Raina's POV.
Raina woke up early and got dressed in her Jedi robes. She was brushing out her hair when she heard a knock on her bedroom door. She immediately recognized Luke's Force signature. She walked over to the door and opened it. Luke stood before her with folded cloths in his hands.
"Good morning, Raina. Here is your disguise." He handed her the cloths.
She took them and smiled. "Thanks. I'll put it on right away." She told him.
He nodded. "I'll be waiting at the garage." He told her.
Raina nodded and closed the door. She quickly put on the disguise and looked in the mirror.
Wearing the outfit, she was reminded of when she was eighteen and was looking for Obi-Wan Kenobi. Raina grabbed her lightsaber and hooked it on her belt. She then picked up brown poncho to cover the saber and took it with her.
Raina walked to the garage and found Luke standing by his yellow speeder. Raina's mouth opened slightly when her eyes landed on him. He wore a black shirt with a dark brown leather jacket. Dark brown pants and black boots. His lightsaber hung at his left side.
He looked handsomely roguish.
Raina realized she was staring and closed her mouth. She walked up to him. He looked her over briefly, before turning and jumping into the speeder. Arroyo was already in the speeder.
"Come on. We've got to get to the spaces port."
He told her.
Raina nodded, hopping in. They took off.
Once they got to the spaceport the three got out and walked to the correct docking bay.
Luke walked over to a medium sized ship.
The ramp came down. Luke and Artoo walked up, while Raina followed. Raina walked onto the ship and brought up the ramp. Luke had already sat down in the pilot seat.
"Bringing up the ramp?" He called.
She walked into the cockpit and sat down in the co-pilot seat. "It's coming up." She told him.
Luke buckled his seat belt, while Raina did as well. He flipped some switches and turned on the engine.
"Okay, let's put the coordinates in." He spoke aloud.
Raina watched as Luke punched in the coordinates.
"Ready?" He asked.
"Ready as ever." She told him.
He nodded and the ship took off into the atmosphere. Soon they were in the blackness of space. The planet was bellow them and getting smaller.
"We're making the jump to hyperspace." Luke spoke.
Raina nodded and pressed a switch. Luke flipped three switches. Suddenly the stars and planets streaked past them and the geez of the engine pushed them back in their seats.
Once they were in hyperspace Luke and Raina unbuckled their seat belts. Luke got up and walked into the small congregating room. He plugged in R2-D2 and the droid began charging. Raina sat down in a chair at a small round metal table. Luke came over to her.
'That's a first.' Raina thought.
He sat down across from her. "So here's what's gonna happen." He began.
'Of course. The mission.' Raina thought again.
"I've sent a message to the New Republic. They're going to send us the exact coordinates of where the Imperials have the princess. Then once we land near by. We both go in and make an offer." He told her.
Raina nodded.
"Here's what you need to know to keep your true identity a secret. Your name is Mara Jade. Your from Corellia. Your twenty-two years old and you've been a bounty hunter six years." He told her.
"That means I would have started when I was seventeen." She concluded.
Luke nodded. "You became a bounty hunter after you were orphaned at sixteen. After your parents died you went to a bar for a job and there when you were seventeen you met me. I felt bad for you and offered you a job as a partner. You accepted and we've been working together ever since." He explained.
Raina nodded. Luke continued.
"My name is Cliegg Starkiller.-"
Raina grinned at him. "Cliegg Starkiller? Your using your middle name as your fake identity."
Luke shrugged. "Yeah, so?"
Raina shook her head. "Just thought you could be a little more secretive than that."
"It's not like the whole galaxy knows my middle name. Actually you, Leia and Han are probably the only people alive who know." He said.
Raina shook her head a smiled. "Whatever. Go on."
"Anyway. . .my name is Zed Starkiller. I'm twenty five, I'm from Coruscant and I've been a bounty hunter for ten years and I started when I was fifteen. My father was killed in a battle against the rebellion when I was thirteen. My mother raised me until I was fifteen and she tragically died after becoming fatally ill. After that I had to find a way to make good money, so I sold everything I had and bought a ship and a blaster. I've never been back to Coruscant since." Luke said.
