The Ship 1
by Ash Darklighter

Usual disclaimers apply. The world belongs to Lucas and I’m only playing with his creations. Many thanks to the girls for usual checking of plot and grammar.

Timeline – about 8-10 years after Heir to the Empire.

Mara Jade stared at the familiar ship in the docking bay - an X-wing on Zathoq? Of all the out of the way places to find one of those. Her lip curled cynically as she pulled the ugly hat over her bright, red-gold hair. The cap might have been green once, or even brown, but had abandoned all pretence of colour or shape. The nearest thing it resembled was an overturned bucket with a limp brim. She pushed a couple of pins into the hat, keeping it in place. No use advertising one of her most noticeable assets, not in a lawless place like this. Zathoq gave a lot of the cesspits in the galaxy a good name. "An X-wing," she muttered irritably as the connotations associated with that type of ship flooded her mind.

The planet belonged to a ring system surrounding a red star, which meant one had to do some very fancy flying to land. This resulted in only the best pilots trying their luck and a few made it in but didn’t make it out. A lot of the scum of the universe could be found heading towards Zathoq pitching to make a fortune or managing to lose one. It was a smuggler’s paradise – if you knew where it was - which was why she was here.

Mara wandered slowly towards the spacer’s tapcaf. Over the years she’d gotten friendly with the old guy who ran the place. He served food of varying standards depending on his sobriety and what or who they had for a chef. On Zathoq, you needed to be well stocked with rations. Woe betide the person who had to survive on the local food for long.

"Merah!" the gruff voice shouted gleefully. "Over here."

"Lek." She gave the old humanoid a half wave.

"It’s been several rotations since we saw you last."

"Too long. This is a good place to make a credit."

"And you always make a credit don’t you, young one?"

"Of course." Mara’s voice was composed.

"What’ll you have? It’s on the house since I’ve not seen you for so long."

"Just a mug of stim tea."

"We have the draf on special…" He waved a tankard of cloudy, greenish liquid.

Mara shuddered; there were unidentifiable things floating in it. "I think I’ll pass. I’ve never been that fond of draf. Is it supposed to be that colour?"

"We can grill you a decent vak steak, if you’re really hungry?"

Mara tried not to gag openly at the thought. If there was one thing she disliked more than draf it was vak steak. "Nah," she muttered casually. "I’ve already eaten."

The ancient Selonian next to Lek gave an amused toothy smile. "That is perhaps a good idea. Stick to ration bars. There’s a new chef and I’m not sure which part of the galaxy he’s running from."

Mara grinned, her teeth white and perfect against her carefully dirtied face. "I’ve been coming here too long, Malyre. I know what my stomach can handle."

"You still working as a mechanic for that smuggler chief?"

"Yeah, but I’ve been promoted." She said proudly. "I get to do some of the runs on my own now. He’s a fair boss. I’ve worked for worse."

"Haven’t we all." Lek’s grin was dry.

"That’s why I’m here. Basic run… drop and pick-up."

"Good." Lek gave her a gap-toothed smile. She was an enigma this one. She’d been coming here for at least ten years. If he’d been younger he might have found her pretty under the grime. Some of the guys weren’t so particular about the women they involved themselves with, but Merah… she was different. A few of them had tried to go a little too far and it had gotten ugly. Not for Merah, but for the guys who’d tried. She was a young woman and on her own – many would say she was easy game - and periodically, one of the fools would try to suggest forcibly that she partake in activities of a sexual nature. She’d gained a reputation for being feisty, not someone you tangled with lightly. He’d seen her take down men twice her size with ease. Even the rougher elements treated her with respect – some of the damage she’d caused had been expensive to fix. Last guy that had tried had ended up in the medicentre for weeks.

No one tangled with Merah.

That was the only name she ever gave and it suited her. Lek considered her a real mystery woman but he liked her. Mysteries were commonplace in this sector of the universe – most beings were running or hiding from something out here. The rest of them were making a killing from that very fact. Merah was all right - she knew her engines and she’d even fixedd his bucket of bolts once.

"You here for the sale?"

"Sale?" Her voice was blank. "What sale?"

Lek sat forward. He’d sparked her interest, he could tell. Those strange green eyes of hers had flashed. You could hide a pretty face under a lot of things and he knew she would be pretty if she made the effort, but she couldn’t disguise those curiously vivid eyes and they were fine – a little too knowing, as if she’d seen too much, but fine nonetheless.

"You’ve been coming here for how long?"

"Nearly ten years, give or take…"

"And you’ve never heard of the sale?"

"Should I?"

Lek leaned back in his seat and chuckled, a rich, infectious sound. Malyre chortled with him in little puffs of sound, his furry features amused.

"She’s never heard of the sale."

Mara bristled. "Nah, I’m here to drop and collect, that’s all. That’s what I usually do. I don’t hang around listening to idle gossip."

Lek raised his eyebrows. "Can you stay an extra few days?"

"I’d have to check with the boss, but I suppose that could be arranged."

Malyre filled a clay pipe and puffed slowly. "It’s worth the wait."

"It is, eh? The sale is that good?" Mara received her stim tea and sipped at the hot fragrant liquid carefully. No use making all that effort to avoid the food and then burning her tongue. "Is that why I saw an ‘X’-wing in the spaceport tonight?"

"An ‘X’-wing." Lek echoed. "Not seen one of those round these parts for quite a while.

"Good little space vessels," Malyre chipped in thoughtfully between puffs of his pipe. "Never flown one, but reports are good."

"You fancy flying in one of those, Merah?" Lek asked with a smile.

"I’ve had a shot," she answered. "They’re a bit small for the kind of work I do."

"Fast, though." Malyre mumbled.

"Shields too. Manoeuvrable in a pinch…" Lek added.

Mara sighed. "Guys, I don’t want to buy an ‘X’ wing – no cargo space. I wondered if you’d seen its pilot?"

"Oh, its pilot." Lek thought hard and glanced at Malyre. "Did you see the guy that came in with the ‘X’-wing?"

"How do you know it was a guy?" Mara asked.

"We talked about it before you showed up," Malyre added rolling his eyes at her. "It’s not often you see those ships here. Pressed into service in the war, they were."

"That’s long over," Mara snapped a little sharply. "And the designers defected to the rebellion with the plans and prototypes. The resulting ship was more than able to counteract the TIE fighters."

Lek guffawed. "You sure know a lot about them. If you want to buy an ‘X’-wing, I’m sure it can be arranged."

"I told you, I don’t want to buy an ‘X’-wing. I’d just like a look at the engine."

"Maybe its not the engine but the pilot that she likes," Malyre insinuated slyly.

Instantly Mara was out of her seat with Malyre’s tunic bunched in one fist dragging him from his seat at the table. She’d meant to ignore the teasing she got from the old ones but something about the last comment struck a little too close.

"It was a joke… Jedi’s bones, Merah," The Selonian gasped.

"Let him go, girl. You’re overreacting," Lek cautioned and watched as Mara bit off a curse.

"I like to see how things work." Mara sniffed with disgust as she dropped heavily back into her seat and scratched a persistent itch that was annoying her under her hat. She was on a simple drop and pick-up for Karrde, but the talk of a ship sale caught at her imagination. The Jade’s Fire was in space-dock getting a refit, but she liked to look at other space-faring vessels. She wasn’t interested in buying but she loved to attend these things. She had a departure slot early tomorrow morning, but it wouldn’t be a problem to contact Karrde and delay her return by a day or so. Mara wondered if the ‘X’-wing belonged to a certain Jedi of her acquaintance, but it was so far from Yavin or Coruscant that she knew it couldn’t possibly be Luke, since the Jedi Master rarely moved far from either these days. A little worm of disappointment wriggled through her belly and she made the decision to contact him when she returned to civilisation.

There was an easy way of discovering if it was Luke, but something in her hesitated. All she had to do was stretch out with the Force and she would touch the shining light that indicated his presence anywhere. He drew them all towards his warmth whether they were Jedi or pilots in Rogue Squadron and she was no exception. He had that rare commodity - true charisma. If she did reach out for him, the way she wanted to, Luke would know she was here. She needed to have her guard up when dealing with him. He had a way of crawling through her defences with ease and she wasn’t sure if she liked that. Still, she had to admit she missed him. She missed his annoying habit of interfering in her life. She missed the way his face crinkled up when he smiled. Mara shuddered. Sith! She was thinking of Luke in ways she never had before – not in nearly ten years of acquaintance. This man she’d wanted to kill, who’d become one of her few really close friends.

Still, she wondered who was flying the X-wing. One of Rogue Squadron perhaps, or maybe someone who just loved flying the trusty little ships? Nonetheless, the symbol of many a New Republic victory had made her think about Skywalker. She had to admit that he did cross her mind more frequently than she would have liked. Rather strange since she no longer held the all-encompassing desire to vape him, but then she hadn’t seen him for a few months. Maybe when she did the urge would return.

"Merah?" Lek’s voice intruded on her thoughts. "You were a couple of systems away there, girl."

"Sorry," she apologised lightly. "Guess I’m tired. It was a long flight getting here and that approach into port never gets any easier."

"Forrell!" Lek bellowed, making Mara jump. "Forrell, my friend."

A rotund bearded man in a bright blue ship suit waddled over to the booth. "Lek, my friend." His face was as fat as his body and a little black goatee quivered comically right on the edge of his chin.

Mara decided he must be barely half her height, but could easily be the same in width. A hint of over-sweet cologne attacked her nostrils.

Lek beamed. "Forrell, this is my young friend, Merah."

The strange little man bowed and sketched her a salute, his hand making several elaborate circles in the air. "Delighted."

"Merah is a hyperdrive mechanic for one of the core systems most successful smugglers."

"Talented and beautiful."

Mara snorted. Anyone who could see what she looked like, with her hair under the ugliest headgear she could find and grime and grease smeared liberally over her face, was either very astute or a Jedi. This little man was neither – just smarmy.

"I’m very good at what I do." Mara didn’t consider her statement boastful because it was true. She was good at what she did.

"Merah… Forrell works for spaceport security."

Mara blinked in surprise. She had been taught that appearances could be deceptive but…

Forrell laughed. "Always good to have friends in high places, eh Lek?"

"We were curious about the ‘X’-wing."

"The ‘X’-wing. I can understand that. Not a common sight in these parts now. At the height of the war against the Empire - then it was a different story. I haven’t seen one of these for years. Good little ships."

"Did you see the pilot?" Mara asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Yeah, it was a human… youngish guy…"

Mara grimaced. That told her nothing. It could be anyone.

"Said he was here for the sale. Not unexpected. Lot of folk here for the sale. I wouldn’t wander about too late tonight. Real unsavoury types about. He didn’t seem to be one of them, but you never can tell."

"I can handle them."

"Sure you can, lady. This guy was a bit different – a farmer, I think he said he was."

Mara’s heart sank. A farmer – so she had hoped it was Luke. Then something occurred to her. "Did he say what kind of farmer?"

"I think he did, but it escapes me for the moment. As I said, he was out of the ordinary."

"How?" Mara furrowed her brow quizzically.

"It was the funniest thing. He went off to inspect the ships for sale but as he went this little R2 droid followed him, beeping away like a chattering bird. This guy talked to the droid all the while like it was a real person."

Mara’s heart did somersaults in her chest. Every X-wing pilot chatted to their droids, but none of them with the same kind of patience and fondness as Luke did with Artoo. To Luke, the little droid was flesh and blood – they’d been through so much together over the years. It was Luke – there was no doubt now in her mind. He was here on Zathoq. She could resist no longer and stretched out tentatively with the Force and, sure enough, the power drew her irresistibly towards him. ‘Luke…’

‘Mara?’ the surprised voice in her mind was immediate and she jumped. She didn’t think their connection was that swift… or that strong.

"I remember. It wasn’t any kind of farmer I’d heard of. He said he was a moisture farmer." Forrell droned on in the background. "You ever heard of that?"

"Luke…" she muttered. This had to be the strangest coincidence she’d experienced in years. She only came to Zathoq once or twice a year and she was willing to bet that Luke had never been here in his life.

The door to the tapcaf opened and Mara, now opened to the power of the Force, stared as a nondescript human in the typical tan robes of the desert dweller wandered casually inside. ‘Nondescript,’ she grimaced. ‘How could any one miss him?’ she wondered. He was that distinctive. She knew he’d found her by the way his blue eyes narrowed and he began to move through the crowded tables.

‘Mara!’

‘Call me Merah, while we’re here.’

‘Jade…’ he shook his head at her. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘Business and don’t refer to me as Jade.’

‘Yes Ma’am.’

‘Just see that you don’t.’

"Do you know him, Merah?" Lek remarked.

"Strange as it may seem… yes I do." Her eyes clung to his figure as he weaved his way through the cramped tables, diverting the other diners’ attention away from himself with the Force. "Didn’t expect to see him here."

"It’s a small galaxy."

"That it is," her voice was dry. "Too small."

"Forgive an old man his curiosity, but is he a friend of yours, this… farmer?"

"You could say that, for want of a better expression."

Malyre put down his little pipe. "Friend is a good word in any language."

Forrell nodded, agreeing with the Selonian. "He’s coming this way."

"How do you know him?" asked Lek.

"It’s a long story."

Lek laughed. "I’m an old man, I like long stories."

"Merah." He dipped his head in greeting, his eyes solemn but watchful.

‘Do I call you Luke?’ she asked and he nodded. "This is Luke," she introduced quietly. "He’s an old friend of mine. We’ve worked together on odd occasions."

She introduced the others, watching as Luke pulled out an empty stool and squeezed in beside her.

"We were discussing your ship. You don’t often see these out here now."

"My ‘X’-wing?" Luke couldn’t help his grin of pride. He still remembered the day he’d been given it. "I flew during the war and when I resigned my commission I was allowed to keep my ship. They’re great to fly."

"And you’re a farmer?" Lek asked sceptically. Something about the young man didn’t ring true. He was a little too self-possessed for a farmer. But Merah, on the other hand, had certainly reacted to the idea of an X-wing flying farmer. She’d known who it was. So perhaps Lek’s normally astute assessment of the young man was off-centre for once. He’d seen all types of sentients pass through the doors of the tapcaf over the years.

Luke smiled evenly. "Among other things… yes. My crop is somewhat different these days, but I used to work on a desert world. My harvest was water."

Mara shifted a little uncomfortably. Luke was acting at his most Jedi-like. But he wasn’t using a Force or a physical disguise. Even out here he could be recognised and then where would she be? Probably pulling his well shaped rear out of some trouble or other. "I need to check on my ship," she announced abruptly.

Luke immediately stood up. "I’ll escort you back. There are some rough-looking types around."

"I can look after myself." She glared at him. Force spare her from over chivalrous Jedi masters.

Luke’s face twisted into a wry smile, his brown-gloved hand moving to hide it. "I know you can… maybe you can protect me then?"

"Wouldn’t be the first time, flyboy."

Luke grinned. "She’s saved my skin more than a few times. Always shows up when I need her – it’s uncanny."

Lek chuckled at the banter between the two. "He has you there, Merah."

Mara scowled, but reluctantly followed Luke from the tapcaf.

"I sense a history there," Malyre remarked.

Forrell laughed. "They’re both young… you don’t need history, just nature."

Malyre chortled into his mug. "Nature… it has a lot to answer for."

Lek tilted his shaggy head to one side and thought deeply. "Old friends… yes I think they are. There’s an ease of long standing between them but also some tension I suspect." He smiled shrewdly. "Nature right enough."

"You sound like a holotherapist." Forrell’s round body shook with mirth.

"I own this place. I hear a lot of stories… some strange and some… interesting, and you don’t get to my age and not have any opinions on matters. But this is the first time that a wandering spacer, or farmer, or whatever he is has ever put Merah on edge. That is unusual."

Luke and Mara wandered slowly towards her ship, neither of them saying a word until the battered hull of the Valiant Vornskr came into view.

"Nice," Luke murmured.

"It’s a wreck… on the outside. Karrde’s idea. "

"But totally state-of-the-art on the inside. He looks after his people, Mara."

"Of course."

"You’re very special to him."

"He’d manage without me. I’m not indispensable."

"No one is."

"Not even the Jedi Master?"

"Not even him. He’s a very minor player in the great scheme of things."

"I think you’re wrong there, Skywalker."

"A change of opinion?"

"No."

"Oh."

They stood awkwardly for a moment. Luke shifted from one foot to the other trying to think of a way to keep her with him. In the end, he couldn’t. "I’ll say goodnight, Mara."

"Goodnight… Luke. Where are you staying?"

"Tonight?" he questioned. "I’m sleeping in my ‘X’-wing."

"Sleeping in it? For Sith’s sake, Skywalker."

"There’s nothing left in town and I don’t want to be too far from my ship. It’s nothing I haven’t done before."

Mara made an instant decision she hoped she wouldn’t regret. "There’s plenty of room in the V-V."

"What!" Luke’s mouth fell open with surprise.

"I’ve got the space and you look tired enough without spending the night sleeping in your ship."

"I’ve done it before. I can put myself in a hibernation trance."

"Sure you can. But hey, it’s up to you."

"You sure?"

"I wouldn’t have offered otherwise." Mara hoped this wasn’t a lie.

"Can I bring Artoo?"

Mara rolled her eyes. What was it with this man and his droids? "Sure, then you can tell me why you’re so far from home leaving all the little Jedi back on Yavin."

Luke chuckled and she could see for the first time that he was tired. He was whiter than a wampa’s pelt tired.

"Go get the droid, Skywalker."

"Yes, Ma’am." He tiredly gave her a sloppy military salute and ran off towards the little craft he’d flown ever since he’d left his desert home world.

Mara keyed in her access code and waited for the entrance ramp to lower. The V-V was not the Jade’s Fire. It lacked everything in comparison with her own beautiful ship – it lacked the speed, the firepower, even the aesthetic qualities which made it stand out from other vessels, but that was why she was flying the Vornskr. It didn’t attract attention and on Zathoq that was a good thing.

"That’s it Artoo – this one."

She could hear Luke’s voice patiently urging the squat little droid up the ramp and into her ship. She almost smiled, it sounded so comfortingly familiar.

"Yes, we know the Captain and yes, Artoo, I trust her."

Mara’s almost-smile faded as something in Luke’s voice made her feel uncomfortable.

The droid whistled something indignant and she could hear Luke’s footsteps approaching the crew area. His head peered around the door frame and he gazed at her, a smile on his face. Artoo rolled through the door, caught sight of Mara, swivelled his domed head in his Master’s direction and moaned.

"No, Artoo." Luke chuckled, never taking his eyes from Mara. "No forests."

Artoo beeped a pithy comment and then rolled off to investigate, leaving the two humans to stare at each other. Mara gradually relaxed and spread out one hand. "Welcome…"

A piercing electronic wail interrupted and Mara stiffened, mouthed some profanity and sprinted off to find the source of Artoo’s distress. For a moment Luke tensed but no more sounds came from the droid and he relaxed.

Luke wandered slowly into the open area, his scruffy grey carryall over his shoulders. The Valiant Vornskr was a working ship right enough. But because she was Mara’s ship the area was in meticulous order. Luke gave a cursory glance at the workstation with each data pad laid out precisely, each tool secured in racks fastened against sometimes turbulent space flight. That was something they both had in common. Luke had never had enough possessions to scatter too widely and Mara came from a system that thrived on sterile order.

Luke absently noted the pile of audio discs clipped into a small holder attached firmly to the wall. She liked to dance - he knew that. "Mara likes the Coruscant Symphony," he murmured. He remembered a concert in the acoustic perfection of the Imperial State Hall. He’d gone with Leia because Han hated such things and had been astounded at how the melodies had spun themselves over and over inside his head. He’d shrugged off Han’s comments with a light quip and he wouldn’t have admitted to the rest of Rogue Squadron how he’d saved up his meagre pay and bought a cheap sound system. It still worked and he’d invested in a fair amount of recordings over the years. He’d thought Mara would have just liked music with a strong beat but the amount of purely orchestral discs there were, surprised him. He should know better than to underestimate Mara.

"Artoo!" the voice was terse. "After all these years can’t you tell the difference between a power outlet and a computer terminal?"

There was some agitated whistling.

"Okay… okay. I’m as bad as he is. I’m talking to you like you were sentient."

The droid made a derogatory noise.

"Artoo, that was just, plain rude. Where did you learn language like that? Do you want to go back and stay in the ‘X’-wing on your own?"

Luke heard muffled swearing and decided he’d better find out what was happening before Mara did irreparable damage to his faithful droid.

She was standing there, her hands on her hips, glaring at the little machine. "He’s as bad as you are," she muttered without looking at him.

"I know the difference between a computer terminal and a power outlet," he replied meekly.

Artoo snickered in a melodic cascade of beeps and toots.

Mara peered at Luke, green eyes dark in the half-lit technical station. Her hair was crammed under the ugliest hat he’d ever seen. Something in the Jedi Master sparked into life and dared him to walk forward and whisk the hat swiftly from her head.

"Hey!" Mara yelled clutching at untidy, unravelling braids. "Nerf-brain! What did you do that for?"

Luke grinned and waved his hands a little. Mara was too busy trying to pin back her hair to notice; a few more pins magically slid out of their own accord. The result was spectacular. The more she tried to rescue her pins, the more they slid from her fingers and her hair fell about her in shining waves.

Luke stopped laughing. It wasn’t funny any more. He shuffled a little and searched for the pins on the floor. "Here." He handed her a pile of pins along with the offending hat, his expression guilty. "I didn’t realise it had grown so long."

"What?" Mara asked irritably pushing the waist length mass behind her.

"Your hair…" He cleared his suddenly choked throat. "I haven’t seen you wear it down for ages. It’s beautiful… so why’d you wear that horrible hat?"

"Why do you wear black, black, and that awful robe?"

"I like it and feel comfortable in it?"

"Wrong answer, Jedi boy."

"I’m not wearing black now, but that hat…"

"You’ve never been to Zathoq before, Skywalker – have you?"

"No."

"I have. Over the years I have had to fight for my maidenly virtue."

The expression in Luke’s blue eyes intensified and Mara felt a little uncomfortable.

"Your virtue – is it intact?" His voice deepened, his eyes intent on her. ‘Ah, Skywalker… wrong thing to say.’

Mara moved swiftly and before Luke knew it, he was on his back, pinned to the ground and unable to move. "What do you think?" she asked threateningly.

"Sorry I asked. Will you get off me?"

"Why?" Her voice was mischievous; her eyes gleamed green in her grease-streaked face, her hair shimmering around them both like a curtain, containing them both in their own secret world. The tension became heavy with unspoken desires.

"I might think you liked it." Luke couldn’t move. If he’d wanted to he could have, but the feel of her strong legs straddling him, pinning him to the ground, made him think things he’d no business thinking about. "But I take the point and won’t question your virtue again."

Mara gave him a threatening glare, paused, her hands tightening on his shoulders and climbed off him.

"No man would be that brave… or is it stupid?" Luke slowly got to his feet. "It’s obviously a sensitive subject."

Mara balled her hands into fists and swung round aggressively. "Skywalker!" If this ship were flying you’d just have been pushed out the airlock. Remind me why you’re in my ship, again." She tilted her head to the side and waited impatiently.

He began to laugh and it was so infectious to see him loosen up like this. His eyes gleamed and the sound came from deep inside him. Mara just had to join in. She’d gone from anger to mirth in nanoseconds. Only Luke could do this to her. They’d fallen into their old routine of stab and retreat with alarming swiftness. Mara gave herself a mental shove but it was in vain. It felt so comfortable to be with him, even to be arguing with him. They’d done it ever since they had met. Why should she expect things to be any different this time?

"I’ve missed you." His voice deepened with warmth.

"Yeah," she sobered up. "Come on I’ll give you the grand tour and then show you where you can sleep. I warn you - it’s with me." Mara turned and led the way expecting Luke to be behind her, but all she felt was shock and his mental shields closing up tight.

"With you?" he croaked.

Mara halted, her face flaming at the mental picture she suddenly saw in her mind’s eye. "When Hoth melts," she bit out. "We’re in here, Skywalker."

Luke peered into the narrow sleeping alcove furnished with four bunks, two above and two below. One of the top bunks contained some blankets. There was only room for one person standing at a time. "I thought you would have been in the Captain’s quarters?"

"None on this vessel. All the extra space is used for carrying cargo. Zathoq is so far out of the way, that it isn’t worth coming unless you can take away the maximum amount of stuff. I can rough it if I have to - this is not a luxury cruise."

She moved to a small locker and pulled out a couple of Bantha hair blankets and a soft plump pillow. "Here, it’s better than sleeping cramped in that fighter of yours."

Luke smiled warmly at her. "Thanks, Jade. I appreciate it." He dumped his carryall on the lower of the bunks and pulled off the tan cloak he was wearing.

Mara stared at him in shock, his presence almost stifling in the close confines of the alcove. He wasn’t in his usual black ensemble. Her eyes travelled over polished brown leather boots, into which were tucked tight-fitting cream pants. A cream undershirt and a dark brown jacket covered his muscular chest. The whole thing was finished by a brown tooled leather belt which hugged his flat stomach and the low slung thigh holster, containing a very powerful looking blaster, drew her unwilling attention to what she was desperately trying to ignore.

"Where’s your saber?" She ran her tongue over her dry lips. He dressed down rather nicely.

"Artoo has it. I didn’t want to advertise Jedi this far out on the Rim."

"You might as well have earlier. They didn’t think you were a farmer."

"I was a farmer."

"You haven’t been one for a long time now."

"The same could be said about you."

"About me?"

"Yeah…"

"I’ve never been a farmer." Mara frowned, amazed at the depths of stupidity the Jedi Master could sink to at times.

"Of course not…" Luke huffed for a moment in exasperation. "You’re not an Imperial assassin any longer are you?"

"That’s different."

Luke’s eyes caught hers and held them. "I don’t think so, Jade."

Mara wrinkled her nose at him in disgust and marched out of the oppressive atmosphere of the tiny alcove into the larger room. It contained a small cooking unit, a tiny table and a couple of chairs. "You hungry?" she snapped.

"I’m always hungry," Luke replied calmly.

"That’s what I figured." She peered into the contents of a locker. "We have ration bars… or nothing."

"Luke pulled a small preservation flask from his carryall. "I have bread and some cheese."

"You do?" Mara’s eyes lit up, good mood restored, she snatched the container from him. She activated the controls of the cooking unit swiftly and threw stim tea capsules into mugs of boiling water. "This will be like a feast. You can stay here any time, farmboy."

"So I am a farmer after all," Luke hooted in triumph.

Mara shook her head, already tearing at the soft bread with anxious hands. "Take my advice, Skywalker. Don’t eat at Lek’s tapcaf unless you’re starving to death and if you do, that still might be the final result

"That bad, huh?" He snatched at a piece of the rapidly disappearing loaf. "I might have to if you don’t leave me some of that bread. Hey…"

She grinned evilly at him as she popped another morsel into her mouth. "Here you go."

"Thanks."

They ate the simple meal quietly and as Mara cleared up Luke wandered into the sleeping alcove and began to remove his jacket and shirt. Mara stopped what she was doing and covertly watched as a bare tanned back appeared, muscles rippling as he moved. Luke sighed wearily, pulled his boots off and climbed into the lower bunk.

Leaving only the security lights on, Mara divested herself of her overtunic and boots, and climbed up into the top bunk. She wasn’t stripping down any further.

Luke closed his eyes and reached for the place in the Force that helped him sleep, but sleep was an elusive master. He couldn’t see Mara but he could hear her soft breathing, the rustling she made as she pulled the blankets over her slim body. He moved onto his side and gripped the soft pillow with a violence that was quite undeserved. He shifted again and the bunk creaked. There must be something to be said for sleeping in his own ship instead of so close to Mara Jade. If he stretched out his arm he might be able to touch her. Luke opened his eyes and peered up at the upper bunk on the opposite side to his own, but all he could see was the edge of her blankets. He rolled on to his back and determinedly shut his eyes again. He was a Jedi Master - he could sleep.

Mara heard Luke’s restless movements as he tried to seek sleep. She couldn’t see him, but she could imagine what he looked like - his muscular chest bare, his hair tousled like that of a small boy. When they’d stood close together she’d breathed in his natural spicy male scent with a hint of the cleaning solution she knew he favoured, and something in her blood had reacted. Luke didn’t like the over-chemical colognes of Forrell or the expensive male perfumes preferred by Lando. You would never have to suffer the stale-sweat aroma of Lek with Luke. Her eyes stared at the ceiling as she willed herself into slumber, but she was wide awake. Focusing through the darkness, she tried to sense how many welded rivets went into the ceiling but a deep sigh from Luke made her lose count.

"Skywalker," her voice sounded unnaturally loud in the darkness. "Can’t you stay at peace?" She heard the bunk creak as he moved.

"Sorry, Mara. I’m so tired that I can’t sleep."

"Aren’t you the typical man?" she groused at him. "You can’t sleep so no one else can either."

"That’s not fair."

"You’re keeping me awake."

Luke peered up at the bunk in the dark, but he still couldn’t see her. "I wasn’t the one who started talking."

"Every time you move that bunk groans and then you sigh and then you move."

"Well, you’re breathing." His tone was aggrieved.

Mara blinked. Of course she was breathing. "Skywalker!" Her voice rose in pitch. "That was one of the most inane comments I’ve heard you make for a long time, and I’ve heard you make quite a few."

"It’s distracting!" he roared. "I’m going back to the X-wing. This was a bad idea." She could hear him scrabble about in the pitch black for what she assumed were his boots.

Mara sat up trying not to bump her head on the ceiling. Adding concussion to confusion was not good. "Whoa, Jedi boy. It’s not wise to run around Zathoq spaceport at this time of night. Calm down… I’m sorry."

Luke stopped trying to find his footwear and paused. "Okay…" She could hear the suspicion in his voice.

"Lie down and get some rest."

"That’s what I’ve been trying to do."

Mara squashed her pillow into a more comfortable shape and placed her head back down on it. "Why are you here, Luke?"

The Jedi sighed. He could listen to her voice all night if she’d call him Luke in that way a few more times – her voice low and sensuous. She’d kill him if she thought that she sounded like that. The arguments they enjoyed were so much a part of this strange relationship they shared. The arguments and the camaraderie. Mara made him feel like a real human being and not a demigod.

"Luke, are you with me?"

Her voice intruded sharply into his thoughts. Luke lifted his shoulder and shrugged. "I’m not sure, but I had this dream and…"

"Not another one of those. They invariably end in disaster."

"Tell me about it." He flopped back against his pillow and took a deep breath. "I’d never even heard of Zathoq before, but I saw this yard full of ships. Old ones, new ones, ships that would never leave the ground again and then I felt this prompting to be there. It was a sale, there were lots, and I saw myself and Artoo searching for something."

"Searching for what?" Mara could feel Luke’s bewilderment through the Force.

"I don’t know what I was seeking. I worked backward through the vision and saw myself flying through the ring system. It was so unusual I tried to trace it. Artoo and I spent hours in the Old Imperial library until I came up with half a dozen planets."

"How did you know it was the right one?"

"Research, mainly. Half a dozen planets with that kind of ring system. Only five of them orbited a red star and then only three of them had big ship sales coming up so soon."

"So you narrowed it down, farmboy."

Luke felt a rush of warmth at her approval. "I suppose I did and then I used my gut instinct and the Force seemed to indicate it was this one. I read voraciously anything I could find on Zathoq and the more I read, the more I knew I was in the right place. This is a ship sale held once every five years. Something here is calling me. There was one other thing…" His voice drifted off tiredly. She could feel the fatigue finally hitting him.

Mara nodded to herself. She accepted the Force promptings. Mara wriggled into the warmth of her blanket, her eyes beginning to feel heavy. "What was that?"

"You… you were here too," he murmured sleepily. "It’s the right place."

He muttered something more and Mara strained, as a wave of tiredness swept over her, to catch his final words.

"It’s always the right place if you are here."

The Ship
part 2

Disclaimer – The characters and situations used in this fic are the property of Lucasfilm Ltd. I’m only borrowing them for a short while.

Luke picked his way cautiously through a mountain of mechanical debris and, as he slipped on a pile of used parts, something caught his eye. “Hey!” he mumbled to himself. “Han was looking for a set of these only last month. I wonder if he…”

Mara, who hadn’t bothered to clamber over the mechanical assault course, scowled at the Jedi. “Skywalker!” Her tone was the one she used when she had run out of patience. It was a warning that lesser men feared.

Luke peered at her through a shaggy, untrimmed fringe. “I thought you would like this.”

“Yeah, sure I did… for the first two days.” Her eyes glared laser bursts at him from under her ugly hat. “What are we looking for? Do you even know?”

Luke ducked his head, moving his eyes away from her sharp gaze. “Uh…”

She sighed impatiently for the hundredth time. “Skywalker…”

“I don’t know, Mara.”

“We’ve been around fourteen speeder sales, ten dubious shipyards, six respectable ship warehouses, three used droid lots, not to mention the exhibition of completely useless gadgets, which was a waste of time…”

“Yeah, but don’t you like the ration bar carrier made out of used data cards that I bought you?” Luke interrupted her growing litany.

“I’m not even going to deign to answer that one.” Her voice was stiff.

“Admit it… you were touched.”

She curled her lip in disgust, swivelled sharply on her black booted heels and marched towards the exit. “If you’re not finished in ten minutes, Artoo and I are leaving without you.” On cue, her stomach rumbled. “I’m hungry.”

“Wonderful,” Luke mumbled under his breath. “More ration bar surprise.”

‘I heard that’ she sent to him through the Force.

The sale on Zathoq was one of immense proportions. Luke and Mara registered with the authorities and were given a data card containing all the lots for sale and the whereabouts in Zathoq City they had to go to find them. Luke had rented a beat-up speeder and they’d set out to find whatever it was Luke didn’t know he needed.

The buyers were given a week to look over the merchandise, such was the size of the sale. Luke had been astounded at the massive area of just one of the warehouses. He calculated that a star destroyer at the very least could have squeezed in. Ships lay in rows like vegetables on a market stall. If he’d been allowed to linger he would have been there for a week alone.

Mara tapped her chrono and gave him a narrow glance. “Time to go, Luke.”

“Yeah! I guess this is not helping us find what we need.”

“It would help if you knew what it was.”

“I know.”

Mara sighed. “Just keep your mind on the bigger picture, farmboy and not on the ‘hunk of junks’ arrayed for your pleasure.”

