The Birth Of Acceptance – Chapter 19

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

 

 

Yuuzhan Vong Worldship Hiis El

 

Mara acted on pure reflex. There was no other way to react at this moment. Reason, conscious thought – this didn't work if you looked into the face of your husband, the man you loved, grimacing in cruel delight. If you saw how his hand gripped a vibro blade that would spear right through his heart, killing him instantly if you didn't DO something.

 

So, Mara acted instinctively, stretching out with the Force, pushing through all automatic barriers her husband had ever erected in his life.

 

Liin Kwaad was theoretically able to use the might the Jedi could connect to, but he was untrained and unaccustomed to it. He would need exercise and time to fine-tune his Yuuzhan Vong senses to something as foreign to them as the Force.

 

Never had she done something like this. When she had put him to sleep, in the evening, to shield him from the Slayer, she had never touched Luke's barriers. She had merely comforted him, enveloped his spirit, lulled it to deep sleep and watched over it.

 

Now… it was something completely different. She mowed down his mental walls roughly and unceremoniously. There was no time to pay attention to the sickening feeling this action created in her. Did she hurt him? Would this have any permanent effect on him?

 

Mara couldn't answer these questions. No one had ever done something similar to her, no one had even described it to her. She prayed that she didn't injure his soul in any way. She prayed that it would work at all.

 

'Hold it!'

 

The hand holding the vibro-blade stopped suddenly, hovering in the air, the humming weapon far enough away from its target to be considered harmless for the moment.

 

"By the Force!" The soft voice belonged to Leia. Pale, she stared at her brother whose face now bore an expression of helpless fury. Blue eyes burning with rage stared at Mara and a sneer disgraced the youthful features.

 

"Release me. Now."

 

The ex-Emperor's Hand clenched her hands to fists. Not even the voice resembled her husband anymore. Deep and growling, it reminded her quite a lot of Tsavong Lah's baritone.

 

"I don't think so."

 

"RELEASE ME!" the shout echoed through the room. The Jedi Master's whole body began to shake as the Slayer tried to do what he had been told to do.

 

Mara grinned at him, humourlessly, barely aware of the fact that Han had pushed himself to his feet and was coming over to her and Leia, rubbing his neck and limping slightly.

 

"What kind of feeling is it, to be trapped in a body that doesn't obey you?" she asked, tightening her mental hold on him.

 

Feeling his efforts counteracted even stronger, the Slayer's eyes narrowed to slits: "You will die for this, infidel."

 

"No." Mara shook her head. "No, Liin Kwaad, YOU will die for what you did to my husband."

 

For a moment that stretched into minutes, blue eyes met green ones. The female Jedi Master's heart contracted painfully – there was no emotion but hatred and seething rage in those crystal blue orbs. No trace of her husband. Did he still live? What had happened to him? HOW exactly was she going to push the Slayer out of his mind? Was there a possibility at all to make him retreat?

 

Mara's mind reeled with those questions. For the moment, Luke was safe, provided he lived. But she couldn't stand here forever. Something had to happen and that better sooner than later.

Having Han try to wedge the knife out of Luke's hand was out of question. She couldn't allow Liin to move a single muscle or she would risk losing control over his whole body. And then she'd lose the man she loved for good.

 

To reach Luke with words wouldn't work either. Whatever command Liin had received, it had overridden everything else. It was his top priority now and focused like this, he was impossible to overcome.

 

His power frightened her. She felt his presence – a spooky mix of alien and known, bristling with energy and might. She had him pinned down like a coiled spring. Given the possibility, he would kill them all in a matter of seconds.

 

All in all, she had one option left. Steeling herself to once again look into the eyes of the one being she hated more than anything else in this universe, she turned and stared at Mezhan Kwaad.

 

"Tell him to let go of the blade."

 

The Master Shaper grinned, leaning back against the wall and folding her hands in her lap.

