ARE YA READY TO RUMBLE?

Luke has heard stories about this kind of lightsaber, it is known to be held by Individuals, who share an affinity with both the Light and Dark side of the ****. He could sense that – in her case – she was currently using the dark side, which was kind of obvious, since she ambushed them using imperial droids in an imperial base. But Luke was convinced he could bring her back to the Light side, like he did with his father.

There was no more time left for him to continue his thoughts, as the mysterious woman interrupted him. She catapulted herself into the air with the help of the ****, landing on Luke using the energy of the impact in an attempt to crush his defense in an instant. But Luke managed to block her attack, throwing her back far enough to bring the necessary distance between each other, to collect his thoughts and plan a counterattack.

She was no ordinary Inquisitor. The way she looked, behaved and fought, she was like no other enemy he had fought before, she was most likely comparable to Vader, though she was far more agile than him. She also seemed to be confused as she inspected him with a surprised look on her face. Luke gripped the hilt of his lightsaber even harder, preparing for her next move.

Surprisingly she didn’t engage him, instead she spoke to him: “You are like no Jedi I have encountered before. Your movements are rather plump and impulsive, yet you are far stronger than any of them. I can’t believe you were the one to kill my Master!”
“You were Sidious’ apprentice?”, he asked surprisedly, he didn’t know Sidious had other apprentices than his father.
“I was more than his apprentice. I was his right hand, his best assassin, his favorite! Until you murdered him!”
“Who are you?”, asked Luke, no longer able to hide his curiosity.
“You ask a lot of questions for a dead man!”, with these words she slowly moved step for step closer swirling her lightsaber around, building up the momentum for a powerful strike. Struggling to parry the attack, Luke exited his defense position and converted into a comparably strong strike. Without much trouble she repelled it and immediately strode out for a counterstrike. As Luke had left his head unprotected to attack the assassin, she had now a perfect opportunity to chop it off. Luke only survived using **** push, throwing her through the whole room, seconds before the blade would’ve hit him.

The assassin remained **** on the floor only for seconds. But it was just enough time for Luke to gather all his powers and push her on the floor with the ****, not allowing her to stand up
“I’ll ask again: Who. Are. You?”, he interrogated her calmly, knowing she couldn’t attack him anymore.
“My name is … Mara Jade, enforcer of the emperor’s last command”, she answered. This Name didn’t tell Luke very much, as he never had heard it before. ‘Of course not!’ he thought ‘She was Palpatine’s secret assassin’. So he reached out to the ****, trying to search her mind. He could sense her feelings, her anger, her pain, her hatred and her … fear? But she was not afraid of him, she was afraid of her future, of what was to come next. He was not sure that it meant what he thought it did, but if he was right, it could help him convince her to give up on the Dark side.
“So the emperor’s last command was to kill me?”
“Not exactly. He wanted me to kill you!”, Mara hissed.

“You spent the last three years waiting for an opportunity to kill me.”, Luke analyzed, ”It structured your life, it gave your existence a purpose. But ask yourself: what happens when you complete your mission? The only thing that kept you waking up everyday will be gone. Do you really want that?”. He waited for his words to unfold their effect, hoping it would be enough to persuade her.

But she just stared hatefully at him, saying nothing, only her eyes gave off her true feelings, they reflected her realization. Not allowing himself to be irritated by her attitude, Luke kept going: ”Let me show you a different way, something that’ll make your life purposeful, not only living from mission to mission. I don’t ask you to become a Jedi just now, only to leave the Dark Side and the Empire behind. Start a new, a better life. So, what do you think, Mara Jade?”

“I can’t believe I’m doing this”, she grunted angrily, ”Alright I’ll give it a shot, but don’t be surprised if I decide to kill you anyway.”.

Happily Luke offered her his hand to help her stand up. In that very moment R2 beeped triumphantly, signaling he now has full access to the database.