When she first woke up, she didn't know where she was. A different bed wasn't all that abnormal, but this was a different ship as well. Different sounds, different smells, but a familiar presence, even if it was one that she wasn't accustomed to waking up to. Mara Jade cracked an eye open to see Luke asleep next to her, his cheek pressed against the pillow beneath it and his back rising slowly up and down in deep sleep. He looked better than he had when she'd arrived. The colour had returned to his face, the shadows under his eyes less pronounced. She still didn't know what had happened, but it had shaken him to the point that he hadn't wanted to talk about it. He'd wanted a distraction in someone he trusted.

I love you.

The confession flitted through her mind as she watched him sleep. It had seemed sweet, even if a little naive the night before, but she wondered if it was more than that. His father already hated everything about their friendship, and while it had moved into something more in recent years, she hadn't expected love.

He stirred in the bed next to her, burrowing down a little deeper even as blue eyes slid slowly open. He watched her watching him for a long moment, his lips stretching into what looked like a real smile. "Hey there," he greeted.

"Hey," she answered softly, doing her best to bury her thoughts so that he wouldn't pick up on them. "How're you feeling?"

Luke shifted as if he were checking out all of the potential aches and pains from whatever had happened just prior to her arrival. He winced once before finally settling on his side so that he could look at her. "Mostly better," he acknowledged.

"Good, because while I'm not complaining -"

His smile stretched into a grin and she rolled her eyes.

"- there was a reason I've been looking for you. Is it safe here?"

The grin slowly faded into a more serious expression. "Yes."

"Good." Mara shifted under the sheets and took a quick survey of the room for her clothes before reaching for the top blanket and giving it a quick tug, leaving Luke with the sheet beneath. "I found a lead on your Senator Amidala."

Luke blinked in surprise, sitting up at that and she purposefully started gathering up her discarded clothing rather than allowing her eyes to linger on him. "You did? Really?"

She wrinkled her nose as she bent for her trousers. "I'm sorry, who did you think you asked to help?" She could practically feel him blush, even without turning to look at him.

"Of course. What'd you find?"

Subtly, she glanced back out of the corner of her eye. Luke still hadn't budged, instead he seemed content to merely bend forward, elbows braced against bent knees, and wait for her to answer. She tried not to be too irritated at the unrelenting attention as she pulled her shirt over her head. "She was a difficult woman to track down. Even with my access the files were spotty."

"Erased?"

"Or lost." She grabbed his pants, tossing them his way in a not-so-subtle hint. "The Jedi destroyed a lot before they were neutralized." He heaved a heavy breath and swung his legs over the side of the bed, starting to get dressed as Mara continued. "She was born on Naboo, served as queen then senator, but there was no data on how long." She moved to her jacket and snagged a data cylinder from the inner pocket and handed it over.

At least halfway clothed now, Luke took it and slid the cylinder into a small datapad that lay next to the bed. Those clear blue eyes of his latched onto the scrolling information, sparse as it was. "There's no photo."

"There's none to be found."

"Are you sure?" She glared at him and he waved a hand. "Okay, sorry. I just… had hoped, you know."

Mara circled the bed and came to stand in front of him. He looked up at her from where he sat and she held his gaze. "Why?"

The conflict was almost tangible and he broke eye contact for a moment, frowning in thought. After a long moment, he looked back up at her. His lips parted as if he were going to speak, then closed, then parted again, and he flinched, shaking his head. "Sorry."

"Listen, I get there are things that we can't always share, but if you're going to bring me into something -" She turned, ready to call the conversation complete, but he caught her wrist.

"She's my mother. Was…I assume. Father told me she was dead. I don't think he was lying, but -"

"Everything I found leads me to believe she died when the Jedi betrayed the Empire," Mara said as gently as she knew how.

"The Republic."

"What?"

"It would have been the Republic then."

"Still."

He made a small, noncommittal sound. "I just wanted to know what she looked like. I guess I never will."

Mara pulled in a breath, working through all of her training to find something that would genuinely be helpful in consoling him. So much of it was manipulation, and the one thing she thought would bring him as close to closure as possible with this was not something she had a particularly good feeling about, especially knowing now that this was Luke's mother. Vader's lover. They were already walking into dangerous territory after the night before, but if she let herself move against her instincts to help him in this….

Blast it all.

