Mara Jade couldn't help but notice that her new cell was somewhat nicer than her old one. A cabinet containing a fresher and sonic shower lay in the corner, while the bunk she laid on was certainly more comfortable than the imperial-issue one. Much like with the interrogation room, the cells had better glowpanels. Although the food was almost as tastless as the one at palace.

It didn't matter. She had never been reliant on luxury or much of anything. She was trained to make do.

The subtle, almost inaudible hum of the energy barrier seemed to remind her of the irony of her current predicament. She almost couldn't belive that she had managed to escape the Empire, only to end up captured by the Rebels. Luck or will of the force, it was rotten all the same.

She wasn't even sure she cared at this point. She didn't believe in the current empire with its dwindling strength, she didn't believe in what the idealistic fools wanted, and she wasn't even sure she believed in the old empire anymore. Assuming she ever had.

The way she saw it, whomever ruled the Galaxy was almost inconsequential to most of its inhabitants. So,she would never serve anyone again. Only herself.

But she wouldn't cave in to the rebellion's demands just yet. She needed a card that would get her her freedom first.

She was surprised to hear a recognisable electronic sound as the energy barrier was shut down. She sat up in her bunk and craned her head, only to see a familiar thorn in her side nodding at one of the guards.

"I knew you'd come here eventually." she said cockily as she folded her arms around her chest "Seems Cracken finally decided to send his mighty jedi to succeed where he failed."

"The general doesn't know I'm here." he said with a disturbing earnest smile. "And I am not here on alliance business."

She studied him for a second, trying to tell if he was lying, before giving up. "Then what brings the great Luke Skywalker to my humble cell?"

He ignored her obvious sarcasm and sat cross-legged on the floor. "When we met on the ring, you said I killed Palpatine."

"And you said it was Vader." she half-snapped at him "And I said it wasn't possible because that would be suicide to him. Any particular reason you decided to come reminisce with me?"

"I just wanted you to know that Vader was tired of him." he said with a sense of regret "Tired of the evil he committed. Which was why Vader chose to save me when he attacked."

Mara snorted. How naive did he think she was? "So, you're telling me that Darth Vader of all people had a change of heart? And gave his life to save you? Do you honestly expect me to believe that?"

"No" he said defeatingly "Not now, at least. But I felt you needed to know the truth."

She gave him her best sabacc face as she continued to assess him. "And why would you care what some prisoner thinks?" she asked skeptically. Was this some feeble attempt at gaining her trust? He had to have known she wouldn't believe him.

The almost-sheepish smile returned. "I thought it might give you closure. Help you let go of anger. I know from experience that uncertainty is exhausting."

"Anger towards you?" she asked curiously. This couldn't possibly be a ploy because he was afraid of her, could it?

"If that is who you're angry at." he said calmly.

Despite her intensive training at reading people, Skywalker remained an enigma to her. Much to her frustration. "Then why didn't you kill him? Assuming you're telling the truth."

"If I could've, I probably would've killed him." he said, much to her surprise. That didn't sound like someone trying to win her over. "But the people I cared about were dying." he continued "I couldn't risk fighting him and ending up like Vader to save them"

"Do you really think you're better than Vader?" she challenged "You probably killed with one shot as many as he did in his entire life. Or do you truly think that everyone on the death star was like Tarkin?

He scoweled as she sensed regret and anger, although she couldn't tell to whom the later was directed. "No. But after Alderaan, I didn't exactly have a choice. We couldn't leave that thing with the Empire when it was willing to murder innocents with it."

Mara's sabacc face held, although she couldn't argue with that. "If you had the chance, would you do it again? Knowing that everyone there was someone's friend or child or lover?"

She saw doubt flash across his eyes, but he quickly steeled himself. "I would. If I had no other choice."

She found herself strangely compelled to believe his remorse. His fear of being like the very thing he fought against. She recognized the look of a man trying to numb his conscious with justifications, but not entirely succeeding despite knowing that his cause was just.

You will kill Luke Skywalker

She grabbed her head as a wave of pain and rage hit her. Cold chilled her very soul, like it did every time she heard his voice.

She opened her eyes to see convincing concern on Skywalker's face. "What just happened?" he asked.

"Nothing." she said bitterly. She didn't need or want his false sympathy.

"That's not what I sensed." he said with a hint of fear. "I sensed Palpatine. But it...wasn't his presence. "

She glared daggers at him. "I believe your business here is over."

Taking the cue. He nodded and stood to leave. He paused at the door, however, and turned around. "I'll find a way to help you. I promise." he said with visible determination, and suddenly she felt as if her soul was exposed. As if he already knew what was happening.

She laid down on her bunk after he left. constantly replaying the conversation. Searching for any hint of his hidden intentions. For the idea of him not having one unnerved her.

