The Birth Of Acceptance

 

  

 

Chapter 14

By Sienn (2002)

 

Rating (for chapter):  PG-13

Protagonists: Luke/Mara

Category: Action/Angst/Drama

 

Series: Part III of "Soul's Trial" Trilogy

 

Time Frame: 26 A.Y. (immediately after "Soul's Trial II: Healing")

 

Spoilers:

See Chapter 1

 

Disclaimer:

See Chapter 1

 

 

Coruscant, Imperial Palace, Training Hall 98, Two Days Later

 

Two lightsabers clashed, filling the wide chamber with their characteristic sizzling. One a brilliant green, the other a paler version of this colour, they spread an eerie light through the room whose transparisteel windows were dimmed. Onlookers were not wanted here.

 

One of the combatants had come to find peace and relaxation; to finally get rid of the nervousness, the need to move, which had accompanied him for the last two days.

 

Luke Skywalker let his blade of pure energy slide down the length of his adversary's lightsaber, feigning an attack at his middle section, while he kicked out with his left leg, shoved the other man out of the way and sent him slithering towards the opposite wall.

 

"You're slow today, Corran." He taunted, carefully approaching the fallen Jedi, his blade casually pointed to the floor.

 

The Corellian merely grunted and pulled himself up. Without another sound, he readied himself for another take at the Jedi Master.

 

It wasn't as if Luke didn't welcome the exercise. On the contrary. He craved the movement, the fight. A small part of him knew that it might not be the best idea to give in to this craving, but there was nothing he could do against it.

 

Luke had been tensed and nervous for two days now. Not for a single second could he hold completely still. Meditation was out of question. There was no way for him to sit down and relax.

 

At first he had been able to hide all this from Mara, but it hadn't taken his beautiful wife long to figure out that something was not as it should be.

Luke wished he could have spared the ex-Emperor's Hand the need to once again grimace in worry, wished he could have spared himself the pain of looking once again into emerald eyes filled with fear. But he hadn't been able to. Not after he had jumped up and begun to pace their balcony while they had been sitting there watching the sunset.

 

Energy filled him, pulsed in him. If he stood still, completely still, for a second or two he felt like bursting from the inside out. His muscles throbbed when they didn't move.  There was no other way to soothe this craving of his whole body than to fight.

 

Luke did his best not to let joy come up, but it was hard. The simple movement, the deadly precision, the feeling of control over every single string of muscle in his whole body was immensely satisfying. And it didn't drain him. Strangely, he seemed to be at his best. Better even than when he had returned from Chandrila, after weeks of bringing his body and soul back in tune.

 

At first he had thought that it was due to the fact that Mara's idea had helped him to have a wonderful night's rest once again. Not one where he felt like having been trampled by a herd of Banthas, but one that left him replenished. Replenished and eager to move his body.

 

But although it had been but three days since he had started to let Mara take control of his very being at the evenings and to take sleeping pills, he knew that this original assumption had been totally wrong.

 

This need in him, to fight and to move, had a name. And its name was Liin Kwaad.

 

He had never actually voiced his thoughts and suspicions in regards to that to his wife. But Luke knew that she had probably come to the same conclusion. Now that they had effectively blocked Liin Kwaad from seizing his mind, the energy and the might of the Yuuzhan Vong personality was caught.

 

The Slayer couldn't use his energy – not the slightest bit of it. Because he had no possibility to get through to Luke, to get control over his body and BE for real.

 

Unfortunately, this energy didn't vanish or was absorbed. It was still there, driving Luke to move, to fight, to run, and to exercise almost continuously.

 

Cilghal had done a number of tests on him and had found his heart rate to be unusually fast even if he was lying down for more than ten minutes. The results also indicated that his body was processing energy and food on a scale that was absolutely astonishing for a man of his stature and weight.

 

And of course the Mon Calamarian healer couldn't do anything against it. The only way to stop this was to stop Liin Kwaad. To erase him from Luke's soul. But they still hadn't figured out how to do that.

 

It seemed that there was no solution other than finding Mezhan Kwaad and killing her. Though Luke definitely wished with all his heart to be rid of his Yuuzhan Vong personality, of this cruel monster that embodied everything he despised, everything he hated, he wondered what it would mean for him to go out there, seek the Master Shaper out and kill her.

