Out of the Shadows 23

Somewhere in the depths of the Imperial Palace, Coruscant

“I still think this could have waited until after your meeting had finished,” Han complained, as his fiancée began rummaging through another drawer.

“And have you go and find it without me!” Leia exclaimed. She stopped rummaging and cheekily waved her finger in his face. “I don’t think so, Flyboy. I told you to start moving.”

“What are you looking for?”

“A plan of the palace. I have one somewhere. Ah…here it is.” Leia snatched a card from a pile and thrust it into the data reader on her desk.

“You need a plan! I thought you would have the layout of the whole palace memorised by now…” He wisely stopped at the look Leia gave him.

“Here,” Leia passed him the glow rods she’d picked up.

Han‘s fingers closed around the slim tubes and attached them to his belt. “Where are we going?”

Leia typed the co-ordinates into the data reader and wriggled her nose as the information was displayed on the small screen. “We are going to the one hundred and tenth floor - department for the reclamation of lost art. It’s in the central part of the building.”

“Never been there,” Han admitted. “Art wasn’t my thing at the Imperial Academy . I recognised good pieces if I had to smuggle them and knew enough to spot a fake but I can’t say that I really appreciated it…if you know what I mean.”

“Typical,” Leia said and headed down the corridor. “Winter,” Leia called as she swept past her aide’s office. “Could you cancel my meeting? Something’s come up…something urgent. Re-schedule for tomorrow. If they can’t reschedule then you can deal with it.”

“But Your Highness…!” the elegant white-haired Alderaanian woman tried to protest as Han and Leia sped past her.

“Tomorrow, Winter,” Han called with a chuckle, following his fiancée out of the door. He loved to see Leia display the arrogance her position in society had given her, combined with what he now guessed to be the Skywalker talent for recklessness. When the two traits combined, Han reckoned that Leia could be unstoppable.

“Which floor are we currently on again?” Han asked Leia as they stood waiting for the turbolift.

“The fiftieth…as you well know,” Leia replied tapping her foot impatiently. The doors opened with a gentle hiss and they stepped inside. “Palpatine and the Imperials stole priceless works of art from many worlds. The New Republic is trying to return as many of them as we can to their rightful owners.”

“Hence the department for the reclamation of lost art,” Han said with a decisive nod.

“Mara’s co-ordinates tell us that the secret passage she’s talking about begins in that office. That’s where we have to go to find it.”

The turbolift doors opened and they found themselves in a large spacious corridor. “This way,” Leia said. “I’ve been here on a number of occasions dealing with the off-world property of the Alderaanian nation.” She looked at Han soberly. “We can’t send it back to its rightful owners. Most of them are dead.”

“It’s not just stuff from Alderaan though, is it?”

Leia nodded. “Some pieces will never be returned to their rightful owners. Like Alderaan, the world has been destroyed or we do not know where they originally came from.”

“Is every thing that’s found from Alderaan kept in the museum attached to the Alderaanian consulate?” Han asked gently.

“Yes. It belongs to the people of Alderaan and it is all we have left.” She motioned to a graceful marble archway. “Through here.”

“Can I help you…you…? Your Highness…Gen…General Solo.” A pimply-faced youth stuttered nervously when he recognised his visitors, his face turning an unflattering shade of scarlet.

“No, not at all,” Han said with a wicked smile. “Nothing to do with art. We’re here to look at a wall.”

“A wall!” the young man exclaimed. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Cracks in the superstructure,” Han said matter-of-factly. “We’ll call you if we need you. In fact, it might be a good idea if you took an early lunch.” Han’s tone indicated that it was clearly a dismissal. He swung around, clearly pleased with himself and then gave a groan. “No!” The wall in front of him was festooned with hundreds upon hundreds of carvings. He began randomly pressing pieces of plasterwork to no avail. “She was having us on,” he grumbled. “Which bit are we supposed to press or twist?” He stood, scowling, hands on hips. “This is a joke.”

“No, I don’t think she was having us on. It wouldn’t be a secret passage if it was easy to find.” Leia was tapping the wall and listening keenly to see if any section sounded hollow. “Can you hear a difference?” she asked.

“A difference in what?” he answered irritably.

“The wall.” She rapped her knuckles against one of the decorated panels. “Does that sound hollow to you?”

“No.” Han placed his hands on his hips and glared at the diminutive Alderaanian. “It does not.”

“What about this…?”

“No.” He stabbed at an offending piece of plaster moulding with an impatient finger.

“But I think this one sounds different from that one,” Leia said stubbornly, continuing with her efforts.

“Sweetheart, we could be at this for the rest of today,” Han muttered, exasperation written all over his face after five minutes of continuing to push at the carvings. He stopped and glared at the wall, his hands falling to rest on his hips. “Stang, Leia! I’m getting nowhere here. Why not use the Force?”

Leia stopped tapping and stared at him, her brown eyes full of incredulous amazement. “The Force? You’re suggesting that I use the Force?”

Han looked a little sheepish. “Your brother says you have it. Why don’t you use it? Trust your feelings or whatever it was he used to say all the time.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m not sure that I trust my ability enough. I’m no Luke.”

“That’s the second time today you’ve said something like that, Leia. You have tremendous confidence in everything else you do, why not this? You have to start somewhere. What are you so afraid of?”

“That I’ll fail and disappoint Luke.” She looked down. “I couldn’t take that.”