-O-

Han Solo was many things: a hero of the rebellion, a dashing scoundrel, a natural leader and a pilot like no other. But while those qualities certainly applied to him - to an extent at least - he had a tendency to exaggerate them. The same also applied to the abilities of his beloved ship. For while the Millennium Falcon was indeed the fastest, well-armed hunk of junk in the Galaxy, it had a tendency to require constant….maintenance.

Which was why Leia wasn't surprised to hear the usual mixture of corellian curses and wookiee growls as ascended the ramp.

She walked into the cargo Bay to find Chewie welding something in an opened panel in the wall. "This is third fried motivator this month!" Han said irritably as he wiped grease from his forehead with a handkerchief "I think we need to change the life support's converters."

Leia grinned and made an ahem sound. The former smuggler turned around with on of his own lopsided grins. "Leia!" he nearly shouted as he rushed to hug her, stopping awkwardly as he noticed her white dress and his own greasy state. "When did you get back?"

"We just touched down in the hanger." Leia said "I have an hour before the debriefing, so I thought I'd check and see what part of the Falcon needs to be changed today."

Chewbacca barked something and wrapped her up in a wookiee hug. "It's good to see you too, Chewie." she said cheerily, noting that the hug didn't leave her breathless this time.

"So, how was Naboo?" Han asked "I knew someone who'd spent a week there once and couldn't shut up about it."

Chewie growled and barked a long laugh. "Neither will you, furball" Han said indignantly. She had missed their banter "It was beautiful, but we didn't get to see much of it. We mostly stayed at the Palace."

"The perks of being among the Empire's most wanted" Han said wryly "Tell you what; I'll hit the sonics and prepare some shaak stakes and brandy for dinner. Maybe then you can finally give me the answer to the big question."

Leia's face dropped at that. "Han...You know I'm still not ready"

The corellian gave a scowl deeper than any she had ever seen on him. "That's what you said last time." he said with a hurt that almost made her wince "When are you going to b ready? Because I'm startin' to think you may never be."

"I don't know." she said defensively "Perhaps when the war is over. But not now."

"The war could take decades, Leia." he said indignantly "Is this you talking or Mothma?"

"Mon has nothing to do with this!" she nearly shouted. "This is my choice. And you're not owed an answer, laser brain."

"Well, maybe I'll take back the question." he shouted back, but Leia sensed his immediate regret. "Since I'm not good enough for a princess like your worshipfulness."

She huffed "You don't know what you're talking about." She'd thought he was past those ideas.How could he say that?

"Oh, I understand perfectly." he said with mock sympathy. "Now that it came to this, you're having second thoughts. Because a princess can never be with a corellian scrumrat."

"If you really believe that, then it's probably a good thing I never gave you an answer" she said calmly, her pride causing her to ignore their mutual pain.

"I joined the blasted rebellion for you." he said with a sorrow that nearly broke her heart "I came to believe in it, sure, but I did everything for you. And you made me think you felt the same about me."

Leia used a calming technique Luke had shown her. It was only barely effective. "I think we both need a break before we're ready to talk about this."

Relief seemed to practically flood from him, alongside a flicker of hope. He'd been terrified this would be the end and Leia found that endearing and disappointing. Chewie gave a soft moan and placed his paw on his best friend's shoulder. Han just nodded in an almost sheepish way.

As she turned to leave, Leia hesitated and twisted her head towards him. "I'm not throwing us away, Han."

This time he did give a sheepish half-smile. "Hopefully, me neither, Princess."

-O-

Luke sometimes wondered how things would've went had he found Master Nu's library before Hoth and Dagobah. During those years before meeting Yoda, Luke had desperately searched for any scraps of jedi knowledge, only to run into one dead end after another. Be it the Empire cracking down on Grakkus the Hutt's collection or the Rur A.I being an imposter, it had seemed that the force itself was throwing setbacks at him back then.

It turned out it merely had its own timings. Or so he liked to think at least.

Jocasta Nu's library, however, was a proper compensation for all the disappointments. The jedi librarian had managed to save considerable data and several holocrons during the sacking of the great temple. Some of the holocrons he found were recordings of her own knowledge, while salvaged data was turned into holobooks.

The lore she'd saved covered a great deal about subjects Luke had always been hungry to explore; including the history of the order throughout the birth of the Republic, the Mandalorian and Sith wars and the beginning of the clone wars, different meditation techniques, instructions on mental communication and manipulation, and the evolution of jedi philosophy and lightsaber forms across different eras….among several others.

But given the circumstances, he was currently interested in mind healing.

He had recognised Palpatine's touch. Not his presence, but traces of it that flared within her. Reading through the stories of the great sith war, he'd found mentions of sith who could break the minds of jedi and soldiers nearly beyond repair. Indeed, some had never recovered from the mental assaults.

