Hello everyone. Long time no see. I actually have a decent excuse this time for taking so long, but I had hand surgery on Monday and have been writing ever since, so it's besides the point. To make it up to you, I've written an extra long chapter, which is actually part of the reason this took so long. You see, I had it all planned out, but I just never got around to writing it all. The typing is actually helping me with my wrist stuff, so yeah. Be warned: I have been on pain medicine for the past three days, so quite a bit of this might sound a little goofy. I found it funny though. I make some references to movies in this, but since some people didn't like me breaking of the suspension of belief in "Fixing A Hole," I tried to change the titles as much as I could. There was something else... Oh yeah. It sort of seems like I'm bashing West Side Story at one point, but I'm not. Really. That's my favorite musical. That's why Han has problems with it. See? I rant much while on... lesse I think the medication's called darvoset. It makes me all laughy. Well, anyways, as usual, thank you oh so very muchness for reading this thingy. I really, really appreciate it. I hope you enjoy this ginormous twenty page long while single spaced chapterish thingy. Wheeeee.

Edit: I noticed some grievous errors on my part while reading this over, so I fixed them. Some were math errors, other were countinuity errors, and others were errors in logic. There was also an error in an idiom. This is what you get for taking an SAT prep class. I deleted a line, too. Anyway, enjoy the cleaned up version.

When Mara woke up, she was surprised to find herself in the hospital wing of the Jedi Temple. Sure, she had blacked out, but it wasn't that serious. Was it? Mara groaned as she realized she had a headache. "Nurse?" she called out, trying to get someone to talk to so she could find out how long she'd been unconscious. I hope I've only been out for a few hours...

Someone came over almost immediately, but she wasn't someone Mara was expecting. "Mara... You know you shouldn't be running around the Jedi Temple, eventually running into the Jedi Council. You've caused quite a bit of trouble."

Mara glared at the speaker before taking her pillow and putting it over her face. "Go away, Mother. I'm not in the mood for World War Three."

"Now, Mara," her mother, Celes, said. "I know you might normally act like this and get away with it, but when you become unconscious for days---"

"Days!" Mara exclaimed, sitting up. "What do you mean, 'days'? I thought I'd only been out for a few hours!"

"And you've missed tons of stuff!" Celes exclaimed right back. "We now have to fight against the Rebellion, which, I might add, is the only side worth fighting on anymore."

"...Where's the Corellian and Katarn or Teneniel? I thought they'd be here to annoy me to no end," Mara asked, trying to change the subject.

Celes paused. "Teneniel Djo and Allya Harkon are off on a mission with Aayla, looking for the Rebel Alliance's base. Corran Halcyon and Kyle Katarn joined the Rebellion, along with some of their friends, and, as such, are now enemies of the Republic... and the Jedi, unfortunately."

"Why...? Why are the Jedi against the Rebellion? The Empire is commanded by the Dark Lords of the Sith!" Mara shook her head. "None of this makes any sense."

"Mara, you must understand. The Jedi are the servants of the Republic. We cannot just---If anyone at all had definitive proof that the Empire was under the command of the Sith, then there is little to no doubt that the Senate would call back their most recent piece of legislation."

"But no one can come up with it, can they?" Mara realized. "The only ones that could would be the Imperials, the Rebels, or the Jedi, all groups of which have compromised integrity now, since Corran and Kyle ran off to join the Rebels."

"Anakin's children, too," Celes added. "Of course, it was only a matter of time before they went off and joined the Rebellion."

"Great minds think alike, but fools seldom differ," Mara stated drily.

"Yes, but I'd say the fools are the majority in the matter at hand," Celes replied. "Your father said that you had been talking to Anakin about something before you passed out? Another vision?"

"It's nothing; nothing that could be used to prove the Empire evil, anyway," Mara said angrily. "It's just---" She gave in. There was no use trying to hide things since she was in the most concentrated place of Jedi in the galaxy, in addition to both of her parents being part of the Order. "Palpatine's back. That's what was in the vision. That, and the proof that Palpatine's a sick, sadistic monster, along with his 'glorious' Empire."

Celes stared at her daughter. "And that's what made you pass out?"

Mara shook her head. "No, telling Masters Skywalker and Kenobi about it made me pass out... and there was this voice. When I was asleep, I mean."

"What did it say?" Celes queried.

"It said..." Mara tried to remember, but the voice came back. YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER. "I---I can't remember," she lied. It would be best to keep that secret.

"That's all right," Celes said. "If you remember, tell me or, if it's important enough, tell the Council."

Mara nodded. "Okay... Wait. What about Dad?"

"Your father just got called up for his term for being on the Council," Celes replied. "And, like anyone who has ever sat through a meeting knows, there is no end to the complaining. He's making Anakin look like the least whiny person in the universe."

"Wow." That really was an awesome feat.

On Mustafar, the tone of the newest meeting was less than somber. The Sith Lords were quite amused that the Death Star had been destroyed, and most of the Imperials were very glad that Tarkin had bit the dust. Almost all of the Imperials were present at that time, excluding Isard (who was still contributing by comlink) and the Emperor. The currently nameless Dark Lord was giving his full report. "After the late Grand Moff Tarkin decided that there was no way that the Death Star would be destroyed, he sent me and six squadrons of TIEs out to combat the Rebel forces. Four of the six squadrons were completely destroyed, and the other two suffered minor casualties. The Rebels lost three complete squadrons, had minor casualties in two others, and two pilots survived from one squadron. Of those two, one of the X-wings is in dry dock and the other destroyed the Death Star."

Grand Admiral Thrawn, who had arrived at the same time as the Sith and General Grievous, looked slightly amused by the logistics report. "What happened to the other two TIE squadrons?"

The Dark Lord turned to him. "They were destroyed in the blast. I escaped because my TIE Advanced had been clipped by one of the two other TIEs in the trench before it crashed into the trench wall. That caused the TIE Advanced to spin out of control away from the Death Star. I was able to go into hyperspace after I regained control. If any of the TIEs did survive, then they probably were captured by the Rebels or self-destructed since they lack hyperdrives and would not want to be captured."

Grievous coughed for the twelfth time this meeting (Thrawn and Isard had been counting). "Do you have any information about the pilot?" he questioned.

The Dark Lord shook his head. "No," he replied. "All I know is that he is a Jedi, most likely only partially trained."

"You're lying," Xizor said. "Your tone of voice implies that."

"And what do you propose instead, Xizor? That I know who destroyed the Death Star? How would I know that?"

"How did you know not to stay on the Death Star?" Xizor shot back. "Or are you going to write that off as something you sensed from the Force?"

"I agree with Prince Xizor," Count Dooku said. "It is questionable to why you decided to go out in a TIE fighter and shoot down the Rebels yourself. The other TIE pilots could have done that job just as well. However, I would like to know how much of a threat you think this Jedi apprentice could be."

"...We should ask the Emperor that question," Maul said. "He has many visions and would know better."

"Thank you for stating the obvious, Maul," Ventress hissed.

"Quit squabbling," Dooku told the two. "It's useless and just takes up time." He turned back to the as of yet unidentified Dark Lord. "How much of a threat do you think this Jedi pilot could be?"

The Dark Lord shrugged. "He's either completely irrelevant, like we are considering most of the Jedi, or he'll cause our downfall. In my professional opinion, it's most likely the latter of the two options."

"That's reassuring and incredibly helpful," Ventress quipped. "On that same line of thought, he'll probably be the one to take down the Emperor?"

The Dark Lord smirked. "No. I have a strange feeling that Anakin Skywalker will accomplish that if it ever does indeed happen." He paused and changed the subject. "Prince Xizor, how is your business doing?"

"Good. The Black Sun already has managed to put into effect the cause the future destruction of the Bounty Hunter's Guild. Boba Fett was more than willing to help with the cause, albeit he was not aware he was under someone else's orders besides the... contact he met with," Xizor replied, careful not to mention the Assembler.

"Clever, but I doubt that the bounty hunters will be of much use to us," the Dark Lord replied. "They are useful from time to time, but the only useful one is Boba Fett."

"I sincerely doubt that. The elimination of the Guild will cause the weaker bounty hunters to be weeded out, leaving only the strong ones. The strong ones are the bounty hunters which will be of use," Xizor casually replied to defend his position yet again.

"And what will we use the bounty hunters for perchance?" the Sith asked. "In all seriousness, the only people with which we could use the bounty hunters is with the Rebel High Command, and the Jedi should be our priority at the moment. The longer they live, the more time it will take us to rid the galaxy of them forever and establish our regime."

Dooku nodded. "He has a point. The bounty hunters are nothing compared to the Jedi. Jango Fett lasted for a while at Geonosis, but he fell at the hands of a Jedi, and he was called the best."

Xizor formulated the perfect defense. "Fine, I do admit that the bounty hunters are useless against many Jedi, but, as our esteemed colleague said, they would be useful against the Rebels. I agree completely with his rationale, and maybe we should concentrate on the Jedi soon, but we do need to deal with the Rebels somewhat during the time we eliminate the Jedi."

"You are assuming that the Jedi can be wiped out," Thrawn commented. Everyone in the room turned to stare at him. "Our resources are not enough to kill all of the Jedi in an assault. Even if all the Sith and Dark Jedi in this room were to pull off an all-out assault on the Jedi Temple, I doubt that you would all walk out unscathed or alive. Remember how different the situation is now compared to the situation of the Clone Wars."