“Hey!” Han put his finger under her chin and tipped her head up until he gazed into her warm brown eyes. “You could never disappoint Luke. Knowing him, he would probably figure he didn’t teach you well enough. He will feel that it’s more the other way around – that it’s his fault. Come on…try it.”

Leia shook her head and gave him a wry grin. “For someone who dismisses it as a hokey religion you’re awfully keen for me to use the Force.”

“Because it’s part of you and constantly denying it is a negative thing to do. I think you used it unconsciously before and now you are wondering if it’s the Force or your own good judgement. Plus we’ll get moving a whole lot quicker.”

“You can be very wise for a scruffy nerfherder.”

"Yeah, I know.  And who's scruffy?" He brushed one hand through his hair. “Immaculate as always,” he said, then looked her square in the eyes. “You have a choice. Get the experts in with their duro-wave penetrating equipment that sees through walls and basic demolition stuff. But on the down side, that is noisy and messy and attention grabbing. All the things we don’t want. Just try using the Force.”

She closed her eyes and reached out with her senses. Mara Jade had been in here. Leia could feel a ghost of the redhead’s presence sitting on the seat right in front of them.  Then it seemed as if the presence rose and walked toward her. She shuddered as if something swept through her like an echo of a dream.  With her eyes still closed, she followed and came to a stop further along the wall. There was something old and dark ahead. Leia stretched out her fingers, placed them on the carving of a mythical beast and pushed. There was a click and then a low grinding noise as a whole section of the wall slid unwillingly aside revealing a long dark passage.

“I thought security had discovered all of these by now,” Han said in an awed whisper. “It’s not on your plan, is it?”

“Why are you whispering?” Leia asked curiously.

Han looked at her and half smiled. “Do you know something? I haven’t a clue why I was whispering.” He raised his voice to its normal level. “Surely they should have discovered all these secret rooms by now. We’ve been on Coruscant for two years.”

“In a place this size?” Leia was holding up one of the glow rods, peering into the darkness. “Unlikely. I think we’ve barely scratched the surface.”

“I’d like to scratch your surface,” he said roguishly, a twinkle in his eyes.

“Han Solo!” Leia said, her mouth dropping open in shock, her cheeks flushing.

“Just testing to see if you were listening.” Han held up his glow rod and also pulled out his blaster. “Just to be on the safe side,” he muttered as he began to edge down the tunnel.

“I don’t think anyone’s been in here for years,” Leia commented, looking at the thick layer of undisturbed dust. “It smells musty, as if it hasn’t had any fresh air flowing through it.”

“Someone’s been in here recently.” Han shone his luma onto the floor and they could see the faint imprint of a small foot in the dust. “Mara Jade, I would guess, and I wonder why.”

The passage widened out into a small square room with cabinets lining the walls and a single dust covered desk and chair at the centre.

“What in the galaxy is this place?” Han breathed, holding his luma in front of him, awed by the sight before him. It was like something caught in time, unmoving and silent yet pregnant with possibilities.

“It’s a redundant turbo-lift shaft,” Leia murmured, staring around her. “It was built to connect all areas of the palace but this section was apparently overlooked deliberately and now houses a treasure trove of secrets.”

“Would there be similar rooms on all levels?”

“It’s possible. But Mara only directed us to this one.”

“Maybe she’s expecting us to use our brains.” Han replaced his blaster and opened one of the cabinets. Inside he found a drawer filled with hundreds of data cards. He opened several more drawers, shining the luma into each. In every single one they found more data cards. “Do you think this whole room contains nothing but data?”

“Knowledge is power but no…” Leia shuddered as the cupboard she opened revealed things of a more gruesome nature pickled in preservative.

“Is that what I think it is?” Han dragged his eyes and the luma away from the macabre exhibits with difficulty.

“Yes.” Leia gulped down a feeling of nausea and turned her head abruptly away. “It contains trophies of a sort.”

“I suppose we could describe body parts in fluid as trophies.”

“It’s proof,” she said. “Proof that the minion Palpatine had sent to kill these beings…these Jedi, had done their job correctly. He deserved to die,” Leia spat, her lip trembling. “For what he did to Alderaan and the rest of the galaxy, he deserved to die in as much pain as humanly possible.”

“Palpatine’s gone and we have a new future ahead of us – a better one.” Han glanced into several more cabinets and paused. “I suppose it is Jedi,” he said and then sighed. “Leia… This one contains lightsabers.”

“Luke will be interested.” She made her way to where Han was standing and gazed into the cabinet. The lightsabers had been arranged almost as if they were on display in a museum. “Han!” Leia said suddenly, her whole body still. “One of the lightsabers is missing.”

“You don’t know that,” he said doubtfully.

“I do,” Leia maintained. “Look.” There was an obvious gap on the shelf where something had once lain.

Han leant closer and examined the darker patch and lifted one of the other sabers to see if a similar mark was left. “You’re right, Princess. Mara was here before she left. Do you think she took a lightsaber with her?”

Leia bit her lip worriedly. “It’s possible. I would assume that this is a recent removal.”

“And you still trust her to leave your brother alive?”

“Yes,” she said but she didn’t sound so sure. “Mara gave us her word that she would not harm him and I believe her.”

“Oddly enough, so do I.” Han’s smile was reassuring. “Do you realise what all of this could mean to the New Republic ?”

