AND NEVER RETURN

CHAPTER TWELVE

Luke gratefully locked the door behind the olive green adolescent. Triller had been talking non-stop since Luke walked in. The formal receptions and all that Luke had been required to attend had taught him how to feign interest even when he had no idea what the speaker was describing. He tried to use that training for the complicated process fifteen-year-old Triller explained, but he was rewarded only with a headache. Luke's attention was spent trying to decipher his roommate's garbled Basic, without being overly obvious that he was having trouble understanding. Triller had seemed genuinely hurt when Luke casually asked when he had begun to learn Basic.

Triller had finally left, carrying a stack of datacards and music discs. Luke decided to take the opportunity to meditate. He was still uncertain about Konner Donteril. Something just struck him as…wrong. But the only reason he could think of was the fact that Donteril was Imperial, seemingly some Intel type.

Luke considered the room a moment, then grabbed a blanket from his bed and settled on the floor. The heater warmed the tiled floor and the Jedi Master knew that if he tried meditating on his bed, he was exhausted enough to fall straight asleep. Even on the floor, Luke had to pinch his arm to keep awake while he slowed his breathing and began to walk through his calming exercises. His head lulled forward as he slowly immersed himself in the Force.

A kaleidoscope of colors and images swirled through his mind, moving too quickly for him to recognize anything. The vision solidified and he saw Mara beneath twin moons. One second she was just standing there, her attention far away, dressed entirely in black, her brilliant hair pulled back sharply, then she was kneeling next to a body, blood on her hands. Luke tried to look down on the corpse, but the vision wavered, like ripples on a pond's surface. A lightsaber hilt was tossed into the air—

Luke was shaken roughly out of the vision and he inhaled sharply as the first thing to fill his view were two huge insectoid eyes staring into his face from less than half a meter away.

" 'Kay you?" Triller asked. His voice carried the nasal undertones of his native tongue.

"Uh, yes. Yeah, I'm okay." Luke forced a smile. Truth was, being forced out of meditation was a shock to the mind and Luke could almost swear Ewoks were pounding on drums inside his aching head.

"Not on toes if sit up sleep," Triller told him, wagging a finger at the older man. "Tomorrow big. Shrigan girl come."

Luke assumed that Triller was talking about the informant. Hopefully this meant she wouldn't cancel again. "Okay, thanks." He stood up and stretched. "You going to bed?"

The Rodian shook his head almost violently and held up a nondescript datacard. "Datacard need. Codes."

"Oh. Well, good luck."

Triller shrugged, a very human gesture. "Luck no need. Too easy." With a shake of his head, the teenager left the room, muttering under his breath.

Luke smiled a little, then sat on the edge of his bed. He closed his eyes and tried to recall the vision, but the images were no clearer than before. Mara looked over an unknown dead body. The Force didn't give a timeline and Mara's clothing had simply been a black jumpsuit and boots. She could have been the Emperor's Hand or a Trader. Remembering the faceless corpse, Luke hoped he saw an echo of the past, and not a possible future.

He didn't recognize the saber's hilt as his or Mara's, and he was oddly left with the impression of a yellow blade…

A sharp intake of breath. Another Jedi? On Eqiirsa?

The Force-sensitive, the person who had picked up on him when he first arrived.

He would have to talk to Mara tomorrow.

At the same time of Luke's vision, Mara was wandering through the indistinct hallways of the Resistance's base. She rolled her shoulders, popping the joints as she returned to the datapad's map. According to the small map, this hallway led to her room. Well, her and the Bothan girl's room. Earlier that morning, after Mara had broken out of her room, Konner handed her a datapad with her new room assignment.

It seemed to Mara that she had been trapped in the Qantul system at the perfect time—Konner's planned escape was to occur no later than one month after her arrival. If this whole mess with the pirates and the navcomp miscalculation had happened just two months later, she would have been forced to find a way out herself. It would have certainly been a challenge, what with the troubles Konner had faced. Konner had been the best in the business, and yet the Shrigan had thwarted him at every turn. It was amazing.

The hallway ended abruptly around a corner and the former Emperor's Hand cursed out loud. Mara prided herself on her excellent memory and sense of direction, but the corridors in this building all looked exactly the same: light grey painted durasteel walls, floors, and ceilings, the occasional glowpanel, and nondescript doors peppering the walls. The only defining features were that in some areas, the paint had chipped off.

She understood the strategy—were the building to be invaded, odds leaned that the ShriSec officers would get lost in the labyrinth of corridors, giving the inhabitants time to escape. But now that Mara herself was having trouble just locating her room, she thought the idea stupid and presumptuous. What if some of the Resistance members got lost instead of the Security agents?

