It was surprisingly early the next morning when the summons came. Mara made her way to the throne room, wondering what the Emperor could want so soon after yesterday's extended audience. Clarification on the report she'd filed last night? Maybe, but it had been such a routine mission, there really weren't any interesting details likely to catch his eye. A new mission already? That was unusual, but possible. She hoped that there would be time to talk to Luke before she left, if so.

Thinking of Luke meant thinking of Alderaan, and of Luke's proposition last night, and suddenly Mara felt physically ill. Don't think of it. Not a single thought, not a single reaction. It never happened.

She breathed deeply, calming herself as though she was about to go into battle. She could do this. Everything she did as Emperor's Hand involved staying calm in tricky situations, and even though the Emperor would sense if she had active shields up when she faced him, she'd certainly learned how to be a good actress during years of undercover work. Anyway, whatever he wanted to talk to her about, it was probably entirely routine.

Amedda was waiting for her in the hallway outside the throne room, something unusual enough to start a quiver of worry deep within, but she quelled it ruthlessly and entered the throne room at his gesture, another flash of worry igniting as she saw him close the door behind her as he stayed outside. Don't think about it.

She walked the long path from the door to the throne itself, then dropped to one knee and inclined her head. "My lord."

"My child," the Emperor replied. "Tell me, who were you with last night?"

Her hard-won calm shattered like thin ice beneath a hammer. Mara froze, staring at the floor, unable to lift her head. It was a long moment before she managed to take a breath to answer.

"My lord?" she asked, barely above a whisper.

"It's a simple enough question, child," the Emperor said, his voice cold. "Who is it that you've been meeting so clandestinely? Did you think I wouldn't find out?"

Mara looked up at him, suddenly desperate with fear. "I—" then stopped, knowing that to deny it would make everything worse. If that was possible. She swallowed hard. "My—my lord, it's only a TIE pilot I met at a reception—we were only talking—"

The Emperor raised a contemptuous eyebrow. "In secret? At such an hour? Do you think me a fool?"

A violent tremor ran through Mara. "No, my lord—"

"Let us have this understood between us, child," the Emperor said sharply, leaning forward. "You are young and foolish, but much has been invested in your training, and this is the first time you have given me reason to doubt your dedication, so you shall be given a chance to redeem yourself. I care nothing for your dalliances—" the word was dripping with contempt, and Mara felt dirty, and for a traitorous heartbeat she hated the Emperor, hated him for insinuating that her love for Luke could be something tawdry and indecent "—but if I ever again think, even for a moment, that your loyalties are divided, the consequences will be severe. Proceed with extreme caution, Mara. Consider each choice you make as though it could be your last."

He sat back again, his yellow eyes fixed on her, his expression harsh. The spark of hatred she'd felt dissolved into fear and she stared back at him, shivering uncontrollably, knowing she should respond but unable to form the words.

"Nothing to say?" he asked scornfully. "And to think of the rank you have been given, the responsibilities and privileges. If you wish to keep any of it, child, you will carry out this mission in an exemplary manner, with no hint of divided attention. Listen carefully. Bail and Breha Organa have been eliminated as a threat, but their daughter is still at large. Leia Organa is a leader of the Rebellion like her parents before her, and this warrants the death penalty. The Rebellion is Lord Vader's remit, but in the case of a young woman like the Princess, you are likelier to get close. She was seen on Kattada very recently. Go there immediately, and carry out my will. I expect you back as soon as possible, with a report of complete success. Now get out of my sight."

Mara was trembling so violently now that she nearly tipped over as she stood, but caught her balance at the last second, straining fear-tense muscles with the effort. "My lord," she whispered, and backed out of the throne room.

Amedda had disappeared from the hallway by the time she exited. The Royal Guard outside the door were motionless and inscrutable as always beneath their hoods and robes, but Mara could sense their interest as she passed. Small wonder, as she was still shaking visibly. She had to get control of herself. One did not wander the Imperial Palace in such a state, let alone someone of her rank, and there were people here in the Inner Court who would recognize her. To display vulnerability before people such as these was to paint a target on your own back. She knew this perfectly well—and she still couldn't stop the tremors.

She walked two hallways over from the throne room, eyes straight ahead, pretending she was fine, everything was fine, then there it was, the corner where she knew the security cameras didn't quite overlap. This was by design, and Mara made quick work of the hidden latch in among the elaborately carved wood panels, then slipped inside the secret tunnel, closing the door swiftly behind her. She got ten meters in before her knees gave way and she sank to the floor, arms wrapped tightly around herself in a futile attempt to stop the shivering.

