Out of the Shadows 31

The Lucky Strike

“I hope that blaster that you were waving around was set to stun,” Luke commented with dry amusement as he checked for any damage to his own person. He hadn’t felt anything hit him but he could never be entirely sure.

“It was.” Mara wrinkled her nose at him. She’d deliberately done that because she suspected that, being a pacifist Jedi, he wouldn’t be happy otherwise. “But for your information, farm boy, I never ‘wave’ my blaster. My aim is always deadly accurate.”

“Good. I’m glad your modesty is as understated as ever and that the blaster was set on stun.” The Jedi’s voice held the slight edge of mocking sarcasm.

Mara rolled her eyes. So he was trying to be funny, was he? “I don’t think my blaster is the problem,” she muttered. “I came all the way to Dagobah to retrieve you for your sister and Solo and you try and get yourself killed at the first opportunity,” she scolded. “You risked your life walking into the middle of that fight. What would Leia and Solo say?”

“I was in no danger.”

“No,” Mara snapped, her temper rising. Had he any sense of self-preservation? “That’s not what they would say and you know it. Yes, you were in danger.”

“No, I wasn’t.” Luke shrugged. “It got rid of some tension.”

“I hardly think that would be their words as they sob over your charred corpse.” Her mouth flattened in exasperation. “Skywalker, you are a prize nerf.”

He raised his eyebrows quizzically. “I’m back to Skywalker now, am I?” She had been worried about him, he thought. Part of her actually cared. “And for your information, my Lady Jade, I am a Jedi, not a nerf.” He was grinning, almost bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“I thought I told you that humour wasn’t your forte?” Mara’s eyes narrowed at the sudden burst of misplaced energy that the man was displaying. “You nearly got yourself killed.”

Luke tilted his head to one side and couldn’t resist twisting his very own sand-panther’s tail. “I thought that was what you wanted.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course it isn’t.” She paused, anticipating the gravelly sound of her master’s voice and the searing pain inside her head that normally accompanied any departure from his way of thinking. Palpatine's voice had been silent in Mara’s mind for some weeks.

Artoo rolled forward and gave Luke his usual scolding which the Jedi ignored. “We’re both okay, Artoo. Go and recharge your batteries.” The droid beeped a rude sound at his master and turned towards the recharging station.

“See, even short and round is concerned,” Mara muttered, but her anger had evaporated. Maybe, he had really not been in as much danger as she had thought.  He had walked into that battle as casually as he might take a morning stroll, cleared the way for her to get back to the ship, then stayed to end the conflict by apparently sheer force of will and cloaked power. It had been impressive, she admitted to herself and Luke had intimated that she could also be capable of using the Force in this manner.

“Mara, you asked for my help. I couldn’t turn that down…not ever.” His blue eyes darkened, the solemn tone of his voice indicating how serious this was to him. He knew that she didn’t want to kill him. “You needed me and that was the only way I could help. By working together we both made it back and possibly stopped more bloodshed.” He lifted up his hands aimlessly before dropping them back in his lap. “It’s what I do. Whether it is my destiny or not, that is what I do…help people. You…” He hesitated for an instant. “…you are so independent, so self-reliant that when you ask for my help it is an honour to be able to do so.”

Mara turned away, unable to meet the expression on his face. Her stomach twisted uncomfortably. He was too intense – too everything - and she couldn’t explain the way that she now felt around him. She’d always been so sure of what she was doing and who she was. But two months spent in Skywalker’s company and she was another woman. What was strange was that she liked this new creature.

Luke pulled out the med kit and advanced determinedly on Mara. “Let’s see your shoulder.”

“Let’s get out of here first,” she said, feeling the need to leave Commenor’s grotty spaceport behind her. 

“No,” Luke said stubbornly. “I want to check your shoulder properly. If it is indeed a minor injury it won’t take long to attend to. My family have waited over three years to see me; what’s another hour or two?”

“But Luke…there was a…”

“Whatever it is will keep,” he said quietly. “We are in no danger.”

“Since when did you become a healer?” Mara wanted to tell Luke about the familiar face she’d seen. They could be in danger if this man was who she thought he was. “Luke…” she began.

“I have some basic skills, Mara,” he interrupted her. “I was raised on a lawless desert rim world on top of the fact that I was a rebel on the run for years and didn’t always have access to a fully stocked hospital ship. Plus, my Jedi training has taught me how to self-heal minor scrapes. It is not my true strength as real Jedi healers are exceptionally rare but...”