Another hallway, with four doors. Consulting the datapad again, this time Mara was nearly certain this one was hers. She touched the keypad outside the door, and her fingerprints allowed her access. Even before she entered the room she flipped the old-fashioned light switch on with the Force. The last thing she wanted to do was trip over one of her potentially messy roommate's belongings.

What she saw nearly made her trip anyway.

"Oh," she managed to stay, startled. "I—I didn't mean to interrupt."

Her roommate jumped away from Daryn when the lights snapped on and straightened her clothing, tan fur flattened against her body. "No, no, it's my fault. Our fault." She glanced over at Daryn, who had done nothing more than smooth his hair and lean back in his chair, crossing his right leg over his left and clasping his hands in his lap.

"Oh. Right," Mara stammered. "Well, uh, I was just planning to get some sleep." Mentally, she cursed herself. She was Mara Jade, shavit, not some bashful schoolgirl!

"Daryn was just leaving," Kalika said, pointedly looking in her lover's direction.

"Alright, I get the hint," Daryn stood up with what seemed an enormous effort. "Although," he continued with a daring grin, "I must admit, I never thought I would see Mara Jade blush, much less because of something I did."

Mara stared at Daryn steadily, blankly, letting him see only one thought: she could kill him with little effort and no second thought. After a few seconds, Daryn flinched and glanced away. Mara had to fight hard not to smile in triumph. She had not been the assassin for almost eight years, but she still could make people back down with just a look.

Kalika had pretended to be preoccupied with smoothing out her skirt. When she looked up, she was surprised at the expression on Daryn's face. She doubted if anyone else would notice it, but she recognized fear in his brown eyes.

"I just remembered that I have something to do," Daryn said suddenly. "Um, Kali, you want to help me?"

The Bothan nodded slowly. "Sure." She followed her lover out of the room, quickly glancing back to see Mara Jade turn quickly from them.

Daryn lead Kalika back underground, to an empty meeting room. Once the door slid closed behind them, he turned to his girlfriend. "Be careful around her," he warned.

She frowned. "What happened back there? One minute you were fine, then you—you were scared or something. What were you afraid of?"

He gave a halfhearted smile. "Her."

"Mara?" Kalika didn't understand. "Why are you suddenly afraid of Mara Jade?"

"I've always been afraid of her, Kali, but I guess I thought she had changed, that she'd mellowed over the years or something. I was wrong. She hasn't."

"What are you talking about? How do you know?"

"She—she looked at me, and that's all I need to see. She's dangerous, Kali. Be careful around her."

"Who is she, Daryn?"

To her surprise, he looked away. "I can't really explain, Kali, I'm sorry. Just be really careful around her, okay? Watch everything you say and do near her. I'll try to get you another room assignment."

"Daryn, who is she?"

"I can't tell you and don't ask her, either. Just leave her alone. Promise me."

"Dar," she began, but stopped. As much as she hated giving up on anything, her boyfriend was genuinely worried. "Alright. I promise, Daryn. I won't question, speak to, or otherwise irritate Mara Jade." She kissed him to seal the agreement. She would talk to Ekata in the morning. The Twi'lek could hold her own and she would be just as interested in learning about the mysterious redhead.

Mara wanted to disappear when Daryn practically fled the room. For years the Trader had tried to make Mara Jade a different person from the Emperor's Hand. But with one action bred from ego, she had destroyed years of effort. Mara Jade may not serve the Emperor any longer, but she was still one of the most formidable assassins in the galaxy. The moment she let her ego control her and force Daryn to back down like she had, had destroyed her careful work.

All that work wasted because she couldn't control her actions. Mara pulled on her coat again and left the room. She didn't see anyone else in the halls beside her and she guessed that Daryn had taken his girlfriend somewhere private. It was a surprise to see the Imperial with a nonhuman woman, but as far as Mara could remember, Daryn had never seemed as anti-alien as others, especially Konner. From rumors as well as bits and tiny pieces admitted by the man himself, Konner Donteril had grown up in one of Coruscant's lower city gangs, where he'd been bullied and beaten by older boys, many of them nonhuman. Mara also guessed that besides being one of the smallest boys there, he was also harassed because his species was favored by the government with even humanoids were treated as second-class citizens, at best.

Mara nearly walked past the stairwell in her search for a gym or workout hall, but she suddenly decided that she wanted to see something other than the same drab grey walls and she was beginning to feel claustrophobic from being underground for so long. The stairs finally ended at a trapdoor. Mara pushed it open carefully and found herself in a large open room, studded with a few metal boxes. One entire wall was made of transparisteel, allowing a wide view of the city. Mara judged that she was two, maybe three stories up.

The only illumination was provided by Eqiirsa's three moons. Mara wasn't sure whether anyone could see into this room from the outside. If this building was suspected as a safe house for the Resistance leader and under surveillance, they might match up her holograph. She cautiously stepped further into the room.

