Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, either canon or Legends material. It all belongs to Disney and Lucasfilms, not me.
Mara Jade-Skywalker worryingly twirled a finger around her long fiery hair. A lot of things had surprised her since she first met her then husband-to-be: insane Jedi clones, ancient Sith spirits, rogue Imperial warlords… and the Vong from over five years ago. Each of them was stranger than the last, and the less said about the Vong, the better.
This, or rather she, was something else.
"I don't like it," Mara told the newly-formed Jedi Council. "This girl is hiding something."
"You don't need to tell us," answered Master Kyle Katarn, his hologram flickering every now and then. "We all know she is. The question is what she's hiding."
A few more nods came from the council's holograms, all projecting from the Ossus Academy. Mara frowned from the comfort of her ship and turned to her head to another. Everyone heard the tale from Jaina: another universe where the Jedi were dead, the Empire was on the rise again with, and the New Republic was destroyed, leaving only a bunch of rebels to stop them. It was basic information with the tiny details missing, and Mara learned it was the tiny details that mattered the most.
"Corran, can you get anything on her?" she asked.
Former Rebel pilot and current Green Jedi of the council, Corran Horn shook his head. "Afraid not," he said. "I can get bits and pieces, but not enough to find anymore than what she's told us."
"We all share the same concerns," the Mon Calamari Cilghal said, blinking her bulbous eyes. "However, we can't press her for more information. We can only let her tell us in time."
"Maybe," Mara murmured, unfurling her hair, "but there's something important she's not telling from us. I wouldn't be asking this in a normal situation."
"I don't think this is normal for anyone, including our visitor," Corran interjected.
"For once, I agree with Corran," Kyp Durron, the youngest of the masters, said. He blinked a pair of eyes as dark as his Jedi cloak. "I can't believe I said that."
A new voice, one Mara recognized, joined in with a chuckle. "Well, these are strange times," said her husband as he joined in the council session.
Rey, the subject of the discussion, entered alongside Luke. Her eyes darted around, looking at the other masters. Luke whispered something to her, some words of encouragement maybe, before he took his seat among the council.
Mara wasted no time. She quickly inspected Rey's holographic outline, taking note of how tense Rey's body language was despite the occasional flicker of her blue image. She was obviously overcompensating for her nerves. "Ah, the girl we've heard so much about. I'm Mara Jade Skywalker. How are you, Rey?" Mara said, doing her best to come off as friendly.
"Good I think, all things considered," Rey replied. "I appreciate the hospitality."
"Of course," Mara said. "As Jedi, it is our duty to assist all who are in need."
Rey sighed a bit and allowed her shoulders to relax. "Thank you for being so understanding. Your son said you probably wouldn't like me, so I thought you would-" Rey immediately tensed up at the realization of what she was saying.
"What?" Mara snorted, clearly changing her demeanor to that of annoyance. "You thought I would what?"
"I.. uhh…" Rey averted eye contact and rubbed her own arm nervously.
"Maybe you should just tell us what you know instead, hmm?" Mara said, her teeth slightly gritted. A few chuckles could be heard among some of the council members, which Mara decided to pay no mind to.
She eyed Rey's expression carefully. Her mouth was open, even before she spoke. "I… yes..."
"Don't worry, Rey," Luke told the girl. "Take your time to answer."
Rey nodded to Luke. The center of attention, she cleared her throat and began. "I… I was told you were skeptical about my situation. To be honest, I can hardly believe it myself. A whole other galaxy that I was told was like mine in the past yet is so… different. I'll admit it's a little nerve-wracking." Rey chuckled awkwardly. She no doubt hoped the masters around her didn't think she was too weird, despite current events.
"It is, and we can understand," Mara nodded, trying to be as gentle as she could, "... However, while we now know it is possible to travel from one galaxy, or rather, universe to another, we are certain that the Force must be responsible. Do you have any ideas on how such a feat was accomplished?"
Rey shook her head. "I'm sorry, I honestly have no idea. The Force, the Jedi, most people back home think it's all just myth. I've only just started learning about myself a few days ago."
"Only a few days ago?" Mara raised an eyebrow. "The presence I, and all of the other Jedi that have encountered you, don't sense the Force signature of a mere novice. Have you trained at all in the past or experimented with your powers, even as a child?"
Rey could only shake her head again. "Never."
"Then how long did you train with…" Mara took a quick glance at her husband, who's face straightened as he realized what she was about to mention. "...how long did you train with your Luke Skywalker?"
"For about… three lessons?"
"Three lessons? And what were you able to accomplish as a result of these lessons?"
"I-" Rey began, but quickly halted herself when she realized she couldn't give a clear answer. Her head lowered with her voice. "... I don't know…"
Mara gave another glance at Luke, who, while keeping his composure, wore a noticeable expression that blended what looked like sadness, pity, and perhaps a sense of disappointment. Mara decided to continue.
"What about what you've been able to accomplish without the 'training' you received?"
This time, there was a confident answer. "Right before finding myself here, I defeated several of Supreme Leader Snoke's bodyguards in combat."
"The Supreme Leader's bodyguards? Were they clad in red armor?"
"Yes," Rey replied, "and they carried weapons that could fight against a lightsaber."
Mara's thoughts were correct. To her knowledge, this "Snoke" took the role of emperor in all aspects aside from the title itself. That meant his guards would likely take after the Emperor's own, and Mara knew how deadly those warriors were. No novice girl could hold their own against a group of fighters like that. "And you have no combat training to speak of?"