The Emperor had never spoken to her like that before. She'd known, of course, that he could be harsh—but that was to traitors, to criminals and insurrectionists. She had never been anything but loyal and obedient. Never once had she shirked her duty or compromised her loyalty, not even for Luke—nor had Luke ever asked her to. The injustice burned, not merely injustice toward her, but toward him, and she found herself furiously angry on his behalf, even through her fear. He had never once asked her to do anything the Emperor would have disapproved of—

Mara stilled in a heartbeat, the shivering disappearing as though it had never been. He had never asked her to do anything the Emperor would have disapproved of—except the ultimate betrayal. And yet—

And yet, he'd only asked that after Alderaan. After the destruction of an entire planet, billions of people, a culture revered across the galaxy. And why had Alderaan been destroyed? "Bail and Breha Organa have been eliminated as a threat." The Emperor had admitted it to her openly. All of Alderaan, killed to eliminate two people. She had always before believed in the Emperor's wisdom and justice, but there was no way to defend this atrocity. And now he wanted her to assassinate the daughter of those two people, a girl hardly older than herself, who had just lost her parents and her entire world.

And he'd all but threatened her own life, as well—and for what? Mara had served loyally her entire life, she hadn't failed in any way, she had contravened no mandates. He had never forbidden her to have a friend, nor a romantic relationship. And he'd dismissed Luke and her love for him as though they were nothing, and he had no right.

He had no right. She was furious again, furious enough to think such blasphemy and mean it, with every cell, with every fiber of her being. Luke was the best person she'd ever known, he was kind and honest and open and generous and he loved her for her own sake and not what he could gain from her or use her for. How dare the man who could order the murder of an entire planet slander someone like Luke?

And even now Luke was probably waiting to hear from her, hoping she would choose to leave with him even at the cost of her service, her position, everything she'd ever known. And on the other side of the equation was the Emperor, who expected her to heartlessly discard Luke, return to a mechanical life empty of joy, and then return to report on another dutiful murder on his behalf.

Mara stood, and made her way through the passage to the floor where her apartments were located. By the time she entered the Palace proper again, twenty meters from her own door, her mind was made up.


In her apartment, Mara went to the refresher, where she splashed water on her face, then left the water running. She lifted a small towel from its rack but carefully let it slip from her hands, then crouched to retrieve it. Between the towel and the base of the sink, out of line of any of the possible cameras she now suspected might be in her quarters and with the water adding sonic cover, Mara quickly let her comm drop from her sleeve where she'd hidden it while in the secret passage into her hand and sent the emergency code to Luke, then tucked the comm back into her sleeve. Standing, she turned off the water, dried her face and hands, hung up the towel, and headed for her bedroom.

Once there, she opened her usual bag and surveyed its contents, grateful that she hadn't bothered to unpack last night. It still held a small but versatile assortment of clothes, a large stash of unregistered credit chits containing various amounts in various currencies, a datapad, a small blaster with extra power packs, her lightsaber, and a variety of IDs. Along with what was already in her ship, it would more than do.

She strapped her usual sleeve holster on and secured its blaster, and slung the bag over her shoulder. Without a second glance, Mara left her apartment for the last time.


Mara found Luke sitting under their usual tree in the park, gazing into the distance and drumming his fingers impatiently against his knee. He looked her way, and she saw his eyes go wide as he saw her bag.

She was walking swiftly enough that she was at his side almost before he stood up to greet her. "Are you still willing to defect?"

Luke inhaled sharply. "Are you?"

"We don't have time for this," she said impatiently. "Are you?"

He took her hand and held it tightly. "That depends on you, because I won't leave you."

She ferociously blinked back the tears that suddenly threatened. In the end the decision that had seemed so impossible was the easiest thing in the galaxy. Funny how that worked. "Yes, I'm going. But we have to do it right now, or we won't have another chance. Do you trust me?"

His eyes were combat-intense now. "You know I do."

"Do you trust the other pilots you were talking to about this?"

"Yes."

"Get them and meet me at the Galactic City spaceport in an hour, Krenth section, docking slip 98. Don't bring anything you don't absolutely need; I have the credits to replace whatever we leave behind once we're someplace safe. Make it look casual. If anyone suspects you before we're off-planet that's it. All our lives depend on getting a decent head start here."

Luke took a deep breath. "Right. I'll see you there. I love you."

Mara took his face in her hands and kissed him, hard. "I love you too," she said, stepping back. "Hurry."