 

"Perhaps if you beg convincingly, Jeedai."

 

Now it was Mara's turn to narrow her eyes. Careful not to waver in her Force hold on Luke's body, she stepped closer to the Yuuzhan Vong woman, bringing the tip of her still lit lightsaber directly at her throat.

 

"Does it burn already, Kwaad?"

 

Mezhan perched an eyebrow, her grin becoming a touch more smug. "How long do you think I'll go along with your play, human?"

 

"I wasn't aware we're playing. If that's play for you, you are going to lose. Slowly. And very painfully."

 

"If you dare hurt her, infidel, I'm going to…"

 

"You're going to shut up, that's what you're going to do." Leia interrupted Nen Yim's fiery cry, pushing her into the opposite corner and pinning her to the wall. Glancing at Mara with blazing, brown eyes, she emphasized: "Go ahead. "

 

The redhead nodded in appreciation and refocused on the Master Shaper: "Perhaps you don't understand my language well enough. I said tell him to drop the weapon."

 

Mezhan Kwaad laughed. Heartily. It was a sound that seemed so grotesque under these circumstances that Mara had trouble keeping in mind that this was real.

 

"I will do no such thing, Mara Jade Skywalker. Don't you understand what's happening? It is interesting how much you underestimate my creation after living with him for so long."

 

"I do not underestimate him. Not anymore."

 

"So sure you are?" the voice of the Yuuzhan Vong Shaper had gone low and taken on a tone that conveyed deep satisfaction.

 

"Mara, watch out!" Once again, it was Leia who warned her, but this time, it was a fraction of a second too late. With a suddenness and power she hadn't expected, a blinding wave of Force energy crashed together over her as pain erupted in her back.

 

*~~

 

Leia had listened to the exchange between her sister-in-law and the Master Shaper quietly, grateful that her hands were occupied by holding the wrists of the young Yuuzhan Vong woman that obviously was Kwaad's apprentice.

 

If she hadn't had to pay attention to the girl, she wouldn't know what she'd have done. To see her brother like this was terrifying. Never before had she seen him when he was Liin Kwaad. Mara had told her about it. Corran had, too. But somehow, as she now recognised, she had never believed them that the face of Luke, her dear, beloved brother, could ever look like the monster she had imagined behind the mask of Darth Vader for a large part of her youth.

 

Evil. Downright evil. For a moment, her eyes had met with his, with the ones of Liin Kwaad, and in this very instant, she had thought to see glee shining through the rage and fury she saw there.

 

'Isn't it an art to hurt without even moving?' Luke's voice had reverberated through her head, shocking her to the very core of her being.

 

Never had she drawn the conclusion that, with Liin being Force sensitive, he could reach out and touch her being, talk to her like only Luke could.

 

Frozen, nailed by ice blue windows to darkness, she had shaken her head, retreating a little bit and dragging her captive with her.

 

This being enjoyed torturing others. Liin Kwaad knew exactly how much it hurt her to see her brother like this – he knew it because he FELT it clearly through their Force bond.

 

Laughter had echoed in her head when she had recoiled into herself, reinforcing her shields. But whom had she tried to fool? Luke had taught her how to put up those shields. He knew her. And his knowledge lay bare and unprotected there for the Slayer to use. And he did.

 

'Incapacitate the Jeedai woman and I will not kill Skywalker.'

 

Bile had risen in Leia's throat as the proposition had fleeted through her brain, whispered in a dark growl that she wouldn't have recognised as Luke's voice if she hadn't seen him right there, only two or three meters away from her.

 

For the smallest fraction of a second, she had considered agreeing. It would have been for Luke. It would have been to save his life.

 

But her reason hadn't given this thought much room. Liin was lying. The moment she'd distract Mara from what she was doing, he would retake control over her brother's body and kill him. As Mara, as Han, Leia didn't know what kind of command the Master Shaper had given to Liin, but she assumed it was kind of a suicide order.

