Title: Emperor's Shadow
Originally Published Oct 2004 to Sept 2005 on TF.N's Jedi Council Forums
Timeframe: Canon between the Corellian Trilogy and Thrawn Duology.
Genre: Mystery, Adventure, slight-Romance
Characters: Mara, Luke, Solo-Family, Ghent, Karrde

Summary: When the past comes back to haunt Mara Jade in the form of an eighteen year old murder and a damaged datacard, a mystery will unravel that could destroy not only her life, but send the galaxy spiraling into turmoil. Can Luke, Han and Leia save her from a possible death sentence? Better question, why is Mara a woman who doesn't want to be saved?

Author's Notes: This was my first fanfic, ever, written to clear up a gap I felt was between the Corellian Trilogy and Thrawn Duology, especially with the characterization of Mara, Leia and Luke. I was then pushed to post it on TFN by a sexually perverse Ewok (true story). Shadow won several Reader's Choice awards including Best New Author and Best Interpretation of a Canon Female Character (Mara Jade). I've cleaned it up, reworked some formatting, and decided to repost it here on . I'll be posting a chapter every few days.

Prologue

"Thanks, but I know the way." Mara Jade ignored the stares as she made her way through the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4. She'd visited several times in the past seven years since Luke Skywalker, self-proclaimed Jedi Master, established the school and about wrecked the galaxy in the process.

Mara recognized a few of the faces that curiously glanced her way. They all knew her story. She didn't mind, no point in hiding it really.

The Emperor's Hand was such a dramatic title, but one Mara had worn proudly. She was Emperor Palpatine's loyal servant down to his last dieing command, and what a fiasco that turned into. At least now Mara was free from his influence and the dark side. Her destiny was in her own hands now, and the last thing she wanted was to become one of Skywalker's Jedi.

It wasn't that she had anything against the Force, in fact, she found it quite helpful at times. Mara had even been one of Luke's first students, but that was only a few lessons on Wayland nine years ago. She even joined Kam and Tionne Solusar, the current Academy administrators, on Yavin as part of Luke's first official group of students.

But between Wayland and Yavin, Luke, in all his blissful farm boy naivety, made the ultimate mistake. What made matters worse was that no one except Mara seemed to notice this. To be fair though, few knew the dark side quite like she did, and that was a familiarity she didn't look forward to rekindling.

Skywalker could figure out his own problems, Mara had a job to do. She still worked for the 'information broker' Talon Karrde and the Smuggler's Alliance. One day Karrde would actually retire, for real, and he would hand over to her one of the biggest and most successful smuggling and information organizations in the galaxy. Mara didn't have time to hold Skywalker's hand through his tribulations or bother with the philosophical triteness of his Academy. Skywalker made his own mess, he could clean it up.

As for the Jedi, Skywalker couldn't force her to be one, just as long as Mara stayed clear of the dark side. Doing so was easy and in her opinion involved a lot of common sense. This is why she had lost all faith in the mental prowess of the "Great Jedi Master Skywalker".

Mara allowed herself a short laugh at the thought. A few of the students now looked as confused as they were curious as Mara passed into one of the chambers. The old rebel base at Yavin 4 was full of large maintenance bays, spacious and ideal for training students.

Placing the Academy here had been just one in a long list of Skywalker's less-than-bright ideas. Skywalker should have checked the place out more thoroughly or at least left or done something once he felt the dark presence there. Exar Kun's spirit was gone now, no thanks to Skywalker, but the damage had already been done, and so many lives needlessly lost.

Right now there were two groups practicing in the hall, one going over the basics of levitation and the other was lightsaber dueling. It was here that she found who she was looking for.

During one of Mara's brief early visits to the Academy she had run into Corran Horn. A Rogue Squadron pilot, Corran had the rare non-ability in that he could not use telekinesis, but he had other force skills that very much made up for what he lacked. It was Corran who finally destroyed the last remaining embers of Kun's spirit.

Since Corran was competent enough to recognize what needed to be done, Mara had gotten along nicely with him and that was why she was doing this favor for him now. Corran's wife, Mirax, and their son, Valin, were visiting the Academy while Rogue Squadron was busy helping clean up after the recent upheaval in the Correllian System.

Mara had a front row seat to that insanity. First, a group of people called the Triad were using Centerpoint Station to blow up suns. Then the two-person crew of Mara's Jade's Fire didn't make it off Corellia alive after the revolt there. And not to mention Han Solo's sadistic cousin tried to kill the Solo kids. Plenty of reasons for Mara to set aside her differences and fight alongside Skywalker and New Republic forces to end the conflict.

