A/N: This chapter includes the beginnings of the "objectionable" content that makes it so I can't post this story on TF.N anymore. Enjoy!

Also, if you're interested in what a YT-1930 looks like beyond what I provided, I highly recommend Wookieepedia.

Previously on Fallen
Mara: "Starkiller sent me to find you. He had inside information that the Empire was planning to do the same thing."
Tahiri: "Why me?"
Mara: "You're Force sensitive, Tahiri."
Tahiri looked stunned. As did the Solos – especially Anakin. Zekk actually gasped.
Mara smiled at him. "Don't look so shocked, Zekk. You are, too."
Tahiri was the first to grasp the implications. "Lowbacca?"
Mara nodded.
"Alema?" Tahiri added reluctantly.
Mare smiled apologetically.
Anakin: "That's why he wanted me, too!"
Mara: "Yes. The three of you would never have made it through the screenings."
Anakin: "The three--? Oh." Anakin glanced at his siblings.
"Is everyone Force sensitive?" Jaina demanded flippantly.
Mara's expression darkened. "No. Thanks to Vader, it's actually quite rare."
"But we can all do what Anakin can do?" Tahiri asked breathlessly, her wonder momentarily overcoming her hostility.
"No," Mara answered bluntly. "There are degrees of Force sensitivity, and he's off the charts. His raw power might actually rival Vader's."
Anakin's head spun.
Tahiri: "Even if what you're saying is true, why save us from the screenings?"
Anakin: "He was building an army, wasn't he?"
Mara: "An army that you were meant to lead."
That revelation rocked Anakin on his heels. "Me?"

Mara: "Luke would say anger leads to the Dark Side."
Jacen: "Luke?"
Anakin: "Oh. This is the really complicated part..."

xxx

"What should we expect to find at Hyllyard City?" Anakin asked during the early morning as they trudged through the jungle.

"You'll see soon enough," Mara answered heavily as she navigated a rough patch of terrain. "Unless I miss my guess, we're only a couple hours out."

After a pause, she added, "Not that I don't find it charming the way all you kids have decided to rely on me, whom you considered an enemy a few weeks ago… but you could ask Zekk or Tahiri, you know. They lived on this planet for most of their lives."

Anakin glanced back to make sure Zekk and Tahiri were comfortably out of earshot, and then gave Mara an imploring look.

"Right. So we'll just pretend to ignore your random antipathy for two people you have every reason to trust…"

"She betrayed me."

Mara nodded with feigned gravity. "Yes. Failing to complete her mission to capture you and falling in love with you. Clearly a sign of betrayal."

Anakin rolled his eyes. "She didn't even tell me she was a bounty hunter."

"Would you have?"

"We seem to have strayed from the original topic," Anakin pointed out.

"I assure you your curiosity is undeserved," Mara replied dismissively.

"What's our plan once we get there?" Jacen's voice asked from behind.

Anakin glanced over his shoulder in surprise to find his siblings had caught up to them.

"Oh, this place is crawling with smugglers like any other backwater spaceport. It should be pretty simple to find transport off this rock." She hesitated. "Assuming the Imperials haven't frozen my accounts by now."

"I should be able to access the Alliance Intelligence emergency fund," Jaina offered.

"Meanwhile, I'm a pretty firm believer in only worrying about things I can control, so if you don't mind—"

Mara's sarcastic comment was interrupted when Anakin suddenly gasped and stumbled as his knees threatened to buckle. Jaina reflexively caught him by the arm, and Jacen asked, "What is it?"

"The Force!" Anakin exclaimed breathlessly. "I can feel it again! It's so… big!"

Mara smiled. "Good. That means we're getting closer to the city. There are fewer ysalimiri the closer you get to the edge of the woods."

Anakin felt almost offended at her clinical reaction, but he was too overwhelmed to give it much care. And he found himself staring at Tahiri almost against his will. He felt suddenly drawn to her… as he had when they first met.

The truth suddenly became obvious. It was the Force. He felt drawn to her through the Force.

The enormity of this revelation had his head spinning. Did Force users naturally feel drawn towards each other? Was that the reason he and his siblings had always been so close?

No, Anakin told himself firmly. The relationship, the bond he had with his family was real, reaffirmed by a series of actions and choices that defined his entire life.

But what about Tahiri? He felt drawn to her… and perhaps she felt drawn to him? And they had experienced things together… life-altering, mind-blowing things. Even now, yearned for her so completely it was almost a physical sensation.

And then he noticed that she was staring at him, too. She seemed to have a half-formed oath on her lips.