“Yes, Mara,” he chanted like a small boy and chuckled at the glare she sent his way.

“It’s going to take an hour to get out of here, even before we start on the next place.”

Luke scrolled through some information on his guide to the sale data pad. Some of the merchandise was top of the range and totally legitimate, but if you kept going towards the smaller venues on the edge of the city there were shady deals to be made. A number of the ships were sold by auction; others you could trade or just purchase outright. Because the main emphasis was on the buying and selling of ships, finding accompanying starship parts and equipment was a welcome fringe benefit. No matter how old a ship was or how obscure the part required - somebody would have it. In all his years of travelling throughout the galaxy, Luke had never seen anything like it; and neither had Mara. But he still didn’t know why he was here.

Grudgingly he moved towards the vendor clutching the part he knew Han would want and handed over the credit chip before following Mara in the direction of the speeder. Artoo beeped sympathetically at Luke’s downcast expression. Mara ignored him. She was already ensconced in the driving seat and had the engine running.

They rode back to the Valiant Vornskr in silence; its battered hull appeared to rise reassuringly out of the docking bay to greet them. Mara switched off the engine and sat staring at her ship. Luke cleared his throat; he could sense she was unhappy with the way things were proceeding. Hell! He wasn’t overjoyed with the situation himself. He knew he had to be here, but for what he just didn’t know.

“I’m going to the tapcaf,” Mara muttered. “You coming?”

“No, if you don’t mind, Mara. I want to try and meditate for a while – see if it can shed any light on anything.”

“Suit yourself,” she replied brusquely, aware that a kernel of disappointment had curled into her heart. She’d been surprised at how much she’d enjoyed his company over the past three days and he hadn’t tried to turn her into a Jedi – much.

“Mara…” Luke called after her.

She stopped at the entrance to the docking bay. “Changed your mind?”

“No, but I just wanted to say that I’m glad you’re here and I know if I still can’t find anything, you’ll have to leave.”

Mara pressed her lips together and slowly turned towards the exit. Skywalker had matched the Sandperson with his Bantha once again. Was that why she was so irritable today – because she didn’t want to leave the Jedi Master on his own? Was it because she had enjoyed his company and wanted the feeling to continue? She squashed the thought and vanished from sight.

Luke keyed the entrance code and the entrance ramp lowered allowing Artoo to trundle into the ship. He produced a wrapped bundle from underneath his robes and sighed forlornly. He’d managed to sneak away to a market stall at one point and had bought some real food. He’d planned to cook Mara dinner as a sort of thank you for letting him stay on the ship with her. There wasn’t a lot of room in the Vornskr, but the equipment was capable of producing a fairly decent meal. He mentally shrugged. No point in wasting good food. After storing some of it in the flasks he’d brought with him, he managed to construct a simple but tasty stew and found that he was starving after all. Luke made enough for two, just in case Mara was hungry when she returned from Lek’s.

“Artoo, I’m going to meditate for a while. Could you keep watch please?”

The little droid beeped an affirmative and rolled over to the charging unit he was now familiar with and plugged himself in with a satisfied electronic gurgle.

Luke pulled off his tunic and lay down on his bunk. He’d tried this every night while he’d been on Zathoq but had awakened in the morning without so much as a dream. This time he would try to recreate his original vision - the one that had told him to come here - and he sank into his trance.

***************************************

“Merah!” Lek waved at her as she squeezed through the crush of patrons frequenting the tapcaf.

“Busy tonight.”

“Busy every night when the sale is on. I can make nearly a half rotation’s profit during the sale.”

“As much as that?”

Malyre nodded his furry head. “Easily.”

“Where’s your farmer friend tonight?”

Mara grimaced sourly. “Farmboy has gone back to the ship to…” She stopped for an instant. Better not say the X-wing flying farmer was now meditating. “He’s tired and has gone back for a nap.”

“He’s staying with you?” Malyre wheezed, a suggestive look in his eyes.

Mara glared. “I have a spare bunk and he couldn’t sleep for a week in his X-wing.”

Lek gave a short burst of laughter, his shaggy head of hair quivering. “I’ve heard a lot of excuses.”

“It’s the truth,” Mara insisted.

“And you wish it wasn’t so, mm?”

Mara slumped back in her seat with disgust. These two had nothing better to do with their time than sit and gossip. She hated being the subject of idle speculation – especially when they were as far off the mark as they were with this topic. Her and Skywalker!

“We’re only teasing, Merah. You rise so beautifully to any suggestion that this one could be a love affair. You’ve never reacted like this before.”

Malyre brought out his little clay pipe and began filling it with a brownish dried weed.

Mara had strong suspicions that it was dried spice flakes, but Malyre was an old Selonian and it was unusual to see a male of that species off world, let alone this far out on the rim. If he wanted a little pleasure from that source, who was she to object. She wasn’t going to inspect his brand of leaf too closely. The serving droid tottered to their booth and she gave her usual order.

“Not eating again, Merah? I get the feeling you don’t like my food.”

“You’d be right,” chortled Malyre. “It’s horrible.”

“Yet you eat it.” Lek challenged him.

“I’m an old creature and I cannot have that long to live.”

Mara smiled and listened to their good-natured bickering. She was lucky they’d taken her under their wings all those years ago. She wondered if Luke was having any luck with his meditations. He was becoming frustrated by his lack of success, yet maintained that he was in the right place.

“What’s your Luke searching for? Is it a ship?” Lek peered through the subdued lighting at Mara.

“I’m not sure. I don’t even think he knows - and he’s not my Luke,” she returned smartly.

“Warehouse 7b had a very nice selection. I personally liked the Ghtroc freighter.” Malyre swayed backwards and forwards in his seat as he talked.

Mara nodded. “It was nice. The shields would need serious upgrades though and as for the weaponry…” She shook her head. “Very poor, but it had potential.”

“What would a flying farmer want with advanced weapons and shields?” Lek was curious. Luke intrigued him. He liked mystery puzzles and the farmer didn’t fit any of the stereotypes he’d come across in his seventy plus years.

“He likes such things - would you believe it? The galaxy isn’t a safe place, you know.” Mara’s tone was dismissive. She didn’t want to be talking about Luke.

“I’ve not been off Zathoq in years.” Malyre put in.

“Me neither,” added Lek.

“Exactly,” Mara said. “Neither of you have any idea what you’re talking about.”

“There was a couple of YT-1300’s at yard 42.” Lek mumbled as he grabbed a large tankard of his favourite draf and took a hearty swallow.

Mara shuddered at the thought of the exact contents of the cloudy drink and what it did to your insides. “His brother-in-law flies one of those and Luke would never be sure if he wasn’t borrowing spares.”

“You can’t trust anyone these days.” Lek offered solemnly.

“No,” Mara disagreed firmly. “I trust Luke.”

The two oldsters stared at her as if she’d gained an extra head and turned blue.

“Well, I do,” she muttered and buried her nose in her stim tea. ‘Emperor’s bones, I’m getting soft, blurting out my business to all and sundry.’

The conversation drifted back to ships and upgrades and Mara let herself relax. The tapcaf was dark and warm, the pungent odour from Malyre’s pipe making her a little sleepy. She could still hear Lek and Malyre discussing ships but it seemed far away. The sound faded a little and she was in a shipyard, or to be exact, it was a junkyard. The ships in this place looked as if they would never fly again - all peeling paint and rusting engines. Her view shifted and colours merged and she was standing in the entrance corridor of a ship. Just in front of her, a thin man with a hooked nose, dressed in old-fashioned apparel, tapped instructions into a door panel before exiting hurriedly. Outside, two slim figures in hooded robes ran towards a waiting vehicle. “Handmaiden…” the man called to a third. “Handmaiden…”

Mara almost gasped aloud as the third figure’s hood slipped from a fiery head of red-gold curls. It was herself. She was seeing herself as part of this scenario. The woman tapped more commands into the panel before joining the rest of them in the speeder. The speeder vanished into the distance and Mara slipped into sleep.

The tapcaf slowly cleared as the patrons made the effort to return to their ships for some rest before the all-important buying began the next day. Lek moved stiffly as he began to clear up some of the mess. They’d had no trouble that night. He had enough security droids just in case and Forrell kept a careful eye on the comings and goings. He turned towards Malyre and pointed at Mara. “She must have needed her sleep.”

Malyre grinned a toothy smile. “So she trusts him, eh?”

“He’s a strange one, but she’s not your ordinary run-of-the-cantina smuggler either. Let her sleep.”

***************************************

Luke awoke a little cramped in the bunk and rather stiff. The longed-for visions hadn’t happened. All he’d seen was a beautiful woman with red-gold hair and he knew who she was. She kept him from sleep already and now she invaded his meditations. There’s a message in there for me somewhere, he mused. He pulled his blanket over his chilled body and curled into a ball. If he was going to dream about her, he might as well get on with it. She crossed his mind more frequently than he cared to think about, distracting him from his duties. She made him think about things he’d almost given up on ever having and he knew that to even consider such things with Mara was total foolishness. Life could be so unfair, but with Mara there was always the pleasure of her beauty and her intellect. One day she would finish her training to knighthood and for him that would be enough. He closed his eyes and brought Mara’s image forward. He drifted away as a voice called, “The handmaiden; she knows the code.”

“What handmaiden?” he answered.

A tall, thin, hook-nosed man pointed to a slim figure with red-gold hair. “She does.”

Luke tried to hold on to the brief picture but it faded rapidly and abruptly he opened his eyes. He knew what he was looking for now. Well… he didn’t but he did need Mara to help him find it. Whatever it was, it was so precious or so well hidden that it needed the combined efforts of two Jedi to locate the source. It needed two Jedi and it had to be Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade. He could work with that.

He fumbled for his tunic and pulled it over his head, grabbed his tan robe, threw it around his shoulders and checked the charge on his blaster before placing it in his thigh holster. Luke moved to where Artoo sat, still plugged into the recharging unit.

“I want my saber, Artoo.”

The droid tooted a question or two, but Luke ignored them.

“I haven’t time for that just now. I just need to have it by my side. I don’t feel dressed without it.”

Artoo pealed a chuckle at his master, and the panel hiding the compartment in the top of his domed head slid aside, revealing the weapon of the Jedi Master.

Luke grabbed it, felt its customary weight and living warmth, coming from the Force, in his hand. This lightsaber was so much a part of who he was that without it he didn’t feel whole. Even if he never used it again he would always have it with him. But there was little chance of him not using it – was there?

Luke glanced quickly at his chrono and frowned. It was very late and there was no sign of Mara. She’d been quite irritable all day and he guessed she was a little tired. He stretched out with the Force for her presence and located her not too far away. With any luck she was still in the tapcaf. Flicking on the comm, he located the frequency. “This is Luke. Is Merah still there?”

“Fast asleep.”

Luke chuckled. She was asleep? He’d been right about Mara being tired. He knew her as well as she did him. “I’ll come and get her - don’t wake her. She gets really cranky if she doesn’t get her required amount of sleep and she takes too many stimpills as it is.”

*********************************************

Lek turned to Malyre. “That was Luke.”

“Ah… Coming for his woman is he?”

“Better not let either of them hear you saying that, Malyre. She nearly had your arms ripped from your body the other day and Luke… he has the air of someone who is very fit.”

“A regular farmer.”

“Don’t mock. Most farmers I know have a hard work regime.”

A gentle tapping at the entrance alerted them to his presence and Lek limped slowly over and let the farmer in.

“Thanks.” He kept his voice low. “Where is she?”

“Usual booth.” Lek stared at the young man. “What is it between you two?” He knew he shouldn’t ask, but his old tongue kept flapping on. His instinct said it was a love affair, but his head and knowledge of Merah said it couldn’t possibly be. They didn’t behave like lovers, but they shared an instinctual closeness that only people who were truly intimate possessed.

Luke paused carefully before replying. “What do you mean?”

“She’s been coming here for nearly ten years and you’ve never been mentioned. She trusts nobody, yet she trusts you and she bristles with annoyance every time we say your name. As soon as we mentioned your ship she knew it was you.”

Luke gave a wry smile and tried to cover it with his gloved hand. “We’ve had an up-and-down relationship over the years. Or more accurately - a down-and-up. Remember she’s not the kind of person who tells people her business.”

“She considers you her business?” Lek questioned.

“I’m her friend,” he answered simply.

“What’s with the glove?”

“My glove?” Luke appeared genuinely surprised. “I lost my hand a while back. I have a good replacement, but it’s a habit I suppose. I used to keep thinking people would notice that it isn’t real.” He peeled off the brown leather and a very ordinary appendage was shown to be underneath.

“That’s not real?” Malyre asked, coming to join the quietly spoken conversation.

“No it’s not. I rarely think about it any more.”

“Must have hurt like hell,” the Selonian observed.

“Yeah, but it was a long time ago.” Luke moved towards the sleeping woman and grinned. “I’ll take her back to the ship.”

“You could leave her here.”

“No, it’s okay.” He slid his arms underneath her slim form and hoisted her carefully into his arms. “She’s not heavy and she would hate to wake up here.”

As he did so he dislodged her hat and the thick plaited rope of shining red-gold hair curved over Luke’s arm.

“You dropped something.” Lek muttered quietly and placed the hat back on Mara’s head.

Luke smiled in thanks. “You never saw that, did you?”

“Nope. I never thought she was a red head, but it explains quite a lot.”

“You saying red-heads are eccentric?” Luke tutted mockingly. “Never say anything like that to Merah.”

“You’re right,” chuckled Lek.

“Merah’s hair gets her noticed. On a rough world like Zathoq, she doesn’t want to be noticed. The hat is merely a disguise – we all have them.”

“Even you?” asked the old man but it wasn’t really a question.

Luke sighed and glanced down at the silver cylinder hanging from his waist. “Especially me.” He glanced down at Mara again. “The less said about this, the better. She hates to be vulnerable - more than most.”

“Do you know why you’re here, Luke?”

“Not really, but I will.” He lifted Mara a little higher and walked slowly from the building. It was only once he’d gone that Lek caught the significance of the silver cylinder hanging from his waist and felt privileged. “Well I never thought I’d see the day or night. A farmer…”

“See what?” Malyre puffed behind him.

“Nothing. We need to get some sleep, old friend. We should be really busy tomorrow.”

“Who you calling old?”

“Who do you think?”

******************************************************

It wasn’t far to the Vornskr, so Luke didn’t have to carry Mara for long. Scanning for any interest from the other berths he activated his comm, which he’d attached to his collar. “Lower the ramp, Artoo. I’m coming in and I don’t have any spare arms.”

He carried the still sound asleep Mara into the ship and levitated her gently onto her bunk. He wasn’t going to remove any of her clothes - she could sleep in them. He wanted to live a while longer. But he did remove her boots and cover her with a blanket. Climbing into his own bunk, he called for the lights to dim and dropped into an easy slumber.

Mara awoke first and was surprised to find that she was in her own bed. She remembered nothing apart from a strange dream she’d had, probably while inhaling some of Malyre’s dubious-smelling tobacco. She didn’t remember returning to the ship at all. Peering over the edge of the bunk she heard a soft masculine snore and spotted a lump wrapped in a blanket topped by a mop of fair hair. Quietly she slipped from the bunk and crept into the crew quarters, her stomach reminding her that she hadn’t eaten anything last night. A pot sitting on the cooking unit caught her interest and she found the remains of a rather nice-looking stew. She could eat that for breakfast. Ah… so that was why Skywalker had looked so downcast when she’d headed across to the tapcaf in a snit the previous evening. He must have come and carried her home. Her face burned at the thought of him carrying her and putting her to bed. She couldn’t recall the last time she’d let down her guard enough. It was a rather disquieting thought. He’d not removed any of her clothes and she grinned at the thought of Luke debating with himself whether or not he should risk it.

She squeezed into the miniscule refresher and washed and changed before returning to heat up the stew. As she sat and ate, the dream she’d had returned to her. They were looking for a ship or something in a ship. The people in her dream had been dressed in a fashion Mara associated with the Old Republic. So they were looking for something pre-Empire. It narrowed things down a bit.

“Morning.”

The voice made her jump. “Skywalker!” she snapped. “Creeping up on people like that could get you seriously maimed.”

He waved his unusually ungloved hand at her. “I’ve been seriously maimed, sweetheart,” he mocked borrowing Han’s term of affection for Leia because he knew it would annoy Mara immensely.

“Don’t call me that.”

“Sure, Mara. You okay this morning?”

“Are you referring to the fact that you took me home last night?”

“You mean you can’t remember?” He pretended to look horrified.

“Skywalker… You’re no use at subterfuge, so stop trying.”

He shrugged his shoulders at her and made for the water heater. Once he had a mug of stim tea in his hands he sat opposite her at the tiny table and just stared, his blue eyes solemn.

“What is it?”

“What?”

“You’re staring.”

“Am I?”

“Skywalker!” she warned.

“I just wondered if you’d had any weird dreams lately?”

“You and your dreams.” But she stared down at her meal.

“Mara…”

“Yes, I had one last night, but I think it was possibly because Malyre was smoking what looked like a mild form of spice and I was sitting next to him.”

“What was it about?”

“Nothing.”

“Mara.”

“Okay… It was only a snippet, but I saw three women dressed in Old Republican style clothes and a man in a reddish-brown leather waistcoat escaping from some sort of ship. I saw them key a code into the controls and then run towards a speeder.”

Luke leant forward, his eyes fastening upon Mara’s face with intensity. ‘The handmaiden, she knows the code.’ “Where were they?”

“In a junkyard. That’s what it looked like. Luke… one of the women… looked like me… was me. I saw myself in the dream. They called me a…”

“Handmaiden?” Luke’s voice was carefully neutral.

“Yes… How did you know?” A glimmer of suspicion crossed her face.

“No, Jade. I’ve not been tapping into your mind while you slept. I’d never do that. It would break our trust.”

“I know you wouldn’t and I’m sorry for even considering it for a moment.”

“I had part of that dream too, but you had more of it than me.”

“That’s strange since it is you I presume the Force is calling.”

“I think the Force is calling us both.” He leaned forward his expression concentrated. “Think about it, Mara,” he pleaded. “When was the last time you were here? Did you have to be here now? What made you come at this point in the rotation?”

“Slow down,” she chided, smiling at his fervour. “I was here because I always visit this place every so often. I hadn’t been for a while and Karrde was looking for some things that were a little different. One thing about Zathoq – it certainly is different. But there was no fixed decision to arrive.”

“So it could have been the Force.”

“It could have been. I’m not going to discount that fact.”

“So what do we do?” he asked. “You have obligations to Karrde and will have to return at some point.”

His eyes caught hers and held them, and Mara was surprised at the need she saw there. She stared deeply into the clear layers of blue and tried to gauge his thoughts. His eyes had always held a fascination for her. When the Emperor had told of his evil she hadn’t at first been able to believe that with eyes as beautiful as his, the soul they mirrored wasn’t the same. Subsequent events had reassured her that her original impression was the correct one. Her stomach tightened with some sort of nameless feeling. When had she lost the ability to deny him her aid? ‘Jade, you never had that knack in the first place. Why should you develop it now?’

‘What is she thinking,’ Luke wondered, staring into the eyes that invariably matched her mood, the colours ranging from a bright spring green to a dark, swirling sea-jade storm.

“I can stay a couple more days and then if we do find something I can always come back.” Mara blinked, breaking the spell.

Luke swallowed to lubricate his dry throat. “You would do that for me?” he croaked.

Mara stretched out her hand and caught at Luke’s – his real one. He stared down at their clasped fingers and swallowed again. He felt very moved by the simple touch of her hand on his.

“Of course.”

The Ship
part 3

“Skywalker!” Mara bit out quietly as they left the fifth yard that morning. “These places are too…” She looked in disgust at the row of Imperial TIE fighters as they rode past them. “They’re just not right.”

Artoo tootled pathetically from his seat in the back of the speeder.

“What’s he saying?” she asked, still amazed that Luke could translate the droid’s electronic language.

Mara gave Luke a sceptical glance. “He’s a droid,” she stated firmly. “Droids are not prone to allergies.”

“That’s what he said – you asked.” Luke turned his head as they left the yard behind, staring at the ships he’d flown against for most of his adult life. The TIE fighters were sad specimens, their solar panels lurching brokenly to one side. “You ever fly one?”

“Of course,” she answered composedly. “I was trained to fly all kinds of Imperial craft.”

Luke fiddled with the controls of the speeder. “I got a chance to try out one the Rebellion captured. Lack of shields tended to be their downfall, but in the hands of someone like Fel, they were every bit as dangerous as the X-wing. Those ships - their only use is as scrap, but that’s what you tell me we’re looking for.”

“Someone will want them for souvenirs or for replacement parts. Some people still fly the Rebellion’s equivalent on a regular basis.” She arched an eyebrow. “And yes, we’re looking for a scrap yard.”

“I thought that was one.”

“The place in the dream was more… confused, more untidy.”

“If what you tell me is true – this place is too post-Old Republic.”

“Too Imperial,” she answered firmly. I know a little more about the Old Republic than you do. There were still trappings of it around the Imperial Palace amongst the very wealthy when I was growing up.”

“Sure… and I was stuck out in the middle of nowhere.” He hunched into his cloak.

“It didn’t do you any harm.” She was not going to give him any sympathy. Mara was beginning to dislike the tan desert cloak almost as much as she did his Jedi blacks. The smuggler type outfit he had on underneath… that was a different story. She banned the distracting thought from her mind and concentrated on the matter in hand. “We need to look for somewhere much older.”

“So possibly we need to head even farther out into the city perimeter area or beyond.” He shaded his eyes with his hand; Jedi-enhanced vision scanning far ahead.

Mara shook her head; she was unwilling to go much further. “I don’t like it. What is there to even suggest such a place still exists?”

“I have a feeling…”

“I’m not risking my life on a feeling and…”

“This is not like you, Jade.” Luke gibed, his frustration at his lack of success coming through in his voice. “You have before and we’ve been to much worse places than this.”

“Don’t infer that I’m afraid, because we both know that I’m not.”

“I would never dare to think such a thing. If you won’t come with me, I’ll go on my own.”

“That is a reckless course of action, Skywalker. This is not Yavin IV. It’s Zathoq City and this is the kind of place that you need some back-up.”

“So that’s why you’ve been coming here on your own for ten years, Jade.” Luke muttered dryly. It wasn’t a question.

“I wasn’t travelling out of the centre into the worst areas. This place makes Nar Shaddaa look pleasant and sometimes Karrde did send another member of his organisation with me.”

“If I die you’ll feel it through the Force… or you would if you paid more attention to your training. Of course it’s Zathoq City. Mara… I don’t understand your attitude sometimes. You’ve been my friend for nearly ten years. You’ve seen me through more than my fair share of mistakes and disasters…”

“Exactly.”

“My life has been as difficult as yours. I’m not some Jedi prince. I’ve been in places the galaxy wouldn’t want its armpits to know about. What is it with you?”

Mara shrugged, her expression difficult to read under the hat, which she’d worn constantly outside of the Vornskr. “I guess…” she muttered, her tone uncertain, “I worry about you.”

Luke brought the speeder to an abrupt halt and stared at her in amazement. “Mara!”

She fiddled awkwardly with her small wrist blaster. “I just do, if you want to know.”

“I can look after myself, Jade,” he whispered. “I’ve had to.” Apart from Leia it had been a long time since anyone had worried about him… He swallowed, his eyes suddenly vulnerable and very blue. “But thanks.”

She gave him a funny look and sighed. “Okay, let’s move. Sitting in a stationary speeder this side of town doesn’t fill me with confidence. We have one astromech droid, which could be sold…”

Artoo emitted a shrill squeak at that comment.

“We have little in the way of weapons…”

“We have a couple of blasters, you have a knife in your boot and a vibroblade in your belt and I have my lightsaber.”

Mara grinned and pushed an escaping strand of red-gold hair back under her hat. “I’ve mine too.”

“Where?”

“I followed your example. Artoo has it.”

He chuckled and gunned the engine once more. This was perhaps a good time to move as a couple of shady looking individuals had begun to show interest. Luke heard his stomach rumble and wondered if they had any food with them.

Mara reached into the back of the speeder and brought out a ration bar carrier fashioned from old data cards. “You hungry, farmboy?”

Luke nearly crashed the vehicle at that moment as the present he’d bought as a joke was presented. Mara smiled with smug satisfaction and handed him a ration bar, which he proceeded to wolf down.

“I thought you didn’t care for ration bars, farmboy.”

“I do if there’s nothing else,” he rejoined, his mouth full.

They tried two more yards with no luck before it grew dark, and then returned dispiritedly to the ship. Luke sat at the small table in the crew quarters, his shoulders slumped. “I was so sure there was something here for me, Mara.”

“There probably is, Luke.” She laid a sympathetic hand on his shoulder and he reached up to cover it with his own. His hand felt so right pressing down gently onto hers.

“I just wish I knew what it was I was supposed to find. I was assuming it was a ship, but why would I be looking for a particular ship?”

Mara pulled off her hat and threw it disconsolately across the room. “It’s not a bad assumption, since this is apparently the ship sale of the century. I can’t believe I’ve never heard about it.”

Luke’s eyes tracked the missile until it landed neatly in a refuse container and he clapped his hands with relief.

“What?” Mara quizzed lightly as she retrieved the offending artticle and placed it through in the adjoining room on her bunk.

“Three cheers, the hat has gone for the night.”

Mara just gave him a disgusted look.

He grabbed a tin of lomin ale and threw one to Mara. He hesitated, the tin suddenly forgotten in his hands. “Would you mind…” he frowned uncertain of her response.

“Would I mind what?”

“Would you mind participating in a meditation with me? I get the feeling that we need the power of both of us to solve this mystery.”

Mara chewed on her lip, her face carefully wiped free of all expression. “I… I…”

“Look, I’ll do it myself if you’re not in favour and I would never intrude on your memories. I trust you more than anyone else, even Leia and she’s my twin.”

Mara swallowed before allowing herself to speak, her green eyes stinging with the unaccustomed feeling of tears. She was definitely losing it and had never been like this before in her entire life. “I trust you too, Luke, and if you think it will help you. I’ll do it.” Just when she’d forgotten the way he’d made her feel this morning, the nerf went and did it again. He made her… care for him.

“I already owe you a lot over this trip, Mara.” He stood up and without thinking pulled her into a warm hug, just like he would do with Leia.

Mara stiffened and tried to pull free of the sensations of Luke’s arms holding her against him. There was nothing sexual in the embrace, just the simple need for human contact.

“Luke…” Mara muttered. “Let me go. I’m not into all this huggy stuff.”

“Well, we’ll just have to change all that. Think what it would do for your image.” He hadn’t let her go, but he’d loosened his grasp just enough so she felt less threatened. It was like holding a wild thing – one wrong move and it would either flee or strike. With Mara both were options.

“Skywalker!” Her voice rose irritably, but she made no move to escape.

Luke held her in the careful circle of his arms and stared into her face. The faint hint of applied grime did little to mar her loveliness in his humble opinion; her hair had been pulled ruthlessly back and plaited before being stuffed underneath the hat. It now straggled defiantly from her confines and had begun to curl around her face, little wisps of molten fire framing her beauty. “Everyone needs comfort once in a while, Mara,” he instructed gently. “Even me.”

Mara gave an unwilling smile. He’d turned things upside down, so now it seemed as if she was the one embracing him. It was then natural to lean forward and place her head against his shoulder. They stood like that for a little while, both of them secretly enjoying the feel of each other’s bodies but telling themselves it was just a natural human reaction – this need for comfort.

At a given moment they stepped apart and Mara gave a little nod. “Okay.”

Luke’s blue gaze warmed and he nodded. “Thank you. It means a lot to me.”

Mara sighed. “I know.”

He stared at his still unopened can of ale. “You want to go to the tapcaf and see the old guys before we see what the Force can help us with?”

Mara thought about it for a moment. “No,” she said softly. “I want to do it now.”

“If you’re sure?”

“I want to find out.”

“The Force might not show us anything.”

“We can only try…” She stopped, her hand flying to cover her mouth. “I forgot,” she murmured simply.

“You forgot what?”

“The old saying.”

Luke chuckled. “Oh yeah, me too.”

“And you the Jedi master too… shocking. What would Yoda say?”

“I don’t think you want me to quote you data cards worth of stuff.” He grinned. “I had to be reminded a lot. I was a bit of a cynic.”

“Mr Idealistic an unbeliever?”

“No - more of a doubter.” He sighed a little. “I remember… I’d landed my ship in the middle of a swamp on Dagobah…” He stopped and gave a half-hearted shrug. “Mara, you’ve heard this before.”

“Don’t know if I have, farmboy.”

“I watched Master Yoda pull my ship out of the mire it had sunk into. I’d already tried and failed.” He gave her a mischievous look. “I do sometimes fail, Jade.”

Mara rolled her eyes.

“I stood there stammering ‘I don’t believe it’ and he gave me one of those stares that had me feeling about a tenth of his height. I’ll never forget his words.” Luke turned and fully faced Mara. “He said ‘that is why you fail’.”

She shifted uncomfortably. He’d gone from friend to gimlet-eyed Jedi Master in one sentence. “I…”

“So, yes, I found it difficult to ‘do’.”

Mara’s chin lifted and her green eyes blazed. “But there are two of us, Luke. We can ‘do’ together.”

Luke stared into her shining eyes and was touched at her faith in him. “Come on then,” he murmured.

They sat at the little table; there was nowhere else to go and they shied away from curling up in one of the bunks together. Luke stretched out his hands and firmly grasped Mara’s. He gave her an intent gaze and opened his mind and senses to the power of the Force.

Mara watched carefully as Luke’s eyes grew heavy lidded and sleepy and found her own lashes fluttering closed. The warmth of his hands on hers was comforting. Reality faded and they were transported back into a time long ago.

It moved very fast at first - the pictures swirling and changing like someone rewinding the holovid at top speed. Mara saw herself change, become younger, less carefree, then she drifted back to a time before she came to be born. Luke caught fleeting glimpses of people and places long gone in his past.

“Mara…”

“Luke… We’re here.”

“Is this it – the place you saw in your vision?” He stared at the mountain of wrecked starships, towers of cracked cockpits and twisted pieces of metal too damaged to identify. “You could build your own ship from the pieces.” Luke’s voice was awed.

Mara groaned with disbelief. The man was unreal at times. He was dying to get his hands on some pieces and build. “Skywalker! You’re a long way from eighteen these days.”

“What!”

“I said grow up and we don’t have time and it’s not real.”

“But…” Luke had picked up part of a piece of damaged hyperdrive.

“It won’t get us very far.” Mara pulled at his hand.

He heaved a heavy sigh. “True. Now to find where we are.”

Mara nodded. “Check the position of the sun. It might help us find it tomorrow.” She moved behind a rusting space yacht, Luke following her, his hand still clutching hers.

“That perimeter wall is made of stone,” he observed thoughtfully. “Most of the perimeter fences in the centre are durasteel.”

“Good point. Come on, let’s find the entrance.”

“It’s like a necropolis for starships… sad.” He shivered.

“I think it’s this way,” Mara muttered and bit off a curse as she tripped over something. “Ow!” She was saved from landing flat on her nose by Luke’s hand tightening on hers.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, just twisted my ankle.” She rotated her foot. “It’s fine. I mean… that is so stupid. How can I twist my ankle when I’m not really here?”

“I don’t know. It’s the same as me picking up that piece of metal. We perceive ourselves as being here therefore the environment is real to us.”

“You’re the Jedi master.”

“I am and I still don’t know.” He grinned, his blue eyes brimming with life. “I’m not quite perfect.”

“Skywalker, shut up. This is supposed to be a vision and we’re having silly conversations like always.”

“It’s part of why I like you.” The boyish quality of his smile was directed fully at her. “You’re about the only person apart from Han who I can have silly conversations with.”

Mara stopped and shook her head at him in exasperation.

“Come on then.” Luke tugged at her hand. “We’ve got a ship to find.”

They made their way through the crumbling and rusting stuff all piled haphazardly everywhere in the yard until they came to what they supposed must be one of the entrances.

“Some of these look as if they might fly,” Mara observed as they made their careful way. “Do we know if it flies?”

“It had to - to get here.” He stared keenly into the sky. “We’re in the south side of the city. I’m sure of it.” He moved behind a pile of motionless power generators and peered around to see if anyone was there. The area in front of him was completely empty. “Hey, there’s a great big space here.”

Just as the words left Luke’s lips there was a loud noise and a large ship descended into the yard, smoke belching from one of the engines.

“It flies,” Mara muttered dryly. “Or did.”

“Stay back,” he commanded instinctively.

Mara clutched at Luke’s shoulders and as she did so, she noticed that the material had changed and he was wearing a leather jacket and she was once more dressed in the all-enveloping hooded costume. “Luke…” she muttered softly. Her companion stared down at his own clothing and then at Mara’s.

“This is new,” he whispered. “I’ve never dressed for a vision before.”

“We’re still in the yard, but our clothes have changed.”

The boarding ramp lowered and a small group of people hurried out. Several men dressed like Luke and three figures dressed in the style Mara found herself wearing, raced across the yard.

“Come on, come on!” One of the characters hissed as he pushed a speeder out of the cargo hold. “We need to get out of here, now.”

“The ship can’t take us any further?” Mara asked and blinked in shock at Luke who wearily pushed a peaked cap to the back of his head.

“No, the hyperdrive’s shot again and the shields have failed for probably the last time. My lady, we have to go. Panaka is waiting for us at our meeting point. We do not have time to loiter.” Luke found the words coming out of his mouth. He looked at Mara in disbelief. Who the hell was Panaka?

Mara’s expression told him as much as his must be telling her. They were watching, yet they were part of it.

“Do we activate the self-destruct?” she asked, her expression mirroring Luke’s confusion.

“Yes, but set it on a time switch. We have to be well away from here before any notice is taken. The ship is distinctive enough as it is. That is why we are switching to something less ostentatious.”

“You are right Lieutenant Olie. We are lucky to have got this far without capture. They will not be far behind us.” Another man came up after them and handed them weapons.

Mara turned to one of the other handmaidens. “Get the ship cleared, Take what you can and hurry - then seal it.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Mara and Luke no longer found themselves an intrinsic part of the scene, but watching from afar. The ship was closed down, the self-destruct was activated and the handmaiden punched a code into the access panel. The scene began to waver and blur. When they blinked, Mara and Luke were facing each other across the tiny table, still gripping each other’s hands tightly.