“It has to be important,” Leia breathed softly.

“There’s an awful lot of information stored in this room.” He opened the drawer directly beneath the lightsaber display. “Ah, more data cards,” he said sardonically and pulled out a couple. “We’ll need help with this.”

“Doctor Rule is the expert on the Jedi,” Leia said reluctantly. “Unless Luke miraculously returns in the next few weeks.”

Han tilted his head and assessed Leia shrewdly. “You’re not keen to let the good Doctor loose in here…are you?”

“It’s a trivial reason really but I’d rather Luke saw it first. He’ll be so excited.” Leia’s voice shook.

“So we stall a little. We can let Cracken know but tell him it’s off limits to anyone who isn’t, well, us. Doctor Rule won’t know anything about this until we decide to tell her. I’m quite sure there are things she might want to share with us maybe even with Luke when he comes home. Mara Jade left this for you to find not Doctor Rule.”

“I don’t have the time to search through all these files, much as I would love to. There could be answers to the whereabouts of many Jedi and perhaps other beings that disappeared. Political opponents…” Her voice faded away wistfully.

“Put Winter and her people onto it. She works for you and not the Senate and can be easily moved to another task without too many questions being asked. She will also remember the important things and be able to cross reference them to other areas without having to write anything down. Having an eidetic memory can be useful.” He pulled the data reader from his pocket and slid the first of the cards into the slot. “Leia…”

Han gave her the data reader and her mouth dropped open with shocked surprise. “Are you certain that you don’t have any Force ability?”

“Positive. Luke said so. Why?”

“You picked out an important data card from thousands. It’s a list of names and dates.”

“And…”

“I recognise some of the names.”

“You do?”

“They’re definitely Jedi names…significant ones - Mace Windu, Bultar Swan, Ranik Solusar, Kit Fisto… I remember hearing my father speak of them long ago. There’s one more name that confirms it for me.”

“It’s luck.” Han shone the glow rod over the reader and took a deep breath to steady his suddenly pounding heart. “It has to be luck. I recognise the last one on the list.”

“Yes, I thought that you might. It’s Obi-Wan Kenobi.” Leia pointed to the set of numbers alongside Obi-Wan’s name. “That is the date that he died. You should remember it – you were there. I will never forget it.”

“I remember.” Han’s voice was clipped.

“This is a list of the Jedi killed by Palpatine and his followers.”

Han stared into the open drawer, his face pensive. “There are several hundred data cards in that drawer alone. Do you think they all contain the names of dead Jedi knights?”

Leia nodded, for a moment too choked to speak. “Probably,” she said faintly. “The Jedi Order once contained tens of thousands of beings.”

“And now there’s just Luke.”

“Yes, just Luke.”

“Stang!” Han swore. “No wonder the poor Kid scarpered.”

“He did not ‘scarper’ as you tastefully put it,” Leia snapped defensively, feeling guilty at the pressure she and everyone else had been putting on her brother. They’d been expecting so much of him and he hadn’t complained about it. There had once been tens of thousands of knights all over the galaxy and now only her brother was left. They expected him to do more miraculous things than he had already done.

“It was a joke.”

“I don’t find that kind of joke funny. You’re making Luke sound as if he’s a coward.”

“I did not.”

“Yes, you did. It was flippant and uncalled for.”

  “Whoa! Your Highness!” There was an angry silence. Han lowered his head and stared at the shadows on the floor illuminated by the glow rod. There was something oppressive about this place. The whole room had the stench of…evil. “Leia, why are we arguing in the middle of this awful room? I only meant to say that there is so much pressure on Luke’s shoulders to deliver the Jedi Order for the New Republic . I’m not surprised that he left us to go and learn more. No one would have given him the time or the space to do it otherwise – including us. I’m as guilty as everyone else. Think, Leia. Tens of thousands of Jedi down to only one. He’s been given an impossible task and I, for one, think it was selfish of Yoda and Obi-Wan to expect him to do it.”

  “But he will ‘do’ it. Try is not in the Jedi vocabulary.” Leia felt even guiltier as Han voiced the exact thing that she’d been thinking.

  “Then he’ll need all the help from us that we can give him,” Han declared stoutly.

“He feels he owes the Jedi some kind of life debt,” Leia said gravely.

  “Chewie would understand that one even if I don’t.”

   “You’re still with the New Republic ,” Leia offered thoughtfully.

Han winked at her. “I’m with you, not them. What did the Jedi ever do for Luke? They abandoned him when he was born.”

“I don’t think they had any choice.”

  “There are always choices. Luke taught me that much.” He grabbed a few more data cards from the drawer. “We’ll get this area posted off limits, move the department for the reclamation of lost art to another office and get Cracken’s people to monitor the removal of the contents.”

Leia extinguished her glow rod. “Winter can give us an overview of the contents and then once Luke is back here where he belongs we’ll set up a meeting between him and the university people. They could help him with any more data pertaining to the Jedi.” They moved back to the outer office to find the nervous clerk gazing in bewilderment at the gap in the wall.

  “General Solo…what?”