"It's not that bad a view, is it?"

Mara jumped, then berated herself for not noticing the other occupant of the room.

"Not exactly Imperial Center, but it's not bad," he continued.

"I didn't realize anyone else was here." She turned to leave, but Konner stopped her.

"No, don't go." He put his hand on her arm and possessively pulled her close to him, fingers almost hard enough to bruise. She had anticipated this, a reunion with Konner ever since she discovered his name in the medical center, but her mind had never played it realistically.

Mara yanked herself free with a warning glare for the Imperial. None of her visualizations had her so irritated by his presumptuous touch.

His fists clenched momentarily, but then he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "We used to be friends, Mara."

His use of the past tense caused her to pause a moment. Guilt trickled into her senses. She had been so excited at the prospect of being with him again, but now she just wasn't sure. She closed her eyes briefly. "I know."

He moved a step closer, brushing his fingers along her left cheek. "I—I really missed you, Mara," he confided, barely a whisper. "I didn't think I would ever see you again."

"I felt the same way," she admitted. "But—"

He cut her off, pressing his lips softly against hers. She didn't pull away, instead deepening it, slipping her arms behind his neck as he enclosed her slender waist. Mara could feel his emotions wash over her, leaking from his mind in their overabundance and she was content to experience it: lust, anticipation…

As he tightened his grip, the contentment Mara had felt disappeared and she couldn't explain what she was sensing anymore. His hands slipped underneath her shirt, fingers splayed across her bare skin.

She wasn't surprised by his actions. She had expected this move since they had met in the dingy office a few days before.

No, that didn't explain why Konner suddenly left wrong to her mind.

Konner had pulled away when she froze, panting a little. "Mara?"

There was something in his eyes, an uncertainty she was not used to seeing. "It's just a little too fast for me."

He raised an eyebrow, back to his old self. "Fast? I seem to remember fast as the rule of the day back then."

She blushed and smoothed her shirt down. "Things are a little different now, Konner."

"You don't want me anymore?"

That strange feeling was back, almost like her danger sense creeping along the back of her neck, raising the hair there. "I didn't mean that," Mara said hastily. "Just…a little slower this time."

Konner grinned. "You mean you want to be courted this time."

Mara let a slow smile spread across her face. "I guess you could say that."

"Then, my lady, would you allow me to escort you to your chamber?"

"If the gentleman would be so kind?" She fell back into one of the many roles she'd played.

"It would be my greatest pleasure, fairest lady."

Mara felt a frustration that she was certain wasn't hers, and she realized that she was still picking up on Konner's emotions. She carefully built a mental shield between them, but brief impressions kept leaking through. A slight worry crept in, this feeling definitely hers. Her mental shields were unusually strong, lessons instilled into her young mind during training, but the fact that she could still hear Konner—someone who wasn't Force-sensitive—showed the blocks weren't up to their standards.

Maybe she should tell Luke? Then she could also try to explain the strange vibes she picked up from her old lover.

No. Luke already didn't trust Konner Donteril—he didn't need more of a reason. She would keep this to herself and just work more on the strength of her mental shield between herself and Konner.

Konner returned to the upstairs room after he escorted Mara to her quarters.

She was different.

He stood in strong of the large transparisteel window, his feet shoulder-distance apart, his hands clasped behind his back, reminiscent of a Star Destroyer captain. A shock of black hair had fallen over in front of his right eye, but he wasn't paying attention to that. His mind was elsewhere.

Oh, sure, he knew she would have changed during the years they had been apart. He would have been an idiot not to realize that. But there was something more, something he hadn't anticipated.

He made his move much like he had in the past: slightly aggressive, possessive. But she had pulled away from him and not playfully, like she used to. So he changed his words and body language to one that was gentler, romantic. And Mara, his Mara, his strong, independent Emperor's Hand, responded to that.

And there were other things, too: her decision to search him out quietly rather than rush out, steal a ship and find him after she was holding all the cards; she seemed soft, especially towards Skywalker.

Konner knew better than to assume she had softened in her mind or abilities. Just some of her tastes.

The Emperor had been murdered three years after Konner had been captured by the Shrigan, so that left an opening of half a decade. What had Mara been doing? Whatever it was, it had changed her.

Skywalker—he was assuredly part of it. The questions he asked, the looks he gave her…and of course, their telepathic conversation. Konner couldn't forget that. From what he could guess, they'd only exchanged a few sentences but Skywalker had gotten on her nerves and Mara didn't physically lash out at him.

If he had irritated her back then, he would be sporting bruises, at the very least. Mara had always been rather physical.

But she had matured, he decided, yes, matured. She was no longer the girl he knew.

But he would have plenty of time to get to know the woman.

After all other distractions were gone.

(TygerEye Antilles, Copyright 2005) Please do not use without permission of the author.