“No, from what you’ve told me, your training was different.”

“Yoda and Ben didn’t need a healer,” he said, rifling through the contents of the med-kit. “They wanted a warrior – someone to fight the Sith and win. That was my destiny. Now I have to change my point of view and adapt to the changes ahead.”

Mara moved towards him. “You never really had a choice, did you?”

“No,” Luke murmured, staring into her mesmerising green eyes. “And neither did you.”

Mara made a face at him but didn’t deny it. She’d been taken from her parents, who she did not remember, and been trained to kill for the Emperor. That was no life for a child but that’s what she had been when she’d eliminated her first target – a child. Not for the first time since she’d met Skywalker, Mara questioned what Palpatine had done to her. Luke was correct. She’d had no real choice. “Maybe,” she muttered, still loath to admit anything outright.

“Now let me see that shoulder,” Luke said. “The quicker it’s dealt with, the faster we get out of here. Sit down.”

She moved to the seating in the crew quarters and then pulled the cloak from around her shoulder, gingerly slipping one arm from her jumpsuit. “Oh!” she exhaled, her breath a soft hiss of pain.

“Mara!” Luke’s face showed his concern.

“I’m all right,” she said. “I just caught the edge of the wound. It hurt more than I thought it would but I’ve had worse.”

Luke moved closer, swallowing nervously at the sight of her smooth creamy skin. It was unbelievably tempting. She was the only one who had ever affected him in this way. Perhaps Yoda and Obi-Wan were right. He closed his eyes briefly and offered up a prayer to whosoever listened to prayers that he could keep his head around her.

“Skywalker!” Mara was looking at him quizzically.

“It’s not too bad but would be uncomfortable if left untreated for any longer. It would be a crime to let it scar.” His fingers lightly touched the skin around her angry red wound and she almost leapt away from him.

“I’m sorry,” he apologised, his blue eyes widening in horror. “Did I hurt you? I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Mara shook her head numbly. How could she explain that the touch of his fingers against her skin resonated through her whole body? “No, you were gentle,” she whispered.

Luke smiled and cautiously dabbed a cleansing wipe across the affected area. He decided that cleaning and binding the wound properly would aid his sketchy Jedi healing abilities. “I’m better at healing myself because it relates directly to me,” he murmured.

“I’m sure you’ve had plenty practise,” Mara muttered.

Luke chuckled. “True, but then you should know all about that. You read my file – it must have taken you quite a while. I seemed to run into trouble quite often and it wasn’t usually my fault either.” He held out his left hand to her – his real one. “Take my hand.”

“What!”

“Take my hand,” he repeated patiently.

“Take it where?” she said blankly.

Luke groaned and loosely threaded his fingers with hers. “This is my real hand,” he said. “It’s still attached to the rest of me.”

“I know…oh, you’re going to help me heal.” His fingers were warm and strong and she felt a shiver go through her at his touch. Why did his touch affect her so?

“The Jedi way.” He smiled at her. “Close your eyes,” he instructed, “…and link with me. Focus on the source of your physical pain.” He could see that she was reluctant to place such trust in a former enemy. It would be difficult to trust a close friend with some of the secrets that they probably held between them. They had found a measure of peace with one another but it was another thing to let down all their carefully constructed defences. “I won’t pry into your secrets, Mara. This goes both ways, for me as well as you. I’m quite certain that we both have things that we do not want the other to see.”

The connection between them was instantaneous and powerful. Luke felt her presence intensify in his mind and immediately sensed the throbbing pain in her shoulder as if it was his own. “Try to see the wound fading away,” he directed calmly. “Let the pain lessen…let it drift away. Your skin will once again become smooth and whole.”

Mara caught a sense of some powerful emotions which she couldn’t decipher. “I see it,” she said softly, wishing that she could do this with her whole being, letting all the evil seep away.

“I’m going to help you to your bunk and then we’ll do that again. You are going to go deeper into the trance this time but only for a couple of hours. That’s all the time you should need. You are very strong in the Force. Trust that feeling.” He reached into the med kit and pulled out a bacta compress and gently bound the wound. “Just to make certain,” he added. “Come on.”

Mara opened her eyes and nodded, feeling woozy. Luke put his arm around her and guided her into her cabin. Moments later she was in a healing trance, her need to tell Luke about the man at the spaceport and the strange emotions she caught during their bonding, momentarily forgotten.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Three hours later, Mara awoke feeling refreshed. When she lifted Luke’s carefully applied bacta compress, the only evidence of her brush with a blaster bolt was the hole in her jumpsuit and a tiny pink mark on her shoulder and it was hardly visible. With practice, she thought, there won’t be a mark next time – that is, if there is a next time. She grinned ruefully. Of course there would be a next time. Another useful skill the Jedi had been able to teach her. She quickly showered and changed into a fresh jumpsuit and headed to the cockpit.