"Sola Naberrie."

He tilted his head in question, still staring up at her. "Who?"

"Padme Amidala was born Padme Naberrie," Mara said, taking a seat next to him so that he didn't have to crane his head back to see her. "Her sister still lives with her two children on Naboo."

"Have you been there?"

"I wasn't going to go that far without knowing why I was looking. It's a good way to get yourself and innocent people killed."

"But now you know."

Mara rolled her eyes. "Stubborn," she grumbled. "If your father found out…"

"Since when have you been afraid of my father?"

Irritation flashed through her and she found a hint of mischief in his eyes at the words. He knew exactly what kind of chord his question would strike and he'd plucked it on purpose.

His smile turned more real and he leaned in, pressing a quick kiss to her lips, but lingered close even as he broke it. "I'll protect you."

"Yeah, but who will protect you?"

"You will. We'll protect each other like we have since we were kids."

She knew she shouldn't have even put the option in front of him. Of course he'd want it. She would have taken it if the tables had been turned. "You're not going alone."

"I can handle myself."

"What are you going to do? Fly your pretty Dreadnought over Naboo and land a shuttle in their gardens? This needs to be handled subtly. Quietly. No one can find out."

"Does that include your Master as well?"

Even after so long, that question of loyalty still sat between them. She supposed that was fair. It was a question without a clear answer and had been for many years now. "No one," she repeated forcefully. She plucked the tablet out of his hand. "Which means that I need to go handle my business. In four days, I need you to meet me at these coordinates. Not a day sooner or later. Make up an excuse for your crew. A believable one."

"I think I can manage that."

"You better, or Palpatine and Vader will keep us both so busy that we'll never see the same quadrant, much less the same room."

"Understood," Luke promised her. He glanced away for a moment, looking like he was mulling something over. "Speaking of subtly…"

"Oh stars," she sighed.

"I need a favour."

"This is a favour," she grumbled, motioning at the datapad with the coordinates she'd given him. "One following on the heels of the last one you asked that led to it."

"This one is small. It'll take a day, tops. Probably less. I need you to make a prisoner disappear, but not in the usual way."

"I don't like where this is going."

"I just need to make sure there's not a data trail. He's a Rebel pilot that saved my life. If I drop him off somewhere, it makes my men look bad because he doesn't reach the detention ship -"

"But if the Emperor's Hand takes him, no one expects to know where the body's buried?" she offered and he nodded.

"Yeah, but just… don't kill him?"

"You're going soft." Luke's lips twitched downward and Mara couldn't help the tiniest smile that tugged at her own. "Alright," she finally agreed and tapped the data pad. "Five days then. And you owe me."

Saying I love you was dangerous enough coming from Vader's son, but when the Emperor's Hand was willing to start handing out any favour he asked for, the words should be the least of her worries.

Often it felt like his life was split into two parts: before he lost Padme and after, the events on Coruscant and Mustafar leaving the redhot bifurcation in time not unlike a limb severed by a lightsaber. And in a way, it had been. He had lost everyone that anchored him to the Light back then, either through death or betrayal. The only remnants he had of that life were distant memories that often felt like they belonged to another man entirely. Memories that could have - should have - been forgotten by now if not for Luke. It had been painful early on as he looked at the boy with a dangerously kind soul so like his mothers, but over the years he had grown and his father had taught him to be strong enough to survive. Luke had joined Darth Vader in his world rather than harkening back to Anakin Skywalker's.

Most of the time, at least.

It had been nearly two decades since Vader had given the shadowy creature that had nearly killed Ahsoka a moment of thought, but he found the memories bombarding him after his conversation with his son. Skywalker's teenage Padawan that had been caught up in it and his former Master that had fought along his side to help free her. They had nearly lost the battle too, none of them able to connect to the Force on her planet, and if Rex and the 501st hadn't shown up when they had it would have been their end. The planet had been gone after that and had supposed that no one found it again until Luke's ship had stumbled across it.

It had been a harrowing adventure, as had his son's. Of course Luke wanted to know more.

The summons had broken through the spiraling thoughts. The Dark Lord did his best to secure the conflict behind mental barriers as he took a knee in his private chambers, the motion connecting the holocomm and the Emperor's face appeared. "What is thy bidding, my Master?"

