Title: Echoes of Always
Timeline: post-LotF, pre-FotJ AU
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, but I certainly love them.
Notes: This is definitely a labor of love. I wrote it for 2011's Nanowrimo, so other than a few scenes that still need to be written/fixed, the story is done. I will post a new chapter every Monday until the story is complete. There are three interludes that I will post periodically and will let you know on the Monday before they go up. Thanks must go to JediMara77 and Jade_Pilot for plotting and beta excellence.

CHAPTER 1

The cantina was loud, raucous. Luke Skywalker drew his hood further over his head and suppressed a sigh. Han liked to joke that they were too old for this, thisbeing anything he didn't feel particularly up to doing at the moment. And Luke most definitely did not feel up to this. He wasn't some CSF agent whose job was to pull low level criminals off the street. In fact, he wasn't sure why he had been called into this job, but figured it was like all the other jobs he'd been called into over the years—when a Jedi was needed, quite often not just any Jedi would do. Only he or a handful of others were ever asked for by name. And though he didn't like to play favorites or allow himself to be used, it was a very different thing when the Chief of State called in a favor to the Jedi.

Sidling up to the bar he ordered a drink in hopes of fitting in. Forty years on and he still knew that he was out of place in a cantina, probably more so now. And this cantina made Chalmun's look tame in comparison. He was quite sure he could see at least eight different illegal activities in his line of sight, and he didn't even want to think about what a Twi'lek barmaid was up to when she suddenly knelt down and crawled under a table.

As it was, Luke didn't care about Twi'lek barmaids or any of the other petty criminals in the pub. He was looking a specific man who was in a closed door private party. For a man with a billion credit secret and a price on his head from the GFFA, Marse Naelli had been surprisingly easy to find. It seemed that he had a bit of a gambling addiction and, under the persuasive guidance of a mind trick, his bookie had given up his address with barely a glazed look in his eye. The non-descript apartment rented in his name in Lower Coruscant had been empty, but after stopping at several local cantinas Luke had found the man he was looking for and was preparing to arrest him as soon as the party broke up. There was no use in biting off more than he could chew. He could take out at least a small group on his own, but his impulsiveness had dimmed somewhat with age and he was content to wait with a drink while Citizen Naelli blithely gambled away his last moments of freedom.

As the door of the party swung open, Luke cast out with the Force, determining little danger coming from any inhabitants of the room. Conniving, maybe, but not particularly dangerous. Mara always liked to tease that his danger sense wasn't fully formed, and she wasn't far from wrong. Sometimes he also wondered about his own danger sense. As always, the thought of Mara made him pause for a moment, thinking of her by his side as he took on this lowly assignment. "A Farmboy in a bar?" she would have joked, probably.

Would have.

Pushing that thought aside, he remembered to keep a clear head. No use in messing up this operation. He was only to be in and out, arrest Citizen Naelli, take him to CSF booking, and return home to his empty apartment.

Naelli barely looked up as he left the cantina, and Luke followed after a moment, hastily dropping some creds on the counter. He went out the back exit and followed around two buildings until he found Naelli walking towards a connecting skywalk. There was no need to drag it out any further. "Citizen Marse Naelli," he said, coming up behind him, "you're under arrest for crimes against the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances." He stated his own name and authorization, waiting for Naelli to react.

To his credit, Naelli didn't run. He turned and looked at Luke with an upraised brow. "Luke Skywalker sent to arrest me? I'm honored."

Luke pulled out a pair of stun cuffs. "Place your hands out where I can see them," he said, drawing closer.

Naelli put a hand into his overcoat instead. The snap-hiss of Luke's lightsaber was loud in the darkened street, the green glow of the blade ominous. "Put your hands where I can see them," Luke ordered again.

The short little man complied this time, quickly removing his hand from his coat. He held a small black device in one hand.

Luke sharpened his senses and looked at the object Naelli was holding, hardly bigger than a standard datapad. It didn't appear to be a weapon of any sort, but he had been warned that Naelli had special means to escape and that's why a Jedi was needed to arrest him. Naelli starting tapping against the object and Luke deactivated and dropped his saber to his side, springing forward, moving faster than Naelli could track with his eyes. Luke grabbed the man's hand and removed the object. He held it immobile in the air as he pulled Naelli's arms behind his back and cuffed him. Following CSF protocol he began reciting a list of Naelli's rights under Coruscant Law. It was all over in a matter of seconds.

"No wonder they sent a Jedi," Naelli muttered.

Luke paid him little attention, grabbing the device and walking forward, forcing Naelli to move toward Luke's waiting speeder. Reaching the speeder, Luke tossed the object into the front passenger seat and waved his hand toward the back door, using a simple Force command to open it.

"Careful with that!" Naelli said, nodding his head towards the device.

"Your property will be fine, Citizen Naelli," Luke said, pushing him down and into the sealed back of the speeder. "You'll get it back once you've served the time for your crime."

"And what crime is that?" Naelli muttered through the speaker in the transparisteel that separated the front from the back of the CSF speeder.

Luke didn't answer, as Naelli knew the answer to his own question. Naelli's rights had been read to him and once he was delivered to the CSF offices, he wouldn't be Luke's problem any longer.

Accelerating, Luke turned towards the judicial center to drop off his burden. He queued into a skylane and muttered a mild oath under his breath as he noticed a wreck ahead of them. Dropping out of that lane and around several buildings he headed in a longer and less direct direction toward their destination.