 

Able to override his survival instinct. Focusing back on the known and yet so strange eyes, she had understood that any way of saving himself and getting out of the situation he was in was not on his mind. His priority was to kill himself. And he would use all his resources and might to do just that.

 

So she had blocked him, almost completely missing the words that were spoken between her sister-in-law and Mezhan Kwaad.

 

Her attention still on her brother, she was the first, though, to note the change. He stopped trembling. While Mara was still talking to the one who was the brain behind the whole, devious scheme, Liin's eyes graced Leia with a fleeting look of amusement, then wandered over to the redhead.

 

Leia barely had time to shout a warning before she felt a vast amount of ferocious Force energy slash through the bond between Mara and Luke, annulling her control over his body and sending her staggering a couple of steps away from Mezhan Kwaad. And before Mara could gather her senses, Liin had already moved, slamming into her back.

 

Nen Yim, still firmly in her grasp, cheered.

 

*~~

 

It was all impossible. It just couldn't happen. Han wished fervently that all of this wasn't true. And yet, it was. And that hurt. Hurt a lot.

 

When Luke had opened his eyes for the first time, lying bleeding and prone on the yorik coral floor, Han had thought everyone had to see on his face how relieved he was. He had seen Luke in the blue orbs, not Liin.

 

And then, everything had changed. Without preamble, without a warning. One moment, Han had worked on cutting the restraining goo from Luke's foot. The next he knew, he had found himself on the floor, a couple of meters away from his friend, dizzy and hurting.

 

Liin must have used the Force to push him out of the way, just as he had done in the corridor earlier this day.

 

The Corellian had been helpless, trying to get air into his lungs. Unable to do anything, he had had to watch how his very own vibro-blade – a weapon he had owned for practically all his

life – was thrust towards Luke's chest by the Jedi Master's own hands.

 

Han had closed his eyes, not wanting to see his friend die like this, when he had heard a deep sigh from Leia. Only then had he dared glimpse and had been relieved to see the blade frozen in the air. Not buried in his best friend's heart.

 

His gaze riveted on the face he knew so well and yet couldn't recognise at the very moment, he had completely missed the exchange between Mara and Mezhan Kwaad.

And then it had happened. In a matter of seconds, something had changed in Liin. Suddenly, muscles before tensed and quivering with the effort to move had relaxed ever so shortly, only to tense again right away – only differently.

 

Being unable to touch the Force, it had taken Han too long to realise what was happening as that he could have warned Mara. Fortunately, Leia was thinking quicker than he was.

 

In a blur of motion, Liin jumped, for a moment vanishing from Han's field of view as if having disintegrated. Looking around frantically, the Corellian found him again, crouching over Mara, pressing her to the floor with the weight of his body, his hands clenched around hers. She still held his old lightsaber and with a growl of pure delight, the Slayer pressed the hilt at his chest, his finger hovering over the activator button.

 

Without thinking, Han threw himself onto his friend.

 

*~~

 

'No nightmare could be worse' That was what Mara thought the moment her senses returned to her and the dazzling haze that had blocked her eyes dispersed.

 

"Luke…" she croaked, barely getting a sound out of her throat. Shock froze her. How could she move when fear nailed her to the floor? All her training, all her experience, all her skill were forgotten.

 

All she could think of was that her husband would die. Killed by a weapon SHE held in her hands. It repeated itself in her head, over and over again, deafening her, making her shake with anguish.

 

'You'll be the one to kill him. YOU. You will kill your husband.'

 

For a long moment, she was sure it was the voice of her own conscience. Only slowly Mara became aware that these words were spoken, thought, by another presence, a dark, alien presence. The very one that had engulfed Luke and was blocking him from her now.

 

'Luke, please, listen to me!' She shouted desperately into the Force, trying to rouse his presence in SOME way. He couldn't be gone yet. He was just sleeping or unconscious. He COULDN'T be gone.