 

Would he be that different from Liin Kwaad when he did that? He would be a cold-blooded murderer then. He would save himself. From Mezhan. But would he be able to retain the light in himself if he simply killed her? Without her actually attacking him?

And she didn't. Since these dreadful days on the Moota, she had never outrightly attacked him. She had implanted someone else into him who did that for her.

 

He didn't like to admit it, but in the previous days, Luke had spent one or the other hour thinking of what he would do, what he COULD do, when he ever faced Mezhan Kwaad again.

 

There was no question about what he wanted to do. But there was a question about whether that would lead him to the Dark Side or not. And it would not be worth it to get rid of Liin and therefore fall to the Dark Side – it had almost destroyed his father and the galaxy along with him.

 

Drawing a deep breath, Luke decided that these thoughts were counter-productive. He had to take it step by step, doing what was necessary in the moment and then see what options it would open to him.

 

The most important thing now was to find Mezhan Kwaad. If not in order to get to the bottom of how to free himself from the Slayer, then to prevent the Master Shaper from succeeding in her plans of sabotage and from preventing the peace treaty.

 

If – no WHEN – they had found her, the Force would surely show him a way. It had always shown him a way. If he trusted in the Force, trusted in Mara, then everything would be all right.

 

But until then….

 

Luke allowed himself a small, delighted smile as Corran assaulted him with a couple of hard, fast parades.

 

Piece of cake.

 

*~~

 

Corran Horn swore to himself as he desperately tried to parry a determined assault from his Jedi Master. What had possessed him when he had volunteered for this? He must have been delirious. He could hardly claim it had been a wise decision.

 

At first it hadn't seemed like something that could get him to sweat or hurt so much. Luke had called him and asked him out for a few sparring rounds. That had been six hours ago.

 

Now, while Coruscant's sun was about to reach its highest point, Corran was sweating and hurting. By the feel of it, his whole body had to be covered by bruises. Not to speak from the burning sensation that had replaced every feeling he had had of his muscles before.

 

Luke was fighting in a way the Corellian had never seen him do before. If he hadn't felt the calm of the other's Force presence, he would have called it ferocious. But taking into account that the Jedi Master was in no way giving in to the exhilaration that was trying to seize his conscious, there was no other term than "brilliant" that fit what Skywalker was doing.

 

Deciding to take him heads on, Corran drew on the Force and stormed onwards, faster than the eye of a non-Force sensitive could follow, moving his lightsaber in a pattern that was destined to disarm an opponent. It was expertly conducted, flawless, and it would have worked. With anyone else than Luke.

 

The spot where the Jedi Master had just been standing was empty by the time Corran's blade whooshed upwards and instead of catapulting the other lightsaber out of the adversary's hand, the momentum of the Corellian let him stagger to the right.

 

For a confused moment, he wondered where Luke had gone. The answer was unpleasant and unwelcome. With strength carefully measured to hurt but not seriously injure, a foot landed in his neck and in the next moment, Corran slithered – once again – through the room, finally coming to halt by crashing into the wall.

 

That had to have completed the dozen. At one point or the other in the past sparring rounds of the day, the less experienced Jedi had found himself on the floor, slithering this way or that, being unkindly stopped by hard walls and trying to battle down the unnerved frustration and embarrassment.

 

He had never lost like that against Luke. And, as he had recognised this very day, this had given him some illusions that had dissolved in a very, very painful way in the course of a couple of hours.

 

If he had had enough air in his lungs to do so, Corran would have laughed. He had seriously thought that he was an opponent Luke would have to fight hard against to win. But he had been wrong. On the one hand, it seemed all too logical and he had to admit that his sense of self-importance and his tendency to be a little arrogant had simply kept him from seeing what had been the truth for the past years.

 

On the other hand, it hurt not only physically to be proven wrong so vehemently. Only today had he noticed that Luke had played with him all these other times. Or perhaps playing was the wrong word. He had just never used his full potency, all his abilities.

 

And now he did. And the result was that Corran Horn, CorSec officer turned Rogue turned Jedi was used as a washcloth for this uncomfortably hard training room floor.

