Jaina was dripping wet by the time that she reached her ship, but she couldn't have cared less. She could feel Jacen's pain and confusion through the force, which was more than enough to keep her going. Gasping for breath, she opened the hatch, stumbling straight into Ben.

"Waah!" the ten-year-old cried as his nose made contact with the floor. The drink that he had been carrying fell, spilling all over Jaina's boots. Glancing up, his eyes widened as he saw his cousin. "Wha-when did you come back?"

Jaina pushed past him, stripping off her wet jacket and settling down in the cockpit. "Just now, what do you think? I don't have time to explain, but we have to get back to your dad, fast." Ben hurriedly sat down besides her as she readied the ship. Soon, they were soon heading back to Coruscant.

"So…"

Jaina turned to face Ben. Now that things had settled down a bit, she might as well take the opportunity to ask. "What happened to you while I was gone?"

"Oh, after I woke up, I heard your droid Threepio, shouting at Artoo over a speaker. When I found it, I forced him to tell me everything. He begged me not to go after you, though. He said that Jacen had forbidden me to." Ben twisted in his seat, trying to look down at the disappearing Naboo below. "By the way…where is Jacen?"

She stiffened. Was Ben so dull as not to be able to use the force? "He's…still there," she assured him, "But we have to get your dad to see him before Jacen will agree to come back."

"What happened to Anakin?"

"Er…the same goes for him. They're having some problems. The faster we find your dad, the faster they come back."

"Well, I don't want to go back. My dad and mom are way too busy to care about me anymore. Couldn't I go down into the lake and find Anakin?"

"Or…" Jaina expertly maneuvered the craft away from a lone meteor, causing Ben's breakfast to lurch upwards. "You could simply hide here when I go find your dad, and then sneak over to my place and find Aunt Leia. Trust me; she'd love to have you over." She grimaced as she imagined her mother, wistfully ruffling Ben's hair while remembering her own children and their various adventures during babyhood.

'Sure, go ahead…it's not like I'd want to put myself in that position, anyway.'

After a while, Coruscant came into view. After obtaining clearance, Jaina landed in her family's section of the hangar bay. Before she even had a chance to get out of the ship, Ben had already opened the doors and was rushing towards the apartment.

At the last moment, he remembered and flew back towards her. "Jaina! What's the password to get up?"

"My personal one is 'KILL3PO'. Use it to get up, and remember not to hang around too long in the hallways!" Ben bobbed his head and quickly left.

Now all she had to do was find her uncle. Jaina turned back towards the ship. She would go back to Yavin 4, and there she would explain the entire situation to him. It was about time that her family knew about Anakin, anyways…

Something caught the corner of her eye. Looking out across the bay, she saw her mother and Aunt Mara descending from their ship. They wore passive faces, but held eyes that were full of fire. Realization hit her: they had already figured it out.

Mansa Musa, being the most agile in water, had been the one to go out on the recon mission. It was a good thing, too. Stealth wasn't his specialty, and thinking up plans made his head swim.

He slipped between the sponges, silently making his way down. According to Anakin, Jacen would already be down there. Their psychic relationship sounded a bit uncanny to Mansa Musa's long ears. However, when he had pulled Anakin aside for questioning, the look of pain was so obvious on his features that the Gungan decided to give it up altogether. If he developed a good enough relationship with Anakin, then all might be revealed one day.

'Go through the slime pit area, and then snoop around until you find him. He should be around there.' He would have to trust Anakin's advice on this one, for though he worked in the palace, there were several places which were forbidden for underlings. The weaponry and interrogation rooms included.

"Sit," a loud voice said. There were traces of an accent, so it probably belonged to a more educated Gungan. Mansa Musa pressed his ear harder against the sponge, resulting in the emission of a steady stream of water.

After shaking his head to rid himself of the squishy feeling, he quickly peeked inside. If he had thought that the water in his situation was bad, then the condition of the Interrogation room was much worse. He could even have sworn that he heard cursing.

Finally, he shook his head of all gibberish and continued to eavesdrop-squeezing his ear a tad gentler, of course.

"Since when has your primitive race begun to major in Psychology?" This voice was cold and harsh, probably belonging to Jacen.

"Actually, theysa haven't. I was raised aboveground."

There was an obnoxious snort, rather resembling that of a sea cow's. "It figures. You act as snotty as the other ones I've seen."

Mansa Musa winced. There were only two interrogators that had been raised above ground. One of them was awaiting trial due to an unsightly outburst of frustration while questioning a dredge of seaweed. The other Gungan was, in Mansa Musa's opinion, much worse.

As the conversation continued, Mansa Musa made mental notes of everything that happened between the two. He was going to have a lot of reporting to do when he went back to the base…

Finally, it appeared that the interrogator and the human had finally settled their conflicts. Mansa Musa turned and headed back to the cave. Now that everything was figured out, Anakin and Tahiri could plot their next move. It was all a matter of time.

Han woke up to a splitting headache. When he tried to look around, he found out that his right eye could only open halfway. The other one had jagged vision, due to the after-effects of the…drink?

That was right, he could remember now. Lando's slimy alien friends and their treacherous way. From what he was seeing, they had roped him down to a chair. The nerve! One day, he would come back with a horde of Luke's friends, and then they would see who had the upper hand.

