Han Solo smirked and winked knowingly at Luke and Mara as they entered the conference room, still grinning and chuckling to each other. Luke blushed and looked away while Mara scowled at him. "You two having fun together?" asked Han. Both of them were about to retort when Mon Mothma cleared her throat. All eyes turned to her. Her facial expression was severe though her eyes twinkled with amusement. "We are gathered here to discuss the information that Lieutenant Jade has given us as it calls for a rework of our entire battle plan."

Mon Mothma motioned over to two droids, R2-D2 and R3-L9, and a holoprojector which showed a large image of the new Death Star, the forest moon of Endor and a gathering of ships around them. "We learned that the weapons systems of the Death Star are, in fact, operational. We've learned that the garrison on the moon has been increased and that it is comprised of the 501st Legion, one of the best if not the best that the Empire has to put forth. Lastly, we learned that there is a sizable fleet scattered around and ready to move in if the Emperor calls. Does that cover everything, Lieutenant Jade?"

Mara had been walking the projection, studying it carefully. After a moment, she said, "Unfortunately, that covers it. How can help, Ma'am?"

Admiral Ackbar, a fish-like Mon Calamari, grunted and said in his gravelly voice, "Our battle plan was to send a commando team lead by General Solo to destroy the energy shield generator. If our timing was on, we would be arriving at the Death Star just as the shield went down and our cruisers would form a perimeter while our fighters, led by General Callrissian would fly into the superstructure and destroy the Death Star's reactor core. However, do to the new information, we don't really know if that is still feasible. That's why we are asking if there is any other information that you have."

Mara shook her head. "I gave you all that I have, Admiral. For the record, I think that your plan is still a good one. How many commandos were you planning on sending?"

Han Solo crossed his arms. "Judder Page and a dozen of his best plus Col Serra and another dozen of his best from Renegade Squadron and Grey Squadron. Do you think that will be enough?"

Mara was still circling the projector. The door to the room opened and Leia Organa and Chewbacca strode in. Mara nodded in acknowledgement to them. "Who will your command crew be, General Solo?"

Han fidgeted. "I haven't gotten that far yet. I planned on looking for three or four volunteers after this meeting."

Chewbacca gave a bark and a couple rumbles. "Well that's one. Sorry pal, didn't want to make any assumptions or anything."

Leia smiled too. "I'm coming too, General. We do need at least one level head on that command crew."

Mara looked over at Luke and cocked a brow. Clearing his throat, Luke asked, "Where would we be most helpful?"

They all looked at each other and Han said, "It seems to me that this whole mission's outcome hangs on the shield generator coming down. At the same time, though, Luke is a hell of a pilot – probably the best we have. What do you think, Lando?"

Lando stroked his neat mustache before saying, "The pilots who are slotted to attack the Death Star once the shield is down can handle that, especially since the vast majority of them were either in Renegade Squadron, Rogue Squadron or Grey Squadron who comprise of the best of the best. I think Luke and Mara should help with the ground fight."

Madine nodded. "I think so too. It's settled then. Now we just need to finalize our plan of attack."

Mara looked at him. "What do you mean, General? Is the plan going to change?"

Cracken rubbed his chin. "Shouldn't it change? We can't just ignore the information we have and act as if it wasn't there."

Luke strode up and scratched his chin thoughtfully. "I don't think that Lieutenant Jade is suggesting that, General. It appears to me, however, that our original plan, even with this information, is still our best shot. I would increase the number of troops sent to the moon and I would increase the length of the wait before the fleet arrives."

Admiral Ackbar scratched his chin with his webbed hand and said, "It's risky, Commander. If we wait too long, an Imperial fleet will arrive and be between us and the Death Star. Not only that, but the garrison may have time to retake and repair the shield generator."

Mara saw the sense in what Luke was saying. "On the other hand, Admiral, if you arrive too early you'll be caught between the Death Star and Lord Vader's fleet until the shield goes down. Luke isn't saying to wait a long period of time, just a little longer – less than a quarter day even."

Ackbar sighed. It was a sizeable risk. Solo was scratching the scar on his chin when he said, "If things go ahead of schedule, I can wait a little longer to blow the generator. It is risky but I think it would be worse to arrive too early and be pinned between the Death Star and a fleet of Star Destroyers."

Lando and Madine nodded in agreement. Cracken examined the holograph for a few more moments before saying, "Their right, Admiral, Mon Mothma. There isn't a single option that isn't heavy with risk but I think this is the best. Is there anything else to be done before we begin?"