The Dark Lord nodded in agreement. "The Grand Admiral is correct. The Jedi are different now, and the situation of the galaxy is different: it is at relative peace. Would I be correct in guessing that your next suggestion be to go after the Rebels and gain power in not only the Senate but militarily as well?" he asked Thrawn.

"Yes. If we captured one of the shipyards, then we can start building ships. The power in the Senate is growing, thanks to the destruction of the Death Star and the Emperor's scheming. The Empire should have enough men to man the ships, whatever kind they may be, and possibly have the Republic military joined with the Empire's, eventually. We can have the people's attention centered on our vengeance on the Rebellion while we capture a shipyard. Personally, I suggest Bilbringi." Thrawn looked around the room. "Any suggestions, comments, or questions?"

"Where will we attack first?" Zsinj asked. "I think your plan should be put into action, but we do need a Rebel target to attack. Since Yavin 4 is the location of their main base, then why don't we go there?"

Isard's holo shook her head. "Not if we want a public relations disaster. The Senate almost voted against the Empire when Senators Bel Ibis and Amidala suggested that we were the aggressors, not that we weren't, but if they had been able to offer up definitive proof, then our operation would have been sunk." Isard paused. "Of course, they did have the information, since they are two of the ringleaders of the Rebellion."

Grievous coughed (Thirteenth time, Isard noted). "That doesn't matter. We can explain that away with the following: After the Death Star was destroyed, the Rebels set up a base at Yavin. Our intelligence would have 'discovered' this piece of evidence shortly after the Battle of Yavin. We decide that now is as good a time as ever to exact our revenge. We go; we see; we conquer. The best part is that we can even fake a team 'discovering' the information while 'searching' for survivors which probably are not there."

"General Grievous makes a good point," Dooku had to admit. "The Republic would completely fall for that. However, we can't hide behind Pestage forever. We need a political figurehead. I won't do because of my participation in the Clone Wars, and the rest of us Sith (and Ventress) would be too recognizable to the Jedi as 'evil.' Isard, do you have any ideas whilst we wait for the Emperor to come out of hiding?"

Isard thought for a moment. "We cannot risk using any of the admirals or generals or any of the Sith. If the general or admiral was needed at a military engagement, he might be occupied on Coruscant with politics and politicians. Xizor is the head of the most well-known criminal syndicate in the galaxy, so he's off the list. The Moffs are already in the Senate, gathering support, and no one would take me seriously because of my age." She paused. "I see no alternative to using Pestage as our front until the Emperor returns."

"That political aspect doesn't matter at the moment, anyway. We need to plan out our attacks," the anonymous Dark Lord reminded those sitting at the table. "We also need to decide which information will be released to the public. For example, we simply cannot have Grievous leading the attack on Yavin 4. Even I am aware that that would be a complete and total public relations nightmare." People around the table murmured their agreement. "It would also be unwise to allow the Rebellion to know that Grand Admiral Thrawn is present with us until the last moment possible, so we shouldn't have him leading the attacks but planning them."

"I completely agree," Thrawn commented. "If the Rebellion knew of me, then they would most likely run in fear, but I would need accurate and up to date intel about who commands which ships in what engagements."

The Dark Lord nodded. "Of course. I would suggest that you would lead the attack on the shipyards. You have an incredible knack for capturing targets as unharmed as possible, maybe even as thought impossible."

"That leaves Zsinj to lead the attack on Yavin," Thrawn stated, then continued. "Another option is to get a relatively unknown captain in our ranks to lead the space battle from a Star Destroyer. We might also need ground forces, so a general would be needed as well. I will have to search for the crew for my battle group as well."

"I'll go get the lists," Grievous decided and coughed again.

After the meeting was adjourned, Dooku, Maul, and Ventress were walking down the hallway, discussing the future of the Empire. Molten lava was spraying in the background, in front of the shields and windows looking outside. The topic of discussion was suddenly switched from the Empire to the mysterious third Dark Lord. It seemed to Dooku that the Sith was the only thing that Ventress and Maul agreed about anything on. Dooku just tried to block out the whole conversation until Ventress asked his opinion on the matter. Surprised, Dooku decided to answer. "I don't trust him. There is something that makes me uneasy about him. Not the sort of uneasy feeling one would get just being around a Dark Lord, but it's a feeling that something is not quite right about him."

Maul nodded. "I sense too much light in him. That light that is left may be keeping him on the Dark Path, I must say."

"I feel he will be the end of us," Ventress added. "Almost as if he will cause our doom. That thought in and of itself is preposterous, though. He will not be turning any time soon, nor will he betray us more than you would expect from a Sith."

"He says nothing about his own circumstances," Dooku noted. "I wonder when he was Sidious' apprentice. Maul, do you know of there being anyone before you?"

Maul shook his head. "No. There was no one before me. How can we be sure he was even trained by Master Sidious? He could have been brought here from the distant past when there were many Sith."

Ventress narrowed her eyes. "No. He cannot be from the past. He knows the strategies and abilities of Thrawn and the current technology too well."

"Are you saying that he's from the future?" Maul demanded.

"That is exactly what I'm saying!" Ventress hissed. "How else could he have known... He knew that the Death Star could have been destroyed, yet he didn't eliminate the threat. He betrayed Tarkin and let all of those soldiers go to their doom!"

"Treachery is the way of the Sith," Dooku reminded Ventress. "He probably had a motive for doing so, and it probably had to do with the one that destroyed the Death Star."

Maul nodded slowly and somewhat unsurely. "He had said that the Jedi could bring about our destruction, as if he didn't know either."

Ventress rolled her eyes. "It could also mean that he does know and was referring to only some of us!"

Dooku paused, a realization suddenly hitting him. "He could also mean that we will potentially have another ally eventually."

"Or that we'd just all get killed and the Empire would be completely destroyed," Maul replied, always the optimist.

The Rebel command center was a mess. They had just finished up with the party celebrating the destruction of the Death Star and were in the clean up stages. Unfortunately for Bail Organa, he had to simultaneously clean up the mess with the other military commanders while they discussed the location of their next base. Mon, Garm, and Padmé had contacted him earlier to tell him that the Senate now supported the Empire. In Bail's mind, the idea (in theory, definitely not in practice) was laughable, but that also meant that the Empire would be coming back to Yavin 4 to drop the heavy end of the hammer on the Rebellion. Hence why they were cleaning and talking at the same time.

Leia, who had managed to talk her way into the Rebellion, was cleaning up all of the glass bottles around the room. "I think we should not bother with this," she decided. "I mean, if we are going to leave soon, then why not leave a mess for the Imperials to clean up?"

Bail sighed. "Leia, think about the reaction in the Senate that would produce!"

"You have a point, but I'm just saying that maybe there is an easier way to do this?"

General Dodonna restarted his argument. "We do need to evacuate as soon as possible. Our intelligence reports have said that there is to be an Imperial attack in a matter of days. We should leave the area as soon as possible."

Winter, who was picking up paper materials, spoke. "Possible new locations for a base are the following: Laitnetop, Citenik, Ygoloh'tym (which is in the same system as Yranoit'cid, a trade center where we could easily acquire supplies), Dantooine, Acceberan, Magantooine, Nesrohba---"

"That's enough to choose from," Dodonna said. "We can eliminate Dantooine from the list right away. We haven't vacated that base long enough to throw the Empire off our trail there. Also, Acceberan, while suitably remote, is a little too close to the Unknown Regions for us to get supplies shipped there easily, and if we were able to do so, it would cost a fortune to accomplish that and draw unwanted attention to us."

Leia thought for a minute. "Magantooine... Where have I heard that name before...?"

"You know, it does sound vaguely familiar," Bail admitted.

Winter searched her memory. "I do believe that Jedi Masters Kenobi and Skywalker went to Magantooine on a mission a year ago."

"Then we're not going there," Leia decided. "I heard enough of what happened, and trust me, it wasn't a pretty picture."

"Laitnetop is not known for its kindness to strangers and is generally very supportive of anything the Senate decrees," Bail remarked, scratching another planet off the list.

"Nesrohba broke into a civil war about a week ago," Dodonna remembered. "We could risk it, but I think the Republic said they would give aid."

"That leaves Citenik and Ygoloh'tym," Winter reported. "Citenik is closer, but Ygoloh'tym is closer to Imperial space. That is also the most logical place to go because of its proximity to Imperial space (it would be easy to conduct raids), but the command seems to have changed recently, and I think that the new commanders would expect that."

"Why do you say that, Winter?" Leia asked. "I mean, the Death Star battle was definitely the biggest conflict so far, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they have had a change in leadership."

Winter blinked. "Well, Princess, that's just the point. They have never tried anything this daring before. We knew of the battle station, but our reports said that there were still some kinks in the system. They needed someone with more daring to order the attack with the station so untested."

"What is the difference between the distances of Citenik and Ygoloh'tym from Yavin?" Bail asked.

"There is a parsec difference," Winter calculated.

"Then Citenik it is," Leia decided, smiling. No one disagreed.

The hyperspace journey from the Yavin system to Citenik was rather trying for some of the occupants of the Rebel command ship. The reason was Princess Leia. Her, Bail amended, and that darn smuggler. The two had been arguing with one another for three hours straight, as reported by Flight Officer Antilles. Everyone on the bridge could hear the argument even though the two were outside the blast doors. Bail personally thought that someone had forgotten to turn off a comlink between the corridor and the bridge.

"Uh, sir? Doncha think someone should calm them down?" Antilles asked, with good reason: most of the crewers now had earplugs on, and since this was a military operation, that was very bad news.

