As Lumiya and Jacen exited the Temple she gave a sigh of relief. She didn't know what just happened up near the gymnasium, but she didn't like it. Jacen also looked a bit shaken. She needed to reassure him quickly. "I told you it would work," she said with a feigned air of confidence. "Are you satisfied?"

He nodded. "Yes, but they'll still be suspicious if I am always closed down in the Force."

She scowled. He was still trying to find a reason to get out of the arrangement. She motioned him to follow her out of the flow of pedestrian traffic and to a public bench where they could sit and talk in relative privacy. "What I taught you was the ability to shrink your presence in the Force. It is an effective tool and easy to master, but there is another technique, one that Palpatine used to conceal himself from the Jedi for decades, it is called Force Concealment or Buried Presence. It allows you to mask your alignment in the Force. It is difficult to master, but once you have nobody can tell if you are using the light or the dark side of the Force. Come back to The Home and I'll teach you."

Jacen looked at her suspiciously. "Why didn't you teach me that in the first place?" His eyes widened a bit. "How do I know you're not using it on me now? How do I know if anything you say is true? In fact, maybe your precious Darth Vectivus was a master of hiding his true nature, that would make much more sense than the idea of a benevolent Sith."

"No, he is exactly as I described." she said vehemently. She had spent years with Darth Vectivus and she refused to believe the Dark Lord had tricked her as to his true nature.

"How would you know from reading books or listening to a Holocron that he recorded?"

"I just know he's…was a good man," she said defensively. She had kept the existence of the Dark Lord's apparition a secret from Jacen, otherwise he might realize she used the same phantom technique to trick him into believing he had talked to Anakin Skywalker. "As for why I didn't teach you this technique first..."she continued. "You have to first master stealth before you can learn concealment."

"Or maybe you didn't teach me because you were afraid I would hide my intentions from you?" Jacen ventured.

She glared at him, but then the corners of her lips curled up. "I'll admit I still fear betrayal."

He scoffed. "If I was going to betray you, you wouldn't have left the Temple."

"True, are you coming with me to train or not?" She was becoming impatient. What part of 'I am going to die soon' didn't Jacen understand?

"Not right now, I am waiting to hear from the geneticist. When I have the antidote and virus I will contact you so you can deliver the product. Once I know my family is safe, then I will come to The Home to study."

She stared at him intently searching for any indication of deception, but she could find none. "Fine. I'll wait for you to contact me." She then turned and left Jacen sitting in front of the Temple.

.

.

.

Mara was in her quarters finishing up some Academy paperwork in when she heard the door buzzer go off. She opened the front door to find her niece Jaina Solo standing outside.

"Is Uncle Luke here?" Jaina asked.

"No, he he's teaching a meditation class, but he should be back in about an hour," Mara held the door wide open. "Come on in and wait if you like."

Jaina walked in wearing her orange flight suit having just arrived from a mission to Taris and Null. "I can't stay that long, can you give him a message?"

"Of course."

"Jagged Fel contacted me while I was out on patrol near Taris. He said he picked up a Tof pirate in possession of a warship inside Chiss space. The Tof said he was given command of the warship after one of the senior officers met with Lumiya."

Mara's blood ran cold. "Lumiya? Are they sure?"

Jaina shook her head. "That's what's reported. Jag couldn't confirm the sighting, but he thought Uncle Luke would want to know."

"Yes he would," Mara said while deep in thought.

"If he'd like to reassign me to Chiss space to look for her, I'm sure I can get permission to work in that sector," Jaina offered.

Despite the seriousness of the situation Mara had to suppress a smile. "I'll ask him. Perhaps you can use the Star Destroyer Tenacious as your base of operations."

Jaina blushed profusely. "Perhaps," was all she said.

"Is that all Jag knows about the situation?" Mara asked.

Jaina nodded. "It was all his prisoner knew. If they pick up the officer that actually met with Lumiya he may find out more."

Mara smiled at her niece. "How are things going with you and Commander Fel?"

Jaina shrugged. "Good, but it's complicated. A Jedi and an Imperial…" she trailed off.

"If could be worse," Mara said with a smirk. "He could be an Imperial assassin sworn to kill you."

Jaina had to laugh. "I don't know how you and Uncle Luke managed."

"We did and so can you and Jag if you are determined to do so."

"I know," she said, but still looking doubtful. "I keep seeing all the possible worst case scenarios play out in my mind. What if things do work out—we fall in love, marry, have children and then the treaty fails…then I am caught in a terrible position."

Mara scoffed. "That situation could happen even if he wasn't an Imperial. Look at your family; if Corellia suddenly withdrew from the Alliance and went to war that definitely would put a strain on your parents' happy home life. Any planet or system leaving or breaking a treaty with the Alliance could cause turmoil and splits in loyalties for millions of families. You can't let politics and the 'what if's' determine your fate."

"You're probably right," Jaina said sounding a bit reassured. She looked down at her chrono. "I'm sorry but I have a meeting to go get to in twenty minutes. Have Uncle Luke call me if he has questions."

"I will," Mara said she showed Jaina out. She went back to the kitchen table and poured herself some caf. "What is Lumiya up to?" she whispered to herself.

.

.

.

Luke left his meditation class early. He returned to his and Mara's quarters, hung up his robes and went to the kitchen to pour himself a cup of caf. He was distracted during the entire period of instruction. He felt something in the Temple this morning…something that reminded him of Lumiya and Palpatine, which didn't make any sense. He had been so unfocused and preoccupied that he eventually asked another Master take over the training. "Mara, I'm home."

When she came out from the back home office he could immediate sense there was a problem. "What's wrong?"