Something tightened around his wrists, and before he could figure out what it was, his head made contact with the ground. "Oops," a voice said above him. It was coming from Lando, even though it sounded as though it were a thousand miles away.

"I just woke up. So you're here too?"

"Well, of course! You probably don't remember, 'cause you were knocked out first."

Lando swiveled his head as far as it could go, then attempted to move off the chair. "Han, could you help me edge over to that window? The small one over there?"

It took a little grunting and a lot of effort, but finally, they were positioned so that they could see through the window without anyone being able to look up and see them as well. Lando leaned back, wincing as his spine crackled.

"Sheesh, could you get on with it?" Han muttered. He had doubled over on his stomach, so as to allow Lando to get a better view. His friend quickly peeked out through the window-and ducked his head back in relief.

"Oh, they're counting the carcasses," he replied calmly, trying to hide the relief in his voice. "Soon we'll be decreed as innocent, and then you can bring me home."

"Good, I hope that time comes soon."

Han immediately wiggled towards the back of the room. Unfortunately, his movements did not keep in-synch with Lando's slow ones, and the two of them crashed down on the floor.

"This is going to cause one hell of a headache," Lando muttered. Heavy vibrations on the floor alerted them of somebody's presence, and they were hauled back onto the chair. Roughly, their binds were cut and, tripping and stumbling, they were pulled into yet another small room.

Han glanced up to see his old enemy, glaring at him. "So," he said, "You managed to get everything."

Despite himself, Han grinned. "We told you that we would, right?"

"Yes…" the extraterrestrial waved his hand dismissively. "Your Sabacc opponent prepared the money several days ago." Reaching under his chair, he pulled out a case. When he opened it, both men caught a glimpse of more credits than they had ever seen in their lives. And just sitting together like that, too.

"Like it?" the alien smirked. "I hope you plan on doing a lot of laundering, then. You see, it is all false."

If you could only see the look on Han's face when he heard those words. It looked as though his world was crumbling over his ears. Luckily, Lando remained alert as the alien continued on his instructions.

"You can exchange it, sell it, and continue to circulate it until you don't have a single false credit with you. It took us a while to copy them, you know."

His calm, slightly clipped accent continued to torture Han, nearly driving him over the edge. You could hardly stand it if you didn't resort to violence. Why was it always them, Han and Lando, who were mixed up in these sorts of things?

"Don't start complaining to me now. We won the bet, remember. We can choose what we give you, what your wages are, and revise the deal as many times as we want-"

There was a loud snap, and suddenly, the table in the room was overturned, the plates and furnishings strewn aside. Han was grasping for the alien's throat, trying to find a weak spot which he could twist and turn around in his hands…

"Stop!" Lando tumbled over, tried to keep him from doing any more harm. Yet even he was not strong enough to prevent Han's anger from getting in the way. There was a last strangling sound, a jerk and a cry. The Alien's neck fell to one side, limp and lifeless on the sofa cushions.

"Damnit, Han, what did you do?" Lando growled. "I didn't like him either, but you didn't have to go that far. If they find us, we're dead."

"Shut up while I think of something!" Han cut in. His forehead wrinkled, as though the brain that it concealed was enlarging itself to fit his needs. Finally, he glanced up.

"First, we'll take the money. Whether it's fake or not, it doesn't matter anymore." He seized the bag. "Then, we sneak out through the other doorway, instead of this one. And now…" he shoved Lando towards the door. "We get to the Falcon and run for it."

Several minutes later, Lando had secured the hatch, and Han was already in the pilot's seat. He let the engine warm up, and then attempted to bring it up. Yet the Falcon would not start.

They were attracting attention now. Several of the alien workers were staring suspiciously at the craft. There was a loud shout from inside; the body would have been discovered by now. 'Come on, come on,' Han muttered under his breath. He tried pulling the throttle-and at last, it worked. The Millennium Falcon took off, leaving the ruins of Taris far behind.

As soon as they had lost sight of the planet, both men collapsed on the floor. It was time to call it a day.

Even though Jaina had taken great pains to explain everything clearly to him, Luke was still a bit confused. Gungans? Hidden underwater city? Though there was something odd about the whole thing, it made sense in a way. After all, he had felt something wet when Jacen's presence had been picked up…

"But Luke's too weak for this," Mara cut in. "He just got out of surgery, and can't possibly go swimming."

"Of course there are going to be problems, but if we don't hurry then my brother is going to get killed!" Jaina sprang up, knocking over her chair. "Anakin said that when he was still a captive, the leader of the Gungans said that they would need to talk to Luke Skywalker in order to bargain for his freedom."

These burdens all eventually fell to him; there was no doubt about it. Luke straightened his back.

"It's fine. I feel better already. Don't tell them I'm gone, and give some excuse when they find out. I'll be back within 48 hours, if Jaina can fly me fast enough." He winked at her.

His niece beamed. "Sure. But at least put on better clothes than you're wearing right now. They probably don't take kindly to pajamas-wearing Jedi."

"Okay, but then you girls will have to clear out and give me some privacy." It took a while for him to find his tunic under the pile of clothing on the visitor's chair, but at last, he was ready. Giving Mara a quick kiss and a promise to be back soon, he quietly followed Jaina to her ship. They were heading back to Naboo for what would hopefully be the last time.