 

Sighing, he pulled himself to his knees, clipping his lightsaber back to his belt.

 

"What? Already tired?"

 

Corran shook his head, carefully rising and stretching his right shoulder. It had suffered especially today and felt like one big bruise in itself.

 

"No. I just thought I'd give you a short pause."

 

The laughter that sounded through the hall was both familiar and strange to Corran and for a moment, he simply stared at his friend.

 

Luke had changed in the last two days. He had noted his nervousness in meetings that he had attended while Luke had often presided them, but had never drawn the conclusion that it was due to something that wanted to come out of Luke. And better sooner than later.

 

Luke's movements this morning had been precise, powerful and faster than anything Corran had ever thought possible in combat outside a starfighter. The Jedi Master had been attuned to the Force in a way that was astonishing.

It bristled around him, like a field of electricity, and its charge didn't diminish. Now, as well as six hours ago when they had started, Luke seemed to be as fresh as if he had just come out of a good sleep.

 

His hair was dark and clung to his head with sweat, as did his shirt, but his breathing was far from being laboured. And there was this change in his voice, this change in his behaviour.

 

Corran wasn't sure whether Luke had noticed it, but the taunts, the mockery and the provocative movements were omnipresent. If he hadn't known that Luke was going through a personal hell right now, if he hadn't known that this was someone else speaking out of the Jedi Master's mouth, the Corellian Jedi would have been seriously insulted by the arrogance his adversary had displayed all through the morning.

 

It was not part of how Luke usually presented himself in a fight, especially in a training fight. Everyone knew that he was a fighter of superior skill. There was currently no one known who could challenge Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and hope to win. Years of training had moulded Luke into a graceful fighter to whom size really didn't matter.

 

But although everyone knew that, the Jedi Master never showed it. Whether he fought against a Yuuzhan Vong Warrior, a Sith Lord, one of his fellow Masters or a first grade trainee, Luke always gave the impression of full concentration, of taking his adversary serious.

 

That was why the kids on Yavin IV loved to fight against him, whereas they tried to avoid fighting against Kam or Kyp or even him. None of them quite succeeded in banishing a slight feeling of being bored from their Force signatures and the kids registered that. And were hurt, felt inferior.

 

But the greatest warrior of all made them feel like being challenged and he pointed them to their strengths and weaknesses alike with a talent for teaching that made everyone else pale.

 

Corran remembered a time when Luke had been very insecure about being a teacher. Back then, the Corellian had resided on Yavin's Jedi Academy as Keiran, intent on getting more apt in the arts of the Force to rescue his wife Mirax who had been abducted.

But in the course of the past two decades, the farmboy turned Jedi had discovered that he had a gift for teaching and that people liked to listen to his experiences and the wisdom he had drawn out of them.

 

Today, though, he saw a different Luke. Only one look into the twinkling eyes showed Corran the difference. Even now, after such a long time of exercising, the Jedi Master wanted to go on. The former CorSec officer didn't need to hear the question, the demand, he simply knew Luke desired to fight some more.

 

In the context of everything that had transpired in the last time, Corran was extremely worried. If anyone had cared to ask him, he would have recommended to keep Luke away from fights – whether training or serious – for as long as Liin Kwaad was an entity to be reckoned with. If anyone loved fighting and drew strength from violence, then it had to be a being whose name meant Slayer.

 

Luke approached him, emerald green blade still not deactivated, and looked down at him.

 

"How long do you need, Corran?"

 

The Corellian Jedi shook his head, rose to his feet and turned into the direction of his small bag that lay in a corner.  "Probably some months."

 

"Oh, come on. I've been slow on you."

 

Corran perched an eyebrow and Luke grinned. "Okay, so I haven't been slow on you. But you can't be tired already."

 

Exasperated, the former Rogue Squadron Lieutenant gestured to the chrono that was situated at the far wall of the training hall they had reserved for themselves. "Luke, we've been in here for six hours."

 

"Perhaps it feels to you like that, but…" following Corran's hand, the Jedi Master's azure eyes settled on the device and widened. "Force, you're right."

 

The Corellian snorted: "Of course I'm right. I may not serve as anything else but a broomstick here, but I do know how to read a chrono."

