by Angela Jade

Rated - NC-17

e-mail - angela@yavin4.free-online.co.uk - constructive criticism and happy thoughts greatly appreciated ... please don’t flame me!

Feel free to post wherever, as long as it’s got this spiel at the top.

Disclaimer - recognisable characters belong to Lucas, Zahn, Stackpole et al. I’m making no money from this.

Story - the sequel to my other fanfic, ‘A Vision of Missing Moments’ - Luke and Mara are married and have set off in the ‘Jade Sabre’ on honeymoon. Luke has persuaded Mara that they should do a quick fly-by of the Nirauan system to check on the Chiss.

Written August 2000
 
 

Chapter 2 - Nirauan (or, is that a plot I spy?)
 

“What are you reading?”

Mara looked up from her datapad into the earnest blue eyes of her husband as he perched on the edge of their bed. Stretching her legs out and smiling, she turned the ‘pad around and held it out to him. “Don’t lose my place.”

Luke grinned and took the proffered datapad, his smile slowly fading as he saw the contents. “Weapons specifications?” He scrolled back a couple of pages, then forwards again. “I don’t recognise these. Where did you get them?”

“They’re Karrde’s. He asked me to check them over.”

“And you brought them on our honeymoon?” Luke thought he’d managed to put the right amount of hurt into his voice, but it obviously didn’t fool his wife for a minute.

“Amongst other things, yes. I know you’ve brought work along, too, Luke.” She held out her hand for the datapad. “Anyway, you don’t think I’m going to spend all my time in bed with you, do you?”

“Well, not all your time, no...”

Mara tried to return her concentration to her studies, but gave up when she realised Luke was still watching her. “Are you bored, Skywalker?”

He paused, waiting for her full attention. “I’ve had an idea.”

She raised an eyebrow and tried not to smile. “Is that wise? You don’t want to tax your brain too much, my dear.”

Luke studiously ignored her sarcasm. “There’s somewhere I’d like to visit before we go to Endor.”

“Where?”

“Bakura,” he replied.

All hints of humor dropped from Mara’s face. “That is definitely not wise, Luke. I thought the Bakurans didn’t like you since you got their fleet involved in the Corellian conflict.” She held up her hand to forestall the comment Luke was about to make. “It wasn’t your fault Gaeriel died. But as I understand it, the Bakurans are happy to blame you for her death and for the loss of her ship.”

“I know.” His head dropped as he watched his hands clench and unclench a couple of times, then he looked up to meet her eyes once more. “I’d really like to check her daughter is okay, that’s all. To let her family and friends know I’m thinking of them.”

Mara reached out and took one of his hands in hers, gently running her thumb over his knuckles. “Okay. I understand. I still think it’s a bad idea, but I can see why you want to go.”

“Thanks.” He squeezed her hand affectionately before standing up. “I guess I’d better go program the NavComp again.”

“How long until we reach Nirauan?”

Luke glanced at the chrono strapped to his wrist. “About eighty minutes. You’d better get ready.”
 

By the time Mara joined him in the cockpit, Luke had finished the navigational computations and had started bringing all the scanners online. He whistled appreciatively when he saw his wife. “Now that outfit, I do like!”

“Mind on the job, please,” said Mara sharply, but the smirk on her face hinted that the compliment was appreciated. She tightened her belt round the form-fitting black sleeveless jumpsuit and pulled open a small locker under the main instrument panel. “Here, catch.”

His lightsaber smacked securely into the palm of his hand and he fixed it to his belt. “I have no intention of landing, Mara. We don’t need to be armed to the teeth for a fly-by.”

Mara snorted as she hooked on her own lightsaber and slid a vibro-knife into the sheath on her boot. “Yeah, so you say. I’m just going prepared.” She rummaged in the weapons locker a little more. “You want your blaster?”

“Are you taking yours?”

Mara didn’t reply, merely raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, I’ll take mine, as well,” admitted Luke. “Stupid question, really.”