Han grinned. “I thought I told you to have an early lunch. I can give you permission.” He pointed at the rank insignia pinned lopsidedly to his chest. I am a General.” He squared his shoulders and tried to look stern. “This is top secret. We cannot mention this to anyone without the highest clearance. You could be fried for even thinking about it. I suggest you go off duty now and report for reassignment first thing tomorrow.” Han watched the young man nervously gather his belongings and exit before flipping open his comlink. “Airen? It’s Solo here. Could you meet Princess Leia and me in the department for the reclamation of lost art? Oh I would say that this is urgent. I’m at the Imperial Palace …yes. Reclamation for lost art. We’ve found another of the secret passages old Palpy was so fond of creating and this one has contents we would like to keep quiet for a little while longer.” He closed his com and smiled down at his fiancée. “He’s on his way.”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dagobah

Luke began carefully instructing Mara Jade in the ways of the Force by telling her the things that first Obi-Wan, and then Yoda had taught him years before. She hadn’t exactly agreed to be trained but he decided that he had removed the Force inhibitor and therefore had a moral obligation to try and teach her something. “The Force is an energy field which binds all living things together. As a Jedi, I strive to understand the power that is within me and also in you. Master Yoda taught me to use the Force to the best of my ability.”

“Why?” She sat in front of him, her whole body language unpromising, staring down at his father’s lightsaber which now hung on her own belt but he knew that she was listening. For starters, she hadn’t run him through with that very lightsaber. Things were looking up.

“During the Old Republic , the Jedi were the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy – impartial observers to the events which shape destiny. When I flew in combat for the Rebellion, I caused many deaths and because of what I did, ended up on the winning side. Of course, they called me a hero. If we’d lost…” He shrugged, his smile a little forced. “It depends on your point of view. It’s not something I’m proud of but in war people accept these things. I want to give something back.”

“Oh.” Mara couldn’t think of anything to say. He was so…phlegmatic about it all.

“A Jedi’s strength flows from the Force and it is strong in you, Mara. But beware of anger, fear and aggression…they lead to the dark side. You balance dangerously on the edge between good and evil. Soon you will have to make a choice.”

She was so strong in the Force; her light was clear and beautiful but cold. He worried about the coldness. She hated him for something he had not done but he had been responsible for the eventual outcome. His father had killed Palpatine to save him; therefore he, Luke Skywalker, was responsible for the death of her master. Yes, he had to give his life to the galaxy but first he had to help this woman.

“Skywalker…Skywalker!” Mara’s voice interrupted his troubled thoughts. “You zoned out on me there.”

“I was just thinking,” he said.

“A Jedi who thinks.” Her voice was snidely admiring. “That’s a new one on me.”

“You’ve known many, hmm?” Luke countered neatly. He wasn’t going to let her walk all over him no matter how beautiful she was.

Her face flamed and her mouth closed with a snap.

“There were once many Jedi scholars,” Luke chided. “Many beings involved in preserving the history and cultures of billions of worlds. The great libraries on Ossus and on Coruscant were famous for their contents. How I wish I could have seen them.”

‘Coruscant!’ Mara thought hazily. ‘Qui-Gon Jinn.’ She tilted her head to one side and regarded Luke thoughtfully. “I’ve been to the site of the Jedi temple on Coruscant,” she admitted but didn’t tell him that she’d also seen some of the chambers that Palpatine had filled with items plundered from Jedi sites such as the Jedi library on Coruscant. Her master had said that it was for their preservation and she’d had no reason to disbelieve him.

“You have?” Luke sat up, his expression eager. “They know where it was?”

Mara snorted. “Of course they know – it’s not difficult to find out if you are careful in whom you ask. Did you grow up on a moisture farm or somewhere similar? Oh, I forgot…of course you did,” she said, her attractive mouth twisted in a sneer.

“I am not ashamed of my origins, Mara,” Luke said quietly. “My guardians protected and cared for me.”

Mara's mouth tightened and she felt ashamed of herself. He couldn’t help where he’d been brought up and neither could she. “The Jedi temple was destroyed about twenty-five years ago.”

Luke was surprised. “Is that all?” He couldn’t quite believe how quickly Palpatine had destroyed the Jedi and how soon people could forget. “I suppose that would be right. Just before I was born.”

“You’re twenty-five?” Mara asked.

“Yes. How old are you?”

Mara lifted her chin. “I’m not entirely sure. About the same as you, I think, maybe a year younger, maybe a year older.”

“You don’t remember your parents?”

“Not really.” She shook her head airily as if this was of no consequence. “I was raised in the palace and had the best of everything.”

“But not your parents, your family. You didn’t have them?”

“I didn’t need them,” she stated defiantly. “I had the Emperor instead and did not miss them.” It was a lie – she’d always wondered what it would have been like to have her family close. “What could they give me that he could not?”

Luke could think of several things but didn’t say so. He didn’t think she would appreciate his words. “But you remember them…images…feelings?”

“I don’t think they wanted me to go.” Mara tensed her shoulders. Why had she told him that? It wasn’t something she’d even thought much about herself. Still, it was true. She could not remember the faces or the names, just the emotions involved. They hadn’t wanted her to go with the Emperor.

Luke knew that her family would have had no choice and she’d been raised in the palace instead of within the loving confines of a family. That was why she reminded him of Leia in her manner at times - imperious, cultured, used to having her orders obeyed. But Leia’s unconscious hauteur was tempered with caring warmth instilled in her by Bail Organa who had loved his adopted daughter. Mara had had Palpatine. “I have no memory of my mother,” he admitted sadly. “I wish I did.”

