High Heavens (Star Wars - Luke Skywalker)

XI - Darth Vader

"Boy, it's lucky you had these compartments," Luke commented, as he hoisted himself out.

"We've used them for smuggling," Han replied. "I never thought I'd be smuggling myself." He then sighed, "This is ridiculous. Even if I could take off, I'd never get past the tractor beam."

"Leave that to me," Ben instructed.

"Damn fool, I knew that you were gonna say that."

"Who's the more foolish - the fool or the fool that follows him?"

Mara, while a bit amused by their bickering, stopped when she heard something other than their own voices. "Wait, wait, shut up! Shut up!" she hurriedly ordered. Looking towards the boarding ramp, she could see a pair shadows flickering by. "Someone's coming on board. Get down."

"Wait, Mar', what're you doing?" Han hissed at her as she climbed out of the compartment completely.

"Just get down!" Mara insisted in a whisper-shout, pulling her lightsaber off her belt, which she shoved into Luke's arms - wouldn't want to get caught with that. "I have a plan, just trust me."

"Mar'-"

"Han," Mara stopped him, looking him in the eyes. "Nar Shadda."

Han stopped mid-sentence, realization sinking in. A knowing smirk grew on his face. "Nar Shadda," he echoed. "Nice one, Mar'."

"What?" Luke asked, confused, glancing between the two of them with a look of bewilderment. "What are you talking about? What happened on Nar Shadda?"

"'Nother story for another day, kid," Han answered. "Now get down; I think I know what she's planning."

Luke didn't get another chance to disagree, as he and the rest of the group were forced to slide back under the compartments as a pair of Imperial workers boarded the ship.

Sneaking up on them from around the corner, Mara aimed her blaster, shooting them both down without a moment's hesitation. She watched coldly as they fall to the ground, and she couldn't help wonder what Luke and Ben must have been thinking, definitely having been able to hear the bodies hit the floor. So far, they had only seen the best sides of her, the lightness - almost everyone had, aside for Han and Chewbacca. They had been there for her during her darkest days - her time spent as a smuggler. Han knew how she could be; angry, ruthless, cold, sometimes almost inhuman.

She shook the troubling thoughts from her head. She could think about morality later when she wasn't trapped on a giant space station.

Another pair of stormtroopers were already running up the ramp, obviously hearing all the commotion she had caused. Mara didn't even reach for her blaster as they rounded on her, knowing that she had to have trust in the plan, and her friends, or they would hardly stand a chance.

"Hands up!" one of the stormtroopers ordered, shaking his blaster at Mara.

Mara complied, raising her arms and putting her hands behind her head. She was stubbornly silent as they turned her around, patting her down. They stripped of her of her blaster, obviously, before placing a pair of electronic cuffs on her wrists, guiding her out of the Falcon.

Another stormtrooper ran up to them as they exited the ship. "TK-422, what's the procedure?"

"We found her inside the ship," TK-422 replied. "She was the only one on board."

Their voices were put to the back of her mind, as Mara mapped out a plan in her head. She could handle herself, she just hoped the others would choose the right time to act.