“Feeling better?” Luke asked without turning his head to look at her.

“Yes. There’s almost nothing to see now,” she confessed.

“Good.”

“You did a good job on my shoulder.” Mara suddenly felt awkward. She wasn’t used to thanking people and again found herself indebted to Luke.

“Actually, you did most of it yourself.” Luke’s eyes flickered in her direction and immediately away again. “I only showed you what to do.”

“I couldn’t have done it without you ‘showing me’,” Mara muttered. Why was he so hard to thank? “Will you just let me say thank you?”

“You’re feeling better. That’s all the thanks I need. Although…” his voice trailed off and a mischievous grin crossed his face. “You haven’t insulted me yet so perhaps you’re not as well as you think you are.”

“Skywalker! You…have sand instead of brains,” she snapped, but an unwilling smile matched the one he had given her.

“Yup, you’re fine.” Luke checked a couple of details on the navicomp before swivelling in his seat to face her. “We got the first available departure slot out of Commenor and are three hours nearer Coruscant.”

“I was out for three hours?” Mara commented, glancing at her wrist chrono. “How long until we arrive?”

Luke rechecked his calculations. “Yes, you were out for three and I estimate six hours to get into Coruscant’s atmosphere…”

Mara grimaced. “And then another six to get through customs and security.”

The Jedi shook his untidy head and grinned at her. “That shouldn’t be a problem, Jade. Remember, we already have top level clearance.”

“So we do.” Mara smiled. Solo and Leia wouldn’t want Luke caught in the bureaucratic nightmare that Coruscant could become for those wanting to contact top-level citizens. It would undoubtedly reveal his identity and it wouldn’t be wise for that to happen yet. She noted that co-ordinates and codes of their ultimate destination were in a secure section of the city planet. Mara had once had the right to enter that zone until it had all been taken away from her.

“Do you want to take a break?” she asked him.

The bright lustre of Skywalker’s blue eyes had faded a bit and he appeared to be tired. “I can’t sleep, Mara,” he said, his voice suddenly husky. “I couldn’t.”

She slipped into the co-pilot’s seat and took his hands in hers wordlessly offering comfort. She didn’t think that she’d ever before done such a thing to another living person. All this had taken far more out of him than she’d ever imagined. “You’ll be with her soon,” she said, offering what comfort she was able to give. And the strange thing was, that knowing Luke and being with him and learning about him from his family and experiencing the love he felt for them and they for him, she was able to find something deep inside herself. “Leia and Han are waiting for you.”

“But then you will leave,” he said, and Mara thought that she glimpsed naked hurt visible in the blue depths. “I don’t want you to go.”

“I have to leave. My job is done and I owe Karrde too much to suddenly abandon him and the group.”

Luke sighed. “I know you have to leave, I just don’t want you to. I’m used to people disappearing from my life and never seeing them again.” He stared down at the instrument panel. “I’ll miss you very much as I’ve come to see you as a close friend. I don’t have many of those that I can trust. My family are very important to me.”

So he considered her ‘family’ as well, she realized, and the thought had an odd warming effect on her. She couldn’t think of a brilliant come back, so she simply said, “Disappearing for three years can play havoc with your social schedule, Skywalker.”

“When you can, will you come and train with me? If you find that you have a little spare time and are near Coruscant…or wherever I end up – will you come and learn more about becoming a Jedi? I only want you to do this if it is what you want to do with your life. All the things I told you on Dagobah about the Jedi life being hard and often lonely are still true but the rewards can be infinite.”

She couldn’t really argue with that. She had seen enough over her time with him to realise that what he had to offer might be a way for her to excise her demons and really find peace. “I do want it one day but you and I both know that I’m not ready to commit.” She nodded at him. “You have my word that I will return to be trained when the time is right.”

He smiled again and his heart lifted when her lips curved to match his. “Friends?”

She nodded, her green eyes shining. “Friends.” She looked pointedly at him sitting in the pilot’s seat.

“Sorry, Captain Jade,” he muttered mockingly. “I appear to have usurped your place.”

“You do.”

Luke slipped from the seat and Mara replaced him. She checked the controls and gave him an approving nod. “Good work, Skywalker.”

