Out of the Shadows 20

Dagobah

‘Yoda was gone’, Luke thought, surreptitiously wiping the back of his hand across his eyes, unable to control his tears. He was really gone and the whole planet seemed to be in mourning for the diminutive Jedi Master. For a few moments there was the closest to complete silence that Luke had ever heard on Dagobah until a plaintive melody filled the air; it was the song of the Jubba bird raised in melancholic farewell. Luke, too, would have to manage without him.

“Where did he go?” Mara Jade stared at the place where the body of Jedi Master Yoda had lain. “Where is he? He’s gone – completely disappeared.” What kind of Jedi trickery was this? Her hands fumbled to release her hidden blaster from its hiding place but her fingers weren’t co-operating and they fell back against her sides. “Where did he go? What did you do? Answer me,” she demanded shakily. Beings didn’t just disappear in front of your eyes.

Luke thought back to the time when he’d seen Obi-Wan Kenobi vanish into nowhere. He hadn’t understood it either and he wasn’t entirely sure that he did now. “He’s gone. He’s become one with the Force,” he said quietly. “It happens to some of the Jedi. The physical realm is not theirs any more and they inhabit a different plane of existence.”

“He’s dead?”

“From a certain point of…of view. Yes, he’s dead.” Luke’s shoulders hunched, shaking slightly, and he turned his face away from her gaze.

Mara stood uncertainly as the grief of the young Jedi washed through her. He was making no attempt to hide his pain. Skywalker knelt before the empty space and Mara could see the silent tears rolling down his cheeks. Dazed and confused and unable to focus her hatred on the grief-stricken man before her who had destroyed her life, Mara stumbled out of Yoda’s home as a feeling of acute nausea overtook her. She had never come across such depth of feeling before – such overwhelming sadness - and he was making no attempt to shield her from his pain. Anger she could understand but not this desolation. How could someone be dead ‘from a certain point of view’? How could this man feel such sadness for one individual when he had the blood of so many on his hands?

Her stomach heaved and she swayed as her vision blurred.

“I’m sorry. Here, let me help you.” The soft voice intruded on her physical misery. She had no time to complain or refuse his assistance as comforting hands supported her trembling body while she turned and retched.

“Stang! I thought you might be concussed. You need to lie down.” The concerned voice of the strange young man came to her through the fog of her own misery. No, he wasn’t a stranger; she knew him – Skywalker. She knew him and hated him.

“I’m fine,” Mara tried to say firmly, ashamed of her own helplessness, but the words emerged sounding weak and feeble.

“If you are ‘fine’, do you normally empty the contents of your stomach in front of casual acquaintances?”

“We are not acquaintances,” Mara managed to say stiffly, trying to quell her still rolling stomach. “We are enemies.”

“I’m not your enemy,” Luke countered quietly. “What have I done to you?”

“Plenty.” She managed to infuse the word with vitriol.

“But I’d never even met you before that incident on Druckenwell. How could…?”

Mara continued to glare at him, trying to reclaim her equilibrium. “My Master…”

The credit dropped. “Oh, Palpatine,” Luke mumbled, eyeing the red head carefully. She didn’t look well at all. Perhaps she’d hit her head harder than he’d thought and his healing skills were adequate but wouldn’t cure something serious.

“Yes, Emperor Palpatine. You are my enemy. You killed him…”

“What…but I…”

“You killed him.” Mara said desperately, leaning heavily against his supporting arm. “One day I will kill you.”

Luke stifled a wobbly smile. “Just not today, hmm? I don’t think you’re quite up to it and I’m not in the mood to defend myself. Wait until you get to know me better. Then you’ll maybe mean it more.” He began steering her towards his home.

“That would be difficult,” she snapped.

“One day you will have to decide who your enemy really is and it will not be who you expect it to be.” He handed her a glass of water. “It’s just water,” he said when she shot him a narrow look of suspicion. “Honest.”

“I know my enemy,” Mara declared.

“So do I,” Luke countered evenly. “And it isn’t you. Sit down.”

“No, I prefer to stand,” she said clinging to her waning defiance. Why was he being so kind to her? This man was supposed to be evil with no redeeming qualities. She took a sip and then another and finally tipped her head back and began to gulp at the water thirstily.

