Shattered Remembrance

Chapter Three

The Manarai Medical Clinic soared four hundred and forty-seven stories into the air, with ambulance landing pads projecting out on every other floor like slices of fungi on a tree stump. Mara tamped down the overwhelming urge to simply barge into the nearest entrance and demand to be shown where Luke was. There was a good chance that his identity hadn't been established yet, and loudly proclaiming that Jedi Master Luke Skywalker had been brought in could produce a holoshill riot.

Stalking up to the Welcome Area, Mara eyed the receptionist droid. "The man just brought in from the airtaxi crash. Where is he? What floor?"

"Are you a relative?"

"Uh, no. I mean … I'm his …" Mara paused. Luke wouldn't want their engagement revealed like this anymore than she would. "I'm his associate."

"I'm sorry," the droid intoned. "Patient information is only released to members of the immediate family."

"Listen, you bucket of bolts." Her hand started reaching once more for her lightsaber before dropping back to her side in frustration. She willed her voice to remain calm. "I need to see him. I need to be with him."

"I'm sorry," the droid repeated. "Patient information is only–"

Lecture me later, farmboy. Mara reached across the desk, her hand grabbing the droid's thin neck. "I'm closer than any relative, understand?"

"Mara?"

Mara turned as two pairs of footsteps accompanied the sound of her name, one light and quick, the other heavy and sure. Han Solo and Leia Organa-Solo strode purposely in her direction.

"What happened to Luke?" Leia asked. "Karrde's office said there'd been an accident, and that he was here."

"You know as much as I do," Mara growled.

"You weren't with him?"

"No. Now can we cut the chitchat and go see your brother?" Mara bit out impatiently. "This mechanical warden doesn't want to let me in to find him."

Leia swung toward the droid, and within moments the three of them were on their way to the two hundred sixty-fourth floor surgical ward.

***

"Councilor Organa-Solo, Captain Solo." A distinguished-looking medic, probably in his mid-fifties, hurried out to meet them as they exited the turbolift. "As soon as Master Skywalker's identi-chip was checked, I tried to comm your home."

"Doctor Panio," Leia greeted the medic with a familiarity that spoke of far too much time spent at the Manarai Clinic. "Can you tell us what happened? What's Luke's condition? How soon can we see him?"

"Come into my office, and I'll tell you as much as we know right now." Doctor Panio gave Mara a questioning look.

"This is Mara Jade, an acquaintance of Luke's," Leia filled in. "They were together just before the accident."

Yes, together. More 'together' than you realize, Councilor, Mara thought, getting more impatient by the minute. She returned the medic's acknowledging nod.

"Mara, thank you for having Karrde's people alert us," Leia said curtly. "There's no need for you to stay any longer."

"You're dismissing me?!" Mara's eyes flashed indignantly. "Like Sith I’m leaving. Luke's my friend, and I'm going to see him!"

"Of course you can stay," Han spoke up, glancing at Leia as if daring her to disagree.

"Yes, yes, of course." Leia had the good grace to at least look apologetic, in Mara's opinion.

"This way then." Doctor Panio motioned them down a hallway.

***

An hour later, Mara sat huddled in a corner of the private waiting room to which they'd been escorted. Doctor Panio's litany of Luke's injuries tolled through her numbed mind. Crushed right leg. Crushed right arm. Severe head trauma. Crushed rib cage. Punctured lung. Ruptured spleen. Torn kidney. Sith, she couldn't even remember them all. Damage to almost every internal organ he had.

"We didn't even have a chance to talk to him … to hear his surprise," Leia murmured, almost to herself. She was clutching Luke's lightsaber tightly. It had miraculously stayed attached to Luke's belt during the crash, and the medic had turned it over to Leia.

Mara's head jerked up. "What?"

Han waved a hand dismissively. "Aww, on the message Luke left on the Falcon's comm, he said he had a surprise for us."

Mara hadn't eavesdropped on Luke's comm call to his sister and brother-in-law. They certainly had more than one surprise to deliver upon their return. "It was probably about the Caamas Document," Mara said, forcing a shrug. That was one development that shouldn't wait for his recovery.

"The Caamas Document?" Leia sat up straighter. "What about it?"

"We have it."

"Where did you get the Caamas Document? Are you sure it's genuine?" She stood over Mara, her political business persona temporarily overriding her concern for Luke. "Where have you two been that you found a copy of the document? We've scoured the galaxy and couldn't find one."

She and Luke had agreed to keep information on Nirauan to themselves for the time being. Still, Mara knew Leia deserved some kind of answer. "We found an old fortress that Thrawn had used as an outpost. While there, we stumbled upon a copy. Or rather, Artoo found … Artoo!" Mara's eyes flashed in alarm. "Artoo was with him! If Skywalker wakes up and finds out that droid's been destroyed, he …" Mara shook her head in dismay. She didn't give a womprat's behind about the document anymore.

A swift glance passed between Han and Leia. "I'm on it," Han announced, rushing out of the room.

"Luke dotes on that rolling trash can," Mara commented into the newly growing silence.

"Artoo's like the son he'll probably never have," Leia agreed quietly.

Son… Children … They hadn't really discussed having a family yet. Leia could unknowingly be correct. Mara hoped not. "Including the occasional backtalk," she quipped weakly.

"Why couldn't he have just called for a pickup? Or had someone from NRI take him home?" Leia bit out, her helpless frustration mirroring the anguish Mara was struggling to hide. "Everyone knows how unsafe those rundown airtaxis can be."

"You know Luke, he never wants to bother anyone."

Ignoring Mara's dismissive answer, Leia's sharp gaze suddenly bore down accusingly on her. "What were you doing at the NRI building, anyway? Luke docks his X-wing at the Rogues' hanger, and I can't imagine you leaving your ship there."

Another tidbit of information that Leia would no doubt learn about in due time. Mara silently cursed Luke for leaving her to deal with his obstinately curious sister, then immediately chastised herself. "We were forced to return to Coruscant in a stolen ship," Mara said carefully. "We wanted to be certain it would be in a secure location."

Processing Mara's reply and apparently not in a mood for further interrogation, Leia nodded briefly and turned her attention elsewhere.

Silence prevailed once more. Mara began concentrating on sending waves of Force strength to Luke. She didn't know if it would help, but it kept company with her worry. At least she could once more sense Luke's presence, muted but discernable. She wasn't sure if his Force-sense had really disappeared when he'd lost consciousness, or if she just imagined it had because it had been so vibrant and warm only moments before.

Shifting slightly to stretch her stiff muscles, Mara glanced down when her lightsaber gently bumped against her leg. Luke's old saber, which he'd given her ten years ago. Ten long years ago, when their budding friendship was tenuous at best. It was the only thing of his that she owned. The only gift he'd ever given her. If anything happened ... if he didn't ... Mara squeezed her eyes shut at the rebellious thoughts. This lightsaber would not be her only remembrance of him. It couldn't be. All their hopes and dreams for the future couldn't be shattered in a split second. She refused to allow it.

Mara turned in her seat, staring out the large window at the endless ribbons of traffic. Dusk was approaching, and lights of the various speeders, airbuses, and shuttles stretched as far as the eye could see. Traffic. Harmless traffic. Zipping within a hair's breadth of each other at death-defying speeds.

And all too often, death wasn't defied at all.