“So we don’t have anything to find after all.” Mara’s voice was subdued, her spirit dampened.

“Looks that way, doesn’t it.” Luke’s heart sank.

“Still it might be possible to see if the place is still there or if it was blown to smithereens by a self-destructing ship.” Mara’s voice picked up a little with renewed optimism.

“The ship was something, though. It looked as if it was made of silver.”

“I doubt that.” Mara muttered.

“Yeah, probably chrome. I loved the shape – it was streamlined and elegant. No hard Imperial edges.”

“Something from a more gracious and refined age?”

“By all accounts the Old Republic was exactly that. Obi-Wan once said something like that when he gave me my father’s lightsaber. The one you now carry.”

“I’m proud to carry it, Luke.”

The Jedi Master blinked in shock as Mara’s words reached his ears.

She could see the surprise on his face and smiled a little sadly. “I am proud to carry it. I haven’t made the commitment to the Jedi that I should, but I’ve not been ready…”

“I never meant to push…”

“Of course you did, but it has to be in my own time.”

“When you are ready, I will be waiting for you.”

“I know.”

Luke squeezed her hand once more before letting it go and grabbing a pad from the tech station. “We have a name or two to play around with. You called me Lieutenant Olie and we were looking for a Panaka.

“Means absolutely nothing.”

Luke scrunched up his face in thought. “What about you, handmaiden?”

Mara tilted her head to one side as she considered Luke’s words. “A handmaiden… suggests someone attending somebody wealthy or important. A royal… or a senator.”

“Good idea… and the military? I’m presuming I was in some sort of defence unit or maybe…”

“A security squad… Guards.”

“And the ship?” Luke wondered. “It was beautiful. A pity it was destroyed.”

“It was in a distinctive style. Can you draw?” she asked.

“Can you?” he shot back.

“No.”

“That makes two of us.”

“You can draw, Luke. Enough to sketch that ship.”

“Yeah, I guess so. What did it remind you of?”

“Definitely Old Republic, but I’m not sure if it’s core or rim world. It certainly had a distinctive style about it. The design was beautiful and graceful.”

“I’ll tell you one thing I noticed.” Luke sat up. He couldn’t think why the fact hadn’t struck him before.

“What?”

“It didn’t have any weapons.”

“You sure?” Mara’s green eyes widened.

“Think back, Mara.”

She ran through her memories of the sleek, silver ship and came to the conclusion that Luke was right. There were no proton torpedoes or rocket launchers. Nowhere for laser fire to defend the vessel. “It must have had very strong shields. Now I’m really curious. What kind of important person travels all over the galaxy without weapons? They obviously needed them too as they were in trouble.”

Luke slumped down and put his head on his hands. “Where do I go from here?”

“Where do we go from here,” she repeated, emphasising the ‘we’.

“Force, Mara. What would I do without you?”

“I don’t know,” she grinned cheekily.

“Tomorrow I… I mean we… head for the South side of Zathoq City.” He yawned tiredly.

“You need to get some sleep.”

“Yes, my lady… It suits you… the ‘my lady’ part. Don’t stomp off in a huff,” he added quickly.

Mara swung around half out of her chair, surprise etched on her features. “I wasn’t going to. My lomin ale is over there and I want a ration bar. You remember the drink we never quite had before this little vision session?”

“Oh…”

“And then, farmboy. I’m going to contact Karrde and tell him why I won’t be back with his cargo quite as promptly as he thought I was.” She moved and grabbed the ales, handing Luke his. “Shouldn’t you contact Leia?”

“She’s my sister. Why should I?”

“She worries about you, Master Skywalker. When did you last speak to her?” She leant forward, her mouth inches from his. “Does she even know where you are?”

“I… I…” He pulled abruptly backwards away from the soft red lips. “I think I forgot to tell her.”

“Luke!” Mara stood up straight her mouth now forming a tight line. “As soon as I’ve reported in to Karrde, you get straight on the holonet and talk to your sister.”

Luke slouched down in his seat. “Yes, Ma’am.” He lifted his head and a wicked gleam of blue lit the small crew room. “Anything you say, Ma’am.”

The Ship – part 4

Disclaimer – the people and situations used in this story are the property of Lucasfilm and I am making no credits from the writing of this. Thanks to the girls for their help.

Coruscant –

“Where the hell has he got to, Han? I’m worried half out of my mind.” Leia Organa Solo paced from one end of her office to the other.

“Leia, sweetheart…”

“No, Han. He’s the absolute limit. He just said he had something to do for a couple of days and vanished. That was over two weeks ago and no one has heard anything at all from him – not a thing. Tionne contacted me five days ago because she thought he was here. Until then I didn’t even know he was missing.”

“Leia…”

“Don’t tell me to calm down, Han. I can’t feel him. Oh, I know he’s alive, but wherever he is, he’s too far away for me to guess what he’s up to. Luke could be in trouble, or captured, or...”

“Do we know anything at all? The kid has turned rather secretive in his old age. We should tag him electronically.”

“He’s not secretive, Han. He’s thoughtless - and don’t tempt me.”

“No, he’s just absent-minded. He’s living on Yavin and teaching that hokey religion. Time just slips away from him. It wouldn’t have occurred to him to contact you.”

Leia paused as she considered what her husband was telling her and part of her had to admit that Han was probably right. Luke had found something or sensed something and had risen from his bed one morning and left Yavin.

Han observed his volatile, diminutive wife. The years had not tempered one whit, her spirit or her beauty. She stood before him dressed in a dark blue robe, her dark hair arrayed in an elegant chignon – the perfect picture of serenity. But the projected image was false - today Leia was not serene. The full facts of the Jedi Master’s disappearance had come to light. He’d flown off on his own in his X-wing and nothing had been heard of him since.

“Tionne should have contacted me the instant he left Yavin.”

Han took a step back and gave her a sarcastic look. “Why?” he asked, his voice dry. “Look, your senatorial magnificence. The kid is a grown man. If he were in trouble you would know. It will be one of those Force things.”

“Han…”

“Leia,” he chided wisely. “He’s been so subdued lately. Not like himself at all. If he has gone off on an impulse why should you worry? Impulsive is more like the Luke of old. He thought nothing of walking into detention centres on Death Stars…. Remember?”

“I’m worried because he’s been ‘so subdued lately’ and there’s nothing I can do to break through the invisible barrier he’s placed around himself.”

“He seemed happy enough to me, just a little…” Han searched for the right word and came up with, “muted.”

The com beeped, interrupting the sudden silence between husband and wife. Han leant over Leia’s desk and pressed the switch. “Yes, Solo here.”

A calm voice sounded through the com unit. “There’s an incoming transmission coded for Senator Organa Solo, Sir. It’s the Jedi Master.”

“Put him through.” He looked at his wife. “Right on cue – it’s uncanny.”

“Han!” Luke’s cheerful voice rang across space.

“Kid!”

“Luke!” Leia pushed Han out of the way and sat in front of the monitor.

“How are things?” Luke grinned cheerfully.

Leia opened and shut her mouth in amazement and Han could see her reigning in her impulse to snap at her brother. The kid had no idea she was so ticked off at him.

“Where are you? Are you alright?”

“Zathoq, and I’m fine.”

“Where?” Leia had never heard of Zathoq.

“You’re on Zathoq? What in the name of Kessel are you doing there?” Han had heard of the planet.

“Don’t really know.”

Han closed his eyes briefly – resigned. “You’re not in any trouble, are you, kid?”

“Not yet.” Luke chuckled. “I’m not always in trouble, you old pirate. I decided that a little excursion was just the thing.”

“Han, where’s Zathoq?” Leia asked in a whisper.

“Way out on the rim… near wild space. It’s smuggler country. Great potential for trouble. You’d like it,” he added wickedly.

“We’ve been worried…” Leia began and noticed Luke turning his head away from the monitor as if he were listening to someone else. “About you… When we didn’t hear from you…”

Luke mouthed something in an aside and faced the monitor again, his eyes guileless. “I’m sorry - I forgot.”

That was it, Luke’s explanation ‘Sorry – I forgot.’ Leia got ready to blast her brother verbally. How dare he put them through all this worry. He was on a lawless world on his own… A distinctly female snort could be heard from somewhere behind her brother and it sounded vaguely familiar. She looked towards Han, whose hazel eyes had widened. Her brother was with a woman and Leia found from what she could see he wasn’t in an X-wing either. This was a ship and she didn’t recognise it.

“Leia… I need you to do me a favour.”

“What kind of favour?”

“I need you to check on some names for me.”

“Are you sure you’re alright, Luke?” she asked before turning to her husband. “How long would it take us to get to Zathoq?”

“We can’t go way out there just now, at least you can’t. It would take far too long - minimum five days in hyperspace.

“A whole week!” Leia’s expression was dismayed. “Can you go, Han?”

“No… General Cracken has meetings set up with the Dackmaali all of next week - you know that. I have to be there.”

“We can’t just leave him out there.”

“Hey, guys!” Luke called over the link. “I’m still here. Share the conversation, won’t you.” Then his eyes narrowed as comprehension dawned. “I’m not in any trouble, Leia. I don’t need rescuing, or babysat, chaperoned, fetched or escorted off-planet. What I do need is for you to find us some information.”

“What?”

Leia was too distracted by this time to notice Luke hadn’t talked singularly, but Han had.

“Us?” he questioned.

“Oh, yeah. We need to see if you can find out about some names. I don’t know if there will be anything. It’s all very vague. We tried meditating on the subject and all we got was a picture of a ship and a couple of names.

“We?” Han tried again.

This time Leia picked up on it. “We,” she echoed.

“Yeah,” Luke was at his most obtuse. “We need to know. There’s nothing I can access out here. Especially as I think the information we want is as far back as the last days of the Old Republic, the beginning of the Empire. If I remember the chaos which occurred when we finally took Coruscant I would bet that information gathering was not of the highest priority. If there was any, it’s probably been destroyed.”

His sister could worm information out of most people, including the wily Corellian smuggler she’d married and three small children. One minor problem, like a stubborn Jedi Master, wasn’t insurmountable once Leia had seen what she had to do. “Luke… who’s we?”

A slim, feminine hand passed her brother a tin of lomin ale which he put to his lips and drank thirstily, the strong, tanned column of his throat showing as he tilted his head back to drink.

“Luke!” This time it was an order delivered in the voice that commanded troops during the height of the Rebellion. Han covered his mouth and grinned. His wife still had it and he loved her.

Luke blinked bewildered blue eyes and then a hefty push sent him toppling from his perch. “Hey!”

“Hey, nothing,” muttered a determined voice and a small woman with red-gold hair tumbling over her shoulders faced the astounded Solos.

“Mara!” Han began to laugh. It was too much. Only Luke could wind up in the middle of nowhere with Mara Jade.

Leia sat speechless for a moment, the only sound Han’s laughter. “Mara? What… How… I mean.” She stuttered in a way, which was far removed, from her usual poise.

Mara shrugged, and pushed a lock of hair behind her shoulders. “I was on a run for Karrde and who did I bump into, but farmboy here.”

“This wasn’t pre-arranged?” Leia fired the question at Mara.

Mara scowled. “What do you think? I have enough problems in my life without Jediboy messing it up, which he manages to do anyway. I’m already a week late.”

“Sorry,” Leia murmured apologetically.

Luke stuck his head over Mara’s shoulder, grinning like a five year old and she swatted at him good-naturedly. “Go lean on your own dinner, Skywalker.”

“What dinner? You gave me half a measly ration bar. I’m comfortable… you not?”

She huffed and puffed a bit. “What he’s trying to say is…”

“Have you ever heard of a Lieutenant Olie?” Luke butted in.

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Could you try and see if you could find the name?”

“Luke! That’s impossible.”

“No, not impossible, could be difficult… but not impossible.”

“If I may ask, brother mine, what’s all this in aid of?”

“I had a feeling…”

Han groaned and rolled onto the couch,pulling a large cushion over his head. “I knew it.”

“Tell Solo to sit up and listen, he might be useful.” Mara ordered peremptorily.

“Jade…” Han grunted as he sat up. “How did you know?”

“The power of the Force… No, I heard the springs on that old sofa of yours suddenly give. Nothing wrong with my hearing,” she said tartly.

Luke moved Mara from the seat at the holo-unit and pulled her on to his knee. “I’m heavier than you are,” he whispered.

For a moment she resisted and then with a shrug capitulated. “Sure… whatever.”

Han gave his wife a look. They were certainly getting on better than he’d ever seen in his life.

“I need to explain.” Luke adopted the tone he used when teaching on Yavin.

“Go ahead, Luke.” Leia had decided to ignore whatever was going on between the two Jedi. Her brother was unfathomable and Mara was inexplicable. Their relationship, if it could be called that, couldn’t easily be defined. She was just glad her brother was alive and unhurt.

“I’ve been experiencing strange visions…”

“So what else is new,” Mara chipped in unhelpfully.

“Jade!” Luke gave her a narrow-eyed stare, before turning back to face his sister. “These visions were incomplete, but I learned enough to get me out here. When I arrived one of the first people I ran into was Mara and that somehow confirmed everything for me.”

“I was having some of my own. They fitted in with his, would you believe?” Mara drawled sardonically.

“I’m looking for something and it has to do with a silver ship, a man named Olie and a…”

“Handmaiden,” Mara inserted.

An unpleasant jolt of feeling swept through Leia. The name Olie had meant nothing to her, but talk of a handmaiden - that was different. Still, she’d never had them, not since she was a little girl.

Luke saw his sister’s face change. He was too far away to feel anything through the Force, but something had tugged at a memory. “Leia?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she whispered.

Han sat up as he heard his wife’s voice change. “Uh-oh!” Leia had gone really still and he could see that she was thinking hard. “A handmaiden – like a servant or an attendant sort of thing?”

“That’s what we think. The kind of people likely to have handmaidens in attendance were either incredibly wealthy families, female royalty or political leaders. More probable, the royalty,” Mara added softly. “Luke and I…” She hesitated. “Luke and I meditated together and we saw these figures dressed in identical hooded robes. The cloth was a rich red-orange velvet shaded from one colour to the next. The man they called Olie was dressed in a reddish brown uniform. He was like a guard, maybe part of some military group. We wondered if he might have been part of her security staff. Was she the important person or perhaps her husband or even both of them?”

“Leia!” Luke called and she jumped, her brown eyes wide.

“Something’s calling, but… no, there’s nothing.”

“We wondered if you’d ever had that kind of attendant?”

“Not since I was a little girl at the High Court of Alderaan. My aunts expected it. Once they died and I ran for the Senate I dispensed with such things as servants, although to be truthful,” she grinned, the idea amusing her a little. “I do still have one.”

“You do?” Mara was surprised.

Luke chuckled, as he’d guessed. “Winter,” he said, nodding his head. “The ultimate handmaiden. Ask her if she’s ever heard of a Lieutenant Olie. She’s got the perfect memory, after all.”

“There was another name,” whispered Mara in his ear, her mouth so close that her breath tickled and a little quiver ran through his body.

“Oh yeah, they were trying to contact a… Panaka.”

Leia froze, her dark eyes wide, and she started shaking, tremors racking her body. Han wasn’t Force sensitive but was attuned to his wife in an astonishing way. “Leia… sweetheart.”

Mara glanced at Luke from the corner of her eye. This was a strange reaction indeed and it looked as if they had just struck a cache of durindfire gems.

“Leia?” Luke shouted across space. “What is it?”

Han poured water into a glass, the liquid splashing over the sides and forming miniature puddles on top of the polished fijisi wood table. “Here, drink this.”

“Is she okay, Han? Leia, are you alright?”

The former princess of Alderaan took a shuddering breath and tried to stop her limbs from trembling. “I’m fine.” She choked a little as some of the water went down the wrong way. “You asked about a Captain Panaka?”

“No,” Mara answered, her green eyes gleaming. “We only mentioned the name. No rank or title.”

“So you’ve heard of him?” Luke asked.

“The name is familiar to me, but I’m not sure why.” She was still terribly white and shivered convulsively from time to time. “I’ll see what I can find out, but I’m sure there was a Captain Panaka attached to the Royal guard on Alderaan.” Her eyes turned opaque and Luke could see Leia searching her own memory. “I remember him,” she recalled slowly, her voice a thread of sound. “It was a long time ago and everything is hazy.”

“Ahh…” Luke said softly. “I see.” He leaned forwards, his blue eyes focused on his sister’s brown ones – his voice dreamy. “It will become clearer.”

“We’ll get on it, guys,” Han said. “I’m going to escort the senator home. This seems to have had an effect on her. We’ll get back to you as soon as we find out anything.”

The screen faded into blankness and Mara twisted around on Luke’s lap until she was facing him, his arms encircling her lightly. “So we’re looking for some clue to the origins of the Skywalker family.”

Luke blinked as he came back into reality. “Where did you get that idea from, Jade?”

“I don’t know… a hunch, perhaps.”

Luke stared into nothing for a moment. “Yes,” he murmured slowly. “It’s a good bet that we are.”

“Do Jedi Masters bet?”

“I don’t know. I never knew that many of them - only two.”

“Obi-Wan and Yoda,” Mara muttered.

“I still think you have to be involved, Jade.”

“Why do you say that?” asked Mara, gazing into his eyes.

“Because you’re here with me and it needed both of us to unlock the vision. Not Leia and me, not the Skywalker twins, but Skywalker and Jade… Luke and Mara…”

“Okay, I get it.”

“A good team.”

“Yeah.” She flushed with embarrassment and almost leapt off his knee.

Luke was surprised how bereft he felt when he no longer held her warm presence within his arms. He wondered how easy it would be to get used to such a thing.

The Ship – part 5

Disclaimer – The characters in this story are the property of Lucasfilm. Many thanks to them for inventing them in the first place.

Coruscant – later that evening

Carefully Han ushered Leia into their main sitting room and helped her sit down on a well-upholstered sofa. “You okay, sweetheart?” He moved to the drinks cabinet and grabbed a bottle and a couple of glasses. “You look as if you could do with a stiff drink.”

“You could be right.” Leia stretched out to receive a glass of brandy and brought it thankfully to her parched lips. The liquor was strong and as it trickled down her throat, the warm fiery sensation calmed her nerves and eased the knot which had formed in her stomach. “I needed that, Han,” she gasped gratefully.

He replaced the Savareen Brandy bottle back in the cabinet and reached for his favourite beverage. Pouring himself a large whiskey, he settled down beside her, drawing her into his arms. “Do you know what affected you like that?”

Leia thought deeply. “No,” she said at last. “I don’t know why I felt like that. It was strange because it’s a name from a very long time ago before I knew you or Luke. My reaction was a little extreme, don’t you think?” Nestling into his embrace, she sighed. “I must have been very small – but it still doesn’t explain why I felt so strange. Perhaps it’s because I was thinking of a time when I didn’t know that Han Solo or Luke Skywalker existed.” She gave him a mischievous smile. “There was a time you weren’t around, flyboy.”

“Think how much duller and less fulfilled you would be without us,” Han quipped with a roguish smile.

“How could Luke have known Panaka’s name? Luke would have no knowledge of Captain Panaka unless he’d been on Alderaan with me and Luke was on Tatooine for most of his childhood and a rather remote part of Tatooine at that. I can’t remember very much and I was there. I think Panaka either moved away or died when I was very small.” Leia paused, searching for the memories. “He had dark skin and dark eyes, and tended to be gruff. But I think I liked him.” She shrugged lightly. “That’s all.”

“So we can begin by looking back to Alderaan for him – if we can.” He lifted an eyebrow. “There must be off-world records because there’s nothing left of Alderaan any other place.”

“That’s always going to be the difficult part if we’re dealing with an Alderaanian national. I’m not sure how much information on Alderaanian citizens is preserved in the Imperial databases. Unless he was a wanted criminal, a Rebel operative or a spy, there might not be much. I can’t understand why Luke is on Zathoq asking about a man from Alderaan.”

“Have we got a star chart handy?”

“I think so. There should be one in the computer files. What do we need that for?”

“We can plot the points between Alderaan, Zathoq and any other places notable in the history of the Skywalkers,” Han pronounced with satisfaction. “Luke thought they were running from something and their ship took a hit. We have two points of reference to start with - Zathoq and Alderaan.”

“I could ask Winter if she remembers him, all I can think of is fleeting images. A bit like the memories I have of my mother.” Leia frowned as something elusive tugged at her. Dismissing it as foolishness, she sipped carefully at her drink.

Han pulled himself from the sofa and headed to where Winter had her quarters, next to the nursery. The children were fast asleep and he paused by each bed with a smile. Three such hellions he’d never met in his life, he thought fondly.

Tapping lightly on the door, he smiled at his wife’s aide and confidante as she peered round the frame. “I’m sorry to bother you this late, Winter. Could we have a word?”

The white-haired beauty nodded gracefully and followed Han back into the sitting room.

“We want to consult that memory of yours.”

Winter chuckled. “I hope it’s not the data I deleted yesterday.” She brought up an old joke they shared that she was really a droid and had to go for memory wipes.

Han poured her a drink and returned to the seat next to his wife.

“We never delete the memories of our staff. We threaten Threepio with it now and then, but…”

Leia made a face at her aide. “He just loves to wind up Threepio.”

“Goldenrod asks for it, unlike our lovely Winter here.”

“General…” She shook her white head at him.

“Winter… what can you recall about a Captain Panaka?” asked Han. “I know this is a peculiar question coming out of the blue, but it’s because we had a conversation with Luke earlier and he mentioned this guy. Leia can remember his name and vague images of him which made us really start to wonder. We think he’s Alderaanian.”

Winter pursed her lips and Han imagined he could almost see her flipping through a mental index in her mind.

“No, he wasn’t Alderaanian. He was from… I don’t know where he was from,” she murmured a little surprised. He was part of the security staff attached to the Royal Family and eventually I think he retired somewhere on Alderaan. The Viceroy…” She referred to Leia’s adopted father with a fond smile. “…was always very careful that all his needs were met.”

“Goodness!” Leia remarked in surprise. “So what gave me such a shock when his name was mentioned? He must have been retired when I was still very young, because I certainly don’t recall him being around when I was at school or running for the Senate.”

“I think he left just after I arrived. Which was just after the time that your mother died. I never met your mother, Leia – your real mother, that is.”

“Can you recall anything else from that time?” Leia inquired carefully. “We were practically infants, I know, so it may be difficult even with your ability to recall things. Anything about handmaidens?”

Winter’s head lifted up, a little surprised. “I was yours.”

Han tilted his head to one side and surveyed Winter. “You were brought to the court to be Leia’s handmaiden?”

“Yes. I was told that I would be trained as a companion to Princess Leia. I was to be her adviser, her protector and her friend.”

“Who told you this?” Leia sat up a little straighter.

“Your aunts told me. Your father once said that it was your right as a princess and it was a family tradition.”

Han was quick witted. No one had ever denied this. “Ah yes, but whose family tradition? The Organa or the Skywalker?”

“The Skywalkers were not royalty, Han,” Leia said. “We still have little knowledge of who my mother was even after all these years and at that point there was no mention of the fact that I was a Skywalker. Luke tried to find out about our mother but was unsuccessful. So I suppose it must have been an Alderaanian concept. I was adopted by the Organa’s and brought up as Bail’s own daughter.”

“Mon Mothma or Bel Iblis…” Han said. “Haven’t they any idea?”

“They say no…”

“But you think they might have?” Han questioned curiously.

“I don’t think so. I can’t feel any deception.”

“Perhaps they don’t have enough facts to be able to tell you. I would have thought any royal would have courtiers and attendants,” he mused thoughtfully.

“Yes you would think so, General Solo but it wasn’t a known fashion on our home planet, Leia. I am well versed in Alderaanian history, politics and customs and cannot recall such a formality and I was never referred to as your handmaiden.”

“No,” Leia murmured with a fond smile. “You were my companion, my friend and later on… my aide.”

Winter eyed the couple shrewdly. “Okay, what’s all this in aid of?”

Han grinned. “It’s Luke… and Mara Jade.”

“I see.” Winter’s calm expression didn’t change. “He’s not in trouble again?”

“No.” Leia smiled thankfully. “This time he’s not.”

Han decided it was time to fill Winter in. She would know if there was any more information to be found. “Luke and Mara met by chance on Zathoq and how or why, I’m not too clear about, decided to meditate. They experienced one of their Jedi visions in which there were robed women referred to as ‘handmaidens’ running around in it. Another guy dressed in a military type uniform talked about meeting this… Panaka. These people were in trouble and were ditching their ship. Luke thinks they were running from something and had to take cover on Zathoq. Luke did mention one other person - Olie was his name.”

“Ric Olie,” Winter said with ease. He was a pilot, but he died in a freak accident years ago. His ship exploded. They never discovered exactly what went wrong, or if they did it was never revealed.”

“I don’t remember that or the name.” Leia muttered.

“It was somewhere off planet and again it wasn’t that long after I arrived at Court.”

“So you’re saying that this Olie guy died and Panaka retired not long after you arrived to be Leia’s ‘handmaiden’.”

“Yes.”

“Were there other women around also?” Leia quizzed thoughtfully. “I can remember most of the maids and the nannies, but they were not treated like you were, or a handmaid would be.”

“No – I do not think they were. I was educated with you, shared your schooling. Your other attendants did not do that.”

Han grimaced. “Well if you can’t remember I would say there’s a good chance that they had gone by then. If they were ever on Alderaan.”

Winter hesitated a moment before speaking. “There is one more thing… Ric Olie was not an Alderaanian citizen either. I met him once and he spoke with a slightly different accent. Not so dissimilar that you would notice…”

“But you would, even as a child,” Han finished lightly. “So it’s a good sabacc bet that Ric Olie and this Panaka guy were from the same swamp?

“Undoubtedly,” Winter murmured softly. “They both pronounced their vocal sounds in the same manner.”

“Similar to Alderaan?” He took a sip of his drink and paused thoughtfully. “So they could have been from a neighbouring system?”

Winter chewed her lip for a moment. “To be honest, I’m not sure. The accent was more reminiscent of someone dealing with courtiers or educated people. There was a difference to the cadences of an Alderaanian speech pattern but these men could have been from anywhere in the galaxy.”

“But just not Alderaan,” Han finished.

Winter nodded. “Exactly.”

Leia stifled a yawn, her eyelids drooping and Han eyed Winter carefully, his hazel eyes giving her a careful look. Winter was one of the most brilliant minds ever to emerge from Alderaan and knew when her employer and friend was tired. She took Han’s subtle hint.

Winter smiled and agreed with a discreet nod. “This is true, General Solo. I do think Lieutenant Olie and Captain Panaka were fellow countrymen but from which planet or even system I have no idea, but I’ll do some research and let you know what I find out.” She rose gracefully from her seat. “If you will excuse me I have an early morning tomorrow. Anakin has been awakening far too early for my liking and if I don’t get up too he will have rewired the apartment.”

“Kessel! He’d better not.”

“It’s alright, he’d only reached the fuse box the last time when I caught the scamp.” She chuckled, her grey eyes warming.

“Of course, Winter. If you should remember anything more would you let us know?” Leia stretched out her hand and clasped Winter’s warmly.

“Of course. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” the Solos echoed.

Leia curled into Han’s side. “The kids…”

“Out for the count.”

“I’m tired too.”

Han looked down into his wife’s face. “Yes, you are, but you’re still beautiful.”

She pulled his face down and gave him a warm, lingering kiss. “There are times when I know exactly why I keep you around.”

“I can think of a few more reasons, but I don’t want to shock you.”

“Funny,” she murmured sleepily. “Speaking of shock… It was rather a surprise to see Luke with Mara and not bickering over nothing for once.”

“They get on quite well together when they forget to fight. If he does get into trouble she’ll haul his butt back out of it again.”

“One of those strange coincidence things…”

“What?”

“Luke ending up exactly where Mara was.”

“Yeah.”

“Although…”

“There’s no such thing as luck.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Obi-Wan Kenobi once said to me, there’s no such thing as luck.”

“He did?” Leia leant her head on his shoulder, a bittersweet smile on her lips. “I never met the old Jedi. All I saw of him was the end of the fight with Vader. He’d done what he had to…”

“Brought you and the kid together.”

“Ah…” Enlightenment dawned. “The Force… I see what you’re getting at, flyboy. Mara is meant to be there.”

“Of course she’s meant to be there! Luke rescued you, an anonymous princess and you ended up being his sister. All the Jedi types are inexplicably drawn together. Mara can no more stay away from Luke than deny her hair is kinda red.”

“She tries pretty hard to avoid him sometimes.”

“Fighting hard I would say, sweetheart. He’s drawn to her because she has a flashing holo over her head that says ‘Jedi Force potential please train me even though I’m quite happy the way I am.’”

“She can handle him.”

“Yeah, she can. One of the few.”

“I can handle him.” Leia announced with determination.

“You used to be able to sort him out. I think he’s beyond us at the moment, but he’s never beyond Mara.”

“I resent that.” She tried to protest with some vigour, but was too tired.

Han could see her wilting with fatigue in front of his eyes. “Luke will agree and nod and then go off and do exactly what he wants, Leia.”

“Yeah,” she drawled softly imitating the lazy way he sometimes spoke. “I actually think you’re right.”

“You know I’m right, sweetheart.”

“Han…” her voice drifted softly.

“What?”

“Do you think? Luke and Mara… No…” She shook her tired head and yawned again. “Am I making sense?”

“Not really but I think I can guess what you’re trying to say and my answer…” He shrugged. “I don’t know. They’re both laws unto themselves.” Han got to his feet slowly, feeling his tired muscles protest as he did so. “Come on Highnessness. You need to sleep and so do I, if I’m going to brave the Coruscant library records tomorrow before meeting with General Cracken. I don’t suppose old Palpatine will have left us anything to read, but you never know.”

Zathoq

Mara twisted restlessly in her bunk, tangling the blankets into an uncomfortable knot. It was too hot and she was very aware of Luke apparently lying fast asleep in the opposite lower bunk, his breathing steady. Was Luke right? Did the visions they’d shared concern both Luke and Mara, or were they so obscurely inlaid with deeper meaning that it needed the power of two Force users to open them?

He’d been so… Luke today and not the stiff Jedi Master who watched and weighed everything you said or did. He’d been open, cheerful and unassuming. Mara recalled Leia and Han describing how Luke was when they’d first met him. He’d been brash and naively stubborn as he’d set out on his life’s adventure. In some ways Luke had seemed one-dimensional and not possessing the multi-layered depths of the man of today. He’d talked about the Force, showed her little tricks and techniques, but not harped on and on how she was wasting her gift and should train to full Jedi Knighthood. In fact she’d been the one to bring it up. For the first time in years she’d felt comfortable with her ability and the true desire to learn more.

She peered over the edge of her bunk and observed him as he slept, his bare, muscular chest rising and falling evenly with the happy unconsciousness of sleep. He was a good man and she missed the zest he added to her life, which had been lacking something of late. Mara sighed and yawned as she sorted her twisted blankets and rolled onto her back. He’d seemed surprisingly young and innocent, as he’d slept. ‘I guess, this is almost like a holiday for him,’ she thought.

Her mind turned to Talon Karrde. Strangely enough, he’d not been perturbed at all about her hastily made decision to remain on Zathoq with Luke, but he did want her cargo. He’d made a deal with her. Faughan would arrive with one of the smaller ships as she was in the area and fly back out in the Valiant Vornskyr. That way it was simple and straightforward. Karrde got the cargo he desired and Mara didn’t have to abandon Luke. She didn’t trust him not to get into trouble without her.

The Force was strong in this place, Mara realised. She’d never felt it coursing through her body and surrounding her with such power before. Was it Zathoq, or was it her own awareness and comfort in her growing abilities, or…? Mara reached out to lightly brush the sleeping mind of the man in the other bunk in a gentle caress. Was being around Skywalker opening her receptivity to the Force? It was possible – all things were possible.

She yawned again and pulled the blankets around her, her eyes closing. ‘I’m glad Luke’s here,’ was her last thought as she finally drifted off to sleep.

Luke’s eyes snapped open. It had been hard maintaining the illusion of sleep. He’d not probed into her thoughts, but he’d sensed her turmoil and then finally her mind easing as she grew tired. The most difficult thing was not to reach back to her when she’d at last relaxed. The touch of her mind against his in comfort had been wonderful. The only person he’d ever experienced this with was Leia and he found that it didn’t happen often enough, separated as they were for such long periods of time. Experiencing such closeness through the Force with Mara was unexpected, but something he’d wanted for a long time. He hadn’t realised how badly he had wanted it. Perhaps she was nearly ready to take the step to finally becoming a Jedi Knight, but he wouldn’t impose his own desires on her, as he’d been guilty of in the past. Patience would have its own rewards.

He closed weary eyelids and reached for his calm centred place in the Force where he could relax and drift away peacefully. He visualised his favourite view and in his mind’s eye he saw the twin suns of his home world at sunset - the suns descending towards the golden parched sand. The last time he’d used Tatooine to help himself sleep, he’d seen himself as a small stubborn boy of about six, his hair bleached nearly white by the suns. This time he saw a tall dark skinned man trudging wearily into the desert followed by a small dark haired girl. He ignored the girl because the man was wearing the same type of uniform as he’d visualised himself wearing in his earlier vision with Mara. The scene changed to a barren rocky landscape where the sun gave off a cold bluish light. A small group of people huddled together seeking warmth and comfort near two ugly, anonymous freighters.

The handmaiden with Mara’s face handed over a large travelling carryall to a robed man. Luke couldn’t discern his features and he tried to get closer. The man reached out and ran a shaking finger over the woman’s face and then vanished into the smaller of the two vessels. His last view was of the ship blasting away into space and the images vanished as Luke Skywalker fell into a dreamless sleep where he unconsciously relaxed his barriers and reached out automatically for the beautiful woman who’d become his anchor.

Mara moaned restlessly in her slumber as her bond with the Jedi Master continued to grow and strengthen.

******************************************

Mara and Luke left early the next morning, both uneasy for different reasons. Luke didn’t feel as refreshed as he thought he would after a good night’s sleep. The visions he’d experienced had left him edgy and unsettled. Mara had also seen strange images as she slept, but hers had been mainly to do with the man by her side. Nothing had been clear, everything had been blurred and shadowy, but she was left with the impression that she would achieve nothing unless she embraced the creed Luke Skywalker lived his life by. Luke had described to her what he’d seen on the edge of sleep, but it left them with more questions than they had answers. Zathoq, Tatooine and a now a barren world lit by a cold blue light with people fleeing from something. It struck Luke that this was the last meeting between these people. There had been something about their grave demeanours that had said that this was the last time they would be together. The paths of their lives had to remain apart and there was no mistaking the sorrow and pain.

