I thought this might be a filler ficlet, between chapters of AJR. I
love this story. I hope you do too. A great big thanks to Ella. The
best beta ever! Now I have read a lot of Luke and Mara stories and in
many of them, R2-D2 is only mentioned a little. It has made me start
to wonder what would Artoo's read on the trip back to Coruscant from
Nirauan be? I came up with this.

Artoo's Point of View
PG-13 (for suggestive material)
By Maara

Artoo installed himself in the cockpit of the Chiss shuttle they had
borrowed to escape Nirauan, monitoring the controls. He was pleased
to be on his way home to Coruscant. The last 5 days had been
peaceful. No one chasing them or trying to blast them to space dust.
And no strange alien creatures swarming directly in their path.

Master Luke had gone back to the small cabin behind the cockpit with
Mara Jade to rest after everything they endured on Nirauan, telling
him to keep a sensor on the controls.

Alone with time to put his processors to work on the idea, Artoo
realized that Master Luke and Mara Jade had been spending a lot of
time together. As the time passed, they talked more and seemed to be
on relatively friendly terms. Although Mara Jade and Master Luke were
allies, she was always saying that she would kill him, often while
saving his life. Humans were odd. Mara Jade was odd. Most times, when
they saw her, she had been stiff and emotionless - except of course
for anger and sarcasm.

However the data he was collecting lately from the trader made Artoo
run a diagnostic on his sensors. Mara Jade was smiling and seemed,
what humans call, happy now. And spending all of her time with Master
Luke. He had been alone a long time and it did Artoo's sensors good
to see Master Luke happy again.

After stopping off at one of Talon Karrde's outposts, to clean up and
restock supplies, they lifted off once again and set course for
Coruscant. Yesterday, when Mara Jade and Master Luke went to rest,
the trader had instructed the droid to monitor the controls, then
pushed Master Luke back against the wall and pressed her mouth to
his, engaging in a fluid transfer, humans called a kiss. Now Artoo
didn't claim to be an expert on humans, but his processor couldn't
compute the reasons why humans engaged in such an activity. It seemed
a rather sloppy exercise. They then entered the cabin to get some
sleep.

Something else he had a hard time processing was why humans touched
each other so often. Artoo eventually concluded they were warming
each other up after the time they spent in the cold water of
Nirauan's underground caverns. Humans do, after all, freeze to death
if they're not kept at a nominal temperature. And they did say they
were shivering. If that were the case, then why didn't they put their
coverings back on? It had been five days since they left Nirauan,
surely they were dry by now. Humans were very peculiar.

Artoo worried about Mara Jade. She seemed to be racked with
nightmares and could not possibly be getting much rest. His sensors
picked up her voice patterns moaning and gasping out in her dreams as
if in fear. Some were so bad, she cried out to Master Luke. He must
be experiencing bad dreams too, like in the past. He called to Mara
11 times. Other times, over the last five days, Artoo heard talking
and laughing coming from the cabin as well. They had only come out of
the cabin for food and to use the fresher across from the cabin.

The Chiss didn't build very sound ships. Artoo's audio sensors picked
up a rhythmic pounding. He surmised that something had broken in the
cabin and Master Luke was fixing it. Artoo decided to scan the inner
hull of the ship to ensure they were safe. Master Luke was usually
very adept at mechanical repairs, so he was quite surprised when his
sensors picked up the pounding again. Hopefully Master Luke could fix
it.

Apparently, Mara Jade was concerned about this too. She had called
out to him again, possibly to give him an idea on how to repair the
damage. Master Luke only grunted in reply. In the next moment, they
were laughing again. Mara Jade must know how to get him out of a bad
mood.

Artoo checked their position. 52 standard hours until they reached
Coruscant. Artoo looked forward to telling C-3po all about what
happened on Nirauan. He also had a few questions about humans. C-3po
had been with Mistress Leia and Han Solo a long time. Maybe he could
answer his questions.

Soon all grew quiet aboard the shuttle and Artoo surmised that Master
Luke had fixed whatever had broken and they were now trying to get
more rest.

Artoo continued to monitor the controls and process the information
he had about humans as the ship hurtled through space towards home.

THE END