 

"It didn't feel like that long a time." Luke murmured, a strangely absent expression on his face. Corran watched him worriedly and made a decision.

 

"You know what, Luke? If we stop now, I can invite you to lunch before I have to meet up with Wedge."

 

The question dragged the Jedi Master out of his reverie. Staring at the other in irritation for a moment, Luke quickly banned this emotion from his face and shook his head.

 

"No. No, I guess I'll stay just a little longer. I can do some multiple defence exercises."

 

"Luke, I really think you should stop now. You've been here all day. You need a break."

 

A fleetingly haughty smile appeared on the other man's face.

 

"Don't worry about me, Corran. Go take a shower, have lunch and meet up with Wedge." And with that, the Jedi Master turned away from him, heading towards the built-in storage compartments of the training hall.

 

By the time the former CorSec officer was about to leave the room, thirteen remotes swivelled in the air in front of Luke, waiting to follow the destiny of their fourteenth comrade and be programmed by the blond-haired man who almost exploded from within with energy.

 

 

Coruscant, Imperial Palace, The President's Personal Landing Bay, Shortly After

 

Everything was going as it should. The Jade Sabre powered up in her usual quick and efficient way and the hum of the sublight engines slowly began to fill the whole inner life of the ship.

 

As always, Mara was delighted by her sleek craft. These noises brought back to her the memories of her first flight with the Jade Sabre and the day when Luke had led her into the hangar, with the hugest little boy grin on his face, and had presented to her his gift for their second marriage anniversary.

 

Tracing the dashboard's contours with her fingers, the ex-Emperor's Hand smiled. Everything handcrafted. Luke had worked more than a year on this, together with a bunch of droids, and the result of his handiwork was an admirable ship that was one of the deadliest weapons you could commandeer.

 

Lost in her thoughts, the thuds that suddenly disturbed the well-known and cherished sounds felt distinctly strange and Mara furrowed her forehead.

 

"What, for Sith's sake…" she murmured, running a short diagnostic sequence on the ship's computer. She quickly determined that the source of the strange thuds was not anywhere within the Jade Sabre.

 

Switching on the cameras built into the armour of the ship, she felt her eyes almost bulge out of their sockets.

 

Pressing down a button, she growled: "If you don't stop that at once, CorSec, I'm going to punch on the shields and invite whole Rogue Squadron to a barbecue with fried Corellian."

 

*~~

 

"Couldn't you just have sent me a Force message?"

 

Corran Horn did his best to suppress a grin and shook his head: "Is it not you who always preaches that a Jedi should not resort to the Force for all those little things, Mara?"

 

The fiery redhead smiled sarcastically: "Ever heard of something called a comm-unit? You switch it on and can talk to anyone whose frequency you've got."

 

"Not annoying enough."

 

Mara snorted, then looked at him more closely: "What's the matter, Corran? I was on my way up to the Criarto and I don't want to let Miiram wait for too long."

 

"It is about Luke."

 

The female Jedi Master's eyes narrowed: "What about him? He is okay, isn't he?"

 

"That's what I'm not sure about."

 

The next moment, Mara was on her feet and halfway out in the corridor that led to the boarding hatch. It took Corran a slight jog to catch up with her and grasp her by the elbow.

 

"It's not that bad. We had a sparring this morning."

 

"I KNOW that."

 

"I just think he is doing too much. Mara, he has been there with me for six hours and he's still training with fourteen remotes. And he likes it. You should see the expression in his eyes!"

 

The delicate lips of the former Imperial pressed together. "You suspect it's Liin."

 

Corran shrugged: "I'm not sure. I just know Luke is behaving in a way he usually doesn't and I feel shivers run down my spine when I look at him. If that's not enough to make you uncomfortable…"

 

The Jedi Master's wife nodded frantically, doing an effort to suppress her frustration. "I know. I know what you mean. I didn't like how he has been the last two days. I feel like time is running out. I can control Liin now – HE can control him – but I have the feeling if we don't find Mezhan Kwaad soon, he will break free."

 

"I also feel time is running out for us. We need to figure out a way to find this Shaper."

 

"Yes." Mara murmured, her gaze unfocused for a moment. Then, as if she had made a decision, she focused back on her fellow Jedi.