“It happens.” Mara’s face hardened. She didn’t want to think that she was so similar to the casually dressed young Jedi seated in front of her but the similarities were there. “A team of xenoarchaeologists have begun to investigate the temple site. I doubt they’ll find very much.”

Luke shivered.

Mara saw his face change. “What?”

“I don’t know,” he said, puzzled. “I just felt cold for a moment.” He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, regaining his poise. “Have you seen the site since they started investigating?”

“Yes. Your sister took me with her when she visited. Otherwise, they would not have allowed me near it.”

”Leia knows? Good.”

Mara hesitated and then decided to tell him what she had seen. He was a Jedi and she’d seen the image of another Jedi. It was possible he wouldn’t laugh at her and tell her that she was delusional. “I saw something – someone - while I was there. At first I thought that I was imagining things but he was really there. It was the figure of a man.”

“Did he have a fuzzy blue outline, sort of transparent like a bad holo?” Luke chuckled at her surprised nod. “An occupational hazard for the Force-strong, I think.” He smiled at her. “It’s a good thing.”

“I’m not so sure. It’s never happened to me before.”

“You were visited by a former inhabitant of the temple. Your sensitivity to the Force would have called him forth. Did he say anything to you?”

She nodded. “He had quite a lot to say for a dead man.”

Luke smiled again. “But he’s only dead from a certain point of view.”

“You said that about Yoda.”

“I did.” Luke nodded. “The truths we cling to all depend on how we learned them and from whom.”

“Hence, the certain point of view.”

“Yes. That seems to be a Jedi characteristic – the certain point of view.” Luke chuckled. “It’s one of those quirky little maxims that have cropped up constantly in my life so far. I have regularly seen Obi-Wan in his non-corporeal form since he passed on and once I even saw my father. Leia saw our father too, once, even though he was the last person she wanted to see.”

“She had issues with your father?”

“Our father. Twins…remember?” Luke’s mouth quirked up at the corner in a secretive smile, yet something in his eyes spoke of a profound sadness. “You could say that,” he murmured softly but chose not to say anything more on the subject of Leia and their father. “I may be granted a vision of Yoda too, one day. I suspect a spirit Jedi chooses to anchor itself to a Force strong being as a guide.”

“I can do quite well without that kind of guide…or anchor, thank you very much.” Mara’s voice was sarcastic.

“Was it Obi-Wan?” Luke was surprised to hear the wistfulness in his voice. He relished any opportunity to hear about his first master.

“No. This wasn’t Kenobi.”

“How do you know?”

“I’ve seen images of Kenobi and this man was taller with longer hair. Anyway, he told me his name and I saw him again last night so I’m certain he is who he said he was. I dreamt about him, damn it.” She was beginning to get agitated. “I’ve seen a lot of strange things over the years but nothing like this. Hearing voices in my head and dreaming is one thing – seeing dead Jedi in the middle of the day is quite another.”

“And?” Luke encouraged calmly, curious to discover which of the long dead Jedi masters had chosen to guide this prickly young woman.

“Qui-Gon Jinn.”

“Qui-Gon Jinn,” Luke echoed.

“That’s what I said.” Her voice drooped, disappointment swamping her. “You’ve never heard of him, have you?” Had she been hoping to have visions of one of the more illustrious of the Jedi?

Luke grinned. “Actually, I have. He’s quite an interesting character from what I’ve managed to find out about him so far.”

“He was interesting all right. You’ve heard of him?”

“Yes. He was a bit of a rebel in his time and, more importantly, taught Obi-Wan. Qui-Gon Jinn was Obi-Wan’s Jedi Master. He died at the hands of a mysterious Sith-lord. He was going to…” Luke stopped, hesitant about revealing more. He had found some written documents in amongst Obi-Wan’s things and Yoda had told him a little about the downfall of the Jedi. He’d wanted Luke to understand what had happened and why the Jedi Order had come to such a pass. Luke had the feeling that Yoda, for all his years of wisdom and knowledge of the Force, didn’t truly understand either.

Qui-Gon Jinn had been the Jedi to discover Anakin Skywalker but had not lived to undertake that task. Would Anakin have turned out differently if Qui-Gon and not Obi-Wan had trained him? Luke didn’t think so but the future was always in motion and no-one could have truly predicted the terrible outcome. “What did Qui-Gon have to say, if you don’t mind my asking?”

Mara gave him a searching look. He’d been about to say something more but had stopped himself. She would play along for now. “Jinn spouted a lot of Jedi platitudes about me being strong with the Force and how he had nothing to gain from anything.”

“That’s true enough. He became one with the Force many years ago.”

“He wants the Jedi to rise again. That’s motive enough for me.”

“He’s still dead. Nothing you do or say will affect his existence.”

“I suppose that is true enough,” she murmured, echoing Luke’s words. “He gave me…or, rather, he told me where to find something to give to you. It was lodged into one of the walls in the ruins of the Jedi temple.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know. I was in a hurry to get off-world and didn’t look. Actually, there are two items. They could be holocubes or data storage of some sort. I was pointed in the right direction, told to give them to the ‘son of Skywalker’ and dug them out of the wall. They’re covered in cortosis ore and crumbling ferrocem.” She stood up, uncoiling her limbs with the grace that Luke found so compelling about her. “I’ll go and get them. They’re in my ship. I don’t know if they were deliberately placed there for someone to find or dropped by accident before the building was destroyed.”