"I fought off thugs with a staff a lot back on Jakku."
There a was a snort from Kyle right after Rey had said that. Mara herself would have been impressed if the implications of such swift progress weren't worrisome. "A staff to a lightsaber and desert thugs to royal guards within days?" she inquired.
"I mean…" Rey paused. "...yes?"
"Tell us, how did you become so capable so quickly?" Mara said, this time more aggressively than before.
"Well, I've always been self-sufficient when I lived on Jakku-"
"I'm afraid that answer isn't going to cut it. What happened that made you achieve a power in the Force in days that many train years to accomplish?"
Rey was quiet once again. Mara glanced over to Corran peering at the girl and silently asked what he could find. Knowing his fellow Jedi enough, Corran shook his hand a little in both knowledge and confusion. It might have simply been stress, but Rey seemed like she honestly couldn't think of any answers. Perhaps, nothing had happened to her, and she just did things. However…
"Well… maybe ever since that mind bond…"
Mara sat up straight. "Mind bond?" She repeated. "You didn't say that before."
Rey winced upon realizing what she had just let out. "I…" she began before returning to her shy and awkward ways. No one else dared to speak up, and Mara would have continued her questioning if not for her husband.
"Rey," Luke spoke after breaking his prolonged silence. His voice was calm and warm. "We only mean to help you. We cannot do that if can't tell us everything."
A brief moment, anger flickered across Rey's eyes. "It doesn't seem like, not with these questions."
Mara frowned. "I'm sorry, but I'm like this because of what you told us."
That anger dissipated as Rey asked, "What do you mean?"
"Should you tell her, or should we?" Kyle told the grandmaster.
Luke sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Rey, the problem isn't your power. It's how you mastered it so quickly," he explained. "We've seen it happen many times before, and there was only one way of accomplishing that…"
"The Dark Side," Kyp said the words in a sad and deep tone, not needing to remind everyone of his own experience with it.
Rey's eyes widened at the accusation. "But… but I haven't fallen!"
"No, it doesn't look like it," Mara conceded, only a little though. "But there's an issue with this bond."
Kyp continued from thereon. "This Kylo Ren you've told us is still out there, and he could be benefiting from the bond as much as you might be, if not more. And that makes him dangerous, if he could do the things you can do. The only way we can stop from hurting anymore people is if we know more about him."
"Rey, please. We need an answer," Mara pleaded, breaking her hardened mask.
Rey, having cornered herself, glanced down for a second. Then, she took a deep breath and began to explain everything. Well, it was everything the council had heard before. She told them of Kylo Ren. Rey told them everything she knew that he did, from Ren's slaughter of his fledgling Jedi and apparent obsession with Darth Vader to how he captured and interrogated her. Her voice stuttered slightly when she mentioned how Ren injured her friend, the Stormtrooper deserter. Even when Mara heard how the First Order's dark side adept had been bested, it was clear for all to see Luke's expression of shame grow alongside Rey's own frustration.
After the long winded story, a silence hung in the air. Luke sat with his hand to his mouth, likely contemplating where his alternate universe self had "gone wrong," if that was even the question to ask. After some time, one of the masters broke the quiet. "So why do you believe he can be saved?" Cilghal inquired.
"I…" Rey began, then she hesitated.
Mara glanced at Corran, who opened with a question of his own. "Did you see good in him?"
"...yes," Rey replied meekly. "Even after everything I've seen, I saw good in him… I can't say for sure why I did, but… I thought if he returned then… then…"
"You would have saved him," Luke finished quietly.
With a soft sigh, Mara gave Rey the benefit of the doubt. For all the seeming leaps in logic, she couldn't blame the girl. "Then, we'll find him," Mara assured Rey. "We'll bring him back and send you both home."
Rey momentarily met Mara's gaze with a soft and grateful stare. "Thank you…"
The wife of Luke Skywalker and fellow master of her right nodded before she cut the connection. The council, her husband, and Rey were all gone from her ship, leaving her all alone. As much as she would have loved to ponder about, she had more pressing matter to attend to.
Not to waste anymore time, Mara rose from her seat. She was about to call Jacen waiting outside the ship, reaching a hand to the comm system.
"You will kill Luke Skywalker!"
Mara's finger froze a centimeter from the console. She had not heard that in twenty five years. Not since Grand Admiral Thrawn, the greatest threat to the galaxy at the time. Then, she had been a lost woman with a single command from a dead emperor, and that command died with a false face. Mara did not know, nor want to know, why she was hearing it again.
"The sooner we find this guy, the better," Mara murmured, her hand unconsciously touching the whole and undamaged Skywalker saber-her saber-dangling from her hip.
AN: Well, that's the scene. This was a little scene I wrote for a Star Wars fanfiction, in which Rey and Kylo Ren (following the shattering of the Skywalker saber in TLJ) find themselves in the SW Legends universe, specifically in the years after the infamous Vong War. Hopefully, I can get to writing the rest of the story soon.
I would like to thank SubtleSaber for his help. He not only look over this little excerpt, but he helped to write a hugely important portion of the scene (figuratively and literally), a portion that I had been stuck on for weeks. I really couldn't do it without him. I highly recommend to check out his RWBY/Star Wars crossover, RWBBY: Remnants of a Heritage (it may be put on hold and will be replaced a reboot, but I think it still deserves to be looked at).
That's it for now. Take care.
Raika out.