Jedi Dawn – Chapter 15
By Sienn (2001)
Rating (for chapter): NC-17
Protagonists: Luke/Mara
Category: Drama/Action/Angst
Time Frame: 26 A.Y.
Spoilers:
See Chapter 1
Disclaimer:
See Chapter 1
Coruscant System, Yuuzhan Vong Ship Criarto
Mara felt as if she would explode in the next moment. The urge to DO something was overwhelming, and even the coolest reason didn't help to stifle it.
Nervously, she jumped to her feet and began, once again, to pace the mess-equivalent of Tsavong Lah's private quarters aboard his flagship. It had surprised her very much that he had allowed them to wait here while he was checking on the living sensor he had had connected to Priestess's Elan's ship a long time ago.
Directly in the wake of her surprise, though, suspicion had gotten the better of her and her senses were on full alert - normal ones and Force ones alike. It was hard for her to suddenly put that much trust into the Yuuzhan Vong, after all they had done - especially to her. The temptation to blame everything that had gone wrong in the past few weeks on them was enormous, but, clenching her teeth together, Mara didn't allow herself this luxury.
When Leia had told her that Luke had had a nervous breakdown after she had left Ithor, Mara had thought for a moment that her heart would break because of the guilt she felt. She hadn't meant to be so rude - everything she had wanted to do was to make it easier for him to let her go for a while.
But instead of creating understanding on his part, she had hurt him more than she had ever done before. Silently cursing herself, she wondered once again what had gotten into her when she had told Luke that she didn't want a child with him.
It was not only a lie - she could not imagine anything more wonderful than to have a child with the man she loved, with Luke - it was the most cruel and mean lie she had ever uttered in her life. And Mara Jade had lied often enough - she had become a master in it during her years of servitude to the Emperor.
And, as if it weren't enough already that she had caused him the most traumatic experience in his rather turbulent life, she was also the reason for him being in a danger that was worse than just deadly.
Involuntarily, Mara shivered and swung her arms around herself. Tsavong Lah hadn't been able to tell them much more about the Shapers or their procedures than what he had told them first - he just had never been interested in it and as Warmaster, there had never been a need to be.
But, as things lay, he had offered, in a kind voice Mara had never thought Yuuzhan Vong to be able to speak in, to get them more information as soon as possible. Perhaps, she mused, it would be vital.
Taking another deep breath, she tried to calm herself. But, as she admitted frankly, she had never been a very patient woman, especially not if it came to situations like this. Some alien dared to hurt her husband and the fact that Mara was boiling with rage and lust to kill was an understatement. Only Luke's patient training as a Jedi of the Light Side, that had gone on for years now, prevented her from paying attention to the ever-present lure of the Dark Side.
That deep in her own thoughts, Mara almost cried out loud when a cold, slender hand hesitantly touched her own. Surprised, she found herself looking into Leia's dark brown eyes, noting the troubled expression in them.
"What?" she asked, trying to sound not quite as ill tempered as she felt. Leia swallowed before she answered quietly.
"How can I make visions vanish?" she asked, her voice unusually tiny. Han, who had sat rather lost in thoughts at the side, suddenly rose and came over to his wife.
"Visions?" he queried. Leia turned to him, shocking him with the torment he saw in her eyes. Mara swallowed now, too. Almost not daring to ask, she murmured: "What sort of visions, Leia?"
The princess fell into one of the yorik-chairs heavily, pressing her lips together. "I see Luke. He's... he's fighting against something dark, black. He's suffering, hurting, but he keeps on fighting. But the thing is more powerful and engulfs him totally. And then..."
Mara slid beside her, laying an arm around Leia's shoulders, their conflict momentarily forgotten. "And then?" she asked gently.
Leia bit her lower lip, staring at the strangely coloured floor: "He vanishes. Then Elan appears and Luke..." again she paused, shaking her head and grasping Han's hand. "What about Luke?" he persisted, worry lines deeply carved into his face. "He's sitting at her feet - like a servant," she finally whispered, causing Mara to shy away and turn their back to them.
While Han swore under his breath and embraced his wife firmly, his sister-in-law did her best to suppress tears.
