The Unthinkable

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A/N: Star Wars belongs to Lucasfilm.

Content warning:This story deals with rape, and its aftereffects. That is why I have given it an "M" rating, not because I plan to go into super gory and explicit detail. In accordance with this, my characters (mainly Mara) may be out of "normal" character, so forgive me if I step on any toes. My purpose in doing this story is hopefully to help anyone who needs it. This is the darkest story I have EVER written, and I know it's a touchy subject. That being said, I feel strongly the need to write this.

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Chapter One:

Mara Jade walked briskly down the darkened street, keeping the hood of her jacket up. She was deep in Coruscant's under levels, meeting with a client who had refused to meet anywhere else. The Rodian had insisted that the under levels of Coruscant were the best place to deal with him.

He had insisted that he felt safe in the under levels, but as soon as Mara had sat down with him, she'd known something was wrong.

Felt safe, my rear! Mara thought acidly. He was fidgeting the whole kriffing time!

She had concluded business as quickly as possible, but she couldn't shake the feeling that he was intentionally dragging his feet.

Mara was so caught up in her raging thoughts that she almost missed her tail. She realized it as she passed an intersection, when she glanced back and the figure faltered marginally.

Mara frowned, certain now that she had been set up.

What do they want with me?

Mara shook her head. It didn't matter now; she needed to lose the figure behind her. She turned at the next intersection, and in the brief second she lost sight of him, Mara ducked into a storefront. The figure walked passed, looking around in confusion.

Mara allowed a feral grin.

It died when a blaster was shoved into her ribs.

"No sudden moves, Jade." A gravelly voice warned.

She grimaced. A Barabel.

Just my luck, I had two tails.

The Barabel dug his blaster into her side a notch further, and hissed in her ear.

"Move."

She did as she was told, knowing of the fierce reputation Barabels carried. He ushered her toward a small office building with a large and expensive looking speeder parked atop it. Just before they arrived, her original tail returned, glaring at her.

He was a young human male, probably in his early twenties. Mara laid her own icy glare on the young man, and he flinched, looking away.

"Stupid boy, are you afraid of one woman?" The Barabel hissed.

"No!" the man retorted, straightening his shoulders.

The Barabel was unimpressed, and he ignored the man after that. They arrived at the building, and Mara's danger sense started to tingle. She purposely slowed, trying to buy herself time to survey the area.

But the Barabel grabbed her and when the young man entered the code, the reptile roughly shoved her inside. Before she could regain her balance, something sharp stabbed her neck, and darkness took her.

When she woke, she found herself strapped to a metal table in the center of a dark room. She groaned as her muscles protested being in one position for too long.

Without warning, a floodlight burst into life, blinding her. She blinked furiously, trying to clear her watery eyes.

"Mara Jade, it is so nice to finally have you as my guest."

Mara turned her head to the voice, and as her eyesight cleared, she found herself looking into the haggard face of Moff Vered.

"You must be wondering what is going on." He continued. "Well, it's simple really. You assassinated my brother when you were little more than a teenager. You may have been doing the Emperor's bidding, Hand, but I will have my revenge."

"How do you know it was me?" Mara challenged through a dry mouth.

"Oh, I admit it took a good deal of time and piecing of facts together, but once you were openly announced as the Emperor's Hand, the last piece to my puzzle fell into startling place. You were all but invisible, Jade; you should have stayed that way." He leaned close. "Did you really think nobody would seek revenge for your crimes as the Hand?"

Mara didn't give him the benefit of a reply.

Vered continued. "I imagine the Emperor had you do a multitude of things: anything to get the job done, right, Mara?" He licked his lips as he studied her body.

Only then did Mara realize she was all but naked. She glared at him, but he grinned maliciously.

"Ah, I see the Emperor may not have required everything of you. I do not think you ever had to use your… body… in any of your missions. I see the underlying fear in those gorgeous eyes Jade… eyes that could kill with one glance."

Mara's mind was in turmoil. All of her training seemed to elude her in the face of what this man was proposing. And he was right. Mara's body was the one thing she had never been commanded to give to a mission to ensure her success. Palpatine had never ordered her to sleep with anyone. Mara's ability to make love had always been her gift to give… to a man of her own choosing.

And the thought of having the one truly pure thing about her taken forcibly away was unthinkable.

"No. Please don't." She voiced before she could stop herself.

"I wanted to kill you for so long, Mara. Really, I did." Vered continued as though she hadn't spoken. "But then I thought of how much more… er, fun it would be to rob you of your last remaining untainted trait. It would be a mercy to kill you Mara. So, no, I will not do that. Not today." He stepped forward, unbuckling his belt. "I will deprive you of that which is truly yours, and then I will leave you to live with it. It is only fair; you are an assassin, after all."

"I am not that anymore." Mara growled. "I haven't been the Hand for years now."

"And that makes everything magically better?" Vered sneered. "I think not, Jade."

"I'm sure if the Emperor wanted your brother dead, there was a good reason for it."

Vered paused at that, his pants halfway off. Mara looked away in disgust.

"I'll bet you told yourself that every time you ended someone's life." Vered ground out. "You would do anything to numb yourself to what you were doing; never mind those who got hurt in the process."

"I was in survival mode. Anyone who worked for Palpatine was."

