow, that guys scares the living Force out of me!" he said, much too excitedly.

"Calm down, Dak!" Wes laughed, nudging the boy in the shoulder.

Luke shook his head at the Squad antics. They were all eating together, happy to have Mara back amongst them, cleared of any suspicion.

"So you can use the Force like Lukie here?" Wedge asked, shoveling a bite of the Bantha Stew in his mouth.

"Um, yeah," she smiled. "I can."

"What are the odds, Luke?" Wedge laughed. "Maybe there will be more than one Jedi in the end!"

Luke nodded and smiled, before glancing at Mara seated next to him. She smiled back at him before turning back to the table.

"So did they treat you alright last night, Jade?" Hobbie asked, genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, probably better than they would a regular Imp," she shrugged. "They gave me an extra blanket seeing as how there was no heater in the cell."

"Yikes," Wes said, eyes wide. "Still have your toes?"

"Yeah," Mara laughed. "All of them are still intact."

"Good," Wedge said. "Need those things to balance and they don't make prosthetic toes."

Luke laughed at the absurdity of the conversation. "Are we honestly having a discussion about Mara's toes?"

"Looks like it, Commander," Dak laughed.

"Hey, as long as you guys are not focusing on other parts of me, I'm fine," Mara laughed.

"But Mara, your nose is so lovely!" Wes teased and Mara reached out and threw a punch to his shoulder from across the table. Wes dodged and laughed.

"You're an idiot, Janson," Wedge shook his head.

"C'mon, what else can I make a joke out of that won't offend her?" Wes asked.

"I dunno," Hobbie said slowly. "She's pretty perfect if you ask me."

"I'm not perfect," Mara rolled her eyes.

"Well, who do we have in this base to look at? There is a one to three ratio of women to men, and the hottest girls already have formidable men pining after them!" he argued.

"Who? Leia and Han?" she asked, confused.

"Amongst others!" he said said, exasperated. "You're one of the most beautiful women on base and we can't even touch you because of the Man Code."

"What are you even talking about, Klivian?" Luke asked, thoroughly confused.

The Rogues of the table exchanges an uneasy look before Wedge spoke up.

"You know, the Man Code," he started. "You don't go after someone else's potential girl if it looks like he has a chance."

"How come I don't know about this?" Luke asked. Dak snickered and shook his head, before getting up from the table to turn in his bowl and utensils.

"See ya later, Commander," Dak laughed and walked off.

"Yeah, I gotta go too," Wes mumbled, grinning ear to ear, and took off after Dak, leaving only Mara, Luke, Wedge and Hobbie.

"Maybe you missed the memo," Hobbie shrugged in regards to the earlier conversation.

"I hang out with you guys everyday, how did you avoid talking about it with me?" Luke asked.

"Dunno," Wedge shrugged, taking his last bite of Stew.

"I'm confused, I'll see you boys later," Mara said and got up. She walked off and Luke turned back to Wedge and Hobbie.

"Is everyone leaving because I'm missing something?" Luke asked, suddenly feeling slightly offended.

"Nah, but now we can tell you why you don't know," Hobbie waved dismissively.

"We're invoking the Man Code against you and Mara," Wedge said simply.

"What? We're just friends," Luke insisited.

"For now," Hobbie grinned.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Luke, it just means that we see that you like her, and she'd be a fool not to like you back," Wedge said.

"I don't know what you guys are talking about," Luke said, standing up to leave. "You guys need to stop trying to breathe in space or something. I'll see you later."

Luke walked off and Hobbie and Wedge shook their heads at their commander.

"Denial," Hobbie sang, stretching out the word.

"Complete denial," Wedge agreed.

I love Hobbie and Wedge. Hands down.

So, this is my favorite chapter, but the next few I hate and were really a pain to write.

This officially concludes the Prelude, and now we are starting the Empire Strikes Back Arc. And I don't like most of it until Dagobah. Except the Med Bay scene. That's always been my favorite.

Next few chapters are going to be short, about 5 pages each, whereas I've been knocking out 6 or 7 per chapter. This one was 8. But, these are necessary evils, and Mara plays a smaller part in upcoming chapters, save the Battle of Hoth.

Now I'm giving too much away! XP

NEXT CHAPTER: A creature attacks Luke on his patrol around the base, and Han and Mara go out in search for him.

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