Madine sighed. "We'll need another ship and we'll need an Executive Officer for the ground operation. Increasing the ground force will require another high ranking officer. Besides that, we just need to brief the squadron commanders, ground force officers and capital ships' commanders."

General Solo leaned over and whispered into Madine's ear. The grizzled general nodded and said, "Commander Skywalker, step forward."

Luke looked uncomfortable but obeyed. "Commander Skywalker, you are being transferred from Rogue Squadron and Starfighter Command to the Alliance Special Forces, as is Lieutenant Jade. You are also being promoted to the rank of Colonel and will be General Solo's XO. Do you have any questions?"

Luke was speechless. He barely managed to say, "No questions. Thank you, sir. It's an honor."

Mara walked over and nudged him with a grin. "I guess it's Colonel Farmboy now, huh?"

They all looked at Luke and several of them said at once, "Colonel Farmboy?"

Luke was blushing madly and half glaring, half smiling at Mara. "Don't ask. It's too long of a story and we have work to do."

Mara winked at them and said, "I'll tell it later. In the meantime, we have a battle to win. I volunteer my ship as the second ground forces transport. It has several ISB ID numbers and I have a fake identicard that labels me a senior ISB agent and a machine that can make other fake Identicards."

Madine cocked an eyebrow. "How does that help us here?"

Luke had already caught on. "Mara can claim to be a lead agent and that the garrison will be inspected. It wouldn't be that farfetched considering it seems they are expecting an attack. Hell, we may be able to walk right in and take it from the inside."

Mara shook her head. "Unfortunately not. My ship doesn't have any Imperial gear on it, remember? Unless the Alliance has gear that can be easily identified as Imperial Security Bureau issued, we won't be able to do that. No we'll just have to go and land in the forest and sneak in with the troops on the shuttle."

General Madine nodded. "Well it seems we have our plan. Generals gather your troops and tell them to prepare. Admiral Ackbar, make sure your ships' captains and commanders are ready to attend as well. I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of questions during this briefing."

General Crix Madine was absolutely correct. The ships' commanding officers were not happy about leading their crews into a trap. The commandos, by contrast, were eager to get into the fight, as were the members of Renegade and Grey squadrons, mostly comprised of mercenaries, bounty hunters, smugglers and other such fringers led by the gruff Col Serra. The commandos and fringers looked at each other with a small amount of distaste but willingly worked together to bring down the Empire despite that. When the briefing was finally over, they were given nine hours to finish preparing before the mission would be set into motion.

Luke and Mara were back aboard her freighter, looking at the arsenal. Mara rubbed her chin and asked casually, "What weapon are you taking with you, Farmboy – besides your lightsaber I mean."

Luke shrugged, "I don't know. I wasn't going to bring another weapon accept maybe a DL-44."

Mara shook her head. "Look I know you're supposed to be a Jedi and all that but having an extra weapon is better than not. What would happen, say, if your saber was damaged or destroyed? Do you think a standard service pistol would be enough?"

Luke thought about it for a moment. Mara definitely had a point. Looking over the blaster rifles, pistols and numerous other weapons, he finally pulled down a blaster rifle with a rounded power cell and a scope. Mara nodded in approval. "Good choice. That's a Wester-5 Assault Blaster Rifle. It's an older model but it has enough range and power to bring down Stormtroopers at quite a distance. I'm gonna take this one."

She pulled down a weapon that Luke was quite familiar with – a Blastech A295 Assault Blaster Rifle. "It has enough power to tare a Stromtrooper in half at close range and has quite a rate of fire too. It's range makes it a good advanced marksman or sniper weapon though not as good as some of the other actual sniper rifles."

Slinging the rifle over her back, Jade also strapped a belt around the poncho she was already wearing and hooked all of her weapons to that one. She also grabbed a helmet from one of the crew quarters. Putting it on, she walked up to Luke. "Alright. I'm ready. You?"

Luke looked her over. With the weapons on her belt, the rifle on her back and the helmet on her head, she looked like a modern version of legendary female warriors he had sometimes heard about as a child on Tatooine who were as deadly as they were beautiful. A blush crept into his face and Mara shook her head before he could answer. "Farmboy, we're going to have a problem working together if your mind goes into the gutter every time you look at me."

Luke spluttered. "It wasn't in the gutter! I was just thinking..." And he clamped his mouth shut tight before quickly saying, "Never mind. I just need to get cleaned up after that workout, grab my own poncho and helmet and then we should probably get some sleep. Han said he would give us a shortened version of his briefing while the rest are loading up in the hanger."

