Chapter Text
27 ABY
The Holonet message came through the communications console with an urgent beep. Mara glanced up from the datapad in her lap, saw the message was a general news update, and returned to her work. The rest of the galaxy could wait for her to catch up on the news; Karrde could not wait for her report on the unstable ore prices in the outer rim. On the other side of the cockpit of her ship, the Jade's Fire, Rey sat in the co-pilot's seat, humming to herself as she pretended to help fly. Although knowing her daughter, there was probably little pretending involved. The girl wore a gray jumpsuit cut similarly to her mother's black one, and her brown hair was pulled back into her favorite three-bun style, a way to distinguish herself from her mother's no-nonsense red ponytail.
Another message pinged, this time on Mara's datapad. She frowned when she saw it had been sent by Han Solo. She had a rule never to ignore a call from family, no matter how busy she was, so she closed her report and opened the transmission. Her frown grew deeper when a small hologram of Han projected from her datapad, wearing his standard racing gear. She and Han got along well, often commiserating about the realities of being married to Skywalkers, but they weren't the type to exchange holocomm calls while on business. Hell, she rarely exchanged holocomm calls with her own husband, but that was mostly due to the problem of him being out of range all the time. Like right now.
A horrible chill ran down Mara's spine. Her expression must have changed because Han immediately held up his hands and said, "Luke is okay. At least, I think he is."
Mara restrained her sigh of relief. Rey was watching her and she didn't want to make her daughter nervous. Rey was much too sensitive for a child barely in her teens; yet another reason Mara wished Rey would accept her father's offer of Jedi training instead of shying away from the Force. Plus, the lines in between Han's eyes indicated something else was wrong. "What's going on, then? I'm assuming this isn't a social call, or you would have wiped the grease from your cheek."
Han glanced toward where Rey was sitting. "Are you alone?"
"Rey, can you go in the back and check on the hyperdrive motivator?" Mara said without hesitation.
It was a lame excuse to get Rey out of the cockpit, but her daughter would much rather play mechanic than listen to adults talk about galactic affairs. She was much different from her cousin that way. "Sure, Mom." Rey waved to her uncle before sprinting out of the cockpit.
When she was gone, Mara used the Force to close and lock the door. She turned back to the hologram and crossed her arms over her chest, both to ward off the chill running down her spine and any bad news Han messaged to impart. "What is it?"
Han sighed. From the background, Mara could tell he was sitting in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon. There was no sign of Chewie, or Leia, or even Lando. "I take it you haven't checked the Holonet lately."
She tried to avoid the Holonet lately, what with the resurgence of First Order attacks. She'd rather hear all the bad news from Luke the next time she returned to Ossus. "I've been busy working on a job for Karrde."
"Leia hasn't called you?"
"No, why would she?" Mara wasn't due back on Hosnian Prime for another week, at least, and the last time she spoke to Leia, she was busy campaigning--or rather, trying to get out of campaigning--for the First Senator position. "Are you sure nothing's wrong with Luke?"
"To be honest, I'm not sure. You would know better than me."
I'm not so certain about that anymore, Mara thought. The rise of the First Order and its new leader, Supreme Leader Snoke, was clouding the Force in a way she hadn't experienced since Palpatine. She pushed those old memories aside and waited for Han to speak again.
When he did, he sounded angrier than Mara had ever heard him. "You ever heard of Senator Casterfo?"
"Yeah, Leia's complained about him a few times." That was putting it mildly. "He's some sort of Empire worshipper."
"Somehow he found out about Vader. And he announced it in the middle of a senate session." Han pressed a button outside the pickup range. "I just sent you the news report."
Mara brought it up on the ship's console. She had to remind herself to breathe as Casterfo blurted out Leia's biggest secret to the entire senate--no, to the entire galaxy. Somehow Leia managed to exude poise as she rose and confirmed the horrible revelation: that Darth Vader was her, and Luke Skywalker's, father.
It was Leia's worst fear come to life. Mara had never wanted to kill anyone more than she wanted to kill Casterfo at that moment. But that wasn't the Jedi way. Mara clenched her fists. Maybe Leia was right in not going through with her training.
She took a deep breath. "How the hell did that little twerp find out about it?"
"I don't know. I haven't been able to get a hold of Leia yet. I knew you were on your way and was hoping you could talk to her."
"I'm still a few days out. I don't know how much good it will do by then." She paused, as another thought crossed her mind. "Did Ben hear about it yet?"
Han's lips thinned. He glared at his feet. Hiding the truth about Vader had been the biggest point of contention in the Skywalker and Solo families. Some asshole blurting out the truth was exactly the reason Luke had argued to tell their children the truth from the first moment they could understand. "I'm not sure yet," Han said. "I haven't been able to get a hold of him. I'm hoping that means the Holonet can't get a hold of him right now, either."
Mara nodded. She needed to contact Luke as soon as possible and warn him.
There was a knock at the door. "Can I come in yet?" Rey called, her voice muffled through the bulkhead.
"Kriff," Han said. "She didn't--"
"No," Mara said, rubbing her face with her hand. "She didn't hear anything." Not that it mattered. She was suddenly very glad her daughter was so good at keeping secrets. "I have to go. If you talk to Leia, tell her... tell her everything will be okay." The words sounded hollow to Mara's ears but she didn't know what else to say.
Han nodded, said good-bye, and cut the connection. A few seconds later Rey bounded into the cockpit. "The motivator's all fine." She stopped short when she saw the look on her mother's face. "Wait. What's wrong?"