Raina took a deep breath. "That's a whole lot to remember." She admitted.
"Yes it is, but you need to. They'll want to ask us a lot of questions before they trust us." Luke assured her.
Raina nodded.
"Alright I'll try." She said.
Luke shook his head.
"No. You won't try. You will do. Remember what Yoda said. Try not. Do it do not. . ."
Raina nodded and continued the sentence with him.
". . .There is no try." They both said.
"I know. Alright I'll remember it." She assured him.
Luke grinned and nodded. "Good."
There was a beeping sound coming from the cockpit.
"We must be coming up on Mustifar ." He said getting up and walking into the cockpit.
Raina walked in and sat down. Sure enough in front of them a planet of what seemed to be mainly lava was growing larger.
"So that's Mustifar." She concluded.
Luke nodded. "Yep. That's it alright."
"They sure couldn't have picked a more intimidating planet to hide on." Raina observed.
Luke glanced at her and took a deep breath.
"No they couldn't have." He agreed.
Luke heard another beep from the other room.
"That's probably their exact location coming in. Would you take the controls while I go and see?" He asked.
Raina nodded and sat in the pilots seat. Luke disappeared into the other room. Raina loves the feeling of flying a ship. This was the one thing she had missed while being on Coruscant.
Luke came back in and sat down in the co-pilots seat. He entered the exact coordinates.
"There. Now we can fly right to there doorstep." He smiled.
Raina looked at him and nodded in approval.
"Need me to take over?" He asked.
She shook her head. "No. I got it." She smiled.
Luke nodded.
Raina directed the ship down to the planet's surface. As they entered the atmosphere red and black clouds welcomed them. Bellow there was a sea of red and orange lava and black and red volcanic islands. They flew in closer to the location and Raina saw many factories and abandoned Imperial bases.
As drew near, Raina could see a dark palace-like structure coming into view. Ash clouds gathered around a spire-like structure. As they came up on it she could see it was indeed a palace. An Imperial palace. She began to start the landing cycle.
Suddenly Raina felt darkness cover her. It left goosebumps along her skin. She turned to see Luke staring at the palace in what seemed to be destress.
Raina looked back to the widow as she began to land the ship. "You okay?" She asked.
"That place. . ." He began.
"Yeah, it's creepy isn't. Gives me chills." She confessed.
"No. It's-Vader was here."
Raina looked at Luke in confusion.
"How do you know?" She asked.
He blinked and shook his head. "I-I don't know. I can just feel it." He told her.
Raina landed the ship not saying a word. Once they had landed she unbuckled and looked over at Luke. He still seemed shaken.
"Luke you gonna be okay?" She asked.
He blinked again and turned to her. "Yeah, I just I haven't felt Vader's presence in a long time. It just kinda shocked me."
Raina nodded. "Just remember that Vader is dead because Anakin Skywalker, your father, defeated him."
A small smile grew on his face. "I will. And I do."
She smiled. "Good. Now. . .are you ready to rescue your second princess?" She asked teasingly.
He chuckled. "Without question."
The two walked out of the cockpit. Raina put her poncho on to cover her lightsaber. She over heard Luke talking to Artoo.
"You stay here Artoo and look after the ship." He told the droid.
Artoo have an affirmative and concerned whistle.
Raina heard Luke chuckle. "Yes we'll be careful and we'll be back before you know it. Make sure that the ration box is out for the princess when we get back." Artoo beeped a positive response.
"Thanks Artoo." Luke smiled.
Raina smiled at the two and started to lower the ramp when she felt a hand on her arm. She stopped and turned to see Luke. He wore a serious face.
"When we do this I want you to stay by my side at all times. And make sure you have your lightsaber hidden, but where you can grab it quickly if you need to." Luke told her.
