Coruscant: Jedi Temple

"Did you sense anything in your meditations?" Mara asked her husband when he returned from the Temple's nexus area later that night.

Luke shook his head as he entered the office. "I can't sense her on planet, but that doesn't mean she's not here. What did you find with the shadow transponders?"

Mara pulled up the data on a screen. "Most flights were completely legitimate with Jedi moving to locations for missions as ordered. There were only a few unauthorized flights." She looked at Luke and raised an eyebrow. "And all of them involve family members."

"Really," Luke said as he leaned over to look at the computer screen.

"Jaina has multiple excursions into Chiss and Imperial space," she smirked. "I checked and they all correspond with the movement of the Star Destroyer Tenaciousor the planetary location of one Commander Jagged Fel."

"Well, " Luke chuckled with a roll of his eyes. "Facilitating good Imperial-Jedi relations is a critical mission."

Mara scoffed then turned her attention to her computer screen. "Jacen had a couple unauthorized trips to Hapes, but his friendship with Tenel Ka is probably the reason of those jaunts. What is odd is he took an unscheduled flight to the planet Lorrd and then to the planet Lavisar in Imperial space."

"Lavisar is in between Lorrd and Coruscant. Maybe he stopped to refuel." Luke ran his hand through his blond hair deep in thought. "Lorrd is known as a center of learning. He probably went there for research. When I saw him in the Temple this morning he was with a woman who he said is helping him do some research."

"Damn!" Mara cursed. "I almost forgot to tell you something about that!"

"What?"

"Ben said he and Mark were in the gym working out when Mark saw Jacen with a women. Ben said Mark started acting strange and tried to catch up with them, but couldn't. Ben is going to ask him about that tonight."

"That's interesting. Although it's probably nothing, I didn't sense anything amiss with the woman Jacen was with."

"Did you sense her at all?" Mara asked. "You said Jacen was doing stealth…how about her?"

Luke closed his eyes and tried to recall that meeting. He shook his head. "I was in a hurry to get to my class. I don't remember anything about her other that she was wearing a veil…and her eyes. I noticed them because they were the same color as yours."

She looked at him with wide, almost alarmed eyes. "Luke, didn't Lumiya have green eyes?"

He blanched. "Yes, but there are a lot of green-eyed women in the galaxy."

"So there was nothing familiar about her eyes?" Mara asked. "You did have a relationship with her."

"Mara that was decades ago," he said a touch defensively. "When I think of Lumiya I never recall her as Shira Brie, my friend and comrade. I don't reminisce about her face and eyes. All I remember is the feeling of betrayal that ripped through me when I found out she was a double agent. She used me for information that may have led to the deaths of any number of my friends in the rebellion."

Mara stood and put a hand on Luke's shoulder in a conciliatory gesture. "Luke, I'm not accusing you of pining over her. I just want you to use the Force, reach back and try to recall the meeting this morning and see if her eyes are in anyway familiar."

Luke heaved a sigh. "Okay." He looked down at the ground and took a deep breath. Using the Force to augment his memory he thought back to that meeting...thought back to the woman's eyes and the contours of her face wrapped under the delicate silk veil. When he looked up he had a troubled grimace. "Kriff, it could have been her," he said reluctantly.

"Should we call Jacen in?" Mara asked with a troubled expression.

Luke chewed on his bottom lip before he shook his head. "I don't know if would be of any benefit. If that was Lumiya with Jacen and he knowingly brought her into the temple…he 'll probably deny everything and accosting him will only force him further underground with whatever he is up to. If we confront him and it wasn't Lumiya, I could see that causing some bruised feelings with Jacen and our two families."

"What if it was Lumiya and Jacen didn't know?" Mara asked.

"That is a possibility." Luke nodded somberly. "I think the best course of action is to keep close tabs on him. Put an alert on Jacen's shadow transponder so we'll know if he leaves the temple…just as a precaution. If Lumiya was with him, I'm sure he is being tricked in some way. If we can track him to her…then we can deal with the situation." He paused in thought, then looked up at Mara, his eyes wide. "Why do you think she was in the gym area?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean whether she was really a researcher or Lumiya, why would she go up to see the gym?"

Mara shrugged. "Maybe they didn't go to see the gym; the public observation platform has a scenic overlook of the city."

"Maybe..." Luke's eyes narrowed. "Or maybe there was somebody in the gym she wanted to see."

Mara looked confused. "Like who?"

Luke took on an ashen color. "Like our son. I am sure a Sith would love to turn the son of Luke Skywalker."

"Who is also the son of a former Emperor's Hand." Mara closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. "I could just see her wanting to take away something we love."

Luke nodded. "We need to find her soon. I think we should have two search parties. I'll take a team to Chiss space and start our search where she was first spotted. She may have a base of operations there. I need you to stay here in case she does have designs on one of our students."

"You don't want me to go with you?"

Luke shook his head. "You and I are the only two Jedi Masters who have dealt with her before. We are more likely to recognize her through the Force. I'll take Corran, and Jaina with me."

Mara nodded. "I'll get Ben and Mark's help."