 

"Corran, can you do me a favour?"

 

"Anything that doesn't get me hurt. I already have enough bruises from your husband."

 

The ex-Emperor's Hand grinned humourlessly: "Nothing that dangerous, I think. Go find Han. Then the both of you go fetch Luke and get him up to the Criarto. Leia is already there. We have about two days left until the Supreme Overlord's arrival. So she is up there almost all day."

 

"Uh, sure. But what for? I mean, why shall I bring Luke?"

 

This time, Mara smiled genuinely, if dejectedly: "We will make a step towards solving this whole mess."

 

*~~

 

Concentrate, parry, strike, role. Concentrate, parry, strike, role. The pattern had something soothing, something immensely relaxing. Never ever had he been in such a state. He felt exhilarated.

 

At one point exhaustion would almost claim him, assault him with a fit of dizziness that made the hall spun around him, his stomach lurch and his knees buckle. It was another limit his body had reached.

 

He would think that this was it, that he had to stop exercising now and a part of him craved a shower and a bed. But another part, one that became more potent and more impatient with every second, heeded a completely different opinion.

 

It would come out and drink in his exhaustion, swallowing it in huge gulps, neutralize it and flood his muscles with new strength, with new adrenaline.

 

And he would go on and focus and sink into the familiar pattern. Concentrate, parry, strike, role. His surroundings would vanish along with his feeling for time. There was only he, his sabre and the remotes.

 

Concentrate, parry, strike, role.

 

"Luke?"

 

The voice was almost drowned among the sounds of the blood that raced in his veins, the air he gulped into his lungs and the pulse that thudded against his throat; that was what filled his ears. Not even the shrieking sounds of the droid remotes' tuned down lasers reached his awareness.

 

He was one with the Force and the Force was concentrated on the single task of avoiding laser blasts, of thwarting the tactical moves of fourteen artificial intelligences.

 

Concentrate, parry, strike, role.

 

It felt so good to be immersed in the Force like this. And because of that, the sudden absence, the sudden severance of the link to the omnipresent power, left Luke like a fish on dry land.

 

Staggering in surprise, panting, he found himself held at one place by two hands. Slowly, the noise in his ears, created by the rush of his own blood, became softer and the haze in front of his eyes dissolved.

 

Han's face became visible, contorted in worry. His impulse to bring up his energy blade and strike at anyone who had dared interrupt and challenge him died away when he recognised his friend. He wouldn't hurt Han.

 

Blinking in irritation, he caught sight of Corran who seemed to be equally worried.

 

The Corellian Jedi had taken the Force from him! Catching Luke unaware, he had interrupted the link to the all-encompassing energy field and had left Luke afloat in an incomprehensible void for a moment. Just enough time for Han to come to him and touch him.

 

As if in a dream, Luke understood that it had to have been Han. Anyone else – except Leia and Mara – he would have stricken down. But why?

 

"Are you okay, Luke?"

 

Han's voice and the question dragged him completely back into reality. Nodding his head, he beckoned a towel to him with the Force and even smiled.

 

"Sure. What's up?"

 

Corran and Han exchanged a glance and his best friend softly pushed him into the fresher's direction. "Go take a shower. We have an appointment with Mara on the Criarto."

 

Luke frowned: "Something wrong?"

 

Han smiled feebly: "If we knew that, Luke, we'd be happy. "

 

Yuuzhan Vong Ship Criarto, 1 Hour Later,

 

"Are you sure this is going to work? I mean, I think I would be aware of it if I knew something like THAT."

 

Luke fidgeted nervously on the yorik coral seat he had been given by Miiram. It resembled an armchair, big and comfortable, but it was not like any other piece of furniture he had ever seen on a Vong ship.

 

What was more, they weren't in the Supreme Overlord's daughter's private quarters. That fact added a lot to his feeling of discomfiture.

 

The Yuuzhan Vong woman smiled at him, a gesture that didn't bring friendliness across with this species, even if they honestly tried.

 

"Of course you're unaware of it, Jeedai Skywalker. That's her trick, you know."

