"Well, Chewie, where should we head?"

The Wookiee growled a suggestion.

"Come on. If he's hiding, that's the last place he'll go."

Chewie shrugged.

"Well, yes. Some people there might know something… but I'm sure I know Luke better than any of them."

Chewie barked a disagreement at that.

"Mara? You think she knows Luke better than me? Even if it's so, I doubt she's there right now."

Chewbacca made a final, forceful growl.

"All right, buddy… You sure know my soft spots. I should visit the kids. Speaking of which, how about I drop you off to visit your family? It's not really out of the way."

The Wookiee barked with excitement, then sulked.

"Ahh, you repaid that life debt a thousand times. Besides, where I'm going, there'll be Jedi to protect me…" He grinned at his friend. "And we both need to stock up on good memories. I've got a feeling that once we start the search, we won't be getting many."

Chewie barked something else. "I know… but Leia didn't specify a timetable. And if Luke is really hiding, it won't be easy to find him… Maybe some clues will turn up in the next couple of days. I mean… he could be anywhere in the galaxy."

Chewie relented. "Great, pal. Next stop, Kashyyyk… then Yavin Four." The Falcon gracefully maneuvered around the Coruscant orbital traffic and went into light-speed. "It's just like old times, Chewie… me, you, and the Falcon, taking on the galaxy…"

His partner hooted. "Yeah… those were the days…"

XXX

"Funny. This place hasn't changed at all."

"Huh?"

"Nineteen years ago, Mara. Nineteen years ago, I was sitting at this very table with Obi-Wan, meeting Han for the first time… and as far as this place is concerned, it might have been yesterday. And on that day, I told Ben I was never coming back to this planet again. Shows how much I know."

"Why here, Skywalker."

"It's the last place anyone will look for us."

"So we just wait the storm out?"

"The storm hasn't hit… yet. And I hope to do something to prevent it."

"What, Skywalker?"

"I don't know. Pellaeon could hardly have been the only one in the Empire who wanted the peace treaty."

"Well, we won't do anything from Tatooine, that's for sure."

"Hey! Don't make fun of my homeworld!"

"You can make fun of mine," Mara winked.

"But I don't know…" Luke laughed. "I see."

"If you had to guess, Skywalker, where would you say I was from?"

Luke didn't hesitate. "Corellia."

"Really? I'm sure Solo would like that."

Luke's comlink beeped, and a stream of Huttese emerged from it. "Got it," Luke said. "Come on, Mara. They got the Lady Luck refueled."

"So where do we go from here?"

"Somewhere close to the Imperial Remnant. I want to be close enough to take action. How does Ord Mantell sound?"

Mara smiled. "At least it'll be familiar."

As they got into the ship, Mara suddenly tensed. Luke felt it. "What is it?"

"I feel like someone's watching us…. I have a bad feeling about this, Skywalker."

Luke frowned. Mara's feelings of danger were not something to toss aside lightly. "We are not going to be running and hiding forever, Mara."

"I'll hold you to that, Skywalker," she said as the Lady Luck rose into the Tatooine sky.

"Well… no ships lifted off after us," Luke said.

"Something is still wrong."

Luke didn't answer. Instead he abruptly threw the controls so the ship lurched. Mara lost her balance and fell into Luke's arms.

"You did that on purpose, Skywalker."

"Who, me?" he replied as he pulled the hyperdrive lever. "I don't know what you're talking about, Jade." And he kissed her. She placed her arms around him. "Mara," he whispered.

They heard a loud whistle as Artoo rolled into the cockpit. "Artoo," Luke said sternly, "Threepio's a bad influence on you."

"Mara stood up. "Just need to use the 'fresher," she said.

"This had better be important," Luke told the droid.

Instead of replying, Artoo plugged into the ship terminal, bringing up a datafile on the screen.

Luke barely managed to keep standing when he saw it. Regaining his composure, he read it again. No. He saw it right the first time. And yes, this was important enough to interrupt the kiss. Then Luke felt fear. Real, utter fear no amount of Jedi training would keep in control.

"Mara!" he yelled.