“Why, thank you, Ma’am,” he said cheekily. “Do I salute now or later?”

“Luke…” Mara hesitated, ignoring his flippant remarks. She had to tell him her suspicions about the man she’d seen. “At the spaceport…”

“What about it?” Luke made himself comfortable in the co-pilot’s seat.

“Did you sense the others?” she asked curiously.

“The other Force users?” Luke ran his fingers through his hair, flattening it. “Yes, I sensed them.”

“And?” So he had sensed the others. He was up to something, she thought. There was some twisted, Jedi scheme inside his head. She hadn’t spent over two months with the Jedi without learning to read the signs. Although, from what she’d been told about the Jedi, Luke Skywalker was remarkably uncomplicated. That was a big clue that there were things happening that he hadn’t told her. Because she didn’t understand her companion at all even when he thought he was making perfect sense. Luke Skywalker was the most complicated man she had ever met and that was saying something.

“They didn’t hide what they were.” Luke said. “They didn’t shield.”

Mara thought for a moment. All the Jedi were supposed to be dead, weren’t they? “Perhaps they felt no need to shield.”

“Perhaps,” Luke agreed. “Or maybe they were unable to shield – some of them that is.”

“You don’t believe that,” Mara stated.

“And neither do you,” Luke drawled slowly. “Curious. But I don’t think that some of them are able to shield. They don’t appear to be very experienced.”

Mara’s eyes narrowed. “There was a lightsaber involved. Someone knew what they were doing out there. I thought you might have contacted them.”

Luke shrugged. “It wasn’t yet time.”

So he did have some sort of plan. Mara felt satisfaction at second-guessing the man by her side. “What happened? I didn’t see much from my position behind the crates.”

“The boy - Kelt, I think his name is - was helped from the middle of a fight by a tall man in a dark hooded cloak.”

“Dragged would be a more accurate description,” Mara said. “I saw that part and how did you know the younger man’s name.”

“The Force told me and the ‘other’ did what he needed to do. The boy was panicking and could have caused a more serious incident. Lightsabers are not toys as you are well aware. I felt the energy through the Force as soon as he ignited it. This Jedi, if that’s who he is, recognised the Force within Kelt and acted accordingly. Both of these men are exceptionally strong with the Force, as are you yourself, Mara, but only one of them can harness its power.”

“Yes. Okay…whatever.” Mara bit her lip worriedly. “About the tall man in the dark hooded cloak…” She sighed.

“What about him?” Luke asked.

Her lips flattened into a thin line. “I don’t want to burst your happy little Jedi bubble but I’ve seen him before.”

Luke was unconcerned. “That’s not an impossible situation.”

“The galaxy is a very big place,” Mara explained long-sufferingly, as if she was talking to a dim five year old.

“Yes, but the Jedi are drawn to one another,” Luke explained patiently. “I’ve told you this before. It doesn’t matter how big the galaxy is the Jedi will move towards one another. It is inevitable.”

“You know he’s an actual Jedi? You know who he is?”

Luke shook his head. “I don’t know who he is but it should be possible to find out because he has been trained and trained well in the Jedi arts. There are not many individuals like him left alive. It is inevitable that we should meet. The Jedi naturally seek out one another whether they intend to or not – the power of the Force draws us together. You found me.”

“I’m getting paid to do that,” Mara responded sharply.

“Perhaps you are, but no credits were exchanged over the circumstances of our first meeting on Druckenwell. What were the odds of an encounter there ever happening? The lines and patterns in the Force are changing and shifting as if a great awakening is taking place. You would never have looked for me quite as diligently without Leia and Han but you still looked. You wanted answers.”

“Did I get any?” Mara asked, disgruntled. All he seemed to do was to raise more questions than answers sometimes.

Luke grinned, his whole face shining with sudden fervour. “The Jedi are awakening again. The Force is with us.”

Mara rubbed her fingers across her eyes. Skywalker was starting to give her a headache. “I’ve met him before,” she repeated, “and he was with Palpatine. I’m sure that I know who he is and what he was.”

Luke blinked. “I couldn’t read much from him, as I said; he was the only one of the three who could shield.” This was interesting but he doubted it would have any effect upon his actions. “What was he?”

“He was a member of the Dark Side Elite.” Mara waited for Luke to react negatively. She was to be disappointed.

Luke just shrugged. “So?”

“Isn’t that against everything you believe in?”

“I sensed good in him,” Luke stated firmly. “He has renounced the darkness that once consumed him.”