Naelli was quiet in the back and Luke took a moment to glance over at the apparatus that meant so much to the criminal. It looked non-descript, black with a small screen.

"Wondering what that is?" Naelli asked.

Luke didn't answer.

"I should have used it to leave before you found me." Silence again filled the cab until Naelli spoke again. "You're tougher than I thought. That device there, it can give you anything you want. Anything. And I might just be willing to let you use it…if you let me go."

Luke still didn't speak. He kept his eyes on the skylanes, though he could have driven blindfolded and Naelli probably knew that. Most sentients knew that about Jedi.

"Look," Naelli said with a small sigh, "isn't there anything you want? I don't want to go to prison for crimes that I…well, let's just say that I don't think the government wants me for the extortion and murder they're claiming I committed."

Luke kept driving.

"Gods, man. Kriffin' Jedi patience. You're not listening to what I'm telling you. That device…it can give us both what we want. It will give me a way out of this situation and you…what do you want? Money? Power?" He shrugged in the backseat. "I guess I can't pander to you like a normal man."

Naelli quieted for a moment before expelling a breath of air. "I know what you want. You want your wife."

"What did you say?" Luke asked sharply, ignoring a tick that made his cheek jump.

"I just remembered that you were married. And didn't she die a couple of years back? I know if I were married to someone as hot as her…"

The speeder slammed to a stop, dropping under a building overhang. Darkness saturated the car and Luke watched humorously as Naelli drew in a quick breath as if realizing who he was alone with in the speeder, separated only by transparisteel. "Look, I'm sorry," Naelli quickly said, tripping over his words. "I didn't mean to disrespect your wife. Hey—I mean, I'm giving you the chance to be with her again!"

"I don't make deals," Luke said, but made no move to drive off again.

"Well, this would be a deal we could both appreciate, Master Jedi. That device there—it's worth more to me than anything I've ever had. The things I've been able to do with it…been able to amass…"

"From what I've seen you're a low-level criminal with a shabby apartment, a bookie who doesn't care if you live or die, and hundreds of creds in gambling debt. Not to mention the price on your head."

"Well, you know why I have that price on my head, don't you?" Naelli asked.

"You've said it yourself Citizen. Extor—"

"No!" Naelli cut him off. "You know those are not the reasons. I'm being framed so that the government can have my secret. You know that just as well as I do. Aren't Jedi supposed to be able to discern the truth? Am I lying?"

"I'm not playing these games with you." Luke revved the engine and headed back into traffic. "We've wasted enough time as it is."

"The key to being with your wife again is right there next to you," Naelli said. "It would be so easy. The simple touch of the screen—I've already programmed in the jump I'm planning to take—and you could have something that all your Jedi powers can't give you."

"No," Luke said. "My wife is gone. And your machine can't bring her back."

"It can't bring her back, but it could take you to her. Listen, I might as well tell you. You can't make a deal if I'm not showing all my sabacc cards. The secret—and I'm assuming they didn't tell you exactly what it was—is that my device can send you to other realities. That's how I amassed all my wealth—that 'shabby' apartment is only my front. I have more wealth than you can imagine. I've seen things—been places—do you think this is the only reality Skywalker? You, of all people, should know that it's not."

Luke was silent again, queuing into the traffic heading into the judicial center.

"Look," Naelli tried again, talking quickly, "all you have to do is let me go. You and I—we could jump this reality together. What's really keeping you here? I've certainly outworn my welcome. We could jump into another realm and you could find your wife…. She'd be there, I'm sure of it. And if not, it only takes twenty-four standard hours for this thing to recharge and we could try again. Come on, Master Skywalker. These crimes have been pinned on me, and you—you could have so much more if you just let me go."

"Your empty promises mean nothing to me." Luke's voice was strained and tired. "I'll be turning over you and the device to authorities. If what you say is true—"

"If what I say is true, how can you hand me over? I did not murder anyone. I am not an extortionist. I merely use my resources carefully."

Luke nodded slowly. "And the gambling?"

"What? You don't have a hobby? It's juvenile, but I like it. I like the chance of it all. But it never really matters, anyway. I'm usually only in one place long enough to get what I want, and then I leave."

"And the Mirialan you murdered?"

Naelli groaned. "You're not listening to me, man. I did not kill anyone. I didn't even know her, here or in any other place. It's a scam so that the government can get their hands on that machine. It's just… Let's say that I have something they want, and they're going to get it from me anyway they can."

Luke pulled to the back landing pad of CSF headquarters. A door opened and two armed droids exited. "If that was true you would have left here before now. Hold your hands out and prepare to exit the vehicle," he said, breaking a long silence.

"You mean you don't even want to think about my offer?" Naelli exclaimed.

Luke didn't answer, but exited the speeder. The back door was opened and Naelli was taken out, the droids searching him for weapons. Luke drew up his hood and watched.

"Any other items taken from his person?" One of the silver droids asked Luke.

"Yes," Luke said, watching as the hopeful look on Naelli's face crumpled. "But I'll enter it into evidence."

"As you wish," the droids monotoned and turned to march Naelli into the building.

"Hey, Skywalker," Naelli yelled. "What about my offer? Don't you want to—"

The doors to the security center closed on his words. Luke reached into the speeder to pick up the item Naelli seemed to believe was so highly prized by the heads of the GFFA. He passed it from hand to hand before turning to walk it into the CSF evidence room.