Luke didn't know how long he was in stasis, but it couldn't have been too long because the cylinder had not been moved. He looked up and saw Mara Jade talking to Talon Karrde. She must have muted the intercom system of the cylinder because he couldn't make out what they were saying, but by the flurry of hand gestures and their anxious expressions, it didn't look like they were happy. Finally, the two smugglers turned and stared at him—which made him nervous because it looked like they were trying to decide his fate. Mara moved forward and unlocked the stasis cylinder door allowing Talon Karrde to reach in and grabbed Luke by the front of his uniform tunic.

"We need to check you for tracking devices." Karrde hissed as he roughly pulled him out of the stasis cylinder and set him on his feet.

Mara glanced over to Karrde as she unholstered her blaster to guard their prisoner. "I already searched him Talon. I did a very thorough pat down. He isn't carrying any tracking beacons."

"It may not be in his clothing. Did you look for subcutaneous devices?

Mara scowled at her boss. "Are you asking me if I did a body cavity search?"

Karrde made a face. "No, I'm not asking that."

"You might not be asking," Luke interrupted as he straightened his grey Imperial uniform. "But that's a question I would definitely like answered,"

"Shut up Skywalker!" Mara turned to Karrde and shook her head. "No, I didn't search his body."

"What's going on?" Luke asked, confused by this change of events.

"What's going on," Karrde said angrily. "Is an Imperial Star Destroyer just dropped out of hyperspace in an orbit above Myrkr and I have a Grand Admiral Thrawn sending out a query on all frequencies as to the location of his Supreme Commander. He knows you are on planet!"

"Kriff!" Mara turned to Luke. "Do you have a tracker crammed up your darkside?"

"No," Luke shook his head adamantly.

"Did the Empire inject anything under your skin?" Talon asked.

"No, not that I know of. They've never…" he stopped as he stared at his right hand.

"What is it," Mara demanded.

"My right hand is cybernetic…Imperial issue." He opened and closed his hand while gazing at the limb. "It's possible that something was placed inside the circuitry so my…the Emperor could track me."

"Shavit!" Talon moaned before he turned to Mara, gazing at her sadly. "We are so dead."

She lowered her head. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault."

"Kriff! Frack'n Kriff!" Talon cursed as he ran his hands through his shaggy black hair in frustration.

"What do we do?" Mara pointed her blaster at Luke. "Do we blast him, dump him in the woods and let the vornskrs eat the evidence?"

"What?!" Luke said wide eyed. "No, you don't want to do that. Grand Admiral Thrawn probably already knows exactly where I'm located. Even if I'm not carrying a tracker, he is highly intelligent and extremely perceptive. He is shrewd to the point that I think he may be Force sensitive. Killing me is not a good option."

Mara rolled her eyes. "Of course you think it's not a good option, but it may be our only option."

"No, I have a better plan." Luke talked quickly, hoping to avoid becoming a meal to a Vornskr…whatever that is. "You let me go and I will tell my people you saved me."

Despite the dire circumstances, both Karrde and Jade laughed at his suggestion.

"We let you go and we die from a planetary bombardment as soon as you're safely onboard." Karrde said.

"No, I won't do that. Believe me, I definitely don't want that."

"Stop trying to save your own skin. There is no reason why you wouldn't want us dead," Mara's voice took on a scathing tone. "Especially after I stunned your rimworld butt multiple times before selling you to the rebels."

"I don't want Admiral Thrawn's troopers to come down here because of the rebels." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I don't want Leia to be hurt…or Han"

Mara gave a derisive laugh. "You had a thing for her at one time, didn't you?"

He shook his head. "No, not exactly. I do love her…like a sister. We've been through a lot together. I don't want Leia and Han to be captured…and that will happen if the Imperials come planetside to search for me." He gazed at Mara. "You know how they work. You were an Imperial."

Karrde gave Mara a sideway glance and Luke realized she had probably kept that little tidbit of information from her employer. "We can say a loyal Imperial found me," Luke continued. "And brought me back to this planet to recuperate."

She shook her head while counting all the holes in his story. "The Admiral will wonder why we didn't contact the government immediately after finding you." She stared at Luke intently. "It won't work, unless you can come up with a great reason for not contacting your command."

Luke stopped to think. "Maybe we could say I was unconscious, and you didn't know who I was at first."

Karrde shook his head in disbelief. "Everybody knows who you are."

