Intelligence had received two more poems, spaced out as all the others were. The first was:

Little Ginert was found dead
With blaster marks upon his head;
For political gain, credits were fed
To an assassin by Jirak Zired.

The evidence was found that Jirak Zired had hired someone to kill Ginert, and he was promptly arrested. The second received poem was:

Lots of hardware you will find
At Quethla's home, in a shrine
Dedicated to blowing up, in time,
Senators and creatures of like kind.

Quethla had, in fact, been building an incredibly powerful bomb, but he had been caught just in time.

The New Republic was teetering, and a cloaked figure planted the very last poem:

'Seems when a bill comes around,
Someone goes to Qitleround
"Pass or stop this!" from him'll resound
And money by him will soon be found.

This time luck was not with the humanoid, however, and he, in his relief and anticipation, missed the nearly microscopic spy device that his cloak swept up on his departure.

When the poem was discovered, it had also been found that Qitleround had been easily bribed, a matter which no one had been happy about. The final piece of the puzzle with this poem had finally clicked into place. The bold letters spelled out: NR FALLS.

But the puzzle had been figured out too late.

No longer was there one barely unified republic. The Senate was disbanded, and Anarchy began his chaotic reign.

Parties of all sorts were swooping all over Coruscant. There were Republicans remaining steadfast to their departed government, Imperialists coming out from the shadows, Socialists and Communists bringing forth impossible galactic plans, members of the Smuggler's Party and the Interplanetary Trade Party...Those were just a few of the non-species oriented parties.

Meanwhile, officials such as Mon Mothma and Ackbar had gone into hiding, unable to quell the fires spreading throughout the galaxy.

The door chimed, and Leia, after reaching out worriedly through the Force, answered it. Her face was haggard. Everything she'd worked for was gone, and she didn't know what to do to fix it.

Karrde stood outside.

"Have you heard anything more?" she asked, worriedly.

Two droids and an ex-smuggler soon appeared behind her, the other occupants of the apartment. Winter and Chewbacca had taken the three children to Kashyyyk, as it was far too dangerous on Coruscant.

"I know it's not much now, but I've learned that all the trouble in the Senate was caused by one cloaked humanoid's information, a humanoid who was uncannily able to avoid all who tried to get near him..."

"Luke," breathed Leia.

"I've also heard that Ackbar's been trying to get some ysalamiri, though there've been shipping problems somehow related to the unrest that was in the Senate. He's about to get them, though, which could be a problem if it is decided Skywalker is better off dead," Karrde said.

Leia looked horrified.

"But not all my news is bad," Karrde continued. His eyes glinted.

"Oh?" Han said, lifting an eyebrow.

"Yes. I managed to pinpoint Skywalker's location with a spy device. Your New Republic may have fallen, but if we get the Jedi in time, maybe it won't be too late to pick up the pieces..." Karrde normally tried to stay out of politics, but he knew that his information would be well-paid for by the Solos.

"All right," Han said. "Let's go."

Kantasha had gotten over her flare of anger and had ended up doing nothing. She was currently sitting with Thrawn and Luke, once again doing nothing. They planned to wait for the amount of time calculated by Thrawn before stepping up and taking power. This wait was to let some of the fires burn out and to allow Pellaeon to come to Coruscant with backup.

Then, they could step forward and erect an Empire once more.

Kantasha smiled. The Empire would be resurrected.

Her smile quickly turned to a frown, however, as Luke got up and slipped into Mara's room. Curse that redhead. The Jedi was Kantasha's! No one else's...

"I can't believe you did it," was all Mara said to Luke when he came in.

"I can't believe you didn't throw something at me," Luke returned. But his humor was cautious. Was she still planning to throw something at him?

"What good would it do me?"

"Probably not much."

Mara was quiet.

"Why were you mad at me the other day?" Luke asked. He had the feeling it wasn't the wisest of questions, but he wanted to know.

"You know, Skywalker, I always expected that you would somehow keep your farmboy naivete and honesty, never becoming jaded or deceitful. But I've glimpsed a different side of you. The feelings of others mean nothing to you now." The redhead's voice got softer near the end, almost sounding choked.

"That's not true, Mara!" Luke exclaimed, grabbing her hand.

But she pulled it away. "On Tatooine, a man might be able to have more than one wife, but I'll never settle as second best."

The Jedi stood gaping. His brain threatened to go into overload. Mara had mentioned the word "wife" and had alluded to a possible serious relationship with him, a man from Tatooine. Had Tatooine frozen over?

"Go away, Skywalker. Take your Empire and go away...I thought that if I pretended to be on your side, to support you, maybe I would be able to convince you that you were wrong. But you weren't the man I thought you were." She hid her face. "Leave me alone. I never want to see you again."

Luke stared at her, frozen into place. Mara...

He wanted...He wanted...

He shook his head. What did he want?

Whenever he stepped into the ysalamiri bubble, his feelings became all jumbled. He began to doubt everything, as if when he weren't in the bubble there was something trying to control him through the Force.

He attempted to clear his mind, and he realized, rather belatedly, that Mara had seen him and Kantasha kissing...

"Mara—"

"Go," she commanded, still avoiding his eyes.

It was about that time that the wall exploded.

Author's Note: Many thanks to In Restless Walks' wonderful betaing!