Mara tossed him his blaster still in its holster; he watched as she pulled out her own wrist holster and strapped it on. Luke had been pretty much surrounded by weapons since he first joined the Rebellion, and he had a healthy respect for the damage they could do. Having grown up on a planet where men were still expected to handle the firearms, he had been surprised to find out that many of the galaxy’s best shots were female, including his own sister. Watching people arm themselves, in his experience, meant impending trouble and all the unpleasant memories associated with it. But watching his wife arm herself somehow held totally different connotations for him. The expression on her face and the determination in her stance as she checked the power pack on her hold-out blaster before slipping it into its holster were mesmerizing. He sat back in the copilot’s chair, smiling gently as he watched her buckle on the holster for her Blastech, wishing he was the one fastening it round her thigh.

Mara sensed his attention and looked up, smiling. “Mind out of the garbage-masher, Skywalker.” She indicated the blaster and holster still sitting in his lap. “Are you planning on putting that thing on anytime soon.” Grinning evilly, she ran a hand up his thigh. “Or is it concealing something from me?”

Luke caught her hand before it reached its destination. “You got enough weapons there, Jade?”

She pouted, pulling back her hand. “Just about.”

“I dread to think what you’d be packing if we did intend to land.”

“A couple of proton grenades, a Stokhli spray stick, and a whole bunch of thermal detonators, for a start,” replied Mara, leaning in to kiss him. “Not that I don’t trust the Chiss or anything.”

“I get the picture.” As Mara sat in the pilot’s seat, he stood and buckled on his own holster. “How long now?”

“A few minutes.” Mara pulled on her restraints and gestured for Luke to do the same. “And I would like to take this opportunity to remind you again that this is a bad idea.”

“The NavComp is programmed. All you’ve got to do is give it the start coordinates and we’re on our way to Bakura.”

“That makes me feel so much better.” Her hand rested on the hyperdrive lever, her eyes never leaving the counter. “Have you got those scanners up, Luke?”

“Up and running, as soon as we’re sublight.”

Mara nodded. “Reversion in ten.”

The instant she pushed the lever forwards, he flipped the set of switches to start the scanners. “All clear, so far.”

“Good,” replied Mara. “You said something about asteroids?”

Luke glanced up from his survey of the system, squinting slightly at the main viewscreen. “There.” He pointed to an area of space to their left.

“I see it.” Using the sublight engines, Mara steered the craft towards the tiny asteroid clump as it drifted slowly through space. “How far out are we from the planet?”

“About seven hours, sublight.” Still concentrating on the scanners, Luke was methodically searching every square unit of the Nirauan system. Finally he blew out a breath he didn’t realise he’d been holding. “Well, unless they’re hiding it behind the sun, there’s nothing bigger than a fighter out there.”

“Glad to hear it.” Mara frowned as they neared the asteroids. “You took my ship in there?” she asked, glaring at him. “Karrde let you borrow the ‘Fire’, and you took it into that floating pile of rocks?”

Luke shrugged. “Seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Shields on low.” Mara concentrated as she manoeuvred the ship. “I’ll bet you got a few dents in it.”

“Not at all,” said Luke, quickly suppressing the memory of one small rock bouncing off the hull of Mara’s precious ship.

“You’re a rotten liar.”

“It’s kind of a moot point now, anyway, Mara.”

Silence reigned as Mara settled the ship into a small gap she’d spotted, matching the speed of the surrounding asteroids. Finally she let go of the stick and leaned back in her chair. “We’re in. Now what?”

Luke rubbed a hand across his face as he continued staring at the scan monitors. “We hang around here for a while, I guess. Then we can jump insystem.” He sat back and closed his eyes, reaching out with the Force. “I’m not picking up anything.”

“Me neither.”

Surprised, Luke opened an eye and looked over at his wife; she looked totally relaxed, her eyes closed as she also used the Force to search for lifeforms. He felt a pang of pride that she’d done it without prompting. “Do you want to calculate the jump?”

“Sure.”

Once Mara had the NavComp programmed, she edged the ‘Sabre’ out of the asteroid clump and pulled back on the hyperdrive lever for the mini-jump. Her eyes flicked once to her husband as he stared intently at the scanning equipment, before she brought them back to sublight speed, dialling the shields up to full strength. As soon as the hyperspace lines had coalesced back down into distant stars, Mara’s gaze was pulled to the planet hanging in space before her. Nirauan. “You getting anything, Luke?”