Mara headed for the south side of Zathoq City but for some reason the silence between them felt unusually uncomfortable. Artoo swivelled his photoreceptor between them, aware that there was something different this morning.

Luke sat silently glancing at Mara from time to time as she drove along the streets. The areas near the centre of the city were well maintained but as they went further south, the decaying state of the buildings and the walkway told the true picture of life here. Groups of sullen, emaciated beings stood silently watching from suspicious eyes.

He sneaked a look at Mara again. She wore a dark green jumpsuit and tunic, her slim waist delineated by a brown leather belt. The ugly hat had been rammed down on her head as far as it would go and no trace of her crowning glory could be seen, not even a single curl. He noted with some surprise that she was wearing her lightsaber. She’d been irritable all morning and he’d retreated into himself building up the walls which she’d somehow steadily been knocking down since he’d arrived on Zathoq. They’d been friends a long time and he trusted her more than anyone else in the galaxy, but sometimes she read him too well and it made him uncomfortable. She caught him looking at her and gave him a narrow-eyed glare. He’d done nothing wrong; well… he didn’t think he had.

“Artoo,” Luke called quietly. “Project a holo of the map Mara downloaded into your memory banks earlier on. Now overlay it with the old map I got from Forrell just before we left.”

“What map?” Mara flashed sharp green eyes at him.

“While you were refuelling the speeder and securing the ship, I nipped in past spaceport security. There are maps there dating back to pre clone war days. Forrell says I can go in and have a look when the sales are over. The place is a lot quieter then and…”

The sight of his enthusiasm bubbling to the surface made Mara’s heart turn over in her chest and with feelings of misgiving she wanted to see him smile, see his blue eyes shine in that particular way they did when he was happy. A cold feeling settled into her gut. She was enjoying his company too much and her old defensive reactions came slamming back full force. “Skywalker!” she snapped without thinking, her face cold and hard. “Shut up… You’re boring me.”

“But… Mara… I thought?” he started and then the joy drained from his countenance leaving it severe and unapproachable. “Suit yourself, Jade,” he bit out through stiff lips. Luke twisted his face into a grimace and ignored Mara, a sliver of hurt at the tone of her voice twisting into his still too trusting heart.

As soon as she’d snapped at him, Mara felt ashamed. He’d sounded so eager and ready that she’d undergone the irrational desire to dampen his excitement because she knew from experience that he would only suffer a disappointment anyway. It was better not to expect too much and then one was never disillusioned – that’s what she’d usually found. Added to that there was the vulnerability of suddenly recognising the importance he had in her life. She’d sworn never to need anyone again and that included Skywalker. Or was it that she’d just read the situation wrong and her instincts, for once, had let her down. On reflection, Luke’s Jedi hunches were not to be treated so cavalierly as there was usually something in them. If Luke Skywalker thought he had to be here and he needed the old maps, then…

Luke gave her cold face a sideways glance, but she was staring straight ahead, a muscle working in her cheek. The little jagged piece of hurt wedged itself further into his heart and he decided that he needed a little time on his own to think. “Mara,” Luke instructed quietly. “Stop the speeder please.”

His voice interrupted her troubled train of thought and she coasted gently to a stop, watching amazed, as Luke climbed out of the vehicle and lifted out Artoo carefully using the Force.

He scanned his surroundings, spotting a couple of landmark buildings and turned to face Mara, his face neutral. “When you decide what you want to do, please let me know. I’ll collect my things from your ship tonight. There’s no point us being together like this if you snap off my nose at every opportunity. I was beginning to think that I was finally getting somewhere with you but no – I guess I was wrong.” His voice was bleak. “You say that you’re my friend, yet you don’t treat me like one. A fair weather friend… I don’t need that just now and I was depending on you to be the one person I could be myself with. You’ll never trust me fully, will you?” He sighed, his shoulders slumping with a sort of pained finality. “I’ll never be the kind of person you want or expect. I never claimed to be perfect – I am the Jedi Master, it’s part of Luke Skywalker. I thought with you I could at least be human.”

Mara opened her mouth to refute his pained words. She felt the numbness in him. She’d never felt him like that before – so cold.

“It’s okay – don’t worry. I won’t make a nuisance of myself,” he muttered bitterly. “You could leave my belongings with Forrell or with your friends at the tapcaf if you don’t want to see me. I won’t get in your way any longer.”

“Aren’t you over reacting, Skywalker?” Mara found her voice.

“Maybe, but after ten years of trying, can you blame me?”

“You weren’t trying all of those ten years?”

“You think I wasn’t? I’ve never asked you for more than I thought you could give. Sure, I wanted you to become a Jedi, you have so much potential and then I wouldn’t have to be so alone, but it’s not to be. Friendship is a two-way street. There is part of you, Mara that needs to attack. Have you ever asked yourself why?”

Mara’s anger began to bubble lightly and did exactly what Luke said she did. “There was the little relationship you had with a certain Forceless former Jedi.”

“Callista had nothing to do with you.”

“No, but she turned you into the most depressing, boring person around, too centred on his own problems and what he lost. There are others in the galaxy that lost far more. Your sister for instance.”

“I made you lose too, didn’t I?” he asked cynically. “Power… position… wealth. You’ll never get those as a Jedi. No wonder you hated me – I destroyed your life. Did you ever think that it might have been the best thing to happen to you?” For a moment his voice and his stance challenged her to answer him, but after she sat in stunned silence, Luke’s shoulders slumped.

“Lu… Luke… I…” she managed to stammer out.

“I’ll relieve you now of my inconsequential, depressing and boring presence. Come on, Artoo.” Luke turned away swiftly and after rocking on his wheels and whirling his little round head indecisively, Artoo reluctantly, with an electronic moan of protest, began to follow his master.

Mara sat and watched until they vanished around a street corner. She couldn’t understand where the fight had come from. So she’d been a little cruel, but sometimes all that dewy-eyed idealism made her teeth rot. She squashed her feelings of guilt and started the engine, but she’d only gone a couple of metres before she slammed on the brakes and swore fluently, her guilt growing to rancor-like proportions. They were fighting again. It always ended with them in another pointless argument. They were both as bad as each other. Luke was the only one who took this from her and always came back for more. She’d made him pretty mad on occasions but it worked two ways. What would she do if one day, he didn’t come back? This time it had been her fault. He’d pulled up the barriers around his presence until she could barely feel him, but there was a part of him with her… always.

“He’ll get himself killed out here - the stupid, brain dead, oversensitive Jedi moron.” Mara aimed her invective at Luke’s departed figure. With a heavy groan she slumped low into the speeder.

Underpinning her anger was the knowledge that she’d been mean and spiteful. Insecure at the strange feelings coursing through her whenever he came near her, she’d reacted with her only weapon against him - her anger. She knew somehow that, to him, she was clearer than transparisteel and Mara wasn’t sure if she liked that feeling. She hadn’t been a ‘little cruel’, she’d been as nasty as only she could be and she had to say she was sorry… for some of the remarks. Her decision was made for her and now – if he forgave her - she was in it for the long haul. She would have to stay and see him through the ups and downs of this little escapade, the trips to the medicentre only to watch him being fished out of a bacta tank again. He’d embroiled her in some damn fool crusade and she’d see it though, whatever happened.

Taking a deep breath she reached out with the Force and found his warm and vital presence. How she could ignore him mystified her at times and she managed somehow to resist the pull he had. His presence made her yearn for something more in her life, but what she hadn’t quite worked out. Was it the completion of her training or something more dangerous? It was time to apologise. ‘Skywalker! Don’t move any further.’

No response – not even a flicker of a reaction and the apologetic words she planned on saying flew away with the speed of a thranta.

‘Skywalker… you stubborn, reckless idiot…’

Still no response, but she knew he was listening. She could feel his presence closer than she ever had before.

‘If you want to get yourself killed you’re going the right way about it… Luke… talk to me.’ Still nothing. He was holding out. ‘Listen you vynock brained space slug…’

‘Why?’

Mara grimaced to herself. She could imagine the truculent expression on his face. The most powerful Jedi in the galaxy and he sulked like a small boy.

‘It’s not safe this far out of the city centre. The law is notoriously absent on this world. More people disappear on this world, never to be seen again, than there are prisoners in the spice mines on Kessel.

‘So?’

A wave of hurt blasted at her only to be quickly stifled and Mara’s stomach gave an uncomfortable lurch. He was hurt at what she’d said. She’d hurt him. Wounded him with words rather than blows and she instinctively became conscious that Luke hid a lot of his pain deep down and she’d only just become aware of that. There weren’t many people Luke Skywalker was close to and only the people he considered himself close to had the power to hurt him.

A woman had hurt him again, but this time it wasn’t Callista it was Mara and she’d thought that she would never do that to Luke. Rather than stay with her and tolerate her behaviour he’d headed off into the heart of the Zathoq slums on his own.

“What have I done?” she whispered, feeling guiltier than ever. ‘Luke,’ she sent to him. ‘I’m sorry.’

The Ship – part 6

Disclaimer – The characters and situations used in this story are the property of Lucasfilm. I’m only borrowing them for a little while and will put them back unharmed later on.

Luke strode mindlessly down a crumbling walkway with Artoo warbling plaintively after him the entire way. He’d no idea where he was going; he just wanted to get away from Mara’s anger. He didn’t want to get away from the lady herself, but if she couldn’t see him as he was - then he would have to finish this task on his own. He was fed up with cracks about his background and his occupation. She was as imbued with the Force as he was. Why wouldn’t she take that extra step and totally commit to the Jedi? She wanted to… he knew she wanted to, but something held her back.

Luke suddenly took a real look at his surroundings and frowned. No wonder Mara didn’t want to become a Jedi if they behaved like he did. He should have never gone off on his own. This truly was reckless behaviour and equated to a small child’s tantrum, not the reasoned choices of a Jedi Master. Behind him the twitterings were getting louder. Artoo considered him reckless too and like Mara Jade wasn’t afraid to tell him.

When Mara had begun her irrational diatribe against him, he had wanted to turn and shout at her, but he’d never treated a friend in that way before and didn’t want to start now. He knew that he would never turn to the dark side but sometimes he felt perilously close to teetering over the edge. It was as if part of him - the impatient part, would lose his hard won control and then he’d regret it for the rest of his life. The easiest option was to walk away. Yoda would have told him that the easiest option was not always the best one.

“Artoo!” Luke breathed between closed teeth.

Artoo stopped moving and, emitting a couple of very strongly voiced opinions, jiggled from side to side and swirled his head with annoyance. Why couldn’t his master listen to him for once?

“Artoo Detoo… come on. We have to keep moving. This is a dangerous area.”

Luke couldn’t see anyone or anything, but he could feel several pairs of eyes trained on him and the faithful little droid. Watching and waiting for an opportunity. Luke shivered a little in the bright sunshine.

When they’d left the spaceport earlier that morning, the first part of their journey had been busy with lots of passing people and traffic. This was merely the daily goings on of a bustling city. But as they went further south, the streets were quieter and the sense of decay stronger. They passed through thriving little pockets of civilisation - a small market, or some small droid lot, but the people were poorer, or rougher, or both. They had driven past a couple of crashed and burnt out speeders, and a rotting door swung uneasily on rusting hinges. Some of the buildings bore the obvious marks of blaster shots and one building Luke was sure had been hit by someone with a thermal detonator. That or a small bomb.

‘Skywalker! Don’t move any further.’

Luke’s face hardened at the sound of her stern voice in his head. He knew what he’d done wasn’t the wisest decision he’d ever made in his life, but he didn’t need Mara telling him that. He knew that. “Just one more thing for her to gripe at me about,” he complained to Artoo. “She can make me angrier than any other person in the galaxy and quicker too. I can’t…” He clenched his teeth as he threw up his barriers and walked forward. “Artoo… We’re going and we’re going now, before I do or say something that I regret.”

‘Skywalker… you stubborn, reckless idiot…’

He couldn’t shut her out? He’d thrown up his strongest mental shields and she was still getting through them! How was she managing to do that? Still… typical Mara. He hadn’t answered her so she was resorting to insults. No apology… just names. He’d been called many things and he hadn’t minded but now… with Mara he did mind and they hurt. His steps slowed… ‘Hurt!’ Mara had hurt him. He had felt the vibro blade sharpness of her tongue as it had cut into him. Luke shook his head in disbelief. She’d gotten under his skin the day that he’d met her and now he was too fond of her, granting her the power to hurt him. Ten years and it had finally come to this. His mind closed off the rest of his thoughts and he knew there were some painful meditations ahead on the subject of Mara Jade.

‘If you want to get yourself killed you’re going about it the right way … Luke… talk to me.’ The demanding voice had changed to one of pleading.

He started to walk faster. Over and over in his head her words echoed despite his strongest barriers. It was as if she were inside his head with him. “Why should I?” he sent back.

‘Listen you vynock brained space slug…’

Her voice rang clearly in his head just as if she’d been standing right next to him shouting in his ear. She was clearly irritated, but he caught a hint of something else through the link – it was guilt. ‘Why the guilt when she’d been so set in her opinions earlier?’ He knew his grudging answer came across as surly, but he was damned if he was going to let Mara Jade walk all over him. He was getting fed up with her constant criticisms and mood swings. It wasn’t as if she were perfect. But his inner voice dared him to disagree. There was something about Mara Jade…

‘It’s not safe this far out of the city centre. The law is notoriously absent on this world.’

‘So?’ Did she think he was a wet nosed kid? Not safe and Skywalker were familiar companions. The hurt he’d felt when she’d been so off hand at him, again threatened his mood, and he pushed it away to the part of him where he stored such things - not forgotten, just biding their time until he was vulnerable. That was when all the pain would rise up and overwhelm him.

He gave a deep sigh and quickened his pace. Artoo started chattering angrily as he rolled along over crumbling paths. Luke had been brought up on a lawless rim-world and was probably more aware of such hazards than she was, and talking of hazards… His danger sense started giving him a warning as he ducked to lie flat on the dusty ground, avoiding a shot as it whistled exactly where he’d been standing. Artoo squealed in panic and shot into the shelter of an overhanging wall. Acting purely on his instincts Luke pulled his own blaster from his thigh holster and accurately snapped off a couple of stun blasts. He could feel the astonished amazement of the hidden snipers as they missed him by a sand panther’s whisker.

“Uh –oh!” he muttered. ‘Skywalker, that was careless,’ he told himself. ‘Losing your focus like that is a basic apprentice Jedi’s mistake.’

“Artoo… my lightsaber,” he hissed at the droid and in a move reminiscent of Jabba’s sail barge all those years ago, Artoo slid aside the panel in his head and shot the lightsaber quickly into the air. Luke caught the weapon in a strong Force grip and guided it securely into his hand. A couple more rapid shots headed his way, but with lightning Jedi reflexes, Luke ignited his saber and expertly parried them. He tried to sense how many attackers were after him and concluded there were at least a dozen. He could feel the consternation at the sight of the lightsaber. Had he blown his cover? He hadn’t gone out of his way to say who he was, but by not carrying his lightsaber he hadn’t advertised the fact either. Even this far out on the rim the name of Skywalker could be recognised.

‘Luke,’

Mara’s voice came to him again, distracting him as he tried to roll out of the way of a flurry of shots. With a cry of agony, Luke clutched at his shoulder and was shocked to see the red, sticky substance of his own blood oozing between his fingers. Several of the shots had penetrated his shields. “Sithspawn,” he swore viciously.

‘Luke!’ Mara’s voice reverberated inside his aching head. It was different this time, a little more agitated and pleading. He almost replied but decided staying alive to speak to her later was a better option.

‘I’m sorry, Luke.’

Scrambling to his feet the Jedi Master ran to where Artoo sheltered behind a low wall, the shots pinging off the heels of his boots. She was apologising? Mara had actually said ‘sorry?’ He almost hesitated but… No time to think about that now.

“Sithspawn!” he cursed. “Come on, Artoo.” He crawled along behind the wall until he came to what looked like an abandoned vendor’s hut. With quick and precise moves, Luke cut a hole through the rotting wooden door big enough for him to crawl through and pull Artoo with him. Breathing heavily he subsided against the wall and closed his eyes as the pain of the blaster burn on his shoulder suddenly hit him. “Keep watch could you, Artoo?”

The little droid beeped an affirmative and rolled to the door keeping a wary eye on his master as he extended his sensors.

Luke carefully pulled away his shirt, which had stuck to the wound and swallowed as he saw the mess his shoulder was in. It was worse than he’d thought. As soon as it had happened he’d automatically started suppressing the pain, but unless he spent several hours in a healing trance it would slow him down. Mara was right - he was an idiot. He should have known better than to parade about in broad daylight in an area notorious for muggings and worse. Mara was more than right – he was an idiot and a fool. Still, something in him told him that this was where he had to be. Nonetheless… was this attack as random as it appeared to be or was someone protecting something?

“Artoo…” he called tiredly. “Could you project the maps for me? One on top of the other. The new one first, with our exact location and then superimpose the Old Republican one on top.”

Artoo gurgled and projected the desired holos. Luke tried to focus on healing the pain in his shoulder and the other blaster burns which had penetrated his shields, as well as finding out where he was. The holo swam in front of his eyes and Artoo moaned with concern.

“I’m not damaged too badly, Artoo. Circuits are still functioning. You think I should forgive Mara her behaviour and get in contact, huh?”

Artoo twittered more enthusiastically.

He shifted trying to get a more comfortable position. “I wasn’t the one who started it. Why should I?”

Artoo replied with a thoughtful whistle and unwillingly Luke had to give his rotund little companion a small smile.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right little fella.”

*************************************************

Mara sat motionless in the speeder, her mind working overtime. ‘Luke, I’m sorry,’ she sent again but there was no reply, just a vague sense of menacing danger and then she felt pain. Her head lifted, frantic worry replacing her guilt. Luke was hurt. She could feel his pain. He couldn’t be too far, only a few minutes away from her own current position. She flipped on her comlink. “Artoo…” No answer. ‘He’s as bad as his Master,’ she thought irritably. She ignited the speeder and took off in the direction Luke had gone. He was on foot so he must be around here somewhere. Okay, so he was the Jedi Master, but he couldn’t have gotten that far in the short time they had been apart.

‘Luke!’ she called through the Force and thought she felt something weak in response. Time to try Artoo again. “Artoo! It’s Mara. Where are you?” This time she was rewarded with a burst of impassioned warbles. A precise location scrawled across the viewscreen on the speeder. “Where’s Luke? Is he with you?” she asked hurriedly as she swung the vehicle into a narrow alley. “He’s still with you and he’s hurt!” Her voice rose. “I knew that – I knew he was in some kind of trouble. “Where’s the med kit?” she spoke out loud to herself. ‘Skywalker will need that – I should never have let him go off on his own’. “Artoo… is he…? He had to go into a healing trance?” Stay where you are - I’m on my way.” She pressed the accelerator and the rusting speeder roared unhappily at its rough treatment. “This is no place for Luke to be drifting into a healing trance,” she muttered worriedly. “It’s either a trance or he’s unconscious. “Hold on, Artoo. I’m coming.”

Soon she came to the open square surrounded by the decaying buildings that Luke had entered at his own peril, but Mara was not in the mood for fooling around and drove straight to Luke and Artoo’s hiding place. Before she could survey her surroundings and think on what to do, her danger sense flared.

“Sithspit!”

Mara’s foot landed heavily on the brake. The speeder stopped with a protesting groan of its tired engine. Aiming her small hold out blaster she fired at a point behind her shoulder and was rewarded with a muffled yell. Something dropped down to land on the dusty ground but she ignored it. Like Luke before her, she could feel the presence of various beings and their discomfited eyes upon her. With deadly accuracy Mara fired half a dozen more shots at points just centimetres above where she sensed these presences and hoped they noticed she was missing on purpose. Luke would be more scrupulous than she would about wounding his attackers. He even hated having to swat an insect, so she hoped he was well enough to take note. He would do it only if he had no other choice. Mara knew they probably had no other choice.

She scanned the area with her Jedi senses on full alert and then shouted into the air. “Next time I’ll aim lower. I’m going to collect my friend and then we’re going to leave. You are going to do nothing.” She tried to put Force overtones into her words but was unsure if they had worked or if they were loud enough. ‘I should have spent more time on Yavin’, she castigated herself angrily. ‘I could have been more certain about what I was doing, more able to help Luke.’

Leaping from the speeder she ran towards the abandoned vendors hut. She could feel Luke’s presence screaming at her. Like the very first time she’d called to him when he first arrived on Zathoq, she was amazed at how quick the contact was between them. He’d lowered his barriers to concentrate on ridding himself of the pain.

“Luke!” Mara called anxiously. One of the snipers must have hit him.

“I’m here, Mara.”

He sounded groggy with the effort of suppressing the pain.

She peered through the gap in the door, her senses on full alert. “Can you walk?”

“Course I can.”

“Artoo said you were hit.”

“Just a graze on my shoulder – a long way from my legs. I’m fine - it’s just a scratch.” He dismissed the angry little wound airily. “Honestly… the blast caught the top of my shoulder and it stung a bit. I tried a quick healing trance and I always have to reorient myself afterwards.” He struggled to his knees and sluggishly pushed Artoo through the hole in the doorway, helping Mara lift him into the speeder with the Force, before crawling through himself, wincing silently as his sore shoulder caught the side of the hole he’d hastily carved in the entrance way. A couple more blasts pinged off the vehicle. a

“Better get out of here.”

“Good idea

“Skywalker,” she drew out his name, carefully watching his eyes react with the pain. “Are you sure it was ‘just a scratch?’”

“I’m fine,” he reiterated quietly avoiding an answer.

But around his mouth Mara could see the white lines of pain. “You’re certainly not fine,” she snapped quickly.

“Mara, I should know myself whether I’m fine or not.”

“Okay then…” she drawled slowly as she jumped into the speeder and fired the engine - all her senses on alert. She could feel the hostile eyes ready to attack once more. “I’m not so sure that you’re telling me the truth but we have to get going. Hold on.” She carefully monitored Luke’s sense in the Force as he climbed into the vehicle and felt him wince as the material of his shirt rubbed across the blaster burn.

“Liar,” Mara murmured as she drove out of the ambush area.

Luke muttered something under his breath.

“I heard that,” she retorted sharply. “If you’re going to sulk do it while I’m present and not by wandering off on your own in a potentially dangerous ‘lets allow every petty criminal to try and annihilate the Jedi Master’, kind of neighbourhood… okay?”

“Leave it, Mara,” he barked.

She was just about to stop the engine, turn around and slap him one when she noticed how pale he’d gone. “Skywalker, just shut up or you’ll have a matching blaster burn on your other shoulder just to even things out.”

Her only answer from him was a feeble chuckle.

“Oh, Luke…” Her voice had that strange mix of exasperation and tenderness.

“What do you expect,” he offered faintly. “It’s me. The odd blaster burn is nothing.”

I suppose not. It must make a change from the bacta tank.” She gave him a sideways glance. “There’s apparently a bacta tank in Coruscant that has your name on it.”

“Not true… reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.” Luke’s voice slowed.

“Artoo,” Mara instructed. “Check the contents of the med kit and get me a piece of synth-flesh and a bacta bandage.”

Luke by this time had gone quietly into a healing trance. Mara stretched out carefully with her senses and decided the place was safe enough to stop for a moment. She swung the speeder into what looked like an underground entry tunnel to what once was a fairly large structure. Just enough to still be in daylight, but hidden from the view of any passing traffic. Not that they’d seen very many vehicles or sentients passing by. This was obviously a no go zone. Deftly she peeled back Luke’s shirt and winced in sympathy at the injury, it looked red-raw and incredibly painful but she was sure it was already better than it had been only minutes before.

“He’ll have to show me how to heal that fast sometime,” she remarked to the rotund little droid. As soon as Luke had slipped into his trance, the concern Mara fought to conceal appeared on her face. “He’ll live,” she murmured with a faint smile of relief.

Artoo gurgled something in response and proffered the sealed bacta compress with his mechanical grasping arm.

Mara blinked her green eyes in thanks and peered at Artoo from underneath her hat. “I can see why they’ve kept you around for so long. You certainly have your uses.”

Artoo gave a soft electronic snicker.

“Yeah,” she agreed softly as she read the message scrolling rapidly across the droid’s screen. “Someone needs to keep an eye on him because he certainly won’t do it for himself. Stubborn, sithspawned nerf.” Mara applied the wrapping and then grinned when Artoo held out her lunch. “Good idea. He won’t wake for another half hour, with any luck…” She gave a reluctantly fond smile in the direction of Luke sitting sprawled in the front seat of the speeder. Her white teeth closed over the bread roll and she chewed vigorously. “With any luck I can decide on our next destination.” She rubbed her floury hands together to get rid of crumbs and sat up. “Right, Artoo. Show me these maps.”

Artoo tootled lightly and the faint humming of his holoprojector was accompanied by the appearance of the holographic maps.

Mara stared at the detail on the Old Republic street plan. Zathoq had still been way out on the rim but hadn’t been as bad as it was now. The streets seemed to be in significantly better condition and the shipyards were considerably more plentiful this far out then, than they were today. She closed her eyes and tried to get a lock on a destination, but could sense nothing through the Force. Maybe they were wasting their time. Perhaps when the ship had been destroyed it had also obliterated all trace of its final destination.

She sighed dejectedly and quickly checked her chrono. With a peep at Luke’s shoulder, she was amazed to note that it was almost healed. Between the bacta compress and the Jedi healing he’d be as right as a rainy day on Tatooine in no time at all, but just to make sure she quickly applied the synth-flesh. Her fingers lingered on the smooth tanned skin she’d been at pains not to admire the first evening when he’d stripped off his shirt in her ship. It had been a long time since she’d lain with a man.

Mara froze in horror. What had brought that into her head? With shaking fingers she pulled the material of his shirt back over his shoulders. “Oh, no, Jade,” she told herself darkly. “I’m definitely not exploring that misguided area in my mind,” she muttered resentfully. ‘I’d be ready for the equivalent of the Jedi lunatic asylum if I ever actually contemplated bonding with him like that.’ Where had that idea come from? This was a new one even for her. Mara swallowed and shadows darkened her green eyes to the exotic colour of the forests on Yavin. A little voice sounded again in her head. ‘Admit it, you’ve always found him attractive.’ The voice was her own.

“No!” she mumbled. “I’m talking to myself again. That man…” She glanced at the figure slumped beside her. “The quicker we find what he’s looking for the faster I can get out of here before I really do something stupid.” She glared at Artoo who twisted his head a couple of times, but wisely remained silent.

“Come on, Luke,” she murmured in his ear. “We have to get moving.”

There was a deep breath and then Luke’s sky-blue eyes blinked hazily at point blank range into hers and for a second, Mara forgot where she was and what she was supposed to be doing as her heart turned over. The expression in his eyes was one she couldn’t define completely or perhaps didn’t want to but he looked for an instant as if his whole world was there right in front of him. They stared deeply into each other’s eyes their lips so close to each other… almost close enough to touch. Something changed between them right there and then – something profoundly deep. It was only momentary – just a flicker in an instant. There was no loud proclamation, no drums, lightning bolts or fanfares - just a quiet stirring in the Force and in their souls.

“It’s time we got going, Skywalker,” she said quietly, retreating. “How’s the shoulder?”

Luke rotated it slowly. “It’s a little stiff, but fine. I’m fine,” he insisted.

“You sure?” Her voice had lost its brittle edge.

“I’m sure. Thanks for the tender loving care.” He busied himself fixing his shirt over the carefully applied bandage. He’d sensed that beneath her brusqueness there was real concern for him - rather more than merely for a friend. It was something he needed to think about.

Mara snorted and then gave him an uncertain glance. Did he mean it or was he being sarcastic? “Yeah… right,” she muttered.

“I meant it,” he thanked her. “But you’re right. We need to find where our vision took place and we need to do it now.”

Artoo twittered behind them.

“Not now, Artoo,” Luke shushed him.

Mara started the engine and began to move carefully from their cover. “I suggest we keep going south.”

Artoo beeped louder.

“Artoo!” Luke threatened quietly and then had to listen to an ever-increasing volume of droid protestation. “Okay, okay… Draw in your wheels, Artoo.”

“Skywalker, can’t you keep control of your droids for a minute?”

“Artoo says we’re right next to an old shipyard.”

“No we’re not. He’s got his bearings wrong.” She frowned at Luke. “This is not a yard - it’s the front of an old building. We’re hiding in an underground entryway to the main complex, but by the look of it, it’s just rubble. It’s either that or home to a swoop gang.”

Artoo began to complain vociferously.

Luke shrugged and then winced as his shoulder protested a little. “Artoo says this used to be a yard according to his map and in fact sells scrap parts cheaply these days. But the entrance is now on the other side. It was in a mess long before the clone wars according to data from the holos.”

“Fine!” Mara grumbled. “If we’ve wasted another day, I won’t be very happy.”

Luke stared at her and again the Jedi Master was back. “You don’t have to stay, Mara. I’m not keeping you here.”

Mara scowled. She knew the real meaning behind that little homily. ‘I’m not the one preventing you from becoming a Jedi. You’re staying with me because I’m the only one who can teach you and you want to know what he finds out about this ship.’ “Let’s go,” she snapped and Luke had to grab onto Artoo as Mara fiercely hit the acceleration pedal. He was right – the only thing keeping her on Zathoq was Luke Skywalker and there was no way she was leaving him alone. She could mock him and snap at him but he was compelling and she was caught in the fascinating snare of his blue eyes and the warmth she felt whenever she was with him. She still wasn’t sure what she was to Luke but he was important to her – far too important. She’d only just admitted it to herself – would she ever be able to confess it to Luke?

For a while there was nothing but a thin-lipped silence until Mara glanced warily at Luke. He’d not met her eyes after the first longing exchange of glances, nor had he said anything either. His face had just assumed the strangest of expressions and she knew him well enough to presume something had disturbed the habitual Jedi calm he wore. There was a connection in her mind, but before she had time to access it…

“Stop!” Luke yelled and leapt from the moving speeder.

Artoo shrieked a warning and Mara’s danger sense reared its head again as she neatly stopped herself from steering the vehicle into a wall. How to cause her own demise by a simple driving accident in one go – work with the Jedi Master. “Luke?” Mara’s face showed her consternation. “What happened? Luke! Where are you…?” she yelled after his departing figure. “Sithspawn!”

But Luke had taken off back into the square and was picking up something lying on the ground.

“I nearly drove us into a wall,” she bit out in disgust to Artoo, who was still jabbering excitedly. “Why on the sands of his home planet did he do that?”

But the droid was as much in the dark as Mara was and could only moan.

Luke jogged slowly back to the vehicle, the puzzled expression still on his face as he stared at whatever he held in his hands.

Mara began her diatribe at his foolishness when he got within twenty paces of the speeder – calling him all the derogatory names in the galaxy that he’d heard of and one or two he hadn’t. ‘What was he thinking about?’ she wondered.

He lifted wary blue eyes and stared at her until her words trickled to a stop. He twisted the object he held lightly between his fingers.

“What have you got there?” she demanded.

Luke shrugged and offered it to her. It was soft, battered and very old. She stroked it carefully. “It’s leather?”

“I think so. It’s dark with age, but I think the colour might have almost been a reddish brown colour. It’s almost shapeless, Mara.”

“It’s a hat.” She rubbed her hands wearily over her eyes. “You risked your life again, running back into the same ambush situation for a hat?” Her voice grew louder and louder finally ending on a wail of disbelief. “Luke!”

“It’s a cap. A peaked cap with a brim and similar to the one I…”

Mara’s mouth dropped open. Luke was right. The last time she’d seen a cap like this he’d been pushing it back on his head in their combined dream-vision.

“We’re in the right place,” he whispered.

“What place?”

“Artoo’s right. The yard is here.”

“It is?” Mara questioned, her pulse still racing, but whether that was from the discovery of the soft object she clutched in one hand, or from Luke’s eyes boring into her own as if he were trying to extract all her secrets - she couldn’t tell.

“Can’t you sense it?”

‘No… All I can feel within me… is you,’ she thought, but dutifully she joined her sense with Luke’s. Once more their connection was instantaneous. She could feel his mind as it joined with hers - she’d hadn’t even been able to link this closely with the Emperor. It was as if their two minds had become one and strangely it wasn’t intrusive or uncomfortable. It felt absolute and Mara felt complete. He was correct. They were indeed in the right place. The ship they sought had at one time been in the yard behind the high stone wall and she sensed there was something else for them to discover.

“Come on, Jade.”

Luke climbed carefully into the vehicle and Mara noted that he was holding himself a little stiffly. She shot him a swift warning look but said nothing. His answering glare told her he knew what she wanted to say but was warning her not to.

“It’s okay, Skywalker. I know… you’re fine.”

“Exactly.” He settled down in his seat but held out his hand and Mara, with a fatalistic sense of her destiny being decided, placed hers in his.

The Ship part 7

Disclaimer – The characters and situations in this story are the property of George Lucas and Lucasfilm Ltd. I’m only borrowing them for my own amusement.

Coruscant

The Old Library, housed in what had been the heart of the Imperial Palace, held enough information to astound the most learned of scholars. To Han Solo, a largely self-taught man, it was an intimidating place, but he’d achieved many things he hadn’t been expected to in his life and if the truth were told he still felt scared by such places. He’d avoided the library at the Imperial Academy when he could while a cadet. Still, Luke had asked him for help and seeing the effect on Leia when these names were mentioned, he had to do what he could. One thing motivated Han Solo more than anything else and it was the love he held for his wife and family. That included the kid and Chewie too.

Han reckoned that typing in the names of Panaka and Ric Olie into the data station’s search engines wouldn’t help much but that was what he planned to do first. It was a start.

A couple of droids swished silently along an upper gallery and what Han suspected might be academics from the Coruscant Universities and Colleges huddled at desks under reading lamps with actual books open in front of them.

The Corellian pulled a couple of data pads and a data reader from a capacious pocket in his jacket and headed for a quiet corner where he could start his search. After a couple of hours he ran his fingers through his untidy hair before stretching the stiffness from his joints. It was just as well the General had postponed that meeting until the following day. He hadn’t been aware of time passing so quickly.