Leia's bond to Luke had always been exceptionally strong - it was amazing, considering that Leia was not a trained Knight. But as they were twins, and such special twins, they always knew how the other one was. Luke had hammered into Mara's, and Leia's, head again and again that Force visions were nothing one should rely on. They were most times totally wrong and more of a warning or an annoyance than anything else.
Unfortunately, this only went for Jedi who weren't named Skywalker or Organa Solo. Mara couldn't remember a single vision of Luke that had not come true or hadn't had some consequences on the present. Only a fool would think that Leia's were any different. So, this was a warning that couldn't be any clearer. If they didn't find Luke soon, they would loose him, in a way more terrible than death.
The imagination of Luke being nothing more than an obedient pet to a crazy alien was downright nauseating and if Elan had stood in front of her, nothing could have prevented Mara from striking her down.
"We will get him back. Luke's strong." The determined voice belonged to Han, whose features were set in the most stubborn expression Mara had ever seen. She admired Han for being able to think in that positive a way. She didn't feel able to and she wasn't the only one.
"But, Han, my vision. It's probably already..." Leia's trembling voice got muffled, then fell silent when Han lay one of his big hands over her lips.
"Stop that, Leia. It's a vision, nothing more. We WILL get Luke out of there."
"The question is how he will be if we do," Mara added roughly. Han's eyes pierced her and for the first time this day they showed rage.
"You, of all people, should have trust in Luke, Mara. He is strong, stronger than anyone I know. The kid suffered so much in his life – for as long as I've know him there has always been SOMEONE who wanted to manipulate him, to abuse him for what he is. None of them succeeded in breaking his will. And I refuse to believe that those crazy freaks will manage what Vader and Palpatine couldn't."
"Han, this is different. You know that," Mara said quietly, searching his eyes. She didn't intend to let herself be swallowed by desperation. But she also refused to rely on Luke's amazing habit to come out of the deadliest situations without much more than physical, REPAIRABLE, damage. "It could already be too late. More than ten days. And we don't know yet where he is."
Han opened his mouth, obviously wanting to reply something, but then shook his head, turned on his heels and stumped back into the corner of the room where he had been sitting for the past hours.
Mara already wanted to follow him, annoyed by this stubbornness, when Leia's hand grasped her upper arm: "Don't. He has to vent, Mara. It's hard for him."
The Jedi Master looked some time into the Princess's eyes, then nodded, perching an eyebrow: "You talk to me again?"
Leia smiled wryly: "It's just that it is too exhausting to worry about Luke, take care that Han doesn't do or say anything stupid and be angry at you at the same time. I can't by the life of me stop the first and don't DARE stop the second."
Mara grinned: "I already wondered why you have taken him along on these talks. He is a ticket for political disasters with his big mouth."
Her sister-in-law grinned back, even if a little bit awkwardly: "His instincts are phenomenal - better than any Force sense if it comes to telling cowards and friends apart."
"Yeah - cowards sniff fellow cowards," Mara muttered.
"I HEARD that," came Han's voice from the corner, causing both women to giggle lowly. Together, they went over to him and the three of them settled down to wait again.
*~~
Two hours later, the bulky, impressive figure of Tsavong Lah appeared again. Mara thought immediately that he looked rather glum - but then, she mused, she hadn't yet seen a Yuuzhan Vong that DIDN'T look glum. Or angry. Or both.
"Have you found out anything?" Leia asked, approaching the Warmaster, for once not paying attention to any diplomatic chitchatting. This was a crisis situation - and now she was a fighter and a sister and not the President of the New Republic. She had asked Mon Mothma and Winter to keep things running smoothly on Coruscant and she didn't doubt for a second that those two were able to ensure just that.
Lah frowned: "Unfortunately not. As it seems, Priestess Elan is not quite as dumb and arrogant as I thought her to be."
"What does that mean?" Han demanded to know, a deep scowl marking his face - a clear sign that he was beginning to loose his patience.
The Warmaster focused on him: "That means that we have no way to tell where Priestess Elan is. She has obviously destroyed the tracking being we have attached to her personal vehicle and has vanished without a trace."