There was a long moment of silence in which Vader did not dare speak. He could feel Palpatine probing his mind, but if he found what he was looking for or not, there was no way to know. He spoke without warning. "There has been an uprising on my home planet of Naboo."

The name of the planet sent a chill through Vader. Hadn't he had enough reminders of the life he'd left behind?

"In my affection for them, I have been lenient, but their betrayal persists," Palpatine continued. "I can be merciful no longer. I am sending you, my Apprentice. Extinguish this spark of rebellion."

He thought of his late wife's homeworld with its towering statues and round-topped buildings and of Padme's laugh echoing out across grassy plains. Of the music and the culture and a promise that they could raise their child there. Of her love for that world and its people.

"You are distracted, my friend. Tell me."

And just as quickly, the image vanished, the warmth that threatened him driven out of the moment. The direct order could not be ignored, though he hardly could trust Sideous with the whole truth. "There have been many memories, my Master."

"And many more, though I would trust no one but you to handle such a delicate situation. You will go."

Vader bowed a little deeper. "As you command, my Master."

The communication flickered out of existence, leaving Vader alone to wonder what deeper meaning there might be that Palpatine would send him to Padme's homeworld.

Secrecy ran rampant in the Empire. Individuals and sometimes entire factions were in constant competition, scraping and clawing and backstabbing their way up through the ranks with every win on their scorecard inching them a little closer to the top. That furocity often worked in the Empire's advantage, but that same unrelenting drive to get ahead at all cost also made relying on those people to put egos aside long enough to get certain jobs done very difficult. That's why intelligence was so closely guarded. That was why his crew didn't blink twice when Luke said that he would be taking a shuttle alone to the coordinates that Mara had left for him. They didn't need an elaborate excuse. Sometimes the layers of secrecy worked in his advantage.

Luke landed on a dusty planet with two suns in the Outer Rim that he'd never heard of before, much less had seen with his own eyes. He wasn't missing much, he decided as he exited his shuttle and was immediately accosted by a dirt devil kicking up handfuls of sand and throwing it all around the spaceport. He frowned, tugging the hood of his black poncho up to help shield his face from the dry, hot wind as much as to shield it from any onlookers. He paid the docking fee and a little extra to ensure his shuttle would be there when he got back and started into town.

He was early, but Mara was already waiting for him at a cantina. She sat at the bar, her talents in the Force keeping her from being surprised by anyone that might approach her from behind. She motioned at the bartender as Luke slid into the seat next to her, finally letting the hood drop back. As dark as they kept it, he wasn't worried about being recognized.

"How'd it go?" he asked as the drink was set down in front of him.

"He was chatty."

"I find that hard to believe. Threaten to throw him out an airlock?"

She shrugged and took a sip from her own drink. "I may have implied it. Heavily."

Luke snorted a laugh and shook his head. Well, at least she wouldn't keep pressing him for what had happened on the shadow planet. She'd gotten what she wanted from Antilles and let him go, likely with a threat for good measure. "You going to tell me why we're here?"

"Because we need a way to get to Naboo without the Empire knowing we've been," Mara said quietly.

"So we're picking up another ship?"

"And a pilot."

"We're both pilots. We don't need a third."

"What we need is someone who has no ties to us that can get us there undetected."

Luke frowned at that. "A smuggler."

"Now you're catching up, flyboy," Mara said with a smirk countering his expression.

"That's too risky."

"How about some faith?" She stood, knocking back the rest of her drink and handing over the credits to cover them both. Luke watched as she turned and started towards the back of the cantina.

He followed, dodging around patrons that didn't know or care who he was. He caught up with Mara as she approached a table in the back corner where a man sat lounging back in the chair, a smug expression resting on his face. Across from him sat another man with several empty liquor glasses next to him who was eyeing his sabacc cards carefully. Finally he dropped them on the table, looking rather proud of his hand.

"Well," the lounging man drawled, slowly dropping his own set of cards so that his opponent could see, "guess your luck was bound to change sooner or later, eh, Prod?"

That proud expression shifted instantly to anger. "You cheated!"

"No need to be a sore loser. Unless you want to go another round?"

The card player drew a blaster. "Listen here, Solo —" he started to threaten, but a loud roar shook the establishment. Luke turned to see a large, hairy beast at the table next to Solo who had been the source of the sound. No one had batted an eye at the drawn weapon, but the sound of an angry Wookie stopped even the band mid-tune. Prod raised his hands in surrender, muttering a curse as he scurried off before he lost a limb to the approaching creature.