“General Solo!” The prissy voice and the slight metallic creaking of well-oiled joints brought Han to a halt. “Lady Winter sent me to aid you in your search. She thought I might be able to offer the benefits of being able to talk directly with the main computer.”

“Why thanks, Threepio,” Han muttered sardonically. How had he managed to upset Winter so much that she’d sprung the golden protocol droid on him like that? On the other hand he wasn’t making much headway on his own.

“It is my pleasure, sir” Threepio announced, Han’s sarcasm missing him completely.

“Well,” Han drawled. “I guess you’d better go talk to that computer.”

“Certainly, sir. I’m only too glad to help.”

Half an hour later and Threepio had found millions of articles on Alderaan itself but also several records on Alderaan’s Royal household guard. Han plugged the data rods into the reader and scanned the information. Two hours later and they were no further ahead. There were several hundred years worth of names apart from those he was searching for until it came to a period of about thirty to forty years ago. If there had been any records they were not there now. That time in the history of the Alderaanian Court was a complete blank.

“I’m sorry, General Solo, there is nothing on Captain Panaka and Ric Olie in any of the databases I’ve tried so far.”

“Wait a minute, Goldenrod. Lady Winter said the men weren’t from Alderaan. Does that help?”

“It might help, General Solo, but it would take the computer several hours, if not days or weeks to sift through the information. It could even take years.”

‘Typical Threepio exaggeration,’ thought Han sourly. “There can’t be that much left on Alderaan.”

“Ah, but Sir, there is. However you just said we were not looking for natives of Alderaan.”

Han scowled. He’d hoped to go home and present all the information to his wife just like that. He should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. “Okay, Threepio. If you set it up I’ll head off home and let my wife know.”

“Of course, Sir. Did Master Luke say why he wanted this information?”

“No he did not, but it was something to do with the hokey religion and your mistress thinks it is important.”

“I beg your pardon, sir?” Threepio turned his head sharply in Han’s direction.

“It could be connected with the Jedi.”

“No, not that, Sir.”

“Mistress Leia thinks it could be important.”

Threepio uttered a long-suffering sigh. “Then why didn’t you say so, Sir?”

Han stifled the insane desire to throttle the droid standing stiffly to attention with his head cocked at a slight angle. “Listen Threepio… The Jedi Master wants to know and he doesn’t often ask for anything these days…” he finished in an undertone before clearing his throat and adding briskly. “If you find anything… let me know.”

“Of course, sir.” The droid sounded vaguely insulted. “But if it is to do with the Jedi?”

“Whatever Luke’s seeking can’t be found on Yavin IV before you ask.”

Threepio moved stiffly towards the data terminal. “Mistress Tionne is efficient for a human with regards to data. Is Artoo with the Master?”

“I don’t know… I guess. Artoo and Mara Jade.”

“Oh my!”

Han shook his head in disbelief. Threepio was exactly the same as he was the very first time they’d met except worse. He glanced at his chrono and his hazel eyes widened at the time. He’d been here all day and hadn’t eaten. His stomach chose that point to remind him of that fact. “I’m going home,” he threw over his shoulder as wandered casually from the library as if it was something he did every day.

The Grand Corridor in the Imperial Palace had been shut down to the public at this hour and only essential personnel and sentients lucky enough to be living there had access. Han wandered slowly towards the internal shuttle system, his mind ticking over. Luke and Mara Jade. Luke and Mara… The idea was enough to send certain people in the New Republic running for cover. Was it sheer chance that had landed Luke on a planet containing the volatile redhead or was it the Force? Yeah, he scoffed at it in public but this was his children’s legacy. Could the Force have plans for the kid and Jade?

Some long forgotten memory had reminded Leia of a name and a face. A name from her past, perhaps whispered unknowingly in her hearing - something hidden and dangerous. Whatever it was - a cobwebby thread of a dream had sent Luke to the other end of the galaxy on a whim and he’d bumped into Mara Jade. No matter how far those two ran from each other they still met at the other side of the circle.

He climbed into the small transport and settled for the five minute ride to his home. A feeling of warmth and love surrounded him as soon as he thought of home. It was just a pity that he’d no information to give to Leia.

He trailed wearily into the apartment.

“No luck?” Leia moved gracefully into his arms and pressed a gentle kiss on his cheek.

“Nah.” He marvelled that she always knew when he’d be home. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”

Leia smiled, her brown eyes loving. “It doesn’t matter Han. The Jedi Order wasn’t reformed in a day.” Her eyes twinkled up at him.

“I’ve left Threepio communing with the library computer…” He looked around. The apartment was ominously quiet. “Where are the kids?”

“In the lounge.” Leia patted his arm. “They’re playing with something Luke brought them last time he was here.”

“And they only took it out today?”

“They only took it out ten minutes ago and I told them it was nearly time to eat.” She smiled ruefully. “I’m sure I was never like that.”

“Of course not, princess.”

“I’ll go and arrange supper. You get yourself a drink.”

“Good idea, sweetheart.” Han placed his hand on the door.

“And Han…”

“Yeah?”

“Watch your feet.”

“Watch my f… huh, whoa!” Han clutched frantically at the doorframe for support as his feet seemed to go out from under him. “What the hell…”

“Papa!” Jaina shrieked as Han stumbled towards her.

“What’s the meaning of this?” he demanded sternly, bending down to pick up the source of his almost mishap. In his hands he held several tiny glass spheres of different sizes and colours. Han settled for a fatherly glare at the giggling twins before lurching towards his chair where he subsided with a scowl and a groan. It just hadn’t been his day.

“Look, Papa.” Jaina held out a large bag containing hundreds of the little balls.

“They’re marbles,” Jacen inserted before Jaina could tell their father everything.

His daughter held one up to the light and it glittered like a Corusca gem. “They’re made to look like the planets. This one’s Coruscant… this yellow one is Tatooine…”

“This green one is Endor and the white one is Hoth…”

“Okay, okay I get it.” Any more of this and the twins would be reciting every planet or system they’d been to in their short lives and he would never get his drink. He didn’t think he could sit through it. He scanned the room for his third child. Anakin sat in a corner, his brow furrowed earnestly in concentration as he took something apart. “What’s Anakin got?” he whispered to Jacen.

“It’s okay, dad. Nothing important. It’s an old mechanical toy of Jaina’s. It didn’t work before and it will either go ‘all melty’ or work. So we don’t lose out.”

“Very wise.” Han wiped the grin from his face at his son’s grown up tone of voice. He watched his children return to their game and guide the marbles through a series of hoops and runs using the Force. Arising from the chair he carefully avoided some of the abandoned spheres and made for the drinks cabinet, pouring him and Leia a small measure of Corellian whisky each.

“Jacen!” Jaina whined as his oldest son lost control of one of the little balls and it rolled underneath Han’s feet.

Han bent and picked it up. The kids were right. These were fashioned to look like little planetoids. Suddenly a thought struck him and he grabbed the bag from beside his daughter, ignoring her cry of protest. “Hold on a minute, love.” He began to set the marbles in patterns on the floor. “Jacen…”

“Yes.”

“Go and get the star charts from the table in my den. Your mother looked them out for me this morning and your mother has a mind like a steel trap. They will be there – she won’t have forgotten.”

“Yes, Sir.” Jacen grinned, looking for a moment like a miniature copy of his father as he skidded out of the room. An instant later and he was back. “Got them.” He flapped the large pieces of parchment in his sister’s face and then yelped as she punched him. “Hey!”

“Leave Jaina alone, Jacen. Any more of that and you will have extra stories from Threepio. That was your own fault and didn’t your danger sense tell you that Jaina would react exactly in that way?”

Jacen scowled. “She was blocking.”

“Serves you right,” Jaina retorted.

“Kids!” Han warned and the pair of them immediately stopped their squabbling.

“Watch.” He checked the chart and altered the position of some of the spheres, then added more in specific places and patterns.

“What are you doing?” Jaina asked fascinated.

“You said these were like planets?”

“Yes,” the twins chorused together.

“This is part of the galaxy.”

“I see it,” crowed Jacen.

“Me too,” added his sister.

“Dinner’s ready,” called Leia cheerfully, popping her head in and out of the lounge. When no one answered her she stuck her head back in. Three heads were engrossed in something, her husband lying full length on the floor directing the twins in some endeavour. “Didn’t you hear me, guys?” Leia pushed the door and stepped fully into the lounge.

“Mama!” It was a howl of protest.

“You’ve just knocked Endor way out into the unknown regions and Hoth into wild space,” moaned Jacen.

Three faces glared at her and for a moment all she could do was open and shut her mouth helplessly. Leia picked up a little green glass ball. “This is Endor I take it?”

Three heads nodded and she glanced quickly around for the fourth. Anakin sat in his corner his fingers poking into some piece of machinery. “Anakin… it is time to eat,” she called softly and was rewarded as her youngest son lifted his head and smiled at her.

“I know.” He looked at the scattered spheres. “It’s the galaxy,” he said quietly.

“No, it’s the floor of my lounge,” Leia shot back, “and I want it tidied up.”

“But mama…” Jacen protested.

“Leia…”

“What’s so important anyway?”

“It’s the galaxy,” Han said as if that was all she needed to know to understand.

“We have the star charts,” put in Jaina.

“We have the dinner on the table and it is getting cold.”

“But…” the twins protested.

“It’s time to eat,” Leia instructed firmly and when she used that tone of voice you just didn’t argue. Even their father didn’t argue.

Anakin put down the object he was attempting to fix and got to his feet. He gave the ‘galaxy’ a cursory once over, frowned and made his way slowly past the twins towards his mother, kicking one of the small orbs as he did so. The twins howled with annoyance and yelled at their little brother to be careful.

Anakin gave his mother a cool stare, nodded at something and muttered quietly.

“What was that?” asked Leia.

“It was in the wrong place.”

“What was?” Han sat up and looked at the little blue and green ball.

“Don’t know its name,” he said and continued out of the lounge leaving the rest of the family gaping open-mouthed behind him.

“Okay, you guys,” Han remarked quickly. “Leave that ‘planet’ exactly where it rolled to.” He raised an eyebrow and a half-smile crossed his lips. “If I’ve learnt one thing living with Force sensitives. Always expect the unexpected and don’t expect to understand it.”

“Now can we go and have dinner?” Leia questioned. “Anakin has an appetite like your Uncle Luke and if you don’t get to the dining room within the next two seconds I can guarantee there will be very little left.”

There was an immediate scramble from the room as the twins sought to stop their brother from clearing the table.

In the aftermath Han quirked a look at his wife. “We may have just got a vital clue, sweetheart. After dinner we find the name of that particular planet.”

***********************************************************

Zathoq

Barancz heard the voices as they approached the building that doubled as head of operations and living quarters for the small troupe attached to the yard and its owner – Ciri Elo. He’d heard close gunfire earlier on and suspected that some of the others were trying to augment their incomes. Barancz stared at the figures on the pad in front of them and sighed deeply. No matter what he did none of the figures added up, but the boss didn’t seem to care. Plus he was sick – hiding it, but sick. ‘No,’ he told himself. ‘He’s not able to hide it anymore, he’s too sick.’

The voices grew closer.

“How could you have missed him?”

“I didn’t miss him.”

“He was an idiot. Walking alone in this section of the city with only a droid for company.”

“We could have sold the droid.”

“I didn’t miss him – I hit him on the shoulder.”

Barancz frowned.

Parnello slammed his way into the building, puffing on a foul-smelling cherillo. “We’ve got visitors.”

Barancz turned to look at his comrade, trying to hide his disgust at his slovenly appearance and unwashed smell. “So? This is supposed to be a yard which sells ship parts.”

“It’s not been that for years but the old man can’t see it. When was the last time you sold anything? It’s been years. He’s not living in the real world.”

“Don’t speak like that about the old man. Where would you be without his guidance?”

Parnello took the cherillo from his mouth and spat on the ground in disgust. “You can’t see it either. Dressing up in silly costumes that are years old…” He indicated his brownish-leather jerkin which failed to meet over his fat belly. “I’m in the same place I always am. In the gutter at the bottom of the pile…”

“Spare me.” Barancz waved a hand dismissively. “I want to speak to you about another matter.”

Parnello shoved the cherillo back in his mouth. “Yeah?”

“The old man heard shots…”

“So!”

“If we are to get this yard back on its feet we need to encourage buyers not frighten them away.” Barancz ran a hand through his shock of black curls. The old man had found him on the streets when he was but a child. He owed him. He tried to look stern. It was not a good thing to look weak in front of Parnello.

“I’m quite aware that you’ve been targeting any strangers…”

“They have the money and we’re not making any round here. I want to eat.”

Barancz drew himself up to his full height and his grey eyes turned harder than stone. “You owe the old man…”

“I don’t owe him anything and he’s dying on his feet.”

“Don’t ever say that to me again.”

“Hell, Bar, it’s the truth and you know it. When he meets his end I’m out of here…”

“I don’t want to hear about it. Anyway where’s your hat and you said we had visitors? Did you not relieve them of their money?”

Parnello shuffled his feet and looked a little uncomfortable. “I don’t like these strangers… there’s something… weird about them.”

Barancz returned to behind his desk. “I presume they’ve come to see some ship parts, we can’t afford not to like them. You’ve probably scared them off.”

“They should know the risks…” He hesitated. “We’ve nothing worth selling.”

“No… because you and Metri removed the best items and sold them a long time ago.”

Parnello glared at the younger man and took a step forward in a threatening manner.

A dry rasping wheeze sounded from behind Barancz and the old man shuffled slowly out, but the fire in his eyes belied the weakness in his body. “Leave him alone, Parnello,” he ordered in a voice that still held authority despite the effects age and infirmity had on him. “I’m still head of this outfit…”

“Not for much longer I reckon,” gibed Parnello as he turned to leave, removing the cherillo from his mouth and grinding the remainder into the ground with his heel with a satisfied smirk on his face.

Barancz threw the old man a troubled look. Parnello was getting braver because he knew the old one was dying in front of them. He’d faded so much in the last few months, but something kept him going. There was a task he had to complete before he died and Barancz wanted to help him. He’d been an abandoned urchin living on his wits and through what he stole. He still made something from petty crime, but he’d have been much worse by now if the oldster hadn’t taken him in.

“The visitors…” Barancz mumbled.

“Yeah, persistent little buggers. I’ve never seen any one move that fast. He knew where to fire even though we were hidden and so did his friend.”

“I warned you,” the old man sighed. “How many did you persuade to join you this time?”

Parnello sniggered. “Most of them. We’ve stayed here long enough, my father served you and died poor. I’m not going to make the same mistake. I don’t care what we’re protecting…”

“The less you know, the less that can be tortured from you…”

“But, Ciri Elo, Sir,” Barancz stuttered. “Whatever we’re protecting must be long out of people’s memories.”

“There is a great evil in the galaxy…”

“So evil they would torture Parnello? No offence, Ciri Elo, but he’s not that important.”

“The Empire would give much for this information.”

“The Empire is dead…” Barancz argued.

“How do you know?”

“I just heard…”

“Until I see proof I will protect this secret,” the quavering voice turned querulous. “There are still agents of the Empire who want such things.”

Parnello shook his head. The old man was moving farther and farther from reality.

“What kind of proof do you need to see?” asked Barancz.

“I don’t know but when it comes I will recognise it.”

“He had a droid with him.” Parnello said gruffly. “We could have sold that. It would have brought in a little extra money. The sale is on. The droid fired something into the air. We thought it might be a thermal detonator but it was a lighted sword and it made a buzzing sound. We shot at him over and over and he stopped our fire.”

Barancz let out a burst of disbelieving laughter. “ A lighted sword – whatever next. You’ve been at the spirits again.”

But the old man had gone very still. “Where is this man now?” he demanded fiercely, his hooked nose quivering. “Where and what did he look like - dressed in black with a helmet covering his face?”

“No, old man,” Parnello sneered. “Perhaps a little older than Bar here, with fairish hair. He had a brown cloak on and I saw his face.”

“I need to sit down.” The old man subsided into the chair Barancz produced with a trembling sigh.

“What is it, Ciri Elo?” he asked anxiously.

“It is nothing young one… nothing.” He looked up at Parnello who shifted on his feet. “Anything else?” His voice was dry.

“There was a woman with him, at least I think it was a woman. Couldn’t see her properly. She drove into the square. Fired several shots into mid air but they seemed to be very close and one went straight through Tobia’s hat. It was like sorcery. She seemed to know where we were hiding and she told us not to fire any more shots. We didn’t. Tobia said he couldn’t.”

“Tobia did?” muttered Barancz in amazement. Tobia was the most trigger happy of the entire contingent.

Parnello wrinkled his nose. “She then drove to where the offworlder was hiding and picked him and his droid up.”

“Are these the people who are about to drive into our yard?” the old man asked. He’d gone very pale, the wrinkled skin stretched over his bony face accentuating the hooked nose and sharp chin.

Parnello repeated the question into his comlink and listened for the answer. “Tobia says yes.”

“Barancz, come with me. I must meet these strangers.” The old man spoke firmly with an air of anticipation.

“But, Ciri Elo, Sir… You are not well - you have to rest. Let me see what these people want and if they are important to you I will call for you.”

“You are a good man, Barancz. I am tired and I will do as you say, but I will keep within earshot.”

“They could be offworlders here for the sale, that’s all,” Barancz soothed the restless man. “Although it is unusual for them to travel this far out of the city centre. The offworlders are warned that Zathoq City is not safe even for its most hardened citizens.”

“That’s more than likely,” bit out Parnello with a sneer. “Are we even on the register?”

Barancz shot him a look filled with warning and pulled him out of the shabby office. “Can’t you see he’s not well,” he whispered in an undertone.

The older man quickly glanced behind him.

“He’s struggling for his breath and has been doing so for some weeks. I tried to get him to a healer, but he won’t go. He says he’s fine.”

For the first time a measure of pity crossed Parnello’s face. “Come on, Bar. He’s lived a long life. The healer isn’t needed. He won’t get better and you have to face that fact. There’s nothing here for you now.”

“I stay until he’s no longer here.”

“What is he protecting?”

“That.” Barancz replied flatly pointing at an enormous shape buried beneath mechanical debris and broken stone, but the outline could still be glimpsed.

“The ship?”

“Yes, that’s what he cares about.”

“Of course, that’s what he’s protecting. That ship is completely useless to us and it could be making us our fortune.” Parnello frowned. “We should sell it or destroy it – break it up for scrap.”

“We can’t.” Barancz shook his curly black head. “Have you ever been inside it?”

Parnello shook his head. “No, we’ve tried but no luck. Took cutting implements to it once but something made me stop. I head a voice telling me not to do it and then my father said there was an automatic self-destruct rigged. Whatever happened it didn’t go off when it was supposed to and one wrong move will set the timer going again. I think it’s cursed anyway. I asked the old man about it. He says he can’t enter it. Only its rightful heir can. Think of the parts we could have been selling.”

“I don’t think it can even fly.” Barancz sighed, “It’s been there for so long the internal workings must have seized by now. Something tells me it must have been a beautiful and impressive sight at one time.” He twisted his head to stare back into the office where he saw the old man sleeping in the chair. “He’s been hiding here for over forty years.”

“Yeah, it makes you wonder doesn’t it? What was so terrible a secret to make him hide on this planet? What is he hiding from?”

“And why is he still scared… no, that’s what he is. He’s frightened of something or someone. I’ve tried to get him to talk, but he says if he dies then the secret dies with him.”

The old man’s eyes snapped open as the faint sound of a vehicle approaching could be heard but he said nothing. He just switched on the surveillance camera and watched the fuzzy picture on the monitor which was so covered with dust, grime and greasy fingerprint marks it was difficult to tell what was advancing. Finally his rheumy eyes focused on the dilapidated speeder that drove slowly into the yard. It contained two occupants and a droid.

The Ship – part 8 by Ash

Disclaimer – the characters and situations in this fic are the property of Lucasfilm. I’ve only borrowed them to play with for a short while and will return them as good as new.

Mara sat beside Luke in the speeder, her hand still clasped firmly in his, little tingles of awareness running through her. With her mind on automatic pilot she carefully steered the vehicle towards the entrance of what they suspected was the yard where a long time ago a ship had landed containing a dark-skinned captain, a hook-nosed lieutenant and beautiful, mysterious handmaidens.

“What does your danger sense tell you, Mara?” Luke asked softly as she slowed the vehicle to a stop just out of sight of the entrance.

Mara stretched out with the Force, becoming attuned to the world around her. She could hear people talking, arguing and laughing as they went about their daily lives; she felt the warm, dry wind on her cheeks and the vague sense of hostility very close to her. There was something else very close to her but her mind shied away from analysing that particular sensation.

“I can’t sense anything just yet. They know we are coming and are antagonistic and suspicious…”

Luke nodded his head. “I can feel that too, but there’s more…”

“A sense of anticipation…”

“And a life waiting for something…”

“Waiting to die,” Mara concluded amazed at the way their thoughts overlapped so seamlessly - almost as if they were one person. She glanced down, surprised to find that her hand was still grasped firmly in the Jedi Master’s. His gaze followed hers, lingering on their joined hands and he smiled as he rubbed his thumb across the smooth skin of her palm. She felt the differences between them just by the simple touch of his hand on hers. His hand was larger, rougher, more calloused, but warm and somehow comforting. A complex man, yet simple in his needs and desires – one used to hard work, accustomed to his fame and how to handle it, yet made uneasy by it and desiring his privacy.

“We make a good team, Mara Jade,” Luke whispered softly, his blue eyes catching her vivid green ones, and Mara found she couldn’t look away. When he dipped his head she swayed closer and her lips parted. His mouth touched hers ever so gently, the sweetness of it unlike anything either of them had ever encountered. They drew reluctantly apart, their eyes wide with the new-found knowledge that things between them had definitely changed forever. Luke rubbed a shaking finger across her soft lips and drew back.

“Luke, I…”

He shook his head gently. “This is not the time for such things, Mara, but it’s a place we will return to, you and I.”

“I know.” Her voice was soft yet sure.

“We’ll probably be quarrelling again in a very short time.”

“Me!” Mara opened her eyes wide. “Argue with you? I assure you it is always you who quarrels with me.”

“Funny, Jade,” Luke retorted dryly. “Keep your wits about you. I don’t want to be pulling your butt out of trouble.”

Mara quirked an eyebrow but said nothing. She’d get her own back at him for that remark, probably by pulling his firm behind out of danger. He was right though; they did work well as a team and always had.

Luke took a deep, careful breath. Reluctantly he relinquished Mara’s hand and she turned her attention to driving the speeder through the ramshackle gates of the yard.

They slowed almost to a halt. Mara cut the engine and the two Jedi sat motionless for a moment drinking in the atmosphere, listening to the sounds around them. It was too quiet, a tense sense of expectancy filling the unnatural stillness. Suddenly a lone bird called shrilly, high in the grey, cloudy sky, breaking the spell. Artoo twisted his head and gave a pathetic little whine.

Luke jerked his hand - moving it automatically to feel the comforting grip of his lightsaber and Mara gave him a quick glance of agreement. Turning to Artoo she held out her hand and the secret compartment slid aside revealing her lightsaber.

“I thought you were wearing that,” Luke’s voice held no censure but she felt his unease.

“I was… but when I was dealing with your injury I gave it to Artoo for safekeeping. It was unwise of me because I know it should be my first and only line of defence, but I’ve depended on my blaster for so long. Even with the saber it is difficult to relinquish my safety blanket.” She reattached it to her belt, gave her hat a tug to make sure it was in place and then with a faint smile joined Luke.

The Jedi Master opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, emotion glittering in his famous blue eyes, but all he could do in the end was smile at her in that way he’d been doing lately and Mara’s heart melted once again.

“I am a Jedi and I’m honoured to wear your father’s lightsaber, no matter what you may think.”

“Still, Jade. It is best to be prepared for all eventualities.” Luke slid his hand up her arm slowly… lingeringly… Tormentingly checking that the little holdout blaster was in its place in her hidden wrist holster. His fingers found the delicate pulse point and caressed it slowly. Her skin was like the softest piece of mothsilk.

Mara found that her breath caught in her throat for a second, before she was able to speak. Feelings rippled through her body at the sensation of his lightest touch. “Come on, Skywalker. Let’s get this show moving.”

The place was a disaster zone. It looked as if someone had fought a war in the confines of the yard. Parts of engines mixed with lumps of masonry, which might at one time have been hangars. Towers of rusting starship parts lurched at drunken angles, the faintest movement threatening to send them crashing to the ground. The sound of falling rocks made both Jedi twist swiftly around, all senses on alert, straining to feel the presence of an enemy.

Mara moistened her dry lips; there was the impression that something important was going to happen. She swallowed, her throat constricting nervously.

Luke pushed his cloak over his shoulders out of the way, ready to act, but he was also searching. He was close…so close to what he was seeking.

‘It’s here, Mara.’ His voice echoed in her head.

‘Don’t you mean was here, farmboy?’

‘I’m not sure. There is something here for us to find.’

‘This place is enormous and totally disorganised. How could we find anything here?’

‘The Force will guide us.’

Mara snickered. He sounded so stuffy when he thought that way, but she supposed that was part of his charm. He truly believed and Mara knew that she did too. “I suggest we look for the main office, Jedi. I can feel several presences here. How about we do it the normal way first and then we can take it from there?”

Luke reattached his saber to his belt after another quick scan. “Good idea, Jade. Let’s go looking for trouble.”

Mara chuckled. “Nothing new there, then.”

Luke turned a startled face towards her and then laughed in response. “I guess not.”

Artoo moaned.

“Stop being overly dramatic, short and round,” Mara gibed with dark amusement. “You’ve been spending too much time with Threepio.”

Luke gave a chuckle. “She’s right, Artoo. Stop complaining.”

Mara, with her hand firmly around her saber, edged over a heap of crumbling masonry and gave the merchandise on view a practised once-over. “I don’t think they sell very much.”

“Are they registered in the sale manifest?” Luke asked thoughtfully.

“I don’t know. Artoo?”

Artoo made a whirring sound and then twittered rapidly.

Luke’s eyes widened. “Artoo says not.”

Mara shivered slightly. “I don’t like it!”

“Come on, Jade, they know we’re here.”

“Yeah, but they attacked you and would have robbed you and left you for dead.”

“But I’m still alive and we’re here. We have to find out if the ship was here. We have to see if there’s anyone here who can help us – tell us what we need to know. We may come away from here without finding out anything at all.” He held his hands out in a gesture of appeal. “Mara… I have to know.”

“Would the Force have led us here if there was nothing to find?”

Luke sighed. “I don’t think so… yet the Force moves in mysterious ways. It could have a different lesson to teach me but it has not yet led me down a wrong path. I have to trust my instincts, and yours.”

“This is true. My instincts are normally better than yours.”

“Hah-hah, very funny, Jade. If the ship was put on a self-destruct there should be evidence even now. A crater at least.”

“You can hide such things,” Mara said slowly.

“Yes, you can, but look at this place, Mara. Everything has been left to pile up year after year. There must be hundreds of years’ worth of junk.”

“I get your drift, farmboy. Hundreds of years of junk and thirty or forty years’ worth of debris on top of where a ship exploded.” Suddenly she froze and swung around. “I sense presences in that direction.” Mara pointed ahead. “I think that must be where the office is located.”

“Artoo!” Luke commanded quietly, and with his hand on his saber he set off in the direction Mara had indicated.

***********************************************

Barancz returned to the office, pulled open the drawer in his desk and drew out his laser pistol, setting it to stun. He saw the old man nod in approval. There was no harm in being careful. Who knew what kind of mood these offworlders were in after being shot at and wounded by Parnello and his cohorts? He’d spent most of his life in and around this yard and was aware of virtually every square inch. If they were merely after a long-obsolete ship part he would know if they had it in stock, but he doubted it. There wasn’t anything in working order.

He turned to the small waiting group of sullen men. “Parnello…”

“Yeah!”

“Cover me, but don’t open fire unless I give the signal.”

“Who appointed you the Lord Moff?”

The old man gave a wheezy chuckle. “He has a clear head and a quick brain, Parnello. No use in being dead because of an accidental mishap.” He struggled for a breath and Barancz turned to him, his grey eyes concerned. “No, I’m as well as I can expect to be. But be careful, if what Parnello says is true, these laser swords are something unique.”

“Laser swords?”

“The lighted stick things,” Parnello interrupted belligerently. “He blocked our shots with it. No one moves that fast. It’s sorcery. I say we kill him.”

“Sorcery… rubbish!” the old man gasped dismissively. “These are possibly lightsabers but...” Parnello was overfond of the draf. Still, it was early in the day for Parnello to have started drinking.

“Lightsabers? I’ve never heard of them,” muttered Parnello, wiping a greasy hand over his nose.

“I have. You told me tales of the men and women who carried them long ago,” Barancz inserted with a dreamy expression.

“Yes, the beings that carried such weapons were the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy. They were known as the Jedi.”

Parnello spat on the ground in disgust. “I definitely say we take them. They are cursed.”

“Do we know that these… people are what you say? I thought the Jedi were just stories?” Barancz lifted confused grey eyes.

Tobia shook his head. “Where you been puttin’ your ears, Bar? The Jedi have been back in the galaxy for years. Not seen any sign of them around here before and definitely not in Elo’s yard. What would there be on Zathoq that might interest Jedi?”

“You never told me you’d heard of these guys, Tobia,” Parnello accused.

“I listen to the HoloNet sometimes. You learn useful things,” Tobia answered defensively.

Parnello toed the ground with one dusty booted foot. “Hah!” he spat. “You never told me about the lighted swords.”

“You never asked.” Tobia sniffed. “Too busy shooting…”

Parnello reacted immediately, grabbing the other man by the throat. “You’re a fine one to talk.” He squeezed tighter and watched with grim satisfaction as Tobia’s face paled.

“Enough!” ordered Barancz.

The tow men glowered at each other and then at the younger man before reluctantly separating.

Ciri Elo leaned back in his chair. “The Jedi never left this galaxy, Barancz. They had to conserve their strength and their numbers, but I had no doubt that they would come back. They had to hide.”

“No doubt?” asked Barancz.

“None whatsoever,” the old man murmured gently and gazed into the distance as if seeing those far-off warriors from long ago.

Barancz sighed, the tension knotting his stomach. He had noticed this more and more of late, the old man drifting calmly away from them in a dream of a time long past.

“The trouble with the Jedi was that they fell into two distinct camps,” the old man remarked carefully.

“Two?”

“Yes, two. It ultimately caused their undoing as the bad conquered the good and we were left running…” He stopped as if aware that he’d said too much.

“Are you sure it was a lightsaber, Parnello saw?” Barancz asked.

“I don’t know. It was a buzzing stick thing,” the unkempt man argued hotly. “They don’t have ‘I am a Jedi’ broadcasting from their persons. I think you have too vivid an imagination, old man.”

Ciri Elo struggled to his feet. “Go with Barancz, , and see what they want. If it is the Jedi, they may not be so easy to get rid of. I would prefer to know for sure which of the two camps they belonged to – the light or the dark.” He sank wearily back into the chair. “I don’t know who to trust now and I’m tired.”

Barancz ran a dirty hand through his black curls. “Come on, let’s go.”

**********************************

Mara moved gracefully over piles of rubbish, with Luke clambering nimbly behind her, until they approached a basic stone structure. Luke thought it could have been fashioned from the remains of something much larger. It could be a clue about a large explosion, the materials used to build something else, but his senses weren’t telling him anything.

“What do you feel, Luke?” Mara’s low voice carried across to him. “Can you get any readings at all?”

Luke shrugged. “Nothing unusual… hostility… apprehension. There is something more… someone more.”

Mara paused in her movements and turned her head to face Luke, her eyes keenly green beneath the ugly hat. “That’s what I sense too.”

The sharp sound of booted feet crunching on gravel caught at their ears and immediately drew their attention.

Mara nodded at Luke. “Two,” she whispered.

“Shall we keep it casual?” Luke grinned, his eyes lighting up in the way that made Mara’s toes curl inside her boots.

“They may not know who we are.”

“This is true, but the Jedi are well known now in the galaxy and as you said, people come a very long way to attend the ship sale. Let’s assume they know, but don’t bring it up unless they do.”

“I forget sometimes you once were a rebel soldier, but I shouldn’t.”

“You must think I’m some kind of incompetent,” Luke bristled a little.

“No, Luke… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Yeah, okay…” He dismissed her apology. “Let’s use our alternative names.”

“You forget, farmboy. You used your real one.”

Luke’s face fell for a moment. “So I did, but I can just be ‘Farmer Luke’ then. Forget about the Skywalker bit. It doesn’t always help.”

Mara’s green eyes widened and she smiled sweetly with a hint of malice. “You don’t say.”

“Funny, Merah”

“What about Artoo?”

“We may need him, but he’s having problems with the terrain and I don’t want to leave him alone with the speeder. It’s times like this I wish I had a repulsor sled for him.”

“I bet he does too.”

“Hey, Artoo. You coping back there?” he threw over his shoulder.

The little droid gave a short, sharp, pithy retort. He wasn’t happy and let them know about it.

Luke sighed. “Artoo, I did say there wouldn’t be any forests.” He turned back to Mara. “I could levitate him using the Force, but I don’t want to spook the inhabitants of this rock and scrap-metal jungle.”

“Yeah.” Mara wrinkled her nose up in thought. “A droid floating for no apparent reason can unnerve superstitious beings.”

“Artoo, I suggest you find somewhere to hide where I can get to you if you’re needed, and keep your com channel open. Or…” Luke grinned at Mara.

“What?”

“Artoo… I suggest you go and do a little exploring of your own… and try not to get into any trouble.”

The droid beeped an upbeat assent and rolled off in a different direction, moving behind a stack of rusting panels from some long-dead ship.

“Right, Merah. We have our two beings almost upon us. Shall I try a friendly hello?”

“You might as well. Just keep your hands on your saber and all your senses alert.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

*************************************************************************************

“Hello-o!”

Barancz heard the voice shout a cheerful greeting before the couple came into view.

“Hello there!” Luke called again.

He glanced at the old man. “It seems they are looking for us.”

“They’ve not hidden their arrival, Barancz. It’s broad daylight.”

Barancz switched on the old black and white security holocam. “They’re coming around that last stack, should be with us about now.”