“Hey!” Luke seized the glass and held it away from her. “Sip it,” he instructed. “Don’t slug it down like that; you’ll just make yourself sick again. It’s just water but you’ve had a shock and you aren’t quite yourself at the moment. Slowly.” ‘Force,’ Luke thought. ‘I sound like my Aunt Beru.’ He brought the glass to her lips and watched as she dutifully did as she was told. He suspected that this state of affairs would not last long.

Even though precipitation was plentiful on Dagobah, Luke had been brought up on Tatooine, shaped into the man he became by that strange desert world fired by two fierce suns. Water was precious there – water was life. His aunt had taught him that. Luke could see a picture of Beru Lars in his mind’s eye. Small, tough and loving, she had given her life to keep him safe and he hadn’t realised how precious she was until she was gone. Who would love him now? The answer came back to him with his own heartbeat – Leia. Leia loved him. It was nearly time for him to go home.

The woman - no, her name was Mara…Mara Jade - swayed. She matched the tantalising image he had of her in his head but he didn’t know who she was inside – not yet. “Careful,” he murmured as he caught hold of her, steadying her.

“Let me go,” Mara mumbled.

“I will,” Luke soothed gently. “But you have to sit down before you fall down. I told you that I think you’re concussed and I need to finish cleaning that cut on your forehead. I don’t want it infected.”

“I’m fine,” she retorted, defiance still apparent in her, but her movements lacked strength. She was exhausted; the shock of the injury and the crash landing had worn her out.

“I’m not arguing with you,” Luke said brusquely, his own battered emotions fluctuating underneath the strength of her hostility. “You’re not fit to argue and you’re in no danger here from me. Please try and remember that.” Luke picked her up and easily carried her to his narrow bed. She didn’t put up much of a struggle – she didn’t have the energy. “Sleep,” he said calmly, with a wave of his right hand.

“I don’t…” Mara inexplicably found that her eyelids were incredibly heavy. She could hardly keep her eyes open. “What have you…done to…me?” she managed to demand, trying to fight against the inevitable. Her eyelids closed and Mara Jade fell soundly asleep. Luke had placed her in a Jedi healing trance. She was young, healthy and would heal quickly.

Luke stared at the girl lying in his bed. He had to finish cleaning and then healing the gash on her forehead before it left a permanent mark. It would be a pity for such perfection to be marred. He wasn’t sure how she had managed to find him and Yoda when the whole might of the Imperial forces had attempted the exact same thing and failed. But she was intelligent, resourceful and persistent and the Force was strong in her. Luke did have a theory about that. It was possible that the Force was attempting to protect its own and had guided Mara Jade to Luke Skywalker. Perhaps it was another signal, another sign that his self-imposed isolation was at an end. The Force had allowed Mara to seek him out for a reason. He could ask her tomorrow but now she needed her rest.

He knew he should also rest because he hadn’t slept much at all over the past few days. But he’d known that Yoda’s end was near and had just spent time sitting by the old Jedi Master’s bedside, catering to his needs, making him relax and finally, just watching him sleep. Luke was deathly tired but knew that his own sleep would be still be elusive. There were too many thoughts flying around inside his head. He was drawn to the woman lying slumbering in his bed. He knew that she didn’t like him and, what’s more, that she wanted to kill him. He had the feeling that she would tell him eventually why she was so set on his demise and that, ultimately, it involved Emperor Palpatine. With a heavy sigh, he placed a soft woollen blanket over her still form.

Luke had to do something, had to keep his hands busy. Despite his exhaustion he was not yet ready to rest. “Artoo,” he called softly. Mara Jade was in a healing trance and wouldn’t wake for some time but he was taking no chances. “The med kit is over beside you - could you bring it over?”

The little astromech droid beeped an assent and grabbed the med kit with his grappling arm, wheeling the short distance to hand it to his master.

“Thanks, little fella.” Luke flipped open the kit and finished cleaning Mara’s head wound. It had stopped bleeding but he had to make sure it was cleaned properly before applying a bacta regenerative patch. He inspected his handiwork thoroughly before letting his eyes drift over Mara herself.

Carefully Luke untied the band confining her tightly braided red-gold hair, loosening the strands through his fingers, washing the worst of the blood away. He’d never seen any being with such a wonderful colour of hair before. Her soft skin was a pale cream apart from the livid looking area around the gash on her forehead. It would get worse before it got better. Her pallor might have something to do with the manner of her arrival on Dagobah but Luke remembered their unexpected meeting in Il Avila City on Druckenwell, and how the pale cream of her complexion was tinted with rose. As for her eyes… Luke sighed like a man in the throes of a first crush. Her eyes were clear, cold and vividly green. How would they change with her moods? What would they be like when she was smiling? And would she ever smile at him? He would have to wait – and he might have to wait for a very long time but he had the feeling that it would be worth the wait.