A low groan accompanied Mara's form falling back onto her yorik coral - chair. Shaking her head, her eyes were utmost terrified. They looked just like Han felt.
Leia was speechless, clenching her hands and focusing on the Force. 'Luke!!' she sent out with all mental power she could summon, feeling Mara join in. There was no answer, but neither of them wanted to give up so soon. Combining their powers, they extended their senses as far as they could. And, Leia was so relieved she almost yelped aloud, finally bumped into Luke's presence.
But after the first euphoric feelings, disappointment followed immediately. Every prodding or crying was in vain, no matter whether she tried it or Mara did. Luke's presence was closed and the few feelings they did get indicated that he was deeply unconscious. Before any further contact could be established, a black wall pushed both women's minds away from Luke, letting them stumble some steps back in reality.
Leia felt Han and Lah's eyes on her. Slightly panting, she shook her head: "He's unconscious - unconscious and somehow blocked. No way to trace him."
"Damn!" Han cried, kicking against one of the coral-chairs, then loosing his balance with a surprised cry when it engulfed and trapped his foot. "Stop fooling around, Solo," Mara quipped, the momentary fun helping her to calm her breathing. So Luke was unconscious - fine. At least he wasn't tortured when he was inert.
"Funny, Jade. Very funny," Han growled, freeing his foot and taking some steps away from the chair, eyeing it suspiciously. Lah and Leia, in the meantime, didn't seem to have noticed the little embarrassment of the man. Leia just about had explained to the Warmaster what she and Mara had done.
"I'm sorry, President, but it seems we can do nothing for the Jeedai Skywalker," Lah said softly, sounding genuinely compassionate.
Leia shook her head frantically: "But there must be…" She was interrupted when two Yuuzhan Vong warriors entered the room, dragging a very petite and frightened looking female with them.
"Two of the people I dispatched to search the Priestess's quarters," Lah explained mumbling, then turned to his underlings, exchanging some words with them in the Yuuzhan Vong's native tongue.
Leia wasn't particularly interested until she saw Lah's eyes lighten up. At a bark from him, the warriors pushed the woman on a yorik-coral chair and restrained her with their amphistaffs.
"Warmaster?" Leia queried curiously.
"As it seems, Princess, we have still a chance." On the inquisitive stares of the three humans, he answered: "This is Lonan; she is Priestess Elan's most trusted aid and assistant and was caught when she tried to flee the ship."
When eight eyes focused on her, the young Yuuzhan Vong shrank back in the chair.
Deep Space
'And there we go again!', Mezhan Kwaad thought when she heard the light footsteps of Priestess Elan approach. She had hoped Elan had just fallen asleep and she would be alone while she performed the next lessons on the Jeedai. No such luck.
"Are you finished with the preparations?" the Priestess asked, stifling a yawn. So she had been sleeping indeed.
Kwaad nodded, stretching her arms and legs. Working bent over the Jeedai for over four hours had taken its toll on her back. In her youth, that wouldn't have tired her at all, but now… well, to speak frankly, she was not a child anymore and the first signs of ageing began to show themselves.
Before she could muse further, the Priestess's annoying voice once again disturbed her. "He doesn't look different," Elan stated, eyeing the unconscious man lying on the living table, arms beside his body.
"Of course he doesn't. I didn't do anything that you could see on the outside." Mezhan once again looked over the Jeedai, pushing some stray hairs out of his forehead. They would only distract the drev-membrane - and that was unacceptable.
"What did you do?" Elan asked, coming over and focusing her gaze on Skywalker's serene face. She wouldn't see it that relaxed in some time, Kwaad thought amused.
"I gave the table time to connect with his body so that he's immobilised almost completely - we don't want him to go loose in my laboratory, do we?" Elan just smiled at that and motioned for her to continue. "I have also injected some poisons into him - affecting his senses and the speed of his thoughts. That will make him weaker and more prone to our manipulations. Ready?" when the Priestess nodded, Kwaad once again stroked the drev-membrane on the Jeedai's forehead.
After some moments, the lids of the human flickered open and he let his eyes wander around while he carefully tested his ability to move. Almost immediately, he understood that movements would only cause him pain, so he lay absolutely still.