Bail sighed. "Yes, maybe you should. And, just to let you know, the High Command had already given Lieutenant Skywalker permission to form a squadron, so please stop asking."

"Sorry, Senator Organa," Wedge replied with a grin and scurried off to try and keep Han and Leia from killing each other. Luckily, he didn't have to go far to find them. They were actually standing right outside. The intercom was on, hence why the conversation could be heard on the bridge. "Uh... Guys?"

Leia ignored Wedge and continued to yell at Han. "You know you could have left by now! I already directed the money to your account!"

"Well, Princess, I unfortunately was hired to take you back to Coruscant, but now that you're obviously not going back, I figured I should have stayed behind to make sure I got paid for the time that I did spend waiting for the Death Star to blow up!" Han yelled back at her. Wedge didn't think that Solo was being completely truthful about his motive for staying.

"The entire ship can hear your conversation," Wedge informed them.

"And furthermore, Solo," Leia, completely ignoring Wedge's comment, continued to yell at Han, causing Wedge to go over and turn off the intercom. "You really need an attitude adjustment! You're so egotistical---"

"I need the attitude adjustment? Yeah, right, Your Highnessness," Han shot back.

Wedge was about to interfere again when he noticed Luke walking vaguely in the direction of Han and Leia, reading something on a datapad. Meaning, of course, that Luke had no clue what he was about to walk into. Wedge, being the good friend that he is (and feeling somewhat like pulling one of Janson's jokes at the moment), said nothing to Luke.

Luke didn't realize that he was walking into a virtual minefield until Han and Leia's "conversation" started to include him. "Luke! What do you think!" they demanded.

"What's going on?" Luke asked hesitantly, finally looking up from the datapad. "Why are you two fighting again?" Han and Leia were about to give completely different answers, but Luke cut them off. "Never mind---I don't want to know." He turned to Leia. "What do you know about this planet we're going to?"

Leia forgot all about the argument with Han and thought about the question. "Citenik? Not much, I have to admit. It's a pretty secluded place, perfect for a base, but it is an inhabited planet with a couple of spaceports."

"That's all the ship's computer said," Luke said. "Almost no one had heard of it."

"I've heard of it," Han remarked. "It's known to smugglers. One of the best places to hide from whatever's after you. The terrain is mostly mountainous with habitable valleys here and there. Generally, when a smuggler hides there, it's to avoid their employers, but when you are hiding from the Republic, the terrain will cause the cops to back off."

"What about the Jedi?" Leia asked. "Do they ever---"

Han shook his head. "Nah. Whoever goes there doesn't exactly merit the attention of the Jedi. Plus, when the Jedi are after you, you go to Myrkr."

"What's so weird about Myrkr?" Wedge asked. "I mean, it's always spoken of as---Hey, if the Jedi are going to be after us now, why not go there instead?"

"Wedge, 1. Myrkr's flora and fauna aren't exactly people friendly, and 2. then we'd be acting like what the Republic accuses us of being," Luke replied.

"You forget, we are, under law, traitors now," Han mentioned. "Sorry, you, not me."

"You know Solo, you are so..." Leia was searching for a word. "Conceited!"

"I bet that she was going to say something worse than that," Wedge commented quietly enough that Leia didn't hear. Luke nodded in agreement.

"Thank you, Princess, I find that one of my more endearing qualities," Han replied.

After what seemed like an eternity, the Rebels finally arrived at Citenik to find it a little more mountainous than Han had described. Wedge had described it as a deathtrap made of stone. Leia had pronounced it perfect. The Rebel base had been set up near the northern pole of the planet for various (and somewhat strange) reasons. About a month after the Rebellion had settled into its new headquarters, some new recruits (A.K.A. the Rogues and Kyle Katarn) joined up with the Rebellion, much to Wedge and Luke's semi-dismay since it meant they had to go back to avoiding all of Wes' pranks on a regular basis. Shortly after that, there was a decree issued that said that no one was allowed to steal all of the anchovies. Most of the High Command had no clue why anyone would do that, or for that matter, who would do that. It was obvious to those who knew him that Wes was the perpetrator, but there was no formal prosecution when that information was leaked. No one missed the anchovies anyway, and those that did bought some off of Wes.

The Rebels were doing all right for a while, excluding the weekly (daily) fights of Han and Leia. But, all in all, life was good for being part of a military organization trying to get rid of another military organization, which is evil, and convince the legitimate government that they, the Rebels, were the good guys. Unfortunately, even after half a year after Yavin, the Rebellion was still being hunted down by the Republic. Luckily, no Rebel had yet run into a Jedi who was looking for the base on the command of the Republic and Empire, and few in the Senate even suspected Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, or Garm Bel Ibis to be in any way connected with the Rebellion. Padmé, on the other hand, had been accused several times, but no one could prove her involvement or dared to try (Anakin still had an unfortunate anger management problem and was liable to Force grip someone if they even suggested bringing harm to Padmé).

Because of what they had heard had happened to the old base at Yavin, the High Command had picked out a replacement base in case Citenik was ever attacked. In theory, only they knew the location of the back up base, and since Princess Leia had taken part in the discussion, Rogue Squadron knew of the vague location of the new base and shared that intel with the entire Rebellion, meaning that the Rebels all hoped that they wouldn't have to leave Citenik any time soon. Frozen wasteland planets tended to mean bad things.

Shortly after the decision for choosing another base, the Bothan spies in the employ of the Rebellion discovered that the Empire had taken over the shipyards at Bilbringi. That meant that the Empire now was manufacturing even more weapons of war while the Rebellion had to get second hand dreadnaughts from planetary defense forces and buy medical frigates through dummy corporations. A definite plus was that Corellia was part of the Rebellion, but you can only have so many blockade runners. Diplomats ended up being sent to the Sullust system in order to try and acquire more potential shipyards for the Rebellion.

Eventually, the mission that most had been dreading came up: the establishment of the base on the bleak and frosty ice ball. No one outside of the High Command knew what system said ice ball was in nor what it was called, but just that it was a "frozen hell." Since the Rogues, mainly Wes, had spread the information, they were sent on the scouting mission which was to be the precursor to the establishing mission. Because Leia had been taking excessive pleasure in the misfortune of her friends, she was sent on the mission as well. Not wanting to be stuck with only the Rogues in a transport for a couple of days, Leia then recruited Han for the job of transporting them all. Fortunately for Han, that meant that only five of the Rogues could come on the trip. Those who had joined the squadron after the rumor spreading incident did not have to go and neither did Corran, who managed to weasel his way out of that situation by going on a commando mission with Jan Ors and Kyle prior to the mandate issued by the higher ups. The five Rogues that were picked for the mission were either partially or completely guilty of spreading the information, meaning that Luke, Wedge, Tycho, Hobbie and Wes were destined to be stuck for a few days in the Falcon with Han and Leia arguing up a storm and Chewie locking himself in the cockpit.

"So what are we supposed to be doing here again?" Hobbie asked for the tenth time since they had landed on Hoth. He was covered head to toe in multicolored and garishly bright emergency blankets in addition to the parka he had brought. Han, who had not been as shrewd in his choice of clothing, was, as a consequence, wearing his normal outfit. Han was not complaining, either. He was trying to set up camp.

Wes had been more eccentric than Hobbie in his choice of clothing, which by some people, one of whom happened to be named Leia, was thought impossible. Not only had Wes outdone Hobbie in the strange attire factor by using the bright orange emergency blankets he had brought to make a toga, but he was wearing his flight suit (also bright orange) and used the only white blanket as a cape and hat. In a word, Wes Janson looked ridiculous. "I think we're supposed to shovel enough snow away for a landing strip."

Wedge rolled his eyes. He had dressed sensibly, in both potential meanings of the word. Sure, most of the clothing was Alliance issue, but who cared? It did keep him warm. "Wes, if we were supposed to do that, do you think they would have assigned us?"

"No, not really. Unless this is all just a punishment that the High Command concocted for us spreading the information that we were probably going to be stationed on a frozen hell next time, instead of an ultra-cool planet where if you walk in the wrong direction, you can fall off a cliff onto some nasty looking spikes a few hundred yards down." Wes paused. "Then again, this could be the actual place that we're going to have our next base anyway."

"And if not, you probably just doomed us to be stuck here because you told everyone!" Hobbie exclaimed. Tycho, who was helping Han and was standing right next to Hobbie, noticed that the snow reflected the colors of the blankets, so he tried to ignore the progressively pointless conversation between the ridiculous one and the insane one.

"You know, Wes, that if you hadn't been eavesdropping on the conversation between me and Leia, we wouldn't be in this situation," Luke pointed out. He, like Wedge, was wearing the regulation outfit, but unlike Wedge, Luke was freezing. He had no clue why, nor did he care. Personally, he thought it was rather unfair that Leia got to stay inside the Falcon while the rest of them set up camp.

"Luke's right," Tycho decided. "This is all your fault, Wes, but it was worth it." Shortly after Tycho said that, Han finished setting up the tent. Why they had set up a tent in the middle of a frozen tundra with a nice, warm spaceship right next to it was beyond Tycho, but he had a feeling that Han just wanted some peace and quiet, even if that meant staying outside in the freezing cold to avoid Wes's wit and Hobbie's incessant complaining.