 

"Luke, believe me, I wouldn't have asked this of you if I wasn't absolutely sure that we're running out of time." Mara chimed in, her complexion paler as usual, but her voice determined and her emerald eyes – so much like his sabre's blade – full of love and care.

 

He shook his head: "But I don't understand. Why do you think that? I'm feeling fine. The training session did a lot of good to me."

 

His wife smiled sadly and took his natural hand into hers: "That's what I'm afraid of. Didn't you feel different, Luke? Didn't you feel curious during this session?"

 

Her husband, his expression becoming insecure, needed some time to get a word out of his mouth: "It was very long, wasn't it?"

 

Mara nodded: "Very long. It didn't feel like that to you, did it?"

 

When he shook his head, she smiled once again and softly brushed over the back of his hand.

 

Luke swallowed: "All right. Tell me what I have to do."

 

*~~

 

"This sounds definitely eerie." Han commented, leaning back into his yorik coral seat, the hand of his wife clutched into his own.

 

"It won't hurt him. At least not physically." Miiram Shimrra commented, stroking a little animal that she held in the palm of her right hand.

 

"How reassuring." Leia muttered. Her gaze was full of suspicion and nailed on the Yuuzhan Vong woman.

 

Mara shook her head at her sister and brother-in-law and both of them resigned themselves to their roles as quiet spectators. The ex-Emperor's Hand had asked them to be present without actually telling them what would be going on, had only pleaded with them to trust her.

And they did. If Mara were willing to do this, to subject Luke once again to the care of a Yuuzhan Vong, then she would have made sure that nothing could happen to her husband. So much was obvious.

 

"I will explain what I'm doing while I'm executing the procedure. I assure you he won't come to physical harm."

 

"I will come to no harm at all. Please, let's get it over with." Luke piped in, resting comfortably into the yorik coral armchair, his body and face relaxed.

 

Miiram nodded and while she pushed her yorik coral seat closer to Luke's armchair, Mara took her husband's hand into her own. He squeezed it, turning his head and smiling at her reassuringly.

 

"You should drop any barriers you possess now, Master Skywalker. Mara, keep tuned. We don't need Liin Kwaad right now."

 

The ex-Emperor's Hand nodded, her gaze not leaving the azure one of her husband

 

Miiram took a living, glassy plate from a nearby desk and positioned it next to Luke's head on the armchair, then touched the animal she was holding – a blue-black form without any shape – to it. Extending small tendrils, the little animal moulded partly into the desk. Small, winged bugs buzzed to live, but stayed where they were, at the lower edge of the plate.

 

Nodding with satisfaction, the deep voice of the alien woman sounded in the chamber: "This could tickle a bit, Jeedai Skywalker."

 

Luke still looked at his wife. Whereas he believed Miiram that it would not hurt, he had no particular need to actually watch whatever creature she had doing its job. As she had said, it tickled behind his ear. It was the last thing he felt for quite a while.

 

*~~

 

The moment the strangely coloured and shaped animal touched Luke, it extended another set of tendrils and sank them into the skin directly behind his ear. At the very same second, the change in the Jedi Master's eyes made Mara almost jump.

 

His pupils dilated and he turned his head away from her to stare at Miiram.

 

"What are you doing?" His voice sounded dreamy and a little sleepy, but still aware. In a sense. His hand in Mara's was limp and her tentative squeeze went unnoticed by him.

 

"I want to access your memories, Jeedai Skywalker."

 

"Force?" Luke asked, blinking a couple of times. Seeing the appalled and worried expressions of the humans all around her, Miiram gave a small smile.

 

"Do not worry. He is simply thinking aloud. Because of that, he is not coherent. And he's not seeing us, he is seeing his memories."

 

"Does he hurt?" Leia asked in a small voice still laced with wariness.

 

Miiram shook her head: "Certainly not."

 

She turned back to Luke and answered his question: "We want to access your subconscious memories. From when you were Liin Kwaad in the last couple of days. Because of this, we need the Hirtka."

 

Luke smiled a little and nodded. "Hirtka means special sleep." He declared. Surprise registered on the Yuuzhan Vong's face as she nodded, taken off-guard.

 

Catching herself, she managed to reply. "That's correct. It will begin soon. Do not fight it with your Force, Jeedai."

