by Angela Jade
Rated - NC17
e-mail - [email protected] - constructive criticism and happy thoughts greatly appreciated ... please don’t flame me.
Feel free to post this wherever, as long as it’s got this spiel at the top and it’s accompanied by part 1.
Disclaimer - all these characters belong to Mr. Lucas (all hail) and Mr. Zahn (yay!). I write about them as a form of flattery - please don’t sue. I am not making any money from this.
Written September 2000
*sigh* The original was a one-off: really, it was. The plot bunny bit
me, I wrote it down, it left me alone. That’s how it works. Then people
started asking for a sequel. *sighs again* Normally I’d say ‘nah!’ and
leave it at that, but other people’s interest in a sequel made the bunnies
return, so now I’ve gone and written this. Not inspired by any song, only
by some nice people who reviewed or emailed me. This is for you...
“Are you sure this is a good idea, Han?” asked Leia, her forehead resting on the cool glass of the observation window. Her brother lay in a bed against the opposite wall, apparently asleep; Leia wondered if he was in a Jedi healing trance.
“Is what a good idea? Visiting Luke?”
“No. Keeping him in this building.” She turned to face her husband, a worried expression on her face. “In the same building as Mara Jade.”
Han put an arm around his wife and hugged her close. “He’ll be fine. Mara’s on the other side of the complex, and the medics say she’ll soon be free of the Juxemia. They’re letting her go in a few days.”
“They are? Good.”
Han smiled at his wife’s reply, not sure whether she was more pleased that Mara was well on the way to recovery, or that she would soon be far away from Luke. “Besides, the experts are here. You want him to have the best care, don’t you?”
“Yes, of course I do,” replied Leia. She sighed. “I’m just worried that she’ll attack him.”
Han Solo squeezed his wife’s shoulder again. “She didn’t attack him last time, did she.”
“No, but she could have. She got past the guard and into his apartment.”
“But she didn’t attack him, just climbed into his spare bed and fell asleep. She was probably so disorientated, she didn’t even know where she was.” He smirked, knowingly. “Besides, she’d have to get past her own guards, as well as Luke’s. And they’re all NR Security, no droids.”
Leia sighed, blowing out her frustration. “I know. Logic tells me he’ll be okay. But I still have a bad feeling about this.”
Han rolled his eyes ceilingwards. “Why did you have to say that? Bad
feelings are the curse of this family.” He started to steer her away from
the window, towards the exit. “What I want to know, is how he caught it
in the first place...”
Luke waited until he felt his sister’s presence retreat down the corridor, then he cautiously opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. He was alone. Alone, that is, apart from the virus invading his body, invading his mind. He had fought it at first, using his power in the Force to resist its effect on him. Then someone had had the bright idea of bringing in some ysalamiri, to counteract any homicidal feelings he might have. His resistance had plummeted, his body and mind quickly succumbing to the raging virus. Within an hour, he had gone completely berserk, smashing up the room they had been keeping him in and threatening the staff. They had immediately moved him to an ysalamiri-free room, but he could sense the blank spaces in the corridor beyond, where the creatures were hanging from nutrient poles fixed to the ceiling.
Sitting up slowly, he looked towards the door and the guard that stood just beyond it; a malicious smile crossed his face. They wouldn’t prevent him reaching his goal. They could try, but they would never triumph over a Jedi Master.
Slipping out of the high bed, he stopped as he caught sight of his reflection in a mirror. Was that really him? Wearing only a long pair of sleep pants, his torso and face gleamed with sweat, his hair plastered to his head. Icy blue eyes no longer looked gentle; dark and hooded, they stared back at him, willing him on in the task he had set himself.
Glancing around, he spotted a sleeveless shirt lying on a chair; he quickly pulled it on, ignoring the discomfort as the material clung to his damp skin. Then he moved silently round the perimeter of the room, stopping just as he reached the door. Time to make his move. One side of his mouth quirked up; he was going to enjoy this.
Reaching out with the Force, he gradually touched the guard’s mind, carefully implanting a suggestion. After a long moment he frowned, wondering if his powers were so weak that he could not even accomplish this simple exercise. Then he smiled as he sensed the guard’s acquiescence and the door swished open to reveal his warder, a human male not much older than himself, his eyes glazed over. Luke bit his lip to stop himself from laughing out loud. So easy.