"How is this worth anything?" Han demanded, gesturing to the landscape. "All I see is snow, snow, more snow, a rock or two, and some fracking ice!" Han was not having a good day. He was cold and stuck on a planet with the Rogues, and therefore subjected to a type of torture that he wouldn't ever wish on an enemy. Han looked at the scene before him again. Luke was freezing, Wedge wanted to leave, Wes wouldn't stop talking, Hobbie wouldn't stop complaining, and Tycho was watching with an amused look on his face. Leia and Chewie were inside, doing who knows what. Never mind, I'm suggesting that the next Imp spy we catch be assigned to working with the Rogues for a week, Han thought. They'd sure as hell crack a lot more quickly than under methods deemed "cruel and unusual." Not that this isn't... but the High Command doesn't know that.

"Han!" Luke exclaimed, visibly shivering. "You shouldn't think stuff like that!" Han rolled his eyes. Luke said he wasn't going to read anyone's mind. "You were broadcasting that!" Luke defended himself. "Besides, that would be deemed 'cruel and unusual'!"

"'Cruel and unusual' punishment? That sounds interesting; what are you referring to?" Wes asked, more interested than he should be. Tycho tried to keep from laughing and failed, but he managed to muffle the sound by wrapping the scarf he was wearing tighter.

"I can guess," Wedge murmured. He continued more loudly, "Well, now what do we do? We've set up 'camp'... What exactly are we supposed to do on this scouting mission? Find a suitable cave for the Rebellion to hide in?"

Luke, who had actually read the mission objectives, shook his head. "No. The next people that come are supposed to do that. We're just supposed to stay here for a few days to record the climate and whatever lives on this ...planet. Quite frankly, I happen to think that they sent us here to keep us away from the base for a while."

Wes grinned, and everyone in the general vicinity knew that he had a plan. "I have a great idea. Instead of staying here for a week, we leave all the equipment necessary for the meteorological survey and go to Naboo for a vacation. Then, when it's time to go back to base, we come back here, get the equipment, and go back. No one will know any better, and we don't have to stay on this version of the lowest level of hell!"

Everyone outside just stared at Wes. No one wanted to admit that his idea actually sounded very, very good. Compared to Hoth, Naboo was Nirvana. Heck, Hoth made Tatooine seem like Ainrofilac (which has a main export of holodramas and lots of nice, beach front property, but with the unfortunate occurrences of occasional severe droughts and electricity shortages). Finally someone (who happened to be Han) said something. "Good idea. Let's get the hell out of here," he said, dropping the additional parts for the tent.

"I second that," Luke added before sprinting back onto the Falcon, which had an average temperature of 72 degrees Fahrenheit as opposed to the negative something degrees Fahrenheit of the normal temperature of Hoth.

"What took you so long to think of that?" Hobbie demanded of Wes. "We could have been halfway to Naboo by now! And doing something other than watching Han, Tycho, and Wedge set up the tent! We could have been watching 'Dia and Elassar Go To White Skyhook' or 'Neo and Serena's Excellent Adventure'! Or even 'Spaceballs'!"

"Hey, 'Spaceballs' is a good holovid," Tycho said. "And you're forgetting 'Space Pirates of the Corporate Sector' and a whole lot of other films." He paused. "You know, thinking about that, why didn't we watch anything on the way here?"

"We couldn't decide what to watch," Wedge reminded him. "Leia wanted to watch 'East Side Tale,' but Han wanted to watch 'Cataclysm Now.' That was how their first argument started, and then they got too loud to let us to watch anything."

"Sorry about that, but I can't stand musicals," Han apologized. "I mean, sure, some of them I can stand, but 'East Side Tale' doesn't happen to be one of them. Oh, and do you really think we should go to Naboo? They are part of the Rebellion, but that means we have a higher chance of being caught. Why don't we go to Ainrofilac instead?"

"Land of the holovid stars?" Tycho snorted. "Right. Everything there costs a fortune. Starship fuel costs almost double there than what it costs everywhere else in the galaxy."

"We could always just stay here, too," Hobbie told Tycho, "but that doesn't mean that it's a better idea than going to Ainrofilac. I still think we should go to Naboo."

"As much as I would like to go to Ainrofilac," Wedge said. "I do think it would be better to go to Naboo because: A) it's closer, B) that means less fuel consumption, C) that also means less travel time, and D) more time planetside, less time in a spaceship."

"I changed my mind," Han decided. "Let's stay with the going to Naboo idea." With that, they all went back inside the Falcon. The first thing to do would be to find Leia and tell her about the plan if Luke hadn't already done so. Han went to go check the cockpit while the Rogues went to the lounge. The Rogues found Leia and, surprisingly, Chewie watching 'East Side Tale' and occasionally singing along with the music. Needless to say, Wes declared himself scarred for life which, combined with the viewing of the holovid, Tycho found amusing. Tycho also noted that Princess Leia had a nice singing voice.

On the other side of the ship, Han was wondering why Luke was in the cockpit. "Kid, what's going on?" Han asked. After getting no response, he asked "You all right?"

Luke stirred and noticed Han. "Oh, hey, Han... I thought you and the others were still outside. You guys ever figure out whether we're actually leaving here or not?"

Han nodded. "Yeah. We're definitely going to Naboo, and we're leaving soon. Did you tell Leia about the plan, or were you waiting for one of us to tell her?"

Luke, still sleepy, stared at Han. "I decided to let Wes handle that. Leia and Chewie are watching that holovid you didn't want to see. I almost decided to watch it with them, but Leia decided to sing along, so I came here and fell asleep, apparently."

"You know how far into the 'vid they were?" Han asked, hoping the holovid was close to the end. "Is it over soon, or do you think we'll have to suffer through most of it?"

Luke thought back. "I dunno. I think it was near the end. I think there was some sort of fight scene about to occur, but that doesn't mean that it was going to---"

"Oh, good. They are near the end," Han affirmed before putting on a concerned look. "...You okay, Kid? You didn't seem all that well outside, but I thought it was just the cold."

Luke smiled. "No, I'm okay. It was just a little too cold out there for me. Maybe I should have stayed in here, though I know that it wouldn't have been fair for me to have---"

"Hey, Luke, if you didn't feel good, then you should have said something. The others and I would have understood," Han told Luke before continuing more lightheartedly, "and, if you had, you probably could've talked Leia out of watching 'East Side Tale'." The comment elicited a grin from Luke.

"I don't know about that, Han. I probably would have just let her choose the holovid. Of course, Leia might have chosen something different, but..." Luke sighed. "Why don't we go see if the holovid's over now? The sooner we talk to her, the sooner we're out of here."

Han thought it over. "Good point. Once we tell her, I'm gonna start prepping the Falcon for takeoff," Han decided. Luke nodded, and they walked back to the lounge. What they found was Wes, Leia, and Chewie singing along to the movie with a very confused Hobbie, an amused Tycho, and Wedge watching the holovid. It was almost over, much to Han's relief. Luke sat down next to Leia because he felt tired. When the movie was over, Han decided to break the news to Leia. "Your Highnessness, Rogue Squadron and I have made an executive decision." Those Rogues still awake (Luke had passed out again) moved in a direction vaguely away from the Princess. "We think that staying on Hoth for an entire week to collect information a droid could collect is completely idiotic, so we're going to Naboo for most of the time we're supposed to be here freezing our asses off."

Leia stared at Han for a good minute. "That sure took you long enough," she said sarcastically. "I'll agree to the idea on one condition."

I have a bad feeling about this, Han thought. "What? What condition?"

"No one hears anything about this whatsoever. If anyone at all is told about what we are going to do, I'll deny everything and claim you locked me in the refresher for the duration of the entire trip, and by 'you', I mean you, Han. Maybe Wes, too."

"Uh, Princess, why wouldn't you blame the rest of us?" Tycho asked politely.

Leia blinked. "Well, Tycho, you and Wedge and Hobbie haven't done anything besides Hobbie being painful to look at. And Luke... Well, he's asleep. I wouldn't blame Chewie because he locked himself in the cockpit almost the entire way here."

Wes had a confused look on his face. "Wait, why would you blame me?"

"Because you probably came up with the idea," Leia replied matter-of-factly.

The Falcon and crew had landed on Hoth about seven days out from Citenik. They were expected to return twenty-five days after they had originally left Citenik. They left Hoth about midday of the first day they were there. It took one and a quarter days to get to Naboo. By Han's calculation, they had seven or eight days to spend on Naboo since they needed eight and a quarter days for the return trip and, at most, a day to survey Hoth and collect the equipment they had left. It had taken a record amount of time for the Falcon to get clearance to land on Naboo. The sunset was very pretty when they arrived. Leia took that time to ask how much more Wes and Han had thought out the plan. The reply came that they hadn't, so Leia ended up taking control of the situation and found them a place to stay.

What none of the males had expected was for Leia to go waltzing into what was possibly the most expensive hotel on the planet and checking into three rooms with two beds each. What they didn't know was that she was using the credit-card her father had given her to accomplish that feat. Chewie had decided to remain with the Falcon for reasons unspecified under a false pretext. Eventually, it was decided that Han and Tycho would be sharing one of the rooms since they claimed first dibs. Wedge and Luke would be stuck with Wes and Hobbie. Leia, of course, would have her own room.

The first night that they were on Naboo, Wedge had suggested that they have a doctor see Luke, whose condition had only worsened after they had left Hoth. The doctor had diagnosed the disease as something minor and prescribed some medicine for Luke. The sleeping arrangements stayed the same until the afternoon of the first day when Leia fell ill with whatever Luke was sick with, and the Rogues and Han decided to quarantine the two in Leia's room. Unfortunately for Han, that meant that the Rogues that weren't sick went out at night while Han stayed at the hotel with Luke and Leia. Han didn't particularly mind since the medicine that the two were on made them say the funniest things and all Han really had to do was order room service and watch holovids. Leia's room had a nice view, too. There seemed to be a surplus of beautiful places on the planet, as far as Han could tell.