 

"I won't." He whispered before his eyes closed and his head lolled to the side.

 

For long moments, nothing happened.

 

Han cleared his throat, staring at his brother-in-law who seemed to be sleeping deeply and peacefully.

 

"Excuse me, but I don't see how we can learn anything from his memories if he's unconscious."

 

Miiram merely perched an eyebrow and turned towards the plate and the small bug creatures.

 

"He is not unconscious, Han Solo. The Hirtka induces a highly potent drug. If administered in too great a quantity, it can cause a delirium. Applied in the right way, though, it can open doors to memories and experiences that have been stored away in the subconscious, far away from those parts of our brains that can register and understand them. The Hirtka is trained to understand the specific impulses that are created while the brain tissue processes the drug and convert them into information. Into thoughts and memories we can understand. By letting the Hirtka merge with the bugs here at the same time, he knows he has to search for something THEY can process."

 

"And what do they process?" Leia asked, staring at her brother's serene face in obvious mistrust and worry.

 

The Supreme Overlord's daughter grinned: "Star coordinates and charts."

 

Mara smiled: "I told you this would help us."

 

Han shook his head: "You want to tell me those bugs can show us a star chart? I don't believe that."

 

As if on cue, Luke's form suddenly tensed, his brow furrowing, and a low moan escaped his lips.

 

"He's accessing memories of when he was Liin." Miiram commented dryly. Her voice seemed devoid of emotion, but she was the only one who managed to stay calm when Luke began to trash around and his moans became more frequent.

 

Mara had a hard time restraining him, throwing a dubious, reproachful gaze at her Yuuzhan Vong friend.

 

"You said it couldn't hurt him."

 

Miiram frowned, shaking her head: "Normally the subjects aren't hurt. I never had a subject that had two different personalities, though. I hoped it would be as with everyone else."

 

"You HOPED?" Mara hissed, her eyes darkening with rage.

 

The alien woman ignored her and focused her gaze instead on the small bugs that had suddenly begun to hover around.

 

"We're coming close."

 

"Close to what?" Leia demanded to know, having risen and gone over to her brother's side.

Meanwhile, the Jedi Master had begun to murmur softly, his hands clenched into fists, his body held on the chair by Mara's hands.

 

"Won't hurt the girl…. I WON'T hurt the girl…."

 

"What is he talking about?" Han had joined his wife and his sister-in-law, his face stern while his eyes were resting on his friend's face, ready to help the women if Luke should decide to pursue his obvious intention to rise more vehemently.

 

"I have absolutely no idea." Mara shrugged helplessly, clearly annoyed at the way this was going.

 

Before they could tell Miiram to stop, though, the bugs began to swarm around and land, one by one, on the plate.

 

Luke had gone stiff, his breathing haggard.

 

"Miiram, I'd rather stop now." Mara hissed, worry tingeing her voice. The Yuuzhan Vong held up a hand.

 

"Just a moment still." Only when the last bug had landed, Miiram curtly touched the animal and it let go of Luke.

 

Almost immediately, the Jedi relaxed, his face smoothing again. After a couple of seconds, he blinked.

 

Focusing on his wife, the faces of his friends and the alien woman, he gave a small smile. "I feel like I've run a marathon."

 

"Do you hurt?" Leia was immediately at his side, taking his free hand into hers. He squeezed it reassuringly and shook his head. Popping himself up on an elbow, he looked over to the plate and Miiram.

 

"Did you find something?"

 

His friends followed his gaze and all people present in the room held their breath when the Supreme Overlord's daughter tipped one of the bugs on its back.

With a hum, soft as corresponded with their small size, their abdomens began to glow in a white light, very similar to distant stars in the night sky.

 

For a while, no sound disturbed the complete silence that had fallen over the little group.

 

"I don't believe it." Han finally said.

 

"At least we now know where she is." Leia whispered, staring with a mixture of shock and fascination at the plate and the animals on it before she averted her eyes and glanced at her brother.

 

Luke had gone deathly pale, his eyes nailed on the bugs. Mara had sat down next to him, laying a reassuring hand onto his shoulder.

 

"The Coruscant system," The Jedi Master whispered.

 

| To Be Continued |

 

 

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