"All right," Kantasha said to Thrawn. The Chiss had appeared a few minutes ago, though Luke still hadn't returned. "How exactly are we going to do this?"

Thrawn looked down at his datapad. "We have enough information to get the wheels of discord flowing. I suspect that perhaps the best way of going about it is one every two days. The only problem is presentation."

Kantasha Pellaeon thought for a moment before suggesting an idea to the cool Chiss.

Thrawn smiled. "Perfect. We can't hand everything to them on a silver platter, and this would be a rather intriguing way of going about it. We can pass the idea by Skywalker, whom I am sure will have no qualms."

The raven-haired beauty glanced momentarily at the door to Mara's room. "What are we going to do about Jade?"

Thrawn's red eyes glittered as he looked briefly up from the datapad. "Surely you don't believe that if we kill her Skywalker will be entirely on our side. It is not hurting us to keep her prisoner, and she may prove of some use in the end."

Kantasha watched him for a long time, noting with some unease that he did not say who Mara would be of use to...

Luke returned silently, and without a word he passed by Thrawn and Kantasha and disappeared into Mara's room. Kantasha glowered after him.

Mara looked surprised to see him, and she also looked somewhat guilty, as she had been entertaining ideas of escape.

Luke sat down on the bed beside her, not speaking for a long time. When he finally did, he refused to meet her eyes. "Why did you really come? It wasn't to bring me a message from Leia..."

Mara Jade studied him. He seemed tired, drained, conflicted...She might be able to get to him yet.

Still, she couldn't restrain her temper, and she flared, "Who says it wasn't?"

"Mara," the Jedi said quietly, "I know it wasn't."

"You landed yourself in a pile of trouble, and I came to haul your butt out of it again."

"I killed a man, Mara," the sorrowful young man said after a long pause. "He was innocent...I had no motive. It just...happened. How could I—"

"Skywalker," Mara interjected, "you're going to kill a lot more than that with whatever this plan is that you have."

He shook his head, an almost earnest expression on his face as he turned to look at her. "No, that's what's so great about this plan: I'll be killing no one."

The Master Trader found herself wondering for the umpteenth time what exactly this plan was. She'd tried listening at the door, but everyone had made sure to talk in low voices when speaking about it. She raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Not right off the bat, maybe, but when you establish your Empire—"

"It won't be like that!" Luke interrupted. "We'll establish the Empire, sure, but we'll be just. Think about the Empire in its glory days, Mara, before the Emperor became so xenophobic and greedy. The Republic collapsed, and he took all those systems and united them. There'll be no more senatorial squabbles...And we can put good people in charge, and the Jedi can monitor them. The Empire won't be ruled by fear anymore."

The former Emperor's Hand stared at the fair-headed young man. There was such an eager light in his eyes, a light she had seen before when he spoke about something he was passionate about,...a light which used to be in his eyes when he talked about the Rebellion.

She thought about her service with the Empire, of the order within it. It was an order that the New Republic had never been able to achieve.

Mara looked at him, her inner gears spinning. Carefully, she chose her words. "Skywalker,...I will help you."

Searching her face with his wide blue eyes, Luke could see no deceit.

"Oh, Mara...This is...great."

Mara smiled. She could see the farmboy shining through. Where have you been? she wondered.

Luke swallowed, gazing into Mara's emerald green eyes.

She stared back into his eyes. She had never really noticed just how blue they really were...Strange, that she would notice now...

Luke brought his face closer down to hers, as if drawn by a magnet, and he closed his eyes as he continued on his descent. Mara, with mixed emotions, parted her lips as she felt his warm breath upon her face, and she waited for his lips to come and caress hers.

They never did.

Sensing that something was wrong, Mara opened her eyes, and she saw Luke looking at her in a sort of panic. He almost looked ashamed.

"Mara, I—" he said, right before bolting out of the room.

The redhead stared after him, bringing her fingers up to gently touch her lips. Skywalker had almost kissed her, something which she was sure would have been a big mistake...

But why did she regret his leaving so much?