It was currently the night of the second day. Wedge, Wes, Tycho, and Hobbie were out somewhere, probably at a restaurant or cantina. Wedge had offered to stay behind this time, but Han had told him that he didn't mind staying at the hotel, so Wedge had went with the others. Leia had made the executive decision earlier that they would be watching this one fantasy holovid of which Han didn't remember the name. Luke had fallen asleep halfway through the first of the three parts since Han had restricted how much Coca-Cola Luke was allowed to drink. Leia, however, had been on a sugar high for the past few hours and was yet to come down off it. As Han had realized the night before, Leia was funny when she was on medication, especially of the narcotic kind.

Han glanced at Leia, who was laughing madly, before turning back to the screen. They were a little more than two thirds of the way through the second part, and the evil henchmen army was fighting the good guys who were trapped in a stronghold with only one way out: though the opposing army. Leia was still laughing like a lunatic, and Han was somewhat amazed that Luke was able to sleep through the noise Leia was making. "Stupid orcs falling off cliffs!" Leia exclaimed, and Han was pretty sure she was crying because she was laughing so hard. She also fell over in bed. Han started to pity the people in the rooms next door before remembering that Leia had been smart enough to book rooms next to each other, meaning when the others got back, they were to be graced with the crazy laughter that Han had been dealing with for the past few hours.

About four hours of medication-induced laughter later, Leia had finally fallen asleep. Han was somewhat amazed that she had been able to stay conscious (and laughing hysterically) as long as she had and that Luke had been able to remain asleep for the entire time. After grabbing the key to Leia's room and locking the door, Han went back to his and Tycho's room and fell asleep instantly.

Han was awakened in what he hoped was a few hours later when Tycho and the others returned and came into Han's room. "What's going on?" Han asked sleepily.

Wes smiled brightly. "Nothing really. We just wanted to know how the patients are doing. How was it tonight?"

"Leia laughs like a hyena," Han replied concisely, "and Luke fell asleep shortly after you left 'cause I kept the caffeine away from him."

"You look tired," Tycho noticed. "Fall asleep recently?"

Han looked at the clock. It said it was one in the morning. "Five minutes ago," he replied. "Leia decided to watch some fantasy epic which took around nine hours to watch. It ended about twenty times before really finishing. Luke was lucky; he fell asleep at about six thirty. Leia laughed all the way through the holovids, and she laughed harder when stuff got killed. That medication is really making her loopy and giving her a morbid sense of humor."

"I think I'll take over watching them tomorrow," Wedge decided. "It seems like you really need a break, Han."

"Damn straight," Han murmured before falling back to sleep.

The next day, Wedge watched Luke and Leia while Han, Wes, Hobbie, and Tycho went out to explore the planet, or at least the capital city of Theed. While Wedge was watching the two, they were a lot more civil than Han had said. Wedge suspected that Leia had just been acting like a lunatic to get Han to go out. Wedge was about to ask when Leia explained the whole thing while Luke was choosing a holovid to watch.

"Wedge, thanks for staying here at the hotel, but we're really all right... well, for being sick," Leia started. "That whole thing that you probably heard about last night was just really me acting to get Han out to see the city and stuff. I sorta felt really bad that he had to stay and watch us, hence the demented laughter. You can probably still catch up with them."

Wedge shook his head. "No, thanks. I'm fine staying here with you two. Running around a city during a heat-wave isn't exactly my idea of a fun time. Especially if I happen to be following Wes around. The air-conditioning is preferable, and we have room-service."

"He has a point, Leia," Luke added. "Thanks anyway, Wedge."

"You know that the doctor said you'd probably be better by the day before we leave, right?" Wedge asked, looking through the menu for room-service.

Leia nodded. "Yep. I'm okay with it anyway; I've been here tons of times, and a room in a luxury hotel is infinitely better than the frozen ball of ice known as Hoth."

"Wanna watch the ninth Final Fantasy holovid?" Luke asked.

"Geez, that series is like the 'Planet Before Time'!" Wedge exclaimed. "It just keeps going on and on and on... Except that Final Fantasy has, if anything, only gotten better."

Leia thought about it. "Nah. How about the tenth one? I've always liked that one."

"You ever see the seventh?" Wedge asked. "That one's got an awesome story."

Leia shook her head. "I haven't seen it myself, but I've heard from some of my friends that it's a lot darker than the rest of them."

Wedge shrugged. "It is somewhat darker than the rest, but that doesn't detract from the story. Nine is the antithesis of seven. It's a lot more cheerful."

They continued the debate for a while before deciding to just watch all of them in order, but they only reached the sixth before the others came back. However, it was still before dinner at six o'clock (Luke, Leia, and Wedge had started the movie marathon at nine), so everyone decided to eat dinner in Leia's room as they watched the next two movies. Luke fell asleep at the beginning of the eighth one, and Leia fell asleep at the end of the eighth one, so everyone else went back to their respective rooms and watched a holodrama or two before falling asleep themselves.

The next few days were more of the same for Luke and Leia, except that who stayed with them differed from day to day. After Wedge it was Tycho, then Hobbie and Wes. The sixth day they were on Naboo, the others finally decided that it would be all right for Luke and Leia to stay at the hotel by themselves since they were essentially better, but Han was insistent that they stay in bed for another day so they wouldn't relapse.

On the seventh day, Luke was completely better, and Leia figured she was well enough (no one was in the mood to argue with her). The heat wave was over, and Leia ended up giving everyone a tour of the city of Theed. Before then, the others had given themselves a tour of Theed's restaurants and bars, courtesy of whoever paid the bill for Leia's credit card. In the evening, they went to one of the best restaurants in the city. Han and the others had thought she had either given the concierge a bribe or used her political influences to get a table, but they were wrong: she and her parents were always given a table when any one of them was on planet. Dinner was decidedly nice, and Han was glad he had decided to dress better than usual for the occasion, but none of them had gone as far as to wear their dress uniforms.

On their way out of the restaurant, a certain Representative happened to recognize Leia. She told the others to go on ahead and that she would be right out. They did so, and Leia turned around. "Hello, Representative Binks," she said politely and smiling, "I wasn't aware that you were on planet. How have you been doing?"

Jar Jar's facial expression indicated a certain amount of sadness. "Meesa's been doen good, but yousa shouldn't be hereabouts. Da Republic's presence on Naboo's been getten bigger and bigger, and yousa's gone and joined de Allies. Da Rebellion's full of wanted peoples wid giant bounties."

"I know, Jar Jar," Leia replied, "but I can't just sit around and do nothing. My friends are fighting for their lives, and I cannot and will not turn my back on them."

"Meesa know dat, an' yous parents know dat. Yous momma know dat, at least. Yous dad be worried ta death. Hesa been frantic since yousa up 'n' left," Jar Jar replied, shaking his head. "Deys understand, but dat don't make dem less worried."

Leia smiled sadly and nodded as well. "I know, and I feel terrible about it... Jar Jar, could you pass a message on to them? I can't really send them any messages anymore since I could compromise the base's location or a mission, but I feel so guilty."

"Of course meesa will give dem a message from yous. Dey will be muy happy. What do yousa want meesa ta tell dem?" Jar Jar asked.

Leia thought for a moment. "Tell them that I'm fine and tell my dad not to worry: I've got more than enough knights in shining armor to protect me. Tell them that I love them and that I miss them very much, but I can't come back, not yet. There's still too much to do."

Jar Jar put back on his normal wacky smile. "Meesa shall deliver da message meself. Don't worry youself. Everyting be okiedokie." Jar Jar tilted his head. "How long have yousa been here? When be yous departure date?"

Leia blushed. "Well, my friends and I arrived here about six days ago. We're leaving tomorrow. I haven't really been out since Luke and I fell ill with something we picked up on this Force-forsaken planet we were on before we came here. I'm all better now, but could you not tell my dad about that? I don't want him to worry more than he already is."

Jar Jar nodded. "'Twas nice seein yousa hereabouts. Good evenin, Princess."

"It was nice seeing you, too, Jar Jar," Leia replied. "Good evening." She walked out the door to where her friends were waiting. Luke noticed something was wrong, but he decided not to say anything until they reached the hotel. Everyone stayed with the rooming arrangements that they had had for the past few days, so Luke and Leia were still sharing a room. After Leia had finished getting ready for bed and before Luke went off to brush his teeth, he decided to find out what was bothering her.

"Leia... What's wrong?" Luke asked, concerned. "Are you all right?"

Leia smiled to try and dispel his concerns, but since it was obviously failing, Leia answered truthfully. "I---I talked one of my parents' friends. They've known him forever, and he's completely trustworthy, so don't worry, but I'm just having some regrets about having left them so suddenly. I haven't seen either of them or talked to either of them since we left Coruscant. I miss them terribly..." Leia trailed off and tried to keep from crying. She'd been strong for the past few months, so why was she breaking down now?

"It's okay to be sad," Luke said. "I miss everyone back home, too. Even, dare I say it, the Jedi Council. It's just so different at the base. Sure, everyone tends to know everyone else, which sort of says something about our numbers, but it's not the same familiarity I feel when I'm at the Jedi Temple, or on Coruscant at all... Or here, even."

Leia laughed halfheartedly. "It's this planet. We shouldn't have come here." She paused. "Luke... I have family here. That's why I've been able to get us in this hotel and into the restaurant. I've been keeping a secret from all of you guys." Leia was about to tell him who her parents were, a secret she had kept, but Luke chose that moment to cut her off.