 

'He won't hear you, human."

 

Pressing her eyes closed, Mara stopped straining against the iron grip her husband's hands had on hers and concentrated. There was no chance she could bodily stop him from killing himself. She had to trust in Han, whom she had sensed snapping into action just seconds before, to somehow stop Liin from moving.

 

*~~

 

It was easy for about the first couple of moments. Han had caught Liin off guard and was able to drag him away from Mara. Sneaking his arms under the armpits of his friend and brutally forcing the smaller man back with him, the Corellian leant against the closest wall for support as the Slayer began to struggle.

 

The lightsaber fell to the floor, rolling away in the door‘s direction while Mara picked herself up and kneeled down in front of Luke.

 

"Just hold him, Han." She said, her voice unexpectedly calm.

 

The former space pirate snorted softly, panting from the effort to hold Luke in check. He felt muscles straining against him in helpless, complete fury and honestly didn't know how long he could indeed force his friend to sit at least relatively still. Not to speak of what would happen when Liin regained enough focus to use the Force again.

 

"Sure. Whatever you say, Mara."

 

*~~

 

Mara gave Han a small smile, then shortly glanced over her shoulder. She almost gaped with surprise when she saw Nen Yim lying unconsciously on the floor and Leia training her blaster securely onto Mezhan Kwaad's face.

 

"What?" The Alderaanian asked, feigning innocence.

 

The ex-Emperor's Hand grinned: "Nothing."

 

Turning her head again, Mara's grin vanished as quickly as it had come.  Her dream from a couple of days before came back to her as she stared at the face that was her husband's – and wasn't.

 

Blood was still trickling down his cheeks, though the flow was not as strong as it had been only minutes before, when they had first discovered him. As in her dream, two cold eyes glared at her, his jaw set in stubbornness and defiance.

 

She extended a hand, softly touching his left cheek. He growled, trying to evade her fingers.

 

"You haven't killed Luke yet, Liin. And you know that you're not strong enough to keep him at bay. Not without her." She didn't even bother to gesture over to the Master Shaper, confident that the Slayer knew about whom she was talking.

 

"I AM stronger than the Jeedai. I'm here and he's not."

 

"But for how long? The Shaper wants you to kill yourself. Are you going to do that? Do you WANT to do that?"

 

Liin paused for a moment, his eyes searching the Master Shaper who stared at him with darkened eyes, green as a stormy sea. It was another shade than Mara's, more sombre, giving her a deeply sinister appearance.

 

Pressing his lips together in determination, the Slayer met Mara's gaze again. "I want what my Master tells me."

 

"You haven't even killed something since you're here."

 

"I want what my Master tells me."

 

Mara sighed inwardly. It didn't work. She had thought she could get him to defy Kwaad's orders, could turn him against her by showing him that she didn't care about him if he didn't serve her purposes.

 

But he was not able to see that. Liin Kwaad was not capable of fighting for his own survival, not capable of loving himself in a way that would make him strive to avoid harm.

 

"I will not allow this, Liin."

 

He didn't reply. Not that Mara had actually expected him to say something. Anyone else might perhaps have backed down now. But that was another thing he just couldn't even consider. It had not been programmed into him.

 

In other words: should she try to reach Luke now, to find him in there, he would fight against her. But she was prepared.

 

As her enemy, she was determined not to give in. She wouldn't accept that her husband was taken from her. Not to serve as soldier for a crazy Master Shaper and certainly not to simply get killed because said Master Shaper thought it to be an ironic streak before getting sentenced to death.

 

Drawing a deep breath, Mara focused wholly onto the Force and reached out to establish a contact with the mind of the being in front of her.

 

She was instantly catapulted back to the dream landscape she already knew. Back then, the nightmare had seemed like a warning. She had been sure it was a warning. Now, faced with the present, Mara mused that perhaps she had just wanted it to be a warning. Perhaps she had subconsciously simply denied the possibility that it was a premonition.