The visitors wandered casually into view and Barancz found himself studying the pair as they approached. A fair-haired man of medium height, slightly tanned as if he’d spent some time in a warm climate, and as he drew closer Barancz could see vivid blue eyes. He was dressed in the usual space traveller’s outfit with a brown cloak covering him. Still, something about the man made him wary.

The facial features of his smaller companion were almost obscured by a dark green hat, matching her jumpsuit, tunic and cloak. He couldn’t see her eyes but had the impression they were trained on him with sharpness and had already made up her mind about him.

There was an impression of relaxed casualness about the pair, but Barancz noted that their hands never strayed too far away from their belts. He couldn’t see what was hidden there because of the way their cloaks hung. Probably their blasters, or if Parnello and the old man were to be believed, their lightsabers.

Parnello stared hard at the tow-headed man. He’d hit him, of that he was almost certain, but the guy moved easily. Not the gait of someone nursing an injury, and a blaster burn could feel as if someone had set fire to your shoulder.

Mara stared at the odd couple as they waited for them. One was a man of about their own age with a shock of black curly hair and serious grey eyes. The other was older, but she’d felt his presence before, spitefully plotting their downfall earlier in the day. So he’d been one of the attackers earlier. He was grossly overweight, a greasy hutt of a man with straggling unkempt hair. A coward, Mara concluded. Hits his victims like a sniper from afar. They wouldn’t see the face of their killer as they died.

Luke tried not to gape and held his reactions back as far as he could. The two men were dressed in shabby reddish-brown leather uniforms – ones that might at one time have been worn by the men he had seen in his visions. A cap was tucked into the younger man’s belt and he knew it was the same as the one Artoo was keeping for them. It all matched up. He still couldn’t sense anything resembling an explosion, but it was too dangerous to try meditating on the subject just now. He would let events take their course and see where this took them.

“Hello.” Luke tried opening with the usual pleasantries, deepening his outer rim accent, which he could still adopt if he needed to. Although being away from Tatooine and living on Coruscant or Yavin had smoothed his accent quite noticeably. Luke now spoke with the cultured tones of an educated man of the galaxy. “I’m Luke and this is my associate, Merah.” There was no response, only an air of suspicion. “We were just passing and wondered if you had anything for sale.”

“I’m a trader and am often asked to provide interesting items for my more discerning clients.” Mara’s voice was clear and direct. “I specialise in the… unusual.”

Parnello snorted but stopped at the irritated glance Barancz directed towards him.

“Barancz at your service, gentlebeings, and this is Parnello.”

The older man glared at Barancz before coming out with what he was supposed to say. “How may we be of service?” he spat grudgingly.

Mara almost laughed but didn’t think Parnello would take it too kindly. She had the feeling he was not in favour of their being welcomed at all.

“We are looking for information and perhaps some parts for our ship. It is very old and none of the other yards had quite what we were looking for.”

Barancz took a step forward and tried to peer at the woman underneath the hat. With a gasp he took a step backwards. He’d just seen the most beautiful face and eyes of a colour he’d never dreamed could exist.

“Ma’am,” he gulped and looked towards Parnello for guidance.

“I suggest we take them on a tour of the facility and see if there is anything they would care to purchase.”

Barancz twisted his head to stare at Parnello in amazement. He’d swallowed a dictionary. “I have to go and check in with the old man…”

Luke glanced at Mara. “We could easily wander around ourselves…”

“No!” Barancz cut in sharply. “We will escort you.”

Luke raised an eyebrow. So they had something they were uneasy about. He stretched out with his feelings and sensed the turmoil rolling off the younger man. Yes, there was definitely something they didn’t want them to find out about. It could be nothing, of course. A gang such as this one could be hiding a number of things from a crate of illegal spice to an underworld profiteering racket, but somehow he didn’t think that was the case. These people were down on their luck, they were stuck way out in the slums, and they were certainly uneasy.

He exerted his charm and smiled affably. “I would be honoured to see anything you wish to show me.”

Mara gave Luke a suspicious glance; the wily Jedi Master was up to something. She felt a ripple in the Force and watched as Luke tripped over his own feet.

“Sorry,” he apologised. “The binding on my boots has just come undone. I’ll follow you.”

The other three hesitated and then kept onwards; Parnello kept turning round to stare at Luke, who fiddled with his boot straps, cursing as he did so.

Luke grinned to himself and spoke softly into the comlink pinned to his collar. “Artoo, go and see what you can find, anything unusual. Marks of damage… anything. We’re heading north - I suggest you go south.” He frowned and gave a final tug at his boots. “Damn boots!” He deliberately raised his voice and jumped quickly to his feet, jogging swiftly to join the small group.

Mara narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the Jedi Master. “What are you up to, farmboy?”

“Oh, this and that.”

“Explain.”

“Artoo’s gone to do a little investigating of his own.”

“I know!”

“I was just guiding his direction a little more. We’re being herded in a particular path. I have a feeling…”

“Good idea, Skywalker.”

Mara moved forward to look at some engine coils, but discarded them quickly. There was nothing here; it was all just scrap. She shook her head.

Luke sighed but wandered towards something glinting dully in the weak sunshine. He almost ignored it but something tugged at his subconscious. He knelt slowly and dug into the ground with his fingers. “There’s something here, something half buried…” He picked up a bit of metal and scraped carefully away at the earth surrounding the object. It was a piece of ornamental glassware. Filthy from years buried in the ground, but even in that state he could see different colours and beautiful contours.

“Luke!” Mara gasped. “Let me see… It’s intact and old… at least pre-Empire. Possibly even older than that… from the middle of the Old Republic.”

He cradled the filthy piece of crystal in his hands. Despite it’s coating of grime it was still obvious that it was a rare thing of beauty.

“How could this have survived?” Mara asked.

“Some delicate objects only look fragile. They have an inner strength that will help them endure many trials.” Luke gazed deeply into Mara’s eyes as he spoke.

“What did you find?” Barancz dropped to his knees beside Mara.

“This.” Luke held up the find. “Merah is the expert in such things - not me. But it is a perfume jar.” There was no hesitation.

Mara blinked in surprise. The farmboy never ceased to surprise her, but she should have known he was right. “It would have sat on a dressing table but not just any dresser. This is a superior quality item.”

“My aunt had something similar, but not quite as beautiful,” Luke explained quietly, handing the vial to Mara. “That’s how I know.”

“It is certainly from the middle period of the Old Republic and from superior craftsmen. The shape of the curved glass reminds me…”

Luke suddenly had a picture of an elegant hand reaching for the beautiful item; slim, tapering fingers with painted nails pulled the stopper from its slender neck and a hint of perfume teased his nostrils. He sat back, gasping.

“Luke!” Mara knelt beside him, her voice anxious. “What is it – what did you see?”

He shook his head. “Ssh!” he warned. ‘This is not the time, Mara.’

The old man had watched everything on the monitor and felt compelled to move outside. He hadn’t seen anything like the object the woman held in her hand for years. An uncomfortable sensation twisted in his gut. He knew exactly where such an item had once been placed.

He limped awkwardly to the door and out into the yard. Barancz noticed him coming and ran to help him. Parnello stood watching the strangers as the woman helped the man arise from where he’d been sitting.

His first proper look at the young man struck a chord of recognition, but from where he couldn’t recall. His fair hair and blue eyes were not an unusual combination, but the eyes were a particularly intense shade of blue. Many years ago he’d seen eyes like that. He shook his head weakly as his senses began to swim. Was it possible…?

The man turned and said something quietly to the woman who was standing behind him and she walked around and stood beside him.

“This is Ciri Elo,” Barancz offered. “He is the owner of this yard.”

The old man felt as if he was standing a long way off. Barancz’s words sounded strange in his ears.

Luke stared straight into the old man’s face and his jaw dropped in recognition. “It couldn’t be – it just couldn’t.” He threw a glance at the red-haired trader. “Mara… it’s… he’s…”

Mara stepped closer to Luke, sensing that something about the old man had given the Jedi Master a shock, and as she moved nearer, she too, recognised the face from her dreams. He’d been much younger then, but the hooked nose and sharp chin were still the same.

“But you’re…” she stopped, her voice rising. She gave Luke a swift sideways glance.

The old man’s breath caught in his throat as the beauty of her face, with eyes like sparkling emeralds, was revealed. He took a step forward and with shaking hands pulled Mara’s hat from her head. The red-gold plaits were wound around her head, but they glinted in the afternoon sunlight as if her hair had been made of pure gold. “My lady?” he whispered, amazement crossing his lined face. “My lady… you’re here at last…” His face grew pale as he choked, trying to clear his lungs for breath, before he clutched at his chest and collapsed in a heap on the ground.

Mara and Luke stood stunned for a second until Barancz screamed in horror. The sound galvanised the Jedi Master into action and he knelt swiftly beside the limp form of the old man. After a few moments he sat back on his haunches and with a defeated sigh looked up at Mara. He shook his head and Mara stepped back, one hand going to her mouth. In her other she still held the glass perfume vial.

“No,” she whispered.

The old man half opened his eyes. “My lady…”

Mara knelt beside Luke and eased the old man’s head onto her lap. “Ssh,” she instructed gently. “We have to get you to a healer.”

“No.” The voice was a thread of sound, just a whisper. “No time…” He almost smiled. Turning fading eyes on Luke, enlightenment crossed his features. “I’ve kept it safe… sir.” Once more his eyes sought Mara and confusion crossed his features. “You can’t be…” he whispered. “It’s the wrong time… The right faces…”

“What?” Mara questioned anxiously, her face white.

“You can’t be… but so like…” He took another shallow breath and then lay still. “Children…”

Mara turned green eyes swimming with unaccustomed tears towards Luke. “Help him.”

“I’m sorry,” Luke whispered, the pity apparent in his expressive face as he closed the old man’s eyes. “He’s dead.”

“He can’t be dead,” Barancz protested. “He’s not been well, but he just can’t be.”

Luke watched patiently as Mara cradled the limp body in her lap. “He’s dead, Merah.”

“I know.”

Parnello spoke gruffly into his comlink and immediately a group of assorted individuals came and took the body away. Luke recognised Tobia with his swarthy face and unkempt moustache. All of them dressed in the ancient leather uniforms.

Luke got wearily to his feet. He’d seen death so often in his life that he should be used to it, but there was something about the old man that had hinted at a life hidden away in this corner of the galaxy. Was it a wasted life? “Come on, Mara,” he said quietly to the woman still kneeling on the dusty ground.

Mara looked up towards the Jedi Master, grief for a man she hadn’t known etched into her face.

Luke held out his hand and she grabbed it – her lifeline in a bewildering world of feelings. When his arm came around her in comfort she leant into his strength for a moment - but only for a moment. Her green eyes met Luke’s vivid blue ones and she dipped her head in acknowledgement, her composure returned.

“I’m fine, Luke.”

“Of course.” The Jedi Master stepped away, giving Mara the space she needed, and he turned towards Barancz. “I’m sorry.”

“He brought me up – was like a father to me… and now he’s gone.” His voice was hesitant – almost broken, his expression confused. “They won’t follow me like they did Ciri Elo.”

Luke spoke softly but with all the power of a Jedi. “Keep his memory within you and he won’t ever be gone.”

Barancz peered at Luke from underneath his untidy black curls, the words easing his initial shock and distress.

Parnello shoved a cherillo in his mouth. “He’s old, he wasn’t well… we could all see that, but you…” He pointed at Mara. “Killed him.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Mara protested, anger colouring her voice.

“He’s seen you before and the shock of seeing you again killed him.”

“I’ve never met him and what you’re suggesting is ludicrous.” She took a step forward, her chin defiant. “How could I have met him before?”

“I don’t know… do I?” Parnello glowered.

Luke laid a comforting hand on Barancz’s arm. “He was a good man.”

“How do you know?”

“I can feel it.”

The Ship – part 8 by Ash

Disclaimer – the characters and situations in this fic are the property of Lucasfilm. I’ve only borrowed them to play with for a short while and will return them as good as new.

Mara sat beside Luke in the speeder, her hand still clasped firmly in his, little tingles of awareness running through her. With her mind on automatic pilot she carefully steered the vehicle towards the entrance of what they suspected was the yard where a long time ago a ship had landed containing a dark-skinned captain, a hook-nosed lieutenant and beautiful, mysterious handmaidens.

“What does your danger sense tell you, Mara?” Luke asked softly as she slowed the vehicle to a stop just out of sight of the entrance.

Mara stretched out with the Force, becoming attuned to the world around her. She could hear people talking, arguing and laughing as they went about their daily lives; she felt the warm, dry wind on her cheeks and the vague sense of hostility very close to her. There was something else very close to her but her mind shied away from analysing that particular sensation.

“I can’t sense anything just yet. They know we are coming and are antagonistic and suspicious…”

Luke nodded his head. “I can feel that too, but there’s more…”

“A sense of anticipation…”

“And a life waiting for something…”

“Waiting to die,” Mara concluded amazed at the way their thoughts overlapped so seamlessly - almost as if they were one person. She glanced down, surprised to find that her hand was still grasped firmly in the Jedi Master’s. His gaze followed hers, lingering on their joined hands and he smiled as he rubbed his thumb across the smooth skin of her palm. She felt the differences between them just by the simple touch of his hand on hers. His hand was larger, rougher, more calloused, but warm and somehow comforting. A complex man, yet simple in his needs and desires – one used to hard work, accustomed to his fame and how to handle it, yet made uneasy by it and desiring his privacy.

“We make a good team, Mara Jade,” Luke whispered softly, his blue eyes catching her vivid green ones, and Mara found she couldn’t look away. When he dipped his head she swayed closer and her lips parted. His mouth touched hers ever so gently, the sweetness of it unlike anything either of them had ever encountered. They drew reluctantly apart, their eyes wide with the new-found knowledge that things between them had definitely changed forever. Luke rubbed a shaking finger across her soft lips and drew back.

“Luke, I…”

He shook his head gently. “This is not the time for such things, Mara, but it’s a place we will return to, you and I.”

“I know.” Her voice was soft yet sure.

“We’ll probably be quarrelling again in a very short time.”

“Me!” Mara opened her eyes wide. “Argue with you? I assure you it is always you who quarrels with me.”

“Funny, Jade,” Luke retorted dryly. “Keep your wits about you. I don’t want to be pulling your butt out of trouble.”

Mara quirked an eyebrow but said nothing. She’d get her own back at him for that remark, probably by pulling his firm behind out of danger. He was right though; they did work well as a team and always had.

Luke took a deep, careful breath. Reluctantly he relinquished Mara’s hand and she turned her attention to driving the speeder through the ramshackle gates of the yard.

They slowed almost to a halt. Mara cut the engine and the two Jedi sat motionless for a moment drinking in the atmosphere, listening to the sounds around them. It was too quiet, a tense sense of expectancy filling the unnatural stillness. Suddenly a lone bird called shrilly, high in the grey, cloudy sky, breaking the spell. Artoo twisted his head and gave a pathetic little whine.

Luke jerked his hand - moving it automatically to feel the comforting grip of his lightsaber and Mara gave him a quick glance of agreement. Turning to Artoo she held out her hand and the secret compartment slid aside revealing her lightsaber.

“I thought you were wearing that,” Luke’s voice held no censure but she felt his unease.

“I was… but when I was dealing with your injury I gave it to Artoo for safekeeping. It was unwise of me because I know it should be my first and only line of defence, but I’ve depended on my blaster for so long. Even with the saber it is difficult to relinquish my safety blanket.” She reattached it to her belt, gave her hat a tug to make sure it was in place and then with a faint smile joined Luke.

The Jedi Master opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, emotion glittering in his famous blue eyes, but all he could do in the end was smile at her in that way he’d been doing lately and Mara’s heart melted once again.

“I am a Jedi and I’m honoured to wear your father’s lightsaber, no matter what you may think.”

“Still, Jade. It is best to be prepared for all eventualities.” Luke slid his hand up her arm slowly… lingeringly… Tormentingly checking that the little holdout blaster was in its place in her hidden wrist holster. His fingers found the delicate pulse point and caressed it slowly. Her skin was like the softest piece of mothsilk.

Mara found that her breath caught in her throat for a second, before she was able to speak. Feelings rippled through her body at the sensation of his lightest touch. “Come on, Skywalker. Let’s get this show moving.”

The place was a disaster zone. It looked as if someone had fought a war in the confines of the yard. Parts of engines mixed with lumps of masonry, which might at one time have been hangars. Towers of rusting starship parts lurched at drunken angles, the faintest movement threatening to send them crashing to the ground. The sound of falling rocks made both Jedi twist swiftly around, all senses on alert, straining to feel the presence of an enemy.

Mara moistened her dry lips; there was the impression that something important was going to happen. She swallowed, her throat constricting nervously.

Luke pushed his cloak over his shoulders out of the way, ready to act, but he was also searching. He was close…so close to what he was seeking.

‘It’s here, Mara.’ His voice echoed in her head.

‘Don’t you mean was here, farmboy?’

‘I’m not sure. There is something here for us to find.’

‘This place is enormous and totally disorganised. How could we find anything here?’

‘The Force will guide us.’

Mara snickered. He sounded so stuffy when he thought that way, but she supposed that was part of his charm. He truly believed and Mara knew that she did too. “I suggest we look for the main office, Jedi. I can feel several presences here. How about we do it the normal way first and then we can take it from there?”

Luke reattached his saber to his belt after another quick scan. “Good idea, Jade. Let’s go looking for trouble.”

Mara chuckled. “Nothing new there, then.”

Luke turned a startled face towards her and then laughed in response. “I guess not.”

Artoo moaned.

“Stop being overly dramatic, short and round,” Mara gibed with dark amusement. “You’ve been spending too much time with Threepio.”

Luke gave a chuckle. “She’s right, Artoo. Stop complaining.”

Mara, with her hand firmly around her saber, edged over a heap of crumbling masonry and gave the merchandise on view a practised once-over. “I don’t think they sell very much.”

“Are they registered in the sale manifest?” Luke asked thoughtfully.

“I don’t know. Artoo?”

Artoo made a whirring sound and then twittered rapidly.

Luke’s eyes widened. “Artoo says not.”

Mara shivered slightly. “I don’t like it!”

“Come on, Jade, they know we’re here.”

“Yeah, but they attacked you and would have robbed you and left you for dead.”

“But I’m still alive and we’re here. We have to find out if the ship was here. We have to see if there’s anyone here who can help us – tell us what we need to know. We may come away from here without finding out anything at all.” He held his hands out in a gesture of appeal. “Mara… I have to know.”

“Would the Force have led us here if there was nothing to find?”

Luke sighed. “I don’t think so… yet the Force moves in mysterious ways. It could have a different lesson to teach me but it has not yet led me down a wrong path. I have to trust my instincts, and yours.”

“This is true. My instincts are normally better than yours.”

“Hah-hah, very funny, Jade. If the ship was put on a self-destruct there should be evidence even now. A crater at least.”

“You can hide such things,” Mara said slowly.

“Yes, you can, but look at this place, Mara. Everything has been left to pile up year after year. There must be hundreds of years’ worth of junk.”

“I get your drift, farmboy. Hundreds of years of junk and thirty or forty years’ worth of debris on top of where a ship exploded.” Suddenly she froze and swung around. “I sense presences in that direction.” Mara pointed ahead. “I think that must be where the office is located.”

“Artoo!” Luke commanded quietly, and with his hand on his saber he set off in the direction Mara had indicated.

***********************************************

Barancz returned to the office, pulled open the drawer in his desk and drew out his laser pistol, setting it to stun. He saw the old man nod in approval. There was no harm in being careful. Who knew what kind of mood these offworlders were in after being shot at and wounded by Parnello and his cohorts? He’d spent most of his life in and around this yard and was aware of virtually every square inch. If they were merely after a long-obsolete ship part he would know if they had it in stock, but he doubted it. There wasn’t anything in working order.

He turned to the small waiting group of sullen men. “Parnello…”

“Yeah!”

“Cover me, but don’t open fire unless I give the signal.”

“Who appointed you the Lord Moff?”

The old man gave a wheezy chuckle. “He has a clear head and a quick brain, Parnello. No use in being dead because of an accidental mishap.” He struggled for a breath and Barancz turned to him, his grey eyes concerned. “No, I’m as well as I can expect to be. But be careful, if what Parnello says is true, these laser swords are something unique.”

“Laser swords?”

“The lighted stick things,” Parnello interrupted belligerently. “He blocked our shots with it. No one moves that fast. It’s sorcery. I say we kill him.”

“Sorcery… rubbish!” the old man gasped dismissively. “These are possibly lightsabers but...” Parnello was overfond of the draf. Still, it was early in the day for Parnello to have started drinking.

“Lightsabers? I’ve never heard of them,” muttered Parnello, wiping a greasy hand over his nose.

“I have. You told me tales of the men and women who carried them long ago,” Barancz inserted with a dreamy expression.

“Yes, the beings that carried such weapons were the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy. They were known as the Jedi.”

Parnello spat on the ground in disgust. “I definitely say we take them. They are cursed.”

“Do we know that these… people are what you say? I thought the Jedi were just stories?” Barancz lifted confused grey eyes.

Tobia shook his head. “Where you been puttin’ your ears, Bar? The Jedi have been back in the galaxy for years. Not seen any sign of them around here before and definitely not in Elo’s yard. What would there be on Zathoq that might interest Jedi?”

“You never told me you’d heard of these guys, Tobia,” Parnello accused.

“I listen to the HoloNet sometimes. You learn useful things,” Tobia answered defensively.

Parnello toed the ground with one dusty booted foot. “Hah!” he spat. “You never told me about the lighted swords.”

“You never asked.” Tobia sniffed. “Too busy shooting…”

Parnello reacted immediately, grabbing the other man by the throat. “You’re a fine one to talk.” He squeezed tighter and watched with grim satisfaction as Tobia’s face paled.

“Enough!” ordered Barancz.

The tow men glowered at each other and then at the younger man before reluctantly separating.

Ciri Elo leaned back in his chair. “The Jedi never left this galaxy, Barancz. They had to conserve their strength and their numbers, but I had no doubt that they would come back. They had to hide.”

“No doubt?” asked Barancz.

“None whatsoever,” the old man murmured gently and gazed into the distance as if seeing those far-off warriors from long ago.

Barancz sighed, the tension knotting his stomach. He had noticed this more and more of late, the old man drifting calmly away from them in a dream of a time long past.

“The trouble with the Jedi was that they fell into two distinct camps,” the old man remarked carefully.

“Two?”

“Yes, two. It ultimately caused their undoing as the bad conquered the good and we were left running…” He stopped as if aware that he’d said too much.

“Are you sure it was a lightsaber, Parnello saw?” Barancz asked.

“I don’t know. It was a buzzing stick thing,” the unkempt man argued hotly. “They don’t have ‘I am a Jedi’ broadcasting from their persons. I think you have too vivid an imagination, old man.”

Ciri Elo struggled to his feet. “Go with Barancz, , and see what they want. If it is the Jedi, they may not be so easy to get rid of. I would prefer to know for sure which of the two camps they belonged to – the light or the dark.” He sank wearily back into the chair. “I don’t know who to trust now and I’m tired.”

Barancz ran a dirty hand through his black curls. “Come on, let’s go.”

**********************************

Mara moved gracefully over piles of rubbish, with Luke clambering nimbly behind her, until they approached a basic stone structure. Luke thought it could have been fashioned from the remains of something much larger. It could be a clue about a large explosion, the materials used to build something else, but his senses weren’t telling him anything.

“What do you feel, Luke?” Mara’s low voice carried across to him. “Can you get any readings at all?”

Luke shrugged. “Nothing unusual… hostility… apprehension. There is something more… someone more.”

Mara paused in her movements and turned her head to face Luke, her eyes keenly green beneath the ugly hat. “That’s what I sense too.”

The sharp sound of booted feet crunching on gravel caught at their ears and immediately drew their attention.

Mara nodded at Luke. “Two,” she whispered.

“Shall we keep it casual?” Luke grinned, his eyes lighting up in the way that made Mara’s toes curl inside her boots.

“They may not know who we are.”

“This is true, but the Jedi are well known now in the galaxy and as you said, people come a very long way to attend the ship sale. Let’s assume they know, but don’t bring it up unless they do.”

“I forget sometimes you once were a rebel soldier, but I shouldn’t.”

“You must think I’m some kind of incompetent,” Luke bristled a little.

“No, Luke… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Yeah, okay…” He dismissed her apology. “Let’s use our alternative names.”

“You forget, farmboy. You used your real one.”

Luke’s face fell for a moment. “So I did, but I can just be ‘Farmer Luke’ then. Forget about the Skywalker bit. It doesn’t always help.”

Mara’s green eyes widened and she smiled sweetly with a hint of malice. “You don’t say.”

“Funny, Merah”

“What about Artoo?”

“We may need him, but he’s having problems with the terrain and I don’t want to leave him alone with the speeder. It’s times like this I wish I had a repulsor sled for him.”

“I bet he does too.”

“Hey, Artoo. You coping back there?” he threw over his shoulder.

The little droid gave a short, sharp, pithy retort. He wasn’t happy and let them know about it.

Luke sighed. “Artoo, I did say there wouldn’t be any forests.” He turned back to Mara. “I could levitate him using the Force, but I don’t want to spook the inhabitants of this rock and scrap-metal jungle.”

“Yeah.” Mara wrinkled her nose up in thought. “A droid floating for no apparent reason can unnerve superstitious beings.”

“Artoo, I suggest you find somewhere to hide where I can get to you if you’re needed, and keep your com channel open. Or…” Luke grinned at Mara.

“What?”

“Artoo… I suggest you go and do a little exploring of your own… and try not to get into any trouble.”

The droid beeped an upbeat assent and rolled off in a different direction, moving behind a stack of rusting panels from some long-dead ship.

“Right, Merah. We have our two beings almost upon us. Shall I try a friendly hello?”

“You might as well. Just keep your hands on your saber and all your senses alert.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

*************************************************************************************

“Hello-o!”

Barancz heard the voice shout a cheerful greeting before the couple came into view.

“Hello there!” Luke called again.

He glanced at the old man. “It seems they are looking for us.”

“They’ve not hidden their arrival, Barancz. It’s broad daylight.”

Barancz switched on the old black and white security holocam. “They’re coming around that last stack, should be with us about now.”

The visitors wandered casually into view and Barancz found himself studying the pair as they approached. A fair-haired man of medium height, slightly tanned as if he’d spent some time in a warm climate, and as he drew closer Barancz could see vivid blue eyes. He was dressed in the usual space traveller’s outfit with a brown cloak covering him. Still, something about the man made him wary.

The facial features of his smaller companion were almost obscured by a dark green hat, matching her jumpsuit, tunic and cloak. He couldn’t see her eyes but had the impression they were trained on him with sharpness and had already made up her mind about him.

There was an impression of relaxed casualness about the pair, but Barancz noted that their hands never strayed too far away from their belts. He couldn’t see what was hidden there because of the way their cloaks hung. Probably their blasters, or if Parnello and the old man were to be believed, their lightsabers.

Parnello stared hard at the tow-headed man. He’d hit him, of that he was almost certain, but the guy moved easily. Not the gait of someone nursing an injury, and a blaster burn could feel as if someone had set fire to your shoulder.

Mara stared at the odd couple as they waited for them. One was a man of about their own age with a shock of black curly hair and serious grey eyes. The other was older, but she’d felt his presence before, spitefully plotting their downfall earlier in the day. So he’d been one of the attackers earlier. He was grossly overweight, a greasy hutt of a man with straggling unkempt hair. A coward, Mara concluded. Hits his victims like a sniper from afar. They wouldn’t see the face of their killer as they died.

Luke tried not to gape and held his reactions back as far as he could. The two men were dressed in shabby reddish-brown leather uniforms – ones that might at one time have been worn by the men he had seen in his visions. A cap was tucked into the younger man’s belt and he knew it was the same as the one Artoo was keeping for them. It all matched up. He still couldn’t sense anything resembling an explosion, but it was too dangerous to try meditating on the subject just now. He would let events take their course and see where this took them.

“Hello.” Luke tried opening with the usual pleasantries, deepening his outer rim accent, which he could still adopt if he needed to. Although being away from Tatooine and living on Coruscant or Yavin had smoothed his accent quite noticeably. Luke now spoke with the cultured tones of an educated man of the galaxy. “I’m Luke and this is my associate, Merah.” There was no response, only an air of suspicion. “We were just passing and wondered if you had anything for sale.”

“I’m a trader and am often asked to provide interesting items for my more discerning clients.” Mara’s voice was clear and direct. “I specialise in the… unusual.”

Parnello snorted but stopped at the irritated glance Barancz directed towards him.

“Barancz at your service, gentlebeings, and this is Parnello.”

The older man glared at Barancz before coming out with what he was supposed to say. “How may we be of service?” he spat grudgingly.

Mara almost laughed but didn’t think Parnello would take it too kindly. She had the feeling he was not in favour of their being welcomed at all.

“We are looking for information and perhaps some parts for our ship. It is very old and none of the other yards had quite what we were looking for.”

Barancz took a step forward and tried to peer at the woman underneath the hat. With a gasp he took a step backwards. He’d just seen the most beautiful face and eyes of a colour he’d never dreamed could exist.

“Ma’am,” he gulped and looked towards Parnello for guidance.

“I suggest we take them on a tour of the facility and see if there is anything they would care to purchase.”

Barancz twisted his head to stare at Parnello in amazement. He’d swallowed a dictionary. “I have to go and check in with the old man…”

Luke glanced at Mara. “We could easily wander around ourselves…”

“No!” Barancz cut in sharply. “We will escort you.”

Luke raised an eyebrow. So they had something they were uneasy about. He stretched out with his feelings and sensed the turmoil rolling off the younger man. Yes, there was definitely something they didn’t want them to find out about. It could be nothing, of course. A gang such as this one could be hiding a number of things from a crate of illegal spice to an underworld profiteering racket, but somehow he didn’t think that was the case. These people were down on their luck, they were stuck way out in the slums, and they were certainly uneasy.

He exerted his charm and smiled affably. “I would be honoured to see anything you wish to show me.”

Mara gave Luke a suspicious glance; the wily Jedi Master was up to something. She felt a ripple in the Force and watched as Luke tripped over his own feet.

“Sorry,” he apologised. “The binding on my boots has just come undone. I’ll follow you.”

The other three hesitated and then kept onwards; Parnello kept turning round to stare at Luke, who fiddled with his boot straps, cursing as he did so.

Luke grinned to himself and spoke softly into the comlink pinned to his collar. “Artoo, go and see what you can find, anything unusual. Marks of damage… anything. We’re heading north - I suggest you go south.” He frowned and gave a final tug at his boots. “Damn boots!” He deliberately raised his voice and jumped quickly to his feet, jogging swiftly to join the small group.

Mara narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the Jedi Master. “What are you up to, farmboy?”

“Oh, this and that.”

“Explain.”

“Artoo’s gone to do a little investigating of his own.”

“I know!”

“I was just guiding his direction a little more. We’re being herded in a particular path. I have a feeling…”

“Good idea, Skywalker.”

Mara moved forward to look at some engine coils, but discarded them quickly. There was nothing here; it was all just scrap. She shook her head.

Luke sighed but wandered towards something glinting dully in the weak sunshine. He almost ignored it but something tugged at his subconscious. He knelt slowly and dug into the ground with his fingers. “There’s something here, something half buried…” He picked up a bit of metal and scraped carefully away at the earth surrounding the object. It was a piece of ornamental glassware. Filthy from years buried in the ground, but even in that state he could see different colours and beautiful contours.

“Luke!” Mara gasped. “Let me see… It’s intact and old… at least pre-Empire. Possibly even older than that… from the middle of the Old Republic.”

He cradled the filthy piece of crystal in his hands. Despite it’s coating of grime it was still obvious that it was a rare thing of beauty.

“How could this have survived?” Mara asked.

“Some delicate objects only look fragile. They have an inner strength that will help them endure many trials.” Luke gazed deeply into Mara’s eyes as he spoke.

“What did you find?” Barancz dropped to his knees beside Mara.

“This.” Luke held up the find. “Merah is the expert in such things - not me. But it is a perfume jar.” There was no hesitation.

Mara blinked in surprise. The farmboy never ceased to surprise her, but she should have known he was right. “It would have sat on a dressing table but not just any dresser. This is a superior quality item.”

“My aunt had something similar, but not quite as beautiful,” Luke explained quietly, handing the vial to Mara. “That’s how I know.”

“It is certainly from the middle period of the Old Republic and from superior craftsmen. The shape of the curved glass reminds me…”

Luke suddenly had a picture of an elegant hand reaching for the beautiful item; slim, tapering fingers with painted nails pulled the stopper from its slender neck and a hint of perfume teased his nostrils. He sat back, gasping.

“Luke!” Mara knelt beside him, her voice anxious. “What is it – what did you see?”

He shook his head. “Ssh!” he warned. ‘This is not the time, Mara.’

The old man had watched everything on the monitor and felt compelled to move outside. He hadn’t seen anything like the object the woman held in her hand for years. An uncomfortable sensation twisted in his gut. He knew exactly where such an item had once been placed.

He limped awkwardly to the door and out into the yard. Barancz noticed him coming and ran to help him. Parnello stood watching the strangers as the woman helped the man arise from where he’d been sitting.

His first proper look at the young man struck a chord of recognition, but from where he couldn’t recall. His fair hair and blue eyes were not an unusual combination, but the eyes were a particularly intense shade of blue. Many years ago he’d seen eyes like that. He shook his head weakly as his senses began to swim. Was it possible…?

The man turned and said something quietly to the woman who was standing behind him and she walked around and stood beside him.

“This is Ciri Elo,” Barancz offered. “He is the owner of this yard.”

The old man felt as if he was standing a long way off. Barancz’s words sounded strange in his ears.

Luke stared straight into the old man’s face and his jaw dropped in recognition. “It couldn’t be – it just couldn’t.” He threw a glance at the red-haired trader. “Mara… it’s… he’s…”

Mara stepped closer to Luke, sensing that something about the old man had given the Jedi Master a shock, and as she moved nearer, she too, recognised the face from her dreams. He’d been much younger then, but the hooked nose and sharp chin were still the same.

“But you’re…” she stopped, her voice rising. She gave Luke a swift sideways glance.