Corran, a Correllian himself, missed all the fighting but Mara ran into him on her way out of the system and he asked her to deliver something to his family.

Valin wasn't old enough to join the Academy proper but Mirax, a non-Jedi, brought him there from time to time, as a viable alternative to visiting his grandfather no doubt. Valin seemed to enjoy watching and playing with the other students who were practicing levitation. Poor kid was probably going to suffer the Horn family curse and not be able to use telekinesis either. That wasn't really a bad thing though. It would teach the kid to rely more on himself and his own skills rather than having the Force do everything for him.

Mara made her way across the bay, passing two students who were having a go at each other with their lightsabers. One was a human male and the other a female Twi'lek. Both were fairly young, but then Mara hadn't even been that old when she was taught how to fight with a vibrosword, among other things. Studying their style and technique, Mara slightly shook her head and mumbled something under her breath.

Kam Solusar was there next to them and Mara could feel his eyes following her after she passed. A solemn looking human, he had been to the dark side once and even served the Reborn Emperor. Of all people he should have noticed the same problems with Skywalker as Mara did and it bugged her that he seemed to be as oblivious as the rest of the galaxy. Oh well, why should she care what happens to Skywalker and his Jedi. It didn't concern her, not any more.

"Mirax," Mara called out as she approached. Mirax sat on an old comm station that looked like it had gotten dropped too many times when students forgot just how much size does matter.

"Oh, hi Mara," she looked up and smiled, "Nice to see you again. Corran said you'd be coming by."

Mara slung a satchel off her shoulders. "Yeah, he asked me if I could drop this off here and I was coming through the area anyway. Sorry it took so long. I had other things I had to get done."

That was partially true. Mara was currently running her own trading business, but it had been almost a month since the Corellian crisis and she was still recovering from the losses she took there. A little known secret was that her business was actually just a dummy corporation Karrde set up so Mara could to get some skills in this area and establish herself as an individual away from his group. Karrde had called her a few days ago, said he was thinking of going ahead and closing the company down and starting on the next project. Mara wasn't planning on going anywhere near Yavin 4 when she left Corellia, but there was nothing much left for her to do now until Karrde came to a decision.

Mara felt as if she was in limbo but she was used to that so simply shrugged it off.

"That's okay. Corran is still on Corellia anyway and your timing is almost perfect." Mirax glanced over to her son Valin and her smile broaded. "Thank you so much for delivering this."

"Not a problem," she said as Mirax looked inside the bag. Mara could see the outlines of what looked like a gift-box, but it wasn't any of her business so she turned and started back the way she came.

"You're not staying this time?" a voice called to Mara.

"No, Solusar." she turned to him.

"Master Skywalker should be by in a day or two."

Mara wanted to ask why she should care. "I thought he was on Bakura."

The Bakuran fleet was a deciding factor at Corellia, but it cost them dearly. Among the casualties was Gaeriel Captison, one of Skywalker's old friends, well, they had been more than friends.

She heard that Skywalker followed the fleet back to Bakura once the Triad was defeated. His travel there had something to do with a promise he had made to Captison's daughter. Of course this was all scuttlebutt from the space dock. It's not like Skywalker made any real effort to say goodbye to her after the battle. All he did was nod thankfully to her as they, the Solos, and a few others from their rag-tag ban stood outside Drall's repulsor before heading their separate ways.

"He was," Solusar nodded.

"Well, I'll be sure to say hello if I pass him on the way back to my ship," she said just a note under sarcastically. "Right now I've got other things to do."

"Other, more important, things to do?" This came from the boy who was playing with a lightsaber earlier.

"Yeah, that would be it." Mara again turned to leave.

"What, you think you're better then us?"

"Skidder," Solusar cautioned the young man.

Mara turned around slowly, never needing the dark side to be intimidating, years of combat training was more than enough to draw on to gain that distinct air of toughness. "Over all, I suppose there's a chance I'm better than you. But in some ways I think I am, and in others, I know I am. Or don't you understand that?"

Skidder thought about this for a long moment, his brow wrinkled in concentration. Solusar's face remained unchanged. He understood.

"I saw the look on your face earlier," the kid finally snapped defensively. "You think you're better with a lightsaber, don't you? You don't even have one!" Obviously this Skidder didn't understand.

Skidder didn't know the whole story either. Mara did have a lightsaber, although it wasn't one she constructed herself. It had been a gift from an old friend she hadn't seen in a long time. She rarely wore it these days. Too many memories.

"I know I'm a better fighter than you are," she replied easily.

