"There's gotta be something you can do," Luke said, panic rising in his voice.
"There's nothing I can do about it, kid, I'm full power." Han flicked a switch off behind him, followed by many more. "I'm gonna have to shut down. They're not gonna get me without a fight."
"You can't win," Ben stated, leaning towards the pilot. "But there are alternatives to fighting."
Han looked at him defensively. "Are you suggesting we take off? Because that ain't happening, old man. I'm not abandoning this ship, not on your life. Mar', back me up, here."
Mara didn't say anything. Her mind was whirling, desperately trying to figure out a way out of this mess. Her fingers curled around the pilots' seats. They couldn't fight, they wouldn't flee, so what could they do? She then looked up from the ground, realizing they did indeed have a third option.
Impatiently, she slapped Han on the shoulder to get his attention.
"Ow! What?"
"The compartments," Mara said.
Han stared at her. "What compartments?"
"The underground compartments we used for smuggling," she explained. "We can hide under there."
Han gave her a slight nod. "Great," he granted, halfheartedly. "And then what? They're gonna know someone's on the ship. Hiding will only delay the inevitable."
Mara shook her head, staring down at him with a cunning grin. "Not if they don't think there's anyone aboard."
Han stared back at her for a few moments, before it finally clicked. He nodded at her, holding up a finger. "The escape pods. If we drop a few, they might just think the ship is a decoy."
"Exactly."
"Alright. Me and Chewie will go lose a few pods. You get to the compartments." Han started to leave, before glancing over his shoulder, saying, "Save me a seat, will ya?" and departed with a wink.
Mara gestured for the rest of the group to follow her out of the cockpit. "C'mon, this way."
She lead them to the main hallway, near the loading dock. She got to her knees, drawing her fingers over the cool, dark tile, the tips of her nails coming across a groove, which she pried up to reveal the deep underground compartments she and Han had used countless times before.
"You know this ship pretty well," Luke commented as he helped Mara open a second compartment.
Mara gave a noncommittal shrug in reply. "Well, I've spent a lot of time here with Han."
Luke gave her some kind of look, but she didn't say anything as they slid into a compartment together, quickly pulling the panel over them again. It was nearly pitch-black inside. She could hardly see the tip of her own nose, let alone Luke, who sat across from her in the large-ish space, although it felt much smaller with no light.
She would never admit it aloud, but she hated small spaces. She'd much rather be out in the open, completely exposed, even, instead of breathing in thick, warm air, cornered in a place she couldn't escape from. Luke seemed to sense this, reaching out to her in the dark, grappling blindly for her hand for a few seconds. He held it, both of their grips tightening at the sound of footsteps above them - Imperial troops boarding the ship.
"There's no one here," came an unrecognizable voice - a stormtrooper, no doubt.
Two pairs of footsteps waltzed further down the corridor, before disappearing down what was presumably the boarding ramp. Once it was quiet again, Mara tentatively pushed open the compartment, peeking her head out. She saw Han and Chewbacca rising out of their own compartment, Ben doing the same in another one further down.
"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.
"Copy that. Did you search her?"
With all the attention on her, the others would have a chance to get off the ship and to somewhere where they can disable the shield. It might be best if she caused some kind of commotion, to make an even bigger distraction.
"Yes, sir. We found her armed only with a blaster."
After that, well, she would just have to find a way to escape without getting herself killed, which shouldn't be too hard. They were only stormtroopers, after all-
"Good work. Bring her to Lord Vader; he'll want to know about this."
Mara stiffened, practically able to feel her heart plummeting in her chest. Her mind whirled, the only coherent thought being the name, which rang in her head over and over again: Vader. Vader.
And suddenly, she was back on Scarif, on the flagship, in that hallway...
A masked monster, slashing through a dozen rebel soldiers without breaking pace. Pinning one to the ceiling with his mind, choking another with a simple hand gesture. The scarlet blade in his hand cut through each and every one of them. Mara was powerless.
"Here, take it!" screamed a rebel close to the door, sticking something through the gap. "Take it!"
"Here, take it!" A rebel screamed at her, sticking something through the gap of the broken door between them. "Take it!"
She took the plans. Everything became a blur. Fumbling with the datacard as she stumbled backwards. Getting pushed into the Blockade Runner. Watching helplessly as the door shut, the ship pulling away, saving Mara's life - and sealing the fate of everyone else trapped on the other side.
Darth Vader was on this station. The man responsible for the deaths of all the Jedi - including her mother and Luke's father. Responsible for countless other rebels after that, just like Mara's friend and all the others who'd been unlucky enough to be on Admiral Raddus' flagship.
The thoughts went through her head with such uncontrollable fervor that she didn't completely acknowledge the shove against her shoulder - a stormtrooper prompting her to move. She complied slowly, walking forward, staring blankly at the ground, trying to figure out what to do . She tried to conjure a way out of this mess, too, but she couldn't.
She was going to meet Darth Vader, face-to-face, and there was nothing she could do about it.
As her mind raced, she was guided down hallways, twisting and turning, until her escorts finally stopped her in a large, dark, and mostly-vacant conference room. There was a long black table in the center, surrounded by sharply-shaped chairs. But she wasn't concerned with the furnishing or lack-thereof.
It was the only other being inside that caused chills to roll down her spine. He was dressed in all black, part cyborg, probably. The majority of his wear was a glossy, dark metal suit. If she was less terrified, then she would be wondering if perhaps it was a full life-support system. A long cape shuddered behind him with every small movement. An almost humanoid mask covered his face, and a scratchy, mechanical breathing escaped the apparatus every few seconds.
Darth Vader.
"What is this," Vader questioned the stormtroopers, masked gaze pointed in their direction. It was impossible to tell where he was looking, the mask giving off nothing but a blank, indifferent stare. But it honestly frightened Mara to think that he was looking at her. She didn't want his eyes on her. Something about him felt wrong... twisted.
"We found her on the freighter we apprehended," TK-422 replied in a ginger voice, shifting on his feet. Vader had struck fear into him, too, it was not hard to figure that much. "We're conducting a further search of the ship now."
"Was there anyone else on board?"
"No, sir. But several escape pods had been jettisoned."
Then, Vader's head tilted towards Mara. Her heartbeat rose to a sickening pace. She glanced up only briefly, able to see her reflection in the black lenses of his mask. She could almost feel a pair of eyes raking over her.
"The rest of her crew must have fled before apprehension," Vader said, still looking right at Mara. It felt like he was mocking her personally when he added, "She could have never flown a craft of that size alone. Check the logs. See where the pods were destined. Do not report back to me until you are absolutely certain they will be of no inconvenience to us. I wouldn't want to have to inform the Emperor of your incompetence."
Mara could hear one of the stormtroopers gulp nervously. She bet Vader heard it, too. Unable to speak, the two troopers took Mara's arms once again, beginning to drag her out. Thank the stars-
"Wait."
All three froze at Vader's command, and Mara's stomach sank as Vader demanded, "Leave the girl with me. I would like to have few words with her."