He wondered at the reasons behind the light of constant anger in her green eyes. He hadn’t done anything to her personally as far as he knew but he suspected that she blamed him solely for the death of Palpatine. If she were an Imperial sympathiser, which seemed likely, it was possible that she might have had family or colleagues present on one, or both of the Death Stars. Perhaps she had even been a member of an elite Imperial unit. Luke, with sudden insight, guessed that she could have been far closer to the Emperor than anyone had guessed. Her vendetta against one Luke Skywalker was extremely personal.

War of any kind wasn’t pretty and the destruction of both battle stations would ultimately save more lives than it took. Alderaan had been one of the greatest tragedies the galaxy had ever seen and Luke knew that the Empire would not have stopped with that. Innocent or guilty, regardless of your point of view, Luke knew he had blood on his hands and was therefore prepared to spend the rest of his existence atoning for what he had done…even for the cause of good. Atonement can take many forms and Luke had resolved to honour Yoda’s last wish and rebuild the Jedi. He would spend the rest of his life doing good.

The Jedi were needed in the galaxy again and Mara Jade had the ability to become a Jedi. The Force had to have had a reason to send her to him.

Artoo tootled a question and at the sound, Luke jerked around, his contemplation of Mara Jade broken. “What is it, Artoo?”

The droid repeated his query.

“Yes, she’ll be fine. I put her into a healing trance. She banged her head and suffered a bit of a shock, that’s all. Everything will be fine, Artoo.” His shoulders slumped dispiritedly. He looked as lost as he felt. How could he go on alone?

The droid beeped mournfully, concerned at his young Master’s sadness.

“Yes, Master Yoda has gone. It was his time to go. He was over nine hundred years old. So it was to be expected.”

The astromech beeped another question.

“Me?” Luke’s laugh was hollow. “I’ll be fine, too. Not today, Artoo. I feel too raw today. Yes, little fella, my circuits are all twisted up inside.” He managed a watery smile. “Perhaps tomorrow…maybe in a few days I’ll feel that everything’s all right again. But tonight, let me be sad and let me remember and honour my Master in the way that he should be honoured. He was my teacher, my Master, my inspiration and my friend. I would have died or slipped to the dark side without his wisdom.”

Artoo rolled towards Luke and slid across one of the panels in his chest revealing a bottle of Corellian Whisky.

“Where did you get that?” Luke gaped at the bottle of spirit.

The astromech let forth a stream of excited data. He’d been planning this surprise for some time.

“You got it where?” Luke managed to say disbelievingly.

The droid chuckled and happily chirped his reply.

“Druckenwell spaceport cantina!” Luke’s jaw dropped. “Artoo Detoo, you were supposed to be keeping an eye on my x-wing at all times, not procuring…alcohol. I’m not even certain that Jedi are supposed to drink. I guess I’ve got no one to tell me otherwise.” The droid blatted a raspberry in return. “It’s for emergencies and special occasions and you think that today is one of those. Which one is it exactly, Artoo?”

The droid beeped his opinion. He thought it was both.

The young Jedi shook his head wearily. Perhaps he should consider giving Artoo a memory wipe but he knew that he would never go through with it. But that was a new one, even on Luke. Droids procuring alcoholic beverages just in case it was needed by their masters? He reached in and grabbed the bottle. “Yes, Artoo, I think I deserve it too. Good idea.” He was never giving Artoo a memory wipe – ever. The droid was miraculous.

He moved to a box of junk in the corner of the room and rifled through it until he found a glass. This particular glass had many memories attached to it. Wedge had handed it to him, filled with Corellian whisky, after the battle of Yavin and they had toasted both their victory and their fallen comrades. It had a thin crack in it now but he didn’t think that the spirit would leak through. Luke had whimsically decided that the spirit tasted better. It was better than slugging it from the bottle. Aunt Beru would never have approved of him doing that although he’d done it in the past. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d had a drink.