 

Now, at least, it had become true, had become deadly, terrifying reality.

 

There was the dais and Luke lying on it, pale and shimmering only weakly, his eyes closed, his features relaxed as they were when he was sleeping deeply.

 

The lean figure of Liin Kwaad was propped up on the edge of the stone table, watching her closely while she approached, an amused smile playing around his lips.

 

Everything seemed to be so real that, for a moment, Mara wondered what had become of Leia and Han. And the Master Shaper. But of course it wasn't real. She was inside his soul, inside Luke's soul and there were the two presences that battled for control over his body.

 

'Luke? Luke, wake up!' She cried, her disembodied voice echoing in the vast chamber. She slowly made her way towards the dais, gazing back and forth between her husband and the creature that was currently in possession of his body.

 

The form on the stone table stirred, faintly, but it was a movement at least. Could he hear her now that she concentrated all her powers on this one link to him? She hoped it with all her heart. Nonetheless, something puzzled Mara.

 

In her dream, Liin Kwaad had fought against her. He had tried to keep her from reaching her husband. Now he was behaving differently. When she came near him, he even rose and cautiously retreated into the direction of the dark yorik coral forest.

 

Retreated…..

 

In sudden realisation, Mara stared open mouthed at the Yuuzhan Vong Warrior. She had understood that her dream had been symbolic of the situation her husband was in, but how symbolic exactly she had realised only now.

 

The dark yorik coral forest… it was the small part of Luke's soul in which Liin had been implanted. There it was that he had been nurtured, that he had grown and from where he had finally broken out.

 

But if it meant this was the exact situation her husband was in, then…

 

"You can't do anything, can you? As soon as he wakes up, you're done for." It was a realisation that made her heart jump in joy. She hadn't just underestimated the Slayer. In her anxiousness, her panic, she had underestimated her own husband, too.

 

All he needed was someone to wake him up. Vividly, she could picture how Liin Kwaad had surprised him, jumping out of this stunted forest with unexpected, newfound energy. This one command of the Yuuzhan Vong woman that had made him was destined to provoke just that.

 

The last possibility if everything else didn't work out. When the Jedi had proven to be stronger in the long run, Mezhan had activated a command that would mobilize all the might of her pet in a single, powerful outburst destined to take Luke by surprise. And it had succeeded.

 

Liin continued glaring at her, now standing behind the dais, alert but obviously unable to get into action. Mara had no doubt, though, that he had understood every word.

 

Smiling sweetly at him, she softly laid a hand on the still shoulder of her husband. She knew it was all an illusion. Her hand was nothing more than a disguise for her spirit that finally had found the one of Luke again.

 

Relishing in his well-known presence, she basked in the feeling of calm and tried to push the dark blackness away that had enveloped him.

 

'Luke?'

 

'Mara?'

 

'Yes. You have to wake up from your nap now, my love.'

 

'She's waiting. If I sleep, she cannot hurt me.'

 

Mara shook her head at the reasoning. The Master Shaper truly was a genius. She had anticipated everything – every reaction of Luke. Had she seen all this while she had shaped him? Had she been able to strip him of all his defences, to see deep into him and come to know him in a way that had allowed her to foresee every single reaction to the things she would confront him with?

 

The only answer for Mara was obvious when she felt the fear that emanated from Luke's spirit. She had been right. He was not too weak to withstand Liin. But he was scared out of his mind about what would expect him if he came out.

 

The violent seizing of his spirit must have had side effects. Practical side effects for Mezhan Kwaad and her creation, no doubt. He had simply forgotten that he had been freed by the time Liin had attacked him again.

 

'She cannot hurt you when you're awake either. Remember, you were free.'

 

Mara felt his irritation and disbelief, as well as his slowly wakening senses. He was hesitant to believe her, and yet he knew she wouldn't lie to him about that. His wife would not beckon him to face reality if there was hurt waiting for him.