Elan looked into his eyes, expecting them to rest trustfully on her. They were indeed focussing on her, but not filled with trust, but resentment and anger. "You betrayed me," he spat towards her. The Priestess shot the Shaper a shocked gaze, but Kwaad merely smiled.
"Don't worry, Elan. It's quite all right. For this phase of the shaping, we need him clear - I already told you that. Besides, the poisons will kick in any minute now."
And as if the substances had only waited for Kwaad's permission, Elan could see how the Jeedai's eyes dropped half-closed, cutting the insult he had been throwing at her off before he had even begun to voice it. He struggled to keep his eyes open, widening them immensely and staring around.
"He can't see much more than blurry shadows and he won't be able to comprehend more than the words of ONE voice if it speaks directly into his ear. Just stay back and watch."
Kwaad bent once again over the Jeedai, speaking clear, but low. "You certainly remember my offer, don't you? You just have to say the words and the pain will go away," she cooed, fully aware that the myriad of connections his pores had with the living table caused him steady torment.
Finally pressing his lids firmly together, he said through gritted teeth: "In your dreams."
Kwaad grinned. She would have lied if she had said she didn't prefer it the cruel way. "As you wish, Liin."
This time, the sheer fury pried his eyes open: "My name is Lu... AHHH!"
His voice became a cry of pure agony when Kwaad let the drev-membranes in his brain do their work.
*~~
Six hours later, the Master Shaper slowly began to get annoyed. Priestess Elan, for her part, had gone from being annoyed to being totally infuriated.
"Why is he still opposing you? I want my familiar, Kwaad, and I want him now!" she shouted, impatiently stamping her foot onto the floor. Kwaad ignored her, concentrating on Skywalker.
The human lay on the living table, twitching and sweating profusely. His breath came fast and haggard and his features were contorted in agony. Skywalker's feverish blue eyes had long stopped giving him any view of the reality around him. With obvious terror, he looked into a world of terrifying memories of the past days.
The Shaper had taken care that these memories were perfectly accessible for him, plunging him not only into physical, but also mental torment. He writhed on the table and in his restraints, dodging hands that weren't there.
Hot tears ran down his cheeks. It SEEMED as if he was broken, but he wasn't. Whatever he saw, felt and heard, he mumbled one and the same over and over again when he didn't cry from pain.
"I'm Luke… Luke Skywalker," he whispered continuously, interrupted by occasional moans and sobs. But he didn't give in. He didn't obey and said the words he had been told to say. As long as he didn't accept that, it was in vain to let the tizowyrm sleeping in his ear begin the teachings.
"Indeed a tough case," she murmured, contemplating several possibilities to shatter his mind completely. Unfortunately, most of them would be lethal for him at the moment. He hadn't been given anything to eat and only the most necessary amounts of water when he had been unconscious or catatonic. His body was approaching its limits fast.
"Make him forget his name!" Elan shouted, pushing her rather rudely towards the table. The Shaper shot her a furious glance.
"Don't you dare touch me again, you stupid, little thing! Have you never learned patience?" she hissed towards the young Yuuzhan Vong who shrank back surprised.
"Good. Now stay away. I will crack him soon, don't worry." Clicking with her finger-implants, Kwaad approached once again the table. Thinking for a moment, she backhanded the Jeedai viciously, causing him to stop his mumbling and giving him a few moments of clarity.
Using those, she held her pincer-finger before his eyes, just as she had done before she had given him his first implant. He froze in shock, staring wide-eyed at her finger. After some moments, he began to shake his head frantically. "No... please no. Please, please not again," he whimpered.
Kwaad just grinned and touched, ever so lightly, the drev-membrane on his forehead with her pincer-finger. His delirious brain immediately mixed up reality and past, letting him experience the torment of his first implantation once again.
He cried out, withering, convulsing and tossing on the table, his pain increasing with every movement. After some minutes, she lightly stroke the membrane, causing it and its twin in the base of his skull to contract at full power.
Skywalker's cries changed their tone, becoming higher and more desperate with every moment. Using every single experience she had with shaping familiars, she chose the exact right moment to end his pain - one second longer and he would have slipped into unconsciousness. But she wouldn't grant him this luxury.