He poured himself a generous splash of the amber coloured liquid and tentatively tasted it. Stars! He gave a little cough. This was powerful stuff. He had a couple of choices. He could get quietly drunk or he could get quietly drunk and read through some information on various ways of identifying those that were strong in the Force. Where could he find the recruits he needed? Yoda had been convinced that Mace Windu had left a precious list with names and locations. But if Palpatine with all his resources had been unable to find it, it was unlikely that Luke could manage that feat either. He sat down in front of his computer and pulled up his current reading. But his mind was on other things and his concentration was poor. It looked as if getting drunk was his only option. Luke poured more of the spirit into his glass and took another reckless swallow, wincing as his vision blurred.

He was alone now – the last of the Jedi on a world so isolated that almost no one had known of its existence. He would have to leave Dagobah now that Yoda had gone. There was nothing holding him here apart from fear of taking the next step. What if he wasn’t any good at training Jedi? Would Mara Jade let him train her – would Leia take precious time out of government to gain jedi skills, the legacy from a father she wanted nothing to do with? The questions tumbled through his brain with increasing rapidity. He needed a place to go where he could train Jedi in peace. The spirit was getting easier to pour down his throat – it didn’t burn so much now.

He had this bizarre and oddly disturbing image of himself trying to instruct a tribe of Yoda look-alikes all levitating above the lake he’d managed to crash his ship into the very first time he’d arrived on this isolated world. As they’d started to sink into the swamp they had all developed Darth Vader style helmets. There was a third option. He could just get totally drunk, forget everything and wakeup with a killer hangover. The idea of the suffering he would endure was tempting. Luke swallowed another mouthful of spirit. The third option was inevitable. He woozily assessed the amount of liquid remaining in the bottle. Dagobah wasn’t suitable; even Yoda had admitted that much. His head began to droop wearily and, tired from grief, alcohol and lack of sleep, Luke Skywalker fell into slumber, his cheek resting on his arms on top of his makeshift desk.

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Mara blinked open her eyes, stretched and yawned lethargically. She was lying on a narrow bunk, probably rebel standard issue, and in some sort of temporary shelter. For a split-second she had no recollection of where she was and how she had got there and her fingers began to fumble automatically for her blaster. But as she did so, her memories came flooding back. She had found him; she had found Skywalker. She stared blankly at the ceiling. Everything that had happened last night had been hazy. Had it been last night or had she been out for longer than that? A weak sunlight filtered through the aperture the rebels called a window. She’d crash landed on the planet – Dagobah - but couldn’t remember much about the actual landing which was probably a good thing. Her ship? What had happened to her ship? Her ship might need repairs, she decided slowly, but it had to have landed in one piece. She was alive after all.

Carefully she ran an inventory of her body and then she gingerly raised her head to inspect her surroundings more thoroughly. Her head didn’t ache as much as she’d thought it would but a dull throbbing pain was present. Her hand travelled from underneath the soft, warm woollen blanket, to her forehead, feeling the tightness of an adhesive bacta compress. She’d been given medical attention of some description. The Jedi had patched her up and put her to sleep too. A sudden thought had her lifting the blankets to check. She was still wearing all of her clothes. The strange events of the previous evening’s drama came back to her with ever increasing swiftness.

Yoda’s death.

Yoda…she had met the legendary Master Yoda and he then had disappeared before her disbelieving eyes, but not before telling her to look after Skywalker and that her fight wasn’t with him. ‘Look after Skywalker!’ Mara begged to differ. Her fight was indeed with Skywalker and looking after him wasn’t on her agenda. But he had rescued her from the crash, welcomed her into his home, tended to her injuries and let her sleep. He’d been kind and very few people had been kind to Mara Jade over the years – not unless they’d wanted something from her. She’d learned to discern those to avoid at a very young age. Normally she never gave them the chance to try kindness. Such things made you weak.

She exhaled irritably. That was twice now that she had met Skywalker and on both occasion he had not matched the information holo of him that she’d learned over the years. Mara risked sitting up, recalling the way she’d felt the previous evening, but this time her head felt fine. It was then that she saw him; his back was towards her, his tousled, sandy head resting on top of his arms, slumped over his desk in sleep.

The unexpectedness of his sheer vulnerability took her by surprise and when her hands went to her waist to tighten her belt, Mara was astounded to find that he hadn’t removed any of her weapons. Was the man a complete fool? He didn’t behave like any mass murderer she had ever heard of and the constant doubt that had begun growing inside her since she’d felt the Emperor’s death, augmented by her encounter with this man on Druckenwell when he’d ripped something from her mind, took another jump.

He’d done something to her head without her asking him to. He’d no right to do such a thing but she could feel the Force again and she couldn’t help feeling glad about it.