Once Mara herself arrived at her ship, tucked quietly away in a slower part of the spaceport as always, she stowed her bag and made a show of all her usual mission prep, checking her weapons and data caches, running a preflight check, bringing up data on Kattada on her ship's data console and spending ten minutes pretending to read it. In truth, she should have spent that ten minutes actually reading it. Though she was no longer going there for the Emperor's reasons, she still should know the basics of the place if she wanted to achieve her own objectives. Her stomach was churning with uncharacteristic nerves, though, and she could only bring herself to pretend concentration, not summon the real thing. She could do that sort of prep work once they were well clear of Coruscant.

After she'd done all the things that would make this look routine if she was being watched, she went about eliminating the potential watchers by going again to her control console and pretending to run a final check on the hyperdrive. Ever so carefully, she bumped the next switch over from hyperdrive controls, disguising it as a clumsy lean on the panel. With her ship's jamming field activated, she initiated a hull scan, and grabbed the handheld scanner she'd casually dropped on the copilot's seat earlier. Galactic City was one of the slower large spaceports in the capital, and oversight tended to be somewhat lax, which was one of the reasons she often docked here. In her line of work it was far easier to stay inconspicuous in the first place rather than deal with the cleanup once you were noticed.

Hopefully that tendency toward neglect would work in her favor now, too. She ran a thorough scan for listening or tracking devices on the interior of the cockpit, then began working through the rest of the ship as quickly as she could. If the spaceport control was operating at its usual levels, she should have just long enough to complete her scan before they noticed the jamming and sent someone to check on it.

No one had approached the ship by the time she returned to the cockpit. She breathed a sigh of relief and switched off the jamming. The comm unit crackled to indignant life: "—port Control, you have initiated unauthorized jamming. Please discontinue. If this does not cease immediately, we will send a repair team to your docking slip."

"Sorry, Control," Mara replied, lacing her tone with embarrassment. "Hit the switch by mistake when I was running a routine check. Didn't realize it until just now. Jamming is discontinued."

There was a silence just long enough for her to imagine the controller rolling his eyes at the thought of such an incompetent pilot. "Copy. Please exercise more caution in the future."

"Copy, Control." Mara felt a surge of satisfaction—it had been a gamble to hope they'd make an attempt to break through the jamming before sending a team, but one that had paid off—and flicked off the comm. Just barely in time, as she sensed Luke's presence approaching. She left the cockpit to disembark, waiting beside the boarding ramp and as far under the ship itself as she could get, watching. It was only a couple of minutes before Luke approached, along with two other men. Mara found herself relieved; it wouldn't have been out of character for Luke to talk an entire squadron into something like this, and then what would she have done?

She stepped out of the shadow of the ramp and lifted a finger to her lips, then tilted her head toward the ramp. Luke and the others strolled directly aboard, a slight tension in the way they held their shoulders the only sign that they didn't belong. Mara was suddenly proud of his casual self-possession, and his presence of mind in choosing similarly sensible people to confide this plan to. Maybe they'd actually manage this after all. She glanced around, confirmed that no one was in sight to have witnessed their meeting, and went aboard herself.

Luke and the other two stood well to the side of the entrance, out of any line of sight from the outside. Luke raised his eyebrows at her as she entered and closed the ramp beside them. She shook her head slightly, put a finger to her lips again, and nodded toward her small conversation area. The three of them went to sit and strap in, and Mara headed back to the cockpit, strapping in herself and turning her comm on. "Control, this is DA-528491 in docking slip 98, requesting permission for departure."

"DA-528491, permission granted. Please follow the guide signal until you've cleared the atmosphere."

"Acknowledged," Mara said, and lifted off. She'd already programmed the jump coordinates into her navicomputer, and as soon as they'd cleared Coruscant's gravity well, she pushed the drive lever and they were in the relative safety of hyperspace. Mara sat back in her seat, closing her eyes and letting out a long breath. It was only the first step along a dangerous path, but now that they were off-planet, they at least had a chance.

She let herself sit and just breathe for another minute, then went back to the conversation area. All three men were still strapped in, but steadily watching for her arrival. "We're in hyperspace," she said—unnecessarily; pilots all, they surely already knew that as well as she did. Still, you had to start a conversation somehow. Luke silently raised his eyebrows at her again. "Oh, sorry. Yes, you can talk now. I checked for listening devices before you arrived, but I wanted to make sure we were in hyperspace first so if I missed one, it couldn't transmit until we were well away."