Luke blew out a breath. "Help me out here! Come on, you are smugglers. You must come up with impromptu stories to get out of trouble all the time."

"Maybe…" Mara started but then stopped.

"Maybe what?" Luke said, almost frantic at this point. The longer they delayed the greater the chance that Leia and Han would be captured. They had been exiled to Wild Space and if the Imperials found them... then there was nothing that he could do to stop their execution.

"Maybe if you tell the Admiral that you lied to us about contacting your command. Say you told us you made contact with the Empire…but you actually didn't because you wanted to stay on this planet a little longer without interruptions."

Karrde looked at her incredulously. "Why in the hell would he do that?"

"Maybe he was attracted to..." Mara closed her eyes and blew out a frustrated breath. "Forget about it; it is a dumb idea."

"Attracted to…what? The planet's ambience?" Karrde scoffed. "Yeah, that is a dumb idea."

"That might work," Luke whispered when he realized what she was thinking. "If you are suggesting that I might have wanted some time uninterrupted with a certain young lady…yeah…I probably would have lied. That is a pretty good idea. I am a young single guy and you are…" He wanted to say gorgeous, but he wasn't sure if she would stun him again if he did. "Ummm…someone who would spark my interest."

"What!" Karrde said incredulously. "You think the Emperor would believe you delayed calling off a galaxy-wide search for you just because you wanted a kriff-call?"

"Not a Kriff-call. Emperor Vader wouldn't believe that…if that was the only reason. But she's a Force Adept and finding one of those is like locating a snowball on Mustafar. It would interest me greatly and the fact that she is a beautiful woman my age would definitely convince the Emperor."

Mara winced when he mentioned she was a Force-user and Luke realized she had probably been hiding those abilities from her employer as well. Mara turned to her boss and her brow rose when she noticed he didn't seem at all surprised.

"You knew I was a Force adept?"

Karrde shrugged. "I suspected. Either you were the luckiest person in the galaxy, or you had some mysterious mystical outside help. I didn't know about your Imperial connection, though." He turned back to Luke. "What is keeping you from killing us as soon as your precious princess is out of danger?"

He let out a long sigh. "I am not a monster. I am a man of my word. Please, this will work." He gazed at Mara. "Especially if you come with me to sell the story."

She groaned in disgust. "Are you blackmailing me? Come with you and you'll let my friends live."

He put his hands up in a halting gesture. "No, not at all. You bring me up to the Star Destroyer in a shuttle. I show you around and then you return to the planet. I will then order the Star Destroyer to depart orbit."

She stared at him gravely. "Even if I let you go, Vader could find out what happened, and we'd be dead. It's better that his anger is fixated on the rebels." She turned to Karrde. "We can shoot Skywalker, kill Organa and Solo and then contact the Imperials. Say the rebels captured Skywalker and then we captured them and found Skywalker dead. They tried to escape, and we shot them."

"No!" Luke protested. "Do you really think Leia and Han didn't tell anybody where they were going? When the rebels realized you killed their leaders, they will let the Imperials know exactly where they were going and who they were going to meet."

"Kriff!" Mara moaned before turning back to Talon. "He's right. Even if we killed everybody involved the damn rebels will probably sell us out." She threw her hands up in frustration. "We have no choice. Letting him go is our only hope."

"But we have to leave now!" Luke's said urgently. "Can we take a shuttle from here to Grand Admiral Thrawn's ship? If I am off the planet there isn't a reason for them to come down and take a look around. In fact, I will order them not to. You bring me to my ship and then take your shuttle back. Don't let Leia and Han come out of hiding before Thrawn's ship departs."

Mara's eyes narrowed. "There is no need for me to go. You can take a shuttle and we can slave the flight controls to our computer on Myrkr and fly it back remotely."

"I need you Mara." Luke said pleadingly, "It is going to be hard to sell my story unless they see you."

Talon shook his head. "I don't trust him."

She stepped up next to her employer and put a hand on his shoulder. "Talon, we can't get off planet with a Star Destroyer in orbit. It is only a matter of time before they find us. I got you into this situation. Let me try to get us out."

The smuggler rubbed a hand over his eyes, before turning to Mara, looking emotionally exhausted. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "I'm sure." She turned her attention to Skywalker. "My friends will be left in peace, right? Do I have your promise?"

Skywalker couldn't hide his obvious relief. "Yes, I promise."

"Okay," she said slowly. "I'll go."