“Even I will admit that the Dark Elite members’ methods were more than questionable but renouncing those methods? I don’t think so.” Mara argued stoutly. “They should all be dead. They all were dead. Or at least I thought they were.”

“Never assume,” Luke told her. “It could cost you your life.”

Mara’s face darkened. The young Jedi was right. She’d assumed that Skywalker could never have escaped from Jabba’s trap at the Sarlaac pit on Tatooine – but he had along with his friends. She had also assumed that he was a cruel and callous murderer but had instead found that he was someone quite different.

“What can you tell me about them?” Luke knew the man was no danger to them – he had felt it. But Mara had strong negative feelings towards this elite group and would have to understand that Luke gave everyone a second chance. Perhaps he wasn’t so naïve to give them a third chance but he considered that no one was perfect and everyone made mistakes. He should know, he’d made enough of them himself. It didn’t hurt to be forewarned. Nor did it hurt to remember that evil never completely vanished and that shades of grey could be corrupted. He’d been warned that the dark side was always there…waiting.

Mara narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “I know there’s something going on inside that sandy head of yours, Skywalker,” she muttered looking at his tousled hair. He’d obviously just run his fingers through it to neaten it and had failed utterly. She wondered what it might be like to just touch it. Would it be as fine to the touch as it looked? Instead, she gazed at him shrewdly. “What are you up to?”

“Nothing. I’m just asking you for information. It’s always a good idea to be informed on a subject - just in case it comes up in conversation.” He smiled winningly at her.

Mara’s lip curled disdainfully. “This is not one of your sister’s dinner parties, Farmboy. What are you up to?”

“I’m not ‘up to’ anything and I’m still asking,” he said doggedly.

“Oh, very well,” she said huffily. Force, he was persistent but she did enjoy this sort of conversation with him, part discussion and part banter. “The Dark Side Elite were a group of seven warriors trained mainly by the Emperor himself in the ways of the Force.”

“I assume it was through Sith or dark techniques.”

“They weren’t called the Dark Side Elite for nothing, Skywalker.” She tilted her head and assessed him. “Are you going to continue interrupting me or let me tell you what I know?”

Luke held up his hands in appeasement. “Sorry. I’m all ears.”

She shot a look of mild dislike at him. He could still annoy her so easily. “Executor Sedriss was the highest ranked of the seven.”

“I’ve heard of him!” Luke exclaimed suddenly like a small boy.

“Skywalker!” Mara said threateningly.

“Sorry,” he apologised again, but there was a wicked glint in his eye which Mara took to mean that he was aware of exactly what he was doing. His mood was infectious, and she had to work hard to suppress a grin.

Mara sifted through her sketchy memories of the Dark Side Elite members. They had enforced the Emperor’s law with any means at their disposal. “There were rumours that one of the seven had defected,” she admitted slowly. “But it was never confirmed to me and I always thought of it as unlikely.”

“Why not?”

“Do you really think that Kam Solusar could have left such a service unless it was through death? That is the only way that the Emperor would take betrayal. The Dark Side Elite felt nothing for those that they destroyed. Could you really see good in such a man?”

“Kam Solusar,” Luke murmured. “Kam Solusar. That’s his name? Where have I heard that name before?” He quickly ran his gaze across the control panel in front of him, again checking that nothing was wrong with the ship – he still remembered the death of his X-wing, and then glanced up at Mara. “Excuse me a moment.” And before she could say anything more, he had slipped from the co-pilot’s seat and vanished from the cockpit.

“Skywalker!” Mara called irritably. What had got his Wookiee in a twist now? She heard him shout out something to Artoo and the droid’s terse response before he appeared in the doorway. “What?”

Excitement shone in Luke’s blue eyes. “I’ve heard the name before but…” He pulled out a couple of antique data rods and a strange looking device which presumably was able to decipher the contents stored within. He slotted the rod into the device and tapped some commands into a miniature touch screen. “Solusar…Solusar…Here it is,” he announced, satisfaction lifting his voice.

“What is?” Mara’s voice rang with exasperation.

“The place where I’ve seen his name before.” He passed Mara the data reader. “These are records that I found on one of my travels.”

“Ranik Solusar?” she queried.

“Yes. I found these cards along with some lightsabers in a boa-wood box stored, or rather hidden, in a room full of old junk in the university library on Praesitlyn. They have some names and a little information but nothing substantial. I suspect whoever got rid of them didn’t have time to do it properly. It was fortunate that they were never discovered.”