"That's my smart girl," Luke said, unstrapping himself.

Mara sighed. "Do you want to start this off by getting punched?"

Luke grinned irrepressibly at her, then sobered. "Why would you think your ship was bugged? Is it usually?"

"I have no idea," Mara said, the betrayal fresh enough to send a pang through her. "But since my apartment apparently is, it made sense to check my ship. He knew we'd met last night, Luke."

He didn't move, but his alarm spiked through the Force. "Did he—no, he couldn't have known what we talked about, or we'd never have made it off-planet."

Mara snorted, briefly amused despite herself. "If he'd known what we talked about, I'd never have gotten out of the throne room alive."

Luke stood and stepped forward to put his arms around her, and she allowed it despite the curious gazes of the other two men. "I'm sorry, Mara. I shouldn't have put you at risk that way."

Mara shrugged, then stepped back out of the embrace. "I'm the spy, not you. It was my mistake. But I didn't think—" She sighed. "I thought I was trusted. It never occurred to me that he'd be watching me, too."

A throat cleared behind them, and Luke turned back toward his friends. "Right, sorry. Mara, this is Hobbie Klivian and Tycho Celchu. Guys, this is Mara Jade."

"Pleased to meet you," Mara said, looking them over. They were both wearing somber expressions, but considering they'd all just put themselves under a death sentence if they were caught, that was probably to be expected. More compelling was the fact that Luke had chosen them to share his defection plans with, and to bring along when the opportunity arose. She trusted Luke's judgment, so she would trust them.

"Pleased to meet you as well," Tycho said.

"Throne room?" Hobbie asked.

Mara looked inquiringly at Luke, who shrugged at her. "There really wasn't time to explain all that." He turned back to the others. "Mara is—was—a special undercover agent for the Emperor."

Tycho and Hobbie blinked at him, then turned to stare at her. Mara shifted uncomfortably beneath their regard. She was used to seeing awe or even fear in people's eyes when she identified herself as the Emperor's Hand. It had never bothered her before—she'd in fact accepted it as her due—but now, seeing it from people Luke considered friends, it felt like a reproach. "Was," she said.

Hobbie looked back at Luke. "You didn't say she outranked us all. Let alone by that much."

"She can thoroughly kick your butt, too, so you'll want to be a good guest on her ship," Luke replied. "Like I said, there wasn't exactly time for long explanations."

"Why are you defecting, then?" Tycho asked her quietly.

Alderaanian. The word appeared fully formed in her head, for no reason that she could imagine, and Mara frowned briefly before realizing and looking toward Luke. His gaze on her was intent, and he flicked a glance at Tycho, then back at her.

"Oh," Mara said.

"'Oh,' what?" Hobbie asked.

"Nothing," Mara said, then turned cautiously toward Tycho. "The same reason all of you are. I didn't know about the Death Star until Luke told me. If that's what the Empire is, then I don't want to serve it any longer."

Tycho nodded silently.

"So where are we going?" Luke asked, glancing at Tycho again with concerned eyes before taking Mara's hand and drawing her toward the conversation area to sit back down with the other two.

"Kattada," Mara said. "That's how I had the opportunity to leave: the Emperor ordered me there."

Hobbie frowned at her. "Am I missing something? We're defecting by going where the Emperor expects you to be?"

Mara smiled tightly. "What better way to give us a head start? Clearly he has no qualms about spying on me. If he's watching me now and I don't show up at Kattada, he'll start looking for me right away. But if he's watching me and I do show up at Kattada and leave a trail that makes it look like I'm following orders, then we have some breathing room."

"What are your orders?" Luke asked quietly. There wasn't a hint of accusation in either his voice or his Force sense, but Mara felt flooded with guilt regardless.

"I'm supposed to find and assassinate a target," she answered, just as quietly. "Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan."

Tycho looked up sharply, his distant air gone in an instant. "The Princess? She survived?"

"She did," Mara said. "According to the Emperor, the Queen and the Viceroy were leaders of the Rebel Alliance, and so is the Princess." She glanced at Luke. "I do plan to find Leia Organa. I plan to find her and offer our services."

Luke smiled at her, a proud smile that warmed her almost as much as the affection he was radiating through the Force. She smiled back, then turned to the other two. "Once we land, we'll need to move quickly. We need to be as far away from Coruscant as we can by the time the Emperor realizes I'm not coming back, whether we're with the Rebellion by that point or still following Leia Organa's trail, and there are things that have to be done before we can leave Kattada. Here's what I'm going to need from each of you…"