Hey people! Sorry to keep you waiting-but between school, work, stress, and planning a four-month excursion to Europe, this fell by the wayside. Thanks for sticking with, and hope this helps!

T. ************************** *******************************8 **************************

"They've been looking for you, you know."

"I know." Luke stared at the unopened ration bar in his hands. "I knew they would be." He looked up at her. "And you got placed in charge of the team that would find me, didn't you?"

Mara shrugged. "I was teamed up with Vader for Palpatine's own amusement. I think he thought we would kill each other."

Luke smiled. "And did you?"

Mara snorted. "Nearly," she answered. "But not quite. I did my best to endure it." She shrugged. "It was my punishment for allowing you to escape from the Conqueror. That, and I guess it was something to entertain the Emperor while he waited for you to be found."

"I take it that Vader got cut out of planning this little excursion," he murmured, indicating the speeder. He glanced sidelong at her. "Are you helping me just to spite him?"

She shifted uncomfortably, shrugging her shoulders. "Well.Not exactly. Though I have to admit, it was kind of an added perk."

Skywalker smiled thinly at the console. "I don't imagine that he's too happy with you at the moment."

Mara shook her head. "No, I don't imagine so. But I don't really care either." She eyed him. "He has had an unhealthy obsession with finding you for the past several years. I think that maybe it has overridden his common sense."

Luke nodded. "I think you may be right. Or perhaps familial ties don't mean to him what I thought they should." His eyes cut to the floor. "Perhaps I was wrong about him."

Mara didn't answer. But Skywalker seemed too wrapped up in his thoughts to notice.

"So is THAT what made you change your mind?" he asked, turning to regard her again with those startlingly blue eyes.

Mara glanced down at her hands, feeling her face warm in chagrin. "Call it an attack of conscience, I guess," she murmured. Four months ago, she would have labeled it as stupidity, a weakness that would need to be eliminated as soon as possible. Perhaps it was. But something had changed. She wondered where it was down the line she'd discovered that compassion was not a frailty.

"I'm probably going to regret it, but it's too late to turn back now."

Luke nodded, not speaking.

"So, if I'm allowed to ask, what in the worlds brought you to Derra IV anyway?" Mara changed the subject, taking a cautious bite out of her ration bar.

Skywalker grimaced, avoiding her eyes. "I had no intention of staying here for long. But.circumstances changed and I was left with no other choice for the time being."

"Cheated out of a perfectly good ship, huh?" Mara asked. Once again, she could feel the Jedi's eyes on her face. "You really should have a little more business savvy when it comes to dealing with pirates," she went on. "Or else they'll clean you out."

"I know," he answered regretfully. "Unfortunately, it is one of those fields in which I have no experience."

"Too bad."

"Yes," he nodded. "Then perhaps things would have worked out better."

There was something in the tone of his voice that set off warning bells in the back of Mara's mind. "What do you mean by that?" she asked him. "Things are working out just fine now."

Luke's eyes flickered briefly to hers and then looked away. "Yeah," he said neutrally.

Another silence ensued. Mara was quickly tiring of this trip--their edgy conversations and uneasy silences were beginning to grate on her nerves.

She sighed, flicking her stony gaze to the console, which promptly informed her that there were still three hours to go. Perhaps it was her turn to take a nap. Skywalker had already volunteered to keep watch while she rested, but she'd declined.

"Where are you going to go after this is all over?" Luke asked, jolting her from her thoughts.

Mara looked up at him. "If we get out of here, you mean?" She eyed the dark, rain-splattered viewport, not waiting for a reply. "It's a good question, actually. I haven't really thought that far ahead. Maybe I'll join a group of smugglers or wait tables in a seedy bar."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Skywalker wince at that idea. "Or maybe not," she amended with a short laugh, still eyeing him. "The most likely possibility is that I will return to Palpatine, endure a humiliating demotion, and throw myself back into his service."

"There's still time to back out," Luke offered quietly. Mara shook her head.

"No. I've made my decision."

She glanced over at him. "What about you?" she asked. "Will you return to the Rebel Alliance?"

Skywalker shook his head. "They still think I'm dead," he murmured. "Things are better off that way."