“You just want to check that Artoo hasn’t demolished your ship.”

“The thought had crossed my mind,” she said with a sudden smile. As she did so, her face lit up and Luke’s breath caught in his throat. It was the first real smile she’d aimed in his direction since she’d crash-landed on Dagobah. He’d thought that she was beautiful cold, imperious and angry but when she smiled… Luke sighed as she disappeared through the twisted gnarl trees towards her ship. It would be very easy to fall in love with this vibrant young woman. He ignored the little voice taunting him with the fact that it was probably too late for him already. He added a new set of objectives to his dealings with Mara and these included getting her to smile at him at least once a day. He didn’t care if it wasn’t actually at him. Everything would be fine as long as she smiled.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

“Hey! Short and round,” Mara called sharply to Skywalker’s astromech droid. “You’d better not interfere with anything on this ship that doesn’t concern you.”

The droid rudely blatted something back at her.

Skywalker had ruined that droid. “You need a memory wipe,” she muttered under her breath as she left the ship. No droid she’d ever met before spoke with such independence – the Jedi had allowed it – more fool him.

A light wind ruffled the surface of the lake and again the memory of her dreams crossed her mind. She was supposed to be here with Skywalker for however brief a time – this was meant to be. Gone was the idea that she could just turn around and cut him down. Not when she liked him. It wasn’t the way she’d expected things to be but like him she did and she didn’t like many people.

‘You will kill Luke Skywalker.’

“No, I won’t.” For the first time in her entire life, Mara defied the voice inside her head. “I need to keep him alive for now. He could be useful to me.” She waited to see if anything happened but the voice didn’t answer. She wasn’t struck down by a wall of blue Force-lightning nor did she find her chest tightening as breath was starved from her body. All she could hear was the natural sounds of the world she now found herself upon.

She’d only been gone moments but Mara could hear the buzz of the Jedi’s lightsaber as she moved through the trees. She held back to watch as he moved through what appeared to be a set routine with the flexibility of a dancer. He moved like no-one she’d ever seen before and a hankering to just accept his offer to train with him almost overwhelmed her. She wanted to be able to do what he could. She knew that with training she could move like that with the lightsaber as an extension of her very being.

“Is Artoo behaving himself?” Luke asked, pivoting on his heel to face her and shutting down the weapon. He had known she was there watching him all along and he’d sensed her desire to learn how to wield the saber as he did.

Mara scowled. “He appears to be doing what he’s supposed to be doing. But I don’t trust him not to do something stupid.”

“Trust him. Artoo knows what he’s doing and won’t do anything stupid.” He hung his saber back onto his belt. “I wouldn’t be alive without him.”

“Your saber has a green blade,” Mara uttered suddenly.

“Yes, sheer chance that, I think. I don’t know enough yet to wonder why. I had to make my own focusing jewel – cooked and cut it myself. When I put the weapon together, the blade was green.”

“Probably the jewel turned out to be green, “Mara muttered. “Am I supposed to be impressed that you built your own? Every Jedi had one.”

“It’s considered to be one of the last true tests for an apprentice Jedi aspiring to become a knight. It is not as easy a task as you might think. I was in hiding and there was not a ready supply of focusing Adegan crystals on Tatooine for me to use. It could all have gone horribly wrong.”

There was a glint in Mara’s green eyes hinting that it was a pity that it had not.

Luke stretched out his hand and lightly touched the weapon hanging from Mara’s waist. “My father’s blade, the one you now carry, is blue. Sith blades are usually red. It must have something to do with the crystals used in construction or the dark aura of the wielder. Those are the only reasons I can think of.”

“Vader wielded a red blade.”

“I know. I fought him on a number of occasions. As I said, Sith blades were red.” Luke’s face changed, his expression shuttered and the young man whose face seemed to reveal nearly everything he was thinking became difficult to read. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get inside. I think it’s going to rain.”

“Now that would be a surprise on this planet,” she said sardonically, following him into his rebel-issue shelter. On Dagobah rain was an ever present factor. “Here.” Mara handed him the grime encrusted objects and watched curiously as he closed his eyes. Without thinking she did the same, unknowingly linking with him through the Force that was so strong in them both, pulling them towards the place where some answers might be found.

‘Give this to the son of Skywalker.’

“I thought I had to give these to your son. I didn’t know that you had a child.”

“I don’t.”

“I know that now,” she bit out irritably.

Luke chuckled when he picked up feelings of exasperation flowing from the woman at his side. Mara had to search for and give these to the child of the man she considered to be her enemy. She’d had enough problems locating Luke Skywalker, the father, and now she had to look for his son?

Mara had originally thought that Luke had fathered a son. How strange. The smile died. He would love to have a son or a daughter – a wife and a family. But the only woman he would ever want to join with didn’t like him very much. He retreated into his own mind, his barriers going up around his thoughts. He was actually thinking about children in conjunction with Mara Jade. He fought to control his sudden embarrassment. He was actually thinking about the joining part. That was rather sudden and impetuous even for him but something drifting in the Force told him that it was right – maybe even his destiny. He’d never felt like part of a real family though Owen and Beru had done their best. Leia and Han had come the closest but there was no one just for Luke.

With difficulty, he wrenched his attention away from such a hopeless dream and concentrated on the objects Mara had placed in his hands.