"Prove it," Skidder gestured and a practice lightsaber flew off of a near-by table towards Mara. She deftly caught it and thought how typical it was for one of Skywalker's students to be so brash and foolhardy.

Solusar stepped forward, "Skidder, you might not want to do this."

"No, it's alright Solusar. I won't hurt him," Mara looked down at the weapon in her left hand. "In fact, I won't even use a lightsaber."

Tossing the weapon to the other student, Mara grinned inwardly. So this kid needed to have a lesson taught the hard way. Fine, she had time to kill, and it might do the little upstart some good.

"Are you kidding? I'm not going to fight a defenseless person!" Skidder looked at her and then to Solusar.

Solusar considered Mara for a moment. She stared back at him without emotion as she flexed and worked her muscles in preparations for the fight. "I think you will find that Mara Jade is never without defenses."

Mara nodded and crouched down into a combat position. She had seen the kid fighting earlier and Mara noticed a major weakness. Although, if she had misjudged, well, to late to worry about that now.

Solusar and the Twi'lek girl backed out of the way as Skidder ignited his lightsaber and fell into his own combat stance. His right arm was three-fourths extended with his lightsaber horizontal across his body. Mara just needed to get inside, and it would be all over. She wondered if she should make it quick or humiliating.

Better make it quick, she was trying to teach a lesson here.

When it became apparent to Skidder that Mara wasn't going to make the first move he shifted his lightsaber vertically into an attack position. Mara stood prone and ready, she could see the confliction in the kid's face. Uncomfortably Skidder started to tilt the lightsaber forward. The tip was at a safe distance so Mara stared unblinking at the threat. He tilted the blade a few more times, getting closer but Mara didn't budge.

Taking a few steps, Skidder kept angling and jabbing at Mara with the lightsaber. He was getting more daring now, shifting to a one handed grip, but still having no idea what he was doing. Extending the lightsaber forward above her left shoulder she could feel the blade as it singed a few random strands of her red-gold hair. Mara tensed her muscles. Close enough.

Skidder should have seen this coming, she telegraphed her move and everything.

With one smooth motion Mara whipped her left fist up and slammed into his weapons wrist. This had the desired effect of mentally stunning him and he didn't recover quick enough to stop Mara from getting to within a inch of his body. With one hand gripped on his shoulder, Mara punched him hard in the kidney with the other. He grunted but the pain would only be momentary until he used his Jedi pain reducing techniques.

Now Skidder's options were wide open, but the look on his face told Mara that all he could think about was the fact that with her this close to him he couldn't risk cutting her with his lightsaber, for fear of doing damage to himself. There was also the nagging fact that he didn't want to kill her. Well, at least she hoped he didn't, that could change at any moment.

An elbow strike across the chest and another jab under the rib cage and Skidder was starting to snap out of his daze. Knocking his weapons wrist again Mara stepped to her right just far enough to kick at Skidder's outside left knee. Skidder fought to keep his knee from collapsing but Mara struck her elbow across his head and within a heartbeat brought her leg up and kicked out at his inside right knee. He was taking the blows pretty well all things considered.

Still upright but his stance weakened, Skidder lashed out at Mara with his free hand, the other still clutching his lightsaber. Mara dodged the blow and slid behind him, her left arm wrapping around his neck, squeezing tight. Finally Skidder dropped his weapon and grabbed at her arm, fighting against the spots that were surely starting to dot his vision. The lightsaber switched off and rolled a few meters away.

Then Skidder dropped his arm and with his full force elbowed her in the stomach. Mara lurched and loosened her grip. Not too bad, had to give the kid a point for that one. Okay, time to end it now.

Mara kicked down hard onto the back of his right knee and calf, but before he could recover she hooked his left lower leg with hers and forced his foot off the ground. Skidder dropped fast and took Mara down with him. She barely had time to get her arm from around his neck before they hit the hard duracrete.

Skidder tried to get up, or roll out from under Mara, but she pressed her left arm across his neck and dug her knee into his back. Skidder reached out for his lightsaber.

"You're vaped." Mara brushed the nozzle of her blaster against the back of his head.

"That's not fair!"

"Is it?" For a moment Mara wasn't sure if Skidder would accept this routing by a woman who didn't even carry a lightsaber, but then his muscles relaxed in the universal sign of defeat in combat.

"Where did that come from?" said Skidder as Mara helped him to his feet.

In reply Mara slid the small but powerful gun into its concealed holster under the sleeve of her left arm. "So why wasn't this fair?"

Skidder opened his mouth to say something but then thought better of it.