Raina nodded. "I will. Don't worry Luke. I'll be fine. Remember the last time we chased down criminals? You were the one who got hurt. Not me." She pointed out.
He nodded. "Yes that's true. But if I remember correctly you got hurt the time before that. Anything can happen, Raina. Just be careful. Don't get comfortable and keep your guard up." He instructed.
She nodded. "I will."
He copied her nod. "Good. Let's go."
The ramp was lowered and they walked out of the ship. Luke stared at the giant palace before them.
"They had to choose to hide out in this place." He mumbled.
"Are you going to be able to do this?" She asked Luke.
He looked at her. "Yes. Why?" He asked.
"Because you are really close to this emotionally and I just don't know if it's the best idea for you to go in there if you can't deal with the fact that Vader was here a few times." She told him honestly.
Luke looked at her. "He wasn't here just once or twice, Raina. The feeling is too strong. It's like he. . .lived here."
Raina didn't know what to say to that. "I mean. . . I guess it's possible, but even so you still need to be ready emotion before we do this." She told him.
He nodded and looked down. She watched him as he closed his eyes and released a breath.
He looked up at her. "I'm alright now. Let's go."
She nodded and they continued on to the palace.
Once they got to the entrance they both noticed that the doors were chained shut. And the widows were boarded shut with steel planks.
Luke looked around. "There must be another way in."
As they looked around Luke pointed to the east side of the palace.
"There. That looks like a landing platform."
Raina looked to where Luke was pointing.
"So what if it is? We can't get up there." She said.
Luke nodded. "We can."
He walked under the platform.
"What? How?" She asked as he reached into his belt.
"Remember back on Hoth when I had to throw a grenade into an Imperial Walker?" He asked.
Raina tilted her head and tried to remember back to the Battle of Hoth. It was very clouded, probably because of her head injury she had obtained not long before Luke destroyed the walker, but she did remember.
"You have a grappling hook on you?" She asked.
He nodded pulling one out and standing back. He threw it up to the landing platform. Luke tugged on it to make sure it was secure. After he made sure it was secure he began pull himself up.
"I'll drop it back down for you and help you up." He told her.
She nodded and watched as Luke ascended up the wire. He slipped once, making Raina gasp, but he held on and kept on climbing.
Once he had disappeared she heard his voice yell down to her.
"Climb on up!"
Raina began pulling herself up the long cord. Her hands began to ache from having to pull her weight up to the platform. She finally reached the top and placed her hand on the warm metal. She began to release her other hand from the cord, but lost her grip on the platform. Panic shot through her as she tried to grab onto the platform.
Suddenly she felt hands grab her own. Raina looked up into her rescuers face to find Luke looking at her in worry. He pulled her up onto the platform. Raina ended up on her hands knees and tried to catch her breath. Luke was on his knees across from her. She sat up on her knees and looked at Luke.
"Thanks."
He shook his head. "No problem."
Luke got up and gathered the grappling hook. He walked back over to Raina and offered his hand to her. She accepted it and he pulled her up on her feet. Raina took in a sharp breath once her face came close to his. She noticed him glance down at her lips. Suddenly he backed away and looked down.
"Are you ready?" He asked.
Raina sighed and nodded. "Yeah, lets go."
Luke and Raina walked into the palace. It was dark inside the only light was a red glow taht filled the halls from the glowing magma outside. The walls were metal and the floor was well. It was ominous, yet there was a strong feeling of loneliness and sadness as well. Luke and Raina's footsteps echoed through the halls.
After walking down a few hallways Luke grabbed Raina's wrist and pulled her against the wall. She looked at him. He put his finger to his lips, telling her to be silent. She nodded and listened. In the distance they heard two men talking. As they looked down the hall they saw a white glow.
Luke waved Raina to continue down the hall slowly. As they drew nearer to the room at the end of the hall she heard a voice in her head.
'From now on we communicate to one-another like this.' Luke told her.
Raina looked at him briefly then looked back to the door.