He was immediately thrust into a dark terror-filled world filled with fire, chaos and the frightened screams of children as the world of the Jedi collapsed and died around them, their safety disappearing in hate-filled rivers of scarlet.

Luke’s body swayed as he was caught in the nightmarish, kaleidoscopic images flashing past him in a blur of jumbled emotions. An old woman dressed in a robe covered with what seemed to be a form of strange writing was grabbing things from shelves.

“Our customs, our history will be lost.”

“No! Preserve as much as possible we will.” It was Yoda, younger, his stoop less pronounced but with his face grey with worry and fatigue. The fire in his eyes had not diminished. “Go you must. Stay here you cannot. Not safe it is.”

“But the books…”

“Take what you can. Impossible to take all it is.”

Jedi of all kinds loaded things into boxes and crates and ran to various shuttles and ships waiting to take them to safety. Luke recognised those containers. They were exactly the same as the one he had collected from the university library on Praesitlyn. So information had managed to escape the destruction but where was he to find it? Obi-Wan had been right when he’d spoken of dark times. Children had been slaughtered in cold blood and Luke had an uncomfortable feeling over the identity of the culprit. The dark side had truly held his father’s heart and mind.

“Master Yoda, the beacon?” The russet-haired man standing next to the aged Jedi Master held out his hand. In it was a cube-shaped object.

 “Ah, Obi-Wan. Find this they will not. Holds to the light side it does.” Yoda pulled out his lightsaber and plunged it into the wall next to him. The blade fizzled out.  Yoda withdrew it leaving a small cavity. “The heart of the temple this is, Obi-Wan. One day found this will be by those who take up anew the torch.”

“I’ve changed the signal’s message. It will direct the Jedi away from Coruscant. We must leave now before it is too late.” Obi-Wan held up another object.

Yoda pushed the blade in once more and again it fizzled and died. But this didn’t deter the Jedi Master. He lifted a wrinkled claw-like hand and pushed the second object into the space he had created. “Ready I am.”  

“Cortosis ore,” Mara said, opening her eyes.

“You saw all of that?” Luke was impressed.

“I think I caught most of it.” Mara, in turn, was amazed at Luke’s ability to channel the Force into a memory.

“Cortosis ore?”

“The walls in the Imperial Palace are lined with it - the Emperor’s throne room in particular. It’s too soft and crumbly to be used as a building material but…”

“I understand,” Luke said. “It shorts out lightsaber blades.”

“Yes,” she said. “The Emperor also had fibres of it woven into his own robe and his guards' uniforms.”

Luke raised one eyebrow. “Paranoid wasn’t he? I thought he’d destroyed the Jedi Order and, with it, his opposition. Lightsaber combat techniques weren’t being offered at any survival schools I’d ever heard of. The Rebel Alliance didn’t start up a squadron of lightsaber specialists.”

“He’d good cause to fear being attacked by another Jedi or a Sith and time proved him right. You and Vader are both competent with the blade.”

“At the risk of sounding boring and repetitive,” Luke said wearily. “I did not kill him.”

“So you keep saying.”

“Because it’s the truth!” Luke exclaimed, his voice rising. “How many times do I have to repeat myself? I have no reason to lie.”

Mara’s face was sullen. “Sure you do.”

“One day you will have to trust me,” Luke said, his irritation showing. “But until you do I cannot make you believe. Palpatine didn’t die because he was beaten in a lightsaber duel. He died because Vader picked him up and threw him down the reactor shaft into the core of the Death Star. Your Emperor could project blue lightning from his fingertips; he didn’t need a lightsaber and I never saw him use one. He was far more powerful than I could ever be.” He pierced her in place with his clear blue gaze and then swiftly bent his head and studied the objects in his hands.

Mara gazed at his bowed head suspiciously. Was this all another Jedi trick to win her around? Her master was dead and the young Jedi beside her was very much alive.

“It’s no trick,” Luke said, still not looking at her. “And no, I did not read your thoughts. You can often be predictable in your way of thinking. The expression on your face gave me the answer. You didn’t hide that.” Luke stood up and, after peering outside at the teeming rain, moved to where he’d set up his portable stove. A few minutes later, he poured some warm water into a small basin.

Mara sat grinding her teeth. She’d never met anyone like this man. One minute she hated him and wanted nothing better than to rid the galaxy of his evil and then it all changed in a heartbeat and he was the kind of man she might want to call ‘friend’ if she had one. “Well?”

Luke sat down and began to carefully clean the first object of the grey, gritty matter encompassing it. The cube appeared to have been carved from a single piece of smoky blue crystal, yet faint lights flickered at its heart. “I think it’s a warning beacon.”

“A warning beacon?” Mara echoed. It didn’t look like any warning beacon she’d ever seen before.

“Once it may have warned the Jedi of danger but not any more. Its power is too weak now but then, it has been embedded in that wall for nearly thirty years. I hope it did the job it was supposed to. I hope many lives were saved.” He concentrated on the cube, a faint sheen of perspiration on his forehead, and managed to coax forth a shimmering transparent image. “It’s Yoda and I don’t…oh, yes. It’s Obi-Wan. A much younger Obi-Wan but it’s him right enough.”

“We are under attack. The Sith have taken over the city. Do not return to the temple.” The image wavered. “I repeat, we are under attack.”