 

'The laboratory… my face… the knife..  It didn't happen?'

 

'It happened.'

 

Fear erupted anew from him and she felt him recoil, but was quick to counteract.

 

'But it is over. I'm here now. Leia is here. And Han. There is no reason left why you couldn't come out, farmboy.'

 

'I could come out.' He stated, his voice only a trifle bit insecure.

 

'You CAN come out. Remember, my love? You're stronger than him.'

 

There was pause, a long pause, during which she could see the body on the stone dais beginning to glow brighter again. Liin retreated a couple of steps, his face a mask of hate and anger. He had lost. And he knew it.

 

'Help me?'

 

'No, Luke. You don't need my help. You can defy him on your own. You can defy Mezhan on your own.'

 

And with that, she let herself fall back into reality, maintaining the link to her husband's mind.  He should know that despite everything she had said, he was not alone. Would never be alone.

 

Although she wasn't directly in Luke's mind anymore, she could feel how he grasped the Force, more and more of it and how he let it flow through his body. She could FEEL how he purged the darkness that was Liin Kwaad out of himself, once and for all.

 

A quick surge of delight let her smile. Finally, after long weeks, he didn't have to wonder anymore where the Slayer hid from him. He had found his refuge and made sure that it would never be used again.

 

When she consciously took in her surroundings again, she sank back onto the floor, panting. She had never tried such a direct mind link before and hadn't had any idea that it would be so exhausting.

 

But it had paid. Paid more than enough. Han helped Luke to his feet, relief reining his features. Leia was smiling broadly, tears glistening in her eyes.

 

She had been afraid to lose her brother this time, in a way more terrible than she had ever imagined. The Princess had often pictured him being shot, being killed by a lightsaber, being beaten to death, exploding along with his X-Wing… all this had been possibilities all too probable in years of war. But never had she thought of one day having to witness her brother killing himself. She was eternally grateful that it hadn't happened like this.

 

"Luke…" Mara just said, her voice sounding strange to her ears, rough and laden with emotion.

 

He smiled tiredly at her, "You have been right."

 

His wife replied his smile, seeing no use in talking now. She felt, if she was honest, far too tired herself to be talking much.

 

Han, on the other hand, didn't seem to be inclined to push explanations to later occasions.

 

"You mean… you mean he is gone now? For good?"

 

Luke nodded, taking an insecure step away from his brother-in-law, testing whether he was able to stay on his own feet.

 

Liin had ignored the blood loss and the after effects of the blackout because of lack of oxygen. Luke, though, wasn't able to compensate such things quite as easily. Not if someone else had possessed his body and driven it to its limits without paying any attention to logic.

 

"Only in your dreams." The voice of the Master Shaper was quivering as she rose from the crouching position she had assumed previously. Anger disgraced her features and her eyes blazed with a cold, insane fire.

 

For the first time ever, Luke met her gaze without backing away, without cowering in panic in a corner to hide from her.

 

"I'm not afraid of you. Not anymore."

 

"You can not get rid of him this easily, Skywalker. He is in you. He is a part of you."

 

Luke looked at her for a moment, trying to make sense of his feelings. Memories of some minutes here in the laboratory were hazy for him.

 

Liin's attack had taken him totally off-guard and from one moment to the other, he had been flung back into the darkness, into comforting, complete silence. It was security. That was what he had thought. Safety. From her. But now…

 

Something had changed. There was still fear when he looked at her. But it was different from before. It was the fear he would have before flying into battle. The fear when he faced a Yuuzhan Vong Warrior that he knew to be fierce and dangerous.

 

It was not the fear of a helpless child that didn't know what to do in face of the personification of horror.

 

"No." Luke stepped forward, placing himself directly in front of her. Never before had he stood face to face with her. It felt oddly liberating. "No, Mezhan. I'm not him. And he is no part of me anymore."

