"No hidden smuggler compartments big enough to fit us both?" Luke asked hopefully.

Mara answered heavily, "No. I never had enough time to install the blasted things."

"What about the escape pods?" Luke inquired, his voice rising a few notches.

"Hitting puberty a little late there, pal?" Mara questioned, trying to lighten the atmosphere, which was thick with Luke's fear and Mara's apprehension.

But Luke ignored Mara's barb, staring pointedly at her. "Well?"

"No, Skywalker. Escape pods are not an option."

"Sithspit," he hissed under his breath.

"What—you can't wave your magic Jedi wand and teleport us out of this place?"

Luke smiled halfheartedly. "Only if you'll put on a Genie outfit and do the Dance of the Seven Veils."

Mara rolled her eyes. "Looks like we aren't going to be teleporting anytime soon."

"And the only dancing we'll be doing shall probably be at the mercy of an Imperial Interrogation droid," Luke snarled. He was growing even more nervous than he had thought possible.

"Nice to know you haven't lost any of your ever-lasting optimism."

"And your cynicism seems to still be in full-force," Luke returned.

"Nice to know we complement each other so well...Now, if only we could figure out a way how to disguise ourselves from whoever is about to come right through that door, since we have just been forced to land on a krethin' docking—"

"Mara!" Luke quieted her. Once he had her attention, he spoke, "Unarm yourself. Put your two regular blasters, your pocket blaster, your vibroblade, your grenades, and your other weapons in the secret compartment under the pilot's chair...But keep your lightsaber. They'll be suspicious if you're unarmed."

"What if I don't want—Hey! How did you know about my hiding spot?"

"I, uh, saw it in a dream once?" Luke quickly changed the subject. "Please, just do it."

Mara stared at him, making no move to put her weapons up.

"Do I have to get them for you?" Luke asked in frustration, moving wickedly towards the vibroblade that he knew she had hidden in her bra.

"That's all right, farmboy! Don't get too touchy-feely." Mara held her hands up to bar him, and she removed the 'safe' weapons from her person. Then she turned around to get the weapons that were hidden in more private places.

She shoved the weapons under the pilot's chair just as the door whisked open.

In came several weapon-bearing Stormtroopers and...

Yes...It was him.

One of the Stormtroopers ordered, "You shall bow before your new emperor, Rebel scum!"

Mara spat at him and sneered, "Fat chance of that happening in this lifetime."

But she was backhanded, something that was not typical for a Stormtrooper to do.

Luke rushed forward and tried to launch himself at the Stormtrooper.

"You'll find he's not a typical Stormtrooper."

Reluctantly, Luke and Mara turned to the man that the Stormtrooper had called emperor.

The alien skeptically stared at the male human for a few moments. "The ship, you got where?"

The old man shrugged. "The person I got it from will no longer need it."

The alien's eyes narrowed, "Hurt someone, you did not?"

"No, I didn't hurt anyone."

"Hmph. Trustworthy enough for her, it is?"

The man nodded. "It is equipped with weapons just in case, and we shall have to cloak it when she—"

"I'm done packing," the woman in question said softly as she entered the room.

"Good." The man smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes. "Let's go," he lightly tugged at her arm, but she turned to him, eyes flaring slightly.

"We?"

"Yes. I'm going with you."

"No."

"It's too dangerous for you to go alone."

"And if you go with me, it might all fall apart," she countered.

"But how are you supposed to get int—" the man was cut off.

"I have more than enough experience with disguising myself, Obi-Wan."

"Yoda!" the Jedi pleaded, hoping to have someone on his side.

The alien closed his eyes, and Obi-Wan waited with bated breath for his answer. Opening them, Yoda sighed. "Right, she is. Best, her way could be."

Kenobi mumbled under his breath, "You were supposed to agree with me."

"But drop him off at Tatooine, you should," the little green man answered. "Quick access to a vehicle, he might need, should things spiral out of control."

"Fine," the woman agreed reluctantly.

Glad that he was at least allowed to do that much, Obi-Wan Kenobi followed the small woman that could very well be the galaxy's savior into the ship.