"I had it covered, Chewie," Solo directed at the Wookie, but as the rest of the cantina went back to minding their own business, he seemed to notice that neither Luke nor Mara had budged. Okay, he seemed to notice that Mara hadn't as he fixed an amused look on her. "If Jabba sent you, I have to say you're an improvement."

Mara quirked an eyebrow. "Han Solo," she greeted, sliding into the recently vacated chair.

"You have me at a bit of a disadvantage. You know who I am, but I don't know you." His hazel gaze followed Luke as he pulled an empty chair up next to Mara. "Or you."

Mara smiled, the expression more dangerous than the smuggler likely knew. "You can call me Jade."

"And your friend here?"

She acted as if she were thinking about it for a moment. "Luke," she said, her tone indicating that she'd plucked the name out of thin air. It still left him feeling more exposed than he was accustomed to. They'd had aliases during their time traveling the galaxy when they were younger and he knew she had plenty stored away. He wasn't sure why those were the names she gave.

Solo snorted. "Alright then. I don't care about names, just that you can pay. What's the cargo?"

"Us. We need to go to Naboo, but we need to bypass the Imperial checkpoints."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "Well, that's gonna cost you more, sweetheart. Seven thousand."

Luke snorted. "We're a system over."

"You're paying for my discretion, kid."

"And what about ours?" Mara asked, her tone deceptively sweet, but Luke knew it well. This wasn't just a random smuggler she'd picked out of a spaceport full of them. She'd come in with a fully designed plan.

The Wookie rumbled and Solo glanced over to him. "I think you may be right, Chewie," he said, letting his gaze lull lazily back to Mara and he shrugged. "Looks like you'll have to find yourself a different ride. My first mate says you're more trouble than you're worth."

Luke settled a little deeper in his chair. It was always amusing to watch Mara run circles around someone, especially when they underestimated her. Which most did.

"Han Solo is a common enough name to get you through most ports -" she locked eyes with him - "but it'd be a shame if your Corellian Light Freighter was linked with the cadet that defected during the Mimban Campaign. I hear you're attached to it."

Her tone was friendly enough, but there was something satisfying about the shock that settled into Solo's features. Behind him, the Wookie growled dangerously.

"You can try it, but I guarantee I'm faster," Mara answered what was clearly a threat from the smuggler's first mate. She shrugged. "Six thousand, and our discretion," she offered. "It's easy money."

"Nothing about this is easy," Solo grumbled and stood. "Fine. Dock twelve in an hour. And that's six up front. We don't leave without it."

"Fine by me."

They waited, both watching as the Human and Wookie retreated. Luke turned to look at her. "You really spooked him."

"My guess is the Empire aren't the only people that he's running from. Makes him useful."

Luke shook his head, chuckling as he stood. "Remind me never to get on your bad side?"

—

The first warning that Vader's men sent down to the planet's surface was just before they had begun their descent. While the Executor would return to orbit, the Dark Lord had directed the ship's captain to bring the Dreadnaught in low enough to cast an intimidating and dangerous shadow along the capital city of Theed. Vader steeled himself against the memories the city evoked even as the ramp of his shuttle extended to show a young Human Queen dressed in all of her royal finery and her face painted in a strikingly similar fashion to the way Padme had always worn it when she'd served in the office.

Naboo's Queen, surrounded by her guards and her handmaidens, tilted her face down in a gesture of respect. "Lord Vader, I am Queen Ceelle Bol and this —"

"I do not require an introduction to your entourage," Vader cut her off. She was young, as every one of Naboo's queens seemed to be. He'd never stopped to ask why when Padme had lived, and even now he wouldn't go as far as to call it a curiosity. Merely an observation. "Only the names of those responsible for the riots held in the streets."

Queen Ceelle's eyes widened at that and she stood impossibly still. Almost as if she were terrified to move as she rattled off her scripted reply. "Forgive me, my lord. We have had no riots."

Behind his immovable black mask, Vader's brow raised where his eyebrow had been once. "And what would you call the people flooding the street?"

"Our charter allows for —" she swallowed hard as if her throat had gone suddenly dry — "allows for peaceful protesting by the citizens of our planet. It has been this way since the days of the Galactic Republic."