 

Her eyes narrowed until only green slits visible. It felt good to Luke to be able to infuriate this being that had challenged him in a way not even Palpatine had done.

 

"You're a disappointment, Jeedai. A failure."

 

"Only to your eyes." Luke replied in a firm voice.

 

She cackled. "Perhaps. But then, is there anything else that counts?"

 

The Jedi refrained from answering this, gesturing towards the door: "Your plan has failed. I'm sure you would prefer to step unbound before the Supreme Overlord."

 

Luke felt the disdainful gaze of his wife on him while she picked up her weapon. He could easily feel that she'd have preferred to kill Kwaad here and now.

 

Of course he wouldn't let her. The intensity of her emotions flattered him and made him feel protected, but he also knew that it would anger the Master Shaper far more to be treated as if she had no influence on either him or those who loved him anymore.

 

*~~

 

Mezhan Kwaad nodded curtly at the Jeedai's proposition, not even sparing a glance at her apprentice. A failure, too. Skywalker turned his back on her, directing his gaze and stride towards the door to the anteroom.

 

It would be his last mistake. She would make sure of that.

 

*~~

 

Mara had just about picked up her lightsaber, shaking her head softly at her husband. After all these years of training, she still hadn't managed to reach the state of serenity he could achieve. Even after this straining an ordeal.

 

The wounds in his face still bled, even if not worryingly so anymore, and the paleness of his skin was only one testimony to the shock he had suffered upon awakening once again into a nightmare.

 

She wasn't able to bring herself to the point where she could feel comfortable about showing mercy to Kwaad. The Master Shaper would never show mercy to anyone. She had been willing to accept the death of Liin Kwaad the moment she had been caught.

 

What kind of loyalty was that? Mara doubted that the Yuuzhan Vong woman even knew the exact meaning of the word. She probably interpreted it the way it fit her best.

 

But alas, it was useless to think about revenge now. She had Luke back, free of Liin Kwaad, and the devil's creator was caught. Of course there were still problems. None of them knew at this point what had become of the battle outside, in space. As things lay, they would learn soon enough.

 

And of course they would have to check on Miiram and Khalee on their way out. Not that Mara doubted the two Yuuzhan Vongs' fighting capabilities. They probably hadn't had that many problems and all the chaos in here had merely lasted about ten minutes.

 

Straightening, she turned towards her husband. She would later thank the Force for her timing. Had she waited only a second longer, everything would have been too late.

 

Mezhan Kwaad was a Vong and therefore a blank spot in the Force. Her intent was hidden and nothing could have warned any of them about what had happened then.

 

There was only a small glint, the light of the glow lichen reflected on the sharpened, polished blade of a coral knife, that alerted Mara.

 

"Luke!"

 

Excellent reflexes and the fact that they had relied on each other for years saved her husband. He immediately jumped forward, dodging whatever weapon his wife had caught view of.

 

In seconds, Mara had grabbed her lightsaber, activated it and swung it in a high arc. Before Leia and Han had even grabbed their weapons, Mezhan Kwaad's dead body clattered to the floor, unceremoniously, without even spilling a drop of blood for her wound had been immediately cauterised by the lightsaber.

 

*~~

 

About two seconds passed between his wife's warning shout and the fall to his knees and Luke knew they had saved his life.

 

The stinging sensation on his back told him that the tip of whatever weapon Kwaad had tried to use on him had touched him, but the injury was minor.

 

When he turned his head to see what had hit him, he was stunned into momentary silence.

 

She was dead! For a moment, he wondered whether he could allow himself to believe what he saw. When Mara thumped off his old saber and met his gaze, he knew he could.

 

He would have to talk to her about the utter satisfaction he saw in her eyes now, but for the moment, he was willing to neglect it.

 

Some weeks ago, on Chandrila, he had told Mara that he was finally feeling free. But the truth was - only at this very moment was he really free.

 

| To Be Continued |

 

 

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