“Then one of the lightsabers may possibly have belonged to this Ranik Solusar.”

This wasn’t something he had considered before but it was a good idea. He focused on where he knew the sabers to be stored, packed carefully in their boa-wood box in the Lucky Strike’s cargo hold, reaching for the identity of the man he’d sensed on Commenor and linking it with the name of his father. “No,” he said regretfully. “I don’t think that any of the sabers were his, but I’m not one hundred percent sure on that. Ranik Solusar was a Jedi master during the Old Republic . Interestingly enough he was married and had a son that he trained towards knighthood.”

“Why is it interesting that he was married?” Mara wondered aloud.

“Not many Jedi did as far as I can gather. Yoda never told me that it was forbidden but I could imagine it to be distracting. I think they were encouraged to devote their lives to the order. But from what I’ve read so far, I’ve discovered that some marriages did take place. My own father was a Jedi and I’m certain that he was married although I have no actual proof. Therefore, it makes sense to link Ranik to Kam. I don’t suppose there are many more Force-trained Solusars running around the galaxy.”

“Kam Solusar.” Mara nodded. “So, he probably had training from a Jedi source…”

“His father,” Luke interjected.

“His father,” Mara echoed, “who might have trained him round about the time of the Clone Wars.”

Luke fiddled with the data reader in his hand. “Many Jedi were killed during the Clone Wars – perhaps Ranik Solusar was too.”

“This would leave him on his own until he joined the Dark Elite,” Mara said thoughtfully. “It would possibly make him more likely to break his conditioning but I still think it is an unlikely occurrence.”

Luke’s mouth tightened stubbornly. She may think that she knew the type of man Kam Solusar was but not who he is and could become. “What I sensed is true,” he said. “There is still good in him.”

Luke wondered if Mara was truly aware of what she was saying about Kam ‘breaking’ his conditioning. He knew that he had an even stronger example of a fallen Jedi returning to the light – his own father, Anakin. But he couldn’t tell her about him – not yet. “You are certain that this is the man you saw at the spaceport?”

“Yes, I’m sure. Observational techniques formed a large part of my training.”

“But your eyes can deceive you.” Luke almost smiled as he delivered Obi-Wan and Yoda’s oft repeated comment.

“I wasn’t relying solely on my eyes,” Mara returned calmly. “He had the Force and even in such a short time he reached out to me for information. The Emperor taught me some blocking techniques just in case I came across hostiles with access to the Force. I felt his probe against my shields.”

Luke lifted his head. “Fascinating,” he murmured. “You must show me how those techniques are put to use.”

She sighed. “I’ve seen him before and I recognised the way I felt around him and his kind. I think I have holos in some of my files back at Karrde’s headquarters. I rarely forget a face – especially of one who was supposedly so close to my master.”

“He’s not what he was,” Luke insisted. “He’s changed – the Force does not lie.”

“But you are saying that he’s the son and apprentice of a Jedi Master. That is a lot of Force power he could probably wield.”

“Yes. Perhaps the death of his father…” Luke faltered as his eyes scanned the information on the screen.

“What is it?” Mara felt the sudden chill as if the temperature had suddenly dropped.

“Darth Vader personally destroyed Ranik Solusar – it wasn’t the Clone Wars.” Luke wondered at the sick feeling invading his stomach. He knew Vader had hunted and killed Jedi – he’d seen him do it to Obi-Wan. His father had turned to the light at the end but it did not, and could not, absolve him of his evil deeds. Luke could understand why Leia could not forgive their father whereas most of the time he could see Vader’s all too human frailty and accept it. At other times – it was almost impossible.

He recognised his own potential for darkness. Vader had succumbed to the dark’s seductive lure. Luke used it as a warning to stay away but it was always going to be a part of his daily life.

Mara shrugged lightly. “Vader destroyed many people’s fathers. I wouldn’t be surprised if my own was among them and yours.”

“And that doesn’t make you angry?” Luke couldn’t believe this woman sometimes. Was she as cold as he sometimes thought?

“I never knew my parents,” Mara said casually. “Therefore, I don’t know how I would feel.”

“Perhaps you might feel about him the way you felt about me?” Luke said gravely. “You considered Palpatine to be like a father to you. You thought that I had killed him. Think about your emotions towards me even though I did not kill him.”

“You’ve said that.” Mara couldn’t think of anything to say. She no longer believed in her mind that Skywalker killed her master but it was difficult getting her heart to believe as easily. Her master wouldn’t have lied to her like that, would he? But now she understood what the young Jedi was alluding to. Her rage and despair at what she’d thought Skywalker had done had fuelled her revenge since Palpatine’s death.