"Help looking for Lumiya, but don't tell them we suspect Jacen of anything until we have something concrete. He's been nothing but a stellar Jedi. He deserves the benefit of the doubt." Luke breathed deep and let out a cleansing breath. "I'll leave tomorrow."

Mara nodded silently.

Luke looked at her sadly as he pulled her into his arms. "Mara, it'll be alright. We'll find her and stop whatever she's planning. We won't let anything happen to our children or Jedi. I promise."

"I know," she said as she put her head on his shoulder and held him tight. "We'll get through this together."

.

Coruscant: Jedi Temple, Docking Bay Six

Since Mark saw Jacen with that unknown woman at the gym three days ago an uneasy, gnawing feeling had descended on him like a dark cloud. Although he could not see her face, there was something familiar about her. The fact that Lumiya was sighted recently troubled him. He talked to Mara about the sighting and she admitted Luke had a bad feeling about the woman with Jacen, but she didn't express any concerns about her nephew. He couldn't imagine a reason for Jacen to be in Lumiya's presence, but it was a possibility. He had never met the woman, but Palpatine had. Mark wondered if it was possible that he recognized the Dark Lady through the Emperor's memories.

Another thing bothered him. Since he saw the woman he had been having nightmares and dreams about some foreboding event and for some reason he thought Jacen was involved. It was probably nothing, but he thought maybe he should take one small precaution.

He knew what he was about to do might be illegal or at least perceived as unethical, but his years working with the Galactic Alliance Intelligence Service and the Galactic Alliance Guard had long ago blurred the lines between right and wrong for him. Enhanced interrogation techniques, black ops, spying and other unsavory practices were the norm in the Intelligence community—unsavory, but effective. He had seen terrorist operations shut down, marauders thwarted, dictators toppled, and slave trades disbanded by the use of somewhat controversial methods. Many Jedi believe you cannot use an end to justify the means, but Mark was not one of them. He knew the truth. He knew trillions of sentient beings were sleeping peacefully tonight because of battle hardened men and women willing to protect them by any means possible.

Right or wrong, after much thought he decided it might be wise to put a homing beacon on Jacen's ship. He obtained a small tracking device from a friend in the GAG that could be clipped onto the outside of a spaceship. The tracker would remain inert until it sensed a signal from a HoloNet transponder. It would then activate for only a nanosecond to send out a coded message burst to the transponder station. It was hard to detect when it wasn't active and it was only active when in space, therefore an electronic sweep of the ship for homing beacons and other tracking devices rarely picked up this particular stealth tracker.

He didn't like spying on a family member, but if Lumiya was trying to turn Jacen…she needed to be dealt with.

Mark waited until late at night before he crept down to the temple docking bay. He quickly found Jacen Solo's ship and clamped the device to the underbelly of the ship in a recessed area. A person doing an exterior visual of the ship would not spot the matt black tracker unless they were squatting in a very uncomfortable position and looking directly at it. Once he was satisfied that the tracker was secure, he made his way back home.

As he entered the apartment he took off his shoes and tried to make it back into bed without waking his wife, Kira. He found her sleeping soundly in bed, her bosom rising and falling in a soft breathing rhythm. He stripped down to his boxer-briefs and slowly crawled under the covers.

Unfortunately the movement of a 120 kilo man climbing into bed woke her up. She turned to him and gave him her best glare, but he could sense there was no fire behind her eyes. "Sneaking around, I see."

He had to smile at her beauty. "Gods you are beautiful when you are angry." He joked.

"Then I must be stunning right about now. Where were you?"

He tried to give her his most innocent face. He didn't want to tell her the truth. Even if she didn't tell a soul, Jacen might pick up emotions from her. "Nothing, just out for a walk."

She shook her head. "Try again."

"I was," He tried to think of something to say. "I was watching porn, that's it." When she shook her head he continued. "I was out smoking death sticks?"

She sat up, picked up her pillow and whacked him over the head with it. "Gods, you are infuriating."

"I was out picking up prostitutes?" He could barely contain his laughter.

Kira huffed. "You are doing some sneaky top secret stuff again, aren't you?"

"Sorry," he chuckled. His wife had endured over twenty-five years of him disappearing on missions with Luke or for the New Republic and later the Galactic Alliance. Most of the missions were 'need to know' that she still had no idea as to what he was doing during those long deployments. "Sorry, but it's a secret." He leaned in and kissed her. "Trust me, I am not up to no good."

She dropped the pretense of being angry and gave him a warm smile. "I know you're not. If you were out picking up prostitutes I am pretty sure Mara would kill you for me."

"She probably would, especially if you continued to make her favorite chocolate candies for her." He ran a hand under her silk nightie enjoying the feel of her skin as he kissed the side of her neck.

"Speaking of desserts." Kira said with a lusty grin as she ran her hand down his muscular chest. "I thought you said I was going to get some tonight."

He leaned in to capture her lips for a lingering kiss. As he pulled away he smiled. "Chocolate or whipped cream?"

She ran her tongue over her upper lip. "How about both."