At Luke’s mental suggestion, the guard turned smartly on his heel and headed down the short corridor to the right of the door; Luke slipped through the open door and followed him, flicking a hand towards the solitary camera and turning it off. The guard stopped suddenly, his nose centimeters from a wall. Another Force-hint made him step smartly sideways, allowing Luke access to the locked safe that was embedded in the wall. The safe door was perfectly smooth, marred only by a tiny handle at its right-hand side. Luke grasped the handle in his prosthetic hand, closed his eyes, and called on the Force. The sound of rending metal filled the corridor as he slowly pulled the door off its steel hinges. Reaching into the dark gap his demolition had created, he pulled out two cylindrical objects. Lightsabers. He quickly slipped his own into one of the deep pockets of his sleep pants, then peered closely at the other. It had belonged to his father. Anakin Skywalker. Darth Vader. He smiled as he dropped the saber into his remaining pocket.
Reaching out with his left hand, he gently touched the guard’s temple,
barely noticing when the unfortunate man slid to the floor, unconscious.
As an afterthought he pulled the guard’s blaster from its holster, before
returning to the door of his room and setting off determinedly down the
main corridor.
In an almost identical room on the far side of the medical complex, Mara Jade tossed and turned in her sleep, her breathing rapid, her eyes shifting beneath closed lids. She gasped as she awoke from her dream, quickly sitting up and clutching a hand to her chest as she tried to slow her racing pulse. Her mouth hung open as she fought for oxygen and her eyes swept the room nervously. Finally she collapsed back onto her pillow; that had been the most vivid dream she’d had since Wayland. And, like her dreams back then, this one also featured Luke Skywalker. Only this time she wasn’t trying to kill him. Mara frowned; the dream had seemed so real, so familiar, yet she struggled to remember any details. A night-time flight through the streets of Coruscant. A turbolift. A balcony. Skywalker’s apartment. A triumphant grin crossed her face as she finally figured out the setting of the dream; the grin slipped from her face as she recalled the rest of the dream in a series of fleeting images. His bedroom. The blaster in her hand. The feel of his lips on hers. The part where she... “Sith!”
Mara sat up once more and swung her legs out of the high bed. The floor
felt cold on her bare feet as she made her way over to the tiny sink in
the corner of the room. She washed her face in cold water, then looked
up at her own reflection in the mirror. Erotic dreams about Skywalker?
This was a new symptom; she wondered what other illusions the Juxemia would
produce. Palpatine resurrected? Or maybe peace with the Imperial Remnant?
Either were about as likely as her sharing a bed with the Exalted Grand
Master Jedi himself. Briefly, she considered requesting a psychoanalytic
droid; the dream had seemed very real, and she didn’t want a return to
the hallucinatory state she’d been in previously. But she rejected the
idea just as quickly. Droid or no, she would tell no-one of this particular
dream, especially when she was so close to being discharged from medical
care. They would surely declare her incompetent and lock her up for as
long as they thought they could get away with. Grimacing at herself one
last time, she turned away and stripped off her sweat-soaked nightshirt,
replacing it with a clean one from a nearby closet. Then she climbed back
into her bed and pulled the thin cover over herself; her body told her
she needed to rest, even if her mind disagreed.
The first ysalamiri Force-bubble hit him like a bucket of iced water. Teeth clenched, he lifted the appropriated blaster, took careful aim and pulled the trigger. A silent blue bolt quickly enveloped the creature, knocking it unconscious and unable to project. With a calm purpose that belied his inner torment, he strode down the corridor, stunning every ysalamiri he came across.
The late hour ensured that the building was quiet, most of the staff having gone home. But as he approached the central reception area of the med centre, Luke could sense several beings congregated there. Sliding his back along the wall, he crept towards the brightly lit space, senses alert for any hint that his approach might have been detected.