Mara's eyes twinkled and that predatory grin crossed her face. She took off the helmet and held it under her left arm. "You know how this is going to go, Farmboy. I want to know what you were thinking. Now we can do this the easy way and get more sleep or do this the hard way and have a little bit of fun. It's up to you."

Luke's mind went back to the 'interrogation' aboard Mara's Suwantek. It had been fun if a little nerve racking. He turned away and began to walk quickly towards the ramp and a husky chuckle came from behind him. "The hard, fun way it is then."

They reached their quarters not long after and Mara hadn't asked a single question. She had been brushing around the barriers in Luke's mind nonchalantly, just to let him know that she was there. When Luke opened the door to his quarters, he was surprised when she strode in and over to the bed, dropped her helmet, took off her poncho and plopped down on his bed with a contented sigh. Her emerald eyes gleamed wickedly as she yawned and stretched out in her skin-tight synthleather body suit. Skywalker suppressed a groan with difficulty. He decided to attempt to ignore her as he grabbed a black shirt and pants and pulled his helmet and poncho from the closet next to the refresher. Neatly, he set the helmet, folded poncho and borrowed blaster rifle all on his desk-turned work bench. The rest he brought into the refresher with him. Mara watched intently, as if everything he did was the most interesting thing she had ever seen. While he was in the refresher, she gently caressed his mind to remind him that she was still there. After several long minutes, he opened his mind slightly and she heard his voice say, Why is it so important that you know what I'm thinking?

Mara chuckled and replied, I guess it's not really important. I guess I just like watching an innocent, naïve, earnest and noble farm boy like you squirm.

I'm not so innocent or noble. Mara sat up, surprised at the guilt she felt in his thoughts. She sent back to him, Luke what's wrong? Every now and again, I sense deep feelings of guilt in you and I can't imagine why. What could you have possibly done to feel so guilty?"

Luke didn't reply. Mara heard the shower turn off and heard Luke moving around inside the refresher. With a frown, Mara stood up, walked over to the door and knocked. "Are you decent, Luke?"

"No, not really." He replied hastily.

"Well wrap a towel around your waste. You've got twenty seconds and then I'm coming in."

Luke tried to object but when Mara reached zero, she hit the door opener. It didn't budge. With an amused snort, she gently pulled the panel off and began to mess with the wires. The door unlocked and she replaced everything the way it had been before she opened the door. Luke stood there, his face and ears red as Darth Vader's lightsaber and had a rough towel wrapped around his narrow waste. He was about to object when she said, "Luke, I'm honestly worried about you. Why do you, of all people, feel so guilty so often?"

Luke looked down. "You've been inside my mind, Mara. Surely you saw why?"

Mara frowned and tried to remember what she had seen. It only took her a moment to remember it. The destruction of the Death Star, which had killed over a million beings, was foremost in his mind. Mara knew that not all of them were military personnel though most of them were. Besides that, she had seen many of his missions with Rogue Squadron: Bombing runs against facilities, missions to save civilians that were either failures or not complete successes or surviving battles when friends of his had died. Names like Biggs Darklighter and Dak Ralter haunted his mind. Mara felt for her friend. She walked quietly up to him and said, "Luke, look at me."

At first, Luke didn't look up, so Mara cupped his chin in her hand and lifted until those dazzling blue eyes looked into hers. "You know as well as I do that everything you did HAD to happen, and that your friends who died knew what they would be dying for. Do you think that your friends would want you to feel all this weight on your shoulders, distracting you from missions? I know who Biggs Darklighter was. He was one hell of a TIE Pilot and he defected. If his personality profile is anything to go by, he would kick your butt if he were still around, wouldn't he?"

Luke remembered his oldest friend fondly. She was right, Biggs would have given him a tongue lashing if he were still around. The guilt was still there, though. Luke simply couldn't let it go. "You have to, Luke." said Mara quietly. "If you don't let go of the guilt, it will consume you. It will lead to hesitation in the future and then to failure and we cannot afford to fail. Worse, it could lead to overwhelming fear and where would fear lead?"

He was still silent and she whispered, "It's a lesson I learned early in my career - probably a little too well. You have to let it go, Luke. Don't forget it, but don't let it hold you anymore."

Luke looked down into her dazzling emerald eyes. They reminded him of his lightsaber blade. With a sigh, Luke gave a smile and said, "Thanks, Mara. I'll try to let it go."