Luke wondered what it was that had caused Kam Solusar, if that was who he was, to fall so far to the dark side. Was it the death of his father and the defeat of the Jedi Order? There was no doubt in Luke’s mind that was what had happened. He would have been young – much younger than Luke was when he’d destroyed the first Death Star. But what had made him renounce the darkness and return to the light? Redemption was often a much harder road to travel.

“Skywalker! Luke!” Mara prodded him in the shoulder with a sharp finger. “You zoned out on me again.”

“Sorry,” he replied automatically, not at all sorry. Sometimes she didn’t give him enough time to think and he had to consider the shifting of the patterns and lines in the Force.

“Listen to me, Skywalker. Solusar has just grabbed your potential Jedi student. This cannot be a good thing as I wouldn’t trust any member of the Dark Elite alone with a Force-strong innocent.”

“The boy is in no danger from this man.”

“He could be,” Mara spat. “Your ‘boy’ did not appear to go willingly with Solusar.”

“They are not alone. There is another,” Luke said.

“Another!” Mara echoed.

“You mentioned a group of Force sensitives, Mara. You asked if I had sensed ‘the others’. There was also a woman with them. I did say there were three.”

“A woman?” Mara’s mouth opened and closed without a sound emerging.

“Not as powerful as the other two but with a pure, light Force aura.”

“Trained?” Mara wondered aloud.

Luke shook his head. “No.”

“He’s dangerous, Skywalker,” Mara insisted.

“And you are not?” She was progressing every day from the bitter vengeful woman he’d first met on Druckenwell. He felt that he knew her but yet, he worried that he had read her wrong, that they couldn’t be as in tune with one another as he suspected they were.

“I know I am but that’s not what I’m talking about,” Mara snapped. “I’ve never pretended not to be dangerous to you. This isn’t about me.”

Luke pressed on. He was training Mara Jade to become a Jedi whenever and wherever he could in whatever time they had before she left to return to Karrde’s organisation. Pushing her to total honesty about herself was part of that training. Luke didn’t think that he could be as manipulative as Yoda and Obi-Wan had been because he hadn’t had quite their experience but he was willing to try. He conveniently left the ‘do’ part of the saying out of things. “Oh, I think part of it is about you. If you cannot change you cannot possibly conceive that anyone else can either.”

“What?” Mara’s expression was one of total disgust. “Skywalker, you are the biggest pile of nerf drop…”

“You are repeating yourself,” Luke warned.

“No, not yet. I have a long list of descriptive names to utilize before that happens.”

“I stand forewarned,” Luke mumbled. “But you also served Palpatine much like the Dark Side Elite.”

“That was different,” Mara protested.

“How is it ‘different’?” Luke wondered.

“They were evil – they enjoyed what they did.”

“Oh.” He stared at the beautiful woman seated beside him. “Did you not kill enemies of Palpatine?”

“Yes. I was his Hand, his personal assassin. Those beings had to go. They were destroying his Empire.”

“All of them?” Luke asked. “Even people like my uncle and aunt barely scratching out a living on Tatooine? The most dangerous thing they did was shelter me. It was their deaths that caused me to join the Rebellion.”

Mara’s gaze fell. She’d never looked at things in precisely that way. She’d known that perhaps some of the things she’d done were wrong but her Master had commanded and she had obeyed. “I didn’t like what I had to do on many occasions,” she whispered reluctantly.

Luke took pity on her. She could be cold and often angry with confusing hints of warmth and kindness but she was correct, she wasn’t evil. “We both know that you are not evil, Mara. Blind…misguided perhaps...but there is good in you too. Are you afraid that I would discover that you can be kind - possibly even loving?”

Mara snorted. “Skywalker, you have an extremely active imagination.”

“I read you, Mara. I see you. The Force shows all. You cannot hide who and what you are.”

“I’ve done things,” she whispered, shame flooding her being.

“Haven’t we all done things we regret, strayed too far along the wrong path? The point that I’m trying to make, Mara, is that it is possible to turn back to the light. It is likely that Solusar had no choice in what he did and regretted it. You never had a choice either. Palpatine should never have taken you from your parents and used your gifts against you.”

Mara said nothing and stared down at her hands. Her parents – she could barely remember them but she did recall that they hadn’t wanted her to go. Were they still alive? She had been so easy to manipulate. Someone she had trusted had done that to her and she felt betrayed.