"It may be nothing, but there has been a report of Lumiya showing up in Chiss space. Jaina came by to let us know. The information came from a Tof prisoner Jag picked up."

The information arrested his breath in his lungs. "Lumiya," he muttered as he sat down heavily on the dining room chair. First he thought he sensed her in the Temple and now a Lumiya sighting is reported. He hadn't seen or heard from her in so long he had assumed she was dead.

Unfortunately, Luke knew what happens when you assume things…you're usually wrong.

Mara stared at him intensely. "What aren't you telling me?"

"It's probably nothing," he said slowly.

She gave him a look. "Every time you say it is probably nothing we end up waist deep in trouble." She pulled a seat up next to him. "Tell me, what is it?"

"I was talking to Jacen in the Temple lobby when I thought I felt the presence of Lumiya."

Mara brow shot up. "You think she was in the Temple?"

Luke shrugged. "I don't know. It was such a faint feeling, she could simply be somewhere in the city."

"Great," Mara groaned. "I was hoping to never see her again."

"Me neither," Luke muttered. He looked up at Mara. "There's something else I sensed. I thought I felt the presence of Palpatine."

Mara frowned. "Do you think she found the Eye of Palpatine in the maw and found a way to release him?"

He sighed. "I don't know. It didn't feel exactly like Palpatine…it wasn't what we felt on the Eye. It was more like a residue of the Emperor's presence. It's like how Mark feels in the Force when we're not shielding from each other."

"Maybe Mark was there. I think he was in the temple."

"I looked around and I didn't see him. He's hard to miss in a crowd. Also I only feel that when we're not shielding from each other and then I get that buzzing in my head. I didn't experience any Force feedback like we usually do." He shook his head. "No, I don't think it was Mark I sensed."

"Could the feeling have come from Jacen?" Mara asked slowly. She remembered bumping into him in the hallway a few days ago. She couldn't feel him in the Force but the nervous look on his face was in itself suspicious.

"No…" he hesitated in thought. "Now that I think about it, I don't think I felt him at all in the Force. I believe he was doing that Force Stealth you told me about." He looked over to Mara. "Did he ever tell you where he learned to do that?"

"He said he studied the technique a couple years ago while he was on his journey for Force knowledge but he only just perfected it."

Luke rubbed his chin in thought. "He learned something two years ago and suddenly he perfected it. Did you ever notice him doing his 'unperfected' technique in the past?"

Mara shook her head. "No, the talent suddenly appeared."

Luke closed his eyes reaching out through the Force. He felt something was wrong somewhere, but he just couldn't pinpoint what.

"I would like to know if he had help in honing that particular skill."

"We can ask him when we see him. Or if you suspect he is up to something, maybe Jaina, Anakin or Ben may know. They spend more time with him than we do."

"See if Ben knows anything," Luke said absently, his mind still reeling from the news of Lumiya.

Mara reached across the kitchen table and put her hand over his in a comforting gesture. "I know you probably don't want to consider this, but if Lumiya is alive…do you think she is trying to turn one of our students?"

"I'd hate to think so, but we should check it out."

"How do you want to start?"

"Luckily we are the only two people who know all the Temple shuttles and fighters are equipped with Shadow Transponders. I guess we can pull all the flight information and see if we have any suspicious activity."

"Like a trip to Korriban?" Mara asked half-jokingly.

"Or to the Sith Outfitters Warehouse," he chuckled then went quiet realizing how serious this was.

Mara sighed. "Luke, if Lumiya is here, we'll find her. The last time you faced her you were still a student in the Force, now you're a Master. I'm a Master… and we have dozen of other fully trained Jedi to help. We'll find her and this time she won't escape with her life."

"If we find her, we'll bring her to justice," Luke clarified.

Mara threw her hands up in the air. "Why do you always do things the hard way?"

"Mara, you have to offer a person the chance to surrender…if they refuse, then we'll do what we must."

"Sith don't surrender…they never surrender. You'll just get yourself killed trying to capture them."

He gave her a long hard look. "What if the Sith we're talking about wasn't Lumiya? What if it is one of our Jedi who fell to the darkside…would you just kill them outright?"

She sat quiet for a moment. "No."

He gave her a soft smile and then leaned in and kissed her. As he pulled away he gazed at her lovingly. He knew his nightmares were starting to affect her also. Especially when he told her he saw her dead. He probably should have kept that part to himself. It just served to make her hyper-vigilant. He needed to do something to relieve the tension between them.

He stood and positioned himself behind her so he could massage her shoulders. "I don't want to fight Mara…especially when I know you are probably going to end up being right and telling me, 'I told you so'."

She smiled at his admission as she rocked her shoulders. "That feels so good." The words came out as a low moan as he worked the knots out of her shoulder muscles.

He leaned down and whispered into her ear. "I know something that will feel even better." He bent his head down and placed a line of kissed down her neck and across her shoulder.

She gave him a wry smile. "I know what you are doing?"

He put on his most innocent face. "And what would that be?"

"You are trying to distract me and put me in a better mood."

He nibbled on her earlobe. "Is it working?"

She sighed. "It usually does, but the thought that Lumiya might have been in the Temple is a bit of a mood killer."

He smiled and pulled her out of her chair wrapping her in a tender embrace. "I agree, Sith are not much of an aphrodisiac."

"Lumiya is affecting my love life…that's reason enough to kill her," Mara said sardonically.

Luke sighed and leaned his forehead against hers. "We should take some time to ourselves and meditate and try to figure out how we should proceed in this investigation"

She nodded. "I think so too. We have a lot to think about."