Mara placed her feet on the floor and stood up silently. All she had to do was to slip her tiny blaster from its hidden wrist holster and fire into the back of Skywalker’s unprotected neck and it would be all over. Her fingers twitched. All she had to do was squeeze the trigger and she would be free from the voices inside her head having finally avenged her master’s death. She would be free. But she’d wanted him to see the face of his enemy; she wanted him to know that she, Mara Jade, was the one who had cut him down. Shooting him in the back was somehow cowardly.

The Jedi’s head lifted but he didn’t turn around and face her. “Go ahead and try it,” he said calmly, his whole body motionless. “Don’t think that because I am unprotected, I am without my defences.” His voice was low and tired. “I am a Jedi Knight after all – a fully trained Jedi Knight.”

Mara was speechless. He’d not turned to look at her and she’d made no sound but he’d known what she’d wanted to do.

“You were thinking very loudly.”

“You read my mind?” Mara gasped, appalled at the sheer gall of the man.

“Of course I didn’t read your mind,” he replied tetchily, straightening up, horrified that she would even suggest such a thing. “I don’t do that without the proper invitation. You were broadcasting your thoughts very loudly for any half-decent Force sensitive to hear in this and the next system. All I sensed was your intent. You were extremely hostile. Trespassing on the thoughts of others is something that Palpatine would have done. I am not like that.” The feeling of hate shimmering in the air intensified. ‘Interesting,’ Luke thought and decided to push a little further. He turned his chair slowly to face her, his hands raised palms facing upwards. “Go ahead,” he said. “Try it. I am unarmed.”

Mara slipped the blaster from her wrist holster and levelled it at his defenceless chest, trying not to look at his face. If she looked into his blue eyes once more she would lose herself in the depth of pain. His face was beautiful but his eyes…they’d seen so much. There was such a profound intensity in those eyes.

‘You will kill Luke Skywalker!’

The words rang loudly in Mara’s ears, reminding her of her duty but she wasn’t the only one who heard the command. Luke also jerked in his seat, his tired sad eyes widening in shock. She froze, her gaze darting around the room, her fingers slipping from the trigger and the blaster falling from her hand to lie uselessly at her feet.

“Are you…” Luke had to say something. He could feel the importance of these moments. If she chose to act, he would defend himself. If not, they had a chance – she had a chance. The future was always in motion and this was a critical point in time.

“I’m fine; it was nothing.”

Luke’s eyes narrowed shrewdly. “I heard that voice too and it was a lot more than ‘nothing’. If you’ve got that in your head I’m not surprised you want to kill me.” He knew that voice. It still haunted his nightmares and he’d never forget it – ever. When his defences were down he could see the hate-filled yellow eyes glaring inside him, trying to rip his innermost secrets from his heart and making him betray all those that he loved with bursts of blue Force lightening. “Have you heard it before?” he asked casually.

Mara’s mouth tightened mutinously. “Once or twice,” she admitted unwillingly.

“I see,” he said thoughtfully. This was unexpected but not impossible to contemplate. Palpatine was still trying to kill him from beyond the grave and using this young woman to do it. But Luke needed her to tell him exactly what her connection to the Emperor was because there was a connection and it was a powerful one. He had to break that connection before she harmed them both.

He recalled the dark barrier that he had removed from her mind on Druckenwell. This had been placed deliberately in order to block her natural ability to use the Force. She’d been left with enough innate ability to become a useful slave for Palpatine but not enough to progress further. Luke was convinced that Mara could become a great Jedi. The strength was undoubtedly there. “Who was that?” he asked quietly. “Do you know and if so, can you tell me?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

Luke sighed and shook his head gently. So she was still loyal to Palpatine. Many of his questions were answered and yet, it brought up even more. “I think that you do. I heard that voice as clearly as you did and I think I know who it belongs to.”

“Then if you know, oh mighty Jedi,” she spat, her words dripping with disdain, “there’s no point in me wasting my breath telling you.”

Luke’s brow furrowed with concern and he winced at the pain in his head. What had he been thinking? Drinking so much alcohol when he was unused to it was extremely foolish. He wasn’t ready for a confrontation with this thermal detonator of a woman, not when he’d just lost his friend and Master, not when he was hurting so much inside. He could feel her anger and her hate rising again. Luke’s head dropped. He had the feeling that he was going to get one anyway. “I would like you to tell me please,” he said. “Keeping these things bottled inside can only lead to frustration, anger and ultimately to suffering. That leads to the dark side of the Force.”