One case that'd caught his attention, mentioned a republic commando who'd assassinated jedi master Sev Drognar. Apparently, a command had been planted in his subconscious by a sith named Darth Atrius during the capture of his battalion, which had later been liberated by jedi and Republic forces.

It had taken him a week to discover that thread - and he'd been studying the library for nearly three months now - but he was yet to find instructions on the actual healing procedures. His final hope for the moment lay in the cubic object in front of him.

The last conflict between the jedi and the sith took place more than a thousand years ago. As thus, the mind healing arts had grown less prominent among the jedi teachings by the time of the purge. The order had still managed to preserve them from what he could tell, but he was yet to locate them.

According to the holobooks, the holocron in front of him belonged to a time when the sith were plentiful. The device had snake-like engravings that maintained a certain uniformity, as opposed to the more linear markings of the more recent ones. It seemed to match the markings made around the battle of Ruusan.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor of Mon Mothma's 'vault', Luke reached out and gently judged the device with the force. The cube levitated before fragmenting into shards and prisms that scattered to project a holographic screen.

Luke narrowed his eyes at the titles. Basics of Niman, Records of the battle of Nystar, A case for the application of Juyo….some of them were tempting to open, but he tried to focus…..

He pinched the bridge of his nose as he surrendered to a train of thought that had bothered him for a while now; there was more than meets the eye when it came to how he found Nu's collection.

Aphra hadn't been there by chance. Luke had asked her how she'd ended up on Oddonis prime during the trip to Haruun Kal. She had told him of a message she'd received that indicated the temple's location. Something about his own vision also seemed strange in hindsight. Like it hadn't come directly from the force.

There was also the disc he'd found there. Aphra had said it wasn't ancient, which meant someone had placed it there long after the temple was abandoned.His guess was that someone had sent them both to Oddonis, leaving there the disk that would lead them to Nu's library. But why not send them directly to Haruun Kal? And why help him at all? Was that person friend or foe?

Was that person even alive?

He grew frustrated once again. If Yoda was still around, Luke would've earned himself a lecture about quieting his mind to hear the force clearly. Taking a deep breath, he sank into its soothing currents.

And his world exploded again.

He was standing inside yet another temple, except that one didn't look old. It actually seemed inhabited and well-maintained. Outside the doorway were two jedi with their backs to the door. Their movement was graceful as they deflected blaster bolts from battle droids, while the clones around them traded fire with the B1 and B2 units. Although the jedi and their allies were outnumbered, they stood their ground.

And then the largest Zabrak he had ever seen strode into battle.He had yellow skin and strange tattoos that seemed to cover his entire body. In his hand was a blade that seemed to glow with a malignant energy. He charged into battle with primal rage.

Luke stood helplessly as the Zabrak brutally killed the jedi and their clones. His strength was overwhelming to them, and despite his reckless abandon, he had a subtle skill that spoke of a seasoned warrior. Luke watched in horror as he slashed the Nautolan jedi and stood among the bodies. The warrior raised his arms and gave a deafening cry of triumph.

Then the tip of a spear pierced through his chest.

Luke's shock mirrored the Zabrak's as he stared at his own impaled chest, blood leaking from his twin hearts. His eyes dimmed as dropped to the ground, revealing the being who'd stabbed him from the back. To Luke's surprise, the alien seemed to resemble the same reptilian beings from his vision on Oddonis prime. He had the same grey scales and muscular build, although he was somewhat shorter than Luke, and he wielded a spear that resembled the ones with the warriors in his vision.

The being inspected the dead zabrak with stoic detachment. Like an artesian examining his work and deeming it satisfactory. He raised his head to inspect the temple, before lowering it to meet Luke's gaze.Luke took a step back in surprise, and was shocked to see the being greet him with a toothy grin. The young jedi was suddenly certain the alien was not a part of the vision. He was the one who sent it.

A sharp breath escaped Luke as he found himself back at 'the vault'. The holocron was still activated, the title Teachings of the Ordu Aspecto Heretics highlighted on the display.

What happened disturbed him deeply, and he struggled to remain calm. The being was toying with him, he didn't doubt that. But the alien's motivations remained unclear. Luke still recognized an invitation when he saw one.

This time he wasn't told where to go, because the being knew his exploits. Luke recognized the place in the vision as the Temple of Eedit on Devaron. He had taken one of his earliest steps in the force within it's halls. The being was luring him again. And this time, he'd likely be waiting for him.

And this time, Luke would be ready for him.

Steeling himself, he scrolled through the holocron again, and grinned at the title he found.

The teachings of mind healing by Master Raan Zanadar.Author's Notes:A relatively quick update this time, although the chapter isn't long. Some pretty deep cut references to The Clone Wars, Doctor Aphra comics, Star Wars annual #4 and more. Did you catch them all?As usual, let me know what you think. likes/dislikes/thoughts/criticisms...it will mean the world. The reviews are my fuel and help get the next chapter here faster. Even negative ones are better than none.