The old man’s breath caught in his throat as the beauty of her face, with eyes like sparkling emeralds, was revealed. He took a step forward and with shaking hands pulled Mara’s hat from her head. The red-gold plaits were wound around her head, but they glinted in the afternoon sunlight as if her hair had been made of pure gold. “My lady?” he whispered, amazement crossing his lined face. “My lady… you’re here at last…” His face grew pale as he choked, trying to clear his lungs for breath, before he clutched at his chest and collapsed in a heap on the ground.

Mara and Luke stood stunned for a second until Barancz screamed in horror. The sound galvanised the Jedi Master into action and he knelt swiftly beside the limp form of the old man. After a few moments he sat back on his haunches and with a defeated sigh looked up at Mara. He shook his head and Mara stepped back, one hand going to her mouth. In her other she still held the glass perfume vial.

“No,” she whispered.

The old man half opened his eyes. “My lady…”

Mara knelt beside Luke and eased the old man’s head onto her lap. “Ssh,” she instructed gently. “We have to get you to a healer.”

“No.” The voice was a thread of sound, just a whisper. “No time…” He almost smiled. Turning fading eyes on Luke, enlightenment crossed his features. “I’ve kept it safe… sir.” Once more his eyes sought Mara and confusion crossed his features. “You can’t be…” he whispered. “It’s the wrong time… The right faces…”

“What?” Mara questioned anxiously, her face white.

“You can’t be… but so like…” He took another shallow breath and then lay still. “Children…”

Mara turned green eyes swimming with unaccustomed tears towards Luke. “Help him.”

“I’m sorry,” Luke whispered, the pity apparent in his expressive face as he closed the old man’s eyes. “He’s dead.”

“He can’t be dead,” Barancz protested. “He’s not been well, but he just can’t be.”

Luke watched patiently as Mara cradled the limp body in her lap. “He’s dead, Merah.”

“I know.”

Parnello spoke gruffly into his comlink and immediately a group of assorted individuals came and took the body away. Luke recognised Tobia with his swarthy face and unkempt moustache. All of them dressed in the ancient leather uniforms.

Luke got wearily to his feet. He’d seen death so often in his life that he should be used to it, but there was something about the old man that had hinted at a life hidden away in this corner of the galaxy. Was it a wasted life? “Come on, Mara,” he said quietly to the woman still kneeling on the dusty ground.

Mara looked up towards the Jedi Master, grief for a man she hadn’t known etched into her face.

Luke held out his hand and she grabbed it – her lifeline in a bewildering world of feelings. When his arm came around her in comfort she leant into his strength for a moment - but only for a moment. Her green eyes met Luke’s vivid blue ones and she dipped her head in acknowledgement, her composure returned.

“I’m fine, Luke.”

“Of course.” The Jedi Master stepped away, giving Mara the space she needed, and he turned towards Barancz. “I’m sorry.”

“He brought me up – was like a father to me… and now he’s gone.” His voice was hesitant – almost broken, his expression confused. “They won’t follow me like they did Ciri Elo.”

Luke spoke softly but with all the power of a Jedi. “Keep his memory within you and he won’t ever be gone.”

Barancz peered at Luke from underneath his untidy black curls, the words easing his initial shock and distress.

Parnello shoved a cherillo in his mouth. “He’s old, he wasn’t well… we could all see that, but you…” He pointed at Mara. “Killed him.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Mara protested, anger colouring her voice.

“He’s seen you before and the shock of seeing you again killed him.”

“I’ve never met him and what you’re suggesting is ludicrous.” She took a step forward, her chin defiant. “How could I have met him before?”

“I don’t know… do I?” Parnello glowered.

Luke laid a comforting hand on Barancz’s arm. “He was a good man.”

“How do you know?”

“I can feel it.”

The Ship – part 9 by Ash

Disclaimer – The characters in this story are the property of Lucasfilm limited. I’ve only borrowed them for a short while and won’t even make an Imperial credit from their use.

Coruscant – Solo apartment

The atmosphere surrounding the Solo dinner table was a little strained. The twins glared surreptitiously at Anakin, shooting little sidelong looks at him under their mother’s watchful eye for either ruining their game or helping it – they hadn’t decided which. Meanwhile Leia managed to pin them in place with the hard stare that used to have Imperial enemies and recalcitrant senators cowering. Jacen and Jaina knew better than to move without her permission. Anakin continued to stolidly shovel his food down his throat with the unwavering concentration that might be envied by many a Jedi trainee. Han’s eyes kept moving to the door as if seeking escape and he occasionally moved his food from one side of the plate to another. Leia frowned sternly at her restless family to no avail. Eventually she gave up. “Go and find out if you must, although I can’t see why it couldn’t have waited until the meal was finished.”

The twins and Han needed no second telling and jumped from their chairs, exiting the dining room in a rumble of running feet. The sound echoed down the corridor before the door slid shut, cutting off the noise. Leia sighed loudly and picked up her fork. Suddenly the door slid open and Han came back in, grabbed his plate and left again.

Anakin looked at his mother and smiled. “I’m hungry,” was all that he said.

“You’re always hungry… you and your Uncle Luke!”

Anakin cocked his head to one side. “You want to go and see what my planet’s called? I won’t make a mess.”

“Your planet?” Leia echoed.

“I put it in the right place. So it’s my planet.”

“Oh, darling.” Leia chuckled. “I’m not worried about that. You never leave enough food on your plate to make a mess.” She surveyed his slight frame. “I don’t know where you put it.”

“I need to go and fix Jaina’s mini-droid.”

“Are you sure you’ll fix it?”

“No, but it wasn’t working before. So I shouldn’t cause trouble if it stays the same.” He leaned nearer his mother, his blue eyes mischievous. “If Jaina was really worried about it, I wouldn’t have got it in the first place.”

“True… sneaky boy.”

Anakin shrugged in the manner of his father. “Hey, it’s me.”

“Quite,” remarked Leia, trying to hide her amusement at the accurate take-off of Han. “Come on then, let’s go join the others. I must admit that I am curious about what that ‘planet’ is called.”

“Naboo,” Han muttered as he scanned the charts. “It has to be Naboo.” He pulled up another chart. “Check that, could you, Jacen?”

“Never heard of it,” Jaina said thoughtfully.

“Oh, I’ve heard of it. At least I think I’ve heard of it – just never been there.”

“I’ve never been there either and I can’t remember hearing anything about it,” Leia commented with a frown as she joined her husband and children in the lounge. She gauged the proximity of the little spheres to one another. “It’s near to Zathoq and Tatooine but is Mid Rim, not Outer Rim.” She shivered as if something cold had trickled down her spine.

“Go and check the New Republic Planetary Database, Jaina. It should give us some information,” Han murmured, intent on the charts in front of him.

“That’s very out of date,” Leia put in. “But it should give us a start.”

“A start is all we need.” He placed his arm over his wife’s shoulders and steered her to where the twins were busily setting out more ‘planets’. “Look, Leia.” Han pointed, considering the location of Naboo on their galaxy floor. “Tatooine should go about… here and Zathoq across from Naboo.”

Jacen picked up a cloudy grey-green sphere. “If you place this right here it forms a diamond shape.”

Han grinned. “Well spotted, but don’t confuse the issue - and we’re nowhere near Alderaan or Coruscant.” His face fell. “I thought that if I plotted courses between the planets that have featured in the life of this family I might find another clue…” Han thoughtfully tapped the scar on his chin. “So maybe this isn’t about Skywalker family history after all.”

“Han, we don’t know what it’s about. Luke couldn’t tell us very much apart from a couple of names and we’ve not been successful with them.”

“I’m not sure… I think we have,” he argued earnestly. “Let’s look at what we do know.”

She opened her hands helplessly. “We know they’re connected to Alderaan, but after that... nothing. We do know that whatever Luke is seeking has something to do with Zathoq, but exactly what, we’re just not sure.”

“We have some positives. We do know that Alderaan and Zathoq are nowhere near each other in the galaxy.”

Leia furrowed her forehead. “That’s a positive?”

Han dropped his head down. “Maybe not,” he muttered.

“It’s a puzzle.” Anakin spoke from his corner. “What’s the name of Jacen’s planet?”

“Can we leave that just now, Anakin? It’s not important.” Han turned back to the computer monitor and his precious star charts, on Leia’s desk.

“But I want to know,” the child whined suddenly.

“Okay, okay!” Han scrutinised the chart again. “I don’t believe it!” His mouth opened and shut a few times.

“You don’t believe what?” Leia questioned impatiently.

“The other planet is… Dagobah.”

“It’s all starting to make some weird kind of sense,” Leia murmured slowly. “Not that I understand any of it, but…”

“That’s why it’s weird, sweetheart,” Han quipped cheerfully.

“I only meant… All these names are so familiar,” she explained.

“I’ve found something on Naboo,” Jaina called triumphantly. “But there’s not very much there.”

“What does it say?” asked her mother.

“Naboo… Mid-Rim planet. Oxygen mix suitable for Human and Gungan lifeforms.”

“That’s it?” asked Jacen incredulously. “A whole planet and nothing about the animals and the plants?”

“Helpful,” muttered Han sarcastically.

“What about the HoloNet?” Jaina asked. “Can we try that? You have access to some of the New Republic records.”

“Good idea, young lady.” Leia smiled approvingly. The twins were beginning to think on their feet. “Try accessing the Imperial Interplanetary database.”

Jaina scrambled in front of the monitor, pushing tangled chestnut hair away from her face as she did so.

“Here.” Leia tenderly smoothed the untidy strands from her daughter’s face and tied it back with a ribbon she found in her pocket.

Jaina flashed her mother a quick smile of thanks before turning to the console and tapping in a few commands. “Our tutor told us about this in school.”

“Glad to see you were listening for once,” Han put in with a wink.

“Daddy!” Jaina exclaimed indignantly. “I do listen.”

“Course you do, sweetheart.”

“Got it!” she shrieked.

Han moved closer to the monitor and found he was last in line behind the rest of the family. Even Anakin had deserted his repairs to see what his sister had found.

“Any more than the last one?” Jacen peered over Jaina’s shoulder.

“There’s a bit more.”

“What does it say?” asked Leia.

Jaina began to read slowly and carefully, stumbling slightly over some of the more difficult words. “One of the unfortunate casualties of a deadly human/alien war. The planet of Naboo, known for its temperate climate, was home to beautiful cities renowned as centres of art and culture as well as being blessed with breathtaking natural scenery. Much of the population was wiped out as the result of a deadly bio-war. The spores are still known to be active in the soil, making this once idyllic world a hazardous place to visit. For this reason, Naboo is restricted to military personnel only. The planet will remain uninhabitable for centuries.”

Jaina tilted her chin thoughtfully. “What’s temperate?”

“Mild,” answered Leia slowly. “Not too hot or too cold. A nice place to live.”

There was silence as the Solo family took stock of the information. They all knew about Alderaan and that their mother missed her home planet every day of her life. To find another planet in an almost similar situation – still existing but just as dead to its people - was a shock.

“I’ve never heard of anything like that since...” Leia shook her head in disbelief.

“Is this from Imperial military information?”

Leia bit her lip as she stared at her husband. “Of course… It’s the Imperial database – the New Republic just took it over. The Empire surveyed most of the planets in the galaxy that are charted - mainly to be able to crush any dissenting voices. Even after all this time we are still finding out things… but this information wasn’t classified.”

“Yes it was,” noted Han, peering at the tiny NR emblem in the corner of the screen. “You have level one clearance?”

“Yes…”

“Then your daughter has managed to access files only you should be able to see.” He gave his wife a whimsical smile. “We need to look at our domestic security procedures, don’t you think?”

“What?”

“Naboo has a restricted file. Top-level clearance needed to access anything.”

“Why…? It doesn’t strike me as being important.”

“Sweetheart, the Empire must have had reasons.” He scowled darkly. “Probably because it was behind it all. It was probably Imperial factions that caused the bio-war and there are things about Naboo that the Empire had cause to keep secret.”

“Ah…” Realisation dawned. “If we hadn’t called up information on Naboo there would have been nothing to bring it to our attention.”

“Hide something in plain sight, remember.” Han watched as his wife closed her eyes, her lips trembling with an emotion he knew intuitively was sorrow – grief for the beings of Naboo and always… always mourning for her home – for Alderaan.

“It makes you wonder how many other planets are in the same situation.” Han’s voice had turned dark. He hated to see Leia’s face take on that particular expression because there was nothing he could do to make it better. He couldn’t chase the shadows from her eyes and stop the tear from quivering on the tips of her lashes. He couldn’t erase the past and bring back her home for her. Even though he would have given her anything, he couldn’t give her that. If Han Solo hated anything – he hated being helpless.

“I wonder if there are still people alive on Naboo?” Leia speculated; her heart aching at the thought of another people doomed to wander the galaxy in search of a home. “Or has the planet been rendered unsafe for ever?”

“Our planet doesn’t have people any more?” Jaina asked, her face falling. She wasn’t yet ten but was too used to tragedy.

“When does it say that this happened?” Han asked Jaina.

The little girl scanned down a couple more pages of information. “It says here that it happened after the end of the Clone Wars. Then there are pages and pages of writing I don’t understand.”

Han peered at the screen. “Well, well, well… Imperial encrypted files.” He gave his wife a grim look. “Isn’t that a surprise?”

“Maybe our domestic security isn’t so bad?”

“Wait till you want to get through that stuff, sweetheart,” Han muttered in a ‘you’ll be sorry’ sort of tone.

“You know some of the codes, Mama. Can we try and decipher what it says?”

Leia shook her head. “No, it’s nearly your bedtime; in fact, Anakin… it is your bedtime. Take whatever you’ve fused the insides of with you, and go and have your bath. Remember to wash your face, please.”

Her youngest son got up, gathered his paraphernalia and trudged from the room without complaint. “Night.”

“Okay, you two,” Han ordered. “Go and have your baths. We’ll be in to see you later, and yes, Jacen, you can read for a while.”

With some grumbling the twins grudgingly followed their little brother, leaving their parents alone in the lounge.

Han grinned triumphantly at his wife. “Who needs to be Force sensitive in this house?”

Leia’s eyebrows rose mockingly. “He always asks if he can read, nerfherder.”

Han threw a cushion at her, which she fielded easily and diverted straight back at him using the Force.

“Hey! Not fair!”

“You started it, flyboy.”

Han settled himself into a corner of the couch, his jovial mood falling from him. “What do you think, Leia?” He’d seen the results from war after war and it never got any easier.

“I could just say the usual – I don’t like it.”

“I’m a little suspicious myself, sweetheart.”

“It’s just a feeling, but over the years I’ve learned to trust my hunches.” She sat down beside him on the sofa and stared, her large, dark eyes earnest. “The presence of so many encrypted files and the feelings I got when Naboo was mentioned…”

“Same as for Panaka?”

Leia thought for a moment and nodded. “Yes – very similar. It may just be due to the Force being involved, but there are far too many coincidences cropping up connected with this little jaunt of Luke’s.”

“Ah, yes… Luke.”

“Luke’s hunches are better than mine… but I could really help him with this. I wish I was with him.”

“But you’re not. He doesn’t know anything about Naboo…” Han let the sentence hang tantalisingly in the air. “Yet.”

“That’s right, he doesn’t.” Leia tilted her head to one side, a gleam appearing in her dark eyes. “Information I can find out for him then.” Leia smiled at the thought that perhaps she would be able to help her brother. “I would still prefer to be there… to see that he doesn’t get into trouble.”

“Mara’s there,” Han said, as if that was more than enough.

“True.” Leia sighed. “I love doing what I do, but part of me still hankers for the old days.”

Han made a face. “Which part of you? The bit that liked having a target painted on her behind?”

“Han Solo! I only meant…”

He gave her a quick kiss. “You go check on the kids and I’ll see if Threepio wants to run a scan for files on Naboo, cross referencing those with the names of Panaka and Olie. I get the feeling that he might be more successful this time.”

Leia tiptoed carefully into Anakin’s room.

“I’m not sleeping.” The voice emerged slightly muffled from beneath the blankets.

“I’m your mother. I know that,” Leia retorted. “Well, you should be sleeping. She bent down and gave his face – the Skywalker face, a quick suspicious inspection - before bestowing a gentle kiss on his cheek. He looked so like her brother.

“Mama?”

“Yes.”

“Naboo… Has it something to do with us?”

“I don’t know, but it is possible.”

Anakin gave a sleepy chuckle and closed his eyes. “Probable.” He let out a yawn and muttered something in the middle of it.

“What was that?” Leia asked.

“I’ve never seen a Gungan. I like the name… it’s a funny word.”

“I don’t think I have either… Oh… No, I saw a holo once when I was younger than you are now. But I can’t remember clearly.”

“What are they like?”

“I’m not sure… big floppy ears… tall and thin. I think they liked water.”

“Jacen can add them to his extinct creatures list.” Anakin turned and wriggled deep into his comforter.

“They’re not extinct… at least… I’ve just never personally seen one.”

“Oh!” The little word was very sleepy.

Leia pulled the covers more securely around her sleeping son and left his room, her mind swiftly sifting memories. There was a vague recollection of a creature, but she wasn’t sure if it was a Gungan or not and she wasn’t sure if it was real or imagined.

*********************************************

“Any luck?” Leia wound her arms around Han’s neck as she peered over his shoulder.

He gave her a quick smile. “Nah, nothing. Every code I’ve tried has bombed.”

“All of them?” Her voice rose in disbelief. “These codes must be forty years old. We’ve cracked most of the Imperial codes that date from that era.”

“Obviously we haven’t,” Han drawled.

“You’re just not using the right ones. I still have a few tricks up my sleeves courtesy of Alliance Intelligence.”

Half an hour later, Leia was staring at the screen in frustration while Han sat beside her - helpfully cackling with glee. “Yeah, sweetheart. I can see all those little codes Alliance Intel kept just for you and they’ve worked a treat… Right?” He tapped his fingers on his chin. “Have you tried…?”

His suggestion was met with a death glare.

“Of course you have. Forget I asked. First thing you probably did… I mean it’s not as if you’re an Intel encrypt specialist or…”

“Han,” Leia cut in. “Shut up.”

“Shutting up, Ma’am.”

Leia tried a few more codes before giving up in defeat. “I suspect the worst. A whole planet rendered uninhabitable and virtually no one in the galaxy knows anything about it.”

“It’s not the first time that has happened, Leia.”

“You don’t need to tell me that,” she whispered sorrowfully.

He pulled her around until she looked him straight in the eye. Han carefully took her face, holding it lovingly in his large, strong hands. “According to the files they did this to themselves – a civil war. Do you believe that, Leia?”

Leia shook her head, agony playing over her features. “No – of course I don’t. I remember my poor Alderaan, Despayre, Camaas…” She faltered, nearly overcome by the feelings that welled up threatening to overwhelm her completely.

“Can you name any others? The Death Star destroyed Alderaan. What about places like Honoghr - where a biological weapon was employed?”

“I don’t… know…” Leia’s hands clenched in front of her.

Han tapped a few commands into the computer and it began whirring away with information for him. “Here we are,” he announced with dark satisfaction. “I shouldn’t be pleased that we’ve found information, but we have a match.”

“Dentaal,” Leia said suddenly, her eyes looking far into the distance. “I should have remembered.”

“How did you…?”

“I recalled the HoloNets reporting an outbreak of…”

“Candorian Plague,” Han read aloud.

“It wiped out millions… virtually the entire population, and we later learned it had been planted by the Empire. Crix Madine was involved and was so horrified at what he had been commanded to do that he defected to the Rebellion.”

“Any decent man would have.”

“They blamed me… my ‘Royal House’ and the Rebellion. Just like it said in the database - a bio-war experiment the Rebels were conducting went hideously wrong and condemned the people of that planet.”

“It wasn’t true,” Han sighed tiredly.

“No… it wasn’t. I wonder what Naboo was hiding?”

“A rebel stronghold?”

Leia leaned into Han, drawing comfort from him. “I don’t know,” she cried softly. “If it was one, it was long before I was involved with the Rebellion.” She stared at the writing on the monitor. “Naboo was dead when I was a small child – long before I joined the Rebellion. In fact Naboo may have been dead before the Rebellion even started. I wonder what made it so important that it had to be destroyed.”

A light flashed on the console. Han flicked a switch and Threepio’s face filled the screen.

“Kessel… I forgot about Threepio,” Han murmured under his breath.

“Didn’t you ask him to check the names we have with regards to Naboo?”

“Nerfspit, I forgot… sorry, Leia.”

“Never mind – we can ask him now.”

“Good idea.” Han fought down the automatic surge of annoyance that was his normal response to interaction with the protocol droid and faced the screen squarely.

“And we could ask him if there are any surviving natives of the planet Naboo. There must be some of them left in the galaxy.”

“I’ll get on it…”

“General Solo!” The metallic voice intoned precisely.

“Threepio!” Han called jovially. “We were just about to contact you. Any luck?”

“Well, sir. You might say that I was fortunate to locate some information that you required, although I cannot think that it would be of much assistance in the quest undertaken by Master Luke and Mistress Jade.”

“What did you find out?”

“I was able to ascertain the birthplace of Captain Panaka and he…”

“Threepio!” Han bellowed. “Get on with it.”

Leia stood tensely by his side, her tongue flicking out to moisten her dry lips. “Yes, Threepio,” she urged, her voice faint. “What did you find?”

“Captain Panaka was born in the City of Theed.”

“The where?” questioned Han.

“The City of Theed. A most interesting place architecturally if you don’t mind my saying so… of course…”

“Threepio,” Han drawled out through clenched teeth. “Where is that?”

“I was just coming to that, General Solo.”

“Get on with it, Goldenrod!”

“Well… really!”

“Threepio,” Leia interrupted gently.

“I’m sorry, Mistress Leia. The City of Theed is to be found on the planet Naboo.”

The Ship – part 10 by Ash

Disclaimer – The characters and situations used in this fic are the property of Lucasfilm. I am only borrowing their wonderful creations to play with for a short while and I’ll be very careful.

Ciri Elo’s Yard

Barancz stared at the old man’s empty chair. It was so strange to see it without his calming presence. He couldn’t believe that he’d finally gone. They’d taken his body away in readiness for a decent funeral. Even though Ciri Elo had never stipulated his wishes, Barancz reckoned they’d made the right choice. Parnello and Tobia had gone to hire a ship and send the old man on one final, epic journey through the planet’s ring system. Ciri Elo had been a pilot once – one of the best according to the stories he’d told. Barancz recalled him once telling a tale where he’d flown a beautiful young Queen to safety. He’d dismissed it as another one of the elderly man’s strange fancies, but now he hoped it had been true. The old man had been good to him. He didn’t know what would happen now that he’d gone.

It hadn’t been the fault of the two strangers. Ciri Elo was an old man and a sick one. He’d thought that the woman was someone he’d once known long ago and that was clearly impossible, as the woman was about the same age as Barancz was. All the excitement had overtired the elderly man’s already weak heart.

The funny thing was that the couple had stared at Ciri Elo as if they’d known who he was. The woman had blurted out. “But you’re…” The blue-eyed man had given her a warning look. Barancz frowned; he’d surely imagined it – hadn’t he? He was getting as bad as the old man imagining things that weren’t there.

He couldn’t remember what the blue-eyed man had said to him but it had instantly given him comfort. After that Parnello had turned on them, his voice filled with hate and accusation. Parnello had felt little for the old man but was afraid, for some reason, to cross him. Barancz knew that with their leader gone the older man had begun his bid for power in this sector of Zathoq City.

Barancz rubbed his dirty face tiredly, the tear streaks smearing across his cheeks. He had stared at the strangers and then at the old man’s lined face with its peaceful expression. “Come on, let’s get him inside,” Tobia had murmured quietly and the rest of the men, including Parnello, had lifted the body and carried him towards the small building. Barancz had then switched his attention back to the strangers. The fair-haired man had begun to fuss over the woman.

“I think you should go now… before they come back. It wasn’t your fault,” Barancz whispered.

The man nodded. “I know,” he said and thrust an exorbitant amount of credits into his hand. “For the perfume jar,” he explained.

“The perfume jar? Oh, you mean the funny bottle you dug from the ground.”

The woman, he knew her name was Merah, gave an anxious sigh and her eyes surveyed the surroundings. “We should go, Luke. This man is right.”

“My name is Barancz.” He felt it important to remind them of his identity.

The man nodded. “Yeah, come on, let’s get out of here.” He held out his hand and grasped Barancz’s firmly. “We will meet again.” Again his eyes searched the face of the woman by his side. Whatever he read in her face reassured him and they hurried to their speeder, leaving in a cloud of dust.

They had gone by the time the others returned.

Barancz moved slowly towards the desk, tracing a rough hand over its pitted and scratched surface. He felt empty somehow. With a sigh he began to methodically go through the contents of the desk. There was nothing of value… no mementoes of family or a loved one. There was nothing to tell the galaxy about the man he’d loved as a father. Sheets of crumpled flimsy from years back detailing sales from when the yard had been successful, broken data pads, cracked bolts and bent screws - nothing.

With another, wearier sigh, Barancz pulled at the bottom drawer. “Blasterbolts!” he swore as it stuck. He gave a final tug, yanking it completely from the desk and dropping it with a crash. Biting back a string of curses, he knelt on the floor to retrieve it. The wood had split into several pieces and a sharp sliver of wood dug into the fleshy part of his palm. Suddenly it all became too much for him. He thought he’d been hardened by his life on the streets and at the seamy end of Zathoq society, but all that had changed when the old man had caught him stealing from the local market and taken him in. He placed his hand over his eyes and let the pain absorb him totally.

For a while he crouched on the floor in the darkening office, shoulders occasionally shaking, sometimes emitting a dry sob, until he grew cold and stiff. The yard behind him lay ominously quiet. Most of the men had gone to the nearest cantina to drink the old man’s spirit away into the next world. Parnello would be back soon and then they would send the corpse out into cold space for the last time. After that… who knew what would happen.

Picking up the broken drawer with the intention of trashing it, he felt something come away from underneath and hang precariously. He turned it over and found a packet taped to the underside. With his heart thumping loudly in his ears he pulled out his vibroblade and slit it open.

Inside was a soft leather pouch and a couple of data cards. One of them bore his name.

Zathoq Spaceport

The smartly dressed man walked around the Valiant Vornskr’s massive hull three times – there was no sign of life. Forrell watched carefully on the holocam. He hadn’t seen sight nor sound of Merah and her young man for a couple of days. Mind you his duty shifts hadn’t been the most convenient. Now someone was prowling around her ship and she wasn’t there.

“Keep an eye on this one,” he instructed his subordinate. “And don’t hesitate to call for the muscle if you need it.” Grabbing his blaster and a pile of credit chips, Forrell slid from his high stool and legged it over to the tapcaf as quickly as his stubby legs could take him, but at all times keeping an open comlink to his colleague in the observation station. He wanted to know if and when these guys made a move. The door slid open and he bustled swiftly in. It was early evening; the place was busy but not as crowded as it would become in an hour or so. Already the smoke had begun to cloud the room in a faint haze.

“Lek? Where’s Merah?”

Lek was serving an insectoid species something that wriggled on a plate. “Hold on, my friend.” He delivered the dubious appetiser and limped towards the security man. “Now tell me what’s the matter.”

“Where’s Merah? Some human is too interested in her ship.”

“I haven’t seen her, or Luke, for a day or so.” Lek moved over to his usual booth and sat down. “These old bones creak very loudly these days,” he joked. “What has this human done?”

“Nothing… yet.” Forrell muttered

“Well then, you can’t do much, Forrell. He hasn’t contravened spaceport customs, has he?”

Forrell shook his head. “No, all his documentation was above board. Whatever that counts for here. We’re not imperial customs after all.”

“Well then?” Lek shrugged his shoulders with confusion. “He hasn’t tried to force entry into Merah’s ship?”

“No…”

“You don’t normally pay so much attention to the ships.”

Forrell chuckled a little, the little beard on the edge of his plump chin quivering. “No, I don’t, but Merah’s young man was most insistent I keep an extremely close eye on their transports.”

“So keep an eye on them.”

“I am.”

“Ah… a good uh… incentive was it?” Lek winked.

“He just asked.” Forrell sounded surprised.

“You’re telling me that you’ve just run all the way over here without an… incentive.”

“Yeah, I have. Shows what a good heart I have.”

A large furry claw tapped Lek on the shoulder. Malyre’s genial face peered at them. “I think he’s gone soft… or senile.”

“I am still in full possession of ALL of my faculties.” Forrell drew himself up to his full height, which was still unimpressive - his girth was another matter.

“Did you have them all in the first place?” Malyre chuckled and slid into his usual spot.

The door to the tapcaf slid open and for a moment there was a lessening of the noise as the patrons took in the immaculately dressed man and his companions. His pale blue eyes glanced quickly around the room and noted the empty booth across from Lek, Malyre and Forrell. The small group wove their way through the tables and commandeered the vacant place.

Lek clicked once on his hand held comlink and the service droid rolled to take the order.

“That’s him,” hissed Forrell.

“He looks familiar… I’m sure I’ve seen him before.” Malyre stilled briefly in concentration.

Lek nodded. “You don’t forget faces do you?”

“That I don’t.” Malyre pulled his tobacco pouch from a belt around his waist and began to fill his pipe with the same brownish dried weed he’d used before. “Names…” He shook his head. “Not good with names, but faces… that’s a different matter.”

Lek peered through the gloom. The man was of medium height and build, with dark, neatly trimmed hair, a goatee beard and pale blue eyes. Those eyes were scanning the tapcaf for any potential dangers. The air he projected was casual, but Lek knew he was ready for trouble – if it occurred. This man was a real professional.

Then it clicked.

“I know who it is,” he announced quietly.

“You do?” chorused Malyre and Forrell.

“Of course. It’s Merah’s boss.” Lek’s tone was full of satisfaction.

“Her boss?” they echoed.

“The smuggler chief – Talon Karrde,” he explained.

“You sure?” asked Forrell.

“Think so. A lot of spacers fly in and out of here. They share quite a bit of information, but I’ve never seen him here before.”

Malyre gave a few anxious puffs on his pipe. “Is she in trouble?”

“What do you mean?” Lek leaned his elbows on the table.

“Wasn’t Merah on a quick pick up and drop mission for her boss? She’s been here for at least five or six days,” Malyre mumbled.

“Which means she hasn’t delivered her cargo,” Forrell added. He clicked his comlink twice and held it up to his mouth. “Jandi. Send me a file on the smuggler chief, Talon Karrde. I’m sure we will have one on him.” He winked at Lek. “We can make sure that he’s our mystery man.”

“But what will we do if Merah is in trouble?” Malyre asked.

“Warn her of course,” Forrell said. His comlink beeped. “Good.” He smoothed his beard with stumpy little fingers. “Jandi is sending the file to your personal viewscreen.”

Lek nodded and activated a small square in the centre of the table - trying to observe the group of men opposite without attracting attention. “It’s him,” he murmured quietly.

“We wait,” Forrell said.

*****************************************************

Aves chuckled quietly to himself.

“What’s so amusing?” Talon Karrde asked in an undertone.

“We seem to be the topic of discussion over there.”

“Yes, they’ve been watching us since we came in.” Talon’s pale blue eyes narrowed. “I wonder why?”

“Maybe time will tell,” Aves said, sliding his hand casually to the firearm in his low-slung holster.

“Careful, Aves. I don’t want trouble.”

“Neither do I, sir. I’m just being prepared.” He settled back in his seat. “No sign of Mara, boss?”

A muscle moved in Karrde’s face. “Not since the holomessage. She’s been coming here for years but this is the first time that she’s ever wanted to stay.”

“Didn’t she give you a reason?” Dankin muttered irritably.

“She did, but she seemed a little tense.”

“Mara’s always tense.” Aves chipped in.

“She wanted to stay for the sale.” Karrde replied smoothly.

“The sale?”

“The Zathoq ship sale. It’s quite an event I believe.”

“So that’s why we had difficulty getting a docking bay for the Wild Karrde?”

“Probably.” Karrde’s voice was terse.

“We can enjoy that too.” Aves eye’s squinted across at Karrde in the dim lighting. “What’s up, boss? There’s more, isn’t there?”

“I’ve heard that Luke Skywalker has disappeared from the Jedi Academy on Yavin and hasn’t been seen or heard from for several weeks.”

Aves whistled silently. “Not even Solo and the Senator? Have you tried them?”

“My sources tell me enough without bothering Leia and Han unless I have to. The last I heard, they were getting anxious. He apparently got up one morning, said he had something to do, and left.”

“I’ll never understand the Jedi. What will Mara do when she finds out?”

“I don’t know what she’ll do. Mara’s a Jedi too, or she’s nearly one, but where Luke is concerned...” Karrde lifted his shoulders. “She has this instinctual desire to vape Skywalker or pull him out of trouble. If he’s in difficulty she will want time to go and see if she can help him.”

“Just say ‘no’ this time, boss,” Dankin grinned.

“I can just see you looking for new employment if that happened, nerf,” chuckled Aves, “Because Mara would just kill him.”

“Yeah, you had a good run, boss, but when the Hutt gets the water frog…”

“I would not say ‘no’ to Mara Jade in those circumstances.” Karrde’s voice was severe but there was a twinkle apparent in his pale-blue eyes. “She wouldn’t wait for me to say ‘no’.”

Aves gave a short burst of laughter. “That she wouldn’t. She just take off after the Jedi Master.”

“Perhaps Skywalker just forgot to call. Have you any idea where he is?” Dankin asked.

Karrde snorted in frustration. “Not this time. He’s eluded even us.”

“Wow!” mumbled Aves.

Karrde shifted in his seat. “I still need to see her about a couple more runs she is supposed to be doing and collect that cargo. It was actually intended for delivery to a buyer on Gyndine last week. Faughan was scheduled to stop by and exchange ships but The Etherway developed a fault.”

“Oh, so what are we going to do?”

“You will fly the Vornskr to Gyndine with the cargo and we’ll leave Mara the Dignity.”

“She won’t like it. The Dignity’s nothing but a crate, and a tiny one at that.” Aves protested.

“She could have flown back in the Vornskr, but she chose to stay,” Karrde retorted mildly. “Mara will understand.”

“You think? Ouch!” He winced in anticipation of Mara’s reaction to that piece of news. The Dignity… It was hyperspace capable, but the shields were poor and it was only minimally armed.

“I need some new ships, Aves. The only ones that are working are the Starry Ice, the Vornskr and the Wild Karrde itself. I’ve never had such a spate of ship malfunctions.”

“Then we’ve come to the right place at the right time. If there’s a ship sale…?”