“Nothing much, so far. Let’s take her round on a slow orbit.”

Mara dropped the ship further towards the planet and slowly started circling it. “We’ll be going past the fortress in a few minutes.” A wry smile crossed her face. “You know, I don’t feel half as bad about this place now that we’re actually here. All that time we spent together, finally getting to know each other. Your marriage proposal. That fun journey home. I think the good memories are finally starting to outweigh the bad.”

“Uh, Mara,” interrupted Luke. “We’ve got company. One Chiss fighter, dead ahead.”

The comm crackled to life. “Identify yourself.”

Luke’s hand reached the comm switch fractionally before Mara’s. “Baron Fel? Is that you?”

“Skywalker!” The voice on the comm positively hissed with anger. “I owe you and your girlfriend a serious pounding for what you did to my squadron.”

“Mara’s my wife now, Fel,” replied Luke.

“I heard.”

“Then you’ll also have heard that Thrawn’s return was a hoax. We couldn’t let you give all that information to the Empire; we did what we had to do.”

“You didn’t have to destroy my ships, my hanger, my fuel dumps!” raged Soontir Fel. “We could have taken on what was left of the Empire and finished them! Instead we were left here, rebuilding what you so cheerfully wrecked!”

“I don’t think you could have...” Luke’s calm voice was interrupted by Fel’s angry one.

“And then, not two weeks ago, we find a flooded underground chamber with remains floating in it. Remains that turn out to have Thrawn’s DNA.” His voice turned sarcastic. “Well, you can imagine how happy the Chiss were about that!”

Luke winced, remembering the dead clone. “We didn’t want to kill him. We had no choice...”

“Well, maybe you should come down with me and you can explain your reasoning to Admiral Parck.”

“Luke,” cut in Mara’s voice, as she gestured to the scan monitors, “more of them.”

“You have Mara Jade aboard?!” said Fel, incredulously. “This day just gets better and better.”

Luke ignored the acerbic comment. “I see them. Twenty ... no, at least thirty, coming straight for us. They’ll take a minute to clear the atmosphere.”

“Have we seen enough yet?” whispered Mara.

Luke nodded, then leaned in closer to the comm pickup. “Fel, I’m sorry about what we had to do, but it was necessary. We haven’t told the New Republic about what’s out here and we don’t intend to, as long as you leave us alone.” Luke’s voice became edged with steel. “But if you attack so much as one NR system, I will personally inform Ackbar of Nirauan’s whereabouts and that fortress will be flattened before you can say grand admiral.”

“And what’s to stop me blowing you out of the sky right now?” growled Baron Fel.

“Oh, why don’t you just do a weapons scan, you jumped-up fighter jock,” bit out Mara, her hand already resting on the hyperdrive lever.

Soontir Fel howled with rage and immediately started firing on the yacht. The blue fire splashed harmlessly off the ‘Sabre’s’ shields, then continued on into space as the Skywalkers’ ship momentarily elongated and shot into hyperspace.

Once they were safely on their way, Luke leaned back in the copilots chair and smiled as he watched Mara scowling at the main viewscreen. “Was that last insult totally necessary?”

“No.” She turned to him, the corners of her mouth twitching. “But it was fun.” She pulled a hand over her eyes and took in a deep breath. “I am so hyped up; I need to work off some energy.”

“Really?” Luke swivelled his chair to face her and raised an eyebrow. “I can think of something that would help burn off a little energy.”

Mara’s face took on the expression of a predatory animal. “I don’t want to screw you, Skywalker. I want to beat you to a pulp for ever suggesting we visit that damn planet.”

Luke held up his hands defensively. “Hey! At least we know they’re not hiding a Death Star out there. And I’ll check the scans again, but I saw no evidence of another fortress, or even of any more fighters than the ones that came up to meet us.”

“So far. They could build more.”

Luke smiled. “Then we can come back and check in a few months!”

“Now I really want to hit you.”

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

Luke’s breath left him in a rush as he landed on his back ... again. And once more, his wife stood over him, her hands on her hips, a triumphant look on her face.

“Come on, Skywalker. You can do better than that. I thought those Rebels trained you in hand-to-hand combat.”