His cries stopped, his body slumping powerless back on the table. Slight moans were everything that showed him to be still conscious. Mezhan waited for some seconds, eagerly listening whether he would resume the rebellious mumbling. When he didn't, she grinned victoriously.
"There," she said, turning to Elan. "You have your familiar."
The priestess was obviously suspicious, but approached the Jeedai nonetheless, bending over his body.
"What's your name?" the Master Shaper queried, patting the table, letting it release its tendrils from Skywalker's body. He groaned in face of the new pain, his features once again wrinkling in torment.
Then, slowly, he relaxed, his eyes still closed - but only because of fatigue.
"I'm… I'm Liin Kwaad," he whispered finally.
The Master Shaper grinned, clapping her hands and giving Elan a triumphant look: "What do you say now?"
The Priestess didn't say anything, just grinned and nodded appreciatively. Then she gently took the Jeedai's left hand into her own. "Sit up," she ordered softly.
He complied, swaying a moment, then sitting upright, his shoulders and head slumped, though. "Do you know who I am?" Elan lifted his chin, frowning when she saw his obvious problems to stay awake.
Skywalker nodded and answered in a faint, almost inaudible voice: "You're Priestess Elan. I'm your familiar."
"Exactly." She smirked, then turned to the Master Shaper again. "What now?"
Kwaad shrugged: "Now he will have the lessons he should have had already for a few hours. The tizowyrm will begin to teach him our language, customs and his duties as soon as he's fallen asleep."
"He looks as if he could do so in the next second," Elan stated, caressing his damp cheeks softly.
"As soon as you tell him to, he will," Mezhan replied, suppressing a yawn. She could also use a good night's rest after this exhausting and annoyingly complicate shaping.
Elan nodded, taking the human's face into her hands, gazing into his incredibly blue eyes: "Now then, my dear Liin, rest. You have deserved it."
She had barely finished the sentence when he went limp into her arms, almost swallowing the correct reply. It was not more than a feeble breath, but she heard it nonetheless: "Yes, Mistress."
Then he plunged into deep sleep, his subconscious listening to the voice of the well-trained tizowyrm.
Kwaad stepped beside the Priestess, still smiling satisfied. "If you allow it, he will sleep for several days. His body needs that rest."
Elan nodded: "I will grant them to him. What about his memories?" This got the Shaper frowning. "I hadn't enough time to erase them. But the membranes are blocking them effectively. Though, if anyone should remove the implants or hurt them, he will get his memories back." Kwaad eyed the drev-membrane on his forehead more attentively. It had already begun to expand into the whole carving and would fill it soon.
"This Jeedai is an extremely strong willed individual, Priestess. You have to take good care of him - and you should take your time until you bring him together with anyone of his race. Let him never see anyone he held dear again. The risk to loose him is too great."
"Believe me, I'm not planning on giving him up." Elan assured the Shaper, carefully laying the slender form of the human back onto the table.
Coruscant System, Yuuzhan Vong Ship Criarto
'Patience', Mara thought, 'Just be patient. This girl is frightened half out of her mind. She'll talk soon.'
This voice belonged to her experience in investigating people. Palpatine had trained her excellently in this field, as well as in many others. Usually, she had no problem to apply the techniques she had learnt.
But this was all but a usual situation. Somewhere out there, this ominous Yuuzhan Vong Priestess tried to take her husband away from her. Bodily and mentally. She supposed that, under these circumstances, a little impatience was allowed, even for a Jedi Master.
"Listen, Lonan," Mara began anew, crossing her arms to prevent her hands from clenching into fists. "I can understand that you're loyal to your sister." That statement earned her a suspicious glance from the girl. "But do you, honestly, think that she will come back for you? She is a traitor - and you know how traitors are condemned in your culture. Elan will never return deliberately to get executed."
Fear and uncertainty appeared in these childish eyes - this one, Mara thought, was not trained in the merciless fighting techniques of the warriors. This one was just about a child. And children were very prone to fear.
