Luke starred incredulously through the one way glass. On the other side was a scruffy looking human sat on a metal chair with his hands cuffed to the table.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Luke finally turned to Mara. "My time is valuable, Mara." He reminded.

"I assure you I would never dare to waste your time my great and noble supreme overlord." Mara said sardonically, Luke rolled his eyes. "This is your new puppet."

"Again, what am I supposed to do with him?"

"He's a smuggler." Mara said. "He was found trying to free a Wookiee slave-"

"A slave?" Luke interjected.

"Yes. They were caught. I was going to use him myself but..." Mara shrugged. "I assume you know how to approach this?"

Luke frowned and glanced at Mara. "Does he have his own ship?"

Mara smirked. "Seems someone misplaced it and now it's in my personal hangar bay. Along with the smuggler's wookiee."

"What's in it for you?" Luke asked after a moment of consideration.

"A future favor from the Imperial Prince seems fair." Mara shrugged innocently.

Luke sighed, but after another moment nodded. "Thanks for the puppets."

"Don't mention it, Blondie."

~~~

Luke entered the interrogation room and eyed the prisoner. Up close the smuggler was even more scruffy looking with wayward hair, a stuble and yellow shirt that Luke was certain had been white once.

"What now?" The man was thoroughly annoyed to say the least, glaring at Luke rather than being scared.

"I'm just here to offer a deal." Luke said, he did not dance around topics.

The man scoffed. "Imperial deal? No thanks." He gave Luke another look. "You're a little short for an Imp."

Luke was pretty sure if he rolled his eyes they would pop out. "Nice." He said, taking the empty chair across from the human. "Listen, I have your wookiee and your ship. You can have both back and your ticket out of here. But on one condition."

The smuggler scoffed again. "Conditions? Never heard that before."

"All I want is for you to bring me information." Luke said, calling up his patience. "I need someone who can leave this place and send back information regarding the Rebel Alliance."

"What's to stop me from going on my merry way if you let me go?" The man countered.

"There's a tracking device being installed into your ship's functions." Luke said casually, leaning back in his chair with a grin. "I'll find you. I'll find your wookiee friend." Luke took his lightsaber from his belt and put it on the table with a loud clang. "Ad I'll kill both of you. One way or another." Luke stood and circled the table. The man had gone quiet, perhaps finally realizing what he had got himself into. "You see... I hunt Jedi. Rare specimens you know. And I kill them like it's a sport. Just imagine what I can do to you and your friend, especially if you don't accept my gracious offer." Luke leaned down and glared hard at the man. He was still and hid his fear well behind a carefully constructed sabacc face. But Luke saw through it.

"What do you say?"

The man sighed heavily and turned his head to face Luke. The smuggler had guts that was for sure. "When do we get started?"

Luke grinned and with a wave of his hand the cuffs popped open. "Right now."

~~~

Mara sent Luke her code to her personal hangar bay. True to her word a rusty old ship stood beside a much sleeker Imperial shuttle.

"What a piece of junk." Luke commented as he followed the smuggler towards the ship. Luke was already regretting his decision.

"She pulls through and surprises everybody who says that."

Luke gave the smuggler a dubious look as the ramp lowered and a straggly wookiee appeared, yowling when he saw the smuggler coming.

"Chewie!"

More growling. Luke watched the reunion. The towering wookiee crushed the human with a tight hug and the human returned it enthusiastically. The scene was quite touching really. Luke allowed himself the tiniest of smiles. The wookiee slave was lucky to have a good friend.

Once the two had said their hellos the smuggler turned to Luke. "Now what?"

"Fire up the ship." Luke said, coming forward and offering the smuggler a data chip. "You're following a Star Destroyer. This will help you tap into it's system and collect the data they retrieve."

The smuggler nodded.

"I'll pay you handsomely for a job well done." Luke continued. "How does twenty thousand sound? The wookiee could use a new shower."

The smuggler and wookiee seemed too busy processing his promised reward to process the jab.

Luke fought a grin. "What do you call yourselves?"

The smuggler snapped out of it. "Captain Han Solo, this is my first mate Chewbacca."

Luke nodded. "Captain, Chewbacca, I'll be waiting."

The duo nodded and hurried into the ship. Luke watched them take off. Puppets or not, he almost liked those two.