Groaning slightly, Luke got back to his feet, eyeing Mara warily. “They did, best part of twenty years ago. I guess I haven’t practiced as much as I should have.”

“That’s fairly obvious.” Mara prowled around him, looking for an opening. “Hands should be higher, and don’t twist your hips so much.”

“Yes, Master,” said Luke with a sarcastic grin. “Of course, I’d get on a lot better if you let me use the Force.”

“Like I told you before, you should be able to defend yourself without it.” She shot out a leg to try to take his feet out from under him; he dodged and tried to retaliate, but quickly found himself dumped on the mat anyway. “I thought this trip was supposed to be a chance for you to train me, not the other way around.”

“You could try not to gloat quite so much,” growled Luke.

“Why should I, when it’s such a lot of fun.”

They continued to spar, their voices echoing off the walls of the cargo bay where Luke had set up the matting; various other pieces of gym equipment were folded and strapped to the bulkheads. Luke’s yell of triumph when he finally managed to better Mara was cut short when he hit the mat once more. Leaping up, he decided he’d had enough of unarmed combat and took off, running round the perimeter of the bay. Mara quickly followed, shouting derogatory comments in his wake as she tried to catch him.

After several laps, Luke returned to the matting, his hands on his knees and his head hanging forwards as he regained his breath. Mara quickly joined him, a smile on her face and her chest heaving.

“Have you worked off that excess energy yet, Mara?”

She wiggled her shoulders uncomfortably as her breathing slowed. “Just about. You?”

“I was perfectly calm over Nirauan. I don’t have excess energy.”

“Perfectly calm. Yeah, right,” replied Mara derisively. She flopped down onto the mat and indicated for Luke to join her. “You do realise that Fel and his little friends could have tracked our escape vectors and followed us. There’s not much out here; they could easily figure out we’re heading for Bakura.”

Luke blew out a sigh as he sat down next to her, his arms resting on his knees, his thoughts darkening. “You think I might have put the Bakurans in danger?”

“No, I don’t think WE have put the Bakurans in danger,” replied Mara, deliberately putting emphasis on the plural pronoun. “I’m just wondering if they would follow us to try to take another pot-shot at us.” She reached out and ran her fingertips along his jaw, forcing him to face her. “Luke, I’ve been thinking. I don’t think we should land on Bakura.”

He flinched away from her touch, his head dropping onto his arms. “I have to see her, Mara. I have to face Malinza. I took her mother away from her...”

“You did no such thing.”

Luke raised his head abruptly, stung by her tone of voice. “What?”

Mara closed her eyes against the pain he was emitting, and the look of betrayal in his gaze. “If Gaeriel hadn’t brought the Bakuran fleet into the conflict, we wouldn’t have won the war. And if we had lost, you can bet Bakura would have been high on their list of targets, anyway.” She opened her eyes and smiled weakly as she pushed her fingers through his damp hair and slipped her arm around his shoulders. “If you and Gaeriel, and the rest of us who fought that day ... if we hadn’t done what we did, Malinza and most of the Bakuran population would be dead, along with the rest of us. You saved them, Luke. You and Gaeriel.”

He was silent for a long moment, contemplating her words and the emotions she was projecting. Finally he acknowledged that she was speaking the truth, or at least one version of it, and the guilt he had carried within himself for over a year abated slightly. “Thanks, Mara.” He smiled as he felt her arm tighten around his shoulder. “I still want to see her, though.”

Mara cupped his cheek in her hand and turned his head to face her. “Why don’t we wait until we’re there, then decide. If the Chiss come blasting out of the skies, we scram. If all seems quiet, we land.”

“That’s procrastination.”

“So sue me.”

His smile widened as his eyes met hers. “I love how you make the galaxy seem more logical.”

She leaned in and kissed him gently on the lips. “And I just love you.” Her next kiss was longer, her hand caressing his cheek and neck, before sliding down to his chest and gently pushing him down onto his back.

Luke inhaled a sharp breath as her hand found its way into his shorts at the same time as her tongue probed his mouth. “I thought you didn’t want sex?” His own hand trailed involuntarily under her t-shirt to caress her breasts.