Mara smiled and patted his cheek. "This isn't something you can try, Luke. It's something you have to do or not do."

Luke chuckled at that and quoted, "'Try not. Do or do not. There is not try'"

Mara nodded. "Master Yoda said that, didn't he?"

Luke chuckled again and then firmly said, "No more guilt."

Mara's smile made his heart skip a beat. She hugged him fondly and then said, "There is only one more matter and then we can get some sleep?"

Luke pulled away from her slightly and cocked an eyebrow questioningly. Mara rested her chin on his shoulder and asked, "What were you thinking on the Suwantek after I made that comment about your mind being in the gutter?"

Luke laughed. She still wanted to play their little game. Carefully, he separated himself and said, "I need to get dressed, Mara. Then we need to get some sleep."

Mara smirked mischievously. "Don't let me stop you, Farmboy."

Luke blushed and said, "Oh no. That's not going to happen. Out, out, OUT!"

He gently but firmly pushed her out of the refresher and shut the door behind her. Mara contemplated just slicing the door again but instead decided to sit in his arm chair and wait for him to come out. When he came out and saw her sitting there, Luke sighed. While he did like playing this game with Mara, they both needed their sleep so he took a deep breath and said, "I was thinking that, dressed in the helmet and poncho and with that blaster rifle across your back, you reminded me of the stories I heard my aunt tell me on Tatooine. Some of them were about galactic societies where beautiful female warriors ruled. That's it."

Mara cocked a dark brow. She was slightly disappointed that he gave in so easily. "Oh and how did I remind you of that?"

Luke blushed even darker and his mouth went dry. Looking her squarely in the eyes, he said, "Because you're beautiful, Mara."

To both Luke's and Mara's surprise, she blushed and looked away. Luke gave a chuckle but Mara, embarrassed even more so that she was embarrassed, scowled but she couldn't think of anything to say. Finally, as Luke walked over to his gear to check it one more time, she muttered with as much good grace as she could muster. "Well... thanks."

Luke smiled at her before looking back at his gear. Mara felt ridiculous. Luke wasn't the first man in the galaxy to tell her she was beautiful. Hell! Lando Callrissian in his mercenary disguise had called her beautiful and it hadn't affected her this way. Why was it different when the farm boy did?

Filing the question away for a later date, Mara stood and stretched. "Well I think I am going to go get some sleep while I can. Wake me two hours before departure, would you Farmboy?"

Luke nodded as he stepped over and sat on the bed. Mara smiled and turned to leave. Suddenly, she felt an all-too familiar presence trying to get into her mind. Immediately, she hardened all of her defenses to anything in the universe except one person. "Luke help!" She gritted out as Emperor Palpatine's mind dug at her mental armor. Suddenly, Luke's mind was there, hammering at the Emperor's presence with all of his might. Together they struggled against Palpatine. Just before he receded again, the Emperor said, You fools! We will meet soon enough and when we do, you will either serve me or die.

Mara and Luke were both gasping for breath and staring at each other. Luke cleared his throat and asked, "Do you want to stay here until we leave? You can take the bed and I'll take the arm chair."

Mara shook her head. "That's not fair. I'm not kicking you out of your own bed, Farmboy."

Luke persisted. "Hey I got a lot more sleep than you did on the way here and I can sleep just about anywhere. Really, it's no problem."

Mara thought about it. She wanted to be close enough that if she needed his help, she could just ask for it. Finally, she nodded and plopped down on the bed. Luke went over and settled in the arm chair. He already had his eyes closed when Mara looked up and, still feeling a little mischievous, couldn't help but ask, "Hey Farmboy, what were you looking at earlier before we went down to spar?"

Luke gave a sleepy chuckle. "Go to sleep, Mara. You know exactly what I was looking at and why I was looking there."

"No I don't. Please, enlighten me."

Luke didn't respond. He just sat there. Mara chuckled sleepily herself and lay back on the pillow. She would get him later.

Both of them dreamed strange dreams as they slept. Luke dreamed that he was at Jabba's palace again and Mara was dancing in the very revealing suit she had been wearing there but, instead of lying in wait to kill him, she was dancing for his enjoyment, a beautiful smile on her red lips. Suddenly, Darth Vader and a black cloaked figure that Luke knew was the Emperor strode in. Mara and Luke both drew their weapons, ready to fight when the scene suddenly changed. Mara and Luke were kneeling and facing each other, gasping for breath and wracked with pain. Mara was trying to tell Luke something but he couldn't understand what it was. In the background was an evil cackle and the crackling sound of electricity. That repeated over and over in Luke's mind like a broken holo-recording.