Peeping round the corner, he could see a young, blonde, human female sat behind a tall desk, her chin resting on her entwined fingers as she gazed at the handsome black humanoid in front of her. He flashed her an encouraging smile as he brushed an imaginary piece of fluff from his security uniform. A second security guard lounged against the opposite wall, right next to the corridor opening Luke was hoping to take. As he pressed his body back against the wall once more, Luke’s hand drifted into his pocket and settled on his lightsaber. Only three of them. So easy, it was barely worth the effort. He pulled the Jedi weapon out of his pocket, his fingers closing about the familiar handgrip. But even as his thumb hovered over the activation switch, the persistent fog clouding his mind seemed to clear for a moment and something struck him as not quite right. Wiping the sweat out of his eyes, he peered closer at the saber. Something was nagging at the back of his mind, something elusive. Finally, he came to a decision; he couldn’t use his lightsaber. Dropping it back in his pocket, he held the blaster against his chest, took a deep breath, then jumped out into the reception area, sending a stun-blast square into the center of each of his victims. He was so fast, they didn’t even have time to react to his presence. Vaulting over the desk, he shoved the unconscious woman to one side and checked the console. So far, it appeared that no-one had been alerted to his escape, but that was unlikely to last. Luke jumped back over the desk and set off determinedly towards the corridor that would lead him to his goal. To Mara Jade.
The corridor was dark, eerily so. No ysalamiri this time, and only one camera to turn off. Luke crept on in the silence, his bare feet making no sound, his focus solely on the occupant of the room at the far end. He struggled not to hyperventilate as he neared his destination.
The two guards standing to attention by her door, their minds wandering
as the night grew longer, were easy targets. Standing over their unconscious
forms, Luke Skywalker tightened his grip on his blaster and slowly raised
his head, his eyes dangerously dark. Nothing could stop him now.
Mara had finally managed to drift off to sleep again, although dreams continued to plague her rest. Dreams of the past, and of the present. But mostly, dreams of Luke Skywalker. She remembered threatening to kill him. She remembered him saving her life. And in complete, exquisite detail, she remembered making love to him as if her life depended on it.
She awoke with a start, the cold barrel of a blaster pressed to her right temple. Years of experience meant that she didn’t open her eyes or even flinch.
“Don’t move, Jade.”
The voice was a barely recognisable growl, but she knew who it was nonetheless. “Luke?”
The blaster jabbed into the side of her head. “I said, don’t move. That includes talking.”
Mara felt the bed shift slightly, then his weight settled over her hips. The blaster moved and she opened her eyes to find herself staring straight down the barrel. Swallowing hard, she tore her gaze away from it to focus on the owner of the finger that was pressed against the trigger.
His face was almost unrecognisable, twisted into a grimace of hate, his dark eyes burrowing into hers. “Well, here’s a switch. Me wanting to kill you.”
The venom in his tone of voice made her cringe inside, but she remained silent. She could feel the heat of his body, could see his chest heaving as he struggled for oxygen. She had heard he was ill, but only now did it dawn on her that he’d caught Juxemia. From her?
The blaster moved again, this time pressing firmly against her left temple as Luke leaned forward. “I had to listen to you, over and over again, threatening to kill me. You boasted about it to other people ... you even told my sister that you would take my life in the name of your beloved Emperor.” He leaned close, until she could feel his hot breath on her face. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just shoot you now and do the galaxy a favor.”
Mara Jade prided herself on her ability to think under extreme duress, but her innate talent had deserted her. And it wasn’t the blaster pressed to her head that muddled her thoughts; she’d been in that situation many times before, and had always been able to talk or fight her way out of it. No, the reason she could no longer think straight was that the object of her (albeit unconscious) desires was straddling her body, his eyes so close to hers that she felt as if she could see into his very soul.
No; logical thought was definitely not an option. She could only react. Lifting her head, she closed the gap between them and pressed her lips to his.
Her kiss hit him like a laser bolt. It was as if a switch had been thrown in his brain; the hatred he felt for the woman in front of him was instantly converted into passion, a wild, unbridled passion he was incapable of controlling. The blaster dropped noisily to the floor as he took her in his arms and kissed her fiercely, his body craving her touch, his mind reaching out for hers.
Mara’s arms automatically wrapped around his neck and shoulders as her emotions sky-rocketed and she lost herself in his kiss. As she felt her back being pressed into the bed, a tiny tendril of logic fought to make itself heard; Luke was ill, he didn’t know what he was doing, she shouldn’t take advantage of him like this.
But even as her brain was saying “stop”, her body was saying “don’t stop; whatever you do, don’t stop”, and at that moment her body was in command. Her most recent dream saw to that. Her back arched as his hands crept under her nightshirt, caressing her stomach before quickly settling on her breasts as his lips found hers once more. When he sat back to peel off his t-shirt, she quickly struggled out of her nightshirt, determined to feel his skin against her own. Tossing it to one side, her gaze travelled up his chest, the taut muscles straining with the effort of breathing. When her eyes met his, she realised he was also contemplating her body, his gaze drifting gently over her. He half-smiled, but remained silent as he slowly lowered himself on top of her, kissing her face, her neck, her shoulders... She moaned gently when his mouth found a nipple, moaned louder as his hand made contact with a thigh, and bit back a scream as he caressed her clit.