“I’m going to kill you.” Mara’s fingers trembled, her eyes flashing hatred.

“You, Mara?” Luke queried, keeping his voice calm as if he were speaking to a wild animal. He wanted to push her to her limits – he had to find out why she was the way she was. He hadn’t wanted to do it exactly this minute but it seemed the Force had other ideas. “Is it you that wants to kill me or is it really Palpatine?”

“Me.”

“Are you sure?” Luke stretched out his hand and the tiny blaster rose from the floor and rested in the palm of his hand. He held it out to her.

Mara stared at him in disbelief, her eyes widening at the ease with which her weapon flew into his fingers. Was she sure?

“Why do you want to kill me?” Luke was now convinced that the Emperor was behind this. He marvelled that someone who had been dead for nearly four years was still ruining the life of every one he’d come across, this young woman included, keeping her mired in bitterness and anger. He could understand Palpatine’s need for revenge on Luke but what had this woman done to deserve such pain.

“Why!” Her voice rose, a hysterical edge creeping into it. “You ask me why?”

“If you’re going to kill me, Mara Jade, it would be nice to know what I’m going to be eradicated for. It’s only good manners. Something I was brought up to take into consideration.” Luke knew he shouldn’t have said that but he had to push her a little further. She did not like the idea that he could be mocking her. He placed the blaster onto the table beside his bed. “Or do you want me to take an educated guess? I was educated.” He managed a tired grin, forestalling the comment he sensed was on the tip of her tongue. “Tatooine had a very good learning programme.”

“The Emperor was my Master,” she spat bitterly; her eyes dark with pain. “And you killed him. You and Vader turned on him together and killed him. I saw it all.”

Luke sat up a little straighter. “The Emperor was your Master?” he repeated. This was beginning to sound like the situation between a Jedi Master and his apprentice but for the dark side of the Force. He didn’t sense that she was dark – angry but not dark. “You were there?” His voice shook, the calm he was projecting suddenly appeared to be a little thin. They had been alone in the throne room on the second Death Star, just him, his father and Palpatine. There hadn’t been anyone else with them in that room. He would have known. He would have felt another Force strong presence.

“I was his Hand, his faithful servant. I could hear his call from anywhere in the galaxy and do his bidding. I could go places, deal with situations and do things that other agents could not. He was like a father to me and you killed him. You killed him,” she repeated desperately. “I saw what you and Vader did together, through the eyes of my Master as he died.” She grabbed her blaster, running her fingers over its graceful contours. “He was pleading for your mercy and you cut him down.”

“No. It’s not true. I did not kill him.” Luke denied softly, shocked at how Palpatine was controlling this girl, enslaving her to his will, even after his death. “It’s a lie.”

“It’s no lie. You did…” she maintained brokenly. “I saw it.”

“What you saw was a lie. At the very time of his death Palpatine fed you a lie. It didn’t happen that way….believe me.” Luke tried to explain, wondering if this situation was getting out of hand. He was sure he had the means to stop this but wasn’t sure how he could make her believe him – she wasn’t ready. She had to believe him with both her heart and her mind equally. Currently it was neither.

Mara hunched her shoulders, not looking at the young Jedi. “I only ever failed him once and that cost me everything.”

“Failed him?”

Loathing rang in her voice. “You.”

“Me?” Luke queried curiously.

“Jabba’s palace. I was sent to kill you and I failed.”

“Ah.” He had not sensed her then at all but he’d had other things on his mind. There was a lesson to be learned there somewhere. He would meditate on it at a later time.

“I will not fail now.” She tightened her grip on the blaster and lifted it higher. “I will fulfil my Master’s last command and I will succeed.”

“But if you kill me, you will be creating a great wrong. Many will attempt to apprehend you for what you would do to me. When does the killing stop? Who has the right to decide?”

“I will have justice on my side.” Mara was adamant.

“No, you do not. I did not kill your Master,” Luke repeated doggedly. “Yes, I was there and I saw him die but I was in no position to finish off anyone. I was a half-trained Jedi. He had me helpless on the ground while he spewed Force lightening from his fingertips. How could I kill the most powerful man in the galaxy? I did not kill him. I could not kill him. I wasn’t strong enough and that’s something which still haunts me today.” He stared directly into her green eyes. “I will deny that accusation of his murder with my last breath. I did not kill him.”

