Vision of the future

of soft night-lights glowed; in front of him, outside the canopy, it was completely dark outside...

He blinked, coming suddenly fully awake. Completely dark outside? He fumbled with his restraints, throwing a glance at his chrono as he did so.

And paused, giving the chrono a second look. He'd been in the healing trance for nearly five hours.

Five hours?

'Mara, I said to wake me in two hours,' he called back toward the rear of the ship, getting free of the restraints and stumbling to his feet. 'What happened, you fall asleep back there yourself?' But there was no answer, only the sudden frantic twittering from Artoo.

And there was also no Mara.

'Oh, no,' Luke breathed, stretching his mind out to flick through every corner of the ship. Mara was nowhere to be found. 'Artoo, where is she?' he snapped, dropping to one knee and lifting up the datapad translator still hooked up to the droid. The words scrolled across it—'What do you mean, she left?' he demanded. 'When? Why?'

Artoo moaned mournfully. Luke gazed at the words flowing across the datapad, his heart sinking inside him. Mara had left five hours ago, right after he'd settled into his trance. Artoo didn't know where she'd gone, or why.

But both of those Luke could already guess.

'It's all right,' he sighed, patting the droid reassuringly as he got back to his feet. 'I know there was no way you could have stopped her.'

He crossed to the hatch, the taste of terrible fear mixing with the bitter knowledge that whatever she had gone off to do, it was far too late now for him to stop her, either. 'Keep an eye on the ship,' he told the little droid, popping open the hatch. 'I'll be back as soon as I can.' He stepped outside, not bothering with the ladder, but simply dropping to the ground. Directly overhead between the surrounding cliff peaks, patches of stars shone brightly down through the gaps between drifting clouds; everywhere else, all was darkness. Mara, he called out, shouting her name hopelessly into the silent night with his mind.

It was as if a cloaked and hooded figure had stirred. Somewhere not far away a dark, hiding presence seemed to shift. A crack opened between cloak and hood— Up here, her thought came back.

Luke peered up at the blackness of the cliff directly ahead, caught between the sudden relief that she was still alive and the sobering sense that something terrible was still about to happen. The glimpse faded as Mara seemed to pull her mental cloak back around her—

Where are you? Luke sent the thought outward, fighting back the temptation to break through this cocoon she had suddenly and inexplicably retreated into.

He sensed her hesitation, and her almost resigned sigh. Then, flashing into his mind like glimpses seen in a flickering light, he caught a series of images of the rock face in front of him, marking the route she'd taken up. Sending an acknowledgment and encouragement back toward her, he crossed to the cliff and started up.

The climb wasn't nearly as tricky as he had thought it would be, and with Jedi-strengthened muscles behind it the trip took less than ten minutes. He found Mara sitting on a rough ledge near the peak, braced sideways against the partial shelter of a rugged upthrust of rock. 'Hello,' she called quietly as he came up onto the final ridge. 'How are you feeling?'

'Completely healed,' he said, frowning at her as he maneuvered his way along the ridge and sat down beside her. Her voice had been quiet and controlled; but beneath the dark cloak of her mental barrier he could sense the edge of an incredible sadness. 'What's going on?' In the faint sheen of starlight, he saw her right hand lift and point ahead. 'The Hand of Thrawn's over there,' she said. 'You can see the four back towers against the clouds when the light's right.' Luke gazed that direction, running through his sensory enhancement techniques. The towers and back wall of the fortress were indeed visible, along with a hint of something between the leftmost towers that was probably the flat roof of the hangar they'd fought their way out of a few hours ago.

'What have they been doing?' he asked.

'Nothing much,' Mara said. 'That ship that was out—remember the gap we saw in the parking array? It got in about three hours ago.'

Luke grimaced. A functional ship, sitting right there in front of the ones he'd sabotaged. Ready to head off to Bastion at a moment's notice. 'It hasn't left again?' He sensed the shake of her head. 'Not that I could tell. Anyway, Parck said they'd be debriefing the pilot before he made a final decision.'

'I see,' Luke murmured. A debriefing that, under the circumstances, Parck and Fel would undoubtedly be hurrying along as quickly as they could. A fast decision, a fast lift back into the sky, and the Empire would have the Hand of Thrawn and all its secrets.

And yet here he and Mara sat. Waiting.

But for what?