He quickly removed his sleep pants and they fell to the floor with a muffled ‘thunk’. Then his knees firmly pushed apart her legs, his eyes never leaving hers. The intensity of the lust in his eyes made Mara want to look away, but somehow she couldn’t. It was as if it were a challenge, a challenge she knew she must not fail. Her gaze never left his, not even for a second, as he slowly entered her. He paused, his breath harsh on her face, his blue eyes delving into her soul. With a soft grunt through clenched teeth, he pushed the rest of the way into her.
Mara couldn’t help it. Her neck arched and her eyes squeezed shut at the feelings he was generating in her body. As he began to thrust steadily, she forced her eyes open again; as soon as her gaze met his, his lips descended to hers, kissing her, tasting her, almost suffocating her. She dug her fingers into his back, her legs hooking behind him to draw him in deeper. He was hers and she would never let him go.
“Gods, Mara, I need you.” His voice still sounded unnaturally deep, but this time it was the result of passion, not anger. “I want you so much.”
The urgency in his voice captured her attention and she pushed at his shoulders until he looked at her. Between ragged breaths, she managed to whisper, “Luke, you just tried to kill me.”
His eyes momentarily widened and his rhythm faltered for a split-second. Had he? “No. I love you. Always.”
“You ... you do?”
He nodded briefly, before his eyes drifted closed and his mouth settled on her neck. “I’ve loved you since you came to me, since you told me you loved me.”
She could hear his words and could feel him whispering against her skin, but all she could contemplate was that her dream had been true. It was true that she had sought him out and had seduced him. Was it true that she loved him? Her eyes closed tightly once more as her brain was assaulted by the powerful emotions he projected, and her body reacted to a faster pace. One hand slipped to the nape of his neck, the other to the small of his back as they both pushed to the inevitable climax of their coupling.
He couldn’t hold it back. Just couldn’t. She was the most fabulous woman in the whole galaxy and he loved her with a passion that would eclipse supernovas. He threw himself over the edge, burying his face in her neck and keening her name.
His plaintive cry reached her very soul, tearing her heart apart. She came with a violence that terrified her.
They both fainted.
She could barely breath. Opening her eyes, she realized that the weight pinning down her body was, in fact, Luke Skywalker, unconscious Jedi Master. With a grunt of effort, she shoved him carefully to one side and took a couple of deep breaths to replenish her oxygen levels, before turning to face him.
He lay on his back, his sweat-soaked body hot to the touch. Carefully, Mara brushed his hair from his face, her fingers trailing down over his cheek and jaw. She struggled to remember the exact course of events; whether it was the diminishing effects of Juxemia, or the aftermath of sex that affected her memory, she couldn’t be sure. But the look on his face as he made love to her would be permanently etched onto her brain, of that she was positive. She couldn’t forget it if she tried.
Water. She needed water.
Slipping out of the bed, she stumbled over his sleep pants and suddenly remembered the unexpected noise they had made as they hit the floor. Picking them up, Mara realised the heavy objects in the pockets were lightsabers; reaching into one pocket, she pulled out her own saber. The one Luke had given her, the one that had been his father’s. She absentmindedly dropped the garment on the bed and wandered towards the sink, carefully turning the weapon over in her hand. It reminded her so much of Luke; innocuous enough until you turned it on. Then unbelievably powerful.
Laying the saber beside the sink, she slipped on yet another clean nightshirt before pouring herself a glass of water and gulping it down greedily. Leaning against the sink, she regarded herself in the mirror solemnly. What was she going to do? He had said he loved her; Sith, he’d shown her that he loved her. But their lives were so complicated; would he even be interested in taking the relationship any further? Did she want to continue it? Mara’s green eyes met their reflection. The big question was, did she truly love him?
The sound of a lightsaber being activated made her instinctively grab her saber and spin round.
“Mara Jade! What the hell are you doing in my room?” He stood beside the bed in only sleep pants, his shirt still a rumpled heap on the floor. The malevolent look in his eyes and the lit saber in his hands told her all she needed to know. The assassin had returned.