“I didn’t before. But I do now that I’ve beaten you up a bit.” She nibbled his ear, her hand setting up a comfortable rhythm on his growing erection.

He took in a deep, shuddering breath. “Are you implying that hitting me turns you on?”

She raised her head so she could look him in the eye. “Anything you do turns me on.” A wry smile crossed her lips. “Especially if it involves you getting hot and sweaty, and showing off those delicious muscles you seem to take great delight in hiding most of the time.”

His stomach tightened as she straddled him and pushed up his shirt; goose bumps started to pucker his flesh. “Mara, I’m cold.”

“You’re always cold, Skywalker.” She leaned down to kiss his navel and run her hands up his sides, creating even more goose bumps. Her eyes met his once more. “You want to move this somewhere else?”

He nodded, grinning. “Just somewhere with a little heating.”

Mara sat back, deliberately rubbing against the bulge in his shorts as she did so. “Shower?”

Luke nodded again, catching his lower lip between his teeth. “Just what I was thinking.”

“I know exactly what you were thinking, farmboy.” She stood up and offered him a hand, pulling him upright. “You have a filthy mind for a Jedi Master.”

“When I reach your level I’ll worry, Jade,” retorted Luke. His breath was knocked out of his body as Mara jumped up, wrapping her arms round his neck and her legs round his waist. “Why do I always end up carrying you?” Holding her tightly, he started towards the exit.

“Because if I was walking, I wouldn’t be able to do this...”

His hand slapped on the door panel more forcefully than absolutely necessary, as Mara sucked at his neck. The corridor looked way too long; he set off at a run...

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

Dropping into the copilot’s chair, Luke pushed his hand through his hair nervously. “Are we nearly there yet?”

Mara frowned at him from the pilot’s station. “That’s the fourth time you’ve asked in the past hour.”

“And?”

She sighed as she checked the hyperspace counter. “Another four minutes.”

“Oh.”

Mara watched him as he unhooked his lightsaber and fiddled with it, chewing his bottom lip as he regarded the weapon intently.

“We should leave our lightsabers onboard the ‘Sabre’ when we land,” he said finally. “And our Jedi robes. I don’t want to antagonize them.”

“You’ll get no argument from me on that one,” replied Mara, resting her hand on the hyperspace lever. “One minute.”

Luke took a deep breath and gazed out at the whirling lights of hyperspace, before blowing out a sigh and pulling on his restraints. “Let’s do it.”

As the counter reached zero, Mara pushed the lever forward and they shot out of hyperspace above Bakura. Glancing across at her husband, she realised he was gazing hypnotically at the azure planet that filled the viewscreen. “Luke,” she said gently, “do you want to hail them?”

“Huh? Oh, yes.” He leaned forward and flipped the comm switch. “Bakura Control, this is Luke Skywalker on the ‘Jade Sabre’ requesting permission to land.”

The response was a crackle of static; just as he was about to repeat his request, a curt voice replied. “Please repeat your identity.”

Luke threw a worried look at Mara. “Luke Skywalker on the ‘Jade Sabre’. Is there a problem, Control?”

Silence. “Permission denied. Commander Skywalker, I have to inform you that should you land on Bakura, you will immediately be arrested.”

“On what charge?” asked Luke, ignoring the use of his obsolete military title.

“Illegal appropriation of government resources and conspiracy to murder,” came back the crisp voice.

Luke slumped back in his seat, defeat washing over him, leaving only despair in its wake. He wouldn’t be able to land; wouldn’t be able to talk to Malinza, to explain what her mother died for.

“Bakura Control, would it be possible to put in a ship to ground call?”

Luke raised his head, surprised to see Mara staring intently at the comm speaker, waiting for a reply to her request.

“Jade Sabre, there’s no reason why not, although I cannot see how that would help you avoid arrest if you land,” replied the anonymous voice on the other end of the conversation.

“We understand that we cannot land.” Mara glanced across at Luke, her eyes full of sympathy. “We’d just like to let someone know that we wanted to.”

“Do you require a comm code, Jade Sabre?”

“Affirmative. For...” she looked questioningly at Luke, who immediately sat up a little straighter, a tiny spark of hope in his eyes.

“For ... Lady Boble,” he said.