But Anakin forced himself to tear his gaze away from her. It was too complicated right now. Maybe…

"Ah," Mara exclaimed in relief, breaking Anakin's reverie.

The tree-line was visible.

"It won't be long now," Mara announced to the group.

xxx

Mara Jade; former Bounty Hunter's Guild Headmistress (female human from Hapes)
Anakin Solo; Jedi Apprentice (male human from Hapes)
Jaina Solo; former Alliance Intelligence agent (female human from Hapes)
Jacen Solo; doctor (male human from Hapes)
Tahiri Veila; former bounty hunter (female human from Tatooine)
Zekk; former bounty hunter (male human from Tatooine)
Iella Wessiri Antilles; Alliance Intelligence Assistant Director (female human from Corellia)

xxx

Trust
The space port turned out to be, as Mara had promised, unremarkable in almost every way. It had taken little effort at all to locate a currency dispenser.

"You should probably try yours first," Mara suggested to Jaina. "If they've bothered with my accounts, trying to access them will likely alert every Imperial in the area that I've tried to access them."

"An Alliance Intel red flag is much less daunting at the moment," Jaina agreed, and began logging into the system. After a few moments, she cheerfully announced, "They haven't locked me out. I'll take out as much as I can without drawing unwanted attention."

"How much is that?" Zekk wondered anxiously.

"Don't worry," Jaina assured him. "Field agents often have to make fairly substantial withdrawals from the emergency fund without explanation. It should be more than enough to cover our transportation."

"Where to next?" Anakin asked.

"I would love to get access to a comm unit so we kind find out what's going on out there," she glanced anxiously up at the sky, as though the Rebel and Imperial fleets were clashing just out of sight.

"We should get off this rock as quickly as we can," Mara suggested. "The place is crawling with stormtroopers, and the sooner we get Anakin away from Vader, the harder it will be for him to track him."

Anakin's eyes went wide with realization.

"Oh yes," Mara confirmed apologetically. "He'll recognize your Force presence now. If you get far enough away, he'll lose your trail… he couldn't even track Luke without a great deal of concentration. But you need to get out of his sphere of influence fast."

"Smugglers tend to ask fewer questions when you at least know where you're going," Jaina pointed out.

"I've been thinking about that," Zekk chimed in. "No smuggler means no questions. Why don't we buy a ship?"

"I have a few rain day false IDs stashed in the area," Mara mused. "We might be able to manage that."

"That would probably get you your comm. unit," Jacen pointed out to Jaina. "Without any awkward questions."

For some reason everyone ended up looking at Anakin, not Mara. Anakin shrugged and nodded.

xxx

"That Rodian was awfully willing to part with this ship," Jacen commented mournfully as they entered the docking bay.

"It looks like a YT-series," Mara noted.

"It's a YT-1930," Jaina said calmly, despite the obvious pang of its similarity to her lost Millennium Falcon. "CEC called it the pinnacle of the YT-design."

"So… upgrade?" Jacen suggested hesitantly.

Jaina gave him a nice try look. "Let's get off this rock."

xxx

Obtaining a ship may have been easy enough… evading Imperial patrols proved to be something else.

"Unidentified transport, this is the Guardian. The Myrkr system is currently under Imperial quarantine. Reduce speed and prepare to be boarded."

"Well that was quick," Jaina complained from the computer console.

Mara flipped the comm unit on. "Guardian, this is Imperial Medical Transport Omega Gamma 117. I am afraid we can't afford any delays."

"What is the nature of your emergency?"

"We've got an officer in stasis who needs transport to the nearest fully equipped med facility. Seems Command didn't see fit to send the right anti-venoms along for this mission."

Mercifully, there was a pause during which Jaina continued to work frantically.

"Jaina?" Mara prompted.

"I'm almost in," Jaina assured her.

"'Almost ' isn't good enough. 'Almost' in will lead to us being 'almost' alive."

"If they notice me trying to slice in to their comm system, we're cooked."

"If we stall long enough for Vader to become personally interested, we're lucky if they don't catch us alive."

The voice came back, "Omega Gamma, we're not reading you on IFF. Is there a problem with your transponder?"

"We've been having trouble with all our comm systems," Mara answered apologetically.

"Understood. Transmit authentication code now."

"Jaina?"

"Got it!" Jaina answered, to everyone's relief.

"Authentication code confirmed," the officer sounded much more friendly now.

"Thank you, Guardian," Mara answered, hoping the relief in her voice wouldn't be too apparent. Then she pulled the hyperdrive lever, and the stars became blurs and disappeared.

xxx

"Jaina! Delightful to see you! Are you aware there's a warrant for your arrest?" Despite her words, Iella seemed genuinely happy to hear from Jaina.