Keeping her own saber unlit but ready, she lifted her chin and met his angry gaze, her heart aching from the hatred she could now feel emanating from him. “I’m not in your room, Skywalker. You’re in mine. I suggest you leave before Security get here.” Her voice was quiet but firm; she didn’t want to antagonize him, but she doubted that her tone of voice would make much difference. It was obvious from his body language that he was back in ‘homicidal’ mode.
His head cocked to one side and his eyes narrowed. “You’re dead, Jade!” Then he lunged at her, bringing the shining green blade of his lightsaber down towards her head.
Instinctively, Mara activated her own saber and swung it up to parry
his blow, gritting her teeth against the power of his strike. He swung
towards her legs and she deflected that strike also, stepping backwards
to take up a stronger defensive position. He continued to rain blows upon
her, forcing her to take another step backwards, and Mara began to feel
the anger rise like a fire within her. How dare he break into her room,
threaten her, have sex with her, then attack her again. Damn Jedi thought
he could do what the hell he wanted; well, she’d show him a thing or two!
Her defensive block sparked off his lightsaber as she pushed at him with
all her strength and then swung towards his shoulder. His eyes widened
momentarily, before he renewed his vicious assault, driving her further
back as she was forced, once again, to defend herself.
Dominic Vartez was not a happy man. Woken from his sleep in the dead of the night, he had been summoned to the medical facility where he was Chief of Security, only to discover three of his team in medical bays, unconscious. The ysalamiri he had so stridently argued against as a complete waste of time, were also unconscious. A trail of destruction led from Jedi Master Skywalker’s room to the center of the complex, but the man himself had not yet been found.
Vartez snorted in derision as he listened to his junior officer’s report, then he barked a sharp “Follow me!” as his long strides took him down one of the corridors. He knew exactly where Skywalker would be. He’d listened to Organa Solo’s warnings of how Jade had wanted to kill the Jedi, and in his experience, hatred of that magnitude usually ran both ways. Why they had decided to keep the two in the same building, he would never understand. Probably just to make his job more difficult.
His steps slowed and faltered as he approached Mara Jade’s room; he’d
only seen lightsabers on the holovids, but the noise they made in combat
was unmistakable. Two unconscious guards by the door only confirmed his
suspicions. Drawing both of his blasters and checking their settings, he
turned towards the subordinate creeping up behind him. “Weapons to stun,
and cover me.” Without waiting for a response, he stepped silently to the
door of the room and peeped through the tiny window. A full-scale battle
was taking place; no injuries, so far as he could tell, but Jade was slowly
being beaten back against the far wall. Rolling his eyes and silently cursing
all Jedi that had ever lived, Vartez flipped the door over-ride, brought
up his blasters, and fired two stun bolts simultaneously. The two patients
fell instantly, their weapons deactivating before they even hit the floor.
Leia Organa Solo blew out a frustrated sigh as yet again she found herself watching her brother sleep. He lay just beyond the transparisteel window, surrounded by machinery and medics. Leia’s eyes drifted slowly to the opposite side of the room; Mara Jade lay in an identical bed, also unconscious and similarly attended by medics. And in a neat circle around the circumference of the room, eight armed security guards stood to attention.
“Madame Organa Solo.”
Leia turned to the source of the voice, a gentle middle-aged woman who was, at present, the most senior medic in the building. “When will he wake up?”
“Difficult to say,” replied the doctor. “They both have remarkably high resistance to sedatives. We’ve had to give them enough mel’kan to knock out a full-grown bantha.”
“Is that dangerous?”
“No more than letting them attack each other.” She tried to smile reassuringly. “We’ll monitor them both carefully, and as soon as Captain Jade is stable enough to be moved, we’ll lower the sedative dosage and let Master Skywalker regain consciousness. But until they’re in separate buildings, they both stay under sedation.” She laid a gentle hand on Leia’s shoulder. “It’s for the best, for everybody.”
“I know.” Leia nodded as she turned back to watch her brother. “I just can’t believe he attacked her like that. It’s so unlike him.”
“Juxemia will make a person do things that are totally against their nature,” replied the medic. “If it’s any consolation, Madame Solo, he’s had so much sedative that he may not remember anything.”
“I do hope so. He doesn’t need any more guilt right now.” Leia smiled. “Can you promise me he won’t remember?”
“This is medicine,” said the doctor. “We don’t do promises.”
THE END?
NAH!