'Got it.' She answered him back.
'Follow my lead.' Luke instructed.
Luke walked down the hall. "Hey anyone here?" He shouted.
Soon the talking stopped and a man came out of the room and held up a blaster. Luke put his hands up in the air. Raina did the same.
"Hey! Woah! We're not here to cause any trouble." Luke assured the man.
"Then why are you here?" The spy asked. He wore all black and had brown hair.
"You have a girl here. A princess. The princess Nima." Luke said.
The Imperial came closer still holding the gun at them.
"How did you know that?" He asked.
"We have our sources, but that's not important. What's important is that we found out she's here and we want her." Luke told him.
"And how do you intend on getting her?"
"Well, we have a pretty good amount of money here. Fourteen hundred credits for the princess." He said.
"Are you from the New Republic?" The Imperial asked.
"No. We're just two bounty hunters looking for a job and seeing as how you've got a princess you need to get rid of-"
The man interrupted Luke. "We aren't selling her." He told Luke.
"Why not? You won't get anything outta killing her. This way if you sell her to us you get something outta of it and we do too." Luke explained.
"What do you get out of it?" The spy asked.
"Well, as soon as we buy her off of you we take her to the Hutts and sell her off to them. They're always in need of another dancer. And they'll pay good money for one too. Especially if the dancer's young." Luke persuaded.
Raina watched as the man stared at Luke considering his offer. Soon he dropped his blaster. Luke put his hands down as Raina did so as well.
"Come with me."
The spy told them. Luke glanced at Raina and then went to follow the man into the room.
Once they were inside the large room Raina noticed that the lights were on. The man went over to the other spy and pointed at Luke and Raina. They quietly talked to each other. Luke and Raina stood beside one-another silently observing the area.
'Raina look.' She heard Luke say in her mind.
Raina looked away from the two men and looked casually around the room.
'By the control panel.' Luke told her.
Raina looked to the control panel and saw a small Twi'lek girl sitting on the floor. She was tied up and gagged. The girl looked at Raina with scared, pleading eyes. It nearly broke Raina's heart to see the young princess that way. Fury built up in Raina as she tried to push it back down.
'How could people be this evil?' Raina asked Luke.
'It's the Dark Side, Raina. Once you get a taste, it's with you forever and it just keeps growing in you until finally you become like the Emperor.' Luke said.
Just then, interrupting Luke and Raina's mind conversation, the two men walked over to them.
The one with light blond hair spoke for the first time. "My friend here, tells me you want to buy the girl off of us."
Luke nodded. "That's right. We're willing to pay fourteen-hundred credits for her."
"I don't believe I caught your name."
"Cliegg. Cliegg Starkiller and this is my partner Mara Jade."
The blonde man nodded. "A pleasure."
Raina politely nodded.
The blonde continued.
"That's quite a lot of credits. What are you two planning on doing with her after you take her from us?"
"We plan to take her to the Hutts. They're always looking for dancers and pay good money for em'." Luke told him.
The man nodded. "I see. How do we know you aren't just some New Republic spies?" He asked.
Luke scoffed. "You kiddin' me? You really think people in our kind of business would want to be involved with The New Republic? We've got enough people on our backs already." Luke said.
Raina nodded in agreement.
'They aren't buying it.' She spoke in Luke's mind.
'Patience. Give it time.' She heard Luke say.
"Hmm. . .I'll tell you what. In twenty-four hours the New Republic is supposed to make a trade with us. If they don't and it been twenty-four hours we'll sell her to you." The blonde man said.
The other man nudged him. "What about killing the girl publicly?"
"What do we get outta that? It'll be even better to have them in a panic when we don't even do that. Imagine how they would feel when they find out the precious princess Nima has disappeared."
Both of the spies chuckled and nodded.
"Yes. I think that would be better." The dark haired man agreed.
"Alright it's settled then. We give you the princess, but only after twenty-four hours is up."
Luke nodded and shook the blond haired man's hand. "
"Deal."