"So we're still doing that?" Jaina asked flippantly.

"Hmm?"

"Arresting people," Jaina clarified. "I'm just trying to keep up with how the legal system works these days."

"Your guess is as good as mine," Iella answered with a shrug. "I'm in the field right now. Force knows what my Wedge, your father, and our boss think is in the Alliance's best interests."

"I was hoping you'd be a bit more in touch," Jaina admitted.

"Sorry to disappoint you."

"Can you at least tell me where they are?"

"Where is the Rebel base… I feel like I've heard that one before. Sorry, don't let me reminisce. Your father wisely decided to relocate to the lovely world of Hoth. You'll probably remember it from your history lessons."

"You think I paid attention in Propoganda 101?"

"If you knew it was Propoganda 101 when you were twelve, you'd outrank me by now."

"You're right," Jaina pretended to confess. "I was always staring at the boys."

"So, officially I'm telling you to report back immediately and not mentioning the whole arrest thing."

"Not mentioning the whole arrest thing?" Jaina repeated, feigning horror. "But then I might fall for it!"

Iella smiled again. "Good luck, Jaina."

"You too. May the Force be with you."

xxx

Jacen was so relieved to find clothes in the storage lockers across from the cabins that he didn't even care they made him look like a smuggler. He also minimized that effect by selecting a few articles from different outfits, all in black. The matching colors would make him look entirely too fashionable to be a smuggler.

That relief was nothing compared to his relief when he saw the shower – a real shower, not a sonic shower – in the captain's cabin. "Oh thank the Force," he whispered to no one in particular as he slumped against the cool surface of the wall and turned on the hot water.

Jacen felt much of the weariness fade from his body before he even began lathering with the soap from the soap dispenser. But the best part was when he began rubbing shampoo through his hair and noticed the fragrance of the beautiful (but deadly) sunblossoms.

Whoever originally owned this ship knew how to travel… it was seeming more and more likely that the Rodian they bought it from had stolen it, and didn't know what it was worth.

After toweling off and getting half-dressed, Jacen stepped out of the refresher into the captain's cabin…

And almost hit the ceiling when he saw Zekk sitting on the bed.

"Oh!" Zekk exclaimed. "Sorry!"

Jacen noted that the courtesy of Zekk's apology apparently didn't extend to not openly staring at him. "That's all right. I'll just get my shirt…" which was hanging on the far side of the room. And Zekk's eyes followed Jacen the whole way there.

"The refresher's free," Jacen stated pointedly.

"Hmm?" Zekk sounded distracted. "Right! Thanks!"

Jacen grabbed his shirt and fled, blushing fiercely.

xxx

Anakin tossed and turned, smashing the pillow in frustration with his fist. It wasn't the bed's fault he couldn't fall asleep; actually, it was very comfortable as far as beds on ships went. Instead, it was Anakin's own anxiety that kept him awake.

Everyone seemed to be looking at him as a leader, the one to make decisions. Just because I know a little bit about this Jedi business, suddenly I'm supposed to have all the answers? Luke clearly didn't have all the answers, how should I?

There was a light tap on the door; Anakin was barely sure he had actually heard it. "Who is it?" he called.

"It's me," Tahiri's voice answered tentatively. "Can we talk?"

Anakin felt his stomach sour. He wanted to tell her everything, and he wanted to tell her nothing. He scarcely dared hope…

One thing was for sure, whether Anakin wanted to admit it or not. A significant portion of his anxiety was directly attributable to the situation with Tahiri. Any kind of resolution, even a bad one…

"All right," Anakin finally answered.

The door slid open, admitting some of the dim hallway light. Tahiri had on some soft-looking clothes and her hair was down, providing a stark contrast to her usual look of a combat suit with her hair pulled back. It made her seem more vulnerable. That had to be a trick. The one thing Tahiri definitely wasn't was vulnerable.

Anakin reached for the light switch, then sat up and crossed his legs on the bed. "So?" he prodded.

Tahiri looked around for somewhere to sit, realized there was no furniture in the room but the bed and a table, and continued standing in the middle of the room awkwardly.

"You hate me," she stated flatly. "I understand why. It makes perfect sense, really… but I still can't quiet believe it. After what we shared…"

Anakin found himself at a loss for words. Everything had seemed so clear-cut until she started talking. He didn't hate her. She betrayed him. She didn't care about him. Why should she care what he felt?