“There is still good in him,” Luke reiterated. “He was protecting the boy.”

“Pardon me if I disagree.” Mara’s voice lacked her usual strident certainty. Inside she was a mass of confusion. She’d felt more confident in herself since she’d spent the time with Luke on Dagobah but seeing Solusar had taken her back several steps. She couldn’t have been wrong about everything surely? She stiffened. “We don’t know where they are going. You just let them go – they could be anywhere in the galaxy by now.”

“Do you really think that?” he asked. “They’re going where we are.”

“Oh, come off it, Skywalker.” Her face showed her disbelief. “You really think that they are going to Coruscant?”

Luke could sense her bewilderment and, seeking to distract and reassure, nodded. “Yes, I think that’s exactly where they are going. You’re reacting without thinking again,” he chided almost affectionately. “I should be getting jealous.”

“Jealous?” Mara interrupted in surprise.

“Yeah,” Luke chuckled and shook his head ruefully. “That’s normally your reaction to anything I say or do. You never believe in my good intentions. I’m going to be terribly put out at Solusar taking away what’s mine.”

Mara couldn’t help the amusement that rang in her voice. “Terribly put out,” she echoed. “You sound like one of the stuffy, pompous aristocrats from the Senex-Juvex ruling houses talking like that.”

Luke stifled the groan that rose unbidden to his lips. Her laugh had been low and sexy forming in the back of her throat before spilling from her soft lips.

“Skywalker!” Mara snapped her fingers in front of his face. “Hey! Where did you go? You drifted off again.”

He turned his head towards her and blue eyes met green. There was a startled connection of the awareness that never seemed to be far from the surface. “Thank you,” he said, his expression sincere.

“You don’t have to thank me for anything,” she replied, somewhat baffled.

“But I do. Thank you for braving the perils of Dagobah to come and get me for my family. For your friendship and just for being what you are. I get the feeling that I’m going to need your clear-sightedness and straight talking in the future.” He leant towards her and, unable to stop himself, dropped a careful kiss on her forehead. He thought that she might have shrunk away from his touch, but she had not. Mara just stared at him, her eyes brilliant and full of an emotion they both didn’t yet fully understand.

She had tried to ignore these…tiresome feelings that she experienced whenever he was around and mostly, she could ignore them…push them away…whatever. But they were always there simmering under the surface and they continued to plague her. She closed her eyes in acceptance and Luke leant forward once more but this time, instead of her forehead, he kissed her mouth. It was a gentle, almost chaste affair.

Luke was holding himself back with everything he had. Fire was creeping along his veins at the touch of her lips. She was too tempting and far too dangerous to his peace of mind. There had to have been a reason that the Jedi rarely married and he thought he had just found it. Women like Mara Jade were lethal.

‘The Skywalkers love on sight and forever.’

The words continued to haunt him. Would this be his fate? Did he…could he love Mara Jade? Then he would have to accept it bravely. He stared at her. “Perhaps, that was a mistake?” he wondered softly.

“Do you think so?” Mara countered. She’d been kissed before and was no shrinking virgin but she’d never been affected as deeply as she had by such a simple salute. It spoke of caring and respect and reassured that he saw her as more than a female body to be used and tossed aside. Luke would never take advantage of her in that fashion.

If he said that he hadn’t killed Palpatine then finally she truly believed him. She was still convinced there were things he wasn’t telling her, things that might have made her trust him sooner. But he had earned her trust.

“I don’t think it was a mistake but then, it depends on how you feel about it too.” Luke was watching her carefully.

Mara lifted a slim red eyebrow.

“If you took offence and blasted me where I sat, that would mean that I’d made a mistake.”

Her lips curved into a sultry smile that spoke volumes. “I think that you’re alright…for now.”

“Good.”

“Luke...” Mara hesitated. “You do know that I’ll be leaving Coruscant.”

“Yes. You have a job and obligations as have I. But Mara, we will not remain apart for long. I can feel it. We are pulled together, you and I. Whether as friends, teacher and pupil…” His voice roughened, “…or something more.”

What he was speaking of was both exhilarating and frightening. They already had the first two covered. He was her teacher and yes, she called him friend, but there was also something stronger pulling them inexorably towards one another. “We let destiny take its course?”

“We do.” He lifted his hand and caressed her smooth cheek. “We’re coming up on Coruscant, Mara.”

She nodded, her air quickly becoming brisk. “Strap yourself in properly, Skywalker. It’s time for you to return to the real world.”

“Take us down, Captain Jade.”

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