"If this isn't fair," Mara pointed at her sleeve gun, "then that's just immoral." Mara pointed at Skidder's fallen lightsaber.

"What?" that garnered a look of massive shock from the kid.

"Think about it. A blaster bolt doesn't have to be killing and a blaster burn can be healed as good as new. There's also a stun setting." Mara walked over to Skidder's lightsaber and picked it up. "The blade of a lightsaber only deals two things, death or dismemberment."

Skidder contemplated this as Mara placed the lightsaber back in his hand. "The blade, sure," he was starting to catch on, "but I could hit you with this and just knock you out."

"So why didn't you earlier?"

"I…I didn't think about it," he admitted, frowning.

"You were too busy trying to fight me with the blade of a lightsaber. But was the lightsaber really the right weapon for the job?"

For a long moment the kid stood silent. It was at that moment Mara noticed her little lesson was being viewed by more than just Solusar and the Twi'lek. The other students in the bay were staring and several others had gathered.

"It should have occurred to me you would have a weapon other then a lightsaber." Skidder finally uttered as he stared down at his weapon, running his fingers across the hilt. "I should have put the lightsaber away and went hand-to-hand from the beginning, maybe used TK."

"Yes. Keep your options open," she tried not to sound patronizing, not sure if it was working. "The more options you can present, the less likely the chance you will have to choose death."

Looking up at her, she saw the proverbial light click on in Skidder's head, "I didn't want to kill you, but it was the only option I gave myself, so I failed from the start. You knew I'd do that and that's why you thought you were better."

Mara nodded.

Solusar came up beside Skidder who was now looking through Mara, lost in his own thoughts. "Jade, are you sure you don't want to stay till Master Skywalker returns?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." With that Mara turned and headed out the maintenance bay, once again those curious eyes following her.

…

With only a slight shudder the Jade's Fire slipped into hyperspace.

"I'm going to have to get that fixed," Mara said to no one in specific. There was no one to talk to anyway.

Mara had lost her crew at Corellia, but the SoroSuub Luxury 3000 yacht was small enough for her to manage by herself. Having the Jade's Fire fly with even a little damage was heart-wrenching, but Mara had forgone getting all but the essential repairs to her ship done so that she could take the personal belongings of her fallen crew back to their families. Mara wasn't real close to her employees but they had been loyal and hard working individuals and these were attributes that Mara always respected. This was the least she could do for their service.

A series of beeps and whistles chirped behind her.

"Yes, and I might not even have to pay," Mara said to her V-1 droid, Slips.

A message from New Republic Chief of State Leia Organa Solo herself was waiting for Mara when she got back to her ship at Yavin. Mara had helped Leia escape Corellia during the revolt and Leia had actually bothered with a real goodbye at Drall. Leia told Mara that she would get the New Republic to pay for the repairs to Mara and Lando's ships since they were both damaged in service of the government. Mara and Leia were hardly friends, but having the head of the galactic government as a friendly acquaintance did come in handy at times.

Mara didn't hold her breath about the repairs though. No one would argue about Lando getting compensated for his efforts, after all, he was a hero of the rebellion. Mara, on the other hand, was a daughter of the Empire.

"Keep her flying straight and wake me before we come out," Mara tapped Slips on his dome and headed back towards the crew quarters. It would be some time before they reached Coruscant and she could use a trip to the refresher and a good long sleep.

The Jade's Fire was quiet except for the hum of machinery. Mara rather enjoyed the quiet. Piloting her ship alone meant that she only had herself to depend on and only herself to blame if something went wrong. This is the way it should be.

Mara bunked in the state room on the former luxury yacht but she long ago took out all the features that to her seemed extravagant, which meant the room was now quite bare. This was exasperated by the fact that Mara wasn't a collector of trinkets or baubles or anything really. She sat down on her bed and started slipping off her boots.

What was it? There was something nagging at Mara and she couldn't figure out what. Often her Force sensitivity gave her hunches and feelings to warn her but this didn't feel like her danger sense. Mara had felt this different kind of Force sense several times before, such as nine years ago when she knew she had to drop Karrde's ship out of hyperspace, and low and behold they find Skywalker with his X-Wing floating dead in space.

That whole incident changed Mara's life and it started with her saving Luke's life, even though she wanted to kill him. Mara sometimes wondered if the Force took some perverse pleasure in brow beating her into things.

With a long sigh Mara got up and made her way to the refresher. Good or bad, something was happening or going to happen. Well, whatever was coming, Mara would face it head on, adapt to it, and survive it.

Surviving is what Mara Jade did best.