Chapter Eight: Revelations
Mara frantically tried to stop the recording. She had seen Dooku a few times, mostly in history lessons at the Temple. He may had been a Jedi but Mara could distinctly feel the Dark Side radiating in the room, despite the holo and Dooku being dead for about twenty years.
Mara finally acknowledged that the strange sense of the Force she had felt since landing on Serenno was shades of the Dark Side.
"My child," the holo repeated. "Welcome to the Palace of Dooku and your rightful home. I am sorry that I could not acknowledge you before."
The tone of Dooku's voice changed and Mara could detect a wisp of regret.
"Dooku had a child?" she whispered to the eerily empty room.
Her eyes flung back to the datapad which was still transferring the files.
"This room, as well as this Palace now belongs to you. It is my only regret that perhaps I will not be around to see you grow."
Mara finally noticed that Dooku looked slightly younger in the holo.
"In these terminals, which you have freedom to access, are several documents. They contain records of your birth, holo footage and everything you will need to assume your place as a Countess of Serenno."
Anakin's voice sounded in her head. Mara, where are you? Negotiations are on break.
Mara pushed aside her Master's request and focused her attention on Dooku's image.
"In the terminals is additional information that I will have added after making this recording. This will include information that I have accessed directly from Darth Sidious. In your time, you probably know him as Palpatine."
If Mara hadn't been paying complete attention before, she was certainly at full attention now.
"There is hardware encased in the protocol droid's inner casing. This is a holocron and all the information from the Sith archives, as well as some information from the Jedi archives should be placed here."
The beeping finally stopped indicating that Mara's datapad had finished the transfer.
Through her shields, Anakin's voice boomed again, more insistent.
Mara, where are you? Are you in trouble?
Once again, Mara ignored the calls of her Master.
She snatched the datapad away from the terminal, both excited and terrified to read the secrets it now held. The Jedi Council would be thrilled to sort through the information.
"I can see that your transfer is done. Make sure you hold your hand up to the scanner on the way out, young one. I am expecting to see you again soon."
Mara stood and was momentarily paralysed with the sheer volume of information she had just received. She had managed, by pure luck, to gain access to the most hidden chamber in the palace of Count Dooku. His secrets should have been buried with him years ago, when Anakin had sliced off his arms and cut off his head.
Yet here she stood, in a chamber that hummed with the Dark Side and could still think coherently.
I'm coming for you.
Just when Anakin's voice pierced through her shields again, a blue haze filled her eyes and within seconds, she felt herself slump to the ground.
"It can't be," a voice whispered.
She raised her head and realised she was still in the underground chamber. The holo was turned off and Dooku's image no longer filled the chamber. Mara flipped her braid and stood, finding it difficult to focus.
"It's not true, Mama," the voice spoke again, more panicked and insistent.
"My child, it is true. How else do you explain our gaining entry into this place?"
Mara's eyes finally adjusted and the sight of two beautiful red-headed women came into focus. One was older but not too many wrinkles had marred her face. Her hair was a dark red and she wore the clothes of a servant of the Palace.
Beside her stood a girl, probably not much younger than Mara herself. Mara was unable to see her face, but her hair was nearly the exact same shade a Mara's.
"Hello?" Mara called out to them, but they simply ignored her. Entranced by the women, she moved closer.
"You were with him?" she asked sadly. "A Jedi?"
The older woman placed a delicate hand on what was obviously her daughter's arm. "Please do not judge me, Marra-lee," she said in a tender voice. "He gave me the gift of you. I made a promise to him that I would bring you here, one day."
The two women locked eyes, and Mara hoped that they couldn't see her as she inched closer.
"He is evil, Mama," the girl whispered. "I am not like him."
"You do have the gift, my child. He promised me. He saw. And if I am to help you, I have to bring you here. He is your father. It is in your blood."
Mara could feel the confusion and anger radiating from the girl and she was positive that the girl was indeed strong with the Force.
A sweeping realisation overcame Mara as she realised that she was watching the daughter of Dooku.
"We should not be here."
The young girl turned to leave but her mother caught grip of her tunic. "If you have this gift, perhaps you can leave this place. The Jedi—."
"The Jedi will not take me!" she lashed out. "And you Mama, you would think that I would leave you here to rot? Leave you here to work in this Palace, alone? That is something I cannot do."
The older woman smiled sadly. "I loved him, child. It will count, I am sure of it."
"He is a Sith. The whole galaxy might not know it, but I do. It is better for everyone if we just leave this place. Light or Dark, I do not care. I will not do this."
The woman finally spun around and came face to face with Mara.
Mara gasped as she saw features nearly identical to hers worn on this stranger's face.
"Marali-Ketana, wait..."
The blue haze became thicker and Mara felt herself fall again.
o0o
The sound of a lightsaber scraping metal in the distance assaulted Mara's ears.
I'm coming.
Mara took a few seconds to clear her head and process the vision the Force had just shown her. She stared down at her hand, where the blood she had drawn had dried on her hand.
She thought back to the panel on the door and how it had mysteriously opened without the override. She thought to the vision she had just encountered and the way Dooku's daughter's face mirrored her own. The colour of her hair, the shape of her nose, the way she walked—it was nearly identical.
She eyed the scanner that was against the wall, waiting to let her out.
Welcome, my child.
Dark things breed there.
Let us hope that old ghosts don't linger.
A feeling of sheer panic and dread cloaked Mara like a shroud. She hurriedly grabbed her datapad and eyed the protocol droid that still sat lifeless on the other side of the room.
"It can't be," Mara repeated. "It's not possible."
A muffled voice from the top of the stairs sounded. "Mara?"
All of Mara's Jedi training escaped her at that moment as she succumbed to her emotions.
Fear.
Anger.
Confusion.
Confusion.
Pain.
Suffering.
With shaky hands, Mara tore into her wound, letting fresh blood trickle off her hand onto the lightsaber-littered floor.
She held her hand up and the scanner beeped, the same code appearing.
Her override code hadn't been needed. Her blood had triggered it. If her blood had triggered it, the weight of the world was now definitely on her shoulders.
Mara thought of her Master, who was slicing through durasteel, trying to come to her rescue.
She then thought of Anakin, of her father and of the Council, who had, for eighteen years, omitted the cruellest and most devastating news from her.
Numbly, she programmed the door to open from her datapad as the weight of her emotions pushed down on her, forcing her to slump to the floor.
With as much strength in the Force as she could muster, she reached out, across the vast reached of space, to the beacon of light she could always find.
Daddy, why didn't you tell me?
The sound of Anakin's heavy footsteps echoed off the walls. He was only seconds away.
But before he got here, Mara had to know for certain. She ignored the certainty she felt in her very soul and searched for the name she knew in her now loaded datapad.
Marali-Ketana Jade.
She wiped a sample of her blood onto the in-built scanner and held her breath as the program whirled to life.
Anakin's presence filled the room just as the confirmation screen appeared on her datapad.
The air left Mara's lungs and the Force itself entered her body, absorbing her every emotion.
The woman in the vision, Dooku's daughter, was her mother.
Anakin's concerned eyes met her own, as he hastily commed for assistance.
He grabbed the datapad from her hands, and Mara noticed him assess the room as well as her now deteriorating condition.
"Stay with me, Kenobi," he urged.
Mara looked at him at that moment.
Lies.
Anger filled her heart. "Don't you mean Jade?"