"You don't have to say anything, Leia. Whatever it is, it wouldn't change my opinion of you," Luke told her. He smiled. "Do you want to visit any of your family? I'm sure Han and the others wouldn't mind delaying our schedule for a few hours."

Leia, sitting on her bed, stared at the sheets and nodded. She looked up. "That would be nice, Luke. Thank you for understanding."

Luke grinned and waved it off. "It's nothing."

In the morning, Leia got up early and dressed in the best thing she had brought with her and did her hair up in a simple bun. It took her a solid five minutes to wake Luke up. After she managed to do so, he called Han and Tycho's room and explained to Tycho (since Tycho had answered the phone) that Leia was going to go visit some of her family and that Tycho needed to make sure the others didn't flip out when they noticed that he and Leia were missing. Tycho mumbled something as a reply and dropped the phone down on the receiver. By that point, Leia was almost finished packing for both herself and Luke since he didn't really look up to the task of stuffing clothes in a suitcase. Shortly thereafter, everything was packed and Luke was ready to drive Leia to where she needed to go. They put the suitcases in Han and Tycho's room, mostly just to make sure Tycho was awake and remembered what they needed him to tell everyone else.

On the first floor of the hotel, Leia rented a speeder, and she handed the keys over to Luke. Leia, while she was an accomplished driver, still hadn't managed or bothered, for that matter, to get her license, hence why Luke was coming along on the trip. After finding the speeder Leia had rented, they both jumped in. Luke started the speeder, and Leia started giving Luke directions for where to go. It took approximately forty-five minutes to reach Leia's grandparents house. Luke decided to stay with the speeder; he didn't want to intrude. "Really, Leia, it's all right. It would be awkward if I came with you."

Leia stared at Luke, somewhat frustrated. "They wouldn't mind. Really! Grandma and Grandpa would love to meet any of my friends. C'mon, Luke."

Luke smiled and shook his head. "No, Leia... I'd---I'd only get in the way."

"If you insist..." Leia trailed off and smiled faintly at him before running across the street and knocking on the door to her grandparents' house. It was around breakfast time, but Leia heard footsteps coming to the door almost immediately. Leia braced herself and tried to remember what excuse she had come up with to explain her presence on Naboo, but it didn't come to mind. Oh, well. I guess I could always wing it... or tell the truth.

The door opened, and, instead of one of her grandparents answering the door, it was Leia's Aunt Sola. "Leia!" she exclaimed happily as she hugged Leia. "What are you doing here?" Sola asked as she brought Leia inside.

"I was around, Aunt Sola," Leia replied. "Some of my friends and I decided to take a little vacation and come here for a while... We're leaving today, and I didn't want to leave the planet without saying hi to you or grandma and grandpa," she explained.

Sola grinned. "Well! You look so grown up! I know it's only been a year, but you look a lot more mature. How have your parents been doing?"

Leia looked down at the floor. "So they haven't told you?" she asked. "I ...haven't seen them for a little more than half a year." Leia put her smile back on. "Um, how've you and the cuzes and Uncle Darred been doing?"

Sola frowned a little. "What do you mean you haven't seen your parents?" she asked, ignoring Leia's question for the moment.

"I joined the Rebellion," Leia murmured. "We can't call Coruscant for stuff like social calls because there's too much risk of information being leaked."

Sola blinked. "Oh." She shook her head, smiling. "I should have figured that you had done that. It fits you completely. You're so much like your parents it's almost frightening." Sola laughed a little. "To answer you question, your uncle and I have been fine, and your cousins are having fun in college, as far as we can tell." Sola grinned. "So what about that boy outside? Who's he? Your boyfriend?"

Leia turned bright red. "Aunt Sola! No! He isn't! He's just a friend... and, strangely, the only one that even attempts to wake up at a normal hour in the morning. He sleeps like a log, though." Leia noticed her aunt was still grinning at her. "What? We were rooming together at the hotel to save money! Anyway, he's almost as hard to wake up as Dad. Not one of the guys is my boyfriend, so stop looking at me like that!"

Sola giggled again. "I'm sorry, Leia. It's just that you remind me so much of your mother when she brought home your father for the first time. She denied the fact that she liked him for a solid hour. I broke her eventually by way of tickling."

"Look, Luke is more like a brother to me than anything else," Leia declared, trying to get her aunt to stop pestering her about boys.

Sola's expression faltered for a second to a look of recognition but went back to being that of the family interrogator. "What about the other friends that you mentioned?"

"And I don't like Han, either!" Leia said. She realized she should have kept her mouth shut about him a few seconds after she said that and clamped her hand over her mouth.

Sola put on a mock-serious face. "Do not worry," she said. "I shall not tell the Overprotective One that you have a boyfriend."

"Where's grandma and grandpa?" Leia asked, changing the subject. Sola let the subject drop and showed Leia to Ruwee and Jobal. Leia made sure that she kept the topic as far away as possible from the Rebellion and her parents. She told her grandparents that she was on Naboo with some of her close friends, but neglected to mention that all of the friends she was talking about were guys and that she knew them because of the Rebellion. Leia ate breakfast with them, and after about an hour and a half, she excused herself and said her goodbyes.

While Leia was leaving, Sola watched her from the window that looked out onto the front yard. She watched as the two sped off to go meet with their friends. They look so much like their parents...

When they had returned to Citenik from Hoth, Leia had been very nervous that they were suspected of going AWOL for the time that they did when they were supposed to be on Hoth. Her fears were unfounded, though, since Han had spied on the High Command and made sure that they didn't know anything about the little sojourn that had been taken. After all, Leia had said she'd blame Han if anyone found out about it. A few weeks later, Han started getting the feeling that Bail knew, but that he just wasn't saying anything. Han hoped he was just being paranoid, but it seemed like Bail actually approved of what ended up being Han's decision to get the heck off of Hoth. Regardless, shortly after they had returned with the meteorological data, the High Command had sent out a construction team to build the new base on Hoth, much to the dismay of the scouting team.

The rest of the year was more or less like the first half of it had been. The Rebellion was still being hunted by the Republic, but no one, not even the Jedi, could find out where the location of the Rebel base was. Or so the Rebels thought. Everything changed on a day shortly after the first anniversary of the Battle of Yavin. An Imperial attack force dropped out of hyperspace into the Citenik system. All of the Rebel fighters and transports were scrambled for the impending attack. There was a short sortie on the outskirts of the system between some of the Rebel starfighters and the Imperial TIEs, but by the time that the capital ships had reached the planet of Citenik, all of the transports had evacuated and no important information had been left behind. All the Imperials captured was an empty base.

Seven days later, the Rebel forces were in the Hoth system, and most could no longer deny the fact that they were to be stuck on an ice planet for an indefinite duration. Those that went on the scouting mission remembered why they had risked going AWOL to escape the planet and made sure that no one was going to give Wes or Hobbie any emergency blankets to use as clothing. Eventually, someone did make the mistake of giving Wes and Hobbie emergency blankets, and there was a strange snowball fight that day where not only did the base split into two groups but it evolved into a game of capture the flag where whoever had the most of the opposite side's blankets won. Rogue Squadron's group won in favor of those with the High Command with all of the blankets to zilch. Snowball fights were banned from that day on, and Rogue Squadron swore it was because the High Command had lost the fight the day before.

The next day, the High Command started searching for a location for yet another new base in case Hoth was compromised. Most of the Rebels wished for a new location to go to every day, and the Rogues volunteered for the next scouting mission.

A few weeks after the anniversary of the now infamous Battle of Yavin, Jedi Master Aayla Secura finally hit pay dirt. The Empire had neglected to give the Jedi the location of the former two Rebel bases, but Aayla and her crazy Padawans had finally found the base which had been just recently attacked. It was in the Citenik system. According to the Imperial reports, there had been heavy TIE casualties during the Rebel's flight from Citenik, but minor Rebel starfighter casualties, and there had been no capital ship damage on either side. Like the rest of the Jedi, she did not trust the Empire and thought that they were up to something sinister. The hiding of the locations of the Rebel bases backed up her views on the subject. Teneniel and Allya had insisted that they go and search the base no matter what, but Aayla had those reasons for searching the Rebel base. Her main mission objective was to find the Rebels, but the sub objectives were to find and report any Sith activity within the Empire and to interview Rebel soldiers and possibly members of the High Command so the Jedi Council could see the bigger picture and possibly present a case to the Senate to lift the death sentences on all of the members of the Rebel Alliance.

Aayla started the landing sequence of Dark Force Rising, the Corellian blockade runner that the Jedi Temple had assigned her for chasing down the Rebels. Teneniel was in the cockpit and staring out the viewports. Allya was no doubt waiting right next to the portal to the outside. Aayla smiled a little. They both had friends who had joined the Rebels. It really was a pity that the Order had to cut all connections and sever all ties to those three. From the intel that Aayla had received, Katarn was now a commando, which she somehow found not very surprising. Along those lines, she had thought that Halcyon would have gone into the spy business, but she could only find out that he was a pilot. If finding out that Katarn became a commando was unsurprising, then Anakin's son becoming a fighter pilot was the most apparent thing in the entire galaxy. That boy definitely took after his father. On the topic of those boys, Aayla was very glad to hear that the Empire had no clue about them being Jedi. That was one of her mission objectives as well: hide the fact that Jedi had joined the Rebellion at all costs. She had denied the fact on numerous occasions already.