Luke frowned. “Give me your hand, Mara.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.” He held out his left hand.

“That’s your real hand,” she said hesitating.

“I know it is,” he said. “What difference does it make to you?”

“None,” Mara snapped.

“It does to me. We need more power,” Luke said. “I’m not strong enough on my own.” His eyes met hers, clear blue sending a message to sharp green. “No one is.”

“But…” Mara heaved a sigh. “Oh, alright. That kind of power.” She gingerly placed her hand in that of the Jedi, trying to ignore the tingle that ran through her body at the feel of his hand against hers. It was warm and strong and…

Luke’s mouth quirked into a smirk that Han would have been proud of. His hand tightened on hers, loving the way it felt. “Why Mara,” he said impishly. “What did you think that I wanted to hold your hand for?”

She gave her hand a tug but found that he’d captured it quite effectively.

“Focus,” he instructed. “It’s activated by the Force. Alone I haven’t enough power. Together we may have enough. I’m not going to trespass on your thoughts.”

Mara’s eyes narrowed. “You’d better not or I’ll kill you now instead of later.”

Luke just grinned. Her constant threats were beginning to lack real fire. She hadn’t killed him yet and he was beginning to hope it was almost affectionate. “Ssh. Concentrate. Free your mind and focus on the beacon.”

Mara did so and immediately felt the power that Luke possessed drawing her in. Shelving her misgivings, she let herself add her power to his and almost gasped at the way the whole universe seemed to expand before her.

“We are under…” The image of Yoda and Kenobi steadied and faced whatever technology was being used to record the message. Obi-Wan’s face was set as if he’d undergone a personal tragedy too great to bear. Luke suspected that he knew what that was – Anakin’s defection and betrayal. “We are under attack. Greetings, Jedi. As you will already know, we have been gravely betrayed and are in dire peril of being extinguished from the galaxy. We need to find a safe place to regroup and consider our next move. Do not return to Coruscant and trust no one in authority, especially government troops. Many of our number have already become one with the Force. The dark side has gained ascendancy. You will know where to go.” The image flickered and died.

“Go where?” Luke wondered, glancing at Mara.  

“Here?” she suggested.

Luke shook his head. “I don’t think so. At some point, Yoda must have decided to come here but only when there was no hope left. The remaining Jedi were too few or too weak to undertake a fight against the power of Palpatine and the dark side. Obi-Wan and Yoda must have been present at my birth. Obi-Wan delivered Leia to Bail Organa on Alderaan and then took me to Beru and Owen Lars on Tatooine, where he chose to remain, watching over me until the time was right.”

“Your sister got the better deal,” Mara said.

“Maybe…maybe not. I did not have to watch Alderaan die in front of me and I loved my aunt and uncle. They gave me old fashioned values which are still a part of me today.” He looked down at their hands which were still joined and rubbed his thumb across her soft skin. Her hands, like everything else about her, were beautifully shaped, the skin soft but with the tell-tale calluses on her fingers and palms earned by wielding a blaster or even a lightsaber. She was the first true equal he had ever met apart from his sister – a strong woman and a determined one. The more time he spent in her company, the more he admired her. “I thought that I hated Tatooine but I don’t. I couldn’t wait to leave it but I now have a yen to return there one day. It calls to me. The desert gets under your skin and into your blood. It will always be part of me.”

Mara could feel the soothing effect of his thumb rubbing across her skin. His hands were strong with the roughness which told of a man used to hard work. She liked that about him. This was no effete Coruscant bureaucrat. Suddenly feeling awkward, Mara sharply pulled her hand from Luke’s and immediately missed the warmth of the connection. Unsure of herself in the company of the young Jedi, Mara took refuge in her customary hostility, pulling it about herself like a shabby well-worn cloak.

“The other…whatever it is, Farmboy?”

Luke felt the sudden chill as her manner frosted over and carefully began to clean the other grime encrusted object. She was right about the cortosis ore; unfortunately, the duracrete filler was not so easy to dislodge. “I think it’s a holocron,” he muttered.

Mara could sense the hope building up inside him. “A holocron?”

“Yes, it’s a repository for knowledge.”

“I know what a holocron is,” she interrupted. “My master had several, I think.”

Luke lifted his head eagerly. “Do you know where they are now?” he asked expecting her to deny all knowledge.

She shook her head. “No. He had several storehouses – places where he kept things. I gave Leia the location of one of the smaller ones still hidden in the Imperial Palace . I’m sure she and Solo will be going through the contents as we speak. I cannot recall seeing a holocron kept there. If I knew, I would tell you.”

“You would?” Luke’s voice rose in surprise. “But I thought you wanted to kill me. The knowledge would be wasted.”

“I did want to kill you. I mean I do – I did.” She wrung her hands together, her once admirable control vanishing. “I don’t know what I want to do about you.”

Luke was beginning to see beneath the façade. Mara Jade was not who she thought she was. “I like you too, Jade.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Mara managed to squeeze out between her teeth after a startled glance in Luke’s direction.

“I’m not a puzzle to be solved. I’m just a man.”

“Yeah.”

He gave a soft chuckle. “Pass me that soft brush lying on my desk,” he said. Mara did so and watched as he gently massaged away the last of the ore. It was as he had thought – a holocron. Shaped like a many-faceted star, it sat on the palm of Luke’s outstretched hand.

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