Mara's dreams were equally strange. She dreamed that she and Skywalker were sparring again, with lightsabers and without. They were laughing together, enjoying themselves immensely as if there was no more war to worry them and they only did it for the joy of it and to spend more time together. Suddenly, the sky grew dark and lightning flashed from overhead. At the edge of the storm, walking toward them was Mara's old master, the Emperor. When he reached them, he smiled evilly. Without warning, the scene changed. Luke and Mara were kneeling down, facing one another. Both of them were gasping for breath and both of them were filled with a burning pain that Mara recognized: force lightning. She looked at Luke and felt like she had to tell him something, some vital piece of information but she couldn't remember it. Again and again, that scene played in her mind.

Luke's krono went off and they both woke with a start, sweating and confused. Mara looked at Luke and he looked back at her. They both knew that they had both had dreams that had disturbed their sleep. Yet they woke feeling refreshed and ready for the battle to come. Luke jumped up and stretched and Mara rushed over to her room. Luke put the poncho over his head and clipped his lightsaber to his belt and slung the blaster rifle over his shoulder. He put the helmet under one arm and went over to Mara's quarters. Instead of a poncho like his, Mara wore a long camouflage coat that reminded Luke of a cloak or perhaps a rain coat. Mara had just slung her rifle and grabbed her helmet. "Ready to go, Colonel?"

Luke blushed slightly and grinned at the title. "Let's go, Lieutenant."

Han Solo was talking to Lando Callrissian in the hanger when they walked up. Lando and Han saw them and shook hands before Solo turned to them. "You two get some sleep?"

They both stood rigidly at attention and replied with gusto, "Sir, yes Sir."

Han scowled and said, "Cut that out, you two. Look here is the plan: you two are going aboard Jade's Suwantek as a ISB team to inspect the garrison and defenses of the shield generator. We will be going down as a team of technicians with parts for the garrison. We will land as close together as possible but, in the event that we are forced to land a distance apart, we will use encoded transmissions that will be sent between R2-D2, who is coming with us on the shuttle and R3-L9 who will be with you on the freighter. After we meet up, it's on to the shield generator. Now we all know it won't be that simple but that's the plan. Any questions?"

"Sir, no sir."

"You two are going to be trouble aren't you? Alright, dismissed. Go get your freighter ready. The troops assigned there are already on board with orders to sit in the training room and not touch anything."

Mara and Luke saluted and hurried to the Suwantek, chuckling at Solo's reaction to them. Inside the freighter, a dozen and a half unsavory looking individuals lounged around the training room. Most of them were humans but there was also a couple sullustans, a Mon Calamari, a Rodian and two bothans. One of the humans, a female, strode up to them and said, "Colonel Skywalker, Lieutenant Jade, names Shara. I'm the one who was put in charge of this crew under you two."

Luke nodded and shook her hand. "Sounds good. You'll be the co-pilot but do not touch anything unless instructed to by Lieutenant Jade."

Mara and Shara went up front with R3-L9, who had already been sent aboard. Luke turned to the rest of them. "Listen up, when we get to the surface, our first priority will be to meet up with the shuttle crew so no wandering off on your own, no doing your own thing. You may not like it, but this is an Alliance Military operation so you WILL abide by military regulation. Is that clear?"

There was some grumbling but all of them gave an affirmative. Luke nodded. "Good. We should all get along just fine then."

Luke turned on his heel and headed up front where Mara and Shara were chatting amiably and finishing up the pre-flight checks. "Almost ready, Mara?"

Mara smiled at him, "Taking off as soon as Solo does. He just sent a transmission from R2. We are to wait fifteen minutes to jump after the shuttle has. That way, we won't be arriving at the same time."

Luke nodded. "Makes sense."

They took off and headed out into space. The shuttle zipped into hyperspace and Luke marked the time on his krono. While they waited, Shara looked up at him, "So Colonel, I hear your supposed to be a Jedi Knight. That true?"

Luke looked down at her. "I am, yes. Why do you ask?"

Shara shrugged, "I just heard a lot about them when I was little. They were supposed to be super powerful beings yet by the time I reached adult hood, they're either dead or serving old Palpy. I guess I was just curious."

They spent the rest of the time in silence until Luke's krono told him it was time. "Make the jump, Lieutenant. We're going to Endor."

The star field before them turned to lines and then into the brilliant blue tunnel of hyperspace.

Updated May 24, 2015