"Naboo serves the Empire," Vader growled out and the darkness he drew power from reveled in the way the girl flinched.

A woman from the entourage - older than the Queen by at least half a decade - stepped forward. "My lord, though we are part of the Galactic Empire, Naboo is still self-governed. Any regulation on demonstrations is left to our elected representatives."

"Senator Ryoo Naberrie," Queen Ceelle introduced.

Vader turned to the girl-turned-woman. He'd met her only once and never would have known her without her mother's family name. "You have been granted leniency here at the Emperor's discretion," Vader boomed, more emphasis added to his voice modulator to hide his tumultuous emotions. "That leniency has come to an end and he has sent me. If you will not cooperate…."

"Of course we will, my lord," the Queen mewed and Padme's niece snapped her attention towards her and then back to Vader.

"These are our people."

"No. They are Imperial subjects. Do not mistake the Emperor's patience for approval, Senator. These uprisings will be crushed here as they are in any other corner of the galaxy." He blew past her, feeling her dark gaze latched onto his black cloak even as the Queen and her guards scurried to keep up.

—

He'd given Mara the room she needed for all of her sleights of hand until he'd seen the freighter that she'd clearly known about. The hunk of junk looked like it was barely held together by a few cleverly welded pieces that Luke wouldn't have put credits on making it through a hyperspace lane, much less withstand any assault if they ran into trouble. Sure, it was clear that upgrades had been done, but it looked like Solo prioritized speed over hull integrity.

Still, Mara was convinced that they needed to be smuggled in and out if they were to fly under the rest of the Empire's radar and Solo and his Millenium Falcon was the best choice.

It was a surprisingly smooth takeoff and jump to hyperspace, the stars streaking around them as Luke had joined Mara in the galley. Solo and his first mate left them alone and Luke could feel Mara weighing a question she wasn't sure she wanted to ask. He flicked his hand in the air in an impatient motion. "Just go ahead and ask."

"Ask what?"

"Whatever it is that you're thinking so hard about."

She pursed her lips together thoughtfully before a sigh escaped her. "It's less a question and more of a concern." He shot her a withering look and she shrugged. "I understand the… draw," she said carefully. "I understand wanting to know more about where you came from. I'm not saying I wouldn't want to know more if I was in your position, but does it really change if you see her face or not?"

"That's a question," he tried for a tease that felt flat under the weight of the meaning behind the words. They were going to great lengths to hide everything about this search from everyone that could make them regret the decision. When he'd pulled her into this, he'd thought she'd find an old holo or something like that so that he could see his mother's face and confirm or put to rest that nagging suspicion that had hung on tight since he and his father had gone to Alderaan. If he were wrong, only Father would be irked at digging up old memories, but if he was right…. Luke did everything he could to suppress the shudder at the thought of what Palpatine would do with that information.

Luke found Mara staring at him, waiting. He offered her an attempt at a smile. "I just need to know."

She nodded slowly and the freighter gave a stuttering jolt as it shifted out of hyperspace and Luke was struck with a presence he would have known anywhere. A presence that should have been far away from them.

"Luke?" he heard Mara call, but he was already on his feet and racing down the corridor, hoping his mental barriers were strong enough as he skidded to a stop at the cockpit, Mara at his heels.

"Hey," Solo greeted. "You're gonna want to —"

"Get us out of here," Luke snapped, pulling confused looks from three different directions.

"What?"

"Vader is on Naboo. Get us out of here now!"

Even as he barked the order, it was too late. They were being hailed by the orbiting Executor. There was no running now, only the unsubstantiated hope that Solo was as good as he claimed to be.

TBC

Notes: I swear, these chapters keep growing on me. Like the last arc, this was only supposed to be one chapter long and now it's going to be at least two and maybe even three. There's a lot going on though and I felt like giving Luke and Mara some time to breathe at the beginning was needed. Those two needed some downtime in the chaos.

There was also a surprise appearance from Han! I knew he'd be coming into the story soon and I knew he'd essentially be hired to smuggle Luke in a later point in the plot, but it was a happy surprise when he fit in here and, in the end, I think it works out better. Mara's just over there threatening everyone to keep them in line :')

Next Time: Vader faces painful memories while Luke and Mara seek out Padme's family for answers and find that their trip to Naboo will be anything but simple.