"But you could have faked their deaths." Vered said angrily.

Mara snorted disdainfully. "You obviously were never in the man's presence. It was impossible to lie to the Emperor."

"But you were supposed to be the resourceful assassin, were you not, Jade?" He jeered, his eyes flashing. "I guess your resourcefulness only went so far."

Mara had no come-back for that one, and his words hit her harder than she would ever admit.

Vered finally resumed undressing, and moved beside her. He grabbed her face in his hands.

"You will watch, Jade. I want you completely aware of everything." He whispered hoarsely.

Mara tried to use the Force to throw him off of her as he moved to the foot of the table, but as he straddled her, Mara's mind went blank with terror.

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Luke Skywalker jerked out of a peaceful slumber as an intense wave of terror, nausea, and hatred filled his being. He gasped as it wafted through him, and then he was slammed by yet another surge.

Luke struggled to raise his shields, as more breakers pummeled him, lapping at his control like waves to a sandy beach. He felt a searing agony deep in his abdomen, and as he got out of bed, he doubled over. Luke's shields quivered, and when the next comber of emotion and agony hit him, he found himself on the floor. Luke reached out with the Force, seeking for the source, and just before he blacked out, Mara Jade's face swam into view.

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Mara vomited as she was dumped unceremoniously into the abandoned alley behind the building. Her bloodied, bruised body quivered from the abuse. She tried to raise her head out of the bodily fluids now surrounding her, but she had no strength left.

She managed to tuck her legs, but after that, she laid her head back down, breathing in her own stench. She felt darkness creeping in at the edges of her vision, and gladly welcomed it.

00000

Luke woke to R2-D2's insistent warbling. He opened his eyes to find the astromech leaning over him, his red and blue indicator light flashing.

R2 let out a beep that sounded both concerned and relieved.

"I'm awake, R2." Luke said hoarsely.

Luke sat up slowly, holding his head.

What in the nine hells of Corellia was that? He wondered. It was still dark outside, which told him he'd only been unconscious for a few minutes.

When Mara's face again came to mind, Luke gasped and jolted to his feet, running full out to his comm. center. He punched in the codes for the Wild Karrde, and waited impatiently for his call to be put through.

"Master Skywalker, to what do we owe this pleasure?" Shada D'ukal asked as she came into view.

"I need to speak to Talon Karrde, immediately please." Luke said in his Jedi Master voice.

"He's asleep, Master Skywalker. Most beings are at this hour."

Luke suppressed a flash of irritation."Tell him it's an emergency."

Shada lifted one eyebrow, but upon examining Luke's face, she acquiesced. Luke ran through a Jedi calming technique while he waited for Shada to raise Karrde. Mara was in immense pain, and for her to have been that frightened… Luke couldn't think of anything that would cause such fear in the fierce red-head.

"Karrde here." Talon said as he came into focus. His hair looked like it had been haphazardly combed, and he rubbed at sleepy eyes.

"Talon, I know it's late. I'm sorry." Luke began. "I need to know where Mara is."

Talon frowned. "Shada said it was an emergency." He said darkly. "This is no time for you to…" Talon paused when Luke's face went rigid. "Have you seen something?"

Luke bit his lip. "More like felt it." He shuddered in recollection.

Talon studied Luke's face again. "She is meeting a client on Coruscant tonight, deep in the under city."

"By herself?" Luke asked in concern.

Talon frowned. "She's quite capable of handling her own, Master Skywalker." Then his face softened a touch. "I did ask her to take backup, but she insisted she could handle the assignment without a babysitter."

"That sounds like Mara." Luke muttered. "Please, Talon, I need to find her. I think something has happened to her."

"Well, you are closest." Talon admitted. "She met the client tonight at a tapcaf called the Blue n' Black. I'm sending you its location."

"Thank you."

"And, Luke."

"Yes?"

Talon leaned closer to his comm. "You will let me know if it's serious, won't you?"

"Of course. I'll get back to you when I find her." Luke told him.

Talon nodded and signed off.

Luke raced to his bedroom, and threw on a change of clothes. As an afterthought, he grabbed his outer robe. Thirty minutes later, he was in the under city.

Luke kept his hood low as he moved, using the Force to conceal his identity to any curious onlookers. He glanced at the flimsi in his hand that gave him the location of the tapcaf. He found it on a dark street, as its last occupants were exiting.

Luke went to the inside bar, signaling to the man behind the counter.

"We're closed, fella." The man said gruffly. "Come back tomorrow like the rest of them."

"I'm not here for a drink." Luke said, not removing his hood. He held up a datapad with a holo of Mara on it. "Have you seen this woman? She was meeting someone here tonight."

The man sighed, squinting tired eyes and looking at the photo. "Yeah, come to think of it: she met with a Rodian about five hours ago. Left in a hurry."

Luke felt something affirm the man's story, and he pursed his lips. "Do you have any idea where she went?"

"A nice looking lady like her? I'm amazed she was even down this far under the main levels of Coruscant." The man said, scratching at the beard stubble on his face. "I'm sorry, but I don't usually pay attention to folks once they leave."

"Thank you." Luke said, laying a tip on the counter for his help.

"I hope you find her, if she's in trouble." The man said earnestly. "Down here, there's no telling what could happen."

Luke swallowed hard, but nodded again, and left.