Mara was going to use that fact: "And, you know, if you answered us some questions and told us where your sister is, your own punishment would be not quite as severe." At the fringes of her eyesight, she saw Lah frown. Obviously, mercy was REALLY no option in the Yuuzhan Vong culture. But now it was necessary. "Right, Warmaster?"
It took him some moments to answer, but finally, he did. "I could arrange that. Instead of being killed," the girl yelped horrified, "she could be merely made a Shamed One."
Mara had no idea what a Shamed One was, but it seemed to be better than death, for the girl began chattering eagerly in her native tongue. With a low growl, Lah interrupted her, obviously giving her some orders. Lonan frowned, then began to speak anew, this time in a heavily accented, but understandable Basic. "I will tell everything."
Mara grinned, satisfied. Before she could ask something herself, Han approached the girl, not letting her eyes out of his sight for a moment: "Tell us how you've gotten Luke, what they do with him and where they are."
Lonan cleared her throat, then began: "The Jeedai Skywalker was very eager to meet with my Mistress again. My Mistress wanted to use that and told me to give him a rapo, pretending it was some sort of villip with which she could contact him as soon as she had returned from meeting the Shaper."
"What is a rapo?" Leia asked.
"It is a poisonous animal," the girl explained. "I could control it and it reported to me about the Jeedai's movements. As soon as it told me he was alone, I ordered it to extend its spikes. They contain a very strong sedating poison. He was deeply unconscious only seconds later." Glancing uncertainly at the angry faces around her, she continued: "I accompanied some Peace Brigadiers which had been given to me by Admiral Idao down onto the abomination planet. We brought the Jeedai onto my ship and I flew him to the rendezvous point to give him to Mezhan Kwaad and my Mistress. When I left them to return inconspicuously, he was still unconscious. I don't know how he is now."
Silence followed these revelations. But when words were spoken again, they were much more determined than only minutes before. "You will give the coordinates to my personal assistant before you are brought to the detention level," Lah barked, then turned to Leia, Han and Mara, ignoring the now shivering girl completely.
"I assume you will leave for the coordinates as soon as possible." When he received nods, he continued: "One of my ships will accompany you - it will have three dozens of warriors aboard - a Priestess and a Shaper will have not more than two, perhaps three warriors at their disposal. They will want to hide the sacrilege of abduction as long as they can."
"Thank you, Warmaster," Leia stammered, not caring that her eyes were wide with surprise. Some weeks ago, the Vong had been deadly enemies - and now they were mighty allies. The universe was amazing.
"If you wish, I will dispatch the Shaper apprentice we have aboard the Criarto together with his underlings to the troop. Your medical equipment probably will not help the Jeedai Skywalker."
Leia hesitated a moment - it cost her much to give her brother into the care of Yuuzhan Vong - but when she considered the strict honour code of those aliens, she supposed that Luke would be very safe with them as long as he was in any form handicapped or incapacitated. Killing or injuring an ill or even unconscious man was nothing that was held in high regard in this culture.
"Again, I'm very grateful, Warmaster." He just nodded.
Half an hour later, they were sitting in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, sending the modified freighter into hyperspace. The voyage would take three days - every one of them, in their own way, prayed for Luke to hold on this long.
*~~
Far away, in Mezhan Kwaad's ship, Luke Skywalker was, for the very first time in his life, giving up. He had centred all his mental power on the task of removing whatever they had implanted into his head, pushing it back when he had felt that it tried to engulf his thoughts, his being.
But the torture had been so extreme and this strange alien thing so powerful, he had felt his mind slip away from him. Horrified, his very core in the Force had listened to his own voice that complied with Priestess Elan and hadn't been able to do anything against it. And fighting this was in vain - the more he tried to get the control over his body back, the more of his mind the alien thing claimed for itself. There was only one chance to survive this mentally. Praying to the Force and every god in this universe that Leia and Han knew where he was and were on their way to help him, Luke withdrew deep into himself, building thick walls of Force energy around his memories and his soul. He wanted to shout when he felt the alien thing swallow everything but this little, lit space, assuming control over him - or, rather, over a part of him.
Using all his might to keep the thing at bay that tried to break through these walls, too, he focussed inward, forgetting the real world and accepting sadly that he had no control over himself anymore.
He just hoped that help came before his last walls fell.