But behind her defiant words, Anakin saw real worry, real feelings. She was almost shaking, barely holding herself together. This was not the cold, uncaring traitor Anakin had replaced her with in his mind.

"Tahiri…"

"I want to hear you say it, Anakin. I can't believe it, even though your every action has screamed it… so I need to hear you say it so I can move on."

"Tahiri… I thought…"

"Just say it!"

"I can't!" Anakin almost yelled, overcome with emotion. The air was heavy with silence until he added, "I don't."

Tahiri visibly lowered her guard, and Anakin finally stood and walked over to her, trying to erase the painful distance between them. "Tahiri…"

Before either of them could say anything else, their lips were pressed together and their arms were wound around each other. Soon, Anakin was back on the bed, but this time Tahiri was on top of him.

"We do need to talk," Anakin whispered between kisses.

"Later," Tahiri answered breathlessly.

"Later," Anakin agreed, and rolled so he was on top of her.

xxx

Mara usually didn't dream, or at least she didn't remember her dreams. She preferred to be rational, and consequently saw little use in analyzing the random firings of neurons that happened while her body was repairing itself and storing up energy for the next day. As an assassin, she had gone for days without sleep without any adverse effects. Still, there was little to do while the ship was in hyperspace, so she might as well take advantage of this opportunity for rest.

So she was very surprised when she closed her eyes and found Luke smiling at her almost immediately. "Hello, Mara."

Mara blinked – was she actually blinking, or was this a dream? – in surprise. "Luke?"

"You're asleep," Luke assured her in his soothing voice, "but this isn't a dream."

Luke looked younger… no, not younger, just… less threatening than he had in life. He looked… calm.

"You're right," Mara agreed. "This isn't a dream. Too boring."

Luke laughed. It was a light-hearted sound, full of innocence. Nothing like his real laugh.

"Luke, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"I'm one with the Force now. At peace."

"Let's say I believe this is real…"

"You do," Luke informed her calmly. "There's no point to pretense right now."

"Right," Mara agreed. She would've ran to him to embrace him, but she understood there was no point. He was dead, she was alive. They were here to communicate.

"Don't worry," Luke assured her as if he could hear his thoughts – he probably could, she reminded herself. "I know you love me. And I you. But we'll have plenty of time for that later."

"Later?"

Luke smiled, and Mara felt a feeling of peace wash over her.

"I'm afraid my ability to communicate to this plane is quite limited," Luke informed her. "The Dark Side is too strong… the balance..." he paused. "I've come to suggest how you might proceed."

"Why not Anakin?"

"The brunt of this journey will fall on him," Luke acknowledged. "But my bond with you is older. Stronger. And I don't have to waste time reminding you to trust me."

"So our path is predetermined?"

"No," Luke answered. "But if you make yourself at peace… you will feel where the Force wants you to go."

"I'm not as sensitive to the Force as you, Skywalker."

"My view of the Force was warped, Mara. Yours is too. By violence and darkness… but you can overcome that." He shook his head. "But there's no time for that now."

"What must we do?"

"We were more right about Anakin than we could've realized, Mara. He holds within him the spark to rekindle the Jedi. To do so, he must stand against the darkness and remain in the light… but he can't do that alone. Together, they will be more than the sum of their parts."

"You're starting to not make sense," Mara informed him hesitantly.

"My connection to this world is beginning to fail," Luke apologized. He looked as though he was trying hard to concentrate when he continued, "But Anakin… his mother named him to remind herself why she was fighting. As a result, she pushed him so hard he became great. He must be the one to stop my father. But that task does not fall to him alone."

"The others?" Mara asked. "Jaina wants to find out what went wrong with the Death Star intelligence. Do you know what went wrong there?"

"Yes," Luke answered. "But she must find out for herself… she's right. More is going on than meets the eye. She must go to Coruscant. There she will find a shocking truth that will change the shape of this war."

"Jacen wants to go to the Alliance."

"Yes. He needs to restore democracy and encourage true dissention before the galaxy falls forever into despair and neverending war."

"What about Tahiri? Zekk?"

"Their paths are not clear to me," Luke answered apologetically. "And as for the success of the others… always in motion is the future."

"Me?"

"I know that we will be together forever when the time comes," Luke answered with a sigh. "It is unwise to look too deeply into the destinies of those closest to us. I'm sorry."

"I love you, you stupid ghost."

"I love you too, Mara. Walk henceforth in the light of the Force."

When she woke, Mara did not waste any time questioning whether or not the "dream" had been real. She felt it was real with every fiber of her being. And for once, she didn't question it.