The first hint of uncertainty crossed her mind. Palpatine had been very powerful. There had been none as powerful. “You are lying.”

“No. I do not lie.” Luke folded his arms.

Mara paused, the doubt creeping back into her mind. She’d been so certain of his guilt but most of what he had said to her so far was true. Her Master had once been the most powerful being in the galaxy, ruling that galaxy until he had met his death. But Mara had seen something the Emperor wanted to keep hidden. He had been frightened of this ‘boy’ – why? Was it his power? But he wasn’t a boy now and her Master’s underestimation of Luke Skywalker had been Palpatine’s undoing. Her mind spun feverishly seeking answers. “You…and Vader joined together. You were not strong enough to face him alone so you had to do it together.”

“That would possibly be true but there are still things that don’t add up. Vader hunted me for years and it was he who turned me over into the clutches of the Emperor on Endor. There are things you don’t know about Palpatine, Vader and…and me.”

“I know enough. I know everything that I want to know.” She could prove it. “I know about Vader’s offer to you on Bespin.”

“What!” Luke exclaimed hoarsely. “But no one knew – no one. I told no one – not even Master Yoda.”

“The Emperor knew,” Mara said smugly. “My master knew of Vader’s traitorous ways.”

Luke stood up and turned away from her. “Did your master tell you that I refused Vader’s offer?”

“Vader made a mistake in relieving you of your hand. It was hardly likely to make you amenable to his proposal at that time. You changed your mind later on.” She raised the blaster and Luke could feel it pointing at him.

“If you fire at me,” he said sadly, his hand moving imperceptibly to his belt, as he turned back to face her, “I have learned a technique that will stop the blaster bolt from hitting me. It would give me enough time to defend myself. If you kill me, you will never learn what you want to know – you will never learn the truth. I will never be able to train you as a Jedi, the way that you should be.”

“A Jedi!” she spat. “Why would I want to be trained as one of those?”

“Because in the days of the Old Republic you would have been identified at birth? Because you want it…”

“I don’t,” she interrupted.

Luke shook his head. “You do. You have always wanted to be fully trained in the Jedi arts. You want to be able to command the Force and wield a lightsaber. The most important thing of all, you have the strength and power to do so.” Luke could feel Mara’s emotions spiralling out of control as again she dropped the blaster, lifted under her tunic and brought forth a silver cylinder, one which made Luke blanch with shock.

“Where did you get…? How?” His words dried up. It was his first lightsaber. The one that Obi-Wan had kept for him, the one that had belonged to his father, the one he’d lost with his right hand.

“The Emperor kept it on Coruscant,” her voice was cold, deadly, back under control. “I collected it on my last visit there and I can use it.”

She’d managed to regain some semblance of restraint and Luke was impressed. He was quite sure she could use the saber. He could hear the inescapable ring of truth in her voice. “I’m sure you can. That lightsaber has an interesting history. It belonged to my father before me and Obi-Wan Kenobi kept it until I was ready,” he said softly. “Making my new one was one of my last tests as a Jedi apprentice. Before reaching knighthood, the padawan learner constructs their own lightsaber.”

‘Give this to the son of Skywalker.’ Mara suddenly remembered the spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn she had seen in the remains of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. “Your father was a Jedi Knight?”

So she knew that much. How much more information was she privy to? “My father, Anakin, was a Jedi. There are things that you’ve not been told – important things.” He took a deep breath, ready to divulge the secret of his parentage to her and then paused. He was not alone in this; there were others in his family he had to consider. Leia would need to be consulted first.

‘Anakin’, Mara thought, where had she seen that name before? And then she remembered. It was on one of the files Ghent had given her and she’d ignored it. She still had the information somewhere – it was probably in amongst the files and data cards that she brought with her. If not, it was on her desk on Coruscant. “And you would tell me?” She shook her head. It wasn’t as if she was interested in what he had to say.

Luke stood up, sensing that she had calmed down and that the danger was over for the moment but not gone forever. Mara Jade was a complex and dangerous individual with a long journey ahead of her. “I did not kill the Emperor,” he said finally. “I don’t lie, especially about something as important as that but there are things in my past I cannot tell you about yet. It is your choice whether you give me a chance to eventually tell you.”

Mara bit her lip and nodded. She did not want to believe him but everything she felt in his presence contradicted what the Emperor had told her about him. Luke Skywalker felt warm and full of light. Palpatine had raised her, she couldn’t remember her real family, but he’d been cold and forbidding. He had taught her to be strong. This warmth, this caring that Skywalker projected was weakness.