Beside Aayla, Teneniel gasped and called Allya to come into the cockpit. They were now very close to the Rebel base, and what they saw looked like ruins. Aayla had figured that the Rebels had just done a good job of camouflaging their base, but as the ship drew closer and started to actually land, Aayla saw that the Empire had done their best to destroy the base so that no one would ever find it. The "no one" that the Empire didn't want to find the base was probably Aayla herself and the rest of the Jedi. Now why would they not want that to happen? Maybe they would find enough information to find out where the Rebels had disappeared to. The Empire wouldn't find out that information until the Jedi had decided what was best for the Republic. If not telling the Empire was good, then the Rebellion would be getting a lease on life from the Jedi.

A few minutes later, all three of them were on the ground in the hanger of the base and were about to start searching the rest of the base for any viable information. Aayla whistled. The base was rather impressive. "I wonder how long it took the Rebellion to set this place up," she murmured and turned to look at her two Padawans. They were gawking at the installation as well. It was in surprisingly good condition for having been assaulted by the Empire's warships. Aayla did have to admit that the outside looked like it had been completely annihilated, but the inside was practically untouched.

Teneniel walked over to a computer terminal and turned it on. A password screen turned on. "Master Aayla! The computers still work!" she called out. Aayla and Allya rushed over. "But... as you can see, there's a password screen. If we type the wrong thing in, it'll probably do a memory wipe to the hard drive of the terminal so thorough that we can't recover the data." Teneniel sighed. "Oh, well. Time to test Corran's codes." She typed in the passcode that he almost always used without fail. Luckily, it did work. The normal desktop settings appeared on the screen.

Aayla scanned the names of the folders and programs. About half of them were random personal things like "1001 Uses for Rations" or "Wes' Betting Pool Data." From the other names of the folders, it started to seem to Aayla that a number of users accessed this one terminal. Since Corran Halcyon's password worked, she guessed it had to do with the mysterious wonder squadron that had been eluding and generally getting the better of the Empire. With their strange hobbies, Aayla had to wonder how they were pulling that off.

Halfway down the screen, Teneniel noticed a folder named "Shadow Ninja." "Uh, Aayla, I think we were actually left some information," she reported. "Corran seems to have given us an entire folder on the desktop." She pointed to the Shadow Ninja icon so Aayla could see before clicking on it with the mouse. The contents of the folder were simple: there were letters from Corran and Kyle and Luke as well as actual information about what the Rebellion was and had been doing for the past year. One of the most important things that they could find right off the bat was a complete report about the Battle of Yavin. Teneniel was pretty sure that it was probably the official report that had been filed away by the High Command by the look of the title it had been given. There was also something that detailed a scouting mission which was called "Half The Squad Goes AWOL, A Scouting Mission." There were many more files until they finally found the end of the data in the folder. The last file was a letter from Princess Leia which was to be delivered to her father.

"I think we should download this onto a disk," Allya said, waving at the terminal's screen. "There's a Sith hell of a lot of information that Corran and his friends left for us to find." She took out a disk. "I happen to be prepared for this occurrence. Master Aayla, do you think I should try and download the files?"

Aayla nodded. "You friends wouldn't have booby trapped the terminal or the data if they left this for you. I have a feeling that the half of this that is information to be used and not delivered will be very important for our mission. We are going to have to go back to Coruscant to deliver it. I do not think the Empire should know that we have the data."

Teneniel nodded. She had just finished reading Corran's letter to her. "I completely agree. According to what Corran said..." She shuddered. "He strongly suggested that we transfer the information ourselves. The holonet isn't safe to use, and he seems to suggest that the fate of the Rebellion depends upon how we use or transfer the information."

Allya gasped. "That means that he included the location of the new Rebel base on there!" she exclaimed, handing the blank disk over to Teneniel to copy the data onto for transference. "Probably all of the tactical data, too!"

Aayla watched as the two girls fussed over the information and waited for the disk to copy the data. Once Teneniel pulled the finished disk out of the terminal slot, the hard drive of the computer wiped itself clean. Smiling, Aayla reflected that it was something that was a typical thing for Katarn or Halcyon to do. The password probably didn't matter; there was more likely a retinal scan or DNA test which allowed Teneniel and Allya to access the computer. If anyone had tried to hack or slice in, then the computer would have probably wiped itself. That said, the fact that the terminal had been untouched meant that the Empire had not been as thorough as they should have been. Their loss, Aayla decided.

Two months after what became known as the Rout at Citenik, Aayla, Teneniel, and Allya gave their report to the Jedi Council on Coruscant. They were going to give the letters that were supposed to go to some of the Council members after the meeting so that it would not be on the record that Jedi were part of the Rebel Alliance. They were also to keep secret the location of the new Rebel base on Hoth until the meeting was dismissed so they could tell the Council that they would be proceeding with the next part of the plan without the Empire knowing. All they were actually going to cover in the Council meeting was the Rebel account of the Battle of Yavin, various missions that the squadron Corran was in went on, and "leads" that Teneniel had "sliced" out of the Rebel's computers.

Aayla was called into the Council chambers. She motioned for Teneniel and Allya to follow her. When they were inside, the doors shut behind them. As they had practiced, Aayla gave a summary of how their mission had been progressing so far. Then Teneniel described how she had "sliced" her way into the Rebel computers and told the Council what information that they had found. Anakin had a nasty look on his face when Teneniel mentioned that they had leads on where the Rebels could be. Aayla felt sorry for him since both of his children were openly siding with the Alliance while his wife was covertly one of the leaders of the Rebellion, and he was part of the group which had the job of hunting them down so the Republic could try them for a treason charge they didn't deserve. Allya started giving a synopsis of the Battle of Yavin from the point of view of the Rebellion and finished her speaking time with some of the missions that Corran's squadron went on. Aayla finished up the presentation with the theoretical "leads" they had which were completely wrong, and she made sure to send that information to the Council that they did know where the new base was, but that what she was saying was mostly for show and the placation of the Senate and Imperials. "Are there any questions?" she asked after Teneniel and Allya had been dismissed. They would have to wait outside for this portion of the meeting.

Obi-Wan frowned. "Aayla, which story do you find more plausible? The Rebel version or the Imperial version of the Battle of Yavin? From the information you gathered, it makes the Rebels sound like they wouldn't attack a space station with no provocation."

Aayla sighed. "I tend to agree with the Rebellion. The transcripts we found seem to be bits and pieces of the official record that the Rebels would have filed in their computer systems. Teneniel was not able to find any names to attach to the people. Only the squadron call numbers survived and the ranks of those in the High Command. Except for three of them. They were referred to as 'Salt', 'Paprika', and 'Thyme'. The writer of the file was very eccentric, almost as crazy as one of our own." Aayla hoped that the message had gone through loud and clear that Corran and Kyle had left them the information.

Anakin smiled. "The writer does sound very familiar. It really is too bad he and his friends are on extended leave. This starfighter pilot squadron sounds intriguing. Is it the one which tends to drive the Empire to distraction?"

Aayla nodded. "From what Teneniel could tell, it was the one and only. We weren't sure of what the squad's name is, though. The data we retrieved called them many things, and 'troublemakers' was one of the most tame labels." She smiled. "The official name of the squad is Rogue Squadron. They're considered crazy by Rebel standards, truth be told."

"What was the exact condition of the Rebel base when you arrived?" Mace asked.

Aayla thought back. "The inside looked like they had escaped very quickly with little warning, but there was not much damage to the interior. The exterior had the appearance of being hammered continuously by superlaser fire. I think the Empire bombarded the base after the Rebels had already escaped to their new location. All evidence points to that."

"Troubling, this is," Yoda decided. "Seem to want us to find the Rebels the Empire does not." He shook his head. "Most disturbing, this is. Clouded, the future should not be."

Aaron looked like he was concentrating on something. "Wait, Aayla. I was thinking that if the computer let Teneniel hack into the systems, but self-destructed when she retrieved the disk with the information on it, wouldn't that imply that the Rebels wanted us to find the data? Because it seems to me that the terminal could have been set to wipe itself before the data had finished copying itself onto the disk."

Oh, no. He just had to ask that, didn't he? Aayla asked herself. "I thought that was odd for a while, too, but then I realized that an Imperial or Republic spy in deep cover could have programmed it for us to discover, or even for the Imperial forces to discover. There are many reasons that it turned out the way it did. Teneniel's slicing skills could also have bypassed the switch that would have set off the memory wiping program."

Aaron nodded. "Right... right." Aayla thought that he seemed a little distracted. By what, though? "Sorry. That was a stupid question."

Aayla looked around the room. Adi seemed to be a little tense as well. Wait... Aaron's distracted and Adi won't stop fidgeting. Oh, no. Aayla realized what was wrong. She decided to hold off on saying anything until after the meeting was finished. "If there's nothing else, then I am finished with the report," she said to end the meeting quickly.

Yoda nodded. "The Council is dismissed." It took a few seconds for the Senate's newly installed recording software for any meeting about the Senate dubbed "Galactic Civil War" to turn off. The atmosphere visibly relaxed once they were sure it was off.

Aayla walked out the door and waited with Teneniel and Allya for the certain Jedi on the Council to come rushing out and demand the truth. They only had to wait a fraction of a second because Anakin literally came flying through the doors right after Aayla had exited the room. Obi-Wan shortly followed his former student, but he had walked out at a more reasonable pace. Plo sauntered vaguely in their direction for the letter he was pretty sure Kyle had sent. Mace walked over for the real details; he was acting as the Jedi Council's illicit information gatherer. Adi came over, too, but she let Aaron go off, probably to search. The Jedi Masters formed a line of sorts for access to whatever they were to receive.