"Are they really?" she asked.

He didn't reply.

Mara shook her head. "Well, if this is what two months does to you, I'd hate to see you in two years."

"I'll survive," he told her quietly.

"I'll bet." She took another bite of her tasteless ration bar and went back to glaring at the viewport.

***********************

Han checked the sensors and readouts as he flopped into the Falcon's pilot seat. Leia was already sitting in the copilot's chair, strapping herself in, scowling at the console. Watching the counter, Han shot a quick glance at his wife. "You ready, sweetheart?"

She nodded, favoring him with a wan smile. "Whenever you are."

Solo chewed his lip. It had been nice for them to spend a little time alone. It would have been a nicer trip had they been able to relax a little bit. Instead, the journey had been filled with nervous, unspoken anxiety. Han reflected that few things could be as bad as knowing that a friend was in trouble and not being able to do anything about it. Chalk waiting up as one more thing he disliked about hyperspace travel.

The numbers finally counted down to zero. Grasping the hyperspace levers firmly in his hand, Solo pulled the ship back into normal space. White streaks of stars shrank down to distant pinpoints of light. And in the center of his field of vision--looking in no way out of the ordinary--was a small planet.

"Well, here it is," he muttered, eyeing his wife again. "Derra IV. Where do we go from here?"

Leia was staring as if hypnotized at the scene before her.

"Well?" Han asked.

She shook her head, eyes darting toward Han and back again. "I don't know." Solo raised his eyebrows. "Get closer to the surface, and I'll probably be able to tell you more."

"If you say so." He raised his eyebrows dubiously, taking the controls. "Can you sense him anywhere?"

Leia frowned, the expression creasing her ivory sculpted features. "I.I'm not sure yet. Just give me a few minutes. There's a city bearing 0938-- how close can you get to it?"

Solo scowled. "Not very. Cities usually try to discourage ships from flying directly overhead." He glanced at his scopes. "Still.let's see what we can do."

**************************

Skywalker seemed unaware that he was hunched in his seat, one hand pressed to his mouth, staring, unseeing, at the console.

After he had been sitting that way for almost five minutes, Mara peered at him, wondering if he had fallen asleep with his eyes open. "Is there something wrong?"

He jolted, looking shaken. "What?" he asked, stiffening as he tore his gaze away from the console. His blue eyes were dark with apprehension.

"I asked what's wrong," Mara repeated, feeling a creepy sensation crawl up her back.

Skywalker swallowed as he stared at the viewport again. "I think she's here."

Mara glanced around, wondering what on Coruscant he was talking about. "Huh?" she asked. "Who's here?"

Luke shook his head as he faced her again, shutting his eyes. His expression was one of anger and self-disgust. "When I used the Force back in Kraull.you felt it, right?"

Mara snorted. "How could I not have?" she retorted. "I think every Force- sensitive on this side of the galaxy could feel it. You woke me from a sound sleep."

He nodded miserably. "Why didn't I think of that?"

Mara sighed impatiently. "You mind filling me in on what we're talking about here? I'm not following."

Luke only put his head in his hands, staring blankly. "Stars, why didn't I think of it?" he repeated. "I was only worrying about Vader finding me. It never even occurred to me that--"

"What are you talking about?" Mara demanded in exasperation.

Luke blinked at her, as if suddenly noticing she was there. He seemed too preoccupied to notice that he'd started a conversation somewhere in the middle.

"Leia is here."

********************

"I think I found him."

Han glanced over to see Leia's features still creased in concentration. "Where do we go?" he asked.

She chewed her lip. "I'm not very good at this--It's a little vague." She keyed a readout, scanning it quickly. "Can we land somewhere in here?"

Solo scowled at his scopes. "The nearest spaceport..is a place called Kraell." He shot a glance at her. "Sound good?"

"It's a start," she nodded, gripping the edge of her seat with white hands. "I guess we can go from there."

Han grunted something and started forward. If they were lucky, maybe they could find Luke in a couple of hours and get this whole thing straightened out and be on their way.

*Right,* sneered a voice in his head. *When in your life have you ever been that lucky?*

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