“Your sister misses you,” she said.

Luke closed his eyes, longing sweeping through him. “Sweet Leia,” he murmured. He opened his eyes and stared at Mara. “You’ve met Leia?” Mara had impressed him yet again. How had she managed with all the security surrounding his sister to get close enough to Leia? Then the credit clicked into place. “Sister!”

Mara’s lips curved into the facsimile of a smile. “An interesting little secret that one. I found it out quite easily. I gained access to both your medical files.”

“I’m not going to ask how you got near those. Mine is rather full.” He gave her a shy grin, which she ignored. So she had found out about his connection to Leia but not to Vader.

“You do seem to be rather accident prone.”

“People keep trying to kill me for some reason.” His eyes were wide and innocent as if he had no idea why.

Mara shot him a haughty look at his pathetic attempt at humour. “Your Corellian smuggler friend hired the services of my boss and he despatched me specifically to find you.”

“Han hired you. I might have known.” He shook his head, a smile on his lips. “So you found me.” Luke could imagine Han running out of patience and Leia needing to find him but also wanting to do what was right for Luke – what he wanted her to do.

“You’re not an easy man to find. Your family have had people searching for you for a long time now.”

“Does Leia know that our relationship is out in the open?”

“It’s not exactly out,” Mara said reluctantly. “I confronted Organa with my knowledge of the familial connection and she ran straight to spill the news to Mon Mothma.” She grinned sardonically at Luke. “I suspect she thought that I might run to the first holo-hack journalist and blab my findings all over the holo net. Your secret, for the moment, is safe with me. Your sister wants you home and so does Solo. Sometimes I get the impression that he misses your company more than Leia does. However, it was Leia that informed me where she thought you were hiding and I discovered roughly where the planet was located.”

“Dagobah isn’t on any of the charts.”

Mara smiled. “Not the current ones – no.” She shrugged. “But if you research the history of hyperspace travel and view the earliest charts – Dagobah is there. It exists just waiting to be found.”

“I’m impressed,” Luke murmured lightly.

Mara eyed him suspiciously. “I don’t understand why you just disappeared.”

“I had to do this,” he shrugged, noting that Mara had called the princess ‘Leia’ with an easy familiarity. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“I might,” she said sardonically, giving him the first hint of her dry sense of humour.

“Perhaps.”

“I can’t really see you enjoying the limelight. But I think it has more to do with the strange green guy who just disappeared in front of me.”

Luke’s mouth tightened and Mara felt another wave of anguish sweep through her. She was actually feeling Skywalker’s emotions.

“Maybe I understand more than you think. But you are ready to be found now aren’t you?”

Luke reckoned that he’d just been given a stay of execution but it had hurt when she’d mentioned Yoda. “Yes, I suppose I am. But now that my master is dead, I’m not sure where to go or what to do next.”

“Return to your family.” Mara held out the silver cylinder. “Your lightsaber – this belongs to you.”

“Keep it.”

“But it’s yours. It belonged to your father, you said.”

Luke indicated the similar device hanging from his belt. “I already have one – my own. I don’t need two. I want you to have it.”

“What about your sister?”

Luke shook his head wryly. “Trust me when I say that Leia won’t want anything to do with that particular lightsaber.” She still hadn’t accepted their parentage, he knew. But she was acknowledging him as her brother and that was a step forward.

“But…” Mara was dumbfounded. She still wanted to see him dead and he was giving her his father’s lightsaber.

“It’s important that you have it,” Luke said stubbornly. “I just have a feeling…” He closed his mouth, pressing together his lips tightly. He didn’t know why he felt so certain about it. Mara needed to have that lightsaber. “Believe me, Leia will not want this. She has enough to deal with at the moment.”

“Important for whom?” Mara wondered aloud.

“Are you hungry?” Luke asked ignoring her question. He didn’t think that she was expecting an answer.

“What!” Mara felt that she’d got a little lost in the conversation.

“I asked if you were hungry.”

“I…”

“I’ll go and make us something to eat and Mara…”

“Yes?”

“Next time you are reading my medical records, you might wonder why my skeletal structure was diagnosed as having extreme calcification of a rare type brought on by exposure to electrical and other energy fields less than twenty four hours after the death of Palpatine.”

He gave her a nod and disappeared into Yoda’s hut leaving her standing watching him in amazement. And he was still alive – she hadn’t killed him.

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