"Wow," was the first thing Aayla said. "Quite a crowd here, huh?" She continued after Obi-Wan shrugged. "Okay, so I'm guessing you figured out we were being liberal with the truth." Mace stared at her; Aayla continued. "Real story: Corran, probably with Kyle and Luke, organized a file of documents to give to us. There was tons of stuff in there; I only told you maybe a fourth of the complete information." Allya handed a datapad to Mace. "The contents of that are complete documents for most of the Rebellion's important missions. It also has files which describe any and all missions and battles leading up to and including the Battle of Yavin. Corran no doubt sliced the information out of the Alliance mainframe, so we cannot, under any circumstances, let that information out to the Republic or the Empire unless the Rebellion is proven innocent."

Mace was searching the table of contents on the data pad. "Impressive. I'll make sure to pass that information on to Yoda and the others," he said before walking off.

The others just approached en masse. Aayla decided to deal with them that way. "And now for the mail delivering portion of our program," Aayla announced. "Anakin, you have 42 messages. Twelve are from Corran, twelve from Luke, twelve from Rogue Squadron (the squad they belong to), one from Bail Organa (it's very sincere and full of apologies), one from Mon Mothma (mostly wondering why you let Leia leave the planet), one from Garm Bel Ibis, one from Kyle, one from some guy named Han Solo (I think he's a friend of Leia's), and one from Leia. Happy reading," Aayla said, handing over the datapad with every single one of the files on it. Anakin was rather stunned by the amount of mail.

"Someone's obviously very popular," Obi-Wan commented. He received a glare from Anakin in return for the comment before Anakin went back to reading his messages.

"Obi-Wan," Aayla announced. "You have 15 messages. Twelve are from Luke, one from Corran, one from Kyle, and one from Leia." Allya handed the datapad over, and Aayla addressed the next reading victim. "Plo. You have one long novel to read from Kyle and a combined letter from Rogue Squadron apologizing for corrupting him."

Plo received the datapad from Teneniel and looked over the contents. "Kyle better have spell checked this..." he said, wondering how Kyle could have written so much while having to go on missions at the same time, and wandered off to read everything.

"Adi?" Teneniel asked. "Where's Mara? Leia and all the guys wrote her letters."

Adi looked away. "We haven't seen her since there was that skirmish on Selttiks where the Rebels barely escaped. She disappeared from the Temple the next day... Do you know if she joined the Rebellion like the others? Was there anything at all that would suggest that she joined the Rebels?" Adi was speaking on behalf of Aaron, Mara's father.

Teneniel shook her head. "No... There was nothing. That's so weird. I mean, if she was going to get involved with this whole stupid conflict, she would side with the Rebels, but if she---Wait, when was Selttiks? If it was after the base was evacuated, then---"

"It was before the raid on Citenik," Aayla murmured. "Oh Force... This is a disaster."

Anakin remembered something. "Wait. When you were talking about those leads, Aayla, does that mean you actually know where the Rebel base is?"

Aayla nodded. "Yes. I'm planning to go there soon to talk to them about the war."

"I'm coming with you," Adi decided. "I'm assigning myself to this mission, too. It's my duty to find Mara, and she could be at the Rebel base. If she isn't, then I'll just have to come back to Coruscant and start my search all over again. Is that all right with you, Aayla?"

Aayla looked over to Obi-Wan, who shrugged, and she guessed that meant the senior Council member there besides Adi approved. "Of course. We'll just have to be subtle about the question asking, though. Oh, and we're going to need to pack some warm clothing. According to the 'scouting party that went AWOL', it's cold as the lowest level of hell on Hoth. They left the planet after a few hours and took a vacation instead of staying and doing their job. From the data they brought back, I sure don't blame them."

"You know, the name Hoth sounds familiar," Anakin said. "I'm reminded of arrow-shaped ships and annoying people..." He looked back down at the display on the datapad. "And speaking of annoying people, I got a letter from my future son-in-law."

"Oh, Leia's met him already? I thought he was a rather nice man when he and the others visited from the future," Obi-Wan said. "The pilots we met then were the Rogues."

Teneniel and Allya shared a glance of complete bewilderment with each other.

"Well I didn't think that damned annoying Corellian was..." Anakin said before trailing off into unintelligible sounds and cuss words from different languages, mainly Huttese.

It took a while for Adi to figure out what Anakin was getting at, but then she remembered the people from the future. "Oh! You mean Leia's already met Han?"

Anakin twitched at the mention of Han's name. Obi-Wan hid a grin. "You know, Mr. Solo had a film of Anakin laughing hysterically and fainting. It was very funny." He turned back to Adi and was suddenly serious. "Good luck finding Mara... I somehow feel that this is partially my fault, though. It's almost as if---" Obi-Wan realized a connection between two certain incidents. "Anakin. Do you remember anything at all that was out of the ordinary when Miss Jade had fainted suddenly about a year ago? She had been acting differently ever since then. Do you think that maybe the Sith were trying to---"

Anakin was staring at Obi-Wan with a look of horrified realization on his face. "Oh my God. They brought her over to their side to keep her quiet."

Adi furrowed her eyebrows together. "What do you mean, Anakin? I noticed the same thing. She had been acting a little different, like there was some sort of warring faction in her mind. I was about to bring it up in Council right before... she... left."

"Palpatine was probably the one in her head," Anakin said. "He might not have been completely able to control what knowledge she was privy to. After all, he was the one she was trying to warn us about... but I know that there is definitely something else the Empire's trying to hide. You've all felt that dark presence. Palpatine wants that Sith Lord to stay hidden, so he had to make sure Mara couldn't say anything. She's had the most visions out of all of the children, and..."

"And all of them were about the Empire and the Emperor and his dark servant," Teneniel said. Anakin, Obi-Wan, Adi, and Aayla turned to her. "She always told me about her dreams," Teneniel explained. "Especially the ones with the dark servant. She was scared of him, but don't tell her I told you that. Besides, she was eight at the time."

"There's our proof that the Empire is evil," Adi sighed. "Dammit! Why did it have to be Mara? You know those idiots are going to stage a rescue mission if they find out."

Obi-Wan nodded. "That was the reason that attachment was forbidden in the Order for so long. The lives of the many outweigh the lives of the few, but they won't listen."

Anakin realized who the mysterious Sith Lord was and felt nauseous. Why hadn't he noticed before? How had he not noticed? "No... It can't be true. That's impossible... No!"

In the Deep Core of the galaxy, there was a planet called Byss. On this planet was a Spaarti cylinder. A clone body had been growing there for seventeen years, and the soul of the most hated person in that version of the galaxy had finally traveled to its destination. When he awoke, he was pleased to note that the cloned body had grown to the age he had programmed it to be: twenty-five. No one would recognize him anymore; he was young again, and no one would suspect. Perfect.

After he dressed, he walked out of the antechamber. His faithful servants were all waiting for him. There were a few surprises, but that was of no matter. The cyborg was still useful, and those that had died were ready for vengeance. Of the geniuses, he was very pleased to note that his favorite admiral was present and that his least favorite governor was not. He would have to give a medal to whoever killed that man, unless it was a Rebel, who would instead receive a quick death as a reward. His grand vizier was also there with the beautiful head of the intelligence agency and the prince. Most of his trained assassins were lurking in the shadows like they should and the elite guards were stationed nicely.

He was very pleased that his two favorite servants were waiting for him at the bottom ot the steps. Wonderful. The girl had succumbed to his mental bombardments more quickly than expected. Anyway, on to business. The other needed to be properly introduced to the others. After all, he was a guest in this reality. "Rise, Lord Vader."


HA! Becha didn't expect that! Actually, you probably did. I was trying to make it as obvious as I could without completely blowing the Awesome One's cover. Oh, and, just to let you know, this wasn't something I came up with while I was coming off of the pain medicine right after my operation. I'd planned this almost since the start of the story. I mean, it just wouldn't be Star Wars without Vader, complete with the heavy breathing. Sorry. Vader's my second favorite character ever from everything ever. Plus, I don't think the Galactic Civil War would quite be the same without him. And since he is here, many new options open... half of which are theoretically and technically impossible, not to mention against the laws of physics. So...

REVIEWS! YAYE! THANK YOU ALL WHO HAVE DONE SO! & here are the replies:

Yuna-flowering: Hello again! Yes, Anakin thinks Padme is the source of the crazy gene. We all know otherwise.

JadeAlmasy: Thank you for the reviewness! Thankies!

SuperBlonde: Yes, and the plot keeps getting thicker... like JELLO as it hardens... or soup. Sorry I kept you waiting so long. I hope the extra longness makes up for it. I felt guilty about not posting...

Jas-TheMaddTexan: As you can see, I can. I'm going to give poor Lukie a huge headache on Bespin.

Niraha Skywalker: Thank you. I can't exactly remember what happened in chapter six, but I think it was funny, so thank you for thinking it was funny, too. And I vaguely remember the Republic acting stupid about something... The Chancellor's probably not gonna get a name.

Yah. Thankies for reading and stuff. I hope you stick around for the next chapter... According to my handy dandy paper thingy which has the outline on it, we get to look foreward to... The Rebellion and Empire generally acting normal, Thrawn acting like the awesome person he is, and some political strife/madness. Hm. You know, this chapter looked a lot shorter on my outline. It took up about six lines originally. One of which said "Sith act sithy." I thought that up during driving school, just to let you know. So. Until next time! (EDIT: I'm really super sorry about the crazy rants. I don't know what I was doing earlier...)