“Lady Boble,” repeated Control. “One moment.” The comm registered a waiting signal, and Luke and Mara sat back in their seats.

“Lady Boble?” asked Mara, her hand stretching out to connect with his.

“Gaeriel entrusted her with Malinza when she ... when she left...” His voice tailed off slightly, before he took a deep breath and regained some of his strength. “I don’t know if she is still Malinza’s carer, but hers is the only name I have to go on. Unless we can trace Gaeriel’s sister, and I can’t remember what her name is.”

Mara nodded and squeezed his hand. “Lady Boble it is, then.”

They sat silent for a long moment, until the comm buzzed to life. “Jade Sabre, we have one match for Lady Boble. Please leave this channel open.”

The comm gave a loud click, then a new, female voice could be heard. “Lady Boble’s residence. May I help you?”

Luke cleared his throat and claimed his hand back from Mara, resting it on his lightsaber. “This is Luke Skywalker. I’d like to speak with Lady Boble, please.”

“Skywalker!” The voice sounded so full of venom that both Luke and Mara flinched. “What are you doing here? Haven’t you done enough?!”

Luke tried to stop his voice from wavering. “Is this Lady Boble?”

“No, it is not. I’m Chara, her sister. And I’m calling security right now.”

“I’m not on-planet, Chara,” replied Luke. “I’d just like to know how Malinza Thanas is.”

“She’s fine, no thanks to you,” bit out Chara. “My sister is under permanent medical supervision after what you put her through, but the child thrives.”

“I’m sorry to hear about your sister,” said Luke, softly. “If I can help in any way...”

“Just keep away from us, Skywalker,” growled Chara. “You are responsible for the death of my sister’s best friend, leaving her to bring up her child. The stress of caring for the one person who constantly reminded her of her loss was too much, and my gentle sister collapsed two months ago.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yes, so you said.” There was a long pause, then Chara’s voice cracked almost imperceptibly. “My fiance died at Corellia. I hold you responsible for his death, also.”

Luke put his head in his hands. “I wish there was something I could do to ease your pain, Chara,” he whispered.

“Just go,” she replied bitterly. “Malinza’s with a foster family, and you will never find her. But if I ever get my hands on you, then your so-called Jedi skills will not stop me from causing you as much pain as you have caused my family.”

“I ... I’m...” He felt Mara’s hand on his arm and looked up to see her gesturing at the scanner, before she flicked off the comm. “What is it?”

“Company. We’d better get going, Luke,” replied Mara.

Enhancing the zoom level on the scanner, Luke could just about make out the tiny spaceship speeding towards them. “It’s got what might be TIE-style panels, but it doesn’t look like the Chiss ship we have. What is it?”

Mara was already punching coordinates into the NavComputer. “I don’t know and I don’t intend to hang around to find out. We’re leaving.”

Luke blew out a sigh and nodded, pulling on his restraints. “There’s nothing else I can do here.”

Mara pushed the hyperdrive lever forward and the familiar blur of hyperspace took the place of the stars. “Let’s just hope we get a better reception at Endor. You haven’t done anything to upset the Ewoks, have you?”

Luke tried to smile, but his heart felt too heavy. “Not that I know of.”

Slowly Mara undid her restraints and stood up. “May I?” she asked, indicating his lap.

Now a tiny smile did twitch the corners of his mouth. “Of course. Always.” His mood lifted as she settled onto his thighs, burying her face in his neck. His arms automatically reached round her and hugged her close. “Go on. Say it.”

“Say what?” came back Mara’s muffled reply.

“Say that you knew it was a bad idea to visit Bakura.”

She placed a gentle kiss on his throat, then lifted her head to meet his gaze. “Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. You feel pretty bad right now, but in a couple of days you’ll feel better. Perhaps it was just something you had to do.”

He nodded, losing himself in her green eyes, his grip tightening around her waist. “My galaxy tour idea isn’t working out too well, is it.”

She smiled as she leaned in to press a kiss to his lips. “Endor will be better. I’m sure of it.” She kissed him again. “Meanwhile, we have just over two days to fill.” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

“Two days, huh?” replied Luke, grinning. “And what do you suggest we do for two days?”

“Why don’t we retire to our cabin to discuss it.”