“You know,” Karrde mused, “I never thought of that.”

******************************************************

They had travelled at least ten minutes down the road away from the yard before Mara realised that Luke had left Artoo there… on purpose.

“Luke…” she bit out in exasperation.

“What?” he mumbled. “I want to go back when it’s dark.”

“You’ll have to – now that you’ve forgotten Artoo.”

“I didn’t forget him. He knows we’ve left.”

“He does?”

“Actually…” Luke sounded apologetic. “It was his suggestion.”

“Mara closed her eyes. “Oh for Sith’s sake, Skywalker…”

Her voice rose to dangerous levels and Luke squashed his instinctive desire to duck.

“I take back everything good I ever said about you and that blasted astromech! You’re as bad as each other.”

“But Mara…”

“But nothing. You are not going back there!”

“I think you’ll find that I am. I’m not leaving Artoo there permanently,” he retorted stubbornly, his chin tilted at the pugnacious angle Han and Leia would recognise easily.

“Well, I’m coming with you!” she shouted angrily.

“Fine!” he bit out.

Mara and Luke entered the Vornskr in total silence – in fact they hadn’t spoken a word in the hour-long drive back to the spaceport. Not since the squabble they’d had, just ten minutes after leaving the old shipyard.

“Was it wise to leave Artoo there, Skywalker?” Mara asked solemnly, her face troubled. “Why didn’t you tell me that’s what you were planning?”

“I didn’t think about it until Artoo suggested it.”

“You think he’ll be okay?”

Luke lifted his head from the interesting occupation he’d taken up - studying the dusty toes of his boots. “I hope so. There is something there. Artoo said he saw something big.”

“Artoo, you seem to keep forgetting, is a droid.”

“I’ll never forget Artoo, and he’s a droid with extremely good photoreceptors.” He pulled off his brown cloak and slumped wearily into the co-pilot’s chair. His shoulder was still aching, although he’d never admit that to Mara. He placed the perfume vial on the console in front of him.

She picked up the perfume vial in her slim hand and admired its gentle, elegant curves, the intricate carvings and delicate colours catching the light.

Luke shut his eyes tight as another memory assailed him. The perfume was so strong – almost overpowering. It was as if it had been spilled from the flask. Into his mind’s eye; the same slender hand he’d seen before reached for the stopper. This time though, the hand trembled and the sound of quiet sobbing could be heard.

“Luke!” Mara called insistently. He had his eyes shut and his breathing was loud and fast. He wasn’t on the ship with her; the Jedi Master had travelled somewhere else. Mara glanced at his hands and found the knuckles white. “Luke,” she tried again but in a gentler tone of voice. “What is it?”

His eyes opened slowly, the colour of sky after a summer fall of rain. “It’s nothing,” he whispered.

“Skywalker,” Mara warned. “Don’t fob me off with excuses.”

“Mara…”

“Luke… You can’t hide things from me.”

“Alright… I saw something.”

“Like what?” Mara sighed. This was worse than having him chatter all the time. “Tell me.”

“I saw a woman’s hand and the scent of the perfume was so strong – too strong. Her hand was shaking so much that she’d spilled it all over her desk. Then I heard her crying. I don’t know who she was, the lady who owned this beautiful object, but she wasn’t happy. The crying was quiet, but heartrending. She’d no strength left to fight any more.”

“She was a lady?”

“Her hands belonged to someone unused to manual work. These fingers were manicured and elegant.” Luke’s expression grew pensive. “My aunt…” He hesitated. “I couldn’t help but compare them to my Aunt Beru’s hands – rough, tanned and careworn from overwork and the Tatooine suns. Yet they could be the gentlest...” He collected himself and gave a weary sigh. “You did say that the perfume jar was a quality item,” he reminded her.

“It is.” Mara’s hand moved to trace the shape of the flask. “This must fit together somehow. The visions we’ve had… the perfume flask. I just don’t know how.”

Luke sighed sadly. “I suppose these things all must connect, but it doesn’t make solving this mystery any easier. Mara, I…” Luke stopped and his head dropped. “Who was she?”

Mara shook her head. “Will we ever know?” she asked.

Luke sighed wearily. “I don’t know,” he mumbled into his chest.

The trader sat in the pilot’s chair and carefully loosened Luke’s fingers from the death grip they had on each other. Mara examined them absently, not realising that her thumb rubbed gently across his palm. “Tell me.”

Luke’s blue eyes met Mara’s green ones and caught; they stared fascinated at one another for a long while. His eyes traced across her soft cheek and lingered on the fiery beauty of her untidy hair. He marvelled at how utterly lovely she was sitting there, her hand in his, completely natural, and attired in a grubby jumpsuit and tunic. The sophisticated court beauty she sometimes became scared him both as farmboy and Jedi Master, but here and now, she was just… his Mara.

“What’s that smile for, Skywalker?”

“I’m enjoying your company,” he murmured simply. “And Mara… I’m really sorry about this morning. You were right and I should have known better than to go off half-cocked on my own. I’m not familiar with Zathoq City, especially its less desirable residential areas.”

“No.” Mara shook her head. “I’m the one who’s sorry.” She swallowed a little nervously. “I hurt you and I didn’t know that I could hurt you.”

Luke’s face shuttered, his eyes opaque, barriers up tight.

“Don’t do that,” she uttered sharply.

“Do what?” he asked, but he knew what he was doing.

“Shut me out.”

“You do it to me all the time,” he answered.

“You expect me to,” Mara snapped.

“And I’m not supposed to do it – is that it?” Luke’s voice began to get louder. She did this to him every single time. He thought he was calm and in control, but Mara could wind him up quicker than an Ewok sling shot. “Mara!”

“I didn’t know I was close enough to you to hurt you…”

Luke stood up, his face hard, and Mara winced. She’d just shoved her boot into her mouth.

“You are one of my friends. I gave you the power to hurt me a long time ago. I just hoped you’d never do it.”

“What do you expect, Luke? You keep your distance from everyone now – even Leia and Han.”

“Because I don’t want to hurt them.” The expression on his face was heartrending.

“Luke, we’re fighting again… please…” She held out her hand and grasped his arm.

The Jedi Master stared down at Mara’s fingers curling around his wrist and let out a defeated sigh. “I’m sorry, Mara. There are too many things for me to deal with at the moment. I feel many conflicting currents within the flow of the Force. The old man’s death…” His words slowed and he rotated his shoulder carefully. “He could have told us so much.”

“He was waiting for so long and we came too late,” Mara whispered.

“Perhaps we have to find the key to the puzzle ourselves.”

“Perhaps you’re right, Luke.”

“No perhaps about it. He cannot help us now.”

Mara nodded and then noticed Luke’s torn and blood spotted shirt. “I’ll have another look at that shoulder of yours.”

“It’s…”

“I know what it is, but just let me check, hmm?”

“Sure.” Luke sat down and let Mara unfasten his jacket and slip his shirt from his shoulders.

Mara let her cool fingers linger over his heated skin. She hoped he wasn’t having some reaction to the injury earlier. He was wound up tight – tense and on edge. He sat before her, his head lowered, not looking at her as she traced the exact place where the shot had struck. He really was an impressive man, the perfect upper body, muscular without being over developed, all lean, hungry strength. Mara’s mouth watered and her hands, without her permission, took on a caressing quality. “Hold on, Skywalker. I’ll just get the medkit and run some antiseptic over a couple of scrapes on your back. How you managed to get these I don’t know.”

“Just lucky I guess. I’ll be fine, Mara. I’ll just do a little self-healing later on. They’re just scratches.”

“Later on Jediboy, we’re going breaking and entering… remember. I’d like you healed and rested first.”

“Okay, okay, I submit.”

He watched her from underneath his overlong fringe as she busied herself finding the creams and lotions she needed. He swallowed at the memory of how her cool hands had felt on his suddenly warm skin, as they’d soothed his aches. His mouth had gone dry and his pulse had increased even though he’d tried to keep as still and as calm as he possibly could, but one thing Mara Jade could do to him, was upset his equilibrium every single time.

The kiss they’d shared had been such a gentle thing. He’d said they would return to such a point again, but he didn’t dare hope too much. Her lips had softened and parted under his with a rightness he hadn’t expected. The impulse to kiss Mara had left him wanting more than perhaps she was able to give him.

The feel of cold jelly-like cream on his shoulder made him jump. “Mara!”

“Cold is it?”

“You know it is, you fiend.”

“You mean you’d let down your guard.” She shook her head. “A Jedi Master who lets his concentration slip. Tsk, tsk.”

“You have that effect on me,” Luke mumbled and blushed.

Mara’s eyes widened a little and then her eyelids dropped, hiding her feelings. “I’ll just go and wash my hands.”

“You go and use the sonic shower first,” Luke offered in a gentlemanly fashion.

“You saying I smell more than you do?” She stood with her hand on her hip, a red-gold eyebrow raised in challenge.

Luke flushed at her words. “Of course not! And while you do that I’ll make us something to eat. I don’t want to shower straight after you’ve anointed my body.”

He stood up and the cockpit of the Vornskr shrank as Mara’s eyes drank in the sight of his naked torso.

“Sure,” she mumbled backing away.

He led the way to the crew room and started digging in the food preservation unit. “What would you prefer?”

Mara gulped, her face warming as the pictures of what she really did desire flashed through her mind. “Whatever’s on offer.”

“Okay – I’ll surprise you.”

She ducked into the sleeping alcove. Luke resolutely turned his back and faced the small stove, but he could hear the sounds of clothes being removed, zippers carefully lowered and the whisper of material sliding down slender legs. His mouth went dry again as the thought of Mara without her clothes filled his head. “Oh, Force. What am I going to do?” he mouthed silently. ‘This has never been a problem before.’

Mara wrapped herself in her robe and dashed past Luke to the cramped fresher. He hadn’t turned around once and she knew he wouldn’t have done that anyway, but part of her thrilled with the excitement of rushing past the stuffy Jedi Master with no clothes on underneath her robe. It was a silly notion. Luke wasn’t like that… ‘Pity’, she thought as she lathered her slender limbs with cleaning solution. What would it be like if Luke did this? What would his hands feel like… touching her? Mara stopped her ministrations and leant back against the wall. This was Luke Skywalker she was thinking about with all the fondness of a lover. He was her friend and you didn’t think about friends like that. He’d kissed her with all the earnestness she’d come to expect from the Jedi Master but hadn’t expected the sweetness or the streak of desire that had hurtled though her body.

It was definitely too long since she’d lain with a man if she was desiring Luke Skywalker as if he was water on Tatooine – but if he was water, then she was really thirsty.

The Ship – Chapter 11

By Ash

Disclaimer – The characters and situations in the story are the property of Lucasfilm Limited.

“They don’t seem to be in any hurry to move.” Forrell whispered loudly.

“Ssh!” rebuked Lek. “Don’t broadcast to the whole galaxy.”

“I thought you said you worked in security?” Malyre gurgled happily, the smoke from his pipe wafting up in front of his face.

Lek took one look at the Selonian’s glassy-eyed stare and sighed. “You smoke too much of that stuff, old friend.”

“I don’t care. It makes the world a better place.”

“Quiet now, they’re leaving.” Lek picked up his draf and buried his nose in it. Forrell scrutinised his data pad and studiously tapped in some figures. Only Malyre, happy through a haze of mild narcotic, genially smiled as the elegantly dressed man and his crew gave the old timers a hard stare as they passed.

****************************************************

Mara let the shower completely cleanse her body and hair of Zathoq’s dust and grime. Pulling on a loose, dark blue tunic and matching sleep pants, she brushed the tangles from her hair before joining Luke back in the crew room. He was still without his shirt, stirring something in the pot he’d placed on the cooking ring.

“Nearly ready,” he remarked without turning around.

“It smells good – whatever it is.” Mara gave Luke a quick glance.

“Nothing special, just a meat stew. Dried rations don’t always make the best meals, but I’ve mixed it with some of our fresh ingredients and…”

“I get the picture,” Mara said dryly.

Luke shifted from one foot to the other. “I’ve just got time to take a quick shower myself,” he commented as he stabilised the heat under the pot. “You… okay?”

“Yeah. Go ahead and have that shower. I’ll keep an eye on the food.” Mara wondered at the stiltedness of their conversation. It had been a long and very strange day. Mara had checked her chrono against the one in the ship when they returned and to her surprise it was still early in the evening.

“Thanks.” Luke hesitated. “I think the ointment has done the trick. My shoulder feels much better now.”

Mara’s eyes unwillingly moved to the area in question. There wasn’t a mark anywhere on his smooth skin where the shot had grazed him. “Good,” she whispered through dry lips.

Luke sidled past her into the sleeping alcove and grabbed a pile of clothes that he’d laid out on his bunk. He didn’t let his eyes meet Mara’s while he did so. “I won’t be long.”

“Sure,” she said casually.

Luke was as good as his word and returned quickly. His hair, clean and shining, fell into gentle waves around his head. He had shaved and pulled on a new pair of tightly fitting black pants. His feet and chest were bare.

Mara’s eyes were again drawn to his body. He was a fit man in his prime and Mara was not a member of a celibate order, but even they would find it difficult not to be moved by the sight of the Jedi Master’s sculpted torso.

“Mara?” Luke questioned with confusion clouding his blue eyes. He thought he saw something like naked desire burning in her vivid green eyes, but when she blinked he assumed he had been mistaken. The expression he thought he had seen was gone.

“We should eat,” she muttered gruffly.

“Of course.” He moved to the cooking ring and checked the meal before ladling it into two large bowls. “I hope you’re hungry.”

“If I’m not, I’m sure you’ll manage to finish anything that’s left over.”

He grinned. “My appetite’s never been a problem before, Jade.”

“No?”

“Well, unless you count the fact that I need a lot of food to keep me going. Leia says Anakin is just like me.”

“Now why doesn’t that surprise me?”

Luke shrugged and dug into his food with gusto.

As they ate, Mara’s mind dwelt on things she felt it shouldn’t have. ‘Damn Luke Skywalker and his blue eyes, his well-shaped pecs, and flat stomach dipping deliciously below the waistband of the black trousers clinging to his muscular thighs’. Hold on a minute – blacks. “You’re wearing black pants,” she accused. “You know I hate seeing you in your ‘uniform.’”

“I’m going to be investigating a shipyard in the dead of night, Jade,” he retorted. “Should I dress up in a white uniform or cream pants for the occasion? Of course not,” he answered his own question, the sarcasm evident. “I thought that black might help me blend in – especially if it’s dark.”

Mara scowled. Why did he have to be the voice of reason? That was her job in this relationship. She glanced down at her loose sleep pants. She’d been hoping for a few hours rest before they set off again, but it seemed as if the Jedi Master had different ideas.

“It makes sense.” Luke asserted.

“Course it does,” she gibed. “Novel to have you thinking sensibly.”

“Mara…” he warned sternly and her eyes dropped guiltily to her plate.

“Sorry, Skywalker. That was uncalled for.”

Luke masked his surprise quickly. Two apologies from Mara in one day. His luck was changing. “It’s okay.”

The silence stretched uncomfortably between them; there was no Artoo beeping quietly from the charging unit. They were alone.

“Luke…” Mara hesitated, peering across the table at him from underneath her curling red-gold hair. “Earlier on…”

Luke knew what she was referring to. He’d firmly pushed their gentle encounter into a special place in his mind, where he could bring it forth and examine it at a later point. He hadn’t been dreaming about it. That kiss had been real. Since they’d returned to the Vornskr the memory of the kiss had escaped from its confinement and now he could barely concentrate on anything else. Back at the shipyard Mara had accepted his gentle salute, but she was unpredictable in her moods and he didn’t like to guess how she might react if he dared to do it again. He decided to play it safe and see what happened. ‘That’s it, Skywalker,’ he told himself. ‘Keep things light and uncomplicated.’ “What about it, Jade? It was only a kiss – it didn’t mean anything.” Luke smiled warmly, but it was an effort. ‘It didn’t mean anything, did it? Force, it did to me.’

Mara was taken aback at the feeling of disappointment curling into her heart. “Yeah,” she cleared her throat and then coughed. “I guess that’s all it was – just a kiss.” There was an awkward silence. Mara frowned – did she really want kisses from the Jedi Master? ‘Yes.’ She came to the conclusion very quickly. Yes. She did.

Luke watched the frown cross Mara’s features and his heart thudded awkwardly. She was regretting it? He suspected this might be the case. When she’d had time to think about what had happened she would recollect who he was and what he had done to her over the years. “Let’s face it, Jade,” he tossed into the deepening strain. “I’m a disaster with women – including you. A relationship with me is tantamount to suicide or developing terminal wanderlust.”

“Eh!” Mara blinked. Where had that come from?

Luke shrugged. “I’m not cataloguing my doomed relationships. I would never dare to hope for more than a friendship with you. Mara… you could have anyone in the galaxy if you wanted them. You’re so beautiful…” He closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh. ‘Great,’ he thought frustratedly. ‘So much for light and uncomplicated. If that hadn’t given away his feelings, he was a Jawa.’

Mara’s tilted her head to one side and scrutinised his features carefully. “I didn’t think you thought of me in that way?”

Luke’s brows rose. “What way?” His voice sounded perplexed.

“As a woman.” Mara tilted her head to one side and surveyed Luke cautiously. “As a comrade, a colleague, a friend to have with you in those life or death spots you manage to fall into every single time – yes. As a woman…” She shook her head. “No.”

Luke’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. Snapping his mouth shut he floundered for something to say – anything to say. He got the feeling, and not through the Force, that he was treading on treacherous ground. This was the old right-in-your-stomach, gut-churning nervousness. “I didn’t think you’d want me to see you as a woman… I… Mara!”

As Luke’s anxiety increased, Mara’s edginess began to wear off. She was getting some interesting signals through the bond she shared with him. Her eyes began to sparkle wickedly and her lips curved in a satisfied smirk. He was embarrassed - the farmboy was right there in front of her. Mara Jade began to enjoy herself.

“But you are a woman…” he choked out, totally bewildered at her quixotic mood swings.

“I didn’t think you saw me as one – a real one… with needs.” Mara began to pile on the agony. “You’ve never come on to me the way that Wes Janson and, of course, Lando Calrissian have.”

Luke’s face darkened at the mention of Lando.

“Of course they needed no encouragement.” Mara stood up and began to stalk her prey round the seemingly ever-diminishing table.

“I’m not like that,” he protested. “You’re very beautiful and I do see you…” He stood up and shoved his hands behind his back. “I’ve been trying not to.”

She stopped right in front of him – inches from his naked chest. Waves of intense, sexual emotion, but she was too caught up in the lure of his presence to categorise, poured from him and hammered at the walls guarding their bond.

“It’s just…”

Mara stared him straight in the eye and the words dried up. Luke swallowed as her gaze narrowed to slits of sharp, focused green.

It was then that his unwilling desire hit her. Mara stopped laughing inside and began to lean closer.

Luke swallowed once again. He was really in trouble now – he could feel it. “Mara, I see you as a woman but also as an individual. I know the Empire didn’t treat women equally, but I see you as a real one… woman… I mean person… Jedi.” He was babbling and he knew it.

Something devilish awoke in Mara and she leaned even closer, her lips within touching distance. “So you would kiss me… again?”

His gaze suddenly zeroed in on her sensuous lips; he’d been trying to avoid looking at them all the time she’d been advancing. Luke squeezed his eyes shut as the only way he could resist such temptation, but this way he was more attuned to her through his other senses. He could hear her quickened breathing, the faint rustle of her clothing as she moved closer, could smell the tangy fragrance she favoured as a cleanser - nothing cloyingly sweet for Mara Jade - and all around him her presence in the Force continued to tease him. “What?” he croaked.

“So you would kiss me again?” she repeated.

“Mara!” he yelped. “Of course not… I mean… you’re an individual and individuals have rights – the individuals.... I could never treat you as just a sexual object.” His mouth spewed forth a torrent of gibberish as his stomach dived to the soles of his bare feet.

“But suppose…” Her voice was breathy. “What if I wanted you to kiss me.”

Luke’s eyes snapped open and something blazed into life in their azure depths. “Now look here, Mara. I…” He bit off what he was going to say as she swayed a little closer still. He could feel her breath graze his cheek in sweet little puffs. He cleared his throat, stammering awkwardly. “Didn’t you say something about…” He coughed. “…Hoth… and a serious spring thaw?” Leaning away from her as far as he could, his neck bent into an awkward position. “I didn’t think you would want… Mara… this isn’t fair.” Luke’s voice cracked. He craved this so much, but he didn’t want to be part of a game she was playing.

Mara’s mind determined itself on a course of action. She took that final, minute step, placed her hands on his shoulders and fastened her lips over his frantic words, cutting off the sound neatly.

Luke’s eyes widened and then closed as he responded, letting nature take over. Their first kiss had been a gentle promise, whether of friendship or passion neither of them had been entirely sure. But this kiss… there was no doubt – no doubt at all. Passion was unleashed from its locked cage and began to run riot. His arms moved from where they’d been held stiffly by his side to wind around her waist, pressing her lithe body against him.

His tongue parted her lips and wrestled an equal part of the encounter with hers. At the back of his mind there was a stunned voice saying. ‘You’re kissing Mara… this is Mara Jade and how could you not know how perfect she would feel? You are so dead.’ But he couldn’t help it and leaned in further to the kiss. ‘She kissed you first,’ his baffled mind protested. ‘She kissed… is kissing you… oh nerfshit!’

He pulled away with such an expression of shock on his face, that Mara - whose wits had been swimming away just as fast, so totally affected by the kisses of Luke Skywalker - took a moment to regroup.

“Force,” he whispered, gazing at her, his beautiful eyes wide and serious. “Mara… I had no idea.”

“Me neither,” she answered just as softly.

“What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know.” Mara turned and walked shakily towards the sleeping alcove. Her blood still sang with the fervour he’d induced in her. How could he do this to her, especially when she had sworn never to need anyone again?

“Mara!” Luke called, his feet moving after her.

“What?” She turned, stumbling, only to be caught in his arms as Luke grabbed her and began kissing her as if his life depended upon it. Both of them were shaking now and clutched at each other feverishly, their bodies tight against one another as they fought to get closer still. Mara trailed her hands over the naked flesh of Luke’s torso and his found fastenings and pulled the loose tunic over her head. Naked flesh met flesh and their skin burned as it touched. Her rosy nipples stiffened as her desire rose and Luke felt his body harden. With an anguished moan Luke pressed himself to her warmth…

“Mara!” A voice shouted loudly and they heard a banging on the side of the ship.

Luke and Mara tore themselves apart, staring in complete panic. They’d sensed nothing in their absorption with each other and now someone was at the ship.

“Mara!” the voice sounded again.

“They’re not on board,” Mara whispered shakily.

“Outside…”

“Yes,” she nodded.

Luke stared at Mara’s naked breasts and willed his ardour to decline. “You are so beautiful,” he trailed a trembling finger over one perfectly pointed peak and watched as the breath caught in her throat. “Here.” He picked up her tunic and she pressed it over her breasts, a flush staining her cheeks. “Hurry.”

“Luke…” The banging on the hull continued loudly.

“Someone knows I’m here,” she muttered.

Luke grabbed a shirt and thrust his arms into the sleeves. “I suppose they do if they are shouting your name. I’ll go and delay them at the door. I, at least, am decently covered.”

“It’s not my fault!” Mara muttered indignantly. “How can I see someone now?” The last word rose upwards in a wail. Mara Jade didn’t normally wail. “I look a mess. My hair is all over the place and… and…”

“I told you…” Luke gazed at her. “You look beautiful,” and to him she did. Her face was flushed with passion, her eyes dark and smokily green and her lips… Luke ached to cover them with his own once more. Her lips were swollen and red from his kisses.

“You go and put your tunic back on then come out of the fresher. Wash you face or something. I know… you’ve been showering – take your time.”

She stretched out her Force senses. “It’s Karrde!”

“I know.” He sent her a small, uncertain smile which curled her toes. “Damn his timing.”

Mara gave him a faint wobbly smile in return. “He might not know you’re here.”

“Well, it will be a nice surprise for him – won’t it?” Luke answered with a grin.

Luke pulled his black shirt over his shoulders leaving the front unfastened, and ran to the entrance hatch. “I’d better get there before Karrde blows it open,” he mumbled. He could hear the pounding on the Vornskr’s hull becoming louder and more frequent.

He pressed the release switch and the door slid swiftly aside. Luke held his hands up. “Don’t shoot,” he said mildly. The expressions on the faces of the men were so comical that he couldn’t refrain from laughing.

“Skywalker!” Aves said in amazement and shook his head at Dankin in confusion.

The pilot shrugged. Not who they had expected to see at all.

“Hello,” Luke murmured, standing there completely at ease with the situation. “You gonna stop pointing that thing at me? I’m no threat to the cargo or the captain.”

Karrde blinked and stared stupidly at his blaster pistol. It wasn’t often that he was surprised, but where Skywalker was concerned it was always possible. “You’re missing.”

“Nope, I’m not.”

“Your sister has been worried about you,” Karrde remarked softly.

“I know. I spoke to her the other day. She chewed my ear out for forgetting to contact her.”

“Mara?” put in Aves.

“She’s taking a shower, or something,” Luke said smoothly, not a trace of emotion crossing his face. “Come on, I don’t think this is the best place to carry on a conversation.”

“No, you are correct in this matter, Skywalker.”

Luke wandered slowly into the crew room and started clearing the remains of their meal. “Find yourself a seat.” He cocked his head to one side and grinned. “Mara’s just coming once she’s finished categorising you with all the choicest epithets she can think of.”

“There are rumours and reports circulating about your absence, Skywalker.” Karrde assessed the Jedi Master’s appearance as he spoke. Dressed in an open black shirt and black trousers, Luke seemed well. The air of stress, which had hung about him the last time they’d met, had gone. He was relaxed and smiling.

“Won’t be the first time. Leia was quite upset with me.”

“So you’ve contacted her?”

“I told you I had. Mara reminded me to do it.”

“Ah, yes,” Karrde mused. “Mara.” He pulled off his black leather gloves and laid them on the small table. “How on the bones of Palpatine did you manage to bump into Mara on Zathoq? Were you looking for her?”

“Complete chance encounter, Talon. Either that or the Force.”

“Oh, the Force.” Karrde’s face remained non-committal.

“She said Faughan was coming to collect the cargo – not you.” Luke remarked pointedly.

Karrde frowned. “The Etherway developed a fault and I need that cargo. It should have been on Gyndine last week.” The rebuke was subtle, but it was there.

“I didn’t put pressure on Mara to stay. It was her own idea - she wanted to see the ship sale.”

“Why are you here?”

“I’m sorry, I can’t tell you. It’s personal business. I’m on the Vornskr because Mara offered me one of the spare bunks.” He smiled ruefully. “I came in my X-wing. I honestly didn’t know Mara was here.”

Karrde relaxed a little. “She didn’t give me totally sound reasons why she wanted to stay. I might have guessed you were at the root cause of it all.”

“Are you blaming me for the non-delivery of your cargo? I cannot pay your rates as you very well know.” Luke said mockingly. “I’m only a poor Jedi Master with a pilot’s pension from the war. Mara’s reasons for staying here are her own.”

“I’ll think of something you can do to repay me,” Karrde’s sardonic voice murmured.

Luke raised his eyebrows. “I bet you will.”

Mara stood in the refresher, her hands over her burning cheeks. She’d let Skywalker kiss her senseless. ‘You kissed him first,’ she argued to herself. ‘Maybe it was you who kissed him senseless and not the other way around’. She picked up her black leather jumpsuit from where she’d dropped it, stepped into it, and pulled it over her hips. The black leather suit had been made many years ago especially for her by one of the Emperor’s most favoured dress designers. Every curve was dangerously outlined. What Luke would do when he saw it, she had no idea. He always stared at her, his blue gaze burning uncomfortably into her flesh whenever she wore it. Could he have desired her as far back as their time together on Myrkr? Had Luke Skywalker lusted after Mara Jade from the moment he’d seen her?

‘Okay, Jade. I think it’s safe to come out.’ Luke’s voice echoed comfortingly in her head as she finished loosely braiding her shining hair.

‘Coming,’ she replied, and grabbed her utility belt, fastening it around her slender hips.

She didn’t look at the Jedi Master when she returned to the crowded crew room, but greeted Karrde and the others with composure. She felt his eyes travel over her svelte leather clad form. “You do pick your times to come calling, Karrde,” she said derisively. “I was in the shower and after the dust this planet can engender, believe me I needed it. So did farmboy here.”

“I’m not arguing, Jade,” Luke put in quietly and for the first time she looked at him, a faint blush covering her features. His eyes only held hers for an instant, and the warmth filled him completely.

“I haven’t seen that outfit for a while, Jade,” Karrde observed.

Mara glared at him. “It’s practical,” she snapped.

“Okay,” he observed her carefully. “If you want to stay, you can, but I need this ship.” Karrde remarked briskly.

“What about the other ships?” Mara enquired.

“Most of them are in space dock. I did bring the Dignity…”

Mara’s snort told him what she thought about that. “I’m not going anywhere in that piece of junk. It’s worse than a flying crate. It will take me a month in that thing to get back to Coruscant and…”

“Tell me about it, Jade. I had to fly it here while everyone else lived it up in the Wild Karrde,” Aves complained.

“Hardly,” Karrde squashed the other man. “Mara – if you want to stay with Luke, that’s what you’ll have to come home in. I have nothing else in the vicinity. The others that might do are too far away.”

“What about the Wild Karrde? Can’t we transfer the cargo into there?”

“I’m not heading anywhere near Gyndine and the cargo has to get there as soon as possible.”

“Fine,” she grumbled. “I’ll get my things. Skywalker, you’ll have to sleep in your X-wing tonight. No room in the Dignity for both of us.”

Luke shrugged unconcernedly. “Nothing I didn’t think I’d have to do in the first place. Just let me get my stuff together. He followed Mara into the sleeping alcove. He knew it was risky, but he pushed her further in until she was at the far end and out of Karrde and the other’s line of sight. There was no room for her to get past. The space between the bunks was only wide enough for one person, but if that person had taken hold of the other’s chin, pressed his body firmly against hers and had fastened his lips over hers, then there was plenty of room after all.

Mara stiffened then relaxed as his firm lips caressed hers. This kiss was too swift and left her wanting more. She would get him back for this – she would get her revenge and it would be sweet. As sweet as his lips were as they tasted hers.

Luke couldn’t help himself. He had to find out if the madness was still present within them both. Madness or a strange kind of sanity.

Mara emerged first, her stuff in a medium-sized carryall; Luke followed tugging his boots on and dragging his own duffle bag.

“Is that it?” Dankin asked.

“Yeah, I travel light. It’s not as if I’ll be going to any independent trader’s balls.”

Luke coughed as something tickled the back of his throat. “Sorry… some dust,” he apologised.

Mara sent him a suspicious glare. ‘Get your mind out of the gutter, Jediboy!’

‘Mara! What are you inferring?’ The look he returned was full of innocence.

Karrde smiled. “It’s good to know you’re not in any trouble, Luke.”

“Now when have you ever known me to be in trouble, Talon?”

“Oh please,” Mara moaned. “There’s still time.”

***********************************************

As soon as they’d cleared the tapcaf Forrell checked with his subordinate in the security office.

“Everything’s quiet… No… wait. These guys are back.”

Forrell was rather disturbed to find that they’d resumed their patrolling around Merah’s ship immediately. “Any sign of Merah and Luke?” he asked.

“They returned about an hour ago.”

“I told you to tell me as soon as they came back.”

“We had a couple of ships in earlier than expected, Sir and nothing was happening.”

Forrell looked aghast. “We have to warn them…” He thought for a moment. “We have to tell them there are men surrounding their ship.”

“Hardly surrounding, Forrell,” Lek argued. “There’s only four… or five of them.”

“They look dangerous. I could send a team out to detain them,” the portly security officer insisted.

“They haven’t done anything wrong. You can’t have them arrested - especially if it is Merah’s boss.” Lek argued. “We’re probably overreacting.”

Malyre dragged deeply on his pipe before saying carefully. “Call her. Do you have her com frequency?”

Lek shook his head. “No.”

“We could go and visit…” Malyre smiled. “I would like to see her ship.”

“Why? It’s no different from any other ship that lands here,” Lek muttered in exasperation. “I don’t think she’s used the same ship twice in a row. She flies whatever she needs to transport the cargo.”

Forrell’s com beeped.

“Yes?” He listened to what his caller had to say and shut the tiny device off. “Karrde’s people have started banging on the hull.”

“They’ve what?”

“Come on, let’s go.” Forrell rose to his feet, which didn’t make him any taller, and began to weave his way through the crowds now pouring into the tapcaf.

“Follow him, follow him,” chanted Malyre merrily.

“You’re out of it, Malyre.” Lek accused.

“Maybe so, but I’m off to help rescue the fair Merah and her farmer Luke.”

“He’s not a farmer…” Lek bit his tongue.

“Course he’s not,” Malyre said with a chuckle. “I may be old and too fond of spice, but I recognise a Jedi when I see one.”

“What!” Lek ground to a halt.

“Can’t you tell? I’ve been around the galaxy a long time and there’s always that little something about them. I’m surprised you didn’t notice. Plus he wore a lightsaber when he collected Merah from the tapcaf. They’re the only beings I ever heard of that preferred to use them.” Malyre lurched unevenly to his feet and tottered carefully after Forrell’s rotund little figure.

Lek squeezed from the booth and made for the bar, giving the barman and one of the service droids some instructions. Malyre and Forrell had already vanished from the tapcaf. “I guess I’d better follow them. Someone has to keep a level head around here.” He limped as fast as he could out of the building and into the spaceport. ‘Does a Jedi really need rescuing?’ he thought.

Merah had landed one of the premier docking bays, as it was right in the centre of the spaceport. So Lek was able to spot the four-foot security officer and the seven-foot Selonian with ease. They didn’t exactly blend in, either of them. “You two are going to land us in trouble,” he hissed.

“Look,” whispered Forrell. “They’ve got guns.”

The door to the Vornskr slid open and Luke stood framed in the entryway, his hands in the air. There was a short conversation between them until Karrde gestured at Luke with his blaster pistol. They disappeared inside the ship and the hatchway slid shut.

“What do we do now?” Malyre swayed gently behind the pile of containers they’d used for concealment.

“We have to help them.” Lek declared staunchly.